[1979-05-06-IWE Japan] Mile Zrno vs Ashura Hara

[Jetlag]

What I wrote a few weeks ago in OJ's thread on Zrno:

 

 

- 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

 

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.

 

Well, I was wrong. This was not a 2 minute clip. It was 22 minutes, unedited, pro-shot, 2/3 falls clean title match with 3 clean finishes. What a time to be alive and get to see wrestling matches like this.

 

The first amazing thing is getting to see Mile in 1979. God damn what a talent, and in what shape he was. I can't think of 5 guys from british TVs in top form like him. The yugoslavic flag with the big red star is hanging over the ring next to the japanese one, making this feel like the most surreal prelude to the russians in RINGS a decade later. Sure, Zrno is western european trained and Charley Verhulst is his second, but this feels like the home talent taking on a yugoslavian champion and not just any european technician. The wrestling here feels closer to amateur style (albeit very fast paced) than the stuff you'd see in britain, france or german. Maybe all 70s middle european wrestling was like this, but we'll never find out. Needless to say I loved the bridging work, rolling around and resistance to basic holds here. It wasn't the long brainy headlocks of 70s japanese wrestling or the fancy escapes that the brits did, but I loved it. Then you also get to see Ashura Hara, a guy I loved for being a rugged tough dude in WAR slugfests, as junior ace. He wore this absurd silver sparkling jacket and headband, and he was beloved by the crowdn a way I can't recall seeing with many other japanese wrestlers from the 70s. I have never seen anyone talk about his junior work, but this Ashura Hara feels worth discovering. His technique and form wasn't on the level of Zrno, but he was game to have a contest and totally held up his end. The air was bristling with excitement for this match and Zrno was selling this match like it was a sports contest the whole world was looking at. The crowd was willing Ashura forward to take the title off of Zrno no matter what and both athletes succeeded in giving them their moneys worth. The finish feels like a gigantic moment and the fans react accordingly

 

My only complaint with the match is that it's too short. If there's ever a match that should've gone 60 it's this one. Just so many fascinating aspects to it. It's just the combination of having a Mile Zrno match (rare), a junior Ashura Hara match (rare), an IWE junior's match (bloody rare), an IWE match that is all clean with no bullshit (rare), and then it's something that was buried in complete obscurity for so long. Regardless of whether you care about Mile, Hara or IWE, this a nice fast paced 70s junior match worked in a way that nobody really does anymore in front of a hot crowd that feels fresh and interesting all the way to the end.

[GOTNW]

Yeah, an absolutely great technical bout with a molten crowd to boot. And wokred in a wonderful style unfortunately lost to time. The match did feel like a caricature of a fight between two amateur wrestlers and I mean that in the nicest way possible. They always stayed close to one another and busted out a bunch of stuff you just don't see, not just today but in watching 70s stuff, you have them busting out these insane Twisting Snapmares and a million Armdrag variations, it's great stuff. I loved how focused they worked, always staying close to their opponent and how relentless they were when they'd attempt something. Another thing I loved in this type of match (and that's alaso featured in the UWF matches which are my favourite wrestling ever) is how you have to follow through on your throws and if you mess up just a little bit or aren't quick enough you get reversed and fail. Seeing them shoot for single legs and do weird leg submissions isn't that uncommon for the time but they'd also add neat stuff like leg trips and a sacrifice throw in those battles. The commentator mentioned Yoshiaki Fujiwara while talking about Zrno, and it looks like they had a bunch of matches in Europe. Zrno also used a Fujiwara Armbar during a control segment and did something resembling Thesz's Elbow trick, except he'd drive his Forearm into Hara's shoulder. I also remember seeing Zrno's no selling get mentioned and there were two moments here that caught my eye, the first was a one count after a Backdrop Suplex. That was a little weird, especially for 1979, but Hara put him away with an awesome combo in his very next attack. The other was after a Hara Dropkick, where he sold for a couple of seconds and then went back onto offence, and my thoughts in the moment and after replaying it were that that was fitting with how much the Dropkick connected. ****1/4

[jiraffejustin]

What I love about this match is how it feels like a sportsmanlike competition. One of the things that has turned me off of pro wrestling is how it doesn't usually feel like a competition anymore. The grappling doesn't mean anything, and the strikes are loose and probably mean even less. It's all about highspots, 2.9 count kickouts, and FIGHTING SPIRIT no selling. This match is the antithesis of that style of wrestling. The strikes aren't very frequent, but they all hit hard. Zrno throws some pretty European uppercuts and some dropkicks; Hara throws this dropkick where his feet aren't together and one foot looks like it connects with Zrno's forehead. Then they'd go back to grappling. I like the story of those guys thinking it's safer to roll on the mat, because it's less dangerous than getting popped in the mouth, because that shit hurts. I love the way these guys work pretty simple holds without making them obvious restholds. That drives me nuts, so when it's done right I'll always appreciate it. The finish is pretty cool too with Hara catching Zrno in the air and planting him with a nice Samoan drop type move.

[superkix]

While I’ve seen some of Hara’s later stuff as a heavyweight, this was the first time I'd ever seen/heard of Mile Zrno. Visually, it was a cool match but there wasn’t much substance. The matwork was interesting for the most part but not very engaging. The submissions never really felt dangerous, even when Zrno was lying back with the cross armbreaker fully applied and Hara isn’t making much of an effort to escape or counter. The lackluster selling on Zrno’s part didn’t help flesh this thing out but again, a neat-looking match. Hara’s offense looked great, his seamless side suplex into the pin, his snazzy armdrag, his double arm suplex to win the second fall and the finish to the match, with Hara catching Mile across his shoulders before delivering that exaggerated Samoan drop. I liked Mile’s legwork during the second fall, with his leaping leg drops, elbow drops, and somersault rolls. He had a beautiful leg trap takedown but there was no payoff. A swanky exhibition but little else beyond that.