El Ken Erico Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 It's a different,earlier Gypsy Joe. Carmine Ferdinando Muccioli. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie M. Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Would most of this stuff have aired on the DuMont Network? When people talk about seeing Gorgeous George on TV, would it have been this stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great ML Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Yes and yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEAN Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Penny Banner is pretty fucking great in this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Lord Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Man that Russ Davis (no kin of mine) was such a snarky asshole. I was laughing so hard when he was running down Haystacks for being a fat bastard. "A dozen eggs, a loaf of bread and a half pound of butter to feed him for breakfast". There needs to be more Bobby Davis in wrestling though. He was in the match for 30 seconds during the introductions and he looked like the kinda guy who could have started riots 30 years later in Atlanta. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie M. Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 The Russ Davis bio here makes him sound like quite the character. http://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/collections/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Russ want running down Haystacks, he was just telling folksy style tales about Brother Calhoun. Russ is the fucking best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 This is the first time that I've seen Verne Gagne outside of AWA. He's pretty fun to watch. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGFanJay Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Penny Banner is pretty fucking great in this. The ring announcer for this has the biggest hair part in history. Love the INDY STANDOFF spot a couple of minutes in. The way he says "SOMEBODY GOOFED" cracked me up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsey Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 This is the first time that I've seen Verne Gagne outside of AWA. He's pretty fun to watch. Yeah, seeing Verne Goddamn Gagne as the "spunky underdog" against the tweener champ was surreal but awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 The Verne vs Bastien match reminded me a lot of the sort of match Verne would love to air in the early 80s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LP Steve Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Lou Thesz vs. Verne Gagne is fucking awesome. And Russ Davis has overnight on my list of best announcers ever. Agreed. This was a great match. Classic Thesz subtle heeling versus Verne the complete babyface who must be pushed beyond all endurance before he will so much as clench a fist. Good, attentive crowd, too. And I like the way they handled the recovery from the sleeper hold. By the early '60s, the convention had become that the guy who applied the sleeper had to "wake up" the opponent or he would apparently go into a coma and be brain dead. This was much more realistic. If you want to see the state of the art for a 60 minute draw NWA title match as it existed from this point until Funk and Brisco upped the pace in the 70s, watch this match. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Schneider Posted September 16, 2014 Author Share Posted September 16, 2014 I review Thesz v. Rogers 6/21/50 over at Segunda Caida Monday Night Digging in the Crates 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MADCAP Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 I watched Thesz vs. Rogers(1/26/51) last night. Whoever said Rogers wasn't that good of a worker might wanna watch that match. Also, I'm digging the less is more approach to the highspots, like the bodyslam and the dropkick. We even got a piledriver thrown in! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEN! Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 I'm far too amused by 25-year old Verne looking just like 40-something Greg. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Thesz vs Gagne looks like Jack Lemmon vs Walter Matthau. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charro! Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Cool find. Will be checking out some of these. I'm assuming they'll be upping more matches, will be interesting to see Gorgeous George and was there any major NWA World title change in Chicago which might be in their archives?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Rogers v. O'Connor happened in Chicago, but that one has been widely broadcast in the years since Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsey Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Thesz was working nasty against Verne but not out and out heel which made it more compelling. It was far more subtle but just as shitty as a modern day heel. The various shoves and the short elbow thing he kept doing. The other thing I noticed was the obvious amateur ability both guys had. They both moved more like wrestlers and less like performers. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazlo Woodbine Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 This is good fun. Hans and Fritz are solid enough goons, Rudy Kay shows flashes of cool stuff but he's pretty basic. Really this is the Benito Gardini show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 On 9/13/2014 at 2:36 PM, Graham Crackers said: Dick the Bruiser & the Lisowski Brothers vs Verne Gagne, Wilbur Snyder & Argentina Rocca (9/14/56) I decided to check this one out because of the lineup and it turned out pretty fun. It's actually a pretty fast paced match considering when it happened. I haven't really seen a tag match from this era before so it was interesting to see the differences between the mechanics of tag matches today and back then. A lot of the action was back and forth and there were a number of heat sections. Those heat sections never really reached the crescendo I expect to see in most tag matches and there were more than you see in most tag matches. The heels did a lot of stooging and it's easy to see the traditions of AWA heel stooging here. Dick the Bruiser took some huge bumps and the Lisowski brothers walked into a number of basic double and triple team attacks. They were constantly doing those little heelish mannerisms; they were pulling hair, tights, and choking. I was surprised to see Gagne lose the first fall clean via submission but he took his win back in the second fall. We didn't get to see much of Wilbur Snyder who I wanted to see after hearing my dad talk about him for years. What we did see looked pretty promising. He had a great exchange with Stan. Snyder put on the short arm scissors in really slick fashion but Lisowski deadlifted out of it which is a classic counter I always like to see. At first I thought it was a weird counter for a heel but Stan turns to the crowd and flexes his muscles afterward and Snyder dropkicks him right over the top rope. I've only seen highlights of Rocca before and his offense was pretty fun here. As a shoot style fan it's fascinating to see him throwing palm strikes and a variety of kicks but the mat stuff he did do was wacky. Lost of bridges and handstands but mixed with flying leg scissors takedowns and other athletic stuff like that. This has got me excited to see more. I loved the hell out of this. Didn't expect Bruiser to spend half the match with his ass in the air taking huge bumps for everything like he was getting shot out of a cannon- he's the biggest revelation on this and makes me want to see a whole lot more of him from this timeframe. Also digging Russ Davis on commentary- he has a firm appreciation for the absurd and calls everything like a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode. I passed this link to my mom because she grew up in Chicago and this stuff would be right in her wheelhouse- her grandfather was a GIANT wrestling fan, yelling at the TV every time it was on. She remembers TARZAN KOWALSKI, which should give you an idea how long ago this was for her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubbymark Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 I only got to watch the first fall of Verne/Brusier but I liked what I saw. Brusier bumped like a madman for Verne's dropkick and the baby faces countering a collar and elbow tie up by stepping over the heel is a great spot. I'll echo the love for Russ in this match as his comments about Dick the Brusier are what I would expect Foghorn Leghorn to say about Brusier. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricR Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 I'm far too amused by 25-year old Verne looking just like 40-something Greg. Ha! I thought the same damn thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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