ohtani's jacket

Rene Lasartesse vs. Dave Taylor (Piratenkampf, Hamburg 1987) This wasn't the best Piratenkampf match and it wasn't the worst. You could probably make an argument for Taylor being better at Piratenkampf matches than regular matches, which is peculiar. You'd think it would be the opposite. This had more heat mongering than violence, but it was perfectly ok.

Gaby Lailee vs. Acensy De Oro (aired 3/8/87) Flesh Gordon vs. Eliot Frederico (aired 3/8/87) A pair of nothing matches to end our 80s catch adventure. That's it, unless we've overlooked something. I'm not sure how much is missing. The broadcasts changed format so many times that I suspect catch may have been on and off the air. Here is my final ranking of the matches (not including the ones that were already on YouTube): 1. Jacky Richard & Guy Renault vs. Jean Corne & Rene Cabellec (aired 10/12/81) 2. Walter Bordes & Flesh Gordon vs. The Golden Falcons (aired 8/13/83) 3. Jacky Richard & Albert Sanniez vs. Jean Corne & Rene Cabellec (aired 9/8/80) 4. Le Petit Prince & Claude Rocca vs. Bob Remy & Anton Tejero (aired 8/18/80) 5. Jacky Richard & Albert Sanniez vs. Jean Corne & Kader Hassouni (aired 9/3/83)

Walter Bordes, Flesh Gordon & Angelito vs. Le Marquis Richard Fumolo de la Rossignolette, Jessy Texas & Eliott Le Rocky (aired 8/11/85) Time for some Catch A Six action. Jessy Texas is dressed like a cowboy and rides a horse to the ring. And for some reason, Frederico is doing a boxer gimmick. This should have been exciting but structurally it was a mess. I'm not sure why it was so hard for European guys to lay out a tag match. Oftentimes, the action can be good but the timing of the falls is baffling. Gordon and Angelito did some flashy moves, and Frederico held up his side of things, but the match lacked rhythm and excitement. Afterward, there is a documentary about the French jazz pianist, Michel Petrucciani, who suffered from brittle bone disease. Walter Bordes & Flesh Gordon vs. Les Maniaks (aired 8/18/85) This was supposedly taped on 3/2/85. I'm not sure if it aired earlier than this. The footage is so erratic at this point that anything is possible. Bordes and Gordon were a good team. The Maniaks were a pair of Psicosis wannabes, but Bordes and Gordon were better than most at working drama into their matches. Mambo Le Primitif vs. Flesh Gordon (aired 9/1/85) Finally, the match the world has been waiting for -- Mambo the Primitif vs. Flesh Gordon! In a strap match! Here we go! The past few years of catch all boil down to this. This also looked like it was from an earlier show. I have no idea what is going on at this point. This was worked like a handler trying to tame a wild beast. I was disappointed when the beast's big transition was a nutshot. Gordon ends up taking a whipping, and when it's finally too much, he starts choking Mambo with the strap. The refs don't like that and call the whole thing off. There's nothing quite as unfulfilling as a stip match without a payoff.

All right, let's try to get through this so I can go back to watching 50s catch: Flesh Gordon & Kader Hassouni vs. Le Marquis Richard Fumolo de la Rossignolette & Black Shadow (aired 7/14/85) The Marquis has changed his name from Eduardo to Richard and shaved his beard. He looks like a totally different person. In fact, I'm not convinced it's the same worker. This guy looks like Jacky Richard. The gimmick still sucks and his wrestling is awful, so that hasn't changed. This has some decent stuff at the beginning between Gordon and Shadow before breaking down into the usual bore. The ring apron says Gilbert Leclerc in big letters. Is he the man responsible for this shit show? Georges Cohen & Kader Hassouni vs. Anton Terejo & Pierre Lagache (aired 7/21/85) Terejo is fat and out of shape here, but it's Terejo so I'm always gonna love it. Mercifully short. Le Primitif vs. Jessy Texas (aired 7/21/85) Mambo's posse are back! Albeit with a slightly different look. Poor old Jessy Texas tried to put up a fight here but ended up a bloody mess. Flesh Gordon & Angelito vs. Kato Bruce Lee & Frederico (aired 7/28/85) Hmm, this is the ending of Le Primitif vs. The Golden Falcons, followed by the tail end of a Herbie Hancock concert where he's treated like a rock star, and then the news. No sign of the tag match. Mambo does a huge plancha off the top turnbuckle. Who was that mystery primate? Was he South American? Did he spent time in Mexico? Please tell me he fought a mask match. Georges Cohen & Gass Doukhan vs. Black Shadow & Kato Bruce Lee (aired 8/10/85) For some reason, Kato Bruce Lee is doing a Leatherman gimmick. What is with catch and the Leatherman gimmick? So many guys do it. Thank god for Georges Cohen and Gass Doukhan for bringing some old-school class to 1985 catch. I really like Black Shadow as well. That dude deserved to run with a better crew. This was a good match. The structure of the falls was whack, but it was easily the best match since '83.

I was just having fun. Better to vote Virus than pretend you know dick about Blue Demon.

Get with the times. It's obscure hidden gem Motta dos Santos.

I had the opposite experience as I was able to sit through the entire match without pausing. Watch a few hours of 80s catch beforehand and every match will seem like a Michelangelo.

Motta dos Santos & Pierre Payen vs. Francis Louis & Jean Claude Bordeaux (aired 6/19/71) This was a fine match in keeping with other matches I've seen from the 70s. According to the commentator, Pierre Payen was an injury sub for Antonio Pereria. Payten does his best to establish himself as a Daniel Noced type early on, but Motta dos Santos is the best wrestler on show. And while I'd rather see dos Santos wrestle Le Petit Prince, Michel Saulnier or Albert Sanniez, we should appreciate another glimpse at this fine talent.

Eric Husberg vs. Jose Arroyo (aired 12/27/57) I've liked the Husberg I've seen so far, but that's been against guys his own size. I'm pretty sure these guys were in different weight classes. Catchweight bouts were always some of the more intriguing WoS bouts because they created match ups you wouldn't ordinarily see. I haven't seen a ton of Husberg, but I was interested in how he would fare against a bigger guy. Personally, i thought he was brilliant. I loved the way he went at Arroyo's eyes and face, and later on the choke. I also loved the way he worked the match on three fronts. There was his shtick with the crowd, his shtick with the ref, and his shtick with Arroyo. Husberg was fantastic. I adored the way he puffed out his chest every time Arroyo grew fidgety. But I have to make special mention of the crowd. The spectators were great. They ate up every inside move like it was a Jim Breaks bout. If I had one complaint about the bout it would have been that Arroyo held back too much. He could have beaten the piss out of Husberg if he'd wanted to. But that's exactly what he wound up doing, and Husberg sold it like a champ. It was actually pretty nuanced selling. Instead of simply being knocked out by Arroyo's forearm blows, Husberg sold a strike to his non-dominant arm that made it impossible for him to clutch Arroyo's head and deliver a forearm smash. Husberg went down clutching his shoulder and Arroyo was able to pick him off. That was the best finish I've seen in catch since Humez sent Debusne to the canvas. Watching this, I had renewed hope that Husberg might bring something worthwhile to his Cheri Bibi tags.

Linda Blair & Magnifico (?) vs. Nicky McDonald & Brigitte Borne (aired 8/25/84) This was okay. At least they treated women's wrestling seriously. I'm pretty sure that Linda Blair is the British wrestler, Lena Blair. I couldn't make out her partner's name, but it sounded like they were calling her "Magnifico." Borne was a French wrestler who was prominent in the 70s along with a number of other women. Actually, it looks like we have one of her 70s matches against Lola Garcia. Kader Hassouni & John Debruyne vs. Les Piranhas (aired 5/11/85) This was all right. They worked it as a straight match, which was better than the alternative. Debruyne had a New Wave haircut. The match could have been a bit tighter, but it was a crowd pleaser. Le Primitif vs. The Golden Falcons (aired 7/7/85) This was like 50 minutes of the news and 10 minutes of the match. I guess it is officially Mambo the Primitif. He didn't have his crew with him, which was disappointing. No crown, either. I was kind of amused by how much advertising there was on the ring apron. Would I really want one of these 1985 galas in my town? The tape cut off before the finish, so I guess we'll never know who won.

Franz van Buyten vs. Rene Lasartesse (Hamburg 9/17/87) This wasn't a chain match, but it was worked like one. This is the Lasartesse that I fell in love with several years ago. The kind of wrestler who will relentlessly work on a guy. And since van Buyten was a fabulous seller, these guys were a perfect fit. I've never really thought of Lasartesse as big bumper or a great seller. He's usually the one in control and he spends the majority of a bout standing. I swear he spends more time standing and walking around the ring than any wrestler I've seen. Early on in his career it was because of his height advantage, and I suppose his aristocratic heel gimmick. Here, I guess it had something to do with his rickety old bones. But this match reminded me that he liked to do the "don't touch my ears" shtick. This was a fine match held together by Lasartesse's charisma and van Buyten's selling. The finish was a cop out, but I was kind of expecting that to happen. Franz van Buyten vs. Rene Lasartesse (Hamburg 9/27/87) This is listed as a "Entscheidungskampf", which as best I can tell is some kind of decision match. I'm not sure if this is the "final" of the tournament or not. These tournaments are confusing. According to the information I have, the tournament ran from 9/15-10/22, so if this is the deciding match then the date must be wrong. I'm not even sure if the tournament lasted the entire month or if it was just part of a "season." Perhaps they ran shows after it was over. What I do know is that Lasartesse dominated this tournament in the 70s before van Buyten emerged as his rival in 1981. They shared the spoils that year and ignited a rivalry that spanned a decade. So when you think of Lasartesse vs. van Buyten, don't forget that the city of Hamburg was where it was staged. This was an excellent match. I'm not sure what the stakes were, but the match felt important. Lasartesse even wrestled a bit, leaving nothing to chance. Once again, it was the chemistry that carried this match. Van Buyten has had better matches than this, but this was by far his greatest rivalry.

Al Hayes vs. Jean Casi (aired 12/7/57) Jean Casi was an Italian boxer who fought professionally for a couple of years in the mid-40s. He wasn't anywhere near as successful as Laurent Dauthuille or Charlie Humez. but people say he was a good boxer. His other claim to faith is that according to Roger Delaporte, Casi and Delaporte fought the first televised wrestling bout (live from Vincennes in 1953.) I'm not as high on Hayes as others, but I liked that he used some of the British mat technique here. It's become apparent over the past few months that the French style, the Spanish style, and the British style were all different from one another. I wouldn't say one was better than the other. They each had their good points. But it's clear that the French didn't do mat wrestling the same as the British did. The British liked to dress and undress holds. There was a lot of twisting and turning. You think of the classic imagine of them working a top wristlock or a similar hold. Some people had the impression that Casi couldn't keep up here. Maybe that's because he wasn't a great worker, but I think it had a lot to do with the fact that he couldn't work the British style. Imagine how hard it would be to keep up with a guy like Hayes if he was working circles around you. Personally. I thought Casi was quite dogged. I liked the way he stuck with Hayes despite Hayes toying with him. It was almost a boxing ethos. I liked the finish too with Hayes downing him. King Kong Taverne vs. Ray Hunter (aired 12/12/57) This was nothing special. I like the fact that everyone in '57 gets a match, and everyone gets a chance to wrestle no matter how good they are, but these guys weren't very interesting workers. Taverne, in particular, has no identity. I thought he would be the Mal Kirk of 50s catch, but Mal Kirk knew exactly who he was as a worker. Taverne calls himself "King Kong," but doesn't wrestle like it. He wrestles like a pussy cat. I'm not sure where he was from. I've read that he was a German wrestler, but I can't find anything to back that up. What I do know is that he should have been playing a heel because he wasn't going anywhere with this passive stuff. The rap on Hunter has always been that he was average, and watching the tape I've got to admit he's not that flash. Al Hayes vs. Julio Gasparrini (aired 12/12/57) Gasparrini sure was earnest. He fact he bordered on comical at times. Most people will enjoy this just because it's a chance to see a young Alfred Hayes. Again, I was happy with the balance between the judo gimmick and the British style. What I'd really like to see is Hayes on ITV. He appeared only a few times before becoming a star for Paul Lincoln. Once against Billy Joyce and another match against Dazzler Joe Cornelius. Those matches would make great comparison pieces to these French matches. He appeared quite a few times after the merger, but by then he was a star and may have worked differently from this period. Anyway, I'm waffling. I think the Casi match is better, but enjoy Lord Alfred in his prime.

Someone should write a book about Korakuen Hall. I only went there for the first time last year, but that's a real venue.

Do people really think the Tokyo Dome is such a big deal? I guess I am more used to Tokyo Dome City but there is nothing sacred about it to me.

It could be Tete de Fer or Le Masque de fer. EDIT: It's Tete de Fer, which translates to Iron Head. Interesting that the date we have is the same as the poster. I think some of these catch matches were broadcast live. EDIT II: I checked and Arroyo vs. Husberg was the last match on the show. The crowd file out at the end.

Marquis Edouard Fumolo De La Rossignolette vs. Gerald Malpard (aired 8/1/84) The Marquis is a bore. I suppose if I watched enough of him, I'd accept him. He's the Tally Ho Kaye of 80s catch, but Tally Ho Kaye had better offence. Angelito & Flesh Gordon vs. Black Shadow & Eliot Frederico (aired 8/1/84) These guys could all go. Hell, they were practically the workrate cru of 1984 catch. But I couldn't get into this. Le Primitif vs. Flesh Gordon & Angelito (aired 8/22/84) Mongo is billed as Mambo here. Is it Mongo or Mambo? Why is he wearing a crown? I hope he stole it off another wrestler. The dancing is starting to get a bit suggestive. One of Mongo's boys does a back bend at the start. Some crazy voodoo shit or sumthin. The match itself is shit. I was begging for it to end. The cameraman missed the crazy bump Angelito took at the end, which was about the only highlight of the match. The post match was epic, though. Mongo had his crown on and was waving a bone at the crowd. There's a dwarf in his posse now! The first thing I thought of was the Geto Boys. Damn it feels good to be Mongo.

The Tokyo Dome has a capacity of 55k. Any figure above that is worked.

His latter stuff is trash, but in this early 80s period his work is surprisingly good. I'm not gonna say he's a lost great worker or anything, but he'd no longer be on a list of worst workers ever.

Mongo Le Primitif vs. Patrick Lopez (8/1/84) This is not as shocking the second time you see it. I'd love to know who his entourage were. My guess is that they were either local musicians or some type of cultural group. At any rate, they provide a steady beat for Mongo to wrestle to. An argument can be made that the wrestler playing Mongo doesn't do a particularly convincing job of depicting an ape man. He should be ripping muthas' heads off, but he's about as savage as Curious George. Look out! Over the top rope Tope Suicida in France, 1984. Didn't see that coming. I liked Mongo hanging with his boys afterward.

He's a straight Flash Gordon ripoff, though. I guess he took the Flesh Gordon name to avoid any legal trouble. He's a pretty good worker, too. The only knock I would have on him is if he's in charge of the book. In that case, these shitty gimmicks are on him.

Flesh Gordon & Angelito vs. Les Piranhas (aired 7/18/84) This was Gordon and Angelito against two guys in piranhas costumes. No, I'm not making that up. At first I thought, "Am I being too hard on this? I mean if this were Mexico and they wrestling Ninja Turtles or Thundercats, I'd think it was awesome." But no, it was terrible. Georges Cohen vs. Anton Terejo (aired 7/18/84) I spoke too soon about Cohen. This was a fun little bout. Terejo was clearly a million times better than the Marquis at taking Cohen's offense. If you like Terejo then you'll appreciate that the bugger could still go. Note how good a foil he was for stylists like Cohen and Le Petit Prince. Linda Blair vs. Nicky McDonald (aired 7/21/84) These were a couple of British girls. I think Nicky McDonald may have been Nicky Monroe. If I'm not mistaken this was the first time women's wrestling had been shown on TV. It was pretty basic but better than piranhas and primitives. But it was another of those matches that kept cutting to a fake studio interview with Delaporte, and that bald-headed guy with the moustache arguing with his girlfriend at ringside. I think we saw him before in the Franz van Buyten vs. Bob UFO match from the same show.

I have a hard time believing that anything on Terrace House is real. It all looks staged to me. It wouldn't surprise me if the costume incident was fake. The abuse was real, however. And she's not the first cast member to be bullied. Some of the other cast members have commented about her death: https://soranews24.com/2020/05/24/terrace-house-stars-condemn-cyberbullying-after-death-of-housemate-hana-kimura/

It's possible she was unwell before joining Terrace House. She may have had the potential to be a superstar but it seems she was struggling.

More importantly, why does Chief Strongbow's wife want him to quit wrestling?