Found Footage Friday: Hanover 86 Part 2

Hanover '86

9/8/86

Klaus Kauroff vs. John Quinn

MD: Time to hit the second half of the 4 hour 9/86 Germany tape with Bull Power (Vader) all over it. Anyway, this was down our alley, real 305 live stuff, a clash of the titans. So much of this were just the two of them crashing into one another or throwing meaty shots, testing one another, pressing advantages when they could. It was two out of three falls, which we don't usually see for a singles match but it meant that when one did get the best of the other with a rare shoulder tackle that worked or a body slam, it warranted a successful pin and worked within the match.The format gave it room to breathe and make those key moments mean so much even though in theory they were so simple and straightforward. 

Otto Wanz vs. Bull Power

MD: Speaking of titans clashing. It's interesting that these two matches were on the same card. It makes Kauroff vs Quinn sort of a like-minded undercard attraction, though this was going to have more fireworks. Overall, I don't think this was as strong or seasoned as Kauroff vs Quinn but it didn't disappoint either. Wanz knew exactly what he had in Leon even if Leon didn't quite know everything he was yet. Pre-match, Power did his usual attack while still in the trucker hat and windbreaker, wielding the flag. Unlike others, Wanz recovered quickly and took the flag to cross check him repeatedly to the fans' delight. Lots of delight in this one.

Wanz would get the better of him with skill and a bit of slickness, moving out of the way at a key moment, and meeting him head on. Power would take three charges (the last being a football three-point stance set up) to stagger Otto but he would stagger him, and he could always credibly take over with a few shots, especially as he pressed him into the corner. They'd keep going in circles with this, Power taking back over and Otto fighting from underneath. He never seemed in too much danger but Power could likewise take right back over whenever he had even the smallest opening. I'd call this more inconclusive and unsatisfying than anything else (even if not disappointing), as they left more for the future. Otto eventually hefted Power over the top and they brawled on the floor until things were thrown out.

Axel Dieter vs. Klaus Wallas

MD: Clipped as this is, it becomes a real simple exercise in Wallas being as big a jerk as humanly possible and Dieter eventually coming back and giving him what he deserves. Primal, straightforward, effective stuff. Wallas looked as good as I've seen him in this footage. He'd take Dieter to the ropes and punch him in the face. When Dieter charged in, he'd force a break in the corner and then punch him in the face again. Later on, he'd drape his knee right over Dieter's throat, that sort of thing. Then when it came time, Dieter hefted him over the top rope and caught him with a flurry of shots on his way in. Eventually, once he took enough, Wallas started to fight back and they went to the floor where things devolved into chaos. It's obvious by now but Dieter really knew what he was doing in there.

Steve Wright/Steve Casey vs. Col. Brody/Dave Morgan

MD: We only get part of this as it skips to the finish out of nowhere, but what we get really is great fun. There are moments of the heels working together or bullying the faces but most of this is Wright and Casey clowning them to high effect. It could be as simple as Casey smacking someone in the face out of nowhere or as complex as one heel being trapped in the ropes and the other being used as a battering ram and then, after the ref complains, summarily dropped to elated laughter from the crowd. You'd also get some fun wrestling like Wright and Morgan doing these fast headscissors reversals back and forth over and over again, or Wright doing all of his headstand and kip up tricks with Brody. But mostly it was stuff like Brody going for a dropdown and Wright dropping down beside him and saying "boo." But it really was great fun. Brody and Morgan were good sports but also engaged. When they shrugged off a double headlock charge, Brody pointed to the prone babyfaces in a sort of "Ha Ha. We finally got you!" sort of way. Of course, immediately thereafter things were turned around and the battering ram took place. We lose the big comeback and only get a glimpse of the finish but the individual bits were great.

9/10/86

Kid Burgess vs. Rasputin 2

MD: Fans really liked to get on Rasputin's case and he sold it well. Burgess had some fun counters early. Rasputin would get over on him twice and then he'd spin out and nail him with a headbutt. Or he'd escape from a full nelson and then just lay prone on the mat until Rasputin leaned in and got kicked. Rasputin finally got incensed and took over by cheating but Burgess dumped him over the top to get into it. Fun comeback with a lot of signature combos and dropkicks but he finally missed one and Rasputin slammed him for the win. Not sure if this was the first match on this card but the fans were definitely up for it.

Steve Wright vs. John Quinn

MD: If you have access to Richard Land's drive, this is worth a watch. A lot of these are, of course, but this gets time, has familiarity and animosity while still being light and fun, and both of these guys are tremendously talented. It's a long draw and while clipped we get more than the gist of it. Wright starts by doing a cartwheel and asking for a handshake and you can tell immediately Morgan has had more than enough of him in his life. Early on, he tosses Wright out in a big way (tapping his head after) and Wright comes back in and gets a sunset flip. You can't keep Wright down. He has all of his signature counters, the bounding and twisting and flipping, the kip up into a dropkick after getting knocked down, clever escapes from full nelsons and other holds. He also does something I've never seen before where, in a front facelock, he goes down to one knee than the other a few times before coming up and flipping Quinn's arm out of it.

There's a round where he controls the arm (including a very smooth short arm scissors) and a round where Morgan batters him around the ring getting revenge. And then Wright gets revenge for the revenge. There are a couple of very believable near-falls for the style down the stretch and the fans are chanting Stevie most of the way. Masters doing masterful things. That's what this one is.

Otto Wanz/Axel Dieter vs. Bull Power/Klaus Wallas

MD: This whole show has a sort of yellowish overtone to it, almost like AI, but AI could never replicate Otto Wanz crashing into Bull Power in the corner like this. They really built to that moment, with Dieter starting and holding his own against Power until he got hit by a Vader Attack in the ropes. Then Wallas worked him over so when Otto came in (and the crowd was overjoyed to see him get in) he was up against Wallas. Otto tagged out to Dieter before Power came in so it wasn't until Dieter could escape once again that they ended up facing off. It was worth the wait. Wallas had some great jerk expressions here, one of which was zoomed in, and Dieter knew EXACTLY what to do in his role, but this maybe didn't have enough Otto and Vader for me, all things considered, especially because the tape cuts off into some sort of wild scene we can barely make out (with a pinball table lit up in the corner) before the tape ends. This had to be a great show to attend live however. That much we can tell.

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Found Footage Friday: HANOVER 86~!

Hanover 

9/86

Franz Schuhmann vs. Steve Wright

MD: Four shows. Mainly the layperson appeal is Bull Power against all of these guys but it's nice to see some shows not even on wrestlingdata with guys we've been watching in 80/81 and some others. They fit 4 hours onto this tape and we'll see how many shows we make it through this week. We have dates for the subsequent shows but not this one but it's probably the first few days of September 1986.  Everything is clipped but you tend to get the flow and a lot of fun spots. 

For instance, you get a lot of Wright really stymieing Schuhmann here with his meticulous precision, Even when Franz has a good counter, like looping one leg over the other to turn Wright over, Wright just moves into a cartwheel to get out of it. There's some fun bits where they hang onto holds through escape attempts (there Wright lets Franz hang on even as he does a scooping hip takeover for instance). Some fun pin exchanges too where they both end up laying there. If this boiled over we don't see it but as things progress to rope running, we've seen Wright win enough times that even without the actual finish, we can imagine it.

ER: It's too bad this is so heavily clipped. Weight looks extremely spirited all match and I love when he tries out tricks. The clips mean we miss on some of Wright's move application, and I like seeing how he gets into and out of things. He works his way into several inventive and firm submissions on Schuhmann, but we never get to see how Schuhmann gets out of most of them, nor how Wright maneuvers through them. We get to see a lot of Wright getting into things, and that in itself is great. He is a clever Dean Malenko, a Dean Malenko with follow through and natural progression through holds. I don't have any experience with 80s Franz Schuhmann. I've seen plenty of mid 90s Schuhmann but no mid 80s. This match doesn't offer much insight, it's clipped into a Wright highlight reel, but I loved the way Wright maneuvered him through sequences. A series of rolling Malenko nearfalls actually felt like something, and ended with both men lying flat on top of each other, a rest neutral position that hasn't been seen in pro wrestling in 40 years.  

Tony St. Clair vs. John Quinn

MD: Quinn had superior size but got plenty of heat by going with inside shots or hair pulls to keep St. Clair on his back leg as well as just bullying him around. Nice Tony chant here. He always had a connection with these German crowds (as early as 86 we can see now). Tony would finally get one over on Quinn and use a  headcissors and they'd do the Gotch Lift style spot but out of the headscissors which you never ever see and is really the damndest thing. We get this a number of times but the clipping means it's never QUITE as clear as I'd like. They take it out of the ring and then back in from the apron, working in and out of it. A very cool spot (and way to spend a few minutes). Quinn bullies St. Clair some more, tossing him out, but St. Clair comes back with a number of nearfalls en route to the time limit draw.

ER: Quinn kicked ass here. There are very few men today who look like John Quinn and none of them are trying to become wrestlers. I like Quinn, a worker I don't think I'd seen before Matt and I started writing about Germany, but this is the coolest I've seen him. He's a monster, a sadist. I don't remember him being so sadistic in the '81 footage we've written about. This was mostly Quinn beating St. Clair's ass, as viciously and as stiff as I've seen him beat someone. He's a hard hitting bully, hitting St. Clair hard enough that St. Clair gets loud reactions any time he's in control (which isn't much, that we saw). Everything Quinn does looks mean. Kicking Tony in the back with a scoff, hammering him several times with punches to the stomach that St. Clair sold as if he didn't think he was actually getting punched in the stomach, headlock punches so good that you realize it's been ages since you've anyone do a headlock punch even thought they're literally always good. Holding a headlock away from a referee, unleashing your inner Nolan Ryan just once, elevating yourself as a wrestler to all who see? Easiest shortcut to looking like a great wrestler, right there for the taking. Headlock punches, gone. Why don't you see brown cars anymore? 

Eddy Steinblock vs. Bull Power

MD: This isn't 89 Vader here. He's only been wrestling for about a year and he's been a babyface for a lot of that, even if he had another tour of Germany before this. He's out with the flag and a trucker hat and windbreaker type jacket and American flag, shoving fans away before the bell. Also attacking Steinblock with the flag before the bell, which gets the exact right reaction from the get go. 

He's raw but there's a lot to like. You don't want to look away a bit due to the rawness, not just in spite of it. He has brutal looking blows from every angle, plus the Vader Attack (with a big pose) and usage of the ropes or just wrenching his back over the corner turnbuckle. He'll just throw in a knee on Steinblock or lean on him with one. Some of it got a little repetitive since he only had so much stuff (the back elbow and Vader Attack hit multiple times) but it was all doing damage so you hardly cared. Steinblock came back with dropkicks and big sweeping blows (to huge crowd reaction since they cared about Vader already) but he missed a splash onto the leg and Vader never really looked back, crushing him with an Avalanche and a Splash for the win. Definitely a way to establish him for later, bigger matches.

ER: Not much Vader earlier than this. This is Vader at his most long haul trucker, with the perfect wrestling body and his sweet round face. He shifts side to side with soft polite eyes during the long in ring introduction ceremony with everyone from the tour, but when he's out for his match he's taunting everyone with an American Flag. An odd sized American flag, Vader's belly sticking out under his short, zipped, normal man's windbreaker jacket. Pointing to the flag, doing ethnic heel "How about that, huh? How about that right there!" Cheap heat diner brawler Vader, Bull Power, works the best Eddy Steinblock match I've ever seen, because he just beasts Steinblock's ass and makes him sell and bump. If it's not the best Steinblock match, it's the most compelling. I haven'y seen any 80s Steinblock, but I've seen plenty of 90s Steinblock where he's booking himself on top forever. It's wild to see him get punched around and beaten up bad by Vader. Bull Power doesn't have all of Vader's presence and size confidence, but he knows he can hit hard and throw his weight around. This man looked tough and out of place, a different cool version of a favorite.  

Axel Dieter/Steve Casey vs. Le Grand Vladimir/Rasputin II

MD: A feel good tag. We've seen a bunch of these now but the clipping made it seem even more so since you never really saw the heels on top. Maybe they never were even over two falls. This had heel miscommunication, Vlad walking into a bunch of spots (the best was when he armdragged nothing and was made to look the fool), Dieter playing the hits and Rasputin bringing size and energy in his bumping and Casey relative youth. You got some fun moments in here but it was harder than the other matches to get a real sense of things past Vlad's annoyance with Rasputin.

ER: We only have four minutes of this, but we see a lot in four minutes. Matt and I are the only two people in the world who talk about Le Grand Vladimir and this is the first I'm seeing him five years older, and he's somehow even better. This German style that nobody cares about that acts as a fountain of youth to older tall brutes. Vladimir works as stooging brute great at getting caught off guard by Steve Casey, a chance to nuanced bad partner bullshit with Rasputin, five years older but taking faster bumps to the floor than in 1981. I was blown away by how strong Casey's fundamentals were, admittedly more so when I thought it was Texas Steve Casey. No, British Steve Casey has the fundamentals and worked real strong as a babyface with heavyweight moving dropkicks and snug headlocks. Dieter is eternally loudly over, a god. Steve Casey looked like he belonged with Dieter in every big babyface moment, a natural fit. 

9/5/86

Franz Schuhmann vs. Hansi Rooks

MD: Rooks is kind of like if you merged Vader with Harley Race, in look at least. He's a real jerk. Schuhmann had a connection with the audience which reminds me of UFO and especially Sal to a degree and it made sense he'd be a top guy there for years after this. He went sailing out at Rooks' hands right towards the camera to start and then pulled back in. Then Rooks had the audacity to go for a handshake and kick him. When Rooks was beating on him on the outside and got a yellow card, he merrily waved to the crowd on the way back in. You have to like his style at least. Franz had some fiery comebacks including dropkicks that knocked Rooks out of the ring or that pinballed him, but Rooks eventually won it with a nice tilt a whirl slam.

ER: You're telling me that there was a big fat guy with Harley Race hair out there named Hansi Rooks?! Fans wanted to see Otto Wanz's body with the familiar blond curls of Harley, with a name honoring Razzle Dingley. I've never heard of this guy and neither have you. He's the perfect kind of brute for our German tent shows, a big heel who knows how to kick and punch and is a real bully. That's what they wanted to see and that's the 80s German heel style I've grown accustomed to. Rooks is not as good as Quinn or Vladimir or Wiskoski or Vader and he leans out of strikes but he is one of them and this was a fun, clipped look. His clubbing to Schuhmann's chest looked heavy and his finishing slam was cool, but this was just a glimpse. 

Otto Wanz vs. Col. Brodey

MD: I'll be honest that part of the appeal of the 80-81 shows is that there's just a bit less of the familiarity we've already had with later 80s German footage. Guys like Brodey and Guajardo. They're fine and generally functional but I've liked getting to know Morowski better for instance. 

So this felt familiar, almost stereotypical. It was, of course, a nightmare of a time for Brodey. Wherever he tried to go, whatever he tried to do, Wanz was there. He'd go for a full nelson and Wanz would butt butt him. He got whipped into the corner and belly attacked. Wanz would throw these brutal looking hamhocks or take him down with a swank tricked out armbar takeover. Once or twice Brodey would pry off a leg and have some hope but Wanz would just kick him across the ring or propel him that way out of a pin. When he hit the flip senton and the splash it was a mercy, even if Brodey's ineffectual kicking might have said otherwise. Obviously, the crowd loved it all of course.

Bull Power vs. Axel Dieter

MD: We're lucky to have this footage. It's very good, even if Leon was just figuring it out still. Dieter was not and he knew exactly what to do, charging in right at the start and doing some damage. The ref wasn't going to let him go wild so early though and Vader used that distraction to snatch Axel's throat. He'd do these lifting hanging tree chokes, put him down and just clobber him. It looked great. He had plenty of Vader attacks and back elbows and a tendency to move Axel around by his throat. Dieter would come back when he could, either throwing desperate shots, or after Vader missed a corner charge or he could duck a back elbow. The place went nuts as he just laid into him with uppercuts and punches. All it took was one shot from Vader to turn things right back around though. Both men went over the top once or twice (with Axel able to use Vader's weight against him) and things devolved on the floor. This was raw but well worth watching.

Klaus Wallas vs. Eddy Steinblock

MD: Wallas was a judoka in the 1976 Olympics which more or less made his pro career and got him runs in New Japan. He picked up a thing or two there like the enziguiri he used at the end of one round. he was 43 and at the tail end of his career but he had presence and confidence as he moved around. My favorite thing he did was this little duck around to whack Steinblock in the back to cut him off. The first time we see him do it, he does it in the lower back with an outright slap and it looks nasty. Steinblock would come back which would mean mostly whips into the corner and mares for Wallas. I get the sense he wasn't taking too many big bumps anymore, but the fans ate it up anyway. I liked the finish which had Wallas whipped, do a little do-si-do where he hooked the arm to whip Steinblock back the other way, where he caught him in that European arm drag slam that ended so many matches.

Steve Wright/Klaus Kauroff vs. Rambo/John Quinn

MD: This got time and actually had a decent amount of heat. It's one of Rambo's first tours of Germany, if not the first. Apparently he had come in through working for Delaporte in France. Of course, the heat wouldn't start until Wright clowned these guys, absolute menace that he was. Fun bit with Quinn where Wright would cartwheel off of whips and Quinn would just walk off of them, refusing to run. Wright also did the multiple kip ups deal with Rambo, and then a great chinlock bit where he worked up to a fireman's carry, got cut off by Quinn, did it again, and then when Quinn came in whacked him with Rambo's feet on an airplane spin. Big pop for that. Heels controlled with a lot of illegal cutoffs and even when Wright came back after ducking a second double clothesline, Rambo kept breaking up pins until he got red carded. You need to do a finish like that now and again to get over the rules, really.

 

9/7/86

Bull Power vs. Steve Wright

MD: This feels like a real find honestly. We're just looking at 86 Bull Power here, but you watch him against a guy like Wright who was such a master of his craft and Vader comes off like a huge monster, a huge star. He nails Wright before the match with the American flag and the image of it made me wish he had worked the whole match with his hat. Ah well. Wright dodges a Vader corner charge at the bell, and follows up, knocking Vader all the way out of the ring. Vader comes back and press slams him over the top rope. They really don't look back from there.

There are cool bits in here where Wright, who is usually a menace to everyone, just can't get out of a wristlock and he keeps monkey flipping Vader who just hangs on. You get all the stuff you'd expect, Vader Attacks, and corner charges, and just the meatiest shots from Vader. Wright comes back by throwing his entire body at him and choking the life out of him desperately, no funny tricks here. Vader's able to shut him down with one shot though. Ten shots from Wright equal one from Vader. They go quite a while and we get a sense of it even with the clipping, before Vader KOs him with one, slams him, and hits the big splash for the win. It's a very good match where Wright took but only at a high cost and when it made the most sense. Mostly it was giving. They were still building to the Otto match here.

Axel Dieter vs. Le Grand Vladimir

MD: It might just be a selection of the footage we have but these two feel like lifelong opponents. I just went over to wrestling data on a whim, after having that thought, to see how many times they faced. I clicked on Dieter's opponents and there, at the very top of the list by a wide wide margin was Vladimir. I wouldn't have necessarily guessed that but I'm not at all surprised by it. So it's not the selection of matches we have. It's simply truth.

There's such familiarity and contempt in this match. They spend the first round trading mares and chinlocks and fighting out of them and cutting each other off, but as it gets going, Vlad comes in with his overhand hammers and his casual knee strikes and his stomps, and Dieter comes back by ducking a shot and catapulting him into the ropes so he lands on the knees, and ultimate finishes him off with mean whips into the corner and body slams. These two know each other, every cell, and it's almost like watching a married couple bicker on some level, the way it's obvious they're under each other's skin. It's a very lived in match, if that makes any sense, and it's fun to visit, especially knowing we get to go home and they're stuck with one another.

Kid Burgess/Steve Casey vs. Hansi Rooks/Klaus Wallas

MD: Burgess is George Burgess, also Jamaica George and "Coolcat Jackson" which is an amazing name. He passed away a couple of years ago. He was able to clown the heels by escaping things and especially (of course) with a preternaturally hard head. They were able to get their heat on Casey instead and leaned on him hard. After winning the first fall, the camera cuts to the crowd where some security guards have to force a guy back into his seat and I got the feeling people were getting upset. That's probably why Casey came back (as Rooks was trying to work over his ears) and won the second fall with a quick jumping back elbow that seemed to surprise Wallas on the apron in that he didn't move to interfere until it was too late. They did a lot of brawling outside of the ring in the third fall, probably to try to channel the energy elsewhere, so that when they worked over Burgess and Wallas won with a suplex, there wasn't a riot or anything. 

 

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