Mile Zrno

[ohtani's jacket]

Because the Silver Hurricane deserves his own thread. Quite possibly one of the most underrated talents of all-time.

 

Mile Zrno vs. Dave Morgan (Hannover 10/27/85)

 

Morgan was a British dynamo who preferred to work abroad than traverse the U.K halls. This was clipped (in true German handheld fashion) and mostly a Morgan showcase, but you could tell it was a crowd-pleaser. Early on, they worked some comedy sequences with referee Mick McMichael but later they got serious and were pissed at one another. Zrno was mainly typecast here as the good looking babyface like some kind of glorified Tom Zenk, but the German tournaments are nothing if not nightly house shows and they gave the paying customers an enjoyable mid card whirl.

 

Mile Zrno vs. Rambo (Heumarkt, Vienna 1988)

 

Rambo is not the awesome UWA luchador who had a decades long blood feud with Villano III, but the significantly less awesome Canadian wrestler who made a name for himself in Europe and was later part of the Truth Commission. This is a good showcase for Zrno's ability to make his opponent look good but not a great showcase for his full range of talents.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs. Jimmy Ocean (2/29/92)

 

This was very cool. It was a German indie match wrestled inside a tiny ring in a Berlin hotel. In the previous matches, Zrno did a lot of dropkicks and head scissors and other flashy babyface moves but here he showed his full array of talent. Ocean is a guy I've only known as a two-bit comedy worker, but he too showed me a lot. Some of the short range stuff they were doing was awesome. Short arm lariats and standing dropkicks that were some of the most "in your face" stuff I've seen in ages, probably due to the size of the ring. Zrno brought every aspect of his game including a fair bit of his mat skill. This was the Zrno I was talking about when I said he was underrated. As for Ocean, either the guy could really work or Zrno was making him look good. Either way, I'd go as far as calling this my favourite European match from the 90s it was that cool.

[Jetlag]

OJ, you always do the best projects.

 

Some facts (maybe myths) about Zrno:

 

- he was a former Yugoslavian amateur wrestling champion

- he made his debut in 1973

- he was trained by Rene Lasartesse, Charly Verhulst (Johnny Londos) and Michael Ujevic

- he was a rival of Ashura Hara when Hara was the junior ace of IWE in 1979, he also fought in the NJPW junior scene

- he was said to be the last classical middle european pro wrestler

- he is still fit, not drinking or smoking, and operating a metal company together with his brother in germany

 

EDIT: I just did a search and apparently, there is footage of Mile Zrno vs. Ashura Hara on

IWE 1974 - 1981 Vol. 4

Never noticed that. Should be worth getting, even if it's only a 2 minute clip.

 

Some more matches from Berlin - these are from the very end of his career, and also the very end of traditional german wrestling:

 

https://youtu.be/Iwe_nzUT2HU

 

https://youtu.be/bklgH_viDVM

 

https://youtu.be/5_ybaRLrodk

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno & Abdullah Tamba vs. Tiger Mask & Kantaro Hoshino (New Japan, 3/4/83)

 

Zrno vs. Hoshino = rad.

 

Zrno was junior-rific here and it was stellar. Zrno could have a long and prosperous career as a junior in Japan if the Japanese brass had been paying attention. It's too bad his singles match with Tiger Mask was clipped to a handful of Tiger Mask's offensive moves. New Japan didn't know what they bloody had. New holy grail -- Zrno's series of matches with Fujiwara on the same tour that Inoki wrestled Bock. Tamba was alright in this, too. Imagine Abdullah the Butcher crossed with a Head Hunter and you have Tamba. Of course it was 1983 and that meant Tiger Mask kicked everyone's ass, but it's Zrno in Japan true believers.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs. Bobby "Power" Stahlhauer (IWW, Hannover 1/17/98)

 

The German summer tournaments may have been held under a tent in a camping ground while the wrestlers lived out of caravans but at least they had some prestige to them. This German indie venue looks like something straight out of an early BattlARTS show. It's fair to say that Zrno didn't always face the most skilled of opponents during his illustrious career, but here he was in 1998 still trying to make a young guy look like. Tremendous commitment to his craft and as fine a veteran performance as I can remember seeing from a Euro guy in 90s. This a few years before "maestro wrestling" became a thing. Makes me wonder if I should take 00s Euro maestro work seriously. The answer to that is that I probably should.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs. Steve Wright (Vienna, 1987)

 

I've always had an irrational dislike for Steve Wright mostly due to the fact that I see him as a supremely talented guy who rarely ever brings it. If there were some sort of shtick over skill meter, Wright would set off alarm bells. The best match I've seen him as was as "Bull Blitzer", wrestling Marty Jones for the World Mid Heavyweight title in 1986. I saw this match against Zrno many years ago and for some reason it didn't leave much of an impression. This time I thought it was excellent. It was clipped, of course. which interrupted the flow at times, but the bulk of the action was Wright and Zrno trading the sort of holds the ol' noodle expects them to work. Competitive, skilled, mat-based; Wright lived up to his billing here. And Zrno was, well, Zrno. More matches like this, please.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs Franz Schumann (Berlin 1998)

 

This was a seriously great wrestling match. I had no idea there was still European wrestling this good in 1998. Zrno looked out of this world here and I've seen Schumann have a wrestling match quite like this. Unfortunately, the match was heavily clipped. Every time they did a cool spot there would be a slow-mo closeup of it that served as a jump cut. The edit still retained the shape of the bout but it was largely a series of highlights. But what highlights and what wrestling. To be honest, this is the last place I would have gone looking for a good Zrno match if I'd been skimming through match lists, so here's proof once more than you can teach an old dog new tricks over, and over, again.

[Indikator]

That was probably on a VDB show, where they disregard fake punches in favor of forearm shots and uppercuts and the like. It's pretty much the reason I kinda soured on the style that I could deride as "the Southern kick-punch travesty" . Come to think of it, which VDB/CCC shows are even in circulation? I know I converted some stuff ages ago so I never looked what others did. Might be a good time to upload stuff onto Jetlags Youtube account *hint*

[Jetlag]

That was probably on a VDB show, where they disregard fake punches in favor of forearm shots and uppercuts and the like. It's pretty much the reason I kinda soured on the style that I could deride as "the Southern kick-punch travesty" . Come to think of it, which VDB/CCC shows are even in circulation? I know I converted some stuff ages ago so I never looked what others did. Might be a good time to upload stuff onto Jetlags Youtube account *hint*

 

i was actually going to ask about this on another board And yes, these 3 matches from 1998 I upped above were from the VDB shows. I think Peter William was the announcer and maybe promoter too. They were released on VHS (thus the clipping) and I bought them yeeeears ago as DVDs from a tape trader. I could only find Vol. 3, 4, 5 and 8, so there are atleast 4 missing. Would be worth seeking out, as these shows had some interesting guys, like late Marty Jones, Pat Roach, Cannonball Grizzly working hold for hold matches etc.

[Indikator]

I think you got them from my brother then. Nothing else was on Ebay so I couldn't get the other volumes. I have been virtually ignoring Ebay for years now since they scrapped the wildcard search so I would miss new stuff on there. Ebay did get me a professionally produced WWWF TV bootleg tape from ca. 1980 so I can't complain (I believe a video rental company was so audacious and scrupulous) . Although I can only complain that my brother has lost sight of that DVD convert...

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs. Steve Wright (Berlin 1/31/98)

 

Great match! If there was a better wrestling match in 1998 it only took place in BattlARTS or RINGS. I've often heard that Wright would guzzle an opponent and wouldn't give him anything unless he was able to literally pry it from him. He controlled this bout from start to finish but he let Zrno shine so he must have had a positive opinion of our fearless hero. Zrno, for his part, looked great. If this is tail end Zrno then few wrestlers have had a better finishing run to their career. Great stuff. Great upload.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs. Ashura Hara (5/6/79)

 

Mile looks so young here. Hara is wearing a ridiculous get-up that makes him look like a Joshi pro-wrestler with a moustache. This is a beautiful wrestling match. Absolutely beautiful. They work this hybrid style that takes parts of the European style and blends them with strong style elements. It's a juniors match that's wrestled almost entirely on the mat and has no real "flying" to speak of, and it's just perfect. Very similar to the Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go series but with more groundwork. It's a toss-up as to which I like better, but please, somebody tell me Fujnami vs. Zrno is a match that happened. Zrno was sublime in this. I'm not somebody who goes around making a big deal about arm work, but Zrno made arm work seem fresh again with the angles he was able to work. The hits keep coming with these uploads. If he keeps this up there's no way he's not slipping into my top 5 Euro guys of all-time, and who knew Hara could wrestle this well? He's some immobile in his WAR days that you almost owe it to yourself to watch him when he could move. His haircut makes him look like Jackie Sato, and he wears this weird feather headset at the end made out of aluminium of something. Hell, he even has a cheer group ala Jackie. But when he gets down to grappling, he uses his strength well and has some nice counters to Zrno's holds. A few neat takedowns too and a bit of rugby technique to his shoulder blocks. Just a great match. I'm really excited to have seen it and it's the kind of match that I know will be rewarding on a re-watch as well. Jetlag rules and Zrno rules.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs. Danny Boy Collins (11/7/98)

 

Another beautiful match. I'm so used to seeing Danny Boy Collins as a zit-faced teenager that it was odd seeing him here as a pudgy, blokey type. Not only was their grappling beautiful, but they went the Marty Jones route of having animosity slowly creep into the bout. Zrno started the niggle, but it was Collins who escalated it with a vicious looking kneedrop to Zrno's face. It was easily the best thing that Danny Collins has ever done. Zrno stayed he course, however, and was able to power through for the win. I'm not sure if this was Collins' best match or not, but it was his best match where he wasn't being carried by a vet like Jim Breaks or Mike Bennett. And certainly his best performance on the mat. For Zrno, it was ungodly that he was wrestling this well twenty years after the Hara bout. A national living treasure.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs. Salvatore Bellomo (Austria 1990)

 

The streak of beautiful matches is over, but what did you expect from Salvatore Bellomo? (Yes, that Salvatore Bellomo.) The match is mostly built around Bellomo's shtick. Mile sells Bellomo's shit like a champ and tries his damnedest to get folks into it but Bellomo can't even muster a halfway decent piece of action. Skippable, as they say.

[Tim Cooke]

Mile Zrno vs. Ashura Hara (5/6/79)

 

Mile looks so young here. Hara is wearing a ridiculous get-up that makes him look like a Joshi pro-wrestler with a moustache. This is a beautiful wrestling match. Absolutely beautiful. They work this hybrid style that takes parts of the European style and blends them with strong style elements. It's a juniors match that's wrestled almost entirely on the mat and has no real "flying" to speak of, and it's just perfect. Very similar to the Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go series but with more groundwork. It's a toss-up as to which I like better, but please, somebody tell me Fujnami vs. Zrno is a match that happened. Zrno was sublime in this. I'm not somebody who goes around making a big deal about arm work, but Zrno made arm work seem fresh again with the angles he was able to work. The hits keep coming with these uploads. If he keeps this up there's no way he's not slipping into my top 5 Euro guys of all-time, and who knew Hara could wrestle this well? He's some immobile in his WAR days that you almost owe it to yourself to watch him when he could move. His haircut makes him look like Jackie Sato, and he wears this weird feather headset at the end made out of aluminium of something. Hell, he even has a cheer group ala Jackie. But when he gets down to grappling, he uses his strength well and has some nice counters to Zrno's holds. A few neat takedowns too and a bit of rugby technique to his shoulder blocks. Just a great match. I'm really excited to have seen it and it's the kind of match that I know will be rewarding on a re-watch as well. Jetlag rules and Zrno rules.

 

Really liked this. And then they execute that finish in 1979 and it's like holy fuck, that may actually be a legit MOTYC.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs. Mad Bull Buster (Vienna, 8/10/93)

 

Here's something a bit different -- Zrno in a chain match. The match was all right but could have used some blood. Rip Rogers weighs in with some comments: "I was there in Germany at this time -buster was one of the pit bills from the USA - he died of a drug overdose a few years later. Mille didn't like to sell and always wanted to get his shit in / Fit Finlay would eat him up !!!" Some Mile Zrno criticism, how about that? What do you make of that, Jetlag? A match like this doesn't really play to Zrno's strengths, but could he have sold more?

[Jetlag]

I didn't watch that Bull Buster match so can't comment on how it could have been better. To be honest, I think I've seen too little of Zrno, because the stuff I have is essentially cherry picked. I guess the no-selling/get your shit in may have been more apparent to someone like Rip who saw Mile wrestling ever day. I think what Rip sees as no-selling/getting your shirt in could be attributed to the general exhibition-y nature those technician vs. technician matches in germany and austria had. From what I've seen Mile's selling is good, as he will sell a test of strength etc. properly, but nothing grand.

 

I know Franz Schuhmann once mentioned that Dave Taylor and Mile had problems in a match one time leading to Dave giving Mile a black eye backstage. But he didn't go into detail what that was about. A little funny because Dave Taylor wasn't big on selling either. Schuhmann didn't mention bad things about Mile otherwise

[ohtani's jacket]

Marty Jones & Dave FInlay vs. Mile Zrno & Franz Schumann (Vienna, 8/3/90)

 

I had high hopes for this and it didn't disappoint. Fun, houseshow-esque title match that may be low on grappling skill but makes up for it with attitude. Jones plays a heel here -- a role he was born to play. Lots of fun heel work. Schumann blades, but it's hard to see in the black and white copy I saw. The crowd can smell a title change and are right behind Zrno and Schumann. They scrape out a win and the fans at ringside are extremely happy. Worth watching if you want to see a heel Marty Jones.

[Britwresdvds]

Mile Zrno vs. Steve Wright (Berlin 1/31/98)

 

 

I watched this one tonight. I really like some of the stuff they both do, but to me it felt more like an exhibition from two guys at the end of their careers than a fully competitive match. Might just be me.

 

This might also just be me, but the camerawork really annoyed me at times. Sometimes they were zoomed in too close and it almost felt like you were missing stuff because of that.

[Parties]

Loved many things in that Hara match, one being that the sunset flip is a major highspot shown again in slo-mo Instant Replay. I prefer the knockdown-dragout approach of Fujinami-Go, but this is its own thing: methodical, technical excellence, with such a cool, rare pace to the finish.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs. Colonal Brody (Eurosport, circa 1990)

 

This was MUCH better than I expected given that the EWF Eurosport matches mostly suck. and Brody is dead weight at the best of times, but Zrno is quickly entering that rare air of a Steve Grey or a Marty Jones where just about every match they work has a chance of being good. This started off on the mat where Zrno made Brody look better (or more competent) than I can remember anyone else achieving, grew stiffer as Brody realized he wasn't going to beat Zrno on the mat, then showcased Zrno's athleticism down the stretch. Pretty much the perfect three-pronged match for this sort of TV taping.

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs Klaus Kauroff (Hannover 11/9/91)

This was fun. Kauroff was a short, bald-headed, barrel-chested powder keg who could really go. For a while, he was able to keep Zrno grounded and made Mile look pretty meek and ineffective, but then Zrno beat the shit out of him and he wasn't able to continue anymore. Mile has that mean streak in him, doesn't he?

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs. Robbie Brookside (Hannover 10/9/99)

I had high hopes for this and it didn't disappoint. Brookside is basically the evolution of all those skinny kids who debut on WoS in the late 80s. I have a soft spot for him because of that documentary where they followed him around on the UK indy scene and also because he was a flag bearer for British wrestling after the demise of WoS. The early part of this was upstart youth vs. veteran wrestler. Then Brookside started to play the aggressor and got himself on the wrong side of referee Jeff Kaye. I thought Brookside did a good job of the heel here. You can easily imagine a guy like Robbie Brookside being in some blowjob babyface tag team that tries to be The Rockers but comes across more like The Dynamic Dudes, but the dude knew how to performer. Never judge a guy by his hair. Finally, Mile woke up and kicked the shit out of Brookside like the kick ass beast that he was. In the midst of all that there was some nice wrestling. Mile looked like one of the better technicians in the world in 1999. Another keeper from the great man. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs. Jimmy Ocean (Hannover 1992)

Hey, these two had another match together. The final couple of rounds aired on Reslo. I would have liked to have seen the whole thing since I dig the whole Rip Rogers vibe that Ocean has. Couldn't really get the full picture on this, but glad to see Ocean doing his thing.

Mile Zrno vs. Franz Schumann (Hannover 9/9/91)

I never did make up my mind about Schumann and whether he's any good. This had some nice wrestling but it kept being broken up by ref comedy spots. It was real house show fodder. You could imagine the campervanners and holiday-makers getting a kick out of it, but not the guy looking for Zrno classics. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Mile Zrno vs. Fit Finlay (Wien 1991)
Mile Zrno vs. Fit Finlay (Hannover 1993)

This guys had good chemistry together. They did all of their regular holds against each other but made them look extra punishing. I'm not a fan of Finlay from this era, as I've said many times before, but he was more athletic against Zrno. Now you might be thinking, "It's Fit Finlay! Who gives a fuck if he's athletic?" And you might have a point there. But if you've seen how spry he was when first hit the scene, you'll appreciate him hitting the ropes with a bit more verve. If you're the type who never grows tired of him clobbering folks, you might not appreciate this matches as much, but I was happy to see him forgo the clobbering for some proper wrestling. Of course, this matches never build to a big finish, so they're inconsequential in that regard, but I thought these were better than your run-of-the-mill German handhelds.

Mile Zrno vs. Steve Wright (Wien 1991)

This was house show Zrno vs. Wright. Still good, but house show Zrno vs. Wright. Filled with stupid ref jokes and casual exchanges. A hard match to recommend in light of the Finlay bouts.