David Mantell

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

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

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

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

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

HeIn the meantime there is these:

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

Here's an old snippet of Phil Powers versus Robbie Brooksiide from 2008: Mostly a finger interlock strength battle. Found while looking for some footage of "The Wildcat as a mega Heel in Germany/Austria in the late 90s and 00s for the German Catch thread.

One unfortunate aspect for the wrestling industry in Greece is that for some reason the WWF/WWE would not touch the country- they only got a Greek TV deal in 2019. WWF in Greece and the local circuit, even if in its death throes - could have fed off each other as in Northwest Europe and maybe the Greek scene would have survived - perhaps to the present. All it would then have needed was a decently large stock of footage and Greek Kats could have been the fourth Stronghold Euro Territory (alongside British Wrestling, French Catch and German/Austrian Catch) instead of the third Extinct Euro Territory (alongside Spanish Catch - died 1975 - and Italian Catch - died 1965.)

These three clips were from two shows a week apart at the same venue in September 1987. (Elsewhere in the wrestling world that month Ric Flair and Wayne Bridges lost World Heavyweight titles to Ronnie Garvin and the original British Kendo Nagasaki respectively.). The last International Kats Festival was in 1980 but this house show circuit continued for just over another decade. The ramshackle conditions - the jerry-built ring and the venue which looks suspiciously like a converted underground car park - to medium up the dying state of Greek Wrestling at the time although they always did go for those sloppy sandbag turnbuckle covers. In fact until I Shaw shots in one clip showing the ring to be on a stage with an auditorium of about 200 people watching sat on wooden chairs, I was never too sure if this was a show or just something shot in a concrete basement somewhere. I've long been intrigued by the ritual of wrestlers arriving at ringside and countersigning an official document before climbing into the ring and would love to know more.

Linguistic point - they called it KATS (spelled Kappa Alpha Tau Sigma - ΚΑΤΣ / Κατς). So that is what it should be called. Kats Eleniki. Kappa covers all K and hard C sounds in transliteration. Greek does not have a Sh/Ch sound so since ancient times these have always been rendered with a Sigma - a whole swathe of Hebrew names from the Bible were Hellenized in both the Septuagint and the original Greek text of the New Testament and this impacted on their English names: Moses (Moshe) Solomon (Shlomo) Simon (Simon) even Jesus (Yeshua, short form of Yehoshua). So cats, Kats is what it should be for this territory.

Might be a good idea to embed Phil's clips so we know which are which and can add any missing ones. Dead video

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Star_Wrestling All Star Wrestling Acronym ASW Founded October 1970 Style British wrestling (Mountevans rules) Headquarters Birkenhead, England Founder(s) Brian Dixon Owner(s) Joseph Dixon Formerly All Star Promotions Big Time Wrestling Super Slam Wrestling Wrestling Enterprises of Birkenhead Website linktr.ee/allstarwrestlinguk All Star Wrestling (ASW), also known as Super Slam Wrestling (SSW), is a British professional wrestling promotion founded by Brian Dixon in 1970 and based in Birkenhead, England. Founded as Wrestling Enterprises of Birkenhead in October 1970, it has also been known over the years as All Star Promotions and Big Time Wrestling. ASW tours theatres, leisure centres, town halls, holiday camps, and similar venues, many of which are the same locations that were used for televised wrestling in the UK from the 1950s to the 1980s. ASW is the oldest active wrestling promotion in the UK and the longest-running British promotion in history,[1] a record it has held since September 2013 when it eclipsed the 42 years and 11 months tenure of Joint Promotions (1952–1995). It is also the fourth oldest professional wrestling promotion still in existence in the world, after the Mexican promotion CMLL (founded 1933), WWE (founded 1963)[1] and longtime US independent ECWA (founded 1967).[2] ASW contributed to the final two years of ITV's regular televised wrestling programme in the UK in (1987 and 1988)[3][4] and some ASW matches were included on VHS and DVD compilations and repeated as part of the World of Sport programming on The Fight Network until it stopped transmission in 2008.[5] They were then repeated on the now defunct Men & Movies channel. In July 2022, Dixon bequeathed all road management duties to his grandson Joseph Dixon (aka Joseph Allmark,the son of wrestler Dean Allmark), while continuing to lead the company in a purely office based capacity. The elder Dixon died 27 May 2023, leaving his grandson as sole proprietor. Brian Dixon's office duties were taken up by Laetitia and veteran wrestler Danny Collins. History 1970s Brian Dixon, a referee and former head of the Jim Breaks Fan Club, established Wrestling Enterprises in Birkenhead during October 1970 initially as a vehicle for his girlfriend (and later wife) Mitzi Mueller, who was the British Ladies' Champion but had difficulty getting bookings from Joint Promotions.[6] One of the company's earliest claims to fame was rebranding the wrestler Martin Ruane, formerly known as Luke McMasters, as new character Giant Haystacks. Originally called "Haystacks Calhoun", he was patterned after the similar American wrestler of the same name, about whom Dixon had read in imported American wrestling magazines.[7] Haystacks would go on to achieve household fame in the UK after he moved to Joint Promotions in 1975 as the tag team partner - and later the archenemy - of Big Daddy. During the late 1970s, Wrestling Enterprises held regular major shows at the Liverpool Stadium and organised a version of the World Middleweight Title after the previous version became extinct with the collapse of the Spanish wrestling scene c. 1975.[8][9] This title continued until champion Adrian Street emigrated to America in 1981.[9][10] Wrestling Enterprises also collaborated heavily with another independent promoter, former middleweight star Jackie Pallo. Neither promoter was able to gain a slice of ITV coverage however, as the 1981 contract renewal negotiations resulted in a five-year extension on Joint Promotions' exclusive monopoly of ITV wrestling.[11] 1980s By the early 1980s there was increasing dissatisfaction among both fans and wrestlers with the direction of Joint Promotions (which was increasingly centred on Big Daddy), which resulted in a steady flow of top UK talent into All Star Wrestling (as it was by then renamed) and away from Joint and the TV spotlight. Title-holders such as World Heavyweight Champion Mighty John Quinn, rival claimant Wayne Bridges, British Heavyweight Champion Tony St Clair, World Heavy-Middleweight Champion Mark Rocco, British Heavy-Middleweight Champion Frank 'Chic' Cullen and World Lightweight Champion Johnny Saint all defected to All Star taking their titles with them, as did many non-titleholders.[11] By the mid-1980s All Star was running shows head-to-head with Joint Promotions and had its own TV show on satellite channel Screensport.[12] When Joint's five-year extension on its monopoly of ITV wrestling expired at the end of 1986, All Star, along with the WWF, was also given a share of the televised wrestling shows for the two years 1987–88.[11] The beginning of this period coincided with the return to full-time action for legendary masked wrestler Kendo Nagasaki under the All Star banner. At the end of 1988, Greg Dyke cancelled wrestling on ITV after 33 years. Whereas Joint dwindled downwards as a touring vehicle for Big Daddy (and later Davey Boy Smith) before finally folding in 1995,[11] All Star had played its cards well with regard to its two years of TV exposure, using the time in particular to build up the returning Nagasaki as its lead heel and establishing such storylines as his tag team-cum-feud with Rollerball Rocco and his "hypnotism" of Robbie Brookside.[13] 1990s The end of TV coverage left many of these storylines at a cliffhanger and consequently All Star underwent a box office boom as hardcore fans turned up to live shows to see what happened next, and kept coming for several years due to careful use of show-to-show storylines.[11] Headline matches frequently pitted Nagasaki in violent heel vs heel battles against the likes of Rocco, Dave 'Fit' Finlay, Skull Murphy and even Giant Haystacks or at smaller venues teaming with regular partner "Blondie" Bob Barrett to usually defeat blue-eye opposition.[14][15][16][17][18] All Star's post-television boom wore off after 1993 when Nagasaki retired for a second time. However, the promotion kept afloat on live shows at certain established venues and particularly on the holiday camp circuit. Since the mid-1990s, the promotion has mainly been focussed on family entertainment. After the demise of Joint/RWS, All Star's chief rival on the live circuit was Scott Conway's TWA (The Wrestling Alliance) promotion, founded as the Southeastern Wrestling Alliance in 1989.[19] By the late 1990s, many smaller British promoters were increasingly abandoning their British identity in favour of "WWF Tribute" shows, with British performers crudely imitating World Wrestling Federation stars.[11] 2000s Although All Star never descended into a full-fledged 'tribute show', by the turn of the millennium, many of these tribute acts such as the "UK Undertaker" and "Big Red Machine" were nonetheless headlining All Star shows.[11] Disaffected with this and other matters (such as the inclusion of former WWF World Champion Yokozuna on advertising posters over a year after he had died, the continued advertising of Davey Boy Smith months after his planned tour fell through and the use of a photo of the original WWF Kane to depict the tribute performer "Big Red Machine"), Conway cut his links with All Star and declared a promotional war.[20] He began to promote his TWA as an alternative, featuring more serious wrestling (in much the same way as All Star had previously targeted Joint fans disaffected with Big Daddy). All Star duly adapted to meet the challenge, recruiting a new generation of wrestlers such as Dean Allmark and Robbie Dynamite[21] and signing up such stars as "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson. The promotional war came to an abrupt end in 2003 when Conway relocated to Thailand, closing down the TWA (which he briefly tried to transplant to his new country as the "Thai Wrestling Alliance"). Conway returned to the UK 2021 planning to revive TWA, but ill health curtailed this and he died 20 April 2025. During this period, All Star's touring schedule generally consisted of monthly residencies at the Fairfield Hall in Croydon, the Victoria Hall in Hanley and the Colston Hall in Bristol as well as one or two tour stops each year in various town centre venues and a summer season at various Butlins resorts. A major storyline during these years was a long running feud between former tag partners Allmark and Dynamite, mostly over the British Mid-Heavyweight Championship which the promotion revived in 2002, 21 years after the death of previous champion Mike Marino. As the 2000s wore on, All Star reached new heights of activity not seen since the post-television boom of the early 1990s, reactivating many more old TV venues, and in the summer 2008 season revived the old tradition of wrestling shows at Blackpool Tower, with a Friday night residency there. All Star re-established old links with promoters in France, Germany, Japan and Calgary. All Star wrestlers were widely used to represent Britain by major American promoters, for example the Team UK in TNA's 2004 X Cup which featured four All Star Wrestling regulars James Mason, Dean Allmark, Robbie Dynamite and Frankie Sloan. Mason would also guest on WWE Smackdown in 2008, defeating MVP. 2010s / 2020s On April 24, 2010, ASW joined the Union of European Wrestling Alliances and recognised the European Heavyweight Championship.[22] They hosted two title changes with Mikey Whiplash defeating Rampage Brown and James Mason defeating Whiplash.[23] ASW hosted several of Mason's title defences[24] before leaving the UEWA on 30 November 2013.[22] In April 2014, ASW established a relationship with Japanese promotion Wrestle-1.[25] Throughout the 2010s, ASW would continue to bring in younger talent from popular UK promotions (Insane Championship Wrestling, PROGRESS Wrestling, Revolution Pro Wrestling) as well as veterans and international talent, such as Zack Sabre Jr., Fit Finlay Junior, Dave Mastiff, Jack Gallagher, Noam Dar, Andy Wild, Kris Travis, Marty Scurll, Sweet Saraya, El Ligero, BT Gunn, Shinya Ishikawa, Harlem Bravado, Mark Haskins, Xia Brookside, Kay Lee Ray, Gangrel and Jay White.[26][27][28][29][30] The promotion runs a school in Birkenhead, originally with Allmark and Dynamite as chief trainers, replaced in 2023 with Joel Redman. Redman also runs an affiliated wrestling school in Salisbury which runs its own trainee shows, both of these operating under the banner "ASW South". Dixon's daughter Laetitia is a popular ring announcer for the promotion and was married to Allmark until January 2022. In July 2022 the company announced that their elder son, referee Joseph Allmark, would be taking over day-to-day operations on the road, while the elder Dixon moved to a back seat role from the company's Birkenhead office until his death in 2023, at which point Joseph Allmark took over full control of the company. Since 2024 he has been known as Joseph Dixon.

No information yet

It all depends on what contemporary wrestling is like by that future stage. I'm surprised WWE still has matches. I thought they would have donecaway with them by now and just have non-stop angles.

Can I just point out that his ring name at this point was STEVE Regal, not Steven. Until he started the Lord gimmick, he was always Steve except for: 1) his first two ITV matches for Joint Promotions in late 1986 as Roy Regal 2) appearances on S4C's Welsh language wrestling show Reslo as Steve Jones 3) a one off appearance as masked heel Hellraiser on Eurosport New Catch, filmed in France.

Mamdouh Farag on Arabic Wikipedia: https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/ممدوح_فرج

Okay, it's not a very long bout, about 12 minutes but it's a good fast paced contest.(incidentally that's six wrestlers on this show and five of them are Bons. Even the referee is an honest broker in a culture where Dangerous Danny Davis crooked officials were the norm, not the exception.) Pereira has the moustache and the blue trunks. Bordeaux is in the green trunks. Bordeaux gets off to a fast start. He snapmares Pereira and kicks off several single legdive takedowns, spins horizontally out of the last attempt and gets another snapmare. Pereira gets his own snapmare and shouldeblock but when he tries for another. Bordeaux fires off a dropkick, sending him to ringside. Pereira gets a front grovit but Bordeaux breaks it open into a top wristlock and forces a high whip and bump. They repeat the grovit>top wristlock>whip sequence. Pereira gets an underhook and appears to lift his man for a long suplex but chances his mind and dumps his man on the ring apron, forcing a break. Bordeaux gets the grovit and takes his man down to kneeling height. Pereira forces upwards and breaks it open into a whip but Bordeaux cartwheels with the whip and forces an armdrag on Pereira who takes the bump. Pereira throws Bordeaux off the ropes and scores a decent bump for it. When he tries again, Bordeaux takes hold of Pereira's arm and the momentum help him to convert his man's throw into his own armdrags. Bordeaux gets a couple more strong quick armdrags. They go for a double finger Interlock and from there Bordeaux gets a standing full nelson. Pereira throws him off backwards and gets a rear legdive between his own legs. Bordeaux pushes him off with thectaken leg, single leg flips him on the rebound, gets the full nelson back. Pereira breaks one side and goes behind for his own full nelson. Bordeaux slides downwards in the dropping, arms-last escape and tries to roll away but Pereira catches his legs as he rolls and turns him upright and slaps the full nelson back on. Bordeaux rears into him and comes off the ropes with a flying headscissors takedown. Pereira gets aside headlock into standing hammerlock into side folding press from behind. He turns so Bordeaux's legs are pointing away from the ropes and gets a couple of front folding press pin attempts for 1 counts but Bordeaux powers a shoulder or two up each time. Eventually Bordeaux handstands, gets an upside down armhank,flips himself over and throws his man, Pereira tries for another folding press but Bordeaux uses the same counter throw. Bordeaux ends up with a wristlever running between his legs. Pereira pulls himself upright and goes in to attack behind. But Bordeaux flips over into his back, kips backwards into a ground dropkick knocking Pereira down. He is up and gets running off the ropes. Bordeaux backdrops him and goes for the lengthways press. Pereira gets a rear chancery and bridges up and rear snapmares his man, turns Bordeaux round and has him in another side chancery. He uses it as a weakener and eventually Bordeaux gets and underhook, crotchhold and slam. He goes down for a length pres but Pereira does his bridging up into rear snapmare move. Pereira gets a side chancery. Bordeaux breaks it and rear snapmares Pereira who does it right back to Bordeaux and still keeps holding on the side chancery with his man down. Bordeaux turns him over and cross presses his man for 1. but is rolled off. Pereira gets a single legdive into leglock in the guard on him, This becomes a grapevine legloçk and then a Marty Jones Powerlock. Bordeaux flips it over so he is on top. By now it's practically an Indian Deathlock He turns it over trying for a Frank Gotch figure 4 toehold but Pereira has the same idea and they both end up upright and hopping around back to back, each with a hold on the other's leg. They let go and shake hands, getting a warm reception from the crowd. Pereira gets a sudden side Chancery throw. He goes for another but Bordeaux gets a leg Antonio backflips free and throws his man. They run the ropes, Bordeaux runs through Pereira's legs and gets doubled legs but is thrown off by . Pereira with his own legs. Bordeaux spins out and gets a flying headscissors. He gets the Frankensteiner on Pereira and the two men flip back and forth in folding presses until Bordeaux flings Pereira away with his legs. He gets a side headlock takedown. Pereira tries but fails to force his way out, he forces upwards but gets hiptossed for his pains. He eventually pulls his head out from the headlock to make a back hammerlock in the guard. He converts to a turning double underhook the n on into the hammerlock again, lifts his man upright and throws and bumps him with his arm in the hammerlock position still! Pereira drops an elbow, just about legally on Bordeaux as he gets up. He gets two Manchettes and a kneelift. This is followed by a whip into the ropes and a bodycheck on the rebound. Pereira gets a side chancery but instead of the relevant thow, he sends his man spinning horizontally. He whips Bordeaux who comes back on the rebound with a flying tackle to get a 1 count. But Pereira bridges upright, turns hisman over and slams him. He cross presses for 2. They exchange Manchettes and Bordeaux gets a posting on Pereira. He gets another Manchette, a cross press but is thrown off on top of Delaporte, who stoically keeps his cool unlike some French and German referees we could mention! Bordeaux gets a posting, Pereira reverses but Bordeaux manages to skip the momentum and hops up onto the top turnbuckle for a flying bodypress and the one fall required. They shake and raise each others hands. Delightful bout, agile, full of beautifully executed escapes and transitions. Best purist scientific match I've reviewed on here in a while on these threads, probably since Johnny Kidd Vs Nipper Eddie Riley on the British thread a month ago.

The INA's copy of the full 3 bout show has surfaced on Segunda Caida I'll do a write up later on that middle bout as I seem to have covered the other two adequately already. The first minute or two of Pereira Vs Bordeaux looked pretty cool on Bob's channel, I look forward to checking out the whole thing later tonight.

And another thing, the Australian Middleweight title was quite a "happening" title in the 50s with a title change every 2 years or so, so it must have been drawing at least somewhat. Its demise in 1960 happened just a little while before the Aussie scene was taken over by an American, Jim Barnett and stuffed full of visiting American/America-based talent - in short due to the territory being Americanised.

Christmas 1995. Finlay and an American takeaway on Schumann and Smisl. The latter is very much the CWA's answer to Hillbilly Jim or Mighty Igor Vodic, a folk dancing fool in his silly hat. Schumann is actually a fine technician pulling off a decent rollout of armbar, twisting round then kipping up again to reverse the armbar. Earlier on he got a waistlock from behind and rolled upright when shrugged off. Smisl also has some tricks, kneeling down to get a backdrop on the taller Titan. It all ends in tears for the babyfaces as they get carried away, posting both American villains then posting referee Didier Gapp on top so that he Disqualifies the good guys and rules the win for Finlay and Titan. Yes it's that old We Wuz Robbed (Aux Chiottes L'Arbitre et tout cela.) finish.

Before Pete formed The Rockers with Tommy Lorne and the New Rockers in the early 90s with Hit Man Hobbs, he teamed with his brother John. Their opponents today are veteran and promising upstart combination The Coloured Superstars (before anyone starts, in 1974 calling black people "coloured" was the height of right on cultural sensitivity. Bear in mind Kwango once told Kent Walton that he wore white gloves at the movies so he could see his chocolate ice-cream bar. Go figure. Myers is not yet Iron Fist but Kwango is still an elder statesman blue eye . You can see MC Charlie Fisher in action on Matt D's French videos. Myers gets off to a quick start with an armdrags sending Pete out of the ring- he is not best pleased and getting another three armdrags does not improve his mood. Lapaque does roll out of a wristlever, parry a posting and go through Myers legs to get a double legdive but Clive spins to flick him off. Pete receivers and comes off a whip into the ropes with a Sunset Flip for 2. He gets a single leg takedown and toehold and tags in Brother John who toeholds the other leg! Referee Max Ward will have none of it so John switches leg and grinds down in a seated leglock, redropping for a tighter grip. Myers seems to be angling for a tag so John tags back Pete who has the joldi,. John tags back and splashed the knee. Myers tries getting his other leg in but nearly ends up in an Indian Deathlock. The Lapaques tag and pass the hold. Kwango tries to interfere but Max has none of it and anyway Johnny can't reach. Pete finally misses the splash to the knee and Kwango tags in. He hiptosses Pete who tags John. John rolls up nicely froma few rear side mares. Pete gets a rear chinlock on. Kwango arches up and chin breaks Pete a couple of times. John gets a finger Interlock and forces Kwango to the ropes Kwango gets a headlock into a kneelift. Next John takes his man down with a semi Japanese Stranglehold. Kwango turns round as it's up in the undressed wristlever. He heabutts John's shoulder as Pete comes in with an uppercut. This floors Kwango but when he gets up he is in a mean moody, stalking Lapaque forehead in advance. Pete backs off then gets a rear standing wristlever and tags John who chops the arm and slaps on a ground wristlock in the guard. Kwango slowly kips up but is snapmared down and headlocks as Pete tags back in. Nice fluid tagging from the Lapaques. They try to both chinlock Kwango but Max Ward won't have it and orders a break. Pete, severely reprimanded by Ward, rear snapmares Kwango and again they tag and trybthecsame trick. John gets a half nelson throw (overarm whip) and Kwango takes the bump. Kwango is in the guard and in a top wristlock. John gets weakeners, narrowly dodges a headscissors attempt. Kwango reverses the wristlever but the brothers tag again and craftily double team again and Max Ward is upset again- no five count for double teaming on this side of the Atlantic ! Kwango goes for a straight arm lift but jabs his fingers into Pete's armpit twice before whipping thecarm, forcing Pete to bump. Pete scores an uppercut and stays down for 4. He told nicely upright from a snapmare and makes a lukewarm tag to Myers who starts doing martial arts poses before getting a butt to the stomach and snapmare. He lands two dropkicks but misses the third. Pete gets a flying tackle and crosspress for 2. He uppercuts Myers down for 7, then lands more forearms for 8 before tagging John who lands one of his own leaving Myers on the ropes. The two briefly double team Myers on the ropes but Ward breaks it up. John knees Clive in the stomach and snapmares his man then gets a side headlock which Myers uncorks Mike Marino style. Pete tags in but Clive gets double legs and threatens a stomp before going for a leg stretch. They agree to break but Pete gets his own legspread but it has no effect on the supple Myers so he finally breaks. Myers kicks Pete and tags Kwango. He gets double legs, bending weakeners and a single leg grapevine. John tags in. knocking Kwango from behind, getting a leglock, tagging Pete who splashed the injured knee. He drops his weight on the knee again, makes a single leg figure toehold and tags John who takes over. They tag a couple more times till they both have a leglock on Kwango. Clive Myers threatens to come in but is appeased when the Lapaques get their first Public Warning. (NB - This is a One Knock Out tag team match so Knockouts-and Disqualifications and Public Warnings - a ply to an entire team, not just the individual half that was knocked out. disqualified or Publicly Warned. This may prove important later on.) John continues with a leg grapevine in the fallen Kwango. The latter scissors the leg and is about to spin John out when he tags Pete. Pete kicks the leg and lets Kwango rise at 6 then kicks the leg down again. After a third kick, he single legdives the leg in question, gets a standing toehold, tags John and passes the leg to him. John continues the work on the leg and tags Pete who applies his own leglock before John releases his, causing more grief for - and from - Ward. Pete kicks the leg out as Kwango gets up the legdives him on his next rise, dragging him about by the leg to the corner, tagging John who continues the leglock treatment. Kwango finally fights back, forcing a hand on John's chin - compelling him to switch to wrist lever and release the leg - and then landing his trademark headbutt twice. After the second time Johnny double legdives John and gets a folding press on him for the opening fall. Pete tries to replace John and hiptosses Johnny across the ring but Max Ward spots the subterfuge and orders John back in the ring. Kwango is just up to standing height when John side Chancery throws him and drops a stomp. The two lock up and John forces Johnny into Pete's arms then retreats and charges with a diving headbutt -but Kwango then moves and Pete takes the impact, falling off the apron, getting back at 7. Kwango meanwhile headbutts John down. Finding himself in the heels' corner. Kwango also headbutts Pete to ringside. John forces Kwango against the ropes again until Max prises him off and privately warns him. Pete tags in, armbars Kwango and forces him to somersault and bump then drops a leg on the whipped arm, scissoring thecfirst which he then proceeds to stretch. Kent Walton mentions Kwango and Myers are touring Zambia soon - see the previous film clip of British Wrestlers touring Zaire including a Giant Haystacks Vs Dalbir Singh match. Kwango reaches and gets a tag but Ward disallows as Myers was standing on the bottom rope when he received the tag. Kwango half finger Interlocks Pete. teases a headbutt then goes forca.xstraight armlock over the shoulder from behind Pete converts the straight arm to a chinlock and slips in a concealed illegal punch to Kwango's back, doubling him up. He tags John who takes over the hold.,John gets an armbar but Kwango reverses it. John manages to tag Pete. Who rear snapmares and stomps Kwango (legal the one time)and gets a slightly early forearm smash while his man is down for 5. Myers makes a reasonably warm tag and goes to work with two martial arts kicks on Pete, following with a forearm smash and a dropkick. Once Pete is up Clive snapmares him and Pete throws Clive to the ropes. They bounce back and forth with Pete ducking down to allow Myers to cross overhead. Myers tries for a sunset flip but misses and lands badly. Pete gets the crotch hold, slam and double knees presses Myers for the equalising fall. Session 3: Kwango tries the same trick the Lapaques did but it is spotted by ward whom makes Myers stay in. Pete posts and side chancery throws Myers, posts him again and both Lapaques double slam Clive and are told off for it by Ward who gives them the Second and Final Public Warning. Any more fouls and the team of Myers and Kwango get the immediate DQ win - bear that in mind.. John slams and double knee presses Myers who double ankle smashes out at 2. John rear chinlocks Myers on the mat and Pete tags in, stomping and snapmaring Clive. for 5. He whips Clive into the ropes but Clive comes back with a sunset flip - successful this time but John kicks out of the double leg nelson at 2. He goes for the folding press but Myers rolls out. Pete riries for another double leg Nelson but Clive's feet are in the ropes, forcing the break. Pete snapmare Myers but Myers gets a slam into double leg nelson. Pete gets his shoulders up by sheer strength. Myers tries some more pin attempts including a more severe double knee press and a folding press. Pete reverses the last one, get a sneaky punch in and stands back for 3. Pete gets yet another snapmare and throws Myers to the ropes but he rebounds with a flying tackle on Pete for the winning pin with just 20 seconds on the clock until time limit. In answer to @ohtani's jacket's point, there is no point in John breaking up the fall as this would just get his team a Third and Disqualifying Public Warning. (This being, as I noted earlier , a One Knockout tag match.). Max Ward indeed was RIGHT THERE to intervene if necessary. The Lapaques' gooses were cooked either way - unless Pete himself powered out. Really good tag work from the Lapaques, almost a pity they didn't win. Fine technical tag match that avoids collapsing into a brawl.

Okay just to finish off, a couple of media articles about Farag and the scene. https://cairoscene.com/Buzz/The-Death-of-a-Wrestling-Legend https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/6/56/108556/Sports/Omni-Sports/Famous-Egyptian-wrestler-Mamdouh-Farag-dies.aspx

Not exactly a match but an angle, partly conducted in English., on Egyptian TV