David Mantell

The thing is, the French didn't really think of it as a gimmick match. It was just another place where wrestling shows were held. Obviously the entire evening's show had to take place in the pool including long serious technical bouts and phases of bouts when the audience would just forget about the water. In this case, any anticipation about seeing big Swiss Renecger wet was undermined when he managed to capsize his boat on the way y to the ring. Rene had something of Sid Eudy to him, big, tall blond and accident prone.(I bet Eudy wished a certain 2001 WCW PPV had been held in a pool.) The bout starts off as technical wrestling for giants with snapmares and side chancery throws. Van Buyten showing he can do all the French somersaulting stuff as well as RBC, LPP, Saulnier etc. Lightweight wrestler Bob Remy is L'Arbitre for contrast. Later on it becomes something like an 80s WWF match, full of big power stuff. Lasartesse uses a big reverse piledriver a lot. You're showing your (lack of) age if you think Tombstone but that does underline my point about 80s WWF style. About 13 minutes in, Rene does it the fourth time and the commentator says "La Belge TOMBE le quatrieme fois.". Don't you just love unconscious multilingual puns. At one point the commutator goes on about "Le Manchette Nautique" (Maritime Forearm Smash)"qui est different du Manchette Classique.". No I didn't spot any difference either. Referee Remy turns the crowd off off him by refusing to allow FVB to bung Lasartesse in the water. FVB end up pitching them both over and getting himself disqualified after claiming a KO victory (shades of Flesh Gordon getting DQd and claiming moral victory due to some unauthorized pin count - or else Jimmy Hart and his referee's stripes jacket at WM9.) So he pitches them both out again. Franzl does get one moral victory although this means the clip ends in a cliffhanger as both men are last seen stuck on different corners of the ring while the boat - already badly taking in water - comes to an awkward stop halfway between them. Presumably Franz finally had to dive for it during the next programme. Talking of peoples' wives on the wrestling show. we don't meet Franz's but apparently she was a lady wrestler says the commentator.

Follow up video. Artwork shows Jim being offered a Hulk Hogan gingerbread man by the Cat In The Hat

Okay, for this week. here's a nice short bout that neither OJ nor myself have touched before. Alex Fontaine, presumably no relation to Pierre Booster Fontaine of New School French promotion the ICWA. He's the one in the black top, looking like a freshly unmasked masked man, or maybe Jon Guil Do. Joined in progress with Cavilliers outside the ring. They lock up and Guy gets a side chancery and monkey climb. Alex dumps some relative of Guy out of the ring followed by the man himself. They take turns dumping each other outside and get a lot of dropkicks and huracanranas on each other. They kip up, kip out of headscissors - and kip up straight into a head collision and double KO. OJ won't like it, but a ringside lady here with kids, whose husband is a boxer, reckons it's a nice fair equitable conclusion.

And hopefully get them posted some place us ordinary mortals can see them.

Not necessarily but I would conflate it with a pool (not necessarily a large one) of challengers for each weight division being present. There were Middleweights in 50s Australia but apparently not 50s America.

What's happened to French Catch Tuesday on Segunda Caida? Has the stock of new bouts run out?

Interestingly your neck of the woods had lighter weight wrestling back in the pre Jim Barnett days - the Australian Middleweight title lasted until 1960! https://www.wrestling-titles.com/australia

Interesting. So the different weight divisions appeared on separate shows? This might explain why it was harder for a breakout lighter weight star to cause a sensation and force their way to the top of the bill the way George Kidd and Le Petit Prince did.

A work still has a back story. A soap or sci-fi series dating back to the early sixties (say Coronation Street or Doctor Who) or a comic strip dating back to the Thirties (say Batman or Popeye) still draws from the same well of continuity. Once upon a time even in America, Lightweights, Welterweights and Middleweights were enough of a thing to each have a World title. The Heavyweight title that Hack. Gotch, Stecher and Lewis all fought over was one of a range of (at least) six.

Dynamite could have easily double crossed Nelly. He was a Wigan man, he studied at the snakepit and he got a load of private tuition from John Foley. possibly up to hooker level.

https://www.wrestling-titles.com/weights.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_weight_classes

From the undercard of the summer 1976 Royal Albert Hall TV taping headlined by Kendo Nagasaki and his non worker manager George Gillette taking on Mick McManus and the London Iron Man Steve Logan I bring you something a bit more serious. Not quite guaranteed purist friendly as Boscik had his share of heel tendencies but pretty reasonably technical nonetheless. The RAH was the closest Britain as a wrestling territory had to a main Arena venue (unless you count the three Wembley Arena Big Daddy mega shows 1979-1982) . It's the only venue to have hosted all four of WWF/WWE, WCW, Joint Promotions and All Star Wrestling and except for the microscopic possibility that young Joseph Dixon will ever one day secure a booking at the (in new money) OVO Arena Wembley, that is how things will stay. Down to business with round 1. Vic gets a standing side headlock into cross buttock throw into mat side headlock. "Zolly" forces his way up and gets a waistlock. Vic offers a diversionary arm, Zolly takes it and tries for a wristlever but Vic rolls away. Vic also rolls away from a side chancery throw and cartwheels out of a posting attempt. Zolly gets a legdive into toe and ankle but gets flicked off by the leg power of Vic and takes a.bump. Zolly gets a ground guard wristlock and shrugs off two attacks by Vic on his chin. Vic gets headscissors, twisting forwards on it. Zolly turns the hold upright and forces Vic's legs open in a legspread. He kicks off two attempts by Vic to counter before Vic lifts and tosses him behind in a seated German suplex, sending the Hungarian outside. Boscik, back at 8, gets caught by a hiptoss but once down secures a headscissors of his own. Vic bridges and then handstands his way out, Zolly pushes him back in, so Vic turns the hold over and levers the legs off with his own legs. Vic gets an arm and rolls it into a top wristlock, Zolly twists the arm round to convert to half a finger lock and takes the other half. He drops down and folds Vic into a double leg nelson folding press. Vic flips over, untucks his head and ties Zolly into the ball position a la Vassilios Montopolous. Vic isn't as good at nots as Vas and Zolly pulls himself free and jabs his finger angrily as the crowd laugh at him. He gets an arm lever, forces Vic down in the guard and drops a knee on his bicep. Vic kicks him in the back so Zolly works a few weakeners so Vic kicks him in the back again. Vic kips up, rolls forward then backwards, picks off the armbar with a foot and takes an arm for himself. Zolly gets a chop and a facebar but Vic straightens it back into his armbar again. Zolly moves in behind and gets his 3 in 1 combination grapevine speciality hold. He turns from there into a sunset flip but Vic double ankles out of the resulting double leg nelson pin attempt. Vic gets a leg and drops weakeners on it. He converts to a legspread. Zolly offers him a handshake. Vic dubiously accept and releases the legspread and gets a mini shoulderblock from Zolly as they get up, so he firearm smashes him down. Now it's Vic's turn to angrily wag his finger. He leg dives and gets some weakeners on Zolly before leaving him for the count. Zolly is up and gets a side heädlock but the bell rings. Round 2. They lock up and Vic gets a full Nelson. Zolly breaks out one half and converts the other into a wrist lever. Vic rolls out and high whips Zoly but he takes it well and rolls upright. Vic gets a rolling legdive into toe and ankle, Zolly goes for the ropes but Vic hauls him off by the ropes and lets him drop with a bump. Zolly gets his own legdive, grapevines the leg and puts a boot on the kneecap of the other leg. Whatever he is planning next, Vic makes him lose his balance and fall off. Vic gets a go behind on a lockup and has a single leg in the mount, applying weakeners to the inner knee and turning him over to get the legspread again. He elongates the spread until Zoly chops out and cross presses Vic, then gets a finger Interlock on the mat. Vic gets up to kneeling but Zolly kicks him down and puts his weight on Vic's torso. Vic bridges and lifts his man. He drops his weight several times but can't break the bridge so he dismounts and tries jumping feet first but Vic catches him, a foot in each hand, forcing him to leap away. Vic gets up and goes for a throw but Zolly takes him down into a cross press. Vic throws him off at 2 and fires off a dropkick. Zolly tries to attack from a kneeling position but to his frustration Vic kips out of the way. Vic gets a Japanese stranglehold and quickly completes a surfboard (normally a long complex combination hold to apply. ) Zoltan unhooks the legs, rolls to sit at Vic's head end and gets a double arm stretch, straining and relaxing in a rowing motion. Vic unpicks the wrist holds with his feet and rolls away before Zolly can try grab a folding press. To add insult to injury, he cheekily tousled the seating Boscik's hair, the Hungarian is not amused. Zolly gets an armdrag into a grovit. Faulkner counters with a headscissors. Zoltan gets the hold upright and goes for a handstand escape, Vic drops the mini piledriver and turns the hold sideways again. Zolly gets it upright, gets the handstand, turns 180! degrees, lowers his knees on Vic's shoulders and uncOrks his head, leaving himself with a neat double knee shoulder press. He can't quite hold the shoulders down and Vic counters with bodyscissors. Zoltan stand up in the hold and wandes about in it. Eventually he pushes Vic off but Vic gets a quick ground dropkick to send Zolly sprawling on the ropes. Vic throws Zolly to the other ropes and he stays on his knees to frustrate Vic. The bell goes before they can re-engage. Round 3: Zolly gets a knee and a side chancery throw and vaguely roughs up Vic as he regains his feet. He throws Vic and gets a decent bump, then gets pressure points. He goes for a standing full nelson but Vic ducks out and makes it into a standing back hammerlock. Zolly drops and throws Vic, sending him to ringside. Vic is back at 6 and Zolly throws him but he rebounds off the ropes with a double legdive into a folding press but Zolly lifts him off with a bodyscissors.n Vic drives an elbow into Boscik's chest and tries another folding press, this time using the arms for extra shoulder pressure but Zolly levers upwards so instead Vic turns into a full Boston Crab but Zolly crawls to the ropes and forces a break. The crowd rally for Vic and he claps them on like he was on a C21st All Star show. Zolly nonetheless gets pressure points into a side headlock. Vic keeps the motion going and comes out with a hammerlock but Zolly gets another rope break. The crowd are getting irritated with this and Zolly gets extra heat by indicating that he doesn't see what their objection is. (And to be fair, he did fight hard to get those rope breaks.). Vic gets a quick side headlock into armbar. Vic threatens a straight arm lift and Zolly begs for mercy but this is a distraction as he gets his 3 in 1 abdominal stretch back on. After some weakeners on Vic's ribs, hecrelesses and pulls him in for a bodycheck. Vic goes down but gets a desperate forearm in as he does so. Faulkner is up first and gets a side headlock and bulldogs his man into two corners before walking over him as he steps away. Zoltan steps outside. (TWC has an advert break at this point.) Zolly comes back, offering a handshake and crossing his heart (and stalling for time). Vic gets a footstomp and kneelift on Zolly. Unusually he attacks his man while on the deck but realises what he's doing and backs off when the referee says so. With a cooler head prevailing, he whips his man. Zolly rebounds with a leapfrog but Vic dropkicks him out of the ring. Zolly threatens a walkout but comes back- and is kicked over by Vic as he re-enters. Boscik sells both his frustration and the hurt from accumulated bumps. He counters Vic's armbars attempt with an over the knee backbreaker and tries a shoulder press from there. Vic still has the arm and comes see-sawing up with it. Zolly turns Vic into the guard and gets a lengthwise press, switching to cross press but can't quite get the shoulders down. He ties a standing press but Vic knees him off and gets a rear waistlock atomic drop and tries to shove his man down to little effect. Zolly offers a handshake but Vic wants none of it. So Boscik gets a knee on the lockup and goes behind for a standing full nelson but Vic breaks it and reverses into one of his own. Zolly does the same. Vic rears into him and comes off the ropes with .... a sidestep. Followed by a surprise dropkick that only barely reaches its target. Vic gets a single toehold in the mount but the bell goes. Round 4. Vic gets a quick rear snapmare. Zolly gives a forearm smash and gets one back. Zolly gets a headbutt and kneelift, another knee to the ribs and a rear snapmare of his own. He gives Vic a decent far throw for 5. He gets a headlock but Vic does something odd to get out and it annoys Zolly, who blocks Vic's throw off the ropes with a side heädlock so Vic shoves him down. Vic runs back and forth with Zolly ducking down. Vic shoves him down and gets double legs into a slingshot head first into the corner. Vic gets a backdrop into double knees shoulder press for the one fall required. In an Afterbirth , Zolly offers a.hanshake and tries to post him but Vic withdraws just in time. A good scientific bout despite the needle and obvious blueceyes heel dynamic. How to do goody vs baddy effectively without descending into total dirty wrestling .

He was NWA World Light Heavyweight Champion before that.. But then just after that the title went south to Mexico to join the Welterweight and Middleweight title which had gone south 20 years earlier. Bothner, Stein and Marshall were significantly smaller than Hodge. Rocca or mid 50s Verne- closer to Europeans like Petit Prince, Michel Saulnier, Johnny Saint. Vic Faulkner, Mick McManus and Tommy "Jack Dempsey" Moore. Adrian Street debuted in America having been World Middleweight Champion on-and-off 1977-1981 for Brian Dixon's proto-ASW Wrestling Enterprises Of Birkenhead (which that cheeky Gordon Solie called "the Amateur ranks")

Pretty good summary, cheers. In Britain, Slam Bang was probably the element that proved too much and got All In a ban by the LCC and others. Quite a lot of British wrestlers have pasts in Rugby - before the shoulder pads and crash helmets were introduced, Rugby Football and Harvard Rules Football were superficially similar looking sports. It is the other sport for which Wigan was famous.

Okay here's the fuller account as promised. Funaki comes to the ring to 1981 kitsch pop hit Japanese Boy by Anika which is as good music for a Japanese blue-eye as any. They lock up, hit the ropes and start over. Tony gets a standing sife headlock into cross buttock throw into mat side headlock. Funaki goes for further nelson pin attempt but gets a 1 before Tony turns it upright again. Funaki forces upwards, breaks the headlock open into a top wristlock and gets an armdrag takedown into a wristlever on the mat w ith Tony in the guard. He backrolls upright to standing then front rolls to untwist the arm but Funaki reverses the leverage forcing Tony to fall backwards into the guard.He kips up, rolls back and forth and uses his foot to unlock the writlock and takes Funaki's wrist for himself. Funaki is already promising at the British style, he rolls forwards, backwards, forwards and then forces a high whip but Tony is able to somersault through to a standing start, making a feet first landing without taking the bump. The Heumarkt crowd applauds but Did blows his whistle at something, leaving both wrestlers staring askance at him. I did warn you Cut to Funaki cross buttock throwing Tony. He takes the count for a rest in the mat until 9 a la Vic Faulkner. He gets an arm at into a hammerlock. Sudden cut (I did warn you about this too) to Funaki with a wrist lever into armdrag takedown to the same ground armlock in the guard. Funaki stands for extra leverage, Tony kips up and rear snapmares him down but Funaki keeps the hold. Tony kips up again into a top wristlock position. Funaki forces him down so Tony backrolls out then front rolls and horizontally swivels on his behind and puts his leg in position for a kickoff and boots Funaki backwards. Tony has the toe and ankle but Funaki puts the other foot in and throws Tony with his feet, forcing a somersault and bump. Funaki is up and gets half a finger Interlock then backrolls to get a top wristlock and force Tony down in the guard again but the ging (bell) sounds for the end of the round. Clean break, handshake. Cut to Round 2 possibly JIP. Funaki gets a side chancery. Rather than go for a throw, he takes Tony down into the guard. Sadly the ring apron edge gets in the way of seeing how but Funaki gets a crosspress for three 2 counts. Tony gets up and Funaki gives him a bodycheck and side chancery throw into his favourite armlock in the guard. He takes his man up, seemingly for another side chancery throw but Tony gets an underhook, crotch hold and slam. Funaki still has hold of the armlock however. Cut - Tony drops down on the mat as a rope bouncing Funaki goes over him. Tony gets a cross buttock throw and follows down on top with a shoulderpress but Funaki gets the bridging upwards rear chancery throw that caught my eye on the first viewing (and that Franz Schumann did in the video in between.) for a shoulderpress of his own. He takes his man up again in the side chancery for another throw but Tony blocks three times by stomping hard on the ground, the third stamp unfortunately landing on Didier Gapp's toe. Gapp is a lot less understanding than Dave Reece in the recent Pat Roach/Colin Johnson bout on the British thread (5.5 years earlier in real time) he blows his whistle, sells the foot and reprimands Tony while ignoring Funaki's pleas for clemency. He reaches for his cards in his pocket. Cut - and Didi is reprimanding Tony for something else. Funaki gets a single legdive takedown into kneeling toe and ankle hold. He applies weakeners then settles into a seated leglock. Tony pulls him over into the folding press but barely gets a 1 count before Funaki rights himself. He switches back to the same standing toe and ankle with the same jumping weakeners (Gapp is lucky Funaki doesn't also accidentally stomp his toe.) and stands back for a seven count. Funaki goes for a legdive to continue the treatment but Tony gets his arm first. Funaki gets a riding rear waistlock counter as the gong goes. Another handshake, another appreciative clap from the Heumarkt fans. Round 3 (presumably) JIP, it's Tony's turn to get an armdrag into an armbar in the guard. Funaki stands up and tries to bounce StClair off the ropes but he uses the same stomp block and armdrags Funaki back down to the guard. Cut to StClair again using a stomp to block a Funaki bounce off the ropes. Funaki leans on Didier Gap to help back somersault out. An English referee like Jeff Kaye would usually laugh this sort of thing off, but not Didier Gapp. He reads both men the riot act until they both corner him and Tony plonks him on the top turnbuckle like the Ultimate Warrior did to one of the Hebners during a match with Randy Savage in early 89. Gapp jumps back down and does a comedy landing on one side. angrily getting up and blowing his whistle. Bout pauses for a spot of cheerleading encouraged by both wrestlers. Tony gets the single legdive into toe & ankle into seated leglock, this time. He brushes off a couple of Funaki chinlock attempts and gets upright to deliver similar weakeners as Funaki delivered before. End of clip one, proceed to clip 2. Tony is standing back while Didi counts Funaki. He gets a leg but Funaki stays standing, does a standing backflip and dropkicks Tony. He gets the cross buttock into ground side headlock. Tony gets just 1 with the folding press counter both men have previously tried in this situation. Tony standing up in the hold, throws Funaki off and catches him on the rebound with a shoulderblock, flooring him with a blow to the back. Funaki is up and Tony whips him into the ropes but he rebounds with a sunset flip and double leg nelson. Tony gets the double ankle smash in before any pin count can take place. They start over and Tony gets the armbar in a kneeling position. He turns Funaki over, drops a couple of knees and the gong goes. More good sportsmanship. Round 4 presumably, JIP, Funaki goes to work with martial arts kicks like Sammy Lee, eventually felling Tony with a spinning kick. He whips him off the ropes and catches him with a reverse flying shoulderblock. He rear snapmares him. Switches to the leg and turns Tony into the single leg Boston Crab. Tony sells the pain but does not submit and eventually releases to try something else. He throws Tony into the ropes. Agets a mild chop the first time and misses with the spinning kick the second time. The third, Tony strikes with a lariat . He catches Funaki getting up and delivers an uppercut and kneelift. Funaki is up at eight for a posting. Cut - and this time Tony delivers an oven the knee backbreaker to Funaki. Tony gets double legs into a scorpion Deathlock, the hold a young Sting ea making famous that year but both these two menin 1988 associated more with Masa Chono. Cut to Tony getting a double legdive into Indian Deathlock from the side. Gapp calls for the break for some reason (has Funaki reached the ropes?) and demands they disengage. Tony asks for help in untwisting their legs. Didier. unlike British referees somehow managed to trip over the pile of legs, landing on his back! This is the man German and Austrian fans consider a cult comedy hero. He angrily blood his whistle and eventually Tony goose steps over to him menacingly as if to imply another stomped foot is on the way. A scared Did retreats to the top turnbuckle. Tony his the ropes but Didi blows his whistle to stop everything. Cut and the three men are standing around, Didi and Tony arguing. He goes over to say something to the judges. Cut and there is a round break, the two principles are in their corners. Round 5 starts with a handshake. Tony offers a one sided finger Interlock, Funaki responds with martial arts kicks to the knee then the chest, the last flooring Tony. The exchange Tony's forearms and Funaki's chops before shaking hands. Tony gets a single legdive takedown into leglock on the mat. Funaki gets a wristlock on one arm, uses his free leg to hook Tony's head and is left with a nifty armhank. Tony rolls over in the hold, Funaki converting to a lengthwise headscissors before Tony rolls into the ropes,, forcingna break. Once free, he shoulders his man, whips him into the ropes and lands him on the rebound with a back elbow. Funaki, up at 4, goes back down to an uppercut. Tony whips him off the ropes but misses with another back elbow and Funaki strikes with a flying tackle, getting a 2 count. He whips Tony and dropkicks him down on the rebound Funaki gets another single leg into seated leg lock, again shrugs off Tony's chinlock attempts and like Tony earlier, is pulled over with the other leg and guillotined with the leg instead of an.armhank. As they get up, Tony gets a rear inverted waistlock and tombstone piledriver and shoulder press for 2 before presumably Funaki reaches the ropes. Tony gets an uppercut, Funaki gets one too and a martial arts kick and spinning kick that floors Tony. Tony lunges, floors and covers Funaki but Gapp breaks it up due to lack of continuous movement. Tony posts Funaki and gives him a sharp kick. Funaki posts Tony back, climbs him and back somersaults off him, backdrops him and dropkicks him. He goes to the top turnbuckle and scores a perfect flying bodypress but only gets 2. He gets a dropkick but misses with a reverse flying shoulderblock and Tony scores with another lariat. Funaki is up at 6 and gets a small package but the gong goes at the 1 count. Both men exchange handshakes and bows. An excellent scientific contest except for the two problems described.

And to get to the nub of the question, how exactly did these titles get transplanted South of the border?

It was already happening in the late Thirties with the migration southwards to Mexico of the lighter weight NWA titles. 1920s Champions like Sammy Stein and Benny Sherman suddenly found themselves with no new generation to succeed them, at least not in their home territory.

Or compare the entire range of different sizes Davey Boy Smith went through 1978-1992.

Agree totally but their size wasn't the BARRIER it would have been in the States. 90s/C21st Cruisers are lightER but they're still a lot heavier than LPP/Saulnier/Kidd/Saint/Grey/most TBWs - or the bunch of lower weights that got dumped down to Mexico in the late 30s. Just Britain for example - Daddy. Haystacks, Kirk, Muir, Daly, Elrington, Rex Strong, Judd Harris, Crusher Mason, Gargantua, Dave Taylor, Docker Don Steadman, The Klondyke Brothers (and hell Klondyke Kate) and the list goes on However you could well have hit on something in terms of a society's mentality with your comment about America "the land of the giants" that served as a barrier to an American Le Petit Prince or George Kidd getting their breakthrough. In Britain, the narrative is that Kidd was very much the mould-breaker in terms of where public interest in the weights lay.

Bit of a short one but it does feature one of the all time faves of this thread and institutions of Le Catch Sur La Tele Francais, Franz Van Buyten from Belgium. (Just dawned on me he and Leland Bryant - see 2020s Rumble Promotions videos on the British Wrestling thread - are lookalikes!) Starts off as a strength match. like what you imagine Gotch Vs Hackenschmidt was like in 1908 from the photos. Eventually Franz somersaults from a top wristlock tons better position and uses that as the launchpad for a single leg monkey flip/armdrags. Franz posts his man and goes in for a huracanrana but ends up pounding him in the corner. Cut to Noel getting a KO Count. He is barely up when Franz gets a backslide winner. Lopsided but it looks like there was a lot more material cut. I think Peter Wilhelm says this was a rematch - I wonder if that bout was uploaded too?

Jim and Brian came up with quite a good balanced piece.

Cruiserweights aren't quite lighter weights though. Nelson Royal, Denny Brown etc were not headlines but they were still propping up the undercard of NWA territory shows in the mid 80s. The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship did not get pensioned off to Mexico like the Lightweight, Welterweight and Middleweight titles were by the end of the Thirties and the Light Heavyweight Championship two decades later. American Promotions in the Nineties/Noughties just used "Light Heavyweight" as a synonym for Cruiserweight or Junior Heavyweight without thought as to its correct usage as the number 3 weight division.

People kept to their weight division, yes. Didn't stop middleweights Mick McManus and Jackie Pallo and their heel Vs heel feud becoming THEEE marquee feud of 60s Britain.

Yes but why? I want to drill down deeper as to what it was in that part of the world that stopped people buying into lighter weights. If it was that simple, lighter weights would have failed all over the world, not just in America. Mexico, Europe and Japan didn't spit them out, far from it. Few 16 year olds could do what Danny Collins and Kid McCoy could do and few wiry smaller guys could do what Le Petit Prince or Johnny Saint could do. (Jim Breaks would have made a great sneaky heel manager in America.)