Tuesday is French Catch Day: Prince! Rocca! Tejero! Remy! Golden Falcons! Herve! Lamotta!

Gerard Herve/Tony Lamotta vs Golden Falcons 8/11/80

MD: Herve and Lamotta had matching tights. Saulnier was the ref. I read an article that may or may not have been BS where Herve said Jean Corne discovered him in the mid-70s and he was a Celt for a while. I saw no evidence of that but hey, it's possible. The Falcons were billed as Peruvian here, one larger who could hang a bit more with the faster rope running and spots and one who was smaller who hit a bit harder. Saulnier was the ref, which means Saulnier made his diminutive presence known.  

First third of this had Herve and Lamotta not necessarily control, but escape out of one hold after the next. There were some pretty elaborate exchanges out of wristlocks, but I'm not sure the technique was quite as tight as things we'd seen in years past. Herve's problem was that he was working big and loose for the back row but the back row really wasn't that far away in 1980. They could have brought him in as the French Von Erich cousin and he would have done very well in Texas. Most of the rest of the match was the Falcons controlling by doing nasty things behind the ref's back as Saulnier admonished the other stylist or yelled at the crowd. Not direct heat on Saulnier but certainly indirect. Lamotta, who was super agile and able to kip up a million times in a row, scored a quick roll up to win the first fall but either through Herve going to the mask foolishly or Saulnier intervening, the Falcons took back over. They won the second fall after a double team kick and back body drop which we haven't seen a ton of in the footage. Herve worked well from underneath, firing back to keep the fans in it and selling broadly. There were a couple of sufficiently hot tags here too but it maybe didn't come together as much as some of the other recent tags. Finish was yet one more hot tag to Herve and that amazing twisting armdrag thing we've seen a couple of the Panamanians and maybe Juan Guil Don use. I badly wish someone would steal it. Overall this was still well on the good side but there were some things I wouldn't have mind a bit tightened up.

SR: 2/3 Falls match going about 30 minutes. French pro wrestling was nearing the end, but tag team wrestling could still deliver, and this delivered. Fast intricate exchanges, a pair of masked guys who can stooge and deliver a beating... yeah, this is pretty much Lucha. Also, both teams wore matching outfits, so they understood the crucial parts of tag team wrestling. Gerard Herve is some young stud and a quite polished technico. Lamotta is balding and grey, but still really athletic with great looking ranas and flips, although he wisely leaves the bulk of the work to his partner. I didn‘t know what to expect from the Falcons (what kind of heel persona is that, anyways?) but they were ready to wrestle and bump and had good heel timing. There were some heel ref shenanigans with Michel Saulnier again, but to be honest he may have carried the heel beatdown section with his amusing ways to sabotage Herve. The european uppercuts landed loudly and the crowd was into this. The last fall is really short but the ending move is a good one.

Petit Prince/Claude Rocca vs Anton Tejero/Bob Remy 8/18/80

MD: This was as good as you'd expect. Some bonus heat to start as Tejero walked across the ring pre-match and ripped Prince's spectacles off his face. Once they got going there was a lot of Prince finding ways to fling Tejero to the floor, as he was always willing to get there the hard way, so revenge was had. More little bits of sputtering heat here in the first fall with a lot of comebacks, sometimes at the expense of the ref but often by simply stooging the heels. Prince really understood how to get sympathy and build to moments by this point. Remy and Rocca matched up well, Rocca with a lot of slick stuff and Remy more of a brusier where as Tejero could do everything under the sun. Towards the end of the first fall they really turned up the heat on Prince, with him, at one point, bumping into the third row. It wasn't until the ref missed the tag, a worthless moral victory for the stylists, did they actually pin him. Second fall had a molten hot tag which saw the ref get nailed as well, and then they soared into all of the fun celebratory stuff for the last fall. So it was a lot of what we've seen lately, but more of it, and with four excellent, excellent wrestlers working as hard as humanly possible. French Catch, still great in 1980, just in case anyone was confused about that.

SR: 2/3 Falls match going a little over 30 minutes. The guys were still absolutely killing it. It‘s the same formula as any of these late period French tags, two good guys who will armdrag hard, 2 rudos who will bump like crazy, and an incompetent referee who is made the butt of many a joke. It‘s really nice that we have footage of Tejero from the 1960s up to here. He was getting lumpier and greying, but still an insanely dedicated bumper. He flung himself out and across the ring like 20 times in this. I have no idea what kind of money these guys were getting to work this hard, but it‘s a trip. Rocca looked awesome just running the ropes and the Prince hadn‘t slowed down much since the 60s. I also really liked Bob Remy who was a real fucker tagging guys with punches and stiff punt kicks. This was all action until a pretty intense rudo beatdown kicked in with the Prince taking a beating,even getting flung into the crowd and carried back by a second who didn‘t bother removing his cigarette. The 3rd fall wasn‘t as intense as the first two, but this was a romp.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Prince! Hassouni! Tejero! Remy! Angelito! Sanniez! Bordes! Zarak!

MD: Unfortunately, this has more audio issues, but you can watch it without problem with headphones, only using your left earbud and not the right. It's a good week of matches though, so tough it out.

Kader Hassouni/Petit Prince vs. Anton Tejero/Bob Remy 1/7/77

MD: This one is for some cup and well worth watching. Tejero's one of the best bases and bumpers in the footage so having him paired up against Petit Prince is pretty special. Hassouni was slick as could be and Remy was a meat and potatoes slugger bad guy so all of the pieces were right here.

Structurally, this is probably the most perfect tag in the set. Yes, there are some Blousons Noirs (and others) matches with more (or longer) heat, but this was balanced just right for the style and had, finally and I don't say this lightly, the hot tag we've been waiting on for so long. It gets around 35 minutes with the first 15-20 the wrestling we'd expect from these guys, lots of holds and escapes and the stylists looking great at the expense of the heels. The heat really kicks in with Hassouni getting knocked to the floor, with the crowd moving to help him but he ultimately unable to make it back in. From there, even after a tag to Prince, they really dig in, distracting the ref, laying in mean shots, and ultimately getting the ringpost guards off to the point where Prince gives us that rare, rare French Catch blood.

This segment isn't long, but between the blood, Prince's selling, and the fact that they cut off the tag a couple of times, including one where the ref misses it, it really ramps things up so that when Prince monkey flips both heels and bounds back for the tag, the place comes unglued. Hassouni makes quick work of them on the comeback to take the second fall and the third, as you'd expect, is all celebratory stooging double teams to the crowd's delight. This is the style but it's got incredible talents with great personalities and is tightened up to make things mean even more than usual. If you've been following these tags at all, you should put on some headphones, listen with one ear, and watch this one.

Angelito vs. Albert Sanniez (JIP) 2/19/77

MD: We get the last ten minutes of this and it's just wild action. Stylist vs stylist. Juniors. They just really go at it. Counters to counters, big shots, huge spots. Some fun parallel stuff (be it both guys going for a drop down at the same time or later on when Sanniez hits a press slam into a gut buster and Angelito follows with a fireman's carry into one). Sanniez is smoother but Angelito is pretty imaginative. The thing is, Sanniez has to take all of this stuff and make it look good! The absolute craziest thing is a sunset flip bomb off the apron by Angelito to Sanniez. In 1977. Just nuts. Sanniez hits a bomb later in the ring, which I don't think we've seen too much in a while. They're working towards the draw, but they're working exceptionally hard. Sanniez looks like an all-timer here and in a vacuum this is probably some of the most action-packed ten minutes of footage in the whole set. 

Walter Bordes vs. Zarak 3/12/77

MD: Sorry guys, switch to the right earbud on this one until around the 15:30 mark and then go left. Anyway, Bordes had an absolutely undeniable connection with the crowd. It may have been inherited but you watch a match like this, you see him get fiery and just take one swipe at an opponent, not even landing, and you hear the crowd start singing Mamadou and it's beyond doubt. They go even more nuts with the singing when he tosses out Zarak later. He knew it, knew how to play into it, and here, he had an opponent who understood it just as well, for Zarak was our old friend Batman, David Smith-Larsen.

Larsen, here wrestled completely differently but with the same sort of theatricality he brought to Batman. Here he was a strutting, masked strong man with big power moves and mean clubbering blows. He overpowered Bordes' early attempts but ultimately got outwrestled, the first fifteen minutes or so being very entertaining along these lines. Eventually though, Bordes missed a top rope headbutt (or splash) and Zarak really took over with huge power moves, a press slam into a gut buster, a fireman's carry into a slam, Quasimodo's tombstone position press up move. Ultimately, he catapulted Bordes out and forced him to take some really nasty bumps to the outside. But Bordes was a hero true and he came back and tried for pin after pin after pin as the clock ticked down. This was probably the best push to a draw that we've seen, really gripping stuff with Bordes trying everything and Zarak slipping out again and again. It's not the best match we've seen but it truly felt iconic and really gives you a sense of the skill, flash, and attitude of mid 70s French Catch.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Le Bete Humaine~! Catanzaro~!Lemagourou~! Sanniez~! Remy~!

Jacky Montalier vs La Bete Humaine 2/8/71

MD: Young Jacky Montalier had a few things going for him. He really laid in his shots. He had any number of holds mastered and could hang on to them when needed. He had a cheering section of young ladies in the audience in a way we hadn't really seen. He even had a cool jacket with JAKY on the back (no C). Unfortunately, he was up against Willy the Shepherd, recently from Texas, also known as the deranged masked creature, La Bete Humaine, the human beast. We've seen pretty out there characters: Quasimodo, multiple headsmen, a hippy, a cannibal, even the Martian on the outside, but this might be the strangest. I had rushed this one out a couple of years ago and I called him a cross between Tom Magee, the Missing Link, and the Ultimate Warrior, and I'm still sort of feeling that. La Bete, despite being huge, could do a lot of the more athletic stuff you'd expect: leap to the top rope, hit ranas, do the over the top backflip out of a cravat, hit lunging dropkicks. And he was certainly full of out of control antics: pulling the ref's shirt off or tossing him over the top, tossing Montalier out repeatedly, tossing a fan over the top post-match. Mainly he liked to toss people out of the ring. So there was some skill here and Montalier tried to stay in it, but one thing La Bete didn't like doing a whole lot was sell, and that made this a few minutes of real curiosity and awe, and a lot more of awkward gawking at whatever the heck they were trying to accomplish in there.

Billy Catanzaro/Gilbert Lemagourou vs Albert Sanniez/Bob Remy 3/12/71

MD: Kind of amazed we haven't already done this one. Sanniez is someone I'm really looking forward to as we still have a half dozen matches with him remaining and he's been great so far. Lemagourou was a solid stooge here, hitting hard when in control and taking everything with enthusiasm, but it's impossible to stand next to the dynamo of energy that was Catanzaro. He just swallows up all the air around him, like a Jim Breaks on speed. He complained about every shot he took, only to run right into the next. He took every advantage like it was the most natural thing in the world. He fed every spot. He'd eat a dropkick right in the face, but not until scrambling around like a madman for positioning first. When they took over around the middle of the match, they controlled the ring well, drawing in their opponent and distracting the ref and put on a very credible beating. Catanzaro's tombstone set up facebuster and then the tombstone itself led the commentator to speak about crushed vertebrae, which is always what you're looking for in such a move. This never reached the level of the most insanely quick lightweight tags of this era, but they did pick up the pace well and then made things resonate with the character work so it was a good balance. Sanniez had some great escapes but Remy was able to hold his own too. I think we have one Catanzaro match left to go in 72.

PAS: Cantanzaro really has the feel of a guy, that if we had five more matches we could make a top 20 of all time argument. He has the Cesca classic, nothing for over a decade and then a couple of tags where he is working as a manic athletic heel and he is just mesmerizing. In perfect position for every big spot, bumping feeding heeling. Everyone else was good in this too, but man what a talent. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Gastel! Williams! Remy! MODESTO ALEDO~!

Modesto Aledo vs. Bob Remy 7/29/67

SR: 1 fall match going a bit over 20 minutes. Not a superclassic like the other Aledo match we've seen, but pretty good technical work. Of course Aledo is ultra smooth and looks a step above. His standing headscissor is just insane. Remy is stocky and another solid French technician. They didn't seem to be super familiar, but most of the wrestling was slick and the gnarly bits were cool. Dug Aledos backbreakers. Remy launched a nice assault on Aledos arm, throwing him around and then locking in some tight short arm scissors. Aledo sold it pretty nicely, collapsing after hitting a forearm. It was one of the better bits of selling we've seen so far and made the ending more dramatic. Elegant finish.

MD: I thought this bit of footage was lost but it turned up and we're glad to have it. It's another look at Aledo, though one that shows a slightly different side of him than before. He still could be lightning quick, imaginative, and moved across the ring with confidence and mastery but he worked this much more from underneath, almost basing for Remy to really make him shine. That's not to say Remy wasn't bringing stuff to the table. He kept his holds interesting, including the back half where he grounded Aledo with long short arm scissors and then hammerlock exchanges with some great selling between holds. My favorite thing he did here was a neckbreaker though, where he just wrenched Aledo's face to get him into position for one of the meanest ones I've ever seen. They didn't quite take it into the gear that we knew Aledo could from our previous look at him, but it was nice to see this as contrast to really show off his range.

PAS: Aledo is one of those super maestros who you know was incredible because of reputation, and I was happy to get another surprise chance to see him. Like Matt and Sebastian said, this is an all time classic like the Teddy Boy match, but you could definitely see some of what made Aledo a legend. French Catch is a style with a lot of smooth movement, but Aledo is really on another level, just simple stuff like a armbar reversal is awesome. His deep roll up pin to win the match was about as great looking as I have ever seen that move applied. Remy was a real grinder, trying to keep Aledo bottled up with short arm scissors and hammerlocks, everything he did looked like it really hurt which is something I am always going to have a ton of time for.  

Frank Valois vs. Jacky Wiecz 8/2/67

MD: JIP, a little less than three minutes here. Valois was big and bruising, trapping the arm and sneaking in cheap shots and later tossing Wiecz out. Wiecz was billed as Carpentier's nephew and we'll see him once again in 68 in a longer match against Bollet and he was spirited and fiery with the crowd very much behind him. The big turning point was him grabbing Valois' foot to cut off the King of the Mountain and the fans went nuts for it.

Robert Gastel vs. Eddie Williams 8/2/67

MD: I liked the back half of this more than the first half, probably because Williams got to do more in the back half. That's not to say that the early stuff was bad. It was just by the books with holds, Gastel starting the inside shots early, and the ref being more of an annoyance than usual in cutting off Williams' comeback attempts. There were times where I think Gastel was even telling him to lighten up so that he didn't steal his heat, though a lot of that would pay off later on with a big collision spot with the ref that the crowd loved and then Williams just getting fed up and clocking him. Williams brought vulnerability and intensity and some strength spots and of course the headbutt towards the end. By the last few minutes there was a real sense of his momentum and the crowd, which we knew from the last match was a good one, was very much behind him. Gastel's the guy I could watch again and again though. He lives on that perfect line between mean and credible bruising and being a brilliant, reactive stooge. All of his stuff looks so good and all of his reactions and facial expressions and feeding is just so spot on. He's larger than life while just being this dumpy, nondescript lump of a guy. This might be our tenth match with him, but I feel like I know him in the ring as well as I know Dick Murdoch or Buck Robley. Just a great, great pro wrestler and I'm glad we were able to meet him through this footage. I'm also glad the ref in this one got clocked.

SR: 1 fall match going about 30 minutes. Man, Robert Gastel is such a joy to watch. Even when he is doing super simple stuff, he is supremely entertaining. This had simplistic grappling, armlocks and headscissors, but they kept it interesting. Eddie Wiliams is really athletic - super height on his dropkick - and has nice headbutts and forearms. And I just love Gastel. I'm sure if he popped up more he'd emerge as a Satanico-like superworker. This was more of a houseshowish match and a bit long here and there, but I enjoyed it. Worth watching for Gastel grimacing and punching Williams in the face.

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