Best of Reslo Vol 2

Yep, a mere four years after posting the first volume of the Best of Reslo, here is the second issue. Never let it be said this blog isn't punctual.

Bull Power vs Otto Wanz
Bull Power is, of course, better known as Vader. This appears to be for the CWA in Austria, and they've even sent the suave Bryn Fon over to present the show from ringside. Power is the defending champion. This seems to be fought under last man standing rules with a rounds system and this, coupled with the large partisan crowd who roar everytime Wanz gets on offence, makes it feel like a Rocky film. This is added to by the fact that we're clearly not too far from Wanz's 1990 retirement, so he looks a bit past his prime here taking on a young, brash beast in Power.

Power quickly decimates Wanz in the corner with the strikes we all know and love him for. Wanz fires back and backs Power into a corner, showing he's not intimidated. Power takes over and has Wanz bleeding on the floor in an armbar as the first round ends. Round two shows Wanz is bigger than Power, but is clearly less mobile and less dynamic. Wanz is not afraid to lay in his blows and his size means it looks pretty painful when he puts his weight behind each blow. The third round kicks off with Power slamming Wanz with relative ease, then going for a sunset flip almost as if to show off. Wanz looks punchdrunk and ends the round crumpled in a heap. The rounds break gives him a chance to catch his breath, however, and he hits Power with a suplex and some full weight blows, then takes Power to the mat, where he's more dominant. Round five sees the momentum switch again, with Power hitting a big top rope clothesline like a freight train. Every time Wanz gets back up, Power knocks him straight back down.

The momentum starts to shift permanently in round 6 as Wanz clotheslines Power over the top rope. This feels like a big moment and Wanz keeps on him, ramming his head into the ringside tables. Back in the ring, Wanz hits his own slam on Power and the round ends with Power looking in danger. Wanz starts round 7 on fire, and Power's second Orig Williams has to call a timeout very early in the round. Power tries to fire back, but his blows are less powerful and less effective than earlier. A missed avalanche outside the ring sends Power into the ring post and the end feels nigh. One last clothesline in the ring keeps Power down once and for all, giving the win and the title to Wanz.

Fit Finlay vs Kid McCoy
This is a cage match, and the environment very much favours Finlay here. McCoy uses some nice tricked-out matwork to escape an armbar, only to find Finlay doesn't care much for that, as Fit just strikes him back down to the mat. Beautiful in it's simplicity. Finlay beats poor McCoy down with intent, ramming the back of his head into the sturdy looking cage and slamming his head in the cage door. McCoy prevents an escape attempt and tries to squeeze Finlay's head in the cage door instead. Fit is soon back in control, and goes to work on wearing down McCoy. Being the more agile, McCoy makes quick, sudden comebacks to catch Finlay off guard. I loved Finlay hurting his hand by punching the cage as McCoy ducked. However, McCoy is soon out on his feet and bleeding as Finlay rams him face-first into the cage over and over again. One final attempt by McCoy to stop a Finlay escape is broken by a headbutt, and Finlay drops to the floor in victory. Fun in a brutal way.

Pat Roach vs Ray Steele
This is fought under a round system, best of three falls. Steele looks good to start, but Roach uses his size advantage to deliver hefty blows. Roach looms over Steele like a giant grizzly bear. They work a nice knucklelock to end the first round, and Roach seems reluctant to let go, with Steele having to kick himself free. In the second fall, Roach controls, whipping Steele between the turnbuckles and hitting a backbreaker for the fall. Roach continues to control with some big bombs in the next round, but Steele ducks one and hits a backslide to even up the falls. Round 4 kicks off with Roach changing tack and working over the arm of Steele, showing some nice fluid matwork for a big man. Steele tries another backslide, but Roach is in the ropes, and a big boot and slam win the fall and the bout for Roach. Fun competitive match.

Skull Murphy vs Pat Roach
Murphy is a total shit here, using all manner of skullduggery to control the early stages. He particularly like grinding his wrist guard into Roach's face. This fires Roach up, hitting a big backbreaker, but every time he gets control, Murphy will gouge his face or go back to the wrist guard to take over. Unfortunately, he goes back to this tactic too many times, with the ref forcing him to take it off and his control sections have only angered Roach rather than hurting him, so he's left with a big angry bear and his main weapon gone. Roach grabs the wrist guard and grinds it into Murphy's face for revenge. A backbreaker is to close to the ropes to get the pin, but Murphy's attempted comeback is thwarted when he misses a slingshot splash. Roach decks him with a big boot and a slam for the victory.

Eddie Gilbert & the Original Midnight Express vs Mighty Thor & the Terminators
JIP from Windy City Wrestling, with the Midnights working over one Terminator in their corner. He does get to power out of a headlock, but keeps running the ropes to hit clotheslines instead of making the hot tag, and gets downed again. Idiot. He reverses a double backbodydrop into a rather swank double sunset flip and makes the hot tag to Thor. A six-man melee breaks out, and Gilbert ends up pinning Thor whilst holding the ropes. Short and pointless.

Cool Cat Jackson vs Richie Brooks
Another cage match on this set. Jackson gets rammed into the cage early, but recovers in time to grab Brooks' leg as he straddles the top of the cage, which has to be painful. There does seem to be a bit of an absence of selling in the match. A big suplex from the top of the cage should put both guys out for a while, but both are soon up on their feet again ready for the next spot. I do like Brooks trying to escape whenever he gets an opening. In a Chris Hero-esque moment, Brooks prevents Jackson escaping the cage by holding a cravate despite falling all the way from the top of the cage to the canvas. Brooks downs Jackson again with a monkey flip, but tries a top of cage splash instead of escaping. His stupidity is rewarded by missing. Both are still back on their feet in seconds, but Jackson hits a slam and a legdrop before anticlimatically exiting the cage door.

Steve Jones vs Mongolian Mauler
Jones, delightfully, is William Regal billed as a Welshman, famously told by Orig Williams not to speak for fear of blowing the gimmick. Mauler is probably not Mongolian either, but he is a terrible ham, overacting to a distracting degree. Jones hitting a running crossbody looks odd coming from him. A lot of this match is Jones bumping and selling for the Mauler's dubious looking offence. The bout ends with both men outside and Mauler belting Jones with chairs for the DQ. Jones' mentor Orig Williams comes down, not so much for the save, but just to break the two up, as Jones is fired up. Fun look at a young Regal here, just wish he had a better opponent.

Moondog Rex vs Steve Wright
Looks like they've paid to ship Bryn to Austria again. Steve Wright is, of course, the father of Alex. The ref here has a whistle that he blows an annoying amount of the time. There's a fun armbar spot to start, which end with Wright ascending the ropes for an armdrag. Rex clearly doesn't care for this cutesy nonsense, and punches him back to the mat. The problem with the match is that there is no real flow, just a few fun moments bolted together. There's a spot where Wright shows impressive strength to lift up Rex from an armbar, another spot where Wright pointlessly ties himself into a ball, but put together it doesn't quite work. The end sees Rex trying to ram Wright's head into a bone, but this fires Wright up who reverses the move, hits a big top rope kneedrop and a top rope sunset flip for the win. Not great.

Orig Williams vs Barret
Orig Williams was the master showman of Welsh wrestling, and his autobiography is a tremendously entertaining read. He doesn't do anything particularly fancy in this match (which is more or less a squash), but the crowd reacts to everything. Loved seeing him bust out a stump-puller before picking up the win with a backbodydrop.

Kamala vs Jerry Lawler
We're joined in progress with Kamala all over Lawler with his basic offence. Lawler kicks out of a splash at 2, and makes a full-on, strap-down, fired-up comeback. I love Kamala selling each Lawler punch like a tree about to fall over in the wind before finally being sent to the mat. Lawler misses the fistdrop, and they wind up outside the ring. Lawler is able to nail Kamala with a chair and gets in to beat the count for the win. Nice ending to keep both looking strong.

Giant Haystacks & Klaus Kauroff vs Boston Blackie & Cool Cat Jackson
Best of three falls rules apply here. The faces work over Kauroff early, rightly picking him as the weak link of the team. However, as soon as Haystacks is in, he casually destroys Jackson, and lets Kauroff pick over the remains. A slam gifts him the first fall. The second fall continues in this manner, until Haystacks makes the mistake of uncovering the turnbuckle pad and gets rammed into it himself. Blackie comes in like a house of fire and, struggling, he's forced to tag in Kauroff. Blackie soon polishes him off with a second rope splash. The third fall sees Blackie remain in control, until Haystacks clotheslines him as he runs the ropes, taking the wind out of his sails. Though he is able to get the hot tag after avoiding a Haystacks corner splash, Jackson is not fully recovered and Haystacks drops an elbow on him to keep him down for a standing ten count and the victory.

Best Of Reslo: Volume 1

Another fantastic purchase from IVP Videos, this time a compilation of the awesome Reslo show that used to air on S4C in the late 80’s/early 90’s. Hosted by the ever-so suave Bryn Fon and Welsh wrestling legend Orig Williams, the Reslo broadcast would generally show two matches and featured a style of wrestling that is distinctly European, focusing on matwork and wrestler schtick to entertain the crowd. As a half-Welshman, I felt it was my patriotic duty to dive straight in...

Johnny South vs. Frank Lopez
First thing to notice is how much of the audience is made up of kids, which is great because all these kids are clearly into the matches. They react to everything, which really helps a match like this shine. As matches go, it’s pretty basic, but both guys do things purely designed to get the crowd reacting- Lopez, the face, chants and claps to rally the kids behind him, South begs off and pleads with the kids to be quiet. The result is that the whole match entertains without being that good. The ending confuses, South has control over Lopez, but then elects to whip him with a chain, drawing the DQ win for Lopez.

Robbie Brookside vs. Lee Thomas
Brookside is a wrestler I’m very familiar with, having seen him live in 2004 dragging a decent match out of Darren Walsh at an All Star show in Leamington. Brookside is again awesome here, and this match is far more fast-paced than the last, for sure. Brookside takes control of the match early doors and works in quite a few spots where he outsmarts Thomas, much to the delight of the child audience. Thomas looks like the love-child of Bobby Eaton and Chris Candido, and, while not up to the high standard of either, he does keep up pretty well with Brookside. Brookside hits a nasty looking backdrop suplex, then hits a springboard suplex for the win.

Franz Schuman vs. Salvatore Bellomo
This is from the CWA promotion in Austria, and works under a round system. To be honest, this is a really dull match. Bellomo brings nothing to the table except some chokes and tedious brawling, while Schuman may have the right look (imagine a third Young Stallion) but none of the in-ring chops to back it up. Schuman rolls through a crossbody for the win.

Giant Haystacks vs. Pat Roach
Another match fought under a round system, this time best 2 out of 3 falls. Here we get 2 legends of UK wrestling, with Roach being the only person bar Harrison Ford to appear in the original Indiana Jones trilogy. Sadly, the match is awful. Haystacks dominates most of the match, and his moveset is based entirely on restholds, be it chinlock or nerve hold, and Roach doesn’t help by making his first offensive move a bear hug. Haystacks wins the first fall with a sleeper, before Roach FINALLY fires into life with a series of running shoulder blocks to win the second fall. Roach continues where he left off for the final fall, but collides with the ref, allowing Haystacks to hit an elbowdrop for the win.

Dave Taylor vs. Drew MacDonald
Not just Dave Taylor, but “Dancing” Dave Taylor! So unusual to see the future Squire Dave as a happy, smiling babyface, but it actually works, with Taylor showing some great babyface fire. MacDonald dominates the early stages and, like Haystacks, uses a nerve hold to down Taylor. However, unlike Haystacks, MacDonald really works the hold, grinding a forearm into Taylor’s face at the same time. Taylor makes a neat face comeback, using moves like a flying forearm and a splash which are more likely to pop the crowd. He also still has a ridiculously good European uppercut. Dancing Dave gets the win with an anticlimactic suplex, but this is the best match on the disc so far.

Danny Boy Collins vs. Kid McCoy
Until now, that is. This is a fine junior heavyweight match between two guys who seemingly have no problems getting a little stiff with each other. Collins impresses more initially, with a nice snap to everything he does, including a swish floatover butterfly suplex. McCoy seems to take a bit longer to warm up, but soon gets into his stride until he’s confidently working Mexican surfboard reversals with the seemingly more-experienced Collins. For an early 90’s match in the UK, it seems very ahead of it’s time, and it’s a shame when it finishes with a time limit draw, could happily have watched more of this.

The Superflies (Jimmy Ocean and Ricky Knight) vs. Tony Stewart and Geraint Clewd
You only have to look at the Superflies to know they’re heels: with bleached blond mullets and garish multicoloured tights, they ooze scummy heat. Stewart and Clewd seem much younger and less experienced, but have a great babyface energy and swiftly win the first fall with a Clewd rollup on Ocean. The ‘Flies pull out all the stops from the “Heel Tagteam” playbook, with tag-rope chokes and ref distractions a-plenty. A handful of salt to the face of Stewart evens the score to 1-1. A pin in the corner with feet on ropes almost earns the Superflies the win before the ref spots it, before allowing the young faces a chance to make their comeback. At this point, the Superflies turn into stooges of the highest order, frantically grabbing the ropes to avoid submission holds and each taking huge bumps to the outside from face offence. Clewd and Stewart more than hold up their end of the bargain, and pick up the win when Ocean accidentally hits Knight with some barricade meant for Clewd, allowing the face to pin Ocean following a sunset flip. Good tag action made more enjoyable by the efforts of the heel team.

Kensuke Sasaki and Klaus Kauroff vs. Eddie Steinblock and Hercules Boyd
Back to Austria we got for this largely pointless tag match, again best 2 out of 3 falls. Boyd overpowers Sasaki to start before Steinblock gets the first fall for his team with a power slam. Orig namedrops Antonio Inoki while Sasaki is in the ring, though I can’t tell you what he said due to the fact I don’t speak much Welsh. Boyd and Steinblock continue to out power Sasaki, before Boyd pins Kauroff following a hiptoss. Too short and a not particularly fun squash.

Johnny Saint vs. Barry Douglas
Johnny Saint was one of my main lures behind buying the DVD, as he specialises in the fluid, clever and above-all, fun matwork that the UK scene was known for. Saint comes to the ring to Reslo’s rather excellent theme tune, which is another reason to like him. The overall feel of the mtch is that Saint is letting Douglas get him in holds just so he can try and work out some elaborate way of escaping, which he does time and again. The highlight of this is a swank escape from a headscissors into a Boston crab. Saint is always one step ahead of Douglas, and the end comes as Saint outmanoeuvres and confuses Douglas, allowing him to get a roll-up for 3. A good, fun exhibition of a style that is becoming a lost art.

There is a ladies match from the US next featuring Heidi Lee Morgan and another, unknown, wrestler, but it isn’t much cop and is pretty short, so I’ll move on to the last match, which is...

Col Brody vs. Boston Blackie
Brody looks like your stereotypical 1940’s military man, down to his thick moustache which Blackie threatens and pulls on to the delight of the crowd. Brody does a great job of keeping the crowd into the match, bumping huge for Blackie (including a big spill to the outside) and always allowing Blackie to stay one step ahead of him. A missed knee drop allows the Colonel to work over Blackie’s knee, including a pair of snapmares which send Blackie knee first into the ropes; After Blackie misses a top rope splash, Brody wins by ramming him chest first into an exposed turnbuckle and hitting a fireman’s carry roll for the three. Fun match made all the more enjoyable due to Brody’s antics and selling, and a good way to end an unique and entertaining collection.