Found Footage Friday: DANIELSON~! SUWA~! PIRATENKAMPF~! VAN BUYTEN~! LASARTESSE~! VERNE~!

Verne Gagne vs. Bobby Nelson NWA Chicago 1955

MD: Another @pwoloss unearthing we're just getting to. Always nice to see a new match with young Verne, and he was his usual dynamic self here, feigning headlocks for quick decisive hammerlocks, hitting (and dramatically missing) that signature dropkick, ready to fire back against Nelson's shenanigans. 

And Nelson was full of them. I really liked how he moved in general. If he was going to eat a Gagne shot, he did it by getting caught up in the ropes for a second and then sold it with a full spin. Just full effort before, during, after. When he took a mare, he almost went flying out of the ring. Likewise, when he went for a front facelock, he kept putting his foot on the bottom rope to push off and send things back to the middle of the ring. Little things like that when it came to positioning and trickiness. Lots of sneaking in punches, but he'd sneak them in right in the eye in the nastiest way. 

It meant that when Verne did come back, the clobbering he could put on and the technique he used was more than warranted and the fans went up big for it. The old Gagne sleeper that he used to end it was at a slight angle and looked particularly nasty. Just a good short match up with enough contrast to make things work.

Franz Van Buyten vs. Rene Lasartesse (Piratenkampf) Germany 10/84

MD: Another month, another uncovered classic that Richard Land (@maskedwrestlers) dropped on his patreon from the German haul. We only had a few minutes of this previously, and what we had before was blurry and gripping, a fight for every inch in the corner midway through the match. The whole thing is a far more minamalist affair, with some really great high points surrounding the climbs in the corner and Van Buyten especially putting his entire body into halting them. 

It still has the sort of grueling mood that you'd expect from these matches, with a lot of wrenching at the face with the chain, scraping it against teeth with a yank from behind, but the video quality is almost too crisp for such an affair and the blood doesn't flow quite as freely as one might like. It's still tremendous how much they accomplish just by making every small movement matter as much as possible and Van Buyten's comeback is all around brutal. He's one of the greatest babyfaces of all time for a reason; his body language is as good as anyone's ever, and unique on top of that. No one moves like him, the way he throws limbs and frame into everything he does. That's especially present in the comeback. The finish is cheap as can be with Lasartesse escaping the chain and capturing the flag while getting pummeled in the ropes, but in the ensuing, heated chaos, order is restored and no matter what was written on paper, the fans at least got to leave feeling like Van Buyten was the victor.

Bryan Danielson vs. SUWA 1PW 8/19/06

MD: We don't talk a lot about SUWA. This is less known then their ROH match which happened a few days earlier but it was a lot of fun. I didn't love the opening stretch, if only because I didn't feel like they were entirely in sync. Everything was clean but SUWA was messing with the cameraman and the timekeeper and Danielson didn't really play off of it. He took a really nasty double snot rocket just by reversing a whip and hitting his next few spots; yeah one of them was a dive but I wanted a little more. He did throw some toilet paper back at SUWA after he chucked it from outside the ring towards Danielson, so that was well appreciated.

When they got into the heat and the comeback and went down the stretch, I liked it a lot more. SUWA had extra oomph to everything he did. If he took Danielson up and over for a backbreaker, he went way up and over with him. Everything looked good. Danielson, on the other hand, had a really nice looking twisting European uppercut off the second ropes and a tight chicken wing. When they went to strikes and headbutts, everything felt impactful and was sold as such. When Danielson finally locked in the Cattle Mutilation in the center of the ring, it really, truly felt like there was nothing SUWA could do. That's how you want it to feel. I'm glad @aspiranteanegro sent this our way (via Tom).

ER: Matt says we don't talk a lot about SUWA but I think it's more that we don't write about SUWA enough. That's what he meant, but I think the difference is important enough to note. Because, even though we've only written about a few SUWA matches over our existence, SUWA is one of my very favorite wrestlers. He was my favorite Toryumon guy and a completely unique presence in NOAH, and then he was gone. An always eventful 10 years and then he was out. He was one of our last great punchers and last great heels. Nobody else in NOAH was a heel the way he was, with a truly heel face that everyone wanted to see punched. He has pock marks and could have worked any US territory in the 80s and been a legend. There were so many incredible SUWA matches that we did not get to see, but now we have tape of the other SUWA/Danielson match. 

SUWA worked so well with Danielson, fully understanding what the other was capable of. The match had a great build, making it feel like a really complete match. I was surprised that it was "only" 11 minutes long. It felt longer, in a good way, because the nearfalls down the finishing stretch felt well earned. SUWA comes off so authentic. He's tough, but a great stooge. He has no interest in winking as part of his heel routine. He does not ever show any interest in people liking him. He is committed to being a heel and has a moveset that fits him perfectly. There's a great bit where he toe kicks Danielson in the balls and then does full pantomime for the ref, hitting the inside of his leg and doing one of the best ball sells I've seen in showing the ref Danielson was just faking it. SUWA has great kicks. He is not a kicker, but he has great kicks. Nobody wrestling today has better stomach kicks than SUWA, and his John Woo dropkick to Danielson's stomach looked like it caused the bump Danielson took into the buckles. SUWA has a finisher worthy clothesline and throws an overhand chop across Danielson's face, his quebradora looked fully controlled and violent, and he's so good at kickouts that he made it look like Danielson could still beat him four different ways. I don't know why we don't write more about SUWA. I've wasted so much time. I haven't seen any 2013 NOAH SUWA. There are 2000s NOAH SUWA matches I have not seen. I should write a lot more about SUWA matches.

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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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New Footage Friday: THESZ! BRONKO! VERNE! FINLAY! SCHUHMANN!

Verne Gange/Bobby Bruns vs. Al Williams/Rudy Kay 5/50

MD: Nice, classic tag here, with cheating heels controlling the ring and fiery babyfaces, but maybe not more than the sum of its parts. It's impossible not to compare these to the French tags we've been seeing and those have just a little more complexity. Quick example: here, Verne is actually able to escape an armbar with a bodyslam. In France, that'd be three minutes of the other wrestler hanging on through it. They did everything right but the biggest stars here were Russ Davis on commentary (he was having a good night) and the young woman in the first row who was all but whacking the heel on the apron with her handbag. That's not to say that Kay wasn't a great stooge, because he was, quick with a punch whenever he was on the losing end of an exchange, sliding halfway out of the ring on amrdrags, letting Verne shake the rope to bump him in when he was on the apron. He was a great foil for Verne's earnest integrity. The bit we see of Williams dismantling Verne's arm at the end of the first fall was great though. He was the more interesting of the two on offense and used the ring well even if Kaye was the bumper. Bruns was more of a charismatic scrapper. Some interesting archaic elements here, like how both partners had to eat a fall (like in lucha) and how the ref flipped a coin at the start to see which partners would start. They'd occasionally shake to tag too. The second fall was so short that I wondered if the fans were throwing trash in because the heels got DQ'd or because they had wanted more out of it. While I thought the end of the first fall was put together well, this didn't really build to any sort of a satisfying finish overall.

Lou Thesz vs. Bronko Nagurski 10/51

MD: Even match up here. Lou was the master, playing with Bronko with false starts. Bronko was dangerous at any and every moment. Each inching towards the ropes could end with his big shoulder block. Thesz gets hit by this early and then makes sure to sell it for the next minute to remind everyone just how potent it is. Lots of posturing throughout but everything's earned. Bronko could use his size and strength to just stand up out of holds. Moreover, he was better able to sit on Thesz and keep him in holds. The first fall ended with Thesz having enough of this and escalating to punches which let him hit the Thesz press. The second had Bronko taking much of the advantage and ending it by cutting off a Thesz hammerlock attempt and hitting a couple of shoulder blocks in and out of the corner. The last fall didn't have a lot of near-falls where Bronko might have had a shot at the title but the finish was exciting, with Thesz actually using a drop down as a tripping move to set up the final dropkick. I'm a fan of matches where one move (be it the heart punch or claw) is treated like a kill shot that has huge impact and must be avoided. It doesn't necessarily matter what the move is, just how it's treated, so for them to at least partially build a match that highlights a simple shoulder block so well was a neat thing to see.

PAS: I didn't think this was very good. I like the idea of the killshot shoulder block a lot more then the execution of it, as it just looked like an OK shoulder block. Nagurski seemed kind of sloppy, and had some moments of showing his power, but most of the time looked sort of lost. Thesz is regarded as an all-time great, but he really should have been able to carry a football player with two left feet better than this, and I didn't think his execution looked very good either. If you are going to end a match on a dropkick it should connect, and his Thesz press looked off too. Still will watch all Thesz I can get, but this was a miss.

Fit Finlay vs. Franz Schuhmann CWA 7/18/93

PAS: This was totally badass, Finlay and Schuhmann working a come as you are streetfight like it is a Jackie Fargo vs. Phil Hickerson Mid-South Coliseum main event in 1977.  Lots of nasty sharp shots with a belt and chain, and just killer Finlay punches and kicks. Schuhmann was an opponent, but landed shots and that is what you want for this match, he also took a totally gross bump on the tombstone. If that had happened on WWF TV it would be a viral gif. Finlay was so good in this, I mentally pictured Fit versus Hacksaw Jim Duggan or Tommy Rich. Total treat, and we really need to watch all of these Schuhmann vs. Finlay matches.

SR: Double juice brawl where they come in wearing jeans and shirts. It's pretty fun to watch two euro guys approximate a distinctly US type match. No idea how they got the idea to do this since I doubt any European TV station aired US territorial wrestling in 1993 but it ended up being a fun match. Schuhmann's punches needed work but the crowd is so into him that I can't call him a blight on the match, and Finlay's basic punches and kicks are so violent looking that it makes up for anything else. Because it's Europe they break out a chain and there are some absolutely sick strangulation spots. Great bump on the finish too.

MD: Here's how good Fit is: this is a streetfight with a dropkick and a power bomb and you completely buy them. I think Bill Watts would have had a hard time objecting. The dropkick came early from Schuhmann and Finlay sold it like a shot to the gut. Finlay's selling makes a lot of this. He was a guy who just got it. When he sold the belt shots from Schuhmann, it only made his own belt shots later (which were both great punches and these nasty short whips in the corner) immediately more potent. The finishing stretch was a bit wonky but also kind of great. Finlay hits the world's biggest tombstone but isn't satisfied with getting the ten count and lays in a few more belt shots instead of taking the W. That ultimately lets Schuhmann come back and they get creative for a beat-the-count ending that let the fans celebrate with Franz but had Fit keep his heat and have a legitimate gripe for a rematch.

ER: This might be my favorite Finlay performance of all the German Finlay we've watched so far. It's a real meat and potatoes street fight, with both men showing up looking like 90s European working class Jack Burtons in their torn light wash jeans (Finlay giving us a show with some tears right under the butt cheeks) and ripped up white shirts (Finlay even has some Asian mysticism on his shirt, just like Jack), and Finlay just lays right into Schuhmann. Finlay punches Schuhmann at a ton of awful angles, kicks him in the meat of the back and the spine, wraps a belt around his fist and punches some more. Finlay is so strong at setting up comeback spots and openings for Schuhmann, building to a big cool clothesline off the middle buckles from Franz. The belt shots were a cool equalizer, and Finlay makes Schuhmann's belt shots feel appropriately nasty. And that's really the strength of Finlay's selling, is that he always perfectly grasps just how much he should be selling something. He's not out there acting like his skin is getting flayed off, he's showing the stinging pain and putting over these shots in a way that makes both of their games look stronger. 

Finlay pulls off a street fight powerbomb and made it look like something you'd see in a MMA fight, a powerbomb that looked like Schuhmann absolutely could not have stopped it. It wasn't Sapp/Hoost where Sapp was able to just lift Hoost however he wanted, it was just Finlay using his expert knowledge of physics to snatch and grab a big dude and quickly plant him. The tombstone was nuts, with Finlay aiming to punish his own knees as much as Schuhmann's spinal column, really leaping and dropping down at a wicked diagonal (and, it must be noted, completely protecting Schuhmann on something that looked crippling). Finlay even made an unsatisfying finish actually satisfy, taking an awesome bump getting sprung from the apron over the ropes to the other side (a less dangerous but more unique and fun bump than his great bump past the ringpost earlier in the match), making it look like Schuhmann had vaulted him 8 feet. I liked Franz more than the rest of the gang here, but Finlay was god level in this match. A truly magnificent street fight performance, from a man who I think makes pro wrestling look better than anyone else.

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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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