The Theszpians

[Gelgarin]

Because apparently I've caught the circulating paranoia that everybody on the forum will forget my name if I don't set one of these bloody things up.

Anyway... now that I've finally managed to confirm that he's actually 'in' the tournament, I will be pushing Lou Thesz.
Anybody who knows who I am, probably already knew that I'd be pushing Lou Thesz, so given that I'm likely to be the only person pushing him, this entire campaign headquarters serves only to waste everybody's time.

Well, I suppose function could also be found in allowing me to rest easy when the greatest professional wrestler ever to have lived is eliminated by somebody who accomplished bugger all, exclusively on the grounds that they worked inside the past twenty years. At least, that would be true if I were the sort to get hung up on such things.

Anyway... deviations a side. Lou Thesz was really really good. He did more for professional wrestling that any other man on this planet. He had technical ability to make guys like Bret Hart and Chris Benoit look like schoolchildren pissing about in the playground.

He carried the NWA for years. And when I say carried, I'm not talking about the euphemistic 'he happened to be the biggest name for a while' way that people bat around to try and pin another paper accolade onto the shirt of HBK or John Cena... the biggest wrestling organisation in the world was legitimately built around Lou Thesz.

This is without me even bothering to bring up the fact that he had the greatest title reign in the world, or that, in terms of shooting ability, there never was, is or will be, another man who can match him. Oh, and there's the fact that the only thing preventing him from breaking your ankle is rigourmortis.

To everyone else out there, without Lou Thesz, none of you would be running campaign headquarters at all. Show history the respect it deserves, and let's not have a repeat of last year, when the old guard get kicked out early because they didn't make wrestling look fake enough.

 

[Tastycles]

Well, I have had my first conversion. I was unfamiliar with Lou Thesz, except for his title history, and had been meaning to find out more about him. I have just watched a couple of Thesz matches on Youtube, and to say I was impressed would be an understatement. My experience of wrestling pre 1980 is entirely built on World of Sport, which was terrible at best.

I was expecting a 4 hour lock up, with a couple of submission moves here and there, but what I got was so much more. I will now be firmly backing him in the tournament. His position in the WCW section is favourable for an old timer, and I will certainly be getting behind him in the first round.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Blah. He's more intresting to read about than watch.

 

[Gelgarin]

So was Gandhi. You got a problem with Gandhi?

On a more serious note, I tend to compare Thesz's work to classic art and music.

The work of individuals like Chopin was very popular for a time. Today's sociaty has moved on, and such work is no longer particularly relevent. That being said, any connosour of music can recognise the genius behind it, and I'd expect to see Beethoven above Kate Perry on any list of the greatistst musicians of all time.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

So was Gandhi. You got a problem with Gandhi?

Yeah, watching the film bored me more than a Thesz match.

 

[NSL]

Yeah, watching the film bored me more than a Thesz match.

But, yeah. What he said.

And, Gelgarin...Your name was bought up in the region where he's seeded.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Brutus Beefcake (vote him) is considered old school. If that's so then what is Thesz? If he get's out of the first round I'll be very surprised.

 

[CCS]

Almost every wrestler before the 80's was boring. FACT

 

[Gelgarin]

Except it's not a fact. It's an opinion held by culturally desensitised generation who need at least three chase scenes and some bird getting her tits out before they can enjoy any spectacle.

Thesz was a huge draw. Thesz had one of the biggest entertainment companies of the time period built around him. Thesz popularised wrestling in both America and Japan.

I appreciate that he might not do as many back flips as you desire, but to call him boring is just about the most idiotic comment a person can make.

...

...


And I'll be damned if I'm going to round off my post by yelling 'fact'.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Beefcake doesn't do backflips either, unless he's parasailing .

 

[Gelgarin]

In this scene, Gelgarin is pictured conversing with a large tumble-weed.

All right my fellow Theszpians (the tumble-weed, realising that he's in the wrong place for his AA meeting, rolls away), we've finially uncovered who the great one will be facing in the first round of the Wrestlezone tournament.

The greatest wrestler in the history of the business will be facing off in singles competition again none other that WZ's home town hero, Disco Inferno.

Now I know that Disco is pretty popular, and the crowd may well be against Thesz during this encounter. The good news however is that that's not going to matter. The touring dynamic of the NWA meant that Lou Thesz fas fighting in front of hostile crowds for the bulk of his career. What he would do was, he would make their home town hero look like fifty dollars(and remember, it was the great depression, so that was a lot of money) and they he would break his wrist.

Now, using my suddenly acquired ability to converse with the dead (It's totally real, I saw it on a TV show) I've had a word with Thesz, and he's promised that, as long as he wins this encounter by a margin of at least ten votes, he will refrain from destroying Disco's upper body, thereby not infringing upon his ability to stop in and chat with us from time to time.

Anyway, let us set our concerns for Disco asides, and get down to business. Lou Thesz business! Let us go forth from this place, and announce to the world that Lou Thesz will not lay down for Disco Inferno. Lou Thesz was a better draw, a better technician, had superior strength and stamina, achieved more at higher levels and could wrestle rings around Disco.

In an interview about his childhood, Lou Thesz once famously said;

"I never learned to dance, because I was learning to wrestle"

Eleven words. But those eleven words tell you everything you need to know about why Lou Thesz is advancing to round two.

 

[MattMoses]

Gelgarin, I admire your willingness to push Thesz far in this. As someone who's always looking to learn more (especially about old-school), would you be kind enough to post some of Thesz's best matches? I know this may be a hard task as it's obvious he didn't benefit from having all his matches recorded and stored into some archive for everybody to see, but I think it would only be fair to see Thesz in action before I vote for or against him in this tournament.

 

[Gelgarin]

Right, will this is the point I didn't want to get to, because experience tells me that contemporary fans find it hard to appreciate a Thesz match, mostly on account of (cynic invasion) them not looking fake enough.

I'll sort you out a couple of examples, but for the earlier stuff (everything other than Inoki) you have to remember that what you are in fact watching in a modified amateur wrestling match. It might have been fake, but nobody in attendance was aware of the fact.

Much like how nobody would enjoy two guys going out and pretending to box for X rounds (I don't follow boxing, so fill the number in yourself), amateur wrestling looks dull in hindsight. What I'd advise, is to look for evidence of talent. Let the 20,000 odd fans in attendee confirm the excitement for you.

Lou Thesz vs Rikidozan

[youtube]HsDXeVevT2s[/youtube]

Our first match is arguably the biggest contest in the history of professional wrestling. A western audience will probably disagree, but for those in the Last of the Rising Sun at least, this was the match that put wrestling on the map.

Japan had just been almost wiped off the map in WW2. America was taking tremendous liberties towards the nation, and national pride was at an all time low. Wrestling was still a fiarly underground sensation, being commonly looked upon as an American pastime. Nevertheless, there was this one guy called Rikidosan who was getting a small amount of national attention by knocking over foreigners.

Then, purely of his own motivation might I add (the NWA were quite well documented as not liking the idea ta first) Lou Thesz, the biggest wrestler in the world, came over to Japan, and had a sequence of 60 minute draws with Rikid (This is number two I believe, and only went three quarters of an hour). With this, popularity of professional wrestling in Japan suddenly swelled, as there was this local guy who was going hold for hold the the greatest the US had to offer.

Then Lou Thesz put Rikidozan over. Twise. Rikid became an instant national hero. The second match was the most widely attended in the history of Japan, and if you listen to the crowd reaction at 6:20 you've only seen a fraction of how into it the crowd were.

The reason I take this highlight video (the match its self was something like 48 minuets long, and even I couldn't sit through that) is to dispel the myth that old school guys didn't know about storytelling or psychology. If you can't see Thesz's heel performance, or hear the response it gets, then you must be suffering from sensory deprivation. The other reason, it that this highlights package plays like a case by case list of all the ways professional wrestling was defined by guys like Thesz. So many little staples of today's product can be seen here. Dirty breaks out of the corner, whipping to the ropes out of a headlock, the comeback made by the guy getting choked out... these men truely were pioneers.


Lou Thesz V Antonio Inoki

[youtube]iE0G0T2PI5w[/youtube]

I've stuck this one on the list, simply because it's short, in colour, and closer to days product that any other. I don't know how old Thesz was for this match, but judging from the hairline and my basic knowledge of his history, I'd estimate that he was about 64.
I'm not going to lie, this is probably one of the worst matches Thesz ever had, and he only agreed to do it because Inoki was the student of Rikidozan. The reason I show this match is a) becasue I thought people needed something in colour, and b) so you can listen to the crowd reaction at the close. Now I don't know how much you know about Japanese crowds, but they don't do that very often. They applaud politly when they see something they like. How nuts they go for the finish is how much Lou Thesz matters.


Lou Thesz vs Tom Rice

[youtube]I12lMXnQ8EA[/youtube]

I wanted to show a little bit of Lou Thesz kicking ass, and this was the best I could find without uploading part of my personal collection. The opening and finish of this match are phenomenal.

Lou Thesz vs Don Leo Jonathon

[youtube]5CViZHisj8s[/youtube]

Closing with a personal favourite of mine. This will take an age to load off of youtube (I'm lucky enough to have the whole thing myself) but it's worth it to watch Lou Thesz pick apart professional wrestling's greatest ever big man. Sorry Irish, but compared to DLJ (340lb at times) Vader was a slow slow man indeed. DLJ was known as the Mormon Giant. Could do a standing moonsault if the inclination took him, and once owned Andre for 20 straight minuets before the match got thrown out.

Anyway, I absolutely love this match, and although these highlights miss out most of the best spots (that or I've got the wrong match... fucking youtube) there are a couple of great moments.

That should be enough for you to get a basic idea, now I've got to run find out how to tag youtube videos.

 

[klunderbunker]

I'm not a big fan of Thesz but this is a no brainer. If he doesn't get at least 90% of the vote I'll be disturbed.