Throughout high school he was a part of the basketball and baseball teams. During his formative years as a youth, Peloquin watched the American Wrestling Association and followed the careers of such wrestlers as Nick Bockwinkel, Rick Martel, The High Flyers, Road Warriors, Hulk Hogan and Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Chi Chi (Cruz) is best known for working the independent promotion circuits such as Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, Real Action Wrestling, Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling, IWA-Mid South, All-Star Wrestling, and United States Wrestling Association (under his alter ego/ring name Chi Chi Cruz). Cruz has worked in such countries as Germany and South Africa in addition to Canada and United States. He is the cousin of wrestler Fred "Puppy Dog" Peloquin.
Cruz was trained by Ernest Rheault then went on to make his debut in 1986 for Central Canadian Pro Wrestling. In 1988 when Cruz was 20, he moved on to All-Star Wrestling out of Vancouver, British Columbia, run by Al Tomko. In 1990, Cruz would make his way to Eastern Canada to work for Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling where he experienced mild success by teaming up with "Bulldog" Bob Brown and capturing the AGPW Tag Team Championships. In AGPW, Cruz captured the AGPW Continental Championship. Other ring names/alter egos he has worked under include Bobby Bolton, C.C. Quinn, Carnage and Donald Duck.
