The Rap Sheet -- by the Crimefighter
Video Review
Wrestling's Greatest Villians, The Golden Era
B&W, 90mins. Good Times Home Video, 1986

Well I'm not one who collects wrestling videos, cause I just watch my matches once and don't watch them again. The family put this one in my stocking one Christmas, so I'm stuck with it. Anyway, since this is the rap sheet, and I'm after the bad guys, lets tackle this one shall we? I really do not know any of the announcers shown on camera, but slated to appear are Jules Strongbow, Lord Layton, Russ Davis, and Ray Morgan. All the matches came from the 50's and the 60's.

The Human Orchid Georgeous George w/ Woodrow (210lbs. the Coast) vs. Larry Moquin (220lbs. Montreal, ON Canada). -- Woodrow comes in with a tray for George's robe, then George orders his valet to spray the ring with perfume. The broadcaster comes up for a quick interview and gets info on the robe itself, the contour look. The ref gives instructions but George complains about being examined and his robe being touched. He opens his robe to be checked for oil. George then comments he doesn't want his opposition touching his hair. Larry is apparently the master of the dropkick. George takes a lot of time putting the robe on the tray. Bell rings. George won't lock up and runs. Larry takes down George with a reverse wrist lock. These were cruiserweights back then...George takes Larry to the ropes, and Larry messes up his hair! George stalls more until Moquin traps him in the corner, George gets a leglock but he's in the ropes. Lockup, George rolls up Moquin but he gets away. Fast forward, George in the corner, Moquin sets up up for shattered dreams??? Except Larry bounces on the ropes and drives his head into the gut at high speed three times. George gets Moquin with a leglock and almost pins him with the ropes. Skipping ahead, ref breaks the leglock up. George stalls some more, claiming to be winded. Now begs for a handshake. Rolling biel. Steps on Larry's neck. Lockup, George drives a fist into Moquin's head. Larry forearms back and hits a dropkick. George with a takedown. Larry backslides for two in the ropes, but he thinks he won, George dropkicks him in the back, Larry bounces off the ropes and collaspes to the mat, George covers for three. Larry protests in vain that he had George pinned. George puts on a sweatrobe and dons a hood. Moquin bugs George wanting more. Taunting some more and deciding not to wrestle again, George walks out while Larry steals the tray and whacks George on the head while his back was turned. Not much action here, George's antics were the thing to see here.

WINNER: Georgeous George pin -> 6 mins shown. ½*

Interview: Crusher -- Crusher talks about how great he is in the ring. He has an open contract for anyone. He's asked if he puts up money for his matches, and he says he'll do it any way you want.

Interview: Johnny Valentine. Apparently there was a TV title back then and he's the current holder. They talk about his look for TV and movies. He wants to meet Crusher in the ring.

Crusher Lisowski (240lbs. Milwaukee, WI) vs. Johnny Valentine (235lbs. Seattle, WA) -- The Crusher attacks before the bell and beats him down but Johnny fights back and runs him out of the ring. The ref DQ's Crusher immeadiately before the bell? The Crusher is hauled out of the arena. Well, that's unheard of these days. Another wrestler is brought in the ring as a replacement while a chant for we want Crusher goes on.

Now we have Bad Boy Joe from Minneapolis, MN. at 222lbs. as a substitute opponent. Johnny, does five hip tosses, followed by a hard elbow of the back of the head, called the skull-crusher. Gets three! Big squash.

WINNER: Johnny Valentine pin -> 22 seconds. DUD

Chant for Crusher to come back goes again, and Crusher tries to come back but is held by refs and cops. The broadcaster tries to talk to him, Crusher wants in badly. Crusher complains about the commish keeping him out cause he knows he will murder that bum. Talks about what he'll do and strategy. We don't get the match here. Johnny Valentine competed until his career was ended in a plane crash where Ric Flair was also on board, and fathered Greg "The Hammer".

Interview: Eddie & Jerry Graham. They have a tag title match, and say they are prepared. They bash their opponents and say they'll be the new international tag team champions and hold up an early edition of the New York Times that says Graham Bros. win the tag titles.

WWWF Tag Team Title Match 2/3 Falls.
Dr. Jerry Graham & Eddie Graham vs. Antonio Rocca & Miguel Perez -- Perez's son ended up in the WWF as one of the Los Bosquois. This is a highlight reel with a lot of clipping from the World Wide Wrestling Federation, now known as the WWE.

First fall, Perez with a full nelson and two monkeyflips. Skip ahead. Rocca chops Jerry repeatedly then attacks Eddie. Later, the Grahams have Rocca on the ropes for a knee across the back. Rocca recovers and knocks them out of the ring. The latinos ram the Grahams to the corners. Rocca has Jerry in the tortune rack and gets the submission for the first fall.

Grahams won the second fall but no footage for that is shown.

Third fall, Rocca dropkicks Jerry out, and keeps him from getting in. Chair is in the ring which Perez grabs. Punching on the ropes, the Grahams can't get back in. The ref stops it, I'm assuming by a countout. From what was shown it looked to be a good match, too bad they didn't show much of it.

WINNERS: Antonio Rocca & Miguel Perez two falls to one, submission, countout -> about 2 mins shown, no rating.

Interview: Classy Freddy Blassie. Blassie demands respect, and his wrestling game includes every hold and escape there is. They talk about the women, but Blassie says all the women he sees dress in potato sacks and are pigs. The women should wear form-fitting clothes, so they can see what they look like and shouldn't wear padding and feathered hats. Those should be outlawed. Outta time for the interview, he wants more time.

Austrialian Rules Match -- 4 Rounds.
The Hangman (232lbs. Bodymatterscout?) vs. Freddie Blassie (242lbs.) -- Blassie has a match with Rocky Johnson coming and he promises it will be scientific in defense of the American title. Johnson is of course, the father of The Rock. Hangman is wearing a full body mask. Austrialian style matches generally go like this, each round is a couple of minutes, with rest breaks in between. Judges scorecards determine a winner if it goes the distance. Course, it doesn't even get past the first 30 seconds. Hangman attacks Blassie as he's getting his jacket off and has him in the corner. Blassie fights back and rakes through the mask and bites. Blassie with a southern spinning neckbreaker and pins him! The broadcaster can't believe its over already cause this was supposed to go four rounds. Another lightening squash.

WINNER: Classy Freddy Blassie pin -> 22 seconds. DUD.

Interview: Nature Boy Buddy Rogers. US Heavyweight Champion. Says he'll hold the title for years.

Interview: Bobby Davis, manager of Rogers. Says he's the brains behind the champ and he's called Mr. Wrestling. Brag brag brag.

(NWA?) US Title Match
Abe Jacobs (224lbs. Willington, New Zealand) vs. Nature Boy Buddy Rogers (242lbs. Canton, NJ) w/ Bobby Davis. -- Jacobs claims to be the Jewish Heavyweight Champ. Lockup, Jacobs forced to the ropes. Jacobs with a lockup. Haystacks Calhoun comes to commentate. Rogers witha takedown. Jacobs fights to get out of the tieup from the mat, hair-pulled back down. Wristlock and hammerlock. Rogers keeps pulling his hair to keep him down on the mat. Jacobs tries to power out and does and takes him down with a wristlock. Calhoun complains about Rogers cheating. Jacobs with a dropkick and an armdrag. Doublewristlock by Jacobs. Winglock by Jacobs. Rogers up and tosses him, tackle by Jacobs, both go for a dropkick and miss. Rogers kicks and drives that knee in the back. Figure-four by Rogers, which they called it back then the double grapevine, Jacobs appears to have tapped out. Rogers won't break. He releases but continues to attack him, Haystacks comes up to chase them off, Calhoun wants some of Davis, Rogers comes back to attack, Haystacks fights with Rogers and Davis, Calhoun uses the horseshoe to drive them off.

WINNER: Buddy Rogers submission -> 5 mins. ½*

Interview: The Volkoffs, Nicoli and Boris. This not the Nikolai of WWF fame, as I mistakenly thought, the man's real name was Steve Gobrobovich, who passed away in 1997 at age 81. They talk about wrestling holds.

Nicoli (225lbs.) & Boris Volkoff (245lbs. Leningrad Russia) vs. Dick The Bruiser (250lbs. Green Bay WI) & Hans Schmidt (245lbs. Germany) -- All heels in here. Boris starts with Dick. Tieup, Boris punches Dick. Tieup, armbar, breakaway. Knee to the gut from Dick. Tieup, tag to Hans when Dick can't get out of it. Hans with a forearm. Mare, tag. Bruiser with a choke on the chin. Arm twist by Dick on Boris. Wristlock. Tag Nicoli. Nicoli with a flying headscissors. Dick almost pins Nicoli while his head is locked in his legs. Hans tries to come in but is chased off. Tag to Boris. Dropkick on Dick, flying mare. Bruiser runs for cover. Test of strength, which Boris wins easily until an eyerake. Headlock, Boris shoves Dick into Hans and knocks him off. Bruiser a bit peeved. Tieup and hammerlock behind the back using the pinkie finger. To the corner, Hans holds as Dick knees him in the gut. Tag Hans. Ten minutes have passed so this one is clipped. Mare, Hans picks him up for a side-gut wrencher in a doubleteam using Bruiser's knee to drop him on. Tag Bruiser, but they didn't hold Boris to stop him tagging. Nicoli dropkicks Hans repeatedly. Bruiser back in, they tie up Nicoli in their corner. Whoops, Bruiser hit Hans. The Volkoffs take Bruiser to their corner to beat on. Bruiser goes for a tag but Hans refuses. Volkoffs continue to work on Bruiser in their corner. Bruiser tries for a tag again, Hans refuses. They fight, and get counted out. A history page giving info on this match says Dick and Hans beat each other bloody here, a week later they fought to a draw.

WINNERS: The Volkoffs countout -> Time shown 5 mins or so. *

Fritz Von Erich (260lbs. Dallas, TX) vs. Bobby Brown (230lbs. Hollywood, CA)-- Fritz Von Erich heads the household of one of the saddest most tragic families in professional wrestling. He fathers six sons, one died in an electrocution accident while still a child, Mike, Kerry, and Chris commit suicide, and David dies from a drug overdose. Only Kevin survives today. For some reason they thought they were supposed to achieve the same success as their father, find that they couldn't, then decide life wasn't worth living because of it. Fritz blitzes Brown. Fritz backs off. Tieup to the corner. Fritz slugs away, Brown comes back and doubleknees him to the back. Fritz had lost a tooth prior to this one. Skip ahead. Fritz throws Brown out of the ring, hits his leg. The ring has FOUR ropes. Fritz throws Brown into the post on the apron, pounds him more. Brown headlocks Fritz on the ropes and kneelifts him. Rakes his face. Brown wraps the leg on the ropes, stomps. Brown is kicked outside. Fritz leaps the ropes back in. Fritz punches to the gut, Brown with a punt kick. Trading punches now against the ropes. Brown drops to the canvas, Fritz with a iron claw on the belly. Brown makes the ropes. Fritz has him in the corner, claw to the gut again. Brown in pain, Fritz a mare and a kick to the gut. Another claw, and Brown gives up. Fritz shows off his hand and intimidates Brown with it some more.

WINNER: Fritz Von Erich submisson -> 4 mins. shown. *

Killer Kowalski (250lbs. Detroit, MI) vs. Yukon Eric (275lbs. Fairbanks, AK) -- This is the match after Yukon Eric lost part of his ear thanks to Kowalski. Sadly, Eric commits suicide years later. Eric with a forearm and a big beel. Eric with an armbar. Killer tries to pull him with by the hair, and forearms out of it. Killer with punches to the head and chest. Eric is tiring, Killer with a dropkick. Eric doesn't fall down, he hooks for a German suplex but both men have shoulders down, Killer wasn't pinned down, Eric forgets to bridge and is pinned! That finish was used many times. Killer celebrates, Eric tries to slug him. Killer keeps his arm up.

WINNER: Killer Kowalski pin -> 3 mins shown. ½*

Interview: The Sicilians--Lou Albano & Tony Atlamore. They want to get rid of all the talent and take the titles back to Sicily.

Jack Allen (220lbs. Milwaukee, WI) & Bavarian Boy Rudy (226lbs. Munich) vs. The Sicilians Lou Albano (243lbs) & Tony Altamore (242lbs, Silicy) -- Yes it's Capt. Lou, the man who went on to manage over a dozen tag team champions in the WWF. During this time he was playing the role of the Italian gangster. The faces attack before the Sicilians get the suits off. Jack Allen actually leap frogs over the referee standing up to get at Tony. Jack is hiptoss by Tony into his corner where they doubleteam him. Tag Lou, has a headlock, punches away. Jack slips out but doesn't get away. The heels doubleteam some more, the ref misses a tag. Jack finally rallies and ties up the Sicilians in the ropes on both sides for the faces to take turns crossbodying the heels on each side of the ring. The faces ram the Sicilians together, then hook them up for a rowboat. Jack walks on one of the heels as they go to regroup, but meet heads. Bodytackle by Jack, another misses into a waiting shot with a foreign object from Lou. Tony ties him up for the pin, two count, punch, two count, punch, and gets three with a hold of his hair. They called this the Sicilian Blockbuster. Uh yeah. BTW, Capt. Lou looked to be in a lot better shape years ago, the craving for food in later years really changed him.

WINNERS: The Sicilians pin -> 5 mins shown. *½

Interview: The Kangeroos. The interviewer demonstrates the boomerang's metal tapping against the pole. Then they justify bringing the thing to the ring.

Bill & Ed, Miller Bros. vs. The Fabulous Kangeroos (Roy Hefferman, Al Costello) They argue about the rules, then Costello whacks Bill Miller with his boomerang. Bill charges and misses into a boomerang hold. Shoulder tackle and takedown gets a one count. Millers have Roy in their corner for double-team choking on the ropes. The ref having trouble here controlling anyone. Ed continues choking. Costello comes in with doubleaxe chops against both men gets rid of one man and knees a Miller repeatedly. The ref doesn't send him out, he's still illegal. Bill tries more choking but is shoved off. Al Costello with a boomerang goes for the cover but he's illegal. Bill chokes Roy in the corner still. Al still won't get out, he's got Ed up for Roy to punch him in the throat. Finally Al is sent out. Bill drops a knee across the neck of Roy, and drags him to the corner for a tag. Ed in, knee to the gut, Roy almost tags. Al in, ref takes him out, Millers drag him back to the corner. Tag. Roy stumbles to his corner and tags. Al ties up Bill in the ropes. Chops Ed. Double Irish whip Bill sent into Ed. They do it again, ref tries to stop it but is knocked down. Flying tackle into Bill while still tied up. The commissioner calls for the DQ. The Roos and Millers still brawl. Another Miller is tied up. Bill is out of it and takes down the ref. The ref slugs Bill. A Roo dropkicks a Miller down before the cops get in there to order everyone out. Sheesh. Millers think they won by DQ, but no, it's a double-DQ. The Millers complain they weren't at fault. Match of the tape, hurt by the lack of a finish.

NO WINNER: Double DQ. -> 6 mins. shown. **½

Bottom line, the matches back in the 50s and 60s obviously don't compare to standard fare. Beyond that fact, Sandy Oliveri who compiled this video didn't choose the best for this and clipped all of the matches on the tape. Probably for the best that many were clipped since there was little wrestling action in a number of these. Interviews were really basic and generic too for the most part. If you are looking for a tape showcasing some of the various heels from yesteryear and never seen them in action, this tape is for you. Otherwise, there's better tapes out there with matches from the 50s and 60s that are worth your time.