Paul "Butcher" Vachon

Real Name - Joseph Ferdinand Paul Vachon

Birthdate - 5/14/38

6’2” 280 lbs. - Montreal, QUE

Athletic Background - Wrestling (`55 Dominion Championships - Silver Medal)

Teacher(s) - n/a

Professional Background - North Bay(`55), Detroit(`56), Texas(`57), Stampede(`59-`60), Vancouver(`59), Toronto(`59), Hawaii(`60), Texas(`60), Mid-Atlantic(`61), Stampede(`62-`63), Australia(`62-`63), Pakistan(`63), England(`64-`66), Omaha(`66), Kansas City(`66), Georgia(`66-`68), Los Angeles(`67), JWA(`67), Montreal(`67), Florida(`68), AWA(`69-`72), Grand Prix(`72-`75), Toronto(`72-`75), Los Angeles(`74,`76), Portland(`76), San Francisco(`77), GCCW(`77), Florida(`77), WWWF(`77-`78), Mid-South(`83), WWF(`84-`85)

Aliases - Nikita Zolotoff, Oki Yama, The Spoiler

Groups - The Vachons

Peak Years - `63-`75

Place in History - Many pro-wrestlers loved the nomadic lifestyle and traveled the world, Paul Vachon was one who could never give it up.  The younger, yet larger brother of Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon, Paul spent forty years traveling widely and after retiring from business stayed on the road with his wife selling magnetic wands and other goods at fairs and festivals, attending gathering for old-timers and promoting his four autobiographical books.  For the more casual pro-wrestling fan, Paul Vachon is most likely remembered as a long-time partner of his older and more famous brother who had success in a few places before spending his later days as an undercarder in the WWF.  That is simply the tip of the iceberg.  Paul, like Maurice, was an accomplished amateur, who left the family farm to join his brother on the circuit.  As a teenager, Paul was working for Bert Ruby in Detroit and although he had great size, he looked very young.  He grew a beard, shaved his head and adopted the look that he would have for the majority of his career.  Vachon worked for a time as a Russian heel and later took the “Butcher” handle.  By the 1960s, Butcher Vachon was a world traveler, working across Canada and the United States before finding success in India, Australia, Pakistan and England.  He starred in Bollywood movies opposite Dara Singh, he wrestled in the famous Royal Albert Hall before the Duke of Edinburgh, he wrestled before a reported 85,000 fans in Karachi and so on.  Back in North America, Vachon continued to live a wild life on the road, but achieved his greatest success.  In Georgia, he brought in the former “Mad Russian” and made him Stan Vachon and worked a program with the Torres Brothers.  Next he had a lengthy run in the AWA when that promotion was arguably at its peak, often partnering with Mad Dog.  Nearing forty, Paul ventured back to Quebec and was a key partner in the Grand Prix promotion that challenged Johnny Rougeau’s established International Wrestling.  The promotional war lit the city on fire for several years and Vachon, dedicated himself to running the promotion before selling out and hitting the road once again for another ten years.  By this point, Butcher Vachon was mainly a journeyman carpenter who helped establish talent.  Following his in-ring career, Vachon stayed busy with various activities from politics to playing Santa at the mall while battling through several bouts of cancer, issues with his diabetes and back problems.