David Mantell

July 12 1980 sounds like Otto Wanz Vs Don Leo Johnathan, rematch from 1978 when DLJ originally brought the title to Germany/Austria, jobbing it to Otto to begin Wanz's second reign (he previously had it for a month in South Africa Aug to Sept 1977, winning from Jan Wilkins and losing to Don Leo.) I wonder if that bout was taped. Otto Vs Strongbow July '79 is the earliest we know of for the home video release programme. Bock/Inoki is currently the oldest full/full-ish match we've got.

With this one it's gone altogether but I expect it too was in colour originally. Watching 1982 Stax in monochrome gives me flashbacks to my granddad's house, he never got colour TV until he moved into a hotel in 1983, so now and again I watched the Giant and others in glorious monochrome. Nowak is a big guy but it's your standard Haystacks demolition job that you can see on World of Sport. Takes ten minutes with Stax no selling a whole load of Nowak offence before getting the guillotine elbowsmash for the finish. If this was Britain then Big Daddy would come to the ring and challenge Stax to another singles bout like the one at Wembley Arena a year earlier. (And if this was Germany in 1990 then Daddy would probably have come down in black, red and gold singing Deutschland Deutschland Uber Alles). But Daddy never travelled abroad so no challenge for big Martin this evening in Bremen.

It's been a while since I posted anything relatively Modern on here. Or at least anything more modern than Eurosport New Catch. Last time was on page 43 in mid January when I introduced you all to the delights of Igwe and Mungu. So here goes: In Britain, the only wrestling to take place on British soil between closure of hospitality on 20th March 2020 and Freedom Day 19th July 2021 were some NXT UK tapings held in closed TV studios at the former LWT premises at the South Bank of the Thames in London, also use for similarly closed off championship boxing fights. (Plus a few wrestlers who happened to live together were able to carry on as training partners with their housemates.) Wrestling promotions in France however took the next step and held socially distanced shows like AEW did. Voici one such show by WS from Oct 2020 (just a couple of weeks before we Brits went back into lockdown) . Hence the thin audience (there are more recent clips on that same YouTube channel to show how things have fattened out since the pandemic ended.) and also the masks and the fact that most of the audience are clapping instead of cheering, although a few can't help themselves. The wrestlers, I presume, were in a bubble together. The big surprise here is to find out that Gannon Gray used to be a Bon as in those said later clips he is un Mechant teaming with Hugo Perez El General who owns the channel. Here he faces a heel doing an Arab gimmick (possibly of actual Algerian descent) and wins after the baddy takes a clumsy topple off the corner post. Fair play to WS for finding ways to do things in those troubled times and nice to see business rebuilt after the pandemic. However, not long after this show, on 28th October 2020 France went back into lockdown.

Okay, from the Sublime to the Ridiculous. Otto Wanz's war with the Moondogs. And not just any old Moondogs but Rex and King, the classic WWF World Tag Team Championship winning partnership. December 1985, eight days before the Hansen-Martel title change. Rex by now was teamed with Spot. This trip to Europe was somewhere on route from Memphis and no DQ matches with the Fabulous Ones and WWF jobberdom in 86 after they rejected Vince's plan for a babyface run using material later recycled for the Bushwhackers. Colour signal is really ropey, probably multi generation and well played. I expect most if not all early 80s B/W German tapes were originally in colour before suffering a similar fate. Rex has a bone with him. He also has a bald guy who could be Baron Von Rashcke (also in Germany around this time.) but actually looks a lot like French "Russian" heel Le Grand Vladimir. DJ playlist includes Take On Me by A-Ha, a hit only one year earlier. Unfortunately it goes on for a long long time and is basically a Big Daddy solo match circa 1978 just before Max Crabtree finally banned Daddy from selling for opponents. Most of it is Otto bodychecking Colley. Otto does take a cross buttock press bump at one point but lands rather gently, Rex takes a much heavier one later on. Finish comes with a piledriver where Otto rolls over on his backside so Colley's head couldn't possibly touch the mat, then a few more lockdowns then a slam and pin. Hmmm, let's see what King can do ... King is billed as Sailor White here but dressed totally as a Moondog. In fact this is 1981 Graz and I'm none too sure how this fits into the chronology of the Moondogs. Rex and King won the WWF World Tag Team Championship then King went abroad, tried to come back into the USA via the Canadian border and was turned away. Did this trip happen during that period? In which case the White King is an incumbent tag champion in America during this title shot as I think Sgt Slaughter was (with JCP) a year later. No sign of Captain Lou but he has a guy in a suit, bowler hat and grey beard in his corner as coach and second. Otto is less roly poly here, it's a step back towards the chunkier compact Otto of a year earlier against Don Leo. He's got a whole little team of seconds including Tino Salvatore and Steve Wright, still with hair albeit receding and close cropped. It's all shot professionally on multicam by an OB unit and the colour signal is good. Action is in progress as the video starts. It's no more scientific than the bout with Rex but its quite a wild brawl and I think @ohtani's jacket might like this one. White has no time for round breaks; he launches himself viciously on Otto between one break and his seconds have to help him fend the Dog off - he gets a First Yellow Card. Later when he refuses to release a hold Otto's seconds prise King off. Otto gets in a couple of bonus kicks and is ticked off by the referee. OJ might be a little less happy with the finish as it's a stoppage knockout. King is never the same after he shoulders himself on the corner post and falls out of the ring. He takes various backdrops and is irresponsive until the referee declared him beaten. The audience are quite delighted as is Otto and it does feel like a fight has been decisively won.

Nice recent match between two youngsters we've already seen on the channel. Don't worry about the rather American looking ring. It was borrowed as the normal very Trad Brit Rumble rings would not fit a cage and there was a cage tag match on the bill (blame Nagasaki and Rocco for importing cages to these shores in about 1989)

Okay, here goes. Schuman comes to the ring to a traditional Austrian marching brass band. They shake hands. Round 1: Schuman armdrags Luger who does it back to him. Schumann armbars Liger who rolls then tuns 90 degrees and flips up going over on his head then takes Schumann's wrist. He goes through a similar sequence. The third time while rolling, Liger sneaks in a ground position dropkick but Schumann easily nips up. Liger gets a side headlock and two twists into drop toeholds into Frank Gotch toehold (Satoru Sayama as Sammy Lee would do this at dazzling speed in 1980 on ITV and leave TV audiences agape. ) Liger switches to a side headlock, Schumann breaks it open into top wristlock then armdrag. Liger handstand headscissors Schumann, goes up on his head and perfectly toupees Schumann. Bear in mind (1) he's got a mask with floppy horns on (2) he has probably still never heard of Gilbert LeDuc even now. Finger interlock. Schumann winning at first, bends back Liger who bridges nicely, then takes back advantage. Liger suddenly backdrops Schumann putting an end to that. Schumann gets fireman's carry takedown into armlock.Liger stands up but Schumman armdrags him. He still has an arm so Liger uses a French style headscissor takedown counter. Schumann turns into upright position, rolls forward out and gets a headlock as the bell goes. DJ plays I Feel Love Round 2. Liger gets a leg, turns it over like a single leg Boston Crab and gets an arm too, forming a sort of half surfboard. He lifts up young Franzl for a sub He holds on to the end of the round Cut to climax Round 3 Liger side headlock into camel clutch end of round.Bell rings Round 4: Luger gets wrist lever, progresses to hammerlock, Franz gets another French escape with reverse snapmare. They come off the ropes and Liger's clothesline sends Schumman doing a 360 flip sell. Liger waits for the count Keichi suplexes Franz but only gets 1. He gets a perfect Johnny Saint/George Kidd/Steve Grey Surfboard. I reckon he's been taking lessons. Schumann hangs on and Liger releases and gets an eight count. Schumann Liger drop toeholds Franzl for 6 , slams and rolling splashes him for 9, gets an abdominal stretch then converts to a folding press. for 1. Bell goes. Round 5 Yamada gets a bunch of Sammy Lee kicks to Franzl's legs, German suplexes him. Piledriver, spinning dropkick, Cut to Franzl clothesline and top rope flying shoulderblock . Bell goes Round 6: Franz gets double underhook suplex for 2, Jushin gets middle rope flying bodypress for 2. Liger dropkicks Schumann out of the ring and reverse flying tackles him at ringside. (It's probably got a fancier name than that.).Cut to later -Liger charges and misses Franz who dropkicks Jushin leaning on the corner pad. They come off the ropes and Franz waistlock suplexes Liger for 7 then long suplexes him for a two count pin. Liger reverses a Schuman posting and flying headbutts him in the chest. He posts Schumann again but misses a follow up charge and Schumann belly to back suplexes Liger for 2. Schumann gets an arm but the bell goes Round 7: Liger fells Schumann with 2kicks, powerslams and flying headbutts him from the top for 2. Liger goes up top again but Schumman catches him up and Barry Windham Superplexes him . Liger knees Franz for 7. Liger this time superplexes Franzl and crosspresses him for a pin of 2. Liger belly to back suplex es Schumann. Covers him but the bell goes Round 8: Liger kicks a leg out under Franz. Gets an American figure four like Clay Thomson. Releases and goes to the top but misses an Ivan Koloff kneedrop. Franz gets a full Boston Crab but releases eventually. Liger is selling the leg. But when Franz whips him off the ropes, he comes back with a sunset flip which Franz reverses into a bridging folding press and a beauty! But Liger crawls out and we briefly have a bascule until Franz breaks when he runs out of mat . Schumann gets armlock on the mat but bell goes. Round 9. Liger side headlock, shoulderblock and kick and faceslam. Backbreaker sand moonsault (just like he did to Rocky Moran in Lewisham six years earlier on ITV) for the one required pin! They aboth shake hands with each other and with the referee plus Liger bows a bit. This is now my favourite German match. Ahead of Owen Hart Vs Dave Taylor at Haumarkt in Vienna 1990 and putting Roland Bock Vs Antonio Inoki into third place. A joy. Just discovered a standalone video of that match. Also here is OJ's earlier review: By the way, the Euro Catch Festival has a page on English Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_Catch_Festival

Apparently "the kid" was Franz Van Buyten, so says Signsquad.

Not sure if pasting the translated transcript is a great idea, it takes a while to load and is fiddly for editing and I'm not sure I fancy copying and pasting translations from Welsh for Reslo or Japanese for puro company material.

This is a bout we've not reviewed before. Previously we've seen Morowski and the Polish Prince against Axel "Only One Shooter Here" Dieter and the man who told him to "pull the f'n trigger then," Bob UFO Dellaserra but here instead of Bob we get a different fourth man, Tino Salvatore aka Salvatore Belomo, last seen on British TV in the January 1973 Fanfare For Europe beating Sailor Tug Wilson 1-0 and next seen 14 years later in January 1987 losing to Kamala (also a World Of Sport alumnus as the Mississippi Mauler) in the first of six WWF Specials. It's not much of a tag bout to be honest.Dieter starts, gets beaten down, tags Tino who REALLY gets beaten down, eventually makes the hot tag to Axel who gives the villains a right proper pasting except it all gets out of hand with a DQ.for the heels after they bring a chair in the ring and pildrive Tino on it. You know the score.

Signsquad who I think is the same person as @sergeiSem has reuploaded this video with some new German commentary.

Surprised this has never been reviewed on here given the high esteem Terry Rudge is held in. This isn't quite a clean match but the referee stays in control and it most remains technical. Round 1: Rudge breaks opens a headlock into a top wristlock.but Steele regains. Rudge withstands a bodycheck attempt. Steele gets a side chancery and takes Terry down but he comes all the way back up to the top wristlock. Steele gets a side chancery (as discussed in the Ian McGregor bout this is his go to hold) but Rudge straightens it to a wristlever and then front chancery. Each man forces the other into the ropes for a break. Bell goes.Kent hint that Rudge might go heel later. Cut to Round 3: Steele gets front chancery, Rudge counters with toehold takedown. Steele tries to kick Rudge on the head but does not break the hold. Rudge goes up, gets a snapmare the slingshot. Steele gets cross buttock press for 2. Rudge goes from front to side chancery, Steele resist the throw. Steele gets single leg takedown into front open grovit into sleeper . Bell just as Rudge reverses to front chancery. They part exchangeing suspicious glances. Kent runs down Rudge 's International record including Greece and the draw with Inoki. Round 4: Steele wins finger Interlock but can only get the odd 2 with pins. Rudge fight back Hogan/Warrior style. Advantage goes back and forth.Rudge gets a butt to Steele's chest. A break in the corner gets rather needley. Rudge gets standing double wristlock. Ray Steele tries for a bodyslam but to no avail. Bell ends it, Rudge provocatively wipes his forehead on Steele's shoulder. Round 5. Steele gets standing full nelson. Rudge gropes for snapmare counter then tries powering out, eventually breaks it into front then side chancery, then forearm uppercuts. Kent worries it will degenerate in to brawl but luckily it Rudge gets a butt to the stomach then a flying tackle for 2. Steele gets semi Japanese stranglehold into wrist lever, straight arm weakener and hammerlock. Adds a grapevine the switches to rear standing armlock. Rudge gets drop toehold takedown, vaguely tries for a pin, eventually gets chinlock then up for forearm smash exchange with Steele firing back. They are locked in the ropes when the bell goes, Steele gets in a last slap, Rudge is unhappy and sells it long after. Round 6: Rudge tries to come out wet and slipper, ref Jeff Kaye wip noSteele gets front chancery, grapevine, arm lever but Rudge trips for a cross press and 2. Another finger interlock test of strength.Forearm smashes, Steele getting the best of it. Rudge gets a hammerlock takeover and headscissors. Steele tries to snap it open, Judges tries to crank it forward. And then the bell goes. Round 7: Steele gets headlock into side chancery into headlock in the mount from 135 degrees to armlock to cross press pin, Rudges bridges out nicely at 2. Tries to maintain the finger interlock but Rudge gets standing wristlever into rear armlock. Rudge gives a forearm but gets back a flying headbutt. Both up at 8 but Rudge sends Steele back down with a back elbow for another 8. Steele gets a good folding press for two and a front chancery while backed in the corner therefore broken up by the ref. Slap fight briefly breaks out. Happily for Kent (and purists like me, it goes back to science with a Steele headlock, then a Rudge folding press to match Steele's only he Runs Out Of Mat. Less happily, the bell goes again. Neither man can now win by two falls or submissions. The options are knockout, DQ (and they'll have to be quick about throwing it away with still no public warnings) or likeliest of all, a final round opener making it 1-0 at time. So to the final Round 8. They shake hands, temperamentaly but no one takes advantage. Steele gets an abdominal stretch. Rudge tries to make it a cross buttock throw but Steele stays anchored and gets the arm into wristlever while maintaining the leg grapevine element. He switches to double arms from behind (the upper part of a surfboard) Rudge tries a backwards headbutt but can't reach. He breaks it and gets two forearm uppercuts held by front chanceries. Exchange of forearms and bodychecks with Rudge getting the better, flooring Steele with a bodycheck for 9. Ray gets a folding press backslide for 2 in the corner but just Runs Out Of Mat as Rudge's feet curl forward into the ropes. Double bodycheck for eight, Steele flying tackle for 2. A final exchange of forearms but then the bell goes one last time for a 0-0 draw. Ray Steele looks like he's going to shake Rudge's hand at the end but he video cuts off so we don't see how that played out. Skill but not much speed. I found it solid enough but lacking compared to packer lighter weight bouts. The bell endings started to feel slightly cop-out-ish, it feels like they often could have got one more clever counter in but instead they just sat around for the last 10?seconds. I enjoyed it though and referee Ken Joyce came off well for maintaining order. Not a classic but substantial wholefood nonetheless.

One of the later Petit Prince bouts not really reviewed on here. OJ made it 4th in a list of faves 13 years ago but that's about it. Before the bell starts Anton Tejero (who is in for all sorts of fun 6 months down the line from this bout with a name like that) attacking Prince, knocking his spectacle off, not that he'll need them for the match but he's got problems to look forward to afterwards. This turns out to be a trigger for Couderc to come up with all manner of politically incorrect French teams for sight issues - "myope comme un dope" etc. Still the big moustachioed heel has some starter heat. Remy and Rocas'start out, good standard moves from both including a nice Roca's handstanding escape from a side headlock. They tag and LPP is having run running rings around Tejero, making a fool of him to pay back from the specs and for having Couderc dig up every synonym for "blind as a bat" he can come up with. Tejero ends up ejected from the ring. The referee has obviously been watching LPP's old opponent and real life trainer Michel Saulnier in action. It's not actually Saulnier but possibly George Wiesz. Not much actual Danny Davis esque biased calling but he does get cross with Les Bons especially Roca's, for clumsiness and recklessness that causes him to take bumps. Couderc finds the ref bumps hilarious but then he's not the one taking them. One time, the referee decides not to allow Prince out of a submission for getting the ropes and tries to kick his arm free. After a couple of failed attempts, the ref practically dropkicks LPP's hand, still fails and lands in a heap on the mat. Remy reminds me of a heel version of Mick McMichael of Doncaster, same look and build but a bad attitude. Tejero gets his personal heat back by interfering quite a bit while not tagged in. There is a great camera shot for this of him facing the hard cam when obeying tag rules and stepping out of camera facing position to go cheat. Roca's gets a pretty decent surfboard on Remy but no submission. By 21 mins in the ref is getting his first Aux Chiottes Arbitre chant. LPP rolls out of the ring and gets patted on the back and helped up by a kindly fan only for Tejero to knock him off the apron and sending him into La Publique like he is crowd surfing. It's quite a bump! He is helped back this time by a second smoking a cigarette. This could have ended up very badly indeed, not just for the second's long term health but because Tejero is intent on booting LPP out of the ring every time he tries coming back, even when the Chiotte Arbitre orders him off. Eventually the double teaming heat moves back to the ring. In the end it's Remy who gets the opening pin on LPP with a slam after the ref misses a tag to Rocas. Prince eventually gets a double monkey climb and the heels then tags Rocas who goes Manchette Mad, even giving the ref one to much cheers, before aeroplane spinning Remy (and taking out Tejero with the "propeller") for the equalising pin. Les Mechants regain their heat with some double teaming, a LPP/Ref argument ends with him scooting through Monsieur L'Arbitre's legs to make it a foursome. Les Bons have Tejero in a 2 on 1 toehold one on each foot, they lure in Remy and dump him on top, then the referee then themselves to make a pile of five bodies! A similar situation occurs later with Tejero tied in the ring ropes, Les Bons drive Remy into his stomach and the impact sends the referee flying outside. In the end. Prince gets the decider with a sunset flip on Tejero after cornering him and flipping over him into pounce formation. Prince gets a very good superkick at a time when Chris Adams was wrestling in England and possibly visited France. Who knows, perhaps Le Petit Prince and Shawn Michaels are only two links away in a chain of teaching the superkick. Overall, Tejero and Remy were carpenters making two of France's top Bons look hot stuff. Thirty minutes Big Daddy tag minus Daddy. A lot of skilled well executed moves from both sides, not to the point where blow-by-blow is required to convey the spirit of the match but enough to make it a handsome exhibition.

I've dropped Jim and Brian a note about British and French overseas sales of TV Wrestling kinescopes.

Jim Cornette talks about overseas TV sales

https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Georg_Blemenschütz

I think we need to find out more about this Georg Blemenschutz, he was obviously a very important babyface in 70s Germany. This is him doing a training session with two young wrestlers at Heumarkt 1967 (bits of the 1978 match stripped of colour at the start.)

Video about a mad Grandma fan in Austria 2003. One promotion she visits has an old school German ring like the CWA with the navy/grey canvas and white ropes. Also at the start a slightly melancholy visit to Heumarkt where neither the avenue staff not a nearby shop assistant seem to even know what Catch is.

Couple of extra things I noticed. 1)Blemenschutz and the referee are doing the whole Guy Mercier/Michel Saulnier babyface beats up crooked referee situation at the time when Saulnier started doing this with Mercier/Asquini/Herve/et in 1978. Maybe it originally came from Germany. 2) The ring looks a lot like the one in the September 1987 (I think Hamburg) tournament videos on @sergeiSem's channel.

Ringerparade was still an institution in 2002

TV obituary for Otto Wanz

You may notice a big guy called Georg Blemenschutz being interviewed. Here is some more old footage of him against The Great Vladimir. Afa Ano'is also pops up on screen for some reason. Apparently Big Georg B was an art expert awa from the ring Actually that entire YouTube channel may be worth checking out: https://www.youtube.com/@catchwrestlingsuperstars805

Any ideas, @Indikator, @Jetlag, @sergeiSem ?

A few snippets of TV. So e docu footage from a sunny evening at Haumarkt in 1978. Jeff Kaye is a referee. Mighty John Quinn is there too, fresh from losing to Big Daddy at Wembley. Johnny Rasputin Howard/Doyle in there too. A couple of match clips interspersed with crowd shots. I recognise Judd Harris and of course Quinn and Rasputin . Short snippet of the Old and New Guards, Axel Dieter Vs Steve Wright. Heumarkt 1985 Two years earlier, Axel versus young hothead Klaus Wallas. Preceded by a Ringerparade including two guys who look a LOT like former WWWF World Tag Team Champions The Yukon Lumberjacks.

Bit of a short one this - Bernie Wright and masked man The Outlaw are to do battle but the mystery man does his knee in coming off the top rope and is knocked out and carried off on a stretcher. Even Bernie looks a bit worried.

I was hoping there would be some German/Austrian footage of Eddie Hammill/Kung Fu to tie in with my last 3 posts on the British and French threads but if there is any it seems not to be on YouTube. So instead I've got a few oddities starting with this from 1986: I believe this is the same tape where Haystacks called himself. Mal Kirk and MJQ "Us Americans" (in a broad Manchester accent.) Here there is no ribbing about the hometowns - Finlay, StClair and referee Mick McMichael are from different parts of the UK (respectively: Belfast, Cornwall although residing in Manchester, Doncaster in South Yorkshire) but the announcer still has to ask Finlay "what does this mean?" Finlay is already quite adept on the mic and tells StClair he is going to "kick you arse" - on British TV he couldn't talk about wiping it, never mind kicking it. All though having your behind kicked is the least in store for you if you ask questions like that in any Dublin pub. Unlike the TF1 bout two years later Paula is here, billed as "Princess Beautiful" . No headdress, and her dress looks like a hairdresser's smock frankly. Or is it an outsize T shirt? Finlay is actually in the same position as Danny Collins against Kung Fu back home a year later, taking on a champion in a bigger weight. Tony still claimed in All Star and BWF shows to still be twice and current British Heavyweight Champion since regaining from Haystacks in 1979 although Joint and hence ITV recognised a splinter version they created in 1985, held at this point by Pat Roach. This would be terminated in 1989 after claimant Dalbir Singh moved to All Star taking the title with him, restoring Tony (who briefly lost to Kendo Nagasaki in 1988) to undisputed status so that Finlay could beat him for the title in 1990. This matchup can be seen as an early step in that title quest. Only a few minutes of highlights - mostly brawling which OJ will like but also some big suplexes and a powerful dropkick from Tony. Paula interferes like she couldn't on ITV and gets chased out by Tony who gets the win with a folding press rear roll up. Mention has to be made of two female fans who if they are not plants must surely be German ring rats as they are dressed for Eighties style manhunting who get so excited about Tony getting the advantage they start making out with each other. Question - how was RTL involved in this? Did they make the tape for the IBV/CWA or did they broadcast this on TV?