David Mantell

It's what native viewers were looking for, in Britain's case because Kent Walton educated them to think that way, or at least to aspire to think that way in the belief it made them a better fan and a more cultured person. He definitely promoted an idea of high-class connoisseur wrestling. In France's case the style was more showy and less cerebral. I suspect a lot of the flippiness of French Catch was an attempt to reproduce the sheer gymnastic appeal of all the big flamboyant spots (suplexes backdrops etc) of professional GR earlier on. I say, with respect, you're just imposing your own America-derived notions of what constitutes a great match on a different wrestling culture to which such criteria do not apply.

I get that and I think it got purged from the proper French Wikipedia but at least it's good to have SOMEONE'S version of the tale. In particular to learn of (I)WS(F)'s roots in KMG who I suppose are the Wrestling Enterprises Of Birkenhead of the French Catch story (if Wrestling Stars are the French version of All Star in the UK.) You have to start somewhere with someone's side of the story.

Well yes but the different systems of chain wrestling allow everything to link together and form a pattern so each move is a response to what happened with the previous move. Also the greater emphasis on defence work leads to greater scope for creative ingenuity in work. Anyone can put a headlock on, but to get out of one in an interesting and clever way requires skill and artistry.

Terry Rudge in trunks with some hair takes on the five time Royal Albert Hall trophy tournament winner. They lock up and Tibby gets a headlock which Rudge breaks opens into a ground top wristlock. Szakacs gets a headscissor but Terry snaps out. Then it's Tibor's turn to break a headlock into a top wristlock. Rudge rolls away. They lock up again but it's too near the ropes for the referee. Rudge gets a side headlock. Tibor throws him in the ropes but Rudge comes off at an odd angle. Rudge gets a side chancery and takes it to the mat. Rudge gets an armbar, Tibor rolls off and horizontally spins to tighten his own armbars, the exchange eans a polite clap from the crowd. Rudge gets a full nelson. Tibor uses leverage from a leg to break it open into an armbar. Rudge does a standard horizontal spin to slacken it off then twists the other way. Tibor ties up and arm and leg but the bell goes. Round 2, Rudge gets a side chancery. Tibor turns it into an armbar. Terry rolls out. Tibor gets a full nelson into side headlock, Rudge breaks out. He gets another side chancery. He tries to throw Tibor who gets a small package but Rudge keeps his shoulders up. Tibor gets a ground headscissors but rather than capitalise, he rolls backwards and out. Rudge tries for a folding press into cross press. A finger Interlock on the mat goes standup then rolls backward to twist both arms. As Rudge widens his arms out sideways, Tibor switches to a wristlever but Rudge rolls off. Rudge gets a side headlock into reverse neck crank then releases and forearm smashes Tibor. He snapmares and crosspresses him but Tibor kicks out and the bell goes. Round 3. Rudge gets another side headlock into reverse neck crank into side chancery. He releases then gets a standing rear chinlock. Tibor breaks it open into a wristlever but Rudge rolls off then gets a side chancery. This time Tibor slips out backwards and delivers his judo chop which gets a big pop from the crowd. An annoyed Rudge gets three forearms , a snapmares and neck crank. Tibor breaks this into an arm around but it hits the ropes. (No boos for this as it was accidental) Very quickly Rudge goes for another side chancery but Tibor makes it a top wristlock. Rudge converts to a front chancery but it hits the ropes so he goes for a side one instead. Tibor gets a forearm smash and another trademark chop. He shoves Rudge through the ropes but the ref pulls him back and Rudge saves himself by grabbing the middle rope to avoid tumbling out. The ref helps him up. The go into an exchange of forearms smashes and Tibor has Rudge on the ropes. Rudge gets the advantage but the ref quite rightly breaks them up. They lock up and Rudge gets a side headlock. Tibor tries prising him off then fires him into the ropes but Rudge comes back with a shoulderblock, flooring his man. He gets a forearm and a nice thrown on Tibor who lands in the ropes. Tibor reverses a throw into the ropes but Rudge pulss up short in the rebound. They lock up but it goes into the ropes and the ref breaks them, then the bell goes. They have a slight encounter on their way back to their corners. Round 4. Rudge quickly corners Tibor. He gets some forearms and a throw with Tibor taking a rolling bump. Rudge gets a side chancery throw into crosspress but Tibor easily throws him off. Rudge fires off more forearms and slings Tibor into the ropes but he comes back with a cross buttock and press for the one required fall. A good scientific contest, apart from the forearm smashes. A bit of needle too so not quite a clean sportmanly match. Another two heavyweights who can do the British style and roll off armbars etc which further proves my point from the French Catch thread.

From the post CWA EWP and from Fit Finlay's farewell tour, he gets a World title shot here at Paul "Cannonball Grizzly" Neu, the artist long ago known as PN News. First up it's nice too see they still went in for white ropes and dark blue mat- what is it about old school German wrestling and that colour combination. They've still got the disco between rounds "Eurotrash Hits " the commentator calls it- and indeed they still have rounds at all when All Star hardly bothered. Finlay has Robbie Brookside of all people as his corner man while Grizzly has Ecki Eckstein as his flag waver. One is an old man, the other a big fat man also getting up in years so a fairly slow paced affair and not in the methodical German style either. Bearhug territory from Grizzly . Things look a bit temperamental between Robbie (with his corner bucket). and Finlay (the crowd favourite) at the start of round 3. The commentators discuss Finlay's former backstage job with the WWE Divas - Trish Stratus is name checked. Finlay cross buttocks Grizzly to break out of a bearhug in round 4. Finlay gets a yellow card in round 5:for persistently not allowing Grizzly back in the ring. Grizzly goes to work in round 7 with a Big Daddy style offence but it falls to bits when he misses a "Cannonball Roll" (that's a Broken Record for all you old WCW fans). of the top turnbuckle. At this point the Wildcat goes WILD, turning heel on Finlay and attacking him at ringside then getting into a wild schmoz with Eckstein and a bunch of other guys who run in. Everyone including Grizzly piles in to keep them apart. Robbie says something rude about Finlayin German with a strong Scouse accent and Finlay piles out after him followed by everyone else. Brookside cuts a long promo in English challenging Finlay to a Liverpool street fight then storms off. Finlay offers to make it a tag match with son David Jr (III). Which I guess led to the Finlays Vs Brookside and Dirty Dan Collins tag match I reviewed several pages earlier in this thread.

Actually Brody could work the British style (he being in reality a Yorkshireman) and roll out of armbars with the best of them. FYB as I've just noted on the French thread "was a heavyweight yet he back flipped, reverse somersaulted and headscissor-tookdown with the best of them.". Yet here they work a slow methodical old time German match (until the end when they have to be pulled apart.). It's half an hour of camcorder footage so I'm not blow by blowing it. Anyway the bout end in a time limit draw after half an hour of slow solid holds with a late flurry of pin attempts by Franz. At the end we see the intro of a triple tag where Billy Samson, Johnny Saint and someone else I don't recognise prepare to take on Butcher Mason (Mighty Chang ) a heel Dave Taylor and Rene Lataserre. At the start we see Terry Rudge getting red carded and I think Rolo Brazil getting declared a winner.

Well it's not just lightweights - in Britain Pat Roach, Pete Roberts, Tony StClair and (before he would "lose his cool" and break out the dirty wrestling for the evening) Kendo Nagasaki did all that. I'm just about to review a Pat Roach match where he does a fair bit of that although that wont be the focus of the review (wrong opponent for that sort of bout). See also Franz Van Buyten with regard to French Catch. He too was a heavyweight yet he back flipped, reverse somersaulted and headscissor-tookdown with the best of them.

ANATOMY OF A DISQUALIFICATION. You'll probably know Walker in wrestling best from his time as Nitron. bodyguard to Woman in WCW, later teaming with Kevin "Vinnie Vegas" Nash as Big Sky. Future Hollywood movie star Tyler Mane is here fresh off training by Red Bastien (whose name Kent Walton has trouble with) and stints in South Africa and Don Owen's PNW. He's playing the arrogant American heel who thinks the "Limeys" are midgets and their rule system offensively strict and say. He comes to bring plunder and destruction but gets sent back to the dressing room in disgrace. Pat Roach could never be a heel again after playing loveable bricklayer Bomber in ITV comedy drama Auf Wiedersein Pet. Here he is Walker's equal in size and master in terms of skill. I hope Andre the Giant never saw this footage, Walker rips off his stepping over the ropes routine, something Andre hated. After an abortive lockup, Pat gets a headlock and then tries a bodycheck to little effect. Pat gets an armbar so Sky walks to the ropes which gets him an initial burst of cowardly heat for not having any significant technical response.. Pat tries again for a straight armlift (a relative of George Steele's "flying hammerlock") he gets an armbar and weakener on as Pat rolls to undo the wristlock, moving just like a lightweight Another twist of the arm sees him BEAUTIFULLY turn on his head from a bridge to get an armbar of his own. From here he positions Walker nicely for another Straight arm lift. Sky pulls him down to the mat by the hair. After they break, Sky gets another armbars plus weakener which again Roach rolls out of. Roach attempts some forearm smashes which again sends Walker to take the coward's way out on the ropes (in America this was not Heat, it was acceptable even for a babyface.) Walker gets an American sleeper on Roach but he replies with two kneeling fireman's carry takedown submission attempts, the second interrupted by the bell. Cut to round three, Roach is posting and backdropping Walker. Walker initially gets away with a concealed closed fist punch but when he brazenly punches Roach off the apron , he gets a SECOND AND FINAL PUBLIC WARNING for this (the first, it seems was during the clipped out Round 2). Enraged, Walker bodyslams the referee and not only gets DISQUALIFIED but also gets a grand pompous dressing down from MC Brian Crabtree. "Yankee, in the United Kingdom when someone strikes the referee like that, its INSTANT Disqualification! You are Disqualified!!!" The crowd are delighted to see Walker rage at being told off like a naughty schoolboy (this shot was later included in the end credits reel for the weekly wrestling show.) This doesn't establish the Mighty Yankee as a winning force. But instead it establishes him as a disgraceful scandalous man, undeserving even if tainted victory who needs to be Taught A Lesson. This was his only ITV match so that never happened, not the full wrestling lesson from Roach nor the humiliation of Daddy treatment (another Mighty Yankee, Bill Pearl, suffered that fate.)

Well it's not just lightweights - in Britain Pat Roach, Pete Roberts, Tony StClair and (before he would "lose his cool" and break out the dirty wrestling for the evening) Kendo Nagasaki did all that. I'm just about to review a Pat Roach match where he does a fair bit of that although that wont be the focus of the review (wrong opponent for that sort of bout). All three stronghold North West European wrestling cultures survive at least at grassroots level, which is more than can be said for all bar one mainland American/Canadian wrestling territory

Quite a lot of finishes in European Wrestling are alien to American Wrestling fans. For example as a British fan I was brought up to regard a 10 count knockout as being actually a more thorough and definite finish to a match than two falls/. submissions (and I get the impression the same concept exists in both French and German/Austrian Catch) but you wouldn't believe the hard time I had explaining this to people on the "Why is America always assumed to be the centre of the wrestling universe?" thread on here. So yes there is some amount of opening of mind required and accepting of certain aspects of European Wrestling as being different, not defective from American Wrestling.

Traditional British Wrestling, Traditional French Catch and Traditional German/Austrian Catch do share a lot in terms of philosophy and tropes (and most likely share them with the extinct Spanish, Italian and Greek Catch cultures). Experience of any individual one of these is an advantage in understanding the others. Having said that this thread could really do with the input of a French fan who actually grew up with French Catch and became a wrestling fan initially via this territory, as I do with British Wrestling on the "The Beginners Guide To British Wrestling" thread.

There are two distinctive move sets for clean technical wrestling in French Wrestling and British Wrestling. I would pick those two bouts as the ACME of each respective style. Most French Bons do a certain one set of moves, most British blue-eyes do a certain different set. In either country Les Mechants/the heels (for example Kendo in round 1 of a 70s bout) do the same move set at the start of a bout before they start with the dirty wrestling. Definitely with British wrestling you can often tell when watching American Wrestling if someone either has a background in the territory (eg Owen Hart) or has trained with/been trained by someone who comes from Britain (eg Eugene as part of the storyline where Regal trained him or various WCW wrestlers including Johnny B Badd , Mark Bagwell and I think even Tom Zenk who learned the British chain sequences from Regal so they could do them together in the ring on WCW Worldwide and were soon happily forward rolling and cartwheeling out of armbars.) Far less French Catcheurs have made it in America but if there were more you would see certain people doing backflips on top wristlocks, reverse snapmares out of hammerlocks and using headscissors in place of the above forward rolls. American wrestlers with no Euro influence whatsoever meanwhile would continue to just stand there and sell armbars while doing nothing to untwist the arm. For that is the American style.

Another archetypal French bout and one I'm amazed I hadn't previously reviewed. This is Sanniez just shortly before his heel turn into a French version of Jim Breaks. It's also intricate enough to warrant the blow by blow treatment. Sanniez gets a top wristlock on Angelito and throws him twice in it. Ang converts to an arm lever and uses a simple standing twist to tighten it up which Sanniez loosens again with a horizontal posterior spin a la Breaks. Angelito kips up and does one of the characteristic French moves I mentioned, the back flip off a top wristlock. He then does another one, the headscissors takedown while in an armbar. (British wrestlers usually prefer the forwards roll on the mat rather than the headscissors counter.. When the French headscissors trick was tried on World of Sport, the scissorer was usually caught and thrown off.) Angelito gets a rear seated bodyscissors on Sanniez an lifts him for the "ou-ais" mini atomic drop but Sanniez positions for a feet first landing. Ang tries again with an added chinlock for extra pullback but San undermines it the same way. The third time Sanniez flips all the way backwards to a standing start. He tries for a crafty folding press but Angelito drags him right back and tries for the double legs folding press plus bridge.Sanniez aims a kick at Angelito's face, causing him to release Sanniez goes behind Angelito and gets a ground top wristlock on again, Angelito kips up and back flips out and whips Sanniez's arm to force a hard landing from a forward flip but Sanniez fires back with a ground position dropkick. Sanniez gets a top wristlock on the mat, Angelito tries to reverse it with a simple double arm twist but Sanniez clamps on a side headlock to arrest the manoeuvring. He does the spinning flying armdrags and a conventional pair and comes out still with the anm. .Angelito tries a headscissor counter on that Sanniez snaps out of easily. He still has the arm so Angelito tries a rope assisted backflip similar to British wrestler Mark "Kid McCoy" Boothman's Yorkshire Rope Trick (or one of the two he did). But Sanniez STILL has the arm! Angelito gets into a standing side by side position, flips to undo the armlock then cross buttocks Sanniez out of the ring but the ropes save him. Sanniez manchettes Angelito and Angelito responds in kind. They both come off the ropes at the same time and both hit the deck. Stopping only to high five each other they exchange European uppercuts. Angelito throws Sanniez down to the ring apron and sunset flips him to ringside. They re-enter from opposite sides and Sanniez gets a standing full nelson on Angelito who leans forward to shrug him off. Angelito gets a forearm and double leg slingshot leaving Sanniez flat in the mount in the opposite corner. Another Manchette and another flip but this time Sanniez hits the ground rolling into a standing position. When Angelito charges in Sanniez backwards vaults him and lands a dropkick. A Manchette each and Angelito posts Sanniez. He tries again, Sanniez reversed it but Angelito goes up into a flying bodypress for a two count. Angelito gets a bodycheck then a sunset flip which ends up in a back and forth "Bascule" of alternating double leg nelson pin attempts. Sanniez tries to get a folding press but Angelito clips him with a double ankle smash then tries for his own folding press and Sanniez also breaks it up with the double ankles. There are two mins left says the MC. They alternate Manchettes and dropkicks as the clock wears down. Sanniez performs a powerbomb on Angelito! Sanniez whips Angelito into the ropes, presses him overhead, drops him chest first on one knee and tries for a pin but Angelito gets a foot under the ropes. More manchettes and Angelito gets a fireman's carry into another over the knee stomachbreaker then a crosspress which Sanniez reversed (note referee Roger Delaporte counting pin attempts by stomping his foot!). Sanniez bench presses Angelito up from the mat and delivers a blockbuster suplex. They are still exchanging Manchettes when the time limit runs out. A good little scientific draw, sags a bit in the final 120 to 60 secs as the clock and their energy wears down but they got in a few final good moves in there. Nice sportsmanship afterwards too, all handshakes and hugs. Within months Sanniez would have changed his attitude and style - as too would Angelito for a little while two years later when he teamed with career long archenemy Jacky Richard. For now, these two put on a fine exhibition of the French Catch technical style. Sanniez put up another, silent, copy of this match on his YouTube, probably from a kinescope print of his.

This is the archetypal French bout: (Ignore the silly paintings and harpsichord music - it was the TV Station's idea, not the wrestlers' or promoter's.) And this is the archetypal British Wrestling match:

Not really. There were different moves for different countries. France had those moves I listed. Britain had more escapology tricks and undresses of holds. Bigger wrestlers (not the outright superheavies tho) did all the tricks too but less gracefully.

One consequence of the Reslo/New Catch/CWA axis was that it brought as much French and German talent here as it brought our stars to the continent. Around this same time Simon Garfield saw young Schumann on an All Star show in Tunbridge Wells getting mashed badly by Haystacks. He is in for a similar time here. Finlay no longer has Paula with him but is still The Bully, starting off with an inner arm blow, kicking him around, landing a flying forearm and brawling onwards until getting cornered for a series of knees. Finlay takes it in his stride, waistlocking his man to the centre of the ring and going for a suplex but Franz lands feet first and sends his man out with a dropkick. Returning, Finlay twists a finger interlock into a Japanese stranglehold but Franz has it loosened to the wrists. So Finlay elbowsmashes Franz on the jaw and the two brawl on until Schumann gets a posting into rear chinlock, witching to lower armbar into standing armbar. Finlay forearms out almost so Franz gives the wrist an extra twist but Finlay fouls with an eye pokeand follows in with a head drop. Finlay pulls Franz into a short clothesline. with a headbutt. Franz fireman's carries Dave down to an armlock on the mat. Finlay's legs are on the ropes so Franz drags him in, lands a forearm and dropkicks Finlay to ringside again. Franz gets double legs but Finlay gets the ropes so Franz yanks him off for a bump. Finlay gets a posting and headbutt to the torso, slam and feet first corner splash for 2. Finlay throws Schumann out and follows with a flying forearm off the apron. As he gets back in, Franz on the apron tosses him in with his feet and drops a leg. He nearly takes down Finlay with a sunset flip. Finlay gets 2 with a cross press and slams Franz's head in the ring apron with a forearm on top. A plastic mil crate gets introduced into proceedings which earns Finlay a public warning. Undeterred he slams in Franz's head and Franz returns the favour, adding a plastic crowd barrier into the mix. Definitely NOT an okay bout for ITV but this is Wales so the IBA probably never noticed. Franz refuses a handshake but goes for a chop to the throat instead. Finlay successfully conceals an illegal punch and gets a forearm, posting and flying headbutt. And more such punishment until Schumann boots him out the ring and follows with a sliding dropkick and (somewhat botched) tope splash. Finlay wallops Franz with another plastic crowd barrier, getting quite a whack on one blow, then grabs a cone which finally forces the referee to come out. A fan grabs a crowd barrier and Schumann gets Finlay with the cone. Schumann has found the plastic crate from earlier and throws it in the ring but Finlay intercepts and uses it, earning himself a Second And Final Public Warning. Schumann is still in a bad way outside and being tended to by a group of little kids. Finlay joins them to beat on Franz and slam his head in the steps. Schumann comes back in with a vaulting dropkick, suplex and crosspress for 2. A clothesline off the ropes gets two too. They brawl on and Schumann slams Finlay's head in the corner, pitches him out but is caught in mid flight by Finlay and his knees. Schumann reverses a tombstone piledriver and gets a perfect flying elbow. But Finlay catches Schumann on the top turnbuckle and gets the winner with a superplex that would have made Barry Windham proud. After the match Finlay claimed both on the mic and in a ringside promo to be World champion. What world title did he have in 1992? Finlay gives one last growl to camera and saucers off, presenter Bryn Fon gives a cheeky wave behind his back. Too violent for the IBA or Kent Walton, very little science except the ending and one or two other bits and bobs. sSomeone had obviously been watching Memphis tapes. Still if that's your bag, enjoy.

Vienna summer 1994: some good camera work of the Heumarkt here, it looks a really great outdoor ring venue despite the lack of a skirt on the ring. The former PN News gives local Austrian hero August Smisl -the man who two years later had them folk-dancing in the aisles while waiting to see him take on Wildcat Robbie Brookside - a good pasting before going too far, twisting his leg between the ropes to leave him dangling outside the ring then following in with more punishment, thus getting himself DQd. Grizzly/News/Neu has actually perked up his technical game for this and comes up with some nifty armlocks early on.

Looking at those last two bouts, a lot of the distinctive French Catch style and tropes had not yet been developed. Roland Vs Janos was pure German wrestling pre Steve Wright, down on the mat with a lot of earnest manoeuvring before a counter is gained. Nobody yet is doing back somersaults from top wristlock s, headscissor takedown as counter to armbars, reverse snapmares to counter standing back hammerlocks. All that came about later with Le Petit Prince, Michel Saulnier, Vasilous Mantopolous etc.

Janos Vs Roland is very much down on the match when we join with Roland maintaining a Frank Gotch toehold against reversal/ counter attempts by Janos. Janos eventually springs free and administers his own headscissors but Roland easily snaps out. . They go for finger interlock and Janos fires a dropkick and Roland retorts with a Manchette . Roland gets a fantastic Scisseaux Volees into kneeling press but somehow can't get even a 1 count for it and Janos takes him down with a bodyscissors. Dumal gets a legspread held in place with a bridge. Vadkerti unhooks his spread legs but then can't break the bridge so they rest. Another interlock and Dumal gets the armbar and twists it into a figure four top wristlock. Vadkerti goes down with it and slaps on a headscissor. Dumal twists out an d they go into Planchette Japonaise interchange sequence. Vadkerti gets a bodyscissors and there is a lot of interchange over it. Dumal gets a headscissors on Vadkerti....It goes on like that. Holds worked over for long periods of time, the odd flurry of Manchettes. Vadkerti wibs with a folding press. Aledo is still a Bon and not yet a Kamikaze. Teddy Boy is nothing of the sort. He is a Rocker/Greaser. He does not have an Edwardian Drapes suit or a DA quiff. What he is is quite the thought young brawler. Aledo is the more scientific but Teddy Boy is not the ideal opponent against whom to demonstrate this. Aledo does do a few of his future Kamikaze rope tricks. For most of the match Aledo takes control until near the end when Teddy Boy uses some lutte Irreguliere to pitch Aledo twice out of the ring. Aledo gets Irreguliere right back in Teddy's face along with the odd clean tick (the scoot forwards through the legs into ground dropkick). But in the end, Teddy gives Aledo a Warrior style press slam drop and splash to get the upset win.

In America's case any decline was a lot more sudden. The bursting of the TV Wrestling Boom bubble, particularly the closure of DuMont, was more of a cliff edge moment in American Wrestling history, comparable to what The Final Bell in the UK could have been if not for (1) All Star being a red hot promotion that just carried on under its own sheer momentum for the next five years (2) an American Wrestling boom starting mere weeks later that by 1992 resulted in a rerun of WM3 on British soil. By 1973 Joe Jares, commencing work on Whatever Happened To Gorgeous George? found himself asked by friends and colleagues who remembered their wrestling-brssoted late grandmothers, "Do they still have wrestling?" From what I've read about American TV wrestling 1945-1955 it sounds a lot closer to the British/French model of serious sports coverage of all the big matchups rather than the later American model of it all being one big commercial for the live product.

The Riot Squad take on an odd combination during their Reslo revival. South partnered Murphy on the heels side of All Star's final ITV bout and is still a few years from becoming a mega blue eye as The Legend of Doom (which Reslo survived long enough to catch on professional camera) and Collins is just two months short of beating Finlay for the British Heavy Middleweight title. Danny FIPs it up for the Riot Squad before the two bald ex partners go at it in a forearm smash contest that ends with Murphy getting the opener with a side slam on Johnny South. Murphy rope a dopes an elbowsmash into South to restart the brawl. Danny eventually scores the hot tag and nearly gets the equaliser with a superplex and a couple of missile dropkicks. He finally gets it with a roll up after Finlay accidentally hits Murphy during a double team, They heels get a good double teaming starts of Danny but South helps him clear the ring. The villains soon regain control however and after a couple of backbreaker/elbow double teams, Finlay gets the winning submission on Danny with a reverse neck crank. Still some way for Danny to go until the big title change in July. Lively crowd enjoyed the bout, mostly young kids.

The French Professional Wrestling Federation is a professional wrestling association based in France and founded in 1933 [ref. needed] . Creation The great era Reactivation Notes and references External links Creation In 1933, Raoul Paoli , a French rugby union player and all-round athlete, helped his friend Henri Deglane , a Greco-Roman wrestling gold medalist at the 1924 Summer Olympics , popularize wrestling in France. Along with their friends Charles Rigoulot and Julien Duvivier, both high-level athletes, they introduced wrestling to the Vélodrome d'Hiver in Paris. They joined the French Wrestling Federation (FFL), making wrestling the professional branch of wrestling within the French Wrestling Federation at that time. Raoul Paoli subsequently became the first president of the French Professional Wrestling Federation (FFCP), and the first wrestling organizer in France. Paoli died on March 23, 1960, in Paris, leaving his chair empty. The great era From 1960 until the 1980s, wrestling reached its peak in France. At that time, no fewer than seven venues organized galas in Paris every week: the Élysée Montmartre , the Salle Wagram , the Stadium, the Palais des sports de Paris , La Mutualité , the Cirque d'hiver and the Vel d'Hiv . The Élysée Montmartre was the setting for numerous television broadcasts on ORTF . Its owner and star wrestler of the time, Roger Delaporte, was one of the great wrestling organizers in France. He successively directed the FFLI (French Federation of Independent Wrestlers) and then the French Professional Wrestling Federation from 1960 following the death of Raoul Paoli. In the late 1980s, Roger Delaporte retired and sold the Élysée Montmartre to the production company Garance Productions. The French Professional Wrestling Federation remained in limbo. Reactivation In 2006, Marc Mercier , a former wrestler with Delaporte, made agreements with the latter to reactivate the federation, which was one of the first wrestling structures in the world. Indeed, wrestling, already known in the United States in the 1930s, waited until 1948 to have its first federal structure: the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Mercier created the Catch Academy in 2006 in Wissous , a school intended to train a new generation of French wrestlers. Several waves of men and women learned the basics of wrestling through the school's various facilities (from Wissous to Villejuif via Chennevières , Choisy-le-Roi and Ris-Orangis ). President Marc Mercier aims to revitalize and dust off the latter, through attractive and media-friendly sectors. If the French Professional Wrestling Federation is today once again in the media [ 1 ] , [ 2 ] , [ 3 ] , the fact remains that an enormous amount of work in the general restructuring of wrestling still needs to be done in France, and this while waiting for state legislation aimed at regulating the discipline... In February 2014, Marc Mercier decided to entrust the presidency of the FFCP to the young referee and former Bordeaux wrestler Artémis d'Ortygie, in turn appointing Norbert Feuillan as vice-president [ 4 ] . D'Ortygie left the post of president in May 2014 to take care of personal projects, Marc Mercier resumed his place as president of the FFCP [ 5 ] . In February 2024, Mercier announced his retirement from the wrestling industry after 49 years. Notes and references cf. FFCP and Catch Academy television broadcasts cf. Press articles on the FFCP and the Catch Academy cf. Radio broadcasts on the FFCP and the Catch Academy Artemis of Ortygia and Norbert Feuillan take the lead of the FFCP FFCP: Artémis Ortygie leaves (already) her post as president External links Official website The above and below are articles from the same website .International Catch Wrestling Alliance History National Wrestling Training Institute Wrestling style Current Championships Former Championships Notes and references Annexes Related articles External links History Founded in 2002 by Pierre "Booster" Fontaine and Christophe Agius , the ICWA originally had one major title , two secondary men's titles , one women's title and one team title ; most of which were awarded betweenDecember 2004AndMay 20052 . The December 20, 2008, on the occasion of Revolution V, the ICWA and the NWA announced their association and several of the promotion's titles were renamed and now officially recognized internationally 3 . Thus, the ICWA holds the NWA French championship and the European heavyweight, women's and tag team championships. InJune 2009, ICWA participated in the Hellfest metal music festival and organized a tournament there that formalized the new " hardcore " branch of the promotion, including the introduction of a new title: the ICWA-XTC eXTremeCatch Championship. From that same year, the federation appeared several times on television, through galas, or spin-off programs like "Catch me if you can", notably on Canal + and France 3 4 , 5 , 6 . It also regularly performs shows during the Japan Expo in Villepinte , in the suburbs of Paris 7 , 8 . At the start of 2015, the federation was threatened with closure, caused by a drop in attendance at the INFC 9 training courses . Only 4 wrestling shows were organized that year. However, the federation continued and announced for the month ofMay 2016the return of its biggest annual show Revolution 8 to Maubeuge 10 . At Revolution X, a match pitted Cormac Hamilton, current ICWA French Champion, against Jimmy Gavroche, IPWF Champion, for the unification of the two titles. Cormac Hamilton won the match, during his celebration, Booster came to the ring to announce to the crowd of La Luna de Maubeuge some great news, the ICWA and six other promotions (APC, Ouest Catch, TPW, ABCA, FRPW and IPWF) recognize Cormac Hamilton as the unified champion of France and each federation promises that each year, at least one defense of this unified title will take place. However, this unification ends onDecember 18, 2018and the title is now only recognized by the ICWA. National Wrestling Training Institute The ICWA has its own wrestling school: the National Wrestling Training Institute (INFC). Based in Béthune, the INFC trains men and women in wrestling-related careers through various training options (from introductory courses open to those over 15 to continuing education reserved for adults). InJuly 2012, one of the INFC students, Lucas Di Léo, signed a development contract with WWE and joined the NXT 11 program . The school then took the opportunity to prove its seriousness and now describes itself as the "wrestling factory". In 2016, the INFC closed its doors to reopen in Cluses in the Pulse Factory in the same town. InFebruary 2018, YouTuber Tibo Inshape shoots a video where he trains and conducts an interview with Clément Petiot. Wrestling style Far from "French-style" wrestling, the ICWA offers fights closer to the American style, a style brought to France by Booster himself [non-neutral] [ref. necessary] after having been trained by Édouard Carpentier in Montreal 12 .

I take it this was the sports magazine show you were on about @Phil Lions?

https://plus.wikimonde.com/wiki/Wrestling_Stars This looks interesting. A full company back history of Wrestling Stars. Apparently Jean Claude Blanchet, butler to both Marquises De Fumuulo (Eduardo and Jacky Richard) and later best boy to the Travesti Man, had a big hand in founding it. Wrestling Stars is a French sports wrestling federation created in 1999, which brings together a large number of wrestlers from all continents. Summary 1 History 1.1 The KMG 1.2 Creation of the FEC 1.3 Wrestling Stars, the revival 1.3.1 Championships 1.4 Anecdote 2 Roster 2.1 Wrestlers 2.2 Wrestlers 2.3 Current champions 3 Reference The KMG In 1979, Evelyne Kaluza, the brothers Moïse and Marc Mehnaoui, as well as a wrestler who had returned from Mexico , Flesh Gordon , decided to found a wrestling federation for the French public, the KMG. The KMG (for Kaluza Mehnaoui Gordon ) was at the time broadcast on Antenne 2 , but the means were still too limited to develop everything. In 1985, the KMG closed its doors [1] . Creation of the FEC In 1985, Jean Claude Blanchet launched the European Wrestling Federation (FEC), where he brought in Flesh Gordon and other big names of the time, as well as Canadian , Japanese and South American wrestlers . The shows were sold out at every performance [1] . At the time, European wrestling attracted media such as TF1 or FR3 , and was broadcast on Monday evenings on Minuit Sport in 1987. Many wrestlers were discovered such as Billy Samson , David Finlay (who later wrestled in the WWE ), or even Prince Zéfy [1] . Subsequently, a contract was signed with Eurosport and allowed for broadcasting on a European scale, with no less than 12 galas per year filmed in France . Wrestlers from all over the world began to come to the FEC ring, such as Scott Hall , Chris Benoit , Yokozuna and Pierre Carl Ouellet [1] . Arriving in 1996, following numerous disturbances and disagreements within the governing bodies of the federation, the FEC found itself plunged into a period of inactivity of 3 years [1] . Wrestling Stars, the revival File:WS Ring.jpg Wrestling Star Show In 1999, Jean-Marie Morel was responsible for restructuring the FEC and founded the International Wrestling Stars Federation (IWSF), which would later be known as Wrestling Stars, and which he chaired until 2002. The difference between Wrestling Stars and other French and international federations is that the wrestling practiced is said to be "sport", as opposed to the much more scripted wrestling of federations such as WWE [ 1] . Wrestling Stars works in collaboration with many French Wrestling Schools (EFC), whose role is to train new wrestlers. One of them, created in Faremoutiers in 1994 by the former wrestler Monsieur Jacky (notably a referee at galas), has become the national training center for Wrestling Stars [1] . Other EFCs exist, including one in Dieppe , run by Mickey TRASH, as well as one in Longuyon . Championships There are 3 major titles at stake in Wrestling Stars [1] : The French Middleweight Championship : reserved for wrestlers of French nationality and weighing less than 90 kg (2 kg overweight is however tolerated on the day of the fight). The European Open Championship : reserved for wrestlers who are nationals of one of the EU countries . There is no weight limit. The World Light Heavyweight Championship : for wrestlers between 90 kg and 105 kg, of all nationalities. Anecdote Wrestler Tom La Ruffa , who competes for Wrestling Stars, has made a few appearances in WWE , notably against the Big Show [2] . He notably signed a contract with the latter in August 2012. Roster Wrestlers Arora Bernard Vandamme Belthazar Cibernic Machine (European Champion, 1st time) Dennis Cash Dom Alexander The Magician The Mariachi Emilio Sitoci Erwan Le Gailec Fernando de Sousa Flesh Gordon Ghent Gianni Leone Greg Master Jack Hammer Jack Spayne Jeremy Deaf Jimmy Gavroche Jon Titank Kenzo Richards Leon Shah Luvindo Barreiros Mac Taraz Makoto Mark Kodiak Max Angel Mikey Diamond Nikolai Trashinsky Prince Zfy (World Light Heavyweight Champion) Sam Fighter Striker Tango Timm Thib Scheltienne Tom La Ruffa (Currently works for World Wrestling Entertainment under the name Sylvester Lefort) Ultimo Chingon UK Kid Warren Brady WS Kid The Santos Wrestlers Angel's Bombita Betty Trash Layla Rose Miss Agathe Sexy Sindy Viper X-cute Current champions French Middleweight Champion = Jimmy Gavroche (4th time) European Champion = Cibernic Machine (1st time) World Light Heavyweight Champion = Prince ZEFY (1st time)

Flesh and/or Jacky may have had a hand in this but the name European Wrestling Federation SMACKS of being Orig Williams' work. He called his 80s/90s UK shows the British Wrestling Federation (BWF - a name previously used by Paul Lincoln in the 1960s) and he and Brian Dixon promoted a World Wrestling Federation (WWF) World Heavyweight Championship in 1974 claimed by Kendo Nagasaki during his year away from Joint. (This at a time when the "real" WWF in New York was still the WWWF). These are the two main names Herve/Richard have gone by, the latter shortened from the former in the early 2010s. Marc Mercier has been bitter enemies with Flesh and Jacky since the early Noughties. For a while Marc fell in with the Americanised/New School ICWA until it all got too American for him and in 2006 he went back to his old mentor Roger Delaporte (who had retired in 1989) and bought the rights to the FFCP from him, keeping Delaporte around as advisor for three years until he died in 2009. This was how the great Wrestling Stars Vs FFCP war began. A decade later each side was telling national newspapers how the other lot were crooks and thugs who were forever pouring buckets of faeces over them. Or something. See earlier in thread. Eurostars belonged to Bernard Van Damme (no relation to Rob nor Jean Claude) and was affiliated with Flesh, Jacky and IWSF. He seems to have had some TV deal of his own and I remember seeing broadcast details on their website back in the day. Domino and Sir Robin were both British wrestlers and I have seen both live -several times in Domino's case for All Star. He died a few years back.