[1990-06-30-CWA] Bull Power vs Otto Wanz

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Childs]

I have always enjoyed this match. Give me two fat behemoths trading bombs and I'm likely to be pretty happy. I remembered this as a toe-to-toe war, which it was at times. But it was structured more as Vader beating the piss out of Wanz for a few rounds and Wanz staging a gutsy rally in front of the home folks. The twist came near the end, when Vader hurt his knee attempting to avalanche Wanz in the corner. I don't know if he legit hurt it and they decided to improvise off of that or if it was a planned spot and he sold the hell out of it. The fact that I wasn't sure was a testament to the performance. Anyway, the drama of a hobbled Vader still throwing knockout shots while Wanz went after his leg was pretty cool. If you like Vader and haven't seen this match, track it down, because it's not quite like anything else he ever did.

[Loss]

Vader really is one of the greatest wrestlers who ever lived. This is lots of fun. Just a total slugfest between two superheavyweights, one of whom is a local hero. Wanz can't really bump, so all the build to big moves is for Vader to play pinball. The highlights are all the struggle over the vertical suplex, with the move finally getting a big pop, and Wanz doing the bodyslam on Vader. They stiff each other with clotheslines and great looking punches and I just really loved everything about this. The Vader knee injury, as Childs mentioned, is either a freak accident that they worked around, or a great storyline touch. I tend to think it was storyline since Wanz grabbed a hold, which would make this some really incredible selling from Vader. Real or not, it worked for me.

[PeteF3]

One lone trumpeter plays the national anthems. Fantastic. Wanz deserves some major props for going through with this, as a promoter and made man in his own country he didn't REALLY need to book himself to get the shit knocked out of him by Vader, but that's exactly what happens. Wanz for his part returns the favor nicely and really comes off as a tough bastard rather than a fat glorified comedy act. Crowd is electric and there's a big struggle that adds to basic moves like the suplex and bodyslam. I tend to think the knee injury was planned but either way it makes for a great "THE RUSSIAN IS CUT!" moment and may be the best selling of Vader's career. Orig Williams finally throws in the towel once Vader is no longer able to stand, a neat twist of a finish that I really didn't expect. I want to see Big Daddy work a match at anywhere close to this level before I consider him for the WON HOF.

[soup23]

Not a high tech match by any means but a great beefy slugfest. Vader does really great bumping around Wanz and the way they built to the power moves was really well done. Real good match overall.

[shoe]

Man this was just great. Vader just beats the hell out of Wanz. In the later rounds Wanz makes a comeback. Vader injures his knee and Vader sells it big time like he blew his quad out. Man this was so great in it's simplicity in telling the story, but chalked full of drama. I also loved that the announcer was yelling at Vader for breaking the rules.

[Kevin Ridge]

Wanz is the size of Vader and he must have a custom made belt to be able to wear it around his waist like that. Trumpet playing before the match starts. Found this to be more interesting than last match. Two big guys just hitting each other. Vader was really laying them in. Out of the corner! Announcer outside kept yelling this at Vader when he would do his corner punches. Wanz drops a elbow on Vader’s knee which was already hurting him. Vader’s corner throws in the towel. Wanz sure hung in there during the earlier beating he was taking.

[garretta]

This was a hell of a slugfest, to say the least, and one which those who only remember Wanz as the big joker who got the AWA World title so Verne could take a free German vacation wouldn't expect.

 

The knockdowns were treated as near-falls here and sold really dramatically, which took a few minutes for me to get used to, but once I did, it really added to the drama even though I don't think a count got past five.

 

The outside ring announcer almost acted as a second referee with his constant warnings to Vader about getting out of the corner and hitting Wanz after the bell. I could just imagine Finkel doing that to guys like Savage and DiBiase at MSG: "Mr. DiBiase, break clean. I SAID BREAK CLEAN!"

 

Great selling by both men here, as Wanz looks like he's been beaten half to death early on (complete with bloody mouth) and Vader seems like he can barely hobble later. Neither man probably had had much experience at selling considering their size and gimmicks, so it was nice to see them do it so well. (If Vader was legitimately hurt, as some suspect he was, this might be the performance of his career.)

 

I know that there are more European matches coming down the road, and I can't wait to see them!

[drew wardlaw]

The ring announcer screaming BULL POWER LET HIM UP was real freaky. This was awesome and Vader really brought it as the young guy looking to take down the home guy. Big Otto Wanz wouldn't be denied though and fought back. There's a lot to like here and just two monsters pounding each other. Makes up for the weird vibe of this show.

[dawho5]

What a great heavyweight slugfest! I thought Vader sold that knee really well towards the end. If that wasn't an injury, he did a HELL of a job selling.