Tuesday is French Catch Day: Mantopolous! Lemagouroux! Weicz! Delaporte!

Vassilios Mantopolous vs Gilbert Lemagouroux 1/24/65

MD: As we're just on our last run (that we know of at least) of matches here, I love to look at the presentation and some of the cultural bits, even if they are still alien to me. This was another studio show. Here we have an announcement up from that conditionally, as it had not been confirmed, François Bonlieu, French alpine skier and gold medalist in the 1964 Winter Games, was going professional and would compete at the Professional Championships in the US. 

Bollet (introduced as a grand poet) was there and just nodded a long as they discussed the matches for the night. Starting with the lightweights (which were heavier than in boxing since the heavyweights were heavier). Lemagouroux was the champion of Brittany and Mantopolous the champion of Greece. When the fans got up for Mantopolous mid-match the commentary noted that this was France appreciating its Greek roots and applauding the legacy that Homer bestowed upon them. Funny stuff.

SR: Really good match. Part of me is just happy to see some wrestling after that travesty with the bull, but this was genuinely very good. I expected poor Gilbert, who didn't stand out in a big way in the tags we've seen him in, to be completely run over by Mantopolous, but he stood his ground and actually dominated quite a bit. Gilbert is really solid, goes along really well with Mantopolous stuff, really liked the ways in which he'd just yank Mantopolous down by a wrist or armlock. This was in front of a big curtain, like a theater, and it made me wonder if it was another studio match kinda deal. We don't see the audience, but we hear lots of applause, and the match was worked so simple that anyone can understand it. Textbook stuff kinda. There was a segment where Gilbert kept his opponent in a headlock, always resorting to hair pulls to maintain control, not something we've seen a ton of but it was really well done. And Mantopolous is always impeccable, really explosive and spectacular when it's time to make an escape. His flying headiscissors were just weep-inducingly beautiful. In the end Gilbert didn't stand a big chance but they topped it of with a perfect sequence. It's weird this kinda stuff doesn't stand out in a huge way in the grand scheme of French Catch but in another universe it's  like the best studio TV match ever. I'd part hard pressed to think of anything better to teach a new audience about the magic of Catch.

MD: I agree with Sebastian here. This is just perfect Intro-to-Catch, at least the lightweight style. As accessible as some of those shorter Prince vs Noced/Richard touring type matches. Like those, you could pull out any number of gifs such a Mantopolous getting out of a hamerlock by going not just up and over but through the legs to turn it into a roll up, or even the way he'd go up for a dropkick but do a headscissors takeover instead, or the multiple kip ups when he was armbarred before he escaped out of it, or the way he'd step up on Gilbert's leg to vault up and over him, and I can go on and on. But what made it all work was that he had to struggle for each of those escapes, that Gilbert sold them with frustration and meanness, coming back with enraged kicks and stomps, and that each and every one was built to in its own way. That's part of why this is perfect to show, because you see all the exclamation points, but also the meaningful, direct sentences that led to them. Just beautiful, beautiful wrestling all around.

Eddy Weicz vs Roger Delaporte

MD: Pre-show they had talked up Weicz as world champion and acknowledged as such by both Americans and Europeans. Carpentier is amazing. My appreciation has only grown and grown. He is a star. He always presented himself on TV better than his peers and this show gave him even more opportunity to do so. Maybe it doesn't always make for the best matches, but I always come out impressed by his savvy. He's always punctuating things, always getting an extra shot in, always standing up to the ref and his opponents. he has that underlying element of being a bully that fans love. Post match, when Bollet is checking on Delaporte, he dropkicks him for no reason and then hits a spin kick on the ref and the fans love it because of course they do. He's always reaching, always engaged, always putting an extra flourish on things. 

And maybe there's even an extra level of construction to the spots. If this was Delaporte vs Leduc they'd build to the toupie headscissors takeover by making Leduc really work for it. Here they do that (to a lesser degree) but then do a spot where Carpentier pumps it repeatedly and then one where Delaporte holds on to the ropes so he doesn't go over until he finally gets his comeuppance. I really do get the sense he was decades ahead of his peers in some ways and that's why his act transferred so well.

And of course, Delaporte is one of the great villains of the 20th century because he sells everything. He sells the indignity of life at every point. There's a moment towards the end where he tries for (another) cheapshot, Carpentier moves due to the crowd warning him, and then, just because he couldn't get his cheapshot, Delaporte has a fit. And it's awesome. It's selling the emotional blow of it all. That obviously resonated with both me and Sebastian as you'll read below. They'd do these bits where Carpentier would get the better of him repeatedly and he'd just lose his cool and start choking him. It was a moral victory for Carpentier even if it was Delaporte leaning down on him. And then when they got slugging, he was just so good at it. He's sort of unassuming at first and doesn't do the flashy things (even though he can) but what he does do he was as good at anyone doing, and as I said, this was just a perfect setting for these two.

SR: Well, maybe this is the perfect studio wrestling. Great mix of wrestling and bullshit. Wiecz is in a ridiculous striped shirt. Delaporte goes after him at the bell, and now the crowd seems indeed to know what's going on so maybe they aren't that unfamiliar with wrestling. Wiecz literally flips off Delaporte, cartwheels around him a bunch, does a weird hip shake, and Delaporte scurries for the hills, only to immediately try a dirty takedown through the ropes. Awesome stuff. They just keep going like this, always doing a little something to keep things engaging along with the wrestling, which is mostly Delaportes basic holds vs Wiecz more athletic stuff. A bitch slap here, a little kick in the taint there, some pretty hard looking knuckle punches etc. I love the crowd engagement. When Delaporte even tries to grab the ropes for the slightest advantage, they are immediately in on his case, alerting the referee. Later, Delaporte tries to sneak up on Carpentier from behind, but the crowd alerts him in time, allowing Carpentier to evade the assault. Of course, Delaporte cusses them out for that. Is it really such a surprise the fans were super engaged, when they could so vividly observe their engagement have an immediate effect on what happens in a match? That's what sets wrestling apart from movies and theater. You can shout at the movie all you want, the murder is still gonna happen. Not in wrestling though, you can participate. That kinda stuff is pretty much absent from modern TV matches where every move is carefully choreographed and there's little room for interactions like that. Maybe having every match go 20 minutes to allow for stuff like this really is the way to go. The finish here is cartoonishly violent as Wiecz puts the Inoki-style falling indian deathlock on Delaporte but instead of falling next to him he drops his bodyweight onto him, squashing poor Delaporte to a smear as is his rightfully comeuppance. After the match Bollet also comes in in a suit and gets a savate kick too for his troubles. Way too fun.

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Found Footage Friday: GATTONI~! LYONS~! MILLERS~! CARPENTIER~! STANLEE~!

Maple Leaf Wrestling 1/15/57 

Baron Gattoni vs. Billy Red Lyons

MD: Lyons was so young that they were just calling him Red Lyons. They said he had worked in the States for a year but was newly debuting in Canada. Apparently Gattoni (who was billed as Italian though he was from Argentina I think) was also new to the territory. This was mainly to establish him as a threat while giving people a look at Lyons, being a plucky young Hamilton native. Gattoni controlled the center, shoving Lyons down repeatedly. Lyons threw some shots. Gattoni would hit him once for every four or five and floor him. He won it with a bearhug in just a few minutes. The sequence post match where Lyons was totally prone as they waited for the stretcher might have lasted longer than the match.

The Millers (Bill/Ed Miller) vs. Pat Flanagan/Ken Kenneth

MD: I can't say I'm super familiar with Flanagan and Kenneth but I'm kind of annoyed they didn't team Ken Kenneth with Stan Stanlee. Ah well. Kenneth was from New Zealand. Flanagan had a nice spinning back heel kick (mule kick as they called it) and they were fine. Good heart. Stayed in it. Slick at times. But this was the Millers' show. They were hulking brutes, one bigger than the other, but both far bigger than their opponents. They would yank an opponent into the corner by the leg, but would also cheat at every opportunity: hairpulls, tights pulls, double teams. If you got too close to the heel corner, you were in trouble and even two refs couldn't keep them at bay. In fact, the two refs did a better job of missing tags on the babyface side than they did controlling the Millers even if they tried. Usually that'd put heat on the refs but it felt a bit like chaotic joshi matches with lots of interference where you throw your hands up and wonder what the refs could even do.

They controlled for most of this with little bits of hope if the babyfaces could get a tag or even just stay out of the heel corner for long enough, but even just the reach of the Millers made it hard. They were very good at what they did and they won it by switching off on Torture Racks (Ohio Backbreaker) to create a strong visual. Solid stuff overall but maybe a bit too much of the same for a bit too long.

Eduoard Carpentier vs. Steve Stanlee

MD: This is what we're here for, as Carpentier comes off as a star as well as anyone of his era. Stanlee was Mr. America and the commentary likened him to Buddy Rogers (though maybe a little less unscruplious). He faked out Carpentier on the shake before the match but that was the last time he was going to get one up on him for the next ten minutes. Every time he did something (a trip, a cheapshot) Carpentier had an answer, bounding onwards and upwards entertainingly and always with a flourish after the fact to let the fans know that he was special. Stanlee was a good sport, playing along by failing to do some of those flourishes himself to high stooging effect. One bit and one tricked out escape after the next. Carpentier didn't come off as quite as technically sound as some of his French Contemporaries but he made every bit he did do resonate and stand out more.

Stanlee did get up on Carpentier eventually just by smashing at him with knees and punches, especially out of a headlock. Then he shited it around for an inverted headlock and that worked for a bit, right until it didn't as Carpentier did the Sliced Bread (and Chris Hero's joke, not mine, is that it's #1 if it happened back in the 50s). counter for the win. Quick but the fans got some value nonetheless. Post match Stanlee tried to make a scene and got his head twisted multiple times for his trouble.

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Found Footage Friday: MORISHIMA~! O'CONNOR~! CARPENTIER~! NICOLI~! ANTONE~! NOBLE~! HAAS~!

70s Central States Footage

Betty Nicoli vs. .Jean Antone Central States Mid 70s

MD: This was for the "Kansas Girls" championship. That's the name of it apparently. First I thought it was billed as two Kansas girls going for the championship but Nicoli was billed from New Orleans. The belt in question is basically a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper with turquoise and purple diamond shape glinting in the middle and not much form to it. A brief aside, because I can see it in the comments here. The most annoying match I've ever posted from the French collection is the one with Lola Garcia vs Brigitte Borne. People just go on and on about how they want more of this and how horny they are for the women basically. Just shut up and talk about hammerlocks or something people. You can see some of the insipid comments on this too but only a few thankfully

Anyway, we get a solid 7 or 8 minutes before this blips out and it's interesting as a snapshot of women's wrestling in the territory in the 70s. It doesn't really look like what we've seen from the 50s nor does it entirely remind me of 80s Moolah-ism. Nicoli ambushed Antone (dubbed "the Mighty Mite") to start, but Antone turned her around. Lots of punches and stomps but the punches were weird sweeping things that hit from odd angles. Nicoli took over quickly and didn't look back, with lots of slams and tossing Antone out and picking her up at two. It was building to a come back of some sort but we don't get to exactly what. It was mean overall but with some real question about the strike execution; I imagine they were instructed to hit that way but it didn't help matters unless the point was to take it all less seriously (which it probably was).

Pat O'Connor vs. Edouard Carpentier Central States Mid 70s

MD: We get the last half of a fifteen minute draw here and it's really high level stuff in its own way. O'Connor is just sound, quick when he needs to be, but what draws the eye is his positioning, the way he plants his legs when pressing in on a hold, the way he'll stymie Carpentier's slick stuff with something as straightforward as possible. If it needs an extra twist or turn, it's done clinically and effectively.

Carpentier, on the other hand, knew how to present himself as a star. My take on his French work was that he was a decade or more ahead of everyone else, and you can see that here too. He was tanned and sculpted and everything he did was big and sweeping. He'd flip to get out of a hold, would do a cartwheel before getting a takedown. He was theatrical but able to ground it in the illusion of technique. As O'Connor met him halfway, all of this worked and was just a great example of the two putting on a show for a television and studio audience. 

Takeshi Morishima vs. Jamie Noble WWE 8/19/08

MD: WWE Vault has given us this. At the time I'm writing this, they haven't given us much else, but this is interesting at least. He was doomed from the start given his look and the era and the memory of Kenzo Suzuki and the Gordy comparison. If this had worked out just enough to get him hired, however, I see him landing in 2009 ECW and then he could have ended up part of Regal's Roundtable with Kozlov and Ezekiel Jackson and feuded with Christian and that probably would have been great.

Here he was paired against Noble, who fought valiantly from underneath, ducking and dodging and going after Morishima's legs. Noble got caught in the corner and Morishima got a few seconds pummelling in before the ref pulled him off. Noble ended up in a neck vice eventually and the fans went for him, but it wasn't like he was playing to them in any meaningful way; he was just familiar and Morishima was a monster. It ended a little anti-climactically but was a good performance overall; the babyface got over, the fans were awed by his offense. They might not have liked it in the back but this worked fairly well. 

ER: I remember when this happened, remember reading the reports online of Morishima getting a tryout, remembered hearing that backstage thought he looked like a big fat Japanese schoolgirl, and I was still young enough that I was upset that they "didn't get it". If Morishima had been hired I'm thinking it would be because they wanted him to be a big fat Japanese schoolgirl character and then maybe it would turn into a dancing character. His incredible hair - on the shortlist of wrestling's greatest heads of hair - is tied back in a ponytail and his fringe is parted down the middle. I'm not blaming him for inviting the schoolgirl comp but maybe it would have led to him in a romance tag team with Santino or something. 

The crowd responded to Morishima's violence even though he wasn't working as an overt heel. He was the heel because he was the foreign monster but he was not seeking boos. It was 3 well spent minutes of Morishima hammering Noble hard enough that every Morishima impact got an impressed reaction, and it all looked impressive. His kicks to Noble's body are as painful sounding as his high speed shoulderblock. There were so many people Morishima could have worked this stiff against. I wish WWE leaned more into heavyweight vs. heavyweight for their dark match tryouts than the played out heavyweight vs. cruiser.  Sure he could throw Noble at will but lets see what he could do with Shad Gaspard or Manu. I was a Manu guy for a month in 2008. 

Takeshi Morishima vs. Charlie Haas WWE 8/18/08

MD: Much shorter match with Morishima positioned as the face. He got to hit some of his big stuff (the sudden Boss Man Slam, the legdrop), but no pummelling in the corner, nothing like that. Haas had cheapshots and stayed on him doggedly and Morishima was able to sell. The fans were certainly impressed as he started up the top for the missile dropkick he won with but they didn't see to know what to make of it when he was trying to appeal to them.

ER: Morishima saved his best hair for the babyface match. It was a common thing for WWE to have a guy  work two tryout matches over two nights of tapings, one as a heel and one as a face. He was smart to save his greatest babyface hair for his babyface match against the opponent we all wanted to see him against. I am not sure how many guys on the 2008 roster I would want to see less than Charlie Haas. I can't believe I was still watching Charlie Haas matches in 2008. I bet Morishima/JTG would have been worse. Morishima vs. Deuce probably worse. Who was the worse Highlander? Haas steps up and hits Morishima hard enough to make this work and he also tells enough people to shut up that it pushes Morishima's reaction up a bit. You could hear the buzz building for his missile dropkick. Check out how perfectly Lilian Garcia nails the pronunciation of Takeshi Morishima. Tony Chimel couldn't. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Wiecz! de Zarzecki! Saturski! Wentzel! Bibi! Cesca!

Eddie Wiecz/Warnia de Zarzecki vs Rudi Saturski/Harry Wentzel 8/29/66

MD: The idea that Carpentier isn't fascinating to watch in 60s France is just insane to me. There's no one we've seen in this footage, including guys who were both owners and incredibly protected on finishes like Delaporte, who knew how to get over and how to stay over. It's like watching Dusty Rhodes or Ultimo Guerrero or Triple H. Our pal OJ said that he wouldn't be surprised if tag matches like these didn't contribute to the decline of popularity of French Catch mainly because of the gaga, but I think that notion is sort of nuts too, as we're watching this stuff week in and week out and the gaga is entertaining and the fans are completely into it. I refuse to believe that 1960s French audiences didn't like to be entertained and were frustrated that they weren't getting seven-minute hammerlock exchanges instead (even if those seven-minute hammerlock exchanges tend to be awesome too). There was enough heat and substance here to make it all feel balanced. I'd be willing to entertain a notion that Wiecz being so dominant might have turned off audiences over time, but at this point, he's so athletic, creative, and flashy about it that it just seems doubtful too. If you're going to eat guys up and win every strike exchange, punctuating things with headstand and flip sentons or the corner punch backflip seems the way to do it. There really is a sense that in manipulating the crowd and ensuring he gets so many of the big memorable moments that everyone would be talking about on their way home, he was playing chess and everyone else was playing checkers, though.

Anyway, this was definitely enjoyable. Saturski and Wentzel are Germans and I think what other footage exists of them is from Chicago where they were babyfaces as the Bavarian Boys. Saturski was an amazing stooge who started with square Ronnie Garvin hair that got more and more disheveled as he got more and more out of sorts as the match went on. I loved their control section, which raised stakes in a way you don't always see in these matches, as it centered around a kneeling neckbreaker submission that they kept switching off on, which finally lead to a flip over and the big transition of the match. Lots of fun celebratory and comedic spots with the heels stooging and the ref getting involved before and after the neckbreaker stretches. They did the double leglock/run over your opponents spot which was the highlight of the Corne/Brown tag from a week or two ago, and it's always fun to see a new spot repeated a couple of matches later. That validates the chronological approach we're taking. Here, Weicz milked it even more with double stomps as well. The finish was basically all Weicz as he out punched, out slicked, and ultimately hit a barrage of his flipping and headstand sentons before a tricked out bridge for the win.

SR: 2/3 Falls match going about 33 minutes. Amazingly enough, this is not the only footage we have of the Germans. There is also a US tag of them from 1963. They were working as heels in this though. It‘s their only French TV appearance we have right now, but apparently they did some pretty despicable things because the crowd was really hot for them getting the shit kicked out of them. We have lots of footage of workers pretending to be German, so seeing some actual Germans from this time period is a welcome change. This was a stooge-a-ton from the Germans, pretty much them going for shenanigans right out the gate and then just flying all over the ring for 30 minutes. Very reminiscent of the tags we‘ve seen from Germany and Austria with the comedic undertones and comical amounts of referee abusing. I imagine they ran this match with the roles reversed back in the German tournaments. Saturski & Wenzel briefly cranked up the intensity when they started using a nasty hanging neck crank on the faces. That was one of like 3 or 4 bits of offense they got in and they used it as well as they could. Carpentier is just flashy enough to be really fun in this kind match and there were some great receipt spots including one of the Polish guys using the Germans as a trampoline. Not a lot of depth but extremely entertaining and gives you a good idea of the atmosphere for these kind of crowd pleasing affairs.

Cheri Bibi vs. Gilbert Cesca 9/2/66

MD: This one was out there before but I don't think we ever covered it on the blog. Ten years of footage in, if there's any wrestler we're familiar with, it's got to be Cheri Bibi. You know how it's going to go with him. He'll start out congenial and jolly, as jolly as he gets at least, with handshakes and clean breaks and pats on the shoulder. He'll show some fine wrestling, maybe even with a float over to escape a hold (not here though), and some good counters leveraging his strength in a fair way to keep his opponent down. Then he'll get outwrestled one too many times and it'll flip like a switch and the battering and mauling will begin. He'll come in with high, low, high combos and headbutts and inside moves, chokes and rabbit punches and shots in the ropes and knees in the corner, and it'll escalate until the stylist is able to fire back. It was like clockwork here, with the biggest wrinkles being Cesca's creativity in his comeback and containment (spin kicks, pressing his feet off the ropes for a headlock takedown, bounding up to the ropes for a missile dropkick, turning Bibi around with a hammerlock to toss him into the corner) and the use of the large, former wrestler Mr. Marshall as a comedically countering force and oversized prop for comedy spots. There was a real sense that it was Cesca's cleverness and speed that let him get anything on Bibi at all, and even to damage the tank as the match went on. It'd take Bibi one grab of a leg or one cheapshot out of a break to take back over, very little in the grand scheme of things, and Cesca had to do a half dozen things to bruise him, but he didn't quit and he used every moment of advantage he could, and Marshall facing off against Bibi gave him a couple of extra. Bibi, as always, portrayed his small but deep range of emotion well, appealing to the crowd after a particularly nasty (but successful) shot and getting more and more frustrated and blatant as Cesca refused to stay down for a pin until he went too far and was DQed. Cesca wasn't satisfied by that and there was rousing post match violence where Cesca used a towel as an equalizer and then was swiping in every direction as he wanted blood on the floor. This was as straightforward as could be structurally but Bibi is a unique figure in pro wrestling history and Cesca was creative and fiery enough to make his consistency interesting.

SR: 1 fall match going about 25 minutes. This was an interesting pairing. Skill vs. brute force. Bibi played nice initially, allowing Cesca to show off his wrestling a bit, but this quickly turned into an absolute slugfest. Cesca did a fair amount of technical stuff, but also wasn't afraid to hit back hard, even punching Bibi in the face and busting out savate kicks. It was basically his way of bringing the heat without his partner Ben Chemoul doing it for him, and he looked pretty great doing it. Dug his punch combos in the corner. The match needed a bit more structure but the slugging it out was quite great. Bibi escalated things when he bitch slapped Cesca in the corner and then started throwing him over the top rope. It seemed to set up a dramatic finish but then Bibi got DQd. Cesca beat Bibis ass after the match, even choking him with a towel, and I wonder if this lead to a no holds barred match or something. Some great slugging in this match, anyways.

PAS: This was a fun style clash with Cesca working a Bibi match more than Bibi trying to hang with Cesca. I am into a fist fight and that is really what this was. Love Bibi getting shown up a bit at the beginning by Cesca's flash and just cutting him off with a barfight headbutt. Cesca to his credit is perfectly willing to wallow in Bib'i's mud, and gives as good as he gets with stiff shots. It did feel like a TV bout setting up a bigger arena match, as nothing was settled and you needed to see them run it back. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Zapata! Castillo! Aubriot! Bayle! Bollet! Delaporte! de Zarzecki! Wiecz!

Pancho Zapata/Vicente Castillo vs. Dan Aubriot/Remy Bayle 11/28/65

PAS: Zapata is Joaquim LaBarba and Castillo is Quasimodo and that is a killer pair of grotesqueries. Twin Igors clawing at faces and slamming skulls into the mat. It is a great act, although this match needed more dynamic babyfaces to really justify it's run time. Zapata seemed to slow down his nutty bumping under this gimmick, but still had great execution, as did Castillo who hit a killer rainmaker elbow along with his stalking and looking creepy. I liked Bayle targeting the growth on the back of Castillo's head. This was good overall, but more a cool look at a pair of creeps then anything that will stand out.  

MD: What a heel side here, the unholy unification between La Barba (as Pancho Zapata) and Quasimodo (Vincente Castilla here). These are, by far, two of the most interesting bad guys in all of the footage, with La Barba able to turn on a dime from being an arch stooge to the most vicious guy in the world and Castilla absolutely fascinating in the way he moves, the way he reacts, his varied and imaginative offense, how he portrays power. Here, when they were in control, they were just a cycling wave of brutality, trading off on holds and controlling the ring. Aubriot and Bayle were spirited in their comebacks. While Aubriot had the cartwheels and more rope running, I thought Bayle looked best out of the two; his stuff was just sharper and his shots were chippier. This didn't feel quite as focused and structured as some of the tags we've seen lately, but that played well into the chaotic nature of Castilla and Zapata. Towards the end, you knew it wasn't going to end clean; I figured i t was heading towards a DQ but instead, Bayle got one last comeback only to get back body dropped over the rope as his own momentum was used against him, rendering him unable to continue. I think this is it in the footage for La Barba and Quasimodo and what an absolute shame that is.

Andre Bollet/Roger Delaporte vs. Warnia de Zarzecki/Eddie Wiecz 1/9/65

MD: The fans absolutely loved this one, and it felt heated at times, but always had sort of a party feel to it that maybe meant that it didn't have the weight you'd hope it would, especially because, for once, Delaporte and Bollet got what was coming to them. I just can't get over how canny Wiecz is here. Sometimes I think I'm reading too much into it, but there are a dozen little things. Whenever someone's getting beaten on here, it's usually Zarzecki. Zarzecki eats the first fall. Wiecz is the one rushing across the ring and allowing for the distractions. He's the one who gets to take the hot tag and clean house with big shots and dropkicks. During a key celebratory moment towards the end, he hits his back flip off the top but then runs over to get Zarzecki's guy too and sort of takes his moment, that should have been equal. Delaporte and Bollet begged off from him far more than from Zarzecki and it's not like Zarzecki was some rookie or slouch. The fans don't care because they love it but watching back, it's impossible to miss. Anyway, this was an arch Bollet and Delaporte performance, as funny as ever, maybe not quite as mean, though when they were stomping and taking liberties, they were as good as anyone. There seemed to be more girls in the crowd than usual and they were horrified by Bollet and Delaporte's middle-aged transgressions and excited for Zarzecki and Wiecz and that added to the feel. This wasn't the most balanced (wrestling and comebacks and cheating and bullshit and comedy) match we've seen, but it was very fun.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Bollet! Rouxel! Delaporte! Wiecz! de Zarzecki! Mr. Montreal!

Andre Bollet/Jack Rouxel vs.  Eddy Wiecz/Warnia de Zarzecki 11/14/65

MD: Another week, another show, another really good tag. Here Rouxel was positioned as Bollet's understudy (I think they said Delaporte was off fishing). We'd seen him even four years earlier, but whatever; it worked. He was a snippy goon who would make mistakes or get let down by Bollet and come back mean. While the last fall ended up a bit nebulous, there was a fairly clear shine/heat/comeback structure for a good chunk of this, with more of a southern tag feel than usual as Wiecz kept drawing the ref away in frustration to allow for the double-team. I've said it before, but he was a guy who really got how to get over. There was a moment where he'd been beat on for a bit and Zarzecki finally got in and tossed Rouxel out. Weicz went right after him to the floor and got revenge and then whacked Bollet when he came out for good measure. The finish of the last fall was really him just blocking a punch and firing back bit. He was endlessly flashy with the cartwheels and backflips, but also more inclined to take advantage with a cheapshot out of the corner or rushing across the ring to whack his opponent on the apron. Zarzecki was a good partner for him and Rouxel a good punching bag. Bollet was as over the top as ever and endlessly entertaining. The last fall was celebratory and lacking drama, like an old lucha match where the tercera was about the tecnicos clowning the rudos, but there was enough heat in the middle to make up for it.

PAS: I was really into Rouxel, he has such a hateable face, sneering puckered lips, you just want to see him get pounded and he really gets his comeuppance in the third fall. Wiecz (Carpentier) is the biggest legend (outside of Andre) we have in this footage and you can see why he was such a world wide draw. While he was known as a huge highspot guy in the US, he is hardly the flashy worker in France. But he has great timing, really knows how to make his flips and dropkicks mean something, and knows when to just let his hands go. He reminds me of Carlos Colon without the leaking. Bollet seems like his legendary opponent, and is such a brutal buffoon that you want to see him get his just desserts, and he goes big flying and stooging when it happens. Matt is right about the third fall lacking a bit of escalation but the entire ride was super enjoyable. 

Roger Delaporte/Andre Bollet vs. Warnia de Zarzecki/Mr. Montreal 12/12/65

MD: Last week had our last Cesca and Ben Chemoul tag and they felt like one of the best teams ever. We have a couple more with Delaporte and Bollet, including this match-up once more a few years later, and it's not exactly a tough statement to say they're one too. In 65, they were just off filming Left Handed Johnny West (or maybe the release of the movie) and they felt like stars. Bollet was as irritating as possible in every moment, a proto Buddy Rose who could go and stooge and hammer and jaw with the crowd. Delaporte moved more gingerly than any wrestler ever, like when Regal looked like he swallowed something vile, but turned up to 11. Here he seemed a little older, somehow even more toiled in his movements. As they aged, they came off like the world's most violent Statler and Waldorf. Zarzecki is a completely competent stylist and Montreal is one of the best surprises of the footage, relative to expectations. You have every reason to expect an empty musclehead but he's great just slugging it out and has a natural babyface charisma. We watch enough of these tags over the years and you can see tropes and tools develop. In late 65, we're seeing much more in the way of babyfaces trying to run and and the ref getting distracted by them than a few years earlier. When they're on top, Delaporte and Bollet control the ring well and they get real heat, even if there's always a patina of fun and the fans almost being in on the joke with them here as opposed to years earlier. The comeback in the second fall is downright celebratory, just a constant buzz and pop for one moment of comeuppance after another. And then, on a dime, the bastards can turn it right back on, with Bollet crushing Montreal at the end with a harsh slam into the corner and one of the first actual power slams we've seen.

PAS: Another really fun tag, with Montreal being the focus of the babyface team, and the killer heel squad of Bollet and Delaporte back on their bullshit. Delaporte and Bollet are like clownish hotel owners in a Tom and Jerry cartoon, you expect Delaporte to accidentally eat a hot pepper and have steam come out of his ears. As comedic as the heels were, they could switch and kick some ass too. There were some pretty nasty beatings laid on Montreal and the finishing powerslam was brutal stuff. The quality of these weekly tags is just off the charts. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Bollet! Wiecz! Rene Ben! Cesca! Lagache! N'boa!

Andre Bollet vs. Eddy Wiecz 9/21/65

MD: This is the finals of the Salon Cup, or at least it's for the cup, and it's primal and personal and violent and fun. There's a certain familiarity here that we don't usually get in the footage. It almost feels like a big blowoff match in a feud as opposed to the sporting match of the week, which is how it usually goes. There's a little bit of wrestling to start, with Wiecz able to hang on to holds or go right back into them and Bollet, as always, able to stooge his way right out of small, skillful victories in the most entertaining fashion possible. When it starts to pick up (with Bollet throwing the first blow), it never really settles back down. They're constantly abusing the ref whenever he tries to intervene and while he gives public warnings, he's suitably bullied by them and likely afraid to throw the whole thing out considering the importance of the match. Bollet will choke and grind and hammer, but then Wiecz will come back with just huge shots mixed in with a little bit of his athleticism, like the backflip off the top, or fun moments like catching Bollet's foot in the ropes and then tying the ref up too when he tried to stop him. They do a very good job of selling the attrition as the match goes on, with Wiecz flopping on shaky legs and Bollet needing to lean on his seconds or hang on to the ref. Ultimately it spills onto the floor and they have a last thundering exchange before Wiecz is to put him away definitively in the center of the ring. Just a real classic slugfest. If you told me this was the most watched and remembered French match-up of the 60s, I'd believe you.

PAS: I agree this felt like a classic. We have had better matches in this footage, but nothing which felt bigger. Bollet is a real thumper in this, landing hard big blows through out, Wiecz (who is Eduard Carpentier) has a much more theatrical striking style, big winging hooking blows, which really land, I also liked his Anderson Silva like push kicks. When they combined to wail away at each other it really built to something special. Wiecz tying Bollet's foot into the ropes and then tying up the ref was a nice bit of table setting business before they really unloaded on each other. I really liked Wiecz, flipping sentons, he got some real snap on them and they landed with some real chest compression. 

Rene Ben Chemoul/Gilbert Cesca vs. Pierre Lagache/N'boa Le Congalais 10/3/65

MD: What to even do with this tire fire? N'boa was Bob Elandon who we saw not too long ago as a real heatseeker. Now he's a savage from the Congo with a handler (a woman dubbed Franziska Von Biesen dressed like Kim Chee without the mask and with a whip). Elsewhere, he'd come out as N'boa the Snakeman with a giant python. So, basically Kamala, right? Most of us can watch Kamala matches, no problem. What makes this one different? It's the crowd. I don't think I've ever quite seen a French crowd like this, not with Bollet and Delaporte, not with Quasimodo, not with Von Kramer or Kaiser, not even with Elandon the last time we saw him. Likewise, as good as Cesca and Ben Chemoul were (and they're just a really great team), I've never seen the crowd so behind them, not against Bibi and Bernaert or the Black Diamonds or the Teddy Boys. While the commentator was going on about how, if N'boa lost, he'd be sent back to the jungle to live in his trees, this crowd wanted their countrymen to put the savage in his place more than I've ever seen them want anything. We're ten years in now, have seen so much, and it's the comparative view that damns this so thoroughly. What else to even say? The wrestling was very good?

PAS: I guess I am the counterpoint here, which isn't really a place I am comfortable being. I mean jungle savage gimmicks in wrestling are clearly racist, but in the spectrum N'boa wasn't Kamala level of subhuman, or even as racist as something like Crime Time. Between the ropes he basically worked like he worked as Bob Elandon, big hard hitter with some athletic stooging. Lagache played the role of the wrestling foil, and Cesca and Chemoul have their tag stuff as polished and down as any tag team ever. Racial heat is clearly a thing, from Puerto Rico vs. Mexico feuds, to the Caribbean Sunshine Boys to the Gangstas, and it did seem like an especially hot crowd, but the heels were also pretty great at cheapshotting and milking the crowd. I also don't think this was the hottest crowd we have seen, we saw people swing on Lio Pellicani and pelt Cheri Bibi with garbage.  I could enjoy this as a match, and while this wasn't the tip top level of some of the Cesca and Ben Chemoul stuff, it was in the mix.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Gueret! Teddy Boy! Chaisne! Corne! Bollet! Wiecz!

George Gueret/Teddy Boy vs. Michel Chaisne/Jacky Corne 7/30/56

MD: Hell of a tag here. Just hard hitting, constant motion and attitude and fire. Guerret and Teddy Boy made for a great team, which Guerret really a proto Harley Race in a lot of ways (even shaved), between his ruggedness and his willingness to bump and stooge. He's just missing the suplexes. Teddy Boy is just a manic creep, constantly getting involved, constantly swiping at his opponents like a bulldog, full of attitude, endlessly dangerous in the corner, a heatseeking machine, but also completely willing to run into a bull charge "Ole" type spot between falls. He'd get tossed out of the ring and immediately run around to try to grab a leg from the outside. Guerret and Teddy Boy absolutely controlled the ring well, pressing their opponents to the corner at every opportunity. Chaisne had the height (which gave him good slams relatively) and could do everything you'd expect a stylist to be able to do, able to go up and over backwards to get out of a hammerlock or hit dropkicks in rope running segments. There was one point where he kept throwing Guerret across the ring and did these pounce-like shoulder blocks again and again. Really, though it's Corn who stands out, like always. He's the best slugfest machine that we have in this footage, and these bad guys deserved to eat forearms. I feel like we haven't seen the spinning toehold much and Corn broke it out here, as well as a sort of Indian Deathlock (the Gagnelock style, with the foot pressing against the knee), and Chasine and Corn locking in tandem leg nelsons whacking their opponents' faces into the mat repeatedly at the same time. Finish was a little confusing to me. Guerret tended to break up falls more than most we've seen and it's possible he might have gotten DQed for doing it too often, but the last image of the match was Teddy Boy bumping hard over the top, so the ref might have just called it after that. The fans didn't care. It ended on a triumphant note with the creep going splat. Just good, fundamentally sound mid 60s French tag wrestling.

PAS: We are really getting a ton of great tags in this period, it almost feels like 60s France was an 80s Crockett level of a tag promotion.  All four of the guys in this match were great, but man alive was Teddy Boy incredible, he really reminded me of Jerry Estrada in both the frequency and insanity of his bumps and the sleaziness of his aura. He just seemed like such a scum bag in the best wrestling way. Corn was also great, he is a super hard hitter along with being skilled and the pop of the exchanges in this match was one of the things that really stood out, all four guys were bringing the heat. I also had no idea what was going on with that finish, but it didn't really dim my enjoyment of the match or anything. Looking forward for more from all of these guys.

Eddy Wiecz vs. Andre Bollet 9/20/65

MD: Battle between two wrestlers that are about as iconic as you can get in this footage. I've seen hints at it before, but I'm really sure of it now: Wiecz/Carpentier just gets it. He gets it on a level that every other stylist just hadn't figured out. They're all out there having brilliant Catch bouts and he's canny enough to play like a star. He's got his big spots (like the back flip off the top) and he works them in. He milks it before doing them. He'll take a lot of offense but be stoic about it, coming off as tough. Most of all, though, he'll build towards a big moment of comeback, here, a telegraphed block and a comeback punch, that's much more definitive than the ebb and flow we get from almost everyone else. Even a guy like Corn will just fire back but this was set up for the people in the back row and the folks at home. He's also going to break norms; Bollet kept picking him up at 2 to punish him more, so during the comeback, Wiecz would do the same. It's a bit of elaboration you didn't really get as often as you'd expect in the footage so far. Bollet, of course, worked not just for the people in the back row, but for the birds flying above the building, emoting so big that surely they could see him through the roof. When it's time for him to takeover, he's just the meanest swarming striker. When it's time to stooge again, he gets caught in the ropes or lobbed to the floor or trapped in a hold and his face contorts in every shape imaginable. He's good enough to land a great escape, but almost every time he gets immediate comeuppance; he'll then come back by being twice as nasty with chokes or cheapshots though. He's the very best at what he did. The match had a few holds that went a little too long and maybe Wiecz took a little too much of it, but people knew what to expect coming in and I doubt anyone except for fans with the most particular standards would come out of it disappointed. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Fake Pat! Vachon ! Togo! Delaporte! Bollet! Valois! Wiecz! Universe!

Pat O‘Connor vs. Paul Vachon 5/23/65

MD: We get a solid 15 minutes of this, enough to learn a thing or two. It's Paul Vachon vs the fake Pat O'Connor. I'm even more sure now that they tried to pull the wool over the crowd that he was the real Pat O'Connor. The commentating calls him a former world champion and while they throw out titles all the time, it just fits here. As before, he's a charismatic pot bellied folk hero styled babyface, working for the crowd with big shots. Vachon's interesting, billed as a lumberjack, but more savvy than wild, apt to hiding in the ropes to get an advantage. I'm pretty certain this is the first time I've seen (chronologically) a heel play "hide the object" in the footage, this time being a string attached to his ring gear apparently that he used to work over the wrist and choke. I wouldn't say the holds here were super compelling but they did work them and struggle in a grinding heavyweight sort of manner. If you're looking for trends, I think we're seeing more whips into the corner in the mid-60s than we have in previous years too. What got the biggest pop was O'Connor tossing him around by his beard, including out of the ring, which was your finish.

SR: JIP. We get about 12 minutes. It‘s Paul Vachon, baby. This was largely two big burly men beating on each other and perfectly solid. I especially liked when Not Pat O‘Connor popped him in the mouth. Big burly Paul Vachon flies over the 3rd rope for the finish.

Tosh Togo vs. Roger Delaporte 5/23/65

SR:1 fall match going under 20 minutes. Harold Sakata enjoyed a nice popularity surge thanks to his appearance in Goldfinger. His popularity was so great that there was even a minor scandal in Germany at the time, as Togo was wrestling as Oddjob, and another promoter had a fake Oddjob main event his own event the same night. This match was mostly Togo being the aggressor in typical carny Japanese fashion with nerve holds, toe kicks and chops. It was nice to see Delaporte in the role of a noble guy taking a beating and in turn kicking the shit out of his opponent. The match felt like two guys who were absolutely not familiar with each other just doing the most simple stuff and really wasn‘t all that great outside of the novelty of seeing Mr. Oddjob. At least we got Bollet having a go at Oddjob after the match.

MD: When the crowd's chanting "Roger" ten minutes into a Delaporte match, you know that they either did something very right or something very wrong. Here it was right. Togo is, of course, Harold Sakata, and he comes out with the full Oddjob gear and the commentary talking about Goldfinger. I think Delaporte booked himself against anyone even vaguely interesting who came through Paris whether it made sense or not. You can't really blame him too much. Here, Togo ambushed Delaporte right from the get go and didn't look back, throwing kicks, chops, and choking on the ropes. Roger's usual tactics of cowering and hiding in the corner didn't work at all, because Togo just didn't care about the rules. He couldn't pick off a leg or get in a cheapshot because Togo was simply relentless. Finally, however, he made it out of the ring, got a breather, and started to fire back. He trapped Togo's leg in the ropes and hammered and pulled at it and the fans loved it. They'd rather their villain tha n this savage interloper dressed in false finery. It was fairly back and forth from there, with big shots and big brawling (and one chinlock, which still got a huge ovation for Delaporte and another chant when he got out of it and started hammering again) until Togo hit a KO shot to end it. Post-match, Bollet saved his partner, and Togo threatened to throw his at at him, so good stuff all around. Nothing fancy here and barely a hold past some stomach claws and that chinlock, but it was fairly rollicking stuff with a foreign attraction and de facto babyface Delaporte getting honest sympathy even without doing anything to change up his act.


Andre Bollet/Frank Valois vs. Eddie Wiecz/Mr. Universe 6/6/65 pt 1, pt 2

MD Weicz/Carpentier is pretty interesting to watch. He absolutely has star power. He has this great way of organically working his athleticism (the flips and cartwheels) into what he's doing. He works these big set pieces into his matches, like fighting out of the corner and backflipping off the ropes, or the four man submission here that worked the ref in as well, but a lot of what he does seems to serve himself as much as the match, especially relative to other guys we've seen. If I'm in this crowd the images that will stick with me would be those big set pieces would be the heels cheating against the far more muscular Mr. Universe and Weicz constantly trying to get justice by getting in, and the end, where he does a great skin the cat headscissors while his partner is getting pinned. He was definitely a guy who knew how to get over. Universe had some charisma, a good look, and some big shots where he put his whole body into it, but at times you got the sense he had no idea what he was doing, too. Valois was a very good partner for Bollet and they stooged and cheated well. This had the most "ref distraction," we've seen so far and the balance between the babyface comebacks and the heels retaking the advantage by double teaming worked out pretty well. Universe wasn't great but given the nature of the match, he didn't have to do a ton but take offense and be a key player during some of the big set pieces either.

SR: 2/3 falls match going about 30 minutes. Valois looks like a bigger, fatter, more bald version of Bollet. This was fun when it was just lumpy gentlemen beating on each other. Both Bollet and Valois had some amazing bumps, and Valois threw these cool punches to guys ears. That said this was really long and had too much of guys running in and out of the ring disrupting the action with no real structure. The fans had a blast, though.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Carpentier! Duranton! Frisuk! Delaporte!

Edouard Carpentier vs. Robert Duranton 3/24/62

MD: First and foremost, let's put the flippy guy aside for a minute. This was an amazing Duranton performance. That's what I want to lead with. He based so well for everything Carpentier did. He was incredibly giving, especially for a guy so featured in the footage and who was used to controlling a lot of the tag matches we've seen him in. He spends basically the entire match stooging for Carpentier, never able to hold him down for long, getting out of his holds only to end up right back in them, and selling more and more frustration, whipping his hair up in a frenzy and charging at him only to get clowned again and again. The more upset he gets the more fury he shows, the bigger and more definitive his comeuppance. It's a Carpentier showcase and Duranton makes it work and makes it matter. That said, Carpentier does bring something unique to the table. He's unquestionably agile, able to hit handstands, handsprings, and cartwheels cleanly and organically for both big, dramatic escapes, and to shock Duranton (who sold the surprise of them perfectly), able to slug it out with fire, and with some big painful bombs like the flipping sentons and double stomp. He clearly knew how to look like a force and look like a star. So long as he had someone to work with him, like Duranton did here, there's no question that he was an immediate headliner.

SR: 1 fall match going about 25 minutes. Carpentier hasn‘t shown up on TV in 6 years. He hadn‘t lost a beat, though. This was outstanding and the best French match in a while. Going in I was wondering if Carpentier would be just another French face with some athletic moves and a hard European uppercut, but he was far more than that. He was tagging Duranton with punches from the get-go while mixing in some really graceful athletic moves. The match structure also seemed improved, as this had one of the best openings of all matches as they immediately turned up the heat. I wonder if they were very influenced by US wrestling at this point, with the punches being a focus. Carpentier really seemed on an athletic level here that even most modern wrestlers can‘t dream of. He was cartwheeling around while making it all look effortless, and everything made sense. All the side headlock control stuff was neat and flew by, and there was other cool stuff happening like Carpentier catching a Duranton strike into a seamless flying armdrag. Duranton had probably his best showing so far as he was thoroughly flamboyant and cocky and also really vicious working over Carpentier. By the end Carpentier was destroying Duranton with punch combos, big back breaking flip sentons and super vicious double stomps. I also swear he lifted him up purely by the neck for a sick looking body slam. Finish felt like a Super Dragon moment. This was a great TV bout.

PAS: Hell of a Carpentier showcase, with a very giving opponent. Carpentier would alternate striking athletic flips and counters, with sick looking jabs, hooks and body shots. Carpentier is a big guy for this footage which makes his agility even more striking. Duranton was back footed for this entire match, with Carpentier escaping every trap, and meeting every shot with a bigger nastier receipt. He based well for all of the takedowns, was great at harrumphing and getting more and more aggravated. He also takes a huge beating at the end of the match, Carpentier was fucking his back up with those flipping sentons, he gets a lot of credit for how world beating Carpentier ended up looking.

Jean Frisuk vs. Roger Delaporte 5/3/62

MD: If you ever wanted one match to really understand Roger Delaporte as a singles wrestler, here it is. Bollet may have higher highs but Delaporte is endlessly consistent, a craven, whinging, bullying, dangerous, opportunist villain, insincere in all the best ways. He'll take advantage of every moment of distraction, will shamelessly beg off to buy himself time or to pray forgiveness from the referee for any of his endless transgressions, including quite frequently pushing him out of the way so he can lay in another blow. He's one of the great bad guys of 20th century wrestling and thanks to this footage, we get to lay claim to him in a way that people could only do so through their memories or the memories of their parents and grandparents. He mustache twirling (figuratively, despite having the mustache) belongs to us now and our lives are the richer for it.

Frisuk (Fryziuk if you want) is a game opponent. He's been a slugger in the tag matches we've seen him in and he came off as a total package here, albeit one that got a little too cutesy with some of his between the legs escapes. The fans popped for it but maybe it was something he should have been doing when he was a little younger. They had a lot of time to kill and worked holds with the usual escapes and escalation. You got variations on a theme because of the regularity of certain moves that you wouldn't see today: one example is the Mascaras twist, that sort of cross-footed headscissors takeover from the ground on a standing opponent. Because it was so commonplace, they developed heel counters where they grabbed on to the ropes, which always got heat. The very best of this match, however, was when one guy was bullying the other, which happened often, or when they were slugging at one another, which happened even more, and the very best of that was when they were brawling on the floor. This had a little bit of everything: violence, comedy, technique, though I imagine not quite enough wrestling for the true purists watching this, though it's a shame we lose a little bit at the end of the first fall. The only other things that mar it to me would be Frisuk's scampering antics (not necessary for a guy who's otherwise Ronnie Garvin-esque) and that the finish in the third fall needed to be just a little more creative. Otherwise, it's a great Delaporte showcase against a well-matched opponent.

SR: 2/3 Falls match going 40 minutes. Yes, yes, it‘s long, but this was another hit. Delaporte is fascinating. He isn‘t very athletic, he won‘t do anything fancy, but he is insanely charismatic, he will brutalize opponents and he somehow has enough of a gas tank to work a 40 minute brawl without slowing down. This is heated from the get to as both guys tag each other with punches before Frisuk gets Delaporte in a spinning toe hold (a move we‘ve seen end matches) with Delaporte frantically fighting him off. They continue at a crazy pace, alternating between working holds and reversals before beating the hell out of each other some more. You are watching and thinking how on earth can this keep but, but they keep up, and it builds to an even bigger second half with both guys taking spills into the crowd and brawling on the floor, some hard slams, ref getting thrown around and lots of great slugging in out. All while Delaporte had the whole crowd in his palm with his antics. Eventually Frisuk was just hammering his fist at Delaportes face in the corner. Frisuk looked solid, hitting hard and getting hit back, I did like him slamming Roger into the mat repeatedly while in an armlock, but this was the Delaporte show. His antics, his crazy selling, his general despicableness all while like your shady used car salesman uncle. Too bad about the ending of the 1st fall being missing, but we get everything else, and it‘s quite great if you like heated crowd pleasing slugfests.

PAS: I actually think this was the better of the two matches we got this week. You don't look at these two guys and think that you are going to get a 40+ minute cardio fest from them, but this really pushed pace for a long time. I thought the build in the first half was very cool with Delaporte and Frisuk working holds and Delaporte heat seeking, but that finish run was all timer stuff. Just an epic slugfest, with both guys getting knocked into the crowd, getting tossed over the top rope and just standing in the pocket and pounding on each other. The end of the match felt like a Thrilla in Manilla war of attrition, where neither man was ever going to be the same. I love when a wrestling match gets to that visceral violent level, and they got there.

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