David Mantell

TVTimes did that too for ITV broadcasts. And they were on the end credits for the late period standalone Wrestling, the midweek wrestling and if you sat around for 30-45min after the wrestling slot had finished, the end credits of World of Sport Getting back to France, commentators were giving Jean Pradinas a name check as far back as the mid 60s. Twenty years later he was the main maestro of directing Catch on A2. The last credit we have for him was March 1987 on FR3 (the broadcast with the trumpet player.)

HOLIDAY SPECIAL Okay for the third and final Holiday Special, I'm going to go through all the bits of FR3's La Dernière Manchette on @Matt D's channel. Snag: I've done one or two bits already in the past so I'll paste in quotes when we get to those bits. First video. We get the nice jazzy theme, an intro and two rather older wrestlers (one of whom I think is Marcel Montreal but I wouldn't swear to it) squaring off in the ring, including a rather nifty rear snapmare. Pan away to the crowd and presenter who is supposed to look 1950s but looks more like one of the Specials if the 2 Tone movement wore blue/white instead of black/White. He's got a sidekick in a ghastly Hawaiian shirt. There's a couple sat behind them, a blonde lady and her husband with a big moustache who looks a lot like Popov Le Gitane. René Ben Chemouel & Gilbert Cesca Vs Christmas Bibi & "Jules" Bernaert. At least the presenter Michel says it's Jules, the only Bernaert family member I know of who wrestled was Pierre. Couderc is commenting, perhaps he will give us clues. Bibi does his ex convict gimmick. It sure was heck looks like Pierre B. Les Méchants use fouls, Les Bons wrestle clean but aren't in with the right opponents .for a scientific match. Which is frustrating when you remember of these bons is the great RBC. Bibi reminds me of Ian Muir back home in Britain. Big bald Superheavyweight. He gets the first fall on René with a running powerslam. RBC slingshot Bernaert into a rope tied Bernaert and Couderc is in hysterics. Cesca gets a front folding press on Bernaert for the equaliser. La Belle goes to RBC over Cesca with a victory roll. Look out for a shot of a younger dark haired Couderc at the end. The sort of face Vs heel match that Americans prefer over technical matches. Back in the studio the two wrestlers are still at it in the ring and the presenters are joined bythe other Roger, Delaporte, in a checked sports jacket apparently bought from the same boutique as frequented by Harley Race in the early 90s. The guy in the Hawaiian shirt tries to Manchette the two wrestlers but has nomjoy until he changes into wrestling gear and a long yellow cape. We get some old newsreel footage of various sporting attractions other than wrestling (apart from some sumo). We cut back to the studio, the wrestlers do their thing (nice scissor chop) in front of a rowdy but strangely silent crowd while Hawaiian Shirt Man interviews Delaporte. Linda Blair Vs Nicki Mc Donald OJ wrote: Not sure about Lena, I do recall Leather Lena and I think an actual Linda Blair. McDonald is of course Naughy Nicky Monroe aka Mrs Nicole South, wife of Jonny South. You'll have seen her on Reslo, on the Raging Belles BBC2 documentary or on Facebook getting into arguments with people. Blair is wearing some spiked gloves which lead to a big argument with L'Arbitre Didier Gapp until he makes her take them off. Nicki wears the same red leotard as on Reslo. Unlike the tag, they managed to have a heel Vs blue eye (hey they're Brits) match with plenty of scientific wrestling throwing between the fouls. Does that make Blair a "Wrestling Heel". Wel whatever. Nicki was mostly playing the heel on Reslo at this time, even tagging with Klondyke Kate on Reslo. So it's a bit funny to see her as La Bonne here. Nicki shows she can wrestle dirty too, pulling Blair up by the hair. Blair nearly walks out after one argument with Didi but he is counting and she finally remembers OJ is watching and so they can't have that finish. An outside the ring brawl sees Nicki smash Linda's head into the ring apron and get an Advertisement. She gets another for tying Blair up in the ropes (Blair already has two so it's sudden death for Avertisements. A good section about countering backdrops with sunset flips into double leg nelson pin attempts. Blair gets the win with a double knee press. Afterwards the two brawl and Linda hits Nicki with a stool. She stays the winner. Michel has changed into a light blue suit. bow tie and hat. He chats to Hawaiian shirt man behind Delaporte's back. Montreal if it's him wins the studio match, Jazzy theme. Bob Dellassera Vs Franz Van Buyten (Piratenkampf.) We've seen enough of these on the German thread plus on the British thread from Reslo to know the limitations of a Piratenkampf. So let's not raise our expectations . Both guys sport magnificent moustaches. So does assistant Arbitre Delaporte We get a shot of the "bell" which looks like a brass sculpture of a turd hanging on a chain. They actually do some holds early on including a headscissors counter to headlock, guard armlocks and finger interlocks on the mat. Little real chains or chain wrestling action. Plenty of static form hold like the guard armlock. The chain spots are in the last couple of minutes, both men pull each other off near flag collections. FYB in the end gets the flag before Bob can pull him down. Marginally better than expectation, some actual wrestling (albeit of the ponderous pre Steve Wright German variety) rather than just a chain tug of war. Brigitte Boone Vs Leo Dewerdt Previously reviewed on here: Not just any old swimming pool either. It's the very same pool where the Mercier Brothers faced Albert Sanniez and Mario Petrolini. With the same evening commuter train passing by in the background. If you recall the missus of the arguing ringside couple got thrown in the pool, nice red dress and all, so if neither female wrestler took an aqua bump here, it's nothing to do with the kind of politically correct chivalry-in-slapstick that gave us the one sided pie throwing games on Game for a Laugh that I mentioned on the British thread review of Simon Hurst Vs Ray Robinson recently. Or that bit in the AWA WrestleRock Rumble video where Da Laydeez push Scott Hall and Curt Hennig in a pool and have a giggle. Otherwise we might see both wrestlers here pitch the poor old ref in the drink and disappear of into the night together as girly mates for life. And speaking of Monsieur L'Arbitre - So that's Didier Gapp with hair. The same Didier Gapp who tried his damnedest to upstage a bunch of British (and one honorary Brit Owen) at the Heumarkt in the early 90s. The same Didier Gapp whose whole miserable petty official persona actually made him a comedy cult hero among 90s CWA fandom and, as SR mentions, continued being a fixture of old school German/Austrian wrestling into the 21st Century with the EWP. I like the cool video fault at the start by the way. Very David Bowie Ashes to Ashes video. Oh and that IS a swimming pool, it just seems to be next door to a harbour. This could get messy on a bad weather day with chlorine ending up in the sea and mucky sea water ending up in the pool. Leo is pretty roughhouse with the bodychecks and high whips at the start. Gapp stops Borne booting Leo off, or was she going for a headscissors? Leo easily breaks Borne's bridge with a good old elbow to the stomach. She armdrags Borne back down when the latter gets up to sling her in the ropes and again in response to a hiptoss, but Borne finally gets that headscissors (see I was right!) Leo loses the arm and takes forever to snap out and kip up only to be scissored back down several times. She tries the roll out escape but Brigitte tickles her (!) to make her lose balance. Finally she concertinas Borne's legs to bend them open and ends up with double legs but Borne is twisting back and forth to get out. She does get pin counted to 2 a couple of times but in the end flips Leo off. Some lecherous cameraman has climbed onto some nearby scaffolding and we get his longshots of back and forth armdrags and armbands and throws before cutting to the presenter and Delaporte eager for someone to fall in. Brigitte pulls Leo off the ropes and applies a single toehold which she improves to a Gotch toehold. She turns Leo over and Manchettes her in the back when Leo sits up to attempt a counter. Leo uses a manchette of her own to get out and proceeds to an argument with Didi over it. Leo gets a bearhug which Borne escapes by bashing her sides, then manchettes her down. Leo gets the bearhug back then rope a dopes Borne to try get a better grip but Brigitte boots her down and splashes her (not in La Piscine sense.) but Leo does get a bodyscissors. Brigitte does get the odd 2 count out of it as does Leo with the help of a couple of illegal throttles. Borne, fighting fire with fire, pulls her up by the hair and Manchettes her off, Leo side chancery throws and chinlocks her. Brigitte elbows her in the stomach to break it, but Leo is back with the side Chancery throw to chinlock soon enough. Brigitte uses the same elbow escape then totally loses her cool, stomping Leo. When Didi tries to interfere she nearly throws both of them in the water and get an Avertisement for her pains. Chastened, she opts for a lot of snapmares and the odd lariat before getting Leo on the top rope, tying her up and charging her. Didi again narrowly avoids a soaking - he could show Modesto "Kamikaze" Aledo or even Ricky Steamboat a few tricks slingshotting himself back in the ring) and give Borne her Deuxieme Et Derniere Avertisement. He manages to eventually free Dewerdt (as the driver of a passing train honks his horn in appreciation - was he a Catch fan? We'll never know.) Leo plays possum on the canvas but it's a ploy to legdive and legspread Borne. As @Matt D mentioned she did the butts (to the stomach not the crotch) and upgraded the legspread to a standing toe and ankle legspread combo. She pulls Borne away and gets the headbutt in to the behind but Borne pushes up and gets into a pre victory roll position -not quite a headscissors. (I'm not sure what Matt's issue with this is, it all seems clean enough stuff the guys could do without attracting comment.) Leo gets up and Brigitte indeed does the victory roll. getting a few armstretch press pins for 1 out of it and even Leo getting 2 with a folding press attempt. Leo eventually gets rear double arms - if she had a surfboard in mind it doesn't come off as Brigitte somersaults out, catches Leo with a couple of ground position dropkicks and dodges a Big Splash. She gets a hammerlock , throws Brigitte into the ropes, trips her neatly and might have got a folding press only Borne rolls out of the way, nearly into the water. She tries the same hammerlock/ropes/trip sequence but Borne sidesteps and boots her in the behind. Borne gets a waistlock, atomic drop and seated rear bodyscissors. She then lifts and dumps Leo a few times, the old Ah Ouais spot although the crowd don't chant it. Leo tries unlocking the feet and leaning back for a pin attempt; neither succeed. Leo turns in the hold to face Borne, possibly trying for a pin, in the end getting a back weakener and the chopping Borne down off the ropes. She boots and Manchettes Borne down, slams her, hair drags her twice and gets in another few Manchettes. More side chancery throws until Borne surprises her with a folding press from behind for the one fall required. Nice happy pop from the crowd. Quite a slow methodical bout, very like German/Austrian Catch before Steve Wright revolutionised their style. Although to be fair a lot of the space it the bout is used wisely for crowd working and psychology, this being very much a La Bonne Vs La Méchante match. The tag match in question is next up. Oh. I could have sworn I did a proper review of this one time. Never mind: The Mercier brothers, Marc and aTBW Pierre are fantastIC young wrestlers who remind me a lot of the Bryant brothers in 2020s Rumble Promotions. Sanniez is in fine form as France's answer to horrid little man Jimmy Breaks. Everyone takes a water bump including referee Didier Gapp plus the blonde girlfriend of moustache man, soaked in a red mini party frock, to the delight of the poolside audience, while trying to fish Didi our of the water. If you've not prejudiced against Catch Á L'Eau, it's a great faced paced Catch Á Quatre. We see the same finish for the two studio wrestlers and an end title sequence with all the retro costumed audience leaving including one guy in 50s American GI gear looking like Bryan Ferry circa 1975. And rol the credits which include "Jean Pierre POUZADE" - see I was right, that IS Popov Le Gitane as the boyfriend. But before that we get some build up for next week's episode, the two matches on this next video: Roger Delaporte Vs L'Homme Masqué. "It's not often you get the crowd going for McManus and Logan but today is the exception - they want that mask off!" Thus spake Kent Walton at the Royal Albert Hall 1976, commenting on the South London Hard Men Vs Kendo Nagasaki and George .Gillette having a match. The same applies here, heel Vs masked heel, crowd gets behind non masked heel.But not before we meet hat wearing Michel again plus a lady in a green jacket who discuss holds. Sneakiness Vs Brute Force. Delaporte has fun shuffling away from HM's charges but when he charges the masked man he bounces off HARD. Delaporte tries a belly to belly suplex but can't get the lift. A leg-dive similarly fails. The masked man stays in control with top wristlocks on the mat. He ultimately wins with a sleeper hold. Delaporte survived as he is in the studio chatting to Green Jacket Lady. He ultimately takes her into the ring an teaches her to apply a headlock to o one of the two wrestlers (after himself giving the poor stooge a snapmare into headlock himself.) Some more newsreel footage of dubious relevance.And then ... Linda Blair & "Magnifique" Manetry Gowart Vs Nicky McDonald & Brigitte Borne Previously reviewed on here: Actually Matt D has them labelled the other way round. Blair and McDonald Vs Borne and Magnifique Manetry Gowart. However I've checked and the short haired girl is indeed Brigitte, she was on TV in 1978 against Lola Garcia. Nicki MacDonald should be a familiar face for readers of the British thread - Naughty Nicky Monroe, dubbed a "Soho Sex Kitten" by Orig Williams in the middle of a Reslo Welsh language commentary, former heel tag partner of Klondyke Kate, they wrestled Mitzi in her 1987 Royal Albert Hall retirement bout before Nicky turned blue-eye on Kate and ended up facing her for Mitzi's vacated British title on BBC2's Raging Belles docu (where we saw her other life caring for the elderly) only to be injured by the victorious Kate and put out of wrestling for a couple of years to win the title. Reslo stayed around long enough to catch her reconciling with Kate and reforming their heel team in 1995 but Nicky truly found her calling in life as Mrs Nichole South, wife of Johnny South and hardened keyboard warrior keen to stick her claws into anybody with a bad word about her husband and his Legend of Doom gimmick or else coming to Kendo Nagasaki's defence when the old boys are bitching about him on Facebook. ... The two Blonde women have a bad biker babe thing going on in UK Rockers/Bloussons Noirs/early Road Warriors peaked cap. There is a hint of Leilani Kai and Judy Martin's heel WWF Glamour Girls tag team. The two biker blondes have a power advantage over their opponents, short haired minidresses Blair looks like a little girl doing ballet. Nicki certainly knows her British style escapes and kip -ups as well as attacking moves including a nice Frank Gotch figure four leglock. Les Bomnes get an easy first fall The Bad Blondes restate their dominance early on with front chanceries and side headlocks on Brigitte til she escapes, converting a side headlock into a hammerlock. The bad girls get a public warning but soon get an equalising pinfall. They continue the work on both Bonnes and eventually get the decider. The actor playing the beardy spectator gets so wound up he has to be restrained but he female celeb pundit is quite impressed with her first Ladies Wrestling match. Final video: Paul Villars Vs L'Ange Blanc This is a return match after Ange handed Villars his first defeat. The show starts with a promo where the interviewer asks if Villars is scared of Ange? Paul quietly replies to the effect of no, he's not scared, he's trained and ready for any challenge. (An American heel would have lamped the interviewer for a question like that!) Disappointingly, Ange does not wear his long cape on camera, we join the action just at the opening bell. Villars is you stereotypical French thug with a moustache. It's scientific but with Le Bon ahead of Le Méchant. Ange uses the flying headscissor takedown as counter to armbar. Very French for a Spaniard. Plenty of good interesting matwork. No serious fouls from Villars that I've noticed. So far this would have made a great blow by blow. Ange does a crossed legscissor throw. He also does the low range seated Piledriver that some people get excited over during Bock- Inoki in 1978 "he's killing him! It's a shoot etc)". Inevitably Villars breaks out the Manchettes, illegal closed fists. and the stomps on fallen Ange. In response, Ange starts dropkicks. Finish of la première manche comes when Ange gets a front chancery into inverted front facing, waistlock into front folding press. One up to the masked man. La Deuxième starts with a long headlock from Villars, possibly an unmaskîng attempt. Ange botches a flying tackle, falling short of Villars but makes the pin cover regardless with a crosspress, but Villars keeps getting one shoulder up. Plus his temper is up and he front chanceries Ange, delivering illegal kidney punch after illegal kidney punch until L'Arbitre gives his un Avertisement. It's more of a brawl by now. Ange give Villars heel of hand punches to the nose which amuse Roger Couderc and keep Villars down for a good length of a knockout count. He puts Villars out with pressure points and scores a KNOCKOUT. Oh yes., Ange revives Villars after the match and puts his cape on. Villars want to go on but it's 2-0 to Ange. Back in the studio Poujade/Popov breaks character and demonstrates the pressure points move on Hawaiian Shirt Man and Delaporte waxes nostalgic about Ange's debut in Paris. We get another newsreel bit. All sorts of sports, no wrestling other than a boxer becoming a wrestler but we don't see him wrestling. Some folk wrestling from Africa. John Harris & Bob Dellassera Vs Franz Van Buyten & Marcel Montreal. I've got a feeling I reviewed this before during the FYB Deep Dive but some time back can't find it. Harris is billed as a Canadian and is a fair but younger looking than British Judd Harris. So not him. Bob Dellassera was Canadian also so it's Canada versus France and Belgium. This is about the oldest professionally shot footage of Marcel Montreal we've got (excluding camcordings from the mid/late 80s. All four are heavyweights and it's very much a heavyweight sort of match to begin with, scientific but built for power not speed. Canadians get heat when they double team FYB on the ropes. Montreal gets the hot tag and slugs away like Wayne Bridges, ends up going OTT and getting an Avertisement, the Canadians get one also (so is this one DQ or two DQs?) Dellassera gets a slam and crosspress on Montreal for the first fall. Cut to more ruminations of Delaporte. Marcel is ready to slug and lands plenty of Manchettes sending Bob to ringside. Popov/Pouzade, blonde Mrs Popov/Pouzade and some fans have a ringside brawl just as Montreal nearly gets a fall or two with a flying tackle.. Harris gets a second straight, a submission with an over the knee backbreaker. Even more crowd riot. Pouzade ( the announcer calls him that so I suppose we can conclude that c'est lui) gets bopped by Blonde Mrs Pouzade with her bag. Overall the INA's collection of La Dernière Manchette is a pretty mixed bag from a show which could never quite make up it's mind if it was celebrating or mocking Le Catch. The ,arches are at least average to good but you have to sit through all the frills like the comedy with the crowd, the non wrestling celebrity analysts and the almost totally irrelevant newsreels. FR3 had started broadcasting local matches in 1982 and this apparently was its first shot at broadcasting le Catch nationally. By 1985 some of the last A2 broadcasts will have FR3 production credits (were they repeats of local broadcasts?) and FR3 would keep the flag flying until November 1987 before the baton was passed to Minuit Sport on TF1 and FR3 got a brief one bout encore in Feb 1991. Okay.that's the last of the Holiday specials. I fly back Monday afternoon and the weekend after I go back to my regular schedule of one bout per week for this thread, the British thread and the German thread.

HOLIDAY SPECIAL If you've read the British thread, you'll already know the score, I'm on holiday visiting family in Israel so I'm having a change of pace and reviewing one longer compilation for each of the three "stronghold" territories of NW Europe. Now it's Germany's turn and as luck would have it, it's from 1986. (Okay I admit it, I thought of all this several months ago when I saw this particular video up on @sergeiSem's new channel and wondered how on earth to deal with it, then had this bright idea ...) Anyway for reasons best known to himself, @sergeiSem didn't break this video up into bit but pu5 it up in one big piece, so that is how I shall review it. I give to you CWA Bamberg 1986. Although given Otto and Peter's coup against Nico S was not until 1987, I'm guessing this was actual the IBV. Dave Morgan vs. Indio Guajaro Dave as a good guy with no Mashke on. Indio the heel but behaving himself at first with snapmare, leverage throws etc, , even a slower version of the early stages of the Lady of The Lake. This won't last surely? Not with Dave getting ground dropkicks and spinouts. Dave can do the French style headscissor counter to top wristlock. He can also accirland on the ref and get into trouble . Double anklesmash, anything to antagonise the villain . Indio has a very good scissor chop. It's not that Dave's humiliating him, just that he has the edge for tricks. See I said it wouldn't last, Indio is kicking Dave around on the mat, standing on his chest on the bottom turnbuckle, kicking him off the apron when he doesn't quite hit the floor, choking Dave on the ropes. Dave makes his comeback.p itching Indio over the ropes, typing him up, charging him, arguing with the ref. Indio gets his heat back. Stomping Dave around. A flying tackle gets Dave a 2 count. He gets the winner with a sideways cross press. We gets some highlights of the match afterwards and another bout that looks like Klaus Wallas going to a clean draw with Eddie Steinblock. Indio Guajaro & John Harris vs. Günther Wagner & Bobby Gaetano DJ plays Fire by Arthur Brown.Harris tags in early and gets down and dirty. Heels double team and tag. Harris has some strength holds, a rear chinlock Gaetano gets a hot tag gets 6 on Harris. He has a mean cartwheel, between the legs and serial dropkicks (without it getting silly like with Mike Speedball Bailey in the above-posted 2019 match.). He ties Harris in the ropes and he and Wagner use Indio as a battering ram.soon both heels are tied but they get their heat back, fouling and double teaming Gunther in their corner. Circus music comes on and goes off. Bobby gets the hot tag and eventually pins Indio. In an afterbirth he dropkicks both heels off the apron as a DJ plays Ghostbusters. Another recap afterwards. Family fun tag match. Nothing hideous but nothing mind blowing. Otto Wanz vs. Dave Viking Austria versus Scotland. Otto in good shape, not yet Superheavyweight. They stall a lot early on. Long slow bearhug,. Viking starts stomping Otto , soon he is stomping on the mat. It looks a bit like Studd Vs Andre. Viking gets heat choking Otto. Otto gets revenge throwing Dave and keeping him there. They brawl outside the rIng. Otto gets a submit with a Boston Crab to win. Another recap. All sorts of clips afterwards including a Ringerparade. Very German brawl but better than Otto versus some of the Americans. I could mention. John Harris vs. Rolo Brasil Heavy heels and fast face. Rolo gets the same French headscissors takedown during a top wristlock battle.. Rolo also does a double ankle chop and a nice rear snapmare on the bigger man. Ghostbusters theme plays over the action at one point. very mid 80s. Harris uses a lot of dirty tactics - ropes. choking on the mat. Rolo does manage to snapmare him over the top to ringside during one such rope choking episode- and pitches him both ways over the top rope several times. In the end Harris wins with a splash and taunts the crowd. Judd Harris reminds me a lot of Adam Mansfield in that 2022 Rumble Promotions clip, even more than Peter Lapaque does. More highlights including a Dave Morgan Vs Gunther match I reviewed some time back. Otto Wanz vs. Indio Guajaro Another Superheavyweight Vs normal wrestler but here, unlike last time,Indio attacks Ottoman through a round brrs the Superheavyweight is the babyface. (There's a false start to this as we get highlights of this and the next two bouts) Before the match Otto tries to intimidate Indio out of getting in. Indio and the ref have a gesticulating argument that the crowd finds hilarious. Otto and Indio try to kick start the match. Ref won't have it. So the bell rings and Otto side chancery throws and armdrags Indio around a lot. Otto uses body checks like Schurli Blemenschutz or Shirley Crabtree. Indio is the cheeky heel who just won't take a hint. And that's what keeps him going. Plenty of knockdowns and knockout counts. Otto can do a single leg Boston Crab. Indio actually floors Otto with an uppercut. Indio goes to work on Otto in the corner but later gets tied up in the ropes. Otto wins with a pin, Indio protests. More highlights. Eddy Steinblock vs. Dave Viking Two blond guys in red trunks. Very confusing. Viking uses hairpulls fouls a lot. Lots of standing headlocks, rear standing waistlocks. Viking is too big to roll or flip and kip. It soon become a brawl. Eddie dropkicks Viking out he ring. He gets a public warning for beating down on a kneeling Dave who gets tied up. Rather than charge. Eddy shakes the top rope. Later Viking is tied again and 5e ref gets in the way andEddy gets the second and final public warning. They brawl outside the ring. Viking gets a PW. Viking puts Eddy in what WCW announcers 13-14 years later called the Tree Of Woe. He gets disqualified but gives Eddie one last beating and leaves looking satisfied.In Britain crowds would want him banned and Big Daddy would eventually serve out justice. But this is the German Tournaments circuit and Daddy is safely over the North Sea so the heel gets the moral victory. We get quite a long clip of a Dave Morgan versus Le Grand Vladimir match . Plus Vladimir and a Superheavyweight who might be Judd Harris on a bad hair day Vs Morgan and Bobby Gaetano. Vladimir does a great forwards version of the .Greg The Hammer Valentine falling bump. Plus a Ringerparade including a masked man whose mask goes down to his collar. and a Native American in a war bonnet. All the wrestlers get announced but picking up the names requires acute hearing. Indio Guajaro vs. Wolfgang Saturski In a different ring with black and white ropes. Indio stalls a lot. Lots of top wristlock down and kip up the a headscissors by wolf. Wolf gets a Rude Awakening neck breaker on Indio and some arm weakeners. Indio resorts to his usual dirty tricks like rope choking. Wolf counters by trying to rear snapmare him over the ropes. Wolf does indeed get Indio over the ropes with a Fireman's Carry takedown but .Indio pulls him out and a ringside brawl starts. When they get back, Morgan gets in some retaliation, standing on Indio's hair while looking round with Les Kellet-esque innocence, repeatedly quick fire headbutting him in the stomach. He gets a spinning over the shoulder backbreaker that sens Indio flying and covers him for the winning pinfall. Steve Wright vs. Crusher Verdu Oscar Verdun looks like he has won a Jimmy Valiant lookalike contest. He's in against the best technical wrestler based full time in the territory at this time, the guy who revolutionised German/Austrian Catch indeed. We can but hope., but I recollect reading that Oscar Verdu was more of a strength man. Wright (still with some hair - that wouldn't last long. Bull Blitzer was just months away) is pretty strong too, getting cross buttock throws and snapmares on the heavier man. He gets an armbar I think headscissors into crosspress for 2. But what we really want to see is Wright's defensive work. They hear me - neat roll upright from a Verdu thow gets a respectful clap from the crowd. Wright takes a big somersault bump from going with an arm lever then a legdrop lands on his arm. It gets a bit brawl then Verdi gets an anklescissor. He also has a good Japanese Stranglehold which he hangs into even when Steve floors him. Steve gets leg weakeners. A good fisherman's suplex. Things get brawly again. And stay that way for some time other than the odd Steve dropkick. until he gets a good front folding press for 2. The bell goes just as Steve kicks out at 1 from a Verdu pin- I think it's a draw. Steve gave the best value for money on the whole tape but I think I would have preferred to see him against another technical master.. And yes we finish up with more clips including Morgan Vs Steve Logan MK2 (a corker indeed!) Overall verdict: Good violent fun for drunk Germans in festival season. No real scientific sparkles although Wright. Saturday and Morgan all tried pushing the envelope. I'm in an understanding mood as I'm on holiday, lovely. Iran are paying us a visit tonight (EDIT: They didn't show) so if I survive, expect one more Holiday Special over on the French Catch thread.

Two clean matches, I presume?

Which Sullivan? There was Francis Sullivan, Wigan shooter but from Charnock's not Riley's . Once interrupted a music hall variety show to challenge Milo Popocopolis after he spotted him elsewhere in the audience. ITV footage is under lick and key but there is French TV footage on YouTube. *Has a look* - OWEN SULLIVAN. Probably not a North American at all like many people weren't (Stax, Rocco, Tommy Mann. I think I've covered a Fortuna match or two on the British thread.

There was also this odd episode: https://www.wrestling-titles.com/europe/spain/sp-h.html Vincent Febrer retires, then comes back to defend it and reassert his claim against Conde Maximiliiano. 1975ish seems to be the last port of call for all the Spanish titles Hisa listed as far as I can see.

2:25 "La Lucha Libre estuvó en plena apogea durante los años '58 hasta '75 approximamente."

HOLIDAY SPECIAL As mentioned on the French Catch thread, I am currently on holiday in Jerusalem. So for the next couple of weeks there will be a change of pace in the British, French and German threads as I have one big special lined up for each.. I've posted this to another thread but this 1996 VHS release - later reissued on DVD in 2010- was the last professionally filmed piece of Traditional British Wrestling footage for 7 years until Premier Promotions' appearances on Johnny Vaughan's World Of Sport on digital channel BBC3 in 2003. The show was also a coming of age moment for 17 year old James Mason as he won his first title, the World Middleweight championship left vacant by Danny Collins who had moved up to Light Heavyweight and would beat Alan Kilby for the title that year. I'll try and keep things brief as I am on holiday and there's a lot to get through, so I won't go innto much depth although there are two great technical bouts on this I'd otherwise love to go blow by blow on. Commentators are Mal Sanders and TWA promoter the late Scott Conway. Sanders is heel having turned back in 1986, Conway is straight man to him. Filmed at the Wood illegal in . Gravesend - once an ITV venue. nowadays a regular Rumble Promotions YouTube video. We've had clips of both on here, now here is what went on at the venue in between. Indeed Rumble have just this evening started uploading a new show from the Woodville to their channel. WORLD MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE QUARTER FINALS: Kashmir Singh Vs Johnny Kidd. The first of the two clean matches. Kidd is the veteran. Singh was the then (and to date last) European Welterweight champion having feuded with Sanders for the title in 1994. My sort of wrestling. The more experienced Kidd (not counting Singh's refereeing career) gets most of the best moves. Sanders has no-one to root for so he is mildly sarcastic about both. It goes to the 10 minute time limit but a semi finalist is needed so referee Al Saxon gives it to Kidd. Steve Grey Vs Cyanide Sid Cooper. Grey was British and Euopean Lightweight Champion. He defended the latter title against Sid on the Crabtrees' Battle Of The Brits. No mention of Sanders having beaten Cooper in th3 Mike Marino Memorial Shield. Cooper only has a moustache instead of his familiar beard. Starts off technical but Cooper starts hair pulling, illegal concealed punches etc, even untying the corner pad. Grey continues to use scientic moves despite Cooper's heelish misdemeanours Their BOTB Euro title match went to the time limit but Grey wins this one with a folding press. Phil Flash Barker Vs Stevie Knight Phil was a clean cut kid with a Steve Borden flat top (hence the Flash name) when I first saw him in 1992 but here he is a heel managed by Kendo's old manager Lloyd Ryan. TBW and future "Shining Light" Knight is a doyen of the Knight family (Ricky, Saraya senior and Junior, UK Hooligans etc). Barker dominates Knight who fights back a bit but submits to a reverse Fireman's Carry Backbreaker (Lex Luger Torture Rack.) James Mason Vs Corporal Punishment. James was the hot TBW of the moment. Ring entry music YMCA by the Village People luckily not deleted off by YouTube.. Corporal is a generic masked jobber. Referee Mal Mason, no longer with us, now has the British Lightweight title named 8n his memory. Unlike the last bout, it's the youngster who dominates, ultimately winning. Punishment's arsenal mainly consists of a low blow and some rope choking. James wins with a flying bodypress. EUROPEAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI FINAL. Karl Kramer and Blondie Barrett Vs Big John Prayer and Mark Singleton. Kramer (ex Barbarians with brother Wolf) and Barrett are again managed by Lloyd Ryan. Barrett was Kendo Nagasaki's tag partner so he and Lloyd have previous. John Prayer was a former European Heavyweight Champion and husband of lady wrestler Julie Prayter. Karl and John have a lot of big man action although Prayter ca dropkick. Kramer dominates Singleton as superheavies were wont to do back in the Big Daddy era. Basically this is a Daddy tag with Prayter as Daddy. But Stax and Bruno Ellington once beat Daddy and Gary Wensor and similarly here it's the bad guys who advance. Prayter never does get that hot tag although his run ins are hope spots, they get him two public warnings. Kramer takes a leaf out of James Mason's book with a splash off the top turnbuckle. Task Force I (Steve Prince and Vic Powers) Vs Liverpool Lads (Robbie Brookside and Jason S. Berry.) If you've seen Robbie's BBC2 video diary you'll know how the Task Force upset the classic Liverpool Lads of Robbie and Doc Dean for the British Tag title. (Prince was the current British Welterweight champion at this point, having beaten Dean in 1993, Dean having lost and regained with Barrett in 1991-1992, but no mention is made of any of this on the video.). Tonight Doc is injured and his replacement Berry is a 19 year old TBW (not sure if he's Jason Cross under an alternative name.). Robbie is now the veteran, he had a heel run the previous year and is at this point doing a version of that persona in Germany as the nascent Wildcat. Here he's his old cleancut self. Task Force are crumb heels, they get heat on Berry and are paid back by Robbie. They eventually double team Robbie until it's Berry who makes the save. The blue eyes dropkick the villains out.but Task Force get their heat back on Berry. Brookside gets the hot tag.Robbie gets the villains to crash into each other before he scores the winning fall. WORLD MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE SEMI FINALS: Johnny Kidd Vs Phil Flash Barker. Flash is the modern showy villain, Kidd the scientific master. Obvious Good guy Vs Bad guy style clash. Barker ultimately wins out with the help of a coke can after Lloyd Ryan distracts referee Roy Harding. Not th3csort if thing they'd allow in ITV. James Mason Vs Steve Grey. The other clean match and the match if the night- in fact I wish this was the final. James gets to show off all his young technical skill against one of the greats. I would love to do a blow by blow of this but as I say I'm on holiday and the pool beckons tomorrow. Mason wins, having survived a surfboard at one point, landing feet first from a monkey climb, crawls out of a Boston Crab and concerts it to a folding press. Magical stuff from a Young Man destined for (mostly non American) big things EUROPEAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL. Karl Kramer and Blondie Barrett Vs Liverpool Lads (Robbie Brookside and Jason S. Berry.) The Lads get an early double cream start on Kramer but the heels get heat on Berry. Brookside running in doesn't help. Berry eventually makes the hot tag on Robbie who backdrops big Karl at one point. Robbie and Karl head outside and Barrett gets Robbie with a chair. Now it's Brookside's turn to sell for the heels until he rallies by himself, getting the edge over Barrett. But when Berry tags in the villains get their heat back. Robbie gets the hot tag. Karl Krame4 gets two public warnings breaking up each blue eye's pin attempt on Barrett. He makes up by using Barker's cok3vcan trick to ge5 the winner and the belts. One title in the bag for Lots Ryan and he's got a man in the final for the other. Can he clean up? WORLD MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE FINAL: James Mason Vs Phil Flash Barker. A bit of an anticlimax after The Mason/Grey semi final, much like Kidd Vs Barker in the other semi. Mason coming out with lots of flying moves like the sliding dropkick and the topé. Hint of French Catch referee antics as Barker is tied in th3vropescas Mal Mason (no relation) restrains James from attacking the tied Barker only for Phil to get free and strike an illegal punch. Mal makes up by pulling Barker off a rope attack on James by the ears! Barker like earlier is mostly a brawler here but he does get an American Figure Four Leglock at one point. Mason gets his win with another flying bodypress and the crowd besieges the ring. James wins the title but as mentioned throughout, Sanders has an upcoming challenge to the winner. He beat James at the next Gravesend show but lost it to Grey at the one after that, before Grey vacated the title to concentrate on his lightweight titles. Mason and Sanders would go on to have a big back a d forth feud for the British Middleweight Championship for Conway's TWA promotion in 2002. RUMBLE Everyone on the card so far, plus a couple of unseen wrestlers, has an entry. Berry and Prince start. Prince is joined by partner Powers who double team young Berry. The previously unseen. Danny Boyle comes in 4th to help Berry but is eliminated and so the double team continues until James Mason comes in. Berry is eliminated so the former British tag champs turn their attention to the new World Middleweight champion. Blondie Barrett comes down but Mason eliminates both of Task Force. But then Barker comes in to help Blondie and get revenge on James but Barrett attacks him too. Johnny Kidd is in next, he goes after Barker as Barret faces James. Steve Knight is ninth and Cooper is tenth. then Steve Grey and Kashmir Singh. Eight men in. Prayter makes nine and it's more of a heaving battle royal mass. The second previously unseen face Paul Wilson from Penzance enters. Robbie Brookside and Karl Kramer come in. Steve Knight and Paul Wilson go out as does Mark Singleton. Bigger names go- Prayter, Cooper, Barrett, Mason, Grey, Kidd. We are down to Brookside, Kramer and Barker. The heels double team Robbie but then Kramer throws his Lloyd Ryan stablemate out. So it's Robbie versus Karl a d Kramer is dominating, getting a sleeper (or Headlock and strangle as Kent Walton used to call it) but Robbie repeats that stunning backdrop from the tag final to win and send the fans home happy. And yes that's the same promoter/MC Steve Barker (no relation to Phil) that you all know from Rumble YouTube clips, looking a lot younger here, but the voice is just the same. Some people cite 1996 (as a fallback from 1988) as the end of old school British Wrestling but the scene still seems pretty healthy here. Rumble would continue until 2001 before closing when Barker went,off to live in Gran Canaria. He returned and started reviving the promotion in 2019 just before the pandemic struck and shut everything down but resumed in late 2021 and in the nearly five years since has rebuilt Rumble into a force on the Southeast wrestling circuit and a worldwide cult courtesy of the Rumble TV YouTube channel. Two clean matches for purists like me and nine all action matches for he family audience (with Grey and Kidd also getting some sweet science out of their respective quarter final matches.) Mason Vs Grey is my favourite and I would have made it the tournament final myself.

Well there is that but I was mainly thinking of the guy who gets interviewed prior to the 1983 World Welterweight title match on RTVE. IIRC he gets asked when the Spanish scene all came to an end and he comes out with 1975.

So what exactly was this cataclysmic 1975(ish) event that cleared the way for French promoters and the odd German promoter to take over the Iberian Peninsula and hold it until Vince arrived circa 1990?

Most of these venues seem to have their own personal Empressa (Company) which you have translated as 'Promotion". What exactly closed down in 1975ish if it wasn't CIC? (The pundit on the RTVE World Welterweight championship bout even alluded to it.)

There's no need to guess about that. The French rules were definitely based on the American rules. That was the intention from the very start. They did have some slight differences initially though, for example being able to win the match on points (if there was no winner within the time limit), but that was eventually dropped (I wanna say at some point in the mid 1950s but I'd have to doublecheck). FFL, the major governing body for wrestling (amateur and pro) in France at the time, actually officially changed the format of the French catch matches to 5-minute rounds in September 1952, but there was a lot of pushback and the decision was quickly reversed. They definitely had three public warnings (Avertisements), seconds in each corner, no follow downs, knockouts being a big deal like in Britain, 10 counts given the same cadence as pinfall counts etc. It was a sort of hybrid system, like All Star and Rumble in Britain for most of their bouts in the C21st. In IWSF in the Noughties, the number of Avertisements appears to have been raised to five along with the prohibition on cheerleading ("exiter la publique '). I believe the kayfabe explanation was that it was a bunch of Méchant-friendly measures introduced by evil commissioner Monsieur Jacky Richard. (presumably Marc Mercier kept the older rules for his revived FFCP). Talking about DQs, does all this mean that if you were 0-0 or leading 1-0 and you got a third Avertisement and Disqualifié, instead of being sent back to the locker room in disgrace as The Loser, you just conceded a fall and had your Avertisement counter reset to zero for the new Manche?

So anyway, the two knockouts finish. I'm on holiday in Jerusalem in Israel and I had a think about this in the Inbal Hotel Pool today. I'm guessing the French rules had some American influence (see also no rounds). Two straight count outs in an American best of three falls would be unremarkable except they would not change a title on that (In America knockout moves are validated with a pin instead of a standing 10 count as followdowns are legal in America but banned in traditional European wrestling). Also perhaps some French fans were of similar mind to OJ and complained to promoters about "dodgy" Knockouts so Knockouts were made Two Required like Falls or Submissions to cut down on "flukes".

In which the winner uses a big destructive finisher for the first score that makes the loser easy pickings for a quick straight second (which he seems in no fit state to come out the corner for anyway.) Since it was the object of the Stomachbreaker finishing move, which the referee treated as perfectly legal, I wouldn't call that an out In America, Borreau would just have draped himself across Leduc for a pinfall each time.

Sorry, but NO. Thompson was totally perceived as the dominant one going in and his 2-0 win was the predictable finish. Tony's size advantage was his faint hope. Smaller more experienced top-skilled wrestlers often best physically bigger newbies eg Johnny Saint Vs Robbie Brookside1987 except Robbie got a consolation fall and didn't get a body part mangled. British fans perceived the young kid (Tony in. '67, Robbie in '87) to be the underdog. Kent Walton makes it clear he sees Clay as having the advantage and that Clay's win is predictable. The fans cheering "come on Tony" because they see him as the underdog. One or two even boo Clay when he gets his submissions (most clap respectfully) Hang on, in case you've forgotten, CLAYTON THOMPSON WON!!! Two straight submissions, the first of which left Tony StClair with an injured leg which Clayton then capitalised on for a quick straight second. https://m.vk.com/video498684816_456239061 As you said yourself two years ago "Tony does well for a 20 year old, but this is all about Clay." Borreau does some fouls along the way - hair pulls etc - but his big finish, with the three gorilla presses into stomachbreakers, is legitimate and devastating.