In 1979 the Canadian National Wrestling team competed in a wrestling tournament in Cuba. Many of the matches were video recorded and these recordings were brought back to Canada were they sat in storage for over 30 years.

In today's world finding a video of an event isn't difficult, but this was not always the case. When Coach Ray Takahashi sent me a set of 7 video tapes containing wrestling matches that took place in Cuba in the late 1970's I was interested to say the least. I was interested in the content, the quality and the process of getting the information off the tapes. If it was even possible.

Coach Takahashi had made a few inquires on converting the tapes to a useable format, but had no luck finding a service that could help him. I was his last resort, a scary thought.

My search brought me to DC Video a company specializing in tape remastering.  I gave them a call and spoke to  David Crosthwait (the DC in DC Video) to see if he was able to do the job. As it turns out he was.

Taking on a job like this is not a simple task, and from what I have learned the right equipment is just one part of the process. Having the right people doing the job is critical, and for this job I had the right people and they had the right equipment.

For this post I asked David to list the steps he took to remaster the tapes, he emailed me the following:

Work Flow

• Receive tapes.
• Inspect for physical problems i.e. dirt, mold, obvious damage.
• Exercise, clean, and bake the tapes (where needed).
• Determine what format they are.
• Determine which machine best matches the recording characteristics.
• Choose signal processing that results in the best picture and sound (this can be time consuming as it is a test and re-test situation).
• Commence the transfer on the Mac.
• When transfer is done, layout on a timeline and improve picture where possible. This can take a lot of time.
• Import final timeline into DVD program and build it's timeline.
• Burn DVD.
• Check completed DVD on reference deck for integrity.
• Print DVD.
• Prepare for shipment.
• Send frame grabs to client where needed.

The end results went beyond my expectations, for quality of the video and the content. I have listed some of the highlights of the content. I have inserted a screen shot of three of the more interesting matches.

Erland Van Lidth De Jeude (USA) vs Bob Gibbons, (CAN)

There was a lot written about Erland Van Lidth De Jeude during the 1970s and early 80s as he lived a very interesting life. He was a wrestler, actor and opera singer and at 6' 6" and 400 pounds a noticable individual. Although his life was full of accomplishment it was also short as he only lived to be 34 years of age.

Erland was featured in Sports Illustrated in an article titled, What'll it be, the mat or The Met? as well as playing roles in movies Stir Crazy and Running Man.

Erland's match against Bob Gibbons didn't go well for him, as Gibbons won by a fall.

Harald Buettner (GDR) vs Wyatt Wishart (CAN)

This rare video of Former World Champion Harald Buettner (East Germany) wrestling Canada's Wyatt Wishart. Wishart was a World Junior medalist and a two time Commonwealth Games Champion.

Wishart was 20 years old while Buettner was at the peak of his career.These two wrestlers had wrestled a couple of time during their careers, this match was closest with Buettner winning by a single point.

Ray Takahashi (CAN) vs Luis Ocana (CUB)

Luis Ocana was a World Bronze Medalist. Ray was 20 years old but had  been on Canada's National Team since 1976 as a 17 year old. Ray gave Ocana a good match lossing by a single point.

Other matches involved the following wrestlers:

• Joes Ramos (CUB)
• Clive Llewellyn (CAN)
• Pan American Games Champion Howard Stupp (CAN)
• Commonwealth Games Champion Steve Daniar (CAN)
• Gary Kallos (CAN)
• World Cup champion Egon Bieler (CAN)
• Commonwealth Games Champion Richard Deschatelets (CAN)
• Day (USA)
• World Champion Hartmut Reich (East German)

If you have any questions on tape remastering go to the DC Video Website at www.dcvideo.com. if you have questions on the video content email me directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .