History of Pro Wrestling #21 (March-May 1957)

[Loss]

History of Pro Wrestling #21 (04:12:38)
Matches from March-May 1957

• MAURICE VACHON vs AMAZING ZUMA (03/19/1957; Promotions Eddie Quinn; Montreal Forum; 00:14:34)

• AL HAYES vs GUY ROBIN (03/22/1957; French Catch; 00:27:55)
  Yes, it’s Lord Alfred Hays, the 70s manager and 80s WWF announcer, and what a wrestler he is! He’s a spry 29 years of age here. Segunda Caida review of the match.

 

• DR. ADOLF KAISER vs WARNIA DE ZARZECKI (03/29/1957; French Catch; 00:19:02)

• INCA PERUANO vs COMANCHE INDIAN (03/29/1957; French Catch; 00:23:02)
  Segunda Caida review of the above two matches.

• ANDRE BOLLET vs HENRI BURY (04/26/1957; French Catch; 00:30:59)
  Segunda Caida review of the match. According to user ohtani’s jacket at Pro Wrestling Only, Henri Bury was a Belgium heavyweight champion from Liege, who was a regular fixture in England, France and Germany during the 1950s.

• DICK THE BRUISER vs BILL MELBY (04/26/1957; NWA Chicago; 00:29:01)

• THE SHEIK vs BILL MELBY (04/26/1957; NWA Chicago; 00:32:56)
  The Sheik is a wrestling legend, but he is not someone you want to see in 30-minute wrestling matches, that’s for sure.

• ANTONINO ROCCA & MIGUEL PEREZ vs KARL VON HESS & SKULL MURPHY (04/30/1957; Capitol Wrestling; 00:03:43)

• GILBERT CESCA vs BILLY CATANZARO (05/02/1957; French Catch; 00:33:11)
  This match made its way into the consciousness of wrestling fans in my circle in 2010 and blew everyone away, as it was the first hint about this entire universe of French Catch being something special, even though we didn’t really have much of it we could watch. Those who have seen this usually tend to view it as the best match of the 1950s. An interesting thread about the match.

• The below podcast also walks through the match in great detail.

 

• EDOUARD CARPENTIER vs LEGS LANGEVIN (05/10/1957; NWA Upstate; Buffalo Memorial Auditorium; 00:10:18)
  Langevin was a former bodyguard to Elizabeth Taylor, Louis St. Laurent and Princess Soroya, wife of the Shah of Iran. Slam Wrestling did a great write-up on him years ago.

• LUIS EL GAYO vs RENE GERBER (05/11/1957; French Catch; 00:27:57)
  Segunda Caida review of the match.

  ohtani’s jacket comments at Pro Wrestling Only: “This was amazing. Gerber was a Swiss wrestler and for some reason Swiss wrestlers are always heels in catch. He gets out-outmaneuvered on a hold early on and starts abusing el Gayo. And it's not in a brutish sort of way. He's clearly an accomplished wrestler who knows how turn a legit hold into a dirty one. And boy does he know how to work a crowd. We've been blessed with some great heel work in this 50s catch, but Gerber may be the best of the lot and that's saying something considering how good the rest have been. I lost count of how many fans Gerber argued with. It started off with this guy who looked like he was a train driver or a chimney sweep and ended with up half a dozen other altercations. At one point, he was down on the canvas and someone pulled his hair. And in between rounds he would threaten to throw his stool at people and flickered his water at them. He wasn't a big guy either. Really well build but short. But he really had them worked up. I was surprised when they brawled on the outside. All el Gayo had to do was be demonstrative and he would have drawn heat, but to his credit he was really good as the aggrieved babyface. His retaliatory moves were just as nasty as the holds Gerber dished out, and there were a lot of vicious strikes. I was surprised this went to a finish actually, and the post-match was incredible with el Gayo attacking Gerber with Gerber's own towel. This was one of my favorite matches in the collection so far. If you're going to have a match disintegrate into a nasty brawl then you might as well do it in the first few minutes. I loved the camerawork too. They usually have a single hard cam in the 50s. The closeup shots at ringside felt like something out of a movie. They reminded me of the cinematography from a film noir. Think Body and Soul. Great match that I think would entertain a lot of people outside of the French catch bubble.”