SAMS Ragtag 1970s Yearbooks

[ohtani's jacket]

You've listed Jacky Corn twice.

[SAMS]

Thanks for the heads up. Made all the more obvious because it was supposed to be alphabetical! 

[ohtani's jacket]

How about Walter Bordes? I was also wondering whether you watched the Great Malenko vs. Paul Bosch match? 

[SAMS]

Walter Bordes isn't a bad shout for an honourable mention. He only appeared in the single match though, but the parts that a distinctly recall positively from it involved him, including the impressive finishing dive. Maybe if I went back to rewatch it I'd be more inclined to focus in on him a bit more, but at the time he didn't grab me as much as he would in '71. For '70 I think he'd be at most an honourable mention but he'll be a staple in these lists for at least the next couple of years.

And I did watch the Malenko/Boesch match. To put it plainly, I didn't get it, and I thought it better to not write anything about it at all if I wasn't going to write anything productive. In fact I don't think I've got any notes from it at all. My enduring memory was just not buying into Boesch's ability to constantly one up Malenko and it all unravelled from there for me. It was disappointing because it has some nice reviews on this board so I was hoping to get into it. Boesch has another match coming up that I'm far more favourable to however. I haven't got round to watching a second Great Malenko match yet though, so maybe it was just him, or the combination between the two that I was sour on.

[Matt D]

Bordes helps to carry the back quarter of the footage and if someone had him on their GWE list at 65, I wouldn’t question it

[SAMS]

I’m sure he’s good pre ‘70 and I know he’s good afterwards. It’s more of a quirk of my system that he kinda gets left out in the cold for that specific year. Being in only one match that made tape you’d have to have a blow-away performance to even make my “notables” category, a-la Batman. 
But from what I’ve seen I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if somebody had him in their top 100. 

[SAMS]

1971

And wouldn't you know it, a Bordes/Chemoul match was the first from 1971...

1971-01-02
French Catch
Rene Ben Chemoul & Walter Bordes vs. Golden Falcons (Golden Falcon #1 & Golden Falcon #2)
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★
Definitely seek out if you like comedy. It’s not my style but this was undoubtedly a lot of fun. Despite taking the first fall, the Golden Falcons were game to bump all over the shop for their opponents. Bordes was lithe and athletic, with some extraordinary arm drags off the top turnbuckle. Chemoul was certainly more exaggerated in his execution, always over the top and playing up to the crowd, but I preferred Bordes’ approach. All four men had great timing and they were able to deliver the key multi-man spots without things coming across too contrived. I feel like this doesn’t warrant too much complaining, I just wish there had been a smidge more substance.

1971-01-25
French Catch
Gilbert Cesca & Bruno Asquini vs. Les Blousons Noirs (Marcel Manneveau & Claude Gessat)
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★★
I was really taken by the heels here, very much the pantomime villains, but constantly nipping at their opponents, and then they managed to apply some serious heat throughout the second and most of the third fall. I didn’t quite buy Cesca and Asquini’s attempts at cajoling the crowd in their favour, but I guess it didn’t help that this was wrestled inside what looked like a ginormous tent, with the crowd pushed way back and all the dead space just operating as a way for the energy in the venue to escape.
I did appreciate how by the time we got to the third fall it seemed like the Blouson Noirs’ consistent pressure had really worn their opponents down and they were struggling to conjure the energy to tag in and out, let alone put up a fight. It wasn’t until the action tumbled to the outside and we had a little brawling, that Cesca and Asquini were able to turn the tables, and within a few minutes it did feel like the dam had broken and the dire straits the faces had found themselves in was mirrored by the heels current predicament. A beautiful backflip escape out of the corner by Cesca set up a killer missile dropkick from Asquini which promptly downed Manneveau and secured the victory.

[SAMS]

1971-02-08
French Catch
Jacky Montalier vs. La Bete Humaine
France
★
La Bete Humaine was one of those oddity gimmicks, which had him wearing some strange mask that only let his blonde/white goatee peek through. The name of the game was to keep the monster contained, which Jacky tried to do valiantly, but this careened between the monster no-selling his attacks entirely or them working competent, but ultimately uninspired, holds. 
The referee was never safe in this one either, at one point getting his shirt torn from his body in a spot I can’t believe didn’t result in a DQ, and we had the bizarre sight of him having to referee topless for several minutes until somebody brought out a new shirt from the back. He tried to break up a headlock in the ropes later on and ended up getting tossed to the floor for his troubles, the same fate awaited some other poor schlub post match as well.
This had some minor moments, but was far too long for what either man was able to do. They could have trimmed this down to a neat 10 minutes and it would have been considerably better, at over 20 there was far too much chaff.

1971-02-08
WWWF
Ivan Koloff (c) vs. Pedro Morales
WWWF World Heavyweight Title Match
Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA
Card
★★
Looks like there’s around 10 minutes missing of this. It’s pretty well clipped as it wasn’t clear exactly when the cuts were made and I would have believed this was a complete 14 minute match. While Koloff was noticeably larger than he would become later in his career, Morales essentially looks exactly the same, which I guess is a testament to him. This was all worked very simply, both men trying to ground their opponent to gain the upper hand. The action itself wasn’t particularly interesting but the atmosphere was electric. Even with a terrible JR commentary track dubbed over the footage, you could tell the fans in attendance were rabid. Pedro merely grabbing a side headlock or succeeding in body charging Koloff to the mat was enough to earn rapturous applause. 
Things escalated quite nicely as both men had to take risks in the pursuit of victory. Koloff went for his knee drop off the top that put Bruno away 3 weeks earlier, but this time he was wide of the mark. Pedro followed suit but this time his aerial crossbody actually connected for a huge 2 count. Koloff seemed to rally, but Pedro kicked off the ropes during a backdrop suplex attempt and lifted his shoulders at the last second while Koloff was beneath him and he was the new champion. MSG was positively unglued. Great scenes for an okay match.

[SAMS]

1971-02-22
French Catch
Le Petit Prince & Francis Louis vs. Jacky Richard & Daniel Noced
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★★★
Petit Prince showcase. He clearly had incredible proprioception. His arm drags were fantastic and tightly executed. Did feel at points during the first 10 minutes or so that they were cycling in Prince, let him do something awesome, tag him out, wait around a bit and do nothing, tag him back in, rinse and repeat. Things really picked up when the heels were able to apply some sustained heat. Noced was demonstrably nastier than Richard and all the better for it. Slammin Prince face-first into the mat, slapping him in the face, straight up booting him in the back. They worked that heat for a while, slowly riling up the crowd, then executed a fantastic missed tag from the referee that prevented a face comeback before killing Prince to win the first fall. Prince is noticeably smaller than the other three so not only is he a fantastic high flyer but he’s built to sell in this context too. 
The beatdown continued in the second fall but this time we got the payoff. Louis didn’t do much throughout this match but he at least had his moment to clean house and lay everybody out with a series of uppercuts. Of course he promptly tagged a spent Prince back in who got dominated immediately. Prince got posted by Noced and the action spilled to the outside. We almost got a crowd brawl until security stepped in. Once the carnage had died down Richard was laid out in the ring for some reason and Prince was bleeding from the head. With Noced a man down Prince clearly showed that he wanted this all to himself and had Louis stand down and we suddenly had ourselves a singles match. Prince valiantly went for it, but the blood loss and the previous beatings had taken their toll, and with Noced tied up in the ropes Prince collapsed in the ring and somebody from the ringside area was forced to throw in the white towel.

1971-03-02
JWA - Dynamic Big Series - Day 8
B-I Cannon (Antonio Inoki & Giant Baba) (c) vs. Mil Mascaras & Spiros Arion
NWA International Tag Team Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Kuramae Kokugikan, Japan, Tokyo
Card
★★★
A really well structured match. The focal point seemed to be Mascaras, and how he paired up against both members of B-I Cannon. I have to say Mascaras feels like a completely different worker jumping back 10 years. Unsurprisingly he’s a little sprier, a little nimbler, but he also came across supremely motivated and we got the whole gamut of him working 50/50 with Inoki to start, running into a brick wall matched up against Baba, finding his groove and sealing the first fall against Inoki again, before Inoki triumphed in the third, getting his revenge by submitting Mascaras and securing the victory. This really gave us a holistic look at everything Mascaras could bring to the table and I’m immediately much more interested in following up and watching the rest of his 70s work.
In regards to B-I Cannon, both men equipped themselves extremely well. They clearly had two defining roles that differed from one another. Inoki is obviously the number two. He and Mascaras worked a relatively intricate matwork sequence to start. 5+ minutes of engaging hold exchanges where neither man could really gain the advantage but both looked good. Then Baba tagged in and the whole complexion changed. Mascaras tried all his usual tricks and Baba was having none of it, using his massive size advantage to completely nullify the Mexican. Eventually Mascaras’ frustration got the best of him and he uncorked a hellacious slap to Baba’s face, and with no hesitation Baba returned in kind with one on Mascaras’ chest that thundered around the arena. 
Mascaras’ high flying was too much for Inoki and a couple flying headbutts put him away. The champions were quickly level though as a huge flying stomp off the top ropes from Baba put Spiros away in short order. Then as I mentioned, Inoki flipped the switch on Mascaras and had him reeling before locking on his Octopus Hold to get the submission.
Spiros was the only one here I was lukewarm on. He didn’t get much of a chance to shine, overshadowed by his partner, but in the moments he did get involved in the action he looked decidedly the least of the four. The other three men however, each gave great showings.

[SAMS]

1971-03-12
French Catch
Billy Catanzaro & Gilbert Lemagourou vs. Albert Sanniez & Bob Remy
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★★
Absolutely chock-a-block with action for the entire 30 minutes. They didn’t drop the pace for one second and just kept going at a mile a minute. This led to things kind of feeling inconsequential at points, overall it just lacked the gravitas of a truly great match, but for a barn burner, fun, comedy-style match, it certainly delivered the goods.
Gilbert Lemagourou was decent as a stooge, with pretty good timing and had nice synergy with Catanzaro, but Catanzaro was the star of his team. He was working from the opening introductions, immediately projecting his character and setting the expectations of the audience. On the other side I thought that Remy was serviceable, but Sanniez just had more credibility and was a far better apron worker. 
While I’d certainly describe this as spotty, there were rhythms to the match, it wasn’t a constant free for all. The faces got a solid shine and several stretches where they had Catanzaro and Lemagourou in disarray, but in the same vein the heels were able to cut the ring in half and work over one of their opponents and manipulate the referee to build some kind of heat.

1971-03-15
WWWF
Pedro Morales (c) vs. Blackjack Mulligan
WWWF Heavyweight Title Match
Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA
Card
★
Really simple match. Had a frenzied crowd but there wasn’t much to the actual work. Mulligan would tease the foreign object within his tights, the crowd would respond, eventually he’d secure it, nail Pedro in the face with a punch, Pedro would sell, then a headlock or nerve hold on the mat. At points Pedro would get fired up and throw a few punches, and his intensity was admirable here no doubt, but then he’d go to a side headlock and they’d bring it back down again. Controlling the tempo of a match is good and all, but usually when it’s going 30+, not when bell to bell the match lasted all of 14 minutes. 
The finish was fun, with Pedro getting one over Mulligan by tapping him on the back to give him the impression that the referee had declared him the winner, then capitalising on his confusion to dropkick him into the corner and then come off the top with the finishing blow. Also an indication of how wild the crowd was, they threw many things into the ring throughout the match, and one object splattered right on Mulligan’s head and he had to take a minute on the apron to collect himself.

[SAMS]

1971-04-14
JP - World of Sport
Zoltan Boscik vs. Jon Cortez
Bedford Corn Exchange, Bedford, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
★★★★
Some of the slickest technical wrestling you’ll see that never veered into the overly-cooperative, then they pivoted to a more gritty gruelling affair over the second half. Both taken separate were excellent, but together provided a really interesting and varied viewing experience. Boscik really impressed me with his ability to transition between holds or from an escape straight into a counter. Things never escalated too far at any point, but there was chippiness no doubt, and it was Zoltan who initiated, all lending itself to a strong sense of true competition. Cortez impressed me by just how fully formed he already was. From what I can find it seems like he’d already been a professional for over 10 years, having debuted in ‘60-61, which just seems crazy to me. He looked relatively spry in ‘80 when I first saw him. If you’d said he was barely 30 years old at that point I’d believe you. Here he barely looks 20, but it seems like the whole package is already there. 
Boscik was the former champion and perhaps the favourite while Cortez was the fans’ preferred participant. Boscik was the aggressor but things were relatively even between the two men. However they still got across that Cortez’s win here was an upset of sorts, or at least a decent scalp on his part. The finish is good, but it isn’t great, and a truly hot finishing stretch is the only thing to ding the match. But then again finishes have never been a strong suit in World of Sport anyway.

1971-04-26
French Catch
Jimmy Dula vs. Andre Drapp
France
★
I’ll give them credit, there was some meaty grappling to be had here. They would look on a headlock and it really felt like they were squeezing down on their opponent. Dula slowly upped the chicanery with some rule bending as the match wore on, then Drapp got admonished by the referee in turn when he retaliated, but otherwise this really felt like it lacked any imagination at all, especially for something that went to a 30 minute time limit draw. I was bored by the halfway mark and was desperate for it to end by the time we hit 20.

1971-05-07
French Catch
Bobby Genele & Guy Renault vs. Michel Saulnier & Pedro Cabrera
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★★★
Exceptionally brisk first act which had both teams roughly go 50/50 with each other, the exception being Genele, who sparked a chorus of boos whenever he entered and he was the most likely to mix things up a bit. As they rounded into the final third of the first fall, Renault fell in line with his partner and this devolved from a nifty juniors tag showcase into a nasty beatdown in the most delicious way, with Cabrera caught on the wrong side of the ring. Renault and Genele upped the viciousness and routinely resorted to just punting their opponent in the back with kicks, but it was all done expertly, pulling off an exquisite hot tag hope spot as they really squeezed everything out of the audience before giving them the payoff with Cabrera snatching the flash pin on Genele.
The first fall was certainly the peak of the match, but the rest of it didn’t fall too far from grace. As much as I liked Genele’s attitude, oozing contempt as he dished it out, it was Renault who went the furthest to stooge and play the fool to be the proper foil the team of Saulnier and Cabrera needed. Almost mirroring their excellent work to tease hot tags and then quell them in interesting ways in the first, a lot of the second and third falls had comedic routines around the heels tagging in and out. One would tag in, immediately become overwhelmed and call for the tag before his partner has even managed to catch his breath. You could see the frustration and hesitation from the man on the apron each time and the crowd were lapping it up. 
Well structured, well executed, fast action to start, hard hitting and engaging to finish. All four men came out of this smelling like roses, nailing their roles precisely and this for sure is a MOTY contender.

[SAMS]

1971-05-19
French Catch
Batman & Paco Ramirez vs. Inca Wiracocha & Don Gonzalez
France
★★★
This was an extremely competent single fall tag team match. Each team had their lesser worker, Ramirez and Wiracocha respectively, but neither were bad by any means. Ramirez had great fire, especially on the apron when his partner was being double teamed, and he could execute an incredible back bump when eating meaty uppercuts, while Wiracocha hit his marks and had good timing, but lacked the charisma of his partner. Speaking of Gonzalez (if he in fact was the one with the receding hairline) I was thoroughly impressed. Bruising uppercuts, but when given the opportunity he showed that he could hang when it came to exchanging holds and working more intricate sequences. This is becoming a theme in these French tags, but again here they displayed a wondrous ability to make a Full Nelson a compelling hold, with Gonzalez and Batman specifically doing a counter to the counter series that was very pleasing on the eyes. But what underpinned everything was the casual excellence of Batman. He’s fast becoming one of my absolute favourite wrestlers. It felt like he was only really going half speed here as well but every little thing he did felt spot on, well timed, executed with a nonchalant grace, especially for a man of his size. It’s a testament to him that he was working so hard and so well that he made it look so easy, or that it was so unbelievably easy and he could hardly work at all and still get the same results. I’m not sure.
In terms of the overall match, it suffers from never really escalating to that level you’d want, either technically or emotionally. It stays within its box until the finish without deviating too far, the only real step up coming when they finally manage to ground Batman and start to work him over. Even so it was a breeze to watch and thoroughly entertaining.

1971-05-19
JWA - The 13th Annual World League - Day 40
Antonio Inoki vs. The Destroyer
World League 1971 Semi Final Match
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan
Card
★★
I’m not exactly sure how this tournament played out to pit Inoki vs Destroyer in the semi finals. The World League traditionally split the participants into two groups, a Japanese group and a foreigner group. The curious thing is all records I can find online indicate that Sakaguchi and Baba lead the Japanese side, and Inoki isn’t even mentioned as being involved. So not sure how he snuck in here. Also why is this the semi final while the Baba vs Abdullah match that followed was the final? 
In regards to the match, Destroyer stood out, perhaps more for his character work: shouting out to pop the crowd, ordering one of the ringside wrestlers to the back for being in his landing space when he tumbled to the outside, and his general interactions with the referee. These were all fun moments dotted throughout but the actual action between him and Inoki was pretty dry. Nothing felt like it had any meaning or import until they started duelling over their signature submission holds. Destroyer won that battle, locking on his figure four, which resulted in the finish of them refusing to break the hold, rolling to the outside, and getting counted out.
Technically both were pretty decent, but decent was the ceiling. Inoki’s performance was so contained and internal, there was nothing to indicate that he was Antonio bloody Inoki. He could literally have been any other guy. Coming in completely oblivious somebody could have convinced me he was a generic mid carder.

1971-05-19
JWA - The 13th Annual World League - Day 40
Abdullah The Butcher vs. Giant Baba
World League 1971 Final Match
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan
Card
★★
All too brief with an anticlimactic ending. It was jarring how trim Abdullah looked at this point, and when he wanted to he was pretty spry moving around the ring as well. He gained the advantage from the jump and immediately took Baba to the outside to deal as much damage as he could. He pivoted to the tried and true method of using the concealed weapon to draw blood, putting the onus on Baba to dig deep and fire back. Baba’s selling of the weapon attacks were blah to me, but he had great intensity during his hope spots. The first chop he connected with let out an audible crack that belied the power behind it. He managed to reverse the momentum and did a number on Abdullah on the outside, drawing blood himself, before they transitioned to the premature finish. A Baba big boot followed by a dropkick drew two near falls that the crowd bit on, then Abdullah stabbed Baba in the throat allowing him to go for a running elbow drop. Baba rolled out of range at the last moment and covered a reeling Abdullah for the win. 
This was both exactly what I’d expect from a match between these two and still disappointing. I have no idea why it only had to last 7 minutes, as it didn’t give enough time to adequately put Baba into a hole and then allow him to climb out of it, and Abdullah bleeding just sort of happened, therefore it lacked any narrative import it could have had to bolster Baba’s ultimate comeback. Nothing overtly bad here but I feel like it could, and should, have been better.

[fxnj]

You underrated the hell of out that Mascaras/Inoki tag. The mat exchanges between them blow my mind every time I watch it.

[SAMS]

I thought I came away from that match with a rather favourable view of it actually. I'm down more than most on Baba I'd say, and Mascaras certainly isn't one of my favourites either, but I thought everyone apart from Spirios came away from that match looking pretty great. 

On 6/20/2024 at 12:07 PM, SAMS said:

He [Inoki] and Mascaras worked a relatively intricate matwork sequence to start. 5+ minutes of engaging hold exchanges where neither man could really gain the advantage but both looked good. Then Baba tagged in and the whole complexion changed. 

That's what I said about the Inoki/Mascaras pairing specifically. From what I remember it was good enough to point out, but not necessarily good enough to rave about. The key takeaway for me was how Mascaras worked differently based on whether he was matched up against Baba or Inoki, which I thought was really interesting and impressive.

Overall I thought it was a really good match that I thoroughly enjoyed but I didn't consider it a MOTY contender or anything. A 3* rating in my mind is an extremely solid one, as it encaptures the whole range from 3 - 3 3/4, and this would have been at the upper end of that range.

[SAMS]

1971-06-14
French Catch
Der Henker & Kamikaze vs. Jacky Corn & Gilbert LeDuc
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★★
I wasn’t much of a fan of the first fall at all. There was promise in it but it had no forward momentum. Der Henker was at least big and burly, but Kamikaze’s gimmick screamed poor worker trying to get over by doing something weird. Also the team of him and Henker feels like it literally only existed because they both wore masks. 
From the second fall onwards this was significantly better. Henker turned into a hoss machine, obliterating his opponents with piledrivers. One sent LeDuc to the back, leaving poor old Jacky Corn to fend for himself. He managed to gut out one piledriver, but he couldn’t take another and the heels levelled the match. Then to start the third, Corn remained on an island, with no partner to tag in, and the merciless beating continued. Easily the best stretch of the match as Corn’s selling here was fantastic and Henker played his role to perfection. LeDuc made the triumphant comeback and the faces went over, but not before he cleared house with a series of brutal uppercuts. Apart from a few big bumps near the finish Kamikaze was pretty useless, but the other three all were excellent from the midway point onwards.

1971-06-14
French Catch
Mota Dos Santos & Pierre Payen vs. Francis Louis & Jean Claude Bordeaux
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★★
Not a classic example of technical mastery, but I loved the frenetic savagery of the heels, a great example that it’s not really what you do that matters but how you do it. They garnered so much heat from the crowd just by being scrappy little bastards and it was glorious. The match peaked with a legitimately bonkers scrap on the outside that stood out more because this kind of thing doesn’t seem to happen often in the French footage. It really had the sense that things were getting unhinged. In the end the faces were able to come from behind to win, which felt like a pretty big upset actually based on the match as a whole. I could take or leave the faces to be honest, but I’d be eager to see Santos and Payen again for sure.

[SAMS]

1971-06-29
French Catch
Jacky Richard vs. Angelito
France
★★
Very much felt like a dress rehearsal for the majority of the first half. Richard provided the foundation for Angelito to show off his aerial skills and then he’d counter with his weight and size advantage but the whole vibe was “you do this, then I’ll counter, you spin, I’ll grab an armlock, then reverse” etc. All too deliberate, pedestrian and nothing was internalised or organic in terms of the action. Things got far better when Richard was allowed off the leash to just be a mean bastard and it all started to click into place. He was tugging at Angelito’s mask throughout and eventually Angelito had enough and tore it off himself, popping the crowd and mounting a furious comeback. He also was much better on the back nine, tapping into a bit more intensity once he was removed from the hood. We had a female referee, something I presume was a rarity for the time, and as Richard’s frustration grew he tried to lunge at her and ate a huge armdrag for his troubles. It didn’t get much better for him and Angelito wrapped things up with a flying crossbody.
Significantly better in the second half once they both settled into their roles. Richard was legitimately good as a rough housing heel but Angelito was merely serviceable, even with the uptick in quality after he took off his mask.

1971-07-24
French Catch
Maurice Dumez vs. Inca Peruano
France
★★
I was really taken with Dumez to start with. He was clearly technically proficient but with that added physicality that gave an extra oomph to his work. A couple times he’d grab a wrist lock and almost do a backflip from a kneeling position to wrench in the hold and roll Peruano through for a pretty spectacular visual. Peruano was one of those guys with an awesome face who wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Leone spaghetti western. He seemed to be falling behind going toe to toe with Dumez straight up so he did an excellent job mixing things up, switching tact to a more scrappy brawling style and was able to break up the cadence of the match to prevent Dumez from always being on the front foot. If the match had continued on in the same vein as the first 5 or so minutes this could have been really good, but they lost some of the steam, fell into a holding pattern of sorts, especially with Peruano in control, Dumez’s pretty wooden selling didn’t help, nor did the referee’s penchant for getting overly involved, and the back half of the match kind of felt like “stuff happening” rather than a natural escalation of the narrative. Having said that I would eagerly watch further matches that featured either of these two men. I’m not sure it quite clicked this time round but the elements were all there.

[SAMS]

1971-07-31
French Catch
Gilbert LeDuc vs. Der Henker
France
★★
LeDuc has such a world-weary face that was excellent at projecting the damage from Henker’s early bombs without going overboard. In return he leant heavily on his trademark headspin, both as an escape and to apply extra pressure when applying a headscissors. However, after the initial 5 minutes, which were very good, I could have done without an extended stretch of Henker applying a claw to LeDuc’s trapezius, or an even longer stretch with LeDuc controlling the bigger man. For too much of this it felt like two equals going at it, and LeDuc had the far better of it, but the best parts were when Henker was able to gain an advantage and use his size to dominate. The final five minutes saw Henker finally pull out a tombstone, push for the victory, only for LeDuc to make an admittedly excellent fiery comeback. His frenetic flurry of forearms to Henker bundled up in the ropes being a particular highlight. LeDuc rode that wave of momentum to victory, and they presented it as a momentous result, but I wonder if it would have felt so much better if he’d had more to overcome. In my opinion he took far too much of this match and it made Henker come across as just some other guy, rather than the hoss king he’d been portrayed as up to this point. 

1971-08-05
JWA - Summer Big Series - Day 12
Antonio Inoki (c) vs. Jack Brisco
NWA United National Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Card
★★★★ ¼ 
Inoki still didn’t feel quite like Inoki yet. That trademark charisma didn’t burst forth from him as it would later on in his career, and this kind of match, as good as it is already, could have been an all-time classic if he’d been able to tap into that. Inoki was still really good, and more than held up his end, but Brisco’s performance might be the best of the decade so far. Incredibly broad and layered and literally hit all the marks you’d want. From the opening bell both men were strategically pushing to gain a clear advantage and any move that hit was suitably sold as having a real detrimental effect. The opening sequence was a battle for positioning and Inoki came out on top and managed to lean heavily on a reverse chinlock. Brisco’s eventual counter was a shinbreaker and he immediately transitioned into ruthlessly targeting Inoki’s leg which seamlessly flowed into attempting a figure four. Brisco was in the ascendancy but Inoki managed a flash counter of his own, pulling out an impressive Boston Crab, which again they managed to flow brilliantly into Brisco getting caught up in the ropes, where usually you’d have a limb or neck getting caught, here it was Brisco’s entire midsection, applying more pressure to that weakened midsection. Once he got clear Inoki tried to put the nail in the coffin with a Cobra Twist but another flash counter, this time from Brisco, caught Inoki by surprise and he snatched the first fall from the jaws of defeat.
Inoki came from behind to win the whole thing, first with a German Suplex and then finally by locking on that Cobra Twist he hadn’t been able to apply earlier to submit Brisco. To Inoki’s credit, it didn’t feel undeserved, but the ultimate victory didn’t have the big moment feel that a similar circumstance would have felt in say 1980. But I can’t overstate how impressed I was with Brisco. He beautifully evolved from confidently starting that second fall in the lead, and in control, to starting that third fall absolutely reeling. He was scrappy and gritty when needed, almost playing a pseudo heel, viciously going after Inoki’s weak points whenever one opened up. In the matwork sequences he always, and I mean always, worked to escape or reverse the momentum when Inoki was in the ascendancy and I loved his selling, either of the back after the Boston Crab, the head after getting stuck in a headlock for a prolonged period of time or his hand while in a keylock. Just note perfect.

[SAMS]

1971-08-13
Houston Wrestling
George Harris vs. Paul Boesch
Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, Texas, USA
Card
★★
I much preferred this to the Great Malenko match, merely due to the fact that Boesch getting offense in and winning felt far more believable in this context. George Harris was billed at 400lb, announced as the ‘Baby Blimp’ and disparagingly called the ‘Pink Elephant’ by Boesch himself on commentary. He definitely was plump but he wasn’t that big, but they used his size to great effectiveness here. It was essentially a comedy match, but really grounded, and all the action felt organic, believable and true to the characters of the two wrestlers. What really makes this though is Boesch’s aforementioned commentary, which was excellent. The psychology of the match was simple, but I felt by having somebody so explicitly, and charmingly, describe the action and from the mindset of one of the participants, it made everything feel more tangible and relatable. Something as simple as a monkey flip felt like a far greater achievement when he was describing the effort it took to just lift the lump that was his opponent off the mat. Nothing mind blowing, but very fun and definitely worth checking out.

1971-08-21
French Catch
Mammoth Siki vs. L'Homme Masque
France
★★
Two hulking big men going at it. Despite probably being the larger of the two, L’Homme Masque proved to be remarkably ineffective to start this, Siki able to get the upper hand seemingly at will, and any time he was in any spot of trouble he could resort to a headbutt to completely neutralise his opponent. This didn’t quite work for me as instead of it just feeling like Siki was winning out in an even contest, he was completely dominating his opponent in a manner that just felt unnatural and unrealistic. At twenty five minutes this ran far too long for what it was, but the finish was a fun bit of nonsense, with the referee berating L’Homme Masque and his frustration boiling over and he used the little man as a lawn dart. Siki returned the favour a couple minutes later though and this time he managed to make the cover for the win.

[SAMS]

1971-09-04
JWA - Summer Mystery Series - Day 12
Giant Baba (c) vs. Fritz von Erich
NWA International Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Denen Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan
Card
★★★
A little too much Iron Claw spamming, this would have been even better if Fritz had been more judicious with how often he teased the move, but he more than made up for it with his character work and how bruising and hard hitting he was with his strikes. His punches, clubs, kicks all felt like they were completely rocking Baba and he had a knack for making the sound of the connection reverberate around the arena. Much of the first fall was excellent, and Baba’s strategy to try and attack the hand was sound, but his comeback and subsequent win of the first fall felt far too lightweight and unearned. After getting pretty much dominated, it only took a couple dropkicks to grab the pin and I just felt like Baba needed a more sustained comeback for it to work properly.
I’m really trying but Baba continues to do very little for me, and here I’d say he was a net neutral until Fritz finally locked on that Claw. Baba was admittedly very good at selling the hold, squirming and writhing in pain and I loved the exaggerated panting he was doing in an attempt to gut through it. But Fritz lifted him from the head, dragged him clear of the ropes and settled into the hold in the middle of the ring and Baba had no choice but to submit. It looked like the third would finish the same as the second, however Fritz decided for some reason to ignore the referee’s five count and got himself disqualified for an undeniably shitty finish.
Fritz was excellent, he perhaps just needed a tad more variety in his approach. Baba could sell the Claw but I couldn’t point to much else that he did that really stood out to me. A better finish to the first and third falls would have gone a great deal to making this a classic match though.

1971-09-20
French Catch
Rene Ben Chemoul & Walter Bordes vs. Anton Tejero & Antonio Montoro
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★
The big takeaway was how much better Bordes was than Chemoul. His offense was grittier, more athletic, more urgent, and those uppercuts, my lord. Where all of Chemoul’s attacks were all about the show, Bordes seemed like he was decapitating his opponents with his uppercuts. He was also the one asked to sell when they transitioned to the heat, something he was pretty solid at, albeit not outstanding. 
Montoro hit a crazy spinning backbreaker in the second fall, and both heels were perfectly capable of keeping up with the frenetic pace of the initial shine, but otherwise they came across relatively bland and forgettable to me, especially when the onus shifted to them to drive the match in the second. All the best parts were when Bordes was behind the wheel really.

[SAMS]

1971-10-18
French Catch
M'boba Les Congolais & Pierre Bernaert vs. Vasilios Mantopolous & Jean Claude Trijo
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★★
Mantopolous was certainly the star of the show, but if Bernaert hadn’t been there to work as an effective foil I’m not sure how good this actually would have ended up being. Bernaert was like one of those great character actors you throw into a film in a supporting role just to ensure that the whole thing ties together, and he was excellent within his role. Great timing, but most importantly he set the tone for his team’s role throughout the match. He and M’boba built up to a great sequence of miscommunications, resulting in Bernaert getting clobbered by his teammate or accidentally missing an attack and tumbling to the outside, and you could see him slowly becoming more and more frustrated with his partner and with the match in general. Minute by minute descending into “fuck this, I’m over it” territory as the momentum shifted away.
Mantopolous had an air of Rene Ben Chemoul about him, which probably was my least favourite aspect of his work, as he often spent far too long pandering for crowd reactions with the exact same mannerisms that Chemoul uses. He also wasn’t asked to sell that much, that was his partner’s job, but when required to ramp up the pace and dominate his opponents he was completely up to the task. He had a good variety of moves to make sure that the action stayed fresh and vibrant over the 40 minute runtime and he kept on working from the apron when he’d tagged out. Trijo and M’boba grew on me slightly as the match wore on but I’d say they were at best serviceable here. Trijo was just shy of being a net positive while M’boba narrowly avoided being a net negative in my mind.

1971-11-01
French Catch
Jacky Corn & Gass Doukhan vs. Les Blousons Noirs (Marcel Manneveau & Claude Gessat)
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★
Blousons Noirs were such a great heel tag team. Just in all aspects, they were really good. Manneveau felt like the leader, orchestrating events, but Gessat’s curmudgeonliness worked so well as an extension of whatever Marcel was doing that it made them feel so interesting at all times. The best moment for them was probably when they were working Doukhan over in their corner and Gessat was mercilessly stomping his exposed hand over and over again from the apron.
Corn was surprisingly passive here, allowing Doukhan to take most of the match. He was decent, but it felt to me like he was still piecing everything together. Considering how good the heels were this should have been very good, and if Corn had been more prominent or more interested, or if Doukhan had been a tad more developed, this would have been. Corn had his moments here and there when he’d uncork a massive uppercut, but they were too few and far between and he’d always recede back into the background pretty shortly afterwards. 

[SAMS]

1971-11-29
JP - World of Sport
Ray Steele vs. Larry Coulton
De Montfort Hall, Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
★★
The crowd were really reserved for this, and to be honest they weren’t given much to get stirred up about for the most part. This was Larry Coulton’s TV debut and he’d eventually become better known as Black Jack Mulligan. He came across decidedly novice-like in comparison to the more experienced Steele and that could have contributed to the narrative awkwardness. He had a good stretch working a few leg holds on Steele, but it was all measured and at best “solid” work, and there was nothing of note until Steele inexplicably took offense to something and punted Coulton in the back. It got across that Steele had a dangerous edge that perhaps it wouldn’t be wise to mess with, and they played this up at several other points in the match, but it was far too scattershot and I don’t feel like they leaned enough into that being the true narrative of the match. In fact Coulton was barely heelish at all until right at the end when he began cutting corners just to stay in the match at all, and Steele was just as likely to overstep the mark himself, so I thought Walton’s indignation was a bit overblown. In the end Steele did manage to put his opponent away with three consecutive dropkicks which put Coulton down for the count.

1971-11-29
JP - World of Sport
The Royals (Bert Royal & Vic Faulkner) vs The Saints (Roy St. Clair & Tony St. Clair)
De Montfort Hall, Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
★★★
The pace never dropped, the action never waned, a Royals match through and through but the Saints were with them every step of the way. Roy was the larger of the two brothers, but Tony, the more established, was also the more polished. Roy’s size advantage added a nice wrinkle to his matchups against the diminutive Faulkner but otherwise the better sequences always had Tony in the ring. 
When I first was exposed to the Royals, at a point much later in their career, it was Faulkner and his antics that caught my eye. Bert always kind of felt like the Dory of the team while Vic was Terry, the lifeblood providing the energy. At this earlier period though, and increasingly as I watch more of them, Faulkner’s schtick has started to tire for me but Bert’s stock continues to rise. While Faulkner’s tricks sometimes feel like they are done just for show, Royal’s flourishes always feel like functional flash. He really felt like the standout to me here, grounding the lighthearted action with a real gritty, and for lack of a better word, grappling quality. His exchange with Roy that resulted in the first fall felt wholly earned, with both men going back and forth with counters, but there was an element of struggle that added a great deal of import to the resulting pin, in a way that a lot of pinfalls in WoS usually don’t have.

[SAMS]

1971-12-04
JWA - World Champion Series - Day 12
Antonio Inoki (c) vs. Dick Murdoch
NWA United National Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Miyagi Prefectural Sports Center, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Card
★★
They really committed to the matwork for the first fall, which comprised most of the match, but it felt too stilted and they couldn’t figure out a decent flow together, resulting in a few obvious miscommunications and mistimings which could have been covered up by treating them as opportunities to pounce on their opponent but instead just came across like botches forcing them to reset.
Murdoch took the first fall with a brainbuster suplex, which they called back to later for a decent near fall, but there was very little of that trademark Murdoch flair and Inoki again gave a relatively constrained performance, his reaction to the match’s finish almost felt like he was surprised to have emerged victorious. Overall a decent bout but something I had higher expectations for.

1971-12-09
JWA - World Champion Series - Day 15
Dory Funk Jr. (c) vs. Seiji Sakaguchi
NWA World Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan
Card
★★★★
The opening exchanges showed Dory as functionally effective, but effective nonetheless and Sakaguchi’s size and style worked as a great foil. Dory tried to go for a double arm suplex early only for Sakaguchi to block it, but this got over the threat of the champion and his deadliest weapon. Sakaguchi worked his way into it though and a deathlock had Dory reeling. The damage to his leg saw Dory give some of his best, certainly his most expressive, selling I’ve ever seen from him, as he was stumbling all over the ring unable to plant that left leg and he was forced to bail to the outside and receive some TLC from Terry and Murdoch. 
As the first fall went on the crowd got more and more behind Sakaguchi, and he was almost the perfect babyface here. The vibe was that this match was for Sakaguchi to test himself in uncharted waters. He could sink or swim but against the World Champion he might be a little over his head. In this first fall though he was solidly exceeding expectations and they nailed the slow build of momentum that led to him eventually securing that first fall to rapturous applause. I personally loved the fact that despite winning it seemed like he’d spent himself in the effort, and Dory, a fall down, was still the favourite, with superior stamina and experience.
Sakaguchi had his moments in the following two falls, but he was swimming against the tide. I would have liked the finish to the second to have been more of a strong punctuation, but instead we just got a single backdrop suplex. But Sakaguchi had managed to avoid yet another double arm suplex to continue to frustrate the champion. He couldn’t pull off the same trick a third time though and it was a forgone conclusion when Dory covered him for the pin and the victory.
Both men played their roles to perfection. Dory gave Sakaguchi a ton, making it relatively believable that a title switch might be on the cards, while still preserving his own aura and the sense that he had the necessary nous to pull out the win. For Sakaguchi, he was able to lean into the crowd support they had for him by displaying some fantastic pluck, making him come across like somebody you just can’t help but root for. 

[SAMS]

1971-12-12
JWA - World Champion Series - Day 17
Dick Murdoch & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Michiaki Yoshimura & Seiji Sakaguchi
All Asia Tag Team Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan
Card
★★★
Dory and Sakaguchi proved that their match three days earlier was no fluke. Yoshimura was decent and Murdoch was even good here I’d say, but they were both decidedly supporting characters to the main two guys for each team. The first fall was slightly pedestrian, eventually building to Dory hitting his double arm suplex on Sakaguchi to invert the fall format of their singles match. But Sakaguchi came roaring back to start the second and the run to the finish from there was fantastic. 
It is quite jarring to see Dory at this point in time, firmly in his prime he almost comes across like a completely different wrestler. As his career becomes framed better in my mind the latter portion feels more as if he was cruising through, good and even great at times, but he no longer had anything to prove, and after Terry became NWA champion he always felt like he was in his younger brother’s shadow to some degree. Here however he’s the man, the world champion and it feels like he does have something to prove and is motivated to do so. There was still the same mechanically sound, brutal offense, but with added vigour, a commitment to real expressive selling and displays of characterisation that he completely stripped back as he got older.
Sakaguchi was lucky enough to work his two taped matches against Dory, perhaps he wouldn’t have looked as great against a lesser opponent. But while I know it’s the wrong conclusion to take away from these matches, in a vacuum based on 1971 matches alone, it would be he, not Baba and not Inoki, who I would have thought was the real star. I guess both of those men had already firmly established themselves by this point, but the reactions Sakaguchi was producing in Osaka and Tokyo surpassed anything else I saw in Japan for this year.

1971-12-14
French Catch
Petit Prince & Michel Saulnier vs. Bobby Genele & Guy Renault 
France
★★★
Petit Prince is just the perfect combo of exciting offense paired with a diminutive frame suited to taking a beatdown. Here he and Saulnier were able to show up the heels to start, displaying that breathtaking junior style, before the heels turned the tables and Prince took a hell of a beating.
As good as the initial shine was, it was what you’d expect from one of these French tags, and then suddenly Genele uncorked a hellacious kick right into Prince’s chest that let out an audible crack that resonated around the arena and just like that the tone had changed. Genele may have kicked things off but Renault was the more brazen and aggressive throughout. Their tactic was simple but brutally effective - to ignore the rules and to do a fuck ton of stomps. 
The heels were able to keep their foot on the throat to maintain control most of the way, but without choking off the energy of the match. The faces were able to get enough moments to shine, big comebacks from Saulnier and spirited sequences from Prince, but always the heels were able to take a short cut, use their good synergy with each other and wrestle things back into their favour.
Things never died down and the action was enduringly entertaining, but the single criticism would be that it never seemed like either team were really pushing for the win until the actual finish, 30 minutes in. A couple times the heels even threw Prince back to Saulnier and allowed him to get the tag, seemingly just to give them an opportunity to drag the match on longer. I would have preferred a bit more of a concerted effort from either team, but especially from the heels, to actually put their opponents away earlier, which would have added additional weight to the real finish.

[SAMS]

GWE Roundup: 1971

With 1971 done and dusted, here's another GWE roundup. Unlike 1970, I'll skip the honourable mentions list, as I've realised as the years continue will become far too exhaustive. So I'm going to focus on the wrestlers who I feel deserve a definitive shoutout. With that said, here are my tiers:

World Class
N/A

Great Worker
N/A

Flashes of Greatness
Jack Brisco
Le Petit Prince

Notable
Antonio Inoki
Bobby Genere
Claude Gessat
Dory Funk Jr.
Fritz von Erich
Guy Renault
Jon Cortez
Marcel Manneveau
Seiji Sakaguchi
Walter Bordes
Zoltan Boscik

[SAMS]

1972

1972-01-05
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Tony Charles vs. Terry Rudge
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
★★
One for the grappling enthusiasts. Walton did a great job of putting over the magnitude of this match, far more than either man did. To be fair they did a good job of establishing an equal footing between the two, despite Charles being the established veteran and Rudge being the younger up and comer. But the equilibrium between the two hampered more than it helped in my eyes, with ultimately neither man really able to gain any real advantage and most importantly neither man really feeling threatened at any point. The final fall was the best of the lot and we finally got some urgency and the crowd were certainly appreciative but it didn’t quite work for me and left me a little cold. I could certainly see somebody watching this and really liking it though.

1972-01-17
French Catch
Franz van Buyten vs. Rene Lasartesse
France
★★
This took place in the middle of a swimming pool with each man having to take a little boat ride to actually reach the ring. We didn’t see van Buyten’s ride, but we caught Rene’s and he comedically took a dive, accidentally tumbling in before the match had even begun.
Lesartesse’s lackadaisical offensive style really works for me, he’s so detached that it comes across as dismissive dominance. The early beatdown on van Buyten was great, but it went on far too long, and Rene’s selling deficiencies really undercut van Buyten’s attempts at getting fired up and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. The key moments of the match, Rene missing a top rope knee and Franz finally nailing a dropkick to send his opponent careening into the water, also fell strangely flat leaving this feeling like a bloated spectacle with no real substance.