Found Footage Friday: ALOHA MR. LAWLER~! RICKARD~! ST. CLAIR~! THOMPSON~! PESAK~! VON SCHACHT~!

Jack Pesek vs. Fritz/Friedrich von Schacht Chicago 6/27/52

MD: This goes about twenty before Von Schacht gets himself disqualified for not breaking a hold and continuing to pepper Pesak's elbow with knees. They alternated between solid slugfests and maybe less than dynamic (for the point of the match) holds in the back third but the first two thirds was full of rousing stuff. Von Schacht was an early adopter of the bald, evil German gimmick and he was full of a wild physical charisma. A lot of the early parts of the match was Pesak tossing him out and von Schacht had a great way of landing in the least comfortable looking ways caught up in the rope often head over heels or in a ungainly heap.

He was able to get revenge and discus throw Pesek out once, but primarily he took back over with inside shots, hairpulls, and a dogged sort of aggression. More often than not, Pesek was able to outdo him on the mat though. We do have a few more von Schacht matches and I should double back for those too as he was pretty entertaining here. Some of the slugging towards the end reminded me of when things boiled over in 50s French matches, though it all sort of ended anticlimactically instead. 

Tony St. Clair vs. Clay Thompson Joint Promotions 8/19/67

MD: Occasionally, a member of the community goes above and beyond. Here, fxnj purchased an old film reel off an auction site, had it sent, converted, and then posted it. What we have now is the very likely the oldest full British match online (according to John Lister at least) and a look at what a catchweight match from 1967 looked like, as well as a rare look at Clay Thompson.

Yes, St. Clair, very young and known here primarily as the younger brother of Roy, spent the entire match with his mouth gaping wide open, but all in all, this was good pro wrestling, very good wrestling as sport in the British style. St. Clair had the weight (class) advantage, and used that to press forward for much of the match but Thompson had a clear skill and experience advantage and was able to use that to escape every hold. As evidenced by the finish, there was always a sense that Thompson was just one move away from victory and St. Clair, while being the aggressor, was really just trying to hang on.

This never boiled over, never even came close, though it was grittier on the back half, but there were so many little tricks and escapes by Thompson, and even some holds like an inverted short arm scissors that felt unique or rare. He'd escape again and again and St. Clair would just barely hold on to a wristlock. St. Clair was agile, cartwheeling here and there at times. That made the finish, where he succumbed to a figure-four and came into the next round limping heavily, all the more striking. I could watch a hundred matches like this and they're probably in a vault somewhere in England, gated behind an expensive and elite process. But at least they may exist, right?

Jerry Lawler vs. Steve Rickard Polynesian Pro Wrestling 8/9/86

MD: I'd heard about this match but never watched it before (more Found than New), as best as I can tell. Rickard was well into his 50s at this point. He's the father of New Zealand pro wrestling and created the On the Mat show. We have some episodes of that in the early 80s and I just never got around to checking them out. I'm not sure anyone in our circles really have. Should probably do that some day.

This was pretty straightforward. Lawler had a blonde valet with him for the trip to Hawaii. They cut midway through to Pedicino and some weightlifters. Rickard's age was noted and they talked about his Commonwealth title on commentary. They kept it on the mat for the first half, with a lot of Lawler complaining and Rickard showing him up on holds. Simple, effective stuff. The back half was full of punches, with Rickard meeting Lawler halfway with some pretty good ones, especially uppercuts. Lawler eventually crotched him and got DQed. Probably more on the FUN side of things, given the pace and the attraction feel but I'm not going to say no to a 80s Lawler match against a unique opponent that's new to me.

ER: It's been 40 years and we're still uncovering more evidence of Jerry Lawler being the greatest wrestler in history at working around any opponent's limitations. Jerry Lawler gets great matches out of green giants, TV comics, high school defensive coordinators, fundraising pediatrcicians, diabetic African savages, and various regional elderly men. Lawler is the best possible choice of wrestler to work Aloha Stadium against the biggest star of the Polynesia and presumably Micronesia territory, now in his mid-50s, and get the best match out of him. I enjoyed old Steve Rickard, thought he knew exactly where to place his two best punches and had an armbar takedown that looked like he was trying to post Lawler's arm, but this was just another Lawler masterclass in knowing the exact right match to work for an audience he had barely worked before. 

The video quality is such that it is easier to hear everything Lawler is saying than it is to hear almost anything commentary is saying. Sometimes I have no idea how Matt is able to pick up on certain things commentary is discussing - especially in old lucha - but it also makes me wonder how much the last 25 years of WWE television has made me consciously tune out most commentary. Anyway, this is the kind of super vocal Lawler performance that he usually reserved for much smaller crowds, not a stadium show. I don't know if I've heard Lawler be this vocal during a match, working a Best Possible Barry Darsow match against a territory star who couldn't hack it on the mainland. 

What takes it to the next level is the three minute run to the abrupt DQ finish, after Lawler has made it look like he was going to work a full match of satisfying stooging and loud hair pull complaints and subtle being the back cheating, before pulling out a run of four different ways of landing increasingly damaging punches. Lawler is out here looking like Smug Asshole #1 in his ugly fucking ketchup and mustard tights, the arguable worse color combo of his entire career, worse than any of the 1992 splatter paint tights which actually are great. He's a goof with a dumb goatee and ugly tights who suddenly lands the best punches on the 27 match show, before getting clocked with a Rickard punch that may as well have been him punching Lawler in the side of the head as hard as he could. 

I am consistently blown away by Lawler's innate timing and the way he sells offense as if he knows exactly how his opponent is going to throw it. His bumps and the way he sells every single strike always looks like he knows exactly how devastating or light the move looks. I have no idea how he is able to remove himself for the situation and understand that a shoulderblock landed soft enough that he shouldn't do a flip over bump but instead bump to his tailbone. You can't plan ahead for a Jim Powers punch to land, so how the hell is he able to anticipate how each individual punch is going to look? It's an incredible strength that I think only Stan Hansen, Finlay, Tenryu, and Yuki Ishikawa possess on the same level. 

I can't see Lawler ever dropping outside of my three favorite wrestlers ever, because we are still getting matches from my entire lifetime ago that add to his legacy. Nobody has gotten wrestling in the specific way that Jerry Lawler got wrestling. 

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ALL TIME MOTY LIST Head to Head 1976: Kox v. Murdoch V. Veidor v. Davies

Steve Veidor v. Gwyn Davies Joint Promotions 5/22/76

ER: It seems like every time I write about British wrestling from the 70s or early 80s, I just keep wanting to use the word "wonderful", because it is all just so wonderful to me. I love this era regional wrestling, visually and audibly from a time and place and culture. The commentary really helps the greatness of the match, one moment talking about how Veidor (a man in his early 40s who looks like same era Paul Koslo) is a pin-up who is loved by all the ladies, and the next moment putting over how Davies' wrist isn't at 100% as the two are going through exchanges. Davies is a big hulking guy and makes Veidor appear smaller than he is. Davies knows how to work big and knows how to bully and how to cheapshot. Veidor is good at convincing roll ups, deadweight crossbodies, is a master of surprising with a sharp and fast elbow, and drops out of the sky like a bird hitting a window when Davies elbows him. Veidor goes up early and Davies starts cheating to protect his belt, cracking Veidor with cheap headlock punches and palm strikes, wisely allowing himself to eat a couple of ref's warnings, knowing the damage he inflicts is more valuable to him and outweighs the half punishment. Veidor fights back and never gets cheap, and things peak when he finally snaps and pays Davies back for all the bullshit, trapping him in the corner and punching and kicking him over and over as Davies keeps getting slumped deeper and deeper in that corner. Veidor tosses the ref aside to continue the beating, a wild animal heat of the moment understanding that nets him a warning. Davies is being chopped down, but a stroke of luck happens when he lobs Veidor into the ropes and Veidor gets hanged between ropes. His head is trapped and Veidor's selling combined with the immediate help of the ring crew makes it seem like a super dangerous moment. The ref rules him unable to continue and Davies retains, even though Veidor is ready to go the moment he's freed. The progression of the match was really good, loved the way Veidor sold the nasty sneak punches, loved the way he fought to the end, and loved the shrugging bully charisma that Davies rocked the whole match.

PAS: I was a little skeptical at the beginning of this match, as it is mostly European grappling in a way that can sometimes seems a little stiff to me. I can get into that sometimes, but I would have a hard time seeing that type of match reach MOTY status. This really started cooking about half way through and got legendarily great by the end. I always like a match that develops it's chippiness, after Veidor gets the first pin, Davies gets dirty, kidney punches, closed fists. He gets some weird submission to tie the falls where he lifts Veidor up in a bodyslam position with a hammer lock. At one point Davies gets a second public warning by landing a cheap shot punch, Veidor appears to be bleeding from the mouth and seems to be puking blood in a bucket during the break. Veidor snaps and just starts firing back with huge forearms, driving Davies into the corner. Just an awesome fired up babyface performance, totally felt epic. Finish was awesome with Veidor getting thrown into the ropes and getting his head caught in the Cactus Jack ear shearing bump. The ref stops the match even though Veidor wants to keep fighting. I could totally seeing this match selling a ton of Royal Albert Hall tickets for a rematch

KKK v. Murdoch Review

VERDICT

PAS: Going to stick with the champ here. I think this match may have reached higher highs, the last couple of rounds were all time level stuff, but Kox v. Murdoch kept up a steady level of ass kicking violence the entire time.

ER: Yeah I an going to stick with Kox/Murdoch as well, but I really loved the build throughout this match. I didn't expect the turns that it ended up taking. I'm not too familiar with either guy so it was a new fresh experience for me, and it really unfolded into a classic. The champ is always gonna be my bread and butter, two rednecks kicking ass, but Veidor/Davies was great.

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