Tuesday is French Catch Day: Petit Prince! Bibi! Husberg! Falempin!James Brown! Corne!

 Le Petit Prince vs. Michel Falempin 5/27/66

MD: Seeing d'Ericourt twice in such close succession definitely exposes him a bit at this very early stage in his career. While it wasn't the same match as the Genele one, a lot of the biggest spots were move-for-move repeats of that match. It was a different arena and the fans ate them up, but even more than that, with a different opponent, it was a different match with the spots layered in different places. While Falempin bullied him, more of this was about him containing Prince with hammerlocks and armbar sequences, and that was probably for good reason. The sheer momentum that he had on with his float overs and back flips had him crashing into the ropes in pretty dangerous ways. He overshot about half of what he was going for here recklessly, but that energy and enthusiasm was just electric. No one was going to look away. Certainly, he made it worth it when he battled back and got to get some revenge. This, more than anything else, shows me his progression into a complete, contained, controlled, wrestler in the years that would follow, as he learned to channel his acrobatics and intensity into a far more honed and polished act. At this point, though, he was like lightning bursting onto the scene.

PAS: I am not holding having signature spots against the Prince, he is electric to watch, and just because Santo does his senton tope in every match, doesn't mean I don't want to see that over and over again. I liked Falempin here too, he really wrenched in the hammerlocks and armbars, and made the fancy flipping counters really count. There definitely is a progression later, and the difference between Prince then and Prince in a couple of years is like 93 Rey Jr. and 97 Rey Jr. Still 93 Rey Jr. is fucking awesome as is 1966 Petit Prince. I liked that some of his stuff threw him into the ropes in weird ways, it added to the level of difficulty of the stuff, it was almost like Olympic diving where the flawed dives are as compelling as the perfect ones. 

SR: 1 fall match going a bit over 20 minutes. The Prince is clearly becoming a TV mainstay. No surprise. This was another beautiful match. Smooth exchanges beyond belief. Falempin seemed a bit nondescript, but he was a great dance partner for the Prince. Look at how fast he moves behind the  Prince when he goes for a hammerlock, or the way both guys would bump. The devil is in the details, and they had them down pat. Falempin found himself outshone and decided to lay some brutal stomps into the Princes head. He took a big bump, too. Seems he would go on to be a technico later but it was a nice solid non descript rudo performance from him here. And they pulled the more beautiful stuff of like magic.

Cheri Bibi/Eric Husberg vs. James Brown/Jean Corne 6/16/66

MD: Fun tag that goes maybe a bit too long at 40 minutes. Bibi and Husberg were a well oiled machine and much better at controlling the ring but save for a moment at the end of the first fall, it never felt like Brown and Corne couldn't just come back at any moment. Of course, Bibi could also retake control at any moment since he was such a bruiser. I liked the organic transition out of that, by the way. Corne had just eaten a fall after being double-teamed for a while and he had to start the second fall since those were the rules. He's trapped in the corner again but escapes when a fan grabs Husberg's leg. It wasn't quite as smooth as that but it was a nice bit of presence that you'd never see happen today. They built to some of those big triumphant babyface moments, my favorite of which was Corne helping Brown get both guys in leg locks simultaneously before running right over them repeatedly. Someone needs to steal it. I really like Brown in these matches. Yes, he has the headbutt like you'd expect, but he can also slug it out and he's very crisp with most things he does and has some big power moves like a one-armed back breaker and the torture rack lift up out of a chinlock and the airplane spin on Bibi (no small feat) that he finally ended things with.

SR: 2/3 falls match going about 35 minutes. Nothing much to see or say here. I'm always happy to see James Brown since his style is a bit different from the regular French guys. He had some nice Fujiwara Armbars here. Other than that this was a house show ish effort. The match hinged on the heel act of Bibi and Husberg and didn't really bring the violence in a big way like in their better matches. Okay stuff but skippable.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Bibi! Husberg! Gugliemetti! Crapez! Kopa! Marquez

Cheri Bibi/Eric Husberg vs Giacomi Gugliemetti/Philippe Crapez 3/6/66

MD: This was a crowd-pleaser tag but lacked the sort of heat generated by the heels being in charge for any sort of extended period that would make it more than simple fun. There was never really any emotion or drama to this one. It almost felt like the worst part of the Hayes/Hunter tags where Hunter could simply come in and crush guys with his size and reach. That was absolutely Gugliemetti's gimmick here, more so than when we'd seen him previously. He had huge reach and would just slap and whack the heels in the face repeatedly and there was nothing they could do. It was played for laughs with Bibi trying to get a hand to block it, managing it for one or two but then getting slapped. The whole match was like this, interspersed with the heels trying to get control with chinlocks and double teaming, but the tags coming too quick and too easy from the stylist side. Occasionally, Bibi would get riled and would throw a great headbutt but it was never really followed up with the right sort and the right amount of heel brutality to make this balanced. There were a couple of fun (and again crowd-pleasing) set pieces with the heels in the ropes, and the finish was clever with Gugliemetti using his size to hold down the ropes as Bibi was trying to bounce off of them to get Crapez who was held across the ring by Husberg, but it was all too lopsided for the fans to feel it all warranted, except for on the basis of previous matches. I liked Husberg as always. He had a way of preening that was absolutely heatseeking and larger than life while never seeming entirely bufoonish or cartoonish. Crapez looked pretty good here, with some nice shots, a few nice dropkicks, and a very cool and novel roll through on one of those arm drag slams that end so many falls, where he was able to pick up Bibi for a backbreaker. This just needed more real heat to compare positively to a lot of the other tags we've been seeing lately.

SR: 2/3 falls match going about 30 minutes. Another night of gentlemen in various stages of balding forearming the hell out of each other. I really liked Guguglielemetti constantly throwing hands and slapping the shit out of people. Bibi and Husberg played fair initially, but the crowd already hated them thoroughly and wanted to see them get put on their asses. So Bibi and Husberg switched to the tactic of cheapshotting and isolating their opponents in the corner quickly. Crapez was a bear of a man and had this insane backbreaker lifted from the floor at one point. This was decent.

Tito Kopa vs. Pepe Marquez 3/20/66

PAS: Kopa is a Argentinian wrestler who had a pretty long run in the US in the 50s and 60s. He was short, really hairy and built like a block of wood. Lots of the early part of the match had Marquez trying and failing to grab a headlock on Kopa's slick bald head. It was a nice bit of business and it really felt like a triumph when Marquez got a headlock takeover in the end of the match. Nothing super flashy here, Marquez had a spot where he spun off of the ref's back to escape something which was neat, but this was mostly basic. Kopa hit hard, and I really liked his bear hug finish where he drove his gross little head into Marquez's chest, but I didn't think this had 35 minutes worth of stuff to really recommend it as a match. Still Kopa is a cool historical character and it is neat we get to see what he brought to the table. 

MD: I enjoyed this one a lot. It's our second and last look at Marques. We'd seen him in a really good stylist vs stylist match vs Sola previously. I wish we had twenty more matches with him. He's very good, with a lot of interesting escapes, some novel holds (like the Gagne deathlock), a tendency to flip over the ref while escaping things, and an explosiveness with strikes and dropkicks and just ramming Kopa's head into the corner repeatedly. Plus he had some narrative driven arm-selling in the first half of the match that let him work some comebacks without transitions which is still rare for French wrestling. Kopa was an interesting guy to watch, just a fireplug tank, dogged, tough, mean. He wrenched holds and had a lot of fairly simple ways to hurt you, with believable stoic no-selling and a bevy of inside moves (hidden chokes and punches and what have you). For much of the match, Kopa would keep control with a hold as Marques found interesting ways to escape and fire back only to get dragged back down. I liked how in the last third, Marques got an extended revenge headlock section that in other matches would have been in the first third instead, but it worked as a sort of celebratory comeuppance here. Kopa ultimately won with Quasimodo's tombstone-position repeated body lift, which was a pretty good move for Kopa's size and shape. Marques seemed to be someone who could work anyone anywhere and have a good match but I imagine Kopa shined best with the right opponent.

SR: 1 fall match going about 30 minutes. Kopa is one of those US style wrestlers who only have a few simple holds. Other than that he would try to inside shot his opponent, but everything he did was extremely basic. I liked his head first corner bumps to accentuate his shortness. Marquez looked quite good here. Really sold those simple armlocks like hell, and had nice retaliations in the form of cool dropkicks and uppercuts. I really liked how he strangled Kopa and then stomped on his throat. That said this was about 10-15 minutes too long so it's only for the completists.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Bernaert! Zarpa! Bayle! Montreal! Bibi! Husberg!

Joachim La Barba vs Dan Aubriot 4/11/65

MD: Our last little look at La Barba. About five minutes. It's great for what we get. They're able to go at a high speed, full of hard hitting shots and tons of character. They'll go from a quick roll up/armbar exchange, to a double stomp, to uppercuts and forearms, to big tosses out of (and back into) the ring, right into the antics. At one point, La Barba fast counted himself on a pin, left the ring, and put his robe back on, only for Aubriot to pull him back in and trounce him. Great stuff. The finish was 1965 nuts with a really close up missile dropkick (more of just a missile kick) and then top rope splash from La Barba. What a shame we didn't have more La Barba in the footage. Ah well.

Pierre Bernaert vs Armand Zarpa 4/11/65

MD: Other than the cross body finish and slight elaboration in some of the in-and-out hold sequences, this could have been six or seven years earlier. There's nothing wrong with that but it felt like a bit of a throwback to the classic stylist vs mechant stuff we've seen a ton of so far. Bernaert is, of course a pro at this. Zarpa was either Armenia or Greek (here billed as Armenian) and he could hang. Some of the sequences looked a little off but they were all worked so competitively that things being off ended up additive anyway. Sometimes Zarpa, despite being the stylist, went to a kick or a shot to get out and the fans seemed unsure about that early. Halfway through the match, though, Bernaert got mean and they were behind Zarpa when he fired back. There probably wasn't quite enough of that and maybe a bit too much of taking the crowd back down with holds. There was a relatively late headscissors which probably wasn't the crowd needed in that moment, for instance. In general, though, it was good, baseline stuff.

Remy Bayle/Mr Montreal vs Cheri Bibi/Eric Husberg 4/25/65

MD: We've seen our share of Bibi and Bernaert but this was our first look at Bibi and Husberg and it was great. Maybe with Bernaert there was more heel chicanery, but while Pierre's hard hitting, Husberg seems to be more of a relentless, dogged, and varied striker with a craven stooging streak and interesting combos. Add in Bibi's brutal shots and tendency to be able to cut off an opponent believably at a moment's notice and they were a high bar to defeat. The more I see Montreal, the more I like him. He had a body gimmick for a babyface, but he hit hard and threw great slams and sold well, just really having a deep connection to the crowd. He was lead babyface material and a fiery hot tag or mauling worker from underneath. It helped that Bibi leaned into his every shot. You got the sense he really liked to work with Montreal, which is quite the claim for me to be making from watching a few matches, but I call it like I see it. Bayle was able to work in these cool little karate chops giving his combos some welcome variety. This was fairly back and forth, with some standout sequences like a progressive (for the time) and well worked arm control bit on Bibi that ended with Bibi rolling to Husberg and Husberg mocking his opponents for losing control only to get almost immediately blasted for his trouble. There was also a great moment where Montreal held the ropes open as Bibi went to bound off them for an illegal double team so that he just went sailing. At times they got big heat (with trash being thrown in and Husberg kicking it out) and the fans were up for all the comebacks. The finish, while not satisfying, was at least amusing and both teams could realistically claim some form of victory. It made me want to see them go at it again.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Corne! Isreal! Les Blousons Noir! Husberg! Spartacus!!

Jean Corne & Ischa Israel vs. Marcel Mannevau & Claude Gessat 4/21/60 pt1 pt2

SR: 2/3 falls match going 45 minutes. It‘s Les Blousons Noir, venerable rudo team made up of Mannevau and Gessat. This was probably the first in very specific brand of French pro wrestling, a very fast paced light weight tag mixing high end wrestling with high end heel work. And it didn‘t even seem like something particularily new to this crowd. The workrate these guys had was just insane, going 45 minutes without really letting up, all while running the ropes so fast, bumping hard, working ultra tight pin attempts and hitting the worlds greatest european uppercuts. While Mannevau and Gessat were clearly indulging in outrageous heel antics they also came to wrestle, there are some slick takedowns and Gessat busts out a sick spinning jacknife bomb that felt like it belonged in a 90s New Japan match. Mannevau is the more animated of the two Blousons and he really looks like a cheapshot king here and I loved all his silent film antics with the tag rope, he was like Regal on speed. Most of this the Blousons backing the faces to their corner or locking in holds before raining down punches and kicks, before some violent retaliations and while mixing in fast rope running exchanges and straight wrestling. It is a really effective formula and these guys are kings at it. There were also well integrated ref spots including Mannevau stepping on the referee, and there is a deceptive near-finish where the referee uppercuts one of the faces.  Israel is the more animated of the faces and he has a real knack for infusing simple things with energy, at one point he comes in and does this neat spinning takedown and then some nasty knuckle grinding. The knuckle grinding really wasn‘t anything super difficult athletic-wise, something any random yokel wrestler could do, but the way he executed it he made it look like he was about to rip a guys leg off. The ending is a bit weird, they are 1:1 and resting in the corners after a fall while the announcer talks about Cognac or something, I am going to pretend it simply ended in a 45 minute draw, even though they delivered two great finishes and showed no signs of fatigue, this was a metric ton of high end wrestling although probably not that special considering they likely did this match 3 times a week.

MD: We get about 45 of this, two clear falls before they run out of TV time. There seemed to be some confusion up front on them getting the time when they did to begin with. This is our first look at Les Blousons Noirs, and while this one has been out there before, I don't think it is now and it's well worth watching. The commentator has no idea which is Gessat and which is Manneveau, but if I have it right, Maneveau is an amazing cheapshot artist, just a manic cheater of the sort that seems get cheapshots in at every opportunity, even when it'd be more effective to not antagonize the referee. Gessat really impressed me, bumping big, looking credible and tough, hanging with Corne and Israel. Just a really dynamic heel and the two of them together made a good unit. We'd seen Corne once in 59 and we'll see him a lot more, but I thought he looked a lot better here, already fulfilling the promise from the previous year. Lots of cleanly hit, dynamic spots, good fire (though not as good as Israel) and plenty of charisma. There was one moment where he bumped himself into being choked between the ropes that seemed to defy physics. Despite the length, between the quickness of the action, the frequent shifts between heat and revenge, and a healthy dose of comedy with the ref, who became more unkempt and unclothed as the match went on, the time passed quickly and enjoyably. We have another tag with these heels and one Gessat singles match I'm particularly interested in.

Robert Le Boulch vs. Jean Martin 4/29/60

SR: We get about 30 seconds of this before Le Boulch taps out to a spinning toe hold from Martin. No real sense of the match but I dig a spinning toe hold finish.

MD: There was something to see here but we didn't get to see it unfortunately. This starts with a guy on the floor and ends a minute later with him selling a leg and eating a spinning toe-hold. We didn't even get the bump. Ah well. In between matches they show three cartoon drawing which really do sum up French Catch, a guy getting monkey flipped with one foot, that bridging, cross-legged headscissors (like Mil Mascaras), and a forearm right to the face. That's 57-60 French Catch in a nutshell.

Spartacus vs. Eric Husberg 4/29/60

MD: Spartacus is exactly what you'd expect at first sight, a muscular guy dressed like a Gladiator. It's funny because Bernaert was working the Kirk Douglas resemblance, but I imagine this was the other promotion? Still, you'd think there would be money with these two facing off. Husberg, we've seen before, and he's dark-haired with occasionally beady eyes and a smugness when he escapes a hold or gets one over on his opponent, but after seeing so much Bernaert, I still somehow thought he'd be the face in this. I was wrong. Spartacus brought a lot to the table, legitimately good wrestling on the mat, intensity in key moments, power moves (the flipping cradle release power bomb we haven't seen in a while, along with slams and a backbreaker), and some real stylist escapes, half of which looked amazing and half of which looked unsteady. Whether it was true or not, you got the sense that neither man could keep the other down for long. Husberg would use more inside shots or cheap takedowns out of the ropes, but it wasn't until he really took liberties that Spartacus fired back with KO shots. We'll see him one more time and that should be interesting. Oh, and just in case neither Sebastian or Phil tell you, since I'm getting this review in first, Spartacus was Jacques Pêcheur. Go and google him and Gaston Glock together. You'll get a good story out of it.

SR: 1 fall match going about 20 minutes. It‘s Spartacus, baby. Spartacus really had a movie star look and very good build not to mention his amazing entrance gear. Also, about 37 years after this, he was a hitman and arrested after he tried bashing in the face of a famous gunmaker. Husberg looks about like if a middle aged investment banker randomly decided to get in the ring, and to my knowledge, never tried murdering anyone. This was a bout in a small venue in front of a receptive crowd. It was effective but also a bit minimalist and I felt Spartacus belonged on a bigger stage, something like a stadium if you will. Spartacus had some very stylized grappling and a unique way to do  things and I got the sense he could be a fantastic worker in the vein of a Franz van Buyten. Husberg was one of these violent heels who didn‘t do much fancy  but throw hard fists and forearms to his opponent. The bout escalated early with Husberg throwing some hard shots including a cool knee to the ribs while he held Spartacus in a keylock, but they slowed down, and I didn‘t get the sense Husberg was that great an opponent to showcase Spartacuses grappling. It was a good matchup though.

PAS: Spartcus was a bunch of fun to watch, I loved how he kept flipping onto his feet whenever Husberg tried to beal him, or monkey flip him. It was a great bit of shtick which never got tired or had diminishing returns. Spartacus also had some nifty counters on the mat, and he felt a little like a lucha maestro in a trios match where he wouldn't be able to really show his goods, but you could tell they were there. Finish was pretty awesome as Spartacus got tired of Husberg's shit and hit him with forearms including a hooking forearm which dropped him like a Joe Frazier left. Fun stuff, and I hope we get to see more Spartacus.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Arroyo! Husberg! Dos Santos! Louis! Bordeuax! Payen!

Jose Arroyo vs. Eric Husberg 12/27/57

SR: 1 Fall match going about 35 minutes. This was a bit „hot and cold“, but when it got hot, it got hot. Arroyo is a bald headed Spaniard who gets to be the face in this, while Husberg is your typical heel of the era who will wrestle a bit only to forearm you in the back of the head unexpectedly. The wrestling was basic but servicable, of course the juicy parts are when they start trading blows. Arroyo has really great looking european uppercuts and I liked how Husberg looked just disgusted with Arroyos retaliations. Heels thinking faces should be above their tactics is great. This also had a ref stop finish, which I believe is a first in this footage.

MD: This was a good match and had a invested crowd that seemed much more into cheering for Arroyo (who was presented as a handsome Yul Brenner sort here) than booing Husberg. In some ways, it's not bad that this match finishes 1957 for us because it was very typical for the brunt of face vs heel matches we saw during the year. They had a couple minutes of clean wrestling before Husberg got frustrated and laid in the blows. He controlled with holds and cheapshots behind the ref's back and Arroyo came back with technical reversals and punishing blows. If we had watched this four or five months ago, it'd have stood out. Really, though, it was a lesser version of a lot of what we've seen. I wouldn't call it lifeless: Arroyo was fiery when he ought to have been, almost always going farther and more violent than other faces we've seen and Husberg had this passive aggressive attitude where he seemed put upon and almost annoyed to be in this situation and he certainly was invested in the cheating. Arroyo's offense just wasn't as crisp or interesting even if the crowd was going wild for the sheer depth of violence in his comebacks or the finish and Husberg just didn't have the verve as a Tony Oliver or Pellacani; he came off as subdued, pissy or stoic. He did the right things, but they weren't nearly as enjoyable to watch as usual. Which again, might have been ok for a shorter JIP affair, but we had 38 minutes, straight with no fall breaks, of this one.

PAS: I agree with Matt that this would have stood out a lot more earlier in this project, we have seen too much elite stuff for very good to register. It is also a lot to ask to invest nearly 40 minutes in two guys with out a ton of real flash. I thought there were a couple of standout mat spots, including Arroyo rolling a leg lock into a bridge pin, and Arroyo was laying in the shots, including a finish where the ref had to stop the match (although it also looked like Husberg may have legit messed up his shoulder.) Still this need more to justify the time invested in watching it.


Mota Dos Santos/Pierre Payen vs. Francis Louis/Jean Claude Bordeuax 6/19/71

SR: JIP 2/3 Falls match going about 25 minutes. 3/4 of these guys did the insane moon wrestling match a year later. I wanted to see what they could do in a regular match. The answer was a pretty standard match that ended up being pretty fun. Dos Santos & Payen act as heels, stooging and cutting off the ring.. While they don't do anything super evil besides kicking a few people when they're down they gathered tremendous heat. The wrestling won't blow you away if you've been watching the French stuff, but it was the kind of fun solid light weight action nearly everyone can enjoy. The standout was easily Mota Dos Santos. He was really fun even just threatening to swing punches. He also had a great mlitary press and a a nice German Suplex (probably the first time we've seen one in this footage). I also noticed how insanely stocky is for the first time here which makes his fast movements look even more awesome. True to form, this is the only regular match this mysterious supposedly Portuguese wrestler ends up showing up in.

MD: We only have two dos Santos matches. One is the space catch with the trampolines. Here's the other. It was much more grounded and much better for it. They still moved quickly. They still did fantastic stuff. There were a ton of bumps to the floor off of dropkicks, lots of slugfests, tons of headscissors takedowns and clever rope running. Dos Santos bounded into the ring every time he was tagged and had a cool little rolling dodge at times (including to get heat after a fall so he didn't have to start the next one). But it was a much cleaner and clearer heel vs face narrative with cutting off the ring and build to some real payoff for the faces getting revenge. Dos Santos' normal partner was out with a knee injury; I get the sense Payen was normally a face but he comported himself excellently as a heel here, with lots of mean blows, cheating the first moment we see him with a hairpull to the outside. Robert Charron, who had been a boxing champion in the 60s was the ref but he wasn't a huge factor, only getting involved once or twice. Bordeaux played face in peril for a lot of this with Louis really dynamic on his comebacks with just huge uppercuts. There were some spectacular individual moves, like dos Santo's crazy dangling German Suplex and the press-slam gut punch combo that finished the first fall, and quite a bit of heat, much, much more than we had for the trampoline match. The biggest highlight was probably the wild brawl on the floor. I thought the finish was just a little flat because it was too similar to how the faces won the second fall, but in the end, this was a great combination of flash and substance.

PAS: I thought this was a blast, did a great job of melding the super athletic style of French wrestling with the more smash mouth stuff. Dos Santos was the stand out, a pint sized power guy throwing awesome looking press slams and german suplexes, and still whipping out super fast headscissors. Louis was a great hot tag, really coming in and steamrolling people. The brawl on the outside was super heated, they were wildly tossing hands and even shoving fans in the crowd. I would have also liked to see a more dynamic finish, but that was really a quibble, overall I thought this was just excellent.

ER: Loved this, total superstar performance from Dos Santos, but everyone had their moments. Either Dos Santos just had this real improbable strength, or Bordeaux is a master of body manipulation and making himself fly. Now, both of these things could be true. We've seen the acrobatics these guys can pull off and it's some real Cirque du Soleil kinda jazz, crazy body manipulation leading to unnatural feats of strength. And here's Dos Santos doing one of the most impressive and unexpected press slams I can ever remember seeing. He was running around the ring with Bordeaux like he was Bigelow deciding which part of the crowd to throw Spike into, except he's barely bigger than Spike. Bordeaux has a real beautiful headscissors and I'm glad he got to show it off a few times here. It's one of those optical illusion headscissors where he leaps up high enough to grab guys in a huracanrana but falls back to earth and snares them at the last minute with his ankles. It always looks like he's going to whiff or he just missed a dropkick, and then at the very last moment he hooks those ankles. It's so good. Bordeaux clearly has next level body control and it's one of the things that makes me want to see Dos Santos pull off a similarly impressive press slam with someone the same size as Bordeaux, but not Bordeaux's weigh distribution talent. The crowd brawl really stood out as it's not something we've seen a ton of here. We've had guys take wild bumps over the top and into the close seated fans, but this was a cool spirited brawl with guys throwing in a tight space. It's more jarring to see that in what is a much more professional setting, the same way you don't see World of Sport crowd brawls in front of mums in their house coats. Great stuff.

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