Review of: “Best of British Wrestling 1978-1988”

OK, firstly I’d like to state my reason for watching this tape. I watched it so I could decide which side of the fence I sit on when it comes to British Wrestling. Do I consider it to be the greatest thing the wrestling industry has seen or the most overrated thing the wrestling industry has ever seen? My final analysis… a strong combination of both. Sorry to those who were expecting a decisive decision. Anyhow, read on to find out how I came to my conclusion.

Firstly, here are the listings for the tape in question:

Adrian Street vs. Dave Barry
Marc Rocco vs. Steve Viedor
Dynamite Kid vs. Peter Kaye
Kendo Nagasaki vs. Broncer Wells
John Quinn & Marc Rocco vs. Big Daddy & Ringo Rigby
Davey Boy Smith vs. Bernard Wright
Giant Haystacks vs. Marty Jones
Robbie Brookside & Steve Regal vs. Peter Collins & Danny Boy Collins

Now I’m going to split the review into positives and negatives. Let’s start with the positives…

Firstly, and mainly, I must comment on the rules set out by the wrestling promoters. The rules/stipulations presented are in my opinion the closest that wrestling has ever come to a sport. Little things such as the red and blue corner, the different round/minute pairings for different divisions and the addition of seconds are little things that really added to the atmosphere.

Now for the actual wrestling. British wrestling from this time period I feel can be fairly described as “exhibition wrestling.” It combines slick mat work with little in the way of deliberate crowd involvement (With some obvious exceptions). It doesn’t feature a lot of depth but that is a price paid for presenting it as a sport, not to show that the workers are working together. There is something I do think was wrong with the _style_ but I’ll get to that with the other negative points.

Some of the matches on the tape were impressive. The Rocco/Viedor match showed how to define the face/heel alignments without relying on taunting the crowd. The match between Dynamite Kid and Peter Kaye showed how incredible the Dynamite Kid was as a worker, even at 17. His groundbreaking stuff that is still unbeaten today (A head flip with his arms crossed behind his back!) is incredible. The match between Smith and Wright shows how a match between two rookies should be done. Both men counter each other at every opportunity and don’t go full out to show a weakness and in turn give their opponent an opening. The final match between Brookside/Regal and the Collins’ is also quite god with some slick mat stuff from Danny Boy in particular.

They are what I’d consider to be the two biggest positives. Enjoyable work on the under card with “sporting” rules making for an enjoyable product. Now for the negatives…

The biggest stars of the era are crap! I’m sorry if the bold statement takes you aback but it’s true (From this tape at least). Kendo Nagasaki? Shoddy work, which doesn’t get out the starting block… Giant Haystacks? The only positive is that he is fairly mobile in the ring. Big Daddy? Has the absolute worst splash in history and can’t be considered a pro wrestler.

Another major “flaw” is that the transitions between holds on the under card seem to be done with ease. It’s like the wrestlers say, “You get a wristlock but then let me get a full nelson.” It was evident in a lot of the matches and it took away a lot of the “sporting” aura that had been created.

To sum it up, I can see why the formula was successful. At the top of the bill you have the big names who draw the crowds. Conveniently (although I think accidentally), you also had younger, inexperienced workers teaming with the likes of Big Daddy so that they can adapt to working in front of a crowd without a lot of pressure. Adding to this, you have some really slick workers on the under card who manage to get good matches out of anyone. It’s no coincidence that Marc Rocco and The Dynamite Kid are still talked about today. Despite some obvious flaws, I enjoyed the tape and I’d like to see some more of the stuff, preferably some _title_ matches with the likes of Rocco and Kid involved.