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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Found Footage Friday: 1980 HANOVER~!

9/17/80 Hanover

Chris Colt vs. Axel Dieter

MD: Watching Chris Colt in dark blurry 1980 Germany footage is a real joy. There's no other word for it. He wrestles like the whole world is out to get him. Like he can see them coming from every angle. And they're also purple elephants. What a guy. He was complaining about hair pulling before they even locked up. With every exchange he won he tapped his head like he was a genius. Then he walked right into some immediate comeuppance and he complained some more. Just antics with every exchange. Some great bits that were clearly bits but that never felt like bits. They just felt like him being off his gourd. He'd press a dirty advantage between falls just kicking and stomping away but Dieter would just come back and give him the what for. Post match, he tried to charge in an attack only to end up upside down in the turnbuckles. That's Chris Colt for you. We're lucky to have had him even for a moment.

ER: Chris Colt wrestled this like he was Eddie Gilbert in Puerto Rico, a foreign invader stooge who threw cheap shots and resorted to punches when home hero opponent wasn't even considering them, meanwhile getting completely upended on 90% of all exchanges. If you had told me Chris Colt doesn't have any offense and just gets by on drama, stooging, and bumps, I'd believe you. He wrestles this like a manager who doesn't think he's going to win the match but wants to be as disruptive as possible before losing. Even the ref is through with this guy before his entrance music has stopped. Colt takes forever getting his clothing off and the ref just pulls his shirt off over his head. It's like Colt took that moment and tried to have a defiant tantrum until he lost. I loved how most of his cheap shots lead to him getting hit, trying to attack after the bell and getting tossed aside, attacking Dieter after his loss and getting dropped off the turnbuckles onto his head. The man took a back body drop like someone who didn't expect to get flipped in the air, like an America's Funniest Home Video where someone gets double jumped off a trampoline and breaks their collarbone. 

Steve Wright vs. Sal Bellomo

MD: This went the full five rounds and it was a lot of fun. Babyface vs. babyface. Sportsmanlike though it did boil over a bit down the stretch with a fast-paced big bumping (Wright) strike exchange and some wild rope running where Wright would keep getting Bellomo off balance as they worked to the bell. Before that, it was very back and forth. There was one round where Wright had a headscissors on the whole time, but a lot of the early stuff was Wright being a nuisance with his cartwheels and escapes, only for it to build to Bellomo to have a cartwheel of his own. Lots of hanging on to holds as well, even though escape attempts. When Bellomo got one over on him, Wright would be good spirited for the most part, clapping even on his back. They did some very high level work, including some monkey flip spots where they changed direction and pin exchanges going back and forth. I don't know how much substance it had over all, but everyone watching enjoyed themselves a great deal. Just good, strong professional wrestling for its own sake.

ER: This was so good, real pleasant, watched the entire long draw with a big smile. It's tough to do babyface vs. babyface and do it sincerely, and these two might have been the best to try it with. The German fans obviously love Wright, but Bellomo is the Germany revelation that we love so much. These fans get behind their home hero and love this spry Italian, and it creates a real nice environment for their work. Anyone who is only familiar with Sal from seeing some kind of awful 20 minute undercard draw against Samula has no idea what Hanover Bellomo is like. He and Wright don't hate each other, even though it gets more competitive and the handshakes get a bit more teeth clenching, and instead we build to a bit of competitive oneupmanship that never feels like the same kind of grating athletic display as Eddie/Malenko. Bellomo works like a World of Sport legend, I was stunned by his skilled headscissor escapes and the way he works Wright's brand of tough guy athletics. I don't know what 70s matwork exist of Bellomo but his German work is different than any US work of his I've seen, yet he never looks out of place doing it. He is adept at doing complicated exchanges with last minute twists, and there's this great moment where things tip over and Wright shoulderblocks Sal off the apron to the floor. It's a different kind of toughness than they'd been showing and came a bit out of nowhere, a fall bigger than the back body drops and other spills he'd taken. Great way to peak the action, great match to spend some time with. 

Caswell Martin vs. Le Grand Vladimir

MD: Night and day from the last match. The second Vlad hit the ring, even before getting announced or taking gear off, he had tossed Martin out over the top rope to huge boos. When things got settled and he WAS announced, the boos came back even louder. This went the full five rounds as well, but it was a different animal. At the bell Martin got some revenge but Vladimir kept trying to contain him. Early on that didn't go so well. Martin kept slipping out including a great up and over on a top wristlock and the Zangiev escape on a headscissors. Vlad would pull the hair to keep the arm and then express to the ref that it couldn't be possible for him to do that as he, himself, was bald (even if Martin wasn't). There was a whole round where Martin controlled on a cravat going in and out of it and that was well done. After that, Vlad had enough and goozled and stomped and got carded once or twice but controlled until a big comeback from Martin down the stretch. Fans were super into it as you can imagine, and things kind of bounced around with that until the bell and the draw. 

UFO vs. Tom Shaft

MD: Shaft is sort of limited by this point but he does those limited things pretty well. Against someone like UFO, that's enough. His shots look good. He had some nice rapid fire punches to the gut as they were firing back on one another. He had this clothesline to the top of the head and some sort of jumping knee or kick that worked. And he'd bump when it made sense. First round was a lot of UFO using holds and controlling but at the end of the second, Shaft went flying over the top on a shot. He came back in between rounds to get revenge, and then they slugged it out for a lot of the third before UFO won with a sunset flip. Shaft yelled at people after the match. It's interesting to see him since we don't have a lot of footage at least. 

Achim Chall/Michael Schneider vs. Moose Morowski/Ed Wiskoski

MD: Fun while it lasted but it didn't last long enough. You never know coming into these if you're going to have a near classic or if things will just end off going off the rails early. They worked over Morowski's back to start with Schneider bearhugs and these great jumping double knees to the back from Chall. Wiskowski is a wonderful stooge in these matches, eating a bunch of dropkicks and then doing a Buddy Rose-esque fall through the ropes to the floor. Heels took over by swarming and drawing in Chall, and it all sort of led to nothing as Morowski hit a backbreaker and Wiskowki came off the top with a diving headbutt to draw a DQ. If it was just for a fall, that would have worked because then they could have gotten it back quickly from the damage done and the babyfaces would have had to fight back from injury but that was just the match. I'm sure it paid off later but we get these scattershot.

9/20/80

Kim Duk vs. Louis Laurance (JIP)

MD: We come in at the end here. Laurance is far smaller but he hits a bunch of dropkicks until he gets trucked by a Duk dropkick the pin. Not much to say. 

Steve Wright vs. Takashi Ishikawa

MD: Wright really is the Johnny Saint of Axel Dieters. It's a good act, but it gets a little old. The cool thing is that Ishikawa could completely keep up. And the other good thing about Wright, of course, is that after all the cartwheeling and bounding and kip ups and laughter is done, he is actually a tremendous bumper and seller, and he did so here for Ishikawa after a pile driver. that was in the second round and they went into the third more even, slugging away a bit until Wright caught him with a very impressive twisting backslide for the pin. Could have had a bit more of this.

Chris Colt vs. Caswell Martin

MD: This was a lot of fun, the most fun you'll have watching wrestling this year, maybe. Colt has those voices in his head and a chip on his shoulder. He'd try all sorts of things and Martin had not just an answer, but often a hilarious answer to everything. He'd climb around in a headcissors and toupie out. He'd suddenly have a hard head and goad Colt into punching it. He'd have Colt walk up the ropes in a full nelson and give everyone a thumbs down before dropping him. He'd get dropkicked and then drop him right back. Bit after bit after bit after bit. During the round breaks, Colt would flail about to the music and mess with the crowd. He'd get a few shots in or toss Martin out but he could never hold the advantage for long and it was all so entertaining that we're probably happier that way. Martin finally twisted and turned him all around before bridging his way for a pin. Great fun.

 

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

Hanover Germany 

10/20/81

Sal Bellomo vs. Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka

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

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

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

10/6/81

Grand Vladimir vs. Sal Bellomo

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

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

Mile Zrno vs. UFO

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

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

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

Goro "Tanaka" Tsurumi vs. Moose Morowski

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

Kengo Kimura vs. Jim Neidhart

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

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

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

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

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

9/28/81 Hanover

Salvatore Bellomo vs. Pat Roach

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

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

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

Mile Zrno vs. Manuel Lopez

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

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

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

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

Kengo Kimura vs. Bret Hart

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

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

UFO vs. Jim Neidhart:

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

------
10/10/81

Klaus Kauroff vs. Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bremen 10/20/81

Bret Hart vs. Steve Wright

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

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

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

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

Caswell Martin vs. Pat Roach

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

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

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

Sal Bellomo vs. Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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10/23/81?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moose Morowski vs. Jim Neidhart

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

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

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

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10/21/81? 

Steve Wright vs. John Quinn

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

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

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

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09/13/81?

Karl Dauberger vs. Klaus Kauroff

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

Caswell Martin vs. Steve Wright

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

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Found Footage Friday: 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: PRE-KAMALA~! WRIGHT~! ONITA~! WISKOWSKI~! MOROWSKI~! UFO~!

9/13/80 Hanover, Germany

Big Jim Harris vs. Bob DellaSerra (UFO)

MD: Now and again someone will wax poetic about how wrestling today is better than it ever was and we have so many four+ star matches on TV every week and whatever else and what people seem to miss in that is what we've lost. A match like this is what we lost and no amount of choreographed counters and athletic spots and constant fast pace will ever get it back. The social contract between the crowd and wrestlers changed. It's not about people thinking it's real or kayfabe. It's about the way the crowd reacted.

I'm not saying it can never come back but it's going to be hard especially with the incentives all broken.
For instance, if you watch FTR vs Nigel/Garcia from Double Or Nothing, the fans don't pop for each of Nigel's comeback shots out of the corner. They may react overall, but they're not living and breathing with each move done on either side. They may react to momentum shifts, but generally they're only going to react to big spots and more often than not, the way they react is that they're just glad to be there, just glad to see a spot. They don't have a horse in the race anymore, except for that the race is as exciting as possible. 

It's amazing how over Della Serra is here. Just constant UFO chants. A real connection with the crowd that he then makes the most of. This was on the card but not on the tape label so it's a bit of a bonus match and I'm glad we have another look at Harris. I watch the way he moves here, his swagger, his confidence, and I think he could have had a run with Dusty as this character in the mid 80s. You say that there was Bad News Brown or Leroy Brown or a few others that fill that gap but I just think between his size and how he moved and how he carried himself, he could have done it without Kamala. I'm just not sure he would have been an always in demand top guy for those years like he was. 

This went the full draw, over twenty minutes, and it was pretty good the whole way through. They had Harris lean on UFO building to big, hot moments of comeback. Everything was pretty simple and straightforward but they kept it moving and everything Harris did was credible and when he missed a charge or a splash and UFO was able to fire up, he sold big enough to make it all seem believable and meaningful. And when UFO finally slammed him, the fans went nuts, even if it didn't lead to a finish. I'm kind of amazed that they filled the time as well as they did but it was just a case of the right guys doing the right stuff in front of the right crowd.

ER: I love what Matt had to say about losing wrestling like this. This is wrestling at its barest essentials presented to the exact people who wanted those essentials. Big Jim Harris was two years away from Kamala and maybe 50 matches into his whole career and working a crowd like this must have been a breakthrough for him. Yeah, just put me up against a beloved babyface and I will be a tall black guy who throws downward strikes all match and it will get nuclear reactions. It's just that easy. Was it that easy? It couldn't have been that easy. This wasn't about the fans having lowered expectations, it was about the fans believing in UFO and rooting him on against this large tri-hawked presence. The men in the ring also knew how to best make use of the rounds system. They were good at saving something big for the bell in every round, like a serial where something was just about to happen but you'll have to tune in after this musical interlude. 

The first round ends with Harris breaking a front face lock agreeably at the bell but then whipping down hard with a strike not unlike his Kamala/Baba chops a decade later, except this one looked like Finlay smacking someone in the back of the head. Kamala learned to lighten up on the chops but Big Jim Harris was still throwing those long arms full strength. He lands one big downward strike after breaking so genially, then walks away with his hands up like he did everything that was asked. He understood the assignment. Harris cannot run the ropes yet but when he tries he looks like any guy his size would look attempting to run the ropes. He barrels into UFO like a large man completely out of control and UFO falls back rigidly, as if the contact of the shoulderblock/full body block knocked him out before he hit the mat. 

We get a round that ends with UFO actually hoisting Harris up onto his back and Harris using physics to fall back into a crucifix just as the bells sounds. This was the best round ending and while nothing in this match was clean or any kind of revolutionary offense, when have you ever seen Kamala rolling up ANYBODY with a crucifix? This is something I have never even pictured, or thought possible. What man could even attempt to get Kamala up on their back like that? Who would want to? What situation would Big Him Harris ever find himself in where he was lifted up on another man's back. No fireman would be able to carry him out of a burning building, only UFO. UFO hitting an ugly bodyslam on Harris felt like such a big moment, even if it only got a one count, because every single shot that landed on the big man was treated by everyone in that room as the greatest thing that could be happening. This was 20 minutes of build to one messy bodyslam, which will sound like the absolute worst shit to people who I have no interest in watching wrestling with, but they weren't there. It wasn't for them, and it didn't have to be. It's a testament to a babyface a specific crowd wants to live for...and also probably the threat of a large black man. 

Sal Bellomo vs. Moose Morowski

MD: Long match but a pretty good one. Bellomo had a special connection with the crowd too but I'm not sure if it had as much to underpin it as UFO. I get why it made a lot of sense to try to push him as an Italian American star in the WWF in the early 80s but I also get why maybe it didn't work. Plenty of energy and pluck. But at this point some of his timing was just a little suspect now and again. Morowski is infinitely credible. Able to just smash someone into the corner or toss them from the ring or hit a cheapshot from his knees as at a moment's notice. When he leaned on someone, he really leaned on him but then he could backpedal and take as good as he could give.

He took more of this than Bellomo and a number of times when Bellomo came back it was either due to a round break (catching Morowski as he charged in) or due to the ref intervening. At one point he goes so far as to swipe with someone in the crowd (maybe another wrestler/official but it's hard to tell from the footage). It's pretty constantly entertaining because the fans go up for all of Bellomo's comebacks and the cutoffs are mean and believable even if I'm not sure I need quite so many rounds of it. Finish has Bellomo knock Morowski off the top to the floor with a big bump but then get posted as he goes after him and made short work of once he makes it back to the ring.

Steve Wright vs. Klaus Kauroff

MD: Every new Wright match is a blast. You look forward to every exchange because you have no idea what he'll do next. The downside generally is that he does tend to eat up his opponents. With Karoff, however, that wasn't going to happen. This was more like a three act play than you usually get in these German matches. 

Wright clowned him early including some ridiculously elaborate sequences where he bounded and cartwheeled and twisted and turned and then turtled up. Karoff leaned hard on him in the middle with lots of big shots and cutoffs whenever Wright tried to fire back. And then Wright fought his way back into the ring headfirst and really pressed Karoff until he tried that head first lunge one too many times and ended up clotheslining himself on the rope. Karoff followed with this great over the shoulder backbreaker where he pressed Wright's neck up onto the top rope from underneath. Only problem is that it was very illegal and he got DQed for it. Overall, though, it was a fun, complete match.

Takashi (Sumo) Ishikawa/Atsushi Onita vs. Kim Duk/Ed Wiskowski

MD: Pretty surreal match and a great early look at Onita. It's not our earliest match of his but it's pretty close. Wiskowki and Duk are a tall, tall team. Duk really towers over Onita and trolls him early with a test of strength tease. By 82 you can definitely see signs of Onita in Onita but I was wondering if they would show up here and they did, not just in a perfectly milked hot tag but also in the way he'd get knocked to the apron and hang off by his feet. Just hamming it up in a way that had visual impact.

Ishikawa knew how to get over with this crowd too. A lot of sumo charges that were almost more football tackles, one of which missed and had him sailing out of the ring. The Japanese team would get beaten down (Onita especially) and make big comebacks and Duk and Wiskowski would bump and stooge until they could take over again. Wiskowki willingly got carded by jumping off the top so that he could win the first  fall. That's always a clever bit. In the second, they were firing back on Duk until Onita got caught in a tombstone. Pretty good match overall and as noted, a great look at young Onita in an interesting setting.

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