Zenjo

Fought in the shoot style. Frye wore gloves so he could throw punches. Quite short and entertaining for what it was. Fujita was young and not yet the force that he would become. The Don won comfortably and then heeled it up afterwards to presumably set up a fight with Naoya Ogawa.

Starting a full length match with finishers is fundamentally bad wrestling. It's one of the cardinal sins in my book. Doing so completely messes up the pacing and the structure. Once you've started that quickly then the whole thing needs to be fast. You can't do that for 20m, resulting in a massive dip in the middle. After the dip it's really hard to get back up for the stretch. If you start too quickly there's nowhere you can go except down.

The very first move was Santo's awesome diagonal tope to the floor. That brought immediate excitement to a short and action packed opening fall. The Son of the Saint began showing some rudoness in the segunda. The reaction to him was mixed. The role didn't naturally suit him, but the angle and rivalry with Casas had been enough to overcome that. He still wrestled mainly technically, even with some emphasis on this being a fight. From a match quality perspective it wasn't a problem. Some nice moves on display and this time it satisfied my expectations going in. The finish was again weak and inconclusive.

For a bout of its length it had the simplest of formats. Either Tariel would use his massive size advantage to bludgeon Tamura down, or the technician would apply a hold and the Russian would get an immediate rope break. This he managed to do 10 times. You'd imagine Tariel would struggle or think about it on the last one, but no. I'm glad Tamura won, although the way it transpired did its upmost in protecting the overpushed lug.

OJ is definitely correct. This is the match from 7/21/96, which is on the 1996 Yearbook. It is worth watching twice however.

On paper I'd have never picked this out as a top 100 US match of the 90's. It was the opening contest of the evening and the fans were bursting with excitement. Some seriously funky entrance gear on display. I love Mortal Kombat. This match is brilliantly layed out, having structure whilst feeling open ended. It protected Miller and let everyone shine. The compact duration was spot on. Even the heel chicanery for the finish was well executed. A very pleasant surprise.

The fans had no idea who they were to start. They warmed to the underdog Taka through the contest. This was a good 'showcase' type of match as both men demonstrated their high flying skills. Sasuke could never work a damn on the mat, so it's best to stick to what he's good at. You could call this a spotfest, but it was no more so than what the Luchadores were doing in WCW at the time. Given that several MPro wrestlers would go on to get contracts in WWE you'd have to say this was a very positive first outing.

I found their first encounter of the month to be disappointing. It was only two falls and ended up being more of an angle to continue the feud than a satisfying match in itself. There was a lack of spark and it never clicked into gear. The matwork was nothing special and the contest wasn't layed out very well. It's like they couldn't get into their stride because they weren't going full length. But it's not that important as there's a rematch 3 weeks later.

The peak of the USA vs Canada feud with the fans fully behind the 2 Canadians, 1 Brit and...erm yeah. Austin was at his antagonistic best. As is often the case in multi-mans the opening stages were strongest as rivals squared off for the first time. Order intermittently broke down with everyone mass brawling. Owen and Cold both got taken to the back temporarily with leg injuries. It hurt the momentum when Austin wasn't out there. Not a smart decision. The finish was really weak as well. Despite some shortcomings the rivalry and atmosphere carried them through. Cool scenes afterwards as 200 members of the Hart family celebrate together.

Not a match with the most ambitious of scope. The work sure was high quality however. Tamura is greased lightening with his movement and application of holds. The Russian was no slouch either. Some lovely matwork that mixed the technically sound with the spectacular. The end came a bit quicker than I was expecting, with a minor upset result.

A great moment for LCO marks as the devilish duo win the WWWA Tag straps for the first time. Their matches provided many of the highlights of 1997 AJW. It didn't take their opponents long to don their crimson masks. Despite this handicap Watanabe was able to pin Shimoda for the first fall. The heels turned it around with some vicious work on the head of Maekawa. The youngster lost control and wouldn't stop punching Shimoda leading to the DQ. Mima was bloodified as a consequence. Amongst the wild events the bottom rope would come off, the corner pad would be removed and used as a weapon. Oh and Maekawa was thrown off the balcony! I would not like to feel like any of the wrestlers would've done following this. Such a brutal match. There was lots of bad blood to go with the real blood. This rivalry brought out plenty of needle and hatred. All three falls were of a similar length. The Segunda felt too long and lost some of the momentum. The match had many upsides yet was unwieldy at times and inconsistent. Maekawa had improved so much this year. She was really over with the fans. It was a striking contrast to her contemporary Rie Tamada who'd been treated as an undercard jobber earlier in the night. They'd started together and progressed at a similar pace in their formative years. Now Kumiko was looking like she belonged in big matches. She would always need the right opponents, but had become an asset now.

The early going was all sorts of fun as Ohtani's boots had a magnetic attraction to Taijiri's face. I was then thinking it was a bit weird how they jumped from start to stretch. It wasn't until afterwards that I realised they'd clipped out the middle. I wasn't a big fan of the upset finish.

At Slamboree '97 the best was first. I was wondering how well they were going to adapt given the differing wrestling styles and weight divisions. The answer was very well. Regal was able to indulge the cruiserweights high flying. Dragon is Japanese so didn't mind ramping up the stiffness. A lot of time was spent on the deck. Regal kept trying for his finisher, but hadn't sufficiently worn down his foe. Well paced and it built nicely through the phases. Things fell away towards the end including unwelcome outside interference. Regal also seemed to tire.

They got off to a strong start with hard strikes being exchanged. Bull probably wanted to no sell to put over her monster status, but Yamada wasn't giving her a choice with those kicks. Some wrestlers had credibility problems against the champ. That wasn't a problem here. The following Nakano control segment was fairly dull. Yamada fought back and survived a fair bit in a well constructed stretch. A technically good match that never caught fire. The whole was less than the sum of its parts.

The first two falls were over in 92 seconds as both junior partners got killed. And that included a rest period! The start immediately made it hot and it was a sprint all the way. It was very intense with the one-upsmanship between Nakano and Hokuto. Akira would push the champion hard before falling at the end. Bat and Sakie had been given an opportunity in the main event and played their secondary roles well. Thrilling action and excitement with not a wasted moment. Strong psychology as well. They nailed this one.

I guess that the rough plan was to produce a UWFI type of contest. Of course the fans weren't educated in that form of wrestling at all, so they moved more towards pro style as it progressed. It was certainly hard hitting. The win over Vader did a good job of putting Shamrock over. So it was a success in that regard. From a match quality perspective the problem was that they weren't sure how they should be working and seemed to be doing things on the fly. There was little in the way of flow as a result.

In a surprising turn of events this only went two falls. Which was absolutely fine as it was just the right length. The mixed teams worked well together in a primarily MPro style of match. Fast paced action all the way with a face/heel dynamic. It doesn't stand out from the other 10 mans, but it was plenty of fun as usual and the audience was entertained. Easy viewing.

I'll go with calling this a worked shoot. It was different than the style you'd normally expect to see from these two. It featured more time standing/striking. Also the matwork placed more of an emphasis on realism rather than entertainment. Both wrestlers are highly skilled at their craft and this contest had its moments. Quite enjoyable, though following this approach wasn't the way to produce a classic. Such as 6/27/98.

We have a drawing of lots beforehand. Entirely random I'm sure. Kawada goes backstage for a quick nap and we have Misawa vs Kobashi first up. Understandably both men came out firing in search of an early victory. The opening 10m had plenty of intent. It certainly wasn't a telegraphed draw. A slight lull after the early storm as AJ fans weren't trained to respond to matwork. Kobashi then began dominating and nearly secured the win. Misawa held on and then turned the tables for a while. Exciting action with the crowd into it. The final few minutes weren't up to much, but it was still very good overall. Both were totally spent at the end. A fresh Kawada swoops in like a vulture. I would've been absolutely fine with the booking were it not Dangerous K's first ever singles victory over his nemesis. Instead of a momentous moment there's a giant asterisk.

There were plenty of things before the finish that could've resulted in a prior DQ. Fortunately we have the world's most incompetent official on hand. As well as the many illegal moves there was also a long period of legwork. I didn't find it to be an exciting match. Too plodding and methodical. HSF as well. There was undoubtedly a strong rivalry and great chemistry between these two, but this is so far below their two classic matches.

Lucha classica. Santo vs Negro got things off to a perfect start. It was electric whenever those two were in there. Everyone else paired off as well initially. With 16 men the workrate was non-stop for 45m. The quality of wrestling over such a sustained period was outstanding. Obviously there was variation in the standard. You couldn't find 15 other Luchadors to perform like El Dandy did here. Nobody hurt the match. Kevin Quinn was the weak link on paper but hardly featured and was first man down. Something that stood out to me was how different it was to the previous Cibernetico. They used the additional time to add in matwork. Beautiful, fast paced, flowing matwork. Also the teams were Tecnicos vs Rudos so you had a rivalry. There was a great variety of moves utilised to that the action didn't become repetitive. The finishes could've done with more planning however. I love La Majistal but how many falls? The eliminations were well spaced out and there were plenty of near falls. It seemed to be heading towards a Santo vs Casas final showdown before they got double DQ'd. That left Felino facing a 1 vs 5 deficit, which he miraculously overcame. Ultimo was the last man to fall. A great moment in the cats career. It was also the catalyst for him turning Tecnico in the following weeks and joining his brother on the good side. The booking for the latter stages wasn't bad, but could've been a fair bit better. The match peaked in the middle rather than at the end. Still a MOTYC and amongst my all time CMLL favourites.

Does the Tokyo Dome have the best crowd of any building? Given that they haven't been able to sell out the venue this century and desperately hand out free tickets to random people on the street I'd find this doubtful. Will Melzer change his ratings formula? Nah, give it another 30 years. Do his (predominantly American) newsletter readers want to read that Japanese wrestling is better than US wrestling all the time? My guess would be not. I don't think it's true over the last decade either.

I'd estimate there's been between 150-200 women's matches on WWE PPV over the years. So it's about time they were given the opportunity to main event. And there's only ever one main event on a card. Quite why Eddie Guerrero got canonised by the WWE I'm not sure. They've never really given a shit about all the other young men dying over the years. Charlotte is a great heel. To actually get a desired heel reaction these days is a minor miracle. Sasha is a highly effective babyface. She has an attractive vulnerability about her whilst also having enough strength to not appear weak. I do worry she might get injured taking some of those back bumps. So from a rivalry and storyline perspective I did enjoy this. From a physical standpoint you couldn't have asked more from the participants either. Apart from blood, which isn't allowed. I've been trying to think of a great cage match that didn't involve the crimson and couldn't come up with one. Not having blood on TV is fine, but why not on the Network? My problems with this match are mainly the same problems I have with all WWE matches these days. The jarring overproduction and complete absence of subtlety prevents me from immersing myself into the match. I can't lose myself and forget that everything is pre-planned because every few minutes there has to be a BIG MOMENT. When the BIG MOMENT has to be intricately set up in advance the effect is even more thudding. And they all require plenty of laying around and selling to emphasise just how BIG the BIG MOMENT was and show all the replays. Wrestlers don't get to do there own promos anymore and they barely get to do their own matches either. Everything is so rigidly and obsessively pre-planned and micro-managed. As a result the HIAC match just felt like a series of set pieces on a tick sheet. I'm sure they could make a great highlight reel from it, but it felt like a long half hour.

This was in essence a street fight in all but name and attire. Chiggy really was amazing whenever fighting in the JWP ring. This match also saw a performance from Ozaki that indicated her future direction. No more underdog babyface as she heeled it up early on. It was interesting as the female fans supported the 80's heroine and the male fans were mainly behind the home girl. Nagayo bled first, but not most as Oz had half her face soaked in blood. It made a great visual. There was plenty of rivalry psychology with evil glares and bringing the hatred. At 28m it felt quite epic and was structured like staged warfare. The wrestling quality was high. At the end Ozaki unleashed all she had. It wasn't quite enough. Too uneven for a classic, but the high points make it the JWP MOTY for me.

This had all the ingredients that I like to see in a hair match. Lots of intensity, viciousness, hatred and a little rouge. I was engaged from the off as both men layed into their foe. They always kept things moving and never got bogged down. The pacing was tight, 5m longer would've been ideal. Quality wrestling as they set a base for a MOTYC. It didn't quite get there. Partly due to length and there were a couple of top rope moves near the end that didn't fit in with the rest of the stripped down fight. Two excellent performances and a highlight for CMLL in a tough year. Afterwards the combatants showed that they had earned each others respect through battle.