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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more!

Tuesday is French Catch Day: Genele! Cabrera! Mercier! Taysse! Gonzalez! Renault!

Bob Genele vs. Pedro Cabrera 3/21/74

MD: Interesting setting on this. Apparently they're somewhere on the Riviera, in a shopping center, with the ring up on stilts in a fountain in a plaza. There are palms about and occasionally we get an interesting camera angle from above. Usually, you'd see these guys in tags, but this was a singles lightweight match that went about twenty with clear face/heel leanings. The first few minutes were generally about Cabrera having advantage despite Genele's best efforts, so you knew he was going to turn things and start heeling and cheating soon enough. Genele was a Teddy Boy and had a real mean streak that got a lot of heat. As the match went on, he'd get some shots in but Cabrera would control with a headlock or short arm scissors or armbar, which they'd work in and out until Genele would have to pull the hair or get in a forearm to escape. He'd get some shots in and they'd repeat. Straightforward stuff but well worked with some quick flourishes and rope running bits and a nice repetition reversal finish. A match like this going twenty instead of thirty isn't a bad thing by any means. Cabrera was slick and this felt like a pretty good example of what a standard lightweight match of the time might be.

Guy Mercier/Gerard Taysse vs. Jo Gonzalez/Guy Renault 3/21/74

MD: Another match from the same show in the fountain. At the very end of this they teased a couple of spots where Renault almost went out, but he didn't quite. As it went on, I really thought the ref (our old friend Michel Saulnier) was going to go but nope. He did eat a lot of offense considering and he deserved it too. The first minutes of feeling out was solid wrestling, with Gonzalez working tight cravats and Mercier with headstands and even a short leg scissors at one point, but obviously the heels were going to start to play dirty. When they did, it was deep southern tag, with Mercier hot on the outside and Saulnier distracted and stopping the babyfaces to the point of putting too much heat on himself. Still, there was heat and Gonzalez and Renault were excellent at grinding down even through a couple of tags where they kept control with the numbers advantage and by distracting the ref. Occasionally here Saulnier would eat a dropkick or a punch from the babyfaces but the heels kept control through the end of the first fall. 

When it was time for Mercier to come in hot, he blew the roof off the place (if it even had one), with big shot after big shot and huge whips all around (including to Saulnier). One of the best hot tags we've seen in this, though they never go to a finish right after. Still, from that point on the stylists were definitely in it and they were able to clown the heels more and more as time went on. Mercier was one of the great French stylists, no question there, another one of those guys who knew all the tricks, hit hard, really wore his heart on his sleeve in the ring. Gonzales was one of the great stooges and villains; that's become apparently as we've gotten into the 70s. Taysse played face-in-peril well and got a few good shots in on comebacks but he and Renault were both capable but not nearly as memorable second bananas for their partners. They also had to fix the ring between the second and third falls due to its odd set up in the water. That hurt momentum a bit. If that didn't happen and if a bit more of the heat ended up on the heels and not the ref, this would have been over the top great. As it was, it was still very good.

Read more!