So the WWE Premium Live Event Backlash: France was in, well… France, this weekend . I heard a lot of chatter about it. Well a lot of talk about a Burning Hammer kick out at one and a lot of talk about Drew Gulak. Intrigued, I decided to tune in. Somehow, I found myself watching the latest event from the French indie wrestling promotion, Rixe Catch instead.

I figured gotta be close enough. Let’s see how the shows lineup against each other. Bear in mind I have not and will not watch Backlash, but I can’t imagine it will affect my review process much.

For the record, just to streamline things,  I’m skipping all the video packages and promos on this show, as I would Backlash: France. Though in the case of Catch Rixe it is the language barrier rather than a decade plus of terrible video packages and mind numbing promos. 

Catch Rixe Episode 20

03/16/2024

Plouasne, Frankreich

CACC France Title Match Jacob Vadocq (c) vs Skaar 

Damian Priest vs Jey Uso

This is for a title from Catch as Catch Can, a different French indie promotion which despite being on a goof named Jacob with an Amish gimmick is presented as much more important than whatever they call the belt Damian carries around.

Skaar is usually one of my favorites in this promotion and he’s great here. He just throws himself into every move he performs. Jacob brought his A-game, though with some especially stiff strikes. 

There’s a couple times that Skaar absolutely kills Jacob. I could see people hating the finish but I appreciated it. A roll up plays into how Jacob wrestled the match and kept Skaar strong. 

There’s zero chance Damian Priest vs Jey Uso was better than this match.

Rixe Title #1 Contendership Four Way Match Jack Sans-Nom vs Joseph Fenech Jr. Vs Mike D Vecchio vs Peter Fischer 

The Bloodline vs Randy Orton and Kevin Owens

Both of these matches feature four wrestlers and only one of which I’m a fan of, Owens and Sans-Nom respectively. They have quite a bit in common: package piledrivers, wrestling in shirts, being maniacs, etc.

Joseph Fenech Jr would be right at home in a Tracy Smothers match, in a Rotten Rewatch. He multiple times teases getting in the ring at the start of the match before untimely bailing. Mike D Vecchio takes offense and tosses Jack San-Noms over the top rope onto Fenech.

Some of the spots in the match get a little too cutesy and choreographed for my taste, but they’re going a mile a minute and never lose my interest. Even the dreaded tower of doom spot, while clunky and stupid, was a version I don’t think I’ve seen before. In a world where every show has four multiman matches and each one has a tower of doom spot, originality is impressive. They seemingly all get a chance to kill themselves with dives to the outside.

The finishing run was hot and impressive and had me biting on several near falls. Mike D Vecchio especially impressed here at the end. Jack steals the win with a weapon shot though.

In effort alone there’s no way a match with Randy Orton and Tama Tonga had anywhere near this kind of energy. Another easy win for Rixe Catch. 

Tom LaRuffa vs Tristan Archer 

Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair vs The Kabuki Warriors

I paired these matches because I see similarities between Tristan Archer and Jade Cargill. They both look like pro wrestlers, exude an amazing aura, and that’s about it.

Tristan might be the most well known wrestler in Rixe Catch. He’s booked in wXw and had a, Dave Meltzer approved, match against Will Ospreay. The Ospreay match is by far the most watched match in Rixe Catch history

Tom LaRuffa is also a fairly big name in France, having spent years in WWE and TNA as Sylvester Lefort and  Basile Barake. Personally Tom LaRuffa is much more what I’m looking for aesthetically in a pro wrestler, bald spot and a big beard. As I’m typing that I realized that describes me and I’m for the first time contextualizing why I like balding, chubby, bearded wrestlers…

This match is basically nothing. Tristan eventually hits his dumb finisher, but the heel referee pretends to hurt his shoulder before counting to three. LaRuffa hits a low blow and a kick before getting the win and it’s followed by a heel stable beat down on Tristan, by Les Francs Tireurs. The referee even officially joins the heel stable, in nWo fashion, by accepting a T-shirt. 

I was about to give WWE Backlash: France its first victory, but I just saw the women’s tag match went over 17 minutes. No fucking reason it should ever be that long. I’m calling this a draw. 

Six Man Tag Team Match Les Francs Tireurs (Antoine Bernard, Georges Balzac & Gustave Le Brun) vs MBM, Ricky Sosa & Scotty Rawk 

Ok I didn’t compare this match against anything, but it’s not my fault Triple H only books 5 matches for his terrible PLEs.

It’s funny that after attacking Tristan, Les Francs Tireurs leave to let the faces enter the ring and then come out again. Never a good sign for the face team when the heels are a well-organized stable and the faces are three random dudes.

This is mostly a showcase for the heels, but it’s fun with double and triple team spots mixed in with a healthy amount of cheating.

Rixe Women’s Title #1 Contendership Match Kira Chimera vs Amale and Mila Smidt 

Bayley vs Noami vs Tiffany

WWE and Rixe Catch, both thought a women’s triple threat was a good idea. We shall see!

Kira Chimera is kind of cool. This is probably reductive because she’s a larger woman wearing fishnets, but she’s like a poor man’s Mickie Knickles. Just slapping and tossing these smaller women around. When they’re playing that up with Amale and Mila teaming up or taking turns trying to take out Kira it really works. 

After enough Headbutts and middle fingers I no longer have any doubt about Mickie Knuckles influence on Kira. She wins this dominantly. 

I have to assume there were zero gross headbutts in the WWE triple threat and Bayley, despite at one potion being a favorite of mine, is as the kids say cooked. This is another L for WWE Backlash: France.

Rixe Title Match Aigle Blanc (c) vs YOICHI

Cody Rhodes vs AJ Styles

Earlier I said Tristan Archer is probably the most well known wrestler for Rixe Catch but it could also very easily be their champ Aigle Blanc. Blanc is in wXW, has wrestled Mustapha Ali, and came over to America for Wrestlemania weekend. Or as it’s rightfully know this year DEAN weekend. 

YOICHI is a NOAH wrestler on an European excision wrestling here, Progress, and wXw amongst other places. 

This match starts off with a tiny bit of superfluous  bullshit, but then gets into gear and feels like a jig time title match. Aigle shows off his dives and killer chops before a back and forth strike exchange allows the bigger, stronger YOICHI to take over. YOICHI targets and attacks Aigle’s leg in a lot of fun ways. Aigle hits a lot of moves after this so I can see some people getting upset by that, but I liked they way he sold it. A lot of the spots he hits using his injured leg either don’t hit, are hit hesitantly or with desperation as he tries to secure the victory. 

Once YOICHI takes back over, he often just tosses Aigle onto his feet causing him to collapse. It’s good stuff.

Lost of cool spots in this like they do a trading chop spot from the tree of woe that makes YOICHI sitting in the ropes after feel more earned than usual. YOICHI hits multiple splashes to the injured leg. Just real fun smart work in this. Not to mention everything his crisp and stiff. 

The final lariat that Aigle uses to take control and win is done from his knees because he can barely stand. Real fun title match. Best match of the show and the best match I’ve watched so far this month. Definitely worth checking out.

It’s gotta be better than a 30-minute Cody match, but it’s cool Cody kicked out of the Burning Hammer at one. I assume he was paying tribute to Homicide kicking out of Aries’ Burning Hammer at one, which itself was a shot at Dan Maff for being a sex pest or something. Who knows, it sounds like a great time if that’s your thing.

Oh, also, Jack Sans-Nom comes out to set up the next show. I always enjoy it when I dip into Rixe Catch. I really should consistently follow it. There was only one thing that wasn’t at least good (Archer/LaRuff), and that was short. The two and a half hours flew by. Highly recommend watching this instead of what I assume is a 4-hour WWE PLE.

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