Upon arriving in Quebec, I enrolled in French immersion classes in Laprairie. Someone told me that finding employment would be difficult without the ability to converse in French. But I thought, “why not find employment where French was not a major requirement and paid well?”

I was already into Bodybuilding for my “Doorman image,” which paid the bills, so when I was invited to enter the Grand Prix Wrestling training camp. Of course, I jumped at the offer.

I spent about 10-12 months at the training school. During this time, I got roughed up. Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon, Gilles “The Fish” Poisson, and Joe Leduc beat me to a pulp but taught me a lot.

I did a lot of street fighting in the gym because I had to learn to protect myself at any level in any country.

About six months into my training, the late Edouardo Carpentier came to me and said, “Kid, now I will teach you the technical fundamentals of our profession.” It was then that I learned how to make everything look easy. My physique changed with the hour after hour of mat grappling, and my cardio (muscular endurance) went sky high.