GWA and North East Lincolnshire Wrestling

North East Lincolnshire. Not a name or place that you think runs in the veins of wrestling history, but for me it does and hopefully, for a generation of new fans, wrestlers, bookers and performers it will do again for a long time to come. You see the Grimsby Wrestling Academy and by extension their promotion GWA are doing great things. They offer professional classes with a wide ranger of trainers and have brought in seminar specialists like Kid Kash. Just looking at their website will tell you they value high quality production which is essential in the modern wrestling market not just in the UK but world wide. They clearly understand what needs to be done. I should offer a disclaimer here I haven't been to one of their shows or a session this is a first glance look at the promotion but as a long time fan I am very impressed and pleased that this part of the world has a new champion for its strong wrestling heritage. Their next show will feature The Homicidal, Genocidal, Suicidal Death Defying Sabu and marks a return to NE Lincs offering shows of very high quality. A true case of “If you build it, they will come”. 

You see back in the day, when I was a wrestling fan at the beginning of my obsession I was in North East Lincolnshire one Sunday every month. Now GWA offer their shows at Grimsby Central Hall, but it was down at the Memorial Hall in Cleethorpes where I got my first long term fix of monthly pro wrestling. Back in the early eighties, in one of Joint Promotions boom periods, and just before the Crabtrees take over of that particular company, the shows on a Sunday night where immense. I got to see everyone that mattered in the wrestling world and it set my mind on what good wrestling was from a young and impressionable age. The main eventers of the time Dave “Fit” Finlay, Chic Cullen and my personal hero Marty Jones all wrestled there on a regular basis. They where not the only ones, I sadly just missed out on seeing The Dynamite Kid, Bret Hart and Saturo Sayama who also wrestled at that venerable hall. Little did I know I was watching guys who would have a major influence on not just British wrestling in the TV era, but world wide. Dave Finaly became Finlay, now a road agent for WWE and the driving force behind the great Diva's division of the early 2000's. Saturo Sayama went on of course to be Tiger Mask and his matches with The Dynamite Kid reinvented Junior Heavyweight pro wrestling in Japan. He also went on to be a founder of the original UWF which was a massive influence on shoot fighting and was part of the many things that brought us to the MMA world of today. Dynamite and Bret? Well you know what happened there. Marty Jones went on to train William Regal who you hear weekly on FCW programming and is a great influence on the training regime of the WWE. So for a while there Cleethorpes turned out to be the wrestling capital of the world. Maybe not as romantic as the NJPW dojo, or The Businessman's Gym in Saint Louis (Lou Thesz's home gym) or even The Snakepit in Wigan, but just as important to me because that is where my home of wrestling will always be.

However back to the present day, it is great to see a new wrestling business that is taking care of doing the right things and impressing at first glance. They are also at the moment encouraging take up with offers and promotions on wrestling lessons. So if you are in Grimsby go see a show, or take a lesson. This is a great opportunity to build a foundation for wrestling in North East Lincolnshire. With things looking strong nation wide an opportunity that could mean work, and more wrestling for all of us fans to enjoy. Tickets for their EXTREME! Show on the the 30^th of August are £8 for full whack with some concessions and considering what you are getting that is great value. You get to see Sabu for eight quid. You lucky, lucky people.

Have a good time till next time grapple fans.

Grimsby Wrestling Academy on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/grimsbywrestling

and on the general web @ http://www.grimsbywrestling.com/home

Retreading the path to Glory

My approach to this blog has usually been video and commentary, show and tell if you will. This week I offer an aberration and a State of the Union, inspired somewhat by Grantland’s excellent The Masked Man. As he concerns himself with story telling, I’m all bout the style.

I am not just a wrestling fan; I’m a music fan to. Back in the mid nineties I had a favourite band, The Ataris. Being a punk I loved their attitude, their “for the cause” realism matched up with explosive pop punk. They had shows that where joyous parties of exclamation. They rocked in short. Then they signed to a major. Their attitude changed somewhat. It was slow, but I saw every faltering step. By their second album on the major they had essentially split up. I felt for them, all they wanted was a bigger audience after all, but I knew that would be the way things played out. I had a slight sense of disappointment when they joined up to the major. It wasn’t that I thought they’d sold out; it was that I thought they wouldn’t be treated right. I have seen to many bands fall by the wayside or seem out of their depth, a story in Kerrang confirmed it to me; gone was the relaxed attitude, the turning up late for interviews and goofing off, on was the serious face of being a professional rock musician. I feel the same way about wrestlers that go to Vince after being darlings of the indie circuit. Certainly it felt that way people came up from ECW around the same time as my beloved Atari’s signed with Columbia. Essentially though it was the same thing, some drowned, some made it. A lot of that was to do with Vince Macmahon and talent relations. However for every Mick Foley that got down to work to reinvent themselves, there was a Dean Douglas who got lost in the shuffle. Whose fault is it? The front office? The wrestler? The fans for not caring enough? As Paul Heyman recently let loose on his twitter feed, wrestlers need to take every opportunity afforded to them. Looking back at the great careers of the past, indeed of the people who made me fans. I look at every open door the purposefully strode across. Would Dynamite have had as many great matches in his career had he not got on the plane to Canada? What would have happened if Ric Flair had staid in Minnesota? If Hulk Hogan hadn’t had been pushed into taking the job with WWF by Verne Gagne? This is where as a wrestling fan thing gets tricky, you can hate Vince for what he did to the territories, but he only really put out of the business the men who didn’t happen to be hungry enough, or the places in which his product did not relate to its audience. This is especially true of Japan, the style doesn’t work and they are all hungrier than he is. All these opportunities, some times they come, and some times they go. Two guys who have had opportunities most recently at the highest level are Colt Cabana and CM Punk. The NWA and WWE Champions and two best friends who this week presented the Art of Wrestling podcast and essentially explained not only the differences between being today’s NWA champion and WWE champions, but as representatives of their respective styles of wrestling. Back in the eighties when the territories crumbled, it took with it individual booking styles. They way things could be presented varied all over the world. When WWE became top dog essentially that was all we had left for mainstream consumption. The WWE became the biggest thing in the world and that too many people is wrestling. Not to me though, I would fantasise about matches between Wayne Bridges and Hulk Hogan (Joint and WWE world Champs) as I tried to figure out in my little kayfabe heart where everything lay. Out of the ashes of the territories though grew and underground. Just like in music, more specifically Punk. The underground is currently represented by Cabana as NWA champion, king of the Indies, most popular worker in the North America outside of the WWE bubble, probably in the UK to aside from the darlings of TNA. CM Punk is probably the most popular wrestler in the world aside from John Cena. They both learned how to wrestle at the same time; they both went to the same school and gyms and still do. They are both self made men. What they have done for the wrestling industry is bring the mainstream a little closer to the underground (Punk) and given the underground a model from which to work (Cabana). So what I hear you cry has this got do with British wrestling? The links in the chain go through Punk, Cabana and indeed Chris Hero, Daniel Bryan, Claudio Castignoli, Sara Del Ray, Mike Qaukenbush, Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries and many more. This generation of stars took influence from what came before, but never have so many given credit to the people who it was due to. They name check their heroes and heroines constantly and encourage their research in the finer arts of pro wrestling. They look back at the glory days of British Wrestling and bring it full circle; they find people like Robbie Brookside, Les Thatcher and Steve Regal and encourage them to train themselves and others. Their hard work and dedication to British pro wrestling is paramount into revitalising what was once thought of as a dead style. When the FWA was a fledgling promotion I remember Power Slam magazine reviewing one of their cards, exclaiming that the match between Johnny Saint and Steve Grey was an anachronism to that spoiled the card of excellent wrestling in the ECW style. Putting that match on then it turns out was around fifteen years to early. LDN wrestling recently put on a match with Johnny Kidd and Johnny Saint that tore the house down as people now had something to appreciate in the sense of history. They didn’t learn it from Saturday afternoon ITV broadcasts. they learnt it from youtube, they learnt it from watching and listening to Steve Regal, they learnt it and watched it from Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Colt Cabana and Chris Hero. These men who loved our wrestling more than we did; enough to embrace it, reinvent it, cross breed it, develop it and produce something new.

When Punk went full on mainstream last summer, and more so when Daniel Bryan did, that evolution was complete. Looking around the wrestling world we have a mat technician in Austin Aries in the main event of the next TNA PPV, Bryan and Punk at the very top of the card in the WWE, Cabana as NWA Champ. Castignoli and Hero ready to be reborn to that new audience. Of course I still feel protective of some talents, just like my small and perfectly formed punk bands. Would Sara Del Ray make it in the WWE? I think so, would she want to be a WWE Superstar is another question. The woman who helped reinvent Joshi for a new North American audience is unlikely to want to be considered a Diva, but then again Punk only ever wanted to be a wrestler and he managed to make that change in the WWE happen. Back home we have the strongest scene we have had for a very long time; I just hope it remembers its roots as well as our friends cross the pond do.                     

Oh when the Saint . . .

So it’s been a while; this partly due to my commitments at Bomcast, and partly due to my diligence in watching lots of lovely DVD’s from the fine people at Rudo Reels and Smart Mark Video. These things of course feed into one another. So when I left you all hanging I was going to break down how All Star became dominant and left Joint in its wake. My watching of Smart Mark DVD’s has led me into re-watching a lot of Johnny Saint. His performance at Chikara’s Chikarasaurus Rex last year (at the age of 71 I may add) was incredible. This was partly down to a red hot crowd in Reading, Pennsylvania who adored his match with Johnny Kidd, but also the incredibly knowledgeable and respectful fans of South Philly. They always loved their wrestling. They just liked their blood and guts as well. And so it was that in a place where Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho and Rey Misterio broke the US market wide open for pure wrestlers Johnny Saint and Johnny Kidd reinvigorated their somewhat dormant careers, with the help of Mike Quakenbush and Colt Cobana . So where does this fit in with how All Star broke the Saturday afternoon mould? Take a look at this.



This is late eighties and classic All Star presentation; a catch weight contest between two of the top drawing cards in the country. Something Joint would never have done. Brian Dixon ensured that the TV was there to support the live gate not replace it. He built feuds in the arenas from feuds he had going for him on TV. The episodic cliff hanger format that was pioneered by Bill Watts presented with an original twist. The pre-match interview favoured Dave Finlay, always ahead of his time. The subtle and down played reply by Johnny Saint belies an incredible voice that if you listen to his Art of Wrestling Podcast is both insightful, funny and warm. What really paid of though is what happens between the ropes. The short format three minute rounds, championship style, kind of cuts into the flow, but the bell goes and we have the classic roles of heel and face played out. Dave’s stall and taunt tactics give a nice pace to the match, his minimalist style goes against the grain of Johnny’s all action outings. The Sandman (a technical wizard if ever there was one) once recounted how Dave, then working as a road agent for WWE, didn’t like a match because someone had taken to many bumps. He then proceeded to have a one bump match to prove his point. Everything makes sense.



And of course with Dave being full on heel, Johnny can relax and go on being viciously effective full on face, something the Philly fans did not see. Note the torque on the whip at 1:26. Of course Dave has not really evolved his style much in the ring over the years. He has just got more vicious. His chilling promo for his Ring of Honor match with Roderick Strong at Border Wars attests to which basically boiled down to “Finlay’s coming” attests to that. Paula of course always attracted white hot heat from the crowd, but its Dave who seals the deal in the ring; the bemused heel chasing ghosts and of course when you get frustrated resort to punches. Punching was so looked down up on and was almost an instant DQ in the British ring because rules still mattered. Throwing a punch was enough to get major heat and Dave’s perfect hidden deliveries. So the story goes on; the heel gets mad so the face gets even madder. This is Johnny’s downfall as he slips into the Celtic Cross.



Round four brings us back to action Johnny sells the Celtic Cross very believably, as with much of everything he did; his usual matches against smaller opponents where usually affairs of escape and defence, he had plenty of chances to seal the submissions and pin falls so when he really got hit with something big he looked perfect. Moderation is the key after all. The escape and release style resurfaces as Johnny hits his second wind. Simplicity is the key as Johnny takes down Dave Finlay with a School boy. As Kent Walton rightly says “all done with speed”, in fact the only thing missing from Chikarasaurous Rex was Kent Walton’s commentary; however he was mentioned in passing. I would have dearly loved to have heard him commentate on the singles match. The other issue of this time was camera presentation. The low camera shot from the side of the ring was something new, but it also helped impact of each moved to be presented in a much more hard hitting way. What is also amazing is that the one big bump of the match happens so late. These two men had the crowd oohing and ahhing without leaving their feet that often. This says a lot for their ability. Doing the most with minimal effort, this had an impact on their careers in that both are wrestling to a very high level twenty five years later. There is a somewhat anti climatic ending to the bout which manages to achieve a lot and could only happen in a British ring. Dave keeps his heat as a heel and his dominance as a larger man; Johnny retains his heat as a face by losing in less than perfect circumstances. Everyone’s a winner. Certainly All Star fans where. Joint fan’s not so much. They had to deal with this.



Which would you rather watch? I shall at this point give a shameless plug to those folks at Rudo Reels, not for any other reason other than they are supportive of wrestling, offer great value and give incredible service. I strongly recommend their download service which can build your collection cheaply and effectively. A word of warning though it’s addictive. I’d start with their excellent Luche Libre sampler which has some mid nineties classics and shows the growth of AAA, EMLL and the careers of Rey Misterio, Psycosis and La Parka and is free. Have a good week, till next week.

Six of the Best; Out of Towners

Moving away form the last Japanese obsessed edition we can now head back to Europe for our next instalment of Bus Man's Holiday. By the early nineties Dave Finlay had built a reputation for hard work and heeldom that had moved beyond these shores. Like Dynamite, Jones and Davey Boy he to was now a NJPW regular. His greater regular touring income though came from the NJPW affiliated Catch wrestling promotion of Austria, owned by former AWA champion Otto Wanz. The promotion had been a holding post for wrestlers from all over the world for years. Its annual tournament attracted huge crowds and hungry competitors from all over the world. This tournament taking place in 1990 featured another Wigan graduate Steve Wright who liked the place so much he got married and brought up a family and son future WCW star Alex Wright later to be the ill advised Berlyn. By this point Dave was well respected in the UK and now without a TV deal he was looking for work elsewhere that would eventually lead him to WCW and the WWE as an in ring talent and producer. However lets head back a few years to when Sting was just getting the big push, Hulk Hogan was still eating vitamins saying prayers and starting his downhill slide into WCW.





As mentioned before Steve was a classically trained British wrestler and it shows in the opening exchanges here. He was also a huge fan favourite as heard in this clip. Dave was still the ultimate heel. The Mount Evans style rules in CWA meant some more European style wrestling, the referee's whistle is blooding annoying though. The change in culture is to the size of audience, everything seems more deliberate than in a UK hall, but its clear that as for getting sympathy for the good guy Dave is the man. He makes everything look great and as hard hitting as it is supposed to be. Steve for his part wrestles a very straight up match in an English style. The slow motion with sound things are awesome and WWE should bring them back soon. What does surprise me is that no one bothered to put commentary on this, I guess the moves call themselves. This is a very good example of doing more with less, if the audience do not need that much to get the going why do it? This audience clearly love their interaction, all Dave has to do is play the inferior cheat to get over.


 


In fact Steve cheats more than Dave does. Cheating is popular in Austria apparently. As are incredibly slow three counts. The rules do have a little more leeway, but even Dave can't get away with beating up Steve between rounds. As the crowd erupts after the pile driver, its easy to see how Dave may prefer this to chasing Jushin Liger round the ring all night in Tokyo. This style of more through less meant a much longer career for him and when he finally did die his hair blonde it was with good reason; a for a long overdue push for a world wide company in WCW and then the WWE. Skull Murphy by contrast never really did much outside of the UK. He was however handed someone to wrestle who, as discussed last time, had a major influence on professional sports. Like Saturo Sayama before him Akira Maeda was sent to these shores for seasoning before his main event push in NJPW began. To get the bout into super over territory, Maeda is billed as Kwik Kik Lee, brother of Sammy Lee (Saturo Sayama), confused yet? This wonderful piece of jingoism was at least positive jingoism. Not far from “they all look the same”, but let us digress. Kwik Kik, and I love how Kent Walton tries to sell that as his real name, was on a tour that would proceed his push and subsequent falling out with the management in NJPW, Skull was the rising heel star, sounds like good ingredients lets take a look;


 


Skull, the shaven headed tearaway, (talk about do what it says on the tin) is somewhat over matched here in striking, but has the edge in submission. As the introductions and opening exchanges prove, Akira is over like gang busters. It was quite odd that while in the states the Japanese characters where always portrayed as heels in the UK they where often portrayed as the good guy, basically because they brought in something different. Their high skill sets where used to put more into a match and that demanded them to be cheered. The shout and stall tactics of the heels kept the pace slow enough to keep the moves special as Skull employs here. Clearly Skull's counter work is exemplary, but he never really got chance to show it that much. His job was to get people riled up and that's what brought him to the dance, so why change? The age old tale of the heel getting slowly frustrated before breaking out into a full on rule breaking extravaganza. This was controlled by the always vocal Peter Zachash, one of the most recognisable referees in the UK. I always liked his no nonsense style which made things much more realistic. The stalling continues which builds the tension of the match to frenzy, but we are not at frenzy stage yet. This contrasts so deeply with NJPW it is hard to see what Maeda is getting out of it. There the slow burn style didn't really need heels or faces, the story lines where not about revenge, always competition. Still different styles require different approaches and more experience anywhere is useful. Maeda's kicks are something different though, pretty stiff for the time, Skull takes them with aplomb. The over the top rope bump leads to Skull showing his agility with the suicide dive to the inside that backfires. The climax to the round brings the first public warning for Murphy, usually a sign things are going to heat up. In the big face/heel confrontations the crowd loved guys who would give as good back as they got, as seen with Marty Jones and Dynamite, Akira had learnt this lesson well.





Akira showing no mercy uses the ropes on Skull's injured arm, the classic turn-about-is-fair-play angle that drove a lot of the top line matches at the time. Though Akira to understood comedy could go a long way, the legs splits hold was a favourite of Les Kellet and older grapplers. This subversion of it raises a laugh but asks the interesting question; how much better prepared where Japanese wrestlers of the time? Well with Karl Gotch hitting you with a stick every time you did something wrong, very well prepared indeed. The Steamboat like flying chop, leg lariat back drop combination is enough to get a pin. Usually in British matches the story was always a series of moves rather than one big finisher. Skull and Marty Jones where in the process of changing that culture with their submission finishers. This helped story telling because as in this match Skull is working the neck so he can hit the Gator finisher. He does and it ends the fall. This reasoning behind certain moves came from the submission story telling style of the Wigan wrestlers and harks back to the original days of catch as catch can. A submission meant the end and a decisive result. Murphy argues with the crowd to get counted out. This really doesn’t happen often enough in my opinion. Sadly the booking of some matches reach surreal levels of ineptitude, but it did protect Skull's image some what.

Next time there will be one more round the world trip from Bus Man's holiday, and the last six of the best for a while. Thank you though for sharing some of my favourite stories from six of my favourite wrestlers. The time after the next time we will head back into the deep dark mists of time and watch more of the evolution of how Saturday afternoons should always be.

Have a good time, till the next time.

Six of the Best; Best of the Best

Welcome back grapple fans and in this post we have something special, my personal favourite British feud of all time. The six at their height and the most artistically interesting feud that joint promotions produced. The zenith of the British style for me. In fact looking at the date I have waited nearly thirty years to discuss this match with anyone aside from my Dad. Dave “Fit” Finlay versus Marty Jones, the feud for Joint promotions most coveted title, the World Mid Heavyweight Title and Belt. The two best regular workers in the weight division, an inspired and revolutionary managerial presence, the Crabtree's best booking ever, Kent Walton on top form. This my friends is as good as it gets.





Fit Finlay vs. Marty Jones (England 4/14/84) by ragingnoodles

This match is billed as a none title grudge match, being round-less it meant there would be more flow, that was the idea anyway, and to be fair with two artists such as this you wanted to give them as much room as possible. Marty Jones was my regular favourite, while Dynamite was away he accrued a sense of mystique that was only compounded on his infrequent return visits switching between face and heel, depending on the opponent. Marty, however, was solid and dependable, he was the man. As you have seen over previous posts Marty took a while to get into the top spot in the UK debuting in the early seventies, Finlay a little bit younger had that air of youthful arrogance about him that made him his perfect foil. The young pretender who actually dethroned the Champ. The story of this bout also belongs to the story of that red belt around Dave's waist. Stretching back to the 1940s, this title was the most prized possession in all of British wrestling thanks to one man; Mike Marino, the greatest ambassador for the pure sport of wrestling we ever had. He held the belt from 1957 till 1982 in four reigns, that included dropping the title to Vic Hessle and Lord Alfred Hayes no less. When Marino sadly passed the belt was vacant and a tournament was held for a new champion. With the passing of Marino came the passing of the torch and Marty was destined to follow in the great man's shoes. Being the ambassador for the sport much in the same way John Cena is seen as now, as an ambassador for the WWE. Jones took to the job with gusto, but the new champion faced new problems, not least of which was keeping the title picture interesting. His greatest challenger would send him home belt less four times that would be Dave Finlay.

Finlay and Jones where the perfect match, not in how different they where, English/Irish, Heel/Face. But in how alike they where, strong amateurs, from wrestling hot beds, strong club back grounds, well trained. This meant face paced, stiff in your face bouts that made everything else on the card look tame. It also made the live events, the real money of British wrestling, important again. They swapped the titles that often it could happen anywhere any time and at last the promoters where using TV as a tool to make the live gate swell. Over the space of 18 months Jones would drop the title four times. Hot shotting the belt like this got both men over and made Finlay indispensable to British promoters for the next fifteen years. Jones would stay in the title picture for the next seventeen years. To a seven year old fan like me though it made me love the game. I can remember the feeling of loss when I saw Marty lose the title just as hard today. I was invested, the feeling of elation when I would see him with the belt again made me think everything was right with the world. This was story telling at its best. The match opens with the feeling out period exclaimed by the finger pointing. The threats always made things look more antagonistic and you knew things would come to a head. The chain wrestling that opens the bout was typical of the two but the intensity and precision always gave me this impression Finlay didn't need to cheat he just did it anyway. What a despicable person.

Speaking of which I should also give Princess Paula her top billing. Paula was Dave's then wife, and a fair hand in the ring herself. Her managerial influence was great because no one had seen anything like it before. Women’s matches where never on TV, so we had no experience of her in the ring, but her actions could be just perfect. She never interfered so much as gave advice from the sidelines. But the kiss between rounds was the key tell tale sign of how well Dave was doing. Doing well kiss, doing badly no kiss. Something that Francine Fournier amped up to the max in ECW later on; belt = sex, no belt = no sex. This was an embryonic version of that, but pull heat and help tell the story it did. Bearing in mind that this match is only two minutes old and after one exchange the crowd are stomping and hollering already, this was a highly anticipated rivalry. The slaps and head butts worked for Finlay like a boxers jab, wearing down, constantly annoying and added realism to the match. In return so did Marty's crisp matt work, the ying and yang of each style fitting together. The key thing in the early exchanges is for Marty prove his superiority, Dave escapes the leg scissor once, so Marty remembers how he gets out of it and delivers the perfect drop kick to get the most out of the move. Small things like that made these bouts so watch-able and compelling. It is Marty's clear strategy as well to take Finlay apart limb by limb if he has to, the wicked arm wrenches where not his usual style preferring to head for the legs. Kent Walton again helps things along referencing back to title bouts in the past. Kent really was underrated as a commentator, I recently saw someone comparing him to Gordon Solie and that I think is about right. Both took their wrestling very seriously, not easy when you had to polish up some of the dross British wrestling and WCW produced, and managed to do it with love, care and aplomb. As the first session continues Finlay's tactics gain him a public warning, Marty unhappy but calm comes back with a series of stiff shots that lead to the folding press and pin, and a very angry Paula. The cheeky folding press from Marty sums up the whole situation, asset or liability you decide. What comes after the fall is Dave's mini comeback which leads into the Power Lock attempt. There is something great about submission manoeuvres, and particularly submission finishers that give a wrestler an aura. I loved the idea of the power lock as a kid, the hold you couldn't defend against. The move much like the very similar sharp shooter in application held sway in my memory because of the few times I saw it applied. It was saved for very special occasions against the toughest opponents. The impression of the match generally is that Marty has Fit's number and an answer to every move. Jones builds up to a Swanton Bomb (yes in 1984) and gets a public warning for his trouble and a second for arguing with the referee. Paula takes matters into her own hands by leading Dave away. The count out loss in the storyline world of British wrestling was still a loss. Mount-Evans Rules giving no favour to pins and submissions. The decisive victory for Marty means a title shot and everyone is happy, except Paul by the looks of things. This bout was one of many on TV, they seemed to be wrestling each other constantly in that two year period.

On balance though it was the last great feud of the Jones years in Joint promotions. Being the top of the tree meant international challengers, something we shall look at in future episodes, but Dave went through the weight divisions holding titles at most of them and having long interesting feuds until he switched allegiances to All Star promotions, another story for another day. At the time though this left Jones as the top of the pack, leader of the six best workers the UK who had produced and was still producing top of the line bouts with Skull Murphy, Pete Roberts (another title victor), Finlay, Dynamite, occasionally Rocco and making money. Finlay became the guy who got other guys over with a large hand in promoting rising stars such as Chic Cullen, Danny Collins and other lighter but well placed young men who where going to be the stars of the future. In the present though there where places to go and people to see. In Six of the best next time we will look at the legacies on an international scale and the places people went.

Have a good time, till next time.

   

Six of the Best Part 2; Young Lions

As Mark Rocco and Marty Jones moved on through the ranks that would lead to world title glory, the next round of young contenders where making they're way up the ranks. Davey Boy Smith, cousin of The Dynamite Kid, Ted Betley trained and building a reputation was an incredibly ambitious young man making a splash much the same way his cousin had done a couple of years earlier. Dave Finlay another second generation wrestler was equally  making his mark as a heel. That is important to note because it wasn't the fashion of the time. In this early match Finlay isn't even really a heel. Faces far out numbered heels and as most of what occurred in British Wrestling was well within the rules, heels where far worse off. By the early eighties, maybe the fans where craving something different. This match highlights the early stages of careers that where become synonymous with success and quality bouts.

We join the action in round one, an eliminator for the British Heavy Middleweight title now relinquished by Rocco and resting round the tried and tested Alan Kilby a very safe pair of hands.   




The first thing you notice aside from how young both of them look (baring in mind Davey's last WWE run was when he was in his forties and Dave's when when he was over fifty) is the size. But Davey was even smaller when he first went to Stampede. This was a rare trip home and already he has filled out natural, but he is still a long way away from his early nineties size hay day of around 260lbs. Though both would change their styles later in their careers, Davey to the power game demanded by his size and Finlay to his brawling demanded by being a tough old so and so, they are super smooth here. They both knew the advanced mat game well, something which stood them in good stead in New Japan, where both of them would had great success.

At the end of round one Finlay was on the receiving end of some well deserved applause, over the next ten years that wouldn't happen often. The heel persona is starting to develop in this match, note the snap to the wrist lever. The execution was something Finlay took pride in as a trainer even in his later days while looking after the Divas division in WWE. In fact given Finlay's later in ring character which didn't really change that much face or heel from 1983 until, well now, its virtually impossible to perceive him as the the clean cut title contender he portrays in this bout.





I love Kent Walton's remark "the more we see of Finlay the better", given his heelish ways in the future I'm sure the faces of the next ten years wouldn't be so keen. Davey was on his way back and between Stampede, NJPW and the UK at the time. His NJPW excursions courtesy of cousin Dynamite meant he was building technique in totally different environments which doesn't really show here. He was back to the old British style in no time, even if his tights may as well have "Stampede Junior Heavyweight Early Eighties" written on them. Dynamite by this time was not a regular tag wrestler, the Bulldogs would be a ways off, in fact Marty Jones would often go to Stampede to tag with Dynamite, as would Giant Haystacks (I am not making this up). Sadly only matches of Dynamite and Jones with each other are available on Youtube. At this point may I pay tribute to the wonderful wrestling archivist Tellyumort for looking after the legacy of great British wrestling.

The head on posting, a stampede wrestlers stand by, most notably took by Bret Hart in nearly every title match he ever had, makes an early appearance here. Bret always claimed it was more realistic and safer to take because you could see what was coming. Here Finlay uses it to get back on top while Davey sells like a good 'un. Finlay was showing in this bout what a great "wrestling heel" he was, as Dynamite puts it in his book a wrestling heel is just really good at being a wrestler, they lack the viciousness to use straight violence. As later matches will prove young Finlay got over that fairly quickly.

How these two told their story was through gathering intensity. There was a lot of truth to what Max Crabtree said about Mark Rocco, who wants to get sliced and diced when you are only earning £10 a night? However in this match both are showing things that are a little bit stiffer and a little bit harder. They would both prove their worth with some of the hardest bumps and stiffest bouts ever seen in the long run. By the early eighties crowds where demanding it. As Dynamite said in his biography, once you have come off the top rope once you all you can do is keep going up there because the next bump has to be bigger. You could argue this was a down hill slide in the terms of safety and it is something that worries Nigel McGuinness greatly after his career appears to have been cut short by an overly stiff style. He worries about his legacy, I don't think he should, he did many great things to revitalise the business we love and continues to do so. However this match was all between the ropes and has been contested in a fair style. The high risk offence of the Bulldogs and the Bruiser was yet to emerge.




By round 4 things are getting a bit needly, Davey actually starts breaking the rules first and is of course forgiven the less photogenic Finlay gets the heat. How anyone could call this match boring is beyond me, but there you have it no pleasing some people. Then again the same heckler does off mild racial abuse, so maybe he is just an idiot. The striking, usually the sign of desperation in a British match starts coming into round 5, the build up to the Celtic Cross that would be the Finlay finisher for the next 30 years. The slow build to these style of matches also helped Finlay build a philosophy of wrestling that undoubtedly maintained his career. When working as a road agent for the WWE and being an on screen talent, The Sandman reports that he was once berating a young star for taking to many bumps in a TV match. To prove his point he went out on Raw and had a twenty minute match taking only one bump and keeping the crowd on the edge of their seats. The Sandman, who lets face it never met a beer or chair shot he didn't like stood on in awe. The impact of the finisher is surprising as well. No one was using finishers at all in UK rings, submission was the thing, a high impact finisher was a suplex. Things where changing.

The crowd are won over by round six, the xenophobic buffoon leading and eng-er-land chant which really seemed fitting for a guy who mainly spit his time between Canada and Japan, but anyway the comeback for David is quick and so on to the last two rounds. Next we see the early days of the running power slam, not yet perfected but clearly on its way to invention and apparently not as decisive as the Celtic Cross.  





The final rounds start going back to the mat as the striking doesn't seem to work for either man. Even a very safe looking Back Drop Driver, (neither of these guys for the money they where on where going to take Misawa like risks they had work next day)  could not get the job done for Davey. The reversed Regal plex though (and the fact that everyone now calls it a Regal-plex says a lot about the future of British wrestling) shows where this and its bordering divisions are going in terms of stiffness and high impact offence. The continuing forearms from the knees though offers such a great visual, these guys want this match bad, the referee showing no understanding of drama breaks them up. The stiffness continues with an unheard of at the time Texas style pile-driver a-la Terry Funk, they wouldn't have liked that in Memphis Davey, but here its building to a climax and they are giving the impression they are pulling out all the stops. Which makes it all the more odd that Finlay puts Davey away with a straight suplex, but there you go. A fine actual wrestling contest with no rule breaking just bending.

Next time we shall look at Skull Murphy and his rise to infamy and start charting the influence, resilience and wrestling style of one Tommy Billington.

I had a kind word for my writing today from Mr. Simon Heath so thanks for that I shall keep on going with this labour of love.

Bye for now grapple fans.       

Six of the Best

Back in 2002, Paul Heyman was given the book for Smackdown while managing Brock Lesnar. A relationship that continues to this day, but it was slightly, and only slightly, further down the card that what made Smackdown the must see brand for that year. The Smackdown Six as they became known; Los Guerreros (Eddie and Chavo), the full on face team of Edge and Rey Mysterio  and the tweeners of Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle thrown together by Stephanie Mcmahon in the story line despite feuding as singles wrestlers. Heyman had a gift for hiding the negatives of each performer in his heyday as the ECW svengali, but in this situation he really did not have any negatives to hide. Six superlative workers and a seemingly endless series of combinations. It worked very well indeed, revitalised the tag team division making the belts seem something more and elevated five of the six to future world title runs.

Having a strong wrestling base in your main event had worked well before, elsewhere. There are some striking parallels with what was happening in the UK in the late seventies to early eighties as match quality rose thanks to a small pool of workers in the Heavy Middleweight, Light Heavyweight and Mid Heavyweight divisions. Thanks to the long term nature of title booking in the UK it would have an effect world wide. The six involved would go on to redefine pro wrestling over the next forty years and build stellar reputations that would take them to Budakon Hall, Madison Square Garden and Wrestlemania. The six where Marty Jones, Mark "Rollerball" Rocco, The Dynamite Kid Tommy Billington, Dave "Fit/Belfast Bruiser" Finlay and Skull Murphy and Davey Boy Smith.

Like most wrestling around the world the heavyweights where the key draw in the UK and always had been. From Bert Assarati to Giant Haystacks they filled the halls, but to a young impressionable fan it was these six that determined my viewer-ship every week. They easily had the best matches, the stiffest moves certainly, and while I loved watching the lighter guys move at incredible speed, their hard hitting style gave it that extra sense of realism. There was also that mix of attitudes that the Smackdown Six enjoyed. Jones and Smith where the only two true faces, Finlay and Murphy where real heels throughout their UK careers and Dynamite though a good guy in the early part of his UK run sensibly wrestled as a heel to help the match whenever facing Jones. Rollerball was Rollerball, the fans hated him but always respected his skill so when he went off to All Star promotions in the late 80's taking the World Heavy Middle Weight title with him and turned face on Kendo Nagasaki the fans adored him with more fervour still.

In the UK scene from pretty much the second world war onwards there where really no blood feuds of long term significance. TV changed that because and issue could be publicised. In a certain hall there maybe a long running series of matches, but now with TV two wrestlers could have one inconclusive affair on TV and run the matches around the loop. As the elders of the group Rocco and Jones began their TV feud in the mid seventies. It would essentially go on for the next five years. The two middle weights where sharp well trained Lancashire amateurs. The Snake Pit still loomed heavy over Wigan and Billy Riley's shadow loomed even larger. The Lancashire great Billy Robinson was serving time as All-Japan PWF Heavyweight champ between runs as Verne Gagne's enforcer in the AWA. A heavy reputation to uphold for your county, but equally meant you had the best training.

A couple of matches on TV kicked things off;





As Kent states, the two had a previous match where Rocco had walked off in disgust at his inability to beat Jones. Here he shows the same traits sticking to the rules until his frustrations get the better of him. Rocco was a fourth generation wrestler his, father "Jumping" Jim Hussey. As Kent relates, Jim had the best drop kick in all of wrestling. Oh for the days when a drop kick was a finisher. Jones on the other hand came through the amateur ranks from the age of seven, but it was in the pros that he would have most effect. His run in this year culminated in winning the vacant British Light Heavyweight title that had been vacated by Snake Pit alumnus Billy Joyce.

This match was the start of the feud but the story told in it would be a recurring theme for both men. Rocco's frustration boiling over at a slow and steady pace with mat wrestling being the key device that linked everything together.





These matches where a precursor to other feuds that both had world wide. Their success in Europe was mirrored by success in Japan, and the two opponents all of the six had in common; Satoru Sayama the original Tiger Mask, and Keiichi Yamada the one and only Jushin "Thunder" Liger. We will look at those matches in future editions of Seconds away . .  but for now back to the match.

Jones is starting his comeback, never a clear cut issue in the UK style, everything is slow build. A style of wrestling Shinya Hashimoto would employ as IWGP champ. The rounds system also tended to cut into flow a little bit. The striking begins to get into harder and heavier hitting the knee lifts and forearm smashes harder each time. Max Crabtree, referee here and future Joint Promotions owner who really deserves a book by himself, complained that Rocco was to stiff on many occasions. "Mark's trouble was that he always wanted there to be a fight, so he'd split somebody open and we'd have to send him to Japan for a few weeks to get him off TV". What may have not been great for TV in the executives seventies and eighties was great for me as a fan. Heavyweight title bouts where few and far between. All Star had that title and it was rarely defended on TV. The lightweights where great for action but drama came much more realistically in between. Much later on in a one-more-time-for-old-times-sake kind of rematch in All Star promotions in the late eighties Jones gave one of the most heated promos I have ever heard and it still rings in my ears today "If I don't split you here, I'll split you in the car park" and demanded two more rounds after Rocco had been DQ'd with blood pouring down his face. Something Brian Dixon was not scared of showing on TV. In the mid seventies these two where just getting started and starting to collect title belts. The next year Rocco went on to his first run with the British Heavy Middle Weight title which would culminate in another Jones feud which we shall look at next time. So on to the finish Marty is wrestling one handed after a series of arm weakeners (there is a term you won't here very often any more);


 


Kent Walton's selling of the arm injury over commentary was helped by the fact he had a couple of minutes off between round time to explain things. The breaks could be used as an advantage but where horrible for fans at times, as the faces rallied and where cut off by the bell. Marty's comeback is complete with a two fall victory after coming back from impossible odds. This was match wasn't as stiff as later matches on TV but you can see already the fans where so far into it the eruption at the end after an afternoons polite clapping along to moves shows where these two guys could take and audience. So how do you top that?

Next on Seconds Away, Round One . . . Title belts start to mount up, two youngsters make their name, the southerner and the Irishman start to take over breaking rules along the way and Jones receives impossible task after impossible task.

Have good time, till the next time.