Tuesday is French Catch Day: Bordes! Zarak! Gonzalez! Gomez! Asquini! Mercier!

MD: We're in the 80s now, believe it or not. There's still quite a bit of footage to go. I think after we're done, I'll make yet another list that puts things in chronological order with our reviews and use that to fill in the gaps of other things that may have popped up outside of the collection. Good news for the 80s is that Sebastian has gone through most of this footage. I don't think he's been living and breathing this stuff as much as I have, so you'll get a different take on things. Which is good, as you'll see below, as I'm always a little uncomfortable being the only take on these matches. Go check out his blog which is consistently great.

Walter Bordes vs Zarak 3/1/80

MD: With the help of youtube's handy translation function I figured out a few things here. The first is that Bordes had been trying to beat Zarak for a bit but was always stymied. The second is that he had learned either through a trip to the US or just through research about the wonders of the strap match and in order to finally defeat Zarak, challenged him to one here. They even had Petit Prince guest commentate for a moment to explain it to the audience. For a minute there, I got pretty excited about it, but Zarak, rogue that he was, refused and this was just a standard match. At one point, Duranton (I think) came by with his dog and the entire production team cared more about the dog than the match. I was actually pretty high on this one and I saw more of an underlying story both in Zarak's strength vs Bordes' speed and technique and fire and in Bordes getting himself in trouble by going for Zarak's mask (or even his boot laces) later in the match when he had an advantage. This was such a heated rivalry that he lost his cool. I don't think Sebastian has it right that it ended in a DQ, but instead a time limit draw leading to the eventual strap match that we don't have. Zarak had used, mid-match, a sort of running headfirst charge which knocked Bordes off his feet. In his final comeback, Bordes started using them as well which popped the crowd huge but he missed and hit the ref for his second or third attempt at it. Again, I think it was just a warning as then the fans counted down to the bell a half minute later.

Zarak impressed me more here too, not necessarily for what he did (which was all good), but for what he did differently from when he was Batman. He worked this like he was Der Henker or one of the many masked headsman we've seen so far, with just a bit more of his theatrical panache and flair in just little motions of his hands. It's funny to think how so many of the masked wrestlers were headsmen. I'm not sure if that is a takeoff of the first, successful one or something more ingrained in the culture, in as how we had the Spoiler and Midnight Rider and Outlaw and whatever else here in the States. But I always reward a wrestler who's able to adapt in his style and mannerisms with a different character and Smith-Larsen absolutely did here. This is one of Bordes' best babyface performances too, as there was more built in animosity than usual. Some of his bumps were spectacular, flying sternum first into the corner (Even breaking the ring at one point) or out of the ring or into the crowd.

SR: 1 Fall match going a bit over 25 minutes. Zarak was a big, towering guy in a mask. It fascinates me how much masked French wrestlers look like luchadores. This Zarak guy didn‘t work like a luchador (he was a British guy, in fact), but he seemed like a decent worker. Bordes had entered the maestro portion of his career at this point, and he had quite good looking mechanics. The early portion of this was Bordes putting a hold on Zarak, Zarak powering out and Bordes really flying across the ring. Bordes even flew into the crowd like Spike Dudley later in the match. The problem with the match was that they seemed to have no ideas for a story or such, so it was your typical series of retaliation spots. Zarak had some nice punches, a knee drop to the throat and one point just kneed Bordes in the balls, but wasn‘t terribly interesting as a character. The worst thing about the match was that it ended in a stupid DQ after they ran through a series of nearfalls.

Jose Gonzalez/Pedro Gomez vs Bruno Asquini 8/14/80 

MD: Maybe as perfectly structured a tag as we've seen on the set. And we're in 1980. The long first fall with comedy with Saulnier as the ref and feeling out (with a stylist advantage) early, into the first round of heat with Saulnier missing all sorts of double teaming, a brief comeback, a second bit of heat leading into the pin and the second fall, the real hot tag and comeback and stylist win, and then a high octane, imaginative and celebratory last fall with those multiman spots that are so much fun. I don't think I could have laid it out better.

And of course, everyone, from the wrestlers to Saulnier to Couderc (shouting "Save the cameras!" late when Mercier was chasing Gomez around the ring). Gonzalez is a true hero of the footage, the successor to Inca Peruano, stooging, creative, dramatic, hard hitting, incredibly fast in feeding and bumping and in holds. He's great a putting a little twist on something normal, going high low on clubbers instead of just straight on, that sort of thing, and of course more than willing to bump himself into the ropes and choke himself. This was our first look at Gomez and I thought he was excellent chain wrestling with Asquini. Otherwise, he didn't stand out as much but he took everything clean and worked well with Gonzalez. Aqsuini, of course, is spry, probably second or third best for what he was to Carpentier and Ben Chemoul on the set, but with a patina of age and grump to him. And Mercier is the perfect all arounder, able to do the headstand twist, hard shots, a fiery comeback when he tosses one after the next into the corner. I may be more sympathetic to the Saulnier stuff than others because we know him so well and he's so small and still able to bump and plays his role well. Here, I don't think too much of the heat ended up on him. Some of the last fall stuff was new too, a couple of spots where they made one heel pin the other and counted. This didn't have the long holds of the 50s but it was much more refined from years and years of working out the style to a point which feels quite ideal to me.

SR: 2/3 Falls match going about 25 minutes. I love that France has a litany of South American rudo bases available. Structurally, this was exactly like something you‘d expect to see in Arena Mexico or Monterrey. The thing that the French crew has going for it in 1980 is that these guys are old and rugged now but still doing all the ridiculously fast armdrags. Asquini is balding and dumpy looking here but has just a beautiful dropkick. Mercier didn‘t do a ton besides hitting some great looking arm drags and stiff uppercuts, but he had a nice airplane spin and impressive old man strong military press. Gomez & Gonzalez looked good during the opening wrestling portions. Unfortunately, the rudo beatdown went a little long and they seemingly didn‘t have it in them to make up for it with a ferocious finale, although the rudos were dedicated to miscommunication spots. There was also some ref bullshit in the match, although the refs mannerisms were amusing and thankfully it never took center stage. I could see someone who has never seen French pro wrestling before digging this.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Asquini! Trujillo! Mercier! Gonzalez! Momo! Latif! Siki! Schmid!

Bruno Asquini vs Tomas Trujillo 8/21/87 

MD: We get the last eight or so of this. Trujillo is the Peruvian we've seen the last, but he's very good. He's got interesting angles to come at with his offense, plays to the crowd well, bumps big, can handle complex rope running sequences, and has the big swooping climb up armdrag, which would be better on a babyface, but still stands out. He matched up here with Asquini, who by this point was relatively old, but still worked hard and had a sort of twinkle in his eye in how he wrestled. Saulnier as ref got just a bit too involved here. The put upon, furious tiny terror gimmick has its moments but I was more interested in seeing these two match up. Trujillo actually gets the win after catching Asquino off the ropes with a quick pin. I feel like outside of a monster like Henker, we haven't seen heels win almost at all in the last decade.

Jose Gonzalez vs Guy Mercier 8/21/78

MD: I love how clean this match was narratively. Twenty minutes. Entertaining. Well worked and competitive. Ebbs and flows. Saulnier (the ref) being a bit annoying but getting plenty of comeuppance and he can't outstooge Gonzalez who was just one of the best. Mercier grounding everything like the old pro he was.

I don't do this often but let me run you through how the match was set up as it was as clean as anything I've come across in the footage match. They have a feeling out exchange where Gonzalez gets an early advantage with multiple mares and armdrags and biels but where Mercier gives him comeuppance and sends him to the outside with a reversal. Then we get an extended cravat sequence where Gonzales hangs on through multiple escape attempts as Mercier tries to escape. After he finally shrugs him off, Mercier does his spin out legpick and starts with a toehold, peppering in legdrops onto the leg and changing position. This is probably the most extended portion of the match save for the actual heat later on, as Gonzalez manages to reverse it in the ropes and then uses the ropes for leverage as Saulnier keeps missing it. We've seen tag partners work together but less of one person really using the ropes like this. Mercier is able to take back advantage with more of the same, with Saulnier getting chopped for his trouble. Gonzalez gets another shot at it, in the corner, grinding the leg over his shoulder, but Mercier konks him in the top of the head with his foot and Gonzalez bumps forward into Saulnier (second public warning on Mercier).

They reset into a go behind reversal by Mercier, who drops Gonzalez into a bodyscissors sequence, with him thudding Gonzalez down repeatedly. Eventually, he gets out, eats a monkey flip to land on his feet, poses, and Mercier dropkicks him out (and then dropkicks Saulnier twice for good measure). Gonzles sneaks back in, gets a cheapshot and starts the real heat, a lot of stomps, headlocks with punches, and bicep poses to the crowd. Eventually he ties Mercier in the ropes and they run a spot where Saulnier gets his foot stuck trying to get him out, which the crowd loves. The transition is Gonzalez missing a charge and choking himself in the ropes. That leads to Mercier tying Saulnier up in the ropes too so he can whack Gonzalez on the top of the head, sending him tumbling and stooging on the outside.

The finish is some back and forth forearms, with a Mercier advantage, Saulnier preventing Gonzalez from holding the rope to avoid a whip, a nice bit where Mercier hits a gut shot the first time and gets sunset flipped the second for a nearfall, and a third whip where he hits the armdrag slam (really nicely as he'd been looking away until a split second before) for 3. This was one of the cleanest matches I've seen narratively. It only went seventeen or so, which helped, had clear characters, and they worked nicely segmented sequences (feeling out, stylist hold advantage, heel hold advantage, stylist overcoming to regain hold advantage, stylist presses advantage into clowning, heel comes back and gets heat, stylist comes back as they go to finish), but I do sort of wonder if it's just me living in this footage for a couple of years now.

Jean-Pierre Momo vs Salah Latif 8/28/78

MD: We get the last five or six of this. It went around twenty before we got here. There's a Breton folk group in the crowd dressed up. It feels like a smaller venue. Latif had a lot of headbutt related offense, despite not looking like a guy who would. I'm not sure if the ring was slightly smaller or usual or what but there were some spots where the positioning was off and dropkicks didn't quite unravel like they should. It felt like they were working towards a draw but Latif kept going for a double underhook in the end and finally hit a sort of floatover suplex with it to score a win with a couple of minutes to go. They hit hard enough but it wasn't the smoothest match in the footage.

Mammoth Siki vs Daniel Schmid 8/29/78

MD: I expected Siki to be the face here and Schmid the heel out of previous matches, because Siki had a good reaction coming out, and because the commentary talked him up as a good guy, a former accountant, a bouncer, etc. Plus Schmid is a natural heel, a Buddy Rose analogue. He's a few years older here and I know they brought him out the last time we saw him after a injury that was either real or fake, but seemed pretty severe. Since we're up to 78, Portland could have brought him into run an angle as Buddy's cousin and it would have been the best thing in wrestling that year. He could do kip ups and rope running quite like Buddy after all. This had a lot of him working from underneath in armbars or nerve holds. Not the most exciting stuff, but he was working hard and the crowd was behind him. The Breton folk group started playing music to support him and that's exactly when he timed his comeback, which is how wrestling is supposed to work when you're not working to specific quarter hours on TV. We're at least ten years into when I started noticing the trend, but this was the clearest I've ever heard the "Bonuses", which, in this case, was when people in the crowd or local businesses rewarded things that happened by offering donations to the wrestlers, 120 francs for Schmid and less for Siki by the end, and someone even gave the ref 10. It's a uniquely French thing as I've never encountered it anywhere else, but quite common throughout the 70s. Sadly, this ended with said ref getting crushed off the ropes in a mishap and then Siki stomped him which led to the DQ. It was an ok novelty but shouldn't be the top of anyone's list to watch.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Van Buyten Brothers! Vladimir! Strogoff! Mercier! Asquini! Taysse! Viracocha! Gonzales! Trujillo!

Guy Mercier/Bruno Asquini/Gerard Taysse vs Inca Viracocha/Jo Gonzales/Tomas Trujillo 8/7/78

MD: On paper, this one may not seem so special. Some stylists (French and Italian) against the Peruvians or Spaniards. This is, however, our first real trios match. We had one previously back in 74 but that had been more of a penalty box match where the third wrestler on the stylist side didn't join until halfway in. At a glance, it doesn't seem to catch on like it did in Mexico around this time, as I don't see more of these upcoming in the footage.

That's a shame as the style was so suited for the ins and outs of traditional trios matches. There was an extra flow to the pairings in the first third, wrestlers cycling in and out, with an underlying story of Gonzales (who was wonderfully over the top here and I'm not sure I've given him enough credit overall) sort of ducking Mercier. They felt like de facto captains in the narratives. Things shifted to a fairly clear heat where Asquini and Taysse would fight back but get trapped back into the heel corner. They'd cycle in and out but the advantage stayed with the heels. Mercier got knocked off the apron a few times but didn't get in. The only real move of note here was a Trujillo slam where he fell too, landing sort of in a suplex (We still haven't seen a standing vertical one. This was more like a Snow Plow). Most of it was shots and stomps but it was all effective and drew heat.

After the first fall, they ramped the heat up more, putting a lot of it on Saulnier (being the diminutive ref, who we know well by now both as a wrestler and a ref) including him missing a hot tag to Mercier before Asquini rolled so he could make it. Mercier subsequently destroyed everyone, including Saulnier, whipping him into the corner repeatedly as he was tossing Gonzales around. The third fall had some elaborate spots including the six person at once headlock, set
up beautifully at the end by Saulnier getting in Mercier's face not to do it. They even did a spot where they pressed Mercier into a heel and counted a pin with him. Fun stuff all around, good performances, with Mercier and Gonzales standing out, and a taste of what French trios wrestling might have been if it developed further that way into the 80s. One last note, while there hasn't been a lot of week to week build in the French footage, it has happened occasionally and it looks to be happening again soon as I see the August 21, 1978 show is Asquini vs Trujillo and Gonzales vs Mercier. We should cover that next week.

Ivan Strogoff/Le Grand Vladimir vs Franz van Buyten/Daniel van Buyten 8/14/78

MD: More sound issues on this one, sorry. Unsurprisingly, it's worth watching though. Daniel is Franz' brother and works very similarly to him, including the same huge babyface comeback spot, one of the best of all time, that lunge across the ring up to the top rope to fire fists into his opponent's face. That's for the end though. This was fun with a different structure than usual. Strogoff and Vladimir were a formidable team, clubbing and leaning with armbars. The first third or so had them trying just that and Franz and Daniel out wrestling them. Ultimately though, they cut of Daniel and Strogoff put him down with a prototype of a Tiger Drive ('78 I guess).

Second fall had a pretty awesome comeback early on with Franz putting on maybe the tightest cravat I've ever seen, but Daniel ended up back in and beat upon. Delaporte was equally a jerk to everyone in this one, keeping Franz out but also pulling on Vladimir's beard when he went too far. Eventually hot tags were made and fiery comebacks were had. It eventually spilled out to the floor for a big brawl and got thrown out. These guys all matched up extremely well.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Bordes! Leduc! Ramirez! Boucard! Mercier! Asquini! MacGregor! O'Connor!

Walter Bordes/Gilbert Leduc vs Paco Ramirez/Daniel Boucard 7/25/77

MD: We get a solid 20 minutes of action here, so while this is incomplete, there's a lot to see, and a lot of enjoy, and a lot to learn. For one, it's Leduc, the wrestler of the 60s, teaming with Bordes, who may well be the wrestler of the 70s. Ramirez, working sort of ebullient yet cowardly matador gimmick, was a great heatseeking heel and Boucard, more of a mugging, clubbering one. Leduc still had it, able to slug it out and do all of his signature spins and Bordes had such amazing energy, both when he was charging headlong into his own offense and eating Ramirez' charging headbutts to the guts. Sometimes, he went so fast that it went haywire, like when he tried to flip up into a 'rana off, but they always recovered; here it was with a nasty power bomb. The structure of this makes it a bit of a shame we dont' have all of it, as Boucard and Ramirez, after shaking hands politely, staged and ambush and actually pinned Leduc in the first minute. We only get the brunt of the second fall before the video cuts off, unfortunately, but it was very complete in the action we do have, exchanges and bits of heat and comebacks and the occasional slugfest. This will be our last look at Leduc so I saw it as something of a passing of the torch to a more than game Bordes.

Guy Mercier/Bruno Asquini vs Alan MacGregor/Marc O'Connor 8/1/77

MD: Michel Saulnier was an exceptional wrestler and trained Andre and Petit Prince if I'm not mistaken but he was an outright heel ref here, as heelish as we've seen, and while it absolutely got everyone in the crowd angry, especially as this was a crowd filled with more kids than usual, it ended up being a bit much in this one. Let me put it this way. It was okay this one time, because it certainly worked for what they were trying to do, but as someone watching 45 years later, hopefully they don't go back to the well again. On a social level it was interesting to see the announcer laughing and dismissing Saulnier's antics as good fun and patronizing the kids in the audience for taking it all too seriously. That gives you some sense of how all of this was taken in France on a macro level maybe?

It was all so over the top and comedic (with the comebacks being about Mercier and Asquini attacking Saulnier as much as attacking the Scots) that you really have to take it as its own thing and it makes it hard to compare to more conventional matches. That's almost a shame because this had more straight up heat than most French matches we see. The heels dominated almost the whole thing, mainly through control of Asquini's arm, cutting off the ring, some very credible offense, and of course, Saulnier missing tags and holding Mercier back. MacGregor had size and hit hard and O'Connor was a real mean mugging goon type. Asquini, older but spry, did very well as face-in-peril including setting up and paying off his hot tags rolling across the ring and Mercier, unsurprisingly, was able to knock everyone about when it was his time to come in. There wasn't really any meaningful selling of the arm but it still made sense as a was to control things. The celebratory last fall was shorter than usual though you got glimpses in the second and so much of it was about Saulnier getting his comeuppance. It was certainly fun, no question about that.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Corn! Malmoa! Ben Chemoul! Bordes! Asquini! Lagache!

Jacky Corn vs. Frank Malmoa 11/9/73

MD: The good thing about being this deep into the footage is that we really do know some of the wrestlers. I can write a lot about Gilbert LeDuc or Rene Ben Chemoul, and yes, about Jacky Corn. He's the sort of guy who will outwrestle you to start, that will dive you to nasty tactics, will survive them, and then will forearm you in the face three times, toss you out of the ring, and get you in a hold just so he can stomp on your fingers. He did that here. He also elbowed Malmoa's skull repeatedly while holding him in a Fujiwara arm bar. I liked Malmoa but I don't know if I need to see him more than this. He had a way of getting ahead by doing something dirty, appealing to the crowd, and then getting annoyed and admonishing him when they didn't give him the credit he deserved. It's a simple act but an effective one. I liked how they could do similar exchanges, primarily things like top wristlocks into headscissors into headstand escape attempts and have them feel different and mean something different at the three minute point and then the eighteen minute point of the match because of what had transpired in between. My favorite Corn matches are probably the ones where he's beat down for a while and then comes back in a big way and this was more of smaller slights that were quickly avenged, with the idea that Malmoa was never a huge threat, but it was still fun to see him fire back and to see Malmoa get what was coming to him.

Rene Ben Chemoul/Walter Bordes vs. Bruno Asquini/Pierre Lagache 12/7/73

MD: Asquini had previously been a stylist and he had some clunkier than usual exchanges with Bordes and Ben Chemoul though they were still quick and effective. When it was time for them to take over, primarily through cheating and controlling things in the corner, he did a lot better. He could put on a competent beating. Lagache stood out more for stooging and complaining and it was great to see his carefully coifed hair become more and more wild as the match went worse and worse for him. There was extended heat on the end of the first fall through a tag between Ben Chemoul and Bordes and Bordes really took a mauling getting tossed over the top repeatedly and then kept out of the ring with kicks and hard shots. The comeback came a little too easy in the second fall, but Bordes' finishing sequence of the three cartwheels, the two headscissors takeover, and the leap up victory roll remains one of the best trademark sequences in all the footage. The third fall had some more beatdown and another comeback which was just a little too easy, but it all felt more balanced and maybe a little less celebratory than usual. It was still nice to see Bordes and Ben Chemoul against some new opponents.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Rene Ben! Bordes! Falcons! Cesca! Noirs!

Rene Ben Chemoul/Walter Bordes vs Golden Falcons 1/2/71

MD: Another notch in the belt for Ben Chemoul and Bordes. Another match with game opponents that goes 30, keeps the fans constantly entertained, and is one fun sequence after the next. Their opponents here were the Golden Falcons, billed from America and looking quite a bit like Halcon de Oro I and II. While they got clowned for most of the match, they did have some fun offense, inverted headlock backbreakers, these big whacks to the top of the head, and a nice rope running cheapshot sequence to win the first fall, plus good use of ref distraction for double teams to cut off the ring later on. They took the first fall in around ten minutes, which feels sort of rare in these matches and helped keep at least a little bit of drama while the stylists kept winning exchanges. Bordes was 24 here and continues to show more and more every match. He had these running-up-the-ropes armdrags I don't think I've seen much in the French footage so far, for instance, and they did the old waistlock-takedown-bodyscissors-posterior bump sequence in stereo which the fans loved. It's hard to explain Ben Chemoul to someone who hasn't seen him. Every movement was stylized and punctuated, with an acrobat's athleticism but this incredibly precise timing to draw the attention of every eye. He conducted the crowd and they chanted and sang for him more than any other wrestler in the footage. I'd liken it to Dusty's punches and atomic elbow except for it was just about everything Ben Chemoul did and he could do a lot. This had a few wrinkles and some very game, big bumping heels and was a good time had by all.

PAS: Really cool to see the Falcons, who maybe legendary luchadores considering how little 70s lucha footage we have. They were very solid rudos, kind of a lesser Oficial's team, who were there to serve as foils for the more spectacular babyfaces. Matt did a great job of describing Rene Ben, I think it is almost Wrestling 2ish, with just spice on every blow. Bordes is a great young babyface, a little bigger then your real juniors, but with that level of athleticism. We know what we get from these French tags at this point and it is great stuff. 


Gilber Cesca/Bruno Asquini vs Les Blousons Noirs 1/25/71

MD: Another year, some more Blousons Noirs. Top guys. Cesca and Asquini were definitely game opponents here. The Blousons looked a little older, especially Gessat but they were still great at stooging (especially Mannevau), at being absolutely mean (Gessat's face ripping in a nelson position), and especially at controlling things (love the body manipulation, especially full nelson spinouts into mares) in the second and first half of the third fall. Yeah, this actually settled down after the stylists took the first fall (long and mostly back and forth but with a definitely stylist advantage on exchanges and some clowning), into real, substantial heat. That's not always or maybe even often the case in these tags. Cesca and Asquini would get a tag and maybe a shot in but the Blousons would hammer them right down again. It wasn't until a missed double team and some chaos on the floor that Cesca and Asquini were able to comeback. Once they did, they never looked back with great looking strikes and energy down the stretch, right to the back flip off the top by Cesca and leapfrog to set up an Asquini missile dropkick that was the finish. We've seen the Blousons fairly steadily but Cesca really drops in and out of the footage. You see him back now and again with the same confidence and pin point accuracy and skill and wonder what he was up to during these gaps. This was a cut above due to the greater dedication to a more familiar structure if nothing else.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Asquini! Manneveau! Saulnier! Torres! Kaiser! Mercier

Bruno Asquini vs Marcel Manneveau 5/2/70

MD: As best as I can tell, this was at an outdoor venue in Chantilly. There's talk repeatedly of a national wrestler's collective putting on the show. I'm fairly sure the venue drove the format, but this went around 12 minutes and is really one of the most watchable, accessible matches we have on the set so far. If you want to show someone some French Catch, this is a great choice. We rarely (if ever) have gotten to see Manneveau on his own and here he was able to stretch a bit more. With Gessat, he's relegated more to stooging. This moved quickly but I wouldn't call it a sprint as they worked holds, blocked counters, a push over the top, moving into hard shots and big spots, then back into holds. I'm not kidding when I say they were hard shots either. Asquini was a hell of a striker and Manneveau was really laying in the kicks and knees. They weren't out there for long relatively so they worked every hold and escape attempt with everything they had. In the end, Manneveau stole one with the ropes and I swear it's the first time we've seen such a thing in a decade and a half of footage.

PAS: Yeah this was really cool, it was like a TV studio version of the much longer matches we normally get. I really liked the leglock spot with Manneveau smacking Asquini every time he tried to raise up, only to get felled by a nice ax kick. I also liked all of the spots where they tied each other in the ropes. It was strange to see a grab the ropes finish, it is such a classic wrestling spot, but have matches end on straight cheating is really rare. 

Michel Saulnier vs. Ricardo Torres 5/2/70

MD: If Manneveau vs Asquini was a middleweight war with technical holds and big shots, this was absolutely a lightweight sprint. These two were constant motion. There were holds but they were reversed quickly often in the most spectacular way possible. There was something I had to go back and watch three times, where a slip through the legs was followed by a trip and a headlock attempt, but where Saulnier was able to pick out an arm for a wristlock at the attempt. The match was full of little moments like that and for the most part they didn't feel cooperative. Everything switched at the ten minute mark when Torres ended up accidentally choked in the ropes. Saulnier was quick to help him out in a sportsmanlike manner, but things went a lot chippier after that even as they kept the crowd up with pin attempts and spots as they rushed to a finish. Ultimately, this was another 15 minutes and another great match to show people, as it was a snapshot of the breathtaking French lightweight style.

PAS: This was the kind of style which really blew us away when we first saw French Catch. Lots of super fast counters and and great looking ranas and armdrags. Saulnier hits a fast handstand into a rana which would be the coolest highspot on a PWG or AEW show, much less something from the 70s. The flip into the rope choke was really cool looking too, unclear how Torres's head didn't pop off his body

Kurt/Peter Kaiser vs Guy Mercier 5/2/70

 I think this was set up as a different show, but it's likely the same venue. Kaiser's now called Peter instead of Kurt (maybe one by the ring announcer and one by the commentator actually). They reference him previously winning in less than two minutes against Bayle and note that this is a catchweight as he's much bigger than Mercier. Mercier got a few of his really great leg picks in (some spinning and some just dropping down and one as he was rolling backwards out of a hold), his spin out headscissors, as well as some fun holds like a short leg scissors. He probably took a little too much of it actually, even though Kaiser was good at coming back with slams or a looming nervehold at every point. It was a banana peel finish where Mercier got over-exuberant on a comeback and Kaiser was able to side step him. They never really went for big heat here, even shaking after the match. I'm not sure if that had to do more with the venue or what but it wasn't quite the follow up to the Bayle squash I was expecting.

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New Footage Friday: Mask Match, French Catch

Bruno Asquini/Gilbert Leduc vs. Les Blousons Noirs (Claude Gessat/Marcel Mannevau) French Catch 5/6/67

PAS: This French stuff is such a treat to watch, here are four completely new guy I have never seen before doing some incredible things I have never seen before. Bruno Asquini isn't in this match very much (he either legit blows out a knee or they do an angle) but he was pretty impressive in his brief sections. He has maybe the greatest headscissors take downs I have ever seen, he get a ton of height and wraps his thighs around the neck of his opponent and then drives their head into the mat like a piledriver, and does it a luchadore speed. LeDuc is the master of the headspin, he does a Santo style headspin leg scissors, but super fast, he also uses a headspin as a mistake, it is an elite breakdancer level headspin, he is the French precursor to Boogalo Shrimp. The Blouson's were fun stoogers and bumpers and were vicious when they needed to be, but were mostly just foils. Asquini torches his knee 10 or so minutes into the match, and can't go on, then they have a long section of 2 on 1, which Leduc weirdly still takes 60% of. When Le Batman comes down to join the match and take the tag, to clean house, it didn't really land because he was cleaning house on a pair of guys who already were getting walloped 1 on 2. I like Le Batman a lot, he is a fun babyface brawler, kind of a French Dream Machine Troy Graham. He wasn't listed on this match, so I was amped to see him. I liked both fall finished too, and if they had ever treated the Blousons as a real threat, this would have gotten an EPIC from me, but instead it was more a collection of cool shit then an all time match.

MD: This was a mix of stuff thirty years before its time and stuff that is absolutely timeless, all of it with that extra bit of connective tissue that we've lost today, the why of a move. We have a handful of 60s French Catch and that's got to be one of the great untapped treasure troves left. I was unfamiliar with everyone in the match but the wrestling is universal. The babyfaces outwrestled and outpunched the heels, all at excessive speed, throwing multiple dropkicks and armdrags and uppercuts and even quick ranas. The heels got a head due to luck or chicanery or a combination of both. The leapfrog transition to take out the leg is something that people should steal. We should be seeing that on TV six times a year. There were plenty of heel miscommunication spots that would have played anywhere or anywhen and they did a solid job of cutting off the ring. All of the stuff with LeDuc fighting off the numbers game was super compelling. I kept waiting for Asquini to come in from the back but Le Batman was a nice surprise, basically a mobile Bruiser or Crusher in a batman shirt. Once he arrived this ended in short order. LeDuc's Bearhug-drop down-leg-nelson-endless headsplitters thing is amazing and super over a guy like Riddle or Gable neeeds to steal it immediately).

ER: Paul Levesque was born in 1969. Here we have wonderful footage of a French ladies' man, Gilbert Leduc, wrestling in 1967. It was around this time that young Patricia Levesque first went to France, on a trip with her aunt, after he first year of college. It was here that she met Leduc and was so captivated that she wound up taking a summer abroad the very next year just to see him more. She had never been a fan of professional wrestling, but that wasn't what she loved about him. She loved his charm, his magnetism, his silly and showy sides. She loved him. And while she wasn't planning on becoming a mother while still at university, sometimes life gets in the way. She never told Gilbert about their child, fearing his reaction. But when the time was right she did tell Paul. She told him how much she loved seeing his father Gilbert entertain the crowds, and Paul would side wide-eyed, picturing this larger than life man who was able to be both beloved by crowds, while handily vanquishing two strapping men. Paul knew from a young age he wanted to be just like this man whom he would never know. He would be the coolest guy, who would beat up all the bad guys at once, and get the coolest girl. Leduc would never know.

Leduc wrestles much like his progeny, taking 90% of a match no matter the odds, with a major difference being that he's got some flat out awesome shit. Santo is the king, but LeDuc's spinning grounded headscissors blow Santo's out of the water. No hyperbole. LeDuc is able to bridge up onto the top of his head and get this crazy spin, legs scissored around his opponent's neck, that it looks like the most graceful and violent move. I came here to make a Breakin' joke, but Phil wrote his review before me, and you have to expect someone would have gotten there first. But it's an apt comparison. Gilbert's street moves were great enough that you know he knew some of the coolest street artists. He could throw a mean right, had great arm drags and takedowns, he just wrestled as a two man Guerriers de la Route, and if your brain somehow didn't notice that he was 1 on 2 and was totally fine the entire time and just watched all the cool shit they pulled off? This still would seem like the absolute best. Phil was also spot on about Bruno's headscissors, maybe the best I've seen. They're those great heavyweight style like Dave Taylor's, only lightning fast and even more snug. Phenomenal. Batman comes in to replace him and...erm...save? LeDuc, and throw some nice hard dropkicks...But I can't say I can remember any time where Batman showed up to save someone from henchmen and the guy he was saving said "Oh thanks for showing up, Bats, but I've had this situation under control the entire time. Even HHH didn't get to steal Blade's thunder.

Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar WWE 10/9/03

MD: How can you watch this match and think that we're in in the best timeline? Look, Suplex City Brock is unique and special. His matches are exciting. Some of that is how little he wrestles, some of it is how different he is from everything else. I have no desire to revisit any Suplex City Brock match though, not really. They exist in the moment and only in the moment. On the other hand, I think I'd be happy rewatching this match. This Brock was not unique. This Brock was not different. What he was instead was exceptional at doing all of the things that make wrestling great. You watch this and you wonder how he could have ever left. He's obviously having the time of his life as a heel. It's everything you'd want a house show like this to be. He spends the first third of the match stooging and stalling, diving out of the ring at every opportunity as Taker stands tall. The second third has him landing a few cheapshots and then working heavily over the leg. All of the intensity is there. All of the physical gifts are there, but they're channeled through the canon of pro wrestling heel champions. Taker's selling is top notch. There's nothing that he's ever done, ever, that's better than the way he sells his demolished leg on the way to hitting a big boot. Nothing. The last third has ref bumps and chair shots and everything you'd expect from a house show match in this era, but it's all larger than life while still drawing within the lines. It doesn't deconstruct the form and tear at everything else around it. It embraces it and glorifies it.

PAS: This didn't do a ton for me. I am still a high voter on Suplex City Brock, he has some misses for sure, but the AJ Styles match was my MOTY for last year and he still has this aura of unpredictable violence. Here he was basically working like all of the 2003 WWE heavyweights, a bigger and more muscular HHH or Rock. Feeding and bumping on every punch, stalling, even begging off. Nothing really felt organic or crazy. I thought the Undertaker was fine and I liked his selling, Biker Taker was always a more interesting worker then the Dead Man. It is cool to see house show footage like this, but I thought it was pretty by the numbers.

ER: I'm split down the middle on this one. Brock Lesnar was my favorite wrestler in the world during this era. He understood every aspect of being a wrestler, knew selling, made his own and everyone's offense look great, is one of the all time great bumpers, and never skimped on little things (even here watching him make Taker really duck on a low missed lariat). The guy just knew how to move around a ring. And it's awesome that in only their second show ever in Finland, they had the world's foremost Ludvig Borga clone in the main event. I agree with Phil that the match is very much "any 2003 WWE heavyweight", and while I like what both bring to the match, this very easily could have been a Chuck Palumbo/A-Train match. And hey, I loved Chuck Palumbo matches, so I liked this. If I was sitting in the crowd I would have been having a ball. At the same time, it would have been the worst Brock Lesnar match I've ever seen live. They work a few weird generic spots that guys this big shouldn't be doing, like Taker giving Brock a snapmare and then going for a pin. Snapmare into pin is a weird passing WWE trend that it felt like everyone was doing at a certain point, like the more recent TV match thing where every babyface comeback that leads to a finish starts with a heel putting on a chinlock. This is most definitely a house show match, so we don't get the usual big Brock bumps, but we get some impressive selling from Taker that he usually shrugged off during this era. Biker Taker would always acknowledge knee or ankle work, but usually would do something like punch his ankle a couple of times, selling leg work more like his leg fell asleep because he was sitting on the toilet too long. So I liked what Taker did with the leg, I liked Brock working as Larry Zbyszko in a foreign match that nobody thought would ever be seen by Americans 15 years later, and I liked the weirdness of having Rhyno of all people come out to attack Taker after the match and taking the biggest bump of the match. I would love for more house show footage to be released, but I would love full house shows the most.

Guerrero Azteca vs. El Supremo Nueva Laredo 4/20/87

PAS: This is a smaller arean mascara contra mascara match which has been sitting undiscovered on a youtube channel for a couple of years. Rob Bihari who unearthed this, hypothesized on twitter that this was run the day after they ran the same match in Monterey, getting two bites at the unmasking apple. It was a solid old school mask match, a lot of punches and kicks, some mask ripping, a great looking tope into the crowd by Azteca. This was really helped by the grimyness of the atmosphere, the VQ was good, but washed out and the arena was dirty, clouds of dust came off the mat every time someone was slammed on it. That kind of presentation can really add to this kind of fight. Nothing groundbreaking, but a cool discovery and an example of the deep pool of lucha footage still out in the world.

MD: This is clipped and "augmented" with music. The clips don't really affect the flow. The music you learn to live with. Sometimes it even helps the atmosphere. The start of this was all Supremo being an outright bully and Azteca selling big and broad, even for things like hip tosses. When you combine Supremo's swagger, Azteca's selling, the dust flying up from the center of the ring with each bump, and the music, it all added up to more than the sum of its parts. There was a lot to like here. I haven't seen much Supremo but you really get a sense of him here. He has a way of powering out from every hold he's in, as opposed to finding more technical ways out and that adds up over time. Azteca had a lean bodybuilder's physique but he brought both the selling early and the fire in his late comeback once the mask ripping had started. I thought the finishes (generally unique or character-laden roll-ups) to all three falls came off well, especially Supremo making Azteca pay for going to the well one too many times with a slam in the tercera. Just a solid, solid mask match.


La Complète et Exacte French Catch

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