ohtani's jacket

Well, this exceeded all expectations. This was a match-up I didn't want to see and it ended up being the best match Toyota has had all year. That was mostly due to the dynamic of her having to figure out how to beat a woman who was much heavier than her but they also did an excellent job of working in a spiteful, bitchy way that fit the buildup to the bout. That type of character work is something that often gets overlooked about Toyota. I wouldn't say she was the greatest actress in women's wrestling but she wasn't purely a spot monkey (to borrow an old internet term), especially when she grew older. The only criticism I would make off the bout was that I don't think the conflict had escalated enough to warrant those dives from the lighting setup. And they ended up being throwaway spots which was stupid. But I was heavily into the finishing stretch and I thought the match achieved a terrific crescendo where I was left wondering how exactly Toyota was going to put this woman away. Even the spots that Sawai was too big for Toyota to execute properly seemed to add some dramatic realism to the bout. I'll probably end up liking this more than anyone else but that's the neat thing about having expectations bowled over.

This looked like it took place in one of those old All Japan rings. Promising match on paper but I thought it was a boring, monotone bout that didn't pick up until the finishing stretch. Bad commentary didn't help either, not to mention the lukewarm crowd and the crappy angle.

This was a damn sight better than I thought it would be. The thing I look for in a match like this is whether it lives up to the video package. And for the most part, this lived up to the hype. I was expecting a lot of shitty looking work from the Rock but he worked pretty well with Benoit. I didn't love the restart or the finish but the pair matched up well and it was a hard fought fight. Gets the thumbs up from me.

This was a nice tag. I like the dynamic between NANA*MOMO with the big power girl and the smaller, energetic highflyer. Nanae was way better than I remembered her being. She was actually a pretty good power work if you ask me. Noumi and Wakizawa weren't the greatest opposition but they were able to keep things moving along. Wakizawa sure was mouthy even by Joshi standards.

Carl Greco is one of my favorite workers ever so you know I ate this up. Taira looked like he had improved since his debut. I loved all the grappling in this and the finish was awesome. I even liked that wayward moment where Carl tried a lariat off the ropes. The BattlARTS commentators sure are annoying though.

This was a nice piece of booking. On paper, the NANA*MOMO team were helplessly outmatched by the experienced LCO team. Throughout the bout, LCO had the advantage but they couldn't put the younger girls away and every time Nana or Momoe kicked out it gave them a glimmer of hope. The first time I watched this I was bored with LCO. I ended up getting distracted and didn't make it through to the end so I wound up watching it from the beginning again. LCO's heel work was more engrossing the second time 'round which led me to believe that my enjoyment of the average LCO brawl depends on my mood or how much wrestling I've watched that day. They're not an act that makes me take notice but what I did notice about this match was that Shimoda looked far better working with Momoe and Nana than she did working with Watanabe and Maekawa. Shimoda can be sloppy at times and shows a lot of daylight but with these girls her work looked snug. One of the reasons the dynamic worked was that Nana had a Taue-like vibe to her work. Taue probably isn't the best example, in fact, you could probably use Jumbo Hori instead. But by being a bigger girl she could negate the advantage that Mita brings to LCO matches with her height. Then you had a bloodied Momoe being a dynamo and bringing a ton of energy to the bout to offset the rudo ring generalship of Shimoda. This wasn't an iconic match because Joshi was in a down period but it did produce one of the endings that only seem to happen in Joshi matches -- that raw emotion that perfectly summarizes the passion on display. This was good enough to slot in behind Aja vs. Satomura as the second best Joshi match of the year, IMO.

Another fine match from Osaka Pro. This was an all-action tag highlighted by the Dick Togo vs. Murahama match-up. With all the praise Murahama has been getting in July it was Togo who shone here. IT wasn't a match with a ton of depth but Togo gave a swank performance all the same. Notch one up for the rudos in the Murahama Trial Series.

Ishii may have been close to unrecognizable with his full head of hair and his fluorescent get-up but this was exactly the time of hard-hitting match he likes to work. The shots came thick and fast and there was plenty of oomph to this undercard match. Solid bout

This was more of a straightforward heel vs. face match than the Buffalo bout w/ Murahama taking an extended beating from Osaka's Big Red Machine. That was all right though as Murahama has proven to be more than adept at working from underneath. Not as many dynamics at play as the previous trial but entertaining nonetheless.

I have to admit that Onita's look here was pretty cool. He'd moved away from the Hong Kong action star look to more of a veteran Yakuza look. His entrance was also pretty cool and he seemed to enjoy soaking up the atmosphere. Good thing too because as soon as Choshu arrived you could tell Onita was on a hiding to nothing. The size difference would have been too much for him to overcome let alone the hornet's nest he stirred up by pissing Riki off. Choshu manhandled him the entire bout and the end result was a lopsided bout where another promotional outsider gets squashed like a bug. Choshu was never going to take a bump into the wire or explosives but they could have at least given Onita some shine. Ah well, he talked a good game.

These teams don't like each other in case you needed a reminder but this was strangely flat and couldn't break out of the LCO mold. The only part I really liked was when Maekawa tried to rip off Shimoda's head. The rest of the bout failed to live up to that intensity.

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.