Here we go again! The second installment of my ten essential grappling dvds. To qualify each DVD must be focused on gi less grappling of any sort - that is all! Once again, these are in no particular order or ranking and each production is allowed one title on the list.
6. Real Pro Wrestling Season 1 - This dvd has the best combination of production value and tenacious wrestling that I have seen in an event. Basically, Real Pro Wrestling is a league event that pitted former collegiate wrestlers against each other in a national elmination series. Greco stars faced off against their freestyle counterparts and the result was explosive action, great reversals, and the most athletic takedowns I have seen.
Why should a non wrestler buy this set? First of all, if you are a grappler of any sort, you can benefit from watching these highly conditioned athletes go head to head, not to mention the takedowns and scrambles are breath taking. The level of athleticism and endurance is really through the roof! As far as production goes, this is grappling with mass market appeal. Great camera work, lighting, disc navigation, highlights, and biographies all make this a very easy set to watch. At 50 bucks for 8 discs it will not break the bank either. Did I mention the bios? These give a great inside look into the wrestlers and do a fine job of illustrating the hard work that it takes to become a high level wrestler.
7. The Twister - Like Eddie Bravo or not, it is undeniable that he has had a technical impact on submission grappling. Although many of his moves may have been derived elsewhere, it is Eddie’s systematic usage and categorization of these techniques that have brought them to the forefront of submission grappling. The Twister is a walking tour of Eddie’s evolution from a gi grappler to a gi less wizard. Included are his matches from blue belt forward with commentary throughout. This commentary is priceless and really sells the disc as you hear Eddie point out the details and background of every match. It is really quite entertaining as well as educative. In addition, there are some smaller comedic skits and “Easter Egg” instructionals hidden within.
Why should you get the Twister? Eddie shows a lot of great set-ups and competition footage of his “Twister Side Control”, “Twister”, and half guard sweeps such as the “Old School”. His perspective is definitely something that is worth seeing and I find the creativity in movements to be inspiring. The matches themselves are also very entertaining and my favorite has to be the Bravo v. Vazquez match up - very cool.
8. 101 Submissions Vol. 1 - There are few dvds that I think everyone must go out immediately and purchase and this is one of them. Similiar to Fighting Films 101 Ippon Series, OTM created an instant classic in this first volume. Although only half of the dvd can be considered no gi, that half is worth every penny. If you love the gi as well, the other half is just the icing on the cake. What is featured on this set is 50 of the best gi less submissions and their set-ups taken from the OTM archives (and they have seen more events than can be imagined or will be remembered) and put to music. Each move is shown twice, once in regular speed followed by the same clip in slow motion. Every submission is also chaptered and this really helps navigate to the techniques you want to see.
Why volume 1 over volumes 2 and 3? Once again, this is really one of those situations where you really want to have all three volumes. The techniques are different from dvd to dvd and each one has incredible submissions and set-ups. I don’t really think any of them are better than the other, but I chose volume 1 because it is a classic and I really like the old footage. In volumes 2 and 3 a lot of the footage is newer and looks nicer in parts, but don’t let that be reason enough to miss the groundbreaking 101 Submissions vol. 1. If you are more interested in seeing American fighters you may want to lean towards vol. 3 because it does feel like it has more footage of America’s best.
One more thing, where most of these dvds are great for entertainment and grappling fans, the 101 Submissions series is tailor made to get your mind thinking about subs and it is incredible for how educative it is. You will learn some great tournament tested setups in this series. I am waiting patiently for 101 Submissions Vol. 4.
9. Gi 2005 with Paragon - To me, this is the quintessential sleeper hit that will fly under the radar of most grappling enthusiasts. GI is a long running grappling event in Japan that is known for importing some of the best fighters, creating amazing match ups, and having great production values. The Paragon edition is no exception. As indicated by the title, this event features Bill Cooper and Jeff Glover of Paragon Jiu-Jitsu as well as Baret Yoshida and a host of Japan’s best grapplers. Every match is incredible and the Cooper v. Glover exhibition style match has some of the best movement to be captured on dvd. Word of advice, with Glover, Cooper, and Yoshida be prepared to rewind a fair bit because the action is rapid.
What should potential purchasers know about this event? It is taped with a Japanese audio track and commentary and the chapters follow suit. This may be a problem for some, but the dvd works in North American dvd players perfectly and I did not feel that the language was a barrier.
10. Grappler’s Quest: Gracie versus Laimon - For some time Grappler’s Quest has been one of the premier grappling events in the country and personally I found the 6th West Coast Submission Grappling Championships aka the Gracie versus Laimon event to be my favorite. This was a hard call to make, because every disc usually has some fights that are incredible and more than worthy of making the list, but in the end I felt that this event was just too stacked with talent and high quality match ups to miss the top spot for GQ dvds. The featured fighters list reads like a who’s who of American and international submission wrestling: Rafael Lovato Jr., Baret Yoshida, Scott Bieri, Jeff Monson, Sean Spangler, Dave Camarillo, Felicia Oh, Jamal Patterson, Jeff Glover, Sony Nohara, Daniel McCown, Eduardo Telles, Batata and of course the main event Marc Laimon v. Ryron Gracie!
Why should you get this over other Grappler’s Quest dvds? As stated earlier, each GQ event has some matches that are worth seeing, but to me this one was the most stacked. I really liked almost every match. I am also a huge fan of the old Nationals events and the Beast of the East for value.
So here you have it, ten dvds that should be a welcome addition to any grappling library.
Happy Training,
Kevin
