ohtani's jacket

Now that I've watched a couple of hundred European matches, I thought I'd set about trying to form some sort of hierarchy of workers. To do this, I concentrated on workers whom I've seen at least five or so matches from. That means no Adrian Street, Masambula, Jackie Pallo, Dave Barrie, Peter Szakacs, Abe Ginsberg, Billy Robinson, and the like. I also ignored strictly comedy workers such as Catweazle or Billy Torontos, as well as the super heavyweights whom I have no interest in. I tend to avoid the blue-eyed, boy apprentices like the plague, so you won't find too many of them listed either. The time frame covers roughly 20 years from 1970-1990. All-Time Greats Jim Breaks, Mick McManus, Alan Sarjeant, Jon Cortez, Marty Jones, Steve Grey Great Workers Terry Rudge, Tibor Szacaks, Mike Marino Excellent Workers Bobby Barnes, Robby Baron, Franz van Buyten, Clive Myers, Steve Veidor, Sid Cooper, Alan Kilby, Pat Roach Strong Hands Johnny Czeslaw, John Elijah, Tiger Dalibar Singh, Pete Roberts, Keith Haward, Brian Maxine, Caswell Martin, Clay Thomson, Johnny Kwango, Steve Logan (Snr), Les Kellett, Chic Cullen, Romany Riley, Alan Wood, Pete Roberts, Axl Dieter, Bobby Ryan, Dave Finlay Decent Hands Tony St. Clair, Jim Moser, Peter La Paque, Colin Joynson, Ray Robinson, Johnny Kincaid, Vic Faulkner, John Kowalski, Johnny South, Ken Joyce, Tom Tyrone, Ivan Penzekoff, Ringo Rigby, Rocky Moran, Jeff Kaye, Johnny Kidd, Young David, Otto Wanz, John Quinn, Tony Walsh, Rene Lasartesse, Dynamite Kid, Steve Regal Average Kung Fu, Alan Dennison, Tony Charles, Mick McMichael, Bert Royal. Roy St. Clair, Court Baretlli, Lee Bronson, Tarzan Johnny Wilson, Honey Boy Zimba, Ray Steele, Bob Kirkwood, Kendo Nagasaki, Skull Murphy, Johnny England, Mike Jordan, Tally Ho Kaye, Kid Chocolate, Lenny Hurst, Dave Taylor Overrated Johnny Saint, Marc Rocco, Steve Wright, Zolton Boscik, Eddie Capelli, Wayne Bridges Annoying As Fuck John Naylor, Mal Sanders, Danny Collins, Chris Adams

Has there ever been a great Battle Royal? (Rumbles aside.)

Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (09/04/91) This was better stuff from Hansen, although hitting your finisher to start the match is something other workers get criticised for all the time. Nevertheless, the narrative of Kobashi not having the physical strength or experience to beat Hansen was solid and the action was good, though not the "pro-wrestling at its purest" sap that All Japan fans try or tried to sell it as. If there's one thing I hate about going back and re-watching this All Japan stuff it's the outside brawling. It's almost as bad as the outside brawling in Joshi, though nowhere near as rife. The finish here was awesome with Kobashi ducking the lariat and Hansen changing arms. That was bad ass.

It seems to me that this is the type of thing that gets judged in hindsight.

Terry Rudge vs. Billy Samson (Hamburg 9/17/87) Another good Rudge match. This wasn't as hard hitting as some of his other German stuff, but it was a nice showcase for his heel work. The flick of the sweat and the "up yours" hand gesture were enough to get his opponent Billy Samson going. Samson came from a boxing background, but was firmly entrenched in the pro-style, which was a bit disappointing as I would have liked to have seen him trade blows with the GOAT.

I also watched Heenan/Warrior and the simple fact is it's just not that funny.

Perhaps there are differences between Japanese and American comedy? Comedy dominates a large chunk of Japanese prime time, but they don't have sitcoms. Quirky, off-beat dramas sometimes, but no real sitcoms. It's mostly variety shows hosted by famous Japanese comedians, with the roots in Manzai, which is an Abbott and Costello style double act as opposed to stand-up comedy in the States. I've been in the audience during comedy matches at Joshi and Osaka Pro shows and the comedy has a Manzai feel to it. There's also plenty of audience participation. The humour in these cases is often a parody of pro-wrestling, whereas comedy spots in the US (at least in the major promotions, not the indies) is often situation comedy such as a spot in a Midnight Express match. It's quite different from a match where Kellett or Hirota break the fourth wall almost in terms of talking to the ref, their opponent, the audience, making gags in the middle of holds, doing joke spots. Bobby Heenan bumping and stooging is not really in the same category as the comedy matches from Britain or Japan.

Could be the venue size or it could be that the British workers were actually funny.

British crowds used to laugh en masse at Kellet, Breaks, Catweazle, Pallo, Johnny Kwango, Billy Torontos, Vic Faulkner, Masambula, Johnny Czeslaw and a host of others.

Stan Hansen vs. Sgt. Slaughter (2/2/86) When you need to convince yourself that a dream match is just going to be a good, regular match and then you have to convince yourself that the regular match is good, you know you're looking at a disappointment. Stan Hansen vs. Leon White (3/13/86) It was weird seeing Vader with hair here. Man, was he green. I couldn't understand why Hansen gave him so much of the match as he looked so poor working from the top. I guess most people like Hansen's US work better than me, but it's really not that strong. Feels like a fairly sizable chink in his case for GOAT. I'm not a big fan of Flair's work in Japan, but it's clearly better than Hansen's work Stateside, if you want to make that comparison, though to be fair Flair got to work title matches for the most part.

Vader was awful at shoot style.

The Kinks song was Death of a Clown. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles did Tears of a Clown.

Steve Regal vs. Indio Guajaro (10/15/89) A few minutes worth of clips, mostly of both guys delivering body shots, but fun while it lasted. Steve Regal vs. Rene Lasartesse (10/18/89) This was over way too quickly, either by editing or by design, but I don't think it's much of a surprise that this was the first Rene Lasartesse match I've enjoyed in a while. Regal was already a talent here and his big uppercut based comeback against Lasartesse was the birth of cool. Wish we had this in full.

Marty Jones vs. Chic Cullen (1/24/84) Marty Jones vs. Chic Cullen (3/14/85) These guys didn't match up as well as I would've liked, which was a shame because Cullen was one of the few genuinely good workers who debut in the 80s. Some of the sequences they do are out of this world, particularly in the second bout which is the better of the two, but there wasn't the same intensity or friction as Jones' feuds with Rocco and Finlay and both matches have weak finishes. The highlight of the match-up is probably Jones' dropkick in the first match. Marty Jones has to be a contender for best dropkick in the business.

Jim Breaks vs. Young David (12/19/79) This is the third in a trilogy of Jim Breaks vs. Young David matches available, two of which aired on TWC and one that was taped from the original broadcast. This is the original broadcast match and completes the picture of Breaks vs. Young David being the best example of how good a worker Breaks was. There's obviously better grappling in his matches against Saint and Grey, but there's a real magic to the dynamic between Breaks the veteran, who is second only to McManus as the man they love to hate, and this scrawny kid who can't even shave yet. Add Alan Dennison to the kid's corner, all pumped up and urging the kid on, and you have another fantastic bout between the two. The matches which aired in full are more epic, but this fits nicely between the two and has an absolutely wonderful finish, as for a brief moment Young David wins the belt and gets a tremendous ovation and post-match celebration. Moments like that were pretty rare in World of Sport, which made it all the more special. Unfortunately, Breaks disputed the pinfall and the belt was held-up, which led to a Breaks vs. Dennison program I believe, but it doesn't happen on tape so you can just enjoy one of the feel good moments of the era instead.

I think we've all made our point now, but the thread made it pretty implicit that not everybody thinks it's great.

Mick McManus vs. Mick McMichael (9/26/74) Wonderful performance from McManus. A real clinic in how he used all of his tricks and inside moves to tell a compelling narrative against just about any opponent. You could argue that his matches are "McManus--centric," but in all honestly I've seen McMichael wrestle at least half a dozen times and this was the first time I was interested in him. The match didn't go the distance in terms of rounds and ended up being the kind of easy victory you often see for Tibor Szakacs, Mike Marino or Brian Maxine, but it was highly entertaining and surprise, surprise, it took place at Gravesend. Mick McManus vs. Kid Chocolate (aired 1/17/81) This was pretty good for a 1980s McManus bout. Mick had to be pushing about 60 here but had lost none of his guile. The Mick McManus story is a fascinating one. For the uninitiated I recommend reading this article -- http://www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk/themanwelovedtohate.htm All told, this was probably the best 80s bout McManus had (at least that I've seen), but I have a bit of a problem with a guy as good as Kid Chocolate being such a JTTS. His involvement was limited here, but in fairness to McManus, Kid seemed to lack the drive to be a star. I love how when McManus was confident he'd sky hook his towel. Legend.

Ric Flair hardly invented the role, so the argument must be that he somehow played it wrong or that the role was flawed in the first place. I think it's strange that Horsemen Flair, Tully and Arn who could bitch and stooge as well as they delivered a beat down aren't praised for their range.

He's a heel, he shows ass sometimes. But if you look at the whole package including the promos and the TV and everything, do you really think Flair gets ridiculed and humiliated in the ring during his pomp? Maybe he gets shown up from time to time, but it's the belt that makes Flair tick as Randy Savage said. Flair's a guy who can have his trunks pulled down and bare his lilly white ass and not act ashamed because he walked away the champion. I mean this was a guy who did do violent things to people both in and out of the ring. If he's a clown then so is Terry Funk or Stan Hansen or Negro Casas or Satanico or anyone who can actually perform.

But if you have an issue with playing the bitch you should have an issue with it across the board. It seems strange to me that it's only an issue with main eventers or specifically Flair. I suppose everyone has their own set of expectations about how a world champion should wrestle and behave, but I kind of wonder how tailored wrestling is to the tastes of people who are bothered by theatrics.

Well, they fawned over him because he was the champ. They'd be pretty lousy commentators if they didn't fawn over him, but are you saying that you can't play the bitch in the main event? What is the ideal NWA heel champ if not Flair?

Seriously ? Flair going to the tope rope only to get thrown out every damn time (as a heel at least), Flair choping no-selling Sting or Luger with him looking like a complete idiot and begging off like a clown, Flair bumping for the referee. Seriously ? Come on... ANd I don't even talk about the entire figure-four deal that John described in details earlier on. I never thought it made his opponent look technically sound to the point he could reverse the dreaded hold applied by the master, it only made Ric Flair look like a complete fool. In term of psychology, Flair's use of the figure four was not much different from "you can't powerbomb Kidman", really (which, surprisingly, hasn't annoyed me that much on rewatch). Flair was supposed to be the master, but anyone that was above JTTS level reversed it the exact same way to the exact same result. It didn't make the opponent look specifically good, it made for a fun spot that the crowd loved because Flair looked like a fool and he sold it like a bitch. Flair was the bitch of all bitches, and he was great at it. I don't think it made him look foolish. Maybe it embarrassed him at times, maybe he was scared he was going to lose the title, but Flair was no fool in the ring. A comedy worker like Billy Torontos, now that guy was a fool in the ring. When Ric Flair gets the figure four reversed (or put on him), it's sold as dead serious. Flair sells the absolute crap out of it. He sells like he's in agony not stooging. The crowd don't think it's a joke; it's a pivotal moment in the match that smart fans got tired of because they saw it a million times. If there were 20 odd Flair matches on tape, they might not be so cynical about it.

The people watching know that Flair isn't a coward or a fool because in every single Flair match the commentators put over how good you have to be to be the champion, how tough the travel schedule is, and how much his opponents want to win the gold. They also mention other things like the plane crash or how he's a sixty minute man. I don't think anyone ever had the impression that Flair was a fool. What Flair was was cocky and arrogant and what he did in the ring was get his comeuppance by being whipped from pillar to post. I don't see it as any different to people giving McManus' cauliflower ears a going over, Jim Breaks throwing a tantrum in the ring or Bobby Barnes being livid because some wrestler kissed him. You look at Flair's spots as a bit of humour or something that gets the crowd going, the question is how big a part of his work are they. If someone says that all Flair did was "play the bitch" then I'm not sure I would agree with that. I think it was a bit more nuanced than that. He's obviously synonymous with it because he's Ric Flair. I think it has more to do with his profile than how many spots he had. Tully Blanchard played the bitch arguably just as much as Flair with even less offense and nobody picks Blanchard apart.

Added -- Tibor Szakacs vs. Prince Kumali (2/13/75) This was awesome. Finally, another Szakacs bout I could really sink my teeth into. This had almost the near perfect build to his back chop, including one wild swinging attempt that nearly took referee Max Ward's head off. Plenty of niggle in this one with both guys refusing to break in the ropes and Ward having to dish out public warnings to both guys. In between the antagonism, there was some fantastic wrestling with Szakacs busting out even more tricks than usual. He was almost like a Hungarian Dos Casas at times. Another great thing about this was that the crowd were intently looking on. Gravesend is just about my favourite town for WoS. There were certainly louder halls, but I don't know if any of them enjoyed their wrestling more. I was a little nervous that they were going to do a cop out finish but the finish this time was great. This was rad.

Franz van Buyten vs. Terry Rudge (Hamburg 9/11/90) This wasn't anywhere near the class of their '87 match but still it was Terry Rudge in Germany, which is like watching Fujiwara in a shoot style setting or Satanico in a singles match. The major problem was simply the length at a little over 10 minutes compared with their epic from '87.