80s Europe #5

 

Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey, 1/31/1981

Here‘s something you don‘t see every day: a WoS sprint. This was no rounds with 10 minute time limit. Just a barrage of pin attempts and credible nearfalls. Plenty of fast, intricate rope running too. Greys dropkicks ruled. And Saint completely tuned out the jokes for a change. Very nice stuff.

Jon Cortez vs. Bobby Barnes, 3/31/1981

Great match. Holy lord was Cortez brilliant here. I mean, he is usually brilliant, but he was just completely on here. Barnes was a proficient wrestler himself but Cortez had him with his back against the wall here. Cortez was busting out all kinds of graceful transitions and even made shit like the trite Zach Sabre escape look great. I love that Barnes transition to offense is him and Cortez going into an unusually grumpy amateur style scramble for a pin attempt and then Barnes just stands up and stomps Cortez. Barnes doesn‘t even work an exaggerated heel persona here, he is just pissed off with being shown up and goes to boot this jocks ass. Barnes launched a vicious heel assault full of underhand punches and vicious forearms and Cortez made some slick comebacks. Cortez dropkicks were just great. This was a formula match for sure but executed on a ridiculously high level.

Jim Breaks vs. Steve Grey, 5/12/1981

Another excellent signature Breaks match. Breaks played fair early but snapped soon. As usual, plenty of great armwork. Grey didn‘t leave his imprint on this match like others but he was as technically brilliant as they come and they crowd loved him. 

 

1980s EURO COMPENDIUM

80s Europe #4

Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey, 1/28/1980

Johnny Saint is the World Champion here. Steve Grey has beaten him the year before, can he do it again? Something I love about old european wrestling: the weight classes that protected these lighter guys.

This is an utterly incredible match. Easily the best Johnny Saint match ever. Part of why the match is great is the high speed, super athletic, tricked out technical stuff they do, but how they build it into an intense contest is magnificient. This is not the smiling, funny Johnny Saint who does jokes and tricks, it's Johnny Saint as the focussed, skillful champ against the most determined guy in the world. Walton puts over how impressive it is that Grey can even throw Johnny. They also map out the action beautifully, with some spots teased early on that get played off later, repeated sequences leading into transitions etc. Always with the focus on the challenger trying to topple the champ. Then you also have all these insane fast and intricate rope running exchanges.

Another thing I like about this bout is that it's not nice. It's an all technical match with no strikes, but they were punishing eachother here. Each hold or takedown would be really wrenched in, Grey was constantly trying to snap Johnny's wrist. Grey would also claw his hand in Saint's face, Saint would smash his shoulder into the mat, elbow on the face when trying a pin, etc. I also really liked the use of the arm wringer bump or missed dropkick, these simple bumps look great in World of Sport and were timed perfectly.

Grey is a crazy good babyface. He is great at putting over how fierce the bout is and how he was pushing himself to the limit to beat Saint. His selling was fantastic: He would slump over exhausted but then get up, or get Saint in a basic hold so he could regenerate his injured leg. Saint was less expressive but perfect for his role.

 All time great match. May be a serious GOAT contender even. But that's up to how much one can enjoy this kind of face vs. face technical match. For what it is I can't recall many instances where it's been done better.

 Jim Breaks vs. Jon Cortez, 2/2/1981

Great TV match. The usual Breaks heat mongering, coupled with his ferocious arm attacks and Cortez' technical brilliance. Even though this is both guys bread and butter, there was tremendous attention paid to basic holds. Check out Breaks trying to crush Cortez with a bearhug to counter his chancery, as well as some great struggle over a headscissor reversal and a shoulder pin. 

Gerard Herve & Tony Lamotta vs. Golden Falcons, France 8/11/1980

2/3 Falls match going about 30 minutes. French pro wrestling was nearing the end, but tag team wrestling could still deliver, and this delivered. Fast intricate exchanges, a pair of masked guys who can stooge and deliver a beating… yeah, this is pretty much Lucha. Also, both teams wore matching outfits , so they understood the crucial parts of tag team wrestling. Gerard Herve is Flesh Gordon as some young stud and a quite polished technico. Lamotta is balding and grey, but still really athletic with great looking ranas and flips, although he wisely leaves the bulk of the work to his partner. I didn‘t know what to expect from the Falcons (what kind of heel persona is that, anyways?) but they were ready to wrestle and bump and had good heel timing. There were some heel ref shenanigans with Michel Saulnier again, but to be honest he may have carried the heel beatdown section with his amusing ways to sabotage Herve. The european uppercuts landed loudly and the crowd was into this. The last fall is really short but the ending move is a good one.

1980s EURO COMPENDIUM

80s Europe #3

 

Jon Cortez vs. Keith Hayward, 11/5/1980

These two always did very no-nonsense technical matches together, and this was no exception. Big emphasis on amateur moves like single leg takedowns, firemans carries, pick-ups etc. There were some flashier moves, but most of this resembled a World of Sport take on shootstyle. Some top notch stuff in this. Bit slow paced and some moments in the last round felt blown, but keep in mind the much decorated Hayward was pretty much a rookie here. Quite impressive showing.

Johnny South vs. Ringo Rigby (8/5/80)

Tough contest in front of a really hot crowd. South looked like a hard man. His subtle heel moves early on where great - defensively shoving Rigby around, crawling to the ropes - and the crowd was super uptight about every bit of it. They ain't letting you get away with shoving a guy in the ropes in World of Sport. There were some cool holds early on, including a great struggle over a surfboard hold, but Johnny South then unleashed an asskicking. Really dug his face scrapes and forearm drops. Rigby looked quite good as a fired up young guy. He fired back with some cool double handed chops and big dropkicks. It builds to a series of pretty great strike exchanges and there was an insane spot where both guys ran heads first into each other. Simple but super enjoyable.

Jon Cortez vs. Pete Lapaque (1/28/80)

This was a totally dope match. Just the kind of random World of Sport bout you can turn on and get lost in. Jon Cortez was so great at crafting these throwaway matches as intense struggles. Pete LaPaque is a cool, chubby rudo, but this is all about Cortez who is such a graceful, awesome wrestler. Starts of with some slick grappling, then great arm work from LaPaque, Walton talking endlessly about how to tell wrestlers apart, and then lots of niggle and head to head wrestling with plenty of neat spots. One might complain about the kind of flat endings but don't forget this was just an undercard bout to the bigger Saint/Grey match later. As such it was real good.

 

1980s EURO COMPENDIUM

80s Europe #1

 

Ken Joyce vs. Tony Costas, 1/9/1980

Ken Joyce was this British maestro who had a knack for cool submissions in reversal without getting all too jokey. Costas was this gentleman wrestler from Cypris with a mustache. How many wrestlers from Cypris do you know? This is why you gotta love European wrestling. Match was full of tricked out technical works. Lots of holds and pin attempt worked in a way you haven‘t seen them before. Joyce seemed to be in control but Costas got a fall on him. I liked how Joyce just palmed striked Costas when he did something he didn‘t like. Very good technical bout.

Jon Cortez vs. Jeff Kaye, 2/5/1980

Jon Cortez was a wrestling machine, always putting on top notch TV performances. All his holds he worked with a certain intensity. This was a technical bout with some pretty great scrambles. It was a friendly match but things got pretty intense for a minute when Cortez was down a fall. Kayes acrobatic moves, such as walking on his hands across the ring or cartwheeling out of holds were impressive for a tubby aging guy. 3Rd fall was super short but intense as Cortez sensed a weakness and just went for the kill with backbreaking holds on Kaye.

Mark Rocco vs. Pete Roberts (5/28/80)

Battle of the goofy bodysuits. Marc Rocco is infamous for innovating a much faster paced, more thumpy wrestling style than what you usually saw in the British rings, or anywhere else really. Personally, I don‘t like him as much as other British heels, but this was one of his better bouts. Starts with a cool opening round of slick matwork before the hothead Rocco antics kick in and he starts kicking the hell out of Roberts. Rocco started kicking the tar out of Roberts leg and Roberts looked good sprawling on his takedown attempts. Roberts also took a big bump to the outside. The problem with the match was Rocco got two public warnings and just kept on cheating even though he should‘ve been DQ‘d. It got good heat though. Roberts was also slow to follow up on the finishing pinfall. It felt like both guys got a bit carried away after working abroad. It stuck out because in old British wrestling mistakes are few and far between and usually well covered.