German catch

[David Mantell]

How German Catch Begat Egyptian Wrestling:

Before the Egyptian Revolution there had been occasional tours of Egypt by foreign promotions.  In 1981 just after the Camp David agreement brought Egypt back in from the cold, a young Egyptian wrestler called Mamdouh Farag was wrestling in Germany for the VDB. That's him above against 60s France's answer to Sid, Rene Lasartesse.

Quite a slow moving first round, after some collar and elbow. RL gets a front chancery with it but is unable to push Farag around. Farag dumps Rene over the ropes and gets him down in arm arm extension.  The bell saves Lasartesse after he fails to get to the ropes. Rene gets things together in round 2, repeatedly chopping Farag down and leaving him to be counted before missing a kneedrop. Farag attacks the blond Frenchman on the mat and gets a yellow card (Public Warning.). At one point Farag appears to have a Knockout win but the referee disagrees. The bell goes, Rene hits Farag after the bell and Farag forearms him out of the ring and gets a private warning. Rene gets his heat back again in round 3 but then misses a top turnbuckle move. Farag punishes the Frenchman so much that he walks out for a while before coming back in time for the break. Rene is reluctant to get up until dragged up by Farag but gets his heat back and this time hits the flying kneedrop to get a Knockout. Farag feeling that Rene should have got some earlier counts, indulges in French style ref bashing, pitching the official over the ropes to the cheers of the crowd.

Not long after this the VDB would tour Germany with a troupe involving Farag and Tony StClair and then help Farag set up his own scene in Egypt with himself as leady babyface - "Egypt's own Rocky story"

 

 

When he got older, Farag moved in 1997 from wrestling Stardom to TV stardom as a presenter. He provided unauthorized Arabic commentary for WWE tapes which- Cairo being a major media hub of the Arab world - spread all over the Middle East.  Thoroughly annoyed, the WWF banned Farag from the building when WWE came to Cairo for three nights in October 2012.   Farag died two years later in 2014 aged 64.

https://cairoscene.com/Buzz/The-Death-of-a-Wrestling-Legend

 

 

 

 

 

[David Mantell]

14 minutes ago, David Mantell said:

Not long after this the VDB would tour Germany with a troupe involving Farag and Tony StClair and then help Farag set up his own scene in Egypt with himself as leady babyface - "Egypt's own Rocky story"

 

See if you recognize Farag's opponent - we were talking about him just a few posts back!

[PeteF3]

18 hours ago, Matt D said:

This is December 84.

Lasartesse vs Paersey was a slugfest. Wright vs Rasputin was a really solid Wright mauling with a little bit of heat and a good finish. Couple of matches to go on it.

Paersey is Maritimes star Stephen Petitpas (as evidenced by the tights he didn't bother to change/disguise). Until this footage showed up I had no idea he ever worked Europe.

[Matt D]

1 minute ago, PeteF3 said:

Paersey is Maritimes star Stephen Petitpas (as evidenced by the tights he didn't bother to change/disguise). Until this footage showed up I had no idea he ever worked Europe.

Good to know. I had no idea who that guy was.

[ohtani's jacket]

John Quinn & Rolo Brasil vs. Indio Guajaro & Axel Dieter (Wien, Summer '87)

This was a shorter clip than usual but it gave you a general idea of the flow of the match. I dunno why they couldn't film the entire match. Dieter was working heel here. I suspect that changed on a nightly basis depending on the card. We got a little Quinn vs. Dieter, which was the match up I wanted to see. 

[David Mantell]

Battle Royal, August 1988. On ITV, Battle Royals were capped at eight men. This one appears to be twelve.  Reslo in the 90s got up to 15 but that's still lower than the 20 at WM2 and WM4.  

Plenty of Brits in here, Tony St.Clair, Steve Wright, Dave Taylor, Colonel Brody plus Mick McMichael in his kilt is refereeing.  At one point he hauls Dave Taylor out by the legs after an eliminated Dave goes back in.

It ends I with a Kerry Von Erich esque babyface (possiblyTom Magee) and s heel in black tights who moves out of the way to trick the "Kerry" wrestler to eliminate himself over the ropes.  I though Otto (clad in black and white, looking like a crossword puzzle or maybe a 1960s TV test pattern) might win but nope.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Bull Power vs. Eddy Steinblock I (Wien, Summer '87)
Bull Power vs. Eddy Steinblock II (Wien, Summer '87

I'll tell you this much -- Vader was over in Wien in 1987. He was challenging the audience to step in the ring with him for cash and jawing with the fans. In the second bout, a kid spat on him as he made his way to the ring. It's a good thing Vader didn't notice or he might have taken a swing at the kid. He wasn't a polished performer yet, but he projected an aura of violence and danger. When he cut loose, you were never quite sure how many of his blows were landing. He took some fun bumps, including a great bump to the outside where they began brawling in front of the fans. It was nice to see the crowd for a change. They were going ape shit, which you never really see in other footage. I'm not sure what Matt has against Steinblock. He was a perfectly good poor man's Tommy RIch/Barry Windham in these clips. 

[Matt D]

11 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Bull Power vs. Eddy Steinblock I (Wien, Summer '87)
Bull Power vs. Eddy Steinblock II (Wien, Summer '87

I'll tell you this much -- Vader was over in Wien in 1987. He was challenging the audience to step in the ring with him for cash and jawing with the fans. In the second bout, a kid spat on him as he made his way to the ring. It's a good thing Vader didn't notice or he might have taken a swing at the kid. He wasn't a polished performer yet, but he projected an aura of violence and danger. When he cut loose, you were never quite sure how many of his blows were landing. He took some fun bumps, including a great bump to the outside where they began brawling in front of the fans. It was nice to see the crowd for a change. They were going ape shit, which you never really see in other footage. I'm not sure what Matt has against Steinblock. He was a perfectly good poor man's Tommy RIch/Barry Windham in these clips. 

He was a middle class person’s Brutus Beefcake against Giant Haystacks.

[PeteF3]

22 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

He was a perfectly good poor man's Tommy RIch/Barry Windham in these clips. 

I mean...Vader tends to have that effect on people. Even subpar workers have to look like they're fighting for their lives and that's often compelling on its own.

[ohtani's jacket]

Have you seen Steinblock vs. One Warrior Nation? Apparently, it has the lowest rating of any match on Cagematch.

[PeteF3]

2 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Have you seen Steinblock vs. One Warrior Nation? Apparently, it has the lowest rating of any match on Cagematch.

I have. And I would say that rating is not unfair.

[ohtani's jacket]

Bull Power vs. Tony St. Clair (Wien, Summer '87)

I think it's fair to say that brawling with behemoths like Vader isn't really Tony's forte, but he does an outstanding job here and shows more fire than in a lot of his 90s bouts.

Rene Lasartesse vs. Tony St. Clair (Wien, Summer '87)

Tony gets the shit beaten out of him by the legendary Rene Lasartesse then gets a little payback. Great selling from Tony. He looks awesome here, which I guess is no surprise since it's closer to his prime than the 90s was. He celebrates his win over Rene like he's won the entire tournament. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Fascinating to see the same venue in the 60s.

 

[David Mantell]

3 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Bull Power vs. Tony St. Clair (Wien, Summer '87)

I think it's fair to say that brawling with behemoths like Vader isn't really Tony's forte, but he does an outstanding job here and shows more fire than in a lot of his 90s bouts.

Tony did his fair share of brawls with Haystacks in both the UK and Germany/ Austria going back to the Saints Vs Stax. & Daddy in '75 and a couple of British Heavyweight Championship changes circa 1979

[HowtobeaMark]

On 9/3/2024 at 8:43 PM, Matt D said:

It’s really good. Very different than their other more comedic match. I’m writing up Wanz vs Studd for Friday on SC, btw. It was lovely.

Ok I am sold! How do I see this match?

[David Mantell]

5 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Fascinating to see the same venue in the 60s.

 

It's interesting to see this particular wrestling culture that far back, back in the days when all the world was black and white film.

With French Wrestling we can easily follow its evolution from the mid 1959s to the early 90s across 3 channels and then Eurosport.  With British Wrestling If the Granada TV archives are ever opened up we could do the same and at least we do have ample TV footage from the early 70s onwards. Germany/Austria we only have large quantities from 1980 onwards so it's good to be able to relate the world of IBV/CWA and VBD back to that same sixties era.  If the videos went back that far (or more realistically if they had replaced some Paul Lincoln style cinema based distribution, this is how the footage would look.

Unfortunately the documentary makers have gone the usual freakshow narrative of their kind, mixing the most outlandish OTT match spots they could find with shots of marks marking out with a sneery "haha look at these strange people who like this stuff" narrative rather than showing wrestling at its best for what a fine skilled sport it can be.

[Robert S]

2 hours ago, David Mantell said:

(...)

Unfortunately the documentary makers have gone the usual freakshow narrative of their kind, mixing the most outlandish OTT match spots they could find with shots of marks marking out with a sneery "haha look at these strange people who like this stuff" narrative rather than showing wrestling at its best for what a fine skilled sport it can be.

That's not really what they concentrate on here. The main question the makers of this try to answer is why people go to those shows, why they like what it and most people said something like that it's fun ("a Hetz" in Viennese German), one man meant that it's better than any "Bauerntheater" (very low level theatre doing very basic comedy). One woman also said something like "they don't hurt each other". Some women add that it's also about seeing good looking men. Even the promoter meant that this is a place where people can relax, forget about their daily life for some short hours (while making a very outlandish claim that the proceeds of the show are used to finance amateur athletes like ice skaters - workers gonna work). The announcer sums it up, "Only a minority takes the matches super serious but that does not hurt the show at all, in the end we also go to the movies or the theatre with the intention to see an illusion."

Ergo: kayfabe was not a thing in early 60ies wrestling in Austria

Oh yes, and they give a very suspect figure of what the wrestlers were making (600 to 1200 Austrian Schilling per night, which, adjusted to inflation, is about $330 to $660)

[David Mantell]

7 hours ago, Robert S said:

That's not really what they concentrate on here. The main question the makers of this try to answer is why people go to those shows, why they like what it and most people said something like that it's fun ("a Hetz" in Viennese German), one man meant that it's better than any "Bauerntheater" (very low level theatre doing very basic comedy). One woman also said something like "they don't hurt each other". Some women add that it's also about seeing good looking men. Even the promoter meant that this is a place where people can relax, forget about their daily life for some short hours (while making a very outlandish claim that the proceeds of the show are used to finance amateur athletes like ice skaters - workers gonna work). The announcer sums it up, "Only a minority takes the matches super serious but that does not hurt the show at all, in the end we also go to the movies or the theatre with the intention to see an illusion."

Ergo: kayfabe was not a thing in early 60ies wrestling in Austria

Oh yes, and they give a very suspect figure of what the wrestlers were making (600 to 1200 Austrian Schilling per night, which, adjusted to inflation, is about $330 to $660)

I wasn't on so much about the spectator talking heads, I was on about the alternating crowd shots/action sections which alternate between particularly outlandish high spots and crowds marking out to them. It's a sneery style of narrative about wrestling used by documentaries, newsreels and TV shows the world over for articles on wrestling which the producers feel is below them. The "Let's Have A Good Old Laugh At These Crazy Wrestlers  And The Sad Lunatics Who Go See Them!" style of documentary about wrestling.

 

 

That said I enjoyed seeing what the German scene was like back then.  That old B/W film was to 1980s IBV/CWA and VDB home video releases what b/w kinescope prints of 1960s British or French TV matches are to colour VT format recordings (be they off air or surviving master tapes) of 1980s British  or French TV matches.

(Likewise if we had more of Paul Lincoln's 1960s BWF cinema films like that Wild Man Of Borneo bout, that would have a similar relationship to 1980s British opposition promotions TV/Video footage like Screensport, Reslo and the Pallos' 1981 home video release)

[David Mantell]

12 hours ago, David Mantell said:

Tony did his fair share of brawls with Haystacks in both the UK and Germany/ Austria going back to the Saints Vs Stax. & Daddy in '75 and a couple of British Heavyweight Championship changes circa 1979

Stax and StClair had previously wrestled each other a lot 1975-1980 when they were both in Joint Promotions. From tag bouts with Big Daddy - teaming with either man against the other - to hot potatoing the Mountevans British Heavyweight Championship. Now in another time another place, they meet again.  This bout was filmed for the CWA's home video series but spliced into an episode of Eurosport New Catch.

English language New Catch  Commentator Orig Williams comes up with a crafty explanation for Stax being from the USA - apparently he is on Special Licence. I guess Kirk was too in 1986.

Stax gets in with his usual demolition job early. StClair fights back hard, knocking Stax down a few times (I have another CWA bout of theirs on tape from around the same time where StClair hauls Stax out of the ring and silly old Orig says he's never seen that done before like he never saw Stax Vs Daddy at Wembley 1981) and eventually gets a DQ win like he did to regain the British Heavyweight title from Stax in 1979.  Otto Wanz comes down to ringside to confront Haystacks.

Nobody's technical bout but enough of a clash of the titans to keep a German/ Austrian audience full of beer and sausage meat (or equally a WWF audience) happy.

[David Mantell]

1 hour ago, David Mantell said:

(I have another CWA bout of theirs on tape from around the same time where StClair hauls Stax out of the ring and silly old Orig says he's never seen that done before like he never saw Stax Vs Daddy at Wembley 1981) 

Et Voila.

I believe the other commentator is Reslo's Bryn Fon doing a rare English commentary.  This was on a VHS release from the early 90s when there was a wrestling video boom and the shelves of HMV and Virgin Megastore were stuffed to the brim with "WILD CRAZY NO HOLDS BARRED AMERICAN WRESTLING" consisting anything from IWA 1975 to Crockett NWA Worldwide to Memphis 1985 to  the latest WWF WrestleMania or WCW Starrcade (These days you can pick up all these old tapes for £2 a throw from memorabilia fairs or even charity shops now and then).  And as ITV and  plenty of British and Welsh TV footage and yea verily even the odd spot of CWA.  (No Catch Francais tho, although see the Noughties online advert linked to in the France thread.)

Pretty straight Stax squash like the last one with the one BIG hope spot before Stax gets his revenge.

Points of interest: referee Mick McMichael in his kilt, an electronic BEEP instead of a bell for timekeeping, the fact that Haystacks  was a Salford lad who no more came from Kilmashar than he did from the United States of America. Oh yes and 120K spectators in Iraq.  Both Stax and Orig were given to exaggeration so I'm not too interested in the figure but the Iraq booking gives a clue to the state of Saddam's state run promotion after Adnan Al Qaisi bottled the country in the mid 70s - the other reference we have to the Iraqi scene circa 1990 is from PWI's Around The World column on its Wrestling Enquirer pages where Bad New Brown lost to another American (I forget who) in Baghdad December 1990 and the American was quoted as saying his family had been worried but he had no regrets making the trip.

I've turned up a Reslo match of Stax Vs StClair which I shall post to the British Thread.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Bull Power vs. John Quinn I (Wien, Summer '87

The summer of Vader continues. I'm not sure S&M style gear fits Born in the USA, but you can't go wrong with this bout. Quinn gets some nice licks in, Vader hits him back even harder, and then Big Leon assaults the ref. The ref blades, which sends the crowd into a frenzy. Vader gets on the mic and a woman attacks him from behind. Wild scenes in Vienna. Can't wait for the rematch. 

[Robert S]

6 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Bull Power vs. John Quinn I (Wein, Summer '87

(...)

Just a nitpick (as I have seen you doing that spelling mistake a couple of times): the German name of Vienna is "Wien", "Wein" is the German word for "wine" (and even though the Roman name for the town was "Vindobona" and the Old High German word for wine was "win" (derived from the Latin word "vinum"), "Wein" and "Wien" are false friends). I guess native English speakers tend to make that kind of mistakes as the pronounciations of "ei" and "ie" switched between English and German (at least kind of, German "ei" and English "ie" are the some sound; German "ie" is just a long "i" (not as in "I" but as in "India"); see the common WCW production error spelling the Steiners "Stiener".

[ohtani's jacket]

No worries. I fixed a few of them. 

[David Mantell]

On 9/5/2024 at 10:26 AM, David Mantell said:

Where is this venue? It looks like a communal space in the middle of a housing estate. I guess residents can watch for free from the comfort of their windows. It's also broad daylight. (the Quinn Vs Kauroff bout was the same place after dark.)

A very elderly Peter Wilhelm (Otto's business partner and a couple of years later German commentator on Eurosport New Catch) comes down to be referee.

Leon White comes out to Born in the USA, just 2 years after the US Express were using it in the WWF. A little over a year earlier "Babyface Bull" was a white meat babyface challenger to then AWA World Champion Stan Hansen. Now look at him, fresh from having accepted the role of Big Van Vader in New Japan after Jim Hellwig turned it down. Sporting a Road Warrior Hawk haircut and dog collar.  He's also sporting the CWA World title belt which he won off Wanz back home in Colorado and has come to Europe to defend.. Quinn as later that day is the babyface - "Johnny! Johnny!" - coming down to THAT song by Manfred Mann which he also used a lot in England (including Wembley Arena 1979.)

Bull Power has all the same moves as Big Daddy - bodychecks, slam. splash. Quinn has learned since the Daddy feud and blocks the splash with his knees.  Quinn takes over.  Another back and forth slug and punch. Bull attacks Quinn between rounds, Quinn knocks Bull Power out of the ring. Peter's t-shirt gets ripped up revealing one out of shape body. Female fan can be heard getting the giggles. Normally I would take offence but she actually sounds quite sexy and it's not like she's laughing at classic scientific wrestling. Vader turns on Wilhelm and beas him up viciously. I guess that got him DQd. It certainly got him a rematch ...

Later that afternoon with a different referee, sky is darker now. More strength match than a brawl. Bull slaps MJQ who looks like he can't believe someone did that to him. Forearm smashes and clotheslines exchanged. Quinn gets a leg, Bull goes for the ropes. Quinn gets a Big Daddy splash for the first fall and first actual pin of the match series. They brawl outside the ring. Bull Power apparently gets a second straight fall. Another wrestler comes to help Quinn but Bull wallops him and leaves with arms raised.

What Daddy Vs Quinn 1979 would have been if Max Crabtree had allowed Quinn to get any offence in on his big brother.

Otto would regain the title in July. Bull Power would win it again in 1989 and a third time in 1990 beating Rambo to win the vacant title then dropping it to Rambo one last time in 1991 before going to WCW full time as Big Van Vader to replace Lex Luger as Harley Race 's Sith apprentice and Sting's heel nemesis.

 

 

 

7 hours ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Bull Power vs. John Quinn I (Wien, Summer '87

The summer of Vader continues. I'm not sure S&M style gear fits Born in the USA, but you can't go wrong with this bout. Quinn gets some nice licks in, Vader hits him back even harder, and then Big Leon assaults the ref. The ref blades, which sends the crowd into a frenzy. Vader gets on the mic and a woman attacks him from behind. Wild scenes in Vienna. Can't wait for the rematch. 

Was that the first one of the two in my review?

The weirdest thing about that series is Mighty John Quinn as the blue-eye/ babyface. Considering (1) he was a MASSIVE heel in All Star Wrestling on ITV right around this time (2) Bull Power had been a white meat babyface in the AWA as "Baby Bull" Leon White. Or as close to being one as a 300+ pound former American Football player can be.

********************

(Cultural tip. Study that phrase "American Football".  Imagine how glitzy and glamorous it would have sounded to impressionable youth in post WW2 Britain and, allowing for translation, across The Continent. {Bowie, it is said, went through a brief teenage phase of affecting to be an NFL fan despite, at that point in his young life, never yet having actually seen a game.}  Then consider the phrase "American Wrestling" in the same context. This was key to the marketing of the American Wrestling boom from 1989 onwards. And is also why at various points in its history, All Star has billed itself as American Wrestling despite being as British as boiled beef.)

[David Mantell]

Fan cam of an IBV/CWA tournament.  Starts off with one of those Parades of Gladiators they always went in for with German Catch. Salvatore Bellomo already turning into the Wildman (see New Catch bout on the French Catch thread) shadow boxing  exuberantly and looking a bit mid.

Plenty of Brits here- ironically this was filmed the same day as The Final Bell, the Brits are hours into the post TV Era. Steve Wright gets some nice bunches of flowers (a common accolade in Europe and Japan but Americans must think "WTF?") 

Long shots of the venue are amazing. No small town halls or theatres in Germany.

Dave Taylor Vs Cannonball Grizzly played by Paul Neu, the future PN News. At this point not so much a rapper as a punk rocker, sporting a magnificent blond mohican. Taylor can have good scientific matches (as you would expect from the legendary Eric Taylor's nephew) - check him out against Johnny South in 1987, but what can you do with Neu? Have brawls with him mostly. Taylor actually has the height advantage over Neu.  He lets the Cannonball be the dominant monster heel early on, but Taylor gives as good as he gets and eventually scores a KO win after Grizzly takes a table bump outside.