ohtani's jacket

This was fun and everything, but it felt like more of an angle or a segment to me than a fully fleshed out match. Hashimoto's charisma and fire carried things nicely, but am I the only one who thinks that by slimming down he lost some of his aura? I mean I get that Ogawa was this huge, monumental challenge and that he needed to get into the best shape of his career to stand any chance of beating him, but he's not as badass as the rotund Hashimoto. Still the baddest man in the match, though. It's kind of hard putting yourself into the mindset for this considering that Ogawa never really went anywhere, and Ogawa kind of sucks... The STO is like a shoot style version of the Rock Bottom except that the Rock Bottom is probably a better move... but it does come across as a strong angle if you ignore how maligned "Inokism" is, and I can understand why this thread has a couple of pages of people saying they love it as I imagine it appeals to most people's pro-wrestling sensibilities. But personally I'm not sure it was better than the Chono vs. Anjoh feud. Hashimoto's intensity may have been, but Anjoh's work lapped circles around anything Iizuka, Murakami or Ogawa did so I'm leaning toward this being in the same ballpark.

This feels like it's being unfairly maligned. It was a perfectly fine juniors match. Sano was in full on New Japan junior mode and didn't attempt much in the way of shoot style matwork. In fact, most of the holds he used looked like traditional New Japan holds. I didn't have an issue with the pacing and can't understand the criticisms about the lack of struggle. It was competitive and in no way an exhibition. Tanaka, who certainly can be annoying, was good in his role working from underneath, and if you like Sano, as many people do, I would think this was required viewing as he looked like he was still in his prime. Not a match that reached any great heights but solid the whole way through and better than Ikeda vs. Nigai, I thought.

This was a decent match. I didn't think it was dramatically different from the tag matches that BattlARTS used to ruin in its early years. There was some clipping and Yone isn't very good, but any time you get to see Ishikawa work with Greco it's a must-see proposition. More mat wrestling would have been good but tag matches aren't really made for mat wrestling. This gets a pass mark from me

This wasn't the greatest. Ikeda looked like he didn't know how to work a RINGS match and Nigai looked like he didn't know how to work a hybrid juniors-shoot style match. Pretty clunky match and that top rope move from Nigai was a sorry sight.

#257 Burning -- possibly my least favourite good tag team ever. Kobashi and Akiyama together is too much for me to handle. It's like Brandon tagging with David in 90210. I'd forgotten that Kobashi adopted the Tajiri-style facial hair. Not a good look for him. This as a good match. In the beginning I thought it was one of those late period All Japan matches that are decent in isolation but pale in comparison to the promotion's creative peak, but the longer it went the more I thought it would be a good match in any era, perhaps not as the final but definitely as a league match. It suffered from the Japanese disease of too many moves. There were a few things they did like the DDT on the floor that were meaningless a minute later, and I thought Hansen struggled at times with both his movement and option taking. There was that glaring spot where Taue was holding Akiyama for Hansen to strike and the crowd thought maybe a lariat was coming and instead it was an ancient looking boot to the gut that a 60 year-old Baba could have done better. But if you're a Hansen fan (and I'm really only a middling one), this was must watch stuff. The whole "last chance" narrative the commentators were pushing speaks for itself. I hated the finish. I really wanted Taue to win on that spot where Hansen broke Akiyama's grip on the ropes. That felt like one of those classic All Japan touches with the detail work in the match layout. The Burning finishing combo at the end might have excited me if I liked them but instead I felt like Hansen in the commendation ceremony. I loved how he attacked Kobashi even though he'd gotten all the face heat during his last stand. A leopard never changes its spots. I also loved Taue in this. He was a relentless asskicker. It was like watching the Terminator version of Taue. It sucks that he ate the fall. Stupid Burning.

I was impressed by Vic Christy vs. Hans Schnabel. Up until now Schnabel hadn't shown me much. I wouldn't have even acknowledged him as a journeyman based on the footage I'd seen. But he did a great job of working a 20 minute draw with Christy. I thought they struck a nice balance between working holds and playing to the gallery, and since Los Angeles had some pretty great crowds throughout the 50s, the latter was entertaining stuff. Add to that some more super commentary from Jack Little and you had yourself a brisk and enjoyable bout. Next up was The Sheik & Reggie Lisowski vs. Ski Hi Lee & Rudy Kay from Chicago. A really long match. Lots of basic cheating and retaliation. I suppose you could call them pro-wrestling staples if you were being nice. They did draw continuous heat. Ski Hi Lee was a big guy (as the name suggests) with huge mutton chops that didn't seem to match the decade that the match was from. He was a pretty awkward big man, but the kind of guy -- and I say this with love -- that I can imagine people pushing as "effective at his role" if he were around today. I'd say the main reason for watching this is to see a match with a younger Sheik. He was a pretty decent worker even if he wasn't doing anything truly spectacular. It's kind of neat seeing him in his pomp as opposed to the aging version with the graying hair and cut up forehead. He had that whole Shakespearean villain look going on. A bit like the Master from Dr. Who. Bobby Managoff & Pepper Gomez vs. Duke Keomuka & Danny McShain was more of the same albeit this time from Texas. There's only so much of this "wild" brawling that I can take, but crowds loved the all-in style and it was very much the style of the day. Fritz Von Erich vs. Reggie Parks was a squash from Buffalo with nothing much more to add. Lord Layton vs. Pepe Pasquale was also a squash. I hadn't really clicked how tall Layton was. He was billed at 6'7, which was pretty big for an athlete in that era. Of more note was some rare footage of "Killer" Buddy Austin (vs. Dave Cox.) Austin was a heel of note in the Los Angeles and San Francisco territories during the 1960s. He also worked a lot in Japan and Australia. I can't say I've heard of him, but if you're more familiar with US wrestling history and the territories then this may be of interest to you. I didn't think he was overly special but I may be in a crabby mood from all this brawling. The best thing about Rip Miller vs. El Bandito is that the ref is the legendary Gene LeBell. The match itself was fairly poor. Phew. If that run of matches taught me anything it's that Schnabel vs. Christy was even more of a gem than I thought it was.

#252 Watched this again. I liked it, but the dynamic feels a little weird to me. I mean here you have this guy who is the spiritual heir to Baba and he's getting his ass kicked by his smaller tag partner for the majority of the bout. Now I realise that Taue was never an ace in the way that Baba or Jumbo were, but on size alone I don't recall Kawada kicking Jumbo's ass at any point in their matches. And even if Kawada is meant to be the superior wrestler that's his emforcer that he's punting around. Things even up in the final 10 minutes, but without checking the ins and outs of All Japan booking in 1996, I kind of wanted Taue to come from behind at the end. Good match, though.

#264 This was an excellent match. It was similar to the 3/93 Kawada vs. Misawa bout but without the animosity. It was just as physical, but instead of being raw and gritty they went their preferred route with a lot of big moves. They never went overboard, which they had a penchant for doing later on. It was a Carnival bout to the end, meaning that it teetered on finishing as a draw if Misawa couldn't put Kobashi away rather than any sort of miraculous upset, but it was rock solid storytelling and a great performance from both men. Much better than their 10/95 bout.

Atlantis, Negro Casas & Mr. Niebla vs. Dr. Wagner Jr., Villano III & Pierroth Jr. (CMLL 01/14/00) This was another strong lead-in match. I'm not a huge fan of trios matches where the wrestlers rip each other's masks off but it wouldn't be much of an apuesta feud if they didn't do it. And to their credit, they didn't spend an eternity doing it. Villano looked badass in his alternative strip and I liked how he used Atlantis' mask to clean the dirt off his boots. Atlantis' comeback was good and he got plenty of mileage out of throwing Villano into a row of chairs and dropping a section on him. The only thing that held this back was that there didn't seem to be much of a personal issue between Casas and Pierroth or Wagner and Niebla and the best trios matches usually have that second and third string story to contrast and illuminate the main feud. The kind of role that an Emilio Charles Jr. or La Fiera played to perfection. The rudos were fairly united but Casas and Niebla felt like they were making up the numbers while we waited for Atlantis and Villano to go at it again. Mind you, it's pretty hard for Casas to play second string to anyone and Pierroth was badly broken down compared with his glory days of '90-92. I haven't checked the match listings but it'll be interesting to see whether they plug anyone better in there. Atlantis, Mr. Niebla & Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr., Shocker & Villano III (CMLL 01/21/00) The build for Satanico/Tarzan Boy and Atlantis/Villano was a hell of a one-two punch. This is the kind of thing that CMLL does really well when they bother to do it. This installment was heavily clipped so it's not fair to judge it as a match, but I liked the fact that we got a true blue tecnico fall to start with. I think that's the first time there's been a tecnico fall in this January footage. The clipping sort of ruined the rudo comeback, but they got a nice pose in with the submission. Shocker was in his prime here and it was pretty clear that he and Niebla were the best conditioned of the workers involved. They were heavily involved in the early part of the Atlantis/Villano rivalry, as I'm sure you're all aware, but it wasn't clear from the clipping how much that played into the bout. They did pull a dive on one another, though. Atlantis vs. Villano wasn't as heated as in previous matches, which may be why they shortened this, but Atlantis got a tope in, which was a statement of sorts. The rudos were the ones who mugged the camera in the post-match interview, though, and not for the first time. Villano sure was proud of taking Super Astro's mask. I wonder how he felt about Astro reneging on the deal. Negro Casas, Atlantis & Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Bestia Salvaje, Villano III & Fuerza Guerrera (CMLL 01/28/00) ust in case you thought the Villano/Atlantis build was living in the shadow of the Satanico/Tarzan Boy feud here is a match to remind you which match-up has the higher stakes. It wasn't until the Villano brothers got involved at ringside that the Villano feud with Atlantis matched the intensity of the hatred between Casas and Bestia, and I do kind of wish that Atlantis would fire up a bit more, but given the gang warfare mentality of the CMLL booking in January 2000 and the fact that it feels like a rudo promotion right now, this was a timely reminder to Atlantis where the power lay. When you take on the Villanos you take on the family. Let's see how Atlantis responds.

Tarzan Boy vs. Rey Bucanero (CMLL 01/01/00) This was an effective mano a mano bout. Mano a manos usually have a glass ceiling on how good they can be but this had a bit of meat to it. The double juice helped. Blood is so rare in CMLL these days that it was a surprise to see Bucanero bleed so much. There were a couple of gaffes on the bigger action stuff, like the blatant calling of the flash pin in the segunda caida and Tarzan Boy overshooting his dive, but it was a decent Coliseo bout, and Satanico beating Tarzan Boy down after the bout warmed the cockles of my Satanico-loving heart. Olimpico, Antifaz del Norte & Tarzan Boy vs. El Satanico, Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero (CMLL 01/14/00) This was an excellent brawl. It reminded me of the wars that the older Infernales had with Los Intocables and the Brazos in '92-93 before they jumped to AAA. Those were also pared down trios matches with plenty of brawling. Satanico is so good at marshaling these sort of bouts, controlling the action when his team is on top and feeding the tecnicos comebacks. Just another reason why he's one of the greatest of all-time. The sudden victory that the tecnicos score in the second fall is the type of thing that will bug people, but I liked how they had to keep fighting their tails off in the tercera caida and the dive train was fantastic. Tarzan Boy is pretty much Latin Lover plugged into a program with Mocho Cota when it comes to this feud with Satanico but there's nothing like a trios match where the captains are left to duke it out at the end. Tarzan Boy fought fire with fire and justice was done. I'm not expecting Dandy vs. Satanico from the apuesta match, but so far the lead-in is just as good. El Satanico, Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero vs. Antifaz del Norte, Felino & Tarzan Boy (CMLL 01/21/00) Another great brawl. Gotta love those collars on the Infernales' jackets and how they keep them on when they jump the tecnicos. Tarzan Boy bleeds straight away and the Infernales are rabid. Especially Satanico, who seems to relish the amount of pain they inflict on the helpless Tarzan Boy. Tarzan Boy bleeds like a stuck pig in the opening caida, and even when the referees disqualify the Infernales, they still don't give a shit and keep beating up the poor kid. The doctor comes out to check him and you can almost feel Satanico growing in stature here as he paces about the ring seeking to reclaim his mantle as El Numero Uno. A reversal signals a change in fortunes for the tecnicos, as it so often does, but they have to fight really hard to get back on an even keel. It's anybody's match after the dive train and again Satanico and Tarzan Boy go at it like a matador and a charging bull. Satanico is beyond incensed, though, and even a second disqualification can't stop him from headbutting Tarzan Boy to the point where TB's blood is all over Satanico's face. The Infernales lost the battle here, but they sent Tarzan Boy to the hospital, that's for sure. The apuesta match is being set up beautifully and I can't wait to see whether they can really deliver us a payoff. Olimpico, Tony Rivera & Tarzan Boy vs. El Satanico, Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero (CMLL 01/28/00) Another perfect lead-in match. The Infernales with the Horsemen beatdown in the corridor. Anybody else notice the extra length to Satanico's hair? The Infernales do an absolute number on the tecnicos to start with. I loved the way Satanico's minions took out Rivera and Olimpico with the chairs. Ultimo Guerrero impressed me with the amount of dirty work he got through. He's never been a guy I've warmed to, but he's done an excellent job as Satanico's lieutenant. Tarzan Boy is getting killed in this feud. The only thing keeping his spirit from breaking are the constant disqualifications. Otherwise he'd run off home and never show his face again. Folks keep mentioning how short these matches are, but it's clear that they're clipped. After the Satanico interview there are highlights of a dive train we never saw prior to Satanico bottling Tarzan Boy. They cut large chunks out of the Villano vs. Atlantis trios the week before and it's the same here. Tarzan Boy gets stretchered out and we have ourselves a hell of an apuesta build right here. I'm not sure the hair match can live up to the build as Satanico keeps murdering Tarzan Boy and our pretty young friend doesn't have a lot to come back with, but this is a really memorable lead-in.

Negro Casas, Lizmark & Olimpico vs Blue Panther, Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio Jr. (CMLL 01/18/00) I thought this was excellent while it lasted. I could have sworn I'd had my fill of Casas vs. Bestia & Scorpio over the years, but it's been a while and I dug watching Casas and Bestia trade blows. Panther was excellent in this, which isn't always the case when he's the lead guy in a rudo team. I wasn't sure how legit Olimpico's injury was considering how long Panther kept him in the armbar, and the fact that the rudos kept getting their licks in while the doc checked on him, but the replay looked pretty nasty. They could have had the tecnicos take the next fall a man down and given us a few more thrills, but as a TV match, it had a lot of workers I like and was more than passable. Zumbido, Rencor Latino & Arkangel de la Muerte vs. Ringo Mendoza, Tigre Blanco & Pantera (CMLL 01/18/00) This was a fun undercard match. You know CMLL is humming when the undercard is good. Arkangel de la Muerte is a favourite of the Segunda Caida crew. I've never really viewed him as an elite-level talent, but he does have a lot of nice looking offense and I was impressed with his stooging here. He made Tigre Blanco look like a million bucks during the finish, and let's face it, Tigre Blanco wasn't the most outstanding tecnico on the CMLL roster. The most impressive tecnico was Pantera, who contributed a beautiful dive, but I couldn't believe that Ringo was still kicking about in Jan 2000. Very Gran Hamada-esque of him. The match was clipped like all of the January TV has been, but it purred nicely. Arkangel de la Muerte vs. Tigre Blanco (CMLL 01/25/00) I thought this was a good undercard match. I watched it twice, the first time by itself and the second time after watching the trios that led into it, and I enjoyed it more the second time. The clipping hurt the rhythm of what they were trying to do, but I liked the way that Tigre Blanco picked up where he left off after his strong finish to the trios match and that Arkangel had to draw on his experience to win the segunda caida and take the tercera. Sure, it was a forgettable match in the grand scheme of things, and workers have done better in CMLL in similar positions like Olimpico and Halcon Negro, but I thought this was worth taking the time to watch. Emilio Charles Jr., Lizmark & Tinieblas Jr. vs. Bestia Salvaje, Scorpio Jr. & Shocker (CMLL 01/11/00) This was a perfectly fine trios match. I can understand being disappointed with it if you were expecting something special but oftentimes trios matches are more about the workers than the matches themselves. Here I was interested in seeing how Emilio would captain a tecnico team, how effective Scorpio Jr. could remain without a mask, and what, if anything, Lizmark could bring to a match in the year 2000. I expected it to be fairly one-sided, but they gave Lizmark the opportunity to shine here, which I was happy about. I liked Emilio's look here as well. He'd moved away from the Remy-inspired Hunter look to something a bit more suave. Zumbido, Mr. Mexico & Violencia vs. Solar I, Antifaz del Norte & Pantera (CMLL 01/01/00) This was all right. In a month that was dominated by rudo beatdowns, I appreciated the fact that they started off with a tecnico fall and worked a rudo comeback. Solar did a decent job of directing traffic. He was a couple of years away from the beginning of his rivalry with Negro Navarro. A rivalry that would reinvent if not revitalise his career. The first match of theirs I've seen is from around 2002. Navarro still has hair and hadn't adopted his asskicker gimmick yet. Zumbido showed some promise here and would go on to play a bigger role in CMLL in 2003-04.

This was all right. In a month that was dominated by rudo beatdowns, I appreciated the fact that they started off with a tecnico fall and worked a rudo comeback. Solar did a decent job of directing traffic. He was a couple of years away from the beginning of his rivalry with Negro Navarro. A rivalry that would reinvent if not revitalise his career. The first match of theirs I've seen is from around 2002. Navarro still has hair and hadn't adopted his asskicker gimmick yet. Zumbido showed some promise here and would go on to play a bigger role in CMLL in 2003-04.

This was a perfectly fine trios match. I can understand being disappointed with it if you were expecting something special but oftentimes trios matches are more about the workers than the matches themselves. Here I was interested in seeing how Emilio would captain a tecnico team, how effective Scorpio Jr. could remain without a mask, and what, if anything, Lizmark could bring to a match in the year 2000. I expected it to be fairly one-sided, but they gave Lizmark the opportunity to shine here, which I was happy about. I liked Emilio's look here as well. He'd moved away from the Remy-inspired Hunter look to something a bit more suave.

I thought this was a good undercard match. I watched it twice, the first time by itself and the second time after watching the trios that led into it, and I enjoyed it more the second time. The clipping hurt the rhythm of what they were trying to do, but I liked the way that Tigre Blanco picked up where he left off after his strong finish to the trios match and that Arkangel had to draw on his experience to win the segunda caida and take the tercera. Sure, it was a forgettable match in the grand scheme of things, and workers have done better in CMLL in similar positions like Olimpico and Halcon Negro, but I thought this was worth taking the time to watch.

This was a fun undercard match. You know CMLL is humming when the undercard is good. Arkangel de la Muerte is a favourite of the Segunda Caida crew. I've never really viewed him as an elite-level talent but he does have a lot of nice looking offense and I was impressed with his stooging here. He made Tigre Blanco look like a million bucks during the finish, and let's face it, Tigre Blanco wasn't the most outstanding tecnico on the CMLL roster. The most impressive tecnico was Pantera, who contributed a beautiful dive. I couldn't believe that Ringo was still kicking about in Jan 2000. Very Gran Hamada-esque of him. The match was clipped like all of the January TV has been, but it purred nicely.

I thought this was excellent while it lasted. I could have swore I'd had my fill of Casas vs. Bestia & Scorpio over the years, but it's been a while and I dug watching Casas and Bestia trade blows. Panther was excellent in this, which isn't always the case when he's the lead guy in a rudo team. I wasn't sure how legit Olimpico's injury was considering how long Panther kept him in the armbar, and the fact that the rudos kept getting their licks in while the doc checked on him, but the replay looked pretty nasty. They could have had the tecnicos take the next fall a man down and given us a few more thrills, but as a TV match, it had a lot of workers I like and was more than passable.

Just in case you thought the Villano/Atlantis build was living in the shadow of the Satanico/Tarzan Boy feud here is a match to remind you which match-up has the higher stakes. It wasn't until the Villano brothers got involved at ringside that the Villano feud with Atlantis matched the intensity of the hatred between Casas and Bestia, and I do kind of wish that Atlantis would fire up a bit more, but given the gang warfare mentality of the CMLL booking in January 2000 and the fact that it feels like a rudo promotion right now, this was a timely reminder to Atlantis where the power lay. When you take on the Villanos you take on the family. Let's see how Atlantis responds.

Another perfect lead-in match. The Infernales with the Horsemen beatdown in the corridor. Anybody else notice the extra length to Satanico's hair? The Infernales do an absolute number on the tecnicos to start with. I loved the way Satanico's minions took out Rivera and Olimpico with the chairs. Ultimo Guerrero impressed me with the amount of dirty work he got through. He's never been a guy I've warmed to, but he's done an excellent job as Satanico's lieutenant. Tarzan Boy is getting killed in this feud. The only thing keeping his spirit from breaking are the constant disqualifications. Otherwise he'd run off home and never show his face again. Folks keep mentioning how short these matches are, but it's clear that they're clipped. After the Satanico interview there are highlights of a dive train we never saw prior to Satanico bottling Tarzan Boy. They cut large chunks out of the Villano vs. Atlantis trios the week before and it's the same here. Tarzan Boy gets stretchered out and we have ourselves a hell of an apuesta build right here. I'm not sure the hair match can live up to the build as Satanico keeps murdering Tarzan Boy and our pretty young friend doesn't have a lot to come back with, but this is a really memorable lead-in.

#256 God, this was a great fight. Hashimoto absolutely pulverized Yamazaki in this fight. The only thing that kept Yamazaki in the match was Hashimoto's knee injury and didn't he go after it like he may never have a second chance at a G1 yusho? Some folks may argue that they went away from the knee toward the end, but I'd argue that Yamazaki was simply in no condition to go for it. Great match. One of the best in New Japan history and about 200 places too low if not more. This ate Vader vs. Takada's lunch. I don't think there's ever been another wrestler like Shinya Hashimoto and this was one of the biggest moments of his career. Savor it.

The Brazos vs Infernales match came to mind first for me as well when I initially thought about it. There are more than a few of those AAA Rey Jr, Santo, Fuerza & Friends trios that I want to rewatch though. I gotta watch the 97 minis match though. I'm not sure if I've ever seen it. How do you feel about the Space Cadets vs La Ola Lila from the 80s set? That was the highest ranked trios match. I said it was the best trios match we have from the 80s during the nominating period and was later mocked on air for it (kidding), but the result speaks for itself. It's a pure trios match but a pure trios match isn't really a greatest of all-time style match. That said, there's been so many trios matches wrestled in the history of lucha libre that I'm sure there were at least a few GOAT contenders. If we could see the Villanos vs. Brazos mask match without the strobe effect that might be a contender. Wait a minute, I forgot about the Thundercats vs. Trios Fantasia. There's your winner right there! The answer to this question probably lies in Pavilion Azteca. They probably had some crazy trios match that was better than anything that's on tape.

The build for Satanico/Tarzan Boy and Atlantis/Villano was a hell of a one-two punch. This is the kind of thing that CMLL does really well when they bother to do it. This installment was heavily clipped so it's not fair to judge it as a match, but I liked the fact that we got a true blue tecnico fall to start with. I think that's the first time there's been a tecnico fall in this January footage. The clipping sort of ruined the rudo comeback, but they got a nice pose in with the submission. Shocker was in his prime here and it was pretty clear that he and Niebla were the best conditioned of the workers involved. They were heavily involved in the early part of the Atlantis/Villano rivalry, as I'm sure you're all aware, but it wasn't clear from the clipping how much that played into the bout. They did pull a dive on one another, though. Atlantis vs. Villano wasn't as heated as in previous matches, which may be why they shortened this, but Atlantis got a tope in, which was a statement of sorts. The rudos were the ones who mugged the camera in the post-match interview, though, and not for the first time. Villano sure was proud of taking Super Astro's mask. I wonder how he felt about Astro reneging on the deal.

Another great brawl. Gotta love those collars on the Infernales' jackets and how they keep them on when they jump the tecnicos. Tarzan Boy bleeds straight away and the Infernales are rabid. Especially Satanico, who seems to relish the amount of pain they inflict on the helpless Tarzan Boy. Tarzan Boy bleeds like a stuck pig in the opening caida, and even when the referees disqualify the Infernales, they still don't give a shit and keep beating up the poor kid. The doctor comes out to check him and you can almost feel Satanico growing in stature here as he paces about the ring seeking to reclaim his mantle as El Numero Uno. A reversal signals a change in fortunes for the tecnicos, as it so often does, but they have to fight really hard to get back on an even keel. It's anybody's match after the dive train and again Satanico and Tarzan Boy go at it like a matador and a charging bull. Satanico is beyond incensed, though, and even a second disqualification can't stop him from headbutting Tarzan Boy to the point where TB's blood is all over Satanico's face. The Infernales lost the battle here, but they sent Tarzan Boy to the hospital, that's for sure. The apuesta match is being set up beautifully and I can't wait to see whether they can really deliver us a payoff.

This was another strong lead-in match. I'm not a huge fan of trios matches where the wrestlers rip each other's masks off but it wouldn't be much of an apuesta feud if they didn't do it. And to their credit, they didn't spend an eternity doing it. Villano looked badass in his alternative strip and I liked how he used Atlantis' mask to clean the dirt off his boots. Atlantis' comeback was good and he got plenty of mileage out of throwing Villano into a row of chairs and dropping a section on him. The only thing that held this back was that there didn't seem to be much of a personal issue between Casas and Pierroth or Wagner and Niebla and the best trios matches usually have that second and third string story to contrast and illuminate the main feud. The kind of role that an Emilio Charles Jr. or La Fiera played to perfection. The rudos were fairly united but Casas and Niebla felt like they were making up the numbers while we waited for Atlantis and Villano to go at it again. Mind you, it's pretty hard for Casas to play second string to anyone and Pierroth was badly broken down compared with his glory days of '90-92. I haven't checked the match listings but it'll be interesting to see whether they plug anyone better in there.

This was an excellent brawl. It reminded me of the wars that the older Infernales had with Los Intocables and the Brazos in '92-93 before they jumped to AAA. Those were also pared down trios matches with plenty of brawling. Satanico is so good at marshaling these sort of bouts, controlling the action when his team is on top and feeding the tecnicos comebacks. Just another reason why he's one of the greatest of all-time. The sudden victory that the tecnicos score in the second fall is the type of thing that will bug people, but I liked how they had to keep fighting their tails off in the tercera caida and the dive train was fantastic. Tarzan Boy is pretty much Latin Lover plugged into a program with Mocho Cota when it comes to this feud with Satanico but there's nothing like a trios match where the captains are left to duke it out at the end. Tarzan Boy fought fire with fire and justice was done. I'm not expecting Dandy vs. Satanico from the apuesta match, but so far the lead-in is just as good.

This was an effective mano a mano bout. Mano a manos usually have a glass ceiling on how good they can be but this had a bit of meat to it. The double juice helped. Blood is so rare in CMLL these days that it was a surprise to see Bucanero bleed so much. There were a couple of gaffes on the bigger action stuff, like the blatant calling of the flash pin in the segunda caida and Tarzan Boy overshooting his dive, but it was a decent Coliseo bout, and Satanico beating Tarzan Boy down after the bout warmed the cockles of my Satanico-loving heart.