David Mantell

From a few years earlier, 1982 and GET THIS!!! - THE IRON SHEIK A BABYFACE!!! He's announced as Hussein Arab, his old ring name, he's an Allah-fearing righteous good guy and he's facing a cheating masked heel, possibly Bill Eadie as the Masked Superstar. (Not sure what the opponent is called "Al Halibut") Check it out.

If the former, it would have been kinescope films, not taped as such. If the latter it would have been a live screening At least in the mid 50s, it would, with both the above.

OJ asked where the footage was from and you replied France. By that, did you mean it was recycled ORTF footage or that TMC went to France to shoot it?

France. After the ORTF broadcasts began, were they just screening overseas sales kinescopes of ORTF's wrestling broadcasts or did they send their own crews out to film matches themselves? (like Reslo visiting the German tournaments). If the former, what was the situation before the ORTF bouts started screening? I assume it wasn't just a screening of the clips off pre-1956 news broadcasts (would they, if compiled together, result in a show of satisfactory length?).

Either French promoters were doing shows in Monte Carlo or else they were crossing into France to broadcast matches from nearby places like Cap D'Ailles. Either way, presumably live. We've already heard from Bob Plantin about how Téléluxembourg worked, just turning up to film odd house shows - possibly notifying promoters, apparently not wrestlers though.

These are the three CORKERS! And this is the lesser one:

They had eight matches on TV 1968-1983 (one tag and seven singles) and four of those are up on Youtube. Of those, three are classics, the fourth (the spring 1983 bout) is a bit rushed at only two rounds long with too much focus on the banter spots rather than the skilled work they could do together. They made up for it with the late '83 bout.

Télé Monte Carlo was a private sector broadcaster, ORTF a state run corporation. No surprises there. (Ditto ITV vs BBC). I expect that, like ITV under Lew Grade, TMC was heavily modelled on American commercial networks (from during the TV wrestling boom of the late 40s/early 50s.) Consider also how TF! suddenly caught the wrestling bug again about a year after its 1987 privatisation. And what good bedfellows Vince McMahon and Rupert Murdoch made for 3 decades.

This was 80. I have one more match left for 80 - see this coming weekend - then I am moving on to clear off the last we've got AFAIK of '81. I've got about 50 bouts in a private YT list from the 1980s to work from, drawn from @sergeiSem and Marco's Catch Sammlung channels.

It's been a while but at least - Old Catch En Couleur!!! Catch Á Six from 1977. Guy Mercier and Bruno Asquini we all know, top Bons of the 70s, here with fellow Bon Gerard Tayse to face three Méchants that pushed every Xenophobic button 8n a 70s French audience. A Spaniard, a Latin American and a Gypsy All dressed in stripey gear like wasps. While Les Bons have their own yellow jackets. As if that wasn't enough, Monsieur L'Arbitre is that former technical marvel turned Horrid Little Man. Michel Saulnier. And at ringside Roger Couderc looking totally the French Kent Walton. Premiére Manche: Tayse and Gonzales the Gypsy start off. Gonz looks like a beardy prog rocker crossed with Larry "UK Black Jack Mulligan" Coulter. He can do great cartwheels out of throws though like any lightweight. He spits angrily at Tayse and tags Trujillo who has a great long distance throw and Sunset flip into double leg Nelson for 2. Asquini and then Mercier end up in against Gonzalez. Guy resists a hiptoss and does one himself. Jones manages one at last buy Guy rolls through with one of his own, but Runs Out Of Mat. Viracocha the Peruvian tags in. Guy soon has him in an Indian Deathlock.It takes loads of Manchettes and the odd hairpull to break. Inca gets a kneedrop and tags Thomas who gets a leg but is cross scissored then kicked off. Bruno next, gets legdived, twice kicks his man off the twice spins him off. He does it to Gonzales too but the gypsy has a good cartwheel and comes right back with a rear snapmare. Gonzales rolls right through one legdive and ends up in fighting posture but facing the wrong way. "Il est souple, Gonzales" says Couderc, a compliment last bestowed on Le Samourai two years earlier. Inca Viracocha and Gerard take turns getting cross buttock throws. Les Méchants are reluctant to tag in but managed to in the end. Mercier forces a whip and bump on Inca. While Saulnier orders his two fellow Bons away. The heels get a pretty straightforward heat, cutting the ring in half and triple teaming Mercier. Asquini tags but after a couple of good stiff Manchettes is soon getting the same treatment. Mercier and Saulnie have one of their near fights as Bruno gets the treatment. Finally Bruno crawls through a heel's legs and tags Mercier who goes wild on Les Méchants until they smash Guy throat first on the top rope and carry on as before. Asquini does get a 1 count on Viracocha but his team mates break i5 up. He comes closer with a 2 on Gonzalez. Gonzales several times snapmares and dropkicks Tayse who comes back with Manchettes. For the most part, the triple teaming just carries on. Hot tags cut quickly short An efficient triple team machine in the heel corner. Eventually Gonzales gets Un Tombée on Bald Bruno after jumping off the ropes feet first. Deuxieme Manche: Gonzales gives Asquini a big long side Chancery throw into the Méchant corner and it's back to work. Once Mercier's tag is missed by Saulnier who drags him back to the Bon corner by the hair. Finally Guy gets a genuine hot tag and eliminates all three villains with Manchettes and Saus Chasées., before giving Saulnier a hefty Manchette of his own, flooring L'Arbitre. He gives both Gonzales and Saulnier repeated postings before cross buttock throwing and pressing Jo for the equaliser. Saulnier makes the count before passing out. He recovers enough to try to raise the good guys' hands but they refuse him They shove him away and shake hands. La Belle: Gonzales gets a full nelson on Mercier who breaks open one side and goes behind to reverse it. Mercier seems to make Gonzales pass out but when he drops to bodyscissors and threatens to do the "Ah Ouais" repeated atomic drop. Gonzales forces a standing break and tags Viracocha . The heels try their double teaming tactics but end up ejected from the ring. They try again but Mercier drags Trujillo outside and Manchettes him all around the ring. Saulnier is ENRAGED, climbing ring posts to order Les Bons back to their corner. Things resume with Guy and Gonzales. Viracocha comes in and full Nelsons Guy then gets a front facelock on him. He goes back to the full nelson as Gonzales gets s shot in. The faces all come in, slingshot heels into each other and play a very different kind of "Catch!" with Saulnier. There's briefly a comedy false finish involving Saulnier supposedly getting the pin on Trujillo which sends Saulnier mad trying to get the timekeeper's attention to resume the match. Eventually he gets is point to Couderc All six catcheurs end up doing the String Of Headlocks gag before separating into three Bons each headlock a méchant and they try to bulldog them together but it ends in Les Bons colliding. After a couple more attempts, Asquini gets the winning fall on Trujillo and again the good guys refuse to let Saulnier raise their hand. It was Catch Á Six but really it was a typical Catch Á Quatre of the period. Not too scientific but fast and full of action. And relations between Saulnier and the Mercier family just getting worse.

Haha I was going to write back and angrily insist that that WAS Kauroff - even the ring announcer says so. Apart from him and the two French "Russians" I posted, the only other one in wrestling in Europe at that time I can think of was the vastly lighter (and previously hairier on top) Larry "Black Jack Mulligan (No Relation to Bob Windham" Coulter. Also about how how Stone Cold and Goldberg have popularised that whole Nikita Koloff look among toxic macho male type like that scumbag Andrew Tate. Which is a reason why I don't like the Stone Cold character. But that's all vastly OT. Tried reviewing the Kauroff-Saturski bout but the bad picture quality and the brawly content defeated me. Maybe OJ would like it if not for the picture. Quite the other end of the spectrum from Wright Vs St Clair in 1986 Bremen. Amusing to see Kauroff cheekily offer a handshake at the end and Saturski refuse it after such dirty wrestling. He's a loveable rogue, old Klaus. No wonder he became a babyface in the 90s. And it was nice to hear the DJ play a favourite of mine. Funkytown by Lipps Inc, which had only come out four months earlier Okay. I'm going to have another go. I can't see it going blow by blow but IIRC I was half asleep last time. I'm planning to do a mop-up of 1980s clips Ivenot covered properly. Starting with this: Colour signal is awful. It improves later. Nice to see Mick McMichael of Doncaster in Doncaster in his kilt. Funkytown really put a an age on this clip. The arguments between Mick and Klaus go on and on and the crowd give Kauroff the bird. Th3 tape is old and stretched so The Bird starts to sound like some tape experiment by Brian Eno on the first two Roxy Music albums. Wolf goes to sit down on a corner post. Finally he pounds Kauroff (getting in one nice snapmare). The two do a bit of slug punch and kneelift. Die Runde Ein ends after not much action. Mick orders them apart. Cut to Runde 2, I assume. Wolf is pounding Klaus in the other corner. Two girls in nice sundresses run past the corner, Klaus hulks up (insofar as a German heel legend can be said to Hulk up) and legdives Saturski but he hammers him off with a heel to the head. Saturski gets an arm., makes a semi Japanese Stranglehold. Eventually Kauroff slugs his way out crudely. He takes down Saturski with a top wristlock but Wolf gets headscissors. Kauroff actually does a decent force jaws open and kip out escape. Wolfgang also does something good, a flying headscissors takedown (until you remember that a scissors was what he had one just before.). Cut to Wolf with a chinlock. Cut to Kauroff with an armlock. No idea how they exchanged/reversed/transitioned - if they did. Some slug and punch then the bell goes. Round 3? Wolf gets an Indian Deathlock and front facing chinlock. He switches to a Gotch toehold in the guard. He drops his weight on Kauroff but only gets 6. Kauroff high whips and bumps Wolf who catches him with a ground dropkick. Wolf gradually gets Klaus down from a collar and elbow which goes on for ages but he is soon up and it carries thon for ages again. Wold gets a scissor chop which Klaus eventually sells by going down on one knee. Camera points at fans for ages before we see Wolf with a side chancery but no throw. Kauroff gets up and gets a side chancery throw of his own and so stomps.. The colour has Improved somewhat. The bell goes and Mick has a job getting Klaus off. Runde 4 I guess Kauroff pounds Wolf in his corner and on the mat and appears to have the KO win but he narrowly survived and drops for another 6. They trade blows. Kauroff posts Wolf and chokes him on the mat. No yellow card but no count either. Kauroff gets a posting on Wolf for 8, slugs him in the corner, They slug and p7 ch on till the end of the round. Runde 5. Some ACTION! Wolf gets 3 dropkicks putting Klaus to ringside with the third. He is back at 8. Both get a 2 count pin attempt. Wolf gets another one with a snapmare. Apparently the time limit runs out. Wolf refusesKauroff's handshake. Slow like Rollerball Rocco Vs Sammy Lee was fast. The odd good hold or move, lots of slug and punch, even more stalling. And Kent Walton later claimed Wolf was European Welterweight Champion around this time? Saturski apparently was on World Of Sport November 1970, going down 1-0 to Judo Al Hayes. Which explains where Kent saw him.

Okay I've lookup the match, it's only a minute longer than what I originally planned (a 1980 Giant Haystacks tag) which I'll save for next week when I've got less time). and our friends the radio DJs praise it to the skies. Pity @ohtani's jacket doesn't feel the same way: Okay, let's make our own minds up. The crowd evidently have, singing "WHATSALOADOFRUBBISH" at Rocco. . Apparently, says Kent, Sammy has a considerable female following. Round 1: Lee mostly focuses on his spinning kick to start, cornering Rocco th3n letting him have a blast. Rocco gets a hammerlock but Lee straighten a the arm, rolls forward twice -th3n seconds time going over on his head like the young Dynamite Kid against Alan Dennisson in 1976. He finishes off with a high whip causing Rocco to bump heavily to the delight of all his haters. Sammy isn't laughing, he glares maliciously at Rocco who responds with a top wristlock. Sammy does the French style back flip to a better angl3 then a cross buttock throw for another hard Rocco bump. Rollerball gets a high finger into side chancery, transitioning to full nelson. Sammy butts out backwards and comes back off the ropes with a flying tackle and cross press but Rocco bench presses Lee out of the ring.Le3 flips in offer the top rope and straight to another spinning kick. Rocco gets a grovit and transitions to double rear arms, perhaps looking afo. Lee flips forward, catching Rocco in a reverse ground dropkick as he does so. Rocco kips up and cross buttock presses Lee who keeps the momentum going into a cross buttock throw of his own. Rocco gets a quick armlock into rear standing hammerlock, driving Lee down to the mat but just short of turning him into th3e guard for a pin. Eventualy Rocco, frustrated , kicks and pounds on the shoulder joint, getting himself some heat by choking Sammy on the top rope. He is warned off by referee Dave Reece . but the dirties have done their job, Sammy is selling his at, rubbing tenderly at the bicep. Rocco tries to get a posting to land on the shoulder/bicep but Sammy reverse leapfrogs him. Rocco, unlike other heels, can keep up with Sammy for speed, he is getting his kicks in. Rocco tries the same precision posting, this time Sammy rolls over the top. He is also ready for the kick this time, grabbing Rocco's ankle as it comes up and flooring him. The cdrowd are delighted to see Rocco on the mat rolling around but personally I would have preferred to see Lee keep hold and develop it into a leglock of some sort! (Advert break on the digital repeat.). Rocco gets even with a concealed punch, kick, snapmares and guillotine elbowsmash. Lee is up at 8 but whipped into a stomach but. Rocco gets anothe4 snapmare but this time misses the elbowsmash. Lee fights back with his trademark spinning kick. whip and shoulderblock. Rocco nervously gets a half interlock into standing full nelson. Lee tries to slip in an arm for a cross buttock throw but the bell goes. Round 2 Lee has an odd, contorted fighting stance with one hand bent a pointing forward. Rocco gets in with a front facing armbars, getting behind and kneelifting the joint, the same one as before. He switches to a concealed punch and kick (Reece is highly suspicious of the former.). He gets in a blow to the back of the neck then a Randy Savage axehandle, carefully timing it just as Lee gets his knee off the mat so it is -just barely - legal. Lee is down for 8, slapped down for 2 and reverse pikdriven. He climbs the ropes for a followup but Lee gets up and throws him down. Rocco leaves th3cring to recover and the crowd sing "nice one Sammy.". They lock up and Rocco forces Sammy in to an over the knee backbreaker held with a grovit, then a headbutt held with the hair (Reece is most unhappy with this.). Lee makes a feet first landing from a Rocco monkey climb and gets his spinning kick in fast as does the fallen Rocco with a chop to the thigh. He whips and boots Lee in the stomach but misses a guillotine elbowsmash off the top rope. Lee, up first, gets a whip and shoulderblock. This time Rocco is up with with a magnificent long suplex. It keeps his man down for eight. Rocco tries again and this tim3 gourdbusts Lee on the top rope, earning himself a public warning. Lee sells it for a long while and as he's allowed up for free without a count (as refs can permit when one man is felled by a foul) he is entitled to that. Rocco tries a third suplex but Lee lands feet first behind, atomic drops Rocco on one knee , posts him and inverted waistlock slams him on to o e knee. He switches to crosspress and gets the opening fall. Round 3. Angry, Rocco goes for chops - and more chops - all the way down to the mat. Reece gives him his Second And Final Public Warning. (If you've seen the Wrestle Me vlog, you'll already know where things are heading. If not - Spoilers and I don't mean Drew McDonald or Don Jardine.). Rocco gets a side chancery throw and, now knowing he has to be careful, delivers a series of guillotine elbowsmashes just fast enough that they can get passed by Reece as continuous motion. He does get away with a hairpull but Lee gets on the attack first before Reece can step in, Lee makes a feet first landing from a backdrop and is back in with a spinning kick. Rocco successfully conceals a punch and posts Lee but when Lee comes back off the top rope, Rocco tries to flyswat him with a punch and Reece catches him! DISQUALIFIED!!! THE crowd don't share OJ's view of disqualification finishes, they are DELIGHTED to see hated heel Rocco gets his comeuppance. Neither wrestler is happy, Rocco shouts threats, Lee mouths curses. I thought that was pretty decent myself. The fouls, like with Jones Vs Bond, were kept in their place - even with a DQ finish - and Rocco was actually able to keep up with Lee unlike Cooper, Mulligan, England and even Breaks who ended up as his humiliated stooges for slowness. And when Saya a returned home for his Tiger Mask push. he brough5va little souvenir with him. See the two different matchups side by side below in a Japanese YouTube channel video. Okay, for all you Haystacks fans, unless something really exciting gets posted to Rumble's YouTube channel, that 1980 tag match will be rescheduled for next weekend.

@William BolognaYet another Wrestle Me vlog piece on British Wrestling, this time focusing on a feud that spanned both Britain and Japan: Sammy Lee Vs Rollerball Rocco and their Puroresu alter egos Tiger Mask mk1 Vs Black Tiger mk1. 5:28 note the comments about the audience being like a tennis audience, well educated in appreciation of skillful play. Credit Kent Walton for educating them this. Most of my own style of reading and analysing a match comes from Kent too. It's how we Brit TV babies were brought up.

Agreed that was a silly overblown statement by this Scott Keith bloke but I would suggest the lasting moral of the Savage/Elizabeth story was that actually SHE was the strong one in the relationship all along and that only by swallowing his pride and not just admitting but embracing that fact could Savage find salvation and inner peace.