Gilbert Cesca doesn't get a Chance to take a Break this Often

Gilbert Cesca/Ben Chemoil v. Anton Tejero/Inca Peruano 3/12/65-EPIC

PAS: Just an absolute classic. Much more of a freaky lucha hybrid match then the Black Diamonds tag. The opening armdrag and rana exchanges looked like they were being shown in fast forward. Tererot and Anou, who the announcer called the Peruvians were an awesome heel team. They were great at mixing nasty violent double teams with great stooging. That balance is one of the hardest things to pull off, Daniel Stern was great at slipping on toy cars, but you never believed he was going to murder Macauley Culkin. The Peruvians would flip the switch from comic foil to violent bastards. There is a great spot where they tie Chemoil in the ropes and just mug him, beating on him with punches, flying off the top rope, all of a sudden it turns into a gang beating. They were both crazy bumpers too, flying insanely over the top rope on multiple occasions and getting thrown into a Cactus Jack hangman bump and Andre rope tie up. Cesca really feels like Truffaut Rey Mysterio. Just a tiny guy who moves at a breakneck pace and throws lunatic ranas and armdrags. Finish was great too, with one of the most credible looking double KO spots I have ever seen. Spectacular tag match, so happy this showed up

ER: WOW. My brain still isn't processing how this kind of thing is possible. Before the 80s project I had kind of a vague assumption that pre-1985 wrestling would be mostly headlocks, crowd work and punch exchanges (you know, but in a bad way). The more wrestling I watched obviously that notion got blown out of the water, but that concept of every pre-80s wrestler lying around like Dory Funk still lingered in my brain. Just slow motion forearm exchanges and endless headlocks. But then something like this existed 50 years ago and suddenly everything and anything is possible. There's so much amazing stuff to see here that my jaw was literally dropped in amazement for most of it. So many cool little moves you've never seen, and moves you've seen for years delivered in ways you've never seen. I loved Chemoil's kip up fluidly transitioned into a drop toe hold. I loved seeing honest to god actual engaging Malenko/Guerrero roll up sequences. The death knoll on those things happened sometime around Torrie Wilson doing them, and here they are done as actual believable pinfalls. You can actually see the leverage being applied, see how the legs are holding down the arms, see how a guy could get flipped and rolled over. It's done in a way that doesn't seem cooperative, and it's just mind blowing. These guys all work so fast that I can't imagine many people having the gas tank to keep up this workrate. And this is France in the '60s! So you know earlier in the day for lunch they had a whole baguette, full bottle of cabernet and a block of rich creamy cheese, then spent the rest of the afternoon until the match smoking hand-rolled cigarettes. You also get all these fascinating juxtapositions, like a man taking a mammoth high speed bump over the top to the floor, while a slender man with crossed legs and a tight turtleneck sits emotionless in the front row smoking a pipe. It's like some absurd Jacques Tati romp. Everything about this is spectacular, eye opening, and amazing. A true gift for wrestling fans.