Tuesday is French Catch Day: Mostly Australians? Tolios! Scott! Williams! Marcello!

12/3/89 

MD: We're deep in the wilderness here, 1989. The presentation is very different. They start with clips of Wrestlemania, mainly the Can-Am Connection. Both wrestlers in the first match come out to Turn Back Time. I'm pretty sure they have a boxing ring they're repurposing. It's all just odd.

John Tolios vs Black Scott

MD: Tolios was greek and competent even if he adjusted for the time. Scott had a mask and came out in a black kilt too which was a nice touch. He also had a dagger in his kneepad that the ref had to take away from him. We have footage of them wrestling against each other in 85 Australia I think? And this was... kind of strange. Chinlocks. Clotheslines. It was nominally 2/3 falls with Tolios winning the first one after coming back with an eyepoke and locking in an airplane spin. They went into a second fall with a nice atomic drop over the top. Scott came back by pulling down the top turnbuckle pad but didn't get too far with it. Tolios ended up doing the corner shoulder first bump, going out to the floor and getting counted out, so I guess a countout ends the match automatically? While there were some holds and some technique this didn't feel like something we'd see even earlier in the decade. Just seeing a clothesline, or some rope running where one was dodged was a little unsettling honestly. Between that and the fact the opening montage was all from the WWF, it's clear the infection has set in. But of course, maybe there wouldn't have been wrestling on TV at all without it and you can't say this wasn't competent. It just didn't feel right.

Lou Marcello vs Gary Scott

MD: Ok, this wasn't a fluke. They've got an Australian/New Zealand touring group here for some reason. The ref is Australian too. Gary Scott is billed from New Zealand as the Kiwi Kid. We're far away from the licensed French wrestlers of the 50s - mid-80s. Kiwi played the heel here. He had facepaint and I was expecting more of an Ultimate Warrior thing, I think. Instead he stooged, played into the three hiptosses then gets hiptossed himself and going for a handshake to try to take over, etc. That sort of stuff. 

The first fall was a lot of Marcello in charge and it was simple but effective stuff. The most unique thing was that rear legsplitter where you headbutt the butt which probably should stay in the 80s.  Scott would try things and Marcello would just overcome and generally take back over on the arm. Still, Scott was able to get the fall off of a body press. He controlled a bit more in the second fall and then played king of the mountain in the third, letting Marcello come back. All of this was perfectly fine and I'd probably enjoy the exact same match a lot in 2025 but you have to compare it to even the early 80s Catch stuff.

Eddie Williams/Bruce Davis vs Vic Murray/Kenny Meglin

MD: Eddie Williams is billed from Martinique. Which means he is in fact the Eddie Williams from the 60s, also being Eddie Morrow. Apparently. He could still do a cartwheel. He didn't work a ton of this though. He was mainly there for hot tags. This is another one which was competent and maybe even more than that, because this was the match that got the kids in the crowd going. They'd occasionally cut to them in the other matches and they'd be sitting there bored as could be. This one, they got really into the heat. 

Said heat followed a shine where the babyfaces (and that feels more appropriate than stylists here) did quick tags and worked the arm and some ones when the ref wasn't looking (though he turned around too soon). Murray and Meglin took over with sheer brutishness and worked over Davis. He'd get comebacks and tag in Williams who would be dynamic for a short period and then Davis would get dragged back down to chicanery. They cut off the ring and distracted the ref and as noted, the kids really didn't like it in the best way, getting out of their seats and complaining, especially when the ref missed a tag. 

Things really broke down in the second fall, literally, as a corner whip destroyed the boxing ring. They tried to fix it but it was hopeless and more double teaming happened while the ref was distracted. They sent out a guy in a black ninja get up to cause even more chaos and things really just fell apart. Overall it was solid stuff while it lasted, just again lacking a lot of the hallmarks of Catch as we knew it. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Duranton! Williams! Cohen! Doukhan! M'Boaba! von Kramer!

 Pierre Bernaert vs. Mr. Montreal 9/7/68

MD: I liked how the announcer likened this to a beautiful body (Montreal) vs a beautiful mind (Bernaert). We only had the last 7:30 or so of this, but that's ok. These two were unquestionably good, great even, but it feels like we've seen it before, so just getting a taste was fine. There was a nice little callback spot where Montreal hit a shoulder throw the first time and when he tried it later, Bernaert came in with a knee. Bernaert was full of inside moves after ambushing on a handshake, but he was happy to pal around with Montreal after they went to a draw. Last couple of minutes of this was Bernaert just surviving a last barrage by Montreal and the bell rang during the airplane spin.

Robert Duranton vs. Eddie Williams 9/7/68

MD: Duranton definitely had the act worked out by this point. He had a great physique, could slug well, could stooge well, was technically sound if no marvel, but it was all about the valet. The last quarter of the match had the fans really just waiting for the next spot with the valet. It was too much of a good thing and akin to looking to the back and waiting for a run-in. In that regard, the match peaked in the middle when Williams finally got both Duranton and the valet tied up and got to unload on both of them, or maybe, maybe with the spot later on when he gave them a big double noggin-knocker. Otherwise, the valet was pretty brazen in his interference and the fans loved to hate him. Williams looked as good as always, with good shots, good wrestling, and good timing. We probably would have gotten a better set of matches if we had Montreal vs Duranton and Williams vs Bernaert on this one, but it's not like this wasn't hugely entertaining for the most part. There was just a little too much of it maybe.

SR: 1 fall match going a bit over 20 minutes. This had some excellent stuff in it, but it was a bit long and restholdy, and didn't seem to go anywhere special. Still Duranton threw some great punches, and was looking quite vicious making simple holds look violent and hitting some nasty stomps. Williams doesn't have much charisma but he is solid enough doing some nice wrestling and hitting good looking uppercuts. Dug the bit where he threatened to stab Durantons eyes and then just headbutted him. Durantons valet got involved as usual, I dug how he pretended to be cleaning the ring after choking Williams, then later he just got straight in the ring. Made me wonder what it takes to get DQd in a French ring. Heat was good and that's all that matters.

Georges Cohen/Gass Doukhan vs. M'Boaba Les Congolais/Karl von Kramer 9/14/68

MD: Once this got good, it got really good. Incredible heat for the second fall as Cohen kept trying to come in to help Doukhan only to make things worse for him and the heat became elation in the third fall when Cohen did get the tag and they just humiliated the heels. M'Boaba still seems pretty egregious even in the history of egregious racial gimmicks with the fans enjoying him getting tossed by his hair or having his hair tied to the ropes. In general, he looked good though, including whipping out his own up and over reversal and having mean looking headbutts and what have you. Von Kramer is one of the best technical heels we've seen but he was in there against two Israelis and was sure as hell going to bump over the top and stooge all over the place for them. His two standard takeovers, the headlock trip and his sort of headlock mare both looked great and he did them so smoothly. He also had some awesome extended exchanges where he was stuck in a wristlock. His killer move was a fireman's carry dropping his opponent throat-first onto the top rope and he used it well. It was all maybe a little too loose and fun for a guy as vile as Von Kramer wrestling two Israelis for the first fall, but the off the chart heat for the last ten minutes of this was just awesome. By the end of it, Von Kramer was threatening fisticuffs with about twenty people in the front row and if they hadn't gone so over the top celebratory for the stylists, an all out riot might have ensued. 

SR: 2/3 falls match going 30 minutes. M'Boaba and the bald headed nazi von Kramer are quite the team. Of course they are facing a pair of jews, too. Aside from the gimmicks there was some good wrestling here. M'Boaba is a servicable heel at best, but von Kramer meshes really well with his light footed technician opponents. It got a bit more heated than usual when von Kramer kept using the ropes. I still thought the match didn't really stand out in the plethora of great light weight tags we've had.

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