Tuesday is French Catch Day: Prince! Corne! Mitchell! Noced! Richard! Renault! Mercier! Menard! Fake Mongolians?

Guy Mercier/Jean Menard vs. Abdul Khan/Chang Li 1/5/74

MD: French heroes vs probably fake Mongolians here. Chang Li was taller and thinner and could have passed for a fake Russian a few years later. Mercier is very good at what he does and had been for decades at this point. Menard we've seen once and we'll see again (but as a heel, I think) and he had the crowd behind him, especially the young ladies. They had a bit of Ben Chemoul/Bordes vibe as one was sort of a younger version of the other. Mercier used all the old tricks, the cross-footed Mascaras twist, the bearhug into a backbreaker, the repeated bodyscissors butt crash followed by atomic drops and Menard was game. He especially did well as face in peril building to an actual hot tag, as the ref had missed a tag and Chang Li and Abdul Khan did well cutting off the ring. They were mostly chop and nerve hold based with a decent amount of chinlocks and cheating. Abdul Khan brought the over the top character flourishes, looking like he was all but electrocuted as he reacated at times and Chang Li's strikes looked pretty good for what they were as he went high low high or low high low. After the big comeback in the second fall, it never quite felt like the Mercier and Menard were in much danger but by that point the crowd wanted to see the Mongolians get what was coming to them anyway. Fun stuff if you're in the mood for fake Mongolians, certainly.

Petit Prince/Jean Corne/Alain Mitchell vs. Daniel Noced/Jacky Richard/Guy Renault 2/9/74

MD: Due to a preliminary match (where the heels cheated) Alan Mitchell can't participate in this match for the first fifteen minutes, so it's three on two. For the first ten minutes, that doesn't really come into play as Petit Prince (and to a lesser but still meaningful extent) Jean Corne run circles around the heels and clown them repeatedly, because they're just that good. The heels base well and take everything, with Noced's reactions especially good. Eventually though, Noced has a very mean control on Prince (drawing a public warning and making it worth it) and he knocks Corne off the apron. That means when Prince makes it to the corner, there's no one to tag. By the time he's back the heels distract enough so that the ref misses a hot tag. They really cracked the code on how to get heat, southern tag style, somewhere in the early 70s and here we really see it bear fruit. That means a huge press slam into a gutbuster by Noced gets them the first fall.

Perfectly timed for the end of Mitchell's penalty period is Prince's comeback however, and the fans go nuts for the tag. The rest of the second fall was full of Mitchell showing off some nice matwork tricks, a bit of heat where the heels try to keep things in the corner, but ultimately a lot of big clowning spots, including all of the heels trapped in the face corner with Prince standing on them, and miscommunication spots, before Mitchell lands a pretty unique sunset flip variation. The third fall was more of the same, with plenty of elaborate spots, lightning quick one after the next like an old lucha match's tercera where much of the drama had passed and now it was time for the crowd to celebrate the prowess of their heroes. All in all, this was a great showcase, maybe one of the best, especially given that they were able to successfully milk the drama of the penalty period.

PAS: This was really great stuff. I agree with Matt about how this is one of the first tags we have seen with the more traditional cutting off the ring stuff which is what we expect from tag wrestling. Prince is a perfect babyface for that role, and a perfect babyface for the later section where he just dazzles around turning the heels into stooges and goofs. All the heels were really cool as foils and I liked the idea of a penalty box in a six man tag. So crazy that Le Petit Prince was basically unknown five years ago, and now we have so many chances to see him dazzle us.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Batman! Khan! Mammoth Siki! Mr. X! Corne! Falempin! Viracocha! Gonzalez!

Batman vs. Abdul Khan 3/27/72

MD: Batman was Batman, of course, maybe a little older, a little less spry, a little slower, but still able to cartwheel and leapfrog and dropkick and with that theatrical flair to milk a moment. Khan was playing the stereotypical oriental gimmick with chops and nerveholds, but he fed well enough and I liked the look of the overhand chop. He also had some interesting stuff in between the knee drops and gut shots like a backslide lifting choke under the ropes (previously we've seen a Rude awakening version) and a nice double chop off the top. It was on his second attempt at the latter that Batman was able to catch it and come back. Finish had Khan remove the corner guard and Batman tease to a reversal of a whip. Again, he could milk the moment as well as a lot of the people we've seen in the footage, which enhanced everything else he did.

Mammoth Siki vs. Mr. X 3/27/72

MD: This was a straightforward heavyweight clash with a straightforward story, well enough worked, didn't outlive its welcome. The first third was Mr. X (a huge guy in a purple mask with the backstory of being disfigured) trying strength holds and Siki overpowering him and flipping him about. Mr. X went over for everything well and Siki had good timing and clear charisma and when he threw a shot or headbutt, it looked very good. Middle third was a lot of choking and nerve holds but Siki sold well from underneath and Mr. X contested with the ref well. Big comeback spot was out of a full nelson and after that Siki kept going for the mask with the ref trying to stop him. He had a nice double arm hold out of an arm drive into a Fujiwara armbar that let him really go for it. Finish was very unique and it sets up a match that I wish we had maybe. Mr. X had Siki tied up in the ropes and Petit Prince came into fly around and get his mask off which let Siki get the win. Mr. X was definitely competent and I would have to see what a Prince vs giant match would have looked like but alas, it's not to be in the footage we have.

Jean Corne/Michele Falempin vs. Inca Viracocha/Jose Gonzalez 3/27/72

MD: This one fell through the cracks of the footage, but it came immediately after the Siki vs Mr. X match and starts with the announcer wearing X's mask. It's another one fall tag and it's hard to fault the pacing of these so far. Likewise, it's hard to find fault in the talent of any of these four. Viracocha is unquestionable good, able to lean on his opponent with big shots, able to credibly work holds, able to pick up the pace for key moments of rope running, able to feed for all the big spots and set pieces, but Gonzalez remains the find. He has this over-the-top energy with an agility to match, even as he looks like a real scuzzy goon and stooges even more than that. Falempin and Corne were as good as always, quick with armdrags and dropkicks. Falempin had a great escape out of the corner to end a long bit of heat where he monkey flipped both opponents at once. Corne came in hot a couple of times with armdrags and dropkicks. But it was Gonzalez that really drew the eye from early stalling to end-of-match mugging at the camera even as his partner was losing the match, and all of the quick, exuberant work in between.

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