French catch

[ohtani's jacket]

A man after my own heart. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Les Blousons Noirs (Marcel Manneveau/Claude Gessat) vs Remy Bayle/Dan Aubriot (1/2/66)

The only notable thing about this was when they wound in in the first few rows. By far the weakest of the studio matches. Not even Manneveau did anything interesting. Couderc got on my nerves with his singing. 

[David Mantell]

8 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

A man after my own heart. 

I wouldn't argue with the Barnum part. It's the Heavy Metal reference that stumps me. Maybe he had Cybernic Machine in mind.

[David Mantell]

Also I think that for something to die off you need a cut out period when it stops and there was none for French Catch. The old just bled DEEP into the new - even the likes of Michel Falempin, Tony LaMotta, Angelito and Franz Van Buyten showing up on Eurosport New Catch, greyed but still going.

[ohtani's jacket]

33 minutes ago, David Mantell said:

I wouldn't argue with the Barnum part. It's the Heavy Metal reference that stumps me. Maybe he had Cybernic Machine in mind.

Perhaps he was referring to some of the S&M gear the wrestlers wore in the 80s. 

[David Mantell]

24 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Perhaps he was referring to some of the S&M gear the wrestlers wore in the 80s. 

In France?

(apart from Demolition on that 1988 Bercy Stadium show against the Bulldogs.)

[David Mantell]

Anyway, I need a replacement bout to review:

On 7/5/2020 at 2:11 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Gilbert Leduc & Jacky Corn vs. Der Henker & Daniel Schmid (aired 3/30/74)

This is the last Der Henker match we have. What can we say about him? Not the greatest masked worker of all time, but certainly not the least. I thought he would be a questionable worker like L'Homme Masque, but he ended up being a lot better. I would put him on the level of a guy like Villano V. This was a wildly entertaining bout and easily the best of Der Henker's tags. The reason for that was Daniel Schmid. Schmid is awesome. He really should be everyone's new wrestling hero. He's this chubby blonde kid who bumps and sells like a European Buddy Rose. I really need to devour everything we have from him. This was the first tag where Leduc and Corn felt like they were anything special. Together, that is. And to make things better, Pat Roach showed up between falls and challenged Der Henker to a match. It's too bad we don't have any of that, but it was nice to see Pat. 

I've talked about this bout, mainly Pat popping up between falls, in the past but never really reviewed it.  Screened nine days after I was born. 

Premier Manche:  Matt's clip starts in action with Leduc and Henker locking up. Henker takes control, diving Leduc into the mat (Reguliere) and into the ropes (Irreguliere) and landing a chop for good measure. About 30 seconds in, the commentator has finished parking his car and gets down to work.  Hooded Remy continues the treatment with a side chancery throw into rear seated chinlock, puling up and chopping down his man before tagging Schmidt who follows suit but using manchettes instead of chops. He gets a neck crank and a knee in the back of the neck for added nastiness but soon gets bored and stands up to deliver more manchettes. Leduc fires on back and tags Corne. Jacky gets two Manchettes of his own and he and Gilbert pull a double team on Daniel that has L'Arbitre Jacques Rouxel complaining. Corne folds his man into a folding press double leg nelson but Daniel makes it a stalemate Bascule. Corne headscissor throws him (not on his head so not a toupie).  Schmidt gives the good guy two Manchettes and tags Henker. He gets a top double wristlock on Corne  who counters with a front face lock which Henker counters with a slam., all the while maintaining the arm.  Corne start untying knows in Bayle's Cagoule then tries to take him down with a classic French style headscissor counter (still undoing knots while up in the air!) but Henker does what British wrestlers did in that situation and throws him off. And yes he's still got that arm.  Rouxel does up the knots again and the fans are FURIOUS, giving him the bird like a particularly annoying car alarm. So Jacky pulls himself up and undoes the knots as Schmidt complains.  He tries to pull it off in the course of a a side chancery throw but Henker lands over by Daniel who tags in looking angry but promptly ends up eating Manchettes.  He fires back but Corne is ahead on points then tags Gilbert to continue the treatment until Schmidt tags Henker who gets a butt to the chest and a sunset flip double leg nelson with Daniel making the save at 2.  Henker gets pressure points, absorbs a manchette, gets a standing full nelson, neutralises a drop and roll escape.  takes a rear out and gets a cross buttock throw. Cornebridges up and rear snapmares his man.  They enhance snapmares and Jacky misses something off the ropes (Botch?). He gets another Manchette but screws up again on whatever comes next and tags Gilbert in legit disgust.  Henker tags Daniel and it becomes a Manchette contest. Corne tags in an teases a superkick but it stays quite slug and punch until Schmidt gets a side chancery throw into headlock.  Henker tags and continues the Manchettes.  He tries for a cross buttock but Corne turns it into a backslide for the opening tombee. A fan jumps up on the apron to congratulate Les Bons, Corne gives him a handshake before he is dragged off. Other more restrained patrons reach up for a handshake.  Corne's dad Robert Legeat is at ringside and says he is impressed with Der Henker's power. 

Deuxieme Manche. Henker slugs Cornebwho tags Gilbert.  Back to the interview with old Robert.  Back to the ring, Gilbert has a top wristlock on the masked man who throws him off like Big Daddy would do.  They finger Interlock then Gilbert let's go one side and backrolls to win up a Henker arm.  Henker forces ha whip, somersault and bump and slaps an arm hank on top.  Gilbert tries to handstand for his trademark toupie but Henker keeps kicking him over. The last time he tries, Henker just releases and tags Schmidt leaving Gilbert to topple over.  Daniel twirls his finger mocking the toupie. They double finger Interlock and Gilbert drops backward, gets the crossed headscissor on an toupie throws Daniel from there, landing with the cross scissor still on. Schmidt turns Leduc into the guard and bars down the legs., but Leduc gets up on his cranium and does another toupie takedown.  Schmidt tries standing again but Gilbert hammers his knee to boot Daniel in the head and tags Corne.  Schmidt gets a waistlock then breaks out the manchettes:   Les Mechants tie up Corne in the ropes. Schmidt pummels him until ordered off by Rouxel. Corne slams him and stomps him a few times as retaliation.  Henker ties Corne up again, Gilbert comes over to intervene but gets thc same so now both Bons are hogtied.  Schmidt lands a couple more blows then cannons off the ropes but Les Bons get free and Henker gets potted to ringside like a billiard ball, while Schmitt is down taking the count. Henker saunters back into the ring and takes over.  He manchettes Corne down and follows with an axehandle.  Corne is down at eight but Henker pulls him up and slaps him around and down, then dives in to get pressure points on him.  Corne starts to rise so Henker uppercuts and axehandles him some more then tags Daniel who drags Corne up for more. Schmidt tries to side chancery throw Corne who resists so Daniel corns and pummels him and chokes him with the tag rope.  Gilbert objects so Henker sneaks in fists being Rouxel's back. Henker tags in with more blows. Then Schmidt. The heels get an Avertisement but continue regardless.  Henker then Schmidt are in, battering Gilbert until the announcer pronounces him Completment Groggy.  Daniel snapmares him and tags Henker who finishes Corne with a face first piledriver for the equalising fall.  "The English Giant" Pat Roach arrives in the ring to protest the heels tactics and challenges all French wrestlers while he's about it. Crowd started an Aux Chiottes L'Arbitre chant while THEY'RE about it.

La Belle: Pat clears off.  Henker gets stuck in with a snapmare and chops.  Schmidt gets the odd one in from the apron. Corne fights back with Manchettes of his own, chops both Mechants and rolls off to tag Gilbert.  It's a hot but not very scientific tag, Gilbert just carries on the Manchettes like everyone else.  He throws Schmidt to ringside and dropkicks He Ker out to join him.  Schmidt gets in and Henker on the apron but Leduc just brawls on.  He tries it with an incoming Henker who floors and axehandles him then Schmidt carries it on.  Rouxel is not happy, not are La Publique.   Gilbert fights back with a headbutt to make Johnny Kwango proud and pummels his man in a half chinlock.  Corne takes over on Schmidt but it's all still just Manchettes.  Gilbert knocks Henker down to ringside and gets a double leg slingshot on Schmidt first into the ropes then back into his waiting knees.  Henker barely gets back when Gilbert tags in and chops him all the way into the front row's laps as Schmidt continues the brawling in the ring.  Gilbert meanwhile gets are cross buttock throw and press on Schmidt for the decider.  As they cut back to the studio we last see Daniel being helped up by Les Bons, nomidea if this triggered an Afterbirth or not.

Action packed brawl. What science there was too place early on.  Good to see Pat on French TV, sadly he had no actual bout on the small screen over there.

 

[David Mantell]

On 9/29/2023 at 12:14 PM, David Mantell said:

Two more matches from the same small venue circa 2006

 

On 9/29/2023 at 12:05 PM, David Mantell said:

Good clean match in a rather tiny venue circa 2006, possibly the revived FFCP:

 

Another clip from the same time period Five minutes of match.  left without ending but good solid stuff regardless:

The old guy is called Nils Roland. No idea who the other guy is, I'll just call him Young.  I assume it's the same 2006 show as the other clips or a show from around that time by the same promotion. They slap hands in sportsmanship then exchange throws with Nils taking a bit of a bump. Young dropkicks, Manchettes, snapmares and three times huracanranas Nils before going for a kneeling shoulder press, getting only one.  Nils rolls his legs back and Young hooks them for a folding press but Nils has the power to force a Bascule and get a leg nelson of his own.Cut to Young firing a dropkick and picking up his man for an unspecified folloup but Nils gets a couple kf kneelifts first. Cut to Nild snap-maring Young. He gets an arm weakener. Cut to L'Arbitre telling Nils off for something or other  "It's when I say it is!".  Nils kneels (geddit?) on Young and heelishly uses the rope for leverage. Nils puts a headlock on Young, drapes his neck on the middle rope, puts a knee on it and flails away.  He then uses the rope to slingshot Young on to his back. This gets him an Avertisement. Young land four Manchettes, Nils rope a dopes them before falling forward on his face. Young gets a front chancery, snapmares and dropkick on Nils. He slings Nils, catches and cross presses him but Nils rolls him off.  Young gets three long vertical suplexes, but Nils rolls him off again - and the clip ends.

Most solid technical work with some Manchettes and some dirty thrown in. Would like to see more.

 

 

 

[ohtani's jacket]

12 hours ago, David Mantell said:

In France?

(apart from Demolition on that 1988 Bercy Stadium show against the Bulldogs.)

I seem to remember Eliot Frederico wearing some kinky shit. 

[David Mantell]

3 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

I seem to remember Eliot Frederico wearing some kinky shit. 

Le Rocky du Ring/Grim Rocker?  I thought that was just a biker gimmick with some face paint thrown in.

[HeadCheese]

Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca vs. Anton Tejero & Pancho Zapata is the best French Catch I have ever seen. Alot of French Catch doesnt click with me but, this one really did, interested in checking more from all involved. Tejero & Zapata feel like a French FTR, FrenchTR!

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Anton Tejero is a good worker to follow. He's a solid worker with a relatable heel shtick, and an entertaining performer. 

[David Mantell]

5 hours ago, HeadCheese said:

Alot of French Catch doesnt click with me but, this one really did

It's the next door neighbour territory to the one I grew up with so most of French Catch clicks for me except the ref-battering.  But I'd still love the insight of French fans who grew up with this (and later)

5 hours ago, HeadCheese said:

interested in checking more from all involved

Zapata had a match on World of Sport in 1969 Vs Jeff Kaye (who also appears on French TV and who I knew as a referee growing up) clips of which appeared in The Final Bell in December 1988 on ITV.

 

 

[David Mantell]

On 10/5/2024 at 3:22 AM, David Mantell said:

Quote

Ohtani's Jacket wrote 

Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca vs. Anton Tejero & Pancho Zapata (aired 7/18/65)

This was a nice blend of cocky babyface moves and retaliatory heel work. Couderc certainly enjoyed it as he kept laughing and singing random songs. It was hard to get a gauge on how good Zapata was, as he was mostly stooging for the babyfaces, but he was entertaining in that role and sold beautifully. I liked the part where he threw Cesca back into his corner after the heels won the first fall. Later on, he had took a big bump off a missed dive, and sold the babyfaces' punches like he was Terry Funk. The rest of the performances weren't eye-opening, but one thing I liked about the bout is that they worked a normal three-fall progression. It wasn't a great match, but it had a definite three act structure unlike something of these Catch matches where the falls are uneven lengths and the rhythm feels off. Zapata was the highlight. 

Pancho Zapata is already a familiar figure to me from his 1969 match on World of Sport against Jeff Kaye (also a frequent traveller to France as was his Barons tag partner Ian Gilmour) which was featured in The Final Bell in December 1988. This is him four years earlier teamed with Anton Tejero (a name which would take on unfortunate connotations on 23rd February 1981 when a Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero staged an attempted military coup in the Spanish parliament.)  French wrestling seems to be littered with heels wearing loud colourful Gypsy, Latin American or Spanish culture (hats, colourful coats, big moustaches, swarthiness etc.  Roger Couderc tells us Tejero plays guitar.) The French would have HATED Hector, Mando and Chavo Guerrero.  So a bald Mexican and burly Spaniard, both with Kong thick taches, are quite the heat generating dream team.  Rene is a technical legend and he and Cesca make straight up Bons against these dodgy foreigners.

Rene's constant barrage of throws to both heels has a similar effect to a Big Daddy tag where Daddy starts the match, both heels getting utterly blitzed early on. (In American Wrestling this usually serves to soften the blow for a BIG heel win such as both Sgt Slaughter and the Undertaker's respective 1991 interim heel title wins.).  Couderc drops references to French pop culture such as Poupee De Cire Poupee De Son (that year's Serge Gainsborg penned, France Gall sung Eurovision Song Contest winner albeit for Luxembourg) and Le Manege Enchante, the a French original of classic stop animation children's TV show The Magic Roundabout.  Perhaps Couderc was inspired to make the remark about Tejero being a guitarist based on Flappy, the lazy Spanish rabbit from the show which for the English version morphed into Dylan, a stoned beatnik American rabbit!  Actually Couderc , the supposed dean of French wrestling commentary, seems to be mostly playing it for laughs in this bout.

Referee Martial seems to be the tough Delaporte/Max Ward/Gorilla Monsoon type, physically the biggest of the five men in the ring and willing to use that power to enforce law and order in the ring, at one point lifting Pancho up by the waist and carrying him out of mischief and clamping his hands over Tejero 's eyes to drag him back to his corner (Terry Funk would have potatoed anyone who tried that, something Tejero clearly briefly contemplates then think better of).  That said the heels still manage to run a couple of rings around him, getting the dirty in while the ref manhandles their partner. And they even get to administer unto the legendary RBC some of the slapstick usually reserved for faces to administer to heels later on in the bout, trapping him in the ropes and leapfrogging each other to land on him.  And when the heels beat down on Cesca leading to Tejero pinning him for the opener, it is really an emotional low point after Les Bons earlier hi jinks. The heels seem to say "You're not laughing now!" as they taunt the crowd.

RBC equalises and then gets Zapata neatly in a surfboard which overbalanced leaving both men's shoulders down. Rather than count them both, Martial just pushes the whole surfboard sidewards.  Rene gets some great flyers in like headscissors and Huracanrana, as well as doing a kind of Fargo Strut, playfully aiming backwards kicks at both opponents. Les bons get a measure of revenge on Les Mechants for earlier antics which were more a Boy's prerogative anyway.  After slamming the heels into each other and hitting them with synchronised missile dropkick which earns them a second and final Avertisement.  Zapata ends up garroted in the ropes like Collins against Rocco. Tejero comes off the ropes but trips for reasons we don't see why and is splashed and pinned for the win.

Technical point, the film has several jumps indicating sections of frames removed due to film damage, possibly from a faulty projector.

   OJ and myself have reviewed the bout in the past.

[HeadCheese]

1 hour ago, David Mantell said:

It's the next door neighbour territory to the one I grew up with so most of French Catch clicks for me except the ref-battering.  But I'd still love the insight of French fans who grew up with this (and later)

Zapata had a match on World of Sport in 1969 Vs Jeff Kaye (who also appears on French TV and who I knew as a referee growing up) clips of which appeared in The Final Bell in December 1988 on ITV.

 

 

Thank you! Will check it out! I think my main disconnect it's in a  selling and match structure style I'm not used too mixed with it being difficult to tell the wrestlers apart sometimes  (the language and grayscale barrier)

[David Mantell]

5 hours ago, HeadCheese said:

grayscale barrier

There's plenty of colour TV footage from the start of 1975 and that one bout from January 1969.

A lot of bouts Oct '67 - Dec '74 were originally in colour on France's Channel 2 and could be restored to colour some time by chroma dot recovery.

[David Mantell]

Quote

MD: Let's just say that this is a rare, rare match that took place on what is undoubtedly one of the most important days of my life. I guess I'm glad Zarak and La Bete were doing their thing on that date somewhere in the world. Couple of real characters here. Zarak was, of course, Dave Larsen, aka Batman, who passed away October of 2024. You have to love just watching him move as he puts theatricality in every step. I have no idea if this is the same La Bete that we saw in 71 and I'm not going to go back to compare/contrast but he's a guy in basically a cowskin costume and mask but one that can, when he is called upon to do so, work the style very naturally. Di Santo is a few years older than we last saw him and I'm not too sure about Eddy Mores except for he's older and dubbed the Captain.

Start and end of this were quite good but I thought it had some issues in the middle. We'll get to those. The best stuff in here was when La Bete was really wrestling. Some very slick exchanges around wristlocks and what not, especially with Mores. He'd generally then fly across the ring with an axe handle or put on a choke before they'd go back to the wrestling. So long as the balance was there, it generally worked and was probably additive overall. Zarak was more prone to picking his spots, laying in a kick or a knee and prancing around in a subdued but affected way. He had some nice, caring interactions with La Bete which again were additive overall. 

When they were in control, it was a bit too choke and grind heavy without enough variety or actual heat. Part of the problem there was the referee who would get in the way and allow for tags when they should have been building heat again or to cut off a comeback without any real narrative gain to it. Just too overbearing overall. Both fall finishes were good though with Zarak and La Bete taking two in a row. Solid ceiling on this one but the floor was just a bit too low maybe. 

SR: I missed La Bete Humaine during the last French mega-watch, so this is actually my first time seeing him. This is in colour so we see that La Bete Humaine has white-brown fur, and kind of looks like a cow, but his head is dark and furry and kind of reminds me of the wolfman. Is he a cow? Does he dress himself in cow fur? That doesn't seem very beastlike. Regardless this is a pretty fun match. La Bete Humaine definitely has the vibe of something that Survival Tobita or Goro Tsurumi would face. But this is a very mannered French match. The two masked monsters bump around for a lot of snappy armdrags, and the two technicos are a lot of fun. Eddy Mores has a cool vibe with his greying look and being really athletic, Michel de Santo is a bit non-descript but he is as solid as any French technico. They both were fast, technically skilled, and a had a lot of fun comebacks against the monstrous onslaught of La Bete Humaine and Zarak. The two masked men were good as you expect from French heels. La Bete doesn't bring quite as much flavor as you expect, he does like the claw hold a lot which is unique for Catch and he would do these graceful technical arm takedowns into claw holds because it's France, daddy. He even looked quite bumbling like when he throw one of the faces to his own corner accidentally and then was stuck adjusting his mask. Not everyone can be the Anderson brothers. In the end it was a fun match with a lot of cool wrestling and the funny sight of La Bete Humaine will Zarak did his best to maintain his classy swaggering. Technicos looked very good. I wouldn't mind seeing more of either of them here, and I imagine La Bete Humaine might be pretty fun in a singles match so I'll probably have to go back and watch that at some point. 

Am on a train travelling to London to get a flight tomorrow.  The WiFi on ithis train blocks YouTube for some reason (or else YouTube doesn't trust the train operator WiFi.) Will post a review when I can get to some other WiFi but it sounds fun with those two masked men involved. I have said the the past that early 70s gimmicks like Le Batman, Le Bete and Le Hippie Du Ring paved the way for the 80s French gimmick explosion with Mambo Le Primitiv, Les Piranhas and Les Maniaks.

UPDATE, am sitting in a cafe in Luton Airport at stupid o'clock in the morning - YouTube is not blocked here but it is VERY sluggish.  I've had a sneak peak using the fast forward as a  slide show - looks to me like the masked men get the win!

UPDATE 2: It's playing some other videos but not this behind the first 20 secs (Couderc talking to camera and Les Bons entering the ring.)