I know it has been discussed on here before and the late Tony Francis said that Giant Haystacks was a 'good worker.' This implying that he didnt hurt his opponents too much. When i put this to some for ex professionals, it lead to a heated response. While Stax was a considerate worker. I have said elsewhere that he drop to his knees rather than landing the full splash on lighter oppenents. But this must still have been a devastating move, capable of injuring an opponent. I can recall both Marty Jones and Skull Murphy losing to Haystacks in other, slightly unusual ways. I wonder if the was a ploy to avoid the big splash and if other stars were not prepared to have the big man land on them.
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did the bulk ever wrestle anybody else or was he big daddy fodder.. did hear he lost a lot of weight we he got away from wrestling, is this true
Andras Swajcsic (there were various spellings) and Ian St. John were certainly "good workers" and knew each other's moves so well that they almost perforned on automatic pilot. The same was true of Pedro the Gypsy and Butcher Goodman, Kevin Conneely and Woody Waldo, Johnny Hemms and Reg Yates, Jim Breaks and Johnny Saint, Brian Maxine and Mick Mc.Michael, Eddie Rose and Ian Wilson and so many other combinations who appeared regularly throughout the halls of the land. There were also workers who had the skills mentioned by Phil Kenyon who could have a smooth bout with anyone. I recall Brian Dixon saying of Steve Young (Pete Northey/Skull Murphy) that he could have a good bout with a kitchen broom (indeed, the last time I saw him wrestle was in an "anything goes" match at The Palace Theatre in Manchester and, during the course of the bout, he actually utilised a kitchen broom; not to mention a plastic washing-up bowl and a child's tricycle).
Perhaps, rather than typing good worker, I should have typed "safe worker". Towards the end of TV wrestling Max invited so many clueless lummoxes into the ring (particularly involving bouts with his brother Shirley) that the whole thing became ridiculous - and dangerous!
To me a «Good Worker» meant something entirely different. It meant that your opponent knew or anticipated every move you were making, or you were going to make, and the same for you on your opponent. This way the bout went very “smoothly”.
Two great opponents in their many appearances, bearing this out were Andreas Swajics (Svajik) and Ian St. John. The same applied to me and Don Plummer when we were opposing one another.
Cheers
I took a full splash off of Scrubber Daly, after a squash and a body slam. I was O.K. because I didn't cover up. It would have been a natural reaction to bring your arms across your chest but that's probably where people got hurt.
mateydave is quite correct to assert that if the kamikaze crash was done correctly, then nothing should go wrong and the move should not involve pain for the recipient. I didn't ask Moser for details all those years ago, but something must have gone wrong in that particular instance.
Generally, despite the ferocious appearance of many of his bouts, the general consensus seemed to be that Nagasaki was a very considerate and trusted worker. Incidentally, so was Bill Clarke. Although I never had the honour of promoting Kendo Nagasaki, I promoted King Kendo (Clarke) on many occasions and he performed the kamikaze crash ending perfectly with no harm to the various recipients. General word at the time was that Haystacks was also a considerate worker.
The word was not so favourable regarding Shirley Crabtree however. I forget the name of the wrestler concerned, but I recall Pedro telling me that this particular worker's career was finished due to Crabtree mistiming his backdrop.
You wouldn't want to be taking either move night after night, busy workers wouldn't want to risk losing work through injury or risk taking the move if they were carrying a knock so alternative finishes would have to be considered
how genuine was the kamikaze crash, as if done properly there would not be any pressure on the opponent for more then a split second unless something seriously went wrong
A Wrestler's No:1 Priority in the Ring wasn't it-was to keep the other Guy safe!-In theory!
Both DAVIES and ROACH 'managed' to 'survive' and continue the Match after 1st Fall
SLASH Scores! Of course they were both BIG and HEAVIER Heavyweights!
BRIDGES 'managed' to just get up at 9 3/4 after suffering the KENDO KAMIKAZE CRASH-
again he was circa 17 1/2 Stone!-Lighter 'Heavies' rarely did!
In his 1st Match after Canada against CRABTREE-before DADDY-KENDO was leaving the
Ring while SHIRLEY was being counted out after the CRASH!!
The answer being if you COULDN'T AVOID the SPLASH or the CRASH-it was almost
exclusively'Goodnight Vienna'!!
MAIN MASK
On the general subject of ploys to avoid famous finishing moves, when Kendo Nagasaki moved from Joint to Brian Dixon he found that "Jumping" Jim Moser became a regular adversary. Jim agreed to lose to the kamikaze crash but something went wrong and it hurt him. From that point onwards, he refused to lose to it and other methods had to be found such as the rack submission or, when i saw them face off at New Mills Town Hall, the tried and trusted disqualification (for chopping him when he was still on the canvas).