Saulnier vs Marconville

Michel Saulnier vs Jo Marconville, 11 December 1959 

Saulnier (in the lighter trunks) takes on Marconvillle in a gentlemanly 21-minute match that gets mean in the last half. The adversaries combine speedy acrobatics and abrupt takedowns effectively. I think the combination is distinctively European, but a strong influence elsewhere, namely Mexico and Japan. Acrobatic grappling influences the work of Ricochet, Finn Balor, and Will Ospreay, among others. It has not been a significant influence in underground wrestling, perhaps because the form is best appreciated live and in person.

On the whole I prefer the slow grind-and-grimace emphasis of American wrestling of this period, but acrobatics has always fascinated me, too.There are several sudden strikes in this match that are fiercely executed.  Both Jo and Michel have taut muscular bodies, and they have chemistry as performers. The finisher is a little on the rushed and sloppy side, but the slow three-count with one body covering the other, chest to chest with a thigh flung over the loser's midsection, is (in my mind) postcoital.