Found Footage Friday: ECCW DANIELSON~! FIRESTORM~! HAVOC~! ABBADON~!

Bryan Danielson vs. Abbadon ECCW 11/16/01

MD: Decided to finish up the year with some 01 Danielson up north. These appearances feel like a big part of Danielson's development because he was allowed to do so much, to really stretch. He had angles and mic work before and after a bunch of these matches. He got to play the invading American heel, a champion, someone who felt like a big deal. It was more than just trying to have the best match possible. There's a lot going on here. This had time, a hot post-match, and the back half of this was all go. Personal preference had me liking the front half more but I'm surprised I don't remember this one breaking through and becoming more of a thing on the boards back in the day. Abbadon was a, shall we say, randy madman type character, a wrestling savant wild man who was made for his time. In 1986, you ate the turnbuckle. In 2001, you humped it. So it goes. Obviously, he had some fairly weird rolls and move set-ups but a lot of his fundamental work looked pretty good. In fact, my bigger problem was probably that he lost some of the outlandishness in the back half when it was all about getting set up for the next big move/spot.

Danielson wrestled this in the match, wrestled it mouthy, was quick to insult the crowd, insult Abbadon, shout for the USA, proclaim that he was the sexiest wrestler alive, and so on and so forth. In the first half, he kept a slight advantage with tricky shots out of nowhere (a cheapshot kick out of the corner, a leg sweep, etc.) and submissions. Eventually he started jawing with the ref that let Abbadon come back an they never really looked back. Just a lot of "stuff". At times, when Danielson was taking it, he might show the impact or beg off, but more often than not, they were just going all out, until Danielson finally snuck in a mousetrap pin for the win. The greater whole of the two halves more or less had it all come together though, especially when you factor in the post-match where Danielson feigned sportsmanship only to have his goons come out to try to break Abbadon's leg. I could have seen this ending up on some 2001 lists at the time.

Bryan Danielson vs. Adam Firestorm ECCW 12/12/01

MD: Pre-match, Chance Beckett, the Jr. Heavyweight Champ who is down with a concussion comes out to begrudgingly lay down for Danielson, his promoted opponent. Danielson makes a big show out of it and then, after getting the pin, here in 01, runs around the ring doing the arm pumping yes chant. This is, I would like to add, before Diego Sanchez ever had his first pro MMA fight. So at least subconsciously, this was in Danielson's head as a natural movement.

Firestorm comes out to challenge after that. Danielson was leaning hard into the Jr. Heavyweight mentality, to the point of saying he didn't care about the heavyweight title (which Dr. Luther had). It meant pretty even tricked out chain wrestling (with Firestorm getting just a bit of an advantage) until Adam went crashing into the post shoulder first. That let Danielson start in on the shoulder. I don't know if WWE drilled this out of him because it doesn't work as well on TV relative to small crowds, but I do enjoy how vocal Danielson is in his matches in the first half of his career. He was having it out with the ref and the crowd, trying to start USA chants, doing the Fargo strut. Some of his offense here was pretty interesting too. He hit a hammerlocked belly to back that you don't see much, had a great cut off on the top where he jumped to the floor crossing Firestorm's arm over the top, and even hit a top rope Northern Lights later on.

Firestorm was game and was definitely working on his act mechanically but he wasn't there yet when it came to priming moments or selling consequence. He just dropped that shoulder selling when it was convenient and he only took a breathe and played to the crowd when it was to set up getting cut off by Danielson. They had a neat bit where Firestorm locked in the Cattle Mutilation first before Danielson could and like I said, it was a mechanically exciting juniors match for 2001, but Firestorm just wasn't the guy in this stage of his career to make it more resonant. Lots of moving parts with ECCW as Firestorm lost on a trip and then Danielson, bragging post-match, had his next challenger run in. Still, past the historical value of a 2001 Yes Chant, it's just a lot of fun to see this version of Danielson's personal development.

Bryan Danielson vs. Havoc ECCW 06/29/02

MD: I found this drier than the Firestorm match. It might have been that Danielson, more experienced and more confident, didn't feel the need to lean on more goofiness. He was still talking, still interacting with the crowd. They got on him because he was from Aberdeen early, which was pretty funny heckling. At times, this almost felt like him noodling with various submissions for the heck of it, just experimenting with the time he had. There was a nice entry into a seated surfboard, and he had a cool variation on the Mutalock where he had the arms double underhooked like in the Cattle Mutilation. He even did a handspring into the corner. Nominally, he was working the leg, but you wouldn't really know it from Havoc's selling. The only big thing came from it was the final transition to comeback as Havoc blocked/jammed a dragon screw which opened things up for him to hit a dive. Some of Havoc's knees (and that seemed to be his thing overall) felt a little wonky and he couldn't get the corner post figure-four to work right, but overall this was a perfectly sound technical affair. It was just maybe a bit more of a technical match to get Havoc over than another example of young Danielson sowing his wild oats and it suffered relatively for it.

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Found Footage Friday: SANTO~! KATO KUNG LEE~! VORDELL~! WAYNE~! THE MOST HUBRIS-LADEN MATCH OF 2002~!

El Hijo Del Santo vs. Kato Kung Lee 11/28/86

MD: This was from Santo's patreon and you can get it there. We've been spending so much time lately with our Panamanian friend Kato Kung Lee as a tecnico in Panama that it was a bit strange to see him as a rudo here but rudo he was. He was touted for his martial arts skill of course but it was telling early that he was only able to get an advantage by powering Santito into the corner. It was only after he took over that way that he leaned into the mean looking shots. If Santo's the best ever at anything, it's his rolling, convulsing selling or his selling on the outside with his head on the apron slumped over and his absolute explosiveness in key moments including comebacks. Both were on display here. KKL took the primera with this great kneeling cradle bodyslam that was almost like a falcon arrow in its own way, followed up by a full body stretch. We don't see how Santo comes back in the segunda due to a brief bit of clipping but do see his great dropkicks and even KKL cutting him off so that it becomes a banana peel roll up.

The tercera is where the blood comes in, with Kato Kung Lee taking back over after the seconds got involved during a cavernaria by Santo. We miss a little bit of that final beatdown but we get to see the come back, the dive, the senton off the top and the finish, with the crowd up for all of this. The best thing I can say about this is that it holds up against other Santo mask matches, with the blood coming a bit later than expected but maybe all the more dramatic for it. The best thing a Santo opponent can do in a match like this is make him seem like he's really at risk, and I think KKL managed that here due to his size and perceived skill.

Damon Scythe vs. Robby Lance ECCW 6/29/02

MD: The sheer hubris of these two, huh? I mean, you want to judge a match accurately, like you would any other match. Consistency is important in this sort of thing. I want to point out that they never, ever had the crowd. A little, just a little for some of Lance's comebacks. But he kind of blew that with some cocky covers and a few too many underhooks and overhooks and cradles and straightjackets and whatever, when he probably should have been portraying more desperation when he had an opportunity while behind. There was some sense of escalation as the match went on and bombs mattered more (until they didn't down the stretch) but they also started the match off with a German and a Tiger Suplex and there wasn't really a sense on why some submissions were more effective than others. I know they had matches leading up to this, but I have no idea if it was in front of the same or a similar crowd, but this crowd in particular wasn't at all ready for what they were offering them. They weren't conditioned. They weren't understanding. Plus it was 2002, probably the single worst moment in indy wrestling history for hecklers wanting to put themselves over with references or demands. They led things off by being called Marky Mark and ended it with fake countdowns to when the match should end.

So I had to get all of that out there. At some point around the 25 minute mark, the shopping plaza should have been struck down by lightning for what they were trying to accomplish, but it was still fun to see twenty years later. Everything was hard hitting. Everything was tricked out. Everything was overly elaborate in the best pro wrestling bullshit manner. Because they agreed to the same level of twisted reality and because they were selling and countering and putting effort into all of it, you just toss your hands in the air and sort of buy all of the excess. I mean, the crowd didn't, but I am older and wiser and not trying to get myself over (even while posting on a pro wrestling blog in 2023). Lance's second fall was off of some submission so wonky that he lost it and just jammed in a nasty hammerlock, which, on the one hand, good instincts, right? But on the other? That was an exception though. Most things worked surprisingly well, if you just tried to shut out the noise and the images. If they were in the back of a shopping plaza with chains instead of ropes in Japan, this might be an all time classic? Probably not though. There's some alternate universe where these two start Catch Point ten years early. In this universe this match and these two wrestlers end up forgotten until now.

Vordell Walker vs. Damien Wayne SAW 6/14/13

MD: This was in a cage, for Wayne's NWA National title, and DVDVR darling Walker's last shot at the title. The cage was used pretty effectively here as a way to justify blood, as a way to steady top rope moves, and just to make everything seem bigger. Wayne had a way of selling everything like he was in a giant arena and watching that through the grates of the cage probably helped it relative to the overall setting. The fact that Walker's shots (chops, headbutts, missile dropkick, you name it) all looked massive didn't hurt.

Some weird structural decisions midway through unfortunately, with Wayne getting passed an object when he was more or less in control (having just hit a top rope elbow drop). You'd want that to happen after Walker hit something big maybe? The object was gone after that and it didn't have a huge impact overall in the match. They were going back and forth for most of this, which was fine, but that probably should have been done at a different point and maybe to open up a more prolonged bit of heat. Maybe my favorite use of the cage was Wayne using it to steady himself when Walker was in the tree of woe; they set up maybe the only good sitting up out of the corner spot I've ever seen with Wayne, steadied, stomping Walker's gut to make him sit up so he could hit a legdrop. When he tried it the second time, he ate a hanging suplex, which more or less set up the finishing stretch. These two just paired up extremely well with one another and while the finish could maybe use just a little more oomph and I had that one narrative quibble, it was a solid cage match all around.

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Found Footage Friday: TIGER MASK~! DYNAMITE~! HOSHINO~! GAETANO~! DANIELSON~! SWIFT~! SAMOANS~! SANTANA~! PUTSKI~!

MD: Brief programming note here at Segunda Caida. Expect some disruptions over the next few weeks as we have some vacations and big life events coming up. As noted a few weeks ago we've done NFF/FFF every single week straight for five years. I can see that lapsing in the near future and we may miss a week here or there. Likewise with Panama. We have an awesome match for everyone next, something so good that it might be one of the top lucha trios of the 80s period. We'll get there soon. Plus there's another project coming later in the summer that I think people will enjoy, very on brand. So stick with us. Thanks for reading.

Tito Santana/Ivan Putski vs. Wild Samoans WWF 4/12/80

MD: If this actually had a finish, it'd be a pretty solid find. There are certain formulas in wrestling that always, always work. One of the best is a tag match where a guy gets taken out mid match and then comes charging back, taped up and bloody. That happened with Putski here and, like always, it was awesome, right until it wasn't when the ref called for an instant DQ. Then it was just sort of ok. The match up to that was fun though. Putski and Tito were the champs. I don't think Tito was quite there yet. He had fire but his stuff didn't fully back it up. He was well on his way though. Putski is probably a guy we have to dig deeper on given what we've seen lately. Under a certain definition of pro wrestling, he was lacking, but if you ask me, it's that definition that's lacking, not him. 

This is an aside, but I was talking to someone the other day who didn't think Buddy Rose's matwork was up to par with Fujinami's. He was comparing the two of them because they both end the 70s and start the 80s against a wide and varied range of opponents. Point being, there's matwork which is all about tight holds and complex reversals and then there's matwork that's about being active in a hold, making engaging facial expressions, using your body language to rouse the crowd, and creating an emotional effect. Probably the absolute best would be when both things happen at once, but if you got too far in either direction, you can create some unique magic despite it all, and that's exactly what Putski was able to do here just with a seated arm puller. 

This had a fun structure too, with the Samoans ambushing early and both teams playing the numbers game back and forth until they finally got some heat on Tito and Putski got a hot tag and the Hammer. It got broken up and he got opened up but it was a pretty complete match before they went into the high two-on-one struggle setting up Putski's return. It was a big moment when Tito helped Putski to the back and then rushed back into the ring to fight off both Samoans himself and a bigger one when Putski stormed back. It's just a shame they couldn't give this thing a real finish in front of a crowd in Landover, Maryland. What's the harm?

Tiger Mask/Kantaro Hoshino vs. Dynamite Kid/Bobby Gaetano NJPW 4/1/83

MD: This was on the road to the last Dynamite vs. Tiger Mask match. Gaetano is not someone we've written a lot about but he's a lot of fun to watch. Very unique in how he moves, how he comes at offense, how he balances technique and style. You know what you'll get with Tiger Mask and Dynamite, but it was the other pairings I found most interesting. There was a level of abrupt violence with Hoshino and Dynamite and that mix of over the top movement and grounded hanging on to a limb when Tiger Mask and Gaetano were in there. The match did feel somewhat like it was building to a clash between Dynamite and Tiger Mask, with both having a chance mid-match to dominate their rival's partner. It opened up to heat when Dynamite came in to save Gaetano in the midst of that and then built to an eventual recovery comeback from Hoshino two tags later. Maybe my favorite bit in all of this was when Tiger Mask got a tag mid-heat and Gaetano wanted out quickly and Dynamite wanted nothing to do with it. Those little moments of character go a long way in a match that leans towards being all action.

Bryan Danielson vs. Dave Swift (Cage Match) ECCW 9/29/01

MD: As cage matches go, this was a match that happened to be in a cage. Past a couple of nods to the escape possibility (pinfalls counted too) over the last couple of minutes, it didn't come into play at all. It came into play less than it did in Luger vs. Windham from the 91 Bash, and that's saying something. That sort of follows Danielson's attitude here, so it's ok. The match itself was okay. Swift had a ton of 01 indy power offense and it all looked ok and Danielson took it well. Danielson's kicks weren't quite what they would be and his top rope elbow drop was dubious but the forearm/elbow he won with looked like a million bucks. The best stuff, however, was Danielson's histrionics, whether it was an eyepoke or hanging on to the ropes as Swift was trying to drag him off or doing the Rick Rude swivel before dropping back onto the leg, he was certainly flexing his heel mannerisms. The promo before the match when he tried to discuss why they shouldn't be having a cage match set the tone. It's unfortunate watching this back twenty two years later that the tone was a back and forth sprint instead of the two of them grinding their heads into a cage, but for a match that just happened to occur within a cage, this was still pretty good.

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New Footage Friday: BRYAN DANIELSON PUPU PLATTER

Bryan Danielson vs. Babi Slymm AWS 1/8/05

ER: It's tough when you get a 20 minute match that ends with a mistaken identity DQ, but outside of the finish this was an impressively constructed match. This was during the era where Danielson's confidence was territorial Flair levels, the guy who prided himself on being able to work a 20+ minute match with any guy in any town. Danielson was always up for a challenge and you could tell that these kind of challenges were his favorite. Babi Slymm was a footnote in 2000s SoCal indy wrestling, a guy who people assumed would make it farther than others based on size alone, but that never really happened. He wasn't a guy typically working 20 minute main event singles matches, and I think that context is important when watching this match. Did it need to be 20 minutes? No, probably not, but I like seeing Danielson stretch things out and work with no filter, taking guys to new places and forcing opponents to extend themselves as well. It's the same kind of mindset Chris Hero picked up on and ran with that torch. Danielson knows how to work through a feeling out process and is good at shifting things from underdog to big dog and back. He's evasive and can land harder kicks from a distance, but is always susceptible to getting mowed down by the much larger Slymm. Danielson makes nice work of Slymm's limitations, and Slymm doesn't skimp when throwing overhand rights or a big clothesline, and took a major bump on a cool superplex. The match peaked any time the two of them went out to the floor, including a fantastic spot where Slymm gave Danielson a giant swing through a dozen chairs before letting him fly into half a dozen more. But Danielson returned that favor in cool ways, plastering Slymm with a dropkick into those chairs and hitting a huge late match tope (though I really wish we could have seen the landing). This match was truly about the kind of reliability Danielson brought to indy cards of any size, especially Saturday afternoons at collector's flea markets.

MD: Lots to like here. Dragon is a cerebral enough wrestler that the thought experiment of how he was going to deal with Slymm early on gave him plenty to milk (generally by keeping things light and friendly and fun so Slymm wasn't going to unleash his full strength). Slymm's act was solid and unique but he seemed in the middle of a transition of dumping the manager and going full face. In general he had this easy confidence in his body language as he leaned against the ring or the ropes after hitting a move, something that was really backed up by his size and the fact he's the champ. It's cocky but also hard to dislike him too much. The real cementing of the heat with the giant swing into the chairs and then the big comeback with the Dragon airplane spin were both very impressive and the sort of stuff that'll stick with you. Ultimately, Dragon was heavily protected (maybe too much so as the smaller visiting challenger facing the local champ) with Vanderpile's interference causing a lot of Slymm's advantages and the finish was all sorts of bs but I do think they made the most of this in general.

PAS: I have to love a guy working a full Blood gimmick in LA indies. How did they never put Human Tornado in dark blue and run a feud? Fun structure with Danielson sticking and moving and trying to stay out of the reach of the heavy hitter. If you are going to work that match, your heavy hitter had better hit hard, and Slymm delivered. His big right hand in the corner looked like a KO shot and he hit some big clotheslines. The finish was over booked nonsense, and I would have rather seen this without a manager (or at least have DJ Quik manage Slymm), but otherwise this was what I wanted from this matchup.


Bryan Danielson vs. Aaron Idol ECCW 5/4/07

PAS: This was Danielson as touring attraction, coming into town and putting the local guy on his level. Idol was a pretty mid 00s indy wrestler, Kawada chops, elbow smashes, the whole deal. Danielson knows how to work a compelling match around that guy though and Idol kept up, he had a nice looking tope which Dragon took into the third row. My favorite part of the match was Dragon's knee drops, when he took control he would drop the point of the knee right on Idol's temple, simple and totally vicious looking. I really liked the ending with Idol going for a guillotine choke and Danielson countering it into a small package for the pin, it wasn't a counter I have seen before and was a really cool one, Bryan should break it out for the inevitable Riddle match.

ER: I thought this was mostly really good, and thought Idol mostly came off more interesting than your typical mid 2000s indy guy. I would have thought this was pretty great if it didn't have that weird section in the third act, where Idol suddenly threw out all of his favorite Kobashi offense all in a row. Once he was doing Kobashi corner chops and bad spinning neck chops it really felt like he completely lost the thread of the match, tossing the thread out in favor of hitting cool spots he saw on a tape. Danielson wasn't out there doing a Lady in the Lake spot 15 minutes in, and that part of the match felt like it was edited in from an entirely different match. But the rest of this was strong. The early matwork could have come off very performative in lesser hands, but Danielson always legitimizes those kind of exchanges, like in the way they showed arm strain and struggle during the bridging sequence. All of the standing exchanges were tight, and I loved the quickness that Idol used on his tope. A perfectly timed tope is a special thing, and both guys were on it here: Danielson flew to the floor and was really good at briefly occupying himself while Idol missed no beats in flying into him, sending both of them into the front row and the front row into the second tow. The ECCW ring looked like one of those concrete lucha rings, no give whatsoever when Danielson missed his flying headbutt, and that superplex had to feel like falling out of a second story window. I liked how Idol played Danielson's game and began to pull away when he did his own thing, really liked how he snapped off a quick rana when Danielson sped toward him off the ropes. The Kobashi tribute was silly and Idol lost a bit of steam when he showed how not great of a striker he was, but the rest of this played great, and Danielson never let it drift too far off the road (like when he put a quick stop to the chops by just grabbing at Idol's nose). I thought it came off like Danielson vs. a lesser Slim J, and since we've never seen Danielson vs. Slim J that's a pairing I was way into.

MD: I really liked this. Dragon was full on heel here and totally into the role. It was a Dragon that we've seen before, plenty even, but that I haven't revisited for a while so it felt fresh. There was no joking or goofing. He was sharp and mean throughout while still being incredibly giving. For instance, in the opening matwork, he'd win most of the exchanges with everything taken and nothing given, but then fall behind every time they moved into something with more motion, including eating the early tope from Idol. When he took over finally, it was with a cheapshot and most of his cut-offs were cheap as well. He didn't have to do that. His offense on top was mean and nasty, stretching and throwing Idol about. Even though Dragon made sure Idol looked good early on, Idol didn't really have to utilize any of his big offense until the stretch. That probably made me a little more forgiving of how some of it was a little less than credible. Towards the end, they laid down some great parallel spots. For instance, Dragon hit a power move and finally locked in the cattle mutilation out of a pin; he was able to cinch it but at the cost of having poor positioning. They, after a rotation or two, then did the same sort of spot with Idol's guillotine choke. It didn't quite work as well, but the thought was appreciated. It might have been standard Dragon fare, but that's the sort of new footage that we'll jump at happily.

Bryan Danielson vs. Nelson Creed ECCW 6/16/07

PAS: I really liked this. Creed had a bunch of fun power plant offense, and this match came off like Danielson working Above Average Mike Sanders. Dragon took much more of a back seat in this one, it was a very Lawlerish performance, with Danielson taking a beating, firing up with big strikes and putting his opponent down. Creed had a bunch of fun spots, some good springboards, a nice rolling set of back suplexes where he kept contact with the arm, and a great top rope reverse atomic drop which looked like it drove Dragons nuts into his throat. Even though there was a lot of arm work, it was more Danielson selling accumulated punishment then really selling a limb, although I didn't have a big problem with that. I am not sure Creed could have a match this good with a lesser guy, but on this day he was an ace.

ER: I liked this a lot too, and didn't see any evidence that Creed would struggle against a lesser opponent than Danielson. This wasn't Danielson leading Creed through complicated sequences, this was Danielson taking a bit of a backseat to showcase what Creed could bring in a match he wasn't winning. This was 20 minutes and Creed controlled probably 75% of it, and he showed off a pretty deep bag of tricks. The best part of his extensive moveset is that it all felt like it came from the same wrestler, never veering into "This guy played VPW2 or Fire Pro and cherry picked his favorite moves" but instead delivered everything with the same direction. I liked how Danielson started going after his arm and Creed's offense made it seem like if that was what Danielson wanted then he was going to show Danielson how to take apart somebody's arm. I always like limb offense when the ropes are involved and Creed was smart about finding cool new ways to attack Danielson's left arm around those ropes. Creed somehow managed to have a lot of offense without really coming off like a moves guy, and I think that's because of how well his offense played into the actual match they were having. He had a few different suplexes that incorporated Danielson's arm without being showy about it, with my favorite being a northern lights that he quickly rolled into a nasty Fujiwara. The finish didn't really work for me, needed another step thrown in before, as it felt like Danielson had taken too much punishment to just be able to come back with some good enough slaps and lock on a chickenwing. The comeback after the avalanche atomic drop felt way too quick, feels like a move that should really be protected just because of the difficultly level, but at the same time I'm glad it got used. I would have liked one extra beat with the finish, some big mistake that Creed made to allow Danielson a wide opening to the finish, and instead it felt more like Danielson saw the time and went home. Overall, I liked what was presented.

MD: I liked the first half of this more than the second half. In general, Creed held up his side of things. He had some really good corner clotheslines, kept it all interesting and varied during his control of the arm in the middle, and had a good mix of moves and peppering attitude towards the end, which set up Dragon taking things over the top with the slaps for the finish. The inverted atomic drop off the top was ridiculous in a good way, if only because the announcers noted any move off the top could end it and then they did the one move that probably wouldn't, and I liked how he had the ref hold Dragon's hand during the initial handshake which is a clever little flourish I'm not sure I've ever seen before. There were a few awkward entrances into holds or exchange by him, but nothing you couldn't sweep under the rug given the setting. I was more into the limbwork and its selling than Phil, for good and bad. I thought the his selling of the previously injured shoulder was excellent during Creed's control, especially on his comebacks and how it led to the cutoffs, but it did disappear during the comeback. That wouldn't be a big deal if they didn't go back around again to some more shoulder work later, but they did. It was especially dubious during the first chickenwing. Maybe with that in mind, I thought the finishing stretch was a little disjointed and despite the fact it was warranted, I thought Dragon's hulk-up was a little goofy, especially relative to how well he'd emote a few years later doing the same sort of thing. That said, I really did enjoy half of this and though the rest was absolutely fine.

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