David Mantell

Actually Miss Crystal doesn't have the German accent. Talking of accents, that's a Somerset accent Mad Eli is doing. Interestingly the new British Cage Match champion is Gary Welsh aka Gary/Geraint Clwyd, he of the all-TBW clean matches with Pete Bainbridge on ITV and Tony Stewart on Reslo. (Later in life Gary B Ware and before that one of two Dunk the Clowns.) Shane Stevens is introduced as a Hangman but wears the same tailcoat and top hat as the White Undertaker on TF1//Eurosport New in 1991 opposite Flesh Gordon.

KAMIKAZE UNMASKS!!! Well one of them anyway. The final fall of a clean tag match then we get one Kamikaze in the ring. During the introductions he takes off his mask to reveal a bald moustachioed little old man who looks like Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett. His opponent is Nicholas Priory. Kamikaze uses a mixture of martial arts and dirty wrestling. Priore soon sinks to his level and gets an Avertisement for his pains. It all ends in a fight outside the ring the Kami knocks Priore down with something. The referee starts to count Priore down for a KO but stops and declares it a TKO.

In memory of the recently deceased Cesca... I'll mostly focus on Cesca's bits tagged in. I think this is the Cirque D.Hiver, I think I recognise that curtain. (This is the same month Ivan K beat Bruno to put this in historical perspective.). Match starts in progress so we have to work out who is who. Our first glimpse of Cesca is him being escorted out of the ring by L'Arbitre. He soon strikes a legal hot tag, hiptossing Claude Jessin all over the shop and catching Mannuveaux in a headscissors. Marcel is so confused he end up trying to tag in Asquini (who is as bald as he was a decade later. Cesca gets on a neat single leg Boston. Commentator mentions Asquini is wearing green trunks so perhaps this is colour on Channel 2 An odd finger lock Test of Strength starting on the mat and working it's way up to standing. A standing backbreaker but held in place like à backslide rather than with a top wristlock. Gilbert gets a bit naughty thing on a BN's moustache. Asquini gets the opening fall. Cesca gets kicked down to ringside by Manneuvaux where a second helps him up. (What is the point of that dwarf-wall? It must be the least effective crowd barrier ever! Eve makes the plastic roadworks planks/cones on Reslo look effective by comparison. MM gets the equaliser on Asquini. Caesca gets the cold tag, starts off slowly stalking Jessin and soon loses the advantage. Les Bloussons Noirs dominate both Bons. Finally we get some more good Cesca. He tags in, dodges Jessin's charges, comes off the top rope and butts Jessin in the stomach. Asquini is still selling his previous beatdown so isn't ready to tag in so more Cesca for now. He dodges round the ring a bit before tagging Asquini. Both heels get kicked out so they drag bald Bruno outside for a beatdown. Jan 71 as we've established was a bad month for Brunos in wrestling. In New York, Sammartino drops his World title and now this. Sensibly, in Britain Mr Elrington stayed off TV this month. Talking of Britain. the IBA would have had FITS about that four man ringside brawl! Commentator describes Manneuvaux with a glorious Anglicism "un peu Groggy" Cesca tags in but is in brawling mode, borderline closed fists, slaps, kicks. Manchettes, jumping up and down like a dervish or like a frustrated Jim Breaks. He eventually hurts his hand on one punch. Cesca and Asquini get the deciding pin with a double team move - he moonsaults over a BN, lands on his feet, leapfrogs him, Asquini comes in illegally with a missile dropkick then Cesca splashes and pins the miserable Mechant. The Bloussons briefly try to start an afterbirth then think better of it.

Yup, sorry @ohtani's jacket but this just goes to show how long swimming pool matches were part of the furniture in France.

Reslo goes to Germany again! To Bremen in 1995. Featuring Danny Collins as Dirty Dan which makes it all the odd that he got cheered on that final Royal Rumble later that season. Supporting cast is August Smisl who went on a year later to play babyface to Robbie Brookside's nascent Wildcat persona, Ulf Herman (wrongly identified as Eddie Steinblock) the future John Bradshaw Layfield, two WCW cast offs in a former Rapmaster and a former student of Ron Simmons abandoned when Ron went heel, plus . All in an elimination six man tag. The crowd have learned to hate Dirty Dan and are delighted that he loses an early fall to Smisl. August in turn falls to Texas Hawk. Ice And PN have a very 80s American match which remarkably Ice wins. Texas Hawk looks like an older version of Brookside. He faces Ice and Ulf 1 on 2. and Ice takes him out, leaving himself and Ulf as the survivors.

Royal Rumbles (WWE copyright be damned) have become a staple end of the night attraction at traditional British shows since the ,mid 90s (heck, Stephen Barker even named his PROMOTION Rumble!). They offer blue eyes a shot at revenge against the heels who beat them earlier in the night and send fan, especially the family audiences, home happy. Here is a specimen from the final ever episode of Relo. Your typical heaving mass of bodies, nothing much technical here. Danny Collins gets cheered by the crowd which is particularly surprising not just because he went heel in 1994 but for more reasons I'm about to get into on the German Catch thread. This was the last Traditional British Wrestling on TV (and apart from that Japanese visit to Croydon in 96, Rumble Promotions' VHS that same year and a couple of all-Brit bouts on VDB in Germany's deliberately retro 1998 video, the last Traditional British wrestling to be professionally filmed) until 2003 and Premier Promotions contributions to Johnny Vaughn's World Of Sport on digital channel BBC3.

The entire show that contained the legendary Danny Collins Vs Owen Hart World Middleweight Championship bout. A co-promotion between All Star and infamous fan (and Grand Wizard wanna be) the late Mad Eli's MEGA promotion (it's only just now dawned on me the first two letters of that stood for Mad and Eli. I wonder what the last two letters stood for.) held as a fundraiser for the BBC's infamous Children In Need telethon. Collins Vs Hart is very much the one for the purists. There are no fewer than four gimmick matches (one chain match plus a four man knockout tournament held entirely in a cage.) Also Klondyke Kate defends her ladies title and Stax and Regal go up against each other just a month before they got audition/legally demanded slots on WCW's first UK tour - both eventually bagging full time slots as a Lord and a Loch. The chain match is for a British Chain Match Championship -preceding Scott Conway's TWA's British Hardcore championship by a decade. I never saw the point of these -there was never a British Brass Knuckles title in the 60s/70s/80s. It's an all Scottish match between Chic Cullen and Drew McDonald. Drew's valet is Miss Crystal who may or may not be Monika Markwart aka Doctor Monika Kaiser, manager of Drew/the Spoiler on ITV 1987-1988 and real-life life partner of Drew. If it's her, she has had done one of those trendy short hairdos Madonna and Missy Hyatt circa 1993 had. The blond hair colour is the same and so is the manner. The mat appears to have been borrowed from a Reslo taping (WCW would also borrow the Reslo ring.)

Bob Plantin mentioned it on his FB page

A lot of this was down to Steve Regal in WCW showing the mid card how to do chain sequences with him. Brian Pillman, Johnny B Badd, even Marcus Alexander Bagwell all took the Regal crash course - I expect 2 Cold was another.

I didn't properly review this match at the time, OJ has reviewed Bennett and Logan's earlier 1985 match (he liked it). Like a lot of these bouts it starts off fairly clean. Logan snapping open a Bennett headlock into an armbar which Mike then rolls to untwist. There are hints of heelery from MaB to get the crowd started - he gives a nasty clout to Steve's stomach with a first that looks to be (1) closed (2) the one with the infamous signet ring. He also attempts to force his forearm down on Logan's windpipe. Logan keeps his cool, pulling him off with a headscissor which Mike kips out of. Mike breaks a full nelson and resists a snapmares but then not only goes for the ropes (jeers of cowardice from the audience) but starts to do some rope related duties before referee Jeff Kaye pulls him off. Logan gets a great throw from a top wristlocks, MB gets a headscissor and jerks it as he releases on the bell. Cut to Round 4 and Bennett is brawling and using dirties including knees in the corner which gets him a First Public Warning. Bennett gets what should have been his second battering Logan in the corner but Logan suddenly gets an opener with a flying bodypress and in the confusion Kaye and Brian Crabtree both lose count and call it his First. And so it remains. Bennett nearly gets a small package equaliser and managed to manipulate Kaye out of giving him a second. He holds a single leg Boston Crab for a good while which he converts to a Gotch toehold. Logan gets a wrist, forcing the release and posts MB . Another leglock is reversed by Logan into a hammerlock and Benet goes for the ropes. A knee in the corner to Logan and other fouls get Bennett his Second and final but he reapllies the Single Leg Boston for the equaliser. In the next round he again gets this hold but Logan goes for arm counters that eventually force MB to drop the Boston to deal with the attack. Bennett gets a reverse front chancery down on the mat but learns too far forward and gets two double knee smashes to the head. Each man tries for armbars til the bell goes. In final Round 8, Bennett carries on his rule ending, gets a Reminder of being two public warnings in and the crowd chanting for a DQ -"OUT! OUT! OUT!". Logan gets a reverse waistlock suplexfor a 2 count, before Bennett gets the deciding submission with the same single leg Boston for the win and the Grand Prix Belt to add to his push. Solid but not sparkling technical work mixed with plenty of fouling from Bennett to get a heel victory and an upset crowd. He may have got Joint Promotions answer to the IWGP belt but the belt he really wanted- Danny Collins's British Welterweight title - remained elusive. This would be Bennett's penultimate TV match - he would lose a Golden Grappler trophy quarter final to Ritchie Brooks and that would be the end of his push. However it puts me in mind of Sting and Lex Luger in early 1988. Sting could only get a draw against Ric Flair at Clash I. Luger and Barry Windham did win the World Tag Team Championship from Tully and Arn only to lose it back when Windham turned Horseman and heel mid match. So Sting and Lex won the Crockett Cup and that,at least, was a trophy to satisfy their main event babyface pushed. Likewise, Marvelous Mike Bennett might not quite have beaten Young Danny Boy Collins in a British or even European Welterweight title match but he took home the 1986 Grand Prix Belt, so that was something for his troubles.

1) I think it referred to his size rather than any hirsutism on his part (the guy was receding) 2) If we start Anglicising names, where do we stop? Mark Mercier? Peter Bernaert? Mike Saulnier? Andrew Bollet? 3) In the below bout, for the crowd chant to work MA-MMOUTH must be made to rhyme with LA-KA-GOULE.

(I gave a fuller answer regarding OJ's question re Dirty Dan Collins back on page 3 just below where Ohtani's Jacket originally posted the above review) Now this would have been a Transatlantic dream match for 18/19 year old me in 1992/1993. The ultimate mid 80s TBW Whizzkid "Young Master Of His Craft" (© Kent Walton 1986) versus the aerialist ex-Lucha Libre protege of WCW World Champion Ron Simmons and WCW World Tag Team Champion with Marcus Bagwell during his white meat years. Both had lost their golden boy sheen by ths point. Scorpio had been fired from WCW after testing positive for cannabis while Collins had turned heel in Britain and was no longer Danny Boy but Dirty Dan instead. Scorpio enters to his WCW music, copyright be damned. Danny no longer a Boy in black double leotard. He gets announced as Dirty Dan and he and the crowd react accordingly. He's recently vacated the World Middleweight title (17 year old James Mason would win it in a one night tournament on VHS for Rumble Promotions which I posted somewhere on the British Wrestling thread) and still has the British Heavyweight Middleweight championship but would leave that behind after winning Alan Kilby's British Light Heavyweight Championship the following year. The double crown British/European Welterweight titles are long ago history and Mal Sanders won back his European Middleweight title only to lose it to another TBW prodigy Jason Cross shortly after this video.(Cross is still champion 29 years later but don't tell him that.) So far so technical. Scorpio really seems to have taken to the British/European style, rolling neatly out of wristlevers etc. Danny doesn't do as many of his old tricks (truth be told his body was wearing down towards his eventual first retirement in 2002) but he knows how to cleverly sidestep and counter moves. He converts a Scorpio fireman's carry into a Sunset flip pin attempt of his own and gets in a quick huaracanrana before the end of the round (DJ plays MC Hammer's. U Can't Stop This, Scorpio jives along to it.) and can go rear snapmare for rear snapmares. Scorpio starts to use his old WCW floppy tricks involving the ropes. Danny incorporates more roughouse in his arsenal including a Harley Race diving headbutt. Scorpio can intercept a missile dropkick with one of his own. Scorpio does his spinning Legdrop but the bell rings. Danny still has his missile dropkick off the top turnbuckle from his Boyhood (Scorpio gets up at eight) a Suplex off the ring apron and a DDT (Scorpio kicks out at 2) The end comes when Danny dives over Scorpio but he in.turn does a backflipping flying bodypress for the pin. Both men lay exhausted on the mat, eventually Scorpio offers Danny a handshake. Danny nearly accepts but in the end brushes him off, Dirty Dan doesn't play those games any more.

Okay, let's go back in time to the 1980 Hanover Cup, back in days of old when knights were bold and Klaus Kauroff was a villain. Here he faces Achim Chall. It starts with both wrestlers and the referee each flat backed into a corner. Chall thrice takes down Kauroff in an armlock, holding him down long periods. The forth time KK fouls his way out with a foul (closed fist punch). They finger interlock, Chall switches to a single arm, steps over it and mule kicks Kauroff. Kauroff gets a full nelson, Chall tries to counter with a rear snapmares but can't get the leverage so he breaks the hold. rear dropkicks his man and THEN snapmares him. Kauroff takes Chall down with pressure points. Chall tries another rear snapmares but can't get the power and flops back down. Chall yanks free but Kauroff reapplies. He gets no warning but does get told off for kicking Chall in the back and choking him on the mat. The bell goes but KK gets in an extra stomp. Round 2 : Chall argues with the ref, Klaus sneaks up from behind and reapplies the pressure points. He backs Chall into the ropes and delivers another illegal punch, this one clearly sighted by the referee who again only gives him a private warning. KK posts Chall and stomps him on the mat and gets the pressure points on. He takes Chall down and repeatedly bangs his head in the mat. He punches Chall in the base of the spine. Chall reaches behind for KK'arms, slings him into the ropes and catches him with a dropkick and knee lift. He uppercuts, snapmares him, twists a foot on him, throws him. KK rolls up nicely but astonishingly Chall gets him with a huaracanrana!!! He floors KK with another forearm and let's him take the count to get up. Chall headlocks Kauroff then boots him in the head. Kneelift. Forearm .... and the bell goes. Round 3: Chall gets a kneelift, forearm. Snapmares and twisted foot. He flying tackles Kauroff for a pin but gets a 2 count. He tries again but Kauroff steps aside and Chall crash lands. Kauroff gets in a bunch of kicks that earn him a DQ. Chall is the winner. Fairly slow bout. The huaracanrana was a nice surprise and there were a few other bursts of energy but otherwise it was the sort of slow lumbering brute match that makes the beer drinking revellers happy.

I've posted a fair old but to the British and French threads this weekend so here is some German Catch No idea who Kip A. B. was or where he comes from. He does a gay gimmick and he comes on at referee Didier Gapp who doesn't appreciate it. Think Adrian Adonis if he hadn't put on all that weight. Although the other Adrian, Street's song Imagine What I Could Do To You is in-between rounds (South Wales accent on the talky bits, btw). There's not a lot to write about Kip's actual wrestling, Steve Wright is on good form but w,hat can be do with this guy? Answer, run through a bunch of his best tricks in rapid succession then pin him. Like Jim Breaks Vs Max Hunter from Screensport this is what it would have been like if we'd had enhancement talent and squash matches this side of The Pond

Things don't get any better for relations between referees and babyfaces on the next TV taping. Siki ends up clobbering a referee and getting DQd. It was getting contagious. Or maybe it plugged into a certain anti petty authority sentiment in the French psyche. No I'm not posting another blow by blow account. I've posted this bout and talked a bit about it before. Siki was basically a 1970s French version of Junkyard Dog- but that's JYD in his WWF/TBS years. Just as charismatic though. Same funky streetwise vibe. (Well it WAS the late seventies). You can see why la publique liked him. It's odd though that British Wrestling never produced a black blue-eye funkster/soulman character like Thunderbolt Patterson or Rufus R Jones. We were as much into disco and funk as the Americans or the French. (P.S. @Matt D it's Mammouth with a U. He wasn't a wooly mammoth.)

And talking of Michel Saulnier, look who he has to referee next: Only Guy Mercier with whom he spent much of this time feuding. . Officially at least, Guy is facing gypsy Jo Gonzalez. Jo gets several good throws in. Guy does his own throw and sends Jo into the front row on someone's lap! He gets back and gets Guy in a side chancery and throw.for a number of 2 counts, many of them suspiciously fast. Guy tries to stand up in the hold but Jo forces him back down on the mat. He eventually gets out by widening the angle between himself and Jo, then spins round (to confuse Jo presumably), drops down and catches Jo's leg, takes him down, lifts the leg up and jumps into a sitting leglock. Jo tries unsuccessfully to grab a countering cross face but Guy stand and twists the leg like a spinning toehold or the start of an American Figure Four Leglock. He jumps one last time into the sitting position leaving Jo selling the leg, limping badly and making desperately for the ropes. They start over in the middle of the ring and Guy gets the leg back with the same spin and drop motion but Jo reaches the ropes. Guy jumps back into the down position as Jo gets up and leans on the ropes. Guy wants to go after him but Saulnier, who is counting Jo VERY slowly, orders him to stand back. Guy edges closer but Jo grabs him in a similar leglock of his own, still holding the top rope. Guy points this out but Saulnier is more interested in trying to count down Guy's shoulders. When Saulnier looks up, Jo releases the top rope but then grabs it again when Saulnier looks down. Guy grabs the ropes to make his point but Saulnier takes this as a rope break request and refuses it, kicking Mercier's hands off the ropes. Gonzalez continues to hide his grabbing the top rope. Eventually he does see what is going on and forces Jo mto let go the top rope, allowing Guy to take control of the leglock. When Jo grabs the bottom rope, Saulnier this time agrees to a break and demands Guy relinquish. A disgusted Guy WALLOPS Saulnier, sending him sprawling and gets a first Avertisement. Jo gets the leglock and forces Guy into the corner, Saulnier lets him do this despite the ropes. Jo lifts Guy up by the leg, Guy bashes him over he head with the spare foot, Jo pitches forward head first into Saulnier's stomach. Heel and heel ref lay on the mat as Guy steps forward contemplating his next move. He gets a Second And Final (Deuxieme et Derniere) Avertisement, despite his protests. The match changes tack. Mercier makes out like he is going to box Gonzalez, Jo takes a haymaker swing well wide of Guy, spins round and is taken down in a bodyscissors. Guy does the old "Ah .. Ouais!!!" routine, slamming Gonzalez spine first into the mat. Strangely, Saulnier refuses to allow heel Jo a rope break. The ref tries to kick Guy in the pants as he lifts Jo but Guy seems unaffected. Eventually Jo lands feet first to break the bodyscissors. He comes off the ropes and Guy flips him but he lands feet first by the opposite ropes and starts to brag about it. Guy dropkicks him out the ring then dropkicks Saulnier too for good measure. Gonzalez gets back in, goes down on one knee and begs for mercy from Mercier. He gets a wrist lever then kicks Guy down before he can counter, then brags some more, flexing a bicep. Jo snapmares Guy and gets in several stomps which Saulnier lets go despite being flagrant follow downs on the mat. Eventually Guy gets up. Jo slaps on a side headlock and Guy counters by grabbing Jo's thigh. Jo bashes and stomps Guy back down. Jo traps Guy's head in the ropes and bashes him in the back. Saulnier orders him off and Jo, now clearly getting the score, winks conspiratorially at the ref. Saulnier pulls the ropes apart but can't get Mercier out. He eventually puts his foot in and gets stuck while Jo is off, tying Guy up in a different set of ropes. Jo does so and Saulnier falls down and gives Jo a first Avertisement. Not bothered, Jo snapmares and kneedrops Guy. He stomps him on the mat once more, chokes him on another top rope and slingshots Guy back on the mat on his back. He ties Guy up in the ropes, chops at him and comes bouncing back from the opposite ropes to charge Mercier who escapes and dodges, allowing Gonzalez to catch his own head in the ropes! Saulnier tries desperately to free Jo. Guy wants to beat up the trapped Jo but Saulnier says no. So Guy drags him off and ties him in the opposite ropes the gives the ref's mose a hearty tweak before hurrying back and elbowsmashing Gonzalez out of the rope tourniquet and down to ringside. He then turns to the ref and leaves him there. Jo staggers back, Saulnier unties himself and the two wrestlers trade Manchettes. Gonzalez feigns being Manchette-drunk then jumps back to fire more at Guy but Mercier bashes him back down. Guy slingshots Jo who grabs the rope to resist but Saulnier breaks the grab and Jo is slung across the ring and butter in the stomach down on the mat. They do the Ref Breaks The Rope Grab routine once more but this time Gonzalez comes back with a surprise sunset flip for a two count. Guy the cross buttocks and presses Jo for a pin which remarkably Saulnier counts. Mercier has won! Saulnier raises Guy's hand and for a moment it looks like they might shake hands but Mercier turns away and shakes the MC's hand instead. So far that's half an hour of action in one evening of Michel Saulnier's heel ref antics. Delaporte obviously felt he was on to a winner with this as other referees started acting suspiciously but not Delaporte himself who remained a hard nosed unimpeachable Sheriff of the ring.

Final minutes of Italian Bon in red Vs Spanish Mechant in black, both balding badly. Michel Saulnier the Chiotte Arbitre himself in charge, good old Couderc on the commentary. Trujillo levers out of a headscissors nicely and does some rope assisted hip tosses that Kid McCoy would have approved of. He reverse front chanceries Asquini then drops and stomps him, just the one so within the rules. Asquini reverse snapmares his way onto the ring apron, ducks a Trujillo uppercut then strikes with his own. They take turns to dodge each others' diving moves. Trujillo takes his time taking a count. Asquini tries another reverse snapmares but Trujillo sinks a closed fist in his stomach, Saulnier lets it by, possibly because he is a heel ref. A TT kick to the grounded Asquini does get him a private warning however. Asquini wins a war of Manchettes, TT gets angry and stompy but Asquini goes through his legs and chest chops him from behind. TT again takes his time getting up.TT goes down a couple more times. Saulnier starts to kick in his heel routine when Asquini questions the slowness of he counts. Asquini reverses a rear waistlock, folds down to let TT jump over him then kips up to knee height to catch him with a snapmares then a dropkick out of the ring, again infuriating Saulnier. Each time TT tries to return, Asquini charges over but Saulnier stops him (so why doesn't he then get in while the going is good?). In the end, Bruno lifts Saulnier out the way and gets his Manchette in on Trujillo. This appears to earn the good guy un premier Avertisement. He protests but to no avail. TT benefits from another slow count. He uses various dirty tactics while Saulnier stands there., eventually putting Asquini's neck on the rope. Saulnier calmly asks TT to back off then, himself!!! - pulls the rope up against Asquini's throat and letting him drop. A bit later, Saulnier does his rope trick again, this time using both hands to shoot Asquini, cranium first. to the mat. TT posts Asquini, he attacks from behind but Asquini knocks him back then uses his legs to slingshot TT into the post then splash him as he falls. TT kicks out at two and Asquini land on Saulnier sending him flying. Saulnier is furious. TaT gets a posting and a sunset flip for a two count, as quini gets 2 for a German suplex into a roll up. TT finally gets the pin with a folding press. Saulnier makes a big show of parading around Trujillo as winner. Basically a vehicle for Michel Saulnier and his heel referee antics but there are some nice pinfall attempt too.

Cooper stays technical for a lot longer than you would expect in this bout but that doesn't make the crowd like him although Kent Walton takes a glass half full attitude, wishing that Cooper could stay technical for longer before the heeling kicks in. I'm like that about Kendo Nagasaki's 1970s bouts. Pete Ross does several toupees (Gilbert LeDuc style inverted cross scissor throws, for those unfamiliar with French Catch) on Cooper and it gets his goat. He eventually gets a DQ after first accidentally then deliberately attacking the referee. I feel sorry for Cooper here, he tries to be a good boy but the people won't have it and it all goes to pieces in the end. A lot of good solid technical wrestling but I fear certain folk on here will find the ending unforgivable.

Sunlounge Death Match or Cheap location? Jim Breaks, mid 80s, fell out of contention again for the British Welterweight Championship after losing to Danny Collins one too many times as we saw a few pages back but soon got himself a new title, the European Lightweight Championship from Jackie Robinson. He also took the World title from Johnny Saint for a while in 1985. Today he faces Max Hunter, no relation to Rick nor Rebel Ray, at the Stoke Garden Festival in what can only be described at a spare hothouse for plants. There is a visible audience on one side of the ring. perhaps 100 people. Good technical start, Hunter wedges out of side headlock, Breaks spins horizontally on his backside out of a wristlever. Breaks starts work on Hunters arm, putting it in a hammerlock and getting in a stomp. Hunter levers and bridges out of a chinlock. He snapmares Breaks but the champion rolls through. Figure four armscissor on Breaks. Breaks working on Hunter's nose a lot.Hunter makes pin attempts using leverage out Breaks pushes out.Breaks continues work on Hunter's arm. Max gets a double arm on Breaks. Hunter goes to work on a Breaks leg. Breaks attacks the eyes of Hunter and gets told off by zFrank Casey.. Hunter gets a full Nelson but Breaks back kicks to foul his way out. He gets on a chinlock but Hunter double ankles smashes him. Breaks throws Hunter around but he takes it well and finally bounces off the ropes to spring power a headbutt. Armdrags Breaks and gets a two. Hunter tries a reverse snapmares but Breaks drops Hunter, hammerlocked arm first. He then kicks the arm which finally gets him a public warning. A couple of postings where the arm takes the brunt, some stomps on the folded arm and finally a Breaks special and Breaks has the one submission required. Probably the eyepokes would not have been acceptable for ITV but otherwise if British wrestling had TV squash matches Vs enhancement talent, this is what Jim Breaks' ones would look like. Only in a better venue than a greenhouse.

So here is what ITV finally made of this matchup. Same referee too, Frank Casey. Filmed at the London Hippodrome nightclub. with the bar in the background and thereby hangs an exasperating tale! Nice lightbulb tree either side of it though. (In actual fact another show at the Lewisham Theatre Watford had already been filmed by this point.) As with Reslo, they start off technical, using not just rolls but double handed backflips to untwist each others' wristlocks. Rocco gets a Full Nelson. but Cullen rears into him then comes off the ropes for a sunset flip 2 count. Rocco gets in a few smashes to the back of Cullen's neck but he scientific wrestling resumes. Rocco considers an underarm suplex before going for a front chancery takedown. Cullen gets a hammerlock and Gotch toehold but Rocco powers up. Cullen bodychecks Rocco and gets a side headlock, then an "inner arm" blow off the ropes. After the bell goes Rocco gets a headbutt in and it earns him a public warning. Cut to Round 3, Rocco gets a front facing piledriver in early. He misses a knee off the corner for a seven count then Cullen headbutts him. A second piledriver, somersault splash and a slingshot suplex get him the opening pin. Round 4 and Cullen breaks open a Rocco chinlock to gets an arm lever. A posting and then a dropkick. Rocco goes over nicely on two hands from a whip for a feet first landing only to get another dropkick. Rocco bodychecks Cullen but Cullen comes back with a cross buttock and press off the ropes for the equalising fall . Round 5, Cullen slams and splashes Rocco, gets in some uppercuts, finally a brawl breaks out although not as wild as the Screeport one. Rocco soon gets a Second And Final Public Warning. Cullen gets a suplex for a 2 count. Cullen goes for the top turnbuckle but Rocco German suplexes him down by the legs. He gets a piledriver, a top rope guillotine (no public warning much to some consternation among the audience) and then a sidewards folding press (an American style Small Package) for the deciding pin. Far more my sort of match than the Victoria Hall bout and an example of how All Star had to refine it's product to get mainstream respectability.

Well this wasn't it. This is from Reslo 1982. Cullen isn't Chic yet, he's Dynamite Frankie Cullen. Rocco has only just recently defected from ITV/Joint to Orig's BWF and would soon expand to Brian Dixon's Wrestling Enterprises. I think Max Crabtree was quietly happy to see him go. Whereas Dixon was a big Rocco friend, Max saw him as a silly nutcase who smashed things up and kept getting banned from TV by the IBA. It starts out as a similar faster paced version of clean British wrestling, like Round 1 of the Rocco Vs Dynamite Kid World Heavy Middleweight title match mere months earlier. Rocco rolls out of wrist levers and unpicks them with a foot. Cullen snaps out of a side headlock and quickly convert it into an arm scissor. Rocco gets a snap suplex and switches to a side headlock. Then the brawling breaks out. Rocco kicks the fallen Cullen in the head and drops an elbow. A concealed punch, more kicks and a kneedrop follow. Rocco gets a side chancery, snapmare and chinlock. Rocco does a lot of attacking of his floored opponent and the crowd do not like it. This may be odd to Americans as this is perfectly legal in America but it would get amazing heat not just in Britain but across Europe (see Judd Harris Vs Rolo Brasil on the German thread and several French bouts). Rocco chinlocks Cullen then reels him in for a bodycheck that gets a 5 count. He stomps on Cullen's throat as the bell goes. Rocco carries on in the same way for round 2 but Cullen surprises him with a sunset flip for a 2 count. Cullen tries for Rocco's legs but Rocco knees him down.Rocco monkey climbs Cullen but he lands on his feet and dropkicks Cullen out of the ring. Rocco uppercuts Cullen from the apron and climbs the post but Cullen throws him off. He posts and atomic drops Rocco but Rocco gets the upper hand with the brawl. He throws Cullen out and obstructs his return so Cullen drags him out and stomps him at ringside, right in front of the town Mayor (his chain of office clearly visible onscreen) Rocco slams Cullen at ringside and kicks him around. It's more ringside action than ITV would ever allow although nothing like as violent as French TV brawls going back to the late 70s. Finally Rooco flips Cullen back in and paces about like a caged animal as the ref counts Cullen. He goes for a slam but Cullen turns it into a small package getting a couple of 2 counts. They brawl out the rest of the round. During the interval, the commentator says something in Welsh about Canada - Cullen wrestled for Stampede a fair bit as Robbie Stewart. Round 3 and Cullen gets a waistlock rear suplex for a 2 count. Rocco works on weakening Cullen's leg. He takes a bodycheck but comes back to backdrop Cullen to ringside. An old lady (not a fan) wipes Cullen down with her towel. Rocco tries to intervene in Cullen's return but gets a public warning. He grabs Cullen off the corner for a slam and gets a rope assisted slingshot suplex then a regular one and cross press for the opening pin. Rocco's attacks on the fallen Cullen gets too much and he gets his second and final Public Warning. He argued with the ref and the crowd, giving Cullen plenty of time to recover and strike a chin kick on a charging Rocco. cCullen slams and guillotine elbows Rocco - a bit late but the ref lets it go and he gets a 2 count on the pin. He tries typing up Cullen head in the ropes. Fans are chanting "Out! Out! Out!" for Rocco to be DQ'd. He bashed Cullen 's head in the corner but Cullen reverses a posting attempt, sending Rocco flopping to ringside selling an injury. He reenters via the corner post but Cullen catches him with a top rope superplex that would have made the young Barry Windham around this time round, then turns into a pin cover for the 3 and the equaliser . Round 5 and Cullen jumps all over Rocco with stomps til he quits the ring, pointing in complaint. The ref agrees and gives Cullen a public warning. Rocco tries Cullen in the ropes and charges but Cullen dodges and Roco sells an injury. Cullen pulls Rocco off the ropes by both legs with a bump, headbutts Rocco's stomach a la Mr Fuji and double leg slingshot for a 2. Rocco, is then slingshot in to top turnbuckle. Rocco Tree of Woes Cullen but the ref will have none of it and unhooks Cullen's legs. He snapmares Frankie and they continue to brawl Cullen. chinlocks Rocco who slips out of the ring and wanders around a lot, soaking up the heat until the bell rings. Round 6 and Cullen catches Rocco with a fine dropkick. Rocco snapmares Cullen and gets a 2 count. Ditto a cross buttock and press. He gets a string of tombstone piledrivers on Cullen but keeps on pulling him up before finally holding him for 3 to win the match. Wild Brawl with a technical bit at the start and occasionally therin. Very like thOJ will like it. I'm rather keen to see this Screensport fight. Cullen had a number of runs with the British Heavyweight Middle weight title until 1987 as well as a short world title run in the mid 80s. He had another run later, from beating Robbie Brookside in 1992 and held it for a decade until his 2002 retirement. The following year 2903, it was Rocco and Cullen who curated the tournament for a new champion, won by one Brian Danielson in Croydon. I assume this is the one @ohtani's jacket didn't like: Cullen is British champion. Rocco is still World champion and has been spending a lot of his time making life miserable for two idiot presenters. Good man. He's been off ITV some years by now and has fully developed his Maniac persona in silver jacket, headband and Road Warrior/Demolition spiked gauntlet. This is at Victoria Hall Hanley, we had a bit of an in depth look at this venue a page or so back. Referee is Frank Casey who also wrestled as the British Bushwhacker (see video 1993 Vs Spinner McKensie and finally ended up doing triple tags alongside the real Luke and Butch. This is a trophy tournament final. No rounds just one fall to a finish. No technical bit at the start, Rocco and Cullen brawl like on the first match, but like they are both on speed. Snapmares. Snap suplexes. Kip ups. Kick downs. Sunset flip. Cullen also has a Jim Breaks special, a hammerlock with bar and a French Catch style headscissors takedown. Screensport was very liberal about out of the ring brawls and the stage makes a good place to have them. At this point audiences are allowed to sit onstage (this was later banned by Health and Safety by the time of Dean Allmark Vs Mikey Whiplash 2003 as seen on here previously. Like a TV taping studio audience the crowd. One brawl near the end sees equipment from a "hospital radio table" (file under "Spanish announcer's table") and the live camera which still catches Rocco being thrown back in the ring. Cullen on the stage leaps over the ropes and catches Rocco with a missile dropkick that sends him tumbling to the theatre pit, in amongst the old grannies! This bit is surprisingly well shot from the back of the hall. We get another excellent top rope superplex and a not so well filmed splash off the ropes by Cullen. When Cullen is trapped in the ropes, the camera zooms in on him suffering and choking, tongue flapping out. The two fight in the theatre pit.m A cardboard sign for the Screensport show gets used as a weapon. When Cullen kicks Rocco in the head, one of the Chuckle Brothers makes a dreadful joke about using Rocco's head to score a goal for Liverpool FC and that Rocco's new song will be "I ain't got no Body". These two are like a working class version of the snooty French commentators. On a more positive note, Cullen neatly handstands his way out of a Frank Gotch toehold. After a series of near knockouts. Rocco gets the winning pinfall with a Tombstone piledriver. The trophy is presented by former world boxing champion Jon Conteh. Afterwards one of the Chuckle Brothers, Max Beesley, buttonholes Rocco about his rule bending ways and is beaten down. Cullen, interviewed backstage, vows retribution on Rocco. Roddy Piper,,if you can get Internet in the Afterlife, THIS IS HOW YOU DO A SCOTS ACCENT. A lot of violent action, much of it utterly unsuitable for ITV. Fortunately ITV were happy to arrange compromises to edit the All Star style into sometwhich spiced up the ITV shows rather than demolished them. As for Rocco and Cullen, they appeared in that first All Star show on ITV. I think next I shall review that match. All Star are returning to Victoria Hall Hanley next month. Buy your tickets now

Well this wasn't it. This is from Reslo 1982. Cullen isn't Chic yet, he's Dynamite Frankie Cullen. Rocco has only just recently defected from ITV/Joint to Orig's BWF and would soon expand to Brian Dixon's Wrestling Enterprises. I think Max Crabtree was quietly happy to see him go. Whereas Dixon was a big Rocco friend, Max saw him as a silly nutcase who smashed things up and kept getting banned from TV by the IBA. It starts out as a similar faster paced version of clean British wrestling, like Round 1 of the Rocco Vs Dynamite Kid World Heavy Middleweight title match mere months earlier. Rocco rolls out of wrist levers and unpicks them with a foot. Cullen snaps out of a side headlock and quickly convert it into an arm scissor. Rocco gets a snap suplex and switches to a side headlock. Then the brawling breaks out. Rocco kicks the fallen Cullen in the head and drops an elbow. A concealed punch, more kicks and a kneedrop follow. Rocco gets a side chancery, snapmare and chinlock. Rocco does a lot of attacking of his floored opponent and the crowd do not like it. This may be odd to Americans as this is perfectly legal in America but it would get amazing heat not just in Britain but across Europe (see Judd Harris Vs Rolo Brasil on the German thread and several French bouts). Rocco chinlocks Cullen then reels him in for a bodycheck that gets a 5 count. He stomps on Cullen's throat as the bell goes. Rocco carries on in the same way for round 2 but Cullen surprises him with a sunset flip for a 2 count. Cullen tries for Rocco's legs but Rocco knees him down.Rocco monkey climbs Cullen but he lands on his feet and dropkicks Cullen out of the ring. Rocco uppercuts Cullen from the apron and climbs the post but Cullen throws him off. He posts and atomic drops Rocco but Rocco gets the upper hand with the brawl. He throws Cullen out and obstructs his return so Cullen drags him out and stomps him at ringside, right in front of the town Mayor (his chain of office clearly visible onscreen) Rocco slams Cullen at ringside and kicks him around. It's more ringside action than ITV would ever allow although nothing like as violent as French TV brawls going back to the late 70s. Finally Rooco flips Cullen back in and paces about like a caged animal as the ref counts Cullen. He goes for a slam but Cullen turns it into a small package getting a couple of 2 counts. They brawl out the rest of the round. During the interval, the commentator says something in Welsh about Canada - Cullen wrestled for Stampede a fair bit as Robbie Stewart. Round 3 and Cullen gets a waistlock rear suplex for a 2 count. Rocco works on weakening Cullen's leg. He takes a bodycheck but comes back to backdrop Cullen to ringside. An old lady (not a fan) wipes Cullen down with her towel. Rocco tries to intervene in Cullen's return but gets a public warning. He grabs Cullen off the corner for a slam and gets a rope assisted slingshot suplex then a regular one and cross press for the opening pin. Rocco's attacks on the fallen Cullen gets too much and he gets his second and final Public Warning. He argued with the ref and the crowd, giving Cullen plenty of time to recover and strike a chin kick on a charging Rocco. cCullen slams and guillotine elbows Rocco - a bit late but the ref lets it go and he gets a 2 count on the pin. He tries typing up Cullen head in the ropes. Fans are chanting "Out! Out! Out!" for Rocco to be DQ'd. He bashed Cullen 's head in the corner but Cullen reverses a posting attempt, sending Rocco flopping to ringside selling an injury. He reenters via the corner post but Cullen catches him with a top rope superplex that would have made the young Barry Windham around this time round, then turns into a pin cover for the 3 and the equaliser . Round 5 and Cullen jumps all over Rocco with stomps til he quits the ring, pointing in complaint. The ref agrees and gives Cullen a public warning. Rocco tries Cullen in the ropes and charges but Cullen dodges and Roco sells an injury. Cullen pulls Rocco off the ropes by both legs with a bump, headbutts Rocco's stomach a la Mr Fuji and double leg slingshot for a 2. Rocco, is then slingshot in to top turnbuckle. Rocco Tree of Woes Cullen but the ref will have none of it and unhooks Cullen's legs. He snapmares Frankie and they continue to brawl Cullen. chinlocks Rocco who slips out of the ring and wanders around a lot, soaking up the heat until the bell rings. Round 6 and Cullen catches Rocco with a fine dropkick. Rocco snapmares Cullen and gets a 2 count. Ditto a cross buttock and press. He gets a string of tombstone piledrivers on Cullen but keeps on pulling him up before finally holding him for 3 to win the match. Wild Brawl with a technical bit at the start and occasionally therin. Very like thOJ will like it. I'm rather keen to see this Screensport fight. Cullen had a number of runs with the British Heavyweight Middle weight title until 1987 as well as a short world title run in the mid 80s. He had another run later, from beating Robbie Brookside in 1992 and held it for a decade until his 2002 retirement. The following year 2903, it was Rocco and Cullen who curated the tournament for a new champion, won by one Brian Danielson in Croydon.

If you can get hold of Granada TV's 1967 docu The Wrestlers he's in there facing Les Kellet. The bout was also on World of Sport and as well as the specially shot footage, aa few seconds on the WOS version was camera-copied into the documentary from a TV set in a shop window! Big butch mouachioed guy. Imagine an evil version of Ted Bovid from the sitcom Hi De Hi!!! Here are father and son together:

Maybe how about a short roundup of 1990-present? As with British and German/Austrian wrestling, the survival to the present - at least at grassroots level - is an important symptom of the success and cultural prominence of all three Stronghold Euro territories: the trails are still in the sky even now, decades later. Just as long as it isn't the French version of the British "It Died Out" myth.

What's the plan for an endpoint? Will you just vaguely say that it "went into decline" in the 70s or will you go into the Flesh Gordon era, the more from A2 to .FR3 then back to TF1 for early New Catch then Eurosport New Catch, then Eurostars and the C21st Richard/Herve/(I)WS(F) versus Mercier/FFCP_revival promotional war?