David Mantell

I can see that was a lot of fans' experience. I had (still have) a territorial scene to which to attach . I turned on Big Daddy at about six years old after even cool villains I liked such as Yasu Fuji and Grand Vladimir lost to him. Perhaps if I'd been part of the Hulkamania generation I'd have pretty soon defected to a good interesting heel like Savage or Hennig. I would definitely have cheered if Ax and Smash with Fuji had worked him over. Even at 16 I kind of thought Warrior did a public service by winning WM6!

Heel Robbie takes on a North American. Unlike Owen Hart or Brian Danielson, Mike has no apparent knowledge of the European style so even the "technical" round 1 of the match isn't very technical- Robbie works a side headlock on the mat. Mike trying for pins in the hold now and then and pitching Brookside out to a big pop. From round 2 it's more brawling and Mike working the crowd while maintaining a wristlever. Mike repeatedly breaking open and Robbie reapplying side chanceries. Robbie being pitched to ringside and Mike joining him. Robbie gets an Indian Deathlock on at the end of Round 3 from which it takes the bell and referee McMichael to extricate him (Mick doesn't muck about either.just gets it gone quick.). Round 4 picked up a bit with a Robbie STF and Mike sunset flip before reverting back to brawling. Robbie got a scorpion Deathlock which Mike went for the ropes on again. To be fair he had to struggle to get there so the audience didn't turn on Mike (except for one female fan. The bell again saved Mike from an American figure four.Round five sees Robbie retreating from some dropkicks before suddenly being DQd for something I couldn't make out unless it was one attack on the grounded opponent too many getting a third public warning. Very American bout. You can tell it's not much of a technical match by the fact that I've got through it so quickly. Robbie and ref Mick tried their best but they could only work with what they had. If you don't like DQ Finishes you won't like this one and for once neither do I.mainly because I don't get whynit happened. Blue Monday by New Order gets played between rounds 2 and 3.. Rude on Time by Black Box in the next round break. You Give Love A Bad Name in the one after that.

He got a movie done, sure,but his main order of business at that time was changing Brooke's diapers* for Linda. Same with Warrior's reign and Nick's diapers*. And yup he got a movie done that time too. Savage reign #1 and Warrior were both basically Paternity Leave Cover champions. . . (* we call them "nappies" over here)

Yes, 60 year olds would already have been 16 in 1981 when Hogan went babyface in the AWA. I'm 51 and was 12 going on 13 when I first saw Hogan (Jan 87, the MSG lumberjack match Vs Savage from 9 months earlier). Like I think I've already said. I just thought he was an American version of Big Daddy.

*Shrug* all I did was post a video then all hell broke loose. But yeah, I'm for getting back on topic -Hogan being dead. This was his funeral: Some unintentional humour from the AI commentary. Not sure either how many "little Hulkamaniacs" are 60 in 2025.

Some more of the Wildcat being Evil in Austria, the Vienna Heumarkt in 1997. . Here he actually teams with Fit Finlay, against Michael Kovacs and Osamu Nishimura. From the start the British Islanders do a Road Warrior Pearl Harbour. They send the babyfaces outside and slingshot them into each other. Brookside roars at the crowd like Demolition Ax circa 1988. He tortures Osamu with a camel clutch/front face lock combo until Finlay stomps the Japanese babyface. Brookside dives in to rescue Finlay from Kovacs. This is a "streetfight" and Robbie proves it by taking Nishimura taking turns to bludgeon the babyfaces. He superplexes Kovacs as Finlay cheers. Kovacs fights back with elbowsmashes on Brookside but Brookside still the long term advantage. Finlay chokes with a tag rope and puts out Kovacsxwithba submission but only after Didier Gapp intervenes. To top it of, Brookside does an in ring promo where he says that technical or Street style, hemand Finlay can beat 'em all .

Le Rocky du Ring/Grim Rocker? I thought that was just a biker gimmick with some face paint thrown in.

@JNLister you might want to add this clip to the Other Channels page on the ITV wrestling site as the bout is not represented (Quinn Vs Johnny South, Hanley, February 1986. South is no jobber but the future Legend of Doom takes quite a pounding here. Referee and future British Bushwhacker Frank Casey is about to start a one month suspension for poor refereeing. Quinn power dominates South who only occasionally gets retaliation such as attacking Quinn's beard. Quinn gets a public warning, or does he? Chuckle Brothers make a stupid joke about Quinn being from Massachusetts (he's actually from Vancouver.) South does take over with some strength holds of his own but it doesn't last. Irish Pat Barrett, ex WWWF World Tag Team Champion, comes out to encourage Quin on. South fights back and slams Quinn. Quinn gets the vein with a guillotine elbowsmash. WWF TV match basically.

Another clip from the same time period Five minutes of match. left without ending but good solid stuff regardless: The old guy is called Nils Roland. No idea who the other guy is, I'll just call him Young. I assume it's the same 2006 show as the other clips or a show from around that time by the same promotion. They slap hands in sportsmanship then exchange throws with Nils taking a bit of a bump. Young dropkicks, Manchettes, snapmares and three times huracanranas Nils before going for a kneeling shoulder press, getting only one. Nils rolls his legs back and Young hooks them for a folding press but Nils has the power to force a Bascule and get a leg nelson of his own.Cut to Young firing a dropkick and picking up his man for an unspecified folloup but Nils gets a couple kf kneelifts first. Cut to Nild snap-maring Young. He gets an arm weakener. Cut to L'Arbitre telling Nils off for something or other "It's when I say it is!". Nils kneels (geddit?) on Young and heelishly uses the rope for leverage. Nils puts a headlock on Young, drapes his neck on the middle rope, puts a knee on it and flails away. He then uses the rope to slingshot Young on to his back. This gets him an Avertisement. Young land four Manchettes, Nils rope a dopes them before falling forward on his face. Young gets a front chancery, snapmares and dropkick on Nils. He slings Nils, catches and cross presses him but Nils rolls him off. Young gets three long vertical suplexes, but Nils rolls him off again - and the clip ends. Most solid technical work with some Manchettes and some dirty thrown in. Would like to see more.

There is nothing unusual about feelings of dark rage over those who mock, abuse and bring into disrepute over something one loves - especially if the mockers happen to gain their employment from the thing one loves.That is still a long way from actually going out and doing something stupid - when some fool tried to bomb (or whatever) an AEW show in his name, he rightly denounced the guy. I'm guessing you don't actually listen to his podcasts, he does sometimes praise AEW and even current WWE matches.

Anyway, I need a replacement bout to review: I've talked about this bout, mainly Pat popping up between falls, in the past but never really reviewed it. Screened nine days after I was born. Premier Manche: Matt's clip starts in action with Leduc and Henker locking up. Henker takes control, diving Leduc into the mat (Reguliere) and into the ropes (Irreguliere) and landing a chop for good measure. About 30 seconds in, the commentator has finished parking his car and gets down to work. Hooded Remy continues the treatment with a side chancery throw into rear seated chinlock, puling up and chopping down his man before tagging Schmidt who follows suit but using manchettes instead of chops. He gets a neck crank and a knee in the back of the neck for added nastiness but soon gets bored and stands up to deliver more manchettes. Leduc fires on back and tags Corne. Jacky gets two Manchettes of his own and he and Gilbert pull a double team on Daniel that has L'Arbitre Jacques Rouxel complaining. Corne folds his man into a folding press double leg nelson but Daniel makes it a stalemate Bascule. Corne headscissor throws him (not on his head so not a toupie). Schmidt gives the good guy two Manchettes and tags Henker. He gets a top double wristlock on Corne who counters with a front face lock which Henker counters with a slam., all the while maintaining the arm. Corne start untying knows in Bayle's Cagoule then tries to take him down with a classic French style headscissor counter (still undoing knots while up in the air!) but Henker does what British wrestlers did in that situation and throws him off. And yes he's still got that arm. Rouxel does up the knots again and the fans are FURIOUS, giving him the bird like a particularly annoying car alarm. So Jacky pulls himself up and undoes the knots as Schmidt complains. He tries to pull it off in the course of a a side chancery throw but Henker lands over by Daniel who tags in looking angry but promptly ends up eating Manchettes. He fires back but Corne is ahead on points then tags Gilbert to continue the treatment until Schmidt tags Henker who gets a butt to the chest and a sunset flip double leg nelson with Daniel making the save at 2. Henker gets pressure points, absorbs a manchette, gets a standing full nelson, neutralises a drop and roll escape. takes a rear out and gets a cross buttock throw. Cornebridges up and rear snapmares his man. They enhance snapmares and Jacky misses something off the ropes (Botch?). He gets another Manchette but screws up again on whatever comes next and tags Gilbert in legit disgust. Henker tags Daniel and it becomes a Manchette contest. Corne tags in an teases a superkick but it stays quite slug and punch until Schmidt gets a side chancery throw into headlock. Henker tags and continues the Manchettes. He tries for a cross buttock but Corne turns it into a backslide for the opening tombee. A fan jumps up on the apron to congratulate Les Bons, Corne gives him a handshake before he is dragged off. Other more restrained patrons reach up for a handshake. Corne's dad Robert Legeat is at ringside and says he is impressed with Der Henker's power. Deuxieme Manche. Henker slugs Cornebwho tags Gilbert. Back to the interview with old Robert. Back to the ring, Gilbert has a top wristlock on the masked man who throws him off like Big Daddy would do. They finger Interlock then Gilbert let's go one side and backrolls to win up a Henker arm. Henker forces ha whip, somersault and bump and slaps an arm hank on top. Gilbert tries to handstand for his trademark toupie but Henker keeps kicking him over. The last time he tries, Henker just releases and tags Schmidt leaving Gilbert to topple over. Daniel twirls his finger mocking the toupie. They double finger Interlock and Gilbert drops backward, gets the crossed headscissor on an toupie throws Daniel from there, landing with the cross scissor still on. Schmidt turns Leduc into the guard and bars down the legs., but Leduc gets up on his cranium and does another toupie takedown. Schmidt tries standing again but Gilbert hammers his knee to boot Daniel in the head and tags Corne. Schmidt gets a waistlock then breaks out the manchettes: Les Mechants tie up Corne in the ropes. Schmidt pummels him until ordered off by Rouxel. Corne slams him and stomps him a few times as retaliation. Henker ties Corne up again, Gilbert comes over to intervene but gets thc same so now both Bons are hogtied. Schmidt lands a couple more blows then cannons off the ropes but Les Bons get free and Henker gets potted to ringside like a billiard ball, while Schmitt is down taking the count. Henker saunters back into the ring and takes over. He manchettes Corne down and follows with an axehandle. Corne is down at eight but Henker pulls him up and slaps him around and down, then dives in to get pressure points on him. Corne starts to rise so Henker uppercuts and axehandles him some more then tags Daniel who drags Corne up for more. Schmidt tries to side chancery throw Corne who resists so Daniel corns and pummels him and chokes him with the tag rope. Gilbert objects so Henker sneaks in fists being Rouxel's back. Henker tags in with more blows. Then Schmidt. The heels get an Avertisement but continue regardless. Henker then Schmidt are in, battering Gilbert until the announcer pronounces him Completment Groggy. Daniel snapmares him and tags Henker who finishes Corne with a face first piledriver for the equalising fall. "The English Giant" Pat Roach arrives in the ring to protest the heels tactics and challenges all French wrestlers while he's about it. Crowd started an Aux Chiottes L'Arbitre chant while THEY'RE about it. La Belle: Pat clears off. Henker gets stuck in with a snapmare and chops. Schmidt gets the odd one in from the apron. Corne fights back with Manchettes of his own, chops both Mechants and rolls off to tag Gilbert. It's a hot but not very scientific tag, Gilbert just carries on the Manchettes like everyone else. He throws Schmidt to ringside and dropkicks He Ker out to join him. Schmidt gets in and Henker on the apron but Leduc just brawls on. He tries it with an incoming Henker who floors and axehandles him then Schmidt carries it on. Rouxel is not happy, not are La Publique. Gilbert fights back with a headbutt to make Johnny Kwango proud and pummels his man in a half chinlock. Corne takes over on Schmidt but it's all still just Manchettes. Gilbert knocks Henker down to ringside and gets a double leg slingshot on Schmidt first into the ropes then back into his waiting knees. Henker barely gets back when Gilbert tags in and chops him all the way into the front row's laps as Schmidt continues the brawling in the ring. Gilbert meanwhile gets are cross buttock throw and press on Schmidt for the decider. As they cut back to the studio we last see Daniel being helped up by Les Bons, nomidea if this triggered an Afterbirth or not. Action packed brawl. What science there was too place early on. Good to see Pat on French TV, sadly he had no actual bout on the small screen over there.

In France? (apart from Demolition on that 1988 Bercy Stadium show against the Bulldogs.)

Also I think that for something to die off you need a cut out period when it stops and there was none for French Catch. The old just bled DEEP into the new - even the likes of Michel Falempin, Tony LaMotta, Angelito and Franz Van Buyten showing up on Eurosport New Catch, greyed but still going.

I wouldn't argue with the Barnum part. It's the Heavy Metal reference that stumps me. Maybe he had Cybernic Machine in mind.

Funny way to talk of Gordon/Zefy/Jacky/Ryder etc. Or indeed the Gordon /Bordes tag team. (The French original is "un barnum heavy metal" incidentally.)

When French wrestling was in its glory days By Adrien Franque January 18, 2017, 5:00am In “The World Where We Catch,” one of the chapters of his landmark work Mythologies , Roland Barthes examines the popularity of wrestling, this “excessive spectacle” that filled gymnasiums and ORTF television slots at the time. It was the semiotic exuberance of wrestling that seemed to fascinate him at the time, these “characters from the Italian Comedy who displayed in advance, in their costumes and attitudes, the future content of their roles.” The fact that Roland Barthes was interested in wrestling at the time, in 1957, is not insignificant: it was a popular form of entertainment spread throughout France, whether through television or in various performance halls, in Paris and the provinces. The 1950s and 1960s were the high point of this sporting spectacle: Roger Couderc on commentary, The White Angel, the executioner of Béthune or Roger Delaporte in the ring, wrestling was everywhere. The spectators knew that they were witnessing perfectly orchestrated fights but ignored them; the whole point was to observe the virile ballet between the robust bodies of these “Michelangelos” of the ring. This era is the golden age of wrestling, the period described by Christian-Louis Eclimont, author of novels and books on cycling and French song. In Catch – The Golden Age 1920-1975 , published by Huginn & Muninn, he looks back at the discipline that saw the birth of masked heroes and bastards that the public loved to hate, at the memory of Saturday nights watching Chéri-Bibi deliver headlines to René Ben Chemoul live from the Elysée Montmartre, at the spectacle of the “Série Noire and Audiard films” years that gave birth to future movie stars like Lino Ventura and André the Giant. Elegantly laid out and illustrated with the precious archives of collector Jean-Marie Donat , The Golden Age of Wrestling offers a pleasantly nostalgic glimpse of a bygone era when choreographed combat drew crowds. We asked Christian-Louis Eclimont a few questions to find out a little more about French wrestling in those years. VICE Sports: How did wrestling appear in France? Christian-Louis Eclimont : In the beginning, it was actually the extension of the fairground exhibition sports of the 19th century. Wrestling was born in the United States at the end of the 19th century. In the US, wrestling owes its fame in the 1920s to the Gold Dust Trio, three former wrestlers who built the circuit. It was a bit mafia-like and rigged, but that was inherent to this kind of event. In fact, since amateur wrestling didn't pay, wrestling arrived. In the 1930s, three French heroes, Henri Deglane, a former wrestler; Raoul Paoli, a mind-blowing guy with Olympic titles in several disciplines; and Charles Rigoulot, who at the time was considered "the strongest man in the world," would outline a wrestling circuit in France. If wrestling in France had to be born, it would be around the 1930s. Henri Deglane, on the ground, trying to escape a hold from Charles Rigoulot. Where did these French wrestlers come from? We see that they often have athletic backgrounds, sometimes in several disciplines. Was this always the case? From the 1930s onwards, we can say that all French wrestlers came from wrestling. Some would come from judo later. But, they were mostly wrestlers of an excellent level who did not earn their living practicing this demanding sport. So they all switched to wrestling. From 1930 onwards, all these wrestlers were accomplished athletes. We are no longer in the Apollo culture of 19th-century fairs. Was it a sporting spectacle that developed everywhere, or was it predominantly Parisian? It was necessarily national once the TV network was established. There were wrestling galas all over France until the years 1975-1980. Very quickly, we see that French wrestlers adopt well-defined characters, a bit like current wrestlers, even if there are also big names in wrestling with fairly traditional ring names... There were several waves in fact. Among wrestlers such as “Mustapha Shikhane the extraordinary Turkish champion”, “M'Boaba the formidable Congolese champion” or the butcher of Budapest, there was a certain bluff with, sometimes, the use of superlatives in their names. While on the other hand, if we think of Roger Delaporte, Walter Bordes or André Bollet, it is true that we fall back into a certain normality. But, let's say that there were several entrances into wrestling: a more totemic aspect and a more normal aspect. All of this stems from the very Manichean storyline found in wrestling: good versus evil. We're in the substance of the superhero with an extremely childish storyline but one that worked well at the time, because May '68 hadn't yet passed, and the cult of the super-strong male was still very effective. It crumbled afterward. Has this ambiguity between spectacle and sport always been present in French wrestling? Or was it seen as a sport in its own right at one time? It's always been somewhere between the two, between spectacle and sport. The sporting aspect was contained within the notion of a professional wrestling federation, but it was all very fragmented. It was a spectacle sport, inexorably. It was featured in the sports pages of Les Echos at the time, but it wasn't taken seriously as such. It's always been a sport-entertainment. As we can read in the book, France even broadcast wrestling on television before the United States, which seems absurd given the difference in popularity of the discipline between the two countries today. Yes, in terms of television, this is the only aspect where France was ahead of the United States. It was broadcast simply because it was popular; it was the fighting culture, the Clochemerle culture, the myth of the strongest man in the world. It was broadcast on TV on Wednesdays or Saturdays, sometimes twice a week. People were sensitive to this spectacle, which was full of twists and turns. The matches were extremely scripted, staged like plays. No one cared much about whether it was a sport with precise rules. Roger Delaporte had a rather wonderful saying: he called wrestling “the ignoble art.” So we can clearly see the circus element behind all this, but a circus where the athletes do the work. When did French wrestling disappear, at least in that form? In the collective imagination, the myth of the strong man who slaps everyone declined after 1968. Society had profoundly changed, and the means of entertainment were multiplying. And this wrestling, the one I talk about in the book, died out around 1975-1980. Afterwards, there was a renaissance with a heavy metal circus that interests me less. I wanted to keep, with this book, a childhood memory of that golden age, when everyone followed the matches on television.

In the meantime here is another press article. Nice scary picture of Bayle as Der Henker. https://www.vice.com/fr/article/quand-le-catch-francais-vivait-ses-heures-de-gloire/ Incidentally, I expect most of the French public didn't realise it was him either or cat least not until decades later. Was he ever officially unmasked? (I don't mean one of those ones where they lay down flat on their fronts covering their head with their arms until Monsieur L'Arbitre comes and puts le Cagoule back on them before anyone can get a good look and the crowd start up AUX CHIOTTES L'ARBITRE.)

Hold it. HOOOOLD IT!!!! We've already had this bout on here! I like the extra bit at the start with Couderc's son. Hopefully he's still out there. I guess I'll have to find something else to make up the numbers on this thread, then.

From German TV, some broadcast footage of the Otto-Rex fight with a backstage interview with Colley. Randy doesn't totally break kayfabe, he still talks of his match with Otto as a contest but he is very much his out of ring personality and seems rather a nice guy. A far cry from some slobbering bone-obsessed werewolf that Captain Lou dug up somewhere. Not even a heel. Baron Von Raschke also pops up momentarily in a tracksuit, once again doing his faux German gimmick in front of an audience of the real deal. The German female fans are also spotlit. They really are quite something - fur coats, make up that could get you a job with Barnum and Bailey ...

Steve Fury these days is British Wrestling tape trader called Peter something or other (Dogget, I'm think) who thinks Masked Marauder Minor on TV was Black Jack Mulligan even though Max Hardimann and others have confirmed it was Lucky Gordon. (Mulligan was later that year when the Marauders gimmick was revisited in late 83/ early 84. Here, he's a TBW getting squashed on Screensport by Rollerball rRocvo at that Staffordshire garden festival thing in the blue/white tent. Fury gets an arm and the beginnings of a back hammerlock before Rocco, like Brookside in 1997, gets the ropes and then adds a quick foul shot to regain control. Side chancery throw and kneedrop and Rocco gets busy brawling. A Finlay style fireman's carry suplex and a slam aside. Rocco is fighting and fouling, fish-hooklng his way out of a legdive. Steve takes Rocco outside for an ITV-unfriendly head smash to the apron and Rocco runs away to the other side of the ring. Back in the ring, Rocco concealed punches his way out of another Fury armlock and garottes his man in the ropes. He finishes off his man with a face first piledriver and The Master Of Disaster has mastered another disaster for Fury and we last see him on the mic, pouring oil on the flames.

A rainy evening in Vienna 1997 (umbrellas are up) either the twilight or atmospheric purple lighting is making the Heumarkt look like a Prince gig and the Wildcat faces Christian "Ecki" Eckstein in what the commentator calls a shoot fight. Now I'd be the first to object to the word Shoot being used in the context of kayfabe but this does come out in translation as a decent mat based scientific match for most of it. At this time Robbie was back from his stint in WCW where he and Doc Dean were used as jobbers. Doc went native and took up indie wrestling and plumbing in Florida but Robbie returned to the UK and Germany/Austria to try his further luck there. Brookside 's complaining streak is like that of Ron Simmons in WCW. s blue eyes/ babyfaces it's unamused righteous indignation, as heels it's out and out belligerence. And there goes Robbie cussing out the Austrian crowd at the start. But he can technically wrestle too and gets in a quick half nelson into rearc waistlock takedown at the start, riding Ecki into the guard, clamping on a headlock, switching to Frank Gotch figure four toehold and adding a one arm neck crank. He goes back to the chinlock but Eckstein straightens out the arm into a wristlever. Robbie gets the chinlock back and moves back to the Gotch toehold. But Ecki does not quit and a frustrated Brookside stomps him in the back heelishly before quitting. .,He gets another chinlock and tries to develop that into a sleeper, when Ecki breaks that open he goes for onecside of pressure points. Ecki still controls thecarm, passes it overhead and makes a back hammerlock of it but Robbie reaches the ropes. He legdives and switches to mat side headlock then guard position double wristlock. The commentator is rattling off Heumarkt heritage like a German speaking Gordon Solie, even name checking Schurli Blemenschutz. Ecki bridges up to counter any cross press and gets a headscissor. Again Robbie gets the ropes break - traditionally heat in Europe if not done sparingly and referee Mick McMichael Of Doncaster, kilt and all looks heatful about it. He has his problems with Danny Collins around this time and now here is another tarnished golden boy. The two wrestlers link hands and Ecki gets a wristlever and is tightening it up when the bell goes. Robbie provokes a shoving match before Mick breaks it up. Round 2: Robbie gets the same rear waistlock into a single leg Boston Crab, switching to Gotch Toehold after a while with a chinlock and armbar thrown in, becoming a Chono STF before signing off with a heelish stomp. Robbie gets an Indian Deathlock before his man is up, adding a grovit. Ecki reaches up and overhead chinlocks Robbie stands up in the hold and Ecki slips down into a legspread into single toehold and elbowdrop on the knee, legscissor and sit up Marty Jones Powerlock. Panicked, Brookside reaches round for the ropes, can't quite make it and has to struggle for them (a more honourable less heelish way out than a quick grab). Robbie takes his time selling the hurt on the mat before getting up and getting a side chancery into sitting rear chinlock. But Ecki undresses thecarm and turns into a back hammerlock plus quarter nelson into an armhank in the guard. Brookside goes for the ropes more quickly and heelishly this time, adding to his heel credentials with another last quick stomp before the bell. Robbie has found a "friend" in the audience, a fat moustachioed man, and the two exchanged barbs between rounds. He has something nasty to say in his Scouse accent to the camera too Round 3. Single side finger Interlock and Robbie develops into standing back hammerlock into chicken wing, just a couple of years after Mr Backlund made this the most feared move in American Wrestling. He doesn't quite lock it off and switches to a Wigan Grovit. Once again Ecki undresses it into an armbar, once again Robbie gets the ropes break. The message is clear - this Wildcat may know all the cruel submission holds but when faced with a taste of them for himself, he takes the coward's way out. Double finger Interlock but Ecki gets a kick to the chest and armbar. Somehow (the cameras don't catch it) Robbie gets Ecki to release, smashes him in the back, rear wIstlock s him and smashes his head face first into the mat. Robbie gets the Gotch toehold and twin wristlocks and pulls back for a surfboard. He doesn't get Eckstein all the way up so releases. He pulls Ecki up, moves from a hoist position to yet another Gotch toehold. Ecki thumps down and Robbie gets the wrists again, hoists up the surfboard and adds a reverse front face lock to top it all off for the one required submission. Robbie celebrates by returning to trading insults with his fat friend while Ecki is seen to by McMichael. We get an outro of clips featuring the likes of Paul Neu. Mongolian Mauler and Rasta The Voodoo Mon. Match was a good vehicle for Brookside the heel. A good skilled and cruel implementer of submission holds who resorts to the ropes or fouls when the tables are turned on him. Perfect material for a heel.

For some reason this elimination triple tag was broadcast on Reslo in Wales with, of course Welsh commentary by Orig Williams and Nick parry.. From 1992, three Hispanic Mechants take on the two biggest Bons of the late 80s/90s/00s and the most happening TBW of the New Catch era in an elimination Catch A Six. Charley Bollet, human looking brother of mighty merchant of the sixties Andre Bollet is refereeing. The villains zoom in on young Yann and give him quite the treatment.. Flesh tries leaning way over the ropes to tag but Bollet will not have it. Soon Caradec is in no state to continue and things grind to a halt while he is revived (by Flesh slapping him around!) carried out. Zefy takes over, dazzles the heavier Carlos Plata and knocks him outside for a 10 count knockout leaving us with a regular Catch A Quatre. Hectags Gordon who gets double teamed by the remaining heels, determined to send him to join Yann. Eventually they hit each other and Flesh makes the hot tag to Zefy who gets to work with dropkicks galore even holding up against an attempted double team. He missile dropkicks on Herodes and Sgt Mendieta makes the save just at 2. The good Sarge throws Zef bto ringside. Gordon helps Zefy up but Les Mechants boot him back down and Bollet finishes his count despite Les Bons' protests. (Interestingly Orig calls Les Mechants "Dai Dihiryn" - two villains, which you may recall was the Welsh team name of masked duo Martin "Count Von Zuppin" Warren and Johnny "Dr Death" Adams when they fought Big Daddy and Scot Valentine on the show) Finally they turn their attention to Gordon, superhero of France. The give him the same treatment as his partners but Sarge accidentally hits Herodes. Sarge charges Flesh who dodges and Sarge pitches himself over the ropes. He is left dressing like a cross between Kamikaze and Les Kellett before Flesh knocks him to ringside for the 10 count. That just leaves Herodes and the Flesh. Herodes tries to get to work on Flesh who brushes off the attacks. Sarge tries to interfere but gets hit by his partner again Bollet firmly removes him. Flesh gets a side chancery into underhook into long suplex, then a flying tackle into awkward armdrags and press for the final pin to leave himself winner and sole survivor. Apart from some great dropkicks by Zefy, not a lot of real skill on show here but good family fun like Big Daddy was. Maybe that's why there are so many kids in the audience.

Sandy Orford trained the Crabtree brothers as wrestlers and ended up on Big Daddy's episode of This Is Your Life in 1979. Orford told the audience of millions that young Shirley was more interested in drinking milk to put on muscle mass than learning holds. Video is somewhere on the British thread.

HeIn the meantime there is these:

Been wanting to post some of Wildcat Robbie Brookside's heel work in Germany from the late 90s and 00s. Found this 2009 EWP tag for a start. Apart from a few spells as Kendo Nagasaki's hypno-slave, Brookside first got into rule bending in 1995 in Croydon when he turned heel on Liverpool Lads tag partner Doc Dean. The two later reconciled but the angry shouting heel Robbie was the foundation for The Wildcat persona which angered German so much that when an unknown Bryan Danielson beat him for a German title in 2003 it made Bryan an instant star over there. Thunder is Darren Walsh, son of Tony Badger Walsh. He and Robbie Brookside had a major feud for the British Heavyweight title in Leamington Spa 2003-2006 continuing even after Robbie lost the title to Drew McDonald in 2005, with Robbie still as Wildcat heel with his whispy goatee and Darren as the local kid, the same nice lad who teamed with Marty Jones in Hanley to take on Kendo Nagasaki and Vic Powers in Hanley, June 2000. Everywhere else in the UK at that point, Robbie was blue eye and Darren was Thunder, evil bald cyborg heel with the Warlord/Phantom Of The Opera metal mask. Here they take on Leon van Gasteren and Karsten Kretschmer two local babyfaces. Apparently Leon is in the white, Karsten in the orange. Thunder gets to work on Karsten. cross buttock throwing him but he rolls out of the throw and away from danger. Another cross buttock throw is more impactful. The good guy gets a headlock but Thunder throws him off and bodychecks him down on the rebound. Leon tags in and gets bodychecked down but dodges a second one as both babyfaces shoulder tackle him down and double team Brookside, sending both Bad Brits out of the ring. They eventually find their way back with Robbie complaining to the referee about continuing the count when they are both back No doubt in the same tone of voice and Scouse accent as the Hey Referee That Man's Just Done Something To Me speech in ITV in 1988. Robbie offers Leon a handshake but he will have none of it. Robbie shakes the ref's hand but then changes his mind on Leon who gets that crowd going with an anti Liverpool chant ("Liverpool Liverpool ha ha ha" in a strong Teutonic accent.) Robbie is angry. Robbie gets an armbar, giving it extra twists and weakeners. Leon like the good little scholar of Steve Wright that he is, rolls out and when Brookside takes him down with a top wristlock, goes into a bridge, pivots round on his head and gets a wristlever of his own. Good technical work in the middle of a heated tag. Karsten tags in and drops and axehandle on Robbie's outstretched arm (Max Ward would not have stood for this - see Lapaques Vs Myers & Kwango on the British thread.) Thunder tags in and gets a back hammerlock, slam and guillotine elbowsmash. He drops a knee and gets a front face lock on Karsten then a forearm smash before running out of shot to do something nasty to Leon that the camera misses. Leon complains as Thunder gets Karsten in the corner in a tree of woe and Robbie comes in to deliver a sliding ground dropkick.. Thunder crushes Karsten on the ropes, Leon comes in to complain but the ref sends him out. Thunder gets another grovit. He snapmares Karsten into the heel corner, runs a Ross and bionic elbows Leon then keeps the ref occupied while Robbie kicks Karsten. Thunder gets the front face lock again but Karsten is forcing towards tagging range. Thunder tries a posting but Karsten reverses it then backdrops Thunder. With the big man's back weakened, Leon tags in, they double team Thunder but in the confusion Leon falls to ringside. Karsten is working over Thunder who responds with punches and forearms. He whip Karsten into the ropes but Karsten slides between his legs (more Steve Wright influence!) then bounces off the top rope with a flying forearm. He delivers a spinning kick and armdrags but Robbie breaks up the resulting cover. Leon follows him over to the heel corner but the ref sends him out and Thunder gets his heat back with a powerful clothesline. Thunder gets an over the shoulder backbreaker but Karsten wriggles free, nails Brookside and dodges a Thunder elbowsmash that lands on Brookside. Karsten gets a side folding press on Thunder but only for two. He tags Leon who cloth lines and dropkicks both the Bad Brits. The Good Germans double dropkick Thunder (a move Brookside and Regal did to Kendo Nagasaki on ITV in 1988 which Kent Walton treated with amused bewilderment. The ref orders Karsten out and Thunder powerbombs Leon for the one required fall. Victory for the heel Brits. Some good technical work from the youngsters especially Leon and Robbie heels it up while Darren Thunder Walsh is the monster. I'll try find some more heel Wildcat soon.