Found Footage Friday: SERDAN~! AQUILES~! VERNE~! MCCLARITY~! VILLANOS~! TEXANO~! SIGNO~! NAVARRO~!

Michel Serdan vs Aquiles Brazil 9/13/87

MD: We've covered two other matches from Brazil and they've both been tremendous. This was no different. If someone is just sitting on a bunch of Michel Serdan matches, please come forward with them. We'll watch them all. This was billed as his retirement match, one last fight in a cage against Aquiles to prove the better man once and for all. Aquiles cut a fun quick promo before the match saying he wanted Serdan to be calm because he was scared to face him. Serdan had a more celebratory one where he got to thank the fans. This was escape rules with rounds of all things. The cage was flush to the ring, so much so that there were no turnbuckle pads.

That came into play immediately as Serdan ran Aquiles right into the corner a couple of times to open him up. He was already bleeding when he ran him into the cage. He had wild sweeping strikes meant for the last row. I wouldn't call them conventional or even tight but they were very effective and dramatic, like he was riding the music of the roaring crowd. The round breaks served as potential transitions, but even more so were attempts out of the cage. That's when Aquiles got to first take over on Serdan, who had beaten him enough that he was satisfied and went to leave but was immediately pulled down. He quickly got color too though not quite as much as Aquiles (though he had the bald head to help it go a little further). From there they went back and forth, utilizing either escape attempts or round breaks as a way to fire back at one another, just repeatedly slamming fists into heads from every angle.

What a finish too. Aquiles managed to knock Serdan away and started to climb and you wondered, just for a moment, if he might get away. Serdan was there though, grabbing at his feet and it wasn't hard to see the rest of this playing out with Aquiles thrust back into the ring and Serdan rising victorious. However, the entire heel locker room rushed forth and pulled Aquiles over the top. The celebration that followed was one of the most jubilant ever in the history of heel triumphs. Though he was completely undeserving, Aquiles rushed back and forth, surrounded by the heels, arms in the air, as Serdan recovered, dejected, in the ring. I have no idea how they avoided a riot here; it was well-warranted. There's very little quite as beautiful in all of pro wrestling as a heel drawing heat with such exuberance and verve. I'm sure he got his comeuppance at some point but this is a world we only get a glimpse into so who knows what it was or when. I would have paid to see it though, that's for sure. 

Verne Gagne vs Roy McClairity NWA Chicago 8/6/54

MD: We had the first fall of this previously, but not the whole thing. It's a long 2/3 falls match, with a substantial first fall. Verne is Verne, dynamic, explosive, made for TV, carrying within him this bounding energy. You can see it in the way he moves. There was a promise of action in his matches, though, of course, it's the 50s, so that action never crosses a threshold from sublime to absurd in a way that more "action-driven" wrestlers from Race to Rocco to Angle to their modern counterparts can't claim.

A lot of the match was centered around McClaritiy trying to find an answer to the challenge of Verne, working hard to ground him and keep him in long holds, most especially a fairly complex grapevined leg stretcher. It meant that when Verne got an upper hand once again, he was more aggressive and frustrated than usual, looping in some chippy extracurricular bits of damage; for instance, in a toehold, he might slam the knee into the mat in a way that he might not have otherwise. It turned the crowd against him a little, or at least turned them more towards McClairity.

They were working the holds so hard and with so much spirit that without Verne's baldspot, it'd be hard to tell the two of them apart at times. The finish of each fall came down to battle over sleeper type moves, first Verne's straight on sleeper and then McClairity's cobra clutch. In the third fall, with neither able to get it on, McClarity went to the well with a side headlock one too often and Verne hit a 1954 belly to back suplex out of it (one that everyone seemed surprised by) to score the win. Between the underlying story of McClarity trying to contain Verne and Verne getting frustrated by it and just how hard they were working each hold, this felt a lot shorter than it was and remained enjoyable the whole way through.

Kato Kung Lee/Texano/Villanos IV y V vs Indomito/Signo/Tigre Blanco/Negro Navarro CMLL 1991

MD: Look, I love that we have all of these Monterrey matches. I've found something worth watching in 90% of them and some of them are legitimately great. We've got to see regionally pushed talents like Panterita and Arandu and more from the greats like Casas. But man, it can be so frustrating in the way lucha can so often be to see great builds to an apuestas match and then not even know if the thing ever happened, let alone having footage of it. The build to Indomito vs Texano was really good and this was another piece of that vexing puzzle.

They paired up for the primera, with Signo vs Villano (I think V; telling apart Villanos is my personal lucha weakness) really standing out as being smooth. Just a lot of fun talent here so it was nice to see them have their exchanges. The tecnicos took it and kept control into the segunda, though Indomito was dodging Texano for the most part, as well he should. Kato Kung Lee got to take advantage of sheer numbers involved in an atomicos match and did his usual shtick, just with more people to higher effect. Immediately thereafter the rudos had enough and swarmed. At times it was hard for Indomito to take center stage just because Navarro and Signo were there but once they got going, he honed in well enough on Texano and bloodied him. The comeback in the tercera was heated and focused on Texano rushing the ringing and getting his revenge. He hit a pile driver on the outside and back in the ring which was jarring especially because they weren't sold like death. Things built to a final exchange where Texano came in too hot and Indomito was able to get his feet up on the ropes for a cheap pin. Again, just a nice balance of blood and revenge and comeuppance denied. All building to a match that's not listed on luchawiki at least. Ah well. Lucha is a challenging mistress.

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Found Footage Friday: 50s WRESTLING FROM BUFFALO~! HUTTON~! BRAZIL~! SNYDER~! LINDSAY~! CRUSHER~!

MD: My impression is that footage might have been converted and posted years ago but then was lost for a while. The Zabio vs Marino match is out there on YouTube but nothing else is and people in our community have never seen the Hutton match (or any other Hutton match! Or any other Luther Linsday match!), for instance. 

Footage Link

Luther Linsday vs. Fred Atkins Buffalo 10/11/57

MD: I could be wrong about this, but this feels like a historic find. We have no real footage of Lindsay who was a great Thesz opponent and spoken highly of him, one of the biggest African-American wrestlers of the 50s and 60s. We get most of a 20 minute draw here, just one clip in the middle of about a minute, tops, and it's good look at him, I'd say. Atkins spends a lot of the match working a wristlock (with brief trips to hammerlocks and other things), splaying the fingers when the ref can't see it to keep Lindsay down. Lindsay teases punches but eventually gets forearms in to force breaks. He works well from underneath, selling the arm throughout, but forcing Atkins to adapt and getting the fans excited for a potential shot. When it's time for him to fire off, he has big strikes in the corner and a great headbutt that Atkins sells like death. They're wrestling for a draw and it doesn't really boil over in the end but it's well worked up and down hold. You get some sense of how he portrayed his power, both physical and star, here. I'd be interested to see him against a more dynamic opponent, but I'm just glad to see him at all.

Wilber Snyder vs. Wally Greb 4/25/58

MD: You occasionally see this sort of match in the 50s, where an older journeyman who knows all the dirty tricks is put up against there against one of the young stallions of the wrestling world, one of those guys who are still getting established but who have the square jaw and all the skills in the world and will one day be a champion. I think of that mostly with young Verne (though we saw a lesser version of it with Bill Cody vs Honest John Cretoria not that long ago) but we get it here with Snyder. Snyder comes off as an absolute wrestling machine, able to chain holds and escapes beautifully. Greb's underhanded tactics means that he's on top for a good chunk of the match but there's always the sense that Snyder could beat him at any moment and it's just the cheating keeping him afloat. Examples of that are when Snyder does a perfect headstand to escape a headscissors and then jams Greb when he tries to repeat it. That sort of thing. Snyder has this great back of the neck clap shot he uses at times down the stretch once he's had enough with Greb and puts him away with the abdominal stretch once things pick up. Greb more than did his job here and Snyder looked like a future champ.

Bobo Brazil vs. Jim (Brute) Bernard 1/17/58

MD: This was sub-30 seconds, just a big leap frog and bigger dropkick by Brazil. That's how they brought him into the territory. He'd won his two previous matches in 13 and 23 seconds. Bernard and Brazil would have wars later, but not on this night. Post match, he called out Gene Kiniski. I don't think I've ever seen a 50s match quite like this but it was a great way to get Brazil over instantly as a sensation in a new territory.

Dick Hutton vs. Wally Greb 11/1/57

MD: So it was something to get our first Luther Lindsay match, but we get maybe the first Dick Hutton match on tape too? I'll say that ultimately this was almost more of a Greb showcase, as he controlled a lot of the match with holds and dirty tricks while in the holds. Hutton was almost understated working from underneath, coming back with really big shots, with definitive strength, with a sort of physical confidence. It was hard to get too much of a sense of things past that, though. The early holds were hard fought but there were times he seemed to be almost sitting in the later ones. Boxer Joe Muscato was the ref here, as in the Lindsay match and they did do a spot where Hutton kicked out pressing Greb onto him. So not a ton here, as the match goes just over 8 minutes, but you get a sense of Hutton's size and strength and what his comebacks looked like. That's something to go off of at least. Greb continues to look like a competent journeyman for what it's worth.

Roy McClarity vs. Al Korman 10/18/57

MD: This might have been the most purely entertaining match in this footage. So far as I can tell, we never had any Korman footage either though we have a few McClarity matches. Korman was a great stooge, a cheapshot artist, had a fun kneelift and great reactions. McClarity had a lot of stuff, kneelifts and knee crushers and a dropkick, and some nice shots, including a bit of punishment where he paintbrushed the head repeatedly was Korman was sitting in the ropes. A lot of it was Korman trying to take liberties in holds and then McClarity (who was touted for both his height and his speed) escaping and getting some real revenge before they went back into it. Snyder and Hutton had both used versions of the abdominal stretch in their wins, but McClarity took it with the cobra clutch, with Korman wobbling around the ring entertainingly post match.


Gallaghers (Mike & Doc) vs. Lisowskis (Reggie & Stan) 4/17/59

MD: We have matches with the Gallaghers and matches with the Lisowskis but this might be the first we have with both against each other. Reggie, of course, would be Da Crusher. Stan was just his wrestling brother, but they fit each other well. Mike and Doc were the heels here and they really played the part well. Really, this almost felt like an All Japan tag. Mike and Doc cut off the ring, cheated at every opportunity. The Lisowskis just kept on coming in to even the odds. Reggie was an absolute force, a proto-Hansen, just constantly coming at you. The Gallaghers had a way of putting on a front facelock choke for a few seconds and immediately pulling things back to their corner but it was pretty inevitable that this would break down, with the Lisowskis tying up one Gallagher and repeatedly pile-driving the other until they got DQed. Post match they brawled some more and yapped on the mic about how they were the winners anyway and the crowd loved it. Just a good look at both teams.

Fritz Von Erich vs. Great Zabio

MD: Unfortunately, we only have three minutes of this but it's fun while it lasts. Zabio, past being a piano player, was a beatnik gimmick and the announcer lets us know that Fritz says there are no Beatniks in his Germany. He really laid it in but when it was time for Zabio to comeback, he recoiled well and took a good armdrag. That was about it for this one though.

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