David Mantell

Okay I'll get the ball rolling with the nice easy one. Warrior never accepted Savage's reformation I to being a good guy after WM7. He was deeply bitter and angry about Savage being Reinstated as a wrestler and saw Flair getting his trunks hooked by Savage at WM8 as evidence that Flair was a "Brother" victim of the Macho Man's treachery. Beyond that he had no use for Flair or Hennig other than as a meant to stick it to Savage. Indeed Warrior and Flair have a "sporting" SNME World title match that ends in Savage running in and attacking both competitors. Warrior was also bitter and distrustful of Sgt Slaughter and his turn back to patriotic babyface. He gets to do the spot which in real life went to Naliz who beat up Slaughter so kayfabe bad that it ended his career. As an added bit of garnish to cement Warrior as a bad guy, Hacksaw Duggan tries to rescue his buddy Slaughter but Warrior beats him down, confirming himself as a crazed wild animal who has thrown the moral compass out of the window. I think he could also have had a double turned version of the Undertaker feud.

This is widely reported as being the big plan for Summerslam 92. Some versions have Warrior spitting the idea out on sight, others that he was going along until days before the big event when he thought long and hard about the resulting collapse in merchandise sales and chickened out, throwing everything into disarray. To my mind there are three subsections of this. 1) The short term 2) If the HGH firing doesn't happen - plan A for the long term. 3) If the firing does happen with Warrior as heel World champion. I'll post my own thoughts on these in due course but I'm going to do this in separate posts because they're just my ideas/deductions and othe people's ideas are equally valid. However I will point at Ric Flair's second reign as being replacement booking once the Warrior refused the heel champion spot.

Yes he did seem to have these get out clauses. If the Warrior story is true - or at least based on a slightly more reasonable version of the truth than "It's not fair, he threw a stroppy and went whinging to Vince". - then it shows Vince saw Warrior as some sort of special case that he wanted kept nice and fresh in the fridge ready for the post Hogan era. Vince did not want 1988 Warrior to get talking to other guys momentarily promised the world and come to the conclusion that he'd just been another sucker for Vinnie. It's easy to forget how many other short lived fads he was momentarily obsessed with, before getting cold feet in double quick time: To avoid Warrior thinking he was a similar sucker to these - and if there is truth in Brutus's story it shows you that the Warrior did have such concerns - he was fed juicy morsels during his years sat in the fridge waiting for the Hulk to disappear over the Tinseltown horizon. A couple of IC title runs. A chase of a cowardly thief champion. A year's run (cut to 10 months) as paternity cover World champion. PPV main events, open goals to upstage the main events and a main event run with Undertaker that outdrew the Hogan-Slaughter return series. It took massive cultural shifts for him to finally get cold feet on Warrior in about '91/'92 and go - if reluctantly - with Bret instead. Even then Warrior still had a possible use in a spot holding the belt - something I'll go onto on another thread. ...

He probably did try to lecture Dynamite who just ignored him or smiled mock-benignly while contemplating turning the guy into pulled pork in a cage in a few dates' time. The "Warrior Threw A Stroppy" story smacks of the truth taken and stretched through a very selfish and slanted lens. Bear in mind Brutus was largely getting his own IC pushes in both 1988 and 1990 as a favour wangled by Hogan. Vince made title promises to a lot of people, many of whom he shafted in the end. Some he came clean to, others he hypnotically BS'd and sent them on their way feeling great about themselves but gaining nothing. What stands out as different here is that McMahon actually took action to keep the aggrieved wrestler onside - clearly Warrior was VERY import to 1988 Vince.

Michel Saulnier was to be the first in a line of heelish referees including Louis Deblamecque, top heel in his own right of his local FR3 station 1982-1987 and "Arbitre International" George Weiss in the mid 80s on A2. Now on New Catch Season 2 in 1991, we meet another one. To the people of Germany, Didier Gapp was a comedy hero, a parody of petty officialdom. To his native Frenchmen in the 80s and early 90s he was nine more Aux Chiottes Arbitre. Buffalo is an American with the finest dyed black hair this side of (American) Greg Valentine circa Rhythm N Blues. , Tony a Brit of solid WOS/Reslo history but both appear in France 1991 courtesy of the CWA. Tony has previous in ref bashing - to his shame and embarrassment afterwards he lost control in 1987 against Mighty John Quinn in their tag match leading to a DQ fall each and tag partners Kendo Nagasaki and Neil Sands fighting the decider solo. Tony and Buff work very American syle match to accommodate Buff, lots of work illegally on the ropes. Smashing heads into posts. Clotheslines. Manchettes. Stalling. That sort of thing. Tony eventually takes his man down into a side headlock a couple of times. Buff gets the better of a flying tacklem asking it a slam but missing with a guillotine elbowsmash. Buf gets a good long suplex like any 80s American would. Like an American he has to be reminded of No follow downs but instead of getting into an argument with Gapp he looks up ruefully and Gapp gives a KO count for 6 until Tony is up. He does more trendy big American 80s moves like an over the knee backbreaker and a Superfly Splash and a Powerslam for 2. Tony fights back- with nothing very interesting, just bodychecks, clotheslines and Manchettes - until a flyer off the top turnbuckle catches Gapp. He is recovering but suddenly passes out as Buff goes out, gets a chair (a wooden café effort, not a steel one), wallops Tony and throws it out, then makes a sudden recovery to count le tombée. The footage cuts off but there must have been plenty of heat in that little theatre, mostly towards Gapp.

A fib, I fear, I have found a few more from Hanover that December on Signsquad's channel. There is just one bout left from Graz in July. Here we go: From the same summer, incidentally as the Giant Haystacks tag match I just posted to the British thread. This could be a more interesting matchup as Lasartesse was getting up in years - will Billy's power be to much? The colour signal is in better condition than the last match - both shot by the same camera operator. Talking of cameramen, I spy down by the corner post one of the professional crew who filmed the Otto Vs Don Leo main event. (As we start, the DJ is playing a song by a notorious convicted child molester containing the infamously rapey lyrics about being the man who put the Bang in Gang - something George Gray has never taken action over. You may wish to apply your mute button.). Runde 1 I assume, Rene gets some side chanceries but not a throw. Billy gets the better of a brawl and they lock up and go to the mat still in collar and elbow. Billy gets a top wristlock on the mat. It comes to life, ironically after the bel goes when they brawl on and referee Mick McMichael has to pull them apart. Runde 2. Rene gets a good cross buttock and press for 2. Mostly he has Billy down in a guard wristlock. Billy gets a couple of headscissors briefly. Runde 3 more of the same, a couple of good cross buttock countered by headscissors buys in amidst a lot of brawling and some KO counts Runde 4 Ditto. Rene takes down a corner pad and posts Billy into o the bare buckles. Runde 5 etc. in under 6 more of the same. Rene beats down, Billy figh5 back. It heads to ringside. Billy does a headbutt and comes back in better shape from another ring. Both men stomp on the ropes illegally. DJ plays the then relatively recent Denis Denis by Blondie. Mick and Billy have a long chat between rounds. Runde 7 Forearm Smash battle with the odd headbutt by Billy who at one point Runs Out Of Mat and gets hauled off a pin attempt by the foot by Mick. Billy goes for a suplex but Rene rolls him up in a side folding press for the one required fall. Oh well, he tried. More OJs thing than mine. Only a few fleeting bits of human chess. The audience liked it for being a hard hitting fight.

From summer 1980 Mighty John Quinn overcomes his aversion to Lineys to team with Big Daddy's other worst enemy. Apparently the Giant has been touring New Zealand and Canada (presumably Stampede) and won all of his 42 fights in the past 5 months. I'm surprised he only got 42 bookings in that period. MC John Harris, later on an MC in Welsh and referee on Reslo and later still a stand in for Orig Williams on English commentary on selected 1991 Eurosport repeats of New Catch Season 1 from 1988 on TF1, tells the audience chirpily to Say Hello to Johnny Wilson and improbably asks them to Welcome back Quinn. First Session. In the early stages Stax just lets the blue eyes bounce off him like in his later years. A couple of scissor chops from Roberts do make contact so in comes Quinn. Against Roberts this is a competitive match up. Pete counters a backdrop attempt with a leapfrog and comes back off the ropes with a flying bodypress for 2. Wilson tags in and gets a back hammerlock but Quinn uses sheer power to straighten his own arm then starts hitting with fists, looking to get an illegal punch in. He gets a shoulders blow, snapmare and big boot and cross buttock throw for 2. Wilson gets a kneelift and chop but Quinn floors him with forearms for 4, a full nelson and tag to Haystacks who clamps down on the back of Tarzan Johnny's neck. Suspecting that the real object is the Giant using his chest to suffocate, referee Max Ward calls for a break and Wilson is up at 5 straight into a bionic elbow for 7, headbutt for 5 and another elbowsmash. Quinn tags in again and tries again for a backdrop, this time successfully. He follows in with a stomp- a foul in the UK but legal in America giving Kent a chance to l3 ture against the Wild Ways of lawless All In American Wrestling. Like a boxing historian regaling horror stories of the old days of Bare Knuckle fights. Meanwhile Quinn gets a front chancery but wWilson breaks it open and gets a high whip, forcing a good solid bump. Roberts tags in and gets a back hammerlock but Quinn uses chest almost punches, a Headlock and bodychecks before being caught with a kneelift to the stomach. They brawl for a bit then Pete gets a rear snapmare and kneedrop. Wilson tags in and nearly ejects Quinn with a dropkick before Stax is back, beating on his man and finishing him with. Stinger splash and Big Splash for the opening fall. Second Session. Wilson is in a bad way but cannot tag until he makes physical contact with Stax again. This turns out to be a trap - Haystacks charges into the blue eye corner, Wilson moves away and thus Stax posts himself. Roberts is now free to tag in and go to work with karate chops on the Giant. He tags Quinn who brawls with Pete until Roberts nearly gets another flying tackle. MJQ overpowers and slams him but Roberts catches his man with a ground dropkick. However Quinn gets a very American finish- a chop and splash. almost a clothesline and cover - to get the second straight and the win . After the match, a suited Wayne Bridges comes in demanding his return match against the Canadian for the World championship. Made watchable by Stax being used minimally and being a lot more athletic back then while still being a great snarling villain. A lot of brawling but more than a few good heavyweight moves. Roberts especially was capable of more - and gave it his best shot even so.

For instance:

I can't find the exact clip right now but there was a shoot interview clip of Brutus Beefcake getting quite a lot of attention a few months ago where Brutus says he was all ready to win the iC title at Summerslam when Warrior went marching into Vince's office, kvetching about how he hadn't yet been given a title as promised. Unusually for him, Vince rolled over and gave Warrior Brutus's IC title reign (which kept him content until Linda Hogan got pregnant a second time and Warrior could be paternity leave cover World champion like Savage in 1988) There are other clips still up of Brutus saying similar but they lack the impact of that particular one.

Warrior had been earmarked as Hogan's eventual long term replacement in 1987 and was apparently still Hogan's heir apparent until 1991-1992 when a combination of the SS91 contract argument and the steroid scandal while resulted in a loss of size for Warrior and a drop in fashionablity for big physiques) saw him gradually replaced by Bret. These were done because a lot of fans sided with Savage coming out of the Main Event '89 so audiences needed to see Savage behaving a lot more like a heel., both by being cowardly against Warrior and by making pals with Rude at the end. Bottom line is down to Linda Hogan getting pregnant twice and Hulk being required to take Paternity Leave and go on Diaper Duty twice. The first time round, paternity cover wad Savage/ Both Times, WM Even Number ended with a face other than Hogan taking the blet home with Hogan's blessing. Jan or Feb of the next year the belt ended up in the hands of a heel (Savage turned, Warrior jobbed to Slaughter) setting up Heel Champion vs Hogan at WM Odd Number. Warrior had gone into Vince's office and demanded when this title push he was sold on was coming. Normally (Bam Bam, The Powers, Sid, Lex, Crush) Vince would just BS charm them out of his office, but in Warrior's case he really DID wast him as champ some day. so they fobbed him off with two IC reigns and a year as paternity cover World Champion (cut down to 9 months once Vince saw the WM6 PPV figures and started carrying on alarming about how face vs face with Pedro vs Bruno was a flop for his dad in '72 and swearing that for the hand-back to Hogan there would be an interim champion which was Sheik Tugboat Sgt Slaughter.) Heel Savage would usually deal with fellow heels who asked Liz for a kiss by kissing them himself! It's an old trick., if you are flirting with a girl but her boyfriend/husband is someone you like/respect or who (against expectation/prejudice) turns out to be a decent guy, seduce him also and have yourselves a threesome!

From a few years earlier, 1982 and GET THIS!!! - THE IRON SHEIK A BABYFACE!!! He's announced as Hussein Arab, his old ring name, he's an Allah-fearing righteous good guy and he's facing a cheating masked heel, possibly Bill Eadie as the Masked Superstar. (Not sure what the opponent is called "Al Halibut") Check it out.

If the former, it would have been kinescope films, not taped as such. If the latter it would have been a live screening At least in the mid 50s, it would, with both the above.

OJ asked where the footage was from and you replied France. By that, did you mean it was recycled ORTF footage or that TMC went to France to shoot it?

France. After the ORTF broadcasts began, were they just screening overseas sales kinescopes of ORTF's wrestling broadcasts or did they send their own crews out to film matches themselves? (like Reslo visiting the German tournaments). If the former, what was the situation before the ORTF bouts started screening? I assume it wasn't just a screening of the clips off pre-1956 news broadcasts (would they, if compiled together, result in a show of satisfactory length?).

Either French promoters were doing shows in Monte Carlo or else they were crossing into France to broadcast matches from nearby places like Cap D'Ailles. Either way, presumably live. We've already heard from Bob Plantin about how Téléluxembourg worked, just turning up to film odd house shows - possibly notifying promoters, apparently not wrestlers though.

These are the three CORKERS! And this is the lesser one:

They had eight matches on TV 1968-1983 (one tag and seven singles) and four of those are up on Youtube. Of those, three are classics, the fourth (the spring 1983 bout) is a bit rushed at only two rounds long with too much focus on the banter spots rather than the skilled work they could do together. They made up for it with the late '83 bout.

Télé Monte Carlo was a private sector broadcaster, ORTF a state run corporation. No surprises there. (Ditto ITV vs BBC). I expect that, like ITV under Lew Grade, TMC was heavily modelled on American commercial networks (from during the TV wrestling boom of the late 40s/early 50s.) Consider also how TF! suddenly caught the wrestling bug again about a year after its 1987 privatisation. And what good bedfellows Vince McMahon and Rupert Murdoch made for 3 decades.

This was 80. I have one more match left for 80 - see this coming weekend - then I am moving on to clear off the last we've got AFAIK of '81. I've got about 50 bouts in a private YT list from the 1980s to work from, drawn from @sergeiSem and Marco's Catch Sammlung channels.

It's been a while but at least - Old Catch En Couleur!!! Catch Á Six from 1977. Guy Mercier and Bruno Asquini we all know, top Bons of the 70s, here with fellow Bon Gerard Tayse to face three Méchants that pushed every Xenophobic button 8n a 70s French audience. A Spaniard, a Latin American and a Gypsy All dressed in stripey gear like wasps. While Les Bons have their own yellow jackets. As if that wasn't enough, Monsieur L'Arbitre is that former technical marvel turned Horrid Little Man. Michel Saulnier. And at ringside Roger Couderc looking totally the French Kent Walton. Premiére Manche: Tayse and Gonzales the Gypsy start off. Gonz looks like a beardy prog rocker crossed with Larry "UK Black Jack Mulligan" Coulter. He can do great cartwheels out of throws though like any lightweight. He spits angrily at Tayse and tags Trujillo who has a great long distance throw and Sunset flip into double leg Nelson for 2. Asquini and then Mercier end up in against Gonzalez. Guy resists a hiptoss and does one himself. Jones manages one at last buy Guy rolls through with one of his own, but Runs Out Of Mat. Viracocha the Peruvian tags in. Guy soon has him in an Indian Deathlock.It takes loads of Manchettes and the odd hairpull to break. Inca gets a kneedrop and tags Thomas who gets a leg but is cross scissored then kicked off. Bruno next, gets legdived, twice kicks his man off the twice spins him off. He does it to Gonzales too but the gypsy has a good cartwheel and comes right back with a rear snapmare. Gonzales rolls right through one legdive and ends up in fighting posture but facing the wrong way. "Il est souple, Gonzales" says Couderc, a compliment last bestowed on Le Samourai two years earlier. Inca Viracocha and Gerard take turns getting cross buttock throws. Les Méchants are reluctant to tag in but managed to in the end. Mercier forces a whip and bump on Inca. While Saulnier orders his two fellow Bons away. The heels get a pretty straightforward heat, cutting the ring in half and triple teaming Mercier. Asquini tags but after a couple of good stiff Manchettes is soon getting the same treatment. Mercier and Saulnie have one of their near fights as Bruno gets the treatment. Finally Bruno crawls through a heel's legs and tags Mercier who goes wild on Les Méchants until they smash Guy throat first on the top rope and carry on as before. Asquini does get a 1 count on Viracocha but his team mates break i5 up. He comes closer with a 2 on Gonzalez. Gonzales several times snapmares and dropkicks Tayse who comes back with Manchettes. For the most part, the triple teaming just carries on. Hot tags cut quickly short An efficient triple team machine in the heel corner. Eventually Gonzales gets Un Tombée on Bald Bruno after jumping off the ropes feet first. Deuxieme Manche: Gonzales gives Asquini a big long side Chancery throw into the Méchant corner and it's back to work. Once Mercier's tag is missed by Saulnier who drags him back to the Bon corner by the hair. Finally Guy gets a genuine hot tag and eliminates all three villains with Manchettes and Saus Chasées., before giving Saulnier a hefty Manchette of his own, flooring L'Arbitre. He gives both Gonzales and Saulnier repeated postings before cross buttock throwing and pressing Jo for the equaliser. Saulnier makes the count before passing out. He recovers enough to try to raise the good guys' hands but they refuse him They shove him away and shake hands. La Belle: Gonzales gets a full nelson on Mercier who breaks open one side and goes behind to reverse it. Mercier seems to make Gonzales pass out but when he drops to bodyscissors and threatens to do the "Ah Ouais" repeated atomic drop. Gonzales forces a standing break and tags Viracocha . The heels try their double teaming tactics but end up ejected from the ring. They try again but Mercier drags Trujillo outside and Manchettes him all around the ring. Saulnier is ENRAGED, climbing ring posts to order Les Bons back to their corner. Things resume with Guy and Gonzales. Viracocha comes in and full Nelsons Guy then gets a front facelock on him. He goes back to the full nelson as Gonzales gets s shot in. The faces all come in, slingshot heels into each other and play a very different kind of "Catch!" with Saulnier. There's briefly a comedy false finish involving Saulnier supposedly getting the pin on Trujillo which sends Saulnier mad trying to get the timekeeper's attention to resume the match. Eventually he gets is point to Couderc All six catcheurs end up doing the String Of Headlocks gag before separating into three Bons each headlock a méchant and they try to bulldog them together but it ends in Les Bons colliding. After a couple more attempts, Asquini gets the winning fall on Trujillo and again the good guys refuse to let Saulnier raise their hand. It was Catch Á Six but really it was a typical Catch Á Quatre of the period. Not too scientific but fast and full of action. And relations between Saulnier and the Mercier family just getting worse.

Haha I was going to write back and angrily insist that that WAS Kauroff - even the ring announcer says so. Apart from him and the two French "Russians" I posted, the only other one in wrestling in Europe at that time I can think of was the vastly lighter (and previously hairier on top) Larry "Black Jack Mulligan (No Relation to Bob Windham" Coulter. Also about how how Stone Cold and Goldberg have popularised that whole Nikita Koloff look among toxic macho male type like that scumbag Andrew Tate. Which is a reason why I don't like the Stone Cold character. But that's all vastly OT. Tried reviewing the Kauroff-Saturski bout but the bad picture quality and the brawly content defeated me. Maybe OJ would like it if not for the picture. Quite the other end of the spectrum from Wright Vs St Clair in 1986 Bremen. Amusing to see Kauroff cheekily offer a handshake at the end and Saturski refuse it after such dirty wrestling. He's a loveable rogue, old Klaus. No wonder he became a babyface in the 90s. And it was nice to hear the DJ play a favourite of mine. Funkytown by Lipps Inc, which had only come out four months earlier Okay. I'm going to have another go. I can't see it going blow by blow but IIRC I was half asleep last time. I'm planning to do a mop-up of 1980s clips Ivenot covered properly. Starting with this: Colour signal is awful. It improves later. Nice to see Mick McMichael of Doncaster in Doncaster in his kilt. Funkytown really put a an age on this clip. The arguments between Mick and Klaus go on and on and the crowd give Kauroff the bird. Th3 tape is old and stretched so The Bird starts to sound like some tape experiment by Brian Eno on the first two Roxy Music albums. Wolf goes to sit down on a corner post. Finally he pounds Kauroff (getting in one nice snapmare). The two do a bit of slug punch and kneelift. Die Runde Ein ends after not much action. Mick orders them apart. Cut to Runde 2, I assume. Wolf is pounding Klaus in the other corner. Two girls in nice sundresses run past the corner, Klaus hulks up (insofar as a German heel legend can be said to Hulk up) and legdives Saturski but he hammers him off with a heel to the head. Saturski gets an arm., makes a semi Japanese Stranglehold. Eventually Kauroff slugs his way out crudely. He takes down Saturski with a top wristlock but Wolf gets headscissors. Kauroff actually does a decent force jaws open and kip out escape. Wolfgang also does something good, a flying headscissors takedown (until you remember that a scissors was what he had one just before.). Cut to Wolf with a chinlock. Cut to Kauroff with an armlock. No idea how they exchanged/reversed/transitioned - if they did. Some slug and punch then the bell goes. Round 3? Wolf gets an Indian Deathlock and front facing chinlock. He switches to a Gotch toehold in the guard. He drops his weight on Kauroff but only gets 6. Kauroff high whips and bumps Wolf who catches him with a ground dropkick. Wolf gradually gets Klaus down from a collar and elbow which goes on for ages but he is soon up and it carries thon for ages again. Wold gets a scissor chop which Klaus eventually sells by going down on one knee. Camera points at fans for ages before we see Wolf with a side chancery but no throw. Kauroff gets up and gets a side chancery throw of his own and so stomps.. The colour has Improved somewhat. The bell goes and Mick has a job getting Klaus off. Runde 4 I guess Kauroff pounds Wolf in his corner and on the mat and appears to have the KO win but he narrowly survived and drops for another 6. They trade blows. Kauroff posts Wolf and chokes him on the mat. No yellow card but no count either. Kauroff gets a posting on Wolf for 8, slugs him in the corner, They slug and p7 ch on till the end of the round. Runde 5. Some ACTION! Wolf gets 3 dropkicks putting Klaus to ringside with the third. He is back at 8. Both get a 2 count pin attempt. Wolf gets another one with a snapmare. Apparently the time limit runs out. Wolf refusesKauroff's handshake. Slow like Rollerball Rocco Vs Sammy Lee was fast. The odd good hold or move, lots of slug and punch, even more stalling. And Kent Walton later claimed Wolf was European Welterweight Champion around this time? Saturski apparently was on World Of Sport November 1970, going down 1-0 to Judo Al Hayes. Which explains where Kent saw him.

Okay I've lookup the match, it's only a minute longer than what I originally planned (a 1980 Giant Haystacks tag) which I'll save for next week when I've got less time). and our friends the radio DJs praise it to the skies. Pity @ohtani's jacket doesn't feel the same way: Okay, let's make our own minds up. The crowd evidently have, singing "WHATSALOADOFRUBBISH" at Rocco. . Apparently, says Kent, Sammy has a considerable female following. Round 1: Lee mostly focuses on his spinning kick to start, cornering Rocco th3n letting him have a blast. Rocco gets a hammerlock but Lee straighten a the arm, rolls forward twice -th3n seconds time going over on his head like the young Dynamite Kid against Alan Dennisson in 1976. He finishes off with a high whip causing Rocco to bump heavily to the delight of all his haters. Sammy isn't laughing, he glares maliciously at Rocco who responds with a top wristlock. Sammy does the French style back flip to a better angl3 then a cross buttock throw for another hard Rocco bump. Rollerball gets a high finger into side chancery, transitioning to full nelson. Sammy butts out backwards and comes back off the ropes with a flying tackle and cross press but Rocco bench presses Lee out of the ring.Le3 flips in offer the top rope and straight to another spinning kick. Rocco gets a grovit and transitions to double rear arms, perhaps looking afo. Lee flips forward, catching Rocco in a reverse ground dropkick as he does so. Rocco kips up and cross buttock presses Lee who keeps the momentum going into a cross buttock throw of his own. Rocco gets a quick armlock into rear standing hammerlock, driving Lee down to the mat but just short of turning him into th3e guard for a pin. Eventualy Rocco, frustrated , kicks and pounds on the shoulder joint, getting himself some heat by choking Sammy on the top rope. He is warned off by referee Dave Reece . but the dirties have done their job, Sammy is selling his at, rubbing tenderly at the bicep. Rocco tries to get a posting to land on the shoulder/bicep but Sammy reverse leapfrogs him. Rocco, unlike other heels, can keep up with Sammy for speed, he is getting his kicks in. Rocco tries the same precision posting, this time Sammy rolls over the top. He is also ready for the kick this time, grabbing Rocco's ankle as it comes up and flooring him. The cdrowd are delighted to see Rocco on the mat rolling around but personally I would have preferred to see Lee keep hold and develop it into a leglock of some sort! (Advert break on the digital repeat.). Rocco gets even with a concealed punch, kick, snapmares and guillotine elbowsmash. Lee is up at 8 but whipped into a stomach but. Rocco gets anothe4 snapmare but this time misses the elbowsmash. Lee fights back with his trademark spinning kick. whip and shoulderblock. Rocco nervously gets a half interlock into standing full nelson. Lee tries to slip in an arm for a cross buttock throw but the bell goes. Round 2 Lee has an odd, contorted fighting stance with one hand bent a pointing forward. Rocco gets in with a front facing armbars, getting behind and kneelifting the joint, the same one as before. He switches to a concealed punch and kick (Reece is highly suspicious of the former.). He gets in a blow to the back of the neck then a Randy Savage axehandle, carefully timing it just as Lee gets his knee off the mat so it is -just barely - legal. Lee is down for 8, slapped down for 2 and reverse pikdriven. He climbs the ropes for a followup but Lee gets up and throws him down. Rocco leaves th3cring to recover and the crowd sing "nice one Sammy.". They lock up and Rocco forces Sammy in to an over the knee backbreaker held with a grovit, then a headbutt held with the hair (Reece is most unhappy with this.). Lee makes a feet first landing from a Rocco monkey climb and gets his spinning kick in fast as does the fallen Rocco with a chop to the thigh. He whips and boots Lee in the stomach but misses a guillotine elbowsmash off the top rope. Lee, up first, gets a whip and shoulderblock. This time Rocco is up with with a magnificent long suplex. It keeps his man down for eight. Rocco tries again and this tim3 gourdbusts Lee on the top rope, earning himself a public warning. Lee sells it for a long while and as he's allowed up for free without a count (as refs can permit when one man is felled by a foul) he is entitled to that. Rocco tries a third suplex but Lee lands feet first behind, atomic drops Rocco on one knee , posts him and inverted waistlock slams him on to o e knee. He switches to crosspress and gets the opening fall. Round 3. Angry, Rocco goes for chops - and more chops - all the way down to the mat. Reece gives him his Second And Final Public Warning. (If you've seen the Wrestle Me vlog, you'll already know where things are heading. If not - Spoilers and I don't mean Drew McDonald or Don Jardine.). Rocco gets a side chancery throw and, now knowing he has to be careful, delivers a series of guillotine elbowsmashes just fast enough that they can get passed by Reece as continuous motion. He does get away with a hairpull but Lee gets on the attack first before Reece can step in, Lee makes a feet first landing from a backdrop and is back in with a spinning kick. Rocco successfully conceals a punch and posts Lee but when Lee comes back off the top rope, Rocco tries to flyswat him with a punch and Reece catches him! DISQUALIFIED!!! THE crowd don't share OJ's view of disqualification finishes, they are DELIGHTED to see hated heel Rocco gets his comeuppance. Neither wrestler is happy, Rocco shouts threats, Lee mouths curses. I thought that was pretty decent myself. The fouls, like with Jones Vs Bond, were kept in their place - even with a DQ finish - and Rocco was actually able to keep up with Lee unlike Cooper, Mulligan, England and even Breaks who ended up as his humiliated stooges for slowness. And when Saya a returned home for his Tiger Mask push. he brough5va little souvenir with him. See the two different matchups side by side below in a Japanese YouTube channel video. Okay, for all you Haystacks fans, unless something really exciting gets posted to Rumble's YouTube channel, that 1980 tag match will be rescheduled for next weekend.

@William BolognaYet another Wrestle Me vlog piece on British Wrestling, this time focusing on a feud that spanned both Britain and Japan: Sammy Lee Vs Rollerball Rocco and their Puroresu alter egos Tiger Mask mk1 Vs Black Tiger mk1. 5:28 note the comments about the audience being like a tennis audience, well educated in appreciation of skillful play. Credit Kent Walton for educating them this. Most of my own style of reading and analysing a match comes from Kent too. It's how we Brit TV babies were brought up.

Agreed that was a silly overblown statement by this Scott Keith bloke but I would suggest the lasting moral of the Savage/Elizabeth story was that actually SHE was the strong one in the relationship all along and that only by swallowing his pride and not just admitting but embracing that fact could Savage find salvation and inner peace.