Philippe Lafon (born September 16, 1961) is a Canadian

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 ...

. He is best known for his appearances with the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

as Phil Lafon and with

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba ...

and Extreme Championship Wrestling under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or project ...

Dan Kroffat.

Early life

Lafon was born in Manitouwadge, Ontario, Canada, to his French-Canadian parents and raised in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

, Canada.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1983–1988)

Lafon was discovered at a local gym in Canada by

Davey Boy Smith David Smith (27 November 1962 – 18 May 2002) was an English professional wrestler. Born in Golborne, Lancashire, Smith is best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring names Davey B ...

and The Dynamite Kid, and was subsequently trained in the

Hart Dungeon The Hart Dungeon or Hart Family Dungeon, otherwise known simply as The Dungeon, was the gym and wrestling school located in the basement of the Hart mansion. The school was created by Stu Hart, patriarch of the Hart wrestling family and is known ...

. In the Dungeon, he was trained by

Mr. Hito (April 25, 1942 – April 21, 2010), better known as Mr. Hito, was a Japanese professional wrestler who competed in North American and Japanese regional promotions from the 1950s until the mid-1980s. Most notably, he was the tag team partn ...

. He spent two years in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling before leaving to work as "Rene Rougeau" in the Maritimes. During this time, he met The Cuban Assassin, who helped him get booked in Japan.

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1988–1996)

Kroffat was a longtime mainstay of

with tag team partner

Doug Furnas Dwight Douglas Furnas (December 11, 1959 – March 2, 2012) was an American professional wrestler and powerlifter. He was an APF National and World Powerlifting Champion, who set multiple world records in the 275 pound weight class. As a wrestler, ...

as the Can-Am Express. The two men were paired together by

Giant Baba , best known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter, and professional baseball player. He is best known as a co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), a promotion he founded in 1972 along with Mitsuo Momota ...

. It was there, that they had some of the most memorable tag team matches of the 1990s, including one match on May 25, 1992 with

Kenta Kobashi is a Japanese former professional wrestler. He started his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 1988, where he became one of the promotion's top stars, holding the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship three times, and winning the Cham ...

and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi which received five stars from the ''

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four W ...

''. The match is memorable for having one of the loudest crowds in pro wrestling history. With Furnas, Kroffat would win the All Asia Tag Team Championship a record five times defeating the likes of Footloose, The British Bruisers, The Patriot and The Eagle, Joel Deaton and Billy Black. As a singles wrestler, Kroffat also won the World Junior Heavyweight Championship on two occasions.

Extreme Championship Wrestling (1996, 1997–1998)

The duo joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in late 1996, having a series of matches against Sabu and Rob Van Dam. At Fright Fight 1997, Lafon and Furnas were defeated by Shane Douglas and Chris Candido. In December 1997, The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Al Snow and Taz defeated Lafon, Rob Van Dam, Sabu and Doug Furnas. They won the ECW World Tag Team Championship from The Full Blooded Italians on December 5. Their reign would not last long, however, as they went on to lose the belts to Chris Candido and

Lance Storm Lance Timothy Evers (; born April 3, 1969), known professionally by his ring name Lance Storm, is a Canadians, Canadian retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), ...

the next day at Better Than Ever. Prior to the team's tag team title success LaFon had made an unsuccessful attempt to dethrone ECW Champion Shane Douglas in singles competition. On the January 7, 1998 episode of ''Hardcore TV'', LaFon, Doug Furnas, Rob Van Dam and Sabu lost to Al Snow, Taz, The Sandman and Tommy Dreamer in an eight-man tag team match. Lafon and Furnas also formed a short-lived stable of "invaders" from the WWF with Lance Wright, Brakkus and Droz.

World Wrestling Federation (1996–1997)

A few months later, both men made their

(WWF) debuts on November 17 at the Survivor Series

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...

. After failing to win the Tag Team Titles the duo began a slow heel turn and developed an anti American wrestling fan gimmick similar to that of The Hart Foundation. At In Your House 13: Final Four, Lafon and Furnas got a shot at the WWF Tag Team Championship where they defeated Owen Hart and the British Bulldog by disqualification but they did not win the titles. A few months into his WWF run, Lafon was in a car crash between Montreal and Ottawa. At WrestleMania 13, Lafon and Furnas competed in a Four-way elimination match to determine #1 contenders for the WWF Tag Team Championship which was won by

The Headbangers The Headbangers are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Mosh (Charles Warrington) and Thrasher (Glenn Ruth). As the name of the team implies, their gimmick is that they are a pair of metalheads, complete with heavy metal related T-sh ...

. At In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker, Lafon and Furnas competed in a dark match where they defeated

The Godwinns The Godwinns were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Dennis Knight (Phineas I. Godwinn) and Mark Canterbury (Henry O. Godwinn) that they used in the WWF. The team has used other gimmicks before they joined the WWF and had a gimmick c ...

. He returned in the fall of 1997 as full fledged heels most notably as a part of Team Canada at Survivor Series in his hometown

. LaFon would make a few more appearances with Furnas afterwards, mostly on Shotgun Saturday Night (notably with one match being against the then-unknown Hardy Boyz), before they were later sent to ECW.

Late career (1998–2014)

After leaving both WWF and ECW, Doug Furnas retired from wrestling as Lafon went his own ways. He wrestled in Mexico for

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Co., Ltd. (CMLL; , "World Wrestling Council") is a ''lucha libre'' professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City. The promotion was previously known as ''Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre'' (''EMLL'') (''Mexi ...

in 1998 as the Blue Blazer II. He returned to All Japan in 2000 and left in 2001. Lafon worked in the independents in Western Canada until retiring in 2006. Lafon was the Head Trainer of Monster Pro Wrestling (MPW) in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. On March 6, 2010 in Edmonton, he returned to the ring to compete with MPW after five years of being in retirement, due to nagging knee and shoulder injuries. He would wrestle his last match in 2014.

Personal life

In 2014, Lafon graduated from

NorQuest College NorQuest College is a publicly funded community college in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The student body is approximately 10,900 full-time or part-time credit students, and approximately 8,500 non-credit or continuing education students. Approximat ...

with a diploma in social work.

Championships and accomplishments

** All Asia Tag Team Championship ( 5 times) - with

** World Junior Heavyweight Championship (

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) ** World's Strongest Tag Determination League New Wave Award (1989) - with Doug Furnas ** World's Strongest Tag Determination League Power Award (1991) - with Doug Furnas * Extreme Championship Wrestling ** ECW World Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Doug Furnas *

Lutte Internationale Lutte Internationale (; "International Wrestling") was a professional wrestling promotion based in Montreal from 1980 until 1987. The promotion was founded by Frank Valois, André the Giant and Gino Brito as Promotions Varoussac (VAlois, ROUSSim ...

Canadian International Tag Team Championship The Canadian International Tag Team Championship was the tag team title in the Montreal-based wrestling promotion Lutte Internationale Lutte Internationale (; "International Wrestling") was a professional wrestling promotion based in Montreal ...

(

) - with Tom Zenk (1 time) and

Armand Rougeau Armand Rougeau is a Canadian former professional wrestler. He is the son of Jacques Rougeau, Sr. and brother of former World Wrestling Federation (WWF) wrestlers Jacques Rougeau, Jr. and Raymond Rougeau. He performed in Canada before he was hir ...

(1 time) *Monster Pro Wrestling **MPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Sonic Insania *''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publi ...

'' **Ranked No. 163 of the 500 top singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003 * Universal Wrestling Association ** UWA World Tag Team Championship (

) - with Doug Furnas * World Wrestling Council ** WWC World Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Tama ** WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Bobby Jaggers *''

'' ** Match of the Year (1992) with Doug Furnas vs. Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Sendai, May 25 ** Most Underrated Wrestler (1989)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lafon, Philip 1960 births Canadian male professional wrestlers Living people Professional wrestlers from Ontario Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan Professional wrestlers from Quebec ECW World Tag Team Champions Stampede Wrestling alumni 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers All Asia Tag Team Champions World Junior Heavyweight Champions (AJPW) UWA World Tag Team Champions