SAMS Ragtag 1970s Yearbooks

[SAMS]

1972-01-31
French Catch
Marcel Manneveau vs. Le Samurai
France
★★
Both men had the requisite tools to have delivered something good here, displaying nifty matwork to start before things broke down and we saw more striking from the pair. The problem was that there was no structure whatsoever. Back and forth the action went, without either man making ground and it just had the feeling of going on and on and on.
Samurai had a lot of the same affectations that Kamikaze did, but apparently it was not the same person. He did utilise more throws than Kamikaze and these were easily the best part of his arsenal. Unfortunately he did the same stupid faux-Japanese bowing schtick, which for some reason I find incredibly annoying. Marcel showed off some lovely in the moment selling, but with no escalation and no momentum in the match, these were merely fleeting and lacked the effect they should have had.

*Date correction made
1972-01-22
WWWF
Karl Gotch & Rene Goulet (c) vs. The Rugged Russians (Igor & Ivan)
WWWF Tag Team Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Boston Gardens, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Card
★★★
What they lacked in execution and tempo they made up for in spades with narrative drive. The Russians would never be mistaken for workrate darlings, but they knew their place and their role, and they meshed beautifully with their opponents to generate a tightly constructed and effective shine for Gotch and Goulet, awash with mistimed spots and clever tricks from the faces. My particular favourite being Goulet climbing under the ring to catch both Russians (and the referee) unawares from the other side. All in all in terms of layout, the first fall was almost perfect. I would have preferred Gotch not to have taken the fall so quickly after the Russians were finally able to get some modicum of heat in, but that would be a minor nitpick.
The second fall had the most sustained heat from the Russians, but that too didn’t last too long. Rene was the workhorse for the first fall, but Gotch took the reigns from the second onwards and he certainly was given room to shine. He had a more varied offensive arsenal, and came across almost like a Billy Robinson clone in his movements and mannerisms, but I wasn’t expecting him to be so expressive. It wasn’t bad at all, but I think I preferred Goulet’s more naturalistic approach throughout the first fall. 
The faces fought back to win that second fall with a nice looking submission from Gotch before the Russians unravelled and got themselves DQ’d for attacking the referee. Nothing here was spectacular or out of this world, but it was cool to see Gotch pop up on tape and I was pleasantly surprised with how the Russians acquitted themselves. 

[Ricky Jackson]

Is that tag really from 1/31/72 MSG or is it the Boston Garden match between the same teams from 1/22 that came out on Hidden Gems 5-6 years ago? Just wondering because I wasn't aware the 1/31 match was out there

 

[SAMS]

It definitely seems like the same match. The date on my original source was likely just incorrect. I'll make the adjustment 

[SAMS]

1972-02-08
CWF
Dory Funk Jr. (c) vs. Jack Brisco
NWA World Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls No Disqualification Match
Bayfront Center, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
Card
★★★★
It’s hard to properly judge considering ⅓ of the match is missing, it was joined in progress and there are a couple hard cuts that throw the timeline out the window in terms of tracking. The hardest thing for me is missing those key transitions, the moments where either man gained or regained control. Losing those sequences sucks.
Having said that, the grappling on display from what we did get to see was excellent. The first twenty minutes or so clearly saw Brisco desperately trying to wear the champion down. He locked on a headlock and wrenched it in hard. I loved Dory using his knee to grind it into Jack’s face just to escape, but Brisco wouldn’t relent. The key though was when Dory actually did manage to escape and get some offense in it only took a single strike of throw to completely knock Brisco back, getting across the danger the champion represents.
The inherent structure that existed in the first half of the footage fell away as the match wore on. Solie and Brisco on commentary emphasised the physical toll going 60 minutes has on the body and both men were evidently struggling. Dory had far more success in this section, having a period where he managed a Boston Crab and a series of slams which seemingly had Brisco out on his feet, but Jack wouldn’t let up and as we neared the time limit it was he who was pushing for the win.
Dory threaded the needle of coming across as the assured champion, the legitimate threat that no challenger should take lightly, while still giving Brisco enough room to breath and, at times, look like he’d actually pull off the victory. Brisco himself was measured and technically awesome to start, but I just love how he can switch from that more staid technical gear to expressive selling, top tier exhaustion and throwing bombs. Shit tons of variety and I’m all for it.

1972-02-09
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Tony Charles vs. Masambula
De Montfort Hall, Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
★★★
This felt like a high floor, low ceiling match. I thought Charles showed more in this match than he had in his bout against Rudge, but he still felt like he was holding back, working within himself to provide the platform for Masambula to work his style of match. This definitely was more of a comedy match than anything else, but there was enough good actual wrestling to keep it from just being comedy spot after comedy spot and feeling unsubstantial as a result. 
Charles was the more aggressive and always felt the more likely to grab a fall. The best moments were some excellent sequences of several pinfall reversals and counters between the two, especially in the first fall. There were moments however where you could tell Charles was almost going half speed to allow Masambula to do some kind of bit, but the comedic delivery from Masambula was consistently good enough that it didn’t detract. 
As is often the case with WoS, the body of the match was more interesting than the actual falls, both times they came out of nowhere and didn’t feel connected to the rest of the action, but considering this went to a 30 minute draw with a fall apiece for each man, this was about as good as I could have expected it to be.

1972-02-09
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
The Barons (Jeff Kaye & Ian Gilmour) vs. The Jet Set (Jon Cortez & Al Miquet)
De Montfort Hall, Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
★★★
A lightning fast lightweight style match with some of the most frenzied rope running sequences I think I can remember ever having seen. The most praise I can heap on those involved is that Miquet, Kaye and Gilmour all worked up to Cortez’s usual standards and none of the four men looked out of place one bit.
The only complaints I might have here is that it “only” lasted 14 minutes or so, therefore they had to cram a lot into somewhat reduced time, and there was less of a sense of resistance than I would have liked, as they leaned far more heavily into neat escapes and tricked out matwork. But nothing grimy or rugged whatsoever.
The most exhilarating rope running sequence between Miquet and Kaye was followed up by Kaye missing a dive, tumbling to the outside and injuring his arm. He beat the count back in but was immediately set upon by Cortez and submitted. The beginning of the next round saw a repeat, with Kaye still suffering the effects and Cortez was rather merciless in jumping on his man and forcing a second submission in due course. I almost felt bad for Kaye, which I guess was the intended reaction.
I would have liked this to have been a tad longer with more room to generate some kind of real narrative, but considering the time limitations I thought they managed to almost maximise what this match could have been and all four men came out looking great.

[SAMS]

1972-02-12
French Catch
Rene Ben Chemoul & Walter Bordes vs. Les Libanese Josef El Arz & Black Shadow
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★
Not what I would call bad, but there was a lot I disliked about this. Whereas Bordes has great snap to his offense and can veer into a level of viciousness I find appealing, Chemoul is nothing less than grating at everything he does. Also, as is the case with their matches, the heels essentially became fodder for their routine, and unfortunately for them, when they finally did get a chance to briefly work over the faces, they didn’t do much more than some cheap double teaming in the corner before getting cut off. Generally I thought the way they all worked the match just did too much to cut out the legs from under El Arz and Black Shadow, rendering two promising workers pretty unremarkable and completely forgettable.
Again this might just be a personal peeve that doesn’t bother others, but the complete dominance in which Chemoul is presented, and the foolish, almost jester-like mannerisms he works with, just doesn’t work for me at all. I’m a big fan of Bordes, I just wish we got to see him more often in a singles setting, or generally unchained from his partner.

1972-02-12
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Jim Breaks vs. Adrian Street
De Montfort Hall, Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
★★★★ ¼ 
Too often it feels like wrestlers adopt wild gimmicks to make up for a deficiency in wrestling skill, but fortunately that wasn’t the case at all with Adrian Street here. His flamboyant mannerisms stoked the crowd and worked to bait Jim Breaks somewhat, but when it came down to business he wasn’t messing around and these men put on an absolute clinic. 
Street had the better of the first few rounds. I was incredibly impressed with how he flowed from his gimmick work into a grind it out amateur wrestling sequence. But even more, I loved his forward motion, always pressing for the advantage and keeping Breaks on the back foot.
It felt like Breaks was almost trying to keep his head above water as Street pushed him in those early rounds, so he resorted to what Jim Breaks knows best, working the arm. Like a shark he honed into that left arm and was unrelenting in breaking it down piece by piece. Street valiantly tried to fend him off and regain the upper hand, gloriously clubbing Breaks in the nose with his forearm at one point, but he couldn’t keep him at bay and ultimately succumbed to the Breaks Special.
Coming into the final round a fall down and with a destroyed arm, Street had it all on the line, desperately needing a win to even things up. Knowing how WoS liked to do things, it was no surprise when he pulled out the flash submission for the draw. This match absolutely flew by, and for something that lasted 25-30 minutes, it almost felt short. That’s mostly a good thing but also has its drawbacks. The finish felt too sudden, whereas an 8 or 10 round match could have drawn things out a bit more and really ramped up that drama for the final round.

[Matt D]

3 hours ago, SAMS said:

Whereas Bordes has great snap to his offense and can veer into a level of viciousness I find appealing, Chemoul is nothing less than grating at everything he does.

He’s Jerry Lewis. The French love Jerry Lewis. (He’s kind of Jimmy Valiant too.)

[SAMS]

Jerry Lewis is one figure who hasn't often come across my culture radar, so I'm not overly familiar, but based on the Chemoul comparison, it's likely I wouldn't be much of a fan. Interestingly, I really do like Jimmy Valiant though.

[SAMS]

1972-02-12
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Terry Rudge vs. Les Thornton
De Montfort Hall, Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
★★★
Literal definition of rugged heavyweight wrestling. This was all about leverage, locking on a hold, really wrenching down into it and wearing down your man to the best of your ability. Rudge was the aggressor, despite being the apparent underdog here, and Thornton was relatively flat for 3-4 rounds. Thornton in fact looked relatively porky here compared to when I saw him from the 80s. Especially around the midriff he was carrying substantial poundage. That extra weight served him well in the final two rounds though. One fall down he sprung to life, using that power to throw Rudge with some impressive slams and suplexes. He kind of whiffed on an initial backbreaker attempt, but absolutely nailed the second to level things. Rudge tried to gut it up but he was reeling in the final round and Thornton pressed his advantage to hit yet another backbreaker and seal the deal, but not before he uncorked some hellacious uppercuts that Rudge made look like they’d shatter concrete. 

1972-02-12
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Brian Maxine vs. Steve Wright
De Montfort Hall, Leicester, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
★★★
Classic matchup of a wily, cheating veteran against the clean, athletic babyface. Maxine was doing a heel king gimmick and as he slowly worked his way into his bag of tricks the crowd were almost rabid, chomping at the bit to see Wright take him down a peg or two. They worked a smart little shine over the first two rounds to show off Wright and his abilities. Walton was essentially calling him a wonderkid. Apparently he was the youngest wrestler to have been shown on TV two years before. He certainly had talent, and he fit the Steve Grey and Jon Cortez mould, but he didn’t quite have the grace that either of those two did. When the momentum switched and Maxine began grinding the young man down his lankier frame leant itself well to bumping but his comebacks lacked punch because of the lack of weight that he was able to get behind his attacks. There were also moments where he looked a little lost or hesitant, pandered to the crowd a little too often and missed those crucial moments where the right timing would really have blown the roof off with such an engaged crowd. 
Maxine didn’t show me anything to indicate that he was a top level heel worker, but he knew his role and certainly was able to generate crowd response. Fantastic forearm smashes but his trademark sawing forearm over his opponents neck/chest area was a bit blah compared to how hard Walton worked to get it over. Ultimately this probably went on a little too long for what Wright was able to bring to the table. If they’d cut a round or two it would have elevated things. 
They went with an injury for the finish, Wright landing awkwardly on a dropkick and Maxine submitted him to tie things up, then Wright was unable to continue in the 7th, handing Maxine the victory.

[SAMS]

1972-02-28
French Catch
Guy Mercier & Michel Falempin vs. Inca Viracocha & Jo Gonzalez
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★
The body of the work was decent, but without Gonzalez’ involvement this would have been far too muddy. The heels cut Falempin off from Mercier early on which led to a nice double monkey flip and a hot tag but from that point onwards a lot of this felt like just stuff to do. There were a lot of the random tag resets that I’m not a fan of and no real forward momentum. As I said, Gonzalez was the outlier here. Lovely moments from him,  like suffering in a headlock and trying to tag out into the wrong corner, baiting his opponent with a fake injury before unleashing some hellacious uppercuts, nailing the almost obligatory head caught in the ropes spot, he even managed a backflip off the top, landed beautifully before face planting into the turnbuckle on his subsequent attack. The more I think about it the more I’m impressed with what he was able to do here. Everything ran through him and he switched things up perfectly whenever it was time to oscillate between attacking, selling, stooging and bumping to keep things entertaining and engaging.

1972-03-22
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Johnny Kincaid vs. Peter Rann
Corn Exchange, Bedford, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
★★★
Kincaid, billed from Barbados but residing in South London, had several tattoos and bleached blonde hair, so I’m assuming he was quite a sight for British audiences back in ‘72. Rann, in comparison, seemed rather generic, and pretty lightweight despite being the Southern England Middleweight champion. But for what I expected to be a complete throwaway match, this was a real treat. 
I’d describe Kincaid’s style as more energetic than skilled, and Rann was no better, but instead of being a negative it made the whole affair feel rather endearing. The two had pretty good chemistry together and Kincaid in particular came across pretty well in the opening two rounds. 
Kincaid missed a dive at the bell to finish the second round, careened over the ropes and plummeted to the outside, and from that point onwards what was already an enjoyable but somewhat quaint match sprung to life. Rann, who’d kind of followed Kincaid’s lead up until this point, saw that his opponent had been weakened from the fall and immediately ramped up his aggression and began throwing in sneaky shots that he’d shown no sign of using previously. Kincaid throughout was excellent at selling his vulnerability, both following his fall but also later on after Rann had a stretch where he was able to work over his leg, and this made a potential Rann victory believable despite Kincaid being the far stouter man.
They lost a bit of steam over the final two rounds though as Kincaid fought hard for an equaliser. What could have been a frantic build to a climax kept getting stuck in stalemates, but Kincaid did manage to grab that elusive leveller, but was unable to capitalise and seal the win before the finish, with things ending in a draw.
Both men put on a great showing here, but I’d say Kincaid was the standout. One thing Rann did have in his arsenal was a missile of a standing dropkick that he seemingly could uncork at a moment’s notice with no buildup momentum required. About three times he unleashed his secret weapon and each time it cracked Kincaid to the mat impressively. Kincaid’s counter was the headbutt, which Rann sold hilariously each time. Overall though Kincaid did seem the more well rounded performer and his selling was what pushed him over the edge here.

[SAMS]

1972-03-22
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Tibor Szakacs vs. Pete Stewart
Corn Exchange, Bedford, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
★★
Szakacs was a rather placid customer, but clearly the established veteran here. For a heavyweight he was smooth as butter. Steward was more gangly and awkward in his frame but I got the sense that Szakacs was taking this easy and trying to give breathing space for Stewart to shine. He did manage to take the lead, but he wasn’t particularly impressive in doing so, and as the bout wore on the crowd were audible in cheering for a Szakacs comeback, which indicated Stewart wasn’t getting over with the crowd as I think they were intending. Szakacs finally kicked things up a gear and managed two quick pins in the final two rounds to easily take the victory.
This always came across like a preliminary bout, more to whet the appetite of the crowd in attendance than whip them into a frenzy. Szakacs showed flashes of his actual quality. He was a rather classical wrestler and there were some really smooth, impressive moments from him, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that this also felt like him cruising through on autopilot as well.

1972-03-22
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Mick McMichael vs. Bobby Barnes
Corn Exchange, Bedford, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
★★★
Two of my personal favourites here, so I was excited to see how they held up at a much earlier stage in their careers, and I’m happy to say that they didn’t disappoint. Barnes was working almost an exotico gimmick, and I was mildly surprised by how similar his routine was to Adrian Street’s, until Walton mentioned that they tagged together under the name “Hell’s Angels”. Much like Street, Barnes was able to blend his gimmick’s shenanigans really well with some actual wrestling skill, and of course with it being a Bobby Barnes match, there was going to be some underhanded chicanery as well. What I really liked about him, even at this stage in his career, is that while he heavily utilised needling moves like grinding a knuckle into the mid section or choking his opponent while shielding the act from the referee, he never dragged those sequences out. They were always used as mere punctuation whereas other wrestlers ended up relying on them far too often like a crutch to their work. Barnes instead could balance it with some hard hitting strikes when required.
McMichael had the cheeky chap character down pat already, but he excelled here with his willingness to sell for Barnes’ nasty tactics. The key to the whole match however was the intensity  he brought during his own hope spots. Ruffled by Barnes’ disregard of the rules McMichael was having none of it and came back like a house on fire with massive forearms and headbutts, managing to really get Barnes on the backfoot and forcing the heel to bump big, nailing a couple of fantastic ones right into the ropes.
Unusually this was a single fall match and despite the momentum seemingly with McMichael, he missed a diving crossbody and Barnes was able to capitalise with a slam into a pin. I liked the idea but the execution was a bit lacking. The slam itself was far too soft, landing like a wet fart, and they probably left a minute or two of real drama on the table. But overall this match absolutely delivered and was a great showcase of both men.

[SAMS]

1972-03-27
French Catch
Abdul Khan vs. Batman
France
★★
Other than a lack of lift on his leaps and dropkicks, Batman was the same old Batman. The issue here was that Khan wasn’t a suitably villainous villain or a real credible threat. There were moments where Batman gave him moments on top, but this was just delaying the inevitable and they never got across the idea that the result was going to be anything other than a rather comfortable win for Batman. Always a pleasure to watch Dave Larsen do his thing but there wasn’t much to this beyond that.

1972-03-27
French Catch
Jean Corne & Michele Falempin vs. Inca Viracocha & Jose Gonzalez
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★★
They lost things a bit in the second half as they ran out of steam and ideas, but the first was an excellent example of clear structure providing a sense of progression. They moved from clearly defined sections where a defined thing was happening rather than just smashing things together and hoping something good would come of it. Corne and Falempin didn’t necessarily show much emotion here, lacking fire I would say, but as stylistic babyfaces they were great. Viracocha could at least hang with the other three but he continued to be vastly overshadowed by his partner, who was the clear standout amongst the four. He could really go on the mat with either of his opponents but was adept at flipping the switch and going for the big, effective bump, playing to the crowd, making a face or exaggerated movement to generate a response, just an exemplary all round heel performance. 
They definitely stalled a bit during the extended heat sequence at the midway point, the furious energy they’d built up came way back down to earth, but things never completely fell apart and there were still moments and sequences to admire. The finish was flat as well though, a minute out and there was no indication at all that we were ramping up to the finish whatsoever, to the extent that when it did come, the camera was too involved in following Gonzalez’s antics at ringside than on the action going on inside the ropes and nearly missed the pinfall entirely.

[SAMS]

1972-04-19
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Tibor Szakacs vs. Jack Fallon
Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, United Kingdom
★★
Once again all the elements were on display for Szakacs. The athletic grace, the wonderful uppercuts, a killer trademark chop, and the fantastic combination of a raspy hissing sound he’d make while working holds combined with a classic 1960s Bond villain face made him undeniably distinctive. His problem was that he seemed so decidedly unconcerned with the match and the result. He went a fall down in the third, cruised through the fourth, finally levelled things in the fifth, and with one round left to win it all, he dialled it all back again and we didn’t see any urgency until maybe 30 seconds remaining. But even Walton seemed a bit alarmed that with 2 minutes, and then 1 minute remaining, Szakacs wasn’t really putting his foot to the pedal to secure the victory.
I don’t think it’s helped that Szakacs’ two opponents so far this year have been underwhelming themselves. Fallon apparently trained in the famous Wigan gym of Billy Riley, where Billy Robinson trained, and even had a hand in training Dynamite Kid himself, but he didn’t stand out here at all to me. He played the role of instigator, constantly trying for illegal moves when he should have been breaking, but nothing as outrageous or inventive as what the other best heels on the circuit would have done. He was just doing it for the sake of it. Otherwise I can’t remember any distinctive thing he did all match. In the end he was able to grab the draw, and surprisingly it didn’t feel like he’d survived by the skin of his teeth, this definitely felt like a draw was the correct result. 

1972-04-19
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
The Hornets (Marty Jones & Dane Curtis) vs. The Danger Men (Colin Joynson & Steve Haggetty)
Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, United Kingdom
★★★
Only Marty Jones’ second appearance on TV and he was a fresh faced 17 year old at this point, but somewhat established as either a regional or national  junior amateur wrestling champion. He was partnered by the somewhat more experienced Dane Curtis, but both were heavily outweighed by their opponents, with Joynson in particular being an absolute unit. The Hornets were good over the first half, Jones using his amateur credentials to make inroads and then when the tide turned they really committed to selling hard for their opponents. But as the match wore on it felt more and more that the heels were leading things and Jones’ inexperience reared its head, their final hope spot before the finish falling far flatter than it should due to off-timing and hesitation on Jones’ part.
I was really taken by the Danger Men though. Haggetty had almost a Dick Murdoch vibe to him. The same bulbous face and shock blonde hair, and he did more of the stooging and comedic spots of the match, while Joynson was essentially all business. He in turn almost felt like a Mancunian Steve Williams-lite with the functional power he was able to display, just flinging his opponents around the ring, as well as some awesomely impactful uppercuts. They meshed really well as a team and had good balance in terms of their roles.
Overall the match flew by and was a complete blast. The Danger Men jumped ahead after a round where Joynson basically abused Jones before the eventual submission. Curtis pulled things level by focusing on Haggetty’s leg. But when he tried to go back to the well Haggetty had it scouted and was able to evade and counter with a backslide for the win with Jones too spent at ringside to make the save.

[SAMS]

1972-04-24
French Catch
Francis Louis & Jean Claude Bordeaux vs. Antonio Perero & Mota Dos Santos
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
A bizarre spectacle with mechanisms setup at ringside that would catapult the wrestlers into the ring when they tagged. The whole thing followed a sci-fi motif, with the wrestlers' entrances being accompanied by the 2001 Space Odyssey theme and all of them wearing space suits. Apparently the idea was to suggest the concept that they were flying in space. Being so removed from the time it’s hard to fully process how much the lunar landings would have captured the imagination but they must have still been right in the sweet spot in 1972. For my part I couldn’t help but focus on how much of a safety hazard these contraptions were, as any miscalculation in triggering the device could have resulted in serious injury. 
Overall I’m not sure how to rate this, or even if it’s something that warrants a rating in the usual sense. This clearly was an experiment of sorts, so should probably be treated as such. The wrestlers flying into the ring is certainly a sight to behold but the actual “work” between the ropes was much of a muchness. I did get a kick out of the finish to the first fall with Bordeaux getting caught in mid-air following his tag in, which was one of the main times the stipulation had a tangible effect on the action. Otherwise I often found it disconcerting that while at the beginning the wrestlers opted to come in and land feet first, as the bout wore on they opted more and more to take crazy back bumps. Overlooking the fact that they must have hurt like a motherfucker, from a kayfabe perspective this would have only left them vulnerable to instant attack, therefore was the most suboptimal method to enter the fray. On top of this the match was held under rounds rules, which kept stunting the already bizarre action. Ultimately everything felt far too much like an exhibition or an experiment, but worth the watch at least.

1972-05-02
IWE - The 4th IWA World Series - Day 31
Ivan Buyten, Monster Roussimoff & Tito Kopa vs. Isamu Teranishi, Rusher Kimura & Thunder Sugiyama
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Six Man Tag Team Match
City Gymnasium, Shibukawa, Gunma, Japan
Card
★★★
I was a bit low on the last match I saw of Andre within a French setting, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him play a more familiar role and, even at this early-ish stage of his career, he almost seems to be the fully formed package. The interactions amongst the foreign team, and between Andre and Van Buyten in particular, are what drove the narrative. The sheer number of different communication breakdown spots they were able to squeeze out here was amazing and only the most cynical viewer could suppress a chuckle at their antics. 
Teranishi was an absolute workhorse, playing the FIP during the first fall, he initially worked a neat exchange with Van Buyten before he got overwhelmed by his opponents. But he never relented and gave a fantastic showing of desperately and relentlessly struggling for that tag.
Everything revolved around Andre though. Van Buyten was on point as his comedic partner, but none of it would have worked properly without Andre. He was clearly already comfortable working the apron like a God and those comedic chops were on full show. Sometimes his offense, especially his strikes, can feel a bit light, which betrays his Monster moniker, but just when I was thinking he needed to lay something in extra hard Stan Hansen style, just to give the audience that sense that he truly wasn’t someone to be messed with, he dropped Teranishi onto the ropes by the throat and finished off the first fall with a brutal tombstone piledriver on Kimura. However what really surprised me was how much he bumped for Kimura’s chops, almost pulling off The Rock’s patented Stunner bump several times.
As much as Andre and Van Buyten were not on the same page, their discord wasn’t enough to give the Japanese team an avenue to victory. Really fun six man tag where nobody looked less than decent, great showings for Van Buyten and Teranishi and a show stealing performance from Andre.

[SAMS]

1972-05-02
IWE - The 4th IWA World Series - Day 31
Don Leo Jonathan vs. Strong Kobayashi
World Series 1972 Semi Final Match
City Gymnasium, Shibukawa, Gunma, Japan
Card
★★
Don Leo Jonathan wasn’t a giant by any means, but he certainly was a big guy and he had incredible agility for a man of his size, which was on display multiple times throughout this. Kipping out of headscissors, going for flying headscissors of his own, taking various monkey flips and coming off the top rope with ease. The moments where he was able to show off were the best bits of this.
Unfortunately I don’t think Kobayashi brought anything to the table at all really. The mat work in general was bland to say the least, but with Kobayashi in particular whenever he was applying a hold he seemed to put all the onus on Jonathan to sell or do anything while he lay there placidly. His selling style was equally passive, more of the sit there and take it variety rather than being overly expressive or demonstrating any real struggle or attempt at retaliation. Generally just felt a bit lazy.
The finish to the original match also wasn’t to my taste. Jonathan was on a roll and basically was killing Kobayashi at this point, only to miss out on victory due to the bell to signal the finish of the allotted 20 minutes. Immediately commentary announced we’d have to go into extra time to decide the winner. Clearly they wanted to keep Jonathan looking strong in defeat, as it was obvious that given a few more seconds he would have had victory in hand, but the question in a kayfabe sense is why even have a time limit at all? If you know you’ll just have to go to extra time in the case of a draw then what was the point other than to have this contrived moment of Jonathan having certain victory ripped from his grasp? I did appreciate that the flying knee drop he hit to almost win the thing was what he went back to, but this time Kobayashi had it scouted, tossed him off the top with a slam and covered him for the pin, so there was a nice bit of symmetry there.

1972-05-06
IWE - The 4th IWA World Series - Day 34
Monster Roussimoff vs. Strong Kobayashi
World Series 1972 Final Match
City Gymnasium, Morioka, Iwate, Japan
Card
★★★
Really interesting to see Andre work this longer form, slightly more technical style match. The previous tag match felt much more similar to what we’d see later on in his career, whereas this felt like it had a bunch of unique elements that would be pared down over time. Primarily his bumping was significantly bigger and more exuberant here than it would later become. I think his vocal selling was excellent and was able to get across when Kobayashi was doing damage, and he made a lot of effort to visually show when he was reeling, but any strike that definitely took him to the ground felt odd, as I can’t recall ever seeing a chop or a punch being able to force him into a flat back bump like we’ve seen here. Offensively he oscillated between some really dynamic heelish offense and settling for chinlocks and claw holds. Take a guess which I thought was better? But in the aggregate he had some gnarly moments and he came across like a sleazy monster.
In contrast, there was Kobayashi. Much like in his match against Don Leo Jonathan, I wouldn’t say he was bad by any means, but I’d be hard pushed to say he was anything other than a net neutral. His best offensive sequences all felt like it was Andre making them work and have resonance with his selling, and in turn, most of Andre’s best offensive sequences would have been even better if Kobayashi had been a bit more intent on showing some expression. Some may say that you don’t need to be overly expressive to sell, but often leaning too far into subtlety doesn’t work for me. I’d argue he just looked placid. 
This finished with a crowd pleasing moment and Kobayashi winning two falls to one, but it required a DQ in the second and a countout in the third, with Andre executing an excellent spot where he fell into the ropes and got hung up by his leg. Kobayashi escaped by the skin of his teeth, and that’s how the audience should have seen it, because despite Andre’s best efforts, it never really seemed like he had an avenue to get a real pinfall victory here.

[SAMS]

1972-05-13
French Catch
Rene Ben Chemoul & Walter Bordes vs. The Golden Falcons (Golden Falcon #1 & Golden Falcon #2)
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★
Exactly what you would expect from a Chemoul and Bordes match. The Falcons looked much better when they were in there with Bordes instead of Chemoul, and Bordes was able to make them seem credible as a threat and therefore when he turned the tables on them it felt all the more like a feat of ingenuity rather than just because they were hapless losers. Somewhat surprisingly the Falcons were able to get a sizable chunk of them isolating both of their opponents and working them over. They were heavy and hard hitting and that stretch worked pretty well. Ultimately Bordes got battered down enough that the Falcons were able to secure that first fall. Chemoul’s shining moment was his hot tag. Bordes had been forced to start the second fall, and still suffering the effects from the first he desperately dived to tag out, doing whatever he could to avoid engaging his opponents in his weakened state. Chemoul did what Chemoul does, but in this moment it worked as a satisfying payoff considering he and his partner had found themselves in such a dire spot. 
I appreciated the commitment both Falcons had in bumping. They took countless bumps to the outside, often sailing well over the top rope and in particular there was a collision spot late on where they didn’t hold back and absolutely smashed into each other. Bordes however was the clear standout, somewhat unsurprisingly. I really tried to come into this with a blank slate mindset, to take what happened in the match at face value without letting my previous judgements come into play, but really I felt that I learnt very little from this as it all played out in the manner I expected and my opinion of the wrestlers, especially the faces, didn’t change a jot. On the plus side that meant that Bordes only continued to bolster his standing in my personal rankings.

1972-05-19
NWA Hollywood
The Funk Brothers (Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk) (c) vs. Giant Baba & Seiji Sakaguchi
NWA International Tag Team Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, USA
Card
★★★★
This had real intensity going for it. Baba and Dory in particular can sometimes feel meandering, but here they matched the energy of their partners. The first fall had Baba’s most compelling selling to date. The Funks laid the foundation, working Baba over with gusto, but he had to do his part and he passed with flying colours. I loved his grimace when Dory worked over his leg. I loved the urgency and determination to always beeline to his corner to try and make the tag. I loved how he sold the accrued damage by resorting to writhing his way in Sakaguchi’s direction because he couldn’t stand and run there instead. 
Sakaguchi had a lot of pep and took on the majority of the burden for his team from the second fall onwards, and Dory certainly was no slouch either. Unsurprisingly it was Terry though who caught the eye. He almost sucks up all the oxygen in the room with the zest of his performances. Always doing something. Always making the action interesting. There were moments where he teased going overboard and pushing the emotion and drama to a whole other level, but he kept pulling things back down and would shake his opponent’s hand or something. But I kinda wished he’d blown the gasket as this could have been even better than it was.
In the end the Japanese team reclaimed their lost tag belts as Dory got confused trying to pin Sakaguchi despite Baba making the tag. He came off the top with a big stomp and managed to seal the pin while Terry caught himself up in the ropes trying to make the save.

[SAMS]

1972-05-23
WWA
Blackjack Lanza vs. The Crusher 
Tyndall Armory, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Card
A TV match with The Crusher just mauling Lanza for several minutes. Crusher wasn’t any great shakes but Lanza took that beating like a champ. I don’t think Lanza really got any time on top at all, so essentially he was squished into oblivion, with only a brief respite when a ruckus broke out on the apron with Dick the Bruiser going at it with Heenan and Blackjack Mulligan. Nothing crazy but an easy, fun watch. I’d love to have seen more Heenan and I’d certainly be up for watching more Lanza.

1972-05-27
JWA - Golden Series I - Day 4
Bobby Duncum vs. Kintaro Oki
City Gymnasium, Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan
Card
★★
This was shot using a few shaky handheld cameras at ringside and there were some cuts here and there suggesting that this was clipped, but I’m not sure that we missed that much. It was short, clocking in at just under ten minutes, but was your classic Ronseal match in that it did exactly what it said on the tin: mid-card, hard hitting, didn’t overstay its welcome, satisfy the crowd without overtaxing them. Oki had some beautiful chops and looked pretty stiff. That stiffness worked for him on offense and equally hindered him on defence, nullifying the impact of any of Duncum’s attacks - including when Duncum decided to steal a chair from an unsuspecting fan and nailed Oki in the head with it, which only seemed to spur him on more. Oki’s aforementioned lack of selling or vulnerability kind of undercut any chance Duncum had at making a strong impression. Oki finished it off with a neat sunset flip for the quick pin.

1972-05-29
JWA - Golden Series I - Day 6
Johnny Valentine & King Krow vs. Kintaro Oki & Michiaki Yoshimura
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
City Gym, Yonago, Tottori, Japan
Card
★★★
Shot with the same handheld style as the Oki/Duncum bout, with added background music and at times awkwardly sped up, but considering this might have just been a throwaway match in what looked to be a high school gym, these four delivered an extremely satisfying match.
The first fall saw the Americans isolate Yoshimura mercilessly, and honestly they put a clinic on in regards to cutting your opponent off from their partner. Nothing flashy but they solidly worked him over and they beautifully ran interference whenever Oki got a whiff of a tag. After the third attempt, the referee (who looked to be a young Joe Higuchi) shepherded Oki back to his corner yet again. The ongoing beatdown was just too much and Yoshimura finally succumbed. 
The American team were quite right to ensure that Oki didn’t get a sniff in that first fall, because they saw what damage he could dish out in the second, and immediately so. Yoshimura came out like a house on fire and exploded on Valentine. Oki finally got that tag he’d been looking for and after a flurry of headbutts he put away King Krow very matter of factly for an instantaneous leveller.
Things reset a bit for the third, but there was always a modicum of gritty intensity, especially from Valentine. His clubbing elbows were enough to draw blood from Oki. Much like in the first fall when they were working over Yoshimura, Oki’s resilience slowly ebbed away until like a dam, it burst, and ravaged by the loss of blood he couldn’t put up any further resistance and the foreigners took the match.
Nothing outrageous, but I liked the master/apprentice vibes from both teams, with Oki and Valentine holding the positions of seniority within their respective teams. It was well executed throughout and hit a number of satisfying narrative beats. A bloody Oki left stumbling around the ring at the finish was what pushed it over the top.

[SAMS]

1972-06-01
JWA - Golden Series I - Day 8
Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. King Krow & Mil Mascaras
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan
Card
★★
A pretty fun tag match marred slightly by a disappointing finish and a few awkward sequences. Interesting to see Saito at this stage of his career. He didn’t look much different, perhaps slightly plumper. He showed flashes of what I know of him but he wasn’t overly prominent here. The big takeaway, and perhaps the biggest pleasant surprise of the ‘72 footage so far, was King Krow, otherwise known as the original Dan Kroffat. He hasn’t completely blown me away, but he’s been a solid B/B+ both times he’s shown up and displayed some excellent ring nous. He knew how to tell a story with all the little things: futilely reaching for a tag when caught in a hold, or running extra fast and sheepishly back to his corner after breaking up a hold. They seem like small insignificant things but they add so much character to a match. 
Sakaguchi and King Krow worked a neat atomic drop reversal sequence where Krow kept grabbing a side headlock to avoid the move until Sakaguchi gutted through and managed to nail it on the fourth attempt. Having broken his opponent's resistance he spammed it two more times to grab the first fall. Mascaras came roaring back to win the second. He was mostly matched up with Saito here, and the work between them was fine but nothing special. However Mascaras’ diving headbutt, when he really connected with it, looked savage. That takes us to the finish. Sakaguchi and Saito were working over King Krow in the corner, Joe Higuchi tried to break things up. For some reason Saito just lost his cool, tossed Higuchi aside and then decided the best course of action would be to dropkick him for good measure. Unsurprisingly that led to a DQ finish and the foreign team won. I’m not really sure what the justification for Saito’s actions are here and left things a bit flat for me.

1972-06-05
French Catch
Billy Catanzaro & Pierre Bernaert vs. Marcel Montreal & Vasilios Mantopoulos
Best Two Out Of Three Falls Tag Team Match
France
★★★
This was a prime example of wrestling at its most pantomime. Another one of those swimming pool matches, but this time they were able to utilise the setting for fun payoffs at least and constantly involved it in the flow of the action. What I thought worked really well is that the mix up spots were driven by the heel’s incompetence rather than forced upon them in a contrived way by the faces. Bernaert was a trooper, and he ended up taking a dip at least three times, but it was Catanzaro who was the spark for everything. I think the last time I watched him I knew he was supposed to be good, and he was, but he didn’t completely pop off the screen and really grab me in the way I expected. Here his qualities were self-evident - things like eking out every drop out of getting wrapped up into a ball by Vasilios. Instead of just laying there, all scrunched up, he tried squirming his way across the ring back to his corner, unable to wrench his limbs free, serving to highlight the absurdity of his plight. With Bernaert taking his first plunge mere minutes into the match they set up a contrast by slowly building up Catanzaro’s eventual dip, constantly teasing it throughout the match, and the payoff, with Vasilios narrowly avoiding getting wet himself, feeling all the more earned and satisfying for it.
Marcel Montreal was decent if a bit bland, but Vasilios ensured that the face team had a good showing as well. As I said before, I don’t think the faces drove the action here, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t have their moments to shine, and Vasilios certainly was able to put on display his speed and ingenuity throughout.

[SAMS]

1972-06-28
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Jim Breaks vs. Steve Best
New Avon Hall, Leamington Spa, West Midlands, United Kingdom
★★★
These matches where you have an established champion at a lighter weight matched up against a more run-of-the-mill competitor at a higher weight always works well as it gives a legitimate reason why the more talented worker isn’t steamrolling their competition. The fact that this was scheduled for 8 rounds instead of 6 worked in its favour as well, as the extended time limit gave it more room to breathe and I think made it much harder to telegraph the falls. Often as they enter the final couple of rounds it is too easy to predict the finishes.
Steve Best actually stood his ground far better than I expected. He was rather vicious when given the chance, nailing some nasty looking knees to Breaks’ back and face, then transitioning to a nose focused attack that ended up causing a rather serious nosebleed on the lightweight champion. In return Breaks was hyper-focused on abusing Best’s left arm, obviously softening it up for the Breaks Special. Best did a tremendous job of getting across his panic whenever Breaks was able to grab hold of that arm and start working it over. Breaks never really jumps off the screen from a technical point of view, at least not in the manner that guys like Cortez, Boscik or Szakacs do, but he’s just an absolute force of nature, a complete whirlwind of personality that whips the crowd up into a frenzy and takes them on a complete ride throughout the match. This aspect was the key tenet upon which the match was built and it was excellent for it. Maybe a slightly more competitive affair might have shunted it up a star but in the end Breaks was able to submit Best twice by the sixth round.

1972-06-28
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Vic Faulkner vs. Mick McMichael
New Avon Hall, Leamington Spa, West Midlands, United Kingdom
★★★★
These two just have great chemistry with each other that in some ways they are able to amplify the other’s strengths. They perhaps got a bit too cute at times, especially in the sequence leading to McMichael’s fall, and your mileage with this may come down to whether you vibe with their particular brand of comedy, but there was enough raw competitiveness here that it didn’t jump the shark and McMichael had enough brutish physicality to sort of ground the match when required.
In fact, despite already being a fan, I came away from this even more impressed with McMichael than I was already, due to the sheer range of his performance -  nailing his role in the comedy routines, especially as the one getting one-upped, his ability to ramp up the intensity when the match called for it and some pretty sweet selling sprinkled throughout.
In the end this finished in a draw, which was perhaps obvious as they entered the final round, but they managed to pull off a nearfall, which is a rarity in World of Sport, with McMichael kicking out when things were still 0-0.

[SAMS]

1972-07-05
French Catch
Gilbert LeDuc & Jacky Corn vs. Der Henker
Two On One Handicap Match
France
★★★
For most of the first half, LeDuc’s job was to keep things competitive while Jacky Corn’s job was to ensure that Der Henker remained looking formidable. At points I thought LeDuc went a bit overboard in trying to keep things 50/50 as Corn was getting so thoroughly demoralised it felt jarring in comparison and I kind of preferred watching Corn get his ass handed to him. This match was certainly what I would call emotionally charged, and the crowd were one of the most boisterous I can recall from the French footage. Things boiled over though when Der Henker tombstoned Corn, leaving him a lifeless corpse on the floor. As LeDuc carried on the action a horde of fans picked Corn up and carried his limp body to the back. Then circumstances threatened to take a more serious turn as the fans began encircling the ring and I was wondering whether they’d pile on in. Several took swipes at both Der Henker and the referee and things never really cooled off.
LeDuc had to go it alone from there and the 50/50-ness I referenced earlier faded away. Instead this turned into a display of pure grit and endurance from DeLuc as he was ground into dust from the relentless barrage from Der Henker. If that makes it sound dynamic, it wasn’t, but not in a bad way. There were no melodramatic flurries here. It was just LeDuc refusing to give in, occasionally standing his ground, getting smashed in the face over and over and over again to the point that you came away from the whole thing thinking what a tough bastard he was. 
Corn made a somewhat expected return, but in some ways I kind of wished that they’d held off and finished with just LeDuc and Henker going at it. But it got the crowd going and set the stage for the finish where they did finally lean into the dramatics and built to the time limit draw. As a finish I actually didn’t mind it. It walked that fine line between making a win for the face team feel sour because they had the numbers advantage while also not allowing Der Henker to just run through them despite being a man down. So having the draw made it feel like a moral victory, especially with Corn being out of action for such a large chunk. Overall this was probably greater than the sum of its parts, with enough to nitpick, but the whole energy of the thing, from the Der Henker/DeLuc slug-off to the raucous crowd, just carried it along nicely. 

1972-07-17
French Catch
Rene Ben Chemoul & Walter Bordes vs. Pierre Lagache & Grelha la Portugais
France
★
I came away from this learning nothing new about Chemoul and Bordes, they were what they usually were for better or worse, if perhaps slightly less zesty than usual, but the big disappointment was how little their opponents gave. Matt D compared Grelha to N'Boa, which works due to their respective gimmicks, but I agree that N’Boa was far superior. Grelha was a willing bumper but provided nothing else. Well apart from a large head of hair which Chemoul and Bordes could target. Legache was probably “better” but also far less distinctive than his partner. Overall the tedium got so bad that even Bordes almost receded into the background, despite how highly I think of him. The finish, which saw Grelha and Legache disqualified for hanging both their opponents up in the ropes, should have been a wild spectacle which blew the roof off the place. If the same thing had happened during the Der Henker/DeLuc/Corn handicap match it totally would have, but here the fact that the sequence just came and went with barely a fizzle is an indictment of the whole thing.

[SAMS]

1972-09-07
JWA - Summer Big Series II - Day 10
The Sheik (c) vs. Seiji Sakaguchi
NWA United National Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan
Card
Sheik’s first appearance in Osaka apparently, and he gave them what’s come to be the standard Sheik showing. While Sakaguchi calmly waited in his corner, Sheik was staggering around the ring, waving away invisible spirits that only he could see and he managed to kill at least 4 minutes of time before the action even started. Eventually Sakaguchi couldn’t wait any longer and he charged Sheik in the corner. Unfortunately for him it didn’t take long for Sheik to pull out his trusty weapon, jab it into Sakaguchi's face, and immediately draw copious amounts of blood. Sakaguchi already had a nasty bruise/graze all over his face and the additional blood just made him look all the more ghastly. I still can never quite understand how the referee can so blindly allow the use of these weapons, especially considering that after the continued use of it for a couple minutes, he decided to call for the DQ after all. 
The second fall saw Sheik abandon his use of the weapon, but he continued to target Sakaguchi’s cut, gnawing at it when given the chance. Sakaguchi would mount a comeback and then Sheik would bail. This fall didn’t last long though and Sakaguchi managed to nail a suplex off the apron to grab the pin, win the match and reclaim the belt. 

1972-09-20
NWA Hawaii
Giant Baba vs. The Sheik
HIC Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Card
★★
Sheik uses the weapon to open Baba up almost immediately, Baba fights back and eventually we end up with a double countout in under 10 minutes. In that sense it was pretty much what you’d expect. The key unexpected takeaways though were a surprising amount of bumping from The Sheik and an enthusiastic, almost effervescent showing from Baba. His chops looked as good as they’ve ever done, he expertly sold the damage from Sheik’s stab attacks and he was all fired up and ready to tear Sheik a new one by the finish. There wasn’t a lot of meat on the bone with this one but it was at least worth the watch. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Did you watch Viedor/Roberts and Kwango/Dennison from 1/5/72?

[SAMS]

With VeidorRoberts it must have slipped through the cracks somehow. initially I thought because it wasn't complete I skipped it, but on rewatch I decidedly recall Walton's quip about young ladies writing in to request more closeups of Veidor's handsome face so I must have watched it previously. Either way I had no notes on it so it was worth the rewatch. The Dennison match I initially skipped intentionally, just because I so thoroughly detested his series against Jim Breaks (through no fault of Breaks) but what the hell, I gave it a go.

1972-01-05
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Steve Veidor vs. Pete Roberts
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
The footage indicates that we’re missing the final fall, but considering they were only in round four of eight when it cuts off, that there was still a way to go in this one. The action on show though was terrific. It was one of those very sporting affairs, which sometimes can get a bit too cute for their own good, but this time it felt like both men could really go for it without going overboard with the niceties and neither was going to get their panties in a bunch over it. The best example being Roberts trying a cheeky move following a handshake. Sometimes that would draw the ire of his opponent and the crowd, but here it was taken for what it was, good natured opportunism. 
Veidor was the more established veteran here but Roberts pushed him hard and Veidor was extremely giving in his selling. Roberts took the lead with a neat backslide and in the following round it appeared very likely that he might be able to seal the deal with a straight falls victory. It wasn’t to be and Veidor levelled things with a backslide of his own but I felt like they really elevated Roberts here. A shame we didn’t get the whole thing but if it continued in the same vein this would definitely have nestled in the three star territory.

1972-01-05
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Johnny Kwango vs. Al Dennison
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
★
Proof that Dennison’s strongman routine was as terrible in the early 70s as it was in the early 80s. No real wrestling at all and he was limited to uninspired crowd baiting and the occasional terrible looking chinlock. Kwango himself didn’t cover himself in glory either, with his only real contributions being his signature jaw hold and of course his headbutts. I’ll give some grace for the headbutt, as in the early 70s it was likely to be expected of him and he did what he needed to do to get over, but relying so heavily on the aforementioned two moves was extremely limiting to the match. 
I honestly didn’t like this at all but I’d lay most of the blame on Dennison, and I still can’t fathom how he managed to get his act as over as he did.
 

[SAMS]

1972-10-03
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Brian Maxine vs. Reg Trood
Corn Exchange, Bedford, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
★★
This was one of those catchweight bouts where the champion faced off against a journeyman, but the journeyman was the heavier man. In this case, Maxine was a champion in the middleweight bracket, and Trood was the journeyman, and I can’t think of many who exude journeyman vibes more than Trood did here. 
Maxine was still using his crown gimmick, which in the US makes you Jerry Lawler, but in the UK makes you a Grade A prick. He’d decided to lean into pushing the crowd’s buttons by wearing a ridiculous purple and gold skull cap to “protect” his ears and the crowd were having none of it. 
Maxine really was a solid heel. Nothing overly fancy but he had all the basics down and I’m sure any promoter would have had no worries chucking him onto any card, against anybody. He supposedly had professional boxing experience, and if that’s true then it showed somewhat here. His shift into attacking positions, especially against the ropes, felt very boxing-esque. As a good heel should be he was never shy to lay in a few extra shots before the referee laid down his warning.
Despite Trood stealing the first fall in the middle rounds, this really just felt like an extended squash. Maxine tried to inject some drama late on with some especially good selling in the penultimate round, displaying a throat injury when Trood used his own sawing on the throat move against him, and he tried to make it seem like Trood had him on the ropes, but Trood was so uninspiring in his offense that nobody and their grandmother were buying it for a second. Mercifully Maxine put him away in the sixth and final round with a beauty of a dropkick.

1972-10-09
French Catch
Michel Saulnier (c) vs. Guy Renault
European Super Lightweight Title Match
Palais des Sports, Alfortville, Paris, France
★★★★
Not necessarily my favourite style of match, perhaps more of a great match in my mind than in my heart, but I can’t deny the impressive display of skill and energy they showed here. They started out like a rocket and really never let up until they almost gassed themselves at around the 60% mark. The holds, counters and transitions were all seamless without feeling choreographed, overly acrobatic or lightweight. Everything hit note perfect for that initial stretch. We also got one of the most brutal collision spots, with Saulnier almost embedding his cranium in Renault’s midsection. Then things only got chippier as the pace dropped off and the holds got more sticky. It didn’t last too long, and they went back to the sporting title match they were having, but I appreciated seeing a couple nasty kicks, tempers flaring and of course, some rugged uppercuts. 
There was a lull, where the combination of fatigue and perhaps a brief lack of ideas stymied them, before they found their groove again for the finish and Saulnier caught Renault with a press then flipped over and bridged to seal it in suitably elegant fashion.

[SAMS]

1972-10-23
WWA
Baron von Raschke (c) vs. Andre The Giant
WWA World Heavyweight Title Match
Exposition Convention Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Card
★★
Not a long one, clocking in at just under 10 minutes. Raschke had Heenan in his corner and Andre, who I think was actually still being billed as Roussimoff the Polish Giant, had Wilbur Snyder in his. Snyder didn’t last long though as he took some brass knuckles to the face before the bell even sounded and needed to be bandaged up at ringside. Andre was fine going solo though and beat the snot out of Rashke for the most part. A sneaky leg trip from Heenan allowed Raschke to finally get some attacks in, and he went for some eye gouges, which were actually pretty effective as they kept Andre out of action for a long while. In the meantime Wilbur made his return, locking an Abdominal Stretch on Rashke. Heenan kept trying to interfere but Andre recovered soon enough and chased him around the ring just before the footage cut off.
Nothing unbelievable here but fun to see some WWA action and more early Andre. He didn’t have a lot of time to work with but at this point he was really fluid in his movements, it also seems like he’d finally become comfortable with how he wanted to work and it felt much closer to the fully formed Andre we’d see later on in the decade and beyond. 

1972-11-16
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Steve Veidor vs. Tony Charles
Assembly Hall, Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom
★★
I could definitely see how this would be in a lot of people’s wheelhouses. There was nothing bad at all about the action on display, and both men gave a decent showing, but this reeked to me of a situation where, given it was the opening bout on the card, they were asked to go out there, kill 20-25 minutes and warm up the crowd, and they ultimately decided to play it safe the whole way. The only real surprise was that they didn’t just go to the time limit draw, as they cranked up the intensity for the final 30 seconds, Charles nearly snatched it a couple times before Veidor rolled him up for the victory. I just don’t think this is something I’d ever feel the urge to revisit.

1972-11-16
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Les Kellett vs. Johnny Czeslaw
Assembly Hall, Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom
★★★
This was pure brilliance for a round and a half. They couldn’t maintain the same levels of comedic mastery for the full bout, but it absolutely never jumped the shark. Kellett felt like he was running the show, his fingerprints all over that riveting opening stretch, but Czeslaw was completely game, played his part and held up his end. On just the one match it’s a hard thing to really judge Kellett though, I’m keen to see more of him sooner rather than later to get an insight whether he can continue to deliver at this level, whether he has even more variety to his act, or whether it’s a case of diminishing returns. 

[SAMS]

1972-12-XX
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Les Kellett vs. Johnny South
Queensway Hall, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
★★★
It was nice to see Kellett up against more of a straight man opponent after the bout with Czeslaw, who was happy to go gag for gag with Kellett. He recycled the figure four spot, where he’d apply the hold and then get stuck in it, forcing the referee to laboriously break it himself, but the execution wasn’t identical and the rest of his act here was in the same vein but not a repeat of his previous match, which was a pleasant surprise. It was equally as entertaining, and I’ll give credit to South for projecting his increased frustration with his opponent, but it didn’t quite reach the high highs that the Czeslaw match reached in its opening couple rounds. 
Kellett really had his idiot savant act down pat. I’m uncertain what his ceiling would be, and I would love to know what people think are the best Les Kellett matches/performances, but I feel safe in saying that he probably is the kind of wrestler that has an incredibly high floor. He probably could guarantee a three star match regardless of who you chucked him in there with.

1972-12-XX
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Clay Thomson vs. Reg Trood
Queensway Hall, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
★★★
This is one I had to go back to watch as I skipped over it during my initial run through. But I saw it being talked up on the GME board and it sounded worth seeking out. I’m pleased to say I’m very glad I looped back for it. I saw Trood earlier in the year, and he was decidedly average in that match, but he stepped his game up here without a doubt. I was really impressed with Thomson however. He brought that little extra edge that added the necessary spice required to elevate the whole match,
Trood caught Thomson in an innocuous leg scissors around the neck in the first round, but Thomson’s wheezing really brought home the effects it was having on sapping his energy. By the end of only the first round it felt like Thomson had already been through the wars. He was none too pleased and he subtly upped his aggression when they reengaged, then he decided to get Trood in a different variation of the same hold, and this time it was Trood’s chance to sell the hell out of it. It wasn’t as unique as Thomson’s heavy breathing, but we clearly saw the consciousness drain from him, forcing the referee to call for a break. A break that came a little too late for his liking, and while the referee was giving Thomson a stern talking to Trood was able to recover as best he could.
From that point onwards both men were what I would describe as competitively aggressive. Both men had nearly been choked out, but there weren’t really any underhanded tactics at play, they were just smarting from their brushes with defeat.
Thomson switched tacts and honed in on Trood’s wrapped knee, and in the end it paid dividends. A mistimed dive jammed it and Thomson was able to flip Trood onto his back and fold him up for the pinfall and the victory. I wish they’d gone with a submission to finish, as it would have felt more in tune with the action, as this pinfall felt a little too weak to act as a definitive full stop to what had preceded it.

1972-12-XX
Joint Promotions - World of Sport
Jim Moser vs. Steve Veidor
Queensway Hall, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
★★★
This was worked incredibly even-stevens with neither man having any particular stretch of time where they were able to dominate the proceedings. What we did get was snug, rugged grappling from both men. This was a gentlemanly duel done right.
The first round was pretty cagey but things picked up in the second. They had some lovely symmetry over a chicken wing, with Veidor trying to apply it before abandoning the hold, only for Moser to immediately go for it himself, but again his opponent had it scouted and was able to block. After that exchange though, suddenly the pace shot through the roof and both men were flying around the ring resulting in Moser planting a huge dropkick on Veidor which knocked him loopy for a few moments.
Things settled back down again but there were always little sequences here and there where the intensity would crank up and we’d get a furious flurry of action. In between though we got tightly applied holds, wonderfully sold by both men, loosening a limb or shaking a muscle after having had it worked over to get across the residual effect.
In the end we finished with another one of those quick bursts, and it could have gone to either man, but Veidor just managed to get the best of it, capitalising on some bad positioning from Moser and he folded him up tightly for a cradle pin and the win in this single fall contest.