French catch

[Phil Lions]

3 hours ago, David Mantell said:

I'll take your word for it that this is Modesto Aledo - what is the evidence other than that Aledo played the original Kamikaze a decade earlier?

It's Aledo. He was tubbier in his later years. Plus, and more importantly, Aledo being Dozan is also referenced in the archives of the French catch historian Michel Bezy (who was working for the same promotion as Dozan back then).

[ohtani's jacket]

Guy Mercier vs. Kamikaze (Mitsui Dozan - Modesto Aledo) 10/4/71

This was okay. It was only disappointing if you were expecting it to be Mercier vs. Aledo, which it was never intended to be. You've got to admire Aledo's dedication to the gimmick even if it was borderline racist. I spent most of the match trying to figure out how he got his face to look like that. This wasn't the first time we'd seen Kamikaze unmask. The other time was just as creepy. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Aledo was crazy good in his prime.

 

[Phil Lions]

1 hour ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Guy Mercier vs. Kamikaze (Mitsui Dozan - Modesto Aledo) 10/4/71. I spent most of the match trying to figure out how he got his face to look like that.

Same! Could be some sort of a mask. Or some super elaborate face prosthetic. Hard to say.

[David Mantell]

34 minutes ago, Phil Lions said:

Same! Could be some sort of a mask. Or some super elaborate face prosthetic. Hard to say.

Is that him? There were a couple of Old Man Masks in Memphis, one in 1982 who tagged with Kaufman and another in about 1990 in the USWA - called the Bruiser IIRC.

To be fair the Exorcist on World of Sport 1974/1975 is hard to reconcile with the nice Clayton Thompson who fought Tony StClair in 1967.

 

[Phil Lions]

9 hours ago, David Mantell said:

Is that him?

Yes, that's Mitsui "Kamikaze" Dozan (Modesto Aledo).

[ohtani's jacket]

There was one part of the match where he was adjusting something under his chin so I figure it must have been some type of mask, but I don't think it covered his entire head. The lips are cool. 

[David Mantell]

Quote

Walter Bordes/Gerard Bouvet vs. Pierre Payden/Le Samourai

Another quality French tag albeit more about athleticism and rule-bending than cool European holds. Le Samourai was a masked wrestler with a body suit, who was sort of like a French version of the British wrestler Kung Fu, but without the kung fu. He's probably the worst catcheur I've seen from bob ALPRA's videos, but it might just be the gimmick. Without knowing who he was, it's hard to judge his skills as a wrestler. He didn't really do anything special, though, and that's what we're looking for when we watch this stuff. Bordes, Bouvet and Payden were excellent, so that made up for whatever shortcomings the Samurai had. EricR came up with a standard for this matches that I like -- "impossibly cool." This wasn't impossibly cool, but it was a glimpse of three top catcheurs, which helps expand our knowledge of one of wrestling's last frontiers.

There have been two versions uploaded to YouTube ( @Matt D's channel and a version on Bob Plantin's Channel missing IIRC the last ten minutes.

July 1976, the summer of Ali-Inoki in Japan, Bruno-Hansen at Shea Stadium. and McManus &Logan versus Kendo Nagasaki and George Gillette at the Royal Albert Hall.

Samurai is not Kendo Nagasaki (nor Rex Strong) he is just a generic masked man with a vaguely Japanese gimmick. The crowd get a chant of Mama Doux Mais Mais going early and Bordes and Bouvet ear dance to it.  Samurai can take throws really well "Il est souple, ce Samurai" notes the commentator. After falling victim to a snapmare and headbutt to the chest, Samurai tags in Payen to face Bouvet who soon tags Bouvet who has even better escapes than Samurai, cartwheeling and handspringing his way out of hard bump situations.  He hiptosses Payen and ducks a charge to leave him flying out of the ring. Bouvet tries for a folding press but it ends up in Bascule stalemate.  Perhaps this Samurai is a normal Bon moonlighting as a Mechant. Bordes goes arm to arm to side headlock then up for a hiptoss.  He keeps the headlock during rope runs and an atomic drop attempt by Samurai. Some fans are already calling for "LA CAGOULE!" to be pulled off. Samurai gets a rear snapmare into headlock but Bouvet slips out to leave a hammerlock. Payen tags. side chancery throws and misses a kneedrop. Bouvet and Payen have a great sequence of reversing each others throws, suplexes and backdrops.  Bouvet in can transition from a standing armbar to low flying headscissors takedown on a forward bowing Payen. Samurai has a cross handed grovit he uses on Bordes. When Bordes fires him away using the ropes., he rolls away smoothly and comes back up with a chop.  Samurai misses a charge and tags Payen.  He and Bordes have some fine back and forth sequences. Payen throws Bouvet over the top rope but Bouvet hangs on the ropes , pulls himself back and flying sciccor throws Payen out. Payen takes his time coming back, Bouvet gets a rolling legdive into standing toehold.  Bordes tags in, he can do the handsprings and cartwheels as well as his partner. And the Scisseaux Volees and Says Chasses. Samurai gets dumped to ringside where he gets into a shoving match with Coudec at ringside.  When he gets slung out again, he bows and shakes hands with Couderc but Couderc then shoves him in the back.  Bouvet goes down in a finger Interlock test of strength but then swivels round to turn it into a great Japanese Stranglehold on Payen.  Payen tries to throw him and ends up with the hold running between Bouvet's legs and makes him flip out then applies the hold to him. Bouvet more simply undresses the hold and steps out of it like Johnny Saint might do. Bordes also gets the Japanese Stranglehold and briefly gets a surfboard but it all topples sideways.  Payen uses a hairpull to flip out of the stranglehold but Bordes catches him with double ankles to the head.  It gets a bit more chops kicks and dirties from now on.  Samurai ha a front neck crank, Bouvet knees him in the head.  The villains best Bouvet in a corner and double team him in their corner. Bordes has a Toe hold/grapevine on Payen, Samurai pulls him over.    Payen now dominates the hold.  Les Bons start to disregard tagging rules although still performing great dropkicks and side chancery throws.  Bouvet ejects both Mechants. He cartwheels over the top of Payen's back and gets the opening fall with a fisherman's suplex.

Bouvet looks like he's going for a toupie but makes it a kick at the last second.  Bordes gets knockedout the ring a couple of times, the second time landing DEEP among the spectators.  Bouvet rolls his partner back in.  The heels continue to work on Bordes.   He tags Bouvet but the ref doesn't see the spot. Bouvet tags in and goes for the mask. The ref pulls him off and Payen tags.  It's more of a brawl at this point. The heels regain control and double team with Manchettes and chops.  Payen gets the cross buttock and pin on Bouvet for the equaliser, Bouvet bridging up just too late or so the referee reckons.  Bordes disagrees but to no avail.  Samurai waves to the crowd like he's the Pope.

Belle goes for la Belle. (I love silly cross-lingual puns, don't you?). Payen gets cross hand grovit into full nelson. Bouvet is in a bad way until he tags Bordes who dropkicks both Mechants out the ring and Manchettes them soundly. Samurai tags but is reluctant to get in. He tries a blindside but Bordes and ars and Manchettes him, side chancery throws him then has another go at the mask.  The laces are hanging loose. Both heels are tied in the ropes and Bouvet starts dropkicking them. The ref tries to stop things and Bouvet threatens to punch him but thinks better of it and tags Bordes. Heels are still hogtied. Payen gets free but Bordes slingshots him into Samurai. Samurai too gets free and tags in but takes Payen's diet of Manchettes etc. samurai nearly gets a crafty folding press but Bouvet chops him and rolls out of harm's way. From the corner, Bouvet gets body scissors, single heel smash and kick on Samurai.  Samurai gets Bouvet in cross handed grovit in the corner. Bouvet claims upwards to escape and fires a missile dropkick. Both sides tag.  Payen gets beaten until he rolls to ringside.  He bulldogs/flying headscisssors his opponents, initially botching the scissors on Samurai before he gets the hold. He posts Samurai who posts back but Bouvet leaps up on the top turnbuckle with a flying bodypress for the deciding fall.

Much better than the Mercier/ Kamikaze bout, fast as Corne Vs Bayle but less repetitive and with good intelligent reversals and transitions. Samurai and Payen knew their technical wrestling as well as Les Bons did and held their end up well.

 

[David Mantell]

On 5/19/2020 at 3:51 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Zarak vs. Mammoth Siki (aired 8/28/82)
Golden Eagle vs. Remy Bayle (aired 8/28/82)

For some reason, there isn't a lot of 80s footage in the archive. I guess the INA cared as much about preserving 80s catch as the people did watching it. These matches are ordinary, but they achieved what they set out to do. You can't hold it against them that they're not hidden gems. The 80s stockpile is tiny. and unless there were collectors taping everything off TV, this is as close a window we're getting into how the final years unfolded. 

Two matches in under 25min.  The room might be a bit bigger than it looks, we are facing a narrow wedge backing onto a wall opposite the hardcam. Later the camera turns and we see a bigger gymnasium with indoor soccer goals and dirty dark green wall panels held with metal joists. 

We start with Siki, the French JYD against the hated Batman turned villain. Sik in the corner side chancery throws Zarak and chops him while holding him underhook. He gets up and delivers an armbar taken over the head then splashed on. He has one arm, secures the other and turns the masked man into a further nelson fortdo lots of 2. Zarak drops an elbow somewhere dubious to get the break. He stands and floors Siki with a Manchette and kneelift. Zarak pummels Siki on the ropes and gets an Avertisement.He gets a grovit, rear snapmare, body check, runs over the top of Siki but then Siki leapfrogs him and gets a dropkick. Zarak gets a headbutt, posting and long Suplex. He crosspresses for two but Zarak kicks out.  Zarak regains his heat with chops and a knee.  It's a bit of a brawl til Siki gets a snapmare and upper surfboards He has a go at the mask but the ref pulls him off.bythe ears. Zarak regains control with a  snapmare and kneedrop.  Zarak kicks his way out of an arm lock.  He has Siki on the ropes.  Siki fights back but soon has his man in the corner. The referee again tries to restrain Siki and Zarak again let's rip with offence of his own. Siki headbutts Zarak who stays down for 7.  Siki has a double top wristlock.  He undies it and shakes Zarak s arm as an arm weakener. Zarak gets a front grovit. Siki fist-heels Zarak in the ribs. It's turning into a boxing match and the referee doesn't like it.  Zarak dodges a legdive and corners Siki, pounding on his back. The ref earns him off and they brawl a bit until Siki gets an armbar and smashes the masked man down. He stomps him on the mat and traps him on the mat by the ropes.  They brawl on.  Siki gets the snapmare and chinlock.  He has the mask strings undone. Referee pulls him off. Zarak gets a slam and crosspress for the one required fall.

Very OJ friendly brawl . Few good moves other than some good rear snapmares. Simple heavyweight strength fight - streetwise Bon Vs Masked Mechant.  Junkyard Dog Vs Masked Superstar for Euro TV.

Golden Eagle comes in. gives his brother Man Of Mystery a big hug. They will be partying tonight about this one at the parts unknown Masked Ball.  Eagle has a red cape and looks like a heel Mil Mascaras. Or a solitary solo Falcon d'Or.  A very potbellied Remy Bayle comes in in a white sweater. I struggle to recall what he looked like young in the bouts above, but as I said re Aledo, Flesh Gordon has nothing to be ashamed of.  He has a double strap red leotard on underneath.  Maybe not so bad, more 1980s Mick McMichael Of Doncaster.  Ref, mindful of the last bout, warns Bayle not to mess with the mask. Ring canvas is dark green to match the end wall of the venue.  

Golden Eagle bodychecks Bayle but gets backdropped, taking quite a bump. They throw each other, Bayle takes it well and rolls upright, Eagle lands messily with a bump. Baylectries another throw but Eagle takes him down with a legdive andv leglock.  He switches to armlock. Bayle kips up and tries for a suplex but struggles with the masked man.  Eagle gets the slam and resumes the mat armlock. Bayle tries getting up for something in the arm bar but has to roll and bump on the mat.  So it's back to the armlock. Eagle counters another Bayle get-up with a concealed kidney punch. And so the hold goes on.  Eagle adds a knee to the head.  Bayle gets an arm but Eagle gets the ropes forcing a break. Eagle gets a standing full nelson. Bayle flexes his way out. They have a finger Interlock into top wristlock which Bayle clumsily throws of. Eagle gets another armbar.  Bayle gets to the ropes and flings him off.  Eagle whips Bayle to the ropes and chops him on the rebound.  His kicks to the fallen Bayle do little except interrupt the KO country.  More chops and attacks in the corner see L'Arbitre pull him off.  He manchettes and pressure points his man back to the corner and the ref orders him off again.  Bayle gets a manchette of his own BT misses with a second and Eagle takes him down with a second. This becomes a more respectable front headlock.  Bayle gets his man in a Fireman's carry. The ref tries to stop him pitching the Eagle to ringside and ends up pushing them both down with Eagle on top in a cross press.  And so back to the headlock.  Bayle elbows and Manchettes his way out. Eagle corners him and goes back to work on the fouls . Another telling off from Monsieur L'Arbitre. Eagle is very cocky, swaggering around, pointing up That's The Way To Do It, inciting heat with this.  He gets a rear snapmare and pressure points, almost a choke.  He stomps Bayle, chokes him on the ropes.  Bayle rear snapmares Eagle over the ropes to ringside, nearly taking the ref with him but Eagle lands on his feet.  He stomps back in to a manchette, kneelift and cornering of his own from Bayle.  Bayle also gets a snapmare and chinlock but hecalsongets the Avertisement that surely Eagle deserved?  Annoyed, he starts to unlace the mask. Eagle steps out to the ring apron but is snapmared back.  The crowd are chanting for LavKagoule and Baylectries to oblige but L'Arbitre tries to pulls him off.  By the time the ref gets Bayle off. Eagle is in the corner, mask half mast. Nonetheless he comes right back with another standing full nelson.  then slams his head in the corner, then an uncovered second corner. Eagle continues work as a second puts the corner pad back (dangerous work especially when a crazed villain wants it uncovered.)  L'Arbitre again tells off Eagle who wanders off ignoring it like an insolent schoolboy, then gets another full nelson.   Bayle breaks the hold, slams Eagle's head in the corner and generally bashed him a.round. He gets double legs into a slingshot into the corner and goes back to work on La Kagoule and gets it off! A balding dark haired man tries to cover his face as Bayle tries to stop L'Arbitre grabbing the mask back.  The ref eventually snatched it and puts it on Eagle who has Benn crouching down in the standard position for unmasked masked wrestlers in France waiting for L'Arbitre to remark them.  He posts and bea.ts on Bayle but Bayle posts him and manchettes and posts him again.  Eagle gets a kidney punch but misses a charge into the ropes and is sprung back on the mat where Bayle splashes and pins him to win.  

Eagle protests, Bayle celebrates and so does some Mec in the crowd in a traditional French stripy shirt (no beret or necktie mercifully.) And then comes the evening news. Two people have been arrested on terrorism charges. Probably that pesky Action Direct.

This was the better of the two bouts with a bit more variety to it.  Neither were technical classics. They were strength heavyweight slug and punch bouts.  Germany would have loved them.  

 

[Jetlag]

Maybe I have mentioned it before, but the Modesto Aledo/Kamikaze looks reminds me a lot of something out of Fantomas

[David Mantell]

FAO all those who said 22:30h was a lousy timeslot (even if it WAS on A2 directly before the main evening news  without a commercial break in between). Some horror stories from the American territories:

 

[David Mantell]

On 5/21/2020 at 1:51 PM, ohtani's jacket said:

Daniel Schmid & Remy Bayle vs. Paco Ramirez & Gilbert Wherle (aired 7/1/83)

Daniel Schmid was a big boy, but he could go. If the rest of his matches are like this, I think we might have a cult favourite on our hands. Ramirez was a Spanish worker who spent a lot of time in Mexico. He was a stylist, but wasn't able to stamp his mark on this bout. I hesitate to say anything bad about him because he died of cancer in '84. Wherle's biggest claim to fame is that he trained with Andre and Le Petit Prince. He didn't show me much, but he did have a decent forearm contest with Bayle. I wanna see if Schmid is always this fun.

This bout confused me the first time I saw it as I was used to Schmidt as a heel from throughout the 70s so I assumed Bayle had gone heel too, especially considering considering the decidedly thuggish looking Blousson Noir he is wearing.  In fact the big heavyset boys in red are Les Bons.  I should have guessed since Paco was the mechant in 1979 against a young pre Flesh Gordon Gerard Herve.  The first hint is when .Les Mechants, especially Paco, refuse a handshake from Daniel and Remy.

Ramirez was Spanish but doing a Mexican gimmick with a whip. Where, we learn, had a day job as chauffeur and bodyguard to a French cabinet minister. Ramirez goes for the ropes every time Bayle gets a hold such as a hammerlock on, although this does not generate much crowd heat.  Bayle does name amends with a high whip and bump  followed by two side chancery throws then tagging Schmidt. Daniel armdrags Paco a few times before slapping on headscissors. He takes a wrist to stop Paco turning and escaping.  He even turns the hold into across headscissor to exert more pressure. Ramirez fights back with a legscissor into Indian Death Lock. Wherle tags in. He spins out of Daniel's Boston Crab. But he soon had an armbar on Wherle.  

He tries a  further nelson and shoulder press but one gets a 1.  Both men trade armlocks. With Wherele in, this becomes throws.  Bayle tries a backslide but only gets 1, then they both tag. Paco whips Schmidt into the ropes and headbutts his ribs on the rebound.  Wherle slams Schmidt in an armbar!!!  He advanced this to an armscissor.  The heavy Schmidt backflips out of an armbar!  He tags Bayle who gets a seated rear chinlock on Wherle.  Paco runs in the ring and kicks Bayle earning himself a first Avertisement. Where gets up and gets the hold up  top wristlock level before armdragging his man back down.   Ramirez again interferes, grabbing and stretching Bayle's leg.. No public warning this time.  Paco tags in. He has snapmares, guillotine elbowsmashes and more armdrags. He uncovers a corner and posts Remy in it which gets some heat.  Paco get a full nelson but Remy powers out, slams and splashes the lighter Paco for a first fall. Paco insists that it was only a 2 and has a long argument with L'Arbitre and the commentator too about this that gets him nowhere.  

Deuxieme Manche - Paco gets a single leg into a legscissor. He switches briefly to a toehold then back. Bayle chops him in the face which the commentator thinks is a bit much ("ah c'est desagreable, ca!").  Both sides tag and a Manchette war breaks out. Wherle ends up at ringside but comes back to get a legdive into legscissor. Schmidt counters with a chinlock, eventually freeing his legs and advancing his own hold up into a standing side headlock. Wherle Manchettes his way out at the manchette war continues.  Schmidt briefly tries a side chancery but the rain of forearms makes him forsake it. Remy tags in and stomps away at Paco until L'Arbitre warns him off.  Paco is not happy, pointing and complaining. He gets a snapmare and chinlock on Schmidt, choking him on the ropes.  Schmidt throws Paco over the ropes but Paco takes the referee with him. Wherle in the ring gets a grovit on Bayle who Manchettes his way out. Bayle ends up in the heels corner where Paco stretches his ears like British blue eyes often did to Mick McManus. Both sides tag and there are more Manchettes.  Paco is ties in the ropes and horizontally splashed by both Bons. Schmidt slingshots Wherle into the top rope. Les Bons use him to ram the still tied up Paco. Finally Schmidt cross buttock throws and presses Wherle for the second straight fall and the 2-0 win with Paco STILL in the ropes. He complains even more, accusing the fans of  being racist (shades of "Scottish" Marc O Connor's "Is this the French rules?" Speech in 1977.) but to no avail.

The first two thirds are a strength rather than skill contest, after that it becomes a brawl. 1980s Remy Bayle reminds me a lot of 1980s Mick McMichael Of Doncaster even if it's just the stockier figure.

 

[David Mantell]

The Hero of France takes on the future Quebecer Pierre.

I think I've already posted a tag bout of Double Trouble Vs Flesh and Franz Van Buyten but here they have a solo match. Carl does a promo like Frenchy Martin doing an impersonation of Randy Savage at a party. Dear old Charley Bollet as Monsieur L'Arbitre. 

Carl dominating Flesh with big American power stuff and Flesh doing it back to him- cross buttock presses. Slams. Clotheslines out of the ring. Flesh gets his monkey climb on Carl successfully although he doesn't fly that far. Tried it again and ends up selling a nasty looking head bump and nearly getting pinned.

Carl does a splash using the roped. The German commentator calls it a Finlay Drop.  Carl punches his way out of a Gordon sunset flip just like Finlay did to Funaki on the British Wrestling thread just now. Bollet gives Carl an Avertisement for putting his knee across Flesh's throat to cut off the air supply - good old school foul.

They end up brawling at ringside.like French catcheurs have been doing on their TV since the mid 1960s but ITV would never allow. 

Flesh Gordon gets the win despite Brick Crawford the other half of Double Trouble interfering. The two heels collide then when Brick tries to break up the pin, Charley ignores it and counts Carl's shoulders down.  Les Mechants sont FURIEUX!!! 

However it turns out that Brick had another trick up his sleeve, claiming Flesh used a chain. The referee searches Gordon and indeed finds the international object that Brick had planted on him. Disqualification. Kids band on the ring apron in rage. I can even hear a faint chant of Aux Chiottes L'Arbitre.

Flesh doesn't seem too bothered, he goes out and celebrates with the fans. Kissing babies etc.  Flesh matches were ending in this finish in the first half of the 1980s (the strap match with Mambo Le Primitiv) and he was still doing this "I Wuz Robbed"  DQ loss  finish in the early 2010s.

 

[David Mantell]

https://www.topito.com/top-catcheur-francais-age-dor-bagarre

Nice "Top Seven" article on French Catch

 

Top 7 of the best French wrestlers, the ring of Frenchness

Published on 10/11/2014 by Jean Nostromo

 

When we think of wrestling, we first think of giant rings and oily American monsters, but what we don't know is that France also experienced a golden age of wrestling that continues to this day, albeit much more discreetly. In the 1950s, professional wrestling exploded on TV, and some fighters, masked or not, became real stars. A look back at the big names in French wrestling, less spectacular but much more romantic than its cousin across the Atlantic.

Francisco Pino Farina - "The White Angel"

Arguably the most famous French wrestler, along with André The Giant, Francisco Pino Farina remained incognito for a good part of his career as a masked fighter, until his promoters decided to make him take off his mask to revitalize his faltering popularity. His enemies were called the Executioner of Bethune or the Dragon of Bagnolet, and he beat them in the most beautiful way, like the pioneer of lucha libre that he was.

André René Roussimoff - "André The Giant"

The star of stars, the one who went to shine in the USA, the one who became world champion by crushing the competition with his extraordinary physique (2.24m - 235kg), the one whose face is plastered everywhere today without you even knowing it: André The Giant. A colossus who marked the history of world wrestling.

Jacques Ducrez - "The Executioner of Béthune"

Not content with having the best wrestler name ever chosen, the Executioner of Béthune had the chance to be part of the golden age of French wrestling, between 1950 and 1960. He liked to play the villain, constantly confronted with the supremacy of the White Angel, whom he fought on numerous occasions.

Daniel Dubail - "The Little Prince"

Daniel Dubail, also known as Albéric d'Éricourt, was surely the classiest wrestler of the golden age. This little man with the physique of a gymnast (1.59 m and 54 kg) stood out for his grace and elegance, which earned him the nickname "The Little Prince." He died in 2005 in Thailand where he was trying to open a wrestling school.

Gérard Hervé - "Flesh Gordon"

Not far from the pseudonym of a porn actor, Flesh Gordon is a French wrestler who did everything to give his letters of nobility to the genre after the splendor of the 60s, notably by going to Mexico to learn the art of lucha libre and becoming European champion in 1981 and world champion in 1985. This handsome 100kg baby is banking heavily on teaching wrestling to the younger generations, he also runs a school in the north of France.

Roger Trigeaud - "Chéri Bibi"

It's true that it's not easy to make a career in the States when your name is Chéri Bibi, but that didn't stop Roger Trigeaud from making a name for himself in the French wrestling world in the 60s. This retired tax inspector was apparently not the last to mess around and was very popular with his colleagues in his underwear.

Maurice Tillet - "The Angel"

The other "angel" in our selection is none other than Maurice Tillet, a funny guy suffering from a bone disease that caused many deformities and which forced him to flee to the United States where he became a professional wrestler. Although Dreamworks Studios has never confirmed it, many rumors claim that his face served as a model for Shrek, which doesn't seem entirely unfounded.

[David Mantell]

I'm about to catch a flight to go on holiday. I'll review it properly when I get to my hotel room (hopefully I can mirror my tablet onto the Smart TV in my hotel room.).  I've watched the first ten minutes and it looks pretty fun so far.  Leduc, Jacky Corne and Le Samourai ("Il est souple!") all in a tag match together.

A bit of a further twist on the Remy Bayle puzzle given how he and Daniel Schmidt were not heels in the 1983 bout further up. Also IIRC it was Jacky whom Der Henker injured on TV in 1971 as previously seen on this thread.  Nice to see Henk in colour VT.

[ohtani's jacket]

Gilbert Leduc & Jacky Corn vs Der Henker & Le Samourai (6/13/75)

Is this Leduc's last TV match? I can't remember off the top of my head. If he indeed retired in 1975 then this must have been one of his final televised matches. He looks pretty spry. This would make an interesting comparison piece to 1970s footage from other Golden Age greats such as Thesz, Gagne and O'Connor.

The real MVP, though, was Le Samourai. I don't always praise the character guys as I favor technique over character wrestling, but that dude was always moving about doing something interesting to keep the match fresh. Which was important given the length and the fact that it didn't have the rhythm of a South Style tag match, or even the rhythm of a two-out-of-three falls match. I thought the comedy was fun and the match would have been a slog without it. 

I was kind of surprised to see Leduc put Der Henker away at the end. I don't know if that had anything to do with his impending retirement, but I didn't expect Henker to stay down for a three count. 

The other neat thing about this was that it was in color. It was nice to see some of our black and white heroes in living color for a change. 

 

[Phil Lions]

20 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Gilbert Leduc & Jacky Corn vs Der Henker & Le Samourai (6/13/75)

Is this Leduc's last TV match? I can't remember off the top of my head. If he indeed retired in 1975 then this must have been one of his final televised matches.

Not his last televised match, nor did he retire that year (cagematch has the wrong year). His last televised match that we have, although it's not complete, is Gilbert Leduc & Walter Bordes vs. Paco Ramirez & Daniel Boucard 7/25/77. And as far as retirement goes, I can't confirm the exact year, but it was either 1982 or shortly thereafter. The latest date I have for him is 5/30/82 as it stands.

[Matt D]

Honestly, my only regret in the entire project is not joining Twitter earlier. I knew someone was posting some of the gifs I was posting over on DVDVR and I was ok with that (though I'm doing it more comprehensively now) but just being able to talk to Phil in real time about these matches as we were going through them initially would have definitely helped us out. We were the blind men touching the elephant on a lot of it (and still are as Sebastian made a logical leap there from cagematch).

[Phil Lions]

15 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Honestly, my only regret in the entire project is not joining Twitter earlier. I knew someone was posting some of the gifs I was posting over on DVDVR and I was ok with that (though I'm doing it more comprehensively now) but just being able to talk to Phil in real time about these matches as we were going through them initially would have definitely helped us out. We were the blind men touching the elephant on a lot of it (and still are as Sebastian made a logical leap there from cagematch).

I appreciate the sentiment, but I wouldn't have been of that much use then so you have nothing to regret. I mean, I knew stuff then too, but it was only within the last year or so that I dug in really deep into the history of French catch and its various personalities. The information was always out there, scattered all over the place, but I just hadn't worked on gathering it and systematizing it so that it becomes useful. Still a work in progress.

[Matt D]

Imagine what you'll know when you have another ten years of newspapers to work off of.

[David Mantell]

9 hours ago, David Mantell said:

hopefully I can mirror my tablet onto the Smart TV in my hotel room.). 

Problems, problems. It's a Samsung.  I've managed to get the TV and tablet to recognise each other on Bluetooth which is something.

I've watched the bout in full on the tablet but I'd really like to write a full length blow by blow piece of this one- there's enough interesting material to give it a go without it degenerating into a list of Manchettes. But to do that I really need a separate TV.

[David Mantell]

8 hours ago, Phil Lions said:

Not his last televised match, nor did he retire that year (cagematch has the wrong year). His last televised match that we have, although it's not complete, is Gilbert Leduc & Walter Bordes vs. Paco Ramirez & Daniel Boucard 7/25/77. And as far as retirement goes, I can't confirm the exact year, but it was either 1982 or shortly thereafter. The latest date I have for him is 5/30/82 as it stands.

Without checking I think I reviewed a previous colour match with Leduc - or am I confusing it with the Pompiers DecParis (RBC + Bob Plantin) match?

[David Mantell]

8 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

The real MVP, though, was Le Samourai. I don't always praise the character guys as I favor technique over character wrestling, but that dude was always moving about doing something interesting to keep the match fresh. Which was important given the length and the fact that it didn't have the rhythm of a South Style tag match, or even the rhythm of a two-out-of-three falls match. I thought the comedy was fun and the match would have been a slog without it. 

I like Samourai too and so did Daniel Cazal in that 1976 bout where he teamed with Pierre Payen.  He was obviously a skilled worker in his own right like the early 90s Kamikaze in Joint Promotions 

Not sure what comedy spot you mean, it seemed to be just the  standard Bon Vs Mechant Catch A Quatre spots. I know Couderc has a tendency to burst out laughing at stuff , particularly if it's Les Mechants getting themselves in a fix.

[David Mantell]

Quote

Tuesday is French Catch Day: Leduc! Corn! Henker! Samourai!

 

Gilbert Leduc/Jacky Corn vs Der Henker/Le Samourai 6/13/75

 

MD: Some old friends here in Corn and Henker (Remy Bayle). We're not entirely sure who Samourai was but he was pretty good at what he did and we do have various Samourais in other 70s footage. They made sure to note that we had an Axis team on the heel side. I will say this though: the Henker gimmick was a few years in now. He's a monster, a brick wall, someone you're not going to stagger back with even a strong shot, but he's not the monster he was a few years before. Remember, he once took on both Corn and Leduc by himself. Here they needed to take out a leg or use finesse to take him down for the most part (though Leduc could manage it, eventually, with even a headlock takeover worked hard enough). And he ultimately ate a very clean pin off of a very clean slam to end the second fall in the match. Still, most of the time, they had to double team or outsmart a double team attempt to really get him down and they recovered more often than not against Samourai. 

 

This was probably a little long going ~40 with the introductions but every exchange was good. It just means you ended up seeing Leduc's toupie headspin 3-4 times when 1-2 would have done the trick instead. Samourai was slick, able to do the karate shtick but also keep up with all of the wrestling and feed when he had to. When he was in there against Corn they were able to turn up the speed a little bit. He also had a lot of very fun comedy bits where he slid around the ring and sometimes all the way out to the first row. The first fall was long and didn't have too much peril for the stylists. The second fall was shorter but had them working from underneath (Corn especially) a little more. I'm not saying the stakes weren't there because Henker always was a threat but again, this wasn't the Henker of a few years earlier. Lots of good individual moments and spots because Corn catching Samourai in an unlikely body scissors or Leduc torquing Henker's arm one way and then the other to get him down will always delight, but there was a moment thirty minutes in where it did feel a little much having not watched one of these long tags in a while. Still another enjoyable entry into the Henker vs Leduc/Corn feud (one of the better feuds of the 70s that we have considerable footage of) overall.

 

SR: I think this is the latest apearance we have of Gilbert Leduc. Cagematch says he indeed retired in 1975, so this might be a last hurray of sorts. He still does the beautiful head spinning escape. Other than that this was notably slowed down. There's some somewhat compelling work but also a lot of holds and the whole thing feels way too long. Give some credit to Le Samurai, its hard to read 'Le Samurai' and not think of Alan Deloin, but this masked guy did a few nifty things. One thing I noticed that masked heels seem less incompetent and outmatched than your typical French heels. Samurai is able to do a bit of neat wrestling, including a rope hanging choke move that was really neat and also those nifty rolling bumps and odd mannerisms, and the Henker is at least hard to get off his feet. There is some of the fun bumping and stooging that we know from the French tags and a few good moments such as a crossbody being caught into a gutwrench suplex. But yeah this was too long and slow paced overall. 

I think this is the same Samourai as teamed with Pierre Payen and possibly he shows up in one of the last year or two of monochrome overseas sales kinescope prints before the INA opened up an started making colour recordings of stuff off air. As. Brit I mostly associate a wrestling samurai - beyond Kendo - with the sad last days of Rex Strong 1986-1987.

The four toupies were two types of two toupie - two reeling in his arm from an armhank and two cross-headscissor throws. I've always been a bit sceptical about the crossed headscissor+ like a grovit using the ankles instead of the arms - but Gilbert did it well, pointing his feet toe to toe to hold the head as the performed the scissor throw.  He did attempt his headscissor escape toupie about three times in succession but each time Bayle/Henker deftly maintained the hold by turning it sharply to one side.

[ohtani's jacket]

12 hours ago, Phil Lions said:

Not his last televised match, nor did he retire that year (cagematch has the wrong year). His last televised match that we have, although it's not complete, is Gilbert Leduc & Walter Bordes vs. Paco Ramirez & Daniel Boucard 7/25/77. And as far as retirement goes, I can't confirm the exact year, but it was either 1982 or shortly thereafter. The latest date I have for him is 5/30/82 as it stands.

Good to know. In terms of raw footage, I suppose it's one of the final matches we have of his.