The Musée de la civilisation, in Quebec City, launched a pro wrestling exhibition on Tuesday night, with some wrestling royalty in attendance, including a Model, a Fish, and even someone who is Not Human.
In French, it’s titled Lutte. Le Québec dans l’arène, meaning Quebec in the arena.
On the English version of the Musée de la civilisation website, visitors are invited to:
jump with your feet into an exploded universe full of twists and turns at the edge of sport, theater, circus or entertainment, that of wrestling!
In this exhibition where theatre art and museumology go hand in hand to stage this millennial discipline, its characters and its evolution in Quebec, you will be immersed in a scenery larger than nature.
From the barn to Madison Square Garden, you can experience the scenery and daring of Ex Machina, Robert Lepage and the Museum of Civilization.
mcq.org/lutte
Struggle. Quebec in the arena is an exhibition designed and directed in conjunction with the creation company Ex Machina and its artistic director, Robert Lepage.
A famed Quebecois playwright, actor, film director, and stage director, Lepage was helped by Steve Blanchet and Pat Laprade, who wrestling fans will know well from his writing here at SlamWrestling, his many books with Bertrand Hébert, and hosting a shortened version of WWE Raw in Quebec.
Laprade noted that he was a “consultant” that wore many hats, and helped with the wording of a lot of the historical artifacts and connected the indy wrestling scene to the museum and Lepage. Laprade was also the emcee for the media scrum on Tuesday morning.
Gilles “The Fish” Poisson and Marc Blondin on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at the Musée de la civilisation launch of “Lutte. Le Québec dans l’arène”. Facebook photo
Many wrestlers came out to the event, retired, veteran and young, and announcers, like Marc Blondin, who does the play-by-play in French for TNA. Fellow TNA grappler Pierre Carl Ouellet– the “Not Human” PCO — was there too.
Blondin posted a photo with Gilles “The Fish” Poisson.
“The Model” Rick Martel, just a day after his 68th birthday, was there too, and posted to X:
A night at the museum @mcqorg thank you ! A night for family with my nephews who are carrying very proudly the name Martel. pic.twitter.com/QUujzKeRuv
— Rick Martel (@RickMartel2021) March 20, 2024
There was wrestling action on Tuesday night, with a ring set up in the museum.
Jack Robitaille was one of the participants. “When I started professional wrestling 18 years ago, someone would have told me: ‘You’re going to perform at the Museum of Civilization in front of 1000 people,’ I’d say this was a pretty fab,” he posted to Facebook. “Someone would have told me that one day I would have the chance to participate in an exhibition about professional wrestling in Quebec as Maurice ‘Mad Dog’ Vachon, I would have never believed it. Well yesterday I can say these 2 things happened! A HUGE thank you to Steve Boutet for the trust you gave me to open for this crazy show. Thanks to Marky Russel for the match and for thinking of me to relive Mad Dog Vachon exhibition time.
For those who didn’t see the live wrestling, there is a unique 3D half-ring that shows action on display at the museum. Quebec woman wrestler Loue O’Farrell was one of the subjects for the 3D rendering.
For more on the exhibition, see the Musée de la civilisation website in English and French. It runs until April 20, 2025.
Musée de la civilisation photo gallery
