Before becoming the Frankenstein-like monster he’s portrayed since his return to professional wrestling, PCO was well-known for his work in both the Quebecers and as a singles act known as Jean-Pierre LaFitte in the WWF. As part of his run as LaFitte, PCO was able to work with a number of WWF’s top stars, including a highly-regarded feud with wrestling legend Bret “the Hitman” Hart.
PCO joined me to discuss a variety of topics, including his thoughts on working with Hart. Highlights are available below prior to the full conversation’s release this Wednesday.
Working with Bret “the Hitman” Hart:
SL: ”We’re getting closer to wrapping it up, so I’ve got to ask a couple of quicker ones for you, but that’s fine by me. I like picking your brain on pro wrestling. I would be doing a sin and a great disservice to my listeners if I didn’t ask you about the match with Bret Hart. As an Albertan podcast, as an Albertan wrestling fan, I’d probably get shot if I didn’t ask you about it. How much did it mean to you when you found out that it was going to be included on Brett’s DVD?
That was my first experience watching you wrestle!”
PCO: “I was very, very flattered by that. I was really proud of that. To me, it was like an achievement because (of) how many guys that Bret had wrestled. Like, how many – what, he’s got, like, over a 20-year carrier. I don’t know how many years. I’m not talking about England or Calgary, Stampede, or Japan, just WWF itself.
(He) had been in the ring with all the greatest guys. So just to be picked to be on the Dungeon collection (from) Bret Hart, that was an awesome achievement and good news. Yeah, (it) felt really good.
PCO: ”Actually, Brett was one of my favourite guys to work with and against. I had him on a tour and oh man. He was over all over the place, but Germany (it) was like Michael Jackson coming out of the bus. I mean, I’ve seen girls crying just seeing him. Just him getting out of the bus, I’ve seen girls crying, like shaking and almost passing out. It was so-“
SL: ”For what it’s worth, I started jumping up and down when I found out I was gonna talk to you!”
PCO: “(laughs) But, just seeing that on the tour and wrestling him every night you know, in the main events in Germany was pretty awesome. And, In Your House, (I) wrestled him twice on – one time, and it was probably the last match of the night in Nashville, this one was just like a – I think that they wanted to see how me and Bret would gel before they put us in a rivalry.”
SL: “Sort of test the waters first?
PCO: “Yeah, yeah, and I had done very good. It was a good match, and then, I guess they asked Bret ‘do you want to work with him?
You know, do you want to get into a feud with him?’ Bret came to me and said ‘we’re gonna feud for a while,’ so that was awesome. He was really – (he’s) a guy that, he’s really tough to get around when you’re not wrestling.
Like, he was a lot by himself, doing his own things, minding his own business, but nice to everybody. But, when you had a match, an important match, (A) pay-per-view with him, he would say – he would give you his phone number, he would say ‘call me (at) home, we’ll discuss this. We’ll put some ideas together.’ He was really, really, really pro about matches. Even if he had, like, tons of interviews to do in the afternoon, (when) it was like “Bret, here we need you, Bret here and Bret there,’ he would make sure that we (would) have enough time to get together and get a great match.
So yeah, very professional. He always wants to steal the show and to be up to the task, and that was a – I’ve had like problems with other guys, me and Brett, we were always cool.”
Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any transcriptions used.
