David Mantell

Yes, I thought this had already been reviewed:

Matt has handily edited off the news broadcast. Even so, the match takes 4 mins to start as Charley Bollet has problems getting Mambo to prepare for the match. Mechant Vs Mechants but Mambo is the crowd favourite like a nonplussed babyface George Steele. Comedy captions on screen such as "BUOWW!!" and "SPLASCH!!" and even "CRAACK!!" for of all things a Mambo full nelson. I think I reviewed another match with this. (with the Marquis Jacky Richard in it as I recall.) Daniel Cazal's guest colour commentator is a singer called Billy. I think this is the same Gonesse TV taping as Flesh Gordon and Khader Hassouni Vs Marquis Jacky .Richard and Black Shadow. The INA recording abruptly cuts out after 10 mins so unless we can make contact with original French fans who made video recordings of their own we shall never find out how this ended. Mambo was back against another heel opponent Jessy Texas just a few weeks later- and he had the band with him.

Three years earlier, another Otto defence, the same year as his first Sgt Slaughter match. I'm not really familiar with Duncum other than that he was in the AWA Heenan Family and his outside interference caused the only AWA World Championship title change of the 1970s seven years earlier making Nick Bockwinkel champion the first time and ending Verne Gagne's seven year penultimate title reign. Half an hour of good quality professionally filmed footage with two fixed cameras, one high up , the other for close ups. Fairly straight up American brawl. This is the year Otto got his few weeks with the AWA title himself. By now he looks more Wahoo McDaniel than Colin Joynson. (Afterwards I watched the 1984 Ed Leslie bout and Wanz is A LOT. fatter there). Duncum's fluffy blond hair makes him look like a heel Dusty Rhodes. Most of the disco between rounds sou ds like old Brill Building girl group songs or early 80s knockoffs thereof. At one point fans start singing the same song for Otto that they sang for Roland Bock against "Killer" Antonio Inoki in 1978. Early in round 3 Otto has a headscissors on and it looks interesting to see how Duncum will get out (especially after the referee refuses a rope break) but disappointingly I think Otto just releases. Similarly, early in round 1, Duncum impressively knows how to undress a headlock into a straight arm and slip underneath to create an arm around. The two carry on brawling though the round gap between rounds 5 and 6 although Duncum does grab a quick swig of water. Just both continuing to stomp each other. I don't think Otto makes it back to his corner. Duncum gets dumped out of the ring at the end of round six and his seconds in their white "We are Yanks" baseball caps troop round to sort him out as he rolls around on the mat outside. He makes it back for round 7. Otto finishes off Duncum with two guillotine elbows, a rolling splash and a final suplex. Otto versus the Americans is what German/Austrian Catch is best known for, but we have seen StClair Vs Wright and Liger vs Schumann and know that the German speaking audiences were capable of appreciating so much better.

Rare video of 3 wrestling matches in Lusaka, Zambia. 0:00 Kid Chocolate (dark trunks) vs Alan Bardoville (yellow trunks) 0:24 John Mwale (green trunks) vs Johnny Kwango (orange trunks) 1:20 Masamboula (spotted trunks) vs Prince Kumali (red trunks) Source : Reuters archives Descritption from the source : "A team of top black international wrestlers came to Lusaka, Zambia's capital, for the first time on Thursday (7 November) night. Wrestling is a popular sport in the country and the crowd was well pleased with he evening's programme. The evening opened with a close-fought battle between Kid Chocolate, Jamaica's Lightweight Champion, and the Dominican Republic's Middleweight Champion, Alan Bardoville. The result was a draw. Next on the programme, a contest between the local Middleweight Champion, John Mwale, and Johnny Kwango of the Central African Republic. Kwango is a leading television personality in Baaing, but he could not match the Zambian's skill and determination and lost after a knock-out. The high spot of the evening was a bout between Masamboula, the Heavyweight Champion of Gambia, and Prince Kumali, the Guyanan Heavyweight Champion, who is called (with geographic licence) the 'Lion of Africa'. After six hard-fought rounds, Kumali gained the winning pinfall." The odd thing about this is that "Kid Chocolate" was usually Alan Bardouile's ring name in Britain. Not sure who this one is. Possibly George Burgess aka Jamaica Kid (1970s)/ Jamaica George (1980s)/ Cool Cat Jackson (Reslo early 1990s). Notice they all very much work a British style here. Clearly Zambian TV was screening "Wrestling From Great Britain" (repackaged World Of Sport footage sold overseas by ITC). See especially the line "Kwango is a leading television personality in Baaing" The four corner pads are all white but red and blue corners are indicated by the metal ring posts.

A rather spirited heel Vs babyface undercard from 1985 in Poysdorf, Mittelbach, lower Austria. Babyface Franz Schlederer from Yugoslavia in the orange trunks was later nicknamed "der Soldner" - the mercenary - is up against burly Swiss heel Franz Schlenz, who has some kind of title and some kind of attitude. Schlenz attacks Schlederer before the bell and goes on that way as carpenter heel Schlenz generally reacts to the Austrian's technical moves with fouls rather than have a scientific bout. The Swiss wins this way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_surviving_professional_wrestlers#Oldest_wrestlers_to_ever_perform_70_and_over

Some old thoughts of mine about Naggers from the Introduction To British Wrestling thread:

Have taken the liberty of having a look at your past posts- I see you've already posted on the French Catch thread.

Welcome to the thread. Dean Allmark filmed quite a lot of All Star bouts (or got friends to do so) and put them on his YouTube channel. They're an invaluable record of All Star in the Noughties and Tenties and nence the Old School British scene during that period. Were you at this bout Mark? It's one of my favourites. It would have been nice if Kent Walton could have lived to see it. We have similar threads on here for French Catch and German Catch, although the French thread could do with some native fans who grew up watching Le Catch Sur la Tele and carried on following the exploits of Flesh Gordon, Monsieur Jacky etc etc like I and presumably you and many others have done in Britain from 1988 to the present.

A full length All Star show a decade ago at Fairfield Hall Croydon in the main concert hall. Just before shows there got relegated to the smaller Ashcroft Theatre room. Headline attraction is the return to the UK of Fuji Yamada, in against then (and most recent) British Mid Heavyweight champion Robbie Dynamite Berzins. (Posted because I wanted to find a Reslo Finlay/Yamada match but there isn't one.) Thunder is Darren Walsh, son of Banger Tony Walsh. In the Warwickshire area he was still Darren. In the rest of the country and in Germany/Austria he was Thunder -EWP World Heavyweight Champion, British Heavyweight Champion and top heel in a Warlord style half metal mask. Oliver Grey/Joel Redman was later All Star British Heavyweight Champion twice, last losing it to Mickey Long last year. Fit Finlay's son David Jr, actually David III, in against his dad's old punching back, a now middle aged Danny Collins, out to settle old grudges.

Fuji Yamada Vs Fit Finlay would have been a natural match to put on Reslo some time in 1989-1990. Sadly we don't seem to have ever got that, but we got this. It's a fan cam of a time limit draw in Germany, Xmas 1993. Not exactly a technical classic but an action packed epic nonetheless. Can be hard work focussing for nearly 45 minutes from a handheld longshot.

This was the third in the series of the Big Daddy Vs Spoiler (with Doctor Monika) feud. The first, Daddy and Andy Blair Vs the all masked tag team of The Spoiler and King Kendo saw the Spoiler have his mask pulled off to reveal some tights over his head underneath. The second, of which this is a rematch saw the Spoiler unmasked and revealed as Drew. Now he risks losing the next layer. I dealt with the French December 1967 hair match, so here is the other one. It was set up when Drew McDonald came out after Daddy and Marty Jones's win over the Barbarians Karl and Wolf Kramer waving an open pair of scissors about and giving Health and Safety KITTENS at the thought of the bad example to children watching. In a promo before the match not included in the YouTube clip (but that's a screengrab of both promos at the start) Drew McDonald ripped off a line from Jesse Ventura's WM3 commentary when he says "there'll be one of us going home tonight looking like Humpty Dumpty." As a devout Glam .Rocker I rather envy Daddy's purple sequin jacket in this - his top hat here matches. He seems to still be suffering the effects of the stroke he had around this time. Monika has ditched her SS Fraud uniform for a nice sundress and red hat . The villains have El Diablo in their corner in a nice new maroon/silver mask (he usually wore red/blue). He gives away that he's Tony The Brain/Weasel Francis by wearing the exact same white leisure suit he wears as a manager. Gordon Prior is a very shouty hectoring MC. You wonder if he's a strict school teacher during the week. He reminds me of Rumble's Steve Barker nowadays. (Steve if you're reading this I'm sure you'll take that as a compliment.). Daddy takes that beautiful jacket off and swings it round and round which can't have done it much good. The kiddy Daddy fans besiege the ring apron provoking concern from Kent Walton and a cry of "SITTHEBLUDDYMOKEYSBACKONTHEIR SIIIIITS!!!" from Monika. Female heel managers don't mince words. Daddy clears out the heels and Singh takes over The twice future European Welterweight Champion gets a headscissor throw (not quite a toupee) on Rasputin who takes quite a bump. Mostly the villains just use dirty wrestling. Daddy gets a public warning for a two on two sequence where receives into the whole pile of wrestlers in the corner. The villains each get a Public Warning (Rasputin for illegal punches, Drew for double teaming) and Kashmir gets a nice opening fall over Drew with a folding press after recovering from a backdrop. Rev. Michael Brooks is at Ringside. Drew gets a Second And Final Public Warning for repeated guillotine elbowsmashes on the floored Singh. He gets the equalising submission with a backbreaker and Daddy hits Drew with the plastic bucket. The heels are 1-1 and Daddy and Drew are 2-2:for Public Warnings. Drew thinks he has the winner with another Boston Crab but in fact he has tagged Daddy who gets the win with a splash despite Drew's pleas for mercy. And so commences a shouting match between Monika and Prior, she claiming Drew kicked out , he shouting "YOU KNEW THE RULES! YOUR HAIR COMES OFF NOW!" at Drew over and over again even after he has sat down on a stool and a rather nervous female hairdresser who obviously thinks Monika is going to attack her snips off tiny bits of Drew's split ends with nail scissors.And there we leave them. As I've said elsewhere, I suspect that after the cameras cut, Drew got up and strode off, leaving the Lucha de apuestas to be redone every night on tour while the REAL head shaving took place in Drew's bathroom at home. He did thereafter appear bald but the special stipulations stopped here after three layers, two mask and one hair. - thankfully no Loser has Scalp Skin Surgically Cut Out match. Quality? Well the Singh opening folding press is good and so was the headscissor throw a minute or so earlier. The rest is what you get from a Daddy tag. I'm sure there was something good on the undercard that it subsidised.

This bout hasn't been reviewed yet on here but I did mention it as having been broadcast in December 1967 on 2eme Chaine and therefore the earliest known surviving B/W bout which might be restorable to Colour using Chroma Dot Recovery (Channel 2 went colour in October but the only bouts between then and this are a set screened in October on Channel 1 including Peter Maivia.) Actually there are one or two bits where a few frames are missing, possibly from repairs to film damage, including during the MCs announcement of the equalising fall. However there had been quite a few off screen - Steve Young as preparation for becoming the UK Skull Murphy, the same .Kashmir Singh losing his long Sikh hair in battle in a way that would not upset family and friends. Possibly Black Jack Mulligan at some point (I mentioned him on the German thread - the lconnection to this post. This is 21 years before Big Daddy and Kashmir Singh beat Drew McDonald and Rasputin in a match ending with Dr Monika Kaiser screaming her lungs out as a lady hairdresser snipped off tiny bits of Drew's hair before the cameras cut and I suspect Drew stormed out and repeated the finish around Britain before finally doing the REAL headshave at home in the bathroom mirror., ready to appear bald at a TV battle royal a month or two later. It's 19.25 years before Piper vs Adonis at WM3 inspired Ed Leslie to ritually humiliate jobbers and a few name heels. Before Jimmy Valiant and Paul Jones made "bald headed geek" a slogan. Twenty years in the other direction it was a humiliation for women who had slept with Nazis "la collaboration hoizontale". Couderc in his glasses reminds me a bit of Steve Allen backstage at WM6. Apparently whoever takes the fall gets the shave. Batman is introduced as American (he was Brit Dave Larsen) and starts, flinging the Black Jackets about and cartwheeling out of their armbars. Le Duc pulls off a nice flying headscissors early (appropriate for a hair match). The heels are a lot more Manchetteux and it becomes more of a striking contest when they take over. They get the first fall on LeDuc with a folding press after a double team. A dolly bird at ringside looks all fornlorn about it. I think she was one of Gilbert's many girlfriends, or something like that according to Roger C. If either Bon loses the next fall they will be the one shaved. The heels have big moustaches, the badge of a villain in mid C20th France, the sort of heads found on criminal gang members, later pictured in the press mounted on a prison mantlepiece. Batman gets quite a hot tag in the middle fall with a flurry of dropkicks and a bulldog/flying headscissors one on two combo to the opposition. It goes quieter down . A Blouson gets an armhank on LeDuc and he goes into his corkscrew Toupee, the one he usually uses to escape headscissors, to roll up his hanked arm. As LeDuc tries to headstant in the arm hank (and topples over a few times first) Couderc makes a real eye rolling joke in fake English, quoting Shakespeare - "Toupee Or Not Toupee? - zat is ze question." When LeDuc finally pulls off the escape, Couderc shouts "Toupeeeeee!" with childish glee. When LeDuc does his attacking headscissor throw toupee, Couderc stans singing Bingo Bang Bang. Gilbert also gets into a ringside brawl with both BNs, still unthinkable on ITV a decade later. The equaliser is gained with one Blouson trapped in the ropes by Batman while LeDuc slingshots the other into the first to soften the latter for a splash and pin. The Bloussons' individual names are Claude Gissinn and Marcel Manueveau. (Sp both) . I had trouble keeping track of who was who when I last reviewed a bout of theirs. It's Manueveau who gets pinned after Claude trips in the ropes like the future Barber (see how these things connect up) at WM2 in the process of losing the WWF World tag belts. And it's Manueveau who gets the new bald look. He's actually quite brave about it, roaring at Les Bons to stand back before slamming himself down on the chair and letting Le Coiffeur (a cross between Duranton's poor manservant Firmin and Michael Palin as Arthur Pewty in the Monty Python Marriage Guidance Councillor sketch) do his work. Unlike the blond hairdresser from the British hair match, this guy has an actual pair of shears and gets the job reasonably done. Mannuveau still has a few clumps left.Anyway, the crowd give the result a polite clap before both heels scurry off. Anyway, maybe some day we shall see this in colour.

I've checked and they're both the same video (same tracking shot across from one side to the other as the two wrestlers are announced.) Was the Richard Land copy a high generation version of the same?

Not the bout from Eurosport New Catch with Paula in 1990. This is a couple of years later. Zrno's technical work has shit up in quality in this match since that one, he is obviously keeping up with the Wrights. Even Finlay does a few clever escapes just to remind the world he can. It ends with Finlay DQd after he starts going all hardcore at ringside, after which Zrno ward him off with a chair to which he cuts a promo. This is a high quality copy and was filmed in good quality multicam and the camera crew have access to ringside and the aisle to follow wrestlers about. The prefab looking building can hold about 500 and appears to be the German equivalent of a Town .Hall or Civic Theatre wrestling venue in Britain. Still not quite broadcast quality like the big Otto fights.

I think I've already posted that video on the French thread to illustrate how he visited all three Stronghold Euro territories, but this is it: Also there's this. Just occurred to me this is only a month after he and Quinn were at Wembley Arena, losing to Big Daddy and Wayne Bridges (blue-eye reunion of old 1974 heel tag team of Bridges & the Battling Guardsman)

Haha I was going to write back and angrily insist that that WAS Kauroff - even the ring announcer says so. Apart from him and the two French "Russians" I posted, the only other one in wrestling in Europe at that time I can think of was the vastly lighter (and previously hairier on top) Larry "Black Jack Mulligan (No Relation to Bob Windham" Coulter. Also about how how Stone Cold and Goldberg have popularised that whole Nikita Koloff look among toxic macho male type like that scumbag Andrew Tate. Which is a reason why I don't like the Stone Cold character. But that's all vastly OT. Tried reviewing the Kauroff-Saturski bout but the bad picture quality and the brawly content defeated me. Maybe OJ would like it if not for the picture. Quite the other end of the spectrum from Wright Vs St Clair in 1986 Bremen. Amusing to see Kauroff cheekily offer a handshake at the end and Saturski refuse it after such dirty wrestling. He's a loveable rogue, old Klaus. No wonder he became a babyface in the 90s. And it was nice to hear the DJ play a favourite of mine. Funkytown by Lipps Inc, which had only come out four months earlier. According to Kent Walton in 1985, Saturski (the son of Wolfgang Stark) was at (or around) this time the current European Welterweight Champion - a title last seen two years earlier in 1978 when Dynamite Kid handed back both the belt and the British belt too to Max Crabtree before departing for Calgary. Saturski allegedly lost the title the following year to Jorg Chenok - the next confirmed sighting of the title was when Chenok came out to drop it to Danny Collins at the FA Cup Final TV taping. just like Jean Corne had done for Dynamite 7 years earlier. I've looked for a Saturski Harris bout on YouTube but no luck. This is what he looked like at the time:

Do you mean this? I'll have to watch it more thoroughly. It looked like Kauroff at the start. Not tall enough for Le Grand Vladimir. Possibly Ivan Strogoff?

Will have a look but the tablet needs charging after writing that last little lot about Wright-StClair Bremen 1986. Cheers.

Back on top and a good technical bout from the 80s that doesn't seem to have been reviewed on here in the past. Suffice to say it's two Brits at it, plus a third one as ref: Tony StClair comes to the ring to Eye of the Tiger a song which not even Jerry McDevitt could save for the WWF to use for Hulk Hogan. They shake hands with each other - and each with referee and old UK blue eye chump of both Mick McMichael which amuses the crowd. After briefly going into the ropes and getting broken, StClair gets a rear waistlock transitioning into a wristlever which Wright positions himself to counter with a cartwheel into a snapmare, but Tony keeps the wrist and stands up with Steve on the mat. Steve kips up and slides backwards through Tony's legs dragging the wristlever and the rest of Tony through with him but Tony flips over nicely to keep the wristlever from a sitting position. Steve stands up then goes into a handstand then a couple of his trademark bounce back and forth abortive kip ups before jumping from a kip up into executing a monkey climb on Tony - who still keeps the wrist with Wright still on the floor! What else can Tony withstand to keep a hold? For his next (attempt at a) trick Wright standing forward rolls then brings his foot down on the wristlock to chop it open a la Steve Grey, then cements his escape with a cross buttock- not following down for fear of Tony taking the wrist again but standing back and getting a four count. (Interesting camera cut to another handheld hardcam further up in the stands using a zooming crossfade.) Tony quickly gets the wrist again and this time develops it into a standing side hammerlock, riding Wright to the mat. Steve uses his (W)right leg to turn himself this way and that back into the standing position before throwing StClair off and over the ropes (Some young kids at the time like Fuji Yamada and Danny Collins would follow up with a sliding dropkick- these days it is pretty much standard all over the world.) Tony gets back in and Steve forms a George Kidd/Johnny Saint ball. After rolling him around. St.Clair teases karate chopping his grouned opponent, getting a sharp response from both the MC "NIEN" and McMichael raising a threatening finger. But Tony is only kidding, he pats Steve who unrolls and gets up. Wright gets a headlock into front chancery (cut to the closer hardcam). Tony pulls off Wright's left arm and goes for a jerking whip but Wright flips out of it beautifully, going over on both hands to a standing start. Tony gets an armlock takedown into a headscissors plus wristlever for good measure. Wright snaps the wristlock open but Tony easily retakes it. So Wright bridges in the headscissors, kips up in a snapout escapes and runs round but is pulled back into range by Tony b and the headscissors reapplied and improved into a figure 4 headscissor. But this time he doesn't have the wrist (Steve firmly kicked it open this time) so when Steve snaps and kip ups out, he is free. They go for a finger Interlock but Tony rolls backwards but instead on a flip or a monkey climb, he double ankles Wright. Tony throws Wright but he comes back off the ropes with a flying tackle for a 1 count. Round break. Shake hands. Some German equivalent of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark is playing. Round 2. Wright with a single leg takedown. More teasing from St.Clair as he pokes around with the other leg, going between Steve's thighs and looks like he's going for a crotch shot which provokes another sharp "NEIN" from the MC. Only kidding. StClair puts the free leg in with the locked leg for a handstanding throw (not a toupee as he is not using his head as fulcrum) but Steve cartwheels to a standing start. He shakes Tony's hand but Tony tries for a crafty front chancery and regrets it as Steve backdrops him off with quite a bump. Wright gets a full nelson. Tony can't throw him off. He frees one half but Wright steps behind and reapplies. Another failed throw attempt then Tony slides his arms down through Steve's and rolls out but Steve catches him and reapplies. Repeat this sequence. Then Tony tries the break one side trick and twists the free arm so now he goes behind to apply the hold. Wright bashed out with one blast if his rear and hits the ropes, .Tony (and on instinct McMichael) drop down to let him run over. Tony gets a cross buttock and press for two, being thrown off onto Michael who isn't happy but Wright talks him out of doing a Diddier Gapp//Michel Saulnier and he shakes hands with Tony. Tony feigns a sudden run of the ropes but nothing comes of it. He gets a leg takedown into seating side leglock.Wright gets some counter in which the camera angle can't pick up. They agree a stalemate and McMichael unties them. Steve cartwheels out of some hold we can't see and double legs Tony who throws him with the legs forcing a bump. Tony whips Steve off the ropes and drops, getting a backslide for 2. Tony gets a reverse armlock on Steve who uses McMichael:s shoulder to flip out (his version of Vic Faulkner's "Mister Referee!" trick. Bell rings. DJ plays Scotland the Brave even though McMichael is from Doncaster.Having played Hulk Hogan's old music earlier, I suppose they might as well do the same for Roddy Piper. Actually it's some German comedy song about a Highland fling party. McMichael not happy about what happened in the end there. Also unhappy is the vision mixer who is doing strange things with that turret mixer from earlier. Round 3 McMichael ducks out of he way as the two wrestlers pounce on the same spot of the corner. Tony places Mick out of the way gently on a corner. McMichael still selling his shoulder tells them never mind, so they get on. Finger interlock but Wright gets his legs in and the folding press attempt becomes a series of Bascule but with extra side rolls and finally a two way leg nelson (still a fave spot with the Brit kids today.) They give up and get a large ovation from the appreciative crowd. I like these German fans. Tony gets another high whip and this time forces the bump on Wright. He gets another one, the impact of which knocks McMichael over. Steve gets a legdive into a full leglock. Tony shoves him off with his free foot which Steve isn't happy about and complains to Mick, or more it's about Mick making a bit of a fuss over the bumps etc he takes as ref. Tony gets an abdominal stretch. With some effort Wright cross buttocks out of it for 4 and gets a wrist for a slingshot to the ropes and dropkick. Wright gets a posting but Tony absorbs.turns and gets double legs into a Boston Crab. Wright flips him off and goes for the double legs and folding press but Tony double leg nelson first. It looks like another Bascule but Steve reverses himself and gets the flip over for a folding press with bridge - and a BEAUTY- but Tony crawls out. Bell goes, they shake hands. Bad German wedding disco song about Viva Mexico. Round 4. - St Clair with two forearms, Wright hits a finevdropkick for 3, Steve whips Tony off the ropes, Tony comes back with a sunset flip for two before Steve ankle smashes out. StClair with a side chancery throw, bodycheck, Wright leapfrogs but gets flying tackled by Tony who gets two. Running the ropes. Wright does another Faulkner spot tribute with his version of "CEASE" (expressed by raising his arms and growling.) Distracted, Tony hits the ropes again and Wright catches him with a cross buttock and press for the one fall required over the British Heavyweight Champion (disputed All Star branch as ITV and Joint had their own temporary splinter). He could have gone to Brian Dixon for a title shot but instead next year he went to Max Crabtree, pretended to be Bull Blitzer and won Marty Jones's World Mid Heavyweight Championship instead. But that is for the future. Tonight in 1986 Bremen he shakes hands with Tony, the crowd clap and the turret mix closes down to a red screen like it's slowly shutting it's one eye. This profusion of red overpowers the poor old colour signal and the tape goes B/W for a bit McMichael raises Steve's hand. They shake hands to bury the earlier stuff and Mick raises both men's hands for a good technical match. Tony gives Steve a hug and Mick a handshake. Very much my sort of wrestling. And a pleasure to see a German audience appreciate the style when conventional wisdom was that all they wanted was a fatty diet of Otto Vs Yank. A decade later every young German wrestler was working like Steve (and Tony). But wait. There is what Jim Cornette would call an Afterbirth. It's some sort of anniversary or significant date for Nico Selenkowitsch, so Steve makes a speech in German inviting him in the ring and then the two wrestlers parading him around on their shoulders like Miss Elizabeth and hugging him and getting a Nico chant going. WEEELL!!! Only a year later, Otto Wanz and Peter Wilhelm would be organising a couple against old Nico Selenkowitsch, overthrowing him, taking over the IBV he formed 14 years earlier and renaming it the CWA after Otto's title. That gratitude and shouldertop parades for you.

I did include a few Spanish Wrestlers as the scene in Spain had died with the closure of the CIC in 1975 (although we have kinescopes to prove some of these guys were already journeying northeastwards across the Pyrenees for work and TV exposure even before that) and during the intervening 15 years before the WWF arrived on the newly launched TeleCinco in 1990 and then toured in 1992, Spain was basically overspill territory from France with various French promoters including Delaporte (plus the odd German) touring the land and guys like Danny Collins and Robbie Brookside having old war stories of wrestling shows in bull rings in Spain. Dave Larsen was to France as someone like Steve Wright was to Germany, an expatriate. (Not that he transformed his host nation's wrestling style the way Wright did.)

Well yes, quite a few British Wrestlers either had second jobs and/or had to supplement their UK income with appearances at the German Tournaments or the Euro Kats Festival in Athens.or even fly out to some Asian or African country whose TV station bought screenings of bicycling prints of Wrestling From Great Britain and where consequently they could expect a spot of red carpet treatment. For French wrestlers a trip to the German tournaments was nice and easy, none of this North Sea Ferry nonsense, just a simple motorway journey Eastwards across the Rhine like an interstate four wrestlers in a car journey in the American Territories. Germans may well have made the opposite journey Westwards to get some money and exposure on French TV.

First of all ... ... Promise kept! Back to the regular traditional old school ring for Rumble. Second it's great to see Leland Bryant progressing into the role of the experienced veteran getting surprised by the newcomer and he handles it well. Still a young sportsman but cocky enough to be surprised by a kid from the Class of next year. Third this is a fine scientific bout with just a few concessions to modernity and proof that the Bernie Wright Vs Young David, Richie Books Vs Ian McGregor and Peter Bainbridge Vs Gary Clwyd genre of TBW Vs TBW match still has a legitimate place in wrestling in 2025. Sneer if you must but I'm sure I'm not the only British fan of a certain age and above who will remember those bouts and then watch a match like this and be pleased to see that this is still a thing. A pleasant surprise to have popped up on my Smart TV while settling down to lunch, I just had to post it.

Two important details we don't have for French Catch are 1) the raw French Catch TV Ratings 2) the context of said ratings (what was considered good or bad figures at the time in France and how other programmes did). It's worth mentioning that the typical 3 million British Wrestling got each week in 1998 is exponentially double what WWE Raw gets (1.5 million) and 5 times what AEW Dynamite gets (0.6 million) in the America of 2025 but taken as a per capita proportion of population (UK 1988=60M, USA 2025=330M) ITV got 1/30th of the population. RAW gets 1/220th of its population and AEW 1/550th.) (data sources-1988 British wrestling @JNLister's site, current American Wrestling from Jim Cornette's show - he and Brian Last get their figures from the Wrestlenomics website.) My guess is that whatever Le Catch was getting it was similarly clobbering both exponentially and proportionally what Raw and Dynamite get in their home countries today.

Everyone on that list was France-based in 1977 and all of them were on TV and we have the footage on YouTube around that period 1976-1978.