Gilles Poisson

Gilles Poisson (born 1946) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler, known by his ring name Pierre or Gilles "The Fish" Poisson, who competed in North American regional promotions including the American Wrestling Association, International Wrestling, Grand Prix Wrestling, Maple Leaf Wrestling, Pacific Northwest Wrestling and Stampede Wrestling during the 1970s and 1980s.

With manager "Classie" Freddie Blassie, he also had a brief stint as Louis Cyr in the World Wide Wrestling Federation. During his time in the WWWF, he feuded with Dominic DeNucci, "Irish" Pat Barrett and WWWF World Tag Team Champions Tony Parisi and Louis Cerdan throughout 1976.

Some websites refer to him as Charles Berger, but as he mentioned in an interview for SLAM! Wrestling, he doesn't know where that originated.

Career

Early career Making his professional debut in 1970, Poisson wrestled in Quebec and the Maritimes during his early career and also made an appearance in Stampede Wrestling as Alex the Butcher losing to Billy Robinson at the Exhibition Auditorium in Regina, Saskatchewan on January 15, 1970.

A mainstay of Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling, he held the Grand Prix Tag Team Championship with Killer Kowalski before eventually losing the titles to Dino Bravo and Gino Brito in Verdun, Quebec on November 20, 1972.

One of the top "heels" in the Montreal-area during the 1970s, an estimated 29,000 were in attendance when he and André the Giant fought to a no contest at the 1973 Grand Prix Wrestling Stadium Show at Jarry Park in July 1973.

Returning to Stampede Wrestling during the mid-1970s, he defeated John Quinn in a 2-out-of-3 falls match in Calgary, Alberta on January 9 to win a title shot against Stampede North American Heavyweight Champion Frankie Laine. He would also defeat Quinn in a rematch the following night in Edmonton, Alberta.

On January 16, he defeated Frankie Laine in a 2–3 falls match for the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship in Calgary. Although losing to Laine by disqualification twice during the next week, he held the title for eight days before finally losing back to Laine in Edmonton on January 24. and, in 1982, defeated Gino Brito and Rick McGraw for the NWA International Tag Team titles with Sailor White before losing the titles to Gino Brito and Tony Parisi later that year. Berger would continue wrestling for International Wrestling and remained one of its top stars during the last years of his career.

He had a try-out for the WWF in June 1985. In one of his last matches, he and Man Mountain Moore lost to Mad Dog Vachon and Jos Leduc at the Paul Sauve Centre on Montreal on October 13, 1986.

Championships and accomplishments Lutte Internationale Canadian International Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Sailor White Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI ranked him # 326 of the 400 best singles wrestlers of the PWI's WWE Top 400 in 2003 Stampede Wrestling Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (2 times)