Professional wrestling legend Pat Patterson of Montreal dies at 79

Pro wrestling trailblazer Pat Patterson has died at the age of 79.

WWE announced the passing of the Hall of Famer on Wednesday morning.

Born Pierre Clermont in Montreal, Patterson rose to prominence as a wrestler in the Pacific Northwest and San Francisco area during the 1960s and 1970s before moving to the New York-based World Wrestling Federation in 1979.

He was the first-ever intercontinental champion for the WWF _ now known as WWE _ before transitioning to a behind-the-scenes role in the 1980s.

Patterson worked with wrestlers to help them develop the narrative beats of their matches and specialized in coming up with memorable finales.

He was also the inventor of the Royal Rumble, a signature event on the WWE schedule that was first held in Hamilton in 1988.

Patterson rose to on-screen prominence again in the late 1990s, playing the role of a bumbling but villainous “stooge” to WWE owner Vince McMahon along with friend Gerald Brisco.

He legally changed his name to Pat Patterson in 2008.

Patterson was openly gay, having come out in the 1970s, but his sexual orientation was never directly acknowledged on television until 2014 when he spoke about it on a WWE-produced reality TV show.

Louie Dondero, Patterson’s longtime partner of 40 years, died of a heart attack in 1998.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2020.