David Mantell

Two years later FYB and Indio were back in Hamburg having another go at it. And lo and behold they had a Piratenkampf. Yup, one of those combined capture the/ chain match combinations flag that clearly had a role in the invention of the notorious 1991 Great American Bash "capture the flag" scaffold machine (my main suspect is Paul "PN News". Neu, desperate to avoid taking a scaffold bump.). On the plus side, the leather gauntlets and chains looked cool in a Rao Warriors/ Demolition sort of way. To be fair these are two agile guys who can get in quite a few holds and moves, vaults over the top - even a monkey climb- with the chain getting in the way. Franz can bridge out of stuff - and equally arch his back to show pain. Naturally there's also a load of choking with the chei and whipping the opponent with it - all legal under the stipulation. So 8 doubt there will be much blow by blow in this account. It's about halfway through that we witness anyone going for a flag- Indio - and the sight of FYB arching backwards to pull him down - half sailor hauling up the mainsail, half rock axe hero doing a backbend pose - has to be seen to be believed. Great camera shot! Indio for his part lays flat on his back to try to stop Franz. Ultimately it backfires and his pulling bring Franz and flags down, (Yes plural. Franz comes down with two Rougeau Brothers sized Belgian tricolores on a single stick.). FYB celebrates by giving Indio a few more forearm smashes. Not my thing but I'm sure OJ will enjoy the violence. Here's another copy from @sergeiSem's old FB account.

And here is the man himself from four years ago just before the last pandemic legislation was cleared out. He faces Adam Mansfield, a 1990s graduate of NWA Hammerlock who went on to become a generic if entertaining heavyweight heel in middle age. Before the match gets underway, in a scene from the Torments of Terry Taylor debating with the crowd whether he is poultry or not. That settled, and after some more crowd work, JAdam gets a rear waistlock but Josh peels off an arm to get an armbar. After some selling, Adam does a standing horizontal swivel mount into a nice armdrag - he can wrestle, for all his "playing to the crowd" as Kent Walton used to say. Josh keeps hold of the arm arm. He gets a straight arm lift and drop into a standing hammerlock. Adam counters with a rear waistlock takedown but Josh keeps the arm and cowardly heel Adam forces a rope break, which Back In The Day would have gotten him massive heat. Mansfield continues to work the crowd. Faulkner gets a rear chinlock but the bigger man breaks it open, armdrags him down and builds up the armlock. He moves to a standing position but Faulkner reverses the hold and has Mansfield a good distance from the ropes. He bounces him off the ropes and gets a whip and bump before resuming work on the armlock. Mansfield forces him 8nto a corner and - ignoring the ref's call for a clean break - repeatedly shoulder charges Josh against the corner, an old time heel tactic. Releasing in time before he can be given a public warning, Adam smugs it for the crowd but Josh soon gets a posting and dropkick, armdrags and legdrop to the arm. Mansfield powers up and again corners his man, responding to a break call with an illegal kidney punch which actually gets some boos from older spectators in 2022, pleasingly enough. He hits him in the back and posts him, getting a knockout count of 5, given - again pleasingly - at the same cadence as a pinfall count (since then some Rumble refs like Dave Macro have opted for slower American style counts.). Mansfield then gets into dirtier tactics, choking Josh on the middle row then goes outside the ring to slap him. One fan calls for a public warning. And to his rage, he gets one! He also gets a snapmare and divebomb from Josh plus a crosspress for 2 (counted as part of the same move by the ref.). Mansfield fights back with a double leg takedown and knee to the stomach which looks like it might land a bit lower. However the ref does not punish knees to the back and even gives a 2 count on a follow up crosspress. Mansfield tries an over the knee backbreaker and another crosspress for a 2 and some 1s. He tries an octopus illegally using the ropes. Eventually he is caught but rather than order a break, the ref lets Josh get the cross buttock throw counter instead. Josh gets an inner arm smash (clothesline in Americanese) elbowsmash, bodyslam and crosspress for 2. He goes for a Fireman's carry but Mansfield uses an illegal eyerakes to escape. He gets a posting but runs into an elbowsmash from Faulkner. Faulkner goes to the corner, kicks away Mansfield's hands and gets a sunset flip into double leg nelson for the one required fall. Some good moves here out the real selling point is Adam Mansfield's old fashioned heel heat act. He obviously knows his Cyanide Sid Cooper, his Lucky Gordon (no relation to Flesh)and perhaps most of all, his Pete Lapaque.

Right. Winding back to the start of the video. We JIP, Jessy is being given Un Avertisement by Monsieur L'Arbitre (not one I recognise), while Flesh is flat on the floor from some kind of foul we didn't see. This being 1985, Flesh is still the young skinny Flesh Gordon of the tag teams with Walter Bordes and Angelito on the last few A2 broadcasts. He is barely up wh3n Jessy chops him down. Jessy tries to go for illegal hairpulls but the MC keeps snitching on him to L'Arbitre and encourage the crowd to do likewise as if he was working a holiday camp show at Butlins. Jessy gets a standing full nelson but Flesh attempts to kick backwards off the corner pad like Pedro Morales at MSG, Feb 1971. But Flesh breaks open one side, backflips over to go in to Jessy from behind and slam his head in th3 corner. But Jessy elbows out and gets the posting instead and gets a 100F tip from some sucker in the crowd. Jessy keeps attacking the downed Flesh breaking the count. Flesh gets the advantage with Manchettes and a dropkick. Jessy, in his first good technical move of the match, gets a half waistlock into long suplex, following in with a guillotine elbowsmash within legally the same move. For a while he lets Flesh get counted but puts the boot in as Gordon starts to recover. His pulling of hair and eyerakes earns him a private admonishment from the ref. Jessy tries something aerial. It doesn't really come off but he gets a headlock on landing but Flesh slips out the back He has an armlock he could develop into a fine hammerlock but instead lets Jessy up and manchettes him. Jessy fires back and tries another suplex, this time an underhook, but Flesh reverses it. He gets a side chancery throw then a dropkick before finishing Jessy with a quite remarkable spinning flying tackle, taking him down while orientated head downwards in what would normally be a pre bodyslam position and rolling over into a crosspress for an easy only pin required. I wish Kent Walton could have seen that one! Quite a nice eye opener, some good inventive moves from both men. especially Flesh. It's hard to accept the negative hype about him being the world's worst worker etc when he does things like this Maybe the questions should have been about what caused his decline - into the fat bald man of the C21st.

I wonder how the Aptermags would have explained it. Actually, no Ted Turner, no large chunks of 70s/80s wrestling history as that means no GCW Techwood Drive studio TV show. Vince doesn't even bother with Jim Barnett in 1983 if Jim Barnett even bothers to buy up both Andrew "Paul Jones mk1" Lutski and Ann Gunkel in 1974. Georgia is just A.N Other territory, Roddy Piper is an obscure figure known mostly in South California and PNW. With no GCW TV show, the NWA members are totally lost when Vince gets national cable in 1983/1984. Jim Crockett probably does still buy Georgia after Vince doesn't bother with it but it's about as big a deal as when JCP bought Central States.

Wrestler and stand up comic Josh Faulkner (no relation to Vic) has done some vlogs on YouTube about British Wrestling. If you like the Wrestle M e vids on British Wrestling you should love these.

8th March 1987, 3 weeks before WM3, 13 days before ITV televised Kendo & Rocco Vs Yamada from Croydon in place of Hogan Vs Kamala and a month before Magnum hobbled to ringside to inspire Dusty and Nikita to victory. I really like the intro and how it segues from the lone live trumpet player to the distinctly Fight Night vibe music as the wrestlers get in to the ring for a German/Austrian style Ringerparade and do their best disco dancing moves to show they are ready to go. Loads of soon to be familiar New Catch faces -Flesh, Marquis Jacky, Angelito, Zefy, Eliot Frederico (who I think became the Grim Rocker) Flesh is dtill.... I'm really taking to Gabby Laillee's work. Once again she's in with an Old Bag heel in Ascension del Oro who works much the same as Valerie Wonder in 1991 on TF1 New Catch. Out of the ring brawl sees Oro in a front row seat as ringsiders move swiftly out of the way, it earns Gabby an Avertisement. Gabby easily gets the win. Gabby has a manager/hunky boyfriend in her corner, alleged Yugoslav champion Draganan. Flesh and Eliot come out for their match, Le Rocky De Ring has a tubby besuited manager who looks like a heel Arnold Skaaland. Flesh is still in his athletic prime, trim but not as skinny as his days with Walter Bordes. Plenty of high flying stuff reflecting Herve's Lucha background and plenty of standard French somersaulting counters. Eliot is just a straight up brawler. Flesh looks like he's got it sewn up when Jacky Richard comes to the ring and helps Eliot win. Draganan comes back to protest and a challenge is made. Verdict: More fun than @ohtani's jacket reckoned it was For those who want to see more of Gaby and Oro. With Charley reffing yet again! Actually I've just realised on Alessio's 1970-1987 playlist there's Catch Au Village ending with the Gabby & Hassan Vs Oro and Puma tag, then Hassan Vs Puma solo (from FR3 1986) and then Oro Vs Gaby solo to start the March 1987 syndicated FR3 broadcast. All in succession. Hassan and Puma are in the Ringerparade at the start of the Match 1987 broadcast too (Puma in a black cowboy hat.). I wonder what happened with all the matches with the other wrestlers in that Ringerparade?

Sorry, that was just a silly joke. I think I know the one and it wasn't a swimming pool show.

OK, the first thing to be said is that it's good to have SOMETHING - ANYTHING of French Catch from French terrestrial TV from calendar year 1986. It plugs that particular gap and disproves any notion of a hiatus (I'm sure there was plenty more, probably another bout with this one) but at least this is hard evidence that there was anything at all.. It's got the same miserable heel referee from the 1982 FR3 broadcast and the 1987 Jones Vs Kramer match, although it's not filmed at the nice place with the sloppy wooden ceiling, rather in somewhere with a big top tent over it. Possibly on a boat of some sort. The two little people work in much the same style as the two in the support slot for Marc Mercier Vs Albert Sanniez 1982. They can both credibly cartwheel and handspring out of throws etc. The referee does a similar reverse DQ decision to the one he did in the tag match in 1982 and ends up being squirted in silly string for his pains as "ER" mentioned. If you try ignoring the comedy aspect, it's a reasonably fast paced gymnastic sort of bout, but not intelligent enough to motivate me to try a blow by blow description. Not sure where these two were imported from but I'm guessing Mexico from the El Puma name (the Spanish CIC having shut down 11 years earlier before anyone makes that suggestion). Some more of Hassan and Puma as each of them eqips themselves with a lady wrestler for a mixed tag. Hassan gets one of the top French female stars of the era, Gaby Lailee. Puma gets Spain's Ascency del Oro. This was privately filmed on U Matic by an independent video maker -Edgar Bastian himself who owns the YT channel - who was apparently hired in by the village elite who put the event on. It was they who insist on the elderly boxing bloke who complains about wrestling being a work. There's also a JIP Flesh Gordon Vs Jessy Texas match which we shall get back to as next week's Catch match. For now we fast forward to 8:29. The MC's cheesy white jacket makes me fear he's a Butlers Redcoat type but I actually end up learning something interesting and new - that it was André Bollet, brother of arbitre Charley and one time tag partner of Delaporte, who unmasked L'Ange Blanc back in the day. Yes it's that man Charley again. Fussy but honest unlike that Louis de Blamenque guy from the 1986 FR3 bout (and other FR3 bouts in 1982 and 1987). Gaby still in her native headdress, a relic of her stint as Tonto to Jessy Texas on A2 a year earlier. 1er Manche The ladies start off, trading armdrags 8ncluding off a double interlock. Gaby cartwheels on one move them tags Hassan who gets warming up to do cartwheel type stuff on Oro till she tags Puma. Hassan cartwheels out of throws then dives forward behind Puma to rear dropkick him out of the ring. (Great move). When he gets back Gaby is in beckoning. So in comes Oro and gets caught in a headlock. Unfortunately we don't see how she got out as instead we get a drunk audience member in a check shirt, bottle in hand, shouting "Vaz-y!". while two lady fans look on embarrassed. Oro gets a headlock, Gaby twice considers a trip but instead twice throws her to the ropes and is bodychecked on the rebound. Oro dives in but Gaby dodges so Oro misses. Midgets are in , for a moment Hassan is ready for for Pro, but instead he gives Puma some cross buttocks. Puma gets headscissors and some 2 counts, Hassan uses a simple upright headstand escape. He dodged Puma charges but Puma gets 2 kneelifts and a posting. Hassan resists the impact a second time and easily kicks out a pin attempt. The women tag in and Oro armdrags Gaby twice. Gaby uses vertical spins to high whip Oro for a bump. She legdives and knee splashes Oro. Who dropkicks her off but lands on Charley. Midgets in. Hassan struts and superkicks. Collar and elbow. Hassan gets a guard armlock and some 2 counts. Both midgets try go behind in a kneeling position. Hassan gets a rear leg spread but gets Manchettes on a charge. Gaby slaps Puma who threatens to punch her. Hassan gets a standing ankle, spins and fells Puma for a 2 count. Women in. Gaby gets a full nelson, keeps it some time then switches to rear snapmare. She gets a side headlock into front olding press but Oro keeps her shoulders up. Oro gets a reverse armhank, uses illegal hairpulls to stop Gaby kipping up and out. On the third try she gets up and has a wristlock through Oro's legs. Oro rolls forward, takes the bump then rolls back and connects with a ground dropkick. Gaby gets a reverse snapmare and tags midgets. Puma gets a front chancery but too close to the ropes. Hassan does Vic Faulkner's "stop" trick then does another diving reverse dropkick. For some reason he gets un Avertisement for this for "lutte irregulière" (Why?). He gets two good rear chanceries and some good armdrags and legflips and a fling bodypress for the opener. 2ème manche Midgets lock up. Hassan gets side chancery throw and legdrop. Puma dodges another one but Hassan single leg flips him. Puma goes out but Hassan side chancery throws him in, gets a second and a double legflips posting Puma falls back out the ring. He gets back for another side chancery. a.nd double leg flip but tangled with the ropes. Hassan gets 2 but Puma kicks him off into Charley's arms. The old gap of pitching him back and him being thrown off 7ntil Charley has had enough. Puma complains and gets un Premiere Avertisement for it. Women in. Oro gets a headlock, Gaby throws her off but Oro regains. A second one and Gaby ducks, hiptosses and cross presses for 2. Oro gets a posting but Gaby gets bodyscissors in the corner and boots her off for a crosspress and 2. Midgets in. Hassan twice corners and pummels Puma, is dragged off by Charley and warnedbut goes through his legs and resumes. Hassan gets a cross body lock for 2. Both get mat grovits and roll over Charley. He's not happy and gives both midgets the Deuxième Et Dernière Avertisement. Women in. Gaby gets a front chancery, Oro breaks it open to get a whip and bump into armhank. She gets some 1s from it but Gaby ups her shoulder each time. Gaby rolls up the arm into a headlock into cross buttock throw. Unfortunately we cut away to fans being asked it wrestling is a suitable sport for ladies or not. We briefly see Oro tied in the ropes which the MC correctly says is illegal. When we get back, Charley is trying to stop and argument between Puma and Gaby while Oro is selling on the mat. They lock up and she gets some dodgy chest blows and a cross body throw. She is up for a Manchette to the rear shoulders and illegal rope fouls which Oro claims is retaliation for whatever we missed earlier. Ironically we get more such vox pops at this point. Finally we get back to the ring and Or has an armbar against the shoulder. Into pressing the other arm. Into a seated crossface into mat side headlock in the guard. This gets reduced to a dubious throttle which Gaby counters with a cross-arm grovit and two powerful Manchettes into a rear snapmare . Midgets are in. Puma gets a front chancery to set up a pair of Manchettes. Hassan bulldogs him into the corner. Hassan gets a toehold into leglock - almost a Boston Crab. He does eventually get a full Boston Crab having to first undress the single leg hold. Puma flips him off but Hassan rolls upright nicely. Puma stomps him illegally on the mat and gets a full nelson and tries to switch to a rear waistlock suplex but Hassan sits to break the fall. Undeterred, Puma gets a bodyscissors and even the spinedrop in the hold - although as Puma is Le Méchant and Hassan Le Bon, the crowd don't chant "Ah Ouais" at all. Hassan slings upright but is distracted by an argument with Charley. Women back in. Gaby gets two rrear snapmares and some Manchettes. She gets a cross buttock and press for 2 and another snapmare but Oro comes back with a bodycheck that reminds me of Flair felling Sting for the title-regaining pin at the Meadowlands Jan 11, 1991. We get a long shot of the MC and when we get back Gaby gets a Manchette and a somewhat sloppy Fireman's carry (almost like Oro is trying to convert it to a sunset flip) . She gets the takedown and cover but Oro easily bridges out. Gaby gets a side chancery throw, two shoulderblocks, a slam and crosspress for the second straight. Winners 2-0 Gaby and Hassan. Afterwards Gaby is awarded a big bouquet of red rosess and Hassan does a promo where he fends off questions about is it sport Vs acting and he talks about his acting career. Wanting to keep kayfabe the MC comes to the rescue with Qs about how Hassan feels about the win tonight etc. Gaby also gets interviewed, she says yes it is for women, she only gets the aggression out in the ring and back home she's a nice say-hello-in-the-street type. Oh no I can extrapolate a lLOT more from the right midget match or in this case midget/female mixed match. Dark horse candidate for scientific Match of the weekend. The four ladies and gents really pushed the envelope in terms of going for serious content rather than brazen farce. I'm impressed. Well done to them. Only a pity we had all the distracting stuff with fans/the MC (Apparently it was a little village and Everyone in town wanted their Warholian 15 min on camera. Okay. Flesh Vs Jessy from the start of the clip next weekend and it will balance out. ta longer 25 min clip on the German thread.

Like I've said, it's just a part of this particular wrestling territory's culture that swimming pools etc are - and have for a long time - been considered a normal place to hold a pro wrestling show. Was that a Catch Á L'Eau show too?

Okay, the only 1985 was already done so 1986 it is. Rematch of the above at Saafelden, August '86. Bull comes out in the same quasi military uniform gear as the previous match, knowing how to play the Patriotic American heel. Cut to him stuffing the flag down the same orifice as Dynamite Kid's dog food pie went. Quite a lot of posing then Bull ha.saxel in a headlock then brawling with him. Cut to Bull with a guard armlock on Axel.then cut to Axel stomping Leon around, dumping him at ringside like a battle royal. Leon spends time at ringside, gets booted back the. Eventually he retakes the advantage stomping a.nd kneeling on A,xel. Axel fights back but ends up with a headbutt and chokeslam. Bull gets the pin and the victory. Leon trying to learn and give holds a go. Less of an outright brawl than Hanover.

Amazingly this bout doesn't seem to have been covered on here, but here goes. Christmas 1979, end of a decade, welcome back to ITV after the weeks long Strike that put out the entire Network and with it all TV wrestling for a couple of months. It's the last time on TV that a Big Daddy match has a round break and the last time we get to see him do quite a fair few holds and moves, in fact. (A year earlier on Swindon Cable versus Dave Bond is the last we have of him seriously on the defensive unless you count Stax at Wembley 1981 kicking Daddy around as he bent down to help the injured referee.) Moreover, for five year old me, sat at home in Chigwell Essex, this was my first ever masked wrestler. Introducing to you journeyman wrestler Arthur "Buffalo" Bison/Bice making his one and only TV appearance and doing so in a hood. Round 1 Mama X's boy gets a headlock on Daddy who shrugs him off with power like he did to Kendo Nagasaki four Xmases earlier in 1975. The duo have a top wristlock battle which Daddy wins by stepping. Forward to gain leverage. X tries a couple of Daddy's own bodychecks on him to little effect. Daddy gets a full Interlock into a full Japanese Stranglehold, even tripping X neatly down to give himself the added height advantage.From there, he switches to an unsuccessful unmasking attempt and two hiptosses across the ring that get Daddy counts of only about 4 but no more. X spends some time outside recuperating. Back in the ring, a single finger interlock becomes a Daddy armbars into reeling in for a bodycheck. He is up at 6 but a double Interlock and low forearm smash fell him for another 6. X tries to rally himself with a jumping war dance but is bodychecked down for yet another 6. Daddy still has a finger interlock and uses it to give X the high whip and bump into a guard armlock. He drags X up and posts him. X tries that same side headlock from the start (and which Kendo tried in '75) and like both those times he is thrown off by bucking bronco Daddy who then gets a cross buttock throw into side headlock on X for 8, nearly a KNOCKOUT!!! Daddy converts from an interlock into a rather good inverted upper chest lock suplex but the bell goes. Max Crabtree has been reeling off Arthur's career highlights to Kent earlier that day and Kent duly repeats them to the viewer. Round 2 Daddy gets in a couple more throws. X retaliated with illegal concealed kidney punches which the referee spots and privately warns the masked man. X next tries for a posting but Daddy reverses it, gets a second one then finishes things with his second most famous speciality - the Double Elbows backdrop - the one Bret Hart recalls Max Crabtree paying wrestlers cash bonuses to risk their lives to take - for a count of 10 and a KNOCKOUT!!! Daddy is the winner. Afterbirth: The grotesquely overweight "Incredible Bulk" Fatty Thomas comes to the ring to challenge Daddy and the two stalk each other. Meanwhile X returns, determined to be unmasked and show his face on the Telly. Daddy duly obliges, dragging him in, unhooding beardy Bison and slinging him back out before he and the Bulk resume stalking each other. A last glimpse at an earlier Shirley before the hot tags and quick squashed took over.

On the subject of this match, does anyone know what song that is that Flesh and Zéfy use for their ring entrance and post match celebration? As I mentioned on the British and German threads, I had a weekend in Blackpool recently and went along to the Sandcastle Waterpark. Years ago in the changing rooms th3n had video screens that played that same tune. I got talking to an attendant I've known for years and I told him about this bout and how it had th3n same music they used to play in the Waterpark lockeroom, he remembered the song but didn't know what it is.. EDIT: Apparently it's this (although the Waterpark may have used a knock-off cover version.)

And talking of bouts refereed by Charley Bollet Sorry but there's a post on the Worst Professional Wrestler Ever? thread page 1 that got my goat somewhat recently. It's been dead eight years so I'll get it off my chest here. I'm not bothered about the pros and cons of Flesh Gordon or Marquis Richard - we have seen and debated them at their best and worst on this thread. I'm not even bothered that an November 1987 FR3 broadcast was wrongly identified as New Catch. No, it's the rednecks reference I object to, given the Loooooong history of weaponising class snobbery against wrestling fans. It was Rednecks (so called because their necks got sunburnt from hard farm labour) that were the Meat And Wine of Territories era American wrestling. It was common Mexican folk that sustained Lucha Libre all those years til it rose to become a recognised part of Mexican culture. It was common cloth-cap working class "Oiks" in Britain who built a d sustained British wrestling and the proto "chav" underclass who all had satellite dishes that bankrolled the UK WWF boom. And it was Les .Ouvriers for whom Roland Barthes identified the wrestling hall as a sacred temple back in the 50s. Fast Forward 30 years and I don't think Barthes would have any more truck with the cussing out of a 1987 audience for Le Catch as being poor, proletarian and vulgar than he would with such treatment of their 1950s predecessors. He'd only be 71 in 1987 if not for that laundry van in March 1980 Steam duly let off.

And just to prove it, here he is 19 years earlier on an ORTF era overseas kinescope from February 1972. (Falempin made it to New Catch Season 1 in 1988). Whether this was originally in colour depends on whether it was on channel 2 or 1 but three of these four guys certainly appeared together in a Catch Á Six in August 1978.(inca. Gonzalez and Tomas Trujillo Vs Guy, Bruno Asquini and Gerard Tayse.) These star of this show incidentally is Gonzales who make a terrific show of playing the hopeless cowardly luckless loser. He's more than a good carpenter here, he's actually a bit of a scene stealer. Les Méchants are Gitanes with stripey jackets and that's enough to triggerhav heat from the Cirque D'Hiver crowd. Jo Go had the thinning long hair and a moustache but not yet the wispy prog rocker beard (later on the commentator will do a Kent Walton and tell his viewers that Jo's hobbies Include "playing th3 guitar" an anti-Hispanic stereotype nothing to do with heavy metal or owt.) Inca and Michel start with some false starts and the odd cheap shot. Then Michel gets a couple of armdrags and Ina gets a rear waistlock but Falempin forces it open and reverses it. Ina does the same so Michel slips out downwards and back through Inca's legs. But Inca dodges and gets a mount hammerlock so Michel pulls himself up and gets a rear snapmare. But Inca lands well so Guy tags in and gets a single armbar and whips Inca then gets a headlock takeover. Inca eventually gets control of the Headlock and tags Gonzales who side chancery throws Guy. But Guy bridges up and gets his own rear snapmare then a high whip and bump on Jo.followed by an armdrag. The commentator compares Jo to D'Artagnan the human character on whom Dogtanian was based in the cartoon.). Guy gets a top wristlock and armdrag takedlowns him, then another armdrag. Jo gets a hammerlock and tags Inca back in, landing. Les Bons also get a tag and Inca get a quick bulldog on Michel He keeps hold and does a cross buttock on Falempin who replies with a rear snapmare. Inca gets more throws of various in on Falempin who stalls him with a mount chinlock. He stands up with the hold, Ina uses a trip to get out but Falempin reapplies instantly. Inca tries the same trick and dodges the re-grab, getting a simple armlock to the bicep. Falempin tries to reverse snapmare but Inca has walked him over to the heel corner so as Falempin goes up, Gonzales chops him down. La publique et Monsieur Charley L'Arbitre ne sont pas contents but what can they do? Guy tries to complain but Les Méchants double team as Charley packs him out. Emboldened, the heels give Falempin the bumps even though it probably wasn't his birthday then Gonzales takes over. Falempin tries to fight back with a front chancery but Inca stomps him down. The heels tag and again give Falempin the birthday bumps. Inca has an armbar on, Michel tries the classic French Scisseaux Volees escape but Gonzales points Bollets attention to Les Bons corner then hauls him off. Falempin tries bridging but Gonzales pulls Michels' feet out (and I haven't even got onto the REAL show stealing stuff I mentioned at the start.). Finally Charley catches Gonzales brazenly stomping Falempin and just throws him out, earning himself an Aux Chiottes Arbitre chant. Inca still has an armlock on Falempin and he tags Gonzales but Falempin backflips on them both then double legflips the pair of Méchants before finally tagging Guy. Who goes at bit wild with three sequential dropkicks like Speedball Bailey on that video on the German thread. Charley tells him off and nearly gets swatted. Inca cones in and gets similar treatment. Falempin comes in an Gonzales roars defiance at the crowd. He gets a side chancery, cross buttock throw, huaracanrana and double legs before Falempin spins him off, but Gonzales takes well, cartwheeling off and getting a snapmare into headlock. Falempin comes back with a hammerlock but Gonzales comes back with a leglock till Les Bons tag leaving Gonzales looking bewildered. He attacks Michel on the apron but Guy just fires off more dropkicks. Gonzales crouches frightened in the corner as Inca gets an armbar. Inca continues to work on Guy on the mat. Falempin gets the tag (afte4 nearly falling over the ropes!). And snapmares and neck stretces Inca. Jo tags back in and he and Michel gesture menacingly at each other until Michel gets a double Interlock into snapmare. Gonzalez has to go with a. number of whips but he feigns a leg injury to get some Manchettes in on the now back Guy. "il est un comedien, Lola des trruques" says the commentator. Jo sells Manchettes, a snapmare or two and a dropkick quite flamboyantly. He fires back with a snapmare and dropkick of his own before both men miss a dropkick each. Gonzalez staggers around then tags Inca. They exchange Manchettes and Falempin comes in again. Inca gets a legdive and leglock. I think he uses a crafty bite or two to stop Falempin. After some Inca Manchettes, Guy comes in They exchanged hammerlock and a haggard looking Gonzalez staggers back in.He drops flamboyantly to his knees beseeching Charley to take Guy's threats of a closed fist seriously and intervene. Then he dives in and gets a full nelson, the shrew! Inca gets a tag and a flying headbutt and beat Falempin down before getting back the full nelson. Gonzalez comes in for a double team but misses and ends up tied in the ropes by his neck, flailing his legs in panic. As Charley and Inca try to free him, Les Bons et La Publique have all sorts of fun, the faces bombing him, the fans cheering it. It's ironically a Falempin Manchette that finally knocks him free. But Le Gitane is groggy and in no state to fight ... until he suddenly bashes and whips Falempin. He even gets a sunset flip into double leg nelson at one point but only gets two from it. Falempin fights back and both sides tag, Guy and Inca mixing Manchettes with stabilisers for illegal closed fists. Guy ducks a Manchette and gets a legdive into toehold finishing with a leg weakener. Falempin is next in but Inca whips and bumps him around, into the heel corner. Inca gets a double Interlock into horizontal spin into arm lever and a snapmare. They exchange shoulderblocks and Guy tags in. Both heels are in a heap in their corner and Charley holds Guy back a bit. Gonzalez goes for an Interlock but Guy gets a bearhug, hoisting him high before dropping him into an over the knee backbreaker which Gonzales sells like his back his broken. Les Bons take turns, Falempin slams Jo, Guy post him , Falempin again gives him another over knee backbreaker. Guy posts him into the heel corner where he tags Inca. Michel takes him down with a three quarter nelson but Jo kicks him off. Guy runs in but Charley coaxes him out. Falempin gets Inca in a legdive and leghank into practically an Indian death lock which he holds for some time until Charley demands a break. Inca gets the best of a top wristlock battle on Guy until he rolls upright and gets the classic French Scisseaux Volees takedown counter. Gonzales gets a tag and an arm bar. Guy goes up on his head and performs a toupie to reel himself free. But Les Méchants are soon back double teaming Guy in the corner Jo manchettes and stomps his man - " Voici un Gitane en colère!" quips the commentator. Jo gets a snapmare and stomp in one motion for an 8 count til Jo gets a headbutt in. After more stomps he tags Inca who gets a full nelson on Guy who fires back then tags Michel. He and Inca exchange thunderous Manchettes then he tags JP who begs off! But Guy is angry and gets a full nelson. Gonzales powers his way out before using a rear to to totally escape then fires a dropkick and manchettes and stomps then tags Inca who is just as hard hitting a heel. Jo is back and uses a grovit as setup for a Manchette. He corners, backflips, strikes - and misses! Guy tags in and Manchettes both heels before getting the WM4 Koko B Ware bulldog plus flying scissors takedown on both villains. He dropkicks Inca to ringside then turns to the kneeling exhausted Jo, easily manchetting and twice flooring him as he staggers around. Finally he gorilla presses Jo and drops him in an over the knee stomach breaker 5en crosspresses him for the one fall required. Even in defeat Jo is centre of attention staggering around selling and exhausted. He showed me quite a lot both as a carpenter and as a powerful aggressor in his own right which spiced up a good fast paced Catch Á Quatre.

Was going to review this for 1985 but as you can see it's already done. I'll go visit that 2019 EWP playlist and see what catches my eye.... I've heard a lot about Speedball Bailey. Most of it bad. Most of it from a certain podcaster who drives some folk round here out of their tiny minds (look up "Alvin Stardust Green Cross Code" on YouTube if you don't get the reference.) Okay, let's see what the fuss is all about. Brian Cage. One word, roids. Bailey looks like Bryan Fery in pyjamas. Or maybe a diminutive version of John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harness from Torchwood/Doctor Who.). He has a girlfriend Veda Scott in bad NHS glasses. Bell goes. Bailey does about 4 dropkicks in succession. Usually people whose only move that is water it down with a bit of selling and getting audience sympathy. He goes for a tope but is easily caught. A long bit out of the ring culminating in him running pointlessly round and missing with a kick. Cage tries a powerbomb, Bailey looks to be working a counter so Cage bungs him into the top of the corner post. Cage does loads of power stuff a Bailey does karate kicks back. One sequence at about 5:20 should be synced up to the can can. Bailey does get a feet first escape out of a German suplex - was this Cage guy not holding the legs properly?). And so it goes on.Power from Cage, kicks and the odd flyer (odd indeed viz the corkscrew splash) from Bailey. Lots of time out of of the ring. A load of young sharks start a THIS IS AWESOME chant. Show em Steve Wright Vs Tony St Clair I say. Clarke does another German suplex, properly this time Ref gets clobbered by Bailey's legs during an aeroplane spin Mrs Bailey (I had a PE teacher at school called that) gets in the ring to help the ref and gets hauled off by Cage. Veda Scott and hubby end up double teaming the big ox but only getting a 2. It resumes, Cage does power stuff, Speedball improbably absorbed then does some kicks,. This ref waits before going for a third so both guys get mor3 than a three count. Is that normal nowadays? Cage gets a backdrop, Bailey does a spinning kneedrop thing doesn't get the pin. He eventually gets the win with a sort of Somersault Legdrop. Cage was a boring muscleman. Bailey does lots of aerial spots but lacks any real technical skill. Yes Corny I take your point. SMALL MERCY #1 at least Aaron Nix (see Rumble and ASW South videos on British thread) isn't commentatng and blabbing on about Bailey having "educated feet" SMALL MERCY #2 it's nice to know the EWP continued the CWA tradition of bringing in American talent. It's not their fault the quality of the American talent has taken a deep dive off the end of the pier.