Found Footage Friday: ANDRE IN GERMANY~! OTTO~! GLAMOUR BOY~! TAKA~! ESSA~!

Andre the Giant vs. Otto Wanz Austria 7/5/86

PS: Just big budget main event professional wrestling, Wanz is the rotund folk hero taking on a menacing monstrous ogre. This really doesn't have some of the comedy and pratfalling you normally see from heel Andre, especially late period heel Andre like this, there is some real darkness here, menacing the ref, grinding at Wanz tearing at his limbs. Otto is on the back foot for most of this match, this is a round system match and he often feels saved by the bell, but times his big clubbing comebacks well and when both guys are firing shots at each other it feels like a heavyweight boxing match. Otto gets the big body slam at the end, but we don't get the expected catharsis, which I imagined is saved for their rematch the next year. A true Clash of the Titans, and an absolute gem.

MD: We had a rough VQ version of about 3/5th of this. Now we have the full thing, plus a documentary/news bit beforehand. It is a hell of a thing. It's a 35-40 minute match with round breaks with 1986 Andre. That makes it one of the longest Andre matches we have on tape from any year. Those round breaks weren't super restful either as they kept at it during some of them and they weren't particularly long (though they were quite musical as always).

Andre came to the ring looking absolutely miserable. And why? Because the crowd loved Otto Wanz more than life itself and wanted to let him know it. Andre just wanted to be loved. He wanted to be respected. He didn't want to be seen as a monster. But the crowd loved Otto over him and during the anthems and after, he was a surly presence. You could see the pathos and misery on his face. 

This was a minimalist dream, but it was also as over the top and larger than life as possible. Andre, mobile or not, was a giant He did not have to be mobile to create emotion and action. Otto was huge, perhaps more agile, incredibly strong, but how could he do anything against Andre? He was fighting a mountain and he, himself, was only a grand hill.

The first few rounds were just Andre going from one hold to the next. Against a man like Wanz, he could do a cobra clutch and it would feel like one, not just like some sort of distorted bearhug of a head. He did a double wristlock which had some heft and technique to it because Otto was someone he couldn't fully envelop. Eventually, at a round break, Otto might get on a front facelock but then the horn would blow and the fans would have to continue to wait.

Andre might have striked first with massive blows, but that was just to build to the moment where Otto finally rears back and hammers him and the crowd explodes. It took three or four rounds but that just built the tension and pressure. Andre got himself caught in the ropes and Otto finally unloaded to absolutely elation from the audience. 

It's perfect pro wrestling, pro wrestling that works exactly as it's supposed to with figures that couldn't exist anywhere else knowing exactly how much to give to create the greatest sort of emotive chemistry that could possibly exist in front of a live audience. It's beautiful stuff. 

Otto did his damage, and in a normal match maybe things would head towards a finish but here it just opened it up. Andre was too big. He was a lumbering menace. He was too strong. He could just fall on Otto and get a hold just like that. A smaller opponent might have been able to scurry away or avoid the falling tree, but Otto's own size, usually his greatest strength, worked against him here.

They'd get back up, would throw more blows, would move through rounds. If standing equal, Andre could throw a headbutt or lock holds on him, but Otto was able to fire back, to beat him into the ropes, through them, against the turnbuckle. 

Finally, he knocked Andre off the ropes and somehow, miraculously, amazingly, slammed him and hit his flip senton. He went for a splash but Andre got his foot up and pinned him just like that. Watch this. Listen to the crowd. See how Andre and Otto build to the big moments and how they pay them off. Watch the wrestlers' faces. Imagine how such giant visages might reach the last row. We'll never see their likes again, but thankfully this footage reached us, even if it took decades to do so, and now we'll have it and the memory of it forever.

Taka Michinoku/Sho Funaki vs. Andy Anderson/Glamour Boy (Shane) WWF 7/31/01

MD: Two dark matches before a Smackdown. Look, I get this was the end of a relatively hot period, with the Invasion about to follow from the Austin turn and cool everything down (we can blame Hunter too; it's always fun to blame Hunter), but listen to that pop Kaientai gets for being the first names out. Shrieks. Screams. Stars. The dubbing EVIL bit was what it was (and we know what it was) but it was pretty over. They were clearly having a lot of fun with it, just from the way Funaki and TAKA were looking at each other. They even cut a little promo on Glamor Boy so that was a nice touch for a dark match.

I don't know if the buzz lasted into the match itself. The dynamics were weird though. TAKA had insulted the crowd, but in a "laugh with me" sort of way. Funaki clearly worked babyface with Anderson and Shane feeding for him and then working face-in-peril. TAKA worked heel, like he was a slightly more lithe Mr. Fuji, full of antics. Anderson and Shane had some nice double teams (a Rockerplex suplex/flying body press combo, a double Russian Leg Sweep). TAKA reverted back to his old self to take the hot tag and the stretch had just a little taste of Kaientai's combo stuff. Shane actually got a ton fo heat post-match (not that it did him much good). Good for him though. 

ER:

Pretty wild how long they let the Kaientai dubbing mic work go during a tryout match

Shane one of the strong bump and feed guys like he was from the territories, and his cut off elbow smash looked territory trained too

Anderson's chop spot with Taka getting a big reaction

Shane's sky high rydeen bomb, the double clothesline with true ambidextrous power

Anderson's unnecessary backdrop bump to the floor to isolate Shane for the finish, smacking his palms on the apron loudly as he fell, big reaction to his sleight of hand

Shane sells Funaki's facebuster bulldog as well as anyone I've seen, scuffling around the ring holds his mouth and nose, love that he stuck around and got heat alone in the ring for too long after everyone had left 

Essa Rios vs. Julio Dinero WWF 7/31/01

MD: Maybe it was just a game crowd because Dinero got heat too. Though people probably had a slightly better sense who he was. Maybe not since Rios got a pop. Fans were happy to be there. 

I don't remember Rios going face again after the Lita stuff but then him still being around in 2001 feels like a surprise in general. Apparently he's gone 4 matches later in August, so there you go.

This is not long but they fit a lot in without it seeming weightless. Rios has a nice handstand on the ropes to counter something early but he eats an anti-air dropkick. Dinero has a goofy but effective sort of cazadora into the bottom turnbuckle, a big spin kick, and a really nice knee drop onto a bent elbow. Rios comes back in a less than compelling way with a small package transition and gets the 450 (big pop) for the win. Fun few minutes. Didn't do Dinero much good either I guess.  

ER: 

missed elbowdrop sequence, 

Essa getting as much height as you can to still land safely on the apron,

Sanchez's rolling headscissor that sent Rios into the bottom buckle didn't get a reaction 

 

Read more!