Paul Leduc, a tag wrestler with kayfabe brother Jos LeDuc, died this past weekend at the age of 89.
Leduc was born Léodard Mimeault (he and Jos both legally changed their names later) on November 10, 1936, in Mont-Louis, Quebec. He started his wrestling career at the age of eighteen despite a size disparity at a mere 195 pounds on a 5-foot-10 frame.
He received training in Quebec, debuting in 1957, while also moving to Mexico for additional tutelage and wrestling for CMLL. The period of his career most fondly remembered was his team with Jos Leduc (Michel Pigeon) as a group of lumberjacks after the idea was fostered by Jack Britton in 1967.
Jos received a crash course in professional wrestling and teamed with Paul Leduc for the first time in Saint-Hyacinthe against Roy and Don McLarty.
The next year, the Leducs wrestled for Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling, becoming its international tag team champions in January 1969 when they unseated “The Beast” Yvon Cormier & Bob Sweetan.
In December 1971, Paul and wife Pierrette famously held a wedding ceremony inside the ring at the Montreal Forum in front of nearly 15,000 people.
One year later, the Leducs were the beneficiaries of the promotional war in Quebec, jumping ship to Grand Prix Wrestling, which the Vachons ran. Paul Leduc told Pat Laprade in Mad Dog: The Maurice Vachon Story that he and Jos were each offered $5,000 up front (which is the equivalent of more than $37,000 in today’s Canadian dollars) and $1,500 per week, so they jumped.
The signature feud for the Leducs occurred that year with Paul & Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon, generating major business in Quebec for Grand Prix. They shot a bloody angle that summer in Sherbrooke and led to a July 31 match in Quebec City, at the Coliseum, which drew 15,000. Two weeks later, they oversold the venue with 17,008. Laprade explained in “Mad Dog” that the promotion was unable to advertise the figure because it exceeded the arena’s capacity and therefore, it remains a record today in the city for professional wrestling.
In 1973, the Leducs wrestled for Championship Wrestling from Florida, claiming the area’s tag belts from Dusty Rhodes & Dick Slater in November.
Jos went on to become a notable singles figure, especially in Memphis for a well-remembered program involving Jerry Lawler.
Paul Leduc retired in 1978 and went to work for the Quebecor media company as a director general of media distribution. He would pen a weekly wrestling column titled “1-2-3” and kept in tune with professional wrestling by launching FLQ (Federation de Lutte Quebecoise) in 2000. The promotion ran a steady schedule through 2006 and had a sporadic run over the past decade before shutting down in 2022.
Despite three heart attacks between 1978 and 1990, he endured significantly more health struggles with multiple strokes in 2001 & 2003. He was diagnosed and fought bladder cancer in 2006 and suffered from cardiorenal syndrome (a shutdown of his kidneys) over his final years before passing on August 30.
He is survived by children Carl (who wrestled), Yan, and Kim.
Several notes, courtesy:
– Paul Leduc, Quebec wrestling legend, Part 1 by Pat Laprade
