Tuesday is French Catch Day: Saulnier! Rabut! Manneveau! Bernaert! Zarpa! Straub!

Michel Saulnier vs. Jean Rabut 6/20/65

SR: 1 fall match going a bit under 30 minutes. There was some blindingly fast wrestling in this match. The kind of French Catch you can show to someone who has never seen French Catch before and just watch their jaw drop. There was a nice hard-fought feeling to it too thanks to both guys never letting their guard down and struggling fierce over the holds. Both guys getting upset and shoving each other around made the match, but they kept it clean and we even got a finish. Depending where you stand those animosities not boiling over into a full scale war may or may not have detracted from the match. One thing is for certain: these two put on a high end technical match which we haven‘t seen in a while.

MD: A real masterpiece of a juniors match. The announcer starts by calling them "Lilliputian," when comparing their heights, but there's not a single person in the crowd that holds that against them as the match moves forward. Rabut was pushing 40 here and Saulnier maybe around eight years younger and that played into the match, both for the chip on Saulnier's shoulder and, as the announcer speculated late into the match, the idea that Rabut might be tiring out first. The holds were very much what we've been used to in these settings, but faster, sharper, full of more oomph, with an additional twist or two at the end, one more escape reversal than we would have gotten a couple of years earlier, one sure tight reversal cut off and reversed itself. As the match went on, they got more mileage out of the casual shoulder slap to signify a release of a rope break than any match in history. It started congenial, but built to one or the other returning the favor and, generally, Saulnier getting hot over it. They ran parallel spots around it. At one point, Saulnier annoyed Rabut, who immediately put him down with a headbutt to the gut off the ropes (one of the first actual shots in the match) only for Saulnier throw one back the first chance he had. 

There was an excellent extended headlock sequence mid-match which felt driven by Rabut wanting to cool off Saulnier whose shoulder chip was becoming a fiery chasm. Later on, when Saulnier took it a little too far and Rabut was unleashing stuff on him, he too went for a headlock to try to cool things back down, driven by a sense that maybe he took it all too far. It never quite went over the top. They'd throw uppercuts and forearms and unleash knee crusher, but they always took it back down to holds or to the side for rope running and pin exchanges. The close-up work was brilliant throughout, little manual repositionings of one's foot in order to get leverage to escape a hold, a fake up high to set up a rolling leg pick (when Saulnier got really hot towards the end he outright swiped at Rabut's head to drop down for the leg), Rabut's tendency to slap away a hand to get the advantage on a lock up. They worked every hold, constantly looking for an escape or some way to keep it on. I imagine by the twenty-minute mark, the crowd envisioned a 45 minute draw with the two swiping at each other or going for fast pin attempts as the bell rang, but around 30, Rabut missed his opportunity to get a pin off the ropes and Saulnier came back with a deep (and deeply worked) jackknife pin for the win. Post match, despite the emotions that flared throughout the match, Rabut seemed pretty pleased with what they accomplished. As wrestling-as-sport goes, this was top notch, believable, emotional stuff. We'll see Saulnier switch roles over the next few years and Petit Prince enters the equation, but he was excellent here as the fiery upstart, with Rabut the skilled journeyman steering the ship.

PAS: This was really skilled impressive stuff. What really struck me watching it was the speed in which they would get up on their feet after taking ranas and armdrags, it was like watching a glitch in the Matrix. The actual grappling was also really class, with both guys doing minor tweaks and adjustments to holds which were a couple of degrees off from what you are used to watching in pro-wrestling. I kept waiting for this to break down into rough and tumble violence, and the uppercuts which were thrown here had really meat behind them, it never really got there though and thus didn't have the escalation of the truly tip top catch matches. That keeps it out of 1965 MOTY for me, although it was really breathtaking high end stuff for sure.

ER: I do think the greatest strength of this match is that it makes a really great primer for new French Catch fans. I think we've covered plenty of French Catch matches that could be described similarly, but this is the French style that might pop out more to a casual viewer due to its speed and pace. The French Catch style is one that rewards all levels of audience engagement, and this is one that has enough eye popping moments to catch the attention of someone focused more on their phone than the match, but also has enough micro-aggression build leading to bigger stuff that will pay off for a more focused viewer. It didn't escalate as violently as the great Catch, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a banging juniors match. The speed was really the highlight for me, as it's one of those French matches where you think you're watching something in an entirely different framerate, defying physics with oddly timed kip ups and headscissors and the type of Catch armdrags that wind up in a different direction than the one you expected. The grappling was strong and had several cool leverage moments, and the match also had several bizarre moments. I've said since we started reviewing Catch that there is always at least one thing that stands out as original in every match, and the moment that jumped out most to me was Saulnier faceplanting (intentionally?) himself into the mat after swiping at Rabut, just swinging himself face first into the mat, only to grab an ankle pick while he was down there. I genuinely have no idea if that was the plan, or the cover up for the failed plan, but I love that Catch is always making me ask questions like that. 

Armand Zarpa/ Luc Straub vs. Marcel Manneveau/Pierre Bernaert 7/2/65

SR: 2/3 falls match going a bit under 30 minutes. This was your typical French tag with lots of rudos beating on faces and faces making a fool of rudos. Manneveau was quite the vicious bastard here, and Bernaert did his thing. I thought the match needed better tecnicos. Straub, the judoka, didn‘t even do any judo moves and instead did a bunch of foot attack bullshit and Zarpa was technically competent but not very charismatic. As a result the match felt a bit dragging und unspectacular, although the crowd was hollering. Bernaert and Manneveau were pretty violent, but that‘s nothing outstanding.

MD: This isn't my favorite tag that we've seen, but it had some things working for it. First and foremost, there was a throughstory of Manneveau being afraid of Straub. He'd refuse to be in the ring with him at any point, would refuse to tag in if he was there, etc. Manneveau is such a wormy, emotive stooge that he absolutely made it work, and thankfully, mercifully even, they made it pay off in the final fall when, upon being tagged in, Straub immediately knocks Bernaert off the apron so Manneveau can't tag out. He then gets thoroughly trounced in a satisfying manner for a couple of minutes. Past that, Zafar, while not being spectacular, was solid, technical and fiery when needed. The judo guys are probably my least favorite French stylists and Straub may be my least favorite of all of them. I swear this match had the most chinlocks we've seen too, which is a trend for 65 maybe? Chinlocks can be great if the crowd knows how to get behind a babyface in them, but that wasn't the case yet here. The second fall also ended with the old "face puts his head down for a back body drop and gets kicked" spot, which I don't remember seeing in this footage so far, no matter how rote a cut off/transition it is for us in 2021. There were two great tag spots, the first being Manneveau charging in to interfere only to accidentally put Bernaert in a headlock, and the second being Straub and Zarpa hitting simultaneous armdrag slams as the heels rushed them, but the match probably needed a few more given its length. There was nothing technically wrong about this, and the underlying story was fun, but we've seen a lot of more compelling tags.

ER: I liked this more than the other guys, even if it didn't reach the levels of our best tags. This had a great heel performance from Marcel Manneveau, a posturing buffoon who only wanted to avoid Luc Straub, a story that lasted 30 minutes and was paid off in the final minute. Manneveau carries himself like a French David Young, and cheats from the apron the entire match. I love a good apron cheat, and Manneveau was always quick to run in with an eye rake or the most blatant chokes (I'm not sure how much control the ref had over this match), and him flexing at Straub after the second fall was my favorite part of this. Bernaert often was left to pay for Manneveau's cheating, but I also loved all of Bernaert's attacks on Zarpa. Bernaert's knees had a homing device aimed squarely at Zarpa's forehead, and I loved how he made them connect. I thought Straub was fun, a large guy who perhaps worked a bit too small (felt like he was always working as undersized against the smaller Bernaert) but had some unique attacks and kept them moving. I didn't get the same slow down vibes, I thought he was smart at moving from a chinlock to something new, my favorite being the way he locked Bernaert's arm behind his back before hooking Bernaert's arm in his knee crook, moving him into an excellent pin. He did a couple things I haven't seen, like getting out of a headscissors by running in place on Bernaert's chest. The finish payoff of Straub finally getting his hands on Manneveau, elbowing Bernaert off the apron to prevent a tag, doing a kind of kappo kick after tying Manneveau in the ropes, all of it was great. The only crime this tag committed was maybe being a bit too long and then kind of rushing through the three falls, but I liked all of the work we got. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Corn! Bibi! Aledo! Dula! Monsieur Montreal!

Jimmy Dula/Jean Martin vs. Monsieur Montreal/Leon Minisini 11/16/62

MD: Long tag that we miss the start of, and it's good. The last time I saw Dula, I wasn't 100% sure what to make of him. He hit hard but seemed to appeal, ironically, to the crowd after each shot. Here, he held that to between falls and it was pretty funny when he did it and made poor Martin do it with him, plus some fanning antics with the two of them as well, but otherwise, he remained fairly focused and helped to make a 40+ minute tag almost constantly entertaining. He just had this odd way of coming at you, weird angles, a lot of charisma, but hit super hard with his clubbering and headbutts and whatever else, while still being able to work holds. I think he'd improved since last time we saw him. Martin was a persnickety bully, no question, feeling like a guy trapped in a world he didn't make, just being swept along for the ride with Dula and taking it out on his opponents. Big stooging power when he was taking offense too. We won't see more of him, which is a shame. Montreal continues to show me a bit more than I was expecting out of a muscle guy. He works well in this environment, is more than willing to take his opponents' offense, but has some big set pieces to come back with, whether it's a belly to belly toss over the top or big catapults out of the ring. This is it for Minisini too and he was fine and fiery, with big shots when warranted, but a little bit interchangeable with all the others we've seen. Anyway, they kept this moving, kept it entertaining, with Dula almost constantly finding ways to keep himself involved and active. It felt unique in a sea of great, long, hard-hitting tags.

PAS: I thought this was totally excellent. Martin and Dula are cool looking guys, they look like a pair of Sam Cooke bodyguards, and made a really fun team. With Dula as the big bruiser and Martin as more of a frenetic ass kicker. I loved Martin's low angle in ring topes, and he took some fun bumps where he missed them and flew into the crowd. These long tags are very long, but the Martin and Dula team had a bunch of different ways to work exchanges so the time flew by. The finish got super exciting, including an all time great slugfest exchange between Martin and Montreal, it was Lawler vs. Dundee level stuff, with the combos and feints and variety of shots, blew me away. 

Jean Rabut vs. Modesto Aledo 12/14/62

MD: You look back at this footage and it's Modesto Aledo and Tony Charles we really, really wish we had more of. This is it for Aledo though. 3 glorious minutes of he and Rabut really going at it, with clever call back spots (turning the second knee crusher into a shin breaker, turning the second headbutt to the gut off the ropes into a knee lift) and something we've definitely never seen before as he jammed a 'rana, turned it into a power bomb, jammed the press up 'rana attempt, and turned it into a powerbombing backbreaker. This ended with one of the best sunset flips I've ever seen. And that's it for Aledo. Ah well. At least we got a glimpse.

Jacky Corn vs. Cheri Bibi 12/14/62

MD: Totally iconic match that tells you everything you need to know about two of the greatest characters in French Catch. Corn might be the best, most sympathetic seller we've seen, though what holds it all together is how he can turn it on when it's time to fire back. He's excellent technically, though maybe not in the top, top class, but as a total picture wrestler, he's as good as anyone in the footage. He's in those stylist vs stylist matches less because he'd almost be wasted there. You want to see him dominate on the mat early, take a beating in the middle, and them come back with thunderous, battling shots in the stretch. Bibi's come a long way as a tag worker over the years we have footage of and I think that held true in this singles match as well. He's still got that monstrous, almost ever-present look of enjoyment, a bulky way of constantly cheating and leaning on his opponent, but the timing and the purpose of what he does seems tighter and better than what we saw out o f 57 or 58 Bibi. It gave Corn one of the best possible foils to battle against here and they gave us a twenty minute or so match that was focused and pointed, that took the crowd up and brought them down again, and ended clear and clean and definitively in the center of the ring.

SR: 1 Fall match going about 24 minutes. The way I saw this described, I thought this would be like a miracle performance from Bibi in a technical clinic. It wasn‘t that, but it was still pretty great. It was pretty much a mix of tight, simple wrestling and some of the sickest slugging it out in this whole project. Jacky Corn reminds me a bit of a Shinichi Nakano type guy, not the most charismatic and doesn‘t do much fancy, but he will execute his technical moves a little tighter, crank his holds a little harder than everyone else, and engage in some disgustingly violent back and forth strike exchanges. And Cheri Bibi was just a tank here. He didn‘t do anything that made me think he was a genius worker, but he was quite impeccable here as a massive, barrel chested evil dude. The 2nd half of the match is mostly them slugging it out and it was spectacular, with some shots being thrown that would look crazy in a FUTEN match, and both guys lacing each other up with those nasty short kicks. Corn has a lot of things to dish out, at one point he was kicking the shit out of Bibi's shoulder, later he chops him in the throat. And Bibi took and gave as good as he got.

PAS: Pitched fist fight which started at 10 and kept cranking it higher and higher. Bibi looks like Bob Hoskins and has shocking Hoskins in Roger Rabbit level agility when he is taking moves. He is mostly a banger though, hard forearms to the throat, jaw and kidneys, powerful ring shaking slams, he feels like a guy it would absolutely suck to have to wrestle, you are just coming out of it bruised and sore. Corn matches him shot for shot, and even starts exceeding him in violence including some razor chops right to the throat, before finally dumping him with a fast violent tombstone for the duke. This actually felt like a Johnny Valentine match to me, which is about as big a compliment as I can give. This snatches that 1962 slot from Aubriot vs. Bernaert.

ER: You know a match is stiff when the referee works as stiff as the participants. My favorite part of the match - and the most exquisitely filmed shot of the entire match - was the referee throwing some disgusting stomps at Cheri Bibi's wrist and fingers as Bibi's hand gripped the bottom rope. It really made me notice how fearless the ref was the rest of the match, whenever he had to step in between these two to break up a skirmish in the ropes. This guy had uppercuts being thrown inches from his face and he had no problems getting his body in there. Now obviously the referee wasn't the star here, but it certainly added to the presentation for me. Bibi is our favorite Buzz Sawyer/Bob Hoskins hybrid (Buzz Hoskins?) who throws punishing uppercuts, hard combos (love his right punch to the body/left clubbing shot to the back, great rhythm), and full arm shots to the body. His body shots are basically standing clotheslines, a straight arm thrown from different angles about a broad section of Corn's body, and I suspect we'd see some mighty bruising if we had color footage available. 

French Catch tecnicos are always impress me with the amount of punishment they can take, always building to a big comeback, but Corn's selling really put over Bibi's beating. I love how both men sell in the ropes, and how they sell each strike appropriately. The bumping is never over the top, and they don't overuse the bigger bumps to put over bigger strikes. I love the butt drop sell after a particularly nasty uppercut, and each man used it once, really a great way to separate and get across the severity of a particular strike, which wouldn't be as special if they had done it throughout. The tombstone piledriver that Corn finishes Bibi with was on the shortlist of most violent things we've seen in this entire series. The drop happened below the camera line, but you can see where Bibi's head was in relation to Corn's knees, and the way he dropped down fast you can tell Bibi really got crunched. Somebody might have beaten Corn to the drop though, as Bibi's big round head is already square on top of his big round shoulders. This match takes over the crown as our 1962 All Time MOTY, in our list linked below. New champs are always a cause for celebration, and these two earned it. 

ALL TIME MOTY MASTER LIST

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Israel! Rabut! Guettier! Delaporte!

Roger Delaporte vs. Roger Guettier 5/30/59

SR: 2/3 Falls match going a bit over 30 minutes. We get a Delaporte interview and another fantastic graphic before the match. We have seen these two teaming up before, so there might be some context necessary: where they still teaming at this point? Was there a breakup? Judging by the match, it seems they were still teaming at this point, as they do the „rudos suddenly work a clean match“ bit to start, to befuddled „ahh“ and „ooh“ responses of the crowd as they work armlocks and clean breaks. Naturally though, their instincts start kicking in, and soon we have a full on rudo vs. Rudo brawl. The wrestling they did was pretty fun, but you want these guys to unleash some serious violence, and that they do. Guettier is the first to say „I‘ve had it“ when Delaporte forearms him off the apron and he lays a pretty nasty one sided beating on Delaporte. He assumes a quasi-face role here, although he also throws the referee around. They end up spilling to the outside, the police get involved, and some heated forearm and uppercut exchanges later Delaporte retakes control and is able to take out Guettiers leg. Referee gets thrown around some more, and Guettier looks quite great selling his own destruction and taking big bumps and spills. Tons of really fun fighting here, and Delaportes charisma is just unreal. He really can make the most simple things wildly entertaining.

PAS:  Really cool structure in this match, like most face vs. face matches we have a pair of heels starting the match wrestling clean, until their tempers flare up. It is cool to watch a pair of disreputable creeps try to clean their act up and fail. All of the early matwork was really cool, and I especially loved all of the work around Guettier's spinning headscissors. I imagine it's a spot he doesn't break out as a rudo, but he was spreading his tecnico wings. Loved all the different leverage moves that Delaporte would use to block going over too. Guettier's big backbreaker to win the first fall ruled, and Delaporte sold it like he just slept on a lumpy mattress. Of course the breakdown in decorum was great, both guys just laced into each other brawling in the crowd, tossing the ref to the floor wilding out. Loved the finish with Delaporte just demolishing Guettier's leg until he couldn't stand anymore and couldn't answer the bell. Super fun match which is up there with some of the best we have gotten so far.

MD: I could have used a little more context on this one. I know what's in my head. We've barely seen Guettier in the footage, but the big appearance was almost exactly two years before this when he was Delaporte's second banana against Hayes and Hunter. There's an interview segment at the start with Delaporte where he gets a lot of time to talk and it seems like Guettier just wants to get to it. And he really gets to it. Delaporte wrestles cleans right up until the point he starts to get outwrestled (relatively early on). He uses the ropes for leverage more than anyone we've seen, including on pins, which I think we haven't seen at all yet. He uses them to jam spinning grounded Mascaras headscissors, which is an interesting visual. Guettier's in control more often than not though, until about halfway through the match everything shifts. After being on the wrong end of some big headlock takeovers and a long-ish headlock sequence, Delaporte lifts Guettier over the top rope to the apron to break it and then just clobbers him to the floor. Guettier comes back with a vengeance and just unloads on him, including pressing him into the corner and pummeling him, and the ref when he gets in the way. At one point, the ref has to single-leg Guettier because he's so out of control. The fall mercifully ends with a few huge backbreakers and a power body slam into the pin (and is followed by Delaporte putting on a brilliant selling performance during the break). Guettier charges right back in to start the second fall but after getting beat on some more, Delaporte is able to reverse a push into the corner and he starts tossing Guettier around by his hair, ultimately out of the ring. Guettier grabs Delaporte's leg, however, and we get probably the best, most heated brawling into the crowd we've seen yet, and chaos as neither man can get in or stay in for long. At one point we get the visual of Delaporte tossing Guettier out by his hair and then, as the camera follows him, the referee flying into the screen as Delaporte tosses him too. Ultimately, Delaporte hones in on the leg with a series of cruel low kicks and a half crab which wins both the fall, and as Guettier is unable to answer, the match. There was a real sense of Guettier having a chip on his shoulder through out the match and Delaporte taking the utmost of offense to it and that made for a hell of a slugfest once things got going.

Isha Israel vs. Jean Rabut 6/4/59

SR: 1 Fall match going about 30 minutes. This was a technical match, and what a great one. These guys were seriously fast moving workers. Just one beautiful exchange after another. I was looking at the match time and wondering how the hell can they keep up at this speed for +30 minutes, but they do. They were executing basic stuff, like a headlock takeover or struggle over a pin from a test of strength in just a ridiculously high end manner. That pin exchange along with the muscle up may very well be the best I‘ve ever seen, and I must have seen a thousand. There were a few holds that they worked for a bit longer. There was a short arm scissor from Rabut, which was great as he had this ridiculously fast set-up and then a few different ways to prevent Israels escape. I dug how short arm scissors are consistently sold in a big way in this territory, as Israel was slow to get up, and Rabut immediately moved in for the kill. Few brilliant rope running sequences here that they move in and out of with such ease. Another lengthy hold was that straight jacket strangle hold, which was really sold like a choke by Rabut here, which is not something I‘ve seen much. You could see the pressure on his windpipe was troubling him. When he starts muscling out of it, you could see his veins popping. Israel had some ridiculously quick movements for a dumpy looking guy. Towards the end he takes a surprise bump over the top rope and comes back favoring his foot and then fighting off a number of leg hold attempts from Rabut. It doesn‘t stack up to much but it was a nice way to increase the drama for the finishing run. Crowd was really into this and rightfully so.

PAS: This was very much worked in that Cantanzaro vs. Cesca juniors style, which is the first exposure we all had to French Catch, but really isn't that representative of most of the French we have gotten. I am guessing that there were probably a couple matches per card in that style, but they rarely made television. It was cool to fall in love all over with the freaky takedowns and super fast rope running. I am a short arm scissors aficionado, and have loved all of the different variations we get to see of that spot in this footage. Rabut turning the scissors into a rolling cradle was badass, and I loved his ranas too, just whipping them off with a ton of snap. If we had gotten this match first, it would have been the legendary one. In context it is really great too.

MD: The best way to describe this was that it was much of what we've already seen, just at 1.5 speed, and a good deal we haven't seen much of on top of that. It was a lightweight title match, our first look at Israel and our first look in a match like this at Rabut and it was something. I think it was our first look at an actual title belt too (Israel was champ). There was so much work and effort put into every lock up. They slam into each other for the first and so many of the subsequent ones had little hand motions and fake outs. Rabut loved to go through the legs to set up holds. He also had a way of slapping away the hand, where Israel could be like a tornado spinning about and grabbing a limb. There was almost too much to keep track of here. They did go in and out of holds, but there was often an extra twist to them. When Israel caught Rabut in a bodyscissors off of the bridge breaking spot, he managed to fully flip him over at the same time. That sort of thing. Even a pretty lackluster long headlock early on was entered into with two huge flying headlock takeovers. That was the only lackluster thing in the match, by the way. Later on, Rabut entered into a short arm scissors off of a top wristlock takedown as quickly as I've ever seen, and then worked the hold through a half dozen escape attempts, all faster and with more oomph than we've seen. There were more nods here to limb selling than we've generally seen, but it only lasts until capitalization of it is over. Rabut stayed on the arm for a moment afterwards but Israel was able to dodge a lunge at his arm and that was it there. Later on, Israel took a back body drop out of the ring and came back with a hurt leg but Rabut could only stay on it for another move or two. There was a straightjacket choke exchange, where Israel held it and Rabut went in and out which I don't think we've seen yet and that was very good, the escape attempts and the hang ons and Rabut's selling. There was definite escalation despite it all too, with more knock downs and working of the counts towards the end before some frenetic rope running to build to a finish. Super high-end stuff here.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Gerber! Di Santo! Pellacani! Dula! Duranton!

Rene Gerber vs. Jean Rabut 12/13/58

MD: Back when we last saw Gerber, a few months ago now, I lamented that we only had one more match with him and it was a JIP one. At least it's one that goes about 15, though. He's a great stooging heel. There's a moment in here, towards the end, that really sums him up. After spending the brunt of the match tossing Rabut out of the ring (and getting tossed out himself) and eating revenge spots tied up in the ropes or eating torpedo headbutts in the corner, he managed to dodge Rabut getting his feet up on some shoulder thrusts. He hobbled back and tapped his head to show his smarts. There was an almost congenial moment between the two of them despite all that had occurred and he asked for a handshake. This was the third of the match, with the first being clean and the second being a cheapshot. After a moment of shared competency and luck, Rabut decided to go in for it though, and he was immediately incapacitated with his arm over the rope and punched hard in the gut twice. That was Gerber for you. Rabut had some great athletic spots we've barely seen, backflips after dropkicks and a novel handstand headcissors takeover. He didn't quite get the chance to fully shine against Gerber though. The crowd wanted more of the rapid-fire elbows to the skull or punches to the gut in the corner, instead. Gerber got great heat, all but brawling with the ref, shoving people in the crowd, having trash thrown at him. Great heel. It's a shame we don't see more of him. We do see more of Rabut though, including against Chaisne, so I'm interested to see what he'll do against a different sort of opponent.

Lino Di Santo vs. Liano Pellacani 12/13/58

SR: 2/3 falls match going about 30 minutes. It‘s the last sighting of Liano Pellacani (for now, who knows what has yet to be digitalized), who sure made an impression. And this was really worked as a long Pellacani showcase. He did more wrestling than usual, engaging in some greco roman work with Di Santo. He was acting like pure brawler before, so it was nice to see that he had the chops. I also totally did not expect him to just savate kick Di Santo in the throat. After that it was asskicking city as Pellacani was demolishing Lino with those unforgiving forearm smashes. Di Santo was a quite great dance partner too, as his stoic selling really accentuates the nasty beating he was taking, and his comebacks gave back as good as he was taking. This was probably the most asskicking we‘ve seen Di Santo do so far and his forearms and dropkicks looked amazing. These kinda matches can easily get repetitve, but they knew to threw in a number of interesting spots. There was a particularily great rope running sequence that lead to a nearfall, as well as Pellacanis general use of the ring ropes (the slingshot to throat is such an amazing little spot), and Lino Di Santo hitting the most neckbreaking neckbreaker. I should add that anytime Pellacani lands outside is tense as you expect him to get jumped by someone from the crowd. Both guys throwing body punches was great, and Di Santo ducking the savate kick to forearm Pellacani into another dimension felt like a spot that was 25 years ahead of its time. Nasty finish too which ended up a fitting swansong for Pellacani.

MD: Of all the footage we've seen so far, I think this might be the night I would have most liked to be there. Not the best matches but maybe the best heels in back to back matches. Both Gerber and Pellacani in the same night. The crowd was already heated at the start of this and by the end, they were more than happy to throw trash into the ring. A guy like Tony Oliver was a consummate heel, likewise Delaporte who was just incessant. Pellacani, however, had this deep understanding of himself and portrayed a sort of passive aggressive quiet fury about the state of reality itself. It wasn't his fault that he did what he did. It was the world that drove him to it. He feels like the promise of Professor Boris Malenko, like Abe Weissman's evil brother. He wrestled the early bit of this clean, things escalating until he managed two monkey flips in a row, only to eat a running 'rana for his trouble. After that, he flipped the switch, unleashing the wickedest clubbering blows you can imagine. As the match went on, he'd take his advantages and act both offended and furious when called out for them. Di Santo would come back but the cut offs were quick and vicious, merciless even. He was always in the moment, which made every second feel organic and real. Di Santo might hit an atomic drop and his trademark neckbreaker, but Pellacani was quick to grab on to the top rope and jam the second attempt, always thinking, always on. All the way to the end where he had enough and drew a DQ, and the last look we'll ever have at him in this footage, teasing an attack on Di Santo after the bell only to draw back, satisfied at the disdain of all around him, to place his robe back on and give the crowd a bow, unabashedly himself no matter what they thought.


Jimmy Dula vs. Robert Duranton 12/26/58

SR: Jimmy Dula is someone I‘ve only seen a few mentions of on tiny fan pages. I wouldn‘t have thought I‘d ever see him wrestle, let alone in a 2/3 falls match that goes nearly 40 minutes. I guess this was a reminder that sometimes the mythical guys you only see looking badass on one or two photos are sometimes just regular wrestlers. This was solid Catch, very much like the stuff we could see on WoS or IWE. Not super tricked out, but there was some intense hold for hold work. I expected Duranton to bring the heat as we had seen him doing before, but instead it was Dula who assumed the role of the shit stirrer when he took offense to Duranton kicking his way out of a hold. Next thing he did was try to pry Durantons nose from his face. The face attacks looked really nasty, and Dula had really good looking forearm smashes and uppercuts. I also really liked his constant use of the cravate, constantly wrenching Durantons head. It‘s a bit of a long match but the fact Dula kept going back to try and wrestle Duranton kept it interesting and we get lots of cool strike exchanges down the stretch.:

MD: Sebastian might have thought that this was business as usual but this was a pretty odd one to me. Duranton is one of the more unlikable guys we've seen in this project (in a good way). At this stage of his career, I don't think he's the sort to carry someone entirely though. He's been a bit more stylized so far. After a bit of clunky wrestling, Dula started to go straight for the eyes and mouth, however. He had this thing he'd do where after every break, he'd salute to the crowd as if everything was perfectly lovely. Sometimes he'd use it to stall. The crowd didn't know what to make of it. It got a reaction, but it was mainly amused bewilderment. Ultimately, this had a fairly uncooperative feel which didn't bear out positively in the holds but did with the strikes. The saving grace here was that they really beat the crap out of each other. Duranton was especially mean. We'd seen that streak before, but here he was a wall that would not break (at least not too often), and the meaner he got with his shots, the meaner Dula got in return. I think Dula's act probably would have worked pretty well against one of your more standard French babyfaces. It's just that he was paired with Duranton who modified his act to be tougher, maybe, but I don't even know if that's a good thing, as the charm of him is how haughty and arrogantly dismissive he can be. He didn't get much of a chance to be that here while his opponent was walking around and saluting no matter what had just happened.

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