Jacques Rougeau reveals whether Pat Patterson ever had heat in WWE (Exclusive)
Jacques Rougeau (fka The Mountie) appeared on the latest episode of SK Wrestling’s Inside SKoop with Dr. Chris Featherstone. The former WWE Intercontinental Champion discussed Pat Patterson’s reputation backstage and revealed whether the Hall of Famer ever had heat with anyone.
Jacques Rougeau on Pat Patterson’s reputation
Pat Patterson passed away at the age of 79 last week. During a discussion about his legacy in the wrestling business, Dr. Chris Featherstone asked if Patterson had heat due to his French-Canadian roots. Rougeau, who is also French-Canadian, began by remembering that he personally experienced heat because of his background.
“We got heat too because we were speaking French and we have a nice complicity, you know. We talked about that on the last interview. We were just talking French but the guys not only saw the nice way that we got along good, but they couldn’t understand what we were saying.”
Rougeau said the situation reminded him of when he traveled on a bus in Mexico in 1978. He could not understand what the Mexicans were saying, so he assumed they were laughing and talking about him.
Regarding Pat Patterson having heat, Rougeau made it clear that nobody had a bad word to say about Vince McMahon’s right-hand man.
“Jacques Rougeau, yes! Not Pat. Jacques, yes. I had heat here and there but it wasn’t big heat, but it was heat. I had a big mouth. I was a kid in the dressing room anyway. I needed to grow up before I went there. I just forgot to grow up.
“But anyway, Pat Patterson was a great guy... I remember once or twice in maybe the 10 years that I was there, I remember once or twice where Pat would really get upset. He would really lose it and he’d say, ‘Alright, don’t talk to me anymore!’ That was it. You don’t do a lot of damage when you say, ‘Don’t talk to me anymore.’ It’s not like you’re sending anybody to hell.”
Pat Patterson made his wrestling debut in 1958 and went on to join WWE in 1979. Rougeau said he is glad that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon is giving Patterson the credit he deserves following his death.
“He was a great person and the wrestling business is gonna miss that man, and the WWF is gonna miss that man. But I liked one thing that I’m hearing, is that Vince McMahon is giving all the credibility back to him. Things that I haven’t seen but I’ve heard from friends and fans, and that’s awesome.”
Rougeau said on another edition of Inside SKoop that Pat Patterson’s position in WWE was not as easy as some might think. For example, Patterson sometimes had the responsibility of delivering bad news to Superstars when certain creative decisions had been changed.
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