Lash LeRoux

Mark LeRoux (born November 22, 1976) is an American cartoonist, caricature artist and retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Lash LeRoux. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling from the late-1990s to early-2000s.

LeRoux grew up in Oxford, Alabama. He attended Oxford High School, where he was a junior high state finalist in amateur wrestling in two successive years. In his junior year he came third in the varsity state tournament. LeRoux also played football for the Oxford High Yellow Jackets, and in 1993 his team won the Alabama State Football Championship. After graduating from high school, LeRoux attended Jacksonville State University, studying towards a pre-med degree. He later decided to take a year out in order to focus on his burgeoning career as a cartoonist.

In 1997 LeRoux saw an advertisement for the WCW Power Plant (the professional wrestling school owned and operated by World Championship Wrestling) on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro. LeRoux qualified to train in the Power Plant, meeting the arduous physical qualifications, and trained throughout 1998, with his first match being a loss to Perry Saturn in mid-1998. He was promoted to the main roster in July 1998, and wrestled on WCW Saturday Night, WCW WorldWide and WCW Thunder as "Mark LeRoux" for several months, often losing squash matches.

LeRoux debuted on Nitro on February 1, 1999, as "Lash LeRoux", a take off of Cajun western movie star Lash LaRue, losing to then-Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman. It was this match that caught the eyes of WCW officials, and he was signed to an official contract with World Championship Wrestling. LeRoux's character spoke with a broad Cajun accent.

LeRoux competed primarily in the cruiserweight division. He feuded with Disco Inferno over the Cruiserweight Championship, and lost to Disco in a title match at Halloween Havoc 1999. Shortly afterwards, LeRoux and Disco joined forces against the New York gangster Tony Marinara and his henchmen, The Mamalukes, who were owed money by the compulsive gambler Disco. They faced Big Vito and Johnny The Bull in a tag team match at Starrcade 1999, but lost following a miscommunication between the partners. After the match, the unconscious Disco Inferno was carried from the arena inside a body bag and locked in the trunk of a car.

He appeared sporadically on television, teaming with Midnight and pursuing the Cruiserweight Championship once more. He was fired in storyline by WCW President Eric Bischoff in April 2000 for not helping to protect him from Diamond Dallas Page, whose wife Kimberly had betrayed him in order to align herself with Bischoff.

LeRoux and several other wrestlers who had been fired by the disgruntled President returned several weeks later as the Misfits In Action (M.I.A.), a military-themed stable who were unwilling to align themselves with either the heel New Blood or the face Millionaire's Club. All of the Misfits were given ranks, with LeRoux known as "Corporal Cajun".

The M.I.A. feuded with the New Blood, with LeRoux helping Lieutenant Loco retain his Cruiserweight Championship. LeRoux and Loco won the WCW World Tag Team Championship on October 9, 2000, in Sydney, Australia, defeating New Blood members Mark Jindrak and Sean O'Haire, but lost the belts just minutes later in an instant rematch ordered by commissioner Mike Sanders (also a New Blood member). The M.I.A. also feuded with Team Canada, who had taken possession of the United States Heavyweight Championship and renamed it the "Canadian Heavyweight Championship", during which time M.I.A.'s valet, Major Gunns turned on them and joined Team Canada.