David Mantell

It's been four months since we last saw young bratty heel Eric Lacroix. We last saw him against fellow youngster Jean Phillipe De Lonzac. Now here he is against another promising kid of the post broadcast TV era, Yann Çaradec of Brittany We catch the end of a tag match Which as far as I can tell saw Lacroix screw Caradec of a win- at least that's what Caradec has to say in a promo afterwards. Lacroix is defending his French Welterweight title and medal and has moustachioed manager Theo Pouzade in his corner. Referee is Chico Roberts on loan from Reslo. They lock up and Eric gets a rear snapmare on Yann.who returns with a Cross buttock press and dropkick. A couple of whips later Caradec gets Lacroix in a sunset flip folding press and double leg nelson for 2. Next lockup, Lacroix gets a double arm lever into armdrag. He tries again but Caradec reverses and follows with two side chancery throws and a dropkick.. He gets the next wristlever and makes a loose hammerlock of it. Lacroix gets a rear snapmare in the hold. The same sequence repeats until Caradec shrugs off the rear snapmare and LacroiX crash lands. A third time Lacroix gets the traditional French reverse snapmare but Caradec. He gets a shove and Manchette but Caradec gets two rear snapmares and a dropkick.Caradec gets a side headlock into wristlever into armdrag. He gets thrown out of another side headlock but rebounds with a Manchette off the ropes. A third side headlock is bounced off the ropes by Lacroix who backdrops him but Caradec ground dropkicks his man. Caradec pulls him up but gets a manchette and guillotine elbowsmash in return. Lacroix fires off a powerful headbutt flooring Yann. He whips and clotheslines him, then pounds him in the back and gets in three stomps(the first one legal, not so the latter two and Roberts warns him. Lacroix throws the Breton boy out of the ring but Yan gets tangled in the ropes on the way out. L'Arbitre warns Eric and frees Yann. Eric gets a rear snapmare and some more stomps, again only the first one is legal. Lacroix gets another clothesline and guillotine elbowsmash. He presses and splashes Yann's arm then pitches him out of the ring, this time Yann making it outside, feet first. He makes it back at 5 to get another rear snapmare. Eric I cushions a corner and posts Yann in it. He leaps up for a monkey climb but Yann throws him off in something resembling a powerbomb. Once Eric is up, Yann sends him back down with two Manchettes. Yann side chancery throws and shoulderblocks Eric. He hits the ropes but somehow falls out and loses by TKO - it looks like manager Theo got involved pulling the top rope down but Chico didn't see it so the result stands - a successful defence for Eric Lacroix. A lot of good moves, but a lot of spaces for encouraging cheering and booing. Fits and starts match.

An unusual but interesting moral take on the subject of Disqualification. This is a clean match for the 1987 Golden Grappler Trophy and a rematch from a 1986 semifinal which McMichael won 2-1. McMichael was always the gentleman except against the most provocative of villains. Brooks, the Golden Apollon was at this stage a clean cut young lad with little sign of the heel character he became on Reslo in 1990 or the subtle heel of his title feud with Danny Collins that year, much less those evil cheating Leeds Boys of 1993. This is the last bout you would think would end in a DQ and it's NOTHING to do with what Brooks became later on. Round 2 JIP. Richie has an arm bar on McMichael and is tightening it up. Mick is selling the pain by making fists which the referee gets a bit fussy about. But he doesn't punch his way out, the fireman's carry takedown (while still in the armlock.) Richie eventually gets one end of himself free and swivels round into the sunset flip position so Mick grabs a rope for a break and they start over after a handshake. They lock up and Mick gets a posting on Ritchie who sells his back. Mick side chancery throws him and delivers an elbowsmash to the chest, allowed as continuous movement. McMichael gets a chop and a fulls nelson. Brooks breaks it and comes off the ropes with a bodycheck but it is ineffective. McMichael goes for another posting but Brooks absorbs it well, gets on the second rope for a sunset flip into double leg nelson for 2. McMichael gets a side chancery throw and spinning stomp. Brooks gets a chop and Mick a headbutt. He goes for a chinlock a bit too late and is warned by the ref. The break and lock up. Richie gets a rear standing chinlock but Mick opens it up into an armbar. It is developing into a hammerlock when Mick transfers to a ground armbar, He steps over the arm, into and past the armhank position to give it an extra twist. Richie is selling heavily but manages to position himself for the rollout when the bell rings. They briefly slap hand and go back to corners. Round 3: They lock up and McMichael whips Brooks into the ropes and backdrops him on the rebound. Brooks takes quite a bump along with a count of 7 and is met with a McMichael headbutt once up that sends him down again for 4. McMichael tries again for the whip into backdrop but this time Brooks lands feet first and gets a double legdive. McMichael however throws him off with his legs and Brooks has to somersault out and take another bump and 4 count- hel sells his back, reaching behind himself to rub the pain away. Mick gets pressure points and transitions to a throw, Brooks hits the ropes and rebounds with a flying tackle which floors McMichael but the momentum causes Brooks to roll out of the ring to the floor. He vaults back in, bounces off the ropes and goes for an armdrags but Mick deftly reverses it for a crosspress and 2 count. Brooks' kick out causes McMichael to land on the ref, a common spot in Germany and often the source over there (and sometimes in France with the likes of Saulnier as L'Arbitre) of referee/blue eye misunderstandings and public warnings to good guys. This referee is a sensible chap who accepts McMichaels apologies. The wrestlers lock up, Brooks gets a side headlock into side chancery but Mick resists the throw attempt. He whips Brooks into the ropes and dodges a sunset flip leaving Brooks to somersault and crash to the mat. (You may recall Nipper Riley making this same mistake against Johnny Kidd a few posts earlier.) It's another nasty back weak weakener, and so is the throwdown by the chin Mick gives him but Ritchie kips up nicely, headbutts McMichael in the chest and does the same move back to him. However as he goes down, McMichaels' boot hits Brooks in the crotch. The referee examines him and calls off the match. It's an accident of couse and McMichael is as worried as anyone but the fact is that Villains do this sort of thing as a nasty foul, and when they do there is only one punishment for them. And besides, Mick was being a bit rash and reckless there. As MC Brian Crabtree puts it "the referee has no alternative but to technically - TECHNICALLY!!! - disqualify Mick McMichael.". Mick takes his punishment like a man and shakes the referee's hand. Brooks advances to the semi finals. Mick is a lot more philosophical about it than some of the crowd who boo - possibly the first bit of heat in Ritchie's career - in time it will become a staple diet. But McMichael has shown himself to because good honourable man who accepted he'd been reckless, took his punishment like a man and was a gentleman about it all. And that made him even more of a blue eye than ever.

Some Georg footage. Oddly enough he's teaming with one of my fave skills men Caswell Martin. I suspect a Big Daddy/lighter partner situation. And that's pretty much what I get - the cheek double team. The hot tag. Georg even does bodychecks. However instead of a Big Splash "Schurli" does brutal submissions - even on the referee when he intervenes. He has none of Daddy's flamboyance but maybe Germans/Austrians didn't go for that, they go for hardened everyman types with a big dog and bigger moustache like Schurli - or Roland Bock. All the same, when we see Blemenschutz pile the villains plus the referee up and sit on the lot - a comedy spot that Daddy would often do to villains but NOT the referee as well - it's hard not to suspect that Shirley had seen Schurli at the Heumarkt sometime in the 60s/70s and borrowed a lot of him. Or maybe it was Max.

Not sure of the storyline background but Collins' new mid 90s heel persona (as also seen in Britain) made another enemy in kilted referee Mick McMichael to the point where he put the tights back on. McMichael is still in good shape, or at least no worse shape than on ITV in the late 80s and he certainly still has his skills. Collins comes to the ring to FGTH'sTwo Tribes, his longer hair reminding me of the floppy fringe Larry Zybysko sported in the immediate aftermath of his turn on Bruno. I think Steve Logan MK1 in the 70s may be the actual inspiration. Doncaster Mick comes to the ring to bright bouncy dance music slightly unbefitting a tubby middle aged man. Crowd shouts his name like the Auntie Mabel chant in 90s art rock band David Devant And His Spirit Wife's song "I'm Not Even Going To Try" Round 1: after a couple of inconclusive lockups, Colin's pounds Mick on the ropes and gets a front chancery. Mick breaks it open into an armbar and forces a high whip and bump. Collins gets a legdive, toe & ankle and grapevine but as he turns to apply more pressure McMichael boots his in the backside into the ropes and leg flips him on the rebound. Collins charges but McMichael pitches him out of the ring on the move.Collins pounds Mick in the back as he argues with the ref. He slams Mick's head in the corner and gets a bionic elbow before being ordered out of the corner. Collins objects to angry Mick's closed fists then back attacks him as the ref sorts it out. He gets an open chinlock and armbar into legdive and toe & ankle, working on the foot. McMichael twists, throwing Collins and forcing a somersault and bump. McMichael gets a side chancery throw forcing another somersault bump. Heel Dirty Dan is quite the bumper. He regains his heat with two illegal concealed punches. He gets Mick down kneeling with pressure points then forearms him. Referee - I'm think it's Didier Gapp - finally gets fed up and gives Danny his first yellow card. Round 2: Collins attacks Mick while he is arguing with Gapp. Fed up, McMichael lands a concealed fist of his own and gets his own first yellow card. He pulls Danny off the ropes and lets him drop a bump. As they lock up, Collins jabs Mick in the side and blasts him in the back. They finger interlock and Mick goes down to the mat, kips up,clips open one side of the interlock and rolls to twist the other arm forcing yet another somersault bump. Mick still has the arm which he works over. Danny forces a rope break. They lock up and Danny get in a quick forearm uppercut.He gets an abdominal stretch and holds it a while. Mick looks to be getting the cross buttock throw but instead he switches arms, gets a side headlock and a retaliatory concealed punch.Mick gets a full nelson into side chancery throw and twisting stomp to the face. I love Mick's transitions. He gets a headbutt, Danny gets some kind of a blow and Mick gets a quick wrenching crossface. Fans are massively behind Mick which enrages Danny. He kicks his man and gets a double knees pin attempt but McMichael knees him in the face. Danny blasts his fallen opponent and gets on a full nelson when he gets up. McMichael powers out and reverses the hold, Danny rears into him to break it. Bell goes, McMichael gets in a chop, side Chancery throw and elbowsmash and earns himself a Second and final yellow card.Danny gets in a blow too as McMichael returns to his corner Round 3. Danny gets a side chancery, marches his man across the ring and gets an armbar and a nasty looking jab to the stomach. While Gapp terns to Mick. Danny loosens the corner pad. He tries to post Mick who reverses it and Danny takes the naked bolts in the spine. On the rebound he falls victim to a Mick backdrop, quite a high bump. He begs for mercy.Mick gets pressure points, Danny gets a barely concealed kidney punch and side chancery throw. He goes to the top turnbuckle of the uncovered corner and goes for a flying bodypress but Mick dodges and Danny crashes. Mick charges but Danny too sidesteps the gets a front chancery into over the shoulder neck suspension for the one required submission.v Afterbirth. Danny reapplies the hold and Tony StClair and a Japanese wrestler come to the rescue. Danny kicks them both. As they tend to Mick, Danny cuts a promo at ringside challenging Mick and Tony to further bouts. Really enjoyed Mick's performance, he hadn't lost a step. Danny was quite the bumping machine (and complaining machine) as Dirty Dan. I need to check if they ever had a clean match in 80s Britain? Edit- apparently not. Oh well, bang goes my idea for a British thread post. Ah well ...

McCoy, the rising whizzkid lightweight star of the mid 80s gets a heel to deal with. This is part of the 1988 Golden Grappler trophy with its famous father/son final, so while I don't want to spoiler you with the result, quite frankly ... McCoy cartwheels out of two throws and Jack. fair play to him, rolls up from on my Kid nails him with a dropkick, draping him over the ropes like a towel hung out to dry. Mulligan gets an armdrag into armlock on the mat. Kid briefly tries for a headscissors before opting toj ust stand up. Mulligan arm drags him down again. McCoy gets up again, holds firm with a top wristlock, vaults his mand and forces him down. Mulligan firwards rolls to untwist his arm,but finds himself in a standing wristlever. He accepts a finger Interlock, eventually getting the armbar advantage. McCoy rolls back and forth, kips up and botches a victory roll but gets a side chancery throw. before being wristlocked and whipped over arm to force a bump and the splashed. Mulligan comes in early on an axehandle to his fallen opponent and gets a quiet reprimand from referee Ken Joyce. He gets a snapmare and stomp. A fans shouts to the referee "Sort him out, Ken!". McCoy in a wristlock walks the ropes and jumps off taking Mulligan in an armdrags. Mulligan gets two concealed punches in. Joyce is suspicious. Mulligan gets a crotchhold, throw and kneelift and what Kent thinks is another illegal punch but Joyce disagrees. He gets a side chancery throw and splash for 6, a kneelift and a chop to the neck when the bell goes. During the interval. Walton mentions how McCoy's dad King Ben is also a quarterfinalist. Round 2. Mulligan off to a quick and barely legal shaft with repeat shoulderblocks, a side chancery and a final stomp. He slams the kid, goes to the top turnbuckle and-just as Kid stands - comes down with a flying axehandle worthy of Randy Savage. McCoy, up at seven, gets a forearm and a boot to the chest, but takes a posting well. climbsò the post and dives down and scoots through and dropkicks Mulligan. Kid gets rough himself with an elbowsmash and kneelift. He gets double legs and slingshots Mulligan through the ropes, hanging on to the middle rope with the tops of his kneecaps. It doesn't get any better for Mulligan, he gets backdropped and slungshot out again this time into the concrete. McCoy flips him back in off the apron, whips, leapfrogs and legflios him- Al getting massive POPS from the crowd. "Nice mover this boy" says Walton. A Mulligan shove gives the villain time to get to the top turnbuckle but is caught and slammed by McCoy. From there it's Kid all the way, he dropkicks Mulligan in the corner, body trips him from behind, folds him in a folding press and seals it with a bridge for the one fall required and a place in the semifinals as defending champion. A vehicle for McCoy bouts like this were as important for building him as a blue eye as bouts like his loss to his father in the final or his two TV British Lightweight Championship matches (including the second where he took home the belt on a TKO) were for building him up as a serious young technical master. Such is the life of the Young And Pushed ...

From the undercard of the 1986 "Us Americans" triple tag filmed by RTL, possibly as a one off TV special. Bit of a slug and punch affair. OJ will like it. About getting best bit of wrestling is a couple of decent flying headscissors a French style headscissor takedown counter to an armbar and a pretty impressive monkey climb, all by Morgan. Ends in an outside of the ring brawl, Not quite sure who wins but McMichael is seen telling off "Gunboat/"Judd" Harris at the end. Harris is billed as an Aussie for probably similar reasons to Stax and Kirk suddenly being "Americans " The first few minutes is the presenter plus Peter Wilhelm previewing this, the triple tag and a Finlay vs St Clair bout also. This is livened up by meeting Peter's pet chihuahua Speedy Gonzales. Awww ...

Okay, I'll give it ago using just the tablet. I recognise L'Arbitre Jacques Groucier from other 1975 bouts. Guy in the Hawaiian shirt next to Couderc is, I believe Jean Pradinas who carried on directing matches during the Daniel Cazal 80s and all the way up to the March '87 TV double bill with the trumpet player. Henker looks VERY fearsome and powerful in colour. Henker takes Leduc down in a grovit, he uses vaguely toupie esque motion. Henker forces Gilbert back down, he kicks back up and forwards into the ropes. Finger interlock and LeDuc releases and rolls backward, curling Henker's arm into a top wristlock. The powerful Henker simply pitches LeDuc out of the hold like he is bowling a ball, Gilbert rolls upright. Samourai tags in and armdrags LeDuc twice. LeDuc whips then throws Samourai but he rolls upright nicely both times. Corne tags in. He accepts a finger Interlock and goes down but then scissors the masked man and gets him into a double leg nelson folding press. Samourai manages to rock through triggering a Bascule motion. He tries to get the position for a folding press of his own but Corne spins him out. Samourai gets a top wristlock and forces Corne down, Jacky goes for a kip up, Samourai puts a knee across Corne's windpipe. Corne manages to roll backwards over the knee! Now he has the leverage advantage with the top wristlock and takes Samourai down. Corne whips Samourai but he again takes it well and rolls up nicely. Pleased with himself, Samourai uses a rolls to get to his corner and tag Henker. Old enemies- Henker injured Jacky on TV four years earlier. Corne takes Henker down with a legdive and switches to an armbar. Henker responds with pressure points. Corne cross buttocks him and tags Leduc who takes a headlock. Henker tries an atomic drop and Gilbert a cross buttock throw. Neither achieves much. they each land back on their feet.Leduc still has his side headlock and gets his cross buttock thrown in to make it a mat side heädlock. Henker forces upwards into a standing position so LeDuc cross buttocks him again. Henk tries again, gets a rear waistlock, tries for another atomic drop but Leduc makes another feet first landing. Unabashed, Henker whips Gilbert into the ropes, slams him and tags Samourai. Corne also tags in. He gets a great side chancery into rear snapmare into seating rear chinlock! Corne breaks it opening into a top wristlock but the masked Mechant uses an illegal hairpull to lock him back in. Corne tries again with the same result. On the third occasion he gets a standing rather than kneeling top wristlock. Samourai gets Corne on the ropes and aims a Nagasaki style chop at his throat but Corne ducks and the masked man lands throat first on the middle rope. Corne pitches Samourai across the ring then cross buttocks him to ringside. Corne tags Leduc who also cross buttock Samourai out of the ring. straight into Couderc's lap. The two have a bit of a confrontation and Samourai storms off. A fan calms him down with a pat on the shoulder and Samourai gets back in. Samourai gets a top wristlock but Leduc pulls off one of the 3 classic French Catch counters, the headscissors takedown. Samourai turns the hold upright and folds the scissor to release his head but Leduc boots his man into the ropes and flips him on the rebound. He goes for the mask but Samourai gets free, lands a Manchette. Leduc lands a heavier one back, forcing the masked team to tag. Henker comes in, gets a top wristlock and forces his man to the mat.The hold has developed into a top hammerlock. Leduc is selling facially a lot to let us know he is being tortured by a CRUEL MAN. He kips up into the standing top wristlock but Remy forces him back down. The top wristlock looks like the weakening setup stage of a Jim Breaks Special. Leduc kips up and gets the headscissors takedown counter - now he has done this trick on both masked men! When Henker gets the hold upright, Leduc starts unlacing la Cagoule. Henker pulls the legs down and open but does not try force a submission. He Manchettes his man and tags as does Leduc. Corne and Samourai gets a finger Interlock. Samourai floors his man but cannot shoulder press him down. Corne bridges up. He eventually ends up with the advantage but Samourai uses the same powering up and bridge to avoid a pin. Samourai monkey climbs his opponent - how often do you see a masked heel do that - and tries to flip over on top but Corne flips up and with both men handstanding, gets a bodyscissors on, taking Samourai down in the mount position. Corne boots and chops Samourai.who counters with a toehold and gets a single ankle scissor on. He pulls his man up and chops him down, following down with more chops. L'Arbitre orders him off so the masked team tags and Henker gets in a vicious a handle as the ref misses it., escorting Samourai out. He proceeds to rope assisted stomps, whipping the referee to the opposite ropes and earning him his first Avertisement. He tags Samourai who continues the treatment, chopping the kneeling Corne until the ref orders him off too. Samourai gets a grovit on and rocks back and forth with it on the ropes until warned off. While he bows to the crowd in apology, Henker on the apron grabs Corne from behind. Samourai goes for a rear snapmare but Corne stomps the mat to resist, lands two Manchettes and tags Leduc. Leduc lands two Manchettes of his own; the second sends Samourai over the ropes but he slips back in. A third one lands Samourai tied in the ropes, LeDuc considers an illegal punch but thinks better of it - and Samourai takes advantage of the pause to slip on an armlock. Leduc makes it a side headlock but Samourai leans into the ropes to force the break then tags Henker. Like earlier they finger Interlock and LeDuc releases one side, rolls back and gets a side by side top wristlock, but Henker armdrags him and slaps on an armhank. Leduc tries to stand up in the hold but Samourai pushes him over, enraging the crowd especially one guy in a blue t shirt. Three times LeDuc tries to get himself up in the toupie position to escape but it knocked down. He eventually falls into a kneeling position from which he achieves the desired headstand and uses the toupie to roll up his banked (Henked?) arm. He lands one Manchette on Henker who tags Samourai. Leduc gets a handstanding cross headscissor on him, with the feet turned and grasping Samourai's neck neatly. He performs this other toupie variant to throw the smaller masked man. He manages to repeat the throw despite Samourai blocking by grabbing the legs at the knees. He tries for a third one but Samourai has the block on more efficiently this time so Leduc hammers on his knee to boot Samourai over the top rope. Leduc lands a couple of Manchettes and even Corne gets in a cheeky shot from outside. He tags in and superkicks Samourai, snapmares and neck wrenches him. Henker tags in but falls victim to a legdive takedown and toehold He tries some illegals to the hair and throat, a noogie and what might just be a clawhold. He gets free with some Manchettes on the mat but the ref stops his head slamming follow ups. He gets a standing Manchette and choke on the bottom rope before tagging Samourai who gets some chops but has an ankle caught by Corne. Jacky pulls him down and wallops Henker for good measure. Leduc tags in and Samourai falls in his back begging for mercy. They finger Interlock and Leduc gets an armbar, upward whip forcing a hard bump and finally an armhank. He works on the wrist for some time before Samourai forces him off with pressure points and then a rear chinlock. He gets LeDuc to the ground with one more chop but Leduc gets up and they have a chopfight. Leduc ends up in Les Mechants' corner, Corne comes in to protest. Samourai uses a standing full nelson to throw LeDuc back to the centre. Henker tags in and Gilbert gets a spinning legdive on him. He gets an Indian Deathlock and works on the kneecap. Henker tries foul means (hair pull) and fair (sitting up) - the ref stops the former, Leduc and his chop stops the latter. Henker picks up LeDuc by the ears like he was Mick McManus ("Pas des orreils" quips Couderc.) Henker gets a full nelson but therefore breaks it when Samourai throws in his chops. Henker gets Manchettes, then another full nelson. Both illegal men run in, Leduc gets free as Corne slingshots Samourai into Henker. Leduc dropkicks Henker out of the ring while Corne slingshots Samourai again, this time into the corner before finishing him with an inverted waistlock suplex for the opening fall. (There's a brief blackout on the tape - I thought it was a commercial break but we get a couple more later.) Deuxieme Manche: Samourai goes from armbar to cross hands grovit to front chancery to rear over the shoulder neck wrench. Corne goes into the ropes forcing a break but Samourai lets him land badly. He tries stomping on Corne's neck with help from the top rope but Leduc at ringside pulls Samourai part way out of the ring by the leg. The masked team tag, Henker tries for pressure points and a full nelson, Jacky gets four Manchettes, Henker gets an armbar assisted by a wrist scissors on the mat. This transitions to an armbar on the mat in the guard with a knee holding the shoulders down. Samourai comes in to help with stomps and takes over the hold as L'Arbitre is distracted. Samourai eventually switches to Surfboard stage one with the twin wristlocks holding back the arms as the boot goes in the shoulder blades. Corne eventually flips out, rolls back and gets Samourai with a ground dropkick (this is the trick people are trying to do when they get folding press double leg Nelsonned like Bret at SummerSlam 92). Corne gets a Manchette but misses a second and gets double teamed by Les Rouges. Leduc comes in, Samourai gets him up against the ropes, bounces off but - as both Bons get out the way - cannons Henker to the floor. Leduc uses Manchettes to take care of both Cagoules, throwing Samourai and dropkicking Henker out of the ring. Samourai gets back in and gets an armdrag and armhank on Leduc. (Another tape break.) Leduc only takes three attempts instead of four this time to get up in the toupie and wind in the arm. He manchettes Samourai and both sides tag. Corne whips Henker and butts him in the upper chest. He whips him off the ropes and tries again but Henker is too quick with a kneelift. However, when Remy's evil alter ego tries for a splash, Corne catches him in a bodyscissors. For a moment it looks like Samourai will have to come to the rescue but Henker forces his way out, going for Corne's throat. He gets a rear chinlock and looks to be converting it to something like the Camel Clutch when Corne springs to life, rear double legdives the big man and slaps on a toehold. Der H uses a couple of illegal grabs to throat and hair to break out and get an armlock but Corne catches him with a headscissors in the guard. At least we know Henker won't use a toupie to escape.No, he tags Samourai who breaks it up. Corne takes Samourai down with a single legdive I to a toe and ankle grapevine (which could have been the beginning of either a Funk spinning toehold or an American figure four leglock (as used by the NWA champion Jack Brisco, just months from dropping the belt to Terry Funk) but instead turns out to be a Frank Gotch figure four toehold. Samourai escapes via a tag and the Bons tag also. Leduc enters and wristlevers Henker, high whips him to force a somersault and bump (impressive that Bayle could do that at his weight!) and stamps his hand! Gilbert repeats the wristlever into high whip bump sequence but this time wraps a leg around the wrist of the stamped hand, like half an armscissor. He works on the stamped hand. Henker reaches round with his other hand to get a grip and eventually pulls his man into a further nelson folding press, but Leduc reverses the momentum and is back on top working on the first, which Couderc reckons is turning white (something Kent Walton also sometimes liked to say in this situation.) Henker tries to grab the hair but is warned off by the ref. He tries this trick again but it is merely a decoy for a powerful -and legal- headscissors. Gilbert turns the scissors up right and tries for his corkscrew headscissors escape toupie but Masked Remy turns it back sideways. Just for good measure he savagely cranks Leduc's neck forward with the scissors. Leduc tries the toupie escape again with no more luck. He looks to be trying a third time but instead lands knees first on the crossed ankles, pinning them down to aid unplugging his head from the hold. Henker turns his man over into the guard, pulls him up by the ears. Manchettes him twice, bounces him off the ropes and gets a third one, flooring Leduc. He pulls him up and lands a fourth then gorilla presses him and stomachbreakers him over one knee. Leduc rolls off and tags Corne. Finally only now do Manchettes take over - Corne lands six and the two alternate shots until Samourai grabs Corne from behind. The masked men double team himuntil he is rescued by L'Arbitre. Henker gets "un derniere Manchette" (says Couderc, 9 years before the FR3 show) then gets an inverted waistlock and tombstone piledriver before tagging Samourai. He gets one chop in before Leduc also tags, gets in his own chops and double legdives Samourai into a slingshot into the ropes and landing alongside Leduc. Henker tags in and he and Leduc exchange Manchettes. One of Henker's is so stiff, Couderc chuckles at it. The heels double team Leduc and Henker bounces off the ropes to charge Gilbert but is tripped by Corne from outside. The the Bons double team Henker . Corne does the same slingshot moves from earlier, again resulting in a heel tag. He eventually does it to Henker then bodyslams and dross presses Bayle for the second straight fall. Gilbert Leduc and Jacky Corne are the winners 2-0. Les Bons raise their hands, Les Mechants sell their bumps before slipping quietly away in case any unmasking attempts take place. Refreshingly good human chess bout with little if any Manchette battles. At least 70% was good thinking scientific holds even if few lengthy chain sequences. A winner was us viewers!

Well we've had wrestlers doing Euro rodeo on the French thread, we've had wrestlers having a crafty football match on the German thread. So for Britain I thought I'd post a few clips of the fine and manly art of beating up smug TV presenters.

I stand corrected but it's not as essential to the local culture as it is in Spain. Is the present day sport the full on bleeding dead animal show or is it more like the Portuguese variant with rubber protectors on the Hons and no sword or picadors? P.S. been too busy visiting family and going swimming in the Mediterranean sun to experiment with my room TV to get it to show me LeDuc/Corne Vs Henker/Samourai. Will try and see if my brother in law's parents have any memories of Rafael Halperin - they would have made Aliyah just around the time of his 1973 retirement match. Most likely they'll only know him as a rabbi. #jjerusalemofgold

Following the InterVille bull-pestering footage on the French thread, I now presenting Football for CWA wrestlers. (That's football as in the Association game, the one actually played with the foot, not that Rugby in motorcycle helmets game Bill Watts and Jim Ross used to wet themselves over.) Now I just have to find something similar for the British thread.

There's not a lot more to be said, but a couple of points I will pull up on. 1) Bollet (and Bernaert) don't just get YELLED AT by L'Arbitre for that punch of Bollet's, they get a Public Warning (Avertisement) 2) No I don't think they have bullfighting in France, this was just some craziness concocted by RTF's light entertainment department. Bullfighting is a lot nastier and a lot gorier although exposure to wrestlers blading would prepare a spectator. Its main relevance to pro wrestling is that Plazas de Toros were often used as wrestling venues in Spain and this continued I to the 80s after the 1975 collapse of the CIC and subsequent invasion by various French promoters.

Talking of last matches, did that final comeback bout by Le Petit Prince in 2002 (before he went off to Thailand) get filmed at all?

I think this is the same Samourai as teamed with Pierre Payen and possibly he shows up in one of the last year or two of monochrome overseas sales kinescope prints before the INA opened up an started making colour recordings of stuff off air. As. Brit I mostly associate a wrestling samurai - beyond Kendo - with the sad last days of Rex Strong 1986-1987. The four toupies were two types of two toupie - two reeling in his arm from an armhank and two cross-headscissor throws. I've always been a bit sceptical about the crossed headscissor+ like a grovit using the ankles instead of the arms - but Gilbert did it well, pointing his feet toe to toe to hold the head as the performed the scissor throw. He did attempt his headscissor escape toupie about three times in succession but each time Bayle/Henker deftly maintained the hold by turning it sharply to one side.

I like Samourai too and so did Daniel Cazal in that 1976 bout where he teamed with Pierre Payen. He was obviously a skilled worker in his own right like the early 90s Kamikaze in Joint Promotions Not sure what comedy spot you mean, it seemed to be just the standard Bon Vs Mechant Catch A Quatre spots. I know Couderc has a tendency to burst out laughing at stuff , particularly if it's Les Mechants getting themselves in a fix.

Without checking I think I reviewed a previous colour match with Leduc - or am I confusing it with the Pompiers DecParis (RBC + Bob Plantin) match?

Problems, problems. It's a Samsung. I've managed to get the TV and tablet to recognise each other on Bluetooth which is something. I've watched the bout in full on the tablet but I'd really like to write a full length blow by blow piece of this one- there's enough interesting material to give it a go without it degenerating into a list of Manchettes. But to do that I really need a separate TV.

I'm about to catch a flight to go on holiday. I'll review it properly when I get to my hotel room (hopefully I can mirror my tablet onto the Smart TV in my hotel room.). I've watched the first ten minutes and it looks pretty fun so far. Leduc, Jacky Corne and Le Samourai ("Il est souple!") all in a tag match together. A bit of a further twist on the Remy Bayle puzzle given how he and Daniel Schmidt were not heels in the 1983 bout further up. Also IIRC it was Jacky whom Der Henker injured on TV in 1971 as previously seen on this thread. Nice to see Henk in colour VT.

https://www.topito.com/top-catcheur-francais-age-dor-bagarre Nice "Top Seven" article on French Catch Top 7 of the best French wrestlers, the ring of Frenchness Published on 10/11/2014 by Jean Nostromo When we think of wrestling, we first think of giant rings and oily American monsters, but what we don't know is that France also experienced a golden age of wrestling that continues to this day, albeit much more discreetly. In the 1950s, professional wrestling exploded on TV, and some fighters, masked or not, became real stars. A look back at the big names in French wrestling, less spectacular but much more romantic than its cousin across the Atlantic. Francisco Pino Farina - "The White Angel" Arguably the most famous French wrestler, along with André The Giant, Francisco Pino Farina remained incognito for a good part of his career as a masked fighter, until his promoters decided to make him take off his mask to revitalize his faltering popularity. His enemies were called the Executioner of Bethune or the Dragon of Bagnolet, and he beat them in the most beautiful way, like the pioneer of lucha libre that he was. André René Roussimoff - "André The Giant" The star of stars, the one who went to shine in the USA, the one who became world champion by crushing the competition with his extraordinary physique (2.24m - 235kg), the one whose face is plastered everywhere today without you even knowing it: André The Giant. A colossus who marked the history of world wrestling. Jacques Ducrez - "The Executioner of Béthune" Not content with having the best wrestler name ever chosen, the Executioner of Béthune had the chance to be part of the golden age of French wrestling, between 1950 and 1960. He liked to play the villain, constantly confronted with the supremacy of the White Angel, whom he fought on numerous occasions. Daniel Dubail - "The Little Prince" Daniel Dubail, also known as Albéric d'Éricourt, was surely the classiest wrestler of the golden age. This little man with the physique of a gymnast (1.59 m and 54 kg) stood out for his grace and elegance, which earned him the nickname "The Little Prince." He died in 2005 in Thailand where he was trying to open a wrestling school. Gérard Hervé - "Flesh Gordon" Not far from the pseudonym of a porn actor, Flesh Gordon is a French wrestler who did everything to give his letters of nobility to the genre after the splendor of the 60s, notably by going to Mexico to learn the art of lucha libre and becoming European champion in 1981 and world champion in 1985. This handsome 100kg baby is banking heavily on teaching wrestling to the younger generations, he also runs a school in the north of France. Roger Trigeaud - "Chéri Bibi" It's true that it's not easy to make a career in the States when your name is Chéri Bibi, but that didn't stop Roger Trigeaud from making a name for himself in the French wrestling world in the 60s. This retired tax inspector was apparently not the last to mess around and was very popular with his colleagues in his underwear. Maurice Tillet - "The Angel" The other "angel" in our selection is none other than Maurice Tillet, a funny guy suffering from a bone disease that caused many deformities and which forced him to flee to the United States where he became a professional wrestler. Although Dreamworks Studios has never confirmed it, many rumors claim that his face served as a model for Shrek, which doesn't seem entirely unfounded.

Battle Royal at the Heumarkt 1994. You've seen one battle royal you've seen 'em all but the sheer raw spectacle is pretty amazing. The Heumarkt looks pretty cool too in longshot with the sunset reflected in neighbouring windows. It comes down to Rambo, Fit Finlay and Cannonball Grizzly (ON News). The heels team up. Impressively Finlay slams Mr Neu on top of Rambo. The crowd were already behind Rambo at the start but now they REALLY really behind him. Rambl finally eliminated Neu, yo baby yo baby yo. So we are left with Rambo Vs Finlay and at least one heel supporter cheering Finlay! Rambo catapults Finlay over the ropes. He just hangs on but then Rambo clotheslines Finlay off the apron to finish the job and pocket himself a wadful of cash useful for doing Ted DiBiase impersonations. A Québécois the hero of Austria.

The Hero of France takes on the future Quebecer Pierre. I think I've already posted a tag bout of Double Trouble Vs Flesh and Franz Van Buyten but here they have a solo match. Carl does a promo like Frenchy Martin doing an impersonation of Randy Savage at a party. Dear old Charley Bollet as Monsieur L'Arbitre. Carl dominating Flesh with big American power stuff and Flesh doing it back to him- cross buttock presses. Slams. Clotheslines out of the ring. Flesh gets his monkey climb on Carl successfully although he doesn't fly that far. Tried it again and ends up selling a nasty looking head bump and nearly getting pinned. Carl does a splash using the roped. The German commentator calls it a Finlay Drop. Carl punches his way out of a Gordon sunset flip just like Finlay did to Funaki on the British Wrestling thread just now. Bollet gives Carl an Avertisement for putting his knee across Flesh's throat to cut off the air supply - good old school foul. They end up brawling at ringside.like French catcheurs have been doing on their TV since the mid 1960s but ITV would never allow. Flesh Gordon gets the win despite Brick Crawford the other half of Double Trouble interfering. The two heels collide then when Brick tries to break up the pin, Charley ignores it and counts Carl's shoulders down. Les Mechants sont FURIEUX!!! However it turns out that Brick had another trick up his sleeve, claiming Flesh used a chain. The referee searches Gordon and indeed finds the international object that Brick had planted on him. Disqualification. Kids band on the ring apron in rage. I can even hear a faint chant of Aux Chiottes L'Arbitre. Flesh doesn't seem too bothered, he goes out and celebrates with the fans. Kissing babies etc. Flesh matches were ending in this finish in the first half of the 1980s (the strap match with Mambo Le Primitiv) and he was still doing this "I Wuz Robbed" DQ loss finish in the early 2010s.

If you're wondering who Carwyn James was - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carwyn_James Fit Finlay Vs Flying Funaki. FF versus FF. When Fuji Yamada came back for a second tour in 1989 he brought a tag partner with his, Flying Funaki. I wish we had one of their tag bouts but here is Funaki on his lonesome. Fit Finlay in Bully mode being used as a Luxury Jobber like Ax and Smash at the Tokyo Dome. This same year he jobbed his British Heavy Middleweight title to Danny Collins, the kid he SLAUGHTERED three years earlier. So he was in the trim for putting the kids over and making them look good. Funaki's first big move is the same spinning escape from a side headlock dear old Mike Marino used to do! Finlay does a lot of attacking moves like his hammerlock and a lot of dirty wrestling to make sure the crowd are on Funaki's side. . He also still has a decent flip to bum out of Funaki's whip while growling with rage. Actually Funaki's rolls and cartwheels are as British as boiled beef steeped in Dynamite Kid and Danny Boy Collins and only became "Juniors shit" in Japan from the UK/Japan/Calgary triangle. ("Juniors" in any case is short for "Junior Heavyweight which is Americanese for Mid Heavyweight. Marty Jones and Nelson Royal were opposite number on each side of the Atlantic.) Funaki also gets a great sunset flip which Finlay punches his way out of like he did against Johnny Saint at Croydon on ITV a year earlier. Funaki also start putting on the Scorpion Deathlock (OK the Masa Chono Powerlock.) . Funaki also does a lot of chops which Finlay sells His Flying dropkick on Finlay gets a slow mo replay. Funaki gets the win and all the little kids in the audience run WILD banging on the ring apron. A Star is born and Finlay did his job making the kid look good just like Sid Cooper. Blackjack Mulligan and Tally Ho Kaye did for Sammy Lee nine years ago . Sadly no sign of Paula at the end giving her man HELL. WTF is that awful buzzing sound at the end?

Perhaps it was a bit lazy of me to substitute We are Dynamite for a match on Sunday, so here is an extra one to compensate. Two Austrian babyfaces (no foreigners! Even closer to "home" than Franz Vs Gil!) made to final of the 1985 Hanover Cup. This is what transpired: Big Otto by now is the full Superheavyweight of his later years, not the stocky guy who faced Don Leo in Graz July 1880 before a professional camera crew. Wallas, I suddenly realised, reminds me of good guy Daniel Schmidt from 1983 as seen on the French Catch thread. After a couple of collar and elbow lockups, Otto gets a standing rear chinlock. Klaus forces him into the ropes for a break. They lock up and astonishingly Klaus tries for a cross buttock throw. Not so astonishingly, Big Otto is just too heavy! They try again, Otto puts on a figure four top wristlock. He forces Klaus in to ropes, cut to Klaus doing it back to him. Clean breaks both times. They lock up then Klaus hauls off with a forearm. Otto steps back with a look like "Oh. So you want some of that, do you?". Instead on the next lockup, Otto gets a wristlever forcing Klaus down in one knee. For some reason I can't make out, Otto ends up with a hand on the top rope and has to release. They go for a finger Interlock. Momentum goes back and forth like Hogan and Warrior at WM6. Cut to Klaus bodychecking Otto to no impact whatsoever, then doing somewhat better with a forearm smash that has Otto reeling and bouncing off the ropes. Cut to Otto with standing pressure points on Klaus who battles back with forearms. Otto picks himself up and they stalk rack other cautiously. Cut to Klaus on the ropes selling a back injury. They lock up then Wanz fires a forearm, Wallas fires one back. Big Otto makes it 2-1 flooring Klaus. Otto gets a bearhug, Klaus struggles to break it like Hogan against Andre. Too gets his man on the ropes and headbutts him twice. Cut to Klaus dodging out the way of a Wanz guillotine elbowdrop. Wallas is up first with two forearm smashes, flooring Wanz on the second. Wanz gets up to what looks like a punch by Wallas then a dropkick. Otto is soon up and after a quick check of his teeth (or gumshield?) by the referee, we proceed. Klaus slugs Ottomfoen with four forearmscand a kick for good measure. Cut to down on the mat, Wallas has a chinlock which he transforms into a half nelson on the mat. He eventually gets the World champion into a crosspress position but can't quite get his shoulders down. A switch tomlong press gets a 1 count but no more, as does another cross press and a hooked leg. Otto tries for a cross press and double arm oress He gets no further and allows his man up. Cut to them back down on the mat. Klaus has the cross press again. Astonishingly Otto bridges out! Klaus is sent rolling to ringside. He makes it back, they lock up and Klaus begins bashing away again. He goes for a flying tackle and takes Otto down but it is too near the ropes .Ran out of mat, as Kent Walton would put it. They get up and Klaus flails away again, flooring Otto and booting him out of the ring. Cut to once again they lock up and Klaus smashes at Otto but this time Wanz pushes his man down in a cross press for two. Klaus pulls out and ends up at ringside. He comes back, wallops and fells Otto. Wanz gets up and whips Wallas into the ropes, misses him on the rebound and falls over Klaus tries another flying tackle but the big man catches him, slams him, cross presses and hooks the leg for three. Otto celbrates with his fans while Klaus leans on the ropes, emotionally spent. Otto shakes and raises his hand and pats his buddy on the shoulder. Babyface match if not scientific enough to be properly clean. A lot of slug and punch but some similar old German leverage stuff to Franz Vs Gil in the last bout (a year later.)

You may have noticed the bouts on this thread tend to be top heavy in American, British French and other such far flung talent. That's why it was such a pleasure for me a couple of months ago to dig up this bout. Okay it was a Swiss versus a Yugoslav but compared to some CWA rosters this was practically local. They also both had nice Germanic names, Franz and. er Franz. (And to be fair, if Messrs Van Buyten and Schumann have ever had a match, it's news to me.) Now here is Schlederer on a similar grassroots old time (as camcorders will allow) show from a year later against heel Gil Breihöder "No Relation To Colt" Cabanas in Hollabrunn, a district capital town in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, on the Göllersbach river, 12th August 1986. Franz is the babyface in red trunks, Gil is the heel with the moustache and dark double leotard. Franz starts by challenging Gil to a finger Interlock. Gil has the early advantage but soon Franz has him screaming. He breaks him all the way down to the mat and stomps on his hands! Gil looks for sympathy from the referee and cameraman but finds none. They lock up again, and this time good boy Franz goes down - but at the last second he pulls his hands out of the way and scores a dropkick. Gil is up at 8. The villain starts chopping away at the Yugoslav and throttling him on the ropes. Warned by the referee he throws Franz across the ring, booting him out the last bit of the way. Incidentally that's quite some big crowd! We cut back to the action and Gilmis bashing and stomping poor Franzl. He gets an armlock and forces his man down on one knee. Franz powers up, gets pushed down, powers back up again and fires Gilmour the ropes in a cross buttock throw but Gil keeps control of the arm and winds up in a kneeling armbars position. Franz forces his way up, gets forced down and when he is next halfway up tries (as best I can see past the nasty video scratch) to prise an arm in. It's very much an old school German pre-Steve Wright transformation Leverage Contest. Finally Franz pulls himself up and gets a flying headscissors take down on his opponent. He doesn't go into a headscissors on the mat as the French would do, rather comes out standing over the villain. He pulls his man up off the matin a one arm chinlock but the ref isn't happy with a grounded wrestler being attacked and blows his whistle. Eventually Franz has progressed to a standing rear chinlock but he has also earned himself a yellow card plus the bell - or rather a gong- has sounded for the end of the round. Franz throws Gil down. Matches over to the referee, rips up the yellow card and throws it to ringsiders. Cut to somewhere in the next round. Gil has what looks like a clawhold on Franz. (Bear in mind Baron Von Raschke toured Germany a couple of years earlier.) Gil switches to a side headlock then on to a rear hammerlock, like watching a slow motion video of Johnny Saint doing his Lady of the Lake sequence. But no, he doesn't proceed to to trip into folding press, he turns to face his man, forearms him down and stomps him like Ronnie Garvin. He picks Franz up, headbutts him down and has some ugly looking hold on his face that earns Gil his own yellow card (I guess the ref had a spare. Gil lifts Franz up with help from a handful of hair, whips him into the ropes and, on the rebound, gets what might just be an illegal punch to floor his man. He again pulls his man up with a tuft full of foliage but Franz reverses the whip and backhand chops Gil down like Billy Two Rivers. He then repeats the pull-up- Whip- backhand chop sequence. before giving Gil a nice long Suplex. Franz pulls his man up despite objections from the referee, throws him in the corner and pounds away with forearms. Finally heeding the referee and not his thirst for vengeance, he side chancery throws his man to centre ring, lets him up for a count of four, underhooks and bodyslams him then after giving him a couple of counts hauls him up for another better side chancery throw through the ropes to ringside and to a huge crowd pop! Cut to Franz tying up Gil in the ropes and preparing to charge him. The referee warns him off and while they are discussing the pros and cons of such tactics in the corner a chime goes possibly indicating the time limit expiring. Franz raises his hands in triumph, the crowd applauds. End of match.Cut to a lady wrestler on the same show making her entrance. Clip ends. A good mix of old fashioned face/heel shenanigans and the Old School leverage style of Chall, Dieter, Bock etc. Nice to get away from the glamour and swagger of the big city Germany/Austria tournaments and see a small town wrestling show.

Hopefully this should be a pallette cleanser, short but sweet Skill and Speed bout. From just over a month before The Final Bell. It'a one fall bout joined in progress round 1. Straight down to work, Nipper gets a rear waistlock into rear snapmare in to crosspress but Kidd bridges out. Eddie gets a leg but Kidd rolls himself into the figure four Gotch toehold and rolls out. Kidd gets an armbar, Riley needs two rolls to get up but when he does, snatches Kid's arm and forces a high whip and bump. They finger Interlock but Johnny breaks one half and slides in behind Eddie for a folding press, gently colliding with referee Ken Joyce (Kidd's trainer) who isn't too bothered. Kidd gets double legs and legspread on Riley but the bell goes. Johnny sportingly resets Riley's legs and helps him up. They shake hands and get a round of applause. Round 2 Kidd gets a standing full nelson, spins him round into a side chancery throw, gets in behind his man for a further nelson but only gets a 2 count. Riley lunges and doubles up Kidd and plants an elbowsmash in his upper back. Riley gets a wristlever in the corner and prepares to post Kidd but Kidd slips the arm over his head to take control andposts Riley, but Riley takes the impact on his foot, spins 180 and darts down and through Kidd's legs . Riley gets a finger Interlock, pulls down and steps over one arm to form two rear wristlocks (surfboard component) then drops into the arm stretch. Kidd rolls backward and Riley clamps his legs down in a bridging folding press but Kidd untucks his head in time and crawls away. Eddie gets a headlock but Johnny stretches it into a wristlever. He whips Nipper into the ropes. Nipper rebounds with a sunset flip but leaps too high and Kidd moves to the side, leaving Eddie to take a backdrop-type bump for an 8 count. Capitalising on the impact to the back, Johnny puts Eddie in an over the shoulder backbreaker but Eddie forces the grip open, lands feet first and rebounds with what looks like a bodycheck (hard to tell as the cameras change at just the crucial moment.) Both men are floored. They get up, Kidd charges Riley but he throws Kidd who goes over the top rope but lands well and climbs back in. He slips right behind Riley into a side folding press but Nipper scuttles out. They finger Interlock and Kidd rolls backward to make it a crossed finger interlock. Riley switches to one arm of Kidd's, getting a hammerlock, turning his man over and into the mat in the guard and slipping on a headscissors. Kidd turns the scissors upright and easily slides his head out, Kidd just as easily pushes it back in again. So instead Kidd puts a foot on Riley 's crossed feet to push himself fully upright as he uncorks his head. Finger Interlock and Kidd switches from there to abdominal stretch. Riley resists and Kidd switches to a rear double leg takedown just as the bell goes. Round 3. Riley gets a side chancery but Kidd backs into the ropes. Kidd gets a single leg into toe and ankle but Riley snips off and Kidd, to go with the momentum, has to somersault and take a bump. Riley twice whips him off the ropes and both times trips him down with his instep. He delivers a side chancery throw and a vertical splash (like Earthquake but quicker and sharper. It's just too bad John Tenta AFAIK never saw this bout.). Riley gets a headlock but Kidd extracts an arm, whips Riley into the ropes and aims but misses with a dropkick for his rebounding opponent. Riley posts Kidd but this time it's Kidd who takes it sole first, rounds and shoots through the legs (as Riley did in round 2) , gets a double legs takedown but gets spun out again but makes a feet first landing, bounces his man off the ropes, leapfrogs him on the first pass, then Riley goes behind for a folding press but Kidd grabs the legs of Nipper, clamps down in a double leg folding press and gets the one fall required. Aaah, now that's a refresh after all those repetitive throws and firearms of the Schmidt/Bayle Vs Ramirez/Wherle match and the various strength and brawling bouts I've reviewed lately. More interesting detail in those 7min 40secs than in some half hour clips of recent.

This bout confused me the first time I saw it as I was used to Schmidt as a heel from throughout the 70s so I assumed Bayle had gone heel too, especially considering considering the decidedly thuggish looking Blousson Noir he is wearing. In fact the big heavyset boys in red are Les Bons. I should have guessed since Paco was the mechant in 1979 against a young pre Flesh Gordon Gerard Herve. The first hint is when .Les Mechants, especially Paco, refuse a handshake from Daniel and Remy. Ramirez was Spanish but doing a Mexican gimmick with a whip. Where, we learn, had a day job as chauffeur and bodyguard to a French cabinet minister. Ramirez goes for the ropes every time Bayle gets a hold such as a hammerlock on, although this does not generate much crowd heat. Bayle does name amends with a high whip and bump followed by two side chancery throws then tagging Schmidt. Daniel armdrags Paco a few times before slapping on headscissors. He takes a wrist to stop Paco turning and escaping. He even turns the hold into across headscissor to exert more pressure. Ramirez fights back with a legscissor into Indian Death Lock. Wherle tags in. He spins out of Daniel's Boston Crab. But he soon had an armbar on Wherle. He tries a further nelson and shoulder press but one gets a 1. Both men trade armlocks. With Wherele in, this becomes throws. Bayle tries a backslide but only gets 1, then they both tag. Paco whips Schmidt into the ropes and headbutts his ribs on the rebound. Wherle slams Schmidt in an armbar!!! He advanced this to an armscissor. The heavy Schmidt backflips out of an armbar! He tags Bayle who gets a seated rear chinlock on Wherle. Paco runs in the ring and kicks Bayle earning himself a first Avertisement. Where gets up and gets the hold up top wristlock level before armdragging his man back down. Ramirez again interferes, grabbing and stretching Bayle's leg.. No public warning this time. Paco tags in. He has snapmares, guillotine elbowsmashes and more armdrags. He uncovers a corner and posts Remy in it which gets some heat. Paco get a full nelson but Remy powers out, slams and splashes the lighter Paco for a first fall. Paco insists that it was only a 2 and has a long argument with L'Arbitre and the commentator too about this that gets him nowhere. Deuxieme Manche - Paco gets a single leg into a legscissor. He switches briefly to a toehold then back. Bayle chops him in the face which the commentator thinks is a bit much ("ah c'est desagreable, ca!"). Both sides tag and a Manchette war breaks out. Wherle ends up at ringside but comes back to get a legdive into legscissor. Schmidt counters with a chinlock, eventually freeing his legs and advancing his own hold up into a standing side headlock. Wherle Manchettes his way out at the manchette war continues. Schmidt briefly tries a side chancery but the rain of forearms makes him forsake it. Remy tags in and stomps away at Paco until L'Arbitre warns him off. Paco is not happy, pointing and complaining. He gets a snapmare and chinlock on Schmidt, choking him on the ropes. Schmidt throws Paco over the ropes but Paco takes the referee with him. Wherle in the ring gets a grovit on Bayle who Manchettes his way out. Bayle ends up in the heels corner where Paco stretches his ears like British blue eyes often did to Mick McManus. Both sides tag and there are more Manchettes. Paco is ties in the ropes and horizontally splashed by both Bons. Schmidt slingshots Wherle into the top rope. Les Bons use him to ram the still tied up Paco. Finally Schmidt cross buttock throws and presses Wherle for the second straight fall and the 2-0 win with Paco STILL in the ropes. He complains even more, accusing the fans of being racist (shades of "Scottish" Marc O Connor's "Is this the French rules?" Speech in 1977.) but to no avail. The first two thirds are a strength rather than skill contest, after that it becomes a brawl. 1980s Remy Bayle reminds me a lot of 1980s Mick McMichael Of Doncaster even if it's just the stockier figure.