David Mantell

I sang the praises of McGregor and Riley's classic clean bout from 1984 and I believe they had another just as good in about 1987. Here they tag up as sacrificial lambs to @ohtani's jacket's favourite UK heel team, The Rockers, doing a British version of Les Blousons Noirs with Charlie McGee dressed as a fat Hells Angel (in the tradition of his inspiration Captain Lou Albano dressing up a a Samoan/Moondogs/Japanese etc). The Rockers were being prepped at the time for a big FA Cup Final downfall against Big Daddy (partnered by Mick McMichael) so Nipper and the TBW with the same name as the chairman of the National Coal Board during the Miners Strike at this time were cast as jobbers to the stars. Even so, they put up a great fight, get an opening fall lead until the bad guys start dropping their weight on McGregor's knee a lot to earn themselves an equalising submission (single leg Boston Crab), some public warnings and work in progress on a deciding fall. McGregor fights back with a double monkey climb, but the villains double slam him, leaving them both on second and final public warning. Riley shouts out for McGregor to tag but another leg submission finishes him. Crowd are furious, singing "what a load of rubbish" (another one from the football stands). McGee barks out a challenge to Daddy and McMichael - the clip cuts out but I believe they did come to ringside. A week later Daddy got his win although Danny Collins' European title win over Jorg Chenok was the real story that day. Sadly not long after, the Rockers were returning from a bout when they had a car crash in which Tommy Lorne died. LaPaque would later form a New Rockers with Hit Man Hobbs who were still together in the early 90s - I saw them on All Star shows in Croydon at the time.

Drew is moving into his Ultimate Chippendale phase with hair grown back and no sign of Doctor Monika. No idea who Brian Walsh is, presumably another Brit who came over on the North Sea ferry. Show is set inside an ice rink set up for a dinner party, as Drew comes to the ring the camera fails to track him but instead focuses on a fat middle aged woman with a dangly earring. Match is mostly slow and power based, lots of selling of holds, which seems to be what Germans went for traditional, rather than speedy reversals. Mostly Drew in charge although Walsh does get his shots in. Drew attacks Walsh between rounds and gets a public warning for his pains. Walsh ends up staggering around at ringside for a bit. He comes back on fire for a bit until a posting cuts him short. They are both knocked down but McDonald is up at about 3 or 4 whereas Walsh stays down for 9 and then is picked off by Drew with a slam and cross press @PeteF3 - another example of one of those finishes we talked about, blue eye narrowly survives a knockout but gets picked off for a pin.

It is fascinating to witness Richard and Angelito joining forces. Back in 1971, each of them had at least one remarkable fight that left a lasting impression. Their collaboration now promises to bring the same level of excitement and skill that marked their individual battles in the past. Angelito's one night stand (or swim) as a Mechant and as tag partner of regular archenemy over 20+ years "Blouson Noir/Marquis/Travesti Man/Monsieur" Jacky Richard back when he was plain heelJacky Richard in trunks and boots. What sort of heel does Angelito make and how do he and JR fare as a team? To answer the second question, not too badly considering they lose 2-1, they get on with the job and there is no real acknowledgement of their more normal antipathy. As for the first, Angelito is your extravagant cocky Lanny Poffo heel who has the skill and grace but rubs your nose in it. He has all his regular technical moves which he exchanges with Les Bleus. He also uses his skill with the ropes to avoid ending up in the water, slingshotting himself back in the ring. Richard meanwhile plays the roughhouse heel mainly reliant on brawling. Angelito gradually factors in more dirty wrestling as the match wears on. At one point Khader Hassouni, who has obviously been studying the George Kidd/Johnny Saint style since his world title match with Saint on 1977 FA Cup Final World Of Sport, does the Kidd/Saint(/Vasilis Montopoulis) ball. Poking out extremities for Richard to grab. Angelito who knows this trick tags in and does a ball of his own, only for Hassouni to kick him in the pants (which should actually have got him an Avertisement but it's Sherrif Delaporte reffing.) Angelito concedes a neat folding press opening fall to Hassouni and Corne gets knocked in the water while Richard pins Hassouni. The bad guys go on a dunking rampage, throwing both Bons and Delaporte in. Delaporte is a strong swimmer but a fierce man and he deals out justice his own way, first working with Les Bons to get Richard pinned for a decider then press slamming Angelito in the drink before collaring Richard and chucking him in too then repeatedly knocking both back in as they try to reboard the ring. Good guys and Good guy ref raise hands in victory.

Something I didn't notice before - Flesh Gordon leads fans in chants of Papa Doux Mais Mais, the chant synonymous with his tag partner nearly a decade earlier, Walter Bordes. Clearly Pappa Doux Mais Mais was just becoming a generic thing to shout at wrestling shows. There were people in Dudley last Saturday chanting "easy easy" 17 years after Big Daddy died.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Handed_Johnny_West Apparently Delaporte and Bollet were not just heel wrestlers and French pop chanteurs but Movie Star actors too!

Congrats to new All Star Superslam- and therefore Mountevans British Heavyweight - Champion Mickey Long who beat Oliver Grey for the title at The Woodville in Gravesend on Monday night Oct 28th (just two days after I saw him wrestle in Dudley.)

From the same venue 17 years earlier before Health And Safety banned fans from sitting on the stage leaving it free for the promoter to project nice swirly lighting patterns on it. Some background - in early '86 Wayne Bridges had a real life disagreement with Brian Dixon and walked from All Star, taking his ball - or rather his red/white/blue World Heavyweight title belt he beat Jim Harris to win at Wembley '81- with him. All Star still had the original black belt first claimed by Spiros Arion in 1979 so held a tournament on All Star's TV show on Screensport (their audition forca share of ITV coverage.). StClair beat notorious Kendo Nagasaki impersonator Bill King Kendo Clarke, Quinn beat Johnny South and we were left with this final. We join in progress. Quinn doesn't particularly work the British style, he is soon getting a public warning from referee Frank Casey (recently kayfabe-suspended due to complaints from viewers about him being too lenient on villains.). StClair gets a 2 count with a missile dropkick. Quinn throws him out but rather than try taking to KO win, follows him out and hits him with a (rather comfy-looking plush) chair. A heavily juiced StClair stumbles back into the ring but Quinn works on him with closed fist punches. What with that and the chairshot, I'm beginning to think the anti Frank Casey letter writers had a point. StClair fights back a bit but Quinn nails him with a Duthty bionic elbow and undoes a corner pad and bangs StClair into it. Chuckle Brothers on commentary are going crazy and so is the crowd. StClair still fights back, brother Roy is in his corner and he slams and cross presses Quinn for two. Quinn kicks StClair down, Casey inspects the cut and awards the bout and the belt to Quinn on a TKO. Quinn and StClair continue to have potshots at each other as Roy and a second (in green) tend to Tony. The ring is under siege from fans as Quinn puts the belt on. Chuckle Brother #1 Max Beezely, later an MC on ITV's All Star bouts gets in the ring for a French Catch style post match interview which cuts off before it starts. Apparently this was the kind of envelope pushing stuff supporters of the Indies loved but the IBA would have blown a fuse over. Quinn and StClair did have their wild brawl on ITV a year later when they were both DDQ'd and left Kendo Nagasaki and Neil Sands to finish a tag bout as a solo contest, but at least that time, the referee was able to assert control. Clearly Brian Dixon needed a good filter if he was going to stay on ITV once he got a slice of it.

From 2003 at the Victoria Hall in Hanley. Mike Gilbert aka Mikey Whiplash Vs Dean Allmark - future World Heavy Middleweight Champion versus future British champion in all three top weight divisions (Heavyweight, Mid Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight). Two of the then new generation of All Star talent rescued from the wreckage of Staffordshire garbage promotion GBH (shut down by the local council in 2000) and retrained as old school British wrestlers alongside Robbie Dynamite (Berzins), Kid Cool and Playboy Johnny Midnight. Deano is also the dad of current All Star proprietor Joseph Dixon (grandson of Brian) . This is also some of the earliest footage available of Allmark's then wife Laetitia (daughter of Brian and Mitzi Mueller, child star of various TV news items on Mitzi, see earlier in thread) as an MC. Whiplash has a crewcut and is not yet doing his Chippendale gimmick. Bout starts off technical, both men reversing each others armbars, Whiplash using a cartwheel for one escape and eventually a nifty suplex to take things to the mat. Deano as blue eye works the crowd like James Mason before him and Robbie Brookside & Doc Dean even before that. Round ends with Whiplash working and ankle lock. Round 2, Allmark works over Whiplash's arm, whiplash gets to ankle lock from round 1 but Allmark spins him off. Round 3 and Allmark fires off some kickboxing kicks and a monkey climb. Whiplash gets some 2 counts with a fireman's carry takedown Whiplash uses the ropes to pin Allmark but the referee spots it so he fall is disallowed and Whiplash gets a public warning. Round 4 Whiplash tries a powerbomb but Allmark converts it into a reverse victory roll and folding press opening pin! He nearly gets a second straight with a roll up from behind as Whiplash is arguing with fans. Dean tries a sunset flip but Whiplash puts his knees down and holds the ropes for a second dodgy pinfall, but again the ref sees him and he now has two public warnings instead of two pinfalls. Round 6 Whiplash gets a leg caught in the ropes and Allmark bounces him on the rope. Allmark gets a reverse top rope splash but only a 2 count. Same again with an inverted flying bodypress. The two clash heads, Deano stays down, Mikey struggles but fails to get up, bout is declared a Double Knockout. The referee declared Dean winner 2-1 on account of his earlier fall in Round 4. Whiplash protests but the ref, Laetitia and the crowd are emphatic. Allmark offers Whiplash one more round for a £50 side stake. Whiplash goes to get some cash, but doesn't return so Allmark's music plays and he steps out onto the stage. Whiplash turns up with the money just as Deano is at the back of the stage, the bell rings and Deano scores a running dive across the stage and over the ropes to pin a furious Whiplash and take the cash. Good blue-eye versus heel action bout from a time when rounds were just about hanging on in there. A war with rival Scot Conway's TWA had forced Brian Dixon to regenerate his product from the dark days of 1997-2001 with the UK Undertaker and Big Red Machine into a hot new home for new stars.

THHEEEE MOTHERSHIP? Jim Cornette's sidekick, I presume.

Actually the opponent in that video Jean Phillipe de Lonzac was quite a revelation, good young wrestler doing all the classic French counters/reversals like the Scisseaux Volees takedown, the backflip off the top wristlock etc. Twenty years old, another young lion of the era along with Zefy and Caradec. I wonder what became of him.

Talking of TBWs, here's a nice piece on Gary Welsh aka Gary Clwyd, at the time of his Reslo peak and a TV Star in Wales (and southern/eastern Ireland.)

Paul Neu from the same magazine, a year before he took up rapping in WCW (yo baby yo baby yo). Signed for me by nice guy Mr Neu at an All Star show in Bedworth England in the early 2010s, where he was working as American Avalanche, teaming with Joe E Legend and Brody Steele whom I saw last night in Dudley.

From Orig Williams' BWF official magazine Main Event Wrestling, 1990

An American dirtsheet writer in 1990 singing the praises of British Wrestling of the immediate post TvV era. A couple of your favourite TBWs like Danny Collins, Kid McCoy and Tony Stewart (Billy Reid) get singled out for particular high praise. So who was this Tom Burke guy? A rival for Melzer?

This isn't last night in Dudley. But it's the new ring apron as mentioned above:

Pretty good show. Highlight for me was the clean match, in its traditional Bout 4 slot, between Ethan Stone whom we've seen at Dudley before and Mo Talal, a newcomer who looked like World Class era Al Perez and seemed to have a fair chunk of his family at the event in the same section as me. main event was a ten man Royal Rumble, first three bouts before the interval were all blue-eye versus heel, two singles and a tag. Johnny Storm and Frankie Sloane were on the bill looking a lot older (a tubby middle aged Johnny Storm is quite a sight.) Brody Steele was over from America and there was another good heel Sheik El Shabwho had a fantastic costume. Hope to find some pics and even video online to share. Crowd was about 250. Tony Spitfire was MC, Joe Allmark, introduced as Joseph Dixon, was the referee. The ring has some rather nice new Star Wars style ring aprons, depicting flying through space, stars rushing past. All Star are due back at the venue February 2025, LDN have also been running shows there.

I've discussed this before on the French thread due to Orig's claim on the English commentary that Zrno's trainer was Charley Verhulst. Finlay had been pushed by Joint as a Bully heel partly to lead to his 1986 FA CAup Final tag confrontation with Big Daddy, partly to sow the seed of one of his victims Dany Collins eventually taking a title from Finlay (in 1989, too late for ITV. Yes there is plenty of mat wrestling although it's not chain sequences (check the 1982 Finlay Vs Davey Boy match for that), it's more horizontal top wristlocks down on the mat and Zrno bridging out. Finlay does get some nice legdives and well applied leglocks and toe holds from nowhere, as well as one rollout.. Finlay gets a double wristlock and Zrno lifts him in it into a fireman's carry takedown. Zrno topes and monkey climbs Finlay. Paula as much of a heat machine in Germany as back home. Here on CWA Video as on Reslo she is able to do her husband slapping faux-botch (banned on ITV.) Like how Finlay strikes a pose as Paula fans him down with the towel Olympic style. Finlay comes to the ring to Belfast by Boney M. Later during a round break Everything Counts by Depeche Mode is played. End comes when Zrno misses a cross body off the top rope and Finlay gets a face first piledriver for the pin. As on the French thread, here is a version with English commentary by Orig Williams: Apart from the claim that Charley Verhulst trained Zrno, there is the classic lineup to look out for - "WE KNOW THIS MAN AND WE KNOW HIS WIFE!!!"

Here is the match and the promo in question:

New Catch does clean wrestling just like ITV. Reslo, Screensport and Old Catch! Heavyweight clean wrestling but clean wrestling all the same. Franz Van B, everyone's favourite Belgian, takes on Boston Blackie, the then touted hot challenger to Fit Finlay's British Heavyweight Championship and eventual tribute show version of The Rock. Orig's commentary clumsily dubbed over Flesh Gordon 's French commentary (credited as Gerard Herve, his real name.) Blackie is profiled as "Blaky" - for those of you not familiar with classic British sitcoms and who don't get what's unintentionally hilarious about that, see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Buses And just to rub it in, Herve says something about "titre de passenger" LOL Blackie uses strength holds, Van B lots of traditional "Couple" French Catch vaults and somersaults, culminating in a magnificent Scisseaux Volees takedown. Orig reckons that rather than get technical, Blackie should just use his strength to bash away at Franz which he does with a couple of clotheslines and some follow up strikes once Van B is up off the mat. Blackie showing off his physique but not in an arrogant hellish way, more putting on a show. He doesn't get heat for it anyway. Van B reciprocates and a Manchette Contest breaks out. Unlike the forearm contests Jim Cornette has complained about on his shows, these two do actually sell it and fall down. Blackie does an Ivan Koloff flying kneedrop and poses with his knee across Frank's neck but comes across as smiley and likeable so the crowd cheer him regardless. Blackie goes for another flyer but Franz picks him off and goes for a slam. They shake hands and it goes more technical, Blackie landing badly from a whip and Franz follows in with a stomp. Van Buyten throws Blackie out of the ring and on his return catches him with a rather clumsy flying tackle, almost a vertical cross bodyblock, for the pin. Just in case you thought this Clean Match was just an incompetent attempt at working heel on Blackie 's part, the two men shake hands and embrace after the contest and get a nice ovation for it from the crowd.

On the subject of Collins and Harvey Vs Dean and Ocean, Collins got hat revenge match he was clamouring for - and gave Ocean a darn good hiding:

Some English commentary versions of videos I've already posted.

A landmark moment, August 11th 1985. The last wrestling broadcast on Antenne2 formerly 2eme Chaine after 21 years when some wrestling broadcasts were diverted to the new channel on its 1964 launch. The very next week Flesh and Bordes would be over on FR3 battling Les Maniaks in the first of three changes of channel which was what France had instead of the end of World Of Sport and the termination of ITV's subsequent standalone Wrestling show. Jessy, as mentioned, comes in on horseback led by Gaby Lailee as Tonto in about the nearest AFAIK that she ever walked down a Heel path. Then again, maybe the horse was a closet babyface. Luckily apart from one kid patting it on the nose, the crowd leave the horse alone. It's all a bit Jerry Lawler. Someone called Charles Levesque is guest commentator. Elliot is wearing a fancy red peaked hat, Richard is doing the Marquis gimmick but honestly just looks like 70s Jacky. Better lit than usual, the Tricolore ropes and grey mat make it look like a cross between World Of Sport of that point and the WWF circa 1983. Good fast paced triple tag, Paul the butler making it a seven man handicap tag, running in to break up holds and participating in four on one beatdowns. Elliot comes up with one great move early on, leaping backward as Angelito goes for a headlock then sharing his arm. Flesh is still in his young agile phase firing a backwards dropkick at Elliot. Jacky despite his new title inherited from Eduardo is still the same surly heel as earlier, there's a touch of Ron "Damn" Simmons to him. A mass ringside brawl breaks out and a blonde dolly bird in beauty pageant gear gets involved. Walter still gets the old Papa Doux Mais Mais. Jessy Texas is more of a stomper and brawler. Angelito is still the same high flyer from the 70s. Les Bons seem to be picking up Avertisements a lot from Charley Bollet. Flying Flesh gets a cross press opening pin on Eliot Frederico. Jessy pulls down a rope and Walter falls out, Jessy and Elliot give Walter quite a kicking at ringside, Flesh and a second have to help him up. Elliot is fouling Walter in the corner and Bollet hauls him off by the moustache. (Elliot I believe is the same guy as Grim Rocker on New Catch later on.). Lovely teamwork spot less than three minutes from the end, Flesh has Elliot on the mat, but the other two heels are sneaking up on Flesh from behind, Angelito then vaults Flesh to flying tackle Richard and Texas. Flesh has had to release Eliot who gets to his feet to be nailed down by a Flesh dropkick. Only 2min 40sec of clip left and the heels are still leading 1-0. Will Les Mechants get an equaliser? Nope. Elliot and Le Marquis are tied in the ropes and Paul dumped to ringside while Walter who has been recovering on his tag rope, scores a flying bodypress on Jessy Texas to make it two straight falls. @ohtani's jacket I'm guessing this was the underlying issue with your"lack of structure", the lack of a heel consolation fall. Still it's not lopsided like Bordes and RBC Vs Shadow and Arz 1970, the heels do get some good heat spots and French fans seem to have been accustomed to the falls all coming in one big rush at the end, so who are we to impose our standards on them? The dolly bird from earlier and another identically dressed one gets in the ring to celebrate with Les Bons - were they the prize? No sign of the documentary, I guess @Matt D must have trimmed it off. Typical fast paced French tag match from what had became very much a tag team territory.

German Wikipedia is pretty impressive for wrestler info: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie:Wrestler_(Deutschland) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kategorie:Wrestler_(Österreich)

Update - Signsquad has posted a video of CCJ versus Ulf Herman so presumably Cool Cat (George) won the above match and went on to face Ulf in the next round.

Dream match: Emil Mansour Vs Josef El Arz - Lebanese Bon Vs Lebanese Mechant. They were both on French TV around the same time, beginning of 1976, so it is plausible.