David Mantell

Mitzi Muller, then British Ladies champion, wife (now widow) of All Star promoter Brian Dixon, mother of All Star ring announcer Laetitia Dixon, ex mother in law of wrestler Dean Allmark, grandmother of current All Star boy king Joseph Dixon and daughter of 1930s wrestler Pat Connolly. goes on a chat show to protest about Women's wrestling not being allowed on TV - and ironically gets to wrestle on TV, first by giving the presenter a darn good stretching and sending him off to bed a happy boy no doubt, second with a clip of an 80s ladies tag match on an ASW show, sadly cut off as the action starts. Mitzi would eventually get on to ITV in 1988 as a ring announcer beating a path for her daughter (and following Princess Paula Valdez's path of getting onto ITV in a non wrestling capacity, in her case managing her husband). Interestingly, by this time Reslo on S4C - as much under the IBA's remit as World of Sport on ITV (but as the Welsh say, London never notices anything west of the Severn Bridge) - was regularly featuring top ladies' talent on its show (I'd have to check if Mitzi herself appeared but wouldn't swear it off).

(I've also gone and posted some examples on the German thread.)

A couple of more modern examples of this. This is from an All Star show at former TV Venue the Royal Spa Centre in Leamington Spa 11.5 years ago. I was (probably) in attendance. And here is a more recent example from, er. Rumble Promotions: Okay. Just to compliment those videos from Britain, here is the Royal Rumble concept in Germany/Austria

A couple of more modern examples of this. This is from an All Star show at former TV Venue the Royal Spa Centre in Leamington Spa 11.5 years ago. I was (probably) in attendance. And here is a more recent example from, er. Rumble Promotions:

I just went and compared a 1973 Petit Prince Vs Daniel Noced bout to Steamboat Vs Savage. There are further comparisons to be made with this one which puts the recently unmasked Hamill against the Northeast's finest dirty wrestler Black Jack Mulligan. Mulligan still has his long hair in 1978 which would be gone by 1981 (possibly due to a hair match?) and it makes him look like Bray Wyatt. The bout is most Kung Fu (in a fetching peach gin with a pitb. throwing chops and flyer and Mulligan getting in the odd sneaky trick and getting punished for it by Max Ward. British referees were a tough old bunch, much like Martial or Roger Delaporte in France and Max Ward was the harderst of the lot. An entire generation of viewers grew up impersonating his Knockout counts "WUN-er, TOO-er, THREE-er, FAW-er!! ..."

I can't help but compare this to Savage Vs Steamboat. Not just because it puts a face/Bon in long white tights and a high flying style against a bearded baddy with a quick vicious brawling style but because of the sheer ENERGY of the bout. Prince unleashes all his speed moves and Nicer sells them bumping around, occasionally getting in one of his own. When Nicer takes over in the middle of the bout, he is a whirlwind of blows. However he can cartwheel and backflip as well as Prince, sometimes keeping it under wraps to not upstage Le bon. All that is needed is an Elizabeth and a George Steele. The former is catered for by the unseen but much talked of Madame Noced who is reportedly looking on with the Noceds' two children. The latter arrives at the end of the match in the sale of one of the Klondyke Brothers (Bill rather than Jake) who comes to the ring to fend off a postmatch attack by Noced and congratulate Prince. I gather they had another ten minutes TV match the following year 1974. I shall have to look that one up.

Incidentally @Jetlag how influential would you say was Steve Wright on the 90s generation of young talent like Ulf, Eckstein, Kovacs, Schumann, Alex etc? Would you be inclined to agree with my suggestion - as discussed earlier in this thread - that the shift in German style away from the slower methodical style of Bock, Chall, Dieter Senior etc towards a more agile British-influenced style was attributable to Steve? If not, who or what else prompted the shift in style?

To cheer me up from that lost review, here is a nice biography of McMichael from Wrestling Heritage. https://wrestlingheritage.co.uk/mick-mcmichael/

Ah, I see. Shoot was a Pun in that case?

I wrote a nice long blow by blow of that last bout which has disappeared up the spout and I am not a happy bunny! My general conclusions: 1) What comedy? Mick had his usual faux-grumpy Les Dawson personality but there was none of the banter of a Vic Faulkner bout with him. Jordan was totally serious and Mick just got on and wrestled. The only other wrestler Mick had that relationship with was the young Owen Hart in Germany and that was as referee and wrestler, not as opponents. 2) This was 1986, Jordan's run as heel World Lightweight Champion was not until 1988 and the previous year he had lost a British Welterweight title shot to Danny Collins and also came up short against Steve Grey for the British Lightweight Championship that young Nino Bryant now proudly holds, so I don't think there was any push on for Flash. 3) If anything the finish was another permutation of the mores of sportsmanship among blue eyes that dictated that normally McMichael would refuse a TKO but as there was a tournament on, he did not want the next guy up to get a free ride so reluctantly accepted going forward. Although it's not as if there was a heel who needed to be stopped - the other semifinalist was Richie Brooks, then a clean classy TBW whom McMichael beat 2-1, while the finalist and trophy winner was Clean Wrestler 4Life Steve "Greg Valentine" Crabtree.

Some more Teddy Boys, still not clad in Edwardian Drapes, still not a DA quiff in sight. . I know he is meant to be a Ted but he looks more like your average 1970s street thug, like the late great Lee Brilleux, lead singer with 70s pub rock band Dr Feelgood or maybe some criminal thus trash on 70s UK cop show The Sweeney. Just to clear things up, REAL Teddy Boys looked like this:

Most of the media smoked back then. They had ashtrays on chat show studio sets. It isn't really a promo, of course. They just play it straight as a sports interview, as they did in TVTimes articles. Even America did that once in a while, like Sting in summer 92 picking over the bones of his world title loss to Vader. I think I posted this compilation video before, but there's a good reason why for the most part Britishness and trash talking do NOT go hand-in-hand ...

Promo interviews on ITV before 1987 were rare but here is European Welterweight Champion and novice referee Alan Colbeck talking to Kent Walton on the midweek late night slot about heels concealing stuff from the referee and his title loss/regain with Tommy "Jack(y) Dempsey" Moore (the old guy in the beret from the 1989 First Tuesday Wigan Snakepit docu.)

Steve Prince was doing pretty well for himself in the early/mid 90s. He was British Welterweight Champion at this time since beating Doc Dean in 1993 (and held it until the TWA set up a new version in 2000). He and Vic Powers beat the Liverpool Lads (Dean & Robbie Brookside) for the British Tag Team Championship - screened on Brookside's video diary on BBC2. I posted an early 2010s clip of him refereeing earlier in the thread. He hasn't got the belt here but the Soldier Boy was two years into a run as British Welterweight Champion here. Tony StClair was also a Mountevans British Champion at Heavyweight. This was his fourth and final reign, he vacated the title later in 1995. This was the second semifinal of a four man KO - Drew McDonald having beaten Satoshi Kojima (in blue-eye mood) in the first. For no good reason Tony is announced as from Wales and has a Welsh flag accompanying him to the ring. Cornwall was absorbed into England and lost its connection to Wales in the Middle Ages, since which time the StClair Gregory family had moved to Manchester. Prince generally worked as a comic macho heel for whom pride came before the fall his opponent scored. From the start Tony throws him into the corner and the largely kiddy audience are delighted to see Prince humiliated. He plays passive selling his weakened back then gets thrown into another corner. He tries a posting and gets it reversed so he lands in a third corner then gets clotheslined, bodyslammed and dropkicked out of the ring as the kids jeer at him. He stomps around still selling his back and is flipped back in by Tony. However he chops Tony down and illegally pounds on his fallen opponent. Eventually he stands back long enough for Tony to get up - and feel a kneelift to the head. After an illegal poke tomthe eye and a legal forearm smash, he gets a sleeper (or as Kent Walton would say, headlock and Strangle). Tony stands, elbows out and bodychecks Prince. But Steve gets a headbutt to the stomach and a kneelift (he salutes the audience.) He then chops Tony in the throat and choked him on the ropes, pounds him on the back of the neck and gets pressure points. Tony fights back with a double blow to the stomach , a double legdives and slingshot out of the ring. Steve gets in, begs Tony for mercy and chops him in the stomach and kneelift to the head. He gets two chops in to the chest then Tony backdrops him. Tony gives him a slap, a whip and a sleeperhold but Prince bashes him off in a corner then chokes him with a rope. He gets another sleeperhold. StClair revives on the third arm lift. Steve gets a headlock. Tony elbows his way out then Prince get another sleeper but Tony elbows out, gets a clothesline, back suplex. Prince gives a posting and stomps Tony in the corner. He posts again but Tony surprise boots him in the face and gets a flying bodypress win. Fairly basic humiliate the Crumb heel five minute match. Does its job and entertains but it's light relief with little of technical interest. Still, since the Finlay incident, Prince had found his level as a comedy heel and would carry on like that another 15:years before turning referee In 2010..

News item August Smisl gives what I assume is a journo a good stretching. Also Finlay and an American have a match then a backstage angle. The American threatens to shoot Finlay. So now you know where Austin, Pillman and Russo got the idea from.

Hi Kain, were/are you a fan of old German/Austrian Catch? Please do join the German Catch thread (see link above on my post.)

Not my lucky day for this- I also had the Black Diamonds Vs RBC & Gil Cesca in mind but I've already done that too. That's pity cos I also watched Foley as Big Daddy Ritter's manager in Stampede recent and finally made the liink mentally between the 1965 heel and 1980 manager) Fortunately here's a bout not done so far. We've covered some M'boa/ M'boaba/N'Boa (which is correct @Matt D?) Different video titles say different things) but not this one. Same babyface team as the Diamonds bout too. We're at the Cirque d'Hiver and directing is Jean Pradinas who would still be at it in the 80s working with Daniel Cazal on the young Flesh Gordon's bouts. This other commentator says Boa (let's just call him that) is Vraiment Quelque Chose- Really Something (as the Associates sang of one Stephen.). Les Bons in their white jackets are ready, looking to the unaccustomed viewer like a doomed jobber team. Lagache (what a great name for Un Mechant)follows in in black, I think I've seen him heeling up in an early 80s match. In come Boa and his manager looking like Samoan Sika and and Kimchee. No sign of the snake itself. Referee is big old Martial.in a sports jacket that makes him look somewhere between Billy Bunter (look him up) and Fatty Arbuckle. René's brother Roger is seconding Les Bons. The film develops an interesting shade of turquoise at times - I guess this print has been through the wars. Lagache starts against Cesca who rolls through various throws unscathed. Lagache can deal them out - including a fair old Planchette Japonaise (Monkey Climb) - but try have no effect on Cesca. But when Cesca gives Lagache a high whip he has to take the bump and rather sheepishly go to his corner to tag Boa. (To be fair, few people could land feet first from a High Whip- Pete Roberts being one.). Cesca legdives Boa for a folding press pin. Boa is saved only by his legs rolling into the ropes so Cesca plays bait and switch with Le Congalais, nipping out of he way of his charges so he posts himself, going to the floor so Boa leaps over him, then getting a legdive and crosspress for 2. René finally tags in and Boa is TERRIFIED, scampering back to his corner before realising he has to face his fear. RBC goes to work, with three snapmarrs and a high whip all causing Boacto bump all over the ring. Boa in response bites René on the arm, puts him up against the ropes in a top wristlock and nibbles some more. In the absence of an actual serpent, Boa's schtick is to "eat" opponents. Martial shoves him off and RBC gets back to work. He gets Ben Chemoul on the mat in a ground top wristlock but Rene kips up, does a 360 somersault and lands just in the right position to drop toehold the Snakeman. He turns it over into something almost an American figure four leglock- Martial makes them break it up. (Yes this print HAS been through the wars! There are odd short groups of frames missing, possibly from projector damage when the print was being bicycled through some faraway African or Arab country. ) Boa gets his wristlever back on. René does another kip up, somersault and legdive - this time a single into a spinning toehold. He Manchettes Boa at close range, then tweaks his nose and gets a headbutt for it. Boa throws him to his corner and tags Lagache. He gets a back hammer and jumps on it. RBC rear snapmares him but Lagache keeps the hold. Another snapmare, hold still not broken. Then René goes for one of the three typical French Catch escapes, the Reverse Snapmare. He lands behind Pierre and double legdives him. Boa, watching, puts a boot in. Cesca tags in and they lockup. Lagache backs into the ropes and gets a top wristlock. He takes down Cesca who kips up and tries to flip out but Lagache keeps control. Lagache makes Cesca turn in the hold and take the bump. He overhead throws him in the hold for another bump. We miss how Cesca flips out, for a shot of Boa. Lagache tags him in. Cesca gets an armhank, two snapmares a hiptoss, a Planchette Japonaise and another snapmare and hiptoss. Cesca gets an abdominal stretch converting to a straight press. Boa tries nibbling his way out of a shoulder press and does get a standing wristlever out of it. Cesca slings him off. Boa and RBC have a contretemps so RBC tags in. Boa doesn't fancy it but RBC gets a top wristlock and takes the African down. He has his man in a figure 4 top wristlock but Boa uses a concealed illegal punch to get out. Camera cuts to Boa's manager in his Kim Chee getup. Back to hardcam, RBC is on the mat. Boa gives him a Butt. A posting lands but Martial will not allow a follow down. Boa posts RBC. He follows down again but Martial still won't have it. Ben C reverses a third posting attempt. He double legdives and slingshots Boa into his own top turnbuckle. Cesca tags in and gets the Lex Luger Human Torture Rack on the big man but instead of submission, makes it an Aeroplane spin, leaving Boa to land on his spine like the proverbial bag of poo. Cesca posts Boa, adding to the back damage. Cesca front Chanceries his man but Boa gets him on the ropes and Les Mechants double team him. Martial drags Boa off by the hair but behind his back Lagache gets stomps in from the apron. RBC runs in to complain, Martial sends him out, again throws off Boa by the hair and pulls Lagache off Cesca. Boa gets Cesca in a headlock and turns to conceal a closed fist punch to the head, then another one. RBC tags in, goes from side headlock to hammerlock to a leglock. He wrenches and loosens as the crowd chant Ou-Ais. Boa tries dirties including hairpulling to break the hold but not for long. Les Bons tag. Lagache holds René as Boa shoulderblocks him. He tries it again but Cesca grabs him on the ropes. We don't see what happens next but La Publique love what they see. When we cut back to the ring, Boa is disappearing over the ropes. Rene dropkicks Lagache off the apron. Boa gets in and gets snapmares. The first brawl of the bout, a fistfight, breaks out. Boa goes down. Martial tells Cesca off but La Publique disagree. Cut to two gentlemen of African descent who have no sympathy for kinsman Boa, they laugh at his plight. Both sides tag. Ben C legdives Pierre,puts a foot on him and leans back to stretch all the leg ligaments. René does it again (cuevvocal sound effect from commentator) plus three trips. Pierre backs into Cesca and Ben C trips him again. Lagache gets a legdive and leglock, occasionally illegally using the rope. Marchal comes close to investigate. Rene escapes and Lagache nearly legdives the heavyweight referee! Lagache pounds on Rene - Martial drags him off but Boa uses the distraction to choke Rene with the tag rope, jumping off the apron to ringside to better to it. Martial sees off more punches from Lagache then turns his attention to Boa and frees RBC. Both heels get stomps and Lagache snapmares René and gets in more punches, then stomps. Lagache narrowly stops Les Bons tagging. Martial allows the tag and Cesca corners Pierre. They break up and get a finger interlock. Cesca gets the French Scisseaux Volees takedown. Lagache cannot escape conventional lly but drags himself and Cesca to his corner where Boa can grab an ankle, tagging himself in. Boa runs to get a ground side headlock. Boa slams Cesca's head to the mat repeatedly. He stomps and pounds and Lagache pitches in from the apron. Boa butts Ben Chemoul and pounds him. Martial tears Boa off but Lagache fouls from the apron. Boa twice headlocks and foul punches RBC. ITt goes on like this with one heel punishing René while the other takes his punishment from Martial ... Boa throws both Bons to ringside. He slams René's head into the ring post and gets a clout from the outsised ref. The public helps René back but Boa helps him in the last bit then lands him an over the knee backbreaker. and a surprisingly well done flying bodypress for a heel in France 1965 to get the opening fall.He slams RBCs head some more but Martial drags him off. Lagache calms him before he spoils things and the seconds revive the "Completement Groggy" RBC. The heels "try to help up" RBC and start slugging him but Martial sees them off. Shot of the public looking worried. 2eme Manche - Boa and RBC restart. RBC is sluggish, Boa anxious to get on, asking WTF is the delay? Boa hiptosses RBC into Les Mechants' corner. Lagache stomps from the apron, Boa does something 'orrible to René's nose. Cesca tries to intervene Martial drags Boa off by the hair. Boa gets Martial blindsided then resumes his nose-related foul. Lagache takes over the treatment. A young woman in the audience in what looks like a fez complains. So does Cesca. Fat lot either does. Lagache still has a side headlock on and still uses it as a cover for fouls. This includes a Boa kick from the apron. Pierre releases the hold to get in his own kicks, Martial escorts Cesca out of the ring. Lagache Manchettes RBC - straight into Cesca's waiting arms and a Hot Face Tag! Disaster for Lagache? No, he just gets the same headlock and same fouls on Cesca . Martial disallows a tag to Boa so Lagache takes Cesca down in a side headlock on the mat. Then the tag. Boa puts a wristlever on. As Cesca gets up, Boa makes it a top wristlock and forces Cesca onto the ropes where Lagache does terrible things to Cesca's behind. Boa throws Cesca down, manchettes the back of his neck twice, smashes him to Pierre in the corner who gets an illegal chinlock on that Martial has to break up. Martial pulls off Boa by the hair but Lagache uses the distraction to foul Cesca again. This is starting to become a pattern. Cesca tries to trip Boa who pulls him in and kicks both legs in succession. He whips Cesca into the ropes but Gil comes back with a knee to the stomach and tags René. He corners Boa pounds him in the corner (like an 80s WWF show minus the crowd counting.) Boa tries the same but RBC slips through his legs and dropkicks him out. Lagache rescues his partner from any more adventurous crowd members and RBC flips him in. He grows Boa's hair and holds on until Martial has had enough andctells him this really needs to stop. Martial gets between them and ends up squashing Boa on the ropes. He chases after cheeky René who stamps on Boa 's nose and does a pirrouette on it as payback for earlier nose-related fouls. Les Bons bat Boa back and forth but Martial thinks that is enough for retaliation. Boa gets some punches and Manchettes in. Boa lures RBC to the heels corner and Les Mechants briefly regain the advantage but RBC fires back with his own Manchette. Cesca tags in. A long shot of Boa's pith helmeted manager then we cut back to Cesca delivering Manchettes to Boa. He clings to the ropes the goes down on his knees as Lagache leans in to help him. Cesca continues to punch Boa and Martial has had enough but the public hasn't. Cesca throws Boa over the ropes but he lands on the apron. Cesca bangs Boa's head on the ring post and he falls to ringside. Martial starts the count. The announcer thinks Boa has been counted out but no. Lagache tags in. So does RBC Who gets a staying full nelson, the first scientific wrestling move in quite a while. Lagache reverses it but Ben C breaks free and lands four dropkicks then tags Cesca back. Lagache posts RBC into Martial who goes down (the lady in the fez is in HYSTERICS.). Cesca goes to the top turnbuckle, flips over Lagache, dodges a charge from him. Y going over the top and pulling him down into a folding press for the equaliser. Boa tries to intervene but RBC dropkicks him away. Boa lands in the ropes and afterwards falls to ringside. Les Mechants' seconds and the helmeted manager have their work cut out getting these two fighting fit for ... La Belle: Cesca does a rolling legdives to take down Lagache in a crosspress. Boa pulls Cesca off, Gil goes for him and Lagache double legdives him., getting a leglock. Cesca uses his free leg to try to hammer and push away. He eventually throws him with a sort of mat based huracanrana but Lagache still gets a leg and takes him back down in the leglock. René so ehow gets a tag and pulls Pierre off then gets a wrist lever on him, chops him down, snapmares him , works over his face a bit, drops an elbow on his skull and superkicks him. He delivers two Manchettes and tags Cesca who also delivers Manchettes - and fists causing Martial to pull him off and Boa to come in the ring. Both heels are now in and Cesca is feeling fit to take on both but neither fancy it. Eventually Boa goes at it with Cesca who gets a kick and corners Boa with more punches. Martial orders him off so he tags René who hooks Lagache into the corner with legs over ropes, charges the diagonal of the ring for a heat but then again to dropkick away an interfering Lagache. RBC snapmares and somersault splashes Boa who fights back with an over the knee backbreaker and slam then comes off the top corner with another flying bodypress but misses and lands splat in the middle of the ring like Snuka at MSG 1982. He gets up but René delivers a running sunset flip for the deciding fall. Les Bons win 2-1. They celebrate as Lagache andthe manager help Boa back to his corner The first part of this was fantastic scientific wrestling until the heels took over and dirtied their way to their one fall. Sadly the Bons comeback was more of a brawl and their ignoring the pleas of the referee didn't help, but La Publique saw les Mechants get their just deserts and went home happy. You can't argue with the customers but I would have liked to see more of RBC especially's skills.

Two notable things apart from the action: firstly there was a rather splendid cup up for grabs. The other was that Renault's three young daughters were sitting in on commentary. Not that the commentator could get much out of them except a long sheepish pause followed by "Oui" rather like the prelude to Monty Python's Nudge Nudge sketch with John Cheese interviewing not very verbose schoolboys Palin, Jones and Idle. About five minutes before the end they give up and interview their young blonde mother. He does get one of them to declaim a clearly rehearsed goodbye. It's a surprise Renault was not his early 80s skinhead biker Blouson Noir look from his tag team with Jacky Richard. I know he is meant to be a Ted but he looks more like your average 1970s street thug, like the late great Lee Brilleux, lead singer with 70s pub rock band Dr Feelgood or maybe some criminal thus trash on 70s UK cop show The Sweeney. I was expecting him to be a heel as per 9 years later but here he's having a clean match in the French style and @Jetlag this is how the French clean matches are. Very acrobatic, very "Souple" (ultimate compliment for a French wrestler from the French commentators) . Lots of reverse snapmares, backflips from standing wristlocks, not so much flying headscissors but lots and LOTS of cross buttock throws in a side headlock. Renault is a lot taller than Saulnier and the imbalance reminds me of Adrian Street and Jim Breaks on ITV about 6 months earlier. A few few pauses in side headlocks as there are no round breaks so they need rest. One brief bit of needle triggers a Manchette exchange and nearly a ropes foul til L'Arbitre calms them both down and they shake hands. Saulnier gets the pin for the win and the cup with a neat folding press with bridge that would please Johnny Saint, Kent Walton and probably Bob Backlund too. Verdict: great scientific catchweight/poids libre bout. Le Petit Prince is still the best Saulnier opponent though. Bah, I was looking forward to reviewing that bout, but I've already done it. It's worth bumping this up for my description of the different French moveset from the British one as this ties in with points I made above.

It's an acquired taste of a bout with subtleties. I wouldn't show it to someone as their first Trad Brit bout to get them hooked. Actually there's a good few showier bits from Marino there that hint at why Kent Walton fell in love with the guy back in the 50s. Yearsley also springs a couple of surprises.

Poor old Gary Wensor is best known as the sucker who cost Big Daddy his last ever TV defeat in August 1978. His second most famous bout is a tag team tournament match where he and brother Ed act heelish before going down. He went see him with something more to offer to against Tarzan Johnny Wilson's kid brother. This was the other half of the infamous Carribbean Sunshine Boys Vs Kung Fu Fighters TV taping October 1977, held over until Jan '78 Round 1, by the way, with his ginger sideburns and stripey trunks, it must be said Wensor look very much like a Victorian bathing gentleman on the beach.) Peter gets an armbar with pressure on the shoulder. Wensor counters with a right armed hammerlock so Wilson switches to a standing left arm hammerlock of his own. Wensor simply rolls away from the hold. They reset, Wensor agrees to half a finger Interlock then backrolls to fold it up into a neat top wristlock and force Peter to the mat, but Peter kips up and fells Wensor with a leg spread. Wensor rolls off sideways to cheers. He throws Pete in an armlock and tries for another one, but Peter leaps behind for a figure 4 ground top wristlock. Wensor tries to kip up but is twice dragged down so instead goes for a headscissors. After failing to snap out, Peter turns it upright and prises the hold open. He puts pressure on the opened knees, Wensor responds with a seated front hammerlock. He frees his legs and gets the upper advantage with the hammerlock. Wilson stands up in the hold but goes back down under pressure. On his second attempt he uses his free arm to prise open and reverse the hammerlock. Wensor turns into the guard and Wilson goes for the crosspress but is thrown off at 2, also allowing Wensor to free his arm. Wilson single ets a toe and ankle legdives and grapevine. Wensor tries to spread Wilson's legs but Wilson rectifies. The bell goes. Nice round of applause. Kent Walton likes the Croydon crowd a lot. Bear in mind not only is this the same bill as the Sunshine Boys incident but it contains many future members of the South London Hellcrew who would RIOT over the Kendo-Rocco Wars 11-13 years laterboth here in Croydon and in Catford's Lewisham Theatre. . An audience can wear many guises. Round 2: They lock up. Wensor takes Wilson down in the guard with a front grovit. Wilson gets a headscissors but Wensor snaps it open. Wensor goes for a standing full nelson but then turns 180 to switch to a reverse snapmare for 5 then another one for 4 then a front chancery. Wilson breaks it open into an armbar and high whips Sensor to force a bump. Wilson takes down Sensor with a crucifix into further nelson shoulder press for two 2 counts. and a one before releasing. Wilson easily drives Sensor to his knees with a finger Interlock. He pulls him up and down a couple of times before Wensor breaks free and fires a lean back dropkick. Wensor then floors Wilson again with a single legdive into seated leglock. Wilson makes various grabs for Sensor's neck but achieves nothing except briefly hooking his chin, but has to let go when Wensor excerpts more pressure with the legs. Wilson eventually gets his other leg to form a bodyscissors with the locked leg. This gives Sensor to unhand the leg but he easily turns on his front and able to shoulder press Wilson. Wilson tries for a bearhug but Sensor quickly shoved him off. He gets a wristlever and pulls Wensor over (releasing the bodyscissors as he does so) and secures the other arm to turn his man into a butterfly shoulder press for a two, a one and a two before releasing. Wensor goes behind and turns into a sunset flip. Wilson resists the pin attempt by going into a Johnny Saint ball. They restart and Wilson gets a far distant throw across the ring then a side chancery throw. He gets a front chancery and switches to double undrhok, aiming for a suplex but Wensor gets a crotchhold in and bodyslams Wilson. Wensor gets a reverse snapmare (Kent Walton is impressed with him, this was Gary's TV debut) then throws his man, Wilson ends up taking the bump despite an attempt to roll with the throw. The bell goes. Kent says Wensor was trained by his brother Ed who was trained by "the Joyce Boys" (presumably Ken and Doug but not the unrelated Billy). Round 3: They lock up and Wensor gets a side chancery. Wilson breaks it into a top wristlock. Wensor has to bring his other arm up to resist. Wensor eventually gets the power advantage, hiptosses Wilson and catches a wristlock on him on landing. Wilson stands up and rolls out of the hold. Wilson wins another finger interlock, puts Wensor's hands on the mat, steps on each foot and pulls up on his chin to form a front facing neck crank! Wensor pulls himself flat down on the mat in the mount but Wilson pulls him right back again. Wensor grapevines one leg and knocks out the other with his free knee to uproot and fell Wilson and now have a leglock on him. He folds the other leg in and kneels on it (a la the headscissor escape position from earlier.) Resisting a bearhug attempt, he turns Wilson into a Frank Gotch toehold. Wilson twice tries to chin lever his man off. The second time he forms a crossface to first free himself then covert to a side headlock on the mat, then to a seated read chinlock. Wensor breaks it open to get a rear seated hammerlock They move to standing position and Wilson pulls the arm out front and to the side to get a standing armlock, then force his man back down into the guard. Wensor gets a headscissor and cranks it forward . Wilson folds the legs into a Frank Gotch toehold. Wensor curls up and rolls out. He gets a sideways folding press and a 2 before Wilson can resist by retreatingbintona Johnny Saint ball. The bell goes. Round 4:. They run the ropes, Wensor drops down then comes up for a cross body press for 2. A Wensor shoulderblock fells both men. Both are up at 9 but when Wensor throws Wilson he tries to cartwheels over and fails, keeling over mid-spin. Wensor resists a throw and gets a side headlock then drops into a rear double legs takedown. Wensor twice throws Wilson for counts of 4 and 7. A third time. Wilson goes down but Wensor just about stays up and catches Wilson with a flying tackle. Both go over the top for 10 and a double knockout. Well I suppose @ohtani's jacket won't like that finish but it was a fine technical exhibition from two underrated men - Tarzan Johnny's sidekick brother and the guy who took Daddy's last TV loss for him - which gets a fine appreciative response from an audience that later than night were rioting and which contained many seasoned pro wrestling hooligans who would go on to form one of the wildest crowds in history. Never mind the Carribbean Sunshine Boys that same night- many of these people went on to participate in the 1988 Kendo and Skull Murphy Vs Steve Adonis and Pete Roberts riot. Yet feed them a piece of technical class like this and they become the most sophisticated and cultured of audiences!

Getting heat from too many rope breaks - a primer. Not a great scientific bout - Jones does some armbar rollouts from the much taller Emperor who keeps on walking out of the bout, mainly because Jones goes for the mask. Between them. they clock up four public warnings each. Before that Emperor infuriates the crowd by constantly grabbing for rope breaks rather than countering holds. Jones gets the one submission with his Powerlock which looks like the American figure 4 leglock but which lis actually a scorpion death lock unfolded so the Victim is flat on their back in the guard.

Another short clip, unusual because the Wright Brothers are on opposite sides. Steve and Bernie aren't tagged in together but Steve gets a few shots and a dropkick, I n at Bernie on the apron. Bernie is no longer the Bearcat Wright violent case but he's hanging out with he notorious Indio. Bernie spends most of his time against Bobby Gaetano .Ending comes when Steve gets a flying bodypress on Indio for a successful pin.

Masa Chono as a good guy at Heumarkt, Vienna 1987. (Chono was a rare heavy duty heel in 90s Japan, often beating babyfaces up til other babyfaces came to the rescue in groups) One fan shows his appreciation by shouting Japanese motorcycle brands at him. Chono makes nice transiions from chinlock to sleeperhold. He already has the step over toehold but not the extra facelock of the STF. He works long and hard on Klaus's legs. He also has good karate kicking skills like Saysma and Yamada. Clip appears to end with Kauf getting a public

Joined in progress. In 1987, Tony is younger and fitter and can almost match the big blond Swiss for size. It's a bit of a highlights package so we go from Tony kipping up in wristlocks to him walloping Rene with forearm smashes and don't find out how we got from A to B. It's also filmed over two peoples' shoulders and their heads get in the way. Lots of stomping each other, not much technical work ("Not too much wrestling" as Kent Walton would say.) Tony kneesmashes his way out of a tombstone piledriver, Rene misses an aerial move off the top turnbuckle. Tony gets the winner with a clothesline and cross press.