French catch

[David Mantell]

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This is where I don't agree with your premise. There is no universal "they". The "they" in the 1960s were a completely different group of people than the "they" in the 1980s, and so was the TV landscape in general. Your premise is somewhat akin to saying that if Warner Bros. Discovery decided to cancel AEW tomorrow they'd base their handling of the cancellation on how AOL TimeWarner handled the WCW cancellation back in 2001. They won't. It's ancient history at this point. TV executives don't care about what happened 25 years ago to another group of executives. They only care about what is happening now and what will be happening going forward.

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I'd imagine an exec today would scrap AEW exactly the way Jamie Kellner scrapped WCW unless they were a wrestling fan (unlikely in such circles) in which case they would replace it with some better wrestling.

If a show survives a cancellation attempt due to lobbying by a hardcore fan base, execs will be careful if they try again (compared the flagrancy of Michael Grade canning Doctor Who in 1985 to execs quietly scrapping it in 1990.)

If ITV had a past bad experience cancelling wrestling -  or if the WWF's UK Invasion had been more advanced - Greg Dyke wouldn't have been so cocky about it in 1988.

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Also I wouldn't bet the house on TV execs not knowing their history. The entire media stereotype of Star Trek fans as autistic spectrum "Trekkies" comes from the temporarily successful campaign in 1968 to  prevent ST Classic Series being cancelled after Season 2.   A very noisy lobbying fan campaign got Season 3 commissioned, it was generally regarded as jokey and crap and cancellation went ahead without fuss but the lesson was learned about SF/Fantasy series gaining small but obsessive cult followings which could make nuisances of themselves but could also be relied on to view or buy pretty much Anything related to the franchise.

France only had one TV station in 1961. Events there could easily stand out in media history.

[PeteF3]

Star Trek revivals were based on the huge syndicated ratings TOS repeats got for decades afterward moreso than just the letter-writing campaign. I don't know of wrestling having any kind of comparable possible KPI. Contemporary ratings would draw the attention of any TV exec even if they weren't around 20 years before.

And it's not like the major networks ever brought it back. TOS aired on NBC but all the revivals have been in first-run syndication, on a lesser startup network (UPN or CW), or streaming-only.

[David Mantell]

Point being that exec decisions that produce inconveniently negative reactions can have impact on decisions decades later. "You've got to be careful and subtle about cancelling that show. Its cult fans are loonies, they will end up doing protests outside our studios. ". Entire genres, not just individual shows can be impacted.

In those cases, tact and subtlety, not Greg Dyke/Jamie Kellner/Michael Grade publicity stunt cancellations are the order of the day.

[David Mantell]

  On 2/16/2025 at 10:29 PM, David Mantell said:

Black Shadow is apparently Moroccan not American as 70s commentators claimed.

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Apparently his name was filched off a luchador who had toured Europe some years earlier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Shadow_(wrestler)

I added a little Legacy section about the French Catch Black Shadow.

[David Mantell]

OJ on the British thread a long time ago:

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Fit Finlay vs. Kung Fu (Eurosport circa 1989)

I can't think of a more mediocre match-up in all of European wrestling than Finlay vs. Kung Fu. It doesn't matter whether it's in Joint Promotions, All-Star, Reslo or EWF, it's mediocre every time.

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This all Irish bout was effectively Finlay's second bout on French TV, he and Ian Gilmour having dressed up as Scotsmen eight years earlier in a bout which might also have been on TF1. For French viewers, New Catch on TF1 was just a continuation of Old Catch on FR3 and previously A2 with shorter bouts, nicer rings and various British and German/Austrian talent popping up.

This copy is taken from the recap repeat broadcast on Eurosport early 1989 just after the Astra launch with English commentary by veteran MC./referee John Harris. I believe Hammill had also wrestled in France a few times in the 80s but not on TV AFAIK. Hammill is introduced as "Jimy" which Harris picks up on. He also notices Princess Paula 's absence.

Finlay can definitely get heat in France just as in Britain - this is the same year as the Croydon catch-weight bout with Johnny Saint on ITV. He has a headlock switching to front chancery now and then before finally switching to wristlever. Eddie takes two rolls to untwist then widens Finlay's leg stance to more easily fell him with a stomach stomp. This doesn't get the pop it gets in England,. Finlay is up and angry however. He gets a full nelson, spins and Manchettes him then gets pressure points. Hammill kicks and chops Finlay down and gets a flying tackle for a 2 count.  Finlay boots Kung Fu a couple of times, eventually getting his foot caught, being spun round, chopped and thrown out of the ring. The French fans, especially the little kids, are having GLORIOUS fun antagonising Finlay. He comes back with a wristlever into back hammerlock. Kung Fu tries for a crotch hold and slam but can't get the weight. Finlay gets in a concealed closed fist punch just like his dad taught Rasputin to do in the Fighting Finlays documentary. The ref complains but Finlay insists in was an open hand.  He gets pressure points bit Kung Fu gets a chop, posting and superkick. Another posting and Scisseaux Volees from Kung Fu. A posting, chop and snapmares follow. He goes for a lean back folding press on Finlay but only gets 2.  Finlay picks up Hammill by the hair and gets in TWO concealed illegal punches.  He snapmares Edie but misses with a kneedrop and Kung Fu further weakens the knee with kicks, then posts Finlay who comes back with a solid Manchette. He climbs the ropes but Kung Fu knocks him off. Another posting (breaking the top turnbuckle) and a backdrop follow. Finlay gets up, illegally punches Hammill again and pitches him out the ring. He catches Hammill returning and tries to bash his head in the corner.  He tries a missile dropkick but misses, due in part to the ropes still not being right says Harris. A reverse waistlock bodyslam finishes Eddie for the one fall required in little more than five minutes.

Mediocre OJ? I think Hamill gives it his all for good moves mixed with martial arts. Finlay was mainly concerned with getting over as a heel and a bully on national French TV and I guess he achieved that.  I shall have a look at their Reslo bout that same year. to compare .

 

 

 

[David Mantell]

  On 6/7/2020 at 10:50 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

Le Petit Prince & Claude Rocca vs. Bob Remy & Anton Tejero (aired 8/18/80)

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One of the later Petit Prince bouts not really reviewed on here. OJ made it 4th in a list of faves 13 years ago but that's about it.

Before the bell starts Anton Tejero (who is in for all sorts of fun 6 months down the line from this bout with a name like that) attacking Prince, knocking his spectacle off, not that he'll need them for the match but he's got problems to look forward to afterwards.  This turns out to be a trigger for Couderc to come up with all manner of politically incorrect French teams for sight issues - "myope comme un dope" etc.

Still the big moustachioed heel has some starter heat. Remy and Rocas'start out, good standard moves from both including a nice Roca's handstanding escape from a side headlock. They tag and LPP is having run running rings around Tejero, making a fool of him to pay back from the specs and for having Couderc dig up every synonym for "blind as a bat" he can come up with. Tejero ends up ejected from the ring.

The referee has obviously been watching LPP's old opponent and real life trainer Michel Saulnier in action.  It's not actually Saulnier but possibly George Wiesz.  Not much actual Danny Davis esque biased calling but he does get cross with Les Bons especially Roca's, for clumsiness and recklessness that causes him to take bumps. Couderc finds the ref bumps hilarious but then he's not the one taking them. One time, the referee decides not to allow Prince out of a submission for getting the ropes and tries to kick his arm free. After a couple of failed attempts, the ref practically dropkicks LPP's hand, still fails and lands in a heap on the mat. 

Remy reminds me of a heel version of Mick McMichael of Doncaster, same look and build but a bad attitude. Tejero gets his personal heat back by interfering quite a bit while not tagged in. There is a great camera shot for this of him facing the hard cam when obeying tag rules and stepping out of camera facing position to go cheat. 

Roca's gets a pretty decent surfboard on Remy but no submission. By 21 mins in the ref is getting his first Aux Chiottes Arbitre chant.  LPP rolls out of the ring and gets patted on the back and helped up by a kindly fan only for Tejero to knock him off the apron and sending him into La Publique like he is crowd surfing. It's quite a bump! He is helped back this time by a second smoking a cigarette. This could have ended up very badly indeed, not just for the second's long term health but because Tejero is intent on booting LPP out of the ring every time he tries coming back, even when the Chiotte Arbitre orders him off. Eventually the double teaming heat moves back to the ring. In the end it's Remy who gets the opening pin on LPP with a slam after the ref misses a tag to Rocas.

Prince eventually gets a double monkey climb and the heels then tags Rocas who goes Manchette Mad, even giving the ref one to much cheers, before aeroplane spinning Remy (and taking out Tejero with the "propeller") for the equalising pin. Les Mechants regain their heat with some double teaming, a LPP/Ref argument ends with him scooting through Monsieur L'Arbitre's legs to make it a foursome. Les Bons have Tejero in a 2 on 1 toehold one on each foot, they lure in Remy and dump him on top, then the referee then themselves to make a pile of five bodies! A similar situation occurs later with Tejero tied in the ring ropes, Les Bons drive Remy into his stomach and the impact sends the referee flying outside.  In the end. Prince gets the decider with a sunset flip on Tejero after cornering him and flipping over him into pounce formation.  Prince gets a very good superkick at a time when Chris Adams was wrestling in England and possibly visited France. Who knows, perhaps Le Petit Prince  and Shawn Michaels are only two links away in a chain of teaching the superkick.

Overall, Tejero and Remy were carpenters making two of France's top Bons look hot stuff. Thirty minutes Big Daddy tag minus Daddy. A lot of skilled well executed moves from both sides, not to the point where blow-by-blow is required to convey the spirit of the match but enough to make it a handsome exhibition.

[David Mantell]

It's been a while since I posted anything relatively Modern on here. Or at least anything more modern than Eurosport New Catch.  Last time was on page 43 in mid January when I introduced you all to the delights of Igwe and Mungu.  So here goes:

In Britain, the only wrestling to take place on British soil between closure of hospitality on 20th March 2020 and Freedom Day 19th July 2021 were some NXT UK tapings held in closed TV studios at the former LWT premises at the South Bank of the Thames in London, also use for similarly closed off championship boxing fights. (Plus a few wrestlers who happened to live together were able to carry on as training partners with their housemates.)

Wrestling promotions in France however took the next step and held socially distanced shows like AEW did. Voici one such show by WS from Oct 2020 (just a couple of weeks before we Brits went back into lockdown) .  Hence the thin audience (there are more recent clips on that same YouTube channel to show how things have fattened out since the pandemic ended.) and also the masks and the fact that most of the audience are clapping instead of cheering, although a few can't help themselves. The wrestlers, I presume, were in a bubble together.

The big surprise here is to find out that Gannon Gray used to be a Bon as in those said later clips he is un Mechant teaming with Hugo Perez El General who owns the channel. Here he faces a heel doing an Arab gimmick (possibly of actual Algerian descent) and wins after the baddy takes a clumsy topple off the corner post.

Fair play to WS for finding ways to do things in those troubled times and nice to see business rebuilt after the pandemic. However, not long after this show, on 28th October 2020 France went back into lockdown.

[Phil Lions]

"Today, a wrestler doesn't earn enough to live"



Came across an interesting story/interview with Roger Delaporte for one of the major French magazines in January 1977 where he laments the bad state of the business. Keep in mind, catch was still airing on TF1 at that point and I think later that same year it may have even been airing twice a week (on different networks), but despite this business was way down. Delaporte attributes it to a few factors:
- Catch no longer airing live and instead typically on a delay of a few weeks, but the network wouldn't announce that it was pretaped. This allowed the network to plan their timing better and advertise in advance the exact time a show would end, which suggested to the public that all matches were fixed and therefore they lost interest.
- Those taped shows would air mainly on Saturday night, which was a big night for catch live events, and having catch TV airing at the same time killed the live attendance. "We went from 5,000 spectators to 1,000 spectators. Even worse, one night I happened to be wrestling in a town and that same night a match I had wrestled in that town three months prior was airing on TV".
- FFL (the amateur federation) no longer being in charge of catch led to "a multitude of bogus federations and a proliferation of promoters, resulting in total disorder." Multiple L'Ange Blancs, Bourreaus, Kamikazes... All sorts of guys now claiming to be World champion...
- "In the past there were 300 wrestlers. Now there are barely 30 left. Simply put, catch shows are no longer profitable."
- In the past there used to be tax exemptions for catch shows, this was no longer the case and now the promoters had to pay VAT.
- Advertising in the press used to be free, now you had to pay for advertising in the newspapers.
- Since July 1976 the state required wrestlers to be affiliated with Social Security and therefore money had to be deducted from the wrestlers' pay and the promoters' revenue to go to Social Security.

And then the story makes it sound like Delaporte stopped promoting catch at Elysee-Montmartre in 1970 and he was to resume promoting now [1977]. It's not addressed in detail, but that is what the story suggests. There were definitely shows at Elysee in 1971-1976 so could it be that someone else was promoting there during that time (and Delaportre was simply leasing them the venue for the night)? I'm not sure, but this claim definitely peaked my interest. I'll try to find out more.