ohtani's jacket

There's so much to sift through that I'm gonna dump it here instead of dredging up individual wrestlers' threads. Dennis Goulet vs. Terry Rudge (Hamburg 10/11/87) German tournaments aren't like Champion Carnivals. That's the first thing you need to get out of your head. They're a string of houseshow matches, so try to have fun with them. Imagine you're there -- drinking beer, cheering on your favorite, listening to Europop between rounds. Hamburg '87 may be the last great German tournament to make tape since someone filmed a shitload of it. Grab a beer, put on some Scorpions, whatever it takes to get in the mood. Terry Rudge is a wrestling God. For most of this bout, he beats up Dennis Goulet because he deserves to get beaten up. Rudge has a whiny accent for one of the toughest men to lace up a pair, but it's awesome hearing him swear. For some reason, Goulet ends up winning. My hero lost. I'm pissed! But we'll piece Hamburg together one match at a time.

Andre Drapp & Bernard Vignal vs. Rocco Lamban & Dr. Adolf Kaiser (aired 4/21/61) Well, this was interesting. Felix Lamban tagging with Dr. Adolf Kaiser. You wonder if they sat in the hotel lobby, drinking cognac while discussing the finer points of how to strangle a man. They formed quite the pair, actually. You had the wimpy, effeminate Kaiser, who cowered with every blow, and the tough guy Lamban. The match wasn't as fun as I was hoping -- their mutual stranglehold wasn't as big a focus as you'd expect -- but I've seen worse. Henri Le Mao vs. Thadee Kojielski (aired 4/17/66) Henri Le Mao is a joy to watch. With his moustache and receding hairline, he almost reminds me of a French Fujiwara. As with a lot of these new finds, we don't have enough footage of him, since surprisingly there is more complete footage from '57-59 than the 60s. But we get this gem. Kojielski was a young Polish wrestler, as best as I can tell. He was a nice dance partner, but this was the Le Mao show. Roger Guettier vs. Cowboy Jack Bence (aired 9/15/60) Bence came back to France every year or so in the early 60s. It would be nice if we had more footage of him. He could be catch's very own version of a Stan Hansen. This match had a terrible crowd. The ring was littered with trash before the wrestlers came out. The wrestlers, and the ref, had to spend time clearing it of garbage before they could start. They spent the entire match being pelted with trash. At first, I thought it was some kind of drunk, unruly crowd. Then I realized there was a bunch of snot nosed kids at ringside throwing things at the wrestlers. God knows why no one did anything about it. Eventually, someone must have complained because a police officer came to ringside (looking remarkably like Officer Crabtree from 'Allo 'Allo.) He was pretty useless, and in the end we got a slow match that was difficult to follow because of the kids. There were some exciting tumbles to the outside, but I was kind of hoping that the wrestlers would scare the living shit out of the kids. A wide shot at the end showed the ring in a sea of trash. This match will henceforth be known as the "trash match."

Japan has a few cable and satellite providers, but most people are turning to streaming services. Around 20% of the population subscribe to a streaming service with Netflix being the most popular due to its original Japanese content. Pay TV penetration remains low, however, with only around 25% of households subscribing to a platform.

My argument for Michaels vs. Ramon is that there really hadn't been a match like that in the WWF since '84. It's not a particularly violent match compared to the matches that came later but I think it paved the way for the gimmick matches the WWF did in the Attitude Era. The territories had gimmick matches, WCW had gimmick matches, and hardcore wrestling was growing in the States at the time (someone more familiar with the style could point to the influence on that -- King of the Death Matches, perhaps?), but I'm specifically referring to the WWF. I wonder if you see some of the edgier moments of '95-96 without the ladder match (even with the ECW influence), and given it was the first time Michaels stopped the show, it seemed to have an impact on the Kliq running amok for a couple of years. Perhaps Michaels would have been pushed anyway, but the star turn at Wrestlemania didn't hurt.

I'm not sure if there was one match that stood out from the others. Perhaps the 2/3 falls one because of the high rating from Meltzer. I think it's highly possible that people saw some, but not all of the matches, and that they were influenced by the pairing without even realizing it, e.g. they were influenced by Benoit vs. Sasuke from Super J Cup.

Georges Cohen vs. Daniel Boucard (aired 12/26/68) Cohen was a true stylist. I don't know what his reputation will be like coming out of his project, but to me he's a guy I can rely on to deliver proper catch. This covered all the bases of a catch contest. It started off as an exhibition of the type of wrestling I signed on for in the first place. Then it disintegrated and became the kind of contest that drew people into the late 50s stuff. They may have overdone the forearm smash, but then again, can you really overdo the forearm smash? This had "draw" written all over it, but they tried to make it as a dramatic as possible. Right until the end, they were pushing for a result. This was a nice piece of catch. I dunno if people will appreciate it as much if they don't watch a bunch of crap before it, but to me this was the real deal. Gilbert Leduc vs. Rocco Lamban (aired 10/30/58) Rocco Lamban was Felix Lamban, the Spanish heavyweight. He was nicknamed "El Estrangulador" (the Strangler) because he used the same variation of the headlock that Dr. Adolf Kaiser employed. In Spanish, it was called "la corbata" (the tie.) This was a great contest. If it taught me anything it's that you don't fuck with Gilbert Leduc. Up until now, the image we've had of Leduc has been one of a wrestler and supreme technician. The guy who can do the toupie headspin better than anyone else. This match had footage of Leduc playing bridge (which Couderc would not stop talking about), but it also proved that Leduc could fight. And he did the best counter to Kaiser's move that you could possibly imagine, proving once again that Leduc is a badass. Vassilios Mantopolous & Francis Louis vs. Billy Catanzaro & Gilbert Lemagouroux (aired 8/19/66) This was much better than the last Catanzaro/Lemagouroux tag I watched. Instead of going straight for the comic heel spots, they gave young Francis Louis a working over, which made it all the more rewarding when Mantopolous made fools out of them. Not only that, but it had some comic heel spots I hadn't seen before like Catanzaro and Lemagouroux being tangled in the ropes at the same time and Mantopolous rolling both of them into balls. We all want serious, greatest wrestler ever candidate, Billy Catanzaro in every match, but this was his best stooge routine so far. Rene Ben Chemoul & Walter Bordes vs. Anton Tejero & Antonio Montoro (aired 9/20/71) Rene Ben Chemoul has been a disappointment so far, but this was a spirited performance from him. It's possible that his best stuff was tagging with Bordes. He worked a bunch of cool spots and was lively throughout. I didn't expect Tejero to be as mobile as he was, and Montoro's performance was much better than in his singles match. He was a stooge for the locals, so I don't want to draw too many conclusions, but at least he played the role with gusto. Angelito vs. Albert Sanniez (aired 2/19/77) This was joined in progress. Angelito isn't the greatest wrestler you'll ever discover, but at least we got to see the brilliance of Albert Sanniez in one more match. Iska Israel vs. Jean Corne (aired 1/15/65) These guys were really great. It was like watching the French version of Steve Grey vs. Jon Cortez. Another match you should watch when you feel like you've exhausted the supply of great catch wrestling. I was surprised by how aggressive Corne was in this match. At first I thought it was to put over Israel, but it paid dividends in the end.

The mystery is solved. Thank you, Phil Lions.

Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid didn't create the juniors style, but it's hard to imagine it being as popular without the Tiger Mask phenomenon.

I don't know about changing wrestling as a whole, but I think there are certain matches that changed promotions. The Funks vs. The Sheik, Choshu/Yatsu vs. Jumbo/Tenryu, Jumbo vs. Tenyu, and Misawa vs. Jumbo had a huge impact on All Japan Pro-Wrestling, for example. Antonio Inoki vs. Strong Kobayashi paved the way for native vs. native. Inoki vs. Ruska was arguably as important as Inoki vs. Ali. Choshu getting hot completely changed the wrestling landscape in the early 80s. The first ladder match between Michaels and Ramon always felt influential to me. The Foley vs. Austin match from '98 provided the template for Attitude Era brawls. I am sure there is a match after that which swung the promotion towards more workrate oriented matches (Angle vs. Benoit?) There was a point where All Japan Women completely broke away from the formula set by Beauty Pair vs. Black Pair and Crush Girls vs. Dump's Army. It happened around the time that they couldn't find new idols to replace the Crush Girls and pushed the Bull vs. Aja feud instead. But the change really happened when the women started having singles matches against each other that were treated as seriously as men's matches. The UWF having clean finishes was a game changer. I don't know which match you'd point to. Perhaps the Maeda vs. Takada match from the end of 1988. I think Pancrase was influential on RINGS and Kingdom, which in term was influential on PRIDE. Most people would argue that PRIDE affected the business in a bad way, though. Lucha is an interesting one. I am sure there is some Pena booked stuff that changed the business in the early 90s. There is a lot of evidence in lucha of workers being influenced by Japanese and American wrestling over time.

Jose Tarres vs. Dr. Adolf Kaiser (aired 1/1/59) Unfortunately, we don't have as many Tarres matches on tape as we thought, but I've been watching newsreel footage of him from Spain and I think we have a fair idea of how he worked. This match was almost identical to the von Chenok fight except that Kaiser was a more interesting opponent. It was a bit slow at times, but if you liked the von Chenok match then you'll enjoy this. Frank Valois & Andre Bollet vs. Eddy Wiecz & "Monsieur Universe" Earl Maynard (aired 6/6/65) When I saw "Monsieur Universe," I thought it might be the British wrestler, John Lee, who won the Mr. Universe amateur title in 1957, but it was actually Barbados bodybuilder, Earl Maynard. Maynard was a skinny, sickly kid who turned to bodybuilding as a way to improve his health. He was called up to service in the Royal Air Force and began wrestling while stationed in Cyprus. A British promoter, who was on holiday there, discovered Maynard. Maynard became popular in Europe during the 60s and eventually made his way to the States. He remained an active bodybuilding competitor during his wrestling career and was crowned Mr. Universe in 1964. Later, he got into films, starring in such classics as Black Belt Jones and Truck Turner. He was also in the Nick Nolte film, The Deep. The match? It stank. Roger Delaporte vs. "Oddjob" Togo (aired 5/23/65) Togo came to the ring dressed as Oddjob. That was cool. He attacked Delaporte before the bell. I wasn't sure how Delaporte would react since Togo had no intention other than to play the heel. Delaporte rolled with it and played defacto face. The match was rubbish, but after the bout Togo threatened to throw his hat at Delaporte which was amusing. Le Petit Prince vs. Michael Falempin (aired 5/27/66) Andre was introduced to the crowd before this match. Le Petit Prince was easily the best thing to come out of French catch in the 1960s. He was still a rookie here, still trying to put on some extra pounds. But what a breath of fresh air after those rubbish matches. The thing I love about the Prince is that he doesn't make superhero comebacks. He sells a beating and fights his way back. The more I watch of him, the more I'm convinced that he should be in the conversation for best light weight ever.

Al Araujo vs. Jimenez (aired 7/26/57) Man, the commentator had no idea who these guys were. He didn't even know if they were French or Spanish. I can tell you for a fact that Al Araujo was French. I thought he might have been doing a South American gimmick since he was using the same towel the Peruvians always did, but the Wrestling Heritage side lists him as Frenchman from Perpignan, and Bob ALPRA has a cool photo of his wrestler's license. I have no idea who "Jimenez" was. If he ever appeared on television again it was under a different name. It may not have even been his ring name. You heard how confused the commentator was. I was hoping he'd win the bout so I could hear the ring announcer say his name, but Araujio was the winner. For a couple of days I was like a dog with a bone over this name, but there are a million random guys on French cards and we don't have a lot of match records from this era. I'm letting it go. I swear. King Kong Taverne vs. Roger Delaporte (aired 7/26/57) So, French catch had its own version of Mal Kirk. I thought this was a bit of a mess, to be honest. Delaporte was arguably the top heel in the country, which made Taverne the defacto baby face. But a guy like Taverne is hardly your typical baby face. The comedy at the beginning was all right , but the longer the match went, the clearer it was that while Taverne could move pretty well for a big guy, he was lost on offence. He looked like the kind of wrestler who grinds a guy down, but you can't exactly do that to a heel. So Delaporte started to attack Taverne instead. That got the desired reaction from the crowd, but it made the big guy look weak. The same problem happened in the Bence match. Bence thought he'd come to Paris and do the same heel act he did in every territory, but he didn't quite figure that the local star was a heel. I have no idea if Taverne played a heel in other matches. I'm assuming he did because of his look. If I'd been the matchmaker, I would have put him up against a different guy (maybe one of the young "beaus"), but it seems that they liked to match Delaporte with big guys. Jose Tarres vs. Karl von Chenok (aired 4/2/59) I want to know if "Cabeza de Hierro", Jose Tarres, really had iron plates in his forehead. I'm guessing it was a scar from whatever accident he was in. There are so many stories about this guy. People say he once knocked a bull unconscious and that he could break a marble table with his head. Karl von Chenok was a German wrestler who was completely dedicated to the science behind the nerve hold. This was a completely minimalist bout. Tarres threw headbutts and von Chenok applied his nerve hold. They both rendered each other unconscious in back-to-back falls. The stage was set for Tarres to knock von Chenok out in the final fall, but the promoter had other ideas. This was completely unlike anything else we've seen in catch. I thought it was interesting that von Chenok bled on the same card that Debusne did. I don't know if this was booked to help set the tone for Humez' fight or if it was just a coincidence, but it wasn't your run-of-the-mill catch bout, that's for sure. It was different. That's cool. The second two falls weren't as good as the first, but hell, it was memorable.

The new book about Andre also has some info about French catch. I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of it, but here is some info about the Catch scene in the 1960s: * Wrestling was popular on television -- it had been broadcast at least once, sometimes twice a week, on RTF since 1952. * The territory was up for grabs after Henri Deglane retired in 1950 and Raoul Paoli died in 1960. * Alex Goldstein, Maurice Durand, Roger Delaporte, and the duo of Robert Lageat and Etienne Siry became the main promoters. * The territory wasn't set up like the NWA, but the promoters shared talent and only recognised one national champion. * RTF (ORTF from 1964) aired matches from all of the promotions, so they battled for exposure. * Andre was discovered by Lageat. Lageat was a former wrestler who became one of Paoli's assistants after he retired (along with Alex Goldstein, whom the book credits with the idea of L'Ange Blanc.) Lageat had already split with Paoli before his death and began his own promotion, FFCP. He then partnered with boxing promoter, Etienne Siry. * Marc Mercier is quoted as saying the promotions all had names but the wrestlers never used them. They just said they wrestled for Durand or Delaporte or Lageat. To the public, they were known as matchmakers. * Jacky Corn was Lageat's son. * Andre trained at 22 rue de Martyrs, which was close to L'Elysee Montmartre, the venue Delaporte owned, and la Mutualite, a smaller venue often used by Lageat and Siry. In other words, right in the middle of Paris' wrestling scene. The 22 rue de Martyrs was a place where all aspiring wrestlers wanted to be trained. It also served as an office for Lageat and Siry. * Andre was trained by Michel Saulnier. Other trainees were Gilbert Wehrle and Daniel Dubail (Le Petit Prince.) * The training facilities, as well as the L'Elysee Montmarte, were in in a neighborhood called Pigalle. This was a red-light area with bars, clubs, cabarets and adult shows, including the famous Moulin Rouge. Andre apparently became a bodyguard for some of the prostitutes. The book then goes into some detail about the lumberjack gimmick they gave Andre (folk hero Jean Ferre) and describes the matches we have from the archive. One interesting tidbit, the period of catch where business was hot is known as "les Trente Glorieuses" (the Glorious 30), meaning the 30 years where business was good. EDIT: Actually, this term refers to the years from 1945-1975 after the Second World War and is not directly related to catch.

I found this slideshow from a conference paper that has some historical tidbits about catch -- https://www.academia.edu/19848319/And_catch_became_a_spectacle_1940-1970_ According to the paper, the split between amateur catch and professional catch occurred in 1951, not 1958 as I previously alluded to. Interesting to read that only 6.1% of households had a television set in 1957.

Gilbert Cesca & Bruno Asquini vs. Les Blousons Noirs (aired 1/25/71) Asquini is a name I've seen pop up a lot in match records. He was reportedly an Italian wrestler based in France, but it's safer to assume he was French-Italian since he had a successful amateur career in France and was a French military champion. Unfortunately, we don't have a strong singles showcase for him, but Bob ALPRA says he was one of the finest technicians of his era. This wasn't an ideal match to showcase that technique, but he did bust out a couple of fun spots. Everyone looked a bit long in the tooth, however. Janos Vadkerti vs. Roland Daumal (aired 10/13/60) Daumal was one of the best wrestlers in the immediate post-war era (the era that Lino Ventura wrestled in), and we certainly saw glimpses of that here. His role here was to put over the younger Hungarian wrestler, but he worked a few spots that you don't typically see and I would like to see more of him even as a veteran. Guy Tallieu vs. Cesar Franck (aired 11/9/62) This was four minutes long. I'm not sure why I watched it. The names caught my attention. Franck was billed as Gerald Franck here. Jean Debuf vs. Jack Rouxel (aired 11/10/61) This was Debuf's debut. He had a muscular debut and mostly worked strength holds. Rouxel tried to draw some heat for him but using cheap shots but the crowd wasn't receptive. Debuf won with a proper bearhug. Yves Amor & Georges Gueret vs. Eddie Williams & Ray Golden Apollon (aired 3/28/65) Amor shaved his beard. That's not right. Ray Apollon was billed from Trinidad and Tobago, but unlike a lot of the British wrestlers who were billed from the West Indies, he had much closer ties to the islands. He was born in New York and spent at least part of this upbringing in Trinidad. The son of a famous doctor, he was studying medicine in Paris when he became involved in wrestling and weightlifting scene. Against his father's wishes, he became a wrestler and was a fairly big star in Europe during the 1960s. Legend has it that he wrestled Dara Singh in Nairobi, Prince Kumali in Kenya, and was made a Chief in Nigeria where they named him "The Lion King." An intelligent man, Apollon spoke several languages and had a keen interest in politics and medicine. He dined with kings and queens and stayed at the home of the Kenyan president. Late in his career, he wrestled on the shows that Colon promoted in Trinidad and had matches against Abdullah the Butcher and Ric Flair. Laskin wrote about him in his book, but he got his details confused with Bob Elandon. Eddie Williams was a Martinique-born Canadian wrestler who posters here may know better as Eddie Morrow, the older brother of Gerry Morrow. I believe Gerry Morrow actually got his start in Paris and eventually settled in Canada. Eddie Williams was more of a globetrotter and ended up settling in Australia. That, unfortunately, is the most interesting part of the bout. Amor and Gueret are fun heels but this was the epitome of stagnant mid-60s catch. Generic heel vs face stuff with none of the charm of French catch. Apollon had this weird style of working that looked kind of fake. Williams didn't leave much of an impression. And Amor shaved.

Andre Bollet vs. Eddy Wiecz (aired 8/20/65) This was the first in a series of matches we have between Bollet and Wiecz. For some reason, Carpentier was billed as Wiecz here. I guess it depended on which promoter he was working for. I'm pretty sure he was working for Delaporte in this bout. I would have liked to have seen Carpentier against top flight opposition like Leduc or Drapp, but it will be interesting to see whether Bollet and Wiecz can build on their matches or if they repeat the same match. As I've mentioned before, I'm not a huge fan of Carpentier, but he at least stood out in the States due to some of the athleticism and acrobatics he brought to the ring. In a match like this, he's kind of pegged into the angry baby face role, trying to get a reaction from the crowd with his retaliatory cheap shots. If you didn't know he had been a big thing in the States, it would be hard to imagine him being anything special. Franz van Buyten vs. Karl Schneider (aired 8/7/77) This was a clip of one of those rubbish swimming pool matches. I think these matches come from Aulnay-sous-Bois, which is in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris. This had commentary from the famous French broadcaster, Georges de Caunes. That was the only notable thing about it. Franz van Buyten vs. Ivan Strogoff (aired 8/8/77) One of the regrettable things about this collection is that we don't have footage of van Buyten against top opponents. I guess that's not surprising since van Buyten wasn't exactly a regular in Paris. I suppose we should be grateful for the Gastel and Andre matches, but it would have been nice to have seen van Buyten against a real technician. Having said that, we should be thankful for this match. Strogoff was a Belgian wrestler. A bruiser, basically, like Gastel. Once again, van Buyten wrestled a beautiful match. That's one thing I admire about van Buyten. Every match was an empty canvas to him. Even the swimming pool crap. I enjoyed all of the details and nuances in this since every new van Buyten match is a find to me. Roger Delaporte vs. Vassilios Mantopoulos (aired 3/23/68) This caught my eye as an interesting catch weight contest. Delaporte had silver hair here, and while he put on a hell of a show, the magic wasn't quite the same. I wasn't a big fan of the ref here. He was a ref on a lot of the Delaporte shows. I don't know if he was a former wrestler or not, but he was the same size as Delaporte and he got involved in the action a lot. It distracted from both the match and the catch weight element. It wasn't a bad match, but you could tell things were growing stagnant. It wasn't match that played to Mantopoulos' usual strengths, and unlike Saulnier playing the fired up babyface role with aplomb, it didn't reveal a new side to him. He was pigeon-holed into a generic role like Carpentier, which is either a problem with catch in general or a side effect of Delaporte's booking style. This was always going to be one of those bouts where nothing is settled, but bouts like that should leave you wanting more. Not the case here. Eddy Wiecz & Warnia de Zarzecki vs. Rudi Saturski & Harry Wenzl (aired 8/29/66) Saturski and Wenzl were German wrestlers who wrestled in the States as the Bavarian Boys and in France as Les Golden Boys. In the States, they were baby faces, which I guess was rare for a pair of Germans. In France, they were heels. Saturski won multiple tournaments in Berlin, so I was expecting him to be this great German wrestling champion. Imagine my surprise when he turned out to be Ric Flair circa 1992. Saturski and Wenzl were full blown toks in this (sorry, just wanted to say that once.) This had all the hallmarks of Delaporte booking. It was a wild bout with a ton of ref spots. I think it was the same ref from the Mantopolous match, actually. There was one ref spot where the editor started fucking around with his cuts. The crowd loved it. You had guys taking off their jackets to challenge the Germans to a fight. It was the kind of shit you'd expect from a Delaporte match a decade earlier. You could have plugged any two faces into the beau side, but Saturski was entertaining. There was one spot where he pulled himself along the bottom rope to make the desperate tag. An entertaining bout but it didn't feel as authentic as the 50s stuff. I don't know if this shit killed the territory or not, but I could see it getting old in a hurry.

The ceiling for Flair in 1988 is Ted's spot. Maybe we get a feud with Savage five years earlier and a bunch of promos with Flair calling Andre big man.

Flair jumping to the WWF in 1988 would have been horrific. I cannot imagine a world where Flair's 1989-90 NWA/WCW output is erased. Thank god Dusty jumped instead.

Roger Delaporte vs. Jean Fryziuk (aired 5/3/62) Up until now, we've seen Delaporte take on foreign wrestlers and the big French stars. This was the first time to watch him take on someone at Fryziuk's level. I was curious to see whether Delaporte would elevate Fryziuk to the same level as him or just coast. The verdict? Another wild, rollicking affair. Fryziuk seemed to have bulked up and was unrecognizable from earlier matches. In fact, I had my doubts over whether it was the same guy, but perhaps he moved up a weight. I'm starting to wonder if Delaporte was some kind of genius. Early on, I described Bollet as being the Mick McManus of catch, but that's clearly wrong. If there was a McManus, it's Delaporte. I swear, everything he does is entertaining. Every hold, every gesture, every mannerism. I get bored easily wile watching wrestling, but every second of Delaporte match is entertaining. He is the only wrestler I have ever seen who can make a 40 minute match feel like a four minute clip. He has almost no technical ability but is unparalleled as a performer. When you read about Couderc's commentary, and the spectacle that was French catch, it was Delaporte at the heart of it. Le Petit Prince & Michel Saulnier vs. Guy Renault & Bobby Genele (aired 12/13/71) As we now know, catch started to decline in popularity in the late 60s. Promoters tried everything to revive interest in it from the avant garde to the risque (topless women's wrestling, anyone?), but ultimately it suffered the same fate that befell British wrestling. There were some bright spots, however. We've seen a lot of great tag matches from the 70s and a lot of great light weight action. This was another gem. From all accounts, the Prince had a passion for catch, and I guess you can see it these matches. When the scene died out, he took it hard. He spent the rest of his life trying to be involved in the business. And died in Thailand where he was pursuing some dream to open a wrestling school. This was just as entertaining as the other Prince tags. Renault and Genele were a regular tag team so had strong chemistry. The real highlight of this, however, was Saulnier playing the fired up babyface role. It's not a role I'd seen him play before and he was outstanding. A real treat to watch. Karl von Kramer vs. Gass Doukhan (aired 7/25/65) Now this was interesting. At first glance, von Kramer looked like he might be your typical power guy who used a ton of strength holds, or a heel who had some kind of nerve hold, but he actually had quite the bag of tricks. It's only one match, but I want to say he was cut from the same mold as Terry Rudge. Doukhan was solid enough, but I think Cohen was better. Pepe Marques vs. Tito Kopa (aired 3/20/66) Tito Kopa was a Polish wrestler who wrestled all over the world. He was an odd-looking wrestler. Short (only 5'3") and incredibly stocky with a shaven head and a hairy chest. He was billed here as Tito Kopak from States. I desperately wanted him to be amazing since I have seen photos of wrestling a bear and shit, but he worked the most generic style I have seen in catch. It was the same style that a lot of heels worked in the US. He'd clench on a hold and do nothing with it. Really boring.

Google search. Some sites are saying kayfabe is called vinak in French.

http://archives.bordeaux7.com/bordeaux-actu/49-actu/12752-catch-rencontre-