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 Charland in 1991, as "Blast". | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1956-09-26)September 26, 1956 (age 69) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Blast Richard Charland Richard 'Le Manifique' Richard "Big Dick" Charland The Tempest Garth Vader Mauler Malone |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) |
| Billed weight | 271 lb (123 kg) |
| Trained by | Edouard Carpentier Mad Dog Vachon Omer Marchessault Luigi Macera |
| Debut | 1972 |
| Retired | 2000 |
Richard Charland (born September 26, 1956) is a Canadianprofessional wrestler.
Richard Charland became a wrestler with the encouragement byMad Dog Vachon. The mat legend had met Charland, as a youngster, who was studying judo, and told him to consider professional wrestling as an option. Charland listened, and took up amateur wrestling for a few years before turning pro in 1972, at the young age of 16. He debuted in the Montreal-basedGrand Prix Wrestling, and beat Pat Gerard Jr. in his first match.
In 1974, he wrestled his first overseas tour forInternational Wrestling Enterprise in Japan, under the name The Tempest. In 1975, he would move to Toronto, to wrestle forMaple Leaf Wrestling. After a year in Toronto, he went to the United States in 1976, wrestling forThe Sheik'sBig Time Wrestling in Detroit, under the name Mauler Malone. He would remain in Detroit for nearly two years, before returning home to Montreal in 1977, and made a brief return to Detroit in 1979.
In 1980, Charland joined the upstartLutte Internationale in Montreal. Soon after, he won his first title, theCanadian International Tag Team Championship, with Len Shelley. A year later, he and Shelley would lose the titles toSwede Hanson andLe Bourreau, but regained the titles the next year. However, their second reign wouldn't last as long as their first, as they lost the titles months later toGino Brito andRick McGraw.
In 1984, Charland would return to Japan to wrestle for the shoot-styleUniversal Wrestling Federation. While there, he would wrestle the likes of Mach Hayato,Rusher Kimura,Ryuma Go,Kazuo Yamazaki, andSuper Tiger. After a single tour, he returned home to Montreal.
In May 1985, Charland won his third Canadian International Tag Team title, this time withKing Tonga. However, his reign lasted over two weeks, before losing them toThe Fabulous Rougeau Brothers. In August 1985, he wrestled aWorld Wrestling Federation house show in Toronto, losing toDino Bravo. In October 1986, he regained the Canadian International Tag Team title for the fourth time, this time withSheik Ali. His reign would last nearly four months, before losing them toArmand Rougeau andDan Kroffat. Two months later, he regained the titles for the fifth and final time, with Chuck Simms. He and Simms would be the final champions, as Lutte Internationale closed down in June 1987.
From 1988 to mid 1990, Charland wrestled for the WWF as a jobber on Canadian and occasionally New York house shows. His first television appearance took place at a taping of Maple Leaf Wrestling on July 24, 1988, losing toTerry Taylor. He again appeared on the December 25, 1989 episode of Prime Time Wrestling and defeatedBarry Horowitz at the Maple Leaf Gardens.[1]
In August 1990, he returned to Japan to wrestle a tour forAll Japan Pro Wrestling, teaming withEric Embry to take part in a tournament for the vacantAll Asia Tag Team Championship, the team lost all four of their matches. On September 7, Charland lost toHaruka Eigen in his final match.[2]
Returning to the Montreal independent circuit, Charland adopted the moniker "Blast" in late 1991 in an attempt to resurrect theDemolition name and gimmick withBill Eadie as Ax, but were eventually sent a cease and desist letter by theWWF. Charland also served as the French commentator withMarc Blondin for WCW for a time.
After 1991, Charland began to cut back on his wrestling schedule, as he began working in construction, but still remained semi-active. In February 1994, he wrestled a WWF house show in Toronto, losing toOwen Hart. In July 1995, he wrestled a couple independent shows, wrestlingAbdullah The Butcher. In April 1997, he wrestled a Montreal house show forWorld Championship Wrestling, teaming with Jacques Comptois in a loss to Martin and Serge Rolland. In 1999, Charland joinedJacques Rougeau's Lutte Internationale 2000, where he remained active until the promotion's closure in 2003.
