French catch

[ohtani's jacket]

Vassilios Mantopolous vs Gilbert Lemagouroux (1/24/85)

Hard fought but surprisingly low key match for a studio bout. It made sense from a wrestling perspective as Lemagouroux spent the entire bout trying to ground Mantopolous, but I would have expected a bit more razzle dazzle from a stylist like Vassilios. I also thought Lemagouroux was somewhat limited in his role. When he did ground his man all he could really do to him is stomp him and throw a manchette. 

Eddy Wiecz vs Roger Delaporte

It's been a while since I've seen Delaporte peacock around a ring. He really was one of the great pantomime heels. I've said many times before that I dislike Carpentier's work in France, but he did a good job of dishing out punishment in this bout. He overdid the savate kick, and there was too much bullshit with the ref, but overall I thought he projected a tough-as-nails image. He certainly wasn't able to take any shit from anybody. Everything felt well rehearsed, and I imagine Wiecz and Delaporte had this same match a million times, but it was well received by the studio audience and further proof of the mastery of Roger Delaporte.