|
/wrestling |
|
|
/wrestling |
CBVR #2 |
|
MainBLAH |
CruBiz #2: Brand New You're Retro Contributors: John Pelan and Anthony Gancarski This issue: Inoki/Backlund '79; Battle of the Belts I It's all old-school this time around, and why not? I'm sick of reading illiterate blather about the ratings Megadeth failed to pop. I'm sick of people bitching about Hootie Hoo and trying to sell me Test as a legit wrestler. And while I'm at it, I'm sick of people who can't use Meltzer's star system consistently stealing appellations I came up with and then attributing them to other people. The catchphrase is lurk and learn, not lurk and crib, though great artists steal or so they say. Though the only people biting my style of late are hacks. . . Anyway. Here you go. Anthony Gancarski Workrate Cru Minister of Information Bob Screwed Bob? Bob Backund/Antonio Inoki, 1979, Japan: by Minister of Information Anthony Gancarski This is for Bobby's WWF title, of course. Each man's national anthem is played by way of theme music, adding a touch of legitimacy to the affair. It should be noted that the physical embodiment of the title Backlund has with him is quite garish even by 70s standards; gold plating on a lavender (I guess its) leather belt. Inoki gets a big pop, Backlund respectful applause. One of the things that makes Backlund better -- to me, anyway -- than the now standard depictions of him as boring is his old-school attention to the nuances of a match. Even before the collar-and-elbow, Inoki and Backlund delay locking up, so intent they are on jostling for position. A frustrated Inoki dives for Backlund's legs; but the American evades, almost getting an early waistlock. But Inoki sits out. Facing off from a neutral position again, Backlund dives for Inoki's legs and scores a single-leg takedown which he quickly parlays into an anklelock that Inoki rolls out of in short order. Already I'm struck by the similarities of this to Battlarts and the like in its emphasis on realism as a foundation. Neutral position. Inoki lunges in for a waistlock; Backlund with a front chancery. Backlund attempts a hiptoss, no go. Inoki tries likewise. No go. They stumble into the ropes, forcing a break. Neutral, again. Backlund ducks behind, scores a waistlock. Inoki counters with a legtrip. Matwork ensues for a few seconds, then Inoki powers Backlund back up by working a hammerlock. Then -- and this is beautiful -- Inoki with an armdrag takedown, using the hammerlocked arm. I've seen my share of the Andersons and other, lesser lights who knew how to work the arm. But I'd never seen this before and it never really occurred to me. Despite Inoki's creativity, Backlund rolled through to the ropes. Neutral once more. Backlund with a knee to the gut, then goes behind. Waistlock. Inoki hiptoss, but Backlund with a headscissors counter. Backlund works the headscissors for a bit. Inoki maneuvers, then somersaults his torso onto Backlund's. Backlund with the bridge, then a backslide for 1. Neutral position. Inoki with a side headlock; it almost looks like a shoot, the way Backlund attempts to get out (or at least get leverage) but Inoki keeps cinching in and turning the American's body around clockwise to disorient him. Inoki works the headlock for a second, then relinquishes to hit a double-leg takedown. The native resumes the side-headlock on the mat, resting his weight on the prone champion. They do that annoying spot where Backlund keeps rolling Inoki over for a two count until Backlund powers to his knees. Backlund finally standing, groggily, when Inoki busts a somewhat sloppy flying headscissors out of nowhere. Inoki scores the takedown, and a matbound Backlund takes some time powering out of the headscissors. But power out he does, only to find himself kicked into the ropes. Backlund springs off the ropes, and is monkeyflipped across the ring. And Inoki, again, with the flying headscissors. Inoki indicates to the ref that Backlund is trying to submit, but nothing comes of it, and Backlund tries to power out for a bit. Inoki doesn't seem to be selling the move this time around, and it really comes off a bit resthold-like. Backlund powers out, again. It's back on, again. Eventually Backlund bridges out and lunges onto Inoki, clutching him with a side headlock. And now Inoki scores some cheap one and two counts. The genre dictates it. Inoki finally up to his feet, backs Bob into the ropes, and looks genuinely furious as he whips Backlund across the ring. Inoki attempts a legtrip as the champ runs back, but is unable to hold the champ: Inoki floats on top of Backlund, who's on all fours; but Backlund sits out. Neutral position. Backlund stands with his arms akimbo and his fists balled up, incongrously looking on the verge of tears. They circle each other, jousting for position, reluctant to lock up. Inoki flinches and Backlund, again, with a waistlock. He grabs Inoki's left leg, lifts him up to bring him down with the Flair/Valentine shinbreaker. Backlund with some sub-Flair ligament stretching until he eventually settles on a toehold. Nothing spinning or anything designed for immediate submission, though, and Inoki kicks out in short order. Neutral position. They lock hands, and an amazingly quick Bobby B ducks behind Inoki, and scores a single-leg takedown not all that dissimilar to a dragon screw. Backlund shows off his repertoire of mat-based leglocks, as Inoki sells like a champ until working into a cross armbreaker as a counter. Backlund maneuvers out of the armlock, neutral position, faceoff. Inoki backs Bob into the ropes, and a frustrated champion balls up his fist and rears back as if to punch his opponent. The crowd, murmuring, bristles in mild disapproval as one. The workers face off again, Backlund again with the go-behind, and he works Inoki into the ropes -- then slaps him across the face. Inoki's expression here is classic; he comes back with a lightning-quick single leg takedown, and then stomps Backlund as he wallows on the mat. Backlund up to his feet, but Inoki hits him with a stiff-looking dropkick to the chest. Backlund whipped into the ropes, then backdropped and covered for one by Inoki. Backlund kicks out; the workers retreat to neutral corners, though you get the sense here that the champ is like a bull being baited by an expert matador. Neutral position; Backlund scores an armbar, but Inoki hoists the WWF Champ for a bodyslam. Backlund, favoring his back, is slow to make his feet. Inoki with a hiptoss and then, again, the cross armbreaker. We're about sixteen minutes into the match. Backlund tries to roll out of the predicament, but to no avail. Palm strikes to Inoki's knee donbt do much either. More attempted tumbling by Bobby, thwarted by Inoki who is working his submission hold for all it's worth. The challenger transitions into a short-arm scissors, and begins rocking back and forth with a malevolent grin on his face. It stays like that for a while, yep. But the payoff is cool as all fuck, and mirrored in the Malenko/Eddy ECW Finale to boot: Backlund picks up Inoki, who's still maintaining the scissors, and teases dropping him over the top rope. But this being 1979 and all, he puts him on the top turnbuckle. Then slaps the taste out of the challenger's mouth, sending him tumbling to the canvas. You could say that Backlund played a bland face during his run at the top of the WWF, but here he's a surprisingly nuanced heel. Standing over his fallen opponent, bloodlust in his eyes while he sells his arm, he's anything but the milquetoast disappointment Usenet revisionist history has judged him to be. Backlund whips Inoki into a corner, but Inoki springs back with a front kick. A successful scoop-and-slam by the challenger, but a second attempt is turned into a small package by the champ. One count, then they momentarily revert to neutrality. Inoki backs the champ into a corner, then beals him. Flying headscissors by Inoki. Backlund takes a powder, and the challenger follows. Backlund groggy on the arena floor, and some streamers come down from on high during the official's count. Backlund drags himself to the apron and Inoki attempts to bring him in with a suplex. The champ blocks and widens his base, then hoists Inoki vertically, teasing the suplex to the arena floor that Flair did in every major match during the 80s. But Inoki, predictable, returns to the mat and suplexes the champ back in. Lateral press for 1. The crowd is juiced. Both men make their feet. Backlund goes behind, scores a waistlock, then powers Inoki up; back suplex! Both men on the canvas for a five count, then Backlund rolls over and drops his arm onto his opponent's chest. But Inoki is in the ropes. Backlund pulls his opponent up for a piledriver as the crowd chants the challenger's name. The WWF champ jumps before hitting the move, and Backlund's version is as good as any southern heel's of that period. Even Race's. But after hitting the move, Backlund flops like a dead fish to the mat. This makes no sense; he was fine while hitting the goddamned thing, but the impact spends him? Both men are prone. The referee is counting. Inoki. . . Inoki. . .Inoki. . . Backlund with a lateral press, but Inoki's too close to the ropes. Backlund lifts Inoki up; snapmare, then he bounds off the ropes for a Chip Minton splash. But the challenger's knees are up for the block. Backlund wallows on the canvas, clutching his gut like it was shot. Inoki goes to the top, and Backlund sits up. That's fine, but when Inoki springs off the top he lies back down and takes the knee drop. Kayfabe's a state of mind, champ. Inoki with a Hogan legdrop for one, and both men are sucking wind. Lockup. Backlund whipped into the ropes, but sunset flips Inoki for one. Still, Inoki recoveres first. Irish Whips the champ into the ropes; hits him with an abdominal stretch as he comes off. Backlund's fighting it, and the hiptoss seems imminent, but gee they're working it for a long time - and Backlund reverses the damned thing. Inoki doesn't bother to sell here, but why bother when you're just going to counter with a gutwrench suplex as he does. Lateral press for two, and the champ with a weak kickout. Inoki with the ab stretch, again. Again, Backlund looks poised for a hiptoss, but he works it loose and hits Inoki with a double-underhook suplex. Two count. Backlund pulls the challenger up, but Inoki flips out of his attempted vertical suplex and hits a variation of the abdominal stretch where he's using his leg as a brace on Backlund's neck. I don't know what to call this, but it's Guerreroesque in its complexity. I would say Latino Jesus, but I donbt want to steal terms from Steve Keith and Dean Rasmussen. Amazingly, Backlund crabwalks into the ropes, grabbing the top one and forcing the break. Inoki takes this opportunity to look at his seconds outside the ring, and Backlund rewards his inattention with an atomic drop. Lateral press for 2.5. Backlund stands up, seemingly to collect himself, and Inoki sneaks behind him and hits him with a back suplex. A quick three count ensues, and it's quite clear that Backlund wanted to kick out at 2.5. 20 men in red jumpsuits rush into the ring and surround Inoki, as Backlund looks visibly pissed and exits only to re-enter a few seconds later with the fire out of his eyes, doing a lame pantomime of a quick count. Analysis: Workers from Thesz to Flair have given accounts of the willingness of foreign bookers and workers to screw US champs out of their belts. For what it's worth, Inoki didn't job the belt back to Backlund, choosing instead to just hand it back at the end of the tour. I can't definitely say that this was a doublecross though. The heat during the match built really consistently, for one thing. Still, the image I'm left with is the quick count, the premature streamers, and the seconds rushing in and ensconsing the new champ. As far as the work itself, it ranged from moments of sublime grace to really jarring lapses in communication. All in all, ****1/2. Battle of the Belts I (9/2/85) by Old School John Pelan Glory days of the old NWA & AWA. Wrestlers from all parts known (and unknown), and not a sign of Hootie-hoo or Rudy-poo anywhere. This, my friends is old school rasslin... 1. Rip Oliver & the Grappler vs. Hector & Chavo Guerrero. Are these opening match jobbers against the flying Guerrero bothers? Not exactly, Len Denton and Rip Oliver were the lead heels in the Pacific Northwest for years. Decent start, the heels cleverly double team Hector while Chavo makes matters worse by keeping the ref occupied shooing him out of the ring. Len makes Hector comfortable in a sleeper hold before tagging in Rip. Rip goes for an atomic drop, Hector reverses, the tag is made! Chavo is EN FUEGO! Hector off the top rope! The heels are doomed, wait... The Grappler has loaded the boot of doom! The kick misses! He hit his partner! (Actually he missed by a mile, but Oliver sells like he's been shot. Chavo tugs the Grappler out of the ring while Hector scores the pinfall. Not too bad since the Guerreros were involved.** 2. Cocoa Samoa (with Lady Maxine) vs. Hustler Rip Rogers (with Brenda). Scariest participant in this match is Lady Maxine... Gordon tells us that Cocoa is "sudden", I see little evidence of this, but who am I to argue with Gordon... A flurry of mat wrestling followed by a goodly bit of time-wasting. Rogers reaches into the bag of heelish tricks including the dreaded back-rake, holding the ropes while applying the abdominal stretch, etc. He loses the advantage by taking what seems to be at least five minutes to climb the ropes. Interference by both valets winds up giving Cocoa the win. This match is why there are ffwd buttons... * 3. Jack Hart vs. Kendall Windham. Hart is accompanied by Percy Pringle III (Paul Bearer, sans die-job and falsetto). I could be mistaken, but I think that Hart later converted to Judaism and took the name Barry Horowitz... Windham looks to have gained close to 80 lbs. Since this bout, here he looks as though he's actually in danger of breaking in two. There's a number of almost surreal moments here, Hart gently steps on to Windham's stomach and then furiously stomps the mat? Perhaps a psychological move... Hart also manages to clap an abdominal stretch on a man that's a good nine inches taller than he is; neat trick if you can do it, I suppose. Someone ought to have told the booker that having the face considerably larger than the heel is not a good way to sell either character; Gordon assures us that Hart is the wiley veteran and Kendall the courageous newcomer... Windham's fire finally gets lit and he's the proverbial house of fire... While the dastardly Hart loads his glove with an international object Windham recovers... It's a swing, a miss, a cross-body block and we have a new Florida Heavyweight Champion. It's KW and the announcers are positively giddy. Kendall will be the rookie of the year! **+ 4. Harley Race Interview. Harley raves about going for #8. Great heel interview. 5. Billy Jack Haynes vs. Rick Rude. The ring music informs us that someone needs a hero and out comes Billy Jack Haynes... Oh well, better luck next time. Then we hear "Smooth Operator" and we see the Southern Heavyweight Champ, Ravishing Ric Rude. The crowd pops like crazy for Haynes, which lessens my estimation of Florida wrestling fans considerably. We have the traditional test of strength, Rude heelishly bails and regroups. (One wonders why Haynes never seemed to learn anything except rest holds)... Rude carries this to a watchable match, which ends with Haynes being tripped by Pringle's cane. *** 6. Interview with Kendall Windham. So saccharine I almost tossed my cookies... 7. Interview with the Road Warriors and Precious Paul. For newer fans that may wonder what the big deal is with the L.O.D. this isn't one of their best interviews, but it still does the job of making you actually worry about what they may do to Stan Hansen and Harley Race. 8. Hansen & Race vs. the Road Warriors. For any detractors of the Cru that say we don't give fair credit to big men in the sport, listen up: This is how it's supposed to be done... Hansen comes out swinging a cow bell and starts brawling with the roadies in the aisle. Race joins in and we get a good solid brawl before anyone gets in the ring. All four men rely on a lot of very stiff power moves that all ultimately MEAN something. Damn, I'd almost forgotten just how good these guys were... Hawk actually puts on quite a show as does Race... Hansen is at a high level here that would only continue to improve when he went to Japan. Race starts selling a leg injury, and in a lesson to all grapplers, he continues to sell the injury throughout the match. As you might guess, we end up where we started with an all out brawl, Roadies keep the belts, but no one really loses. Excellent workrate by all four men results in all four leaving with their credibility intact. Great work and great booking! **** 9. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Frankie Lane. This was supposed to be the rematch for the AWA title that Bockwinkel lost to Rick Martel, (which would have been enjoyable). Apparently a hurricane has prevented Martel from getting to the arena, so the promoters bring in Frankie Lane? WTF? The story has Bockwinkel as being upset at this development, can't say as I blame him... Kindly ol' Professor Nick takes the youngster to school. Not bad for what it was, but it seems a really odd choice to bring in Lane... ** 10. Ric Flair vs. Wahoo McDaniel. When we talk about something as being very "80's NWA", this is what we mean. Two out three falls, sixty-minute time limit. This IS Ric Flair! Wahoo was no slouch either at this point in his career. Flair carries Wahoo to an excellent match, the Flair chop versus the tomahawk chop! Whoooo! Wahoo works at a pace that can best be called "deliberate" and Flair adjusts accordingly. Yes, there are rest-holds galore, but as an example of how a lengthy match ought to be worked, this is glorious. There's a decent mix of power moves and mat wrestling and of course Flair sells like crazy. McDaniel was at his best when participating in all out brawls that bore little resemblance to wrestling, but he does a good job here of using some legit mat techniques mixed in with the omnipresent chops and punches. Flair and McDaniel each take a fall, the championship is on the line... Winner will have to face the challenge of Harley Race! Again, when you're looking at the early eighties, there wasn't an NWA fan in the world that didn't believe that Harley Race was the toughest son-of-a-bitch on the planet. Even though he and Backlund went to a draw, no real wrestling fan had any doubts that Race would annihilate Backlund in a shoot. Gordon Solie does a wonderful job of selling this storyline without ignoring the action in the ring, (watch and learn Tony S., watch and learn). Wahoo pounds on Flair, we may see a title change today! Remember, at this time McDaniel was a lead face that was built up to be a legitimate contender who would only lose due to a screw-job or doing something stupid. Does Wahoo do something stupid? Is it a screwjob ending? Watch and see... This match is a solid main event to end a good card and does a great job of setting the stage for Battle of the Belts II. Recommended. Tony Gancarski John Pelan Workrate Cru Like what you've read? Visit the Cru's site at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Makeup/1219/CruBiz.htm Mail Anthony Gancarski Mail John Pelan |
BLAH |
Main |
||