1965

[Phil Schneider]

For the first champ we chose

Gilbert Cesca/Ben Chemoil v. Anton Tejero/Inca Peruano French Catch 3/12/65

SC REVIEW

Nominate some contenders, discuss the match, ect. below

[ohheylook]

Been following along on SC, but just registered here, so glad to see you've made a subforum for this project. 

To my knowledge, this is the only 60s match I have watched, though I have vague memories from a few years ago Youtubing "vintage wrestling" and watching some pretty awful footage.

I like the talk about pace in the match, because for the first 15 minutes, it really doesn't let up. Probably longer (watched in bed). The match did start to drag in a short middle section, but the announcer and some unique moves (almost a Code Red at one point) kept me involved. I will say that I feel like this isn't the actual speed, as often happens in old movies and footage (movies from the 20s-40s often playback at a sightly faster speed because there are less frames per second?) but this is from the 60s so who knows. Anyway, I just had moments where I was actually doubting the believability of the match because of the speed (just or unjust). There was even a time where I thought it could all be an elaborate choreographed rude from modern times due to the moves.

I don't actually feel that way but those were thoughts while watching - maybe that is just because it is such a fascinating, unexpected match. Hugely awesome find, I'll have to look at the French Catch thread a little more in depth on PWO.

Thanks for bringing it to light, Phil!

[Phil Schneider]

This was similar to what I thought when I saw Cantanzaro v. Cesca which was the first French Catch match I saw. I kind of discovered it before anyone else in this world, so I hadn't even heard anyone talk about French Catch before. Coming into it completely blind is totally nuts, made no sense.