French catch

[David Mantell]

On 4/16/2025 at 12:57 AM, Phil Lions said:

March 8, 1975 (on TF1 at 10:30): no specific match advertised
- April 13, 1975 (on A2 at 10:20): Al-Casi vs. Christian Preno + Daniel Schmid vs. Rocky James
- May 11, 1975 (on A2 at 10:40): Eric Joly vs. Le Samurai + Daniel Schmid vs. Gilbert Wherle + Rene Ben Chemoul & Walter Bordes vs. Gerard Bouvet & Black Shadow**
- May 24, 1975 (on TF1 at 10:45): a tag team match
- June 13, 1975 (on A2): Gilbert Leduc & Jacky Corn vs. Der Henker & Le Samurai***
- June 19, 1975 (on A2 at 9:50 or 10:55 - conflicting info): from Cirque d’Hiver
- June 28, 1975 (on TF1 at 10:25): no specific match advertised
- July 13, 1975 (on A2 at 11:00): Gilbert Wherle & Daniel Boucard vs. Gass Dhoukan & Yanek Fryziuk
- July 27, 1975 (on A2 at 10:45): no specific match advertised
- September 7, 1975 (on A2 at 10:00): Iska Khan vs. Claude Jartel + Latif Salah vs. Daniel Boucard
- September 14, 1975 (on A2 at 10:20): a tag team match
- September 26, 1975 (on A2): Georges Cohen & Gass Doukhan vs. Pierre Payen & Daniel Boucard****
- October 12, 1975 (on A2 at 10:30): Yanek Fryziuk vs. Batistou
- October 18, 1975 (on TF1 at 10:30): no specific match advertised
- November 29, 1975 (on A2): Arpad Weber vs. Josef el Arz + Walter Bordes vs. Le Samurai*****

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EDIT - Also, this is kind of neat. Johnny Saint on French TV. June 28, 1975

Now this would be REALLY great to see. Any chance it's in among the new finds?

Of course if it was on TF1 it would still be in B/W - it seems INA never bothered to buy an 819 line video recorder for TF1's output - the question is whether they went back and bought more overseas sales prints for TF1 content from the breakup of ORTF in early 1975 to TF1 going full time colour in spring 1997. (From September 2975 they broadcast a few hours colour every day but it was mostly repeats of FR3 programming.)

Hmmm, looks like it was on TF1. In B&W and apparently not taped by the INA. Whether they hold it depends on whether they bought up further overseas sales kinescope stock.

[Phil Lions]

1 hour ago, David Mantell said:

Now this would be REALLY great to see. Any chance it's in among the new finds?

It's not.
 

1 hour ago, David Mantell said:

Hmmm, looks like it was on TF1.

Yes, it was TF1. Today I was digging through TV listings I hadn't seen before and managed to find some new broadcasts that I wasn't aware of and fill in some gaps about existing ones. Nothing major. The Saint match was probably the best find.

I will say though, while INA does have a ton, they are missing a lot too. I now have a record of over 120 TF1/A2 broadcasts (pre-1980) that INA doesn't seem to have. At least in their online archive anyway.

[David Mantell]

Ah well, it's just one of those things like Rocco being in a dark match on a 1978 TV taping, it's just too bad his bout wasn't televised.

I wonder if Danny Collins ever made it onto Sports Loisirs on FR3 circa 1986-1987?

[ohtani's jacket]

Franz van Buyten vs. Luc Verhaegue (10/2/82)

There wasn't a lot to this, but any time we get a new van Buyten match it's a good day. I hate heel refs. i don't care how much they rile up the audience, the heat should be on the wrestlers not the ref. I'm sure most folks appreciate the carnival aspects of a match like this, but personally I thought van Buyten was wasted on a sideshow like this, and put forward more effort than the match deserved. I did like his creative use of the ropes to break the chokehold, though. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Actually, my favorite thing about the match was the guy waving at the television camera at the end and the commentator gesturing at him to get lost. Fans and commentators, the same the world over. 

[David Mantell]

10 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Actually, my favorite thing about the match was the guy waving at the television camera at the end and the commentator gesturing at him to get lost. Fans and commentators, the same the world over. 

Ever seen the classic angry granny in that 1983 tag match?   Absolutely blows her top at heel referee Michel Saulnier.  Daniel Cazal absolutely loves her. "Bravo madame, vouz etes un bastion de la justice dans le catch!"

[David Mantell]

10 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

I hate heel refs. i don't care how much they rile up the audience, the heat should be on the wrestlers not the ref.

We dedicated a good page or so earlier in the thread to the subject of heel refs in France (apparently imported from Austria and the Heumarkt in the late 70s). The disconcerting thing is that by the 80s the entire cadre of French referees seem to be a bunch of Danny Davises except Delaporte who is promoted as the heroic last uncorrupt sheriff in town. giving Les Mechants rough justice just like Martial would do in the 60s. 

The French HATE petty officialdom and expect the worst from train  ticket inspectors, parking wardens, Les Gendarmes (there is a BIG problem with les flics in France, most of whom are signed up to a hard right wing police union) so wrestling referees apparently fall under that same category.

In Britain, the IBA (regulator of ITV and other commercial broadcasting until the 90s) would not stand for such nonsense, insisting that referees were shown to be moral authorities in central of the action at all times. This permeated through to UK audience expectations of referees.  They might be gullible enough to be suckered in to looking the wrong way by heels but they were forces for justice.  Puny American referees who couldn't enforce rules were unacceptable.(I remember being shocked at age 12 in 1987 when a ref in a WWF Special was knocked down and the bout just went on and was not halted until the new ref srrived.  Left to their own devices away from home, British wrestlers were keen to experiment with corrupt and miserable refs - viz Dalbir Singh, in against Haystacks in Zambia 1976, beating up the referee or Tony StClair, Steve Wright, Dave Taylor and Owen Hart all ganging up on Didier Gapp for spoiling their tag match at the Heumarkt.

[David Mantell]

On 5/28/2025 at 9:56 PM, David Mantell said:

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 On 1/19/2020 at 12:09 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Kader Hassouni/Claude Rocca vs. Bernard Caclard/Albert Sanniez (aired 3/20/76)

This was an absolute gem of a match. European tag wrestling hasn't given me many reasons to be a fan of it but this match was a glimpse into what might be possible with the right heel team. Caclard and Sanniez were super slick as the lightweight heel team with the matching trunks. Caclard came across as a vicious little shit while Sanniez matched technique with divine bumping and selling. Rocca and Hassouni were vanilla by comparison, but they fulfilled their core role which was to retaliate to the heel tactics. I loved Sanniez jawing with the fan in the crowd and the older guy getting annoyed with the fan for carrying on with it. And Caclard attacking Delaporte was gold. I am sure there were a lot of matches like this in the halls in England with the Hells Angels (Bobby Barnes and Adrian Street) or Sid Cooper and Alan Dennison but never made ITV in this form. If I was recommending a list of the very best Euro matches of the 70s, this would make the list for sure. 

(@ohtani's jacket there is 8mm colour fancam of Hell's Angels Vs Dennisons and I've posted it to the British thread long ago. I can bump it up if you like)

We arrived at the Elysee Montmartre and get a potted history of its roots as a dancehall. Roger Delaporte who owned the place is in the front row. 

First off we get a few minutes of the end of Monsieur Montreal Vs Inca Viracocha. In the 1960s Montreal was a French version of Tarzan Johnny Wilson, same sort of handsome muscleman.  Apparently Montreal 's real name is Marcel Cherot and Monsieur Montreal is an old bodybuilding title he won.  It's the last few mins of a strength match. 

Sanniez gets cheered while Caclard (or Calgar according to the INA official YT) gets booed, like the split reaction for Savage and Elizabeth in the mid 80s.  Caclard has a similar crewcut/goatee look to heel Bernie Wright in 1985 Germany. He and Sanniez can do all the characteristics French "Vaultigeur" stuff as well as Les Bons. Things really speed up when Khader is tagged in against Sanniez.  Sanniez makes no attempt to tone things down so as not to upstage Les Bons - in many respects he is still a Bon at this point and he and Caclard are a Pareja Incredible.  The first time Caclard tries to reverse snapmares himself out of a Hassouni hammerlock, Khader just releases the hold and lets him crash but he pulls off the counter a few minutes later.  Roca can do the Scisseaux Volees counter to armbars.  So far no sin of the back somersault response to a top wristlock.

Les Mechants double get nastier, both of them including Sanniez stomping Rocas and Hassouni dropkicking the pair of them out the ring, one foot each. Caclard seems to be the nastier of the two.  Roca's gets a surfboard on Sanniez, the announcer calls it "un Pippon.".   Les Bons double team Sanniez in their corner and even try tying the tag rope to his foot but he pulls out of it. The heels eventually strike a hot tag inasmuch as heels can. Hassouni still dominates Caclard but Caclard fight back better.

Rocas gets the opener on Sanniez with a sunset flip despite Caclard's attempt at interference.  Les Mechants get an extended period of dominance over Rocas with Sanniez stinging away with repeated dropkicks.  While not tagged in he leaps the ropes to dropkick Roca's who is recovering from a posting, then holds the top rope to spring back outside to the ring apron.  Caclard quickly drapes himself across Roca's for the equaliser and the crowd are FURIOUS. Caclard has a vicious heel Dynamite Kid look to him.  The heels have some great double teams, Caclard holding Roca's in a full nelson for a Sanniez dropkick. Later when Hassouni has made the hot tag. Caclard gets dropkicked to ringside and gets into a fight with Delaporte and some other ringsiders who throw him in, lumberjack match style. Hassouni gets posted by Caclard but he backwards leapfrogs him and rolls him up in a folding press for the decider.

It is, as OJ Says a very fast paced engaging bout, although it loses some shine as the heels take over and gain their heat.  A good exhibition of the French style.  

 

Talking of TF1 and colour, this bout is in colour yet is supposed to be a TF1 broadcast from 1976?  @Phil Lions please can you check and confirm if the transmission details the INA provide are correct?

It's in a lot better quality than most of the other early INA colour recordings so it might be a rare transmission master rather than an off air recording like most of INA's colour stock.  In which case possibly TF1 were already shooting some stuff in colour prior to Spring 1977 and were line-converting it to 819 line B/W for transmission. Perhaps they even did colour testing broadcasts  like ITV and BBC1 did August-November 1969?

[David Mantell]

On 12/1/2024 at 8:42 AM, David Mantell said:

Two more familiar British names on a French poster - Johnny Saint and Zolly Boscik

Actually, everyone in that tag match was on ITV at one point or another 1970-1978.

This was 1980 and It says "All the Stars of TF1" on it, so maybe TF1 was still broadcasting the odd episode by this point, about eight years before New Catch.

Another Johnny Saint match from France (against the same opponents Michel Falempin)

[David Mantell]

Actually the other bout advertised on the June 28 TV clipping - Zarak Vs Mike DeByser is also on that bill.

I don't recall ho I got hold of that 1980 date (possibly that's what Plantin said it was) but August 14th was a Thursday in BOTH 1975 AND 1980.

If 1975 is actually correct and the June 28th date is correct for the TV broadcasts, maybe rematches of the TV bouts were doing the rounds on the house show circuit.

[Phil Lions]

6 hours ago, David Mantell said:

I don't recall ho I got hold of that 1980 date (possibly that's what Plantin said it was) but August 14th was a Thursday in BOTH 1975 AND 1980.

The correct year is 1975. Both Saint and Boscik were working in France that year for Rene Ben Chemoul's Cirque d'Hiver office, which was the only major French office at the time (Delaporte was out of the business during this time). Boscik actually had a French TV match of his own too:

May 24, 1975 (on TF1 at 22:45): Le Petit Prince & Angelito vs. Jacky Richard & Zoltan Boscik

Footage of it is not available, unfortunately.

[David Mantell]

In which case August 21st was just a house show where they put on rematches of both TV bouts?

[Phil Lions]

Yeah, they were still doing a decent number of house shows back then.

[David Mantell]

or else they just did a whole run of shows with those two bouts and the June one got filmed and the August 21st one is that poster.

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May 24, 1975 (on TF1 at 22:45): Le Petit Prince & Angelito vs. Jacky Richard & Zoltan Boscik

Footage of it is not available, unfortunately.

Again. presumably because it was on the still black and white, still VHF, still 819 line TF1

******

Any info on that March 20, 1976 broadcast I dragged up? (Montreal Vs Viracocha/ Roca & Hassouni Vs  Sanniez & Caclard)

Was it indeed TF1? If so, and if it was a test colour recording, it could be another unwiped tape that found its way to the INA like the Jan 1969 one.

[Phil Lions]

1 hour ago, David Mantell said:

Any info on that March 20, 1976 broadcast I dragged up? (Montreal Vs Viracocha/ Roca & Hassouni Vs  Sanniez & Caclard). Was it indeed TF1?

Yes, TF1 at 10:30 pm.

I don't know about the color and b&w part. Don't really care about that to be honest.

[David Mantell]

14 hours ago, Phil Lions said:

Yes, TF1 at 10:30 pm.

I don't know about the color and b&w part. Don't really care about that to be honest.

It's of relevance:

(1) in order to work out what might have happened to those 1975 TF1 bouts

(2) to identify which bouts October 1967-December 1974 were on Channel 2, therefore in colour, therefore potential candidates for chroma dot recovery processing to restore them to (authentic) colour some day.

 

[David Mantell]

I see something other than French Catch Tuesday was posted today. Is it a week off this week?

[Matt D]

Haven’t gotten Sebastian’s post yet so could be a skip. Next up is Corne/Marc Mercier vs Les Samurai.

just four more after this.

EDIT: And it's up:
http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2025/09/tuesday-is-french-catch-day-corne.html

[ohtani's jacket]

Do the clips! 

[David Mantell]

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Jean Corne/Marc Mercier vs Les Samurai 8/21/82

MD: On this last pass with new footage I am a little wistful. Maybe we find some more later but it's just nice to see Jean Corne one last time, even if it was a bit later in his career. This is obviously early in Marc's career. He's only twenty here, I think, and this was a bit of a showcase for his dropkicks, or it was supposed to be. Some hit better than others, though overall he had a number of spots down and felt like he belonged in there more or less, even if he wasn't near the level of Corne or the Yellow Samurai. 

Really loved seeing Corne do his thing here. At the start, he rolled through a mare, and then another, and then just kept rolling and rolling around the ring. The Yellow Samurai then got rolled right out of the ring on a mare. He could still rope run with the best of them and he had some great step over armdrags and what not. The first fall was a short sprint with the stylists having an advantage until the Samurai went dirty first. That led to an abrupt pin off a slam on Corne. He came back fairly quickly in the second fall, which Mercier took eventually with a missile dropkick and body press. It was pretty back and forth overall and they tried to give Mercier a decent amount of shine. There was some ref chicanery towards the end but not enough to really shift the match too much. I'm not sure this would entirely be a memorable one in the grand scheme of the footage, but it was a nice tag that could have been in 72 as well as 82 (a compliment) and a nice final look at Corne. 

SR: Another one of those early 80s tags. Points of curiosity here: they had young fresh upstart Mercier teamed with old guard Jean Corne. Corne could still go a little, although he was more limited. He got a lot of mileage out of his slick foreward rolls. Talk about working smart. Mercier is talented and athletic enough and there were some good exchanges to start. Next point of curiosity: the heels actually did some damage to Corne early. Maybe they were working an injury angle or something since it seemed Cornes back was messed up from a basic body slam and he struggled to keep going. The Samurai did right thing and immediately began targetting his back, with one of them hitting a cool flip senton. It wasn't super expanded upon as Corne ends up making a fairly simple tag and it's not really brought up again safe for another minor injury scare later, but it's a bit of flavor that crept into the old formula of these tags. Other than that the Samurai didn't do a ton here besides bumping a lot and working some choke holds. It was a bit repetitive here and there but overall a solid effort. 

I was away from home last night so I'm still catching up on stuff (including sleep as I never went to bed) but will do a review of this one and another bout to make up numbers. Unfortunately, clearly neither of Les Samourai are the brilliant Le Samourai of the early/mid 70s, these are two much heavier guys.

Bad news for OJ-if you don't like heel referees, it's the king of the French heel refs Michel Saulnier working this one - and it was Marc's dad Guy Mercier who started doing that routine with Saulnier in the late 70s.

Still looking forward to that 1986 midget match mentioned aboveeven if only so we can have some 1986 footage to plug that particular gap.

Also it would be nice to have that 1987  Flesh/Zefy Vs Jessy/Richard match in its original context and possibly unedited (I think material has been cropped from the existing online versions.). Any clues on that one?