Tuesday is French Catch Day: Magnier! Plantin! Bordeaux! Pereira! Di Santo! Chaisne!

8/7/76

Bob Plantin vs. Fred Magnier

MD: Three matches on this show, with the second one being brand new and the first and third being new to us. They were on, coincidentally, Bob Plantin's YouTube channel. We get about 8 minutes JIP here. Plantin is quite young. Magnier is rather pigfaced in a good way for a heel. He's a former firefighter and called the legionnaire since he was apparently in the Legion for five years. Delaporte is the ref looking casual. They say he's 47 but he looks like he's 47 going on 67 with all the grey. 

Plantin was full of energy. While he sold with his whole body and flopped about sympathetically and then came back with fiery (even if he didn't hit nearly as hard as Magnier), I do think maybe he did too much too often, zooming out of the ring, doing a taupie escape without the build, going through Magnier's legs, etc. There was one great bit I don't remember ever seeing before where he went for a cross headscissors but sort of rode through with it into a roll up exchange. Eventually Magnier leaned on him too much and ignored Delaporte too much and they started scrapping but by then Plantin had an injured ear and Delaporte called the match. This would have been better if he called the match first and then when Magnier didn't let up, they THEN scrapped. Here the drama was backwards.

Antonio Pereira vs. Jean-Claude Bordeaux

MD: This went about ten minutes but it was an incredibly skillful ten minutes. Pereira is billed as Portuguese and Bordeaux we've seen in tags with Francis Louis. Both of them were lighter and they could absolutely go. They kept it mostly gentlemanly though Pereira was the aggressor. Bordeaux had a counter for everything though. Lots of sharp hanging on to holds and through throws, though nothing was worked for long as they kept things moving. Sharp headscissors and a 'rana and some very slick ways to land on one's feet. I'm not sure how much of it was Pereira's basing but Bordeaux looked extremely sharp. About two thirds through, Pereira started to lean down upon him a bit more, maybe apologetically, but definitively nonetheless. Despite that, Bordeaux was able to leap up to the top rope and then come flying back with a body press for the win. Definitely a good one to check out if you just have ten minutes to see just how good these guys were at what they did.

Michel Chaisne vs. Michel Di Santo

MD: This is a very late look at Chaisne who we haven't seen since the early 60s if I'm not mistaken. He's got grey hair and seems to be in charge of sports for some town or another as his day job. This is our earliest look at Lino's son Michel. It's twenty minutes or so (a little less) and it's very good. Chaisne had grey hair but he could still go, still knew all the tricks, still had all the technique. The start of the match had Di Santo whipping him around with his arm or his neck on these tight takeovers and they all looked brutal. Lots of hard hitting shots as well, with Di Santo bumping into the top rope throat first after one and Chiasne crashing into Delaporte (the ref here) and even over the top at one point. That gave us more extracurriculars as Magnier, in the crowd after the first match got into it with Chaisne and got routed out the other side of the ring for his trouble.

They didn't overtly play up the young vs old as much as you think, leaning instead into technique and hard shots. It did seem like Chaisne controlled the holds a bit more and had more answers, even if Di Santo was happy to move with energy and give him problems. Finish had both of them sailing over the top and the crowd helping Chaisne back into the ring first for the countout. This made me wish we had another fifteen years of Chaisne matches basically.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Gueret! Teddy Boy! Chaisne! Corne! Bollet! Wiecz!

George Gueret/Teddy Boy vs. Michel Chaisne/Jacky Corne 7/30/56

MD: Hell of a tag here. Just hard hitting, constant motion and attitude and fire. Guerret and Teddy Boy made for a great team, which Guerret really a proto Harley Race in a lot of ways (even shaved), between his ruggedness and his willingness to bump and stooge. He's just missing the suplexes. Teddy Boy is just a manic creep, constantly getting involved, constantly swiping at his opponents like a bulldog, full of attitude, endlessly dangerous in the corner, a heatseeking machine, but also completely willing to run into a bull charge "Ole" type spot between falls. He'd get tossed out of the ring and immediately run around to try to grab a leg from the outside. Guerret and Teddy Boy absolutely controlled the ring well, pressing their opponents to the corner at every opportunity. Chaisne had the height (which gave him good slams relatively) and could do everything you'd expect a stylist to be able to do, able to go up and over backwards to get out of a hammerlock or hit dropkicks in rope running segments. There was one point where he kept throwing Guerret across the ring and did these pounce-like shoulder blocks again and again. Really, though it's Corn who stands out, like always. He's the best slugfest machine that we have in this footage, and these bad guys deserved to eat forearms. I feel like we haven't seen the spinning toehold much and Corn broke it out here, as well as a sort of Indian Deathlock (the Gagnelock style, with the foot pressing against the knee), and Chasine and Corn locking in tandem leg nelsons whacking their opponents' faces into the mat repeatedly at the same time. Finish was a little confusing to me. Guerret tended to break up falls more than most we've seen and it's possible he might have gotten DQed for doing it too often, but the last image of the match was Teddy Boy bumping hard over the top, so the ref might have just called it after that. The fans didn't care. It ended on a triumphant note with the creep going splat. Just good, fundamentally sound mid 60s French tag wrestling.

PAS: We are really getting a ton of great tags in this period, it almost feels like 60s France was an 80s Crockett level of a tag promotion.  All four of the guys in this match were great, but man alive was Teddy Boy incredible, he really reminded me of Jerry Estrada in both the frequency and insanity of his bumps and the sleaziness of his aura. He just seemed like such a scum bag in the best wrestling way. Corn was also great, he is a super hard hitter along with being skilled and the pop of the exchanges in this match was one of the things that really stood out, all four guys were bringing the heat. I also had no idea what was going on with that finish, but it didn't really dim my enjoyment of the match or anything. Looking forward for more from all of these guys.

Eddy Wiecz vs. Andre Bollet 9/20/65

MD: Battle between two wrestlers that are about as iconic as you can get in this footage. I've seen hints at it before, but I'm really sure of it now: Wiecz/Carpentier just gets it. He gets it on a level that every other stylist just hadn't figured out. They're all out there having brilliant Catch bouts and he's canny enough to play like a star. He's got his big spots (like the back flip off the top) and he works them in. He milks it before doing them. He'll take a lot of offense but be stoic about it, coming off as tough. Most of all, though, he'll build towards a big moment of comeback, here, a telegraphed block and a comeback punch, that's much more definitive than the ebb and flow we get from almost everyone else. Even a guy like Corn will just fire back but this was set up for the people in the back row and the folks at home. He's also going to break norms; Bollet kept picking him up at 2 to punish him more, so during the comeback, Wiecz would do the same. It's a bit of elaboration you didn't really get as often as you'd expect in the footage so far. Bollet, of course, worked not just for the people in the back row, but for the birds flying above the building, emoting so big that surely they could see him through the roof. When it's time for him to takeover, he's just the meanest swarming striker. When it's time to stooge again, he gets caught in the ropes or lobbed to the floor or trapped in a hold and his face contorts in every shape imaginable. He's good enough to land a great escape, but almost every time he gets immediate comeuppance; he'll then come back by being twice as nasty with chokes or cheapshots though. He's the very best at what he did. The match had a few holds that went a little too long and maybe Wiecz took a little too much of it, but people knew what to expect coming in and I doubt anyone except for fans with the most particular standards would come out of it disappointed. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: BILLY CATANZARO! Duranton! Chaisne! Le Magorou! Mantopoulos! Louis!

 Michel Saulnier vs. Jetty Coster 06/03/60

SR: JIP match where get the last 8 minutes of a time limit draw. Jetty Coster, what a name. Saulnier was young and lean at 24 years old. Coster was bigger, but Saulnier was relentless and seemed to be tiring him out. Some quite amazing fast moving sequences here, including Saulnier backflipping and then popping up with a headbutt, and some neat pin attempts. This about served the point of being a fun scientific wrestling exhibition while folks sat there waiting to throw cigarettes at Robert Duranton.

MD: We get around 8 minutes of this. They'd already gone 22 or so. It's good action with a clever callback or two even in what we have. There's were a couple of great bursts of speed and complex spots, including Saulnier hitting a leap up to a victor roll though he had to grab the rope to do so. My favorite bit was a little later when Coster dodged another Victory roll but sort of shifting himself between the raindrops so Saulnier had nothing to hang on to. I've never quite seen that before. Otherwise, this could have used a little bit more focus. As it went towards the time-limit draw, there was a little bit of escalation with forearms but it was mostly Saulnier containing Coster by hanging onto an arm. This was our first look at Coster and he definitely hung with and based for Saulnier. We won't see him again so that's going to be my only impression of him.

Robert Duranton vs. Michel Chaisne 06/03/60

SR: 1 fall match going about 25 minutes. Last time we saw Duranton he was flamboyant. Now, he has returned with a bleach blonde head, a robe and an equally arrogant male valent. I would say it feels novel compared to his earlier appearance if we hadn‘t seen a murderers row of whacky characters ranging from masked hangmen to literal Quasimodo and motherfucking Spartacus on TV in the last few months. This was another heated match with Chaisne bringing the wrestling and Duranton bringing the cheapshots and swaggering. There were some interesting moments around his valet who had a few audience members going at him and even got into the ring to get thrown around by Chaisne one time. There was also one well executed ref spots that stood out because I am used to ref spots coming across as really fakey. Really liked the backbreakers Duranton would hit followed by those nasty short kicks. Chaisne doesn‘t sell on the level to make this an epic match but we get Duranton finishing him off in a quite brutal way. France sure wasn‘t afraid of having nasty bomb throwing for a finish.

MD: We've seen this exact match up back in 58 and at that point, it was entertaining but Duranton hadn't quite worked it all out. Here, his act was complete. He now had a valet in a tuxedo that he worked into his match as a prop. He was haughty before, but it was turned up a notch or two. And maybe most important of all, the wrestling was smoother and he didn't do anything outside of his physical limits. Chaisne is just an excellent stylist: right place, right time, right moves. He also had a familiarity with Duranton and played into his opponents gimmick: escaping holds by mussing his hair, going tit for tat with revenge spots mimicking Duranton's cheapshots or backbreakers, coming back from Duranton's peppering kicks with a big face twister. This was over 25 minutes over the two falls and through a mix of familiar spots and new ones, through working in the valet and the ref, through Duranton's reactions and general meanness and Chaisne's superior prowess and perseverance, it's entertaining the whole way through. You almost can't imagine it not being so. When the valet is finally most fully involved, as Chaisne whips him into a tied-in-the-ropes Duranton, you can see the delight on the faces of the fans. Duranton gets a lucky reversal towards the end of the first fall, dumping Chaisne over the top on a third monkey flip attempt, and that's basically the match, but it was fun while it lasted.

PAS: Chaisne is a bit Vanilla but a really skilled wrestler who can deliver some pop, which really makes him the perfect opponent for over the top characters like Kaiser or Duranton. Duranton was so great in this match, he was like Adrian Street's daddy, a flamboyant prancer who could turn into a vicious killer at the drop of a bow. There was some great stooge spots, Duranton walking away from a dropkick attempt to pose, only to get dropkicked in the mush, and some really nasty stuff like Duranton sitting on Chaisne's face and smashing him with body shots. I thought the finish felt a bit flat, we have seen some vicious beatdown finishes, and while the exchanges were great the actually moves which put Chaisne down weren't at the level I expect for French Catch KO blows. Still this had a ton to love, and I am all in on Duranton. 

Billy Catanzaro/Gilbert Le Magorou vs. Vasilios Mantopoulos/Francis Louis 8/19/66

SR: 2/3 falls match going about 35 minutes. Billy Catanzaro, baby. Regrettably we only got about 4 more matches of the man who started the craze in the French archive, but Billy Catanzaro is really making every single one count so far. This was right on the awesome match train. It was basically the worlds greatest IWE juniors tag with a bunch of elegant arm lock throws and takeovers interspersed with guys kicking the shit out of each other. Catanzaro was already a grimacing veteran heel here and while you’d love to see him work more straight matches like the Cesca bout, he is fantastic in the Finlay role. He does about a 100 awesome things in this match. The nasty face stomps, the stiff short kicks, the unexpected bitchslaps, a super fast spinning armlock that looked like it would pop your shoulder, some nasty face grinding, the way he got his foot stuck in the ropes when he tried breaking up a pinfall... at one point he just went and punched Louis in the face to break up a pinfall, which is a sure mark of an all time great. I also loved his missed european uppercuts. Gilbert Le Magorou felt a bit like he was Catanzaros trainee, as he looked a bit younger and did similar things to Catanzaro but a bit less extravagant. That said he was extremely solid and never a let up, but this was the Catanzarro show through and through. He looked just great at both the actual wrestling as well as the stooging and bumping for his opponents. 

Mantopoulos and Louis on the other were a great pair of tecnicos. Mantopoulos is of course someone with a million tricks, but I also really liked his elegant wristlock reversals early on. That kind of opening wristlock work is is hard to make compelling when you’ve seen geeks like Zack Sabre Jr. doing it to death but it looked classy here. Mantopoulos also has some of the more esoteric moves you’ll see in this project including that awesome swinging backbreaker that Julien Morice did in a World of Sport match once and  the GIF of it became semi-famous on certain image boards. Francis Louis was the more straight forward side of the technico team and while not as flashy as his partner I really appreciated his dedication to just wrestle and throw brutal European uppercuts when it was needed. The match had a few heat sections that were extremely well done, particularly all the interference spots from Catanzaro/Le Magouru, and a great moment where Catanzaro took a fall with a tombstone piledriver, immediately going for the same move in the next fall with his opponent barely escaping. The match built to some brilliant quick rope running exchanges, and most importantly there was a ton of asskicking going on. I have no idea how these guys just clubbed each other with thudding European uppercuts straight to the jaw and nasty short kicks for +30 minutes and never slowed down but I loved every second. For a fast workrate-like match it got pretty nasty towards the end with Gilbert looking like he was about to get KO’d by Louis. I would’ve liked Louis to finish the match as he was looking like the toughest skinny lightweight on earth as he kept smashing dudes with those uppercuts. But instead he tagged in Mantopoulos and the match ended in a pretty esoteric way. That said the journey is the destination when it comes to European wrestling and this match was a 35 minute monolith of brilliant wrestling. Which begs the question, excluding BattlArts and Futen is France the greatest place for junior tag wrestling of all?

PAS: Damn did this rule. It is such a bummer we have so little of Catanzaro, with almost a decade in between appearances. He is a very different wrestler here, much more of a trick veteran than an athletic marvel, but he is tremendous in every variation we have seen him. Mantopoulos is a fancy dude, his spinning wrist lock reversals, actually looked fast and violent, and that back breaker variation Sebastian mentioned was totally dope looking. Both rudo were great at feeding for the fancy tecnico offense, and would unload when they got a chance.  I loved the different ways the heels would get tied up in the ropes,  great bit of stooging stuff and a great way to for the faces to get their revenge. We get our traditional violent uppercut exchanges, with Le Magouru especially really getting great torque with his hips before throwing them, it was like a Joe Frazier left hook. Finish was a bit silly for a match with such violence with both heels getting tied up in balls and counted out, but this was still an all timer. 

MD: Thirty-five minutes of brilliant pro wrestling. At times, this had some of the fastest, most consistent, most elaborate chained spots we've seen as the heels keep feeding for Mantopoulos and Louis' takedowns and holds. It was often so quick and creative that the camera didn't know what to follow. That sums up the match as well as anything else. The heels weren't in charge much but they made the most of it when they were. Catanzaro was such an amazing jerk, one of the greatest characters in wrestling history, dancing and prancing around with excitement, making elated faces, as he laid in forearms, kicks, and stomps (immediately to beg off if he lost the advantage). He could go from sheer brutality to getting his foot caught in the rope on a dime. Le Magorou had a slightly out of shape junior goon look to him and he made for a great whipping boy for Catanzaro whenever they get foiled or clowned. They hit enough of their cheating and double-teaming to make it all credible and to make it matter all the more when it didn't work out for them. Louis always looks good, but Mantopoulos just goes above and beyond. He possessed great physical awareness in how he ducked a forearm or spun out before a takedown. It's as if the world moved half a step slower than him, which worked not just for wild spots but for seizing a normal advantage. Honestly though, they all went so fast when it was warranted that most exchanges started with a believable little fake out attempt. They went little with the fake-outs or Catanzaro's mean mugging, but they went big too, whether it was Catanzaro hitting two full nelson spins into backbreakers only for Mantopoulos to tag in and reverse the third with a Robinson backbreaker and then hit conjuro style spinning trapping backbreakers on both guys or when they trap both heels in the ropes and hit multiple alley oop body splashes on them. The back half of the match contained more of those elaborate set pieces and the crowd loved all of it, building finally to one of the more unique finishes you'll ever see.

ER: I loved this, and how could you not!? This is just the pinnacle of athleticism and personality through pro wrestling. I genuinely don't think there is any acrobatic wrestling better than this, nothing today compares to this. There are great athletes today, but none of them can work with the unpredictability and creativity of the men here. The unpredictability is the key, as you just never have any real idea of where some of these guys are going with their material, and yet nobody ever seems lost, nobody ever seems to be waiting too long in position, nobody does anything with their face or body to indicate they know what is happening next. Their misdirection skills are incredible, nothing in sight is telegraphed. It's incredible. 

This was such a thrill, with an excellent rudo team and two incredibly fun and capable tecnicos. Catanzaro is a legend of ours at this point, and it's great we now have two matches of his, a decade apart, with such different aspects of his abilities on display. This was like a hyperdrive William Regal house show performance from him, stooging around while throwing uppercuts so hard they looked like Louis and Mantopoulos weren't leaping to sell them, instead being lifted by force. He and Gilbert Le Magorou are such an excellent team of single strap stooges, and it feels like Catanzaro is so magnetic that he kept outshining the also excellent Magorou. Magorou looked and wrestled like the best possible Oliver Platt in Ready to Rumble. He had a belly and great floppy hair and Catanzaro knew a ton of different ways to fall into the ropes. Each seemed like they had cool ways to fall on the bottom, middle, and top rope, and knew a few ways to get tangled in the ropes (two heels both tangled by their ankles in the ropes is the kind of thing I picture a John Tatum/Buddy Rose team doing). Mantopoulos is a tecnico who is impossible to take your eyes off of, with some of the most beautiful step up headscissors, hardest dropkicks, has a few of these incredible pendulum backbreakers (like Norman Smiley's pendulum bodyslam, but ending on a backbreaker), and a killer spot where he vaults off Mantopoulos's knee, kicks over his head, and lands in front of him on his back just to hit a wicked upkick. We haven't really had a disappointing batch of French Catch yet, but getting brilliance like this match is rare. 

Unsurprisingly, we are adding this tag match as the 1966 representative on our All Time MOTY List. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Leduc! Quasimodo!! Arroyo! Chaisne!

Josef Kovacs vs Gaby Calderon 10/23/59

MD: We just get a couple of minutes of this but it tells the story. Kovacs is the Butcher of Budapest, a big stalking slugger who whales on his opponents. Calderon spent six months in the Orient and came back without shoes but with chops and throws. He gets his shots in, Kovacs shrugs them off, and ultimately he falls prey to a sort of spinning Atlantida whirlybird.

SR: JIP match with 3 minutes shown. Calderon with his unorthodox style is always fun to watch. And Josef Kovacs was a shaven headed tough guy in a singlet who could kick ass, which is kind of my favourite type of European worker. He worked over the judokas mid section with body section before hoisting him up in an Argentine Backbreaker, spinning round and throwing him like a sack of potatoes for the pin and that is a finish to match. 

Gilbert Leduc vs Quasimodo 10/23/59

MD: I think we've had this one before, a few years back, but we're seeing it in context now, with better VQ and a much better understanding of LeDuc. Remember, we saw Leduc selling and crashing up against walls in Le Borreau's debut as well. Obviously this is our first look at Quasimodo who they bill from America, weirdly enough. He's a different sort of monster, one that will remind you more of Dr. Kaiser than of the behemoths we've seen lately. Skulking, clenching his hands and his face at all times, slipping in gut shots, constantly going for nerve holds and throat shots, with unique, monstrous high spots, and fully immersed interactions with the ref and the crowd. Leduc sells big, both the horror of the nerve hold and ultimately the damage done to him throughout the match. Through much of the match he's able to come back big though, either out wrestling Quasimodo or utilizing the ref's interventions to get some revenge shots in. Midway through, Quasimodo hits his biggest bomb, a draping, over the shoulder, flip of Leduc that lands him throat first onto the ropes. After that, the fight is out of him. His other odd moves are a tombstone position lift that looks strange but painful and a cool arm trap lifting backbreaker. If that pendulum throat shot was the first big turning point of the match, the second is when Leduc jams another attempt of that tombstone position lift by flipping him and hitting some tombstones of his own. That puts him back in the match and they go much more back and forth down the stretch until Quasimodo gets disqualified, presumably for repeatedly attacking, and putting the nerve hold on, before Leduc reaches his feet. It all feels a little dodgy to me, which is probably the point. Cruel, french justice for the monster. This was more of a match but maybe less of a spectacle than some of the other monstrous matches we've seen. Leduc was excellent in it and Quasimodo brought a lot to the table too. Most of all, they were both fully committed to everything that was happening.

SR: 2/3 Falls match going about 25 minutes. It‘s motherfucking Quasimodo. Quasimodo was another Spanish worker with a deformed head. He came in wearing full on hunchback get up. In the ring he was quite a monster. Short guy who hopped around the ring like a gremlin. With monster heels you usually get them big and slow, I quite like the short and aggressive approach. Leduc was on fire here once again. I think he has a serious case for being the best worker around in 1959, not that we have a huge sample. Quasimodo loved the nerve hold, but that is not a detriment when you‘re fighting Leduc as Leduc struggles so hard against that particular hold and makes it meaningful. Quasimodo, aside from all the cheap heel stuff like choking and inside shots, had quite a few wrestling moves. He had this cool slam from a Japanese strangle hold and a sick looking reverse catapult where he whipped Leduc into the ropes. At one point he even went for a reverse bearhug, really ragdolling Leduc. Leduc had his usual slick wrestling moves and when the freak took it too far he tried to bite his ear off. The 3rd fall was really intense with Quasimodo working over Leducs throws and Leduc just clobbering him with those left-right elbows and whipping out a sick piledriver. Inspiring stuff and Leduc looked dead towards the end. I came in expecting this to be more like a silly freakfight, but I thought this genuinely ended up being a really good match. It‘s telling that a guy with a fucking Quasimodo gimmick could be a convincing heel then. 

PAS: I thought this was excellent. Quasimodo was a true old school wrestling character, but also a hell of cool worker. I loved how single minded he was attacking the throat, from his nasty looking nerve holds and strangles, to his electric chair catapult into the ropes, at one point he even palm struck LeDuc in the throat. LeDuc is a hell of a foil, we get to see the master of the headspin break out his headspin a couple of times, and when it came time to dish it out, LeDuc landed big bombs. I loved his combo elbow strikes, if we are going to have to have elbow exchanges in every wrestling match now, they might as well be cool combos like that. Built to a big finish and it was something that protected both guys, I am a Nightmare Freddy fan, but Quasimodo is by far the best movie monster in wrestling history. 

Yvan Doviskoff vs Delacour (jip) 11/20/59

MD: Two and a half minutes of this. Not a lot to see. I get the sense Doviskoff might be a good cog in a tag match, but we're never going to see him again so it hardly matters.

SR:2 minutes shown. Not much here but there was a pinfall happening after a running cross chop. Love the running cross chop as a finisher. 

Jose Arroyo vs Michel Chaisne

MD: One of the best stylist vs stylist matches we've seen. The first half had a lot of the hang-on-to-a-hold sequences that we're used to, with bigger spots in between, but there were slight evolutions and bits of self-awareness here. Things that might lead to a fall, like a powerbomb counter after two 'ranas, led to another counter and things kept going. In that front half, even after long sequences, they'd just throw themselves into the next with verve and abandon.

They'd move from body part to body part, often in response to what's happened to them. After Chaisne kicked Arroyo in the back to get out of holds twice, Arroyo went after the leg for a bit. After Chasine's long headscissors (including a victory roll back into it) worked his neck, Arroyo hit two neckbreakers and a bodyslam tombstone. After Arroyo hit a backbreaker, Chaisne followed up with whacks to the back, a side backbreaker, and a catapult back onto the knees.

Chaisne's selling was excellent throughout, both little things like touching his back after hitting his own backbreaker after eating Arroyo's, the dramatic things, like the way he'd fall into the ropes and just sit there, legs splayed after getting hammered by a huge forearm, and the cumulative things, as you could absolutely feel the exhaustion and desperation with each move in the back half.

There was a slow escalation of animosity and meanness and aggression. The percentage of wrestling vs strikes flipped as the match went on and ultimately went careening towards an absolute slugfest as they hit the 30 minute broadway. Just an excellent example of a stylist match at its best.

SR: 1 Fall match going about 30 minutes. This was another clean match. I certainly prefer this kind of TV booking where its mostly face vs. heel stuff and brawls with the occasional technico vs. technico dream match thrown in instead of dream matches all the time like it is now. This was another really good match. These are two tall looking guys so when they whip out fast huracanranas and slick reversals it all looks super impressive. It was the first time we see Arroyo in a clean match and it felt like a big step up for him. He‘s looked good going hold for hold before, but his bread and butter has been retaliating against vicious heels. Here he looked really good pushing the pace against Chaisne with some big neckbreakers, a piledriver and a nasty neck hanging submission. There was another great body scissors sequence here and a series of ranas that got countered into a spinning powerbomb. It slowly disintegrates into this long series of strike exchanges that is infinitely more compelling than the long strike exchanges you see nowadays as both guys look like they are clearly trying to get more shots in than their opponents. There‘s some big bumping and really good Mantell/Lawler style exhaustion selling with both guys cracking each other hard, really looking like they want to quit after eating some of those shots but their pride won‘t let them, until the time runs out.

PAS:  This was pretty great stuff. I loved all of the neck work by Chaisne, including a rana into a side triangle choke which really should be stolen by Matt Makowski. The body vice by Arroyo had a bunch of nifty counters and moves out of it too. That piledriver by Arroyo was utterly uncalled for, the kind of thing which would be a finisher in an overloaded indy match, and is nuts that it was in a match from the 50s. Liked the big set of strike exchanges, which were so much cooler then the forearm and stare shit we get today. Just cool wrestling. 

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Sola! Bibi! Labat! Duranton! Debusne! Asselin! MOISE BESCH!

Jo Labat vs. Ami Sola 7/31/58

PAS: This is our second Jo Labat rematch, and it is fun to see how he varies his game a bit against the same opponent. This was a little chippier then their first match, as they broke into slugfests earlier, and the matwork was similarly nasty, with some manipulations of knee joints, and Sola grinding Labat's face into the mat with a arm scissors crucifix. We had some really moments of incongruous athleticism (although at this point it isn't really incongruous anymore) headscissors, ranas, a kip up missed double dropkick spot, and even an incubatory code red. The slugfest section near the end was harrowing, there were a couple of direct forearm bone shots to the jaw which looked like they crossed eyes. Great stuff.

SR:1 Fall match going a bit over 20 minutes. We get pretty much two main events on this episode of catch, which is good. This wasn‘t as good as their first match, but that is a high bar. For most workers, going 20 minutes would be challenging, but these guys just roll it out. The wrestling wasn‘t a ton different from their first match, they didn‘t grind out the holds as much, but these guys will do enough neat stuff to keep it interesting. In this case there were some nasty kicks from unexpected angles and some back rakes that makes this kind of match different from your typical scientific context. Once again, when it was time to do the forearms they just clubbed the living hell out of eachother with some of these forearms landing square in the face. Add another neat finish to make this a really satisfying matchup.

MD: When last we saw Labat face Sola, it was a technical spectacle, with holds and escape attempts, with Labat sneaking out a win by turning Sola's running 'rana attempt into a twisting powerbomb. In 1958. This was a few months later and more of the same. Just excellent stuff. By this point, we're more than familiar with the style, but you can still be impressed by the amount of effort that goes into the holds and into the prevention of escapes. They were so equally matched here, which was evident in the holds but even more so in the bits of escalation. They'd trade dropkicks or throw them both at the same time. When things did get more heated (something only really teased in the last match and more paid off here) you never knew who'd win a strike exchange. As always, Labat had those amazing shoulder blasts out of a cravate postion while Sola had both a bit more flash and athleticism and generally was the first to get mean (much to Labat's frustration). Another great finish and another win for Labat. Is there was a third match where Sola finally gets his day, we don't have it. The next time we see these two, it'll be tagging, and that should be something to see.


Robert Duranton vs. Michel Chaisne 7/31/58

SR:1 Fall match going about 25 minutes. I get the sense Duranton was perfecting his arrogant dipshit act here. It‘s really entertaining, he is not quite flamboyant, but he will make sure to let everyone know that he thinks of his opponent as less than him, that he is very concerned with his appearance, and that he generally thinks he is above all this. This was one of those crowd pleasing romps. Not a ton of hold for hold work and a surprising amount of impact moves, made interesting by the fact that something like a backbreaker is a nearfall in 1958. Chaisne is solid at his role of fired up guy who won‘t let this snob step on him, although I would‘ve liked to see him unwind and kick ass some more. Duranton pretty much carried this for the most part, even when doing holds he kick at Chaisne like a dipshit or try to sucker Chaisne in. One of the things I like in these old french matches is that they will almost always do another basic hold right before the finish, I guess to condition the crowd to keep paying attention.

MD: So, Duranton was very effective. He was super over. He helped Chaisne get over. But compared to almost every other wrestler we've seen in this project, he wasn't smooth all the time. There was a moment right at the start where Chaisne just had to linger for a few meaningful seconds before Duranton locked headscissors on and it was like nothing we've seen in 50s Catch so far. It was the first moment where we really, really saw the strings. And you know what? It probably didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, because Duranton was so haughty, so strong, and so quick to react or look to the crowd or muss his hair or step over his opponent, that the fans were a constant buzz here. There was even a "Michel" chant which was certainly rare for the 50s, from what we've seen, with Duranton (currently in a hold) making sure to pantomime a mouth with his hand to try to tamper it down to the crowd's delight. Everyone else in France may have been on holiday but these folk got their kicks from watching Chaisne lock in a rear stranglehold and elbow Duranton on the skull. 

One thing we've seen so far is that it doesn't matter if you're a former boxer or King Kong Taverne: you had to work the style, and Duranton has to work the style, even if, on sheer effectiveness alone, he was fine without it. And he hits about 2/3rds of what he's going for smoothly enough, which is less than average, certainly, but it's enough to not lose the crowd. Chaisne wasn't the most memorable guy we've seen but in the two occasions, he had these great kneelifts, so I was waiting for them, and they came after the ref pulled Duranton off him for blatantly choking. They, followed by double sledges and uppercuts, were worth the wait. Though Duranton, in his usual style, immediately went through the legs, scored a trip, and shoved his foot in Chaisne's face; when they ended up tied up together shortly thereafter, he managed to feign sporstmanship and break it again and again until Chaisne tripped him from for a big pop. Later on, after another ref break (this time for hanging onto the ropes while on top of Chaisne), Duranton snuck in a quick kick and then decided to just leave. Chaisne caught him. Just a few examples. He may have only been partially accurate, but he was always on, and thus a perfect foil to anyone who could manage everything smoothly.

PAS: I loved Duranton in this match, he had so much sauce. At one point he slams Chaisne and steps right over him like Iverson after crossing up Ty Lue. Chaisne is a good foil for these kind of flamboyant heels, he isn't super colorful himself,  but has great fire and isn't afraid to bang on someone or choke them out. I didn't mind the lack of smoothness, in a promotion where everyone is smooth, it is good to be rough sometimes.


Cheri Bibi vs. Paul Debusne 8/16/58

SR: 1 Fall match going about 25 minutes. This was a brutal fight. Debusne wasn‘t exactly a twig, but he looked like a child next to Cheri Bibi. And what do I know, Debusne looked damn great here crafting a match around Bibi. I can‘t tell if Bibi is actually good aside from being an absolute crowbar, if his detached mannerisms are intentional or not. But Debusne looks fantastic working holds and takedowns and selling the physical challenge. He was bending the fuck out of Bibis fingers and wrist, which is exactly how you would try to fight a physical freak like this, and at one point they did a test of strength which was sold as well as any test of strength in wrestling history. By the end Debusne was trying everything to beat down the bald guy, eye gouging, throwing punches, punt kicks, ground and pound, and Bibi responded with the kind of forearms, punts and headbutts you‘d expect in FUTEN or WAR. The match ends up being thrown out, which feels like a waste as this is the last full length from Debusne we got outside of the Humez match. But damn, what a show.

MD: I always feel like they put Bibi against the wrong guys. He always needs to just be up again an Ami Sola type guy, or more accurately, a Van Buyten. Someone who can take a beating and then come back big. They just don't really have that formula (your Tito Santana style shine-heat-comeback) in 50s French Catch though, so it probably doesn't matter anyway. But, on paper, Debusne really wasn't that guy. Last we saw him, he was a mugging heel trying to survive Humez with hairpulls. Here, he started out a lot the same, though he maintained more control with finger manipuation and wristlocks. Bibi's not the most dynamic guy in the world but he did put a lot of struggle into getting out of these holds and often sold a bit afterwards which I generally credit. He'd go to cheapshots during and after. The problem for him there was that Debusne would come right back with shots of his own. Therefore, they built and built, with more meanness and more shots and both guys getting shoved out, finally building this serene, beautiful moment of Debusne on top of Bibi, giving a thumbs down to the overjoyed crowd before hitting Bibi again and again and again. Bibi returned the favor by headbutting and hairpulling and choking his way back for more. It devolved into an outright brawl at that point, with the ref getting in the way. Debusne and his reactions and high emotion drove this but Bibi, like a moving brick wall with some deep suppressed feelings, played his part as well. In the end, it was all quite entertaining.

PAS: I thought this was a pretty great opponent for Bibi, I like contrast matches a lot, but I also appreciate mean motherfuckers beating on each other, and this was almost like a French version of Killer Karl Kox versus Dick Murdoch. I loved how Debusne tried to crack and break fingers early, but eventually just had to dispense with the trickery and just come straight at him. The finish run was about as brutal and awesome as you are going to see in wrestling, and Debusne giving the thumbs down before pounding on Bibi was a pretty iconic moment, some real Stone Cold Steve Austin shit. I have no problem with the match being thrown out, what the hell was the ref supposed to do?

Rene Asselin vs Moise Besch 8/16/58

SR: 1 Fall match going something between 15 and 20 minutes. We‘ve seen Moise Besch before, and he still looks weird as hell with his big head, bony body and teeth gap. He actually has his wife and kids watching this and kisses the kids before the match. Then goes on to be a total ham in the bout. What a mad bugger. This had some of the fast exchanges you‘d associate with the French lightweights, and Moise looks like an insect when he scrambles around landing on his feet or pulling his opponent into a sleeper. Asselin looked like a competent worker here but you‘ll be too busy gawking at Beschs eye gouging, dick punching lunacy.

MD:  Besch was a real character, the sort of guy the fans obviously loved to hate. He had his kids in the crowd and kissed them before the match and then went right on to utilizing strangleholds, goozles, and hairpulls a'plenty while complaining whenever a break didn't go his way or the ref stopped him from cheating. He also really threw himself into Asselin's offense, both the forearms and the takeovers, all of which generally looked great. He was opportunist but without being quite as cowardly and craven as some others we've seen. While this match did have its share of holds and escapes, I liked how a number of the counters were preemptive, things like Asselin ducking under another stranglehold chinlock attempt or Besch hanging on to the rope to prevent a throw. Honestly, Besch looked good enough to anchor a small-late 70s territory against various cycled-in babyfaces. He was engaging the crowd, the announcer, the ref, and his opponent that much. It's a shame we don't have more of him. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing Asselin pummel and throw guys either. This is it for both though. Ships in the night on our Catch journey, but at least they beat the hell out of each other.

PAS: This was a blast. I am bummed we don't have more Besch because he feels like an all time great wrestling oddball. He looks like a War Boy in Fury Road, and shows shocking athleticism for such a mutant. I loved the huge bump he took into the ring ropes trying to dive on Asselin, and there were several escapes where he just spun around the ring like a top. Asselin was another in the line of touch guy French babyfaces and he definitely took umbrage to Besch's horseshit and kicked his ass around the ring.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Chaisne! Labat! Drapp! Amor!

Michel Chaisne vs Jo Labat 2/27/58

PAS: This is a rematch from a 57 match between the two, and it is really cool to watch these guys match up multiple times to get a sense of what their formula is. The majority of the match is lots of really tight violent mat wrestling: Hammerlocks, short arm scissors, body locks, triangles. Each hold would be applied with vein bursting pressure, and the other guy would try to find a way to force his way out of the predicament. I especially loved Chaisne's body vice, he really felt like he was squeezing toothpaste out of tube. We get some of the best strike exchanges of the project in the last couple of minutes, with Chaisne landing hard slams and backbreakers, and Labat hitting these super cool looking shoulder strikes out of a cravate. Chaisne doesn't hit his dropkick finish as cleanly in this match which is really my only quibble. Excellent stuff, I could watch these guys match up two dozen times.

MD: This is, I think the first match-up from the 50s of any length that we've seen twice. I have to admit I wasn't paying enough attention to know if it's in front of the same crowd or not, but since both were televised, it's still notable. We've seen a lot of commonality in spots and sequences, but I was very curious to see if they would do things exactly the same or not. In this, I came off satisfied. That's the word I'd use. There's always something validating about seeing Tully Blanchard hit a double axe-handle off the second ropes onto a prone opponent or being able to justify Flair getting tossed off the top rope because he won the NWA title with a flying body press, or just seeing someone actually get a trip on a drop down. It was a similar moment here when, in the midst of the same long hammerlock exchange we saw in the earlier match, Chaisne managed the same up and over flip out of a mare position, only to follow it up with a trip and a cradle. In the other match the same idea had been punctuated with mares and a vertical press. Variation. Moreover, while they worked some of the same sort of sequences or spots (like the kip up-flip over escape on the top wristlock into a trip and deathlock) here it came at a different point of the match. All of that is revelatory in how they worked these matches. The finishing sequence was basically the same (though executed a little differently and yes, without the dropkick hitting as well), but the lead-in was more heated including maybe the best single home-run shot european uppercut we've seen in the whole project from Labat after his always cool shoulder shrug shots. Anyway, this was good, in the typical style, full of struggle and determination, both in the holds and the moves (including Chaisne's great pendulum backbeakers and Labat's straining bodyslams and the one bodyslam onto a knee) with really strong points of escalation.

SR: 1 Fall match going about 30 minutes. This was extremely similiar to their 1957 match. Which means it was good, but in a „more of the same“ way. The even did a similiar finish, but didn‘t pull it off quite as good. That being said, this had a ton of technical work that they nailed. I got thele that the purpose was to give Chaisne a rub by going even longer with Labat. Chaisne looked good, landing some athletic moves for a taller guy. Much of the match was accordingly pretty which I don‘t like as much as the matches like Sola/Labat from earlier where it‘s two guys twisting each other up in hurty lookng ways. Watching Labat, I get the feel that he‘s a good technical wrestler, but he would stand out more as a heel. He certainly has that type of charisma. The match turned heated when Chaisne decided to work over Labats back and they started hammering each other with those trademark european uppercuts. Love these kind of matches.


Andre Drapp vs Yves Amor 3/27/58

MD: This was another excellent match. 1958 is a heck of a year so far. Drapp really is tremendous. He hits hard, fights hard out of holds, believably takes back offense but doesn't completely eat up his opponents, has a charismatic connection to the crowd, has some really dynamic stuff, most especially the rapid fire dropkicks and the Shiranui finisher. Incredibly credible. This was our first look at Amor and I thought he was great too. He's bigger yet as the match went on he stooged and relied upon cheating and that leg dive out of a rope break more and more. It was, in a lot of ways, the best of both worlds, because he could bump big (even on monkey flips or out over the top), hit athletic stuff (including the up and over out of a top wristlock, for instance) as well as the small guys (so this wasn't a Taverne situation), had credible offense (some big clubbers or his really cool backbreakers) yet still had that heat-garnering visual dissonance of a big guy taking shortcuts. It also meant that he could more believably keep control when he did take over that way, so when Drapp came back it meant more than in some of the other matches with more craven heels that we've seen. He was drawing heat from the second he entered the ring and demanded that Drapp switch corners.

PAS: I am all in on Drapp, one of my absolute favorite discoveries from this project. I described him as Bruno with highspots in the last review, and he keeps that up here. We see his great Shiranui, some big dropkicks, and a bunch of nifty little moments too. I loved his grapevine leg takedown, and one spot where he hit the mat and spun around a couple of times to befuddle Amor before grabbing a leg. Amor was fun, too. He seemed really tall (probably 6'1, the French aren't a tall people), and was able to both use his size, and also show plausible ass when needed. He took some fun looking bumps over the top rope, which seemed safe but looked cool. He would fly over and catch an arm or leg in the ropes and get wrapped up. He really beat the shit out of Drapp in the final minutes of the last fall before ending up airplane spinned and pinned. Cool shit, and I am excited to dig into more Drapp, and to check out the couple of other Amor matches too.

SR: 2/3 Falls match going a bit over 30 minutes. Andre Drapp was a wrestling machine. Watching this short guy who‘s built like a tank doing all this lightweight style wrestling sure is something. Amor was a bearded guy who looked like he could be either a professor or a mob henchman. He was that classic French heel type. He didn‘t do much fancy but look tough and was kicking Drapp hard between the shoulder blades when he was down. He had some great stomps and body shots too. Of course Drapp knows how to get surely. At one point he just lunged up and punched Amor in the mouth. Amor has some nice big backbreakers and goes along with Drapps more technical stuff really nicely aswell as bumping big and showing plenty of ass. I felt like the match felt a bit cut off at the end, like they had material for 45 minutes but ended up ending it a bit over 30. I wonder if TV constraints sometimes forced that. Anyways, the fact they went +30 and it felt like it wasn‘t enough speaks volumes to how good these guys were. Excellent heavyweight bout.

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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: Chaisne!! Bernaert!! Fisher Brothers!! Delaporte!! Robin!!

Jo Rinaldi vs Robert Moine 7/11/57

SR: About 13 minutes of 30 are shown. Rinaldi is said to be Italian, which of course may be a complete fabrication. Moine doesn‘t show up again, and Rinaldi only shows up in these JIP matches, which I‘m a little salty about because both guys did some quality shit here. There was a particular cool sequence centered around leglock reversals that was the brainy type stuff I associate with European style matwork. There was also a great keylock escape that lead to a giant swing. They never threw strikes and then it goes to a time limit draw without ever heating up, so I guess it was that kind of scientific match. Still, it was cool to watch.

MD: Good thirteen minutes of technical action, JIP, before the draw. Rinaldi got a little dirtier at times and Moine a bit more heated, but in general they worked this clean. For two guys we aren't going to hear much from in this project, they both looked quite good. Everything was a real struggle, with a lot of back and forth counters and escape attempts (lots of trying to kick and jam and get a leg in). They both ended up in a joint leglock at one point slapping at each other's legs and selling appropriately for a moment after. They both went for a dropkick at the same time. One would go for a nose and the other would immediately return the favor. Very even in that regard. My favorite bit was probably Rinaldi catching Moine's leg as he tried for that grounded leg stamp we've seen a bit lately and turning that catch into a giant swing. I think we get another two minutes of Rinaldi and no more Moine and that's a shame. Really, if nothing else, it just shows the high baseline level of French TV wrestling in 1957.

Michel Chaisne vs Pierre Bernaert 7/11/57

SR: 1 Fall match going a little over 20 minutes. We go from Bernaert stirring shit up in a big way against Dauthuille to Bernaert doing a surprising amount of wrestling in this match. Although he did go back to his kidney punching, neck elbowing ways soon. Bernaert doesn‘t do much to truly set my world on fire, but he is solid enough to always be good for a niggly bout. Chaisne is notable for bringing really good babyface fire. Not quite as much here as he did in his match against Dr. Adolf Kaiser, so I guess Belgian jock who acts like a massive dick isn‘t quite as stirring as evil German Doctor of Philosophy. Once again, I felt the match ended a bit abruptly. This had such a lengthy build and we see so many matches where the heel ends up bumping like a maniac all over the place that the match just ending like that made this feel like a prelim bout.

MD: I'm higher on this one than Sebastian. Bernaert is extremely entertaining to watch. He actually got me here, too. After wrestling the first seven minutes or so clean and even holding an advantage on points (he was in control more often than not, hanging on to holds and even using a pretty nice Cobra Clutch style hold), he asked for a handshake and just clocked Chaisne for huge heat. This was just a week or two after the Dauthuille match too, so I should have known better, but sometimes guys flip from week to week depending on the opponent in this footage. After that, it followed a lot of the format of the prior match, with Bernaert doing anything he could to avoid comeuppance, most especially a long short arm scissors and endless heat-drawing leg dives. This felt very self aware, with Chaisne even catching him on one attempt with a big uppercut. That was one of the big moments of Chaisne getting revenge, another being a bodyscissors reversal out of nowhere (until Bernaert bit the foot to get out), and a third being the ref catching a hairpull and letting Chaisne back into it with these huge punting knees. To me the finish seemed a little abrupt but mostly triumphant, with a big hiptoss powerslam type move off the ropes and the post match shenanigans where Bernaert just wouldn't stop and Chaisne was forced to pound the heck out of him. To me, it was all tied together. Chaisne's a good, noble, straight-laced face but Bernaert was the star of this again.

PAS: I liked this a bunch too, Chaisne is a bit dry, but he is a fine foil for demonstrative heels. Bernaert is a really skilled grappler, he really hangs on to holds and grinds on them. Of course he is a dirty cheap shot artist too, his kidney punch, show the ref the open palm is a great bit of signature heel bullshit, I could totally see Doug Gilbert or Ric Rude using it. As a confessed short arm scissors superfan, this French footage has been a godsend, loved how Chaisne kept slapping his hand to keep it from going dead. I thought the finish was a bit abrupt, but it certainly heated up at the end, and those big uppercut knees leading to it, felt like a big babyface comeback. Hell that hiptoss powerslam might have been Chaisne's version of the Diamond Cutter or something. 

Roger Delaporte/Guy Robin vs Charles Fisher/Arthur Fisher 7/19/57


SR: 2/3 Falls match going nearly 40 minutes. JIP and the fans are already pelting the ring with garbage, enraged at the tactis of Delaporte and Robin, who were pulling every dirty trick in the book. This was an all out fight from beginning to end, no shots pulled. The Fishers did almost nothing but forearm and throw the shit out of their opponents, but it was some great looking forearms and throws. One thing I really appreciate is the chinlocking the guys will do to pull others away from a scrap, it‘s such a small detail but it aids to the barfight feel. Delaporte & Robin are constantly jumping on  the Fischers 2 on 1 and it‘s natural for a 4th guy to join the fray and try pull one of these bastards off. Aside from all the guys fighting, tumbling and climbing over each other you get some nasty armwork which while not being played up in the long run leads to a pinfall. I probably liked Robin the best of all the guys in the match, he did this awesome in ring tope to break up a hold, and he was always sneaking around to kneedrop someones throat. Delaporte was no slouch either and the faces convincingly play their role. It‘s a bit hard to rate this kind of match since it‘s basically a brawl worked like a sprint going 40 minutes with 2 breaks, it didn‘t have the kind of build I am normally used to from a wrestling match where it ebbs and flows, but as a heated slugfest it was quiet great.

MD: Forty minutes of extremely fun tag team wrestling, with a great heel side and some fiery faces. The latter are the Fighting Fishers from England, and I hate to admit it, but I really can't tell them apart well. I think it's Charlie and Arthur. They portrayed a rugged enthusiasm and the crowd seemed elated every time they scored an advantage and celebrated it. So much of that was because of Delaporte. He was a promoter as well as wrestler and we have him over twenty times in this footage and I think we'll thereby have the opportunity to claim him as one of the great in-ring villains of 20th century wrestling. He comes off as a slime and a stooge, but a formidable one, cheating at almost every opportunity even if just for the sake of cheating, yet unquestionably dangerous. Robin we saw vs Hayes early on and I really liked him as Delaporte's underling here. He had a bound to his step, this eager energy. When he interfered he'd leap over the rope into the ring to do so. He was lightning fast with his spots and really dogged and persistent with his limbwork.

This had a lot of heel control, as they were very good at cheating, double-teaming, constantly helping one another and dismantling a limb. We haven't seen much limb selling in French wrestling as of yet, but it's still very effective as a means for heel control, spotted with big comebacks by the Fishers. Early on, that was Delaporte's leg stretches off the ropes (and the double team version) which we've seen before. Fisher escaped that torment by headlocking both opponents at once and peppering them with knees, clearing the ring triumphantly. There'd almost always be a great heel miscommunication spot in these comebacks too. When the heels came back, it was with Robin endlessly driving Fisher's arm down into a Fujiwara armbar. Just again and again and again with that sort of bulldogging armlock. Fisher put up with so much of this that when he made his comeback, he tried to get his licks back in instead of going for the tag and ended up pinned for his trouble. When the Fishers do come back later on, they have a lot of fun stuff like a rolling short arm scissors and a giant swing. Eventually though, the cheating (including the first time we've seen ring rope choking in this footage) is just too much for them and the heels pick up the win with a pair of nasty shoulder breakers from Delaporte. The Fishers definitely keep themselves in the minds of the crowd by standing tall and furious in the post match. These tags can be exhausting but it's because they're so full of good stuff.

PAS: Really enjoyed Robin as the Spike to Delaporte's Chester, just running in and hitting all of these pesky high energy attacks. Loved him flying in and breaking everything up with a big headbutt. Liked the finish to all three falls, the giant swing into a big stacked pin was really cool as was Delaporte's shoulder breakers. I didn't get a huge sense of the Fishers, obviously skilled but I couldn't tell them apart and they didn't have much flash. Delaporte is a real prick in these matches so far and I am looking forward to see how he evolves, we have Delaporte matches up until 1984, so we are going to a breadth of his as a wrestler and I have a feeling he ages well.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Tony Oliver! Bert Royal! Michael Chaisne! DR. ADOLF KAISER!

SR: We get about 5 minutes of Claude Dreyfus vs. Daniel (or Marcel) Parmentier.  Even in those 5 minutes you got a lot of character work. Parmentier was a grimacing old veteran heel and an absolute fox handing out cheapshots and faking injuries. I especially liked when he crawled underneath the referee so he could hit his opponent. Dreyfus was a younger wrestler and had some typically nifty athletic moves. Nasty finish with Dreyfus going for a rana only to get planted by a powerbomb.

MD: They packed a lot into these five minutes. The initial exchange in the footage had Dreyfus going up and over into a trip out of a lock up, Parmentier refusing to break clean after they end up in the ropes, and then Dreyfus getting revenge with three huge chops, and an insult to injury jackknife roll up in the corner with his feet perfectly dangling in the ropes. I've never seen its like. That finish was about thirty-five years before its time. Dreyfus was a little all over the place but definitely imaginative and Parmentier was a mean mug. I'd be happy to see these guys again.

Tony Oliver vs. Bert Royal 2/22/57

SR: Awesome, awesome fight. I was excited to see Bert Royal, a really neat WoS guy with all too little footage, showing up as a young lad in France 13 years before his WoS material. Tony Oliver is, I assume, another Spanish worker, and like all Spanish workers we‘ve seen so far he is really awesome. This was nasty, grinding title fight, 1 fall over 35 minutes. The wrestling equivalent to seeing Ali slugging it out with someone over 12 rounds. Great mix of wrestling and beating the shit out of each other. Oliver was the kind of worker who was all about inside shots and grinding his knuckles really hard into his opponent. Anytime he got an advantage he would dig his fist into Berts face, elbow to the stomach , bite, or hammer him in the ribs. There was a lengthy section where he was just trying to pull Royals knee apart. He also has really awesome mannerisms, like he gets so upset at the audience booing his tactics in hilarious ways, he is totally the hero of his own story. Later he takes the chance to stomp the referee, which was such an amusing psycho move. When Royal gets fed up and starts firing away with those forearms, Oliver is really awesome flopping around wobbly headed, it was amazing to watch. Royal is mostly on the receiving end of Olivers cheapshots, but he busts out some really cool fast movements here and there, he also has his awesome signature backslide submission hold and a really cool Tiger Mask spin into a victory roll. I loved how intense they worked the pin attempts, I am so mad workers nowadays have no sense for that kind of thing. Oliver also really knows how to escalate things, he is basically throwing shots the whole match, but when he drops his knee on Royals throat or stomps him in the back of the head it really feels like he crossed the line. It builds to this really intense frenzy, Royal taking bumps to the outside, Oliver getting pasted with a big palm strike (!!), both guys trading forearms on the floor, nasty use of the ring ropes, awesome finish. Post match Oliver shows some class, which I guess is a nice conclusion to his story, since we seemingly won‘t see him again. It‘s really amazing that we all got interested in French wrestling by guys doing improbable athletic shit in black and white matches, and then France keeps throwing completely different things at you that end up being really awesome.

MD: Just a lot to parse through here. It was a title match and it felt like one, with a lot of the trappings you'd expect from a long Race defense years later. Oliver was fascinating to watch. He was absolutely hyperactive, to the point where I wonder if he shouldn't have been medicated. He couldn't stand still, which played out in his work in any number of ways but the most interesting might have been his need to constantly pepper cheapshots in. It worked against him for most of the match. He couldn't just pin his opponent; he had to try to sneak three shots into the ribs or pull too much on the tights. He couldn't hang on to a submission; he had to keep trying to get some sort of extra advantage even at the cost of losing the hold. He did damage, but it was all probably counterproductive as the ref was firmly against him (and for good reason).

That middle section with the legwork, including frequent punches and grinding his knuckle into the knee, really worked for me, not the least of which because Royal sold a limb as much as anyone we've seen in this footage so far. Like a long title match, however, they transitioned out of it and into other things, but believably enough. It's almost impossible to write these up because there's just so much. For instance, Sebastian mentioned the cool backslide backbreaker submission, but it was set up by a few great dropkicks and Oliver bumping into the corner like a champ (and this was in response to Oliver utilizing some hand manipulation out of an armbar that he gave up to throw a nasty hammer, and after Oliver got out of the backbreaker by pulling the hair, Royal was right after him with rabbit punches and a shot with the ropes, and, and, and). The finish was perfect for the match, smooth as anything out of rope-running that they spent much of the match escalating towards. Forget modernity: this is the best way you'll spend thirty-five minutes watching wrestling this month.

PAS: This was a stone cold classic match. It is up there with Cesca vs. Cantanzarro and I could honestly see putting it above it on a list of all time French Catch matches. Bert Royal is in our 1971 MOTY, but this is a very different Bert Royal. We saw Tony's brother Jim earlier in the footage, and from the only two matches we get it looks like the Oliver brothers are up there with the best pair of brothers in wrestling history. I cannot overstate how much I loved Tony Oliver in this match. He was Masa Fuchi on speed, constantly driving his knuckles into parts of Royal's body in this torturous way, and then flying into big bumps and exchanges. It was so much fun to watch him lay in his cheap shots, including finding ways to plausibly stomp the referee without getting DQed. Royal was super cool too, I loved his early almost maestroish mat work, and later he lost his cool and matched Oliver blow for blow including a stomp to the back of the head which looked legitimately concussive. The final stanza was pretty wild with both guys spilling to the floor, some kinetic rope running and a deep backslide finish which was about as good of a flash pin as I can remember seeing.


Dr. Adolf Kaiser vs. Michel Chaisne  2/28/57

ON DR. ADOLF KAISER:

(from our correspondent in Paris, Alfred Lang, 1957)

„(…) French television has about half a million subscribed viewers. From experience, there are roughly 4 people watching every TV set at a time. A forum of an estimated 2 million watches both the speeches of head of government Mollet aswell as the appearances of Dr. phil Adolf Kaiser. (…) He is introduced to the French people as a German champion of Catch, and a Doctor of Philosophy. This man likely does not a speak a lick of German, he is slightly more repulsive than the musclemen who normally practise the noble sport of Catch, his face is more animal-like, and he looks like a lusty murderer in a fifth category American movie, who is brought down in the last scene by magnanimous G-man with a colt. The partner of this splendid German is usually chosen to be a good looking, sporty young man, whose pleasant task it is to get demolished by this supposed Adolf Kaiser over several rounds and finally be caught in this Germanic catcheurs gruesome stranglehold and sink to the ground, not completely soulless but unconscious, and be carried to the back in a solemn procession. The crowd completely loses it during these battles which are likely carefully choreographed beforehand. „Sale boche“ - „Beat the nazi to death“ is one of the more moderate chants. (…) Once the „Actual Report“ is over and the charming face of the host appears on the screen, 2 million people, surely a third of them children breathe a sign of relief, telling each other what a nameless swine this boche Adolf Kaiser is. The adults will listen to Monsieur Mollet excitedly talking about the French-German friendship the next day. People will be educated on the new epoch of French history in schools by well meaning teachers, but this Adolf Kaiser, German doctor of philosophy, will continue to haunt their minds until the next Friday, when 500 000 TV sets will be turned on once more to educate 2 million people on the German horror...“

SR: I have read about Dr. Adolf Kaiser, aka Hans Waldherr before. A german reporter, I think from Der Spiegel or Stern, saw him on TV in France and then wrote a rage filled article (see above) about Dr. Kaiser, who was portraying an evil German on French television, which supposedly had a toxic effect on the relations between France and Germany. I assume this was maybe the earliest appearance of Dr. Kaiser, since he gets a respectful reaction from the crowd at his introduction. I was expecting Adolf Kaiser, Doctor of Philosophy to be this outrageously evil and brutal character, but he was a fairly classy worker and he wore leopard trunks of all things. He surprised Chaisne with a nice leg trip and wrist attack, later he locks in a cool double armlock that a luchador could steal. It made me wonder how technical German and Austrian workers could get, I guess simply everyone in Europe then was some awesome wrestling genius. However, it soon became apparent where the bout was gonna go, since Kaiser was eager to show ass, bump big and throw inside shots. His animalistic body language and antics also had „evil“ written all over them. Chaisne soon started to give Kaiser the business with some nasty nasty knee scrapes and laying in the uppercuts. I almost thought it was too much too early, since Kaiser hadn‘t done anything that nasty compared to the heels we saw on French TV before, but I guess when you‘re a German named Adolf Kaiser working in France you gotta be prepared to eat some uppercuts. Wrestling wise there was some cool body scissors work and the Dr. showing he could wrestle even when he would gladly take shortcuts. Chaisne is another worker we‘ll see many times until the very 80s and he looked veritable here. He seemed to have the match in the bag until Kaiser launched him outside and rammed his head into the ringpost. Chaisne came up bloody and fell to an Indian Deathlock coupled with the dreaded nerve hold from the Dr. Afterwards Chaisne has to be carried to the back with everyone acting all concerned. Really nifty TV bout which was oozing with character all the way through.

MD: I'm glad to have the backstory on Kaiser, even though I lament the philosophy degree being worked. The crowd seemed fairly frustrated with both of these guys. We see nominal babyfaces really brutalize the heels at times in this French footage, but here it made this come off as more heel vs heel with the crowd booing both wrestlers accordingly. Kaiser leapt into his character and the match figuratively and literally, missing four or five dives. My favorite exchange in here (which sums the first two thirds up well) was Kaiser taking both of Chaisne's arms and dropping them hard onto the mat, only to scurry away hilariously on his back from the revenge armbar. It was a weird mix of comedy (with funny fingers-in-ear spots for instance), legitimately great wrestling (at one point, Kaiser did this amazing escape out of a headscissors by pressing his own feet into the ropes for a quick burst of leverage), and the two guys just being absolutely mean and uncooperative with one another (that headscissors escape was followed up by Kaiser tossing the ref into Chaisne, missing a dive, and getting kicked square in the skull for his trouble). Ultimately, that last bit won out and Kaiser's brutal posting out of nowhere gave him the match. It's good we will get to see these two again because I think I'd get a better sense of both of them against different opponents.

PAS: I thought this was really cool, we have seen better matches in this project, but something about Kaiser really connected with me. He was such a twitchy creep, like if Dennis Hopper was playing a Nazi wrestler. I loved how he would dive suddenly at the feet of his opponent, or dig his fingers into muscles. Really liked Chaisne too, he was really brutal, those knee scrapes to the face were over the top in a great way. Both guys were clearly super technically sound in addition to being violent fucks. Finish was awesome as you could tell they rarely did things like ringpost shots, and I could totally see that violent finish setting up Kaiser as a some sort of wrestling icon. The wrestlers carrying a bloody KO'ed Chaisne to the back was a pretty iconic image.

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