Phil Lions

Ah, good catch! Thanks. I had read this incorrectly in my notes. I'll correct it now. New Catch in 1991 on TF1 was its own standalone show, for those four weeks. "3ème mi-temps" was the magazine show that aired the Parmentier brothers tag on local Reims TV.

While on the topic of Spanish lucha libre, here's a fun stat that I just randomly came across. According to this Barcelonian article from early 1957, in 1956 there were a total of 243 shows in the Catalonia province. The most out of any Spanish province, according to the article. And keep in mind, either 36 or 37 of those shows were held at the two Barcelona bullrings (a 14,893-seater and a 19,582-seater).

Yep, like David said, Sky (who already had a deal with WWF in the UK) co-owned Eurosport until May 1991 when TF1 replaced them as co-owners of the network. Back in that 1989-1991 period Eurosport was airing the syndicated WWF TV shows like Superstars of Wrestling and Prime Time Wrestling, but also showing some of the PPVs too. For example, I came across WrestleMania VI and VII airings (90-minute broadcasts, about a month and half to two months after the PPVs had taken place). Doesn't look like it was a preview - it looks like in 1991 it was already airing on Eurosport, before it aired on TF1.* The history of New Catch on TV goes like this: - October through December 1988 (part of "Minuit sport” on TF1, New Catch actually replaced AWA and was then replaced by WCCW) - September or October 1991 through May 1992 (New Catch on Eurosport) - November 1991 (on TF1, only four episodes) * I say it looks like, because I can't 100% confirm what was airing on Eurosport in September and October 1991. The September listings say "Wrestling". In October it's "Wrestling from Europe". First mention of "New Catch" on Eurosport is December 3, which coincidentally is the last TF1 date too. I guess it's possible some CWA stuff may have aired in September and October, but I think most likely it was New Catch and they just hadn't started listing it like that in the listings. ----------- Another thing that struck me while researching this is how many upstart European TV networks used wrestling as featured programming to establish themselves on the market. Sky Channel launches in the UK in 1984 - they immediately start airing WWF. Canal Plus launches in France in 1984 - within 9 months they start airing WWF. Eurosport launches in 1989 - within a few months they start airing WWF. DSF launches in Germany in 1993 - they start airing WCW and GLOW right away. Etc.

Speaking of the midget wrestlers, I just randomly stumbled upon this information while looking for something else. Hassan, apparently, used to be the mascot for the AS Saint-Etienne football club. Saw this mentioned in a 1988 article for a FEC show. Then I googled it and the second photo below popped up. It's said to be from 1976 and lists him as Hassam Handami (it's probably Hassan and they misspelled it).

This book is from 1947. I have a scanned copy of it.

TF1 wasn't co-owner of Eurosport until mid 1991. It doesn't make sense for their New Catch show to be airing on Eurosport before that. The TV listings back that too - the last mention of WWF on Eurosport is exactly May 1991 when the co-ownership was about to switch to TF1, and then later in the year TF1 brings on New Catch. I'd guess some of the 1988 New Catch stuff was re-aired in 1991/1992. Yes, some CWA matches were for sure aired on Eurosport as part of New Catch.

New Catch/EWF on Eurosport. I had always had a rough idea, but I had never really looked into the exact timeline of when New Catch/EWF was airing on Eurosport. So today I dug through the TV listings and pieced together the history of pro wrestling on Eurosport until the mid 1990s*. It goes like this: - WWF: November 1989 through May 1991 - New Catch/EWF: September or October 1991 through May 1992** - WWF: September 1994 through early November 1994 - NJPW: November 1994 through December 1996*** * This is based on TV listings from Continental Europe. ** The September listings just say "Wrestling", but don't specify what wrestling (I'm guessing it was New Catch/EWF but can't confirm). The ones from October specifically say "Wrestling from Europe" and then from December onward it's "New Catch". *** The New Japan shows were originally branded as "World Superstars of Wrestling" and then rebranded to "Ring Warriors" in May 1995. So yeah, that was the New Catch/EWF run on Eurosport TV in Europe. Not even a year. The show aired at various times: 1 pm, 6 pm, 10 pm, 11:00 pm, etc.

Javier Ochoa was no amateur - he was the most popular Spanish pro wrestler in the Greco-Roman style and was a big star in Spain. Spain was one of the top European territories for that style for a while, in the 1920s especially.

I know. That's why I said during the peak years of Spanish pro wrestling, i.e. before WWF came to Spanish TV. Notice in the Rico/Acapulco match they call it "lucha libre profesional" too. There's no promoter per se. The match aired as part of the "Estudio abierto" talk show and most likely it was just a one-off novelty thing. All the introductory pre-match talk by the president of the local Castellón federation (i.e. governing body) certainly points to wrestling airing on the show for the first time. Bobby Deglané is on commentary (and he's excellent at it). That said, Victor Castilla is right there too and I know Rico was working for his "Los Colosos del Ring" promotion so most likely that promotion was involved.

I don't know if "Spanish catch" is the most accurate term here. It was definitely called that too, but lucha libre or just lucha was the more common term during the peak years of Spanish pro wrestling. If we're talking Spanish footage, we also have to mention the "Los Héroes del X'ondo" show. It was Spain's attempt at a "Titanes en el Ring" type of show. It aired on Spanish national TV from December 1978 until April 1979. This channel has some matches from the show: https://www.youtube.com/@misterfiera/videos After the show got cancelled, they did some live events throughout Spain and then by the end of 1979 "Los Héroes del X'ondo" went away completely.

Cowboy Lang and Tiny Tom were in France only in 1982 for Roger Delaporte. They were visiting stars. These 1986 midgets were most likely locals or at least lived locally. They were part of Flesh Gordon's crew and I have them working Flesh shows in 1986, 1987 and 1988. This 1986 midgets match aired only on local TV in the Picardy region. There was no catch on French national TV in 1986. Well, no proper catch anyway. There was a women's mud wrestling match that aired on A2 in April 1986, but the less said about that, the better. Alright, I've heard you say this before many times and I've always let it slide, but it's starting to annoy me so let's set the record straight. Your perception of CIC is completely wrong. CIC (Corporación Internacional de Catch) was something that existed briefly in the 1930s. That's it. Full stop. I've researched Barcelona and other Spanish towns post-WWII and I've seen exactly zero mentions of CIC. It simply did not exist in that era. I'd like to also point out that contrary to what one might read online elsewhere, Spanish wrestling did not die in the 1970s. Victor Castilla and Jacobo Rossi were still running their "Los Colosos del Ring" promotion in the mid 1980s, and they even set up their own governing body in 1984 because they did not like how the amateur wrestling federation Federación Española de Lucha was handling pro wrestling (in post-WWII Spain the amateur federation was the governing body for both amateur and pro wrestling). Yes, most Spanish promoters were done by the end of the 1970s but the idea that wrestling in Spain died altogether in the 1970s is wrong. Bonus: here's a World Welterweight Championship match that aired on Spanish national TV in 1983 .

New Caledonia was a French territory, and the channel in question was created and owned by ORTF.

This wasn't in mainland France. This was a show in Noumea, New Caledonia, and it aired on the local RFO Nouvelle Calédonie channel.

I've updated the original post with my findings on Luxembourg. The key points: - Catch aired on TV in Luxembourg from 1956 to 1972. - For the majority of that period it was airing on TV twice a week so overall Luxembourg had way more catch on TV than France did. - Catch had fixed time slots in Luxembourg, which is something it never really had in France. - This is true for both Switzerland and Luxembourg (and probably for Monaco too): sometimes the matches that were airing in these countries were filmed two or even three years prior. It wasn't always current footage.

Thanks for reaching out and looking into it! Meanwhile, I've been researching the Luxembourg TV listings and have become convinced all of the footage in Luxembourg/Switzerland/Monaco was indeed coming from France. The Swiss archive's response further confirms it. And man, Luxembourg had a lot of catch on TV. Two times per week for a decade plus. I'm up to 1970 in the research. I'll share the findings once I'm done.