[1955-01-21-Kohler Chicago] Don Leo Jonathan vs Roy McClarity

[Ma Stump Puller]

The tags between these two are great, so how about a singles? This is mostly intact out of the (spoilers! ) 30 minute draw, I'd say about 27 minutes in total.

They work this as a really fascinating variation of the David/Goliath theme, with McClarity having the speed while Big Don has his imposing size yet still has to keep relenting to dirty heel antics while his opponent can overpower him cleanly when he gets the chance, making for a interesting twist on the typical concept. I really liked how they focused a bunch on pummelling; a novel concept to us today (even from the so-called "technical" wrestlers) but back then with such deep Catch influences it's almost a given that it pops up here as a sense of structure given the size difference. Don finds consistent points to trap Roy's arm behind his back during said pummelling which lets him drill the guy with some really good-looking knees and scrappy closed-fist punches. This leads to some cool arm work as well by having Don lean his whole weight onto his weakened limb to further damage it, shoving Roy into the corners or ropes to force the issue. I also was kinda into Roy's opposing work here, having to at times just focus on rough and tumble work with a couple of body punches or focusing on the head with a big sequence of consecutive headlocks.

Now typically this is usually entering the boring filler section of the match wherein they slow the tempo down enough to make up for the time they need to occupy but they actually did really well making the headlock struggle on both ends actually worth watching especially since Don at a good few points gets quite close to escaping/countering with some fast technical work of his own. Ron makes himself seem like the behaggled underdog here in how he just has to keep on his feet consistently just to keep pace with his much bigger opponent which is wild because usually it's the opposite way around with these sort of things. There's a awesome heel comeuppance when Don tries to lunge at a prone Roy with him only just able to roll out of the way before dodging another charge into the corner to throw a bunch of scrappy shots to the back before getting thrown up and over with a backdrop, Don just missing a full on double stomp to the head right after using the ropes as leverage to showcase his frustration at Roy's ability to keep in the fight. This bit was in particular very well timed since the two come within I'd say about inches of tagging the other.

They reset, going into more focus around the headlock; namely Roy being able to apply it multiple times despite Don's imposing strength, forcing him to cheat with hair pulling or smacking the back of his head to get even minor relief. Don puts over his opponent huge with a couple of incredible prat-bumps, kipping up for a couple of dropkicks and just this insane full-body flop escape over the top rope when Roy sticks on a Cobra Clutch that looked straight out of a French Catch match by how spectacular it looked. They cooled off with some more focus around holds right after but still had Don doing a bunch of great running leaps into corners and turnbuckles to sell his agitation, boiling to the point that he was willingly charging blindly into danger just to get his hands on his opponent faster.

The "big" spot of the match was him landing a Thesz Press and them working a long FIP with Roy stuck in the subsequent hold afterwards which for me came across as the weaker material in my book (if only because it's so unconvincing for SO long to boot) but like with everything else here the two are just so good at getting great mileage out of their situation so you get Roy selling the struggle well alongside Don being a shitbag and getting his comeuppance when he gets violently thrown to the mat when trying to reapply the hold. They do a good job making the eventual time limit stipulation work by having more frantic exchanges as the impending time limit draws closer, with each man kinda just jumping over the other to try to get a quick pinfall attempt while Don hogs the ropes for dear life to survive. There's a great build to the giant heel heat spot by having Don cheap shot out of the ropes and doing his signature middle rope knee drop to the leg which gets admonishment from the ref but also a huge advantage, letting him bully his opponent with some nasty looking whips to the corner to attack the back more for his submission finish. He's protected by having his modified Bow & Arrow finish be clearly in the ropes yet he's so clearly impatient that he just applies it anyway which you could argue tends up costing him the victory since he never gets a chance to reapply the hold afterwards.

Shit got super violent in the last minute as Don tries bending the back with a illegal bulldog choke while Roy's throwing fists to the back of Don's head alongside slamming said large head into the turnbuckle before the ref breaks them up and announces the 30 minute draw. This was a super strong outing that showcased Don as the stronger but far less intelligent of the duo, multiple occasions where he could've maybe got a win yet was content to go the easy way with his consistent need to take shortcuts; pretty great performance out of the guy that just makes me wish we had more prime Don Leo in circulation since he seemed like such a unique worker, especially since he's a gigantic dude yet was doing these ridiculous Shawn Michaels-like bumps decades before they would even remotely be in vogue.

Roy similarly looked really good here; a prototype of the scrappy punch-happy babyface for decades to come in how he gets over his selling early while not losing too much face, especially in his explosive comebacks where he's throwing really awesome punches. He makes a headlock seem like THE big weapon here against the giant which is a testament to his talent more than anything else. A great example of how to make a draw engaging on multiple levels beyond just filling for time and standing around.