ohtani's jacket

So much talent in this match but it was a complete sideshow. I think it broke some kind of record for most dick jokes in a lucha libre match. I can imagine a 2001 tape trader being excited about this match on paper and flabbergasted by the footage. But it shouldn't come as a surprise with Parka involved. His comedy is like a giant, gaping black hole for Monterrey match quality. And it sucks everything in. Even the great workers.

This was better minis action than your standard IWRG fare. They brought in two tecnicos that could go so there was a lot more action. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cicloncito Ramirez as a worker. To me, he has the same effect on a match as Atlantis. When Atlantis was in his prime, you knew if there were three good rudos, you could partner Atlantis with just about anybody and he would shore up the tecnico side and make sure there were enough exciting sequences to make the trios match worthwhile. In this case, Ramirez had some nice partners but his presence was still the difference maker into terms of making this worthwhile, especially since El Torito and Sombrita would have slowed things down and picked on Tzuki if left to their own devices. Tzuki kicked ass in this, btw. Watching him brawl with the bigger sized rudos was so much fun.

This was a standard trios match but it was made exponentially better due to the presence of Blue Panther. One doubt I always had about Panther was his ability to be an effective trios worker but he's completely blown those doubts away during this 00-01 run of his. He's not just been effective. He's been special. Silver King was having a whale of a time being his partner in crime and was amped up himself. Sometimes all it takes is a couple of good performances to liven up a trios match and that's what Panther and Silver King gave us here. This was the set-up for Parka/Panther match a few days later. Sure wish we had that match.

This match dealt with the fallout from the XIX High Power match. It was a pretty standard trios match. Silver King, Black Metal and El Enterrador were a cool looking trio but Silver King was the only worker in the group. To his credit, he gave the best performance in the match and was the glue that kept it together. He had some neat exchanges with the tecnicos and was always busy. I always found SIlver King to be inconsistent, and he's generally not a name I get excited about when I see it come up on the match listings, but while this wasn't exactly a star turn, it did show he had potential to be the lead guy. Hopefully, we get to see more of him in that role now that Cerebro is a goody-two-shoes.

This was for some trophy called "XIX High Power." Not a bad match but there no amazing sequences and the quality varied depending on who was in the ring. All of the best workers were on the same side which didn't help.

It's time to see how well Cerebro can adjust to life as a tecnico and whether he can make an impact on IWRG from the other side of the locker room. This wasn't his debut as a tecnico. That was the week before in a match that seems better on paper -- Cerebro, Santo and Felino vs. Cirujano, Silver King and Fuerza Guerrera. This had some weak links in Kato Kung Lee and Kraken, but honestly speaking, it was a weak tecnico performance from Cerebro. I'm so used to seeing Cerebro dominate these types of matches with his presence that it was weird to see him shy away from the spotlight. At first, it seemed like he was still self-conscious about losing the mask, which is understandable. It can't be easy going out there and wrestling without a mask with everyone gawking at you. And you do have to learn how to emote differently when you don't wear a mask. But the main problem for me was that he was still in "Howdy Doody" mode, waving to the fans instead of putting all his emotion into getting even with Cirujano. C'mon, this guy (if it was this guy) attacked you after you unmasked. That has to be the ultimate act of disrespect in lucha libre and you're working the match like it's a Sunday house show? There was some fun stuff in this -- Cerebro vs Navarro, Suicida being Suicida -- but I was really disappointed by the Cerebro vs Cirujano exchanges and the "new" Cerebro in general.

Whoever did the on-screen graphics for ESPN seems to have been confused. It looks like it was Cirujano who was Cerebro's second, not Paramedico. And Cerebro and Cirujano do have a feud, after all, culminating in a title shot for Cerebro's welterweight belt.

All right, it's time for the mask vs mask match. Dr. Cerebro is one of my favourite gimmicks in Mexico around this time. Personally, I think it was too soon for him to lose his mask. I suppose if you're going to lose your mask, you might as well lose it to a legend of the business, however I do wonder if it would have been better for him to lose it to someone whom he was in a long, bitter rivalry instead of a star who came in and did a couple of dates. I guess that's all water under the bridge but I can't help but lament the fact that Cerebro lost. The first fall was interesting. Normally, you'd expect Cerebro to attack Santo on his way to the ring and ram his head into the ring post and bust him open. Instead, they worked a scientific fall. But it was a gritty, edgy fall with both guys working hard to get an opening. And they didn't rush it either. it was much better than the sloppy fall they worked in the mano a mano bout. Cerebro wound up taking the fall with one of those surreal submission holds that are only plausible in lucha. It was a tremendous confidence booster for Cerebro to take the opening fall and he took plenty of momentum into the second caida. For a moment, it almost seemed like an upset was possible. I didn't love Santo's transition back onto offense. It was a simple kick to the back to break a hold and a straight switch onto offense with too much spring in his step. I expect more from a worker of Santo's calibre. What I did like is how they didn't just end the fall with a quick camel clutch. Cerebro managed to counter the submission and fight his way back into the match. People often complain that the falls come too easily in lucha and for the most part that's a valid criticism. But there was nothing easy about this. Santo had to work for this one. The eventual combo that won him the fall was a huge step up from the easy out that the earlier camel clutch would've brought. The third fall was all right. It paled in comparison to the third fall from their mano a mano bout, which was some of the most dramatic wrestling we've seen all year. Both guys tried to deliver a big knock out blow and Santo made sure he got all his signature stuff in. Some of the transitions were soft and Cerebro veered away from his natural game by trying to do too much high flying stuff, but they were trying to deliver something spectacular (and thereby memorable) even in a tiny setting. The finish wasn't really signature Santo. I think it was meant to expose the folly of Cerebro trying to win with a top rope move. With a better tercera, this would have been a MOTYC for sure. As it stands, it's still in the upper echelon of lucha matches for 2001, and let's be honest, lucha is the only style that's really delivering at present. After the bout, Cerebro and Santo were full of praise for each other and then suddenly Cerebro's second bounced on him. That's something I don't think I've ever seen before -- a second who's so pissed at his man losing that he starts attacking him. I don't think anything came of this. I think it was just an angle to jumpstart a tecnico turn. But it was pretty cool. Paramedico was pissed. Cerebro had clearly let down the fraternity of evil medical staff.

This was an interesting match if for no other reason than it was a chance to see Kea work now that he was a "made man" of sorts. And you know what? I like him. Japanese wrestling is in such a slump at this point that at least Kea is a story and a guy you can follow. Smith brought his usual bag of submissions and joint manipulation and Kea stuck to his guns throughout. Mutoh was in Kea's corner, which to me is an ominous sign, but for now, I'm enjoying the Mossman push.

This was a clipped LCO bout. You can imagine how it played out. It wasn't bad actually as it was part of Yumi Fukawa's retirement show and everyone had their working boots on. Afterward, they kind of broke kayfabe and hugged each other. It was weird seeing LCO suddenly break out in smiles and embrace their opponents.

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.