La Résistance was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

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 establis ...

and former

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

who performed for

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

. The name of the team is a reference to the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

History

World Wrestling Entertainment

Debut

The stable was created when WWE aired

vignette Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...

s of two arrogant "Frenchmen" (

Sylvain Grenier Sylvain Grenier (born March 26, 1977) is a Canadian retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He is best known for his time wrestling for WWE between 2002 ...

and René Duprée, who are both actually French-Canadians) attacking the United States and its policy from a French news studio. Grenier and Duprée made their first appearance on the April 28, 2003, edition of '' Raw'' as La Résistance by attacking then-babyface,

Scott Steiner Scott Rechsteiner (born July 29, 1962), better known by the ring name Scott Steiner, is an American professional wrestler. Steiner is perhaps best known for his time in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and has also wrestled for Jim Crockett ...

. Steiner had made remarks two weeks earlier comparing France to hell and Grenier and Duprée were offended. La Résistance went on to feud with Scott Steiner and

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

who was forced to be Steiner's tag team partner by Stacy Keibler, La Résistance ended up defeating Steiner and Test at

Judgment Day The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, res ...

on May 18, 2003, in the team's pay-per-view debut. Their most notorious insult to the United States came on

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

in 2003 when they interrupted ''Raw'' announcer Lilian Garcia as she was singing

America the Beautiful "America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Church (Newark), Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New ...

. After several minutes of Grenier calling America barbarians and saying that France would not allow the US to be the police force of the world, the sound of glass shattering suddenly filled the arena when

Steve Austin Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson and later Steven James Williams; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American media personality, actor, producer and retired Professional wrestling, profes ...

cleared the ring of La Résistance and said some unflattering remarks about the French nation. On the May 26, 2003, edition of ''Raw'', Grenier defeated

Rob Van Dam Robert Szatkowski (born December 18, 1970) better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam (frequently abbreviated to RVD) is an American professional wrestler. Known for his unique ring style—which includes his variety of kicks, acrobatic movemen ...

in a Flag match to win a

World Tag Team Championship In professional wrestling, a championship or title is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in predetermined rival ...

shot. Grenier and Duprée went on to win the World Tag Team Championship from Kane and Rob Van Dam at Bad Blood.

Addition of Robert Conway

In mid 2003 the decision was made to add a third member, Rob Conway, who posed as an American serviceman being abused by Grenier and Duprée. When

The Dudley Boyz The Dudley Boyz (also known as Team 3D) are an American professional wrestling tag team who consisted of kayfabe half-brothers Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley. The team was also joined by various Dudley Brothers, Dudley family members, notably ...

came out to attack La Résistance they brought Conway in the ring with an American flag. Once the Dudley Boyz had their backs turned to Conway, he attacked them with the American flag and then tore it off the pole and laid it on top of them. La Resistance lost the titles at Unforgiven 2003 in a three on two handicapped tables match to the

Dudley Boyz The Dudley Boyz (also known as Team 3D) are an American professional wrestling tag team who consisted of kayfabe half-brothers Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley. The team was also joined by various Dudley family members, notably Spike Dudley and ...

. The trio went on to

feud A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...

with several other tag teams, including Hurricane and Rosey, and the team of Garrison Cade and Mark Jindrak before Grenier suffered a back injury in October 2003. Duprée and Conway would hold the team together until Grenier's return on the March 15, 2004, edition of ''Raw'', but the stable was broken up the very next week when Duprée was drafted in a lottery by WWE's other brand, SmackDown. At

WrestleMania XX WrestleMania XX was a 2004 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the 20th annual WrestleMania and took place on March 14, 2004, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New Yor ...

, La Résistance competed in a Fatal 4-Way match for the World Tag Team Championship where

Booker T Booker T or Booker T. may refer to * Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), African American political leader at the turn of the 20th century ** List of things named after Booker T. Washington, some nicknamed "Booker T." * Booker T. Jones (born 194 ...

and

retained the titles.

Conway and Grenier

While Duprée went to '' SmackDown'' and established his French Phenom persona, Conway and Grenier were left to keep La Résistance together as a unit. (neither Duprée nor the La Résistance tag team changed their entrance music.) Conway began being billed as Robért Conway (pronounce Robe-air), and he and Grenier began being announced as hailing from

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

(later changed to simply the

Province of Quebec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

) instead of France and wore new ring attire with the blue and white colours of Quebec along with the traditional

fleur-de-lis The ''fleur-de-lis'', also spelled ''fleur-de-lys'' (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a common heraldic charge in the (stylized) shape of a lily (in French, and mean and respectively). Most notably, the ''fleur-de-lis'' ...

. Several months after the loss of Duprée, La Résistance went on to defeat

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

and

Chris Benoit Christopher Michael Benoit ( ; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career, but is notorious for Chris Benoit double-murd ...

for the World Tag Team Titles in Grenier's home town of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, to a standing ovation. With the help of Raw

General manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Eric Bischoff Eric Aaron Bischoff (born May 27, 1955) is an American television producer, Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Booker, professional wrestling booker, promoter, and performer. He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later Sen ...

, La Résistance managed to keep hold of the titles for five months, but at the first interactive PPV Taboo Tuesday they had to defend their titles against the two Superstars who were not voted for by the fans to get a World Heavyweight Championship shot at

Triple H Paul Michael Levesque (; born July 27, 1969), also known by the ring name Triple H, is an American business executive and former professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as its chief content officer. Levesque began his wres ...

. This stipulation meant they would either face the team of Edge and Benoit, Edge and

Shawn Michaels Shawn Michaels (born Michael Shawn Hickenbottom on July 22, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is the Senior Vice President of Talent Development, Creative, and oversees the creative aspects of th ...

, or Benoit and Michaels. During Taboo Tuesday, the announcement was made that Shawn Michaels had been voted for a title shot with 38.72% of the vote compared to Edge's 33.42% and Benoit's 27.86%; this meant La Résistance would meet Edge and Benoit in a rematch of their championship victory five months earlier. They would lose the titles to Edge and Benoit, even though Edge left the arena half-way through the match leaving Benoit to win the match on his own. As Grenier and Conway invoked their rematch clause thirteen days later on Raw, the dissension between Benoit and Edge would continue and finally be their undoing as La Résistance won the titles back. Soon after, on the November 15, 2004, edition of Raw, La Résistance lost the World Tag Team Championship again, this time to Eugene and

William Regal Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968), better known by the ring name William Regal, is an English retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he serves as the vice-president of Global Talent Development. He is also known for ...

. Grenier and Conway managed to win the World Tag Team Championship for the third time together and fourth since the creation of the stable. This championship win was a rare one since it was won at a Raw-brand

house show A house show (also commonly called a live event) is a professional wrestling event produced by a major Professional wrestling promotion, promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in o ...

on January 16, 2005, in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Manitoba. This time, La Résistance defeated Regal and

Jonathan Coachman Jonathan William Coachman (born August 12, 1973), also known as "The Coach", is an American sports analyst and former professional wrestling personality. Early life Before embarking on an announcing career in professional wrestling, Coachman w ...

, who was taking the place of the legitimately injured Eugene (who would miss several months due to a left patella tear at ''

New Year's Revolution WWE New Year's Revolution is a professional wrestling event produced by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event was created in 2005 and its name is a play on the Western tradition of New Year's resolutions, being ...

)''. Grenier and Conway soon lost the belts back to Regal and his tag team partner Tajiri, on an episode of ''Raw'' taking place from Tajiri's hometown of

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. La Résistance repeatedly attempted to regain the gold (mainly on '' Sunday Night Heat'') from Regal and Tajiri in many different matches but just fell short during each one. During their "last shot" for the gold the team thought they had won back the titles only to have the decision reversed by referee Mike Chioda due to La Résistance's Grenier pinning Tajiri, not Regal, who was the legal man. La Résistance went on to lose the match. On the March 14 episode of ''Raw'', La Résistance were defeated by The Rockers (

and Marty Jannetty) in a Rockers's Reunion. At

WrestleMania 21 WrestleMania 21, also promoted as WrestleMania Goes Hollywood, was a 2005 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the 21st annual WrestleMania and took place on April 3, 2005, at ...

, La Résistance competed in a 30-man Battle Royal which was won by

. While this was to be their last chance to win back the gold from Regal and Tajiri, the team were given one more chance during a Tag Team Turmoil match during

Backlash Backlash may refer to: Literature * '' Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women'', a 1991 book by Susan Faludi * ''Backlash'' (Star Wars novel), a 2010 novel by Aaron Allston * Backlash (Marc Slayton), a comic book character from ...

. In the match, La Résistance managed to eliminate the champions but were still unable to win the match and regain the titles as they were defeated by the winners of the match, Rosey and The Hurricane. The next night on ''Raw'', La Résistance tried again to win the titles in a match against the new champions but were unsuccessful again. They would feud with Hurricane and Rosey, having various filler matches on multiple pay-per-view events.

Disbanding

Grenier and Conway went into singles competition with announcers claiming that the members of La Résistance were trying to "one up" each other in singles matches without the other man in their corner. This saw Conway defeat a jobber and

Val Venis Sean Allen Morley (born March 6, 1971), better known by his ring name Val Venis, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE) from 1998 to 20 ...

, while Grenier was defeated by both Val Venis and

Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, rock musician, and actor. As a wrestler, he has been signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) , where he ...

before both men competed in a triple threat match (against Intercontinental Champion Shelton Benjamin for the title), Benjamin won the match, not long after the La Résistance members began to argue and fight. This altercation between the two led to a taped main event match on June 6, 2005, for the June 12 episode of '' Sunday Night Heat''. This match saw Rob Conway portray the

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exerted ...

character, and defeat Sylvain Grenier. On June 30, 2005, Grenier and Dupree were last minute trades in the 2005 WWE Draft, which saw Grenier leave ''Raw'' to go to ''SmackDown!'' and Dupree come back to ''Raw''.

Reformations

On April 3, 2006, Rene Duprée and Rob Conway teamed together in a

dark match Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of jargon throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that o ...

before ''Raw'', in a losing effort against The Highlanders While in WWE Developmental Territory,

Ohio Valley Wrestling Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) is an American professional wrestling promotion, professional wrestling promotion and former developmental territory based in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is currently run by Al Snow, Matt Jones (radio host), Ma ...

, Conway and Grenier briefly reteamed as La Résistance in a match on November 15, 2006, to earn an OVW Southern Tag Team Championship match by defeating the reigning champions, Cody Runnels and

Shawn Spears Ronnie William Arneill (born February 19, 1981), better known by his ring name Shawn Spears, is a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and trainer. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the WWE NXT, NXT WWE brand extension, ...

. However the team would not win the title match. On February 20, 2007, as La Résistance Dupree and Grenier made their return as a tag team on the ECW brand defeating Los Luchas, but on March 1, 2007, Dupree was suspended due to a violation of the Health and Wellness policy. This left Grenier and Conway to team together again in OVW and dark matches for the next couple months until May 11, 2007, when Conway was released from WWE. On July 26, 2007, Duprée was also released from his WWE contract. On August 13, 2007, Grenier was released from his WWE contract officially ending the WWE careers of all three La Résistance members.

Independent circuit (2008–2009, 2016–2017)

On August 30, 2008, Grenier and Conway, as La Résistance, defeated Jay Phenomenon and Karl Briscoe to win the NCW Tag Team Championships. On March 21, 2009, Grenier and Conway as La Résistance defeated Les Titans (Bishop and Chakal) to become the new TOW Tag Team Champions. On September 25, 2009, they lost the titles when they were defeated by Al Snow and Pierre Carl Ouellet. On November 5, 2016, Grenier and Duprée reunited to defeat Michael Von Payton and Platinum Preston Perry at Great North Wrestling: Star Stampede in Hawkesbury, ON. On November 6, 2016, Duprée and Grenier were part of a four corners Tag Team match for the CRW Tag Team Championships against the champions TDT (Mathieu St-Jacques and Thomas Dubois) and two other teams 3.0 (Scott Parker and Shane Matthews) and The Holy Alliance (Genesis and Paul Rosetti), TDT went on to retain the titles. On August 12, 2017, Grenier and Duprée defeated Kryss Thorn and Scotty O'Shea to win the Canadian Wrestling Federation Tag Team Championship.

Members

Championships and accomplishments

*Canadian Wrestling Federation **CWF Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – Duprée and Grenier *Fortitude Wrestling Entertainment **FWE Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – Conway and Grenier * Northern Championship Wrestling **NCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Conway and Grenier *Top of the World Wrestling **TOW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Conway and Grenier *

( 4 times) – Duprée and Grenier (1) and Conway and Grenier (3) *

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 Wee ...

** Worst Tag Team (2003) – Duprée and Grenier

References

External links

Brawling for Baguettes: October 2003
{{DEFAULTSORT:Resistance, La Championship-winning tag teams (WWE) ECW (WWE) teams and stables Independent promotions teams and stables WWE teams and stables