Tuesday is French Catch Day: Angelito! Richard! Peruano! Dumez!

Jacky Richard vs. Angelito 6/29/71

MD: This was our first look at Angelito who was billed as the son of L'Ange Blanc. It was another look at Richard who was a great base that could be really mean when called upon. Maybe what made the match most interesting however, was the debut of Babette Carole as the "First woman referee in France." The match was structured with Richard digging in with holds and Angelito working a number of escapes. You got the sense that Richard was probably directing traffic and setting up the spots. He could definitely go, even if the commentator seemed to doubt the shape he was in for the weight class. Angelito seemed a bit unsure at times, but had some very slick escapes, including an extended leg springboard to escape a hammerlock and a pretty nice rolling leg pick at one point. The match built to a couple of big moments, the first being Richard, who had cheated more and more as the match went on, getting Angelito's mask off only to fire Angelito up leading to a number of dropkicks. The second, which really got the crowd going, was Carole having enough of Richard and launching him with an arm drag. Gimmick stuff between the debut of Angelito and the female ref getting so much focus, but the underlying wrestling was pretty solid.

L'Ange Blanc vs. Robert Duranton (JIP) 7/5/71

MD: This was attached to the Van Buyten vs Gastel match that we had covered ages ago. We had around five minutes of this. It's worth noting L'Ange Blanc's connection to the crowd and how he'd bask in a moment before hitting a shot; Duranton's absolutely amazing jabs which I don't remember being a big part of his act previously and dropped L'Ange again and again, including one right to the eye; and the fact that Duranton actually got a relatively clean win here which felt surprising. Post-match, they interviewed Delaporte who basically indicated he was retired but had all of the promoting to look after.

Inca Peruano vs. Maurice Dumez 7/24/71

MD: This one had been mislabeled but it's definitely Dumez vs an aging Peruano. This isn't the Peruano of the late 50s, but he was still very good. Remember, we're in 71 now, only five years until he'd be wrestling on WWWF shows as enhancement talent Rocky Tomayo. Dumez apparently was 25 and had a greco-roman background but you wouldn't really know it from this. He had some interesting stuff based around headlocks, and stepovers into armdrags and what not, and a really nice entry point takedown into the rolling leg nelson in the end. He also spent the first two thirds of the match coming back and scrapping no matter what Peruano did, maybe too much. Peruano didn't hit his hanging headscissors takeodwn but he had a great rana and did that body splash onto the shoulders of a sitting opponent that's so good. Dumez returned favor later on with some elbow smashes down onto the back of the neck as Peruano was sitting. At that two-thirds mark, however, Peruano had enough and started a long sequence of choking him with his palm and his foot pretty brazenly. Then he tossed him out repeatedly. Even into his WWWF run and 1980, Peruano wasn't afraid to bump out of the ring so he didn't ask Dumez to do anything he wouldn't do but given how close the chairs were to the ring it was a good visual. While Dumez kept coming back down the stretch after that, he seemed a half step behind due to the damage. Some of that late rope running came off as a little sluggish but that could be selling. It was believable enough when Dumez got a lucky body press for the win.

Peruano is such a fascinating figure throughout this footage. I think we came in looking to learn more about a figure we knew of, a Gory Guerrero or Santo, and we have gotten some of that, with Lasartesse and Van Buyten and Carpentier and Kiyomigawa and certain British wrestlers like Hayes, but Peruano was someone that was hiding in plain sight that we had no idea about. You can watch a Rocky Tomayo match from Hawaii against Sam Steamboat or at MSG vs Larry Zbyszko or even into the 80s in Puerto Rico against Gino Della Serra. Maybe someday we'll get some of his early 70s AJPW work as Joe Soto. Even in those late matches when he was broken down and didn't do much, he had such great timing and personality and crowd interaction. He was always on just like he was always on in 1957, even if he wasn't interspersing those moments of character with unique and innovative spots. Definitely one of my favorite wrestlers to have come out of this project.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Peruvians! Chemoul! Bordes! Mantopolous! Bernaert! Lamagoru! Camus! Little bit of Andre!!

Inca Peruano/Anton Tejero vs Rene Ben Chemoul/Walter Bordes 4/12/69

MD: Another great tag between these two teams, albeit one where the reffing was just ridiculous lax. I think the only actual public warning here was after the end of the first fall when Bordes and Ben Chemoul were dancing along to the fan's mocking chants and refused to actually engage. Peruano could well be the very best minute to minute wrestler in the entire collection. He was imaginative, inhabited a dodgy, sullen, wry character at all times, had a bunch of great spots and exchanges, and here utilized the best strikes we've ever seen out of him, including these really nice flurries. The first half of this had just a ton of heat, a lot of it obtained by blatantly cheating in front of the ref, but a lot more by drawing him away or riling the other babyface. The tags were generally earned and comebacks, when scored, were fiery crowd-pleasers, though full of plenty of blatant cheating too. By this point, Ben Chemoul and Bordes were a well oiled machine and the back half of this had tons of big bumps and stooging by the heels. It was one moment to pop the crowd after the next. Chemoul seemed as athletic as ever, especially as he flew across the ring onto a leg Bordes was holding and Bordes bumped huge early and plenty of interesting, complex spots later. You wished that maybe they had cashed in on that heat for a little more drama, but what they bought with it instead was an entertained, happy crowd.

SR: 2/3 falls match going about 30 minutes. The opening exchange of this were just ridiculous - insanely fast. Chemoul was acting hyperactive as if he was on cocaine. He seemed a bit like the Terry to the calmer Bordes' Dory Jr. This had the usual tag structure - faces shine, heels do short isolation segments before faces shine some more leading to a big pay off - but worked at a ridiculously high level. Pretty much as good as you expect from these teams at this point. There were a couple breathtaking sequences and they never let up. Peruvians were great stooging heels, as usual. Especially loved the Incas punch combos. I didn't think it added up to an epic match - perhaps because the faces took it 2:0, although there was some serious peril for a bit when the Peruvians busted out a tombstone piledriver - but it was good shit and went by in a breeze.

PAS: I absolutely loved this, and think it is at the level of the best stuff in this collection. Peruano and Tejero are one of my favorite tags teams in history. Just a masterful pair of bases, bumpers and vicious fuckers. If Peruano wasn't cool enough  he is apparently a Satanico level puncher. Tejero has one of the highest bumps to ring time ratio's in wrestling history, he is just constantly flying violently to the floor or getting thrown high into the air in the ring. Chemoul is a dynamo, he has a couple of exchanges in this match which were as remarkable as the first time you saw Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid or Rey Jr. vs. Psicosis. I thought the finishes to both falls were pretty great, and have no problem with the technicos winning two straight hard fought falls. 


Jean Ferre vs Robert Duranton  10/4/69


MD: Four and a half glorious minutes of Andre humiliating Duranton and his valet. The valet was the single most over heel in 1960s France so obviously the fans loved this. Duranton may have been flamboyant but he was also a hard hitter, and he threw what he had at Andre, but Andre would take it and floor him with one shot and go right back after the valet. He ended up bodyscissoring (and giving the subsequent whack) to both at once and slamming one on the other before pinning both. By this point, he knew how to play to the crowd and milk his moments, an attraction in the making.

SR: JIP. We get about 4 minutes of this. Andre was clearly coming into his own at this stage. He engaged in some nice strike exchanges. Dug Durantons punches. A good chunk of this was about Andre going after Firmin, though. Andre wins quite easily, proving Durantons stardom was nothing to this mythical giant.


Pierre Bernaert/Pierre Lamagoru vs Vasilious Mantopolous/Robert Camus 10/4/69


MD: Another celebratory performance by Mantpolous giving the crowd everything they wanted. There was some real heat from Bernaert and Lamagrou in the first fall, where the controlled the corner with the leg and stomped away and then a ghost of it towards the end with some tandem stuff, but the first was ultimately turned around on them with endless stomps in the face corner as the fans chanted along and the second got reversed quickly, imaginatively but quickly. So the stakes were never high even if the action was quick-moving and full of fun flourishes. Bernaert was a seasoned tag wrestler, of course, and played hard into Mantpolous' act, bounding himself in a mocking way, trying to turtle to draw him in (unsuccessfully), playing to the crowd. Lamagoru was there to get clowned, but I liked how he sold the aftereffects of things more than most wrestlers of this era. Camus held up his end but a lot of times, that was to set the stage for Mantopolous to come in and make fools of everyone around him with is wizardry and verve.

SR: 2/3 falls match going about 30 minutes.Mantopoulos seems like the Golden Boy of French Catch at this point. He always brings a ton of energy and explosiveness to matches and stands out above everyone else. Camus seemed like a young boy. He was solid but didn't add much flash. Heels were solid, too. This was entertaining largely due to the Greek just bouncing around and doing his stuff at a highly energetic level, but was a bit overshadowed by the above tag. Still pretty decent action though.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Rene Ben! Peruvians! Bordes! Petit Prince! Von Chenok! Mercier

Teddy Boy vs Gerard Bouvet 12/16/67


MD: We get the last six minutes of this after they'd been going for a while and going hard. Teddy Boy is such a glorious jerk and he hits as hard as anyone we've seen. Bouvet might have been a half step slow compared to some of the smaller wrestlers we've been watching lately but he had some slick stuff, including a dive over a shoulder throw right into a cartwheel followed by a dropkick and the usual sort of stylist revenge spots like stomping on the hands and tying Teddy Boy up in the ropes for the rushing headbutt. This was building some momentum as a slugfest when Bouvet tossed Teddy Boy way over the top to end it.


Guy Mercier vs Karl Von Chenok 12/16/67

MD: The thing you need to know about Karl von Chenok is that he's not Karl von Kramer. You'd rather have Karl von Kramer. I'm also not sure I've ever seen a Karl von Chenok match that wouldn't benefit from being ten minutes shorter. There was nothing bad about this and a lot that was pretty good. Mercier, by this point, had developed an awesome array of back crushing offense, most specifically his bearhug swing into a backbreaker. He had a way of holding someone in a leglock and just beating the tar out of them with chops. He worked hard to get the headstand headscissors (Mascaras) spin going and made it seem like real effort. Chenok did one thing, his knuckles-in nervehold, but he did it exceptionally well. He had a way of sidestepping a punch and slipping it on that was as smooth as you could imagine. The match was full of struggle and at some points they were going from shot to nervehold back and forth again and again as Chenok remained dogged and Mercier unyielding. That was pretty novel actually. There was just too much of it. They never lost the crowd. It always felt competitive, even if Chenok was more of an oozing persistent presence than an electric, charismatic one. There was just too much of it.

SR: 1 Fall match over about 25 minutes. This was nerve hold city from Chenok. He had figured out a way to actually counter the european uppercut, so he was basically using that advantage to nerve lock his way through the whole match. Despite von Chenok bringing almost nothing to the table  besides some nice bumping, I‘d still call this a pretty good match simply due to Mercier being an absolute machine. The guy has these awesome greco roman moves, and even when he‘s doing a simple hold he looks like he‘s trying to twist something off. He also just started punching Chenok in the face at a few points and he did a tremendous job selling the nerve holds and chokes like his life was being drained out of him. And, his big backbreaker from a greco roman throw is just awesome and my new favourite move. He was ragdolling von Chenok like nobodies business with that. So yeah, that‘s how you good a good 25 minute match out of a guy as limited as Karl von Chenok. 


Petit Prince vs Bobby Genele 1/22/68

MD: We get the last six minutes of this as well and it's easy for people to miss as it was on the same video as Andre vs Van Buyten which we had covered independently. By this point, the Prince had really developed into a more complete package. His selling here is exceptional. There's a King of the Mountain in the middle where Genele keeps smashing or kicking him off the apron and the way he flies into the crowd and just milks it is Ricky Morton level. It's the same with his comebacks. He's more apt to have a real hope spot and then have it cut off than most people in the footage and because he's so small and so spectacular on offense, the crowd eats it up. That said, sometimes he'll do a backflip off of someone's shoulder to go through his legs and get a mare. There's a lot of wasted motion and the first time he does it, you're blown away but by the fourth or fifth time you see it, you wonder if maybe he couldn't create some more powerful effect at the end, like he does with the backflip off the top after hammering on his opponent in the corner to charge in hard with a headbutt to the gut. I think that's a criticism we'd have of him if he was a modern wrestlers. You can do six spectacular things to set up a move, things spectacular enough to overshadow the move, if you can rationalize it being about positioning, but maybe that move shouldn't be a mare? But in the end, we're just glad to have more footage of it. It's a shame we don't have the start of this as Genele was a great, chip on his shoulder rival for the Prince and what we got here was, on whole, very good.

Rene Ben Chemoul/Walter Bordes vs Inca Peruano/Anton Tejero 3/9/68

MD: Tremendous tag. You could have probably peeled a couple of minutes off the first fall and a couple off the third, and me sitting here in 2021 would have been okay with that, but I'm sure the 1968 fans would have felt robbed. Those two falls were what they were there to see, Bordes and Ben Chemoul triumphant again and again while Peruano and Tejero tried every move and trick in their arsenal to contain the stylists. I thought that maybe, just maybe Ben Chemoul was starting to slow a bit as he was aging, but then he'd fly so high on a top wristlock up and over escape that I felt almost embarrassed for doubting him. Bordes was right there with him with complex chain wrestling escapes that stood up to almost any we've seen so far. Tejero is as good as any heel we've seen in basing and stooging and getting mean shots in, but Peruano is a wonder, one of the most creative and interesting wrestling minds we've ever seen. Here he introduced some awesome headbutts to the back of the head (one into the corner) and an amazing sequence where he turned a full nelson into a whip around and a go under to drive Ben Chemoul's head into the corner. The second fall gave weight to the proceedings as Tejero and Peruano tossed Bordes out over the top again and again. The fans tried to help him, and later Ben Chemoul as he was getting tossed through the ropes, back in but the heels were unrelenting and Tejero ended it with a huge tombstone. The stylists were able to come back in the last fall and not just come back but hit a series of satisfying revenge spots. Peruano had gotten Bordes up in a fireman's carry and chucked him across the ring into a gutbuster onto Tejero's knee, so Bordes did a one man version of the move. They made sure to toss the heels out plenty as well and the fans were not at all quick to help. Ben Chemoul set up up a few celebratory set pieces with the heels tied up in the ropes and the fans loved it, though when the ref dared to give him a public warning for one in the first fall, his overdramatic misery for the injustice of it all brought forth the loudest sympathetic crowd chant we've heard in the footage maybe. Brilliant wrestlers doing brilliant things, with skill and struggle and intensity. Just about everything you want from late 60s French Catch.

PAS: Damn do I love the Peruvians, fell like a team which would get over huge now with their combination of wild innovative offense and crazy bumps to the floor. I can imagine how great Santana/Ortiz versus the Peruvians would be. The Bordes has to have the highest ratio of bumps to the floor per match minute of any wrestler ever, that guy spends a huge percentage of this match eating concrete. I love the use of the hammerlock spins by Peruano, so many cool ways working out of that set up. Rene Ben and Bordes are super athletic babyfaces who spend much of the match flying into cool headscissors and take downs, and take a thumping from the Peruvians when it is their turn. They really knew how to send the crowd home happy too. Loved both heels getting fed into big dropkicks for the dramatic finish.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Rene Ben! Cesca! Inca! Tejero! Delaporte! Pat O'Conner?

Rene Ben Chemoul/Gilbert Cesca vs. Inca Peruano/Anton Tejero 3/12/65 pt1, pt2

PAS: We reviewed this back in 2014. It's still great and I thought I would add some new thoughts. We all know now that Peruano, Cesca and Chemoul are all time greats, but Tejero is a guy we have seen much less of, but really impressed me here. He had so much energy, just a crazed frantic bump machine, he must have taken 20-25 bumps to the floor in this match, and flew around the ring like a dervish. I still think in context the match is an all timer, wild workrate tag with more frenetic action then you would see 20 years later. 

MD: Phil and Eric thought highly enough of this to make it the 65 MOTY but we know a lot more now. I thought we saw a tag in the last week or two which felt evolutionary in the structure. This did not, but it took so many of the fun comeuppance spots we've seen up until now and pushed them all forward. I don't think I've ever seen a match where so many people got tossed to the floor in new and interesting ways. While Cesca and Tejero were both very good here (and Cesca probably excellent with Tejero an ideal second banana stooge), Ben Chemoul and Peruano are just transcendent wrestlers. Peruano, by this point in his career (and we've been watching him for almost ten years now), made it look so easy. I've never seen someone that could bump into being tied up into the ropes from an awkward angle on a mule kick out of a hold reversal and make it look so natural. Most of his complex spots seem like they were worked out on the fly and that they were wholly organic. Obviously they weren't, but he's a singular figure in pro wrestling in making them seem so. Ben Chemoul is just electric and elastic. He bounds around the ring with this energy that you just can't look away from. And they both bring so many interesting and creative spots and sequences and ways to move around the ring. This had a couple of firsts, like the first time we've seen someone remove the protective covering in front of the post (Peruano did it and then paid for it) and one of the first double collisions which, in this case, led to a 10 count finish. It needed a little bit more heat, probably, though the swarming double teams and tandem attacks from Peruano and Tejero were almost enough to overcome that even in their relative sparsity. In general though, it was wild, heated chaos and constantly entertaining with two of the best stylized wrestlers of French Catch. It'll be curious to see if it holds up as we have over 20 matches for the year.

SR: 2/3 falls match going a bit over 30 minutes. We've had this before, it was an incredible discovery 7 years ago, and it's still pretty incredible even after watching a load of high end French pro wrestling. These tags were clearly turning into an artform at this point. We saw the Black Diamonds put a British touch on a while before, and now we get something more luchaesque thanks to Peruano and Tejero. That means lots of high end bumping and stooging, as well as violent rudo beatdowns, and plenty cool wrestling. The bumping was just insanely high end, just an effortless, tiredless exercise in flying all over the ring, through the ropes and sometimes upside down into a tie up. The beatdowns were pretty nasty and unpredictable with both Peruvians diving off the top, tying up their opponents, throwing rough knees and punches and being generally quite spectacular dickheads. There wasn't a ton of wrestling but what we got was slick and fast. Dug those hammerlocked backbreakers the Inca busted out. Chemoul and Cesca are impeccable both throwing out fast armdrags and then punching the rudos in the face when they had enough. The fast and beautiful wrestling exchanges add some depth and the escalation throughout the match, building to the faces throwing punches and the eventual brutal finish were great. Really, still an all timer of a match.

Yasu Yoguchi vs. Mathias Sanchez  3/14/65

MD: We get the last five minutes of this. Yoguchi may be Chati Yokouchi and if so we'll see him once more. He was in the face role here and I liked his chop and nervehold offense in a short setting. He worked well from underneath, sold well (including post-match) and the fans were into him. A lot of that was probably due to Sanchez being such a character. We'll never see him again, which is a shame. He was super emotive in the nerve hold and celebratory after smaller things. Just a real colorful jerk, the sort who got at least some stuff thrown at him. Five minutes and never to be seen again.

SR: JIP with about 4 minutes shown. Yoguchi likes to throw chops. Sanchez likes to throw fists. Super simple match, but there was a nasty bump where Sanchez threw Yoguchi over the ropes with the belly to belly and Yoguchi took the nasty apron bump. I enjoyed this.

Pat O‘Connor vs. Roger Delaporte 3/14/65

MD: In some ways this felt like one of the most rudimentary matches we've seen, barely even in the French style. Obviously, that's not going to be fully true since we had Delaporte in there, but O'Connor was all punches and forearms and the occasional ear grab, really. Delaporte controlled early with his fall-away armdrags where he controls the head. He does them differently than most people and I usually enjoy them, especially when he strikes them together like this. Whenever O'Connor started to get an advantage, he'd hesitate allowing Delaporte to go low and take back over. That led into an extended period of Delaporte working over the leg (after snatching a leg from behind after O'Connor turned to break clean) including a proto STF and those bouncing leg lunches off the ropes. This was also one of the first attempts we've seen of a heel outright using the rope for leverage by putting his own feet on it. Also, plenty of kicks and stomps. It wasn't until he tossed the ref away that O'Connor found his fire and started to hammer back. O'Connor was best when beating Delaporte around the ring, as his strikes were heavy (though the leg selling obviously went away) and he wasn't hesitating like before. There were a few typical but highly enjoyable spots of Delaporte flying into the crowd or begging off by hugging the ref, right down to overselling the airplane spin after the pin. There was nothing wrong with this but it lacked some of the flair that's become absolutely commonplace in these matches. Whether or not O'Connor was actually O'Connor, they treated him that way, between billing him as a world champion, having him win clean in the center against Delaporte, and then with the handshake and hand-raising after the match. It makes me wonder if they weren't trying to work the crowd.

SR: Match goes about 20 minutes. This was another case of The Roger Delaporte Show. It's no better or worse than other Delaporte matches you've seen, so whether or not you want to watch this depends on whether you are in the mood for it. Regardless, Delaporte was at his despicable best here, and Pat O'Connor didn't do much besides be a big lug who can hit nice uppercuts and punches. Regardless of the predictable nature of the bout I thought there some lots of great strike exchanges here. yes, yes, that's not a huge standout criteria among French matches... but I enjoyed the show.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Inca! Mercier! LeDuc! Portz! Aubriot! Bernaert!

Inca Peruano vs Guy Mercier 10/19/62

PAS: This is pretty JIP, but man what we get is spectacular. Peruano has got to be one of the wildest wrestlers of all time, and parts of this were like watching a leveling up spotfest for the first time (something like Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite in MSG, or Rey Jr. vs. Psicosis in ECW). Mercier was a nice dance partner, but you are watching this for Inca. Peruano has these beautiful effortless headscissors, which he hits until Mercier counters the last one with a Giant swing. Peruano also takes to crazy bumps into the ropes, one where he gets kicked into a Andre ropes trapped position, one where he gets thrown into a Cactus ear loss strangle. Not a fan of the double pin ending, but everything before that was killer.

SR: About 6 minutes are shown. And well, be happy for that, because these two do a lot of cool wrestling in 6 minutes. Mercier catches a Peruano flying headscissors and hurls him around in a giant swing in a really cool spot, and Peruano does some ridiculously on point bumping and launching himself into the ropes to get tied up. We also see someone get pinned off a surfboard hold.

MD: It's such a joy to watch Peruano. We get the last 8 minutes of this, having missed around 15 before that and they're just at it from the start. Almost immediately, he's maring Mercier to set him up for his askew angled headscissors takeovers, only for the rule of 3 to come into play and Mercier to just jam him with an elevated giant swing of all things. Then they roll right into a sequence where Peruano bumps himself way over the top and into a tangled situation in the ropes. It's one athletic, creative, innovative, and completely believable and organic spot after the next, with them trading holds or blows or dropkicks in between. This is the most interestingly I've seen a lot of Peruano's token stuff used (like the jammed headscissors). We're at the point of the footage where we're dealing with such known, experienced entities that there are counters to counters and spots that are twisted and remixed and since we're fairly familiar with the style and the specifics, we can pick up on them.

Gilbert LeDuc vs. Geoff Portz 10/19/62

SR: 1 fall match going 30 minutes. Geoff Portz is a legendary British tough guy wrestler. His status is such that he could‘ve stunk this whole match up and it would still be a super valuable find. But, he was very good here. They worked a kind of clinical contest, and I wonder if Portz was holding back slightly, but he looked super impressive just trading holds with Leduc. Portz was built like a brickhouse, and you get the sense he was a powerhouse who could move like a graceful technician. At one point he lifted Leduc straight up from the ground like a child and into a full nelson hold, and another moment involved him lifting Leduc on his shoulders up from his knees. The hold battling was really good – especially dug Portz trying to torture rack Leduc with Leduc clamping on a side headlock for dear life, and there was some great headscissor work that lead amongst other things to Leduc lifting up Portz and Portz victory rolling him. They never throw strikes but there is some rope running which is mixed well into the match. I thought the match was going to go to a 30 minute draw but then a controversial fall happens that the crowd got super mad over in one of those moments that emphasized how dear the people then held their wrestling. And why wouldn‘t they, getting bouts like this on the regular.

MD: Portz is yet another brit that we're lucky to get footage of so young. This is just a gripping heavyweight wrestling clinic, including some of the best worked side headlock sequences I've seen. That includes Portz attempting multiple times to heft Leduc up into a torture rack, which is the best headlock counter that no longer exists. He finally gets it later in the match and it feels like a quality payoff. Portz has an extra bit of power and a way of just trying to peel off limbs that made me wish we had a match with him against Spartacus. Leduc's able to hold his own and keep him from capitalizing too much on any single advantage. Unfortunately, just as it's starting to pick up and get chippy, there's a three count out of nowhere and it makes you wonder if they were going to take it a couple more minutes and pound each other into the draw.

PAS: I thought the first part of this was a little dry, Portz had a very Dory Jr. feel to him. He was going to do his headlock takeovers and it didn't matter what the crowd wanted. I started to get more and more into this as it went on though. We get a couple of cool headspin escapes from the master of the headspin, including one from an armbar. Portz was a super strong guy and at one point he just stands from a sitting position using his leg strength, and I loved all of his torture racks. I feel like the accidental fall robbed us of a really hot ending, but what we got was pretty cool.

Guy Taillieu vs Gerard Franck 11/9/62

MD: Last few minutes of a hard hitting but friendly enough match. Franck looked pretty good here with huge uppercuts and an abrupt dropkick. Tallieu was slicker with a nice cartwheel takedown and some STO style trips we haven't seen a lot of in the footage and some hammerlock assisted throws. He could hit hard too. Really though, we didn't get enough of this to get more than an impression but it was a positive one.

Dan Aubriot vs Pierre Bernaert 11/9/62    Pt2

MD: Phil and Eric covered this seven years ago and it's still MOTY for 1962 for SC. As it's the next chronological match in the collection, as we have so little from this period in the 60s, and as we know Bernaert a lot better now, we thought it was worth another look. I do think we'll have to take stock again after next week when we finish off 62's Catch offerings. That's not to say this isn't an excellent match. It is. Aubriot brought all the right attributes to the table. He was lightning fast, a wizard on the mat, sold each bit of damage in the moment, wasn't afraid to bump out of the ring, and had some very imaginative spots that stood out in a world of imaginative spots. Bernaert showed signs of competence in previous matches (though he was much more of a cheapshot artist), and has developed over the years we've seen him into an excellent tag-team wrestler, but this was the best showcase of his so far. At times, he'd completely hang with Aubriot, not simply basing but calling and raising Aubriot levels of complexity all so that Aubriot could do something even more impressive in the end. The best example of that was Bernaert dropping down for a rare heel mascaras twist only for Aubriot to cartwheel out of it and hit some brilliant ranas. There was something dogged and persistent about Bernaert actual wrestling, which we hadn't really seen from him or from most of the heels we've seen so far. They escalated to blows and Bernaert to cheapshots but it came back down to the holds again and again.

PAS: I think as of now this keeps the 1962 crown, although I don't think it would make a top 25 of the footage we have seen, although that is more a testament to the insane quality of the French Catch, then a diss of this match. Aubriot was very slick, great ranas, cool reversals and a great looking mix of a stunner and a diamond cutter. Bernaert really lays in the violence in the second half of the match, including some urine reddening knees and forearms to the kidneys. The breakdown is some of my favorite stuff in this style, and they really rock each other at the end, including some nasty forearms by Bernaert when he was trying to break Aubriot's body scissors. I thought the judo throw for the pin was cool, but didn't really feel like a finish. I am interested to see what we get next week to challenge this match, it's a hell of a match, but vulnerable. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Spartacus! Schnabel! de Lasartesse! Gamain! Debuf! Rouxel! Peruano! Daidone! Charret! Frisuk!

Spartacus vs. Hans Schnabel 1/7/61

MD: We went back and found this batch which was on the list but with a labeling issue. This is one of the best five minute matches I've ever seen. Schnabel was just awesome here, super aggressive, unsportsmanlike from the get go: refusing a handshake, refusing to engage, launching kicks from the double knucklelock position, quick to go to the ropes for a break. I loved his little stooging spin sell on Spartacus' uppercuts and forearms. Spartacus was the wrestling specimen that he always is. They had a great, brisk armbar spot where Spartacus kept shrugging off Schnabel's escape attempts, and it was a lot of square-jawed revenge for Schnabel's antics past that. The finish was pretty definitive with Spartacus hitting two of those flip bombs, the second tossing Schnabel across the ring, before KOing him with one of the best shots we've seen. Five minutes of perfect pro wrestling.

PAS: This was great stuff, like an awesome WCW Pro match. You have Schnabel as this honey badger, chewing on the leg of the big boy and getting thrown around. I loved those hard headlock takeovers by Schnabel, and his slappy strike combos. Spartacus just kills him dead with the flip powerbomb, including the second one which looked like Sid killing a jobber. I also liked the one shot uppercut combo, which left Schnabel flopping like a fish on a pier. Good stuff, and I want more of both. 

Jack de Lasartesse vs. Al Gamain 1/7/61

MD: Long, complete, excellent match that leaned into Lasartesse's strengths so well with Gamain a solid and persistant foil for him. Lasartesse was a heat magnet owing to the swagger and the commitment and also to the dissonance of towering over his opponent, of being dangerous enough to cut his opponent off with a single strike at almost every moment, of being able to bully him with constant slams or toss him neck first on the top, but also being so quick to disengage, to hide in the corner, to go for a hairpull, to take over with a punch to the gut that he'd claim was an open hand. They ran a number of spots at the start where Lasartesse would use a hairpull or shortcut repeatedly only for Gamain to show him comeuppance with the same hold, ending with Gamain finally slamming him. This is the sort of heel ace vs local babyface stuff we'd see from Flair or Bockwinkel or Buddy Rose but we haven't seen it quite as much in this footage. As the match went on, it was Lasartesse using his size and scumminess to lean on Gamain and Gamain coming back big. Lasartesse was sure to sell the effects of these comebacks, favoring an arm or leg for a few minutes. Eventually, he started sneaking in the strangleholds, wearing Gamain down and battering him at every opportunity. Due to Lasartesse jawwing with the fans on the apron, Gamain got one last big comeback but rushed in too much and got tossed over the top. The fans, so incensed at Lasartesse, helped him up and tossed him back in, but it was more or less over from there, ending with the bombs away and Gamain unable to answer the count.

Jean Debuf vs. Jack Rouxel 11/10/61

MD: This was a pretty well executed sub-ten minute strongman vs jerk upstart match. All of Debuf's escapes in the first half were fun and definitive with Rouxel flying across the ring for him. He'd be quick to rush in and grab the next hold only for Debuf to completely clown him. Eventually, Rouxel had enough and just unloaded, laying in relentless shots and kicks as the ref screamed and gave him warnings and tried to pull him off. Debuf would try to get the ref out of the way but Rouxel would take advantage of that momentary distraction and hammer down some more. Eventually, Debuf got a huge bearhug out of nowhere and though Rouxel went to the eyes in the most grisly manner possible to escape once, he couldn't the second time. Nice compact, thematic match with Rouxel leaning into his role and definitely getting Debuf over as an attraction, but I disagree with Sebastian that it was better than the Spartacus vs Schnabel one. Still, we have a Rouxel tag vs Ami Sola upcoming and a singles match down the line vs Mantopolous and I'm curious to see both of those.

PAS: Very similar structure to the Spartacus match, and it is a great structure. Debuf is cut up like coke, abs, arm definition big shoulders, and early in the match he rebuffs everything that Rouxel tries, I loved him just flexing his way out of the arm bar attempt. Rouxel tries a bunch of cheap shots to take a little bit of an advantage, including a nasty headbutt and some gross eye rakes, but ends up getting ragdolled by a bearhug for the finish. I think I liked the Spartacus match a bit more too, but they were both very entertaining bits of business.

Inca Peruano/Giuseppe Daidone vs. Michel Charret/Jean Frisuk 11/10/61

MD: Nice, long example of the standard French tag with underhanded heels and fiery faces. Frisuk had more slugging blows and a great spinning toehold, while Charret seemed both more technical and more apt to just throw himself at his opponent. Peruano was, of course, the most talented guy in the world, able to come at you from any angle. In the tag setting he didn't have quite as much flash, but he made up for it with meanness and by being involved in just about everything. The heels cut off the ring and made frequent tags and involved one another in what they were doing. Daidone came off as a mean jerk who would just lean on you. Plenty of double teams and then heel miscommunication leaning to comeuppance. The bombs were big, one literal as Frisuk one the second fall with a straight up power bomb with a flipping bridge and Daidone hitting a pile driver towards the end. When the heels took their falls, it was more due to persistence and grinding down than anything else. This was good, but what you'll generally keep with you was the babyface fire (two variations) and Peruano being a constant presence.

PAS: I really liked this, French tags are of a pretty high average quality, and this had some moments which stood out above that. Peruano is a goddamn wizard one of the slickest most unique wrestlers of all time. This isn't the match you are going to show someone to sell him on Peruano, but he is almost like Negro Casas, even when he isn't a focus you can't keep your eyes off of him. Daidone was a brutal prick of a heel too, at one point he was landing these gross looking forearms to the back of Frisuk's head, and his piledriver was really nasty. Charret had a fun spot where he kept flipping out of armbars, and could also bring the heat when needed, and Frisuk was nearly spinning heads around with his uppercuts. I would have liked to see the match end on the piledriver in the third fall, it was such a huge move that anything after it felt superfluous, but that was a minor quibble in an excellent match.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: INCA PERUANO! Araujo! Corne! Laroche! Czernieski! Guguliemetti!

Jacky Corne/Roger Laroche vs. Jo Czernieski/Giacomo Guguliemetti 12/9/60

SR: 2/3 falls match going about 35 minutes. Jo Czierneski & Giacomo Guguliemetti, now those are names. The Corne/Laroche had a bit of a feeling of a junior partnered with a heavyweight. Corne was working some impressive smooth takeovers early on and Laroche kept it a little bit more solid. I’d say Czernieski's beatdown was easily the highlight of the match. He would ground people with nerve holds and then work over their kidneys with stiff blows and stomp on their hands. I also totally didn’t expect Laroche to take a big spill between the ropes and basically suicide diving into nowhere to set up a further heat segment on him. As usual, there was a ton of asskicking going and I thought it built to a very good match overall.

MD: Another strong, long tag. There were a few structural things that we've seen a lot lately, like the heels utilizing consistent and repeated holds and the faces firing back or a comeuppance spot with the heels tied up in the ropes including a catapult where one's tossed into the other. That's interesting to me because Corne hasn't been on the scene for a while. Hearing the announcer say he hadn't been on TV for 18 months when we don't have him in our footage for that exact period of time is a real reminder just how complete this footage is and makes me feel closer to the crowd and the scene in general. I wouldn't say that Guguliemetti and Czierneski stood out in the sea of foreign bad guys we've seen, though the former, an Italian, had a memorable lanky appearance. They used a stranglehold and a nerve hold respectively and stooged as appropriate. The best stuff here was after Laroche wiped out to the floor on a running tackle in the second fall and how relentless they were in demolishing his back. Corne managed to get back in at the start of the last fall (though again, they just haven't figured out the timing of a really good hot tag; I think sometimes we've seen visiting Brits manage it, but not the natives) and he really is a great total package of wrestling and fiery slugging. I liked how Laroche did get some revenge here, but just for a minute or so, in and out, as he was still selling. He never put himself at great risk and because of that, Corne was able to secure the win.

ER: The Italian/Polish team is already one of my most hated heel teams, just because I hate having to type Guglielmetti and Czernieski several times just to describe what they are doing. Czernieski works maybe the most active and engaging nerve hold I've seen, really wearing Laroche down to his knees, digging hard into both traps, and every time one of Laroche's hands would hit the mat Czernieski would throw down a quick stomp. It really forced Laroche to expend way more energy while locked into a hold, not being allowed to conserve any breath with Czernieski showing he was going to keep pain front and center. Czernieski was a real asshole, and had a lot of great stuff around the ropes. He would hold Laroche in a full nelson and walk him over so Guglielmetti could land a stiff shoulder shrug into his gut, and then Czernieski would do some other asshole thing like throw a double chop into Laroche's sides. Czernieski was generous feeding into Laroche and Corne's comeback, taking big exaggerated belly flop bumps on kicks to the stomach, getting tied up in the ropes and bumping to the floor when Guglielmetti gets thrown into him, getting thrown even harder into the bottom rope to bump Guglielmetti to the floor. Corne and Laroche take the two most insane bumps of the match, with Corne taking a really disgusting backward Harley Race bump to the floor onto his head, and Laroche basically doing a tope suicida to nothing. This tag took a nice amount of time to logically build from heel control to face comeuppance, working a long match that never once felt long, which is kind of an unheralded gift of French Catch. 

Inca Peruano vs. Al Araujo 12/30/60

SR: 1 Fall Match going about 25 minutes. Al Araujo may be Spanish or Portuguese, who knows. Gotta love France for giving away matchups like this. This was pretty much a sprint with both guys doing a mix of cool wrestling, unique bumping and beating the living shit out of each other. I would‘ve liked to see these two hit the mat a little longer, as they had some super swank stuff going on, but soon Peruano was stomping on Araujos face and punching his stomach. One might call this a 1960s spotfest as they move really fast from one thing to another, but I can tolerate a spotfest when the spots are fresh and there is a ton of gritty fighting as seen here. Al Araujo looked pretty fantastic here, his wrestling was spot on and when he took a beating his retaliations were violent as hell, and I loved all the backbreakers and holds he broke out. He also had this great vertical arm lift into dropping the Inca straight on his wrist. I really dug how both guys kept kicking the wrists from a standing position, and of course Inca Peruano was whipping out cool stuff left and right, including some really swank headscissor work. There was also a nice sense of progression, as some things would be repeated and then countered. This is our last lengthy singles match appearance from Inca Peruano and the only real match we have from Al Araujo, it‘s sad but this match certainly serves as a good highlight reel for their stuff.

MD: Peruano is nothing short of amazing. Obviously, we've seen him a few times now, but without the context of everything we've seen so far, I think it's hard to fully appreciate him. When we first started watching this footage, everything seemed amazing. Now that we've gotten a sense of it all, everything continues to seem excellent but Peruano, himself, continues to seem extraordinary. He's probably the single most talented person in the footage, or at the least up there with Catanzaro and Ben Chemoul and Pellacani and Le Petit Prince (and.. and... I know). He almost reminds me of Negro Casas with his combination of heatseeking and innovation and drawing outside of the standard box while being able to hit hard and stooge well and do all of the fundamental things well.

I thought we were out of Aruajo matches but this one had been mislabeled. Aruajo is a great foil for Peruano, almost a mirror image in some ways, though he'd probably stand out more against a less innovative opponent. He hits as hard as anyone and has maybe the best 'rana we've seen, but Peruano is simply impossible to keep down for long. He's almost too good at escaping holds and grinding down on Aruajo from every angle. Aruajo locks in some great stuff like a cavernaria and a tapitaia but Peruano is just too slippery and he's back to being dominant again, sneaking in cheaty counters and cheapshots on pinfalls before long. Peruano makes up for that by stooging dramatically in the most-crowd pleasing manner possible. The total package makes for pure entertainment.

PAS: This was incredible, what a performance by Inca, and Aruajo being there every step. Inca does five impossible things before breakfast, attacking at odd angles, finding a dozens ways to roll someone up you have never seen, throwing big shots and taking a bunch of bumps to the floor. All of the attacks on the wrist where super nasty, and I have never seen that wrist lift slam before, what a nutty spot that is. This felt like a tremendous lucha title match, all the skill of  Negro Casas vs. Atlantis,  but 15% stiffer, which is all you can ask for in a wrestling match. All of the opening exchanges were great, and all of the final run bombs exploded the way you wanted them to. Another stone cold all timer from French Catch.

ER: I loved this! Peruano is like a compact Regal, but Araujo has as many cool tricks and reversals as Peruano, and works as an excellent canvas for some of Peruano's best work. I loved all of Araujo's focus on the ankles, some of the coolest ankle spots I've seen. He is really great at totally tying up Peruano's ankles, like how he trapped and tucked them early, then built off that later by pinning Peruano's ankles to his butt and lifting him. He had really tight work around the ankles, knees, and thighs, getting these great leveraged grips that would lend themselves well to nasty crabs and deathlocks. Peruano is a master at tying someone up with leg scissors, and I appreciated the energy that Araujo used to fight out of a snug grounded headscissors. The best leg scissors in the match was this all time great fun spot, where Peruano had both of Araujo's ankles tied up in a scissors, and Araujo kept trying to roll through it to escape, only to continually finding himself back on his feet, ankles still wrapped up in Peruano's legs. Peruano had a bunch of nasty wrist work, and I really loved one spot he did a couple times where he broke a wrist lock with a quick downward thrust kick. One of the most impressive things about guys like Peruano and Araujo is how they do so many pieces of offense that could feel like exhibition exchanges, but their stiffness always makes it come off like a part of a bigger match, not just guys running through spots and then shifting back into place. The pace they kept for 25 minutes was insane, and after Peruano gets the pin he just can't help himself, and throws a couple nasty kicks into Araujo's ribs. This was one of my very favorite French Catch experiences. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Marquez! Sola! Bollet! L'Ange Blanc

Pepe Marquez vs. Ami Sola 10/28/60

SR: 1 fall match going 30 minutes. This was some good old French pro wrestling built around two guys in trunks working some holds and beating the living hell out of each other with european uppercuts and sometimes upkicks. It was a nice change of pace to the spectacle matches of the last few weeks. Pepe Marquez was another Spanish worker and he has some sweet stuff up his sleeve here. Ami Sola had a shaved head here which made him look a bit meaner than usual and he played the aggressor throughout the match, although they made sure to shake hands so everyone knew they were cool trading beatings. Some of Solas holds were a bit more hardfought, a bit tighter than usual, including a great armbar that lead to a gnarly battle over pin attempts and some great body scissors work. They also threw some bigger bombs than usual in these matches as the time limit ran out, with Sola uncorking a nasty piledriver and Marquez using the swinging backbreaker several times before catching Sola in a surfboard hold as the time ran out.

PAS: This was a a classic technico vs. technico match which we have seen a lot of, and is almost always very good. Marquez had this cool swinging backbreaker which he used as both an attack and a counter. Sola kept using this bodyscissors as a counter, Marquez would dive for a pin and get scissored into this nasty bodyscissors which looked rib cracking. Of course it breaks down into a series of big stiff uppercuts. It is always surprising how much better the back and forth striking in your average 50s and 60s French match is then your big time Japan and Indy matches are now. Would love to see more of Marquez, he had some really nifty attacks, seems like the Spanish guys may have even been cooler then the French wrestlers. 

MD: Excellent stylist vs stylist match. I'm not sure just how prevalent these will be as we get deeper into the 60s and later so I'm glad to get one every now and again here. Marques is, I think, a Spaniard, Jose Enrico Marques who worked in the UK as well. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. He's very good here, with lots of quick spots, some creative holds, our first chronological conjuro (swinging bearhug backbreaker) and tapitia as signature spots. Sola we know well by now and this match is another feather in his cap. He's more aggressive, quicker to throw uppercuts, and we see his amazing tombstone here even if not his running 'rana. Some of the hold exchanges are very strong: the bodyscissors sequence we've seen before and is always good as they move out of it with spots and abruptly back in but there was a top wristlock struggle here where Sola was using his shoulder for leverage on the elbow and it was probably the best fight over this basic hold I've ever seen. They went to a draw but while Marques was holding the tapitia in the center of the ring, which made for one of the more dramatic time-limit draws we've seen. Good stuff all around with the right mix of spots, holds, and fisticuffs.

Antonio Montoro vs. Inca Peruano 11/18/60

SR: JIP with only the last 3 or so minutes shown. Montoro looked better here than in the Bernaert match, but he was facing the Inca, so he had to. From what I can tell Montoro wasn’t up there with the likes of Pepe Marquez let alone Modesto Aledo when it comes to Spanish workrate machines, but we’ve seen so little of Montoro that I won’t judge him yet.

MD: It feels like forever since we saw Inca Peruano but he's instantly exciting. We only get two minutes of this but it starts with a huge rana and dropkick from Montoro and never lets up. Constant action here, with Montoro unleashing this great sweeping Victory Roll and utilizing a unique wind up to his uppercuts. Peruano is the usual combination of flashy (his abrupt jump up monkey flip in the middle of the ring) and vicious (just tossing Montoro headfirst out of the ring and trying to keep him there). This is the last we'll see of Montoro but at least we have a spattering of Inca throughout the 60s. I'd hate to see that guy go.

L'Ange Blanc vs. Andre Bollet 11/18/60

SR:1 fall match going about 40 minutes. French TV has been on a roll putting the biggest stars in major singles matches. This was another spectacle match where the masked avenger takes Bollet to the pay window. I thought Bollet pretty much carried this, not only will he break every single rule in the book to get an advantage, but he will look surprisingly athletic in doing. The way such a pudgy guy busts out a spinning headscissor or flying escape is fascinating. As far as the match gos, I liked all the parts where Bollet  beat the crap out of the Angel, especially the part where he kept dropping knees on his throat. The Angel is not as interesting a wrestler as Drapp, but the crowd loved him, including a classy lady in the front row that got up cheering whenever the Angel was taking it to Bollet. It got really heated in the last few minutes with the Angel busting out his nerve hold and Bollet fighting hard not to have his lights put out, with even Delaporte being at ringside trying to build his man up after taking beatings. In the end it wasn’t enough though as Bollet succumbed to the Angel special and failed to answer the count. A sweet triumph for L’Ange Blanc and this crowd, but it didn’t last long as Delaporte in his suit jumped in the ring and he and Bollet proceeded to stomp the shit out of the Angel. The match was really long and almost all back and forth which is a bit rough, but that ending felt a pretty epic moment that most people in that audience would remember fondly for a while.

MD: This, more than almost any match we've seen so far, really depicts the clear divide between good and evil, between someone who was upright and heroic and someone who was a despicable cheater. L'Ange Blanc had been off TV for a couple of years for some reason but he'd certainly found himself within that time. The act was absolute. His posture was straight. His appeals of frustration to the crowd when his opponent wasn't acting on the up-and-up were believable and sympathetic. His righteous fire in return reminded you of Sting or Atlantis. He was an ace babyface hero, strong and brave and true. Bollet on the other hand hid in the ropes, whined, grabbed at the leg at every opportunity, snuck in punches whenever he could, demanded clean breaks but refused to grant them, and even worse, tried to take advantage of the clean ones L'Ange Blanc gave him. He hit hard but landed even harder when his attempts at chicanery fell short. So this was unquestionably primal, down to the wrestlers ' posture, and it certainly ended well with Delaporte getting involved and them setting up any number of future matches we unfortunately don't have. It was the unquestionable meeting of two absolute stars, right down the middle. It just wasn't nearly as compelling as I wanted it to be. So much of that was because it could never be one thing for long. L'Ange Blanc would sell, quite well in fact, but would always come back after a few blows. Bollet was so good at sneaking out of holds and finding those opportunities. Against almost any other opponent, one force or another would dominate and thereby create a narrative. It would have led to a constantly stooging heel or a babyface that sold and sold building to big comebacks. These two, however, so equally matched and such dominant, definitional, forces of good and evil, never allowed the other to build up enough momentum to actually make the match interesting for what actually was happening as opposed to the sheer clash of these two elemental forces.

PAS: This felt like a big deal of a match. The kind of thing which would headline 60s French Wrestlemania. Blanc isn't as skilled as most of the wrestlers we have seen, but he knows how to conduct himself like a star which matters more. It's why the Rock is the Rock and say Cesaro isn't. Bollet is a hell of a villain and lands the big shots you needed. Out of context this doesn't work as well as some of the other stuff, although I think I enjoyed it as much as the Sola vs. Marquez match, although it was clearly very different. It is funny how similar the Angel special is to Santo's finishing move for such similar wrestlers. The angle at the end also felt like a big deal, I am sure they filled arenas with Blanc getting his revenge on Bollet and Delaporte.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Corn! Lamare! Peruano! Labat! Straub! Mann!

Sergio Reggiori vs Guy Mercier

MD: This is the last four or five minutes of a thirty minute match. It's a shame we don't have the whole thing. Mercier had his throws with a real power behind everything he did, more leverage and oomph in his movements than most people we see (and it seems technique based as opposed to just raw strength). Reggiori is a guy we'll just get bits and pieces of, but he was a mean striker, who was outmatched and took advantages to make up for it. Every time he did, Mercier would fire back with uppercuts. There's a great fall-away slam at the end, which would have been one of the most believable finishing moves we've seen but the time runs out a little while later instead.

SR: Guy Mercier, baby. I have no idea if his uncooperative style and suplexes are due to his legit background or because he was trained in some old philosophy of Catch that was forgotten over the years, but he is awesome to watch even in his young age. There was about 6 minutes of this and it looked like a fantastic match. Reggiori was a prick and Mercier just tried smashing his head in. No idea how French guys had better elbow smashes than anyone now but they looked awesome here. Really liked how Reggiori just dumped Mercier over the top rope like a piece of shit, and the overhead suplex Mercier hit was awesome. Hell of a clip.

Jacky Corn vs Ted Lamare

MD: Just good, struggle-filled wrestling. Here, they had a lot of time and they used it to create plenty of build which got paid off at the end of long holds and at the end of the falls. That was most evident at the end of the second fall, where Corn managed to get the better of one punishing hold after the next, ending with a long short arm scissors. It was enough to frustrate Lamare and once he finally got out (by sending both of them through the ropes to force a break), he started unloading shots. This let Corn go through the legs and get a pin. In some of the other matches we'd see, that'd be the end of it, and that'd be satisfying because it felt like real storytelling. In this one though, they seemed to always take an extra couple of loops around and that led to one of the best finishing stretches to a fall we've seen full of quick counters and attempts to put each other away. The match was full of extra flourishes. Earlier in the second fall, they set up a pin > bridge > bodyscissors catch spot, that we've seen a bunch, but went around an extra time first by having Corn shoot up suddenly before landing it. Little bits of variation like that matter to me and they had to matter to an audience that regularly watched these matches. There were a few things that I can't remember seeing in 50s Catch here too, a straight up Corn powerbomb (as opposed to a flip or a catch) and great Rude Awakenings, as well as some sort of flipping thing that didn't work out for him as he got caught and powerbombed (which set up the end of the first fall), and Lamare hitting a running (walking) power slam. A big chunk of the third fall was a sort of short leg scissors, where the two were quite tied up before things escalated into bomb throwing, both some of the aforementioned moves and an amazing Lamare flurry of uppercuts, punches, and headbutts against the ropes. Good stuff.

SR: 2/3 falls going about 35 minutes. This was certainly a 35 minute long match that flew by. Jacky Corn seems to be the go to guy at this point for these type of long technical lightweight matches. We won‘t see Lamarre again until 12 years later, and he looked good here. This felt a bit like the Atlantis/Panther of lucha. Jacky Corn may have absolutely no charisma, but you can bet matches with him will have a ton of that clinical French hold for hold styled wrestling. There was a great double leg split spot. Eventually, Corn lost the advantage and the second fall, which lead to him staging this great comeback against Lamarre. Some spots were not hit clean it felt like it needed a bigger crescendo at the end, but if I was to demonstrate the quirks of a technical French bout, this would feel like one of the go-to display objects.

PAS: This was a long technical match, and it is always impressive how much more dynamic the French versions of these matches are then the US versions. This had way more flash and excitement then your average Dory Jr. or Backlund match. Matt is right about the big bomb portion of this match, that Rude Awakening looked nasty and their forearms were about average for French Catch which makes them top 10% ever. All of the rolling leg work in the third fall was really cool, and I thought they did a bunch of cool stuff with the knuckle lock and short arm scissors exchanges. 30 minute plus matches are tough for me at this point of my life, but this kept moving at a nice pace. 

Inca Peruano vs Jo Labat 

MD: I really liked this pairing. Peruano is explosiveness and creativity, marred dramatically by a penchant to hang out by the ropes and take every advantage. Labat's the perfect straight man, technically sound, bemused at every moment of cheating and quick to want revenge and often get it. Peruano manages this expertly though, slipping back to the ropes with a scalded dog expression and then, as Labat turns again, only having been able to get in about a third of the damage he wanted to do, bursting back out with a trip or a shot to the back. This was JIP as the announcer was talking to the wrestlers from the later match, but it started with such a burst of energy and abandon before settling down into the format mentioned above. Peruano had such a way of luring an opponent in, drawing him to the ropes so he could shoot him off neck first or, when he could do it, locking in that hanging headscissors, or just setting up a double knucklelock entry that he'd step through over both hands to win the advantage on. Once he got it, he'd sneak in rabbit punches. Labat, on the other hand, just had to get his hands on Peruano cleanly to hit his uppercuts, knee crushers, or everyone's favorite, that trademark shoulder blast. Peruano would just slip through his grasp before long, however. That's why the rolling leg nelson with the stomps and face-rubbing was the most satisfying thing in the world. Even that didn't last long and it ultimately opened him up to Peruano's trademark cradle, though for a nearfall. It was hard to hang on to Inca Peruano for long. Eventually, Peruano just exploded on the arm and locked in the nastiest step over armbar for the win. Peruano is the most watchable guy in all of this footage, I think. You don't want to look away for a moment.

SR: We get about 15 minutes of this 1 fall match, which is nice. Before the match, Tommy Mann and Luc Straub are interviewed, which was cool. This started with some fast smooth exchanges of monkey flips and snapmares before it became pretty much an Inca Peruano tour de force. We know Labat is a good worker, but Peruano is just busy doing things you‘ve never seen before and it‘s a spectacle. Labat sinks in some of those cool armlocks we also saw in the Sola matches, but Peruano comes back fast and completely annihilates him with some ridiculously sharp arm work of his own. The fact that arm work led to a quick ending made this feel a bit like watching an Inoki match. It‘s cool to see competitive matches but I‘m all on board for the Inca Peruano megapush. Also, we get a good look at his amazingly detailled trunks design here.

PAS: Peruano is a revelation, what a unique freaky master of a wrestler. The overall skill level in this French footage is so high, but there isn't a giant difference between someone like Labat or Corne or Sola, which can make their matches a bit dry. Peruano is a one of one. He is always attacking from odd angles grabbing legs and arms, slithering out of holds, grabbing roll ups from the bottom. He almost reminds me of a jujitsu master, like watching Demian Maia. That finish was something, he just tears up Labat's arm until trips him and and locks on a violent step over armbar. One of the most dominant finishes we have seen.

Luc Straub vs Tommy Mann

MD: Here's another look at Mann (our last) and our first look at Straub, who's listed, like half the people we encounter, as a former champion of France. The first fall was generally very even with both wrestlers quite even and neither keeping a hold for long. I liked Straub's escapes which often had him two movements ahead (he'd work the back to get the head, etc.) and Mann was very good from going from one hold to the next. After Straub went up and over (with a bit more of a headscissors than usual) Mann had enough and unloaded with great hammering forearms. That gave him the total advantage, allowed him to hit a slam and pick up the fall, angering the fans. Mann came out punching after the break, but Straub was ready for him, getting some quick revenge, right until Mann cut it off with a rabbit punch while in a hold. From there, things start to break down, with Mann focusing on the throat and doing that cardinal sin that we saw him do last time, locking in a hold too long after bodily contact. The crowd goes unglued at this and starts launching things at him, including a newspaper, with the front row hammering the ring intensely. They ratchet it up a little more but then Straub comes back with a spin kick, driving Mann to the ropes, where a fan summarily takes a whack at him. The fall continues that way, with Straub locking in triumphant holds and Mann using cheapshots and late grappling until it escalates to a full nelson exchange and roll up. The final fall was more of the same, cheapshots by Mann and big moments of comeuppance from Straub. Towards the end, a woman rushes to ringside brandishing a cigarette and hammers the mat and it sums things up as well as anything else. We all love short arm scissors around these parts so for the finish to be one that rolls back and forth was equal parts tremendous and underwhelming considering the other holds we see in most of these matches. I think that was part of the point though. Mann just got all the more heat for submitting to it and avoiding more punishment. Straub was fine and could substitute for a lot of the babyfaces we've seen, but Mann was masterful in manipulating this crowd. It was amazing how much heat he could get for just doing a basic action at a time when the crowd absolutely thought he should be keeping his distance. It's also amazing that so few other wrestlers we've seen have gone to that length. That, in part, opens the door. If every heel did it in every match, it wouldn't stand out. When you get a foreigner coming in and just stomping all over the accepted norms, that's huge heat though.

SR: 2/3 Falls match going about 23 minutes. Both men are interviewed briefly at the beginning of the episode, while standing at the bar. Luc Straub is apparently the ex-champion of France. He is another somewhat nondescript, gentleman looking French wrestler and you cann pretty much know what to expect from this. Lots of Mann handing out grizzly snake pit styled cheapshots and Straub retaliating. Mann has really great cheapshots though, so it‘s a winning formula. At one point, he even does the Terry Rudge punch with the opponents arm behind his back. Man took the 1st fall early, which added a ton to the match as the crowd got REALLY into it and began willing Straub on. Straub doesn‘t do a a ton to distuingish himself from other French babyfaces, but I loved his rolling short arm scissor and the fact that it got a submission, even.

PAS: Man oh man Tommy Mann. He is the grandfather of that British asskicker style, Finlay's great uncle, Terry Rudge's mean stepdad. Just a heat seeking asskicker. He riles up the crowd by crowning Straub with vicious uppercuts, forearms and stomps and holding every hold a bit too long. The crowd goes bat shit throwing shit into the ring and pounding the mat, I am surprised no one took a swing at him. Straub was there mostly to be an opponent, but his rolling short arm scissors was an appropriate triumph of good over evil.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Inca Peruano! Jacky Corne! Jo Labat! Ami Sola!

Jose Arroyo vs. Pierre Bernaert  2/11/58

SR: JIP with about 5 minutes shown. It seems like Arroyo is getting a push, as he makes short work of Bernaert. Bernaert did his usual spiel throwing underhand punches but gets what‘s coming to him as Arroyo rains punches from mount and uncorks some jaw loosening uppercuts. Exactly what you‘d expect.

MD: We have about five minutes out of over thirty of this and what it really has me looking forward to is the Arroyo vs Peruano match from 1960 that's still a ways ahead of us. Arroyo is definitely the same guy we saw last week, in with the crowd and prone to fits of violence. The clearest moment of that here was when he took a bit of abuse from Bernaert who was trying to prevent him from exiting a hold (including a grab to his ears), finally turned him over, and just paintbrushed him brutally. There was a fun revenge spot where both guys used a full nelson to slam the other's head repeatedly into the top turnbuckle and a neat little moment of Bernaert unlacing Arroyo's boot to exit a headscissors and get an advantage afterwards. Just a taste but a good one.

Jo Labat vs. Ami Sola 2/11/58

SR: 1 Fall match going a bit under 25 minutes. This was what the announcer called a „combat de gentlemen“. Ami Sola is building a really solid rep in this style of wrestling, and what a style it is. Some ultra tight armlocks and headscissors in this, the kind of zit-popping, grinding stuff that you watch old wrestling for. I love the throws these guys do, they look just legit enough for me to appreciate their beauty, and I‘m a sucker for guys getting chucked to the mat hard for a wristlock. Labat has a cool charisma, a really rugged looking technician. The match heated up when Labat knee dropped Solas shoulder at an awkward angle and really grinded his shoulder and wrist. After that it was nasty upkicks and both guys clubbing each other with uppercuts that sounded like hammers coming down. They never got downright evil, but there was the vibe that these gentlement were damn well gonna club the snot out of each other in the name of civilized combat. Downright ridiculous finish.

MD: Very good stylist (which is even what the announcer calls them) match. Sola is spry, able to use his reach advantage, quick to kip up or occasionally dodge out of the way to get ahead. Labat is stockier, but able to dart through the legs or even occasionally overpower Sola on a top wristlock battle. It's hold and escape, with some building into spots or shots. Sola has an amazingly broad European uppercut. Labat's are shorter and closer but he also has that unique short shoulder whack too. It's a lot of hanging on to holds through counters and escapes but there's certainly a visceral sense of reaction here. The escalation comes from somewhere. It has meaning and weight. For instance, there's a great extended section which began with Labat driving a knee down onto Sola's arm to get an armbar, which became finger manipulation. Sola scored a headscissors out of it and continuously jammed Labat's head onto the mat as he tried to headstand out or otherwise escape. Therefore, when he got out, it was with uppercuts flying, until things settled back to holds once again. Just excellent wrestling.

PAS: This was tremendous, excellent hard hitting mat wrestling which even got a little nasty at the end. Really impressed with how nasty both guys made the grappling. Sola's headscissors was incredible looking. If this footage was in color I imagine we would see Labat's face turning Brock Lesnar purple. Similarly Labat twisted and torqued Sola's wrist and arm in really violent and painful looking ways. There was also a lot of flipping out of holds and spinning into things, which looked even better when the holds they were flipping out of looked so forceful. Loved when it picked up too, every French wrestler in the 1950s throws better forearms then any wrestler in the 2020s, and the finish with Sola turning a Labat rana attempt into a folding pin was a total time machine move.

ER: I don't have much to add, and my opinions don't differ from the guys. These kind of French grappling matches are so cool, a masterclass in snug holds and not letting your opponent have any openings. You won't see any daylight on anything here, and the headscissors are among the greatest I've seen. I loved all of the work around full nelsons, both men keeping each other so tight they could have had these standing exchanges inside a phone booth. The way they'd whip through full nelsons, swing into a wheelbarrow but get dragged back to their feet, spin around and wind up back in the same full nelson was spectacular. This had a lot of flipping and twisting to gain leverage, but it never felt flowery, always felt necessary to advance position. It's no shock that several things felt decades ahead of their time, as "Ahead of Its Time" is on the French Catch masthead at this point, but the finish and a couple of the pins felt like a couple more examples of execution ripe for the stealing.

Jacky Corne vs. Inca Peruano 2/21/58

SR: 2/3 Falls going about 20 minutes. This was JIP to right after the first fall, which I‘m a bit salty about as I‘m sure the opening matwork between these two was great. This was another nifty match which was largely a mix of two guys doing some nifty wrestling and also cracking each other really hard. I thought Inca Peruano stood out head and shoulders above Corne here. Not that Corne is bad as he has no problem trading holds and handing out jaw cracking uppercuts, but Peruano was doing one cool thing after another. There was some great indian deathlock work including a Negro Navarroesque submission, and when it was time do play rough he had some great uses of a hammerlock too. I also really enjoyed his headscissors which Corne initially blocked but then he did a fast crawl and threw Corne anyways. Really fun inventive work. The finish could‘ve been bigger but it worked.

MD: Of all the matches for us to only get two out of the three falls of, why this one? What we got was a total war, seeping with animosity. There was about two minutes of the match where Corn had a leglock cinched in and Peruano was kicking him in the face (and doing that clap to the knee to drive a foot into the face) every chance he had to try to get out, with Corne peppering in punches to the knee. That was what this match was all about. After every major advantage, the other wrestler made it up to uppercut the hell out of his opponent. There were big moves (our first real atomic drop, a gutbuster, a Robinson backbreaker, a rope assist headscissors takedown, knee crushers), tricked out holds (Corne with some nasty arbars, Peruano with a standing Navarro style scorpion deathlock and a great bridging leglock that he was using as a pin), but what the crowd the most into was a simple exchange where Peruano kept trying to pin Corne and Corne kept bridging up. There was even familiarity as Peruano was able to jam Corne's attempt at a catapult back onto the knees, which we've seen him use before, and Corne was able to stop Peruano's second go-behind hammerlock with the aforementioned Robinson backbreaker. Finish was great, full of build and payoff as they basically did the Bret/Piper WM8/Bret/Austin SS finish, which felt novel in 1992 let alone 1958. These two were made for each other.

PAS: This really felt like a war, even the opening shot of both guys sitting on the stools exhausted looked like something out of a 80s middleweight boxing match. Peruano is one of the most unique Catch wrestlers, and this is a cool chance to see him add those unique touches to a big time fight.  There was some really cool work around a knucklelock and bridges which still felt gritty. It is hard to do a bridge out of a knucklelock and have it look like a fight, but they did it. I also loved Peruano slipping into a full nelson and driving Corne's head into the turnbuckle before punching him in the back of the neck, only to have him try it again and get rolled up for the pin. Really looking forward to what 1958 brings, as these were a pair of classics.

ER: What a fight, a match that forced me to let out nearly a dozen guttural grunts just because of all of the brutal strikes. Corne was so punishing, coming off like Drew Gulak's bad tempered grandfather. Peruano was crafty, and Corne would put a quick stop to that craftiness by making him see stars. I loved the whole sequence around Peruano trying to slyly headscissor Corne over the top to the floor. Peruano got backed into the ropes and had his feet crossed around Corne's neck in an instant, but Corne blocks it and Peruano has to grip the ropes and accept his fate. Peruano manages to run on his hands and get an in ring headscissors, but it is a small victory as Corne bends Peruano's legs into a damn tight Indian deathlock, and fires a concussive blast down on the back of his neck. The uppercuts here are as stiff as any pro wrestling strikes you've seen, and a lot of their work would stand out as notably violent in Futen. Corne drops Peruano with an awesome short atomic drop, and Peruano's selling of it looks like a guy surprised at how badly his tailbone suddenly hurts. Everything here landed as if there was no such concept of pro wrestling, and these guys were just doing all of these moves as legitimately as possible. That legitimacy elevated this to great, memorable heights.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Tony Oliver! Cheri Bibi! Inca Peruano! Serge Gentilly!

Jo Benardo vs. Eric Wasberg 6/14/57

SR:JIP about 17 minutes in with roughly 4 minutes shown. Some cool holds and ranas before the winner takes it home by catching a rana into a folding powerbomb.

MD: Athleticism seemed a bit lacking in the few minutes we had but that didn't stop Wasberg from trying a lot of stuff, including a tiger suplex set up to a headscissors takeover and the rolling arm trap takeover off the ropes that we had seen in one of the last JIP matches. It was hard to get much of a sense of this but you had to like the finishing stretch of five or six twisting 'ranas that finally got jammed with a power bomb.

Inca Peruano vs. Cheri Bibi 6/14/57

SR:1 Fall match over roughly 25 minutes. Inca Peruano, baby. Cheri Bibi, aside from hitting like a truck, is probably one of the less interesting heels to show up on French TV. But the Inca is a joy to watch. He pretty much made this whole match watchable with his unique trips and throws, out of nowhere Santo headscissors and clinical holds. One of my favourite things they do in old euro matches is the hammerlock behind the back, which Inca Peruano uses to set up moves from the ropes in cool ways. I also really liked him really bending the fuck out of Bibis wrist while stepping on his chin. It was a really simple move compared to everything else he does, but it stood out. Cheri Bibi seemed slow to bump for the Incas moves and the finish seemed to come after a series of blown sequences, but I will alway relish in a chance to see Inca Peruano go to work.

MD: I've been looking forward to this for a few weeks and it hit most of the marks I wanted to, even if it didn't quite rise to the mean, slugfest level I was hoping for. That's not to say it wasn't mean and a slugfest, because it was both. Very non-cooperative and competitive, with Peruano having Bibi's number for most of the match. He was so good at portraying a casual, cocky excellence, able to grab a limb out of most exchanges, get a throw, and follow it up with a dropkick or a monkey flip or a hold. Bibi on the other hand, was pure, unbridled, bullying power, trying to ground Peruano with strangles, grab a headlock, or just press him against the rope to lay in shots. The problem for Bibi was that Peruano could give just as well as he could take and came back again and again so he could never hold an advantage for long. At the same time, Bibi was able to use his strength to fight out of all the holds, barely be rocked by his dropkicks, and even jam Peruano on things like Monkey Flips a few times and even managed to block a fireman's carry with a headscissors roll over. While Bibi was an interesting opponent for Peruano and the match had a gritty, believable tone, the high spots weren't quite as high as in other matches we've seen with both guys. The strike exchanges never quite went over the top. Peruano's most interesting spot was an Indian deathlock where he kept lifting Bibi back to lay in kicks. There were a couple of good nearfalls in the end (like Peruano getting a roll up off the ropes and his twist-turn pin he's won matches with before), but the ultimate finish was a little weak. I think the idea was that Peruano was supposed to catch a back elbow when going in for an attack, which allowed Bibi to put him away, but they didn't quite hit the execution. Still, this was just good gritty stuff and I'm glad we have a lot more time with both wrestlers.

PAS: One thing that really stands out from this footage is how good the execution of simple things are. Bibi has one of the best side headlocks I have ever seen, and a bunch of different ways to apply it and use it as a throw. Compare that to how time killing and weak most of the headlocks in the last thirty years have been and it really stands out. This was a bit of style clash and not nearly as smooth as these guys have been against other people, Bibi doesn't seem to know how to bump for Peruano's headscissors, and the finish seem a little off. Still the quality of the small things, the forearms, the headlock, and a Peruano's cool escapes make this worth watching.

Tony Oliver vs. Serge Gentilly 1/1/59

SR: 2/3 Falls match going a little bit over 30 minutes. It‘s another chance to see Tony Oliver baby. This wasn‘t an epic, super heated title match like the Bert Royal match, but still a welcome chance to see Oliver do his thing. Based on the grand total of 2 matches we have, it seems like Olivers program is reminiscent of a less cartoony Jim Breaks: Constantly brutalizing the opponent while stooging and reacting in amusing exaggerated ways. Tony Oliver really had perfect eyebrows for this role. My favourite thing that he did was the way he would grab his opponents face and try to hook him, or grab the chin when the guy was down. Then he would blast away with those unforgiving forearms and punches. Really trying to make every second of wrestling him as unpleasant as possible. Gentilly was another French technico with the charisma of a piece of wood, but the did give Oliver some fun receipts including some mean dropkicks. He had a lot of impact moves, the big Robinson backbreaker, even an inverted atomic drop, and the worlds greatest gutbuster. That‘s about enough to get on my good side, plus he really liked the catapult which gave Oliver ample opportunity to fly across the ring like a ballet dancer. The very last bump was like something Buddy Rose would do. Great to get another look at Oliver against a game opponent, who really seems like a complete package from what little we have.

PAS: Clearly our next raid needs to be the Spanish film archives, because Oliver really looks like an all timer. I just love watching him do his thing, what an all time great heel. So many little mannerism and niggling asshole moves. I love his double sledge to the back of Gentilly's neck, he comes at it from the side with a ton of force and it looks like every shot is going to send Gentilly into a dark room for four days. He also does this super nasty thing when he has Gentilly grounded, where he digs his fingers into his Adam's apple and twists, he must have just sucked to wrestle. Oliver was really great at putting over Gentilly, he has that great ability to switch from stooge to killer and back which is something that all the great heels have. Gentilly wasn't the most dynamic technico, but he was willing to land with the appropriate force on his shots (If I was wrestling Oliver I would be trying to KO him with every shot), and had some really cool moves. I loved his inverted atomic drops, and his gutbuster was really cool, he got a deep lift and really lifted him high before just driving his knee into Olivers belly.

MD: Another match with Tony Oliver. He's no longer the best heel we only have one match of. This was actually much more of a specific showcase for him, as opposed to a title match where he pulled out constant stops like we had before. Here he still did everything dirty imaginable. The difference was that, for the most part, it worked. That doesn't mean that he didn't stooge and bump and get caught out by the ref. He did, but he took a lot more of this one with a hundred cheapshots, constant face raking and ref maneuvering, and a hundred more straight up brutal blows. Gentilly had some really novel stuff that we haven't seen much: an actual bulldog (as opposed to Oliver's armbar bulldog), some nasty submissions, an inverted atomic drop/atomic drop combo on the guy most deserving to eat those in history, and this really great spinning gutbuster. Oliver's hyperactive antics had him arguing with the crowd, with the ref, complaining about anything that didn't go his way and taking every opportunity imaginable. And us? Before we could complain that we only had one match with him. Now we can complain that we only have two.

ER: Not a surprise, this was great. Tony Oliver is as must see as this French Catch gets, a total package of nasty ringwork, pratfalls, shtick, and a mean side. If he had just a couple of his excellent qualities and nothing else, he'd still be a major standout. If he was only a guy with a fantastic body vice and the best clubbing fist to the back of someone's neck, he'd be a guy we'd talk about at length. If he just had a nasty grounded punch among several other cheapshots, we'd be talking about him as a heel legend. But he has everything, and does it all so so well. I love his pratfall bumps for catapults, loved his clenched butt straight leg selling for a pair of atomic drops, loved the way he made Gentilly look like a tough guy while also beating the hell out of him. Gentilly looked super capable here, and I think would have stood out much more against a lesser opponent. His execution was so tight, from his picture perfect snapmare to the way he fought against Oliver's body vice (I loved how Oliver tightened the vice on a standing Gentilly, who slid his boots back across the mat as his body was forced downward by Oliver), loved how his flexibility made Oliver's holds look even more cruel. Now it's also possible that he looked even better *because* he was in with Oliver, who seems to be a master at both hyping and murdering opponents. But then I see what an all time great gutbuster Gentilly has and I'm pretty sure his work stands on its own. Oliver's pratfalls never had a straight comedy flair, as even when he gets knocked ass over crown and is hanging by his feet over the ropes, it doesn't come off silly. A wrestler could watch this one Tony Oliver match and find literally dozens of things worth stealing, as every single sequence is fresh and inspired by who knows who, a guy whose every bit of movement could be analyzed and ripped off without anyone knowing. And now we all get the chance to know, and we should take it.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Luis El Gayo! Rene Gerber! Inca Peruano! DR. ADOLF KAISER! Cheri Bibi!

Luis El Gayo vs. Rene Gerber 5/11/57

SR:2/3 Falls match over about 25 minutes. We see Luis El Gayo again. Rene Gerber is introduced as Swiss, but not a champion. After using some foul tactics against Jacky Corne, Luis El Gayo gets to play face in this match as Gerber pretty much foregoes the usual hold for hold work and goes for brawling almost immediately, landing tough looking kicks and knees and it‘s a big hit and get hit contest from there. The bar for heels working France in 1957 was pretty high, Gerber had nice kneelifts and I liked the spot where he did a chinlock and kept switching around so he could punch Luis in the kidney, and he also does the amazing „pretend to tie your shoelaces but go for the attack“ spot. Luis is veritable in the babyface role and provides some slick wrestling moves. Most notable here were the fan reactions with excited teenagers and working class joes threatening to storm the ring when Gerber got too cute. We understand this kind of match is bread and butter French material by now, although it is really fun to watch, basically a 25 minute sprint with lots of violent shots and moments.

MD:  My compatriots rightly noted that Tony Oliver was one of the best one-off match heels that we might have on tape. I'd argue that Gerber's another. We have a JIP match later, but this is basically it. El Gayo, he of the cool Rainmaker set up into moves, we saw earlier as a heel. When you get foreigner vs foreigner, a guy who might be a heel vs a Frenchman can go face. There's a lot going on with this one, but the general premise, like a lot of what we've seen so far, is that Gerber gets outwrestled early and goes dirty, very dirty. El Gayo manages to come back by outslicking and outquicking him and fires back with a ton of big shots until Gerber does something else unexpected and then they repeat. The most memorable moment here is Gerber hitting a foul punt out of a double knucklelock set up, and the crowd just absolutely going nuts. We're talking first-row trying to fight him and getting some shots in nuts. I watched a recent match the other day, one of the very few I've seen as I'm neck deep in this footage, and it had a great little heel-takes-over-due-to-shoelace shenanigans transition would have absolutely fit into 1957 France (hell, in this very match, Gerber gets a leg dive out of pretending to mess with his own laces). How do the 2019 fans respond? They cheer for the heel. The past is lost to us, yet this book has been pried open for us once again. How lucky are we. Anyway, what made the riot even better in the moment? It's the distraction of fighting with the fans that lets el Gayo come back with a fury here. Wrestling does not get better than that.

El Gayo has some really slick stuff early, including an escape where he detatched Gerber's arm from a hold, brought his own legs up to encase it, and then rolled forward. Gerber's heeling was so good once showed his true colors. On a handshake, he dove forward and tackled el Gayo, rushing in after with stomps and kicks and never looking back. It was the sort of multifaceted, giving and taking heeling that had him both almost getting into fisticuffs with the ref because he wanted to stomp el Gayo instead of breaking clean and happily trying to ambush el Gayo, only to dive headlong into a shoulder throw (that happened a few times).

El Gayo has lots of great-looking, potent offense whenever he took back over, solid forearms and uppercuts and knees, all coming from fun directions. He'd flip Gerber over and trap him in the ropes so he could wallop him. He'd tap him on the shoulder and nail him when he turned around. He picked up Gerber's hand and drove it into his knee. And sometimes he'd just wail away and look to the crowd for support. There's a little late match arm-bar work that seemed a little out of place, but you're not going to remember that. You'll remember Gerber tossing el Gayo around by his ears, the close-ups of el Gayo's revenge-laden forearms, the fact that towards the end of the match, Gerber was ballsy enough to brawl with el Gayo on the floor right in the midst of that riotous crowd, and yeah, the 1957 slingshot-from-the-outside finish. In a crystal sea of matches with great heels and fiery, super technical babyfaces, this one stood out to me.

PAS: You have to love a guy like Gerber who can walk into a ring and within five minutes have people in the crowd trying to jump him. Most of the matches we have seen will start with the heel trying to wrestle with the babyface before losing their cool and going to shortcuts. Gerber forgoes the preface and just starts banging away. El Gayo is a really great expressive babyface too and they match up perfectly. I loved the spot where Gerber ties up El Gayo in the ropes and goes to jump on the turnbuckles to crank in the hold, only to get waylaid by a freed up El Gayo. Felt like an unseen Midnight Express spot. Gerber seemed to get such joy in the fury of the fans, he wanted to fight the entire arena and that totally made this one stand out


Dr. Adolf Kaiser vs. Inca Peruano 5/17/57

SR:JIP with 6 minutes shown. I would‘ve liked to see this in full, because these are two of the more unique workers showing up on French TV at the time. Inca Peruano has been a heel in other matches but easily becomes the babyface against the nefarious Doctor of Philosophy, Adolf Kaiser. This was a fun match up with Kaiser having cool ways to lock in his dreaded Dragon Sleeper and Inca having cool ways to escape from it. Peruano works some submission nearfalls of his own, and there are some cool hold escapes. I also really like Kaiser diving all over the ring trying to catch his opponent like an animal, and Peruano really gives him the business with fast uppercuts and kicks.

MD: Now without me understanding a lick of French and thus potentially lacking context, this felt straight on heel vs heel. For the six minutes we get, these two beat the crap out of each other with full on abandon. What was striking about this was how much it felt like a modern finishing stretch. Kaiser tried to lock in his dragon sleeper choke out multiple times; Peruano had clever escapes that would have seemed novel in a 1997 Ultino Dragon match, flipping over or climbing up the ropes, to lock in a hold of his own. Meanwhile, Peruano actually hit the elaborate arm-trap sunset flip (without the flip) pin he used to beat Comache but too close to the ropes, and a lot of the last couple of minutes were centered around his attempts to hit Kaiser with a monkey flip. Once he finally hit it (and a superkick for good measure), he went back to the well once too often, got jammed and meanly concussed for his trouble, and Kaiser choked the life out of him. If we're just going to get a 6 minute burst of action, this is the stuff we want.

PAS: I adore both of these guys, and was pretty bummed we didn't get more of this. The bit we get is pretty great though. I agree with Matt that the finish run did feel super modern, with multiple finisher teases before Kaiser finally locked on his Dragon sleeper. The rope assisted flip up by Peruano was especially cool, this is the first time Kaiser didn't lay his opponent completely out, although he remains unbeaten, I wonder if we get the match where he receives his commupance.


Ami Sola vs. "Cheri Bibi" Roger Trigeaud 5/17/57

SR: Roger Trigeaud is Cheri Bibi. A stumpy legged bald guy with a massive upper body. Roland Barthes was right when he wrote that at most 1 in 5 wrestling matches is „fair“. This followed the same formula as usual, wrestling to start, Cheri Bibi would start throwing, and they would keep the heat up until the finish, but it was a very good match with both guys adding to it. Ami Sola is a bulky looking guy with a mustache and wrestles similar to what we saw Gilbert Cesca and Billy Catanzaro do – cool flying headscissors, solid european uppercuts and kip-up headbutts. Cheri Bibi would do a spot where Solas dropkicks were bouncing off of his massive chest, and he also found an answer to some of the stuff Sola did. They didn‘t go for an all out european uppercutfest and went back to the wrestling. At about 20 minutes, this was pretty lean as well with a neat finish.

MD:  It's tricky to talk about this the same week we have Gerber vs el Gayo. In a different week, I think this would stand out more. It had a few things going for it. Bibi (and we'll go with that name since we'll be seeing a lot of him in this project) was more clearly defined than a lot of the heels we'd been seeing, deeper instead of wider. He was a big muscleman goon, the sort that can shrug off two of Sola's dropkicks like they were nothing but that would still turn to jaw with the crowd afterwards so that Sola could dropkick him a third time from behind and knock him out of the ring. I'd say he felt a little more like a base than we're used to in this footage. We do have a good deal more Sola and I'm glad for that; I'd like to see him more. He had some fun tricked out takedowns and a great 'rana which he followed with an even more novel bridge up sort of 'rana. There were some memorable callbacks in the match, the sort that again, makes the narrative feel more complete and meaningful: Bibi has this front facelock necktwist that we don't really see come to fruition because Sola pops back up with a headbutt the two times he tries it; the second time though, Bibi's ready and he clocks him. Then, the finish is all about the dropkicks, with Bibi catching Sola again in yet another really good finish. It should be noted that as opposed to a lot of the other heels we've seen Bibi raises Sola's hand after the match. You get the sense that he, like Bollet, will be more of a lovable scamp to the crowd over the years than some of the foreign heels we've seen.

PAS: I just love this stuff, I don't think this is high end French Catch but the floor on this footage is so high. Bibi is a blast, I loved how he used his barrel chest as a weapon, the spot that Matt described where he shrugged off the dropkicks, only to stooge on the third was great, but he also used it as a battering ram to Sola's face. There was some super nifty mat exchanged here too, one long section built around a short arm scissors, including some real wrenching of the arm, and one section built around a reverse leg stretch. Sola had some fun arial stuff including a cool rana, which he hung onto almost a triangle choke and some nice drop kicks (which Bibi bumped huge for) and was perfectly game when it got time to start throwing. Cool finish too, with Bibi hitting a nasty powerbomb out of a rana attempt. If this was the first Catch thing we ever saw, we would be losing our shit, but after seeing a bunch, it is just an example of how great the baseline was.

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