Rene Dupree

Dupree in September 2019

###

Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

**René Emile Goguen** (born December 15, 1983) is a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name **René Duprée**, currently working for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), where he is a former two-time GHC Tag Team Champion.

Goguen is best known for his tenure in World Wrestling Entertainment, where he is a one-time World Tag Team Champion with Sylvain Grenier as the tag team La Résistance and a one-time WWE Tag Team Champion with Kenzo Suzuki. By winning the World Tag Team Championship, Goguen became the youngest wrestler to win the tag team title at 19 years old. He is also the youngest champion of any kind in WWE, and the only wrestler in WWE to win a title as a teenager. He has also worked for Japanese promotions All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Wrestle-1 (W-1) and Hustle. He is the son of Canadian Maritimes wrestling promoter Emile Duprée.

## Professional wrestling career

### Grand Prix Wrestling (1996-2003)

As his father Emile was a wrestling promoter, Goguen was exposed and encouraged into wrestling at a young age. Goguen became a professional wrestler in 1997 at age 14, and began working for his father's Grand Prix Wrestling promotion. A few years later, he signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment, and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling to further develop his skills.

### Hustle (2007–2009)

Gougen debuted for the Japanese promotion Hustle on August 15, 2007 under the name "René Bonaparte", defeating fellow WWE alumnus Tajiri. After debuting, René became a member of President Nobuhiko Takada's Takada Monster Army thus continuing his winning streak. Bonaparte and Wataru wrestled their grudge match was on September 22, with the stipulation being that Wataru's wife, Eiko, was to become the wife of the winner of the match. Bonaparte defeated his tag team partner Sakata via disqualification, thus winning Eiko. After a brief hiatus, Bonaparte made his return to the promotion in January 2008 and defeated Tajiri. His undefeated streak came to an end on January 17, when he and Giant Vabo lost to Tajiri and KUSHIDA. In July 2008, he lost the first round of the HUSTLE GP to Toshiaki Kawada. Goguen debuted a new masked gimmick, Dina Sharp, and teamed with Mighty Sharp, this gimmick didn't last long with them dropping the gimmick after only two shows. In April to May 2009, Bonaparte teamed with Lance Cade and stayed undefeated in tag team matches until they lost twice to Tajiri and Magnum Tokyo. In June, Bonaparte teamed with Travis Tomko as Armageddon, where Tomko was named Arma and Bonaparte was named Geddon. In July, Geddon turned on Arma and reverted to his René Bonaparte name before defeating Arma. Goguen wrestled his final match for Hustle on October 10, where his team lost a five-on-five tag team match.

### All Japan Pro Wrestling

#### Voodoo Murders (2008, 2010–2011)

On June 22, 2008, Goguen debuted for All Japan Pro Wrestling under his René Duprée ring name and defeated Manabu Soya. During his short stint in 2008 he aligned himself with the Voodoo Murders stable where he teamed up with TARU mostly.

On January 2, 2010, Duprée returned to AJPW and rejoined Voodoo Murders by filling in the final spot for a Voodoo Murders vs GURENTAI tag team match which he lost, later on in the night he lost a seventeen-man battle royal. In April, he participated in 2010's Champion Carnival, where he won only one match upon defeating Taiyo Kea. On September 20, 2010, Dupree and former tag team partner KENSO were defeated by Akebono and Taiyo Kea in a match for the World Tag Team Championship. From November 20 to December 7, Dupree teamed with TARU in the 2010 World's Strongest Tag Determination League, where they finished seventh in their bracket. On June 3, 2011, AJPW disbanded Voodoo Murders, suspended all of its Japanese members, including Duprée, and vacated all championships following the aftermath of a backstage fight between Yoshikazu Taru and Nobukazu Hirai, which resulted in Hirai suffering a stroke. In the aftermath of this, Duprée and former Voodoo Murders member Joe Doering stayed together as a tag team until the end of Duprée's run with AJPW. At the joint pay-per-view All Together, which featured wrestlers from AJPW, Pro Wrestling Noah and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Duprée participated in the Destroyer Cup battle royal, which was ultimately won by Kentaro Shiga.

#### Return and departure (2013)

During an AJPW international tour in Cocagne, New Brunswick, Canada on May 27, 2013, Duprée defeated Seiya Sanada to win the Gaora TV Championship. However, he returned the title to AJPW on September 11 after leaving the promotion to begin performing for Wrestle-1.

### Wrestle-1 (2013–2014)

While still officially the Gaora TV Champion, Duprée made a surprise appearance at the AJPW splinter promotion Wrestle-1's inaugural event on September 8, 2013, teaming with Zodiac in a main event tag team match, where the two were defeated by Bob Sapp and Keiji Mutoh. Three days later, after Duprée had been announced for all future Wrestle-1 events, he returned the Gaora TV Championship to AJPW. During the October tour, Duprée joined Masayuki Kono's Desperado stable. On March 2, 2014, Dupree took part in the big Kaisen: Outbreak event, teaming with Desperado member Masayuki Kono and Samoa Joe losing to Rob Terry, Keiji Mutoh and Taiyo Kea in a six-man tag team match. On March 15, Duprée competed in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the TNA X Division Championship, which was won by Seiki Yoshioka.

### Pro Wrestling Noah (2020–Present)

On March 29, 2020, Dupree made his debut in Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), being revealed as the newest member of the Sugiura-gun stable. In April 2020, as part of Sugiura-gun, Dupree and fellow Sugiura-gun stablemate El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. formed *Sugiura-gun International*. Afterwards, Dupree and Wagner took part in the 2020 Global Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record of two wins and one loss, advancing to the finals of the tournament. On April 18, Dupree and Wagner defeated AXIZ (Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima) in the finals to win the tournament. The following day, Dupree and Wagner defeated Masaaki Mochizuki and Naomichi Marufuji to win the GHC Tag Team Championship. On August 10, Dupree and Wagner returned the titles to Noah, due to being unable to attend Noah's events in relation to travel restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic, vacating the titles in the process.

Following the mitigation of the COVID-19 travel restrictions, on March 23, 2022, it was announced that Dupree and Wagner, billed as "Les Mexicanas" would be returning to Sugiura-gun on April 30 at Majestic. On May 4, Dupree and Wagner defeated Sugiura-gun stablemates Hideki Suzuki and Takashi Sugiura to regain the GHC Tag Team Championship. They lost the titles to Masa Kitamiya and Michael Elgin on May 21. On April 16, 2023, at Green Journey in Sendai, Sugiura-gun disbanded.

## Personal life

Goguen's father, Emile, was also a professional wrestler and is currently a promoter.

After leaving WWE, Goguen adopted several tattooes, including flame patterns on his forearms and lower legs, the Japanese language characters 日 and 本 on his left pectoral muscle and left deltoid respectively, and a large crucifix spanning across his back.

On October 14, 2009, Goguen married a Japanese woman named Kanako.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ Cobra clutch slam
	+ Cradle piledriver
	+ Diving elbow drop
	+ Diving splash
* **Signature moves**
	+ Double knee backbreaker
	+ *Duprée Driver* (Sitout scoop slam piledriver)
	+ *Duprée Plex* (Fisherman suplex)
	+ *French Tickler* (Pas de basque followed by a running elbow drop to the opponent's head)
	+ Lariat takedown
	+ Rolling neck snap
	+ *Satan's Wing* (Grounded crucifix armbar) - 2022
	+ Spinebuster
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Final Force" (WNC/SMASH)
	+ "Walk" by Pantera

## Championships and accomplishments

* **All Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ Gaora TV Championship (1 time)
* **Pro Wrestling NOAH**
	+ GHC Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
	+ Global Tag League (2020) – with El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `OWOW`
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Milner, John. René Dupre . *Slam! Sports*. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved on 2009-03-24.
3. ↑ Rene Dupree's passion lies in Japan, Europe .
4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `Cage`
5. ↑ cagematch 2010-09-20. Voodoo Murders Challenge for the AJPW Unified Tag Titles . Cagematch. Retrieved on 2010-09-20.
6. ↑ 東日本大震災復興支援チャリティープロレス　『All Together』  (in Japanese). *All Japan Pro Wrestling*. Archived from the original on 2011-09-03. Retrieved on 2013-12-28.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Meltzer, Dave (September 16, 2013). "Sep 16 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Mayweather vs. Canello hype, Night of Champions preview, Olympic Wrestling, CMLL 80th Aniversario preview, tons more!". *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Campbell, California: 31. ISSN 1083-9593.
8. ↑ 武藤新団体「Wrestle-1」旗揚げ戦  (in Japanese). *Sports Navi*. Yahoo! (2013-09-08). Retrieved on 2013-09-08.
9. ↑ Wrestle-1 ～ First Trip  (in Japanese). *Wrestle-1* (2013-10-10). Retrieved on 2013-10-12.
10. ↑ Show results - 3/2 TNA vs. Wrestle-1 in Tokyo, Japan: "One Night Only" PPV results, set-up for Lockdown . *Pro Wrestling Torch* (2014-03-02). Retrieved on 2014-03-03.
11. ↑ Wrestle-1 2014 Tour After Outbreak  (in Japanese). *Wrestle-1* (2014-03-15). Retrieved on 2014-08-23.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Duprée's new tattooes .
13. ↑ Duprée's new tattooes, pic 2 .
14. ↑ Duprée's new tattooes, pic 3 .
15. ↑ The French Phenom Gets Hitched . Renecuurentdestination.blogspot.com (2010-01-18). Retrieved on 2010-03-06. Template:Unreliable source?
16. ↑ Rene Dupree's passion lies in Japan, Europe .
17. ↑ 7/10 WWE Velocity review: Rene Dupree vs. Nunzio, Funaki vs. Sakoda, the Basham Brothers vs. Hardcore Holly & Billy Gunn .
18. ↑ 5/14 WWE Velocity Review: Kasten's review of segments. .
19. ↑ 2/12 WWE Velocity review: Giebink's detailed match analysis and grades .
20. ↑ 8/28 WWE Velocity review: Charlie Haas vs. Rene Dupree, Michael Cole commentary, and more .
21. ↑ 5/24 WWE Smackdown in Lacrosse: Detailed report on Rey-Dupree, Cena-Booker .
22. ↑ AJPW Gaora TV Championship history .