Phil Schneider

Mistico/Negro Casas v. Averno/Memphisto CMLL 4/15 This has been a pretty rough year for CMLL, with their main events being cut really short, and nothing really delivering like it should. This however got close to 30 minutes and was actually worked sort of like a title match. Mistico usually breaks it out for big matches, but he was sort of subdued here, he and Averno ran through their fast exchanges, but the focus of the technicos was on Negro Casas as it should be. Casas was the conductor and is still one of the best wrestlers in the world. Just his opening standing switch section with Memphisto was beautiful. Then when he kicks it into gear he was great. The first two falls were on the short side (although not by 2006 CMLL standards) and then they had a super hot third fall full of big moves. I don't really care for Ulitmo Guerrerro style "big spot" rudos, all I need from my rudos is good catching, some big bumps, nice punches and some shtick. Averno and Memphisto are not that kind of rudo, they break out a half a dozen powerbomb variations in the third fall, which is really five too many. It isn't my kind of lucha, but everything was hit really well, and the near falls were very cool. I hope CMLL delivers better this year, but so far this is the best I have seen. (I ended up rewatching this for the play in tourney for the lucha 64, and liked it a lot less on rewatch. I think this ended up initially getting a higher spot then it deserved on my list just because I was desperate for some lucha to enjoy. I put this ahead of stuff like the ROH v. CZW six man and Rey v. Mark Henry which it wasn't nearly as good as) Chris Hero/Necro Butcher/Super Dragon v. Samoa Joe/B.J. Whitmer/Adam Pearce ROH 4/22 This was the first match in the CZW v. ROH feud and was a totally fun all out brawl. Pearce and Whitmer are a pair of guys I don't really care for, but they both brought it pretty hard in this match. Pearce gets his head split open early and wrestles the match with a bloody vagina opened up on the side of his head, and Whitmer takes huge bumps including getting his head double stomped in a chair and getting Psycho Drivered off the apron to the floor. Super Dragon was fun in this too, although allot of the interactions with the fans I read about didn't make the DVD. If I got to see him monkeyflip a dipshit fan, or beel a bisexual, I imagine this match would have ended up higher on the list. The stars of this match were Chris Hero, Samoa Joe and Necro. Hero was such a great pussy heel in this, knowing exactly when to hit a cheap shot, run away or cockishly slap on a cravate. Necro was Necro, he took lunatic bumps, bled alot and threw really nice combos. Joe was a total maniac here, just killing everyone he gets his hands on. The Joe v. Necro showdowns were awesome, and I hope we get another real singles between the two at some point. My favorite spot of the whole match was when Necro sets up two chairs with the seats touching to suplex Joe through, Joe counters that, knocks Necro down, and switches the chairs so the backs are touching, before powerbombing Necro through the backs. Just the look on his face and the timing of the switch was awesome. I liked the Claudio turn, and the CZW boys really needed to go over initially. Jun Akiyama v. Masao Inoue NOAH 4/23 My favorite thing about NOAH isn't really your big matches between big stars, it is when they elevate random undercard guys into a big run or two. They do a great job of making the crowd believe and even guys who have underperformed for years really step it up. Ogawa's GHC title run, Kikuchi's battling of the New Japan Juniors, Tamon Honda challenging for the GHC title and winning the tag belts, IZU battling for respect. Masao Inoue's big run is one of the strangest and probably the coolest, I think he had long been considered one of the worst big league wrestlers in Japan. In the last year or so, he has found a way to harness that shittiness into a formula that delivers great matches. The Dark Agents tag title challenge was one of my favorite matches of 2005, and his GHC title challenge is one of my favorite matches of 2006. Inoue is perfect as the lovable heel loser getting his improbable big match. It starts with Inoue (who has visable indentations from his reading glasses) jumping Akiyama at the bell and hitting a big suplex and a roll up. Akiyama is established as a guy who can get upset quickly and the crowd buys the near fall. Akiyama locks on the choke, and you also buy Inoue going down quickly. Inoue then spends the next couple of minutes with some awesome stalling, and then some really great eye rakes. When Akyama responds to the eye rakes with rakes of his own, the crowd starts booing him unmercifully. Akayama is great as a guy who can't deal with the crowd booing him. There is a point where he just decides "fuck it, you want to boo, boo this" and just murders Inoue, including a calf branding into the steel barricade. Inoue is a working as a guy with a limited number of options, he can't go toe to toe with Akyama, and he can't out quick him, out wrestle him, or out power him. He needs to either catch Akyama in a mistake or outsmart him. The rolls ups, and the stalling fit into that, and he keeps getting near falls by tricking Akiyama into almost getting counted out. Near the end Akiyama is just killing Inoue, but Masao won't go down. It isn't no-selling because he is so tough, it is more like he knows this is his only shot and despite all of his flaws wants to die on his sword. Not a ton of cool moves or fancy sequences, but still one of the best matches of the year. Chris Benoit v. Finlay WWE 5/21 This list looks like it is going to end up the top 20 Finlay matches of 2006. 20+ minutes on PPV between Benoit and Finlay and of course it was amazing. I loved the early build of this match, their Smackdown match had a lot of matwork at the start, but this was built more like a Memphis main event. They start with a really tight collar and elbow, which they roll to the outside while holding on to, then they face off and talk trash, with Benoit grabbing a super quick double leg and an amazing fight for a sharpshooter. Sharpshooter is a protected move in the context of the WWE, but I have never seen it sold like death like it was here. Finlay was struggling like his life depended on it. Then they go back to their feet and Finlay does a really great fake of a thumb to the eye. If the match ended with the ref DQing Benoit for poking Finlay in the eye, it would have probably been 17 or 18 on my list, instead they go another 20 minutes. There were so many little pieces of Finlay greatness in this match, Finlay grabbing his own ankle to block the sharpshooter, shooting the half by the ropes, the constant shots to the back of the head, the hammer lock Dragon sleeper, eating the German suplex on the floor. This may be the first Chris Benoit match I can remember where he was clearly the second best guy in the match. Benoit ruled here, but this was Finlay's show, 49 years old and the best wrestler in the world. Who would have thought it.

Undertaker v. Kurt Angle WWE 2/19: We all come into watching matches (or really any art) with preconceived notions, preferences and biases. I came into this match with a bias against Undertaker, Kurt Angle and WWE main event style wrestling. So I was pretty shocked at how much I enjoyed a Undertaker v. Kurt Angle WWE Main Event. Of course alot of what I liked about this match is that it went against its inherent Angleness, Takerness and WWEishness. Undertaker spent this match selling, Angle spent the match focused and for the most part reigned in, and the match itself was based around in ring wrestling, and not ref bumps, visual falls and Shane McMahon belt shots. I really liked all of the early Kurt Angle legwork, the kicks to the patella were really nasty, and the ringpost figure four and apron leg drop counter were both really nice looking. My favorite part of this match, was all of the working of the ten counts. Angle has to break both the ringpost figure four and outside the ring ankle lock, because of the count, and the are other sections early where the Undertaker has to roll back in to break the count. That of course leads to one of the big spots in the match, where Angle stops Nick Patrick from counting out the Undertaker. "I want to beat this motherfucker in the ring." I am liking Angle's current badass killer face character alot. It is a basic wrestling character and one the WWE hasn't done since early Austin. I think it is because you have an old school guy like Dusty helming Smackdown. This is opposed to shitty sticom writers who tend write every heel as oafish Dean of Students in a 80's college movie, and every face as "guy full of quips" like the Third Guy with the Girl and the Pizza Place. Match had its flaws though, which keeps it in the middle of this list right now. You have you stereotypical guy out mat wrestles the Olympian opener, which is one of the most irritating parts of any Angle match. Cole and Tazz spend the entire entrances talking up the Striker v. Grappler aspect of the match, and then you have Taker locking a key lock on the mat, and Angle punching his way out . I also didn't like the table bump, although it lead to the great 10 count spot, it still felt thrown in and meaningless. They need to retire the table spot for six months or so, as it has really become a WWE main event crutch. Finishing section had a lot of really great looking counters, although it felt like it went one or two counters too many. Angle has a NOAH juniors/X division tendency to have his finishes go too long, it didn't bug me as much here as it has in the past, but it was still there My main problem was that even though the majority of the match was based around Angle working the leg, and Taker fighting out of the ankle lock, the finish was focused around the triangle choke. The match was an ankle lock match, and should have had an ankle lock finish, Taker didn't need to tap out, Angle could have rolled the ankle lock into a pin, but after all of the focus on Angle's aggression and leg attack, it makes him look weak to have to pull a flash counter on Taker's submission. One could point out that even in when losing, Taker ends up subtly burying the guy he puts over, but that would probably make you paranoid.

Shadow WX/Mammoth Sasaki v. Abdullah Kobyashi/Daisuke Sekimoto BJW 1/27/06: This was basically an indy Double Takeshi's v. an indy Sugiara and an indy IZU in a big match for a tag belt. I would really be into Double Takeshi's v. Sugiara and IZU and I was digging this. I hadn't seen Shadow WX in a while, and he dropped the face paint, and is now weirdly handsome. Like a soap star playing a surgeon or something, just bizarre, is BJW trying to steal the Dragondoor audience now that their money mark is going to jail? I also don't remember him being this good, as all of his stuff was really stiff and good looking. Mammoth cut his fro which was a real mistake, as he looks a lot more generic now, and kind of fades into the backround. Sekimoto is the weirdest looking guy in wrestling. He has this muscular lumpy body and this really tiny head. Most roid guys have huge Family Circle heads, but he is apparently taking some weird Japanese steroids that make his head shrink. He looks like a giant cartoon baby, and every time he sells it looks like he is crying for his blankie. Abdullah is pretty bizarre too, he is a deathmatch worker, a fat guy doing a son of Abdullah gimmick, who has all this highflying offense. He hits a top rope splash, top rope Abby elbow, nice tope, and even a flying Mistico style plancha armdrag. Makes no sense, but I really enjoyed him here. Match itself was your basic Puro tag structure, long beatdowns leading into a bunch of big move near falls. Being Big Japan, you had a bunch of chair shots, which worked fine, WX and Sasaki have a bunch of conchairto variations which look good and are nasty. They had a bunch of cool looking moves that got hit well, this was like good FMW heavyweight wrestling, without alot of the problems with that style, everyone sold everything, there was no really jumping up from stuff, and the pins were broken up, rather then alot of ludicrous kick outs. The finish maybe went two or three nearfalls too many, although it wasn't as bad as it usually is in matches like this. I want to see all four of these guys again. Chris Benoit v. William Regal WWE 5/8 This is probably my favorite match up in wrestling history. These two just gel perfectly and they work this tight legit style which is just awesome looking. Really is the closest mainstream U.S. wrestling ever really comes to shootstyle. While Japanese shoot wrestling comes from a martial arts base, the Regal v. Benoit stuff is more based around traditional American wrestling, wrestled tighter and nastier then ever. Sort of a natural progression from what Johnny Valentine was doing. Lots of nifty little shit here, Benoit’s bug eyed sell after getting his head kicked into the ringpost, the beautiful but violent mat exchanges, the open palm strikes by Regal, the chop to the forehead. They way Regal takes the suplexes really works with the style of match these guys work, he makes Benoit dead lift him, so it looks like a really great feat of strength, and then at the very end goes over fast so he takes it right on his head and neck. Even the opening collar and elbow, was about the tightest collar and elbow lock up I can remember. One quibble I have had about their previous WWE match ups, is that Regal never got any convincing near falls. Here both the count out (I think the only match Regal ever won in this series was by count out) , and the pair of exploder suplexes were both really nice near falls.

I reviewed a ton of this stuff in the DVDVR so I figured I would add what I wrote to the mix La Mascara/El Hijo Del Santo v. Blue Panther/Tarzan Boy CMLL GDL 1/1: Arena Mexico CMLL had an amazing 2005. You could probably list a dozen matches which were as good as anything in the world, and at least another dozen right below that level. However the style done in Arena Mexico was a little removed from traditional lucha match structure. There were some amazing brawls, and a bunch of fast matches with big spots, but you would rarely see the slow burn lucha match with a caidia of matwork, building to a big finish. In fact you are almost more likely to see matwork on Smackdown then on CMLL TV. That is the great thing about shows like Guadalajara and IWRG, they will often run more traditional matches, which will always be fun, and sometime you will get gems like this one. Blue Panther on one team and El Hio Del Santo on the other is the kind of thing that gives a real lucha fan a tingle. They immediately go at it, and the matwork and standing exchanges were just beautiful. Panther is often considered one of the best mat wrestler in history, but Santo is always right with him. They have alot of stuff that they do against each other, and they break out a bunch of it in the first fall. My favorite section has Santo reversing a Tapitia, and ending up on Panther's back, he then shifts into multiple holds, sleeper, into full nelson, into swastika, into a octopus. Mascara and Tarzan Boy were fine secondary partners here, including a nice Panther v. Mascara mat section in the second fall. The match speeds up into a nice fast third fall, with both Mascara and Santo hitting a pair of dives, including a huge plancha from one turnbuckle nearly to another, and alot of very nice near falls.

I am shocked and dissapointed that nobody mentioned Pirata Morgan when they were listing brawlers better then Brody. Currently Necro, Toby Klien, Homicde and Jimmy Jacobs are all better

I am pretty suprised you liked the tag as much as you did. It made a cameo apperance on my list, quickly dropped off, and I liked it even less the second time. Casas was great in it, but I don't watch lucha libre for your 2.9 finish runs, honestly they don't do them as well as the Briscoes, and a lesser Briscoes match isn't something I am going to highly praise. I would be interested to see if you liked this as much on a rewatch.

Here are my reviews of the two title matches from Segunda Caida 6. John Cena v. Shawn Michaels WWE 4/1 This was really the match that ends all arguments about John Cena. Shawn Micheals is personally the most loathsome thing in wrestling. I have such a visceral hatred of him, the fact I enjoyed this match as much as I did was pretty much a miracle, and it was all Cena. Micheals comes out in this preposterous Christian stripper outfit with goofy crosses hanging down and mingling with his chest hair, he looks like a Ted Haggard rent boy post Protease. Then while Cena is coming to the ring he is making faces like a drag queen doing Cher. He is like Paul Lynde at this point, I have no idea how anyone can take him seriously. The first part of the match is all about crafty Micheals outsmarting Cena. Micheals is pretty terrible in this part, ducking punches like he is bowing to a Japaneese lady, throwing wrestling school trainee level chops and mincing around the ring like a less masculine May Flowers. Cena was great though, showing frustration through his face, struggling against poorly executed holds, and bumping big for whatever those punch like things were supposed to be. At one point Micheals had Cena in a loose headscissors, and Cena must have held his breath because his face is turning purple. Micheals does hit a nice Asai, although even the coolest thing about that was how Cena catches it against the table so it looked like his back was broken. The next section was Micheals working the leg and he basically used stomps and chop blocks which he can pull off. People are bitching about the leg selling, but I thought it was fine, Cena sold it a ton when it was being applied, and also sold it during the first part of his comeback, until he was able to shrug it off. He didn't just stop selling, there was a transition. Somewhere in this Micheals takes a shitty looking posting and blades, but still basically controls. The piledriver on the steps was pretty great looking, although I don't get why Ross kept calling it a spike piledriver. Who was the spiker? I guess Jesus is his Arn. You normal Micheals formula match has the opponent control the match, destroy Shawn's surgically repaired back, hit all of his finishers, Micheals then Resurrects hits his superkick and pins his opponent. It is a match structure that makes his opponents look like shit,. Here he controlled the match, while he doesn't really have enough stuff to control a match, at least he doesn't make all of Cena's stuff look like shit, by ignoring it. The finish run was a lot better then in the other title match, you had the kick outs of the finishers, but they weren't just running through their finishers for two counts, they were mixing it up. I loved the constant drop toe holds by Cena, they looked great and it is a very cool set up for the STFU. Cena's fatigue selling was awesome, and I liked them laying on each other at the end, although Micheals rubbing Cena's cock was pretty fucking uncomfortable, I guess jerking Cena off was a match strategy "Hunter is always spent after I do this." Pretty amazing one man show, it seems pretty crazy to say, but Cena may be the best wrestler in the world right now. No one around works big time main event wrestling better. He may not do as many cool things as say Austin Aries, but everything he does counts. 8. Undertaker v. Batista WWE 4/1 The disappointing Batista v. JBL matches always started with great big man slugfests, but they would be main eventing and have to go 20+ so you would have long chinlock sections. This wasn't a main event, so they could work a brawl the whole match. I really liked most of this match, big guys going after each other, and some big moves sprinkled in. The tope was awesome looking, and pretty crazy to do with only one guy catching. The match fell apart a little at the end though, as they really did this obligatory WWE main event finish. A guy hits his secondary finisher for a dramatic two count, then the other guy hits his secondary finisher for a dramatic two count, rinse repeat. It is pretty cliched and it really looked tacked on here. Still this was damn fun for a match nobody expected anything from.

To go watch the pair of first round match ups in the Lucha 64 tourney and review them. PIRATA~!, MIDGETS~!, MORE PIRATA~! BLOOD~! EVEN MORE PIRATA~!

The tourney proper is starting up now. Everyone should check it out

Cool, I am looking forward to hear what you think of the Villanos match.

Go watch the two MDM matches to start, both of them are total blasts, it is alot of fun to see Texano be so great in the last months of his life.

We are about to start the Lucha 64 match madness tourny at DVDVR. Currently there is a Misionaries De La Muerte playoff going on. Lucha can always bring you back

I am thinking about submitting a Friday Night Fights report. Williams v. Briggs on the undercard was a ****1/2 FOTYC, although Quiles v. Nate Cambell was a squash match. Good drama with Teddy Atlas calling for the stoppage in the 12th round but it would have been better if it had been booked more competatively in the early rounds

Downloaded the tag, I am pretty excited for it. BTW Tim remind me to send you a copy of Hall Brothers v. Masked Superstar 2/Mike Booth from NWA-VA end of last year. That is some Southern tag goodness right there.

Watched the Lawler v. Lars match, Lars is quite the least of the Andersons. Watched the first couple of concession stand brawls too. I really enjoyed the Blond Bombers v. Gibson for a real houseshow concession stand brawl.

Fuck you, where is my FULL

Probably, Tim got it from us, so I imagine he sent it to you. Shit send me a DVD of it, if you have it in DVD format.

Some more hidden classics from Segunda Caida El Hijo Del Santo v. Brazo De Oro UWA 1/13/91 PAS: This is a mask v. hair match, and is two guys working an amazing match in their secondary specialties. Santo is primarily known for classic lucha, either technical singles matches or formula trios match, the Brazos are primarily known as comedy wrestlers. However both guys are amazing brawlers, and this is a bloody violent amazing brawl. Oro has such force on everything he does, headbutts, kicks, stomps, he comes off as a total asskicker. He dominates the first round, busting open Santo so you can see a pulsating blood stain on the Silver mask. Santo comes back and hits his brawling flying moves, he is the best at making topes look like vicious attacks. Oro isn't about to be out bled and by the end of the match has a sickening amount of blood squirting out of his head. TKG: Santo is a guy who works really great singles matches. I've written a bunch of times about the difference between how luchadors work a title match and how they work a hair/mask match. Both very different styles/genres of matches and both genres that Santo really is master of. And on some level here you have a formula Santo hair/mask match where they meet all the genre conventions/requirements that you need to get that off. This is of course not jut any Hair/Mask match its a Hijo del Santo hair/mask match which means really the finish is never in any doubt...nonetheless the two guys need to work up to a level where you loose track of that. There is normally an inherent drama in a hair/mask match that is going to be missing when you have a Santo hair/mask match. Instead the drama is about the guy who you know is going to loose having to make an actual fight out of it, so not just a hair/mask match its kind of hair/mask match with undercurrent of lower ranked guy challenging Jumbo or somesuch. And motherfuck does Brazo del Oro just step up to the plate. Oro isn't just an absolute bad ass in the opening fall which he dominates but he really comes off as guy fighting for the fall in the second Santo fall too. Wayne Shamrock v. Naoki Sano PWFG 5/19/91 PAS: I was pretty much in shock during this match, I couldn't believe what I was watching. I have never particularly cared for a thing Ken Shamrock has ever done, so I expected nothing out of this match, and it turned out to be as good as anything on the 80's Other Japan set. So much to love about this match, as they pretty much went back and forth from spectacular mat exchanges into awesome slugfest strike exchanges, great takedowns, into more spectacular mat exchanges. The pacing of this was great, I especially loved how they paced their mat highspots. One guy would get in position and struggle a bit, and their would be a lull, and then super fast move into a choke or a kneebar. The crowd would pop huge for all of the mat spots, and it was the pacing of them which would really do it. Then after the mat near falls they would stand and just lay into each other with big shots, Shamrock's strikes looked way better here then in the previous match, and Sano was drilling him too. This was before Sano went to UWFI so I would guess this was his first shootstyle match ever, and he was a master of it. This was Sano's match, and while Shamrock was game, you could tell Sano was leading him. I also loved how Sano mixed in pro moves, as I actually bought an STF as a shoot submission, and a DDT as a shoot throw. TKG: Shamrock comes into this with preposterous Saturday Night Fever hair. He's one headband away from being the Dingo Warrior. This had a ton of crowd heat and first half is really made by that crowd heat. Phil covers really the early pacing of this as its two guys jockeying for position, conservatively moving toward a big move...moving moving...then they hit it and crowd pops. Both guys are conservative. They don't want to leave anything open for opponent. So its all about fight for position. As the match goes on you get the sense that both guys get more desperate. Shamrock throws his hands more often and all the big moves go from being hit cleanly to being almost video game style "make or miss" moves. So first half of the match is all about guys getting into position for throws or submissions and then hitting them cleanly, second half is about their health power bars wearing down and so they struggle to get into position for stuff and then can't hit it cleanly. Shamrock moves into position to hook Sano's legs with leg scissors and can't do it...opening himself up for Sano. Sano moves into position for throws but can no longer deal with Shamrocks weight advantage and so can't hit the throws cleanly...leaving himself open for Shamrock. It's not the traditional body of match/finish of match split. Its two conservative fighters sticking to their gameplan with the fight taking its tole. It's that layout that really made this for me. Well that and the shoot DDT Genericho Tenryu v.Yoshiaki Yatsu SWS 10/29/91 TKG: So Phil gets this SWS card with a disappointing Orient Express vs. Sano/Orihara match, disappointing Haku/Nakano vs. somebody and Fuyuki, disappointing Takano v. Barbarian, Bestia carrying Asai to a nice juniors match , and I guess a the Hara vs. Warlord match which exceeded expectations. And then there was the main event. And Fuck I need to see every time these two guys match up. What did Tenryu do to Yatsu to deserve this? What did Yatsu do to Tenryu? What in hell are these two guys doing to each other. This starts with Yatsu slapping the dogshit out of Tenryu's ear, and then Yatsu just looks to be going after the ear, forearm right to the ear, stiff enziguri right to ear, etc. Its like he wants to bust his eardrum. Yatsu is sick of the women being drawn to Tenryu on the dance floor and has decided to fuck Tenryu's balance up permanently. Tenryu crawls around the ring and sells. Damnit bitch its my jherri curl that draws the women not my dance steps you ugly fuck. Tenryu chops the fuck out of Yatsu chops him right on the throat, enziguri's him in the back of the head, etc. But this is really the Yatsu show as he goes on these huge runs of offense were you legit believe that Tenryu is concussed or at least been rendered near imobile. I think my favorite spot is the first rope flying battering ram headbutt that Yatsu throws. He follows this up with just a really nasty Terry Taylor type chinbreaker except he executes it with this kind of complete disregard. Like Steve Williams throwing a dangerous suplex, except its a chinbreaker. Chinbreaker 91~! PAS: Yatsu had all the really great offense in this match, Tom didn't even mention the bulldog on the floor or the running shoulder block off the apron, but Tenryu was bringing some sick violence to the show. Laying in the Kawada kicks right to Yatsu's eye and face, there was a section where Tenryu kicks him directly in the kidney and Yatsu kinds of rolls on the mat clutching it in pain. Then Tenryu just starts kneeing and punching him right on the kidney, and you get the sense if Tenryu lost his equilibrium after this match, Yatsu wasn't able to drink coffee or liquor ever again. I think there were multiple parts in this match where you figured they would have to stop the match and get a doctor. I thought Tenryu was concussed by an early Yatsu lariat, thought Yatsu had lacerated his spleen. Just an epic amazing shockingly violent train wreck of a classic match.

Couple of matches we review in the hidden gems section of Segunda Caida Riki Choshu v. Yoshiaki Fujiwara New Japan 6/9/87 PAS: Pretty much a textbook example of a simple match performed by ridiculously charismatic performers, and how great something like that can be. Very few wrestling moves performed by either guy. Fujiwara does basically headbutts, punches and a Fujiwara arm bar. Choshu does kicks, one back suplex, a scorpion deathlock and Choshu lariats. It isn't about what they do, it is how and when they do it. Fujiwara jumps Choshu in the aisle and just destroys him for the opening five minutes. Choshu is bleeding and Fujiwara is smirking and strutting, Choshu gets control with a back suplex, and Fujiwara has an awesome "Oh Fuck" look on his face as he goes up. It gets a little more back and forth after that, but Fujiwara still controls most of it, until he makes the mistake of getting cocky and removing the ringpad. Choshu reverses the whip, Fujiwara takes a bump, they spill to the outside, and Choshu just smashes Fujiwara's head into the ringpost. Fujiwara has a traditional comedy spot, where he no-sells getting his head smashed into the ringpost, so Choshu really has to crack open his skull to make it work. Then it is all about a repulsively bloody Fujiwara trying to survive incredible looking Choshu lariats. Both guys come off as such superstars, it was like watching Hogan v. Rock with actually contact being made on the moves. TKG: So Fujiwara attacks Choshu in the aisle busts him open and beats on him, and beats on him, and beats on him...and there is no comeback and it almost had a lucha fall feel as just completely one sided but you can tell everything by reading both guys eyes. Phil mentions Fujiwara's facial expressions and I don't care how long one studies mime with Decroux...Fujiwara can communicate more with a wrinkle of his nose. There is this point where Choshu is punching Fujiwara in the corner and Fujiwara goes from anger at being in the corner, to defiance , to struggling to maintain the defiance, to just a fuck you face that would make Murakami cower. The first lariat that Choshu hits Fujiwara with is just an absolute blast..like getting run over by a truck. the second and third ones are less impressive lariats but Fujiwara has these really awesome ways of selling/taking them. I mean they are still impressive lariats but its more about Fujiwara going into a flamingo stance and the flipping downward in what really looks like a boxer getting KOed and moving legs involuntarily on fall kind of deal. The lariat take that ends the match, I can't even come up with a way to describe it. Original Midnight Express v. Jerry Lawler + Bill Dundee AWA 10/30/87 PAS: This is for the AWA tag belts and is a match which on paper looks really awesome, but especially in the 80’s on paper matches were often pretty disappointing. This however was even better then it looked on paper. Lawler and Dundee are a great tag team, we all know what great individual wrestlers they are, and how well they match up against each other, but they also have great face tag team shtick. Their opening babyface in control section was just full of great stuff. I especially loved the variations on the partner blocks the Irish whip into the corner, also this was a punch marks dream match with both Lawler and Dundee breaking out tons of different combos. I especially loved the running left hook by Dundee. OMX were a lot fun in this too, especially Randy Rose who looked Eaton great in this, he takes a huge high backdrop, and has a bunch of fun offense. Slim Paul E. with his sport coat with rolled up sleeves throws in the phone and the OMX win the belts. I liked this more then any of the Rose/Somers v. Midnight Rockers matches and this was fucking with the high end Rock and Rolls v. Midnights matches. TKG: Man this was fun. A lot of faces do stuff effectively, heels try same spots only to have the backfire. If you’ve seen the Memphis doc on youtube, you may remember the Hector Guerrero vs. Lawler spot where Hector puts Lawler across top rope and then kicks at him…Lawler tries same spot and Hector gets out of way. Lawler does same spot with Rose but with Lawler working face this time out. Lawler is caught with knee in corner and ends up face in peril eating a punch with a big bump to floor and then taking body slam on the floor running powerslam from Rose, etc. Dundee is all over the place as guy on apron…running after Heyman on the floor. Holding back heel from making tag while waiting for Lawler’s attempt to make hot tag etc. But really this match is about the early face in control section with the two faces just laying in punches and clotheslines..with Randy Rose just running head first into the fists and lariats. Dundee does a top rope knee drop with refs back turned. I don’t know what the top rope rule was at the time but ref turns around and really can’t figure out what’s going on as Lawler and Dundee switch off going for two counts on Rose before ref can figure out who is the legal man. I don’t know if it was a stunt granny but there is also a nun in the front row who punches at the air with every face punch and gets absolutely irate at all the heel cheating.

The fuck Russo hasn't fucked up LAX. It was kind of a stupid idea to begin with, but all that burning the American flag shit was Russo. Then feuding with American Hero Petey Williams, then you have the Dudleys treating them like the Mulkeys, plus the upcoming addition of Machete and Apollo they are on life support. Homicide will be killed dead like Joe any minute.

Comics? I used to read Batman when I was 8, I read Watchmen about 5 years ago, I used to like the Boondocks before McGruder left. If you are going to insult me, insult me correctly. It's like me calling you a Neo-Facist sexist, instead of a Neo-Nazi racist.

Holocaust denial and calling blacks sub human is also offensive BTW, if you were just an innocent who didn't realize what he was saying.