David Mantell

Nice interview with an out of character Jane "Klondyke Kate" Porter. Best bit is when the interviewer talks about British wrestling coming back and she flatly points out that it never went away. Atta girl.

Some more Teddy Boys, still not clad in Edwardian Drapes, still not a DA quiff in sight. The mention of Les Bloussons Noirs is a clue to the creation of their gimmick. Les BNs were in England and one of them ran off with Max Crabtree's first wife (which isn't germane to the story) and they were billed as The French Teddy Boysdespite being bikers, not Tedd. (Which is). Les BNs/The FTBs took the name back to France along with the first Mrs Max Crabtree where the name was reassigned to this tag team. By the 1970s you did get a lot of middle aged Teds as well as second generation Ted's who got into a nasty war with Punks, so I suppose Robert's half of the gimmick has aged better than expected. Physically, Robert reminds me of Bill Eadie as Ax of Demolition, both older guys in leather and greased hair. Rene was clearly an early architect of the Saulnier/PP/Angelito style we discussed earlier. He does the back somersaults off a top wristlock- in fact he follows up on it with a neat drop toehold. He does do Scisseaux Volees but early on not as a counter to a Clef Aux Bras. About 21 minutes in, he does do this move- a little pointlessly too as he is down on the mat with Robert and has to kip up and THEN flying headscissor when a ground- applied headscissor would surely have sufficed. He also does some forward cartwheels a bit like Dynamite Kid or Danny Collins. He does the vaulting overhead leap to behind an opponent that the above named guys all used. "Il est vaultigeur" says the commentator. I must look that word up. "Vaulter" says an online dictionary - as in a pole vaulter. Makes sense. Down on the mat he can wrongfoot an opponent with false legdives and even scoot through their legs (not as smoothly and swiftly as Collins though) - I imagine his bouts with George Kidd in the 50s were a lot of good fun. He does Kidd's human ball trick- like Kidd in the 1975 match with Black Jack Mulligan he sticks out the odd arm or his head as bait. Cesca is slower and more methodical. He throws and is thrown. He has an underhook suplex and a backdrop not unlike Big Daddy's double elbow drop- the dangerous one Bret Hart recalls Max C bribing wrestlers to take. The Teds are just generic thug heels. I've seen the post where OJ reckons it's Sevre in the Aledo match although that Teddy Boy was younger and brattier with spiky hair years before Punk. Sevre looks physically bigger to me than that other Teddy Boy and has a Beatle moptop cut (I remember reading somewhere the Fab Four got the style off a French art movement). It's also a welcome back to that big heavyset referee again, Martial who I previously cited as a precedent for Roger Delaporte's Enforcer Referee character from the late 70s. One time he roughs up Sevre who tries to appease him by patting him on the head! Sevre gets the opener on Cesca with a double knees press. Afterwards the Teds pretend to help him up then Sevre gets in a cheeky shot and they both post him to his corner, which he overshoots and lands outside the ring. They aim the odd kick at Cesca and an aiding RBC and themselves are slapped around by Martial who is reluctant to raise their hands. Le Boulch is from Britannia and likes sport especially wrestling says the commentator. They both have motor hire businesses away from the ring. Les Mechants try some of the tying up and slingshotting tricks Les Bons normally do (and blue eyes on Reslo) but it backfires as Cesca escapes and RBC is rammed into one Teddy Boy who falls off the apron then he dropkicks the other Ted out of the ring to join him. RBC handles both Teds, even doling out a Shawn Michaels superkick to one of them. Le Boulch tries his own George Kidd ball but can't roll up enough and Cesca nearly gets a rear bodyscissors on him before Sevre comes to the rescue. Later on when one Ted is slung out, he lands in a ringside seat and pours his woes out to the fan sat next to him. A nastier incident with fans attacking the Teds at ringside has to be broken up by Les Gendarmes who frogmarch the miscreants out. Cesca gets the equaliser with a rolling folding press as Rene dropkicks away the other Ted. Rene gets the decider with a Victory Roll. Yes definitely a fun bout. Ben Chemoul and referee Martial are the stars here. The Teds are violent but not upstaging like the Road Warriors, Cesca is functional. Ben Chemoul would go on to tag with Walter Bordes in a few years starting a line of Bordes tag partners that would end with Flesh Gordon.

Wrestlers - in any place or time - aren't really under any compulsion to make those allowances for fans from other far away territories where things are (least of all fans from the future watching their matches years after they have passed away.) Surely the onus is on the viewers from the other backgrounds to adapt their mindset to the different wrestling world into which they are entering?

Some more Gaeatano, here against the big Swiss at Graz 1980, just two years after his hammering by Inoki (I hope we can see that one some time.). Proof that those were more innocent times, Gaeatano comes to the ring to Gary Glitter's "Leader Of The Gang". Rene of course wears THAT cape to the ring. Cut to Rene repeatedly shoving Bobby into the ropes and giving his a stiff knee each time. He tries hoisting Gaetano over the ropes but it stopped by the ref, Bobby has more luck and out goes the big blond. He saunters round to the ring steps. Cut to Rene giving Bobby a side chancery throw and shouldet press for a 2 count. The pin attempt turns into a finger lock test of strength on the mat. Rene switches to an armlock. Bobby kips up so the Swiss throws him in the hold to keep it. He pounds Geatano 's bicep to soften it for a submission. Bobby slowly powers his way up and vaults over Rene; the armlock is kept but he is left in something like a Japanese Stranglehold position in order to do so. Rene throws Bobby again, so Bobby headscissors him. Cut to a round break with comic German music. Then a shot of some boots. The cut to Rene back in the headscisso. It looks like he is prying it open but a patch of bad tape prevents us from seeing this. Rene gets up and reigns blows on Bobby, a few look like closed fist punches but the ref does nothing, perhaps he didn't see although the punches were barely concealed. Cut again to Bobby headscissoring Rene once more. This time we see Lasartesse prise it open and kneelift Bobby. He kicks the lighter mad around and a running knee to the chest sends him somersaulting to the ground for a bump. Rene stomps Bobby's neck twice. He just about let's Gaetano off his feet then chops him down (so the No Followdowns rule is in force.) He pulls up and posts Gaetano and stomps him in the corner. Cut to more kneedrops and a choke on the middle rope then cut to a choke on the bottom rope and throat stomps from bad old Rene. The camera pans away to an empty bit of ring, then cut to Rene showing Bobby through the ropes, nearly getting a Knockout then shoving him out again. He is back to beating Gaetano in the corner when the bell goes. Cut to him continuing the beating in the middle of the ring then being warned back to his corner then a shot of a Mark Granny shouting angrily about he big blond bully. She no doubt remembers him doing all this same Scheiss back in the Sixties. So does her mate. Gaetano is in his corner nursing his bruised biceps. He steps outside for a bit and gets counted until he returns when Lataserre punished him with pounding blows including one over the head that fells him. Rene gets aside chancery throw and kneedrop. He tries to get away from the big man who catches him in the corner, gets him in a front chancery., snap suplexes him and drop a knee and some stomps. Lasartesse goes for the top turnbuckle but Gaetano lifts him off in a fireman's carry. He bashes the bigger man's head into the corner, puts him down and lands a headbutt. Rene rolls out of the ring in agony as the fans cheer! Big long panning shot of the audience, ending up with the now much happier Angry Granny from earlier and her equally delighted mate. Cut to Bobby still beating on Rene who covers up. Bobby gives him a swinging forearm then a dropkick over the ropes. Our grannies clap this! Rene gets back in the ring but cowers off Gaeatano and lies down in the ring getting counted. Gaetano takes his arm, twists it (Rene does nothing to untwist the arm) and posts Lataserre. He floors him again with a kneelift then again with a forearm. Rene rolls out to ringside clutching his head. He rolls in again and this time Bobby after seeking audience approval., uses a closed fist punch which earn him a First Yellow Card. The round bell goes and Billy gives the Swiss one more dropkick over the ropes. Cut to in the round, Rene has somehow regained his heat. He kidney jabs Gaetano and slings him over the top rope. An annoyed Bobby claims from ringside to apron the top turnbuckle in one move and fires a missile dropkick that floors the big man. He gets in some high jumping stomps then doves him to ringside with the flats of his feet. But Blond Rene is up on his feet and ready for a ringside brawl. He has Bobby laying on the apron while he pounds him from outside then gets back in the ring and stands back for the count. Cut to Rene kneeing Gaetano in the corner and standing back for another count then stomps him on the mat. Gaetano does get up somehow because we cut to Rene front chancerying and duplexing him for a pin cover, a high stomp and finally an Ivan Koloff kneedrop then finally a tombstone piledriver for the KNOCKOUT!!! The poor quality footage and the cuts make this a hard watch. If the full professional footage of this show (the source for the Otto/DLJ match ever shows up, this would probably be a satisfying brawl for OJ. What holds and technical moves there are, are in the long ponderous style of German/Austrian wrestling pre Steve Wright where every option for escape must be tried before one option actually works.

Not at all, I'm saying one wrestling culture's idea of what constitutes great wrestling does not hold a monopoly on validity. The Europeans were Not collectively Getting It All Wrong, they just had their different way of doing things.

They had THEIR IDEA of a great match. Who is to say who was right and who was wrong?

It's what native viewers were looking for, in Britain's case because Kent Walton educated them to think that way, or at least to aspire to think that way in the belief it made them a better fan and a more cultured person. He definitely promoted an idea of high-class connoisseur wrestling. In France's case the style was more showy and less cerebral. I suspect a lot of the flippiness of French Catch was an attempt to reproduce the sheer gymnastic appeal of all the big flamboyant spots (suplexes backdrops etc) of professional GR earlier on. I say, with respect, you're just imposing your own America-derived notions of what constitutes a great match on a different wrestling culture to which such criteria do not apply.

I get that and I think it got purged from the proper French Wikipedia but at least it's good to have SOMEONE'S version of the tale. In particular to learn of (I)WS(F)'s roots in KMG who I suppose are the Wrestling Enterprises Of Birkenhead of the French Catch story (if Wrestling Stars are the French version of All Star in the UK.) You have to start somewhere with someone's side of the story.

Well yes but the different systems of chain wrestling allow everything to link together and form a pattern so each move is a response to what happened with the previous move. Also the greater emphasis on defence work leads to greater scope for creative ingenuity in work. Anyone can put a headlock on, but to get out of one in an interesting and clever way requires skill and artistry.

Terry Rudge in trunks with some hair takes on the five time Royal Albert Hall trophy tournament winner. They lock up and Tibby gets a headlock which Rudge breaks opens into a ground top wristlock. Szakacs gets a headscissor but Terry snaps out. Then it's Tibor's turn to break a headlock into a top wristlock. Rudge rolls away. They lock up again but it's too near the ropes for the referee. Rudge gets a side headlock. Tibor throws him in the ropes but Rudge comes off at an odd angle. Rudge gets a side chancery and takes it to the mat. Rudge gets an armbar, Tibor rolls off and horizontally spins to tighten his own armbars, the exchange eans a polite clap from the crowd. Rudge gets a full nelson. Tibor uses leverage from a leg to break it open into an armbar. Rudge does a standard horizontal spin to slacken it off then twists the other way. Tibor ties up and arm and leg but the bell goes. Round 2, Rudge gets a side chancery. Tibor turns it into an armbar. Terry rolls out. Tibor gets a full nelson into side headlock, Rudge breaks out. He gets another side chancery. He tries to throw Tibor who gets a small package but Rudge keeps his shoulders up. Tibor gets a ground headscissors but rather than capitalise, he rolls backwards and out. Rudge tries for a folding press into cross press. A finger Interlock on the mat goes standup then rolls backward to twist both arms. As Rudge widens his arms out sideways, Tibor switches to a wristlever but Rudge rolls off. Rudge gets a side headlock into reverse neck crank then releases and forearm smashes Tibor. He snapmares and crosspresses him but Tibor kicks out and the bell goes. Round 3. Rudge gets another side headlock into reverse neck crank into side chancery. He releases then gets a standing rear chinlock. Tibor breaks it open into a wristlever but Rudge rolls off then gets a side chancery. This time Tibor slips out backwards and delivers his judo chop which gets a big pop from the crowd. An annoyed Rudge gets three forearms , a snapmares and neck crank. Tibor breaks this into an arm around but it hits the ropes. (No boos for this as it was accidental) Very quickly Rudge goes for another side chancery but Tibor makes it a top wristlock. Rudge converts to a front chancery but it hits the ropes so he goes for a side one instead. Tibor gets a forearm smash and another trademark chop. He shoves Rudge through the ropes but the ref pulls him back and Rudge saves himself by grabbing the middle rope to avoid tumbling out. The ref helps him up. The go into an exchange of forearms smashes and Tibor has Rudge on the ropes. Rudge gets the advantage but the ref quite rightly breaks them up. They lock up and Rudge gets a side headlock. Tibor tries prising him off then fires him into the ropes but Rudge comes back with a shoulderblock, flooring his man. He gets a forearm and a nice thrown on Tibor who lands in the ropes. Tibor reverses a throw into the ropes but Rudge pulss up short in the rebound. They lock up but it goes into the ropes and the ref breaks them, then the bell goes. They have a slight encounter on their way back to their corners. Round 4. Rudge quickly corners Tibor. He gets some forearms and a throw with Tibor taking a rolling bump. Rudge gets a side chancery throw into crosspress but Tibor easily throws him off. Rudge fires off more forearms and slings Tibor into the ropes but he comes back with a cross buttock and press for the one required fall. A good scientific contest, apart from the forearm smashes. A bit of needle too so not quite a clean sportmanly match. Another two heavyweights who can do the British style and roll off armbars etc which further proves my point from the French Catch thread.

From the post CWA EWP and from Fit Finlay's farewell tour, he gets a World title shot here at Paul "Cannonball Grizzly" Neu, the artist long ago known as PN News. First up it's nice too see they still went in for white ropes and dark blue mat- what is it about old school German wrestling and that colour combination. They've still got the disco between rounds "Eurotrash Hits " the commentator calls it- and indeed they still have rounds at all when All Star hardly bothered. Finlay has Robbie Brookside of all people as his corner man while Grizzly has Ecki Eckstein as his flag waver. One is an old man, the other a big fat man also getting up in years so a fairly slow paced affair and not in the methodical German style either. Bearhug territory from Grizzly . Things look a bit temperamental between Robbie (with his corner bucket). and Finlay (the crowd favourite) at the start of round 3. The commentators discuss Finlay's former backstage job with the WWE Divas - Trish Stratus is name checked. Finlay cross buttocks Grizzly to break out of a bearhug in round 4. Finlay gets a yellow card in round 5:for persistently not allowing Grizzly back in the ring. Grizzly goes to work in round 7 with a Big Daddy style offence but it falls to bits when he misses a "Cannonball Roll" (that's a Broken Record for all you old WCW fans). of the top turnbuckle. At this point the Wildcat goes WILD, turning heel on Finlay and attacking him at ringside then getting into a wild schmoz with Eckstein and a bunch of other guys who run in. Everyone including Grizzly piles in to keep them apart. Robbie says something rude about Finlayin German with a strong Scouse accent and Finlay piles out after him followed by everyone else. Brookside cuts a long promo in English challenging Finlay to a Liverpool street fight then storms off. Finlay offers to make it a tag match with son David Jr (III). Which I guess led to the Finlays Vs Brookside and Dirty Dan Collins tag match I reviewed several pages earlier in this thread.

Actually Brody could work the British style (he being in reality a Yorkshireman) and roll out of armbars with the best of them. FYB as I've just noted on the French thread "was a heavyweight yet he back flipped, reverse somersaulted and headscissor-tookdown with the best of them.". Yet here they work a slow methodical old time German match (until the end when they have to be pulled apart.). It's half an hour of camcorder footage so I'm not blow by blowing it. Anyway the bout end in a time limit draw after half an hour of slow solid holds with a late flurry of pin attempts by Franz. At the end we see the intro of a triple tag where Billy Samson, Johnny Saint and someone else I don't recognise prepare to take on Butcher Mason (Mighty Chang ) a heel Dave Taylor and Rene Lataserre. At the start we see Terry Rudge getting red carded and I think Rolo Brazil getting declared a winner.

Well it's not just lightweights - in Britain Pat Roach, Pete Roberts, Tony StClair and (before he would "lose his cool" and break out the dirty wrestling for the evening) Kendo Nagasaki did all that. I'm just about to review a Pat Roach match where he does a fair bit of that although that wont be the focus of the review (wrong opponent for that sort of bout). See also Franz Van Buyten with regard to French Catch. He too was a heavyweight yet he back flipped, reverse somersaulted and headscissor-tookdown with the best of them.

ANATOMY OF A DISQUALIFICATION. You'll probably know Walker in wrestling best from his time as Nitron. bodyguard to Woman in WCW, later teaming with Kevin "Vinnie Vegas" Nash as Big Sky. Future Hollywood movie star Tyler Mane is here fresh off training by Red Bastien (whose name Kent Walton has trouble with) and stints in South Africa and Don Owen's PNW. He's playing the arrogant American heel who thinks the "Limeys" are midgets and their rule system offensively strict and say. He comes to bring plunder and destruction but gets sent back to the dressing room in disgrace. Pat Roach could never be a heel again after playing loveable bricklayer Bomber in ITV comedy drama Auf Wiedersein Pet. Here he is Walker's equal in size and master in terms of skill. I hope Andre the Giant never saw this footage, Walker rips off his stepping over the ropes routine, something Andre hated. After an abortive lockup, Pat gets a headlock and then tries a bodycheck to little effect. Pat gets an armbar so Sky walks to the ropes which gets him an initial burst of cowardly heat for not having any significant technical response.. Pat tries again for a straight armlift (a relative of George Steele's "flying hammerlock") he gets an armbar and weakener on as Pat rolls to undo the wristlock, moving just like a lightweight Another twist of the arm sees him BEAUTIFULLY turn on his head from a bridge to get an armbar of his own. From here he positions Walker nicely for another Straight arm lift. Sky pulls him down to the mat by the hair. After they break, Sky gets another armbars plus weakener which again Roach rolls out of. Roach attempts some forearm smashes which again sends Walker to take the coward's way out on the ropes (in America this was not Heat, it was acceptable even for a babyface.) Walker gets an American sleeper on Roach but he replies with two kneeling fireman's carry takedown submission attempts, the second interrupted by the bell. Cut to round three, Roach is posting and backdropping Walker. Walker initially gets away with a concealed closed fist punch but when he brazenly punches Roach off the apron , he gets a SECOND AND FINAL PUBLIC WARNING for this (the first, it seems was during the clipped out Round 2). Enraged, Walker bodyslams the referee and not only gets DISQUALIFIED but also gets a grand pompous dressing down from MC Brian Crabtree. "Yankee, in the United Kingdom when someone strikes the referee like that, its INSTANT Disqualification! You are Disqualified!!!" The crowd are delighted to see Walker rage at being told off like a naughty schoolboy (this shot was later included in the end credits reel for the weekly wrestling show.) This doesn't establish the Mighty Yankee as a winning force. But instead it establishes him as a disgraceful scandalous man, undeserving even if tainted victory who needs to be Taught A Lesson. This was his only ITV match so that never happened, not the full wrestling lesson from Roach nor the humiliation of Daddy treatment (another Mighty Yankee, Bill Pearl, suffered that fate.)

Well it's not just lightweights - in Britain Pat Roach, Pete Roberts, Tony StClair and (before he would "lose his cool" and break out the dirty wrestling for the evening) Kendo Nagasaki did all that. I'm just about to review a Pat Roach match where he does a fair bit of that although that wont be the focus of the review (wrong opponent for that sort of bout). All three stronghold North West European wrestling cultures survive at least at grassroots level, which is more than can be said for all bar one mainland American/Canadian wrestling territory

Quite a lot of finishes in European Wrestling are alien to American Wrestling fans. For example as a British fan I was brought up to regard a 10 count knockout as being actually a more thorough and definite finish to a match than two falls/. submissions (and I get the impression the same concept exists in both French and German/Austrian Catch) but you wouldn't believe the hard time I had explaining this to people on the "Why is America always assumed to be the centre of the wrestling universe?" thread on here. So yes there is some amount of opening of mind required and accepting of certain aspects of European Wrestling as being different, not defective from American Wrestling.

Traditional British Wrestling, Traditional French Catch and Traditional German/Austrian Catch do share a lot in terms of philosophy and tropes (and most likely share them with the extinct Spanish, Italian and Greek Catch cultures). Experience of any individual one of these is an advantage in understanding the others. Having said that this thread could really do with the input of a French fan who actually grew up with French Catch and became a wrestling fan initially via this territory, as I do with British Wrestling on the "The Beginners Guide To British Wrestling" thread.

There are two distinctive move sets for clean technical wrestling in French Wrestling and British Wrestling. I would pick those two bouts as the ACME of each respective style. Most French Bons do a certain one set of moves, most British blue-eyes do a certain different set. In either country Les Mechants/the heels (for example Kendo in round 1 of a 70s bout) do the same move set at the start of a bout before they start with the dirty wrestling. Definitely with British wrestling you can often tell when watching American Wrestling if someone either has a background in the territory (eg Owen Hart) or has trained with/been trained by someone who comes from Britain (eg Eugene as part of the storyline where Regal trained him or various WCW wrestlers including Johnny B Badd , Mark Bagwell and I think even Tom Zenk who learned the British chain sequences from Regal so they could do them together in the ring on WCW Worldwide and were soon happily forward rolling and cartwheeling out of armbars.) Far less French Catcheurs have made it in America but if there were more you would see certain people doing backflips on top wristlocks, reverse snapmares out of hammerlocks and using headscissors in place of the above forward rolls. American wrestlers with no Euro influence whatsoever meanwhile would continue to just stand there and sell armbars while doing nothing to untwist the arm. For that is the American style.

Another archetypal French bout and one I'm amazed I hadn't previously reviewed. This is Sanniez just shortly before his heel turn into a French version of Jim Breaks. It's also intricate enough to warrant the blow by blow treatment. Sanniez gets a top wristlock on Angelito and throws him twice in it. Ang converts to an arm lever and uses a simple standing twist to tighten it up which Sanniez loosens again with a horizontal posterior spin a la Breaks. Angelito kips up and does one of the characteristic French moves I mentioned, the back flip off a top wristlock. He then does another one, the headscissors takedown while in an armbar. (British wrestlers usually prefer the forwards roll on the mat rather than the headscissors counter.. When the French headscissors trick was tried on World of Sport, the scissorer was usually caught and thrown off.) Angelito gets a rear seated bodyscissors on Sanniez an lifts him for the "ou-ais" mini atomic drop but Sanniez positions for a feet first landing. Ang tries again with an added chinlock for extra pullback but San undermines it the same way. The third time Sanniez flips all the way backwards to a standing start. He tries for a crafty folding press but Angelito drags him right back and tries for the double legs folding press plus bridge.Sanniez aims a kick at Angelito's face, causing him to release Sanniez goes behind Angelito and gets a ground top wristlock on again, Angelito kips up and back flips out and whips Sanniez's arm to force a hard landing from a forward flip but Sanniez fires back with a ground position dropkick. Sanniez gets a top wristlock on the mat, Angelito tries to reverse it with a simple double arm twist but Sanniez clamps on a side headlock to arrest the manoeuvring. He does the spinning flying armdrags and a conventional pair and comes out still with the anm. .Angelito tries a headscissor counter on that Sanniez snaps out of easily. He still has the arm so Angelito tries a rope assisted backflip similar to British wrestler Mark "Kid McCoy" Boothman's Yorkshire Rope Trick (or one of the two he did). But Sanniez STILL has the arm! Angelito gets into a standing side by side position, flips to undo the armlock then cross buttocks Sanniez out of the ring but the ropes save him. Sanniez manchettes Angelito and Angelito responds in kind. They both come off the ropes at the same time and both hit the deck. Stopping only to high five each other they exchange European uppercuts. Angelito throws Sanniez down to the ring apron and sunset flips him to ringside. They re-enter from opposite sides and Sanniez gets a standing full nelson on Angelito who leans forward to shrug him off. Angelito gets a forearm and double leg slingshot leaving Sanniez flat in the mount in the opposite corner. Another Manchette and another flip but this time Sanniez hits the ground rolling into a standing position. When Angelito charges in Sanniez backwards vaults him and lands a dropkick. A Manchette each and Angelito posts Sanniez. He tries again, Sanniez reversed it but Angelito goes up into a flying bodypress for a two count. Angelito gets a bodycheck then a sunset flip which ends up in a back and forth "Bascule" of alternating double leg nelson pin attempts. Sanniez tries to get a folding press but Angelito clips him with a double ankle smash then tries for his own folding press and Sanniez also breaks it up with the double ankles. There are two mins left says the MC. They alternate Manchettes and dropkicks as the clock wears down. Sanniez performs a powerbomb on Angelito! Sanniez whips Angelito into the ropes, presses him overhead, drops him chest first on one knee and tries for a pin but Angelito gets a foot under the ropes. More manchettes and Angelito gets a fireman's carry into another over the knee stomachbreaker then a crosspress which Sanniez reversed (note referee Roger Delaporte counting pin attempts by stomping his foot!). Sanniez bench presses Angelito up from the mat and delivers a blockbuster suplex. They are still exchanging Manchettes when the time limit runs out. A good little scientific draw, sags a bit in the final 120 to 60 secs as the clock and their energy wears down but they got in a few final good moves in there. Nice sportsmanship afterwards too, all handshakes and hugs. Within months Sanniez would have changed his attitude and style - as too would Angelito for a little while two years later when he teamed with career long archenemy Jacky Richard. For now, these two put on a fine exhibition of the French Catch technical style. Sanniez put up another, silent, copy of this match on his YouTube, probably from a kinescope print of his.

This is the archetypal French bout: (Ignore the silly paintings and harpsichord music - it was the TV Station's idea, not the wrestlers' or promoter's.) And this is the archetypal British Wrestling match:

Not really. There were different moves for different countries. France had those moves I listed. Britain had more escapology tricks and undresses of holds. Bigger wrestlers (not the outright superheavies tho) did all the tricks too but less gracefully.

One consequence of the Reslo/New Catch/CWA axis was that it brought as much French and German talent here as it brought our stars to the continent. Around this same time Simon Garfield saw young Schumann on an All Star show in Tunbridge Wells getting mashed badly by Haystacks. He is in for a similar time here. Finlay no longer has Paula with him but is still The Bully, starting off with an inner arm blow, kicking him around, landing a flying forearm and brawling onwards until getting cornered for a series of knees. Finlay takes it in his stride, waistlocking his man to the centre of the ring and going for a suplex but Franz lands feet first and sends his man out with a dropkick. Returning, Finlay twists a finger interlock into a Japanese stranglehold but Franz has it loosened to the wrists. So Finlay elbowsmashes Franz on the jaw and the two brawl on until Schumann gets a posting into rear chinlock, witching to lower armbar into standing armbar. Finlay forearms out almost so Franz gives the wrist an extra twist but Finlay fouls with an eye pokeand follows in with a head drop. Finlay pulls Franz into a short clothesline. with a headbutt. Franz fireman's carries Dave down to an armlock on the mat. Finlay's legs are on the ropes so Franz drags him in, lands a forearm and dropkicks Finlay to ringside again. Franz gets double legs but Finlay gets the ropes so Franz yanks him off for a bump. Finlay gets a posting and headbutt to the torso, slam and feet first corner splash for 2. Finlay throws Schumann out and follows with a flying forearm off the apron. As he gets back in, Franz on the apron tosses him in with his feet and drops a leg. He nearly takes down Finlay with a sunset flip. Finlay gets 2 with a cross press and slams Franz's head in the ring apron with a forearm on top. A plastic mil crate gets introduced into proceedings which earns Finlay a public warning. Undeterred he slams in Franz's head and Franz returns the favour, adding a plastic crowd barrier into the mix. Definitely NOT an okay bout for ITV but this is Wales so the IBA probably never noticed. Franz refuses a handshake but goes for a chop to the throat instead. Finlay successfully conceals an illegal punch and gets a forearm, posting and flying headbutt. And more such punishment until Schumann boots him out the ring and follows with a sliding dropkick and (somewhat botched) tope splash. Finlay wallops Franz with another plastic crowd barrier, getting quite a whack on one blow, then grabs a cone which finally forces the referee to come out. A fan grabs a crowd barrier and Schumann gets Finlay with the cone. Schumann has found the plastic crate from earlier and throws it in the ring but Finlay intercepts and uses it, earning himself a Second And Final Public Warning. Schumann is still in a bad way outside and being tended to by a group of little kids. Finlay joins them to beat on Franz and slam his head in the steps. Schumann comes back in with a vaulting dropkick, suplex and crosspress for 2. A clothesline off the ropes gets two too. They brawl on and Schumann slams Finlay's head in the corner, pitches him out but is caught in mid flight by Finlay and his knees. Schumann reverses a tombstone piledriver and gets a perfect flying elbow. But Finlay catches Schumann on the top turnbuckle and gets the winner with a superplex that would have made Barry Windham proud. After the match Finlay claimed both on the mic and in a ringside promo to be World champion. What world title did he have in 1992? Finlay gives one last growl to camera and saucers off, presenter Bryn Fon gives a cheeky wave behind his back. Too violent for the IBA or Kent Walton, very little science except the ending and one or two other bits and bobs. sSomeone had obviously been watching Memphis tapes. Still if that's your bag, enjoy.

Vienna summer 1994: some good camera work of the Heumarkt here, it looks a really great outdoor ring venue despite the lack of a skirt on the ring. The former PN News gives local Austrian hero August Smisl -the man who two years later had them folk-dancing in the aisles while waiting to see him take on Wildcat Robbie Brookside - a good pasting before going too far, twisting his leg between the ropes to leave him dangling outside the ring then following in with more punishment, thus getting himself DQd. Grizzly/News/Neu has actually perked up his technical game for this and comes up with some nifty armlocks early on.

Looking at those last two bouts, a lot of the distinctive French Catch style and tropes had not yet been developed. Roland Vs Janos was pure German wrestling pre Steve Wright, down on the mat with a lot of earnest manoeuvring before a counter is gained. Nobody yet is doing back somersaults from top wristlock s, headscissor takedown as counter to armbars, reverse snapmares to counter standing back hammerlocks. All that came about later with Le Petit Prince, Michel Saulnier, Vasilous Mantopolous etc.

Janos Vs Roland is very much down on the match when we join with Roland maintaining a Frank Gotch toehold against reversal/ counter attempts by Janos. Janos eventually springs free and administers his own headscissors but Roland easily snaps out. . They go for finger interlock and Janos fires a dropkick and Roland retorts with a Manchette . Roland gets a fantastic Scisseaux Volees into kneeling press but somehow can't get even a 1 count for it and Janos takes him down with a bodyscissors. Dumal gets a legspread held in place with a bridge. Vadkerti unhooks his spread legs but then can't break the bridge so they rest. Another interlock and Dumal gets the armbar and twists it into a figure four top wristlock. Vadkerti goes down with it and slaps on a headscissor. Dumal twists out an d they go into Planchette Japonaise interchange sequence. Vadkerti gets a bodyscissors and there is a lot of interchange over it. Dumal gets a headscissors on Vadkerti....It goes on like that. Holds worked over for long periods of time, the odd flurry of Manchettes. Vadkerti wibs with a folding press. Aledo is still a Bon and not yet a Kamikaze. Teddy Boy is nothing of the sort. He is a Rocker/Greaser. He does not have an Edwardian Drapes suit or a DA quiff. What he is is quite the thought young brawler. Aledo is the more scientific but Teddy Boy is not the ideal opponent against whom to demonstrate this. Aledo does do a few of his future Kamikaze rope tricks. For most of the match Aledo takes control until near the end when Teddy Boy uses some lutte Irreguliere to pitch Aledo twice out of the ring. Aledo gets Irreguliere right back in Teddy's face along with the odd clean tick (the scoot forwards through the legs into ground dropkick). But in the end, Teddy gives Aledo a Warrior style press slam drop and splash to get the upset win.