It was named after Paul Sauvé (March 24, 1907 – January 2, 1960), a Quebec Premier with the Union Nationale.
The Paul Sauvé Arena was, most popularly, the home to Quebec professional wrestling.
In the mid-1960s, Johnny Rougeau and partner Bob Langevin created "Les As de la Lutte" (Wrestling Aces, known in English as All-Star Wrestling) and made the arena its main venue for wrestling shows, which ran from 1965 to 1975; its successor, Lutte Internationale, also used the arena as its home base for regular cards from 1980 until it folded in 1987 due to competition from the WWF.
The arena was also home to a founding franchise in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
In the late 1960s the Montreal Canadiens lacrosse team played in the arena, and rock concerts including those performed by Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and Eric Burdon and The Animals.