Found Footage Friday: 1980 HANOVER~!

9/17/80 Hanover

Chris Colt vs. Axel Dieter

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

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

Steve Wright vs. Sal Bellomo

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

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

Caswell Martin vs. Le Grand Vladimir

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

UFO vs. Tom Shaft

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

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

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

9/20/80

Kim Duk vs. Louis Laurance (JIP)

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

Steve Wright vs. Takashi Ishikawa

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

Chris Colt vs. Caswell Martin

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

 

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Found Footage Friday: PRE-KAMALA~! WRIGHT~! ONITA~! WISKOWSKI~! MOROWSKI~! UFO~!

9/13/80 Hanover, Germany

Big Jim Harris vs. Bob DellaSerra (UFO)

MD: Now and again someone will wax poetic about how wrestling today is better than it ever was and we have so many four+ star matches on TV every week and whatever else and what people seem to miss in that is what we've lost. A match like this is what we lost and no amount of choreographed counters and athletic spots and constant fast pace will ever get it back. The social contract between the crowd and wrestlers changed. It's not about people thinking it's real or kayfabe. It's about the way the crowd reacted.

I'm not saying it can never come back but it's going to be hard especially with the incentives all broken.
For instance, if you watch FTR vs Nigel/Garcia from Double Or Nothing, the fans don't pop for each of Nigel's comeback shots out of the corner. They may react overall, but they're not living and breathing with each move done on either side. They may react to momentum shifts, but generally they're only going to react to big spots and more often than not, the way they react is that they're just glad to be there, just glad to see a spot. They don't have a horse in the race anymore, except for that the race is as exciting as possible. 

It's amazing how over Della Serra is here. Just constant UFO chants. A real connection with the crowd that he then makes the most of. This was on the card but not on the tape label so it's a bit of a bonus match and I'm glad we have another look at Harris. I watch the way he moves here, his swagger, his confidence, and I think he could have had a run with Dusty as this character in the mid 80s. You say that there was Bad News Brown or Leroy Brown or a few others that fill that gap but I just think between his size and how he moved and how he carried himself, he could have done it without Kamala. I'm just not sure he would have been an always in demand top guy for those years like he was. 

This went the full draw, over twenty minutes, and it was pretty good the whole way through. They had Harris lean on UFO building to big, hot moments of comeback. Everything was pretty simple and straightforward but they kept it moving and everything Harris did was credible and when he missed a charge or a splash and UFO was able to fire up, he sold big enough to make it all seem believable and meaningful. And when UFO finally slammed him, the fans went nuts, even if it didn't lead to a finish. I'm kind of amazed that they filled the time as well as they did but it was just a case of the right guys doing the right stuff in front of the right crowd.

ER: I love what Matt had to say about losing wrestling like this. This is wrestling at its barest essentials presented to the exact people who wanted those essentials. Big Jim Harris was two years away from Kamala and maybe 50 matches into his whole career and working a crowd like this must have been a breakthrough for him. Yeah, just put me up against a beloved babyface and I will be a tall black guy who throws downward strikes all match and it will get nuclear reactions. It's just that easy. Was it that easy? It couldn't have been that easy. This wasn't about the fans having lowered expectations, it was about the fans believing in UFO and rooting him on against this large tri-hawked presence. The men in the ring also knew how to best make use of the rounds system. They were good at saving something big for the bell in every round, like a serial where something was just about to happen but you'll have to tune in after this musical interlude. 

The first round ends with Harris breaking a front face lock agreeably at the bell but then whipping down hard with a strike not unlike his Kamala/Baba chops a decade later, except this one looked like Finlay smacking someone in the back of the head. Kamala learned to lighten up on the chops but Big Jim Harris was still throwing those long arms full strength. He lands one big downward strike after breaking so genially, then walks away with his hands up like he did everything that was asked. He understood the assignment. Harris cannot run the ropes yet but when he tries he looks like any guy his size would look attempting to run the ropes. He barrels into UFO like a large man completely out of control and UFO falls back rigidly, as if the contact of the shoulderblock/full body block knocked him out before he hit the mat. 

We get a round that ends with UFO actually hoisting Harris up onto his back and Harris using physics to fall back into a crucifix just as the bells sounds. This was the best round ending and while nothing in this match was clean or any kind of revolutionary offense, when have you ever seen Kamala rolling up ANYBODY with a crucifix? This is something I have never even pictured, or thought possible. What man could even attempt to get Kamala up on their back like that? Who would want to? What situation would Big Him Harris ever find himself in where he was lifted up on another man's back. No fireman would be able to carry him out of a burning building, only UFO. UFO hitting an ugly bodyslam on Harris felt like such a big moment, even if it only got a one count, because every single shot that landed on the big man was treated by everyone in that room as the greatest thing that could be happening. This was 20 minutes of build to one messy bodyslam, which will sound like the absolute worst shit to people who I have no interest in watching wrestling with, but they weren't there. It wasn't for them, and it didn't have to be. It's a testament to a babyface a specific crowd wants to live for...and also probably the threat of a large black man. 

Sal Bellomo vs. Moose Morowski

MD: Long match but a pretty good one. Bellomo had a special connection with the crowd too but I'm not sure if it had as much to underpin it as UFO. I get why it made a lot of sense to try to push him as an Italian American star in the WWF in the early 80s but I also get why maybe it didn't work. Plenty of energy and pluck. But at this point some of his timing was just a little suspect now and again. Morowski is infinitely credible. Able to just smash someone into the corner or toss them from the ring or hit a cheapshot from his knees as at a moment's notice. When he leaned on someone, he really leaned on him but then he could backpedal and take as good as he could give.

He took more of this than Bellomo and a number of times when Bellomo came back it was either due to a round break (catching Morowski as he charged in) or due to the ref intervening. At one point he goes so far as to swipe with someone in the crowd (maybe another wrestler/official but it's hard to tell from the footage). It's pretty constantly entertaining because the fans go up for all of Bellomo's comebacks and the cutoffs are mean and believable even if I'm not sure I need quite so many rounds of it. Finish has Bellomo knock Morowski off the top to the floor with a big bump but then get posted as he goes after him and made short work of once he makes it back to the ring.

Steve Wright vs. Klaus Kauroff

MD: Every new Wright match is a blast. You look forward to every exchange because you have no idea what he'll do next. The downside generally is that he does tend to eat up his opponents. With Karoff, however, that wasn't going to happen. This was more like a three act play than you usually get in these German matches. 

Wright clowned him early including some ridiculously elaborate sequences where he bounded and cartwheeled and twisted and turned and then turtled up. Karoff leaned hard on him in the middle with lots of big shots and cutoffs whenever Wright tried to fire back. And then Wright fought his way back into the ring headfirst and really pressed Karoff until he tried that head first lunge one too many times and ended up clotheslining himself on the rope. Karoff followed with this great over the shoulder backbreaker where he pressed Wright's neck up onto the top rope from underneath. Only problem is that it was very illegal and he got DQed for it. Overall, though, it was a fun, complete match.

Takashi (Sumo) Ishikawa/Atsushi Onita vs. Kim Duk/Ed Wiskowski

MD: Pretty surreal match and a great early look at Onita. It's not our earliest match of his but it's pretty close. Wiskowki and Duk are a tall, tall team. Duk really towers over Onita and trolls him early with a test of strength tease. By 82 you can definitely see signs of Onita in Onita but I was wondering if they would show up here and they did, not just in a perfectly milked hot tag but also in the way he'd get knocked to the apron and hang off by his feet. Just hamming it up in a way that had visual impact.

Ishikawa knew how to get over with this crowd too. A lot of sumo charges that were almost more football tackles, one of which missed and had him sailing out of the ring. The Japanese team would get beaten down (Onita especially) and make big comebacks and Duk and Wiskowski would bump and stooge until they could take over again. Wiskowki willingly got carded by jumping off the top so that he could win the first  fall. That's always a clever bit. In the second, they were firing back on Duk until Onita got caught in a tombstone. Pretty good match overall and as noted, a great look at young Onita in an interesting setting.

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Found Footage Friday: Hanover 1981

Hanover 1981

MD: Another Richard Land (@maskedwrestlers on twitter) find. He has a ton of these from a recent haul that he'll slowly go through. We've already seen the next and it's full of great stuff. If you are, however, let's say the biggest Adrian Street fan in the world, do feel free to reach out to me. Some things really need to be seen.

Achim Chall vs. John Quinn

MD: Quinn had a size advantage here and could pepper in shots from almost any angle whenever he wanted. Chall was obviously skilled, both generally and in kayfabe, presented as such. He was able to score clever takedowns and get in jumping knees. The problem is that Quinn gave him no room to breathe. He was constantly being admonished by the ref for picking Chall up too early or kicking at him while he was down or stepping on him. When he hit moves, it was dropping him throat first on the ropes. He would put illegal holds on and hide punches with a headlock. You could hear the announcer mention some slight he did every few seconds. Eventually the ref had enough and red carded him, awarding the match to Chaim. It wasn't satisfying but because of those little glimpses of Chall's skill maybe it was effective in getting Quinn heat for the tour overall, allowing Chall to beat him without hurting Quinn at all (even if it didn't help Chall a ton) and reinforcing the rules, always important in the grand scheme of things.

Adrian Street vs. Francisco (Paco) Ramirez

MD: Street's song is so effective at making him stand out, even in 1981 Germany. It just transfers anywhere and is so unique relative to everyone else's presentation even though people tend to come out to music here. But he was going to stand out anyway. This was one of the most remarkable things I've ever seen. He was a babyface at times in the States but he was still the Other and it was much more about seeing the heel get embarrassed in the South by someone who you'd never invite to dinner. This was different. It was celebratory in the most German way. It was Cabaret. There was pure elation for everything he did, whether it was using Ramirez' arm to mimic sexual acts while in an armbar or dancing with high kicks between falls or menacing the ref. Street may or may not have been the best wrestler in the world on this night in 1981 but he was the most appreciated and maybe the most alive. I've never seen him quite so free to be this over the top in everything he did but the fans absolutely ate it up. It was on Paco Ramirez, one of our old friends from the later French footage to play the straight man. Yes, Street was over the top, but it took incredible skill and understanding of pro wrestling (including, yes, the mechanics) to make this all work. No one could have done it quite like him and we've never had footage of him doing it quite like this.

PAS: Killer stuff, the decadent Weimar Germans are eating up his act with a spoon, really reminded me of a crowd super into an all timer lucha exotico like  Pimpinela or Cassandro. Really made me wish we had an epic bloody lucha Adrian Street apuestas match. Not a ton of actual wrestling in this, but you could tell that Street was a master of that part of it all as well.  This was a couple of years after Bowie moved to German, but it had that Bowie spirit. This isn't the kid of thing which encourages a lot of written scrutiny, bit what a delight.

 

Alex Dieter vs. Moose Morowski

MD: There's a noted classic 1980 match between these two that I'm not nearly familiar enough with, but I can say safely that these two were familiar with one another here. Dieter attacks right from the start and controls for the entire first round and the fans chant his name and love it. You get the sense that Morowski deserves it as well. Nothing flashy but a thorough beating. Then Morowski returns the favor in the second round with violent, rudimentary offense incensing the fans. After tossing Dieter out of the ring, a fan decides to take matters into his own hands and tosses a chair in. Morowski immediately beelines towards the ropes and charges at him and that's basically all she wrote for this one. We see the camera trying to track what's going on but it's hopeless. Completely unexpected. Totally wild. True heat and immediate consequence. Pro wrestling, everybody.

PAS: I loved the 1980 match

https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/11/all-time-moty-list-head-to-head.html

This felt like a house show version of the epic 1980 match, and clearly had some building to do until the fan chucks the chair at Moose ending the match. Would have loved to see the beating Morowski clearly put on that dude, and that is certainly a legit memorable finish. 

Grand Vladimir vs. Caswell Martin

MD: Pretty enjoyable stuff! Vladimir is very funny at first, doing everything over-the-top sporting to Martin and the crowd's surprise. A lot of raising his hand and shaking his hand and really making a show of it. Martin returns the favor by holding on to a cravat for the entirety of the second round despite every attempt by Vladimir to escape. One idea executed perfectly. In the third round, Vladimir goes for another handshake and then hits a gutshot and tosses Martin out as the ref is distracted and it's lovely payoff to all of the build. He ultimately gets disqualified but then is run off post-match. 

Goro Tanaka (Tsurumi)/Kengo Kimura vs. Cowboy Ed Wiskoski/"American Football Star" Jim Neidhart. 

MD: Goro totally gets it. He does a big sumo introduction including a split where Kimura bounces on his back. Wiskoski comes out with a cowboy hat and to "Some Girls" by Racey which is not a song I had ever heard before but it's quite the entrance overall. This is two out of three falls but none of the falls get a lot of time. Tsurumi is working for the last row and Neidhart is a tank. He catches Kimura off the ropes for a stampede to end the first fall. Second fall ends with them doing a bunch of silly karate moves on Neidhart, with the third ending abruptly with a dropkick to reverse a bodyslam into a pin. Things were simple and straightforward here, with one inversion instead of six, but it was all very effective. Just a weird match on paper and in practice though.

Moose Morowski vs. Pat Roach

MD: Roach took the first quarter of this by controlling the arm with a double wristlock and all sorts of other offense. But once it opened up, they absolutely pounded on each other and never looked back. Just a total war of attrition. It spilled out multiple times and came back in. There were cheapshots at the end of the round and then cheapshots to counter the cheapshots at the end of the next round. I don't think there's a whole lot to say about it, but that it's just great pro wrestling, blurry, gritty, full of animosity, with the most believable late match selling you'll see. Of course they were exhausted. Of course they could barely get up. They'd been going for minutes upon minutes just laying it in on one another. You could get parts of a match like this today but not, I think the total sum of it.

 

Achim Chall vs. Bret Hart

 

MD: This being on the tape was why it was prioritized and I'm glad it was for the Morowski matches and the Street match, but there's not a lot here. Chall is obviously very skilled at doing simple things extremely well. This is all Bret working the arm and Chall countering with some fun cravat stuff. They'll work up to their feet and crash into each other and go back down into the holds. Perfectly solid stuff. The highlight was probably Bret doing one of those bridge arounds to keep the hold that always look so slick and that I've never seen him do before. It ends just as simply with Chall falling on Bret for the pin.

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Found Footage Friday: ROSE~! WISKOSKI~! BASTIEN~! ZULU~! MARTINDALE~! ARAKAWA~! MARKUS~! DANDY~!

Tommy Martindale vs. Mitsu Arakawa NWA Chicago 10/22/54

MD: According to our buddy Ohtani's Jacket, Arakawa was Japanese-American and his gimmick in territories (though not here) was that he was a Hiroshima survival hellbent on revenge. This went about twenty in one fall and was solid stuff. During the pre-match stomping and bowing Martindale flew forth with a dropkick to get things going. He was a chippy and fiery babyface, always trying to work his way out of holds. In that regard, they seemed fairly evenly matched. Arakawa controlled the first third with a series of headlocks, constantly switching from one side to the other and taking him over. Eventually he used a "back bend" that he had been working for to get a reverse headlock in and break it up. You have to love the struggle. The fans did too. When Martindale went for a chinlock later and Arakawa had to escpae by going to the ropes, he drew big boos for it. These fans were conditioned to see wrestlers fight to get out of holds and everything was better off for it. Towards the end, Arakawa started to fight dirty with throat shots. Davis said Martindale had a boxing background but he didn't get to show it here. What he did get to show was that perseverence in constantly trying to fight out of holds, as he turned a body slam attempt by Arakawa into a pin and scored a banana peel victory. Nothing groundbreaking here but you have to love that underlying sense of struggle that could make six minutes of headlocks enjoyable. 

Buddy Rose/Ed Wiskoski vs. Red Bastien/Ron Pope Big Time Wrestling 11/4/78

MD: I don't know how new this is in general but it's a recent Orcutt upload and it's new to me and I've seen as much Rose as I can find. This was to establish Dr. Ken Ramey as Rose's new manager. Pope was a black strongman with a headbutt and a bearhug who I'm not super familiar with.The first five minutes of this were all worked around headlocks and while Wiskoski is good feeding and stooging for them, you can see the difference with Rose. He goes over perfectly for Bastien's walk up headscissors takeover in the corner, the legs going over in a picture perfect manner but one that still feigns impact and heft as opposed to seeming cooperative. Rose had a way of making over the top bumps seem completely natural. Likewise the way he'd flail his arms as far as was humanly possible during headlock cranks; it was for the last row, incredibly memorable, but still somehow felt like that's just what his body would do. Wiskoski was clunkier going over and more artificial on the flailing and it's not like he didn't bring things to the table. He just wasn't Buddy Rose. That's the thing though. No one was. He just instinctively knew what to do at every moment. 

The heels took over when Bastien went to the well once too often and Rose turned it into a belly to back. They got heat for a few minutes before a big comeback where Buddy ended up slammed by Pope and in Bastien's fireman's carry. When he got put in it a second time, they had a great finish of Ramey pulling Bastien's tights behind the ref's back so that Rose would go sailing over the top to draw the DQ. Very creative and it reminded me a little of the moment a few years before when Heenan debuted as Bockwinkel and Stevens' manager. Obviously this didn't have the same staying power, but it was a very effective capping of a pretty entertaining and purposeful TV match.

ER: I've probably been to Sacramento more than 98% of people who write about pro wrestling and I have zero familiarity with the Roy Shire Sacramento shows. I dated a girl whose uncle worked for KTXL as a camera operator. He was not a wrestling fan, he just filmed whatever was being filmed that day at KTXL. He viewed pro wrestling no differently than he viewed news broadcasts, talk shows, or people renting the studio to record their own paid programming. But he was still someone with up close wrestling stories from the sidelines, who did remember a lot of guys who came through Sacramento. Rocky Johnson was a name he brought up the way you'd bring up a college roommate's name, the way an old boss of mine used to talk about Pepper Gomez. This era of wrestling is underwritten about in general, and the Bay Area territory is way underwritten compared to other territories. Red Bastien is under-talked about because his career ran from 1950-1980 instead of 1960-1990, so most of the footage we have is from him in his late 40s. Ray Stevens too. The Bay Area guys all peaked in years we don't have, but now we get to watch Buddy Rose and Ed Wiskoski working a Sacramento TV studio within their peaks. 

Matt talked about Buddy Rose because Rose is a guy always worth talking about and seeking out. He takes multiple backdrops from Big Ron Pope and swung his loose floppy arms around in a side headlock like the Mighty Zulu had hit him with a second tranquilizer dart. Buddy is great, and this is a great Buddy match. But I love Ed Wiskoski and Matt shit all over him. Ed Wiskoski is great because he had two really great wrestling names: Ed Wiskoski and Col. DeBeers. He has some of my favorite wrestling posture. I love how he stands board straight like a Marine, like late 70s Nick Nolte. I love how he has a mustache and flattering shag cut, like late '70s Nick Nolte. His haircut and posture make him look like a Shakespearean surfer, and I love when he does his full rigid body flip over bump. Ed Wiskoski is a hulking version of Tom Atkins in Halloween III, the kind of guy who would show up to a street fight in brown corduroys. When he fights Bastien, he looks like and wrestles him like he's Bastien's younger, bigger brother. Buddy Rose is a guy who can and does steal many of the matches he's in, but Wiskoski wrestles like Chuck Connors would have wrestled. I get something out of him I don't get from any other wrestler. 

Gran Markus Jr/Monje Negro/Milo Caballero vs. El Dandy/Apolo Estrada/Monarka CMLL 1989

MD: Sometimes we get a 13 minute match and it's the full thing. Sometimes, like here, we come in at the start of the segunda. There's a short bit to begin where Markus does a pretty good job basing for Estrada's flashier stuff (think that was the main pairing) followed by a bit of dissension, I think because Dandy didn't like Estrada kicking Markus out of the ring (a tecnico taking pride in being a tecnico?) but then I got that from the commentators and they are unreliable narrators as usual. Regardless, that dissension helped the rudos take over. Of note, Caballero is a rudo here, which isn't what I'm used to and Monje Negro has to be up there in age, but he cut a forboding oversized figure, especially when put next to Markus. He had a knife kneelift and lawn darted Dandy right into Monarka, so that was fun. 

During the beatdown Markus really leaned on Estrada, bloodying him, gnawing on him, and tossing him into the third row in the most satisfying way. I don't remember Markus gnawing on bloody people often but the aftermath was a great visual with the white mask. The comeback was pretty great too as Estrada dodged a Markus knee as Monje Negro was holding him and the two ended up on their knees throwing shots at each other. Estrada got a few pin attempts in before Markus just jammed him, slammed him, and crushed his face with a nonchalant kneedrop. They cycled through after that, with Dandy and Monarka finally locking the other rudos into La Estrella, but Markus caught an Estrada body press, tossed him onto the mass of bodies in the submission, and then pinned said mass. I have to admit that Markus kind of looked like a beast here. Anyway, post-match kids got to hang out with the tecnicos in the bloody ring, so all's well that ends well, I guess?

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New Footage Friday: Wiskoski, Texas Red, Santo, Payasos, Matsunaga, Aoyagi

Ed Wiskoski vs. Texas Red Big Time Wrestling 1979?

MD: This was a 10K challenge, where Bastien would win the money from Wiskowski if he could beat him in 15 minutes. I'm going to come off as hypocritical between this and the trios, but with lucha I tend to like things falling into traditional structural lines because there is an inherent ritualistic beauty to lucha while here, I really appreciate the wrinkles that the 15 minute challenge put upon this structure. For instance, some of the nearfall trading towards the end felt six or seven years before its time, maybe not at the speed of a Steamboat/Savage but considering Wiskoski's size and Bastien's age, it's still fairly notable.

Wiskoski's size is a hell of a thing, really. He's billed at 6'4" on wiki but he uses every inch of that, while still being able to move so well. Their initial feeling out/matwork sequence with the armdrags and the headscissor takeovers was very impressive while still feeling completely sound and logical.

Obviously, having Buddy Rose on the outside and announcing was a big asset. The match was consistently engaging and entertaining, which is really something about that turn of the 80s west coast style. Buddy helped like he always did. The finish was clever as it sort of gave Bastien two visual wins (both of the match and the money) while doubling down on the heat, as Rose not only cheated him out of the money, but Wiskowski ultimately won the match. If they were giving this away on TV, there was plenty to still go to the arena to see.

ER: This was disappointing to me, because it really wasn't the match I wanted these two to have. I like both guys a lot so was really excited about the match on paper. Plus it's from the SF territory which was the territory I would hear about from "old people" as a kid (like how my dad said he and his friends would always call Pat Patterson "Fat Pat"), so any SF footage is great. Judging by the cut of Buddy Rose's suit jacket and shirt lapels I'm saying this was 1979. And I like both of these guys and always want to see more than what's out there, it just wasn't the match structure that I was at all interested in seeing. Wiskoski was putting up his 10 grand check from Shire if Texas Red could beat him in 15 minutes, and Texas Red looks like he is going to beat him every single minute of the 15 minutes. This match was 90% Texas Red beating Wiskoski pillar to post, looking the entire match like Wiskoski should have been the one trying to win a 10K payday. I fully expected this to be Buddy Rose cheating throughout, giving Wiskoski the advantage every time, but instead Red just dominated him most of the run time and couldn't put him away. Wiskoski came off like a total badass surviving Red's onslaught, getting run into the buckles a ton and bumping a zillion times for such a big guy. Wiskoski threw these cool short range side angle punches that I love, but they never seemed to have much of an effect on Red. We do get the big moment of Wiskoski just about being put away before Buddy interfered to break up what surely would have been the win. I liked the actual ring work - not a shock, both guys are very good wrestlers - but this felt like Wiskoski should have been more unfairly dominant, not bumping for 14 out of 15 minutes.


Masashi Aoyagi vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga NJPW 8/7/91

ER: This was a big New Japan show with 10,000+ in attendance, and this match was certainly something that was going to stand out early on a big G1 card. This would be an unexpected match to talk about while leaving the arena, two karate guys basically working a heel vs. heel match, two Billy Zabkas kicking spleens and testicles. Aoyagi is an absolute villain in this, cheapshotting Matsunaga with a liver kick while he's being checked by the ref and not letting up for 7 minutes. Aoyagi really gave Matsunaga an asskicking. Matsunaga chose a life of death matches after eating this beating. "I'd rather backflip into Caribbean spider web than get my bottom ribs kicked in," is something I'll likely never announce as my life choice, but these 7 minutes made Matsunaga say that. Aoyagi lands hard kicks to the chest, ribs, arms, and temples. Brutal body shots paid off with hard high kicks. Matsunaga is getting overwhelmed, and literally his only way back into the match is to kick Aoyagi right in the balls! Aoyagi was kicking him all around the ring, literally digging his feet in to Matsunaga's ribs to force him out of the ring, and Matsunaga comes in and just kicks him in the balls. Matsunaga treats Aoyagi with the respect he was treated. There was the feeling it wasn't going to last, but he made his moments count. Aoyagi's receipts were violent as hell though; he starts flinging his whole body into Matsunaga, big tumbling spin kicks that even when they don't land still see Aoyagi's full weight crashing into Matsunaga, awkwardly landing on his legs as they tumble. Aoyagi kicks him until surrender, and then gets the shit kicked out of him by some big ponytailed goon who I didn't recognize in the moment. This is something I don't think we've seen, and instantly becomes one of our all time classic Aoyagi performances.

MD: Is there anything that could possibly set the tone to a match better than Aoyagi kicking his opponent, the seconds, and downing the ref all in the first few moments? Maybe Matsunaga, after being forced out by kicks a few times, coming back in and shooting a kick right between Aoyagi's legs? That's basically this match. They'd retreat and attack. Aoyagi has the cool takedowns and throws, and of course the wild, theatrical kicks. Matsunaga, to his credit, didn't back down until the point where he could simply no longer get up. It was a brutal seven minutes. Violence candy.

PAS: Matsunaga comes to the ring seconded by Tiger Chung Lee and Kurisu, what an incredible trios team that is. Aoyagi opens the match by kicking the shit out Matsunaga, Chung Lee and Kurisu (with our boy Kurisu taking a big bump off the ring apron). He proceeds to bust up Matsunaga's body and head with kicks and punches. I loved Aoyagi's kidney shot/high kick combo. Aoyagi is awesome at turning wrestling matches to 70s Kung Fu movie fights and this was another example of that. Chung Lee and Kurisu jump both guys post match, and I clearly need to see the tag match that set up.


El Hijo Del Santo/Super Muneco/Angel Azteca vs. Los Payasos AAA 9/23/94

MD: The level of talent involved here was off the charts. I feel like every new Hijo Del Santo match is a joy we're lucky to have. Los Payasos was as fun a gimmick as you can get and all these guys were so good and working super hard for a Tijuana handheld in front of a molten crowd. The primera had a lot of the exchanges you'd expect, with two between Muneco and Amarillo. With lucha, the traditional structures work and they work for a reason. I'm ok with rudos catching tecnicos to win a tercera, but it felt a little weird for them to take over the offense and win the primera so clearly. It didn't affect the heat on the comeback but some of that was because you have Santo doing his dive and what not. The tercera was all dramatic flash with a little bit of BS but that's what you want for Santito vs. evil clowns. I'm thinking a lot of the structure (and the martinete DQ to finish the second fall) was because the rudos were taking this in the end, so it probably all worked in context of what was happening show to show. As a standalone I would have preferred something else - a structural lucha ideal, because I always want that - but the match they gave us was still great. The post match sort of boggled my mind but in an entertaining way, at least.

PAS: The Primera Caida of this match was really great, Azteca and Santo are two of the smoothest wrestlers of all time, and Muneco brings a nice frantic energy to all of his offense. The Payasos are all extremely professional rudo luchadores and they know exactly how to play their role as bumpers and eaters of offense. The Segunda and Tercera Caidas were more about establishing business, and I had forgotten about what a huge push the Payasos were getting, they win the first fall clean, only drop the second because they martinete and stretcher out Azteca, and Amarillo ends up submitting Santo to his own Cabello finisher. We did get some Tirantes nonsense to set it up, but still that is a strongly booked rudo team. I enjoyed the back half of this match too, Santo has the prettiest topes of all time, and knows how to get fired up, but this didn’t end up being the classic trios the first fall teased.

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A Moose By Any Other Name Would Be as Hoss

Moose Morowski is a recent fascination, as he passed away several weeks ago, had a great head of hair, is shaped like and dresses like Professor Wernher von Brawn in the Simpsons Arcade game, and is a hoss that nobody talks about. Let's take a look at him.


Axel Dieter/Sal Bellomo vs. Moose Morowski/Ed Wiskoski (Hannover 9/23/80)

ER: Wiskoski and Morowski are a great team that I didn't know existed until now. They're both the same size, same shape, same insanely Polish names, same bump freak status, and really they are basically the same guy. They're like the Harris Twins if they were actually good wrestlers and also not...well, you know the other part of the joke. Dieter and Bellomo are not very good, but our Polish heels make them look pretty dangerous. Bellomo at least has good energy, but a lot of stuff he actually does looks terrible. He and Dieter may have the two worst kicks to the stomach in wrestling. Dieter is a weird cat. The crowd is rabid for him, just like in that Moose singles match, but he's so lackadaisical. He moves so slowly around the ring, even throws out offense 30% slower than you're used to seeing it. So when Moose and Ed bump over the top to the floor they REALLY had to do all the work. Moose takes his (seemingly trademark) bump off the turnbuckles to the floor, both men take big spills, Wiskoski does his awesome flop bump that always goes the length of the ring, and I want more of this team. Wiskoski seemed to be the better of the two in this one, but he also had more moments to shine.

Moose Morowski vs. Mighty Igor

ER: This was disappointing, only because it was shaping up to be really good - and what we got was awesome - until Al Tomko ran in for the DQ at the 4 or 5 minute mark. Up to that point we had Igor bringing his squat power offense to Moose, while Moose was craftier and punchier. Moose is really good at working around Igor, who for his part gets over the strongman gimmick. Igor had a convincing side headlock and a great bearhug, and Moose was awesome putting over Igor's grip strength during a knuckle lock. Morowski tricks him into the ropes where he's able to trap his arm and yank it a bit, then we get a couple of his beautiful headlock punches. I really wish we got more of this. I think 15-20 minutes of this could have been precisely my kind of match. Instead we had to set up Mighty Igor/Igor Volkoff vs. Moose/Tomko, which assuredly blew.

Moose Morowski vs. Tom Justice

ER: Man, Tom Justice, you are bumming me out. This video opens on Tom Justice in full frame: red unfortunate singlet, odd tanlines on his thighs, one of the biggest apology mustaches you've seen, announced as from Seattle. This is clearly Vancouver, but people in Vancouver don't care about old Seattle born Tom Justice. He even throws up his hands and says "Come on", pleading for a little reaction. That really happened. And then we cut to Moose who looks like he was put on this planet to make Tom Justice shit his singlet. He's got that great Chester A. Arthur facial hair with a little spit curl up top, and he comes up and immediately just leans right into Justice. They do some mat stuff and this is Justice's lone shining moment of the match, when he spins out of a chinlock and Moose kinda falls into the bottom rope as Justice escapes. The rest of this is Moose choking and punching and choking Justice. Justice is a rookie, and he clearly has no idea where Moose wants him to be standing for his asskicking, so he's always turning the wrong way and Moose has to drag him around and Tom just looks like a guy barely hanging on. I would say Justice is great at selling, as he spent much of the match feeling his teeth and mouth, but I'm pretty sure he just thought he had lost teeth. Moose has a bunch of great rope chokes, throws some nice stomps to the face, nails a big shoulderbreaker. This wasn't big bumping Moose, and it sure as hell shouldn't have been. After the match is maybe his best moment, as he throws down a great promo about wanting a cage match and the dude is awesome on the stick.

Moose Morowski vs. Mike Kovac

ER: Aw, jeez Mike. Kovac looks like a character off of the second season of Fargo. "Oh you know, Mike Kovac, works in the stock room down at the Econofoods." This is an all time classic jobber beatdown. It is never unprofessional, but Kovac takes a beating, and it's a long beating with zero hope spot of any kind. There was never one second where Kovac had things 51/49. This was all Moose. A lot of squash matches are quick, to the point, no more than 3 minutes, and highlight a couple of big spots for the squasher. Here it's just a long merciless beating. By the end of the match Kovac's side is covered in brown/purple (puce?) bruises. Moose might throw the best clubbing blows in wrestling, and I understand the ground that covers. He throws a couple to Kovac's chest that are just so brutal. One over the shoulder from behind, one after he backs him into a corner. You have to assume Moose somehow gave Kovac an irregular heartbeat after those. Moose throws some great straight rights, some awesome headlock punches, breaks out more of his rope chokes (with his favorite being choking Kovac over the top rope, then yanking the rope back to bump Kovac across the ring), and drops him with a couple suplexes that look like he's tossing a heavy dead body. Moose does all these great "always on" moments, like digging a fist into Kovac's abdomen while pinning him. He also manufactures a hope spot for Kovac right at the very end. It was amazing. He picks up Kovac and drops him with a great back suplex, surely the end of the match, and then he kicks Kovac out of his own pin. He doesn't lift up Kovac the way a heel would, to inflict more punishment, he clearly just manufactures a kick out. There was no way Kovac was kicking out on his own, and Moose just lifted Kovac's arm for him to "kick him out". He then picked him up and planted him with a shoulderbreaker for the win, but was still a neat little moment of "hey guy, you've taken a beating for 6 minutes, SURPRISE! you get to kick out of a back suplex. Because you're also eating a shoulderbreaker."

Moose Morowski vs. Verne Siebert

ER: Phil's old tape trading buddy Verne Siebert! This guy was long affiliated with the Vancouver wrestling scene, first as a wrestler and later as a good heel manager and later as a referee on indy shows. He also traded tapes and had a huge collection, and is responsible for some pretty great matches being in circulation. Here he gets punched a bunch in the face by Moose Morowski. And also clubbed in the chest a lot by Moose Morowski. And elbowed to the back of the neck and head by Moose Morowski...

Moose Morowski vs. Sonny Myers

ER: Not at all the match I was expecting, not at all the Sonny Myers I was expecting. I was expecting old man Sonny Myers to be working, as that just seems like someone Tomko would bring in. "This guy was huge in the 40s!" So we'd have 60-something Myers versus 50-something Moose, with the winner facing Orville Brown or Hans Gloan or Wilbur the Ranch Hand the next week. But instead Myers is some younger guy with lizard eyes, looking like a B movie General Zod with tight blond curls and neck fringe (like Kawada had for awhile!). And this starts out like the Moose matches you've seen, with Moose bullying Myers around, doing his great rope chokes (including a new variation where he drapes a leg over Myers neck while also pulling up on the rope), tossing Myers to the floor with Myers taking a great flip bump down to the concrete; then there's an odd miscommunication where Moose throws a punch/elbow that doesn't land like his shots usually land, and then when they repeat the spot it's revealed that it's because Myers was supposed to reverse! Myers sends Moose reeling with a couple light dropkicks, but then hit's one of those great old lopsided Ricky Morton/Marty Jannetty headscissors and suddenly this match is 50/50 and it's weird because both guys are clearly working as heels. But Moose is probably more of a heel because he has Siebert interfering for him on the outside, but man Myers does not look or act like a face. Moose continues choking away at him and getting into it with the meticulous Suzie Tanner, and pretty soon they're firing elbows at each other and I fear Moose might actually go down, but luckily Siebert interferes without even attempting to go unseen and Moose saves some face by not eating a pin. It should be said that Verne Siebert was a good second, kind of like a lesser Gino Hernandez, but brought stiff interference with great timing. Could be worth seeking out more...


Go spend 45 minutes of your day watching these Moose Morowski matches. Think of what you would be doing instead, and then ask yourself - honestly - would it be more rewarding than watching a bunch of Moose Morowski. I think we all know the answer.

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1980 Match of the Year

Buddy Rose/Ed Wiskoski v. Roddy Piper/Rick Martel PNW 8/2/80

PAS: This is for the vacant PNW tag titles and is a master class in tag wrestling.  First falls opens with the heels doing some off the charts stooging, both Rose and Wiskoski are great in-ring bumpers and fly all over the ring for both babyfaces. Then the heels take over and Piper has one of the best Face-In-Peril sections I can remember seeing,  frantically spinning and tumbling and leaping to try to get the tag, just awesome intense timing. There is a wrestling multiverse where Roddy Piper is the great 80’s babyface tag worker, and Ricky Morton is doing Ricky’s Rountable and smashing Snuka with a coconut. Second fall has the heel team working over Martel’s back, including using the broken bottom rope bolt to jab him in the kidneys, the rings in Portland must have been really flimsy because Rose was a maestro at improv work with a busted ring. Third fall is an awesome wild brawl with it all breaking down and the ref throwing out the match. This had all the parts you want in a great tag match. I could easily see this being a legendary feud which spanned decades like MX v. Rock and Rolls.

ER: Simple match, and a real good match. I have never seen fired up underdog Roddy Piper before and it's a blast. We've all seen fired up Piper, but context is key and Phil is right: He was a really great Ricky Morton. You really could see the alternate timeline. Although after the match you hear him screaming unhinged into the mic and you knew he was going to be more than an underdog. I so wish I lived in Portland in the 80s. The personality of the city bleeds into its wrestling and it's so charming. Sandy Barr was wearing a colorfully striped shirt even by Sandy Barr standards, both large heels have ridiculous Prince Valiant haircuts, women bring flowers for their favorite hunks (with one woman bringing flowers for Wiskoski AND Martel!), and these women are rabid from the opening bell despite just the basics being on display. Buddy and Ed get bumped around early, with Wiskoski especially taking an awesome stooge bump into the turnbuckle and then flipping feet over crown all the way across the ring. But pretty soon Wiskoski takes over on Piper with a snug body scissors, and Roddy trying to fight to Martel is so great. They draw it out soooooo long, with Piper inching closer and closer, going crazier the closer he gets, wildly swinging his arms to try and get to Martel. The heels were great at cutting off the ring the whole match and later there was a spot I loved just as much  with Martel knocking Rose down, but before Martel can tag in Piper Rose just punches him in the gut, right off the apron. It made so much sense, as the way Rose was positioned it was far easier to knock Piper off the apron than it would have been to stop Martel. It reminded me of SUWA pushing the ref into the ropes to stop KENTA's springboard. It's just logical quick thinking from the heels. We get plenty of great moments the longer this goes, like Martel taking the nastiest catapult into the ropes, dropping back down across Buddy's knees, or Buddy and Ed bumping all over the place (with Buddy taking two fast and hard bumps over the top to the floor, one of them almost off camera but looking nuts), and then a wild brawl around ringside with Martel and Piper looking legitimately like one of the best American babyface tag teams you've seen. Don Owen comes out and talks about being sick of all this and sets up a No DQ lumberjack match and Rose flips out and grabs him by the jacket and almost swings at him until he's belted and then things break down again. You got Barr holding down Martel, Piper flipping out, Wiskoski getting popped, great stuff.


ALL TIME MOTY MASTER LIST

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