David Mantell

Or more possibly TF1 was still being shot and broadcast solely on the antiquated 819-line TV system and the INA never had any recorders for this format because manufacturers never produced cheap VT machines for this format which was due to be phased out anyway.

WWE may have expressed an interest in Darren. Unless he chooses to talk about it, we shall never know. I've met both Tony (RIP) and Darren at various shows and found them both good company and a credit to the biz. I met Darren as early as a 1992 Croydon show. (I was 18 and still living with my mum and dad in South London - until they went abroad 3 years ago I frequently used their house as a stopover for events in London). I last saw Tony at some late 2010s All Star shows in Royal Leamington Spa. I attended FWA Uprising as I live in Coventry within walking distance of the SkyDome. It was a funny day for Banger as apparently Sanjay Bagga slagged off Darren in front of Tony and got deservedly manhandled for it by Walsh Sr. Afterwards on the coach back down to London Kings Cross (I took the return leg only as I was attending a Fairfield Hall Croydon show the next afternoon- yup I used official FWA transport to get to an All Star show!) Bagga, egged on by his FWA loyalists, was constantly bragging on the microphone about what he might do to Walsh Junior in a return match. He was behaving a lot like his kayfabe self in the recent LDN angle with Kendo Nagasaki. I kept my trap shut as I didn't want to be dumped on the motorway but the whole thing seemed to be pretty disrespectful to the Walshes.

From the early Noughties (00s). October 2001 to be precise in Dagenham, East London. I believe this is an All Star show but it might just possibly be the recently late Scot Conway's TWA promotion - Justin Starr worked for them a lot and was TWA splinter British Heavyweight Champion four times. 14 years on from fighting Mitzi Mueller at the Royal Albert Hall and 11 years on from managing opponents for Big Daddy at the 1990 TV taping in Aberdeen, Kate takes on a legend and recent inductee into the WWE Hall Of Fame. This is one of many occasions she was booked as an honorary male. (In case you're wondering, the GLC was abolished a year or so after Mitzi retired and by 2001 most individual London borough authorities were not enforcing old prohibitions). When I first saw Phil Flash Barker in 1992 in Croydon he had a blond Sting haircut (hence the Flash name) and was a blue eye. He and Kate come to the ring to the Sweet's Blockbuster while bizarrely Earthquake's music is Wham's I'm You Man Flash has a good competitive time with Quake, giving as good as he gets (which includes an over the shoulder backbreaker) Kate tries to interfere but chickens out. Things pick up when Justin tags in. Kate can quite happily take it and dish it out with Starr, slinging him out the ring, dodging a sunset flip attempt - she even gets a public warning for smacking his head into (his own) corner. Quake also gets a public warning for trying to rescue Justin. It's Barker in the end who takes the Earthquake splash (I thought Kate would get it.) for the one required fall. Quake was one of a handful of legit ageing WWF Golden Era stars regularly touring the UK's Old School circuit including the Bushwhackers (in triple tag matches with "British Bushwhacker" Frank Casey, see earlier in the thread) and Jake Roberts until he had to flee Britain after starving a python to death.)

Yasu Fuji himself had headlined Wembley Arena in a Big Daddy tag (and Royal Albert Hall the same show as reality TV show The Big Time fed innocent schoolteacher mark Frank "Rip" Rawlinson to dangerous Wigan ripper John Naylor and the ripper ripped Rip.). He had also participated in the tournaments in Germany. I always rather liked Mr Yasu Fuji as a kid. By 1982-1983 the former San Francisco Version NWA World Tag Team Champion was in the third of the three Stronghold Euro territories and on their telly. He had grown his hair out long too, pudding bowls style like Riki Choshu as Cho Chew at MSG 1982 Fuji (or FUDJI as the onscreen caption calls him) was by far the youngest in this bout, Magnier was well established as a Vieux Pontoufle heel while Mercier and Montreal wrestled a good oldies bout on TV against each other that same year (which I've already reviewed.) To add to the geriatric vibe, on commentary is good old Couderc, just a year away from dropping dead on the radio in the middle of a rugby match. The referee is that horrid little man (and former lightweight ace) Michel Saulnier when ended up as de facto heel in said Mercier/Montreal match. Don't expect him to be any nicer now that M&M are on the same side. Couderc finds it hilariously funny when Fuji goes on a pre-match kendonstick rampage, knocking down both Bons plus Monsieur L'Arbitre. He confiscates the offending weapon and hands it to a flunky to take .here Fuji will never find it. Old boys Magnier and Mercier had still taken bumps, As with Robbins Vs Rodgers the Bon takes it more smoothly. Same story when Marcel tags in. Then Fuji gets his go. He is far taller than either Bon but still bumps around for them in hiptosses etc. Mercier gets Magnier in a belly to belly suplex. He goes for a cross press and gets 2 before Fuji kicks him in the head from the ring apron. Mercier sells and tags out. Fuji repeats his trick, coming in and stomping Montreal while he has Magnier in a side headlock and Michel and Guy are having their own little feud in the corner. It earns Saulnier his first Aux Chiottes L'Arbitre chant of the broadcast. For his next trick Fuji stomps Montreal in the ring, Saulnier challenges Les Mechants but they deny everything. Fuji tags in and legtrips Mercier but he bridges out of a pin, Mercier gets a good toupee on Fuji and headscissors him on the mat. Fred back in gets a fair serving of Manchettes from both Bons. Fuji continues his Illegal run in stomps on Montreal Les Mechants double team Montreal. Fuji armlocks his opponent to the mat With Magnier in, the Bons regain control, even working on Fuji's legs. Fuji works very American style on his Bon adversaries, dropping high chops and Legdrops of Doom. He drops Mercier across his knee. Saulnier lets all this go. The no follow down rule did exist in France but it's not being enforced here. Yasu tauntingly claps his own side's Irreguliere tactics. Fuji delivers a top turnbuckle axehandle (at a time when Randy Savage is still in his dad's outlaw ICW). He also gets caught on the top and takes quite a spectacular bump from a throw, allowing Mercier to make the hot tag to Montreal who goes on a Manchette rampage before scoring the opening fall on Magnier. At ringside Fuji,,despite what I said earlier, has found where his Kendo stick was hidden and stalks Mercier with it but Saulnier in the ring grabs it and again confiscates it. Deuxieme Manche starts out as a more serious battle of extended headlocks on the mat between Montreal and Magnier. Couderc starts singing some song about a Dodo. Fuji tags in., Mercier takes him down in a spinning single legdive into leglock through his own legs. He starts attacking Fuji's face which Saulnier objects to and demands a break, yanking on Mercier's hair to get his point across. This gets the break and resumes Mercier and Saulnier. As Michel and Marcel argue, Fuji throttles Mercier who foams at the mouth like George Wells at WM2 enwrapped in Damian. Fuji releases and drops a knee. He goes chops Vs Manchettes first with Mercier then with Montreal. Fuji does take a bump from a high whip by Montreal but continues unabashed. Fuji boots Mercier of the ring apron and he and Magnier double team Montreal. Mercier runs round the outside and pulls Magnier off and they brawl at ringside. Mercier gets the better of this with Manchettes but Michel Saulnier is preoccupied with the ringside action and not with Fuji throttling Montreal in the corner. Fuji solo and double teaming with Magnier continue to rough up Montreal. Magnier tags in then tags back out but the punishment continues. A frustrated Mercier grabs Saulnier but Fuji attacks both and it gets the Bon side nowhere. Fuji loosens the heels corner pad and Magnier posts Montreal into it. Fuji tags in, Les Mechants grab a bon each, slingshot them together then stomp them on the mat. There are less than two minutes left of the clip and they are still trailing 1-0. The heels repeat the slingshot trick but Mercier headlocks his partner to dropkick and flying headscissor Magnier. He then crosspresses Fred for a second straight pin and the victory. Mercier is too worn out to object to Saulnier raising his and Montreal's hands. Cut to the big Sat night news bulletin on A2 (without even an advert break, just like the segue on World of Sport from Big Daddy's latest win to the top Football scores.) Three older guys and an American style worker. It's not a sparkling state of the art Catch a Quatre - no sleepless nights in store for Walter Bordes or Claude Rocas - but Fuji was kept strong (now a consolation fall scored by him would have been really good) and the veterans took care of the solids of the bout.

Continuing the theme of Women's wrestling. We've talked a lot about Teenage Boy Wrestlers (TBW). Sarah Rockin' Robbins. daughter of Bobby Barron (who ran the world's last Beat The Shooter challenge booth at Blackpool Pleasure Beach Horseshoe Bar) and his wife, wrestler Apache Princess, was a Teenage Girl Wrestler (TGW ) although it was never billed as "Girl Wrestling" like it rather cloyingly was in America. Actually Robbins started out as pre-teen, making her debut aged just 12. By 1992 she was in her mid teens and a regular blue eye female on shows. This match was filmed in her native Blackpool in 1992. Rodgers is established as heel early on, refusing a handshake. The match hits the ropes quite a few times early on. Robbins takes untwisting an armbar in two stages, taking the bump and then kipping out. She also has a neat kip up escape from headscissors. They do shake hands at the end of the round but things don't stay clean for long. Robbins does a splendid roll from a throw by Rodgers, the Cowgirl does not roll up from throws quite as well, as befits the heel. Rodgers while putting on an armbar bites Robbins's fingers and is reprimanded by the referee, when she tries it again during an armhank, Robbins retaliates by nipping Rodgers on the bottom. Robbins does a neat between the legs takedown but it only gets a 1. Robins ties Rodgers in the corner and then uses the referee to do a Bushwhackers battering ram on her, she gets a public warning for this bit it is reversed after she gives the referee a kiss. Moments later the referee catches Rodgers doing the second of two concealed illegal closed fist punches and gives her a public warning; she tries the same trick as her opponent but gets a second and final public warning for attempted bribery! Shortly after, Robbins double legdives and gets a Boston Crab for the first submission in Round 3. Robbins has some great cross buttock takedowns into side headlock. Rodgers uses the hair to snapmares Robbins into a cross press for the equalising pin in Round 4. Robbins gets the decider with a folding press pin. Not a technical masterpiece (room having to be made for Rodgers' heel act) but some good interesting moves from young Robbins.

Promoters might have raised the issue in negotiations with FR3.

This time round, Lasartesse has something bigger on his plate than Johnny Saint. Dave Taylor is very much his physical equal but is the son and apprentice of Eric Taylor. Not that a Piratenkampf match is the place to show off such skills. Most holds are held in place with the chain rather rathan wrestling skill. There's not a lot of point drilling down to a blow-by-blow account. Still, Taylor does have Rene in his knees and back quite often - as often as he himself ends up there. Plenty of choking each other out with the chain and ring ropes. Dave does a sleeper and attempted leglock, Rene tries a suplex. Sadly an edit cut deprives up of the sight of Lataserre being hauled by the chain from the top rope. Rene eventually dumps Taylor at ringside to get the flag down from the corner and win. Suitably dark and violent to keep a drunken German festival crowd happy. In suitably dark Hannover 1987!lighting.

Regional News story on Mitzi Mueller's upcoming retirement match at the Royal Albert Hall 38 years ago today. Featuring her putting holds on Fuji Yamada and she and Klondyke Kate trash talking each other. This was the last Old school British wrestling show at the RAH and the only time All Star ran a show there, although the WWF and WCW would both do shows there in the 90s. Joint Promotions had last run there in 1984 (headlined hy Otto Wanz defending the CWA title against Ray Steele.) The Royal Albert Hall has the rare distinction of having hosted WWF, WCW, Joint and All Star - Wembley Arena just needs an All Star show some day to complete the set. The 1930s London County Council an on women's wrestling was sidestepped rather than banned on this occasion - RAH was/is a privately owned venue. Since then, the only female wrestling AFAIK to have followed the lead was a couple of Alundra Blayze title defences on WWF Wembley Arena shows in the mid/late 90s. Also some archive footage (not the BBC Nationwide piece I posted previously) of Mitzi in the ring with Lolita Loren.

Namely "Maxi Cuisine". When the bout were rescreened on Eurosport in early 1989, these bouts were shown first. Veteran ITV/ Reslo MC/Referee John Harris did the English commentary for these before being replaced by Orig Williams.

Yes and if transmissions were staggered as was possible on a network like FR3 then they could be timed to avoid going head to head with a big house show in a particular region. In Britain this was less of an issue - although some World Of Sport matches were transmitted live from Saturday matinee shows (and both All Star and Rumble still do live matinee shows nowadays), otherwise there was very little live wrestling iat that hour of day that could clash with a Sat 4pm WoS broadcast.

Interesting. If regional only wrestling broadcasts on FR3 were already going in 1982 (pre LDM) that could perhaps partly account for the dip in TF1/A2 wrestling broadcasts. Region by region screening of matches could help the issue raised by Delaporte in 1977 re how a TV wrestling bout could adversely affect attendance for live shows held that same evening.

(Transplanted from the German thread to which it was posted in error.) Keeping with the Giant Haystacks theme in the French and German reviews: Here is a younger, late twenty something Stax against a thirty something Naggers. The Giant is a lot more mobile here. Unusually he appears as the blue eye against Kendo, less hated of two heels and still the tag partner of a heel Big Daddy. George leads Kendo out throwing balloons around and reading a speech off a flyer before throwing copies around, Lanny Poffo frisbee style, looking a lot like Marc Bolan circa T.Rex. Round 1 goes to time, Stax gives Kendo his usual bludgeoning but Naggers bears him out and eventually having the big man trapped in the corner, flat on his back on the mat from a grovit and all sorts of other trouble. Kendo even gets a public warning from referee Brian Crabtree who seems to think he was a lion tamer. George is also doing impersonation - of a legit sports coach between rounds advising and pumping up the masked man. Round 2 and after two audience members invade the ring and are ejected, Stax carries on the same. Mainly with bludgeoning overhead forearms. He manages to rip the mask open at the top and get Kendo to submit to a hangman for the opener, George and Kendo are furious over the submission. Kendo makes a dash in round 3 gunning for a TKO for cuts. Kendo works on Stax's forehead. By about a minute in he has achieved this and opens up a BIG cut on Stax's forehead. Brian Crabtree just needs to have a proper look at it to call the match, but the way he does this gets Kendo few fans outside his hardcore following as Brian only gets in after Stax floors Kendo with an over the head forearm. To have George brag about Kendo's superiority when he was floored with what would have won the Giant victory in a plain streetfight is too much for the other audience members to take.

Check out the Photos section for some great action pics, publicity shots, bills and program articles from the late 90s/ early 00s

...And was still going in sufficient shape in 2017 for this Flemish/Belgian Dutch language edition to still be running by then, even after Flesh and Jacky have retired from the ring.

Because at that point Eurosport launches on Astra and New Catch takes up residence in its appointed new home, starting with reruns of the 1988 TF1 bouts but soon moving to footage especially shot for Eurosport complete with fancy big ring with a giant Eurosport logo on the canvas. Accessible to any UK TV set that can get any of the WWF (other than year old WWF Challenge at 4am and the six Specials broadcast 1987-1988 while they lasted) and full of all sorts of familiar faces from ITV. Actually a week and a half AFTER The Final Bell !!!! And with several months Catch Americain either side of the run to cushion the blow, the start of which was just 5 months after the last Old Catch on FR3. Yes, Catch went on but it was mostly regionally scattergun scheduled or fully regional rather than syndicated and therefore (1) went under INA's RADAR (2) was often not in their offices' region. Except when it was reasonably syndicated and we got a 1987 archiving or two. And then we have Eurosport New Catch from 1989 until whenever (I've heard 1993) with the brief return to TF1 in 1991. ... ... And then for several years going through the 1990s and into the C21st Bernard Van Dam's Eurostar and/or Flesh Gordon and Jacky Richard's IWSF have some sort of TV deal with various stations around Europe - including, it would seem, FYR Macedonia, where its popularity was enough to go in and hold a TV taping locally. which drew a good crowd mainly of kids and young people - and was still going strong enough to cash in on the post 2007 WWE boom for (I)WS(F) to draw arena-esque crowds to cheer an older tubby bald moustachioed Flesh Gordon...

Because at that point Eurosport launches on Astra and New Catch takes up residence in its appointed new home, starting with reruns of the 1988 TF1 bouts but soon moving to footage especially shot for Eurosport complete with fancy big ring with a giant Eurosport logo on the canvas. Accessible to any UK TV set that can get any of the WWF (other than year old WWF Challenge at 4am and the six Specials broadcast 1987-1988 while they lasted) and full of all sorts of familiar faces from ITV. Actually a week and a half AFTER The Final Bell !!!! And with several months Catch Americain either side of the run to cushion the blow, the start of which was just 5 months after the last Old Catch on FR3. Yes, Catch went on but it was mostly regionally scattergun scheduled or fully regional rather than syndicated and therefore (1) went under INA's RADAR (2) was often not in their offices' region. Except when it was reasonably syndicated and we got a 1987 archiving or two.

After 1977 bouts go down but there was definitely some non archived bouts and quite a lot more back in 1975. It's worth repeating that French Catch TV coverage was even less like an American weekly TV wrestling show than the World Of Sport slot was. It was more like The Big Fight Live boxing coverage with .Gary Newbon on 1990s ITV. You can never have an objective answer to when traditional Catch Francais (or traditional British Wrestling) last "mattered". It mattered to those considerable crowds. I only wish we had some of them on here to give the firsthand fan view like I do on the British thread.

Okay I'll just get a review in while I'm about it. Not a lot to review of the bout - as with the Hannover '85 Stax Vs Klaus Wallas match (just three years earlier) it's a typical Haystacks squash with an atypical finish - in this case Le Bon (not Simon LOL) going wild with a chair and getting DQd. This leads into the traditional French Good Guy Wiz Robbed finish, Franz threatens to throttle and whack Charley Bollet and I think there's even the odd shout of Aux Chiottes L'Arbitre. Original TF1 transmission was as Phil says October 88, the same months as the big Paris show which Rocking Robin winning the women's title, tag champs Demolition cleanly beating the British Bulldogs without need of the absent Master Fuji's help, and most pertinently Randy Savage (with Liz) defending the World belt against Akeem (with Slick). English commentator Orig Williams says Stax is challenging World champion Hulk Hogan! I was going to put the boot in until I remembered this is the Eurosport repeat and probably Orig said those words post WM5. It is rumoured that Stax was at one point indeed lined up to be Earthquake before the role was recast for John Tenta. We do get a bit of Stax interview but it's the usual thing "you've got to be INSANE to fight me" etc etc. Caption says Stax is from the USA like captions in France and Germany have been saying about him and others going back to Tommy Mann in the 1950s. Orig says Stax is Irish which is another fib (his parents were, but he himself was London born and Manchester raised) but one which probably made noted Hibernophile Martin Ruane a very happy man. Nice crowd shot at the end. Full looking house. Business was obviously doing well at the time.

A lot of these bouts claim on their credits to be broadcast on the FR3 network. FR3 operated as a network of (IIRC) 15 regional stations, rather like ITV except it was state owned. As with ITV there was a lot of regional only programming and opting out, so a lot of stuff didn't get syndicated and would not have been recorded by the INA if not in in their area.. Nonetheless we have a few FR3 bouts from 1987 - the March 87 one with Gaby Lailee and Flesh Vs Jessy Texas, the August 1987 Ted Hughes Vs Karl Von Kramer match and the mysterious Flesh & Zefy Vs Marquis Jacky and Jessy match. It's been reported on here the last 1987 FR3 broadcast was in November that year. INA going forward from 1975 made usually timestamped off air videos of programming to update its content. So surely anything untransmitted would just have been wiped or stored in some separate archive without finding its way to INA, although admittedly that lucky surviving colour bout tape from Jan 69 did. Then we get New Catch's first run in 1988 on TF1 (privatised the previous year instead of FR3 as originally planned) , the cyclical equivalent point to The Final Bell in Britain. Speaking of TF1 New Catch 88 season: Ah, that explains why there was no mention of New Catch on e.g. Matt D's channel. I'll review the match later. I'd love to hear what Stax has to say to the French people. That's pretty good going seeing as the British equivalent, the first Aberdeen taping in October 1990 (Kent Walton's last commentary work) is about 3 hours footage total IIRC. All the 1991 run was repeated from Eurosport. TF1's parent company had bought Eurosport from Sky so they wanted to showcase their new acquisition's content.

Some sad news this Easter Sunday morning - RIP Scott Conway, boss of the TWA - The Wrestling Alliance UK an Old School British promotion that ran 1989-2003. After the closure of Ring Wrestling Stars, the former Joint Promotions in 1995, TWA became All Star's biggest rival, expanding to become a national promotion. For most of the late 90s the two promotions got along nicely but in the early Noughties, fed up with various issues including the appearance of tribute show characters like the UK Undertaker and the Big Red Machine, Conway declared a promotional war, presenting the TWA as the more serious grown up alternative featuring feuds such as Superstar Mal Sanders Vs James Mason for the British Middleweight title and Robbie Brookside Vs Drew McDonald. He also reactivated the British Welterweight title for matches between Johnny Storm and Jodie Fleisch and ran a splinter branch of the British Heavyweight Championship around the Millennium, details of which are listed on the title's Wikipedia page. This is turn prompted All Star to up its game, dumping the tribute acts, focussing on pushing its young talent especially the crowd from Stoke On Trent that included Dean Allmark, Robbie The Body Dynamite (Berzins) Mikey Whiplash (Gilbert), Kid Cool, Playboy Johnny Midnight and others, as well as arranging a 2003 tournament for Rollerball Rocco's old World Heavy Middleweight Championship (whose last holder Frank Chic Cullen had retired in 2002, ten years into a second run with the belt) which was won by Bryan Danielson under his masked American Dragon persona. In 2003, Conway relocated to Thailand. He had plans to transplant the company to his new home as the Thai Wrestling Alliance but this never came off. (French Catch fans please note, Le Petit Prince was also living there until his untimely death in 2005 but Scott told me they never crossed paths.). Eighteen years later in 2021 he returned to Britain planning to revive the TWA just as his friend Steve Barker was reviving Rumble at the time after a gap since 2001. I guess the TWA comeback is off permanently now. Never mind - that war with All Star Wrestling U.K in 2002 saved All Star in the end. Some TWA resources. TWA Facebook page for the comeback that never was: https://www.facebook.com/twawrestlinguk Interview with Scott Conway at the height of his promotional powers Part 1: https://web.archive.org/web/20031211105514/http://www.wrestle-zone.co.uk/interviews/scott_conway.htm Part 2: https://web.archive.org/web/20031127031249/http://www.wrestle-zone.co.uk/interviews/scott_conway2.htm RIP SCOTT CONWAY

Yes, that's what I said. But in 1985 you suddenly get non-LDM broadcasts in consecutive weeks. We don't know what - if any - role LDM played in (1) the upswing (2) the move of Daniel Cazal, Jean Pradinas and the crew to FR3 in summer 85. It did flip back and forth between A2 and FR3 over those weeks (just like in Britain during WOS's final months the timeslot moved back and forth between the old 4pm and the new lunchtime slots for a bit before settling down in lunchtime once WOS ended and it became its own show.)

It wasn't a series, more a run of sports specials. Looking at the dates on @Matt D's videos, they were fairly spread out over a few months, probably regarded as Sports Specials or somesuch. Apart from LDM it isn't until 1985 that we get any consecutive weekly dates. I guess there's a connection between the dip in quantity of broadcasts from 1978 and this vague "decline" spoken of by all media articles on French Catch which ended with the WWF's arrival on Canal Plus in 1984 or 1985 (sources differ as to the launch date.)

Don't worry @ohtani's jacket Haystacks matches are much of a muchness. He aged and put on extra weight and lost mobility but was the same raging monster 1975-1995 who feared no man except Big Daddy, oh yes and Pat Roach later on, and who was a sadistic monster loathed against blue eyes, the bigger heel against any one except Kendo Nagasaki and King Kendo and for some reason one night his tag partner Scrubber Daly when they were put on together. So it was from Britain to Germany to Japan to South Africa to Calgary to WCW. The Grumpy Garden Gnome crushes another "midget". Klaus Wallas is first seen caught in a bearhug, ideal hold for a big slow man.He gets another one which hits the ropes then a single throttle which Wallas, himself a bit of a heel punches out of. A foul each, Wallas lands more closed fist punches. Which Stax barely acknowledges. The bell goes. Stax waddles to his corner. Cut to round two and Stax has Wallas down on his knees in a rear crossface. Bash over the head puts Klaus on the mat, illegal kicks keep him there. He gets up but Stax double underhooks and bashed Klaus down. He gets up and fires illegal punches. No good. MC warns Stax for hair pulling. Klaus gets more punches and a dropkick but Stax no sells. Cut to more stx roughing up Klaus, choking him. Referee -I think it's Jeff Kaye - gives Stax a public Warning, Round break, dunno who the DJ is playing but it sounds like it could be the Eurythmics or Depeche Mode. Klaus has been for a walk outside. New round carries on with Stax still brutalising Klaus. Hope spots- Klaus goes for some legdives and floors Stax on the the third. He has Stax hanging over the top rope for a long time but doesn't get him to ringside. End of Hope spot, only 87 secs of clip left. Wallas is still trying illegal punches. A dropkick does more damage than the earlier one and -SHOCK- Wallas gets a flying tackle and cross press for the three count! Stax shoves him off too late. Even so I've seen Stax concede a fall in the first April 1976 match with heel Daddy against Steve Viedor and Tibor Szacazs so it's not a total bolt from the blue. Usually Stax either got the win with a splash or guillotine elbowsmash or he was DQd and send packing as a disgrace to the sport (how he lost the British Heavyweight Championship back to Tony StClair in 1979). This is the usual Stax squash with a surprise finish.

See also the Road Warriors in Georgia before they went Cyberpunk and the Rockers (Pete Lapaque and Tommy Lorne, not Shawn and Marty!!!) in Britain this same year. Biker Gang and Hells Angels (not in the Street/Barnes sense) heel gimmicks have been part of wrestling for decades.

Talking of the new age of gimmicks... This is just after the jump to FR3, the taping is in Dijon. Mambo Vs Jessy, the Gorillagram versus the Kayfabe Kowboy (I assume they have cattle herders in the French countryside but they dress nothing like in American Westerns) with the gorilla again as Le Bon. He starts of well with a top wristlock but Jessy is soon outsmarting him. Jessy looks like a younger version of Orig Williams prior to and in the early days of Reslo when El Bandito had Harley Race side handlebars instead of a beard. He pulls off a neat monkey climb (the irony is diluted by it being called a Planchette Japonaise in French). Mambo has a neat wristlock he maintains., not as skilfully as the kids in Britain. Great spot where Mambo takes the corner pad off like George Steele and tries to whip Texas into the exposed buckles. Texas reverses but Mambo avoids the Steele links by jumping up on to the second turnbuckle so Jessy dropkicks Le Primitiv right over the pole to the floor. The Mambo band are playing in the background, one of the drummers has invested in drumsticks, making it sound like a Dave Barbarossa drum solo on a Bow Wow Wow record. Jessy gets another good Planchette Japonaise and dropkick out the ring. Mambo throws some steps in the ring which referee Charley Bollet quietly and urbanely places outside again. Mambo gets a sustained advantage with some holds and some brawling, Jessy fights back but ends up headbutted to the stomach, pitched out the ring and carried back and thrown back in Warrior style. Texas has bladed outside the ring and takes a couple of Alabama Jams off the top rope before Bollet gives Mambo the TKO win. Le Primitiv and his band have a ringside victory parade. JT is carried out by two seconds. The guest commentator is François Degeuelt, singer and former Eurovision contestant for Monaco. That's him in the thumbnail with the red YouTube logo on his nose like a clown. Lagache has grown back his hair since the tag team with Jacky Richard. Tejeris older and tubbier but the two make a good pair of Mechants en Noir against George and Khader Hassouni Les Bons En Blanc, a tag team of a Jewish Algerian and a Muslim Algerian. Cohen can roll and kip up as well as any British blue eye (and this being 1985 there were some promising ones coming along.) Neat trick from Cohen, leaning into a standing hammerlock converting to wristlever so Lagache's head is down and Cohen can do a conveniently low flying Sciseax Volees all as one swift move. The sort of trick I would expect from Danny Collins, but Cohen is a veteran. Tejero gets in and bumps around, taking a snapmare, two Scisseaux Volees and a dropkick which fails to connect but still knocks him onto the ringside table. Cohen takes a double finger Interlock and rolls into a Japanese stranglehold. With effort Tejero reverses but Cohen steps out and over to reverse back, releases and leapfrogs Tejero then bounces back with a scissor chop. Lagache tags back in and gets a top wristlock into mat wristlock, letting him up to smash him back down. Cohen eventually forces a whip with a bump and tags Husseini, still looking good eight years on from his 1977 cup final shot at Johnny Saint's World Lightweight Championship. It hits the ropes but fails to become a brawl when Khader takes an arm meant for a Manchette and gets an armbar. He keeps the hold riding through a hiptoss or two. He dumps Lagache on the apron, no sells a foul and goes armbar into standing rear hammerlock, then survives another throw to make it an armbar on the mat. Cut to Lagache getting back in the ring and Khader getting a ground based cross headscissor on Lagache, who is up against the ropes trying to make it a folding press while KH alternately tries for a toupee and complains to Bollet about the ropes being used for pin attempts. Lagache turns it round but Khader hammers with a foot to send Lagache sprawling and tagging in Anton. Tejero gets a snapmare and throws Khader to the ropes but, - in a nice fast sequence - he comes back with an under leg crawl into double leg takedown in reply to which Tejero goes for bodyscissors but Khader spins out and gets two successive Scisseaux Volees and a dropkick out of the ring! Khader leads the crowd in the knockout count, displaying it with his fingers, all the way up to ten. Crowd is on a high thinking there has been a KNOCKOUT but it's a false finish, Tejero is up on the apron and Bollet tells Khader it's not his business to make counts. We get a slow mo replay of the nice fast sequence that impressed me so much then cut to Lagache and Cohen tagged in. He gets a Manchette, George gets a dropkick and cross press for two then slings Pierre outside and tags Khader back. Neither of Les Mechants want to get in and face him, like he's Big Daddy or something. Lagache comes back and gets his arm taken down and weakened with a kneedrop. A wristlever and sudden jerk further weakens Lagache's arm then another one, but Bollet doesn't like the jerking in the hold and tells Hassouni off. Tejero tags in and gets taken down in the same mat armlock. He tries for the hair but Charley stops him. Lagache comes in to break it up but Khader soon has the armbar on again, this time held with a knee in the bicep. Tejero powers up leaving Khader holding the wrist through his legs. Khader flips over, releases the hold, flips back and gets a reverse headscissor and flying scissors Tejero over! George tags in, comes off the ropes through Tejero's legs and off the ropes with a flying bodypress for a 2 count which Lagache breaks up. Tejero shouldeblocks Cohen who ducks underneath the running Tejero and scores with a fine Scisseaux Volees then ducks a Tejero charge to send him crashing outside. Lagache helps his partner back then regains his heat with a stomach punch (Irreuliere) Manchette (Reguliere) and kicks to the fallen Cohen (Irreguliere and Bollet ticks him off for it so Tejero gets some stomps in too.) Lagache continues the dirty treatment and Tejero comes in with a powerful manchette. Hassouni come in to complain but this just results in a shoving match with Bollet. Khader briefly collars Bollet and nearly gets an Avertisement for his pains before finally stepping out. Tejero delivers another powerful Manchette but Khader lands in his corner and makes the hot tag to George who wallops both villains out of the ring. Another shoving match between Bollet and a Bonnends with George making fist and asking the audience if he should throw it but winding up with Le premier Avertisement for his pains. Lagache tags in and gets a snapmare and shoulderblock on George but he trips le Mechant with a nice side folding press for 3'and the one fall required for victory! Now that match was a surprise, a real action packed tag. I wasn't planning to drill down into details but couldn't resist. Mercifully short @ohtani's jacket? I would love to have seen an equalising and deciding fall of this.