Based on what we have available to us, French wrestling was certainly the most exciting wrestling in the world for at least the 1950s and 1960s. Without getting too into specifics, procuring this footage from the INA archive was the virtual equivalent of me putting on a wig and mustache and checking into a hotel room under a pseudonym. We have seen footage of many great wrestlers about whom we likely wouldn’t have known with this stuff being unearthed, and the quality tends to range from fun to mind-blowing. Special thanks to the team at Segunda Caida for making sense of the footage, recommending the best matches and providing some much-needed context.
