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.
Showing posts with label Skull Murphy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Skull Murphy. Show all posts
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Six of the Best; The Riot Squad
Welcome again grapple fans, today we look at tag team action. British wrestling featured tag teams just from time to time, and just to keep things special, not that often. In '82 someone must have upped the budget because they put a whole tournament on TV. The key element in out current six of the best being The Riot Squad. The Riot Squad in the long term ended up being a group of top notch workers who would have their biggest impact on WCW and WWE. The original Riot Squad composed of Dave Fit Finlay and ultra heel Skull Murphy. We talked a lot about Dave in the last blog, but this tag team would be the one that drew the most money for Joint Promotions in the early 80's through their TV battles with Marty Jones and any number of partners. Here they are in a tournament for the World of Sport Top Tag Team title and apparently belts against The Jets. How Alan Kilby and Steve Logan came up with The Jets I have no idea, neither of them moved that quickly. Kilby was the then British Heavy Middleweight champion. A deaf wrestler who used it to his advantage in matches but was as clean as country water. This Steve Logan is not The Steve Logan of Steve Logan and Mick MacManus fame, another Steve Logan who also happens to be a Middleweight. Because that's not confusing at all.
Anyway; seconds away . . .
This bout occurred not long after the Davey Boy Smith match we looked at last time, but already Finlay has changed his style and has headed full on heel. The disrespectful early striking and attacking his grounded man the easiest way to get heat in a British ring. Then we get to see our first look at Skull Murphy, a light heavyweight here but showing signs of heading up to the heavy bracket, his submission style on display from the start. Kent nicely explains the rules to us, the combined weight in each corner can not exceed 450lbs, well that's nice to know, someone presumably didn't try and enter Big Daddy and feather duster. This did mean close competitive action though as opposed to the usual super-heavyweight tag matches of the time.
Skull and Finlay are clearly trying to work the American style of tag match, the quick tags that everyone is now used to, get it done in the five count. The only thing is that it is illegal under Mountevans rules so it just gets them heat, no bad thing for those concerned. That is the problem with Mountevans tag matches though. With matches few and far between on TV, great teams like the Royal Brothers managed in spite of the rules apparently disallowing excitement of any kind, but The Riot Squad are already showing a flair for showmanship that would raise the ire of a thousand hand bags. Young Logan does look incredibly out of his depth against the methodical Riot Squad, though he shows a bit of fight in his early sequences. The rather limp head to the knee of Finlay highlights how slow they where going in comparison to the stiff encounter with Davey Boy. Twenty minutes and best of three falls? Good Lord, get you're work done boys this is a tournament match. A brilliant Waltonism as well in session two "the person who lost the fall must continue into the next session first, unless he's unconscious" right, no unconscious people wrestling got it. So Logan starts his comeback to the hot tag, which suffers some credibility issues as he recovers looking in about as much pain as Jeff Hardy after a weekend on extra strong vitamins. In contrast to Logan, Finlay sells the fall like he's been shot. This is the crispness I always enjoyed in his work, as Bobby Lashley recently pointed out "Every thing Finlay does is for a reason and there is no wasted motion" Lashley claimed he learned more on match with Finlay than at any other time in his career. The downfall of this match starts about 0.35 seconds after Logan tags back in. You could announce it. "Ladies and gentleman the jobber will now be beaten". In efficient and as heelistic a style as possible. What we do see is an early version of Skull's standing submission the 'Gator. There was a change in psychology pushed by these two men, Marty Jones, Dynamite and Davey Boy. They all had definitive finishers, guaranteed to put a man away holds. Marty developed his Power Lock later used effectively by Shawn Michaels after being taught it by Jones protege William Regal. Prior to that everyone had a few regular moves that where considered deadly, but nothing like these over powering finishers.
So grapple fans on to the final; yes two matches in one post!
Some poor fools have to take these two belts home that appear to have been designed by Adrian Street on a gin bender.
The unfortunate finalists are The Fighting Wilson Brothers (it would be really unhelpful if they didn't fight, and I'm sure the Passive Wilson Brothers never would have caught on). Europe's number on referee Max Ward? That really shows the lack of ambition in pro-wrestling at the time, Max Ward was easily the most recognisable ref in joint Promotions but they could only find the heart to pronounce him best in Europe. Which is the equivalent of announcing him as "above adequate". Combined weight of only 450lbs? The Wilson brothers must have had a few pies after weigh in. But Skull and Dave make it all worth it turning on the bump machine for heavyweight veteran Johnny Tarzan Wilson. Which makes the lack of logic in this match all the more perplexing. The part time Peter Wilson who clearly isn't in his brothers power bracket takes on most of the match and drops the first fall, protecting his brother one might add, when you get the feeling Johnny could have handled them by himself.
The continuous neck breakers (another American move import, you get the feeling Dave watched a lot of video tape) set up for the finish. Fit and Skull take the belts home where I assume they had a special place on the mantle. The meaning of the match though was much deeper than two belts, the dominated two heavier opponents who where an established tag team, two falls to nil. They had arrived.
The next instalment of six of the best features this man . . .
Still the best Dynamite tribute video ever, you can't whack a bit of Our Lady Peace.
Have a good time, till the next time.
Anyway; seconds away . . .
This bout occurred not long after the Davey Boy Smith match we looked at last time, but already Finlay has changed his style and has headed full on heel. The disrespectful early striking and attacking his grounded man the easiest way to get heat in a British ring. Then we get to see our first look at Skull Murphy, a light heavyweight here but showing signs of heading up to the heavy bracket, his submission style on display from the start. Kent nicely explains the rules to us, the combined weight in each corner can not exceed 450lbs, well that's nice to know, someone presumably didn't try and enter Big Daddy and feather duster. This did mean close competitive action though as opposed to the usual super-heavyweight tag matches of the time.
Skull and Finlay are clearly trying to work the American style of tag match, the quick tags that everyone is now used to, get it done in the five count. The only thing is that it is illegal under Mountevans rules so it just gets them heat, no bad thing for those concerned. That is the problem with Mountevans tag matches though. With matches few and far between on TV, great teams like the Royal Brothers managed in spite of the rules apparently disallowing excitement of any kind, but The Riot Squad are already showing a flair for showmanship that would raise the ire of a thousand hand bags. Young Logan does look incredibly out of his depth against the methodical Riot Squad, though he shows a bit of fight in his early sequences. The rather limp head to the knee of Finlay highlights how slow they where going in comparison to the stiff encounter with Davey Boy. Twenty minutes and best of three falls? Good Lord, get you're work done boys this is a tournament match. A brilliant Waltonism as well in session two "the person who lost the fall must continue into the next session first, unless he's unconscious" right, no unconscious people wrestling got it. So Logan starts his comeback to the hot tag, which suffers some credibility issues as he recovers looking in about as much pain as Jeff Hardy after a weekend on extra strong vitamins. In contrast to Logan, Finlay sells the fall like he's been shot. This is the crispness I always enjoyed in his work, as Bobby Lashley recently pointed out "Every thing Finlay does is for a reason and there is no wasted motion" Lashley claimed he learned more on match with Finlay than at any other time in his career. The downfall of this match starts about 0.35 seconds after Logan tags back in. You could announce it. "Ladies and gentleman the jobber will now be beaten". In efficient and as heelistic a style as possible. What we do see is an early version of Skull's standing submission the 'Gator. There was a change in psychology pushed by these two men, Marty Jones, Dynamite and Davey Boy. They all had definitive finishers, guaranteed to put a man away holds. Marty developed his Power Lock later used effectively by Shawn Michaels after being taught it by Jones protege William Regal. Prior to that everyone had a few regular moves that where considered deadly, but nothing like these over powering finishers.
So grapple fans on to the final; yes two matches in one post!
Some poor fools have to take these two belts home that appear to have been designed by Adrian Street on a gin bender.
The unfortunate finalists are The Fighting Wilson Brothers (it would be really unhelpful if they didn't fight, and I'm sure the Passive Wilson Brothers never would have caught on). Europe's number on referee Max Ward? That really shows the lack of ambition in pro-wrestling at the time, Max Ward was easily the most recognisable ref in joint Promotions but they could only find the heart to pronounce him best in Europe. Which is the equivalent of announcing him as "above adequate". Combined weight of only 450lbs? The Wilson brothers must have had a few pies after weigh in. But Skull and Dave make it all worth it turning on the bump machine for heavyweight veteran Johnny Tarzan Wilson. Which makes the lack of logic in this match all the more perplexing. The part time Peter Wilson who clearly isn't in his brothers power bracket takes on most of the match and drops the first fall, protecting his brother one might add, when you get the feeling Johnny could have handled them by himself.
The continuous neck breakers (another American move import, you get the feeling Dave watched a lot of video tape) set up for the finish. Fit and Skull take the belts home where I assume they had a special place on the mantle. The meaning of the match though was much deeper than two belts, the dominated two heavier opponents who where an established tag team, two falls to nil. They had arrived.
The next instalment of six of the best features this man . . .
Still the best Dynamite tribute video ever, you can't whack a bit of Our Lady Peace.
Have a good time, till the next time.
Monday, 5 March 2012
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.
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.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
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.
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.
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