Found Footage Friday: 50s WRESTLING FROM BUFFALO~! HUTTON~! BRAZIL~! SNYDER~! LINDSAY~! CRUSHER~!

MD: My impression is that footage might have been converted and posted years ago but then was lost for a while. The Zabio vs Marino match is out there on YouTube but nothing else is and people in our community have never seen the Hutton match (or any other Hutton match! Or any other Luther Linsday match!), for instance. 

Footage Link

Luther Linsday vs. Fred Atkins Buffalo 10/11/57

MD: I could be wrong about this, but this feels like a historic find. We have no real footage of Lindsay who was a great Thesz opponent and spoken highly of him, one of the biggest African-American wrestlers of the 50s and 60s. We get most of a 20 minute draw here, just one clip in the middle of about a minute, tops, and it's good look at him, I'd say. Atkins spends a lot of the match working a wristlock (with brief trips to hammerlocks and other things), splaying the fingers when the ref can't see it to keep Lindsay down. Lindsay teases punches but eventually gets forearms in to force breaks. He works well from underneath, selling the arm throughout, but forcing Atkins to adapt and getting the fans excited for a potential shot. When it's time for him to fire off, he has big strikes in the corner and a great headbutt that Atkins sells like death. They're wrestling for a draw and it doesn't really boil over in the end but it's well worked up and down hold. You get some sense of how he portrayed his power, both physical and star, here. I'd be interested to see him against a more dynamic opponent, but I'm just glad to see him at all.

Wilber Snyder vs. Wally Greb 4/25/58

MD: You occasionally see this sort of match in the 50s, where an older journeyman who knows all the dirty tricks is put up against there against one of the young stallions of the wrestling world, one of those guys who are still getting established but who have the square jaw and all the skills in the world and will one day be a champion. I think of that mostly with young Verne (though we saw a lesser version of it with Bill Cody vs Honest John Cretoria not that long ago) but we get it here with Snyder. Snyder comes off as an absolute wrestling machine, able to chain holds and escapes beautifully. Greb's underhanded tactics means that he's on top for a good chunk of the match but there's always the sense that Snyder could beat him at any moment and it's just the cheating keeping him afloat. Examples of that are when Snyder does a perfect headstand to escape a headscissors and then jams Greb when he tries to repeat it. That sort of thing. Snyder has this great back of the neck clap shot he uses at times down the stretch once he's had enough with Greb and puts him away with the abdominal stretch once things pick up. Greb more than did his job here and Snyder looked like a future champ.

Bobo Brazil vs. Jim (Brute) Bernard 1/17/58

MD: This was sub-30 seconds, just a big leap frog and bigger dropkick by Brazil. That's how they brought him into the territory. He'd won his two previous matches in 13 and 23 seconds. Bernard and Brazil would have wars later, but not on this night. Post match, he called out Gene Kiniski. I don't think I've ever seen a 50s match quite like this but it was a great way to get Brazil over instantly as a sensation in a new territory.

Dick Hutton vs. Wally Greb 11/1/57

MD: So it was something to get our first Luther Lindsay match, but we get maybe the first Dick Hutton match on tape too? I'll say that ultimately this was almost more of a Greb showcase, as he controlled a lot of the match with holds and dirty tricks while in the holds. Hutton was almost understated working from underneath, coming back with really big shots, with definitive strength, with a sort of physical confidence. It was hard to get too much of a sense of things past that, though. The early holds were hard fought but there were times he seemed to be almost sitting in the later ones. Boxer Joe Muscato was the ref here, as in the Lindsay match and they did do a spot where Hutton kicked out pressing Greb onto him. So not a ton here, as the match goes just over 8 minutes, but you get a sense of Hutton's size and strength and what his comebacks looked like. That's something to go off of at least. Greb continues to look like a competent journeyman for what it's worth.

Roy McClarity vs. Al Korman 10/18/57

MD: This might have been the most purely entertaining match in this footage. So far as I can tell, we never had any Korman footage either though we have a few McClarity matches. Korman was a great stooge, a cheapshot artist, had a fun kneelift and great reactions. McClarity had a lot of stuff, kneelifts and knee crushers and a dropkick, and some nice shots, including a bit of punishment where he paintbrushed the head repeatedly was Korman was sitting in the ropes. A lot of it was Korman trying to take liberties in holds and then McClarity (who was touted for both his height and his speed) escaping and getting some real revenge before they went back into it. Snyder and Hutton had both used versions of the abdominal stretch in their wins, but McClarity took it with the cobra clutch, with Korman wobbling around the ring entertainingly post match.


Gallaghers (Mike & Doc) vs. Lisowskis (Reggie & Stan) 4/17/59

MD: We have matches with the Gallaghers and matches with the Lisowskis but this might be the first we have with both against each other. Reggie, of course, would be Da Crusher. Stan was just his wrestling brother, but they fit each other well. Mike and Doc were the heels here and they really played the part well. Really, this almost felt like an All Japan tag. Mike and Doc cut off the ring, cheated at every opportunity. The Lisowskis just kept on coming in to even the odds. Reggie was an absolute force, a proto-Hansen, just constantly coming at you. The Gallaghers had a way of putting on a front facelock choke for a few seconds and immediately pulling things back to their corner but it was pretty inevitable that this would break down, with the Lisowskis tying up one Gallagher and repeatedly pile-driving the other until they got DQed. Post match they brawled some more and yapped on the mic about how they were the winners anyway and the crowd loved it. Just a good look at both teams.

Fritz Von Erich vs. Great Zabio

MD: Unfortunately, we only have three minutes of this but it's fun while it lasts. Zabio, past being a piano player, was a beatnik gimmick and the announcer lets us know that Fritz says there are no Beatniks in his Germany. He really laid it in but when it was time for Zabio to comeback, he recoiled well and took a good armdrag. That was about it for this one though.

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New Footage Friday: Fishman, Black Cat, Fritz Von Erich, Kabuki, Hercules Ayala

PAS: Network put up a nearly complete Star Wars card from 1981 (Kerry vs. Race was out there before, and we took a pass on Killer Tim Brooks vs. Mil and a Battle Royal) so we decided to review a couple of the matches from that show and threw on a cool NJ HH to close out the week.

Kevin Von Erich/David Von Erich vs. Hercules Ayala/Ali Mustafa WCCW 2/21/81

MD: There was a lot to like here. I know David and Kevin had won some of the other tag belts in Dallas but this was their first time winning this one and it felt like a huge deal. Some of that was the setting. Some of that was the post-match celebration. A lot of it was the match itself though. They were a very good babyface pairing, with a lot of energy and just enough stuff between the double teams, the flying, and the claw. Ali was just a tremendous stooge, bumping, feeding, full of underhanded offense. I loved how he threw himself into dropkicks. Ayala brought the power and the size, more than doing his part. What really stood out was how often they went back to heat. I think the Von Erichs had ten comebacks here but between the size advantage and heel chicanery, they kept ending up fighting from underneath. It's not a well that's gone to all that often to begin with, but because they never took back over for long, it made for more of an escalation than any sort of stuttering and really got the crowd to build more and more for them as the match went on. As much as I tend to resent the Dallas crowd for their hero-worship, it's really hard to blame them given matches like this.

PAS: This was a bunch of fun. I loved the Von Erich's meathead charisma, they are great as big fired up country boys ready to fight. Kevin is a totally under rated flyer. He doesn't have the gracefulness of some, but he has a ton of power in his legs and really gets in the air on dropkicks and big elbows. Matt makes a great point about the structure, heels really controlled the match, and they were great at it, and the Von Erich's made a bunch of mini comebacks leading up to the big comeback which really blew up the crowd. Don't know much about Ali, but he was really great in this match, offensive looked nasty and he was a great foil, Ayala was a beast too, great press slam, and he had this moment where he came into break up a pin and just punched David right in the liver, a liver which was already working hard I imagine.

Fritz Von Erich vs. Kabuki WCCW 2/21/81

PAS: Kabuki is such a cool act, the weird penis nose mask, the spinning around, the face paint, the crazy bendy fingers, I am all in, wrestling needs more exotic weirdos. I am a fan of 80s old man walking tall matches, loved the Bill Watts stuff from Mid-South and any time Jackie Fargo or Eddie Marlin wrestled in Memphis. Fritz may be a garbage person, but he is pretty good at walking tall. Lots of Kabuki gesticulating and Fritz countering with a big punch. I loved the spot where Kabuki went for a nerve pinch under the arm, and Fritz countered with the claw. Gary Hart starts punching at Fritz's leg and a fan attacks Hart, have to love wrestling that can get drunks ready to jump barricades. Finish was kind of BS with David running in and beating up Kabuki, actually made Fritz look kind of weak. Still I dug this, although it is very in my wheelhouse.

MD: This was minimalist in the best ways. They knew what they were doing. Fritz came in first which both allowed Kabuki his elaborate pre-match rituals and let him sign about a hundred autographs for kids. About half the match was them looking for an opening an that made when either found an opening all the better. Listen to the heat for Kabuki's first real burst of offense. The crowd was irate because of the build for it. It kills me that we live in a world where the claw probably wouldn't work, because it's such an effective, visual tool that can be built towards throughout a match, that can be consistently countered or defended against, that can be the perfect instrument for a comeback. Fritz was the real deal here, absolutely genuine Americana. He was a gnarled old bastard who looks close to 73 than the 53 he was at this point. Kabuki was electric with his theatrics and Fritz' response, putting his finger to his head and spinning it to indicate in his slow, bigoted way that Kabuki was a crazy weirdo will be the image that sticks with me as much as anything else. The finish was definitely muddled. The idea was that Hart was interfering so thoroughly that David (who wanted revenge anyway) had to run in, but you had both a fan and Manning attacking Hart first which really muted the threat of him. I get that they had to protect Kabuki and Fritz but the sequence felt overstretched and neither of them or David ended up looking good.

ER: I love it! Fully agree with Phil about old guy Walking Tall matches. I would wager a substantial amount that I was the high vote on the Eddie Marlin/Tommy Gilbert Memphis match (and also bet that Phil was the 2nd highest vote) and I assume if you've read much of anything I've written you would know that I have a general fondness for old guys wrestling. That juxtaposition between an incredibly tough man, who is now also very vulnerable due to humans' peculiar habit of eventually dying. Fritz was in his 50s here but looked large, and powerful; a vast aging physique that still flashed plenty of muscle. The man looked like someone who could still muscle around cattle. And what a sight it is to see the ringside area swarm with children and adults alike, all trying to get their programs signed by a man they would later grow to not respect. And we get a simple yet effectively hot kick and punch match with Fritz lifting heavy legs into Kabuki's gut, and throwing punches that....well, realistically I could watch an old cowboy punch another old cowboy like that for 20 minutes and have it be one of my favorite matches of all time. See, our 1976 MOTY. Kabuki grounds him and bites at his throat, Fritz reverses to a stomach claw from his back, and we all know how silly the stomach claw was but it somehow never looks silly in the least when Fritz is applying it. Hart attacks Fritz's leg when they're in the ropes and a drunk fan charges in to save Fritz. It is a fact that any spectacle that can inspire a drunk man to play hero, is almost always going to be great. This is not a man who runs onto a baseball field or charges the Nitro ring or makes jack off motions behind a live on the scene news reporter. Those people are in it for the fleeting fame. This man is not Soy Bomb. This man was so incensed watching his legend get treated unfairly, that he felt it necessary to step in and show Fritz he was NOT ALONE. This man was so wrapped up in the drama that was professional wrestling and the Von Erichs, that he - in that moment - felt that HE was the solution. In that moment he was the guy thwarting an armed robbery. And that's a level of performance that most performers will never achieve. David Manning annoyingly gets the biggest babyface spot of the match when he punts Hart from the apron, Kabuki throws great uppercuts but gets pinned by a backdrop, DVE is somehow a babyface for beating down a man just so his dad can pin him....but I don't care, because this was 10 great minutes of pro wrestling.

Fishman/Black Cat vs. The Cobra/Shiro Koshinaka 10/6/85

ER: This was a fun low stakes tag, making me want to seek out more and more Black Cat. He was so cool here at dickish little things, yanking Koshinaka out of a pinfall by his hair, swiping at Cobra from the apron when he ran the ropes too close to their corner, nice aggression; he really did little things you don't typically see in juniors matches. Koshinaka was also a pleasant surprise. He has been wrestling for more years than I've been alive, and it was neat seeing him even younger (he showed up a lot on the NJPW 80s set, but mostly from '87-'88, nothing this early). He was on the good guys team here but showed plenty of spunk, slapping both heels around (especially taking it to Fishman), landing a heavy plancha on Fishman, good punk charisma. Fishman we recently saw in an unearthed 1998 match against Santo, a real treat of a match that made me curious to see more of him. Here he was mostly feeding Koshinaka, but he throws meaty chops, bumps hard for dropkicks, takes a squirrelly backdrop bump on his shoulders, and throws a killer back elbow. Takano lightens up on some things, but gets crushed by a Black Cat lariat (after landing on his feet after a flip, the best) and throws some cool armdrags, rolling across Cat's back to do so. The match ending sunset flip is reckless but smooth. Nothing blowaway, but a really fun match.

PAS: Fishman is a truly legendary lucha libre figure, and I have never gotten it. He worked the Monterey show I did commentary on years ago and was the worst guy on the card. He was old then (although old luchadors normally rule) so I am always looking forward to catching glances at him during his prime and trying to figure it out. This match doesn’t do it though, he seems like a replacement level tecnico and feels like the least interesting guy in this match. Black Cat is one of those guys who was around NJPW forever, but man is he great, he feels like a great regional rudo, like Toro Bill or Arandu, a guy you know had dozens of classics which never showed up on tape, but just radiates professional asskicker. He had an awesome journeyman career, starting out as a Villano IV tag partner in UWA, worked as a trainer and ref in New Japan for years, had a weird AAA run as a Gringo Loco and even had a WCW Worldwide match against Chris Adams. Nothing spectacular in his performance in this match, but impossible not to enjoy him.

MD: I'm glad I'm on the same page with Phil and Eric here re: Black Cat. This was a great showcase for him. All of his stuff looked mean including these little bursts of bullying chain wrestling, and he based perfectly for his opponents. The rope running sequence with Cobra definitely stood out: he threw himself into the arm drags and they managed some fairly complex fakeouts before ending with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. I wasn't quite so high on Fishman. There's something very iconic about him as an entity but to me, here was just there in this one, effective but forgettable. I do think we have more Black Cat in this footage and we should poke around to see what we can find.

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NWA Classics on Demand - Price Tag Reviews #3

Yesterday was $6.65 so far I am all in for 24/7

Jose Lothario v. Gino Hernandez 1979 - $2.00

This was a steel cage (called a fence match by Boesch) Texas death match. Bix mentioned this was available before, but I had never heard about it or seen it, so it was new to me. JIP after the first fall, but we get almost 20 minutes. Classic bloody 70s/80s cage match. Hernandez was a revelation, bumping, selling, bleeding and landing some big shots. Both guys were really good at milking drama out of 10 counts, Lothario is a simple wrestler but he has great expressiveness, awesome punches and pretty good old man bumping. I liked the finish a lot with Lothario going tailbone and spine first into the post, as a counter to a nasty neck crank. Felt like something which might paralyze someone, and definitely should have kept him down for 10. Great, great cage match, Gino is the guy who is going to get the biggest reputation boost from this footage.

Kerry Von Erich/Kevin Von Erich/Fritz Von Erich v. White Knight/Gary Hart/Dick Murdoch 1979 - $.50

Really fun match, 2/3 falls six man tag in two rings with one set of guy paired off in one ring, another in the second ring and one guy in the middle tagging out to either ring. Crazy match set up which I have never seen before. Really early Von Erich brothers, Kevin is wearing boots, and Kerry has shortish hair, this kind of chaotic match works really well to their style, they were always at their best at crazy sprints, and this match has lots going on. Murdoch is also really great at filling a match with cool little pieces of action. I absolutely loved all of the Murdoch and Fritz brawling, just two old badasses beating on each other, I imagine there was a classic singles match at some point. Unfortunately the match just cuts out without a finish, which is a total bummer, otherwise this was aces, but no finish is only worth a couple of quarters to me.

Dusty Rhodes v. Maniac Mark Lewin 1/7/79 $.75

Short bloody nasty little affair. It almost feels like a match made so Dusty would make the cover of seedy wrestling magazines, as two minutes in Dusty has a spiderweb of blood on his face and in his blond afro. Lewin does his best to win a bleeding contest too, as he is covered very quickly. They smash each other into posts and tables, and Lewin brings in a 2x4. Finish is great with Dusty bionic elbowing Lewin right in the brain stem, knocking him down for one more elbow and the pin. Could have used a couple of more minutes, but a treat to see an old fashioned clubberin from the American Dream

$9.90 so we are already over the pay wall, and I haven't watched either Flair v. Wahoo match yet.

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