The Beast and the Bear Hug

Jacob Cormier, grandson of Yvon “The Beast” Cormier, holds one of his favorite pictures of his retired wrestling grandfather.”

SACKVILLE - On March 4^th of 2009, Maritime wrestler Yvon “The Beast” Cormier passed away after losing his battle with lymphoma. He’s permanently out of the ring but the legend behind his name lives on.

Cormier was known for his look; short, rugged, weighing 250 pounds and large hair and beard; as well as his signature move, the bear hug. His grandson, Jacob Cormier explains that the move was a grapple move. “His special move was the bear hug,” he said. “He basically just squeezed you until you didn’t have a breath left in you.”

He had many names before settling on the Beast including Yvon the Lumberjack and Pierre LaBelle. His character in the ring started out evil but would change to the good guy. Everett Freeman, a college student, remembers seeing the Beast live. “He was a good wrestler,” Freeman said. “He started out as a villain. He was always a little bit on the evil side. He would have a few dirty tricks. Back then, it was more like having salt in your pocket and throwing them at the other wrestler and hair pulling.” He said that the wrestler remained in his evil character until he wrestled the Cuban Assassin; around the same time he changed his wrestler name to The Beast, as he is known today.

Freeman is not the only fan to remember the greatness that was the Beast. On Slam! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame’s website, where fans can read up on the former wrestler, many fans have posted their favorite memories of the wrestler, including John Greeley of Halifax, Nova Scotia. He wrote: “Beast also re-kindled his legendary feud with Cuban Assassin, climaxing with a bloody “chain match” in Halifax in August which, of course, Beast won. Think you’d ever see that sissy-boy HHH or that loudmouth blowhard Rock in a chain match? Uh—uh!!!” Greeley also wrote about the Beast making time for his fans. “Some of my favorite wrestling memories involve just chatting with Beast outside the Halifax Forum after a Grand Prix card,” he wrote. “Always a kind man, he always spoke well of his family, his horses, his wrestling opponents, and his love of the Maritimes.”

Jacob Cormier said the man he knew always had a sense of humor about him. “He always thought he was really, really funny,” he said. “He wasn’t that funny, but he seemed to think he was. Everyone else just kind of laughed anyway because he was a little shorter than a midget but he was built like a brick house so they would just laugh along to his really corny jokes.” Cormier also said that he was a real crowd pleaser, doing anything he could for the photographers. “We have a bunch of pictures of him holding just trees they had cut down for telephone poles,” he said. “They would get him to hold them above his shoulders to take pictures and stuff.” Cormier said that his grandfather did in fact try to pass some of his signature moves onto him but failed. “He tried,” he said. “But I’m a lot smaller than him though… I do have his hair but the hair apparently doesn’t give me his incredible strength.”

Even though his grandfather is gone, Cormier still misses the man behind the wrestler. He said his stories were always something he looked forward to. “He always had really cool stories to say,” Cormier said. Even when he was pissed off he always seemed like he was in a really good mood when he was around us. So, he was just a really nice person to sit down and have a conversation with even if it was about nothing.” He laughed thinking back on the memory. “He talk and I would just nod.” Cormier said he would always remember his grandfather and being able to meet all his rivals during his career.