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 Chimes 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 did 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.