REAL NAME: Nelson Veilleux
BORN: January 4, 1967 in Montreal
5’8″, 245 pounds
Nelson ‘Le Trappeur’ Veilleux has a good job now, a job that he’s happy with. But he’d give it up for wrestling if a really great opportunity presented itself.
“I have a good job now, but if I could have a good break, I would go for a wrestling career,” said the 14-year veteran, who is a co-ordinator for psychiatric people in workshop.
Veilleux had been a fan since his was three years old, and in 1986, it was a dream come true for him to be learning the ropes in Montreal from Edouard Carpentier and Frenchy Martin. The two legends taught him different aspects of the mat game. “One showed me the technical, the other one showed me what happens in the ring,” he recalled backstage at the International Wrestling 2000 gala in Montreal in late December 1999.
In his debut match in 1988, Veilleux lost to Sylvain Le Tigre at the Centre Paul Sauvé in Montreal.
He came into the sport just as the main International Wrestling office in Montreal was dying off. Veilleux never got a big break, but is still happy with the way things have turned out.
For one, through wrestling he met one of his best friends — Quebecer and former pirate Pierre Carl Ouellet.
“We were tag team champions in South Africa, in Germany, France,” said Veilleux of his work with Ouellete. “[He’s] a good friend now, like a brother.”
Dressed in animal skins, and carrying various traps, ‘Le Trappeur’ certainly has a unique gimmick, but he comes by it honestly — his grandfather was in fact a trapper.
During the summer, Veilleux wrestles maybe three or four times a month, and that goes down to once or twice a month in the winter. The stagnant Quebec scene can only be improved by one thing, he believes. “I think when someone has the TV, it’s going to change [in Quebec]. TV is everything now.”
Memories
Nelson Veilleux always made me laugh. During the ’80s at The Montreal Forum, he would job to Steve Lombardi and then double as a ref later in the card. You have to remember, the guy just got his eyelids whipped off by Lombardi and then he’d be reffing the main event. D’oh!
Harris Black
