David Mantell

This is Julio Antonio Sofia: I think he Might be the one who tries and fails to get a Boston Crab so makes a Giant Swing of it, and does the leapfrog later.

Not sure if Luc Bejar was related to Jose Bejar a few decades earlier. He's in the second of these two matches. In the first (rather murky and filmed from upmin the lights) we see an attempted Boston Crab being foiled and a toehold close to the ropes. In the second with Bejar facing one Marco, we see a backdrop and missed dropkick, a headscissors, legspread and some good rollouts from armbars. As I've noticed, it's not done QUITE the same as in traditional British Wrestling, they keep their body at a length from the opponent , almost rolling over on their side rather than a clean forward or backwards roll. Otherwise the two just fall into the ropes and run out of mat. Can't match either of them to the photo in the Pablo Campo book.

The cheeky thing is not their actual gimmick. It's a part of their shoot personality written large. More importantly it takes a backseat to their serious technical skill and sportsmanship (and in Masambula's case the witch doctor aspect although this is discarded by the time the bell rings, a pointed difference from the likes of Papa Shango. Vic Faulkner and Mick McMichael's banter as cheeky chappy and grumpy-but-with-a-good-heart is their way of articulating their sportsmanship and mutual bonhomie. Against Johnny Saint or with Bert against the StClair brothers, Vic is simply a clean sportsmanly wrestler with a conspicuously cheerful disposition which neither opponents nor referees regard as a threat.) The two are radio DJs by trade. Being a pair of twats is a common occupational failing: I disagree with a lot of stuff they come out with but this video and the video on Big Daddy's This Is Your Life are mostly spot-on. (For anyone concerned, the AWOL university degree certificate has been located, scanned and sent to my new employer)

If you can specify parts that need explanation I can drill down further. I'm not going through the entire piece. I have to find some important documents right now and that is a bigger priority.

No French Catch Tuesday this week. Is that the end of the new bouts? (Or are you down to just the ladies'mud match from 86.) If it is then I shall just have to get back to working my way through the stockpile of old matches, probably at a weekend with my British and French reviews. Okay, let's do one. From 1973, set in OJs favourite venue, a swimming pool oh yes. Just three years after this in 1976, Caclard and Saniez would be teaming up, in snazzy trunks, in that TF1 bill filmed in colour presumably as a test since the station only went full colour a year or so later. The film print has been through the wars a bit, you can see scratches and tramlines on it. I thought the INA had cleaned the footage up? There are quite a few second-long jumps that indicate some lost frames possibly also resulting from film damage (this can be fixed with software like Gazelle as used on 1967 Doctor Who episode The Faceless Ones pt3) 1er Manche. Caclard and Hassouni are in the ring as we start, Bernard does a finger Interlock into Planchette Japonaise on KH and goes for double legs but Khader spins him off then folks with a snapmare and a long hiptoss. Caclard lands well on his feet so Khader takes him down with Scisseaux Volees. Les Berned tag and Pierre is in. He gets a finger Interlock and leans back to get a crossed headscissor that takes Hassouni down. Khader counters nicely by turning into the kneeling position, lifting his head out and making a Gotch figure four toehold from what is left. Pierre is about to roll out so Khader let's him go anyway. (A kid in the crowd shouts something and the commentator replies "yes, like he said"). Pierre gets a top wristlock takedown and briefly lets Khader up to get a better position then reels him back down. Khader bridges up and narrowly misses getting the Scisseaux Volees takedown, it slips past Bernaert's head- possibly a botch? Pierre gets a grant facelock but Hassouni forces his way up, straightens the lock into his own armbar and gets a high whip and quite a bump. Sanniez tags in. They finger Interlock which Albert reverses inton double arms from behind. Bernaert gets behind but Sanniez slips backwards through the legs and gets three dropkicks from behind. Caclard tags in and we have a battle of future tag partners. Caclard gets two armdrags and and armlock in the guard. Sanniez kips up but gets another armdrag for his troubles. Sanniez kips up and rolls backwards so Caclard give him yet another armdrags and slaps headscissors on with a wristlock. Sanniez kips out but the wrist pays off to reel him back in. Caclard leans forward to put pressure on with the headscissors. Sanniez headstands and bridges out quite beautifully. He gets a back hammerlock out of a finger Interlock, turns his man round and gets what would later be called a Powerbomb although the fact that he's not a monster like Vader or Sid undemines that aspect. Sanniez gets a rear snapmare then tags Khader back in. He gets an armbar into high whip and bump. Caclard kips up so KH gives him the whip and bump back down again. He kips up again so Khader armdrags him back down. He gets a headscissors so Khader turns it upright, folds the legs the widen them and springs out backwards. Pierre tags back in. He gets a full nelson into snapmare into chinlock but Khader gets his head out to make it a back hammer. Pierre gets a leg through his own legs put Khader pushes him off to the ropes and meets him on the rebound with a big backdrop. Pierre goes from full Interlock to single wrist forcing a backwards somersault bump. He drops knees on the bicep. Hassouni works Pierre's spine overcwith his boot and Pierre, suspicious, releases and gets away quick. He gets a top wristlock, taking Hassouni down. Hassouni is soon the main on top. Bernaert misses a headscissors He does get a single legdive but Khader kicks him off. Sanniez tags in. He gets a top wristlock but Pierre gets the better of it and makes a high whip and bump of it. They interlock and Sanniez gets a side headlock into top wristlock out of it. Bernaert tries reversing but Albert grabs a headlock. When Pierre tries an atomic drop, Albert takes him down under his own weight into a cross buttock throw. Good clap from the audiences. Sanniez maintains the headlock . Commentator tells us his is a top footballer and gymnast too. Bernaert tries another atomic drop but yet again Sanniez rolls him over in a cross buttock. Pierre tries for crossfaces but Sanniez just shrugs them off. He stands and throws off Sanniez to the ropes but Sanniez regains the hold and again throws his man back down. Sanniez lets him up a bit then goes for the rear waistlock and rolls back into a forward folding press. He Runs Out Of Mat.as Bernaert's feet hit the ropes. Pierre offers a handshake - and then pulls his man in for un Manchette, unsporting but not illegal. The science is giving over to something else, Pierre is pulling him up and slapping him down. Caclard tags in and gets a suplex. Sanniez is up at 5:but his future partner Manchettes him down. He gives him another suplex and a crafty boot to the head. Sanniez gets a surprise elbow up from the mat but Caclard boots him down again. He gets one more forearm smash then tags Bernaert. Bernaert mixes Manchettes with naughtier stuff like hair pulls and eye rakes. Khader runs in and attacks Pierre. He is escorted out while the heels double team Sanniez. Bernaert slams his head into the mat until L'Arbitre warns him off. He gets a slam for 5 and a kneelift for similar. Sanniez fight back and tags Hassouni who really lets rip with the kneelifts. It's more of a brawl now.Khader goes after both men with stomach butts and headbutts. Caclard gets a crotchhold and lift and threatens to dump Hassouni sur l'eau Sanniez protests. Caclard settles for chopping him on the middle rope and more brawling and dirties. Caclard tries for a reverse snapmare but Khader makes it an atomic drop and a fair bump. Caclard tries again and gets over and lands a Manchette to the back, dives for a headlock and misses as Hassouni gets a back hammer on the mat. Caclard kips up rather nicely but then it's back to brawling again. Bernaert is back in as Khader takes a long count. He semi Japanese Strangleholdd Khader and drags him down by the hair, keeping the hold on the mat. He gets one more chop in before contemptuously throwing the Algerian to his corner to get the tag. Sanniez is in, dodges a charge but misses a dropkick Pierre gets a finger interlock into snapmare into kneedrop and applauds himself. Another snapmare into kneedrop and he antagonizes Khader on the apron. More chops and a bearhug but Sanniez chops back. Bernaert throws him off a full Nelson. He gets acgood double leg slingshot but tries again and Hassouni lands feet first, back leapfrogs his man in the corner, backrolls away and gets two dropkicks and a splash for the opening fall as Sanniez prevents his future partner interfering. One nil to Les Bons. 2eme Manche. Sanniez gets a couple of good throws but misses a dive and takes the first water bump of the bout. Caclard chops and hairpulls him around. Sanniez comes back from a rope whip through Caclard's legs and double legdives him. He is spun off but gets a Scisseaux Volees takedown. Bernaert tags in, whips Sanniez down and slaps on a headscissors. Sanniez uses the same bridge escape as earlier, getting a slap in on the heel's face before tagging Khader who gets a side chancery throw into a chinlock. Bernaert is doing something dirty to annoy him (we can't quite see what as the camera is too zoomed in) so Hasouni pulls him up by the ears and headbutts him like Johnny Kwango sorting out Mick McManus. He gets snapmare and a legdive into toe and ankle plus legspread. Sanniez jumps on the leg - in Britain this would be a nasty heel tactic and an automatic public warning Perhaps L'Arbitre put it down to retaliation. Khader switches leg and Caclard runs in but also ends up in the sane hold next to his partner. Sanniez climbs the corner, descends on both joints and gets at least a private warning. "La symertrie est parfait" says the commentator, well that's one way of looking at it. Hassouni throws Bernard back to his corner and continues the leg weakeners on Bernaert. Sanniez tags in, takes the other leg, waits til Khader is out and switches to the weakened leg., giving it a hearty leg stretch. Caclard tags in and gets snapmared and Manchetted. Sanniez corners him, flips off and chops him. Caclard goes for a tag so Sanniez chops them both. Les Bons tag off screen but Khader runs into trouble, snapmared then double teamed. Sanniez gets in and full Nelsons Caclard, throws him to the corner just as Khader breaks free, cannoning Bernaert into the water, a moment fans have been wishing on the Vieux Pontoufle Méchant all match long. Caclard nearly follows him and the two heels try to trag Hassouni out before L'Arbitre warns them off. Caclard is angry, all Manchettes and kicks (one at Sanniez on the apron) He slams and stomps him and tags Pierre who continues the dirty treatment as some of La Publique call for L'Arbitre to do something about it. As the heels get their heat, we see the commentator (young longhaired flowery shirt type) interview Roger Delaporte about the period of a swimming pool match (he would have one himself later that year). He talks of the perils of drowning the way American colour commentators talk of being smashed into the steel bars/fence in a Cage Match. The commentator mentions their Souplesse and Delaporte concurs, especially Hassouni. He runs down their amateur and pro backgrounds. Things must be getting nasty in the ring meanwhile, we hear a chant of Aux Chiottes L'Arbitre. Back to the ring, evidently Hassouni has been getting double teamed. Caclard Manchettes and splashes his man for the equaliser. Les Méchants double post Hassouni but L'Arbitre misses it as he is fixing a corner pad. La Belle. (Parce-Qu'Il Y A Eu) . Sanniez tries the old Ill start the fall trick as Hassouni appears to have shell shock, but the ref will have none of it. Hassouni is snatched up and double teamed by the heels. Caclard gets a legsweep into kneeling leglock. Apparently the heels got an Avertisement at some point says the commentator but the crowd still want to ref matched off aux Chiottes with the rest of the Chie. Caclard gets more leg weakeners then tags Pierre. Hassouni absorbs Manchettes before striking the Hot Tag. In comes Sanniezwith chops, a hiptoss and dropkicks. He tags Khader back who misses a grab to Pierre's head but fights back with chops and headbutts and a pressure point. Pierre tells his partner to Regarde what he does. He goes for a slam but Hassouni blocks it so he tags back Caclard who has the same problem. Khader dropkicks Caclard in the back, cannoning him into Bernaert who goes in L'Eau. Meanwhile, Sanniez shoves Caclard down but he kips up and shoved Sanniez down. He goes twice off the ropes before Sanniez strikes with a Scisseaux Volees and comes back from a good backdrop with a ground based dropkick. The two hit and miss stuff until Pierre tags back in. Caclard fouls his way out of a side chancery and into dominance. Hassouni tags in a d rolls on a single finger interlock to wind Caclard into a full Japanese Stranglehold. He rides him to the mat as Bernaert tries to interfere but slips over on the mat. L'Arbitre babyfaces himself to the crowd by booting Pierre into the water but Caclard has meanwhile reversed the hold. Hassouni reverses it back, leapfrogs and superkicks his man. Pierre tags back in and Hassouni headbutts both men. Some arsehole in the crowd is blowing an airhorn. Sanniez gets a Headlock into back hammer into Manchette. Both teams tag and brawl frequently. The horn is blown by the aforementioned sphinctre in the audience. Sanniez gets two dropkicks in on Pierre before he tags. Khader gets an aeroplane spin on Caclard, Bernaert tries to intervene but his own partner's leg boots him into the water yet again. Hassouni drops Caclard and strikes with a flying tackle for the winning pin. Les Bons win 2-1. Les Méchants both end up with one more soaking each. Good technical match in parts especially the first 8 minutes, good brawling fight elsewhere, the sort of thing OJ would like if not for la piscine.

Quite a good docu piece on Masambula. Tagging @William Bologna in this as he liked the last one I shared on here. @ohtani's jacket The guys on here have an interesting take on whether people like Vic Faulkner or Masambula (and possibly Owen Hart in Europe) were comedy wrestlers or not. They class them as "cheeky wrestlers" who were a separate category from the outright comedy guys like Catweazle/ Kevin Coneely/ Les Kellett.

Pretty good show, sadly no clean matches but Joel Redman (he no longer uses his NXT name Oliver Grey) did some good moves in his bout with Kian the Fox Kelly. Harley Hudson from TNA was there too. There was a Rumble at the end - Micky Long won, beating Kris Dekker who beat him in the opening match. Plus there was a TRIPLE TAG 😛match. Tony Spitfire was MCing although the programme featured his heel "Loudmouth" persona, and it was a new programme. I guess he must becstil doing it in other parts of the country. There were plenty of WWE action figures on sale including a classic one of Jake Roberts - young Joe Dixon and I got chatting about Jake's UK tour in 2001- all before Joe's time of course but he's been brought up with it all like a bible story.

Held in a brightly lit sports palace. The only thing shoddy about the production is the ring apron which is coming loose an the hard cam side. We onl6 see a spli5 second of Tromaras "signing in" - countersigning the match contract at the time keeper's table, an odd double of Kats Eleniki we see in so e other clips on this thread. Tromaras gets a good ood pop and shakes his opponents hand. No idea who the opponent was, we'll just call him White Trunks. He establishes dominance early with a couple of armdrags and a leg spin in response to a double legs Boston Crab attempt . We cut to Trunks with a toe and ankle plus legspread and Tromaras spinning him off by flipping himself over on the mat from guard to mount. Despite his strongman gimmick/legit reputation, Tromaras loses a full finger Interlock test of strength only to take back power when down. Trunks is unable to get a 3 on a crosspress and complaining about it. Tromaras benchpresses him off and gets a side headlock into standing back hammerlock into single leg folding press but White Trunks gets his shoulders up. They exchange forearm smashes until Tromaras knocks White Trunks to ringside. (The ref counts in English.). Back in the ring, Tromaras slams White Trunks who gets up but is headbutted and dropkicked down, taking a somersaulting bump on the way, then two flying headscissors which send WT to ringside again. WT delivers slaps and Kicks but gets a shoulderblock to the chest as payback, then a shoulderblock, slam and rear snapmare, then a sleeper into chinlock. Tromaras takes WT down with a rear single legdive into toehold 7ntil WT gets a rope break. Tromaras gets a whip, legdive and pin, Hecwinsca stone thing and a trophy while White Trunks just rolls around in defeat. This is only highlights so a lot of match content is missing but clearly Tromaras is not your Bill Kazmair/Ted Arcidi immobile fireplug, he has some moves and some agility. All the other footage we have of Greece is of shabby rings in even shabbier venues. Apart from the detaching ring apron this one looks pretty good. Some sort of Greek equivalent of the 1983 Spanish TV bout, a one off TV Special, perhaps? Parting Question. What is ATV? One of these? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATV

One of Salvador Font too.

A couple of profiles of wrestlers from that last clip.

Joaquin seems to be a bit of a brawler, we see him roughing up Mariano including a knee to the stomach.Mariano still uses crossed bodyscissors to get out of a Boston Crab attempt. Joaquin still gets the fall with a German suplex then a cross press. Sadly most of the last two bouts are played too fast to judge them or even to work out who is who.

A full hour of 5 bouts. Pretty good considering Old Catch, back in the day, was often a single standalone 30 minute tag match (the FR3 broadcast back in February having complied with this format.)

Hang on, isn't that the name of the FR3 sports show that transmitted the Parmentier Brothers Vs Rockys Du Ring back in February 1991? That's what the caption slide said on the video.

How did they cope? What are the sources of footage for the period? If any? Just curious

Apparently Shreeve was actually married at one point and his ex wife took him to the cleaners (sadly not literally)

Mariano is the guy with the moustache at 5ge start but that's not a lot of help as most of this is in longshot. We see a longshot of one guy (hard to tell them apart) taking some high whips very nicely and rolling through on them. One guy gets a backdrop, side headlock into hiptoss, both guys bridge up into rear snapmares. One guy gets a standing full nelson but the other breaks free and rides him tomthe mat. One guy has an armbar and the other uses a cartwheel to untwist it the a headscissors counter but not in the French style, more like catching it as he goes over with the cartwheel. We see one guy gets an armhank and I think a submission. Again, the 'tache is our man but it's hard to pick him out. One guy does a magnificent double underhook suplex. There is a rear arm hank and a headscissors. A top wristlock into armscissors and then rolling to throw him man in the armscissors. An attempted folding press converted into a Boston Crab attempt and a crawl out counter. A snapmare. Two bridge ups into snapmares. A throw into an armstrtch pin.

I'm not sure if this guy was at all related to Javier or Victorio but here we go anyway

Talking of Gilbert, here he is in Madrid against L'Ange Blanc, Fifties French TV's favourite on a homecoming visit. I've posted this to the French thread. The commentator calls Gilbert one of the greatest technical wrestling artists around. We see Gilbert resisting pin attempts from first a folding press by Ange then a crosspress with his arm trapped in the hammerlock position. Ange gets an armhank and we all know what Gilbert's counter to that was. And yea verily the Madrid crown get to see a toupie - and mutter to themselves that Victorio Ochoa used to do that. We see Ange with a headscissors and Gilbert with a side chancery on the mat. Ange rakes Gilbert down with a hammerlock. And scores with a scissor chop which apparently gets him the Knockout win to defend his title.

Mercifully it's in Castilian rather than Catalan ( I expect if it was in Catalan, the Guardia Civil would have paid a visit, funny hats and drawn truncheons aplenty) According to Wikipedia , as late as 1970 they filled out a 13K venue in Castellón de la Plana in Valencia in the East/Southeast and did pretty well in the 15K capacity Murcia down near the eastern end of Andalusia, the last time in 1975.

Someone please point out to Alessio that this was NOT French Catch. (He's put it in the Catch Français 1970-1987 playlist).

Okay. a quick one as the tablet is on 26% and I want to get out. Roch gets a side headlock. Singh straightens it out into an armbar and Roach rolls forward and takes the bump. Gil keeps the guard wristlock. Pat gets up and gets half a headlock as Singh still has his wrist. Singh powers him down but Pat, impressively for a man of his size, goes into a bridge and turns on his skull into a forward kneel. Finally he gets an armbar of his own. Singh can actually properly roll through. Roach forces him down but instead of the cross press turns him sideways, trying for a shoulder submission. He does eventually try a pin but Singh has an arm up at 1 so he switches to a side chinlock. Singh reverses it into his own armbar, right against the joint notes Kent. Gil switches to armhank. Roach turns into the guard. Singh gets a finger Interlock and a 1 count. Roach bridges up, powers all the way upright, picks off one side of the interlock with a foot and uses the other side for a high whip, forcing Singh in turn to take a somersault bump. Roach has his shoulder submission back again. he adds a leg around Singh's neck. Singh resists long enough for Roach to drop it. They exchange forearms, a Singh headbutt and a Roach bodycheck. Roach gets a posting and slam and hits the ropes but Singh strikes with a sudden cross buttock and press pinfall. 4min 35 secs of a 15 min time limit. Short and leveragy but it still contained more skill and ideas than Max Le Méchant had on the German thread just now (poor old Franzl!)

Apparently it said Max Le MERCHANT on event programmes for this show, PMSL. (If you're not aware from the French Catch thread, un Méchant is a heel). At least the ring announcer gets it right.) Max comes to the ring dressed for the Australian Outback. Franzl comes down to the tune of No Limits by 2 Unlimited in the tradition of German babyfaces' affinity for rave music (see Alex Wright and Dave Taylor.) No national anthems although they have a flag each. That man Didier Gapp refereeing again. Round 1 starts off very American, clotheslines, running the ropes, the odd duck down or flying tackle from Schumann. Holds are held onto for long periods with little indication especially from Max of any escape plan. Franz gets a Scorpion Deathlock on (the remnants of his alleged Bret Hart tribute a couple of years earlier, but the bell goes. Round 2 Max armdrags Franz down into an armlock in the guard and keeps him there a good long while. Franz gets up (not kips up) so Max armdrags him back down. I dislike the term Rest Holds but that is what they are being used for with little or no struggle or sign of an oncoming counter/reversal. Eventually even Franz gets fed up and does some rolls, reverse rolls and scoots across the middle turnbuckle á la Tony Stewart. He slowly hiptosses Max into a cross press as the bell goes. Max complains to Didi a lot. He's a much better crowd worker than he is a ring wrestler. Round 3 Franz gets a legdive toe and ankle, leans into i5 and goes down on the mat. Max goes for hair grabs but Didi stops him. Max somehow gets out and uses punches headbutts and eye rakes.Some people ringside are blowing on party poppers. Max does a Japanese Stranglehold and manages to convert it to chinlock even when Franz throws him twice. Franz converts a corner assisted backdrop into a suplex. Franz gets a headscissors when the bell goes. Round 4. Max corners Franz and pounds him. More Max heelish beatdowns including a rope choke. Max finally gets a Yellow Card. Franz boots him down for a 7 count. They slug and punch some more. Not much more happening when the bell goes. Round 5. Max throws Franz out and looks very pleased with himself. He tries to backdrop Franz in but Schumann lands well, hits the ropes. Slips backwards through Max's legs, tries to get a bodyscissors but Max counters with a Boston Crab attempt. AND NOOOW, THE FINISH AS BOOKED!: Max pulls Franz up and goes for a whip but Franz gets a crucifix takedown into further nelson pin and wins. Slow, sometimes stationary bout. Max has a cute gimmick (Brian 'Crush" Adams dressed up as Barry Windham circa The Stalker) but he works like an American By Numbers.

What a gruesome thought! 😄

Swimming pool shows were commonplace in France

We've seen Jeff Kaye quite a bit lately as a referee. We've seen him and Ian Gilmour tagging up as the Barons in both Britain and France. We've seen him sort out villains from Pancho Zapata in 1969 to Mike Bennet in 1985. Recently I saw him in Stampede. Calgary, commentating an early British Bulldogs match (No I'm not posting the video here but it's the new "Iconic Tag Teams' Debuts" video on the WWE Vault channel.). He was out there playing Tim White to Giant Haystacks when not refereeing, MCing or TV commenting. Now here he is having a top class clean match against another top class technician. Round 1: Cortez gets a full nelson but Kaye throws him off and gets an in the guard wristlock. Cortez kips up and gets dragged back down. He tries again and Kaye armdrags him back down. Sideways moves don't work either. After the next kip up. Cortez side chanceries Kaye but Kaye takes his man with him and retains the hold. He tries it again but as Kent Walton points out, he is only hurting himself and will have to think of something else "and knowing Cortez he probably will.". He's right. Cortez drops to the mat, switches hands and armdrags Kaye to take over control. Kaye kips up, cartwheels and whips Cortez who also cartwheels to avoid the bump and come out upright. They go for a full finger Interlock and both get a short arm scissor and both agree to call it stalemate and break up . Cortez gets a side headlock and takes his man to the mat. Kaye tries to break it with an atomic drop but Cortez hangs on. Kaye in the end handstands his way out of the hold. Cortez armdrags Kaye for a 5 count. Kaye gets a wristlever but the bell goes and he releases. Round 2: Cortez gets a single legdive. Kaye undermines Cortez's leg so he goes down and converts it into a seated leglock. Kaye turns into the mount so Cortez makes it a single toe hold. He lifts Kaye by the foot, trying to smash his knee into the mat but Kaye pushes up then rolls forwards and away. Kaye tries a cross buttock throw but Cortez arrests his momentum with a side headlock then a hiptoss of his own. Cortez now has the guard wristlock. Kaye rolls back and tenses his arm to resist a hammerlock attempt. He twice goes up on his head and the second time looks to be trying a toupie but instead gets a headscissors. Cortez easily snaps out. He backrolls off a half finger Interlock so Kaye rolls away. Kaye gets a Fireman's Carry takedown into armlock with bar. Cortez rolls from the guard to the kneeling position then upright but Kaye still has a wristlever. He rolls forward and spins horizontally on his backside till he takes down Kaye into an armbar in the mount. He turns him over into the crosspress and only gets a one before being thrown on to the ring apron! Back in, he gets a double finger Interlock into a double leg Nelson. It turns into La Bascule (back and forth double leg nelsons), occasionally turning sideways rather than just back and forth. They give that up and try another finger Interlock and Kaye makes a drop toehold of it, ending in a figure 4 legscissor. They turn into a seating position but end up too close for an American figure four leglock so break (for once untying the legs without referee assistance. Cortez gets a rear waistlock into full nelson, bounces Kaye off the ropes, drops down to trip him into a folding press but Kaye sidesteps out of the way. Cortez gets an armbar and has Kaye in the guard again. Kaye tries to bridge his way out so Cortez turns him sideways, maintaining pressure on the upper arm. Kaye gets a headscissors but Cortez kips out quickly. They lock up and hit the ropes as the bell sounds. Round 3 Kaye gets a headlock and takes it to kneeling position. Cortez upturns it into a side folding press but Kaye uprights it. Kaye gets another handstanding escape and a beauty like the last! Cortez throws Kaye who cartwheels out of trouble nicely. Kaye leapfrogs Cortez and goes for a flip. Cortez tries to clamp down with a front folding press but Kaye throws him off and when Cortez rolls back from the armstrtch he in turn clams down for a folding press balancing on his elbows instead of bridging. It gets him the opening fall. Round 4. Kaye tries for a leg but Cortez darts over him to get a headlock. Kaye slips out the back to make it a hammerlock. Cortez turns into the guard straightening the arm and Kaye gets 1 before Cortez throws him off the crosspress. Cortez gets a wrist into an armdrag, Kaye gets a headscissors and has it more firmly than earlier tries as Cortez cannot just kip out. He struggles to force the clamp open, goes into upright position and a handstand but can't maintain it. He tries again, turns 90' in the scissors and now falls out of the hold. Cortez gets a front chancery but Kaye straightens the arm , high whips his man till he bumps into the guard and gets the same guard wristlock on again. Cortez goes up into the headstand and this time he is the one who gets the headscissors. Kaye has similar difficulties snapping out to those Cortez had but goes into a bridge, flimps back and forth between kneeling and bridging and so weakens the hold that he can, finally, kip out. Cortez again goes for the front chancery, Kaye again straightens the arm and goes for the night whip but Cortez rolls up nicely. Kaye offers a handshake. And Cortez accepts then tries to make a throw of it but Kaye cartwheels out. Fortunately he is a good sport about this but of mischief. Kaye throws Cortez who cartwheels upright but bangs his neck on the rope but luckily it is nothing serious. Kaye gets a single leg, they agree to break it up but as they do Cortez tries a crafty drop toehold. Max Ward will have none of it. Cortez backrolls off a half finger Interlock, bringing Kaye to his knees. He takes Kaye down into a ground top double wristlock, resisting Kaye's attempts to push up until Kaye gets a headscissors. Cortez turns into the front position, gets a headstand and lays his legs against Kaye's head. The weight overbalances Kaye and Cortez gets up and makes his escape. Cortez gets a legdive and toe & ankle hold. Kaye crosses his leg to make a figure four. This tempts Cortez to try to set up an Indian Deathlock but Kaye turns into the mount and rolls away. Cortez gets a foot and switches to a wrist and again spins horizontally on his behind to wind up the arm. He then switches to a drop toehold and thence into a Frank Gotch figure four toehold, switching from side to side. He pulls up Kaye by the leg but Kaye rolls away and the bell goes. Round 5 and Kaye gets a side headlock into cross buttock and press. Kaye turns sideways and gets a side folding press for 1. He stands in the side headlock and leaps into a high almost headstand (more horizontal) to pull out. Kaye gets a full nelson. Cortez reverses. He holds on despite being backed into twice and lifted forward in a throw attempt. Forcing the hold open doesn't work but a side turning throw does, only for Cortez to reach up and get a headscissors. Kaye turns it upright, escapes and even gets a leg out of it but hits the ropes and has to break. Cortez gets an armdrag but Kaye headscissors him so Cortez goes into his usual headstand. He gets out and tries for the leg but Ward says it's not part of the same move, so he gets a wrist and slings Kaye into the ropes, hiptosses and cross presses him on the rebound and gets the equaliser. Round 6: Cortez throws Kaye (whom Walton thinks is developing back problems) into a hard bump on his back. He is up at 7 but still selling his back. Cortez gets an over the knee backbreaker and Kaye bridges to relieve the pressure. Kaye uses an inner arm blow - about the first striking move of the bout - to get out. Cortez gets a half nelson but Kaye uses a forearm smash over the head. Kaye gets a rear snapmare and cross buttock throw but Cortez rolls upright and catches Kaye's incoming flying bodyscissors attempt by the legs, turns him into a full Boston Crab and gets the deciding submission. Cortez is the winner 2-1 on a late rally. Not the fastest or most dazzling but still nice stylish scientific bout with Kaye showing what a skilled wrestler he was in his day and Cortez getting to show more flair and colour than he does against the likes of Keith Hayward. Even if the wristlock in the guard is overplayed by both men, they find plenty of ways to try to escape and plenty more to prevent said escapes.