David Mantell

In America's case any decline was a lot more sudden. The bursting of the TV Wrestling Boom bubble, particularly the closure of DuMont, was more of a cliff edge moment in American Wrestling history, comparable to what The Final Bell in the UK could have been if not for (1) All Star being a red hot promotion that just carried on under its own sheer momentum for the next five years (2) an American Wrestling boom starting mere weeks later that by 1992 resulted in a rerun of WM3 on British soil. By 1973 Joe Jares, commencing work on Whatever Happened To Gorgeous George? found himself asked by friends and colleagues who remembered their wrestling-brssoted late grandmothers, "Do they still have wrestling?" From what I've read about American TV wrestling 1945-1955 it sounds a lot closer to the British/French model of serious sports coverage of all the big matchups rather than the later American model of it all being one big commercial for the live product.

The Riot Squad take on an odd combination during their Reslo revival. South partnered Murphy on the heels side of All Star's final ITV bout and is still a few years from becoming a mega blue eye as The Legend of Doom (which Reslo survived long enough to catch on professional camera) and Collins is just two months short of beating Finlay for the British Heavy Middleweight title. Danny FIPs it up for the Riot Squad before the two bald ex partners go at it in a forearm smash contest that ends with Murphy getting the opener with a side slam on Johnny South. Murphy rope a dopes an elbowsmash into South to restart the brawl. Danny eventually scores the hot tag and nearly gets the equaliser with a superplex and a couple of missile dropkicks. He finally gets it with a roll up after Finlay accidentally hits Murphy during a double team, They heels get a good double teaming starts of Danny but South helps him clear the ring. The villains soon regain control however and after a couple of backbreaker/elbow double teams, Finlay gets the winning submission on Danny with a reverse neck crank. Still some way for Danny to go until the big title change in July. Lively crowd enjoyed the bout, mostly young kids.

The French Professional Wrestling Federation is a professional wrestling association based in France and founded in 1933 [ref. needed] . Creation The great era Reactivation Notes and references External links Creation In 1933, Raoul Paoli , a French rugby union player and all-round athlete, helped his friend Henri Deglane , a Greco-Roman wrestling gold medalist at the 1924 Summer Olympics , popularize wrestling in France. Along with their friends Charles Rigoulot and Julien Duvivier, both high-level athletes, they introduced wrestling to the Vélodrome d'Hiver in Paris. They joined the French Wrestling Federation (FFL), making wrestling the professional branch of wrestling within the French Wrestling Federation at that time. Raoul Paoli subsequently became the first president of the French Professional Wrestling Federation (FFCP), and the first wrestling organizer in France. Paoli died on March 23, 1960, in Paris, leaving his chair empty. The great era From 1960 until the 1980s, wrestling reached its peak in France. At that time, no fewer than seven venues organized galas in Paris every week: the Élysée Montmartre , the Salle Wagram , the Stadium, the Palais des sports de Paris , La Mutualité , the Cirque d'hiver and the Vel d'Hiv . The Élysée Montmartre was the setting for numerous television broadcasts on ORTF . Its owner and star wrestler of the time, Roger Delaporte, was one of the great wrestling organizers in France. He successively directed the FFLI (French Federation of Independent Wrestlers) and then the French Professional Wrestling Federation from 1960 following the death of Raoul Paoli. In the late 1980s, Roger Delaporte retired and sold the Élysée Montmartre to the production company Garance Productions. The French Professional Wrestling Federation remained in limbo. Reactivation In 2006, Marc Mercier , a former wrestler with Delaporte, made agreements with the latter to reactivate the federation, which was one of the first wrestling structures in the world. Indeed, wrestling, already known in the United States in the 1930s, waited until 1948 to have its first federal structure: the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Mercier created the Catch Academy in 2006 in Wissous , a school intended to train a new generation of French wrestlers. Several waves of men and women learned the basics of wrestling through the school's various facilities (from Wissous to Villejuif via Chennevières , Choisy-le-Roi and Ris-Orangis ). President Marc Mercier aims to revitalize and dust off the latter, through attractive and media-friendly sectors. If the French Professional Wrestling Federation is today once again in the media [ 1 ] , [ 2 ] , [ 3 ] , the fact remains that an enormous amount of work in the general restructuring of wrestling still needs to be done in France, and this while waiting for state legislation aimed at regulating the discipline... In February 2014, Marc Mercier decided to entrust the presidency of the FFCP to the young referee and former Bordeaux wrestler Artémis d'Ortygie, in turn appointing Norbert Feuillan as vice-president [ 4 ] . D'Ortygie left the post of president in May 2014 to take care of personal projects, Marc Mercier resumed his place as president of the FFCP [ 5 ] . In February 2024, Mercier announced his retirement from the wrestling industry after 49 years. Notes and references cf. FFCP and Catch Academy television broadcasts cf. Press articles on the FFCP and the Catch Academy cf. Radio broadcasts on the FFCP and the Catch Academy Artemis of Ortygia and Norbert Feuillan take the lead of the FFCP FFCP: Artémis Ortygie leaves (already) her post as president External links Official website The above and below are articles from the same website .International Catch Wrestling Alliance History National Wrestling Training Institute Wrestling style Current Championships Former Championships Notes and references Annexes Related articles External links History Founded in 2002 by Pierre "Booster" Fontaine and Christophe Agius , the ICWA originally had one major title , two secondary men's titles , one women's title and one team title ; most of which were awarded betweenDecember 2004AndMay 20052 . The December 20, 2008, on the occasion of Revolution V, the ICWA and the NWA announced their association and several of the promotion's titles were renamed and now officially recognized internationally 3 . Thus, the ICWA holds the NWA French championship and the European heavyweight, women's and tag team championships. InJune 2009, ICWA participated in the Hellfest metal music festival and organized a tournament there that formalized the new " hardcore " branch of the promotion, including the introduction of a new title: the ICWA-XTC eXTremeCatch Championship. From that same year, the federation appeared several times on television, through galas, or spin-off programs like "Catch me if you can", notably on Canal + and France 3 4 , 5 , 6 . It also regularly performs shows during the Japan Expo in Villepinte , in the suburbs of Paris 7 , 8 . At the start of 2015, the federation was threatened with closure, caused by a drop in attendance at the INFC 9 training courses . Only 4 wrestling shows were organized that year. However, the federation continued and announced for the month ofMay 2016the return of its biggest annual show Revolution 8 to Maubeuge 10 . At Revolution X, a match pitted Cormac Hamilton, current ICWA French Champion, against Jimmy Gavroche, IPWF Champion, for the unification of the two titles. Cormac Hamilton won the match, during his celebration, Booster came to the ring to announce to the crowd of La Luna de Maubeuge some great news, the ICWA and six other promotions (APC, Ouest Catch, TPW, ABCA, FRPW and IPWF) recognize Cormac Hamilton as the unified champion of France and each federation promises that each year, at least one defense of this unified title will take place. However, this unification ends onDecember 18, 2018and the title is now only recognized by the ICWA. National Wrestling Training Institute The ICWA has its own wrestling school: the National Wrestling Training Institute (INFC). Based in Béthune, the INFC trains men and women in wrestling-related careers through various training options (from introductory courses open to those over 15 to continuing education reserved for adults). InJuly 2012, one of the INFC students, Lucas Di Léo, signed a development contract with WWE and joined the NXT 11 program . The school then took the opportunity to prove its seriousness and now describes itself as the "wrestling factory". In 2016, the INFC closed its doors to reopen in Cluses in the Pulse Factory in the same town. InFebruary 2018, YouTuber Tibo Inshape shoots a video where he trains and conducts an interview with Clément Petiot. Wrestling style Far from "French-style" wrestling, the ICWA offers fights closer to the American style, a style brought to France by Booster himself [non-neutral] [ref. necessary] after having been trained by Édouard Carpentier in Montreal 12 .

I take it this was the sports magazine show you were on about @Phil Lions?

https://plus.wikimonde.com/wiki/Wrestling_Stars This looks interesting. A full company back history of Wrestling Stars. Apparently Jean Claude Blanchet, butler to both Marquises De Fumuulo (Eduardo and Jacky Richard) and later best boy to the Travesti Man, had a big hand in founding it. Wrestling Stars is a French sports wrestling federation created in 1999, which brings together a large number of wrestlers from all continents. Summary 1 History 1.1 The KMG 1.2 Creation of the FEC 1.3 Wrestling Stars, the revival 1.3.1 Championships 1.4 Anecdote 2 Roster 2.1 Wrestlers 2.2 Wrestlers 2.3 Current champions 3 Reference The KMG In 1979, Evelyne Kaluza, the brothers Moïse and Marc Mehnaoui, as well as a wrestler who had returned from Mexico , Flesh Gordon , decided to found a wrestling federation for the French public, the KMG. The KMG (for Kaluza Mehnaoui Gordon ) was at the time broadcast on Antenne 2 , but the means were still too limited to develop everything. In 1985, the KMG closed its doors [1] . Creation of the FEC In 1985, Jean Claude Blanchet launched the European Wrestling Federation (FEC), where he brought in Flesh Gordon and other big names of the time, as well as Canadian , Japanese and South American wrestlers . The shows were sold out at every performance [1] . At the time, European wrestling attracted media such as TF1 or FR3 , and was broadcast on Monday evenings on Minuit Sport in 1987. Many wrestlers were discovered such as Billy Samson , David Finlay (who later wrestled in the WWE ), or even Prince Zéfy [1] . Subsequently, a contract was signed with Eurosport and allowed for broadcasting on a European scale, with no less than 12 galas per year filmed in France . Wrestlers from all over the world began to come to the FEC ring, such as Scott Hall , Chris Benoit , Yokozuna and Pierre Carl Ouellet [1] . Arriving in 1996, following numerous disturbances and disagreements within the governing bodies of the federation, the FEC found itself plunged into a period of inactivity of 3 years [1] . Wrestling Stars, the revival File:WS Ring.jpg Wrestling Star Show In 1999, Jean-Marie Morel was responsible for restructuring the FEC and founded the International Wrestling Stars Federation (IWSF), which would later be known as Wrestling Stars, and which he chaired until 2002. The difference between Wrestling Stars and other French and international federations is that the wrestling practiced is said to be "sport", as opposed to the much more scripted wrestling of federations such as WWE [ 1] . Wrestling Stars works in collaboration with many French Wrestling Schools (EFC), whose role is to train new wrestlers. One of them, created in Faremoutiers in 1994 by the former wrestler Monsieur Jacky (notably a referee at galas), has become the national training center for Wrestling Stars [1] . Other EFCs exist, including one in Dieppe , run by Mickey TRASH, as well as one in Longuyon . Championships There are 3 major titles at stake in Wrestling Stars [1] : The French Middleweight Championship : reserved for wrestlers of French nationality and weighing less than 90 kg (2 kg overweight is however tolerated on the day of the fight). The European Open Championship : reserved for wrestlers who are nationals of one of the EU countries . There is no weight limit. The World Light Heavyweight Championship : for wrestlers between 90 kg and 105 kg, of all nationalities. Anecdote Wrestler Tom La Ruffa , who competes for Wrestling Stars, has made a few appearances in WWE , notably against the Big Show [2] . He notably signed a contract with the latter in August 2012. Roster Wrestlers Arora Bernard Vandamme Belthazar Cibernic Machine (European Champion, 1st time) Dennis Cash Dom Alexander The Magician The Mariachi Emilio Sitoci Erwan Le Gailec Fernando de Sousa Flesh Gordon Ghent Gianni Leone Greg Master Jack Hammer Jack Spayne Jeremy Deaf Jimmy Gavroche Jon Titank Kenzo Richards Leon Shah Luvindo Barreiros Mac Taraz Makoto Mark Kodiak Max Angel Mikey Diamond Nikolai Trashinsky Prince Zfy (World Light Heavyweight Champion) Sam Fighter Striker Tango Timm Thib Scheltienne Tom La Ruffa (Currently works for World Wrestling Entertainment under the name Sylvester Lefort) Ultimo Chingon UK Kid Warren Brady WS Kid The Santos Wrestlers Angel's Bombita Betty Trash Layla Rose Miss Agathe Sexy Sindy Viper X-cute Current champions French Middleweight Champion = Jimmy Gavroche (4th time) European Champion = Cibernic Machine (1st time) World Light Heavyweight Champion = Prince ZEFY (1st time)

Flesh and/or Jacky may have had a hand in this but the name European Wrestling Federation SMACKS of being Orig Williams' work. He called his 80s/90s UK shows the British Wrestling Federation (BWF - a name previously used by Paul Lincoln in the 1960s) and he and Brian Dixon promoted a World Wrestling Federation (WWF) World Heavyweight Championship in 1974 claimed by Kendo Nagasaki during his year away from Joint. (This at a time when the "real" WWF in New York was still the WWWF). These are the two main names Herve/Richard have gone by, the latter shortened from the former in the early 2010s. Marc Mercier has been bitter enemies with Flesh and Jacky since the early Noughties. For a while Marc fell in with the Americanised/New School ICWA until it all got too American for him and in 2006 he went back to his old mentor Roger Delaporte (who had retired in 1989) and bought the rights to the FFCP from him, keeping Delaporte around as advisor for three years until he died in 2009. This was how the great Wrestling Stars Vs FFCP war began. A decade later each side was telling national newspapers how the other lot were crooks and thugs who were forever pouring buckets of faeces over them. Or something. See earlier in thread. Eurostars belonged to Bernard Van Damme (no relation to Rob nor Jean Claude) and was affiliated with Flesh, Jacky and IWSF. He seems to have had some TV deal of his own and I remember seeing broadcast details on their website back in the day. Domino and Sir Robin were both British wrestlers and I have seen both live -several times in Domino's case for All Star. He died a few years back.

https://www.facebook.com/sunsportdesk/videos/1052651983592486 Daniel Bryan (or as we knew him, The American Dragon) on happy memories of working All Stars shows at Butlins Holiday Camps circa 2003 Further information is in his YES book.

Sounds a lot like the loophole that allowed the RAH in London to put on Mitzi's retirement show in 1987.

Short British cinema newsreel footage of French womens' wrestling 1969. The most familiar face in this is Babette Carol who later became a referee including Angelito's TV debut against Jacky Richard in 1971. Except for the short-lived heel tag team in 1979 their feud would run nearly 2 decades, ending up with Travesti Man Vs Angelo Le Vigile on Eurosport. Apparently French lady wrestlers were banned from Paris just like their British counterparts were banned from London.

Kate gets to fight with the boys again, unknown location, date in the late 90s. Probably All Star but might just be the TWA. Tommy was some mate of the YouTube channel owner, Vic Powers was a regular late Nineties/early Noughties All Star heel - we last saw him on here teaming with a returning Kendo Nagasaki in Hanley June 2000 to beat Marty Jones and that man again Darren Walsh. (You may also recall I saw Vic's brother Phil in Dudley last year.) John Harvey you'll probably best know from tagging with Danny Collins on Eurosport New Catch in about 1991 against Jimmy Ocean and a heel Doc Dean. Kate is choking a blue eye (Tommy I think)with the tag rope while Powers gets some kicks in. She gives the poor lamb illegal kidney punches, legal elbowsmashes and Shoulder blocks. Powers gets in a snapmares and the odd kick and a clothesline, slam. More stomps and a kneelift. Kate kicks the victim from the apron. Powers gets a Rude Awakening neck breaker and puts a foot on his opponent to pose. But the good guys have tagged and double clothesline Powers repeatedly. They then tie him in the corner and sling Kate into him then slam both heels ' heads together. I guess that's Harvey in he yellow/purple. He's older than on Eurosport. They heels try the sling together trick but the blueceyes trick them into crashing into each other twice. The ref sends Kate and Harvey to their corners as Powers regains the advantage. However Harvey helps Tommy get a flying tackle pin on Powers. The heels are FUMING and Kate is soon taking it out on Tommy along the ring ropes. The good guys use Powers to batter a cornered Kate (that trope agaiñ Powers has Harvey floored and drags him crotch first into the corner post. A fan launches themself at Powers who has to be rescued by the MC (possibly Gordon Prior.) Kate stomps the blue eye as Powers gets a public warning. The villains beat up on their opponent until Kate scores an equalising pin. Sadly the clip ends without us seeing the decider but it's Kate as honorary male wrestler and enjoying herself brutalising a TBW.

Bobby Gaeatano was a journeyman babyface in Germany and to some extent France. In Britain he was best known as Marty Jones's final opponent to beat to win his first World Mid Heavyweight Championship after Mike Marino's death. Judd/Gunboat Harris was generally Daddy fodder whenever he dropped home to Britain. Vladimir, a French "Soviet" had also had his last UK run (I was a 6 year old fan of his in 1980) end in Daddy humiliation so instead headed Eastwards across the Rhine, a journey Belgian born French TV favourite FVB often made. Yellow ring ropes with crossbar strings like in mid 70s splice in film of Roland Bock. Franz and Harris start. Tests in power that go nowhere until a charging Gunboat misses Franz and falls out of the ring. Gunboat side chanceries and forearm smashes Franz. Cut to Franz leapfrogging a charging Harris whom Gaeatano somehow causes to fall over off camera. He tags Vladimir who legdives an entering Gaeatano but does not follow down. Vlad tries for the leg again and Bobby G spins round on the trapped leg and snapmares him. Vlad gets a side headlock into kneelift then tags Harris who wears down Bobby with a side headlock into front chinlock and finishes with a throw, giving Bobby a good bump. He throws Bobby again but he takes it in a cartwheel and comes back off the ropes with a double scissor chop and dropkick. Harris tags Vladimir who armdrags Gaeatano down, keeping the armlock on the mat. Gaeatano powers up and flips backwards to weaken Vladimir's arm, then tags Franz. Vlad is unimpressed and side chanceries him into a kneelift. He then goes from top wristlock to armdrags to ground armlock. But Franz kips up, does a 360 degree vertical spin in the top wristlock then monkey climbs Vladimir. Three forearms knock Vladimir out the ring. When he returns, Franz floors him with two forearms then snapmares and spinning stomps Harris. Gaeatano gets back in and snapmares and headlocks Harris. Harris gets a hammerlock but Geatano propels himself into the babyface corner to tag Franz. The heels double team Van Buyten twice, but Franz smashes Vlad down. Franz gets a flying bulldog headlock and headscissor to take down both heels. regains heat, snapmaring and chinlocking Franz and generally working him over on the mat. He double claws Franz, sends him into Vlad's knee and tags. Vlad lands blows and goes snapmares Franz into pressure points. Franz bridges up and reaches back for Vlad's own pressure points but Harris enters and boots him in the stomach Harris tags in and posts Franz and chokes him, the second time with Vlad's help. Vlad tags in and side headlocks Van Buyten, swinging him about and stomping him in the corner. He slams him into Harris's knee, then tags. Harris chokes Bobby on the mat, then Vlad kneels on Franz. Vlad is on top ofFranz til Franz tags Bobby who hauls in Harris with a snapmare, throws another, fires a dropkick and sends the Gunboat to ringside before going after Vladimir who backs off the ring apron. Harris makes it back for another snapmare and stomps. Gaeatano flips in Vlad for two headbutts, takes down Harris with a headlock, forearm smashes Vladimir, snapmares Harris and takes him down as Franz drags Vlad off to some dark place, Credit to the referee he recovers them Franz headlocks Vladimir and each babyface slams the heels heads together. Gaeatano posts Harris then sleeps up to what I first thought was a botched Stinger splash but instead he straddles Harris's head and the top turnbuckle and pounds his head. Meanwhile Franz has Vlad in similar trouble but posts the referee on top before jumping up to beat Vlad's head. A dazed referee slides out while meantime Gaeatano has switches to tying Harris in the ropes. The dazed and abused ref barely reprimands the good guys as they double whip Vlad into Gunboat. They then tie up Vlad and Gaeatano leapfrogs Franz to land on the faux Russian. Harris then gets the same treatment. Franz forearm smashes Vlad and cross presses him for a pin but Vlad kicks out at one. Some snappy music starts playing as Franz forearms Vlad some more and Gaeatano dropkicks Harris a lot. The bell goes, the good guys thing the villains have given up but no, it's the time limit and a nil nil draw. It only really becomes a brawl later on. Early it's what would pass for a good scientific tag match in America - no chain sequences but plenty of good moves and transitions. I'm surprised OJ of all people would forgive that sudden 0-0 draw.

Dave Duran, real name John Palin, future UK Road Warrior, future Animal Legend of Doom, son of 60s deaf wrestler Harry Palin. At about this time he was giving regular "dues paying" kickings to rookie Steve Regal, offering to desist if Regal pays up some of his wage packet. In this case he's bitten off a tougher piece of meat in Cullen, then the British Heavy Middleweight Championand around this time briefly the World Champion for the first time before his epic 1992-2002 second reign. We join the action in round 2, cutting from the studio where Orig is dressed as Tugboat. Dave is dressed in the traditional black single leotard of many a heel from Andre and Bobby Heenan to Syd Cooper to Billy Cantazaro. He powers down Cullen with a bodycheck and throw over the ropes and partying a shoulderblock before nearly falling foul of a sunset.flip. Cullen takes him down with a hammerlock and tries a cross press. Duran gets a Japanese stranglehold into chinlock., Cullen resists with a bridge before taking a wrist, pivoting into a standing wristlever and sharply whipping. Too bulky to go with the whip, Duran just has tomtake the weakener.End of round. Round 3. Cullen gets a rear waistlock into standing full nelson. Duran powers out But Cullen regains before switching to a posting. Cullen gets a side slam and forearm, Duran two inner arms (clothesline) and back elbow and guillotine elbowsmash. He gets a swinging crossface which gets him the opening submission but won't let go so gets a public warning. Round 4, Duran kicks Cullen about which makes the referee no happier.Cullen brawls back and nearly gets a public warning of his own through excessive knee drops. Duran side chancery throws Cullen and bodychecks him. Cullen throws him into the stage right at the get of a bunch of little kids. Some make their escape. Others take advantage to get a kick or two into the big baddy. Cullen brings him in an nearly gets an equaliser with a flying tackle. He takes him down with a flying headscissors and armbars. Duran gets back the arm, turns the scissors upright and forces it loose. Cullen tries to put the head back in but Duran shoved him off and again in response to a bearhug. The situation down shoving match goes on for some time with Cullen getting a pop for grabbing Duran's ears and landing a headbutt. American smart marks of 1985 would be shouting abuse at the match by now but this audience is hooked. Bell finally forces the break but heelish Duran just has to stomp Cullen's fingers one mo4e time. Round 5, Duran gets a Japanese stranglehold into bodycheck. He gets a Second And Final Public Warning for posting Cullen into a corner he unpadded. He tries to repeat but Cullen reverses it, backdrops Duran and sends him out the ring on a missile dropkick for a KNOCKOUT!!! There, OJ, proof positive that a KO can be a definitive win. Duran was a lot more advanced than the Steve Lanegan of 1983, he got his consolation submission, he was just paying Regal's dues up to the next rung on the ladder. He'd go onto bigger things, would face Regal on ITV (UK Roadies Vs Golden Boys Bedworth 1988) and still can be seen skulking around on Facebook talking about old times to his buddies.

Afterthought - how come Jones Vs Von Kramer got it's own separate video on INA instead of being included as part of the full magazine? @Matt D, did you by any chance, crop it from the full length magazine show video file?

Still French terrestrial TV wrestling. Alessio should really add it to the 1970-1987 playlist. I wonder how many there were. Nothing "only" about being part of a sports magazine show - that's exactly what World of Sport was. The March '87 broadcast was definitely a standalone, with Jean Pradinas in the director's chair. Anyway the camera logo eliminates the possibility of it being some early New Catch pilot or filmed especially for home video, It's another one like Ted .Hughes Vs Karl Von Kramer. Anyway, speaking of Flesh Gordon: This is the Eurosport transmission of the 1991 TF1 match Sturry was being sarcastic about at length. English commentary by dear old Orig. Plata does a promo saying he's come a long way from Mexico to finish Flesh off. (Yes I can tell he's actually Spanish from the clipped Castilian accent.) Flesh actually has more of a Lucha background of the two. He does his own promo while having a shave. Plata won an earlier bout. "Bout Weight Open" says a caption - the Eurosport staff have not heard of Catch-weight. Although the two look quite well matched for size. Flesh had adapted to a heavier weight range by 1991, relying more on armdrags and hammerlocks than the Scisseaux Volees ace of his days with Walter Bordes, but he's still a LONG way from the tubby bald moustachioed Flesh of the C21st. He takes cross buttocks as well as he gives, taking quite a hearty bump and going with the next cross buttock to reverse the armdrags onto Plata. Flesh still has his trusty dropkick. Flesh takes the bump from a whip and Plata scissors the arm. Orig reckons that Flesh plays too much to the crowd which is ironic as, with his promoter's hat on, Orig would be the first to tell his boys to involve the audience as much as possible (rivalled in that respect only hy Brian Dixon.) He spend a lot of time appealing to La Publique a private warning by L'Arbitre about using a closed fist. He goes for a Planchette Japonaise but Plata puts him neatly on the top turnbuckle. But then Plata also plays to the crowd and Gordon armdrags him from behind. There are plenty of petits Gosses in the audience - when Plata lands on the concrete they approach him with malice aforethought. The referee is German and does his KO counts in German. The second time Plata goes out, Flesh does a Randy Savage ringside flying axehandle and bashes Plata against the stage of the theatre (it's one of those British style theatre venues, smaller versions of the Manhattan Centre in NY. Flesh oarades around ringside while Plata blades. Plata is in a bad way when he gets back to the ring. He barely double ankles out of a sunset flip while Flesh easily -and beautifully - bridges out of Plata's pin attempt and easily avoids a flying bodypress (the first vaguely lucha-ish move from the "Mexican" wrestler.) We finally get an old time Flesh flyer with the winner - a spinning flying tackle that might possibly be a botched Scisseaux Volees. Orig - "That's why he's World champion, because he can do things like this.". Much longer and Plata would have been TKO'd for cuts like Haystacks against Kendo in 1977. The score isn't settled, both men cut promos saying they will kill each other next time. An update on, say, Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca vs Anton Tejero & Pancho Zapata but as a singles bout. Maybe Zapata's 1969 World of Sport match with fellow French TV occasional Jeff Kaye as featured in The Final Bell.

Hopefully Saint will get more of a chance to show off his skills in a tag match against Brody than he did in their squashy singles match. Tag was rarely a speciality of Saint's other than The Elite with Steve Best in the early 70s. Brody starts off with Sunni War Cloud., generic Native American gimmick. Nice backwards escape through Brody's legs and he tags in Saint, straight to work with a flying tackle for a 2 count. Saint does the Lady of the Lake twice over on Brody for another two count and the Colonel is looking upset. He tags big Dave Viking who in good time is perplexed by Saint's ducking around with wrist levers. We cut to Viking on the mat, then squaring off with SWC who batters the blond baddy with chops until Brody tags in and stops him. The villains work over the Native American, until Viking gets the opening pin on him. Bad mid 80s remake of Sweets For My Sweet in the interval then back to the grind for SWC. He tags in Johnny Saint who goes on a dropkicking rampage knocking both villains from the ring. They double team Saint so Viking can gain dominance with axehandles etc. Viking posts Saint but in the rebound he slips in behind with a folding press for the equaliser. And there the clip ends without the deciding fall. Still it's nice to see Johnny Saint get a proper chance to show the Hamburg '87 audience just what he could do.

FINALLY spotted the Smoking Gun (not Bart nor Billy LOL) which PROVES that this was an FR3 Broadcast:

Or more possibly TF1 was still being shot and broadcast solely on the antiquated 819-line TV system and the INA never had any recorders for this format because manufacturers never produced cheap VT machines for this format which was due to be phased out anyway.

WWE may have expressed an interest in Darren. Unless he chooses to talk about it, we shall never know. I've met both Tony (RIP) and Darren at various shows and found them both good company and a credit to the biz. I met Darren as early as a 1992 Croydon show. (I was 18 and still living with my mum and dad in South London - until they went abroad 3 years ago I frequently used their house as a stopover for events in London). I last saw Tony at some late 2010s All Star shows in Royal Leamington Spa. I attended FWA Uprising as I live in Coventry within walking distance of the SkyDome. It was a funny day for Banger as apparently Sanjay Bagga slagged off Darren in front of Tony and got deservedly manhandled for it by Walsh Sr. Afterwards on the coach back down to London Kings Cross (I took the return leg only as I was attending a Fairfield Hall Croydon show the next afternoon- yup I used official FWA transport to get to an All Star show!) Bagga, egged on by his FWA loyalists, was constantly bragging on the microphone about what he might do to Walsh Junior in a return match. He was behaving a lot like his kayfabe self in the recent LDN angle with Kendo Nagasaki. I kept my trap shut as I didn't want to be dumped on the motorway but the whole thing seemed to be pretty disrespectful to the Walshes.

From the early Noughties (00s). October 2001 to be precise in Dagenham, East London. I believe this is an All Star show but it might just possibly be the recently late Scot Conway's TWA promotion - Justin Starr worked for them a lot and was TWA splinter British Heavyweight Champion four times. 14 years on from fighting Mitzi Mueller at the Royal Albert Hall and 11 years on from managing opponents for Big Daddy at the 1990 TV taping in Aberdeen, Kate takes on a legend and recent inductee into the WWE Hall Of Fame. This is one of many occasions she was booked as an honorary male. (In case you're wondering, the GLC was abolished a year or so after Mitzi retired and by 2001 most individual London borough authorities were not enforcing old prohibitions). When I first saw Phil Flash Barker in 1992 in Croydon he had a blond Sting haircut (hence the Flash name) and was a blue eye. He and Kate come to the ring to the Sweet's Blockbuster while bizarrely Earthquake's music is Wham's I'm You Man Flash has a good competitive time with Quake, giving as good as he gets (which includes an over the shoulder backbreaker) Kate tries to interfere but chickens out. Things pick up when Justin tags in. Kate can quite happily take it and dish it out with Starr, slinging him out the ring, dodging a sunset flip attempt - she even gets a public warning for smacking his head into (his own) corner. Quake also gets a public warning for trying to rescue Justin. It's Barker in the end who takes the Earthquake splash (I thought Kate would get it.) for the one required fall. Quake was one of a handful of legit ageing WWF Golden Era stars regularly touring the UK's Old School circuit including the Bushwhackers (in triple tag matches with "British Bushwhacker" Frank Casey, see earlier in the thread) and Jake Roberts until he had to flee Britain after starving a python to death.)

Yasu Fuji himself had headlined Wembley Arena in a Big Daddy tag (and Royal Albert Hall the same show as reality TV show The Big Time fed innocent schoolteacher mark Frank "Rip" Rawlinson to dangerous Wigan ripper John Naylor and the ripper ripped Rip.). He had also participated in the tournaments in Germany. I always rather liked Mr Yasu Fuji as a kid. By 1982-1983 the former San Francisco Version NWA World Tag Team Champion was in the third of the three Stronghold Euro territories and on their telly. He had grown his hair out long too, pudding bowls style like Riki Choshu as Cho Chew at MSG 1982 Fuji (or FUDJI as the onscreen caption calls him) was by far the youngest in this bout, Magnier was well established as a Vieux Pontoufle heel while Mercier and Montreal wrestled a good oldies bout on TV against each other that same year (which I've already reviewed.) To add to the geriatric vibe, on commentary is good old Couderc, just a year away from dropping dead on the radio in the middle of a rugby match. The referee is that horrid little man (and former lightweight ace) Michel Saulnier when ended up as de facto heel in said Mercier/Montreal match. Don't expect him to be any nicer now that M&M are on the same side. Couderc finds it hilariously funny when Fuji goes on a pre-match kendonstick rampage, knocking down both Bons plus Monsieur L'Arbitre. He confiscates the offending weapon and hands it to a flunky to take .here Fuji will never find it. Old boys Magnier and Mercier had still taken bumps, As with Robbins Vs Rodgers the Bon takes it more smoothly. Same story when Marcel tags in. Then Fuji gets his go. He is far taller than either Bon but still bumps around for them in hiptosses etc. Mercier gets Magnier in a belly to belly suplex. He goes for a cross press and gets 2 before Fuji kicks him in the head from the ring apron. Mercier sells and tags out. Fuji repeats his trick, coming in and stomping Montreal while he has Magnier in a side headlock and Michel and Guy are having their own little feud in the corner. It earns Saulnier his first Aux Chiottes L'Arbitre chant of the broadcast. For his next trick Fuji stomps Montreal in the ring, Saulnier challenges Les Mechants but they deny everything. Fuji tags in and legtrips Mercier but he bridges out of a pin, Mercier gets a good toupee on Fuji and headscissors him on the mat. Fred back in gets a fair serving of Manchettes from both Bons. Fuji continues his Illegal run in stomps on Montreal Les Mechants double team Montreal. Fuji armlocks his opponent to the mat With Magnier in, the Bons regain control, even working on Fuji's legs. Fuji works very American style on his Bon adversaries, dropping high chops and Legdrops of Doom. He drops Mercier across his knee. Saulnier lets all this go. The no follow down rule did exist in France but it's not being enforced here. Yasu tauntingly claps his own side's Irreguliere tactics. Fuji delivers a top turnbuckle axehandle (at a time when Randy Savage is still in his dad's outlaw ICW). He also gets caught on the top and takes quite a spectacular bump from a throw, allowing Mercier to make the hot tag to Montreal who goes on a Manchette rampage before scoring the opening fall on Magnier. At ringside Fuji,,despite what I said earlier, has found where his Kendo stick was hidden and stalks Mercier with it but Saulnier in the ring grabs it and again confiscates it. Deuxieme Manche starts out as a more serious battle of extended headlocks on the mat between Montreal and Magnier. Couderc starts singing some song about a Dodo. Fuji tags in., Mercier takes him down in a spinning single legdive into leglock through his own legs. He starts attacking Fuji's face which Saulnier objects to and demands a break, yanking on Mercier's hair to get his point across. This gets the break and resumes Mercier and Saulnier. As Michel and Marcel argue, Fuji throttles Mercier who foams at the mouth like George Wells at WM2 enwrapped in Damian. Fuji releases and drops a knee. He goes chops Vs Manchettes first with Mercier then with Montreal. Fuji does take a bump from a high whip by Montreal but continues unabashed. Fuji boots Mercier of the ring apron and he and Magnier double team Montreal. Mercier runs round the outside and pulls Magnier off and they brawl at ringside. Mercier gets the better of this with Manchettes but Michel Saulnier is preoccupied with the ringside action and not with Fuji throttling Montreal in the corner. Fuji solo and double teaming with Magnier continue to rough up Montreal. Magnier tags in then tags back out but the punishment continues. A frustrated Mercier grabs Saulnier but Fuji attacks both and it gets the Bon side nowhere. Fuji loosens the heels corner pad and Magnier posts Montreal into it. Fuji tags in, Les Mechants grab a bon each, slingshot them together then stomp them on the mat. There are less than two minutes left of the clip and they are still trailing 1-0. The heels repeat the slingshot trick but Mercier headlocks his partner to dropkick and flying headscissor Magnier. He then crosspresses Fred for a second straight pin and the victory. Mercier is too worn out to object to Saulnier raising his and Montreal's hands. Cut to the big Sat night news bulletin on A2 (without even an advert break, just like the segue on World of Sport from Big Daddy's latest win to the top Football scores.) Three older guys and an American style worker. It's not a sparkling state of the art Catch a Quatre - no sleepless nights in store for Walter Bordes or Claude Rocas - but Fuji was kept strong (now a consolation fall scored by him would have been really good) and the veterans took care of the solids of the bout.

Continuing the theme of Women's wrestling. We've talked a lot about Teenage Boy Wrestlers (TBW). Sarah Rockin' Robbins. daughter of Bobby Barron (who ran the world's last Beat The Shooter challenge booth at Blackpool Pleasure Beach Horseshoe Bar) and his wife, wrestler Apache Princess, was a Teenage Girl Wrestler (TGW ) although it was never billed as "Girl Wrestling" like it rather cloyingly was in America. Actually Robbins started out as pre-teen, making her debut aged just 12. By 1992 she was in her mid teens and a regular blue eye female on shows. This match was filmed in her native Blackpool in 1992. Rodgers is established as heel early on, refusing a handshake. The match hits the ropes quite a few times early on. Robbins takes untwisting an armbar in two stages, taking the bump and then kipping out. She also has a neat kip up escape from headscissors. They do shake hands at the end of the round but things don't stay clean for long. Robbins does a splendid roll from a throw by Rodgers, the Cowgirl does not roll up from throws quite as well, as befits the heel. Rodgers while putting on an armbar bites Robbins's fingers and is reprimanded by the referee, when she tries it again during an armhank, Robbins retaliates by nipping Rodgers on the bottom. Robbins does a neat between the legs takedown but it only gets a 1. Robins ties Rodgers in the corner and then uses the referee to do a Bushwhackers battering ram on her, she gets a public warning for this bit it is reversed after she gives the referee a kiss. Moments later the referee catches Rodgers doing the second of two concealed illegal closed fist punches and gives her a public warning; she tries the same trick as her opponent but gets a second and final public warning for attempted bribery! Shortly after, Robbins double legdives and gets a Boston Crab for the first submission in Round 3. Robbins has some great cross buttock takedowns into side headlock. Rodgers uses the hair to snapmares Robbins into a cross press for the equalising pin in Round 4. Robbins gets the decider with a folding press pin. Not a technical masterpiece (room having to be made for Rodgers' heel act) but some good interesting moves from young Robbins.

Promoters might have raised the issue in negotiations with FR3.

This time round, Lasartesse has something bigger on his plate than Johnny Saint. Dave Taylor is very much his physical equal but is the son and apprentice of Eric Taylor. Not that a Piratenkampf match is the place to show off such skills. Most holds are held in place with the chain rather rathan wrestling skill. There's not a lot of point drilling down to a blow-by-blow account. Still, Taylor does have Rene in his knees and back quite often - as often as he himself ends up there. Plenty of choking each other out with the chain and ring ropes. Dave does a sleeper and attempted leglock, Rene tries a suplex. Sadly an edit cut deprives up of the sight of Lataserre being hauled by the chain from the top rope. Rene eventually dumps Taylor at ringside to get the flag down from the corner and win. Suitably dark and violent to keep a drunken German festival crowd happy. In suitably dark Hannover 1987!lighting.

Regional News story on Mitzi Mueller's upcoming retirement match at the Royal Albert Hall 38 years ago today. Featuring her putting holds on Fuji Yamada and she and Klondyke Kate trash talking each other. This was the last Old school British wrestling show at the RAH and the only time All Star ran a show there, although the WWF and WCW would both do shows there in the 90s. Joint Promotions had last run there in 1984 (headlined hy Otto Wanz defending the CWA title against Ray Steele.) The Royal Albert Hall has the rare distinction of having hosted WWF, WCW, Joint and All Star - Wembley Arena just needs an All Star show some day to complete the set. The 1930s London County Council an on women's wrestling was sidestepped rather than banned on this occasion - RAH was/is a privately owned venue. Since then, the only female wrestling AFAIK to have followed the lead was a couple of Alundra Blayze title defences on WWF Wembley Arena shows in the mid/late 90s. Also some archive footage (not the BBC Nationwide piece I posted previously) of Mitzi in the ring with Lolita Loren.

Namely "Maxi Cuisine". When the bout were rescreened on Eurosport in early 1989, these bouts were shown first. Veteran ITV/ Reslo MC/Referee John Harris did the English commentary for these before being replaced by Orig Williams.