[1953-05-18 Hollywood Legion Stadium] Wild Red Berry vs Fred Blassie

[CurtainJerker]

2/3 falls

Berry was a 26-year veteran here, and Blassie was in for 18 years, which is surprising to me because he acted like a vanilla lower card babyface who was dominated by the crafty Berry.

Blassie as a scientific wrestler here showed none of the charisma we've come to expect from him. Was really outclassed and beguiled by Berry's rulebreaking tactics. Ironically both men would become highly respected heel managers. We can see some of Berry's natural heel charisma as he works the crowd and the ref.

The in-ring work is very dry yet technically sound but I was not entertained, although both men executed their holds well. The finish was not a good payoff (to me) with Blassie tripping over the bottom rope and getting KO'd/bloody.

Not recommended.