Found Footage Friday: BREMEN '81~!

10/16/81 Bremen

Colin Joynson vs. Pat Roach

MD: Pretty good stuff with a big physical mismatch. Roach was big and tall. Joynson had a low center of gravity and was plump. But he used that center to really bedevil Roach at times. He'd be able to get under him and cause trouble (including toppling him to the floor) and would bound off the ropes with a forearm or hold his own on shoulder blocks. Roach would take over again and again with a big boot or a body slam but then he'd hold the advantage with illegal tactics, pressing down after a move when he wasn't supposed to and just staying on Joynson when the ref was calling for a break. You had a sense on how this one was going to end. Some fun stuff along the way, including Roach's standing backbreakers and lifting his own foot up to whack Joynson in the chin with it. He also took a great stooge bump onto the top turnbuckle, dangling stomach down before he got booted out of the ring. Joynson had a lot of pokey offense, punches and knees. Eventually Roach had enough and put him in a tree of woe drawing the very inevitable DQ. I wouldn't mind seeing Joynson vs the usual suspects on these tours. 

ER: Roach is a really big guy but he makes Joynson look like Otis. I love the ways this little wrecking ball would leap into his attacks on the much larger Roach, while Roach has such dismissive, ugly attacks. His uppercuts are blunt and have thud, he throws kicks and strikes without true form, working more like a forest giant lifting his foot to jam it in the face of a little round Gummi Bear on a quest. When it's time for him to bump, he does with sudden beautiful runaway train style, flying onto the turnbuckles and down to the floor, getting height with a back body drop, even getting backdropped (slowly) to the floor. Joynson had big energy and Roach had a good way of hitting the ropes in response to that energy. This is the first time we've ever written about Joynson, by the way. I love how we're still ticking off boxes of names to cover, big and small. 

Axel Dieter vs. Mile Zrno

MD: Speaking of the usual suspects, here were two of the best, with us not getting quite as much Zrno as I'd like on these cards. And this was very, very good. Every exchange had the possibility of something interesting. It's almost impossible to write about these two. You end up just listing off all the cool things you saw. That could be Dieter headstanding out of a move, punching Zrno in the headstand and then headscissoring him over. It could be Zrno twisting and contorting around to keep a hold or his crazy bridge work. It could just be how he snapped his body while taking a headscissors. It could be how they built to firing off uppercuts or escalating to quick sunset flips and snap headscissors takeovers. It could be Dieter using a leg assisted full nelson, the ultimate of imaginative schoolyard moves of possibilities or the way Zrno just found his way out. It could be how fun it was whenever they were able to string together a few moves and what they choose to do. I could go on and on. Technique meeting imagination meeting flair and showmanship. There was nothing like it beforehand and there's been nothing like it since. It ended in a draw and you're fine with that because anything else might have somehow lessened it.

ER: Matt and I written about a lot of this '81 Germany without anyone else really watching it, and while we enjoy it I also get why big men like Le Gran Vladimir or John Quinn, or German-specific babyfaces Bob Della Serra or Sal Bellomo, might not be as sexy to watch as the other thousands of wrestling options out there. Zrno vs. Dieter, on the other hand, feels like 81 Germany that would crossover and delight anyone into modern flash and World of Sport chaining, even though it's not as flashy and not tricked out like WoS. The matwork is firm and the strikes they build to always feel like a payoff. Zrno's selling doesn't always feel like it fits the story of the match, and sometimes he's too quick to get back into moving spots forward, is forced to match hold snugness with Dieter, who was raised on snug headscissors and high lift hammerlocks. 

I didn't love how quickly Zrno got up from a nasty reverse suplex, getting up on impact while Dieter sold on the mat just executing the move. It was used as a way to break a hold and smashed Zrno's knees into the mat, felt like a crazy spot to use to just go back into control with a side headlock. Dieter's suplexes look better and he bumps a bit generously for Zrno, who comes off more like babyface Paul Roma. It allows the crowd to get fully behind Dieter, their guy, like they can see that he's the stronger worker and shouldn't be working so even. This had the feeling it was going to a draw, which feels right because a lot of Zrno's work felt aimless with no end goal, work to fill time rather than defeat. That's another way I think this would cross over compared to all the Sal Bellomo we've praised: Zrno has that same time traveled time filling skill as Dean Malenko, a durability in style I couldn't have predicted. 

Moose Morowski vs. Sal Bellomo

MD: I feel like we've seen these two up against each other a few times now, but then maybe it was Morowski against Dieter or UFO or someone else. It does start to blur a bit. Still, this was a natural pairing with the crowd behind Sal and Morowski a real rogue and villain and bully. I'm sure there are people who really wonder how Sal Bellomo was somehow a super babyface in Germany, but this match is a great example. The first few minutes have him doing everything right. Morowski started by pressing him into the corner and trying to take liberties. Sal turned it around, launched a bunch of gut shots, climbed up for a ten punch and the ref had to pull him off. He continued to keep fighting and fighting no matter what Morowski tried, getting him out of the ring, cartwheeling, and counting with the crowd.

Eventually, Morowski did have enough of this and started leaning hard on him, pushing the rules as far as he could. It's a good look at him too, because all of his stuff looked mean and credible. Bellomo would try to come back now and again before he actually got it, dropkicking Morowski out of the ring. Morowski came back in with a massive punch and then hit the shoulder breaker for the win. But Sal stayed after the match to get his flowers from the crowd.

ER: It's wild how every 6'5" North American heel who worked early 80s Germany had their own version of the Sgt. Slaughter bump. For Morowski, that's just one of a half dozen big bumps he does to get over Bremen Superstar Sal Bellomo, pinballing off turnbuckles, pressed off the top, all because The People are in love with this unmuscular man in a straps-joined-in-the-back singlet. Bellomo has a real knack for knowing how to connect with these crowds. I'm not sure I've seen anyone else in this footage do an enthusiastic count-along when Moose is lying on the floor, but people are literally screaming along with Sal leading the count out. Nobody punches like Morowski anymore. I mean, most wrestlers don't punch at all anymore and that's part of a much bigger problem, but Morowski's style of short badgering close-to-the-body uppercuts weren't even really a regular punch of anyone while punches were the strike currency of wrestling. Super Macho Man threw a short set up punch like it in Super Punch Out!! but I'm not going to pretend that anyone at Nintendo was aware of the existence of Moose Morowski. Had Billy Graham thrown punches like that, I'd believe. Bellomo hits two heart punches on Morowski, which is a brilliant strategy against a Polish man whose arteries are no doubt clogged by fatty meats.  

UFO vs. Caswell Martin

MD: Honestly, there are four pillars right here with Martin, Wright, Zrno, and Dieter. Crazy that these four guys were generally in the same place and time. What a scene. Martin took almost all of this, just having an answer for everything UFO tried. UFO would try to hip toss him and he'd cartwheel. He'd go for a leglock and he'd just stand up out of hit to hit a dropkick. He'd throw uppercuts and Martin would cut him off with one headbutt. When it was time to be on offense, he had all sorts of stuff, his body press onto crossed legs, a cool falling back move with his feet around the head (instead of a twist), some brutal arm work with headbutts, a series where he kipped up after dropkicks again and again. Just a menace. But UFO took it all since he knew he was going to win with a body press out of nowhere. Still, it's always fun to see Martin do his thing.

ER: I think it's interesting how Caswell Martin and Norman Smiley have two of the most unique bodyslams and there isn't really anyone else who slams like them. Norman has his extra turn, Martin has his extra lift and throws for distance. I'm not sure what this means. All other bodyslams I like because they are thrown by real bastards, think Finlay and Hansen sending lightning bolts down extremities. But our two black British wrestlers who each have their own quirky style also wound up with two of the strongest/most stylized bodyslams. I wonder how much Martin was an inspiration on Smiley, or if it's all a coincidence. 

UFO was really no match for some of Martin's escapes, and I love how Martin would set up an escape with a stiff strike, creating an opening with a diversion. His headbutt is so good that I wish we could have seen him in Headbutters Paradise era NOAH, but he always pulls tricks that anyone could steal (if anyone other than Matt and I ever watch this footage). Standing with his legs locked on either side of UFO's head before falling to his back is something I've never seen before. It's more common for someone to lock in like that and do a little worked twist, but falling to his back put the theoretical pressure on different parts of the neck, like a teeter totter turned inside out. While I wish Martin was put away with something more than a body press, it worked because the finish was more about Martin beating himself than the crossbody beating Martin. Martin clearly tried to catch the crossbody and turn it into a slam, hanging in too long on that strategy before his fall, which was just enough for UFO to scrape one out. A flashy wrestler hoisted on their own cocky petard, as it should be.  

Kengo Kimura/Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka vs. Mighty John Quinn/Grand Vladimir

MD: It's such a shock going from Tsurumi battling Kurisu fifteen years later to this, but here we are. Goro does all the big bits for the crowd with Kimura doing a lot of little ones. He does get to really fire up a few times though, and that's not something you see a lot out of Kengo as the decade goes on so it's nice to see. Vlad is a great stooge and Quinn is an ok one. Quinn is excellent at little inside shots to help his bullying though. Very nice moment of comeback where Kimura reverses a Quinn whip so he goes crashing into Vlad's knee. his arms go pumping and he fires off with dropkicks and karate strikes and pulling Vlad's beard. Heels take this in two straight falls though due to sneaky bits of interference that did work. I liked in the finish that Vlad had to go back for a second elbow drop because the ref was distracted with Kimura. One of those quick on his toes bits that helped avoid suspension of disbelief issues. This probably could have used one more big comeback.

10/25/81

MD: Usually given the length of these videos and the sparsity of talking, it's tough to get automated translation to work quite like I'd like but here, at the start of 10/25/81 I was able to get some sense of what they're talking about (look, I don't know German; you can't bullshit German and that's all I'm good for). This was the last night of the tournament, day 53, and there was a ceremony to start with all the wrestlers and the producer gave all of his thanks on his own after and you do have to appreciate the pomp and circumstance here. We've gotten so much of this content piecemeal over the last two years and, in truth, we'll only have two matches here, at the start of this card on this tape, but this was real thing with real people. It mattered not just, for instance, in Kengo Kimura's development or for the other wrestlers, but also for everyone who witnessed it. Old footage isn't just the moves and the craftsmanship, but it is a window into the past, of something real and vibrant in life that no longer exists. It's history.

Steve Wright vs. Caswell Martin

MD: This crowd already seemed a few mugs in and they were happy to see these two very similar wrestlers menace one another. There were moments where it got a little too silly when the ref got involved or they were doing the quick (and comedic) pin exchanges, and I would have maybe liked just a little more working holds and having to get out of things, but really this was more than the sum of the parts and the fans were delighted. These two were generally best against contrast, really bedeviling some poor fool, getting punished for their (babyface) transgressions and hubris, and then battling back to bedevil some more. But here they got what they deserved against one another. Those ref bits were very funny and the crowd was laughing the whole way through. Wright rolling himself into a ball and Martin not buying into it, the pin exchanges that were twenty years before their time, the rope running, the little bit of hanging onto holds we did get. It was all wonderful pro wrestling in a small dose. There would likely be bigger and more epic things to come on this card, the last night of the tournament, and this set things off with a unique and wonderful celebratory feel before Wright caught Martin in a backslide to end it. These two were such talents. 

UFO vs. Grand Vladimir

MD: Just a round and a half here before things cut out. Unfortunately it cuts out during a cravat sequence where UFO was holding on too. Ah well. The round we got was good with them battling over a top wristlock in interesting and struggle-laden ways. Plus UFO getting frustrated because the ref wasn't letting him press advantages on Vlad in the ropes when we all know Vlad deserves it. I imagine this would have turned out to be pretty good in full.

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Found Footage Friday: HANOVER 1981~! BRET~! BELLOMO~! DIETER~! MOROWSKI~! GORO~! KIMURA~!

10/23/81 Hanover

Bret Hart vs. Paco (Francisco) Ramirez

MD: We only barely hear Bret come out to Some Girls by Racey which is the highlight of his matches in Germany generally. Paco Ramirez was really leaning into the bandelero thing with the hat and the music and the pancho as best as we can see at least.Nice bit to start. Bret pressed Ramirez to the ropes and Paco tripped him. Then he tried it again and Bret sidestepped and whacked him. Paco let the crowd get under his skin pretty well. They did some bits where Bret outwrestled him only for Ramirez to hair pull and then get run over. This was all sound but clearly Ramirez had more connection with the crowd. 

You know who else had more of a connection? The ref. At one point Ramirez refused to break a hold so the ref dropkicked him out of the ring to a huge pop. I'm not sure this helped either Bret or the match though. Bret got a big comeback out of the corner reversing a whip and all of his babyface offense (forearms and dropkicks and a legdrop) looked crisp, crisp enough to score him the win.

ER: I think I like Germany Bret Hart a lot more than Matt. I see this guy a couple years into his career, and am kind of blown away by his execution and poise. His connection to German crowds wasn't there, but who do you expect him to be, Sal Bellomo? He works this match at a very brisk pace and I was impressed by the deep bag he brought. He played wet behind the ears rookie to Ramirez's sneaky vet, but his ring work did not look like a rookie's. He has snap on everything he does, every collision looks honest, every throw or takedown is physically sound. These are the full grown snapmares of a man who understands the physics of a snapmare, understands the physics of an armdrag. When he runs at Ramirez, his approach is believable whether he connects or misses, because there's an honesty to his work. I am a big fan of Established Bret and one of the things I love most about his work is his honesty. 

There is a logic to his progression, he clearly mentally keeps track of what kind of offense he "should be able to do" as a match progresses, and the execution is that of someone in his current match condition. He is never a worker who is going to work the match the exact same in minute 15 as he was in minute 2...but that seems like a much more impressive skill for someone to have this early in their career. He is not fully formed Bret, but he's much closer to that level than we could have reasonably assumed. The one noticeable thing he grew out of as he continued to improve, is he lost that kind of hunched shoulder stillness during what should be the glue moments. I think of Bret as a strong Glue Guy because he is never caught in a state of stasis in between The Action. He's good at occupying space, good at gluing spots together with body language. Here he was still standing there in a wrestler's hunch, waiting for the next thing to happen. I wonder when he grew out of that. Owen never grew out of that. You can watch almost any 1998 Owen match and see him standing dead still in that same hunch, waiting in place for the next thing to happen. 

Sal Bellomo vs. Manuel Lopez

MD: If you asked me fifteen years ago if I'd rather see a comparable Bret or Bellomo match... well, Bellomo was beloved here. Lopez came out to bullfighting music but with less aplomb than Ramirez. This was face vs face and had a lot of fun tit for tat type spots. Lopez would flip Bellomo and play it up, then Bellomo would do it to him. Lopez would escape a hold by lifting Bellomo and carrying him to the top turnbuckle and seating him there, then Bellomo would escape one by positioning Lopez onto the apron. All fun stuff. Handshakes and sportsmanship. In the second round, Bellomo escaped a headscissors by scooting around and kicking at Lopez' belly a bunch which popped the crowd. Then they went into a bodyscissors sequence that ended with them stuck together by their legs.

Lopez had a lot of fun stuff. They did a bow and arrow, a stump puller (which is not something you see often), and he had ways of stepping over and whacking the arm to unlock things. All that and a ripcord spinout backbreaker. Bellomo was happy to take all of it since shortly thereafter he leaped up to the second rope and hit a flying body press off of it to pick up the win. Pretty fun stuff while it lasted though.

ER: Many in our community love to "build books" on guys. Do a dive into someone known or unknown, see if there are any things that were missed, anything we can mention about someone's work that could change an opinion or inspire further digging. There are sexy names to do dives on, and, well, less sexy names. Salvatore Bellomo feels like a guy who is being discussed only by me and Matt, a German sensation who showed next to none of his babyface crowd connections in his WWF undercard work. We had no idea about Bellomo in Germany and even after writing about several of his German appearances, I feel like he is still a guy only being experienced by me and Matt. Are some deep dive names so unsexy that even upon finding revelations about said sexless wrestler, they inspire more of a "we'll take your word for it" approach rather than a "I too will now form opinions on this man on whom I had none"? I have yet to see Salvatore Bellomo Discourse outside of what Matt and I have written, but I suppose I also have not sought it out. We are alone on our Bellomo Islet, down here in our Bellomo Mines.   

All that to say, Bellomo works in Germany like I have never seen him work anywhere else. There was an armdrag spot where he flew up around and over Lopez and it had so much snap that it looked like a Tiger Mask spot, only Bellomo's had more quick burst speed. Who is this guy? The bulk of the match is built around Bellomo holding a near pornographic body vice in a long, extremely entertaining sequence. The holds were strong and believably cinched in, Bellomo refusing to break a snug body vice while the talented Lopez found ways out or attempted to lock in his own. I need to see Bellomo's early 80s striptease routines because the way he keeps his legs locked around Lopez in various positions points to someone who would have incredible pole control. When the round ends there's one of the best ref untanglings I've seen. The bell sounded while their legs were fully tangled, standing on their heads no differently than a spot I'd see live 20 years later between American Dragon and Low Ki. I am going out on a limb assuming that neither were inspired by early 80s Sal Bellomo, but now I know it only would have made their spot better. The ref had to work hard to unlock these holds, both men crying out in theatrical pain while what sounds like Dutch pop music plays buoyantly over the top.  If that's not better, maybe it's better to just leave Matt and I on our islet. 

Axel Dieter/UFO vs. John Quinn/Grand Vladimir

MD: So until last week or so I had no idea that Kaiser was Axel Dieter Jr. That just shows you how tuned out I am I guess. Maybe Eric knew? Anyway, they chant for Axel as he's announced and for UFO after that. Fans love these guys and for good reason. 

This might have been for some sort of title or an end of tour tournament or something since the faces got big wreaths at the end. Shine at the start was a blast. Dieter is so good at presenting himself as a star and taking up space. UFO is beloved but more wins slugfests or out-techniques opponents. Vladimir shines as a stooge (Quinn does more teeter tottering but is probably better on offense). Dieter had all of the headstand toupie takeovers before he finally got beaten into the corner. After quite a bit of doubleteaming but nothing that stood out, he got punched into the corner and UFO came in hot to win the fall. Second fall had heat on UFO leading to a Canadian backbreaker, with the third fall continuing the heat leading escape of more backbreaker attempts to a much bigger hot tag to set up the finish. I'm not sure the heel control was quite as compelling as I'd like for a double heat even with some threats of cards and what not.

ER: I had no idea that Ludwig Kaiser was Axel Dieter Jr. but I also haven't watched WWE in so long that the last time I did that guy was named Marcel Barthel and wasn't 't a big crossover star in a Mexican lucha fed that The Undertaker is booking, so there are probably a ton of things in life that I don't know. Who knows what kind of sons Le Gran Vladimir could have out there. Water softener repairmen, HVAC guys, insurance salesmen. Matt and I are the only ones who speak the name Vladimir, who knows who he has spawned. I love teaming up the two tallest foreigners to fight the two biggest babyfaces, made this seem like a big match from go. Quinn and Vlad are very similar workers (at least they're working a similar style in Germany) and their simple control is easy for crowd favorites Dieter and UFO to build off into bigger things. Dieter works more FIP while UFO is the one coming in and trading blows with the big men.

Neither big man does anything spectacular - that's not really the big heel German style - but they're good at basing for things like Dieter's complicated headscissors, and they can break out some surprisingly vicious stuff, like when Quinn stomped down hard on Dieter's face. Vladimir hits one of the biggest and baddest kneelifts I've seen, after Quinn roughly whips UFO into the buckles, tagging in and moving UFO's whole body several feet with the power of his knee. It didn't look like UFO leaping in response, it looked like a man being launched against his will by a powerful knee force. They are powerful, but we need to believe they can be felled by our heroes, and they're good at getting felled. Vlad is great at felling them. There's an excellent spot where UFO is uppercutting Vlad in the ropes, getting into a rhythm, hitting him again and again, and when Vlad's body is anticipating the next recoil UFO steps aside to break the rhythm and send Vlad faceplanting to the mat. 

Karl Dauberger vs. Kengo Kimura

MD: First round had some good dueling armwork, including Kimura getting a hammerlock on repeatedly. When Dauberger started to take liberties in the ropes, Kimura showed real fire with the ref. He had some nice escapes from holds with various scissors including one on the arm I haven't seen much before. Second round was mainly Dauberger grinding down on him with chinlocks and headlocks until Kimura was able to get some kicks in right at the bell. Kimura came back big in the next round with some huge whips and kicks. Dauberger could sell being whipped into the corner (and bump big and stylized along with it). He took over when the ref finally pulled Kimura back (too fiery for his own good). On offense Dauberger was very meat and potatoes with his clubbering and leaning. Kimura came back one more time but Daubuerger got him to the apron and attacked his leg from the floor until he got DQ'ed. Maybe this is why Kimura ended up in his trademark leg brace. Probably not.

ER: Really good stuff, a great asshole Dauberger performance and some always engaging selling from the underdog Kimura. Dauberger goes after Kimura's leg with nothing too fancy, just being a brute, and I was super impressed with Kimura's selling. It felt like someone selling an actual knee injury and not Wrestling Selling. Even between rounds he was stretching his leg on the ropes, in a way that wasn't fully attached to the match. He wasn't limping his way through sequences, he just looked like a guy convincingly working hurt and it gave him this subtle fire that got people fully behind him the deeper he went. Dauberger leaned his weight on him and smothered him, and whenever they were apart he would start trolling Kimura again. There was a great moment where he kicked Kimura in the face while drawing the ref's attention to his complaint, then casually sidestepped Kimura's dropkick response. This needed more of a Kimura comeback to evolve into something special, but I also liked that Dauberger recognized when he had gone too far and fucked Kimura up a bit more before taking the DQ. No comeuppance, just suffering. 

Moose Morowski vs. Jim Neidhart

MD: This had moments where it looked like it was going to hit a different gear, but never quite made it. When they were slugging away, it was good. When Neidhart was charging at him, it was good. Problem was, he started the match by having Morowski move and knock him out and ended it by having him crash hard into the corner and get pinned. In the middle, he got a bearhug on a few times and knocked him over the top once with a hard shot, but it was more posturing and teasing them really going at it than them really going at it. 

ER: It's true this never grew to the power struggle it could have, for reasons that might be Neidhart's inexperience or maybe even his inability to do more. He doesn't have great strikes for various reasons. Either he's not good at throwing worked strikes, or was told to never put weight behind his strikes, so I don't know if he has it in him to escalate this match the way it could have. This is not me saying Neidhart isn't a tough guy, more that I wish his toughness would come through in some fucking slug out with a hoss like Moose Morowski. It doesn't. Neidhart rarely gets to that level. We have more than enough footage of the guy to determine that he just does not have that level in him. We've heard enough stories about how hard he partied, so you'd think reaching that level in a ring would be second nature, but it may be that he was actually conserving his energy for partying while holding back as much as possible in the ring. I don't think I can find fault with that mentality within pro wrestling, really. An NFL practice squad guy should be an expert at violently crashing into guys nicknamed Moose, so we know it's a conscious decision when he does not do that. The power grappling was what made this worth watching. Morowski holding Neidhart in a painful crossface, forcing Neidhart to break by grabbing handfuls of Morowski's hair into a snapmare, that kind of thing. Do more of that and it's a heavyweight struggle that wouldn't need strikes. But I do love Morowski capitalizing on Neidhart's meathead idiocy, essentially painting a tunnel on a rock face and tricking him to run full speed into it...twice. 

10/20/81 Hanover, Germany

Sal Bellomo vs. Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka

MD: This threw me at first since Bellomo had Kauroff as a corner man and Tsurumi had Kimura and they got announced in their track suits and everything and that doesn't usually happen. This was going all the way and they really milked it. Some great lockups in the first round leading to them trading headlocks. Second round was about armholds and armdrags but again they were working it and it felt very competitive. 

Goro opened things up in the third with shots and stomps and was able to control the arm accordingly. Bellomo had some great hope in the fourth, including a rolling leg pick and a kip up followed by a dropkick but he ended up right back into holds and was really selling the arm by the end of the round. That continued into the fifth which was all Goro. He'd do waterpumps and even cross arm breakers and while Sal tried to fight back, he couldn't get anything going. 

Sixth round had him scrambling, just trying to survive and avoid Goro getting his arm. Lots of rolling away or spinning out as the fans cheered for him. He somehow managed a drop toe hold and things picked up to rope running. That let him hit a back body drop and finally take control on the leg. Seventh had him press his advantage with a roll up into a leglock but Goro had enough and started chopping away, getting real heat since he didn't go to this until things had turned on him. Bellomo took a real beating through the round with Goro's bs kung fu looking good. Eight had Bellomo start to fire back. He'd get cut off a few times but would power through and the fans loved it. He ended it with holds but unable to put Goro away. The last round was a testament to their wind as they really went at it, but just as Bellomo was going to win with his leaping back body block, the time expired. It was pretty good but maybe not worth the time investment if I'm going to be totally honest. Sal really was super over in Germany though.

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Found Footage Friday: 1980 HANOVER~!

9/17/80 Hanover

Chris Colt vs. Axel Dieter

MD: Watching Chris Colt in dark blurry 1980 Germany footage is a real joy. There's no other word for it. He wrestles like the whole world is out to get him. Like he can see them coming from every angle. And they're also purple elephants. What a guy. He was complaining about hair pulling before they even locked up. With every exchange he won he tapped his head like he was a genius. Then he walked right into some immediate comeuppance and he complained some more. Just antics with every exchange. Some great bits that were clearly bits but that never felt like bits. They just felt like him being off his gourd. He'd press a dirty advantage between falls just kicking and stomping away but Dieter would just come back and give him the what for. Post match, he tried to charge in an attack only to end up upside down in the turnbuckles. That's Chris Colt for you. We're lucky to have had him even for a moment.

ER: Chris Colt wrestled this like he was Eddie Gilbert in Puerto Rico, a foreign invader stooge who threw cheap shots and resorted to punches when home hero opponent wasn't even considering them, meanwhile getting completely upended on 90% of all exchanges. If you had told me Chris Colt doesn't have any offense and just gets by on drama, stooging, and bumps, I'd believe you. He wrestles this like a manager who doesn't think he's going to win the match but wants to be as disruptive as possible before losing. Even the ref is through with this guy before his entrance music has stopped. Colt takes forever getting his clothing off and the ref just pulls his shirt off over his head. It's like Colt took that moment and tried to have a defiant tantrum until he lost. I loved how most of his cheap shots lead to him getting hit, trying to attack after the bell and getting tossed aside, attacking Dieter after his loss and getting dropped off the turnbuckles onto his head. The man took a back body drop like someone who didn't expect to get flipped in the air, like an America's Funniest Home Video where someone gets double jumped off a trampoline and breaks their collarbone. 

Steve Wright vs. Sal Bellomo

MD: This went the full five rounds and it was a lot of fun. Babyface vs. babyface. Sportsmanlike though it did boil over a bit down the stretch with a fast-paced big bumping (Wright) strike exchange and some wild rope running where Wright would keep getting Bellomo off balance as they worked to the bell. Before that, it was very back and forth. There was one round where Wright had a headscissors on the whole time, but a lot of the early stuff was Wright being a nuisance with his cartwheels and escapes, only for it to build to Bellomo to have a cartwheel of his own. Lots of hanging on to holds as well, even though escape attempts. When Bellomo got one over on him, Wright would be good spirited for the most part, clapping even on his back. They did some very high level work, including some monkey flip spots where they changed direction and pin exchanges going back and forth. I don't know how much substance it had over all, but everyone watching enjoyed themselves a great deal. Just good, strong professional wrestling for its own sake.

ER: This was so good, real pleasant, watched the entire long draw with a big smile. It's tough to do babyface vs. babyface and do it sincerely, and these two might have been the best to try it with. The German fans obviously love Wright, but Bellomo is the Germany revelation that we love so much. These fans get behind their home hero and love this spry Italian, and it creates a real nice environment for their work. Anyone who is only familiar with Sal from seeing some kind of awful 20 minute undercard draw against Samula has no idea what Hanover Bellomo is like. He and Wright don't hate each other, even though it gets more competitive and the handshakes get a bit more teeth clenching, and instead we build to a bit of competitive oneupmanship that never feels like the same kind of grating athletic display as Eddie/Malenko. Bellomo works like a World of Sport legend, I was stunned by his skilled headscissor escapes and the way he works Wright's brand of tough guy athletics. I don't know what 70s matwork exist of Bellomo but his German work is different than any US work of his I've seen, yet he never looks out of place doing it. He is adept at doing complicated exchanges with last minute twists, and there's this great moment where things tip over and Wright shoulderblocks Sal off the apron to the floor. It's a different kind of toughness than they'd been showing and came a bit out of nowhere, a fall bigger than the back body drops and other spills he'd taken. Great way to peak the action, great match to spend some time with. 

Caswell Martin vs. Le Grand Vladimir

MD: Night and day from the last match. The second Vlad hit the ring, even before getting announced or taking gear off, he had tossed Martin out over the top rope to huge boos. When things got settled and he WAS announced, the boos came back even louder. This went the full five rounds as well, but it was a different animal. At the bell Martin got some revenge but Vladimir kept trying to contain him. Early on that didn't go so well. Martin kept slipping out including a great up and over on a top wristlock and the Zangiev escape on a headscissors. Vlad would pull the hair to keep the arm and then express to the ref that it couldn't be possible for him to do that as he, himself, was bald (even if Martin wasn't). There was a whole round where Martin controlled on a cravat going in and out of it and that was well done. After that, Vlad had enough and goozled and stomped and got carded once or twice but controlled until a big comeback from Martin down the stretch. Fans were super into it as you can imagine, and things kind of bounced around with that until the bell and the draw. 

UFO vs. Tom Shaft

MD: Shaft is sort of limited by this point but he does those limited things pretty well. Against someone like UFO, that's enough. His shots look good. He had some nice rapid fire punches to the gut as they were firing back on one another. He had this clothesline to the top of the head and some sort of jumping knee or kick that worked. And he'd bump when it made sense. First round was a lot of UFO using holds and controlling but at the end of the second, Shaft went flying over the top on a shot. He came back in between rounds to get revenge, and then they slugged it out for a lot of the third before UFO won with a sunset flip. Shaft yelled at people after the match. It's interesting to see him since we don't have a lot of footage at least. 

Achim Chall/Michael Schneider vs. Moose Morowski/Ed Wiskoski

MD: Fun while it lasted but it didn't last long enough. You never know coming into these if you're going to have a near classic or if things will just end off going off the rails early. They worked over Morowski's back to start with Schneider bearhugs and these great jumping double knees to the back from Chall. Wiskowski is a wonderful stooge in these matches, eating a bunch of dropkicks and then doing a Buddy Rose-esque fall through the ropes to the floor. Heels took over by swarming and drawing in Chall, and it all sort of led to nothing as Morowski hit a backbreaker and Wiskowki came off the top with a diving headbutt to draw a DQ. If it was just for a fall, that would have worked because then they could have gotten it back quickly from the damage done and the babyfaces would have had to fight back from injury but that was just the match. I'm sure it paid off later but we get these scattershot.

9/20/80

Kim Duk vs. Louis Laurance (JIP)

MD: We come in at the end here. Laurance is far smaller but he hits a bunch of dropkicks until he gets trucked by a Duk dropkick the pin. Not much to say. 

Steve Wright vs. Takashi Ishikawa

MD: Wright really is the Johnny Saint of Axel Dieters. It's a good act, but it gets a little old. The cool thing is that Ishikawa could completely keep up. And the other good thing about Wright, of course, is that after all the cartwheeling and bounding and kip ups and laughter is done, he is actually a tremendous bumper and seller, and he did so here for Ishikawa after a pile driver. that was in the second round and they went into the third more even, slugging away a bit until Wright caught him with a very impressive twisting backslide for the pin. Could have had a bit more of this.

Chris Colt vs. Caswell Martin

MD: This was a lot of fun, the most fun you'll have watching wrestling this year, maybe. Colt has those voices in his head and a chip on his shoulder. He'd try all sorts of things and Martin had not just an answer, but often a hilarious answer to everything. He'd climb around in a headcissors and toupie out. He'd suddenly have a hard head and goad Colt into punching it. He'd have Colt walk up the ropes in a full nelson and give everyone a thumbs down before dropping him. He'd get dropkicked and then drop him right back. Bit after bit after bit after bit. During the round breaks, Colt would flail about to the music and mess with the crowd. He'd get a few shots in or toss Martin out but he could never hold the advantage for long and it was all so entertaining that we're probably happier that way. Martin finally twisted and turned him all around before bridging his way for a pin. Great fun.

 

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Found Footage Friday: BREMEN 1981~! BRET~! WRIGHT~! CASWELL~! ROACH~! UFO~! DIETER~! MOROWSKI~! QUINN~! NEIDHART~!

Bremen 10/20/81

Bret Hart vs. Steve Wright

MD: This show starts with footage of the vending tables and other things which give a really nice slice of life for the time. This match, like the Roach one we covered last month, is amazing just to exist. Steve Wright and Bret Hart! Who knew. And it goes much like you'd expect, with Hart a real game opponent for Wright. The first round and a half has Bret getting little flashes (including dropkicking him out of the ring to start) but Wright mostly controlling and making Bret work his way out. There's a nice cravat exchange where Wright hangs on, for instance. Bret does get the better of him at the end of most of these though. Wright is definitely not clowning Bret like he does others and he goes out of his way to shake his hand between rounds. 

In the middle of the second round, he starts bullying with slams and big whips and Bret flies around for him. This ends with a bridge by Wright that Bret sneaks out of, leaving him there, the biggest comedy of the match but it was quite funny. Into the third round, they pick up the pace including a great bounding mirrored monkey flip sequence, before Wright gets a backslide out of nowhere. I could have used another round and a bit more clowning but this was very good stuff overall. (And for what it's worth Bret still comes out to "Some Girls" by Racey, look it up).

ER: It's weird that Bret only mentioned Steve Wright's hairline and skinny build in his book, and didn't praise his work style the way he praised similar (and arguably lesser) workers. He didn't have a ton of praise for many of the guys on these Germany tours, if I remember correctly, so either he had a bad time doing nightly tent shows or didn't like how Wright was throwing him 10 feet on hip tosses. I remember him saying that he worked so hard on night one that all the old guys got jealous and he was buried the rest of the tour. But Wright wasn't even 30, an old man by hairline only, and seems like the kind of worker Bret would have liked; their styles are a natural fit. 

This was exactly what I would have expected a 1981 Bret/Wright match to look like, and that's a good thing. It's just a wee taste, ending in the third when things felt like they were just heating up. There's a lot of mirror exchanges but done properly, with tight execution and a sense of monkey see, with big headlock takeovers, Bret getting flipped with tight headscissors. Bret's escape in the 2nd got a laugh out of me, leaving Wright in a neck bridge briefly unaware of Bret's absence. Wright's handshake when he got to his feet felt like a fun fourth wall break, different from his attitude the rest of the match. Bret wrecks him with an uppercut in the 3rd (a "lifter" as Bret called them) and it stood out extra because it was really the only big strike of the match. Maybe that's why Wright went to the finish so quickly...

Caswell Martin vs. Pat Roach

MD: Very, very good stuff. These two matched up so well. I like Martin against anyone really, but here there was contrast and basing and something for him to overcome. I think they may have even wrestled in the UK in footage we might have right around this point, but the familiarity is absolutely there. Roach would try to clubber or bully him and Martin would have to outslick him in multiple ways, whether it was taking a hold and just hanging on through everything or using a headbutt out of nowhere or just bounding about with interesting escapes. 

The two that stood out the most were one where Roach was slamming his head into the mat and Martin just rolled through which I've never seen before and another when he was going for a side backbreaker and Martin was able to take the upward momentum and just keep going around with it. Incredible stuff really. So much of what Martin does are things I've never seen anyone else do and he does it so effortlessly. The match ended sort of abruptly after Martin almost pinned Roach with multiple double leg nelsons over and over; Roach had enough and ground the leg in the ropes until he got DQed. Very good while it lasted though.

ER: I was shocked by how much this match was built around big bumps over the top rope. Many of them were Roach hurling Martin up and over, my favorite being a short shoulderblock that sent him flying backwards to the floor. The more Martin would get up, the harder Roach would throw him, and the more Martin endured the more he aimed to throw Roach over the top. Martin couldn't out-strike him, so Roach was able to bully him, always attacking after the bell, kicking him in the head any time Martin was down, and I loved how Martin had his big hard head as a weapon when the elbows weren't fazing Roach. Roach is good at selling strikes appropriately, not over the top, and doing simple things well, like really smashing his face into turnbuckles and taking Martin's tricks well. This is another one that felt like it had more story to tell, but the story we got was good fun. 

Sal Bellomo vs. Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka

MD: Not a lot to say here. Tanaka came out to the Bridge Over the River Kwai whistle march which is kind of chilling when you think about it. Bellomo is always over. First two rounds were quite subdued with a lot of Tanaka holding an arm. They moved in and out of it a bit but only a bit. There was at least one great Bellomo dropkick. Things opened up in the third round and when they were slugging it out it was pretty good. Likewise the fourth until they both went sailing over the top and drew the countout. This had less of Tanaka being a showman but I suppose that's more when he's up against heels.

ER: I think it's good we are documenting this Germany footage, for little things like the Sal Bellomo footage. In the last decade plus we've gotten a lot of new footage of all time legends that only solidified their cases as all time greats. The Omni footage alone has helped the reputations of a dozen different guys. Seeing a bunch of new Greg Valentine or Buzz Sawyer and thinking they're even better than we thought is great, but I love how much I look forward to Brett Wayne Sawyer matches now. I didn't realize how much I connected to his work until finally seeing the right footage 40 years later. 

But not every wrestler needs to have A Case made for them. Not all new footage needs to give us a new overlooked wrestler to categorize a Favorite, we don't need to fall in love with everyone we see. No matter our opinion on someone as a worker, it's automatically good to see every worker we can At Their Best. I have so few opinions on Salvatore Bellomo. I have opinions on so many workers, and only so many can make the cut. Maybe I've seen a dozen Sal Bellomo matches, maybe I've seen 50. I don't know because I think about so many other wrestlers before I think about Sal Bellomo. I think of Tony Garea and Terry Daniels more than I think of Sal Bellomo, but that doesn't mean I think they are better workers. 

Bremen Bellomo feels like we're seeing Sal Bellomo at his best, loved by an energetic crowd in a language he doesn't speak. If we suddenly got several Puerto Rico Frankie Lancaster matches and Puerto Ricans a hundred feet away in a baseball stadium were going nuts for this jacked guy who always looked old it would be revelatory. If Goro Tsurumi was working this kind of snug basics loud chops wrestling but had the afro of 1984 Goro Tsurumi would he have been the surprise German cult favorite? I don't think Bellomo got over as well in the Bruno Italian markets as well as he got over in Germany, but maybe I need to watch more Bellomo and soon I'm thinking about his matches. 

Goro Tsurumi and Bellomo are guys who have never been reevaluated. Is Goro a great lost 90s worker? Could be. Do we have late 90s IWA Kokusai? Is his 1994 FMW run good? Sounds good. I watched plenty of Goro during the All Japan 80s Project and none of those matches made the cut. When does Goro start making the cut? 

Moose Morowski/Jim Neidhart vs. Gran Vladimir/John Quinn

MD: A bruising, entertaining heel vs. heel match here. The second fall came quickly after the first and there weren't really big momentum shifts. Morowski was throwing big shots throughout. Really, they all were. It broke down a few times. Neidhart's strength was played up as he ran through people and broke holds and won shoving matches. He got overly rambunctious at the end of both falls and got caught, first by an arm drag slam by Vladimir and then later by Quinn's boot. I can't imagine anyone being too disappointed by this because it was so hard hitting though.

ER: Matt's not wrong about Racey's "Some Girls" by the way. It sounds like a lesser Dave Edmunds track. Jim Neidhart is another guy I've seen a lot who I don't have much opinion on, but Neidhart as Moose Morowski's humongous 12 year old son, is perfect casting. It is such a perfect on paper fit that maybe this was the territory that would have given us out best Anvil. He's billed as American Football Champion Jim Neidhart and I wonder if Germany ever went through a Raiders Gear era or if that's not really a thing because I've just lived in California all my life. Being billed as American Football Champion is so cool it could be on the Survival Tobita shirt. Neidhart is a name that sounds insane when shouted by a German, feels like the place he would have become a legend. He would have eventually been turned into a beer pounding babyface like like Da Crusher, had he wanted to be an 80s German pop culture star instead of a guy pounding pitchers and placidyl at the Rockford Holiday Inn. More money, sure, but there's probably nothing like being an American star exclusively to Europeans. A man pounding a boot, leaning his weight into the ropes and using big stomach and broad keg hoisting shoulders to deliver full weight shoulder blocks. Another life. 

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10/23/81?

Bob Della Serra/Axel Dieter vs. Gran Vladimir/John Quinn

MD: I've been sitting on watching this match for a couple of months and it honestly seemed pretty special. I have no idea what's going on here or what this is for but the winners got wreaths and the crowd was going nuts. This is shot from ringside, underneath, as opposed to the almost hardcam handheld view from all the rest of the footage so far. We really don't miss any of the action but it's a little harder. 

And it's just very good. It's in three falls like most of these tags. It's really more about the babyfaces, I'd say. Dieter has a lot of tricks and stuff on the mat including a toupie headspin takeover. Eventually he does get swept under and they work him over well, only for UFO to come in super hot. The fans absolutely love him punching again and again and again. Just super spirited stuff. The babyfaces took the first fall but he got swept under in the second, a second round of heat even though he'd try to punch from literally underneath as he was getting back to his feet (which looked great from this angle). Quinn finally got him with the over the shoulder backbreaker. 

It's amazing how beloved UFO was. Dellaserra was just so over in this territory. A lot of the babyfaces were, to be fair. Dieter is too but UFO just had a special connection for this balding guy in red gear who doesn't otherwise stand out. Maybe it's just because they love chanting UFO but his fire and his punching probably had something to do with it too. He got the hot tag to Dieter here and they went into a finish where Quinn tried the backbreaker twice more but Dieter got out and was able to pick up the win as the place exploded. I'm not sure this is the best match we've seen in this but even with the camera angle it felt truly special to this crowd.

ER: I love the affinity Germans have for their balding boys, truly people of men. UFO looks and wrestles like a proto-Franz Schuhmann only without Schuhmann's quiff. Dieter is the guy who gets the loudest reactions from the German crowds and it's cool we got a babyface super squad to take on the Mighty Quinn and a big Russian. This was a smartly paced tag, with the babyfaces washing over everything in the first fall and the crowd laughing and singing, loving Dieter's snapmares and boot scrapes and headscissors and the way their balding boys kept foiling the larger heels. The second fall is where this really picked up. In the first, UFO looked like he has bottom 20 percentile uppercuts, but when he feels how hard Quinn is hitting him suddenly the uppercuts get better, and soon he's bouncing Vlad between his uppercut and the ropes, back and forth, until Vlad falls on his face. 

When UFO is swinging wide left and right punches into Quinn's ears during the 2nd fall, they're some of the best most unique punches I've seen. All of the punch exchanges between Quinn and UFO were great, real original stuff, switching up angle of attack and mixing combos, no exchange looked similar to another. UFO throws great punches to the body from his back, fighting to his feet, but it's those wild swinging shots to the side of Quinn's head that fired me up. In the third fall, Quinn and Vlad battered UFO with kneelifts and closed fists to the back and neck, and I was surprised the crowd wasn't even more alive to rally him. The OOOF-OH! chants seemed so much louder in the first fall when they were on top, now they seemed resigned to his loss. But when Dieter tags in they are fired up anew, and Dieter seems to beam with pride over the punishment UFO endured. Matt is right that this is not one of the greatest German matches we've seen, but it's a completely different view of the action than we've seen before and it gave everything a totally different feel, like you were right there with them. I don't know if I've ever seen any of their faces so clearly. 

Moose Morowski vs. Jim Neidhart

MD: There were moments of this, given the weird camera angle, how big these two were, and just how hard they were going at each other, that reminded me just a little of Andre vs. Hansen. But they didn't keep it up, and it's probably fine they didn't, because they couldn't, and that wouldn't have made for much of a match. Much of this was Morowski bullying Neidhart and Morowski containing Neidhart. Whenever they fought even it was way more interesting though, because Neidhart was an out of control fireplug.The first round was them trading holds (70/30 Morowski) but in the second they started to slug it out and for a few seconds, it was pretty glorious. They took it back down and Neidhart had to more or less work from underneath. Neither of these guys were beloved but Morowski was more unlikable and people wanted to see Neidhart unchained. He came in hot in the last round, charging in and doing well by it right until Morowski got out of the way and he crashed into the corner allowing Morowski to score a quick pin. Some of the footage in the margins here of people filing out at the end gave a real sense of a time and a place as well. 

ER: This doesn't build to the war it could have and should have been. Neidhart was still really new and Morowski was having a match with a new bull and that's still a cool match structure. I like the way Neidhart takes punches, and liked how Moose was dishing out 1-3 strikes for every forearm that Jim would fire off. Moose looked like he was holding Jim down and trying to make him get off the mat and an old vet challenging a new guy to "just get up" is a perfect match to work with a guy who got tortured in a Stu's Dungeon. There's somewhere on the timeline that is The Right Time for these two to cross paths, and maybe this wasn't it. 

Jim Neidhart vs. Moose Morowski from 1985 is the new Grail. Who was taping at the Vancouver Saddledome in '85? 

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10/21/81? 

Steve Wright vs. John Quinn

MD: These two certainly knew what they were doing. We come in mid-stream so no Mighty Quinn entrance for John. Wright would outwrestle him (making sure to make a show of it with multiple attempts before a headlock takeover, for instance) and then Quinn would get frustrated and clubber away. On the comebacks Wright took umbrage and laid in some kicks on the ground which the crowd loved but the ref did not. 

Unfortunately for Wright, Quinn was just as good at stomping away as he was, better even, and after Wright missed a charge into the ropes and ended up clotheslining himself on them, Quinn took over. He got carded for his trouble but stayed in charge even through rounds. He would miss an elbow drop and Wright had a big comeback but he went sailing towards those rope again, this time getting hung up in them. Wright couldn't just let things be though and went on the attack. That got him another card and drew the DQ. Anticlimactic finish but one way to get out of a match, I guess. Before that this was very good contrast.

ER: I loved all the struggle in this one, with Wright having to constantly fight to take down the Mighty Quinn. They did some struggle spots I've never seen and others that need to be brought back, and it always made it look like Wright had really earned every advantage he had. The best examples of this are Wright's headscissors and his headlock takeovers. I don't often see such fight over a flying headscissors. You see guys trying to escape grounded headscissors (well, not know, but when people fought over matwork you saw this) but rarely fight to escape a flying headscissors. Wright at one point was on Quinn's shoulders, legs wrapped around his head, for so long that Quinn was essentially wearing him as a hat. Quinn expended a lot of effort to stay upright and Wright stayed balled up on his shoulders to make himself heavier, finally taking him over. The spot someone should really steal is the headlock takeover, where Wright has the headlock in tight and keeps working to pull Quinn over his body, Wright expelling energy to get him over while Quinn fights to stay standing, only to finally get dragged over on the sixth or seventh attempt. This built beyond those things, as it should, but those are the things that really leapt out to me. 

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09/13/81?

Karl Dauberger vs. Klaus Kauroff

MD: This one threw me at first. Look, in watching this footage, I should have a better sense of Dieter vs. Dauberger vs. Chall, etc., and I'm getting there. What was striking here was that Kauroff was the heel. Kauroff had teamed with Dieter on this tour and the fans were behind him. Of course they were, because he'd have these big hammering shots on his comebacks. The first round here was wrestled even, with Dauberger opening things up in the second by stomping away and taking liberties. The crowd really went up for Kauroff's comeback shots and he won it in the third fairly easily with an armdrag slam. 

Caswell Martin vs. Steve Wright

MD: This was not on the listing and is a heck of a bonus. Unfortunately, it cuts off and we don't get to the full time limit draw but we still get ~3 rounds and 10+ minutes of these two going at it. It's like vs like, trickster vs trickster, skilled genius wrestler vs skilled genius wrestler, face vs face, and the crowd is absolutely delighted by it. Wright is more apt to rush at Martin (and even goes flying out of the ring at one point). Martin is more apt to throw a headbutt or strike. In general though, they're incredibly even with an answer to every question; no one gets an advantage for long. They just go in and out of holds and do sequences and bits. A couple of times they bring the ref into it and it's all highly entertaining. Maybe nothing I've never seen before here, but they're able to fire things off in such rapid succession and even incomplete as it is, it's very enjoyable. 

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Found Footage Friday: HANOVER 1980~! WRIGHT~! KAMALA~! WISKOWSKI~! MARTIN~!

Hanover Germany 10/4/80 (Richard Land Patreon)

Caswell Martin vs. Karl Dauberger 

MD: Martin's really a joy to watch. I look forward to new matches of his almost as much (but not quite as much) as Fujiwara and that's saying something. Yes, he does some of the same bits a lot (the cartwheel out for instance). But he has that same sort of imagination and creativity where you wonder how he's going to treat an exchange. And he's interesting in different settings whether it's WoS or here or UWF. 

This was face vs face or whatever they call it in Germany. They were just teaming the previous night after all. And it was a pleasant sportsmanlike affair until the last round where things got a little heated. A lot of great escapes by Martin really. He had a way of handstanding up just a little higher to rana out of a double leg and even did a spinning headstand toupe escape out of a grounded side headlock that I'm not sure I've ever seen done quite that way. They'd be good sports about things. He'd use a butt butt escape out of a go behind and Dauberger had a good laugh from losing his wind from it. Lots of nearfalls and reversals here and they had the crowd the whole way. Down the stretch it got a little chippy with Martin doing a facewash with his foot and they picked up the pace with rope running and a couple of bombs (very nice double underhook slam by Dauberger for instance) before Martin got him on a banana peel takeover from a waistlock. Good stuff.

Ed Wiskoski vs. Jim Harris 

MD: Here we have Ed Wiskowski, as a cowboy, against Jim Harris, before he became Kamala. It's a massive stooge-fest from Wiskowski, the sort where he'll take face first bumps just from being in a headlock and it was hugely entertaining stuff that had the crowd. Harris just had to be a center of gravity and keep the pressure on, but he did it so well that you think he could have had a pretty great career even without the gimmick. Wiskowski is usually the biggest guy in a match and he was a little taller than Harris still, but here he worked like the smaller man. Flying all over the place, arms flailing, trying and failing to slam him.

When he did take over it was by going after the eyes and drawing a public warning and that lasted just until he got carded and the distraction let Harris come back with big clubbing blows. Finish had Harris go off the second rope but miss a splash so that Wiskoski could come off the top with Bombs Away and then actually slam Harris for the win. Good stuff though. Extremely entertaining and it makes me hope we get more Harris from this tournament against guys like Wright, Colt, or Destroyer.

ER: We call this era Kamala 0: The Departure Point, in which Sugar Bear Harris is sporting a tri-hawk two years before Clubber Lang existed, and he even comes out throwing jab fakes. But Harris is extremely raw here and it gives us a chance to see - yet another - incredible Ed Wiskoski carry job. I love Ed Wiskoski. He's like if Nick Nolte got into pro wrestling and was just as good at wrestling as Nolte is at acting. He's got the same military straight posture and size, and the same amazing hair as same-era Nolte. However, Wiskoski wrestles much, much differently than Nick Nolte does in this hypothetical situation where Nolte got into wrestling instead of doing Who'll Stop the Rain. I don't think Nolte, with his size and looks, would be one of our most gifted stooge bumpers in the same way Wiskoski is. Ed Wiskoski might be the tallest wrestling stooge we were ever gifted and I am in love with the way the man moves. Jim Harris at this point - and at many points - had a very limited tool bag and Wiskoski works this entire match staggering and falling all around the ring for simple arm strikes. 

Wiskoski does not ever go crybaby John Tatum but he has bumps that Tatum would go on to steal. That includes the way he stacks his bumps so that one headbutt makes Wiskoski take a bump that then sends him face first into the turnbuckles which then turns into a third bump recoiling from the buckles which could also turn into a fourth bump if he gets pinballed by another strike. Wiskoski spends the first two plus rounds stuttering and staggering around for Harris, comes back in the third with a couple of nicely timed eye pokes, and then spends another couple rounds building to some classic chained Wiskoski bumps until Harris misses a middle buckle splash. I could watch this man fall all day. I will say however, and I think this is important: Wiskoski is not a "realistic" bumper, but I don't think his bumps could ever be seen as "comedy bumps". This is difficult to do. It is hard to be a theatrical bumper without including several comedic pratfalls, but he somehow pulls off silly unrealistic bumps without ever feeling like he is doing them for a laugh. They are always in direct response to the offense he is selling, and never feels like he is doing them to show off his own athleticism. They might look silly in a vacuum, but they always look appropriate within a match, and that's a line he walks so impressively that it only makes me love him more with every new match we get. 

Kim Duk vs. Manuel López 

MD: We spend a lot of time with 90-91 Kim Duk given his extended run in Puerto Rico so at first it was nice to see him here. Lopez is not someone I'm familiar with so I was curious how this would go. Not particularly well. The first thing you notice is just how huge Duk is, which is not something that stands out as much if he's wrestling TNT or Scott Hall (or people like Jumbo or Hogan) but he just towered over Lopez. It created a sort of disconnect in the match because while they did wrestle it like Duk had a size advantage, he was primarily technical so you barely expected Lopez to get anything on him. And he didn't get much. In the second round, they picked up the pace a little and Lopez came flying back off a charge into the corner only to get caught and carefully tombstoned as an act of mercy. They can't all be winners.

Bob (UFO) Della Serra vs. Takashi (Sumo) Ishikawa

MD: UFO remains as over as ever. Ishikawa came out to Turning Japanese. He's an interesting character as he disappears from AJPW so as not to be part of Jumbo vs Revolution or Tsuruta-gun vs Super Generation Army, though he pops back up in SWS. He ends up being more of a role player instead. But he could go and hit as hard as anyone else from the decade. I'm not sure if this is clipped or if it's just short but during the middle the camera cuts to some of the wrestlers standing by the entrance watching or talking to each other. They seem to match up well from the bit we do see with trading of slams and armdrags and Ishikawa having a nice step over to break the grip before launching karate type strikes.. Ishikawa leaned into the sumo bit with crouched charges and got caught on one in the corner and rolled up.

Klaus Kauroff/Le Grand Vladimir vs. Salvatore Bellomo/Steve Wright

MD: Another incredibly entertaining tag. I didn't like the Duk match much but the overall level of quality here is just amazing honestly. This had what you'd expect early with the fans singing along to Bellomo and especially Wright making absolute fools out of the heels. Lots of great stuff. Rope running spots. Ref goofing bits. Wright a dervish of cruel and hilarious technique and bounding about. But then things did settle down to heat, and they actually went double heat on it, including some southern elements like drawing the ref. Both hot tags and comebacks were a ton of fun, with Wright pinballing people and Bellomo coming in hot. They finished with a draw, but with Wright and Bellomo both doing the Franz Van Buyten dash across in the ring to leap up and punch. Very fun stuff.

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Found Footage Friday: HANOVER 1980~! DESTROYER~! UFO~! COLT~! MARTIN~!

MD: More Richard Land Patreon finds. I like to be able to share links with everyone of what we're watching but the simple fact of the matter is that these Germany drops are the most exciting thing in wrestling footage right now, probably. So I'm going to keep covering them and people should just seek the patreon out when so inclined.

 

The Destroyer vs. UFO (Bob Della Serra - Date Unknown but around September/October 1980, maybe 9/8/80?)

MD: 20+ minutes of lost Destroyer footage and more than that, getting to see him in a completely new environment, working a European rounds match in 1980 Germany. UFO was over (lots of chants) and very game. Destroyer has a unique stocky way of walking and they were playing into it hard. He would try something like a full nelson; UFO would get out of it in a specific way such as a reverse monkey flip, and then when Destroyer tried it, he'd get jammed, then UFO would mock the stocky walk in a sort of strut and the fans would go nuts as Destroyer tantrumed around the ring furious.

They'd do bits where Destroyer would control with pretty nasty armwork or by hiding an object and going for the eyes masterfully but the nature of the rounds meant that UFO would be able to come back and make Destroyer stooge some more. He had some nice rolls ups to (including one out of a fireman's carry). I think they ran out of time in the end and it was a draw, but it was entertaining the whole way through. Great find.
 

10/3/80 

UFO vs. Klaus Kauroff 

MD: This was inconclusive but really good while it lasted. Della Serra looked as good as i've ever seen him here and came off as one of the best in the world maybe? Maybe that's a stretch but he was real good here. Karoff was quite good as well. They started with strength spots vs finesse where Karoff would bully UFO only to get wound around at the last second. That lasted right until Della Serra ran into Karoff's fist and it was really an amazing moment. Just a great visual which Karoff than milked for all it was worth because he knew what he had. From there we had around or two of Karoff absolutely bullying UFO, with Della Serra throwing his arms all over the place and really selling it for the back row in a compelling way.

The big comeback was ducking another one of those clothesline punches off the ropes and UFO came back strong, just brutalizing Karoff with these massive haymacker European Uppercuts/Lifters. One after the next as Karoff went down big for them. He'd dodge shots and just keep them coming for a round or two before Karoff started to comeback and everything sort of just ended. Another one that was real good while it lasted though. Simple stuff but so well executed.

Caswell Martin/Karl Dauberger vs. Chris Colt/Francisco (Paco) Ramírez

MD: This was an absolute blast. From the moment Colt came down to the ring, dancing by hooking Ramirez and pulling him towards him and then doing the robot, he was pure entertainment, such a sleazy brilliant heel. Constant reactions to everything. Martin and Ramirez paired off well, with all of Martin's usual spots (landing on his feet out of a mare, the cartwheel counter, the leg splitter where he keeps spreading his feet wider). Once they started the tandem comedy spots, they never looked back. I don't even want to list them all because if you do see this, I don't want to spoil it, but they played the hits (just a taste: the pumphandle switch, the four man headlock into the double headlock charge, an estrella, etc). There wasn't really an ebb and flow here, just one entertaining spot after the other with Colt bumping huge into the corner or having it out with the ref or begging off after the fact. Not a ton of drama here because even when the heels took over, they couldn't keep it for long, but the audience (and German audiences laugh as well as any audience I've ever heard) were in stitches the whole time. Great look at Colt for anyone who's never seen him with a game cast of characters alongside him. Martin, for the footage we have of him, always looks incredible.

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Tuesday is French Catch Day: Van Buyten! Montreal! Ufo! Harris! Blair! McDonald! Borne! Gowart!

Linda Blair/Nicki McDonald vs Brigitte Borne/"Magnifique" Manetry Gowart 8/25/84

MD: I think there maybe, just maybe, could be an ok Borne vs Blair singles match. Borne was older here but we have her in the Garcia match from the 70s and she could hold her own. Blair had her own sort of style, a trash talking, hard hitting heel, even if those shots sometimes looked a little... askew. They stooged a bit, tried to get heat with distracted switches. But there were times where the match just broke down entirely in a manner that you wouldn't even imagine from any match in the 60s or 70s. When it came to McDonald and Gowart, sometimes things would go right. More often, they wouldn't. I honestly thing Blair could have had a career as the third, lesser Glamour Girl, as a Moolah-trainee styled wrestler, she had positives. Overall, though, this was pretty painful.

Franz van Buyten/Mr. Montreal vs. Bob Ufo/John Harris 9/1/84

SR: Well, this could‘ve been worse, but also could‘ve been better. John Harris is a big muscular guy with a kid face. He actually had some fun power spots in this. Van Buyten meshes well with both opponents and Mr. Montreal is decent, but there was some annoying clipping going on and the faces for some reason jobbed hard in this, losing 2-0.

MD: Definitely some structural issues here. I don't think Ufo earned the first fall necessarily. Montreal had been just a bit too dominant the moment before. Overall the clipping wasn't too bad. It's the devil we have to deal with for the variety show. The worst one is towards the end as you sort of lose just how badly they were portraying Montreal's leg as hurt because of it. He had to be carried off. After that, despite his usual fiery comeback (though no charging leap across the ring), the heels made short enough work of Van Buyten. I liked the actual action though, and watching this in context, that's not a small thing. Van Buyten was masterful, some of the best facial expressions ever as he sells and huge sweeping shots on his comeback. Plus, he could work holds with Ufo and the escalating strength spots with Harris, until he finally chipped him down. The crowd was eager to see Montreal (a strongman himself) get in there with Ufo and I don't think he disappointed. If anything we just got it a little too early into the match. Harris was surprisingly huge; he didn't look it due to the babyface, but when he was up there against Montreal, he towered over him. It's interesting we've been seeing heels win so much as of late when they almost never won in the entirety of the 70s.

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New Footage Friday: FRENCH CATCH!! RIP FRANZ VAN BUYTEN!!!

PAS: The great Franz Van Buyten died this week, so we decided to dig into our French Catch archives and review some of his matches.

MD: I've always had a soft spot for Van Buyten. I think most people in our circle first became aware of him from the Lasartesse series and other 80s German footage, but I first encountered him in the IWE Andre six man from 1972. There he was an amazing stooge, with his interactions with Andre being one of my favorite comedic performances of all time. I don't think I've seen another match where he took on quite that role, but it's always in the back of my head when I see him. Knowing that somewhere inside this triumphant, sympathetic babyface is that performative sense of humor, always made me look (and usually find) a certain mischief even in his his straightest matches. It's just so obvious he got "it" and that he could back it up.

Franz Van Buyten vs. Robert Gastel 7/5/71

SR: 1 fall match that goes about 30 minutes. AHH I LOVE THIS MATCHUP!! Franz is basically the guy who started the madness when I first got my hands on his Piratenkampf against Dave Taylor. Robert Gastel is someone I never even heard of before this project, but I fell in love basically looking at him. And they are a natural matchup, Gastel being balding, pudgy, skull jacket wearing and exuding the miserable tough charisma of a guy who feels like an amalgation of a slimy used car salesman, a grumpy construction worker and a smelly truck driver, and Franz being classy and a stud. Despite it being transparent where this was going to go from a mile away, there is lots of really fun, really solid wrestling. These guys do extremely basic holds, but find all sorts of neat little touches to work around them, and everything is super tight. I also really liked Franz angrily responding to Gastel throwing the first shot by trying to snap his wrist. Gastel is a real treasure trying to get in on Franz with cheapshots and leg picks, and Franz of course is an all time great when it comes to making basic stuff look really painful and draining. Not that Gastel has a hard time looking like a bastard, dropping big forearms on Franzs face and throwing body shots and headbutts. As soon as Franz had enough there was a tangible asymmetry in this match though, as Gastel despite trying his best soon found himself blown away by van Buytens onslaught. Really liked Gastels stoic selling performance as van Buyten tried to uppercut his jaw out. Time limit comes into play and feeds into the story of the match with Gastel having to survive his fitter, more athletic opponent.

PAS: Gastel has a really great look, he is bald and dumpy looking and looks like Stathams cop friend in the Transporter. This is a bit more deliberate then the other Catch stuff we have seen, but it is a cool deliberation.  The first part of the match is all Gastel working an arm lock while Van Buyten flips and spins his way out of it, only for Gastel to grind right back down on it. It is impressive how well these guys get across the basic idea of professional wrestling, "this is hard painful violence" this is more ground bound then a lot of Catch stuff, but even the wildest shit still has struggle and fight at it's base. Van Buyten grinding this tight reverse choke looks like some Gracie shit and Gastel fires back with some teeth loosening shots. Gastel looks like a thug and wrestles like a thug and it is super fun to watch Van Buyten overcome that.

MD: This felt extremely familiar in the best way. The opening had such a sense of inevitability as Gastel gave way to his darker tendencies. It was basically the Tully (and so many others) formula, where he comes out wrestling evenly with the babyface, but after losing a few exchanges goes dirty, but you got the sense that it wasn't just feigned reluctance out of Gastel, but instead that once he was so committed, there was no looking back.

They went in and out of things early, first with Gastel armdrags and an armbar he hung onto. Despite his bulk, he just melted away on the armdrags, which were the smoothest things you'd see. Van Buyten finally shifted it with a headscissors takeover and they went in out of that a bit. That's when Gastel lost his cool the first time and hit some blows out of the corner. Van Buyten shifted to the arm and you could see Gastel's cracks deepening: instinctively going for the hair when an escape got cut off, being positioned to use the rope when he had advantage on leglock and the crowd getting on his case for it. Van Buyten's constant struggle from underneath is excellent here, leading to an eventual escape and Gastel going past the point of no return.

When he finally does unload, it's with peppering shots and headbutts. Gastel has this sort of high/low combo style which keeps things interesting. It's very compelling and you never quite know what angle he'll take the attack from next. Van Buyten's comeback came a little early, maybe, though it's plenty fiery and full of righteousness with Gastel's selling giving everything even more weight. They shift to more of a back and forth after that, including Gastel utilizing a dragon sleeper and Van Buyten building to a big mare reversal of it. The finish has Van Buyten switching up Gastel's advantage by catching him with a slam off the ropes. It was sudden and effective, though maybe not entirely memorable. The video fades with Gastel walking forward to shake Van Buyten's hand, which fits with the overall feel I had. Gastel was no villain; he was just a passionate man who let his frustration take him over.


Franz Van Buyten vs. Bob UFO 7/28/84

SR: It‘s a Piratenkampf baby. There is a joke about a Piratenkampf happening in France and the flag on the pole instead of being either guys national flag is just a white flag. Maybe they didn‘t want to emphasize van Buyten being Belgian too much. European chain matches are weird in the sense that they are less about guys hitting each other with the chain and instead about chain grappling, and also really long, but I enjoy them a lot. Lots of tight, inventive grappling that comes across as grueling, with guys getting tangled in the chain while trying to wrestle. I especially liked Franz hitting a bodyslam only to find himself being strangled with the chain around his neck the next moment, and Bob Ufo(??) tangling his arm behind his back so he could hit him. The turnbuckle climbing/chain tugging is something that could potentially feel lame in these match but they had a ton of different ways to make it compelling here, including both guys taking a nasty spill to the outside and frightening balancing on these really loose ropes. The one thing that left me sour is that they clipped 10 minutes from this, I mean these matches are supposed to be really long. Not as heated as previous matches in this style we have seen, presumably due to the crowd not being familiar with the gimmick (or maybe Bob Ufo not being a super charismatic heel, though he does a solid job here) which is about the sole thing keeping this from being a minor classic.

MD: Given the clipping and the random shots to a random crowd, this did feel a little bit lacking. What stood out were particular moments (Van Buyten's comeback rush of forearms to push Bob away from the flag, the way he leapt across the ring to take both of them over the top). Just from a guess, what we missed on here was a longer period of heat, but that's what I wanted the most. I liked the heel jawing in English, though he was sufficiently brutal and dogged, but what you really want out of these matches is a long bloody beatdown that leads to a violent comeback, and we missed that here. I don't know how many of these Van Buyten had been in at this point, but he has such a great sense of the chain. He knows when to bring it into play, either as a way to dramatically control the distance between the two wrestlers or as a bludgeon. The former is particularly impressive.

PAS: Not sure who Bob UFO is, they mention he is Canadian which made me think about Bob Della Serra, but it looks more like Rocky Della Serra. This isn't a high level Piratekampf match but has a bunch of the fun things which make this such an interesting gimmick. Van Buyten is clearly a master of this match, I love all of the little ways he leverages the chain to keep UFO from ascending, at one point he just presses his foot against the chain so his opponent couldn't get the slack to get up the pole. I would have liked to see a bit more of a dramatic ending and a a little more of the violence, but this is a nice look at Van Buyten bringing his signature gimmick match to a different place.

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