Tuesdays with Daddy: Week 5: w/McMichael vs. Emperor/Cooper

Week 5

Big Daddy/Mick McMichael vs. Masked Emperor/”Cyanide” Sid Cooper 5/4/85

MD: Best as I can tell, this was another one from 85. Again, there are some trends here. His opponents are often a small guy and a big guy. The big guy here was the mysterious Masked Emperor who was billed at 6’7” but was tall and not wide, sort of a Tinieblas body type? One interesting wrinkle here is that they were building to a future televised tag match against “The Rockers” who were at ringside and jawed with Daddy at one point. So Daddy could walk and chew bubblegum, perhaps not that large a feat but you don’t actually see it all that much on UK TV.

You’re probably looking for a few things in here by this point. How well does Daddy’s partner do? McMichael does pretty good to start, knocking Cooper all over with headbutts. He survives getting too close to the heel corner and Emperor whacking him only to get sidestepped throat first into the top rope. He also wins the last fall with a nice falling powerslam after Emperor gets run off (more on that in a minute). 

You’re looking for the overall sense of peril. In this case it was because Emperor made McMichael submit quickly with a sleeper (headlock strangle) and afterwards, McMichael sold the throat for the rest of the match. They did leave that on the bone for future matches; what if he could get it on Daddy? Daddy was quick to check on Mick and give him some of the water; I’d never actually seen anyone swallow instead of spitting before but McMichael did.

Then he made for the sort of hot tag you’d want in the second fall. McMichael crawled to him, no real need to twist things up and invert them, just straight forward stiff upper lip valiant crawling through a nervehold. Daddy came in a house afire. You’re looking for the variation, the different stuff and the familiar, and he had that great whip from one corner to the next bit that would be more difficult if the ring was bigger. This time though, as Emperor went in face first and started to back up, he nailed him with a lariat of sorts. Big meaty shot. I hadn’t seen him do that in the footage yet and it set up the splash. 

The familiar was there, people bouncing off of him (though he leans in like always), even just how he took his hat off and got the fans going or started the match by controlling the center of the ring and stomping. The engagement is always there and he always seems quite alive, never really phoning in that connection with the crowd. When they cut to a kid with a Big Daddy scarf, you believe how excited he was, because Daddy was speaking right to him and caring in the same way he did; he was just a much bigger presence doing it. 

The match ended with him doling out justice, tossing Emperor into the corner and Cooper and then pulling the mask right off. The Emperor rushed out without revealing his face leaving Cooper to his fate. Five matches in, I’m seeing little tweaks and differences, just enough variation in the mix, both in what Daddy does and in his partners and opponents. Yes, I’m not getting a sense of week to week from this, but we’re many years into the run at this point and those kids were still excited. I’m arguing that they were excited for a reason and that reason was tied directly to what Daddy was bringing to the table in these matches. 

One other thought at this point is in the strength of brevity. These aren’t twenty+ minute technical matches. There can be exchanges but it’s all pretty quick moving. It reminds me of the variance we see in some of, let’s say, the Junkyard Dog vs Nick Bockwinkel matches, which compared to almost all of Bock’s other matches, tend to go relatively short. Dog got in and out and gave the fans what they wanted. I see some parallels there. Maybe it’s a bit of a cheat since he’s able to be such a contrast to the longer matches, but there’s always been all sorts of different acts in the circus, and these are incredibly accessible. 

ER: I dig how Daddy doesn't bullshit around about Emperor not wanting to start the match with him. I was excited to see the two big men start things off, but Emperor wants no part. Daddy tries coaxing him (EASY! EASY!) and when it doesn't work Daddy just shrugs and tells McMichael, "Alright, you get in." I like the implication that he was game to start the match, but only against the tougher opponent, so send in McMichael rather than steamroll Cyanide Sid. That said, while we knew McMichael would likely be starting the match, I was surprised to hear him announced in ring after Big Daddy. Maybe I'm so used to the hierarchical order of announcements in All Japan/NOAH, where they would build to announcing the biggest stars last, but the crowd erupting for Daddy and then being hit with "also this guy!" is like a band getting stuck with the closer-opener slot after Danzig. It doesn't really matter, as McMichael gets thrown groin first into the turnbuckle and tags Daddy right in, without Emperor seeing it. We got to the same point we would have, but adding in a couple twists before arrival makes it mean something. When McMichael gets choked out for the 1st fall, I liked how Daddy flat out asked him before the 2nd if he was alright, imploring him to just tag out. 

My big takeaway from Daddy in this one - aside from him winning the 2nd fall with the worst standing splash we've ever seen - is that his pulling power is on full screen display here. I think his use of reverse whips in this tag is the best out of the matches we've talked about so far. It feels weird to say that Daddy is one of the best reverse Irish whip artists we have, but the case is sound. This match was much more about Daddy utilizing Irish whips than wielding his belly. His Irish whip reversals are excellent. The way he waits until the peak of his momentum - like that big Viking ship at the county fair reaching its apex before swinging back the opposite way - to plant and throw his reverse, always getting full extension on the whip, always looking like his opponent is running due to the strength of the whip and not because the spot simply demands it. Big Daddy looks like he has Andre level pulling power, and I can't think of many better comps than Andre when it comes to pulling strength. It's his go to physicality that shows he might have been better on the offense than playing brick wall.  

Now let's talk about Sid, because Cyanide Sid Cooper looks and wrestles like a Guy I Like. He looks like a British Bushwhacker and has a punch and bump style that works nicely with his black one strap singlet. As the smaller man in the tag, you expect him to pinball for Daddy's belly. Daddy flung that belly at his face and sent him bouncing back to his corner multiple times, and he flies through the ropes to the floor like Finlay for a McMichael uppercut (with The Rockers on the floor helping with his landing, love their jackets btw). But I liked his scrappy dirty offense even more than his bumping. Like when Emperor distracted McMichael from the apron and Sid blasts McMichael in the back of the neck with an elbow, pitching McMichael forward into the ropes, or how he sidesteps McMichael while running ropes and shoves him neck first into the top rope. Sidestepping someone and sending them running neck first into a rope shouldn't look like a finish, but they made it look that way. 

I also loved how Cooper, this dangerous looking scumbag, takes and uses his Public Warnings, almost completely wasting them but using them to get people engaged. With Daddy's team down a fall, that's the precise time to use up your PW's, make the crowd think the impossible may happen, that you might be able to cut McMichael off and make Daddy a non-factor. It doesn't quite work out that way, and the best part of Cooper using them is how quickly he regrets using them, when McMichael starts crawling towards Daddy and all Cooper can do is scream frantically from the apron, before getting wiped out when Daddy tags in and whips Emperor into him. And, since Daddy and Emperor have to start the 3rd together, Daddy starts the round by whipping Emperor into Cooper one more time.  

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