David Mantell

Traditional British Wrestling, Traditional French Catch and Traditional German/Austrian Catch do share a lot in terms of philosophy and tropes (and most likely share them with the extinct Spanish, Italian and Greek Catch cultures). Experience of any individual one of these is an advantage in understanding the others. Having said that this thread could really do with the input of a French fan who actually grew up with French Catch and became a wrestling fan initially via this territory, as I do with British Wrestling on the "The Beginners Guide To British Wrestling" thread.

There are two distinctive move sets for clean technical wrestling in French Wrestling and British Wrestling. I would pick those two bouts as the ACME of each respective style. Most French Bons do a certain one set of moves, most British blue-eyes do a certain different set. In either country Les Mechants/the heels (for example Kendo in round 1 of a 70s bout) do the same move set at the start of a bout before they start with the dirty wrestling. Definitely with British wrestling you can often tell when watching American Wrestling if someone either has a background in the territory (eg Owen Hart) or has trained with/been trained by someone who comes from Britain (eg Eugene as part of the storyline where Regal trained him or various WCW wrestlers including Johnny B Badd , Mark Bagwell and I think even Tom Zenk who learned the British chain sequences from Regal so they could do them together in the ring on WCW Worldwide and were soon happily forward rolling and cartwheeling out of armbars.) Far less French Catcheurs have made it in America but if there were more you would see certain people doing backflips on top wristlocks, reverse snapmares out of hammerlocks and using headscissors in place of the above forward rolls. American wrestlers with no Euro influence whatsoever meanwhile would continue to just stand there and sell armbars while doing nothing to untwist the arm. For that is the American style.

Another archetypal French bout and one I'm amazed I hadn't previously reviewed. This is Sanniez just shortly before his heel turn into a French version of Jim Breaks. It's also intricate enough to warrant the blow by blow treatment. Sanniez gets a top wristlock on Angelito and throws him twice in it. Ang converts to an arm lever and uses a simple standing twist to tighten it up which Sanniez loosens again with a horizontal posterior spin a la Breaks. Angelito kips up and does one of the characteristic French moves I mentioned, the back flip off a top wristlock. He then does another one, the headscissors takedown while in an armbar. (British wrestlers usually prefer the forwards roll on the mat rather than the headscissors counter.. When the French headscissors trick was tried on World of Sport, the scissorer was usually caught and thrown off.) Angelito gets a rear seated bodyscissors on Sanniez an lifts him for the "ou-ais" mini atomic drop but Sanniez positions for a feet first landing. Ang tries again with an added chinlock for extra pullback but San undermines it the same way. The third time Sanniez flips all the way backwards to a standing start. He tries for a crafty folding press but Angelito drags him right back and tries for the double legs folding press plus bridge.Sanniez aims a kick at Angelito's face, causing him to release Sanniez goes behind Angelito and gets a ground top wristlock on again, Angelito kips up and back flips out and whips Sanniez's arm to force a hard landing from a forward flip but Sanniez fires back with a ground position dropkick. Sanniez gets a top wristlock on the mat, Angelito tries to reverse it with a simple double arm twist but Sanniez clamps on a side headlock to arrest the manoeuvring. He does the spinning flying armdrags and a conventional pair and comes out still with the anm. .Angelito tries a headscissor counter on that Sanniez snaps out of easily. He still has the arm so Angelito tries a rope assisted backflip similar to British wrestler Mark "Kid McCoy" Boothman's Yorkshire Rope Trick (or one of the two he did). But Sanniez STILL has the arm! Angelito gets into a standing side by side position, flips to undo the armlock then cross buttocks Sanniez out of the ring but the ropes save him. Sanniez manchettes Angelito and Angelito responds in kind. They both come off the ropes at the same time and both hit the deck. Stopping only to high five each other they exchange European uppercuts. Angelito throws Sanniez down to the ring apron and sunset flips him to ringside. They re-enter from opposite sides and Sanniez gets a standing full nelson on Angelito who leans forward to shrug him off. Angelito gets a forearm and double leg slingshot leaving Sanniez flat in the mount in the opposite corner. Another Manchette and another flip but this time Sanniez hits the ground rolling into a standing position. When Angelito charges in Sanniez backwards vaults him and lands a dropkick. A Manchette each and Angelito posts Sanniez. He tries again, Sanniez reversed it but Angelito goes up into a flying bodypress for a two count. Angelito gets a bodycheck then a sunset flip which ends up in a back and forth "Bascule" of alternating double leg nelson pin attempts. Sanniez tries to get a folding press but Angelito clips him with a double ankle smash then tries for his own folding press and Sanniez also breaks it up with the double ankles. There are two mins left says the MC. They alternate Manchettes and dropkicks as the clock wears down. Sanniez performs a powerbomb on Angelito! Sanniez whips Angelito into the ropes, presses him overhead, drops him chest first on one knee and tries for a pin but Angelito gets a foot under the ropes. More manchettes and Angelito gets a fireman's carry into another over the knee stomachbreaker then a crosspress which Sanniez reversed (note referee Roger Delaporte counting pin attempts by stomping his foot!). Sanniez bench presses Angelito up from the mat and delivers a blockbuster suplex. They are still exchanging Manchettes when the time limit runs out. A good little scientific draw, sags a bit in the final 120 to 60 secs as the clock and their energy wears down but they got in a few final good moves in there. Nice sportsmanship afterwards too, all handshakes and hugs. Within months Sanniez would have changed his attitude and style - as too would Angelito for a little while two years later when he teamed with career long archenemy Jacky Richard. For now, these two put on a fine exhibition of the French Catch technical style. Sanniez put up another, silent, copy of this match on his YouTube, probably from a kinescope print of his.

This is the archetypal French bout: (Ignore the silly paintings and harpsichord music - it was the TV Station's idea, not the wrestlers' or promoter's.) And this is the archetypal British Wrestling match:

Not really. There were different moves for different countries. France had those moves I listed. Britain had more escapology tricks and undresses of holds. Bigger wrestlers (not the outright superheavies tho) did all the tricks too but less gracefully.

One consequence of the Reslo/New Catch/CWA axis was that it brought as much French and German talent here as it brought our stars to the continent. Around this same time Simon Garfield saw young Schumann on an All Star show in Tunbridge Wells getting mashed badly by Haystacks. He is in for a similar time here. Finlay no longer has Paula with him but is still The Bully, starting off with an inner arm blow, kicking him around, landing a flying forearm and brawling onwards until getting cornered for a series of knees. Finlay takes it in his stride, waistlocking his man to the centre of the ring and going for a suplex but Franz lands feet first and sends his man out with a dropkick. Returning, Finlay twists a finger interlock into a Japanese stranglehold but Franz has it loosened to the wrists. So Finlay elbowsmashes Franz on the jaw and the two brawl on until Schumann gets a posting into rear chinlock, witching to lower armbar into standing armbar. Finlay forearms out almost so Franz gives the wrist an extra twist but Finlay fouls with an eye pokeand follows in with a head drop. Finlay pulls Franz into a short clothesline. with a headbutt. Franz fireman's carries Dave down to an armlock on the mat. Finlay's legs are on the ropes so Franz drags him in, lands a forearm and dropkicks Finlay to ringside again. Franz gets double legs but Finlay gets the ropes so Franz yanks him off for a bump. Finlay gets a posting and headbutt to the torso, slam and feet first corner splash for 2. Finlay throws Schumann out and follows with a flying forearm off the apron. As he gets back in, Franz on the apron tosses him in with his feet and drops a leg. He nearly takes down Finlay with a sunset flip. Finlay gets 2 with a cross press and slams Franz's head in the ring apron with a forearm on top. A plastic mil crate gets introduced into proceedings which earns Finlay a public warning. Undeterred he slams in Franz's head and Franz returns the favour, adding a plastic crowd barrier into the mix. Definitely NOT an okay bout for ITV but this is Wales so the IBA probably never noticed. Franz refuses a handshake but goes for a chop to the throat instead. Finlay successfully conceals an illegal punch and gets a forearm, posting and flying headbutt. And more such punishment until Schumann boots him out the ring and follows with a sliding dropkick and (somewhat botched) tope splash. Finlay wallops Franz with another plastic crowd barrier, getting quite a whack on one blow, then grabs a cone which finally forces the referee to come out. A fan grabs a crowd barrier and Schumann gets Finlay with the cone. Schumann has found the plastic crate from earlier and throws it in the ring but Finlay intercepts and uses it, earning himself a Second And Final Public Warning. Schumann is still in a bad way outside and being tended to by a group of little kids. Finlay joins them to beat on Franz and slam his head in the steps. Schumann comes back in with a vaulting dropkick, suplex and crosspress for 2. A clothesline off the ropes gets two too. They brawl on and Schumann slams Finlay's head in the corner, pitches him out but is caught in mid flight by Finlay and his knees. Schumann reverses a tombstone piledriver and gets a perfect flying elbow. But Finlay catches Schumann on the top turnbuckle and gets the winner with a superplex that would have made Barry Windham proud. After the match Finlay claimed both on the mic and in a ringside promo to be World champion. What world title did he have in 1992? Finlay gives one last growl to camera and saucers off, presenter Bryn Fon gives a cheeky wave behind his back. Too violent for the IBA or Kent Walton, very little science except the ending and one or two other bits and bobs. sSomeone had obviously been watching Memphis tapes. Still if that's your bag, enjoy.

Vienna summer 1994: some good camera work of the Heumarkt here, it looks a really great outdoor ring venue despite the lack of a skirt on the ring. The former PN News gives local Austrian hero August Smisl -the man who two years later had them folk-dancing in the aisles while waiting to see him take on Wildcat Robbie Brookside - a good pasting before going too far, twisting his leg between the ropes to leave him dangling outside the ring then following in with more punishment, thus getting himself DQd. Grizzly/News/Neu has actually perked up his technical game for this and comes up with some nifty armlocks early on.

Looking at those last two bouts, a lot of the distinctive French Catch style and tropes had not yet been developed. Roland Vs Janos was pure German wrestling pre Steve Wright, down on the mat with a lot of earnest manoeuvring before a counter is gained. Nobody yet is doing back somersaults from top wristlock s, headscissor takedown as counter to armbars, reverse snapmares to counter standing back hammerlocks. All that came about later with Le Petit Prince, Michel Saulnier, Vasilous Mantopolous etc.

Janos Vs Roland is very much down on the match when we join with Roland maintaining a Frank Gotch toehold against reversal/ counter attempts by Janos. Janos eventually springs free and administers his own headscissors but Roland easily snaps out. . They go for finger interlock and Janos fires a dropkick and Roland retorts with a Manchette . Roland gets a fantastic Scisseaux Volees into kneeling press but somehow can't get even a 1 count for it and Janos takes him down with a bodyscissors. Dumal gets a legspread held in place with a bridge. Vadkerti unhooks his spread legs but then can't break the bridge so they rest. Another interlock and Dumal gets the armbar and twists it into a figure four top wristlock. Vadkerti goes down with it and slaps on a headscissor. Dumal twists out an d they go into Planchette Japonaise interchange sequence. Vadkerti gets a bodyscissors and there is a lot of interchange over it. Dumal gets a headscissors on Vadkerti....It goes on like that. Holds worked over for long periods of time, the odd flurry of Manchettes. Vadkerti wibs with a folding press. Aledo is still a Bon and not yet a Kamikaze. Teddy Boy is nothing of the sort. He is a Rocker/Greaser. He does not have an Edwardian Drapes suit or a DA quiff. What he is is quite the thought young brawler. Aledo is the more scientific but Teddy Boy is not the ideal opponent against whom to demonstrate this. Aledo does do a few of his future Kamikaze rope tricks. For most of the match Aledo takes control until near the end when Teddy Boy uses some lutte Irreguliere to pitch Aledo twice out of the ring. Aledo gets Irreguliere right back in Teddy's face along with the odd clean tick (the scoot forwards through the legs into ground dropkick). But in the end, Teddy gives Aledo a Warrior style press slam drop and splash to get the upset win.

In America's case any decline was a lot more sudden. The bursting of the TV Wrestling Boom bubble, particularly the closure of DuMont, was more of a cliff edge moment in American Wrestling history, comparable to what The Final Bell in the UK could have been if not for (1) All Star being a red hot promotion that just carried on under its own sheer momentum for the next five years (2) an American Wrestling boom starting mere weeks later that by 1992 resulted in a rerun of WM3 on British soil. By 1973 Joe Jares, commencing work on Whatever Happened To Gorgeous George? found himself asked by friends and colleagues who remembered their wrestling-brssoted late grandmothers, "Do they still have wrestling?" From what I've read about American TV wrestling 1945-1955 it sounds a lot closer to the British/French model of serious sports coverage of all the big matchups rather than the later American model of it all being one big commercial for the live product.

The Riot Squad take on an odd combination during their Reslo revival. South partnered Murphy on the heels side of All Star's final ITV bout and is still a few years from becoming a mega blue eye as The Legend of Doom (which Reslo survived long enough to catch on professional camera) and Collins is just two months short of beating Finlay for the British Heavy Middleweight title. Danny FIPs it up for the Riot Squad before the two bald ex partners go at it in a forearm smash contest that ends with Murphy getting the opener with a side slam on Johnny South. Murphy rope a dopes an elbowsmash into South to restart the brawl. Danny eventually scores the hot tag and nearly gets the equaliser with a superplex and a couple of missile dropkicks. He finally gets it with a roll up after Finlay accidentally hits Murphy during a double team, They heels get a good double teaming starts of Danny but South helps him clear the ring. The villains soon regain control however and after a couple of backbreaker/elbow double teams, Finlay gets the winning submission on Danny with a reverse neck crank. Still some way for Danny to go until the big title change in July. Lively crowd enjoyed the bout, mostly young kids.

The French Professional Wrestling Federation is a professional wrestling association based in France and founded in 1933 [ref. needed] . Creation The great era Reactivation Notes and references External links Creation In 1933, Raoul Paoli , a French rugby union player and all-round athlete, helped his friend Henri Deglane , a Greco-Roman wrestling gold medalist at the 1924 Summer Olympics , popularize wrestling in France. Along with their friends Charles Rigoulot and Julien Duvivier, both high-level athletes, they introduced wrestling to the Vélodrome d'Hiver in Paris. They joined the French Wrestling Federation (FFL), making wrestling the professional branch of wrestling within the French Wrestling Federation at that time. Raoul Paoli subsequently became the first president of the French Professional Wrestling Federation (FFCP), and the first wrestling organizer in France. Paoli died on March 23, 1960, in Paris, leaving his chair empty. The great era From 1960 until the 1980s, wrestling reached its peak in France. At that time, no fewer than seven venues organized galas in Paris every week: the Élysée Montmartre , the Salle Wagram , the Stadium, the Palais des sports de Paris , La Mutualité , the Cirque d'hiver and the Vel d'Hiv . The Élysée Montmartre was the setting for numerous television broadcasts on ORTF . Its owner and star wrestler of the time, Roger Delaporte, was one of the great wrestling organizers in France. He successively directed the FFLI (French Federation of Independent Wrestlers) and then the French Professional Wrestling Federation from 1960 following the death of Raoul Paoli. In the late 1980s, Roger Delaporte retired and sold the Élysée Montmartre to the production company Garance Productions. The French Professional Wrestling Federation remained in limbo. Reactivation In 2006, Marc Mercier , a former wrestler with Delaporte, made agreements with the latter to reactivate the federation, which was one of the first wrestling structures in the world. Indeed, wrestling, already known in the United States in the 1930s, waited until 1948 to have its first federal structure: the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Mercier created the Catch Academy in 2006 in Wissous , a school intended to train a new generation of French wrestlers. Several waves of men and women learned the basics of wrestling through the school's various facilities (from Wissous to Villejuif via Chennevières , Choisy-le-Roi and Ris-Orangis ). President Marc Mercier aims to revitalize and dust off the latter, through attractive and media-friendly sectors. If the French Professional Wrestling Federation is today once again in the media [ 1 ] , [ 2 ] , [ 3 ] , the fact remains that an enormous amount of work in the general restructuring of wrestling still needs to be done in France, and this while waiting for state legislation aimed at regulating the discipline... In February 2014, Marc Mercier decided to entrust the presidency of the FFCP to the young referee and former Bordeaux wrestler Artémis d'Ortygie, in turn appointing Norbert Feuillan as vice-president [ 4 ] . D'Ortygie left the post of president in May 2014 to take care of personal projects, Marc Mercier resumed his place as president of the FFCP [ 5 ] . In February 2024, Mercier announced his retirement from the wrestling industry after 49 years. Notes and references cf. FFCP and Catch Academy television broadcasts cf. Press articles on the FFCP and the Catch Academy cf. Radio broadcasts on the FFCP and the Catch Academy Artemis of Ortygia and Norbert Feuillan take the lead of the FFCP FFCP: Artémis Ortygie leaves (already) her post as president External links Official website The above and below are articles from the same website .International Catch Wrestling Alliance History National Wrestling Training Institute Wrestling style Current Championships Former Championships Notes and references Annexes Related articles External links History Founded in 2002 by Pierre "Booster" Fontaine and Christophe Agius , the ICWA originally had one major title , two secondary men's titles , one women's title and one team title ; most of which were awarded betweenDecember 2004AndMay 20052 . The December 20, 2008, on the occasion of Revolution V, the ICWA and the NWA announced their association and several of the promotion's titles were renamed and now officially recognized internationally 3 . Thus, the ICWA holds the NWA French championship and the European heavyweight, women's and tag team championships. InJune 2009, ICWA participated in the Hellfest metal music festival and organized a tournament there that formalized the new " hardcore " branch of the promotion, including the introduction of a new title: the ICWA-XTC eXTremeCatch Championship. From that same year, the federation appeared several times on television, through galas, or spin-off programs like "Catch me if you can", notably on Canal + and France 3 4 , 5 , 6 . It also regularly performs shows during the Japan Expo in Villepinte , in the suburbs of Paris 7 , 8 . At the start of 2015, the federation was threatened with closure, caused by a drop in attendance at the INFC 9 training courses . Only 4 wrestling shows were organized that year. However, the federation continued and announced for the month ofMay 2016the return of its biggest annual show Revolution 8 to Maubeuge 10 . At Revolution X, a match pitted Cormac Hamilton, current ICWA French Champion, against Jimmy Gavroche, IPWF Champion, for the unification of the two titles. Cormac Hamilton won the match, during his celebration, Booster came to the ring to announce to the crowd of La Luna de Maubeuge some great news, the ICWA and six other promotions (APC, Ouest Catch, TPW, ABCA, FRPW and IPWF) recognize Cormac Hamilton as the unified champion of France and each federation promises that each year, at least one defense of this unified title will take place. However, this unification ends onDecember 18, 2018and the title is now only recognized by the ICWA. National Wrestling Training Institute The ICWA has its own wrestling school: the National Wrestling Training Institute (INFC). Based in Béthune, the INFC trains men and women in wrestling-related careers through various training options (from introductory courses open to those over 15 to continuing education reserved for adults). InJuly 2012, one of the INFC students, Lucas Di Léo, signed a development contract with WWE and joined the NXT 11 program . The school then took the opportunity to prove its seriousness and now describes itself as the "wrestling factory". In 2016, the INFC closed its doors to reopen in Cluses in the Pulse Factory in the same town. InFebruary 2018, YouTuber Tibo Inshape shoots a video where he trains and conducts an interview with Clément Petiot. Wrestling style Far from "French-style" wrestling, the ICWA offers fights closer to the American style, a style brought to France by Booster himself [non-neutral] [ref. necessary] after having been trained by Édouard Carpentier in Montreal 12 .

I take it this was the sports magazine show you were on about @Phil Lions?

https://plus.wikimonde.com/wiki/Wrestling_Stars This looks interesting. A full company back history of Wrestling Stars. Apparently Jean Claude Blanchet, butler to both Marquises De Fumuulo (Eduardo and Jacky Richard) and later best boy to the Travesti Man, had a big hand in founding it. Wrestling Stars is a French sports wrestling federation created in 1999, which brings together a large number of wrestlers from all continents. Summary 1 History 1.1 The KMG 1.2 Creation of the FEC 1.3 Wrestling Stars, the revival 1.3.1 Championships 1.4 Anecdote 2 Roster 2.1 Wrestlers 2.2 Wrestlers 2.3 Current champions 3 Reference The KMG In 1979, Evelyne Kaluza, the brothers Moïse and Marc Mehnaoui, as well as a wrestler who had returned from Mexico , Flesh Gordon , decided to found a wrestling federation for the French public, the KMG. The KMG (for Kaluza Mehnaoui Gordon ) was at the time broadcast on Antenne 2 , but the means were still too limited to develop everything. In 1985, the KMG closed its doors [1] . Creation of the FEC In 1985, Jean Claude Blanchet launched the European Wrestling Federation (FEC), where he brought in Flesh Gordon and other big names of the time, as well as Canadian , Japanese and South American wrestlers . The shows were sold out at every performance [1] . At the time, European wrestling attracted media such as TF1 or FR3 , and was broadcast on Monday evenings on Minuit Sport in 1987. Many wrestlers were discovered such as Billy Samson , David Finlay (who later wrestled in the WWE ), or even Prince Zéfy [1] . Subsequently, a contract was signed with Eurosport and allowed for broadcasting on a European scale, with no less than 12 galas per year filmed in France . Wrestlers from all over the world began to come to the FEC ring, such as Scott Hall , Chris Benoit , Yokozuna and Pierre Carl Ouellet [1] . Arriving in 1996, following numerous disturbances and disagreements within the governing bodies of the federation, the FEC found itself plunged into a period of inactivity of 3 years [1] . Wrestling Stars, the revival File:WS Ring.jpg Wrestling Star Show In 1999, Jean-Marie Morel was responsible for restructuring the FEC and founded the International Wrestling Stars Federation (IWSF), which would later be known as Wrestling Stars, and which he chaired until 2002. The difference between Wrestling Stars and other French and international federations is that the wrestling practiced is said to be "sport", as opposed to the much more scripted wrestling of federations such as WWE [ 1] . Wrestling Stars works in collaboration with many French Wrestling Schools (EFC), whose role is to train new wrestlers. One of them, created in Faremoutiers in 1994 by the former wrestler Monsieur Jacky (notably a referee at galas), has become the national training center for Wrestling Stars [1] . Other EFCs exist, including one in Dieppe , run by Mickey TRASH, as well as one in Longuyon . Championships There are 3 major titles at stake in Wrestling Stars [1] : The French Middleweight Championship : reserved for wrestlers of French nationality and weighing less than 90 kg (2 kg overweight is however tolerated on the day of the fight). The European Open Championship : reserved for wrestlers who are nationals of one of the EU countries . There is no weight limit. The World Light Heavyweight Championship : for wrestlers between 90 kg and 105 kg, of all nationalities. Anecdote Wrestler Tom La Ruffa , who competes for Wrestling Stars, has made a few appearances in WWE , notably against the Big Show [2] . He notably signed a contract with the latter in August 2012. Roster Wrestlers Arora Bernard Vandamme Belthazar Cibernic Machine (European Champion, 1st time) Dennis Cash Dom Alexander The Magician The Mariachi Emilio Sitoci Erwan Le Gailec Fernando de Sousa Flesh Gordon Ghent Gianni Leone Greg Master Jack Hammer Jack Spayne Jeremy Deaf Jimmy Gavroche Jon Titank Kenzo Richards Leon Shah Luvindo Barreiros Mac Taraz Makoto Mark Kodiak Max Angel Mikey Diamond Nikolai Trashinsky Prince Zfy (World Light Heavyweight Champion) Sam Fighter Striker Tango Timm Thib Scheltienne Tom La Ruffa (Currently works for World Wrestling Entertainment under the name Sylvester Lefort) Ultimo Chingon UK Kid Warren Brady WS Kid The Santos Wrestlers Angel's Bombita Betty Trash Layla Rose Miss Agathe Sexy Sindy Viper X-cute Current champions French Middleweight Champion = Jimmy Gavroche (4th time) European Champion = Cibernic Machine (1st time) World Light Heavyweight Champion = Prince ZEFY (1st time)

Flesh and/or Jacky may have had a hand in this but the name European Wrestling Federation SMACKS of being Orig Williams' work. He called his 80s/90s UK shows the British Wrestling Federation (BWF - a name previously used by Paul Lincoln in the 1960s) and he and Brian Dixon promoted a World Wrestling Federation (WWF) World Heavyweight Championship in 1974 claimed by Kendo Nagasaki during his year away from Joint. (This at a time when the "real" WWF in New York was still the WWWF). These are the two main names Herve/Richard have gone by, the latter shortened from the former in the early 2010s. Marc Mercier has been bitter enemies with Flesh and Jacky since the early Noughties. For a while Marc fell in with the Americanised/New School ICWA until it all got too American for him and in 2006 he went back to his old mentor Roger Delaporte (who had retired in 1989) and bought the rights to the FFCP from him, keeping Delaporte around as advisor for three years until he died in 2009. This was how the great Wrestling Stars Vs FFCP war began. A decade later each side was telling national newspapers how the other lot were crooks and thugs who were forever pouring buckets of faeces over them. Or something. See earlier in thread. Eurostars belonged to Bernard Van Damme (no relation to Rob nor Jean Claude) and was affiliated with Flesh, Jacky and IWSF. He seems to have had some TV deal of his own and I remember seeing broadcast details on their website back in the day. Domino and Sir Robin were both British wrestlers and I have seen both live -several times in Domino's case for All Star. He died a few years back.

https://www.facebook.com/sunsportdesk/videos/1052651983592486 Daniel Bryan (or as we knew him, The American Dragon) on happy memories of working All Stars shows at Butlins Holiday Camps circa 2003 Further information is in his YES book.

Sounds a lot like the loophole that allowed the RAH in London to put on Mitzi's retirement show in 1987.

Short British cinema newsreel footage of French womens' wrestling 1969. The most familiar face in this is Babette Carol who later became a referee including Angelito's TV debut against Jacky Richard in 1971. Except for the short-lived heel tag team in 1979 their feud would run nearly 2 decades, ending up with Travesti Man Vs Angelo Le Vigile on Eurosport. Apparently French lady wrestlers were banned from Paris just like their British counterparts were banned from London.

Kate gets to fight with the boys again, unknown location, date in the late 90s. Probably All Star but might just be the TWA. Tommy was some mate of the YouTube channel owner, Vic Powers was a regular late Nineties/early Noughties All Star heel - we last saw him on here teaming with a returning Kendo Nagasaki in Hanley June 2000 to beat Marty Jones and that man again Darren Walsh. (You may also recall I saw Vic's brother Phil in Dudley last year.) John Harvey you'll probably best know from tagging with Danny Collins on Eurosport New Catch in about 1991 against Jimmy Ocean and a heel Doc Dean. Kate is choking a blue eye (Tommy I think)with the tag rope while Powers gets some kicks in. She gives the poor lamb illegal kidney punches, legal elbowsmashes and Shoulder blocks. Powers gets in a snapmares and the odd kick and a clothesline, slam. More stomps and a kneelift. Kate kicks the victim from the apron. Powers gets a Rude Awakening neck breaker and puts a foot on his opponent to pose. But the good guys have tagged and double clothesline Powers repeatedly. They then tie him in the corner and sling Kate into him then slam both heels ' heads together. I guess that's Harvey in he yellow/purple. He's older than on Eurosport. They heels try the sling together trick but the blueceyes trick them into crashing into each other twice. The ref sends Kate and Harvey to their corners as Powers regains the advantage. However Harvey helps Tommy get a flying tackle pin on Powers. The heels are FUMING and Kate is soon taking it out on Tommy along the ring ropes. The good guys use Powers to batter a cornered Kate (that trope agaiñ Powers has Harvey floored and drags him crotch first into the corner post. A fan launches themself at Powers who has to be rescued by the MC (possibly Gordon Prior.) Kate stomps the blue eye as Powers gets a public warning. The villains beat up on their opponent until Kate scores an equalising pin. Sadly the clip ends without us seeing the decider but it's Kate as honorary male wrestler and enjoying herself brutalising a TBW.

Bobby Gaeatano was a journeyman babyface in Germany and to some extent France. In Britain he was best known as Marty Jones's final opponent to beat to win his first World Mid Heavyweight Championship after Mike Marino's death. Judd/Gunboat Harris was generally Daddy fodder whenever he dropped home to Britain. Vladimir, a French "Soviet" had also had his last UK run (I was a 6 year old fan of his in 1980) end in Daddy humiliation so instead headed Eastwards across the Rhine, a journey Belgian born French TV favourite FVB often made. Yellow ring ropes with crossbar strings like in mid 70s splice in film of Roland Bock. Franz and Harris start. Tests in power that go nowhere until a charging Gunboat misses Franz and falls out of the ring. Gunboat side chanceries and forearm smashes Franz. Cut to Franz leapfrogging a charging Harris whom Gaeatano somehow causes to fall over off camera. He tags Vladimir who legdives an entering Gaeatano but does not follow down. Vlad tries for the leg again and Bobby G spins round on the trapped leg and snapmares him. Vlad gets a side headlock into kneelift then tags Harris who wears down Bobby with a side headlock into front chinlock and finishes with a throw, giving Bobby a good bump. He throws Bobby again but he takes it in a cartwheel and comes back off the ropes with a double scissor chop and dropkick. Harris tags Vladimir who armdrags Gaeatano down, keeping the armlock on the mat. Gaeatano powers up and flips backwards to weaken Vladimir's arm, then tags Franz. Vlad is unimpressed and side chanceries him into a kneelift. He then goes from top wristlock to armdrags to ground armlock. But Franz kips up, does a 360 degree vertical spin in the top wristlock then monkey climbs Vladimir. Three forearms knock Vladimir out the ring. When he returns, Franz floors him with two forearms then snapmares and spinning stomps Harris. Gaeatano gets back in and snapmares and headlocks Harris. Harris gets a hammerlock but Geatano propels himself into the babyface corner to tag Franz. The heels double team Van Buyten twice, but Franz smashes Vlad down. Franz gets a flying bulldog headlock and headscissor to take down both heels. regains heat, snapmaring and chinlocking Franz and generally working him over on the mat. He double claws Franz, sends him into Vlad's knee and tags. Vlad lands blows and goes snapmares Franz into pressure points. Franz bridges up and reaches back for Vlad's own pressure points but Harris enters and boots him in the stomach Harris tags in and posts Franz and chokes him, the second time with Vlad's help. Vlad tags in and side headlocks Van Buyten, swinging him about and stomping him in the corner. He slams him into Harris's knee, then tags. Harris chokes Bobby on the mat, then Vlad kneels on Franz. Vlad is on top ofFranz til Franz tags Bobby who hauls in Harris with a snapmare, throws another, fires a dropkick and sends the Gunboat to ringside before going after Vladimir who backs off the ring apron. Harris makes it back for another snapmare and stomps. Gaeatano flips in Vlad for two headbutts, takes down Harris with a headlock, forearm smashes Vladimir, snapmares Harris and takes him down as Franz drags Vlad off to some dark place, Credit to the referee he recovers them Franz headlocks Vladimir and each babyface slams the heels heads together. Gaeatano posts Harris then sleeps up to what I first thought was a botched Stinger splash but instead he straddles Harris's head and the top turnbuckle and pounds his head. Meanwhile Franz has Vlad in similar trouble but posts the referee on top before jumping up to beat Vlad's head. A dazed referee slides out while meantime Gaeatano has switches to tying Harris in the ropes. The dazed and abused ref barely reprimands the good guys as they double whip Vlad into Gunboat. They then tie up Vlad and Gaeatano leapfrogs Franz to land on the faux Russian. Harris then gets the same treatment. Franz forearm smashes Vlad and cross presses him for a pin but Vlad kicks out at one. Some snappy music starts playing as Franz forearms Vlad some more and Gaeatano dropkicks Harris a lot. The bell goes, the good guys thing the villains have given up but no, it's the time limit and a nil nil draw. It only really becomes a brawl later on. Early it's what would pass for a good scientific tag match in America - no chain sequences but plenty of good moves and transitions. I'm surprised OJ of all people would forgive that sudden 0-0 draw.

Dave Duran, real name John Palin, future UK Road Warrior, future Animal Legend of Doom, son of 60s deaf wrestler Harry Palin. At about this time he was giving regular "dues paying" kickings to rookie Steve Regal, offering to desist if Regal pays up some of his wage packet. In this case he's bitten off a tougher piece of meat in Cullen, then the British Heavy Middleweight Championand around this time briefly the World Champion for the first time before his epic 1992-2002 second reign. We join the action in round 2, cutting from the studio where Orig is dressed as Tugboat. Dave is dressed in the traditional black single leotard of many a heel from Andre and Bobby Heenan to Syd Cooper to Billy Cantazaro. He powers down Cullen with a bodycheck and throw over the ropes and partying a shoulderblock before nearly falling foul of a sunset.flip. Cullen takes him down with a hammerlock and tries a cross press. Duran gets a Japanese stranglehold into chinlock., Cullen resists with a bridge before taking a wrist, pivoting into a standing wristlever and sharply whipping. Too bulky to go with the whip, Duran just has tomtake the weakener.End of round. Round 3. Cullen gets a rear waistlock into standing full nelson. Duran powers out But Cullen regains before switching to a posting. Cullen gets a side slam and forearm, Duran two inner arms (clothesline) and back elbow and guillotine elbowsmash. He gets a swinging crossface which gets him the opening submission but won't let go so gets a public warning. Round 4, Duran kicks Cullen about which makes the referee no happier.Cullen brawls back and nearly gets a public warning of his own through excessive knee drops. Duran side chancery throws Cullen and bodychecks him. Cullen throws him into the stage right at the get of a bunch of little kids. Some make their escape. Others take advantage to get a kick or two into the big baddy. Cullen brings him in an nearly gets an equaliser with a flying tackle. He takes him down with a flying headscissors and armbars. Duran gets back the arm, turns the scissors upright and forces it loose. Cullen tries to put the head back in but Duran shoved him off and again in response to a bearhug. The situation down shoving match goes on for some time with Cullen getting a pop for grabbing Duran's ears and landing a headbutt. American smart marks of 1985 would be shouting abuse at the match by now but this audience is hooked. Bell finally forces the break but heelish Duran just has to stomp Cullen's fingers one mo4e time. Round 5, Duran gets a Japanese stranglehold into bodycheck. He gets a Second And Final Public Warning for posting Cullen into a corner he unpadded. He tries to repeat but Cullen reverses it, backdrops Duran and sends him out the ring on a missile dropkick for a KNOCKOUT!!! There, OJ, proof positive that a KO can be a definitive win. Duran was a lot more advanced than the Steve Lanegan of 1983, he got his consolation submission, he was just paying Regal's dues up to the next rung on the ladder. He'd go onto bigger things, would face Regal on ITV (UK Roadies Vs Golden Boys Bedworth 1988) and still can be seen skulking around on Facebook talking about old times to his buddies.

Afterthought - how come Hughes Vs Von Kramer got it's own separate video on INA instead of being included as part of the full magazine? @Matt D, did you by any chance, crop it from the full length magazine show video file?

Still French terrestrial TV wrestling. Alessio should really add it to the 1970-1987 playlist. I wonder how many there were. Nothing "only" about being part of a sports magazine show - that's exactly what World of Sport was. The March '87 broadcast was definitely a standalone, with Jean Pradinas in the director's chair. Anyway the camera logo eliminates the possibility of it being some early New Catch pilot or filmed especially for home video, It's another one like Ted .Hughes Vs Karl Von Kramer. Anyway, speaking of Flesh Gordon: This is the Eurosport transmission of the 1991 TF1 match Sturry was being sarcastic about at length. English commentary by dear old Orig. Plata does a promo saying he's come a long way from Mexico to finish Flesh off. (Yes I can tell he's actually Spanish from the clipped Castilian accent.) Flesh actually has more of a Lucha background of the two. He does his own promo while having a shave. Plata won an earlier bout. "Bout Weight Open" says a caption - the Eurosport staff have not heard of Catch-weight. Although the two look quite well matched for size. Flesh had adapted to a heavier weight range by 1991, relying more on armdrags and hammerlocks than the Scisseaux Volees ace of his days with Walter Bordes, but he's still a LONG way from the tubby bald moustachioed Flesh of the C21st. He takes cross buttocks as well as he gives, taking quite a hearty bump and going with the next cross buttock to reverse the armdrags onto Plata. Flesh still has his trusty dropkick. Flesh takes the bump from a whip and Plata scissors the arm. Orig reckons that Flesh plays too much to the crowd which is ironic as, with his promoter's hat on, Orig would be the first to tell his boys to involve the audience as much as possible (rivalled in that respect only hy Brian Dixon.) He spend a lot of time appealing to La Publique a private warning by L'Arbitre about using a closed fist. He goes for a Planchette Japonaise but Plata puts him neatly on the top turnbuckle. But then Plata also plays to the crowd and Gordon armdrags him from behind. There are plenty of petits Gosses in the audience - when Plata lands on the concrete they approach him with malice aforethought. The referee is German and does his KO counts in German. The second time Plata goes out, Flesh does a Randy Savage ringside flying axehandle and bashes Plata against the stage of the theatre (it's one of those British style theatre venues, smaller versions of the Manhattan Centre in NY. Flesh oarades around ringside while Plata blades. Plata is in a bad way when he gets back to the ring. He barely double ankles out of a sunset flip while Flesh easily -and beautifully - bridges out of Plata's pin attempt and easily avoids a flying bodypress (the first vaguely lucha-ish move from the "Mexican" wrestler.) We finally get an old time Flesh flyer with the winner - a spinning flying tackle that might possibly be a botched Scisseaux Volees. Orig - "That's why he's World champion, because he can do things like this.". Much longer and Plata would have been TKO'd for cuts like Haystacks against Kendo in 1977. The score isn't settled, both men cut promos saying they will kill each other next time. An update on, say, Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca vs Anton Tejero & Pancho Zapata but as a singles bout. Maybe Zapata's 1969 World of Sport match with fellow French TV occasional Jeff Kaye as featured in The Final Bell.

Hopefully Saint will get more of a chance to show off his skills in a tag match against Brody than he did in their squashy singles match. Tag was rarely a speciality of Saint's other than The Elite with Steve Best in the early 70s. Brody starts off with Sunni War Cloud., generic Native American gimmick. Nice backwards escape through Brody's legs and he tags in Saint, straight to work with a flying tackle for a 2 count. Saint does the Lady of the Lake twice over on Brody for another two count and the Colonel is looking upset. He tags big Dave Viking who in good time is perplexed by Saint's ducking around with wrist levers. We cut to Viking on the mat, then squaring off with SWC who batters the blond baddy with chops until Brody tags in and stops him. The villains work over the Native American, until Viking gets the opening pin on him. Bad mid 80s remake of Sweets For My Sweet in the interval then back to the grind for SWC. He tags in Johnny Saint who goes on a dropkicking rampage knocking both villains from the ring. They double team Saint so Viking can gain dominance with axehandles etc. Viking posts Saint but in the rebound he slips in behind with a folding press for the equaliser. And there the clip ends without the deciding fall. Still it's nice to see Johnny Saint get a proper chance to show the Hamburg '87 audience just what he could do.

FINALLY spotted the Smoking Gun (not Bart nor Billy LOL) which PROVES that this was an FR3 Broadcast: