PCO (wrestler)

Carl Ouellet (born December 30, 1967) is a Canadian professional wrestler better known by his ring name PCO. He is known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (as Pierre and Jean-Pierre LaFitte) and with World Championship Wrestling (under his real name) during the 1990s. Throughout the 1990s, he regularly teamed with Jacques Rougeau as the Quebecers and the Amazing French Canadians, winning the WWF Tag Team Championship on three occasions. After retiring in 2011, Ouellet returned to the ring in 2016, undergoing a career renaissance with the gimmick of PCO: "part beast-turned-man, part old-time strongman". From 2018 to 2021, Ouellet wrestled for Ring of Honor (ROH), where he was a ROH World Champion, ROH World Tag Team Champion, and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion. He joined TNA in 2022, winning the TNA Digital Media Championship before departing at the end of 2024.

Carl Ouellet debuted in 1987 on the independent circuit. In the late-1980s, he wrestled for Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling as "Super Bee #1", teaming with Super Bee #2 as the "Super Bees". In 1991, he wrestled for All Star Wrestling in the United Kingdom as "Wild Carl Wallace". In 1992, he wrestled for the International Championship Wrestling Alliance in Florida as "Bash the Terminator", teaming with Crash the Terminator as "the Terminators". From October to December 1992, Ouellet (again as Wild Carl Wallace) wrestled for the Catch Wrestling Association in Germany. He also regularly appeared on New Catch on Eurosport (filmed in France), teaming with Brick Crawford as Double Trouble. From January 1993 to April 1993, he wrestled for Capitol Sports Promotions in Puerto Rico as "Killer Karl Wallace". In May 1993, Ouellet (as "Bash the Terminator") wrestled in Japan with W*ING as part of its Danger Road tour.

While working in Puerto Rico, Ouellet was offered a try-out with the World Wrestling Federation, and he signed with the promotion later that year.

In July 1993, Ouellet debuted in the World Wrestling Federation as the tag team partner of Jacques Rougeau. As one half of The Quebecers, Ouellet adopted the name "Pierre" and dressed like Mounties. This was a reference to Jacques's previous gimmick, The Mountie, which had been banned in Canada due to concern that the heelish character of The Mountie would lead to children mistrusting legitimate Mounties. The Quebecers sang their own entrance theme, in which they stated that, contrary to appearances, "We're not the Mounties". Later in the year they were joined by manager, Johnny Polo.

The Quebecers held the WWF Tag Team Championship on three occasions. On September 13, 1993, they defeated the Steiner Brothers for the tag titles (under "Province of Quebec Rules", which provided for titles changing hands on disqualifications). They were defeated by 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Jannetty on January 10, 1994, and again by Men on a Mission on March 29 (during a tour of England) but each time regained the titles within days. They lost the belts a third and final time to The Headshrinkers on the May 2 episode of Monday Night Raw in Burlington, Vermont. After the Quebecers lost to the Headshrinkers at a house show in July 1994, Pierre attacked Jacques, breaking up the team.

Pierre began wrestling singles matches, primarily at house shows and in dark matches. Pierre defeated Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon by count out on October 2, 1994, at a house show in Cornwall, Ontario. On October 21, 1994, the former partners wrestled one another in Rougeau's retirement match in Montreal, main-eventing a sold-out Montreal Forum. During the rest of 1994 and early 1995, Pierre continued to work in dark matches and house shows wrestling against Bob Holly, and Aldo Montoya.

In March 1995, Ouellet was repackaged as "Jean-Pierre LaFitte", the supposed descendant of the pirate Jean LaFitte. As a pirate he wore an eyepatch over his blind right eye. He engaged in a three-month feud with Bret Hart and stole the mirrored sunglasses that Hart handed to fans at ringside and Hart's trademark leather jacket. At In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks in July 1995, Hart defeated LaFitte in a dark match.

In September 1995, Ouellet's WWF career was allegedly derailed due to legitimate conflict with The Kliq, a backstage group including main-event wrestlers Shawn Michaels and Diesel. According to Shane Douglas, who was working with the company at that time, a match pitting LaFitte against Nash, then the WWF Champion, in a Montreal Forum house show in LaFitte's hometown of Montreal was booked to end without a clean finish, with Lafitte winning by either DQ or countout, enabling the WWF to return to Montreal for a rematch at a later time. However, due to backstage politicking by Shawn Michaels the booking was reversed into a clean pinfall for Diesel. In turn, LaFitte refused to be pinned by Diesel and the match ended in a double-countout. Due to his refusal to put Diesel over, LaFitte was buried due to the Kliq's influence.