Found Footage Friday: DANIELSON~! SUWA~! PIRATENKAMPF~! VAN BUYTEN~! LASARTESSE~! VERNE~!

Verne Gagne vs. Bobby Nelson NWA Chicago 1955

MD: Another @pwoloss unearthing we're just getting to. Always nice to see a new match with young Verne, and he was his usual dynamic self here, feigning headlocks for quick decisive hammerlocks, hitting (and dramatically missing) that signature dropkick, ready to fire back against Nelson's shenanigans. 

And Nelson was full of them. I really liked how he moved in general. If he was going to eat a Gagne shot, he did it by getting caught up in the ropes for a second and then sold it with a full spin. Just full effort before, during, after. When he took a mare, he almost went flying out of the ring. Likewise, when he went for a front facelock, he kept putting his foot on the bottom rope to push off and send things back to the middle of the ring. Little things like that when it came to positioning and trickiness. Lots of sneaking in punches, but he'd sneak them in right in the eye in the nastiest way. 

It meant that when Verne did come back, the clobbering he could put on and the technique he used was more than warranted and the fans went up big for it. The old Gagne sleeper that he used to end it was at a slight angle and looked particularly nasty. Just a good short match up with enough contrast to make things work.

Franz Van Buyten vs. Rene Lasartesse (Piratenkampf) Germany 10/84

MD: Another month, another uncovered classic that Richard Land (@maskedwrestlers) dropped on his patreon from the German haul. We only had a few minutes of this previously, and what we had before was blurry and gripping, a fight for every inch in the corner midway through the match. The whole thing is a far more minamalist affair, with some really great high points surrounding the climbs in the corner and Van Buyten especially putting his entire body into halting them. 

It still has the sort of grueling mood that you'd expect from these matches, with a lot of wrenching at the face with the chain, scraping it against teeth with a yank from behind, but the video quality is almost too crisp for such an affair and the blood doesn't flow quite as freely as one might like. It's still tremendous how much they accomplish just by making every small movement matter as much as possible and Van Buyten's comeback is all around brutal. He's one of the greatest babyfaces of all time for a reason; his body language is as good as anyone's ever, and unique on top of that. No one moves like him, the way he throws limbs and frame into everything he does. That's especially present in the comeback. The finish is cheap as can be with Lasartesse escaping the chain and capturing the flag while getting pummeled in the ropes, but in the ensuing, heated chaos, order is restored and no matter what was written on paper, the fans at least got to leave feeling like Van Buyten was the victor.

Bryan Danielson vs. SUWA 1PW 8/19/06

MD: We don't talk a lot about SUWA. This is less known then their ROH match which happened a few days earlier but it was a lot of fun. I didn't love the opening stretch, if only because I didn't feel like they were entirely in sync. Everything was clean but SUWA was messing with the cameraman and the timekeeper and Danielson didn't really play off of it. He took a really nasty double snot rocket just by reversing a whip and hitting his next few spots; yeah one of them was a dive but I wanted a little more. He did throw some toilet paper back at SUWA after he chucked it from outside the ring towards Danielson, so that was well appreciated.

When they got into the heat and the comeback and went down the stretch, I liked it a lot more. SUWA had extra oomph to everything he did. If he took Danielson up and over for a backbreaker, he went way up and over with him. Everything looked good. Danielson, on the other hand, had a really nice looking twisting European uppercut off the second ropes and a tight chicken wing. When they went to strikes and headbutts, everything felt impactful and was sold as such. When Danielson finally locked in the Cattle Mutilation in the center of the ring, it really, truly felt like there was nothing SUWA could do. That's how you want it to feel. I'm glad @aspiranteanegro sent this our way (via Tom).

ER: Matt says we don't talk a lot about SUWA but I think it's more that we don't write about SUWA enough. That's what he meant, but I think the difference is important enough to note. Because, even though we've only written about a few SUWA matches over our existence, SUWA is one of my very favorite wrestlers. He was my favorite Toryumon guy and a completely unique presence in NOAH, and then he was gone. An always eventful 10 years and then he was out. He was one of our last great punchers and last great heels. Nobody else in NOAH was a heel the way he was, with a truly heel face that everyone wanted to see punched. He has pock marks and could have worked any US territory in the 80s and been a legend. There were so many incredible SUWA matches that we did not get to see, but now we have tape of the other SUWA/Danielson match. 

SUWA worked so well with Danielson, fully understanding what the other was capable of. The match had a great build, making it feel like a really complete match. I was surprised that it was "only" 11 minutes long. It felt longer, in a good way, because the nearfalls down the finishing stretch felt well earned. SUWA comes off so authentic. He's tough, but a great stooge. He has no interest in winking as part of his heel routine. He does not ever show any interest in people liking him. He is committed to being a heel and has a moveset that fits him perfectly. There's a great bit where he toe kicks Danielson in the balls and then does full pantomime for the ref, hitting the inside of his leg and doing one of the best ball sells I've seen in showing the ref Danielson was just faking it. SUWA has great kicks. He is not a kicker, but he has great kicks. Nobody wrestling today has better stomach kicks than SUWA, and his John Woo dropkick to Danielson's stomach looked like it caused the bump Danielson took into the buckles. SUWA has a finisher worthy clothesline and throws an overhand chop across Danielson's face, his quebradora looked fully controlled and violent, and he's so good at kickouts that he made it look like Danielson could still beat him four different ways. I don't know why we don't write more about SUWA. I've wasted so much time. I haven't seen any 2013 NOAH SUWA. There are 2000s NOAH SUWA matches I have not seen. I should write a lot more about SUWA matches.