Tuesday is French Catch Day: Peruvians! Chemoul! Bordes! Mantopolous! Bernaert! Lamagoru! Camus! Little bit of Andre!!

Inca Peruano/Anton Tejero vs Rene Ben Chemoul/Walter Bordes 4/12/69

MD: Another great tag between these two teams, albeit one where the reffing was just ridiculous lax. I think the only actual public warning here was after the end of the first fall when Bordes and Ben Chemoul were dancing along to the fan's mocking chants and refused to actually engage. Peruano could well be the very best minute to minute wrestler in the entire collection. He was imaginative, inhabited a dodgy, sullen, wry character at all times, had a bunch of great spots and exchanges, and here utilized the best strikes we've ever seen out of him, including these really nice flurries. The first half of this had just a ton of heat, a lot of it obtained by blatantly cheating in front of the ref, but a lot more by drawing him away or riling the other babyface. The tags were generally earned and comebacks, when scored, were fiery crowd-pleasers, though full of plenty of blatant cheating too. By this point, Ben Chemoul and Bordes were a well oiled machine and the back half of this had tons of big bumps and stooging by the heels. It was one moment to pop the crowd after the next. Chemoul seemed as athletic as ever, especially as he flew across the ring onto a leg Bordes was holding and Bordes bumped huge early and plenty of interesting, complex spots later. You wished that maybe they had cashed in on that heat for a little more drama, but what they bought with it instead was an entertained, happy crowd.

SR: 2/3 falls match going about 30 minutes. The opening exchange of this were just ridiculous - insanely fast. Chemoul was acting hyperactive as if he was on cocaine. He seemed a bit like the Terry to the calmer Bordes' Dory Jr. This had the usual tag structure - faces shine, heels do short isolation segments before faces shine some more leading to a big pay off - but worked at a ridiculously high level. Pretty much as good as you expect from these teams at this point. There were a couple breathtaking sequences and they never let up. Peruvians were great stooging heels, as usual. Especially loved the Incas punch combos. I didn't think it added up to an epic match - perhaps because the faces took it 2:0, although there was some serious peril for a bit when the Peruvians busted out a tombstone piledriver - but it was good shit and went by in a breeze.

PAS: I absolutely loved this, and think it is at the level of the best stuff in this collection. Peruano and Tejero are one of my favorite tags teams in history. Just a masterful pair of bases, bumpers and vicious fuckers. If Peruano wasn't cool enough  he is apparently a Satanico level puncher. Tejero has one of the highest bumps to ring time ratio's in wrestling history, he is just constantly flying violently to the floor or getting thrown high into the air in the ring. Chemoul is a dynamo, he has a couple of exchanges in this match which were as remarkable as the first time you saw Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid or Rey Jr. vs. Psicosis. I thought the finishes to both falls were pretty great, and have no problem with the technicos winning two straight hard fought falls. 


Jean Ferre vs Robert Duranton  10/4/69


MD: Four and a half glorious minutes of Andre humiliating Duranton and his valet. The valet was the single most over heel in 1960s France so obviously the fans loved this. Duranton may have been flamboyant but he was also a hard hitter, and he threw what he had at Andre, but Andre would take it and floor him with one shot and go right back after the valet. He ended up bodyscissoring (and giving the subsequent whack) to both at once and slamming one on the other before pinning both. By this point, he knew how to play to the crowd and milk his moments, an attraction in the making.

SR: JIP. We get about 4 minutes of this. Andre was clearly coming into his own at this stage. He engaged in some nice strike exchanges. Dug Durantons punches. A good chunk of this was about Andre going after Firmin, though. Andre wins quite easily, proving Durantons stardom was nothing to this mythical giant.


Pierre Bernaert/Pierre Lamagoru vs Vasilious Mantopolous/Robert Camus 10/4/69


MD: Another celebratory performance by Mantpolous giving the crowd everything they wanted. There was some real heat from Bernaert and Lamagrou in the first fall, where the controlled the corner with the leg and stomped away and then a ghost of it towards the end with some tandem stuff, but the first was ultimately turned around on them with endless stomps in the face corner as the fans chanted along and the second got reversed quickly, imaginatively but quickly. So the stakes were never high even if the action was quick-moving and full of fun flourishes. Bernaert was a seasoned tag wrestler, of course, and played hard into Mantpolous' act, bounding himself in a mocking way, trying to turtle to draw him in (unsuccessfully), playing to the crowd. Lamagoru was there to get clowned, but I liked how he sold the aftereffects of things more than most wrestlers of this era. Camus held up his end but a lot of times, that was to set the stage for Mantopolous to come in and make fools of everyone around him with is wizardry and verve.

SR: 2/3 falls match going about 30 minutes.Mantopoulos seems like the Golden Boy of French Catch at this point. He always brings a ton of energy and explosiveness to matches and stands out above everyone else. Camus seemed like a young boy. He was solid but didn't add much flash. Heels were solid, too. This was entertaining largely due to the Greek just bouncing around and doing his stuff at a highly energetic level, but was a bit overshadowed by the above tag. Still pretty decent action though.