ohtani's jacket

This was a slow-burning trios that ended up with a double bladejob. Any trios match that brings Villano IV to the fore is a welcome addition to the footage as he's not the type of worker who gets showcased a lot. He's extremely capable of playing the lead role in a trios match and carrying his end of a singles feud but he tends to always be in a secondary role supporting his brother or some other central player. Thankfully, IWRG had strong UWA roots and this 2000 run of theirs harkens back to the early 90s UWA where Villano IV was as much a singles player as a trios wrestler. The brawling here was good. The mask ripping and the blading was done right, which isn't always the case in trios matches. They gave you just enough of a tease that you want to see another trios match between them the following week and then a singles match if the powers that be allow it. Plus there was some good stuff between Panther and Felino to back it up. In thise case, they worked rapid fire lucha exchanges that served to contrast the breakdown in sportsmanship between Villano and Scorpio while at the same time matching their intensity. Felino still has a massive engine judging by this footage and Panther is simply one of the best workers in the world at this point (no hyperbole.) Lots to enjoy here.

When you think about it, rudo contra rudo title matches are pretty rare. For the most part, this was worked as a clean fight. It was chippy at times and there was some controversy over a possible foul by Silver King but mostly it was hard fought title-match wrestling. Scorpio, in particular, worked like a defacto tecnico champ. He's taken a lot of pride in the heavyweight title so that doesn't come as much surprise but it was still a side of him that you don't regularly see in other settings. Silver King put up a strong challenge. He brought his A-game in terms of athleticism and agility and came pretty close to scoring an upset in the tercera caida. But Scorpio in this setting is a bit like a Mexican Triple H. He's the Game and once again used his smarts to seal the win. Good, competitive match. Some nice matwork in the primera caida and some good back and forth stuff in the falls that followed. I liked Scorpio's suplex work and the power he got on his lift. The nearfalls were well done and the submission holds were sold well. The only thing holding it back from a MOTYC level was that it was more compact than epic but it was a tight bout without much fat and worth comparing to the Villano IV title defense to see which is better.

Prior to this we get an undercard bout with Alan Stone, Black Dragon and Moto Cross vs. El Hijo del Gladiador, Mega and Super Mega. A short match but the action is quick. I was impressed with El Hijo del Gladiador as the glue holding the rudo side together. I didn't think he'd be that good in a match where the pace was quicker. The bout listed here was moderately entertaining. It showed promise in the beginning with Villano V doing a real fun Mendoza-family style opening exchange. The rudos looked fun and it was a chance to catch up with Felino who we haven't seen in a while and for some reason isn't being featured in the top of the card CMLL stuff. And his new trios team hasn't been showcased in a while either. But it ate up a good 15 minutes without ever hitting its stride and there wasn't a heck of a lot to get excited over. Personally, I liked the first match more.

This had some nice continuity from the week before with Super Parka looking to get stuck into Silver King. There was more teamwork between the rudos this week, and even though the main storyline was the tension between Silver King and Scorpio the rudo work was more fluid than in the previous week's match. The pace could have been a step or two quickly but IWRG trios matches often move at a slower pace. Sometimes I suspect it's because the workers don't feel it's worth busting their asses in front of a tiny crowd in a lower paying gig but it may also be because there simply isn't enough crowd heat to spur them on. I really dug the Dandy vs. Villano III exchanges in the mid of all the Silver King vs. Scorpio stuff and for a second or two I imagined a singles feud between the two. That would have been cool. As it is, we're headed for rudo contra rudo which is a lot more interesting than Silver King vs. Super Parka so if anything this match steered things in a better direction. Hopefully, Silver King brings his A game because he's a guy whose output varies.

This had some fun stuff with Shocker and Porky battling over who is more guapo but there wasn't a whole lot else to it. I can take or leave Porky's comedy at this stage. He has a habit of overshadowing every bout that he's in because of his routine. It was fun here because Shocker was the foil but it would have been a bore otherwise. Dandy worked the mat with Fantasma in the beginning and it was kind of sad to see just how slow Dandy has become. The Dandy of old would have torn it up in that segment. Silver King tried to start something with Super Parka but the care factor wasn't there for me. Shocker looked good against all three opponents and was head and shoulders above everybody else. I'd recommend skipping this one unless you want further proof that Shocker is a special talent.

I've been married for 11 years and have a 7 year old daughter. I've taught English in Japan for 12 years and am currently working with pre-schoolers. I used to be a heavy smoker (30+ a day) but I quit when my wife was pregnant. Haven't smoked a cigarette for 8 years. I drink too much, though, and always seem to have some drink or sweet I need to buy on a daily basis. I've gone through phases of being addicted to Coke. The cola stuff not the white stuff.

I can go months without watching any wrestling. When I do watch it, it's either early in the morning before everyone's gotten up or late at night after they've gone to bed. The thing is that it's always there when I get the itch. If this place disappeared I'm not sure whether I would have somewhere to touch base with wrestling so I'm fortunate that Loss and Will are committed to the site. Thanks, guys.

This won't go down as one of the legendary ciberneticos thanks to the clipping but it was chockful of big names and talented workers and capped off a great month for CMLL. The match was pretty much designed to cement the newly turned Panther as a certified tecnico star by giving him a bit of a rub from one legendary "blue" to another. Panther was wonderful from the outset even during the Battle Royale phase. In fact, this is a match I would point to that shows the full range of his talent -- not just the mat stuff but his flying and excellent selling. There were also strong showings from Satanico and Shocker, and Niebla who had one of those "on nights" where he looks like one of the best and most unique workers in Mexico almost like a modern-day version of Dos Caras. But it was Panther who took the honours with a hard-fought victory over Niebla that had tremendous crowd heat. Great match to watch if you're a Panther fan and neat seeing the two legends in the ring together at the end. Blue Demon looked frail and would die a few weeks later so this was his last appearance in front of the fans. Great month for CMLL. The booking was firing on all cylinders and every match was entertaining.

This was a decent mano a mano bout. Mano a mano bouts are meant to build heat and tease a future apuesta match and that's exactly what they accomplished. Atlantis showed his range as a performer with a fine performance as the spurned partner seeking vengeance and Tarzan Boy did well in the unfamiliar role of rudo. There are question marks over whether he's talented enough to play the rudo role but the beef here was enough to carry the action and Atlantis was excellent in his role. The finish was crap but the outcome wasn't meant to be definitive. Lucha history is littered with mano a manos that had no blowoff and I feel we're headed that way here but it was promising while it lasted especially during Atlantis' comeback.

This match oozed talent. It also oozed storyline. But that's okay. Better to have great TV than matches that lead nowhere. JR would have lost his shit commentating the ending with Panther turning tecnico, Santo and Casas officially forming a team again, and Stone Cold Perro Aguayo doing a "run" in. Shocker trying to escape from the tecnicos at the end was gold. CMLL is WAR.

This was the Relevos Increíbles that stemmed from all the hijinks in the Leyenda de Plata final. It was awesome for a number of reasons. First, you got to see Santo and Panther team up together like some modern-day version of Santo and Blue Demon. Then you got some absolutely amazing exchanges between Blue Panther and Negro Casas that were some of the best tag or trios exchanges of the year and totally worthy of two workers of their calibre and the expectations that come along with seeing them square off. Casas was somewhere close to his best after a fairly indifferent year. Some may say that he was never that bad just featured less than in previous years but the Wagner feud in September seems to have lit a fire under him. I particularly loved his selling of the La Tapatia (Romero Special.) And lastly, you had some awesome brawling between Santo and Scorpio as well as some of Santo's exquisite dives. Watching Santo and Scorpio beat the crap out of each other was fun. Scorpio is a made guy as far as I'm concerned. I now expect that he's going to be good in every match I see. There's been a lot of surprises in 2000 but Bestia and Scorpio being consistently great is up there. The only thing I didn't like about this was the finish which didn't seem like a particularly honorable move for a tecnico least of all one of Santo's stature. It wasn't as though Scorpio had been using dirty tactics. It was a pretty clean fight as far as brawling on the outside goes. Usually, tecnicos pull those kinds of moves to give rudos their comeuppance after a foul or some other dirty tactic. It seemed out of place here. And a wrestler like Santo should never voluntarily take his mask off. Never. On the whole it was another great bit of TV, though.

Firstly, it's always great to see rudos taking delight in dissension in the tecnico ranks. Secondly, I love how Satanico doesn't give a shit about Tarzan Boy being on the fence about turning rudo and attacks him for taking his hair two times. Thirdly, I love how fired up Atlantis is about Tarzan Boy's behaviour. I often hear about how weak Atlantis is on the mic but he seemed fine here. And he was ropeable anytime he was near Tarzan Boy. I don't think their match can possibly live up to my expectations but the build-up has been good.

So we didn't get Casas vs. Wagner, which could've potentially been some of the best stuff of the year, but we do get Casas vs. Santo, which even when it isn't special is still kind of special since it's Casas vs. Santo. The work here is excellent. If this had been a three fall match with the focus on Casas and Santo instead of the angles that dominated the bout I have no doubt that it would have been a classic and one of the best matches of the year. As it was, you won't see too many lucha tournament finals that are better than this. From a booking standpoint, they actually got a lot done with this segment. They began sewing the seeds for the Santo and Casas tag team and the feud with Los Infernales and they continued to lay the groundwork for Tarzan Boy's heel turn. The only problem was that they did it in the middle of a fucking Santo vs. Casas match. In real time, Santo absolutely nailed Scorpio Jr with his tope. And the post-match saw everyone fighting with each other as no-one could seem to make heads or tails of who was a rudo and who was a tecnico. This was pretty much the CMLL equivalent of a RAW main event. Disappointing if you seek this match out on paper but fun to watch in the context of the year's television.

The reason people compare performers is that it's fun. Even people who take it seriously get some form of fulfillment out of it. Does it really matter if people don't have a clue what they're talking about? At the end of the day, it tells you more about the poster and their preferences than it does about the worker. You can argue or disagree but you get to know the people who post a bit better and have a bit of fun debating age-old topics. If we just stopped and didn't compare anyone anymore it would be pretty boring.

So Tarzan Boy is turning rudo, huh? I'm sure if that is such a good idea. He was starting to improve after working in Monterrey and it's not as though there's a ton of good tecnicos running around. A decent tecnico is worth their weight in gold. But he was never fully embraced by the Arena Mexico crowd so perhaps this move makes sense. In any event, he seems fit for the role. I couldn't believe him stripping off his jorts. The match was really just an angle but it was pretty good storyline progression. I never tire of watching Bestia slap the shit out of people. It's one of those little things that remind me I'm watching lucha. I also liked the tecnicos' work in the second caida. In fact, I thought it was one of Atlantis' better performances in a while. The second half of his year has really suffered from the typical CMLL booking practice of pushing a worker back down the card after a big program. They didn't do it with Villano III but there was definitely a cooling off period for Atlantis. Perhaps this feud with Tarzan Boy will give him some fresh material. It's too bad that spot where he fell through the ropes looked like a blatant dive but I guess it was a hard spot to execute, And CMLL camerawork is never the best. Perhaps the highlight of the match was the crowd reaction when it seemed like Tarzan Boy would turn. The bemusement and puzzled looks were fun to watch. Shocker taunting the fans on the ramp was beyond awesome. What a stud he's been all year long. His in-ring work with Tarzan Boy was awesome as well. Those two have great chemistry. It's a shame that they didn't milk more from it prior to the turn. It seems like Monterrey got more out of the pairing than CMLL did. Anyway, time to sit back and see where it's al heading.

Hey, Sasuke still exists. This was a decent match held together by some solid grappling from Sasuke and steady transition work. It was a bit soft for my tastes but neither guy fits the mold of the type of wrestler I like. Marufuji never felt like a threat, which put a cap on how exciting the match was. But it was a well-worked bout from a technical standpoint and had a nice flow to it. I was kind of looking for a blow away veteran performance from Sasuke but I think I was expecting a bit too much from what was really a guest spot from Marufuji.

Pretty standard match. Liger and Samurai tried to build some heat for Tanaka but it wasn't very interesting. Easily skippable.

This sounds like Great Match Theory. I can't remember if I was for or against Great Match Theory. People can appreciate different aspects of the finished product but if I'm enjoying a match because of a wrestler's technique, for example, I never think about how it felt to be the guy he was wrestling. Just like I never think about how many takes it took to shoot a scene or whose idea it was to shoot something a certain way. Those things would be interesting to know but I don't think the people involved want you to know them. I think you can judge a wrestler by how consistently good they are. Whose stuff always looks good? Who always gives a solid performance? That sort of thing. Personally. I just like whoever I like at the moment but just like there are actors who can give good performances in bad films or with lousy scripts there are ways to judge wrestlers regardless of pre-production. I get the point about the modern worker and the new requirements they're faced with but even in that context surely it's possible to gauge who does a better job of working the agent style than others. The original point about Kim may have had as much to do with her not adjusting to the WWE house style as it did any failing on the production side. How many times did we see someone jump ship to the WWE and struggle to adjust to the wrestling style? In some cases it took them years to learn how to wrestle the "WWF way." Anyway, this is all very complicated. I like the guys who wrestle well and make interesting faces.

The juniors continue to bring the ruckus. This was a fun house show level match. The three Wagner fans in their masks made for a lively atmosphere early on and the bout kept ticking along with plenty of good action. The selling wasn't the greatest and guys accumulated a bit too much damage to keep realistically kicking out but if you just want to watch some fun juniors action then this was a breeze. Tanaka was always a junior at heart so has fit seamlessly into the division and Wagner in New Japan is always fun. I think he broke his own record for how many times you can audibly say the word 'motherfucker' on a live TV taping. Liger continued his run of indifferent performances in 2000 but he didn't need to be outstanding for this to be a decent hitout for the juniors division.

We dont really know the inner workings of any creative endeavour. All we can do is judge the final product. If certain folks get a disproportional amount of credit for the final result then thats the way it goes. Its not like the booker or road agent are looking to take credit for authoring the match. What they do is behind the scenes and meant to make the wrestlers look good. The same thing happens all the time in music, movies and television so while it would be great to praise matches as a collective effort I dont think its something we can achieve without production credits.

Grunge was still popular when Raven debuted.

Even when the Dump vs. Crush Girls feud was at its height, Chigusa and Lioness were already trying to break the mold of what an idol should be and were beginning to incorporate a UWF influence into their work. Its kind of surreal watching the schoolgirls lose their shit over the Crush Girls while the Crush Girls are working a hybrid style. But if youre talking sporty then the ultimate test of how much you can enjoy or tolerate Joshi has to be the 87 Lioness vs. Asuka match. I wouldnt want people thinking that 80s Joshi was somehow different from the 90s stuff. There is a natural evolution and you can see the roots of the 90s stuff throughout the 70s and 80s footage.

Now that Ive settled on Hamada as one of the bright young stars of Josh, Im inclined to watch more of her stuff. I think she may have been better than Satomura at this point which is something I wouldnt have dreamed of saying a few weeks ago. I liked the way she wouldnt take any shit from Shimoda and beat the crap out of her, since frankly she was a much tougher specimen than Mima. The match was a bit disjointed since Im not sure that Ayakos sister fully understood the ebb and flow of Joshi pro-wrestling but it wasnt too bad. Omukai is a really awkward worker. She reminds me of KAORU in that respect. I know she has her fans but I find her work jarring. She paired up well with Shimoda though. This was pretty much only worth watching to track Hamadas progress but I did enjoy her performance.

This was a good match. The Samurai TV commentary was inane but all four girls were out there doing their thing. Sakai and Yabushita were good workers who came along at the wrong time and could have gotten a better run if they'd entered the business a bit earlier. I don't think that their idol combination worked that well but you could tell that they were Jaguar trainees. I thought Haruyama worked really hard in this and to be fair she was the glue that kept it together. Kuragaki was decent but the least impressive of the four. The match petered out toward the end and they probably kept it going for longer than necessary but they weren't that experienced so I thought this was fairly good for young talent.

I always liked the team of Nagashima, and Sato and Ozaki vs. Nagashima is almost always worth watching, so I was looking forward to this. The match was worked at a cracking pace and there was a lot of great teamwork from both combinations. Ozaki and Nagashima were every bit as good as I expected. They fought tooth and nail the entire way. They match up well in terms of size and both women are relentless in attack. Nagashima was the Queen of Reversals and here they had an extra edge to them. They seemed nasty and uncooperative and even the sloppy ones seemed gritty. Sato's role was to neutralise Masami, which is no task, but they played up her power and size a lot and she got two big moves on Devil. The young girls' strategy paid off in the end and it was great to see them get the win. A few more nearfalls would have made for an even better match but there was a long mic performance at the end. I quite like the faction of bitchy veterans in GAEA even if they're all well past their prime. This had much better booking than that Maekawa/Watanabe nonsense.