David Mantell

Well it is now and I've got a busy weekend but a quiet evening so I'll get it done now. I couldn't find an old OJ review search on "Breaks and looking through pages of posts about Jim Breaks. round breaks. advert breaks, breaks open one side of a hold etc etc but I did come across a previous review I did of their 1979 bout. Easter Monday is another Bank Holiday Monday in Britain and where I were a nipper that meant Bank Holiday Sport Special - with wrestling. Breaks and Grey had a match win by Breaks on that show (a tournament final with, as I recall, a chocolate Easter Egg prize!)and this is a return match with Grey looking to get even. Breaks gets heat by wearing a silver cape labelled CHAMP even though he did not have a title at the time. Round 1. Grey eventually escapes a Jim Breaks headlock by firstly turning his head to unplug his chin from Breaks' forearm, then going up I to a handstand and backing out hand walking. He gets an armbar but Breaks rolls out 8nto the guard then kips up. Grey tries to force a high whip bump but Breaks rolls through and up. The crowd oohs to indicate begrudging credit to the heel for a good move. Breaks tries for a standing headlock but Grey easily slips out and gets another armbar. Breaks uses his horizontal spin on his bottom to reverse the hold and then give an extra twist to bring down Grey with a bump - but while down, Grey gets in a ground position dropkick. It staggers but does not fell Jim and he gets another headlock into a high on the skull crossface. Grey lifts him up in the hold- he cannot sustain the lift but does once again reverse it into an arm around. Breaks gets a snapmare but Grey rolls through and drags Breaks down to the guard. Breaks gets his first foul in, using a well concealed (from the ref) hairpull to ground Grey. Grey is up and complaining and so is the crowd but there is little referee Joe D'Orazio (cousin of Mike Marino) can do breaks gets an armbar and forces Grey to the mat in the mount. Grey swivels on his head into the guard, bridges up and slides along the mat, aiming for the ropes. Breaks halts tha, kneeling in closet and sticking his knee into the bicep to soften it for a Breaks Special. Grey tries something with his feet on Breaks' head but it doesn't work. Breaks converts the armbarvtoma back hammerlock but Grey bends forward and backdrops him. but Breaks gets a sunset flip into double leg nelson for 1. Breaks gets another armbar out of a collar and elbow. Again he drives the knee "against the joint" into the bicep, clearly showing his gameplan. Breaks has a first go at his special but Grey keeps his arm mostly straight. He eventually pushes Breaks' hand off his shoulder and snapmares him. Breaks' other hand still has Grey's hand and he pulls him down in the mount but their fingers are dangerously intertwined so they break. Grey warily accept a Breaks handshake. Breaks gets a headlock but the bell goes. Round 2 Breaks retakes the headlock but is backed into the ropes so Jim has to break. Grey seems to be attempting a Breaks Special himself, getting his hands in position like Jim did last round, but then switches to an over shoulder arm lever. Breaks tries a half chinlock and uses it to get control of the battle of other arm, forcing grey to go with the rolls- but H3 goes further and spins out and takes Breaks down to a guard arlock. Grey gets up and repeatedly rolls to twist and yank upon Grey's wrist. Breaks tries a whip off the ropes and a snapmare but Grey makes it an armdrag of his own.Breaks gets a headlock into the same high crossface as before, a "double handed face bar" Kent calls it. Grey forced the facebar up and away but Breaks has a knee in Greys' back Grey is not discouraged and makes his own Breaks pecial. Jim counters with a snapmare but Grey still keeps that wristlock wrislokk . Jim takes Steve down with another crossface, this one conventionally low, into a side headlock into full Japanese Stranglehold but Grey frees one side and spins on the other, the one he's been weakening for some time. He continues spinning on the arm until Breaks uses another illegal hairpull to yank Grey down and off. They argue and Grey slaps Breaks' face. Breaks tries a Breaks Special of his own, getting th3 hands in position and starting to get a bend on the arm. Grey twists his body to go with the bend, Breaks tries to make a semi Japanese Stranglehold of it but Grey grabs Breaks' shoulder. pulls his own head free and reapplies his own Breaks Special which once again Breaks uses an illegal hairpull to escape. An angry Breaks pushes Grey into the ropes- he rebounds with a Sunset flip and Breaks out Aloha Arns Arn himself but managed to avoid going down by grabbing a rope. Breaks gets another armbar, driving an elbow into the shoulder against the joint as well as the customary knee into bicep. He switches to guard armlock then to top wristlock on the mat. With the arm folded and balanced on the hand he stomps the upper arm- a trademark Breaks weakener. Grey stays down for 6. Breaks gets an armbar, Grey gets the wrist and reverses it. Breaks twic3 resorts to his usual hairpull down but Grey twists through and nearly gets a straight arm lift before whipping the heel into the ropes and booting him on the rebound. Breaks charges but is caught by a Grey forearm smash. He goes down for an 8 count. He stalls Tom the end of the round, earning hima massive blast of heat. Round 3 Breaks is still stalling. complaining about his knee. D'Orazio inspects but finds no injury as the crowd sarcastically slow clap Jim. Grey gets a legdive into waistlock which Jim counters with a front chancery until it hits the ropes. Grey tries for a throw, Breaks blocks i5 with a side headlock so Grey bends Breaks' knee and drops it on his own. Grey throws Breaks again, he almost rolls through but gets tangled on the mat. D'Orazio has to restrain Grey from going after Breaks on the mat. They repeat the Grey throw blocked by Breaks headlock countered by Grey knee weakener but while up in the air on the last, Breaks gets a sunset flip into double leg nelson but Grey flips over, tips Breaks back and makes it a front folding press for the opening fall. To add to Breaks' woes, he succumbs to temptation and low blows Grey between round but D'Orazio spots it and gives him a First Public Warning. Round 4 TBC

Just noticed this. Not really how I read it. It starts either with Les Méchants using fouls from the start or else introducing the fouls gradually about 10 minutes in after Les Bons are shown to have the upper hand at clean scientific wrestling. At this point les Méchants get their heat and have a good long run of dominance until Les Bons score the hot tag. So far, so American. The rope tieing etc generally occurs during the hot tag as retaliation for long persistent fouling by the heels earlier in the bout. In Britain the ropes spot was frowned on on ITV although subtler retaliation was, according to Kent Walton, allowed for by referees up to a point. In S4C in Wales on Reslo, especially during tag matches with promoter Orig Williams as senior blue eye, it was allowed and commonly took place as a more extreme form of said retaliation. Referees would allow a certain amount then go "OK boys (or girls) that's enough)" and the duly chastened heel would be released. In France or to some extent in Germany/Austria (especially Schurli Blemenschutz tag matches at the Vienna Heumarkt), the same referee who had failed to notice Les Méchants employing all sorts of dreadful Lutte Irregulière would suddenly put their Petty Officialdom hat on and read Les Bons the Riot Act for their rope related retaliation. This on top of everything else (and starting with Michel Saulnier 8n the late 70s there would be quite a bit of Everything Else) would firmly establish Monsieur L'Arbitre as a Danny Davis style Arbitre Méchant in the minds of both Les Bons and La Publique, resulting in Bons such as Guy Mercier applying Stone Cold-esque retribution to the wretched referee, using them as a battering ram on the hogtied heels. Sometimes this would and still does get Les Bons disqualified, a finish which seems to play into a certain French cynicism of the lack of justice in life and The System. Some tougher referees like Roger Delaporte, Martial in the 60s and even early 70s lady referee Babette Carol would actually administer the retribution themselves to the heels and be hugely popular amongst fans for doing so.. Other clearly honest referees like the fussy but principled Charley Bollet were generally left unmolested. But obviously bent refs like Saulnier, Otto Weiss and the supremely heelish Louis Deblameque (on regional FR3 wrestling 1982-1987) got regular comeuppances. One such heel referee Didier Gapp later moved to the CWA and established himself as more of a "jobsworth" referee. Hilariously, German/Austrian fans saw him as a comic icon, often cheering "Didi" At least that's how the logic of it all seems to me. We really need a native French fan who grew up with all this to explain it properly. Incidentally Andre The Giant was a BIG FAN of the tied up heels spot and often during his Bobby Heenan phase got himself tangled in the ropes, most memorably at Wrestlemanias 4:and 6.

I can appreciate other stuff besides technical wrestling (although I put a technical bout at the top of my list and clearly had another good one on my mind when I mentioned Angelito and Sanniez together - viz 1977) as they tended not to televise so many of these as Britain, focusing instead on the half hour long tag matches. Most clean bouts seem to have been relegated to dark matches earlier in the night -;It's a pity we didn't get more screenings of bouts like Antonio Pereira Vs Jean Claude Bordeaux 1976. About the only vaguely kitsch thing on that list was Siki and I left him til last as a guilty pleasure. The bit of Gordon's career I highlighted you yourself have praised and hell even El-P circa 2014 spoke well (on the Worst Wrestler thread) of Prince Zéfy (and faux cowboy Jessy Texas). No, I didn't mention any catch á l'eau matches as it happens (if I had to pick one I'd go for the Mercier brothers. Vs Albert Sanniez & Mario Petrolini on 1984 La Dernière Manchette). They were just another place to do shows and the water had little impact either way on match quality. Full swimming pools with a floating ring were as normal to the French as a ring standing atop a swimming pool boarded up for the winter was in Britain.

You'll find pretty much all of it on this thread.

My favourite bout is Le Petit Prince Vs Michel Saulnier from 1969 (even though the TV station spliced images of old paintings over bits of it.) Some other favourites of mine include the masked Zarak (Dave Larsen) late period catcheur Prince Zéfy, sneaky heels Josef El Ars and Black Shadow, mid 70s masked wrestler Le Samourai, 60s Greek lightweight star Vasilios Montopolous early 90s young heel champion Eric Lacroix and Robert Gastel whom I just posted. Spanish high flyer Angelito, Albert Sanniez particularly later on as a Jim Breaks style "horrid little man" heel. The best bit of Flesh Gordon's career is his tag team with the older Walter Bordes circa 1983-1985. Oh yes and I've got a soft spot for Mammouth Siki, a sort of 70s French version of Junkyard Dog.

Great YouTube documentary on Jushin Liger's days as Fuji Yamada for Brian Dixon and Orig Williams. Containing 11 bouts - Two from Screensport, Four from ITV and Five from Reslo on S4C. Plus footage of Liger/Yamada's 2014 return to All Star Wrestling at the Fairfield Hall Croydon (with Laetitia as MC). Also a nice background piece on Sayama as Sammy Lee, Magda as Kwick Kick Lee and other foreign visitors to these shores. Only real omission is the Thames News item on Mitzi Mueller's 1987 retirement show at the Royal Albert Hall featuring Mitzi and Yamada sparring backstage plus the famous press conference/photoshoot (from which the cover pic of @JNLister's book Have A Good Week is taken) which I've posted here in the past.

Okay you can breathe easy, we're back on safe Les Trentes Glorieuses territory after weeks of New Catch, Eurostars, Catch Au village '85 etc. Gastel, le Taurean de Batignol, France's answer to the you g Cowboy Bill Watts. He's not so burly here in 1966. Facing wrestler/film star Lino DinSanto. Lots of simple heavyweight throws to start. Could almost be judo. . Gastel throws off Lino's flying headscissors like a Brit. Lino uses a knee to h9old down a guard armlock. Apparently this crowd are very purist minded says the commentator. Gastel has a good side chancery 8nto chinlock. Eventually we get Manchettes and Combat Dans Le Salle. As well as hairpulling and other dirties. Not much in the way of clever escapes. These guys don't Move Like Lightweights, the sell holds like Americans. Nearly halfway through, this feels like a German match pre Steve Wright. They somersault bump out of armbars but can't roll through, they have to take the bump. Di Santo tries a classic French reverse snapmare but can't get up - is Gastel stiffing him? It was too near the ropes anyway, he would have Run Out Of Mat. Michon, Monsieur L'Arbitre is quite tough and aggressive with Gastel Le Méchant even though he's not as big a tough ref as Martial or later period Delaporte. He gives Gastel an Avertisement. Nice leglock from DiSanto, could have become an American Figure Four Leglock or Spinning Toehold. But it just stays a leglock. Gastel spike boots his way out in the end. Gastel chokes Lino while applying a front hammerlock as a distraction. Gastel pounds Lino on the ropes and gets a Deuxième Et Dernière Avertisement for it. The public want a DQ. OJ could have fun arguing with them against it. This is mostly getting Gastel over as a Sale Mechant. Michon allows Lino, making his Bon Comeback, some retaliation - a bunch of Manchettes in the corner. A kneeling press gets Lino 2. Gastel traps Lino in the ropes and gets a DQ. La publique are delighted, OJ is not. Lino gets in a shot at ringside and Gastel is in no fit state to do a promo. Like I said. A vehicle for Gastel as a dirty villain who ends up DQd and disgraced. , not yet the monster he became in the 70s. These purists in the audience we were told about probably didn't get their fill from this mix of leverage and brawling, but a simple cheer the Bons, boo the Méchants type would find this fun.

More 1986. Bull Power Leon White is a nice kid from Colorado who doesn't really know his own strength. Klaus Wallas is a former martial artist turned (mostly) good guy wrestler. A pre-match fight breaks out 8nvolving both mens' flags but the ref regains control, sends them back to their corners and starts the match. Cut to the match. The two men in collar and elbow repeatedly on the ropes . They knock each other about. Wallas gets a standing dropkick to the back of the neck and a front facelock on the mat. VhiteWallas does get a legdive teedoeasily kicks out of pins. Mostly it's fairy slug and punch and crush on the ropes. Things carry on like that in the second clip. Wallas does get a single leg takedown and crosspress.They have a couple of similar good moves. Wallas gets the one fall required with - A FLYING BODYPRES S !!! Mostly its @ohtani's jacket' s sort of match than mine. They are both good sportsmen afterwards which is nice.

I'll review that one myself some time this month. But it's not June yet, so for now: From the October 1990 Aberdeen TV Taping that was the British equivalent of that Feb '91 tag bout on FR3 or the tour episodes of New Catch that made it on to TF1 in 1991. Scotland Vs Ireland clean match. Tony Stewart is the promising (ex?) TBW getting a push. Frank Chic Cullen is the former British and World Heavy Middleweight champion. Both destined for bigger things. Kent Walton back in the commentary position - Aberdeen 90 was his last ever gig. Stewart doesn't yet have a mullet hairstyle and probably hasn't yet taken up digging up the sand with a plank of wood for training. (See interview on the Wrestling Madness videotape) Round 1. After a few false starts Tony gets the wristlever Cullen briefly tries a fireman's carry counter before changing his mind and trying a rollout. It's not quite successful - Tony keeps the arm and gets a guard armlock. He lifts the arm up and bends the straight arm back against he shoulder joint (this is what Kent means with his whole "against the joint" thing.) Cullen kips up and gets a not very impactful cross buttock throw to free his arm. Tony gets a side headlock into other side headlock into his arm lever again, continuing the good work on the shoulder. Cullen refuses to roll out and into the guard so Tony applies weakeners to the shoulder. Cullen is at two but straight into a Tony rear waistlock into back hammerlock, pulling over the other arm to get the shoulders ready for a crosspress. Cullen tries bridging out.At that point the bell goes. They shake hands, the crowd claps appreciatively. Round 2 Cullen wins a double interlock test of strength with Tony resorting to a bridge. He powers back up but Cullen twists the arms into a Japanese Stranglehold getting a full surfboard out of it before having to release the feet. He still has the strangle and Tony tries a couple of reversals but Chic rolls with the hold back to having the advantage with it, . Until Tony wriggles downwards and takes the. Interlock through Chic's legs, forcing him to somersault bump out or be tried in a knot. He still has the interlock and extends Cullen's arms , pushing down on the shoulders. Cullen bridges up taking Tony's legs with him. Tony goes into the ropes so has to give Chic his break, which is a pity as that was a most interesting escape and Cullen was nearly completely escaped anyway. Cullen gets an "inside grapevine" (abdominal stretch held with a waistlock instead of an arm.) He releases and they start over. Tony gets an armbar into posting but Chic comes back with an elbowsmash and a side chancery into Headlock And Strangle. Into neck crank. Tony can bridge back to go with the crank so Chic switches to the wrists, bending both arms back and briefly adding a foot to the back of the shoulders. Tony somersault bumps out and Cullen goes for the crosspress but gets two 2 counts. Tony gets a posting into side chancery into kneedrop in one move. Chic is up at 9 into another side chancery into a Legdrop Of Doom. Cullen is up at 6 for a posting. He resists two side chancery throws so Tony jumps up on Cullen's shoulders and tries for a victory roll, but Cullen stops the roll dead with Stewart in a front folding press for the opening fall. Round 3 Tony actually tries the victory roll again! This time Chic bucks him off like a rodeo bronco. Tony gets a single leg takedown and applies weakeners on the limb.n. He gets the leg again and despite Cullen briefly blocking him with a reversed waistlock, gets a seated leglock. Cullen tries for a further nelson side folding press but only gets 2. Tony gets a full nelson into side chancery throw and takes the seat on Cullen's shoulders for seemingly another victory roll. Or at least a folding press, but he falls backwards and tries for a folding press held with the legs. Cullen gets his head free and crawls out to start over. He gets a wristlever into drop toehold then takes a leg and drops his weight on the knee. He gets another leg into a folding leglock over his hands and held by the crotch, switching to an over the shoulder leglock like the one we saw Johnny Saint win with last week. Chic releases but at the 5 count Tony strikes with a drop toehold into Gotch toehold, briefly getting the rest double wrists to make a surfboard. He can't keep the wrists but he keeps the Gotch toehold all the way to the bell! Round 4. Cullen gets a shove and kneelift, a whip and big backdrop. He gets a posting and a powerbomb! Next and over the shoulder backbreaker and a slam. But Tony does his version of Kid McCoy's Yorkshire Rope Trick into a cross buttock throw and press for a quick equalising fall. 1-1. Round 5. Tony whip his man and tries a backdrop on the rebound but it is nearly a disaster for him when Cullen counters with a sunset flip into double leg nelson but Runs Out Of Mat as Stewart's legs reach the ropes. To y gets a posting but Cullen absorbs it on his knee and comes back with a forearm smash. He misses a couple more and in the confusion gets a standing full nelson but Cullen breaks one side and goes behind for a full nelson of his own. Tony sharply rears out and rebounds from the ropes into a dropkick. Tony gets a kick and side chancery plus another Legdrop Of Doom but when he repeats this the Legdrop misses and Cullen takes a leg, kicks it a bit and gets a toe and ankle into toehold. He drives the knee in and gets all four limbs for a surfboard only for Stewart to arrest the momentum just short of being hauled up into the hold. Chic loses his grip and Tony falls free! He is selling his back however. Cullen gets a forearm smash and scissor chop but Tony gets in a ground dropkick. Tony goes from almost full nelson to forearm but Chic gets him with a better smash. Stewart is up at 8 and gets his man with an inner arm (clothesline) after Cullen missed one of his own. Cullen gets two back elbowsmashes and a long suplex and crosspress but Stewart easily gets a shoulder up. Cullen hooks a leg but Stewart kicks off at 2. Stewart gets a crucifix into further nelson and Cullen tries to bridge out. The bell saves him anyway. Round 6. Stewart gets elbowsmashes to the base of Cullen's spine and his shoulder blades. He gets a slam and crosspress but Cullen is easily out. Tony gets a posting but. following, is met with two kicks and a forward flying guillotine elbowsmash from Cullen. Chic gets a posting, slam and revrse splash from the top rope. He gets the double legs from behind and drops Stewart face first on the mat. He finishes Tony with a belly to belly suplexand small package pin. Cullen the winner 2-1 but Tony puts up a good battle to Justyna his push Ah. That was a beautiful start to the weekend. In a year from this Stewart would best Jimmy Ocean for the British Lightweight title and then in 1992 Cullen would beat Robbie Brookside to recapture the World Heavy Middleweight title and hold it until his 2002 retirement .

Which to be fair is in the scanned text in the opening post. And indeed a few other places like The Death Of WCW book.

"You don't even really lose, brother!" No disagreements with the rest of your post.

Well anyway I'd love to hear from native French Catch fans who grew up with it as their territory, especially from that later era, tell their stories and explain all the small details from the territory properly..

What we need on here is a French version of me who lived through it all and can recount it just as I can with old school British Wrestling in the 90s/00s/10s. It's the period of IWSF dominance, Prince Zéfy is Champion du Monde du Poids Mi Lourdes, Bernard Van Damme is European champion. They both do a lose and regain, I posted Bernie's regain on here. There was the big WS Vs FfCP feud with Gordon & Richard Vs Mercier tak8ng interpromotional hatred to insane ne2 heights. It sees Flesh Gordon go from being a reasonably athletic curly haired Guy to a big fat bald man with a moustache. I5 sees Monsieur Jacky Richard become some sort of heel commissioner and introduce new heel-friendly rule like 5 instead of 3 Advertisements, one of which a Bon can easily earn by flouting the prohibition on Exeter La Publique. It sees Bernard's Eurostars rape wrestling shows in funny places like FYR Macedonia and screen them on some even funnier TV channels, little private ones like that Images Plus outfit. And 8m the aftermath of New Catch Season 2 we have new kids like zEric Lacroix and Yann Caradec in the scene and again in more recent years with newcomers like Gannon Gray and trainers like Hugo Perez El General.

Sou ds good - how far forward will it go? It could potentially extend to the present. The French are VERY vague about "when" Le Catch is supposed to have "ended" unlike the British who latch directly onto 1988 and Greg Dyke pulling the plug.* They vaguely talk of it "disappearing" in the mid 70s like it was the Magic Fairy or something. . . . . . . *obviously I wholeheartedly disagree with this lazy falsehood, but never mind.

He did the job in exchange for - when the time came - being the one to end Goldberg's streak. Later Hulk got world title withdrawal symptoms and traded his future win over Goldberg to Kevin Nash just to get "his" belt back, even throwing the Fingerpoke into the bargain to keep Nash strong.

Hamburg 1986 and FYB has another Piratenkampf - this time with a young Dave Taylor, here playing the heel as he often did in Germany (and would eventually do on Reslo later on.). The same lengthy title sequence at the start of all your fave Catches matchen.. We even have some commentary in German, probably recorded years later. Lots of dark murky shots of the ceiling - you wonder WTF this is for until you spot the flag in the murk. They needed better lighting. Mostly the usual mix of chain tug of war and dirties allowed under the stipulation. FYB lays on the mat to haul Taylor down like he did to Indio. The odd good strength hold from either man, particularly Taylor early on (chinlock, ground top wristlock.). FYB has a good powerful crossface.. .He struggles to get a hammerlock from front but is backdropped before he can lock it off. Nearly halfway through, Taylor gets a headscissors. (FYB's escape is none too exciting, he just wriggles out.). FYB gets some sort of payback/standing powerlock and a single leg Boston Crab. Good noisy enthusiastic crowd. When the audio fails (more likely a dubbing error than a fault) it feels like they fade away in the distance.. Lots of loving close ups of the chain against limbs and torso and th3vleathe4 gauntlets. SOMEONE and it ain't me, is heavily into this stuff, obvs. It ends up with Taylor trying to haul FYB down, his feet against the metal post. And haul him down he does - with a Union Jack flag for his troubles. Franz Van Buyten is the winner. He's clearly good at these. Verdict. It's chain match. Chain match is as chain match does. If you're looking for technical brilliance You've come to the wrong place apart from a few little flashes.

Some more late Noughties IWSF Catch a Quatre. Nic3 Big Crowd. Bad Mask with his bad mask of the skimpy Vader type, The YouTube channel owner has called him Bad Mash, like he has too many spices stirred in. Cybernic in a REALLY bad mask - half gimp, half screamingly funny. He looks like Crush during Demolition's gimp mask phase They come in to Carmina Burana and strobes and do a little pose teggv. Les Bons make their entrance (great camera shot of them with one Méchant's boot in the foreground. Bernard has the keys to Fort Board (he won the French version.). Zéfy is a bit older and bigger than the high flyer of the late C20th but not yet the Rufus R Jones tribute act. Both Bons have belts. PZ is World MNnñid H, BVD is European champion of some sort (w3 saw him regain it on here.) BVD takes a somersault bump out of Bad Mask's armbars but. Bernard kips up easily, rolls back and gives a harder somersault whip and bump on BM who gets an armdrag into armbar. Bernie and the heels do a lot of rope choking and brawling. BVD gets a nice huaracanrana off the top corner and a Manchette vollée for 2. Zéfy tags in and goes into a Walter Bordes danceTthat earns him an Avertisement for "exciter la publique." The Monsieur Jacky Rules, dat. He continues regardless as do la publique, one of whom gets a direct hit on Cybernic as he and Zéfy lock up. The Prince still had a good dropkick but was mor3 of a standing worker. He knocks Les Méchants out the ring and gets a Deuxième Avertisement (not un Dernie r as Jacky rules said 5.). The heels double team Zéfy in their corner for a long while. Bernie gets the hot tag and batters BM then CM. He goes for La Cagoule but the heels regain their heat. Bernie nearly gets a flying bodypress pin. Bad Mask Fireman's Carry backdrops him and Machine delivers a top corner guillotine elbowsmash. The masked men choke him and double suplex him. Zéfy get a troisième Avertisement for breaking up a pin although Les Méchants had done plenty of this. He tags in eventually and double suplexes the heels, doles out Manchettes and dropkicks Bad Mask. Bernie gets a top corner Frankensteiner on Bad Mask and Zéfy a Superfly splash but Machine breaks up the pin. Totally fed up, Zéfy wallops L'Arbitre and gets DQd by the replacement arbitre and gets Les Bons disqualified. There is an afterbirth brawl and Les Bons at least win that. Der Henker and Samurai, La Bête Humaine and Zarak and now CM/BM. Le Catch had a tradition of these interesting mismatched masked tag teams.

And here indeed in Lapaque, an equally burly veteran, a 40 years earlier version of Adrian Mansfield. I thought about posting his 1992 match with Ian McGregor from the Crabtrees' Battle of the Brits VHS (later DVD) release but I came across this bout with the World Lightweight champion and just had to plump for it. Referee by the way is Martin Warren who apart from being a dentist was also later masked heel Count Von Zuppi. Round 1: Lapaque gets a hammerlock so Saint allows him to advance it into a back hammerlock so he can pick it open with one foot then grab the arm in an armbar of his own. For a big man Pete is agile and can roll through to untwist th3carm and make it his own armbar again. Saint drops forward, uses his own legs to separate Lapaque's then again uses the footpick escape into counter armbar. Lapaque uses force to break the hold and swivel Saint round for his own armbar. Saint drops into the seated position, again footpicks and swivels round to get a tighter armbars. Again uses the rolling reversal, Lapaque adds a half crossface. Saint drops to one knee and Pete abandons the chin but still has the armbars which he tightens with an extra swivel. Saint uses a knee and 180 degree swivel, switching arms as he goes, for the reversal. Lapaque gets back his half chinlock and forsakes the arm for a full crossface. wrenching back on the neck before switching to side chinlock. Saint gets out with an old bait and switch trick of his, tempting Pete with a waved hand which he goes for enabling Saint to peel of the chinloçk and take back the armbar - the story of this round . He switches to a front chancery and Pete counters with a high whip, trying to force a hard bump but Saint lands feet first. They start over and Pete gets a side chancery into rear neck crank. He leans back - too far back and Saint picks of an arm into that armbars again into a single legdive and leg weakener. Pete is up quick and not very happy. He gets a legdive into leglock. stepping ove4 for a possible switch to ankle scissors.. Saint sits up then leans on Lapaque's shoulder to stand, turn his leg free and get a legdive of his own and another leg weakener. Now Pete is really angry, jabbing his finger. The two double interlock and Saint rolls backwards but the bell goes. Pete gets a double arm shot in after the bell and ends up arguing with Warren. Round 2 Lapaque gets in some blows before getting the wristlock and half crossface. He switches to the armbar, adding weakeners and twists as he goes to get damage in before Saint can counter. He takes back the half crossface but Saint twists out into an armbar. Lapaque takes the somersault bump out, absorbing it well despite his size (or maybe the burliness acts as a bumper.). Saint rolls on the arm to twist it up and Pete sells the pain. Lapaque reverses a Saint posting but Saint also takes the impact well, diving through Lapaque's legs and into his Lady of the Lake sequence - double interlock, pick off a side, step over the other arm,turn and get side headlock into go behind into leapfrog into slide behind through the legs then back to offering the double interlock before dodging it and going behind for a sideways folding press. It's designed to confuse as much as anything and it works. Saint gets the three and the opening fall. Lapaque again argues with Warren. Cut to Round 4. Lapaque, remembering he's a heel, bashes and chops Saint down. Saint gets a countless rise because of Lapaque's consistent illegal following but Lapaque floors him with two elbowsmashes. This is more like 2022 Adam Mansfield! This time Saint gets a count and stays down for seven but then gets a free rise when Lapaque kicks him when down. Saint gets up into a headlock - and an illegal closed fist punch which gets him a first Public Warning. He gets another forearm smash, whips Saint into the ropes but the rebounding Saint rolls over the top of him. Saint parries a Pete legdive but misses a dropkick. Both men are counted -Lapaque is up at 4, Saint at 7 - but has his leg kicked out underneath him. They are up but Lapaque gets a knee weaker drop, a chop to the leg for an 8count and a single legdive into over the shoulder leglock submission for the equaliser. Lapaque is slow to release leading to another argument with Warren (and MC Brian Crabtree gets his tuppence in) Round 5 Both men dodge each other's legdive attempts, with Saint rolling away from one. Lapaque kicks him in the leg and tangled the limb on the middle rope, looking to build on his previous leg submission. He continues to batter Saint as he tries to get up and eventually gets a kneelift and a splash and stomp to the knee but they are not part of the same move and Warren gives a Second and Final Public Warning to Lapaque. Defiant Pete goes for another knee splash (reminiscent of Dane Curtis's knee splash as softener for anklescissor submission from 1972) but misses both this and a charge on a cornered Saint, who rolls away, leapfrogs over the next charge but is caught in a legdive. But Saint gets an arm while down. comes up with it and forces an overarm somersault bump on Lapaque into a guard wristlock. He then adds a roll on the arm and an armscissors to get the deciding submission and the 2-1 win. Lapaque sells his arm. Mostly good scientific bout. The only drawback to having a master like Saint in the ring is that it distracts from the point I was making about Mansfield/Lapaque, burly bully veterans who also cheat and crybaby and can make a blue eye the easy hero.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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