Found Footage Friday: ROSE~! WISKOSKI~! BASTIEN~! ZULU~! MARTINDALE~! ARAKAWA~! MARKUS~! DANDY~!

Tommy Martindale vs. Mitsu Arakawa NWA Chicago 10/22/54

MD: According to our buddy Ohtani's Jacket, Arakawa was Japanese-American and his gimmick in territories (though not here) was that he was a Hiroshima survival hellbent on revenge. This went about twenty in one fall and was solid stuff. During the pre-match stomping and bowing Martindale flew forth with a dropkick to get things going. He was a chippy and fiery babyface, always trying to work his way out of holds. In that regard, they seemed fairly evenly matched. Arakawa controlled the first third with a series of headlocks, constantly switching from one side to the other and taking him over. Eventually he used a "back bend" that he had been working for to get a reverse headlock in and break it up. You have to love the struggle. The fans did too. When Martindale went for a chinlock later and Arakawa had to escpae by going to the ropes, he drew big boos for it. These fans were conditioned to see wrestlers fight to get out of holds and everything was better off for it. Towards the end, Arakawa started to fight dirty with throat shots. Davis said Martindale had a boxing background but he didn't get to show it here. What he did get to show was that perseverence in constantly trying to fight out of holds, as he turned a body slam attempt by Arakawa into a pin and scored a banana peel victory. Nothing groundbreaking here but you have to love that underlying sense of struggle that could make six minutes of headlocks enjoyable. 

Buddy Rose/Ed Wiskoski vs. Red Bastien/Ron Pope Big Time Wrestling 11/4/78

MD: I don't know how new this is in general but it's a recent Orcutt upload and it's new to me and I've seen as much Rose as I can find. This was to establish Dr. Ken Ramey as Rose's new manager. Pope was a black strongman with a headbutt and a bearhug who I'm not super familiar with.The first five minutes of this were all worked around headlocks and while Wiskoski is good feeding and stooging for them, you can see the difference with Rose. He goes over perfectly for Bastien's walk up headscissors takeover in the corner, the legs going over in a picture perfect manner but one that still feigns impact and heft as opposed to seeming cooperative. Rose had a way of making over the top bumps seem completely natural. Likewise the way he'd flail his arms as far as was humanly possible during headlock cranks; it was for the last row, incredibly memorable, but still somehow felt like that's just what his body would do. Wiskoski was clunkier going over and more artificial on the flailing and it's not like he didn't bring things to the table. He just wasn't Buddy Rose. That's the thing though. No one was. He just instinctively knew what to do at every moment. 

The heels took over when Bastien went to the well once too often and Rose turned it into a belly to back. They got heat for a few minutes before a big comeback where Buddy ended up slammed by Pope and in Bastien's fireman's carry. When he got put in it a second time, they had a great finish of Ramey pulling Bastien's tights behind the ref's back so that Rose would go sailing over the top to draw the DQ. Very creative and it reminded me a little of the moment a few years before when Heenan debuted as Bockwinkel and Stevens' manager. Obviously this didn't have the same staying power, but it was a very effective capping of a pretty entertaining and purposeful TV match.

ER: I've probably been to Sacramento more than 98% of people who write about pro wrestling and I have zero familiarity with the Roy Shire Sacramento shows. I dated a girl whose uncle worked for KTXL as a camera operator. He was not a wrestling fan, he just filmed whatever was being filmed that day at KTXL. He viewed pro wrestling no differently than he viewed news broadcasts, talk shows, or people renting the studio to record their own paid programming. But he was still someone with up close wrestling stories from the sidelines, who did remember a lot of guys who came through Sacramento. Rocky Johnson was a name he brought up the way you'd bring up a college roommate's name, the way an old boss of mine used to talk about Pepper Gomez. This era of wrestling is underwritten about in general, and the Bay Area territory is way underwritten compared to other territories. Red Bastien is under-talked about because his career ran from 1950-1980 instead of 1960-1990, so most of the footage we have is from him in his late 40s. Ray Stevens too. The Bay Area guys all peaked in years we don't have, but now we get to watch Buddy Rose and Ed Wiskoski working a Sacramento TV studio within their peaks. 

Matt talked about Buddy Rose because Rose is a guy always worth talking about and seeking out. He takes multiple backdrops from Big Ron Pope and swung his loose floppy arms around in a side headlock like the Mighty Zulu had hit him with a second tranquilizer dart. Buddy is great, and this is a great Buddy match. But I love Ed Wiskoski and Matt shit all over him. Ed Wiskoski is great because he had two really great wrestling names: Ed Wiskoski and Col. DeBeers. He has some of my favorite wrestling posture. I love how he stands board straight like a Marine, like late 70s Nick Nolte. I love how he has a mustache and flattering shag cut, like late '70s Nick Nolte. His haircut and posture make him look like a Shakespearean surfer, and I love when he does his full rigid body flip over bump. Ed Wiskoski is a hulking version of Tom Atkins in Halloween III, the kind of guy who would show up to a street fight in brown corduroys. When he fights Bastien, he looks like and wrestles him like he's Bastien's younger, bigger brother. Buddy Rose is a guy who can and does steal many of the matches he's in, but Wiskoski wrestles like Chuck Connors would have wrestled. I get something out of him I don't get from any other wrestler. 

Gran Markus Jr/Monje Negro/Milo Caballero vs. El Dandy/Apolo Estrada/Monarka CMLL 1989

MD: Sometimes we get a 13 minute match and it's the full thing. Sometimes, like here, we come in at the start of the segunda. There's a short bit to begin where Markus does a pretty good job basing for Estrada's flashier stuff (think that was the main pairing) followed by a bit of dissension, I think because Dandy didn't like Estrada kicking Markus out of the ring (a tecnico taking pride in being a tecnico?) but then I got that from the commentators and they are unreliable narrators as usual. Regardless, that dissension helped the rudos take over. Of note, Caballero is a rudo here, which isn't what I'm used to and Monje Negro has to be up there in age, but he cut a forboding oversized figure, especially when put next to Markus. He had a knife kneelift and lawn darted Dandy right into Monarka, so that was fun. 

During the beatdown Markus really leaned on Estrada, bloodying him, gnawing on him, and tossing him into the third row in the most satisfying way. I don't remember Markus gnawing on bloody people often but the aftermath was a great visual with the white mask. The comeback was pretty great too as Estrada dodged a Markus knee as Monje Negro was holding him and the two ended up on their knees throwing shots at each other. Estrada got a few pin attempts in before Markus just jammed him, slammed him, and crushed his face with a nonchalant kneedrop. They cycled through after that, with Dandy and Monarka finally locking the other rudos into La Estrella, but Markus caught an Estrada body press, tossed him onto the mass of bodies in the submission, and then pinned said mass. I have to admit that Markus kind of looked like a beast here. Anyway, post-match kids got to hang out with the tecnicos in the bloody ring, so all's well that ends well, I guess?

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New Footage Friday: Wiskoski, Texas Red, Santo, Payasos, Matsunaga, Aoyagi

Ed Wiskoski vs. Texas Red Big Time Wrestling 1979?

MD: This was a 10K challenge, where Bastien would win the money from Wiskowski if he could beat him in 15 minutes. I'm going to come off as hypocritical between this and the trios, but with lucha I tend to like things falling into traditional structural lines because there is an inherent ritualistic beauty to lucha while here, I really appreciate the wrinkles that the 15 minute challenge put upon this structure. For instance, some of the nearfall trading towards the end felt six or seven years before its time, maybe not at the speed of a Steamboat/Savage but considering Wiskoski's size and Bastien's age, it's still fairly notable.

Wiskoski's size is a hell of a thing, really. He's billed at 6'4" on wiki but he uses every inch of that, while still being able to move so well. Their initial feeling out/matwork sequence with the armdrags and the headscissor takeovers was very impressive while still feeling completely sound and logical.

Obviously, having Buddy Rose on the outside and announcing was a big asset. The match was consistently engaging and entertaining, which is really something about that turn of the 80s west coast style. Buddy helped like he always did. The finish was clever as it sort of gave Bastien two visual wins (both of the match and the money) while doubling down on the heat, as Rose not only cheated him out of the money, but Wiskowski ultimately won the match. If they were giving this away on TV, there was plenty to still go to the arena to see.

ER: This was disappointing to me, because it really wasn't the match I wanted these two to have. I like both guys a lot so was really excited about the match on paper. Plus it's from the SF territory which was the territory I would hear about from "old people" as a kid (like how my dad said he and his friends would always call Pat Patterson "Fat Pat"), so any SF footage is great. Judging by the cut of Buddy Rose's suit jacket and shirt lapels I'm saying this was 1979. And I like both of these guys and always want to see more than what's out there, it just wasn't the match structure that I was at all interested in seeing. Wiskoski was putting up his 10 grand check from Shire if Texas Red could beat him in 15 minutes, and Texas Red looks like he is going to beat him every single minute of the 15 minutes. This match was 90% Texas Red beating Wiskoski pillar to post, looking the entire match like Wiskoski should have been the one trying to win a 10K payday. I fully expected this to be Buddy Rose cheating throughout, giving Wiskoski the advantage every time, but instead Red just dominated him most of the run time and couldn't put him away. Wiskoski came off like a total badass surviving Red's onslaught, getting run into the buckles a ton and bumping a zillion times for such a big guy. Wiskoski threw these cool short range side angle punches that I love, but they never seemed to have much of an effect on Red. We do get the big moment of Wiskoski just about being put away before Buddy interfered to break up what surely would have been the win. I liked the actual ring work - not a shock, both guys are very good wrestlers - but this felt like Wiskoski should have been more unfairly dominant, not bumping for 14 out of 15 minutes.


Masashi Aoyagi vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga NJPW 8/7/91

ER: This was a big New Japan show with 10,000+ in attendance, and this match was certainly something that was going to stand out early on a big G1 card. This would be an unexpected match to talk about while leaving the arena, two karate guys basically working a heel vs. heel match, two Billy Zabkas kicking spleens and testicles. Aoyagi is an absolute villain in this, cheapshotting Matsunaga with a liver kick while he's being checked by the ref and not letting up for 7 minutes. Aoyagi really gave Matsunaga an asskicking. Matsunaga chose a life of death matches after eating this beating. "I'd rather backflip into Caribbean spider web than get my bottom ribs kicked in," is something I'll likely never announce as my life choice, but these 7 minutes made Matsunaga say that. Aoyagi lands hard kicks to the chest, ribs, arms, and temples. Brutal body shots paid off with hard high kicks. Matsunaga is getting overwhelmed, and literally his only way back into the match is to kick Aoyagi right in the balls! Aoyagi was kicking him all around the ring, literally digging his feet in to Matsunaga's ribs to force him out of the ring, and Matsunaga comes in and just kicks him in the balls. Matsunaga treats Aoyagi with the respect he was treated. There was the feeling it wasn't going to last, but he made his moments count. Aoyagi's receipts were violent as hell though; he starts flinging his whole body into Matsunaga, big tumbling spin kicks that even when they don't land still see Aoyagi's full weight crashing into Matsunaga, awkwardly landing on his legs as they tumble. Aoyagi kicks him until surrender, and then gets the shit kicked out of him by some big ponytailed goon who I didn't recognize in the moment. This is something I don't think we've seen, and instantly becomes one of our all time classic Aoyagi performances.

MD: Is there anything that could possibly set the tone to a match better than Aoyagi kicking his opponent, the seconds, and downing the ref all in the first few moments? Maybe Matsunaga, after being forced out by kicks a few times, coming back in and shooting a kick right between Aoyagi's legs? That's basically this match. They'd retreat and attack. Aoyagi has the cool takedowns and throws, and of course the wild, theatrical kicks. Matsunaga, to his credit, didn't back down until the point where he could simply no longer get up. It was a brutal seven minutes. Violence candy.

PAS: Matsunaga comes to the ring seconded by Tiger Chung Lee and Kurisu, what an incredible trios team that is. Aoyagi opens the match by kicking the shit out Matsunaga, Chung Lee and Kurisu (with our boy Kurisu taking a big bump off the ring apron). He proceeds to bust up Matsunaga's body and head with kicks and punches. I loved Aoyagi's kidney shot/high kick combo. Aoyagi is awesome at turning wrestling matches to 70s Kung Fu movie fights and this was another example of that. Chung Lee and Kurisu jump both guys post match, and I clearly need to see the tag match that set up.


El Hijo Del Santo/Super Muneco/Angel Azteca vs. Los Payasos AAA 9/23/94

MD: The level of talent involved here was off the charts. I feel like every new Hijo Del Santo match is a joy we're lucky to have. Los Payasos was as fun a gimmick as you can get and all these guys were so good and working super hard for a Tijuana handheld in front of a molten crowd. The primera had a lot of the exchanges you'd expect, with two between Muneco and Amarillo. With lucha, the traditional structures work and they work for a reason. I'm ok with rudos catching tecnicos to win a tercera, but it felt a little weird for them to take over the offense and win the primera so clearly. It didn't affect the heat on the comeback but some of that was because you have Santo doing his dive and what not. The tercera was all dramatic flash with a little bit of BS but that's what you want for Santito vs. evil clowns. I'm thinking a lot of the structure (and the martinete DQ to finish the second fall) was because the rudos were taking this in the end, so it probably all worked in context of what was happening show to show. As a standalone I would have preferred something else - a structural lucha ideal, because I always want that - but the match they gave us was still great. The post match sort of boggled my mind but in an entertaining way, at least.

PAS: The Primera Caida of this match was really great, Azteca and Santo are two of the smoothest wrestlers of all time, and Muneco brings a nice frantic energy to all of his offense. The Payasos are all extremely professional rudo luchadores and they know exactly how to play their role as bumpers and eaters of offense. The Segunda and Tercera Caidas were more about establishing business, and I had forgotten about what a huge push the Payasos were getting, they win the first fall clean, only drop the second because they martinete and stretcher out Azteca, and Amarillo ends up submitting Santo to his own Cabello finisher. We did get some Tirantes nonsense to set it up, but still that is a strongly booked rudo team. I enjoyed the back half of this match too, Santo has the prettiest topes of all time, and knows how to get fired up, but this didn’t end up being the classic trios the first fall teased.

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Wednesday Night Digging in the Crates- Verne Gagne v. Red Bastien

Verne Gagne v. Red Bastien early 1950s



PAS: Totally awesome match from the Chicago Film Archives haul. Bastien is the plucky youngster trying to test the grizzled veteran, with Verne being a great grumpy Fuchi/Negro Navarro punishing mat wrestler. Loved all of the little fast counters Bastien pulled out, and how Verne would get more and more irritated and increase the torque on his headlock or armlock. He busts Bastien's nose at one point with a takedown, and would rake it or forearm it, if the kid got a little feisty.  The finish was great as Gagne wastes him with a dropkick, and pins him with a cradle, that dropkick felt like an exclamation point.

ER: This stuff is cool in a similar yet totally different way as the French 50s stuff that popped up earlier this year. With that stuff we have no idea what exists and who any of those people were. This stuff is all people we've read about, and really only know about them from their written reputation. We've all seen many of these guys decades removed from their reputations' peak so it's incredibly satisfying to complete the visual puzzle with some of them. Bastien is a guy I had seen before from some ESPN Classics stuff, but he was older, more barrel chested and with a big bushy mustache. Here he's a slender guy getting made a man by Verne Gagne. Gagne looks almost exactly like late period Greg Gagne (which is funny since Verne was in his mid 20s here) but I've never seen Greg work this intensely. Verne goes right after Bastien and looks angry the whole time. I really dug all this, but probably my favorite part was the opening headscissors work by Verne. Bastien looked like he couldn't get out if he tried, and holy shit did it look like he was legitimately trying. This whole contest seemed to be Verne showing various ways that he could impose his will on Bastien. Holding cradles impossibly tight, locking holds in and not letting go. His expression the entire time makes it seem entirely probable that he was muttering under his breath the whole time "come on Red, get out of this one, come on." But those early headscissors were the nastiest. They also looked entirely plausible, which is a tough thing to pull off. But damn the first time Bastien tried to kip up from under it and looked like he almost hanged himself. Three of these damn headscissors and every time it looked like Verne could've popped Bastien's head off with his legs. And then most awesomely and unexpectedly, Bastien lures Verne over to the ropes and ducks when Verne goes for another, sending Verne sprawling over the top to the floor. Just an awesome sequence to start a killer little match.

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