(Also Not March Madness): SECRET SANTO March 2020

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

Nice on, Super Ape!

Thank you, Matt! I've got a pretty sweet one for you. In honour of the French Catch project introducing so many people to the great Franz van Buyten, here he is in a 1972 IWE Japan match, tagging with Andre the Giant and Ali Bey the not-at-all-a-giant vs Rusher Kimura and Thunder Sugiyama and (one of my all-time personal favourite wrestlers) Isamu "The Carpenter" Teranishi. I sincerely think it's one of the most entertaining matches of all time. I'm sure you've seen it before (I think you mentioned it in one of your segunda caida French Catch write-ups), hopefully you'll enjoy the re-watch.

 

Edited March 15, 2020 by gordi

[Matt D]

@gordi

EDIT: My man. This is really funny. I had this post mostly written before you responded! I was just sourcing the date on the WWE match to make sure I could safely say 2010. So my first choice for you was going to be your choice for me. The system works. And you know what? I will HAPPILY rewatch that. It's been years since I've seen it and I know Van Buyten and the style so much better now. So, to reiterate, the very next sentence is something I wrote before I saw your reply:

---------------------------------------------

Ok, three choices for you because you've seen so much (as in, I know you've seen my first choice for you: the Ali Bey/Van Buyten/Andre trios from IWE).

1. The best midget mixed match from the Houston footage. 

2. A Les Kellett match (If you've never actually seen Les Kellett you should do this one). 

3. Probably the best WWE comedy match of the 2010s which you may have not seen:

You pick!

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

Awesome! Also hilarious: My second choice for you, if I couldn't find footage of the IWE match, was going to be Les Kellett vs Johnny Czeslaw! 

[AxB]

1 hour ago, The Man Known as Dan said:

Hey @AxB, some quick questions on you viewing history. You say you like shoot style, so I assume you’ve seen things like RINGS? You know, Volk Han, Kiyoshi Tamura And the like? Failing that, what’s your viewership history on older RoH, or the more recent Catch Point stuff?

Actually all of that is kind of in my blind spot. RINGS in particular has been on my 'get around to it sometime' list for forever. RoH is too, I didn't get into it while it was new due to an overwhelming dislike of Rob Feinstein, and it seems like the whole history of the company has consisted of people complaining that it's not as good as it used to be.

[Octopus]

@Goodear, here’s your match. It was posted by the Segunda Caida crew recently so if you watched it already I can get you another one. 

Eddy Wiecz/Eddy Koparanian vs. Georges Gueret/Andre Bollet 2/23/56 (part 1&2)

I chose this one for you because in your AEW posts I remembered you liked Sammy Guerrera. So I was trying to think of fun arrogant heels. Gueret and Bollet play the heel roles really well here. Excited to read what you think.

 

[SirSmUgly]

11 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

My mind must've slipped (go figure) in mentioning my initial blind spots because I have seen practically no World of Sport. Maybe one Johnny Saint match on a Schneider comp is it. (German Catch either now that I'm thinking about it. Give me something from either and I'll review it.) So I watched the Breaks/Kung Fu match and was really entertained by Breaks, the little shit. You can see where all the joint manipulation stuff that current British wrestlers pull comes from but besides that, as said above, god is he so slappable. It would have been interesting to see him team up with Bill Dundee as a pair of short guys that could work a crowd. The foot stuff was weird and fetish level but otherwise Kung Fu didn't make any impact but Breaks -- give me more. 

All the rules of WoS are so weird and quaint too. And I love the timekeeper doing a blast beat on the bell every time haha

WOOOO I think I'm paired up with you this week and Jimmy Breaks is one of my five favorite wrestlers ever.

Let me think about this. I think I might have you watch him work a young Davey Boy Smith. 

I have so many blind spots that it would be easier to list my not-so-blind spots: WWF/E, WCW, Anything U.S. post 1989, Portland, Stampede, Memphis, Florida, Mid-South, WoS. Other than that, you can go nuts. I'm even only half-cognizant of modern NJPW, really, but other than that, yeah, everything else I'm up for. Basically if it was done outside of Canada, the UK, or the United States, there's a good chance that I haven't really seen much of it at all. 

Anyway, for @Curt McGirt:

 

 

Edited March 15, 2020 by Smelly McUgly

[Curt McGirt]

So @Smelly McUgly is just in? Okay, let's try to keep broadening the spectrum here. RINGS! 

EDIT: Goddammit I posted this before I read your post right above. Well, it still stands, and fits the qualifications anyway. This one's dramatic as fuck.

Edited March 15, 2020 by Curt McGirt

[Curt McGirt]

...and then I scroll up even farther and see that AxB mentioned RINGS haha. Well, here's your chance for that. 

[The Man Known as Dan]

Okay @AxB, I’ve given some thought, and decided to give you my standard “Mid 2000’s RoH sampler” match. 6 man elimination match were only one can survive. 

 

Also Curt literally just gave the Rings Match I was going to give younif I didn’t decide on this.

 

 

Edited March 15, 2020 by The Man Known as Dan

[Curt McGirt]

I did not read your post at all coincidentally. This is feeling very serendipitous today. 

OOOOO! If I get another one after Davey/Breaks, since Dan brought it up, big ROH blind spot over here.

Edited March 15, 2020 by Curt McGirt

[Goodear]

On 3/11/2020 at 3:15 AM, Ace said:

Sorry for flaking on picking. 
Here it is: Steiner Brothers vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki

 

Here's a mental exercise, is there a better offensive package in wrestling history than the Steiner Brothers?  Even when they get flashy, it turns into a super piledriver death murder move and not something stupid. Coupled with their amateur mat work and Rick's punches and Steiner line, I am not sure their arsenal can be topped.

This match is a bit disjointed for my tastes but starts off well with Hase and Scott starting with some amateur stuff and Kensuke lifting a Rick Steiner spot (the leapfrog catch powerslam) on Rick.  Rick also breaks out his amazing dead man's clothesline bump which is the best.  His body turns without being that flip Billy Gunn does and he lands high on his shoulders like a boss. The Steiners work Hase a lot in this match and it makes you feel bad for him as the Steiners mash him into pulp as Rick laughs like a sadist and Scott seems angry perpetually.  They work defacto heel and the idea is simple, vary between mauling matwork and their high spots.  The issue is their spots are so crazy, they build awe and not heat. Hase eventually fights loose and Sasaki hits another powerslam before he superplexes Hase onto Rick is a pretty savage spot.  Hase and Sasaki go for a doomsday something but it gets broken up so the Steiners can hit their bulldog and the Frankensteiner for the win.

This feels like a build up match almost like the Colossal Connection beating Demolition for the WWF tag team titles in a extended squash.  Like the Champions got their doors blown off and the rematch was when they would learn their lessons to reclaim the gold.  As it was, it felt like Sasaki spent much of the match on the apron and Hase spent a lot of time taking Steiner offense.  Thankfully, the Steiners are great at offense. This is a good example of their style with most of their regular spots so it would be an okay "Here's everything they do" match.  I wouldn't suggest this for a fan of Sasaki or Hase as I don't think they shined too brightly.  

***

[Goodear]

@OctopusCinema I'm a fan of late 80s NWA so I figured I'd go there.  Let me know if you've seen this before. 

[AxB]

40 minutes ago, The Man Known as Dan said:

Okay @AxB, I’ve given some thought, and decided to give you my standard “Mid 2000’s RoH sampler” match. 6 man elimination match were only one can survive. 

 

Also Curt literally just gave the Rings Match I was going to give younif I didn’t decide on this.

 

 

Great, thanks. I'll post my pick for you when I get home tonight, once I've decided. Being the only British person in the project, I had sort of expected to be responsible for putting WoS matches in here, but as it turns out that area is already covered. Maybe current BritWres, or maybe.... you don't have any crippling phobias of snakes or tigers, do you?

[The Man Known as Dan]

4 minutes ago, AxB said:

Great, thanks. I'll post my pick for you when I get home tonight, once I've decided. Being the only British person in the project, I had sort of expected to be responsible for putting WoS matches in here, but as it turns out that area is already covered. Maybe current BritWres, or maybe.... you don't have any crippling phobias of snakes or tigers, do you?

Nope!

[SirSmUgly]

The Steiner Brothers' wild offense and consistent bomb-throwing is basically why they're my favorite tag team. They can turn anyone into a great bumper merely by ragdolling the fuck out of them through sheer will. 

See Steiners vs. Vader/Hughes at Clash of the Champions, which is Curtis Hughes's best match by a country mile and which is one of my personal favorite matches of all time. 

I was thinking of doing Steiners/Beverlys at Royal Rumble 1993 as my suggested match and then thought that it might be too mainstream, but I might honestly put this up later because I feel about this match like people feel about Rockers/Orient Express in terms of tag matches that open Royal Rumbles. 

[Spontaneous]

I recommended Matt D the Will Ospreay vs Shingo match from BOTSJ last year. I know many are familiar with it however I felt it was a good jumping off point for 2019-2020 njpw as Shingo and Ospreay would go on to have an excellent 2019 with the company, with both entering into different blocks in the G1.

[Matt D]

In two or three iterations of me doing this over at PWO and so far here, no one's actually given me a 5+ star NJPW match, so I am going to follow the @Childs approach on this: will the athleticism, originality, and spectacle of this overcome my immense narrative sense of nitpicking. We shall see! Thanks @Six String Orchestra

[The Man Known as Dan]

15 minutes ago, Six String Orchestra said:

I recommended Matt D the Will Ospreay vs Shingo match from BOTSJ last year. I know many are familiar with it however I felt it was a good jumping off point for 2019-2020 njpw as Shingo and Ospreay would go on to have an excellent 2019 with the company, with both entering into different blocks in the G1.

 My immediate reaction to giving Matt a modern New Japan Match:

 

 

Not saying it can’t be good, I haven’t seen it, and I’ve seen some diamond in the rough New Japan matches, but that’s an... interesting choice. Made me laugh though, and am really looking forward to the review.

Edited March 15, 2020 by The Man Known as Dan

[supremebve]

12 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

First off I knew my pick would probably be the worst of the whole lot, because it was kind of rushed/top of the dome and because PR is just... well, it's so basic. What I really wanted to pick was the match the day right before which was also a Gran Guerra where the faces won, where Brody is at the end at the top of the cage swinging his chain like a maniac, and the crowd is going batshit. At the same time I can't say it's too different than this one except for the ending so instead the heat gets pointed towards the heels and you better believe, they had to get out firearms to get those guys out of the building. I still haven't watched it again since I did the PR project but I remember the Sheik just going in a coke frenzy and beating the shit out of Carlos and thought "yeah, that is Puerto Rico, that's my pick". It's about a good an introduction to a style you can get which is super simple and bloodsoaked. You aren't gonna get a great load of matwork out of PR, but you will get some pretty great heel/face psychology and a sick amount of heat. I guess it's kind of like Memphis in that respect. Gimmicks, heat, and blood. There are probably some other good examples of the style and I'll look through old notes and try to dig up those matches. 

I get what you're saying here, but I wouldn't hold it's simplicity against it.  Honestly, it is mostly an internet phenomenon to think that every match needs to be some sort of 5-star classic.  I'd be willing to bet that there isn't a person in that match who ever thought about wrestling in that context.  They were putting on big matches to sell tickets, and the point was to set up the run for the next big match that they could sell.  If you are a Carlos Colon fan, and you just watched your hero gets decimated, you are going to want to see what happens.  That's what they were trying to accomplish, and they passed that test with flying colors.  It's kind of what modern day wrestling is missing.  The matches are much better these days, but no one has any emotional investment.  This is the complete polar opposite.  That's what wrestling was always about, but now it's about creating moments (whatever that means) or cut 20+ minute promos.  I probably wouldn't be satisfied if 100% of wrestling was like this match, but I'd probably watch more modern wrestling if there was more of this type of stuff to build heat.  

[Spontaneous]

1 hour ago, The Man Known as Dan said:

 My immediate reaction to giving Matt a modern New Japan Match:

 

 

Not saying it can’t be good, I haven’t seen it, and I’ve seen some diamond in the rough New Japan matches, but that’s an... interesting choice. Made me laugh though, and am really looking forward to the review.

He did say you could be evil if need be... I honestly felt it was overrated but still worth watching. 

[Matt D]

I welcome the challenge with open arms.

[Octopus]

[odessasteps]

57 minutes ago, Matt D said:

I welcome the challenge with open arms.

And a laurel ... and hardy handshake. 

Edited March 15, 2020 by odessasteps

[AxB]

@The Man Known as Dan Here's your match: Ophidian of the Poison Clan vs 'Taiga Style' Lee Moriarty:

 

[Ace]

For @supremebve, I'mma hit his Japanese blind spot with the 2012 MOTY, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki

For those who don't have NJ World,  here's the Daily Motion version: