Grand Prix Wrestling (GPW) is a
professional wrestling promotion run and owned by
Emile Duprée
Emile Duprée (born Emile Goguen on October 20, 1936) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler and promoter. He is also the father of former WWE wrestler René Duprée, and lives in Pointe-du-Chêne, New Brunswick.
Early life
Goguen was bor ...
. Grand Prix Wrestling has recently finished the 2013 Rising Sun In The Maritimes Tour. Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling tours parts of
New Brunswick,
Prince Edward Island, and
Nova Scotia. It has no connection with
Paul Vachon's Grand Prix Wrestling promotion of Montreal in the 1970s.
History
Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling
Originally known as Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling (AGPW), the regional circuit has been around since the early 1960s. During the 60s and the 70s AGPW was so popular it became a hit in the
Maritimes
The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...
. AGPW cards were held in
Moncton, New Brunswick on Monday nights,
Halifax, Nova Scotia on Thursdays,
Berwick, Nova Scotia
Berwick is a Canadian town in Kings County, Nova Scotia. The town is located in the eastern part of the Annapolis Valley on the Cornwallis River. The town site stretches south from the river and Exit 15 of Highway 101 to Highway 1. Berwick occu ...
on Saturday evenings and along other small towns in
New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, and
Prince Edward Island.
Every summer, there were two big
titles
A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...
up for grabs: The United States Heavyweight Title and the North American Tag Team Title. Other titles included the European Heavyweight Title and the Maritime Heavyweight Title. The European Heavyweight Title was held more by
Killer Karl Krupp than any other wrestler and The Maritime Heavyweight Title was held most often by
Stephen Petitpas
Stephen Petitpas (born November 14, 1957) is a Canadian professional wrestler.
Professional wrestling career
His father being in the Canadian military, Petitpas was born in Soest, Germany. He grew up in a French household in Shediac, New Bruns ...
. During the late 1980s, the United States Heavyweight Title was changed to the International Heavyweight Title.
Rising Sun In The Maritimes Tour
Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling returned to the Maritimes in 2013 for a summer tour. The roster featured former
WWE wrestler
Rene Dupree,
All Japan Pro Wrestling star
Seiya Sanada,
She Nay Nay,
Bellatrix
Bellatrix is the third-brightest star in the constellation of Orion, positioned 5° west of the red supergiant Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis). It has the Bayer designation γ Orionis, which is Latinized to Gamma Orionis. With a slightly va ...
star
Erin Angel, midget wrestlers Lil' Fabio and Lil' Poppa Pump, The Masked Thunderbolt, Kwan Chang, Jeremy Prophet, Bobby Sharp, Spiderman and Japanese star, Daiki Inaba. The tour kicked off in Borden-Carleton,
Prince Edward Island with a show featuring a special guest appearance by Japanese legend
The Great Muta.
The tour continued with Prince Edward Island shows in Souris and O'Leary. Nova Scotia shows included: Springhill, Bridgewater, two in Berwick, Tatamagouche, Truro, Cheticamp, North Sydney, Baddeck and Antigonish. The New Brunswick portion of the tour included shows in: Cocagne (3 times), Neguac, Lameque, Chipman, Fredericton Junction, Blacks Harbour, Baie St. Anne, Minto, Petit-Rocher, Doaktown and Sunny Corner. The tour was very successful and it brought a lot of escalation toward what is now known as the 2014 New Era Tour that featured
Rene Dupree,
Yasufumi Nakanoue, Butcher Vachon, Bobby Sharp, Jeremy Prophet, the return of the Cuban Assassin and many more. Towns featured on the tour included Neguac, Black's Harbour and Minto (New Brunswick), O'Leary, Borden-Carleton and Souris (Prince Edward Island), and Sydney, Baddeck, Berwick, Truro and Springhill (Nova Scotia).
Eastern Canada Tour
In May 2015, AGPW held a tour across
Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick and
Prince Edward Island.
Alumni
;Male wrestlers
;Female wrestlers
;Midget wrestlers
;Stables and tag teams
Championships
;Key
AGPW International Heavyweight Championship
AGPW United States Heavyweight Championship
AGPW Maritimes Heavyweight Championship
AGPW North American Tag Team Championship
Footnotes
References
External links
Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling Facebook Page Maintained by Jeff Docherty
Wrestling-Titles.com: Grand Prix Wrestlingby Greg Oliver
by Greg Oliver
*
ttp://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingGrandPrix/jul29_grandprix.html SLAM! Wrestling: Grand Prix a learning environmentby Greg Oliver
SLAM! Wrestling: Grand Prix restarts June 7 in Maritimesby Greg Oliver
by Serge Niles
{{Professional wrestling in Canada
Canadian professional wrestling promotions
Professional wrestling in New Brunswick