ohtani's jacket

I'll have to check that out. Giant Baba vs. Bobo Brazil (5/16/69) Baba brought more intensity here but his brawling looked like shit. Poor guy can't catch a break with me right now.

This bollocks is not what I want to see in professional wrestling.

If there's one thing 2001 has been crying out for it's a MOTYC. This match had the potential to deliver on that need since it was the biggest main event we'd seen to date, but I can't sit here and say this was a MOTYC. To me, it wasn't convincing. I couldn't believe that after such a long (some might say torturous) feud with Triple H, that Austin would be so desperate to beat the Rock that he'd sell his soul to the devil. And to a certain extent, I didn't even care. Okay, so you can't trust a rattlesnake. You couldn't really trust the Rock either. You couldn't trust anyone in the Attitude era with the way they slipped back and forth between a heel and a face. And I didn't like the execution of the angle either. Instead of being an instantaneous shock, it was a prolonged, drawn-out affair. Even the crowd seemed confused. At first, they wanted to cheer because Austin won the belt in Texas and then the allegiance with McMahon sunk in and they weren't sure how they were supposed to react. I know they were trying to play off Montreal but having Vince jump up and down and cheer like a gimp wasn't my idea of a killer angle. And the Rock kicked out too many times. Another problem I had with the match was the call. JR and Heyman had poor chemistry together. They spent too much time bickering and they belabored the same points over and over again. This wasn't an all-time great call by Ross. You'd expect him to be a hell of a lot more emotional over the finish but all he could muster at the end was the same line about "Satan himself" ad nauseum. The match itself was lackluster as well. The throwbacks to earlier Austin matches were a good idea in theory but they were too "on the nose." I don't think you should make it that obvious that you're playing off past history. I also hated the cutesy use of each other's finishers. I honestly expected more from Austin than aping that trend. I don't wanna come across like the match was bad or the work was terrible. But I don't think it was as good as the opening fall in the Three Stages of Hell match and that's a problem if you're looking at this from a MOTY viewpoint. I'm interested to see how this played out on RAW the following night but this main event sure as hell didn't make me regret my decision to stop watching the WWF.

Bobo Brazil vs. Giant Baba (6/27/68) Well, this wasn't terrible. You'd have to be insane to think it would be good but it didn't put me to sleep. I would've preferred them to beat the shit out of each other for 10 minutes and bleed but I understand there were loftier expectations when it came to title matches. I wish Baba would remember that he's a giant and stop working like a light heavyweight. Okay, maybe you want to show that you're a good seller and that you're quicker than a regular big man. And maybe you want to prove that you're an athlete and not some freak show. I get that. But the gentle giant stuff only goes so far. You're a big guy! Use your size. Kick some ass when you need to. It's no surprise that the best Baba looked at this was when he fired up for the second fall finish. The fans loved him no matter what. There were a lot of salaryman types and they were cheering and hollering and throwing cushions in the ring at the end. But I really want to see Baba take the fight to someone. It's hard because it's not like he was ever a heel. He doesn't have the sort of edge that comes with being an on again, off again bad boy, but fire up Baba!

Well, here it is. The match that killed my diehard WWF fandom. This match came in my younger years when I had just started getting into matches from the past and wrestling from around the world. I was no longer concerned about things like the Monday Night ratings, or who was better, Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels. With the influx of talent into the WWF, I really thought I could handle all the bullshit so long as they put guys in the position to have great matches on PPV as they'd done with Hart and Michaels. I desperately wanted this to be a great match. It was a match that HAD to be four stars, at a time when matches being four stars was all that mattered to me. And it wasn't. It wasn't four stars in 2001 and it's not four stars in 2019. And so I quit watching the WWF religiously. Ironically, they'd go on to produce the wrestling I wanted to see during the Smackdown Six era and beyond but I'm not sure whether I could have stomached the bullshit it took to reach that point. The amateur wrestling at the start was nice and probably more than you should reasonably expect from a WWF bout, but everything after that was nondescript. It wasn't bad but it wasn't special in any way, shape or form. There was a lot of great stuff in the Benoit vs. Jericho feud. A lot more great stuff than I ever gave that feud credit for in real time. But there weren't those sort of details here. Aside from a few counters, there was nothing that made you think you were watching two of the best. The match never got going and it sure as heck never made me think, "oh, you were wrong about this bout all those years." I dunno if it was because Angle wasn't ready for the kind of bout I wanted or because the match was short due to time constraints. They ended up having a divisive match at the Royal Rumble 2003 that I personally liked but this remains a disappointment to me years after the sting has gone.

Man, I really didn't expect to see La FIera in this match. He looked unrecognizable to me from his prime years. I mean, if I saw him on the street I couldn't recognize him as La Fiera. This was the weakest of all the Gigante Silva handicap matches. The Capos got the pin when they all sat on top of Silva. Dantes was grinning and laughing like they were riding a banana boat. Fiera didn't make a strong impression.

This was a good match. Brazo de Oro doesn't have it anymore, but Tony Rivera worked hard as usual and the rudos were good.

Most of the matches are accessible. There's a couple where you need to be resourceful. The 6/78 match is excellent. You can tell it's their first time wrestling each other. They try all sorts of strategies, feeling each other out, looking to get a feel for what works and what doesn't work There's a creativity to it that's missing from their 1979 matches. I think those matches are marred by the dodgy title switch. The 1978 trilogy has some hokey non-finishes (the 'ring out' being a popular cop-out instead of a pinfall or submission), but the matches follow the chess match strategy of old-school title matches and are highly enjoyable. I wouldn't call them historic matches or anything you should drop everything to track down but they were worthy successors to Thesz and Dory Funk Jr's title defenses in Japan albeit for a different heavyweight title.

This was clipped but there was enough action to warm the cockles of anybody's heart. Fantastic undercard action and a wonderful build-up to the Tiger Blanco vs Lagarde match. Of course, CMLL didn't air that match but the build sure was great. It's easy to overlook a match like this but it really is some of the better wrestling that CMLL produced in April.

This was Universo's first appearance since putting Perro in hospital. There were vignettes with Perro lying in a hospital bed while a doctor showed an x-ray of his spine and CMLL referees using undercard guys to demonstrate the difference between standard moves and Universo's piledriver. The match itself was short. It was worked as a standard lucha fall without any stooging. Silva tried to get revenge for Perro, Atlantis was the glue holding things together, and Porky hurt himself on his apron dive. In the end, the Capos were too strong. There was also a trios tournament on this show but it was a waste of time. The little things it did like fuel the situation between Shocker and the Guapos would have been better served in a regular match.

This was the main event of the Arena Mexico Anniversary Show. I had high hopes for this but it was disappointing. The only real storyline was Ultimo Guerrero vs. Satanico, and they had run so many rudo contra rudo bouts during their feud that what was the point of having relevos increibles? Santo and Casas squared off but it wasn't vintage Santo vs. Casas, and Dr. Wagner and Emilio got stuck into each other but Emilio looks like he's running on fumes at this point. And the match didn't go the distance either. Instead of a showpiece, it was another wrinkle in the Infernales fallout, which was a letdown given the talent level.

It's that time of year again. The time where they bring Gigante Silva in for a few dates the way they used to do with Andre back in the day. This was all right. The Silva spots were predictable but harmless. The Villano brothers were solid. I really love that Villano punch spot. This could have been a lot worse.

This was a heck of a match. To have a match this good at Arena Coliseo was impressive, and a match with Tinieblas Jr to boot! This can only be described as "the Panther effect." In fact, it was so good that the folks who put together the TV show decided to run it wit hit and air it uninterrupted. It was basically a transplanted Arena Mexico match both in size and momentum swings. It felt bigger than a regular Coliseo match. Panther, Warrior and Violencia were slick. It doesn't matter who Panther fronts up with in 2001, when he's in a trios match he runs a tight ship. I'm not sure if TInieblas was meant to be in this match originally. It felt like there was a late scratch somewhere. But he did the best he could and at no point did the rudos make a concession for him. He even got in on the high flying. Olimpico vs Blue Panther is still kind of a thing but this was mostly about grand lucha action. Check this out. It's a sleeper.

I really liked their 12/18/78 match. Instead of wrestling to a stalemate on the mat, they worked a really physical, gritty match. Mr. Saito and Ueda ended up attacking both wrestlers and busting them open and the closing stanza was a bloody brawl. After the match, Inoki had a towel wrapped around his head and kept screaming into the mic for one more chance at Backlund's bout. I definitely think their '78 matches are superior to their '79 matches.

Satanico's hair is growing out. You know what that means. This was action-packed while it lasted. Ultimo and the Guapos did a number on Satanico & Co. to start with. They tore Black Warrior's mask off and mangled Shocker's leg after it got stuck in the front row chairs. Black Warrior went backstage to get a new mask and led the comeback for his team. It was frenetic stuff with Satanico throwing punch combos, Shocker hopping around on one leg and Black Warrior hitting a spectacular tope. Of course, the finish was cheap and involved fouling, but at least Shocker and Emilio got stuck into each other at the end. I was glad to see they hadn't dropped that storyline completely. This blazed across the screen in less than 10 minutes and was pretty eventful. Not a bad piece of TV to cap off the month.

This was unspectacular. Casas was quiet. I saw this as an opportunity for him to do something brilliant but he didn't have it. The only interesting thing this threw at us was Rayo vs. Ultimo and it was mostly stooging.

This only ran for about 13 minutes on TV but what a glorious 13 minutes. I mean look at these match-ups -- Fuerza Guerrera vs. Villano IV, Atlantis vs. Blue Panther and Villano III vs. El Signo. I'd be excited for a trios match with any of those match-ups let alone all three in the same bout. I have a hunch, an inkling, and a vague recollection that this leads to a Villano/Signo program, which is very good news for me but a step down from the main event picture that Villano has been involved in since unmasking. Not to worry, CMLL need something to reboot with after the huge payoffs on the March PPV and Villano vs. SIgno is right up my alley.

This was light entertainment but I enjoyed it. It was a lot more clever and humourous than Monterrey dick jokes. The highlight was the chemistry between Shocker and Porky but we also got flashes of Shocker vs. Atlantis, and boy do I wish they'd pull the trigger on that. Atlantis is having a great year. In fact, I'd argue that he's having a better year than 2000. I didn't love the build to the Villano mask match, and after the match they gave a big push to Villano while Atlantis went back to doing nothing. I often wonder how our perception of lucha workers would be different if they worked singles matches on a regular basis. There's a number of match-ups I've love to see Atlantis have in '01 but ultimately I have to be content with him crossing paths with guys in trios matches and hope that they square off. Still, if anyone thought he was a faded force by this point, they were wrong.

Okay, so I discovered that if I hide all the quotes then the edit function works again. Not sure why.

Hey, Recently, I've had trouble editing posts. The problem seems to occur especially with quotes. Once I edit the post once, I can't edit it again. I cannot delete the post either. Is anyone else having trouble with editing?

First up is their 11/30/79 match. I adored the beginning with both guys jostling for position. I imagine for some people it's like watching paint dry but it's exactly what I want from a heavyweight title match in this era. Inoki is ridiculously underrated when it comes to working holds. There are plenty of guys who were better mat workers but how many of them were heavyweights? When you look at it from that standpoint, Inoki is fairly skilled to me. Of course, it's the 70s so you can either view the mat work as either time killing or wearing each other down, but I prefer to view it as the contest within the contest and I enjoy the moments of oneupmanship. The stand-up portions of this were decent but because it was a title change they had to get screwy with the booking and there was a bunch of bullshit with Tiger Jeet Singh involved. The finish was anticlimactic considering it was meant to be a major title victory for Inoki but there seemed to an effort made to have Backlund save face instead of letting Inoki bask in the moment. This seemed somewhere in the middle of what they were capable of against each other.

So, one of the goals I've had in the back of my mind for quite some time now is to watch every match in this series. I may be the only person on this forum interested in this series, but I'm not the only one on earth judging by some recent uploads. Here's a quick recap of the matches I've seen so far:

BTW, This was an Arena Mexico bout so it fell under the EMLL banner.

Okay, so Brock beats the shit out of Reigns for a good 15 minutes. I mean, he absolutely pummels him. Then Brock gets cut and he's hurt. Suddenly, the match is back on an even keel. Okay. A bit contrived but that's what happens when you work a match that's as lopsided as this. Then Rollins runs out and cashes in his briefcase. So, now you not only have no payoff to the Reigns comeback, you have the unstoppable monster Brock punked by Rollins and the worst Wrestlemania finish since Hogan challenged Yokozuna. Wasn't a fan of this. This was LOOOONG but it was very good. I wouldn't call it great since they paced it to be broader than broadway but they delivered on the gimmick and the match felt like a big deal. This was really high. It's a violent spectacle for sure. It might even be a great match from a certain standpoint, though to be honest, it's the last match I'd recommend to someone if they wanted to see everything that is good and great about Joshi Puroresu. It's a great mauling but much like the Brock matches I think it misses that element of two great competitors going all the way. I can see people voting for it as an all-time great beatdown, I'm just surprised by how high it finished and how well it did compared to other Joshi matches.

God bless, Villano IV. In the midst of the usual Monterrey BS with great rudos taking the night off, and Super Parka doing his half-arsed rendition of La Parka's already annoying Monterrey act, there was Villano IV mistakenly treating this as a serious trios match and working great exchange after great exchange. I guess he didn't get the memo, or maybe it's the only way he knows how to work. Either way, he was the only guy who didn't sleepwalk his way through this one.