Tuesday is French Catch Day: Corne! Caballec! Richard! Renault! Prince! Bouvet! Sanniez! Tejero!

Jean Corne & Rene Caballec vs Jacky Richard & Guy Renault 10/12/81

MD: This was just go go and more go but everything was mean and nasty at the same time. We've been watching Corne and Richard for years and years now with Renault and Caballec coming in and out of the footage but could they ever still go. You'd get Richard or Renault just feeding and feeding and feeding, bounding off the ropes, bumping around the ring while in holds, in and out and in again. Even when they slowed down, they didn't let up. It'd be Richard grinding on a chinlock and just punching someone right in the cheek and putting it back on or Caballec snatching a bridging headscissors to a standing Renault and the working of it just constant motion and struggle. And they'd move right into an armbar with Renault scooting around the ring and Richard bumping in trying to get a tag. Or Richard would have an arm puller on Corne with Renault continuously whacking him from the outside, eventually Corne would manage to knock him off the apron but they'd work right back into the hold until Corne could roll around into a headlock and kick Richard in the face. They just kept going and going, constant motion. Just one sequence after the next, constantly interesting and engaging and violent.

There were differences. Richard and Renault were the next version of the Blousons Noirs, I guess, now fitting for the early 80s, by way of Adrian Adonis and studded leather everything. I mean, it was still Jacky Richard. He had to be an old friend to most of these fans. There was a quick and out of nowhere first fall where Corne got clocked by him off the ropes, though. Even Delaporte seemed confused by it, but it did add a bit more drama, yes. The only time the match settled down were the real periods of heat where the heels were controlling the pace and beating down the stylists, and there Delaporte helped to bring the motion as ref as he bristled about. That didn't give the crowd any rest. It just ramped up the pressure for the comeback more and more. And that paid off with some big house cleaning moments from Caballec and clowning revenge by Corne. All of the turmoil boiled over into a short third fall as they worked towards the time limit with pin attempt after pin attempt before Delaporte got to partake in his favorite indulgence and declare the stylists the winners. Just a wonderful middle ground between working hard and working harsh.

SR: 2/3 Falls match going 30 minutes. Richard & Renault were donning the leatherman gear here. There were some structural choices here that may confuse people, but the work was undeniable. This kind of insane cardio show from a bunch of crusty old men is just befuddling. I liked the early pinfall to increase tension throughout most of the match, and there was just one entertaining exchange after another. Richard & Renault weren‘t bumping as big as other rudos we‘ve seen, but had no problem going along and looked considerably scummy. The crowd absolutely loved this and folks were jumping up and down anytime Les Celts got the upper hand.

Petit Prince & Gerard Bouvet vs Anton Tejero & Albert Sanniez 7/24/82 

MD: There's some question on whether this is 79 or 82, but given the technological advances (the names on the screen for instance), I'm thinking the 82 date is right. It's strange being in 82 as opposed to, let's say, the mid 60s where we actually have so little footage from the rest of the world. We have a great idea what wrestling looks like all over in 82 and it doesn't look much of anything like this. This was all the hits, once again, but it's amazing that Prince (and his bases, and Bouvet in his own way) were still able to do them 16 years after we first saw him. You can't help but wonder what it'd look like if Sanniez got to team with 82 Dynamite or Tejero with 82 Buddy Rose or with the potential 1980 Prince vs Fujinami match would have looked like.

It's the hits but the hits are so good, crazy wristlock exchanges early where a wrestler will hang on through everything, all of Prince's headlock sequences where you, and his opponent have no idea which direction he'll dart next as he twists around and through and over, so many cartwheels, Tejero bumping out the ring again and again, Sanniez with a chip on his shoulder, Bouvet being slick as can be. There's even the short arm scissors sequences with the Gotch lift and stumble over the top and right back in, with the actual heat in the match starting with Tejero cutting Prince off when he tries to go up and over the second time. That's the big difference between 66 and 82, that they're able to work the heat to a comeback better, with missed tags and distracted refs and everything else. That bit was probably just a bit too short to really inspire hearts and souls to rage though. It all still ends in a celebratory third fall with a lot of stooging, but even in 82 the action here more than holds up against anything in the world at the time.

SR: 2/3 Falls match going a bit under 30 minutes. This exact same match is also uploaded as being aired on 1/1/1979, so it‘s another mysterious case. This was a "more of the same" match with some sequences being replicated exactly as in the previous Prince/Rocca match. That is to be expected, I guess, and there were still like 10 sequences that would have most luchadors drop their jaws with envy. The man bringing something fresh to the table was Bouvet, doing some more technical stuff and even a skin the cat spot. Tejero was a bit more subdued here, so Sanniez stepped up being the
master of the hair pull. There was no intense heat segment like in other French tags and the faces handily bagged this one 2:0, so I guess that disqualifies it from a Best Of list anyways.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Corne! Caballec! Richard! Sanniez! Lasartesse! Mercier!

Jacky Richard/Albert Sanniez vs Jean Corne/Rene Caballec 9/8/80

MD: Caballec is someone we've seen a few times in the footage, going all the way back to the early 60s. Last time we saw him, he was positioned as a bad guy but I noted that he seemed to have stylist skills. He certainly showed them off here. Sanniez, of course, had been an arch stylist but he'd worked out how to be a bad guy in his time in a role. He and Richard were perfectly balanced, the stooging, bruising, slamming, jawing Jacky and the slick, bumping, technical, rope running, and constantly trying to interject from the outside Sanniez. Between the two of them, you had just about everything you could want two stylists to go up against. And of course, Corne was one of the very best at what he did; by this point, it feels like the Celts were as iconic and as much of a staple as the Rock'n'Roll Express, even if Corne was the constant and partners moved around him. In between them was that old walrus, Delaporte, gruff and even more aged than we last saw him, but beloved and one of a kind in his reactions.

Richard comes off again and again as one of the best wrestlers in the entire footage. He's not going to be one that casuals who drop in for trampolines and Petit Prince headlock spots are going to notice, but he's a base's base and a stooge's stooge and a mauler's mauler. He's the glue. He's the reaction that gives meaning to the action. He's the consequence ready to strike and capitalize on an opportunity. Here he's gotten even better at working with Delaporte, working with the crowd (and hating the music from the Celts' fan club), while still being able to take everything and keep up enough to make it all work. They work this to a draw, though that doesn't really make the first twenty minutes much different than what we'd be used to in a long 2/3 falls tag. What it means, as much as anything else, is that Richard and Sanniez are quick to rush into break up pinfalls and earn Delaporte's ire. At one point, after Richard snuck something and the fans called him on it, he pointed to him with the most perfect "J'accuse!" imaginable. They got the heat that they did did by running circles around him, attacking a downed opponent while he was stuck admonishing the other. He got the last laugh as after the time ended, he declared the stylists the winner anyway; he's the promoter so he can do that.

SR: 2/3 Falls match going 30 minutes. If all 80s French wrestling is just gonna be quality workrate tags like this involving lumpy maestros, I‘d be fine with that. The opening exchanges were just ridiculously fast and intricate. It was like watching Navarro/Solar on speed. I also enjoyed Albert Sanniez a lot here, who may be the best of the French rudos. He just makes everything look great. The structure was a bit weaker than in the previous tags as it seemed like the faces were never really in trouble and there wasn‘t an extended heat segment. Roger Delaporte was the referee here and for some reason he keeps this in order. Being a legendary TV villain and then turning around to be a good guy referee is weird. The time limit ran out, but Delaporte declares Corne & Caballec the winners anyways. The work here was very good, but I could see some people being annoyed or confused with the match layout.

Guy Mercier vs Jack de Lasartesse 10/5/81

MD: And suddenly we're in October 1981. The wrestling in 1980 was good! So it's a shame that we're basically a year later without much to show for it. This is our lot though. We shall meet it with dignity. There's still quite a bit left after all. They say it's been thirteen years since we've seen Lasartesse and the footage bears out at least 11, I think. Delaporte is the ref. I'm with Sebastian that the big issue on this one was that Mercier's comeback just wasn't hot enough. Lasartesse had taken over fairly early by working the back and he did it well, with hard shots, pulling the corner protector down for whips, backbreakers, butterfly suplexes. When it came time for the comeback, it was sort of an eyerake out of the bearhug, which led to legwork and the duel selling of the leg and Lasartesse's ears as I think he was doing the Mongolian Stomper gimmick of the crowd noise hurting him. He's such a unique character, with his lanky limbs and gum chewing and the way that he always sells and strikes while he's just constantly walking, like a shark who can never stop. When he sells late in the match by writhing and not walking, having lost his swagger, that's when the fans know he's in trouble. Before that, he's always a long-reached hairpull away from escaping any hold. Mercier does a good job selling the back and then coming back with leglock after leglock and Lasartesse does take back over later, leading to a fairly fiery comeback and strike exchanges towards the bell, but it's just not as primal as a Van Buyten (or Jacky Corn for that matter) match would have been. Great build, but the payoff sputtered too much.  

SR: 1 Fall match going 30 minutes. Lasartesse was sporting blonde hair here and hadn‘t fully morphed into the evil grandpa looking guy yet. This had the weird Lasartesse match problem where he did a ton of offense, but the match wasn‘t as smartly laid out as his better matches. His offense looked good, especially the knee drops and throat jabs, but Mercier wasn‘t able to stage some kind of epic comeback against that like a Van Buyten type worker would have. I thought Mercier was too small to fight Lasartesse (seems there was a lack of big guys on the French scene), and while he does fine, he doesn‘t do a ton of interesting things here either. He was mostly hogging Lasartesses leg which
didn‘t lead anywhere. There was also the thing where Lasartesse hits his sick ass knee drop off the top rope followed by the tombstone piledriver which is a finish if I‘ve ever seen a finish in French catch, but Mercier just kind of gets up and they move on with the match. Guys will get pinned following a bodyslam or hip throw, but for some reason everyone survives the Tombstone Piledriver. This also goes to a draw and again, referee Delaporte declares the face the winner which feels like it completely eliminates the purpose of a draw. I‘m probably making this match sound worse than it was, the work was good and especially Lasartesse had a good showing, but the baffling layout choices prevented this from being more than that.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Roberts! Bond! Bordes! Doukhan! Viracocha! Ramirez! Ben Chemoul! Plantin! Lagache! Caballec!

Pete Roberts vs Dave Bond (JIP) 2/27/78

MD: We get the last nine minutes of this draw. Roberts and Bond were both in from the UK though Bond was billed as American. This was a mix of gritty cravats, rope running, and a lot of trading of Roberts' forearms and Bond's headbutts, which were a nice piece of business. They were sportsmanlike but really went at it, and Roberts wasn't afraid to bump out. Good stuff with a nice nearfall or two. It's a shame we don't have more of them in France. 

Gass Doukhan/Walter Bordes vs Inca Viracocha/Paco Ramirez 2/27/78

MD: Lots to love here. Very fun tag with double heat and some new tricks from Doukhan and Bordes, even if the heels never picked up a fall. Doukhan is a great partner for Bordes. Bordes is a little tallier and lankier and his stuff is clean but a little stilted and Doukhan is smaller but very smooth. Viracocha is, of course, an ideal base, who can take everything with a put upon stooging face. Ramirez was leaning into his strength on certain spots and was excellent at interjecting himself from the outside but that just made him getting his comeuppance when they went wrong all the better. Bordes took some nasty catapults to the floor to justify the heel control in the middle. They did the RnR spot of the partner blocking an irish whip into the corner by putting his body in the way, which I'd never seen before in France (or, I think, in the States before 78?) and the second fall, while short had some fun build up and payoff with the heels lifting up Bordes in a double drop until he landed on his feet to flip and make the hot tag and then some heel miscommunication to set up the finish and send everyone home. These tags don't often reach the slugging or pure mat wrestling levels of the ones from twenty years earlier but they really had a good, compelling, crowd pleasing act down. Like Ben Chemoul, you can't really question that Bordes, a guy who felt almost completely unknown in our circles before we'd picked up this footage, who still doesn't have a cagematch entry, was one of the best tag workers ever.

Rene Ben Chemoul/Bob Plantin vs Pierre Lagache/Rene Caballec 4/4/78

MD: A lot to cover here. This was in Coubertin handball stadium, with the ring right in the middle of the court, so it was a bit of an odd look with maybe some strange acoustics. The Mamadou singing worked its way in midway through the match but it was never as loud as you'd expect. This is the first match which had some slow motion instant replays too, so technology marches forward. This match was in part to celebrate fire fighters based on some previous heroics in France. It has friend to all followers of French Catch, Bob Plantin, and he stated in the bits and pieces of this one that had been on youtube that both Ben Chemoul and Caballec had been former fire fighters.

Caballec very likely might have worked as a stylist otherwise, and he had those skills, a backflip off the top, a body press, the headspin headscissors takeover, as well as some big power moves when on top like a backbreaker and a signature slam out of a suplex position (remember, we've still never seen a standing vertical suplex in the footage by 78!).

This is it for Ben Chemoul, a swan song to an amazing career, and even in a 40+ minute match, albeit a tag where Plantin could come in a lot, he could still go. He knew all the tricks, could execute them so smoothly. Something like a rolling legpick or a flip through on a full nelson to bring up his mule kick looked so good and so smooth. He'd go up to the top for a missile dropkick and turtle so he could duck in and out to enrage Lagache until he could grab an arm.

Lagache was called "the striker" here, and he lived up to that with stomps and cheapshots mainly. He fed into all of the stylists spots and came back with mean shots but he was there for contrast mainly. Plantin had a lot of youthful energy and exuberance, and while some of his stuff wasn't as precise as Ben Chemoul's, the way he through himself into everything brought a lot of value, and he garnered plenty of sympathy working from underneath.

Like I said, this went 40 and the structure is, as I'd said recently, something I've finally learned to live with. About half of the match was fairly even exchanges, good wrestling, holds, rope running, with a slight stylist advantage. At right around that halfway point, Lagache took over with a hairpull in the corner, beating on first Ben Chemoul and then Plantin; in this it's a bit like an All Japan tag match (or lucha in general) where they make the tag but the momentum stays with the team that had been dominant. Not a hot tag then, but one that doesn't change the plot. The second fall had a big comeback, revenge, and bombs from the stylists and then the third, quite short, had a brief tease of the heels taking over before Ben Chemoul rushed them from the outside and we got a series of celebratory high spots and tandem bits with the stylists firmly in charge and the heels getting clowned. It might not maximize drama but it really is wonderful in its own way and Ben Chemoul was as good as anyone at it.

He, more than anyone except for maybe Delaporte and Bollet, is simply the perfect French Catch wrestler. The ideal. He carried with him technique, mirth, cleverness, innovation, a deep, deep connection with the crowd and the ability to conduct them. There was elements of the theater or the circus to him, but such deep athleticism and that extra gear that he could take it to when he was getting revenge. He could draw sympathy and could elicit deep belly laughs. He's not going to come off as quite as tough and hard hitting as someone like Corn or LeDuc. he's not as spectacular as Petit Prince or as technical as Saulnier or Mantopolous, but he encompasses the glitz and the glamour and the sheer showmanship of it all, while still possessing all of the skill.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Falaux! Elandon! Caballec! Puydebat! Charles! Guguliemetti! Brown! Kiyomigawa!

Albert Falaux/Bob Elandon vs. Rene Caballec/Gilbert Puydebat, 2/22/63

MD: Welcome, friends, to what feels like the end of our golden age of footage. Today we're covering February and March 1963, having just covered November and December 1962. After this point, we'll have one show in May 1964 before skipping to a silver age, beginning in January 1965. More on why that gap exists next week (and really, it goes back to 61 relative to the years prior, though not nearly as dramatically as this) and some of the scant stuff that we might be missing from 1964, thanks to what we've learned from Phil Lions's research.

This was another nice, long tag, with some guys we haven't seen much of before. Elandon is the person you'll remember the most here, as he alternated between cowardly and blustering, quick to attack, quick to retreat, quick to kick the ropes in frustration or jaw with the crowd, and well served in a setting where he could tag out at the first sign of danger. Definitely a heatseeker. The other three brought a lot of more conventional wrestling to the table, though all of them had a number of tricks we haven't seen much of before in the footage, if at all. That could vary from Falaux's bulldogs or missed dropkick that let him flip off the ropes to set up the finish or Caballec's flying cravate mare or neckbreaker twist or the victory rolls the stylists were throwing around. Puydebat had a real energy and verve to his work that made me want to see him more. Unfortunately, this is it for him, I think. Even Caballec we won't see again until the late 70s. This all came together well with Falaux playing along with Elandon's antics and heeling it up as well and the faces firing back with one interesting exchange after another.

SR: 2/3 falls match going about 35 minutes. This was another solid solid long French tag. Plenty of athleticism and asskicking here. These guys are like springs the way they would bounce around the ring while looking tough. Falaux and Elandon were the rudos. Elandon was this straight forward asskicker, who had a cool section working a strangle hold at one point where he would yank the other guys chin. Falaux was interesting as he could do some athletic and technical moves of his own. He wrestled like he once was a technico himself but took a liking to sneaking in inside shots. It made for a cool dynamic and there were some quality exchanges. The finish with Falaux doing some Psychosis like leap into the ropes only to bounce back and land on his feet was baffling even by French standards.

PAS: I thought this was really excellent stuff, four completely new guys all of them really impressive. Liked the rudo team a lot, and the technicos had some really flash. One thing I especially liked about this were good finishes for each fall. Even the best French matches don't always have great finishes, but this one really did. Callabec and Falaux face off and Callabec gets totally rocked with a knee to the back of his head. He tries to shake it off several times but goes to a knee, only to finally get his bearings, rock Falaux with some uppercuts and a crazy neckbreaker. Falaux is able to bound off the mat with a leaping forearm, hits this great flip rope fake into a jumping tope for the three count, spectacular finish for an excellent match. 

Tony Charles vs. Giacomo Guguliemetti 3/29/63

SR: We get about 8 minutes of this. Tony Charles we have seen on World of Sport and in Memphis, making this a cool sighting. He doesn‘t show off his technical skill here, instead we join right into the asskicking portion of this match. These two just smacked the shit out of each other. Not pretty but heated and very intense. Wish we had the whole thing.

MD: We come to this one 12 minutes in and get the last nine minutes of it. Charles is in his late 20s, which is fun to see. He's pretty go-go-go here, spending a lot of the match just tossing himself around the ring and it's really on Guguliemetti to just try ground him. He's never able to do it for long. He'll redirect Charles out over the top in a big bump and Charles will just rush back in and fly at him again. He'll hit a huge forearm off the ropes and Charles will kip up and ram him with a driving headbutt. He'll stomp Charles in the face and keep him down for a minute, only for Charles to rush back up with a backbreaker and flip him about in the ropes. Definitely not one of the best selling performances we've ever seen but it's exciting and not quite what I was expecting from young Charles. This ends with a nice dropkick, a back handspring celebration, and a fairly happy crowd. Good action and hard hitting but given Charles' penchant to pop right back up, I think nine minutes of this was the about the right amount to have.

James Brown vs. Kiyomigawa 3/29/63

SR: 1 fall match going about 25 minutes. Kiyomigawa was a Japanese ex-sumo. He co-founded one of the first Japanese promotions, All Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, and trained some joshi legends. He wrestled in Europe and the German speaking countries a lot. Having him on film is neat, especially against a German trained US guy. And well this was a really good match. Brown is clearly a pretty great pro wrestler. Just a classy athlete, and really good at selling holds, struggling, eating offense and firing back. Lots of nifty work here where they work in and out of holds and into strikes. Kiyomigawa was this lanky guy who liked to throw chops to the neck and sometimes throat. I wouldn‘t say he was great, but he was a breath of fresh air to the generic clobbering heels you usually see in France. He also knew how to use a nerve hold in interesting ways. Lots of cool european uppercut vs. Chops battles here. Kiyomigawa ends up bloodied after a series of nasty headbutts and we got some cool exhausted strike exchanges before the match is thrown out due to Kiyomigawa not breaking a stranglehold. Disappointing finish but Kiyomigawa shaking Browns hand after the match was cool. Quality work here.

MD: Interesting look at two figures we don't have much, if any footage of, in James Brown and Kiyomigawa. Brown was a multi-level threat, able to wrestle with some interesting holds like a bow and arrow and this lifting vertical STF that felt like one of those lucha holds that seem devastating but that they can only hold for a few seconds; powerful enough to wrench out of holds and lock in backbreakers and bulldogs (two show in a row, which it seem like the new hot move of 1963); to strike, including great forearms and his awesome headbutt; and some athleticism, including standing dropkicks out nowhere. Kiyomigawa was persistent, with a lot of nerve holds and chops, slaps, and throat attacks. In some ways, I thought they were matched up well. They worked their holds and escapes snug and their shots stiff, with wicked slaps followed up almost immediately by jarring receipts; the battles between chops and headbutts were actually quite compelling, more so than I expected. In other ways, though, you kind of wish they were up against different opponents. Brown had an answer to everything and Kiyomigawa might have been served better by a LeDuc or Drapp or Corn; Brown on the other hand would have been better off with a heel that stooged more. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the match-up we got though.

PAS: This was a battle of racial stereotype offense, with Kiyomigawa hitting chops and nerve holds and Brown landing big headbutts. Kiyomigawa had great looking chops though, hard nasty shots right to the side of Browns neck, and Brown laid in those headbutts too. Brown seemed to have some real mat skill including a crazy STF which he lifted off the ground, felt like a Hechicero spot. I thought the finish was a bit wonky, felt like the ref wasn't clued in or something. This was hard hitting stuff though, enjoyed it a bunch

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