David Mantell

Is he the same guy as the promoter?

Okay, after those last two modern EWP fights let's get back to the vintage stuff. Rolo Brazil, hardy perennial of the German scene Vs Franz Van B, the Belgian who is an institution on both sides of the Rhine. Round 1 starts off slowly with a top wristlock leverage contest that FVB Agents the best of. Then Franz gets a front grovit but Brazil breaks it open and gets a whip and a bump. Rolo gets the position for a straight arm lift then spins horizontally to reel Franz down and kneedrop his bicep. Franz gets a double underhook but Rolo pushes him into a corner. Both men single leg each other then give up as stalemate. They finger Interlock and Franz breaks one side with his foot, cartwheels backwards to tighten up the hold. Then gets up to force Brazil down in a guard wristlock, then does his own kneedrop to bcip. The bell (sounds like a saucepan!) goes. Fade to black. Round 2 and Rolo gets an armlock, Franz throws him but it ends up with Rolo on top and Franz in the guard. He flips his way upright and tries again, with the same result. Franz tries bridging and pushing Rolo's jaw with his boot. He tries to force his way up but Rolo maintains dominance. Franz moves to a kneeling position then gets up, tries to bounce Rolo on the ropes, gets armdragged and is back in the guard armlock! Franz tries the French style flying headscissors takedown counter but Rolo uses the traditional British reply and throws Franz off. Franz tries more of the boot on the jow, Rolo pushes the offending leg away, leaving himself with his guard armlock still. Franz tries again and manages a leapover and a hiptoss but no broken hold yet. For his next try, Franz horizontally untwists the arm, uses the referee to back somersault and hiptosses Rolo, finally breaking the hold to Rolo's bewilderment. Franz sportingly helps him up. Not long after the bell goes. Round 3. (Audio goes silent!) Franz gets a side chancery hold - and eventually the throw. He gets a cross press and a couple of 2 counts. (Audio resumes) He is back with the side chancery He switches to snapmare and gets the throw and a ground side headlock on Rolo. Franz takes Rolo up for another Roll but Brazil slams him. Franz maintains the side Chancery on the mat however, getting the odd two counts before bringing Brazil upright. Brazil throws himself and Franz into the ropes, catches him in a hiptoss. They snapmare each other and roll back and forth in a two way grovit that eventually gets into the ropes. They full finger Interlock and Franz ends up on top but Rolo again bridges up. Franz loads himself onto the bridge - Rolo can take the weight. In the end, Rolo monkey climbs Franz and flips him Franz gets a legdive and leglock. The bell (saucepan!) goes. Round 4 and they hit the ropes then suddenly stop. Franz gets a snapmare and bodycheck. Runs over Rolo and flying butts him twice. then flying tackles him for the one fall required. Franz is the winner. Plenty of hugs and sportsmanship. Good clean sportsmanly match but a lot slower paced than a British match or even a Steve Wright type match. This is the old German style being done by two reasonably young fit guys.

Zimba, from Wigan via Sierra Leone via the Windrush, a Wigan Snakepit man yet noted for being reliant on strength in the pro ring unlike the sleek, lover of a nice tasty goat for Xmas dinner (see Pure Dynamite) also a stiff worker with a real Wigan Snakepit attitude (source ditto) Round 1 and Zimba just throws Bob off a headlock (as Big Daddy did in both the 1975 Kendo fight and in 1977 Vs John Elijah) and rather nicely cartwheels out of a single leg ankle lock. Kirkwood gets a side chancery throw into rear chinlock, Zimba pulls out of it to leave a back hammerlock but Bob rolls off and away. Zimba gets an armdrag into guard armlock. Bob backrolls, tries for a legspread but Zimba corrects it so H3 rolls back forward and goes for a high whip but Zimba rolls out nicely, Zimba gets a front chancery but Bob snaps out, Zimba tries a cross buttock but Bob holds onto the wristlock even into a standing position, shagging off a flying headscissors attempt. Bob still holds steady with the armlock until switching to a headscissors. So Zimba goes upright with escaping the scissorhold and grabs a headlock on escaping, but Bob turns him into the mount and the barring arm into a back hammer. Zimba tries a couple of crotch holds but can't get the lift. A sidewards Fireman's carry slam does bump Kirkwood heavily but he keeps the wristlock and even tries a couple of crosspress pin attempts (Zimba bridges out), along with top Breaks Specials against the mat. Kirkwood eventually releases to try again. They full interlock until Bob gets a whip to force a somersault bump on the big man. Another lockup results in Zimba throwing but Kirkwood rolling up nicely.Bob gets a legdive into leglock. It's possibly a legscissor, Zimba tries a foot against Bob's head to upturn the hold. The bell goes and they release without any untying from referee Tony Mancelli. They shake hands. Round 2 Bob gets a grovit and Zimba one back. Zimba gets a suplex out and rolls over into a cross press but Bob has his shoulders up and fights upwards. Zimba uses a rolling suplex but still to no avail. Kirkwood gets a legdive but Zimba spins bi off. They get a single interlock and Bob gets a wristlever but Zimba replies with an armdrag. Bob keeps holding and has an armbar Zimba tries a legspread and a single leg but neither get him out. A snapmare does the trick however. Kirkwood jumps into a seated leglock . Zimba turns him over for a 1 then tries a side headlock which does free his legs but Bob stands and whops Zimba who rolls away well. They double interlock and Bob gets a standing back hammerlock. Zimba gets a rear legdive between his own legs but Bob boots him in the behind and Zimba gets leg flipped as he comes off the ropes. He takes the bump but gets the leg again upon landing. He gets a double clamp on it and slowly turns Bob into the mount in a single leg Boston Crab. He converts it into a folding press and Bob responds with a front bodyscissors. Zimba nonetheless keeps trying for pin including shoulder presses and an elbow in the stomach. Time is running out and Zimba switches to Indian Deathlock, throwing off the opponents' attempts at a sit-up counter. In the end Bob uses the momentum of Zimba's throwoffs to roll away backwards. Zimba gets a legdive and drops his weight on Bob's knee (nasty!) The bell goes as Mancelli's KO count hits three. Round 3 and Zimba gets an unspectacular hiptoss early on. Bob takes him down with a leglock so Zimba turns himself into the mount but Kirkwood gets a Gotch toehold, adds a crossface and and tries for a surfboard. Zimba resists by pointing his arms flat forwards and slipping out of the crossface. Bob drives an elbow into Zimba's spine which he instinctively grabs at allowing Kirkwood to get the arms but Zimba forces them back forwards and Bob decides to release. He gets a side chancery throw into seated chinlock and resists Zimba's attempt at a throw as he stands up. But Zimba is now in a standing side headlock and from there he gets an easy over the knee backbreaker. Bob is up at 8 but Zimba throws him to land on his back right on top of where the knee went in. Kirkwood takes another 8 count but then sharply goes for a lunge on Zimba. Honey Boy goes down but takes a single leg takedown as he does so. and makes a grapevine leglock of it which he keeps for some time. He eventually gets bored, helps Kirkwood up th3n chops him in the shoulder. Curiously Boob takes this sportingly - not everyone would. They double interlock and then Bob breaks to get a chop of his own. As Zimba gets up, Kirkwood gets a front chancery. Zimba lifts him but places him on the ring apron. They run the ropes and Zimba drops to trip Kirkwood but Bob just halts himself. They full Interlock and Kirk releases one side and backrolls then forward rolls away. Another full interlock and Zimba backrolls in the double arms to tighten the lock. They continue to battle for power until they end up back to back. They try for a backslide but end up sat down! At which point the bell goes. Round 4 and Kirkwood throws Zimba who for once takes a bit of a bump rather than roll through. Bob gets a rear snapmare, a posting, another rear snapmare and a crossface which he powers out of, getting in a headbutt. Kirkwood shoves him off into the ropes but Zimba rebounds with a flying elbowsmash for 6 (it could have been more but Zimba followed up a tiny bit early and referee Mancelli has a quiet word with him. Kirkwood bounces Zimba off the ropes and shoved him down just as Zimba fires off a headbutt - both men are impacted. Bob gets a snapmare and bodycheck and Zimba gets a flying headbutt to stomach. He gets another over the knee backbreaker for 4 and an overhead press into stomachbreaker on his knee for 8 and finishes his man with a slam and double knees for the winning fall. Some time ago (I've looked but can't find where I said it) I recall describing a bout as more Skill And Strength than Skill and Speed. The sane applies here. Kirkwood has the speed against another speedster and Zimba had some nifty rollouts earlier on but while it's still an intelligent game of human chess, there is a distinct lack of pace to the bout and Zimba seems to be the underlying cause. Kent Walton remarks that there is something "Lazy" about Zimba's style of movement and I take his point. I wouldn't wish appendicitis on anyone but according to the Wrestle Me guys, that's what transformed Masambula into a fast paced stylish Middleweight. His sometime Black Knights tag partner shows us which way Masambula was heading before he dropped all that weight and moved from power to speed.

From @Matt D. I'm about to do this on the French thread on account of it having a Mexican (Pancho) in it and last week's New Catch having two of 'em (Mendietta/Plata). So anyway, was he or wasn't he related?

It was the fashion at the time, sadly. Horrible yuppie trendy look, like Hipster beards nowadays. Barry Windham and Paul E. Dangerously also had ponytails. I used to go to school in central London at that time and see these stockbroker/financier eejits walking around the streets with their fn ponytails.

His contract had run out and he was fine except that he wanted to job to his friend Sting so that Sting wouldn't face the same credibility crisis he had faced with the start of his reign.

Amen to this. He was great as the heel World champion making Simmons look a million dollars before destroying him. It's no coincidence that Vader - Lex's replacement as Harley's Sith Apprentice - did the job to Simmons 10 months later (Vader took over Lex's spot lock, stock and barrel starting with the Jan 92 Clash tag with Hughes Vs the Steiners) but I wish it could have been Lex who did the job - and then won it back in December.

WCW Worldwide was on Saturday afternoon ITV (British wrestling's old slot) at this time. Central had it an extra 6 months after everyone else, continuing to show it until the end of 1995 Hulk and Flair did headline two shows in London and Brum late summer of 94.

The fans DID get the idea by the time Luger, Race and Hughes got out the cage. There's a definite bit of heat as they strut up the ramp, Lex leading the way. They figure it out quicker than the Survivor Series 88 crowd figured out the Demolition/Powers double turn. It did all hang on Hughes's involvement - without him it's just a face enlisting a legend's help to beat the hated heel who shat on him 3 years earlier. There's an interesting subplot with all the new moves Lex is doing in the bout, culminating in his new piledriver finisher. Apparently Harley was supposed to be teaching him them - and was doing this as a shoot! If Lex had stayed on with Harley until 1993 and had all Vader's reigns and carried on being taught new stuff by Race, he would have ended up quite a decent technical wrestler by American standards. If it had been that exact same finish but with Flair in Windham's spot, that would have been AWESOME - Harley telling Lex to Do It Now to Ric, Luger screwing Flair after years of the other way round, Race betraying his fellow Legend to go with the New Generation... Of course originally, a long time earlier it was meant to be Sting losing to Lex, ending a year as champion by getting screwed by his best buddy in what started as a babyface match. Then came Jan 11 1991 ...

Erm, he had the big GAB 91 cage match where Luger won the world title! Speaking of which ...

This being during the Second Republic, just before the Civil War (supposedly) shut things down for a bit? Presumably during the "bienio oscuro" of the conservative Gil Robles as PM.

Just to clear something up, would I be right in saying he was no relation to Vicente "Quasimodo" Castillo? (Whom I am about to review a match of on the French Catch thread.)

Here is the talky but from the start of the video with English subtitles. The bloke from the Castilian Federation interestingly gives that year again 1975 as an end date for "La Desaparición" - if not of the Spanish scene entirely, then certainly its rapid loss of visibility which he puts down to socio-economics and the media shutting wrestling out. He also gets asked about wrestling being a work and replies that there is as much percentage showmanship in other pro sports as wrestling. He also namechecks a bunch of legendary names including Hercules Cortez. Modesto Aledo, Felix Lamban etc I think that's Joe Adell in the thumbnail, stomping away.

Some New Catch. The EWF's resident Lucha bad boys Sergeant Mendietta and Carlos Plata take on European Welterweight Champion Danny Collins and Breton Yann Caradec in a cross- Channel linkup of youngsters. Charley Bollet referees. By the way, I propose that we call the original 1988 New Catch episodes Season One and all the brand new non- repeat 1991-1992 Eurosport episodes with the big ring with the shiny canvas and EUROSPORT logo Season Two. To quote Leon Arras, How's About That Then? Plenty of crowd working to start. Yann and Plata in heelish black and red start. Yann gets a good couple of armdrags on the bigger man. The bearded camouflage clad Sarge on the apron calms a hairpull. Orig tells us the heels won a tournament in Mexico. Plata gets his own three armdrags into armlevers on the kid from Breton but he kips up and makes it three apiece. Danny tags in and with the crowd behind him (the French in the late 80s/early 90s LOVED this guy. ) Plata tries a rear waistlock but Danny makes it his own back hammerlock and rides Plata down into the mat. Plata gets an armbar and - ironically given Sarge's complaint- hairpulls Danny down but Collins responds with a headscissors, side headlock and bodycheck on the bigger man. Caradec tries to get a tag in Charley warns him off but it's enough of a distraction to Plata for Danny to get pressure points and a kneelift. Collins gives young Yann his tag but Sarge also tags in. Collins tags back and does a back somersault to rev up the crowd. Sarge is unimpressed and goes to work with chops and a posting which Danny reverses and follows with a kneelift. He gets a snapmare and kneedrop on Sarge and only then lets Yann at him. Sarge is going for the tag but Yann, keen as Scrappy Doo, drags him back by the hair - and pays for it as the big brute gets a back hammerlock on. With a chinlock - almost a chicken wing on the kid. He kneedrops him and roars to the crowd. The Mexicans work Caradec on the top rope and catapult him to the mat. Sarge works on Yann's arm. He bites the kid's hand and the taste is a first Avertisement. Plata tags back in and posts Caradec. The second time he tries it, Yann reverses. Yann gets a headlock. Plata breaks out and sends him to the post but Yann reverse leapfrogs and snapmares the Mexican who gets a single leg trip in response. Both sides tag. Collins and Sarge take turns chopping each other in the corner. Sarge drops to avoid a Danny posting, a bit later than Ken Joyce would. He leads Danny cat and mouse out and in the ring and clotheslines him as he re-enters but Danny gets a boot up to shoot down a Sarge corner flyer. Sarge scurries to his corner, neither Mexican fancies facing Danny and the crowd knows it! Cut via a slo-mo repeat to Danny bearhugging and reverse atomic dropping Plata. Bolet doesn't like it and gives Danny an Avertisement. Sarge tags in again and also gets the reverse atomic drop, he complains about a knee to the groin- perhaps this explains the Avertisement if Bollet thought Danny did that to Plata too. No Deuxieme Et Dernière Avertisement though. Danny responds to blows with a standing full nelson. He tries to trick Plata into hitting his own man, succeeding when Sarge reverses the hold but Danny gets free at the last second. Taking on both men, Danny snapmares and Legdrop Of Dooms Plata and goes toe to toe with Sarge, hitting a double clothesline on both bigger men. Caradec tags back and Plata beatdown with fair and foul blows. He gets a toe and ankle with legspread but Sarge interferes. Soon Yann is similarly getting the big men crashing into each other, administering dropkicks and armdrags. The kid has both big Mexicans at ringside but when we return from another slo-mo they have their heat back. Sarge putting a full Nelson on Yann. Danny comes in and sees of Plata before breaking the hold but this time it's Les Bons who screw up as le Breton dropkicks The Briton. Plata whips Yann into Sarge's elbow a gets a front folding press. A win for Mexico, a loss for the Bristol - Brittany connection. But try telling that to Les Gosses- a crowd of eight year old boys come to ringside and bang on the apron to cheer Les Bons despite the defeat. This is a cut price version of the Dangermen Vs The Hornets from World of Sport 1972 with two kids trying their luck with two bigger heelish monsters and giving them quite some trouble before finally coming unstuck. I wrote a lot more about it than I expected to.

In the early days of Clive Myers' TV career, before Iron Fist, he was a no nonsense clean kid in Union Flag trunks. He he battles another newcomer Mick West (a name, I'll admit, is unfamiliar to me.). Don't let the "Count the years" prison tattoos and Yorkshire Ripper beard (and surname of another serial killer) put you off, he's a good technical wrestler. This bout has no past reviews on it, so now is a good time to start. This bout is at the Wood ville in Gravesend, not just a regular TV venue back in the day but one which Rumble Wrestling have revived and featured on their videos including on this thread. Round 1 and Myers is quick off the mark with a pair of collar and elbow throws. West offers a handshake, Myers tries to get crafty with a side chancery but regrets it as West gets a high whip, forcing a powerful bump on Clive. West moves in too close to follow up early and Myers surprises him with a spinning ground position dropkick. Mick gets a legdive and a single leg from it. Myers has to hop but is able to get the spinning kick to catch West in the back of the head. He ,locks up and switches to fill Nelson then rear snapmare. Mick gets the legdive again and this time trips down Myers' other leg to ensure no spinning kick this time. Myers tries some heel smashes but Ick dodges them. Myers crosses his legs to go for a spinner but Mick sharply driven him down in the mount and stands back. Myers gets a side headlock and takes Mick down despite his attacks on Myers' leg. He's not down long, handstanding out beautifully, earning a good round of applause . Myers gets a front chancery into armbar into hammerlock down in the mount. He adds a bar on the other arm while neatly holding the hammerlock with just a foot. West turns himself into the guard and Myers tries for the cross press and manages three 2s before giving up. They full Interlock and Myers forces a high whip and bump, repayment for West's one earlier. Mick is upmat 4 and gets an armbar. Myers looks like he might roll out but Mick forces a third high whip and (not much of a) bump fo4 5 then a rear snapmare. Myers gets an armbar into front hammerlock, locks the other arm, drops his man in a rather gentle powerbomb and goes for a folding press but West double ankle smashes him. Myers gets a full nelson into rear snapmare into chinlock but West snaps out free with an armbar. Myers goes into a headstand and despite getting three one counts, frustrates West enough to release. Myers kips up and gets a jab to the stomach on West for 4. He gets the armbar again and double locks it against the joint. West grapevines Myers and takes him down, going for the legs for a spread as clock counts down. Myers pulls himself up to sit on West's back then turns him over into a double leg nelson. The ropes are nearby and the bell is about to go but West rolls off and up as it finally rings. They shake hands, the crowd claps. Round 2 and Mers gets the best of a one sided Interlock but West rolls through, spins on his behind, gets an extended foot in which Myers goes for but it just makes it easier for West to shove him off and backwards. Myers is up but straight back into West's single leg but, sensing something, West relinquishes. Myers gets a double underarm from the front into a suplex into crosspress on his side,clocking both arms. He has to switch to a more conventional crosspress to get any count and then only 2 a couple of times before he moves lengthways and gets the armstretch at the head end. West hints at a rollback but bridges instead, working his way back until Myers is in a folding press - Kent Walton seems to think it's a backslide by Myers but Clive's feets are obstructing Mick's shoulders from making contact with the mat. Myers kips up. West gets the single leg and a standing single toehold/legspread. Myers puts his own other leg in a figure four position, turns to trip West into the mount, folds his man's legs into a Gotch toehold and turns him over into the Indian Deathlock. Mick sits up in the waistlock but Myers shoves him off. Mick goes for a wristlock on Myers but Myers extracts the arm and re-engages it with holding down the Indian Deathlock. West tries the other arm but Myers grovits him on top of the existing leglock! But the latter is weakened and West is able to extract himself and stand in the grovit. Myers twice tries for a suplex but can't get the weight up. West gets a trip (breaking the grovit) and a legspread on the mat. Myers first slides away then adjusts his feet to reverse the spread. West rolls backwards and tries to jump into dominance in the spread but lands back in the disadvantaged position! They shake hands and give up but Wes is slower to his feet, he is selling some pain. Myers gets in behind with a rear waistlock and atomic drop for 5. West tries the same but can't get the impact. He gets a single leg but doesn't like what Myers might be planning and drops it. Instead he gets a full interlock, rolls back and double ankle smashes Myers then pulls up, Myers snaps into the front double underarm from earlier and tries the suplex again from then. He doesn't get it but manages a long armdrag instead, but it ends up in the ropes. Myers gets a side chancery and hangs on, resisting straight finger jabs from West. The bell ends the hold. Round 3 and West gets a standing full nelson. Myers quickly powers out, hits the ropes and leapfrogs back over but misjudges a vault back and bumps on his behind. West gets a snapmare and a vaulting neck stretch, quite flashy for just a weakener. He gets a second one for eight - not far off a knockout - and hiptosses Myers over the top rope. He comes leaping back in and the two shake hands. Apparently an elderly spectator was injured during Myers' landing. Oh dear. The bout must go on and Myers gets a wristlever into standing reverse armhank into armhank on the mat. He is still worried, checking out that side of the ring. West tries a headscissors counter but Myers dodges it. He tries standing but Myers pulls him down He kips fully upright and walks round, almost having Myers' shoulders on the mat, but Myers pulls him over and down again, this time on the other side of the ring. West has hit the ropes and this forces a break. They full Interlock but West falls backwards and gets a bodyscissors Myers threatens an elbow to stomach but instead leans forward and undresses it with one heel pulling the locked feet down. Myers kneels on top to make another Indian Deathlock. West tries a waistlock but Myers shoves him off. West turnsover onto his front leaving the two men in a two-way grapevine. Both men press up into a headstand, agree to stalemate and referee Max Ward unlocks them. Myers judo throws West down and gets an armbar in the guard, turning his man into the mount. West is kneeling and gets up to roll off the armbar, taking five rolls to break fully free. Myers gets a sudden sharp kneelift that sends West down for six and a reverse snapmare that gets a five count and another for six. He tries again but West gets a legdive and trip. It takes three Myers kicks to get him off. Myers gets a wrist, twists horizontally to wind it up and makes a double armed abdominal stretch of it. He kneels and turns West into a side folding press for 2. He gets another 1 but West goes into a Johnny Saint ball to resist further pin attempts. The bell goes and Myers helps West up. Round 4 and during the break Myers has been coming forward a bit too much for Ward's liking and he orders him to " Get back to your corner!" Come the bell he leapfrogs over Ward and goes for West who quietly sidesteps, diffusing the situation. West gets a full nelson but Myers reverses it. West throws Myers off forward at the second attempt. Myers gets a legdive into behind and a side folding press but West is quickly out and it goes in to the ropes, Running Out Of Mat. West gets another full nelson, Myers breaks one side, goes behind and leapfrogs over, slips backwards through Mocks legs, gets the rear double legs takedown, walks over West to the top end. West bunkers down but Ward starts a count on him and he is up at 7. He hiptosses Myers off the ropes but Myers cartwheels out and lunges at West's waist, downing him for 5 then snapmaring him and getting the ropes when West gets a leg. Myers cartwheels out of another hiptoss attempt and sunset flips West into the double leg nelson into the one fall required for a Myers victory. I do hope the poor old man at ringside was alright- he'll be long gone now but hopefully saw many more years as a fan. Other than that mishap it was a good technical match. West despite his Alan Woods/Dick Colon thing heel appearance was a fine mover and a good match for Myers.

Some more Jack Starz in .Germany 2019 and this more or less a relatively clean match. I don't know too much about Stübing but he seems to be another blue eye/babyface like Jack. Tim gets a rear upper waistlock on Jack who breaks the hold and rolls forward Jim gets an armbar front-on and turns i5 to a wristlever but Tim reverses as Jack tries to crank it up. Jack rolls out and takes two mor rolls to get away. They agree to a full finger Interlock Jack gets in a leg grapevine to bend Tim over into a bridge. He briefly flattens the bridge by knocking out a leg and gets the odd shoulder press 1 and even 2 count off the ref (yes it's indeed an elderly fat bald Didier Gapp!) . Tim has a large crowd following. Jack loads himself on Th3 bridge but Tim can take the weight. Tim snaps in a monkey climb to have Jack down on his back too. Both raise a shoulder each then bridge to avoid a double pin before agreeing a stalemate. Great round of applause from a 2019 German audience. Jack gets a front facelock (helpfully Th3 German commentator calls it that) but Tim breaks i5 open an switches from armbar to hammerlock to side headlock then hiptosses Jack to take the hold to the mat. Starz gets a headscissor and an armbar and brief 2 count. He forsakes the arm to focus on the headscissor, turning it forward to crank Tim's neck. Tim turns the hold upright, handstands and reverse kips to extract his head, getting a pop. Jack gets a butt to the chest and forearm on the back, throws Tom to the ropes and meets him with a shoulderblock. He forearms him in the back but Tim comes off the ropes with a sunset flip into leg nelson. Jack reverses and they Bascule back and forth. After numerous 1 counts, Jack tries a lower leg held front folding press (I could have sworn he did this with Markus but can't find the mention in my last review.) but gets 2. Jack gets a backslide for another two leaving both men sitting back to back in two way armlocks. Tim pulls apart and they break up. He gets a quick grovit into long suplex, then a pair of monkey climbs from two opposite corners but misses a third as Jack dodged, gets a rear waistlock and throws his man but gets only 2 with a crosspress (follow downs are allowed apparently.) then gets a standing side headlock. Tim powers up and tries a bodycheck off the ropes but Tim gets the better of it. They bounce off the ropes, leapfrogging each other until Jack overshoots on a sunset flip and Tim gets him with one of those back elbows the Sheffield Watch Committee so disapproved of in the Seventies and dropkicks Jack out of the ring. Jack is back but Tim flings him out and gets seven before Gapp breaks the count when Tim tries to intercept Jack's return. Jack comes back and Tim offers his hand . My ack accepts but then pulls Tim in for a forearm smash followed by two more, a posting and a backbreaker over the knee. A crosspress gets only 1 and Tim fights his way up with a headbutt and elbow to Jack's stomach, then a dropkick. Jack fires back with a stomp. He slams Tim and follows with a kneedrop and cover for 2. He drives a knee into Tim's neck and gets an arm. He pulls Tim up and pounds him down. They briefly exchange kicks and inner arms until Jack snapmares Tim and shoulderblocks his fallen opponent in the back. He gets a cover for 2 then a pressure points into full nelson down in the seated position. Tim stands up and tries to reverse but goes all the way round back into the hold. Jack maintains dominance with the hold despite several reversal attempts. (Looking at the clip time with only 3½ mins left this is remarkably late in a bout for one of these exchanges.) Jack forces down the pressure on the hold, forcing the shoulder blades against each other but Tim stands up again. He rears out on the third of three attempts but misses a charging bodycheck and Jack again forearms his upper back which has taken quite a pounding bit to mention the full nelson earlier. Talking of which, Jack gets the hold right back on! This time Tim slips out vertically with straight arms, rolls back tomorrow his legs for a front folding press. Jack goes for it and Tim rolls him into a folding press of his own. A nice trap but it only gets 2 before Jack kicks out then gets double legs, trying for a full Boston Crab. Tim resists although Jack gets a "lion tamer" (Chris Jericho was a regular in the German tournaments 24:years earlier in the mid nineties) but never quite gets the Crab he is after. Tim gets a leg free and hammers Jack off with his boot. The two exchange forearm smashes and hit the ropes until Jack intercepts Tim's flying tackle attempt, but Tim still gets him down for 2 the scores a dropkick and rear hipblock to the cornered Jack. He goes to the apron but badly misses a flyer on Jack who gets his man in a fireman's carry (held in a sideways position like a Luger torture rack) into a spinning slam and cover for three. Another Jack Stars win for 2019. A polite clap from the crowd. We cut before Tim is up so don't see if they shake hands. Even more my sort of bout than the last, still plenty of great science in the late stages, the brawling minimised, no out of the ring brawl for instance. Perhaps it was because Tim wrestled clean unlike Markus (was Jack vaguely meant to be the heel.) but despite the odd blows and minor fouls it mostly stayed a good wrestling match. I hope Jack does another tour with All Star some time, I'd love to see him live again in Dudley.

Footnote to the above stories, All Star are due to return to the Victoria Hall Hanley 24th January 2025, 22 years after Dean Allmark Vs Mikey Whiplash, 24 years after Nagasaki & Powers Vs Jones and Walsh and nearly 39 years after Mighty John Quinn Vs Tony StClair on Screensport. Wrestling underwent a brief break at the Victoria Hall when it was closed for redecoration 1996-1998, an event Simon Garfield latches on to in his book as a symptom of an "end" which in truth has still never come. (He quotes Klondyke Kate says that her friend she used to go to shows with was getting very emotional about it). Nonetheless life went on and wrestling resumed in the redecorated venue as you can see in the 2000 and 2003 bouts. In the late 2010s a new manager took over who wanted to move the venue more upmarket so did a Greg Dyke job on the wrestling. This spurred plenty of protest and did score the one minor concession of a WOSW tour date at the venue in early 2019 before the pandemic put the mufflers on things generally. Now in the mid 2020s All Star returns to the Victoria Hall Hanley. Hallelujah And the big news is that All Star are back at Victoria Hall Hanley in May next year, 40 years after that Quinn/StClair match. In the meantime, here's a great shot of the All Star Wrestling show from this past January at the venue. Incidentally, contrary to what I might have said earlier in this thread ITV DID visit Th3 Victoria Hall Hanley - all the way back in 1957!

Nice singing skills!

And let's get it down to 11 with this. Before Andre, Maurice Tillet flew the flag for acromegaly is wrestling. Inevitably his tours took him south of the Pyrenees. No idea about the other guy, I presume he is Italian. Tillet no sells a slam and does on of those weak double underhook suplexes Andre used to do in the late 80s Viz The Main Event finish, almost a side chancery throw. A bit of a brawl until Binacchi gets a full nelson which Tillet rears out of. After the usual crowd shots we have Maurice with a side headlock takedown onto the mat then a cut to a double legs where the Italian appears to be about to punch his way out. Tillet gets a bearhug and Binacchi does illegally punch his way out of that. Rudolphe tries a belly to back suplex but Tillet shrugs him off and flops down in more of an overflow than a splash. Cut to some guy at a table and then back to the ring with the Italian selling a losing move and Tillet celebrating victory back in his robe. (There's a reason wrestlers stopped putting their gowns back in at the end of a match - can you imagine Ax and Smash of Demolition postmatch putting their studded leather gear back on and replacing their hockey masks before striding intimidatingly to the back?)

Bryan Danielson is the only wrestler to have won BOTH: 1) a Mountevans Rules World championship (Rollerball Rocco's old Heavy Middleweight title) AND 2) a version of the World Heavyweight Championship recognised as valid by Pro Wrestling Illustrated (the old World Heavyweight Championship of 2002-2010)

Fuji's own on screen rationalisation was that Demolition had become disrespectful and rebellious against Fuji's teaching. In the run up to Survivor Series, they did gain a number of victories without Fuji's help including wins over the Bulldogs in Canada (where Fuji was banned from the building) Paris and Rome (Fuji was not on the Euro tour- the Paris bout was screened on Prime Time) a heel Vs heel win over the Bolsheviks where the crowd were screamingly pro-Demolition, an MSG win over the Rockers where Fuji was present but uninvolved in the finish and most famously a TV squash match at the Cow Palace in Frisco where Brother Love accused Demolition of being unable to win without Fuji, in response to which they ordered Fuji to go to the back and won without him. Pro Wrestling Illustrated picked up on this last incident in their place on the double turn, "How The Powers Of Pain Played YOU For Fools." Trying to further textually analyse motives of the storyline, in kayfabe possibly a lot of the drive came from The Powers. not Fuji. Demolition had survived their initial onslaught in the summer and now they needed to be able to pick a fight with the Demos to get more title shots. Stealing Fuji off of Ax and Smash was an obvious way to do this. Warlord and Barbarian were able to convince Fuji that Demolition was a lost cause, that they were bigger and stronger than the Demos and would dominate them (as PWI predicted in "Warlord and Barbarian - Demolition's Nightmare" that past summer) and that Fuji, like the rat he was, should desert the sinking ship now that Demolition were no longer the biggest strongest tag team in the WWF.

Okay, that leaves 4 out of 11 personality profiles from Lino de Campo's book and 13 out of 29 clips from Alessio's playlist left to post. Make that 12 clips. Let's get this bit of nonsense out of the way quickly. Four guys in linen baskets hitting each other with cucumbers. In a pool, just to annoy OJ.

I wasn't planning on doing a full blown bout review (to match the All Star in Northallerton vlog and the pieces on elderly Pouzade on the British and French thread s) but I came across EWP's YouTube channel and this looked particularly tempting. I've seen quite a bit of NXT UK man Jack Starz live on /All Star's Dudley shows and here he is making the traditional "Auf Wiedersein Pet" North Sea ferry crossing to the German/ Austrian tournaments. Back then, shows were often in canvas tents as we have seen. The prefab metal roof on this venue makes it look like a space age version of the same. Jack starts off working local boy Markus's arm, flitting between armbar, half nelson and a Gator Hold, a move the UK Skull Murphy used to routinely get submissions with on both sides of the North Sea. Markus (gimmick: Rick Rude gone Satanist) reverses and gets a hammerlock, snapmare and chinlock but Starz pulls out an arm for an armbar on the ground in the mount. Markus turns and takes the bump. Jack makes a top wristlock on the mat. Markus backrolls and gets a sitting ambar. Starz escapes with three rolls into upright. Antonius is unimpressed. He feigns a half interlock but goes for a rear waistlock. Jack tries for a behind leg but Markus elbowsmashes him in the back and gets a full nelson, snapmare and kick to the back. Markus gets another armbar. Jack gets a rope-assisted back somersault, several forward and back rolls, a cartwheel and a self-underhooking backdrop and armbar. Markus gets up, forces Jack to the corner and gets a headlock into side Chancery, bounces his man off the ropes and catches him with a bodycheck. He runs the ropes but Starz ducks under the first passing, leapfrogs the second and hits a flying bodypress on the third for 2. Markus reverses a posting but Jack reverse leapfrogs over a charge and hiptosses his man, dropkicks him. slams and kneedrops him but only gets 2. There's an odd skirmish on the ropes which ends up with Markus getting a first yellow card - if I had done German instead of Spanish at school, I might understand what the issue was. Markus backdrops a charging Starz over the top rope and fires a sliding dropkick to him at ringside. He follows out, smacks Jack's head in the ring apron, Jack fires back and the two have a forearm smash battle in the floor (I do love the announcer saying "European Uppercut" as an Anglicism among his German.). Markus eventually throws Starz in the ring, mounts a corner and fires off a missile dropkick. He charges and chops Starz who drops to the floor and puts a foot on him for and arrogant pin attempt that only gets 1. He tries stamps, slugs and a suplex but gets only 2. Jack brawls back but Markus hits a scissor kick for 2. He gets an H&S/Sleeper, corners and posts Jack. He again corners, chops and thumps his man. He posts Jack who replies with a back elbow and a middle rope flying bodypress for 2. They brawl on until Markus gets a camel clutch. Jack stands and rears his man into a corner. He forearms and posts him but this time it's Markus who reverse leapfrogs and catches his opponent's flyer with a kneelift. He crawls across the ring and gets only a 2 count. They brawl on and Starz gets a dropkick and two running elbowsmashes. He rolls Markus to the mat, gets a missile dropkick and a flying bodypress for the one required pinfall. Jack Starz is the winner in 10 minutes. Well that was a surprise find. A good technical first half to remind me what I'm liked about Jack at shows these last few years (despite his gimmick - during the pandemic he grew a long white beard and now looks like 1991 Kevin's Nash & Sullivan as Oz and the Wizard minus the mask.) and a "good fight" hard hitting brawl of a second half to keep the OJs of this world happy. Have saved the Full Matches playlist to my channel so I can do a few more of these.

Was a bit hesitant about posting this until I realised just who this old boy actually is! It's actually sooner we were recently discussing - Theo Pouzade, tag partner and trainer of Eric LaCroix. He appeared as Pouzade in New Catch season 2 on Eurosport and before that as Domingo Valdez, again teaming with LaCroix, on that February '91 FR3 Broadcast. 78 last year would him 79 or 80 now and 45-47 during the 1991 FR3 and Eurosport transmissions. There's an overdubbed English soundtrack which has been generated by auto-translate - and bloody hilarious it is! Plenty of good posters including "2 Kamikazes" (presumably those same 2 we've seen.) Here's a follow-up video from the past few days Apparently he's 82 now so make his 1991 age 49-51. I guess the age 78 video was from 2022 then.

This was my review of a show four nights prior to the show in the Northallerton video above. The Aldershot Facebook video linked in the post was two days before that (total six days prior to Northallerton.) MC at Northallerton was Tony Spitfire who was on in Dudley last week in thecsane blue/grey tuxedo. I shall try and find some similar modern stuff to post to the French and German threads.