New Footage Friday: RED! BALLARD! BASHAMS! SATO! ISO! WATANABE! KONAKA PALE ONE!

Joan Ballard vs. Jean Noble 9/14/56

MD: We sat on this for half a year, but when the Chicago archive posts something, we have to watch it eventually. This has no sound but you guys have been watching empty arena matches with jump cuts for the last year so that shouldn't slow you down too much. If I have them figured out right, Noble's the heel here and she'd eventually have the Yulie Brynner bald gimmick. Honestly, I think this could have been a 20 minute attraction match in 1956 France and it would have gotten over with no one blinking an eye. That's a testament to how hard they were hitting and the sort of stuff they were doing. Noble snuck in the cheap shots when the ref was out of position and had those leg dives off the ropes on breaks that we've seen a lot out of desperate French heels. Ballard had a lot of revenge holds, most especially a rolling leg nelson, though worked as more of a nelson and less of a face-grinder. They hit hard, though it's interesting that they went down on almost every blow. No being staggered or stand up striking. Every shot led to a bump and I need to go back and look at other women's matches from this period to see if that was a conscious difference in how they were trained to work. The crowd seemed fairly reserved, though it's hard to tell without sound, but they definitely deserved some heat and adulation, whether they got it or not. 

Red/Steve Corino vs. Damaja/Doug Basham PCW 8/31/02

MD: This was the second round of the Russ Haas memorial tournament. Stryker (Teacher/Commentator Matt Striker, I think, in this case) had "suffered an injury" in the first round and Corino was a surprise partner. This was structured exactly how you'd want a ten minute tag in a middle of a one night tournament to be. The Corino surprise, though it didn't get a huge pop or anything, created almost an artificial addition to the shine, which combined with how good Red's stuff looked meant it didn't need to be so long. That meant they could lean into a double heat. Red's size made all of the heels' power moves look all the more potent, which again added value per time to the first half of the heat. At one point I almost thought this was setting up Corino refusing the tag and going heel on Red, even though there was nothing in the match itself other than how long a couple of minutes of beating on Red felt to make me feel that way. It wasn't usually the role he was cast in but Corino, once he got in, really understood the timing of working from underneath and the proto-Bashams worked well as a unit with blind tags and cut offs. The comeback was crowd-pleasing and didn't wear out its welcome before the Bashams again utilized Red's size to dramatic effect for the finish. Nice compact package here.

ER: The more Bashams I go back and watch, the more they feel like one of the best tag teams of the last 20 years. They really didn't get widespread hype during their WWF run, but watching them now while comparing them to literally any current WWF team and they feel so far ahead of the pack. Here I thought their tightness as a team shone because Corino looked pretty bad (until the final 30 seconds of the match). Basham has the great thinning tight curls mullet and beard, which gives him a cool late 80s Terry Funk vibe, and I loved his delivery of big clotheslines and his corner hip check. He's smart about when to stay out of the way (like when he saw Corino was behind on timing, so Basham did this sudden weak kneed sell so he wasn't just standing there like a goon waiting for Corino), and his timing with Damaja is strong. Red is a great guy to showcase their offense, getting wasted by clotheslines and flying high on a flapjack, and they're strong at selling Red's offense. Damaja threw an awesome right hand that seemed to wake Corino up for the finishing stretch, with he and Red both running wild, Red landing a great tope con giro, Corino throwing two really great overhand rights before being taken out, and Damaja laying Red out with an awesome Baldo bomb. Basham and Damaja had only teamed a dozen or two times at this point, and they already looked like a perfect pairing. A reevaluation of their WWF run would be a really fun project.

 
Hiroshi Watanabe/Hideya Iso vs. Yasushi Sato/Konaka Pale One Mumejuku Pro 2/5/17

SR:  Hiroshi Watanabe is a PWC guy who has been around since at least 1995, along with Sanshiro Takagi. He was a talented wrestler but way too short to ever receive a push. Thankfully, he stayed around long enough until a tiny offshoot indy arose that would give him the opportunity to shine in long matches. Mumejuku is as if a bunch of aging geeky wrestlers who all agreed that matwork and 70s style moves are way better than 2.9999s and elbow exchanges, all got together and started a promotion. This was a really stretched out match with everyone involved hitting the mat for a good 15 or so minutes. You don’t see this kind of extended pro style matwork much outside of lucha anymore and it was very refreshing. It basically felt like MUGA mixed with llaves. Watanabe was the standout by far, going from doing holds to bald head comedy to unexpected bridge ups and escapes, hitting a really nice dropkick and awesome well-timed Robinson backbreaker. He is one of the few guys who can pull that kind of throwback style of and not feel phony. Konaka Pale One is an indy guy doing a yoga gimmick meaning he does some freaky contortions, and he has a wonderful little matwork section with Watanabe. Hideya Iso is the guy who looks like a mini-Yatsu and he is solid. Yasushi Sato is apparently in his 50s, but he looks good here. The finishing run was built around Sato throwing cool suplexes and doing leg grapevine moves. There are some really intelligent spots, and Sato is actually able to make me give a shit about things like a russian leg sweep, and the constant build to his finishing hold was really cool. Whole match felt very antithetical to the current landscape which is very welcome, and I hope this channel drops more stuff like this on us. 

MD: Long, tricked out, hard worked Japanese indy tag. It more or less worked in a three act structure, the first being matwork and pairings where each guy got to bring something to the table: Konaka Pale One (despite neither acting or working like a ghost) carried a lot of this and looked great throughout, including a nice rolling arm scissors early and more elaborate things later on. Iso and Sato weren't as smooth but the former used his weight advantage well and the latter brought a lot of energy. Watanabe had a bunch of well-received comedy bits with his bald head. The second act had Konaka and Sato fed up by said comedy and while it was still worked mostly back and forth to start, they took more and more liberties and ultimately seized an advantage. The third act was Watanabe and Iso coming back with some huge bombs and then Sato returning the favor, with Konaka doing damage around the margins. It all led to a series of grinding stretch attempts turned into modified Russian leg sweeps until Sato was finally able to lock in the hold he wanted for the win. I can't tell you much more about this one except for that it was good and you should watch it.

PAS: Man Sebastian can dig them up. Never heard of any of these guys, and I am in all on all four. They open with nearly ten minutes of mat wrestling and they keep it interesting, which is a total unicorn for 21st century wrestling. The finishing run had cool moves without overkill and a sensible build to a sensible finish. Watanabe hits a great backbreaker, Sato has a Hondaish delayed German and I loved how Sato worked the whole match to set up that trapped arm abdominal stretch, including hitting trapped arm Russian leg sweeps. I don't know why all Japanese wrestling stopped being stuff like this and to find it we have to dig deep deep into the internet.

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New Footage Friday: ROCCO! CASAS! COTA! ATLANTIS! LIZMARK! LADIES!

Rose Roman vs. Ramona TaSelle Chicago 1950s 

MD: The downside here is that there's no sound. The upside is that for a women's singles match from this footage collection, it goes a bit longer than most of what we already had. The bonus is no Russ Davis who has good days and bad days, but almost always bad ones with the women. There's other footage of both Roman and TeSelle and they seem younger here. Maybe that's just on me as TeSelle seems to wrestle like it. She's less secure in her cheating, coming off as earnest in wanting to bend the rules but less competent. She has a hard time drawing the ref off to use the ropes. The audacity is good though. There's one moment where she gets to the ropes (she does that a lot) to force the ref to break a Roman arm puller only to audaciously try to get one of her own instead of breaking clean. There are a couple of nice little flourishes like a body drop in a toehold position or Roman's Leg Nelson but this was more of an A for Effort sort of match than anything else. Though we couldn't hear a pop, at least a few people were visibly happy for Roman sneaking out the win, so the crowd probably appreciated the effort too.

PAS: Nifty little match, that Roman Leg Nelson was violent looking stuff she war really smushing TaSelle's neck. You definitely get a sense that these ladies were way more skilled and technical then the Moolah trainees I grew up with, although this was more of a fine 10 minute match, then anything midblowing.


Mark Rocco vs. Mongolian Mauler CWA 4/12/90

MD: Here's our Segunda Caida Mark Rocco tribute match, against the Mongolian Mauler, because of course it is. I've seen a bunch of Rocco. I'm not sure I've seen much blue-eye Mark Rocco though and certainly not against a larger, more monstrous bad guy. This was his show, in front of his crowd, and he was going to play it exactly how he wanted. That meant he gave and gave dynamically but never for long. You can see that right from the get go when Mauler ambushed him with his flag only for Rocco to immediately come back and get the crowd going. It meant that Mauler was half on his back foot for most of the match and couldn't really wrestle how he should have, laying in and leaning in. The public warnings and round structure probably didn't help. In the last five or six minutes he had a little bit of opportunity to do so, maybe a minute of clubbering and bullying, but Rocco wouldn't stand for it for long. Some really clever stuff in here though. I love Rocco coming out of a round break by throwing the traditional British spitting water at Mauler's face (and then hitting him with a quasi-Pedigree) which drew him a public warning but is a tactic I don't think I've ever seen in UK wrestling. The finish was really creative as well, with Rocco first turning a second flag assault back on Mauler and then defacing it so that when the aghast Mauler bent over to pick it up, he was vulnerable to a sunset flip. Rocco probably took a bit too much of this, but at least he was entertaining (as always) about it.

ER: This is probably the first time I've seen Rocco against this kind of an opponent, a big fat guy not specifically versed in British style, just a low rent Killer Khan. Rocco against a low rent Killer Khan was a fun pairing on paper, and I liked it in execution too. This match should have been Rocco selling after taking a flag shot while Mauler cheats to stay ahead. That makes sense and would normally be the layout I would root for. We've all complained enough about Rocco as a proto-Angle guy who didn't bother with selling because that took away time from his "cool stuff". It's valid, but I also liked it here because I think it lead to a more active Mauler than we otherwise would have gotten. It's not like Mauler was going to fully work up to Rocco's speed, but I liked seeing Mauler take over off of a big Rocco miss, like his springboard kneedrop that always hits the mat hard. Rocco was smart about setting up things that worked so that they made sense when they missed later, and we got some nice move reflection from two very different bodies (like Rocco hitting his falling elbow, and a few minutes later getting crushed by Mauler's elbow off the middle buckle). Agree with Matt that the flag finish was far more creative that I was expecting. I was expecting a flag attack that ends in a DQ, instead Rocco baits Mauler into defending the flag and pins him!


Negro Casas/Mocho Cota vs. Atlantis/Lizmark 1990s?

MD: This was pretty much pure joy, from the first few moments of Atlantis using his cape to taunt Casas like he was a bullfighter, to the end with Cota fouling more blatantly than anyone has ever fouled, to all the kids rushing in for the post-match celebration. Casas and Cota could well be my two favorite rudos, guys who just understand stooging like no one else. And feeding. Man, did they ever feed here. They made Lizmark and Atlantis, who aren't slouches by any means, look like a million bucks as they ran into their offense again and again. There was a moment in the segunda where Casas got whacked in the chest and tried to convince the ref he got fouled because of it. Just amazing cheek. The comeback moment was beautiful too, stemming from Cota and Casas both hurting their heads on a double headbutt; that was followed by Casas running halfway around ringside to eat the biggest Atlantis quebradora ever and Lizmark yanking Cota up and down by his hair while sitting on the top turnbuckle. This one was very much for the kids but I can't imagine anyone seeing this and not being wildly entertained.

PAS: Tremendous find, no idea about the year or where this is, but it is two of all the all time great rudos colliding with two hall of fame level technicos in a straight up lucha libre match. Casas is the master of finding small ways to entertain, he is as worth watching in a house show match like this as his in a huge apuestas or title match. I loved him doing the pose off with Lizmark and he just flew into every bit of offense by both guys. That quebradora on the floor was massive, as was the little bits of Atlantis and Casas grappling. Nifty stuff and I can't wait to dig into this channel some more.

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New Footage Friday: LARRY CHENE!! FINLAY!! IIZUKA!! ZRNO!! SLINGER!! HOROWITZ!!

Rocky Columbo vs. Larry Chene Chicago 9/25/1953

MD: This was one of the most satisfying draws I've seen in a long time. Wrestled incredibly evenly, they made a show of it, one that stands up easily, if with real differences, to a lot of the 50s Catch we've seen seeing. They spent the first ten minutes really going at it before settling into holds that worked into spots for most of the rest of the match. They did a lot of hold-for-hold exchanges, though Chene, who wrestled this clean, was going to be the standout for the way that he continuously managed to bump himself, throwing himself into top rope on a miss, eating a bump off a dropkick while sitting on the top and then missing his attempt at receipt, bumping huge on both an electric chair position (out of a pumphandle) and on a headlock reversal, etc, ending up choked between the ropes, and so on. They kept it sportsmanlike and even, keeping things brisk and interesting so that when the bell finally rang, you found yourself surprisingly okay with the fact the match didn't have a winner.

PAS: I thought this was totally awesome. Larry Chene was nuts in this, taking crazy bump after crazy bump. He has this high back bump where he gets thrown in the air and lands directly on his spine, it is kind of a combo of a back body drop and a high back drop bump. There is also a great spot where Columbo lifts Chene and places him on the top rope, just to dropkick him off with Chene flying backwards and tweaking his knee. Chene tries to return the favor but Columbo jumps off the top and Chene ends up taking a Psicosis bump on the back of his head. Columbo was a solid grappler, and had a crazy TJP style rope fake, but this was mostly the Chene show. What a staggering talent he was.

ER: We've been watching a lot of French Catch this year, marveling at the speed and bumps and physical creativity, because none oF us had any idea that any of that even existed. And here we are, several years before our earliEst French footage, watching our own Chicago boys doing the exact same kind of wild hybrid wrestling that would have been impossible to predict. This is only the second Larry Chene match I have ever seen, and the first match I saw is our 1963 MOTY. Well, a decade prior and Chene is in our 1953 MOTY. Chene is a real marvel, and he and Columbo go at it so quick that the commentator reminds them a minute in that thematch has a 30 minute time limit. Slow down, boys! They do not. Chene has all these crazy spots that find him flying into the ropes the way most people don't fly into ropes, taking big chest first bumps into them like he was being hotshotted. He takes what has to be the absolute earliest recorded Psicosis corner bump, and also winds up missing a dropkick and hanging painfully by his leg over the top rope. Of course, later he hangs himself between the top and middle rope, another spot I never would have guessed happened in the early 50s. These two smack into each other in incredibly fun ways, really hard shoulderblocks that are sold with a nice amount of give, both guys running into each other and then recoiling from the impact. It was a refreshing take on tough guys who just absorb shoulderblocks and collisions, as a lot of these collisions felt like a car accident that sends both cars spinning apart from each other. The match goes to a draw and never loses that pace that the commentator warned them about 10 seconds in, and we're all left better for it.

Fit Finlay/Takayuki Iizuka vs. Mile Zrno/Prince Zefy CWA 9/13/91 - GREAT

MD: This was good stuff while it lasted but probably didn't rise to become better than the sum of its parts. A tag match that only half makes use of the implicit benefits of formula leaves opportunities on the table. Iizuka and Finlay were a great offensive team though. Completely believable that they could take over at any moment. All of Iizuka's stuff looked good and Finlay was a real presence in the corner. I've seen my share of Zrno but I tend to think of him as a cool, tough, technical machine. Here he shined as a more traditional babyface, and the crowd was very much behind him. Zefy's stuff didn't look as sharp but he bumped big (inducing on a ducked rana/dropkick attempt that set up the first fall) and took a solid beating. While they did a good job drawing the ref away so Finlay could cheat off and on through the match, they really just gave away the hot tag for no reason except for maybe heel hubris. Still, lots of good here.

PAS: All of this German Finlay that has shown up has been a real blessing. He and Iizuka are a fun bruiser tag team, with Finlay especially in his ass beating best. This is spunky babyface Zrno and much like highspot Blue Panther he can easily shift back and forth between technical master and guy with a nice dropkick getting fired up. Zefy was fun if a bit raw, and he was taking big bumps. I loved Finlay just chucking him balls first on the top rope with real menace, it got him DQ'd and it lost him the match, but it was a total fuck it moment, and a great one.

ER: It doesn't get more automatic Gem for me than a new Finlay match. At this point it might be a more worthy venture for us to find the Finlay matches that are not at all worth watching. That'll be a short list, but a weird fun project. All of the recently unearthed German Finlay is excellent, and I like how this match was all about Finlay hanging back and really only coming in when Iizuka got in over his head, and Finlay works great in those kind of quick starbursts. Iizuka has always been great at taking beatings but he clearly knows how to dish them, and I loved his interactions with Zrno. Zrno works like a stiff Euro Tommy Rogers, which is a great thing. He had hard uppercuts, a great headscissors, strong energy, and some fantastic (haha) mounted corner punches. Finlay was a great agitator from the apron, and every time he would storm into the ring you knew someone was about to get wasted. I love Finlay's Vader attack clothesline, the one where both of his feet are briefly off the ground as he slams his arm and chest into his opponent. The DQ finish was nasty, with Finlay slamming Zefy onto the top rope with an atomic drop, although it would have played much better if Zefy hadn't acted like nothing had happened to him seconds later. Finlay should have gotten back in the ring and done it until Zefy sold it properly or just burst his sac like he was Tommy Dreamer.

Richard Slinger vs. Barry Horowitz AJPW 1/9/93

MD: Fun Horowitz showcase. Early going had Horowitz outwrestling Slinger but Slinger outstriking him. The crowd turned on Horowitz after some elbows on the apron and a catapult onto the bottom rope and he played heel for the rest of the match. Horowitz was full of credible and varied offense (neckbreakers, neck whip, northern lights, just grinding Slinger's face across the mat in a headcissors). Slinger was naturally explosive and had an ok hope spot or too but probably needed at least one more, just as the finish probably needed one more time around: Slinger came back with a short spin kick reversal after Horowitz' huge pile driver (an attempt at which led to a hope spot earlier) but a bit of that comeback before the pile driver would have made everything feel more balanced. Still, solid prelim showing from guys who don't always get time like this.

PAS: Man for a guy who spent the vast majority of his career as a jobber, Horowitz will eat someone up if he has a chance. I remember an APW match where he just overwhelmed Donovan Morgan. He takes about 85% of this match, constantly cutting Slinger off every time he tries to get any momentum going. Horowitz has a lot of cool offense and was going to break out all of it. I really liked the headscissors where he dragged Slingers face across the mat, and his northern lights suplex look good. Slinger's final run with a pump kick and huge superfly splash was cool, but this would have been better if it hadn't been so one-sided

ER: Allow me to be the high vote on this one. That is coming from someone who was actually there LIVE for that Barry Horowitz/Donovan Morgan match that Phil mentioned. That match was so weird and unexpected, because it went 25 minutes and 20+ of those minutes were Horowitz controlling Morgan, who was an APW title holder at the time. That match was 25 and felt 40, lots of grounded headlocks and a crowd that was tiring, and Donovan got upset when someone yelled "just wrestle already". Obviously the guy meant "please just DO something" but once that got yelled the plan was clearly "let's rub this mat wrestling in their face". The match seemed to be attempting to rehab Horowitz's TV jobber rep, which is a weird thing to do against one of your top homegrown guys. This match had some elements of that, but didn't approach the weirdness that a 25 minute Horowitz/Slinger match would have.

This starts with Slinger really owning Horowitz, hitting a couple of slick takedowns with fancy control, and some of those hard kicks he throws. Slinger never gets talked about in the same breath as other kickers (Slinger doesn't really get talked about in general, which is a shame), but he has such great whipping kicks, always landing them hard. He hits a couple of great standing kicks and a big thudding kick to Horowitz's back here, also gets great height on his dropkick (which Horowitz kind of leans out of). The Horowitz control segment was way too long, but Horowitz had a lot of cool offense and it became fun seeing what he would break out next. I really liked his mat game, thought he had some super convincing grapevine cradles, and I will third the love for his headscissors that dragged Slinger's forehead across the mat. The most telling sign that Horowitz's control was going too long, is that by the end of it he wasn't hitting moves nearly as crisply as he was 8 minutes prior. You can see his perfect northern lights suplex earlier in the match, but down the stretch he kind of flubs two potentially big moments: there's a fireman's carry on the floor that is supposed to drop Slinger chest first onto the apron, but they both kind of just fall without hitting the apron; then, a piledriver that looks like it's going to be excellent, that sees Horowitz lean WAY too far back, making it look more like Slinger landing on Horowitz than getting his head driven into the mat. Slinger's big comeback was short but finished with a big damn exclamation point, as his superfly splash looked organ rupturing. The structure for this was a little perplexing, but Horowitz had such a deep bag of tricks that I kept getting into it the longer it went. Now lets find the handheld of Taue/Horowitz from a few months later.


ALL TIME MOTY LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FIT FINLAY

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New Footage Friday: PATTERSON! CHOSHU! THESZ! SILVERSTEIN!! CYCLONE!!

Lou Thesz vs. Cyclone Anaya Chicago 3/31/50

MD: I thought this was excellent. It may not have the same overt character as the Silverstein match because Thesz wrestled clean but they really went at it. A lot of it was just headlocks, but they worked and worked and worked them. Breaks were clean, but they were never easy, never given. When they worked out of the holds, the entire point was to work into the next one. That was the escalation as opposed to spots. Thesz was explosive, able to grab a double leg of nowhere, able to catch his opponent with a toehold take down off the ropes (and then to twist him into a cool figure four toehold that we never see now), and of course able to fly up with the Thesz Press which is as good a finish and probably did as much for him (especially in an environment where every match needed three finishes instead of one) as a Diamond Cutter did for Page. Anaya held his own here. I loved the end of the second fall where he goaded Thesz into back and forth mares in order to open him up for his deep cobra twist. The finish of the last fall was perfect, with Anaya going for the twist again and then hurting his leg as they both went over the top. The way Thesz targeted the leg again and again only to set him up for a dropkick was, like the end of the second fall, game of human chess stuff. Great showing all around.

PAS: This was really great, Anaya isn't a guy I had heard of before, but he made me a fan. Matt mentioned Thesz's explosiveness, which isn't something I really think of him for, but he felt like a Steiner Brother during parts of this match. He really tore into takedowns, and got huge ups on his Thesz press. I loved the psychology of the match with Anaya being outgunned by a master, but having the Cyclone twist as a killshot. He finishes the second fall with it and goes for it again right at the beginning of the third fall. It eventually backfires on him as he tries it too close to the ropes and gets bieled to the floor, with both guys taking a big bump and Anaya dinging up his leg. Thesz wasn't really working heel here, but he had a nasty streak to him, including absolutely obliterating Anaya with an upkick. I also thought there was a real fuck you aspect to the final single crab, like he was tired of this kid and was going to stretch him out and end it.


Lou Thesz vs. Ruffy Silverstein Chicago 3/17/50

MD: This had been up for a while when they did the big release back in 2014 but it was down until some copyright issues were cleared up. It's great to have it back. This is a really good look at Thesz as a travelling heel champion. It's not really how I picture him in my head. What's really interesting here is how the announcer doesn't really decry Thesz' tactics but instead insists that this is him taking Silverstein seriously. When the Chicago Film Archives dropped so many matches, it was hard to really organize and categorize them. That's, in part, why we're focused on chronologically going through the French footage two-three a week nice and steady. That, then, more than Chicago, is our point of comparison. I think this was just as competitive as a lot of the 50s French footage we've seen recently, though maybe not quite as complex or advanced. You had the sense that Thesz was making Silverstein work for every hold or advantage, through his positoning and how quick he was to grab on, let alone the cheapshots and the use of the ropes. I really, really love Thesz' elbow shot that he'd do in the midst of a break. The end of the first fall, that escalation into rope running and a dropkick out of nowhere, was right out of Jacky Corn's playbook (or possibly vice versa). When Silverstein had a moment, he used it well, with good looking shots and some quick moves into holds (like how he took advantage of an ugly missed dropkick to get a quick roll over to end the second fall), but he didn't have too many of those moments. Again, big credit to the announcer for making him seem all the stronger for the fact that Thesz had to cheat against him in the first place though. Silverstein did put on more pressure in the final fall but you never really got the sense Thesz was in trouble. While still very good, I think this might have been better if Silverstein took a bit more earlier and really made Thesz need to resort to those tactics. As it was, it was a situation where we were told instead of shown.

ER: Big fan of this nice long look at Thesz, and the way he can work as default heel against a respected local guy, showing dominance early without being blatantly cocky, and then revealing he still had a couple gears to shift into when he got frustrated. The announcer was smart about pointing out Thesz' less than sportsmanlike strikes, by acknowledging without hand wringing that there was nothing actually wrong with them, it's just not the type of thing that every one does. Thesz has this little back elbow he utilizes on a break that really feels like something that gets pulled in the NBA, bracing the back of his left elbow and weight against Silverstein and upon breaking, shoving his left palm with his right fist. So he's not hitting a sharp back elbow to the temple or anything, but it's more of an emphatic heavy shoulder shrug directly into the neck and jaw. They work a couple of exclamatory headscissors sequences and the best part was that Silverstein looked like a guy who wasn't quite sure how to get out of a Thesz headscissors. He tried to bridge out of the first one and I swear I thought he was going to get snapped in half; later when he tries to escape from another headscissors, Thesz basically twists his knees and sends Silverstein face first into the mat. Silverstein was competitive without ever fully seeming into it, but I liked how he won the 2nd fall by ducking under a Thesz dropkick, with Thesz sliding over Silverstein's back like Bo Duke sliding over the General Lee. Thesz is clearly not happy with dropping a fall, and after a minute or so into the 3rd fall he decides to put this thing to bed and just starts wrecking Ruffy with shots. I love Thesz's short glancing right elbows, and he just leans full weight into Ruffy from go and even the announcer throws up his hands with a "dumb voice" as if he's sick of sticking up for the technical legality of Thesz and his strikes. "Oh Thesz will break alright, he'll break your lower mandible." Thesz treated this 3rd fall like a big brother who was letting his little brother be competitive, but then the little bro accidentally busted big bro's lip, and you just can't do that.

PAS: I loved how this escalated, obviously Thesz was the bigger, badder star, but I thought Silverstein really had his moments. I loved how he rocked Thesz with big football tackles and cracked him with a forearm so hard Thesz had to take a standing 8. Thesz does this really cool selling where he almost takes a timeout, he can't stand, or has to lean into the ropes. He really feels rocked, like he might have gotten his bell rung legit. After Silverstein putting him on queer street a couple of times, I got why he got nasty in the third fall, and that third fall was a grimy little fist fight from both guys. Thesz has this technician reputation, but he could go gutter with the best of them. The legend was that there was some bad feelings between the two, and that is why this felt out of hand. It looked like hard hitting wrestling to me, but it could have easily been a quasi-shoot too.

Riki Choshu vs. Pat Patterson NJPW 10/26/79

ER: This was a match-up I'd never thought too much about, and yet now seeing it in front of me it suddenly seems really obvious just how similar these two are. Outside of their nationalities their looks and styles feel like mirror images: same build, same movement, same headlocks, same exact movement on kneedrops. Patterson takes a lot of this match, and I like the way he holds Choshu down. He really leans his weight over Choshu's body on a cool smothering chinlock, not resting but clearly weighing Choshu down. He kept beating Choshu to different attacks, cutting him off abruptly and not allowing him any space. I loved the different ways Patterson used knee strikes, with a nasty quick knee to the gut and a later short knee right between the eyes when Choshu was trying to get to his feet. I laughed at Patterson rolling to the floor for a breather the second Choshu was actually able to make space, a guy who needed to regroup the second things shifted the other way. Choshu landed super heavy on a big dropkick, and really looked like he deadlifted Patterson up for a great certical suplex. I loved how late Patterson moved on Choshu's kneedrop, really suckering him in before scooting a shoulder out of the way and then immediately going back to work. Choshu really brought a ton to the finish, some of the best "occupying time" work I've seen. Patterson goes up top and drops off with a knee, then immediately goes back up for another one. The second Patterson went up for another Choshu started struggling to get up, grabbing for the ropes to try and lift himself up, so that when Patterson nailed him with the second and final knee it met Choshu's chest a few feet off the ground. So many other wrestlers would have just stayed on the mat, waiting to take that second knee, but Choshu added a whole different layer to what they were doing, looking not just like a guy who was going to fight until he could no longer move, but using his time to sell struggle in a way that made the finishing knee mean more and look more devastating. If I was unfamiliar with Choshu and that was the lone thing he brought to the match (it wasn't), I would already want to see a ton more of him, because it's those kind of touches that show how deeply someone understands big match atmosphere and presentation.

MD: Pretty certain this one's never been in circulation in our usual circles (or if it has been, it's very rare). Ultimately, this is to set up a bigger match with Sakaguchi which has been out there. I'm not sure I've ever seen it though and I ought to because this sets it up really well. They really go at it here, with Patterson inclined to take every advantage imaginable. It almost feels like a schoolyard fight, but with Patterson channeling the rep Blassie used to have, just goozling and launching inside shots and lightning quick to grab the hair whenever Choshu gets even a hint of an advantage. And when Choshu really does? Well, that's when he hits the floor and stalls. He's just a great presence here, mean and nasty, while making it absolutely clear that he needs to cheat to get out of everything while Choshu manages to escape very similar moves with strength and skill and courage. For example, he'll reach around with a hair pull to escape a Scorpion Deathlock only to immediately put on a crab and have Choshu power out. That sort of thing. That means something and that matters. The big stuff in the match was really big too, with Choshu powering Patterson into a huge, offset airplane spin into a proto-AA, and Patterson hitting a brutal bombs away as Choshu was getting up after dropping him face first onto the exposed turnbuckle. Every new Patterson performance feels like buried treasure and this is no exception.

PAS: I had always though of Patterson as more of prototype big bumping heel, but he was a nasty fucker here, more Johnny Valentine then Dolph Ziggler. He really ground away at Choshu and when Choshu fired back it really meant something. Loved the finish (no surprise there with Patterson being a legendary finish guy) with Choshu trying for a sneak top rope kneedrop, only to miss and weaken a wheel for Patterson to work over, before hitting the two bombs away. Eric mentioned how great Choshu trying to get up after the first one, only to be driven into the mat with the second was, and man was it great. Made the whole finish look super violent and brutal, and made Choshu look like a tough motherfucker in the loss.

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1963 Match of the Year

Golden Moose Cholak vs. Larry Chene Chicago Wrestling 3/15/63

PAS: Cholak holds the Chicago version of the world title and is sort of an incubatory Vader, he is a giant dude just as comfortable cracking Chene with headbutts and clubbing forearms and he is taking big bumps to the floor and stooging. Cholak opens the match with some really fast leg takedowns which were awesome looking. Chene uses some tricks to get minor advantages, tying Cholak's boots together, leapfrogging the ref for a dropkick, but most of the match is Chene trying to survive Cholak's onslaught. Chene keeps coming forward face covered in blood and starts to turn the tide as Cholak begins to gas out. Finish has a real epic slugfest feel to it, Chene doesn't have great punches, Cholak's selling still made it feel like the last round of 15 round title fight.

ER: What a treat! Cholak is gigantic, looking like John Goodman in Barton Fink, and then blowing me away with these gorgeous super fast rolling single legs. His single leg takedowns would look awesome if Timothy Thatcher did them. Now picture John Goodman doing them. I'll wait. While you're picturing John Goodman doing awesome fast takedowns, Moose is punching Chene in the hamstring. Moose gets his laces tied together and takes a big stoogy bump off it, and Chene grabs a headlock and throws some great uppercuts. The announcer says that "Cholak steamed across the ring like a baby hippo" and you're in love. And then Moose hits a couple of standing splashes while in north south position, and yo've never seen that, and now Golden Moose Cholak is the only wrestler you ever want to watch. Chene works a nice headscissors and they build to a ridiculously awesome spot where Chene leapfrogs the ref to dropkick Moose. I thought Chene was going to give the ref a reverse frankensteiner or something. Chene gets busted open by Moose, Moose takes a nice backdrop, and Chene does a cool flying scissors takedown to win the segunda. Moose stops messing around in the third and absolutely brains Chene with a headbutt. "The Moose is mean tonight," says the announcer. The announcer puts over all the blood in Chene's eyes, saying he doesn't even know where to punch, he's just throwing at the large object heading his way. Chene somehow throws a shoe right at Moose's face, and what the hell is happening!? Chene is a real fighter and keeps throwing no matter how damaged he is, some missing, some landing, but always flying towards Cholak's head. Sadly we end in a time limit draw, but Cholak really made this feel like an epic war, with Chene playing his end admirably. This is a great 20 minutes.


ALL TIME MOTY LIST

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1950 Match of the Year

Buddy Rogers v. Lou Thesz Chicago 6/21/50


PAS: This is from Wrigley Field and was uploaded in glorious quality by the Chicago Film Archives. Really simple but effective matwork starts the match out, both guys really know how to make a headlock grind. Really picked up when they got on their feet. I love the way Rogers runs the ropes, he really looks completely out of control and makes a rope running exchange look like a highspot. Rogers is also an athletic bumper in the Hennig/Michaels vein and he takes a couple of violent spills out of the ring, and the finish of the third fall is a loony Foley ear loss hangman where he gets counted out. I also loved when he got nasty, throwing some sick uppercuts and a snap piledriver. Thesz was more subdued, clearly the grandfather of the Briscoes and Dory Funk Jr. I did love when he got chippy too; he caught Rogers with a huge kneelift which was probably the highlight of the match. I liked they did 3 falls in about 35 minutes, didn't drag, kept a nice pace and it felt like a big deal. Really great piece of history and a hell of a match.


ER: These Chicago Film Archives releases are really terrific, this beautiful vivid black and white video with amazing depth, and crystal clear audio, a real gift to wrestling fans and history in general. The announcer makes a bunch of comments alluding to Rogers being a fruit, scoffing at all of his glamour. And whatever, because Rogers' bejeweled singlet is a thing of beauty that I can only hope is in some sort of museum somewhere. Not even a wrestling museum, that thing needs to be in the Smithsonian. Rogers slips off that ornamental singlet and is ready for business, and Rogers is so killer here. He and Thesz grapple, with Rogers doing all these great hair flips to play Thesz's slaps to the back row, and things get great once Rogers starts bringing the cheapshots. And these aren't theatrical cheapshots, these are violent cheapshots. He throws all of these different uppercuts that look like they should be busting Thesz open under and over his eyes, throws sick short kneelifts (some of the best I've seen), eye gouges and short punches while halfway keeping up appearances of throwing legal palm strikes. I'm glad Phil mentioned the rope running because that was my favorite. Rope running is so controlled and silly, easily the main thing we all overlook while enjoying fake fighting. But this is clearly how rope running is intended to be used. Rogers would be flung recklessly into the ropes, crash into them unevenly, and then recoil the way you would if you were losing your footing and trying to not fall, like when I stepped on my own shoelaces while jogging and went flying forward bent at the waist through a crosswalk. Every time he would fly into the ropes he would fly back just as recklessly, sometimes barreling through Thesz with a shoulderblock, other times getting caught in a rough but skilled drop toe hold. Thesz responds to Rogers' antics in kind, never going for cheap shots but blatantly answering Rogers' cheapshots. Rogers throws uppercuts in a headlock? Thesz grabs a headlock and takes him down with it. Rogers throws several knees in a headlock? Thesz throws one giant knee. It made for a nice dichotomy between them; Thesz maintained dignity while Rogers cheated yet never looked outgunned. The finish is spectacular and I cannot imagine my reaction had I been there. Rogers flying high speed into the ropes and hanging himself looked like it should have popper his head off like a grape. The finish made me jump up watching it NOW; 65 years ago I imagine I would have instigated a riot or something.


ALL TIME MOTY MASTER LIST

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Wednesday Night Digging in the Crates- Verne Gagne v. Red Bastien

Verne Gagne v. Red Bastien early 1950s



PAS: Totally awesome match from the Chicago Film Archives haul. Bastien is the plucky youngster trying to test the grizzled veteran, with Verne being a great grumpy Fuchi/Negro Navarro punishing mat wrestler. Loved all of the little fast counters Bastien pulled out, and how Verne would get more and more irritated and increase the torque on his headlock or armlock. He busts Bastien's nose at one point with a takedown, and would rake it or forearm it, if the kid got a little feisty.  The finish was great as Gagne wastes him with a dropkick, and pins him with a cradle, that dropkick felt like an exclamation point.

ER: This stuff is cool in a similar yet totally different way as the French 50s stuff that popped up earlier this year. With that stuff we have no idea what exists and who any of those people were. This stuff is all people we've read about, and really only know about them from their written reputation. We've all seen many of these guys decades removed from their reputations' peak so it's incredibly satisfying to complete the visual puzzle with some of them. Bastien is a guy I had seen before from some ESPN Classics stuff, but he was older, more barrel chested and with a big bushy mustache. Here he's a slender guy getting made a man by Verne Gagne. Gagne looks almost exactly like late period Greg Gagne (which is funny since Verne was in his mid 20s here) but I've never seen Greg work this intensely. Verne goes right after Bastien and looks angry the whole time. I really dug all this, but probably my favorite part was the opening headscissors work by Verne. Bastien looked like he couldn't get out if he tried, and holy shit did it look like he was legitimately trying. This whole contest seemed to be Verne showing various ways that he could impose his will on Bastien. Holding cradles impossibly tight, locking holds in and not letting go. His expression the entire time makes it seem entirely probable that he was muttering under his breath the whole time "come on Red, get out of this one, come on." But those early headscissors were the nastiest. They also looked entirely plausible, which is a tough thing to pull off. But damn the first time Bastien tried to kip up from under it and looked like he almost hanged himself. Three of these damn headscissors and every time it looked like Verne could've popped Bastien's head off with his legs. And then most awesomely and unexpectedly, Bastien lures Verne over to the ropes and ducks when Verne goes for another, sending Verne sprawling over the top to the floor. Just an awesome sequence to start a killer little match.

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Monday Night Digging in the Crates- Thesz v. Rogers

Lou Thesz v. Buddy Rogers 6/21/50



This is from Wrigley Field and was uploaded in glorious quality by the Chicago Film Archives, I am pretty sure this was unavailable before this week, and it is a treat. Really simple but effective matwork starts the match out, both guys really no how to make a headlock grind. Really picked up when the got on their feet, I love the way Rogers runs the ropes, he really looks completely out of control and make as rope running exchange look like a highspot. Rogers is also an athletic bumper in the Hennig, Michaels vein and he takes a couple of violent spills out of the ring, and the finish of the third fall is a loony Foley ear loss hangman where he gets counted out. I also loved when he got nasty, throwing some sick uppercuts and a snap piledriver. Thesz was more subdued, clearly the grandfather of the Briscoes and Dory Funk Jr., I did love when he got chippy too, he caught Rogers with a huge kneelift which was probably the highlight of the match. I liked they did 3 falls in about 35 minutes, didn't drag, kept a nice pace and it felt like a big deal. Really great piece of history and a hell of match

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