ohtani's jacket

I don't think these girls were capable of a MOTYC at this stage of their careers so what I was looking for was something good, and for the most part what they delivered was very good. As Jetlag mentioned, the biggest problem was that it was worked in front of a typically dead JWP crowd. That made the bout seem slow at times when in reality they were working at a steady clip. It was probably a bit long for the crowd they drew but there were some excellent transitions and the progression from matwork -> brawling -> nearfalls was solid. Ran Ran brings a different dynamic to Joshi with that right hand of hers. Striking is nothing new in Joshi. There was a wave of UWF inspired shooters from the 80s onward but Ran Ran is one of the few girls who can throw a decent punch. So while this wasn't spectacular, it ended up being a strong match that was the best match either girl has been in thus far and worth watching to see them try to deliver a great bout.

Even though this was joined in progress it had a nice flow to it and good energy. I got more of a yankii feel from M2K this time around and they gave Crazy Max another black eye. It was a weaker version of Crazy Max than usual but the humiliation is beginning to sting. They went from the bully boys of the promotion to getting a bloodied nose every time they square off with the new kids on the block. Surely, Crazy Max won't take this lying down. I expect all hell to break loose in the coming months.

Murahama continues to be one of the stories of the year. This was a really good match that had a bit of everything -- matwork, brawling, persistent rudo tactics from Black Buffalo and lots of good big man/little man work. Murahama let his selling slip at times and there were a few instances where he as out of position or his timing was off but he brought a tremendous amount of energy to the bout and was fantastic in his role as the little dog with plenty of fight in him. The finish was screwy but I enjoyed this a lot and Osaka Pro continues to be a must-watch promotion in the year 2000.

I'm not a fan of Usuda but he brought more to this bout than Ishikawa. Ishikawa seemed to lack his usual spark. Maybe he was trying to give Usuda what little limelight there was but I would have liked to have seen a few more counters from him and a bit more attitude. He didn't really have an answer for Usuda's strikes and it was a bad day at the office in terms of the result but maybe that's what they set out to portray. Personally, I think Usuda's win would have meant more if there'd been more of a struggle but he did have some nice moments with his ground game so it was a strong outing for him.

I think Blue Panther suffers from the burden of expectation. Every time you watch him you expect something awesome but more often than not you get something average. He's not like Santo who has enough signature stuff to look good in the most average of trios matches. He needs the right conditions to create his blend of mat wizardry. I went through a phase of finding him overrated but I've been enjoying his 2000 run of late. Most of picks would be under the radar so I'll go ahead and choose some well-known workers: Lou Thesz -- most people recognize Thesz' historical importance and are aware of his reputation but I don't think many people consider him an all-time great worker. Antonio Inoki -- not everyone's cup of tea but if you have an appreciation for strong style then he has a number of classics in the genre. Dory Funk Jr. -- shout out to Parv. I like watching Dory work the mat. Not so keen on his Funk Brothers stuff but I will watch his mat classics any day.

Yes, thanks to Charles, Chad, Will and everyone else involved. Merry Christmas. Looking forward to another year of discussing wrestling in 2018.

I remember being into this match back when I was a dyed-in-the-wool WWF fan. Like a lot of fans, I was desperately hoping that Jericho would become a main eventer and that VInce would prove, once again, that he could make anyone a star. Looking back on it, it's not that memorable a fight. The nuts and bolts of the bout aren't bad but it lacks that visceral hatred you'd expect from a man whose wife has been assaulted. The ideas where there, they just failed to ratchet up the emotion. Hunter is usually pretty good at that sort of thing but it wasn't one of his better performances. Jericho was all right but his star didn't shine. Their TV match where Jericho won the title was more electric than this.

Excellent match from the Osaka crew. I honestly thought it was one of the best matches of the year. Everyone worked to the best of their ability and the action never let up. It didn't matter which combination was in the ring, they each delivered an exchange worthy of the last. The heavy hitters did their job but the lesser guys were about as good as they can possibly be. Murahama continues to excel in his new role as Face in Peril. Who thought the little prick could be so sympathetic?

This was another good juniors match.The Juniors matches in 2000 have been surprisingly gritty and this was no exception. I'm not sure when the change happened but somewhere along the way they ratcheted up the hatred and animosity toward one another in lieu of the flashy stuff. I'm not sure how well it worked in real time but it makes for interesting viewing in 2017.

This was a shitload of fun. All Japan sure has upped the stiffness since the split. Watching Tenryu and Hansen reignite their rivalry was a blast. I find their late 80s matches disappointing but it's still a match-up with a tremendous amount of chemistry. Mossman was pretty game, which you'd have to be if you were going to survive being in there with three legends the calibre of Hansen, Tenryu, and Kawada.

All Japan may have been an ailing promotion but Kawada beating the shit out of Fuchi was just what the doctor ordered. Maybe not the best All Japan match of the year but certainly my favourite.

This was a decent match. The Infernales clearly benefitted from being an actual trio instead of a cobbled together AAA/CMLL team. The pretty boy tecnico team weren't the greatest but the Infernales had enough tricks up their sleeves to make things interesting. Satanico looked out of shape but was able to provide some thrust to the bout by reacquainting himself with Hector Garza. My favourite part of the match was when Satanico outsmarted Latin Lover to take the second fall. Just as Lopez was about to taunt him, he was taken out by a missile strike. Ultimo Guerrero continued to look like a stud. It's easy to see why he was elevated up the ranks by the mid-00s.

Not much of a match. A surprising lack of energy given the occasion. Pepe Casas and Tirantes showed more fire than the workers. Negro Casas' pornstache is unreal.

Forget about the match, the brawl afterward is incredible with Shocker and Abismo rolling around in the flower bed and Pierroth bleeding like a stuck pig while Cibernetico chokes him out. If there was ever a match that exemplified Pierroth as the Mexican Terry Funk then this is it. The part where he sprays everyone with a fire extinguisher could have easily happened in a Terry Funk match. So many wild, chaotic scenes with wrestlers from both sides cheap shotting the shit out of each other. And it ends with Rayo and Parka fighting in the tunnel and Shocker swiveling his hips! I honestly can't remember a better locker clearing brawl in wrestling.

This was pretty hard-hitting for a juniors match. Ohtani and Takaiwa beat the crap out of Kanemoto who seemed to lap it up. It's been fascinating to watch the evolution of Ohtani from crybaby to ass-kicker. It feels like he's finally out from under the shadow of Liger and has taken on a senior role in the juniors division. It's too bad that this period of his career is glossed over when discussing his worth as a worker but I guess people were burnt out on New Japan juniors at the time plus there was a lot of clipping going on in the television broadcasts. I'm not a Tanaka fan by any means (his fans being mostly ladies) but they did a nice job putting him over as the rising star of the division and his performance fit the bill on this occasion.

This was good stuff. I dug all the exchanges with Murahama. Delfin wasn't as amazing as he has been in other matches but he spent a lot of time on the apron. Murahma was a workhorse in this. He put in a huge shift. It amuses me how much better he is than Ogawa and Murakami.

The end of an era. Pretty decent match albeit in a formulaic All Japan way. A hurt Taue gave an impassioned performance while Kawada took care of business in the ring. The finish was weird, especially by All Japan standards.

Not my favourite style of wrestling and not my favourite pair of workers but the intensity was off the charts and KAORU was once again involved in one of the best Joshi matches of the year. The finishing stretch could have been trimmed a bit for better effect but they tried to put some nice touches into the transitions even if the selling was a bit spotty as Cha mentioned.

Hokuto's hair was awful here and that's saying something since she had some ghastly hairdos during her career. She looked like a demented ragdoll. Really good match with the heels working Chigusa over allowing the younger girls to come to the fore. The commentators pushed it as a "Heisei" vs "Showa" battle -- the younger generation vs. the older generation -- and that was typified by Satomura vs. Hokuto. Satomura/Hokuto was the last great feud that Hokuto had. The young star was able to draw the fire from Akira one last time and she produced her best late-period work against the GAEA prodigy. Their work here was excellent and the near submission of Hokuto was the high point of the bout. I liked the way that Hokuto harkened back to her days as the leader of Las Cachorras Orientales with the triple team spots. The Ozaki vs. Nagashima dynamic was also strong with Nagashima having just quit Oz Academy to return to the GAEA fold. This reminded me of all the fun 3 1/2 star bouts the Oz Academy vs. GAEA feud produced in the late 90s. A bit garbagey in spots but the wrestling scene is like that across the board in 2000. Worth watching if you want to see some good post-AJW Hokuto.

I suppose M2K are just getting their act off the ground but it's kind of hard to get behind them as the guys who are gonna take it to Crazy Max. Not yet, anyway. I'm sure they'll take it up a notch from here but it wasn't the explosive kickstart that I was hoping for from this feud.

This was a fun match in a small ass ring. The only real problem for me from a personal standpoint is that I don't really know the personalities of the M2K faction. They kept fronting Crazy Max and it was clear that they had an attitude and were made of tougher stuff than the guys Crazy Max had been running roughshod over but I didn't get a feel for the individual personalities the way up do with the rudos. Perhaps that will come in time.

I always liked this matchup due to the way it mirrored the backstage politics. The action here was heavily choreographed in typical WWF fashion. The finish, in particular, felt like the most connect-the-dots wrestling I've seen in a while. But the crowd was hot and it was a solid quarter hour.

The old rivals square off once again without breaking any new ground. A lot of BS in this involving the stun gun and the LLPW Black Joker faction. In fact, the entire match seemed like a precursor for Toyota vs. Eagle Sawai, which isn't a direction I care to see the company go in. The finishing stretch was subdued by Japanese standards though Toyota did show once again that she could sell when she wanted to even if it wasn(t in her DNA.

Deflin continues his spectacular 2000 run and Murahama continues to be the biggest prick in Japanese wrestling. What's not to like here? Delfin has been a revelation o on the mat. He's blowing up in my eyes. I look at him now and I think I'm watching El Hijo del Santo. The finish was unreal -- a funk Dos Caras submission with a shoot style twist. Deflin is my new hero.