Found Footage Friday: OMNI 83~! ZBYSZKO~! ORNDORFF~! ARN~! BORNE~! WILDFIRE~! ROOP~! GARVIN~!

GCW Omni 5/15/83

MD: Unfortunately, we're missing the six man which had Hansen and Murdoch teaming, plus a random Killer Brooks vs. Brian Blair match apparently, a testament to how the territory was a bit down and some guys were doing double duty, but we're going to be thankful we got this at all. 

Brett Wayne vs. Joe Lightfoot 

MD: It feels a little much that Lightfoot is a "Chief" too. Not everyone can be a chief. This started as a babyface match and the first thing we hear at the bell is someone shout from the crowd "Now don't you do any bodily harm to one another." which is some beautiful Georgia wrestling right there. And this was a pretty solid babyface exhibition for the first five minutes, headlocks into headscissors, that sort of thing. There was one nice moment where Lightfoot jammed a monkey flip in a way you don't usually see and there was a sense of struggle. That struggle boiled over and Lightfoot got more and more chippy, sneaking in a punch, hitting a chop, and then finally hitting a cheapshot from out of the corner. The fans did not like that. Wayne did not like that. They skidded into roll up exchanges before things could get too heated though and Wayne snuck one out with a jackknife. They more or less made up post match. If this had one or two more minutes for Lightfoot to lean harder heel and be in control, it would have been more memorable but it was a good opener. 

ER: Boy this really did end right when it was picking up steam. Brett Wayne has been one of my favorite "discoveries" of the Omni shows, and his talents admittedly shine brighter when he's in against a guy he won't be/shouldn't be beating. Underdog babyface fire and ability to take heavy thudding beatings are two things that won't be necessary in a face vs. face match with Joe Lightfoot. While I appreciated their work in the opening minutes, some snug headscissors and - importantly - always honest work, it got a lot better when Lightfoot started getting really bothered by someone in the crowd. I don't know exactly who it was but someone was getting under Lightfoot's skin - multiple times including post-match he flapped his hand at someone, telling them to Keep Yapping - and that little shove into being a heel made this temporarily catch fire. The honesty of the exchanges and the firmness of the contact suddenly meant a lot more. I like how they handled a blocked O'Connor roll, Lightfoot holding the ropes and Wayne not rolling back but splatting to his back, legs in the air for a kip up that never came. Lightfoot, picking up on Wayne's landing, pulls an inside cradle that looked like it could have won. The energy and weight for the actual finish was excellent, with Wayne kicking out of a sunset flip and pouncing into a jackknife pin. You watch enough Guerrero/Malenko roll ups sequences - and brother, that is a thing seared into my brain folds - and get used to the visual of the last 20+ years of Divas level copycat versions, and suddenly Brett Wayne shows what the sequence can look like when someone actually wants to win a match. 

Brian Blair vs. Chick Donovan 

MD: Blair came off as straightlaced and sound, a bit of a competent babyface bully on the mat. Chick preened and stalled to start. When they finally locked up, he tried to screw around with Blair. Blair showed him why that wasn't a good idea, clearly out wrestling him. He worked a hammerlock for a while and you got the sense he could do whatever he wanted with him. Eventually Chick got a few cheapshots in and took over. Blair was maybe a little less interesting working from underneath but his comeback was good with a leapfront, a huge forearm that knocked Chick into the ropes, and then catching him with a sleeper on the way back. Not only did he whack him to wake him up, but he did it with a second rope kneedrop to the back of his head as Chick was seated but unconscious, which was a great bit.

ER: Chick Donovan must have been poured into that coat OR bought it when he was less shredded because he is forced to enlist the referee just to help him out of it. Even with an extra man, it is still a full production. I've never seen a man take so long to get out of a jacket. Love the pack of women in the crowd screaming for Chick. Dude looks great, like the middle step of Jeff Jarrett evolving into Flair, and he wrestles like the best possible Jarrett. Chick was great bumping around for Blair and the bumping was made even better because Chick had no problem hitting a stiff back elbow or other stiff cheap shot, gain nothing from it, and then go back to bumping. I thought Joe Lightfoot had a nice kneedrop in the opener, but Blair had a gorgeous kneedrop that looked Harley Race level. I was still thinking about it when Blair smothered Chick with a sleeper to win, and was not expecting Blair to hit an even cooler kneedrop after the match. Matt's right, it's a great bit to put someone to sleep and then hit a move to wake them up, and I cannot say I have ever seen someone hit a kneedrop off the middle turnbuckle to a seated opponent. Blair's kneedrop has to be precise for the bit, but also seems insanely dangerous to even attempt. Blair leaps several feet away to perfectly place a pointed knee to Chick's cerebellum, snapping Donovan awake. 

Ron Garvin vs. Bob Roop 

MD: First time I caught this it was on a bus home from DC and I fell asleep a bunch. I don't think that's fair to the match but it's also not too surprising as a lot of this was Roop armwork and some of it was more compelling than others. Him actually chipping away at the arm was compelling because of how Garvin fought back. He was always threatening to throw a right hand and there were some bits, like Garvin having his foot caught and jumping over multiple trip attempts that I loved.

All of the hope spots were so good too. Garvin was fighting with one arm. Sometimes it meant he just got one punch and that was enough. Sometimes it meant he got Roop on the apron and could clubber until Roop draped his other arm over the top. Sometimes it meant a flurry of right handed punches followed up by a huge headbutt. The comeback was a headbutt to the groin and man did he ever thrash Roop after that, including the Garvin stomp. Fans were very much into all of it and it led to a fun finishing stretch where he tossed Roop off the top and when Roop tried it to him, he rolled him up. Maybe this got a little long in the tooth at times, but maybe they needed that for the comeback to work as well as it did? I don't fault the match for me being tired on a Thursday afternoon. 

ER: This was a slow burn that went up in hot flames the moment they wanted it to. For the first 12-13 minutes, Roop methodically worked over Garvin's arm in the kind of way that would potentially put you asleep after a long day at work, but was rewarding to someone watching with a fresh cup of coffee. Roop is Shooter Ned Beatty and all his arm work was honest and tough, jamming his shoulder into hard surfaces and not letting it go, working like Regal without the flash. Garvin endured and sold expertly throughout the long control, and the sudden payoff was incredible. Was the payoff even better because of the slow burn? I thought so, and loved how suddenly and explosively it came, with a Garvin headbutt that sends Roop backpedaling all the way to the other side of the ring, where Garvin stalks to meet him with a kick right to the face. Garvin's high kick is such a cool piece of offense that no other brawler used. When you had a great punching babyface - or any brawler outside of Takayama - they were never working kicks into their punching attacks. 

But if you want to talk about great punching wrestlers, we must discuss ALL of Roop's punches. How about his overhand right to back Garvin up, fanning out his hand after because he knew how fucking good it looked? His head movement to miss Garvin's response. His falling hammer fist into Garvin's throat, the punches in mount while holding onto the back of Garvin's head, every straight right to the head directly at the hard cam, busting Garvin open and leading to an even bigger comeback. Nobody talks about Roop as a great puncher but it's all here. He sets up the biggest comeback possible, the Garvin Stomp and big followup elbowdrop getting a big reaction, but nowhere near as big as Garvin biting Roop on the face after. Garvin is back raking and striking Roop all over the ring and we should all love how much Bob Roop absolutely refuses to fix his singlet after the left strap first falls, then is pulled down by Garvin. Roop works the rest of the match with his singlet falling off and I can't see that kind of stooging happening today. 

Tommy Rich/Ray Candy vs. Arn Anderson/Matt Borne (w/ Precious Paul Ellering)

MD: This was the one match on the card we had clipped already, but we did only have a few minutes of it and as best as I can tell this is our first full Anderson/Borne arena match.  Bleached Blonde Borne is a weird look for a guy who had so many looks. I really did love this though. It's a wonderful match. Rich's shine where he's ducking things and throwing fists and Arn and Borne are flying all over the place for him while the fans go nuts and "ooh!" for every punch is perfect pro wrestling.

It's amazing how good Arn was already, the way he moved his hands or looked at what was going on. He just got it so naturally. Such rich and vivid reactions to everything. None of it felt fabricated or overwrought. He had grown up a wrestling fan and I think he understood so intimately what connected with him and how not to play at a wrestler but to inhabit the character of one completely.

This had double heat on Candy where they were able to manage through quick switches and either riding him or clubbering away, tagging whenever he started to comeback. It was very effective because of the dissonance. You wouldn't think they'd be able to keep him down but they did it through hook or crook. Then there was a heat on Rich to finish it, with hope spots and all, before he got a roll up out of nowhere with Arn already celebrating on the apron since he thought they were doing great. Really good stuff all around and I like how unconventional the structure was overall. 

ER: Great stuff, great look at Destruction Inc, which happened when Borne was a better version of Arn than Arn. Young old man Arn and Borne working fully in sync, going after Candy and cutting him off, Wildfire raging on the apron for the hot tag, it's the perfect use of everyone. The Tommy stuff was a great way to start, Borne and Arn feeding perfectly for his wild fire, the way Arn and Borne moved into and fell away from Rich was electric. It's been said that wrestlers today are far better athletes but I don't understand that at all. The movement seen from ab-less 1983 wrestlers was such a better use of motion than anything in modern wrestling. Every strike led to a big recoil, selling happening constantly, everyone great at occupying themselves while feeding. 

When it's time for Destruction Inc to cut off Candy, Borne and Arn work the mat with him like they're specifically trying to gas Candy out, making him work through scrambles and pushing him to a pace he would never be able to handle. It's great psychology and a great way to use Candy, forcing him to be a tired monster swinging at two men who don't look like they'd be so fast. Paul is cheating from the floor, and I love how Candy falls when Paul grabs his leg from the floor, a real crashing wave that looked like a man actually thrown off balance by an unexpected full leg grab. Destruction are so good at keeping the ring cut off and the heat strong. Several moments stood out, but I loved one of Candy's big attempts to fight his way to Rich. Candy was punching at Borne while back elbowing Arn on the apron to escape their corner, and as Borne goes down from a punch he scissors Candy's leg as he's falling. When Rich finally tagged in it was a great as expected...but I did not expect them to then work a heat segment cutting off Rich! Great little twist, could have watched another 10 minutes of it. 

Paul Orndorff vs. Larry Zbyszko

MD: Larry's so great here. People complain about the stalling. People are, of course, fools. He doesn't do a lot of it here, but he does complain and grumble and get frustrated by everything. In college, my roommate, who did not like wrestling in the least, had to put up with us watching Nitro, and at one point Larry, on commentary, said "It hurts to live." and he loved that turn of phrase. Well, Larry sells life. He sells absolutely everything. And he's so damn active about it. If he takes a bump, he then flails his legs and slaps his arm against the mat and walks it off like he has ants in his pants. Early on he stumbles into so many different stooging scenarios. My favorite is him dropping down on his stomach, then on his back, which you never see, and then hitting a clunky front dropkick (Erik Watts level) as Orndorff catches himself on the rope, making Larry eat the bump. It's beautiful stuff.  

The transition has Larry sidestepping and Orndorff careening out. We don't see the bump into the guardrail but we hear it and it sounds nasty. Larry plays king of the mountain, of sorts, after that, heading out to the apron to lay shots in until Orndorff pulls the leg out. Larry gets up first and catches him on the way back in. He cuts him off one or two times like that but Orndorff is persistent and Larry is playing vulnerable. Orndorff has very stilted, staccato style attacks. Big sweeping stuff that doesn't really feel chained together. Drumbeat attacks so the last row can see (and hear). 

Larry, of course takes a beating. In the ring, out, onto the announce table, until he can shove Orndorff into the ref from the outside and then pin him with his foot stuck in the ropes.  That's a fake finish though as Tommy Rich comes out to tell the ref and they restart the match. Orndorff sells the leg from having had it caught in the ropes and Larry targets it, Orndorff fighting back on one leg really well. Larry keeps wanting the figure four but he wants it too badly and gets rolled up for his trouble. Fun match. Fascinating to watch both of these guys do their thing.

ER: I love these looks at Zbyszko, who looks and works almost like a normal size Buddy Rose in these environments. I love the way Larry moves, love how he feeds, love how he throws kicks and punches with similar to so many French Catch workers but perfectly distilled into a southern setting. Anytime the mics pick up Orndorff yelling about Zbyszko he sounds like Boomhauer because he hasn't yet had his New York Training. Zbyszko is so good at selling befuddlement while working out of holds. When he tries to push off and Orndorff holds onto a headlock, our Ordinary People couple in their same front row center seats actually have a rare small exchange, Jane Fonda pointing something out about the exchange while Donald Sutherland stares forward, emotionless. They are Georgia's two biggest wrestling fans and their demeanor never rises above that of a pair ordered to be there as part of some creative court mandated punishment. 

It's not always productive to view wrestling this way, but sometimes I watch a guy and think, "why doesn't anyone do this now?" I never actually know what those things might be, what things will get my attention. I don't always have a set criteria for Preferred Execution. It can be something simple or something complicated that someone makes look simple. Often it is concerning a common sequence done in a way that is so far removed from modern interpretations that it feels almost completely foreign. Here, it was the way Larry handled a dropdown/dropkick exchange, specifically the way he moved and got into position. He did two dropdowns then missed a dropkick, but it was this incredibly fast, incredibly tight work of clownery, and again I must compare Larry Zbyszko of all people to French Catch workers who he has surely never heard of in his life. His first dropdown was stomach down, but he took a back bump into his second one, and when he sprang up for the (missed) dropkick he did a flat back bump dropkick that made the whole sequence felt like it was evolving organically to the payoff of the specific way he fell.  

I loved the way he fought underneath, like trying to break a cravat with a hair pull that got him punished much worse, Orndorff dropping the hole and elbowing him in the nose before snapmaring him into a fistdrop. When it was Larry's time for control, he threw these great kicks while holding the ropes and keeping Orndorff in ring ropes purgatory, almost whipping his leg into Orndorff's body. Zbyszko does offense with his entire body, and that's the kind of thing I watch and think "athleticism". Using your whole body in the service of making all your actions more impactful. When I watch modern wrestling I predominately see athleticism used so frequently in the service of just getting into position for offense that all feels like wasted energy. No energy in this match felt wasted, even Larry reeling on his feet like a goofball for Orndorff's fire. 

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Found Footage Friday: OMNI 84~! SPOILER~! GARVIN~! JAKE~! ROAD WARRIORS~! ROOP~! ROGERS~!

GCW Omni 4/22/84

Tommy Rogers vs. Bob Roop

MD: We come in JIP here and you get the ambiance immediately as people in the crowd are shouting "hit him!" and "break his arm!" These two matched up very well for an opening match. They had a nice rope running exchange where Rogers ducked a clothesline and hit a cross body and some really good hammerlock switches. Rogers had an interesting sunset flip in this stretch too, one where he had to really struggle to get over and it's so different from anything you'd see today. He controlled on the arm for a bit but Roop took over just by grinding his heel into Rogers's face after standing up out of an armbar. So simple, so nasty, so effective. He really kept things moving on offense, switching between jumping knees and neckbreakers to just holding the ropes to step on Rogers' throat and and using an abdominal stretch. Rogers just punched his way back but it was with a perfect bit of 'fed up' head shaking and the punches looked good, especially after Roop sent himself sailing off the ropes right into one. Then they went into Roop bumping around for him until Rogers lifted up on a corner charge and got a roll up out of the corner. Different sort of opener than usual given the contrast. I enjoyed it.

ER: Based on the 10 minute call, this is only JIP by 30 seconds or so and it's great. Rogers is small but has real power, Roop leans into Rogers' offense and bumps with real respect, and punishes Rogers when the match calls for it. Roop is a dense, tough guy, and Rogers hits him and uses leverage in a way that makes his long control compelling. Roop is great at selling Rogers' focused arm work, at one point gripping the rope to slowly stretch out his arm, using the ropes to provide restraint while he rolled his shoulder. Roop is Shooter Ned Beatty, strong at injecting realism into matches where you might not be looking. When Rogers holds onto a bodyslam and turns it into a quick nearfall, it's the only time I've seen that spot look like a shoot. Bob Roop can be so realistic in everything he does, that every part of my brain believed he was trying to bodyslam Rogers. I wasn't expecting Rogers to snare him and drag him over when Roop tossed him away from his body. 

Roop moves to control by standing up in an armbar, one of my favorite spots. I love when a guy holds the bar, legs straight to his opponent's body. As he's standing, trying to break, Roop pulls himself up straight by the ropes, ref Nick Patrick focusing on Rogers' shoulders. When Patrick makes Roop break, he does so while stepping down onto Rogers' nose and mouth. Roop is great in control. He does no unique offense, but he does it using movement that nobody else uses. His elbowdrop lands heavy and his legdrop looks clean. His backbreaker has great bounce, truly backbreaking. He throws a straight right punch that might be the single best punch on the show. Several of his punches are in consideration. He bumps for Tommy Rogers' comeback like Tommy has the best punches on the show, arms slapping the mat in big rolling back bumps, going up for a back body drop, toppling over for a knee to the gut. There's a great misdirection before Rogers gets the win, as he wriggles out of a bodyslam and throws a dropkick upon landing, but Roop coolly takes on step back to avoid the dropkick. Roop doesn't capitalize, but the last minute doubt in Rogers win made his sunset flip after ring more true. Georgia was great at that kind of finish, setting up the win with a near loss like a marathon runner briefly stumbling down the final straightaway. Fantastic back and forth, a real tough opener. 

Tim Horner/Sweet Brown Sugar vs. Les Thornton/Rocky Jones

MD: I think Rocky Jones was Mike Masters. Again, it's weird to have a tag as the second match of the card on these Omni shows (from what we've seen at least). This was a fun one though. Jones and Thornton were in matching blue. There was a long shine where they got clowned a ton, first by Sugar on his own and then with phantom tags in headlocks. The heels did something similar with headscissors but it was a phantom heat too as the babyfaces took over soon enough. Horner got greedy and attacked Thornton on the apron and got swarmed for his trouble. Lots more switches behind the ref's back by the heels and the crowd hated each and every one of them, making that same audible buzz that you'd get for punches back then, just the negative version of it. Some good hope spots and Horner getting dragged back before he got a maybe-too-easy tag to Sugar and the babyfaces romped the heels on the way to a Sugar missile dropkick and Horner roll up and victory. 

ER: I'm not going to pretend I know who Rocky Jones or Mike Masters are, but now I have 15 minutes of this man who is shaped like an approximation of Buzz Sawyer and The Gambler. I don't think he has a whole lot to offer the babyfaces while being controlled, clunky about getting into headlocks, but when the match - too late - moves into Thornton and Jones controlling and isolating Tim Horner he suddenly comes into his own. The match comes into it's own once they go full heel control. While I wasn't engaging with Sugar and Horner's babyface headlock control, the Omni crowd was. 

I perked up when Horner tried to cheap shot Thornton on the apron, a confident move that backfires instantly as it grazes Thornton and Thornton sells it like a graze, returning fire and bashing Horner's face into the turnbuckle. Rocky throws an elbow to Horner's eye as he's tagging out. I loved the heel control, Rocky picking Horner's leg really close to a tag out, the physical weight of them dragging Horner back to their half of the ring, the energy Thornton puts into kneeing Horner in the back from the apron, heels trading headlocks behind the ref's back. Sweet Brown Sugar's hot tag has some hot punches, and his butt wiggling dropkick off the middle buckle was fantastic, whipping his legs out in front of him in flight to catch Rocky over halfway across the ring. When Horner tags in for the O'Connor Roll, he rushes into his so enthusiastically that he runs face first into Rocky Jones as he's shoving his body into the ropes, and I liked his dumb guy babyface dedication to not half-assing it. 

Jake Roberts vs. Brad Armstrong

MD: Definitely a tale of two or three matches. Jake is fascinating to watch for the first five or six minutes of this. Go back, if you've already watched, and watch again and just focus on his feet. Usually that's not the sort of thing we tell you to do around here (it's not that sort of blog) but he has these lanky legs and the long pants and just the way he moves around the ring, a stutter start or a bound towards the corner, is really interesting. There are inputs that I don't know enough about the actual mechanics to pick up or judge and on the top of that list is footwork, but I can tell you that his here is fascinating. 

Likewise, he's so good at playing around in the corner, drawing Brad in, complaining to the ref, taking up time, frustrating everyone, getting heat. For the first few minutes of this, I barely remembered he was wrestling someone or that Brad was in there. I was just watching Jake do his thing. 

And his thing for most of the match was to sell his stomach. Anytime there's motion, either him flailing about or Brad cutting him off with a shot to the guts, it's great. Even when Brad lifts him up for a bearhug, it's really good. The problem is that there's probably six or seven minutes of this match where Brad is just laying on the ground with Jake in a bearhug. The issue isn't that he's laying on the ground with Jake in a bearhug. It's that neither of two things are at play: 1) it's not the heel doing it to the babyface and 2) there's nothing that I know of on the line here. Jake's not the champion. So while the fans do care about the outcome; that's clear from the finishing stretch, there's no major stakes that would benefit from Jake being super vulnerable and on the verge of losing (not having ball control) for a brunt of the match. And since it's the babyface doing it to the heel, while the fans are fine seeing Jake writhe and hurt, they can't get behind Brad from underneath in the same way.

When Jake does take over he focuses on the gut too and it's good stuff, especially how he conducts Ellering to interfere or distract the ref. The finish is good too as Brad comes back with some shots to the gut and a great dropkick and Jake is able to just slink his leg over to the ropes to survive the Russian Leg Sweep. Brad gets revenge on Ellering for jumping in the ring to point that out but then eats the DDT. Fans are definitely into it. But that middle section was rough, not because it was a hold, but because it was the wrong person doing the wrong hold in the wrong match.

ER: I am not a Brad Armstrong fan. I acknowledge that he is a Good Hand but his Good Handedness gets in the way of him being a Better Worker. He limits himself in ways that undercut his talent, positioning himself in an underdog position that defined him in ways that could have been avoided. I can't get invested in his work, I rarely get invested in his matches. The right thing has to happen for me to engage with Brad. 

One of the things that makes me engage with a Brad Armstrong match, apparently, is a tremendous 20 minute selling performance from Jake Roberts. I'm not sure if it mattered much what Brad did here, because I could not stop watching every single shiver, shake, and cringe that Jake did. Master class. Did Brad Armstrong have good offense? Maybe? For a guy with a great body who was never taken seriously against heavyweights, I don't think his offense was as good as Tommy Rogers'. But Jake's selling sure made me buy into Brad's offense for a startlingly long match. Does Brad have a really good headbutt to the stomach? I'm not sure, but I sure bought into it seeing the way Jake covered up and flinched after taking it. Jake sells Brad's whips into the turnbuckles like he's feeling them in individual vertebrae. The way he falls to his butt multiple times after taking an unexpected shot was the kind of selling we praised Kawada for on message boards 25 years ago. Every little movement of his, every recoil, is worth a note.  

But what you want here is the way Jake sells Brad's bearhug. It's beautiful, even if it seems ridiculous that this tall drink of water who looks like a drunken little league coach would ever be found in a bearhug. You don't enter into a Jake/Brad match expecting it to be this long, and you definitely don't expect Brad to be wearing Jake down with a bearhug for any number of reasons, but it happens and I loved it. You get to see all the ways Jake tries to escape, all the bargains he makes with God and the Devil to be released. Trying to break with a handful of Brad's tight perm, his hands shaking as he's brought to his knees and Brad meets him there. When Brad tightens the bearhug, Jake actually leaps up into his arms the way Scooby would leap in Shaggy's arms after being scared by the ghost of an old prospector. Jake slowly falls to his back and Brad follows with the hug, Jake trying to fend it off by pressing his forearms into Brad's face bones. I found all of it captivating. 

When Jake is in control, he does some things totally unique to him, the way he drills offense to take small advantages. He hits a pair of sliding punches/shoulderblocks into Brad's kidneys that reminded me of the sadism you see in Abdullah The Butcher matches, a targeted missile that had fast closing speed and real impact, and something I've never seen before. I love Jake's messy fighting, how he kicks and shoves Brad to the floor when they're both on the mat. You don't see enough guys kicking at each other from prone positions, it's all getting into position now. Jake kicks at Brad from his back in smart and opportunistic ways, not caring if it looks messy and dirty. Boots hit just as hard from your back and side as they do standing. 

Jake Roberts made me buy into everything Brad Armstrong did, which is no small feat. It was a given that eventually Brad would focus his attention on the wrong man, and it's hard for people to mentally overcome that inevitability while watching his matches. Jake made me take interest, and when Brad actually hit the Russian legsweep it felt like others believed as well. It might sound easy to fill nearly 25 minutes with a Good Hand, but there's a difference between filling time and actually making it interesting. Jake did both. 

 
Ron Garvin vs. The Spoiler

MD: Really interesting set up here. Garvin's title is on the line for just the first ten minutes and Spoiler comes in with a plan. That's to work a headlock for the first half of it or so to really wear down Garvin. Then when there's just a few minutes, he really hones in on the throat. He has this amazing move he does where he puts the neck against the throat and kicks at the rope causing Garving to spiral back. But he also hits a neckbreaker and drives Garvin's head into the mat and climbs the top to drop neck first on the top rope as he drops to the floor himself. And then the last minute or two is all about Garvin just surviving. He does, but keep in mind he's basically not got a single piece of offense in the whole match.

But the match goes on with the title no longer on the line. And that's really interesting, because then what's it going to be? Usually, it's the babyface who is chasing and then he's going to get the win on the heel after the time limit. Now it becomes Garvin going for revenge for what's been done for him and trying to survive a pissed off Spoiler who knows he can't get the belt. The match switches between those two themes. Garvin starts by wielding a chair to get back into it. 

Once into it, he tries to get his punches in or to work on Spoiler's leg, but Spoiler is too big and strong. At the same time, Spoiler goes for the claw at times but can't get it on, in part because he has to defend against the punches. He is able to work the leg however. Things build past a few comebacks and momentum shifts to a great ref bump where Spoiler redirects Garvin into him. That allows him to start with the claw. Garvin fires back but Ellering gets a chair in on him. There's an awesome comeback where Garvin has to punch his way back into the ring and a great finish where Spoiler comes off the top but Garvin catches him with a punch. This was a little aimless after the ten minutes were over, but that almost worked in the match's advantage because it was about both wrestlers trying to score points and make something out of the violent opportunity given to them now that the title was no longer on the line.

ER: I love this shit. The crowd didn't seem to want a 37 minute match where Spoiler works holds while weathering punches from Hands of Stone but I sure do. Spoiler has such a unique way of using the ring and using his opponent, and I'm not actually sure the crowd enjoys watching him do anything. That doesn't matter to me, because I am so enthralled with his style. He's great at selling for Garvin, he's greater at beating Garvin's ass, stretching his leg, strengthening his neck with choking. When a match starts with a collar and elbow tie up this good, I guess I'm locked in for 35 minutes or so. I love a tough lock up, the legitimacy of it, the struggle. Spoiler shoving off the bottom buckle to get the small advantage. Spoiler's wide base on his side headlock to bring weight down on Garvin. Spoiler's perfect chinlock that looked like the most violent thing in the match, perfect camera angle on it like we were observing a cell phone recorded crime. I lost it when he rolled to his back to wrench it in tighter. 

Spoiler utilizes the ropes in ways that nobody else has, facilitating chokes that seem like something we should have seen in French Catch. The fans get so annoyed when Spoiler does rope chokes, and he has enough different variations that I'm not sure I can ever tire of them. When he's lying on his back, bending Garvin's neck back over the bottom rope, pulling down and back on Garvin's chin, that's wrestling. Nobody else does wrestling that looks like Spoiler's and that always makes me gravitate towards wrestlers. It's more common that when they do something different, they do it well. Not as many are just allowed to keep doing things wrong if they aren't any good. Spoiler finds endless ways to be annoying, tough ways to work holds. When Garvin misses a kneedrop off the middle - a great magic trick, great form on the miss - he takes over with holds targeting Garvin's leg. 

There's an honest to god reaction from Depressed Ordinary People Donald Sutherland, a man who I can't make sense of. He and his wife are front row center at every Omni show, and neither has shown any kind of interest in professional wrestling. I don't know why they're there. The most logical assumption is that their teen son drown to death practicing for a swim meet and they've been left in his wake to attempt to maintain their routines and move forward while being stuck in a specific year. Like the territories in 1984, I guess. Maybe his wife loves pro wrestling and drags him there every single week and forces him to sit through tough matwork that is the least interesting thing in his world. He doesn't react to any wins or losses or dangerous spots or adept exchanges, but he laughs with the two hesher teens sitting next to him as Buns of Stone Ronnie Garvin has those tight cheeks aimed directly at them. Spoiler has a knuckle lock held from his back, thrusting his crotch upward, to meet Garvin's Stone Buns, the arc of his thrust aimed directly at Depressed Atlanta Donald Sutherland and two teens that aren't made like that anymore. He laughs and shows emotion for the first time I've seen on any Omni show, a man who hates wrestling to his core and just misses his dead son, but can still laugh at wrestling when it looks gay. 

Road Warriors vs. Masked Superstar/King Kong Bundy

MD: I really enjoy 84 Road Warriors. They were raw but had such energy and didn't calcify into what they would someday be. They could have been anything. Hawk just flew around, both on offense and bumping for people. He came off the top at Bundy with an atomic elbow smash and then went for another and took the punch to the gut flip bump. A lot of this was just wondering how they'd be able to contain Bundy which is a great feeling for a Roadies match. Eventually they did it with a missed elbow drop, working the arm (including Hawk going up to the top to do it) and double teaming. Superstar was wonderful here. I haven't seen him as a face with the gimmick much but it had all of 89 babyface Ax fighting the Twin Towers which is a personal favorite. And of course the fans OOOHed for every babyface punch, a magical time. Bundy came back (with Superstar's help; all it took was a little) and hit that interesting inside elbow drop to win it which led to...

King Kong Bundy vs. Paul Ellering (3-minutes)

MD: I like how Ellering almost worked this like a cage match, desperate to escape the ring. Bundy had a lot of fun with him, tossing him about. He hit one kneedrop in the middle which was the most crushing thing I've ever seen. Looked amazing but I get why a big guy wouldn't do it often. He squashed him with a power slam and then lifted him up before finally finishing him and demanding the 5 count as time was ticking down. They really gave the fans their money's worth on this stip.

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Found Footage Friday: OMNI 83~!

GCW Omni 8/28/83

ER: I'm so glad they included the opening promo package for this show, it's so good. Tommy Rich called Bill Irwin "Jack" (the greatest promo guys in history knew to call their opponents Jack), Mad Dog Sawyer has the greatest pro wrestling body imaginable, and the Brisco Brothers cut an honest to god excellent promo on the Roadies. Gerry is a bit rigid but he keeps calling their match a Texas Tarnado Match and talks about how they wrestle tarnadoes in the Great State of Oklahoma every day, but Jack is the real killer. I am not a big Jack Brisco guy. He is one of the All Time Greats whose work doesn't really thrill me. But he sounds so damn cool in this promo. He is calm, and delivers it with a smirk like he really doesn't give a good goddamn about the Road Warriors. There is no fear at all. He even makes fun of their big arms, and asks what they're going to do with those big arms when the Briscoes bend them behind their backs and they start gasping for breath, and then Gerry starts doing this incredible tongue out gagging. These Oklahoma men in their tan suits just out here mocking the fucking Road Warriors. Incredible. That sold me on their match so hard, I can't wait. 

Mr. Wrestling (Jesse Barr) vs. Joe Lightfoot

MD: Good mat-based opener to get over the idea that the fake Mr. Wrestling is capable enough. Lightfoot is basically the definition of a good undercard hand. I may or may not have mentioned it last time, but he was useful in Portland as a guy to build up Jay Youngblood coming in by giving the heels someone to beat first. They worked in and out of holds with some solid rope running. Barr did one of my favorite bits of mat wrestling where he has a toehold on and has to rotate around while keeping the toes in order to avoid his opponent from grasping his head. It's the slickest thing imaginable. Great finish here as he jammed a second headscissors takeover by turning it into a hotshot on the second rope, setting Lightfoot up for the running knee and then a back bridging pin for good measure.

ER: I dug this a lot. Barr does a lot of little things that I really like. I liked how he lay in wait to break Lightfoot's full nelson, holding his hands behind his head over Lightfoot's, motionless, before striking down in one quick motion. His drop toehold to set up his Indian deathlock was so tight. His fistdrop? A great, workmanlike Dibiase style fistdrop. He fell into the ropes selling for Lightfoot's comeback in a way that made it feel like he could accidentally slip through them. The finish is great, with Lightfoot going for a flying headscissors and Barr falling back with a hotshot that drops Lightfoot on the top rope to the middle. He sets up his Mr. Wrestling kneelift like an asshole, calling for it in the corner like an actually cool version of Edge. But the real asshole move was his jackknife neck bridge pin. I would have wanted to murder the guy if I were one of the front row men with their arms crossed. 

Brett Sawyer vs. Bob Roop

MD: This is an aside but I listened to an episode of Roop's podcast (#12 about his first tour of Japan) the other day and it was quite good. I'd suggest it. The more we see of Wayne, the better he comes off. Amazing connection with the crowd. Great seller. Throws everything into both his bumping and his shots, especially his comeback shots. Roop did a great job throwing himself into things too, especially his knee strikes. He used one to knock Wayne out of the ring early and Wayne came back a bloody mess. Blood on the second match on the card is a choice but it worked out here. Some great moments of comeback and cutoff, including a picture perfect posting reversal by Roop. Except for that wasn't a cutoff at all. As Roop tried to get back into the ring, a staggered Wayne managed to roll him up making it for two great, novel finishes in a row. Very good stuff for what it was.

ER: I really love Brett Sawyer now. I used to have not much of an opinion on him. All of these 1983 Omni shows have been so much fun, and everyone on them has had their stock raised by the new footage. Brett Wayne might just be the guy who has been raised the most, for me. Now, a lot of other guys had such high ceilings that they had less room to move up, but that doesn't matter. The Other Sawyer is great. This match was awesome. Bob Roop is one of the toughest men in wrestling history and looks like Ned Beatty. Sawyer looks like the ugly bassist in an 80s hair metal band, but he's just such a fucking great babyface. He has skills completely different from his brother. He was Mad Dog's younger brother, but by a lot less time than you'd think. They were a year apart but Brett Wayne was in permanent Kid Brother mode. Brett Wayne Sawyer was a GREAT Kid Brother wrestler. 

The Omni crowd sat with their arms crossed during a good opener, but Brett Wayne is the one who gets the old ladies waving their arms and pumping their fists for his comeback. This whole match is built around a big posting, where Roop runs Brett down the apron. Sawyer is great at dramatic falls, and I love how he absorbs the posting, how he falls off the apron, the time he took to get back in the ring. Sawyer is a great bleeder too, and as Roop hits a snaring clothesline you can see he has good color from the posting. Sawyer's selling is so good as he's fighting back, and it all builds to this incredible moment that mirrors his earlier posting. Sawyer now has Roop on the apron, now it's his turn for revenge, the fans all want it, the old ladies are screaming for Brett...and instead it turns out to be an incredibly done reversal. Sawyer runs Roop down the length of the apron and at the last second Roop smashes Sawyer's face into the turnbuckle, a shot maybe ever tougher than his posting earlier. I thought that would have played as a great, if demoralizing, finish, buy my boy Brett surprises me again when he gets a tight roll up immediately after, as Roop is getting back in the ring. I bit at all the exact things they wanted that Omni crowd to bite at, their storytelling and Sawyer's babyface fire hooking me just as it hooked ATL over 40 years ago.

Paul Ellering vs. Bruno Sammartino Jr.

MD: Seeing David with the Bruno Jr. name really hammers home how doomed the guy was. He was stocky and there's a world where he could have had a totally different name and been in Florida or Memphis teaming with Jim Neidhart and they could have been a hugely successful heel team, I think.  What we had instead was Ellering really guiding him through one. Paul would eat the mat and end up in cross toeholds again and again, then complain to the ref when he got out. He finally took over working the eyes and he had a great way of selling his fists after the punch or continuing to sell the leg that had him coming off like a vulnerable manager instead of a former muscleman wrestler. The fans were behind David when he came back. Weird spot down the stretch as he got pressed off the top (like Flair or someone would) by Ellering, but he came back again after that and hit a suplex and a belabored press slam before Ellering took a powder for the count out. Pretty transparent overall but still better than you'd expect and a testament to Ellering.

ER: That David Sammartino has BS all over his boots, poor kid really stepped in it. As Matt said, what chance did this kid have? He had his dad's build and none of his timing or charisma. There was a moment where he swept Ellering's legs late in the match and Ellering was just lying on his back, directing Sammartino to start punching him, and it took him forever to pull the trigger on them. Ellering did what he could, but you but my boy Brett Wayne in the same match and he'd have Ellering scrambling and begging off all around the ring. I did like Sammartino standing on Ellering's neck while holding his legs in a deathlock, but much of this was Ellering just making do. When Paul finally took over with a punch to a grounded Sammartino, shaking out his fist, I said aloud "finally" at my desk at work. Ellering had several nice punches and was good at working to get heat, since Sammartino was incapable of connecting with these people. Sammartino's big press slam was a good thing to end on. It looked good and I like how he really threw Ellering, but Ellering was great at deciding to take the count out loss, almost swinging at a cop on his way out. 

Texas Tornado Match: Road Warriors vs. Brisco Brothers

MD: This was already out there so I'll just hit it quickly. Gerry saying "Texas Tarnado" never gets old. What was most striking here was how this was so unproduced and raw. There weren't the sort of momentum shifts that you'd expect. It had all four men in the ring at the same time but very often one Brisco was in charge of a Roadie and a Roadie was in charge of the other Brisco. There were a few moments of double teaming if they got a Brisco out and a few moments of clear comeback, but in general, it was just barely controlled chaos. That's extremely refreshing even if it meant any possible narrative had to be entirely implicit. The finish was fun too since it had the Briscos resorting to using chairs (within the rules) and making it so the Road Warriors were too wary to come back into the ring. They got swung at every time they tried and that forced them to get counted out. It's a match that simply couldn't exist today.

ER: I thought this was mostly pretty bad. The Briscoes wrestled nothing like they said they would wrestle and the Tarnado stipulation played to nobody's strengths. Much of the fighting looked soft and slowed down. Many of the strikes looked so bad I had to check that I hadn't actually been watching the other matches in 1.5x speed and then got brought back to real life. Nope, it was just them moving slowly and throwing bad strikes. Animals kept doing this little hopping stomps, everyone moved like they didn't want to accidentally bump into anyone else, Gerry did a run of four push off double boots out of the corner and not only did it look like the Roadies didn't want to run into them, but Gerry threw them like he didn't want them to make contact. Jack did a couple things I liked, getting out of a bearhug with a big telegraphed eye poke, and I liked the visual of both Briscoes kicking their own Road Warrior in the knee around the ring at the same time, but then that chairs finish quickly brought this back to bad. The wrestling grapplers who were going to immobilize the muscle bound freaks on the mat, instead resorting to getting weapons (the Road Warriors did not do a single untoward action toward them!) and throwing the worst chair shots you've ever seen. Gerry's were especially terrible. The second match on this card had blood, motherfucker, throw a glancing blow off one of their heads or something, anything. No good. 

Mr. Wrestling II vs. Larry Zbyszko

MD: Totally down my alley. Mr. Wrestling II was an absolute folk hero here and Zbyszko was just the perfect heel. II started by dropping the belt between them like a line in the sand. Then, of course, Larry stalled. Until II gave chase and finally caught him as he thought he was free and clear to slide into the ring. A massive beating ensued until Larry stalled more into the corner. Then as he finally let the ref allow II to get close, he hit a kick, pulled the turnbuckle back and smashed II's head into it. That allowed him to control for a while, including a very interesting chinlock where he put it over by leaning to the side. Such a little thing but it was visually effective. II made it up and Larry went for the exposed corner again but II turned it around on him, leading to another beating and the eventual finish, which had Larry hold the rope on a roll up after he couldn't get a pile driver to work. Post-match II hit a kneelift and Larry tossed the belt straight up in one of the best visuals I've seen in a very long time. This was exactly what it should have been.

ER: Now we're talking, now we're back to the good stuff. The Omni Zbyszko has been so good, and this continues that trend. But this is also a tremendous Wrestling II performance, just fire the whole way through. The crowd starts swelling when Larry begins removing the turnbuckle pad, knowing what's coming, and once he smashes II into the buckle the real great shit begins. I love how these two fall for each other. Look how II smashes into that buckle and falls slowly down the ropes to the mat, and look how explosively Larry falls when the tables get turned. The second time Larry got smashed into the exposed buckle he sold it so well that I was sure he broke his nose, lying there on the mat covering his face, I fully expected a bloody nose and mouth when the hands came away. Wresting II was pushing 50 and his work was excellent. He beat Zbyszko's ass around the ring (paying him back for those great punches Larry threw right across his jaw) and scraped his boot all over Larry's face. Zbyszko took at least three back body drops from the guy, fast ones. Wrestling II has the best kneelift in wrestling: short, quick, sharp, damaging. I loved him dropping standing into Zbyszko's head and neck, doing a quick fist shake out to straight his arm after one to the dome. Zbyszko's finish was real scummy, great hold of the ropes after a cool piledriver reversal from II, and the post match fire was excellent. Wrestling II nailing him with another all time great kneelift causing Larry to toss the belt up into the air as he bumped. 

Tommy Rich vs. Bill Irwin (Loser Receives Lashes)

MD: When this show came out, I think people undersold just how great this one-two punch was, as one match led into the next and heated it up to a massive degree. Pez had the crowd anyway and the Kabuki/Hart act was super over; plus you had Ole to cheerlead, but it was all incredibly cleverly done. 

Rich and Irwin really did have great chemistry. There was a way that the two were visually balanced, something about how they both moved, emoting for the back row, big arm movements, a sort of lankiness where the sum of the two was more than the individual parts. And they had a certain explosiveness to how they hit the ropes, and whipped each other. They'd bring it up and down here, going right back to that explosiveness. Tommy got color early, because of course he did. He'd have a great hope spot where he reversed a smash in the corner and fired away for a bit until he got cutoff back in the corner again. The finish had him hitting the damndest small package out of nowhere, with the legs hooked just right. The fans went nuts and then doubly so as he handcuffed Irwin in the corner and started whipping. They had to deliver on the gimmick at least a little so he got a few shots in before Hart and Kabuki ran down to break it up. Then they got some shots in on a prone Rich before the place really exploded as Pez and Ole charged in to stop it. 

ER: Yeah this is another reason why we're here, this is what we want. Two wild men, Wildfire and Just Wild, one of the best bleeders of all time against a guy who will throw a couple dozen pump kicks into a bleeding man's face. Everyone in Georgia was so complementary to each other's style, everyone synced up so well, everyone was great at feeding for everyone else. This footage really is magic. Even before the blood, I could have watched a match built around these two hitting the ropes and Irwin doing drop downs. Irwin stayed on Rich and Rich was great at getting kicked around. It's a simple formula that they kept going to most of the match and I never tired of it, because Rich kept finding great ways to put over the kicks to his bleeding head. My favorite moment was Irwin busting Rich open because before you see that Rich is busted open, you see Irwin looking at his fist after punching Rich, and then shake his fist off. He clearly does not shake his fist because of the impact of his punch, he is shaking it to get the blood off. It's so good. The small package finish works really well, love how Rich grapevined those legs and how Irwin was wiggling to kick out. All of the pins in this were great, now that I think about it. Irwin had a great one where he posted up on Rich's laid out arm, body weight on one arm and his arm pressed down onto Rich's flattened arm, and I have no idea how Rich kicked out. Irwin missed a charge into the buckles really violently, perfect way to set up Rich cuffing him around the ropes. There were only a few whippings before Hart and Kabuki got in there to break it up but they all looked nastier than I expected, Rich really airing out that whip. 

Pez Whatley vs. Great Kabuki

MD: That led right into the Pez vs. Kabuki match, with the crowd on edge from the start. Pez dismantled Kabuki from the get go with each shot drawing that Ooooof noise that is so welcome in these early 80s matches. He got too close to the ropes as he was goozling Kabuki though and Hart got him in the eye. Hart was entertaining throughout since he was constantly trying to evade Ole. They brought it up and down with nerveholds but the fans got up for Pez's comebacks each and every time. Then they built to bigger spots with Kabuki coming off the top until Pez caught him and tossed him off. Finish had Hart grab the leg on a suplex attempt from the outside in but Pez actually kick out (the babyface never kicks out that scenario) and then Ole trip Kabuki off the ropes so Pez could hit the jumping headbutt for the win. Place went nuts, Ole celebrated with Pez. Post-match they had Kabuki ALMOST go after Hart until he got him under control; just beautiful pro wrestling all around.

ER: How good are these OOOF shots!? They added to every match they gave the OOFs and in such an ahead of its time wrestling crowd way. What's the fan crossover of fans who were doing the Omni OOFs and Knife Edge WOOs? Every shot in this match and the other Good Ones had it's own punctuation and since everyone in the territory was capable of throwing a great punch the matches feel like constant exclamation points. That's another reason the Road Warriors/Briscoes match was so bad, it was just a sloppy tornado with punches and soft kicks and a weird legdrop and nobody could find the rhythm. Nobody was timing their strikes for impact they were just in each other's way. No OOFs. 

If Brett Sawyer is a guy I didn't have an opinion on before the Omni stuff started showing up a few years ago, then Kabuki is a guy I didn't have an opinion on before the DVDVR Texas and All Japan 80s sets. The Chris Adams series was the peak but Kabuki revealed himself to have a real consistent TV match quality and a style I really like. Maybe our greatest Mysterious Asian Striker gimmick worker. He felt violent like Abby but with no weapons, just the savate kicks and throat thrusts and aura. Pez Whatley has been a real treat on these Omni shows too - they're a gift that has raised many boats - and his big headbutts and the way people were living with his selling were so good. The way Kabuki bumped for Whatley's first headbutt, flying back into a leaping bump for the first time all match......then the way Gary Hart bumps for Whatley's headbutt!!Hart takes it on the apron and leaps up high enough that I gasped, thinking he was crashing off the apron to the floor, but instead he gets tangled in the ropes in seven different ways before getting to the apron. It's the best Tangled in the Ropes bumping ever done among heel managers with the latest name Hart. Kabuki leapt high in the air to absorb Whatley's flying headbutt and it was the right amount of cartoon impact the crowd needed for one gigantic OOF. 

Dick Slater vs. Buzz Sawyer

MD:  The first thirty seconds of this went exactly how I was expecting. The two meet up on the floor and you get every impression that this was going to be a wild draw. But then it went in a completely different direction and stands as an incredibly complete match, just a real heated, grudge-filled but grounded main event (with some big high points) and it's almost surprising there wasn't a title match involved given how they worked it.

Slater controlled the arm early. They'd go out of it and right back into it. Sawyer would pull the hair or get a cheapshot in but they'd run two or three bits and then Slater would drag him back down. Varied stuff, hammerlock and wristlock variations, with the best of it being Slater throwing in a bunch of headbutts while he had the arm. The transition here had Ellering get involved, whacking Slater as his head was between the ropes and Buzz had the ref distraction.

First heat was chinlock heavy but they worked it well and the fans went up for every hope spot with the cutoffs being sufficiently weighty, including the last one where Sawyer tossed Slater to the floor. He started to hulk up out there and came back with big punches. This could have well built to a finish but instead the ref went down, Ellering handed Buzz some knucks, and they went around for a second bit of heat, Slater now bleeding. He survived the power slam, though, started firing back again, beating Slater around ringside. When things got desperate and Buzz went back to the knucks, Slater got them and KOed him right in front of the ref for the DQ. 

Just super complete. That's the best word for it. This is one of those matches that closed every parenthesis and was full of compelling stuff in the middle. Second time I went through this (even not remembering the details), I could feel every banana peel slip or cut off by Buzz coming but it all felt just right, perfectly placed, perfectly timed. You could program a match like this but of course it's Buzz and Slater's mannerisms and wild abandon that turned it from theory to gripping practice.

ER: 20 minutes of new Buzz Sawyer means 20 more minutes cementing him as one of my favorites. Can you imagine seeing a guy looking like and shaped like Buzz Sawyer walking into an Olive Garden in a mint green polo? A guy with that hairline who is jacked in that specific way looks like Instant Trouble. I don't know that there are five looks in wrestling history that I love more than Buzz Sawyer's. The fact he's not just a Perfect Look but he knows how to use it is lighting in a bottle. The way he uses his look, the way he bends his back taking payoff punches, the way he false starts and stomps before locking up, the way he walks around in a circle before bringing it back around to taking a shot. He's the beefiest Chris Candido possible and Dick Slater is like a strong silent Roddy Piper. People respond to both. 

They can work slow and they can work big and they have no problem filling 20. They could have filled 30. There were three different points where it felt like they were peaking things to the finish and they all worked, and the small stuff in between was no less interesting. The highest peak - and what certainly felt like the push to the finish - was Slater finally zombie staggering furiously after Ellering at ringside, throwing chairs and kicking tables in a rage while Ellering runs away in his silk robe like Don Knotts. Mad Dog grabs Dick from the ring and gets his lights punched out. You'll see two different great powerslams, Slater throwing a series of 8 consecutive headbutts short arm headbutts after also being the one to hit a charging JYD headbutt earlier, two hidden weapon punches that look like the finish, a great ref performance from Nick Patrick - a guy who needs to get more praise for everything he does - and a post match sour grapes stuff piledriver that could have started a riot. Pro wrestling. 

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RIP Bullet

Bob Armstrong/Eddie Graham vs. Dick Murdoch/Bob Roop Florida 12/28/74

ER: This is only a 6 minute clip, but there is so much value in these 6 minutes that of course you have to see it. It's one of those tags where the ref never seems to have control, with all four combatants and Gary Hart running around potatoing each other at will. Armstrong is too much fun to watch in this, as he wiggles and glides and dances his way into and out of the ring, firing downward punches and elbows, giddily hopping and bopping into the action. All of the bumps in the match are cool and off balance, more guys spiraling away and stumbling out of punches than guys taking back bumps off strikes. Eddie Graham was a good staggerer and great at coming in with a well timed punch, and I loved seeing he and Roop grapple. All of their standing lock ups look tough as hell, constant struggle, and Roop crushes Graham with his shoulderbreaker down the stretch, which looks just as violent in 2020 as it did in 1974. Murdoch was a major standout, as while Bob is wiggling and punching his way through things, Murdoch is working everything. His belly is big but he is fast, and he runs this entire show. He's a great heel bumper here, not over stooging, but in there to be a threat while also making the babyfaces look like a threat. I loved him and Bob fighting over a brainbuster, how Murdoch's legs wobble when he's eating Armstrong's punches or getting a chair shoved into his face, how athletically he spills to the floor while not looking at all athletic. A lot of this was a battle on just who to focus on, because these guys all do interesting things when they're not even in the match.


Bob Armstrong vs. The Mongolian Stomper NWA Mid-Atlantic 9/9/75

ER: This was a ton of fun but stopped right when things were getting great, but what we got rules. It's a hot Mid-South Coliseum crowd and Lance Russell is calling the action, meaning it sounds the exact way wrestling should sound. Stomper is an absolute physical specimen. Armstrong is also as in shape as he always was, but Stomper looks like a final boss. It's based nearly entirely around the tightest side headlocks you've seen, with both men using their big arms to try and separate each other's melons from their shoulders. Stomper gets shot into the ropes, Bob leapfrogs over and flies backwards with a back elbow, with Stomper slipping to the floor to avoid the big elbowdrop. Back in, and there is a ton of super engaging Armstrong side headlock work. Armstrong has the most apropos surname ever, and Stomper is a master at being an oversized heel going through all the physical throes of being trapped in a snug headlock. When Stomper finally gets loose of it he flings Armstrong into the corner, Armstrong leaps gracefully to the middle buckle and hits an axe handle. Stomper is super generous here (no doubt building to running this match back a few times) and just stooges all over for Bullet, never managing to block a single kick, punch, or chop, and falling prey to every single leapfrog. There's a great theatrical ref bump where Armstrong runs the ropes so fast that Stomper runs him right into the ref after a dropdown, and the ref flops around fantastically after taking an Armstrong shoulderblock. If that shoulderblock is enough to send a mountain like Stomper to the mat, what would it do to a mere referee? Armstrong gets the pin after a big elbow, but Stomper grabs his belt and Gulas sets up the title match that I don't think I have access to. Armstrong knew how to make the most out of the most basic pro wrestling movements, and Stomper is the same thing, heel category. It's a special thing seeing them play off each other.


Bob Armstrong vs. The Mongolian Stomper NWA Mid-America 9/16/75

ER: This is under 5 minutes, not a full match, but it's essential. It's the final few minutes of a rowdy bloody match for Stomper's Southern Heavyweight title, and we get it before the blood starts flowing. They throw big swinging punches and constantly have to be separated before throwing at each other more. Armstrong gets busted open and Stomper doesn't go for anything other than working that cut for the rest of the match. Armstrong's face is covered and Stomper has Armstrong's blood on his legs and body. Bob is not someone who grows squeamish at the sight of his own blood, and it just inspires him to bust Stomper's head open. Not long in, and this loses all pretense of a wrestling match and it becomes a fight. It's so great, just the two of them clutching at each other's heads and refusing to break holds as they strangle each other on the apron. This was an expertly done non-finish, the kind of bloody realism that made you forget there had even been a match happening.


The Bullet/Adrian Street vs. Robert Fuller/Jimmy Golden Continental 9/1/86

ER: Not a Bullet showcase by any means, but a showcase in strange bedfellows. I don't know how much babyface Adrian Street I've seen, but a Bullet/Street babyface team is a fun idea, especially with Fuller and Golden to bump around acting confused by Street's wiles being turned on them. Street freaks everyone out, goes after the ref, goes after Golden and angers him by making him feel things, really gets under the skin of Kevin Sullivan on commentary, is constantly backing Golden up on his heels. Everybody was confounded by street, and the dichotomy was more amusing because of how much Golden and Fuller towered over him. Bullet was the guy saving Street throughout, and I liked the few moments they worked together. Bullet hitting Golden with an atomic drop, sending him flying forward into a Street kiss, sending Golden bumping wildly backwards (selling the kiss 4x as much as he sold the atomic drop) is pro wrestling. Bullet basically worked this match as Street's groomer, dragging Golden to their corner to be assaulted, and punching him in Street's direction for more kissing. Fuller and Golden finally cut Street off from Bullet, and I loved Fuller choking Street from the apron, Bullet getting a hot tag but the ref missing it, and finally Bullet going after Fuller on the floor. Tom Prichard runs out and things get gross with him forcing kisses on Miss Linda while Sullivan talks about how she's getting it finally from a real man. Luckily Steve Armstrong runs the heels off, wearing a neck brace and short white OP shorts.

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New Footage Friday: FULL OMNI SHOW!

GCW 11/4/83

PAS: You have to love that the network is throwing stuff like this up now, instead of some OVW match which was already on Youtube. This is completely new, and full of intriguing match ups, and a rarely seen match up between two all timers

Mike Jackson vs. Bob Roop

PAS: This was a cool match on paper between two of the maestros of 80s regional wrestling. It had a moment or two, but was mostly worked as a match to let people settle in their seats. The headlock takeovers had some snap, and I dug Roop's stampede shoulderbreaker, but this was basically skippable.

Johnny Rich vs. Chick Donovan

PAS: I am amused at them running a Tommy Rich cousin against a fake Nature Boy on the undercard of Wildfire vs. Flair. Chick had some nice straight punched to the temple, but this was pretty forgettable as well. Rich just kind of rolls him up after some basic dropkick/armdrag stuff.

Ronnie Garvin vs. Cy Jennigan

PAS: Another short match, but a bit more nip and tuck then the first two. No I idea who Jennigan is, but he was pretty aggressive, backing Garvin into the corner and landing some nice looking body shots. Garvin puts him out pretty quickly with a big punch and elbow drop.

Jake Roberts vs. Pez Whatley

PAS: This is a match with a bunch of individually cool things in it. Roberts is a great sleazy heel, and they build nicely with his cheapshots and Paul Ellering interference. Whatley is pretty exciting babyface and times his comebacks well, including some really sweet dropkicks. Still this goes to a 30 minute draw, and they had about 15 minutes of stuff to fill time with. At no point did they really work to a finish, and the match ended up feeling like someone was stuck in traffic and they were told to stretch. Ended up being pretty tough to get through.

Ted DiBiase vs. Buzz Sawyer

PAS: One of the weird and cool things we have gotten with the Hidden Gems on the network is a much wider view of Buzz Sawyer. We got to see his most legendary match ever, The Last Battle of Atlanta, work an awesome Battle of Dogs against JYD and now a rare bit of babyface Buzz taking on DiBiase. As expected this had a lot of great looking right hands by both guys, and Buzz using his traditional heel mannerisms and awesome babyface mannerisms. There were a couple of time killer chinlock spots (this was a DiBiase match after all) but after Buzz gets cut it is a pretty energetic brawl including an awesome post match where DiBiase throws a chair at Buzz who catches it, sits down and gives him an evil grin. Fun stuff.

MD: I really, really like fiery babyface Dibiase. Heel Dibiase though? Kind of the shits as often as not. I'm presuming he called this match and he called it to come off as a vulnerable champ. Buzz had JUST turned face and they were going to have to count on him to draw for the next few months, but that lengthy babyface sleeper sequence was unforgivable. I say that even with the pop Sawyer got after Dibiase hope spotted his way out of it only to get caught off the ropes again. It just went on forever. It's a shame too because there was a lot of good stuff. The early clowning was great because the crowd desperately wanted to cheer Buzz and he could really milk it. When Dibiase finally took over, all of his offense looked really good. The finish was pretty heated brawling. But man, vulnerable heel champion or no, you don't want an endless babyface sleeper that they barely work. Even a 1983 Georgia crowd knew that wasn't going anywhere. They were just polite enough to cheer along.

The Road Warriors vs. Buzz/Brett Sawyer

PAS: This was a total blast, Buzz comes out to save his brother and the crowd goes nuts. Brett has a broken arm and his cast and Buzz's insanity even up the match. Animal gets busted open and Hawk has a bandaged ear, and this is the most I can remember the Roadies looking vulnerable, which really helps the match. Shockingly good selling by both guys, and I am wondering if I need to revisit the Roadies. Their offense looks great too, they are both amazing power wrestlers, their slams looks so effortless and their bearhugs look rib cracking. Great heat on Brett and a big hot tag by Buzz and we actually have the Warriors go down clean.

MD: I loved this. Earlier in the day I doubled back and caught a lot of what we have of GCW TV from November. That meant I saw the Buzz Sawyer turn. The pop when he ran back to the ring to team with his brother here was huge. They had delayed this one show with the injury angle on Brett. There was just a buzz and that initial shine with the revenge cast shots and the fans reacting to every shot was great. Considering how little the Road Warriors would give a few years later, they were great at doing what they had to here. They were completely protected by the weapon-like nature of the cast and the sheer babyface fury that Buzz brought. I thought the bearhug control bits were actually really effective, which was a testament to Brett's selling and how badly the crowd wanted the Sawyers to get revenge and the finish was pretty triumphant. The perfect match for this crowd and this moment. Between this, the Last Battle of Atlanta and the Thanksgiving show, plus some stuff we know they have back in August from previous releases, we're starting to get this real picture of the territory just like we were able to with Houston a few years back.

Ric Flair vs. Tommy Rich

PAS: This is the first match we have between these two legends (outside of a Power Hour match in 1990) and I really wanted it to be a classic. Instead it was a good match, with two good wrestlers putting on a show for the fans up into a bad finish. Rich has those great looking straight punches, and Flair bumps all around the ring for them. I really enjoyed the king of the mountain section with Flair constantly knocking Rich to the floor. I thought the big Flair bladejob was a bit desultory, and Flair just checking it off his list. That belt shot at the finish of the match was really weak looking and left me with a bit of a bad taste. Still there was a lot to enjoy in the meat of this match, I imagine if we every get another matchup between the two it will fulfill more of its promise.

MD: This is just a very solid Ric Flair match. Nothing was over the top exceptional but everything seemed to hit, even if loosely. I think a lot of that has to do with the opponent, not necessarily any actual skill that Rich brings to the table, but just from who he was and where they were. Rich was established so Flair didn't have to establish him. It meant that he was able to take a good chunk of the match. Rich was over so Flair could make use of that to get heat. It meant that Flair could go back to the well again and again with the cheating and get reactions. Rich wasn't a one trick pony so Flair didn't have to fall into formula. They worked this pretty broadly. There were attempts at legwork and then actual legwork but it didn't dominate the match. Rich had plenty of comebacks but Flair got to use a lot of his great offense. I especially liked the pile driver and the subsequent comeback reversal. Finally, they got to do a fairly complex finish with a roll up and a belt shot and both guys came out of it looking pretty good. Maybe Rich would get him next time, right?

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New Footage Friday: KKK, Harley, Baba, Jumbo, Wrestling 2, Roop, Dream Machine

Network and Dan Ginnety continue to deliver the goods, and now we have too much footage each week. In this very specific way (and really only in this very specific way) what a time to be alive. Tomk jumps on a couple of these as well. 

Giant Baba/Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Killer Karl Kox/Harley Race AJPW 2/11/81

PAS: Dan Ginnety's 1981 TV set delivers another Killer Karl Klassic. I might even like the Race/Kox team more then the Kox/Murdoch team, even though I don't like Race as much as Murdoch. He brings a variety to the attack, more big bumping, more suplexes, plus the legit credentials of being an NWA champ. Kox was the star again though, what a nasty killer he was, everything was done with such force and viciousness. At one point he just drives a half a dozen elbows into the side of Jumbo's neck, it felt like he was trying to chop off an especially knotty piece of wood. We also get a gorgeous brainbuster to finish the first fall, and a great drunken sell of a Baba chop. I loved the finish of the second fall too, with the American's getting counted out as they stomp Baba on the floor. Finish of the third fall was unusal, with Baba tripping Race when he had Jumbo up in a suplex, with Jumbo landing on Race for the pin, that is a classic heel finish in a tag match, and I had never seen it done by faces before.

MD: Kox with Race felt very different than Kox with Murdoch, interestingly. With Murdoch he was much more of a stooge (or maybe a stooge's big brother). Everything was bigger and more sweeping. Here, everything was meaner and grittier. When he was using the object, he looked like Bulldog Bob Brown but had the aura of Abdullah at his most fearsome. Race, on the other hand, was less effective than Downtown Bruno. Every time he came in, he lost the momentum and got clowned by his opponent. This wasn't a heel title defense against a local challenger. I have no idea what he was doing. I just don't think he could stop himself. I thought this was really good whenever Kox was in though. Baba can portray sympathy after a beating so well given his almost skeletal frame. Jumbo's dropkicks were amazing. The way that they got to the finishes of the falls all had a bit more though to them than you normally get in an early 80s AJPW tag match. Good stuff even if Race couldn't get out of his own way.

ER: Karl Kox is a total superstar. He just comes into this All Japan ring and completely owns things. Harley Race worked this as a bizarre Stevie Richards, bumping all over for Jumbo and getting next to no offense, as Kox sat on the apron constantly looking for the advantage. The dynamic was incredibly fun, and kind of weird, in the best way. I love how Kox worked Baba, just bringing a constant attack, and for a guy already in his 50s Kox had such a cool and well utilized offensive arsenal. He punches and kicks Baba all over, drops elbows, throws the best back elbow in wrestling, throws downward elbows to the neck, somehow comes off the top rope with elbow strikes (which is something we've seen in his AJ matches, and he never looks comfortable up there but always hits exactly what he's trying to hit, and the fact he looks like someone who shouldn't be coming off the top only makes it that much better), grabs a tag while Race is taking a bump, and works the apron better than maybe anyone. He drops one of the finest brainbusters I've seen, and Jumbo gets in the match as we're nearly approaching mercy killing time for Baba. 

So we get a lot of Race/Jumbo, and Race is just hammier than a Hormel factory in this whole thing. He bumps a backdrop on the floor from Baba, takes two huge suplexes from Jumbo, takes a few of those Race bumps where he takes a back bump and then slowly flips his whole body over to bump again, tries a bit *too* hard to take his over the top rope bump, hits the most absurd spit take bump I've seen (the sheer amount of spit he shot out could have filled a shot glass), and is all about frantically getting Kox back into the ring. Baba was great and super aggressive here; I loved how violent he was with his big boots. I'd gotten so used to seeing old Baba have opponents getting thrown into his boot, that it's almost jaw dropping to see him running towards someone and kicking their face, throwing them exactly like prime Taue (well, Taue was throwing them like prime Baba, but you know what I mean). Jumbo is all fired up babyface in this, throwing awesome dropkicks, chucking Race with a high belly to belly, constantly punking out Race. The match has a spot I've never seen, something really cool, something I didn't see coming, where Jumbo runs up the buckles on one side of the ring to hit a headlock takeover. Then, he tries it on the other side and gets his legs grabbed out of the air by Kox from the apron, who yanks him from Race and Jumbo ends up spilling into the ropes, falling on his head. This tag is kind of weird, and completely great, and I just cannot get over what a huge deal Kox still feels like in his final year. True legend.

Dream Machine vs. Jumbo Tsuruta AJPW 1/15/82

MD: Graham, while we have decent amount of footage, most of it is from one or two territories and all of a similar style. We know what he can do in southern tags and Memphis-style brawls. I'm a big proponent of taking holistic looks at wrestlers, at seeing them in a lot of different situations. This is absolutely a different situation.

The big questions here would then be: Could he hang in AJPW and could he hang with Jumbo? The answer is absolutely. Honestly, this felt more like a Hansen match than anything else. Once they got past some really fevered chain wrestling to begin, he just kept coming at Jumbo, to the point where, at times, Jumbo seemed almost visibly frustrated by it. He jumped into every bump, leaned into every shot, and traded bomb for bomb. They really ran the gamut between the chain wrestling, grinding holds, the striking, big throws, a table shot on the outside, flying knees, and Jumbo's killer suplex out of nowhere to end it. It seemed like Dream Machine brought grumpy Jumbo to the surface years early and the match was all the better for it.

TKG:  So yeah, 1982 Dream Machine debuting John Walters innovative offense is absurd but everything about this is absurd. Pre-Choshu sprint everything was contested in heavyweight AJPW. 70s Baba is awesome as him and opponents will fight to fend off every hammerlock, arm drag and whip. At worst Jumbo in 70s, early 80s was this guy who would be really awesome spending 2 falls fighting off opponent’s atomic drop, or backbreaker or atomic drop…then would eat it pop up and do all his offense…But even there a good chunk of the style was about non-cooperativeness. This match was completely cooperative, this wasn’t Choshu sprint this was more worked like a Fujinami juniors match from same period. Like I went into this hoping that Jumbo would give Dream Machine enough that it would be like a cool Dream Machine v Dutch match…instead this was a juniors Dream Machine v Nightmare Danny Davis match. As such both of these guys have cool offense, beyond the big suplex into frontcracker monkey flip, Dream Machine’s 2nd rope knee drop was top rope knee drop looking nasty.


PAS: I really enjoyed the stylistic shifts in this match, the early armdrags in this match did feel really juniorish, but they do end this up with some big time moves. Dream Machine really had the offense of a guy who could have had a career working Puro heavyweight wrestling. The top rope knee to the throat, and brutal piledriver combo really felt like it should have beaten anyone. Hell that top rope knee to the throat should have started a long feud where Jumbo sits out two months and comes back in a neck brace. The back suplex which Jumbo ends it with was really brutal, and I have no problem with it finishing the match, although the match almost felt clipped when it wasn't, we go right from the mat wrestling section into the huge finish with out much of a middle. Still a great look at Dream and one of my favorite early Jumbo performances too.

Bonus text dialogue between Tomk and Phil

Phil: I liked Dream Machine vs. Jumbo more then you did

Tomk: I liked it a bunch but it was a juniors match. Like Fujinami vs. Keirn which is not what I was expecting at all. Did my write up come off negative? Didn't mean it to be.

Phil: John Walters can't be a compliment

Tomk: There was a front cracker into a monkey flip spot. I lost my mind at a fucking front cracker spot in 1982. Did Alex Shelly do back cracker/front cracker variations?  Is there anyone who did it who wouldn't come off as insult?

Phil: Fair Point

Tomk: Shelton Benjamin?

Phil: Cerebro Negro?

Tomk: Cerebro Negro is a good call.

Mr. Wrestling 2 vs. Bob Roop GCW 10/23/83

PAS: The Network uploaded the entire Omni show headlined by the previously released Last Battle of Atlanta, and this was clearly the on paper undercard standout. Great chance to see 2 working the Omni which was an arena he ruled for decades. This was a mask match, with Roop repping an injured fake Mr. Wrestling who was putting up his mask against Wrestling 2. This was worked more like a crowd pleasing undercard match then a huge stips match (makes sense with the huge bloody blowoff in the main event.) It certainly pleased the crowd, 2 has a ton of charisma, and is one of my favorite dancing babyfaces of all time, I really dug Roop running full speed into a 2 knee lift with 2 sitting on the second rope, and the indignation of crowd when Roop clocked 2 with fake 1's crutch. Roop was working more of a brawling stooging heel, then the wrestling machine he was in Mid-South, I love wrestling machine Roop, but he is fun as a foil too. Would have liked a bigger finish then sort of the banana peel end we got, but this was a total blast, and the idea of semi-regular Omni show uploads is mindblowing.

MD: I'm with Phil on this one. They could only go so big given the card placement and what was to come. Context, when we have it (and it's great that we have it here), is important in understanding matches. Roop is such a mean bastard. Everything he does looks nasty. Wrestling 2 has this almost magical way of hitting a shot out of nowhere. He comes off as a complete star, almost as a folk hero. Phil noted Roop doing the work of running into the kneelift on the second rope, but what stuck out to me was the timing in 2 getting his knee up at the absolute perfect second.

The transition with the crutch was one of those moments in wrestling where time just stopped as the shot rang through the crowd. It was wrestling perfection. I liked the finish, if only for the amount of effort they put into the escape from the shoulder breaker. Post match was a little underwhelming, but the fact that a rabid fan reached over the barricade and pulled off Wrestling 1's shirt that he was using to hide his face just shows how great and celebratory this crowd was.

TKG: We don’t have a lot in the way of Arena footage of either of these guys and the idea of them matching up for an apuestas was really exciting to me. I’m a big fan of the guy holds onto headlock while opponent stays mobile trying to escape a spots and the variations on it here were really cool. I especially liked the Roop gets out of side headlock by pushing II off into ropes for II to bounce off ropes into a front facelock. I liked a bunch of the body work after the crutch to body shot and crowd clearly got the desperation of II trying to escape Roop’s shoulderbreaker finisher, but I wanted five more minutes after that escape.

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You're All Right, You Put up a Good Clean Fight, I'm Afraid You'll Lose Tonight to The King

Jerry Lawler/Tommy Rich/Jerry Oates v. Rip Rogers/Bob Roop/Ted Oates GCW 10/31/84 - GREAT

Truly enjoyable workrate TV six man tag. Just a menagerie of random awesome 80's wrestlers (plus the Oateses) moving at a fast pace. We get to see Lawler work against both Rip Rogers and Bob Roop, neither guy got any sort of Memphis run, but both matchups are really fun. Rogers is exactly how you remember him, athletic wild bumper who had a great pace. Roop didn't do as much of his awesome tricky mat wrestling in this context, but he threw some nice punches and he and Lawler had a great standoff. Tommy Rich worked face in peril and threw nifty elbows, the Oates's were perfectly fine, and the match breaks down entertainingly at the end. The kind of match you didn't know you really wanted to see.

Jerry Lawler v. Chris Benoit 1994 - FUN

This is sort of dream match (well pre 2007), the best US based worker of the 1980s v. one of the best of the 90s. However it was pretty much Lawler plugging Benoit into Lawler's touring heel match. Lawler's touring heel match is a pretty great match, but in the role of heel Lawler opponent, Benoit doesn't have the charisma of Eric Embry or Tito Santana and it comes off flat. I imagine this would have been better as heel Benoit v. face Lawler. This had some stuff I liked, Lawler selling the diving headbutt like Fred Sanford coming home to Elizabeth was pretty great, but this was overall sort of a disappointment. Post match Benoit double nogging knocks Lawler and his valet, and it is hard enough to watch Benoit matches without him manhandling women. The rating is FUN, because it had too much good stuff to be SKIPPABLE, not because I had particularly fun time watching it.

Jerry Lawler/Bill Dundee v. Billy Joe Travis/Bulldog Rains MPPW 7/26/98 - FUN

Only about five minutes and it needed another two minutes or so to push over the to the GREAT category, but man alive what we got of this match was pretty awesome. Bulldog Rains is a perfectly serviceable bald goateed guy with big arms and a gut, but holy shit did Billy Joe Travis look amazing when he was in the ring. Travis and Dundee just unload on each other with Travis's uppercuts vs. Superstars short hooks, BJ also takes one of his in the lights high backdrops. Memphis studio wrestling at its most energetic, Lawler looked good, although this style was always more suited to Dundee who shined. Mainly though this match made me want to do a BJ Travis Complete and Accurate.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KING

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