Francois Miquet (January 17, 1920 – March 14, 2010) was a French/American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

who worked primarily in the

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under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projectin ...

Corsica Joe. As Corsica Joe he teamed up with

Jean Louis Roy Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * J ...

, who was billed as "Corsica Jean" to form a very successful

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

known as "The Corsicans". The Corsicans held a number of tag team championships, especially in the southern

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA began as a governing body for a ...

(NWA) territories of

NWA Mid-America NWA Mid-America was a professional wrestling promotion territory under the umbrella of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that promoted shows in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama from the 1940s until 1981. The company was founded in the 1940s by ...

, Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling,

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to a ...

and

Georgia Championship Wrestling Georgia Championship Wrestling was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Atlanta, Georgia. The promotion was affiliated with what had been the world's top sanctioning body of championship titles for decades before, the National ...

. He was the brother of

Felix Miquet Felix may refer to: * Felix (name), people and fictional characters with the name Places * Arabia Felix is the ancient Latin name of Yemen * Felix, Spain, a municipality of the province Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, ...

who was also a wrestler, but worked primarily in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He was married to female pro wrestler Sarah Lee, sometimes billed as "Sara Corsica".

Professional wrestling career

Miquet moved to the United States at some point before 1947 and made his

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

debut in 1947, using his real name as his

. In 1948 he defeated Bob Lortie to win the Canadian Junior Heavyweight Championship, a championship he was said to have held for two years. Miquet spent most of 1953 wrestling in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

where he used the name Billy Virag, possibly to avoid confusion with his brother Felix Miquet that was known in the wrestling circuits throughout Europe. In 1954 he worked as the masked ring character "Mr. M" in Germany before returning to the United States in mid-1954, once again billed under his birth name. After competing in the north eastern United States and Canada for several years Miquet began wrestling in the south east around 1957. In

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling Jim Crockett Promotions Inc. is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, restarted by Jim Crockett's son and Jim Crockett Jr's brother, David Crockett. Founded in 1931, the promo ...

he became known as "Corsica Joe", billing his as hailing from the French island of Corsica. A few months later wrestling promoters

Nick Gulas Nick Gulas (September 3, 1914 – January 21, 1991) was an American professional wrestling promoter in the Southern United States, partnered with Tennessee promoter Roy Welch for decades. Gulas was also known as "The King of Managers", "King B", ...

and Roy Welch in the

promotion teamed Miquet up with French-Canadian

, billing him as "Corsica Jean" to form a

known as "The Corsicans". The team became the first holders of the Mid-America version of the

NWA World Tag Team Championship The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed member promotions to create their own territorial version of the "NWA Worl ...

and over the next two of years the Corsicans held the championship on no less than seven occasions as well as the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship on three separate occasions. The Corsicans faced off against virtually every tag team in the NWA Mid-America promotion at the time, including The Fabulous Fargos (

Jackie Fargo Henry Faggart (June 26, 1930 – June 24, 2013) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Jackie Fargo. He competed in Southeastern regional promotions and the National Wrestling Alliance during the 1950s, 1960s and ...

and

Don Fargo Donald Vincent Kalt (October 3, 1930 – November 8, 2015), better known by his ring name Don Fargo, was a German-born American professional wrestler. During his career (which spanned from 1952 to 1986), he held over 55 championships including 14 ...

), Mike and Doc Gallagher,

Yvon Robert Yvon may refer to: * Yvon (given name), a masculine given name * Yvon (surname), a surname See also * Chapelle-Yvon * Evon * Ivon * Jaille-Yvon * Pierre-Yvon * Yvan * Yvonne (disambiguation) Yvonne is a female given name. Yvonne may also refer ...

and Billy Wicks, Don and Luke Fields and The Heavenly Bodies (Don and Al Greene). In mid-1959 the Corsicans toured Texas, working for the

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

based Southwest Sports, Inc. In Texas the duo won the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship on one occasion as well as the local version of the

. Miquet, as Corsica Joe also held the

NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship The NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title that has existed since the 1930s. Though its exact date of creation isn't known, it is among the oldest championships used in professional wrestling today. The title has us ...

for a few weeks. By 1960 the Corsicans were back in the south west, holding different versions of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship, including the Gulf Coast version twice, the Florida version once, the Georgia version twice, and the Mid-America version again. They also captured the Mid-America version of the World Tag Team Championship and

's NWA International Tag Team Championship. After years as a tag team the Corsicans finally split up in 1966, leaving Miquet to team with Chin Lee for one last run with the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship. In 1969 he briefly worked for Central States Wrestling as the masked Mephisto #2, and would work as the masked "The Blitzer" for NWA Mid-America in 1972. Miquet retired from wrestling in 1973 at the age of 52 or 53. Although retired in 1973, Joe did make appearances for the NWA World Wide area, with Bert Prentice being the promoter. Joe did team up with his wife in a match, in Nashville, against Clarence Santini (as Spunkmeyer) and Shorty Taylor. this was Joe's last match.

Personal life

Francois Miquet was the brother of

who was also a wrestler, but who worked primarily in the

so the two never worked together. Miquet was married to a female pro wrestler named Sarah Lee, sometimes billed as "Sara Corsica" or "Mrs. Corsica Joe", and they were together as husband and wife for almost 45 years of marriage until she died at the age of 76 in 2008. Miquet died on March 14, 2010 in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

at the age of 90. On 2008 Miquet, as Corsica Joe, was inducted into the

NWA Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Hall of Fame is an American professional wrestling hall of fame maintained by the National Wrestling Alliance, NWA. It was established in 2005 to honor select wrestling personalities, mostly alumni of the NWA. ...

Championships and accomplishments

Cauliflower Alley Club The Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America. Established in 1965 by Mike Mazurki and Art Abra ...

**Gulf Coast/CAC Honoree (2001) *

** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Florida version)'' ( 1 time) - with Corsica Jean *Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling ** Canadian Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) * Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling ** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Gulf Coast version)'' (

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outsid ...

) - with Corsica Jean *

** NWA International Tag Team Championship ''(Georgia version)'' (1 time) - with Corsica Jean ** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Georgia version)'' (

) - with Corsica Jean *

** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' ( 5 times) - with Corsica Jean ** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' ( 3 times) - with Corsica Jean (2), Chin Lee (1) **

NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship The NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship was a tag team title created in 1962, and contested in the National Wrestling Alliance's Tri-State territory, which was promoted by Leroy McGuirk (Arkansas and Oklahoma) and Jack Curtis and Aurelian "Gr ...

(''Alabama version'') ( 1 time) – with Masked Blitzer #2 * Southwest Sports, Inc. **

( 1 time) ** NWA Texas Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Corsica Jean **

NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) The Texas version (or East Texas version) of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was the main tag team professional wrestling championship in the Dallas/Houston-based Southwest Sports territory of the National Wrestling Alliance. While the name i ...

( 1 time) - with Corsica Jean *

(Class of 2008)

References

External links

*
Corsica Joe at ProWrestling.comCorsica Joe Wrestling Photos at BillcosOldSchoolWrestling.comRIP: Corsica Joe
at the

SLAM! Wrestling: Corsica Joe's love of wife and wrestling always shone through
at

Canadian Online Explorer Canoe.com is an English-language Canadian portal site and website network, and is a subsidiary of Postmedia Network. The phrase Canadian Online Explorer appears in the header; the name is also evidently a play on words on canoe (or ''canoë'' i ...

SLAM! Wrestling: Corsica Joe & Sara Lee: A love story
at

{{NWA World Tag Team Champions (Mid-America version) 1920 births 2010 deaths 20th-century professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers French emigrants to the United States French male professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Tennessee