SAMS
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I went back and rewatched their '73 match. I agree that Barnes appears to be Kellett's most challenging matchup. He certainly isn't just "along for the ride" in a way some of Kellett's other opponents seem to be. It was still actually more of a Kellett match than I remembered, with him showing up Barnes whenever he could, particularly needling the queer aspect of Barnes' gimmick by mimicking and mocking him. I guess for me it came across as far more mean spirited comedy than what you'd usually get from Kellett for one. Also we didn't get any real sustained pressure from Barnes to make Kellett truly vulnerable. Even the final few minutes where Barnes was working over Kellett's back merely ended up with Kellett embarrassing Barnes by tricking him into thinking he'd submitted and then pounced with a flash pin for the win. All in all it was better than memory served but I'm still not sure it struck me as well as some of the other Kellett matches I've seen. For Barnes I'm still not enjoying his "glam" phase as much as when he cut his hair and donned the moustache. I've still got their other match from '74 on the dock, and I'm likely to get to it pretty soon. So I'll see if that sways my opinion even further on this point.
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1973-09-25 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Adrian Street vs. Dave Barrie Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom ★★★ Far more heated than the Kellett/Barnes match due to the fact that these two worked better as foils for each other. Street was up to his usual tricks and I’m still so impressed by how well he was able to fluidly transition between character work and technical wrestling. Barrie was no pushover though and he turned the tables on Street, using a few of his exuberant tricks against him much to Street’s chagrin and then as the cheating ratcheted up he flipped his lid and laid in the boots on Street while the crowd went crazy. Once they reached the pinnacle with Street bumping all over the ring for Barrie’s fired up retaliation that should have probably been where they pivoted to the finish. The problem was that they kept things going for a round or two and they lost some of the good energy that they’d generated. It didn’t help that Barrie, the hometown boy, made a sloppy error, fell on his arm which Street promptly targeted to get the deciding submission, a finish that felt very slapdash and anticlimactic. Not that Barrie should have won but it felt VERY cheap. 1973-09-26 IWE - The 5th IWA World Series - Day 12 Strong Kobayashi vs. Lars Anderson World Series Block A Match Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan Card A fun little sprint. Lars had the temerity to take the action to the outside, posted Kobayashi and busted him open, to which Kobayashi did not react kindly. He eventually took to clubbing Lars with a series of chair shots, declined to take the pin and ventured to dish out more punishment. When the referee tried to intervene Kobayashi took it a little too far and nailed the official with a backbreaker triggering the DQ finish. Really interesting to see a different, wilder side to Kobayashi.
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What particularly do you love about them? It's pretty clear that I'm high on both these guys individually, but throwing them together just equalled a match that was far less than the sum of its parts to me. Maybe I just need to revisit it. I've also seen a smidge more Kellett in the time since I originally wrote up that match.
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1973-09-03 French Catch Angelito & El Alami vs. Guy Cavillier & Andre Roux Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match France ★★★ El Alami was plucky and the faces in general had their moments but this was driven by the heels applying some serious heat, especially to finish up the first fall, the impeccable timing they had on their mixup spots and the interplay between the two as they increasingly got more frustrated with each other. Roux and Cavillier almost relished laying the boots into their opponents. We saw relentless cheating and textbook referee manipulation to keep the pressure on, just wearing their opponents down to a nub. As the match wore on their cohesion as a team steadily eroded and they were hanging by a thread themselves by the end of it. Cavillier took his lead from Roux, who with his big moustache, gleefully yanked several times here, had a quintessential villainous look. These 30 minute matches can sometimes drag and often they never get the pacing right, but this one was continuously entertaining from start to finish without a lull at any point. Angelito and El Alami gave good showings, I probably would actually give the edge to Alami just for his exuberance, but this was all about the heels. It seems like we don’t see them again in the footage, or at least not together, and in Roux’s case we may never see him again period, which is a real shame because he looked to have been a real talent. 1973-09-25 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Les Kellett vs. Bobby Barnes Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom ★★ This is on the lower end of the Les Kellett matches I’ve seen. His whole routine feels heavily entrenched in improvisation, and sometimes when you’re flying by the seat of your pants and you’re throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks you end up wide of the mark. That kind of felt like what happened here. When Kellett was in control it felt like Barnes had to follow along with him and his character work was limited to just his trademark flamboyant rolls. Barnes’ best moments were when he was on top and applying a beatdown, but in turn that meant that Kellett was forced to sell for long stretches and that isn’t his strength either. I like both of these wrestlers but it seemed like each man’s strengths nullified the other and instead of compounding the value that each other brought it was more of a zero sum proposition.
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1973-08-27 WWWF Prof. Toru Tanaka vs. Chief Jay Strongbow Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA Card ★ Another fun couple of minutes to open. Much like his tag team partner, Tanaka did the whole display with the salt and the old lady shuffled down to ringside to wipe it all away, the same old lady who did it in the previous match between Strongbow and Mr. Fuji. A nice demonstration of the little ecosystem that existed between the promotion, the venue and the fans at that time. Strongbow started strong again, still far more mobile than I ever would have expected, and his act certainly translated to the fans. From a pure workrate point of view he definitely out worked Tanaka, which is not a sentence I ever expected to write. Tanaka was all about stooging and little tricks, but it was all extremely basic and pretty boring. Then he applied the same pectoral hold Fuji did and it felt like that took up the whole second half of the match. Strongbow won with a Thesz Press out of nowhere but this once again was a 4 minute match that somehow had an extra 10 minutes tacked on. 1973-08-27 WWWF Pedro Morales (c) vs. Stan Stasiak WWWF Heavyweight Title Match Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA Card ★★ Am I a masochist for watching this? Maybe. Is it kind of exactly what you would expect it to be? Definitely. Neither man’s strong suit was working a hold for long periods and this certainly hindered the match overall as they had to fill the time somehow. There were flurries of action, which is where Pedro is at his best, and there were moments where Stasiak was able to lean into his strengths also, but this should never really have gone past the 20 minute mark. The footage we have is around 40-45 but it actually went over 50 minutes and only finished due to the MSG curfew. Not scratch your eyes out, watching paint dry boring, but not the best that they could have presented with these wrestlers in particular.
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1973-08-24 NWA Hollywood Johnny Powers & Pat Patterson (c) vs. Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi NWA North American Tag Team Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, USA Card ★★ I think this’ll be my only chance of watching Inoki for ‘73 and it was disappointing that this was such a lacklustre match. He was sporting probably the worst haircut of his career, a sweeping mop of a thing that sapped at least 20% of his natural aura. He and Sakaguchi were decent here but this is going nowhere near either man’s highlight reel. Patterson came out of this shining the brightest. Great timing, stooging and bumping. Perhaps not the most physically imposing presence or smoothest execution but showings like this demonstrate that he “got it”. One man I’m sure didn’t get it was Johnny Powers. Was there any point in his career that he was actually even a good wrestler? I assumed his awful appearances in IWE in the 80s was due to him being a bit over the hill but all the terrible mannerisms were still on full display here. Out of all the wrestlers who have ended up at the top of the card (in his case yes it may be because he often owned the promotion) he’s got to be one of the worst. The only way I can truly describe it is that everything he did seemed phoney, which is not an adjective I’d use to describe many wrestlers no matter their position on the card. 1973-08-25 WWA Annihilation Inc. (Bruno Sammartino & Dick The Bruiser) (c) vs. Baron von Raschke & Ernie Ladd WWA World Tag Team Title No Disqualification Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Exposition Convention Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Card This was a wild one. A great example of territorial wrestling and an interesting mish-mash of characters. Bruno and Bruiser were an intriguing partnership, Bruno did more of the selling while Bruiser no-sold his way through the entire thing and leaned HARD into the hometown superhero character that he was to his fans. Raschke was there, and honestly could have been switched out for anybody with no difference, but Heenan and Ladd were worth their weight in gold. Heenan was a complete nuisance at ringside, sticking his nose in any and everything, and it might be a cliche to say at this point, but it is a sight to see a man of Ladd’s size bump the way he did here. This was non-stop chaos for the two falls they aired on television here, including special referee Sam Menacker slapping Heenan in the face and generally having no qualms in getting in the mix, only to see himself get choked by Ladd using the microphone cable, then busted open by Heenan and left bleeding like a pig on the announcer’s desk. Amazingly this didn’t result in a DQ and in fact a second referee came in only moments later to count a fall FOR Ladd which tied things up. A real barn burner but not the whole thing unfortunately.
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1973-07-26 French Catch Ted Lamarre vs. Robert Duranton France ★★ The commentator certainly seemed to enjoy this match, and Duranton’s antics, far more than I. Duranton at this point was going with a gladiatorial boxer gimmick, but other than some cheap jabs he’d throw now and then it didn’t factor into his working style too much. I haven’t seen Lemarre since ‘70, and much like back then I preferred him when he was on offense. The problem here was that he wasn’t on offense much at all, in fact he felt like quite a peripheral figure as the most significant narrative thread seemed to be an ongoing dispute between Duranton and the referee. Durant won the match in the end via countout, tossing Lamare to the outside and drawing blood. When Lamare finally returned and wanted to throw down, Duranton was having none of it and ducked out with the victory already sealed. 1973-08-20 French Catch Georges Cohen & Gerard Bouvet vs. Black Shadow & Josef El Arz Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match France ★★ Good for Cohen’s fire and energy. He knew what he was doing and it always felt like he was making an effort to push the match forwards in a positive direction. Bouvet seemed like his little brother or protege. He had some talent and was certainly eager, but not quite the finished article yet. Bouvet also showed flashes of being somewhat of a Chemoul clone, displaying those distinctive mannerisms more than once, highlighting Chemoul’s influence on the French wrestling landscape of the time. I’ll admit I had higher hopes for the El Arz/Black Shadow tandem. I’ve enjoyed their previous work but they’ve not kicked on like I’d hoped. They were willing to draw their opponents into their corner and apply heat, which I appreciate, but the actual beatdowns could have been so much more impactful. Black Shadow in particular demonstrated some of the weakest worked punches I’ve seen and it didn’t do anything but pull me out of the action.
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1973-07-09 IWE - Big Summer Series - Day 16 Strong Kobayashi (c) vs. Rusher Kimura IWA World Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan Card ★★ Kobayashi was the clean cut, straight laced champion up against Kimura who was more of a rough and scrappy challenger. If I’m not mistaken this was also the first clash for the title between two Japanese wrestlers, a departure from the company ethos of pitting homegrown Japanese stars against international competition. I liked how the first fall was decided by a furious slugfest, both men dispatching a flurry of strikes but the more aggressive Kimura came out on top and captured the fall. This meant that Kobayashi needed to retaliate and he came out the blocks fast in the second, upped his own aggression levels to match Kimura and in turn levelled things up. This concept of Kobayashi needing to dig deep to match Kimura was a neat one I thought. To contrast the good, this match had a fair chunk of negatives as well. As for Kimura, some may say his selling style is subtle, I’d say it verges on the non-existent. He’s as wooden as he’d be a decade later and his lack of response to many of Kobayashi’s attacks prevented me from properly engaging in the match. Kobayashi as well is what I’d describe as a solid performer, but he doesn’t jump off the screen. These two being IWE’s top stars goes a long way to explaining why they lagged behind New Japan and All Japan. The moment that took the cake however was what I can only assume was a botch, as it couldn’t have been intentional, but with Kobayashi in control during the third fall, he went for a rudimentary elbow drop. Kimura didn’t flinch in the slightest, but was merely his usual motionless self, and Kobayashi inexplicably whiffed on the move and landed straight on his elbow. This led to a massive switch in momentum and considering the time it happened in the match I assumed it was going to be the catalyst for Kimura to go on and snatch the win. If that had happened I don’t see how Kobayashi could have been seen as a credible top guy and challenger for the title moving forwards as such a rookie error just made him look like a chump. Luckily for him the booking decision was for him to seal the deal. Even if Kimura and the referee, for both of Kobayashi’s falls, seemed intent on creating confusion and further delegitimizing Kobayashi’s win - Kimura lifting his shoulder up at the last second and the referee hesitating and having to recount the three. 1973-07-17 French Catch Jose Gonzalez vs. Batman France ★★★ I have to admit I was perhaps a little overexcited in my anticipation for this match as I love both these guys, however while this didn’t set the world alight, honestly I’m not sure I could have asked for much more. Batman was as smooth as ever, I still enjoyed his combination of power and grace, but Gonzalez just was a supernova, literally dripping with heel charisma. His look went a long way to selling the vibe, but he had the mannerisms, the facial expressions, the stooging, the big bumps. Literally everything you’d want he had in his locker. Another real standout performance from him.
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I honestly was really taken aback by how, if not good, "decent" I thought Strongbow looked here. And to give away my opinions for future matches I'll cover, I think he continued to impress me moving forwards as well. My almost vitriolic reaction to Fuji here I think is certainly based on how much I love love loved him in the 1981 stuff I saw with him and Saito. I'm not sure what I expected, but this nerve hold heavy working style felt so stodgy and archaic in comparison it really just put me off.
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1973-06-30 WWWF - WWWF on HBO Pedro Morales (c) vs. George Steele WWWF Heavyweight Title Match Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA Card ★★★ I’m almost certainly grading this on a curve, but I thought this was a great showcase for what Pedro brought to the table as champion. In terms of move economy this was excellent. Pedro exploded out the gates and slugged George a few times to force him into a powder immediately. George resorted to using his concealed weapon and Pedro sold it like a boss. Once he’d recovered enough he was once again right on the offensive, clobbering the hell out of Steele and the crowd were in ecstasy. Rinse and repeat a couple more times before the referee was “forced” to stop the bout due to a cut on Steele’s forehead. A weak finish because Steele was barely bleeding, if it all, but wholly satisfying to see Pedro ultimately run him out of the arena post-match. 1973-06-30 WWWF - WWWF on HBO Mr. Fuji vs. Chief Jay Strongbow Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA Card ★ A fifteen minute match that should have gone five. I was a little disappointed with how limited Fuji looked considering what he was capable of almost a decade later, and I certainly could have done without the agonisingly drawn out nipple twisting pectoral hold, but the big takeaway was how good, or at least competent, Strongbow looked in contrast to how generally dismissed he is in most circles. On this showing that seems almost like slander. He executed a flying headscissors to Mr Fuji who was camped out on the apron for goodness sake. Not an elite worker by any stretch of the imagination but he could absolutely go at this point in his career.
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1973-06-06 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Alan Serjeant vs. Clayton Thomson Cliffs Pavilion, Southend, Essex, United Kingdom ★★★ These two had great chemistry with each other. Both excellent wrestlers with fantastic technique. We saw some intricate counter holds, especially some more unique ones involving the legs which were pleasing on the eye. Overall things might have been a little too cordial though. I appreciate in a clean match they like to do the thing where a hold isn’t going anywhere and they shake hands and agree to break, but they went to that well again and again. I’m not sure if it was because as they were improvising that they actually did go into that many cul-de-sacs and required a reset or whether they really wanted to push the narrative that these two were equally matched, but it ended up disjointing the flow of the action more than it helped. There was also perhaps a bit too much fluff, often the influence of Sergeant, executing some flashy escape when a simpler one would have sufficed. It was one of those, a backflip out of an attempted headlock, that was Sergeant’s undoing, as he completely fluffed it and landed on his head and bundled into the ropes. To their credit I was unsure whether he merely botched the move and was actually injured, but if that were the case it just made him look more of a fool than he already did. But injury finishes are part and parcel of the WoS viewing experience so it doesn’t affect my perception of the match too much. It was great to get a first look at Sergeant though. His approach was all about showcasing his flexibility and impressive bridging capabilities. The aforementioned backflip escape he executed three times, and while it felt to me like unnecessary showponyism, it was impressive nonetheless. Even more noteworthy was his patented Boston Crab escape. His method was to lean more into the source of the torque on his body and almost bend/fold his way out from underneath Thomson. He did this twice within a couple minutes and even the second time it almost defies belief that he didn’t break his neck attempting the move. I would have loved to see him a bit more on offense and with a bit more bite, but he made a solid impression on me this first go round. 1973-06-07 French Catch Michel Saulnier & Pedro Cabrera vs. Teddy Boys (Guy Renaud & Bobby Genele) France ★★ A much smaller venue with a much smaller crowd than usual. I wonder if that’s indicative of anything or whether they were merely just working in a studio as opposed to their usual venues. As for the match, with all the talent on display I have to say I was expecting much more. I absolutely dug their 1971 matchup but this felt like a solid departure from that. We got a frenzied start, Genele and Cabrera had great chemistry, and I enjoyed their work around the headscissor takedown in particular, Saulnier was a real firecracker and was completely game whenever he had the opportunity to get into things, but this match really needed a North Star of sorts to truly guide them where they needed to go. Some may think it an absurd comparison but I honestly think French Catch’s closest relation (at least this 70s version of it I’ve been watching) is early 80s All Japan Women. In my mind both eschew form and structure for emphasis on pure mood and emotion. At the best of times it is a real strength, but when things aren’t really clicking it can lead to a feeling that the action is meandering along, and this match certainly dragged for me in the latter half. As game as Genele was at trying to keep up with Cabrera, it was Renault who was the more decisive tone setter for his team. He was the one who dabbled in a more direct and brutish approach that I wished they’d pursued a little more earnestly as the match went on. Overall I can’t say that any of the four men looked bad in the slightest, they all had their moments and their track records speak for themselves. This one just missed the mark for me.
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1973-05-03 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Wayne Bridges vs. Steve Veidor Assembly Hall, Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom ★★ Bridges is analogous to the global perception of British food. Hearty, stodgy, and completely lacking in any seasoning. He had a sizable weight advantage over Veidor, which they played to a bit here and there, but in all facets I’d say Veidor easily looked the better wrestler, and having said that, even he didn’t have the best showing here either. The first three rounds were run of the mill table setting, but I liked that they added in a flurry of near falls in the fourth round, far earlier than you’d normally see, which switched up the natural rhythms you’d expect from a WoS match. This built enough momentum into the fifth that you felt they were pushing for a decisive finish instead of just playing out the string towards a time limit draw. Somewhat disappointingly they decided to go with an injury angle to finish, a well they go to again and again, with Bridges awkwardly tumbling over the top ropes and splatting onto the hard concrete below. It was a classic example of trying to protect both parties simultaneously with the booking decision, but I have to believe there was a better way. The execution of the bump did well to sell any potential injury however so that saves it a tad. 1973-06-06 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Steve Veidor vs. Lee Sharron Cliffs Pavilion, Southend, Essex, United Kingdom ★★ Sharron looks like a plumper, stouter Terry Jones off Monty Python. Unfortunately he didn’t wrestle with any Monty Pythonesque ingenuity. His actual wrestling acumen was very basic and by the third round he’d leaned almost entirely into cheap heel tricks. Having said that, while it was incredibly simple, it certainly seemed effective. The crowd were lapping it up, all riled up and chomping at the bit for Veidor to put him in his place. Veidor himself was uncharacteristically ruffled by his opponent’s tactics and by the end of it he was retaliating in kind, misdead for misdead. This match gave Veidor an opportunity to show a different side that I hadn’t seen before, fiery and indignant, but it almost seemed like he was pulling his punches - literally - when given the opportunity to really tee off and get that retribution at the finish. He got his decisive win in the end and the crowd were all for it. Perfectly satisfying and reasonably entertaining but I wouldn’t be scrambling to watch another Sharron match any time soon.
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1973-05-03 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Jackie Pallo vs. Johnny Kwango Assembly Hall, Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom ★★ Pallo spends more time throwing verbal barbs at the crowd and mentioning his recent appearance on “This is your life” than carving out an interesting match with Kwango here. Kwango himself seemed pretty content to just follow Pallo’s lead and tease his patented headbutt before Pallo put one over him with a sneak pin. Perfectly fine but the definition of nothing special. 1973-05-03 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Jim Breaks (c) vs. Johnny Saint British Lightweight Title Match Assembly Hall, Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom ★★★★ A rematch of their excellent clash from back in March. Saint pulled off a relatively decisive 2-0 victory there over the champion to force this title match and the crowd warmed up in a flash for this contest. Saint didn’t need any time to start throwing hands either, he was really ready to take the fight to Breaks from round 1, and across both bouts he really showed a feistiness that you don’t often see from WoS babyfaces. Having said that, this was once again the Jim Breaks show. Saint played his part but Breaks was the conductor. We saw much more concentrated focus on the nose as a body part. Firstly from Breaks as he was determined to avoid having his hit, constantly releasing holds another wrestler typically wouldn’t, due to the fact that Saint would have been able to kick out and catch the nose. Secondly, Breaks tightened the screws and spent a great deal of time grinding down onto Saint’s nose, almost vindictively trying to torture his opponent. The first fall, captured by Saint, was a piece of magic. Saint was trying for a Boston Crab and Breaks expertly blocked, then muscled his way up and over Saint’s body to apply a rolling pin, but Saint was too savvy for that and countered with a bridging pin of his own, setting him up nicely to make a late charge at the title. Unusually for WoS, the latter period of the match revolved entirely around blood. Breaks ended up with a nosebleed when Saint retaliated for the focused nose work I mentioned before. Breaks bled far more than in their March match and his exaggerated selling just knocked it out the park to show off how discombobulated he was. Breaks however survived that round, wiped the blood off, reset and promptly upped the aggression. Saint got tossed from the ring and he landed hard on the apron then Breaks began viciously smashing his face into the mat, enough to draw blood himself, a real rarity in WoS to have two bloody wrestlers! Saints cut was enough for the referee to stop the bout and Breaks was handed the victory. The finish is really the only issue I have with this. A blood stoppage is a weak finish at the best of times but in a big title match it comes across even worse. I’m not sure if I still preferred their first match to this though as it told a more complete story from start to finish.
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1973-04-30 French Catch Maurice Dumez & Georges Cohen vs. Antonio Montoro & Anton Tejero Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match France ★★ At its best when Montoro and Tejero were on top and brutalising poor Cohen. Those two felt like the Blouson Noirs-lite here, except they weren’t as in sync on the patented heel mix-up spots as you’d like. Dumez continues to show flashes. I feel that he’s good, in a vacuum, but his obvious talents haven’t quite yet translated into elevating the match he’s in. Cohen was game, and certainly had flash, but his contributions were more fluff than anything else. I wouldn’t say there’s anything truly noteworthy about this, but I would say it was worth the watch to catch another glimpse of Montoro and Tejero in action as they had some real standout moments. 1973-05-03 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Mick McManus & Steve Logan vs. The Barons (Ian Gilmour & Jeff Kaye) Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match Assembly Hall, Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom ★★ McManus and Logan were a Slytherin team if I’ve ever seen one. All jet black hair, mean mugs and meaner tactics. Unfortunately they didn’t manage anything more imaginative than illegal punches to the midsection for the most part. It was Jeff Kaye’s enthusiastic retaliation to his opponent’s underhanded tactics that really stole the show though. He was such a middle of the road, serviceable wrestler when I first came across him, which would have shown him at the end of his career in 1980 before he switched to becoming a referee, but he’s showed qualities so far in the early 70s, and in this match particular, that I just wouldn’t have thought possible. I loved his fire and energy, he really managed to enthuse the crowd and get them roaring behind him as he clattered into McManus again and again. He ended up becoming over emotional though, as a reckless dive after having shoved the referee aside saw him get tangled up neck first in the ropes, and McManus promptly submitted him with a sleeper hold to win the match outright.
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1973-04-16 French Catch Gilbert LeDuc vs. Bert Mychel France ★★★★ Two veterans really grinding it out. A true war of attrition that delivered on the grappling, never ever felt cooperative, and by the end of it you felt like they were closer to narrowly surviving some brutal bloodsport fight to the death than a mere wrestling match. It always seemed like LeDuc had the slightest of edges on Mychel, purely down to Mychel’s masterfully subtle selling - an extra beat to gather himself, a more laboured heavy exhale after taking a move, and the fact that he often ended up on the losing end of a few of their uppercut strike exchanges. But that was until the end where a mistake allowed Mychel to dump LeDuc to the outside then capitalised with a series of fallaway slams, relatively middling moves in the grand scheme of things, but here felt like real bone jarring death blows. And true to their presentation, by the time LeDuc suffered a third he was forced to throw in the towel. 1973-04-24 AJPW - 1st Champion Carnival - Day 25 Giant Baba (c) vs. The Sheik Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan Card ★ I’ve never thought that bloody brawls were Baba’s specialty, but Sheik really gave him hardly anything to work with here other than take a pencil to the face several times then roll around bleeding a bit. As much as I have a soft spot for Abdullah, despite doing a lot of the same things, there’s something about Sheik that just leaves me cold, especially when he’s not matched up against Abdullah in a battle of the weirdo monsters. Interestingly it was the interference from Sheik’s manager rather than the blatant use of an illegal weapon that drew the ire of the crowd, and before this was done and dusted they were uncharacteristically pelting the ring with trash. A somewhat lacklustre brawl on the floor based around both combatants trying to post each other resulted in Baba managing to scramble back into the ring before the count to secure a disappointing countout victory.
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1973-03-16 French Catch Le Petit Prince vs. Daniel Noced France ★★★ This was right on the cusp of being a great match. Not to be damning on Noced at all, as he totally did his part as a worthy foil, but I don’t believe he did anything truly additive which capped the ceiling of the match. This also suffers somewhat from some of the more annoying quirks of the French presentation. We get superimposed interviews in the crowd, during the match, but that seems to happen every other match and is a minor gripe. More irritating was the fact the commentator decided to try and grab some quick words with Petit Prince at ringside - while the action was still ongoing. Noced had tossed the little man to the outside and Petit Prince was selling his arse off and along came the commentator and shoved a microphone in his face! Despite not breaking through into that rarified air, I’d say this is still a must-watch just for Petit Prince’s performance. One of the enduring elements of Prince’s matches so far that I’ve delighted in is that while he can execute some of the most astonishingly elaborate high flying sequences, his matches always, and so far it has been always, carried an aspect of scrappiness from his part. Yes, he’s insanely talented, but often he’s significantly the smaller man. His aerial wizardry can only go so far so he has to dig deep and show some grit and determination to overcome his opponent and I think this is the attribute that truly separates him as a certified great. Noced dug deep into his black box of tricks, pulling hair etc., but Prince returned everything in kind. He wasn’t going to get walked over and he managed to get a warning from the referee for his actions just as Noced did. In addition to this we got the expected acrobatic fireworks from him and fantastic, consistent selling. Noced worked over his arm in a hammerlock and a wrist lock for long stretches of the match, and even during the home stretch, when Prince started laying in some fantastic uppercuts, he always made the effort to delay-sell that arm. A really fun match that is worth seeking out and watching. Others might see more in Noced than I did here, but he was not bad by any means, but I’d say the focus should be on Prince and what he was able to show here. 1973-04-04 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Pete Roberts vs. Caswell Martin Cliffs Pavilion, Southend, Essex, United Kingdom ★★ A thirty minute draw to open the show. You could say it was one for the purists, all worked above board and by the rulebook. They filled the time rather well, but there were some issues with execution and I wish Martin had been a little more inventive with his offensive approach when given the opportunities. Roberts really was a classy and stylish wrestler, albeit lacking flash almost entirely. What holds this down more than anything is a lack of any real narrative threads or memorable moments. When I think back on this the thing that will jump out the most is the running gag that the timekeeper called for the end of the round while Martin was in control three times in a row, leading him to lightheartedly propose there was some sort of conspiracy at play. 1973-04-04 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Kevin Conneely vs. Johnny Kwango Cliffs Pavilion, Southend, Essex, United Kingdom ★★ Conneely wasn’t quite Les Kellett, but his bag of tricks was certainly deep and suitably entertaining. Kwango was a willing dance partner but this was Conneely show through and through. Outside of the stream of comedic spots the narrative thread was the threat of Kwango’s headbutt, which garnered him the first fall, but it was his overconfidence after delivering the blow later on that opened the door for Conneely to capitalise, not once but twice, to snatch flash pins and steal the bout entirely. 1973-04-04 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Clive Myers vs. Brian Maxine Cliffs Pavilion, Southend, Essex, United Kingdom ★★ A bit strange to say about a match that lasted around 15 minutes, but this felt like it didn’t quite have enough time to properly develop. It only made it to the third round mark before Myers made a misguided attempt at a flying crossbody and took a fist to the stomach resulting in his KO loss. Having said that, both men came out of this looking good. Maxine showed aspects of his underhanded gamesmanship, but it was all a bit truncated. Myers was athletic and vibrant, but this was more of a showcase of what he potentially could do, and a sign of what he would become, rather than a great showing in and of itself.
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1973-03-14 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Tony St. Clair vs. Bob Abbott Victoria Baths, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom ★★ Two good pros getting in there and delivering respective to the match’s position on the card. Being the opening bout they were asked to warm up the crowd and I thought this was a breeze to watch honestly. The only issue really is that they got into their groove fairly early and then plateaued at that level for the entire bout. All the action was straight laced and above board, all very cordial, so perhaps it lacked a little character. But in terms of what was expected of them I don’t have any complaints. I’ve never seen Abbot before, and Walton mentioned this was his TV debut, and in his hometown to boot, and he gave a great showing in that case. No fireworks or frills, and perhaps the most offensive, but also interesting, thing about him was his hair. A huge mop of a thing with the front hacked away to make way for his face to emerge from the mass. 1973-03-14 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Jim Breaks vs. Johnny Saint Victoria Baths, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom ★★★★ I clearly have in my mind what a “Jim Breaks match” is and what a “Johnny Saint match” is, and this was decidedly the former. It was almost jarring to see Saint refrain from his usual routine, but I think it served the match better this way. The first few rounds were somewhat cagey, or as cagey as a Jim Breaks match can ever be. We still got all his shenanigans and he was constantly complaining about a minor knock to his mouth that he claimed was causing continuous pain. Things sparked to life in the third though, or positively exploded. Breaks had a few private warnings, and finally the referee dished out a public one, but it was the constant infringements that drew Saint’s ire and I loved the stone cold vicious streak that he showed to almost fight fire with fire and came strong giving as good as he got. It was in a moment where Breaks was pushing an advantage and was over aggressive with his pursuit, that allowed Saint to quickly snatch a rollup pin to steal that first fall. Being a fall down with two rounds to go in a six round bout, the writing was on the wall that Breaks would follow up with a fall each in the following two rounds, claim the victory and everyone would be saying what a good showing Saint gave but it wasn’t quite enough up against the champion. But they did a fantastic job here booking-wise to subvert my expectations and go against the usual rhythms of the promotion. Breaks’ frustrations with going a fall down prompted him to up the aggression even further and he honed in on Saint’s face, and specifically the nose. Once again all this did was piss Saint off who flipped the tables impressively and brought that same fate unto Breaks himself. By the end of the fifth round Breaks’ nose was streaming blood and his wobbly selling inbetween falls was off the charts. I still was expecting at least a draw out of this, and Breaks really gutted through to make a go of it but Saint was the one who managed to snatch another neat pin and seal the deal with a straight falls victory over the champion. This drew one of the biggest eruption of applause I can recall from any of the World of Sport footage so far. This match was a great example of constantly building the tension and intensity, and climaxing at just the right time. There was never a moment where it regressed or stagnated but instead there was always an organic escalation.
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1973-02-10 French Catch Der Henker vs. Marcel Montreal France ★★ Montreal was a big guy, like 80’s WWF big, so seeing him eventually get handled by Henker was surprising, but I liked that they treated this as Montreal putting up resistance until he could put up resistance no more. For the most part they managed to keep this pretty 50/50. Montreal would work a headlock sequence to keep Henker grounded and Henker wasn’t able to make any serious inroads. Montreal was holding up pretty well for the most part, until suddenly he wasn’t. Henker sent him plummeting to the outside twice then suddenly Montreal looked punch drunk and he was there for the taking. Henker put his foot to his throat and demolished him before mercifully putting him away with his patented Tombstone Piledriver. As much as the overarching narrative was appealing, they lost me in the details here. Big bruising heavyweight vs big bruising heavyweight is one of the few matchups that hasn’t seemed to hit at all in the catch footage for me so far. Henker is far more appealing going up against smaller guys and the whole aspect of power cancelling out power doesn’t work in my opinion. I liked the finish in this, which is the match’s saving grace, but the main body, the foundation they laid for the finish, was rather quite boring. 1973-02-10 French Catch Jacky Corn & Gilbert LeDuc vs Daniel Schmidt & Janek Frisuk Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match France ★★★ Corn and LeDuc were on top for most of the first fall, all very measured and controlled, however it felt quite middling and pedestrian for the most part. Suddenly Corn went over the top ropes to turn the tide and before I knew it his team were a fall down. Things sparked to life in the second though. Corn was still reeling from whatever injury he picked up from his tumble and Schmidt and Frisuk were applying the pressure. This laid the stage for a stirring comeback and we saw an abundance of gumption from the Corn/DeLuc corner as they clawed their way back to win the whole thing.. From the start of the second fall onwards this was a rip roaring slugfest, and while Frisuk faded into the background for me, I was impressed by Schmidt who was the more purposeful and aggressive with his approach. 1973-02-15 French Catch Albert Sanniez & Kader Hassouni vs. Bernard Caclard & Pierre Bernaert Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match France ★★ Another swimming pool match and another where I felt like they managed to lean into the gimmick enough to make it work rather than being hindered by it in any way. The first fall was the best of it. Sanniez and Caclard squaring off was a delight, then they could switch things up by bringing Bernaert in, let him be a grouch, then before long Caclard had followed suit, aping Bernart’s attitude, and we had a good ol’ heel beatdown on our hands. I think this is a case where the ⅔ falls stipulation was the actual issue. A straight one fall match that allowed the heels to really dig into their opponents probably would have been more cohesive and more satisfying. Once Sanniez stole the first fall rather unexpectedly, the momentum shifts were too violent and too rapid that it all felt a bit muddled by the end of it all. They managed to neatly execute a fair few “fall into the pool” sequences, and by the time we were in the final few minutes Bernaert was stumbling all over the place, appeared to take a tumble every two seconds, and in general the heel team had completely fallen apart. No surprises that Hassouni and Sanniez took the victory, but while this had its good moments, and all four men had flashes, it ultimately had less substance than I feel it could have.
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1973 1973-01-02 Joint Promotions - World of Sport John Naylor vs. Jacky Ricard Solihull, West Midlands, United Kingdom ★★ Part of a series of “international” bouts designed to play off the UK’s entry into the EU the day before. Each would see a British wrestler facing off against someone from the continent. Here we had Jacky Ricard, who I’ve seen before as Jacky Richard in the French Catch footage. I’ll admit he hadn’t made the strongest impression on me up until this point and he didn’t do too much to stake his claim here either. In fact he rather felt like a man out of place. Kent Walton played up how the rules differed between the two countries, which would explain some of his hesitancy, and would even extend to throwing Naylor off his game as Richard wouldn’t react how he would normally expect, but I guess Walton brought this up as the match unravelled in front of his eyes into a series of crossed wires by the back half, epitomised by Richard essentially contorting himself to the point that he essentially applied a Boston Crab on himself. I don’t think we saw the best of Naylor here, he was nimble and well balanced in the early exchanges, was certainly the one on the front foot throughout, and had great timing and precision with his dropkicks, a couple which landed perfectly right on Richard’s chin, but there was visible frustration when he couldn’t conjure up any chemistry with his opponent and it felt like we merely ended up with successful resets rather than any real progression. The finish was an odd one as well. Richard had been the passive one on the whole, and had it gone to a referee’s decision he certainly would have lost, but he caught Naylor with an unassuming kick, that somehow sent him careening over the ropes to the floor below and the bad landing prevented him from making it back before the count, handing Richard a pretty undeserved victory. 1973-01-18 French Catch Rene Ben Chemoul & Walter Bordes vs. Anton Tejero & Inca Viracocha Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match France ★★★ For better and for worse this was a Chemoul/Bordes match through and through. It followed a lot of the similar rhythms of their other matches, but what I appreciated here was the additional level to which they (read: Bordes) allowed themselves to be overrun, which in turn just amplified their inevitable success. In the second fall Bordes took a big bump over the top and ended up several rows deep into the crowd. No matter how brief, this level of vulnerability isn’t often seen in their matches and his rousing comeback was all the more epic because of it. There was a decent amount of momentum shifting here, and the heels were able to get a sustained period of heat at one point, but when that momentum shifted back towards the faces prior to the home stretch, we saw Tejero and Viracocha take more bumps over the top than you’d see in a single Royal Rumble. Not that the match was worse for it, they bumped their asses off, and the neat little sequences the four men kept pulling off constantly added new spins to the whole thing and made it feel thoroughly engaging rather than just rinse repeat. As much credit as Tejero and Viracocha deserve for their bumping, I found their aforementioned heat sequence to be a bit lacklustre. They managed to corner off Chemoul and Bordes at separate points, but it was never nasty or calculated, or have any particular ingenuity, this was a period of the match where it was time for them to take over so they did and the faces let them, and they kind of just “worked them over” in the corner. I couldn’t really see much more to it really, at least not as much as some others. This was about as much fun as I feel I’d get out of a Chemoul performance, but Bordes as per usual was very good.
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GWE Roundup: 1972 World Class N/A Great Worker Jim Breaks Flashes of Greatness Jose Gonzalez Notable Adrian Street Andre the Giant Billy Catanzaro Brian Maxine Dory Funk Jr. Giant Baba Guy Renault Jack Brisco Jeff Kaye King Krow (aka Dan Kroffat) Les Kellett Michel Saulnier Mick McMichael Steve Veidor Terry Funk Terry Rudge Vic Faulkner Walter Bordes Zoltan Boscik
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I thought I'd follow suit and create a list of my own. I removed the overrated category and merged the decent and average groups. There's also a new "Needs more investigation" grouping for guys I just had no real clue where to put at the moment. Anybody I can't remember watching off the top of my head I just omitted. This is just a snapshot of how I'm feeling right now and I've still got a long road ahead of me. I can easily see the possibility of at least 20 of these guys moving into different categories once I've watched some more of them. All-Time Greats Jim Breaks, Jon Cortez, Marc Rocco Great Workers Steve Grey, Marty Jones, Les Kellett, Zoltan Boscik Excellent Workers Bobby Barnes, Tibor Szacaks, Steve Veidor, Vic Faulkner, Bert Royal, Johnny Saint Strong Hands Alan Kilby, Pete Roberts, Mick McManus, Caswell Martin, Johnny Czeslaw, John Elijah, Tiger Dalibar Singh, Brian Maxine, Ray Steele, Johnny Kincaid, Jim Moser, Jeff Kaye, Clay Thomson, Mick McMichael, Chris Adams Decent Tony St. Clair, Romany Riley, Sid Cooper, Peter La Paque, Ray Robinson, Roy St. Clair, Johnny South, Ringo Rigby, Young David, John Quinn, Johnny Kwango, Dave Bond, Lenny Hurst, Mal Sanders, Tally Ho Kaye, Jackie Turpin, Pat Patton, Black Jack Mulligan, Alan Miquet, Kung Fu, Tony Charles, Lee Bronson, Honey Boy Zimba, Johnny England, Mike Jordan, Kid Chocolate, King Ben, Kevin Conneely, Johnny Yearsley, Steve Haggerty, Leon Arras, Bob Abbott, Bob Anthony, Mal Kirk, Steve Peacock, Steve McHoy, Eddie Capelli, Wayne Bridges, John Naylor Not the Greatest Rasputin, Alan Dennison, Wild Angus Needs More Investigation Alan Sarjeant, Terry Rudge, Clive Myers, Keith Haward, Dave Finlay, Pat Roach
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1972-12-02 Joint Promotions - World of Sport The Elites (Johnny Saint & Steve Best) vs. The Barons (Jeff Kaye & Ian Gilmour) Victoria Baths, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom ★★★ This hinged on Steve Best picking up a back injury after Gilmour completely squished him at the midway point. The drama being whether Saint could hold his own well enough to allow Best to recuperate while not falling victim to the Barons himself. For some reason I expected the Barons to be a bit more heelish, but I guess they didn’t work that way the last few times I’ve seen them either. Regardless they were very sporting and the whole bout was on the up and up. In some ways that was a limitation, as things never got heated, and the Barons, while not exactly shying away from trying to apply more pressure on Best’s injured back, they didn’t go after him either in the kind of manner heels would and that would have been more satisfying. While I thought they could have wrung more out of the injury, they did manage to completely nail the build to the 20 minute time limit draw. Kent Walton was excellent with his call here to really sell the whole thing, but all four men peaked at just the right time to make it feel like a nail biter and it was one of those where a draw felt like the right result for all involved. I’ll give a quick shout out to Jeff Kaye in particular here as well. Ian Gilmour is decent, and at times good, but I think Kaye is the better of the two in their pairing and the two members of the Elites were still young at this point, and specifically Saint wasn’t quite THE Johnny Saint as he would become. Kaye was slap bang in his prime and it shows. He was supremely comfortable in what he was doing and was in complete control throughout. A real delight to watch. 1972-12-19 AJPW - Giant Series II - Day 13 Giant Baba vs. The Destroyer PWF World Heavyweight Championship Series Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match City Gymnasium, Niigata, Japan Card ★★★ It seemed like Baba was far too passive throughout the first fall, with Destroyer methodically grinding him down with a headlock heavy approach. However by the time we got to the finish of the first fall I thought that this decision actually worked. Destroyer got to show off his skills, and he was resourceful in his attempts to maintain some form of forward momentum throughout, but it actually made Baba look all the more impressive when he capitalised on Destroyer’s lone mistake and completely crushed him into the mat with an awesome neckbreaker which just served to get across Baba’s KO abilities. Completely reeling from the impact, Destroyer struggled to start off the second. I thought this would be the stretch where we saw Baba really press his foot to Destroyer’s throat, and he did get his longest period of sustained offense here, but it wasn’t that long before Destroyer used his savvy to swing the momentum back into his favour and locked on a surprise figure four to submit Baba and level things up. I would have preferred that second fall to have lasted longer, and to have seen Baba get some more offense in, just because it felt like he was on the back foot for too much of this. But as Destroyer continued to assault the leg, Baba’s selling - very gingerly moving on it and writhing in pain with the impact whenever he delivered something like a backbreaker - was almost enough to compensate. I liked how they were building to the finish, but just not to the finish we got. I will say I was rather surprised when Baba mule kicked Destroyer over the top ropes just for him to not make it back in time before the count. This kind of just felt like a wet fart of a decision to me. With the belt on the line this felt like a prime moment to just hand Baba the decisive victory. I’m not sure this even kept Destroyer strong as in my mind going down to a killer Baba attack feels far more justifiable than losing because you got kicked out on your arse and you couldn’t get back up again.
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I'll admit the times when he's most appealing to me is when he leans furthest into that real nasty and gritty kind of work. Your comment on Rudge being the GOAT is interesting. WoS, much like the french catch footage, feels like it has less of a consensus on the best workers, or maybe I've just been looking in the wrong places. I recall a post you made, perhaps in the Intro to British Workers/Wrestling thread that attempted to tier the British wrestlers, but I can never for the life of me find it. I was wondering if that tier list still held up in your mind or if you would make any changes. I know I still feel the need to see more of Grey, Myers, Haward and Jones to get a strong sense of where I would rank them.
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Rudge is someone I'm really fascinated with. I'm aware of how broad his rep is, and those that stump for him REALLY stump for him. He appeared so infrequently in the 80-81 footage I watched that I don't think I got a good grasp on him. The early 70s stuff so far shows flashes of what I feel he could be, so I'm happy to keep plugging away and see how he develops. How much of his rep comes from his mid-late 80s work?
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1972-12-02 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Terry Rudge vs. Ray Steele Victoria Baths, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom ★★★ I’m still not quite seeing what has led to the reputations of both these men, but there were glimpses here, flashes of what could be, and in the case of Steele, easily his best performance to date. The first two rounds were pretty pedestrian with Rudge wrestling the taller, but significantly lighter man straight up and it was all a bit nondescript. The way Steele ambled around the ring made him look like a character out of stop animation TV show Morph had suddenly sprung to life in wrestler form. Steele hit a gorgeous dropkick right in Rudge’s mug that sparked a furious flurry that resulted in Steele nicking the first fall and from that point onwards Rudge leant more into a bruising attack strategy, Steele was given more room to show off his speed and shiftiness and the whole thing just gelled so much better. Rudge came roaring back and secured the two falls he needed for victory but Steele didn’t totally capitulate. It was just unfortunate for him that he went for that dropkick that worked so well for him before but this time Rudge had it scouted, dodged, and Steele injured himself, that moment of weakness in effect offering him up for Rudge to take full advantage. 1972-12-02 Joint Promotions - World of Sport Jim Breaks vs. Zoltan Boscik Victoria Baths, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom ★★★★ ¼ Boscik was such a smooth customer. A little pocket rocket with every counter you could imagine. I loved him trolling Breaks, constantly targeting the arm and teasing the Breaks Special on its originator. Both men worked at such a frantic pace that it seemed like the match had been stuck on fast forward. As good as Boscik was, and he was excellent, Breaks was just a class apart. This wasn’t a title match, despite Breaks being the lightweight champion at the time and Boscik having been a recent holder of that belt himself, but this had the atmosphere of a big title bout, and a lot of that can be attributed to Breaks. His mere presence fosters a sort of electricity, his frantic energy constantly keeping the crowd buzzing - and he wasn’t shy at having a verbal sparring match with those at ringside either. Then there were the little jibes and confrontations with the referee, all these elements adding up to create something almost akin to white noise, a constant hum that lasts the duration of the match. Honestly I can’t praise the performance enough, probably a slam dunk candidate for best of the year. Finding himself a fall down with only two rounds to go Breaks began intentionally executing a series of Snapmares that sent Boscik straight into the ropes in an attempt to accrue damage to his legs. This tactic paid dividends when he was able to quickly submit him with a Boston Crab. Then in the final round a failed attempt at a flip out of the Snapmare caused an injury to Boscik’s arm, Breaks needed no further invitation and a Breaks Special sealed the deal. Boscik had been flipping out of any Snapmare attempt Breaks had made throughout the early portion of the match, to the point that he was almost embarrassing the champion, which made the change to landing in the ropes all the more impactful as the accumulated exhaustion or wear and tear was all the more evident. With that being said, Breaks picking up the two falls in the final two rounds did have the air of inevitability, perhaps a little too matter of fact. In some ways that’s the flaw of the rounds system, and in particular those with only six rounds, as it often feels like they end up rushing the finish. If they’d been able to eke out a little more drama, perhaps add an additional two rounds to the whole thing, then this could have been an all timer.
