[1989-10-13-WWF-Paris, FRA] The Rockers vs Jacques & Raymond Rougeau

[paul sosnowski]

 

[Superstar Sleeze]

RIP Crossface Chickenwing

The Rockers vs Fabulous Rougeaus - Paris 10/13/89

I love the London match but I have never seen the Paris match. They cut out a lot of the bullshit from the beginning of the London match and get right down to brass tacks. This is a total gaga-fest. It is all character-driven camp that I just lap up with a spoon. It is fun personified. Sorry, I have been unfortunately listening to a lot of Gorilla recently. There was a funny bit where Gorilla & Lord Al were talking about wrestling Paris twenty years ago and how the shady promoter had since died and Gorilla said good riddance. I popped.

Like I said earlier, very campy with lots of bullshit and gaga. The Rockers clear house. Jacques really loves to Woo-Hoo! He was going great bumping and stooging. I loved how he crawled back to the corner after taking his licks and then held his older brother's hand. Hug to a chorus of boos. I love this Parisian crowd. The Rockers trap Raymond in a toehold but they switch out with a tag and this gets Jacques red hot. It is all very funny to watch. Jacques is great to watch. Then they start letting Raymond get close to the corner but Jacques would abandon the corner to complain. Then by the time Jacques would get back they would yank Raymond back to the center of the ring. I really liked all this. Jacques pulls Shawn's hair on a criss cross he turns around and Raymond nails him in the back with a wicked high knee. Now the Rougeaus act like they are King Shit. Jacques gets on his back just to kip up. The hug in the center complete with butt slaps is amazing. That got some real heat That cracked me up. Tons of cheating. Tag rope choking. Double teaming. Switching without tagging. I loved the Camel Clutch but instead of a chinlock it is just a hair pull. Very entertaining heat segment. We get the false hot tag. This really had all the trappings of good tag wrestling. Miscommunication spot leads to the hot tag. The Parisian crowd was giving Marty Hogan-esque sound effects for his punches! Wow! Jacques takes a wicked bump off a kneelift and then Marty beats up Jimmy Hart. Marty gets a backslide but no ref and it is a clear 3. I am loving this. Every trick in the book. The finish is great. Jacques uses the hair to reverse the Irish Whip, Raymond trips Marty this enables the Jacques piledriver, quite a bit of cheating was needed to get there. The ref goes over to admonish Raymond so Shawn comes in and throws it back in the Rougeaus faces by piledriving Jacques and putting Marty on top. I love how this was like a big dick-waving contest. Who could out-taunt each other? Who could out-cheat each other? The Rockers ended up beating the Rougeaus by making them taste their own medicine. I highly recommend this. ****1/4

[Makai Club #1]

Only three days from their London classic which is a must see for anyone. The Rougeaus are perfect as the chicken shit heel team that is hateable, Jacques especially, and they do just that for the Paris crowd. The Rockers however lack that usual energy that they usually have. And I wasn’t all that interested in The Rougeau’s beat-down of Michaels either. The Rougeaus were too one note in their offence, with them doing nothing, but a long front face lock spot. It lacked the creativity of their last match. It was very uncompelling to watch outside of The Rougeaus strutting and posing and getting heat from the crowd. Pretty disappointing. **1/2