30 March 1957
Leduc Zarzecki
Gilbert Leduc vs Warnia de Zarzecki, 30 March 1957 (Wrestling in Paris)
YouTube footage of this event is preceded by a fine but short match squaring Gaston Maujean against Guy Cavillier. It's worth watching but it pales in comparison to the next match, in which hairy-chested Gilbert Leduc of France faces Warnia de Zarzecki of Poland. This was Zarzecki's first year as a professional wrestler. Leduc debuted as a professional wrestler in 1948 at age 22. (At 16, he had joined the French Resistance to fight Nazis.) By the mid-1950s Leduc was universally recognized as one of France's top wrestlers.
It has been almost eight years since I blogged on Leduc here and here. A lot of my friends do not like my throwbacks to the early days of televised wrestling. One who shares my appreciation, though, is Dr. L, who recently described his earliest wrestling fandom, which is remarkably like my own. He says,
"I distinctly remember the first time I experienced that funny feeling in the gut that I now recognize as being turned on--it was while watching Billy Darnell in a match. I didn't immediately connect the hot sweaty body in conflict with another one with my feeling, but it didn't take long to put it together. I became increasingly, and quickly, obsessed with pro wrestling. As you know well, I've never gotten over it. Or that feeling in the gut that can be created by the mention of certain names or even, sometimes, by the word 'wrestling.'"
The first half of Leduc vs Zarzecki features the acrobatics typical of 1950s wrestling. (They did it better back then. Not too slick, just the right amount of messy.) The last half features some acrobatics, but the fight is more intense - chokes and punches, as seen in the GIFs below. This sort of thing may not interest you - or the majority of visitors to this blog - but drama this dynamic gives me goosebumps - and a "funny feeling in the gut.".
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