Tuesday is French Catch Day: Bibi! Husberg! Gugliemetti! Crapez! Kopa! Marquez

Cheri Bibi/Eric Husberg vs Giacomi Gugliemetti/Philippe Crapez 3/6/66

MD: This was a crowd-pleaser tag but lacked the sort of heat generated by the heels being in charge for any sort of extended period that would make it more than simple fun. There was never really any emotion or drama to this one. It almost felt like the worst part of the Hayes/Hunter tags where Hunter could simply come in and crush guys with his size and reach. That was absolutely Gugliemetti's gimmick here, more so than when we'd seen him previously. He had huge reach and would just slap and whack the heels in the face repeatedly and there was nothing they could do. It was played for laughs with Bibi trying to get a hand to block it, managing it for one or two but then getting slapped. The whole match was like this, interspersed with the heels trying to get control with chinlocks and double teaming, but the tags coming too quick and too easy from the stylist side. Occasionally, Bibi would get riled and would throw a great headbutt but it was never really followed up with the right sort and the right amount of heel brutality to make this balanced. There were a couple of fun (and again crowd-pleasing) set pieces with the heels in the ropes, and the finish was clever with Gugliemetti using his size to hold down the ropes as Bibi was trying to bounce off of them to get Crapez who was held across the ring by Husberg, but it was all too lopsided for the fans to feel it all warranted, except for on the basis of previous matches. I liked Husberg as always. He had a way of preening that was absolutely heatseeking and larger than life while never seeming entirely bufoonish or cartoonish. Crapez looked pretty good here, with some nice shots, a few nice dropkicks, and a very cool and novel roll through on one of those arm drag slams that end so many falls, where he was able to pick up Bibi for a backbreaker. This just needed more real heat to compare positively to a lot of the other tags we've been seeing lately.

SR: 2/3 falls match going about 30 minutes. Another night of gentlemen in various stages of balding forearming the hell out of each other. I really liked Guguglielemetti constantly throwing hands and slapping the shit out of people. Bibi and Husberg played fair initially, but the crowd already hated them thoroughly and wanted to see them get put on their asses. So Bibi and Husberg switched to the tactic of cheapshotting and isolating their opponents in the corner quickly. Crapez was a bear of a man and had this insane backbreaker lifted from the floor at one point. This was decent.

Tito Kopa vs. Pepe Marquez 3/20/66

PAS: Kopa is a Argentinian wrestler who had a pretty long run in the US in the 50s and 60s. He was short, really hairy and built like a block of wood. Lots of the early part of the match had Marquez trying and failing to grab a headlock on Kopa's slick bald head. It was a nice bit of business and it really felt like a triumph when Marquez got a headlock takeover in the end of the match. Nothing super flashy here, Marquez had a spot where he spun off of the ref's back to escape something which was neat, but this was mostly basic. Kopa hit hard, and I really liked his bear hug finish where he drove his gross little head into Marquez's chest, but I didn't think this had 35 minutes worth of stuff to really recommend it as a match. Still Kopa is a cool historical character and it is neat we get to see what he brought to the table. 

MD: I enjoyed this one a lot. It's our second and last look at Marques. We'd seen him in a really good stylist vs stylist match vs Sola previously. I wish we had twenty more matches with him. He's very good, with a lot of interesting escapes, some novel holds (like the Gagne deathlock), a tendency to flip over the ref while escaping things, and an explosiveness with strikes and dropkicks and just ramming Kopa's head into the corner repeatedly. Plus he had some narrative driven arm-selling in the first half of the match that let him work some comebacks without transitions which is still rare for French wrestling. Kopa was an interesting guy to watch, just a fireplug tank, dogged, tough, mean. He wrenched holds and had a lot of fairly simple ways to hurt you, with believable stoic no-selling and a bevy of inside moves (hidden chokes and punches and what have you). For much of the match, Kopa would keep control with a hold as Marques found interesting ways to escape and fire back only to get dragged back down. I liked how in the last third, Marques got an extended revenge headlock section that in other matches would have been in the first third instead, but it worked as a sort of celebratory comeuppance here. Kopa ultimately won with Quasimodo's tombstone-position repeated body lift, which was a pretty good move for Kopa's size and shape. Marques seemed to be someone who could work anyone anywhere and have a good match but I imagine Kopa shined best with the right opponent.

SR: 1 fall match going about 30 minutes. Kopa is one of those US style wrestlers who only have a few simple holds. Other than that he would try to inside shot his opponent, but everything he did was extremely basic. I liked his head first corner bumps to accentuate his shortness. Marquez looked quite good here. Really sold those simple armlocks like hell, and had nice retaliations in the form of cool dropkicks and uppercuts. I really liked how he strangled Kopa and then stomped on his throat. That said this was about 10-15 minutes too long so it's only for the completists.

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

Pepe Marquez vs. Ami Sola 10/28/60

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

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

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

Antonio Montoro vs. Inca Peruano 11/18/60

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

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

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

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

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

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

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