80s Europe #12

 Alan Dennison vs. Jim Breaks, 7/14/1980

1980 was a really fucking good year for European wrestling. This would be a slam dunk MOTY for WoS in most other years, hell for almost any promotion in any year. One thing here is that we get to see Breaks working a long form two out of three falls bout over 40 minutes, which he does a brilliant job at. The other unique thing is Breaks opponent. Alan Dennison is this strongman guy who really works like an old timey strongman. His thing is that he has absolutely inhuman strength. So Breaks is really good at breaking a guy down and bending them into weird positions, and Dennisons thing is that he powers out of all of Breaks holds from any angle. Like Breaks would take him down, try to step on his arm/shoulder and Dennison would slowly throw him off etc. There was a part where Dennison even challenged Breaks to put a leg hold on him just to immediately blow him away with a sweep of his leg. Another moment saw Dennison going into a neck bridge with Breaks trying to pull his head like a cartoon character. It was the biggest bullshit you’ll ever see, but it was absolutely brilliant bullshit. When Dennison gets fired up he has these crazy facial expressions, even shit talking Breaks to his face, he throws these stiff armed punches where it looks like even he himself can’t bend his arm anymore. He also has a thing where he grabs Breaks face or pectoral muscle as if he’s going to tear him apart with his freak strength. Truely awe-inspiring performance from Dennison. Breaks was freaking brilliant as usual. He’s a total master at cheapshotting someone between rounds, I loved how he started by “accidentally” scraping Dennisons face with his boot several times. He is just so in the moment and never ever misses a bit, like he will go out of his way to sell the most miniscule stuff in really over the tope ways, such as the spot where Dennison clapped his hands together to escape a hold. Breaks got more mileage out of his hurting fingers than a lot of wrestlers have ever gotten out of anything. Match also had the usual super intense Breaks armwork which saw him doing a bunch of vicious dropping Dennison shoulder first into the ropes. His vocal performance was also great, I loved him yelling “His arm is gone!” and urging the ref to stop the match after nailing a particularily nasty armbreaker. They also make brilliant use of the 2 out of 3 falls structure, and the story of the Breaks Special vs. Dennisons double armlock is so simply but brilliantly done. Very unique match and both guys looked like absolute masters going 40 minutes without slowing down or ever letting the match drag.

Alan Dennison vs. Jim Breaks, 8/30/1980

Didn’t have the epic scope of the title match, but it was a very good match in its own right. Faster pace, plenty of cool wrestling, and lots of Breaks bitchslapping Dennison, garnering tremendous heat. An Dennison is just a crazy power machine. He punched Breaks in the face a lot in this. I am just amazed how much different stuff they did compared to the previous match. Granted, the basic themes of strength vs. grinding limbwork were there, but they built in a lot of different keypoints. The match was also a cool piece in the story of their feud, as this was a non title bout with Breaks looking to piss off Dennison.

80s Euro Master List 

80s Europe #11

 

Keith Haward vs. Chic Cullen, 3/5/1984

These two are kind of plain and non descript, but they were surprisingly able to create a bit of spark and tension by stubbornly trying to snap each others limbs. Lots of excellent arm and leg attack stuff, especially from Cullen. He looked like punky teenage boy with his tattoos and hair, but he sure could take a leg part. Dug all the toe holds, stepping into the kneecap etc. There were even some Fuchi-ish half crabs and a great Stretch Muffler. Haward is as stoic as they come but he gave Cullen a mean iceman glare at the right moment and went for the arm with abandon. All finishes were smart. Crazy ending. This was a borderline excellent bout.

Pete Roberts vs. Indio Guajaro (11/13/85)

This was all about the wild act of Indio Guajaro. It was nice to see him do his thing in front of an excitable British crowd. Very a-typical WoS match as it was almost constant action and attacking from Indio with Roberts retaliating. Roberts was one of those typically British faces, i.e. he was basically just a bloke who could wrestle, but he had no problem keeping up the pace and the crowd loved him. Guajaro took some big bumps and kept yanking the mic away from the MC to yell things in Spanish. Really heated, no downtime, doesn‘t overstay it‘s welcome, this was a great piece of TV.

Little Prince vs. Keith Haward (12/11/85)

This was really good. At first glance it was typical WoS stuff with two stoic grapplers trading holds, but they had really good intensity and kept building it until things got heated. Little Prince was a Pakistani wrestler. Stocky guy, but he could really go. He would slap Haward when he was down and he also threw one hell of a suplex. The match had the kind of ultra tight, detailed holds and awesome throws that I like. Haward is notorious for not having much personality but he showed enough fire when Prince started to slap the shit out of him. Good shit. 

 

80s Euro Master List

80s Europe #10

 Mike Bennett vs. Dan Collins, England 2/12/1985

This was really freaking great, honestly blows my mind nobody except OJ talks this match up much because it was a borderline 30 minute old school masterpiece worked at a relentless pace. Most of that was due to Mike Bennett, who looked like an old time grappling master doing a vicious heel act, in the same vein as Terry Rudge or Jim Breaks but with a bit more of a stone faced psycho vibe to him. You could write a book on how to wrestle just by observing what Bennet was doing here. He was tearing up young Dan Collins like no other in this bout. Loved the constant nelsons, shoulder stretches, the mean grovits, the facelocks and constantly pressuring Collins throat with his elbow or knee. At one point he did a jiu jitsu like guard sweep into an armbar which he used to strangle Collins with his foot on his throat. That is some truely next level stuff. It was the kind of stretching that was up there with the best of Fuchi or Jim Breaks and it was awe inspiring. Also, the way Bennett initially wouldn‘t give Collins much, denying his basic reversal attempts and gradually building the match towards bigger and bigger comebacks from Collins was nothing short of masterful. Bennett also kept escalating the violence in interesting ways, for example by topping off their first strike exchange by viciously kneeing a downed Collins in the face. Collins did pretty good for a 17 year old kid in this bout, he mostly stuck to retaliating against Bennetts tactics and never got lost which is very commendable. Still, safe to say Bennett was touched by the wrestling gods that night and running the show. When Bennett had enough and just busted up Collins nose and then kept hitting him in his bleeding face I felt this was Top 10 all time level. It build to great last two rounds with some real fireworks bumping from Bennett and a number of false finishes that would trick almost anyone watching. True to many European bouts, the actual ending underdelivers slightly, but everything up to that point was a honest to god wrestling masterclass.

Jim Breaks vs. Dan Collins, England 4/26/1984.

This was the more loud, boisterous version of the Bennett match. I preferred Bennetts performance but this was a near classic in it‘s own right. The workmanship of a guy like Breaks, who could‘ve just coasted doing his bread and butter stuff in a match against a kid but instead decided to up the ante and work some neat details fascinates me. Here we got some nice Breaks grappling, the usual Breaks heat seeking and joing dislocating arm work, and then something entirely new as Breaks started to wrench the hell out of Collins face and busted him up. The face stuff was nasty as hell, although Breaks didn‘t build to Collins getting some kind of epic payback. Instead we got a unique moment where Collins bursted out of Breaks hold headbutting him in the jaw, which Breaks sold in amazing fashion. Really, all the dangerous bumps and canadian destroyers in the world can‘t measure up to how Breaks sold that jaw headbutt. Collins got nowhere near as much offense as in the Bennett match, but he got that headbutt, plus he busted Breaks eye open with a nasty elbow. That eye thing may have been an accident but the way the camera cut away made me think Breaks actually bladed his brow there, fucker sure was crazy enough to do that. The finish was another fluke but at least it was a straight pin. I‘ll leave it to you to decide which was better, although I prefer the more overarching brilliance of the Bennett match. Both these matches are good as hell in their own right, that is for sure.

 

80s Europe Master List

80s Europe #9

 

Marty Jones vs. Dynamite Kid, WoS 1/19/1983

Kid sure has got on the good stuff while abroad. Even Walton couldn‘t help but point it out. This match had some nice wrestling, but they soon got to business: Kid deciding he doesn‘t give a damn about the british rules anymore and just deciding to beat the shit out of Jones. It just turns into a super heated slugfest with both guys dropping bombs and stiffing each other. Jones going berserk at the sight of his own blood was great and Kids turnbuckle bumps shocked the audience. Dug all the brutal looking knee drop. They may have gotten a bit carried away bending the rules but what the hell, it was a great match.

Terry Rudge vs. Pete Roberts (WoS 3/21/83)

Nifty bout that was worked without rounds and just 2/3 falls. Rudge fucking rules sneaking in headbutts and working the cravate. His selling of the little things, like putting a random arm whip over by having his shoulder go limb and stumbling over in pain is so good. This had a nice mix of wrestling and niggle. Rudge never unleashed his full ass kicking tendencies, but they worked a breathless pace. Roberts looked good. The match had two cool finishes and some really nice nearfalls in the 3rd. Good shit.

Steve Grey vs. Steve Speed (1/25/84)

Here‘s the rarest creature in the world: A World of Sport sprint. You know it‘s gonna be good when a guy named Steve Speed is in it. Speed was really lean and could go hard. Chock full of great exchanges, and I loved how competitive they made this. Most workers would just go from one spot to another, but they took the time to work the holds and pins. Speed gets a nosebleed and as soon as Grey notices he elbows him in the fucking nose and stomps on his face. Grey could be a right prick when he wanted. Speed went hard hitting surprise dropkicks but in the end the champ was too much. Pretty great under 10 minute match.

 

80s Euro Master List

80s Europe #8

 

Marc Rocco vs. Steve McHoy, Wos 2/17/1982

This was from a Royal Albert Hall show. Rocco was set to face Kung Fu but Kung Fu was working Stampede so Rocco gets on the mic and says Kung Fu is hiding because he knows Rocco would kill him in the ring, and that rules. This was such a brawl it barely resembled a WoS much but the heat was super and it was a really fun fast paced bout. McHoy was this Scottish heavyweight and kind of non descript but Rocco made sure the heat was on him by beating on this man with elbows and stomps to the face. I also really liked that little headbutt he threw on the ground. McHoy has some fun comebacks punishing Rocco and Roccos bumping was superb, he made a simple knee lift look devastating. I also really liked the bit where McHoy bitchslapped Rocco and then armdragged him a bunch when he came charging hotheadedly. Big big bump for the finish too. This was a cool sprint.

Johnny Saint vs. Robbie Brookside (4/28/87)

Borderline masterpiece of a British grappling match, maybe the last truely great bout to come out of the country. Not a ton of extended selling or story aside from Brookside being this lanky kid taking it to a master, but there was a ton of really good wrestling. Brookside sure looked sharper than I‘ve ever seen him here. He had some great holds and movements. And Saint cut out the smiles and just wrestled a cutting edge bout. Really liked how Brookside didn‘t let himself get pinned by Saitns signature stuff. The hold for hold stuff was great and there were some fantastic rope running sequences including one where Saint took a really nice missed bump off a crossbody. Also liked how when Brookside had enough of the grappling and started leathering Saint with uppercuts Saint retaliated by dropkicking him flush in the face. Great bout.

 

80s Euro Compendium

80s Europe #7

 Alan Kilby vs. King Ben, WoS 10/7/1981

Really unique match. I know Alan Kilby can be pretty great, while King Ben hasn't done anything for me, but they both went all out here in a contest that was basically worked greco roman mixed with some shootstyle holds and stiff strikes. Forget about the classy british grappling and reversals, most of this was built around really intense lockups, attempted and failed throws and struggling over pin attempts. At one point Ben breaks out a top wristlock, Kilby starts working an armbar on the ground... add in some stiff, awkwardly landing strikes (including a flying headbutt from Ben that almost KOd Kilby) and sheer wild eyed determination from Kilby and you've got yourself one hell of a match. This match felt like it belonged in the 1960s rather than 1981, but the folks sat there in awe and really appreciated this contest that just kept building and building. Great finish too.

 

John Elijah vs. Ray Steele, WoS 7/22/1982

John Elijah was this bear of a man, who looked like he had insane upper body strength. And this had a bunch of great hold for hold work mostly focussing on the upper body. Elijah had this way of selling when he was forcing his way out of Steeles holds as if he was performing insane feats of strength. There‘s an artform to working this way that is lost now, and they executed a really good match in this style. Slow paced but the crowd was hot for it and there were some great holds and generally really good work.

Fit Finlay vs. Young David, WoS 3/13/1982

A look at a Finlay match where he doesn‘t cheat. He doesn‘t even step on Davey Boys hands. This had some really good matwork and holds. You get the sense Finlay vs. Atlantis would‘ve been amazing. David didn‘t leave his mark on the match as much as Finlay, but he looked intense. A lot of this was like if you‘d ask what junior wrestling between two super athletic guys with no high flying would look like. Finlay had some awe inspiring bridging and both guys had some great looking suplexes. Overall good technical action although it didn‘t have as much heat or story as their better bouts.

 

80s Euro Compendium 

80s Europe #6

 
Terry Rudge vs. Alan Kilby, WoS 6/18/1981

This was from one of the biggest shows ever in Britain at the Wembley Hall, main evented of course by Big Daddy vs. Haystacks. These two delivered  an appropriate match. Starts with some slick heavyweight grappling before Rudge naturally turns up the hit. Kilby was a bit nondescript here but reliably likable, and Rudge is one of the biggest asskickers of all time and makes this entertaining bitchslapping Kilby and headbutting him in the face. It got pretty unruly for a WoS bout and resembled shootstyle here and there the way Rudge as butting Kilby around. Tremendous tremendous heat as you'd expect.

Clive Myers vs. Keith Haward, WoS 7/15/1981

 Slick technical match with some fun kung fu spots from Myers. He was doing this goofy "Iron Fist" gimmick at this point, but largely turned down the bullshit to go at it with Haward. Haward had the reputation of being a wrestling machine, but I thought Myers outclassed him here. It was like everything Haward could do, Myers could do faster and slicker. His pin off the butterfly suplex was awesome. Classy Myers showing.

Alan Kilby vs. Tom Dowie, WoS 1/13/1981

Tom Dowie was another old as dirt, bald wrestler. He had some fun ways to block Kilbys moves, and really great heel mannerisms. His punches from the side headlock where possibly the greatest I've ever seen, really turning such a simple heel move into an artform. His corner bumps were amazing as well. Kilby put in another tremendous babyface performance. He may have been the best babyface in the country, how can you not love a deaf wrestler. And when it was time to trade blows he looked hard as iron. This was mostly heatseeking built around Dowie doing a handful of things but super effective. One of those super simple but great WoS matches.

1980s EURO COMPENDIUM

European Catch Catch-Up

 

Mick McMichael vs. Vic Faulkner, WoS 6/28/1972

Very nice and unexpected to see a previously lost WoS match surface. These two have kind of a reputation of being jokers, but there was some amazing hard fought technical wrestling in this. Maybe one or two jokes and the match never got truely nasty, but I be damned if this wasn‘t some great pro wrestling. These WoS guys really make the most basic stuff look awesome. Holds clamped on super tight, fast and snappy bumping, and the pins and reversals are just on a different level. In between that you had some fast, beautiful and effortless rope running and they keep peppering in nearfalls that the crowd went really loud for. This is 2/3 falls and the finish to the first was just fantastic. After that both guys were more cautious and the crowd was really wary about another fall happening. The equalizing fall was tremendous as well. Exhaustion in the last round was just great with both guys taking some amazing missed splashes, so were Faulkners out of nowhere bumps. Just two absolute pros having a high end 1972 level workrate match, going 25 minutes and making it look so easy for a crowd that loved everything, yeah this is why World of Sport ruled.

Vasilios Mantopolous vs. Anton Tejero, France 10/21/1967

 Mantopolous is a monster technician. Tejero is a monster stooge. Obviously this was really entertaining, and had tons of smooth and athletic movements and tricks from Mantopolous. Tejero wasn't exactly non-competitive, but he kind of got smoked. Mantopolous was extremely dominant and Tejero only got a few licks in on him. It's still a super impressive match to be this one sided and nearly 30 minutes and not boring. It really makes you want to see Mantopolous against someone who can stand up to his skill, and we'll have to see if we can find a match like that.

 Batman vs. Teddy Boy, France 9/30/1967

I love that they just had a Batman running around in the French pro wrestling scene. This went 9 minutes which is the equivalent of a short Saturday Night squash, but really lively and fun. Batman has some impressive cartwheels. And Teddy Boy just beat the shit out of him. Even though the match was short, Teddy Boy probably got in more offense than Tejero did in the previous match. Some really nice punches and stomps from him. And Batman was Batman.

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 #2

Jim Breaks vs. Young David (Davey Boy Smith), 2/23/1980

  This was a great piece of pro wrestling. Breaks in his bumblebee trunks just carrying a barely in puberty Davey Boy like it's nothing. To be fair, David looked good in parts here, doing a decent job struggling out of Breaks holds and taking a big unexpected bump in the last round, but it  was plainly obvious that he could only do a handful of things. Most of his comebacks are just him bodyslamming Breaks over and over. He did however do a great job palm striking his way out of a submission and bloodying Breaks nose. Breaks was great here at first playing a more subtle version of his usual character before turning it up to 11. His submissions were just ridiculous, trying to sprain Davids ankle at first and then zoning in on the arm and bending it as far as humanly possible. This just lead out in a great way. Fun post match too with Davids mentor Alan Dennison coming in to smash things over Breaks head. 

Pat Roach vs. Pete Roberts, 2/13/1980

Pat Roach always looks like the hardest man on the planet to me. This was a pretty excellent contest with some nifty heavyweight grappling. Roachs judo throws rule, as well as his overhead arm suplex. Roach was playing nice early on, and Roberts was doing a really neat Fujiwara-ish performance trying to crack the giant. Once Roach was outsmarted, he just went beast mode and ragdolled Roberts about the ring. In the 3rd fall, Roberts made excellent use of ring positioning to chop Roach down. I liked the finish more than OJ as Roach was limping and in trouble only to launch an overzealous Roberts over the top rope, taking an insane bump on the outside. The smart player Pete Roberts being outsmarted himself was neat.  

Jeff Kaye vs. Tony "Banger" Walsh, 1/28/1980

This was a battle between two great looking wrestlers. Walsh is pasty with a bowlcut and Kaye has kind of medieval mid length hair and is dumpy looking. Kaye is super fired up here cartwheeling around and Banger Walsh was looking to give it to him, throwing shots and grinding Kaye down  with basic moves.  Walsh has really good basic stomps and clubs. If you are familiar with these type of European give and give back face/heel matches you won't be surprised by the structure here but they worked in so many high end exchanges that it stayed entertaining. Unique finish too. Really really fun sprint. 

Fit Finlay/Ian Gilmour vs Guy Mercier/Alan Mitchells 9/25/80

2/3 Falls match over about 25 minutes. Browsing through hundreds of French matches, and just out of nowhere a 22 year old Dave Finlay pops up in what is maybe his first ever televised match working like a seasoned veteran heel. Pretty cool. The saying about European tag wrestling is that they didn‘t quite know how to do it, but this match had pretty much the kind of structure you want: Fun babyface shine segment, followed by a heel beatdown before a series of cut offs before a comeback succeeds and then a finish. They fool you a bit here by doing a really long shine with the heels making several attempts at starting the beatdown and being cut off, but in the end the structure is there and even the 2/3 Falls formula is integrated well. This was a bit more holds and takedowns based and less about armdrags and ranas, similiar to what we know from British wrestling, but don‘t be fooled the pace in this match was lightning fast. These guys really do an absurd amount of stuff even in a long match, but everything is executed effortlessly. Guy Mercier is a former European champion and legit Greco roman wrestler with a look and aura that just screams tough old man, and while there wasn‘t a ton of extended wrestling in this match he looked like a classy worker. It speaks for the creativity of these old workers just how much they could do with moves like a body slam or hip throw. Finlay also did this cool thing where he misses a big splash in about the first minute of the bout and spends the next few minutes scurrying away while the faces twisted up his leg and launched him into the ropes. It didn‘t pay off in the long run, but it was a fun bit of selling to make the opening minutes more interesting. Once the heels got something going after what felt like 15 minutes of highly entertaining bumping and stooging, they basically focussed on getting the faces to the corner and stomping the crap out of them. Really simple and effective stuff that made me wish modern workers paid more attention to making simple things like a stomp look good, because Finlay had damn great looking stomps here. Another layer to the match was Michel Saulnier, who was grey and a referee by now. The match had some heel ref antics and comical amounts of babyface retaliation against Saulnier, while that is something that can ruin a lot of these Euro matches it was actually executed in a really fun manner here. The thing I loved most how delighted the fans were at the trick the heels used to get a pin here. No hard feelings, it‘s all good fun in France.

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.

1980s Euro Compendium

 About a year ago there was a plan to revive the DVDVR 1980s Europe project. That plan kind of went back to sleep, but lots of matches were reviewed and those thoughts shouldn't stay buried in my text files. And with a recent wave of World of Sport uploads, it's a good opportunity to dive into some of the more elusive bouts of the era. I will try to rank the matches as I go through. Expect lots of British wrestling, with the occasional match from France, Germany, Austria, and maybe even Belgium to make an appearance.

1980

1. Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey, WoS 1/28/1980
   
2. Jim Breaks vs. Young David, 2/23/1980
3. Alan Dennison vs. Jim Breaks, 7/14/1980
   
4. Jon Cortez vs. Pete LaPaque, 1/28/1980 
   
5. Ken Joyce vs. Tony Costas, 1/9/1980
6. Ringo Rigby vs. Johnny South, 8/5/1980
   
7. Jeff Kaye vs. Tony "Banger" Walsh, 1/28/1980 
8. Pat Roach vs. Pete Roberts, 2/13/1980 
9. Fit Finlay & Ian Gilmour vs. Alan Mitchells & Guy Mercier, 9/25/1980
   
10. Jon Cortez vs. Jeff Kaye, 2/5/1980
11. Tony Lamotta & Gerard Herve vs. Golden Falcons, 8/11/1980
    
12. Romany Riley vs. Lenny Hurst, 2/13/1980
    
13. Pete Roberts vs. Mark Rocco, 5/28/1980 
14. Jim Breaks vs. Alan Dennison, 8/30/1980
    
15. Jon Cortez vs. Keith Hayward, 11/5/1980
    

1981

1. Alan Kilby vs. King Ben, 10/7/1981
   
2.  Jon Cortez vs. Bobby Barnes, 3/31/1981
   
3. Jim Breaks vs. Jon Cortez, 2/2/1981 
4. Alan Kilby vs. Terry Rudge, 6/18/1681
5. Alan Kilby vs. Tom Dowie, 1/13/1981
   
6. Jim Breaks vs. Steve Grey, 5/12/1981
7. Clive Myers vs. Keith Haward, 7/15/1981
   
8. Johnny Saint vs. Steve Grey, 1/31/1981
   

1982

1. John Elijah vs. Ray Steele, 7/22/1982 
2. Fit Finlay vs. Young David, 3/9/1982
3. Marc Rocco vs. Steve McHoy, 2/17/1982
   

 

1983

1. Marty Jones vs. Dynamite Kid, 1/19/1983 
2. Terry Rudge vs. Pete Roberts, 3/21/1983
   

 

1984

1. Jim Breaks vs. Dan Collins, 4/26/1984 
2. Keith Haward vs. Chic Cullen, 3/5/1984
   
3. Steve Grey vs. Steve Speed, 1/25/1984
   

1985

1. Mike Bennett vs. Dan Collins, 2/12/1985 
2. Little Prince vs. Keith Haward, 12/11/1985
   
3. Indio Guajaro vs. Pete Roberts, 11/13/1985
   

1985

1986

1987

1. Johnny Saint vs. Robbie Brookside,  4/28/1987

1988

1989

Assorted World of Sport

 

Steve Wright vs. Brian Maxine, 12/2/1972

Steve Wright was just a skinny young man here, but what an athlete. Maxine was like the British Jerry Lawler. He came to the ring wearing a crown and threw flyers into the audience. This was a match that drew nuclear heat. Maxine tuned down the flamboyance in the ring and was just a hard nosed, knuckle-grinding heel. His use of his knuckles and forearms to grind the hell out of Wright reminded me of a certain Tony Oliver. He grinded his knuckles into Wrights kidneys, his eyes, the forearm across the throat, and the crowd just hated him for it. It‘s a wonderful thing to see a crowd eat up a subtle heels antics like this. Also really dug the subtle hanging choke he did. It was very unique, violent looking stuff. The first round is mostly both guys attempting holds and cartwheeling and rolling out of them. When Maxine first takes a back bump the crowd just erupts. By the second round they were rabid to see Wright put an armhold on Maxine. It was true peak of the art of face/heel working stuff. Wright played the role of the hot headed young athlete extremely well. He had some great looking flying headbutts and took some really good looking bumps. The finish was great as Wright is leading 1-0 but twists his leg on a dropkick. He tries to keep going but Maxine takes him down into an almost PANCRASE leglock and Wright has to quick after going 1-1 with the champion. Some people find the injury finishes in WoS word but I thought it was a good way to have a young guy look strong in his defeat to the champion. Whole match was just tremendously well put together and the heat was magic.

Masambula vs. Tony Charles, 9/2/1972

I was expecting Masambula, the African Witchdoctor to be this really hammy character. I mean, British Wrestling had guys getting hypnotized in the ring and attacking their partners. But this was a fairly straight forward match. Not a ton of shtick from Masambule, just some mild verbal jokes and a lot of wrestling. It was almost a disappointment. The wrestling was very nice, though. Masambula had a cool way of doing things. Dug all the leg grapevines and headstands. Charles was rocking the sideburns and as usual looked like quite the grappler. The match remained a friendly contest and never really ramped up in intensity but Masambula was worth seeing.

Assorted World of Sport

 Pete Roberts vs. Caswell Martin (WoS 4/4/1973)

I thought this was a great match. It’s not for the faint of the heart though, being essentially 30 minutes of almost uninterrupted matwork. But these guys are great at what they do, and there is no more wrestling that feels like this, really. Really elegant hold for hold wrestling, and they really wrench in the holds so that you care when someone breaks out of them. They really torque in those basic wristlocks and hammerlocks, and they move into more elaborate spidery holds quite nicely. Roberts was doing a ton of cool shit in this match, at one point Caswell goes into a bridge and Roberts puts on a crucifix neck crank, there’s also some STF work that feels esoteric by the standards of european wrestling. Martin is such a supremely athletic wrestler that he can make stuff like flipping out of a leg grab look fantastic. Really dug all the nearfalls throughout the match. I would’ve liked the match to get a little more rowdy, Roberts was working over Martins shoulders pretty hard at one point and there was never really a serious heating up moment, but that’s not what they were going for. The crowd ate the match up, anyways.

Romany Riley vs. Lenny Hurst (2/13/1980)

Really good, heated little match. Riley is some tough looking barrel chested dude with prison tattoos, after some elegant escapes he catches Hurst with a thudding forearm and then turns to Walton as if to quip. Hurst promptly pins him to score a fall in the 1^st round. That pisses Riley off and he goes to town on Hurst. I really dug the build to the explosion here, Riley is overzealous in trying to get a hold of Hurst, just grabbing holds before Hurst is back on his feet, until he decides he’s had enough of the niceties and just kicks the crap out of his opponent. The great thing about World of Sport matches is how riled up the crowd got for simple things like kicking a guy when he’s down. Riley kicks the hell out of Hurst and throws him to the outside, then he gets a warning and immediately does the same thing while Walton says he’s going berserk, really intense moment. The whole second half was really intense actually, with Riley throwing super stiff european uppercuts and Hurst coming back throwing punches and headbutts. Hurst looked like a really good babyface here, throwing some fantastic dropkicks. He also had some really good selling, at one moment he looked like he seriously had his bell rung, trying to keep it together and the crowd was willing him on to take it to Riley. Really simple, super effective entertaining match.

Steve Veidor vs. Gordon Corbett (11/16/1976)

Gordon Corbett was a boxer turned wrestler and this was his only TV match. Corbett looks like really only a wrestler on world of sport can look, dumpy, balding, totally non-athletic looking guy. But he knew the usual holds and all his stuff looked good, proving posture and well-drilled movements are key to being good at wrestling. He had some fun tricks in his bag here. The crowd was firmly on the side of Veidor, even though there were no foul tactics from Corbett, and you can tell why Veidor was so popular based on the way he wrestled here. Really graceful wrestler for a lanky guy. There was a a really cool extended armwork sequence, and Corbett one-upping Veidor at the end and getting nearfalls felt a bit like Momota trying to pin Liger. Fun match, here’s to you Gordon Corbett.

Assorted World of Sport Matches

 Pete Stewart vs. Tibor Szakacs, aired 3/25/1972

Tibor Szakacs was a Hungarian ex-army officer who fled to Britain and became a beloved wrestler. The man was built like a shaved chimpanzee, and his constant miserable gaze is up there with the likes of Kazuo Yamazaki. I love watching Szakacs wrestle as his slow movements are poetry in motion and that was felt strongly in this bout too, although this was about his young opponent Pete Stewart getting a rub by getting a fall over the veteran. Pete Stewart was later known as "Iron Duke" which is an all time great wrestler nickname, but he was basically just a young boy at this point. The technical stuff in the match is good and as soon as Stewart takes the 1:0 lead things get pretty intense with some vicious armwork and Szakacs busting out the dreaded chop. Extremely well executed with Szakacs throwing a suplex that I've never seen him do before. Well worth watching.

Peter Rann vs. Johnny Kincaid, 3/22/1972

Excellent long TV main event. Kincaid has a bleach blonde head and Rann is almost fully grey and unassuming looking, so you know it's gonna rule. Plenty of nifty grappling throughout. Rann worked some almost jiu-jitsuesque transitions. I also loved his out of nowhere crowbar dropkicks. Kincaid ended up taking a big bump over the rope and Rann worked over his back and leg. Loved all the pin attempts. Rann got cute attacking Kincaid with some subtle heel tactics and Kincaid retaliated with headbutts and at one point threw a punch and did an almost Terry Funk like footwork routine. The match settled down a bit with more good wrestling. It was really the kind of bout where you could write a textbook on all the little things they did. I loved the way Rann sold Kincaids headbutts. There were a few points were Rann just grabbed an armlock and forced Kincaid down hard which ruled. Rann started playing dirty in the last round again which got the crowd pretty fired up again. There was an awesome moment where Kincaid was looking for the boston crab with the crowd being on fire, and then he catapulted Rann across the ring with Rann bumping on his head. 

Peter Rann also has this blog dedicated to him, featuring some amusing pictures of his aesthetic heyday:

http://peterrann.blogspot.com/

Adrian Street vs. Mick McMichael, 12/13/1973

What a matchup. Street is in his gown and makeup. McMichael is just the most regular looking bloke you can imagine. It's an amazing contrast and it produces a wildly entertaining TV match. McMichael tears up Streets gown and it's a furious match from the start. Street is actually super vicious here, clawing McMichaels cheek, always sneaking in blows, big leaping stomps that look violent as hell. When Streets starts wrestling he is just blindingly fast and smooth. But there is little wrestling here as it's basically a sprint brawl. Street does some prancing as he gets the advantage so McMichael does some prancing of his own and even steals some of Streets glitter which was extremely funny. The third fall was super simple and effective with Street trying to beat McMichael down hard and McMichael working over Streets stomach with headbutts and splashes. If you were hoping for more of Street being the wrestler we saw a year earlier in the Breaks match you'll be disappointed but as a match of it's own this was super entertaining, makes you wish more outrageous character wrestler were this good.