Tuesday is French Catch Day: Chaisne!, Labat!, Couderc! Sola!

Cheri Bibi vs. Andre Cheauveau 8/2/57

MD: This was a lot of fun. The last ten minutes of an almost thirty minute match, apparently. At first glance I thought Cheauveau was a pure coward, another in the recent string of outmatched heels, and he was outmatched here, but he was more craven than cowardly, with a defiant streak that cost him. If you want to watch Bibi just maul and overpower some poor bastard, this is the match for you. I don't know what happened in the first sixteen minutes, but there's enough here to guess, and whatever it was, it certainly made the crowd WANT to see Bibi clobber him. Cheauveau would hide behind the ref, would go for those quick, desperate leg dives, would use the tights and sneak out of and engagement by dodging past Bibi in the ropes, but he also had the gall to spit in Bibi's face and to toss him out and then kick him on the way back in. When tossed out himself, he'd go for a chair. Bibi had such a credible act, between the mean, clubbering blows, the hulking, stalking presence, and those beady eyes, just a once in a generation wrestling look to him, so that every time Cheauveau showed mind-boggling hubris, you had the sense that Bibi just hungered to get his hands on him again.

SR: JIP match with about 10 minutes shown. Not that you get a ton out of this as it was the kind of bout that kept spilling but not really building. Cheauveau seems some kind of joker. He was begging off and neck chopping Bibi amongst other things. Cheri Bibi was on form here and pretty much waltzed through Cheauveau like Stone Cold and this had enough nasty forearms and head stomps for me to give this a pass.

Michel Chaisne vs. Jo Labat 8/2/57

MD: Very good technical match. Both Labat (who is new to the project) and Chaisne (who we've seen before against villains like Kasier and Bernaert) wrestled clean though things got heated in the end. Labat was smaller but had a strength advantage and took the initiative for most of the match. Chaisne was taller and imaginative in his holds and counters. They worked everything extremely hard, lots of long in and out holds including the extended short arm scissors with probably the earliest chronological "through the ropes" hang on out of a deadlift that we've seen. Things really picked up in the last few minutes after Chaisne took offense to Labat using a foot clap repeatedly to escape a hold but Labat fired back with a headbutt and these cool short shoulder bursts. It led to rope running and an amazing dropkick for the finish. I'll be happy to see Labat again (and if I'm not mistaken we have him vs Chaisne once, Sola twice, Peruano once, and with Sola in a tag against the awesome sounding team of Bernaert and Bibi). 

SR: 1 Fall match going about 25 minutes. This was a clean match. The first time we see Labat and he played nice. The technical work here won‘t blow you away if you‘ve seen a lot of French stuff but it was good. I like how rugged some of the flying headscissors felt, some would miss their targets and for others the guys would fall weirdly like in a real fight. The crowd comes alive when they finally start throwing forearms about 20 minutes in. Labat has this really cool thing where he locks on a cravate and than just rams the guy with an uppercut. Absolutely loved the finish.

PAS: Really cool slow burn match. Started on the mat, with some very cool technical wrestling. I am in the bag for cool short arm scissors spots, and they really had some neat variations on that hold including the cool spot in the ropes Matt mentioned. The last couple minutes were as heated as anything we have seen from this footage. The knee strikes by Chaisne leading into those crazy shoulder strikes, into a Meiko Satomura in GAEA Girls level dropkick. That is the way you put an exclamation point on a match, and turned it into something truly memorable.


Moise Besch vs. Jo Benardo 8/8/57

MD: Whew, this was a pretty nasty seven minutes of footage. Lots of hair pulling and cheapshots and face grinding and headbutts, with a few huge high spots (piledrivers and dropkicks, and Besch tossing Bernado over the top rope). Just a real sense of animosity that lasted even after the match ended.

SR: JIP 10 minutes in with about as much shown. These are two weird looking guys. Moise Besch was the kind of guy to make Billy Catanzarro look normal. You don‘t see people with faces and body shapes like that these days. As far as the match goes, it was some kind of lightweight contest that had a fair bit of niggle. There were some piledrivers that ended up kind of no sold which is enough to get a match on my bad side. Gotta love how tight the finishing pinfall was, though.


Jacques Couderc vs. Ami Sola 8/8/57

PAS: This was worked like a lucha maestros match, with both guys working technical exchanges to show their skill. There was a ton of skill to, with Sola continuing his run as the master of the rana, he uses the rana as less of a throw and more of application of a headscissors submission. It is cool shit and they work a bunch of cool counter spots around that rana, with Couderc trying to pin Sola's shoulders only to get flipped back around with the rana, and finally ending with Courdec hitting a powerbomb to break. Couderc also sidestepped a Sola rana, causing him to rana the referee, which is a spot I am shocked I haven't seen in lucha matches. There was also an incredibly cool spot with Sola putting Couderc in a leg stretch, and all of the ways they had to work out of that. There was a little chippiness at the end with Couderc breaking a bear hug with some chops to the ears and the ribs and big uppercut. This 1957 footage just keeps delivering huge, I love all of it.

MD: Excellent match that combined a sportsmanlike technical nature with a lot of flash, the best version of some exchanges that we've seen, and some things we hadn't seen at all yet. There was so much to see here that it's hard to pin it all down. They'd escalate into strikes (and Sola's were really good) and then bring things back down with a handshake. Despite being very sound, there's a theatricality to Sola, the kip up headbutts, the running 'ranas. They worked an extended 'rana into headscissors/pin attempt counter spot that we've seen before, but really laid into both the subsequent bridge up 'ranas, and the jamming deadlift powerbombs. Definitely the best of its type and I doubt we see better. The match was full of grinding holds and tricky counters and desperate persistence to escape. There was also an amazing comedy spot of Couderc leaping out of the way so that Sola 'rana'd the ref. Plus Couderc doing a waistlock takedown into an amazing flipping grounded crucifix that we've definitely never seen before. They nailed the small details too, those little elbow grinds to the knee or rakes to the back to stop a wrestler from getting out of a hold. Just top notch stuff that stands up to anything we've seen in the footage so far.

SR: 1 fall match with about 20 minutes shown. There seems to be some clipping, but nothing too annoying. This was like the French version of a bomb throwing sprint. I could see this exact match happening in Korakuen Hall and the crowd going bonkers for all the ultra stiff european uppercuts and upkicks they did. It also helps that Ami Sola is a gentleman looking dude with a classy mustache and Couderc is balding and cleary muscular but a long way from having visible abs. There wasn‘t a ton of hold for hold work here, but the bits they did were great and felt really fresh. There was an awesome body scissors spot, a great wrist stretch from Couderc and some nifty leg trips amongst other things. Couderc also turned a headscissor sequence into a series of deadlift powerbombs that would make Takaiwa wince. Couderc may have been the man of the match but Sola held up. He uncorked some brutal headbutts and what may very well be the nastiest leg stretch I‘ve seen in any match ever. He looked like he was about to pop Coudercs hip with that. And, I feel compelled to say that these guys were bumping hard as motherfuckers. The ending crescendo was also damn great with these guys eating upkicks and bumping around like mad. The upkick is such a basic spot that nobody remembers these days but hot damn it looks awesome in these matches and these guys will fly face first into it. It was nice to see that the crowd seemingly filled up to watch this match. True to form, Couderc does not show up again, but it‘s save to say he made his mark in this sole appearance. This was a mix of high end technical work, brutally stiff and with a sense of classy athleticism. Exactly the kind of awesome unexpected match to remind us all that French pro wrestling was fucking awesome.

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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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