1963 Match of the Year

Golden Moose Cholak vs. Larry Chene Chicago Wrestling 3/15/63

PAS: Cholak holds the Chicago version of the world title and is sort of an incubatory Vader, he is a giant dude just as comfortable cracking Chene with headbutts and clubbing forearms and he is taking big bumps to the floor and stooging. Cholak opens the match with some really fast leg takedowns which were awesome looking. Chene uses some tricks to get minor advantages, tying Cholak's boots together, leapfrogging the ref for a dropkick, but most of the match is Chene trying to survive Cholak's onslaught. Chene keeps coming forward face covered in blood and starts to turn the tide as Cholak begins to gas out. Finish has a real epic slugfest feel to it, Chene doesn't have great punches, Cholak's selling still made it feel like the last round of 15 round title fight.

ER: What a treat! Cholak is gigantic, looking like John Goodman in Barton Fink, and then blowing me away with these gorgeous super fast rolling single legs. His single leg takedowns would look awesome if Timothy Thatcher did them. Now picture John Goodman doing them. I'll wait. While you're picturing John Goodman doing awesome fast takedowns, Moose is punching Chene in the hamstring. Moose gets his laces tied together and takes a big stoogy bump off it, and Chene grabs a headlock and throws some great uppercuts. The announcer says that "Cholak steamed across the ring like a baby hippo" and you're in love. And then Moose hits a couple of standing splashes while in north south position, and yo've never seen that, and now Golden Moose Cholak is the only wrestler you ever want to watch. Chene works a nice headscissors and they build to a ridiculously awesome spot where Chene leapfrogs the ref to dropkick Moose. I thought Chene was going to give the ref a reverse frankensteiner or something. Chene gets busted open by Moose, Moose takes a nice backdrop, and Chene does a cool flying scissors takedown to win the segunda. Moose stops messing around in the third and absolutely brains Chene with a headbutt. "The Moose is mean tonight," says the announcer. The announcer puts over all the blood in Chene's eyes, saying he doesn't even know where to punch, he's just throwing at the large object heading his way. Chene somehow throws a shoe right at Moose's face, and what the hell is happening!? Chene is a real fighter and keeps throwing no matter how damaged he is, some missing, some landing, but always flying towards Cholak's head. Sadly we end in a time limit draw, but Cholak really made this feel like an epic war, with Chene playing his end admirably. This is a great 20 minutes.


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