David Mantell

There was one other Kamikaze in British Wrestling - the Lavender Ninja of the Big Daddy show of the early 90s. This is from the 1990 Aberdeen taping for .Grampian and STV. I think this might be Johnny Adams - aka Johnny Angel. Doctor Death and Masked Undertaker Gloom. Two years after this in 1992 this Kamikaze appears in a solo match plus a battle royal on the Crabtrees' 1992 Battle of the Brits video. I've got it on DVD but if ioon YouTube it's not as a standalone video. Kamikaze teams with Anaconda who wears a sailor's hat like Popeye. Klondyke Kate is very proud of her involvement in the top tag matches of the taping. The villains get Dadied - this Kamikaze can REALLY bounce around to sell. He throws Johnny Kidd and Kidd throws him and they can both roll with the throws and handspring with them too. Kidd gets a dropkick.and posting but Kamikaze takes it well and comes back with a forearm. Kamikaze has a fantastic double arm chop. Kidd Bloks it with a scissor chop and dries of headbutts of his own. Anaconda and Kamikaze gets squashed by Daddy. Kamikaze can do dirty too, a well concealed punch and pressure points. Kidd chops him and Anaconda leading Daddy in for another foursome except the heels both scarper when Daddy gets in. Daddy, Anaconda and Kamike all get First Public Warnings for double creams. Kamikaze gives Kidd the Sgt Slaughter noogie and tags Absconds who gets heat. Daddy tags and bounces both villains around as is his wont. Anaconda beats down Kidd and gets heat. He gets a backbreaker submission but it is disallowed as Kamikaze was holding on to Kidd's feet. Daddy gets a second and final Public Warning for his slapstick hitting of Kamikaze with the traditional plastic bucket. Anaconda dominates Kid until he tags Daddy who does his usual on Anaconda culminating in the splash for the official opening fall. Kamikaze also gets a second and final Public Warning for using the tag rope as a tourniquet on Kidd. The villains take their corner pad off but Daddy posts Anaconda into it and he rolls out. Daddy twice posts Kamikaze then does his Double Elbows backdrop on him - the one Bret Hart said Max Crabtree would bribe opponents to take. Kamikaze takes the bump and the selling magnificently! He is pulled out by his own side and taken backstage as the count completes - KNOCKOUT!!!. Afterwards Count Von Zuppin(Martin Warren challenges Daddy who daddies Klondyke Kate just like he Daddies the boys. If you are prepared to concede that there are some curate's egg good bits in a Big Daddy tag between the blue eyed tag partner and lighter heel then you should appreciate the Kamikaze Vs Johnny Kidd bits of this Daddy tag. I would love to see the solo bout.

Ian Gilmour's Kamikaze had two other TV bouts. A tag DQ win with Ron Marino over The Rockers (Pete Lapaque and Tommy Lorne) and this one. The aim was clearly to turn Gilmour into the new Kung Fu. @JNLister this looks like more raw footage as Kent Walton does a sound test at the start. Breaks is of course not a champion hence his heat garnering exercise at the start. Referee is Gilmour's old Barons tag partner (in both Britain and France Round 1, Gilmour easily slips out of two side headlocks and flails his way out of a legdive. Slippy customer. Another Headlock get reversed into an armbar. Jim rolls and kips up in two stages to escape. Kamikaze gets a small package for 2. He back out of a chinlock into a knee press and delivers a double ankles to Breaks' head He converts a side headlock into a grapevine and armbars. He goes from arm to arm to a throw. Gilmour gets a hammerlock, Breaks boots him into the ropes but he comes back past in a Kamikaze gets a figure 4 top wristlock Breaks tries bridging and gets a front chancery but Gilmour spins him off. Breaks rolls away nicely. Breaks gets a leg and single toe hold. Kamikaze spins him off. Gilmour gets an armbar into side chancery throw, then a standing full nelson. Breaks makes the ropes but Gilmour manages another side chancery throw and single stomp. Breaks is still selling this when Kamikaze delivers a slap to the face. Annoyed, Breaks roughs up the masked man during a headlock. He takes Kamikaze down with pressure points. Kamikaze reaches with his leg for the top rope so Jim moves to an upright position where Kamikaze breaks free of Breaks with chops and a dropkick. Breaks goes from front chancery to armbars the other side and begins to behind it intomthe Breaks special. Kamikaze bashes him on the back of the head as the bell rings. Round 2 Breaks takes his man down in a grovit. He holds on even when Gilmour turns it upright. Jim hasn't quite got it right, the left hand should be on the shoulder says Kent. Kamikaze forces the hold open. Breaks gets his own full nelson but the masked man rears into him to break the hold then floors him with two chops and a kneelift. Breaks throws a strop and while he is distracted Kamikaze comes in from behind with a reverse flying double leg nelson into a folding press for the opening fall. Cut to Round 4. Breaks has the arm extended and tried for his Special . He gets it again and illegally bends it around a rope. Breaks goes front chancery into Breaks special. Kamikaze turns it into a whip but misses with a follow up dropkick. He gets in a stomp (and a private warning) before getting the Breaks special for the equalising submission but a second and final public warning also. Round 5. Jim is tempted by a seemingly unguarded hand and gets two karate kicks for his pains. Kamikaze gets an armbar. Breaks reverses it to one of his own with a clear view to.getting another Breaks Special but Kamikaze rolls out, rolls back and clips Breaks with a boot. Breaks starts to get the move on again but Kamikaze counters with a flying arm hank, a whip, a chop and .. he misses the ropes and goes to the floor. The bell goes for TKO. OJ won't like that last bit so note what happens next. Any good sporting blue eyes would refuse such a win of course. MC Max Crabtree asks Jim if he'd like to be a gentleman about it and refuse the victory. And Jim, like the HORRIBLE LITTLE MAN that he is replies certainly not and takes the win. And that, kids is how you get heat. Kamikaze wasn't really the martial artist Kung Fu was (well Ian Gilmour was nowhere near the martial artist Eddie Hammill was!). His chief weapon. like the Spanish Inquisition, was surprise. Sudden jumpy movements. One jumpy movement too many was his undoing this time.

Well I liked Kamikaze when I watched this bout when I was eight. I especially loved the grinning slanty eyed mask - we had a can of rust repellent in the garage with a similar scary grinning face on it. Kamikaze was Ian Gilmour repackaged as an update on Kung Fu Eddie Hamill. (Clive Myers also started Iron Fist as a martial arts masked good guy- not on TV though.) The Jim .Breaks match (with him in his dark green top from his "Scotsmen" stint with Finlay on French TV 1980) is probably a better vehicle for the character. He gets his couple of minutes then Kaye gets a TKO and like a real good old villain accepts it. I liked as a kid how Kaye got scared of the scary mask! Booting up this bout of Ian Gilmour's Kamikaze as we have been discussing Modesto Aledo's version on the French Catch thread.

Or possibly copied at the time from a master tape and the copy taken home? Unless there was a very rich fan who owned a pre U-Matic pre 1975 VCR, the likeliest bet is that this copy was made from an archive tape reel a few years after broadcast, say one of the earliest VHS/Betamax machines in 1978. It's not a modern copy, there are better quality off air VHS recordings of mid/late 80s matches. I've seen off air World Of Sport recordings from 1975, some even with bits of advertisements eg Kendo Nagasaki Vs Jamaica Kid, summer 1975

It did! If Aug 92 was WM40 with Cody beating Roman. HH91 was WM39 with Roman beating Cody. Remember they were still building Luger up as a heel champion.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ur6ec Posted as a link as Daily motion video embeds hang up on loading. I've had this problem before.

There have been two versions uploaded to YouTube ( @Matt D's channel and a version on Bob Plantin's Channel missing IIRC the last ten minutes. July 1976, the summer of Ali-Inoki in Japan, Bruno-Hansen at Shea Stadium. and McManus &Logan versus Kendo Nagasaki and George Gillette at the Royal Albert Hall. Samurai is not Kendo Nagasaki (nor Rex Strong) he is just a generic masked man with a vaguely Japanese gimmick. The crowd get a chant of Mama Doux Mais Mais going early and Bordes and Bouvet ear dance to it. Samurai can take throws really well "Il est souple, ce Samurai" notes the commentator. After falling victim to a snapmare and headbutt to the chest, Samurai tags in Payen to face Bouvet who soon tags Bouvet who has even better escapes than Samurai, cartwheeling and handspringing his way out of hard bump situations. He hiptosses Payen and ducks a charge to leave him flying out of the ring. Bouvet tries for a folding press but it ends up in Bascule stalemate. Perhaps this Samurai is a normal Bon moonlighting as a Mechant. Bordes goes arm to arm to side headlock then up for a hiptoss. He keeps the headlock during rope runs and an atomic drop attempt by Samurai. Some fans are already calling for "LA CAGOULE!" to be pulled off. Samurai gets a rear snapmare into headlock but Bouvet slips out to leave a hammerlock. Payen tags. side chancery throws and misses a kneedrop. Bouvet and Payen have a great sequence of reversing each others throws, suplexes and backdrops. Bouvet in can transition from a standing armbar to low flying headscissors takedown on a forward bowing Payen. Samurai has a cross handed grovit he uses on Bordes. When Bordes fires him away using the ropes., he rolls away smoothly and comes back up with a chop. Samurai misses a charge and tags Payen. He and Bordes have some fine back and forth sequences. Payen throws Bouvet over the top rope but Bouvet hangs on the ropes , pulls himself back and flying sciccor throws Payen out. Payen takes his time coming back, Bouvet gets a rolling legdive into standing toehold. Bordes tags in, he can do the handsprings and cartwheels as well as his partner. And the Scisseaux Volees and Says Chasses. Samurai gets dumped to ringside where he gets into a shoving match with Coudec at ringside. When he gets slung out again, he bows and shakes hands with Couderc but Couderc then shoves him in the back. Bouvet goes down in a finger Interlock test of strength but then swivels round to turn it into a great Japanese Stranglehold on Payen. Payen tries to throw him and ends up with the hold running between Bouvet's legs and makes him flip out then applies the hold to him. Bouvet more simply undresses the hold and steps out of it like Johnny Saint might do. Bordes also gets the Japanese Stranglehold and briefly gets a surfboard but it all topples sideways. Payen uses a hairpull to flip out of the stranglehold but Bordes catches him with double ankles to the head. It gets a bit more chops kicks and dirties from now on. Samurai ha a front neck crank, Bouvet knees him in the head. The villains best Bouvet in a corner and double team him in their corner. Bordes has a Toe hold/grapevine on Payen, Samurai pulls him over. Payen now dominates the hold. Les Bons start to disregard tagging rules although still performing great dropkicks and side chancery throws. Bouvet ejects both Mechants. He cartwheels over the top of Payen's back and gets the opening fall with a fisherman's suplex. Bouvet looks like he's going for a toupie but makes it a kick at the last second. Bordes gets knockedout the ring a couple of times, the second time landing DEEP among the spectators. Bouvet rolls his partner back in. The heels continue to work on Bordes. He tags Bouvet but the ref doesn't see the spot. Bouvet tags in and goes for the mask. The ref pulls him off and Payen tags. It's more of a brawl at this point. The heels regain control and double team with Manchettes and chops. Payen gets the cross buttock and pin on Bouvet for the equaliser, Bouvet bridging up just too late or so the referee reckons. Bordes disagrees but to no avail. Samurai waves to the crowd like he's the Pope. Belle goes for la Belle. (I love silly cross-lingual puns, don't you?). Payen gets cross hand grovit into full nelson. Bouvet is in a bad way until he tags Bordes who dropkicks both Mechants out the ring and Manchettes them soundly. Samurai tags but is reluctant to get in. He tries a blindside but Bordes and ars and Manchettes him, side chancery throws him then has another go at the mask. The laces are hanging loose. Both heels are tied in the ropes and Bouvet starts dropkicking them. The ref tries to stop things and Bouvet threatens to punch him but thinks better of it and tags Bordes. Heels are still hogtied. Payen gets free but Bordes slingshots him into Samurai. Samurai too gets free and tags in but takes Payen's diet of Manchettes etc. samurai nearly gets a crafty folding press but Bouvet chops him and rolls out of harm's way. From the corner, Bouvet gets body scissors, single heel smash and kick on Samurai. Samurai gets Bouvet in cross handed grovit in the corner. Bouvet claims upwards to escape and fires a missile dropkick. Both sides tag. Payen gets beaten until he rolls to ringside. He bulldogs/flying headscisssors his opponents, initially botching the scissors on Samurai before he gets the hold. He posts Samurai who posts back but Bouvet leaps up on the top turnbuckle with a flying bodypress for the deciding fall. Much better than the Mercier/ Kamikaze bout, fast as Corne Vs Bayle but less repetitive and with good intelligent reversals and transitions. Samurai and Payen knew their technical wrestling as well as Les Bons did and held their end up well.

Is that him? There were a couple of Old Man Masks in Memphis, one in 1982 who tagged with Kaufman and another in about 1990 in the USWA - called the Bruiser IIRC. To be fair the Exorcist on World of Sport 1974/1975 is hard to reconcile with the nice Clayton Thompson who fought Tony StClair in 1967.

We have seen one bout that was unambiguously Modesto Aledo:

We've seen this unmasked Kamikaze already once against Nicholas Priory. I'll take your word for it that this is Modesto Aledo - what is the evidence other than that Aledo played the original Kamikaze a decade earlier? If it's the real Modesto, and he has simply grown Old, Fat, Bald and Tubby then a lot of people owe a sincere apology to Flesh Gordon! Kamikaze gets down to work with a headlock/strangle similar to the Million Dollar Dream. He spends a lot of time lurching around in a crouching position. He uses pressure points, Mercier uses a ground top wristlock and other slow holds like and Indian Deathlock. can, Kamikaze does turn and bump. Nearly 12 minutes in we look like we're getting something, a toupie to roll up Kami's arm hank, but he keeps keeping over an eventually opts for other tactics. Kamikaze drops two chops on Guy from a height and gets a Second and Final Avertisement. I don't recall him getting the first one. Guy spends a lot of time selling on the mat. He gets three dropkicks in a row. Kamikaze gets a bodycheck and resumes chopping. He is twice in danger of DQ, once from too many chops then from hitting referee Charley Bollet before finally getting sent to the dressing room for leaving Mercier unconscious. Afterwards in a promo Guy says he is a very tough opponent and reminds him of someone he faced in Germany. Slow. (Whreas last night's bout was too fast for the wrestlers to do anything but repeat moves over and over.) None of even the Kamikaze gimmick's trademark tricks like the catapult back in.

One odd thing about the picture. There is a light haze in the background except the outline of figures like the MC at the start which has an aura of black surrounding the. Both men are a lot lighter than later on - food for thought when we consider Flesh Gordon the skinny kid in 1983-1985 to Flesh the chunkier guy on Eurosport.. Apparently this is some sort of title match. It's hard to keep track of which is which so I'll just focus on standout moves. Starts off with far flying throws. Corn has Bayle down in a side headlock, Bayle wedge s out. They flip in back and forth between crossed finger interlock holds. Bayle and Corne both bridge up from rear inverted s. Snapmares - DDP Diamond. Cutter basically. They similarly go into hiptoss flipping over and over countering each other's throw., and that's how it goes on. They also roll backwards from arm lever as well as the more characteristically French headscissor takedown counter to armbars.Even down in Gotch toehold they slide along like a clockwork toy, the man underneath turning the man on top over with one arm then the man in top reaching backward to reclaim the hold. They tend to backrolls rather than flip when doing down from a top,wristlock. A bit of a Manchette contest breaks out 2/3 through but ends as soon as it began, to be replaced by taking quick turns with rear snapmares. Things do slow down with an Indian Death lock which becomes a bodyscissors. Quite a lot of possibilities with the bodyscissors are worked through. Plenty of speed in this bout but not many ideas. Repetitive under analysis but energetic enough to watch in real time. As OJ mentioned, it cuts out mid move so we never see who won although I was having trouble keeping up with who was who. With the ending and with a better ability to keep track of which catcheur was which I could have done this bout more justice.

If the 1994 bouts Sign squad is posting seem top heavy in American talent, somit always was. Here is the future Colonel DeBeers and former Polish Prince in action again local Michael Schneider. We get a brief shot of a Ringerparade then on to our bout. Ed is wearing a big grey cowboy hat just like Adrian Adonis wore in the AWA. Fans give him The Bird. Schneider gets clapped. Schneider gets some throws on Ed after taking one himself. Ed and Mike exchange slams and hiptosses. Ed gets an armbar, develops it into a hammerlock Mike after several goes, backdrops Ed. Angry, he gets a standing side headlock into cross buttock throw into mat side headlock. Mike pushes up so Ed cross buttocks him down again. They roll in the hold. Mike somehow breaks it open (the ref is in the way of the camera) and gets an armbar. Ed can't do rollouts although he adopts the starting position for one. He connects his free hand to Mike's and tries to slip on a semi Japanese Stranglehold. Mike throws him over in the finger lock, down in a seated hold e can't quite see. Ed reaches the ropes. Ed gets a full nelson. (What is that VIEDERKOMPF thing German fans chant at heels? Mike tries throwing him overhead. It takes FIVE attempts before he succeeds. See what I mean about the Laboured, procrastinating style of German/Austrian wrestling before Steve Wright changed things. (See also Mike earlier finally breaking the heädlock.). Wiskoski gets a wristlock and drops toehold into rear chinlock in the mount. Mike stands and switches it into a hammerlock, Ed reaches the ropes. They lock up and Ed gets a couple of blows in as the round ends. Ref and MC tell Ed off a lot, DJ plays a slow boogie woogie song in German. Round 2: Schneider batters Wiskoski into the corner with forearms. Mike posts Ed who comes back with a knee and a jab to the throat. More stomps and illegal punches follow. Then come the rope powered corner stomps which earn Ed a First Yellow Card. (MC translates it as Public Warning for Ed even though he is an American and probably doesn't know what a public warning is.) Ed runs Mike's eyes along the tope rope (nasty foul). Rear snapmare and stomp all one move so allowed. Mike hits back but Ed knees him down. BRAZEN closed fist punch in front of the ref. More foul beat down still only gets Ed a private warning. Mike from nowhere gets a legdive and standing toehold. Ed kicks him in the stomach. He continues to pound down on Mike in the corner. Still no second and final but the MC says something to Wiskoski that makes fans very happy. Kneelift from Ed. He gets Mike down and does a sawing motion to his throat which the referee dislikes and forcibly breaks up. Mike gets a cross buttock press into armbar, Ed replies with a ground dropkick. Bell goes for round. Ed gets a bionic elbow in between rounds. German Euro disco track plays. Round 3: Ed gets a kick and a cross buttock but Mike rolls through (astonishingly for a German) and gets a shove and flurry of forearms while fell Ed, He goes to the corner and begs for mercy but Mike follows in with knees and another forearm which fells Wiskoski. Ed gets a low blow and a red card. Either the low blow was just too much or hecdid get his second and final earlier, perhaps at the end of the last round, and the video didn't quite capture it. Ed isn't satisfied and carries on beating down on Mike. He leaps to ringside, raises his arms in moral victory as if to say he's won the fight if not the decision Nd leaves to a chorus of THE BIRD. Referee helps Mike up and proclaims him winner. Two next guys come to the ring, The Good The Bad and The Ugly theme by Ennio Morricone plays. Not much science and what there was was the slow methodical Old German style. I expect OJ will like the brawling however.

Round 1 JIP: Kate down on the mat with a leglock into legscissor. Splashes the knee as a weakener then goes back to legscissor twice.More leg weakeners and scissor. Blair tries facebarr, avoids splash, posts and entraps Kate, charges her twice. Kate gets loose but is selling her back. Kate plays for time on the ropes. Bell goes. Round 2: Kate uses concealed punch and rope choke. Kate gets armbars, stomps hand, posts Rusty. Tries to punch Rusty's back, distraction for choking her. Knocks her down. Armbar passed overhead and elbowdropped. More blows to fallen Rusty gets Kate a First Public Warning. Kate gets a Boston Crab for the first submission. Round 3: Kate posts Rusty, gets headlock.chrages into Rusty headbutt to chest. Rusty bears her down and out of the ring and slingshots her back in.more kicks. Kate gets an elbow and kick Rusty. Kate corners and chokes her, misses a charge into the corner. Rusty splashed Kate who easily throws her off.Kate gets a concealed punch.Armbar/one arm chinlock combination. Rusty won't submit so Kate high whips her and forces a bump. Bell goes. Round 4 Kate gets Semi Japanese stranglehold. Unwinds and pulls her in for a bodycheck.Posts Rusty. Bashes her while down. Rusty absorbs posting well, comes back with headbutt to chest and flying tackle for an equalising pin. Round 5: Rusty posts, kneesmashes and corners Kate. Posts and concealed punches Kate, ref John Harris is suspicious. Kate gets a chop and drop down into a throttle. Referee stops the contest and DQs Kate, although I'm not sure why. At most a Second And Final Public Warning would have sufficed? Brawling/Rulebreaking heel Vs sympathetic heel match with the odd good wrestling move thrown in.

Sunny teams up (after over a minute's title sequence) reformed character Bernie Wright to face indigo Guajaro and that nice Scottish gentlemen Dave Viking. Two minutes into the clip the bell goes and Sunny and Viking start. Viking mostly dominates until Sunny goes on a tomahawk chop rampage. Both tag. Indio has the early advantage. Annoyingly the cameraman films another cameraman (there is an actual CREW working on this???) .but Bernie eventually rolls and monkey climbs his way back to control. Indio gets a side chancery throw and bodycheck and goes over on a rope run but Bernie (the fans chant for him in a strong German accent - beeeernie!) leapfrogs .Indio and crosspresses him for 2. Both sides tag again. Sunny gets wardsncing, gets a Viking arm, tags Bernie who dropkicks the arm. He goes for a leg but the Scot bashes him down. The heels get Bernie in their corner and wrench a leg each. Twice. Three times. A fourth time. Bernie tags Sunny who chops away on both heels ferociously until Guajaro throws him out. Bernie comes in with dropkicks and restored Hope until the heels get it together to double team him. During this, Indio slams the referee and gets his side DQ'd. Bernie's bits are not as skillful or as entertaining as Saint in the last bout. It was India's heel dirtiness that brought his side down.

Three Brits and a Quebecer. I'm not expecting a Johnny Saint classic. Not after his singles match with Brody. But maybexa few little tricks will be snuck in. Sunny and Brody starts. It's a heavyweight strength hold fest and Sunny works North American anyway. Saint tags in and starts with a flying bodypress and 2 count. He then does the full Russ Abbott/Lady of the Lake sequence on The Colonel. Plenty of young kids like Jordon Breaks today like to copy these two sequences. Befuddled, Body tags Viking. Saint neatlyvreverts a front wristlock on him although a fade cut sadly drives us of the chance to see it all. The German crowd are lapping up Saint's tricks, squealing with delight. SUNY comes back in and Viking gets the heels heat back, beating down on him. It becomes a two way brawl until Brody comes in and dominates. He stomps and posts the faux Native American until tamed enough for Viking to resume. Sunny tries to punch his way out but Viking and Brody double team him. The Scotsman continues to beat down on War Cloud. The villains tag in and out. Viking gets the opening. pin on Sunny. A bad 80s cover of Sweets for my Sweet plays. Bell rings and Viking goes back to work. Sunny scoots through his legs and scores the hot tag. Saint dropkicks both heels out of the ring. Suddenly Brody full Nelson's Saint and Viking punches him. He gets some axehandles in before Saint scoots round to score a folding press equaliser. And there it ends. Possibly the good guys (can't decide if babyface or blue eye is more appropriate) already had a fall in hand. Perhaps the decider followed. It's really not clear. Any clues? Still we got some good bits of Johnny Saint action, not the drubbing Brody gave him solo.

The rematch is at a more conventional venue, the Cirque d'Hiver. Big Tough Martial is the ref. Manneuvaux and Bayle start off, crisscrossing, Manneuvaux has a fine flying tackle, Baylecsome nifty snapmares. The second time MM tries his flyer he is caught and slammed and really sells it. Gessat tags in and the pace keeps up.until they lock down into a 2 way front chancery log roll. Gessat and Aubriot both have fine headscissors. The commentator tries to interview Manneuvaux on the apron but MM Ignores him. Manneuvaux gradually breaks out the dirties. He and Gessat try to double team Bayle but Martial gets stuck in. The BNs continue their double teaming ways despite Martial's best efforts. Aubriot is thrown to ringside but Bayle rescues him. Bayle undresses a Manneuvaux full nelson and gets a ground dropkick in. He has Manneuvaux in trouble on the ropes and is warned off by Martial. Baylecsome the headscissor takedown in response to a top wristlock. Les Bloussons double cream Bayle again. Manneuvaux has a Gotch toehold but doesn't get the behind leg synched into the depth of the rear of the knee.After getting choked on the ropes, Bayle goes to work then tags Aubriot on the second attempt gets a Surfboard. Manneuvaux gets the opening fall with a further leg nelson folding press (the small package to you Americans) on Aubriot for the opening fall. The BNs work over Aubriot with foul and fair tactics. At one point Manneuvaux gets an eyerake into chinlock and has his own scalp badly yanked by Martial. Manneuvaux argues bitterly about it. Aubriot puts up a strong if close to the edge of the rules performance on both BNs.The commentator calls stamps on the mat "un Petit coup" Manneuvaux comes to Gessat's aid and gets a thorough pasting from Martial on the ropes. The heels heat continues - Gessat has a fine Planchette Japonaise for a Mechant. Aubriot gets two Scisseax Volees and a Tourniquet (giant swing) and cross press for the equaliser. All four brawl their way into the interval until Martial gets calm. Les Mechants get back to work as the bell goes for la Belle. The end comes when Aubriot drapes Manneuvaux over the corner and tags Bayle who press slams drops and splashes Manneuvaux (like the Ultimate Warrior only a front not back drop.) for the deciding pin. Cut back to the studio and a female presenter gives a continuity announcement. More of the same as the Maison De La Radio bout 3 months earlier. Fast more than skilfull, plenty of interesting nuggets but best not give a blow by blow account ss they would be harder to sift out.

Would you believe it was the start of May that we last did some New Catch? Zefy in his prime taking on a Japanese young boy learning to work heel. He's not quite the Tokyo Street Thug heel Hiro Yamamoto was on CWA shows a couple of years later. Takayaki uses stiff kicks and suchlike and his technical and flying skills are not up to Zefy's level but it's an enjoyable action piece enough. We join in progress as Zefy has an armbar. Takayaki backs him in the ropes until L'Arbitre Charley "Brother of Andre" Bollet warns him off, knees him a few times and gets a side chancery throw into headlock ("Etrangelment" the commentators over dramatically call it). Zefy breaks it into an armbar into cross buttock throw. Takayaki gets a leg and standing toehold, drops his weight on the knee to make a leglock. Zefy gets a chinlock on in response but releases as the Japanese tightend the pressure. He goes back to standing toehold and Zefy turns him over with almost a toupie (he doesn't quite go up on his skull). They finger Interlock and Takayaki gets three kicks and a slam. He tries and fails to get the pin with the finger interlock. Zefy bridges up (Hideous and unnecessary zoom in on crotch) resists his man's break attempts and and does the Planchette Japonaise on Le Japonaise.to a great pop. They reset and come off the ropes. On the first pass Zefy absorbs an elbow, on thecsecond he drops down underneath, on the third he leapfrogs over and gets a bodyslam and press for 2. We get a slo-mo of some action- yes it was almost a toupie but Zefy's elbows took some of the load. NOT THAT BLOODY CROTCH SHOT AGAIN! Sheesh. Back to the present, Takayaki gets a cross buttock into side heädlock on the mat. Zefy starts to stand up so Takayaki switches to front then side chancery throw and crosspress for 2. Takayaki gets a wristlever, passes it overhead and lands weakener elbows on the upper arm. Zefy gets his arm free and grabs a side headlock. He comes off the ropes but Takahashi resists a bulldog and scores a fine cross buttock throw on the rebound. The Japanese and Zefy's female valet have a disagreement - this will build to something. He whips Zefybwho switches arms and throws his man. Next a flying headscissors and dropkick. Valet looks happy. More replay. Zefy gets a headlock, Takayaki blast a couple of blows and slams his head in the corner with the pad off. Bollet tells him off. Takayaki gets some stomps on the fallen Prince Two more kicks floor Zefy. Not sure if Takayaki gets un Avertisement at this point. He does get a suplex and 2 count. More slo-mo. The Japanese slams Zefy and gets a Scorpion death lock on (Sting has popularised the move in the West but not yet Bret Hart. Mostly I think he was channeling Masa Chono. Crowd shot, a good full house with raucous kids. Les Gosses Francais Aiment le catch. bien Sur. Zefy crawls to the ropes, Bollet demands the break. Takayaki complies but then drops a guillotine elbowsmash angering Bollet. Side suplex and folder gets only 2. Takayaki tries a Camel Clutch.How much American Wrestling does this guy watch? He sneers and we see he mis missing a tooth, useful for a heel. Zefy too by the looks of it, he backs his man into the corner like Hogan at MSG January 1984. Takayaki switches to sleeper at the last second but it doesn't help. More slo-mo. In a corner, Takayaki gets a kick and Zefy some butts to the chest. Zefy gets a neat side Chancery throw and un Manchette. The valet is up on the apron doing a Paul Butin. Zefy fires a dropkick, two Manchettes and accepts one back.On the ropes, Iisuki fends Zefy off with a kick. He comes off tecropes with a bodycheck, flooring the Prince. He gets a second one and a fantastic spinning kick. A crosspress gets only 2. He gets a slam and missile dropkick, shoving the valet out the way as he goes. A rear waistlock suplex and bridge gets 2. Crowd is chanting for Zefy. He gets a powerslam for 2. Iisuki is on the wrong end of Two Manchettes and a head smashed into that same exposed turnbuckle no one has fixed in minutes. Zefy gets a posting but is met with a kick to the head. Iisuki gets a flying bodypress but Zefy rolls it over for 2. He backdrops his man out of the ring. The scantily clad valet (the Princess?) and Iisuki gets into a shoving match at ringside. He gets back on the ring apron and Zefy suplexes him in for 2. A forward powerslam and Superfly splash gets Zefy the winner. And CUT. We don't get to see the postmatch "afterbirth" if there was one. The file is labelled 3 so there may well be two earlier parts. Iisuki had some good moves but much to learn in terms of heel psychology. Zefy was on good form and the star of the piece.

@JNLister Was wondering if you know the chronology of Klondyke Kate and Naughty Nicky Monroe's kayfabe relationship? I know that they were a heel tag team together at the Royal Albert Hall in 1987 then they fell out and Nicki became a blue eye and Kate beat her for the vacant British Ladies championship on the BBC2 Raging Belles docu and injured her and a couple of years later Nicki came back and won the title and then by 1995 Klondyke Kate and Naughty Nicky were heel tag partners once again. But here in 1985 they seem to be enemies with Nicky on the good girls' side. To further complicate matters Kate and Rusty, tag partners here, had a bout on Reslo around this time. I would ask Mrs Nicola South or Jayne Porter but do not expect a helpful answer from either so shan't bother. Okay, the singles bout first. Round 1 JIP: Rusty is working on a leg. Releases and retakes the limb but Rusty refuses to submit. They Bascule back and forth with the leglock still on. Nicky gets a legspread and knocks Rusty down. Rusty goes for straight arm lift attempt, whips and forces a bump, switches to ground top wristlock, goes up for another high whip and bump then down again, Nicky gets headscissors, twists forward, Rusty gets the ropes and the bell goes. Round 2: Rusty gets a standing full nelson. And the odd hair grab too. Nicky reverses, Rusty drops and backs through Monroe's legs and gets rear double leg takedown. She uses headbutts to Nicky's behind to stop her sitting up. Nicky turns the whole thing over and gets a double arm stretch. Rusty tries to use her feet to bait Nicky, this nearly backfires when Nicky gets the folding press but Rusty crawls out at 1. Rusty gets a headbutt then goes dirty with a bottom rope choke held with a boot. She then chokes on the top rope opposite then catapults her down on the mat. No count due to fouling. Rusty gets an elbow to the back of the neck and a stomp to follow. She gets a side chancery, some hair and a concealed punch, one of these three is not a foul! Rusty stomps on. She headbutts Nicky down but the referee stops the count when he sees Rusty standing on Nicky's hair. Nicky gets a bearhug but Rusty concealed punches out. Bell goes but Rusty continues and gets a public warning. Round 3: Rusty gets another concealed fist to down Nicky. She gets two rolling suplexes and a crosspress for a 1 count. Nicky gets her own concealed punch and referee John Harris (later briefly the English commentator on New Catch before Orig took over.) is suspicious and argues with her. Nicky posts Rusty, hooks her up in the corner and gets three blatant punches and a public warning of her own. Very naughty of Naughty Nicky. Harris stops Nicky attacking the downed Rusty in the corner. Comedy spot - Rusty leans on the ropes to complain about hairpulling, Nicky boots her in the behind, flooring her. Rusty posts Nicky and gets in a stomp too - just permissible as continuous movement. She axehandles the bass of Nicky's spine which is not thus allowed. She collars Nicky getting up and elbowsmashes said base of spine. She slams Nicky's head in the corner. She slams and double kneepresses Nicky for three 2s. She front Chanceries Nicky on the ref's side and gets a concealed fist on the other side. Rusty gets double rear arms (surfboard component.) Bell goes but Rusty will not release, Harris prises her off. Round 4, Rusty gets a posting and lifts Nicky by the hair and headbutts her way to a Second And Final Public Warning. She cruises for a DQ by standing on the bottom rope on Nicky's bicep. She posts Nicky but Monroe gets behind for a folding press and the one required fall. Not bad, some good if not sparkling technical work early in the bout, more dirty wrestling later on. Nicky seemed to be quite happy to use dirty tactics herself. That and the Naughty nickname suggests she was already an accomplished heel. Now for the tag match: Kate comes out looking young and vicious like Kathy Burke in Sid & Nancy. She is introduced from Canada (not Stoke on Trent!). Nicky gets a big pop. She and Kate have matching red outfits like they've already been tag teaming. Tina is blond and looks like a weather girl Like Mitzi she's the big sister for the kiddy audience. Rusty punches and throws Tina who cartwheels out twice. Tina and Rusty exchange headbutts and punches. Rusty slings and rather crappily throws Tina who lands feet first then slumps in the corner. Tina leapfrogs Rusty, gets double legs and a folding press. Kate tries to intervene but arrives too late. Rusty takes Tina down with pressure points. Tina powers up, shoves Rusty away. The heels choke Tina on the top rope. Rusty headlocks Tina while Kate elbowsmashes her, Nicky hauls Rusty off. Posts and blasts Rusty in the back. Kate holds Nicky while Rusty gets concealed punches. She gets a public warning. Undeterred she Full Nelsons Nicky holding her for two Kate bodychecks. On the third, Nicky dodges and the heels collide. Blue eyes posts heels into each other. Heels try it but good girls switch round and headbutt the heels. Rusty gets Nicky in a headlock into front chancery. Concealed punch and boot. Finally Kate tags in! She headbutts Nicky down and gets a public warning. Nicky concealed punches (retaliation?) slings, boots and fells Kate. A double axehandle follow down gets a private warning from Harris. Nicky posts Kate, hooks her up in the corner and concealed punches her twice, finally she took has a Public Warning, only that nice Tina Starr lass has none. Harris demands Kate be disentangled, the blueceyes comply but cause her to drop on her behind in the process. Kate's illegal punch is not concealed as such -;Harris is inside and reprimands Kate thoroughly. Tina tags in, the heels get to work on her. With a slingshot and double clothesline. They do it again. Kate slams and double knees Tina for the equalising fall.But Kate also gets that Second And Final Public Warning. She and Rusty cuss out the kids at ringside. Kate offers a handshake. Tina is suckered in and Kate pounds her on the ropes. Rusty tags in, ragdolls Tina and chokes her on the ropes. Tina falls out and Rusty gets a Second And Final Public Warning. One more PW to either heel and they are DQd. Nicky and an old lady help Tina back. Rusty elbowdrops Tina who gets a concealed punch of her own (a girl can't be good forever) and tags Nicky. She pounds Rusty but Kate grabs her hair while the referee counts Rusty. Kate argued about this with Harris while Rusty illegally punches Nicky. Rusty gets a posting and one stomp. Nicky reverses the next posting. Kate tags, headlocks and concealed punches Nicky. She takes an armbar over her head and a nibble on Nicky's hand. She gets double rear arms on Nicky who flips out and ground dropkicks Kate in the torso. Kate fires back in kind but misses a splash. Nicky cross presses her for the decider. More rough and tumble, less science than the singles bout (Tina's opening folding press was great though.). Fair play to the kids in the audience for non discrimination - they just treated it the same as a men's bout, an idea American women's wrestling is struggling to come to terms with right now with a hist society unreceptive to such ideas.

Possibly Billy Robinson brought the roll on the mat (the signature British move) to Japan. Other WCW people like Bagwell and Badd could only possibly have learned from Regal so he could work with them more easily. I was watching the OSW vlog on the 1988 Royal Rumble from a decade ago and they were complaining that the Steamboat- Rude bout that night was boring because it was just continuous armbars. (See from 3:58 onwards below) To me as a fan brought up on British Wrestling it does stand out like a sore thumb that in the American style nothing gets done about an armbar, people just stand there selling it!

Alessio has that one on the Date Unknown playlist on his channel. Was (is?) this Maison De La Radio place a TV studio? If so it was a very large one. It looks like I said like a cinema. TV studios in the UK in those days were not big Hollywood sound stages, they were poky little rooms much like the places they did all those Southern US studio wrestling shows, if anything even smaller. If they set up a ring in the studio ATV used for Tiswas (Broad Street in Birmingham) it would look just like an episode of the Poffos' ICW circa 1980. In Germany, with the show where Bock wrestled the bear, the only giveaway that it wasn't a Southern US studio wrestling show was the fancy stylish set design beyond the budget of genuine American studio wrestling. This Maison place on the other hand has a giant theatre sized seating rostrum, a big blank wall suitable for projecting films and theatre/cinema curtains hanging open either side. In short it looks to me like a cinema even if it officially wasn't one. There was a rematch between the four a few months later. I've been considering doing a review but I'd been meaning to do that 2007 Mickey Trash bout for longer so that got priority.

Bit of a build up the Villain piece here. Mickey Trash was a common early C21st opponent of Flesh Gordon. Two tall bodybuilding face painted cyberpunk Mechants. Miserio is a luchador with a depressive condition, tragedy masks on his mask and an action man figure of himse of. Emil is a not very interesting Italian. Les Mechants beat down on Les Bons, Les Bons get a hope run, Ls Mechants get their heat back when Michel drags Emil out by the leg getting an Avertisement for his team. Mickey does big power moves on the masked man in yellow. He fights back with some bi modern soot moves on both heels until Trash gets him with a released blockbuster suplex. Soon Miserio is the one selling the big spots. The heels get another Avertisement for double teaming but under IWSF rules at this time they could go up to 5 until DQ. Miserio dodges a charge from Michel, headscissors him and tags Emil. He does out dropkicks and armdrags. Mickey ends up ringside going nose to nose with a fan. The villains get their dominance back until Miserio goes on a jackknife spree. It's back and forth until Mierio misses a diving summersault splash. Michel pins him to win .

Still a bigger venue than Techwood Drive. That back wall still looks like a movie screen. Maybe stuff was indeed projected into it.

Yamamoto the sour faced Heel Kid of Japanese young boys. Scorpio thecex luchador turned student of WCW World Champion Ron Simmons, like Ice Train abandoned when his mentor took the Dark Patch and like him also ending up in the German speaking world when WCW lost interest in Simmons and his trainees. Hiro has a Kabuki makeup and comes to the ring to the Shamen's Move Any Mountain. Scorpio to his old WCW music. Two pieces of early 90s kitsch. Skaggs does his old dive over the top rope into the ring. He can already dance to match Watts, Taylor and Wright (A). Scorpio must be another WCW midcarder who Steve Regal taught British chain wrestling to. At first I thought it was just the crummy limited style WCW used to dress up mostly WWF ISH bouts as being technical but 2cold has the mat roll and kip up down right to break out big from the standing arm reversals. A clean break on the ropes gets a very British polite clap - so Germans do that too? Just as I was hoping for a clean match, Hiro gets a bit brawly leading to an atomic drop and 7 count. It's more American chops and brawling and bodychecks.with the odd folding press for 2. Yamamoto gets thrown out of the ring. They brawl outside and throw each other on tables. Bloody ECW, I say. Yamamoto puts his knees up to avoid a Scorpio backflip splash. There's a headlock from Hiro but it just goes on and was clearly an American style crest hold, not a British style link in a chain sequence. Yamamoto gets a yellow card. He also gets a Boston Crab but let's go for no good reason. We then get various big WCW Cruiserweight spots including misses and hit for 2 high flyers including moonsaults from both. It culminates in Hiro getting thecwun with a German suplex. Started off very promisingly, still a decent WCW match later on, very Clash Of The Champions fodder for 1993 before the Yellow And Red Reich pushed out the likes of 2 Cold Scorpio and gave Brutus Beefcake PPV main event World title shots - like the CWA had already done nearly 11 years before.

Memo to @JNLister - What source was this recording? It looks like it might be a colour kinescope. 1974 was one year too early fa U-Matic home VCR. Twenty years before The Legend Of Doom. South was more of an Old Anderson tribute. Hd has hair - lots of it. And handlebar whiskers. Round 1: South gets an arm around, Steele looks to roll out so South puts in an arm to go over so he has to take the bump. South keeps the arm but Steele links with the other arm to get behind and form a hammerlock. He gets a frin chancery but South spins him out but Steele rolls nicely and up. Steele gets a side headlock, south straightens it to a wristlever, Steele turns it the rest round and back to front chancery but South works the same escape. So again South rolls to upright on the mat. South gets a side headlock into side chancery throw into seated front chinlock. Steele escapes front behind with a wristlever into hammerlock. Johnny tries a run out but is driven to the mat. Steele holds the hammerlock with a knee and adds an underarm armbar, eventually holding it in place on the mat with the other knee. South bridges to avoid a pin. Steele tries getting the shoulders down but South pulls up with the finger Interlock and they are both grappling from collar and elbow. South gets a front chancery on Steele. Ray gets the arm into a rear armbar, hammerlock on the mat and final arm weakener. He gets Arn armbars, passes it overhead twice and forces a hard bump. South swivels round on his head and rolls out and away. South gets a legdive and seated leglock, Steele gets the chin. South keeps the leg but breaks the chin hold and starts working on one leg while Ray annoys him with the other foot. Steele gets the chin back and pulls it into a further nelson, South bridges and tries to roll out. Steele gives up and they reset. South gets armbars into hammerlock with bar. Bell goes, they shake hands. Kent Walton refers back to Steele's June 70 debut with Leon Arras and says he could one day be a champion (He was British Heavyweight champion forca while although this was a disputed Joint/ITV branch against Tony StClair's version recognised on Reslo and All Star shows except on ITV). Round 2. Steele gets a side chancery, South forces him all the way to the opposite ropes. Steele gets a "Headlock and Strangle" (sleeper). South goes down and Steele arjusts to side headlock. South gets a face bar from underneath. Two way holds. Steele breaks South's holds, South tries to regain but referee Ernie Baldwin is unhappy with where South's hand is and throws it away. Steele leans down in the side headlock and turns it into a front chancery. South straightens the arm into a wristlock and starts rising. Steele tries to reach round to reapply to Headlock. He gets the sleeper but South reaches up for Ray's neck and gets a kneeling rear snapmare out of the sleeper and keeping an arm held by his knee to work on. He scissors the wrist. South gets nastier repeatedly elbowing Steele in the ribs (and saying "Boom!" each time LOL! ) Steele gets a one handed chinlock. South continues to both elbow the ribs and hold the other arm. Steele hooks the elbowing arm with his other leg and gets a further nelson but it goes into the corner where Baldwin has to separate them. South gets an Indian Death Lock and continues to hammer away with the elbow. Steele has enough, sits up and gets a front into side chancery then pulls a leg free from the leglock. He gets a crossface, frees his other leg and switches to sleeper, a brief crosspress, sleeper again then standing side chancery. South hammers away but Steele keeps the hold before finishing with a kneelift. South gets a headlock and pushes Ray into the top rope, he is turning heel. Steele gets a front chancery and a heel of hand blow, forearm and back elbow. He gets a side chancery throw and a chinlock that looks like fishooking in the mouth. He gets and elbow in on the bell. Baldwin has to order them apart. Walton profiles South, mentions him wrestling for The Opposition (Paul Lincoln?) Round 3. South kick Steele in the legs, he is angry. Steele gets a side headlock, crois buttock into another side headlock plus short armscissor. South pulls down on the head and Ray focuses on the heädlock. South slips out behind in the seated position, gets figure 4 headscissors. Steele turns into the guard, pulls the scissors loose and gets his head out. He gets a single toehold, South gets a side headlock. South breaks the toehold and gets a sleeper of his own. Steele fires him off the ropes and leg trips him into the Gotch toehold. He reverts to the single toehold and drops weakeners on the lower knee. He tries to add a chinlock South clips out and gets a crossface while still in the toehold. Steele switches to over neck leglock to full Boston Crab. South gets the ropes and an angry Steele stomps him. South in retaliation gets in a concealed closed closed fist punch but no Public Warning, possibly as it was retaliation for the stomp in Baldwin's mind. South gets two postings and a snapmare, slingshot to the ropes and three forearm smashes. He whips again but Steele gets in behind forca side folding press. After a couple of 2s, Steele slides towards direct shoulder press. South gets an armscissor and wristlever They pull apart and Steele gets the knee on the bell. Round 4 South gets a posting but Steele double kicks him as he follows in. They have a finger lock test of strength then Steele gets an arm force high whip but South collars him to block this. Steele takes the wrist downstairs but South kneels him in the back and smashes him in the face. South throws Steele off the ropes and Ray takes a heavy bump. South gets a far distant side chancery throw. Another throw and rebound produces a bodycheck which floors both men. They hits the ropes again, South dives under as Steel leaps over him, catches him with a cross buttock throw for 2 and a kneelift. Rope run again and Steele gets a reverse waistlock slam (not a piledriver as Kent incorrectly claims) and double knees for 2. He switches to double arm stretch. South turns upright until bowing over Steele, gets in stomps, a brief double knee, an armbar from in front, shoulderblock and high whip forcing Steele to take a bump. A stomp to the ribs finally earns himself a Public Warning He is now clearly working villain as Rasputin charmingly called it in that clip with Dave Finlay Senior. Steele gets two uppercuts and a knee. He gets a legdive while South takes a wrist. , gets his man down and applies armscissors. He tries to crank the arm but it's not effective as it goes with the joint not against, as Kent Walton notes. South loosens the arm, kneedrops it, contemplates a straight arm lift , bashes away with a body check or two, high whips Steele to force a bump and STILL he has the hold. Steele gets himself free with a series of forearms which draw juice. He gets a Rick Rude style Rude Awakening for 5, a dropkick for 7 and the Aeroplane spin and double knees for the double knees and required fall. Despite the needle they shakes hands and both receive a polite clap. Despite the needle, South experimentation with his future heel self and the odd bit of brawling it was mostly a good intelligent technical match. I'm glad to read that by 2014 OJ was developing a taste for bouts like these.