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Post by fxnj on Jan 6, 2018 1:04:24 GMT -5
The Golden Age crew got shafted a bit in the GWE, so hopefully they fare better this time. This is my favorite 60 minute draw ever. Old school workers were incredible working holds, and these were two of the best from the era so it's as good it should be. Thesz is awesome as the touring champ giving a performance that blows away anything by Flair or Race and Verne is right there to meet him as the firey challenger. Features my favorite headlock spot ever. Lock for top 20.
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Post by rickyjackson on Jan 7, 2018 0:38:18 GMT -5
My favorite Broadway and favorite 50s match. Thesz is awesome, but young lion Gagne is just as good. Such a treat seeing two guys that most associate with being "old" tear it up when they were young and amazing performers
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Post by stunninggrover on Jan 8, 2018 22:20:14 GMT -5
Chicago promoter Fred Kohler promoted this big match. Lou Thesz was the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Verne Gagne was the challenger. This was a 60-minute time limit match for the title. Thesz had been the champion since November 1949. Just like champions like Ric Flair and Harley Race would do in later decades, Thesz would travel to different parts of the United States and Canada to face the top challengers. This match from Chicago, IL featured two of the all-time greats in action. It was a 2-out-of-3 falls match. They keep the match interesting from start to finish. Most of the match is about holds, but it’s the way they work the holds and the match in general that makes is fascinating to watch. Occasionally, they would be rougher with each other. Thesz would sneak in some cheap shots, which would get him a negative reaction from the crowd. Gagne, the young hero, would try to fight back and show that he was championship material. Both workers showed great technical skills. This was a big match at the time. The commentator mentions that people have come from as far as Rhode Island and Minnesota to be in attendance for this match. After 32 minutes, the winner of the first fall was Thesz. Gagne roughed up Thesz with a vicious bodyslam in the second fall. Gagne tried his best to win the next fall. Gagne won the second fall about 17 minutes into the second fall. This meant there was not too much time left for the third fall. Gagne had Thesz in a sleeper hold, but the time limit expired. The match ended in a draw. Thesz remained the champion, but Gagne made a great impression and showed he was worthy of another title shot in the future. I feel that this is the best match from the 1950s. It is easily the best match from the 1950s I’ve ever watched. *****
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Post by gordi on Jan 8, 2018 22:37:36 GMT -5
Best match I have seen from the 50s as well. Classic touring champ vs local hero bout. Love the extremely subtle ways Thesz gets the crowd fired up to support Gagne. A master class in how to work holds. Slow-paced by modern standards, and if you wrote out a blow-by-blow account it would come across as too basic to be interesting... but in fact this match is fascinating. Proof that it is not so much what you do, as it is the way that you do it
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Post by shrike02 on Jan 9, 2018 3:29:50 GMT -5
I watched this a while ago not knowing what to expect, and was very impressed by this match. Slow-paced by modern standards but very very good.
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Post by jetlag on May 3, 2019 2:42:07 GMT -5
This was a fascinating match. Yes, it's a 60 minute match from the 1950s, so prepare for long holds, but the intense struggling over the whole duration made it interesting all the way to the end. The wrestling moves, altough extremely basic, were incredible. Gagne looked like he would rip right through Thesz if given the chance. There were also some greatly timed spots, such as an abdominal stretch cradle that made me jump. Then you also have the story of Thesz acting like a dick and dealing out some serious punishment on Gagne: punching at the cheek, grinding on his head, hitting him in the back of the head, etc. When Thesz is throwing those knees to the head it's a total assault. The work around the sleeper hold is quality and you can see the NWA title match structure was already perfectly in place. Gets a little repetitive/primitive at times, with the constant repetition of the cheap shot in the ropes, and I felt it could've delivered a little "bigger" considering how amazing it was when Verne was hammering Thesz with punches or when they were struggling on the mat, but other than that this was a tremendous match regardless of all.
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Post by elliott on Aug 26, 2023 11:47:23 GMT -5
Great match that didn't resonate with me quite like the long Thesz vs Rogers match. One for the fans of a "very serious wrestling as sport" approach.
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