DR Ackermann

Oh I thought he was a girl

That was weird. Im kind of confused

"He's on Almas' back and has said that the NXT championship is the devil on his back!"

Agreed. I just feel completely indifferent about it

Oh man, that entrance was embarrassing.

That ladder match was long.

I'm not much of a fan of either guy and don't get excited when I see them on a match listing. Mutoh is too inconsistent, choosing to coast on his charisma and signature spots much of the time. Chono wrestles a stripped down, rigid style that tends to clash with everyone around him. But sometimes they produce some pretty good stuff with each other, like in the 91 G1 Climax. I liked this match. It was deliberate and restrained. They worked slowly to the highspots and then milked them for every moment of drama and cheering from the fans. I don't think that all of the selling was necessarily great, but they used their selling well to build in between spots. It turned into a battle of attrition, Chono's neckwork vs Mutoh's legwork but the finish was almost anticlimactic. It could have used a bigger bang as opposed to the repetition of going for the same submission over and over til it worked.

My match for Tim Evans is the Monterrey chain match between La Fiera and Jerry Estrada from 1991, which you may or may not be familiar with but I know you dig lucha.

A hundred percent. Does anyone know who he is? He was definitely calmer than Styles, which I liked.

Honestly, Danielson and Kendrick looked like they had a better grasp on basic wrestling mechanics in 2000 than TM61/TMDK do in 2018.

First of all I have to say that Violencia's "hair" grosses me out. It's hard for me to look at it for some reason. Other than that this is mostly forgettable, but not bad. Zumbido stood out the most with his wild bumping and athleticism, especially in the third fall when he was flying all over the place. He looks like a cross between Tenzan and Rockers era Michaels/Jannetty. Mr. Mexico had a sick, face-first, through the ropes, to the floor bump in the third as well. Definitely interested in seeing what else the two of them have to offer.

This was a great way to start off a re-watch of the 2000s. I actually had never seen Tarzan Boy wrestle before this, but remember his name popping up when I was younger. I thought the structure of this was great. Short and sweet. I had a few issues with Tarzan Boy. In the first caida he seemed distracted. At the beginning of the beat down by Bucanero, he kept looking down at his torso to see how much he was bleeding and it made it look like he was gyrating his hips. His selling was good but he wouldn't commit and kept fixing his hair. But other than that he seemed decently talented even though the mistimed/botched the interference spot with Satanico. Bucanero sold great and his performance was a bit subdued, possibly to not overshadow the feud between Satanico and Tarzan Boy? Excited for Tarzan Boy and Satanico.

I really appreciate the way the Spoiler uses his physicality. He's a huge, muscular dude but also a great athlete and he incorporates those attributes to enhance everything he does. He uses his length to gain leverage in holds as well as anyone and when he perches on the top rope, waiting to leap there is a sinister quality to it. Like he's a beast stalking his prey. It's really awesome. There were a lot of moments where I expected a fall to take place based on how the match progressed and the expected 2/3 structure but instead we got false finishes around submissions that the fans bought as potential falls too. I don't know if the actual falls made for a better match but it was interesting and fun. Really good match.

Glad you liked the match, Matt! Its one of my favorite Tenryu vs midcarder-who-has-no-chance-against-him matches. That period of early 1990 is kind of stagnant and disregarded after the super hot 89 and before Misawa and company's rise in the second half of the year, but Tenryu brings it every night. It's basically him feuding with midcarders and lowercarders as an offshoot of his feud with Jumbo and they're all trying to kill him. I really like how he is still experimenting and mixing up his highspots. He'll do new stuff that you haven't seen before and then not use it again.

Matt D gave me Nick Bockwinkel vs Chavo Guerrero 2/25/83 and I reviewed it here: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/32491-nick-bockwinkle-vs-chavo-guerrero-houston-wrestling-22583/&do=findComment&comment=5838177 This was a lot of fun and the most I've written about wrestling in years.

The story here is that the AWA champ Bockwinkel refuses to put the belt on the line against Chavo Guerrero, so Guerrero must prove himself in a non-title match instead. Guerrero was a good wrestler who didn't need to be carried so I wouldn't call this a carry job, but all of the action in is in Bockwinkel's hands and supremely structured for dramatic effect. Things start off with Bockwinkel getting the better of Guerrero until Guerrero comes right back and shows he can go hold for hold with Bockwinkel. The bulk of the match is a struggle for control as they maneuver in and out of each other's holds before Bockwinkel finally throws a punch and takes over. The late control segment segues into the finish with Guerrero getting the upset but clean and decisive win with a German suplex. What really stood out to me was how subtle Bock's entire performance was. At the beginning when he was trying to show up Guerrero with some tosses and slams out of the lockup he would bounce a certain way after Guerrero hit the mat. He was just a little bit more upright and feeling himself without making a big show of it. It gave the sense that Bockwinkel was arrogant but also a professional and this was just another day at work for him. When Guerrero showed him up and proved he could give as he could get with the same slams and tosses, Bockwinkel didn't completely freak out but his facial expressions and body language changed and he started moving more cautiously. When they started rolling around on the mat it never felt like they were sitting around in holds because they kept it moving and treated it like it was a constant battle for control. When Bockwinkel would take the advantage Guerrero would be on the move trying to reverse it and vice versa and the effect of the struggle was increased because Bockwinkel kept selling even on the offensive. With Bockwinkel you get a sense that he was in complete control of the dramatic logic. Every hold, every transition, every expression seemed to mean something as it built toward Bockwinkel realizing he was possibly outmatched, finally having to resort to throwing a punch in desperation. At first I thought Bock should have been a bit more expressive when he was being cocky at the beginning, but looking at the whole you appreciate that the subtlety of it enhances the dramatic effect of his increasing desperation and eventual panic. Maybe its trite to compare Bockwinkel to Flair, but I find it helpful to conceptualize what makes wrestling work well or what I like about it when you can contrast one wrestler's actions with another's. Bock layers things on with touches that serve to build a whole while Flair tends to do things that strictly have meaning in and of themselves in that moment to pop the crowd. A good match and a great example of Bockwinkle's brilliance and masterful control of match structure and meaning.

I was 13 in 2001 and because of that feud Benoit became my favorite wrestler for the next few years. And then it was Eddie after that.

This channel has started uploading full Andre the Giant matches from 60s France. I don't know what's going on but it's pretty awesome. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFnR9UlFVvrO94dfRH_3o1Q

Ok, Matt D. I'm giving you Genichiro Tenryu vs Isao Takagi from 1990. This was at the beginning of the year just a couple months before Tenryu would leave AJPW to start SWS. He was rivaling Jumbo for the number one spot at this point whereas Takagi was only in his third year and a huge underdog going into the match. Prior to this there were issues between the two in tags with throughout the month and Takagi actually attacked Tenryu with a chair before one of his matches.

I'd like to give it a go this week. Sounds fun.

The Muay Thai thing is a mistake. I've seen it reported before but apparently it's not true. Which makes sense, like you said, his style is the furthest thing from that.

You're in for a treat. There's also a really awesome Texas Death match between Onita/Goto and Kurisu/Dragon Master coming up in April on the yearbook.

This was surprisingly good considering neither guy has much pro wrestling experience and this is the early days of FMW mishmash filler. I really wish Lee Gak Soo would have caught on somewhere. He's really fun and charismatic. I could see him carving a niche for himself as a borderline unintentional comedy act with just enough of a violent streak to give him some credibility. Sort of like a lot of the michinoku pro guys

I've been going back through early FMW and I completely missed the boat on this. I don't know if it has to do with watching relatively little wrestling the last couple years so I'm appreciating things differently but this may not be a great match but it is great pro wrestling. Onita is the king of spectacle and really goes out of his way to involve whatever gimmick he's got going in the match. He just gets right into the barbed wire. And Kurisu is so fun and vicious. Can't wait to watch the Texas Death Match again.

Viscera Mania has almost 50 FMW shows and 30 W*ING shows. The playlists are in chronological order making it pretty easy to go through them. Pretty awesome https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKDS3Uc07Guw9M06YnStqNQ