Otto Wanz

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Jetlag]

Doesn't look like much of a worker and got pretty bloated toward the end of his run (actually was a fairly athletic dude before the mid 80s, who did a neat Santo headscissor), but he was in a handful of spectacular bouts. Of course it's hard not to have a spectacular match when you are facing guys like Murdoch, Slaughter or Vader, but I like the style and big match atmosphere Wanz brings to these bouts, and his willingness to get demolished deserves a lot of credit. I was surprised to see how good he looks in early matches, against lesser opponents and on smaller shows, making his popularity understandable. He has quite a bit of footage available so I think it's not insane to consider him.

[ohtani's jacket]

If Big Daddy was half as good as him he'd be in the HOF already. The Vader feud hasn't been discovered properly yet, so he won't rate a mention, but for his niche he's pretty damn good.

[BillThompson]

Won't make my list, and the eye test would reveal a guy who shouldn't sniff a list like this. But I'll be damned if I don't always enjoy the guy and think he's pretty damn great at engineering heat filled slugfests.

[Dylan Waco]

I would actually be interested to see Parv's thoughts on Otto. He was a big star/ace in his own universe, and had a certain aura about him with those crowds that added to his matches. There are probably guys with as little or less footage available in full that Parv seems to be advocating for, and Otto on paper strikes me as the sort of guy who he might be impressed by.

[Jetlag]

Here's 5 Wanz matches to watch.

 

vs Bull Power 12/22/89 Bremen

 

vs Sgt. Slaughter 7/9/1983

 

vs Don Leo Jonathan 7/12/1980

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2b2Z77nNuo

 

vs Dick Murdoch 12/21/1985

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyYnk-weU3I

 

vs Indio Guajaro March 1983 Recklinghausen

[goc]

1980 sounds like way past his prime for Don Leo Jonathan but I won't be able to avoid watching that now.

[Jetlag]

I think it's great if you get over the terrible VQ. I think it was one of DLJ's last matches and he acts like such a dipshit in it thinking he has it all with his athleticism, but ends up falling on his ass. There is also a clipped match of theirs from 1978 on YouTube where Wanz busts out a lucha roll up among other things.

[khawk20]

Wanz's AWA title win over Bockwinkel:

 

Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODgn2FDrRAw

 

Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I64cz57SWbQ

 

One of the most surprising match results, well, ever.

 

 

As an aside, I found someone uploaded my Bockwinkel-Zbyszko feud comp I made about ten years ago looking for this. Cool to see it up there.

[Microstatistics]

Anyone going to bat for Wanz this time around? 

Right now, he is on the outside looking in, but I'm impressed with what I've seen from him so far. Effective territory ace who did all the basics well (absorbing a beating, making a fiery comeback, brawling).

Three recommended matches

vs. Nick Bockwinkel (AWA, 8/29/1982)

vs. Sgt. Slaughter (Graz, 7/9/1983)

vs. Bull Power (Vienna, 6/30/1990)