French catch

[David Mantell]

Quote

There was another brief late night TF1 run in 1991 and then the promotion aired on the sports network Eurosport for about a year 

The year long Eurosport run of New Catch was a back to back run of a repeat of the 1988 season on TF1 and the Premiere of the full season 2. The four episodes on TF1  were a sampler of the latter. (Or was it an abortive TF1 run of the full Season 2?).

A handful of Season 2 matches were aired on a Euro Special episode of Reslo on S4C.  I think the producers of New Catch had ideas about selling it to TV stations around Europe - perhaps even ITV.

 

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I recall reading here that nominally, the FEC Promoter was Jean Claude Blanchet who played the manservant Paul Butin Fluchard for Marquis Jacky Richard (and Marquis Eduardo before him).and who later became Best Boy when Richard became Travesti Man in New Catch Season 2.  Orig Williams inadvertently calls him by his real name here

Presumably Blanchet was a Jack Pfefer style front man for Flesh.

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As we've discussed in the past, Bernard Van Damme had his own post New Catch TV show Eurostars on various private TV channels.

As I think I've previously suggested, (1) Eurostars may have been screening in places like Macedonia, Switzerland etc and sowed the seed for a live invasion (2) the Macedonian/ Swiss/ etc footage could have been screened on the Eurostars show.

[Phil Lions]

4 hours ago, David Mantell said:

The year long Eurosport run of New Catch was a back to back run of a repeat of the 1988 season on TF1 and the Premiere of the full season 2. The four episodes on TF1  were a sampler of the latter. (Or was it an abortive TF1 run of the full Season 2?).

Thanks for mentioning this. I was going off of my memory when I wrote that and I had it slightly wrong. I'll correct it now. New Catch started airing on Eurosport in October 1991 and the TF1 run was three weeks later.

[David Mantell]

IMHO the Season 1 finale premier on 26/12/1988 was the equivalent moment in French Catch history to The Final Bell on ITV 17/12/1988.  Up to you if you want to mention that suggestion.

[David Mantell]

A further thought - if one were to spread out each half hours' worth of New Catch Series one over the course of a year, 1988 would not be a bad year on average for French pro wrestling on French terrestrial TV.

Ditto all of Series 2 if it had all been screened in the space of (but spread out along) one calender year and on a terrestrial TV channel.

[David Mantell]

Okay, on the subject of New Catch:

Orig Williams on English commentary for Eurosport.  The man who billed Johnny South as Sean South on Reslo here refers to him as "Sean Johnny South".  Steve Casey is  the former Steve McHoy, son of Frank Hoy, known to the Brits as Wild Angus, the Americans as Black Angus Campbell and the Germans as Rasputin #1  (Sean Doyle being ,#2 - actually another Sean/Johnny conundrum, he was really Johnny Howard, Sean Doyle was his early ring name as a clean blue eye in the early 70s!).  Two Brits across La Manche just like Pete Roberts Vs Dave Bond in 1978.  But before you all question the validity of this match on this thread, spot a VERY Catch Français Monsieur L'Arbitre - good old Charley Bollet.

Casey gives South  clean break, South headlocks Casey and uses a hairpull to take him down .He does it again when Casey told through on an armbar. South forces a guard armlock. Kip up, hairpull down. Casey does a double roll and gets a backdrop on South (after a possibly botched first attempt?).  Casey gets a headlock into side chancery - South illegality punches Casey several times but Casey no sells and gets a side chancery throw into Legdrop of Doom into rear chinlock into Headloçk And Strangle (sleeper). South tries a snapmare but can't get the overhead grip so he stands up and elbowsmashes out into a wristlever into front chancery into snapmare into kneedrop and a cheeky kick to Steve's head but Casey is up at 2. He gets a tumbling single legdive, gets the other leg, is booted off but cartwheels past the leg flip and guillotine elbowsmashes South who is soon up.  Casey posts him and he takes it on a knee and as on Reslo points to his brain to show how clever he is only for Steve to get a knee in. But South gets a whip without Casey going with and and axehandles his. on the mat.  Up at 4, Casey falls for a pullback whip again with no somersault or bump, just an arm weakeners. South gets an armhank on the hurting arm.  He tackles Casey down into almost a Skull Murphy gator hold.  drops a knees d stomps before Charley decides this isn't continuous movement - "Degagez, s'il vous plait!" L'Arbitre gives Casey a 4 count and South nearly gives him  a standing arm lift ove4 an arm before settling on an armbar into pressure points.  Casey bashes his way out and gets a bodycheck . South gets an elbowsmash and kneelift for 3:and another pullback whip.  for six before South breaks the count with his stomping and Bollet orders him back.  South whips Casey to ringside and Bollet warns him again.  Casey is back at 8, selling his arm.s.outh bounces him off the ropes misses a clothesline but Casey gets one.  South gets posting, clothesline and posting but misses his second clothesline. Casey gets a long somersault whips and Legdrop into guard armlock. He gets a flying forearm for a 2  count pin.  South punches up and gets his own flying forearm smash  Both men are down but up at 9.  Casey gets a posting but South catches him with a boot, a clothesline, misses a charge into the corner and Casey gets behind with a rear folding press rollup for th3n one required fall. The Lamb of Angus wins.

Like the Reslo tag bout on the British thread, nothing exemplary but solid.