Tuesday is French Catch Day: Kurt Kaiser! Lasartesse! Calderon! Mercier! Kiyomigawa

Kurt Kaiser vs. Remy Bayle 2/21/70

MD: I was wondering when this episode was only 27 minutes and this match wasn't joined in progress. This was one minute and twenty-seconds of outright murder. Even when they've debuted monsters in the past, whether they were the cerebral sort like the good Dr. Kaiser or outright monsters like Quasimodo, it was usually in extended matches where they got to show a lot and their opponents at least tried to fight back. Here, it was a series of haymaker forearms, a series of slams, and one double underhook suplex. They certainly built him up for a big match against some stylist or another.

Rene Lasartesse vs. Gaby Calderon 2/21/70

MD: On paper, I didn't love the look of this as a little bit of the judokas goes a long way, but it was actually a great matchup. Lasartesse supplied the contrast and force required and Calderon went at him with a different intensity and less of a spirit of exhibition than usual. It was a contest between Lasartesse's size, strength, and unrelenting underhandeness and Calderon's skill. Lasartesse would strike down upon him, would go for slams and backbreakers, and would sneak in eyerakes, chokes (most especially while in the backbreaker position), and would even undo the corner ring guards, and Calderon would come back by catching or redirecting the arm, laying in shots like knees, and unleashing varied submissions, including a great stretching double armbar and a 1970 Crippler Crossface of all things. Ultimately, Lasartesse chipped away at him by going after the throat, but drew the ref's ire in the process and earned himself a DQ by launching his signature bomb's away kneedrop straight down upon Calderon's windpipe. This was absolutely the matchup Calderon needed.

Guy Mercier vs. Kiyomigawa 4/11/70

MD: They'd introduced rounds matches earlier with Mercier vs Le Foudre early in 70 and this is the second match in the footage that follows the style. They still announce it as new and try to explain Kiyomigawa refusing to break in that he's unfamiliar with it. Before the match, he has a plate breaking demonstration and he has a couple of Japanese valets or observers at ringside but there's a communication gap between them and the announcers. This ends up being six rounds of around five minutes and the pacing works out better than the Le Foudre match. Kiyomigawa was as stereotypical worker as you might with chops and nerve holds, but I like the chops generally. They look good and he has some combos with them. Mercier is quick to get a leg pick and work a toehold but there's never any selling from Kiyomigawa to give it any weight. Kiyomigawa's always able to go to the eyes or the ropes and get a break so he can chop and choke again. Mercier tries for a bearhug and maybe a belly to belly a couple of times and usually pays for it; even when he gets it late in the match, it's without weight (back to the eyes, back to the nerve hold and chop). There are a couple of rounds I liked a lot, 3 where Mercier really got to fight back from the chops and 4 where there was a bit of a role reversal with Kiyomigawa going for the toehold and Mercier the chinlock but this was all quite a bit of the same, even if the same was generally good. If you're going to have a fairly repetitive match instead of push for an escalating boiling over, the rounds probably do more good than harm.