ohtani's jacket

#266 "Well, let me tell you something Tenryu..." Hogan busting out the cross armbreaker from the get-go was a surreal moment. I couldn't help but think of that Larry King interview where he said you had to defend yourself in Japan or they'd break your arm, brutha. In the cold light of day, it's true that Hogan doesn't have much of a clue what to do after he scores a takedown, but it's still a lot more interesting than your average Hogan match. I liked Hogan's reaction to Tenryu's chop, which isn't the sort of move he faced a lot Stateside. Going for the eyes was a bit of a bitch move, though. I half expected him to start doing back rakes and belt whips once he started down that route. The match stalled a bit until the knee injury and from that point there was a bunch of awkward bomb throwing. Tenryu really only got a look in with his powerbomb as he was never going to make Hogan submit. Hulk was pretty obsessed with the enzuigiri and axe bomber, but at least it was more brutal than the big boot. Fun match, but a bit high at #266 and I agree that the Savage match was better.

#275 Man, this was gritty as fuck. It really looked like they were trying to hurt each other as much as possible. Check out how red Misawa's chest is! Even the submission attempts looked like they were actually trying to force a submission. I loved every thing about this -- the slap exchanges out of the corner; the tope, which was a worn out Misawa spot that felt fresh again; Misawa's selling of the wrist; Kawada's selling of the knockout. It almost felt like the Ikeda vs. Ishikawa version of a Kawada/Misawa match and that's an excellent thing. Ditto on the great match call.

Next off the rank was my boy Chief Don Eagle making short work of Don Noble. I've read a lot about what a sensation Billy Two Rivers caused when he showed up in the UK, and I guess this is the closest I'll get to watching a Native American wrestler work at a time when Western films and "Cowboys and Indians" were at the height of the public imagination. Again, the Chief looked good. Riki Starr, Argentina Rocca & Miguel Perez vs. The Fabulous Kangaroos & Dr. Jerry Graham was a comedy reel as you might expect with Starr involved. The star power looked better on paper than the action they produced in the ring, but it as only a short reel. Another short clip saw Mark Lewin's brother, Donn, make short work of Crybaby Bob Corby. Can't beat a good crybaby gimmick. Argentina Rocca vs. Karl Von Hess was the bout that followed the famous Rogers vs. O'Connor title fight. That's a tough act to follow and it was a fairly tepid effort. Mostly a showcase for the ever-popular Rocca, perhaps designed to send the fans home happy after Rogers won the belt? Killer Kowalski vs. Pete Managoff was a slow heavyweight contest with some poor overdubbing that didn't capture the heat (if there was any.) I really want to like Kowalski. He has a few good holds and a few moves I like, but he's not vicious enough and doesn't stay on his man like I want to see from a man named "Killer Kowalski." He's more infamous these days for training Triple H, and I remember Harley Race called him the shits. I'm not convinced that he's "the shits" yet (Harley said the same thing about Gagne, too), but so far I've only seen the one good fight against Rocca. George & Bobby Becker vs. Wild Red Berry & Tony Marelli is one of the better tag matches I've seen from the 50s. The Beckers are no-nonsense, hard-working babyfaces who prefer a good, clean fight but aren't afraid to dish it out if the other team get fresh, and Wild Red Berry and Tony Marelli are a pair of stooge heels par excellence. Think Sid Cooper, Jim Breaks, Tally Ho Kaye... they all belong to the same gentlemen's club for stooge heels. Wild Red Berry is one of the great heel acts of the era in my view. The Los Angeles crowd are almost fanatical toward him and it's just a regular tag bout like any other season. Great heat, great blue-collar faces from Brooklyn providing the foil for the LA razzle dazzle, great comedy spots, neat holds and wonderful commentary from one of the best in the business, Jack Little. Los Angles vs. Chicago is a really interesting comparison in terms of footage. I might give LA the edge at this point, but it's close.

#255 I could only find a clipped version of this. It was okay, but not something that really resonated with me. Loss' soft spot for Hayabusa continues to fascinate me, however.

#269 This is the ultimate pro-wrestling shoot style match. It's all strike exchanges and knockout attempts with none of the beauty of shoot style matwork. I can understand liking it if you're super into Vader (pun intended) and it feels like he's shooting from the hip when he cuts his promos, but I don't think this would make my top 50 shoot style matches of all time. And I don't think it's on the same level as the top stuff from any of the shoot style promotions. Hell, I don't even like it as much as Kawada/Albright or Hashimoto/Fujiwara. And I actually enjoyed their 12/93 match more on this go-through of Loss' picks. So, in case you were still wondering -- not a fan.

I thought the 10/75 match that Bix posted all those years ago was their standout 70s match? It was certainly my gateway drug into WoS.

Mile Zrno vs. Colonal Brody (Eurosport, circa 1990) This was MUCH better than I expected given that the EWF Eurosport matches mostly suck. and Brody is dead weight at the best of times, but Zrno is quickly entering that rare air of a Steve Grey or a Marty Jones where just about every match they work has a chance of being good. This started off on the mat where Zrno made Brody look better (or more competent) than I can remember anyone else achieving, grew stiffer as Brody realized he wasn't going to beat Zrno on the mat, then showcased Zrno's athleticism down the stretch. Pretty much the perfect three-pronged match for this sort of TV taping.

That's a tough question because I don't really think there is a trios match on the level of the matches mentioned here, but my pick would be either the 5/90 trios (I can't remember the date of the better one), the 11/91 Brazos vs. Infernales match, or the 1997 minis match.

First up is a squash match from Buffalo between Bearcat Wright and Cyclone Smith. Can't say I've formed an opinion about Wright one way or another. He does have long, spidery limbs, which gives him the potential to be an interesting submission worker, but we'll see. Nick Lutze & Tiny Roebuck vs. Vincent Lopez & El Pulpo was more chaotic tornado tag wrestling. The more tag wrestling I watch from the past, the more I'm convinced that tag wrestling didn't come into its own until the 80s. Ilio DiPaolo vs Fritz Von Erich was disappointing given the names involved, but I haven't really enjoyed watching most of Fritz' matches a second time. Too often they're slow, plodding affairs instead of the out and out vicious brawls he was capable of. Magnificent Maurice vs. Fritz is another example. It's heel vs. heel, which the Buffalo territory seemed to run a lot of, but instead of being a kickass heel vs. heel bout it drags on forever until the curfew. Mind you, Fritz isn't new for me so maybe I'm bored of rewatching him. And I'm not that high on the Buffalo territory, either. Reggie & Stan Lisowski vs. Bobo Brazil & Yukon Eric was another slow brawl from the same territory. I suppose what I consider slow others would describe as drawing heat. I guess I don't like traditional heel vs. babyface match-ups that lead nowhere. Benito Gardini vs. Bobby Bruins was fun. Gardini was a comedy worker with just enough grappling know-how to remain credible in the ring. Fun worker. Almost like a slimmed down Italian Super Porky who's serious about notching up wins but is outmatched all the time. I really enjoyed Cowboy Karl Davis vs. Terry McGinnis, which was a short film from 1940 (I believe.) Karl Davis would go on to do either a killer or crippler gimmick, but the awesome thing about this was that he was working like a "killer" already while playing a cowboy. Can you imagine how cool it is to see a cowboy work like a killer? And Terry McGinnis played a great fighting mad Irish man. Great finish, and McGinnis did a tremendous job of losing it after the bell. Neat short. Next up was Chief Don Eagle vs. Marquis de Paree. I really like the way that Don Eagle moves in the ring. It's so stylish. de Paree was a great foil for him and helped make him even more mesmerizing. Loved the war dance. LOVED the deathlock finish. I am now a Chief Don Eagle fan. I'll tell you this -- Dick the Bruiser has never been as intense or as vicious as he was in squashing Emile Dupree. Not since his days on the football field was he that mean. If he worked like that all the time, he'd be a legend who lived up to his name. Bad ass.

As of right now, I would go: 30s -- Jim Londos vs. Bronko Nagurski (11/18/38) 40s -- not decided yet 50s -- Lou Thesz vs. Verne Gagne (1/25/52) 60s -- Billy Howes vs. Jacques Lageat (5/5/62) 70s -- Steve Veidor vs. Gwyn Davies (5/26/76) 80s -- Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (6/5/89) 90s -- Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (6/3/94) 00s -- not decided yet 10s -- not decided yet

#270 I enjoyed this far more than I expected to. I could never get into Kawada's matches with Kobashi in the past, and I even had a shitty PAL transfer of this match with washed out colours. I know Loss has spoken about how he prefers the Kawada/Kobashi dynamic to Kobashi vs. Misawa. I'm not sure how he'd articulate that dynamic outside of both guys vying to be the number one contender to the Triple Crown ace spot, but this was a match that kept building, and building and they kept doing cool shit on the mat and with their strikes. Great stretch run. Great selling. Great cross cutting between their selling. Great crowd heat. Great finish. As Bill Russell said to Wilt Chamberlain upon the Sixers beating the Celtics in '67: "great, baby. Great."

#271 OMEGA~! Hardy Boyz~! Serial Thrillaz~! I feel like I'm stuck in a 1999 DVDVR. South style tag wrestling isn't my favourite style of wrestling, and I like it even less with modern wrinkles, but the crowd were fantastic in this and that counted for a lot. Would mean more to people who are fans of indy wrestling.

#273 This is pretty much *the* Aja vs. Toyota match due to the passion that Aja brings in trying to win back her belt. Honestly speaking, I'd sooner watch a Toyota vs. Yamada match than watch Toyota against Kong, as unfashionable as that may seem, but this was still a quality bout. The caveat being that it's not a bout that I think would crack the top 5 of either woman's career and possibly not the top 10. Big Egg is more iconic in that respect, but I thought this was grittier and more intense than the flakey V*Top tournament.

I prefer the style of wrestling back then. This gets reinforced every time I watch a US match from Loss' 90s list. I don't think it would suit everyone's tastes, but it's my favourite decade for US stuff (at least for now.) And not just the Chicago stuff. I like the Los Angeles territory just as much. I haven't enjoyed 60s wrestling that much, but most of what I've seen has been from Buffalo, which isn't my favourite territory.

What, no Kenny Omega? I suspect George Gordienko is the greatest. Bronko Nagurski deserves a mention too

This is a difficult question to answer as I generally prefer different decades for different promotions or styles. And I think the 80s and 90s are overrated in many ways. Let's see: Europe -- 70s Japan -- 80s Mexico -- 80s US -- 50s I guess that makes the 80s the winner.

June Beyers vs. Betty Hawkins was more catfighting with terribly unfunny voice over narration. So many bad puns, and Beyers still hasn't shown me much. Dick the Bruiser and the Crusher vs. Johnny Diamond and Jim Eskew is a squash match from the Bruiser's WWA promotion. The most interesting thing about it is that it has these two commentators that are EXACTLY like those local basketball commentators you get on games that aren't nationally televised. It was kind of amusing to learn that type of commentary existed back in the 60s when so much of the commentary from this era is colour stuff with terrible jokes (makes you appreciate Russ Davis more, actually.) Nick Bockwinkel vs. K.O. Matt Murphy is a short squash match but the post-match interviews with Jules Strongbrow show you how thoughtful Bockwinkel was with his promos even in his youth. Next up were a couple of Gallagher Brothers' bouts (vs. Billy Red Lyons & Frank Townsend and Guy & Joe Brunetti.) The Gallagher Brothers are a team that I think a lot of people would enjoy if there was more interest in this era. Solid stooge types that have fun shtick and draw a ton of heat. I just wish their offense was a bit more interesting. Argentina Rocca & Perez vs. Karl von Hess & Skull Murphy was another showcase of Rocca's leaping ability and "leg-based" offense. I have to admit, I'm getting used to the Rocca show and it's becoming clearer why he was such a big draw in the 50s. The biggest, in fact. Dick the Bruiser vs. Bob Orton Sr. was like vs. like (aside from the height difference.) Slow, grinding bout. Bruising at times but too much like for like. Finish was a weird upside down bear hug.

I have a lot of Antonio Pena recommendations if you liked that finish!

I'm still plugging away at 2016. I had mostly positive things to say about the Volador Jr vs. Cavernario title bout but the Reyes del Aire final was spottier and had an awful finish. I suppose I should have expected a Reyes del Aire bout to be spotty. There were some spectacular spots in the tercera caida and some nice drama. Until that finish.

I'd put it on the list. I just wouldn't celebrate it.

Volador Jr. vs. Cavernario, 2016 CMLL Reyes del Aire final, 9/30/16 I didn't start enjoying this until deep into the terceda caida. The crowd was at a fever pitch and there was a lot of selling and drama. Prior to that, it was move after move, dive after dive, with it all feeling pretty hollow. People often complain about the first two falls in lucha being short and pointless. You watch a match like this and it's hard to dispute that claim. The first two falls were rubbish, especially the segunda caida with its unearned comeback. If they're going to work like that, they might as well kill the tradition and start working one fall matches. The only thing I really enjoyed about the first half of the match was Cavernario's pretty tope through the turnbuckle ropes, but he does that spot a lot so it wasn't like he was pulling out all the stops. The two most spectacular spots in the match were Volador Jr's springboard plancha into the crowd and that over-the-top-rope, sunset flip powerbomb thing that was gorgeous. Cavernario's diving splash to the floor also looks like it hurts every single time. Ouch. Then, just like that, all of the good was swept away by the finish. What a horrible finish. It was the kind of finish Pena would have booked. A horrid, awful thing. Not worth the thrashing they put their bodies through. All in all, this felt like more of a Volador-led, offense-minded bout. I preferred their title match by a considerable margin. Awful finish.

#284 This is a match I've tried to get into several times over the years but I still haven't cracked it. My biggest problem with the match is that yeah, Kawada can get Jumbo in a sidelock, and yeah he can get him in an abdominal stretch, but then what? There's nothing he can do that can really put Jumbo away. That's the story they're going for, and it's praiseworthy and everything, but I prefer watching some thing that's more competitive. I did like Kawada badgering Jumbo around the head and neck, and Jumbo's selling was excellent. The backdrop at the end was sweet but it was like swatting away a fly. I didn't like the way Jumbo celebrated so nonchalantly. It made Kawada seem like a mere trifle and little more than a nuisance. I will say that Loss' list is making me fall in love with Kawada all over again. The powerbomb struggle that Loss mentioned was awesome as were a number of other touches.

#277 I've been meaning to revisit this ever since Phil and Will praised it so much. They do a lot of cool shit that rewards your patience but ultimately I think the story of Regal trying to stall and hold on for twice the normal time limit makes this less competitive than it could have been. And since Regal and Arn have had plenty of matches with other people filled with cool shit, it's hard to rate this as anything special. Bobby on commentary was better than I remembered. His exchanges with Schiavone weren't as spiteful as they seemed at other times.

The next match was Argentina Rocca vs. Killer Kowalski from Chicago. When I first saw what was next, I immediately thought: "that's like 10 Hail Marys for penance." Then I stated thinking maybe it could go the other way and they'd surprise me, and sure enough that's what happened. It was Rocca's first match in the Chicago territory so he couldn't coast along on star power alone. He needed to make an impression on folks and he did it by dancing around like a barefooted MMA fighter and peppering Kowalski with kicks to the face. Kowalski responded by trying to ground Rocca with powerful looking headlocks, crunching sidemares and vicious looking kneelifts. Not adjectives I'd usually associate with Kowalski, but he was as good in this bout as I've ever seen him. The booking stopped the bout from being truly special, but it was far more entertaining than I expected and the first time I've really liked a match from either man, and that's a win right there. Bearcat Wright vs. Bulldog Bob Brower had some fun brawling. Brower did a gimmick where he'd get a look in his eye and lose all control of himself. They had to get some cops to pull him off Wright at the end of this one. Also from Buffalo was Fritz Von Erich vs. Big Ed Miller. This was heel vs. heel and pretty much two big guys beating the crap out of each other. A bit slow at times, but I loved the finish where Von Erich tried to put the claw on a bleeding Miller and Miller fought out of it and began kicking the crap out of Fritz until the ref called the bout off. Again there were cops involved. At least I think they were cops. They might have been security guards. In any event, I like how Buffalo has cops with nightsticks breaking things up. The theme of heel vs. heel continued with The Gallagher Brothers vs. Johnny Barend and the Magnificent Maurice. Apparently, Barend and Maurice had split after a falling out between the two and this was their first match teaming together after Maurice had made some save in a match Barend was losing. Anyway, it doesn't take long for them to fall out again and Barend ends up fighting three guys. Note that Maurice and Barend's manager here is Ernie Roth doing an early gimmick of his called Mr. Kleen. Next I watched the Wrestling Workouts show from Hollywood. What a strange format for a wrestling show. WW was mostly made up of workers doing workouts with each other and practicing their offensive and defensive moves. That's interspersed with short newsreel footage of the workers having actual matches. Sometimes tempers flare in the workouts, and occasionally they set up matches later on, but mostly they're a fun way to see your favourite grapplers working holds and a chance to see more folks like Blears and Joe Blanchard. The Mighty Atlas vs. Mr. Moto is not exactly a battle of my two favourite guys, but they managed to work an entertaining twenty minute, no fall contest. There were some cute spots in this, like Moto hurting his hand trying to chop Atlas' flexed muscle and Atlas taking Moto down by his fu manchu beard. Mostly strength holds in this one but never boring. Finished up with The Crusher vs. Hank Lane. Poor Lane didn't stand a chance.