Found Footage Friday: Hanover 1981~! KENGO KIMURA VS BRET HART~?!

9/28/81 Hanover

Salvatore Bellomo vs. Pat Roach

MD: The great mystery to be solved in this footage, as much as anything else, is just why and how Sal Bellomo and Bob Dellaserra (UFO) were so over. Because they are the two most over guys in 1980 and 1981 Bremen, even over locals. And they're not people who are known to be THIS over anywhere else.

I think you actually can find part of the answer in this one. Roach obviously dominated this match. In the first round he overpowered Bellomo, ran through him, but Bellomo kept on it, dropping down and dodging so that he could dropkick Roach out. Yes, Roach came right back and chucked Bellomo out for revenge, but he had his little victories. In the second round, Roach pounded on him, but Bellomo kept at it, firing back, bouncing off the rope with a forearm, even staggering him at times. 

The match continued as such. Roach had a clear advantage, but Bellomo just wouldn't quit. He'd chip away, never for long, but just enough to let the crowd know he was worth investing in. Eventually he was able to get Roach into the corner and did the Van Buyten flying leap into a ten count punch and they went nuts for that. Then he drove Roach back with shot after shot and tossed him into the other corner. Roach took a wild bump over the top and on the way back in Bellomo slammed him and the place went nuts at the upset. Lightning in a bottle.

Mile Zrno vs. Manuel Lopez

MD: This was as good as you'd expect. First round was all Lopez with Zrno in a hammerlock and lots of different escape attempts. Zrno would go over the top but end up right back in it. He'd try again and get shrugged down to the mat. Second round had him returning favor with a cravat that he held on to until they went into teeter totter monkey flips. Zrno had a lot of fun bridges and Zrno did this great ripcord into a backbreaker. Then in the third round, they got in and out quickly, with some rope running, an arm drag slam by Lopez, some gut shots by Zrno, and then roll ups with Zrno winning it with a nice bridging cradle.

Axel Dieter/Klaus Karoff vs. Moose Morowski/Grand Vladimir

MD: Kauroff was super over. Dieter maybe over by association (and his own crowd pleasing stuff). The first half of the first fall, they really kept it paired up. Dieter was paired with Vladimir and would do bridging headcissors takeovers and a lot of mares and what not. Morowski and Kauroff would just do the clash of the titans stuff, with Kauroff often getting the better off him with these big whacks. A couple of times, Kauroff was able to drag him to the corner and take over but never for too long. At one point, after a comeback, Dieter tagged him in and the place was literally rocking, the camera shaking all over the place due to the fans stomping. Dieter and Kauroff took the first fall after a Dieter catapult onto Vladimir off the ropes and back onto his knees and then a body slam.

Second fall had a lot of quick tags from Dieter and Kauroff but the ref ended up distracted with Kauroff and Morowski finished Dieter off with a shoulder breaker. That led to the most real heat in the match in the third fall as they beat down Dieter. An errant kneelift from Vladimir brought Kauroff back in and the place started rocking again. Ultimately, I think Kauroff and Dieter lost it after Dieter back body dropped Vlad over the top but they cleared the ring and ended up standing tall in the end and the crowd was with them as they celebrated.

Kengo Kimura vs. Bret Hart

MD: I'm not saying 'this is why we go through the footage', because while this is an interesting match, it's not nearly as good any of the first three matches, but is it ever a novelty? Can you imagine this match in 1987? That's not my favorite Bret year or anything but he still has the SNME Savage match. But this is 1981 so a very different beast. Anyway, Bret's out to Racey's "Some Girls" like always. Kimura's out to "Japanese Boy" by Aneka. 

This was a pretty good first match on a NJPW or Mid-South card. Clean wrestling, aggressive, hold-based. Kimura ended the first round working the leg with some nice falling back deathlocks. Bret worked the arm a bit in the second and they did some rolls up. In the third they started chipper and went right to the rope running. The finish was a bit wonky as Kimura just ran through him with a strike. Perfectly fine wrestling here but pretty vanilla overall.

UFO vs. Jim Neidhart:

MD: I took a break after the Bret match and forgot who Neidhart was facing. Well the crowd reminded me quickly. "U-FO, U-FO, U-FO." over and over. Neidhart took a lot of this mainly by charging at UFO and slapping on chinlocks. When he missed and UFO got the better of him, the fans went up big for it, and UFO worked his way out of the chinlock again and again and it always worked but it wasn't the world's most interesting match, maybe. It ended just as you'd expect, with UFO dodging a corner charge for a roll up. Still, you can't say this wasn't effective and a good use of Neidhart's football credentials. Neidhart did have a lot of raw energy and charisma that would become more honed and stylized for good and ill later on.

------
10/10/81

Klaus Kauroff vs. Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka

MD: The appeal here is that these two are bigger, or at least thicker, than a lot of wrestlers. They still had a ton of skill though. Both had some takeovers that were quite impressive, but made all the more so given the size. Kauroff had a headscissors (sort of bridging) takeover that I wasn't expecting and they really went over on some of the arm flips. The first round was mostly arm control but bookended with takeovers. The second they started to clash with big shots a bit more. There was one leapfrog where Kauroff was turned completely sideways as Tsurumi vaulted over him in a way I don't think I've seen before. Third fall had a bit of rope running and a quick slam. Fans liked both of these guys and it never boiled over but it was okay for a relatively short three round affair.

Achim Chall/Sal Bellomo vs. Karl Dauberger/Jim Neidhart

MD: Neidhart and Bellomo worked well together to start. Bellomo would dodge him while rope running and come back with a dropkick. He agreed to three point stance charges and got knocked around only to leapfrog one so Neidhart went flying. Fans loved it. Neidhart played reactive and prickly well already. Chall and Dauberger did a great bit out of a double knucklelock where they went up and down with it before Chall stepped over and did a spin kick. That caused Dauberger to lose his cool and then run right into a shot as he careened off the ropes. Then Neidhart went for a handshake (obviously a cheapshot set up) and Bellomo clowned him with a behind the back lure-in. So fun stuff in the early exchanges. 

They cycled into a few minuets of full nelsons after that, with Neidhart making a bit show of it. He'd escape Bellomo's and then let go of Bellomo to show his superiority. He got kicked in the face for his trouble. Then they did it with Chall, trading off until he escaped that way a few minutes later too. Bellomo came in hot but got tripped from the outside and pinned.

Second fall had them bullying Bellomo in the corner, but Dauberger got cocky and Chall returned the favor from the end of the first fall, tripping him so that Bellomo could pin him. Clever stuff. 

Third fall was a long, long heat on Chall, and it was good, if simple. A lot of front facelocks as he strained towards the corner with Neidhart either getting a shot in or coming in from the outside to pull the tights to yank him back. That'd draw Bellomo in and then allow for the double teaming. Eventually, against Dauberger, Chall made it and the place went nuts. Problem was that they were working towards a draw so there was still another five or six minutes of back and forth with some attempts to draw back into heat and some major bits of comeuppance before the bell rang as they were brawling. If this thing ended shortly after the hot tag it would have been a lot better. It still was one of the best performances out of Bret or Neidhart that we have on this tour.

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Found Footage Friday: EDDIE~! JANNETTY~! COLT~! GANG~! REY~! GERMANY~!

MD: Going to finish out last month's Richard Land Germany knowing we've got some 81 footage to go through too (Rudge vs. Bret Hart for one).

9/6/80

Axel Dieter vs. Kim Duk

MD: Just a clip. We come in JIP. We get no finish. It's almost entirely Duk chopping Dieter with karate strikes. Overhand shots. I've seen a lot of Duk between Germany and Puerto Rico and that one cool Korea match that came up last year. And he can be very good. He really can. And we get flashes of that here right at the end when he's scrapping with Dieter who's firing back. The chops are quicker. They hit harder. He's actually trying to cut a resurgent warrior off instead of just marking time. Usually though, I find him lacking and I did in the first bit here. He's relatively big and has a great look and a clear personality and he just does the bare minimum to limited effect a lot of the times. But when it is time to go, he goes hard. Not much here.

Sal Bellomo/Achim Chall vs. Jim Harris/Tom Shaft

MD: Something of a slight tag but another look at Shaft and another chance to see Pre-Kamala Harris. There was some tomfoolery early where neither Harris nor Shaft wanted to be in there (past one shaky bit at the start, Harris fed pretty well for early shine), but as you can imagine, Harris was able to take over fairly quickly. It was interesting to see him do the handshake with one hand behind is back on his knees deal, which led to the transition. He had a misunderstanding with the ref. Due to the nature of the rules, you have to connect a pin to your last move in some way shape or form. His big splash defied that and he had to make sure to get in an extra bodyslam and quick pin to win the fall. Shaft did not impress. He could grind someone down but whenever he tried to do anything more (like a butt butt where he barely got off the ground) it just lacked oomph and energy. 

Not much to say about the faces. Bellomo took massive back body drops here and Chall came in hot on the hot tag. Good strikes. Bellomo won the second fall with a body block but everything got thrown out, with the heels getting DQed for illegal double teaming early into the final fall. More educational than entertaining overall.

9/13/80

Chris Colt vs. Louis Lawrence

MD: I knew how great Chris Colt was. I've seen him in a bunch of different territories, right? But watching him in these German matches is a whole different beast. He's itchy. That's the word. He wrestles like he's seeing colors wherever he looks and it's wild. Everything he does is worth watching, whether it's strutting around the ring as he's being announced or pointing at the ref, paranoid, between rounds. At the end of one round he was trying to get out of a headlock with roll ups and lifts where he got taken over, and he just decided to lay there in the middle of the ring once the bell rang. Lawrence had to come over and pour water on him and then he freaked out. Constant motion, constant manic energy, just fascinating to watch.

Lawrence, unfortunately, was not fascinating to watch, but I guess he provided a sane baseline for everything going on around him. There was one point where he just put him in a cross toehold for a few minutes and Colt WAS entertaining in it but they could have been doing a hundred more entertaining things. Finish was pretty hilarious as Colt guided the ref to the ropes to look out so he could climb them to do an elbow drop off the top. But the ref only looked for a second. It clearly didn't work. Just a "Look over there" that was futile, but the ref let him get away with it anyway. Maybe it was legal there and he thought it wasn't? Who knows? Anyway every match we get with him here is well worth watching.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Marty Jannetty ECW Enter Sandman 5/13/95

ER: We only had this (already short) match in very clipped form, and now we have all six minutes. Eddie had wrestled a 30 minute draw earlier in the night against Malenko and who could say what could ever have happened in that one. Maybe someday we'll get to see any of the Malenko/Guerrero matches but for now I'll watch this unclipped match for the first time and...see why ECW originally clipped it so much. This isn't that great! That's unexpected! This is one of those times where I was really hoping for a hot go go go short match, two guys who can work some speed and never otherwise wrestled, and instead it's kind of slow and sleepy and structurally confused. Eddie seemed tired and Marty worked down to his sleepy foe. Eddie and Dean had jerked each other off for a half hour earlier but Joey Styles wasn't pushing Eddie being tired from an earlier match whatsoever on commentary, so I guess this was just a couple quick guys working at 75%. Eddie pokes Marty in the eyes and scrapes his boot across his face but otherwise does nothing else heelish. Heatless backslides, ramp up that doesn't ramp, never reaches drama. Eddie's snapped off huracanrana finish looked good. Great leg hooking. 

One Man Gang vs. Flash Flanagan WWF 2/3/98

MD: Gang dark match. He had dropped some weight from his peak and was up against Flash Flanagan. My big takeaway is that he had a lot to add to the company if they were to bring him in but that this match didn't necessarily serve him. He worked the crowd well. His clubbers looked great. He had pretty decent presence. He shouted out "Shut your hole" which popped everyone. He gave Flash a ton though, and while it was generally earned, it was probably too much and serving too many masters. I think the fans saw the two of them too differently and it didn't do Flash any favors. If he had to work from underneath even more and had to really scrape for every inch he got it would have done him better and I think it would have served the match (and Gang) too. Kind of weird what might have been here. You could see him all over the card, the lost member of DOA, an Oddity, or the third man in a Bossman/Shamrock Corporation trio?

ER: I love getting a look at these dark/tryout matches because some of them are good, some of them aren't, and some of them are weird. This one was kind of weird, as it was laid out almost like a double showcase. I"m not certain it did a good job of showcasing Gang, but it played like a Flash Flanagan babyface showcase while also playing as a "here are all of my various skills" showcase for Gang. By that, I mean it felt like Gang was showing every thing that he could possibly do, without necessarily putting that into a coherent match. Think of it like someone auditioning for SNL by doing a bunch of impressions rather than doing a tight set utilizing those impressions. This was slower than it should have been, because it felt like Gang showing his entire skillset, in order. You can see how he works a crowd or gets verbal with a ref, you see what offense he can do, then you see how good he is at taking and selling offense. Some of Gang's offense looked great: he drops a pair of sick elbowdrops that are, quite frankly, perfect, he gets his boot up in the corner right to Flanagan's chin and gets an audible OOF from the crowd, and his follow up clothesline following through to his knees looked great.  

But I don't think I expected, going into this, how much more valuable Gang would be at putting over a fired up babyface. He was fantastic at taking and selling Flash's offense. Part of it was that Flash Flanagan had great offense. His missile dropkick is strong (Gang hangs in the whole way and takes it to the chest), and he has a cool springboard dropkick that starts in the ring and gets aimed at Gang in the corner. He has several kinds of nice punches and is great at "punching up" to the much larger Gang. He even has a couple big back elbows that looked like they would indeed move a guy Gang's size. But I don't think Flash's offense works as well without a guy selling it as well as Gang. This wasn't just about bumping, it's about being a humongous man believably getting knocked around by a smaller heavyweight, and Gang was so good at getting punched around into place. But he topped it all with a ridiculous spot where he gets hung up across the corner ropes like Shawn Michaels and splashed repeatedly by Flash until falling to the mat. I loved it, never seen anything like it before. A man the size of One Man Gang using the rope corners like a hammock alone looked absurd, but every time Flash hit him his large body would get rearranged into a different hilarious position. Body sagging, legs propped up like legs that size never are, finally falling gracelessly to the mat. Ridiculous. 

I would have loved One Man Gang in 1998 WWF, even if he was just a guy working Sunday Night Heat. Reuniting the slimmed down Twin Towers would have been booking directly to me, and with Gang recently on the payroll it would have made them more likely to bring the Towers back as a triumphant patriotic babyface team at the end of 2001. 

 

Eddie Guerrero/Kurt Angle/Edge vs. Undertaker/Kane/Rey Mysterio WWE 7/2/05

MD: Enough of a lost Japan house show match to write about certainly. We miss a huge amount of it but we get the beginning and the end and there's plenty to see. For one thing, this might have been the best use of Kane ever. He was tagged in early when Guerrero and Angle were basically trying to throw Edge under the bus. They had dodged Rey and Edge thought he was going in to face him only to get Kane. Lots of goofing around and it's all entertaining as the characters crash up against each other. Best part might have been Eddie trying for a sneak attack only to run when Kane turned his head. When Eddy finally gets in there, the crowd tries to encourage him which is all very funny. 

For what actual action we see, we get a good Eddie and Rey exchange where Eddie bases all over the place for him and then Edge feeding and feeding for Undertaker and that's pretty much what he's best at so it all works for me. It's much preferable to things being the other way around. Then we come back for the finish where Eddie got to goof against all the babyfaces and the ref with a chair. House shows are the best sort of wrestling? Sure seems it.

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Found Footage Friday: COLT~! WRIGHT~! MARTIN~! DUK~! SHAFT~! CHALL~! DIETER~!

9/12/80

MD: Here's the first two thirds of the Land Patreon Germany drop from last month. The last third has a few random matches that I'll hit later on. This was all from a show on the above date.

Steve Wright vs. Francisco Ramirez

MD: I've got a soft spot for Paco Ramirez because he was in the French Footage. There he was almost always a stylist and here he's a bad guy of the sort he'd often be up against in France with the big hat and all. This was almost the perfect Steve Wright match to show someone who'd never seen one. He absolutely ate up Ramirez to start, with cartwheels out of every throw attempt and jerk bowing to the crowd's delight. When Ramirez did get him over, he'd shoot back up and shoulder block him. When Ramirez got a shot in, he'd kip up and fire back. He'd pick Ramirez up out of a headlock, deposit him on the apron, and pat him before withdrawing. When Ramirez made a clever escape and went back into the ring, he'd kick up the rope on the way in, nailing him in the groin with it. That's Steve Wright for you. 

Ramirez did get the better of him mid match and leaned on him hard, lots of nasty European Uppercuts. They gave that part of the match enough time too, it spanning rounds as Ramirez charged in right at the bell. But eventually Wright fired back with these interesting sweeping shots, and got in a bridging roll up, keeping it not just for three but for six or seven, just because he could. So very technically sound and a nice example of Wright stretching his skills, beloved jerk that he was.

Takashi (Sumo) Ishikawa vs. Amet Chong

MD: Not much to this. Chong was (  think) Peruvian working a Chinese gimmick. His karate strikes looked fairly lame. They'd do a deal where Ishikawa would out wrestle him and he (bald) would go for the hair. That led to a series of indignities where his goatee got tweaked by Ishikawa or the ref. Then he got mad and fired off shots. Ishikawa would fire back with a shot out of nowhere. His stuff was both more theatrical AND looked better. Start of the second fall had Chong charge in but Ishikawa got him with a sumo shove out of the ring and caught him on the way back in for a fairly quick win. It wasn't NOT entertaining but so far as it was entertaining it was due to Ishikawa and his connection with the crowd. He felt like a star here, or at least an attraction.

Kim Duk vs. Axel Dieter

MD: I've seen rough Duk matches, even on this tour, ones that I'd call more boring than anything else, but he was a guy who clearly got it. Lots of size, a willingness to stooge and base and play the fool. And with this crowd, against this opponent, he had a really good match. Dieter had a lot of what I'd call "French Catch" stuff, the headscissors up and over, the armdrag slam, the headstand headscissors takeover, etc. And Duk fed into all of them well. He'd stall early and when he was in charge, do the count along with the ref and honestly got a lot of heat with the crowd chanting at him the whole way through (and him occasionally going out to the apron to yell at them).

The match opened up in the second round as Duk caught Dieter with a cheapshot and just went relentless at the skull with karate chops. Not all that different in theory than Chong's offense, but his looked so much better due to the rapid fire nature and how small and targeted the shots were. Dieter bled. He'd come back big at one point, even firing up through a tombstone, only to fall again to another series of woundwork shots. The time ran out on this one though and even though Dieter didn't have one last big comeback, you got the sense he had a moral victory just for surviving Duk's onslaught. It was good stuff.

Salvatore Bellomo vs. Chris Colt

MD: This is going up the weekend of DEAN 3 and I wish that I could have sent this to Dean. This would have been the perfect match buried in one of the DVDVRs. He would have done justice to Chris Colt here in a way I never could. Electric isn't the word. Itchy is closer to it? Sometimes people wrestle exactly as you'd expect them to. Ashura Hara always wrestles like a guy with a lot of gambling debt. I can't exactly explain it but the next time you watch a Hara/Tenryu tag, keep it in mind. You'll see what I mean.

Colt here wrestles like a guy who .. look, I don't want to do ill by the memory of Chris Colt but then I'm not sure you can. It's an amazing performance, so amazing that you're left wondering if it's a performance at all. He embodies this remarkable paranoia, and the crowd is certainly against him. Usually in a Bellomo match they're chanting for Sal but it felt more like they were chanting against Colt. He sold it. He sold everything. And there's just the way he moved. Abrupt, erratic. There's one spot where he went for a running big splash and ate Bellomo's feet where it feels like the tape skipped because he's in one spot and then another and I can't figure out the physics of it, but the tape, blurry as it is, was fine. It was Colt that somehow skipped. And pro wrestling was somehow all the better for it. 

Tom Shaft vs. Michael Schneider

MD: I haven't actually seen much Shaft. I don't think we have a ton of footage of him save for working prelims in Dallas in the 80s. I've read that he bested Watts in a fight once and gave Hayes the "last house on the block" line and that Thunderbolt Patterson may or may not have taken some of his shtick from him. His nickname was Boogaloo and here he did, in fact, come out to the Shaft theme. 

And he was ok. Lots of clubbering, some hiding of shots. Had presence, knew what he was doing and what would get a rise from the crowd. Aggressive, but nothing really stood out. At one point he was choking Schneider in the ropes and Scheinder did Franz Van Buyten's deal where he mares the guy over the top. But then Shaft came right back in and chucked Schenider way over the top in return. Finishing stretch was a bit rough as Schneider hit one of the worst "too close" dropkicks I've ever seen and slammed him for the win. On the one hand, this needed another round. On the other, I'm not sure if it would have mattered.

Achim Chall/Caswell Martin vs. Klaus Kauroff/Grand Vladimir

MD: Light, crowdpleasing stuff. This had none of the matwork that you'd want out of Martin though a few good headstand escapes and what not. He and Chall were more conducting the crowd in chants and turning Kauroff and Vladimir into fools. Lots of little comedy bits and moments of comeuppance, with the occasional high impact dropkick or rana thrown in (especially by Chall). Vladimir and (especially) Kauroff could turn things around in a moment, just by tossing their opponents to the ground, but they could never capitalize for long and eventually they just got frustrated and tossed them over the top for the red card DQ. Fun stuff but not exactly what I wanted here. If nothing else, it would have felt more substantial with the heels in charge for a while and a big comeback.

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Found Footage Friday: DESTROYER~! WISKOWSKI~! WRIGHT~! CASWELL~! CHALL~! DIETER~!

Hanover 9/10/80 

Le Grand Vladimir vs. Karl Dauberger

MD: The show itself started with a big AJPW Start Of Tour style celebration with everyone in the ring. This opener went to a draw over a number of rounds but it was good for what it was and the crowd was into it. For the first round and a half or so, Vladimir would control on the arm or with a cravat and Dauberger would counter with a similar hold and the crowd would go nuts for it. Eventually, Vlad got frustrated and started roughing him up. The round breaks and ref carding only offered so much succor as Vlad would keep up the onslaught after the bell or charge right in at the start of the round. 

Dauberger would, however, copy the formula of the holds and fire back to the crowd's delight. Then Vlad would get a cheapshot in and they'd repeat. Basic but incredibly effective wrestling and everything looked good. My favorite bit was Vlad picking up Dauberger by the back of his singlet and slamming him onto the mat repeatedly. It's the sort of thing you saw Andre do occasionally but rarely from anyone else. Things built to Dauberger knocking Vlad first out of the ring and then back in towards the end of the last round, but it was only a moral victory as they ran out of time. I was ok seeing this one go because I was eager to get to Martin, Destroyer, and Wright/Wiskowski but it's not as if it wore out its welcome on the way.

ER: What is this little game Karl Dauberger plays with the referee? This little hand game? What kind of bit are they working that I have, until now, not seen? When Dauberger enters the ring he goes to shake the ref's hand and the ref retreats like a germaphobe, and Karl gives him a little chin scrape gesture. When the ref is checking both men before the match, Karl keeps pulling his hands away from him, like he's forcing the ref into a game of hand slap. They don't show this kind of playfulness with each other during the match but I'm wondering what's going on with these two vets. You know this is some 1980 Hanover wrestling because two men are wrestling in single strap singlets that are holding in their midsections. This was simple stuff but amusing. Vladimir is a guy I've never see who has a way of getting big reactions with little movements. He draws yellow cards by kicking Dauberger in the knee more than once, kicks him across the ring well after the bell, and shoots in for a half assed post-round single leg after Dauberger was gentlemanly enough to set his foot back on the mat instead of wrenching it. Dauberger had a nice cravat and German energy. I too dug that spot where Dauberger, flat on his stomach, kept getting lifted up by a kneeling Vladimir and slammed back to the mat. I kept rewinding to see how they were doing it, as the physics weren't apparent. Vlad didn't seem to be lifting hard and Dauberger didn't seem to be obviously pushing off with his limbs. It made Vladimir look strong even though in reality he looked like a guy who was probably 6'5 and didn't lift a thing. There was some magic in that spot, and some other minimalist surprises. 

Achim Chall vs. Caswell Martin

MD: I get the sense that if we had just another twenty Martin matches, he'd be almost undeniable. He's one of the most interesting and enjoyable wrestlers to watch, one of those wrestlers where you look forward to every exchange because you know you're going to see something unique. Chall was more than game to "base" for him and keep him in holds and make escape attempts, etc. The first round was fairly even with a lot of tricked out escapes and ways to keep the holds on by Martin, including his bridging stutter step.

The second round was all about Martin working over the arm, including a long in and out hammerlock that was really good, but also some joint manipulation and just smacking the arm against the mat repeatedly. Then in the third, Chall controlled with a cravat almost the whole way through, using mares to get back into it, and other head related holds to bridge gaps when needed. Just super strong in and out stuff. In the fourth they went to rope running but almost immediately Martin suffered a face-saving arm injury off a sunset flip and had to forfeit. It was good while it lasted though.

ER: For those who aren't familiar with the always entertaining Caswell Martin, he's like Bob Backlund at his most playful combined with Norman Smiley at his most skilled. He escapes holds and pins with impressive neck bridges and almost challenges opponents to keep him pinned, popping arms off the mat and bridging as a way to escape and as a way to bait. Watched back to back with Le Grand Vladimir's match and this match seems like it took place in another decade. Martin's strong and crab walk-like escapes with a more-than-game Chall looked like a different sport than that first match. Chall was a guy who looked capable of working just as freaky as Martin as he knew the counters too well and kept getting pushed into freak territory by big Cas. I like how Martin isn't just a quirky oddball and can back it up with snug holds, like when he grabbed Chall's hand just to roll his wrist around in painful ways, showing he's more than escapes. I actually liked the injured arm finish. A few minutes before the finish I noticed how there was no give at all in the ring, how every flat back bump looked even flatter with an unmoving ring. When Martin tried a sunset flip and then got thrown with an armdrag, it really did look like he bounced off the ungiving ring on his elbow. His selling was good enough that I would have bought it even without noticing the ring, but since I had noticed I said "well of course an armdrag could do that!" 

Axel Dieter vs. The Destroyer

MD: It's great we're getting new Destroyer matches out of the blue, from Germany. Yes, these results were buried on wrestlingdata but they're not all on cagematch for instance, so I'm sure some people who even are big Destroyer fans weren't aware of these tours. I'm not sure there's any wrestler ever who was better at carrying himself with a sort of matter-of-fact dignity (as opposed to whatever Lord Steve Regal did for instance) but then walked right into indignities. The first round had slow ones, built around one hold where he'd get his comeuppance on the way out. The second round was rapid fire spot after spot, each one more humiliating with the last. For instance, he started the round off with an airplane spin, got two out of it, but then walked right into an upkick that sent him sprawling. The round was full of that sort of thing. 

He started the third with another airplane spin but both went toppling out. He'd open up on the leg after, but half the things he'd try would still end with him eating the mat. And ultimately, it sent him over the top and led to a countout. Post-match, things devolved a bit and some of the other wrestlers came out which led to a big UFO chant since they loved Della Serra over there. I wouldn't have minded if this went another round or two, but what we had was highly entertaining with Destroyer living his best mean mug stooging life.

ER: Destroyer was the one guy stirring things up during the pre-show in-ring introductions, walking slowly around the circle of men sizing everyone up (nobody else did this, they all just got in the ring) and lingered on the referee, as if warning him that there better be no issues with the rules. When he was announced (after everyone else) he again walked out to the center of the ring like he was above them all (nobody else did this), and you know he was the last to leave the ring. This man knew how to carry himself, and when he enters the ring for his match he's got this funny cocky, bouncy little strut, just getting under everyone's skin. Destroyer lands headbutts from the mount like Smashing Machine and goes on to run Dieter's head into the turnbuckle from one corner to the other, and when round 2 starts he headlock punches the already bleeding Dieter several times. I was thinking things were going to continue like this and was sad that they did not. What we got instead was two rounds of Destroyer constantly forgetting that Dieter has kicking legs and those legs just kept sneaking up and taking him out. Dieter hits four different upkicks in different ways, all knocking Destroyer flat to his back and ultimately over the top to his demise. Every hold Destroyer attempted to work, every pin he made, was thwarted by a late upkick. I thought the finish was going to be Destroyer's airplane spin, starting in the center and moving out towards the ropes, then over the ropes with a kind of rolling Samoan drop off the apron, picking Dieter up off the apron from the floor to continue the airplane spin drop. Instead, Beyer was humiliated by upkicks, and Cowboy Ed had to come out to cool things down while heating things up.   

Ed Wiskowski vs. Steve Wright 

MD: Very good one. Wright controlled early, cartwheeling out of holds and basically eating up Wiskowski as you'd expect him to, but Cowboy Ed had the size advantage and he started in on the back. Wright's selling, both acutely and broadly (when he was stomped and writhed all around for instance) was excellent and that's really not a part of his game we often see since he just mows through his opponents most of the time. Wiskowski had some nice stuff like a move where he grabbed Wright by the waist and jammed his back right into the ropes. 

They'd have Wright try to come back in clever or pointed ways; for instance, Wiskowski would hit a nice gutwrench suplex only for Wright to slip in and reverse it instantly the next time. But then Wiskowski would just lean on him some more or whip him into the corner, causing Wright to go sprawling. Wright would start on the gut to fire back but Wiskowski cut him off with gutshots of his own. It built to a big comeback but another banana peel finish, this time with Wright flying in for a headbutt but going through the ropes and crashing and burning instead. Wiskowski suplexed him back in for the win. I maybe wanted to see Wiskowski stooge about for Wright more, but if I had to choose, I'd much rather have a more balanced match where Wright had to work from underneath like this. 

ER: This was so damn good. Wiskowski is great at punishing Wright, Wright takes hard bumps that lead to harder bumps and learns from them, and Wright makes up the size difference with his own punishing strikes. I thought this started off good and kept ramping up. Wiskowski is a calculated ass kicker who is great at taking Wright's offense and making him look like a bigger heavyweight with his bumps. I thought this was going to be a lot of Wiskowski bumping for Wright, and when he was rolling for Wright's ankle snare headscissors it was exactly what I expected...until Wright went for a third and Wiskowski moved, sending Wright into a nasty Psicosis style miss in the ropes. After that, every single time Wright got sent into the buckles it looked devastating. Wright took four different Bret Hart level bumps into the buckles, making it looked dangerous just getting his face slammed into them, but making it look skeleton breaking when he would take a whip. 

They were so good at building spots into reversals, establishing actions and results and still making it feel like a surprise when the same action led to a different result. Wright's bumps into the buckles were so painful that I was surprised and delighted when it led to Wiskowski missing an avalanche, leaving him stomach down bridging the top ropes, and allowing wright to do leg pumps from his back to bounce Cowboy Ed up and down. This would have been a top 3 (at least) Santino comedy spot and it was done by a 6'5 Polish cowboy with incredible posture. Wright pays back all of Wiskowski's back punishment and swinging long arms by really kicking him hard several times in the back of the head and I think surely this is where it turns around. Wright is headbutting Wiskowski in the stomach and big Ed is on the ropes...and then those actions surprise me again with a different result. Wright runs in with another big headbutt and Ed sidesteps him again, just like the headscissors earlier, and Wright flies into a tope to nothing but abyss. Suplexing him into the ring for the finish is a great way to show that the fall did most of the damage and merely getting him back in was going to be enough to finish him off...but Wiskowski didn't need to gingerly hop over the ropes on his exit. That's just rubbing it in. 

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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 Germans 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.

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