Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

French catch


pantherwagner

Recommended Posts

  • 11 months later...
  • Replies 749
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • 2 weeks later...

It just now went and downloaded an episode to try it out and everything worked, I just put in my American debit card info and everything processed fine. Doesn't even look like I got charged with a conversion fee. Anyway, it works just like a normal online store check out. I know French pretty well but even if you didn't it seems easy to walk your way through. I'll do a little walkthrough though:

Click the episode you want to buy > Click Telecharger (download) > Acceder a mon Panier (Go to my shopping cart) > Valider mon Panier (check-out) > S'inscrire (register) > Fill out all the info, the form is pretty familiar > Now you should be prompted to fill in an address, do it and click on the bottom right button > Pretty straightforward after this, keep clicking the bottom right link to move forward, you'll be prompted to put in payment information, it took my US debit card just fine, then you'll be taken to a page that confirms you order. Below the receipt information there should be a bar with your video on it, click the "Telecharger" button to download.

 

Hope that helps somewhat. I downloaded the Mars 1965 episode btw.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to try to keep up with this French Catch at the same pace as Phil.

 

René Ben Chemoul/Gilbert Cesca vs. The Black Diamonds (2/28/65)

 

This was probably the best tag match I've seen from Europe, and I've seen my share of English and German tags. The fact that it wasn't one of the best tag matches of all-time tells you plenty about how good European tag wrestling was. They just weren't very good at it. This was kind of a one note match with the same schtick repeated throughout (to the sounds of an excitable French commentator), but I was stoked to see Ginsberg again, who was awesome in the one WoS bout we have of his. I know the Black Diamonds were quite famous, though I'm not sure whether it was this version or the one with Eric Cutler. At one point, they wore black masks. Here they were pretending to be Americans. Whether that was reflected in the cheating they did, I'm not sure, but it gave slightly more focus to what is usually a pretty loose style of tag wrestling in European countries. The French wrestlers were good without really being outstanding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gilbert Cesca/René Ben Chemoul vs. Anton Tejero/Inca Péruano (3/12/65)

 

This was pretty fabulous. The early arm rolls were faster and more exaggerated than the Euro stuff I'm used to and almost felt like lucha, and the Peruvians rudo team worked Cesca and Chemoul over like Los Infernales working a rudo fall. Modern rudos should copy the spot where one of the Peruvians gets tied up in the ropes and the face slingshots the other Peruvian into him. The booking of the falls and overall structure wasn't up to scratch with what you'd expect from Southern style tag wrestling, but the work was great, and I love how the commentator spends the whole time chuckling like he's watching a two-reel comedy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anton Tejero vs. Walter Bordes (8/29/67)

 

Man, this was awesome. The matwork here was fantastic with both guys really working an aggressive hold style where everything has a bit more leverage behind it. Tejero was pretty sensational for a guy who had the look of a heavy, and Bordes was supremely athletic. I loved the way they inched their way towards the striking and needling as neither man could get an advantage on the mat, and I also loved the technico style victory that Bordes pulled off with his athleticism. Phil called this a worthy addition to the canon and I couldn't agree more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Les Celtes (Jean Corne/Michel Falempin) vs. Inca Wiracocha et José Gonzales ('68?)

 

This wasn't as good as some of the other tags that have been uploaded, but it still amazes me how much better French tag wrestling is than anywhere else in Europe. This was all about the arm drag exchanges and how well Gonzales bumped for them. Those armdrags into a headscissors was straight out of lucha and should be aped along with a bunch of other stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Dan Aubriot vs. Pierre Bernaert (9/11/62)

 

I'm not sure where Phil got the date from on this one, but I'll roll with it. This was similar to the British style bouts that would disintegrate into forearm smash contests, which the crowd loved but Walton would lambaste. Aubroit seemed the more skilled of the two, or at least was getting the most purchase in the early exchanges, and Bernaert was known for his short temper, so they stirred this one until it was simmering then uncorked the forearm smashes. I like that style of working, so I thought this was a good watch, but it wasn't quite as memorable as some of the other French catch. There were plenty of novel spots, though. The spinning toehold that sparked Bernaert's frustration was a thing of beauty and the strikes were great, though not really Tibor Szakacs great it's fair to say.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kader Hassouni/Jean Corne vs. Albert Sanniez/Jacky Richard (9/3/83)

 

This was in colour and most likely from the 70s. Hassouni and Richard I've see on WoS while Corne was a regular competitor in England during the 1960s and appeared on several Royal Albert Hall shows along with a few TV appearances. He looked pretty old here, which is why I'm guessing this was from the 70s. Richard was apparently a major heel on French TV and he certainly upset the ringside fans in this one. This was another excellent French tag that unfortunately cut out before the finish. The heel work was pretty fantastic with Sanniez applying this really obnoxious looking submission where he kept pulling the face's hair. This upset an old woman at ringside and some snot nosed kids, who were lucky they didn't receive a hiding. Needed the finish, but a solid all round match.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Michel de Santo vs. Michel Chaisne

 

This was fantastic. Every move was a struggle whether it was a body scissors or a headlock and they put maximum effort into their holds and counter holds. It wasn't exactly what you'd call shoot style, but they exerted a similar amount of energy. Even interference from another wrestler (Fred Magnier, I think) and a non-finish couldn't detract from this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Walter Bordes/Gerard Bouvet vs. Pierre Payden/Le Samourai

 

Another quality French tag albeit more about athleticism and rule-bending than cool European holds. Le Samourai was a masked wrestler with a body suit, who was sort of like a French version of the British wrestler Kung Fu, but without the kung fu. He's probably the worst catcheur I've seen from bob ALPRA's videos, but it might just be the gimmick. Without knowing who he was, it's hard to judge his skills as a wrestler. He didn't really do anything special, though, and that's what we're looking for when we watch this stuff. Bordes, Bouvet and Payden were excellent, so that made up for whatever shortcomings the Samurai had. EricR came up with a standard for this matches that I like -- "impossibly cool." This wasn't impossibly cool, but it was a glimpse of three top catcheurs, which helps expand our knowledge of one of wrestling's last frontiers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Marcel Montreal vs. Jean Menard

 

Another great catch video. This time it was a pair of veterans doing the French take on the rule-bender versus the blue eye. Marcel Montreal was a big thick set guy and a heavy hitter, and Menard was a great heel, a real Cien Caras type right down to the silver hair. The match was a brawl basically with Menard doing a bunch of dirty shit and Montreal retaliating. The parts where they went toe-to-toe were the kind of shit you'd love if you love Fit Finlay. Just real hard-arsed brawling. Menard threw in a chair at the end, which isn't the type of behaviour you usually associate with the Euro style, but I've heard in the halls there was a lot of blood, brawling and gimmick matches away from the prying eye of television censors. Lots of fun this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm curious about your opinion of Modesto Aledo when you get to his match with Georges Kidd. Spanish wrestling folklore always had him (as the Kamikaze) and Antonio Montoro as the two best workers. Montoro more a classic style, Aledo a flasher high flying style.

 

The wrestling from Lebanon there was something else with commandos in full camo with AK's at ringside. Not surprising though but still weird. Partying in Beirut is one of the weirdest (and coolest) night outings I have ever had, you go to a nighclub and next to the private security guys you have two or three army guys in full gear and a tank in every major roundabout.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really? I thought the lutte classique 1968 was Aledo vs Kidd. I also thought I saw somewhere a tag match of Aledo as Kamikaze somewhere (I saw the start but not the entire thing). As a teenager I kept hearing stories about him from an old timer who lived the Spanish catch era.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...