Found Footage Friday: KONG~! KANSAI~! HAMADA~! SATOMURA~! STOMPER~! HEENAN HANDCUFFED TO T~!

Frank Hickey vs. Mongolian Stomper Kansas City 1960s

MD: This was another old match that Charles from Wrestling Playlists posted last year in one of his huge tape buying sprees. As best as I can tell, the Geigel match from earlier in this show was online but this wasn't. It's certainly a moment in time and a moment in pro wrestling canon in its own way. More on that in a minute. Stomper, at this point, had the look (mostly shaved head, fu manchu style goatee) but he talked just like a normal guy and wasn't affected (in his inner ear) by the crowd's boos. Hickey had an elaborate costume with a cape and a headguard. They don't call him the Spaceman here, but he was. I don't know if this was heel vs heel or what but these were just two big guys throwing big shots for the most part. Hickey controlled this more than I'd expect, honestly, as Stomper was pushed harder and talked about going after Thesz post match. Midway through the match, a hulking figure with glasses from the crowd walked up to ringside and had to be shuffled away. That was a debuting Ox Baker (no facial hair) and one subplot through the match was the commentary talking about how they had to turn him down when he wanted to wrestle before because despite being 300 pounds he wasn't trained. At the end of the clip,  after Stomper had won somewhat anticlimactically, they said that the promoters were going to allow Ox to wrestle that coming Thursday and he got to introduce himself. Interesting little angle/gimmick for the 60s. To me, it was just strange to see the Stomper not even trying to put on foreign airs.

Superstar Billy Graham vs. Hercules WWF 8/15/87

MD: This was another recent Richard Land find so you'll have to go find his patreon. While there was absolutely no way it could live up to its promise on paper, it was still pretty great, all the more so because I didn't realize what the post-match was going to be. This was when Graham was stepping in for Patera. The match itself was ok. Hercules created the motion with a few big bumps. He had some nice cutoffs. Graham controlled the middle and was able to stand tall with his strength. They had a nice finish where Hercules tried to slam Graham from the outside in and got rolled through on it. 

The real appeal here, however, was Heenan. This had the one-two punch of Heenan handcuffed to Mr. T and the losing manager having to get whipped, so you can only imagine all of Heenan's mannerisms as he got yanked around by T and then the whole hoopla of the post-match with Hercules trying desperately to protect his manager and then Graham and finally Patera getting their shots in on a writhing, squirming Heenan as the crowd went wild. I wish there was more of it. A lot of the time we just got glimpses in the corner of the screen of Heenan's reactions. This was definitely more for the live crowd, but I'm glad we got to see it at all.

ER: I thought Heenan's promo to start this whole segment was far and away the most cutting thing. Heenan wasn't funny at all, he was ruthless. I mean, he was funny, but he came off tough, like a guy who ran a hard card game. When he was talking about being cuffed to Mr. T he straight up told Ken Patera to put the cuffs on himself, as a little stroll down memory lane. He talked about how everyone you see with big arms and a big body is unemployed, because working men can't spend 8 hours lifting and 8 hours working. He makes fun of Graham for eating 19 cans of tuna and 65 raw eggs all day. It's a promo that felt like real hate, and it made the match more disappointing for having hardly any hate at all. I don't think any of the Heenan/Mr. T payoffs were there and it was one of those reminders of how big wrestlers were and how small actors are. When Bobby Heenan is larger than Mr. T and he just cut a promo about real tough men from the midwest, I want more than just 10 minutes of Heenan cowering from T on the floor. 

It's insane how Billy Graham aged 30 years in 10. 1987 Billy Graham works like 75 year old Jimmy Valiant. 10 years earlier he was the most charismatic man in the building and here he's like 1999 Terry Gordy. Hercules I thought looked great. His kneedrops and elbowdrop and knuckle locks and big bump to the floor selling for Graham all looked strong. He had a pretty steep hill to climb and the stipulation would have been more fun if it had ended with Heenan bumping for Mr. T and Patera instead of absorbing pulled belt shots thrown by a one armed man and a suddenly elderly man. 

Aja Kong/Dynamite Kansai vs. Ayako Hamada/Meiko Satomura GAEA 6/22/03

MD: It's hard for me to write this one up. So much happens. It's one imaginative, iconic spot after the next. You watch it and by the end you forgot that Aja branded the guardrail at one point even though it was awesome in the moment. They just pack in so much in twenty minutes and while there are themes (Kansai going for the Splash Mountain until she gets it, it gets broken up, and then she gets it again for the win, for instance), and while I'd even say it comes together and never entirely falls apart, it's just a lot to keep track of. Here, of course, you have not just the problem of Aja early on but also the problem of Kansai where she can just catch you in a claw and slam you to the ground. Even worse for Hamada and Satomura is when you get the problem of both, where you can put one down but the other is creeping over to hit you with a lariat. There was one point where Hamada was pinballing back and forth to kick Kansai to try to break an ankle lock on Satomura and then nail Aja so Aja wouldn't flatten her and she had two or three tries to do that before she just got crushed by Aja.

In some ways, despite all the spots and bombs and bumps (and occasionally weapons) this did have a bit of a sports feel where Hamada and Satomura would get lots of little shots on goal, but all it would take would be one breakaway from Kong/Kansai to end it and everyone knew it. Some of that was from the two teams just constantly pressing forward and never letting up, even though things still had weight (of course they did) and impact. It felt like a big deal when Hamada and Satomura got their opponents down and on the ropes, and they had some very big bombs of their own (literally as they power bombed Kansai onto Aja for instance). That said, it was all just a matter of time, of course, but it was a spirited time while it lasted.

ER: I thought this was good but never came close to approaching the greatness of the Kong/Meiko match from the week before (which Matt and I wrote about earlier this month). Meiko is one of our great punishment takers, an out-laster on the same level of Yuki Ishikawa. I buy it from Meiko, it's Ayako I don't buy it from here. The excitement of the Aja/Meiko matches is how Aja is going to walk through most of Meiko's offense, and be honest about the things that slow her down. You don't just get leniency from Stan Hansen, you have to move him before he sells for you. Aja is the same, you actually need to move her or bounce her on her head, and Dynamite Kansai can do the same thing. Aja and Dynamite as a team are similar to the problem created when Vader and Hansen teamed in All Japan. They are going to walk through almost anyone and Ayako's well thrown but worked elbow smashes are not going to be taken seriously by either. I need some real fire from an underdog outsized babyface and if you're still holding back a little on arm strikes after Kansai stomps on your fucking face from the top, then I stop buying it. 

But I did like this. I made a prolonged noise I've never made before in reaction to that double stomp to the face. I let out of deep guttural oof at the finish when Aja presumably broke one of Meiko's ribs with a kick to the stomach harder than any Kawada ever threw. I liked the way Aja treated Hamada like a little pest, finally hitting her with a backfist without much effort and then sitting on her while Dynamite disposes of Meiko. There were stretches where kicks were missing and timing was behind, and that's just not going to be enough to stop two monsters. Also, it's crazy how much faster Kong's kicks look than Hamada's or Meiko's. She's like Scott Norton with speed, it's unreal. 

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RIP Bullet

Bob Armstrong/Eddie Graham vs. Dick Murdoch/Bob Roop Florida 12/28/74

ER: This is only a 6 minute clip, but there is so much value in these 6 minutes that of course you have to see it. It's one of those tags where the ref never seems to have control, with all four combatants and Gary Hart running around potatoing each other at will. Armstrong is too much fun to watch in this, as he wiggles and glides and dances his way into and out of the ring, firing downward punches and elbows, giddily hopping and bopping into the action. All of the bumps in the match are cool and off balance, more guys spiraling away and stumbling out of punches than guys taking back bumps off strikes. Eddie Graham was a good staggerer and great at coming in with a well timed punch, and I loved seeing he and Roop grapple. All of their standing lock ups look tough as hell, constant struggle, and Roop crushes Graham with his shoulderbreaker down the stretch, which looks just as violent in 2020 as it did in 1974. Murdoch was a major standout, as while Bob is wiggling and punching his way through things, Murdoch is working everything. His belly is big but he is fast, and he runs this entire show. He's a great heel bumper here, not over stooging, but in there to be a threat while also making the babyfaces look like a threat. I loved him and Bob fighting over a brainbuster, how Murdoch's legs wobble when he's eating Armstrong's punches or getting a chair shoved into his face, how athletically he spills to the floor while not looking at all athletic. A lot of this was a battle on just who to focus on, because these guys all do interesting things when they're not even in the match.


Bob Armstrong vs. The Mongolian Stomper NWA Mid-Atlantic 9/9/75

ER: This was a ton of fun but stopped right when things were getting great, but what we got rules. It's a hot Mid-South Coliseum crowd and Lance Russell is calling the action, meaning it sounds the exact way wrestling should sound. Stomper is an absolute physical specimen. Armstrong is also as in shape as he always was, but Stomper looks like a final boss. It's based nearly entirely around the tightest side headlocks you've seen, with both men using their big arms to try and separate each other's melons from their shoulders. Stomper gets shot into the ropes, Bob leapfrogs over and flies backwards with a back elbow, with Stomper slipping to the floor to avoid the big elbowdrop. Back in, and there is a ton of super engaging Armstrong side headlock work. Armstrong has the most apropos surname ever, and Stomper is a master at being an oversized heel going through all the physical throes of being trapped in a snug headlock. When Stomper finally gets loose of it he flings Armstrong into the corner, Armstrong leaps gracefully to the middle buckle and hits an axe handle. Stomper is super generous here (no doubt building to running this match back a few times) and just stooges all over for Bullet, never managing to block a single kick, punch, or chop, and falling prey to every single leapfrog. There's a great theatrical ref bump where Armstrong runs the ropes so fast that Stomper runs him right into the ref after a dropdown, and the ref flops around fantastically after taking an Armstrong shoulderblock. If that shoulderblock is enough to send a mountain like Stomper to the mat, what would it do to a mere referee? Armstrong gets the pin after a big elbow, but Stomper grabs his belt and Gulas sets up the title match that I don't think I have access to. Armstrong knew how to make the most out of the most basic pro wrestling movements, and Stomper is the same thing, heel category. It's a special thing seeing them play off each other.


Bob Armstrong vs. The Mongolian Stomper NWA Mid-America 9/16/75

ER: This is under 5 minutes, not a full match, but it's essential. It's the final few minutes of a rowdy bloody match for Stomper's Southern Heavyweight title, and we get it before the blood starts flowing. They throw big swinging punches and constantly have to be separated before throwing at each other more. Armstrong gets busted open and Stomper doesn't go for anything other than working that cut for the rest of the match. Armstrong's face is covered and Stomper has Armstrong's blood on his legs and body. Bob is not someone who grows squeamish at the sight of his own blood, and it just inspires him to bust Stomper's head open. Not long in, and this loses all pretense of a wrestling match and it becomes a fight. It's so great, just the two of them clutching at each other's heads and refusing to break holds as they strangle each other on the apron. This was an expertly done non-finish, the kind of bloody realism that made you forget there had even been a match happening.


The Bullet/Adrian Street vs. Robert Fuller/Jimmy Golden Continental 9/1/86

ER: Not a Bullet showcase by any means, but a showcase in strange bedfellows. I don't know how much babyface Adrian Street I've seen, but a Bullet/Street babyface team is a fun idea, especially with Fuller and Golden to bump around acting confused by Street's wiles being turned on them. Street freaks everyone out, goes after the ref, goes after Golden and angers him by making him feel things, really gets under the skin of Kevin Sullivan on commentary, is constantly backing Golden up on his heels. Everybody was confounded by street, and the dichotomy was more amusing because of how much Golden and Fuller towered over him. Bullet was the guy saving Street throughout, and I liked the few moments they worked together. Bullet hitting Golden with an atomic drop, sending him flying forward into a Street kiss, sending Golden bumping wildly backwards (selling the kiss 4x as much as he sold the atomic drop) is pro wrestling. Bullet basically worked this match as Street's groomer, dragging Golden to their corner to be assaulted, and punching him in Street's direction for more kissing. Fuller and Golden finally cut Street off from Bullet, and I loved Fuller choking Street from the apron, Bullet getting a hot tag but the ref missing it, and finally Bullet going after Fuller on the floor. Tom Prichard runs out and things get gross with him forcing kisses on Miss Linda while Sullivan talks about how she's getting it finally from a real man. Luckily Steve Armstrong runs the heels off, wearing a neck brace and short white OP shorts.

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NWA Classics Price Tag Review

Dick Slater v. Mongolian Stomper 7/9/82 $3.00

I was excited to check this out when it showed up. Mongolian Stomper is a legendary figure who I really hadn't seen work in anything but TV matches and clips, here we get to see him in a long 2/3 falls title match, and it was pretty awesome stuff. 1st fall was a bit slow, with Stomper doing some stalling and covering his ears to make the crowd boo him, Slater controls with armbars and takedowns, until the Stomper escapes and starts stomping,and man did he have great looking stomps,  he busts Slater open and puts on a nasty looking claw for the submission, second and third falls were pretty awesome with Slater bloody and brawling finally turning the tables and busting open the Stomper. Wild violent stuff which totally took the crowd along for a ride, really makes me want to see more of the Stomper.

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