David Mantell

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.

A nice live poster from the FR3 era, 1986, filched from Bob Plantin's page. All your favourite soon to be stars of Eurosport New Catch (well the French "home team" ones anyway) and plenty of future stars of the IWSF.

Ha, I belong to the Commonwealth so technically I can say whatever I want. Amen. That's how it works here as well. For now! It's not really about where you're from. It's about what wrestling you were reared on as a novice fan.

Well I know of two Marty/Caswell rematches and my favourite Saint/Faulkner 1-1 draw was a rematch from an earlier NC. Faulkner and Mick McMichael got about 8 bouts out of a variety of finishes. I'm fine with that as long as they don't then turn round and say that for decades the combined UK (or even European) wrestling industry and its public were Getting It All Wrong.

Like I said, the alternative would have been a 1-1 draw which possibly shut the door on a potential rematch. To be honest though, I get so engrossed by the action in that bout that the finish doesn't feel that important to me. It's just how it was brought to a halt.

They don't have to be British, they just have to open their minds to how other fans have other definitions of good or bad.

It's a way of curtailing what would otherwise be a 1-1 Broadway. But the "oh what a pity, it was all going so splendidly" aspect really meant something to these fans and would have them calling out for a rematch ASAP, whereas a straight up draw would just leave fans accepting them as equals, end of story.

Can they? Or are they just applying their own preconceptions to a style that doesn't fit them?

This is the issue- I don't agree that there is a one size fits all approach to analysing and grading different pro wrestling styles from across the globe. Re. "Pallette" my point there was that certain finishes that you dismiss as awful. (Knockout, DQ, No Contest) fans of those other wrestling cultures may regard as highly effective and therefore should not be condemned out of hand when they occur in those other styles of pro wrestling.

How to do DQs effectively. (Even better than the Cool Cat Vs Buffalo bout) Ulf Herman is in a handicap against former enemies Jones and Murphy. Actually less of a handicap tag and more of a Four Horsemen beatdown angle with the two English constantly kicking Herman while the ringside MC calls on them to SCHTOP! SCHTOP!! Heman does occasionally get an advantage but double teZming brings him down again. Gradually the referee and MCs -and the audience's patience is worn thin by this and when the ref DQ the team after they give him an extended ringside beatdown, the MC gives them a LONG lecture in his broken English about what an utterly disgraceful shameful pair of naughty boys they are! "JONES! MURPHY!! YOU ARE DISQUALIFIED!! YOU ARE DISQUALIFIED!!" Felling as well be hung for a sheep than a lamb, they then beat down the ref. "YOU WILL GET NO WAGES!!!" shouts the MC so they thump him too and go backstage to no doubt grab their money and make it a police issue. The audience are left in no doubt that these two are a disgrace to wrestling and deserve absolutely nothing and have gotten what they deserve (unless they have since resorted beyond ring villainy to actual civil crime.) A badly beaten up referee raises the hand of a badly beaten up Ulf. Referee and babyface have won the match but lost the fight but at least have the public support to hold their bashed-in heads up and celebrate common decency and honest citizenry. ****†************* By the way, at the start Herman cuts a promo at what appears to be Haumarkt in Vienna prior to a show. I wish we could have had a promo from Jones and Murphy also - Jones became a much better talker after his UK heel turn in 1992.

Well to be fair I've come across plenty of Americans who accept and enjoy European, especially British wrestling and accept that it is a different beast. And I've met many fellow Brits who treat "old school" as some sort of crime against Smartness on a par with Bob Backlund getting the WWWF title in 1978 If a long haired Led Zeppelin fan were criticizing it for the lack of virtuoso guitar pyrotechnics and the songs only being 3:minutes long then yeah that would be unreasonable. Calling CTC a poor reheat of the Clash's first album without the spirit or chemistry of the original (less still the original 1977 UK Vinyl tracklisting before Epic watered it down for Americans by chopping out Deny, Cheat, Protex Blue, 48 Hours and the original White Riot) is however a fair cop. Better analogy - using Corporate, sorry, Combat Rock as stick to beat CTC is unreasonable since CTC was intended as a backlash against Combat Rock (Such was the intention of the horrible production, an attempt to do punk lo fi). However. using the original UK 1977 vinyl version of the first Clash album as a stick to beat CTC is fair game since CTC is a poor attempt at doing another punk album.

See, this was one of my favourite bouts ever, but would you write it off on account of the No Contest (Refused TKO) finish?

If a long haired Led Zeppelin fan were criticizing it for the lack of virtuoso guitar pyrotechnics and the songs only being 3:minutes long then yeah that would be unreasonable. Calling CTC a poor reheat of the Clash's first album without the spirit or chemistry of the original (less still the original 1977 UK Vinyl tracklisting before Epic watered it down for Americans by chopping out Deny, Cheat, Protex Blue, 48 Hours and the original White Riot) is however a fair cop.

Okay.how about this from page 1: Emphasis on that line because OJ and myself go into a more detailed debate about this on this thread here: It's not particularly you, it's more a general disagreement I have with fans brought up on American wrestling, even Brits brought up on WWE. Although yes OJ and myself have gone hammer and tongs about it. The whole eye of the beholder thing is why I felt inclined to warn against lists of top matches but there is one on that page 1 for you.

Yes, this is more like it! Doc and Robbie were not yet the Liverpool Lads in 1988 although they had tagged up together as teenagers on the holiday camp circuit in 1984-1985. Doc made his one ITV appearance around this time while Robbie was immersed in the Golden Boys tag team with Regal. (Referee is another Liverpool lad, All Star boss Brian Dixon). They still have a fine match here with Dean realty rolling out from Robbie throws, from a side chancery and a whip. Robbie rolls to untwist armbars but Doc keeps his grip and develops the lever into an armscissors and and armhank. Doc even keeps control through a Brookside monkey climb, scissoring the wrist for good measure and using the arm force cross buttock and pin attempt. He even regains the arm after withstanding a leapfrog into snapmares, a reverse scoot through the legs , a fireman's carry, repeated headlock attempts. Brookside takes over with an ankle lock. developed into a leglock while Doc tries to regain the arm. After they get up for some running action, Robbie drop toehold trips Doc into a figure four toehold with cross face (again, almost an STF) then a Boston Crab. Doc reaches the ropes and It's back to running action as Robbie scores two bodychecks and Doc a Great Muta reverse shoulder lock. Robbie waistlocks Doc Dean into a folding press for a 2 count and inner forearms him (clothesline was a new word in 1988) for another pin which Doc bridges out of. Doc rears out of Robbie's full nelson and sunset flips him for a 2 count of his own and then two more tries with a leapfrog into double leg takedown folder and another held by the legs from which which Robbie crawls free. Robbie goes from headlock to upper armlock working on the shoulder then back to headlock then into a further nelson pin attempt which Doc bridges out of beautifully (despite the recently worked-on shoulder). Doc nearly gets a KO with a backdrop, Robbie flying bodyscissor throws Doc and hooks the legs but Doc "bascules" (as French commentators called it) Robbie straight into the corner pad - talk about Running Out Of Mat. Doc tries another cross buttock and press pin with the arm from earlier, Robbie tries a backslide, both only get 2, Doc rolling off the backslide nicely. Doc misses another cross buttock and Brookside flying tackles him for another couple of 2 counts. Robbie drop toeholds into another figure 4 toehold and goes for the facelock - almost that STF but doc resists, keeping flat on the mat. Robbie tries for a KO with a Rude Awakening and a pin with a Russian Leg sweep, Doc bridges out. Doc drops Robbie backwards. Robbie doubles up Doc with a knees and then German suplexes him finishing it off with a bridge to get the three for the win. A fine classic technical match to remind us how much better the late Ian Doc Dean could be than that Germany throwaway with John Kenny and also that later period Reslo was not just about cages. chains, razzmatazz and other such imported Americana, there was a solid backbone of classic s identification British wrestling there.

Dealing with dancing first - in Dave Taylor and Alex Wright's case it was a German idea that white meat babyfaces should be dancing pretty boys rather like the spare members of a boy and. Blame it on the cultural impact of Take That and Boyzone. Here, I think Orig was trying to do his own version of Flesh Gordon 's skimpily dressed dolly birds in late 80s/early 90s France. There was a lot of cultural interest in the 90s running into the 00s in fab N groovy seventies kitsch, from clubs like Plastic Palace People to the Flares nightclub chain to movies like the Austin Powers series. It even found its way to WCW with Mike Awesome's "That 70s Guy" character. What's slightly more odd is giving him the Des Moines name and billing him from Canada - most fans in Britain knew exactly who he was! Danny seems to be a bit of a hybrid here - he turned heel on Doc and Robbie iBrookside in Croydon nearly a year earlier and has his Dirty Dan leotard on but is introduced as Danny Boy and not doing very much in the way of heeling - he gets a mixed reception from fans, some of whom knows what he's been doing lately, most of them just know him of old and cheer him although Disco/Doc is clearly the favourite. (Dean had his own heel past - teaming with Jimmy Ocean in France on New Catch- ironically against Danny!). Danny doesn't really do anything illegal here, in fact at the end he and Dean shake hands like good sportsmen, so I would have to conclude that Danny has reverted back into blue eye mode for this bout. There are a few bits of good technical wrestling - a Doc Dean folding press which Danny smartly crawls out of, Danny reversing a Doc figure four headscissors into a Frank Gotch figure four toehold and then switching to a facelock, now if only he'd kept hold of the toehold and made it an STF!!! - and some nice aerial bits such as one powerful dropkick from each man and Doc's winning flying bodypress at the end. Mostly it's a battle of power as the now bulkier Collins (who over the next year or so will relinquish the World Middleweight and British Heavyweight Middleweight titles and unseat Alan Kilby for the British Light Heavyweight Championship) pounds away of Dean like he was Ax or Smash of Demolition and Dean gamely returns fire. I wanted to post a good scientific Doc Dean match as an antidote to the bout with John Kenny on the German thread. This has its momeybut it's not quite what I was after. How about ...

Similar remarks apply. George Burgess who died last year first got attention as vulnerable loser the Jamaica Kid getting squashed by Kendo Nagasaki in summer 175 and a heel Big Daddy in February 1976. By the mid/late 80s he had put on weight and age and become Jamaica George, mid carder for hire, but on Reslo in Wales and in Germany hecwad Cool Cat Jackon- most likely Orig's idea. Brehney (or Buffalo Beany as British promoters called him) doesn't even bother to wrestle much in this bout, he just constantly attacks CCJ with a leather belt until the referee gets fed up and disqualifies him. ITV would probably have refused to show it. It's good in that it illustrated a DQ Being applied after a wrestler proves his inferiority through being unable or unwilling to compete and conform to the rules. Another promo at the start, this time from Jackson. FAO British accent spotters , he's doing a rural Somerset accent from the Southwest, the one the rest of the world knows as the Pirate Accent (Arrrrrr........). A little bit odd to hear a blck guybdona rural West Country accent, but it is what is is.