Graham Crackers

Man, 1981-1982 Dutch Mantell is one awesome pro wrestler. During that time he shows himself to be one of the all time great Memphis style brawlers but also has matches that showcase his mat skills. He is a babyface for most of this time but has my favorite US feud of all time against babyface Jerry Lawler. His work is interesting during that feud because it's basically a babyface vs babyface feud where both babyfaces hate each other's guts. To express this he allows Lawler to gain sympathy and on a number of occasions outright cheats but he's never cowardly about it and he's always made to look like Lawler's equal. Outside of that period he has some other great Memphis performances. I dig his more obviously heel style in Lawler's AWA title defense against him and I thought he looked good leading younger wrestlers like Jeff Jarrett along during the last chunk of the decade. Does he have any notable stuff from Puerto Rico that I should check out?

For a second I just thought he left out the second "T" from JTTS or Jobber To The Stars. Wrestling Bubble.

Is casual hardcore like skinnyfat?

Jake vs Dick Slater was a dope feud.

I've seen listings for a Gagne vs Bruiser match from 1/25/56. Does anyone know if this is the same match?

http://z11.invisionfree.com/wrestling_ko/index.php?showtopic=4116 We talked about it a bit here and I remember really liking that Mr. Argentina vs Aguiles match but I can't remember why I didn't watch more. It didn't seem to catch on with the WKO crowd like French catch did.

I haven't seen it in a while but I remember his ICW cage match against Ronnie Garvin being surprisingly mat based.

La Fiera http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/21124-disc-5/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/21125-disc-6/ Solar http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/21121-disc-2/?p=5564259 http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/21126-disc-7/?p=5572329 as El Mariachi: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/16041-blue-panther-vs-el-mariachi-aaa-sin-limite-103094/?hl=mariachi Emilio Charles Jr. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/21128-disc-9/?p=5577047 Rayo de Jalisco Jr. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/21125-disc-6/?p=5568912

Like a Brit Wres babyface. Finlay's dad explains it in their documentary that most matches have blue eyes facing villains.

Obviously I'd love to see more Virus but I feel like guys run of the last few years and his minis run is enough for me to place him in a top 50.

I had this on while cooking yesterday and it couldn't keep my interest. I'll try one of their shorter matches sometime soon.

This is probably the best Thesz match I've seen so far. I particularly liked all of his heel schtick; he slaps Gagne at rope breaks, cheap shots, stalls to stretch, and uses the ropes to his advantage but all of those things are done in subtle fashion. Overall I'd say this was a good match though it had some of the flaws you associate with a broadway. There was some filler and some things just went on to long. Still, the good stuff makes this worth a watch. Outside of Thesz's heel tactics I thought the grappling looked really snug, even Gagne's headlock looked painful. I thought Thesz using the backdrop to counter the long headlock and take the first fall made for a great turning point in the match.

Dick the Bruiser & the Lisowski Brothers vs Verne Gagne, Wilbur Snyder & Argentina Rocca (9/14/56) I decided to check this one out because of the lineup and it turned out pretty fun. It's actually a pretty fast paced match considering when it happened. I haven't really seen a tag match from this era before so it was interesting to see the differences between the mechanics of tag matches today and back then. A lot of the action was back and forth and there were a number of heat sections. Those heat sections never really reached the crescendo I expect to see in most tag matches and there were more than you see in most tag matches. The heels did a lot of stooging and it's easy to see the traditions of AWA heel stooging here. Dick the Bruiser took some huge bumps and the Lisowski brothers walked into a number of basic double and triple team attacks. They were constantly doing those little heelish mannerisms; they were pulling hair, tights, and choking. I was surprised to see Gagne lose the first fall clean via submission but he took his win back in the second fall. We didn't get to see much of Wilbur Snyder who I wanted to see after hearing my dad talk about him for years. What we did see looked pretty promising. He had a great exchange with Stan. Snyder put on the short arm scissors in really slick fashion but Lisowski deadlifted out of it which is a classic counter I always like to see. At first I thought it was a weird counter for a heel but Stan turns to the crowd and flexes his muscles afterward and Snyder dropkicks him right over the top rope. I've only seen highlights of Rocca before and his offense was pretty fun here. As a shoot style fan it's fascinating to see him throwing palm strikes and a variety of kicks but the mat stuff he did do was wacky. Lost of bridges and handstands but mixed with flying leg scissors takedowns and other athletic stuff like that. This has got me excited to see more. Verne Gagne vs Red Bastien This was awesome. It's probably the coolest grappling I've seen from the 50s. It's really stiff and even the basic holds look like they're really being wrenched in.

I probably won't have Bock at number 1 but there's a very good chance I'll have him above Flair.

Sorry, but I meant to nominate Brazo de Oro.

I liked the shoulder blocks but this was short and had nothing else going for it.

He's possibly the best trios match worker ever. Los Infernales are the definitive rudo trio but I thought they were at their strongest with Pirata as a member. I didn't expect to leave the 80s set liking Los Bucaneros even more but they were in too many of my favorite trios matches to ignore. He's a huge bumper but also a downright nasty brawler and he's always in the right position for triple teaming the tecnico or stooging for the comeback.

Number 1 candidates for me: Fujiwara, Lawler, Hansen, Satanico, Casas.

I'm nominating Brazo de Plata, El Brazo, and Hombre Bala. All three of them have at least three matches reviewed in this post: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/21129-disc-10/?p=5577143

I think that Rayo De Jalisco Jr. and Universo will be higher than him in terms of lucha heavyweights, I just haven't got around to nominating them. I probably need to take a closer look at Mascara Año Dos Mil. I'm not calling any of them except maybe Rayo locks and none of them are high end picks but I think they may have a chance on my list.

I find the implication that somebody whose punches can clearly be heard landing has bad punches pretty funny.

There's a pretty good chance that Cien Caras will make my list though probably closer to the bottom. He excels in those CMLL Heavyweight spectacle matches which I've grown to appreciate a lot more over the years.

His unmasking is the defining pro wrestling moment for me. He wrestles a classic match, loses, and unmasks revealing this face that is horrible disfigured by pro wrestling. I think not having more footage of him in the 80s is the saddest part about the sparseness of classic lucha footage. I was disappointed by the Perro Aguayo match but he looked out of this world in his other appearances.

The AJPW 1980s set had three matches built around bloody ears. Two of them had Terry Funk blading his ear and selling like he was getting killed. The other one had Masa Fuchi selling a bloody ear and cribbing Terry Funk's trademark selling and it was the better match! I'm willing to listen to someone arguing that Fuchi was the best All Japan worker from 1990 to 1991. He was definitely instrumental in making Misawa and his pals look good.

He was a talented rookie when he first started getting put into a position where he could have great matches. The thing is that the great matches frequently involved tremendous wrestlers. When you watch Atlantis vs Satanico it's easy to imagine that he was some sort of prodigy but if you watch his match against El Faraón he looks exposed. El Faraón was a good wrestler in his own right but his leash on Atlantis wasn't as tight. Atlantis has moments of brilliance in that match but his hammy selling and awkward crowd interaction is too much for me. In the late 80s he really put it together. His selling became more subtle and his appeals to the crowd were a bit more assured. On top of that his offense became truly spectacular. He has some impressive flying offense in his 1983 tag with Santo but the stuff he was doing in 1988 was so much more precise. He's a great trios worker during this time but I wish I could see more of his singles performances. His 1988 match against Emilio Charles Jr. is a great workrate lucha match. In the 90s he toned down the highflying and improved his matwork. He was also lucky enough to have a number of programs against some of the greatest wrestlers of all time. His matches against Blue Panther and Villano III in particular are classics. I think I'll need to revisit some of his rudo stuff from the 2000s. I remember liking that heel turn match against Santo but I'm not sure if anything else holds up. Atlantis is a wrestler I expect to have a strong showing, especially amongst people who like lucha. He's a step below the elite tier but he's elevated by having worked with them.