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Professional wrestling in France dates back to the 1830s and exhibitions of Greco Roman wrestling in circuses. In the 1930s French wrestling moved from Greco Roman to Catch wrestling. Between the early 1950s and late 1980s France was one of two European countries, along with the United Kingdom, to have regular national television coverage of professional wrestling. As with British Wrestling on ITV, French TV likewise made household names of wrestling stars like L'Ange Blanc,[1] Le Bourreau de Bethune[1] Chéri Bibi,[2] Robert Duranton,[2] Le Petit Prince[1] and Flesh Gordon.[3] Some French wrestlers, notably André the Giant and Edouard Carpentier, went on to successful American wrestling careers. By the mid-1980s, the WWF had invaded France and soon eclipsed local wrestling in popular culture. In the 21st century, wrestling companies in France are split between the surviving traditional French promotions and those more styled after American independent wrestling.
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