David Mantell

Regarding OJ's first point it's just as well that none of Walton, the audience and ITV executives had seen Brody's N-bomb dropping behaviour on German home video circa 1985 which may possibly have sown the seed for fellow German tournament scenester Ed Wisowski's Colonel DeBeers gimmick in the AWA the next year. Perhaps Miss Petite Fleur was an attempt to back away from that kind of dark heat. Talking of Germany/Austria , Brody has the Vienna Cup he won the previous year 1986 with him. Alan also has a familiar face seconding him, his equally hearing challenged second Jimmy Napper, with whom he chats in sign language between rounds. Round 1: A couple of lockups end with Kilby against the ropes and Brody getting in a crafty knee as he breaks. Bald Brody complains about a hairpull (file under The Best, the Old Jokes are). When the situation is reversed, Alan asks the crowd if he should deal similarly and Brody is quick to take advantage. Kilby is up against the ropes but he ducks a descending heel of hand from Brody who ends up falling out of the ring. Kilby flips him in and dropkicks him out. Someone very audibly shouts something homophobic at Brody - a reference to his former "mean moody" Magnificent Maurice gimmick? We finally get some science as Brody gets a semi Japanese Stranglehold., forcing Kilby to the guard on the mat. Kilby forces his way upright but Brody takes him back down The first good reversal as Kilby straightens the barring arm into a rear wristlock. Brody the cowardly heel dives for a rope escape.. iIt makes little difference anyway as the bell goes. Cut to Round 3: Brody uses pressure points to drive Kilby to his knees, slipping his own knee in and getting a 4 count. He posts Kilby. He gets a late knee and slingshots him by the throat off the top rope, each of which earn him a private warning from ref Jeff Kaye. A forearm smash gets him a six count and a hangman's lift an opening submission. Cut to Round 5: Apparently Brody is on his second and final public warning, presumably accrued during round 2 (Kaye alludes to this in round 3 so I think both were in Round 2). Brody gets a single legdive into toehold , trying to turn Kilby for a single leg Boston Crab but Alan boots him off in the skull. Alan gets to work with a side chancery, mule kick and flying forearm smash. Brody swings at Alan and misses. allowing Alan to get behind. trip Brody and get an equalising pin with a side folding press - about the best technical move so far. At this point Brody is disqualified. Presumably for a third public warning but we never get to see what, however Kilby is down on the mat when we come back from an action replay so presumably Brody attacked Kilby between rounds. This was originally an opening match for Marty Jones Vs Owen Hart and a Golden Grappler trophy semifinal. Apart from that great folding press it was mostly a strength bout which is a pity as 8 know both men are capable of better.

Okay. the last remaining match from the above video. Les Pihranas, like Mambo and Les Maniaks (and some would add Jessy Texas, le Rocky du Ring, Marquis Richard with his butler and even Flesh Gordon himself) were symptomatic of the more cartoony direction French Catch too in the mid 1980s. They all paved the way for Travesti Man. Scott Rider, Bad Mask and Cybernic Machine. They perform the breast stroke as a sort of wardance to symbolise themselves swimming over to their "prey" Flesh himself is still in his young skinny phase and is tagging with veteran Bon and former masked man Angelito "Le Petit Prince de la Voltige" - ironically LEEEE Petit Prince, Daniel Dubail, was still active at this time. Première Manche: Say what you will about the Piranhas but whoever was behind the green masks knew their Catch onions. Angelito gets some feet first landings from a rear snapmare and a throw. He also gets a decent monkey climb. Cazal who had already made a dreadful pun about Pihranas/Jean Pradinas, keeps it going with references to fishy anatomy like the dorsal fin. Flesh, like Angelito has a very aerial attack. But surprisingly so do the Pihranas - one of them gets a quick opening fall with a Superfly splash. Flesh protests on deaf ears, L'Arbitre is George Weiss who fancies himself as the second coming of horrid little man Michel Saulnier. Deuxième Manche: the Fish get underway stomping on Angelito. Choking him with yellow trim from their outfits (which one Piranha tucks away under hi collar. Flesh gets in a good missile dropkick before either playing VIP or arguing with Weiss. He gets some good armdrags in. Cazal thinks the Piranhas would have more joy in a swimming pool match, haha. Flesh takes some armdrag bumps. The masked team again use their yellow trim as an international objects. La publique shouts for Avertisements but George Weiss ignores them (and gets the Aux Chiottes Arbitre treatment for this). Flesh misses the flying headscissor takedown but gets an armdrag to make up for it. Angelito gets a front chancery but the Pihrana back drops him. He gets a victory rolls but no follow up pin attempt. Flesh and the fish miss a lot of flying moves. Angelito tags in, gets a bunch of missile dropkicks and a victory roll for the equalising pin. During the Interval, Weiss picks a fight with Les Bons ové who is the legal man in. L'Arbitre takes refuge in Les Piranhss corner. La Belle. Angelito gets a a good flying headscissors and both sides some high bumping backdrops. The fish men begin to double team Angelito causing another Ref versus Flesh argument. Flesh gets an Avertisement , I believe a deuxiéme et derniére. An old guy in the crowd sticks his oar in and has to be led back by security. Flesh tags in, handles both masked men. Angelito joins him for some 2 on 2 which earns less Bons a DQ. A fishy victory, an early example of the faces get DQd "Pas de justice dans Le Monde!!!" finish which would go on to be a favourite of Flesh main events for WS. A decent high flying tag bout if you can look past the Fish Vs Superheroes gimmicks.

Okay, one more Bremen 1986 bout to go. Sadly not a great deal to write about. A generic 80s American versus a technically underdeveloped strength based Heavyweight. Not a lot to write about the action- Samson gets a few good cross buttock throws into side headlock and side chanceries into side headlocks on the mat but that's as good as it gets. No blow by blow for this one. Rambo is totally heel at this point. I thought I heard some German fans shouting for him but I think they were actually chanting Samson. It goes to the final round time limit draw. Referee Mick McMichael of Doncaster picks Samson as the winner. There is an afterbirth where Rambo stages a sit in protest until Samson ejects him. MC is shouty and adopts the French practice of getting the crowd to offer the workers "primes" (cash tips). It's enough when a redcoat at Butlins does this, never mind some guy yamming on to a filled out Stadhalle. Video quality is pretty grotty especially when you consider it was copied to DVD. Quite a few audio and colour signal dropouts. Quite a few cheesy 80s pop records from the DJ between rounds. Some I don't know, some I should and one I know only too well. Black Lace's cover of Agadoo with the English lyrics minus the bit from the original French "Agadou" where the girl frames him up for theft and he does a stretch in the hole. For the antidote to this horrid song, look up the Chicken Song by Spitting Image.

All the French Catch playlists are here: https://www.youtube.com/@alessio5083/playlists Personally I think Alessio should create another playlist "Catch Français 1988-present" and have it cover both seasons of New Catch ('88 and '91), the Feb '91 FR3 bout and all the post 1992 Eurostars/(I)WS(F) footage up to the present. I also think the 1989 New Caledonian tapping should in a separate playlist unto itself.

Actually we haven't covered off that particular bout. We did their Hannover bout earlier in this thread, we did their 1987 ITV bout on the British thread and on a personal level I've watched this one a few times when the smart TV put it on next after StClair/Wright but we've not examined that particular bout on here. So her3 goes. DJ plays some something I don't recognise about a train to Moscow. Referee Barry Douglas, allegedly of New Zealand and not a Relwyskow family Scion oh no, stands around. (At least the MC says it's him, I thought it was Didi). Casey (ex Steve McHoy, son of Wild Angus) does a very British blue eye entry. Manfred Mann's Mighty Quinn comes on and in he comes. MC claims Casey/McHoy is English, luckily McHoy doesn't kick the crap out of him for that one. His dad would have murdered the guy. Mind you, Quinn is announced as Alaskan. Runde 1 Quinn refuses a handshake. They look up, Quinn gets an armbar, Casey half turns, seemingly takes a bump then strikes with a ground placed dropkick. It even gets Quinn a KO count although it stops at Swei. Quinn gets the arm again but Steve counters with a single legdive into standing single toehold. MJQ successfully gets to the ropes. Steve this time gets an arm, applies weakeners, almost goes for a Jim Breaks special, forces a similar bump on Quinn then follows with a legdrop on the arm. Quinn is up at 4. They double interlock, Quinn gets a boot to the stomach, side chancery and bodycheck. He charges in for another but Steve catches him with a cross buttock throw at press for 2. Quinn gets a concealed illegal punch in a headlock and a four count. Casey feints a left hook at him and gets a private warning. Quinn gets a standing headlock into cross buttock throw into ground side headlock. He resists Steve's attempt to their over and gets a crosspress for 1. He next tries a standing full nelson, Casey tries throwing his man off and eventually succeeds, flipping him forward with Quinn taking a bump comparable to a decent bodyslam. End of round. DJ plays Kelly Marie "Feels Like I'm In Love" Runde 2 Casey seems to want to make it a boxing match (perhaps Quinn does a lot of dodgy fist stuff we can't see on the grainy video.). The crowd approve, the ref doesn't. Quinn boots Casey down in a single interlock. Case, still in the wristlever , backrolls a bit then does a classic British forward roll in th3 hold. He comes upright but Quinn pulls him down by the hair. But Casey kips right up and grapevines Quinn. Eventually Casey goes down but then kips up again, gets a forward roll, rolls backwards and puts himself into an underhook position to backdrop Quinn for a 3 KO Count He gets a legdive into crosspress on the mat for 1. Quinn has an arm on the ropes but Casey is reluctant to let go, feeling Quinn should doma less cheap escape. The crowd agree but the ref demands a break. Quinn gets a heel of hand blow and back elbow. The count on Casey is at four when Quin delivers a guillotine elbow so late it gets massive heat but the ref lets it gomand restarts the count which reaches 3. Casey gets a butt to stomach and something we don't see because of a crowd shot. He lands blows and tries a posting but Quinn makes it a whip to the ropes into a backdrop for 5. Quinn breaks the count stomping Casey on the mat. Despite warnings from the referee he keeps this up. Not sure if he gets a public warning or not, I see no cards. Somewhere in this the bell goes. DJ plays something cheesy and 1970s easy listening with a bouzouki on it. Runde 3 Quinn just generally batters Casey, shoulderblocking him for 6. Just as I'm about to give up the blow by blow, Casey absorbs a posting, goes behind Quinn and gets a rear rollup folding press for 1. Casey gets a kick to Quinn's head off the ropes and it all goes quite brawlsome. Casey gets a near snapmare into Legdrop for 4, slam and missile dropkick for 7!and flying tackle pin attempt for 2, a swinging neck breaker for 2, a posting into slam into crosspress for 2 Quinn puts Casey to ringside some way we don't see due to a crowd shot More stomps and a guillotine elbowsmash from Quinn. Casey on the mat stops the count by grabbing Quinn's foot. An irritated Quinn, once Casey is up, gets a concealed illegal punch to the chin. It goes slug and punch and Casey puts Quinn outside. End of round. DJ plays Karma Chameleon by Culture Club (this in 1986 when Boy George had split up with the song's subject, drummer Jon Moss and was in the depths of heroin addiction.) Runde 4 This time it's Quinn's turn to offer a handshake and Casey's turn to refuse. They brawl a bit then Casey gets a decent snapmare into legdrop and a dropkick for 5. Casey posts Quinn who catches him charging in with a boot for 7. Quinn misses a back elbow, tries for a slam but Casey slips out the back. He tries bouncing Quinn off the ropes for a roll up but Quinn doesn't go with it so when Casey falls backwards trying to pull Quinn down the Canadian heel splashes and crosspresses him for the winning pinfall and the crowd are FURIOUS!!! First two runden are just about a scientific wrestling match although brawling is Quinn's forté. Only by runde 3 does it become more a good fight than a good wrestling match as Kent Walton would say. Still a few curate's egg bits even after that.

I'm guessing it's the second bout because England has quite thick longish hair here, not exactly an Afro tho (his curl were veering that way by 1981 and the Sammy Lee match). Also because we see the blue World of Sport studio plus globe insignia and and I seem to recall that came in about 1979 when I was 5, replacing the yellow look. We JIP in Round 2. Kid tries an arm but England gets a cobra clutch first, bu5 oddly uses it to throw Kid who takes the bump. Kid tries to flip out of smother throw but again bumps instead. England fares better, twice coming upright after going over on both hands and looking smug about it. John gets the best of a double Interlock tes5 of strength but Kid bridges to avoid a pin and powers back. John also does a fine bridge and contemptuously pushes Kid down. Kid widens John's legs to fell him and catches him with a headbutt as he gets up then gets double legs into a folding press for the opening fall. (I should have liked to have seen that scoreless first round if Round 2is anything to go by!) Round 3. Comedy spot - John who was raging angrily after the bell - slams Kid's head into all four corners to no effect. Kid needs just one corner to get results. Kid gets a bit naughty and starts pulling John off the canvas to throw him down. The ref Peter Szakacs ets it go because England is blatantly stalling and eventually gives England a count of 7 to get him up the proper way. John tries an illegal punch but hurts his hand on Kid's head. He has more joy with a couple of postings and back of shoulders forearm s ash and some illegal stomps and some more postings. He gets a pair of gorilla presses and drops to the front for 8 then puts on an abdominal stretch which becomes a Zoltan Boscik 3 in 1 Special for an equalising submission. He then refuses to release and gets a public warning for it. But it is some work in progress for a second submission. Round 4. Kid gets to work with headbutts. England goes outside to the ring apron to stall, Kid flips him in by the head. England gets a single legdive takedown and leglock, Kid contemplates and delivers a heel smash to the cranium but England carries on work with the leg, splashing the knee several times (nearly getting another public warning) and leaving Chocolate limping on his right leg. England gets that Second And Final Public Warning for following a headbutt to the stomach with some more illegal stomps. John gets a fireman's carry and contemplates throwing Kid to ringside for a knockout. Problems - he's two Public Warnings down and a throw to ringside from immediately adjacent to the ropes will bring a third PW and disqualification. He decides to get round the rules by making it look like a double knockout by going over the ropes himself, hoping to be the one to make it back in time. Very crafty but takes quite a bump of his own account. The count reaches 10. England recovers a second too late and scurries back like the Hare seeing the Tortoise crossing the finish line, claiming a KO win. Certainly Kid got the worst of it but Szakacs confirms it's a double knockout. Nice try England but it didn't quite come off. Good short blue eye Vs villain match. England -unlike Tejero on the French Catch thread - actually got som3 good moves in rather than be a carpenter and make 53 good guy lok good. Interesting take on the knockout finish, I expect OJ won't approve but I thought it quite an imaginative finish, England caught in his own snare.

I thought OJ did a review of this straight underneath Mambo Vs Elliot. I was mistaken. Never mind. Actually I was right. Here it is: In between the Gorillagram and the fishy tag team next week, we have this old timers match. It's not their last ever meeting either, 5hey were on opposite sides the next year if a tag match I've already reviewed. Tejero looks visibly older here, shorter greyer hair looking less like his 23F namesake and more like a Spanish backbench Cortes member for the Partido Popular. Cohen just looks like an older British blue eye, Ike Wayne Bridges. Cohen gets an early Bon dominance, throwing Tejero around and out of the ring, flipping out of throws himself to land upright. Tejero is just carpenter for all this. The fans who cheered Allez Elliot into the last bout cheer Allez Cohen here. Cohen does a good Steve Grey head standing escape from a Tejero armbar. It's technical but it's focused on Bon Vs Méchant, not a balanced scientific match, it's all about making the Bon look good. We get a lot of crowd shots and one female fan in particular. She is probably a ringside granny by now at WS shows. Tejero does get a good planchette Japonaise which is something. Cohen does the Rick steamboat flip back into the ring, headscissors Tejero and flings him out. On the other hand he gets himself tied in the ropes a couple of times early on but the ref helps him out. Tejero does get advantages now and then with bits of dirty work or brawling but Cohen comes back with something technical. Tejero tries a sunset flip but Cohen just falls on him as he goes over. Cohen gets the winning fall by scooting through Tejero's legs and coming back off the ropes with a flying tackle and crosspress for the 3. That man .Jean Pradinas gets an on screen credit and mention from Daniel Cazal then there is a tape gap until next week's match. Something for the older fans in between the cavalcade of costumed characters that was the direction French Catch was going in by this point. We'll get a hearty taste of that next weekend.

I think this match deserves better. It's only eight minutes long but it was James Mason's coming of age moment. From the start. James handstands to lever out of a side headlock, then has Grey down for a 1 count when he tries to twist out of a headlock of Mason's own. Grey tries bridging out and cuts the pin count to 1 before wedging his way out. Grey gets an armbar but James does a two stage roll through. He tries a whip of his own but Grey rolls upright in one move. Grey handstands in Mason's next armbar and uses a foot to pick off the hold and take an armbar himself on young James. When Grey converts to a whip, Mason comes back off the ropes with a sunset flip into double leg nelson for 2 before Steve double ankle smashes his way out. Grey goes for the arm but Mason is quicker and gets a single leg into toehold, weakening the knee as he goes. Grey spins him off and Mason takes a somersault bump to go with the leg whip. Up at 6, James again gets the sunset flip into double leg nelson but Steve rolls backwards with the momentum and gets James' legs, pushing him back for a folding press of his own. James spins him off but Steve goes with it and cartwheels back upright.James develops an armbar into a back hammerlock, turns Grey into the guard and cross presses him for several one counts but Grey keeps getting an arm free. So James gets a doubl3 Interlock into armlever but Grey kicks him off and side chancery throws him, takes a single leg and applies a folding single leglock. From there he gets the other leg in a matching leglock and gets both wrists and leans back to complete the surfboard but James gets an arm free and escapes. He's still selling and Grey whips him but James surprises him with a side folding press for 2. Grey kicks out but James gets a backslide for another two count. He gets another armlever off a double Interlock and tries for the arm lift but Grey forearm smashes his way out. James gets yet another 2 count, this time with a flying tackle but Grey comes back with a snapmare into chinlock. James turns round in the hold arm straightens the arm into another armbar forcing Steve to take a hard somersault bump to untwist the arm. But Grey rolls backwards and gets in a crafty ground position dropkick. Yet again James gets the sunset flip into double leg nelson for 2 - this time Grey uses his heel to bash his way out. Grey tries a double leg takedown into folding press but James easily crawls out. From a double Interlock James gets a side chancery into side headlock into chinlock into lengthways press (now that's a rare conversion!) for a one count. James looks ready to try again but Grey doubl3 knees him in the head and posts him. Grey gets a monkey climb but Mason makes a feet first landing! He tries a dropkick but Grey catches his legs in mid flight and pulls him down for a Boston Crab but James not only flips him over but hooks both legs for the Davey Boy at Summerslam 92 folding press to get the pin, the win and the place in the World title final. Eight minutes of glorious technical wrestling with the one Grey kick and one Grey forearm smash being the only concessions to brawling. A TBW becomes a Young Master.

Not actually a match but the Ringerparade from the start of Bremen 1986. The real Dick Murdoch gets particularly strong heat - did German audiences know of his KKK connections? The heel team from the last match get plenty of hatred too.

Nice news feature from 2018 with Flesh Gordon looking smart in street clothes, Monsieur Jacky Richard as L'Arbitre, Prince Zéfy, Angel Bombita and an 11 year old megafan all interviewed.

Hansi Rooks is what Shirley Crabtree could have become in later life if not for Max Crabtree and his master plan. We've seen him deal with 1986 King Kong Kirk in singles, now here they are on opposite sides of a Triple Tag match. Warning, it's got the two cameras on different balcony levels switching between the two with a tunnel zoom. (This is the same Bremen '86) show as the otherwise classic Tony St Clair Vs Steve Wright, the Otto Wanz vs the REAL Dick Murdoch and Mighty John Quinn Vs Steve Casey. So if you've seen those. you know the score with this mixing effect.) We open with a crowd shot and a German version of old Irish drinking song No Nay Never playing. AFAIK there is no one Irish in this bout but what the heck. Two Germans and a Brit Vs two Brits and a South American. Harris has done his share of Big Daddy tags but not as many as Kirk, and both have faced George Schurli Blemenschutz, so this is familiar working territory. First with Harris Vs Morgan then with Steinblock Vs Kirk we see smaller guys sting the heavyweights who try to dominate them, much like Kung Fu against Crusher Mason (see new post on the British thread.). Things briefly speed up as Indio tags in but soon Kirk is back. So finally Rooks is in facing Kirk again. Kirk gets a full nelson Hansi tries throwing him forward but in the end powers out and floor the big bald man with a forearm smash. He then drags Kirk down in a full finger interlock and stamps his hands. Steinblock uses cross flying headscissors and dropkicks to pitch Harris out but then Kirk comes in and squashes him.Steinblockmis triple teamed in the heel corner but gets the opening fall with a backdrop and splash on Guajaro. The double team resumes as heels take turns to do the make a wish leg split on Steinblock until Morgan tags in, going after Kirk like a terrier. Heels are tied up and other heels slingshot into them 7ntil the ref says enough is enough. Hansi goes to work on Harris. and gets a fall on him. 2-0 but not two straight - this is apparently a best of five falls. Morgan tags in and monkey climbs Harris. But Kirk tags in and gets a catch-up fall with his guillotine elbowsmash. 2-1. So now it's Morgan triple teamed as the heels look to catch up. But Dave gets a sideways folding press on Indio for the 3-1 win. No scientific classics on any of the the three threads this week. bu ntice to see the win achieved with skill after so much big man Vs small man action this week.

From Screensport at Victoria Hall Hanley. screened January 1986. We've seen Crusher Mason's alter ego Mighty Chang in a similar on paper mismatch to this with Flying Fuji Yamada on Reslo from circa 1989 It ended with Yamada losing his temper and getting DQd for a chair shot.. Now he faces another much lighter flyer. Kung Fu would get a 14 month reign with the British Heavy Middleweight championship a couple of months later signings were on the up for him. Referee Frank Casey would soon after be suspended for not being tough enough to villains. Oh and there's someone at ringside in a Big Bird costume. It starts off like the squashing you'd imagine until Kung Fu sends Crusher outside on a crotch bump which brings out the worst in the the two Chuckle Brothers announcers. Hammill dropkicks Mason into the corner and batters him during a toehold before spinning out. Hammill boots Mason on the bottom out to ringside again during a leapfrog and kicks the ropes to tip him as he comes back. Mason uses his spiked belt as a weapon to regain the advantage. Mason nearly gets a Knockout win with a double underhook suplex for a 9 count. Kung Fu makes his comeback escaping from an over the shoulder Backbreaker before firing off a whole barrage of flying pyrotechnics. A brawl on the stage sees Hammill use a chair but not get DQd like Yamada would on Reslo. Mason regains the advantage, ties Hammill in the ropes and climbs up on him. Casey in turn climbs in him but is thrown off. Pat Barrett runs in and attacks Mason Casey recovers and declares a no contest as Barrett gets on the mic and challenges Mason. (Just in case you thought that made him a Blue Eye, a month later at the next Hanley taping he would be tagging with one of the most hated villains in British history, the man that people packed Wembley Arena in summer 1979 to see Big Daddy give him a good hiding - Mighty John Quinn. Very much the sort of "Too Wild For ITV" thing All Star was touting itself on both on Screensport and at house shows.. In a year, All Star would itself be on ITV and had to cut down on such things.

Okay, this was the alternative idea I had for the Holiday Special, but it's just not long enough. So I'll do it, match by match, over this week and the coming two. Mambo Le Primitiv Et Son Orchestra, we've covered already on here, the gimmick basically comes from King Kong with the Orchestra based on the native islanders who worshipped Kong in the film. I've seen one of two posts denouncing the Orchestra as racist but they appear to be a troupe of authentic African style drummers/dancers who have been hired in. As we've seen in Greek footage and Greek/Italian movie scene. these Gorillagram gimmicks were all the rage in the Mediterranean. In the opposite corner Eliot Frederico, biker heel, future Grim Rocker on New Catch Season 2(1991). This is nominally a heel Vs heel match but the crowd take to biker Eliot's side oddly enough "Allez Eliot," they chant. A few solid moves from Mambo (or Mango as he's called here) including a backdrop and chinloçk but most it's brawling and stalling. At one point aftér Mambo is posted out of the ring, he throws stable around. Elliot tries a huracanra but falls off as Mambo resists. Mambo gets the win by KNOCKOUT - oh yes, that way of winning again- with a flying kneedrop and guillotine elbowsmash. (The rf warns him over breach of no followdowns but 5en makes the 10 count regardless. After the match, Mambo jumps to ringside a d parties on down with his Orchestra buddies who are all pretty delighted. For n9 good reason, the young slim Flesh Gordon runs through shot- more of him in a fortnight. Light relief and an awkward crowd siding with Eliot. Mambo id usually either a serious monster or a late period George Steele confused babyface. Here he is neither particularly. Cohen Vs Tejero next weekend.

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?