David Mantell

This was filmed at the end of January 1986 and screened shortly afterwards in early February on ITV's standalone Wrestling show (.Season 1, the remainder of Joint's 1981 5 year contract extension) It was part of the buildup to the FA Cup Final match where Big Daddy's crusade against Fit Finlay and his bullying ways would hopefully lead to punishment for Finlay in the form of the standard Daddy treatment. This then is Finlay in bully mode. OJ's opinion is that Finlay got lazy during this run, but this bout shows he could still do a lot of his old technical tricks as well as ever. Turpin was (is) the brother of tragic champion boxer Randolph "Randy" Turpin. There's an exhibit for Randy including images of Jackie in the Leamington Spa museum which I sometimes used to visit before going to All Star shows at the Royal Spa Centre in the 00s/10s. He wears a splendid red/blue clock (MC Brian Crabtree's old colour scheme). Paula and Finlay force poor Brian to recite a whole load of compliments to Paula. Jeff Kaye, ex of the Barons is a familiar figure on this thread and the French thread too. Round 1: Turpin swiftly and cleanly rolls out of a Finlay armbar then reverses direction, re-rolls as a standing tumble (not quite a cartwheel). He tries to give Finlay a high whip and bump but Finlay gracefully rolls through and upright. He gets a double finger Interlock, picks off one side with a boot then puts the remaining arm through various weakeners. He retakes one side of the Interlock and forces a high whip and bump on Turpin, cheekily kicking him on the mat, which antagonises the ref and crowd alike. Turpin goes to lock up and swerves to a single arm. Finlay sidesteps this but Turpin gets in his own cheeky slap, the a dropkick from behind. They exchange slaps then Finlay slams Turpin and hauls him off the mat (minor private warning foul) for a big forearm smash. Finlay side chancery throws and kneedrops Turpin. He gets a grovit but the bell sounds. Round 2 Finlay is still being pampered by Paula when Turpin rolls straight up to his corner looking for trouble. Finlay flings him across the ring, let's Paula finish he4 job, the couple lip kiss and Finlay is ready to go. Turpin gets a single leg and pushes Finlay into a corner. Finlay pushes him off with a boot. He gets a standing back hammerlock switching controlling arms, backs Turpin into the ropes and throws him so that his hammerlocked arm takes the brunt of the impact. Finlay gets a side headlock but with Turpin's neck resting on the bootom rope so illegal. Finlay takes his time releasing then quibbles with Kaye, and boots Turpin on the mat, some or all of this earning himself a First Public Warning. Finlay gets a legdive and kneeling toe and ankle hold, Turpin shoves his other boot sole in Finlay's face and hammers down on his knee, giving the odd kick to the Irishman's shoulder then back to pressing on his face. Turpin grabs the ropes for a break. Finlay tries to drag him away by the foot but Kaye saw the ropes grab and orders the break. Finlay throws the foot down with disgust and Turpin kips up only to get a powerful posting He is selling his back but up at 8 only to get a kneedrop to the back just on top of where the posting impacted. He is clearly planning for a back submission. Finlay tries to trap Turpin on the ropes but gets two headbutts and a Kendo style straight fingers chop. The bell goes. Kaye has trouble sending them to their corners. Apparently he and Paula argue, says Kent, but we see nowt of it on screen - just she and Dave calmly talking strategy. Round 3 and Turpin gets an arm and horizontally spins on it to twist the limb. Finlay smartly rolls to untwist the twist. Turpin gets a. Top wristlock but Finlay goes into a bridge and kips up smoothly into a crotch hold with the other arm and Fireman's carry. Rather than his usual blockbuster suplex he clumsily drops Turpin, whips and clotheslines him and forearm smashes him. Turpin reverses a posting, but Dave takes th3 impact well. He underhooks Finlay and gets another posting which Finlay also absorbs well, mostly on his lower leg, then dodges the worst of a Turpin dropkick, this landing another back weakener on top of the ones from the last round. Finlay builds on this with three postings and a backdrop leaving Turpin rolling around the ring clutching his back and selling like crazy. To top it all off, Finlay gets an over the shoulder backbreaker which he converts to a Hercules Hernandez/Lex Luger torture rack (reverse Fireman's Carry backbreaker). This appears to give him the first submission but Finlay is slow in releasing then goes to Turpin's corner and gives him a between rounds posting . As a result of either or both of these, the submission is Disallowed. The Finlays are not happy bunnies and Paula slaps Kaye in the face. Round 4. Finlay pounds Turpin in the back, stomps his hand and delivers a late kneedrop on the already fallen Turpin. Finlay tries again for the submission but Turpin this time undresses the clamping arms and drops down behind. Finlay whips him into the ropes, backdrops him for a five count then delivers a face first piledriver for a KNOCKOUT!!!! Finlay is your winner and you can't call that knockout a cheap finish, can you? And now ... The Afterbirth. Paula celebrates her man's victory by ripping up a b/w 8x10 of Big Daddy. This bait brings the big man himself out with a pair of grannies. one under each arm like the dolly birds they last were 60 years earlier (about a century ago now.) He stomps to the ring and exchanged words and rude pointing with Dave until the Finlays make their exit. A bunch of wrestlers (including I think Pat Patton) and WWF-style "backstage officials" hold Big Daddy back, but he bodychecks the whole lot of them off, including his own brother, MC Brian Crabtree. This all lead to Cup Final Day where Daddy got his hands on Finlay although it was tag partner Scrubber Daly who took the decider. (We reviewed it previously, I shall dig it out anon.) There were also house show rematches including one where Finlay, partnering Mel Stuart, used the same tombstone piledriver to pin Daddy's partner Richie Brooks for a 2-1 win. But anyway this bout. It may have been meant to build Finlay as a cruel sadistic villain and at the same time part of the buildup storyline (Daddy after Finlay's blood) for a showcase Daddy tag but Finlay and Turpin had a pretty decent scientific battle here with Finlay executing his repertoire of escapes, reversals and transitions with, if not breakthrough ingenuity, then certainly a fair bit of grace and style. Call it the Antidote to Bully Finlay beatdown matches.

Another Helmut Lukestik video just came up on my Smart TV. He looks more his usual self on here with a black double leotard that screams HEEL andthe dark hair combining with the moustache to make him look like 1980s Freddie Mercury. And once again he's demolishing another babyface Gil Cabanas (the name sounds Hispanic) with the good guy getting the odd hope spot, the most notable of which sees him land on the referee who blames the poor goody and gives him a yellow card. Afterwards we see Helm tackling another opponent in long white Big John Studd tights. What's interesting about this clip is the venue - it's a public square in what looks like a German or Austrian rural village and it looks absolutely BEAUTIFUL ❤️. They are trees and gorgeous buildings everywhere. The crowd looks like a pub beer garden crowd until the camera swings round and you see there are hundreds, perhaps hitting a Thousand, spectators sat out in the sunshine enjoying the wrestling show while being fed beer by barmaids in saucy versions of traditional Teutonic dress. Professional Wrestling slipping into its element as a staple of a traditional and picturesque part of rustic Teutonic life. The only blot on the horizon is right in front of the camera, a rusty piece of ironmongery which was built as a support for something but in this clip just gets in the way.

Miserable heel referee has a name, by the way - Louis Deblamecque (sp?) The silly string was not meant to be part of the show, it was a rogue fan. This is what happens when you have zero ringside security of barriers (actually silly string is on the tamer end of the scale) There's a gag where Hassan grabs Puma by the beard and Arbitre Louis chops Hassan off and he ends up apparently taking some beard with him. Gwyn Davies and referee Brian Crabtree did this to Giant Haystacks on World of Sport in 1976. Most likely it's an ancient wrestling trope.

I wonder if this was a similar deal to that 1983 Spanish World Welterweight title match (Santi Rico Vs Modesto Acapulco) - a one off TV coverage of a bout? Given the general state of the Greek house show circuit (see the three underground car park videos above) maybe we shouldn't have too great expectations aboutmid 80s Los Colosos del Ring shows.

Rare - or maybe not so rare - media appearance by Cortez on Spanish TV with a painter (obviously an unthreatening enough one for the Franco regime to have not just not arrested him, but promoted his work on their propaganda channel). Painter has an arm wrestle with Herc and Hercules helps the painter reach awkward parts of his painting. Herc does a straight to camera bit which gives me the impression he would have been rather good at this Promos lark if he had ever been required to do so. (Did Verne etc make him do promos later on?)

It's been a bit of a while since we saw in action one of my favourite journeyman heels of Germany/Austria Helmut Lukestik. Here he faces a smaller,younger, budgie haired.guy called Freddy Barnes in a darkened tent, illuminated only by a curious inverted pyramid light fitting directly over the ring at Austria's 1989 Volkevestcup. Helmut is looking unusually flamboyant with a bleached mullet and shiny golden tights but the moustache should make him recognisable. Round 1 (presumably) is JIP with Helm choking Fred who is tied up in the ropes. When the ref frees Fred, Helm simply ties him on another side. He boots Barney around the shiny black mat til the bell goes. Round 2 and Fred gives Helmut some of his own treatment on the third side and in the corner until Helmut bangs him down and chokes him on the ropes, earning himself a public warning (no sign of cards.) He continues the beatdown till the bell goes. Round 3 and it briefly looks scientific as Helmut gets a legdive but them he ties the leg in the ropes and boots the kid, then ties him by the necon the fourth side for another beatdown. Fred fights back with charges and clotheslines but then himself goes to work on Lukestik's leg with a toehold/ legspread and weakening dips to the knee. Round 4 sees Fred switch tack to the arm with a cross buttock into armlock in the guard into armhank, Helmut tries to get up but is twice dragged down. The third time, Freddy walks away (so no toupie from Lukestick!) Helmut gets a full nelson and it's back to choking on the top rope. He leaps to the ground to drag down on Fred's neck then comes back to continue the treatment. The throttling then moves to a corner on the camera side. Helmut includes an over the knee backbreaker. He interrupts KO Counts to beat down more on Fred. When the bell goes he taunts the crowd (some of whom chant USA at him, following the example of that nice Mister Duggan I guess. He argues with thecref who gives him a second and final Public Warning. He even jaws with the unseen MC while accepting a swig of drink from a ringside. Round 5 and Lukestik gets a cross buttock throw but does not follow down. He slams and stomps the kid, armdrags him then gets slammed himself as Freddy tries to start a face comeback. Freddy speeds things up with throws and Irish whips that force Helmut to take solid bumps. Helmut takes his time getting up but is met by another bodyslam. He fights back with a snappy standing full nelson into side chancery throw. Freddy gets behind, creeps through Helmut's legs and rear snapmares him, an unexpected great scientific move among this heel beatdown. He gets his former tormentor with a long suplex, side chancery throw and full finger Interlock into high whip and bump. Another finger Interlock turns into a lean-back dropkick. Helmut has enough of this, pummels young Freddy in the corner with forearm smashes and side chancery throws him and knees him down, apparently enough for a third public warning and the a DQ and an upset win for Freddy. The tape cuts out at this point. A traditional heel beatdown and fightback by the bullied kid. Helmut is very much playing the same role as late 80s Fit Finlay. It's a pity we don't get to see more of his reaction to being DQd in disgrace (we last seen him protesting to the ref.).

The Battle of the Two Bald Peters. (Peter Northey vs Peter Thornley) Nothing epitomises the main event scene in All Star Wrestling for the first five years after TV than Kendo Nagasaki having a wild, deep heat drenched, crowd rioting heel vs heel battle. Naggers and Skull Murphy had previously been tag team partners on the Mick McManus World Of Wrestling VHS filmed in Croydon 1988 and had caused havoc that night. Now they do it again but with no opponents other than each other. (That's a bunch of New School Americanised promotions in the title sequence. Notice how much better Rumble Promotions do in their clips I sometimes post to this thread.) Kendo has manager Lloyd Ryan and personal assistant (and nowadays husband) Lawrence "Loz" Stevens in his corner. Referee is dear old Mal Mason, RIP, in whose honour current British Lightweight Champion Nino Bryant's title is named. Lloyd gets to work renegotiating how many falls there are. Murphy doesn't care but Mason (no relation to James nor Crusher) insists on a two falls match. Kendo does his usual samurai sword chop right up close to Murphy. Most fans cheer for Murphy but a substantial Nagssaki fan contingent start a Kendo counter-chant. Kendo's salt ceremony is done and dusted without too much stalling and we're off. Round 1. Skull gets a side headlock, fires off the opposite ropes, knocks Kendo out of the ring and follows him out for the ringside action the IBA would just not allow. Back in, Skull uses his wrist protector on Naggers, a move that would draw heat with almost any other opponent but this crowd cheers. He rear snapmares Kendo down in front - with Kendo moving through a nice graceful angle as he takes the bump- and goes to work on the mask. Mal Mason tries to intervene but Murphy knocks him down. Kendo eventually low blows Skull to escape - something else the IBA would from on- reset his mask, pull down a corner pad and post Murphy into the bare buckles, only for Skull to turn the tables and smash Kendo's head into the bolts. He looks to be going for a side chancery throw but does a headbutt instead. Kendo gets on a good scientific hold, a semi Japanese Stranglehold, and takes Murphy down to the mat. He gets the odd one count although presumably he is more interested in a submission. Mal does the three hand drops (unusual for Britain -this was an American idea) with Murphy keeping his hand up on the third. A second time, Murphy is out so Mason gets Kendo off Murphy but he goes right back and earns a public warning. This does get the break as Kendo sits up to protest. Kendo chops Murphy to awaken him from the sleeper and stands back for the 10 count only for the bell to go. He spends the round break menacing the still fallen Murphy as Mason tries to warn him to stay back. Round 2: Kendo infuriates his haters by going right back to work on Murphy. Mason does get him off long enough for Murphy to sit up, so when Kendo slaps pressure points on him, Mason just lets it slide. The Kendo haters cheer Murphy to recover. (Accent spotting - this is Bath so the crowd haveca definite Somerset/West Country accent, like the "Pirate accent"). Kendo guides Murphy to the ropes and chokes him on them. Mal Mason demands Kendo take his man off the ropes so he does and then floors him with a straight fingered chop to the throat. ("Legal- and good!" as Kent Walton would say when Kendo did this after a long series of fouls) . Kendo stomps Murphy's throat on the ring apron but Murphy uses his own boot to push the top rope up and catapult Kendo to ringside. Undeterred, Kendal chops Murphy's neck on the ring edge and drags him out by the Skull. At ringside, Kendo smashes Murphy's head into a table and chair as spectators mill dangerously close. (MC John Harris thoughtfully takes the bell away before Kendo can use that too.) This performance earns Kendo his Second and Final Public Warning. Mason goes to check on Murphy's skull leaving Naggers to again undo that same corner post, hurling the pad to ringside like an old pillow. He slams Murphy's head in and gets the pressure points back on as a second puts the pad back. Murphy fights back with blatant closed fist punches, the last one, to the chin, flooring the masked man. Mason only gives a private warning, allowing for retaliation as Kent again would say, an gives Kendo a count but he is up at 2. Murphy snapmares him and delivers a diving headbutt which gets a big pop. Fistdrops and more diving headbutts are also allowed as retaliation by Mason, then Skull sits his man up and has another go at the mask. This finally gets Murphy his own First Public Warning. The bell goes as Kendo wanders outside to fix his mask. Crowds are now up on their feet, grabbing the ring ropes and screaming in protest Round 3: Kendo is still not back so Mason goes to fetch him. They both return together and Skull punches and posts Kendo. He gets an armbar and a boot to the face before Kendo can roll out. Skull punches Kendo down. Kendo is up at 8, reverses a posting and shoulder charges Murphy in the corner, an old favourite foul of his. He gets a posting and Murphy comes back with a forearm smash but gets Mason instead, flooring him. He cross buttocks and presses Kendo but there is no referee. Mason does make it back for a 2 count. Murphy protests but Mason stands firm and gives him his Second And Final Public Warning for the forearm smash. While his back is turned, Kendo salt bombs Murphy and gets the pin but then noticed the salt on the ground. Harris says that Mason has disallowed the fall but Nagssaki and manager Ryan claim victory and take their leave, despite the angry lynch mob besieging the ring., including an angry Rocco who had come down into the ring to protest. (Side note - Rocco and Murphy's respective Dads, Jumping Jim Hussey and Roy Bull Davies were are frequent heel tag team in the 1950s/1960s.). Manager and Man Of Mystery somehow make it back to the dressing room door. Harris reports Kendo considers himself the winner and is not coming back. Murphy screams four letter words down the mike and Rocco cuts a promo on Nagssaki. The camera cuts before the crowd can commence to serious building damage and we get shots of the same modern Americanised wrestling in a nearly empty room with pretty mauve lighting. DIRRRRTY MATCH!!! (Ironically all three know perfectly well how to wrestle technically but follow th3 Terry Funk route, pushing the Dark Heat Crowd needle past the limit. The people of Bath get to go on the rampage just like they saw the people of Croydon do on their VHS tapes. A total brawl apart from one of two good moves. At the time it was the perfect antidote for adult fans disgusted with Big Daddy and it paved.the way for the All Star of today to even exist. For us Brits of a certain age, this was our ECW.

Documentary on Cortez. Mostly just one talking head. I thought there was some colour footage but it's just the match Vs Jose Tarres with a green tint. On 5he positive side there are som3 good photos of various Spanish stars including on3 of Les Kellett on the receiving end.

Not sure about the date discrepancy 20th Vs 28th August. Dale, of course was one of the Dale (Abbey)Brothers who had set up Dale Martin Promotions the previous year in England with Les Martin. His brother John was still turning up as an MC on World of Sport as late as circa 1980 and helped sign off the 1986 sale of Joint from William Hill PL. Until the headbutts broke out, it was hard to work out who was who. Tarres gets Dale in a standing hammerlock, bounces him off the ropes and headbutts the bent arm, getting some way through a knockout count. Tarres continues to batter Dale with his headbutts until missing one. Dale tries various arm submissions on Tarres. It's not clear how he got the win but we see a shot of a referee making a KO count followed by Tarres celebrating.

Penny drops- the red and yellow on both Los Heroes and the 1983 Rico/Acapulco TV bout are because of the Spanish flag. The 1983 ring actually looks very French - quite similar to the ring for the 1978 Pete Roberts Vs Dave Bond French TV bout. (No middle string though).

You can see Cortez's physique just from the thumbnail. He was a big star with TV adverts and film appearances but if the 1971 car crash hadn't got him, the cocaine bust would have done. Otherwise he could have been a star perhaps up to the 80s. He does seem to have inspired quite a few other strongman top stars- Blond Adonis Shirley Crabtree on the UK opposition scene, Otto Wanz in Austria/Germany (before he got fat), George Tromaras in 80s Greece. Tarres has a large scar on his forehead which may or may not have anything to do with metal plate implants. W.e.do see a few of his famous headbutts but Cortes just gets straight up. He gets the submission win with a single leg Boston Crab and Tarres looks as good as crippled afterwards. Herc does another Hulk Must Pose at the end. There is a silly moany sound effects on the clip whenever anyone sells. It sounds like two elephants mating.

Herc certainly looks the part with his huge physique. He doesn't do much scientific wrestling but he absolutely destroys Sakata. Afterwards he does a Hulk Must Pose deal.

They're pretty good mostly. Occasionally I have to pick them up in the comments on stuff.

Quite a good vlog commentary on Daddy's This Is Your Life episode.

More Modesto. Apart from that 1983 bout and Los Heroes del X'Ondo, this is the only Spanish footage I've seen with full length corner pads. Julien Morice spent quite a bit of the 60s in the UK. Some background from Wrestling Heritage: Very like th3 French style, lots of flip moves. Aledo gets a leapfrog into rear snapmare. Aledo backrolls to take Morice down into a wristlock in the guard. Aledo on the receiving end of a rear snapmare himself but keeps hold of a back hammerlock through it. Aledo backrolls to get in for a legdive but Morice spins him off. Aledo gets dumped on the top rope while doing a human glove type move. Sadly also a forearm smash battle.

Some more Modesto Aldeo. With no hood and without the whole Leatherface face face thing we've seen on the French thread. Just a short clip from 1961. Akio his Japanese opponent comes up with some good moves, rolling nicely from a throw and turning 180' Ron front facing to side headlock and from there transitioning to back hammerlock and then when Aledo tries to go behind, gets him with a rear rear snapmare . I wouldn't mind seeing more of Akio Yoshihara. Moledo gets a cross buttock, legdive and leg weakener. Akio backrolls out of an armbar (not the British front roll.) Aledo appears to get a Gotch toehold submission although the commentator says he pins Akio'sxshouldrs. Possibly this refers to the longshot at the end which looks like a folding press. Suggestion - watch these shooter clips using the YouTube slot mo function. You'll pick up on a lot of smaller detail (plus it makes the jaunty jazz music sound dark and bluesy.)

One great thing about Alessio's playlist is that we have samplers of pretty much all the big stars of Old School Spanish Wrestling. Here is Kamikaze MK2 (not Modesto Aldeo, although we have footage of him with and without a mask, but Benny the second Kamikaze. We get to see his famous flip back in the ring but it's not like a Ricky Steamboat slingshot back in the ring., more a horizontal slide under the bottom rope. This Kamikaze has a different darker costume than the ones on French TV but he does the same sinister kneel in the corner. Caratecha was an important figure too, apparently he once held a version of the World Lightweight Championship before losing it in a unification match to George Kidd. Of course in England, the name Benny brings up other connotations:

Had a watch through of all this, not widely exciting. Most of it felt like a Spanish version of the American Wrestling Academy in Britain that same year. Obviously the WWF TV taping in Barcelona headlined between Bret Hart and Bam Bam Bigelow earlier that year had been a massive success and someone felt like cashing in. Only wrestler I knew at all was Luc Bejar who MIGHT be the same one who was European Heavy Middleweight Champion in 1973 (but I wouldn't swear to it) On a related note, I'm pretty sure Rambo was not Luc Poirier but then again, neither was Greg Gagne). The masked Rey Nustria had one or two good moves. They had a Ringerparade at the start (to the tune of, of all bloody things, "Music Was My First Love by Barry Manilow) and one wrestler Joe Adell (who I thought might be either Terry Rudge or the Grim Rocker/Rocky Du Ring but on second thoughts, too heavy for either.) chose to pick a fight with some dignitary on hand. P.S. apparently Joe Adell was also a survivor of early 70s Spain

I stand corrected, it was Pat Roach.

Okay here it is. There is a LONG talky but at the start. Social context: The presenter has one of those big moustaches that in Spain meant the hardline Francoist right wing. Franco has one (he shaved it off in the early 70s when he tried to rebrand as a kindly old man playing on the beach with his granddaughter) Antonio Tejero had one (both Terejo the Lieutenant Colonel and Anton Tejero the wrestler on French TV). Jose Maria Aznar who won power with the Partido Popular in 1996 after 14 years socialist rule, combined one of those moustaches with a Tony Blair haircut and suit. The local PP mayor in Salamanca where I did the first half of my ERASMUS year abroad had one. Hell, even Saddam Hussein had one. So that's the buttons that look pushed in the context of late C20th Spain. The wrestlers come in and the jazzy Mexican national anthem for the challenger and the Spanish Matcha Real ("...because his wife/Washes it with Ariel" - if you know, you know!) Acapulco looks like Steve Grey in his silver boots. Rico looks halfway between Tiger Dalbir Singh and Pedro Morales. An old man in a fur hat makes a long boring speech and we are off. 1'ero Salto. They lock up and Santi gets an early advantage with a rear snapmare. This draws a pop. Acapulco gets a standing full nelson, but Santi broke free and went to reverse it only for Manuel to get a rear snapmare on him. He gets a legdive into sitting leglock only for Rico to turn into the guard, pulling Acapulco sideways and escaping (hard to see how as the camera was very zoomed in). Rico gets a front chancery, unlike in Britain or France, Acapulco has to turn him sideways to extract the arm for a armlock and even then, Rico turns him into an over the shoulder backbreaker and gives him a powerbomb like move but Acapulco lands feet first and is up. Another big pop from the audience. I think Kent Walton would like this crowd. Acapulco gets a standing side headlock and cross buttocks Rico into a mat one. Rico tries to force Acapulco's head away and eventually gets a headscissors. Acapulco turns it upright and rolls beautifully across Rico into his own side headlock again. Rico tries the headscissor counter again but can't get the grip and has to let Acapulco up - so the No Follow Downs rule is in force like Britain and France. Another big pop. The Mexican gets a drop toehold - across BOTH feet! - and folds his man into a Frank Gotch toehold. Rico turns into the guard and Acapulco cross presses him, but no count. Rico kicks out. This time it's Rico who gets the drop toehold into Gotch toehold. He gets Acapulco's chin and makes a crossways surfboard of it. Acapulco gets the ropes and then rolls off (in Britain, going for a rope break would get jeering heat, so only heels did it unless at the end of a whole load of effort.). Acapulco gets a double underhook but makes a slam rather than a suplex of it. Rico gets a curious double armlock, takes Acapulco down and rolls him in it. Acapulco gets a straight headscissor on Rico but flips him into the ropes - he Runs Out Of Mat! Rico rear snapmares Acapulco who bridges up and does it back to Rico who bridges up and does it to Acapulco. They both roll out the ring in front facelocks and seconds (YAY they have seconds!) come round to help them both as the bell goes. Ring card girl wearing shiny multi tone satin short we all wore as kids. Blokes in the audience exchange last purpose (that - and mildly lewd comments - was considered good manners and chivalrous appreciation back then in Spain. Don't ask.) 2'ndo Salto: Acapulco gets a standing armlock - Commentator says it's a Japanese hold (news to Kent Walton, I bet) - and takes Rico down into a cross press. He doesn't get a pin count (second time this has happened) so switches to a side Headlock. Rico turns him over but breaks away rather than trying for a side folding press. Acapulco gets a cross armed grovit (the commentator calls it a Stranglehold) and forces Rico to the ropes. Acapulco takes his time releasing despite repeated whistle blows from the ref but gets no heat from this from the audience -like they don't know it's a heat spot. Which perhaps they indeed don't. Perhaps, as a Mexican , Acapulco was expecting a 5 count. When he does come off the ropes, Acapulco throws Rico off the cross arm grovit and gets a polite clap. The Mexican goes for the same move on the ropes, Rico double chops and twice armdrags him, huracanranas him and twice gets the flying headscissors on him. A third headscissor fails, both men tumble to the ground. Rico is up first. The challenger takes his time. Acapulco gets a rear snapmare then a side chancery (briefly in a long press) then an inverted front chancery. Rocco pushes him off, almost getting DDTd in the process and gets a standing toe and ankle. He tosses Acapulco to onecside so that he inadvertently ends up upright but then side Chancery throws him. Rico catches his man with a dropkick just as he is nearly up, firing Acapulco out of the ring. Acapulco cartwheels into a headscissors and takes Rico down into the ropes. Again he is tardy in releasing, again there is no heat. Acapulco gets a legdive into a folding press but he Runs Out of Mat. This time, he releases promptly. He obviously realises he is wasting his time trying to get heat out of this crowd. Just to emphasize it, the two shake hands, which gets a couple of claps. They finger Interlock and Rico forces Acapulco to his knees. He kicks away his grip on the Mexican's hands and dropkicks him but Manuelo lands upright against the ropes. Acapulco gets a kneeling rear snapmare (his go to move in this bout). Rico tries a shoulderblock but Acapulco steps back and sort of no sells it. Bell goes. They shake hands. Ring card girl gets in- cue more vile sexism, or gentlemanly appreciation - or just a bloody annoying high pitched sound - depending on your cultural perspective. 3'ero Salto. Crowd starts to get behind Santi. Still not giving Acapulco heat when he headlocks the champagne delivers a concealed closed fist punch. Even Rico selling it a bit, clutching his chin and looking at the Mexican in mikd disappointment, doesn't get the boos. This crowd doesn't know how to boo. Maybe we should be grateful they don't know how to Give The Bird either, given that they Gave The Bird a whole load of 'orrible high pitched wolf whistles between rounds, poor lass. Acapulco gets two side chancery throws, pulling Rico up by the hair each time. He gets his "Llave Japonesa" (top armlock ) from earlier. He armdrags Rico and does something nasty with his fist to keep him down. The bout is getting rougher, he gets a couple of kneelifts and Rico gets three karate kicks and threatens a closed fist making Acapulco wave with one hand to signal pleading for mercy (had there been heat, this would be the face retaliation I guess). The crowd don't really get this stuff, so back to scientific wrestling for now. Rico gets a rear waistlock, rides Acapulco down and gets a curious reverse arm hank with Manuelo in the guard and the banking legs almost underneath him. He turns the Mexican in the hold twice, the second time nearly losing grip. I smell a BOTCH! Or maybe a transition as he comes out of it with a headscissors. Acapulco bridges and twists this way and that until he lands, feet in the ropes in the mount, and Rico has to release. Acapulco gets a high rear waistlock and transitions it to a full nelson (I think it was meant to be this originally - another botch?) and thence into a side chancery throw. He can't follow down so instead he gets a dropkick the moment Rico is up. A second one oddly clamps on Rico's neck, a third leaves him draped over the middle rope. Acapulco starts slapping Rico around, flooring him. He chops Rico twice in the neck (commentator calls it a "Rabbit Punch" in English) and lands a Legdrop of Doom (this from when Hogan was still in the AWA.). He gets in another chop and kneelift. Crowd don't boo Acapulco but they do cheer their man Santi. Santi kicks Acapulco into the corner where he legs the rope and begs for mercy. Rico goes ahead with several forearm smashes in the corner plus a heart punch and gets the first public warning of the bout (sadly the commentator talks over the announcement and I can't hear what a Public Warning is called in Spanish) Rico gets a double underhook suplex and turns Acapulco into the mount in the underhooks. He turns round and round but can't get th3 shoulders down in that position. He armdrags the challenger and grabs his hair on the mat while making a fist. The referee and the bell stop him. Acapulco has to be retrieved by his seconds. Ring Card Girl either endures gross cultural sexism or badly in the glory of male admiration - take your pick. 4'ero Salto.and Acapulco gets loco with a bunch of headbutts. More headbutts and punches, even the odd kneelift, clearly OJ's preferred stage of a bout. Is that a bite? A whip and a back elbowsmash on the rebound, then again. Acapulco misses a third and gets chopped down and stomped. He recovers and twice bulldogs Rico into the corner. He whips and chops him down. whips and tries something that doesn't really work, knees his man and goes for a flying bodypress but misses badly. Rico gets a kick, back kick, chop, axehandle and finally Camel Clutch (someone has been watching tapes of the Iron Sheik in Mid Atlantic!) for the one submission required. He has to be wrenched off. Acapulco is flat on the floor and his second in yellow gets a bit panicky, dashing for something to revive him. Rico gets presented with the belts and he and Acapulco are quite sporting despite all the dirties earlier. Kind of like in Sixties France, even the heels shake hands. Ring girl who has changed into a white miniskirt, presents a trophy to Rico and steals kisses off both wrestlers, an official and anyone else she can get her hands on. Clearly she gives as good as she gets. (Correction - it's a different girl. But the original does return and get a piece of both wrestlers) Jackie Pallo - and I shall dig out the exact quote later - said (either in his own book or in Simon Garfield's, possibly both)that the Spanish style was very quick fire, "like comedians" and I can see his point from this bout, especially the earlier scientific stages. The audience were frankly an odd lot, they probably mostly didn't have much if any experience of wrestling shows, much less of watching it on TV. they didn't recognise fouls when they saw them and didn't give heat when intended. (An experienced live crowd might have been a different story.) But I think they enjoyed what they saw.

I know. That's why I said during the peak years of Spanish pro wrestling, i.e. before WWF came to Spanish TV. Notice in the Rico/Acapulco match they call it "lucha libre profesional" too. https://www.planetawrestling.com/pressing-catch-en-espana-por-que-utilizamos-este-termino/ To be fair, a lot of this is obviously cribbed from the Valentin Maldonado piece (Maldonado seems to have been unaware of continuing TV Wrestling in France, something I noticed two decades ago when contemplating ordering classic French Catch videotapes from the FFCP's website and pondering how much the PAL > SECAM conversion would cost once I had the tapes..)

For what it's worth, the announcer says Puma is from the Antilles.

https://www.wrestling-titles.com/europe/spain/sp-h.html According to Hisaru Tenabe here, Vincente Febrer was the final Spanish Heavyweight Champion, he retired and then had a comeback title match in Barcelona, February 1978, against Conde Maximiliano where he came out of retirement to regai/.defend/whatever his old title. Who actually promoted both that and the RIico/Acapulco TV bout? A local promoter or an invader from France?

Yes, I think you posted a video of that before to the French thread. I was a bit suspicious when I saw the yellow ring ropes on Rico Vs Acapulco.