French catch

[ohtani's jacket]

That's tough. I think I'd go to Elysee-Montmarte to see George Kidd. I'm a big Henri Le Mao fan too. 

[Phil Lions]

^ A fine choice! I'd probably go with Palais de la Mutualite, but it's a very tough call.

Meanwhile, I just confirmed another TV match that's missing from the INA archive: L’Ange Blanc & Eddy Mores vs. Robert Duranton & Firmin from some point in 1979. How do I know that match aired on TV? Because here we have part of a poster for an April 21, 1979, show that's advertising a rematch of the TV bout. This was all part of L'Ange Blanc's retirement tour in 1979.

[Jetlag]

6 hours ago, Phil Lions said:

At one point the Paris audiences were so spoiled for choice it's not even funny. This particular example is a bit out of the norm, but still. Check this out. Just came across it.

Picture this scenario. It's February 9, 1958. A Sunday. You happen to be in Paris and you realize that in the afternoon there's not one, not two, not three, but four catch shows happening at the same time (3:30 pm starting time for three of the shows and 3 pm for the final one). Which one do you go to? So many choices!

Palais de la Mutualite:
1. Jean Rabut vs. Roland Daumal
2. Jacky Corn vs. Eric Husberg
3. Franz Orlik vs. Lino Di Santo
4. Jose Tarres vs. Robert Gastel
5. Hermann Iffland vs. Liano Pellacani

Lancry Arena:
1. Jean Fryziuk vs. Gilbert Cesca
2. Yanek Anski vs. Ferdinand Bauer
3. Georges Gueret vs. Arabet Said
4. Al Hayes vs. Yvet Amor
5. Roger Delaporte vs. Serge Gentilly

Elysee-Montmartre:
1. Henri Le Mao vs. Jacques Couderc
2. Jean Morandi vs. Marc Gaillard
3. George Kidd vs. Guy Laroche
4. Roger Laroche vs. Claude Montourcy
5. Robert Duranton vs. Jose Arroyo

Stadium:
1. Berrigaud vs. Henri Cointepas
2. Robert Moine vs. Gaston Maujean
3. Inca Peruano vs. Jo Labat
4. Pierre Boss vs. Warnia de Zarzecki
5. Gilbert Leduc vs. Tommy Mann

 

The crazy thing is we have seen now almost everyone of these guys so we know how absolutely loaded these cards were, European wrestling in the 1950s was insane. Another interesting bit is German Herman Iffland main eventing against Pellacani, so either Iffland was a face in France quite unlike the wicked Adolf Kaiser, or they ran a heel vs heel as a main bout.

[David Mantell]

18 hours ago, Phil Lions said:

At one point the Paris audiences were so spoiled for choice it's not even funny. This particular example is a bit out of the norm, but still. Check this out. Just came across it.

Picture this scenario. It's February 9, 1958. A Sunday. You happen to be in Paris and you realize that in the afternoon there's not one, not two, not three, but four catch shows happening at the same time (3:30 pm starting time for three of the shows and 3 pm for the final one). Which one do you go to? So many choices!

Palais de la Mutualite:
1. Jean Rabut vs. Roland Daumal
2. Jacky Corn vs. Eric Husberg
3. Franz Orlik vs. Lino Di Santo
4. Jose Tarres vs. Robert Gastel
5. Hermann Iffland vs. Liano Pellacani

Lancry Arena:
1. Jean Fryziuk vs. Gilbert Cesca
2. Yanek Anski vs. Ferdinand Bauer
3. Georges Gueret vs. Arabet Said
4. Al Hayes vs. Yves Amor
5. Roger Delaporte vs. Serge Gentilly

Elysee-Montmartre:
1. Henri Le Mao vs. Jacques Couderc
2. Johnny Morandi vs. Marc Gaillard
3. George Kidd vs. Guy Laroche
4. Roger Laroche vs. Claude Montourcy
5. Robert Duranton vs. Jose Arroyo

Stadium:
1. Berrigaud vs. Henri Cointepas
2. Robert Moine vs. Gaston Maujean
3. Inca Peruano vs. Jo Labat
4. Pierre Boss vs. Warnia de Zarzecki
5. Gilbert Leduc vs. Tommy Mann

Looks like the French had the same business model as the British, intensive touring rather than big individual houses.

[David Mantell]

On 11/28/2024 at 2:13 PM, Phil Lions said:

^ A fine choice! I'd probably go with Palais de la Mutualite, but it's a very tough call.

Meanwhile, I just confirmed another TV match that's missing from the INA archive: L’Ange Blanc & Eddy Mores vs. Robert Duranton & Firmin from some point in 1979. How do I know that match aired on TV? Because here we have part of a poster for an April 21, 1979, show that's advertising a rematch of the TV bout. This was all part of L'Ange Blanc's retirement tour in 1979.

Firmin, the sixties' answer to Paul Butard the Butler

[Phil Lions]

A poster for a show in Amiens advertising a rematch of a TV match and it really sucks that INA doesn't have this particular one, especially if this was Aledo: Le Petit Prince vs. Kamikaze! I'm not sure about the year, but it has to be either 1968 or 1974.

Plus, based on this TV listing below, we're also missing a pair of matches from 1975: Le Petit Prince vs. Daniel Noced and Monsieur Montreal vs. Zarak.

[David Mantell]

7 hours ago, Phil Lions said:

A poster for a show in Amiens advertising a rematch of a TV match and it really sucks that INA doesn't have this particular one, especially if this was Aledo: Le Petit Prince vs. Kamikaze! I'm not sure about the year, but it has to be either 1968 or 1974.

Plus, based on this TV listing below, we're also missing a pair of matches from 1975: Le Petit Prince vs. Daniel Noced and Monsieur Montreal vs. Zarak.

What channel were these?

If they were channel 1, perhaps the INA only bothered to record colour bouts on channel 2. Otherwise we should have several bout from 1975-1977 in B/w but with a "Video-type motion" interlaced picture with no sign of film-related issues.

One possibility is that the INA could not be bothered to invest much in the soon to be redundant 819 line video technology (and VHF signal) on which Channel 1 ran. 

Another is that by 1975, possibly earlier,  promoters simply wanted all, or as many as possible , of their bouts in colour so were avoiding channel 1 like the plague. Which leads back to the question - what channel were these on?

[David Mantell]

1 hour ago, David Mantell said:

either 1968 or 1974.

Solitary Kamikazes were popping up on TV during the in between years like the one teaming with Der Henker in 1971 on the previous page against Jacky Corne and Gilbert LeDuc.

We still don't know who the French Kamikazes were and even if Modesto was one, that still leaves the other. It's possible that some time in the late 60s, Modesto and "Benny" invested in some nicer gear and masks then hopped in the car and drove northwards across the Pyrenees hoping to make money and TV Stardom in the land of food, wine and an only slightly less oppressive military dictator (De Gaulle Vs Franco)

[Phil Lions]

1 hour ago, David Mantell said:

What channel were these?

Don't know.
 

44 minutes ago, David Mantell said:

Solitary Kamikazes were popping up on TV during the in between years like the one teaming with Der Henker in 1971 on the previous page against Jacky Corne and Gilbert LeDuc.

Yes, I know they were, but I'm certain the year is either 1968 or 1974 because of the poster. It had a date + day of the week combination, which can only be one of those two years.

[Matt D]

On 11/28/2024 at 5:38 AM, Phil Lions said:

At one point the Paris audiences were so spoiled for choice it's not even funny. This particular example is a bit out of the norm, but still. Check this out. Just came across it.

Picture this scenario. It's February 9, 1958. A Sunday. You happen to be in Paris and you realize that in the afternoon there's not one, not two, not three, but four catch shows happening at the same time (3:30 pm starting time for three of the shows and 3 pm for the final one). Which one do you go to? So many choices!

Palais de la Mutualite:
1. Jean Rabut vs. Roland Daumal
2. Jacky Corn vs. Eric Husberg
3. Franz Orlik vs. Lino Di Santo
4. Jose Tarres vs. Robert Gastel
5. Hermann Iffland vs. Liano Pellacani

Lancry Arena:
1. Jean Fryziuk vs. Gilbert Cesca
2. Yanek Anski vs. Ferdinand Bauer
3. Georges Gueret vs. Arabet Said
4. Al Hayes vs. Yves Amor
5. Roger Delaporte vs. Serge Gentilly

Elysee-Montmartre:
1. Henri Le Mao vs. Jacques Couderc
2. Johnny Morandi vs. Marc Gaillard
3. George Kidd vs. Guy Laroche
4. Roger Laroche vs. Claude Montourcy
5. Robert Duranton vs. Jose Arroyo

Stadium:
1. Berrigaud vs. Henri Cointepas
2. Robert Moine vs. Gaston Maujean
3. Inca Peruano vs. Jo Labat
4. Pierre Boss vs. Warnia de Zarzecki
5. Gilbert Leduc vs. Tommy Mann

I am still boggled by these cards. Time travel wouldn’t help. We’d have to do it multiple times. 

[David Mantell]

Rather nice little piece from the INA including promo from mask-era Ange Blanc. Roland Barthes on a chat show and plenty of action.

Unfortunately it goes a bit haywire near the end and declares that everything went downhill from the 70s until Marc Mercier revived the FFCP in 2006- illustrated by footage of John Cena !!!  Promotion al consideration paid for by MM - or was it by Vince McMahon?

[David Mantell]

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.

[David Mantell]

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

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.

Which reminds me - @Matt D did the INA keep records or videos of that first season of New Catch on TF1 in 1988?  (Or the later Eurosport stuff, come to that? ) 

If not, possibly TF1 was no longer under the INA's remit after its 1987 privatisation.

( think I asked before but got no reply - apologies if you did reply and I missed or forgot it.)

[David Mantell]

On 5/24/2020 at 2:10 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Guy Mercier vs. Marcel Montreal (aired 8/27/83)

Is this the last of the old-school catch matches? This wasn't a great match, but you have to appreciate two lumpy old guys going out there and wrestling like men. 

I'll leave it to a French version of me to answer @ohtani's jacket's question but bear in mind
(1) Guy at the time had two young sons Marc and Pierre coming up in the business and if you had asked him in 1983 if Le Catch was coming to an end, he would have pointed at his two boys then bitten your head off
(2) a lot of the old crowd continued to make appearances even into the Noughties - viz Le Petit Prince putting in one last 2002 match before heading off to Thailand (and prematurely dying there in 2005) who IIRC still had a pretty busy schedule in 1983 and well through the 80s.
(3) Guy and referee here Michel Saulnier were pioneers together in the whole Bon Beats up Arbitre Chiotte And The Crowd Cheers Him angle which we see an example of in this bout and which became a staple part of the final years of Le Catch Sur La Tele and the decades since the end of French Catch on terrestrial TV in France through to the 2020s, so that makes old man Guy one of the architects of the direction in which French Catch evolved..

Marcel Montreal still in great shape and looking like a French version of Tarzan Johnny Wilson here.  Commentator Daniel Cazal says Montreal's real name is Marcel Chevaux, apparently A lot of the early minutes of this revolve around him getting an armlock on Mercier and hanging on.  Apparently Mercier's name puns with the standard French phrase for asking if a wrestler wants to submit ("Vouz abandonnez, Monsieur?") although I'm sure Guy and his two sons must have run into that bad dozens of times before and since.  

Later, Guy takes control with an Indian Deathlock much like a Ric Flair Figure Four Leglock bent at 90 degrees.  Marcel ties some interesting counters including turning the hold over into a leg scissors to hold in place a folding press pin attempt. He gets a Two before Guy reasserts himself.  

Things carry on that way with a headlock.  Then it moves on to knockout attempts -  slams, guillotine elbowsmashes, that sort of thing. One time Mercier follows down too quickly and gets a roasting from Saulnier. The crowd start an Aux Chiottes chant but before things can get really hairy, Montreal takes Guy back in the match.  Later when Guy is knocked down, Saulnier tries to hurry to the end of the count but is warned off by Montreal and counts him properly. The wrestlers trade uppercuts, slam and Montreal takes o e hell of a bump from a Mercier backdrop.  The crowd are still unhappy with Saulnier, completely ignoring Montreal's hammerlock on Mercier to shout abuse at the referee instead.  Saulnier's instruction to break as the contest hits the ropes gets ignored by everyone else especially the crowd who are chewing him out. This is a pity as there is some good action in the ring at this point- Montreal has an arm extension which he widens his legs on occasionally to stop Mercier toupeeing out - I recall Bert Mychel doing this same trick against Gilbert LeDuc (on page 40 of this thread.).

The bout goes to a time limit draw.  Mercier and Montreal are both sporting to each other but Mercier still has needle with Saulnier and refuses to shake his hand.  A good strength match rather than a technical classic.

I don't think this was the end of an era any more than LeDuc or Rene Ben Chemouel's early 70s bouts were, or Michel Falempin turning up on Eurosport New Catch. They were however bouts where some of the old boys were having their last flashes.  Two years before this, Ken Joyce put up a spirited performance before going down 2-0 to Johnny Saint, which shows yo that even at that stage of their careers, some people can keep the speed going.

 

[Matt D]

On 12/1/2024 at 3:42 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.

Petit Prince/Jean Corne vs Zoltan Boscik/Jacky Richard almost hurts me to think about since we can’t see it.

[David Mantell]

I'd be interested to see how the French reacted to Johnny Saint

Petit Prince vs either Saint or George Kidd would have been magnificent.  

[David Mantell]

On 7/9/2020 at 2:51 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

Jo Labat vs Ami Sola (aired 7/31/58)

This was an excellent wrestling match filled with holds, counter holds, and forceful strikes. I swear if this match came from any other archive, we'd be heralding it as one of the best matches of the era, but because it's part of this amazing period of French catch, it's just another match. It will be interesting to see where Sola ranks among the French wrestlers when we're done with this footage. He's carved a niche for himself in this 50s footage as The Midcard Guy. One of the problems we face as we head into the 60s footage is that we don't get the same week-to-week footage. In fact, for some years we barely get any footage at all. I'm not sure if that's an indication that catch went off the air for a time. There was some sort of controversy that happened in the early 60s, but I haven't been able to nail down what it was all about. At any rate, Sola quickly disappears from the footage we do have, and I guess he retires at some point because he's not on any cards after 1963.

Robert Duranton vs Michel Chaisne (aired 7/31/58)

They only showed the first fall of this, which is strange because usually they'd clip the Sola match and show the Duranton match in full. I'm kind of glad they gave us the entire Sola because it was clearly the better bout. This was kind of goofy at times. The popular blue-eye, Chaisne, was a bit over the top with how he dealt with this massive slab of a man. I didn't really get what all the bobbing was about. Once again, early Duranton exceeded expectations with how much he was willing to wrestle, but against a decent technician like Chaisne, his short comings were apparent. My favorite part of the fall was when Duranton stepped over Chaisne. That's a move Duranton did a lot and one I'm surprised other wrestlers didn't pinch. We all know how irate basketball players get when players step over them. It seems perfect for wrestling as well. 

Been watching these two in a half asleep way after having a sofa night after dozing off in front of the telly after finishing dinner.  Don't get a long enough view to write a coherent review of my own other than concurring with what OJ said.  Duranton looking very young here, no sign of Firmin the Valet either.  The Labat Vs Sola match has an oddly VT look to the footage - I wonder ...

 

[David Mantell]

Okay, let's have a proper look at these bouts in the cold light of morning.

Labat Vs Sola is quite a deceptively fast paced affair, despite being down on the mat, both men are constantly trying for holds and escapes, shifting from one drive to another.  Nothing too spectacular apart from the one toupee. Lots of small conversions on the mat, up for a quick slam or low distance hiptoss. Guys roll either way out of armbars,. It gets a bit manchetteux towards the end before Labat gets the win with a neat sunset flip.

Duranton not only has no Firmin but no furs and shorter hair and a leaner build. He''s quite the arrogant young heel. The bigger size of these guys after watching Labat Vs Sola is really striking. The bigger bodies give scope for bigger throws etc.  Crowd are really itching for Duranton to do the dirty so they can heel him. They love it when he takes a bump! Duranton really sells a sleeper/strangle, lips gibbering all over the place.  He's not so much the great arrogant bodybuilder of later, more a snooty Heel David Von Erich in Florida type. He struts around like Adrian Street or Buddy Rogers, then in his prime, whom Duranton probably got a lot of it from ... Chaisne is just the straight man in this, like Mick McMichael against both Street and Bobby Barnes.   When the referee warns Duranton not to follow down on Chaisne, he threatens to walk out but Michel recovers and comes after le Mechant with a vengeance.  Chaisne gets the pin, catching Duranton off the ropes with a belly to belly suplex and Duranton is FUMING. Apparently that was just the first fall and they have to cut back to the studio as the timeslot is up - WTBS would becso PROUD ...

 

[Phil Lions]

Just came across these and I thought I'd share them here.

Tony Oliver as Le Justicier Blanc (Maurice Durand's L'Ange Blanc ripoff):


A few masked characters from the Durand promotion (April 1959): Superman, Le Justicier Blanc and El Diablo.


Le Bourreau de Bethune in color:


And finally, I love this one of L'Homme Masque (The Great Zorro/Hans Mortier, I assume):

[David Mantell]

 

An international dream match for Christmas Afternoon.  Klondyke Kate, British Ladies Champion, the only one ever to win her title on TV (albeit on BBC2's Raging Belles docu, not ITV) faces Gaby Lailee, faux Native American and darling Bonne of French ladies' wrestling (when she wasn't busy handling cowboy heel Jessy Texas's horse.)

It looks on paper like a female version of Scrubber Daly Vs Kid MCoy and that's pretty much what you get. Gaby spends the early moments dodging Kate's bulky charges into corners.  She wrings Kate's arm before Kate blasts her down.  Kate drops her weight on Gaby's leg the applies a leglock.  Gaby dodges a splash, double leg dives Kate and drops her own weight on Kate's knee leaving her limping.  An aggrieved Kate chokes Gaby on the ropes and clotheslines her. Gaby rides Kate's back to get a crossbar on her but Kate just backs her into a corner. She double nerveholds Gaby, backdrops her and disrupts a sunset flip attempt with one stomp. More illegal rope work gets Kate an Avertisement before she dumps Gaby ringside then follows her out and throws her back in. Gaby flips her in. but Kate chops her sides and back. She goes for a piledriver but Gabby slaps her behind so Kate just drops her on the canvas like the proverbial sack of excrement.A second attempt brings similar limited success for Kate but a headbutt is good enough to finally get the piledriver and pin. 

Kate getting herself over as a heel in France and succeeding. Crowds give her the bird and a thrown paper ball hits her full in the face, but she's content to have her heat.

 

[David Mantell]

On 10/1/2015 at 10:51 PM, pantherwagner said:

I was watching some Euro catch and those of you on youtube already know how this works: you watch a match then click on another link then on another one and you end up watching the weirdest stuff. I clicked on Flesh Gordon vs Dick Murdoch from FEC/EWF in the early 90s. Flesh Gordon looked ridiculous and wrestles like shit so I was curious to see what could Dick Murdoch do with him. Well, it was a fake Dick Murdoch so not much. Then Gordon comes out with two chicks and they have their tits out and are happily dancing around. WTF France.

I think that's all pretty unfair.

Murdoch, we already know, is Dick Harrison aka Ron Clarke of UK opposition promotion tag team  the Lincolnshire Poachers. Flesh's look, we now know, basically comes from his Lucha Libre background.  This is him in an intermediate stage, no longer the high flying missile dropkicking tag partner of Walter Bordes but not yet the tubby bald aging moustachioed figure of the early C21st.  It's the early Maxi Cuisine mat so presumably originally screened on TF1 In 1988. English language commentary is by British MC John Harris who also refereed the Johnny South Vs Johnny Palance  bout I just posted to the British thread.  Referee here is Charley Bollet (brother of Andre Bollet, Roger Delaporte's old tag partn

Flesh gets a side headlock on but Murdoch resists cross buttock attempts.  He gets a single leg coming off the ropes but Murdoch pounds him down, getting some stomps in., getting a 2 count on a pin attempt .Flesh fights back with two well executed flying cross buttocks and a dropkick.  A snapmares gets Murdoch down for a 2 count.  Flesh dumps Murdoch to ringside, gets in three elbowsm throws him back in, gets another over the shoulder snapmare, then a third flying cross buttock gets the win.

Short but sweet and undeserving of the hatchet job @pantherwagner gave it.

 

[PeteF3]

That cross-buttock attempt out of the headlock looked like a dance routine. Like something from someone two months into wrestling training. I dunno, I think Jose was pretty fair if not generous. I'd love to know what luchador Flesh was supposedly inspired by because it doesn't look like any one that I've seen.

[David Mantell]

5 hours ago, PeteF3 said:

That cross-buttock attempt out of the headlock looked like a dance routine. Like something from someone two months into wrestling

Do you mean the flying hiptosses?  I thought they were rather good.  The only other thing I can think you mean is Murdoch/Clark/Harrison using his sheer bulk to resist cross buttock attempts which seemed reasonable enough if a bit basic.

Quote

I'd love to know what luchador Flesh was supposedly inspired by because it doesn't look like any one that I've seen.

I did say it was his look- the whole caped crusader vibe is a very Lucha thing.  

[David Mantell]

Gilbert LeDuc in colour!  He teams with Walter Bordes ("Mama Doux Mais Mais") to face Paco Ramirez (the evil El Matador Tito Santana, Gerard "Flesh Gordon" Hervé's first TV opponent) and Daniel Boucard who IIRC had a bit of a feud going with Le Petit Prince in 1973.

Gilbert is older, has a combover and looks a little bit Verne Gagne and the crowd seem more interested in cheering MDMM for Walter.  Both heels have flashy jackets like the Rougeaus circa 1988.  Les Mechants work old Gilbert over, poor old thing, and score a shock early fall on him. This continues into la deuxieme  manche.  Bordes scores a HOT tag and goes to work Irish  Whipping Boucard but he makes good feet first landings and regains his heat by pitching Bordes out of the ring.  Bordes recovers and dropkicks Boucard who tags. They throw each other around then Gilbert is back in but this time he is ready.  Soon neither heel fancies taking him on.  

Plenty of back and forth action from all four. Gilbert still has his toupee which he uses to escape an arm extension (even though all that rubbing his scalp round  on the mat has left him in need of the other sort of toupee.). At one point the referee is knocked out of the ring and gets on Bordes's case for it.  Gilbert cross scissors Ramirez, twice toupees him then kicks him in the corner where he and Bordes slap Ramirez around like they were playing table tennis with his head.  Les Bons are having so much fun it's hard to remember they're a fall down since near the start. Even when they lose the advantage they quickly enough get it back.  A Ramirez hair pulling foul on LeDuc earns Paco his first Avertisement. 

Gilbert is improbably winning a test of strength over Ramirez when sadly the clip cuts out.  So I guess we'll never find out how - or if- Gilbert and Walter got their equaliser and decider.  Nothing like a cliffhanger ending eh?

[David Mantell]

On 5/24/2020 at 2:10 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Walter Bordes & Flesh Gordon vs. The Golden Falcons (aired 8/13/83)

This was really good. I thought it was better than the first Bordes & Gordon tag and the first Falcons tag. It had a real lucha feel to it with a South American twist. Add Bordes' flair and you had a nice cocktail. They added some dramatics with Gordon being busted open and needing medical assistance. It was two-on-one for a while until Gordon returned with a bandaged head. I would have lost my shit over this if I'd been a French kid in '83. 

Shock horror another good review of Flesh Gordon? Yup and a well deserved one, I agree with OJ.  We first seen Flesh in his corner in light blue tights and longish hair looking like a skinnier version of the Honky Tonk Man. Walter is on the tag rope in his usual white trunks.

Their opponents arre veteran Spanish tag team Los Halcones De Oro, here billed under their English name "THE GOLDEN FALCON'S" (Sic incorrect usage of the possessive apostrophe). We've discussed them in the past, no one is sure if it was the same two guys Robert Torres and Guy Renaud ( @Phil Lions or is that Guy Renault, as in the bald guy who did a biker tag team with Jacky Richard circa 1980?). all the way through but the gimmick seems to have had a long lifespan.  In France alone they ran from early 70s bouts now only surviving as B/W overseas export Kinescopes, through this period of the early 80s up to the first season of New Catch on TF1 In 1988 taking on rookies Yann Caradec and Patrique Martineau with Flesh managing the rookies and a midget managing the Falcons.  And that's not counting their time in Spain or in the UK although sadly not on ITV.

Even the ring looks better than usual here, it has red/white/blue ropes and red/blue corners although the mat looks an unappealing light grey like a blob of unpainted clay.

From the start it's all action with Flesh taking a backdrop, kicking his opponent in the face the getting a cross press for a 2 count.  Flesh and a Falcon fling each other around forcing whip bumps on each other, Flesh gets a headscissor but the masked man grabs the rope with his feet to take the easy way out like a true heel. Bordes tags in and goes into his war dance as the crowd chant Mama Doux Mais Mais.  At one point a Falcon has Bordes in a full nelson. Bordes back-bodychecks him off his feet, breaks the hold, let's him fall on his front then uses his feet to turn the Falcon into a Folding Press only for the other Falcon to make the save.

Flesh pulls off a neat rear snapmares, diving headbut handstand out of a headscissors and move into a figure 4 leg extension, wrestlers bridgé  into monkey climb (planchette japonais.)  Bordes can do the seated swivel reverse of an armbar like Jim Breaks, reverse snapmares himself onto the ring apron then knock down his opponent and do a Rick Martel over the top rope bodypress, forward roll out of wristlever.  At 10:50- 11:15 @PeteF3 if you're still wondering where Flesh learned that flying hiptoss, well here's your answer. A minute later, Flesh pulls off a corker of a move where he turns upside down in a flying tackle to take down a Falcon then oner 90 degrees to lard in the cross press position for the opening fall.  

Flesh gets a great arm-to arm go behind sequence to throw a Falcon out the ring.  Satoru Sayama as Sammy Lee in England also used this trick- he also spent time in Mexico so maybe they both got it from there.  Things get nasty at 15mins in when each Falcon takes turns to kick a downed Gordon in the head.  The last Falcon makes it a flurry of boots and an axe handle. Twice Flesh gets a posting after the referee kicks his arm free of the top rope and ends up draped over the top rope like a towel.  A  very Harley Race/Dynamite Kid/Chris Benoit flying headbutt finds its target but a second one misses and Bordes tags in.  Walter Bordes cartwheels and dropkicks a Falcon before bunging him to ringside where the other Falcon is.  

Then disaster strikes, Flesh is knocked off the apron by Bordes and has to be carried to the dressing room. Bordes fights on as a handicap tag.  The Falcons double team Bordes, he fights back but soon also ends at ringside. He is thrown back in an a Falcon gets the Equalising  pin.  For a long while in the interim he does not look ready to go, he is on the floor while Flesh is backstage.  For a while it looks like Bordes will have to concede the decider until a bloodied bandaged up Flesh, looking a lot like Ted DiBiase the night he turned babyface in 1985 Mid South.runs back to the ring and batters both masked men, tagging Bordes to get a flying bodypress for the deciding pin, the win and a trophy for himself and Flesh (presented by someone important looking in a suit) ito take home and drink cocktails from together. Flesh alternately celebrates and checks his head bandage wich is quite blood-soaked by now. Next up on Antenne 2 is the 11pm news.

So I wonder how this guy ended up as the bald fat moustachioed bloke we know from recent years . Aaaaand right next up on Alessio's France 1970-1987 playlist is the Guy Mercier Vs Monsieur Montreal match. And I also stop to consider 1977 Gilbert LeDuc in colour, scalp worn thin from so many toupees that he needs a toupee to wear. And Michel Falempin, Angelito and Franz Van Buyten on Eurosport.  And Jacky Richard as Monsieur Jacky.  And I realise the aging process happens to us all.

Flesh put up a GREAT performance here and so did Bordes and credit to the Falcons too. I agree with @ohtani's jacket about the French kid in '83 and I only wish that the said kid was on here to tell his stories.