ohtani's jacket

This had some decent action, but that was pretty much all it was -- action. Technically, it was as good, if not better, than the CMLL trios matches, but this division feels directionless like it's been spinning on it's wheels since '97. That said, the action is still good if you care about that sort of thing first and foremost. Wagner was great during this period of his career.

This turned into a good match once they settled into one on one exchanges. I was less than thrilled with the beginning, but the second half was a standard Joshi match and easy to relate to. It was as plain as the nose on your face that the veterans would win so my main takeaways were that Toyota continued to look good in 2000, Kansai was nowhere near as bad as I expected, and the constant swearing and insults in Joshi matches can get annoying after a while. I'd love to know when that started. Hotta insulted the top JWP brass after the match, along with everyone else, but it was pretty tame after watching the McMahon-Helmsley Era.

This was cool. Give them 10-12 minutes and I think they would have had a really good match. Rikishi was a pretty good worker, but I'm telling you the dance with 2 Cool makes it difficult to believe there is a formula for getting things over in wrestling. The damnedest things become popular. And then as quickly as they become popular they're finished. I can't even remember how Rikishi and 2 Cool left the company. It's kind of weird watching a footnote like 2 Cool and the worm 17 years later.

I haven't watched the opening segment of a RAW in forever. Set up the main events for the PPV and the TV show pretty nicely. Foley is about a thousand times better than any of the others on the mic. Hunter is probably the next best on the stick. Stephanie is awful. I don't think I've watched this match since it aired. It's a fun bit of TV but a lot of people call this the best match in RAW history and I think that's going a bit far. I was still watching the WWF at this time and heavily into the news sites, but my memory is a bit foggy. I can't remember why they turned the Radicalz heel after introducing them as faces. Was that always the plan or was it switched after the initial reaction to them? Sleeze mentioned Benoit being out of place in a match like this, but the exchange I liked best was Benoit vs. Rikishi and that was the one match I wanted to see coming out of this. The next stop is that match. I guess.

This took a while to get going but once it did it was pretty good. You can put me in the camp that doesn't think it's half as good as the Street Fight, though. The Hell in the Cell gimmick was far too restricting in terms of what they could do in and around the ring and the expectation for what sort of bumps Foley would take off the cage was too great for him to deliver on. I mean, the final bump through the roof is insane but it doesn't have the impact of those King of the Ring spots. Which isn't to say that I wanted to see Foley hurt himself, it's simply the result of choosing to use the HITC gimmick. What's more, Hunter's performance isn't as good as the Street Fight. He bleeds again and does a nice job selling shock at what he did to Foley, but you know he's not going to take a bump off the cage or threw the cage (aside from the door that Foley made), and that he's not going to get hit in the face with a burning barbed wire bat. He ate a couple of nice looking moves but nothing that really upped the ante from the Street Fight, which you'd expect a retirement stip to do. The call from JR was decent and Foley walking off at the end for the "last time" played out all right, but a combination of unrealistic expectations and Triple H not really being able contribute a hell of a lot to a match like this made this seem weaker than the Rumble match. I don't think it's a MOTYC or even a match of the month, to be honest. I definitely liked Aja/Kaoru more as a garbage brawl.

I was curious about Frye so I checked this out. Kind of a weird look for him. He looked a bit like Kevin Nash without a singlet. Sasaki gave a strong performance in this match. For a guy who doesn't have the greatest reputation in the world I thought he sold beautifully. Whoever laid this out did a great job of planning it. Much better than the Tenryu match from January, IMO. Again, Sasaki impressed me here.

I was excited to see this as it was an ARSION match I hadn't seen and a new Yoshida match for me. Turned out to be more of a regular tag match than I was expecting but I thought there were a number of excellent exchanges and I liked that they kept it in the ring instead of taking a tour around the arena. I'm so used to slow, grinding submission work in Joshi that's more of a wear down or dominance tactic (and borders on a resthold half the time) that it's fun to see zippy submissions worked at a Joshi pace. Yoshida was pretty great in this. I saw her live in 2004 and was really impressed by her talent then. It's kind of a shame that she didn't have a bigger stage to work on at this point but that's the way things panned out. Akino was a hard worker. I loved that frantic pin attempt toward the end. That was cool. I also liked the lucha influence that Hamada brought to the submission exchanges. I was never that high on Hamada but she was solid in this. Aja didn't stand out as much as she did in the KAORU match but she gave another good performance. I'm not sure the finish worked that well as Akino didn't really fight it enough and the camera angle wasn't the greatest, but the match was solid.

I thought this was really good. The dynamic between Hyuga and Maekawa was strong with Hyuga being a more traditional idol type and Maekawa being the boyish shooter. The action was good and at the right level for an All Pacfic title match. There were some great nearfalls down the stretch and even the pinfalla that were a bit wobbly felt realistic in terms of their failure the secure a win. The result was also surprising, but that's me not remembering that it ever happened. Personally, I like Maekawa. I thought she no sold ar the right moments here and was solid down the stretch. Hyuga was good here but not really at an elite level yet, but that didn't matter as the All Pacific title was meant to be the Intercontinental Chanpionship level of All Japan and she was good enough to work that division.

This was a decent work rate sprint. I saw Nagashima and Sato live once and was thoroughly entertained so I always imagine what these sort of matches would be like live. As a match snob I could have done without the garbage elements, but it's amazing how widespread the use of garbage has become in the year 2000. It's downright pervasive. Fun match but only really noteworthy in the running battle between AJW and GAEA for best Joshi promotion.

If this match proved anything to me it's that Ishikawa is a better worker than Ikeda. Nagai looked poor working against Ikeda and Otsuka, but as soon as he faced Ishikawa his mat exchanges were instantly better. I think it's a combination of Ishikawa's selling and the way he mixes traditional strong style into the hybrid juniors/shoot style house style. There's far more movement and selling in Ishikawa's mat exchanges than there is from any other worker in the company. Otsuka tries hard but he's not a natural talent. and Ikeda is a better striker than mat worker. Ishikawa also has a certain charisma that comes from being "shachou" even if he's president of a tiny company. This was a slow burner but I thought it turned into a pretty good match. The Ishikawa vs. Nagai and Ishikawa vs. Ikeda exchanges were worth the price of admission. I have no idea if we get to see an Ishikawa vs. Nagai match at any point, but that's something I'd be keen to see, which wasn't something I was expecting half an hour ago.

I'm not sure you can say Kaoru wrestled a "smart" match here, but it was obvious that she didn't stand a chance if she wrestled Aja in a straight up bout. That's not to say that she introduced any radical new style here. I'm pretty sure she had already been working a ECW inspired hardcore style to differentiate her from two thirds of the Joshi universe, but by taking the fight to Aja in a garbage brawl she showed plenty of nerve. I'm not the biggest fan of Aja Kong, but I do respect her. I thought her selling in this match was excellent. Joshi screaming is often compared to the shrieking in women's tennis, but if you arm hurt as much as Aja's did in this bout you'd probably scream too. The thing I liked most about the garbage elements of this was that they used a piece of square wood instead of a table. It looked like far more of a weapon than the typical table prop. Garbage brawls aren't usually my cup of tea, but I thought this was a great one and the Joshi match of the year so far. Aja's selling was so good that it may have been a top 10 Aja Kong match for me. Definitely advantage GAEA in the AJW vs. GAEA comparison.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 ringwork, 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.

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.

All things in good times. It's such a big project that it's best not to burn yourself out.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I didn't want to watch this match, but I figured that if so much of my viewing was centered around veterans thus far that I ought to give these guys a chance. And to give the devils their due it wasn't that bad a match. I don't think it was a great match by any means, but it was more than solid when you consider they could have easily stank the joint out. Personally, I hated Mutoh's hair in this, which kept bugging me throughout, but he lay down a marker for the 00s and we'll see if his celebrated 2001-02 run holds up.

Hey guys, I don't listen to a lot of podcasts but I listened to this. It was cool hearing you guys shoot the breeze about the project. I know Loss has been trying to start something like this for a while and with Chad as his running partner I'm sure it will have the legs. For what it's worth, I thought Cactus vs. Hunter was the Match of the Month and Satanico the Wrestler of the Month.