Francois Miquet (January 17, 1920 – March 14, 2010) was a French/American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

who worked primarily in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

under the ring name Corsica Joe. As Corsica Joe he teamed up with Jean Louis Roy, who was billed as "Corsica Jean" to form a very successful

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

known as "The Corsicans". The Corsicans held a number of tag team championships, especially in the southern National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territories of

NWA Mid-America NWA Mid-America was a professional wrestling promotion territory under the umbrella of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that promoted shows in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama from the 1940s until 1981. The company was founded in the 1940s by ...

Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling Continental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Dothan, Alabama from 1985 until 1989, owned by Ron Fuller. The promotion evolved out of the NWA-affiliated Southeastern Championship Wr ...

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to as ...

and

Georgia Championship Wrestling Georgia Championship Wrestling was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Atlanta, Georgia. The promotion was affiliated with what had been the world's top sanctioning body of championship titles for decades before, the National W ...

. He was the brother of Felix Miquet who was also a wrestler, but worked primarily in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He was married to female pro wrestler Sarah Lee, sometimes billed as "Sara Corsica".

Professional wrestling career

Miquet moved to the United States at some point before 1947 and made his

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

debut in 1947, using his real name as his ring name. In 1948 he defeated Bob Lortie to win the Canadian Junior Heavyweight Championship, a championship he was said to have held for two years. Miquet spent most of 1953 wrestling in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

where he used the name Billy Virag, possibly to avoid confusion with his brother Felix Miquet that was known in the wrestling circuits throughout Europe. In 1954 he worked as the masked ring character "Mr. M" in Germany before returning to the United States in mid-1954, once again billed under his birth name. After competing in the north eastern United States and Canada for several years Miquet began wrestling in the south east around 1957. In

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett. Founded in 1931, the promoti ...

he became known as "Corsica Joe", billing his as hailing from the French island of Corsica. A few months later wrestling promoters

Nick Gulas Nick Gulas (September 3, 1914 – January 21, 1991) was an American professional wrestling promoter in the Southern United States, partnered with Tennessee promoter Roy Welch for decades. Gulas was also known as "The King of Managers", "King B", ...

and

Roy Welch Roy Edward Welch (December 19, 1901 – September 27, 1977) was an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is best known as the promoter of the NWA Mid-America territory (also known simply as the Nashville office) alongside Nick Gulas. ...

in the

promotion teamed Miquet up with French-Canadian Jean Louis Roy, billing him as "Corsica Jean" to form a

known as "The Corsicans". The team became the first holders of the Mid-America version of the

NWA World Tag Team Championship The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed member promotions to create their own territorial version of the "NWA World ...

and over the next two of years the Corsicans held the championship on no less than seven occasions as well as the

NWA Southern Tag Team Championship The NWA Southern Tag Team Championship is any of a group of professional wrestling tag team championship titles in the National Wrestling Alliance. Specific titles include: * The NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Florida version) * The NWA South ...

on three separate occasions. The Corsicans faced off against virtually every tag team in the NWA Mid-America promotion at the time, including The Fabulous Fargos (

Jackie Fargo Henry Faggart (June 26, 1930 – June 24, 2013) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Jackie Fargo. He competed in Southeastern regional promotions and the National Wrestling Alliance during the 1950s, 1960s and ...

and

Don Fargo Donald Vincent Kalt (October 3, 1930 – November 8, 2015), better known by his ring name Don Fargo, was a German-born American professional wrestler. During his career (which spanned from 1952 to 1986), he held over 55 championships including 14 ...

), Mike and Doc Gallagher,

Yvon Robert Yvon may refer to: * Yvon (given name), a masculine given name * Yvon (surname), a surname See also * Chapelle-Yvon * Evon * Ivon * Jaille-Yvon * Pierre-Yvon * Yvan * Yvonne (disambiguation) Yvonne is a female given name. Yvonne may also ...

and Billy Wicks, Don and Luke Fields and

The Heavenly Bodies The Heavenly Bodies is a professional wrestling tag team famous for having worked in Smoky Mountain Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation, and various independent promotions. Over the years, there have been multiple variations of the team, ...

(Don and Al Greene). In mid-1959 the Corsicans toured Texas, working for the

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

based Southwest Sports, Inc. In Texas the duo won the

NWA Texas Tag Team Championship The WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship was the secondary professional wrestling tag team championship promoted by the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex area-based World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA). The championship was originally known as the NW ...

on one occasion as well as the local version of the

. Miquet, as Corsica Joe also held the

NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship The NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title that has existed since the 1930s. Though its exact date of creation isn't known, it is among the oldest championships used in professional wrestling today. The title has us ...

for a few weeks. By 1960 the Corsicans were back in the south west, holding different versions of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship, including the Gulf Coast version twice, the Florida version once, the Georgia version twice, and the Mid-America version again. They also captured the Mid-America version of the World Tag Team Championship and

NWA International Tag Team Championship ''This was a regional NWA championship based in Japan. For the version of this title that was promoted in NWA All Star Wrestling in Canada, see NWA International Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version).'' The NWA International Tag Team Champio ...

. After years as a tag team the Corsicans finally split up in 1966, leaving Miquet to team with Chin Lee for one last run with the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship. In 1969 he briefly worked for Central States Wrestling as the masked Mephisto #2, and would work as the masked "The Blitzer" for NWA Mid-America in 1972. Miquet retired from wrestling in 1973 at the age of 52 or 53. Although retired in 1973, Joe did make appearances for the NWA World Wide area, with Bert Prentice being the promoter. Joe did team up with his wife in a match, in Nashville, against Clarence Santini (as Spunkmeyer) and Shorty Taylor. this was Joe's last match.

Personal life

Francois Miquet was the brother of Felix Miquet who was also a wrestler, but who worked primarily in the

so the two never worked together. Miquet was married to a female pro wrestler named Sarah Lee, sometimes billed as "Sara Corsica" or "Mrs. Corsica Joe", and they were together as husband and wife for almost 45 years of marriage until she died at the age of 76 in 2008. Miquet died on March 14, 2010 in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

at the age of 90. On 2008 Miquet, as Corsica Joe, was inducted into the

NWA Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Hall of Fame is an American professional wrestling hall of fame maintained by the NWA. It was established in 2005 to honor select wrestling personalities, mostly alumni of the NWA. Inductees receive commemora ...

Championships and accomplishments

Cauliflower Alley Club The Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America. Established in 1965 by Mike Mazurki and Art Abra ...

**Gulf Coast/CAC Honoree (2001) *

** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Florida version)'' ( 1 time) - with

Corsica Jean Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

*Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling ** Canadian Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *

** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Gulf Coast version)'' ( 2 times) - with Corsica Jean *

** NWA International Tag Team Championship ''(Georgia version)'' (1 time) - with Corsica Jean ** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Georgia version)'' ( 2 times) - with Corsica Jean *

** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' ( 5 times) - with Corsica Jean ** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' ( 3 times) - with Corsica Jean (2), Chin Lee (1) **

NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship The NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship was a tag team title created in 1962, and contested in the National Wrestling Alliance's Tri-State territory, which was promoted by Leroy McGuirk (Arkansas and Oklahoma) and Jack Curtis and Aurelian "Gri ...

(''Alabama version'') ( 1 time) – with Masked Blitzer #2 * Southwest Sports, Inc. **

( 1 time) **

( 1 time) - with Corsica Jean **

NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) The Texas version (or East Texas version) of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was the main tag team professional wrestling championship in the Dallas/Houston-based Southwest Sports territory of the National Wrestling Alliance. While the name ...

( 1 time) - with Corsica Jean * National Wrestling Alliance **

(Class of 2008)

References

External links

*
Corsica Joe at ProWrestling.comCorsica Joe Wrestling Photos at BillcosOldSchoolWrestling.comRIP: Corsica Joe
at the

SLAM! Wrestling: Corsica Joe's love of wife and wrestling always shone through
at Canadian Online Explorer
SLAM! Wrestling: Corsica Joe & Sara Lee: A love story
at Canadian Online Explorer {{NWA World Tag Team Champions (Mid-America version) 1920 births 2010 deaths 20th-century professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers French emigrants to the United States French male professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Tennessee