Michel Lamarche

National Wrestling Alliance (1975–1978) After a two-year stint in the Mid-Atlantic territory teaming with Freddie Sweetan, Lamarche began wrestling for the Funk brothers in their Texas based promotion as "Mike 'The Judge' Dubois" in 1974 eventually winning the Texas Heavyweight Championship before moving on the Carolinas where he teamed with Jacques Goulet for two years, later losing to Dino Bravo & Tim Woods in the finals of a championship tournament for the vacant NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship on April 10, 1977.

While touring with Ivan Koloff, he later began wrestling as "Alexis Smirnoff" in San Francisco during 1977. While in the area, he advanced to the finals of a 10-man championship tournament to fill the vacant NWA U.S. Heavyweight Championship being eliminated by Pat Patterson on March 12 although he later defeated Patterson for the title a month later on April 16, 1977.

Although losing the title to Dean Ho on July 16, he later faced masked wrestler Texas Red as well as wrestling against Pepper Gomez in a "taped fist" match on November 13, 1977. He wrestled veterans such as Ray Stevens, Harley Race and The Sheik as well as younger wrestlers including Sgt. Slaughter, Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka during his time in San Francisco.

The following year, he also wrestled in the St. Louis-area teaming with "Bulldog" Bob Brown, Doug Somers, Jack Krueger and Joe Palardy in early 1978. On April 28, he wrestled two matches in one night substituting for Buddy Wolff in a singles match losing to Pat O'Connor and later teaming with Doug Somers and Bennie Ramirez in a 6-man tag team match to defeat Kevin Sullivan, Terry Gibbs and "Sailor" Art Thomas.

He also teamed with The Atomic wrestling to a double count-out against IWA Tag Team Champions Great Kusatsu & Animal Hamiguchi on January 8 and defeating Kimura in a rematch on January 28 in a best of three falls match (as the third pinfall was via disqualification, Kimura retained the title). He did, however, defeating Ronnie Garvin for the NWA Southeastern title knocking him out at the Knoxville Night of Champions on May 18, before losing the title back to Garvin on June 1, 1979.

Returning to Japan, he defeated Kimura in their third encounter finally winning the IWA World Heavyweight Championship on July 21, 1979, before losing the title back to Kimura four days later.

During July 1986, he teamed with Bad News Allen defeating Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki on July 20 and fought to a double count-out with Seiji Sakaguchi & George Takano on July 27 although, with Johnny Mantell, lost a 6-man tag team match to Antonio Inoki, Kengo Kimura and Tastumi Fujinami on July 29. After losing to Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura on August 1, he later appeared in a series of matches for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Tokyo's Sumo Hall teaming with Hacksaw Higgins against Seiji Sakaguchi & George Takano on August 5, 1986 and with Scott Hall against Takano and Umanosuke Ueda on June 12, 1987.

World Wrestling Federation (1983–1986) While on the east coast, he also wrestled matches for the World Wrestling Federation during the early 1980s wrestling several matches against WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana in late 1984 as well as George Wells, and teamed with The Spoiler against Bret Hart and David Sammartino in several tag team matches during early 1985. After a short lived feud with Ivan Putski and Rocky Johnson, he faced André the Giant, Ted Arcidi, Pedro Morales, Tony Garea, Dan Spivey, Blackjack Mulligan and substituted for Nikolai Volkoff in several tag team matches with The Iron Sheik during early 1986 including a match against WWF World Tag Team Champions Greg "The Hammer" Valentine & Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake on January 23 before eventually leaving the WWF after declining a request to cancel his contract with the IWA. although he soon left the promotion by the end of the year.

Following his retirement in 1988, he eventually opened a wrestling school and appeared in commercials for car dealerships in the San Francisco-area and the Golden State Warriors. He also appeared in several movies during the 1980s including Bad Guys, Body Slam, Alcatraz 2000 and frequently appeared on the television series The Fall Guy.

Personal life The Cauliflower Alley Club's Facebook page posted the following about Lamarche on January 4, 2019: "Alexis Smirnoff is in hospice care in Marietta, Georgia, with kidney failure. The prognosis is grim. Please keep Alexis and his family in your thoughts and prayers." Smirnoff died on January 5, 2019.

Championships and accomplishments Big Time Wrestling (San Francisco) NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (San Francisco version) (1 time) NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version) (1 time) – with Bob Roop Cauliflower Alley Club Men's Wrestling Award (2018) Central States Wrestling NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship (1 time) NWA World Tag Team Championship (Central States version) (1 time) – with Bob Brown Eastern Sports Association ESA International Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Fred Sweetan Georgia Championship Wrestling NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ivan Koloff International Wrestling Association (Montreal) Montreal International Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Montreal International Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Fidel Castillo International Wrestling Enterprise IWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Lutte Internationale IW International Heavyweight Championship (1 time) IW International Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Pierre Lefebvre IW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time) National Wrestling Alliance NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time) 1 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Ranked No. 319 in the top 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2003