Forget Modernity

Bert Royal vs Tony Oliver, Wrestling in Paris, 22 February 1957, (Wrestling in Europa)

I rushed to find and view this match after reading Segunda Caida's posting on it, describing it as a "nasty, grinding title fight, 1 fall over 35 minutes .... Great mix of wrestling and beating the shit out of each other." Also, "I loved how intense they worked the pin attempts, I am so mad workers nowadays have no sense for that kind of thing." Also, "Forget modernity: this is the best way you'll spend thirty-five minutes watching wrestling this month." Then, "This was a stone cold classic match."

At a distance, the wrestlers are hard to distinguish from each other. Both are in dark-colored trunks. Tony Oliver from Asturias, Spain, is the hot-headed heel with hair on his chest. He was 26 at the time of this match. Bert Royal, born in Bolton, Manchester, England, plays straight man to Oliver's antics until he decides enough is enough and fights crazy-ass fire with crazy-ass fire. He was 25 at the time. Oliver's curly hair is cropped close to the skull, and he has a mustache. Royal has loose wavy hair and a slim body.

The first section of the match focuses on mat grappling. The last section is wall-to-wall fistfight. Even the ref takes a punch now and then. And as the athletes heat up, they vent by trying to mess each other up but good. I love the way Oliver uses the palm of his hand  against Royal's face (first GIF below) to ruin the Brit's good looks ... and the stiff uppercut that launches Bert over the top rope (last GIF). To quote from Segunda Caida again: "Oliver was the kind of worker who was all about inside shots and grinding his knuckles really hard into his opponent. Anytime he got the advantage he would dig his fist into Berts face, elbow to the stomach, bite, or hammer him in the ribs." Those two sentences alone give me a stiffy. 

I carved out a ridiculous number of GIFs from this match. These, I think, are the essentials.