Found Footage Friday: RIP BUTCH~! FUJIWARA~! SUPER TIGER~! VALENTINE~!

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Super Tiger 10/12/97

MD: This was quite the spectacle, over ten years off from their classic series of matches. This never really gets the chance to get going, as it's stopped and started a couple of times, the most meaningful being when Inoki charges forth to demand it. That said, there are interesting wrinkles, like Sayama putting so much of his efforts (once the kicks fail to work given Fujiwara's defense) on a rear naked choke. That makes sense given the time and it's interesting to watch Fujiwara try to play defense and escape while he's in that specific hold put on by this specific wrestler. You get glimpses, specifically him tossing his head back repeatedly and the flip side, being Sayama throwing his fists into Fujiwara's ribs or his elbows down upon his head over and over. Given time, it would have been interesting how Fujiwara's defense might have turned the tide but this was too disjointed to have that play out. Post match, Inoki slaps Fujiwara and that's as fitting an end to this one as anything else I guess. 

Los Pastores vs. Joe Savoldi/Al Perez WWC 1985

MD: Thought it would be good to look at a few crates matches for Butch since he just passed away. For Puerto Rico, either things have been covered or they're just clips. I'd love full matches from the 97 run, for instance, but we're not going to get those. This was posted a year or so ago and even if it was out there previously, I doubt it was looked at heavily. Savoldi and Perez are Los Rockeros, both with mustaches and pastels. This was more or less to set up the Invaders running in after the match got thrown out but it's fairly complete and a good look at just how good Luke and Butch were playing the basic beats. They fed early, leaned in the middle, and backpedaled on a comeback before chaos took over, but the timing was spot on with the cutoffs and there was a wonderful brutality to just jamming a knee down onto Savoldi's skull again and again and again. All the while they were making the alien facial expressions that would let them be beloved babyfaces later, here inspiring horrified reactions instead. Savoldi and Perez were the dropkick heavy Fabs clones, not nearly as good as the Rock'n'Roll RPMs would be a few years later in Puerto Rico but certainly passable with a team like this and Savoldi took a beating well. This wasn't a bloody spectacle but it was pretty damn professional and likely set up something with real heat.

Bushwhackers vs. Greg Valentine/Larry "Ace" Green WPW 6/12/99

MD: The narrative has come pretty far in accepting that the Sheepherders' retirement package, dealing with the same brutal travel schedule that the rest of the WWF teams had to but being the beloved Bushwhackers, wasn't, in fact, the worst thing in the history of wrestling, but instead something to be cherished and approved of. That said, it still leaves behind that they were pretty damn good at being the Bushwhackers and accomplishing what they set out to do in their matches. It meant relying upon different muscles and instincts than what they did before, but it still took two experienced journeymen to pull it off, especially when you consider that their matches were going to be lacking so much of what contemporary babyface teams like the Hart Foundation and Rockers were doing. Without action, they had to rely upon timing and selling, building up that tension for the hot tag and relying upon their opponents to stooge and feed and help them come up as credible, no matter who they might have once been.

From the look of it, this was a pretty well attended event in Fort Smith, AR, and the crowd was up for the whole thing. Some of that was the star power involved. A lot of it was Butch working the apron. And probably more was Luke flailing and writhing and being a constant ball of concentrated motion in his selling. There were no big bumps but he simulated pain and desperation as he tried to fight back. Meanwhile, you had Greg Valentine, conductor of so many professional Brutus Beefcake tags there to direct traffic. He may have been 46 himself, but he just had to drop elbows upon Bushwhacker skulls and work over that leg and cut off the ring even when you thought Luke was going to make it through his legs for a tag. Green was a game partner, more than happy to miss a legdrop or a big splash when the match required a bump and with a look and offense that made him feel like he fit in the match. When the hot tag finally came, the crowd popped for it and for the entire revenge laden finishing stretch, right down to the heel miscommunication that spelled the end for Green. Again, there was nothing complicated about this act, but that doesn't mean it was easy. If they weren't as good at their craft, there was no way the Bushwhackers could have distilled so much from so little to such effect.