Rougeau and Von Erich split the first two falls and were allowed to return to their respective dressing rooms for a five minute rest in between.  Throughout the bout, the Leducs made it clear to the fans that they were on local hero Rougeau's side by openly cheering him and even heading to his dressing room during the first break to check on his condition. Then something strange happened. During the break before the third and deciding fall, Paul Leduc disappeared backstage for a few minutes. When the participants returned to the ring, Von Erich gestured for the Leducs to come over and talk but they refused. All seemed well. But 15 minutes into the deciding fall, Waldo tossed Johnny out of the ring and the Leducs rose once again to help their fellow Quebecer - or so it seemed. Instead they removed their jackets and viciously attacked Rougeau, kicking and stomping the living daylights out of him. Von Erich joined in and Johnny was soon a bloody mess.

The fans in attendance, outraged at this traitorous act by two of their own, began littering the air with chairs and some even stormed the ring. The Leducs were soon surrounded and couldn't leave until a contingent of four cars worth of policemen were called in to escort them back to the dressing room. By now a full-scale riot was in progress and the Leducs found themselves trapped in their dressing room. An emergency call for five more police cars went out as the fans rampaged throughout the arena.

Keep in mind that political and street violence was quite common in Montreal during that era. This was the same year Pierre Trudeau, who would be elected as Prime Minister of Canada the following day, was pelted one night with rocks and bottles as he sat in the dignitaries' box to view the annual St.Jean Baptiste parade by a gang of radical Quebec separatists.

So, back outside the Paul Sauve Centre it was pure bedlam, as cars were now being overturned. Main streets around the arena were blocked off well into the early hours of the morning. By 4:00 a.m., a journalist finally managed to smuggle Jos and Paul out of the Centre in the back of a car. In total, fourteen police cars were called and thousands of dollars in damages were incurred.
 
Despite the mayhem outside of the ring, those were the glory days for Johnny Rougeau's All-Star Wrestling promotion, and for Jos Leduc as well. And now here he was in 1985, the top villain again, as International Wrestling was also at its peak, operating on full thrusters and just signing an unprecedented co-promotional deal with the increasingly monolithic World Wrestling Federation that they thought would ensure the survival of the promotion for years to come. Things couldn't have looked any better and Jos was riding a huge wave of momentum towards Bravo's title - a championship he had surprisingly never held in International Wrestling. But that's not to say Jos was a stranger to local championship gold.
 
While it's true that many of Leduc's most memorable Quebec bouts were as a tag team with "brother" Paul, one of the best remembered title changes of the All-Star era took place at the Paul Sauve Centre on April 26th, 1971. It was there that Jos ended the legendary Johnny Rougeau's last championship reign in dramatic fashion by powering out of an attempted rolling short-arm scissors (one of Rougeau's signature moves) and pinning him a few seconds later. It was the end of an era. Jos had little time to revel in his victory, however, as he lost that title at the Montreal Forum on June 21st to the masked Mr.X (who was really veteran Tarzan Zorra under the hood - better known to American fans as Hans Mortier). Although Leduc's reign at the top lasted less than two months, everyone was impressed by his raw power in defeating a legend and proving that he could make it in singles competition as well. This new-found respect saw both Jos and Paul now getting cheered by Quebec fans.

Both Leducs then settled back into tag team competition and Jos even won the All-Star tag title with new partner Antonio Baillargeon. Ironically, they lost the belts to Michel "Justice" Dubois and Beast Martin in front of 14,900 fans at a historic December 27th Forum card which also saw a midget battle royal, Carlos Rocha win the International title from Abdullah The Butcher, and "brother" Paul marry his fiancee Pierrette Brault in centre ring!

A few months later, the Leducs stunned Quebec wrestling fans by defecting from Rougeau's company to bitter rival Grand Prix Wrestling, where more tag team titles and even a singles reign for Jos were waiting. Because of the incredible bitterness between the two promotions at the time, many All-Star fans considered the Leducs as traitors for jumping ship, even though they would eventually return to All-Star Wrestling in mid-1973. And as we fast forward once again to 1985, the word "defector" would soon hold even more importance for International Wrestling. The WWF was moving fast into Quebec and most of the top local stars would jump to the American juggernaut less than one year later. Looking back, one could sense that the  wrestling world was changing and although he may not have known it at the time, this would be Jos Leduc's last shot at glory in Quebec. Age and injuries were noticeably affecting his ring skills by 1985. Although he could get away with it in bloody brawls with the likes of Abdullah The Butcher or Sailor White, his declining speed was glaring in matches with younger men like King Tonga and The Great Samu.

It also was all too apparent against Dino Bravo. Despite a big buildup to their feud, the Bravo-Leduc conflict was one of the bigger disappointments of the International Wrestling era. Both men were hampered by injuries and Jos seemed lethargic and out of shape in the bouts. Furthermore, after being treated over the years to highly athletic match-ups involving Bravo,  Tonga, Rick Martel and others, Leduc's increasingly plodding style was beginning to resemble Abdullah's. In the end, Jos failed to snatch the title from Dino's grasp and this turned out to be his last real chance to stand alone atop the Quebec wrestling mountain. Several months later it was The Great Samu who would end Bravo's final reign as International champion as he sold off his share of the promotion to Gino Brito and headed to the WWF.

As for Jos Leduc, things didn't get any better. He once again became a fan favourite and feuded with the aged Sweet Daddy Siki in early 1987, but it was clear that both he and International Wrestling were on their last legs, career-wise. Later, he had a brief tryout with the WWF which didn't pan out. This was probably a fortunate thing as Vince McMahon had dressed him up in a horrible looking outfit and Jos would undoubtedly have been relegated to a buffoonish characterization along the lines of a Bastion Booger or an Uncle Elmer. I, along with other fans I'm sure, prefer to remember Jos Leduc as the immensely powerful super-lumberjack who could best both the skilled athletes like Johnny Rougeau, or the monsters like Abdullah The Butcher.

NEXT MONTH :