I want to believe that this is good news. I want to believe that this means things will change for Impact Wrestling (although I do think that lately they have done some pretty good stuff, namely the Bobby Roode build). I want to believe that this means TNA will have a more steady, logical, and fun directiion. Most importantly, they need continuity. However, due to pessimism and a less than stellar track record, I can not give TNA the benefit of the doubt. So I will have to take a "wait-and-see"
At Hell in a Cell (the previous night), The Miz & R-Truth did a run-in after the WWE title main event. This is a black & white picture of the aftermath. It is also the reason why I cared to watch RAW at all...and I'm glad that I did!
From reading around various websites today, the feelings on RAW last night seem to be.. mixed. I, however, liked the majority of what I saw. Namely the closing angle with everyone walking out on C.O.O. Triple H & the awesome 12-man tag team match (w
Oct. 03, 2011
* Mark Henry is the best thing in all of U.S. wrestling in 2011. I hated him running away from Orton & his chair after the match though. Nice to know that a Hell in a Cell match can not end a feud!
I'm not sure why no one here seems to use the blog feature anymore, but I wanted to jot some of my random wrestling thoughts lately down. This will be pretty unorganized and focus a lot on current WWE or TNA. Although I'll occasionally hit a nostalgia trip and mention so
Atlantis vs. La Fiera, NWA World Middleweight Championship, 4/3/92
It's weird watching a match where one of the participants gets stabbed to death years later but that's wrestling I guess. I'm not going to eulogise La Fiera too much, but he was part of that generation of luchadores who debut in the late 70s and ushered in a more contemporary style of lucha libre. By the time the 90s rolled around, his body was already showing the effects of that new working style, but he managed to make the
Haven't checked in on my favourite mat worker for a while. This may come as a shock, but he's still wrestling Solar.
Negro Navarro vs. Solar, Ultimo Dragon Produce, 7/19/10
Negro Navarro vs. Solar, AAA Arena Neza, 1/8/11
It was interesting watching these back-to-back. The Korakuen Hall bout was their typical touring match which we've seen them do in Japan before, while the match from Nezahualcoyotl was a lucha libre title match for the belt Navarro holds. On the surface, it seems lik
Pierrothito vs. Demus 3:16, CMLL 8/24/10
I can't be the only one who didn't know that Pequeño Damián 666 changed his name to Demus 3:16, can I?
This was the final of a "Bicentenial tournament" to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mexican independence and the 18th anniversary of CMLL's Mini-Estrella division, with the winner earning a shot in the regular CMLL weight classes much like Virus did many years ago. The finalists were determined with torneo cibernetico elimination matches,
Comando Negro vs. Pollo, mask vs. mask, IWRG 12/26/10
This is the fantastic mask vs. mask match from Boxing Day between Comando Negro and a guy in a chicken suit. Just an outstanding rudo performance from Comando Negro -- everything you'd want from a rudo beating up a guy in a chicken suit. I really can't overstate how perfectly this worked. First you had Comando Negro completely and utterly outclassing his opponent, stepping out of the way on the best missed dive I've seen in ages. Then yo
Chico Che vs. Comando Negro, hair vs. mask, IWRG 12/9/10
Chico Che had a fantastic year in 2010. Last year it was Trauma II getting all the plaudits as most improved; this year it has to be Che. He started off as something of a fatboy novelty I suppose, but this match confirms what a good worker he's become. Usually, I'd fire off a bit of hyperbole about how much better he is than everyone else for the hell of it, but the message I want to get across is that he's a guy who everyone should b
Big bomb throwing. This is a week all about big bomb throwing.
Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Mr. Gannosuke (FMW, 4/21/1998)
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlcOdRRml8U
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADY6cZJ-U4Q
This is just a great bomb throwing festival between two guys with a long standing blood feud, who aren’t interested in dancing around, but instead a match where both guys are just playing for a KO from pretty much moment #1.
Shinzaki is a guy that a lot of the t
MATCH OF THE WEEK (Which also happens to be on YouTube, hey ho):
Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Rusher Kimura – 2 out of 3 falls (All Japan Pro Wrestling, 3/28/1976)
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmO5pJT8dZw
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqJDZb2hbnk...feature=related
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk5kRUC3WXQ...feature=related
Hopefully a few things that I want to pull out of my own collection to talk about are on YouTube as well. Luckily this was, and it looks like
I love professional wrestling.
In the end that’s what it all boils down to for all of us into this crazy mixed up world, and I can’t think of a better statement to open this blog with. A lot of us have at one point or another taken a hiatus and yet we’ve come back, for one reason or another. But those four opening words hold true, at least to certain eras, or wrestlers, or matches, or crazy promos. And so I’m back to try this thing they call being a wrestling fan one more time.
The las
El Hijo Del Santo, Octagon, Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Blue Panther, Fuerza Guerrera, Psicosis (AAA 6/30/95)
Perhaps it's just me, but I've always considered Santo/Octagon/Mysterio Jr vs. Blue Panther/Psicosis/Fuerza Guerrera to be the premier trios match-up from this era of AAA. I guess it's because their 3/16/95 match was one of the first tapes that was recommended to me when I was starting out. I can still remember the enjoyment I got from that early taste of lucha libre; and while I've seen m
El Hijo Del Santo, El Mariachi, El Mexicano, Octagon vs. Blue Panther, Espanto Jr., Fuerza Guerrera, Psicosis, AAA 8/19/94
I was expecting this to be mat heavy since it read Blue Panther vs. El Mariachi, but actually I don't think it had much to do with Blue Panther vs. El Mariachi at all. It was loosely structured around Fuerza and Mariachi ripping each other's masks, but the action was more tit for tat than anything else. I can't think of a solitary reason why anyone would watch this beyon
7/29/94 AAA: El Hijo Del Santo/Octagon/Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Blue Panther/Fuerza Guerrera/Jerry Estrada - Arena Coliseo De Monterrey
Not a lot going on in this match. It seemed like they wanted to put their 20 minutes in and get it over with. The structure wasn't bad, since these guys know how to put on a 20 minute trios match, but there wasn't the extra bit of effort that's need to make a trios stand out from the hundreds of others that are wrestled each year. Can't say I blame them conside
The cover to Love and Rockets 46 reminds me I have a blog to update.
7/15/94 AAA: El Hijo Del Santo/Octagon/Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Blue Panther/Fuerza Guerrera/Psicosis - Gimnasio Juan De La Barera
After saying my piece about Santo last time, allow me to turn around and praise him this week. Santo was phenomenal here and gave arguably his best AAA performance in this little known trios match.
The difference between this and a lot of Santo's other performances is that this actually s
Regular readers will know that I don't like classic, hot period AAA very much, but I do like it more than any of the current stuff that's being put out so for the time being there will be an AAA season here at the Great Lucha blog w/ the occasional interlude should anything catch my eye. Some of these reviews will be critical and some will be filled with praise, but we start the season off with some criticism of a man who's hardly ever criticised: El Hijo Del Santo.
2/16/94 AAA: El Hijo Del
Los Intocables vs. Octagon/Apolo Dantes/Mascara Sagrada, 4/3/92
Los Intocables was the trios Pierroth Jr. formed in 1992 with Masakre and Jaque Mate, which represented probably the highwater mark of Pierroth's career. Individually, they weren't as good as the Brazos or Infernales, or even some of the more randomly thrown together trios in Mexico at the time; in fact, you could probably argue that in this case the whole was equal to the sum of the parts, but the trios gave Pierroth a chance t
El Satanico/Herodes/Kamala vs. El Dandy/Atlantis/Rayo De Jalisco Jr., 11/30/90
You can't judge a book by looking at the cover and you can't judge a trios by looking at the workers.
This was fucking choice. It was on the undercard of the Fabuloso Blondy/Ringo Mendoza fight (a neat memphis style performance from Timbs let down by some inconsistent selling from Mendoza) and was really just a precursor for the action later that night, but it continued the ridiculously awesome cat and mous
Los Infernales vs. Los Brazos, Arena Coliseo, 1991
This wasn't their famous match from Arena Mexico but a smaller match from Arena Coliseo. There appeared to be missing a fall, and the finish was pretty crappy, but the main thing I took away from this was just how good everyone was in 1991. Six of the greatest trios workers ever, each of them capable of playing the lead role. I've thought long and hard in this blog about the differences between old-school and modern lucha, and finally I beli
Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro vs. Bombero Infernal, Maldito Jr., Samot [captains hair], 6/24/10
Black Terry rides again!
This was uploaded by an occasional source for IWRG on youtube and shot from the balcony, giving it a more classic handheld look. The first fall was rubbish, really, as both Maldito Jr. and Samot are useless at delivering a rudo beatdown. How you can be useless at your bread and butter is beyond me, but the next two falls were impressive. Los Terribles Cereb
Sometime around the beginning of the year, I asked the question: "which will last longer, Black Terry Jr.'s handhelds or this good patch IWRG are going through?" Fortunately for us, they both lasted longer than expected.
Now that Terry has quit his handhelds, all that remains is to thank him. I think we're all indebted to BTJr. for capturing a unique period of lucha libre history on film. Hopefully, it can be perserved in a more durable form than internet video sharing files, and hopefully
Black Terry y Negro Navarro vs. Ultraman y Solar, 5/1/10
Since the Celtics couldn't grab a rebound to save themselves, I thought I'd drown my sorrows in some professional lucha libre where the results are fixed and the outcome doesn't matter that much. And people wonder why Dave Meltzer wishes the world was booked.
(I've got to admit, Celtics/Lakers was probably booked the right way storywise but it still sucks.)
This was your typical sort of maestros match. The focus here was on
Black Terry, Negro Navarro y Villano IV vs. Blue Panther, Ultimo Dragon y Olimpico, UWE 4/24/10
This was a beautifully worked match and definitely the purest trios I've seen this year. Black Terry Jr. really spoiled us with this one. Thank you, you magnanimous young man.
I've often complained that when Black Terry works these UWE matches alongside Negro Navarro he's nothing like the Terry we see on his home turf. That Terry is an unqualified legend, but in UWE Terry pretty much does hi
