David Mantell

And is that the same Achim Chall Vs Caswell Martin bout as this one?

Where can we (I) go see these?

FAO all those who said 22:30h was a lousy timeslot (even if it WAS on A2 directly before the main evening news without a commercial break in between). Some horror stories from the American territories:

Short bout, only one fall and we join it in round 3. Bond looks like he is doing something untowards but the audience aren't too bothered. Steele tries an over the shoulder arm lever (should have tried over head with a taller man like Bond) and a hammerlock, but Bond easily rolls off then rides Steele to the mat in a hammerlock of his own. Steele gets Bond in a fireman's carry then places him in the corner. Steele gets a side chancery but the bell goes before he can do anything about it. Round 4 - Steele gets a legdive into leglock.He does some weakeners on it, then starts over after getting a leg from Bond but being unable to progress it further. Bond gets a side chancery. Steele untwists to am armbar then a side chancery of his own. He switches to a posting but Bond reverses it. After headbutting Bond's ribs but coming off the worst for it, he tries a flying bodypress and gets slammed by Bond. But Steele catches Bond with a ground dropkick. Bond returns the favour on Steele. Steele catches Bond coming off the ropes and nails him with a forearm smash. On the next rebound Bond gets a leg dive but Steele gets the reverse waistlock looking to progress to a piledriver but not getting it. Stalemate, reset. Steele gets a posting for a 7 count. He then slams and cross presses Bond for the one fall required. The two shake hands. Another heavyweight bout but better than Zarak Vs Siki or Eagle Vs Bayle on the French thread or even Dieter Sr versus Bull Power on the German thread. It's a pity it was just the final stages, the early rounds were probably really fine and technical.

Official video. Dignitaries include Owen Hart. Also check out Stax doing Opera.

This was the follow-up match You know the Daddy tag formula by now. Zuppi gets unmasked at the end but covers his face to hide that it's former referee Martin Warren. Unable to see due to this. a referee actually has to guide him to the exit. Kate gets the Daddy treatment. Wilkie is a lot less interesting than Kamikaze. Johnny Kidd steals whatever show there is - including a fabulous rolling press on Wilkie for the second straight fall, but he doesn't have a fantastic foil like he had in Kamikaze in the earlier bout. Zuppi would get some more of the same as one of Dai Dihyrin on Reslo on S4C. Good Northern insult by Daddy to Kate at the end "Get back to where ye come from! Get on yer way"

Two matches in under 25min. The room might be a bit bigger than it looks, we are facing a narrow wedge backing onto a wall opposite the hardcam. Later the camera turns and we see a bigger gymnasium with indoor soccer goals and dirty dark green wall panels held with metal joists. We start with Siki, the French JYD against the hated Batman turned villain. Sik in the corner side chancery throws Zarak and chops him while holding him underhook. He gets up and delivers an armbar taken over the head then splashed on. He has one arm, secures the other and turns the masked man into a further nelson fortdo lots of 2. Zarak drops an elbow somewhere dubious to get the break. He stands and floors Siki with a Manchette and kneelift. Zarak pummels Siki on the ropes and gets an Avertisement.He gets a grovit, rear snapmare, body check, runs over the top of Siki but then Siki leapfrogs him and gets a dropkick. Zarak gets a headbutt, posting and long Suplex. He crosspresses for two but Zarak kicks out. Zarak regains his heat with chops and a knee. It's a bit of a brawl til Siki gets a snapmare and upper surfboards He has a go at the mask but the ref pulls him off.bythe ears. Zarak regains control with a snapmare and kneedrop. Zarak kicks his way out of an arm lock. He has Siki on the ropes. Siki fights back but soon has his man in the corner. The referee again tries to restrain Siki and Zarak again let's rip with offence of his own. Siki headbutts Zarak who stays down for 7. Siki has a double top wristlock. He undies it and shakes Zarak s arm as an arm weakener. Zarak gets a front grovit. Siki fist-heels Zarak in the ribs. It's turning into a boxing match and the referee doesn't like it. Zarak dodges a legdive and corners Siki, pounding on his back. The ref earns him off and they brawl a bit until Siki gets an armbar and smashes the masked man down. He stomps him on the mat and traps him on the mat by the ropes. They brawl on. Siki gets the snapmare and chinlock. He has the mask strings undone. Referee pulls him off. Zarak gets a slam and crosspress for the one required fall. Very OJ friendly brawl . Few good moves other than some good rear snapmares. Simple heavyweight strength fight - streetwise Bon Vs Masked Mechant. Junkyard Dog Vs Masked Superstar for Euro TV. Golden Eagle comes in. gives his brother Man Of Mystery a big hug. They will be partying tonight about this one at the parts unknown Masked Ball. Eagle has a red cape and looks like a heel Mil Mascaras. Or a solitary solo Falcon d'Or. A very potbellied Remy Bayle comes in in a white sweater. I struggle to recall what he looked like young in the bouts above, but as I said re Aledo, Flesh Gordon has nothing to be ashamed of. He has a double strap red leotard on underneath. Maybe not so bad, more 1980s Mick McMichael Of Doncaster. Ref, mindful of the last bout, warns Bayle not to mess with the mask. Ring canvas is dark green to match the end wall of the venue. Golden Eagle bodychecks Bayle but gets backdropped, taking quite a bump. They throw each other, Bayle takes it well and rolls upright, Eagle lands messily with a bump. Baylectries another throw but Eagle takes him down with a legdive andv leglock. He switches to armlock. Bayle kips up and tries for a suplex but struggles with the masked man. Eagle gets the slam and resumes the mat armlock. Bayle tries getting up for something in the arm bar but has to roll and bump on the mat. So it's back to the armlock. Eagle counters another Bayle get-up with a concealed kidney punch. And so the hold goes on. Eagle adds a knee to the head. Bayle gets an arm but Eagle gets the ropes forcing a break. Eagle gets a standing full nelson. Bayle flexes his way out. They have a finger Interlock into top wristlock which Bayle clumsily throws of. Eagle gets another armbar. Bayle gets to the ropes and flings him off. Eagle whips Bayle to the ropes and chops him on the rebound. His kicks to the fallen Bayle do little except interrupt the KO country. More chops and attacks in the corner see L'Arbitre pull him off. He manchettes and pressure points his man back to the corner and the ref orders him off again. Bayle gets a manchette of his own BT misses with a second and Eagle takes him down with a second. This becomes a more respectable front headlock. Bayle gets his man in a Fireman's carry. The ref tries to stop him pitching the Eagle to ringside and ends up pushing them both down with Eagle on top in a cross press. And so back to the headlock. Bayle elbows and Manchettes his way out. Eagle corners him and goes back to work on the fouls . Another telling off from Monsieur L'Arbitre. Eagle is very cocky, swaggering around, pointing up That's The Way To Do It, inciting heat with this. He gets a rear snapmare and pressure points, almost a choke. He stomps Bayle, chokes him on the ropes. Bayle rear snapmares Eagle over the ropes to ringside, nearly taking the ref with him but Eagle lands on his feet. He stomps back in to a manchette, kneelift and cornering of his own from Bayle. Bayle also gets a snapmare and chinlock but hecalsongets the Avertisement that surely Eagle deserved? Annoyed, he starts to unlace the mask. Eagle steps out to the ring apron but is snapmared back. The crowd are chanting for LavKagoule and Baylectries to oblige but L'Arbitre tries to pulls him off. By the time the ref gets Bayle off. Eagle is in the corner, mask half mast. Nonetheless he comes right back with another standing full nelson. then slams his head in the corner, then an uncovered second corner. Eagle continues work as a second puts the corner pad back (dangerous work especially when a crazed villain wants it uncovered.) L'Arbitre again tells off Eagle who wanders off ignoring it like an insolent schoolboy, then gets another full nelson. Bayle breaks the hold, slams Eagle's head in the corner and generally bashed him a.round. He gets double legs into a slingshot into the corner and goes back to work on La Kagoule and gets it off! A balding dark haired man tries to cover his face as Bayle tries to stop L'Arbitre grabbing the mask back. The ref eventually snatched it and puts it on Eagle who has Benn crouching down in the standard position for unmasked masked wrestlers in France waiting for L'Arbitre to remark them. He posts and bea.ts on Bayle but Bayle posts him and manchettes and posts him again. Eagle gets a kidney punch but misses a charge into the ropes and is sprung back on the mat where Bayle splashes and pins him to win. Eagle protests, Bayle celebrates and so does some Mec in the crowd in a traditional French stripy shirt (no beret or necktie mercifully.) And then comes the evening news. Two people have been arrested on terrorism charges. Probably that pesky Action Direct. This was the better of the two bouts with a bit more variety to it. Neither were technical classics. They were strength heavyweight slug and punch bouts. Germany would have loved them.

One of the two OAPs "Only One Shooter Here" Dieter Senior has a short OJ-friendly brawl with the future Vader, only months after he was the squeaky clean Babyface Bull in the AWA that was tipped to threaten Stan Hansen (before Bocky got Verne from the office to hand it to him on a silver platter. A few minutes of slug and punch, throwing each other over the top rope, ringside brawl obstructed by the crowd and Leon chairs hitting Axel to get a First Yellow card then Axel low blowing Bull Power to get a summary red card. At least the picture quality is better than the 1980 videos - hi gen source from near to ringside spoiled only by spectators getting up to watch the ringside brawl.

From the same Graz 1980 tournament. No identity issues here. Music is Leader .of The Gang by a notorious sex offender. Rene as ever in the black and gold jacket. They lock up. They break off. Lock up and end up on the ropes. Bobby headbutts Rene. and throws him outside. Rene tries for a pin but gets two. He pounds on Bobby, gets a heädlock. Another lockup Bobbyy turns bad for Rene, Bobby gets p in a triable sleeperhold. Plenty of Rene cstruttng his stuff around. Rene is back on the attack, pounding Bobby. Rene is powering Rene dominating Bobby. Bobby takes control. Threatens to Fireman's carry thé We get some crowd shots. Gaetano punches and heaves Rene out. A round bee Bobby finishes big Rene with a missile dropkick. Lots of stuff is chopped. Rene tombstones Bobby for thecwin. Hard work to watch. Not so bad as the tag bout though. Even some wrestling skill at play

Well look, as far as we know there were no masked Kamikazes in Germany/Austria so we just have to make do. Villains versus OAPs - happens all the time in the mean streets. The OAPs are Achim Chall plus the man Orig Williams claimed to be Mile Zrno's trainer Charlie Verhulst. The Villains are hardy perennial of Teutonic Heeling Klaus Kauroff plus one Do Johnny El Corso who we last saw being ritually flogged by Roland Bock some time in the mid to late 70s. Sadly this is one of those very shaky July 1980 Graz camcordings. Almost as worn out as Achim and Charley. They both look like Verne Gagne on a bad day so excuse me for not telling them apart. An OAP takes a kicking then gets one back from first Kauroff the El Corso. An OAP gets double teamed by the villains in their corner. The crowd gives the bird like a badly tuned radio. The referee gets knocked down. The villains nurse him back to health. They then ask him to DQ the OAPs or Something. It all grinds to a halt Kauroff holds an OAP while Corso forearm smashes him. They try it with the other OAP who dropkicks Corso, shrugs off and rear dropkicks Kauroff and hot tags the other OAP who goes on a dropkicking spree.Both villains end up at ringside. An OAP escapes a Corso headlock and takes him down into a Hammerlock on the mat. He gets up and Bionic Elbows Corso. He snapmares and spin stamps Kauroff. An OAP pounds Corso on the mat. The villains double team him. El Corso is upside down in the corner Tree Of Woe style and the other three are brawling. Someone is DQ'd but I'm not sure who. End of clip. Well I tried .

There was one other Kamikaze in British Wrestling - the Lavender Ninja of the Big Daddy show of the early 90s. This is from the 1990 Aberdeen taping for .Grampian and STV. I think this might be Johnny Adams - aka Johnny Angel. Doctor Death and Masked Undertaker Gloom. Two years after this in 1992 this Kamikaze appears in a solo match plus a battle royal on the Crabtrees' 1992 Battle of the Brits video. I've got it on DVD but if ioon YouTube it's not as a standalone video. Kamikaze teams with Anaconda who wears a sailor's hat like Popeye. Klondyke Kate is very proud of her involvement in the top tag matches of the taping. The villains get Dadied - this Kamikaze can REALLY bounce around to sell. He throws Johnny Kidd and Kidd throws him and they can both roll with the throws and handspring with them too. Kidd gets a dropkick.and posting but Kamikaze takes it well and comes back with a forearm. Kamikaze has a fantastic double arm chop. Kidd Bloks it with a scissor chop and dries of headbutts of his own. Anaconda and Kamikaze gets squashed by Daddy. Kamikaze can do dirty too, a well concealed punch and pressure points. Kidd chops him and Anaconda leading Daddy in for another foursome except the heels both scarper when Daddy gets in. Daddy, Anaconda and Kamike all get First Public Warnings for double creams. Kamikaze gives Kidd the Sgt Slaughter noogie and tags Absconds who gets heat. Daddy tags and bounces both villains around as is his wont. Anaconda beats down Kidd and gets heat. He gets a backbreaker submission but it is disallowed as Kamikaze was holding on to Kidd's feet. Daddy gets a second and final Public Warning for his slapstick hitting of Kamikaze with the traditional plastic bucket. Anaconda dominates Kid until he tags Daddy who does his usual on Anaconda culminating in the splash for the official opening fall. Kamikaze also gets a second and final Public Warning for using the tag rope as a tourniquet on Kidd. The villains take their corner pad off but Daddy posts Anaconda into it and he rolls out. Daddy twice posts Kamikaze then does his Double Elbows backdrop on him - the one Bret Hart said Max Crabtree would bribe opponents to take. Kamikaze takes the bump and the selling magnificently! He is pulled out by his own side and taken backstage as the count completes - KNOCKOUT!!!. Afterwards Count Von Zuppin(Martin Warren challenges Daddy who daddies Klondyke Kate just like he Daddies the boys. If you are prepared to concede that there are some curate's egg good bits in a Big Daddy tag between the blue eyed tag partner and lighter heel then you should appreciate the Kamikaze Vs Johnny Kidd bits of this Daddy tag. I would love to see the solo bout.

Ian Gilmour's Kamikaze had two other TV bouts. A tag DQ win with Ron Marino over The Rockers (Pete Lapaque and Tommy Lorne) and this one. The aim was clearly to turn Gilmour into the new Kung Fu. @JNLister this looks like more raw footage as Kent Walton does a sound test at the start. Breaks is of course not a champion hence his heat garnering exercise at the start. Referee is Gilmour's old Barons tag partner (in both Britain and France Round 1, Gilmour easily slips out of two side headlocks and flails his way out of a legdive. Slippy customer. Another Headlock get reversed into an armbar. Jim rolls and kips up in two stages to escape. Kamikaze gets a small package for 2. He back out of a chinlock into a knee press and delivers a double ankles to Breaks' head He converts a side headlock into a grapevine and armbars. He goes from arm to arm to a throw. Gilmour gets a hammerlock, Breaks boots him into the ropes but he comes back past in a Kamikaze gets a figure 4 top wristlock Breaks tries bridging and gets a front chancery but Gilmour spins him off. Breaks rolls away nicely. Breaks gets a leg and single toe hold. Kamikaze spins him off. Gilmour gets an armbar into side chancery throw, then a standing full nelson. Breaks makes the ropes but Gilmour manages another side chancery throw and single stomp. Breaks is still selling this when Kamikaze delivers a slap to the face. Annoyed, Breaks roughs up the masked man during a headlock. He takes Kamikaze down with pressure points. Kamikaze reaches with his leg for the top rope so Jim moves to an upright position where Kamikaze breaks free of Breaks with chops and a dropkick. Breaks goes from front chancery to armbars the other side and begins to behind it intomthe Breaks special. Kamikaze bashes him on the back of the head as the bell rings. Round 2 Breaks takes his man down in a grovit. He holds on even when Gilmour turns it upright. Jim hasn't quite got it right, the left hand should be on the shoulder says Kent. Kamikaze forces the hold open. Breaks gets his own full nelson but the masked man rears into him to break the hold then floors him with two chops and a kneelift. Breaks throws a strop and while he is distracted Kamikaze comes in from behind with a reverse flying double leg nelson into a folding press for the opening fall. Cut to Round 4. Breaks has the arm extended and tried for his Special . He gets it again and illegally bends it around a rope. Breaks goes front chancery into Breaks special. Kamikaze turns it into a whip but misses with a follow up dropkick. He gets in a stomp (and a private warning) before getting the Breaks special for the equalising submission but a second and final public warning also. Round 5. Jim is tempted by a seemingly unguarded hand and gets two karate kicks for his pains. Kamikaze gets an armbar. Breaks reverses it to one of his own with a clear view to.getting another Breaks Special but Kamikaze rolls out, rolls back and clips Breaks with a boot. Breaks starts to get the move on again but Kamikaze counters with a flying arm hank, a whip, a chop and .. he misses the ropes and goes to the floor. The bell goes for TKO. OJ won't like that last bit so note what happens next. Any good sporting blue eyes would refuse such a win of course. MC Max Crabtree asks Jim if he'd like to be a gentleman about it and refuse the victory. And Jim, like the HORRIBLE LITTLE MAN that he is replies certainly not and takes the win. And that, kids is how you get heat. Kamikaze wasn't really the martial artist Kung Fu was (well Ian Gilmour was nowhere near the martial artist Eddie Hammill was!). His chief weapon. like the Spanish Inquisition, was surprise. Sudden jumpy movements. One jumpy movement too many was his undoing this time.

Well I liked Kamikaze when I watched this bout when I was eight. I especially loved the grinning slanty eyed mask - we had a can of rust repellent in the garage with a similar scary grinning face on it. Kamikaze was Ian Gilmour repackaged as an update on Kung Fu Eddie Hamill. (Clive Myers also started Iron Fist as a martial arts masked good guy- not on TV though.) The Jim .Breaks match (with him in his dark green top from his "Scotsmen" stint with Finlay on French TV 1980) is probably a better vehicle for the character. He gets his couple of minutes then Kaye gets a TKO and like a real good old villain accepts it. I liked as a kid how Kaye got scared of the scary mask! Booting up this bout of Ian Gilmour's Kamikaze as we have been discussing Modesto Aledo's version on the French Catch thread.

Or possibly copied at the time from a master tape and the copy taken home? Unless there was a very rich fan who owned a pre U-Matic pre 1975 VCR, the likeliest bet is that this copy was made from an archive tape reel a few years after broadcast, say one of the earliest VHS/Betamax machines in 1978. It's not a modern copy, there are better quality off air VHS recordings of mid/late 80s matches. I've seen off air World Of Sport recordings from 1975, some even with bits of advertisements eg Kendo Nagasaki Vs Jamaica Kid, summer 1975

It did! If Aug 92 was WM40 with Cody beating Roman. HH91 was WM39 with Roman beating Cody. Remember they were still building Luger up as a heel champion.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ur6ec Posted as a link as Daily motion video embeds hang up on loading. I've had this problem before.

There have been two versions uploaded to YouTube ( @Matt D's channel and a version on Bob Plantin's Channel missing IIRC the last ten minutes. July 1976, the summer of Ali-Inoki in Japan, Bruno-Hansen at Shea Stadium. and McManus &Logan versus Kendo Nagasaki and George Gillette at the Royal Albert Hall. Samurai is not Kendo Nagasaki (nor Rex Strong) he is just a generic masked man with a vaguely Japanese gimmick. The crowd get a chant of Mama Doux Mais Mais going early and Bordes and Bouvet ear dance to it. Samurai can take throws really well "Il est souple, ce Samurai" notes the commentator. After falling victim to a snapmare and headbutt to the chest, Samurai tags in Payen to face Bouvet who soon tags Bouvet who has even better escapes than Samurai, cartwheeling and handspringing his way out of hard bump situations. He hiptosses Payen and ducks a charge to leave him flying out of the ring. Bouvet tries for a folding press but it ends up in Bascule stalemate. Perhaps this Samurai is a normal Bon moonlighting as a Mechant. Bordes goes arm to arm to side headlock then up for a hiptoss. He keeps the headlock during rope runs and an atomic drop attempt by Samurai. Some fans are already calling for "LA CAGOULE!" to be pulled off. Samurai gets a rear snapmare into headlock but Bouvet slips out to leave a hammerlock. Payen tags. side chancery throws and misses a kneedrop. Bouvet and Payen have a great sequence of reversing each others throws, suplexes and backdrops. Bouvet in can transition from a standing armbar to low flying headscissors takedown on a forward bowing Payen. Samurai has a cross handed grovit he uses on Bordes. When Bordes fires him away using the ropes., he rolls away smoothly and comes back up with a chop. Samurai misses a charge and tags Payen. He and Bordes have some fine back and forth sequences. Payen throws Bouvet over the top rope but Bouvet hangs on the ropes , pulls himself back and flying sciccor throws Payen out. Payen takes his time coming back, Bouvet gets a rolling legdive into standing toehold. Bordes tags in, he can do the handsprings and cartwheels as well as his partner. And the Scisseaux Volees and Says Chasses. Samurai gets dumped to ringside where he gets into a shoving match with Coudec at ringside. When he gets slung out again, he bows and shakes hands with Couderc but Couderc then shoves him in the back. Bouvet goes down in a finger Interlock test of strength but then swivels round to turn it into a great Japanese Stranglehold on Payen. Payen tries to throw him and ends up with the hold running between Bouvet's legs and makes him flip out then applies the hold to him. Bouvet more simply undresses the hold and steps out of it like Johnny Saint might do. Bordes also gets the Japanese Stranglehold and briefly gets a surfboard but it all topples sideways. Payen uses a hairpull to flip out of the stranglehold but Bordes catches him with double ankles to the head. It gets a bit more chops kicks and dirties from now on. Samurai ha a front neck crank, Bouvet knees him in the head. The villains best Bouvet in a corner and double team him in their corner. Bordes has a Toe hold/grapevine on Payen, Samurai pulls him over. Payen now dominates the hold. Les Bons start to disregard tagging rules although still performing great dropkicks and side chancery throws. Bouvet ejects both Mechants. He cartwheels over the top of Payen's back and gets the opening fall with a fisherman's suplex. Bouvet looks like he's going for a toupie but makes it a kick at the last second. Bordes gets knockedout the ring a couple of times, the second time landing DEEP among the spectators. Bouvet rolls his partner back in. The heels continue to work on Bordes. He tags Bouvet but the ref doesn't see the spot. Bouvet tags in and goes for the mask. The ref pulls him off and Payen tags. It's more of a brawl at this point. The heels regain control and double team with Manchettes and chops. Payen gets the cross buttock and pin on Bouvet for the equaliser, Bouvet bridging up just too late or so the referee reckons. Bordes disagrees but to no avail. Samurai waves to the crowd like he's the Pope. Belle goes for la Belle. (I love silly cross-lingual puns, don't you?). Payen gets cross hand grovit into full nelson. Bouvet is in a bad way until he tags Bordes who dropkicks both Mechants out the ring and Manchettes them soundly. Samurai tags but is reluctant to get in. He tries a blindside but Bordes and ars and Manchettes him, side chancery throws him then has another go at the mask. The laces are hanging loose. Both heels are tied in the ropes and Bouvet starts dropkicking them. The ref tries to stop things and Bouvet threatens to punch him but thinks better of it and tags Bordes. Heels are still hogtied. Payen gets free but Bordes slingshots him into Samurai. Samurai too gets free and tags in but takes Payen's diet of Manchettes etc. samurai nearly gets a crafty folding press but Bouvet chops him and rolls out of harm's way. From the corner, Bouvet gets body scissors, single heel smash and kick on Samurai. Samurai gets Bouvet in cross handed grovit in the corner. Bouvet claims upwards to escape and fires a missile dropkick. Both sides tag. Payen gets beaten until he rolls to ringside. He bulldogs/flying headscisssors his opponents, initially botching the scissors on Samurai before he gets the hold. He posts Samurai who posts back but Bouvet leaps up on the top turnbuckle with a flying bodypress for the deciding fall. Much better than the Mercier/ Kamikaze bout, fast as Corne Vs Bayle but less repetitive and with good intelligent reversals and transitions. Samurai and Payen knew their technical wrestling as well as Les Bons did and held their end up well.

Is that him? There were a couple of Old Man Masks in Memphis, one in 1982 who tagged with Kaufman and another in about 1990 in the USWA - called the Bruiser IIRC. To be fair the Exorcist on World of Sport 1974/1975 is hard to reconcile with the nice Clayton Thompson who fought Tony StClair in 1967.

We have seen one bout that was unambiguously Modesto Aledo:

We've seen this unmasked Kamikaze already once against Nicholas Priory. I'll take your word for it that this is Modesto Aledo - what is the evidence other than that Aledo played the original Kamikaze a decade earlier? If it's the real Modesto, and he has simply grown Old, Fat, Bald and Tubby then a lot of people owe a sincere apology to Flesh Gordon! Kamikaze gets down to work with a headlock/strangle similar to the Million Dollar Dream. He spends a lot of time lurching around in a crouching position. He uses pressure points, Mercier uses a ground top wristlock and other slow holds like and Indian Deathlock. can, Kamikaze does turn and bump. Nearly 12 minutes in we look like we're getting something, a toupie to roll up Kami's arm hank, but he keeps keeping over an eventually opts for other tactics. Kamikaze drops two chops on Guy from a height and gets a Second and Final Avertisement. I don't recall him getting the first one. Guy spends a lot of time selling on the mat. He gets three dropkicks in a row. Kamikaze gets a bodycheck and resumes chopping. He is twice in danger of DQ, once from too many chops then from hitting referee Charley Bollet before finally getting sent to the dressing room for leaving Mercier unconscious. Afterwards in a promo Guy says he is a very tough opponent and reminds him of someone he faced in Germany. Slow. (Whreas last night's bout was too fast for the wrestlers to do anything but repeat moves over and over.) None of even the Kamikaze gimmick's trademark tricks like the catapult back in.

One odd thing about the picture. There is a light haze in the background except the outline of figures like the MC at the start which has an aura of black surrounding the. Both men are a lot lighter than later on - food for thought when we consider Flesh Gordon the skinny kid in 1983-1985 to Flesh the chunkier guy on Eurosport.. Apparently this is some sort of title match. It's hard to keep track of which is which so I'll just focus on standout moves. Starts off with far flying throws. Corn has Bayle down in a side headlock, Bayle wedge s out. They flip in back and forth between crossed finger interlock holds. Bayle and Corne both bridge up from rear inverted s. Snapmares - DDP Diamond. Cutter basically. They similarly go into hiptoss flipping over and over countering each other's throw., and that's how it goes on. They also roll backwards from arm lever as well as the more characteristically French headscissor takedown counter to armbars.Even down in Gotch toehold they slide along like a clockwork toy, the man underneath turning the man on top over with one arm then the man in top reaching backward to reclaim the hold. They tend to backrolls rather than flip when doing down from a top,wristlock. A bit of a Manchette contest breaks out 2/3 through but ends as soon as it began, to be replaced by taking quick turns with rear snapmares. Things do slow down with an Indian Death lock which becomes a bodyscissors. Quite a lot of possibilities with the bodyscissors are worked through. Plenty of speed in this bout but not many ideas. Repetitive under analysis but energetic enough to watch in real time. As OJ mentioned, it cuts out mid move so we never see who won although I was having trouble keeping up with who was who. With the ending and with a better ability to keep track of which catcheur was which I could have done this bout more justice.

If the 1994 bouts Sign squad is posting seem top heavy in American talent, somit always was. Here is the future Colonel DeBeers and former Polish Prince in action again local Michael Schneider. We get a brief shot of a Ringerparade then on to our bout. Ed is wearing a big grey cowboy hat just like Adrian Adonis wore in the AWA. Fans give him The Bird. Schneider gets clapped. Schneider gets some throws on Ed after taking one himself. Ed and Mike exchange slams and hiptosses. Ed gets an armbar, develops it into a hammerlock Mike after several goes, backdrops Ed. Angry, he gets a standing side headlock into cross buttock throw into mat side headlock. Mike pushes up so Ed cross buttocks him down again. They roll in the hold. Mike somehow breaks it open (the ref is in the way of the camera) and gets an armbar. Ed can't do rollouts although he adopts the starting position for one. He connects his free hand to Mike's and tries to slip on a semi Japanese Stranglehold. Mike throws him over in the finger lock, down in a seated hold e can't quite see. Ed reaches the ropes. Ed gets a full nelson. (What is that VIEDERKOMPF thing German fans chant at heels? Mike tries throwing him overhead. It takes FIVE attempts before he succeeds. See what I mean about the Laboured, procrastinating style of German/Austrian wrestling before Steve Wright changed things. (See also Mike earlier finally breaking the heädlock.). Wiskoski gets a wristlock and drops toehold into rear chinlock in the mount. Mike stands and switches it into a hammerlock, Ed reaches the ropes. They lock up and Ed gets a couple of blows in as the round ends. Ref and MC tell Ed off a lot, DJ plays a slow boogie woogie song in German. Round 2: Schneider batters Wiskoski into the corner with forearms. Mike posts Ed who comes back with a knee and a jab to the throat. More stomps and illegal punches follow. Then come the rope powered corner stomps which earn Ed a First Yellow Card. (MC translates it as Public Warning for Ed even though he is an American and probably doesn't know what a public warning is.) Ed runs Mike's eyes along the tope rope (nasty foul). Rear snapmare and stomp all one move so allowed. Mike hits back but Ed knees him down. BRAZEN closed fist punch in front of the ref. More foul beat down still only gets Ed a private warning. Mike from nowhere gets a legdive and standing toehold. Ed kicks him in the stomach. He continues to pound down on Mike in the corner. Still no second and final but the MC says something to Wiskoski that makes fans very happy. Kneelift from Ed. He gets Mike down and does a sawing motion to his throat which the referee dislikes and forcibly breaks up. Mike gets a cross buttock press into armbar, Ed replies with a ground dropkick. Bell goes for round. Ed gets a bionic elbow in between rounds. German Euro disco track plays. Round 3: Ed gets a kick and a cross buttock but Mike rolls through (astonishingly for a German) and gets a shove and flurry of forearms while fell Ed, He goes to the corner and begs for mercy but Mike follows in with knees and another forearm which fells Wiskoski. Ed gets a low blow and a red card. Either the low blow was just too much or hecdid get his second and final earlier, perhaps at the end of the last round, and the video didn't quite capture it. Ed isn't satisfied and carries on beating down on Mike. He leaps to ringside, raises his arms in moral victory as if to say he's won the fight if not the decision Nd leaves to a chorus of THE BIRD. Referee helps Mike up and proclaims him winner. Two next guys come to the ring, The Good The Bad and The Ugly theme by Ennio Morricone plays. Not much science and what there was was the slow methodical Old German style. I expect OJ will like the brawling however.

Round 1 JIP: Kate down on the mat with a leglock into legscissor. Splashes the knee as a weakener then goes back to legscissor twice.More leg weakeners and scissor. Blair tries facebarr, avoids splash, posts and entraps Kate, charges her twice. Kate gets loose but is selling her back. Kate plays for time on the ropes. Bell goes. Round 2: Kate uses concealed punch and rope choke. Kate gets armbars, stomps hand, posts Rusty. Tries to punch Rusty's back, distraction for choking her. Knocks her down. Armbar passed overhead and elbowdropped. More blows to fallen Rusty gets Kate a First Public Warning. Kate gets a Boston Crab for the first submission. Round 3: Kate posts Rusty, gets headlock.chrages into Rusty headbutt to chest. Rusty bears her down and out of the ring and slingshots her back in.more kicks. Kate gets an elbow and kick Rusty. Kate corners and chokes her, misses a charge into the corner. Rusty splashed Kate who easily throws her off.Kate gets a concealed punch.Armbar/one arm chinlock combination. Rusty won't submit so Kate high whips her and forces a bump. Bell goes. Round 4 Kate gets Semi Japanese stranglehold. Unwinds and pulls her in for a bodycheck.Posts Rusty. Bashes her while down. Rusty absorbs posting well, comes back with headbutt to chest and flying tackle for an equalising pin. Round 5: Rusty posts, kneesmashes and corners Kate. Posts and concealed punches Kate, ref John Harris is suspicious. Kate gets a chop and drop down into a throttle. Referee stops the contest and DQs Kate, although I'm not sure why. At most a Second And Final Public Warning would have sufficed? Brawling/Rulebreaking heel Vs sympathetic heel match with the odd good wrestling move thrown in.

Sunny teams up (after over a minute's title sequence) reformed character Bernie Wright to face indigo Guajaro and that nice Scottish gentlemen Dave Viking. Two minutes into the clip the bell goes and Sunny and Viking start. Viking mostly dominates until Sunny goes on a tomahawk chop rampage. Both tag. Indio has the early advantage. Annoyingly the cameraman films another cameraman (there is an actual CREW working on this???) .but Bernie eventually rolls and monkey climbs his way back to control. Indio gets a side chancery throw and bodycheck and goes over on a rope run but Bernie (the fans chant for him in a strong German accent - beeeernie!) leapfrogs .Indio and crosspresses him for 2. Both sides tag again. Sunny gets wardsncing, gets a Viking arm, tags Bernie who dropkicks the arm. He goes for a leg but the Scot bashes him down. The heels get Bernie in their corner and wrench a leg each. Twice. Three times. A fourth time. Bernie tags Sunny who chops away on both heels ferociously until Guajaro throws him out. Bernie comes in with dropkicks and restored Hope until the heels get it together to double team him. During this, Indio slams the referee and gets his side DQ'd. Bernie's bits are not as skillful or as entertaining as Saint in the last bout. It was India's heel dirtiness that brought his side down.