David Mantell

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?

Looking at the date, I see this was into the phase of Nazi Occupation with the Vichy Regime to to the South. I presume it was they who banned wrestling. Probably this belongs on the German thread, but in .Joe Jares' book, Paul Bosch is quoted as participating in the German downfall and finding a school textbook in Germany with a picture of a ladies' mud match labelled "This is how the decadent Americans treat their women" and remarking to a fellow soldier "OMG it's ME who started the damn war!"

This bout came up on my Smart TV earlier tonight and I enjoyed it so I thought I'd share. They start by rolling out of each others' wristlocks. Kidd uses a leg to pick apart Greg's last one and has both Valentine's arms extended so he can only roll backwards into a possible folding press pin. Valentine does roll back but picks off both Kidd's grips. They reset. Valentine gets a full nelson, converts to a snapmares then a chinlocks but Kidd escape with a wridtlock. Valentine rolls, kips up and tries to Whip Kidd but he cartwheels off to a feet first landing. They lock up. Kidd leans back into a crossed scissor, looking for a toupee but Valentina deftly slides a leg down into a standing figure four leglock. Kidd rocks back and forth and gets the momentum to grab back his leg and roll away backwards to safety. Valentine gets another leglock Kidd takes control of it, gets into a standing position and starts to twist Greg's leg but Valentine whips him with his foot and Kidd spins out and takes a hard bump. Valentine gets another legs and folds it up into a Frank Gotch toehold Kidd rolls up and rolls out. Kidd dodges past Greg's side headlock attempt and gets a full nelson of his own then slides down, crawls through Valentine's legs, rear snapmares him then further Nelson's him for a two count before Greg's feet hit the ropes. Valentine takes a leg and gets a figure four leg extension. Kidd pulls himself into a standing position but Valentine drags him right back down into the figure four. Kidd instead sits up and spins out on the mat to free his leg Kidd gets a wrist and pulls Valentine down into a headscissor, Twice, Greg turns into the kneeling position and handstands his head out, twice Kidd pushes his head back in again. Valentine twists 90 degrees and kips up to free his head.. Kidd gets an abdominal stretch which lasts until the round bell. Cut to round Three. Kidd gets a headlock Valentine breaks it open into a top wristlock, gets down on his knees and whips Kidd on his top wristlock forcing him to take a bump. Valentine reapplies the double arm extension but Kidd bicycles his legs and clips Greg with one foot, making him break the hold. Kidd strikes with an over the knee backbreaker. He posts him and strikes with another over the knee backbreaker, Valentine selling the impact. Kidd posts Valentine back again, Valentine pulls up a knee to bounce off the pad and comes back but Kidd gets a snapmare on him. Kidd tries to bodycheck Greg but no impact, I expect Greg's uncle Big Daddy taught him a thing or two about bodychecks! He drops down to dodge the next charge, leapfrogs to avoid the cone after both men try for an inner forearm but slap against each other. Valentine falls down but picks himself up and takes Kidd down with a flying tackle but Greg's head touches the ropes, forcing a break. Greg posts Kidd hard. He gets a fireman's carry, aeroplane spin and dumps him down, cross pressing him for the one required fall. Beautiful short bout and a purist pallet cleanser after watching Collins and Valentine rein it in while Ocean and Hagan develop their heel acts

Okay. Let's have a watch: Ocean already a heel and already somewhat flamboyant with his pink tailcoat, matching bow tie and moustache. Ivan Trevors also has a rather nice purple/silver jacket. His dad was a wrestler called Brian Trevors, I don't know much about him but probably should Ocean does most of the attacking while Ivan rolls out of armbars etc in the early stages. Crowd are happy and Ocean stroppy when he takes a bump from going with a whip. Ocean does one neat escape, coming out of a sleeper attempt with a wristlock. Trevor's rolls out. Ocean jaws with a heckler in the crowd. Twice Trevors gets double legs but Ocean goes for the ropes - the second time Ivan pulls Ocean off with a bump. Ocean gets a side chancery and throw, wrenches Trevors' neck and drops a fist like prime Jerry Lawler. He gets Trevors down with an armbar when the bell goes. Cut to round 3, he offers the blue-eye a handshake but takes advantage drops a knee and tombstone piledrives Trevors for a two. He tries again but Trevors reverses it cartwheel style and gets the one fall required. The first of these eight man battle royals was on TV in 1980. Eight will remain the limit on ITV although on Reslo they will do 12 or even 15. ;Ocean has his pink gear back on. Brian .Crabtree has a mauve tie and blue carnation with his white suit. Ocean goes under the bottom rope a couple of times. King Ben is ganged up on. Ocean is 5th out of eight, eliminated by King Ben with an overhead press. Ben is the last blue eye going 1 on 2 with heels Texas Ted Heath and masked El Diablo, the usual end of battle royal trope. Ben puts them out to win the battle royale and a nice sash to wear.

Have found both these bouts. The bout was only six minutes long and was chopped down to three for broadcast. According to Kent, Hagen got in a lot of offence earlier against Stuart but we don't see much of this. Nice dropkick. Excellent bumper- perhaps why he went heel? Okay I may as well review the other bout: I see OJ made the same joke as me. Jimmy went on to MUCH bigger things of course over the next 24 years, the legendary Superflies tag team, stints as British and European Lightweight champion. If anything it was Greg who was the unfulfilled potential , only ever taking home the 1986 edition of the Golden Grappler trophy tournament that Kid McCoy would win in 87 and lose to his dad in 88. (Although this was in part due to something in which he had a personal hand, the closure of the family company which neither Steve (Greg) nor brother Spencer (Scott Valentine) wanted to take on when dad Max retired in 1995)) They could have easily squeezed the rest of Hagen/Stuart into the show in place of the preamble to this match but Max C knew he needed to get his new heel over and sent his son to do the job.,Ocean doesn't show much skill but he bumps around, gets thrown out of the ring and gets into arguments with crowds. Too bad he ended up doing all that for Dixon, Orig and ultimately his own tag partner Ricky Knight. Greg gets in a great gorilla press and drop to backbreaker, Superfly Jimmy pays tribute to his namesake at MSG and misses off the corner (a kneedrop not a splash and no cage involved.). Unlike Danny. Greg wins by pinfall. It just gets a further tantrum off Ocean. Actually, as Kent mentions, this wasn't Ocean's debut. He went down 1-0 to Ivan Trevor's and lostin a battle royale all in the space of one TV A episode in 1987. I think I'll check that out next.

It was hard in the old days to get yourself booked as a villain if you were young. Ravishing Robbie Hagen made his ITV debut on the very last regular episode of ITV wrestling as plain old Bob Hagen, clean wrestler. At least he got the one fall required against veteran Pretty Boy Mal Stuart. (A somewhat older future Superflies member Jimmy .Ocean WAS allowed to heel it up for his own first and last ITV bout but went down to Farmers Boy Promoter's Boy Greg Valentine. Two years later on Reslo Hagen finally gets to be a heel on TV and in Danny he has one of the most popular blue eyes in the UK to play with. We join in action with Hagen variously antagonising the crowd and cowering from Danny. Thrice he grabs Danny's hair to pull him down from top wristlocks, drawing boos. He stuck a knee in Danny's throat for good measure. Danny kips up via a headstand so Hagen gets on the hammerlock with bar but as camouflage for an illegal kidney punch that sends Danny down on the mat selling (Context: in the late 80s Danny had to have a kidney removed in real life.). Hagen flings Danny's head to the mat and follows in with a stomp to the back then hurls him out of the ring. Danny manages to get in a knee on his way back in after feigning a vault over the ropes but Hagen knocks him down with bodychecks. So far, so dirty wrestling, so HEAT. Time for Danny's comeback. What @ohtani's jacket neglects to mention is Danny getting in a high back bodydrop and a side chancery mare before the legdrop or the way Hagen sells by flopping over the bottom rope like a jellyfish. That's quite a bit more blue-eye comeback than OJ credits and it gets the crowd going. Yeah so OJ doesn't like the backflip and arm windmill - different babyfaces/blue-eyes have their trademark ways of acknowledging a big pop. I recall Barry Darsow during Demolition's babyface run doing a tumbling motion with his arms to acknowledge the pop after he slams both Powers of Pain or both Twin Towers in quick succession. Danny's backflip is a good little trademark piece of exuberance and it takes crowd pops even higher. (I recall one video compilation which freeze frames as Danny flips to celebrate something.) Collins catapults Hagen in tona hard bump then dropkicks him. Hagen fles to ringside begging for time out. He still wants time out when he gets back, offers a handshake then a finger interlock but sneaks in a punch. Instant heat regained as Collins crumbles. It cannot be underestimated what BIG HEAT an illegal closed fist punch still was in Britain even in the Nineties. He stomps Danny's fingers, headbuts him down and illegally punches him in a headlock. Danny kicks backwards, drops Hagen on his spine and takes the legs of the fallen heel. Instead of a leglock or Boston Crab he drops a flying headbutt to his opponent's chest, getting a private warning from the ref. He once again begs for time out then darts forward for another illegal punch. He drags Danny half outside, bashed him on the ring apron, turns him over and crops an elbow. He gets back in, stomps Danny's hand then delivers about his first good clean move, a thunderous dropkick. He elbows Danny who responds with a kick, Dusty Rhodes bionic elbow, posting, spinning kick. He is angry and considered a retaliatory closed fist punch when Hagen triggers a live one. Danny drags Hagen out for he same apron bash and elbow smash that Hagen dealt him. He gets back in but Hagen chops him in the stomach and climbs the post for a Bret's Rope axehandle. He gets another then goes for a third but Danny catches him with a retaliatory closed fist that Hagen sells with a backflip of his own. He slings Hagen to the ropes and clotheslines him. He tries for a suplex but Hagen blocks with another illegal fist then two headbutt.s .Hagen undoes a corner pad then drags Danny outside and lines him up for a punch against the ringpost. Collins ducks and Hagan wallops the steel! Collins bangs Hagen's head into the post. The referee thinks enough is nearly enough and gives Collins a right talking to. Collins has RRH cornered but Hagen floors him with a bodycheck. Hagen gets Danny by the throat, slaps the base of his spine hoping to get a punch in there when the ref takes his eye off (OLD heel trick). Elbows him down. But the fans are chanting DANNY! DANNY!and Hagen covers his ears, he cannot STAND IT. He gets a Legdrop of his own for a 7 count, anothe fist to Danny's face, slams his head down, posts him, and BASKS in the heat!!! He fishhooks Danny's mouth in the corner and elbows and knees him. A good long brawl, not really my thing but I appreciate Hagen's heel work. "Collins' offence was all wrong"? Well I prefer him as a technician but hey OJ I thought you said on the German thread you like brawls. Unless you mean the next sequence of the bout, Collins the aerialist: Hagen posts Collins but Danny takes the bump well and does a decent Ric Flair flop over the top, along one side and up the top of the post to catch a FANTASTIC missile dropkick that sends Hagen tumbling. Collins follows up with a flying bodypress but only gets a 2. Hagen gets his second good legal move with a small package but only gets two. He gets back to heeling. stomping Danny and smacking his head into the mat. Danny tries a chest high dropkick but bounces off and lands with a bump. Hagen headbutts him but Danny posts himto the opposite corner. On the rebound both try a headbutt and there is a double knockdown. They get up and Danny leapfrogs, flips and dropkicks Hagen to ringside. Hagen gets up and gets in a cheap shot before Danny knocks him down and sends him back to the floor with a sliding dropkick. He gets back in and just like Fit Finlay on Prince Efy in that four nations tag match on the German thread, drops Collins on the top rope for an instant DQ. As the announcement is made that Danny has won, Hagan crashes to the floor like his near namesake Hulk Hogan at WM6 realising that the Ultimate Warrior has just dethroned him. (I bet that's where he got it from. For Hagen this has been a decent vehicle to get him over as a dirty cheating rotten villain. For Collins I concede brawling isn't his forte although he made up for it with the pyrotechnics of the lat two minutes. He dims down the technical skill for most of the bout to help build the new villain, even losing the fight if not the match.

John Harris aka Judd Harris Brit who spent most of his time in Germany. Came home to Britain and did some TV matches, only two are memorable - a Daddy tag in 1979 where "Gunboat" Harris teamed with King Kong Kirk to lose to Big Daddy and Bobby Ryan. (also apparently earlier that year he lost a Daddy triple tag and went down 2-1 to Bert Royal) and a 1988 World Heavyweight Championship eliminator at the same Croydon All Star TV taping as the Kendo/Rocco falling out angle where ex champ Wayne Bridges beat Harris, billed as "Baron Von Schulz", to earn a second return match against Kendo Nagasaki and then win the title back that Match on a DQ and take it home to his Bridges pub until his 2019 death. This is March 1983 and Harris faces Afro-German Rolo Brasil in a clash of rule ending Vs technique. Ring looks like the one from Roland Bock Vs Donjoni El Coral from the mid 70s. Harris tries to swamp Brasil with power but Rolo gets a Whip to force Harris into a bump landing. Harris gets a leg and a standing legspread but Rolo toupees him off. Harris gets a top wristlock and twice drags Rolo down illegally by his hair but Rolo gets up and the second time takes down Harris with a flying headscissors. Harris gets up into the kneeling position, grabs Rolo's legs, flexes them to release his head then turns him over into a single leg Boston but Rolo gets the crossed headscissor then a second toupee as the bell goes. Nice first round, pleasantly technical expect for the two hair fouls. DJ plays something Euro Discoey. Round 2 and Rolo snapmares Harris who sells it a fair bit on the mat. Harris gets the knuckle lock but Brasil leans right back and gives him the double ankles smash. Harris finally gets his heat with uppercuts, illegal punches concealed from the referee and throttling Rolo on the ropes and the mat and more dragging him up by he hair. He gets some sort of warning, not sure if it's a Public one (no sign of cards) but the crowd cheers it. Bell goes but he continues to stomp Rolo on the mat until the ref hauls him off. More Harris's kind of round. DJ plays something organny and proggy. Round 3 and for a moment Rololooks to be getting pugilistic. Harris takes him down with more fouls and a legal kneelift, tries to choke him on the mat but therefore pulls him off. He headlocks Brasil on the rope rope but Brasil tries for a snapmares from behind and is getting closer with each attempt until Harris lets off, getting one more concealed punch in for good measure. Harris tries again on another side of the ring and this time Rolo manages the snapmares on about the fourth heave, sending Harris topling out to ringside to a BIG pop. Everyone likes to see a big nasty man fall over and down. Harris barely makes the count. He doubles up Rolo with another illegal jab, whips him into the ropes and catches him with a sort of sideways backdrop. Brasil takes one heck of a babyface bump. Rolo also beats the KO count and comes back with a leapfrog and dropkick. He snapmares the bigger man to the mat and keeps hold so he can bash him with a downward forearm as "part of the same move" then dropkicks Harris out of the ring. As Harris gets in, Rolo twangs the top rope so Harris catapults in with a bump. He overpowers Harris in a test of strength, stamps on his hands an dropkicks him down. But Harris catches him with a rear elbow as he gets up, knocks him down again and again with a series of uppercuts, elbowsmashes and an inner forearm (that's Kent Waltonese for a clothesline, you know) before getting a Big Splash for the one fall required for Heel Victory. Crowd are furious and give it The Bird as loudly and shrilly as possible. Harris taps his brain like Buddy Rogers and mimics the elbow that turned the tide the final time then leaves. Rolo gets up and shrugs and the crowd cheer his efforts. Nice. Enough technical stuff to make me happy. A strong heel Vs babayface/blue eye narrative to keep You Lot happy. A bout we can all enjoy together.

Same two guys, another contest, another tent, this one more translucent, possibly glass roofed. Heelish Helmut has a few fans on his side but more people boo him and cheer Glaser when he comes back with legspreads, dropping his weight on Helmut's knee etc. Glaser goes too far and gets a first Yellow Card for attacking Helmut while he is tied in the ropes. Helmut takes over with big power moves. Glaser dominates the second half. Mostly slow powery stuff. One great move from Glaser where he gets a standing hammerlock, scoots through Helmut's legs to the front, gets up and nips behind to get a chinlocks on .Nice but a simpler switch could have been done from arm to head. For some reason Glaser gets a Second And Final Yellow Card. He then attacks Helmut on the ropes, shoves over the protesting referee and gets a red card, leaving Helmut the heel winner by DQ. Stupid babyface. Still it gets plenty of crowd heat. Can't say I blame the handful of Helmutmaniacs, I wouldn't cheer for a berk like Glaser. Slow power based match, very WWF in that regard.

Shock horror another good review of Flesh Gordon? Yup and a well deserved one, I agree with OJ. We first seen Flesh in his corner in light blue tights and longish hair looking like a skinnier version of the Honky Tonk Man. Walter is on the tag rope in his usual white trunks. Their opponents arre veteran Spanish tag team Los Halcones De Oro, here billed under their English name "THE GOLDEN FALCON'S" (Sic incorrect usage of the possessive apostrophe). We've discussed them in the past, no one is sure if it was the same two guys Robert Torres and Guy Renaud ( @Phil Lions or is that Guy Renault, as in the bald guy who did a biker tag team with Jacky Richard circa 1980?). all the way through but the gimmick seems to have had a long lifespan. In France alone they ran from early 70s bouts now only surviving as B/W overseas export Kinescopes, through this period of the early 80s up to the first season of New Catch on TF1 In 1988 taking on rookies Yann Caradec and Patrique Martineau with Flesh managing the rookies and a midget managing the Falcons. And that's not counting their time in Spain or in the UK although sadly not on ITV. Even the ring looks better than usual here, it has red/white/blue ropes and red/blue corners although the mat looks an unappealing light grey like a blob of unpainted clay. From the start it's all action with Flesh taking a backdrop, kicking his opponent in the face the getting a cross press for a 2 count. Flesh and a Falcon fling each other around forcing whip bumps on each other, Flesh gets a headscissor but the masked man grabs the rope with his feet to take the easy way out like a true heel. Bordes tags in and goes into his war dance as the crowd chant Mama Doux Mais Mais. At one point a Falcon has Bordes in a full nelson. Bordes back-bodychecks him off his feet, breaks the hold, let's him fall on his front then uses his feet to turn the Falcon into a Folding Press only for the other Falcon to make the save. Flesh pulls off a neat rear snapmares, diving headbut handstand out of a headscissors and move into a figure 4 leg extension, wrestlers bridgé into monkey climb (planchette japonais.) Bordes can do the seated swivel reverse of an armbar like Jim Breaks, reverse snapmares himself onto the ring apron then knock down his opponent and do a Rick Martel over the top rope bodypress, forward roll out of wristlever. At 10:50- 11:15 @PeteF3 if you're still wondering where Flesh learned that flying hiptoss, well here's your answer. A minute later, Flesh pulls off a corker of a move where he turns upside down in a flying tackle to take down a Falcon then oner 90 degrees to lard in the cross press position for the opening fall. Flesh gets a great arm-to arm go behind sequence to throw a Falcon out the ring. Satoru Sayama as Sammy Lee in England also used this trick- he also spent time in Mexico so maybe they both got it from there. Things get nasty at 15mins in when each Falcon takes turns to kick a downed Gordon in the head. The last Falcon makes it a flurry of boots and an axe handle. Twice Flesh gets a posting after the referee kicks his arm free of the top rope and ends up draped over the top rope like a towel. A very Harley Race/Dynamite Kid/Chris Benoit flying headbutt finds its target but a second one misses and Bordes tags in. Walter Bordes cartwheels and dropkicks a Falcon before bunging him to ringside where the other Falcon is. Then disaster strikes, Flesh is knocked off the apron by Bordes and has to be carried to the dressing room. Bordes fights on as a handicap tag. The Falcons double team Bordes, he fights back but soon also ends at ringside. He is thrown back in an a Falcon gets the Equalising pin. For a long while in the interim he does not look ready to go, he is on the floor while Flesh is backstage. For a while it looks like Bordes will have to concede the decider until a bloodied bandaged up Flesh, looking a lot like Ted DiBiase the night he turned babyface in 1985 Mid South.runs back to the ring and batters both masked men, tagging Bordes to get a flying bodypress for the deciding pin, the win and a trophy for himself and Flesh (presented by someone important looking in a suit) ito take home and drink cocktails from together. Flesh alternately celebrates and checks his head bandage wich is quite blood-soaked by now. Next up on Antenne 2 is the 11pm news. So I wonder how this guy ended up as the bald fat moustachioed bloke we know from recent years . Aaaaand right next up on Alessio's France 1970-1987 playlist is the Guy Mercier Vs Monsieur Montreal match. And I also stop to consider 1977 Gilbert LeDuc in colour, scalp worn thin from so many toupees that he needs a toupee to wear. And Michel Falempin, Angelito and Franz Van Buyten on Eurosport. And Jacky Richard as Monsieur Jacky. And I realise the aging process happens to us all. Flesh put up a GREAT performance here and so did Bordes and credit to the Falcons too. I agree with @ohtani's jacket about the French kid in '83 and I only wish that the said kid was on here to tell his stories.

Gilbert LeDuc in colour! He teams with Walter Bordes ("Mama Doux Mais Mais") to face Paco Ramirez (the evil El Matador Tito Santana, Gerard "Flesh Gordon" Hervé's first TV opponent) and Daniel Boucard who IIRC had a bit of a feud going with Le Petit Prince in 1973. Gilbert is older, has a combover and looks a little bit Verne Gagne and the crowd seem more interested in cheering MDMM for Walter. Both heels have flashy jackets like the Rougeaus circa 1988. Les Mechants work old Gilbert over, poor old thing, and score a shock early fall on him. This continues into la deuxieme manche. Bordes scores a HOT tag and goes to work Irish Whipping Boucard but he makes good feet first landings and regains his heat by pitching Bordes out of the ring. Bordes recovers and dropkicks Boucard who tags. They throw each other around then Gilbert is back in but this time he is ready. Soon neither heel fancies taking him on. Plenty of back and forth action from all four. Gilbert still has his toupee which he uses to escape an arm extension (even though all that rubbing his scalp round on the mat has left him in need of the other sort of toupee.). At one point the referee is knocked out of the ring and gets on Bordes's case for it. Gilbert cross scissors Ramirez, twice toupees him then kicks him in the corner where he and Bordes slap Ramirez around like they were playing table tennis with his head. Les Bons are having so much fun it's hard to remember they're a fall down since near the start. Even when they lose the advantage they quickly enough get it back. A Ramirez hair pulling foul on LeDuc earns Paco his first Avertisement. Gilbert is improbably winning a test of strength over Ramirez when sadly the clip cuts out. So I guess we'll never find out how - or if- Gilbert and Walter got their equaliser and decider. Nothing like a cliffhanger ending eh?