Found Footage Friday: HANOVER 1981~! BRET~! BELLOMO~! DIETER~! MOROWSKI~! GORO~! KIMURA~!

10/23/81 Hanover

Bret Hart vs. Paco (Francisco) Ramirez

MD: We only barely hear Bret come out to Some Girls by Racey which is the highlight of his matches in Germany generally. Paco Ramirez was really leaning into the bandelero thing with the hat and the music and the pancho as best as we can see at least.Nice bit to start. Bret pressed Ramirez to the ropes and Paco tripped him. Then he tried it again and Bret sidestepped and whacked him. Paco let the crowd get under his skin pretty well. They did some bits where Bret outwrestled him only for Ramirez to hair pull and then get run over. This was all sound but clearly Ramirez had more connection with the crowd. 

You know who else had more of a connection? The ref. At one point Ramirez refused to break a hold so the ref dropkicked him out of the ring to a huge pop. I'm not sure this helped either Bret or the match though. Bret got a big comeback out of the corner reversing a whip and all of his babyface offense (forearms and dropkicks and a legdrop) looked crisp, crisp enough to score him the win.

ER: I think I like Germany Bret Hart a lot more than Matt. I see this guy a couple years into his career, and am kind of blown away by his execution and poise. His connection to German crowds wasn't there, but who do you expect him to be, Sal Bellomo? He works this match at a very brisk pace and I was impressed by the deep bag he brought. He played wet behind the ears rookie to Ramirez's sneaky vet, but his ring work did not look like a rookie's. He has snap on everything he does, every collision looks honest, every throw or takedown is physically sound. These are the full grown snapmares of a man who understands the physics of a snapmare, understands the physics of an armdrag. When he runs at Ramirez, his approach is believable whether he connects or misses, because there's an honesty to his work. I am a big fan of Established Bret and one of the things I love most about his work is his honesty. 

There is a logic to his progression, he clearly mentally keeps track of what kind of offense he "should be able to do" as a match progresses, and the execution is that of someone in his current match condition. He is never a worker who is going to work the match the exact same in minute 15 as he was in minute 2...but that seems like a much more impressive skill for someone to have this early in their career. He is not fully formed Bret, but he's much closer to that level than we could have reasonably assumed. The one noticeable thing he grew out of as he continued to improve, is he lost that kind of hunched shoulder stillness during what should be the glue moments. I think of Bret as a strong Glue Guy because he is never caught in a state of stasis in between The Action. He's good at occupying space, good at gluing spots together with body language. Here he was still standing there in a wrestler's hunch, waiting for the next thing to happen. I wonder when he grew out of that. Owen never grew out of that. You can watch almost any 1998 Owen match and see him standing dead still in that same hunch, waiting in place for the next thing to happen. 

Sal Bellomo vs. Manuel Lopez

MD: If you asked me fifteen years ago if I'd rather see a comparable Bret or Bellomo match... well, Bellomo was beloved here. Lopez came out to bullfighting music but with less aplomb than Ramirez. This was face vs face and had a lot of fun tit for tat type spots. Lopez would flip Bellomo and play it up, then Bellomo would do it to him. Lopez would escape a hold by lifting Bellomo and carrying him to the top turnbuckle and seating him there, then Bellomo would escape one by positioning Lopez onto the apron. All fun stuff. Handshakes and sportsmanship. In the second round, Bellomo escaped a headscissors by scooting around and kicking at Lopez' belly a bunch which popped the crowd. Then they went into a bodyscissors sequence that ended with them stuck together by their legs.

Lopez had a lot of fun stuff. They did a bow and arrow, a stump puller (which is not something you see often), and he had ways of stepping over and whacking the arm to unlock things. All that and a ripcord spinout backbreaker. Bellomo was happy to take all of it since shortly thereafter he leaped up to the second rope and hit a flying body press off of it to pick up the win. Pretty fun stuff while it lasted though.

ER: Many in our community love to "build books" on guys. Do a dive into someone known or unknown, see if there are any things that were missed, anything we can mention about someone's work that could change an opinion or inspire further digging. There are sexy names to do dives on, and, well, less sexy names. Salvatore Bellomo feels like a guy who is being discussed only by me and Matt, a German sensation who showed next to none of his babyface crowd connections in his WWF undercard work. We had no idea about Bellomo in Germany and even after writing about several of his German appearances, I feel like he is still a guy only being experienced by me and Matt. Are some deep dive names so unsexy that even upon finding revelations about said sexless wrestler, they inspire more of a "we'll take your word for it" approach rather than a "I too will now form opinions on this man on whom I had none"? I have yet to see Salvatore Bellomo Discourse outside of what Matt and I have written, but I suppose I also have not sought it out. We are alone on our Bellomo Islet, down here in our Bellomo Mines.   

All that to say, Bellomo works in Germany like I have never seen him work anywhere else. There was an armdrag spot where he flew up around and over Lopez and it had so much snap that it looked like a Tiger Mask spot, only Bellomo's had more quick burst speed. Who is this guy? The bulk of the match is built around Bellomo holding a near pornographic body vice in a long, extremely entertaining sequence. The holds were strong and believably cinched in, Bellomo refusing to break a snug body vice while the talented Lopez found ways out or attempted to lock in his own. I need to see Bellomo's early 80s striptease routines because the way he keeps his legs locked around Lopez in various positions points to someone who would have incredible pole control. When the round ends there's one of the best ref untanglings I've seen. The bell sounded while their legs were fully tangled, standing on their heads no differently than a spot I'd see live 20 years later between American Dragon and Low Ki. I am going out on a limb assuming that neither were inspired by early 80s Sal Bellomo, but now I know it only would have made their spot better. The ref had to work hard to unlock these holds, both men crying out in theatrical pain while what sounds like Dutch pop music plays buoyantly over the top.  If that's not better, maybe it's better to just leave Matt and I on our islet. 

Axel Dieter/UFO vs. John Quinn/Grand Vladimir

MD: So until last week or so I had no idea that Kaiser was Axel Dieter Jr. That just shows you how tuned out I am I guess. Maybe Eric knew? Anyway, they chant for Axel as he's announced and for UFO after that. Fans love these guys and for good reason. 

This might have been for some sort of title or an end of tour tournament or something since the faces got big wreaths at the end. Shine at the start was a blast. Dieter is so good at presenting himself as a star and taking up space. UFO is beloved but more wins slugfests or out-techniques opponents. Vladimir shines as a stooge (Quinn does more teeter tottering but is probably better on offense). Dieter had all of the headstand toupie takeovers before he finally got beaten into the corner. After quite a bit of doubleteaming but nothing that stood out, he got punched into the corner and UFO came in hot to win the fall. Second fall had heat on UFO leading to a Canadian backbreaker, with the third fall continuing the heat leading escape of more backbreaker attempts to a much bigger hot tag to set up the finish. I'm not sure the heel control was quite as compelling as I'd like for a double heat even with some threats of cards and what not.

ER: I had no idea that Ludwig Kaiser was Axel Dieter Jr. but I also haven't watched WWE in so long that the last time I did that guy was named Marcel Barthel and wasn't 't a big crossover star in a Mexican lucha fed that The Undertaker is booking, so there are probably a ton of things in life that I don't know. Who knows what kind of sons Le Gran Vladimir could have out there. Water softener repairmen, HVAC guys, insurance salesmen. Matt and I are the only ones who speak the name Vladimir, who knows who he has spawned. I love teaming up the two tallest foreigners to fight the two biggest babyfaces, made this seem like a big match from go. Quinn and Vlad are very similar workers (at least they're working a similar style in Germany) and their simple control is easy for crowd favorites Dieter and UFO to build off into bigger things. Dieter works more FIP while UFO is the one coming in and trading blows with the big men.

Neither big man does anything spectacular - that's not really the big heel German style - but they're good at basing for things like Dieter's complicated headscissors, and they can break out some surprisingly vicious stuff, like when Quinn stomped down hard on Dieter's face. Vladimir hits one of the biggest and baddest kneelifts I've seen, after Quinn roughly whips UFO into the buckles, tagging in and moving UFO's whole body several feet with the power of his knee. It didn't look like UFO leaping in response, it looked like a man being launched against his will by a powerful knee force. They are powerful, but we need to believe they can be felled by our heroes, and they're good at getting felled. Vlad is great at felling them. There's an excellent spot where UFO is uppercutting Vlad in the ropes, getting into a rhythm, hitting him again and again, and when Vlad's body is anticipating the next recoil UFO steps aside to break the rhythm and send Vlad faceplanting to the mat. 

Karl Dauberger vs. Kengo Kimura

MD: First round had some good dueling armwork, including Kimura getting a hammerlock on repeatedly. When Dauberger started to take liberties in the ropes, Kimura showed real fire with the ref. He had some nice escapes from holds with various scissors including one on the arm I haven't seen much before. Second round was mainly Dauberger grinding down on him with chinlocks and headlocks until Kimura was able to get some kicks in right at the bell. Kimura came back big in the next round with some huge whips and kicks. Dauberger could sell being whipped into the corner (and bump big and stylized along with it). He took over when the ref finally pulled Kimura back (too fiery for his own good). On offense Dauberger was very meat and potatoes with his clubbering and leaning. Kimura came back one more time but Daubuerger got him to the apron and attacked his leg from the floor until he got DQ'ed. Maybe this is why Kimura ended up in his trademark leg brace. Probably not.

ER: Really good stuff, a great asshole Dauberger performance and some always engaging selling from the underdog Kimura. Dauberger goes after Kimura's leg with nothing too fancy, just being a brute, and I was super impressed with Kimura's selling. It felt like someone selling an actual knee injury and not Wrestling Selling. Even between rounds he was stretching his leg on the ropes, in a way that wasn't fully attached to the match. He wasn't limping his way through sequences, he just looked like a guy convincingly working hurt and it gave him this subtle fire that got people fully behind him the deeper he went. Dauberger leaned his weight on him and smothered him, and whenever they were apart he would start trolling Kimura again. There was a great moment where he kicked Kimura in the face while drawing the ref's attention to his complaint, then casually sidestepped Kimura's dropkick response. This needed more of a Kimura comeback to evolve into something special, but I also liked that Dauberger recognized when he had gone too far and fucked Kimura up a bit more before taking the DQ. No comeuppance, just suffering. 

Moose Morowski vs. Jim Neidhart

MD: This had moments where it looked like it was going to hit a different gear, but never quite made it. When they were slugging away, it was good. When Neidhart was charging at him, it was good. Problem was, he started the match by having Morowski move and knock him out and ended it by having him crash hard into the corner and get pinned. In the middle, he got a bearhug on a few times and knocked him over the top once with a hard shot, but it was more posturing and teasing them really going at it than them really going at it. 

ER: It's true this never grew to the power struggle it could have, for reasons that might be Neidhart's inexperience or maybe even his inability to do more. He doesn't have great strikes for various reasons. Either he's not good at throwing worked strikes, or was told to never put weight behind his strikes, so I don't know if he has it in him to escalate this match the way it could have. This is not me saying Neidhart isn't a tough guy, more that I wish his toughness would come through in some fucking slug out with a hoss like Moose Morowski. It doesn't. Neidhart rarely gets to that level. We have more than enough footage of the guy to determine that he just does not have that level in him. We've heard enough stories about how hard he partied, so you'd think reaching that level in a ring would be second nature, but it may be that he was actually conserving his energy for partying while holding back as much as possible in the ring. I don't think I can find fault with that mentality within pro wrestling, really. An NFL practice squad guy should be an expert at violently crashing into guys nicknamed Moose, so we know it's a conscious decision when he does not do that. The power grappling was what made this worth watching. Morowski holding Neidhart in a painful crossface, forcing Neidhart to break by grabbing handfuls of Morowski's hair into a snapmare, that kind of thing. Do more of that and it's a heavyweight struggle that wouldn't need strikes. But I do love Morowski capitalizing on Neidhart's meathead idiocy, essentially painting a tunnel on a rock face and tricking him to run full speed into it...twice. 

10/20/81 Hanover, Germany

Sal Bellomo vs. Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka

MD: This threw me at first since Bellomo had Kauroff as a corner man and Tsurumi had Kimura and they got announced in their track suits and everything and that doesn't usually happen. This was going all the way and they really milked it. Some great lockups in the first round leading to them trading headlocks. Second round was about armholds and armdrags but again they were working it and it felt very competitive. 

Goro opened things up in the third with shots and stomps and was able to control the arm accordingly. Bellomo had some great hope in the fourth, including a rolling leg pick and a kip up followed by a dropkick but he ended up right back into holds and was really selling the arm by the end of the round. That continued into the fifth which was all Goro. He'd do waterpumps and even cross arm breakers and while Sal tried to fight back, he couldn't get anything going. 

Sixth round had him scrambling, just trying to survive and avoid Goro getting his arm. Lots of rolling away or spinning out as the fans cheered for him. He somehow managed a drop toe hold and things picked up to rope running. That let him hit a back body drop and finally take control on the leg. Seventh had him press his advantage with a roll up into a leglock but Goro had enough and started chopping away, getting real heat since he didn't go to this until things had turned on him. Bellomo took a real beating through the round with Goro's bs kung fu looking good. Eight had Bellomo start to fire back. He'd get cut off a few times but would power through and the fans loved it. He ended it with holds but unable to put Goro away. The last round was a testament to their wind as they really went at it, but just as Bellomo was going to win with his leaping back body block, the time expired. It was pretty good but maybe not worth the time investment if I'm going to be totally honest. Sal really was super over in Germany though.

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New Footage Friday: HANOVER 1981~! BELLOMO~! TSURUMI~! NEIDHART~! KIMURA~! VLADIMIR~! MOROWSKI~! QUINN~!

Hanover Germany 

10/20/81

Sal Bellomo vs. Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka

MD: It's insane how much this crowd loved Bellomo. And he gave them lots to root for. The first couple of rounds here had him ducking every Tsurumi shot and then firing back big. Tsurumi was game for it too. He got a throat shot or knee to the gut in here or there but ended up getting stretched by Bellomo. Bellomo got to slam him but he really had to work at it including a gut punch. He hit a bit back body press off the second rope but it was at the end of a round. Tsurumi finally took over with a great bear hug into a belly to belly, which he followed with nasty abdominal style stretches that were half octopi but Bellomo kept on fighting as much as he could nonetheless, surviving to the end of the match and the draw. Post match, he and Tsurumi hugged. 

ER: I love Goro Tsurumi's matches with Sal Bellomo. They officially have a series and we are documenting it, and it's one of those great things wrestling offers us, giving us something unexpected to look forward to. You watch enough wrestling, you find yourself getting excited by sometimes unexpected things. Matt and I wrote about a different 1981 Goro/Bellomo match a few months ago and it was a good feeling, gaining an opinion on Salvatore Bellomo. Isn't it great when you gain an opinion on a wrestler, especially one who you've known about so long? Wrestlers are just footage waiting to be found. It's never too late to recognize how good Iron Mike Sharpe was. Sal Bellomo was a German babyface superstar before and after he worked interminable undercard matches in WWF. Goro Tsurumi is a dude tough with throwing power, and they build the first two round into a wild 3rd round fight. 

Bellomo thinks he came a beat away from winning the match at the end of the 2nd, so Goro charges out like a wild man in the 3rd and goes straight into the buckles. When he finally recognizes he can't out-quick Sal, he drops to his knees and challenges him to a fight. In the 1st, Bellomo was landing every punch and dodging every overhand Baba chop Goro threw; in the 3rd, Goro goads Sal into a kneeling fist fight, and before long they're trading meaty headbutts. The 3rd round is one of the best individual rounds of all the 1981 Germany we've written about. It's a real fight. Bellomo throws himself into a Thesz press but Tsurumi catches him in a bearhug, holds him a beat, then throws him with a belly to belly like 1991 Scott Steiner. Tsurumi comes off so dangerous that the crowd screams in unisons, counting down the final 10 seconds of the round, relieved that Bellomo was simply going to survive. They cheer for Bellomo not tapping out to an abdominal stretch like they were watching David Hasselhoff perform on the Berlin Wall. Sal Bellomo was there. 

10/6/81

Grand Vladimir vs. Sal Bellomo

MD: This wasn't bad by any means, but it was a little dry, especially considering just how good a stooge Vlad can be and how into Bellomo the crowd could be. This was stark, that's a good word for it. Vlad controlled a lot of it by cheating, hairpulls, cheapshots, just laying stuff in. My favorite thing he did was an alternating clubber/headbutt in the corner. Whenever Bellomo would start to come back something would work against him. The ref would hold him back in the corner and he'd eat a gut shot around him or the bell would ring. He did come out one round guns blazing and gave Vlad the what for, but Vlad was able to turn things around and chuck him over the top. That was the beginning of the end and Vlad ultimately put him out with a cobra clutch. Post match he helped him up just to deck him (which was great heeling). Bellomo fired back but Vlad cut him off since he was still groggy and left with his head high in victory.

ER: There are different things to value about Sal Bellomo in his matches against someone as large as Vladimir vs. someone his size but with a different skillset like Tsurumi. Vladimir doesn't react to Bellomo's strikes at all, isn't moved by them at all. So, Bellomo starts throwing uppercuts as targeting missiles, leaving his feet and flying up into Vlad, and that starts to move him. I loved Eddie Guerrero's flying back elbow, thrown like a full body block like a Darby Allin cannonball. Bellomo's weren't that advanced, but it made them look more raw, like when Bill Dundee would leave his feet for a few fired up punches. Bellomo didn't throw uppercuts like this to Tsurumi, because he didn't have to. He changes full range of motion depending on opponent, and a year ago that's something I wouldn't have known Sal had in him. The finish was great work from Vlad, choking Bellomo out but helping the referee get him back to his feet, only to knock his ass back to the mat. That's for the 8th flying uppercut. 

Mile Zrno vs. UFO

MD: They introduce Mile Zrno as "Super Talent" and yes, yes he is. How do I put this? When you watch Mile Zrno you realize that you've been taking so much for granted. The world is a more vivid place during a Mile Zrno match, even with this not ideal video quality. There's more snap to everything, more torque, more struggle, more balance, more rotation. One thing I tend to try to do as I write about wrestling is talk more about structure and story and feel and mood and plot than actual execution. Because I can tell and understand stories but I haven't done any martial arts since I was a teenager and certainly not most that come into play here. But with Zrno, you can just see the technique on the screen, it's undeniable.

UFO is obviously no slouch and he is the aggressor for the brunt of this, but everyone knows what's going on. He's there to put on a hold so that Zrno can escape in the most spectacular way possible and put on a tricked out counterhold of his own. There are so many bridges and flips into bridges and rotations and everything. In the second round, UFO takes things to strikes first and has an advantage because of it, but Zrno can fire back that way too. They take this just about as far as they can, going right to the bell in the last round. They're really slugging away and trying quick takedowns and pins as the fans are counting down. As good as it sounds.

ER: Mike Zrno is a great Girlfriend Wrestler. I've watched a lot of pro wrestling with a lot of unlucky girlfriends in my life. Since wrestling is such a constant dripping faucet that is leaking every day, my girlfriends have all just gone through the same habits and same projects as I have, experiencing DVDVR 80s sets and other neverending streams of dvds and video files in my own real time. They absorb maybe 5-10% of it and I have only modest influence over what is absorbed. Zrno is a guy who moves in a way that gets noticed, gets absorbed. The way he floats on kip ups, the way he fights hard and falls odd. He is noticeable. All the girlies watching Mile Zrno's kip ups and Bob Della Serra's lightning fast lucha maestro drop toeholds are over here in the corner, unnoticed. Bob Della Serra is Silver King to Zrno's Juventud. Zrno is Baryshnikov and Della Serra is...uh, whomever Baryshnikov's thicker rival was. Both men throw different kinds of violent strikes and strike like cobra's on single leg takedowns. The second round has grinding matwork and UFO slamming his way out of a flying headscissors attempt. The third fall builds to a sick fight down the home stretch. Both men move with such grace and control that it looked like two Cirque de Soleil performers miming Futen. 

Goro "Tanaka" Tsurumi vs. Moose Morowski

MD: Two guys who really knew what they were doing in this setting. Morowski didn't break clean right at the start and controlled the entire first round, including tossing him out liberally. Tsurumi carried himself in a way that it was clear once the round was over, he was going to strike back hard, and he did, taking basically the whole second round with karate shot after karate shot. When Morowski came back it was with an extended atomic noogie, so that was great. He hit a pile driver to cement it. Morowski drove him off of the ropes throat first repeatedly, only for Tsurumi to come back with one of his own to a big pop. Finish had Morowski jamming a roll up off the ropes and then hitting a shoulderbreaker. Straightforward stuff but they worked very well together. 

Kengo Kimura vs. Jim Neidhart

MD: If there are WAR tags, there should be weird 1981 Germany match ups. This one is so bizarre on paper, but it worked. Neidhart screwed around by breaking Kimura's full nelson to start, but then ate a dropkick after he broke it the second time and Kimura switched it right into a mare the third time. Kimura then started in on the leg with a take down and later a low kick. Neidhart sold it well and eventually escaped to the floor while Kimura theatrically helped the ref count. 

Second round had Neidhart charge right in with an eyerake and clubber down on him. After a while, Kimura ducked a shot and came back with chops and overhand karate strikes. Neidhart actually took the bret face first bump into the corner. Neidhart tried to charge in again in the third round but Kimura ducked it and started chopping. He hit a body block but got caught in a side backbreaker the second time. Then Neidhart hit the stampede for the win. Pretty good for two and a half rounds. 

Axel Dieter/Klaus Kauroff vs. Karl Dauberger/John Quinn 

MD: Pretty unsubstantial tag, a feel good sort. The heels never really controlled for any length of time and it was straight babyface pins. Dauberger got the worst of it, just getting knocked around the ring with hard shots from both Dieter and Kauroff. Fans loved Kauroff and would stomp when he was pounding on his opponents. Quinn fared better and could more than hold his own. Against him, Kauroff needed to pull out headbutts and the like. But it was all feeding and stooging for the most part. Dieter got a pin with a nice rollup for the first fall and Kauroff took the second with a big slam. Sometimes I guess you just need to send people home happy.

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Found Footage Friday: Hanover 1981~! KENGO KIMURA VS BRET HART~?!

9/28/81 Hanover

Salvatore Bellomo vs. Pat Roach

MD: The great mystery to be solved in this footage, as much as anything else, is just why and how Sal Bellomo and Bob Dellaserra (UFO) were so over. Because they are the two most over guys in 1980 and 1981 Bremen, even over locals. And they're not people who are known to be THIS over anywhere else.

I think you actually can find part of the answer in this one. Roach obviously dominated this match. In the first round he overpowered Bellomo, ran through him, but Bellomo kept on it, dropping down and dodging so that he could dropkick Roach out. Yes, Roach came right back and chucked Bellomo out for revenge, but he had his little victories. In the second round, Roach pounded on him, but Bellomo kept at it, firing back, bouncing off the rope with a forearm, even staggering him at times. 

The match continued as such. Roach had a clear advantage, but Bellomo just wouldn't quit. He'd chip away, never for long, but just enough to let the crowd know he was worth investing in. Eventually he was able to get Roach into the corner and did the Van Buyten flying leap into a ten count punch and they went nuts for that. Then he drove Roach back with shot after shot and tossed him into the other corner. Roach took a wild bump over the top and on the way back in Bellomo slammed him and the place went nuts at the upset. Lightning in a bottle.

Mile Zrno vs. Manuel Lopez

MD: This was as good as you'd expect. First round was all Lopez with Zrno in a hammerlock and lots of different escape attempts. Zrno would go over the top but end up right back in it. He'd try again and get shrugged down to the mat. Second round had him returning favor with a cravat that he held on to until they went into teeter totter monkey flips. Zrno had a lot of fun bridges and Zrno did this great ripcord into a backbreaker. Then in the third round, they got in and out quickly, with some rope running, an arm drag slam by Lopez, some gut shots by Zrno, and then roll ups with Zrno winning it with a nice bridging cradle.

Axel Dieter/Klaus Karoff vs. Moose Morowski/Grand Vladimir

MD: Kauroff was super over. Dieter maybe over by association (and his own crowd pleasing stuff). The first half of the first fall, they really kept it paired up. Dieter was paired with Vladimir and would do bridging headcissors takeovers and a lot of mares and what not. Morowski and Kauroff would just do the clash of the titans stuff, with Kauroff often getting the better off him with these big whacks. A couple of times, Kauroff was able to drag him to the corner and take over but never for too long. At one point, after a comeback, Dieter tagged him in and the place was literally rocking, the camera shaking all over the place due to the fans stomping. Dieter and Kauroff took the first fall after a Dieter catapult onto Vladimir off the ropes and back onto his knees and then a body slam.

Second fall had a lot of quick tags from Dieter and Kauroff but the ref ended up distracted with Kauroff and Morowski finished Dieter off with a shoulder breaker. That led to the most real heat in the match in the third fall as they beat down Dieter. An errant kneelift from Vladimir brought Kauroff back in and the place started rocking again. Ultimately, I think Kauroff and Dieter lost it after Dieter back body dropped Vlad over the top but they cleared the ring and ended up standing tall in the end and the crowd was with them as they celebrated.

Kengo Kimura vs. Bret Hart

MD: I'm not saying 'this is why we go through the footage', because while this is an interesting match, it's not nearly as good any of the first three matches, but is it ever a novelty? Can you imagine this match in 1987? That's not my favorite Bret year or anything but he still has the SNME Savage match. But this is 1981 so a very different beast. Anyway, Bret's out to Racey's "Some Girls" like always. Kimura's out to "Japanese Boy" by Aneka. 

This was a pretty good first match on a NJPW or Mid-South card. Clean wrestling, aggressive, hold-based. Kimura ended the first round working the leg with some nice falling back deathlocks. Bret worked the arm a bit in the second and they did some rolls up. In the third they started chipper and went right to the rope running. The finish was a bit wonky as Kimura just ran through him with a strike. Perfectly fine wrestling here but pretty vanilla overall.

UFO vs. Jim Neidhart:

MD: I took a break after the Bret match and forgot who Neidhart was facing. Well the crowd reminded me quickly. "U-FO, U-FO, U-FO." over and over. Neidhart took a lot of this mainly by charging at UFO and slapping on chinlocks. When he missed and UFO got the better of him, the fans went up big for it, and UFO worked his way out of the chinlock again and again and it always worked but it wasn't the world's most interesting match, maybe. It ended just as you'd expect, with UFO dodging a corner charge for a roll up. Still, you can't say this wasn't effective and a good use of Neidhart's football credentials. Neidhart did have a lot of raw energy and charisma that would become more honed and stylized for good and ill later on.

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10/10/81

Klaus Kauroff vs. Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka

MD: The appeal here is that these two are bigger, or at least thicker, than a lot of wrestlers. They still had a ton of skill though. Both had some takeovers that were quite impressive, but made all the more so given the size. Kauroff had a headscissors (sort of bridging) takeover that I wasn't expecting and they really went over on some of the arm flips. The first round was mostly arm control but bookended with takeovers. The second they started to clash with big shots a bit more. There was one leapfrog where Kauroff was turned completely sideways as Tsurumi vaulted over him in a way I don't think I've seen before. Third fall had a bit of rope running and a quick slam. Fans liked both of these guys and it never boiled over but it was okay for a relatively short three round affair.

Achim Chall/Sal Bellomo vs. Karl Dauberger/Jim Neidhart

MD: Neidhart and Bellomo worked well together to start. Bellomo would dodge him while rope running and come back with a dropkick. He agreed to three point stance charges and got knocked around only to leapfrog one so Neidhart went flying. Fans loved it. Neidhart played reactive and prickly well already. Chall and Dauberger did a great bit out of a double knucklelock where they went up and down with it before Chall stepped over and did a spin kick. That caused Dauberger to lose his cool and then run right into a shot as he careened off the ropes. Then Neidhart went for a handshake (obviously a cheapshot set up) and Bellomo clowned him with a behind the back lure-in. So fun stuff in the early exchanges. 

They cycled into a few minuets of full nelsons after that, with Neidhart making a bit show of it. He'd escape Bellomo's and then let go of Bellomo to show his superiority. He got kicked in the face for his trouble. Then they did it with Chall, trading off until he escaped that way a few minutes later too. Bellomo came in hot but got tripped from the outside and pinned.

Second fall had them bullying Bellomo in the corner, but Dauberger got cocky and Chall returned the favor from the end of the first fall, tripping him so that Bellomo could pin him. Clever stuff. 

Third fall was a long, long heat on Chall, and it was good, if simple. A lot of front facelocks as he strained towards the corner with Neidhart either getting a shot in or coming in from the outside to pull the tights to yank him back. That'd draw Bellomo in and then allow for the double teaming. Eventually, against Dauberger, Chall made it and the place went nuts. Problem was that they were working towards a draw so there was still another five or six minutes of back and forth with some attempts to draw back into heat and some major bits of comeuppance before the bell rang as they were brawling. If this thing ended shortly after the hot tag it would have been a lot better. It still was one of the best performances out of Bret or Neidhart that we have on this tour.

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Found Footage Friday: BREMEN 1981~! BRET~! WRIGHT~! CASWELL~! ROACH~! UFO~! DIETER~! MOROWSKI~! QUINN~! NEIDHART~!

Bremen 10/20/81

Bret Hart vs. Steve Wright

MD: This show starts with footage of the vending tables and other things which give a really nice slice of life for the time. This match, like the Roach one we covered last month, is amazing just to exist. Steve Wright and Bret Hart! Who knew. And it goes much like you'd expect, with Hart a real game opponent for Wright. The first round and a half has Bret getting little flashes (including dropkicking him out of the ring to start) but Wright mostly controlling and making Bret work his way out. There's a nice cravat exchange where Wright hangs on, for instance. Bret does get the better of him at the end of most of these though. Wright is definitely not clowning Bret like he does others and he goes out of his way to shake his hand between rounds. 

In the middle of the second round, he starts bullying with slams and big whips and Bret flies around for him. This ends with a bridge by Wright that Bret sneaks out of, leaving him there, the biggest comedy of the match but it was quite funny. Into the third round, they pick up the pace including a great bounding mirrored monkey flip sequence, before Wright gets a backslide out of nowhere. I could have used another round and a bit more clowning but this was very good stuff overall. (And for what it's worth Bret still comes out to "Some Girls" by Racey, look it up).

ER: It's weird that Bret only mentioned Steve Wright's hairline and skinny build in his book, and didn't praise his work style the way he praised similar (and arguably lesser) workers. He didn't have a ton of praise for many of the guys on these Germany tours, if I remember correctly, so either he had a bad time doing nightly tent shows or didn't like how Wright was throwing him 10 feet on hip tosses. I remember him saying that he worked so hard on night one that all the old guys got jealous and he was buried the rest of the tour. But Wright wasn't even 30, an old man by hairline only, and seems like the kind of worker Bret would have liked; their styles are a natural fit. 

This was exactly what I would have expected a 1981 Bret/Wright match to look like, and that's a good thing. It's just a wee taste, ending in the third when things felt like they were just heating up. There's a lot of mirror exchanges but done properly, with tight execution and a sense of monkey see, with big headlock takeovers, Bret getting flipped with tight headscissors. Bret's escape in the 2nd got a laugh out of me, leaving Wright in a neck bridge briefly unaware of Bret's absence. Wright's handshake when he got to his feet felt like a fun fourth wall break, different from his attitude the rest of the match. Bret wrecks him with an uppercut in the 3rd (a "lifter" as Bret called them) and it stood out extra because it was really the only big strike of the match. Maybe that's why Wright went to the finish so quickly...

Caswell Martin vs. Pat Roach

MD: Very, very good stuff. These two matched up so well. I like Martin against anyone really, but here there was contrast and basing and something for him to overcome. I think they may have even wrestled in the UK in footage we might have right around this point, but the familiarity is absolutely there. Roach would try to clubber or bully him and Martin would have to outslick him in multiple ways, whether it was taking a hold and just hanging on through everything or using a headbutt out of nowhere or just bounding about with interesting escapes. 

The two that stood out the most were one where Roach was slamming his head into the mat and Martin just rolled through which I've never seen before and another when he was going for a side backbreaker and Martin was able to take the upward momentum and just keep going around with it. Incredible stuff really. So much of what Martin does are things I've never seen anyone else do and he does it so effortlessly. The match ended sort of abruptly after Martin almost pinned Roach with multiple double leg nelsons over and over; Roach had enough and ground the leg in the ropes until he got DQed. Very good while it lasted though.

ER: I was shocked by how much this match was built around big bumps over the top rope. Many of them were Roach hurling Martin up and over, my favorite being a short shoulderblock that sent him flying backwards to the floor. The more Martin would get up, the harder Roach would throw him, and the more Martin endured the more he aimed to throw Roach over the top. Martin couldn't out-strike him, so Roach was able to bully him, always attacking after the bell, kicking him in the head any time Martin was down, and I loved how Martin had his big hard head as a weapon when the elbows weren't fazing Roach. Roach is good at selling strikes appropriately, not over the top, and doing simple things well, like really smashing his face into turnbuckles and taking Martin's tricks well. This is another one that felt like it had more story to tell, but the story we got was good fun. 

Sal Bellomo vs. Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka

MD: Not a lot to say here. Tanaka came out to the Bridge Over the River Kwai whistle march which is kind of chilling when you think about it. Bellomo is always over. First two rounds were quite subdued with a lot of Tanaka holding an arm. They moved in and out of it a bit but only a bit. There was at least one great Bellomo dropkick. Things opened up in the third round and when they were slugging it out it was pretty good. Likewise the fourth until they both went sailing over the top and drew the countout. This had less of Tanaka being a showman but I suppose that's more when he's up against heels.

ER: I think it's good we are documenting this Germany footage, for little things like the Sal Bellomo footage. In the last decade plus we've gotten a lot of new footage of all time legends that only solidified their cases as all time greats. The Omni footage alone has helped the reputations of a dozen different guys. Seeing a bunch of new Greg Valentine or Buzz Sawyer and thinking they're even better than we thought is great, but I love how much I look forward to Brett Wayne Sawyer matches now. I didn't realize how much I connected to his work until finally seeing the right footage 40 years later. 

But not every wrestler needs to have A Case made for them. Not all new footage needs to give us a new overlooked wrestler to categorize a Favorite, we don't need to fall in love with everyone we see. No matter our opinion on someone as a worker, it's automatically good to see every worker we can At Their Best. I have so few opinions on Salvatore Bellomo. I have opinions on so many workers, and only so many can make the cut. Maybe I've seen a dozen Sal Bellomo matches, maybe I've seen 50. I don't know because I think about so many other wrestlers before I think about Sal Bellomo. I think of Tony Garea and Terry Daniels more than I think of Sal Bellomo, but that doesn't mean I think they are better workers. 

Bremen Bellomo feels like we're seeing Sal Bellomo at his best, loved by an energetic crowd in a language he doesn't speak. If we suddenly got several Puerto Rico Frankie Lancaster matches and Puerto Ricans a hundred feet away in a baseball stadium were going nuts for this jacked guy who always looked old it would be revelatory. If Goro Tsurumi was working this kind of snug basics loud chops wrestling but had the afro of 1984 Goro Tsurumi would he have been the surprise German cult favorite? I don't think Bellomo got over as well in the Bruno Italian markets as well as he got over in Germany, but maybe I need to watch more Bellomo and soon I'm thinking about his matches. 

Goro Tsurumi and Bellomo are guys who have never been reevaluated. Is Goro a great lost 90s worker? Could be. Do we have late 90s IWA Kokusai? Is his 1994 FMW run good? Sounds good. I watched plenty of Goro during the All Japan 80s Project and none of those matches made the cut. When does Goro start making the cut? 

Moose Morowski/Jim Neidhart vs. Gran Vladimir/John Quinn

MD: A bruising, entertaining heel vs. heel match here. The second fall came quickly after the first and there weren't really big momentum shifts. Morowski was throwing big shots throughout. Really, they all were. It broke down a few times. Neidhart's strength was played up as he ran through people and broke holds and won shoving matches. He got overly rambunctious at the end of both falls and got caught, first by an arm drag slam by Vladimir and then later by Quinn's boot. I can't imagine anyone being too disappointed by this because it was so hard hitting though.

ER: Matt's not wrong about Racey's "Some Girls" by the way. It sounds like a lesser Dave Edmunds track. Jim Neidhart is another guy I've seen a lot who I don't have much opinion on, but Neidhart as Moose Morowski's humongous 12 year old son, is perfect casting. It is such a perfect on paper fit that maybe this was the territory that would have given us out best Anvil. He's billed as American Football Champion Jim Neidhart and I wonder if Germany ever went through a Raiders Gear era or if that's not really a thing because I've just lived in California all my life. Being billed as American Football Champion is so cool it could be on the Survival Tobita shirt. Neidhart is a name that sounds insane when shouted by a German, feels like the place he would have become a legend. He would have eventually been turned into a beer pounding babyface like like Da Crusher, had he wanted to be an 80s German pop culture star instead of a guy pounding pitchers and placidyl at the Rockford Holiday Inn. More money, sure, but there's probably nothing like being an American star exclusively to Europeans. A man pounding a boot, leaning his weight into the ropes and using big stomach and broad keg hoisting shoulders to deliver full weight shoulder blocks. Another life. 

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10/23/81?

Bob Della Serra/Axel Dieter vs. Gran Vladimir/John Quinn

MD: I've been sitting on watching this match for a couple of months and it honestly seemed pretty special. I have no idea what's going on here or what this is for but the winners got wreaths and the crowd was going nuts. This is shot from ringside, underneath, as opposed to the almost hardcam handheld view from all the rest of the footage so far. We really don't miss any of the action but it's a little harder. 

And it's just very good. It's in three falls like most of these tags. It's really more about the babyfaces, I'd say. Dieter has a lot of tricks and stuff on the mat including a toupie headspin takeover. Eventually he does get swept under and they work him over well, only for UFO to come in super hot. The fans absolutely love him punching again and again and again. Just super spirited stuff. The babyfaces took the first fall but he got swept under in the second, a second round of heat even though he'd try to punch from literally underneath as he was getting back to his feet (which looked great from this angle). Quinn finally got him with the over the shoulder backbreaker. 

It's amazing how beloved UFO was. Dellaserra was just so over in this territory. A lot of the babyfaces were, to be fair. Dieter is too but UFO just had a special connection for this balding guy in red gear who doesn't otherwise stand out. Maybe it's just because they love chanting UFO but his fire and his punching probably had something to do with it too. He got the hot tag to Dieter here and they went into a finish where Quinn tried the backbreaker twice more but Dieter got out and was able to pick up the win as the place exploded. I'm not sure this is the best match we've seen in this but even with the camera angle it felt truly special to this crowd.

ER: I love the affinity Germans have for their balding boys, truly people of men. UFO looks and wrestles like a proto-Franz Schuhmann only without Schuhmann's quiff. Dieter is the guy who gets the loudest reactions from the German crowds and it's cool we got a babyface super squad to take on the Mighty Quinn and a big Russian. This was a smartly paced tag, with the babyfaces washing over everything in the first fall and the crowd laughing and singing, loving Dieter's snapmares and boot scrapes and headscissors and the way their balding boys kept foiling the larger heels. The second fall is where this really picked up. In the first, UFO looked like he has bottom 20 percentile uppercuts, but when he feels how hard Quinn is hitting him suddenly the uppercuts get better, and soon he's bouncing Vlad between his uppercut and the ropes, back and forth, until Vlad falls on his face. 

When UFO is swinging wide left and right punches into Quinn's ears during the 2nd fall, they're some of the best most unique punches I've seen. All of the punch exchanges between Quinn and UFO were great, real original stuff, switching up angle of attack and mixing combos, no exchange looked similar to another. UFO throws great punches to the body from his back, fighting to his feet, but it's those wild swinging shots to the side of Quinn's head that fired me up. In the third fall, Quinn and Vlad battered UFO with kneelifts and closed fists to the back and neck, and I was surprised the crowd wasn't even more alive to rally him. The OOOF-OH! chants seemed so much louder in the first fall when they were on top, now they seemed resigned to his loss. But when Dieter tags in they are fired up anew, and Dieter seems to beam with pride over the punishment UFO endured. Matt is right that this is not one of the greatest German matches we've seen, but it's a completely different view of the action than we've seen before and it gave everything a totally different feel, like you were right there with them. I don't know if I've ever seen any of their faces so clearly. 

Moose Morowski vs. Jim Neidhart

MD: There were moments of this, given the weird camera angle, how big these two were, and just how hard they were going at each other, that reminded me just a little of Andre vs. Hansen. But they didn't keep it up, and it's probably fine they didn't, because they couldn't, and that wouldn't have made for much of a match. Much of this was Morowski bullying Neidhart and Morowski containing Neidhart. Whenever they fought even it was way more interesting though, because Neidhart was an out of control fireplug.The first round was them trading holds (70/30 Morowski) but in the second they started to slug it out and for a few seconds, it was pretty glorious. They took it back down and Neidhart had to more or less work from underneath. Neither of these guys were beloved but Morowski was more unlikable and people wanted to see Neidhart unchained. He came in hot in the last round, charging in and doing well by it right until Morowski got out of the way and he crashed into the corner allowing Morowski to score a quick pin. Some of the footage in the margins here of people filing out at the end gave a real sense of a time and a place as well. 

ER: This doesn't build to the war it could have and should have been. Neidhart was still really new and Morowski was having a match with a new bull and that's still a cool match structure. I like the way Neidhart takes punches, and liked how Moose was dishing out 1-3 strikes for every forearm that Jim would fire off. Moose looked like he was holding Jim down and trying to make him get off the mat and an old vet challenging a new guy to "just get up" is a perfect match to work with a guy who got tortured in a Stu's Dungeon. There's somewhere on the timeline that is The Right Time for these two to cross paths, and maybe this wasn't it. 

Jim Neidhart vs. Moose Morowski from 1985 is the new Grail. Who was taping at the Vancouver Saddledome in '85? 

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10/21/81? 

Steve Wright vs. John Quinn

MD: These two certainly knew what they were doing. We come in mid-stream so no Mighty Quinn entrance for John. Wright would outwrestle him (making sure to make a show of it with multiple attempts before a headlock takeover, for instance) and then Quinn would get frustrated and clubber away. On the comebacks Wright took umbrage and laid in some kicks on the ground which the crowd loved but the ref did not. 

Unfortunately for Wright, Quinn was just as good at stomping away as he was, better even, and after Wright missed a charge into the ropes and ended up clotheslining himself on them, Quinn took over. He got carded for his trouble but stayed in charge even through rounds. He would miss an elbow drop and Wright had a big comeback but he went sailing towards those rope again, this time getting hung up in them. Wright couldn't just let things be though and went on the attack. That got him another card and drew the DQ. Anticlimactic finish but one way to get out of a match, I guess. Before that this was very good contrast.

ER: I loved all the struggle in this one, with Wright having to constantly fight to take down the Mighty Quinn. They did some struggle spots I've never seen and others that need to be brought back, and it always made it look like Wright had really earned every advantage he had. The best examples of this are Wright's headscissors and his headlock takeovers. I don't often see such fight over a flying headscissors. You see guys trying to escape grounded headscissors (well, not know, but when people fought over matwork you saw this) but rarely fight to escape a flying headscissors. Wright at one point was on Quinn's shoulders, legs wrapped around his head, for so long that Quinn was essentially wearing him as a hat. Quinn expended a lot of effort to stay upright and Wright stayed balled up on his shoulders to make himself heavier, finally taking him over. The spot someone should really steal is the headlock takeover, where Wright has the headlock in tight and keeps working to pull Quinn over his body, Wright expelling energy to get him over while Quinn fights to stay standing, only to finally get dragged over on the sixth or seventh attempt. This built beyond those things, as it should, but those are the things that really leapt out to me. 

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09/13/81?

Karl Dauberger vs. Klaus Kauroff

MD: This one threw me at first. Look, in watching this footage, I should have a better sense of Dieter vs. Dauberger vs. Chall, etc., and I'm getting there. What was striking here was that Kauroff was the heel. Kauroff had teamed with Dieter on this tour and the fans were behind him. Of course they were, because he'd have these big hammering shots on his comebacks. The first round here was wrestled even, with Dauberger opening things up in the second by stomping away and taking liberties. The crowd really went up for Kauroff's comeback shots and he won it in the third fairly easily with an armdrag slam. 

Caswell Martin vs. Steve Wright

MD: This was not on the listing and is a heck of a bonus. Unfortunately, it cuts off and we don't get to the full time limit draw but we still get ~3 rounds and 10+ minutes of these two going at it. It's like vs like, trickster vs trickster, skilled genius wrestler vs skilled genius wrestler, face vs face, and the crowd is absolutely delighted by it. Wright is more apt to rush at Martin (and even goes flying out of the ring at one point). Martin is more apt to throw a headbutt or strike. In general though, they're incredibly even with an answer to every question; no one gets an advantage for long. They just go in and out of holds and do sequences and bits. A couple of times they bring the ref into it and it's all highly entertaining. Maybe nothing I've never seen before here, but they're able to fire things off in such rapid succession and even incomplete as it is, it's very enjoyable. 

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Found Footage Friday: DESTROYER~! WISKOWSKI~! WRIGHT~! CASWELL~! CHALL~! DIETER~!

Hanover 9/10/80 

Le Grand Vladimir vs. Karl Dauberger

MD: The show itself started with a big AJPW Start Of Tour style celebration with everyone in the ring. This opener went to a draw over a number of rounds but it was good for what it was and the crowd was into it. For the first round and a half or so, Vladimir would control on the arm or with a cravat and Dauberger would counter with a similar hold and the crowd would go nuts for it. Eventually, Vlad got frustrated and started roughing him up. The round breaks and ref carding only offered so much succor as Vlad would keep up the onslaught after the bell or charge right in at the start of the round. 

Dauberger would, however, copy the formula of the holds and fire back to the crowd's delight. Then Vlad would get a cheapshot in and they'd repeat. Basic but incredibly effective wrestling and everything looked good. My favorite bit was Vlad picking up Dauberger by the back of his singlet and slamming him onto the mat repeatedly. It's the sort of thing you saw Andre do occasionally but rarely from anyone else. Things built to Dauberger knocking Vlad first out of the ring and then back in towards the end of the last round, but it was only a moral victory as they ran out of time. I was ok seeing this one go because I was eager to get to Martin, Destroyer, and Wright/Wiskowski but it's not as if it wore out its welcome on the way.

ER: What is this little game Karl Dauberger plays with the referee? This little hand game? What kind of bit are they working that I have, until now, not seen? When Dauberger enters the ring he goes to shake the ref's hand and the ref retreats like a germaphobe, and Karl gives him a little chin scrape gesture. When the ref is checking both men before the match, Karl keeps pulling his hands away from him, like he's forcing the ref into a game of hand slap. They don't show this kind of playfulness with each other during the match but I'm wondering what's going on with these two vets. You know this is some 1980 Hanover wrestling because two men are wrestling in single strap singlets that are holding in their midsections. This was simple stuff but amusing. Vladimir is a guy I've never see who has a way of getting big reactions with little movements. He draws yellow cards by kicking Dauberger in the knee more than once, kicks him across the ring well after the bell, and shoots in for a half assed post-round single leg after Dauberger was gentlemanly enough to set his foot back on the mat instead of wrenching it. Dauberger had a nice cravat and German energy. I too dug that spot where Dauberger, flat on his stomach, kept getting lifted up by a kneeling Vladimir and slammed back to the mat. I kept rewinding to see how they were doing it, as the physics weren't apparent. Vlad didn't seem to be lifting hard and Dauberger didn't seem to be obviously pushing off with his limbs. It made Vladimir look strong even though in reality he looked like a guy who was probably 6'5 and didn't lift a thing. There was some magic in that spot, and some other minimalist surprises. 

Achim Chall vs. Caswell Martin

MD: I get the sense that if we had just another twenty Martin matches, he'd be almost undeniable. He's one of the most interesting and enjoyable wrestlers to watch, one of those wrestlers where you look forward to every exchange because you know you're going to see something unique. Chall was more than game to "base" for him and keep him in holds and make escape attempts, etc. The first round was fairly even with a lot of tricked out escapes and ways to keep the holds on by Martin, including his bridging stutter step.

The second round was all about Martin working over the arm, including a long in and out hammerlock that was really good, but also some joint manipulation and just smacking the arm against the mat repeatedly. Then in the third, Chall controlled with a cravat almost the whole way through, using mares to get back into it, and other head related holds to bridge gaps when needed. Just super strong in and out stuff. In the fourth they went to rope running but almost immediately Martin suffered a face-saving arm injury off a sunset flip and had to forfeit. It was good while it lasted though.

ER: For those who aren't familiar with the always entertaining Caswell Martin, he's like Bob Backlund at his most playful combined with Norman Smiley at his most skilled. He escapes holds and pins with impressive neck bridges and almost challenges opponents to keep him pinned, popping arms off the mat and bridging as a way to escape and as a way to bait. Watched back to back with Le Grand Vladimir's match and this match seems like it took place in another decade. Martin's strong and crab walk-like escapes with a more-than-game Chall looked like a different sport than that first match. Chall was a guy who looked capable of working just as freaky as Martin as he knew the counters too well and kept getting pushed into freak territory by big Cas. I like how Martin isn't just a quirky oddball and can back it up with snug holds, like when he grabbed Chall's hand just to roll his wrist around in painful ways, showing he's more than escapes. I actually liked the injured arm finish. A few minutes before the finish I noticed how there was no give at all in the ring, how every flat back bump looked even flatter with an unmoving ring. When Martin tried a sunset flip and then got thrown with an armdrag, it really did look like he bounced off the ungiving ring on his elbow. His selling was good enough that I would have bought it even without noticing the ring, but since I had noticed I said "well of course an armdrag could do that!" 

Axel Dieter vs. The Destroyer

MD: It's great we're getting new Destroyer matches out of the blue, from Germany. Yes, these results were buried on wrestlingdata but they're not all on cagematch for instance, so I'm sure some people who even are big Destroyer fans weren't aware of these tours. I'm not sure there's any wrestler ever who was better at carrying himself with a sort of matter-of-fact dignity (as opposed to whatever Lord Steve Regal did for instance) but then walked right into indignities. The first round had slow ones, built around one hold where he'd get his comeuppance on the way out. The second round was rapid fire spot after spot, each one more humiliating with the last. For instance, he started the round off with an airplane spin, got two out of it, but then walked right into an upkick that sent him sprawling. The round was full of that sort of thing. 

He started the third with another airplane spin but both went toppling out. He'd open up on the leg after, but half the things he'd try would still end with him eating the mat. And ultimately, it sent him over the top and led to a countout. Post-match, things devolved a bit and some of the other wrestlers came out which led to a big UFO chant since they loved Della Serra over there. I wouldn't have minded if this went another round or two, but what we had was highly entertaining with Destroyer living his best mean mug stooging life.

ER: Destroyer was the one guy stirring things up during the pre-show in-ring introductions, walking slowly around the circle of men sizing everyone up (nobody else did this, they all just got in the ring) and lingered on the referee, as if warning him that there better be no issues with the rules. When he was announced (after everyone else) he again walked out to the center of the ring like he was above them all (nobody else did this), and you know he was the last to leave the ring. This man knew how to carry himself, and when he enters the ring for his match he's got this funny cocky, bouncy little strut, just getting under everyone's skin. Destroyer lands headbutts from the mount like Smashing Machine and goes on to run Dieter's head into the turnbuckle from one corner to the other, and when round 2 starts he headlock punches the already bleeding Dieter several times. I was thinking things were going to continue like this and was sad that they did not. What we got instead was two rounds of Destroyer constantly forgetting that Dieter has kicking legs and those legs just kept sneaking up and taking him out. Dieter hits four different upkicks in different ways, all knocking Destroyer flat to his back and ultimately over the top to his demise. Every hold Destroyer attempted to work, every pin he made, was thwarted by a late upkick. I thought the finish was going to be Destroyer's airplane spin, starting in the center and moving out towards the ropes, then over the ropes with a kind of rolling Samoan drop off the apron, picking Dieter up off the apron from the floor to continue the airplane spin drop. Instead, Beyer was humiliated by upkicks, and Cowboy Ed had to come out to cool things down while heating things up.   

Ed Wiskowski vs. Steve Wright 

MD: Very good one. Wright controlled early, cartwheeling out of holds and basically eating up Wiskowski as you'd expect him to, but Cowboy Ed had the size advantage and he started in on the back. Wright's selling, both acutely and broadly (when he was stomped and writhed all around for instance) was excellent and that's really not a part of his game we often see since he just mows through his opponents most of the time. Wiskowski had some nice stuff like a move where he grabbed Wright by the waist and jammed his back right into the ropes. 

They'd have Wright try to come back in clever or pointed ways; for instance, Wiskowski would hit a nice gutwrench suplex only for Wright to slip in and reverse it instantly the next time. But then Wiskowski would just lean on him some more or whip him into the corner, causing Wright to go sprawling. Wright would start on the gut to fire back but Wiskowski cut him off with gutshots of his own. It built to a big comeback but another banana peel finish, this time with Wright flying in for a headbutt but going through the ropes and crashing and burning instead. Wiskowski suplexed him back in for the win. I maybe wanted to see Wiskowski stooge about for Wright more, but if I had to choose, I'd much rather have a more balanced match where Wright had to work from underneath like this. 

ER: This was so damn good. Wiskowski is great at punishing Wright, Wright takes hard bumps that lead to harder bumps and learns from them, and Wright makes up the size difference with his own punishing strikes. I thought this started off good and kept ramping up. Wiskowski is a calculated ass kicker who is great at taking Wright's offense and making him look like a bigger heavyweight with his bumps. I thought this was going to be a lot of Wiskowski bumping for Wright, and when he was rolling for Wright's ankle snare headscissors it was exactly what I expected...until Wright went for a third and Wiskowski moved, sending Wright into a nasty Psicosis style miss in the ropes. After that, every single time Wright got sent into the buckles it looked devastating. Wright took four different Bret Hart level bumps into the buckles, making it looked dangerous just getting his face slammed into them, but making it look skeleton breaking when he would take a whip. 

They were so good at building spots into reversals, establishing actions and results and still making it feel like a surprise when the same action led to a different result. Wright's bumps into the buckles were so painful that I was surprised and delighted when it led to Wiskowski missing an avalanche, leaving him stomach down bridging the top ropes, and allowing wright to do leg pumps from his back to bounce Cowboy Ed up and down. This would have been a top 3 (at least) Santino comedy spot and it was done by a 6'5 Polish cowboy with incredible posture. Wright pays back all of Wiskowski's back punishment and swinging long arms by really kicking him hard several times in the back of the head and I think surely this is where it turns around. Wright is headbutting Wiskowski in the stomach and big Ed is on the ropes...and then those actions surprise me again with a different result. Wright runs in with another big headbutt and Ed sidesteps him again, just like the headscissors earlier, and Wright flies into a tope to nothing but abyss. Suplexing him into the ring for the finish is a great way to show that the fall did most of the damage and merely getting him back in was going to be enough to finish him off...but Wiskowski didn't need to gingerly hop over the ropes on his exit. That's just rubbing it in. 

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Found Footage Friday: HANOVER 1980~! WRIGHT~! KAMALA~! WISKOWSKI~! MARTIN~!

Hanover Germany 10/4/80 (Richard Land Patreon)

Caswell Martin vs. Karl Dauberger 

MD: Martin's really a joy to watch. I look forward to new matches of his almost as much (but not quite as much) as Fujiwara and that's saying something. Yes, he does some of the same bits a lot (the cartwheel out for instance). But he has that same sort of imagination and creativity where you wonder how he's going to treat an exchange. And he's interesting in different settings whether it's WoS or here or UWF. 

This was face vs face or whatever they call it in Germany. They were just teaming the previous night after all. And it was a pleasant sportsmanlike affair until the last round where things got a little heated. A lot of great escapes by Martin really. He had a way of handstanding up just a little higher to rana out of a double leg and even did a spinning headstand toupe escape out of a grounded side headlock that I'm not sure I've ever seen done quite that way. They'd be good sports about things. He'd use a butt butt escape out of a go behind and Dauberger had a good laugh from losing his wind from it. Lots of nearfalls and reversals here and they had the crowd the whole way. Down the stretch it got a little chippy with Martin doing a facewash with his foot and they picked up the pace with rope running and a couple of bombs (very nice double underhook slam by Dauberger for instance) before Martin got him on a banana peel takeover from a waistlock. Good stuff.

Ed Wiskoski vs. Jim Harris 

MD: Here we have Ed Wiskowski, as a cowboy, against Jim Harris, before he became Kamala. It's a massive stooge-fest from Wiskowski, the sort where he'll take face first bumps just from being in a headlock and it was hugely entertaining stuff that had the crowd. Harris just had to be a center of gravity and keep the pressure on, but he did it so well that you think he could have had a pretty great career even without the gimmick. Wiskowski is usually the biggest guy in a match and he was a little taller than Harris still, but here he worked like the smaller man. Flying all over the place, arms flailing, trying and failing to slam him.

When he did take over it was by going after the eyes and drawing a public warning and that lasted just until he got carded and the distraction let Harris come back with big clubbing blows. Finish had Harris go off the second rope but miss a splash so that Wiskoski could come off the top with Bombs Away and then actually slam Harris for the win. Good stuff though. Extremely entertaining and it makes me hope we get more Harris from this tournament against guys like Wright, Colt, or Destroyer.

ER: We call this era Kamala 0: The Departure Point, in which Sugar Bear Harris is sporting a tri-hawk two years before Clubber Lang existed, and he even comes out throwing jab fakes. But Harris is extremely raw here and it gives us a chance to see - yet another - incredible Ed Wiskoski carry job. I love Ed Wiskoski. He's like if Nick Nolte got into pro wrestling and was just as good at wrestling as Nolte is at acting. He's got the same military straight posture and size, and the same amazing hair as same-era Nolte. However, Wiskoski wrestles much, much differently than Nick Nolte does in this hypothetical situation where Nolte got into wrestling instead of doing Who'll Stop the Rain. I don't think Nolte, with his size and looks, would be one of our most gifted stooge bumpers in the same way Wiskoski is. Ed Wiskoski might be the tallest wrestling stooge we were ever gifted and I am in love with the way the man moves. Jim Harris at this point - and at many points - had a very limited tool bag and Wiskoski works this entire match staggering and falling all around the ring for simple arm strikes. 

Wiskoski does not ever go crybaby John Tatum but he has bumps that Tatum would go on to steal. That includes the way he stacks his bumps so that one headbutt makes Wiskoski take a bump that then sends him face first into the turnbuckles which then turns into a third bump recoiling from the buckles which could also turn into a fourth bump if he gets pinballed by another strike. Wiskoski spends the first two plus rounds stuttering and staggering around for Harris, comes back in the third with a couple of nicely timed eye pokes, and then spends another couple rounds building to some classic chained Wiskoski bumps until Harris misses a middle buckle splash. I could watch this man fall all day. I will say however, and I think this is important: Wiskoski is not a "realistic" bumper, but I don't think his bumps could ever be seen as "comedy bumps". This is difficult to do. It is hard to be a theatrical bumper without including several comedic pratfalls, but he somehow pulls off silly unrealistic bumps without ever feeling like he is doing them for a laugh. They are always in direct response to the offense he is selling, and never feels like he is doing them to show off his own athleticism. They might look silly in a vacuum, but they always look appropriate within a match, and that's a line he walks so impressively that it only makes me love him more with every new match we get. 

Kim Duk vs. Manuel López 

MD: We spend a lot of time with 90-91 Kim Duk given his extended run in Puerto Rico so at first it was nice to see him here. Lopez is not someone I'm familiar with so I was curious how this would go. Not particularly well. The first thing you notice is just how huge Duk is, which is not something that stands out as much if he's wrestling TNT or Scott Hall (or people like Jumbo or Hogan) but he just towered over Lopez. It created a sort of disconnect in the match because while they did wrestle it like Duk had a size advantage, he was primarily technical so you barely expected Lopez to get anything on him. And he didn't get much. In the second round, they picked up the pace a little and Lopez came flying back off a charge into the corner only to get caught and carefully tombstoned as an act of mercy. They can't all be winners.

Bob (UFO) Della Serra vs. Takashi (Sumo) Ishikawa

MD: UFO remains as over as ever. Ishikawa came out to Turning Japanese. He's an interesting character as he disappears from AJPW so as not to be part of Jumbo vs Revolution or Tsuruta-gun vs Super Generation Army, though he pops back up in SWS. He ends up being more of a role player instead. But he could go and hit as hard as anyone else from the decade. I'm not sure if this is clipped or if it's just short but during the middle the camera cuts to some of the wrestlers standing by the entrance watching or talking to each other. They seem to match up well from the bit we do see with trading of slams and armdrags and Ishikawa having a nice step over to break the grip before launching karate type strikes.. Ishikawa leaned into the sumo bit with crouched charges and got caught on one in the corner and rolled up.

Klaus Kauroff/Le Grand Vladimir vs. Salvatore Bellomo/Steve Wright

MD: Another incredibly entertaining tag. I didn't like the Duk match much but the overall level of quality here is just amazing honestly. This had what you'd expect early with the fans singing along to Bellomo and especially Wright making absolute fools out of the heels. Lots of great stuff. Rope running spots. Ref goofing bits. Wright a dervish of cruel and hilarious technique and bounding about. But then things did settle down to heat, and they actually went double heat on it, including some southern elements like drawing the ref. Both hot tags and comebacks were a ton of fun, with Wright pinballing people and Bellomo coming in hot. They finished with a draw, but with Wright and Bellomo both doing the Franz Van Buyten dash across in the ring to leap up and punch. Very fun stuff.

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Found Footage Friday: HANOVER 1980~! DESTROYER~! UFO~! COLT~! MARTIN~!

MD: More Richard Land Patreon finds. I like to be able to share links with everyone of what we're watching but the simple fact of the matter is that these Germany drops are the most exciting thing in wrestling footage right now, probably. So I'm going to keep covering them and people should just seek the patreon out when so inclined.

 

The Destroyer vs. UFO (Bob Della Serra - Date Unknown but around September/October 1980, maybe 9/8/80?)

MD: 20+ minutes of lost Destroyer footage and more than that, getting to see him in a completely new environment, working a European rounds match in 1980 Germany. UFO was over (lots of chants) and very game. Destroyer has a unique stocky way of walking and they were playing into it hard. He would try something like a full nelson; UFO would get out of it in a specific way such as a reverse monkey flip, and then when Destroyer tried it, he'd get jammed, then UFO would mock the stocky walk in a sort of strut and the fans would go nuts as Destroyer tantrumed around the ring furious.

They'd do bits where Destroyer would control with pretty nasty armwork or by hiding an object and going for the eyes masterfully but the nature of the rounds meant that UFO would be able to come back and make Destroyer stooge some more. He had some nice rolls ups to (including one out of a fireman's carry). I think they ran out of time in the end and it was a draw, but it was entertaining the whole way through. Great find.
 

10/3/80 

UFO vs. Klaus Kauroff 

MD: This was inconclusive but really good while it lasted. Della Serra looked as good as i've ever seen him here and came off as one of the best in the world maybe? Maybe that's a stretch but he was real good here. Karoff was quite good as well. They started with strength spots vs finesse where Karoff would bully UFO only to get wound around at the last second. That lasted right until Della Serra ran into Karoff's fist and it was really an amazing moment. Just a great visual which Karoff than milked for all it was worth because he knew what he had. From there we had around or two of Karoff absolutely bullying UFO, with Della Serra throwing his arms all over the place and really selling it for the back row in a compelling way.

The big comeback was ducking another one of those clothesline punches off the ropes and UFO came back strong, just brutalizing Karoff with these massive haymacker European Uppercuts/Lifters. One after the next as Karoff went down big for them. He'd dodge shots and just keep them coming for a round or two before Karoff started to comeback and everything sort of just ended. Another one that was real good while it lasted though. Simple stuff but so well executed.

Caswell Martin/Karl Dauberger vs. Chris Colt/Francisco (Paco) Ramírez

MD: This was an absolute blast. From the moment Colt came down to the ring, dancing by hooking Ramirez and pulling him towards him and then doing the robot, he was pure entertainment, such a sleazy brilliant heel. Constant reactions to everything. Martin and Ramirez paired off well, with all of Martin's usual spots (landing on his feet out of a mare, the cartwheel counter, the leg splitter where he keeps spreading his feet wider). Once they started the tandem comedy spots, they never looked back. I don't even want to list them all because if you do see this, I don't want to spoil it, but they played the hits (just a taste: the pumphandle switch, the four man headlock into the double headlock charge, an estrella, etc). There wasn't really an ebb and flow here, just one entertaining spot after the other with Colt bumping huge into the corner or having it out with the ref or begging off after the fact. Not a ton of drama here because even when the heels took over, they couldn't keep it for long, but the audience (and German audiences laugh as well as any audience I've ever heard) were in stitches the whole time. Great look at Colt for anyone who's never seen him with a game cast of characters alongside him. Martin, for the footage we have of him, always looks incredible.

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