David Mantell

Indeed he has. I present to you a reformed character. Wright here in 1988 seems to have left Bearcat behind in the Bearkittylitter tray and re-emerged as a more mature version of the old Wonderboy Bernie who gave Young David his first TV match and gave John Naylor some serious worries on a Morecambe pier TV taping before going domwn 2-1 is back. Full head of hair, no mention Of Bearcat, he wears a German tournaments t shirt into the ring and gets an amiable pop from the crowd. Robinson gets a cross buttock into side headlock. He resits a Wright bodycheck and taken him down with his own cross buttock for the count of 2. He legspreads and trips Bernie and gets a Gotch toehold, Wright pushed up and Wright flaps into a double leg nelson. They come off the ropes into an equal bodycheck and Ray forces a hard bump. Brebyjtakes an armlock. Bernie cartweels and dive rolls out of Gordon's armlever and crross buttocks and presses to get a 1 count then tries a folding press but Runs Out Of Mat. Ray gets a full Nelson which Bernie twists into a front facing lockup. Ray gets a throw out of it but again it hits the ropes. Ray gets a side chancery throws. Bernie just a side chancery. He takes it to the mat where Ray wriggles out to applause. Bernie forces Ray to the mat in a finger interlock but Ray bridges and it holds Bernie's weight, so they reset. Bernie gets a slam, a posting and charges into the corner when the bell goes. He releases when the bell goes and they shake hands. Round 2 and Bernie shows that Wonderboy is now Wonderadult as he cartwheels upright from Ray's throws. Bernie gets a headlock but Ray counters with a slam for a 6 count. A double arm suplex gets a three (not a pin, a KO count.) Bernie kicks out of a backslide and twice headbutts Robinson in the small of the back. Robinson responds with his own headbutt and knee lift.and another slam, this time actually going in for the pin but only gets 1. Bernie gets a knee backbreaker then double legs and tries for a Boston Crab but Robinson resists. Bernie tries briefly for a pin then gives up.He gets a headlock, slingshots off the ropes and tries a vertical flying tackle but Robinson parries it with a shoulderblock, then capitalises with a reverse arm hank and posting. Robinson gets a headlock and bounces Ray off the ropes, who comes back with a shoulder but not much impact. They crisscross and Bernie drops, lets Ray pass over then catches him with the cross buttock and press for the required pin - but barely as Robinson kicks out just too late and is about to go for Bernie when the penny drops. His nose is bleeding but he still shakes hands and is a good sportsman. So this is what TBWs fully grow into after a decade in thecsun with plenty of nourishment and fertilizer. No trace of Bearcat, just the Wonderboy all grown up. He'll continue to be a force not just in Britain but in Germany too, there are plenty of his late 80s VdB bouts on @sergeiSem's channel for a start.

.... Well okay. this is a couple of months earlier but never mind. Tony Francis is gearing up to replace Charlie McGee and has already invested in the white leisure suit. The Emperor throws Collins out of the ring but this just leaves him to be Daddies. He has already lost his old mask to Big D in a previous misadventure and his new Conquig BB style one does a bad job of concealing Big Bill Bromley. Wright also gets pitched out. He and Danny resume and the European Welterweight Champion gets in a couple of good ground position dropkicks. Wright comes back with a bodycheck then Danny gets a couple of armdrags and takes a throw himself. One thing about Big Daddy tags you do get little nuggets like these between the two lighter men.Wright gets in a kneedrop in time to be part of the same time and a headbutt but misses an elbowsmash He gets in two forearms a slam and a kneedrop before tagging the masked man, getting a public warning on the way out for various hair pulls as the masked man pounds and slams Danny then backbreakers him but he escapes and Danny tags Daddy. Both heels get the treatment from Daddy who tags Danny. The heels also tag and Emperor chokes Danny with one hand before knocking him down and tagging Wright who roughs up Danny who does get a good monkey climb in. And a forearm. More blows from Wright. Danny gets a dropkick and sunset flip for the opening pin. Wright is back to work after the bell. Daddy charges the ring and headlocks both heels for a Collins split dropkick which earns him a public warning. The Emperor gets two postings to soften the back of Danny before equalising with a shoulder backbreaker . An over eager Emperor. tries to jump start La Belle and gets his own PW. After a few more back weakeners he puts the shoulder backbreaker back on but Danny wriggles out and tags Daddybut Jeff Kaye misses it and sends him out. Emperor guillotine elbows Danny but celebrates what he thinks is a KO count while Danny this time properly gets the tag. Four postings, a clothesline and splash get the job done 2-1. At least ex Snakepit man Wright didn't have to job to Daddy himself. Had he learned his lesson?

Too British, to Fracochard (what was that word El P used on the French thread?) too SOUTHERN? This seems to be a universal complaint people all over the world have about their local pre-Vince style of wrestling. Okay. let's get the trophy out the way first. You can see from the image I posted above what the front view of it looked like. Unfortunately all we get is an unflattering zoom in of the Fisherman's flexed buttock. I expect Skegness tourist board were selling the statuettes of the town mascot and giving one away as a prize was crafty advertising. Bear in mind this aired just as the schools broke up for the 1986 summer holidays and if you were too poor for abroad, too East for Blackpool and too north for Great Yarmouth, Skeggy in Lincolnshire was going to be your beach that summer. I can think of another tournament a year later where something like this happened, the 1987 Golden Grappler trophy where finalist Ritchie Brooks was injured and replaced in the final by his defeated semifinal opponent Mal Sanders who nonetheless lost to breakout TBW of 1987 Kid McCoy. This whole trophy business has continued to the present day - we saw Leland Bryant win the first annual Bob Bartholomew tournament last year in Rumble a few pages back. After he died, the referee in this contest Ken Joyce had an annual trophy tournament in his honour run by Premier Promotions most recently won by Karl Atlas in 2019. I agree with Kent's praise for Joyce, check out his 1981 match with Johnny Saint for starters. So anyway, the match. Ray Robinson is a lot like the reformed Alan Dennison, a strength wrestler with enough technical ability to get by who matches up well with lighter but technically sharper opponents. By the time of the 1990 Scottish TV tapings he was flirting with heelism (IIRC against this same opponent McGregor who himself is the heel in another encounter they had, caught on camcorder circa 199). Here however they're both all gentlemen.) Ray uses sheer strength to break headlocks and a full nelson and throw Ian from his Japanese stranglehold. Ray takes Ian down in a rear waistlock, converts to a standing full nelson. Ian tries to rearrange his way out of it when the bell goes. Interesting potted history of TBWs from Kent, apparently Mick McMichael was one in his time. Cut to round 3. Ian McGregor gets the leg a couple of times but just applies a weakener before releasing for the count. The third time he progresses to a single leg Boston Crab but Robinson reaches the ropes. Rex gets a leg of his own but McGregor, in the best move of the bout so far, throws him with a toupee that would have made Gilbert LeDuc himself proud. Robinson slams Ian, goes for a cross press, gets 2 the first time and nothing the second. He tries the slam again but McGregor in his second good move today, rolls him into a cradle for 2. Robinson wedges his way out of a side headlock. Ian gets an armbar held down by a knee but Robinson powers upwards into a good cross buttock throw which the camera sadly cuts away from. Robinson gets a waistlock into folding press but the bell goes. Round 4 and McGregor gets a VERY quick dropkick and cross press for two. When Robinson throws Ian off, he lands in a headlock position on Joyce! The referee fortunately laughs it off - Michel Saulnier would have thrown a FIT. Robinson gets some great throws, two side chancery throws and a slam which all get counts of 6 or 7. He then gets a posting and a beautiful long suplex for the opening pin. Round 5 and Robinson continues this game plan with two more side chancery throws, two more postings, goes for the suplex ... but Ian blocks twice then gets a suplex of his own for the equaliser! So it's just round 6 to decide. Robinson gets an over the shoulder backbreaker but Ian cracks it open and drops down behind. When Ray turns, Ian double legs him for a folding press and 2 count. Sadly we don't properly see the crawlout escape as it's time for Mister Leslie Shepherd, the Director of Leisure and Tourism at East Lindsey District Council to get his big close up, Mr DeMile (or rather Mike Archer!). Robinson goes for a posting but McGregor takes the impact on his foot, spins on it and comes back with another double legs but Robinson gets in first with a backslide for two. McGregor gets a flying tackle, Robinson overpowers and slams him but then leans in too far and gets a ground dropkick on the chin. McGregor gets in behind for a folding press but Robinson powers out. Robinson goes for an inverted rear waistlock, McGregor gets a hammerlock counter and switches to a folding press but Robinson crawls out and makes it a double knees press and cross press but none of these can hold McGregor. Stalemate and rest. McGregor goes for double legs and folding press but Robinson's strength is too much and to make matters worse, he clamps on a bodyscissor as Ian releases. Ian still gets a 1 count as he starts to turn into a Boston Crab. Eventually he tries a slingshot but can't throw Robinson far enough and Ray lands on him in a double knee press for two. Rest and this time Ray gets the double legs and the Boston Crab attempt but McGregor resists and Ray only gets it on just in time for the final bell. "Dull and listless" eh @ohtani's jacket? I'll grant you the first round is rather strength based and pedestrian and the second must have been even more like that to have got the chop but there are some good spots in round 3, then the two good falls and a VERY action packed and technical final round. It took time but I got into it. So in the end both men end up with a trophy (Ian gets the existing one and Robinson gets the flowers) What would have been fantastic would be if they had made a third trophy for Valentine but NOTHING for that NAUGHTY boy Wright! There's only one punishment for the likes of him ...

The first semifinal. Bernie Wright as Bearcat, his equivalent of his brother Steve's Bull Blitzer or nephew Alex's alter ego Berlin. This is another example of good effective use of a disqualification. Greg is the blue-eyed boy and Bernie, once the nice kid from the Wigan Snakepit has been transformed by his time in Stampede (as Athol Foley, "son" of John Foley) into a snarling low rent Cyanide Sid Cooper who "disgraces" the sport, beating the opponent up but losing the contest and being packed off to the dressing room for a dressing down. Even the ref gets to be strong. Bout starts off fairly technical, Valentine rolling out of all Bernie's wrist levers. Wright looks your standard ugly heel (beard, snarl, crewcut). Bernie using dirty tactics, stomp and chokes on the rope, pulls of the hair, attacks after the round bell. To which Valentine tries to reply with some science. Like Inoki, Wright is accustomed to American rules and it gets him in trouble. The first public warning is for an off the top turnbuckle leap on a prone Valentine, the second for a Tree Of Woe type move, draping Valentine upside down in the corner and kicking his head. He does get a good opening submission in round 3 with a leglock over the neck. The crowd are appeased by a reminder of Wright's public warnings. Valentine gets an equaliser in Round 5 with a neat backwards leapfrog in the corner into a waistlock roll up. Valentine gets a public warning of his own in round 6 for a retaliatory punch or two too many. At which point Wright fires off the straw that breaks the camel's back, a vicious stomach punch that gets him that third public warning and a DQ and elimination from the tournament. The MC on behalf of the referee issues theee most condescending public dressing down like something out of School. "THE REFEREE WILL NOT ALLOW THESE KINDS OF TACTICS - YOU ARE DISQUALIFIED!!!" Go on, mister heel, punch us, we doubledang dare you. And the crowd absolutely LOVE it. Wright does get one bit of revenge - Valentine is badly injured by that punch and has to withdraw from the final,, leaving the second semifinal upgraded to a final. So at least he took Greg down with him.

Reformed ex heel Dennison uses his strength to make hardcwork for youthful veteran Anthony to get wristlevers on before throwing him from a top wristlock. He just twists 180 out of a scissor grovit to the jaw .and gets a legdrive and leglock but Bob pinions his hand with his feet to take a wrist but Alan throws him. He gets a headlock, Bob breaks it up into a top wristlock but again Alan throws him.him. They shake hands. Alan counters another wrist with a cross headscissor but Anthony folds it down into a leglock then a legspread but Alan forces his legs shut. Anthony gets a front chancery but Alan places him on the ring apron, opens the ropes and lets him step back in. They exchange standing armlocks. Alan throws Bob to get a bump, snapmares him for another and gets a chinlock. Anthony bridges back to get Alan's shoulders flat but takes another wrist rather than go for the pin. Alan backwards rolls but Bob gets a leghank on as the bell goes. Round 2. Bob gets a full nelson, Alan breaks and over shoulder whips him. Alan now has the full nelson. Bob breaks it, snapmares, goes for a pin but Alan double knee smashes him in the head.Alan gets a front chancery but Alan unwarps it into a high wrist whip forcing a bump. They repeat. Alan gets the Japanese stranglehold but Anthony steps out of it. Alan tries a backdrop but Bob turns it into a sunset flip for a couple of 2s. It looks like a Bascule but they break up, Alan legdives but Bob stands and monkey climbs Alan. Alan considers a throw from the neck but instead goes for a bodyscissors. Anthony wriggles out nicely. Alan forces a whip bump but Bob takes him with for a bump himself. They have a power battle over a side by side armlock which ends in Alan bumping. They repeat the double whip bumps.Bib bridges out of a pin attempt. Alan has a front chancery when the bell goes. Round 3. Alan has double rear arms but Bob gets a ground dropkick.Alan snapmares for a double knees pin but Anthony again double knees him in the head. Bob tries a bodycheck but hasn't really got the strength. A Dennison power throw ends up in the corner for a break Bob gets a standing hammerlock, converts to a wristlock then gets in a dropkick. He throws Alan twice but Alan gets him in a backbreaker. He tries for a dropkick but Alan grabs the legs for a Boston Crab for the one required submission. Good sporting contest. Since fighting Dynamite Kid, Alan has developed an appetite for strength versus skill bouts against challenging lighter Whizzkid technicians. This was a good example. Some people don't like the blue eyed Alan, found him a bit pious, but it a clean match setting he could be an interesting worker who used his strength in intelligent ways.

Match joined in progress hence possibly the lack of aristocric gimmickry. I believe Le Vicomte (sp?) Joel is in fact Joel de Fremery who turned up on World of Sport with a World Heavyweight Middleweight title that he lost to Rollerball Rocco. Cohen and Joel doing some interesting leglock reversals, Cohen using his knee to flip over Lagache. Every tries for a headscissors but it ends up a bodyscissors which Lagache shrugs off. Commentator says Lagache is one of the dirtiest wrestlers he knows of and he proves it, biting Edery's wrists then looking around innocently, later nipping Cohen's ear. Referee Martial may look like a Fatty Arbuckle comedy type but he is a hard-nosed ref like Delaporte later on. He physically pulls apart the heels ' double teams and at one point gets his hand trapped in a Joel hammerlock. Apparently Joel is an English teacher in a private school but that doesn't stop him fouling in the ring. The "Israelite s" tag is no joke, Edery is a former IDF soldier, presumably a protege of Rafael Halperin. Les Mechants pitch Les Bons to ringside. It gets them an Avertisement and a crowd riot but also the first fall as Lagache pins Edery. Heels keep up the heat with between fall attacks and plenty of double teaming. Cohen gets the hot tag but they nail him with a full nelson/ shoulderblock double team. A second go and Lagache misses. Sails out of the ring and Cohen dropkicks Joel out to join him. Eventually the heels recover taking turns to work a leglock on Edery. Arbitre Martial at one point lifts Lagache away in a rear waistlock to stop his fouling. Joel has Cohen cornered for one of those beatdown where WWF fans would count the punches but Cohen slips out and dropkicks him out the ring. During an exchange of Manchettes, Joel leapfrogs Edery who takes him down from behind in a folding press for the equaliser. La Belle: Les Mechants corner and double team Edery with leglocks, often one on each leg.. Eventually Cohen runs in with a battery of Manchettes. Arbitre Martial grabs Lagache by the hair and throws him out of the ring. Edery nearly gets a pin with double knees, Lagache turns it over into the start of a surfboard but Edery tags George who ties Lagache in the ropes and repeatedly dropkicks him. Tags Edery who cross buttocks the heel a few times Cohen flips Joel into Lagache and ties Joel by the neck in the ropes as Edury pins Lagache for the winner. Typical fast paced half hour Catch A Quatre Francais. I think Rene Ben Chemouel's reputation relies more on his purist technical work in the 50s than his work as a Bon in Catch a Quatres in the 60s and early 70s anyway. Would Cohen be so impressive in a serious technical championship match with George Kidd? Still, horses for courses.

...this? I was going to review this originally but got caught by the temptation to review something OLD to follow Bock/Inoki. Another Germany Vs Japan battle of the former Axis Powers. (The geopolitics of Japanese heels in Germany never make any sense. And yes I know this is Austria and Alex is of British stock) This is from the same tournament as Alex versus Finlay - if it's up the that one ends with a Schuman run in and anyway that's not one of the two that turned up on the Marco's Catch channel Alex gets a big babyface pop coming down to ringside although the big blond girl sat right next to camera seems unimpressed by him. Alex offers a handshake but Hiro kicks it away. Hiro gets a legdrive but Alex sends hip flying with a beautiful toupee. He tries again and gets a leglock. Haumarkt looks really beautiful at night but these longshots make it hard to follow the action. Hiro continues to work on the leg, Alex counters with a cross face. very Old German. Hiro moves to a standing position, gets a kick in. The bell goes so he gets in a couple more. Some bad piano boogie Woogie between rounds. Round 2: Hiro gets the leg and eventually gets Alex down with it. He makes it into a single leg Boston Crab. Alex won't give so he stomps, releases and retakes the leg. Alex kicks him into the ropes, slingshots him into the opposite ropes and fires off a dropkick, some stomps of his own (retaliation) and a suplex which Hiro reverses and gets a two count. He stomps on, Alex rallies, gets some stomps. a dropkick and a toehold. By the end Hiro is back in charge with leg weaken til the bell goes. I think Hiro gets a yellow card but he reacts like he's scored something while the crowd catcalls. To be honest I'm not sure. Cue more boogie woogie piano jazz. Hiro paces around like Rollerball Rocco. Round 3 . Alex really goes into action, kicking Hiro on a finger interlock, backflipping in a wrist lever then armdragging the Japanese, leapfrogging and taking him down with a flying headscissors which sadly he does not manage to keep once down. He then corners and batters Yamamoto. Hiro whips him to the ropes but Alex comes back with a sunset flip and Hiro punches his way out (missed by the ref) and follows in with a Harley Race diving headbutt. He covers for a pin but the no follow down rule was clearly still in force in 1994, so no pin count. They get up, Hiro heatbutts Alex who tried the sunset flip again.Sensing another punch, he slips out behind, fires two dropkicks and corners Hiro, getting crowd approval to bash his head into the corner then punching him on the ropes until warned off by the ref. Hiro wants to make up and be friendly but Alex will have none of it. He drop toeholds Hiro and converts to a cross face into side headlock. Hiro wrenches into a headscissor. Alex tries a bridging escape but the bell goes before anything exciting could happen. Bright bouncy disco record during the interval. Round 5 Alex gets a hammerlock into armdrags to floor Hiro. Switches to straight armlock, Hiro gets up, forces it into the corner, gets a break then uses brawling tactics on Alex on the ropes. Alex bodychecks Hiro who replies with an excellent dropkick. He tries a piledriver but Alex makes it into a backdrop for a two.count, then a guillotine elbowsmash, then some stomps on the prone Hiro which earn him a yellow card. Hiro gets a reverse flying elbowsmash then locks on a scorpion leglock. Alex pushes up to flip Hiro off and covers him but Yamamoto puts a foot on the ropes. Alex stomps him til he falls out of the ring. Back in, they both headbutt each other. Alex gets the worst of it. In an unintentionally funny moment he falls down just as the bell goes - the resulting CLONG sounds in context like a cartoon comedy sound effect. DJ plays. Some classical set to a disco beat. Round 6 Hiro again tries the handshake and gets some kicks in. He forearm smashes Alex in the corner, snapmares and Hogan Legdrops him. Then he snapmares again and splashes him from the middle turnbuckle earning a Second And Final Yellow Card. He somersault splashes Alex but gets no pin count due to No Follow down, so next he slams Alex. tries the corner again and misses. Alex fires him into the ropes and dropkicks him on the rebound. He gets a suplex but Hiro counts out at 2. He flips over Hiro and gets a waistlock suplex but does not cover. He gets a roll up for 2. One minute to go, a frustrated Alex stomps Hiro and is warned by the MC. He tries a hold on the mat we can't see but the ref breaks it up. Hiro gets a piledriver but holds thecropes for leverage so the referee refuses to count the pin. They are both trying for finished when the final round ends. As far as I can tell it was a draw. Not really a technical masterpiece, Hiro works too American for that, but some nice little bits and plenty of action.

I never really said down and reviewed this one properly. It's very slug and punch, so don't worry you won't be getting complex, the nature of the action simply doesn't merit it. Otto still hasn't fully bulked up to the Obese Otto of the mid/late 80s, he is closer to the more compact Otto of the 1980 Don Leo bout. Slaughter is slap bang in the era of the Cobra Corps and the Alley fight match. It's supposed to be an American Rules match but the ring announcer keeps telling off Slaughter in particular for rule infractions "Remus ..NO!!!" Wrestle Only inside ... STOPPIT REMUS!! REMUS NOT THE CHAIR" "MISTER REMUS!". I bet this guy was a school teacher by day. There is a large crowd of guys in white t-shirts/baseball caps wandering around at ringside for some mysterious reason, like Sarge has flown his local team over to cheer him on. Oddly enough there is one little chain sequence and it's done badly but it goes like this. Sarge has the Cobra Clutch on Otto but after a good long while he slips out the back with no real effort (Even Mike Marino's spinning escape from a side headlock had some sense of tugging and levering free.) Otto fails to take the arm with him but still grabs it and puts a hammerlock on. Then releases it. I think Slaughter grabs the ropes but the crowd are at such fever pitch they don't have time to give heat for such cowardice. Somewhere along the line Otto has done a blade job and is juicing away merrily. I don't think Sarge is bleeding, it's hard to see in the murk. The end comes when Sarge misses a Superfly Splash off the top (Suma must have been partway through training him when he split from Albano and turned face in late 82.) They battle on a bit then Wanz manages a flying tackle for the win. If you like a good brawl you'll probably love this. Me. I need an antidote.How about ..

And yes, I was right! Tanner who gets a Best Newcomer award before the match, ends up not just starting the match (after his partners, despite each beating a Bryant earlier, chicken out of a further fight) but remaining tagged in most of the time and actually has some good technical work with the Bryants especially Nino, using horizontal spins and rolls to reverse each others' armbars, taking each other down with further nelson pin attempts. Tanner puts up a good effort and despite the one on three, it's all pretty sportsmanly. In the best British tradition Eventually Tanner's partners get fed up and start shoving him around so he pushes Blade into a roll up, then after Walker strikes with a Diamond Cutter, he walks out, sits in with the fans and watches. The two heels in the now five man tag put up a spirited rulebreaking fight but eventually succumb to the greater numbers and sheer skill of the three Bryants with young Leland flying bodypressing and pinning both villains! Tanner joins his opponents to shake their hands and celebrate their win over his teammates. But then like I said, I've seen this situation before. As with Headhunters Vs Bryants, this was three singles bouts and a triple tag - in this case Scotland (three blue eyes albeit one is Drew McDonald) versus England (two heels and a blue eye.). Before we get down to business with the triple tag, we get on the video one of the singles bouts, Cullen Vs Cooper. Cooper the cowardly villain uses the corner to retreat until Cullen gets in behind with a sleeper. Cooper breaks it open into a top wristlock but Cullen spins off. Cullen upsets a variety of spins and kip ups to escape and ultimately reverse Cooper's wrist lever and force a bump. Cooper tries for a folding press but Runs Out Of Mat and Cullen crawls swifty back. He gets his own wristlever into front facing hammerlock then a headscissors. Cooper eventually uncorks it with his fee so Cullen tries a full nelson then a snapmares into further nelson. The bell saves Cullen from a double legdives but not a posting between rounds. Referee Peter Szacazs reprimands Cooper so when he capitalises on the damage with fouls in Round 2 it earns him a public warning. He capitalises more legally with a knee backbreaker but Cullen bridges out. While continuing to have Cooper work on the back, mostly with fouls, Cullen pulls off a surprise roll up opening pin. Cooper again attacks Cullen between rounds but is chased off. Round 3 sees more dirties by Cooper including a punch which gets him his second and final and more back weakeners including a pitch to ringside.cooper uses a leglock in the mount to test Cullen 's back for weak spots and obviously finding one as in the next round he gets an equalising submission with a Boston Crab. He tries for another one at the start of Round 5 but Cullen kicks him in the head. Another closed fist has the crowd BAYING for Cooper to be DQd and the referee BLISTERING him with threats as Syd covers in the corner. He continues the back treatment with knockdowns and drops focusing on the spine until Cullen pulls out a surprise suplex and cross press, getting a 2-1 win over Cooper. And so to the Triple Tag. Roy Scott of England (oh the irony) is a nice clean wrestler who happily technically wrestles the good guys. The two villains Kaye and Cooper use dirty tactics on the other blue eyes and just plain run away from Cullen. Early on, McGregor nearly gets a sunset flip pin off Cooper. The English side in retribution corner young Ian and work him over. When Ray tags in, it's a whole different match, just like Tanner in the ring in the recent bout. McGregor takes a Scott throw well rolling to upright on , gets a hammerlock which Scot tries to counter with a bodyslam attempt, then Ian snapmares Roy and tags Chic Cullen . Cullen gets an armlock into mat side headlock. Scott tries to turn Cullen into a folding press but Cullen keeps rotating until it is a standing side headlock. He then snapmares Scot into a facebar and offers the two heels Scot's hand to tag but they refuse to face Cullen, even when he frees Roy the villains flatly refuse the tag. So young Ian tags in and snapmares Scot. This time Kaye accepts the tag but Ian scampers back to tag Cullen. And it's back to Goodies And Baddies as the two argue over a handshake and Kaye holds Chic for a double team with Cooper who gets his second and final public warning for it and nearly a DQ as he carries on regardless. Chic gains the advantage and handles both heels. The ref bundles Kaye out. Chic leg slingshots Sid into the ropes. Big Drew tags in and batters Cooper with strength moves like slams and snapmares. He then gets a neck lift opening submission over Cooper. Things go from bad to worse as Cooper and Kaye loudly complain to the ref about the situation. Cooper even gets a shot in on partner Roy who by now is fed up with their griping and dirty wrestling and deserts them, briefly stopping by the opposing corner to wish them luck,,then heading off to the locker room. The two villains try to shake hands with Drew but he front chanceries both and Cullen split dropkicks both their heads, Boston Crabs Cooper and tags in McGregor. Young Ian withstand a kick to the floor and various bumps by Tally Ho before escaping a shoulder backbreaker and getting down behind his man to trip him and get his team a second straight fall with a folding press on Kaye. In both these triple tag matches, about 40 years apart, two bad guys are lumbered with having to team with a good guy against three of his fellows and in the end the white sheep of the heel team defects.

From the French Catch thread: And from just above here. Okay, hope you all enjoyed Roland Bock Vs Antonio Inoki 1978 In Full over on the German thread. Now for the last item, some current day Trad Brit wrestling courtesy of Rumble. Actually this is the tail end of last year, 27th December 2024 at Helmsley Village Hall but Rumble has already filmed a show in 2025 and that should be up soon. Nino Bryant will be a familiar figure to longtime readers of this thread, current British Lightweight champion, last seen on here defending against kid brother Leland after losing a trophy tournament final to him. Here he takes on a slightly larger, cockier but still blue eye opponent in Tommy/Jack Tanner. The bout is in three discernible sections with the first being the most old school friendly, plenty of Ulta traditional rollouts of wristlocks etc. The middle section is a bit more big flying moves particularly missed dropkicks by Nino. The final section is quite a lot of 2 counts, folding presses, a very well done Bascule with both guys trying a number of variants to get the pin rather than just rocking back and forth, as well as some drawn out submissions ending in an American figure four leglock (as used in Britain by Clay Thompson) by Tanner where Nino holds on long enough to make it a 15 minute draw. Tanner, despite his cocky edge is, as I said, still a blue eye. And thereby hangs a tale - this is the third of a series of three singles matches, the previous two of which saw Nino's kid brothers Leland and Xander lose to outright heel opponents, members of tag team Project SE Nathan Blade and Tyler Walker. One of the two remaining matches still to "drop" as the kids say from this taping is a Triple Tag putting the three Bryants against Walker, Blade and Tanner. Three blue eyes versus one blue eye and two heels. I get the impression one side is going to have difficulty sticking together due to philosophy. If Tanner ends up falling out with Project SE and siding with the Bryants it won't be the first time in British Wrestling (any more than this is at all the first ever team event to consist of three singles matches and a triple tag- plenty enough examples of that on World of Sport). We shall see - and if my premonition plays out, I shall follow up with a similar scenario from the old days.

Interesting. CIC was also the initials of the main Spanish promotion Corporacion Internacional de Catch which closed its doors in 1975 after having scaled down to just Madrid and Barcelona circa 1965. French promoters including Delaporte regularly invaded Spain over the next 15 years until the WWF properly revived the territory in 1990 with TV show "Pressing Catch" on Telecinco. I think Bob Plantin posted some stuff on FB about wrestling in Algeria. Before the Algerian War, a generation of French school kids grew up heavily indoctrinated to think of Algeria as part of France. Obviously it would have been a prime market for overseas sales of Le Catch kinescope prints, perhaps bicycled on to other Arab North African countries such as Morocco, (c.f. your mention of Casablanca - the Spanish CIC also regularly toured Morocco.)

https://www.patrickwreed.com/blog/ywi3yijbus8ga9w6tqlfh56isokwpp Apparently the bout was 25th November 1978 in Stuttgart. People think it's a shoot but I'm not so sure. Too many dropkicks and suchlike. THIS is what a shoot looks like.

Okay, over on the British and German threads I promised you all something special. AND HERE IT IS!!! Roland Bock Vs Antonio Inoki 1977. In full. With absolutely no awful thrash metal on the audio. Three years before Otto Wanz Vs Don Leo Johnathan, two years before Otto Vs a heel Chief Jay Strongbow. As deep a dive into Seventies German Catch as Clay Thompson Vs Tony StClair 1967 was into Sixties British Wrestling, This match seems to be regarded as legendary among Japanese fans. For us, it's a chance to really get stuck into the old slow methodical style of German Catch before Steve Wright changed everything. I don't believe, as some Japanese fans seem to do, that this is a shoot. There are too many dropkicks and forearms for that. It's just an old style very earnest Teutonic bout such as Dieter Senior and Chall would work. Ring is the same design as in the Hoover camcordings 1980-1981 and a lot of later footage. Only advert on the ring is something on the ring apron about Schwaben Brau.(Swabian Brew? Beer, I suppose.). No other commentary audible beneath the Japar. I guess Inoki's camp did a Reslo and brought their own OB crew over to shoot this. Bit of a longer journey though. Cardiff Vs Tokyo. Inoki has a nice purple robe, Bock a hooded jogging suit decades before the Hoodie Fad. National anthems are played. The Japanese one sounds a lot nicer than when that bloke sung it at Summerslam 93. I guess he deliberately sang it badly to get Yoko some heat. So down to business. The referee gives instructions, then they shake hands, go back to their corners and the bell rings. After stalking each other they lock up and Boch backs Inoki into the ropes. They breaks abd try for armlocks, hands adjusting positions on forearms like chess pieces until it hits a corner, They try again and Bock gets and armbars plus a leg grapevine, takes Inoki down into a cross press and gets a series of one counts. Fans are noisily chanting for Bock. Inoki gets his leg on the ropes, so break. Inoki goes for the leg, Bock counters by going for Inoki's hip and throws him down into a leglock position. They breaks and Inoki gets Bock in a left hand front chancery, switching to a side headlock and then riding him down to the mat in a rear chinlock. Bock maintains height off the mat, topples Inoki and gets a leglock but it goes into the ropes. Inoki gets in a quick kick to the thigh to make all the fans of his Ali fight happy. Bock gets a fantastic double underhook belly to belly suplex on Inoki, sending him flying! Inoki catches Back with an upward kick to the jaw as Bock was backing off for the count. Bock takes down Inoki in the mount and turns him into the guard. Inoki gets a foot under Bock's jaw but can't push off with it. Inoki gets a headscissors and twists to get the pressure. It's going to be very interesting to see Bock's escape but sadly the bell goes. Sadly no disco between rounds. Was it not invented yet or was this too solemn an occasion? Or maybe the Japanese TV crew were worried about copyright issues. Nice split screen of each man in their corner being tended to buy their seconds. (just like Britain and France ) Round 2: they stalk each other, Inoki drops to the mat and kicks Bockmin the shins like in the Ali Fight, Bock gives Inoki a football kick back in retaliation. Bock rear waistlocks Inoki and gets a fantastic belly to back suplex which could have been a great pin attempt but Bock instead rides Inoki into the mount. Inoki gets an armlock on the behind Roland. He tries to develop it into a hammerlock but Bock has the muscle strength to resist. Bock doesn't try to roll out. Inoki gets on top with the hammerlock, turns it into a ground full nelson then further nelson, the ref checks shoulders but it doesn't reach even a one count. Bock gets back in the mount but Inoki still has the hammerlock on top, developing to a double wristlock. Bock forces it to the ropes and has Inoki's leg, ready to pitch him to riingside but the ref breaks it up. Bock gets a slap and two forearm smashes but Inoki gets the leg and pulls Bock down ... right into the ropes! Break (eventually) and reset. Bock gets a standing toehold. Inoki gets the ropes, break and reset. They start to feel for a lockup but the round apparently ends (can't hear a bell.) Round 3: as they lockup, Inoki fires a dropkick but Bock no-sells it. Inoki legdives and standing toeholds Bock. Bock tries to push off with the foot but Inoki makes it a double leglock. Bock goes on his head and toupees Inoki into a headscissors, converts to armhank, pulls Inoki upright and toupees him again into another headscissor, gets a few one counts, converts to armhank, lets him up and pulls him down. Inoki rolls inwards ito get a mat side headlock on, convert to cross press, gets a one before Bock rolls him off. Break and a fists/chops brawl, a brief down trying to catch an armlock and collar and elbow into the corner for another break. Bock grabs Inoki's throat holding a closed fist menacingly (Michel Saulnier in France would have roasted Bock for this) but another inaudible round bell. Round 4: Bock considers fisticuffs but gets a grovit instead. Inoki hiptosses Bock down but he gets headscissors. Inoki gets into the front kneeling position for a rollout, Bock pulls him up and gives him a mini piledriver. Inoki recovers and turns into the guardand bridges until the headscissor is dislodges and folded into a Frank Gotch toehold but it's in the ropes. Bit of a slap fight into a Bock full nelson but into the ropes again. German audience starting to behave more like typical German audience singing songs in support of Bock like on 80s/90s videos. Bock gets a belly to belly suplex on Inoki and cross press for a one, then a two! Inoki gets kneeling front chancery on Bock but it goes into the ropes. Inoki gets a legdrive but it's not a clean break so the ref has none of it- Inoki gets a quick toehold and kick in before breaking, getting some heat (the bird, mostly) from the crowd, he glares angrily at them. Bock front chanceries Inoki who degdives him but the bell apparently goes again. They snap at each other on the way back to their corners. Needle. Round 5 Inoki gets a front chancery, tries for a snapmare, Bock resists, tries again and takes Bock over into a kneeling front chinlock. Crowd are rallying Bock for a jawbreaker escape so Inoki switches to side chinlock. Bock struggles and gets Inoki into a fireman's carry takedown but Inoki gets another upwards kick from the mat. Inoki fires a dropkick and cross presses Bockmfor one, gets another dropkick but has to stand back for a knockout count. Confused and frustrated at the German rules, Inoki stomps Bock which gets him a private warning and more heat from the crowd (the British fans would be LIVID over this.) The count resumes and Bock is up at eight. Inoki gets a side chancery into snapmares into chinlock. The crowd forgives and claps this. Inoki converts to headscissors and has it on for some time when the bell goes (first time since Round 2 I can actually hear it.) MC goes "Stop, break. Interval" and Inoki gets the idea and releases. Bock still sells in the mat before heading back to his corner. Round 6 Inoki takes down Bockmin a chinlock. Bock tries to twist Inoki's leg to Inoki switches for a crosspress for 2 then 1 then Bock bridges out but collapsed and Inoki gets another couple on 1s then switches to an armscissor. Bock rolls Inoki into a folding press then lifts him in a non comedy version of British C21st midget wrestler Mark "Little Legs" Sealy's Human glove before dumping him in the ropes for a 7 count. Bock gets a standing full nelson and giant swings Inoki into the mount on the mat. Inoki pushes up but Bock maintains the hold until Inoki reaches the ropes. Up and they both try for a cross buttock but the bell goes. Round 7 and Inoki goes for the legs and misses. Bock gets double legs and secures a Boston Crab but Inoki makes the ropes. Break. Inoki gets a headlock, Bock tries for a legdrive but Inoki gets the hammerlock as he goes down. Bock gets the head and pulls round into a grovit cum shoulder press on the mat which gets a couple of 2 counts. Bock pulls up into the hub side chancery and back down into the shoulder press. Inoki escapes and Brock gets a front chancery and tries for a leg but it doesn't work out and he breaks. Inoki gets a side headlock. Bock takes him down and breaks it open into a top wristlock but Inoki turns himself on top. He gets a couple of 1s then so does Brock and they break. They lock up, go into the ropes but break bad tenperedly and Inoki is getting another private warning when the bell goes. Round 8 . Bock gets a wrist lever, Irish whips Inoki down for a soft bump, briefly put a knee on Inoki's chest then tries again for the whip and this time forces Inoki to take a harder louder bump. Bock puts the footin then armdrags Inoki whom comes back with a headscissors to which he adds a wristlock. Bock tries a headscissor of his own then briefly considers an armlock before returning to the scissor. Two way headscissors. Referee reckons it's a stalemate and calls for a break but Inoki puts on a headlock and keeps reapplying. Referee has finally had enough and gives Inoki a first yellow card! Crowd gives Inoki the bird again. He seems to be the subtle heels who doesn't get the European rules. Bock is angry too, goes for three forearm smashes, bodyslams and posts Inoki. Crowd are behind Bock the babyface. Brock goes for double legs into a Boston Crab. Inoki makes it to the ropes but Bock is slow to release. Kent Walton would call it allowed-for retaliation by Brock. Inoki legdives but Brock turns it into a loose side folding press for a few ones. The bell goes and it almost looks like Brock has got the fall but it's just he end of the round. Crowd is singing, Bock is pacing around like a bull waiting to charge Round 9. Inoki gets the leg but Bock turns him over into a pinning position. He gets a one. Inoki kicks out but then completely misses a dropkick. The crowd pop but Inoki doesn't sell it that much. They slap around then Inoki gets tangled in the ropes. Bock goes for him but Inoki hauls him out the ring before following him out. Bock slugs Inoki a couple of times in a ringside brawl Kent would NOT have approved of (or the IBA). Referee does at least exert authority and pull them apart. Bock marches back into the ring, Inoki follows. Bock lays in FIVE headbutts before throttling Inoki. He modifies to an open grovit but the ref still isn't happy and orders a break. Enough retaliation says the ref. Inoki gets in a headbutt of his own and some chops against the ropes. Ref calls break and gives a stern private warning to Inoki. Bock delivers a standard front piledriver and side chanceries Inoki to the ropes and ties him up to pummel him but the ref says no. Gives Bock a definite private warning too. They lock up but the bell goes. Into a music package of highlights so far with some late 80s synth music in top. Very Jim Crockett Promotions - think Starrcade 85 or 86. Not the end. Round 10 and Boch is hammering Inoki with headbutts before pitching him out of the ring. A visibly angry Inoki returns to the ring. They lock up and Bock clobbers Inoki in the back three times before Inoki dumps Bock over the ropes at point blank range. In Britain this would have been a second Public Warning for Inoki but the ref is trying to be lenient over a heated contest. Bock gets a belly to belly suplex on Inoki. He holds off a crosspress with one arm but Bock still gets the odd one count. Inoki rolls in top but into the ropes for a break. Despite this, he keeps chopping away on the fallen Bock and finally gets a Second And Final Yellow Card. They breaks and lock up. Bock gets a front chancery, Inoki tries for a slam, Bock tries for a double underhook suplex. Neither succeeds and they break and re-engage. Bock batters Inoki with five forearm smashes flooring him on the third and fifth and getting a 6 count on the latter. He twice slams and splashes and covers Inoki for a 2 count. Inoki fires back with a dropkick. They lock up and fall into the ropes when the final bell goes. Three ringside judges give their score (see also old Spanish Catch, 1930s British All In and JCP Clash of the Champions part one although none of the judges look like pet of the month - this being Germany. pet of the month would be a large Alsatian dog!) First judge scores for Inoki to catcalls. Second and third to Bock. Clearly those two Yellow Cards cost Inoki dearly. So Bock is the winner on points. A big celebration breaks out, people run the ring, they try to lift Bock on their shoulders but he is too heavy for them. I think Bock gets a belt - he certainly gets a cup from a dignitary and a big bunch of flowers from a pretty blond girl. Inoki watches it all in disgust from his corner but chills out when the blond girl gives him flowers too plus a smaller cup. Bear in mind Kent Walton forgave Bret Hart for a lot worse in his match with Marty Jones in 1981. So that was the German style pre 1980s. Look at what Bock does in this match with the slower more protracted more worked on holds and the styles of Axel Dieter, Achim Chall. Mile Zrno and others of the pre-Steve Wright era. I wish we had more full bouts from this far back but this is where the German scene was back in 1977 contemporary with Dynamite Kid's rise, Big Daddy's establishment as People's Champion and starting his feud with Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagasaki 's unmasking, TF1 going colour, Albert Sanniez turning heel and Michel Saulnier starting to become can Arbitre Chiotte. And if course Otto Wanz coming back from South Africa with the CWA belt in his paws. THIS IS SEVENTIES GERMAN WRESTLING. And I could do with some more. Where is the raw footage of Inoki-Lasaterre?

Been to Dudley Town Hall for All Star this evening. Good crowd 250-300 ISH. Sadly no clean bout this time, in fact only 4 bouts in the show. On the plus side, good old. Lee Bamber was MC. Star attraction was ex WWFer Gangrel who teamed with Jim Diehard of the Henchmen (see post a year or back about current superheavies) to lose to Jack Stars and Nathan Cruz. Starz had a good clean match in Dudley a year or two back with Elmar Stone who was in the bill today against a comedy heel Chocolate. Lee announced it as a Britain Vs American show but the two other Americans on the show, both NWA Power guys, faced off against each other - Silas "no relation to James nor Crusher. Vs Alex Taylor. Here's a video snippet of a couple of nights ago in Aldershot. https://www.facebook.com/allstarwrestlinguk/videos/645587201318918/ I've still got a nice surprise for the German thread tomorrow. Will look through it tomorrow..

Okay, here goes: All four participants went on to appear on New Catch. LaMotta we've just dealt with. Herve is the future Flesh Gordon and the Falcons faced TBWs TBWs Yann Caradec and Patrice Martineau (with Flesh mentoring the kids) on a 1988 episode, see page 32. Everyone 's looking pretty Glam - the Falcs in their star studded glittery capes with silver lining and masks like the Conquistadors at Survivor Series 1988, Les Bons in spangly white trunks, LaMotta in a white jacket nicked from Blake's 7, Herve in the same purple jacket as against Ramirez in 1979. I want one for nightclubbing. A large trophy is brought into the ring for the winner. Saulnier stands back to the camera - his ears poking out make him and the cup lok alike, Fast paced affair, credit due to Herve and the smaller Falcon who have some great exchanges. Dropkicks, sunset flips, toupees out of headscissors, the lot. Hot tempered too as Herve is constantly making fists at the heels and getting reprimanded by Saulnier until eventually he thumps him and gets a Premier Avertisement. Saulnier and Herve continue to bicker throughout the bout, Saulnier telling Herve off for not holding his tag rope while ignoring the Falcons. When he knocks Herve off the ropes after the Falcons have been choking him, the crowd goes mad and Saulnier goes even madder, breaking out intom The younger (less bald) LaMotta is no slouch either. His opening pin on a Falcon is fantastic - waistlock into rear folding press held by bridge - and he pulls off some snappy flying headscissors too. The bigger Falcon stomps Tony then slams and splashes him for the equaliser less than 4 minutes from the end of the clip. It's quite a cliffhanger Les Bons suddenly losing their lead like that. A ringside family of Pere, Mere et les petits gosses look suitably worried. Herve tries to take over for La Belle, Saulnier will have none of it and Herve throws a most un-Bon-like Cry Baby Jim Breaks stroppy! But fear not, the Falcons screw up a double team spot with Small dropkicking big. Herve tags in and goes on a cross buttock throwing spree on both masked men, eventually cross pressing one of them for the pin and the trophy from the start. Okay, I'm off to Dudley for All Star, will report back soon on the British thread. Rumble should soon be posting their first videos of the new year soon too. Oh and I've found something REALLY SPECIAL for the German thread which I'm looking forward to watching in full.

Another New Catch bout, this time featuring two survivors of Old Catch. Jacky Richard you should all know about, there's plenty enough on this thread 1970s-C21st. LaMotta (no relation to Marcello Motta in the last bout) had at least one previous French TV appearance reviewed by OJ on page 11 where he and a pre Flesh Gordon taken on the Golden Falcons/Halcones de Oro in 1980 (I may well dig that one out myself.) This is in the early Maxi Cuisine sponsored ring so filmed in 1988 and originally screened that year -not Kong before The Final Bell in the UK - on French Catch's now privatised ancestral home TF1 before being repeated on Eurosport early the following year. German commentary presumably by Peter Wilhelm. Richard is in the full Marquis getup with wig, tricorn and velvet greatcoat. LaMotta has a red sequin jacket. Call it New Romantic Vs Glam Rock. Coats off. LaMotta is a baldy old guy like Axel Dieter Senior but Richard swaps his old black tights for purple and pink Jerry Lawler leotard. Possibly the beginnings of his morph into the Travesti Man. The butler Paul Butin De Luchard is in full effect, combing Richard's also balding locks. The referee is also dressed for the occasion in a shiny silver smoking jacket. Down to business: they go into the ropes and Paul trips Tony. Richard tries for a quick pin but Tony kicks out and goes on the rampage. Despite their age, Tony gets a bunch of good fast moves off the Marquis - two snapmares, full nelson into another snapmares, double legs and neatly spins out of whatever response Richard is trying. More hiptosses and the Marquiss rolls out. Once back, Richard gets a standing full nelson. LaMotta slips down to escape but rolls over and Richard gets the hold back so LaMotta reverses it. The Marquis powers the hold open, comes off the ropes and is legflipped He bodychecks La Motta but is caught coming off the ropes in a crosspress for 2, saved by Paul running in and flipping La Motta off. Tony tries an armbar and forces the Marquis to take a bump. He maintains the wristlock on the mat for some whille. dragging him up to force another bump. Richard does the same back and gets a straight headscissor. He pulls the tights the first escape attempt but LaMotta gets out on the second try. A round break and Paul the butler prompts Richard who walks into a dropkick early in Round 2. LaMotta forearms Richard and ties him in the ropes and flings out Paul when he tries to free his master. He goes for a second charge but Paul trips and backdrops him and Jacky who has freed himself splashes him for the one required fall. Short and to the point from two veterans of Old Catch. A good crossover bout between one era and the next. Watch it if you have issues accept hat New Catch was the rightful continuation of classic French Catch.

Morning all. Right, the final: Kent Walton makes a silly pun about Valentine having had a little more time to re-cooper-ate than Cooper. For a hated crumb heel. Cooper is in a merry mood shaking hands with loads of people including MC Brian Crabtree but not Valentine whom he shoved and gets dropkicked. And we're off... This leads to another dropkick and a Powerslam and Greg getting the opening pin in only 15 seconds. Round two and after a couple of armdrags, Cooper tries to flee the ring but Valentine drags him back and pumps up the crowd. Cooper throws Greg in the hammerlock position but Greg takes it as a cartwheel, pinioned arm and all. He then throws Cooper who takes the bump. Cooper gets his heat back with a concealed stomach punch and another punch covered by a headlock. Cooper goes for another headlock on the taller Valentine but gets lifted into a fireman's carry and has to foul by pulling hair to free himself. Cooper gets two good legal forearm smashes and posts Valentine who comes back with double legs into a flip outside the ring. He gets back at 8 but is still selling his head and offering a handshake. Valentine accepts and gets a knee to the stomach for his pains. Cooper follows up with a snapmares into headlock but the bell goes. Cooper ignores it and slams Valentine's head into the corner and is threatened with summary DQ by referee Ken Joyce. Round 3 and Cooper attacks the base of Valentine's spine. Cooper the switches to headlock which again leads to a Greg fireman's carry and Cooper hair foul. Copper slips in one last kick before leaving Greg for the count - Greg is up at five but Cooper swiftly smashes him down then flings him through the ropes. When Greg gets back, Cooper corners him for and over the shoulder leg lock but Valetbashed him over the head with his free leg. Valentine misses a dropkick and lands in his arm with Sid following in with an armhank (legal, he just catches Greg coming off he floor) for an equalising submission. During the interval a second throws Valentine a towel which Cooper thinks was thrown in to concede the bout. He makes a speech calling Greg yellow which enrages the good guy. Round 4 rings and Greg is a flurry, leapfrogging Cooper. Flinging him out of the ring. Cooper slips up on re-entry and Greg side folding presses him to make it 2-1. And he is ecstatic, leaping around. Greg gets his cup and a wreath of flowers round his neck to make him look like he's on holiday in Tahiti and is mobbed by fans. He was a promoter's son with a name filched from a top American star and it was ultimately he and his brother who killed off RWS, the former Joint Promotions, by refusing to take over from his dad in February 1995 but Steve "Greg Valentine" Crabtree was a fine young technician and blue-eye who deserved his push.

Andy Blair in full Highland getup.was from the same English Midlands training camp as superheavyweight Scrubber Daly. He did some tagging with Big Daddy and got squashed by mega heels like Red Ivan. Here he's in against the great carpenter heel. Let's see what Sid can do to make Andy look good before beating him. Blair levers out of Cooper's side headlock and breaks open a sleeper into an arm lever. Cooper doesn't roll. He just takes the whip bump to make the kid look good. Blair leapfrogs and dropkicks Copper who starts attacking Andy on the mat. Cooper goes full nelson to side chancery to backslide but Blair bridges out.Odlybthey shake hands. Blair .egdives into a full Boston Crab but Cooper resists so Greg releases. Cooper spends the rest of the round being privately warned about something - Kent isn't sure what either. Round 2. Sid knocks down Andy with a few forearmd and the odd dirty blow. Eventually Blair gets a Great Muta reverse shoulder drive (apprmore a female move in the C21st. Bodycheck and flying tackle for the cross press equaliser. Cut to Round 4. Cooper has Blair in a single leglock, having lost the other half. He tries for the surfboard regardless, the gives up, bashes his knee into canvas then takes down Blair and tries again for the surfboardbut only gets one side (an arm and a leg.) He puts pressure of the leg then gives up and smashes the knees down one more time. He tries for double legs but instead splashes the leg. He gets a leg again . Collins gets a near KO tthough a forearm smash then gets the a KNOCKOUT , yes OJ, with a reverse piledriver. Apart from getting rescued by Daddy for tag wins, Blair doesn't seem to have got much done, but he hung around the business u til the end of the Nineties and has been seen at wrestlers reunions eg 2016. I shall review the final tomorrow. I need my sleep.

This was Rex Lane's only Saturday ITV appearance. He was in dark marches on two 1987 tapings (against Valentine and Little Prince!) and appeared on quite a bit on Joint's early 90s Scottish TV tapings in 1990 Vs Greg and 1993 Vs Ian McGregor. Between times he was IIRC on the 1992 Battle of the Brits video getting unmasked from under the hood of Dr Death by Tony Stewart. He's a journeyman villain against Max Crabtree's kid. The babyface gets the best of it, forcing a hard bump from a whip, taking two throws with cartwheels, giving one back (Lane takes it well rollingly) then dropkicking Lane to ringside.Lane gets a hammerlock but Greg backdrops him. They run the ropes, Lane tries for a trip , gets booted in the behind, hiptossed a couple of times and runs for cover to ringside as Greg leads the crowd like his uncle. Greg legdives hisway out of a side headlock and gets a Frank Gotch toehold (Figure 4 leglock Kent calls it. but not me to avoid confusion with the American style hold) He crawls to the ropes and gets the break just before the bell. Round 2 Rex Lane gets and armbars, converts to a hammerlock and tries to throw Greg but he cartwheels to a stand and fires a good dropkick. He gets an opening fall with a backdrop and cross press. But Lanevhas a headlock in the new round and uses a punch to earn himself a public warning. He regains the headlock, is slow to release on the ropes and spins Lane out of a legdive. He gets Greg by the hair but the ref warns him off. Round break and Kent tells us about Rex's amateur background at Stockport YMCA. Round 4.and Rex punches Valentine in a headlock but only gets a private warning. Greg elbows Lane in the stomach, gets a double legdives the villain to ringside. Flips him back in, long suplex and cross press for the second straight. Technical vehicle for Greg, Rex either plays carpenter or is more of a dirty wrestling specialist. He'll meet another of those in the final.

Nice to get back to an older bout. Unfortunately 1980 seems to be the start off point for German footage beginning with the professionally filmed Wanz Vs Don Leo CWA title fight in Julyand before that reports of Wanz/Strongbow in '79, highlights of about 5 Roland Bock fights for the mid/late 70s and two early 70s cinema mini docus in B/W plus a few similar going back into the 60s. Hanover in September 1980 is the first real explosion of Germany footage. Chris Colt in Europe 1980. A phrase which brings about visions of druggy chaos, of an ITV match not being screened due to being - says Kent Walton- "nothing whatsoever to do with wrestling," a Big Daddy tag match at the Royal Albert Hall which he spends wandering around at ringside and is later mythologised to have him actually shooting on and exposing Daddy. None of that is really in evidence here. He shakes his head as he gets in the ring like an old biker hippy- think a heel version of Boogie Woogie Man Jimmy Valiant (but strictly a heel BWM, not the earlier Handsome Jimmy) being the usual American playing heel in Europe here against aging Axel "Only One Shooter Here" Dieter Senior. Axel snapmares Colt who complains his hair was pulled. Bodychecks. Lots of playing for time/working the crowd. Axel take the bump several times to undo Colt armbars. Axel does a decent toupee on Colt which explains his balding head. Colt resists further attempts before getting a kick in the head. Colt gets a good legdive on Dieter when the round bell goes. Dieter gets in one badly done toupee before retiring to his corner. DJ plays bluesy 60s powerr pop with a Hammond Organ audibly on it. Round 2. Some more crowd play including Colt crouching in the corner at an "Axel, Axel" chant. Colt gets a standing full nelson. Dieter, in the rigorous old German style half tries a few options before going for a hiptoss into armbar like a British armlift position but prone on the mat. Colt pulls him into a headscissor, Axel tries an underneath lever out, then flipping up into a Boston Crab before finally going for a Frank Gotch toehold. He tries for the cross face, Colt tries for the ropes. The referee refuses him but accepts when he starts grabbing at the ring apron. Dieter chokes Colt on a rope (but why? How much had Colt done to justify the ref allowing that much retaliation?). He armdrags and armhanks Colt more to get some kicks and stomps on. They shave hands and Colt gets a full nelson which he converts to a rear waistlock. Axel counters with a hiptoss but Colt has yet another headscissor ready. Axel uncorks himself in the guard position and gives Colt a cheeky kick to the head. It becomes more brawling and dirty wrestling in the corner, carrying onto and beyond the end of the round. More sixties beat music on the disco. Round 3 and Colt carries straight on with the dirties and gets a yellow card, the MC translates it to English for Colt as First Public Warning. I expect Coltvwas familiar with the phrase from England. Axel posts Colt who lands upside down like Flair, flips to the apron like Flair but then lands ringside and gets a long near KO count, coming back only to get a backdrop and cross press for the winning fall One was an aged oldstyle German, the other was a druggy American. I didn't expect to write so much about this bout. Clearly pre-Steve Wright German Catch and Seventies American heel work meshes nicely as styles.

Gary Clwyd/ Welsh in France! For a guy with one ITV match against fellow TBW Peter Bainbridge, he certainly got about a bit. I make that 16;TV bouts in a career. Cullen at this stage is still a blue-eye (he started going heel during his World Heavy Middleweight title feud with Robbie Brookside in 1991-1992) . As far as the live French audience is concerned, the most familiar figure would be faux Cowboy Jessy Texas who has been knocking around the FFCP turning up on TV to feud with young Flesh Gordon since as far back as 1983. Another familiar face would be referee Charley Bollet, kid brother of legendary heel Andre Bollet and another survivor of Old Catch on A2/FR3. Fourth participant Jörg Schrage is a German doing a gimmick as a heel truck driver. In England this would be a truly sinister thing - lorry driver sadly have a bad reputation for being unmasked as serial killers and sex murderers over here. Fear not however, he's just a curmudgeonly German truckie. He and Jessy do a really strange promo with Jessy hanging out the cabin door of Jorg's truck. Match itself is not a lot to write home about, one fall after ten minutes of action. Gary pays homage to the local flavour with a nifty Scisseaux Volees takedown which unfortunately crashes into the ropes, not in a Kent Walton "Ran out of Mat"kind of way but rather as if the ropes were an unexpected obstacle the wrestlers collided with that mucked up their big spot. Cullen pulls off a neat monkey flip and the heels get the win with a rather badly done low flying version of the LOD's Doomsday Device off the middle turnbuckle on poor old Gary. The rest is the heels doing their dirty work (Bollet gives them a Premier Avertisement) and the blue eyes retaliating. Reasonably action packed but technically nothing that you couldn't have seen on WWF or particularly WCW TV at the time.

Another good tag. Bit unclear on what station it was broadcast, the end credits say FR3 Dijon but the notes (and this is the INA's own channel) say Antenne 2. My guess is that this was repeated on A2 from an earlier FR3 screening and that there was a longer overlap between the FR3 and A2 phases. perhaps going back to La Derniere Manchette the previous year. It looks like the same ring as Les Maniaks Vs Bordes and Gordon so it might be the same TV taping. Angelito and Jacky's TV feud ran for about 20 years (short-lived Mechant tag team notwithstanding) from the 1971 bout where Angelito unmasks mid match to the Eurosport New Catch bout between Angelito El Vigilante and Travesti Man (both previously reviewed on here.) Paul Butin Fluchard the butler inherited from the original Marquis. beardy Eduardo is allowed up on the ring apron as he later would as Travesti Man's "Best Boy" Jean Claude Blanchette. Why he was allowed up is something a native fan will have to explain to us - even if aristocrats do believe they are above the law, referees and Les Flics should surely not agree? ) but I'm coming to think of him as an update of Robert Duranton's hapless manservant Firmin back in the Sixties. Virgil, basically. Black Shadow is apparently Moroccan not American as 70s commentators claimed. Things grind to a halt after Angelito breaks Shadow 's full nelson and a man in a sub Gobbly Gooker sports mascot costume charges to ringside. Angelito is in a very bouncy mood slingshotting himself into the ring, snapmaring Shadow. He and Richard lock up. He gets a sunset flip which becomes a double leg nelson "bascule" (back and forth double leg exchange) which becomes a flying headscissors, quite the combination Shadow and Motta threaten to have a boxing match before both heels keep an armlock/top wristlock going for a while until Motta breaks free with a Planchette Japonaise (Monkey Climb). Richard finds various ways to keep hold of a full nelson. Angelito nicely converts a rear armhank to a sunset flip but Shadow double ankles him to escape at 2. Paul BF interferes to help Richard beat up la Motta, missed by referee Otto Weiss who took over the miserable quasi heel Arbitre Chiotte role from Saulnier after 1983. (again this negativity towards the ref is something we really need a native fan to explain. I think it's to do with a traditional French hatred of jumped up petty officials and pesky bylaws.) He gives Angelito a first Avertisement and even commentator Daniel Cazal doesn't know why. I think it was that one extra kick on a downed opponent but usually you had to persistently attack a fallen opponent to earn an Avertisement/public warning/yellow card. Richard forces Angelito to his knees but Angelito cartwheels out and chops down Richard for a 2 count after Paul runs in and pulls him off. Angelito gets a folding press on Shadow but Runs Out Of Mat as Kent Walton would say. He gets the opening fall on le Marquis with a Victory roll. Paul fans off Richard and Weiss with his towel during the falls break Deuxieme Manche: Richard gets Angelito down with a hammerlock in the heels corner but Angelito counters with a headscissor. Paul pulls him off and for his pains is nearly yanked off the ring apron by the ankle by an irate fan. Angelito uses the top rope to reverse snapmares himself behind Richard, rear legdive him and switch to a side headlock but Paul punches him down as he makes his escape. Angelito spends a good long while on the floor selling hellish dirty wrestling . The heels both get an Avertisement for it. Angelito eventually dropkicks Paul to ringside and makes the hot tag to Motta who goes on a Manchette rampage on both heels plus the butler. A somewhat sloppy sunset flip on Shadow only gets a two but the followup powerslam gets a second straight fall and the win for Les Bons. A fine action packed Catch A Quatre, I agree with OJ.

I don't know if YouTube's algorithms know about Butcher/Crusher Mason and Mighty Chang being one and the same, but this popped up. Now I'm not saying Chang/Yamada was good apart from a few good little spots but this is far more deserving of the "Absolutely horrific" moniker. Billy Samson was no Jushin Liger and never would be although he would have made a good WWF Superstar, a sort of 80s update of Sailor Art Thomas. He's the same sort of streetwise black babyface character as Mammouth Siki in French Catch or Junkyard Dog/Rufus R Jones/ Thunderbolt Patterson/Koko B Ware in America and was VERY over with German audiences but he not only looked but wrestled like a 1980s muscleman. I think (don't quote me) it was him who wrestled in Britain as Samson Ubo in 86 and is not generally well regarded for it. So we have a Muscle Man versus a Fat Man who can work a bit. Eight minutes of this would have been like Hulk Hogan Vs King Kong Bundy. This October 1987 tournament final bout runs for half an hour of slow leverage and some slug and punch. As I said, Samson was VERY over and there is a massive celebration when he wins the 1987 European Catch Cup. Other things of interest - they play national anthems at the start and God Save The Queen is played for Mason despite him being in full Mighty Chang getup complete with moustache, flip flops and satin Dragon jacket. Terry Rudge is Mason's second and I think Samson's is Franz Van Buyten.

Claude Rocas was somewhere in the middle of a procession of high flying tag partners Walter Bordes has from the mid 60s to the mid 80s (I wonder if Bordes was ever on New Catch) starting with 50s legend Rene Ben Chemouel and ending with a young skinny Flesh Gordon. This falls somewhere between these periods. Sanniez is making his slow jump from clean lighter weight to a French version of Jim Breaks. Bernaert was by now an old greying guy, a hardened heel from 15 years earlier, not unlike the character Delaporte was playing a few years earlier. His scruffy grey beard makes him look suspiciously like Jeremy Corbyn. Both the two Rogers are in evidence - Delaporte the former heel now honest sheriff of the ring, Delaporte back in the commentary position now the Gaullists are out of office and his support for the students in 1968 is forgotten. Roca and Sanniez start it with a Roca Plex. Both bump around, Sanniez neatly unplugs a headscissors with his feet then saunters back to his corner to Bordes to taunt him.. Bernaert, being older is somewhat clumsier, bumping sloppily from a flip from the feet by Bordes. Crowd are going for Bordes " Mama Doux Mais Mais". Bordez whips Sanniez who does a Breaks/Grey horizontal spin on the mat to take Albert down. Roca handstands out of a Bernaert headscissor and old man Pierre reverse cartwheels back upright - the old by still has it. He also fires off a lean back dropkick despite his years. Another bumping session from Bordes and Sanniez including a vicious blockbuster horizontal suplex. Sanniez and Delaporte get into a brief argument. Bordez surfboards Sanniez but Sanniez whips him overhead with a double arm whip, Bordes kicks him as he moves in for the kill. Bordes has Bernaert covered but Delaporte is distracted by Sanniez. He makes it back for a 1 count, Bordes drops a leg on Pierre's aging bicep and outs on a spinning toehold - Couderc at 10:30 uses that same "chewing gum" word I was asking @El-P about before. Roca does the old bridge into flip into monkey climb sequence on Sanniez, finishing it off nicely with a bodyscissors, but Albert converts it to a blockbuster suplex sending Roca flying. Sanniez and Rocco have a great time avoiding each others charges and drops. Bordes gets out of a Bernaert headscissor by concertinaing his legs, old grey PB kicks Bordes into the ropes but he cartwheels out of harms way. Bernaert is getting annoyed with Bordes's prancing and has an angry little prance himself. Sanniez and Rica reverse full Nelsons and exchange flips until Roca cross buttocks and presses Sanniez for a 2. Les Mechants go on an extended beatdown on Bordes which ends only when Sanniez mistakenly fires a missile dropkick at his own partner Bernaert, allowing Bordes to make the hot tag. Sanniez eventually gets a couple of dropkicks but misses a third and is nearly pinned for his pains. Roca eventually backwards leapfrogs Sanniez and rolls him up in a folding press for the opening pinfall. The heels protest but Delaporte will have none of it. 25 mins in we get our first Scisseaux Volees takedown as counter to wrist lever, the standard French chain sequence gambit as compared to the rolling escape from armbars preferred in British Wrestling. Sanniez oversells Bordes's forearm smashes, spinning through the air on a first and going over the ropes on the second - "Ah la manchette de Bordes, C'est quelque chose!" quips Couderc. Bordes cartwheels out of a Bernaet fling bodyscissors and fires off two quick headscissors of his own. He foils a double team with a Ricky Morton headlock/ headscissor combo on both heels. Les Bons spend a long while battering Les Mechants with Manchettes and anything else. Sanniez leapfrogs Bordes to avoid a dropkick and brags about how his brains saved him until Bordes hits with another dropkick. Sanniez gets 2 on Roca with a flying tackle. He tries again but Claude gets him in a tombstone piledriver. Sanniez puts his hands on Roca's chest to block and possibly reverse the piledriver. After a couple of attempts to dislodge the blocking hands, Roca drops Sanniez hard on his chest. Both teams tag but Bernaert does not want in with Bordes. He argued with Delaporte who drags him in by the arm. Bernaert tries for a leglock but ends up in a bodyscissors, Roca does the same to Sanniez. Both heels get the traditional "Ah Ouais" atomic drops spot. Walter twice slingshots Pierre into Albert then finishes him with another flying tackle to make it a two straight win for Les Bons. Good action packed French Catch A Quatre, fine example of the genre and a good one for beginners to watch to get the idea of the territory. (This isn't an INA copy, it's unwatermarked from ABCCatch's channel, but Matt has posted the INA's copy too.)

Anyway: The real deal Vs the gimmick. The future Jushin Liger, fresh off having lost the World Heavy Middleweight title back to Rocco a second time, gets fed to Chang/Crusher Mason mere months before his one and only ITV appearance (see page 37) during a decades long career with opposition promoters. It's a pretty grotty squash match, I'll grant you, but at least Yamada doesn't take it lying down. He does get some good moments amid the clobberings, throws to ringside, bearhug, the attempt to drill a hole in his back with the belt peg and the opening backbreaker submission. Referee Chico Roberts doesn't come off that badly either - at the end of round 1 after the big man took forever to stop for the round break, Roberts sternly follows Chang all the way back to his corner, with the camera tracking them all the way to show the referee in control! For his pains, Yamada manages to get in some good moments against the big man. He breaks a rear waistlock and forces a hard bump from a whip.He fires off a powerful missile dropkick on Chang to the corner post. He scores the equaliser with a neat Sunset flip on the bigger man. He fires another dropkick followed by a snapmare on the bigger man! He throws Chang to ringside and then flying bodypresses him from the top of the post to the ringside floor. Throughout the bout the crowd are actively rooting for a DQ for Chang, chanting OUT! OUT! OUT! (One kid waves his flag in time to the chant like it's an axe for beheading Chang!). And they get their wish but with a sting in the tail - Yamada wallops Chang with a chair, getting himself DQd on top of Chang's own well earned DQ. So DDQ it is. At least Fuji won the fight. Actually quite a few of Yamada's high spots in the match are worked in to title graphics, the two dropkicks in the ring, the dropkick to ringside and the chair shot.