German catch

[David Mantell]

13 hours ago, David Mantell said:

 

13 hours ago, David Mantell said:

 

Clean wrestling German style. Part of a January 1998 video release, about the best quality VdB production ever, reported lying marketed as a nostalgia "Wrestling How We Liked It" show.  I thought it got reviewed on the British thread but can't find it. I remember remarking on it highly resembling Joint Promotions TV footage 1985-1986 (I meant that as a compliment, OJ)

 They work the holds longer than in actual British wrestling and only Wright really uses kip ups and rollouts. Zrno somersaults backwards French style out of a loose hammerlock to convert it to a figure four top wristlock on the mat. Wright counters W ith a headscissors.Zrno flips out and after a round break they both go into folding press attempts. This leads into a test of strength which leads to bridges, trying to break them and more folding presses.

A female fan keeps shouting for Mile. At, one point male Northern English voice tells her to "shut up, woman." Wright is okay with it and leads the cheers for Zrno at one point. Apart from a brief exchange of forearms in the final seconds it stays scientific until the end. A nil nil draw.

Afterwards there is some sort of parade with all the wrestlers in the ring and the MC making a speech in German. They all leave the ring with medals round their necks.

Both these two wrestled for the CWA circa 1990, it's a pity they didn't have a match together then.

Steve Wright having a clean scientific/technical bout in Germany 

And here are Zrno and Wright doing much the same thing in Graz, Austria in 1980:

Wright is already accomplished at the DynaniteKid/Danny Collins playbook of escapes, he does a neat Danny -style scoot between the legs although not with Collins' blinding speed. He even cheekily uses referee Mick McMichael's shoulder to flip over a la Vic Faulkner/Owen Hart. He even gets a surfboard on Zrno. Plenty of monkey climbs, bridges and folding presses with bridge, the last of which gets him the winning fall.

Wright was busy revolutionising German Wrestling with his British style although other North Sea crossers like Caswell Martin (see 1980 bout with Achim Chall posted several pages for a real clash of the Generations) were also spreading the new Gospel.

Picture quality is sadly poor with intermittent colour, most likely either multi generation copying or a worn down copy (or both). Ring looks to be IBV/CWA type, big with sponsors adverts on. Between rounds playlist includes Dusty Springfield's I Only Want To Be With You (only 16 years old at the time)

 

[David Mantell]

On 5/16/2020 at 1:04 PM, Tim Evans said:

Also the Dick Murdoch/Wanz match isn't too bad

 

That looks like the real Texas Outlaw/Captain Redneck to me rather than Lincolnshire Poachers Ron Clarke as I was expecting. Am I right?

Between Rounds Disco includes Bananarama's cover version of Venus by Shocking Blue.

[ohtani's jacket]

None of these matches contradict what I said about Wright. I'm not sure whether you can claim that Wright "revolutionized" German wrestling without more footage from the 60s and 70s. 

The work in that Zrno match is nice, but it's Zrno. One of the greats. Can't expect that from a Koshinaka bout. 

[David Mantell]

4 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

None of these matches contradict what I said about Wright. I'm not sure whether you can claim that Wright "revolutionized" German wrestling without more footage from the 60s and 70s. 

We do have the big names of the pre-1980 era in their early eighties dotages and can see how Axel Dieter, Achim Chall, Rolo Brasil etc worked. Zrno was the crossover point, the last of the old style German wrestlers who worked holds over long periods and focused on the nuances of the struggle over a hold rather than the clever and agile ways to get out of a hold. By the late 90s all the hip young kids like Kovacs, Herman. Eckstein and Alex Wright were working like Danny Collins or Robbie Brookside. By 1999, Kovacs was having a classic British style lighter weight title match with a visiting Jason Cross that would truly have warmed the cockles of Kent Walton's heart.

Wright, unlike Caswell Martin. Johnny Saint or even his own brother Bernie, stayed around in Germany long term and full time and became very much part of the furniture.  As a top drawing card blue eye and as a trainer, he became a big influence on the overall direction of the technical end of German Wrestling. The kids who followed his approach mirrored the wave of youngsters in Britain in the 80s (the Birmingham Steve Logan. Danny Collins, Ritchie Brooks, Kid McCoy etc) who worked that exact same style.

Imagine if. say, Prince Zefy or Marc Mercier had transplanted themselves to Germany and by the 90s all the young kids were doing flying headscissor takedowns, backflips out of an overhead standing wristlock and reverse snapmares as counter to standing hammerlock, instead of cartwheeling out of wristlocks  Then German wrestling would have gone French instead of going British.

[ohtani's jacket]

I still think there isn't enough footage available to make any definitive conclusions about the influence that Wright had on German wrestling. If he had an immediate impact, you'd expect to see it in the CWA footage. It seems like a stretch to give him too much credit for whatever happened post-CWA. That said, I can't remember whether non-heavyweights were involved in the German tournaments prior to 1980. 

[David Mantell]

18 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

That said, I can't remember whether non-heavyweights were involved in the German tournaments prior to 1980. 

That could be the reason why the old guard were all slow moving guys who focused on a protracted struggle for holds if they were all at least heavyweights.  Although most of the earlier footage we have from newsreels focuses on heavyweights (like the young Hansi Rooks) because they are inherently more lurid and that is what the cycnical newsreel makers liked to zoom in on.

P.S. Was watching those Roland Bock clips from the 70s, he seemed to work in that same style as Dieter and Chall.

[David Mantell]

Four Brits, one German and one American.  Wright. Taylor and StClair, as we know, have previous with Diddier Gapp and decide to start winding him up. Wright starts dancing with him during inspection of fingernails, StClair actually gooses him!  Gapp gets it worse from the heels however who trip him up and later on give him a painful looking crotch shot.

Fast past but stylistically unremarkable five falls Triple Tag. Wright has the two most memorable moments - he gets the middle fall on Colonel Brody while Brody is distracted by a ringside fight and he also does a version of Vic Faulkner's "Cease!" distraction trick.

 

[David Mantell]

July 1980. Same month, same Graz tournament as Otto vs Don Leo professionally filmed, same grotty handheld as Wright vs Zrno (same corner-on angle).   Fresh off the back of losing a Big Daddy Tag before several thousand at Wembley Arena, Mister Yasu Fuji the Hater of Brits, Good Buddy Of Might John Quinn, pulls into Graz, Austria.  If Kent Walton in 1985 is to be believed, the man facing him, Wolfgang Saturski, son of Walter, held the European Welterweight title (last confirmed sighting, being handed back to Max Crabtree by Dynamite Kid along with the British title before he caught the plane to Calgary) some time around now before losing it to Jorg Chenok in 1981 who, after four other defences, turned up to defend against new young British Welterweight Champion Danny Collins (next confirmed sighting of the title) and duly lost the belt.  I've posted this match before as an example of Fuji in action in all three "stronghold" territories but now I'm going to give it a proper watch - generational murk, dilapidated colour signal and all.

So far, so tough. It seems to be patched together snippets of the two taking turns to put headscissors and bodyscissors on each other. Saturski starts with a nice flying headscissor and Fuji does a neat figure four scissor but we don't see how they got in and out. Fuji was from SoCal (he held Gene LeBell's LA version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship in the early 70s) so he worked American style so don't expect much defensive work off him.  He relies on HEAT. Weeks earlier he was the number three villain in Britain after Stax and Quinn. Here he is in Austria which was on the same side as Japan in WW2. He goes and gets him some heat by beating down on Saturski and parading in victory, arms aloft.  

We next see young Wolf with a sleeper on Fuji, releasing he downward pressure so as to bang on his skull with his hand. Then he has a Japanese Stranglehold on the Japanese (to be fair, it was Kent Walton that named the hold that.)  He put a knee in but doesn't go for a surfboard. Just let's his man drop to the mat. Then cut to them brawling. Kind of them to put this bit in for OJ. In the first transition of holds in the footage, Fuji has an armbar on but Wolf snaps a headscissors on him.   Impressively, Fuji turns it upright to the rollout position then rolls him over into the unhook position - then rolls again and again until he reaches the ropes. In Britain this would have got him massive heat but Les Autres Chiens aren't too bothered. So Fuji gets his heeling boots on (yes he is wearing boots after having taped feet in Britain) and chokes out Wolf on the bottom rope. Fuji pounds Wolf, Wolf headrams Fuji. Two postings. Wolf gets a top wristlock on Fuji, no selling punch from Fuji. Fuji bends Wolfs arm over the ropes and bites it, Wolf pitches Fuji to ringside. More Fuji chopping and choking Wolf o the bottom rope, stomping him on the mat, chopping him, applying nerve holds. Wolf tries to snapmares Fuji on the top rope. Fuji fetches something from his corner, hits Wolf with it and gets a formal telling off.

Fuji has a Camel Clutch on Saturski who gets out from behind as the bell rings and Fuji rings his bell with between rounds. He catches WS again between rounds, uses the ropes to help a Boston crab and goes for a slow standing ankle lock. Wolf kicks  Fuji in the face but then rolls over to get up allowing Fuji to retake the hold.  This happens again so Fuji sits down in the hold. Wolf bashes Fuji with the heel of his boot and puts a single leg Boston on, bashing at Fuji's kneecap, gives up and switched to thumping him around the ring.  Wolfgang then goes really mad, he has Fuji down in a leglock with the other leg trapped in the ropes. The bell goes but Saturski ignores it. The referee tries to pull him off but he just bundles in into the package too.  Finally Wolfgang gets up as does the referee who reprimands him.

Fuji's leg is still stuck in the ropes and Saturski steps on another rope to tighten it. Still with the new round not started, he attacks Fuji in the corner, folding up his legs.  The two star afresh with only 4:13 of clip left.  They take turns to pound and grovit each other in the corner.  The cameraman is distracted by an excited woman in the crowd. When he cuts back we see Wolf karate kick then dropkicks Fuji out of the ring. Fuji is back at 8 but Saturski ties him up in the ropes like they do on Reslo, Old Catch in fact anywhere except ITV.  He holds a finger aloft "look what I'm going to do" then pulls Fuji's goatee good and hard. It mostly stays on so Wolf puts a knee in

 The referee unties Fuji . Wolfgang grabs him in a neck breaker submission. Fuji flails around and rolls out so Wolf drops hi on his knee. He's up at six so Wolf hurls him into the corner and starts headbutting. There are 78 seconds of clip left. Fuji turns it round in the corner for some chops. Wolf rolls him along the ropes.again points and again yanks on the beard. Comes off the opposite ropes for a flying forearm. The bell goes with Fuji in the ropes.  That was the last round. Time limit draw.  Saturski sits on the top rope and despondently argues with the referee. We see the ref walk across the ring.   End of clip.

A rather messy brawl, the edits didn't help. Fuji tried to get dirty as a heel but Wolfgang acting equally dirty didn't making him look like the avenging hero, just a hypocrite. By the end of this, I was rooting for Yasu Fuji although to be fair, six year old me thought he was cool too.

[ohtani's jacket]

Johnny Smith vs. Chris Benoit (CWA 8/1/91)

This is a decent match. Smith works as a de facto heel, which is odd since there's nothing really heelish about him. He's announced as "The Dynamite Kid." Not sure if they were trying to fob him off as the real thing. Benoit puts in a solid shift as the babyface. 

 

[David Mantell]

On 11/17/2024 at 8:08 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

Johnny Smith vs. Chris Benoit (CWA 8/1/91)

This is a decent match. Smith works as a de facto heel, which is odd since there's nothing really heelish about him. He's announced as "The Dynamite Kid." Not sure if they were trying to fob him off as the real thing. Benoit puts in a solid shift as the babyface. 

 

I watched this too last night. I think they call him Dynamite Smith (I recall reading about this somewhere). I think he worked heel and Benoit worked face in order to stay consistent with Stampede.  Smith does do some fouling including hair pulling.

Smith's original ring name was John Savage which was actually quite a good name for a heel, but at that stage (1983) he was a nice kid TBW.  He was Ted Betley's nephew John Hindley. Betley retired from his Wigan gym to his family in the Isle of Man (this was worked into Joint Promotions storyline with Alan Dennison taking over Young David mentorship and eventually himself feuding with Jim Breaks for the British Welterweight Championship.) But Hindley wanted to be a wrestler too so Betley made him his very  last student.

[David Mantell]

Saw this advertised on my Smart TV YouTube app last night, as I settled down to a TV pizza dinner, and thought it sounded like trouble.

If you're a regular on this thread, you'll know that Colonel Brody as featured on ITV was a very watered down version of the "South African Military Man" character - in mid 80s Germany where the local handheld camcorders were not regulated by the IBA, he was an altogether nastier piece of work, an openly racist Boer (probably the inspiration for John Wisonski's "Colonel DeBeers" in America rather than the other way round) dropping N bombs left right and centre and using verbage that would have shamed even neo Nazi skinhead band Skrewdriver and this led to a fairly vicious feud with Billy Samson.

So there was a certain amount of trepidation as to how he would respond to late 80s/early 90s  French Catch's number two Bon, a man who, like the number one Bon, Flesh Gordon, has gone on to be a legend and family friendly hero in his country.

Fortunately Brody keeps his trap shut and the two have a most scientific bout- Zefy interestingly using British style rolls on the mat rather than traditional French counters like the flying headscissor, reverse snapmare or backflip in top wristlock. Brody does get some hair pulling in and is warned by Mick McMichael (Brody Vs McMichael incidentally sounds like the most generic ITV matchup circa 1985 one could imagine but here they both are in somewhat different contexts) but otherwise keeps it clean and Zefy fires back with some dropkicks.  Brody gets the win with his version of the Kamikaze Crash (diving fireman's carry) albeit for a pin, not a knockout, and gets himself back to the locker room without a single word spoken about the Prince's ethnicity.

Not the messy, politically incorrect heat-fest I was expecting but a tidy little Heavyweights Who Can Move bout instead. Pleasant surprise.

[David Mantell]

Another surprise sporting contest.  Not because Kauroff had metamorphosed into a technical genius but because one of the most notorious villains of das Deutscher Catchen is all of a sudden Mr Nice Guy.  Same old bald head, beard, gut and canary yellow cape with sticks, but Kauroff is suddenly a babyface for no apparent reason, coming out to the tune of Dire Staits' "Walk Of Life" getting cheers from the crowd, shaking Mile Zrno's hand ...

No, he's not a scientific wrestler per se, rather more a firm-but fair power wrestler similar to Bearman John Elijah, relying on strength moves and a hefty forearm smash. But it's a good sporting contest with Kauroff even pleading for clemency for Zrno when Zrno uses referee Mick McMichael's shoulder fit support for a backflip (Mick's heart melts over it) that when Klaus suffers a leg injury and has to retire from the contest, Zrno refuses the TKO and it ends up with one of those No Contests we all know @ohtani's jacket just loves!  Being a nice guy might not make Klaus Kauroff a Winner but at least it saves him from being a Loser.

 

[David Mantell]

Short nine mins of footage of Quinn, either still holding his black title or having just lost it to red/white/blue belt holder Wayne Bridges whom he defeated on Cup Final Day 5 years earlier then lost and regained it to >Tony StClair on All Star shows in 1982/1984. Now up against Wild Angus.  Jeff Kaye is referee. Quinn is dominating with beatdowns and power moves and throws.  Later Casey has Quinn down, beating ,backdropoingand getting a 2 count.  Quinn is back in charge after a cut until Casey blasts him with two uppercuts. Kaye eventually gives Quinn a yellow card.  Casey brawls back and gets his own yellow card. Cut to Quinn chucking out Casey and getting privately warned. Casey comes in with a sunset flip for a 2 count. They brawl for a bit then Casey gets a backslide for another 2 count.  Quinn continues to dominate Casey until there is a round break.and continues afterwards. Quinn pounds a downed Casey in the corner to earn himself a Second And Final Yellow Card. Casey slams and missile dropkicks Quinn, forearms him, flying tackles him for a two count but Quinn comes off the ropes with a Hulk Hogan big boot then a guillotine elbowdrop for the winning pin.

A good fight, not a good wrestling match, as Kent Walton would say.  But with a few little bits of solidity in there, the odd good move. Good enough for the drunks at the festival.

 

 

[David Mantell]

Again from Hanover 1985 and again featuring Klaus Kauroff.  In against Colonel Brody in a place where he feels free to drop N bombs in his promos. (I still have yet to confirm if he ever did that back home in Britain when the ITV cameras were safely out the way but somehow I think most local councils would have none of it just the same as the IBA.) However here in the non Anglophone land of Germany he is free to push the envelope for cheap heat. Kan Klaus Kauroff outheel him or will this be another video where fans cheer the bi bald beardy man?

Kauroff starts as a gentleman accepting a handshake from Brody only to be suckered in for a kick to the gut and a flying tackle for a 2 count. Kauroff retaliates by dumping Brody crotch first on the top rope earning a private warning from referee Mick McMichael.  Kauroff defeats Brody in a test of strength, forcing his hands to the floor and stomping on them. He cross buttocks Brody then old Brody enemy from England McMichael also stomps Brody's hand. Kauroff gives Brody a Big Daddy bodycheck and fans are chanting his name. Well I think that answers my question. 

Brody gets a full nelson on but Kauroff neatly powers his way out. Brody goes to the ropes to soak up the heat but Kauroff follows in and gets a full nelson of his own.  He breaks it and neatly gets a Kauroff leg  but Kauroff boots him into the ropes with the other leg and flips himas he rebounds.  Cut to later in he match, Brody has a standing legspread on Kauroff.  Kauroff flips him off again, this time sideways over the ropes. (Talking of Big Daddy, he did the same to John Elijah in their late 1977 yes-Daddy-CAN-wrestle clean match on World Of Sport.).  Cut to Brody having heat on Kauroff, stomping and ramming him into the corner with McMichael blowing his whistle  Kauroff reverses a posting, forearms Brody, rams him twice into the corner and gives him a low hiptoss to start a knockout count.  Brody gets up, boots Kauroff in the stomach and comes off the ropes but Kauroff is ready and flings him to ringside.  He comes back and tries for a flying tackle but Kauroff catches him, slams him and cross presses him for the one required pin. Exhausted, he rolls off and flops to the mat before getting up and having McMichael raise his hands.

Your basic German Heavyweight tournament fodder. Nice to see KK being cheered again.

 

[David Mantell]

From the French Catch thread:

Quote

An international dream match for Christmas Afternoon

French Catch Vs British Wrestling? ...

... Hold my festive drink.  On the third day of Xmas  I give you:

BRITISH WRESTLING AND PURORESU VS FRENCH CATCH AND GERMAN CATCH, FOUR DIFFERENT WRESTLING CULTURES ALL IN ONE TAG MATCH!!!

 

Zefy and Zrno (the Z team?). make a low key entry, Finlay, post Paula, five months after losing the British Heavyweight Championship to Dave Taylor after seeing off the challenge of young Boston Blackie, is in bully mode and Isuka is in Japanese street thug heel mode as Japanese usually are in Germany despite them having been fellow Axis members.  They came out to Ole Ole Ole, a song mostly associated in British Wrestling with faux luchador El Ligero, (sadly last heard of being named a d shamed by Speaking Out.), Finlay climbs the corner posts, shout abuse and soaks up heat. Fans have a chant going for Mile.  Zefy gets a good cheer but he's not as insanely over on the East of the Rhine as back home.

Zrno and Izuka start. Isuka does some dirty work but he knows his British technical stuff too, rolling out of armbars, applying a standing legspread. He does not spin out of an attempted toupee by Zrno. Mike takes him over in a cross buttock with quite a thump!  He misses an elbow but tags in Zefy. Isuka is quick to get the Prince into his corner for a double team which carries on even in the middle of the ring.  Zefy sells for Isuka then goes for a bridge then monkey climb then running dropkick. Zrno gets some good moves on Izuka including a flying headscissors. He gets trapped in the heel corner but uppercuts his way out against Finlay. He takes Finlay down with a French-style flying headscissor counter toa wristlock, switching to standing work when he sees Isuka trying to get in. Finlay regains control with an illegal closed fist punch to the throat. He throws Zrno into his corner, tags Izuka who front chanceries Zrno and takes him backwards - too far back. Into the blue eyes corner.  Zefy tags in, gets a headlock and bodycheck off the ropes. Another bodycheck, this time by Izuka who then illegally stomps Zefy. 

TI butterflies PZ's arms for a double team. MZ tries to intervene but referee MMcM in his kilt interjects giving DF the change to complete the double team.  Izuka and Zefy brawl and the crowd call - for Mile, not Zefy who is in the ring.  Zefy gets plenty FIPped in the corner and on the mat by Isuka, getting a few near KO counts.  He comes up with a good reversed cross buttock throw which gets a pop and tries for a dropkick but Izuka ducks- not so that Zefy sails past but so that he lands back to back on Izuka the slides off sideways - possibly a blown spot, it looks quite odd!  Izuka gets a fine dropkick of his own, almost a flying karate leg-chop.  He then grabs Zefy for a blockbuster suplex, bridges and gets the first fall!!!

The villains have the lead but they blow it as only heels can. Firstly only a couple of minutes into the match, Zefy gets his revenge on Izuka with a flying splash off the top corner for the equalising fall.  An enraged Finlay runs in the ring, dumps Zefy crotch first on the top rope and earn a summary red card from McMichael to go from 1-0 to the heels to 2-1 to blue eyes in a matter of seconds. The crowd are delighted and cheer - for Mile even though Zefy did all the hard work.   Finlay and Isuka protest long an hard at ringside but the ref and the good guys will have none of it except daring them to come back for more and they retreat hurling insults.  

It's hard to shoe four different styles into one match and we had Zefy 's agility, Isuka's flying kicking style, Finlay's rulebreaking and occasional British technical work an Zrno's old school German mat style all in one tag match. I don't know if everyone got a fair shake to show their skills but it was fast paced enough and the crowd certainly did NOT feel short-changed by the DQ, they were delighted to see the villains especially Finlay, sent packing in disgrace!  How to do DQ finishes well.

 

 

[David Mantell]

On 10/20/2024 at 10:11 PM, David Mantell said:

Unknown date tournament match in a tent., crowd is deceptively large, wait until the camera pulls away from the ring. Helmut is a local heel, I thought I'd already posted one of his bouts but can't find it. Glaser is babyface and "American" and certainly wrestles like it.  Not very remarkable heel Vs blue-eye match with the heel screwing a victory.

Same two guys, another contest, another tent, this one more translucent, possibly glass roofed. Heelish Helmut has a few fans on his side but more people boo him and cheer Glaser when he comes back with legspreads, dropping his weight on Helmut's knee etc. Glaser goes too far and gets a first Yellow Card for attacking Helmut while he is tied in the ropes.  Helmut takes over with big power moves.  Glaser dominates the second half.  Mostly slow powery stuff. One great move from Glaser where he gets a standing hammerlock, scoots through Helmut's legs to the front, gets up and nips behind to get a chinlocks on .Nice but a simpler switch could have been done from arm to head.  For some reason Glaser gets a Second And Final Yellow Card. He then attacks Helmut on the ropes, shoves over the protesting referee and gets a red card, leaving Helmut the heel winner by DQ.

Stupid babyface.  Still it gets plenty of crowd heat. Can't say I blame the handful of Helmutmaniacs, I wouldn't cheer for a berk like  Glaser. Slow power based match, very WWF in that regard.

 

[David Mantell]

John Harris aka Judd Harris Brit who spent most of his time in Germany. Came home to Britain and did some TV matches, only two are memorable - a Daddy tag in 1979 where "Gunboat" Harris teamed with King Kong Kirk to lose to Big Daddy and Bobby Ryan. (also apparently earlier that year he lost a Daddy triple tag and went down 2-1 to Bert Royal) and a 1988 World Heavyweight Championship eliminator at the same Croydon All Star TV taping as the Kendo/Rocco falling out angle where ex champ Wayne Bridges beat Harris, billed as "Baron Von Schulz", to earn a second return match against Kendo Nagasaki and then win the title back that Match on a DQ and take it home to his Bridges pub until his 2019 death. This is March 1983 and Harris faces Afro-German Rolo Brasil in a clash of rule ending Vs technique.

Ring looks like the one from Roland Bock Vs Donjoni El Coral from the mid 70s. Harris tries to swamp Brasil with power but Rolo gets a Whip to force Harris into a bump landing.  Harris gets a leg and a standing legspread but Rolo toupees him off.  Harris gets a top wristlock and twice drags Rolo down illegally by his hair but Rolo gets up and the second time takes down Harris with a flying headscissors.  Harris gets up into the kneeling position, grabs Rolo's legs, flexes them to release his head then turns him over into a single leg Boston but Rolo gets the crossed headscissor then a second toupee as the bell goes. Nice first round, pleasantly technical expect for the two hair fouls.

DJ plays something Euro Discoey. Round 2 and Rolo snapmares Harris who sells it a fair bit on the mat. Harris gets the knuckle lock but Brasil leans right back and gives him the double ankles smash. Harris finally gets his heat with uppercuts, illegal punches concealed from the referee and throttling Rolo on the ropes and the mat and more dragging him up by he hair. He gets some sort of warning, not sure if it's  a Public one (no sign of cards) but the crowd cheers it. Bell goes but he continues to stomp Rolo on the mat until the ref hauls him off.  More Harris's kind of round.  DJ plays something organny and proggy.

Round 3 and for a moment Rololooks to be getting pugilistic.  Harris takes him down with more fouls and a legal kneelift, tries to choke him on the mat but therefore pulls him off. He headlocks Brasil on the rope rope but Brasil tries for a snapmares from behind and is getting closer with each attempt until Harris lets off, getting one more concealed punch in for good measure.  Harris tries again on another side of the ring and this time Rolo manages the snapmares on about the fourth heave, sending Harris topling out to ringside to a BIG pop. Everyone likes to see a big nasty man fall over and down.  Harris barely makes the count. He doubles up Rolo with another illegal jab, whips him into the ropes and catches him with a sort of sideways backdrop. Brasil takes one heck of a babyface bump. Rolo also beats the KO count and comes back with a leapfrog and dropkick.  He snapmares the bigger man to the mat and keeps hold so he can bash him with a downward forearm as "part of the same move" then dropkicks Harris out of the ring. As Harris gets in, Rolo twangs the top rope so Harris catapults in with a bump.  He overpowers Harris in a test of strength, stamps on his hands an dropkicks him down. But Harris catches him with a rear elbow as he gets up, knocks him down again and again with a series of uppercuts, elbowsmashes and an inner forearm (that's Kent Waltonese for a clothesline, you know) before getting a Big Splash for the one fall required for Heel Victory.

Crowd are furious and give it The Bird as loudly and shrilly as possible. Harris taps his brain like Buddy Rogers and mimics the elbow that turned the tide the final time then leaves.  Rolo gets up and shrugs and the crowd cheer his efforts.

Nice. Enough technical stuff to make me happy. A strong heel Vs babayface/blue eye narrative to keep You Lot happy. A bout we can all enjoy together.  

 

 

[David Mantell]

I've posted a fair old but to the British and French threads this weekend so here is some German Catch 

No idea who Kip A. B. was or where he comes from. He does a gay gimmick and he comes on at referee Didier Gapp who doesn't appreciate it. Think Adrian Adonis if he hadn't put on all that weight. Although the other Adrian, Street's song Imagine What I Could Do To You is in-between rounds (South Wales accent on the talky bits, btw).  There's not a lot to write about Kip's actual wrestling, Steve Wright is on good form but w,hat can be do with this guy? Answer, run through a bunch of his best tricks in rapid succession then pin him.

Like Jim Breaks Vs Max Hunter from Screensport this is what it would have been like if we'd had enhancement talent and squash matches this side of The Pond

[David Mantell]

Okay, let's go back in time to the 1980 Hanover Cup, back in days of old when knights were bold and Klaus Kauroff was a villain.

Here he faces Achim Chall. It starts with both wrestlers and the referee each flat backed into a corner. Chall thrice takes down Kauroff in an armlock, holding him down long periods.  The forth time KK fouls his way out with a foul (closed fist punch).  They finger interlock,  Chall switches to a single arm, steps over it and mule kicks Kauroff.  Kauroff gets a full nelson, Chall tries to counter with a rear snapmares but can't get the leverage so he breaks the hold. rear dropkicks his man and THEN snapmares him. Kauroff takes Chall down with pressure points. Chall tries another rear snapmares but can't get the power and flops back down.  Chall yanks free but Kauroff reapplies. He gets no warning but does get told off for kicking Chall in the back and choking him on the mat. The bell goes but KK gets in an extra stomp.  

Round 2 : Chall argues with the ref, Klaus sneaks up from behind and reapplies the pressure points.  He backs Chall into the ropes and delivers another illegal punch, this one clearly sighted by the referee who again only gives him a private warning.  KK posts Chall and stomps him on the mat and gets the pressure points on. He takes Chall down and repeatedly bangs his head in the mat.  He punches Chall in the base of the spine.  Chall reaches behind for KK'arms, slings him into the ropes and catches him with a dropkick and knee lift.  He uppercuts, snapmares him, twists a foot on him, throws him. KK rolls up nicely but astonishingly Chall gets him with a huaracanrana!!!  He floors KK with another forearm and let's him take the count to get up.  Chall headlocks Kauroff then boots him in the head. Kneelift. Forearm .... and the bell goes.

Round 3: Chall gets a kneelift, forearm. Snapmares and twisted foot.  He flying tackles Kauroff for a pin but gets a 2 count. He tries again but Kauroff steps aside and Chall crash lands.  Kauroff gets in a bunch of kicks that earn him a DQ.  Chall is the winner.

Fairly slow bout. The huaracanrana was a nice surprise and there were a few other bursts of energy but otherwise it was the sort of slow lumbering brute match that makes the beer drinking revellers happy.

[David Mantell]

On 8/13/2024 at 11:41 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

CWA Bremen´95: ECF - Collins vs. Scorpio

It's an age since I've watched any of this stuff and one of the main YouTube channels has gone kaput, but let's give this a whirl. I'm assuming that Dirty Dan Collins is Danny Boy Collins doing a heel gimmick. David can correct me if I'm wrong. He's filled out a lot since the last time I watched a Collins match and has grown his hair out. There's not a lot of mat wrestling here because Collins is working heel and Scorpio isn't that great at it outside of fundamental US holds. Instead, it's one of those international junior style matches that were so common in the 90s as these guys toured the world. Collins appears to have modelled his game on Fit Finlay albeit with more athleticism. There are enough highspots in this to entertain most of the Bremen fans, but it's fairly mid tempo. 

(I gave a fuller answer regarding OJ's question re Dirty Dan Collins back on page 3 just below where Ohtani's Jacket originally posted the above review)

Now this would have been a Transatlantic dream match for 18/19 year old me in 1992/1993. The ultimate mid 80s TBW Whizzkid "Young Master Of His Craft" (© Kent Walton 1986) versus the aerialist ex-Lucha Libre protege of WCW World Champion Ron Simmons and WCW World Tag Team Champion with Marcus Bagwell during his white meat years.

Both had lost their golden boy sheen by ths point. Scorpio had been fired from WCW after testing positive for cannabis while Collins had turned heel in Britain and was no longer Danny Boy but Dirty Dan instead. Scorpio enters to his WCW music, copyright be damned. Danny no longer a Boy in black double leotard. He gets announced as Dirty Dan and he and the crowd react accordingly. He's recently vacated the World Middleweight title (17 year old James Mason would win it in a one night tournament on VHS for Rumble Promotions which I posted somewhere on the British Wrestling thread) and still has the British Heavyweight Middleweight championship but would leave that behind after winning Alan Kilby's British Light Heavyweight Championship the following year. The double crown British/European Welterweight titles are long ago history and Mal Sanders won back his European Middleweight title only to lose it to another TBW prodigy Jason Cross shortly after this video.(Cross is still champion 29 years later but don't tell him that.)

So far so technical. Scorpio really seems to have taken to the British/European style, rolling neatly out of wristlevers etc. Danny doesn't do as many of his old tricks (truth be told his body was wearing down towards his eventual first retirement in 2002) but he knows how to cleverly sidestep and counter moves. He converts a Scorpio fireman's carry into a Sunset flip pin attempt of his own and gets in a quick huaracanrana before the end of the round (DJ plays MC Hammer's. U Can't Stop This, Scorpio jives along to it.) and can go rear snapmare for rear snapmares. Scorpio starts to use his old WCW floppy tricks involving the ropes. Danny incorporates more roughouse in his arsenal including a Harley Race diving headbutt. Scorpio can intercept a missile dropkick with one of his own. Scorpio does his spinning Legdrop but the bell rings.

Danny still has his missile dropkick off the top turnbuckle from his Boyhood (Scorpio gets up at eight) a Suplex off the ring apron and a DDT (Scorpio kicks out at 2) The end comes when Danny dives over Scorpio but he in.turn does a backflipping flying bodypress for the pin.  Both men lay exhausted on the mat, eventually Scorpio offers Danny a handshake.  Danny nearly accepts but in the end brushes him off, Dirty Dan doesn't play those games any more.

[David Mantell]

On 1/6/2025 at 10:05 PM, David Mantell said:

Scorpio isn't that great at it outside of fundamental US holds. Instead, it's one of those international junior style matches that were so common in the 90s as these guys toured the world

A lot of this was down to Steve Regal in WCW showing the mid card how to do chain sequences with him. Brian Pillman, Johnny B Badd, even Marcus Alexander Bagwell all took the Regal crash course - I expect 2 Cold was another.

[David Mantell]

Reslo goes to Germany again! To Bremen in 1995.  Featuring Danny Collins as Dirty Dan which makes it all the odd that he got cheered on that final Royal Rumble later that season.  Supporting cast is August Smisl who went on a year later to play babyface to Robbie Brookside's nascent Wildcat persona, Ulf Herman (wrongly identified as Eddie Steinblock) the future John Bradshaw Layfield, two WCW cast offs in a former Rapmaster and a former student of Ron Simmons abandoned when Ron went heel, plus . All in an elimination six man tag.

The crowd have learned to hate Dirty Dan and are delighted that he loses an early fall to Smisl. August in turn falls to Texas Hawk. Ice And PN have a very 80s American match which remarkably Ice wins. Texas Hawk looks like an older version of Brookside.  He faces Ice  and  Ulf 1 on 2. and Ice takes him out, leaving himself and Ulf as    the survivors.

 

 

[David Mantell]

From September 1987. The same month as the rather cruddy "Underground Carpark" video of the dying years of Greek Kats.  On opposite sides of The Pond, world titles changed hands as Ronnie Garvin and Kendo Nagasaki won Big Goldy/ the NWA title and the Tricolore Belt/ the "WWA" title respectively from Ric Flair and Wayne Bridges respectively. (Kendo's win would be televised just days before Garvin lost his title back to Flair at Starrcade in November.) 

Meanwhile in Germany a young French, distinctively TBW-esque youngster called Denis Goulet was facing a potential squashing at he hands of English superheavyweight Butcher Mason.   Milton Reid only ever made one ITV appearance ever, as Mighty Chang tagging with Ian "Bully Boy" Muir just a month earlier, but had a long history of appearances on Reslo, Screensport Satellite Wrestling etc various as Chang or as Crusher Mason.  I even have someone's home movie from a holiday camp 1975 containing a snippet of Crusher Mason in the ring. And here he is in a German CrappyCam VHS video release.  He doesn't have his weight lifting belt on but does have his black/red Mighty Chang outfit on from ITV a month earlier, with the bare feet and legs making him look like a late 80s furniture advertisement of a girl in lycra fashions of the time curled up on the sofa (couch).  

Mason uses a lot of power holds and some brawling and fouls to wear Goulet down. Occasionally Goulet reversed Mason's attacks an got and armbar or suchlike which it was hard for the big man to reverse out of.  Goulet gets a ground toupee forces the huge Moore to spin out and take a spinning bump and near the end of round 2 Goulet managed to flop the big man to ringside as he prepared to vertically splash the kid from off the ropes. He managed a bodyslam on the second of two attempts in Round 3 Otherwise it was the big Butcher all the way.  In the end he got a KNOCKOUT finish with a double underhook suplex.

If this was Joint Promotions, Big Daddy would be bounding down to ringside to make the challenge. But Milton Reid seems never to have worked for Joint. All Star yes, Orig yes, German tournaments but never Daddy Land. So he was free to be a superheavy brute unpunished. As I think I said before, Mason as Chang and The Mongolian Mauler would have made a good tag team.

[David Mantell]

Local heel Lukestik back in 1980 against youthful Buddy.  

Mostly Helmut fouling the youngster who retaliates in mind. He does a nice overhead snapmares on the kid. Round break.

  Buddy gets a nice monkey climb and tries for a second one but the heel resists. Buddy looks like the young George Michael.  Helmut just looks like a young snide heel in moustache and black tights.   After some more fouling and posing arrogantly during the round break, Helmut gets the win, catching Buddy's flying bodypress attempt and converting to slam and cross press for the three.

File under: Heel. Establishing a.

P.S, okay dammit I'll admit it.  I think the pretty girl at the end in the frilly 80s layered frock is a hottie.

[David Mantell]

Some more Lukestik. Not sure when this is from (any clues @sergeiSem ? ) but Lukestik is older heavier and has a Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert beard. He closely resmbles the late Tommy Lorne of mid 1980s UK biker gang heel tag team the Rockers, a career sadly cut short by his fatal car accident in circa 1986. Here against a young Brian Pillman-esque babyface on a village green  on a sunny day somewhere in the German speaking world. 

Ehm gets in a couple of monkey climbs but otherwise it's the villain all the way, being totally cocky an strutting, even doing pushups on Ehm's pinioned arm, until the face rallies in the final raid, only cut short by a foul that earns Lukestik a sudden DQ. @ohtani's jacket won't approve but the crowd does, happy to see this villain get the smug smile wiped off his face.