David Mantell

One of the great mysteries to me about American-style wrestling is its near complete lack or escapes/counters/reversals ...

I did warn you Like Otto vs Black Bart, I've linked to this in the past but not reviewed it. Yokuzuna the future extended interim WWF World Champion. Runde 1 is mostly a brawl OJ will like, occasionally settling into a Kokina nerve hold or Otto getting a toehold. Cute to Runde 3 - more of the same. some okay snapmares from each other. Kokina spends a lot of the round being dormant. Runde 4 Still much the same to be honest. Runde 5 dItto Runde 6, Otto gets the win with a clothesline, somersault splash,,slam and crosspress for the pinfall win. It made a lot of drunks in Bremen happy. Here is a fan cam off YouTube:

Actually we don't. It was Jim Breaks and Johnny England for the Ring Battlers. Not my fault - @JNLister had the wrong details on the page - you will need to fix that one, John. I did think of the triple tag from England Vs Scotland but instead I came upon this online and it's rather good: From 2012. This is from a small indie hence the crowd . The ring looks good Old School but I don't know if this company specialised in that style. I only dimply know Billy Morrison but Yourghos Christopholous, along with Alan Travis were two wrestlers for early period new wave of old school LDN who in 2008 both got beaten up by a sixty something Kendo and went crying to promoter Sanjay Bagga who astonishingly actually sent Kendo a letter of complaint (Norman Morell would have mentioned kitchen and heat tomTravis and Yourghos.) Kendo. understandably walked out on LDN after that only to return 16 years later. It's a pity cos Yourghosis a pretty decent technical worker as w3e can see here. The soundtrack is VERY muffled but never mind. Billy gets an arm and a wristlever Yourghos overpowers him and gets a guard armlock 8nto guard top wristlock but Billy turns out to regain the armbars, make a back hammerlock of it and turn him over forca pin attempt for 2. Yourhos gets upright in the wristlever and does a slow and graceful rollol!s backside and back into a bridge before turning on his backside to reclaim control of the armbar. Billy then uses the ropes Kid MCoy Yorkshire Rope trick style to flip over and reclaim control. , making the armbar into a standing back hammerlock, then a rear snapmare I to crosspress for two. Yourghos gets a Headlock but Morrison breaks it open into a top wristlock then a full Japanese Stranglehold. Yourghos slowly leans back into a bridge , straightening his arms as he goes down, then arcs back up pushing the power into his arms. He reaches upright and twists round to apply the full Japanese Stranglehold to Billy. At first Morrison appears to use the same counter, leaning back as he bridges and straightens his arms - but while down he catches YC neatly with a ground position dropkick. Billy gets a legdive into standing toe and ankle. Yourghos gets the other foot in and spins him off. Billy gets a standing full nelson but Yourghos gets one side free and makes the other into a lower wristlock and armdrags his mañ down. Billy gets a headlock but Yourghos bounces him down. Billy sells the shoulder and misses a charge landing at ringside. He butts Yourghos's chest from the apron and vaults into a sunset flip into front leg nelson Yourghos gets out at 2, bashing him with a heel on the head. He throws Billy who rolls up nicely. Billy twice throws back - Yourghos barely make it upright on the first and takes a minor bump on the second. Yourghos however goes for yet another throw and gets a decent bump on Billy from it. Yourghos gets a posting and Billy sells his back. Yourghos charges in and dropkicks Billy in the chest, twice. The second 9neceends Billy slumping over the ropes I'm hanging on with his feet - an old Les Kellett spot! Yourghos does what you wish every Les Kellett opponent did - he shakes the ropes, frees the feet and sends Billy crashing head first to ringside. He makes it back but into a hammerlock and suplex into headscissors. Billy tries kipping out then turning the hold upright and twice handstanding out. None of these work out. He turns the gold upside down and not only does it work (he slips his head out underneath) but he also gets a Gotch toehold out of it. He switches to the head, turns YC into the guard and gets a crosspress for 2. Yourghos gets a pair of one legged flips and a posting but Billy reverse leapfrogs his man, sprints toward and mounts the opposing corner, perching for a flying bodypress with which he gets the winning fall! Graceful rather than speedy technical match. Really beautiful if a bit slow - especially pleasing to see took place in 2012.

OK, plan C is on, a grand return to the safe waters of Les Trentes Glorieuses. One of OJs faves too. It's striking that the older bald man is Le Bon and the handsome younger man is the Méchant but there you go. Zadi (I'll use Matt's spelling as it's simpler.) gets dirty from the off. (Talking of dirty, what's with the dark murky film print? Was the negative allowed to fade and pale resulting in a positive print that looks like it was filmed down a coalmine? But I digress. Early on a concealed illegal punch by young Zadi gets a hefty bit of heat from la publique. LeMao does his best to keep it technical. He gets armdrags and a step over finger interlock into spin in the mat, taking Zadi down into a guard armlock. Zadi gets a rope break. He tries a double legdive but Mao spins his off. They battle for top wristlock and LeMao gets a snapmare down and more good throws. LeMao gets a drop toehold into Gotch toehold . Zadi gets a guard top wristlock and keeps hold until LeMao kips up, somersaults over behind and again gets drop toehold into Gotch toehold L'Arbitre refuses a rope break. Eventually LeMao gets a surfboard (I don't recall the French name but we've covered it in a past post.) When he loses his balance, Le Mao still lands ready for a backslide. He barely gets a 1 and converts to legscissor. Zadi gets rough with Manchettes and kicks and throws lLe Mao out of the ring. Henri gets back but into a guard armlock and kips up . He gets a victory roll a falls back from an interlock into crossed headscissors and toupie.He runs out of mat on the last move as Zadi's legs hit the ropes and,annoyed, twists a foot on the Pole's face. LeMao gets more brawl some, breaking out he Manchettes. It's a lot more slug and punch, Zadi is briefly kicked out the ring and has fan trouble. Back in he chokes and slingshots LeMao on the ropes and kicks him around until warned by L'Arbitre, Jean Journal. LeMao corners and posts him (the late 80s WWF watching teenager in me expects the crowd to start counting, in French. Zadi tries to pay him back in kind but gets pitched to ringside the long way- high over a corner post. He comes back, takes an arm and forces a somersault whip and bump before slapping an armhank on the limb. LeMao looks to be gong for a roll up toupie but instead kips up in the hold only for Zadi to drag him back down. LeMao tries again but managed to get his own feet in against Zadi's side to push him off., (If Zadi had kept his grip, this could have been a nasty arm-stretching for LeMao.) Zadie gets a standing rear chinlock - and a bunch of illegal punches which he claims are open handed slaps. La Publique don't buy that. To coneal it from Journal (and get a bigger heat response from the other side of the room.). LeMao rear-escapes the chinlock and makes a standing back hammerlock of it so Zadi forces a rope break, falling forward on the cords. LeMao powers out of a Zadi full nelson, hits the ropes and lands a shoulder block but Zadie no sells it so LeMao leapfrogs, dropkicks and Manchettes him. They brawl with Zadie taking a couple of counts until he gets a single legdive and after weakening it, upgrades to a grapevine leglock. LeMao gets the leverage advantage so Zadi gets a rope break and gets called a coward by the crowd . They exchange manchettes until LeMao goes down and Zadi stomps him. He shoulderblocks Henri in the corner but LeMao gets his legs on top and gets a sunset flip into double leg nelson.they both Bascule back and forth an Zadi gets a front folding press but LeMao spins him off. Zadi complains that he should have had a count for the folding press. LeMao backrolls on a double Interlock and gets the leverage advantage. He whips and boots Zadi who gets up at 9 for Manchettes. Zadi has LeMao cornered but Henri slips through his legs and gets some dropkicks. He backrolls off and ingle interlock to reel Zadi down into a guard armlock into some other guard hold (hard to see what as his body is in the way but it may be a grovit of some sort.) Zadi upturns it and has a grovit too or maybe just an illegal arm across the windpipe. Journal okays it but the crowd are unhappy but LeMao gets a knee to Zadi's head to perk them up, then ties him up in the ropes. Journal frees Zadi who likewise ties LeMao up and beats him up - and beats Journal up but the big Arbitre doesn't dish out any Avertisement until Zadie kicks his man to ringside. Fans help Henri back as the Pole waits to pounce. But LeMao gets a rear waistlock and atomic doo. He tries to flee but LeMao flips him back in then throws him out after working him over. He tries up and twice dropkicks him, pounding him in the ropes. Journal frees the Pole so LeMao drop toeholds him making it an ankle scissors but Zadi does something to what remains of LeMao' hair to regain the advantage, ending up as a rear chinlock with a few fouls slipped in. LeMao powers out and gets a hammerlock into double rear legdive into legspread (so not another surfboard then.) rolling to Zadi's head to get a sitting chinlock sat on his shoulders which becomes a straight legscissors. It hits the ropes so Journal separates them so LeMao gets and over the knee backbreaker. They exchange manchettes and leMao knees Zadi in the leg. They brawl and Zadi throws LeMao out Henri reappears on a different side - did he crawl underneath? Zadi won't let him back, he absorbs a Manchette from the apron then dodges a bodypress over the top rope and applies a double kneepress but LeMao throws him off and gets a forward folding press for the win. The cameras cut away from an incipient afterbirth in which a shoving match leads to LeMao throwing Zadi as the clip ends. Scientific Bon Vs Roughhouse Méchant - the old style clash. A lot of "good wrestling match" and "good fight" alternating - LeMao being responsible for most of the former. Zadi however is a much better heel than OJ gives him credit. His problem is that much of the fouls he does like the illegal punches, interference with breathing and attacks on a fallen opponent - are not really things that register with American Wrestling fans as fouls as they did with a French or British audience back in the day. But he is a good heel, young handsome and arrogant like Mark Lee in after his 60s heel turn.

Oh well, that was Plan B. Would have been a nice tribute to him (we've done pretty much all his other matches on video) but already done. Plan C then ...

I think that's all pretty unfair. Murdoch, we already know, is Dick Harrison aka Ron Clarke of UK opposition promotion tag team the Lincolnshire Poachers. Flesh's look, we now know, basically comes from his Lucha Libre background. This is him in an intermediate stage, no longer the high flying missile dropkicking tag partner of Walter Bordes but not yet the tubby bald aging moustachioed figure of the early C21st. It's the early Maxi Cuisine mat so presumably originally screened on TF1 In 1988. English language commentary is by British MC John Harris who also refereed the Johnny South Vs Johnny Palance bout I just posted to the British thread. Referee here is Charley Bollet (brother of Andre Bollet, Roger Delaporte's old tag partn Flesh gets a side headlock on but Murdoch resists cross buttock attempts. He gets a single leg coming off the ropes but Murdoch pounds him down, getting some stomps in., getting a 2 count on a pin attempt .Flesh fights back with two well executed flying cross buttocks and a dropkick. A snapmares gets Murdoch down for a 2 count. Flesh dumps Murdoch to ringside, gets in three elbowsm throws him back in, gets another over the shoulder snapmare, then a third flying cross buttock gets the win. Short but sweet and undeserving of the hatchet job @pantherwagner gave it. This was what I originally had planned for today -the first match on that New Catch episode, before Richard/Rocas and LaMotta/ Lacroix, but as you can see we've already covered it long ago. Yes I know Murdoch was Alain Lésage not Dick Harrisson so I have struck through that bit. I have noticed the topless ring girls thing was not exclusive to Flesh or even Les Bons - see Snake woman here or Judd Harris's "Wife" who thought she was a Rottweiler or Rocco's "Sensational Second". Clearly someone in production at TF1 had a mindset that equated glamour with hiring in rejects from the Folies Bergères. Oh well, I've got a plan B. Just have to check if that's been covered ...

Full bout from 11:50 :

You're welcome. Frenchy had been a big star in Quebec He was related to Rick Martel and tag partners with Rick's brother Michel. Vince got him in 1986 and used him as a jobber until the New Dream Team split up at the end of 1987 at which point Valentine went back to Jimmy Hart and Frenchy was given a more dignified spot as Dino's manager. When he quit, Dino joined Valentine under Jimmy and the NDT reunited as half of the King's Court at SS89. I saw the same matchup on WWF Wrestling Challenge (advertised as Superstars Of Wrestling) late night ITV only he was still Dingo Warrior there. The tape was from 1987 but ITV screened it in late 1988. I don't know if it was the same bout or not but Frenchy did a lot of walking out before losing.

He wasn't yet a manager at this point anyway. Bravo was still in the New Dream Team under Johnny Valiant two months later at SS87.

Marc Mercier has died, reportedly.

Sadly there is nothing suitably short from 1988 Germany/Austria to serve as a second bout like the British and French threads so here instead is a music video from the people who gave you We Are Dynamite. Worth watching for the sight of Haystacks in a sun visor. shades and Hawaiian shirt. Oh and Paul Neu is a much better singer than rapper.