Tuesday is French Catch Day: Gastel! Magnier! Barreto! Williams!

Abdel Kader Boussada vs. Jean Luc 2/1/69

MD: We get maybe nine minutes of this, which is probably around half, and it's pretty good if a bit formless. Jean Luc's a fairly nasty bad guy with solid forearms and brazen stomps. Boussada comes back with headscissors takeovers and dropkicks but gets cut off with some rudimentary but solid legwork. Eventually they pick up the pace for a rope running finish. Either of these guys would probably put on a strong showing against a different opponent but this never rose above a certain level.

Guy Cavillier vs. Albert Sanniez 2/1/69

MD: Twenty minutes of pure forward motion. Sanniez is excellent and has maybe the best bridge in wrestling history and a great ability to land on his feet. This is our only look at Cavillier and he could more than hang with Sanniez. This built but never stopped, beginning with a wristlock that Sanniez did everything possible to try to escape to holds and shots, finally culminating with Sanniez with an athletic advantage, but both wrestlers sailing to the floor for an unsatisfying double countout. At times, they were almost flowing one forearm into the next, back and forth. The best part was probably a bridge so deep out of a chinlock that it first looked like Cavillier was going to break Sanniez in two until it became obvious that his trained flexibility actually gave him an edge in the exchange, ending with both guys roll into the ropes and the ref. Good stuff but it mainly left me wanting to see more.

Robert Gastel/Fred Magnier vs. Don Barreto/Eddy Williams 3/8/69

MD: Williams and Gastel are two of my absolute favorite guys in the footage. I wouldn't say they always end up in the best matches, but their performances are always excellent. Williams is smooth, has the crowd behind him, hits hard on comebacks. Gastel is a mean mug, a clubbering, stooging beast, one of the most distinct personalities we've seen, endlessly memorable. They're not always partnered with the best wrestlers, especially Williams who ends up with attractions who can't always carry their weight. Here though, they have perfect partners. I can't find much about Barreto but he could hang with Williams, able to do what was expected in France like the up and over headscissors escape, had some great shots, including an amazing corner flurry to the gut towards the end, and had a great jumping headbutt that was exactly what the crowd wanted. Magnier looked like Gastel's little brother, same body type, same mugging expression, same hard shots and mean stomps. Their favored means of assault in this one were hidden chokes while holding their opponent up, Magnier using a fireman's carry and Gastel a rib-breaker position, and then dropping them neck first over the top rope.

The heat was accordingly great, especially since the fans really wanted to get behind Williams and Barreto in the first place. While this was structured like a normal French tag (long first fall with plenty of heat, a hot tag or two, and the heels ultimately winning, a second fall where the faces come back and win fairly quickly and a third fall which is just as quick where the faces continue their advantage and either slip on a banana peel or pick up a win), the crowd was up for everything and everything worked. Towards the end of the first fall, the fans were absolutely going after Gastel and at one point, the heels rolled back in the ring just so the crowd would stop swiping at them. All the while, the low lighting gave this a fairly unique mood. The finish let the stylists keep the momentum going while still protecting the heels even if it wasn't exactly satisfying. Still, overall this was a great tag.

PAS: This was really cool, I love that we have a cool black tag team in 1969 France, I can just see Eddy Williams hanging with Josephine Baker or  James Baldwin in a Parisian cafe or nightclub. I loved how this whole fight escalated, with the heels choking and slugging and cheapshotting until the babyfaces exploded and laid them out. The spot where they were bouncing Gastel back and forth with uppercuts was awesome as was Barreto's combo punching in the corner, it really felt Lawlerish. We didn't really get a super satisfying finish, which is often the way these tags work, but I loved all of the meat.