David Mantell

There's a rather large gap in the INA tape copy between matches during which we hear an engineer introduce this next bout as Catch A Quatre even though it's just a singles bout. Black Shadow comes in wearing a gold jacket- I think we saw it before in his 70s appearances. At at time when Dave Bond and Johnny Kincaid were getting into trouble for incorporating the more antisocial elements of Afro-Carribean cuture into their heel Carribbean Sunshine Boys gimmick, alleged African American Shadow (Cazal lets slip that Shadow is actually from Morocco) was getting over as a heel in France without any hassle. Cohen, le Bon, ex one half of Les Israeliens tag team with Gass Doukhan, (they were both Algerian Sephardic Jewish- Cazal claims Cohen to be a former North African champion). gets the early upper hand, dropkicking Shadow out of the ring and leapfrogging and armdragging him, stepping over one side of a finger Interlock straight into a flying headscissors takedown. Shadow nicely flexes Cohen's legs open to not only release his head but get a two count folding press. He uses an illegal pull of the hair to take down Cohen in a top wristlock test of strength. Cohen does the classic French headscissors as counter to armbar and keeps snapping it back on each time Shadow escapes. Shadow eventually places a knee in the space where his head went, creating a modified Indian Deathlock and using illegal closed fist kidney punches (nice to see closed fists still got heat in 1983 France) whenever Cohen sits up to attempt a counter. After referee Blanc Cohen rolls forward in a finger Interlock to get another headscissors. He turns on to his front, propped up by his fists and leg-throws Shadow out of the ring, rather like Kid McCoy's Yorkshire Rope Trick minus the ropes! Another Cohen headscissor sees Shadow kicked in the face. Shadow side chancery throws Cohen and drops down with Cohen dropping down beside him in a George Kidd ball. Cohen baits Shadow with various producing limbs before catching and throwing him, securing a reverse arm hank, before high whipping him for a bump. Shadow does it back (for less of a bump) and maintains wristlever dominance even through a snapmare until he counters with a headscissors. Shadow puts his feet on the ropes and Blanc, as in the last bout, pulls Cohen off physically rather than verbally calling a break, getting himself some heat. Shadow wins a test of strength to get a double knee press but can't get Cohen's shoulders down. This then develops into Cohen bridging and, as traditional, eventually monkey climbing Shadow and a Bascule situation developing. Cohen legdives Shadow and spins him round on one foot until he collapses.. Shadow gets a H&S into pressure points on Cohen who uses a double leg chop to escape. A back and forth ropes exchange ends up with Shadow at ringside. He gets back in and gets a legdive into leglock, snapping off various attempts at a chinlock counter by Cohen. George uses his spare leg to kick Shadow in the face forcing a break. The next finger Interlock results in Shadow getting some kind of foul and Cohen in pain, selling it. It looks like Shadow is using biting on these interlocks but the ref sees nothing, standing an Aux Chiottes L'Arbitre chant for Monsieur Blanc. Cohen retaliates with a good long nip on the nose but he lacks Shadow 's practice at that kind of fouling and leaves toothmarks when earn him a premier Avertisement from Blanc. It all goes a bit American after this with rope running and bodychecks (apart from one sunset flip attempt by Cohen which Cazal gets excited over, thinking it will mark the match returning to "un Catch peut-être plus Classique" - yay. maybe he's secretly a purist like Kent Walton!) and both men miss Big Splashes on each other, winding Shadow the worst - he sells it like a stomach upset. Shadow gives Cohen some stomach trouble of his own with an illegal closed fist punch which Blanc almost sees and is suspicious enough to privately warn the Morrocan. He is more careful to conceal subsequent foul shots. Having floored Cohen for 7 he lets rip with the dirty wrestling- illegal punches, legal thumps and illegal rope-assisted stomp on his fallen man until Cohen ends up at ringside, detaching a sponsorship message from the apron in the process. Shadow continues the foul treatment when Cohen comes back, choking Cohen with the ropes which FINALLY earn him in Avertisement. Shadow continues the treatment, twice posting Cohen before dragging him outside for a ringside beatdown the IBA would never tolerate. He gets back in the ring and celebrates as the heat rains down. Fans help Cohen back but it just sets him up for more treatment. Shadow gets a full nelson and Cohen's waving arms bash into Blanc's back. earning him a Deuxieme Et Derniere Avertisement. Encouraged by this, Shadow rope chokes and stomps Cohen back out of the ring, An angry Cohen storms the ring and grovits Shadow but one illegal kidney punch and some stomps later, Cohen is back out and Shadow is further provoking the audience by making a "wiping his hands" gesture! It goes on like this, Shadow doing thecfirst on Cohen + eventually earning himself his own Deuxieme Et Derniere Avertisement. (Somewhat unfairly the crowd start an Aux Chiottes L'Arbitre chant while this is happening.) The next Avertisement will end the contest. Cohen finally makes a face comeback, he fights back with postings and a hefty series of Manchettes that leaves Shadow trussed in the ropes and Cohen flirting with disqualification as he pounds on him - and then threatens Blanc, before cooler heads prevail. The referee unties Shadow and Cohen throws him outside before climbing the top of the ring post. When Shadow returns, Cohen leapfrogs, double legdives and slingshots him - straight into Blanc who is knocked out. Cohen leads the crowd in a Knockout count over both opponent and official - it reaches 10 but Blanc waves it off. He corners Shadow who bodyscissors him Cohen chops him down and goes after Blanc but is, ironically, saved from a DQ by Shadow who grabs him from behind by the hair and corners him. This time Cohen gets the bodyscissors and bashes a heel on the heel's head. He dodges a Shadow charge and throws Le Méchant outside. Shadow regains the advantage and throws Le Bon out of the ring, doing everything he can to keep him there and continuing the dirties when he finally does get back for a while. Still no DQ even though one woman at ringside is screaming for that final Avertisement. Cohen drags him outside for a ringside brawl then throws him back in where he gets the one required fall with a flying tackle. Cohen is still annoyed at Blanc and won't let him raise his hand, raising it himself and locking his arms rigid whenever Blanc tries - in the end MC Fred Thomas (interesting name for a Frenchman) raises Cohen's hand. Classic game of two halves - fifteen minutes of mostly good scientific wrestling with Cohen frustrating Shadow by being just that bit more technical than him and fifteen minutes of Shadow getting his revenge with wild dirty brawling that would give an ECW crowd un Petit Mort. I know which half I preferred and I can guess which half OJ will prefer.

Okay, let's deal with the tag match first. (Have just this second figured out how do do accents etc on the tablet btw.) Hervé first became a wrestler while in Mexico. As OJ mentioned in his review, he came back to France in 1979, decided that the existing French scene was a bit too dry for him and decided he could remake it more the flashy world of masked and caped superheros like Mil Mascaras. He found a willing accomplice in Daniel Cazal who is commenting here (and who was gradually replacing Couderc as the voice of TV wrestling.) Villains like "Le Rocky Du Ring" Elliot and Kato were very much part of the package of Hervé's vision. Jessy Texas was another early example In time there would be Scott Rider, Micky Trash and Cybernic Machine. Not to mention the slow transformation of Jacky Richard to first Le Marquis (replacing Eduardo the original Marquis) then Travesti Man and finally Monsieur Jacky. Kato and EF le R du R would also evolve their gimmicks becoming respectively Kato Gypsy and the Grim Rocker by the time of Eurosport New Catch with the latter becoming the sidekick of Johnny South, the future Legend of Doom, which is ironic considering he has Mike Hegstrand's future haircut here. (At this stage over in America, the Road Warriors were only just formed and doing a standard biker heel gimmick no different from Les Bloussons Noirs in France) Although he gets to score the pin with a rather nice surprise flying bodypress, Walter Bordes is here as a link to the past. Flesh is the last in the line of his tag partners Including Rene Ben Chemoul and Claude Rocas. Flesh, as I mentioned, later tagged with Angelito to face Kato and Rocky/Rocker on A2 in 1985 and teamed with Prince Zéfy to face the same two Méchants on Eurosport New Catch. Here, they're very much the squash boys, sent to do a job. Flesh is very much the star, doing high flying moves throughout. It's a good display but not worthy of the blow by blow approach. Referee Andre Blanc does get a brief heel ref spot, physically breaking up Flesh's Indian Deathlock after Kato complains that supposed chops to the chest are actually chops to the throat, resulting in a brief shoving match between Flesh and L'Arbitre. Verdict - a vehicle for Flesh and a pilot for the future "Barnum Heavy Metal"

I stand corrected, I've reviewed other Flesh Vs Kato & Elliot/Grim Rocker matches but not this one with Walter Brodes, it seems. Never mind, I shall do both bouts shortly - in the meantime here is OJ's review of that first bout .

Been away from home a couple of days and this week's French Catch dropped while I was away. One of these bouts I've already reviewed on here and will just bump up the original r3view. Th3 new bout sounds interesting - Black Shadow in singles action. We've seen Shadow as a rent a heel in tag matches with everyone from Josef El Arz to Jessy Texas. Still hoping for that 1986 show, even if it is just midgets.

Blond giant Brit Dave Morgan didn't have his Maschke on and was in a good mood on this early 1983 show until a much smaller German called Gunther (not that one, he wasn't even born for another 4 years) Wagner stung him badly in this match. It's a spliced together highlights package unfortunately but let's make the most of it. Morgan wears a rather nice kimono like black satin robe and shiny gold trunks. Gunther Wagner is the smaller Dudley Moore lookalike guy. He gets a side headlock out of a referee's hold and takes Morgan down with him to the guard. The two rotate a full 360 degrees through Morgan's attempt to escape until Wagner switches to a chinlock. Morgan tried reaching up for a jawbreaker then snapmaring the smaller man, neither with much luck. Cut to Morgan in control, releasing a camel clutch like hold and going for a wristlever. Wagner rolls over and takes a mild bump rather than rotate upright. He then unspectacularly rolls backwards and gets up tomthe same bowing position he was in at the start of the wrist lever. He then stands up, slips his free arm under Morgan's armpit and gets a (slightly messy) cross buttock throw and press for 2. Morgan is still in a good mood and shakes Wagner's hand, getting a smattering of applause. Morgan gets a front chancery and takes Wagner down with it, then swivels most of the long way round, gets a side chancery on the mat,turns Wagner's head in a side chancery position so that he can only roll forward onto his back He tries for a pin but Wagner turns it over into a lengthways press then converts to an H&S. He lifts Dave up by the head, flings him to the ropes and charges in with a butt to the stomach. Morgan collapses with pain and when he gets up at 4 starts jabbing Wagner with jabs tomthe stomach and upper back but then the bell goes. Round 2 (presumably) Wagner gets a front chancery but Morgan manages to get free with an armbar. He gives a sharp upwards kick while applying the hold then, as in the previous round, drives in an arm to force Wagner down. But Wagner manages to grapevine Wagner and take him down. He tries for a pin then some sort of abdominal stretch on the mat - neither are very effective. So Wagner lifts up the bigger man in an underhook and slams him for a four count, then when he gets to his feet, shouldeblocks him. It doesn't budge Dave much but it gets under his skin on top of everything else. Thoroughly annoyed now, Morgan corners and pounds on Wagner in the corner until warned off by the referee. He then grabs Wagner in a grovit and shoves him to the mat but Wagner deftly grabs Morgan's arm as they go down, so that Morgan overshoots and land on his back next to Wagner instead of on his front on top. Still holding the arm (so continuous movement) Wagner crawl atop Morgan and gets a 1 before switching to a rear chinlock. Morgan comes out the rear exit with an armbar to show for his troubles (straighted from the chinlock bar) and starts to make a hammerlock of it. Rather than wrestle his way out, Wagner cheekily back elbows Morgan who, infuriated ,slaps him round the chops in response. Wagner bodychecks the bigger man into the ropes d side chancery throws him. Morgan gets up and legdives Wagner getting a toe and ankle hold with a legspread. The two turn round 90 degrees in this position until Wager can free his spread grounded leg and hammer Morgan in the head with it. Wagner gets a legdive of his own but Morgan uses the same leg hammer escape. Wagner falls stop the bigger man. Cut to Wagner holding Morgan in a sitting chinlock then hammering him and letting go for a count if 3. Morgan is up, he doubles Wagner over, wallops him across the back a couple of times then gets a front chancery. It ends up with Wagner on the ropes getting pounded by Morgan as the referee blows his whistle. Among all this Wagner manages to legdive Morgan but let's go, so after a count of 5 the bigger man is back.Wagner gets in a forearm smash ... Cut to Wagner with Morgan on the floorin an armbar. Hecswitches to Morgan's leg but the bell rings. Round 3 (presumably). They finger Interlock and Wagner produces a fantastic lean back dropkick. Morgan gets up and is angry, waving closed fists but Wagner legdives him, but doesn't follow up. Morgan tries for a side chancery but Wagner gets in there with a reverse waistlock suplex and press for the one required fall. (They do shake hands and make up afterwards.) Wagner is part of the same old school as Roland Bock, Axel Dieter Senior and Achim Challenge and he works the same methodical stoic style that was characteristic of German wrestling until Steve Wright changes things. The David Vs Goliath angle here spruces things up somewhat. (Even if this Goliath happens to be called David.

Then why are people like Aaron Nix, Excalibur and Mikes Tenay & Quackenbush pointedly using that term?

An example of the problem. Notorious smug git Aaron Nix on commentary here, sounding like his usual bad cross between Alex Shane and Ben Elton, says at 4min 34 secs in, "We have a Trios Match - suck it up. Internet, it's a Trios match in the modern era!". Aggravating, really. Telling his viewers what civilised modern people like him call it.

No. That's just the accepted French term for catch-as-catch-can based pro wrestling and the WWF decided to go along with this in the 80s (arguably Roland Barthes' had already set the precedent when he wrote of "le catch Americain" in Mythologies.) I don't have a problem with Mexicans, especially if they are talking in Spanish, calling six man tags Trios. When neither the speaker nor the context have any direct relationship to Mexican wrestling culture then it just becomes an annoying hipper-than-thou affection.

In lucha, yes. It gets annoying when people start calling six man tags (aka triple tags aka Catch a Six) trios in every other context. On the French Catch thread I like to use the French term Manchette for a forearm smash. But if I start using the term Manchette for, say, Title Santana's flying forearm smash (the one Jesse Ventura said Tito learned in the Mexican Football League or MFL), that would just be showing off and silly.

Okay here's the review. Referee is Martin Warren (Count Von Zuppi) MC is Gordon Prior who MCd for Joint on ITV. McCoy is introduced as British Lightweight Champion despite having vacated the title the previous year after he and his father King Ben had a backstage despite with Kendo Nagasaki that spilled into a match. Uncharacteristically McCoy wears long tights and equally uncharacteristically for this point in his career, Collins wearsca full leotard. After a brief lockup that ends up in the corner. Collins gets a headlock into side chancery into wristlever. McCoy rolls out but grabs a headlock, Collins still has the wrist and reverses the torque to force McCoy to bump on his back. McCoy gets up, rolls forward, bridges and rolls round using his head as fulcrum and allowing him to pick open the wristlock in passing with his foot. McCoy then spins to force Collins to take a somersault and bump. Collins gets another headlock but McCoy breaks it open into a top wristlock and armdrags his man down into an armlock in the guard. Danny gets into a kneeling position, flips over on his head (!) and kips up to convert his opponent's armlock into a back hammerlock of his own and takes him down into the guard. McCoy reaches up with his legs to take a scissorhold. Danny turns the hold upright and turns 90 degrees and kips up out. He gets a headlock. throws his man tomthe ropes and bodychecks him down. Danny gets a side chancery throw into rear seated chinlock. McCoy stands so Danny switches to side chancery then side headlock. McCoy forces him to run the ropes, breaks free and ducks to the floor as Collins runs over, but he gets floored by another Danny bodycheck. As Kid rises, Danny catches him in a cross buttock throw into side heädlock in the guard. He stands up, switches to side chancery, loosens up the arm to straight position then reels Kid in for another bodycheck Danny again switches to side chancery and hits the ropes but Kid ducks under Danny's charge, leapfrogs over the next rebound, then on the one after that, catches Collins in a cross buttock and press for 2. Collins goes for a legdive but Kid jumps back so Danny pounds on his back then delivers an on the knee backbreaker a la the Reslo bout. He gets a posting, kick side chancery throw and kneedrop McCoy is up at 7 and straight into a Collins side chancery. He throws him into the ropes and gets a butt to the stomach, then throws him the other way but McCoy gets a sunset flip into double leg nelson for 2. Collins gets a jawbreaker then takes his man down to kneeling with pressure points into an H&S I to Japanese Stranglehold. MCoy stands and twice reverses the Stranglehold but Danny goes with the momentum until the Stranglehold is reversed back. Kid finally gets the reversal so Danny throws him in the hold but Kid makes a beautiful feet first handspringing landing. Both men try a dropkick but miss and bump. On the mat, McCoy tries to roll into a cross press but it is ruled by Warren as not continuous motion and anyway too close to the ropes. Danny gets an elbow and knee both to the stomach then an on the knee stomachbreaker as per the Reslo bout. He feigns a standing figure four to get a knee to the spine then gets the Japanese Stranglehold again. He bounces him man off the ropes onto a shove that floors him then gets in a late kick that earns him a private warning from Warren. They lock up and Danny gets the armbar but McCoy rolls forward, cartwheels backwards, goes behind then leapfrogs to the front and lands a superkick. kid gets a kneelift and posting. He backs Danny into the corner but Danny reverses, gets back to centre ring and lands a headbutt and side chancery into on the knee backbreaker. He whips Kid into the ropes and catches him but Kid somersaults round, throws Danny to the ropes and nails him with a dropkick. He picks up Collins from the corner and slaps him in the back before getting a headlock, switching from side to side. Danny lifts and backdrops him, then gets a double legdive into a Boston Crab. Kid slides through to the front and turns onto his front with his legs on Danny's shoulder. He crawls to the corner and climbs it with his hands to throw Collins with his legs, forcing a somersault bump - one of his two Yorkshire Rope Tricks. He posts and backdrops Danny who rolls out of the ring, hurt. He gets Collins in a side chancery on his return, but Danny breaks open the hold into an armbar then lands a forearm smash, headbutt, chop and pressure points, booting kid in the back of the knees to force him to kneel. He switches to an armlever, takes it over his head, posts Kid and charges in but Kid dodges leaving Danny again sailing out of the ring. Collins is back at 8 but McCoy cross buttocks and presses him for 2. Kid gets a rear waistlock then turns Danny into the front facing position and drives him into the corner. Collins gets an armlock but Kid smashes him down in the back. Collins slams Kid but Kid surprises him with a ground position dropkick, a side chancery throw then his OTHER Yorkshire Rope Trick, the ropes assisted reverse snapmares. Kid gets a flying bodyscissors and turns his man into the double leg nelson for 2. The two shake hands and their sportsmanship gets then both a nice round of applause. Danny gets in a kick and whips Kid to the ropes but Kid comes back with a sunset flip. Danny counters with a vertical splash a la Earthquake (a decade before Tenta toured with All Star and TWA). Danny gets an overhead press into stomachbreaker over the knee. Like in the Reslo match, he gets the parts together for a Surfboard and gets the hold but Kid reverses and gets it too. (Obviously this was a regular spot of theirs.) Rather than fall sideways in the ropes to force a break however, Danny falls forward and gets a folding press out of it. Kid manages to turn sideways to escape. Another round of applause from the crowd. Danny gets a crotchhold lift and backbreaker on the knee, then a beautiful long suplex into crosspress for a series of 1s. He keeps a wristlever and gets up to try some levering. Kid instead takes charge, mounting the corner and going top rope to top rope to flying armdrag Collins. Danny shoulderblocks the Kid and they take turns smashing each others' heads in the corner before Kid again dropkicks Danny out of the ring. Collins is back at six with an over the ropes dropkick. He goes for a face first piledriver but Kid reverses and lands it, getting a long press for 2, then a backslide for another 2. He gets a wristlever but Collins elbowsmashes out twice. Kid is up with a single leg but Danny lands a spinning dropkick. He throws his man to the ropes but Kid gets a side folding press for 2, then a snapmare and cross press for another 2 then a waistlock suplex for yet another 2. As with the Reslo bout near the end, they do the sequence where Kid gets a sunset slip on the run and Danny reverses it into a folding press with bridge but Kid crawls out.Kid gets a flying tackle but the bell saves Collins at 2. Another nil nil draw. They shake hands. MUCH BETTER!!! I wish this was the match we had professional TV footage of instead of a rather grotty blurry camcording. As Gordon Prior puts it "Twenty Minutes Of Excellent Sporting Wrestling.". Far finer than fifteen minutes of slugging with the odd curate's egg good bit like the Reslo bout.

Then where do these people get "trios" from?

Just to show you how unpredictable life can be, I found another matchup between the same two and it's a lot better! There's still a bit on the bodychecks, headbutts and forearm smashes (and Collins takes a good few out of the ring bumps) but it's all in more reasonable measure and they do get to show off their technical skills - indeed Kid McCoy gets to do BOTH versions of the Yorkshire Rope Trick. Review to follow as I'm trying to charge this tablet but it'll be fun to go through this one, a lot more deserving of the blow by blow treatment than that last one.

.I thought. this was already reviewed on here but apparently not. I thought it'd be a pallette cleanser after the Kauroff/Sasake Vs Steinnlock/Boyd match on the German thread. The two wonderkids of the mid 80s Danny starts off with action and the big moves with a headlock into front chancery into two forearm smashes into dropkick (he sells his back a bit from the landing.). He gets an over the knee backbreaker (so now it's McCoy's turn to sell back pain) and a semi Japanese Stranglehold which he unwinds and reels in for a bodycheck. He tries this again but Kid gives him a backdrop. He gets a posting but Danny knows and chops out of the follow up attack. Danny follows up the back damage with a slam and rear snapmare and cross press for 2. The bout settles into more what I would expect from these two, Danny getting an armlock into wristlever and McCoy countering with rolls and cartwheels to untwist the arm. Kid horizontally rotates in the standing position before kipping behind and leapfrogging front ways, getting a superkick as he lands. Kid gets a waistlock suplex for 2 Danny rams Kid in the corner and dodges a sunset flip giving McCoy another back weakener. He gets a fireman's carry into stomachbreaker and a nicely done double underhook suplex into crosspress for 2. More traditional Danny as he double legdives for a folding press and McCoy crawls out smartly. Kid armdrags Danny who jabs Kid's stomach and whips him into the ropes but is met by a knee. Kid slams Danny and double underhooks suplexes him.He rolls over for the cover but only gets 2 so keeps the double underhook and switches to a single leg but Danny dropkicks with the other leg.Kid reverses a posting and gets a decent rear waistlock suplex. He bashes Danny down to his knees then gets a H&ẞ on Danny. Collins stands up so Kid can get a victory roll for 2 Kid gets a lunge to Danny's stomach then a front chancery but Danny straightens the arm and gets a high whip and bump. He then gets a straight arm lever but I'd withstands the pain so Danny drops him and quickly legdrops McCoy's arm. Still with the arm, he gets a front hammerlock and slams his man on the locked arm. Looking to continue the arm treatment he takes it and whips McCoy by it but misses a dropkick. This lands a back weakened and Kid is smart to follow up with a posting, snapmare and Powerlock (Scorpion Deathlock.) Danny resists long enough for Kid to release but he is back on the back with a suplex and crosspress for 2. Danny gets a headbutt drop and straight headbutt and butt to the stomach. He posts and spinning kicks Kid, side chanceries and forearm smashes kid who shoved him down. He tries for another powerlock and then a Boston Crab but both times Danny resists being turned but more with muscle inertia than his usual contortionist skills. He tries a crosspress but Danny rolls into the ropes. He tries a rear sitting chinlock but gets a jawbreaker drop in response. Danny tries a posting which Kid absorbs neatly and tries to reverse leapfrog but telegraphs it somehow so Danny deliberately arrives late then gets an arm i,witches to the other arm and gets a kneelift to the head. McCoy gets knees and a wristlock and long high whip and bump, right across the ring. Danny is up at 9when .Kid gets a new folding press which Danny easily crawls out of. Danny bodychecks Kid, gets an over the knee backbreaker, a single leg into a complete surfboard but Kid gets his arms free, turns over and gets one of his own but Danny's head touches the ropes, forcing a release. Kid gets a good Russian legsweep. Danny gets a butt to the stomach. Kid comes off he ropes with a sunset flip but Danny turns it over into a folding press plus bridge . Kid crawls out at 2 just as the bell rings. Time limit draw. They shake hands. Some good bits but I'm a bit disappointed. Not as technical as I'd hoped for Kid Vs Danny at this stage of his career, too much rough stuff - not as in dirty wrestling, just as in too much blows, headbutts, forearms. I thought possibly Danny was preparing for his later metamorphosis into Dirty Dan but this was March 1989. I also get the impression young Master Boothman wanted to strut his technical stuff but Someone wasn't in the mood! He certainly didn't get to do either of his Yorkshire Rope Tricks. This wasn't Dirty Dan, just Slightly Soiled Dan. A pity.

S4C's Outside Broadcast unit takes the North Sea ferry once again. @JNListersorry but I think there's an audio syncing issue with this one too like the Patea one. At the start you can hear bumps being taken in an empty ring. Teutonic plus foreigner versus Teutonic plus foreigner. Still not sure on Hercules Boyds credentials other than he's an American. Sasake we all know about and in theory the future Power Warrior a good fit for Euro wrestling despite having to do all the heel stuff. He wears a long head dress at the start. Mostly brawling and chops. Kauroff a hardy perennial heel of Germany in his Randy Savage cape. Boyd dominates him with 80s roidy power stuff. Great waistlock suplex. Steinnlock doesn't get much chance to do much technical either, the odd snapmare into chinlock. A pretty OJ-friendly brawl. Lots of kicking and stomping from everyone. Steinnlock slams Sasake for the first pin. Floyd gets a nice sharp cross buttock throw and press on Kauroff for the second straight. The audio runs on. next bout on the audio was Danny Collins Vs Kid McCoy. I think I've already reviewed it. Otherwise I would look it up (P.S apparently I haven't, so I will!) Then Dave Taylor Vs Drew McDonald.

I'll stick to my guns as it seems to be "Trios" with an S as a name for.a six man tag. "A trios" wtf ???

Oh yes and it's the same commentator in 1982 and 1987. Christian Galli.

@Robert S - German/Austrian fans can get quite agitated at improper use of the term "CWA"- like labelling the whole of traditional/Old School British Wrestling as "World Of Sport". At the time of the Inoki tour the promotion was still called the IBV (established 1973) and owned by one Nico Selenkowitsch. The Inoki tour was, I believe the work of the older rival VDB. The initials CWA first became part of German/Austrian wrestling lore in summer 1978 when Don Leo Johnathan arrived in the territory with the Canadian Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Championship and lost it to Otto Wanz (Otto having previously been interim champion during a tour of South Africa the previous summer in between local top babyface Jan Wilkins and the said DLJ). Roland Bock's title win over Inoki in November was supposed to set him up as a rival World champion to Otto. FFWD to 1987, Otto and Peter Wilhelm held a coup against Selenkowitsch and take over the IBV,renaming both it and Otto's title the CATCH Wrestling Association. An old time German fan writes:

Interestingly, the main transmission tower for Luxembourg TV was/is in Dudelange in the southwesternmost tip of Luxembourg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudelange_Radio_Tower https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudelange If you were planning to use Luxembourg as a base to transmit a TV signal to as much of France as possible, you could not pick a better spot. This reinforces my point that these stations were primarily competitors to the (O)RTF and Le Catch was the one hit French TV show of which they could easily do their own version.

@Phil LionsQuestion: Back in the 30s when Jim Londos was doing big stadium show NWAssociation title defences in Athens, was it called Kats (Catch) or Palaistikos (wrestling)? If the latter, at what point did the Greek scene start calling itself Kats?

I think James Mason vs Dean Allmark should have been the "World of Sport -The Next Generation" match at Universal Uproar @ Coventry SkyDome November 2005, instead of Comedy Colt Cabana Vs Nigel McGuiness (no disrespect to Nigel whatsoever.) This is them eight years later

Here's some Andre Drapp working in America in the 50s. by the way..

Okay, here's the other bout I promised you to make up numbers as I was expecting two bouts again. The commentator actually says Dula was born in Guadalupe like Mammouth Siki but came to the US and was a successful bodybuilder. I think the leopardskin trunks have more to do with the bodybuilding than African heritage - see also the not remotely African Tarzan Johnny Wilson. Talking of America, Andre Drapp also had a career Across The Pond so he knows how to work with American power wrestlers. Much of the first few minutes of this revolves around an armlock. Control switches back and forth, they throw each other quite a bit but the armlock remains. Dula blocks a lot of Drapp's classic French counters - he throws off Drapp's headscissors takedown counter to armbar, he just plain fails to provide the support for a reverse snapmare counter to a standing back hammerlock and just drops Drapp. Dula being American doesn't really do counters much so Drapp has to do all the switching from hold to hold. The crowd feel a little restless with this. Drapp stops them from totally turning on the bout with the occasional slam or throw or other big move that gets a pop from La Publique. Dula gets a bit of heat with a triangular sleeper (a la Cobra Clutch/ Million Dollar Dream) which neither L'Arbitre nor La Publique like the look of so the former breaks it up about 3 times and Dula keeps reapplying until he gets the message - I'm surprised he didn't get an Avertisement. He does get one a bit later when he twice tries to choke Drapp on the ropes and L'Arbitre has to physically drag him off. Drapp then gets an Avertisement of his own for cornering Dula and battering him with illegal punches including a nasty looking kidney punch. They carry on brawling (with only the odd Drapp dropkick - Drappkick? - to elevate it above a street brawl, with more fouls, until Dula is ejected from the ring and Drapp works to keep him out before snapmaring him in. The match goes back to how the early stages went - with the odd foul like a Dula hairpull. Drapp gets a double rear arms which Dula sells by screaming like a wounded animal - what if Drapp had applied the full surfboard? Somebody's taxi arrives and the MC announces it to the crowd and the millions at home. Someone else decides to pay heel Dula a prime! It carries on this way until Drapp has Dula trapped in the ropes. L'Arbitre tries to pull him off but Drapp - le Bon- shoves him to the mat and earns himself a Deuxieme Et Derniere Avertisement. He is urinated and so are the crowd. Not to be outdone, Dula stomps Drapp in the corner and gets a Deuxieme Et Derniere Avertisement of his own. Drapp gets some bulldogs on Dula, gets an Indian Deathlock on him and threats him with fouls in the hold. Dula gets an aeroplane spin on Drapp who.in a rare bits of science barely three minutes from the end of the clip and the MC calling two minutes to curfew.- bridges up while clamping an over the shoulder rear chancery on Dula. It goes into the ropes repeatedly with the ref pulling them out.Dula falls out of the ring. One fan can be heard shouting for a DQ. Time goes but Dula still charges and Drapp sidesteps him. It's a draw Dula makes one last grasp at heat, strutting around raising his hand claiming victory. I know OJ likes his brawls so I can understand why he enjoyed this bout. Personally I thought it was a cross between an 80s WWF match and one of those 90s CWA tournament matches with one or two Americans involved working a very American match. With one guy an actual American and the other having spent a lot of time across the Pond, perhaps that's not surprising.

As I said, these are very different Samourai from that other gymnastics, supple and somewhat camp Samourai who stole the show in tag matches alongside Pierre Payne and Der Henker (Remy Bayle). They do have the bowing gesture but they are quite sturdily-built, for power, not gymnastics. They also sell very well which is great when you're got an eager young thing like Mercier in the ring. Rather like the Power Rangers gimmick in 1995 UK, they come in all colours- we see a yellow one and green one here but I guess there are also a red and a blue. They could be similarly popular with kids. They are a bit of a missing link between early 70s masked teams like Kamikaze 1&2, Der Henker & Le (original) Samourai and les Falcons d'Or (who reappeared around this time and would do so again on New Catch) on the one hand and on the other hand the more outlandish masked teams still to come in the mid 80s like Les Piranhas and Les Manuals. Marc Mercier steals the show with dozens of fast paced high flying moves. I would LOVE to have seen him face Danny Collins a few years later. Maybe they did. Jean Corne can also fly and be as "souple" and "gynastique" as the kid with whom he teams. He seems to be showing that he can keep up with the young 'un which he can, although maybe with a knot or two less speed. Both of them came to Britain and were on ITV, Mercier in 1988 failing to beat Marty Jones, Corne a decade earlier losing the European Welterweight title to Dynamite Kid. Saulnier, who could once flutter around just as well as Mercier does do some of his Heel ref stuff but OJ will be relieved to hear it doesn't take over the entire bout. Early on when Les Bons go down a fall, he is unsympathetic to Corne's groggy battered state as he and Mercier haul the elder Bon back to his corner. Later on he pretty much ignores when Les Samourai detatch their corner post cover and smash Les Bons into it. But when first Marc then Jean scored their respective equalising and deciding falls, Saulnier correctly counted their shoulders down and there were no complaints from Les Bons nor La Publique. Good vehicle for young Mercier, having the torch passed to him by one of the great old good guys of French Catch. An athletic if not cerebral tag match (hence the lack of blow by blow coverage, I have dealt with it by subject area instead.) but if you want thinking fan's Marc, see the bout with Sanniez.

I was away from home last night so I'm still catching up on stuff (including sleep as I never went to bed) but will do a review of this one and another bout to make up numbers. Unfortunately, clearly neither of Les Samourai are the brilliant Le Samourai of the early/mid 70s, these are two much heavier guys. Bad news for OJ-if you don't like heel referees, it's the king of the French heel refs Michel Saulnier working this one - and it was Marc's dad Guy Mercier who started doing that routine with Saulnier in the late 70s. Still looking forward to that 1986 midget match mentioned aboveeven if only so we can have some 1986 footage to plug that particular gap. Also it would be nice to have that 1987 Flesh/Zefy Vs Jessy/Richard match in its original context and possibly unedited (I think material has been cropped from the existing online versions.). Any clues on that one?

Yes, it's going to come down to either a commercial release or else a TWC type deal to bulk-liberate footage.