On 4/16/2025 at 12:57 AM, Phil Lions said:

March 8, 1975 (on TF1 at 10:30): no specific match advertised
- April 13, 1975 (on A2 at 10:20): Al-Casi vs. Christian Preno + Daniel Schmid vs. Rocky James
- May 11, 1975 (on A2 at 10:40): Eric Joly vs. Le Samurai + Daniel Schmid vs. Gilbert Wherle + Rene Ben Chemoul & Walter Bordes vs. Gerard Bouvet & Black Shadow**
- May 24, 1975 (on TF1 at 10:45): a tag team match
- June 13, 1975 (on A2): Gilbert Leduc & Jacky Corn vs. Der Henker & Le Samurai***
- June 19, 1975 (on A2 at 9:50 or 10:55 - conflicting info): from Cirque d’Hiver
- June 28, 1975 (on TF1 at 10:25): no specific match advertised
- July 13, 1975 (on A2 at 11:00): Gilbert Wherle & Daniel Boucard vs. Gass Dhoukan & Yanek Fryziuk
- July 27, 1975 (on A2 at 10:45): no specific match advertised
- September 7, 1975 (on A2 at 10:00): Iska Khan vs. Claude Jartel + Latif Salah vs. Daniel Boucard
- September 14, 1975 (on A2 at 10:20): a tag team match
- September 26, 1975 (on A2): Georges Cohen & Gass Doukhan vs. Pierre Payen & Daniel Boucard****
- October 12, 1975 (on A2 at 10:30): Yanek Fryziuk vs. Batistou
- October 18, 1975 (on TF1 at 10:30): no specific match advertised
- November 29, 1975 (on A2): Arpad Weber vs. Josef el Arz + Walter Bordes vs. Le Samurai*****

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EDIT - Also, this is kind of neat. Johnny Saint on French TV. June 28, 1975

Now this would be REALLY great to see. Any chance it's in among the new finds?

Of course if it was on TF1 it would still be in B/W - it seems INA never bothered to buy an 819 line video recorder for TF1's output - the question is whether they went back and bought more overseas sales prints for TF1 content from the breakup of ORTF in early 1975 to TF1 going full time colour in spring 1997. (From September 2975 they broadcast a few hours colour every day but it was mostly repeats of FR3 programming.)

Hmmm, looks like it was on TF1. In B&W and apparently not taped by the INA. Whether they hold it depends on whether they bought up further overseas sales kinescope stock.

1 hour ago, David Mantell said:

Now this would be REALLY great to see. Any chance it's in among the new finds?

It's not.
 

1 hour ago, David Mantell said:

Hmmm, looks like it was on TF1.

Yes, it was TF1. Today I was digging through TV listings I hadn't seen before and managed to find some new broadcasts that I wasn't aware of and fill in some gaps about existing ones. Nothing major. The Saint match was probably the best find.

I will say though, while INA does have a ton, they are missing a lot too. I now have a record of over 120 TF1/A2 broadcasts (pre-1980) that INA doesn't seem to have. At least in their online archive anyway.

Ah well, it's just one of those things like Rocco being in a dark match on a 1978 TV taping, it's just too bad his bout wasn't televised.

I wonder if Danny Collins ever made it onto Sports Loisirs on FR3 circa 1986-1987?

Franz van Buyten vs. Luc Verhaegue (10/2/82)

There wasn't a lot to this, but any time we get a new van Buyten match it's a good day. I hate heel refs. i don't care how much they rile up the audience, the heat should be on the wrestlers not the ref. I'm sure most folks appreciate the carnival aspects of a match like this, but personally I thought van Buyten was wasted on a sideshow like this, and put forward more effort than the match deserved. I did like his creative use of the ropes to break the chokehold, though. 

Actually, my favorite thing about the match was the guy waving at the television camera at the end and the commentator gesturing at him to get lost. Fans and commentators, the same the world over. 

10 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Actually, my favorite thing about the match was the guy waving at the television camera at the end and the commentator gesturing at him to get lost. Fans and commentators, the same the world over. 

Ever seen the classic angry granny in that 1983 tag match?   Absolutely blows her top at heel referee Michel Saulnier.  Daniel Cazal absolutely loves her. "Bravo madame, vouz etes un bastion de la justice dans le catch!"

10 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

I hate heel refs. i don't care how much they rile up the audience, the heat should be on the wrestlers not the ref.

We dedicated a good page or so earlier in the thread to the subject of heel refs in France (apparently imported from Austria and the Heumarkt in the late 70s). The disconcerting thing is that by the 80s the entire cadre of French referees seem to be a bunch of Danny Davises except Delaporte who is promoted as the heroic last uncorrupt sheriff in town. giving Les Mechants rough justice just like Martial would do in the 60s. 

The French HATE petty officialdom and expect the worst from train  ticket inspectors, parking wardens, Les Gendarmes (there is a BIG problem with les flics in France, most of whom are signed up to a hard right wing police union) so wrestling referees apparently fall under that same category.

In Britain, the IBA (regulator of ITV and other commercial broadcasting until the 90s) would not stand for such nonsense, insisting that referees were shown to be moral authorities in central of the action at all times. This permeated through to UK audience expectations of referees.  They might be gullible enough to be suckered in to looking the wrong way by heels but they were forces for justice.  Puny American referees who couldn't enforce rules were unacceptable.(I remember being shocked at age 12 in 1987 when a ref in a WWF Special was knocked down and the bout just went on and was not halted until the new ref srrived.  Left to their own devices away from home, British wrestlers were keen to experiment with corrupt and miserable refs - viz Dalbir Singh, in against Haystacks in Zambia 1976, beating up the referee or Tony StClair, Steve Wright, Dave Taylor and Owen Hart all ganging up on Didier Gapp for spoiling their tag match at the Heumarkt.