1972

I got stupidly excited when I saw this match in the archives. Two guys who had an awesome match series in the 1980s (when Franz was nearing 50 and had recovered from a paralyzing back injury, while Lasartesse was looking like a corpse) fighting each other in their prime, what could go wrong? However, the match was lacking focus, and didn‘t play to either guys strength. They were noticeably struggling to kill time, so I guess they did get wiser with age. Still, there was plenty to be enjoyed here: the match takes place in a ring that is floating in a swimming pool, and they send the wrestlers there in tiny little boats while a young Atsushi Onita was furiously taking notes…

Karl Gotch & Rene Goulet defend the WWWF Tag Team Titles against The Russians (Igor & Ivan) in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Available on the Network, Vault, Hidden Gems, 1972. "The Great Gotch, January 31, 1972"

https://youtu.be/wOGte6HRCRI Extensive highlights, about half of this 1 hour draw, shown during the weekly TV show alongside retrospective commentary from Gordon Solie, Jack Brisco, and John Heath. If treating pro wrestling like a real sport is your thing, then the commentary here will be heaven to your ears. John Heath in particular is a wealth of knowledge as the color guy.

This is (I believe) one of 3 Adrian Street singles matches from WoS that we have at the moment and a total super classic. Not only do you get that special sort of great british grappling, but also a great match story with a ton of aggression and pissed off-ness. Adrian Street was not as bizarre as later on, but already a surely, vivacious exotico. He starts the match prancing around and trying to get a rise out of Breaks. After Jim gets fed up with the antics he just tries to snap Adrian's wrist. Street gets a serious chip on his shoulder, drops the antics and goes after Breaks like a demon. Since they are both heels (getting mixed reactions in this match), there is n…

This is such a neat match. Regal is right when he's telling young wrestlers to aim for the technical standard of Terry Rudge matches: the holds in this bout were simple, but executed in tight and clinical fashion, and the focus on competiveness is awesome. It's almost all holds above the waist so it's like a greco roman style pro wrestling match, which is double cool. Rudge was not the shaven headed asskicker yet but looked like the real deal, and this is the most impressive I've seen Thornton look. There were some great forearm smashes in this match too, and I loved how Rudge sold them yanking his head back as if he was about to get decapitated.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwxas_njpw-1972-karl-gotch-vs-antonio-ino_sport The main event of New Japan's first ever show. No idea how I'd rate it but I had a blast watching it and was particularly fascinated with how the crowd reacted to the action. Gotch's selling of Inoki's Forearms was amusing for what it was and it made me wonder how selling styles changed throughout history. Honestly the work here seems flashy and quite accessible to me, and Gotch showed he was a solid showman as well in his headscissors escape.

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 yo…

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 ge…

This is just an excellent match which had both great wrestling and nice boiling hatred surges. You know it's gonna be good when a basic headscissor is reversed into a stretch muffler in the early going. The grappling was trippy and wonderful, like the greatest Negro Navarro vs. Black Terry match we never saw, and the match tells a nice story: the first two falls end in flash pins, setting up a cautious yet intense final round. Szakacs is like the most graceful wrestler ever, and Fallon looked pretty great too, totally up there as a maestro. He just went after Szakacs like a pitbull. However Fallon played a subtle and then not so subtle heel, adding more piss and vinegar t…

Weirdest damn thing I‘ve ever seen. They‘ve got springs at ringside and using them to catapult the wrestlers into the ring at incredible heights. I can‘t find words to do it quite justice. Before the match, both teams come out dressed as corny sci fi movie astronauts while early electronic music blares. Amazing. Tags are signaled by raising a fist and to tag in, the other wrestler catapults into the ring. To make things even weirder, the match has rounds, which I‘ve never seen in a tag match. Perero & Dos Santos were announced as „Portuguese“ but that may not be true at all. Aside from the insane gimmick, the wrestling wasn‘t blow away, although there were a few beaut…

A trios from 1972! Easily one of the funnest matches ever. Whoever booked the near-midget Ali Bey on the same team as Andre had some serious saviness. We start off with some swank technical work between Van Buyten and Teranishi, but soon shenanigans from the apron involving Andre ensue. The interactions between Van Buyten and Andre are solid gold. The wrestling isn't much worse - Andre bumps big! Ali Bey has some hilarious selling, including constantly hitting his head against things! Sugiyama is another hilarious character, and only tagged in for about 3 minutes. Teranishi does the bulk of the work for his team (probably for the better) and gets to look really slick. But…

Two big lumpy bastards get technical! Don Leo Jonathan is such a trip to watch executing all these kip ups and flips and flying headscissors and whatnot. I really liked how he would lock in a bodyscissor after doing a sunset flip, always making the other guy work. The Boston Crab is a dangerous hold! Don Leos initial escape by tripping the referee was like something Negro Casas would do. Kobayashi adds very little flash to the match but I love how he would sell a basic Don elbow to the stomach like a big deal. Don Leo pretty much beats him down with big stomps and knee drops and then some cool palm strike-ish punches. I'm not sure what happened at the finish. It seems one…

Pretty entertaining match and a cool chance to see young Andre working a lengthy epic. The early going isn't exactly what you expect from an Andre match as he works pretty even with Kobayashi, Andre would do a headlock takeover and Kobayashi would easily counter to a headscissor. On the other hand things such as Andre reversing an armbar by stepping on Kobayashi or pushing his knee in his face become extra compelling because he is so huge. Andre wins the first fall pretty easily and the other two is pretty much Kobayashi beating him down by stomping on his hand, working his stomach over with punches etc. There is a cool spot in the 3rd fall where Andre does a double leg F…

This is from the Olympic Auditorium in LA. It's for the NWA International Tag Team Titles, which the Funks have held since December 7, when they defeated Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki in Sapporo. It's the earliest footage I have ever seen of Terry Funk, he's about a month away from his 28th birthday, and definitely has to be the first time I've seen the Funks as a team, AND it's a complete match The Funks do an interview at ringside for Japan TV. Dory says "We respect them, but we just beat them last night in Amarillo". Terry says "They have come a long way just to be disappointed." Very mellow interview from the Funks. Terry starts the match, g…

King Krow is original Dan Kroffat. Talk about it here

I am almost 100% certain that the correct date for this match is July 17, 1972

This is from Soldier's Field in Chicago. I thought it was a tag title match, but Bockwinkel and Stevens were champs at this time and defended the belts on this show against Billy Robinson and Wilbur Snyder. It is Bob Luce film footage and is narrated by him. Former boxing champion Jersey Joe Walcott is the special referee. We open with a closeup on the bloody face of one of the Blackjacks. It is really hard to tell which Blackjack is which, and also the difference between Crusher and Bruiser. The commentary doesn't help. Bobby the Brain Heenan is inside the cage with the Blackjacks, standing on the ring apron. One of the Blackjacks get slammed, then it i…

50th State Big Time Wrestling Honolulu, HI - September 20, 1972 Fred Curry defeated John Quinn via disqualification Sam Steamboat defeated Mr. XXX Jimmy Snuka defeated Ray Kamaka Giant Baba vs The Sheik Ed Francis defeated Freddie Blassie AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens fought WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales & Wahoo McDaniel to a double disqualification

AWA World Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens vs Dr. X & Andre The Giant - AWA 10/7/72 It is just to pleasant to watch Nick Bockwinkel. At less than 5 minutes, there’s not much to analyze. It seems like Andre is a surprise guest. They do a fun spot where Bock rapidly u-turns from Andre into an X headlock. They run an X FIP. Andre’s hot tag is phenomenal. It is amazing how agile and fluid he is. Andre wins. A cool curiousity.

WWA World Heavyweight Champion Baron Von Raschke vs Andre The Giant - WWA 10/23/72 A rare full match! TV match it seems from the worlds tiniest wrestling ring. WWA was Dick The Bruiser’s Indianapolis promotion where he was champion for most of the 60s and last champ in 1971. Bruiser did wrestle in St. Louis and AWA around this time. Baron seems like he was the main heel as he was on his third title reign, the first being in 1970. He has Bobby Heenan but before he was the Brain he was the pretty boy. Wilbur Snyder the innovator of the Abdominal Stretch is out to protect Andre because Andre doesn’t speak English. Baron clocks Snyder with brass knuckles before the bell…

There were some fun, slick wrestling exchanges early on here. Nothing mindblowing but just nice entertaining stuff coming from a young guy wrestler like Barrie. You can forget about that though because the real money in this match was Cooper knocking the hell out of Barrie. Wily veteran against bland younger wrestler is a classic pro wrestling staple and this was really fun and well done. Fast paced the whole time and they get tremendous heat.The highlight was Cooper kicking Barrie while having him in a Boston Crab.

This was a pretty rocking match. Tony Charles against the bigger Steve Veidor. It was a friendly old face vs. face match, but with a nice competitive edge and focus. Structurally the bout wasn't anything grand, but the match had a great pace, as they worked rock solid technical holds, building up, then doing an explosion and calming down again, all really stylish. Charles especially is a guy who has a real knack for doing nifty simple stuff without getting overly esoteric. Also, there are some damn great rope running exchanges here, building to some hot nearfalls.

Johnny Czeslaw was a baldheaded polish toughguy who looked like a roman senator and survived a russian concentration camp as a boy, but seemingly enjoyed doing light hearted comedic technical wrestling a lot. Kellett is one of those 1 in 1000 characters that you have to see once in your life. This is easily the greatest comedy match ever. Even with all the jest going on here, they keep it highly competitive and do all these great moves and holds, especially Czeslaw who is such a wrestling master. Les Kellett, for a crusty old charlatan, wasn't afraid to take reckless bumps. The facial expressions, timing and body language on display here were incomparable. The jokes had a…

While not nearly on the same pedestal as their 1969 masterpiece, this match showed how the Destroyer can turn a prolonged headlock-dominated first fall into something entertaining. Baba isn’t the most engaging on the mat but Destroyer not only does a solid job selling Baba’s headlock but when the roles are reversed, Destroyer makes the headlock interesting. Whether it’s wrenching Baba’s head back and forth, using his knees to tenderize, or springboarding off the ropes with the takedown, Destroyer breathes life into an otherwise lackluster first fall. He’s jaw jacking to the fans, yelling at Baba “you get paid to lay down!”, but when he runs into the neckbreaker drop, it’s…