New Footage Friday: You Can Never Break the Chain

Franz Van Buyten vs. Johnny South Hamburg 9/22/91

PAS: South is gritty looking guy, sort of a less skilled Terry Rudge. These Van Buyten Piratekamf matches definitely have a formula, Van Buyten takes a big beating at the beginning, does a couple of big leverage spots to keep his opponent from climbing the poll, and then has a fiery comeback. The South beatdown here was on the more brutal side then normal, with Van Buyten getting some nasty looking cuts and abrasions on his nose, and Van Buyten's comebacks are always great. I enjoy good formula wrestling, although I am interested to see if any of these new matches deviate at all.

SR:Well, it‘s 1991. Van Buyten was 4 years away from retirement, and Johnny South, while having a reputation for being a really good worker on British TV in the 80s, was slowly morphing into a Road Warrior clone as European wrestling was dying. Piratenkampf magic was at play here, though. It‘s weird how chain matches that start with something that resembles chain-assisted shootstyle before devolving into a series of drawn out nearfalls over tugging on the chain can work so well, but here we are. The grappling feels really intense with neither guy being willing to give an inch as that might mean he‘d have to spend a few minutes in a painful chain-assisted facelock. South was feeling it here, working a bit like a quasi-Finlay working over Franzs body parts with chain assisted moves and giving him a beating. Franz is of course someone who will sell really well for a guy working like Johnny South here. One thing I am fascinated by is that even after watching Franz in a few chain matches, is that he always does something to mix it up. You watch him and start to notice his spots that he has, and then he will catch you off guard by doing something different. It‘s the mark of a great formula worker that his signature match doesn‘t get old. This was pretty lean at about 20 minutes and since it ended with an interference spot before Franz challenges a young PCO in his Zubaz pants to another Piratenkampf. Weird to have a grudge match set up another grudge match but I‘m not complaining and this was an unexpected nice late career moment for Johnny South.

MD: Super minimalist affair. South spent the first half really leaning on Van Buyten, using the chain to enhance his rudimentary holds and strikes onto a limb. He'd wrap the chain around an arm or leg and just hammer or knee the chain. Van Buyten would have little comebacks whenever he could create distance but he couldn't follow up as South would just goozle him again. He was credible and imposing but not exactly dynamic. He could pretty much get away with just dropping knees on a bleeding Van Buyten. With these matches, a wrestler can get the crowd manipulation equivalent of a hope spot by pulling someone off the pole but that it doesn't mean you can follow up, so it's a nice little narrative tool. As the match went on, Van Buyten's hope spots added in more offense until he finally fully came back with chain assisted punches and was able to go for the pole. It wasn't the most triumphant Van Buyten comeback I've ever seen but the gradual nature of it made it all a bit more nuanced than usual. The back third of the match was all about Van Buyten fighting for victory on the top rope, hanging on to the pole, and it was full of compelling visuals and the crowd being really into it, with a great final flourish that the camera only half caught, but all felt a bit one-sided and maybe even unearned relative to how the first half of the match went.


Franz Van Buyten vs. Wild Carl Wallace Hamburg 9/29/91

SR: Carl Wallace, a young PCO, was another Canadian worker staying in Europe to learn the business. I‘ve seen him have some fun interactions on the (otherwise pretty awful) New Catch show that aired on Eurosport, but I had no idea he stayed in Hamburg let alone that he fought Franz in a Piratenkampf. This had an unusual amount of the face being in control in the opening, I assume to kill time as Wallace wasn‘t super versed in what to do with this gimmick. We do get Franz twisting up Wallaces leg a bit and putting on a chain assisted Fuchi leg stretch. It‘s weird that a chain match opening with grappling and holds works well, but it makes sense when you think about it. Getting your leg worked over sucks, getting your leg worked over with a chain seems downright torturous. PCO quickly finds his groove though as he steps the rope onto Van Buytens throat and then continues to work over him with chain punches while his partner Crawford was outside yelling at Van Buyten in French and cheering PCO on to tug harder when it came to grabbing the flag. Van Buyten looked convincingly beaten to a pulp after eating some elbows and leg drops from PCO before starting his trademark great comeback. Once again there was a nifty spot that involved someone getting launched off the top rope that got a big pop, and because PCO was young and eager he took a big flip bump for his troubles. The ending was more extended than the South match with van Buyten smashing Wallace in the face repeatedly with forearms before PCO misstimes a bodyslam and lands on his own head which feels like the most shocking finish any of these Piratenkampfs had so far. I have no idea how a ca. 1991 PCO would fare in a regular match this long, but in with this stipulation and Van Buyten as the opponent there are no limits.

PAS: You can definitely tell that PCO is greener then goose shit in this match, but the Piratekamf formula can integrate that pretty seamlessly. You don't need to be super experienced to wrap a chain around someones mouth, and that is always going to look awesome. PCO is of course one of the great physical freaks in wrestling and he demonstrates that by hitting a huge flip bump off the top rope, and taking an Oro bump on a bodyslam. Some of his punches and elbows could have used work, but we had the great Van Buyten comeback and some really cool fights over the flag.

MD: This one, just a week later from the last, was a lot more dynamic and a lot more complete. It had an early period where Van Buyten was clearly in control, utilizing holds enhanced by the chain but with a tangible sense of struggle. WCW (PCO in his early-mid 20s) took over with a hairpull and a lot of chain-assisted punches and choking. Very credible if very simple offense. He already had a great physical presence in tossing his body into blows. Van Buyten excels at creating a triumphant moment of comeback, and later in the match, he absolutely created one here by running across the ring and diving away while WCW was going for the flag, causing WCW to take a physics-defying flip bump off the top. From there it was a back and forth slugfest, with Van Buyten selling the weight of the match, especially when going for the flag, before spiking WCW on his head to allow for the finish. While WCW brought a lot of physical tools and enthusiasm to the table, you do get the sense that Van Buyten could do this match with just about anyone in the world.


Shank vs. Terry Knight NWA Wildside 10/21/00

MD: It's a little bit tricky going from Germany to this, if only because the Piratekampf rules of using the pole are just better than the four corner touching. The weirdest moment in this was when Knight did the same sort of leap away from the corner as Van Buyten did in the PCO match, but instead of it being a huge moment, it was just a momentary cut-off on a babyface and Shank was right back in it a moment later. The transition to the outside where Knight pulled him out was utilized better, but again, it didn't stick. I generally liked Knight here. I thought he did some interesting things with the chain, like wrapping it around his own knee, even if maybe he wrestled this a little too evenly. It was very back and forth, which it really didn't have to be given the arrest finish (which is one of those things they used repeatedly, I think, and probably sounded like a good idea on paper, but...). Specific moments were okay here, but nothing stuck. Whereas with the Van Buyten matches, everything sticks.

ER: This starts with a custom Shank sonnet written on a half roll of toilet paper all about how he was going to have Terry Knight's ass, how he bought him for two cigarettes and a roach clip, and we are immediately reminded of Shank: Babyface. The match itself has moments, but overall doesn't really work. It's too long, and the tapping turnbuckles kind of structure doesn't work with a babyface like Shank. The best parts of this are both guys punching with their fists wrapped in chain (Shank has those kind of mostly good punches that you know means the other guy is paying the price the better they look), and Knight even wraps his knee in chain for a kneelift! I also love Shank matches where he gets in over his head on offense, tries things he probably shouldn't be trying, like a wild guillotine legdrop. But Shank is a wildcard and shouldn't be put in matches with silly rules, so the visual of Shank trying to smack turnbuckles in succession makes him look silly. And even sillier, they had Knight carry him around the ring while hitting buckles and had Shank hit them after, and the visual of another man just carrying Shank around like a baby is a position they never should have put him in. Shank can't be just carried by some oversized Mitch Ryder! The arrest finish was a fun idea on paper, and I think would have worked great if Shank had just completely massacred Knight, really needed to look like he was murdering him with that chain. Instead the worked a completely competitive match with Knight being just as dominant as Shank, so most of this sadly didn't work for me.

PAS: I am the high voter on this match. Shank is one of my favorite characters in wrestling ever. A giant muscled up tatted guy who worked a babyface prison rapist gimmick. The poem written on a roll of toilet paper where he lovingly describes sodomizing Knight is a true moment in time. He isn't really a polished wrestler, but has an almost early Goldberg feel to a lot of his offense, it doesn't look controlled, but really looks spectacular and really looks like it hurts. That top rope leg drop was incredible and super violent. I thought there were a lot of nifty moments in this, like Shank wrapping his leg around the chain to block Knight from reaching the buckle, and Knight wrapping Shank's broken arm around the ringpost with the chain. I agree the finish was dumb, but I really enjoyed everything before that.