Found Footage Friday: Hanover 1981

Hanover 1981

MD: Another Richard Land (@maskedwrestlers on twitter) find. He has a ton of these from a recent haul that he'll slowly go through. We've already seen the next and it's full of great stuff. If you are, however, let's say the biggest Adrian Street fan in the world, do feel free to reach out to me. Some things really need to be seen.

Achim Chall vs. John Quinn

MD: Quinn had a size advantage here and could pepper in shots from almost any angle whenever he wanted. Chall was obviously skilled, both generally and in kayfabe, presented as such. He was able to score clever takedowns and get in jumping knees. The problem is that Quinn gave him no room to breathe. He was constantly being admonished by the ref for picking Chall up too early or kicking at him while he was down or stepping on him. When he hit moves, it was dropping him throat first on the ropes. He would put illegal holds on and hide punches with a headlock. You could hear the announcer mention some slight he did every few seconds. Eventually the ref had enough and red carded him, awarding the match to Chaim. It wasn't satisfying but because of those little glimpses of Chall's skill maybe it was effective in getting Quinn heat for the tour overall, allowing Chall to beat him without hurting Quinn at all (even if it didn't help Chall a ton) and reinforcing the rules, always important in the grand scheme of things.

Adrian Street vs. Francisco/Paco Ramirez

MD: Street's song is so effective at making him stand out, even in 1981 Germany. It just transfers anywhere and is so unique relative to everyone else's presentation even though people tend to come out to music here. But he was going to stand out anyway. This was one of the most remarkable things I've ever seen. He was a babyface at times in the States but he was still the Other and it was much more about seeing the heel get embarrassed in the South by someone who you'd never invite to dinner. This was different. It was celebratory in the most German way. It was Cabaret. There was pure elation for everything he did, whether it was using Ramirez' arm to mimic sexual acts while in an armbar or dancing with high kicks between falls or menacing the ref. Street may or may not have been the best wrestler in the world on this night in 1981 but he was the most appreciated and maybe the most alive. I've never seen him quite so free to be this over the top in everything he did but the fans absolutely ate it up. It was on Paco Ramirez, one of our old friends from the later French footage to play the straight man. Yes, Street was over the top, but it took incredible skill and understanding of pro wrestling (including, yes, the mechanics) to make this all work. No one could have done it quite like him and we've never had footage of him doing it quite like this.

PAS: Killer stuff, the decadent Weimar German's are eating up his act with a spoon, really reminded me of a crowd super into an all timer lucha exotico like  Pimpinela or Cassandro. Really made me wish we had an epic bloody lucha Adrian Street apuestas match. Not a ton of actual wrestling in this, but you could tell that Street was a master of that part of it all as well.  This was a couple of years after Bowie moved to German, but it had that Bowie spirit. This isn't the kid of thing which encourages a lot of written scrutiny, bit what a delight.

 

Alex Dieter vs. Moose Morowski

MD: There's a noted classic 1980 match between these two that I'm not nearly familiar enough with, but I can say safely that these two were familiar with one another here. Dieter attacks right from the start and controls for the entire first round and the fans chant his name and love it. You get the sense that Morowski deserves it as well. Nothing flashy but a thorough beating. Then Morowski returns the favor in the second round with violent, rudimentary offense incensing the fans. After tossing Dieter out of the ring, a fan decides to take matters into his own hands and tosses a chair in. Morowski immediately beelines towards the ropes and charges at him and that's basically all she wrote for this one. We see the camera trying to track what's going on but it's hopeless. Completely unexpected. Totally wild. True heat and immediate consequence. Pro wrestling, everybody.

PAS: I loved the 1980 match

https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/11/all-time-moty-list-head-to-head.html

This felt like a house show version of the epic 1980 match, and clearly had some building to do until the fan chucks the chair at Moose ending the match. Would have loved to see the beating Morowski clearly put on that dude, and that is certainly a legit memorable finish. 

Grand Vladimir vs. Caswell Martin

MD: Pretty enjoyable stuff! Vladimir is very funny at first, doing everything over-the-top sporting to Martin and the crowd's surprise. A lot of raising his hand and shaking his hand and really making a show of it. Martin returns the favor by holding on to a cravat for the entirety of the second round despite every attempt by Vladimir to escape. One idea executed perfectly. In the third round, Vladimir goes for another handshake and then hits a gutshot and tosses Martin out as the ref is distracted and it's lovely payoff to all of the build. He ultimately gets disqualified but then is run off post-match. 

Goro Tanaka (Tsurumi)/Kengo Kimura vs. Cowboy Ed Wiskoski/"American Football Star" Jim Neidhart. 

MD: Goro totally gets it. He does a big sumo introduction including a split where Kimura bounces on his back. Wiskoski comes out with a cowboy hat and to "Some Girls" by Racey which is not a song I had ever heard before but it's quite the entrance overall. This is two out of three falls but none of the falls get a lot of time. Tsurumi is working for the last row and Neidhart is a tank. He catches Kimura off the ropes for a stampede to end the first fall. Second fall ends with them doing a bunch of silly karate moves on Neidhart, with the third ending abruptly with a dropkick to reverse a bodyslam into a pin. Things were simple and straightforward here, with one inversion instead of six, but it was all very effective. Just a weird match on paper and in practice though.

Moose Morowski vs. Pat Roach

MD: Roach took the first quarter of this by controlling the arm with a double wristlock and all sorts of other offense. But once it opened up, they absolutely pounded on each other and never looked back. Just a total war of attrition. It spilled out multiple times and came back in. There were cheapshots at the end of the round and then cheapshots to counter the cheapshots at the end of the next round. I don't think there's a whole lot to say about it, but that it's just great pro wrestling, blurry, gritty, full of animosity, with the most believable late match selling you'll see. Of course they were exhausted. Of course they could barely get up. They'd been going for minutes upon minutes just laying it in on one another. You could get parts of a match like this today but not, I think the total sum of it.

 

Achim Chall vs. Bret Hart

 

MD: This being on the tape was why it was prioritized and I'm glad it was for the Morowski matches and the Street match, but there's not a lot here. Chall is obviously very skilled at doing simple things extremely well. This is all Bret working the arm and Chall countering with some fun cravat stuff. They'll work up to their feet and crash into each other and go back down into the holds. Perfectly solid stuff. The highlight was probably Bret doing one of those bridge arounds to keep the hold that always look so slick and that I've never seen him do before. It ends just as simply with Chall falling on Bret for the pin.