Quebec in the arena | The fight enters the museum

In the center of the ring erected next to the ticket office of the Musée de la civilization de Québec, the wrestler Loue O’Farrell, who had been entrusted with hosting the inauguration of the exhibition Quebec in the arena, couldn’t believe it. ” It’s crazy ! Never in my life would I have thought that wrestling would enter the museum. »

“In 2007, 2008, when I started wrestling, the people I talked to about wrestling always looked at me a little funny,” he told The Press the one who recently crossed the 500-day milestone as Junior Heavyweight champion of North Shore Pro Wrestling, the Quebec federation which presents some of its galas at the Diamond.

And it is this same mixture of disbelief and enchantment that lit up the eyes of the guests present Tuesday morning, including several representatives of the wrestling community, who remember all too well the long period during which their community sparked the laughter of neophytes, even contempt.

For several of these sometimes colorful, sometimes taciturn men, the very idea that a museum as well as one of the greatest directors in Quebec dedicate a vast exhibition to their discipline, often looked down upon given its predetermined nature, was as incredible as seeing the Brooklyn Brawler pin Hulk Hogan’s shoulders to the mat.

Robert Lepage in Saint-Magloire

” What ? They recreated the Tower! », exclaims before our eyes, like a kid, Jean Baillargeon Junior, son of one of the six Baillargeon brothers (Jean, Charles, Adrien, Lionel, Paul and Antonio) from the county of Bellechasse, who, from the 1940s to the 1970, sowed both terror and wonder throughout the province thanks to their demonstrations of force and their capture of the bear.

“That’s my proof of identity,” he says, holding out his bear paw to us, bigger than our two hands combined. The gentle giant, of a respectable age, never had the chance to see his father wrestle at the Tower, this mecca of popular entertainment whose doors were open from 1936 to 1965, in the Saint-Roch district of Quebec. Hence his emotion.

“We didn’t believe it when we were called to tell us that Robert Lepage was interested in the Baillargeon brothers,” explained the colossus, whose family runs a museum in Saint-Magloire, where the creator of the Seven Branches of the Ōta River showed up one day with his collaborators Steve Blanchet and Nadia Bellefeuille. Some pieces from their collection will be held at the Musée de la civilization next year.

“That’s my grandfather’s jacket,” exclaimed Robert Saint-Jean, grandson of the Maurice Richard of wrestling, Yvon Robert. No need to beg him to delight us with his anecdotes about the Ferré Giant, for whom he has already prepared lunch – “a whole loaf of bread!” » – with his grandmother. “For me, it’s a great day. »

Mirror, mirror

In someone else’s hands, this exhibition could certainly have been much more mundane, or at least, aimed only at connoisseurs. But the touch of Ex Machina can be felt everywhere in the four large rooms that comprise Quebec in the arena and in which Robert Lepage had fun placing the mirror in the service of his telling of the history of the struggle in Quebec.

A choice that is not innocent, the mirror evoking the figure of the double, very enlightening when the time comes to reflect on the world of wrestling, where men – and more and more women! – often embody truer versions of themselves, but to whom this theater of muscles and sweat also allows them to exacerbate what is most vile about the human race. In other words: in wrestling, the border between reality and its fictional reflection sometimes turns out to be very thin.

Visitors will be invited to enter a changing room, in which a tricked mirror allows them to see themselves among the heroes of the mattress, who are waiting for their turn to do their antics. Broadcast on a small screen, in this room, a unique interview with the legendary and extremely rare Rick Martel, as humble in the city as he was once narcissistic in the ring.

“It was very demanding on my body, wrestling nine to ten times a week,” confides the ex-WWE star in pictures, an opportunity to remember that for the joints of those who gave us stars in the eyes, the fight had absolutely nothing artificial. “I suffered the consequences. »

The struggle is us

The visit to the exhibition begins in a barn, the first room documenting how wrestling was born in the 19th century.^e century, from the left buttock of the world of fairgrounds and strong men. The second room celebrates the golden age of wrestling in Quebec, under the tutelage of three of its great figures: Yvon Robert, Édouard Carpentier and Johnny Rougeau. In the penultimate room there is a gigantic reproduction of the exterior of Madison Square Garden, the North American temple of struggle where so many French Canadians triumphed.

This will be the most Planet Hollywood portion of the exhibition, and the most enjoyable for the big child who is writing this text. Rick Martel’s Arrogance atomizer, Luna Vachon’s corset, a chair signed by Bret Hart from the 1997 Survivor Series during which the Montreal Screwjob occurred: it’s all there. As well as dozens and dozens of figurines, in exchange for which we know several who would agree to cash in a Kevin Owens Stunner.

And because for Robert Lepage, it is always essential that Quebec dialogue with the planet, Quebec in the arena concludes with a trip around the world, to meet different forms of wrestling, such as kalaripayattu, capoeira or shuai jiao.

“Robert Lepage brought wrestling to a higher level,” rejoiced commentator Marc Blondin, who ran the show for a long time. Nitro from WCW to RDS; he was present on Tuesday with his friend Pierre Carl Ouellet.

“Often, I was told: “Oh yeah, you liven up the fight”, in a certain tone, as if it was worth nothing. Whereas, however, wrestling is theater, circus, entertainment. The fight is us! »

Struggle. Quebec in the arenauntil April 20, 2025 at the Musée de la civilization de Québec

Part of the costs of this report was paid by the Musée de la civilization de Québec, which had no right to review its content.

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