Athletes - John LeRoux

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	Athletes - John LeRoux

John Mark LeRoux (born November 22, 1976 in Lafayette, Louisiana) is a Cajun American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Lash LeRoux. His ring name is a take off of Cajun western movie star Lash La Rue.

Career

LeRoux was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, but moved to Oxford, Alabama at an early age. He attended Oxford High School, where he was a junior high state champion 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. However, he later decided to take a year out in order to focus on his burgeoning career as a cartoonist.

World Championship Wrestling

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 LaRoux for several months, often losing squash matches to more established wrestlers. He debuted on Nitro on February 1, 1999 as Lash LeRoux, losing to then WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman.

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 losers were carried from the arena inside a body bag and locked in the trunk of a car.

LeRoux and Disco quietly disbanded, and in late 1999 LeRoux returned to the Power Plant, where he worked as an assistant trainer. He appeared sporadically on television, teaming with Midnight and pursuing the Cruiserweight Championship once more. He was fired (kayfabe) 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 Millionaires 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 Championships 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 WCW United States Championship and renamed it the "Canadian Heavyweight Championship".

The M.I.A. gradually disbanded in late 2000 and early 2001, with the departure of Loco and Sergeant A.W.O.L. precipitating the end of the stable. On January 23, 2001 the leader of the M.I.A., General Rection, requested LeRoux's M.I.A. shirt, informing him that he had been "honourably discharged". LeRoux began wrestling as Lash LeRoux once more, and returned to the cruiserweight division. His last appearance on WCW television was on the February 19 episode of Nitro, where he challenged United States Champion Rick Steiner and was easily defeated.

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