Phil Lions

The clipping is for October 18 (a Saturday), not August 18. That said, as you mentioned, the year is handwritten so there's a chance it might be off. The only other plausible option would be 1980.

When I first went through Jean Corne's book I didn't pay much attention to the photos, but earlier today I was going through the book again and noticed something. He's included a photo of a newspaper clipping with the TF1 schedule for the night of October 18, 1975, and it looks like catch was supposed to air that night. We don't have footage from that night so I don't know if and what actually aired, but the advertised line-up was Les Celtes (Jean Corne & Michel Falempin) vs. Zarak, and Jon Guil Don vs. Paco Ramirez. P.S. And if anyone's wondering how it's possible for a book published in 1974 to have a clipping from 1975 - it's because my copy of the book is of the reprinted edition from 2012, which includes some extra content that wasn't in the original 1974 book.

Thank you for that. I must've missed the Pye/Sherman match last time I was checking Getty (or they uploaded it after that). I had reached out about the Pye/Stoeff match years ago and they told me they couldn't find the film. One of their theories was that the film might've been taken offsite to secure storage for nitrate film, but either way I was told it's not available. It's possible something may have changed since then, I suppose. I may check in with them again. I was left with the impression that anything mentioned on their list that hasn't been digitized yet is either in too bad of a condition to be digitized or lost altogether. There's always a possibility something might pop up though. You never know.

It's a poster for a Greco-Roman tournament in Paris in 1899. Illustrated by Jean de Paleologue.

There are always outliers and I'm sure there must have been other good crowds here and there before 2006, but post-2006 WS was definitely on an upswing. I was sort of following the promotion back then and it was obvious. Well, following as much as you could follow it online. But I do remember seeing a good number of photos and fan-cams. This was in the 2009-2011 period when Tom La Ruffa was positioned as the top star and the roster featured plenty of workers from other European countries too. EDIT - As luck would have it, La Ruffa just posted this on his Facebook. Which reminds me to mention that if anyone wants a good look at WS back in those years look up Tom La Ruffa's matches. He taped his own stuff so most of the available WS footage is with him. And now that you've mentioned FFCP you've brought up a memory. I vaguely remember reading about a FFCP show back in the post-2006 years that drew either 2,000 or 4,000 (can't remember the exact number) and being very impressed/confused why it did when the biggest names on that show were Bryan Danielson and Metal Master (Chad Collyer). At least I think it was an FFCP show, but I may be misremembering. My point being that reading about that sort of thing is how I first became interested in the French scene and somewhat followed it back then. And when I say followed the scene I mean mostly WS as they seemed to have the most active schedule and the most interesting/varied roster. AWR's run in France was also quite interesting to me back then. They did about 30 shows in a 2-year span (2008-2010), several drawing in the 3,000s and over a dozen doing in the 2,000s. And meanwhile, with the exact same roster (RVD, Sabu, Dupree, Raven, etc.) their German shows all did below 500 and that was with the added bonus of Bret Hart making a special appearance on the German shows... This just goes to show you the difference in wrestling's popularity in France and Germany at the time (late 2009). AWR also had a one-off TV broadcast in France in 2009 - I don't remember the network, but I do remember the reports being that the show did a 6% share in the ratings. The 2005-2010 period was interesting in Europe, because WWE got good TV deals in Italy, France and Spain, which resulted in wrestling's popularity going way up in those countries for a few years and a bunch of promotions reaped the benefits of this. Particularly those promotions who relied on ex-WWE stars and/or targeted family audiences.

There's no mystery when it comes to the crowds that you've linked to above. In 2006 WWE started airing on free TV in France (NT1) and as a result WWE experienced a big surge in their popularity in France, which gave a boost to the local scene, especially those promotions targeting family audiences (Flesh Gordon's Wrestling Stars being perhaps the best example). International promotions such as Nu-Wrestling Evolution out of Italy and especially American Wrestling Rampage out of Ireland also did tours in France and were also drawing well. When AWR are drawing multiple crowds of 1,500-3,000 with Rene Dupree vs. Test as the headline attraction, you can just tell wrestling is popular in general. WWE being on free TV made wrestling more popular in France and everyone else that was competent at promoting reaped the benefits of wrestling's new-found popularity and drew good crowds as a result. It's that simple. And this went on for a few years until WWE's, and by proxy wrestling's, popularity went down again.

I don't think Monsoon ever worked in France. At least I'm not aware of him doing so, but anything's possible, I guess. Interesting Goldstein call-out though. Hayes did work for Goldstein on and off for years.

Was looking for something else and randomly found a TV listing for Kader Hassouni/Petit Prince vs. Anton Tejero/Bob Remy 1/7/77. According to the TV schedule for that day, the match was to air live on TF1 on January 8, not January 7. Emir Mansour vs Janek/Jean Fryziuk/Frisuk 4/18/76 was the only advertised match for that broadcast (Juan Guil Don vs Anton Tejero also aired) and it wasn't a live broadcast.

I managed to find a copy of "Tele Magazine" from the end of April 1961, which is when catch first got taken off TV. There's some very interesting stuff in there. It was Maurice Herzog (the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports) who put pressure on the network to do so but ultimately the final decision to take catch off TV was Raymond Janot's (the Assistant Director-General of RTF). Right on the heels of this decision the magazine has an interview with commentator Claude Darget and also with promoter Maurice Durand. The Durand interview continues in the next edition of the magazine and in the previous edition there had been an interview with Durand's chief rival Alex Goldstein, but sadly I don't have access to either of those (I am working on getting my hands on another interesting set of interviews though so stay tuned). Anyway, here are some highlights from the two interviews. Some I'll summarize, others I'll quote directly. Claude Darget: When asked if catch was a sport or spectacle Darget said he didn't consider catch a sport, because in sports there are rules to follow and in catch there were none. Also, catch clearly wasn't a real competition because the TV bouts would end before the end of the broadcast. He compared the job of the wrestlers to that of circus acrobats and trapeze artists - a very difficult job that requires high skill, but it's not a sport. He also gave props to the wrestlers because they had to wrestle five, six, seven, sometimes even up to eight matches per week and said this would be impossible for any footballer, rugby player or even a tennis player. Darget said the most important thing in catch was knowing how to not hurt yourself or your opponent, and the profession also required great stamina and endurance. Not everyone was cut out for it. He also pointed out that some wrestlers were quite intelligent, despite what people may think (Cheri Bibi, Roger Delaporte and Eddy Wiecz are some of the examples he mentioned). Apparently, Delaporte and Bollet used to work as garbage collectors at one point. "Roger Delaporte is a special case. He is a born comedian who can excite the audience even before the match has started. He is extraordinary. His way of walking to the ring, addressing his opponent, beating his chest while saying 'Rah, rah' is amazing." This was his response when asked if catch was fixed: "To say that matches are prearranged would be a bit much, but I will still say that things are prepared. However, it is certain that if someone is going to win, he wins." Darget was asked about the long-standing rumor that the results of the matches are reported to the police in advance and said he didn't think it's true - the police don't care about match results, they only care that there are no accidents or fights during the shows. According to Darget the top 10 wrestlers in France were earning as much as 200,000 to 300,000 francs per month, the next 40 between 100,000 and 200,000, and the rest around 80,000 francs. He said at the time there were around 400 pro wrestlers in France. Darget said that as long as the audience found the catch matches funny, entertaining and the audience could blow off some steam by supporting the good guys and yelling at the bad guys, he was in favor of catch and not against it at all. When asked if he would commentate catch again Darget said no unless he was given matches that he'd like - anything with Delaporte in particular. He also said the wrestlers used to like his commentary, but the promoters did not. The promoters thought he wasn't taking wrestling seriously. He said he was just passing on the impressions he got from watching the matches - impressions of laughter, amusement, spectacle. Darget said to him the biggest problem when it comes to catch on TV was that the promoters had started trying to dictate to the network how things should be - what days the broadcasts should be on, what matches should air, who should commentate, etc. And to him this was wrong - the network was paying for these shows so these decisions should be the network's and the promoters should have no say in them. Either do what the network wants and take their money or say no, but don't agree to the network's wants and then start making demands. That said though, he was in favor of catch being on TV. ------------ Maurice Durand: Durand proudly proclaimed that he had the best roster in all of Europe and these were the names he mentioned: Josef Kovacs, James Brown, OSS 117, Quasimodo, Gilbert Leduc, Jose Tarres, Prince Kumali, Bourreau de Bethune, Blousons Noirs, the German stranglers, les Miserables, Andre Bollet and Roger Delaporte. He didn't disagree with the decision to take catch off TV. "I think Mr. Janot's reasons are of an educated nature. It must be recognized that excessive brutality in a match or the presentation of a wrestler playing a homosexual can distort the mind and compromise the family education of children. From this point of view I can only agree with Mr. Janot's decision." That said, Durand was not in favor of completely removing catch from the TV. He said they should be more careful about the quality of the shows and thought that airing catch once per month was ideal. "Airing catch on TV every week was catastrophic for the provincial promoters. TV broadcasts demolish the attendance of other shows going on that night." Durand stated that in the past the network had been favoring other promoters over him. When possible, Raymond Marcillac (the head of sports at the network) would choose to air another promoter's show over Durand's. Durand would get one TV broadcast while his competitors would get a dozen. Durand claimed this was due to the other promoters influencing Marcillac to do so and they were trying to run Durand out of business. Also, it seems like Durand actually complained to a minister about this (I would assume Maurice Herzog). It reads like Durand wasn't a fan of Roger Couderc. He did like Claude Darget and Leon Zitrone, however. "Darget was another class. He didn't hold back from shooting arrows at us, but he had a quiver full of humor." RTF was paying the promoters 200,000 francs per broadcast, which Durand thought was ridiculous and nowhere near enough as 100,000 of that would go to paying various taxes. He also complained that sometimes they'd give them only half an hour of broadcast time, and because of this sometimes the show would go off the air before the match had finished as typically matches were longer than that. He said he preferred to get an hour and not be paid than to be paid this little and get only half an hour. He also had an interesting claim that for the Karl von Chenok & Robert Gastel vs. Claude Montourcy & Gilbert Leduc match (May 23, 1959) he had only been given 35 minutes of broadcast time, but "the match was so prodigious that no one wanted to take the responsibility of stopping the broadcast and the match lasted 1 hour and 5 minutes! A match that all of France talked about!" Another Durand claim was that sometimes the network would let him know that they want to broadcast his show only with three days' notice. He was very opposed to the idea of catch being broadcast from a studio. "No, that's heresy! Wrestlers need the atmosphere of the room, the commotion, the shouts of the audience. No atmosphere, no catch! The audience is the first actor in catch." He said that he wasn't in favor of comedic wrestling and pointed out that since joining his promotion Delaporte and Bollet had changed their style to be more serious in the ring. He was happy that L'Ange Blanc had unmasked the month before and talked about how all the masked gimmicks showed a lack of imagination by his competitors, called these gimmicks "grotesque attractions" and said he was glad the masked wrestler craze was fading away.

I don't think that's the case or if it was it was only briefly. Here's part of an article from April 1961 where the idea of advertising being allowed on TV is discussed. There are quotes by Raymond Janot (at the time the Assistant Director-General of RTF and, technically, the guy who made the final decision to take catch off TV in April 1961 until public pressure forced him to bring it back albeit with a very reduced schedule) and Pierre Lazareff (another one of the RTF head honchos). The discussion is about how the introduction of a second TV channel in France has overstretched RTF and its unions and has resulted in the lowering of the quality of the broadcasts. The RTF guys argue that allowing advertising on TV would bring in negligible revenue and it wouldn't be enough to cover the increased expenses that having two channels had brought on. There's also a note about how the press was actively opposed to advertising being allowed on TV because it would be, as they put it, "a fatal blow to newspapers" (and the author of the article disputes that notion).

I've never been able to pin down the first match that aired on French TV and this Delaporte quote piqued my interest so I took another crack at it. As we already knew, the earliest full match in INA's archive is the February 23, 1956, Wiecz/Koparanian vs. Bollet/Gueret match, but now here we have Roger Delaporte claiming it was a match of his in 1953. So, which one was it? What was the first full match to air on TV in France? Well, I still don't know. Currently I don't have access to post-1953 French newspapers and I couldn't find any mentions of full matches airing on TV up to the end of 1953. Bob Plantin has always said the first match to air on TV, in highlight form, was Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Johnny Peters - about four minutes of which were broadcast on March 26, 1950. I don't believe that to be the case though. In INA the earliest match that is listed as having aired on TV is Henri Deglane vs. Frank Valois from Palais des Sport. It took place on November 21, 1949, and about 7 minutes of highlights aired on TV the following day. Of course, it's possible INA is missing something, but as of right now that looks to be first one. The highlights were airing as part of the TV News broadcasts. Everything else in the archive before Deglane/Valois is listed as shown in the cinema or filmed but not used anywhere. And now here's an interesting quote that I found in a December 12, 1952, article: "I'm not saying that catch shows aren't telephotogenic. They are. But it would be advisable for the TV News not to abuse them. Don't you think? Three in eight days is a lot." A journalist complaining that the TV News were airing catch highlights too often... A quick look at the TV schedule for December 1952 tells me that back then the News was on TV three times per day - 1:20 PM, 6:30 PM and 8:30 PM. And indeed, if you look at INA there's quite a few match highlights which are listed as having aired on TV as part of the TV News. This is not directly related to catch, but I found it interesting. According to a report from November 4, 1953, the radio tax in France got raised to 1,550 francs and therefore the television tax, which was mandated to be three times the radio tax, was raised to 4,650 francs.

I ended up reading through another French book about catch - Christophe Lamoureux’s “La grande parade du catch” from 1993. It’s an interesting and well-researched book for sure, but I skipped around a lot and only focused on the parts that interested me the most. I may come back to it again in the future and read it more thoroughly. The book is a mixture of all sorts of topics - the general nature and appeal of pro wrestling, the inner workings of the business (lots of quotes from the Strangler Jew book), the history of pro wrestling in France, a look at a small local indie company in Nantes, WWF, and more. Here’s a few things that I thought are worth sharing. Quotes from a Roger Delaporte interview in January 1987: [Note - At this point Delaporte was still running Élysée Montmartre in Paris and had his own troupe of wrestlers, which he was booking out to local promoters.] “In 1953, I wrestled the first televised match against Jean Casi, a former boxing champion. It was live from Vincennes. Georges De Caunes commentated and Pierre Sabbagh directed. Three days later, the producers received whole bags of letters! So TV did two live broadcasts every two weeks for five or six years. Until 1957, Claude Darget commented and Roger Couderc took over.” “Between 1950 and 1970 France had 300 professional wrestlers. In 1960, the city of Paris alone offered up to 10 shows per week in the now famous Élysée Montmartre, Cirque d'Hiver, Wagram, Velodrome d'Hiver, Central, Stadium and other suburban venues. In the 1960s, only high-level professional wrestlers were able to make a living from their art, at the cost of tough training and numerous bone and muscle accidents. In 1960, a professional wrestler received 150 francs for a curtain-raising match and 500 francs for a featured match.” “Some journalists repeated so much that the matches were ‘bogus’, that they were a scam, that they ended up killing wrestling. Too bad because now, to live, wrestlers are transformed into acrobats. To please, the women wrestle topless. At one point, I had around twenty girls, women who wrestled like real julots. But now we make them wrestle topless. It’s turned into a joke.” “Today wrestlers are isolated. No sports federation recognizes them anymore. Even if you have to endure the three hours of daily training and endure injuries, bruises and fractures.” “Today, the promoters have aged and the good wrestlers have gone abroad. There is no more relief. I have the impression that these days the guys aren't sweating too much. You have to find 20-year-olds who impress. Heavyweights. You have to show sores and bumps! You know, you just have to look in the street: when two guys fight, there will always be 200 watching.” Roger Delaporte on Andre the Giant (from a different interview): “In 1961, a wholesaler in the Les Halles district presented me with 'the rare bird', which, fifteen years later, made Hulk Hogan tremble: You had to see the beautiful baby! Dédé was 16 years old, 2.15 metres tall and weighed 160 kg. He was a lumberjack, like his two brothers and his father, and he wanted to become a wrestler. He was called the ‘Grand Ferré’, because of the hero of the time of ‘Jean sans Peur’, who massacred the English. He worked for me until 1970. He quickly became a big star because he had titanic strength. But I had to bring wrestlers from Spain, England, America. When he wasn't wrestling, he worked on the farm with his parents. A good, kind guy. He drank a hundred beers a day and ate five steaks at each meal. I even saw him devour twenty chops in a small bistro. We had to have custom gloves sewn, his paws were so huge. In training, he burst sandbags. In 1968, I sent the giant to wrestle overseas. In South Africa he won his first big sum: four thousand francs. Afterwards things went very quickly: Spain the same year, Saudi Arabia where he met an Arab wrestler in a stadium in front of one hundred and twenty thousand people. Finally, in 1970, I sent him to Canada, and he never came back. In America, the ‘Grand Férré’ changed its name. We called him Dédé, ‘The Giant’. He became a billionaire and when he faced Hulk Hogan in Pontiac, there were ninety-three thousand spectators in the building.” The author of the book on the decline of pro wrestling: “The period of the 70s heralded the decline of French wrestling even if a handful of wrestlers tried, at all costs, to ensure succession. Unlike the United States, Great Britain or Germany, France no longer has wrestling masters capable of training a new generation. The best have left the circuits and gone abroad where the remuneration is more substantial. To explain this disaffection, the most ‘addicted’ trainers often cite the extreme physical discipline required to engage in this form of spectacle. You have to train for a long time and the results are slow to come. New generations of wrestlers prefer boxing or judo." Bernard Caclard on the decline of pro wrestling (January 1987 interview): [Note - In addition to being a veteran of the ring, the Briouze-based Caclard was also running his own troupe of wrestlers and booking out shows.] “If there is a clear reduction in numbers in wrestling, it is because it is a thankless sport. From the start, you have to train in wrestling, take blows and always train for results that take a long time to come. In any case, there is no more spectacle. The last show with my wrestlers in Chartres did not draw more than 300 people. Even with the participation of two attractive female wrestlers…” —-------- According to the book, Lino Ventura (the popular wrestler turned even more popular actor) was a matchmaker [booker] at Salle Wagram at one point. It reads like this was before Maurice Durand was running things, but the exact timeline is not mentioned. There’s a section in the book on women’s wrestling and there are quotes from Chris Sherdo and Nicole Corman - two full-time female French professional wrestlers. Chris’ husband was also a pro wrestler [his name is not mentioned] and according to her they were still able to make a good living just from wrestling, but things used to be better, and I quote directly here, “before the crisis”. Chris also mentions that a while ago she had done a three-month tour of Germany, which paid quite well, but such tours were rare. Supposedly, at the time there were only 10 female pro wrestlers on the French circuit. According to the book, up to 1951 in France it was possible for a wrestler to wrestle professionally while still being classified as an amateur and competing in amateur tournaments. Also, in January of 1954 the Ministry of National Education issued an order that recognized freestyle, Greco-Roman and Breton wrestling as the only forms of wrestling that could be considered a sport and strictly forbade any other forms of wrestling (i.e. pro wrestling) to be advertised as a sporting event. The first edition of WWF Magazine in France was published in March 1993. —-------- There’s a big section in the book where the author talks about and is interviewing various wrestlers from Catch Club du Pays de Retz (CCPR). He always refers to CCPR as “an amateur catch club”, but don’t let the word amateur fool you - this was (and still is?) a small indie pro wrestling promotion. Here's what Lamoureux wrote about CCPR: “The club was founded in 1970, but it did not have legal recognition before 1983. For thirteen years it therefore operated willy-nilly, illicitly, like a small informal structure composed of around ten wrestlers responding to the requests of fair promoters…This group of friends gave itself the name ‘Catch Club Nantais’. In 1983, the club was renamed ‘Catch Club du Pays de Retz’, named after the region between Basse-Loire and Vendée where small-time circus already has its traditions and where spectator sports are often invited to liven up the fairs. The acquisition of associative status turned a page in the history of the club, giving another dimension to its organization, and thereby to the quality of the services offered. The increase in resources in men and materials led the club to perform more often, which gave it more local fame. The workforce thus increased from 10 to 20 wrestlers, some of whom were trained by the club.” “According to the manager, the wrestling club's order book is relatively full. Over the course of a year, all activities cover around ten shows, more than half of which are organized during the summer, during special times for village or Sunday festivals. The president of the club has also made a habit of approaching potential customers. Shortly before this period, word of mouth sometimes opened new markets. Let us recall here that most of the signed contracts are with festival committees, sports associations, charities which find through this entertainment a means of financing their various actions. The earnings obtained from paying tickets (never more than 30 francs for 3 hours of show) are not only used to pay wrestlers and managers (they are mainly reimbursed for costs incurred by transport and repairs), the revenue is also used to feed the deficit funds of voluntary associations. Created and run free of charge by the most dedicated members, the stands, the refreshment bar (it is not uncommon for there to be two), the fries or sandwich stand and the various hampers provide opportunity for the most substantial profits.” And the most fascinating thing to me is that CCPR, which dates back to 1970, was still promoting shows as late as last year. It doesn’t seem like they’ve run any shows this year, however. Or at least my quick Google search didn’t turn up any.

Yes, Darget is the one who broke kayfabe during a Hayes vs. Casi match. The promoters and the wrestlers hated him, but Raymond Marcillac (the head of sports at the network) liked him so he kept pushing and pushing until the promoters agreed to let Darget come back. ------ I just checked the commentators section in the book again and noticed something interesting I must've skipped over before. While talking about the commentator for the match (Georges de Caunes) Corne mentions that his tag match with Ischa Israel against Les Blousons Noirs, which we have as April 21 1960, was broadcast on TV three times. "This is, I believe, proof that the show was good.", says Corne. I know in later years they were showing some retro matches on TV so perhaps this is where the other two broadcasts come into play? I have no idea, but I found this claim interesting.

I just finished reading Jean Corne’s “La vérité sur le catch” (The truth about catch) book from 1974 and I have to say I enjoyed it a lot. The book doesn't break kayfabe and its goal is to pretty much explain pro wrestling to the reader and make the reader respect it. It is written in such a way where it touches on most aspects of the pro wrestling business so you get these little useful nuggets of information here and there, and there are also lots of different stories about various wrestling personalities. I don’t know that I believe everything Corne wrote, but I very much enjoyed what he wrote. Below I will post some stuff from the book as written by Corne - some I will quote directly while others I’ll summarize. The weight classes for pro wrestling in France: - Lightweights (poids légers): below 65 kg - Welterweights (poids mi-moyens): 65 to 72 kg - Middleweights (poids moyens): 72 to 79 kg - Light heavyweights (poids mi-lourds): 79 to 87,5 kg - Cruiserweights (poids lourds-légers): 87,5 to 100 kg - Heavyweights (poids lourds): above 100 kg These were originally established in the 1930s and back then there was no cruiserweight class. In the 1930s everyone above 87,5 kg was considered a heavyweight and then after WWII the cruiserweight class was introduced. The main matchmakers (bookers/booking agents): The matchmakers, as Corne called them, were the ones running things behind the scenes and putting the cards together. Each matchmaker had a stable of wrestlers. The matchmakers would contact local organizers [promoters] and sell them wrestling events. The local promoters would pay a fixed rate for the card to the matchmakers, and the rate would depend on how many wrestlers were on the card and the caliber of the wrestlers on the card. The main matchmakers in France “currently” were Maurice Durand, Etienne Siry, Alex Goldstein, Robert Lageat, Roger Delaporte, etc. Sometimes the matchmakers would enlist certain wrestlers from their stable to help them run things and deal with the local promoters. When there were important matches, at bigger venues, the wrestlers could sometimes get a piece of the profits, but often negotiating with the local promoters was tough because they naturally wanted to pay as little as possible but get the best talent possible. Corne joked that often negotiations happened while drinking so if one wanted to be good at negotiating with local promoters one needed to have a strong liver and heart. Corne described the wrestler/matchmaker relationship as follows: “The wrestler rents his services to the matchmaker of his choice. In the contract that binds them, the matchmaker generally provides a fixed guarantee to the wrestler which is insurance against the hazards of a bad season. This is how I proceed with my own matchmaker, and as far as I know, the same goes for the others.” “Currently, the matchmakers are independent of each other and there is no overall organization bringing together all the wrestlers, but it was not always this way. About ten years ago, there were four wrestling federations in France and their rivalry gave rise to heroic-comic incidents that we jokingly call ‘the wrestling war!’ between the leaders of these associations and for which the wrestlers most often paid the price.” Corne then went on to list these four federations: - Fédération Française de Lutte Professionnelle (FFLP), run by Maurice Durand - Fédération Internationale de Lutte et de Combat (FILC), run by Alex Goldstein, Albert Ben Chemoul and Rene Ben Chemoul - Fédération Française de Catch Professionnel (FFCP), run by Robert Lageat and Etienne Siry - Fédération Française des Lutteurs Indépendants (FFLI), run by Roger Delaporte Corne noted that “today” whenever a show was announced as a TV broadcast this would almost always be a great draw, but that wasn’t always the case. He told a story, told to him by Maurice Durand, how one time back in the 1950s Durand realized that the building for one of his TV shows at Salle Wagram was more than half empty so he pulled a trick. “One side of the arena was made very uncomfortable by flowing water, the spectators therefore crowded together under cover and all that remained was for the cameras to film that part of the arena to demonstrate ‘the enormous success’ of the show!” The European Alliance, them going after Maurice Durand and the debut of Bourreau de Bethune: Back in February 1959, when Corne first joined Maurice Durand’s stable, Alliance Européenne de Lutte et de Combat was created. It was an attempt at bringing together matchmakers, managers and promoters from France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, and Belgium. “Following commercial concerns, this organization decided to boycott Durand and wipe him off the wrestling map. I was, for my part, quite worried. Attracted by my boss's dynamism, I trusted him, but I did not underestimate the danger. Indeed, the European Alliance had gone so far as to send promoters threatening letters ordering them to reject all the planned contracts with Durand, of whom it was gently said that he was to ‘die’ within three weeks. On the other hand, Maurice Durand had with him five wrestlers and three referees. However, to have a wrestling show, you need ten wrestlers. Theoretically, the affair was off to a bad start. To add insult to injury, Robert Gastel, who was supposed to wrestle a match, broke his shoulder during the filming of a Jean Richard film. Durand then decided to call on Jacques Ducrez, a former French weightlifting champion. At that time Ducrez was already over forty years old.” Corne then went on to say how Ducrez, who supposedly had high fever and tonsillitis that day, had a very bad performance and the crowd was booing him and calling him all sorts of names. “Three weeks later, the same audience applauded him wildly under the mask of Bourreau de Bethune”. Apparently, it was at this show [February 5, 1959] where Durand used the “water trick” described above to make it seem like he had a packed house when it was far from that. “With the cameras well directed, Leon Zitrone, the television commentator was able to assert, without lying too much, and with visual evidence to support it, that the ‘room was stuffed like an egg’. It is true that the match was extraordinary. Bourreau put Leduc ‘in flight’. A rumor spread that Leduc had suffered a bursting of the liver. More than two hundred phone calls were made to the network and just as many to Salle Wagram, coming from indignant spectators who shouted: ‘Stop this assassin! Death to the butcher!’ Le Bourreau de Bethune was born”. Overall Corne gave a lot of credit to Ducrez/Bourreau de Bethune for helping save Durand’s promotion during a difficult time for Durand. Is wrestling a sport or a spectacle? Corne quoted Maurice Durand's son on this question as he felt this was the best response: “Wrestling is a sport for the wrestlers, and a spectacle for the spectators!” Corne then flat out denied that wrestling was predetermined and talked about how there had been newspaper articles and spectators who had claimed that wrestling was predetermined, but it was not. The big rumor in France since the 1930s had been that the Paris match results would get reported to the police in advance of the matches taking place. People would always bring up this rumor when talking about how wrestling was fake. Corne told a fun little story of how when Gilbert Leduc used to manage a bar restaurant, where he had put photos of wrestlers on the walls, there was a customer who was being loud, calling wrestling fake and was swearing by the aforementioned rumor. Leduc approached the customer and offered a bet: 200 French francs and a meal on the house if the guy could bring proof that the police knew the match results in advance. The guy wandered the police corridors all afternoon, but couldn’t get any proof so he returned to Leduc embarrassed, exhausted and hungry. According to Corne, back in 1960 Robert Lageat had publicly offered a million francs to whoever could prove that same rumor, but no one could. Maurice Durand vs. writer Jean Bruce: At one point there was a wrestler in the Durand troupe who went by the name OSS 117. Durand took the name from writer Jean Bruce’s famous novels about the secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath (codename OSS 117). Bruce was not happy about it so he filed a complaint and did a magazine interview blasting Durand for using the name without his permission. Corne had this amusing quote from a Durand interview where Durand sarcastically explained why he was using the name: “I thought that the author was a contemporary of Conan Doyle or at least an old man with a beard, a sort of fossil. And I thought the names Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath and OSS 117 had fallen into the public domain!” Corne on Albert Ben Chemoul: “One of the best trainers there has been in France, Albert Ben Chemoul, apparently estimates that there are around fifteen hundred different holds.” Corne on the very first thing a pro wrestler should learn: “The ABCs of wrestling consist first of all in the practice of falling well. If you fall on your back, your shoulders should hit the ground first. Never the feet, otherwise beware of broken ankles or hurt heels. If the fall occurs from the front or side, you must maintain perfect alignment so that the entire body touches the ring mat at the same time. The higher you fall, the more likely you are not to hurt yourself, because you have time to correct your position to land correctly. This is why, when a wrestler is lifted from the ground, for a throw, by his opponent, he helps him to propel himself as high as possible. Anyone who does not force themselves to perform these apparently unspectacular exercises will not survive long. Tedious and exhausting, these falls must nevertheless be repeated at length during training.” Corne on Vassilios Montopoulos: “The great specialist in the ‘scissors on the fly’ was Jetti Coster. But, the one who did the most damage with this hold is undoubtedly Vassilios Montopoulos, who executes it by blocking his opponent's neck between his ankles. All those who suffered it came out with their ears damaged by the laces of Montopoulos' shoes.” Corne on Rene Ben Chemoul’s injuries: “Rene Ben Chemoul, for example, who has been practicing this profession for around twenty years, has had thirteen serious fractures and more than four hundred sprains, strains and torn ligaments, not counting the broken nose three times, broken teeth and injuries to the chin or eyebrows. In what sport can one display such a track record of risks?” Corne’s most serious injury: It happened in a match with Antonio Morlans in August 1968. Morlans backdropped him from the ring to the floor, but Corne failed to grab the rope and fell directly on his buttocks. He then couldn’t get up and couldn’t feel his limbs. The match was stopped and he was taken to the local hospital, where he was diagnosed with a cracked coccyx and displacement of the lumbar vertebrae. He was able to regain the use of his limbs but he had to walk with canes for three months before he was able to resume training. Corne on Gilbert Leduc: “It is difficult to rank and distribute places. However, I think we can all agree that Gilbert Leduc was the best pro wrestler France has ever known. He became a professional at the age of eighteen, around 1945, after having a dazzling career as an amateur. He was an athlete of rare tenacity. As many others, he started with freestyle wrestling and was champion of Paris. He remained famous among wrestlers for having been the only one to practice the ‘spinning top’, an exercise that requires enormous willpower supported by an unusual constitution of the neck muscles. His successes were innumerable both for the quality of his style and for the sympathy he could draw from the spectators. Many people tend to see us as big brutes who are just good at dishing out and receiving blows. Gilbert Leduc rightly earned the nickname ‘gentleman of the ring’. He is a cultured man, interested in a thousand things outside of wrestling, a remarkable polyglot and a formidable bridge champion. He also found the time to learn to fly planes and put all the effort he could into it.” Corne on Rene Ben Chemoul: “How can we talk about wrestling, without mentioning Rene Ben Chemoul? At the beginning, however, there was nothing to suggest that he could have been so successful. As an amateur, he wrestled honestly, but without brilliance and had average results. However, after becoming a professional, he was, from 1967, the most popular wrestler in France. He was the World Welterweight champion for a long time and really deserved his title. The reason for his popular success is perhaps to be found in his very particular style, made of pirouettes, genuflections, and unbridled movements. It offered the public a whole range of spectacular emotions. He has had many imitators, but they all collapsed because the ‘Ben Chemoulien’ style resulting from the conjunction of certain qualities which are cunning, combat intelligence and a keen sense of the public, were rarely found pushed to such a degree. With the dynamic Walter Bordes, a young and excellent stylist with an advantageous physique, Rene Ben Chemoul formed a formidable and spectacular team for four-man wrestling. And, thanks to television, all of France now knows their song ‘Mamadou Mémé’ accompanied by the traditional little dance step that they perform at the beginning and end of each match.” Corne on Le Petit Prince: “Rene Ben Chemoul is far from being an isolated case. I think of another idol, Alberic d'Ericourt, well known under the name ‘Le Petit Prince’. We see him twirl with ease, and it is not for nothing that he has been nicknamed ‘the king of acrobats’. We can say that he was one of the discoveries of television since it was in 1966 that Roger Couderc, struck by his natural elegance, gave him the name that remains attached to him. But who, seeing him like this, would suspect that his jaw was completely fractured, his arms and legs broken multiple times, that finally, a bad blow broke his eye cage leaving him practically blind in his right eye? This is the price that had to be paid to the divinities of wrestling. He doesn't regret it though. From a very young age he had a taste for the ring given to him by a boxer uncle and began his training at fourteen. He reached the French gymnastics championship in the cadet category and continued to train intensively in amateur wrestling, until his military service which he completed in the air force without having been more favored than me for sport. Then, he made his first appearances in front of an audience, in Doubs, during a preliminary professional match for the regional title. He immediately learned a lesson from it. You are not professional without intensive training. You have to push it seriously and to the limit. 'Around the age of 14 or 15', he told me, 'my brother and I had real rag-tag fights, but if this practice does no harm, it leads to nothing when it is not accompanied by a rational and courageous training, because wrestling hurts and I had not been in the wrestling job for two months and I already had a cauliflower ear!' In any case, he was able to develop a very personal and also very spectacular technique. Thus, the classic defense to an arm reversal consists of doing a roll, but ‘Le Petit Prince’ likes to get away with a somersault. This high-class wrestler, however, is not very optimistic about the future of wrestling. He thinks, in particular, that there is a revival of systematic violence. The wrestlers voluntarily seek out at all costs, whatever the injury inflicted on the opponent, sometimes with illegal means. He is no less severe for those he calls Sunday wrestlers. He accuses them of corrupting wrestling: ‘These are wrestlers, often provincial, who do wrestling to be able to call themselves wrestlers and attract the attention of girls. The result is a drop in quality, so much so that we could happily count on the fingers of one hand the true professionals aged under thirty’.” Corne on Roger Delaporte: “Among the ‘bad guys’ of the ring, one of the most famous is, without a doubt, Roger Delaporte. For years, this Norman from Petit-Quevilly has drained all the hatred and all the nonsense behind him. An excellent technician, he had the art and the way of arousing the anger of the public. With his gaze shifting beneath a stubborn forehead, walking with small steps around his adversaries, muttering insults into his drooping mustache, Roger Delaporte skillfully represented the traitor straight out of a pantomime of Boulevard du Crime. It was necessary to see the way he kneeled as if to ask for forgiveness when, after having given an unfair blow, he suffered the just punishment of his victim. Despite this sometimes ridiculous image of his character, Roger Delaporte was one of the great wrestlers of our time. Four times Normandy champion in freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman, the only time he competed for the national title in these two disciplines, he managed to place second. A strong athlete, he also practiced boxing and rugby. And, for four consecutive years, he was second row of the Rouen Rugby Club, then pillar of the Celtic reserve team. But, as he says with humor: I was still better at wrestling... and at fishing. This is true in both cases. Roger, a great fisherman before the Lord, is indeed a real terror for pike. Outside of the ring Delaporte has always been a loyal and honest being. And continues to be so since he crossed the barrier by taking charge of the management of the Elysee Montmartre hall and by organizing events in the provinces.” Corne on the end of Andre Bollet's career: “Sadly, I fear we will never see Andre Bollet in a ring again. Two years ago, as he was getting out of his car, he was hit by another vehicle and this accident would have been fatal for anyone other than him. Thanks to his intensive training, Andre Bollet limited the damage. With an admirable presence of mind and a lightning reflex, he managed to jump on the hood of the driver. However, he was very seriously injured in the leg and the after-effects of this accident are such that this magnificent wrestling beast is very handicapped today.” Corne on L’Ange Blanc: “A word, now, about a character who was, on a social level, a case in the annals of wrestling: Francisco Pino-Farina, "L’Ange Blanc". His appearance in the ring unleashed passions. Especially among female spectators. This gave rise to incredible scenes of collective hysteria. On several occasions, we even saw women kissing the ground as he passed. Thanks to him, the wrestlers' locker rooms were decorated with flowers like a star's dressing room on a premiere night. With very well-conducted advertising, the “L’Ange Blanc, purifier of the rings” campaign was especially fruitful for the promoters’ coffers. During his first match against L’Homme Masque, this American colossus who brought the use of the mask to our country, L’Ange Blanc broke all revenue records in the former Palais des Sports arena in Grenelle. It must be admitted that from a commercial perspective, the arrival of L’Ange Blanc gave a new boost to wrestling. But this golden vein has been overexploited. And like L’Ange Blanc did not have the gift of ubiquity to satisfy all requests, the miracle of satisfaction took place thanks to subterfuge: One..., then two..., then four and finally seven L’Ange Blancs appeared. Disgusted by such procedures, Francisco Pino-Farina then took off his white hood to honestly pursue this profession that he loves so much. And this gesture is not surprising when we know Francisco's uprightness and fair play.” Corne on wrestling vs. boxing: “Despite all the scandals revealed by the mainstream press, the wide distribution of certain films denouncing dishonest schemes and the influence of gangsters on pugilistic circles, professional boxing remains for some, a serious sport while wrestling would only be a sports parody. To enlighten those who still have this opinion, I would like to put together some figures. The ticket price to attend a wrestling card is a maximum of ten to fifteen francs. On some cards it could be even five francs. For the same places, boxing fans must pay one hundred francs. Not to mention the big matches where the ring seats fetch seven to eight hundred francs on the black market. The average purse of a top wrestler varies between two hundred and four hundred francs. While a boxing champion can require a real fortune to fight. A popular sport, wrestling has an audience of people of modest means: workers, peasants, small employees. While also attracting the popular, boxing attracts a large number of middle-class people and wealthy executives. Wrestling matches, even the most important ones, are organized throughout France and most take place in the provinces, while with rare exceptions the major boxing matches take place in the capital in order to see the snobs flock there. This social difference means that young people are currently not tempted by wrestling, in a hurry to immediately receive big purses. And, as moreover, to earn a living, active wrestlers are obliged to do a lot of matches, they do not have the time to spend hours giving lessons to apprentices. Like boxers, wrestlers mostly come from underprivileged backgrounds. For them, sport is a way to increase their standard of living. Many wrestlers have a second job in order to keep the pot boiling. There are barely any left in France, perhaps around twenty professionals in their own right... Incidentally, it wasn't long ago that my teammate Michel Falempin let go of his building painting brushes! However, to my knowledge, there are no former wrestlers who have become tramps. I don't want to name anyone, but few people had a miserable end. The reason is undoubtedly that having never received large purses, the wrestler is not intoxicated by money, and does not squander it considerably. And then, it must be said that the career of a wrestler is much longer than that of a boxer. In wrestling, a wrestler who knows how to stay in good physical condition can easily last for a good twenty years. Andre Drapp, our dean, who still wrestles remarkably, is fifty-two years old. A boxer therefore ‘wears out’ more quickly. And yet, for those who practice this sport, only the head is damaged by the blows whereas in wrestling it is the whole body (and particularly the kidneys) which is the victim of serious trauma.” Gastel shooting on Charron: Corne told a story about how Robert Charron, a popular pro boxer turned pro wrestler, was going around and calling wrestling bullshit so Robert Gastel shot on him during a match and broke his arm. When Charron healed up and resumed his wrestling career he wasn’t saying that anymore and easily lost a match to Ducrez. Corne on being "Brigitte Bardot’s bodyguard" and his UK tour: “During the summer season of 1959, I was on tour in the French Riviera. On the beach in Cannes, I met a young girl who was a dead ringer for Brigitte Bardot. As a joke, my fellow wrestlers called her Brigitte or B.B. However, in our group, there was an Englishman named Ken Joyce, who spoke our language very poorly. So he was convinced that he was in the presence of our great screen star. The following year, Ken Joyce, who had become a matchmaker in his country, asked me to come and do a series of matches for him. The contract was not extraordinary but I accepted straight away. At the time I was single and I really wanted to know the atmosphere of the halls across the Channel, where wrestling is king. To give you an idea of its popularity, know that in London for example, there is no less than one hall per neighborhood which presents two or three wrestling cards per week. My first match was to be at Dover. Much to my surprise when I disembarked from the ferry boat I saw a huge blue-white-red poster on which my name was written in bold capitals with the following words: ‘The Bardot! Former bodyguard of Brigitte’. My friend Ken Joyce, convinced that I had had an affair with B.B., had modestly given me the title of her former bodyguard. In the evening, the hall was packed, because all the residents of Dover wanted to see B.B.'s bodyguard! Throughout the tour (sixty matches) I experienced the same curiosity success, thereby saving my employers many pounds sterling. The final bouquet was given to me in London by Paul Lincoln, the promoter of the Metropolitan, who had it displayed throughout the capital: ‘Come and see Brigitte Bardot's bodyguard wrestle!’... but it took a good sight or glasses to read my name below! In conclusion, this involuntary deception did not enrich me because a contract is a contract, and despite the success of the operation I did not receive a ‘cent’ more. In fact, the only thing I gained from this tour was a great lesson in humility because, without the sponsorship of Brigitte Bardot, I would probably never would have had such success with the ladies! When I returned to France, my friend Isha Israel told me: ‘You should go see B.B. I'm sure your adventure will amuse her. It's even possible that she would enjoy playing along. It would be great publicity for you!’ Maybe he was right, but I never dared to ring Brigitte Bardot's doorbell.” Corne on Roger Courderc: “Technically, he knows nothing about wrestling. He makes us forget this deficiency with a very southern ease. His ‘thing’ is partiality. His ‘Allez France’ becomes ‘Allez le Petit Prince’. And when Couderc takes up the cause of the ‘good guys’ against the ‘bad guys’, we believe it. Corne on Claude Darget: “Despite his complete ignorance of our sport, he was, it is certain, favored by some of the viewers. But his acidic, not to say mean, jokes attracted the animosity of all the wrestlers. Darget is our pet peeve. One evening, Michel Falempin having heard one of his derogatory remarks, jumped from the ring and chased him into the locker room. Without the intervention of some of our colleagues, Claude Darget would have had a bad time!” And that’s where I’ll end it. There is plenty more to the book though including sections on referees, announcers, women’s wrestling, wrestling techniques, an interesting overview of the wrestling scenes in other countries around the world, stories about Corne's tag team with Falempin, stories about other wrestlers, a section on the bons/mechants dynamic, a section where he talks about the different types of fans, a section with “wrestling slang”, and more. He finishes the book by explaining the difficulties pro wrestling was facing at the time in France (aging wrestlers, no new blood coming in due to various reasons, lack of pro wrestling schools, loss of Paris venues, no tax breaks, reduced TV schedule with broadcasts late at night, very little media attention, etc.), and he doesn't sound very optimistic about its future.

Okay, so I searched around a bit last night and it looks like there may have been some additional ups and downs in the FFLP story that I need to research more. In searching for that, however, I found a few interesting tidbits that I thought I'd share here. An article from November 1949 referred to the Elysee Montmartre promotion (Henri Chausson's promotion) as "Fédération Sportive Française". The article also mentioned a "Fédération Nationale de Lutte Professionnelle" based out of Clisson Palace, and I've never heard about that one before. And there was also a mention of "Fédération Française de Lutte" being active in the provinces. In November 1950 Karel Istaz (the future Karl Gotch) and six other Belgian wrestlers were provisionally suspended by the Belgian Pro Wrestling Federation. And because the Belgian federation and FFLP had a working agreement, it was announced that these wrestlers could not wrestle in France either. A September 1952 article mentioned an interesting rule when it comes to title matches. Back in November 1946 the Ministry of Education had issued an order to authorize FFLP to sanction French, European and World Championship matches. Calling back to this old order, in September 1952 FFLP made a decision about the number of title matches that would be allowed. The article doesn't go into details so it's hard to say whether the original 1946 order had something in it about the number of matches or it was just a general ruling. Anyway, the point is that in September 1952 FFLP ruled that each French Championship could only be competed for four times per season, with European Championships it was three times per season and with the World Championships it was two times per season. It's not clear whether this meant in Paris only or France as a whole. The Paris season was typically from early fall through late spring or early summer. I also do have to mention that looking at my notes I see that earlier in the year in 1952 Frank Sexton defended his World Heavyweight Championship claim in Paris three times and now this makes me wonder whether the September 1952 decision was somehow related to that. I don't know. My best guess is that by the end of the 1960s most, if not all, of the old Paris promoters were out of the game. We know for a fact that Chausson was out, because Delaporte took over Elysee Montmarte at some point in the 1960s. Lack of foreign talent was definitely an issue. If you compare the 1970s cards with the 1950s and 1960s cards, it's obvious straight away how reduced the number of foreign wrestlers is compared to the previous two decades. And you no longer get big foreign names passing through France like some had done in the past. And it aired not only on delay, but on 12-day delay. Lack of TV exposure was certainly a factor. It's not impossible, but it's definitely much harder to make new stars when you're airing late on Saturday nights. More importantly though, the time slot tells me how far wrestling had fallen off in terms of priorities for the network. Also, one small clarification. L'Ange Blanc's debut match aired 10:05 on Friday. His actual TV debut was a prime time interview the day before, which according to the French press back then was watched by 4 million viewers (which was a lot for 1959 France).

On an unrelated note, I recently got my hands on some French books about catch: On the left we have "The Confessions of a Wrestler" from 1960. The author Gilles Calou had a very brief pro wrestling career. In wrestling he went by Strangler Jew and Masque d'Or (Golden Mask). Then he went ahead and wrote this book, right when L'Ange Blanc and company were super popular in France. The book got a good deal of publicity back then too as it promised to expose the inner workings of catch. I had known about this book for a few years now, but finally gave in and got it the other week. I haven't looked through it properly yet, but it seems to be more so about training and how the matches were worked than anything else. On the right we have a book by Frédéric Loyer from 2009. It examines the history of pro wrestling in France and how it connects with amateur wrestling. A friend of mine sent me a copy just the other day so I have yet to go through it in detail, but it looks like a well-researched book, although more on the sporting side of things than on the business side of wrestling. And finally, in the middle we have the one I'm most excited about. "The Truth About Wrestling" by Jean Corne. Written in 1974. I only learned about this one yesterday and it's on its way to me now. My point in all of this being, once I eventually go through these books if anything interesting pops up, I will let you guys know. And I also thought I'd mention them in case anyone else might be interested in them. While on the subject of French catch books, "The Golden Age" one from 2016 is a favorite of mine. Information-wise it's pretty weak, but in terms of photos this is one of the best pro wrestling books you will find. It's just a beautiful book and features a lot of high quality wrestler and poster photos. If you like wrestling coffee table books, this one is an easy recommendation (even if you don't know any French). And finally, I see that wrestler-turned-promoter Marc Mercier's upcoming book is scheduled to come out in October this year. Should be an interesting read that hopefully reveals some new details about French catch.

Earlier today there was a bit of discussion over on Twitter about the decline of catch in France and that reminded me of something, which I don't think I've mentioned here before. Earlier on in this topic I had talked about the formation of the FFLP. Later on I found out about its end, but I haven't shared this here so here it goes. I'll start from the beginning. FFLP (Fédération Française de Lutte Professionnelle) was formed way back in 1922. This wasn't a wrestling promotion (though ironically later on there was a promotion by that name). This FFLP was a country-wide governing body for pro wrestling in France. FFLP was to pro wrestling what the French (Amateur) Wrestling Federation was to amateur wrestling, and FFLP was kind of an offshoot of the amateur federation, in fact. All of the rules and regulations for pro wrestling in France came down from FFLP and more importantly in order for a wrestler to wrestle professionally in France the wrestler needed to get a licence through FFLP. At one point in later years for rookies this meant having to pass an exam to get your licence. And if you did something more radical during a match that FFLP didn't approve of, they could take your licence too, which effectively banned you from wrestling in France. I'm not sure if this was the case earlier on too, but I know in the late 1930s wrestlers who wanted to teach catch (pro style) had to get a teacher's diploma through FFLP. FFLP also had a wrestler relief fund, where money would accumulate and go toward helping injured wrestlers. All the championship belts in France? Sanctioned by FFLP, which explains why in France there weren't multiple title claimants of the same title at the same time like there were in other countries. In short, FFLP was as legit a governing body as you could get in pro wrestling. And on top of that, like I've mentioned in the past, in 1928 a French pro wrestlers union was also formed to watch out for the rights and interests of the French pro wrestlers. FFLP was very much in control of things from the 1920s through the 1940s. They still were in the 1950s, but it seems things were beginning to loosen a bit and then in the early 1960s the French amateur federation decided to close down FFLP as a governing body and pro wrestling in France was left to its own devices, without any direct oversight like it had had for close to 40 years by that point. According to Bob Plantin, the FFLP closure happened in 1960, but I haven't been able to confirm that. Bob points to this as one of the major reasons for the eventual decline of catch. I'm paraphrasing here, but in his words now that wrestling was no longer as regulated as it had been in the past and wrestlers didn't require a FFLP licence anymore, any schmuck could become a pro wrestler and more incompetent promoters entered the business, which eventually led to a decline in both the quality of the workers and of the shows overall. And then as television evolved and other sports became easier to televise, those sports became more of a priority so catch lost its prominence on TV too. Obviously, this is just one veteran wrestler's opinion and there may be some "back in my day" bias too, but it all sounds very plausible to me and so I think we can add the closure of FFLP to the list of reasons for the eventual decline of catch. You take away the regulation from a business that's used to being regulated and chaos is bound to happen with all sorts of people, both old and new, trying to grab a piece of the pie. The loss of FFLP probably didn't help the TV situation either.

I believe the TV footage is from 1998-2000, to be more precise. About ten or so years ago the Bolivian giant Walter "Tataque" Quisbert randomly peaked my interest and I wanted to find out more about his pro wrestling career so I ended up looking into the Bolivian scene a bit. There wasn't detailed info available on the older stuff, but there was a blog that had a lot of photos and info on the current day scene. The scene at that point, however, seemed very cartoonish in terms of presentation and characters, i.e. so nothing like the video above. This is the blog in question: https://luchalibrebol.blogspot.com. It's no longer active, but the archives are still there. And then there was another blog, in English, which provided some info on the history of lucha libre in Bolivia: http://www.nellhaynes.com/fieldnotes/la-historia-el-mito-de-origenes + http://www.nellhaynes.com/fieldnotes/la-historia-la-epoca-dorada + http://www.nellhaynes.com/fieldnotes/a-brief-history-of-bolivian-lucha-libre. By the way, here's Tataque on the right. Next to him is Sombra Vangadora who was one of the top Bolivian stars back in the 1980s (not to be confused with the Mexican Sombra Vengadora - different guy). Two of the guys featured in the video that Jetlag shared, Sombra Vengadora Jr. and Vampiro Uno, are Sombra Senior's sons. LFX (Lucha Fuerta Xtrema), one of the YouTube channels in the original post, was their company. The other channel, Jaidercito, is mostly about Jaider Lee. In addition to being second-generation wrestlers (their father was Napoleon Simonini, better known as Medico Loco, another one of the top Bolivian stars from back in the day), Lee and his brother Kid Simonini used to run a company called LIDER. I'm not sure who's running it today, but the company is still around. And a quick glance at their Facebook page tells me that they're doing weekly shows and they've got a couple of third-generation Simoninis wrestling there.

With WWE's upcoming PLE in France POST Wrestling just published an article on the history of wrestling and WWE in France that I thought was pretty good. I thought I would share it here: https://www.postwrestling.com/2024/05/01/nearly-twenty-years-of-french-wrestling-history-surrounds-backlash-france/

He was indeed. However, he didn't get the Quasimodo gimmick in Spain. The Quasimodo gimmick was first introduced in France and then he took it around the world.

https://twitter.com/Phil_Lions/status/1742250666071072951 https://twitter.com/Phil_Lions/status/1742250670210638299 https://twitter.com/Phil_Lions/status/1742250673910218840 https://twitter.com/Phil_Lions/status/1742250677579989414 https://twitter.com/Phil_Lions/status/1742250681006981613

I don't think they're new and I don't think INA have added any new stuff since 2018-19 (which is when I last searched through the archive thoroughly). I just think we hadn't paid attention to the Kidd footage before. I know I hadn't as I was primarily focused on other wrestlers back then. I don't want to speak for them, but I also think the Segunda Caida crew only paid attention to the full matches and skipped over the highlight stuff, and there is a lot of footage in the archive that is just highlights of matches as opposed to full matches. Hence why the Kidd footage has only popped up now. Anyway, I just looked through the archive again to see if there's anything additional of Kidd's that I might have missed and it doesn't seem like there is. Just those three matches. I shared a few clips over on Twitter in case anyone wants to take a look:

Rene Ben Chemoul, Guy Laroche and someone listed as Dauveau. I don't think I've heard the name Dauveau before. At first I thought it might be Andre Chauveau misspelled, but the guy in the footage seems like a different guy.

At that same time Aledo was the World Lightweight and European Lightweight champion in Spain too. He continued to hold those claims there. I hadn't specifically searched for this before, but now that you've mentioned it I just did and it turns out INA does have highlights of three Kidd matches from 1952-53. About 8 minutes of footage altogether. EDIT - Actually, more like nine and half minutes in total.

Just a random poster I came across. Modesto Aledo (c) vs. George Kidd (billed as the European champion) for the World Lightweight Championship. Talk about a match that sounds great on paper.