Tuesday is French Catch Day: Marcel Parmentier! Al Hayes! Rogers! Rene Ben Chemoul! Bob Anthony!

Marcel Parmentier vs. Jean Frisuk 5/24/57

SR: JIP with about 8 minutes shown. Not getting a full match of Parmentier is probably among the biggest misses in this footage, but at least we now know he existed. Frisuk is a good looking babyface and has good fire. I imagine if we had the build up this would be a really good match because they were both happily dishing out receipts and inside shots. I am still getting used to how violent French wrestling is compared to the British stuffs. I mean British heels are nasty but they won‘t full on running punt a downed opponent like Parmentier does here. Love Parmentiers rugged aura and these two guys killing each other with massive elbows was awesome to watch briefly.

MD: It's a crime we don't have a full Parmentier match. They beat the heck out of each other here and we can only ever assume why. It's not hard to assume, mind you, given how scummy Parmentier is, though. He was the absolute master of the leg dive out of nowhere, just throwing his body at Frisuk's legs almost every time he gets knocked down (Well, at least three). You have to love how he plays to the crowd here, when he gets the better of Frisuk (through hook or crook) and especially after he eats the loss. After that punt Sebastian mentioned, Frisuk does the absolute meanest thing we've seen yet, just ripping at Parmentier's hair and clubbing at his skull, alternating between one and the other.

PAS: What we got of this was really great, Parmentier was a scuzzy creep, and Frisuk was throwing heat at him for sure. I really liked Frisuk's headscissors takedowns, before it just broke down. Parmentier has amazing looking elbows, he just throws his whole body into each shot and land the point right on the upper jaw and ear, elbow smashes are one of the most trite things in wrestling these days, and it is cool to see them throw so well and so nastily. If we got more of this I imagine it might be in the upper tier of stuff in this footage.

Al Hayes/Ray Hunter vs. Roger Delaporte/Roger Guettier 5/24/57

SR:2/3 falls match over 30 minutes. Hayes & fellow Englishman Ray Hunter are apparently introduced as „Australians“. There is also a giant robot watching the match from the crowd whom the announcer calls a „martian“. And the French team of Delaporte (champion of France, even!) and Guettier gets a big heel reaction. All the absurdities aside, this was a very good match. The last time Hayes showed up he was a real highlight, and he is really fun here again coming up with fun counters to all the holds. It‘s funny how you can watch a ton of old French/British wrestling and still see new things. Hunter is really tall and likes to upside down chop people, so he‘s basically Baba in this match. The two Rogers won‘t blow you away if you‘ve been keeping track of all the awesome heel workers we‘ve seen in this project so far, but they did a good job working over Hayes back with Fuchi-like rope stretches, big backbreaker moves and knee drops to the spine. It builds to a pretty hot 3rd fall with the Brits masquerading as Australian going for near finish after near finish with the Frenchmen breaking up pinfalls as much as they could. I‘m not sure whether it cut off before the finish or if the deciding pinfall simply came out weird, but since that‘s all there is of this match we‘ll have to go with „came out weird“.

MD: Great tag match. Hayes did everything right here, super technical at the beginning, standing on the ropes and working the apron, being the recipient a hot tag where he got to clear house to set up the end of the first fall (more on that later), then playing face-in-peril for the rest of the match, with escalating limb-focused selling. Very complete performance. Hunter was larger than life, just towering over his opponents, especially Guettier (who was portrayed, even by the commentator, as Delaporte's little crony). We got a clear picture of Delaporte as a heel's heel here, but maybe not a complete one. There will be time for that. I really liked the bouncing leg lock off the ropes when they cut Hunter down to size, and the double teaming that followed. The heels cut off the ring well when in charge and the backwork on Hayes in the second and third falls was just picture perfect. We have a lot of tags ahead of us and the later ones we've seen haven't been so pinpoint focused. Lots of backbreakers and kneedrops and grinding over the top turnbuckle. A little more variation might have been nice but they were only developing it, so you forgive it. It's just a shame we don't get a finish (unless Delaporte running out of "public warnings" on pinfall breaks was the finish). I'm looking forward to the handfull of Bollet and Delaporte tags we get later.

PAS: Really enjoyed the Rogers here, frantic focused attack which isn't something I have seen a lot of in wrestling. They really key in on the back and work it over really well, but execute that attack with wild intensity, they were a mix of the Sheepherders and the Andersons. Loved their bouncing rope step over toe holds and all of the jamming of Hayes back into the turbuckle bolt. Hunter reminded me of Baba too, and I loved how impassioned he got going after the heels. Feels like were are missing the last minute or two, which is a shame, but what we got is really class stuff.

Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Bob Anthony 4/7/61

SR: 1 Fall match that is a little over 30 minutes long. Bob Anthony is someone we saw before in the twilight years of his career working World of Sport, and here he is in his mid 20s only a few years after making his debut. Although he didn‘t look green at all here and was doing many of the same spots as 19 years later, so I guess back then in European wrestling things changed slowly. This was a clean contest for the purists with no unfair tactics from Anthony. I‘ve noticed that while the athleticism is quite high end, French wrestling didn‘t get as brainy as the British stuff when it came to matwork. That is minor complaint though when you get 30 minutes of classy back and forth technical work. Ben Chemoul is probably at his best when he is being charismatic and uppercutting the fuck out of a stooging heel, but of course he is also a maestro and this type of match fits him like a glove. This didn‘t really kick into next gear and the finish looked a little too easy but I enjoyed it greatly.

MD: This was Sebastian's pick and it's the best AWA face vs face match you're going to see this month. Lots of working in and out of holds. The more we watch, the more familiar some things get, like using a step-over flying headscissors to get out of a long armbar. The first time we saw it, it was like lightning, now it's a familiar and welcome part of the syntax and diction of their storytelling. That said, these two had a bunch of stuff that was cool and novel, like Anthony's rolling bodyscissors and the amazing deadlift cradle slam that Ben Chemoul used to get out of it. Or Ben Chemoul's backflip out of a backhammer right into a roll up, or his escape from another one where he got his foot behind Anthony's leg and just tripped him. So simple. So good. And yeah, then there was the rolling cradle stretch. While things never got too fiery, they did escalate into strikes. Anthony as a faux Australian had this great jumping kangaroo double knee, whereas Ben Chemoul would throw these crazy combos from every angle. You wish it would have went over the top for the finish but ultimately it was just a great, hard hitting, cleanly worked technical match with more than enough sights to see along the way.