Tuesday is French Catch Day: Finale 2! Parmentiers! Rockies!

Michel Parmentier/Daniel Parmentier (Tony Lamotta) vs. Les Rockies du Ring (Eric LaCroix/Domingo Valdez) 2/17/91

MD: This last gasp of French Catch is from a show called the "3rd Half" or something along those lines, just a sports variety show. This one covered a Karate competition and then this fairly long (30+ mins) match. Michel is Marcel Parmentier's son. Daniel is Tony Lamotta, who we saw in a match from 1980. The Rockies were "Spaniards," but I'm not convinced in LaCroix' case. But despite it being 1991, the stylist side absolutely knew what they were doing and for the most part, this felt like it could have happened in 1976.

Just if it did, the commentary would be sharper, the camera wouldn't miss so many of the bits, and the heels would have been able to base just a bit better for some things. There were a few definite moments where they lost the plot, not going down for a leapfrog or up for a 'rana (I couldn't tell which), Lamotta doing the climb up takedown out of top wristlock only to sort of stumble over (it still worked). And maybe most jarring at all was the Rockies using both a clothesline and a front vertical suplex, neither of which ever showed up in the old footage, not even once until now. 

But the things that shocked being poor probably weren't as shocking to me than the things that went well, which was most of everything, even over 30 minutes. Lots of fast exchanges, lots of mares and takeovers and all the stuff you'd expect out of the back half of the footage (70s and on). They had holds to start, then rope running, then some hard shots and comeuppance. The Rockies controlled by cheating whenever they got close enough in the corner. I think at one point, the crowd gave a bonus, and they interviewed Daniel on the apron mid match. If this is the last match we have from the footage (and it is), it was nice to double back to a lot of those elements and the sheer technique that at least the Parmentier "brothers" brought into play. The commentary talked about the heyday of the 60s and 70s with the names you'd expect (Duranton, Delaporte, L'Ange Blanc, etc) but I'm more open to the idea that these guys were running small scale opposition to a small scale Flesh Gordon operation in a way that gave fans a more genuine traditional experience. The fans for this match seemed to be enjoying themselves at least. This was not without some missteps but in general, it's a nice way end our French Catch journey for now, on the notion that somewhere, even as late as 1991 at least some wrestlers were keeping at least some of the old magic alive.

SR: This was pretty fine. With it being 1991 you kind of fear French Catch might have turned into some kind of travesty (it was certainly going there with Flesh Gordon committing his horrors on New Catch) but wherever this was held they were still holding it high. The technicos looked old as heck but were still pretty spry and it was a long 2/3 falls tag with a quick pace just like in the glory days. The wrestling wasn't quite as mindblowingly fast and inventive but you still got your share of smooth ranas and guys getting bowled around. The rudos - Los Rockies - were a bit generic but solid hands. There was even some cool armworks which lead to some decent reversals. Tony Lamotta looked old as hell here with his balding head but could still deliver, and he looked fired up when he started handing out the manchettes. It does go a bit long but that's kind of the tradition with these.