ohtani's jacket

This was a solid apuesta match but they clipped a chunk out of the tercera caida which hurt the overall impact of the bout. Instead of building toward the big moment, they cut straight to a submission nearfall for Mr. Mexico and Rivera's match-winning Gori Special. We missed out on the excitement of the tercera caida swinging back and forth but what we did see was solid. Mr. Mexico was a better in-ring talent than I would have ever given him credit for prior to this feud and Rivera was seasoned enough to feed off his rudo charisma and win the people's favour without a stripper gimmick like Tarzan Boy. So long as you don't expect Chicana/MS-1, Chicana/Aguayo or Dandy/Satanico, this delivered a decent standard of work.

I thought this was a terrific Cibernetico. The famous Ciberneticos from '97 featured well-known names and high profile feuds. This threw a spotlight on the midcard, showcasing how much depth there was on both the rudo and tecnico sides. The most interesting thing about the bout for me was that even though it felt like a pure lucha libre bout with the rapid-fire exchanges and the off-kilter submission and pin attempts, you could feel how heavy the juniors influence was. Workers like Dr. Wagner Jr. had been working regular dates in Japan and bringing back Japanese moves throughout the late 90s, but Ultimo Guerrero was one of the first workers from his generation to be exposed to those moves and regularly tour Japan. You can see the influence in his offensive set. Instead of the usual armdrags and rolling bumps, he has a barrage of suplexes and other high impact moves. He wasn't the only one, though. This could have easily been a Japanese juniors match with Japanese wrestlers or perhaps an MPro or Toryumon match with a lucha flavour. It managed to keep its identity, though, in large part to Mr. Mexico furthering his feud Rivera. Mr. Mexico vs. Rivera! Let there be blood. Olimpico had a nice run in this, too. But how good was Ultimo Guerrero? I know I'm late to the party, but Ultimo Guerrero was very, very good in 2000. Thus far, he's been biding his time looking solid in Infernales trios but here he got a chance to shine and ran with the ball. Maybe not a game-winning touchdown, but he definitely made some yards. Really solid undercard to this PPV.

Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice, Los Campeones de la Justicia meet to discuss the threat of Villano Tercero. Alushe has grave concerns while Atlantis and Niebla prove luchadores can wear a tracksuit anywhere. This was fairly unspectacular given how good the rudo side was but there were some nice moments. I liked the way Bestia interacted with the crowd and the part where he slapped the shit out of Niebla. Tinieblas looked like less of a freak when partnered with Rayo and Niebla and I enjoyed his dust-up with Pierroth at the end. Pierroth continues to be the most unexpected surprise of 2000. This Puerto Rican gimmick sure is doing wonders for him. He almost reminds me of a Mexican Invader 1. I'm keenly awaiting the Los Boricuas vs. Los Capos feud now. That should be a fun series of brawls.

If you love Porky then you'll love this match as it was really a showcase for him to entertain the fans. And entertain the fans he did. I was kind of surprised that Los Capos were the rudo foils for Porky's Looney Tunes schtick since they'll be moving onto bigger things soon, but they were good sports. It was nice to see Apolo Dantes too. An underrated pro who had all the tools but lacked the charisma of the upper tier rudos. He did a good job holding this together. Pretty good match for a comedy bout. The humour was good natured and much more enjoyable than the stinkface et al. Still the King of Comedy, i wonder if anyone can top Porky for best comedic performance by year's end? Meanwhile, "The Game" Emilio Charles Jr looks like he is chomping at the bit for someone to feud with.

This was such a wonderful Arena Mexico crowd. The reverse angle shot of people packed to the rafters made it seem like one of the last truly old-school Arena Mexico crowds, In fact, this entire event feels like the closing chapter of the period of lucha that ran from Atlantis' debut in 1983 through to March 2000, the only real historical period we have footage from and consequently my favourite era of lucha. The match was simple and formulaic but the crowd heat was a treat. Perro was such a beloved legend that all the rudos really had to do was mug for the audience, which I thought they did really well. Tarzan Boy kind of suck (let's be honest), but at least Shocker showed him up wonderfully. I always enjoy it when rudos get the better of chump tecnicos. It makes it seem as though there's a natural balance. Perro's comeback was fun and I loved the throwback to the MA2K match. Best of all, we got to see a complete match for a change which made this seem much more special than the regular Televisa bouts. Nice bout. Arguably the best trios match of the year thus far.

CMLL is new school and old school at the same time. The vignette with Rivera judo throwing everyone in the gym and Mr. Mexico disguising himself as the ref was straight out of a WWF quarter hour but an apuesta match every other week is straight up old school booking. This match demonstrated the power of a gripe in lucha. Give two workers a reason to dislike each other and lucha is every bit as easy to follow as Puerto Rico or a Southern territory. Rivera was a bigger version of Tarzan Boy and Mr. Mexico far down the list of marquee lucha heels but it didn't matter. A bladejob from Mexico and some frantic action was enough to carry this to a satisfying conclusion. The best dive train of the year was followed by some classic foul shenanigans and a bout you could have easily cut when scanning match lists turned out to be a bonafide piece of fun. CMLL has been nonstop feuds thus far.

All right, minis! This was perhaps the most classical lucha match we've seen thus far. It had mat exchanges, arm drags, ropework and even a little bit of character work. There were multiple dives and some pretty decent back and forth action. It wasn't entirely smooth as Fierito wasn't the most fluid worker but it was a nice holdover from the classic minis period of '96-97 and it was nice to see some of those names again. Plus it had two falls end on a count out which is pretty rare in lucha.

Stone Cold! Stone Cold! CMLL is getting more WWF by the second. I liked how you had all these old school luchadores working a classic rudo beatdown and suddenly there were run-ins and shit. That wasn't unprecedented in Mexico but for CMLL it was like reinventing the wheel. A couple of things stood out to me here. The first was that they did a nice job of intertwining the various story threads in the match. You had the eternal feud in Rayo vs. Caras, the recent humiliation of Satanico by the upstart Tarzan Boy and Stone Cold vs. The Rock They also mixed up the pairings which is an underrated aspect of lucha trios matches. I really liked the part where Satanico gave Atlantis a working over. There was no reason for him to have a beef with Atlantis but he was keenly aware of his fellow rudo's vendetta with him and did his best to soften Atlantis up for Villanos. In fact, the Satanico vs. Atlantis segment was so good I half-wished it was Satanico taking on Atlantis at the PPV. That wouldn't have been anywhere near as monumental as one of two legends losing their mask but I thought Satanico in this bout looked better than Villano has at any point during the build. Satanico's handprints were all over this and he looked badass with his shaved head. Few workers manage to be a ring general and a superstar but Satanico is right up there with Casas as the cream of the crop. Really fun TV match in this new era of CMLL booking.

This was a fun mano a mano from two broken down gladiatores. The use of plunder and the backstage brawling was arguably the most WWF thing that CMLL has done yet, but a nasty blade job from Pierroth and some gritty ringwork made this feel more like cockfighting than your average WWF bout. This probably would have been pretty bad if the blood hadn't made it so edgy. I guess what this proved was that Satanico vs. Tarzan Boy could have been more like bloodsport if they'd wanted it to be. But then Tarzan Boy is hardly the kind of worker that Pierroth was. In any event, this surprised me. Much more worthwhile than I would have expected and I'm already a certified Capos fan.

I enjoyed what we saw of this. It doesn't get much more emphatic from the rudo side than Villano III pulling off Atlantis' mask while Los Guapos destroy Perro Aguayo Sr. You could feel the WWF influence with the Villano Bros. run-in, but without the pyrotechnics and all of the bells and whistles it really did feel like 1980s Crockett, especially since the Villano Bros appear to shop at the same menswear stores as the Andersons. Honestly speaking, I don't really rate Atlantis as a brawler and I have a problem with how easily he applies the Atlantida at times. He also bounces up and down a bit too much not unlike the overselling he did when he was younger. But I'm expecting the emotion of the mask match to overcome all that. We'll find out shortly.

This was heavily clipped but from what we saw there was a clear throughline. The opening fall was sloppier than we're used to from the Infernales but it established a clear narrative: the Infernales were out to extract revenge and it was up to the tecnicos to prevent themselves from being bullied. Tarzan Boy wasn't a natural aggressor, but fortunately for him, Lizmark and Olimpico managed to fire up in the second caida and Olimpico, in particular, was hellbent on using his skill to outclass the rudos. I liked the part where Tarzan Boy took the fight to Satanico and Lopez shook him off, ready for a fist fight. Unfortunately, it disintegrated into a screwy finish instead of rabid brawling. Still, the tecnicos got the moral victory even if it left Tarzan Boy with sore balls.

Mutoh's contract was up for renewal. He wasn't happy with the influence Inoki was having over the company, New Japan had lost the rights to the NWO gimmick, and he knew that working in the States wasn't an option, so he took Baba up on her offer. Along with Kojima and Ka Shin, Mutoh brought along five office staff from New Japan. There were already rumours at the time that Baba wanted to resign as All Japan president after the 30th anniversary show. From the sounds of things, Baba put a stock offer on the table when they negotiated his jump.

Inoki vs. Ueda was part of the wider Inoki vs. Tiger Jet Singh feud. Inoki vs. Rusher Kimura was a blood feud, literally, but to be honest both of them paled in significance to Inoki's worked MMA fights. Choshu vs. Fujinami was the real turning point in native vs. native feuds, imo.

Inoki vs. Strong Kobayashi on 3/19/74 was, I believe, the first native vs. native main event match since Rikidozan vs. Kimura in '54. Kobayashi had been the ace of IWE but he had a falling out with the management and quit. He then issued a challenge to Baba and Inoki and Inoki accepted. There was a tremendous amount of hype for the match. It was nicknamed The Duel at Ganryujima, which was a famous 17th century duel between Japanese swordsmen on the island that New Japan later used for those death matches. New Japan and IWE formed a working agreement in 1978 and when the IWE finally folded in '81, Rusher Kimura, Animal Hamaguchi and Isamu Teranishi formed a stable and "invaded" New Japan in an angle that predated Choshu's invasion and the UWF vs. New Japan feud. In Joshi, Maki Ueda vs. Jackie Sato headlined All Japan Women's first ever Budokan show on 11/1/77. They also had a huge loser must retire match on 2/27/79.

It's been a long time since I watched some of these matches, so let's see what I remember. Alberto & Ramon Torres vs. Art Mahalick & Mike Sharpe was a fun tag match. I think I've mentioned this before, but the Torres brothers strike me as a Golden Era version of the Guerreros. Sonny Boy Cassidy vs. Farmer Pete was an interesting clip. It was a midgets match between the "undisputed champ of the little men," Sonny Boy Cassidy, and the rugged Kentucky hillbilly, Farmer Pete. You can imagine how the crowd and the commentator treated this one, but there was some cool midget brawling on the outside and plenty of kneelifts to the gut from Cassidy, who at the end remained the "undisputed champ of the midgets." I think I watched Hard Boiled Haggerty, El Shereef & The Preacher vs. Mr. Moto, Paul Diamond & Enrique Flores, but it can't have left much of an impression on me. One for the re-watch pile. The Great Togo vs. Zach Malkov I definitely remember watching. The main takeaway I had from the bout was it's a shame that 50s Japanese heels were closer in spirit to Mr. Fuji than Masa Saito or Killer Khan. This was a long bout that was most fought in the clinch. It wasn't a bad match if you have patience for that sort of thing, and I would rate Togo above Moto, but these Hawaiian Japanese guys aren't the best workers. Watching Woody Strode vs. Eric Pomeroy, I couldn't believe that this was the Woody Strode I've seen in a ton of films. It wasn't until the commentator mentioned that he'd recently starred in Spartacus as the gladiator that Kirk Douglas fights that it clicked for me that I've seen Strode in numerous films. Unfortunately, he didn't look like the greatest worker here. Perhaps he was better suited to film roles. I suppose time will tell. Angelo Pollo vs. Jerry Christy was a squash match, but it's always interesting to see the Macho Man's dad and study how much of his act resembled his sons. The Sheik vs. Bobo Brazil promised to be the grudge match to end all of grudge matches but apparently it wasn't that much of a grudge as the match never lived up to those expectations. Finally, we had Sandor Szabo vs. Louie Miller & The Great Bolo. This was an interesting gimmick match from the Los Angeles territory. It was basically a winner takes all match where Szabo had to defeat Bolo and his manager Miller within one hour or lose his purse. Szabo was an ex-champion of the world. For the first time since he appeared in this 50s footage, he looked every bit the grizzled vet. Instead of begging off, Miller went hard at Szabo to begin with in an effort to wear him down. Szabo dealt with Miller eventually and Bolo was next. Bolo wasn't the greatest worker in the world, but they ground out the storyline and worked through to a schmoz at the end. Interesting gimmick match. Jules Strongbow's expert comments added a lot to the presentation, and Szabo came out of the match looking tough despite the cheap finish.

You can't expect Dave to have watched the lucha classics from the 80s and 90s. The only thing that's relevant about Dave's opinions is whatever he's saying or tweeting about modern day CMLL. The vast majority of people interacting with Dave on Twitter are interested in 2017 wrestling not 1990. That said, it's pretty obvious that Dave thinks Atlantis vs. Villano III is the the greatest lucha match he's seen and not the sole lucha match he considers five stars.

El Satanico vs. Tarzan Boy (CMLL 02/25/00, Hair Match) Here we go! I'm psyched. Satanico's Phantom of the Opera entrance was amazing. Just when you thought the lucha GOAT couldn't get any greater he produces one of the finer Arena Mexico entrances in living memory. Tarzan Boy has lipstick kisses on his torso and upper body. He stops to give us the Rick Martel view of his six pack and I wonder if his valet gave him a kiss on the pecker for good luck. That seems to be the implication. Tarzan Boy seems like he's on a hiding to nothing in the intros. He's busy posing while Satanico is limbering up. And sure enough, Satanico wrestles a perfect fall in the primera caida. Olimpico launching himself at Bucanero was another amazing moment. It's rare that you see seconds fight like that and never as wild and out of control as that was. In true CMLL fashion, I didn't realise that Bucanero had tripped Tarzan Boy until the replay. In real time it looked like Tarzan Boy had slipped and that the rudo crowd were riding him. Olimpico's reaction was awesome. I loved the way Satanico's head jerked when he saw the fight break out. The rudo fans got on Tarzan Boy's case during this match. You can't really blame them since it was at the cathedral where Satanico had fought so many wars. The smaller, less vocal tecnico contingent popped for him. Satanico was amazing in this match. Every time the camera was on him he was selling beautifully or doing something great, and always in the right measure. Such a masterful performer. To lose that way in such amateur fashion was galling. Watch Satanico during the post-match. He is filthy with himself. While he's getting his head shaved you can see him replaying the finish in his mind and working through what he should have done differently. I thought this was tremendous. It was never going to be like Satanico vs. Dandy or that AAA match against Morgan. That was Satanico versus fellow all-time greats. For a match against a young talent like Tarzan Boy this exceeded my expectations. Folks have been arguing that there wasn't enough blood and that Satanico didn't suffer any sort of retribution, but losing hurt more than any cut ever could. It was the ultimate humiliation especially given how dominant he'd been in the feud. I actually thought it was a brilliant payoff to the beatings he gave Tarzan Boy night after night. I don't think it elevated Tarzan Boy in any way but it was beautiful and poetic and Satanico sold it like only he can. Another one for the Satanico GOAT scrapbook. Tremendous.

NB: I watched these out of order but am posting them chronologically. Mr. Niebla & Olimpico vs. Blue Panther & Rencor Latino (CMLL 02/01/00) Not content with two blood feuds, CMLL decide to add a third. This is some old school booking from CMLL. It reminds me of the early 80s when they'd have an apuesta match nearly every week. This was a bit different as it was being booked toward a mano a mano and not a mask vs. mask match, but you wouldn't know from the bloodshed, Olympic bled buckets and Panther's mask was so badly ripped at the end that you could see his face years ahead of his unmasking. I'm often critical of Panther as a rudo, but I thought he was excellent here. When you think of Panther, you don't think of a worker who licks another man's blood from his fingers or parades his bloodied foe for others to see, but that was the Panther we got here and it was quite a surprise. The match was short because it was a one night tournament and lucha tournament matches are notoriously short, but it packed a fair-sized punch for such a short match. Atlantis, Emilio Charles Jr. & Tarzan Boy vs, Fuerza Guerrera, El Satanico & Villano III (CMLL 02/01/00) This was the first match from February that felt like it was on par with the January stuff and I don't think it's a coincidence that it takes place at Arena Coliseo. Coliseo seems tailor-made for the Satanico v. Tarzan Boy feud. You sense that it loses something in Arena Mexico kind of like playing a larger venue vs. a smaller, more intimate one. Here you've got fans holding Tarzan Boy signs whereas I'm not sure he's that over Arena Mexico. And Satanico looks king-sized this smaller setting. He looks like he's on a different plane from everyone else. No one can match the ferocity with which he attacks Tarzan Boy. Villano III looks like hes moving in slow motion by comparison and even Fuerza couldn't keep up with Satanico's intensity. The only thing that comes close is Panther licking Olimpico's blood and showing off his kill to the audience. Tarzan Boy is pretty low rent but I liked the fire on his comeback here and I thought the injury storyline off the missed plancha was a nice twist after he'd finally shown some fire. Satanico stomping the ankle was wonderful as was the finger biting. Atlantis vs. Villano can't really hold a candle to the Satanico/Tarzan Boy ring work, though I did like their punch exchange. I'm sure the mask match is still a classic, but Villano comes across as slower and less vicious than Satanico and Atlantis comes across some squeaky clean do-gooder who can't understand why the Villanos are picking on him. Acting was never his forte, but you've got to be prepared to fight fire with fire in an apuesta match and I don't really get that feeling from him. Which makes me suspect that the mask vs. mask match may be closer to a pure lucha match than a brawl, but we'll see. It's been a long time since I watched it. Blue Panther vs. Olimpico (CMLL 02/08/00) I liked the booking here with Olimpico's DQ victory in the tournament final setting up a mano a mano bout. And I liked the continued viciousness from Panther who has never looked better as a rudo. I also liked the idea of giving Olimpico a huge victory over Panther even if he held the ropes to do it. But you'd think they would have shown more than they did on the TV broadcast. The clipping in February is worse than January. Black Warrior, Zumbido & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Antifaz del Norte, Felino & Safari (CMLL 02/11/00) This was another match butchered in the edit. This was extra frustrating as we never got a proper look at Pimpenela in CMLL. Instead they clipped the Black Warrior vs. Felino exchanges together even though it wasn't a feud. After an exciting January this company is starting to nosedive. Negro Casas, Emilio Charles Jr., Mr. Niebla & Tarzan Boy vs. Bestia Salvaje, El Satanico, Scorpio Jr. & Shocker (CMLL 02/11/00) I believe this is the first 2000 match from Arena Mexico and oddly it's an atomicos match. God only knows how long this lasted but it as clipped to shit on the TV broadcast. There was enough shown to demonstrate how much better Satanico was at brawling with his partner than Shocker was, for example, and a lot that you could study about his rudo performance. But ultimately it was another asskicking for Tarzan Boy, who hasn't done enough to fight back in this feud, and a disconnect with the other participants in the atomicos. Not that strong a match in my view. Atlantis vs. Villano III (CMLL 02/11/00) This was so badly clipped in the first two falls that it was hard to get any idea of how the match was flowing. The third caida was slightly better, but the switcheroo made the entire thing seem like an angle, which it was, really. If you ask me, the build to Atlantis vs. Villano has been less than perfect. Negro Casas, Ringo Mendoza & Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Blue Panther, Cien Caras & Black Warrior (CMLL 02/22/00) I don't know what lit a fire under Panther but he is officially the second best rudo in the company. I think it was April and May that Panther had his classic matches with Santo in Monterrey and it's clear now that he was enjoying a rich vein of form heading into those appearances. I loved every second of Panther vs. Ringo regardless of how decrepit Ringo may have looked. I also liked the Casas vs. Black Warrior build. CMLL has a habit of phasing guys down the card after long programs. and after feuding with Bestia and Scorpio for what seemed like an eternity, Casas didn't seem like he had much to do in January. Here they gave him something to do and it was the best he's looked so far. This was edited to shit but still enjoyable. That may be the new barometer of a good CMLL match. Atlantis, Mr. Niebla & Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs, Dr. Wagner Jr., Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio Jr. (CMLL 02/25/00) I'm back on the CMLL train with this match. I never thought I could be so excited about a "non-match" but this was tremendous. Wagner needs to stop spending so much time in Japan because he turned shit on its head right away by slapping Perro at ringside. I love how Perro's son, or his nephew, or whomever it with him at ringside, looked like Chris from the Sopranos. With their dye-jobs, Bestia and Scorpio look like the Fabulous Ones or some other Southern heel tag team. I'm pretty much a Bestia fan for life at this point as I thought he looked great here. For some reason, Atlantis showed more fire here than in his trios matches against Villano and seemed more affronted by Wagner attacking Perro than the Villanos stomping a mudhole in his own hide. Somebody in CMLL was watching the WWF for clues because Villano III's appearance couldn't have been more WWF unless his theme music dropped. It worked nicely, though. Perro getting involved meant the segment as a whole was longer than most of the trios matches that have aired thus far. It was also a reminder of how great Perro's match with Universo 2000 was. Crash booking lucha style, but crash booking done well. Negro Casas vs, Black Warrior (CMLL 02/29/00) This was a bit of a letdown after Satanico vs. Tarzan Boy and the angle with Perro Aguayo, but it was mano a mano, which carries with it a glass ceiling. Clipping or no clipping, the point was for Casas to defeat Black Warrior and earn a title shot or at least prove worthy of one. This was never going to be anything more than build. Emilio Charles Jr., Mr. Niebla & Tinieblas Jr. vs, Fuerza Guerrera, Scorpio Jr. & Violencia (CMLL 02/28/00) Not much to report about here. Emilio tried to breathe some life into things with a spirited comeback after being fouled in the primera caida, but aside from the old lucha trope of the tecnico fouling the rudo back there wasn't much to this.

RIP Ron Bass. The Beefcake angle hooked me for life. I also want to cosign the Santana match.

Not much to report about here. Emilio tried to breathe some life into things with a spirited comeback after being fouled in the primera caida, but aside from the old lucha trope of the tecnico fouling the rudo back there wasn't much to this.

This was all right. They were able to work around Vader's physical limitations by having him work over Kobashi's injured ribs. Kobashi sold well and the finishing stretch was classic All Japan. The lariat at the end felt like a vintage All Japan even if the match didn't. Kobashi is certainly being positioned as The Man at this point w/ Akiyama poised as his main challenger. That close-up of Akiyama at the end was double-edged. Kind of weird to have an All Japan where Misawa is breaking down at a rate of knots and Kawada is floundering after his injury layoff. It's almost like tennis in the post Federer/Nadal era with Kobashi as Djokovic and Akiyama as Murray.

It's hard to imagine a more average Kawada vs. Vader match than this. Vader looked terrible in this. I don't think it's a coincidence that his best match thus far has been a tag match. The layout didn't do him any favours, but at no point did he look menacing. The beginning of the bout felt like a throwback to the UWF-i, but instead of looking like he could rip someone's head off, Vader looked old and slow. Would have been better if it had been shorter with stiffer bomb throwing. I'm almost tempted to watch Vader vs. Shamrock again to see which was the better bout.

I kept waiting for this to burst into life and live up to the hype in this thread and it finally did with the exploder off the apron. The first five minutes were nothing special, but Akiyama's attack on the neck was interesting and not something you see a lot of in All Japan. I've said my bit about Misawa's selling in the past but he really is a sublime seller. Arguably, the best in history. He didn't just sell the neck well, he also sold the burgeoning intensity from Akiyama and the growing fear that he (Misawa) might not weather the storm. I can't remember any native manhandling Misawa the way Akiyama did. Not even Jumbo crushed Misawa as badly much as Akiyama did here. Misawa made a few comebacks, but he was overwhelmed by Akiyama's speed and athleticism and his quick release on throws. I liked the storyline here, but I didn't think it was epic. Not like Kawada chasing Misawa or any of the other classic All Japan rivalries. In the end, I think Akiyama was perhaps a tad too dominant even if he was the superior athlete. The loss made Misawa seemed washed up since he couldn't score the comeback win and Akiyama was seldom put in peril. I would have preferred a finishing stretch like those Misawa/Kawada matches where both guys are pushed to the limit. On the other hand, it was the kind of win that Akiyama needed: clear, decisive, dominant. An effort to recreate the magic of 6/90 and give birth to a new hero. I think there was an all-time match buried in there somewhere, but instead it was a MOTYC for me and probably the MOTM for February, although I think Aja vs. KAORU has a strong case.

Williams and Vader made for a fun hoss team. That's the kind of team you'd choose in a video game if you could. Williams was indeed good in this and Vader seemed even more surly than usual. I like to imagine it's because everything is too small for him in Japan and he gets tired of trying to squeeze into small spaces and duck whenever he enters a room. Some Japanese guys look cool with facial hair. Kobashi does not. I believe it was Howard Hawks who said a good film should have three great scenes and no bad ones. This match followed a similar formula -- three great exchanges and no bad ones. I liked the mat exchange between Williams and Akiyama, most of the power moves and the double teaming that led to the chokeslam finish. Vader was a bit slow at times but it didn't effect the match. Even the stuff I'd accuse of being "cookie cutter" in most Vader matches was well laid out in this. I don't think it was a legit classic, but one of the stronger Feb tags for sure.

This was all right. It's 2000 and LCO still hate Tomoko Watanabe in case you didn't know. I didn't mind the finish since the entire match was build for the LCO match against Watanabe and Maekawa, and Maekawa was heavily involved as a second. The hatred never built to the point where Shimoda was actually going to push another human being off a balcony, but it wasn't that wild a brawl and I suppose much of what went on was posturing.