ohtani's jacket

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-

I see gentil and mechant being commonly used on the internet, but there was an interview with a former wrestler where he used the terms beau and toc.

Following along with the Segunda Caida boys: Jo Rinaldi vs. Robert Moine (aired 7/11/57) Fun preliminary bout. Rinaldi was billed as an Italian but I'm pretty sure it's another one of those deals where he had an Italian grandfather. Moine was an interesting wrestler. He was a short man but he could clearly wrestle. Rinaldi also looked like he knew his way around the ring. Moine disappears from bills at the end of 1960 but Rinaldi wrestled throughout the 60s. Michel Chaisne vs. Pierre Bernaert (aired 7/11/57) This wasn't the best performance we've seen from Bernaert but it was solid enough. Chaise was a handsome, popular heavyweight with a decent amount of fire. This followed a pattern we've seen a lot of so far -- some clean wrestling to start, the heel throws a few cheap shots, the face takes exception, there's some niggle, the face wins, the heel tries to sucker punch him, and the face throws him around the ring for a bit. There was nothing wrong with the formula. It was a perfectly decent way for Chaisne to get a win while Bernaert kept his heat. But I've seen plenty of matches lately that raised the bar with wild action and even wilder crowds. Roger Delaporte & Guy Robin vs. Charlie Fisher & Arthur Fisher (aired 7/19/57) This was a main event from the Cirque d'Hiver. The Fishers were British wrestlers, which continued the trend of Delaporte and partner wrestling foreigners. If you're having a hard time telling the Fisher brothers apart, don't worry. The commentator didn't have a clue either. For the record, Charlie Fisher was the animated one with the longer hair. He was pretty much the Terry Funk to his brother's version of Dory. The Fishers came from a family of seven brothers. Legend has it that they all wrestled but the Wrestling Heritage site expresses a fair amount of skepticism about that claim. Whatever career the older boys enjoyed didn't survive past the war. Arthur and Charlie were the youngest of the brothers and well known to Heritage fans. The Fisher brothers all started in boxing and you could see that in their approach to pro-wrestling. Charlie was the most renowned of the Fishers and was familiar to Parisian fans. This was a fun bout and an effortless watch, but if you think this was good, it wasn't even top end Delaporte. Just for kicks, I tried Matt's subtitles trick for this bout. I had to give up halfway through since the commentary read like philosophy. The highlight of the bout for me was Charlie Fisher's performance as the aggrieved baby face. I really need to learn what the French terms for heel and baby face were.

Andre Drapp vs. Andre Bollet (aired 7/15/60) This was a solid bout, but as with a lot of Bollet's singles matches, it meandered at times. I've come to the conclusion that Bollet was a more talented wrestler than Delaporte but his matches were nowhere near as exciting. Le Petit Prince & Alan Mitchell vs. Daniel Noced & Guy Renault (aired 10/12/74) Another awesome match from this crew. In a perfect world their stuff would be comped for everyone to see. This hit all of the sweet spots. There was brawling, matwork, comedy, slick exchanges -- everything you could hope to see. The commentator would roar with excitement one second then be in stitches the next. There was some ref bullshit at the end but it didn't mar what was pure entertainment. Charles Humez vs. Paul Debusne (aired 4/2/59) Charles Humez was another boxer turned wrestler. He was considered the second best French boxer of the post-War generation after Marcel Cerdan. He wasn't as popular as Cerdan, however, due to his reserved nature. Humez came from a coal mining background and didn't box with a lot of finesse. He was concerned with effectiveness and striking power. He boxed to win not make elegant gestures. He didn't participate in Parisian life either. During his short period as world champion, Cerdan was the toast of Paris. Humez preferred to return to his native region after every fight. For four years, from 1954-1958, Humez was the European Middleweight champion. He desperately wanted to earn a fight against Sugar Ray Robinson but stumbled in the US. This was the biggest regret of his career. He once said he would have liked to have fought at least once for the world title, even for free, then return to his native region satisfied. He retired from boxing after losing his title in '58, and I am fairly certain that this is his debut in catch as there was a ton of press. Interesting that they matched him against Debusne, who also handled Dauthille's debut. I guess he was a guy they trusted with greenhorns. His big thing was the faces he made when he was in a hold. This was much closer to a boxer vs. wrestler match than the Dauthille bout we saw. The ending was spectacular. If you've ever wanted to see a professional boxer's take on the forearm smash contest, you should check this out. Humez is nowhere else to be found in the footage but he makes for an interesting footnote. Georges Cohen vs. Walter Bordes (aired 2/12/67) Bordes was such a beautiful wrestler. Everything he did looked so smooth. He wasn't a guy who left a huge impression on me when we had limited access to this stuff, but he's really impressed me in the matches I've seen so far. Cohen was a talented wrestler as well, and this was a joy to watch. It followed a similar formula to the earlier Cohen match I watched against Giusto, so I guess there were patterns to his work. After an elegant and stylish beginning, Cohen started laying in some heavy shots and the match became hard-hitting and competitive. It was another take on the old forearm smash contest but instead of breaking down and turning into a brawl, it was more about the will to win. Bordes is fantastic and Cohen is firmly on ,my radar now.

I caught up with this week's Segunda Caida footage: Andre Drapp vs. Jack Laskin (aired 6/21/57) I'm starting to see past Drapp the bodybuilder and view him strictly as a wrestler. I'm glad this showed up because it's a tremendous showcase for his skills. You can see that he wasn't just influenced by Greco-Roman amateur wrestling and the European pro style but by the wrestling he picked up wrestling in the States and throughout the world. For a guy his size, he had a serious motor. I loved they way they laid this out. It's not the first time we've seen uppercuts lead to a KO victory in this French footage but it kicks ass every time. This was such an interesting time in wrestling history. Drapp could have easily gone into the movies like Steve Reeves, who made those Italian-made sword and sandal films, and in fact he was the toast of Hollywood at one point, but he was a wrestler and a culturist first and foremost. One of the things I love about French wrestling from this era is how guys like Laskin and Jack Bence can get main event bouts. It's hard to imagine a guy like Laskin getting a bout like this in North America, but in Paris he took center stage. There is actually a chapter in his book where he describes a match he had in Brussels right before this bout, although in typical wrestler fashion the facts don't support the claims. It's a good yarn, though. Paul Debusne vs. Ami Sola (aired 6/26/57) This looked like a fun preliminary bout. I definitely want to check out more Debusne. I keep seeing Sola in matches and can't recognize him yet. Don't know what that means. Pierre Bernaert vs. Laurent Dauthille (aired 6/26/57) Dauthille was part of a golden generation of French boxers. Names such as Marcel Cerdan, Robert Charron, Robert Villemain, Charles Humez, and Jean Wanes, some of whom also turned to pro-wrestling for a living. Dauthille, as we know, was leading Jake LaMotta on points heading into the final round of their world title fight before LaMotta staged a furious comeback and knocked Dauthille out with 13 seconds to spare. Apparently, that loss haunted him for the rest of his life. He wound up hitting the bottle and recreating the loss in circus shows, dying destitute in 1971. He made his pro-wrestling debut in 1953 against Debusne, so he had been wrestling for about four years at this point. But even though he was an important figure in the boxing world, this bout wasn't really about him. It was more of a showcase for Bernaert. Bernaert reminded me of Tully Blanchard in the sense that he was a technically gifted heel who preferred to use his technical skills in an evasive way. This was building nicely to Dauthille knocking him the fuck out but instead Bernaert did a runner and Dauthille was left looking weak. I can only assume that Dauthille didn't translate into box office otherwise you'd think this match would have been handled differently. It's interesting to see how the world of catch was so closely related to bodybuilding and boxing, however, and how pro-wrestling was one of the only ways these guys could make money after their chosen careers were over. Definitely a stark contrast between Drapp and Dauthille.

Don't tell that to the opposition party supporters who think we've ruined the economy. They think we should have copied Australia. Pretty much every sporting organization is crying poor at the moment. It can't all go belly up. Or maybe it will and we'll return to the era of amateur sport.

Tanahashi was making some type of personal statement about the importance of pro-wrestling to society. It was nonsense, really. The actual proposal was for testing kits so the wrestlers can begin performing again safely and compensation for lost pay since most of the wrestlers are independent contractors and don't receive the benefits or protection of full-time employees. The Bushiroad director put a spin on it that it was an important first step towards restarting live entertainment, and Hase cut a promo, but you have to wonder if this meeting would have taken place if Hase wasn't a former wrestler. At least Kyoko wore her face paint. Meanwhile, the entire country went into a State of Emergency today. I'm far from an expert on the current Japanese wrestling scene, but you have to think that the majority of the income comes from ticket gates and merchandise. There are no major TV deals to speak of. I don't think they can make a ton of money wrestling in empty arenas. It seems they want to use temperature checks and hand sanitizers to let the fans in. But it was that type of congregating that caused the problem to worsen. During the early stages of the pandemic, when the Japanese government was trying to downplay the spread of infection to save the Olympics, people kept going out. I hope the wrestlers get some type of financial support, and I know they wanted to take some type of action to protect their industry, but the timing felt wrong to me.

That annoyed me to be honest. We are about 10 days to two weeks into the rapid spread of the virus and we're pretty much walking a knife's edge over whether there will be an explosive outbreak like New York. We're under a State of Emergency where we're supposed to refrain from nonessential activities. I have no idea what these wrestlers are hoping to achieve wasting the government's time and taxpayer's money posing for group photos. Nobody in Japan considers pro-wrestling to be the backbone of sports or the anchor of the entertainment world. I know they want to get paid, but a testing kit for each wrestler? There's barely any testing kits for the general populace.

Roger Delaporte vs. Andre Drapp (aired 9/22/60) Man, Delaporte was a master at drawing heat. He may not have had many moves in his repertoire but he knew how to entertain. We've seen a lot of technical matches from this collection, a lot of hard hitting physical bouts, and workers who have amazing athleticism, but Delaporte is able to craft these long singles matches where all he really does is make faces and strut about. I find his matches strangely compelling despite the fact that they're all 30 minutes plus. These felt like an epic showdown between Delaporte and Drapp. This wasn't a match where Drapp dazzles you with his technical skills because, frankly, Delaporte isn't much of a wrestler, but it had an amazing atmosphere. Delaporte is such a heat magnet that you could probably argue it's the Delaporte Show and Drapp is just another spectator, but it's hard to think of another wrestler who does as little as Delaporte and is so entertaining. Georges Cohen vs. Pasquale Giusto (aired 5/8/66) These guys were major stylists. I imagine that this is the type of match that most people expect from European wrestling if they're familiar with Grey vs. Myers or Johnny Saint. Giusto is a little unorthodox in that he was much taller than the wrestlers who typically work this style. He was an Italian who often toured France and the UK with his older brother, Angelo. They came from a high wire/trapeze background, which you can definitely see in his work. Cohen was billed as an Israeli. I'm not sure of his origins exactly. Fellow Israeli, Gass Doukhan, died a few weeks ago and his obit says he grew up in Paris. This started off as a pure spectacle but was soon heated. They actually went at each other pretty hard for a pair of stylists. The excuse for it all was competitive juices, but Giusto was acting like a bit of a shithead. It was entertaining, for sure. Jon Guil Don vs. Anton Tejero (aired 4/18/76) Jon Guil Don vs. Tomas Trujillo (aired 6/13/76) Jon Guil Don was a martial arts expert. He was billed as South Korean but was actually a wrestler from El Salvador. His gimmick was similar to the Irishman, Eddie Hamill, who starred as The Amazing Kung Fu in British rings. In fact, the pair tagged together in the UK, and it looks like Jon Guil Don picked up a few of Hamill's tricks. Guil Don wore a gi and performed with a nunchaku before his matches. His signature spots were karate kicks with his finisher being a karate kick from the top rope. They paired him with South Americans due to the language barrier, I suppose. It took me FOREVER to decipher Trujillo's name. The Trujillo match was better since it was longer and Jon Guil Don bled, but on the whole if you've seen Hamill's matches, or Sayama's work in the UK as Sammy Lee, Jon Guil Don wasn't a major departure from that. His kicks were better perhaps, but I've read people say that Jon Guil Don was one of the best workers to tour the UK. That seems like nostalgia to me. Maybe he had some amazing throw downs in UK halls but not here. He worked in Mexico a bit, apparently.

Le Petit Prince, Jean Corne & Alan Mitchell vs. Daniel Noced, Jacky Richard & Guy Renault (aired 2/9/74) This is the closest approximation to a trios match I have seen outside of Mexico. Which isn't to say that all six-man tags should be like trios matches, but Mexican wrestlers did turn them into an art form. I'm not quite sure why this resembles a trios match. There wasn't a lot of cross-cultural exchange between Mexico and Europe. There were European wrestlers who toured Mexico but not a lot of Mexican wrestlers who made it to Europe. It's possible that some of the Mexican influence was filtered through Spain, but to the best of my knowledge the six man tag format wasn't common in continental Europe. I've been it used a bit on WoS and during the German tournaments but nothing like that. If I had to guess, I'd say it was a coincidence. They just happened to have three good rudos and a phenomenal lightweight in Prince. They'd been having wild tag matches around this time and this trios was no exception. They managed to do a little of everything here just like in a lucha trios. This wasn't any matwork or topes, but there was the same type of pairing off and different styles of wrestling like comedy, brawling and rope running. The Prince worked a bunch of elaborate throws and continued to have great chemistry with Noced. I'm not sure which promotion this was, or who was booking it, but it's neat that we get this crew working together in various different combinations. Arabet Said & Serge Gentilly vs. Yves Amor & Georges Gueret (aired 2/12/60) We get about 10 minutes of this. Arabet Said was billed as Moroccan, and I believe in this case it's absolutely true. It was hard to tell how good he was technically since this was basically a heel vs. face brawl with a wild finish. He wasn't the most convincing babyface brawler I've seen but perhaps he was being called upon to play a role he wasn't used to. Gueret was entertaining. He's the kind of worker that people will gravitate toward. And another guy who got into films and stunt work. A fight broke out in this between a spectator and one of the seconds. My new favorite thing in catch is watching the ringside fights. Arabet Said vs. Pierre Lecoq (aired 10/10/59) Said had a reputation for being a stylish wrestler and this is the only singles match that we've got from him. He seemed relatively stylish. He was active and moved a lot. I'm not about to shout from the rooftops that he's the greatest undiscovered wrestler of our times, but he wasn't bad. His opponent, Lecoq, was the most old-school, carnie looking wrestler we've seen so far. They ended up working a nice match. Cowboy Jack Bence vs. Roger Delaporte (aired 5/26/60) Bence was a wrestler from Massachusetts who used a Texan cowboy gimmick. He was a true journeyman, and was one of the first wrestlers to travel the world after the end of the second World War. He even traveled to my home country of New Zealand with Andre Drapp. In the UK, he was a loudmouthed American heel, and I guess his success there gave him a pathway to France and Germany. This was surprisingly entertaining given the length. Delaporte gave a master class in comic stooging and Bence was actually a pretty good wrestler. There was some confusion over who should play heel since Bence was used to playing the brash American in the UK, but eventually the crowd settled on Bence as the good guy and he was able to adapt. Delaporte hasn't been able to prove that he can wrestle, but he sure enough knows how to stooge.

Le Petit Prince & Francis Louis vs. Jacky Richard & Daniel Noced (aired 2/22/71) I think I've been underselling Noced. He was amazing in this. We got to see more of him offensively than in other bouts and he had some fantastic exchanges with both Louis and the Prince. This started off as a really amazing lucha style tag and then it got wild. The heels started working Prince over, and the Prince can sell a beating like a mofo. The crowd were spitting tacks. They did the outside brawling spot that we've seen numerous times but the spectators got involved and a fight broke out. The dude looked Le Hippie du Ring so maybe it was worked but it had me pumped. It looked like Prince bladed but it's hard to tell with grainy black and white footage. If you've watched a lot of the 70s footage that was released before this collection was available, you'll be excited to see a young Jacky Richard. I actually think 70s catch may be the peak of the tag scene. There are cards where there is nothing happening in the main events but there's always that one good tag match. This was a must-see and I think it will go down as one of the favorite matches from the collection. Mammoth Siki vs. L'Homme Masque (aired 8/21/71) Mammoth Siki was another of the black bodybuilders involved in the French scene. He was a massive dude. L'Homme Masque was a big guy too. This was pretty dull. They tried to work holds but it wasn't interesting. This was what I was expecting from Drapp, to be honest. One of the lesser matches I've seen so far. Jacky Corn vs. Remy Bayle (aired 4/14/61) Jacky Corn is on my radar now. He went pretty hard in this match as well, especially in the second half when they started ratcheting up the physicality. It looked like he took a legit blow to the nose. This was a fine example of the catch formula we've been discussing. In this case, It was Bayle that ramped up the physicality, but we know Corn is a tough bugger. Sadly, we don't see the result as the footage cuts out before the end. Even so, Corn is one to watch.

Andre Drapp vs. Yves Amor (aired 3/27/58) Drapp continues to defy my expectations for a bodybuilder, though it does appear that he had an amateur background of sorts. I found this nugget of information from Phil Lions: "Some new results. This time from Nancy and the surrounding area. Nancy was a bit different than the other spot towns that I've researched in a sense that they had an active amateur scene and the pro shows weren't as reliant on heavyweight foreigners. The local athletic club "Louis Vasseur" was the one putting on all the pro shows in Nancy and they would feature amateur catch matches on these shows too, but also they would do amateur shows as well. This is how Andre Drapp, for example, got his start. He would go on to be a top French bodybuilder and pro wrestler. Anyway, I decided to include the amateur results as well since the pro and amateur stuff are kind of intertwined in Nancy. The matchmaker for pretty much all of the Nancy shows was a guy from the athletic club called Andre Triboulet." According to my own research, Drapp started attending Club Vasseur when he was 16 years old. He practiced physical culture, Greco-Roman wrestling and catch, and worked his first pro-wrestling match in 1938 at the age of 18. But it wasn't until after the war, and the 1948 Mr. Universe contest, that he pursued a career in pro-wrestling. Surprisingly, he got his start in North America. He didn't return to France until the end of 1956. So while he may seem like a vet in these matches, he was actually a new star on the Parisian scene. They called him "The Lion of Lorraine." You can see on his ring robe The Cross of Lorraine, which was the symbol of Free France during World War II. Drapp, as I mentioned the other day, was a resistance fighter in the war, hence the significance of the symbol. Thesz toured Europe in '57-58 and wrestled Drapp in Paris. Now there's match I wish we had. But we do have this one, and Amor was a skilled wrestler in his own right. He reminded me of a French Pat Roach, which is a very good thing. The match was an excellent heavyweight contest. It followed the format that we're all familiar with by now, but it's a good formula and it's quite helpful for us when introducing new workers like Amor.

Jo Benardo vs. Eric Wasberg (aired 6/14/57) Y'know, when I was researching about Eric Wasberg I learned that you can't take the nationality aspect too seriously. Wasberg is billed as Swiss but it turns out that his paternal grandfather was Swiss. Likewise, Eric Husberg is billed as Finnish, but in actual fact he was born in Paris to a Parisian mother and a Finnish father working in France. I guess I should have learnt from Tommy Mann being billed as American. Wasberg ended up becoming a stuntman in films. Inca Peruano vs. "Cheri Bibi" Roger Trigeaud (aired 6/14/57) While doing my research, I discovered that Inca Peruano died last year in Paris at the grand old age of 93. Apparently, he was born in a small village in the Andes where sport was everything, and excelled at acrobatics, boxing and wrestling and moved to Spain to learn about the world and earn a crust. Cheri Bibi was still billed as Roger Trigeaud here. I thought this bout was a failure, to be honest. I kept waiting for it to be more explosive but it didn't happen. It wasn't that Trigeaud was playing a strongman gimmick so the bout was boring. They just never meshed. The bout was better when Trigeaud was on top and Peruano was selling. Peruano had a poor bout offensively. They blew two or three spots and his control work was dull. He's a great worker but we didn't see that here. I wouldn't call this a disappointment since I didn't have great expectations for it, but it was poor by late 50s standards. I actually found the poster for this show: Immediately, you can see that the date from the archive is the taping date not the air date. The footage seems to imply that Inca Peruano vs. Cheri Bibi went on last despite having second billing, and before the match, the ring announcer talks about the main event for the 6/16 show.

i'm tired from all this real world shit, so I watched a bunch of shorter clips. Doviskoff vs. Andre Lacour (aired 11/20/59) Only two minutes of this? I was intrigued to see the bald Russian light weight, Doviskoff, but I guess we'll never know how good he was. Lacour was often billed as Andre Lacourt, but I believe "Lacour" was his real name so let's go with that. Michel Saulnier vs. Jetty Coster (aired 6/3/60) Jetty Coster, what a name. This was a younger Saulnier so definitely worth checking out. Inca Viracocha vs. Guy Mercier (aired 10/19/62) This was listed as Inca Peruano but I am pretty sure it was Inca Viracocha. Viracocha was Peruano's friend and compatriot, Jorge Figueroa. Guy Mercier was young here. Yasu Yoguchi vs. Mathias Sanchez (aired 3/14/65) I am fairly certain that the Yasu Yoguchi we see here is Chati Yokouchi. He was another Japanese wrestler who traveled a lot. He was especially popular in the UK where he worked the whole devious Mr.Fuji act. Sanchez is like no other Spanish worker we've seen so far. He looks like Ron Jeremy. Joaquim La Barba vs. Dan Aubroit (aired 4/11/65) It's a shame that La Barba disappears from the scene as he was one of the best characters from the 50s stuff. Aubroit strikes me as a guy who doesn't look like your typical French wrestler. Daniel Noced vs. Vassilios Mantopoulos (aired 7/16/65) It's my boy, Daniel Noced, with shorter hair, still looking like a world class base for famous light weights. L'Ange Blanc vs. Robert Duranton (aired 7/5/71) The unmasked L'Ange Blanc kept playing to the crowd like a meerkat sticking its head out of a hole. It was that awkward kind of shit luchadores sometimes do after they unmask. I haven't been impressed with Duranton thus far, but he threw some nice looking punches and uppercuts here. Well, I thought they were nice -- I have no confidence in judging a worked punch. All I can tell you is that I wish he worked like this more often. Plus he had cool muttonchops. L'Ange Blanc got his ass handed to him. Seems that his star had fallen.

Jack de Lasartesse vs. Gaby Calderon (aired 2/1/70) It feels like an age since I've seen a good Lasartesse performance. I still have the bitter taste of that swimming pool match in my mouth. But this was vintage Lasartesse. He only executed the most basic of holds and he wasn't a great wrestler, but the swagger, the arrogance... Few wrestlers have played the arrogant heel better than Lasartesse. The judoka, Calderon, was looking a bit worse for wear in this match, but Lasartesse was golden. He was a giant of a man in this era and his long legs made his knee drops seem devastating. This was a nice reminder of why I used to rave about Lasartesse so much. Le Petit Prince vs. Daniel Noced (aired 6/6/74) This was a 10 minute bout, but it was great. Noced is one of the best dance partners the Prince had. The Prince unleashed all of his offence on Noced, and Noced sold it like a champ. He really is the Psicosis to the Prince's Mysterio, Jr. Peter Maivia vs. Danny Lynch (aired 10/21/67) This was a short clip. Lynch was a British heavyweight who bumped like a madman. He had a reputation for blading in every single match. It was hard to tell but I think he bladed here. Peter Maivia did Peter Maivia things, but the highlight here was Lynch's spills. Le Hippie du Ring vs. Gilbert Bernaert (aired 6/39/70) This was the Hippie's debut. I wasn't sure how this was going to play out. Would the Hippie refused to engage in holds as a pacifist or would he be extra violent? It turned out that he was a decent grappler and it was up to Bernaert to get nasty. Everyone got flowers and kisses at the end, however. Pierre Bernaert vs. Armand Zarpa (4/11/65) Zarpa was Armando Zarpanalian. He was billed as Armenian in Paris, but Greek in most of his overseas forays. I think he was a product of the French wrestling scene, as I checked Phil Lions recent research into the history of Greek wrestling and his name wasn't mentioned. This started off slow -- a deliberate stalemate perhaps -- and became exciting when Zarpa began reacting to some of Bernaert's inside shots. We've seen that formula a lot in French and British pro-wrestling where the workers are trudging along and then one of them needles the other and the match erupts. This wasn't red hot but it better for the niggle. Zarpa looked like a decent hand but the quality of the match probably depended on his opposition. Janos Vadkerti vs. Roland Daumal (aired 10/13/60) This was a nice little match from when men were men and catcheurs were catcheurs. I think Vadkerti was a Hungarian wrestler. Sergio Reggiori vs. Eric Wasberg (aired 7/1/60) Another short, JIP match that paints the wrestlers in a good light. Eric Wasberg was a Swiss wrestler not to be confused with Eric Husberg who was a Finnish wrestler. I wish we had more of Wasberg but actually it was Reggiori who stole the show here. Jimmy Dula vs. Andre Drapp (aired 4/26/71) This was better than expected. Drapp was a bodybuilder, and Dula was a huge black guy doing an African gimmick, but they worked a really gritty strength based match. There were no quarters given. Drapp was, allegedly, part of the French Resistance and had shot and killed several Nazi soldiers. I don't know if that story is true but he looked a hell of a lot tougher than your average bodybuilder. Dula was billed from Morocco but I'm not sure of his actual origins. I think he came from a boxing background and he flashed that a bit during the meaty part of the bout. I'd definitely watch both men again.

Ischa Israel vs. Henri Le Mao (aired 8/22/65) Ischa Israel was an Israeli wrestler who worked in the UK and France during the 50s and 60s. Henri Le Mao was another successful amateur turned pro. This started slow but it had a heated finish with both guys trying uppercuts, headbutts and whips into the turnbuckle to try to get a knockout before time expired. Ami Sola vs. Pepe Marques (aired 10/28/60) Pepe Marques was another Spanish wrestler. This was decent catch. It also featured a lot of uppercuts toward the end but this time it was due to fatigue. Jean Corne vs. Robert Le Boulch (aired 9/3/59) Jean Corne was a talented wrestler. Up until now, we've only seen him in tag matches, so I was looking forward to seeing what he could do in singles. His opponent Le Boulch was a nasty man and set about doing whatever he could to stop Corne from wrestling, similar to how Teddy Boy prevented Aledo from doing the same. Thankfully this was from the era where the crowds were wild and would have a go at the wrestlers from ringside. Folks are gonna love the kicks and swinging punch that Le Boulch gives to the spectators. This kind of had that vibe of tag wrestlers squaring off for a singles match (if you catch my drift), but Le Boulch made it entertaining. Gilbert Leduc & Batman vs. Les Blousons Noirs (aired 12/1/67) I wish Batman wrestled with his mask on. He wears it for the intros of an earlier match then takes it off. I guess he either lost and was forced to unmask or had trouble seeing. Either way, he was a strange partner for Leduc. Leduc spent a lot of this match face down on the canvas. It reminded me of Misawa taking a beating only this time it wasn't the Boy Wonder, Akiyama, standing on the apron, but Batman. Les Blousons Noirs were a polished heel act. Their gimmick was out of date at this point but they were one of the more solid tag teams in France. The match could have done with a bit more build, and like a lot of French tags, they could have shaved a few minutes off the running time, but they held it together. There was also a surprise haircut at the end.. Roger Delaporte & Andre Bollet vs. Robert Gastel & Gilbert Leduc (aired 12/14/61) It was weird seeing Gastel and Leduc on the same side. Not sure how that transpired. This was long, and slow at times, but Delaporte and Bollet were able to carry it with their personalities. Neither of them could wrestle that well but they were both tremendous stooges. It's easy to see why Delaporte was a big star. His theatrics were entertaining and had Couderc roaring with laughter. Leduc hasn't impressed in tags yet. I prefer him in singles matches at this stage.