Otto Wanz Recent Upload Challenge 2: Ed Leslie and Sailor White

Otto Wanz vs. Ed Leslie CWA 7/14/84

MD: I've looked high and low for what I'd consider to be a good Leslie singles match. That's the kind of thing the Eric and Matt side of SC would tout if we could find. Not that long ago, I took a look Martel vs. Beefcake from right before the face turn. No dice. It was pretty terrible. The problem with heel Beefcake is that he's completely unbelievable. The harder he tries to emote and be into the moment, the more ridiculous it looks, a guy pretending to be pretending to be emotionally honest. That said, he was surprisingly decent here. His offense consisted of punches and swatting blows and knees, and the match was very similar to the Barbie one, down to a nearly exact finishing stretch (except for set up by a back body drop reversal of a pile driver before Otto hit his own and ended, after the bodyslam, with a Oklahoma Roll, which was a little more satisfying as a finisher). Maybe because he had such a large canvas to work on, Leslie's shots all looked pretty good. The opening comedy wasn't as structured. When Wanz hit the body presses in the corner, they weren't quite as warranted by unclean Leslie breaks, but the fans didn't care. Like the Barbie match, there was a bit on the floor with some shots into a table, but Leslie put up a bit more of a fight there. There was a much better transition where he ate a back body drop to the floor. He actually ate a couple of big bumps here. Moreover, his reactions only got over the top once or twice. I'd call this a legitimately good Leslie match. You saw the cracks, but enough went right that it was hard to care. The stark similarities between this and the Barbie match, however, would definitely raise some red flags for me if I was ranking Wanz for some sort of comparative project.

Otto Wanz vs. Sailor White CWA 7/11/81 

MD: This was very good. White is Moondog King and that makes for a hoss fight. They did the same playing with breaks (clean and otherwise) early on and the fans were delighted (as always) anytime Otto didn't break clean. Here it was definitely warranted though. White had a manager and he would slow things down by getting advice from him. There's a moment in the second round where he did so and immediately went for a bear hug, which is the sort of use of a manager you rarely see. He lifted Otto off the ground but it was reversed to a big pop. Between the second and third falls, White ambushed Wanz for big heat and he was able to keep control for a bit until Wanz made a comeback out of the corner, including one of those rolling sentons. Fiery and intense but White stalled it out by talking to the manager again and waited out the round. Point being, White was able to get advantages here and there with chokes and cheapshots, but Otto never gave him much for long. Wanz really got how to work the crowd while he's in charge of a hold, though. He'd starts with a toehold, which got a pop, and slowly worked the knee in to drive it further, which popped the crowd differently, and then turned it into a crab of sorts, which drew the chanting. It's always impressive to see a guy do so little and get such escalating results. There's a point later on where he tied White up in the ropes so he could go relax on the ropes himself, which popped the crowd in a folk hero sort of way. It's all but over after White bumps shoulder first into the corner and out of the ring and Wanz focuses on the hurt limb. The crowd went nuts when he went out after him. Ultimately, though It made for a fairly anti-climactic end, albeit one that both protected White and still made the crowd unbelievably happy. This felt a little formless at times, but some of that is what you get with the rounds system and the advantages and disadvantages therein. It was a good clash of the titans sort of match though and Otto showed a lot, without necessarily pulling off the athleticism he had a year before in the DLJ match.

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All Time MOTY List Head to Head: Hansen v. Andre V. Sailor White v. Otto Wanz

Sailor White v. Otto Wanz CWA 11/7/81

PAS: My kind of scrap. Two big fat mean looking dudes, throwing overhand forearm smashes with bad intentions. The thuds in the this match were something else, there were some slow parts as one might expect in a battle of porkers, but when it turned up it turned up. White kept attacking Wanz during the breaks and he looked like an out of control hobo who was about to be tazed by the police. Finish was a grim bit of violence, White takes a shoulder post bump comes up bleeding and Wanz just brutalizes him with running knees until White is lying on the canvas unconscious and covered in blood, such a vicious way for a local babyface to win a match. Great stuff

ER: This made me really want to find some Moondogs gems in 1980/81 WWF (seriously people, what WWF Moondogs do I need to watch?) as White was really great here bumping all around for Wanz. It's shocking to me that the median age of these two men in this match is the same as my own current age. They look like a couple of old fat guys getting into a heated argument at what has since been remembered as "The Worst Church 4th of July Picnic Ever". Which means that either I am now old, and/or these two look much older than their years. Nevermind the reminder of my own mortality, this was wonderful. It's my exact kind of match: Two big galoots throwing blows and splatting into each other. Icing on the cake is that the crowd is going nuts the whole time and responding to these two tubs like real heroes. The match moved in fits and spurts, with both crashing into each other and and clubbing wildly, then recovering while apart; it felt like a battle over territory in Grizzly Man. I loved the dueling bearhug spot, with both big dudes impressively hoisting the other up. But I went nuts for White bumping for Wanz, bumping on his hip in ring, getting tossed over the top, and that brutal post bump at the end. That finishing was a real shock and a tremendous exclamation point to the match.


Andre v. Hansen review


Verdict:

PAS: I love a violent fatty battle as much as anyone, but Andre v. Hansen is an all timer and will be very difficult to beat. Still go watch the CWA match, it's the goods.

ER: This was two big wild beasts having a mean clash, and that's always going to rank high with me. This feels like a match I would be the high vote for on the 80s project. But Andre/Hansen is the ultimate Clash of Titans. That's going to be near impossible to dethrone. But that shouldn't take away anything from worthy challengers.

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