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Territory wrestlers I don't know much about


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I'm assuming Roy Welch is Roy Lee Welch aka the King of Rasslin in my avatar? Even as the board's biggest mark for him I don't think I could really make an argument for him. He's a great heel in 1986 Continental, so great that he's able to carry a feud with Tim Horner that's probably the most interesting program Horner was ever involved in. A lot of the stuff that made me fall in love with him was his character work and promos but in the ring he was also really good.

 

But before that late career heel run I just don't think there is much for him to hang his hat on. During the early 80s he was pretty much just a superior version of Mike Jackson on Southeastern TV as the guy who always put up a fight and looked good but ended up losing. He rarely ever even worked the arena dates during that time period. I asked Rip Rogers about that on twitter and he said that Roy was just busy doing other stuff for the office as a part owner so he didn't work that much. He looks good in every TV match I've ever seen him in but his role is very comparable to Mike Jackson.

 

In the early 70s he worked a lot in a tag team with his brother Jackie Welch in Florida and Alabama (pre-Fuller era when it was run by The Fields) but they weren't really a big deal or anything.

 

If he was as heavily featured in the early 80s Southeastern as he was in his 1986 Continental run I would have already nominated him like I did Bob Armstrong. But unfortunately he's a weird case of a guy whose best run is like a 6 month stint as a heel at the very tail end of being a career babyface.

 

Everyone should watch this though:

 

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Schumann is very interesting. He is very much a 90s guy and different from the other euro workers nominated. Really good worker as long as you don't expect WoS style high end grappling from him. I imagine if you are into Brian Pillman you'll be really into Schumann aswell. He also has a lot of matches on tape against a variety of opponents. Really consistent guy, and best of all he didn't lazy his way through face vs. face matches doing comedy like other guys would. If you want to nominate him, here's 3 reviews:

 

Schumann vs. Chris Benoit, Vienna 1991

 

If you liked Schumann vs. Liger, here's him vs. another 90s star. This is a really compelling match. Benoit isn't a heel, but Schumann is the hometown favourite. Benoit can beat Schumann and they do some really good head to head to wrestling throughout the match, leading to a really hot last two rounds. Schumann sells like he is on the edge of defeat. It leads to a particularily great near KO in the last round. This is a qualifying match of some sort, so they do the scoring thing in the last round where each knockdown scores a point. No big dives or bumps, but a super effective match.

 

Schumann vs. Finlay, Reslo 1992

 

I think OJ panned their matches. This pains me because in my eyes Finlay is as awesome as ever in these and Schumann goes toe to toe with him. Schumann always takes a full on assbeating from Finlay and gives back as good as he can. By the end of this match the arena is considerably dismantled, both guys swinging pieces of the barricades around while all the little kids and their granddads in the audience are freaking out. Schumann hits a fucking plancha on Finlay with no regards for the safety of anyone. Finlay does some really great bumping including a monkey flip into the ring which I've never seen before. I still think Finlay sucking during this period is a myth and in fact mullet Finlay is underrated.

 

Schumann vs. Barry Horowitz 6/26/94

 

Ever wondered what a long Horowitz match would be like? Well here you are. Horowitz is really fantastic in this, doing lots of nifty tricks and punching Tony St. Clair in the face. The austrian crowd is really rowdy in this and the two work a rocking match until halfway into the bout Schumann starts doing a really compelling job of selling an injury. This is a classic heel foreigner vs. european babyface match and the type of bout Franz could do in his sleep.

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