ohtani's jacket

This was really good. Clearly, it was all hands on deck after the split. That meant reverting Fuchi into a main event player instead of a comedy worker and turning Kea into a Triple Crown challenger. Kea had a few things going for him, namely his athleticism and his striking, and he could also sell. Tenryu put on a master class in terms of taking a mid-level guy and treating him as a credible challenger. Again, this was noticeably stiff which seems to be a trend with post-split All Japan. Some people might argue that Kea should have rocked Tenryu a bit and threatened to almost take the titles, but I don't know if he had really earned that yet. This match was about showing that Kea belonged at the table not propelling him into the hottest thing in the company. And it was a damn good fight to boot.

Decent match and more than we've seen out of Casas in a while. But felt like scraping the bottom of the barrel for good matches to watch.

Anytime I get to see a Nishimura match, I'm going to take it. This won't be everyone's cup of tea but I was impressed by how well Sasaki played along. Never judge a meathead by his early output. Ultimately, they don't really build anything and it's just a collection of spots, but aren't most matches?

This wasn't bad. It was a crapload more interesting than some of the other matches Kawada has been in since the beginning of the year. I didn't have high expectations since let's face it, it's Fujiwara in 2001, but I liked the parts where they slapped the shit out of each other. All Fujiwara could really do was weather the storm and dish back headbutts and slaps but he was old and Kawada wasn't exactly going to invite him onto the mat. For the most part, this match seemed perfectly natural. Kawada was aggressive. Fujiwara was cagey. He probably relied on backing into the corner more than he did in his prime but hey, you've got arguably the world's best wrestler trying to knock your head off. What would you do?

This was JIP, which is annoying because I wanted a longer look at Yoshida. What was shown looked good. A reminder that even if she was being under-utilized, Yoshida remained one of the best workers in the business in the early 00s.

These two are fun to watch since so much of their offense is drawn from their judo background. The pro-wrestling parts of their game can be a bit amateurish at times. Both girls are undersized so a lot of their moves lack impact. Yabushita, in particular, looks like a young junior every time she suplexes Sakai. Sumie is the more polished of the two but she's still developing her game. To my mind, a worker like Hiromi Yagi is the level that Sakai should aspire to. This was a good match but the execution would be better with a bit more force to their moves.

This was a fun fight. Ohtani, to me, was still one of the best workers in Japan in 2000. This was a bit like watching him work an ill-advised PRIDE fight. You knew he was going to job but it was fun watching him get his flurries in. If Ohtani had followed Sano's career path into shoot style, I imagine it would look something like this.

So, the only AJW match we get from this month is this clipped six-man. Looks like they showed the second half of the match. It was difficult to get a feel for the rhythm but the match didn't have any huge consequences. The main chunk of the roster is divided into warring factions and pretty much all the eggs are in one basket. I can't say I'm looking forward to Hotta/Ito but it's on the horizon.

Kawada has had an underwhelming start to the year so far but this was a real gem. I love watching Kawada against shoot style guys. He doesn't have the technique to compete with them in shoot style but what he does have his brutal pro-wrestling offense. His kicks, strikes, the stretch plum, and a half crab are enough to create the illusion that he can compete with these dudes, and his grit and toughness lend extra credibility. This was stiff. It was also beautiful. I wish we had seen Kawada vs. all of the high profile shoot style guys.

This was slower than I expected but still had plenty of intensity. The highlight was Hashimoto railing on his opponents. Just as it was heating up, there was a cheap finish that led to a pull-apart brawl with Ogawa getting his ugly mug involved. It kind of looked like a Vegas boxing fight with all the photographers crowding the ring. This was overrated due to star power. It wasn't as good as your average WAR vs. New Japan match, and it was marred by terrible production values. There were all sorts of weird, slanted camera angles and the shots didn't match. It looked like a college student shot it. I'm not exaggerating. I really wanted to come on here and say this was the best men's match of 2001 so far, but this was just as anticlimactic as Kawada/Sasaki or Kawada/Sasaki vs. Tenryu/Hase.

This was just as good as I remembered. There was as much action on the outside of the ring as there was inside the ring with the poor commissioner trying to deal with Mascara Ano 2000 constantly interfering. But all that noise added to the theatre. The ringwork was simple yet effective. It reminded me of the big theatrical apuesta matches Perro had in the early 90s except Universo did more of the heavy lifting. Above all, it was gripping. Regardless of how many tricks they used to get Perro through the match, the drama never abated. The really interesting thing about the match was the finish. That finish could have ruined everything but somehow they pulled it off. Once again, CMLL delivered an excellent March PPV. This wasn't Villano vs. Atlantis, obviously, but it was the best damn Perro match it could be. I don't have access to the undercard matches right now, but based on the top three matches alone, this was easily the best show of 2001 to date. And CMLL was once again the best company in the world from Jan through March. We'll see if they can maintain that momentum better than they did in 2000. Because right now, the only company that's close to them is IWRG.

These guys saved the best for last. It wasn't like the bloody brawls that rudos used to have with each other in the good old days, but it was an excellent match. The focus was on getting the win, not maiming each other. Shocker and Back Warrior delivered big-time performances. These were the big guns that Satanico brought in to help him deal with the Infernales and they repaid his confidence in them. But for all the great action, fittingly it came down to Satanico vs Tarzan Boy in a mano a mano standoff, and Satanico proved once again that there's nobody better in a mano a mano contest. After the bout, Shocker gave Satanico his proper due as the number one rudo while the former Infernales demanded a Super Libre rematch. Skip the build and just watch this.

This was a nice bout while it lasted. Casas is kind of invisible in CMLL at the moment (and wearing white tights, which is off-putting), but any time you get to see him square off with Shocker it's a match-up worth watching. The big story coming out of this, however, was Ringo Mendoza getting pissed at Emilio Charles Jr and demanding a hair vs. hair match. Ringo was pissed. Shit just got real.

Y'know, for a guy who we all thought was pretty good back in the day, Brazo de Oro sure has slipped the furthest of all the top-ranked workers. He still has his accumulated knowledge of holds but the speed and the execution aren't there anymore. This was weaker than the previous undercard match despite having some decent talent. I'm not sure what has happened to Zumbido. For a guy who seemed on the rise in 2000, he sure is being under-utilized of late. His shoulder was heavily taped so he may have been dealing with an injury. But he's nowhere to be found in the major feuds.

Solid undercard action. Not as charming as some of the other undercard stuff we've seen but a fun mix of personalities and some decent lucha action.

Once again, this wasn't as heated as I would have liked. I keep waiting for a frenzied Satanico be unleashed but he hasn't brought the same intensity to this month's matches. There's been a bit too much showboating and not enough violence. The crowd doesn't seem that into it either, possibly because it's rudos vs rudos. The "injured" Bucanero makes a run-in at the end to make matters worse. I really thought I would be all over the build-up to their PPV match but it's been a series of misfires this month.

This match saw Villano III and Atlantis team up as partners almost a year after their historic mask match. Atlantis looked good here albeit in a limited role. I liked his exchanges with Mascara Ano 2k. Mascara wasn't an all-time great but he was a seasoned pro and knew his way around the ring. The match ended with the Dinamitas ripping off Atlantis' mask and stomping the shit out of him until they disqualified. I guess they were sending a message to Perro with the PPV just ten days away.

Bit of a random tecnico lineup here, and not much of a match. Universo's ribs were heavily taped but he guided his team to victory in straight falls.

CMLL is WAR! It's been a while since we've seen one of these WWF style main events in CMLL. The Guapos did a great job of stooging for the old guys. Bestia was superb at putting over Perro as an ass kicker. It was the best Perro had looked in ages. He injured Bestia's ribs on a foot stomp from the top rope and threatened to do it again before they coaxed him down. The Dinamitas hit the ring but even they couldn't stop Stone Cold Perro Aguayo, who ripped off Univero's wrestling singlet and attacked his injured ribs with another foot stop. I can't remember when Universo picked up the injury but Perro showed no mercy whatsoever. Perro kicked some ass in this. Bring on the pay-per-view.

Not as heated or as violent as you'd expect. At least not until after the bell where Satanico & Co. kicked the shit out of the Infernales. But it featured some decent stuff. Black Warrior got stuck into Ultimo Guerrero, Shocker mugged for the audience as much as he possibly could, and there was a bizarre cameo by Cien Caras, who ended up turning on his partners. There was one part where Caras had Satanico in the ropes and he was questioning to the audience whether he should hit Satanico or not, and I swear you forget how big Caras was compared to a guy like Satanico. It looked like a giant choking a midget. His hands were huge. I keep waiting for Satanico to erupt but the match never boiled over. The focus was on getting a win and getting those bragging rights. I don't think the build-up to the PPV match has been as compelling in March as it was in February. Nice vignette beforehand, though, with Satanico summoning Black Warrior and Shocker to his lair with his magical lighting bolt powers. Looked like a 50s Mexican horror film.

It's hard to believe it's been 20 years since Owen died. 20 years.

This was the pay-per-view match. Y'know, I'm not sure why this isn't talked about more. This was a really good trios match. Easily among the top handful of trios matches that CMLL produced in 2000-01. I can't tell you how happy I am to see Signo and Fuerza showcased this way, especially Fuerza. It's clear from watching this that Fuerza was just as good as he was in the 90s. He'd just been lost in the CMLL wastelands for far too long. That happens to guys especially in a company with a large, revolving roster, and of course, Fuerza was one of the guys who jumped to AAA with Pena so you never know what his relationship with the front office was like. But finally, they gave him something to do and he took his opportunity and ran with it. Signo also looks super motivated to have landed this gig since we all know the Misioneros post-peak career wasn't exactly draped in glory. Here he is back on the big stage, and I'm telling you, he can still go. Hell, this feud even lit a fire under Niebla and that's not easy to do. There was an old-school feel to the opening caida with the old heads like Signo making sure this felt like a championship match and not the crash TV that was in vogue at the time. I impressed with the way they worked the finish to each fall. There were no generic finishes where guys walk into pinfalls or submissions. Each finish was laid out in a decisive manner. The first fall was an elaborate momentum reversal, the second fall was a stand and deliver fall, and the third fall was a big-time play. This was an action-packed trios match with a solid foundation. Never a dull moment, tremendous chemistry between the captains (I want a Panther/Niebla singles match), and a memorable finish/result. I hope the Panther/Fuerza/Signo band doesn't break up but I have a sneaking suspicion they stick Wagner in Signo's place. Let's see.

This is a rematch of their earlier Arena Mexico match. Despite the shorter running time, it was much more intense. The rudos were more aggressive and the tecnico comeback was edgier. They did a good job of blowing this up into a feud worthy of pay-per-view, which was still a new concept in Mexico. The tecnico trio is kind of the newest version of your whitebread tecnico trios team like we saw in 2000 with Felino, Safari and Antifaz, but at least it gives them something to do.

All right, I get the deal with the trios titles now. They were the Mexican National Trios tiles, not the CMLL versions. For some reason, those titles were resurrected for this feud.

This is another tremendous Atlantis vs. Wagner match. Now, I'm not going to say that these Atlantis/Wagner matches are Lucha Libre classics but I will say this -- they're extremely satisfying Wagner vs. Atlantis matches, they're brilliant mano a mano matches, and they're forgotten Atlantis singles matches. When people try to dissect Atlantis' career and start asking questions like "well, what has he really done?" to me these matches are better than a lot of his other singles matches. They're much better than the Mano Negra feud, for example, and Mano Negra is a guy who I love and whose post unmaking work I thought was a blast. Atlantis and Wagner simply had this chemistry the same way that Atlantis and Panther had chemistry. There is no doubt in my mind that if the stars had aligned and these two had faced off in a mask vs. mask match that it would be one of the classics of Lucha Libre. That never happened but they did provide us with some of the best stuff from the early part of 2001. And as a small side note, Wagner's mask came off twice during this match, exposing his face to the crowd. It's strange to think about it now after his actual unmasking but the resemblance between Wagner and Silver King was striking during this time and that's obviously a little bit more poignant with what happened this month.