David Mantell

Gary Welsh had another match in France. Unfortunately it was teaming with fellow youngster the Young .Wiganner against North American monsters Double Trouble (Rick Crawford and Carl "Quebecer Pierre" Wallace. I suspect a squash ... And so far I'm right. It looks like Demolition Vs enhancement talent b circa 1988. Lots of bodychecks and. Gary stays tagged in for most of the match, Wiganner gets in a tiny bit offence with about two dropkicks. The rest of the match is five minutes of bodychecks and double teaming, culminating in a Bulldogs style slamming ones own partner atop the opponent for the pin.

Ted Betley did, in fact, have another student even after John Hindley (John Savage/ Johnny Smith). May I introduce you to Chris Cougar aka the Karate Kid. Here, like Andy Blair before him, he gets a shot at British Light Heavyweight Champion Alan Kilby. Earlier that year, Kilby briefly lost the title to King Ben who was on a hot streak after beating his own son Kid McCoy for the Golden Grappler trophy. The hot streak didn't last, Alan won the 90 day contractual return match and now here he is defending as a two time champion. He would eventually make it to five reigns. Round 1: Alan gets the first wristlever but Chris rolls out nicely. He fires back with a side chancery throw but Alan in turn rolls nicely out of that. Alan gets a single interlock and drags Chris down into the guard. Cougar kips up but fails to go with Alan's high whip and sells his arm over it. He gets another armlever and holds it with the body to get a half crossface. He goes back to the armlever but Kilby rolls out and forces a high whip and bump on the Kid. (Betley did go for his Kid names- Wonderkid, Dynamite Kid, Karate Kid.) Kilby gets a legdive into seated rear leglock, Cougar gets back his crossface, almost a Gator hold. Both men have a hold. Cougar changes tack, pulls the champion over and smashes him with his heel. Kilby gets a cross buttock throw but Cougar responds with a headscissors. Kilby turns the scissors upright and easily extracts his head. Cougar quickly gets on a side headlock but Kilby opens it into a top wristlock and armdrags Cougar down on it. Kilby gets a side chancery throw into chinlock but Cougar makes a wristlever of the facebar. He gets in a couple of arm weakeners as payback for the whip with which he failed to go, before the bell goes. Round 2: Kilby gets a single leg and toehold into Indian Deathlock. Cougar tries forearm smashing out (apparently some fans think this is a punch and give him heat) but Kilby absorbs the blows and releases the hold eventually. Cougar gets a side chancery into H&S. Kilby lifts him into a Fireman's carry and places him on the corner. Cougar offers a finger Interlock but changes at the bast moment to chops and karate kicks, including a powerful one on the rebound from the ropes. Kilby gets a butt to the stomach and posting. Cougar absorbs the latter well but then Alan superkicks him. The champion gets a bodyslam and crosspress for the opening fall. Cut to Round 4: They lock up and Kilby gets a kneelift, side chancery throw and Legdrop of Doom, another side chancery throw, a bodycheck, a posting and a third side chancery but is then caught by Cougar in a reverse waistlock into powerslam for the equalising fall! 56 seconds! Cut to Round 6: Chris lives up to his Karate Kid name with a straight fingers jab to the throat almost like that of Kendo Nagasaki. Another chop on the ropes run fells Kilby at the knees. He gets an elbow to the back of the neck and a chop to the front of it. Kilby responds with a chop of his own and a big backdrop that has Cougar writhing in bad pain. This ends the contest as referee Jeff Kaye stops the bout right then and there and awards the contest and championship & belt on a TKO to Kilby. Kilby wants to make it a no contest but this can't be done in a title match, so TKO win it is. Kilby does however offer Cougar another title shot but this was two months before The Final Bell so if it happened, it wasn't on TV. Cougar certainly never won the championship or AFAIK any Mountevans title. A good veteran Vs youngster title match, Cougar,. He did slightly over re Cougar was a bit too reliant on his karat3 unlike Andy Blair getting a consolation fall. Cougar did rely a bit too much on his Karate skills for my taste (and that of some audience) but he certainly had the speed.

OK here goes. First up though, the theme music Simply Irresistible, originally the ring entrance music for white meat babyface Jeff Jarrett in that other CWA and in the USWA around this time. There are dining tables on the hard cam side and sounds of plates being scraped throughout. Round 1 gets down to business with a bunch of cross buttock presses, mostly by Wright. Bernie gets a toe and ankle hold. Markus throws him with his feet but Bernie cartwheels out with ease. Bernie gets a Headlock into side Chancery throw and crosspress for 2. He is pressed off and nearly lands on Didi who is not amused. Bernie tries the full nelson into snapmare into crosspress, again narrowly missing Didi. Bernie gets a side chancery, Markus resists the throw but Wright gets it and the 2 in the end Wright gets a double legdive and tums Markus over into a reverse double leg nelson, almost a folding for 2. He gets a side bodyscissors, turning his man over for a couple more 2 counts then sliding him forward off a bridge for another one. Markus tries bridging back for a fall but the bell goes. Round 2 and Bernie gets a full nelson. Throwing him off doesn't work. Markus gets his escape by some means we can't see as Bernie is in the way. Bernie lands a forearm smash and a lunge to Bucholz's stomach, then two more forearm smashes. Markus gets a snapmare into guillotine elbowsmash. Bernie gets a drop toehold and a sideways on surfboard, releasing after Markus had resisted long enough. He posts Markus and delivers an over the knee backbreaker. a snapmare into chinlock. Markus breaks open the chinlock into a wrist lever but Wright rolls back and forth. He cartwheels and somersaults in the lever before monkey climbing his man. But Markus still has the wrist, so Bernie kips up, unpicks the arm with his foot, snapmares and lengthwise covers Markus who bridges out, so Bernie snapmares Markus who again bridges out. They log roll in stalemate. Didi leaps over them but trips as they reverse direction. It winds up with Bernie in a bridge over Didi. The bell goes Round 3: They are running back and forth. Bernie gets a cross buttocks throw and press for 2. He gets a wristlever, Markus rolls out and gets Bernie's arm, dragging him down to the guard with a top wristlock. Bernie kips up but Markus drags him down. He kips up again, turns on a front wristlock into the armbar and rolls forwards, cartwheels back and forth and snapmares Markus. Bernie gets a semi Japanese Stranglehold, unrolls it and bodychecks Bucholz. He gets another armbar and smashes an elbow or two and some knees right in the joint. He flattens Markus into a hammerlock flat in the mount. He continues the hammerlock as Markus tries to find an escape, in the end Bernie releases the younger man who is still selling his shoulder. They finger Interlock and from there, Bernie picks off one side wi gets another hammerlock with bar and a high whip, forcing a somersault into bump, then follows with a long distance armdrag. The bell saves Bucholz. Round 4. They finger Interlock, Bernie picks off one side and scores a lean back dropkick. He forces a gentle bump with a whip and puts on a short arm scissors. He holds for some time, getting the odd 2 count until trying to armdrag and nearly getting caught in a folding press but pushing his man off into another short arm scissors and rolling him in the hold a good few times. He turns himself again into the folding press position but Markus lifts him in a human glove (I have seen this done with midget wrestler Mark "Little Legs" Sealy before but not a fully grown opponent!) Markus eventually dumps Bernie hard on the mat. Bernie congratulates him for this power move. Bernie gets a side headlock throws his man to the ropes and bodychecks him on the rebound. Marcus gets in a couple of good armdrags and side chancery throws before Wright gets a monkey climb but Bucholz lands feet first and they both fire a dropkick at the same time, both crash landing as the bell goes. The crowd gives standing ovation. Round 5. Markus gets the upper hand from the initial lockup, slings Bernie in the ropes and backdrops him with Bernie taking quite a bump. Markus gets in two postings. He overpowers Bernie in a finger Interlock and forces him down but Bernie bridges as he hits the canvas and Markus tries to overload the bridge but Bernie can take the weight and slip in a monkey climb underneath. He rolls back into a double kneepress but Markus turns him over into a double leg nelson. It reverses back and forward with Markus getting a 2 on a folding press. Markus gets a side headlock and runs the ropes, trying for a bodycheck but coming out the worst for it. Bernie side chancery throws Bucholz but as they run the ropes, Markus ducks under then leapfrogs over then cross buttock throws Bernie and presses him for 2. Bernie gets a side headlock and climbs the ropes and flips backwards like Kid McCoy's Yorkshire Rope Trick, lands in a position to go for the double leg nelson but Bucholz reverses it so Bernie turns it into a folding press held with a bridge for the one required pinfall. Perhaps I was a bit too harsh on Markus Bucholz - he does do a couple of interesting moves, the human glove (great power move especially with a full sized opponent) and one decent rollout of an armbar plus keeping yup with back and forth folding press attempts a few times. Most of this bout however was Bernie Wright and he carried the show. Bernie was as talented as brother Steve, he just didn't spend as much time in the territory as Steve did so had less opportunity to be the key influence.

Now compare Markus Bucholz's performance in that 1991 bout with Michael Kovacs in this bout eight years later against Jason Cross - one of The Three Js in the mid 90s along with James Mason and Justin Hansford. Cross was the European Middleweight Champion (still is, but he gets angry if you point this out) Kovacs comes up with as many interesting ideas as Jason and they both wrestle a very Kent Walton friendly bout.

I was recommended this match over on the French thread by @Jetlag I enjoyed this match and will come back at some stage to do a blow by blow account as there's enough interesting detail here to warrant it. The thing is, it's mostly Bernie who is doing all the interesting stuff in this match, most of the creative attacking moves and definitely all of the escapes/reversals. Yes, Bernie can do all this stuff as well as Steve. The difference with Steve from Bernie or. as I said, Caswell Martin or Tony StClair is that Steve was based in the Germany/Austria territory full time (enough time for the British fans in 1986 to see evil goose stepping German heel Bull Blitzer and fail to recognise him as that nice kid who challenged Brian Maxine 14 years earlier) and thus had a more consistent influence on the German scene. Bernie, Tony and Cas were visitors whose visits had more fleeting Impact on the overall development of German/Austrian Catch. Markus doesn't really open my eyes in this match. He reminds me of Khader Hassouni in Britain 1977 challenging Johnny Saint -able to keep his end up but not really producing anything eye opening to contribute to the bout to the point where it becomes a one man show for Saint like this is for Bernie. There's also the little matter of referee Didier"Didi" Gapp doing his comedy turn as a miserable petty official which unfortunately Germans thought was hilarious.

(Will review Bernie Wright Vs Markus Buchholz on the German Catch thread. I suggest discussion of that match continue over there.)

Most of all these channels' signal reach seems to be inside France. Télé Monte Carlo especially smacks of its true remit having been a glorified private sector competitor to (O)RTF, broadcasting into France from bordering Francophone territory. Most of the French b/w films prior to INA's launch in 1975 appear to have been brought in in bulk from ORTF's overseas sales department. If we only knew what arrangements INA made for ongoing 819 line b/w content on TF1 once it was launched, we might be able to track down that 1975 Johnny Saint match. If TMC and the Luxembourg and Romardy channels were just screening French TV footage, they could have acquired kinescopes from the same overseas sales department that generated the prints the INA now hold. If so, most likely they all used one print per broadcast and bicycled each print between them.(as we discussed a couple of years ago, this was how overseas TV sales worked back then) Well done on contacting the archives @Jetlag. Has anyone been able to track down that full Roland Bock documentary from which the mid/late 70s 16mm colour clips come? They're all watermarked SWR which apparently is this station: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Südwestrundfunk

Dieter could fly about but he didn't do the specifically British stuff (rolling or cartwheeling or sometimes something even more clever, to untwist an armbar) that all the young kids in the 90s did. Scisseaux Volees, particularly as a counter to an armbar, was more of a French thing anyway (in Britain people would try it and get thrown off.) Dieter did definitely go for the old German thing of exploring every single option for getting out of a hold, one by one, and the last one he tried was the one that worked. Which (to get back in topic) appears to be the preferred style of Ms Leo Dewerdt of Belgium.

Was going to bump this up to provide context but can't find my original post so will post this anew. I think it's still Didi refereeing this one and he does gomin the water. I think they make reference to the Borne Vs Leo match at 21:00.

This really belongs on the Germany thread but 1) He moved over to Germany full time so spent more time there than say Tony StClair or Caswell Martin. 2) He has done a lot of training work there. 3) There is clearly some sort of before/after aspect between generations, regardless of whether Steve is the cause, between the style of Axel Dieter Senior/Achim Chall/Roland Bock/Gunther Wagner and the style of Alex Wright/Ulf Hermann/Ecki Eckstein/Michael Kovacs. In the context of Britain, Steve Wright was just another Ted Betley apprentice just like brother Bernie, both Bulldogs and Johnny Smith. But someone Betleyfied 90s German Catch and he seems the likely suspect.

... Okay, how about this? Jean Phillipe de Lonzac, fine specimen of the New Catch generation takes on a veteran from Antenne 2, Elliot Frederico Le Rocky Du Ring.. Rocker gets the best of a top wristlock battle, throwing JP around. De L gets revenge, vaulting over and knocking the grim one off his Rocker. He uses a splash on the bigger man! Rocker gets aside chancery throw into mat side headlock, coming out only to shouldeblock JP down. He gets the headlock again but JP pulls his head out to make a hammerlock then gets a headlock of his own. He cartwheels over Rocker's drop-down and gets an armbar.Rocker begs for mercy to slow things down. De L headlocks him and h3 tries a rope break and gets stuck in the ropes. De L snapmares and flying bodyscissors and dropkicks him twice. We cut to Rocker getting his heat back with chops and axehandles and illegal hairpulls and punches and stomps on a fallen opponent and a headbutt. He uncovers a corner and posts JP into the bare hooks. He does the same in the opposite corner and gets an Avertisement. He gets pressure points, knocks out de L's knees and Manchettes him. He continues the illegal attacks on his fallen opponent (and a young kid too, to add to the heat), picks up JP and clotheslines him down. Rocker suplexes the youngster and splashes him for the pin.And boy are the Les Pieux crowd angry. In Britain they tender to send kids as lambs to the slaughter to bigger heels in catchweight bouts like this - Fit Finlay and Danny Collins' first bout in 1986 springs to mind. We've got a similar deal here.

Not just any old swimming pool either. It's the very same pool where the Mercier Brothers faced Albert Sanniez and Mario Petrolini. With the same evening commuter train passing by in the background. If you recall the missus of the arguing ringside couple got thrown in the pool, nice red dress and all, so if neither female wrestler took an aqua bump here, it's nothing to do with the kind of politically correct chivalry-in-slapstick that gave us the one sided pie throwing games on Game for a Laugh that I mentioned on the British thread review of Simon Hurst Vs Ray Robinson recently. Or that bit in the AWA WrestleRock Rumble video where Da Laydeez push Scott Hall and Curt Hennig in a pool and have a giggle. Otherwise we might see both wrestlers here pitch the poor old ref in the drink and disappear of into the night together as girly mates for life. And speaking of Monsieur L'Arbitre - So that's Didier Gapp with hair. The same Didier Gapp who tried his damnedest to upstage a bunch of British (and one honorary Brit Owen) at the Heumarkt in the early 90s. The same Didier Gapp whose whole miserable petty official persona actually made him a comedy cult hero among 90s CWA fandom and, as SR mentions, continued being a fixture of old school German/Austrian wrestling into the 21st Century with the EWP. I like the cool video fault at the start by the way. Very David Bowie Ashes to Ashes video. Oh and that IS a swimming pool, it just seems to be next door to a harbour. This could get messy on a bad weather day with chlorine ending up in the sea and mucky sea water ending up in the pool. Leo is pretty roughhouse with the bodychecks and high whips at the start. Gapp stops Borne booting Leo off, or was she going for a headscissors? Leo easily breaks Borne's bridge with a good old elbow to the stomach. She armdrags Borne back down when the latter gets up to sling her in the ropes and again in response to a hiptoss, but Borne finally gets that headscissors (see I was right!) Leo loses the arm and takes forever to snap out and kip up only to be scissored back down several times. She tries the roll out escape but Brigitte tickles her (!) to make her lose balance. Finally she concertinas Borne's legs to bend them open and ends up with double legs but Borne is twisting back and forth to get out. She does get pin counted to 2 a couple of times but in the end flips Leo off. Some lecherous cameraman has climbed onto some nearby scaffolding and we get his longshots of back and forth armdrags and armbands and throws before cutting to the presenter and Delaporte eager for someone to fall in. Brigitte pulls Leo off the ropes and applies a single toehold which she improves to a Gotch toehold. She turns Leo over and Manchettes her in the back when Leo sits up to attempt a counter. Leo uses a manchette of her own to get out and proceeds to an argument with Didi over it. Leo gets a bearhug which Borne escapes by bashing her sides, then manchettes her down. Leo gets the bearhug back then rope a dopes Borne to try get a better grip but Brigitte boots her down and splashes her (not in La Piscine sense.) but Leo does get a bodyscissors. Brigitte does get the odd 2 count out of it as does Leo with the help of a couple of illegal throttles. Borne, fighting fire with fire, pulls her up by the hair and Manchettes her off, Leo side chancery throws and chinlocks her. Brigitte elbows her in the stomach to break it, but Leo is back with the side Chancery throw to chinlock soon enough. Brigitte uses the same elbow escape then totally loses her cool, stomping Leo. When Didi tries to interfere she nearly throws both of them in the water and get an Avertisement for her pains. Chastened, she opts for a lot of snapmares and the odd lariat before getting Leo on the top rope, tying her up and charging her. Didi again narrowly avoids a soaking - he could show Modesto "Kamikaze" Aledo or even Ricky Steamboat a few tricks slingshotting himself back in the ring) and give Borne her Deuxieme Et Derniere Avertisement. He manages to eventually free Dewerdt (as the driver of a passing train honks his horn in appreciation - was he a Catch fan? We'll never know.) Leo plays possum on the canvas but it's a ploy to legdive and legspread Borne. As @Matt D mentioned she did the butts (to the stomach not the crotch) and upgraded the legspread to a standing toe and ankle legspread combo. She pulls Borne away and gets the headbutt in to the behind but Borne pushes up and gets into a pre victory roll position -not quite a headscissors. (I'm not sure what Matt's issue with this is, it all seems clean enough stuff the guys could do without attracting comment.) Leo gets up and Brigitte indeed does the victory roll. getting a few armstretch press pins for 1 out of it and even Leo getting 2 with a folding press attempt. Leo eventually gets rear double arms - if she had a surfboard in mind it doesn't come off as Brigitte somersaults out, catches Leo with a couple of ground position dropkicks and dodges a Big Splash. She gets a hammerlock , throws Brigitte into the ropes, trips her neatly and might have got a folding press only Borne rolls out of the way, nearly into the water. She tries the same hammerlock/ropes/trip sequence but Borne sidesteps and boots her in the behind. Borne gets a waistlock, atomic drop and seated rear bodyscissors. She then lifts and dumps Leo a few times, the old Ah Ouais spot although the crowd don't chant it. Leo tries unlocking the feet and leaning back for a pin attempt; neither succeed. Leo turns in the hold to face Borne, possibly trying for a pin, in the end getting a back weakener and the chopping Borne down off the ropes. She boots and Manchettes Borne down, slams her, hair drags her twice and gets in another few Manchettes. More side chancery throws until Borne surprises her with a folding press from behind for the one fall required. Nice happy pop from the crowd. Quite a slow methodical bout, very like German/Austrian Catch before Steve Wright revolutionised their style. Although to be fair a lot of the space it the bout is used wisely for crowd working and psychology, this being very much a La Bonne Vs La Méchante match. Only one bout this week. Looks like I'll have to find a bonus bout to match to two newies each in the British and German threads...

He wrestled Johnny Kidd in 2006 for Premier Promotions at Worthing Pier Pavillion. It is a bonus feature on the DVD for Frontiers of Honour 2 (ROH/FWA/IPW:UK co promotion) also that year. Not only does it WIPE THE FLOOR with everything on the main event of the disc but as a venue the Worthing Pier Pavillion makes the cheap and crappy gym FOH2 was held in look like chopped liver frankly. Bigger crowd at the Pavilion too. Poor old Nigel had to wrestle an unfunny comedy match at FOH2 against JC Thunder. Months earlier he had to be straight man to Comedy Colt Cabana at the Coventry SkyDome, in that WOS-TNG match I maintain should have been James Mason Vs Dean Allmark.

https://www.discogs.com/release/9707964-Häppy-Pepi-und-Bruno-Schatzer-Schurli-oh-Schurli-Mitzidu-bist-spitze?srsltid=AfmBOorAuPTM6SK-YLqrPdGf-n60H0GAwlVAFKneJCQOnD4D_B4h_LaO ************************* Also some information on the German Wikipedia page about his hometown, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simmering "Georg Blemenschütz (* 25 December 1914, † 15 November 1990): Wrestler, sports organizer, picture and antiques collector; the four-time world and six-time European champion contested more than 600 professional fights, of which he won 348. [ 24 ] His grave was taken into the care of the City of Vienna in 2020. [ 25 ]" †**************†****************** https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Georg_Blemenschütz

Short snippet of Georg "Schurli" Blemenschutz in action - once again teaming with Caswell Martin to take on Indio Guajaro, but the other half this time is not Judd Harris but instead "Rasputin 1" who is neither Johnny Howard/Sean Doyle nor the Raspoutine we saw on the French Catch thread but instead appears to be none other than Wild Angus I intend to investigate that "Schurli Oh Schurli" piece of music and find out if it is actually about Blemenschutz or not.

From the same Hungarian show, Battle Royal featuring Egypt's hero Mamdouh Farag, France's answer to JYD Mammouth Siki, Crusher Verdu, Inca Viracocha, Germaz(?), Monsieur Marcel Montreal, Martinez from Colombia, Charley Verhulst, Paco Ramirez, Ray Glendening, and Bad Bull.among others. Some fairly syruppy gospel music is playing, not a million miles removed from Brother Love's theme. A loud horn instead of a bell signifies the start of the bout. People are gradually eliminated until we are down to Siki and Verdu. the latter of whom gets the win.,

Game For A Laugh was a hugely popular and utterly annoying Saturday evening light entertainment show which revolved around people playing ribs on each other and taking it in good humour, hence the title. A big ingredient of this was studio games which revolved around giggling girlies throwing custard pies at their husbands and boyfriends. (For some reason they never had men throwing custard pies at their wives/girlfriends. I wonder why not?). They also featured Candid Camera type hidden camera pranks overseen by presenter Jeremy Beadle. (He would later go solo and do his own show Beadle's About which consisted exclusively of these hidden camera stunts.) One subspecies of the hidden camera ribs involved couples going for an evening out at some public entertainment and one half excusing themselves only to suddenly reappear as part of the show. Simon Hurst (not relation to Lenny - or AFAIK Patty) was an amateur wrestler and wrestling fan who had come into contact with Marty Jones and was learning the pro game from him. Master and student decided to contact Game For A Laugh and pull a stunt where the Hursts went to a wrestling show and Mister needed to nip of to the Gents - just in time to miss a bout where Ray Steele destroyed a Masked villain and then tore off his mask to reveal it was Simon. At which point Mister Beadle came up to poor embarrassed Mrs Christine Hurst and told her it was all a glorious prank. Hahaha. You get the general idea. Anyway, in thie subsequent months, things have got more serious. Hurst has actually turned professional and is now having his first TV match and once again his missus is at ringside. We've met his opponent, another Ray, this time Ray Robinson previously in this thread, a hard no nonsense type who would later flirt with being a Heel in the post TV years. It's a tough challenge for a newbie. And yes, Christine is at ringside in her usual seat - just as a fan. not as a valet or manageress or even personal second like the young Jeanie Clark. Round 1. Robinson sportingly lets rookie Hurst armdrag him a few times before getting a side heädlock on. (Picture in picture of Christine watching). He hits the ropes and bodychecks Hurst down, side chanceries and rear chinlocks him from the seated position. Simon breaks the lock and lakes an arm for a wristlever, leaping over from arm to arm and armdragging Robinson in for a crosspress for 2. Robinson totally dominates Hurst with an up and down finger Interlock test of strength, before going for a wristlever of his own, but Hurst rolls out. Ray gets front facing pressure points, occasionally releasing and rope-a-doping Hurst back into the hold. After about 3 or 4 of these, Hurst uses the release to slip behind Robinson and roll him up in a folding press for another 2. The pair have another finger Interlock, single sided this time and it's Simon who gets the advantage, bending the arm into a back hammerlock. Robinson counters by putting his own head between Hurst's legs and backdropping him but Hurst goes for a sunset flip on the way down and nearly gets it before Robinson powers his way out. Hurst gets a single leg takedown and seated leglock from in front, changing to a standing toe and ankle before Robinson spins him out with a leg throw. Robinson gets a side chancery throw and further nelson but bridges out of the pin. He Full Nelsons Robinson who tries bending over to throw his man off like Andy Blair did to Alan Kilby in the last bout. Having weakened his attackers arms with these, Robinson reaches behind his head, unfastens Hurst's hand and steps away. Hurst gets a side headlock and takes Robinson down to the guard but Robinson wedges his head free. He gets a double underhook suplex on Hurst and cross presses him but has trouble getting the shoulders down and then the bell goes. (Contrary to what Kent says, Hurst is not saved by the bell, it doesn't get even to a 1 count.) Round 2. Robinson gets a side chancery and a good long throw across the ring with it. Hurst is up at 5, he delivers two forearm smashes which Robinson no-sells, nearly overbalancing on the second (rookie botch!). Robinson lands just the one forearm smash in return but it floors Hurst like a winning KO punch in boxing. Once he is up,, Robinson posts him and tries for another. Hurst manages to reverse it but Robinson diverts himself to the ropes and comes back with a bodycheck to floor Hurst again. He then gets a posting, a powerslam for 6, a long vertical suplex and a crosspress for the winning fall. Christine smiles sympathetically at her Man. This was Hurst's first and (despite what Kent says) last proper TV bout, despite Jones training him. He gets to show the tricks he has learned before being put away. I wonder if he had yet been smartened to the business or if this was another case of Rip Rawlinson from The Big Time, being strung along while paying his dues. Jeremy Beadle passed away of complications from leukemia in 2008 aged just 59. A nation swallowed and tried hard not to all cheer at once. Sorry, but he was an AGGRAVATING human being. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Beadle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_for_a_Laugh

What television was that? Prior to 1989 and Catch Up, there was Bock versus the bear (plus JIP tag warm-up) on ZDF Sportstudio, The Bock/Inoki and other 1978 Inoki bouts filmed by Japanese promoters for their own use on Japanese TV. Something on SWR which contained at least 4 different clips of Roland Bock's 70s matches as 16mm colour film inserts the 1986 one off RTL special headlined by the six man tag Austria Vs USA with "USA" consisting of Haystacks, Kirk and Quinn with Stax hilariously doing his "us Americans" promo in a Manchester accent. various news magazine features and earlier cinema newsreel items Otherwise Germany/Austria had home video of varying quality instead of TV from 1979 onwards.

Article on Roland Bock : https://www.patrickwreed.com/blog/ywi3yijbus8ga9w6tqlfh56isokwpp

Ah. So really it evolved separately there with the stadium shows starting the scene whereas with the rest of Europe it starts with newsreels from America and local promoters and sport wrestlers getting together to do their own live version. "Kats", I guess, is where it starts to integrate into the bigger picture of European wrestling with the annual Festival at stadiums in Athens and talent from all over the continent came to participate and have a working summer holiday.

The missing link in all this was NORMA MORICEAU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norma_Moriceau Norma Moriceau was the costume designer on Mad Max 2. Demolition, particularly with the masks on, were based on the character of Humongous. The Road Warriors/Powers of Pain look was based on the character of Wez, Humongous' sadistic boyfriend. Norma Moriceau was an Australian (where Mad Max 2 was filmed) but lived in London in the mid 1970s and was friends with Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood who ran the formative punk clothing shop SEX where the Sex Pistols got their start. McLaren and Westwood's designs for the shop were largely based on ideas from the gay S&M underground such as the chest harnesses that ultimately inspired Humungous's and ultimately Demolition's look. Malcolm and Vivienne took the chest harnesses and other ideas previously sold secretly from the back pages of porn magazines and made them into high street fashions worn by young people to provoke and upset their elders. Soon, all of London was full of punk rockers in black spiked leather and chest harnesses. Moriceau took the ideas her friends and all the cool kids in London were into and used it for the costumes for her wild post apocalyptic film. By the time Mad Max 2 had gone mainstream and was being picked up on by wrestlers such as the Road Warriors and Demolition, chest harnesses and shiny black leather just meant futuristic and science fiction looks. It's only years after the Demolition gimmick came and went that LBGT+ culture has gone mainstream and shops like Prowler selling REAL chest harnesses - in Leather not Cloth - have started popping up in respectable High Streets and us straight folk have looked in curiously through the window and thought to ourselves "Hang about, that's DEMOLITION'S old costumes" and never thought the same way about the Demolition gimmick again!

This was from Joint's first TV taping since losing their monopoly on ITV wrestling , filmed Oldham December 1986, screened January 1987. Belgium's Jean Paul Auvert (see him on some mid 80s German VDB videos. I think I've already posted one tomthe German thread. Andy Blair from Scotland, no relation to Rusty (or Tony) was trained in 1982 as part of the same training camp that produced Superheavyweight Mac Hardimann aka Scrubber Daly. Mostly he got used as a tag partner for Big Daddy - masked duo The Spoiler &King Kendo or ex-masked duo of against Daly and his fellow former Masked Marauder Lucky Gordon (no relation to Flash.). Here, he takes a step up in the World, getting a British title shot at Light Heavyweight Champion Alan Kilby. Deaf wrestler Kilby first won the title in 1985, beating the Birmingham Steve Logan for the belt after Marty Jones vacated it, and would go on to lose/regain it four times (the first to Golden Grappler trophy winner King Ben in 1988, then to Skull Murphy in 1995, then to Dirty Dan Collins in 1996-1997, the heaviest Danny would reach before his first retirement in 2002 and finally to Mad Dog Ian Wilson in a series for WAW of Norfolk in Oct/Nov 1988. Kilby was last seen wearing the belt to RBW shows aged 59 in 2003 before retiring a year later. Round 1: Blair rolls his way out of wristlevers before using an elbow to pick away Kilby's arm force wristlever of his own. Kilby can also roll out, take an arm back and use a cross buttock throw to transition to a side headlock on the mat. Blair gets a headscissors but Kilby quickly snaps it open and kips up. Both men twice simultaneously go for a legdive, effectively blocking each other. They both times politely shake hands which fans applaud. Kilby gets a grovit into a side chancery throw but Blair rolls up nicely. Kilby sandbags to block a cross buttock throw and gets a headlock, switches arm and takes his man down with his own throw. Blair gets his headscissors again. Unable to kip out this time, Kilby turns the headscissors upright, pulls his head out and neatly slips on a ground side headlock. Andy stands up in the hold so Alan transitions to a side chancery throw but Blair rolls up nicely. Alan appears to get the better of a finger Interlock test of strength but Andy leans back into a crossed headscissors (and gets 1-counted for his pains!) but Kilby spins round 180 degrees to make a front folding press then convert to a cross press for 1. Kilby gets a single leg and drops into a leglock, Blair crossfaces him in response. The bell goes, Kilby graciously helps Blair up and they shake hands. Round 2: Blair gets a single leg and tries to turn the champion over into the mount forca Boston Crab but Kilby holds his body rigid and refuses to turn (actually quite an impressive feat of strength.) Andy gives up and Alan gets a wristlever with the palm and inner arm turning upwards. He twists backwards forcing Blair to roll and pounces-almost a Splash as his man is in the guard, but can't hold Andy's shoulder. They break and Alan goes for an arm but Andy slips in behind with a standing full nelson into side Chancery throw into further Nelson and gets a couple of 1s. Kilby gets a rear chinlock into seated side headlock. Blair stands and turns in the hold to face Kilby. Kilby regains the side headlock p on and takes it down to a kneeling position but Blair nicely handstands up to uncork his head. Blair gets another full nelson into side chancery throw but Kilby resists a bodycheck attempt, sidesteps a second one, throws Blair to the ropes, trips him on the rebound and catches him with a side folding press for the opening fall! Round 3: Blair gets a legdive into a legspread on the mat but Kilby adjusts both pairs of feet with his hands so as to reverse the legspread. Andy resists however so Alan starts over. He gets a cross buttock throw but it goes into the ropes. He gets a couple of throws which Andy doesn't roll up from so easily this time. Andy gets single and then double legs and tries again for the Boston Crab but once again Alan holds himself rigging and will not turn into the mount. Andy releases and returns the compliment from the end of Round 1 by helping Kilby up. The champion gets a full nelson, Blair is not strong enough to break by downwards bicep pulling but instead manages to lean forward so far Kilby cannot maintain his grip, so breaks the hold that way. Blair gets a single sided finger Interlock - rather than go for a wristlever Hectakes thecarm out to weaken and strain the joints. Alan follows suit but with more vigour and topping it off with a high whip forcing a somersault and bump. He gets a side chancery throw and crotchhold into bodyslam. Blair gets another full nelson into side chancery but the stronger older Kilby resists a throw. The challenger switches to the underhook position but the bell rings. Round 4: Blair straightens out a Kilby side headlock into an armbar and tries a posting but Kilby drops to the mat to resist a la Ken Joyce. Blair walks into another finger interlock overpowerment and Kent Walton is critical of this but to be fair to Blair, from the upside down position he slips his legs over Alan's shoulders and flips him over into a double leg Nelson but Alan double leg chops out. Blair gets behind and smashes the back of Alan's neck. Alan shows him how to do it properly with a knee to double him up then a powerful elbowsmash to the back of Blair's neck. Touché. They shake hands, but Blair isn't done with the power tactics, firing off four forearm smashes and a back elbow, flooring the champion for a 7 count. He goes for a rear chinlock into full nelson but Kilby hiptosses him off. For once Blair gets a finger Interlock advantage - Kent is surprised -!and he gets a double armbar, the lower on held to the mat by his foot. He gets the full double wristlock (step one towards a surfboard) Kilby tries to power round on each side but can't make it. He somersaults to the mat and Blair resists going for a double leg folding press, still maintaining the arms for the double armstretch. Kilby tries bridging to relieve the strain and looks to be trying something else when the bell goes. Round 5: Kilby shoves Blair down and posts him twice. Blair shoves him down, gets the single leg and again time turns him over into the mount for a Boston Crab but Kilby forces a wide legspread on Blair and rolls away. He sportingly lifts Blair up and shakes his hand. Kilby posts Blair who absorbs the impact well and goes for the legs but neither he nor the champion can progress from this so they reset. Kilby gives Blair a chop tomthe back of the neck but misses a double leg takedown. Blair gets behind for a waistlock into side folding press but Runs Out Of Mat (Kilby's soles brush the ropes). Blair gets a side chancery throw into further nelson for 2. Kilby gets a side chancery into posting, two more side Chancery throws and a Legdrop of Doom for 7. He gets a legdive into Indian Deathlock. Blair sits up but Kilby throws him off a couple of times. The bell goes and referee Peter Szacazs has to untwist the legs. Round 6: Challenger Blair gets in behind with a full nelson, drops for a rear double legdive and folds up Champion Kilby's legs into a Frank Gotch figure four toehold and adding a half chinlock. He tries to convert to the double rear wristlock to make a surfboard but is unable to get that first wrist, never mind the second, so settles for delivering a kneedrop to Kilby's back before releasing. Kilby jabs and twice posts the young challenger, gives him an over the knee backbreaker for 4 and collars him for a double kneelift for 5. He whips him into the ropes and catches him with a spinning kick to the torso and finally a crotchhold, bodyslam and crosspress for the second straight fall to defend his title 2-0. Blair congratulates Alan and puts the belt back around his waist. A good sporting technical contest only lacking an equalising fall by Blair which could then give him the chance to score some almost deciders to be a nearly champion before finally going down. Perhaps Kilby's pride as a shooter stood in the way of converting a fall to this relative newbie. Still it was a fine shop window for young Andy Blair's skills, a lot better than jobbing out to Richard "Red Ivan" Krupa or being rescued from monsters by Big Daddy. After Kilby retired as champion in 2004, the title was revived by All Star in the early 2010s, mostly held by Dean Allmark.

By American standards, Rick Martel was traditionally considered a scientific wrestler, even after his heel turn to the Model. Here he gets to clash style with an actual Euro technician, an Austrian/German of the post Steve Wright generation of technicians, Franz Schumann. Martel is managed by Klaus Kauroff hi They play the Star Strangled Banner for his before the contest, ignoring that he is in fact French-Canadian. (A blind woman and a Stevie Richards look alike sing the words - patriotic Americans beware, the audience WHITSLE all over it!). Kauroff wears stars and stripes jogging bottoms. Martel has his sequin jacket (Want one for night out!) and 1991 purple gear, no Arrogance nor the "Yes! I Am A Model" giant pin bage. I think Schumann is defending the CWA World Middleweight Championship. Martel's work here magnifies the difference between US Technical wrestling and European. He tends to perform all his clever moves as spots rather than chain sequence s. He can't roll out of armbars (unlike Franz who does a fair bit of rolling and kipping up out of armlocks. Martel on the other hand punches his way out. He does do one good transition - a drop toehold into riding crossface Camel Clutch.). Mostly he reminds me of Danny Collins after the heel turn in 1994 from Danny Boy to Dirty Dan. He does attempt to curl up and roll out from under a Boston Crab. He does one or two kip ups himself and snares on a headscissors once, turning it sideways and cranking it forwards only for the beeper (bell substitute) to signal the end of the round. He cartwheels out of a Schumann leg flip one time (and smirks with heelish smugness about it) which actually DOES fit the local Euro style. He also pulls his head out of a side headlock to form a back hammerlock on the mat then starts turning Schumann over into the guard for a further nelson pin attempt before the beeper again saves Franz. Mostly Martel just does a lot of roughhouse/dirty stuff that in the WWF would have counted as normal brawling done by some babyfaces. It would have been interesting to see pre- WM5 babyface Martel coping with the CWA and old school Euro wrestling culture. Schumann gets the win by rolling over on a flying bodypress á la Wendi Richter at WM10. I don't think he's wearing his infamous Bret ripoff pink and black tights but he does do a sharpshooter (Scorpion Deathlock/Chono Powerlock ) If you like a cheap laugh, look out at the end for the World 's Worst Postmatch Pyrotechnics - a shot of a single sparkler being held aloft.

Usually the idea was that the babyfaces/blue eyes/bons were just generally better technical wrestlers anyway and that's why the villains eventually resorted to brawlng and fouling. The good guys had to prove themselves against other good guy in clean matches. France didn't have a Kent Walton type commentator out to educate the viewers (Couderc often gets compared to Walton but really they were different breeds) so it's hard to say how much 1982 French fans appreciated good technical wrestling. Probably older fans who remembered bouts like LPP/Saulnier had more of a taste for it. The kids and younger fans however may, as you said just been there for the action and cheering Les Bons/booing Les Méchants.

By the way. here are Cohen and Shadow facing each other eight years earlier: And here they are two years before even that: