ohtani's jacket Posted October 13, 2013 Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 Pat O'Connor was born in Raetihi, a small town in the central North Island of New Zealand which I doubt any of you have heard of. Since I was born a ways up the road, I've taken it as my moral duty to chronicle the exploits of New Zealand's greatest pro-wrestler this side of Tony Garea, Rip Morgan and the Kiwi guy in the Sheepherders. Pat O'Connor vs. Dick Murdoch (12/15/75) O'Connor looked every bit the maestro here when he actually wrestled. Unfortunately, they spent forever in a headlock spot that was neither sold well from the top nor the bottom. Bloody awful thing it was. Every now and then you'd get glimpses of O'Connor's technical skill, but it wasn't until the stretch run that there was a fun combo of comedy and holds. And just when I was getting the taste of all that time killing shit out of my mouth it ended. Would rather had half the length, no headlocks and a finish, but O'Connor ruled in the maestro bits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetlag Posted October 13, 2013 Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 I always loved that match no matter the long hold spots. There's also a really fun OConnor vs. Lorenzo Parente match on youtube that has some good wrestling and almost lucha-ish flying headscissors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted October 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 Pat O'Connor vs. Bob Orton Sr. This was rad. Orton was this big, ornery dude who really looked to over power O'Connor with his strength. Our boy Pat would have loved to have stayed in a headlock all day long, but he took exception to Orton's roughhousing and every now and again tempers would flare. When they did get done some serious holds, as O'Connor matches seem to do in the latter half of his bouts, the wrestling was the type of matwork you crave for. The finish was an interesting idea, but O'Connor kind of fluffed the final pin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puropotsy Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 One of my favorite matches of all-time. A tremendous babyface against an awesome heel. I really wish there was more footage of O'Connor as NWA Champion but this showcases him as one of the better babyfaces and workers I have seen. Buddy Rogers vs Pat O'Connor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted October 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 I'm saving that for the main course. Pat O'Connor vs. Ric Flair (St. Louis) Ted Dibiase was on commentary for this studio match and you don't get any prizes for guessing what happens. I don't know if this is available in full, but the clip I watched showed about two or three minutes of a ten minute studio match that looked to be the usual awesome Flair studio match. O'Connor was even more of a veteran here than in the Murdoch match and they were basically putting over his toughness at this point as not being a guy who quits, but he got a few licks in before the angle and again looked like a lucha or British maestro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puropotsy Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 Pat O'Connor vs Lorenzo Parente from St. Louis 1962 Part 1: Part 2: This is some great technical wrestling. After the match O'Connor does a demonstration of holds with Joe Garagiola that is hilarious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Casebolt Posted October 14, 2013 Report Share Posted October 14, 2013 I wish there was more prime O'Connor available. Everything I've seen I've loved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted October 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 That Parente match is a lot of fun. The commentator sounds like he's DJ'ing at a club, which I guess was what he was doing essentially. You could tell it was the 50s with all the talk of Cape Canaveral, astronauts and test patterns from Mars, not to mention the commercialism of reading out an advert for Bavarian beer. The post-match was fun too with O'Connor's Americanised Kiwi accent. Pat O'Connor vs Killer Kowalski (Montreal 7/22/54) Hard to tell for sure because it was only reel footage, but this looked like a great match. One of the things I've enjoyed about O'Connor so far is that aside from being a great technical worker he's also a fairly decent brawler. Plus he looks like he could've stepped straight off the farm and played rugby for New Zealand alongside Collin Meads, Don Clarke and all the other great players of the 50s. Kowalski looks good here too and does an excellent job working from the top. The ref bump in the third fall is one of the nastiest looking ref bumps I've seen. The dude gets steamrolled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puropotsy Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 NWA World Champion Pat O'Connor vs Jack Wilson Chicago circa 1960 This is the only title defense by O'Connor online that I know of. Great time capsule moment as an example of prime O'Connor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlynwoodx Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 Clicked on the link for the match against Jack Wilson just to check out the video quality and ended up sucked into the atmosphere of the era. First fall had an interesting finish and the second fall based around Wilson's attempts to reach into his tights while keeping O'Connor in a headlock was very good. Glad I watched this, will have to watch more from this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted October 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 I wish wrestlers still wore capes like in that Wilson match. Saw a clip of old man O'Connor challenging Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA title and still looking pretty good, though Bockwinkel gave him too much of the finishing stretch before retaining his championship for mine. Also saw brief clips of O'Connor against Shohei Baba, which looked like a treasure trove if it were in full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W2BTD Posted October 27, 2013 Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 One of my favorite matches of all-time. A tremendous babyface against an awesome heel. I really wish there was more footage of O'Connor as NWA Champion but this showcases him as one of the better babyfaces and workers I have seen. Buddy Rogers vs Pat O'Connor I watched this for the first time yesterday, because I never thought to look for it for whatever reason. Great match. I know this is a POC thread, but it lead me into a Rogers wormhole, and he's a lot better than people over the years had led me to believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted October 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2013 O'Connor vs. Rikidozan looked like a cool bout. Tough day at the office for our boy, but like a good Kiwi lad he didn't take any shit from Rikidozan and his mob connections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted October 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2013 O'Connor vs. Mighty Inoue is another fun maestro match with a really cool finishing sequence where Inoue takes exception to an O'Connor punch and stiffs him a bit before doing an awesome senton. I could imagine everyone from Tenryu to Dick Togo appreciating that stretch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted November 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2013 Pat O'Connor/Ken Mantell vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Akihisa Takachiho Fairly decent match and a good opportunity to see O'Connor and Jumbo have some quality ring-time together. Takachiho is the Great Kabuki. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted November 10, 2013 Report Share Posted November 10, 2013 Pat O'Connor vs Lorenzo Parente from St. Louis 1962 Part 1: Part 2: This is some great technical wrestling. After the match O'Connor does a demonstration of holds with Joe Garagiola that is hilarious. We just discussed this match for a future episode of The Titans Of Wrestling. O'Connor on the mat was a real treat. Everything he did was fluid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted September 14, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2014 Pat O'Connor vs. Legs Langevin was a lot of fun. O'Connor was ridiculously smooth on the mat. Man I would love to see him wrestle some of the Euro heavyweights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Casebolt Posted September 20, 2014 Report Share Posted September 20, 2014 Pat O'Connor vs Bob Orton Sr, in three parts... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA--kPCfKu0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiOYVO66oKw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiOYVO66oKw The worst part about this match is that between the black and white footage and overall video quality, it's sometimes hard to tell the two apart. (The second worst is Russ Davis. I am anti-Davis, which sucks considering how much I love this era.) We think of O'Connor as primarily a technical wrestler, which he is, but I thought he was also effective here as a reluctant brawler. Orton's also very good here. I love the little touches like breaking the head scissors to use the knee, and then going back to the hold. I further appreciate the referee getting in to make one- and two-counts when the wrestlers are on the mat in holds and shoulders hit the mat. Helps give the whole thing more of a sense of legitimacy alongside the struggling for holds and counterwrestling I really enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted August 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2015 Buddy Rogers vs. Pat O'Connor (6/30/61) Finally got around to watching this nearly two years after I started the thread. This had a heck of a lot more action than I was expecting. The first fall in particular was frenetic by the standards I was expecting. I loved the psychology of Rogers taking the first fall completely against the run of play. I would have liked to have seen him press his advantage a bit more during the second fall, but I'm not that familiar with him as a worker and don't know how much offence he had. O'Connor completely dominated the bout offensively .I'm not sure if that's because Rogers was going over, or because Rogers was the bumping, stooging type with little in the way of serious offence, but it as notable that he took the title on another mistake from O'Connor. I'm guessing that was Rogers' style and that dominant babyface champions were common back then. There was too much dissonance between the psychology in the first fall and the rest of the bout for me to view it as an all-time classic, and I would have liked to have seen a proper heat segment on O'Connor instead of Rogers backpedaling the entire match, but there was never a dull moment and it was a thoroughly entertaining bout in terms of the pace they set and the action that was delivered. Great promo by Rogers afterward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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