German catch

[David Mantell]

Some more Erik, same venue Stadhalle in Bremen, four days earlier he takes on Destroyer Johnny South aka British LOD aka (Hawk) Legend Of Doom.  Mick McMichael refereeing complete with kilt. Wonder what the lad from Oklahoma made of that?

 

South and McMichael get into the ring to some truly AWFUL screechy thrash metal sung by some fool who thinks he's Robert Plant.  Erik comes down to "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C+C Music Factory, another classic piece of early 90s kitsch.   I'm pretty sure someone or other used that music in All Star around the same time. At least Erik doesn't dance to it a la Dave Taylor/Alex Wright.  

You can tell it's not the real Mike Hegstrand cos Johnny South can WRESTLE, going from collar and elbow to inner arm to outer wristlever and takedown. Erik too has been going native and can roll up to untwist an armbar.  He's also learned the transition from armbars to rear folding press takedown which he pulls off snappily.  

After that things revert back to type with South pulling old British heel tricks and Erik doing a Thesz Press.  By Round 2 the bout is all American spots with  only a basic adherence to No Follow Downs the only reminder that this is Europe.  Very WCW Worldwide fodder. That Whigfield track again during the round interval, it had only just been a hit at that time.

Round 3', Erik works on a lot of arm weakeners - double wristlock s, arm hanks etc. Between Rounds 3'and 4:we get New Order's How Does It Feel?  Pretty bad for South, even worse when Erik gets the one fall required with a backslide.

 

[David Mantell]

Am posting this one (1) to make it three videos each of Britain, France and Germany.  (2) Because there's an interesting Ron Simmons connection - his former WCW protégé fresh from the Power Plant.  whom he turned back to heel against versus his future Acolytes partner, the future JBL. Pretty generic late 80s American Muscleman bout.  JBL gets the win with a clothesline.  

 

[David Mantell]

Erik Watts used to be a highly touted youngster until his daddy was fired from. WCW. Danny was another until he decided to morph into Dirty Dan. 

This is a Final Four and the ring announcer says something about different types of gimmick match. Erik has finally succumbed to Alex Wright/Dave Taylor dancing.   Danny makes his entrance to FGTH's Two Tribes.  Both men have come on a long way, Danny brawling an bumping, Reiki ducking and dodging deftly. Erik can even do a decent roll from an armbar - did he get to work with Regal in WCW?  The voices cheering for Erik are young, high pitched and female.  90s house music in the round gap.

Round 2. Lots of either man outside. McMichael refuses Danny a rope break.  .Nice sunset flip by Erik. Danny getting a lot of heat. Erik has a neat waistlock snap suplex.  Dance mix of Also Sprach Zarusthrea during the break.

Round 3. More heat from Danny. Erik doing big slingshot and jumping hope spots.  Danny ironically goes for a flip and Erik stomps him. Danny using kneelifts rather than dropkicks to be less flashily babyface.  Erik gets his arm hurt and Danny goes to work on it.  He eventually gets a first yellow card. Spanish pop hit Tengo De La Noche in the break.  

Round 4. Danny does some old blue eye moves and shows off to the crowd he is. Erik gets a flying bodypress, botches it slightly and gets Danny in the knee but scores the pin anyway.  Erik celebrates to Depeche Mode's I Just can't get enough.

Two guys both learning new tricks in from if an away crowd..  Danny how to sell as a heel. Erik how to be more skillful and athletic.

 

[David Mantell]

Only seven minutes long, sounds like this is going to be an execution.  Stax is in full Grumpy Garden Gnome mode, refusing a handshake. Wright ducks past Stax as he will need to keep distance and use speed to even survive a few respectable minutes. Cut tonStax with his hands round Steve's throat - he caught him in the end. Stax floors Steve with an overhead blow for 5. then with a bodycheck for 2. Wright goes for a leg but after a bit Stax shakes him off. Cut to the Giant again choking and bodychecking Steve, this time in the corner.   Wright dodges a Stax charge, dropkicks him onto the ropes and begins the process of hauling him over to ringside despite Mick McMichael's objections.  Stax recovers and slaps Steve out of the ring like a goofball. On the way back he headbutts the Giant and launches a missile dropkick off the top corner, flooring the big man. He stomps him and jumps off the opposite top corner bouncing off the Gian's stomach, earning himself a first Yellow Card.  He gets two more stomps and another feet first corner jump as Doncaster Mick warns him and refuses to count a pinfall where Steve just covered him American style.  He continues to attack the downed Stax with a chinlock and what looks like tying his hair to the top rope. Stax makes it to his feet but is soon on the ropes from two dropkicks and a double handed shove.  The bell goes but Wright continues to charge Stax again and again.  He finally retreats to his corner with a naughty smirk on his face.  

Round 2  Wright nearly sneaks up behind Haystacks to jump him on his shoulders off his own corner but Stax throws him to ringside and goes outside himself to continue the treatment. He ponds away at Wright until he is DQd. McMichael goes out to stop him doing any morecdamage.

Not the execution I expected, more a Stax disgraces himself to establish himself as a vile heel. Another variant I was used to as a child. Sadly Daddy did not come to Germany to sort big nasty Stax out.

[David Mantell]

Yamamoto the sour faced Heel Kid of Japanese young boys. Scorpio thecex luchador turned student of WCW World Champion Ron Simmons, like Ice Train abandoned when his mentor took the Dark Patch and like him also ending  up in the German speaking world when WCW lost interest in Simmons and his trainees. Hiro has a Kabuki makeup and comes to the ring to the Shamen's Move Any Mountain. Scorpio to his old WCW music. Two pieces of early 90s kitsch. Skaggs does his old dive over the top rope into the ring. He can already dance to match Watts, Taylor and Wright (A).

Scorpio must be another WCW midcarder who Steve Regal taught British chain wrestling to. At first I thought it was just the crummy limited style WCW used to dress up mostly WWF ISH bouts as being technical but 2cold has the mat roll and kip up down right to break out big from the standing arm reversals.  A clean break on the ropes gets a very British polite clap - so Germans do that too?  Just as I was hoping for a clean match, Hiro gets a bit brawly leading to an atomic drop and 7 count.  It's more American chops and brawling and bodychecks.with the odd folding press for 2. Yamamoto gets thrown out of the ring. They brawl outside and throw each other on tables. Bloody ECW, I say. Yamamoto puts his knees up to avoid a Scorpio backflip splash. There's a headlock from Hiro but it just goes on and was clearly an American style crest hold, not a British style link in a chain sequence.  Yamamoto gets a yellow card. He also gets a Boston Crab but let's go for no good reason. We then get various big WCW Cruiserweight spots including misses and hit for 2 high flyers including moonsaults from both. It culminates in Hiro getting thecwun with a German suplex.

Started off very promisingly, still a decent WCW match later on, very Clash Of The Champions fodder for 1993 before the Yellow And Red Reich pushed out the likes of 2 Cold Scorpio and gave Brutus Beefcake PPV main event World title shots - like the CWA had already done nearly 11 years before.

[PeteF3]

Even if it wasn't strictly European-style, Scorpio would have learned some semblance of catch wrestling in the New Japan dojo.

[David Mantell]

13 hours ago, PeteF3 said:

Even if it wasn't strictly European-style, Scorpio would have learned some semblance of catch wrestling in the New Japan dojo.

Possibly Billy Robinson brought the roll on the mat (the signature British move) to Japan.  Other WCW people like Bagwell and Badd could only possibly have learned from Regal so he could work with them more easily.

I was watching the OSW vlog on the 1988 Royal Rumble from a decade ago and they were complaining that the Steamboat- Rude bout that night was boring because it was just continuous armbars. (See from 3:58 onwards below) To me as a fan brought up on British Wrestling it does stand out like a sore thumb that in the American style nothing gets done about an armbar, people just stand there selling it!

 

 

[David Mantell]

Three Brits and a Quebecer. I'm not expecting a Johnny Saint classic. Not after his singles match with Brody. But maybexa few little tricks will be snuck in.

Sunny and Brody starts. It's a heavyweight strength hold fest and Sunny works North American anyway. Saint tags in and starts with a flying bodypress and 2 count.  He then does the full Russ Abbott/Lady of the Lake sequence on The Colonel.  Plenty of young kids like Jordon Breaks today like to copy these two sequences. Befuddled, Body tags Viking.  Saint neatlyvreverts a front wristlock on him although a fade cut sadly drives us of the chance to see it all. The German crowd are lapping up Saint's tricks, squealing with delight. SUNY comes back in and Viking gets the heels heat back, beating down on him. It becomes a two way brawl until Brody comes in and dominates. He stomps and posts the faux Native American until tamed enough for Viking to resume. Sunny tries to punch his way out but Viking and Brody double team him. The Scotsman continues to beat down on War Cloud. The villains tag in and out.  Viking gets the opening.  pin on Sunny. A bad 80s cover of Sweets for my Sweet plays. Bell rings and Viking goes back to work. Sunny scoots through his legs and scores the hot tag. Saint dropkicks both heels out of the ring. Suddenly Brody full Nelson's Saint and Viking punches him.  He gets some axehandles in before Saint scoots round to score a folding press equaliser.  And there it ends. 

Possibly the good guys (can't decide if babyface or blue eye is more appropriate) already had a fall in hand.  Perhaps the decider followed. It's really not clear. Any clues?

Still we got some good bits of Johnny Saint action, not the drubbing Brody gave him solo.

 

[David Mantell]

Sunny teams up (after over a minute's title sequence) reformed character Bernie Wright to face indigo Guajaro and that nice Scottish gentlemen Dave Viking. Two minutes into the clip the bell goes and Sunny and Viking start. Viking mostly dominates until Sunny goes on a tomahawk chop rampage. Both tag. Indio has the early advantage. Annoyingly the cameraman films another cameraman (there is an actual CREW working on this???) .but  Bernie eventually rolls and monkey climbs his way back to control. Indio gets a side chancery throw and bodycheck and goes over on a rope run but Bernie (the fans chant for him in a strong German accent - beeeernie!) leapfrogs .Indio and crosspresses him for 2.  Both sides tag again.  Sunny gets wardsncing, gets a Viking arm, tags Bernie who dropkicks the arm. He goes for a leg but the Scot bashes him down. The heels get Bernie in their corner and wrench a leg each.  Twice. Three times. A fourth time. Bernie tags Sunny who chops away on both heels ferociously until Guajaro throws him out. Bernie comes in with dropkicks and restored Hope until the heels get it together to double team him. During this, Indio slams the referee and gets his side DQ'd.

Bernie's bits are not as skillful or as entertaining as Saint in the last bout. It was India's heel dirtiness that brought his side down.  

 

[David Mantell]

If the 1994 bouts Sign squad is posting seem top heavy in American talent, somit always was. Here is the future Colonel DeBeers and former Polish Prince in action again local Michael Schneider. We get a brief shot of a Ringerparade then on to our bout. Ed is wearing a big grey cowboy hat just like Adrian Adonis wore in the AWA. Fans give him The Bird. Schneider gets clapped.

Schneider gets some throws on Ed after taking one himself. Ed and Mike exchange slams and hiptosses. Ed gets an armbar, develops it into a hammerlock Mike after several goes, backdrops Ed.  Angry, he gets a standing side headlock  into cross buttock throw into mat side headlock. Mike pushes up so Ed cross buttocks him down again. They roll in the hold. Mike somehow breaks it open (the ref is in the way of the camera) and gets an armbar. Ed can't do rollouts although he adopts the starting position for one.  He connects his free hand to Mike's and tries to slip on a semi Japanese Stranglehold. Mike throws him over in the finger lock, down in a seated hold e can't quite see. Ed reaches the ropes. Ed gets a full nelson. (What is that VIEDERKOMPF thing German fans chant at heels? Mike tries throwing him overhead. It takes FIVE attempts before he succeeds. See what I mean about the Laboured, procrastinating style of German/Austrian wrestling before Steve Wright changed things. (See also Mike earlier finally breaking the heädlock.). Wiskoski gets a wristlock and drops toehold into rear chinlock in the mount.  Mike stands and switches it into a hammerlock, Ed reaches the ropes.  They lock up and Ed gets a couple of blows in as the round ends.  Ref and MC tell Ed off a lot, DJ plays a slow boogie woogie song in German.

Round 2: Schneider batters Wiskoski into the corner with forearms. Mike posts Ed who comes back with a knee and a jab to the throat.  More stomps and illegal punches follow. Then come the rope powered corner stomps which earn Ed a First Yellow Card. (MC translates it as Public Warning for Ed even though he is an American and probably doesn't know what a public warning is.) Ed runs Mike's eyes along the tope rope (nasty foul).  Rear snapmare and stomp all one move so allowed.  Mike hits back but Ed knees him down. BRAZEN closed fist punch in front of the ref. More foul beat down still only gets Ed a private warning. Mike from nowhere gets a legdive and standing toehold. Ed kicks him in the stomach. He continues to pound down on Mike in the corner. Still no second and final but the MC says something to Wiskoski that makes fans very happy. Kneelift from Ed. He gets Mike down and does a sawing motion to his throat which the referee dislikes and forcibly breaks up.  Mike gets a cross buttock press into armbar, Ed replies with a ground dropkick. Bell goes for round. Ed gets a bionic elbow in between rounds. German Euro disco track plays. 

Round 3: Ed gets a kick and a cross buttock but Mike rolls through (astonishingly for a German) and gets a shove and flurry of forearms while fell Ed,  He goes to the corner and begs for mercy but Mike follows in with knees and another forearm which fells Wiskoski. Ed gets a low blow and a red card. Either the low blow was just too much or hecdid get his second and final earlier, perhaps at the end of the last round, and the video didn't quite capture it.  Ed isn't satisfied and carries on beating down on Mike. He leaps to ringside, raises his arms in moral victory as if to say he's won the fight if not the decision Nd leaves to a chorus of THE BIRD.  Referee helps Mike up and proclaims him winner. Two next guys come to the ring, The Good The Bad and The Ugly theme by Ennio Morricone plays. 

Not much science and what there was was the slow methodical Old German style. I expect OJ will like the brawling however. 

 

 

[David Mantell]

Well look, as far as we know there were no masked Kamikazes in Germany/Austria so we just have to make do.

Villains versus OAPs - happens all the time in the mean streets.

The OAPs are Achim Chall plus the man Orig Williams claimed to be Mile Zrno's trainer Charlie Verhulst.  The Villains are hardy perennial of Teutonic Heeling Klaus Kauroff plus one Do Johnny El Corso who we last saw being ritually flogged by Roland Bock some time in the mid to late 70s. 

Quote

Sadly this is one of those very shaky July 1980 Graz camcordings.  Almost as worn out as Achim and Charley.  They both look like Verne Gagne on a bad day so excuse me for not telling them apart.

An OAP takes a kicking then gets one back from first Kauroff the El Corso.  An OAP gets double teamed by the villains in their corner. The crowd gives the bird like a badly tuned radio.  The referee gets knocked down. The villains nurse him back to health. They then ask him to DQ the OAPs or Something.  It all grinds to a halt  Kauroff holds an OAP while Corso forearm smashes him. They try it with the other OAP who dropkicks Corso, shrugs off and rear dropkicks Kauroff and hot tags the other OAP who goes on a dropkicking spree.Both villains end up at ringside.  An OAP escapes a Corso headlock and takes him down into a Hammerlock on the mat.  He gets up and Bionic Elbows Corso.  He snapmares and spin stamps Kauroff. An OAP pounds Corso on the mat.  The villains double team him.  El Corso is upside down in the corner Tree Of Woe style and the other three are brawling. Someone is DQ'd but I'm not sure who. End of clip.

Well I tried .

 

[David Mantell]

 

From the same Graz 1980 tournament. No identity issues here.  Music is Leader .of The Gang  by a notorious sex offender. Rene as ever in the black and gold jacket.

They lock up.  They break off. Lock up and end up on the ropes. Bobby headbutts Rene. and throws him outside. Rene tries for a pin but gets two.  He pounds on Bobby, gets a heädlock.  Another lockup Bobbyy turns bad for Rene, Bobby gets p in a triable sleeperhold.  Plenty of Rene cstruttng his stuff around.  Rene is back on the attack, pounding Bobby.   Rene is powering Rene dominating Bobby. Bobby takes control. Threatens to Fireman's carry thé We get some crowd shots.  Gaetano punches and heaves Rene out.  A round bee Bobby finishes big Rene with a missile dropkick.  

Lots of stuff is chopped. Rene tombstones Bobby for thecwin.

Hard work to watch. Not so bad as the tag bout though. Even some wrestling skill at play

 

 

 

[David Mantell]

One of the two OAPs "Only One Shooter Here" Dieter Senior has a short OJ-friendly brawl with the future Vader, only months after he was the squeaky clean Babyface Bull in the AWA that was tipped to threaten Stan Hansen (before Bocky got Verne from the office to hand it to him on a silver platter.  A few minutes of slug and punch, throwing each other over the top rope, ringside brawl obstructed by the crowd and Leon chairs hitting Axel to get a First Yellow card then Axel low blowing Bull Power to get a summary red card.

At least the picture quality is better than the 1980 videos - hi gen source from near to ringside spoiled only by spectators getting up to watch the ringside brawl.

[David Mantell]

On 9/4/2024 at 1:02 PM, David Mantell said:

The CWA's answer to "If Only You Knew" from the WWF Slammys:

 

Official video. Dignitaries include Owen Hart.  Also check out Stax doing Opera.

 

 

 

[Matt D]

New Richard Land drop this month is 

9/10/80 Hanover

Le Grand Vladimir vs Karl Dauberger
Achim Chall vs Caswell Martin
Axel Dieter vs The Destroyer
Ed Wiskowski vs Steve Wright

Plus a pre-show ceremony of some sort. 

[David Mantell]

On 7/1/2025 at 6:59 PM, Matt D said:

New Richard Land drop this month is 

9/10/80 Hanover

Le Grand Vladimir vs Karl Dauberger
Achim Chall vs Caswell Martin
Axel Dieter vs The Destroyer
Ed Wiskowski vs Steve Wright

Plus a pre-show ceremony of some sort. 

Where can we (I) go see these?

[David Mantell]

And is that the same Achim Chall Vs Caswell Martin bout as this one?

On 8/25/2024 at 6:16 PM, David Mantell said:

(actually it was OJ not me but never mind.)

Achim Chall vs. Caswell Martin (Hannover 1980)

I don't know the song Cas Martin came out to, but it sure was funky. Martin's stuff looked typically good, but I'm not sure he had the necessary drive to have great matches.

On 8/25/2024 at 6:16 PM, David Mantell said:

Caswell Martin had one of my all time favourite bouts this same year at the Royal Albert Hall with Marty Jones. Along with the Birmingham Steve Logan, he is one of my two picks for wrestlers who were never champions but frankly should have been. Achim Chall, an aging contemporary of Axel Dieter was not as skilled an opponent as Jones but he lets Cas show all his tricks to the German audience and they like it.

Like the Jones match, this ends on a refused-TKO no contest(after Martin suffers an arm injury.) He German audiences appreciate the spor.tsmanship like British audiences do.

Two odd things.

1) During the break after round 1 the DJ puts on 1978 Christmas hit Mary's Boy Child by Boney M even though it is early September.

2) The seconds wear red and blue V necked shirts as per their corner. The red corner second looks like a Star Trek redshirt!

 

 

[Matt D]

26 minutes ago, David Mantell said:

Where can we (I) go see these?

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=110961841

[David Mantell]

You may have noticed the bouts on this thread tend to be top heavy in American, British French and other such far flung talent. That's why it was such a pleasure for me a couple of months ago to dig up this bout. Okay it was a Swiss versus a Yugoslav but compared to some CWA rosters this was practically local.  They also both had nice Germanic names, Franz and. er Franz. (And to be fair, if Messrs Van Buyten and Schumann have ever had a match, it's news to me.)

On 4/11/2025 at 2:56 AM, David Mantell said:

A rather spirited heel Vs babyface undercard from 1985 in Poysdorf,  Mittelbach, lower Austria.    Babyface Franz Schlederer from Yugoslavia in the orange trunks was later nicknamed "der Soldner" - the mercenary -  is up against burly Swiss heel Franz Schlenz, who has some kind of title and some kind of attitude. Schlenz attacks Schlederer before the bell and goes on that way as carpenter heel Schlenz generally reacts to the Austrian's technical moves with fouls rather  than have a scientific bout. The Swiss wins this way.

Now here is Schlederer on a similar grassroots old time (as camcorders will allow) show from a year later against heel Gil Breihöder "No Relation To Colt"  Cabanas in Hollabrunn,  a district capital town in the Austrian state of Lower Austria, on the Göllersbach river, 12th August 1986. Franz is the babyface in red trunks, Gil is the heel with the moustache and dark double leotard.

Franz starts by challenging Gil to a finger Interlock.  Gil has the early advantage but soon Franz has him screaming.  He breaks him all the way down to the mat and stomps on his hands!  Gil looks for sympathy from the referee and cameraman but finds none. They lock up again, and this time good boy Franz goes down - but at the last second he pulls his hands out of the way and scores a dropkick. Gil is up at 8.  The villain starts chopping away at the Yugoslav and throttling him on the ropes.  Warned by the referee he throws Franz across the ring, booting him out the last bit of the way.  Incidentally that's quite some big crowd!  

We cut back to the action and Gilmis bashing and stomping poor Franzl. He gets an armlock and forces his man down on one knee. Franz powers up, gets pushed down, powers back up again and fires Gilmour the ropes in a cross buttock throw but Gil keeps control of the arm and winds up in a kneeling armbars position. Franz forces his way up, gets forced down and when he is next halfway up tries (as best I can see past the nasty video scratch) to prise an arm in.  It's very much an old school German pre-Steve Wright transformation Leverage Contest.  Finally Franz pulls himself up and gets a flying headscissors take down on his opponent. He doesn't go into a headscissors on the mat as the French would do, rather comes out standing over the villain.  He pulls his man up off the matin a one arm chinlock but the ref isn't happy with a grounded wrestler being attacked and blows his whistle.  Eventually Franz has progressed to a standing rear chinlock but he has also earned himself a yellow card plus the bell - or rather a gong- has sounded for the end of the round.  Franz throws Gil down. Matches over to the referee, rips up the yellow card and throws it to ringsiders.

Cut to somewhere in the next round. Gil has what looks like a clawhold on Franz. (Bear in mind Baron Von Raschke toured Germany a couple of years earlier.)  Gil switches to a side headlock then on to a rear hammerlock, like watching a slow motion video of Johnny Saint doing his Lady of the Lake sequence. But no, he doesn't proceed to to trip into folding press, he turns to face his man, forearms him down and stomps him like Ronnie Garvin. He picks Franz up, headbutts him down and has some ugly looking hold on his face that earns Gil his own yellow card (I guess the ref had a spare.  Gil lifts Franz up with help from a handful of hair, whips him into the ropes and, on the rebound, gets what might just be an illegal punch to floor his man.  He again pulls his man up with a tuft full of foliage but Franz reverses the whip and backhand chops Gil down like Billy Two Rivers.  He then repeats the pull-up- Whip- backhand chop sequence. before giving Gil a nice long Suplex. Franz pulls his man up despite objections from the referee, throws him in the corner and pounds away with forearms.  Finally heeding the referee and not his thirst for vengeance, he side chancery throws his man to centre ring, lets him up for a count of four, underhooks and bodyslams him then after giving him a couple of counts hauls him up for another better side chancery throw through the ropes to ringside and to a huge crowd pop!   

Cut to Franz tying up Gil in the ropes and preparing to charge him.  The referee warns him off and while they are discussing the pros and cons of such tactics in the corner a chime goes possibly indicating the time limit expiring. Franz raises his hands in triumph, the crowd applauds. End of match.Cut to a lady wrestler on the same show  making her entrance.  Clip ends.

A good mix of old fashioned face/heel shenanigans and the Old School leverage style of Chall, Dieter, Bock etc.  Nice to get away from the glamour and swagger of the big city Germany/Austria tournaments and see a small town wrestling show.

 

 

[David Mantell]

Perhaps it was a bit lazy of me to substitute We are Dynamite for a match on Sunday, so here is an extra one to compensate. Two Austrian babyfaces (no foreigners! Even closer to "home" than Franz Vs Gil!) made to final of the 1985 Hanover Cup. This is what transpired:

 

Big Otto by now is the full Superheavyweight of his later years, not the stocky guy who faced Don Leo in Graz July 1880 before a professional camera crew.  Wallas, I suddenly realised, reminds me of good guy Daniel Schmidt from 1983 as seen on the French Catch thread.  After a couple of collar and elbow lockups, Otto gets a standing rear chinlock.

Klaus forces him into the ropes for a break.  They lock up and astonishingly Klaus tries for a cross buttock throw. Not so astonishingly, Big Otto is just too heavy! They try again, Otto puts on a figure four top wristlock. He forces Klaus in to ropes, cut to Klaus doing it back to him. Clean breaks both times. They lock up then Klaus hauls off with a forearm. Otto steps back with a look like "Oh. So you want some of that, do you?". Instead on the next lockup, Otto gets a wristlever forcing Klaus down in one knee.  For some reason I can't make out, Otto ends up with a hand on the top rope and has to release.  They go for a finger Interlock.  Momentum goes back and forth like Hogan and Warrior at WM6.  Cut to Klaus bodychecking Otto to no impact whatsoever, then doing somewhat better with a forearm smash that has Otto reeling and bouncing off the ropes.  Cut to Otto with standing pressure points on Klaus who battles back with forearms.  Otto picks himself up and they stalk rack other cautiously. Cut to Klaus on the ropes selling a back injury.  They lock up then Wanz fires a forearm, Wallas fires one back. Big Otto makes it 2-1 flooring Klaus.  Otto gets a bearhug, Klaus struggles to break it like Hogan against Andre.  Too gets his man on the ropes and headbutts him twice. Cut to Klaus dodging out the way of a Wanz guillotine elbowdrop.  Wallas is up first with two forearm smashes, flooring Wanz on the second.  Wanz gets up to what looks like a punch by Wallas then a dropkick.  Otto is soon up and after a quick check of his teeth (or gumshield?) by the referee, we proceed. Klaus slugs Ottomfoen with four forearmscand a kick for good measure.  Cut to down on the mat, Wallas has a chinlock which he transforms into a half nelson on the mat.  He eventually gets the World champion into a crosspress position but can't quite get his shoulders down. A switch tomlong press gets a 1 count but no more, as does another cross press and a hooked leg.  Otto tries for a cross press and double arm oress He gets no further and allows his man up. Cut to them back down on the mat.  Klaus has the cross press again. Astonishingly Otto bridges out!  Klaus is sent rolling to ringside.  He makes it back, they lock up and Klaus begins bashing away again.  He goes for a flying tackle and takes Otto down but it is too near the ropes .Ran out of mat, as Kent Walton would put it.  They get up and Klaus flails away again, flooring Otto and booting him out of the ring.  Cut to once again they lock up and Klaus smashes at Otto but this time Wanz pushes his man down in a cross press for two. Klaus pulls out and ends up at ringside. He comes back, wallops and fells Otto. Wanz gets up and whips Wallas into the ropes, misses him on the rebound and falls over Klaus tries another flying tackle but the big man catches him, slams him, cross presses and hooks the leg for three.

Otto celbrates with his fans while Klaus leans on the ropes, emotionally spent.  Otto shakes and raises his hand and pats his buddy on the shoulder.

Babyface match if not scientific enough to be properly clean. A lot of slug and punch but some similar old German leverage stuff to Franz Vs Gil in the last bout (a year later.)

 

 

[David Mantell]

Battle Royal at the Heumarkt 1994. You've seen one battle royal you've seen 'em all but the sheer raw spectacle is pretty amazing. The Heumarkt looks pretty cool too in longshot with the sunset reflected in neighbouring windows. 

It comes down to Rambo, Fit Finlay and Cannonball Grizzly (ON News). The heels team up. Impressively Finlay slams Mr Neu on top of Rambo. The crowd were already behind Rambo at the start but now they REALLY really behind him. Rambl finally eliminated  Neu, yo baby yo baby yo.  So we are left with Rambo Vs Finlay and at least one heel supporter cheering Finlay!  Rambo catapults Finlay over the ropes. He just hangs on but then Rambo clotheslines Finlay off the apron to finish the job and pocket himself a wadful of cash useful for doing Ted DiBiase impersonations. A Québécois the hero of Austria.  

 

[David Mantell]

Following the InterVille bull-pestering footage on the French thread, I now presenting Football for CWA wrestlers.

(That's football as in the Association game, the one actually played with the foot, not that Rugby in motorcycle helmets game Bill Watts and Jim Ross used to wet themselves over.)

Now I just have to find something similar for the British thread.

 

[David Mantell]

From the undercard of the 1986 "Us Americans" triple tag filmed by RTL, possibly as a one off TV special.  Bit of a slug and punch affair. OJ will like it.   About getting best bit of wrestling is a couple of decent flying headscissors a French style headscissor takedown counter to an armbar and a pretty impressive monkey climb, all by Morgan. Ends in an outside of the ring brawl, Not quite sure who wins but McMichael is seen telling off "Gunboat/"Judd" Harris at the end. Harris is billed as an Aussie for probably similar reasons to Stax and Kirk suddenly being "Americans "

The first few minutes is the presenter plus Peter Wilhelm previewing this, the triple tag and a Finlay vs St Clair bout also.  This is livened up by meeting Peter's pet chihuahua Speedy Gonzales. Awww ...

[David Mantell]

Not sure of the storyline background but Collins' new mid 90s heel persona (as also seen in Britain) made another enemy in kilted referee Mick McMichael to the point where he put the tights back on. McMichael is still in good shape, or at least no worse shape than on ITV in the late 80s and he certainly still has his skills.

Collins comes to the ring to FGTH'sTwo Tribes, his longer hair reminding me of the floppy fringe Larry Zybysko sported in the immediate aftermath of his turn on Bruno. I think Steve Logan MK1 in the 70s may be the actual inspiration. Doncaster Mick comes to the ring to bright bouncy dance music slightly unbefitting a tubby middle aged man. Crowd shouts his name like the Auntie Mabel chant in 90s art rock band David Devant And His Spirit Wife's song "I'm Not Even Going To Try"

Round 1: after a couple of inconclusive lockups, Colin's pounds Mick on the ropes and gets a front chancery. Mick breaks it open into an armbar and forces a high whip and bump. Collins gets a legdive, toe & ankle and grapevine but as he turns to apply more pressure McMichael boots his in the backside into the ropes and leg flips him on the rebound. Collins charges but McMichael pitches him out of the ring on the move.Collins pounds Mick in the back as he argues with the ref. He slams Mick's head in the corner and gets a bionic elbow before being ordered out of the corner. Collins objects to angry Mick's closed fists then back attacks him as the ref sorts it out. He gets an open chinlock and armbar into legdive and toe & ankle, working on the foot. McMichael twists, throwing Collins and forcing a somersault and bump. McMichael gets a side chancery throw forcing another somersault bump. Heel Dirty Dan is quite the bumper.  He regains his heat with two illegal concealed punches. He gets Mick down kneeling with pressure points then forearms him. Referee - I'm think it's Didier Gapp - finally gets fed up and gives Danny his first yellow card.

Round 2:  Collins attacks Mick while he is  arguing with Gapp. Fed up, McMichael lands a concealed fist of his own and gets his own first yellow card. He pulls Danny off the ropes and lets him drop a bump. As they lock up, Collins jabs Mick in the side and blasts him in the back. They finger interlock and  Mick goes down to the mat, kips up,clips open one side of the interlock and rolls to twist the other arm forcing yet another somersault bump. Mick still has the arm which he works over.  Danny forces a rope break.  They lock up and Danny get in a quick forearm uppercut.He gets an abdominal stretch and holds it a while. Mick looks to be getting the cross buttock throw but instead he switches arms, gets a side headlock and a retaliatory concealed punch.Mick gets a full nelson into side chancery throw and twisting stomp to the face. I love Mick's transitions.  He gets a headbutt, Danny gets some kind of a blow and Mick gets a quick wrenching crossface. Fans are massively behind Mick which enrages Danny. He kicks his man and gets a double knees pin attempt but McMichael knees him in the face.  Danny blasts his fallen opponent and gets on a full nelson when he gets up. McMichael powers out and reverses the hold, Danny rears into him to break it.  Bell goes, McMichael gets in a chop, side Chancery throw and elbowsmash and earns himself a Second and final yellow card.Danny gets in a blow too as McMichael returns to his corner 

Round 3. Danny gets a side chancery, marches his man across the ring and gets an armbar and a nasty looking jab to the stomach. While Gapp terns to Mick. Danny loosens the corner pad.  He tries to post Mick who reverses it and Danny takes the naked bolts in the spine. On the rebound he falls victim to a Mick backdrop, quite a high bump. He begs for mercy.Mick gets pressure points, Danny gets a barely concealed kidney punch and side chancery throw. He goes to the top turnbuckle of the uncovered corner and goes for a flying bodypress but Mick dodges and Danny crashes. Mick charges but Danny too sidesteps the gets a front chancery into over the shoulder neck suspension for the one required submission.v

Afterbirth. Danny reapplies the hold and Tony StClair and a Japanese wrestler come to the rescue. Danny kicks them both. As they tend to Mick, Danny cuts a promo at ringside challenging Mick and Tony to further bouts.

Really enjoyed Mick's performance, he hadn't lost a step. Danny was quite the bumping machine (and complaining machine) as Dirty Dan.  I need to check if they ever had a clean match in 80s Britain? Edit- apparently not. Oh well, bang goes my idea for a British thread post. Ah well ...

[David Mantell]

On 3/25/2025 at 1:17 AM, David Mantell said:

You may notice a big guy called Georg Blemenschutz being interviewed.  Here is some more old footage of him against The Great Vladimir. Afa Ano'is also pops up on screen for some reason.  Apparently Big Georg B was an art expert awa from the ring

Actually that entire YouTube channel may be worth checking out:

https://www.youtube.com/@catchwrestlingsuperstars805

 

Some Georg footage.  Oddly enough he's teaming with one of my fave skills men Caswell Martin. I suspect a Big Daddy/lighter partner situation. And that's pretty much what I get - the cheek double team. The hot tag. Georg even does bodychecks. However instead of a Big Splash "Schuli" does brutal submissions - even on the referee when he intervenes.  He has none of Daddy's flamboyance but maybe Germans/Austrians didn't go for that, they go for hardened everyman types with a big dog and bigger moustache like Schuli - or Roland Bock.

All the same, when we see Blemenschutz pile the villains plus the referee up and sit on the lot - a  comedy spot that Daddy would often do to villains but NOT the referee as well - it's hard not to suspect that Shirley had seen Schuli at the Heumarkt sometime in the 60s/70s and borrowed a lot of him. Or maybe it was Max.