Found Footage Friday: BREMEN '81~!

10/16/81 Bremen

Colin Joynson vs. Pat Roach

MD: Pretty good stuff with a big physical mismatch. Roach was big and tall. Joynson had a low center of gravity and was plump. But he used that center to really bedevil Roach at times. He'd be able to get under him and cause trouble (including toppling him to the floor) and would bound off the ropes with a forearm or hold his own on shoulder blocks. Roach would take over again and again with a big boot or a body slam but then he'd hold the advantage with illegal tactics, pressing down after a move when he wasn't supposed to and just staying on Joynson when the ref was calling for a break. You had a sense on how this one was going to end. Some fun stuff along the way, including Roach's standing backbreakers and lifting his own foot up to whack Joynson in the chin with it. He also took a great stooge bump onto the top turnbuckle, dangling stomach down before he got booted out of the ring. Joynson had a lot of pokey offense, punches and knees. Eventually Roach had enough and put him in a tree of woe drawing the very inevitable DQ. I wouldn't mind seeing Joynson vs the usual suspects on these tours. 

ER: Roach is a really big guy but he makes Joynson look like Otis. I love the ways this little wrecking ball would leap into his attacks on the much larger Roach, while Roach has such dismissive, ugly attacks. His uppercuts are blunt and have thud, he throws kicks and strikes without true form, working more like a forest giant lifting his foot to jam it in the face of a little round Gummi Bear on a quest. When it's time for him to bump, he does with sudden beautiful runaway train style, flying onto the turnbuckles and down to the floor, getting height with a back body drop, even getting backdropped (slowly) to the floor. Joynson had big energy and Roach had a good way of hitting the ropes in response to that energy. This is the first time we've ever written about Joynson, by the way. I love how we're still ticking off boxes of names to cover, big and small. 

Axel Dieter vs. Mile Zrno

MD: Speaking of the usual suspects, here were two of the best, with us not getting quite as much Zrno as I'd like on these cards. And this was very, very good. Every exchange had the possibility of something interesting. It's almost impossible to write about these two. You end up just listing off all the cool things you saw. That could be Dieter headstanding out of a move, punching Zrno in the headstand and then headscissoring him over. It could be Zrno twisting and contorting around to keep a hold or his crazy bridge work. It could just be how he snapped his body while taking a headscissors. It could be how they built to firing off uppercuts or escalating to quick sunset flips and snap headscissors takeovers. It could be Dieter using a leg assisted full nelson, the ultimate of imaginative schoolyard moves of possibilities or the way Zrno just found his way out. It could be how fun it was whenever they were able to string together a few moves and what they choose to do. I could go on and on. Technique meeting imagination meeting flair and showmanship. There was nothing like it beforehand and there's been nothing like it since. It ended in a draw and you're fine with that because anything else might have somehow lessened it.

ER: Matt and I written about a lot of this '81 Germany without anyone else really watching it, and while we enjoy it I also get why big men like Le Gran Vladimir or John Quinn, or German-specific babyfaces Bob Della Serra or Sal Bellomo, might not be as sexy to watch as the other thousands of wrestling options out there. Zrno vs. Dieter, on the other hand, feels like 81 Germany that would crossover and delight anyone into modern flash and World of Sport chaining, even though it's not as flashy and not tricked out like WoS. The matwork is firm and the strikes they build to always feel like a payoff. Zrno's selling doesn't always feel like it fits the story of the match, and sometimes he's too quick to get back into moving spots forward, is forced to match hold snugness with Dieter, who was raised on snug headscissors and high lift hammerlocks. 

I didn't love how quickly Zrno got up from a nasty reverse suplex, getting up on impact while Dieter sold on the mat just executing the move. It was used as a way to break a hold and smashed Zrno's knees into the mat, felt like a crazy spot to use to just go back into control with a side headlock. Dieter's suplexes look better and he bumps a bit generously for Zrno, who comes off more like babyface Paul Roma. It allows the crowd to get fully behind Dieter, their guy, like they can see that he's the stronger worker and shouldn't be working so even. This had the feeling it was going to a draw, which feels right because a lot of Zrno's work felt aimless with no end goal, work to fill time rather than defeat. That's another way I think this would cross over compared to all the Sal Bellomo we've praised: Zrno has that same time traveled time filling skill as Dean Malenko, a durability in style I couldn't have predicted. 

Moose Morowski vs. Sal Bellomo

MD: I feel like we've seen these two up against each other a few times now, but then maybe it was Morowski against Dieter or UFO or someone else. It does start to blur a bit. Still, this was a natural pairing with the crowd behind Sal and Morowski a real rogue and villain and bully. I'm sure there are people who really wonder how Sal Bellomo was somehow a super babyface in Germany, but this match is a great example. The first few minutes have him doing everything right. Morowski started by pressing him into the corner and trying to take liberties. Sal turned it around, launched a bunch of gut shots, climbed up for a ten punch and the ref had to pull him off. He continued to keep fighting and fighting no matter what Morowski tried, getting him out of the ring, cartwheeling, and counting with the crowd.

Eventually, Morowski did have enough of this and started leaning hard on him, pushing the rules as far as he could. It's a good look at him too, because all of his stuff looked mean and credible. Bellomo would try to come back now and again before he actually got it, dropkicking Morowski out of the ring. Morowski came back in with a massive punch and then hit the shoulder breaker for the win. But Sal stayed after the match to get his flowers from the crowd.

ER: It's wild how every 6'5" North American heel who worked early 80s Germany had their own version of the Sgt. Slaughter bump. For Morowski, that's just one of a half dozen big bumps he does to get over Bremen Superstar Sal Bellomo, pinballing off turnbuckles, pressed off the top, all because The People are in love with this unmuscular man in a straps-joined-in-the-back singlet. Bellomo has a real knack for knowing how to connect with these crowds. I'm not sure I've seen anyone else in this footage do an enthusiastic count-along when Moose is lying on the floor, but people are literally screaming along with Sal leading the count out. Nobody punches like Morowski anymore. I mean, most wrestlers don't punch at all anymore and that's part of a much bigger problem, but Morowski's style of short badgering close-to-the-body uppercuts weren't even really a regular punch of anyone while punches were the strike currency of wrestling. Super Macho Man threw a short set up punch like it in Super Punch Out!! but I'm not going to pretend that anyone at Nintendo was aware of the existence of Moose Morowski. Had Billy Graham thrown punches like that, I'd believe. Bellomo hits two heart punches on Morowski, which is a brilliant strategy against a Polish man whose arteries are no doubt clogged by fatty meats.  

UFO vs. Caswell Martin

MD: Honestly, there are four pillars right here with Martin, Wright, Zrno, and Dieter. Crazy that these four guys were generally in the same place and time. What a scene. Martin took almost all of this, just having an answer for everything UFO tried. UFO would try to hip toss him and he'd cartwheel. He'd go for a leglock and he'd just stand up out of hit to hit a dropkick. He'd throw uppercuts and Martin would cut him off with one headbutt. When it was time to be on offense, he had all sorts of stuff, his body press onto crossed legs, a cool falling back move with his feet around the head (instead of a twist), some brutal arm work with headbutts, a series where he kipped up after dropkicks again and again. Just a menace. But UFO took it all since he knew he was going to win with a body press out of nowhere. Still, it's always fun to see Martin do his thing.

ER: I think it's interesting how Caswell Martin and Norman Smiley have two of the most unique bodyslams and there isn't really anyone else who slams like them. Norman has his extra turn, Martin has his extra lift and throws for distance. I'm not sure what this means. All other bodyslams I like because they are thrown by real bastards, think Finlay and Hansen sending lightning bolts down extremities. But our two black British wrestlers who each have their own quirky style also wound up with two of the strongest/most stylized bodyslams. I wonder how much Martin was an inspiration on Smiley, or if it's all a coincidence. 

UFO was really no match for some of Martin's escapes, and I love how Martin would set up an escape with a stiff strike, creating an opening with a diversion. His headbutt is so good that I wish we could have seen him in Headbutters Paradise era NOAH, but he always pulls tricks that anyone could steal (if anyone other than Matt and I ever watch this footage). Standing with his legs locked on either side of UFO's head before falling to his back is something I've never seen before. It's more common for someone to lock in like that and do a little worked twist, but falling to his back put the theoretical pressure on different parts of the neck, like a teeter totter turned inside out. While I wish Martin was put away with something more than a body press, it worked because the finish was more about Martin beating himself than the crossbody beating Martin. Martin clearly tried to catch the crossbody and turn it into a slam, hanging in too long on that strategy before his fall, which was just enough for UFO to scrape one out. A flashy wrestler hoisted on their own cocky petard, as it should be.  

Kengo Kimura/Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka vs. Mighty John Quinn/Grand Vladimir

MD: It's such a shock going from Tsurumi battling Kurisu fifteen years later to this, but here we are. Goro does all the big bits for the crowd with Kimura doing a lot of little ones. He does get to really fire up a few times though, and that's not something you see a lot out of Kengo as the decade goes on so it's nice to see. Vlad is a great stooge and Quinn is an ok one. Quinn is excellent at little inside shots to help his bullying though. Very nice moment of comeback where Kimura reverses a Quinn whip so he goes crashing into Vlad's knee. his arms go pumping and he fires off with dropkicks and karate strikes and pulling Vlad's beard. Heels take this in two straight falls though due to sneaky bits of interference that did work. I liked in the finish that Vlad had to go back for a second elbow drop because the ref was distracted with Kimura. One of those quick on his toes bits that helped avoid suspension of disbelief issues. This probably could have used one more big comeback.

10/25/81

MD: Usually given the length of these videos and the sparsity of talking, it's tough to get automated translation to work quite like I'd like but here, at the start of 10/25/81 I was able to get some sense of what they're talking about (look, I don't know German; you can't bullshit German and that's all I'm good for). This was the last night of the tournament, day 53, and there was a ceremony to start with all the wrestlers and the producer gave all of his thanks on his own after and you do have to appreciate the pomp and circumstance here. We've gotten so much of this content piecemeal over the last two years and, in truth, we'll only have two matches here, at the start of this card on this tape, but this was real thing with real people. It mattered not just, for instance, in Kengo Kimura's development or for the other wrestlers, but also for everyone who witnessed it. Old footage isn't just the moves and the craftsmanship, but it is a window into the past, of something real and vibrant in life that no longer exists. It's history.

Steve Wright vs. Caswell Martin

MD: This crowd already seemed a few mugs in and they were happy to see these two very similar wrestlers menace one another. There were moments where it got a little too silly when the ref got involved or they were doing the quick (and comedic) pin exchanges, and I would have maybe liked just a little more working holds and having to get out of things, but really this was more than the sum of the parts and the fans were delighted. These two were generally best against contrast, really bedeviling some poor fool, getting punished for their (babyface) transgressions and hubris, and then battling back to bedevil some more. But here they got what they deserved against one another. Those ref bits were very funny and the crowd was laughing the whole way through. Wright rolling himself into a ball and Martin not buying into it, the pin exchanges that were twenty years before their time, the rope running, the little bit of hanging onto holds we did get. It was all wonderful pro wrestling in a small dose. There would likely be bigger and more epic things to come on this card, the last night of the tournament, and this set things off with a unique and wonderful celebratory feel before Wright caught Martin in a backslide to end it. These two were such talents. 

UFO vs. Grand Vladimir

MD: Just a round and a half here before things cut out. Unfortunately it cuts out during a cravat sequence where UFO was holding on too. Ah well. The round we got was good with them battling over a top wristlock in interesting and struggle-laden ways. Plus UFO getting frustrated because the ref wasn't letting him press advantages on Vlad in the ropes when we all know Vlad deserves it. I imagine this would have turned out to be pretty good in full.

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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~! BRET~! ROACH~! MOROWSKI~! DIETER~! ZRNO~! STREET~!

Hanover 9/9/1981 

Moose Morowski vs. Axel Dieter

MD: Another batch of Richard Land found footage behind his patreon. Really great long draw here. I can't say enough good stuff about this one. Morowski ambushed right before the first bell and didn't look back for maybe fifteen minutes. Big shots, some big bombs like a shoulder breaker, tossing Dieter out, etc. The ref would try to intervene and Morowski first ripped his shirt and then tore it off completely. And later on, when he got a new one, he did some damage to that too. 

Dieter would get escalating bits of hope, arching Morowski over the top, blocking a posting and returning fire, eventually even outpunching him once, but he only really came back into it when Morowski tried charging in once again and he got his feet up. From there was a round or two of really glorious comeback. At one point he was so fiery he got carded for trying to use a chair. Then they worked towards the draw by throwing blows on their feet and knees til the bell rang. Morowski has maybe the only acceptable recoil shot in history as he uses it as a subtle little thing. Then after the match they slugged it out some more. Anyway, draws are almost never satisfying but this one was about as close as you can get. Great stuff. 

ER: This is one of the best matches we've seen out of these 1981 Hanover shows. This was excellent. Morowski is one of those wrestlers I don't think I even knew about a decade ago, and now he's a guy whose name always stands out on cards like this. He's a big burly Harley Race type who likes to slug it out, and that's what he does here. He ambushes Dieter (and the referee) and punches and claws his way through most of the match. Dieter is great at being the babyface who the crowd stays behind, repeatedly getting to his feet only to be punched to his back by Moose. Moose throws a variety of great punches, sometimes just using big swinging arms to knock Dieter around, other times throwing targeted left-rights to Dieter's chin. He hits a piledriver, a shoulderbreaker, and he wants at Dieter so bad that he gets into multiple collar and elbow tie ups with the ref, eventually ripping his shirt so much that the ref just removes it and works shirtless with the boys. That rules. When the ref gets a new shirt after the 2nd fall, the literal first thing Morowski does is rip the new shirt off him, and that rules even more. 

Dieter's survives Morowski's onslaught and Morowski gets tired out and then the real fun begins. The crowd gets louder than ever for Axel and Dieter starts landing more shots. Morowski isn't completely down, and can still land punches that knock Dieter down, but he is certainly exhausted and has to cheat even more to keep Dieter down. Morowski is landing several unanswered punches at the round bell, stomping his face, and they fight to the bell. I don't know that this match would have even benefitted from a definitive finish. Dieter standing alone in the ring after surviving cheap shot after cheap shot after cheap shot and coming out the other side more loved than ever. What a great showing from both, but more evidence of how cool a worker Moose Morowski was. I don't know where he stands in terms of territory draws or reputation among other peak workers, but he was completely off my personal radar even while we were diving into the thick of the 80s sets and more 70s footage became available. He's someone who everyone needs to see, and this match is as great a place as any to start. 

Pat Roach vs. Bret Hart

MD: Yes, this is a match that happened. I wish it was 93 Bret vs. 81 Roach but what can you do? This played out pretty much exactly like you'd expect. Almost exactly. There was about a round and a half of Roach beating Bret around the ring with mares and clubbers and running him into the turnbuckle. Bret got a bit of hope with a sunset flip or backslide only to get beaten down. Bret finally came back with some big shots and dropkicks only to eat the turnbuckle face first (as early as 81!) and then he got demolished by a big side backbreaker and press-slam gutbuster. Good effort and the crowd (generally always hot) was behind him, but this was more or less a mauling.

ER: I thought this was excellent, and I'm not sure it would have been better with a 1991 Bret. I loved the structure of this and felt it worked so perfectly with Young Bret, who was an absolute bump machine and ran into all of Roach's believably stiff work. Bret in 1991 would have worked this closer to equal and relied more on the big man's misses to capitalize on. Now, I love his 1991 work with Berzerker and Barbarian so put Roach in that framework and the match would be excellent. But I don't think Roach could bump as big as Barbarian and definitely couldn't bump as big as Nord, so Roach as the domineering grappler kicking a young worker in the bread basket and snapping his neck with cravat snapmares works really well. Bret was already such a polished bumper in 1981 and his work looked just as honest as it would a decade later. Roach had a lot of cool ways to slam Bret to the mat and Bret made such good use of his small comebacks and two nearfalls that I thought his backslide was legitimately the finish. Bret firing back with one big elbow smash surprised me and seemed to surprise Roach, and I came away extremely impressed by how well his flat back bumps (and huge face first bump running into the buckles) felt like responses to the exact offense Roach was giving him. His feel for everything felt so much more advanced than other early Bret I've seen. This was a must watch for me. 

Micha Nador/Gran Vladimir vs. Steve Wright/Kengo Kimura

MD: Steve Wright/Kengo Kimura is the most Lethal Lottery team I can imagine really. Of course this is a fairly young Kimura, just like Bret was fairly young in the previous match. I haven't seen much of Nador but early on he's in there, like Vladimir, to base for all of Wright's shtick, the cartwheels and bowing and a long cravat where he hung on through slams to the crowd's delight. Kimura got to join in a bit with some karate type strikes and some real fire stomping in the corner. The heels were able to beat down Wright for a bit and then Kimura, but never for too long. Wright came back with a body press mid match but when he tried to do it later, he got blocked by Nador grabbing his feet from the outside and forcing him down into a Vladimir pin which was a unique finish at least. This didn't wear out its welcome.

9/22/81

Manuel Lopez vs. Adrian Street

MD: Street was, of course, at the height of his power here in early 80s Germany, with the fans laughing again and again at every antic. He gave more here than in the last few matches we've seen him in, playing it just a bit more bumbling, where things either backfired or worked despite it all. He still got to get over on Lopez quite a bit, either rolling around like a top or poking him on the nose or just leaping into his arms and both of them sailing over because of it, but he was actually a little subdued relative to the other matches I've seen and Lopez controlled more. Maybe it was more grounded because of that but it wasn't the can't miss spectacle of the others. Still worth watching of course, but more as part of a card than something that is absolutely transcendent. 

Achaim Chall vs. Gran Vladimir

MD: These two had been wrestling off and on since the 60s. This started pretty low key, with some mares and holds out of a lockup. But Vladimir got under the fans' skin and someone threw a hat into the ring at him. At that point, Vladimir put it on and marched around the ring until Chall grabbed it, pulled it over his face and hit a jumping double knee before tossing it back out. You never know what you're going to find in these. Lots of fun bits with the ref as things went on too. Chall got frustrated as he got in his way and grabbed him, and then chopped him later, and finally, when he got in the way of the charge towards Vlad (who was tied up in the ropes), went careening into him, into Vlad, as the ref was blowing his whistle. He got carded for this but it wasn't the match.

Vlad ended up controlling for a while and he did vary up holds, but it wasn't with the same sort of brutal and vicious charm as Morowski. But the fans were very happy whenever Chall was in control and went up for all of his hope spots. He was in the midst of a comeback when the time ran out and this ended up as a draw.

Sal Bellomo vs. John Quinn

MD: I get such a kick of Quinn coming out to The Mighty Quinn. It's got a sort of chorus unlike almost any other pro wrestling theme you can imagine. I feel like it'd be super over today for instance. This was okay, they took it up and down. Quinn, despite a size advantage, would take over with hairpulls, eyerakes, and using the ref as a stalking horse in the corner. Bellomo would fire back. Eventually, Quinn tossed him and Bellomo grabbed him on the way back in and they brawled on the floor a bit. Finish had things picking up with rope running, but Bellomo ran into a foot and then a back elbow. 

9/6/81

Mile Zrno vs. Gran Vladimir

MD: Zrno is so much fun to watch. In some ways, the comparison point is Steve Wright, but where Wright has more flair and pomp to his counters, with Zrno, it's more about leverage and positioning. But nothing Vladimir puts him in works and it's all entertaining to see him get out of one thing after the next. There's a great bit where Zrno ties Vlad up in the ropes and in order to get the ref out of the way, he undoes the turnbuckle pad. The ref has to run to redo it and then Zrno charges in. Vlad does take over with clubbers eventually, but Zrno catches him with a knee off the ropes and then wins it with a body press. Very fun.

ER: Fantastic. This solidifies Vladimir as a great opponent for small fliers and acrobats, a role he seems to relish more than his work against other heavies. Against other heavyweights he can work like a spry Baron von Raschke, bumping like a tall man of size and nothing beyond, but against a fire starter like Zrno he's bumping constantly, feeding far quicker than I expected. It's not just Vlad going over for armdrags, it's that he knows how to bump and feed for all of Zrno's complicated unique unrelenting juniors offense and it feels like Akira Taue taking way too much Marufuji offense in the way he makes it look like none of this offense should work and this big man just keeps falling over. Now, Marufuji's offense was the shittiest offense on a roster of 40 men and Zrno's offense is revolutionary and moves like nobody else, but Vlad takes it the same way I would imagine Taue credibly selling really bad juniors offense. The stumble, the look of "this man shouldn't be taking most of this", the way it looks like he's not so much taking the moves as trying not to take the moves, like it's an issue of balance. 

Special note must be made about the incredible work of the referee trying to wrangle this confusing mess, specifically when he gets roped into a bump over the top to the floor when Vladimir is trapped in the ropes like Andre. Zrno is hitting crossbodies while Vlad is trapped, the ref is trying to untie him, and Zrno comes in hot with another crossbody, and the momentum send the ref over the top with it like a man getting hit with a wave while leaning out of a boat. I thought this match was great and worked in a way that I was not expecting. A match doesn't have to surprise me for me to like it, but I do like surprises. 

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Found Footage Friday: NJPW 85~! DANCING ANDRE~! CAPTAIN REDNECK~! INOKI~! BACKLUND~! SHARPE~! ADONIS~! HIRO~!

NJPW 5/18/85

Masked Superstar vs. Kim Su Hong (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbKieuAaBEQ)

MD: Kim is a South Korean wrestler who shows up on these NJPW cards now and again. I can't say that he stands out much. I love Eadie, love him, one of my favorites, but in New Japan he is so often a gatekeeper, just an incredibly credible wall for people to push off against. He takes 90% of this. Still some neat small things like losing Kim early and then claiming he was oiled up. That sort of being alive within the match. All of his stuff looks mean and credible with both a killer neckbreaker and then a twisting drop down into a front facelock. He also whacks him with something outside of the ring to big effect. Kim does come back late and his stuff is middling, some good, some bad. Superstar drops down on him and nails him with a clothesline to end it.

ER: We don't have Hashimoto/Sano, or the Canek/Enrique Vera tag, but we have Masked Superstar throwing Finlay level clubs to Su Hong's chest and killer knees to the side of the head. I liked how Superstar held the ropes to block a single leg and just went right back to clubbing. Superstar kind of jams Su Hong up on his small pieces of offense, running too hard into dropkicks that really shouldn't have moved him but looked worse with how he treated them. His clothesline looked like a match finishing clothesline and there's a good chance I won't watch a Kim Su Hong match the rest of my life. 

Super Strong Machine vs. Tony St. Clair (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pADWavSmgM)

MD: Just a credible back and forth match. I wouldn't say any of the transitions were particularly interesting but everything looked good. SSM is a tank and St. Clair can hold his own. They traded advantages and holds. Machine had a nice leaping headbutt off the ropes and a killer clothesline. St. Clair turned a headlock into a backbreaker (by slipping out, not a Robinson backbreaker). Good finishing stretch where St. Clair got a nearfall on a sunset flip in but Machine was able to get a German for the win. Wakamatsu got involved pre-match even though Machine wanted nothing to do with him and then tried to attack SSM post match only to get thrashed for his trouble. Added a little spice to what would have otherwise been a meaty but straightforward midcard match.

ER: This crowd is so fired up for Super Strong Machine. He was getting clapping Misawa-type chants during his entrance. I wasn't expecting Tony St. Clair to look larger than Strong Machine. My mental pictures don't always give me accurate reads but both are 15-20 pounds in the opposite direction I picture them. Made it look good when Tony started hitting Machine. SSM can work real tough and St. Clair looked like he was moving him good with his back elbow and uppercut, sharp front chancery. His dropkick pushes up under the chin and he makes a whip into the buckles look like it made all his limbs go briefly numb. I like the way these two hit each other. St. Clair is great at leaning into lariats while selling how much he doesn't like taking them. Strong Machine has one of my favorite German suplexes. Both of them work exactly how Bret Hart would have worked New Japan in 1994. 

Kengo Kimura/Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bqyZdnuwVU)

MD: Honestly, this is yet another all time Murdoch performance, and on a house show too. Granted, the stuff I loved here was stuff Meltzer wouldn't have liked anyway but what are you going to do about it. For instance, there's a moment in the middle where Sakaguchi's on a rampage. He takes out Adonis and then goes to the apron to get Murdoch and Murdoch moves to the other side of the post and the crowd cracks up. It's great. But it's such a tiny little wrestling thing. His reactions are great throughout. The way he takes the Inazuma leg lariat by covering his face like he'd just lost his nose is amazing. Dick Murdoch. Captain Redneck, or as they call him in NJPW, the Super Rodeo Machine.

This had a great heat on Kimura where he kept almost coming back and Murdoch and Adonis would just make a quick tag. Eventually, instead of going for a hold, he threw a dropkick instead and made it to Sakaguchi. They did another bit of heat on Kimura and then a big hot comeback. Everything ended up thrown out. Post match they had both a great bit with a chair and being afraid of it and an even better one of double elbowing the ref. Great stuff.

ER: Great Dick Murdoch handheld matches are the best, because not only do you get to see Dick Murdoch being the greatest pro wrestler, but it makes me think of DEAN. To take us back at least 15 years, the moment I always remember from Segunda Caida Radio - something I am not sure exists online anymore, but was loved by all the real SC Heads - was DEAN making fun of Meltzer for thinking Dick Murdoch was a guy who only worked for the cameras. By then we had a lot of handheld footage and had all seen Murdoch wrestling exactly the same as in all of his great matches. DEAN had seen Murdoch live. We were all talking about how great Dick Murdoch was, but DEAN was the one who saw him live and knew how good he was off camera. I always think about DEAN doing a bit as Murdoch, where he's dogging it in Korakuen and does a Don Knotts reaction when he sees a Japanese guy in the crowd with a huge 1985 camcorder.  

This is the only match on this show that doesn't have a listed cagematch runtime, and I didn't realize it would be the longest match of the show. And in that time, Dick Murdoch kept putting on a performance that grew in elegance the longer they went, arguably peaking two minutes after the count out when he got cheers for beating up the referee and then running shenanigans around a chair swinging Kengo Kimura. The match goes long enough that we get several momentum shifts and each one peaks the action and story and Murdoch grows with the story. I think my favorite part was when he had been worked over for awhile and got to tag out, and he stayed in the ring shaking out and rubbing his arm after tagging in Adonis, not participating in but watching Adonis lay a beating on Kimura. The cattle branding looked like a wild rapids ride, his punches matched the energy at all times, and he sold Kimura's like they were the stiffest punches of the match. The fans treated him after the match like a charming folk hero. 

The Cobra (c) vs. Hiro Saito (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIud5l0HlGc)

 

MD: I am not at all a Cobra guy. I think some of his Rocco matches are really bad, for instance, as he tried to fill a post-Tiger Mask gap and ended up with the worst of two worlds. A lack of substance and not even all that much style. Action for the sake of action and the action tends to frankly just be okay. This was great though, and so much of that was on the contrast. Saito is the prototypical cruiserweight bully and he gave everything weight and heft as the two of them threw everything they had at each other.

 

That meant that when Cobra was going to do an unnecessary backflip charging at Saito in the corner, Saito would come back and take his head off with a lariat. Or if he'd get pushed off after a kick and do another backflip within the ring, Saito would dropkick him out and crush him with a dive. They worked it like a title match starting with holds and going back to them, building to big spots and exchanges, with meaningful momentum shifts usually based around a big reversal/mistake/missed move. As time went on they traded some really great pile drivers and the dives you'd expect. Saito got a German mid match but couldn't put away with it and down the stretch Cobra finally escalated to a Tiger Suplex for a win. Very good lost Jr. Heavyweight Title match.

ER: We don't really talk much about how cool Hiro Saito is, and for how long he was cool. He's cool in all the eras. He was cool when I started getting New Japan tapes in 2000, and he was a bleach blond black beard surf punk with a tight bod, punk groupies and surf licks. Cobra feels like a throwback in 1985 by comparison, and it's punk scum vs. Mil Mascaras. Cobra's Mil hits hard, and Saito keeps spiking Mil with martinetes. The crowd was real into Saito's grounded piledriver when Cobra tried standing out of a headscissors, and they kept coming alive when they see how tough and well worked. I knew it was really good when Cobra's cravat into a stump puller and how Saito slowly powers out of it by eventually digging into Cobra's mask and hitting a GREAT fistdrop. Direct, hard. His piledriver after is perfect. Two kids in the crowd invent TomK's famous Dueling Chant 15 years before he did while Saito takes a crazy bump getting dropkicked to the floor. Cobra's kip up to dropkick is as beautiful as anything by our most graceful lucha legends. Saito hits a massive tope that is what you want a tope to be. I was going to write about how Cobra's flying offense isn't as good as his matwork and hitting but then he hits a piledriver so good that I felt I shouldn't harp on his lesser offense. Hiro Saito is so good. He's such a hard bumper, and strong, and fast. His forceful kickout just after 3 is the exact right energy. 

Andre the Giant vs. King Kong Bundy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kntbQ5SjUs)

 

MD: I wasn't going to cover this one since it was already out there, but it's pretty remarkable. My gut says that this was during the period where Andre was really breaking down, before his surgery and the switch to the singlet, but also before he really figured out how to work his late era style. So he was left in there against Bundy not entirely sure what he could or couldn't do. And what he ended up doing was being as entertaining as humanly possible. Yes, they did the bit where Bundy walks up the ropes to try to escape a hold and gets dropped, but Andre's mannerisms and little dance moves in this one are all over the place. Little shuffle steps. Hand motions. Weird faces. Outright dancing. He doesn't do the Fargo Strut but basically everything else you can imagine. And the fans do respond to it. I mean, who knows. Maybe he was just ribbing, maybe he was drunk, but I've only ever seen him do one or two of these little crazy finger motions or screw around like this, not build a whole match around it.

ER: I think every single Andre match I write about has me talking about some little thing I've never seen Andre do before, and I always mean it. But this Andre is an entirely new Andre. This is a house show taped by some saint, and without it I'm not sure we ever get to see Andre as a dancing babyface. It's incredible. I've seen Andre do something that could be considered sassy before but never a full match of him working as Dusty Rhodes. It's incredible. It doesn't start right away, but when it starts it does not stop. It feels like it's going to be your standard great Andre performance, smothering the humongous Bundy, muscling him into corners, hooking him in heavy sleepers, and I was excited about how he was going to sell for Bundy's comebacks. But when things take a turn, they really take a turn. I certainly was not expecting Bundy to walk up the ropes like Bret when Andre had a sleeper locked on, a real Dig Up mentality, and when Andre just drops the big man flat the crowd erupts. 

That's when Quirky Andre comes out. He makes the cuckoo sign, twirling his finger around his ear, and then does a kind of soft shoe routine, a little tap dance with a hard final step, like he's letting everyone in on his bit. If he'd had a cane and top hat it only would have made more sense. He keeps it up. While holding Bundy in another standing choke, he floats some butterfly steps, skipping in place in a movement that I have not once seen Andre do. He becomes Dusty Rhodes, flip flopping and flying. Bundy himself seems confused, he doesn't seem to understand the timing of the dancing and the strikes, leaning out of Andre's first punch after a perfect dance, so Andre has to catch him even harder with a backhand. This is truly an Andre I've never seen. Bundy takes a huge bump over the top to the floor and eventually just leaves, but not before more Andre dancing. How does history's greatest wrestler keep raising his stock? You think you've seen everything the biggest spectacle in wrestling history has done, but he keeps bringing out new tricks. This is no different than if a dancing babyface Stan Hansen match had just been discovered. It's bizarre, it's great, it's nothing you've seen. It's Andre.   

Bob Backlund/Iron Mike Sharpe vs. Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsW8GclZnt4)

 

MD: Honestly, I was here for Backlund vs Inoki and we really don't get that. What we do get is very good though. A lot of it is Sharpe being as vocal as humanly possible in a ring but entertaining and credible. Most of the rest, though, is Fujinami vs Backland and of course they match up so well. They matched up well years earlier and they match up even better now that Fujinami is a credible heavyweight. Right place, right time, smooth, slick, imapctful. And yes, they do a great short arm scissors sequence leading to the Gotch lift, just like you'd want. I just wanted a little bit more Inoki in here though. 

ER: I went into this wanting the most Popeye noises ever heard in one wrestling match. This was our chance. I wanted to hear Backlund and Iron Mike Oh-Whoa-Whoa-Whoaing all over the ring in the only time these two ever tagged. But we didn't get that. Backlund ceded the constant vocals to Sharpe and Sharpe ran with them. Backlund was shockingly silent. 1985 Backlund is interesting. It's his first year at sea after his long reign on top. I wonder what drove him to wrestle that year, seeing how much he pulled back for several years after. He surely could have been working regular Japan schedules had he wanted to, so he clearly just didn't want to. He only worked this one short New Japan tour and now we have another small piece of it. Sharpe vs. Inoki is an amusing footnote. You look at this tag and you've never seen a more obvious Taking the Fall guy than Iron Mike. Backlund's matwork with Fujinami was something I could have seen a lot more of. The crowd was so into Backlund's slow powerful reversals, but most of this tag felt like it was just about to kick into gear and never really did.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE THE GIANT

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Found Footage Friday: HANOVER 1981~! STREET~! WRIGHT~! HART~! NEIDHART~! ZRNO~! TSURUMI~! ROACH~!

MD: Another Richard Land (@maskedwrestlers) special. Another pretty amazing find. Go check out his patreon if you want access. 

John Quinn vs. Pat Roach

MD: It's definitely a mood to watch the darkened picture as Quinn stands in the ring waiting for Roach as the entirety of The Mighty Quinn by Manfred Mann plays in 1981 Hanover, Germany. This was exactly what you'd expect it to be. They started slow with Quinn holding on to an inner chicken wing/armbar for the entire first fall and into the second as Roach tried to get out with increasing desperation before finally powering out. Then they crashed into each other for a while. And things ultimately built to a massive slugfest with two giant bruisers just going at it. Quinn had more sweeping blows, over the top, from the side. Roach hit from underneath or straight on. Occasionally they'd get a move off the ropes or a slam. Occasionally they'd both go down. It went round after round until it looked like Roach might win it with a slam and then a backbreaker but a foot was on the rope for the first and the bell ran on the second and as they called it a draw, he just stormed out of the ring, a professional ready to move on with life. Hard to fault a match where two guys hit each other as hard as these two hit each other here.

Jim Neidhart vs. Goro Tanaka (Tsurumi)

MD: Straightforward stuff with Tsurumi directing traffic. When they were doing shtick it was a lot of fun, things like Neidhart breaking out of the full nelson and calling for it again only to get dropkicked in the back or eating chops or running into the corner. He had some pretty good clubbering offense too. This didn't go more than three rounds, and had a lot of Neidhart taking liberties and getting admonished by attacking after rounds. More importantly, it didn't wear out its welcome. Tsurumi had a real attraction feel to him where he leaned hard into the chops and the sumo stretching. I'm not sure Neidhart would work as well against one of the real technical guys at this point of his career but he was a good foil for Tsurumi.

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Jim Neidhart vs. Bret Hart

MD: This was a lot of fun actually. They worked extremely hard against one another Neidhart (Who is the one who has Racey's Some Girls as his theme, not Wisokwski!) charged in right at the start with a killer tackle in the corner and didn't look back for a while. The ref got a big pop by pulling him off with a hairpull. Whenever he tossed Bret in, Bret flew in harder than anyone. That's both against the ropes and into the corner. Bret finally started to fire back and get some revenge. They'd get chippy with one another at the end of the falls. Anvil was using this great Oklahoma Stampede as his finish here and he also did a bodyslam variation that I've never seen before. Bret fought valiantly but he got tossed out one too many times and Neidhart was able to just pick him up from the apron and hit the stampede after crashing into two corners. This was good though. Neidhart had lots of zing and both guys really crashed around for each other.

Mile Zrno vs. Achaim Chall

MD: Two masters being absolutely masterful. We really didn't have much Chall before so it's nice we have a few more matches now, even towards the end of his career. Zrno, on the other hand, is one of those rare wrestlers where you want to see every exchange just to see how he gets out of it. He was the slicker and more agile with Chall being more the one to put on holds so he could get out but Chall certainly held his own with some bigger and trickier spots.

They told a dozen little stories in here, one going to the next. It might be Zrno clapping Chall's ear on an escape and Chall following up with a facewash before cooler heads prevailed, or both escalating things into some nasty shots. They did a short arm scissors exchange with gotch lifts. They had this amazing up and over with dragon sleepers (1981 remember) until they got lost in the ropes. And Chall had the armhook rana mid match where Zrno did a great bridging escape, only to go for it again at the end and get folding pressed for the loss. Definitely a treat to see these two ply their trade.

Moose Morowski vs. Bob Della Serra (UFO)

MD: Another very long Morowski match where they start by trading a round of holds (headlock, armbar) each, before things start to get heated and never really look back. This includes some great exhausted selling as time goes on too, as well as a few sojourns to the floor and a Morowski pile driver (jammed on the second attempt), and his share of cheapshots. The crowd was behind Della Serra with plenty of UFO chants and Moose got (and deserved heat). Not too much to say about the specifics except for that once they started pounding on each other it got quite good but didn't really build to anything meaningful.That didn't mean it wasn't enjoyable for what it was though.

Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka vs. Ed Wiskowski

MD: These two worked well enough together that I'm sad Wiskowski didn't bring Tsurumi back to Portland to face Buddy Rose (though the timing of that may be off anyway). Wiskowski would get a cheapshot in to take over, Tsurumi would work from underneath with some big karate chops. Wiskowki would run head first into things while bumping for them. Wiskowki would take back over by tossing Tsurumi out and fighting him on the outside. And it would all repeat. Very fun stuff with some unique bit of stooging out of Wiskowski until it got called off and he got DQed. Tsurumi wasn't at all happy with that and wanted to keep fighting but the ref awarded the match to him anyway.

Paco Ramirez/Karl Dauberger vs. Kengo Kimura/Caswell Martin

MD: This didn't go super long even at 2/3 falls but it was a lot of fun. For one thing, I'm not sure I've ever seen Kengo Kimura in a comedy match but he was working as Martin's second banana and there was one clear sequence where he did some fun 2 s 1 stuff. He had a headlock, got hit a with a gut punch from outside, put it back on, and then did the headscissors/headlock combo takeover with a big pumping arm to get the crowd going. They also did a bit where Martin catapulted one into the other while he was holding Kimura so Kimura got out of there at the last second. Stuff like that. All fun. Martin, as always, was confident and creative. He had one bit where he was in a leg stretch and kept making his legs wider to force Ramirez to try to keep up (he failed). We had seen Ramirez as a stylist in the later French Catch stuff so nice to see him get so into this stooging role.

Adrian Street vs. Steve Wright

MD: I cannot begin to do this justice. I could tell you how all wrestling is symbolic and that this was a comedy spotfest with one hilarious bit after the next. I could explain how Steve Wright usually eats up his opponents and here he was up against someone who made fools of them (at least in Germany). I could tell you how they bridged that gap by having both wrestlers menace the ref, with Wright doing it more and more as the match went on and countering more and more of Street's antics by giving it back to him, or how he spent the entire match with a sort of wild whimsy you wouldn't expect. I could explain how the crowd was laughing uproariously the whole time but how they still built to big moments. I could explain specific spots including maybe the funniest ref bit I've ever seen. But, none of this does it justice. No even close. I can't do it with words. Maybe someone could. Not me. This match was buried for decades in a private collection. It only got transferred because it was at the very end of a tape with Bret vs Neidhart on it, an unlisted match from a different card. I think it might be the funniest pro wrestling match ever, though don't show it to your grandmother.

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Found Footage Friday: Hanover 1981

Hanover 1981

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

Achim Chall vs. John Quinn

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

Adrian Street vs. Francisco (Paco) Ramirez

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

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

 

Alex Dieter vs. Moose Morowski

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

PAS: I loved the 1980 match

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

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

Grand Vladimir vs. Caswell Martin

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

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

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

Moose Morowski vs. Pat Roach

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

 

Achim Chall vs. Bret Hart

 

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

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Found Footage Friday: KIMURA~! FUJINAMI~! INOKI~! HULK~! CHOSHU~! YATSU~! KHAN~! MAEDA~!

Kengo Kimura vs. Tatsumi Fujinami 11/19/82 NJPW

 

MD: Another day, another Japanese HH channel. This one feels particularly interesting as it's a new challenge by Kimura for Fujinami's title and in some ways it feels like a precursor to their 86/87 singles feud after they have great success as a tag team. Kimura comes in with a chip on his shoulder, refusing to shake Fujinami's hand and then immediately bypassing the early feeling out process for a belly-to-back and a jumping kick to the head off the top. Throughout this match, Kimura would strike first, but Fujinami would shut him down until slowly, surely, he rose to a level of competitiveness and likely anger to meet him in the middle. Case in point, Fujinami would wrestle his way back into the match, containing Kimura, but Kengo would refuse to break clean in the ropes, slapping at Fujinami multiple times before Fujinami started to return the favor. No matter how much aggression Kimura showed, Fujinami could hit a dropkick out of nowhere and get back in it. Eventually, Fujinami had enough and started working at the leg. Kimura took advantage of that eventually by catching a kick and hitting a dragon screw. That opened Fujinami up for a pile driver. He was able to fight back though, reversing a whip into the rails on the floor before eventually taking over just enough to hit a belly-to-back (with a close kickout) for the win. I know it took a few more years for it to all bubble over, but Kimura did not look like a guy who fully got it all out of his system here. Definitely an interesting piece of the puzzle.

Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami/Akira Maeda vs. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu/Animal Hamaguchi NJPW 10/19/83

MD: I've seen a bunch of these tags and six-mans from this feud but I don't have a chronological sense of everything and how this one fits in. The universal traits are all there though. Over time, six-man tags have been about a lot of different things. Right now, very often, they're an opportunity to get in as many spots as possible, to keep cycling through to ensure that the action never ends. Here though, it was all about the mood of danger. If you got too close to Choshu's corner, you were going to pay. If you couldn't stop them from pulling you back in that direction, you would pay. The extra person took up an extra ten, fifteen percent of the apron and created an additional danger zone. Likewise, if you were able to roll towards your corner desperately, there was that much more chance you'd be able to tag your partner. The physical space of the ring had a different value assigned to it than in normal tag matches and they leveraged that value to create an overarching sense of peril and opportunity. It's fun to watch it play out in the moment. Everyone had a chance to face everyone else here. Maeda got to hit his suplexes and spin wheel kick, Fujinami his dropkicks, Choshu to throw some lariats. Obviously, the most electric pairings were Inoki vs Choshu and Fujinami vs Choshu, but everything felt dynamic. There was a moment where they were able to down Inoki with a couple of double teams (which contrasted with the moment early on where Inoki shrugged off a double headbutt to burst out of their corner), and Choshu, sensing the opportunity rushed at full speed towards him to lock on a Scorpion as only he could. Choshu just had an extra theatrical gear he could tap into that electrified the crowd and made everything feel larger than life, and of course, if he was doing with Inoki, the effect was multiplied. Things broke down eventually, as you'd imagine, but Inoki got at least a moral win by throwing everyone out as the bell rang. Nothing particularly stood out here relative to other matches in this series but it's all good so that's ok.

Antonio Inoki/Hulk Hogan/Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Killer Khan/Tiger Toguchi/Yoshiaki Yatsu NJPW 11/19/83

MD: What stands out immediately is just how hot the crowd was for this, or at least how hot they were for Hogan and most especially Inoki. He was getting chants far before arriving and when he and Hogan came out in matching robes, the place went nuts. This was more or less back and forth but I didn't agree with all of the backs and all of the forths. Starting with Fujinami and Toguchi made sense. Things cycled around with a slight good guy advantage until Khan carried Fujinami over to his corner so they could double team (a fireman's carry clubber followed by an Argentinian backbreaker clubber). Then the other side cycled around on Fujinami until he came back on Khan. That was unfortunate. I don't mind double heat with some comeback/control in the middle but it would have been better if it was, let's say, Yatsu getting his leg worked over as opposed to the monster. There was a bit of a foreboding feeling as it cycled back around to Fujinami doing it as you just knew Khan would come back, and of course, he did. Eventually Fujinami got a hot tag and Inoki and Hogan cleared house. Things built to Hogan vs Yatsu, which went about as you'd expect. At one point, Yatsu half ducked an Axe Bomber and I'm not sure Hogan expected it as he followed up with some big clubbers before doing it again. Things devolved into chaos and everyone getting counted out shortly thereafter. Hogan was repeating himself a couple of times and Yatsu especially wasn't there yet, but they were very, very over and that's always fun to watch.

ER: A very entertaining Tiger Toguchi and Killer Khan match, with them and Yatsu carrying a kind of uninspired Hogan and Inoki (Fujinami was plenty inspired). Inoki has this major presence and the crowd is dying for him, so it's funny when he finally gets into the match and just ices everything down with a standing leglock. 1983 Hogan in Japan has that Bodybuilder Dauber Dybinski posture, lumbering around and looking like a neanderthal with no juice. It's alarming how wild the crowd is for Hogan as he doesn't acknowledge them once the entire match. But if Hogan was a first year Batista and Inoki was mostly indifferent, Toguchi and Khan knew how to keep this moving. 

Toguchi looks like the largest possible Japanese member of Mamas and the Papas and I love how he never hesitates to step to Hogan or Inoki. The longer the match goes, the bigger Toguchi bumps, and he has this great Clumsy Taue motion. He gets run upside down in the corner and takes a big bump through the ropes to the floor from a Hogan knee. He bumps so hard to the floor, and Hogan just stands in place like Bull Buchanan. Killer Khan has to jump to the floor and tell Toguchi to stop selling and get back in the ring because Hogan wasn't budging. Hogan didn't budge until Yatsu ducked instead of taking an axe bomber, but wound up making the spot cooler by getting scalped and stumbling face first into the ropes. Hogan doesn't see it that way and is suddenly Stan Hansen but in a kind of bratty way. Look at the slappy stampy way he tags out after stiffing up Yatsu and hitting his Realest axe bomber. Hogan stiffs up Yatsu and suddenly looks really overpowering, and it stands out as the first time he's looked alive all match. The thing is, that's basically how overpowering Khan looks whenever he is in. Khan is a huge guy who knows how to wrestle big. He's one of the all time great Hogan and Inoki opponents because he could push pace and fall big for stars. But you see Inoki's jawline and pompadour and it's pretty easy to see why he still gets the biggest reaction in Chiba for his loaded up enziguiri. 

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Found Footage Friday: PANAMA~! SANDOKAN~! KATO KUNG LEE~! OLIMPICO~! GIGANTE TATAKI~! DYNAMITE~! CANEK~! KIMURA~! TAKANO~!

Sandokan/Kato Kung Lee vs. Gigante Tataki Panama 

MD: Tataki was Walter Quisbert Limachi, a 7'5" Bolivian giant who had been a boxer before getting into wrestling. They get around twenty minutes out of this before it breaks down completely. Tataki was fairly agile for his size, with a ton of presence. At one point, he gets Sandokan down and just bounds up to the second rope to miss a stomp. When he took and when he gave was a little suspect and he sure liked to bump out of the ring whether it was warranted or not. In general though, this all worked pretty well. Early on Sandokan and Kato Kung Lee used a lot of kicks to the legs and tried to play cat and mouse with the giant. If he got his hands on either of them, he could chuck them across the ring without any issue. The first time he stepped through the ropes to give chase, you could hear all of the kids screaming in horror. When they were double teaming him they were able to bound over him to hit sunset flips and what not. Unfortunately for the heroes, around halfway through the match, he got them both outside and smashed Kato Kung Lee with a chair. That was it for him and he got taken to the back. After that, Sandokan put up a valiant attempt, staggering Tataki with ten punches for every one that Tataki could throw, but after getting knocked to the floor, he recovered and started tossing Sandokan around again, including hitting a kneeling pile driver and this great toss where he grabbed Sandokan's singlet and rolled backwards. Both Sandokan and Kato Kung Lee were more than happy to fly around for him. Eventually, Olimpico (I think) came out to even the odds allow Sandokan to recover. Even then, they could barely hold the giant at bay, but after getting posted, he eventually got angry and went to the back, only to come back to sign a contract for the apuestas match we have upcoming. This wasn't Der Henker vs LeDuc/Corn or anything, but it was a pretty solid way to fill almost half an hour as a total package. All we have is the footage to go off of but Sandokan continues to look impressive as a local Carlos Colon type ace. Tataki may have given a little erratically, but for a guy his size he had a lot of presence and surprising athleticism. 

Sandokan/Olimpico vs. Gigante Tataki (Hair Match) Panama

MD: This falls on the spectacle side of apuestas matches as opposed to the bloody sort, but it was a hell of a spectacle. Sandokan and Olimpico started like the tecnicos did in the last match, throwing kicks in and darting around so Tataki couldn't get them. He sold the leg kicks as if he was taking bullets, but he'd also bound to the second rope threateningly. It didn't take him long to separate his opponents, given that he was able to toss them around so easily. Things opened up once he hit his kneeling piledriver to Sandoken on the floor. Once they could no longer double team him, he'd pummel one and then the next. The comeback was big, but it could have been bigger as he just missed a big splash in the middle of the ring. It was fun though, with Sandokan running up to sit upon Olimpico's shoulders so he could smash Tataki on the head, right until he'd get rolled forward, forced to victory roll his own partner. They kept bounding up and doing it again though. I was picturing Carlos Colon and Invader 1 doing it to Andre, and it was all pretty wonderful stuff. Tataki wasn't exactly subtle in his shift from taking to selling, but he sold enthusiastically when it was time. Even then, he was able to separate his opponents and was taking back over again with huge hanging tree slams onto Sandokan, until the ref ended up distracted by Olimpico and Tataki ate a mule kick to the groin. He sold this bigger than anyone has ever sold anything, basically, falling out of the ring and spasming across the basketball court towards the crowd. That set up the absolutely iconic finish with Sandokan and Olimpico throwing chairs at Tataki one after the other, burying him so he couldn't answer the count.

Dynamite Kid/Canek vs. Kengo Kimura/George Takano NJPW 4/3/81

MD: Chippy stuff actually. Early, early 80s mean jerk Dynamite is the best Dynamite and here he had a couple of kids to beat all over the ring. Canek tried to keep up, which was welcome, but he wasn't nearly as mean. Kimura and Takano had something to prove so it ended up being a little less cooperative than you'd think. Less artful exchanges. Kimura was especially good at hoping into the ring to assert himself and break things up and just swipe from the outside in general; good fire overall. When they could work together, they had a chance and Dynamite wasn't afraid to bump for them when warranted, even if he was less eager to sell. In return, they went up for all of Kid and Canek's stuff (butterfly suplex, delayed vertical, gutwrench suplex, clothesline onto the top rope, Canek's plancha, the press slam into a backbreaker that ended it). Like I said, Canek was fine but whenever he was in there, you wanted him to tag out just because you knew Dynamite was going to throw a nasty European uppercut or drop a headbutt.

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