French catch

[Matt D]

How do we feel about "ciseaux de volée" for a 'rana? I think I caught that in the Teddy Boy vs Aledo match.

[SirEdger]

Actually, it's a bit of a derived expression. "Ciseaux à la volée" is more used for flying head scissors,  not the 'rana. At least, here in Quebec; we still use "hurricanrana".

[ohtani's jacket]

We have footage of David Smith-Larsen doing the Batman gimmick up until 1974, which is wild. I just found out Larsen became an opera performer after he retired. Interesting dude. 

Batman vs. Inca Viracocha (aired 12/20/69)

This was from a 3 on 3 heel vs. face series, which is something I've seen a lot of from World of Sport but never in Catch. At the beginning of the match, the wrestlers drew names from a hat to determine whom they'd face. I had high hopes for this since the South Americans are almost always entertaining, but this was a lot weaker than I expected, and it finished with outside interference from another heel, which is something else we haven't seen a lot of in Catch (fortunately.) 

Batman & Paco Rameriz vs. Inca Viracocha & Jo Gonzalez (aired 5/17/71)

This was another match that didn't meet my expectations. I would have thought three South Americans together would have put on a show, but this was tepid at best. Gonzalez was great, but I'm a bit worried about Viracocha. What's going on buddy?

Abdul Khan vs. Batman (aired 3/27/72)

Abdul Khan was doing a Mongolian gimmick or something. Extremely limited, as you might expect. I guess Smith-Larsen can't really make other wrestlers shine. I keep expecting to get another match like the Leoni one, but it ain't happening. 

[Matt D]

Ok, translation time. 

Couderc will announce a 2/3 falls match something along the lines of

"en deux manches un bruit le bel il ya league"

What's the "bel" doing in there?

[El-P]

13 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Ok, translation time. 

Couderc will announce a 2/3 falls match something along the lines of

"en deux manches un bruit le bel il ya league"

What's the "bel" doing in there?

Do you have a link to provide ? Because the transcription is no good I'm afraid.

[Matt D]

3 minutes ago, El-P said:

Do you have a link to provide ? Because the transcription is no good I'm afraid.

Sure, we'll probably be doing this one next week.

Around the 3:10-20 mark

While you're there, you can also tell me his explanation for why Villars is Le Dragon de Bagnolet which he gives between 4:40-4:50 but the translation is definitely no help on. Thanks!

[El-P]

Thanks.

Silly me ! I should have guessed. OK, so the transcription is "Ce combat (...) va se disputer en deux manches ou une belle si il y a lieu". Basically, the match is in two rounds and a final round if necessary. When you play a game (like card game) and if you are 1-1 after two games, you do a final one which is called "la belle" to determine the winner.

Ok, so, Couderc says that L' Ange Blanc has no name, no country, no face while the other has a name, a country, a face, his name is Paul Villars, he's from Bagnolet (blue-collar west suburbs of Paris), therefore his nickname the Dragon of Bagnolet. Well, can't think of a more matter-of-factish explanation !

So, this is L' Ange Blanc's debut too, apparently.

[Matt D]

19 minutes ago, El-P said:

Thanks.

Silly me ! I should have guessed. OK, so the transcription is "Ce combat (...) va se disputer en deux manches ou une belle si il y a lieu". Basically, the match is in two rounds and a final round if necessary. When you play a game (like card game) and if you are 1-1 after two games, you do a final one which is called "la belle" to determine the winner.

Thanks. That's interesting and, even if it doesn't necessarily make sense, does explain the reality of it. Obviously, I immediately want to know the etymology of that and what I found (all I found quickly with English searches) is that in fencing, still, the last hit in a tied match is called "La Belle" too. That's even for English speakers. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Rene Gerber vs. Jean Rabut (aired 12/13/58)

This was pretty wild. It was full of desperate lunges and thrills and spills. It almost felt like newsreel footage of the big moments of a vintage fight. I liked the tight camera angle at ringside. That gave it a documentary feel at times. There wasn't much distance between the fans and the crowd but Gerber had no qualms about tumbling into their midst. He was a heat seeker par excellence. I wonder if he ever worked babyface. You can kind of tell that he has technical ability behind all the bravado. 

Lino Di Santo vs. Liano Pellacani (aired 12/13/58)

This wasn't the best Pellacani match we've seen, but it had plenty of fun moments. After the first fall, they showed this weird footage of Pellacani demolishing a building while workers cheered him on. It looked like Soviet propaganda film. They cut to the ring and Pellacani is demolishing Di Santo. He ends up getting DQ"ed, has a verbal exchange with Couderc, and bows out with a wry nod to the crowd. Gerber pretty much trumped him on this evening. If the JIP match had been a different style perhaps Pellacani's heeling would have stood out more. His in-ring career ended in 1959, so the road doesn't just end here because of footage. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Jimmy Dula vs. Robert Duranton (aired 12/26/58)

This was better than I expected. A terrible looking match-up on paper, but not as mind-numbingly boring as I expected. Neither guy was a good wrestler, but they had a single-minded approach to wrenching on a hold, and that grit was enough to carry the match. Duranton worked babyface, which was weird in the context of 1958 Catch, but he adapted to it fairly well. A long match but never really boring. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Batman vs. Jo Gonzalez (aired 7/19/73)

This wasn't as good as I was hoping for, but it had its moments. Larsen looked like he'd eaten a few too many French cheeses but he still busted out some of his neat arm drag work. Gonzalez was an awesome heel and I'm sure the gang is gonna love him. The best thing about him is that he has this distinctly 70s look. He was bald but grew out the rest of his hair. It's the sleaziest shit imaginable and I'm sure folks will have a field day with it once they get to this era.

Batman vs. Klondyke BIll (aired 6/6/74)

I'm pretty sure this was the British Klondyke Bill and not the Canadian wrestler with the panties fetish that Tony Schiavone likes to talk about. What an amazing gut. That has to be one of the mightiest guts in the history of professional wrestling. And he knew how to use it too. The tiny little rake thin ref took the hugest bumps off Klondyke's gut. You'd have to be crazy to expect this to be any good, but Batman did go to the top rope to try to put the big man away. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Juan Botana vs Paul Villars (aired 1/1/59)

God, I love Villars. I love how stoic he appears, but beneath the surface is that violent, psychotic temper. And we saw it here with the mauling he gave Botana. Shouldn't have raked the face during that head scissors. That was your big mistake, Botana. 

[cactus]

On 8/16/2020 at 6:53 AM, cactus said:

Imagine that feeling you got when you first saw Dynamite Kid vs Tiger Mask and multiply that by 10. That's what this 60+ year old French match did for me. Some of these exchanges are so ahead of their time, it makes you think how the crowd back then would of reacted to them. Every hold feels like a struggle and you left on the edge of your seat wondering how they are going to get out of the hold. They trade some neat uppercuts that get more intense as the match goes on, until of them gets fed up and starts headbutting them like think they're Zinedine Zidane! We see them bust out hurricanranas, monkey flips, powerbombs and even a motherfuckin' Ganso Bomb! After every big exchange they would shake hands, but you can tell they're each getting frustrated at each other for not being able to score an advantage. I went into this with zero context, I don't know which one was Cesca and which one was Catanzaro, but I was still enthralled with this.

★★★★★

I rewatched the classic Cesca vs Catanzaro the other night for the first time since the footage surfaced and it still rocks. Is there any other French catch that's as good (or close enough) to this match? I'm submitting a ballot for the GME project and it'll be great to get some more French catch on my ballot. 

[Jetlag]

Here's my Top 10 matches (so far):

 

• Tony Oliver vs. Bert Royal 2/22/57 
• Gilbert Cesca vs. Billy Catanzarro (aired May 2, 1957)
• Eddy Wiecz & Eddy Koparanian vs. Andre Bollet & Georges Gueret (aired February 23rd 1956)
• Gilbert LeDuc vs. Rocco Lamban 10/30/58
• Dr. Adolf Kaiser vs. Jose Tarres 1/2/59
• Le Petit Prince/Francis Louis vs. Daniel Noced/Jacky Richard 2/22/71
• Al Hayes vs. Guy Robin (aired March 22, 1957)
• Petit Prince vs. Michel Saulnier, 10/4/69
• Ami Sola vs. Jaques Couderc (8/8/1957)
• Vassilios Mantopolous vs. Billy Catanzaro, 1/29/67

 

That is just the tip of the iceberg, to say the least. To say we've had a truckload of awesome matches would be an understatement, though.

[NintendoLogic]

I really liked Modesto Aledo vs. Teddy Boy.

[ohtani's jacket]

Guy Mercier vs. Robert Le Boulch (aired 2/5/59)
Robert Gasel vs. Gaby Calderon (aired 2/5/59)

These were like squash matches on a Saturday Night's Main Event. The Gasel/Galderon match was actually a pretty decent five minute match. Calderon was a judoka who would go on to have quite a bit of success in the UK wrestling as Professor Adiwasser, "King of the Ate Waza," first for Paul Lincoln and then on television with Joint Promotions. I don't know how common judo gimmicks were in Continental Europe at the time, but took pains to put over the Calderon arm bar with Gasel selling it as a dislocation. In the midst of all this was a vignette of Leduc practicing harness racing. For a guy who's the champ, he was surprisingly shy. 

All of this was counting down the seconds before the great Leduc vs. Le Bourreau de Béthune bout, a match I think everyone can enjoy even if they're not immersed in French catch. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Johnny Stein vs. Jean Bout (aired 2/27/59)

It feels like an age since we've seen Jean Bout. He was one of the early archetypes we had for a French babyface. All those attributes are on display here, and he had to work hard in this match. Stein was a wear 'em down, strength guy, who drew heat by posing. He didn't really do much aside from that. The bout went 40 minutes, which was about 20 minutes more than it needed. The fact that I was able to sit through it without itching to do something else was a testament to how busy Bout was. I'm telling you, that guy was a good worker. Ultimately, the bout was a giant stalemate with neither man either to win the first fall and Stein getting disqualified out of frustration, but to go 40 minutes without a fall and not bore the tits off me, that is impressive. Sola has been the ultimate utility guy so far, but Bout shot up a few ranks with this performance. 

[Phil Lions]

I've been doing some new research on Paris as I want to do an article on L'Ange Blanc. My resources are limited to one French newspaper, but even so I've been able to piece together a good amount of information and I thought I'd share some of it here to provide some context for the French catch TV bouts. I''ll use this post by @ohtani's jacketas a starting point:

On 4/29/2020 at 7:20 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

The new book about Andre also has some info about French catch. 

I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of it, but is some of the info about the catch scene from the 60s:

* Wrestling was popular on television -- it had been broadcast at least once, sometimes twice a week, on RTF since 1952.
* The territory was up for grabs after Henri Deglane retired in 1950 and Raoul Paoli died in 1960.
* Alex Goldstein, Maurice Durand, Roger Delaporte, and the duo of Robert Lageat and Etienne Siry became the main promoters.
* The territory wasn't set up like the NWA, but the promoters shared talent and only recognised one national champion.
* RTF (ORTF from 1964) aired matches from all of the promotions, so they battled for exposure. 
* Andre was discovered by Lageat. Lageat was a former wrestler who became one of Paoli's assistant after he retired (along with Alex Goldstein, whom the book credits with the idea of L'Ange Blanc.) Lageat had already split with Paoli before his death and began his own promotion, FFCP. He then partnered with boxing promoter, Etienne Siry.

Not sure about how things were when Andre made his debut a few years later, but in the late 1950s wrestling was shown on TV typically around 10 p.m. Usually after 10 p.m., but sometimes a little before. It wasn't a fixed timeslot. And like in later years, it wasn't shows just by one promotion either.

Henri Deglane did retire in 1950, but then returned in October 1954. The interesting thing about his comeback, which lasted through February 1955, was that he was no longer working with promoter Raoul Paoli (who at the time was running shows at Palais des Sports, Cirque d'Hiver and Central, with Alex Goldstein as his matchmaker). Instead Deglane was working for Henri Chausson at Elysee Montmartre. During this time Deglane was critical of Paoli/Goldstein and tag team wrestling, which Paoli/Goldstein had just introduced in France (Felix Miquet & Francois Miquet vs. Eddie Brush & Jack Wentworth at Palais des Sports on November 1, 1954, being the very first tag match in France). Deglane thought tag team wrestling would, and I quote, "completely demonetize wrestling". Obviously, it didn't. Far from it.

The wrestling venues in Paris in 1958 and 1959 were Palais des Sports (a.k.a. Velodrome d'Hiver), Salle Wagram, Elysee Montmartre, Cirque d'Hiver, Central, Stadium, Palais de la Mutualite, Lancry Arena, and Salle des fetes de Clichy. Palais des Sports was the biggest one (capacity being around 18,000) and Paoli/Goldstein would do shows there bi-weekly, from around September through May, and then take a break in the summer. They had four other venues - Cirque d'Hiver, Central, Stadium and Lancry Arena. Most of these were running weekly. Then you had Salle Wagram (another weekly venue), which was using a completely different group of wrestlers and was kind of running in opposition to the Paoli/Goldstein crew. Typically, you wouldn't see Wagram wrestlers on Paoli cards and vice versa. And then there was Chausson's Elysee Montmartre, which would often host two weekly shows and use talent from both of the other groups.

Here's what a typical month of wrestling in Paris looked like in 1959. I'm posting only the line-ups, because I don't have the results. The main event is listed first. As you can see, quite the busy schedule. And you have to remember, this is just Paris. There was a lot of wrestling going on elsewhere in France too, but Paris was the center of it all. Here's February 1959, which saw 29 wrestling shows take place in Paris:

Spoiler

February 2, 1959 at Palais des Sports:
L'Ange Blanc vs. Roger Delaporte... Johnny Rougeau vs. Jack Bence... Dr. Adolf Kaiser vs. Andre Drapp... Ray Hunter vs. Liano Pellacani... Al Hayes vs. Warnia de Zarzecki

February 5, 1959 at Salle Wagram:
Le Bourreau de Bethune vs. Gilbert Leduc... Robert Gastel vs. Gaby Calderon... Guy Mercier vs. Robert le Boulch... two more matches

February 6, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre:
Robert Charron vs. Cheri Bibi... Jesus de Heredia vs. Inca Peruano... Serge Gentilly vs. Jean Wanes... Ami Sola vs. Vargas... Jo Rinaldi vs. Mallet

February 6, 1959 at Cirque d'Hiver:
L'Ange Blanc vs. Karl von Kramer... Ray Hunter vs. Roger Guettier... Al Hayes vs. Guy Robin... Serge Reggiori vs. Jacques Bernieres... Marcel Parmentier vs. Mic Charre

February 7, 1959 at Central:
Ray Hunter vs. Yves Amor... Al Hayes vs. Paul Villars... Marcel Chauveau vs. Ferdinand Bauer... two more matches

February 8, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre:
Georges Gueret & Yves Amor vs. Warnia de Zarzecki & Henri Lambert... Dr. Adolf Kaiser vs. Comte de Daidone... other matches

February 8, 1959 at Palais de la Mutualite:
Andre Drapp vs. Johnny Stein... Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Antonio Morlans... Jean Bout vs. Jesus de Heredia... two more matches

February 8, 1959 at Stadium:
Robert Duranton vs. Paul Villars... Robert Charron vs. Marcel Chauveau... Mic Charre vs. Jacques Verrier... two more matches

February 12, 1959 at Salle Wagram:
Le Bourreau de Bethune vs. Jim Oliver... Stan Karolyi vs. Rocco Lamban... Black Salem vs. Paul Debusne... Jacky Corn vs. Joachim La Barba... Vassilios Mantopoulos vs. Roger Royer

February 13, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre:
Jose Tarres vs. Roger Laroche... Inca Peruano vs. Mic Charre... Albert Falaux vs. Marcel Chauveau... Al Araujo vs. Jack Gaillard... Romain vs. Kojielski

February 13, 1959 at Cirque d'Hiver:
Robert Charron vs. Rene Ben Chemoul... Dr. Adolf Kaiser vs. Ray Hunter... Al Hayes vs. Eric Husberg... Modesto Aledo vs. Marcel Manneveau... Roberto Ricetti vs. Walberg

February 14, 1959 at Central:
Al Hayes vs. Karl von Kramer... Jose Tarres vs. Cherri Bibi... Jules Delmee vs. Arabet Said... Bob Plantin vs. Jetty Coster... Jean Corne vs. Hermand

February 15, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre:
Dr. Adolf Kaiser vs. Robert Charron... Robert Duranton vs. Yves Amor... Cheri Bibi vs. Iska Khan... Pierre Bernaert vs. Ted Lamare... Bruno Asquini vs. Jacques Couderc

February 15, 1959 at Stadium:
Inca Peruano & Eric Husberg vs. Michel Chaisne & Jo Labat... Juan Botana vs. Jean Wanes... Rene Asselin vs. Jack Gaillard... Gerard Lamotte vs. Vargas

February 16, 1959 at Palais des Sports:
L'Homme Masque vs. Felix Miquet... Johnny Rougeau vs. Dr. Adolf Kaiser... Andre Drapp vs. Liano Pellacani... two more matches

February 19, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre:
L'Ange Blanc vs. Robert Charron... Michel Chaisne vs. Comte de Daidone... Marcel Chauveau vs. Serge Francille... Jean Rabut vs. Moise Besch... Marcel Parmentier vs. Roger Gaillot

February 20, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre:
Henri Lambert & Warnia de Zarzecki vs. Cheri Bibi & Pierre Bernaert... Inca Peruano vs. Jo Labat... Pierre Boss vs. Juan Botana... Roland Daumal vs. Tony Martinez

February 20, 1959 at Cirque d'Hiver:
tag team match... Guy Robin vs. Ami Sola... Jose Tarres vs. Bert Royal... Georges Gueret vs. Jesus de Heredia

February 21, 1959 at Central:
Bert Royal vs. Karl von Kramer... Serge Gentilly vs. Edmond Liehn... Marcel Chauveau vs. Mic Charre... Jules Delmee vs. Julio Gasparrini... Andre Marie vs. Pierre Lagache

February 22, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre:
Dr. Adolf Kaiser vs. Rene Ben Chemoul... Comte de Daidone vs. Eric Husberg... Karl von Kramer vs. Marcel Chauveau... Jacques Verrier vs. Vargas... Roberto Ricetti vs. Janos Vadkerti

February 22, 1959 at Palais de la Mutualite:
Jose Tarres vs. Roger Laroche... Robert Charron vs. Jean Bout... Jacky Corn vs. Pierre Boss... Michel Chaisne vs. Jesus de Heredia... Roland Daumal vs. Tony Martinez

February 22, 1959 at Stadium:
Henri Lambert & Warnia de Zarzecki vs. Georges Gueret & Yves Amor... Ami Sola vs. Serge Francille... Jean Rabut vs. Jetty Coster... Marcel Parmentier vs. Andre Tranchant

February 26, 1959 at Salle Wagram:
Le Bourreau de Bethune vs. Gaby Calderon... Superman vs. Rocco Lamban... Bert Royal vs. Paul Debusne... Claude Gessat vs. Latger... Vassilios Mantopoulos vs. Maigrot

February 26, 1959 at Palais de la Mutualite:
L'Ange Blanc vs. Jose Tarres... Johnny Stein vs. Lino di Santo... Jesus de Heredia vs. Eric Husberg... Modesto Aledo vs. Jean Rabut... Serge Reggiori vs. Jacques Jourdan

February 27, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre:
Robert Charron vs. Marcel Chauveau... Mr. X vs. Serge Gentilly... Jean Wanes vs. Serge Francille... Bob Plantin vs. Louis Dareine... Moise Besch vs. Jo Rinaldi

February 27, 1959 at Cirque d'Hiver:
Roger Delaporte & Paul Villars vs. Henri Lambert & Warnia de Zarzecki... Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Cheri Bibi... Liano Pellacani vs. Jesus de Heredia

February 28, 1959 at Central:
Georges Gueret & Yves Amor vs. Serge Gentilly & Yves Amore... Robert Charron vs. Karl von Kramer... Al Araujo vs. Carone... Claude Dreyfus vs. Baudry

February 29, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre:
L'Ange Blanc vs. Dr. Adolf Kaiser... Cheri Bibi vs. Jesus de Heredia... Warnia de Zarzecki vs. Matthias Roesges... Rene Asselin vs. Ferdinand Bauer... Robert Moine vs. Mallet

February 29, 1959 at Stadium:
Jose Tarres vs. Comte de Daidone... Pierre Bernaert vs. Albert Falaux... Mic Charre vs. Carone.. Roberto Ricetti vs. Gaston Maujean... Bruno Asquini vs. Jacques Couderc

As far as the masked guys were concerned, L'Homme Masque was the first one to pop up on the scene. That was at Palais des Sports in December 1958. Then came L'Ange Blanc (Francisco Pino) in early January 1959 at Cirque d'Hiver (in other words, both masked characters were introduced by the Paoli/Goldstein group). Pino had been wrestling as himself in midcard matches at Elysee Montmartre for about a month, then took about three weeks off, and then he appeared as the masked hero L'Ange Blanc. He was a major hit straight away. The newspaper I'm using for the research says that L'Ange Blanc's television appearance where he vowed to put all the bad guys (les méchants) in their place was viewed by 4 million viewers, which is a huge number for the time (in fact, that number equates to about 9% of the entire population of France back then).

L'Homme Masque may have been the first, but Blanc was the one who truly kicked off mask-a-mania in France. A number of new masked characters started popping up on the Paris scene over the next several months. Most important among them was Le Bourreau de Bethune (Jacques Ducrez), who first appeared in early February 1959. What was interesting about him was that he was the first masked character that wasn't introduced by the Paoli/Goldstein promotion. He was a Salle Wagram attraction. And right away he, along with others from Salle Wagram, began hurling challenges at L'Ange Blanc. Bourreau is remembered as L'Ange Blanc's biggest rival, and they did eventually work with each other, but initially they were working for different promotions and had nothing to do with each other, other than the occasional cross-promotional challenges. L'Ange Blanc's other big masked rival, and one who was actually working for the same promotion as him, was L'Homme Masque. The two had a big match at Palais des Sports in May (in what may have been the final wrestling event at the venue), wrestled each other all over the country, and eventually it was after a match with L'Homme Masque in March 1961 when L'Ange Blanc unmasked.

Other masked characters who popped up in Paris during the first half of 1959 were Mr. X, Superman, Le Justicier Blanc (Jean Fryziuk at first, and then Tony Oliver), and Mysterman (Karl Gotch). What's interesting is that in most of the cases the identities of the masked wrestlers were exposed in the press very quickly. L'Ange Blanc got exposed a few weeks after his initial appearance, Bourreau de Bethune's identity was revealed the day of his debut, Justicier and Mysterman were revealed pretty quickly too. This didn't seem to hurt the appeal of the characters much, but I was surprised to see them getting exposed in the French press so quickly. The press must've had an insider feeding them info, IMO.

[ohtani's jacket]

I'm still confused about the taping dates and the air dates. Did catch air on Fridays or Saturdays? Weren't some of the broadcasts live? The 2/5/59 show that was reviewed on Segunda Caida this past week, that show was taped on a Thursday and aired on a Friday? Or did it air live on Thursday? 

[Phil Lions]

I haven't seen enough TV listings to answer this definitively, but most listings that I've seen are for Friday airings. Not all though - there's some for Thursdays too. Sadly, most of the listings just say wrestling without specifying what is actually airing in terms of matches. If I knew what was airing I could get a much better idea of how things work. Oh well. Also, a good amount of the shows aired live, but I would assume not all did.

Here's a few examples where I do know what was airing and when:

Take the 1/2/1959 show (Kaiser vs. Tarres / Botana vs. Villars). It was held on a Friday. The start time at the venue was 9 p.m. and the TV broadcast was scheduled for that same night with a 10:05 p.m. start time. So that one seems to have been live. Ditto for a Friday 3/20/1959 show with Blanc vs. Guettier - start time at the venue 9 p.m. / airtime 10:05 p.m. There was also the Friday 6/10/1959 show with Guettier vs. McTiffin and Parmentier vs. Plantin, which also aired live (start time at the venue 8:45 p.m, air time 9:15 p.m.).

On the flipside, the Thursday 2/5/1959 show with Bourreau vs. Leduc did air live that night at 9:25 p.m. The Thursday 4/2/1959 show with Humez vs. Debusne and Tarres vs. Chenok aired live too, at 9:25 p.m as well.

So, in short, Thursday and Friday were usually the air days during this time, depending on which venue was hosting the show since each venue had its usual day it hosted shows on.

[Matt D]

All of this is very interesting. I was curious why, after not being mentioned at all in the Bourreau match, they led by calling L'Homme Masque the mirror image of L'Ange Blanc and that clears it up

You look at all those cards and lament all that we don't and never have. Now that we know these wrestlers a lot better, the quality is so high up and down.

[ohtani's jacket]

Thanks for clearing that up. Phil.

[Matt D]

Ok. So for next week we have, most likely, two more 1959 matches. One's a tag that goes an HOUR which is something we haven't seen in this footage yet. But in the start of the announcing, when introducing the sides, the commentator calls the babyfaces... (les) baby face. 

So that's new.

[ohtani's jacket]

L'Homme Masque vs. Roger Delaporte (aired 3/6/59)

L'Homme Masque was a monster and moved around the ring like Frankenstein, but I can't understand why they booked him against Delaporte. Surely, it would have made more sense for him to maul a babyface for a couple of minutes than have this uneven bout against Delaporte. Voiney was playing a character here, but I kind of wish we had footage of him unmasked to compare it to. Believe it or not, he was actually a successful amateur, and as a professional he had a run in WWWF where he fought Bruno Sammartino and wrestled tag matches against Jerry and Luke Graham. 

[Jetlag]

It appears we actually do have a match of his unmasked:

GIL VOINEY VS GASPARIGNON (07/11/1965; 18:22)