Georg Hackenschmidt vs. Joe Rogers 1/30/1908
MD: If you're here reading this, I don't have to give you the backstory. You know it. Full props to Dan Rice for going the extra mile and making this happen. With that said, let's take a look at the text itself. I've seen people come down on whether this was a shoot or a work, but Hackenschmidt absolutely dominant here, whether he was simply presented that way or not. We get two full falls with matches in between and outside of losing his shoe early on, he never seemed in danger at all. Past the opening when they were both standing and jockeying for position, most of this was on the mat and he was in control for most of it. He was constantly shifting positions, pulling Rogers leg out to hobble his balance, working around him.
Meanwhile, Rogers was constantly active but there was a sense that if he tried for anything to aggressive then Hackenschmidt would be able to get him on his back. A couple of times he was able to bring his arm around for a headlock but it seemed to do him more harm than good overall. Whenever they got towards the end of the mat, Hackenschmidt, being the one in control would indicate that they move back to center and they'd reset with him in control once more. Maybe the most compelling bits here were the pins, especially in the first round. Rogers was larger, more tan, more obviously muscular (though the end clip of Hackenschmidt flexing was certainly something). Hackenschmidt had his number regardless and eventually worked him to his back. Rogers was able to keep a shoulder up ever so slightly and over the span of a minute, Hackenschmidt ground him down switching positions and angles until the shoulder dropped and the ref called it. It was inevitable but compelling nonetheless. I have no great takeaways here, no great wisdom. You could see how this could evolve into something more with the drama of that finish, with the interest from losing the show and working the rest of the fall without it. Genuine sense of struggle, be it in a work or a shoot, will always be compelling. Maybe that's the takeaway.
Blackjack Lanza vs. Bobby Heenan AWA 11/4/83
MD: This was a Wrestling Playlists find and it's a lot of fun. Really, you're watching this for Heenan taking a bunch of interesting offense in incredibly over the top ways. Lanza hits him with a double eye poke, a claw, these great stalking and then corner punches, a head knocker, so on and so forth. Just grumpy old guy offense and Heenan bounces and bounds all over the place, often ending up stuck across the turnbuckles or into the ropes. At one point towards the end he takes a bulldog with a front roll, spiking himself in the process.
What offense he gets here is by using some wrist tape to choke, but Lanza only takes so much of that before angrily popping up to the crowd's delight. When he gets the tape himself, he doesn't choke Heenan with it but instead goes straight for the eyes in the nastiest way possible. This ends with Heenan running for the hills but the fans were booing him and not the promotion for ending a match that way. Thus was the power of Bobby Heenan. I could watch him take offense all day. There was never anyone like him.
ER: Anyone who goes out of their way to consume as much of Bobby Heenan: Wrestler as possible all know that he is in the discussion for wrestling's all time biggest bump freak. But a thing that doesn't get talked about enough is that he doesn't ever seem to do the same bump twice. His bumps are all instantly recognizable as Heenan Bumps but I swear none of them are the same. I've watched this man bump into turnbuckles a few hundred times and I don't think I've seen him land the same way twice. You can watch him get thrown towards, into, and onto the turnbuckles as many times as you like and come away thinking every one is its own snowflake. You've seen him take bumps like the ones you are seeing, but this time he's getting hung up in the ropes different than you've seen, going over the ropes different, or just falling into them different.
Nobody lands like Bobby Heenan, and maybe that's because Heenan is a man who never gives anyone a blueprint of how to land. His blend of pratfalls and violent bumps and violent pratfalls are second to none. Lanza shot him into the ropes just so he could thrust both his thumbs into Bobby's eyes on the rebound, and Heenan - selling his eyes - staggered until he fell face first into the middle buckle, then bumped backwards from the turnbuckle impact. I've never seen him do that, that way, because that is what he does. Lanza is a great taller skinnier Greg Gagne and would have stood out in plenty of ways if his opponent wasn't Bobby Heenan. Lanza's big punches and those eye pokes and his undeniable charisma do hold their own, but so much of this act is completely made by Heenan wrecking his body in novel ways. You've seen Bobby Heenan flip over in amazing ways taking a punch, but you have never seen him flip the way he does here. Because that's how Bobby Heenan bumps work. He's just going to take a bulldog like a spike DDT.
Otto Wanz vs. Don Leo Jonathan Graz, Austria 7/12/80
MD: The Great Don Leo Jonathan's final match. We previously had 12 clipped minutes of this in watchable format and the brunt of the footage in completely unwatchable format with the sound muted. I had watched the former a few years back when I was going over some Wanz and couldn't make too much sense of it, clipped. This is very much new and complete then and it's worth watching. It starts slow and clean with the two playing size vs size but quickly gets more heated.
Wanz wins a couple of early exchanges and Jonathan starts to go for inside moves. The engine of these Wanz matches was that his opponent cheated and Wanz tried to stay on the up and up with the fans wanting him to fire back and go dirty more and more. When he finally did it, they erupted. Jonathan had a great variety of punches. Pokey ones in the corner, these flicking backhands, big meaty shots. And when Wanz fired back he was willing to bump around, even it being his last match, including getting knocked over the top a couple of times.
They both had specific bits of athleticism too. Jonathan flipped over using the ropes to get of an armhold and hit a dropkick as well. Wanz had his flipping sentons towards the end but also did an up and over headscissors takedown. More than any move however, was the physicality and intensity of those corner beatdowns from Jonathan which ended a round and then Wanz starting the next round but rushing across the ring to pummel him to the crowd's delight. He had such a special relationship with them and they got so loud as started to fight fire with fire.
What we get here with the full match is much more fleshed out and valuable than the 12 minutes we already had. It seemed like Jonathan still had a lot to offer but he bowed out on a high note against Wanz.
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