ohtani's jacket

It's a low bar, but this was the best match of the best of 5 series. The fact that it ended with an airplane spin instead of the massive diving headbutt off the top almost felt like a tribute to snarky message board commentary.

FWIW, the correct date is 5/13. This was an excellent mano a mano bout. Some of the transitions could have been better, but they got the basic point across -- no matter how much you bully and beat Mistico, he's not going to quit. Traditionally, workers held back in mano a mano bouts in case a bigger match was booked down the line. Here, they gave us enough action and another dramatic moments that it could have easily been an apuesta match. It almost felt like they decided they were going to work an awesome main event regardless of the stipulations because that's what guys do each week in the States and Japan. They even gave us a clean fall in the tercera and a clear winner.

Usually, I wouldn't watch a match like this, but there's been so much discourse surrounding Kurt Angle lately and he's been in such a rich vein of form in 2005 that I thought I'd see what he could do with Booker. I had no idea about the angle between Angle and Booker's wife. My first thought was that given the recent allegations against Vince McMahon, this type of thing looks even worse, but even without the McMahon scandal this would still be completely and utterly inappropriate. You can flirt with crossing the line, like the Jake Roberts and Elizabeth stuff, but when you start cutting the type of promos that Angle did... Angle claims this angle was a punishment for the way he treated creative around this time. I have no idea what the truth is. It's a pretty good match sans the angle, but the finish is rubbish and I don't think the post-match angle justifies the storyline. I dunno how Angle went from having a MOTYC with Michaels to this sleaze. Perhaps he was getting too big for his britches but surely there was a better way to cut him down to size that didn't humiliate Booker's wife.

This was a really good match. Almost a mix of an Attitude Era brawl with an old-school territory bout. It was an important bout in terms of making Cena a made man and better than their WrestleMania match in every conceivable way. There may be more blood shed in this match than in any other WWE bout. You may find a voice in your head questioning whether this needed to be so violent, and whether there needed to be so much blood, but the blood and JBL's willingness to take crazy bumps made this match a grade A spectacle. Cena did a few goofy things. His failure to shatter the limo windscreen was awkward. He also didn't get the satisfaction of forcing JBL to utter the words "I Quit" into the microphone, which kind of sucks, but at least he drove him through the sign. If wrestling had its own breakfast sports shows, I can only imagine the hot takes the presenters would have had after this match.

Wild Red Berry vs. Carlos Guzman (Long Beach, CA, 05/22/1952) This managed to be both an entertaining Red Berry match and a fun little technical bout. Guzman was a machine, and Berry was no slouch either. As an added bonus, the bout is called by the legendary Dick Lane, and when Dick Lane gets excited, he gets excited. An odd detail about this match: Red Berry's ring robe remained in his corner for the entire bout. I don't think I've ever seen that before. The second went over and fetched it after the bell. At one point Berry was standing on it between falls.

The video package before the match fills me in on what's been happening between these two during the past few months. Eddie Guerrero is very good at this sports entertainment stuff. Seriously, he's got to be one of the better actors of this era. I love the promos where he's screaming at Mysterio's mask and threatening Rey's family. That's some old-school shit right there. Very reminiscent of Jake Roberts. They do a great job of working a hate-filled match without too much Attitude Era shit. Definitely the best Eddie match I've seen in a while. I didn't hate the finish as I thought the beatdown was some vicious shit. My only criticisms of the bout were that it was overly long and I was sick and tired of Cole and Taz harping on about how they couldn't recognize Eddie anymore. Jesus Christ, the guy changed heel as often as Lex Luger. They should have sold it as this being the real Eddie.

Decent cage match but nothing to write home about. I might have felt differently if I were more invested in the feud as the match was largely story driven. Once again, the post-match was more enjoyable than the actual bout with Punk declaring he going after Austin Aries.

This was a decent Edge vs. Shawn Michaels match. It was mostly a bunch of nearfalls and high risk maneuvers from Michaels, and nothing really inventive like the Angle or Benjamin matches. That said, it was action-packed and never boring. The ref got knocked out at the end and you'd have to be a first-time viewer not to figure out what would happen next. "Money in the Bank" Edge wouldn't be my first choice to challenge Batista. I'd much rather see a Batista/Michaels match. But Edge is the guy right now.

This was a cookie cutter match despite the talent involved. Very mid-tempo. I think it was a mistake having Hector Garza as the lead guy. I like his shtick, but it tends to slow the bout down and it's better as a secondary thread to whoever the main pairing are. Given that they'd just had a singles match, you'd think it would be Heavy Metal and Halloween, but they didn't make any sort of effort to steal the spotlight. it was never boring -- it's a match with Casas, Halloween and Damian, after all -- but a step down from some of the April spectacles involving Perros del Mal..

Will a 60 minute match dull my interest in this matchup? Nope, i's still the best matchup in wrestling. To be fair, there was a lot of time killing in this bout with a bunch of trashing talking and jawing with the crowd. It was far from their best match, and they've had better and more intense matches that 30 minutes plus. But when they did wrestle, they remained the best pair in the business.

This was no Valentine vs. Piper, but it was a decent dog collar match, I suppose. With so many of Rave's crew at ringside, it was obvious that the match was going to end with Rave's people beating on Punk. That made the dog collar gimmick somewhat unnecessary as they could have achieved the same thing with a straight brawl. Punk bled a huge amount for a bout that was basically a sampler for the following week's cage match. I liked his promo afterward.

This was less spectacle, more story. The rudos ruthlessly picked up on Mistico and didn't care if they were disqualified for it. In the first fall, Perro ripped Mistico's mask off to reveal his frosted tips. Mistico had to go to the back and get a new mask, but it didn't stop the beatdown. If I'd been a paying customer, I would have been pissed that of all the weeks I chose to go to Arena Mexico, it was a week where the rudos were prepared to throw the bout so they could foul an opponent. Mistico demanded a hair vs. mask match, so the weekly attendees were no doubt excited about that.

I really wanted to see the revancha between the Casas brothers and Halloween, Damian and Blue Demon Jr, but it's not available online. I'll have to settle for this entertaining spectacle instead. I'm not sure when and how Universo became a tecnico, but this is one of those rare instances where the lead rudo has beef with all three of his opponents. There were a lot of fun exchanges in the bout, but what stuck out most to me was the way the rudos treated Mistico. They were such dicks to him that it kind of had me rooting for the little guy. Garza, in particular, was a giant dick. By the end of the bout, you wanted to see Mistico wipe him out. The finish was some weak ass sports entertainment stuff that CMLL still can't do well, but the meat and potatoes of this was highly entertaining.

Sandor Szabo & Dr. Lee Grable vs Jack McDonald & Gino Garibaldi (NWA Los Angeles, 08/24/1953) Fairly typical 50s tag match, though the workers were energetic and Strongbow put over the pace of the match, which tells us that it was probably quicker and more action-packed than the fans were used to. There were a lot of cool rolling holds. Garibaldi, in particular, was a ball of energy every time he was in the ring. This is the second Szabo & Grable match we have, and they make quite a good team. I don't have a firm opinion on Szabo in his prime, but I've always enjoyed his elder statesman stuff from the 50s. A controversial finish leads to some great post-match interviews and some fun jawing with the crowd.

These two always have good matches against each other and this was another gnarly little bout. Benoit selling a concussion may be disturbing to some viewers. Triple H was merciless with his shots to the back of Benoit's head and Benoit sold the shit out of each blow. Usually, I would hate the run-in at the end, and I was hating it until the brilliant finish that saw Triple H stuck in the sharpshooter and desperately clawing his way to the ropes only for Batista to pull back the bottom rope so Hunter couldn't reach it. Triple H tapped and was sensationally knocked out of the number one contender tournament, which was the perfect outcome even if you know Hunter will weasel his way back into the title picture somehow. Benoit was reduced to an afterthought, but Batista mocking Hunter for tapping was fun.

This was a by-the-numbers Chris Jericho vs. Edge match with slightly increased stakes (being part of the number one contender tournament.) Mentally unstable Edge and his briefcase are my least favorite thing about the WWE right now, but Jericho put in a solid performance, especially since he jobbed on back-to-back nights.

Wow, that was a hell of a finish. If you're going to put Michaels over your IC champ on TV then that's the way to do it. Really good match. That shouldn't come as a surprise given Benjamin's performance from the night before as well as the spate of good TV matches Michaels has had since the Smackdown guys jumped to RAW. It's also not a surprise that Michaels could have this sort of match with Benjamin as he had that amazing match with Angle. What really impressed me here were Shelton's kicks. Good lord were they flush. Not sure how I'm gonna feel about what creative have in store for him.

Daredevils Mascarita Sagrada, Rey Misterio Jr., Mascarita Dorada Similar to the other masked tecnico group, but with a greater emphasis on flying. These are the guys fans will seek out just to see a particular spot that they did. I don't know if small size is a necessary part of this personality or if it's because it's hard to do those crazy spots with similar sized wrestlers. Dancers Super Astro, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Kung Fu Kendo and Kato Kung Lee also in this group. Masked workers who, as much as signature moves, have signature sequences that involve a lot of playing along from the rudos. Not as much emphasis on technique as other masked tecnicos, much greater emphasis on comedy. These guys generally have bigger personalities than the other two masked tecnico groups. Rayo aside, they don't usually end up as main eventers, but in contrast to the Lizmark group this is a type of wrestler that thrives in the midcard. Their personalities shine through with everything they do and allow them to stand out even without a push. Kato is the only one of these guys who could do this maskless. Astro remasked, Kendo remasked and Kung Fu worked a different style when he was unmasked. Fairly tight grouping, not a common type of worker and possibly extinct. These categories make sense and are relatively straight forward. I think the line is blurred somewhat between masked tecnicos, speedsters and daredevils. It basically comes down to what the workers are capable of physically and ultimately the most spectacular guys will be billed as daredevils. For most part, their gimmicks are built on athleticism, and in many cases, youth. Dancers I think is in a broader sense a house show trope and a comedy spot built off bullfighting. Most workers are versed in doing the dancer shtick because a lot of Monterrey bouts, and other spot shows, are comedy based. The workers you mentioned are famous for doing it, but I'd wager that there was a time when you could have seen this spot on any lucha show on any night of the week in Mexico. As far as making an artform of it, Parka and Porky come to mind.

This was marginally better than their WrestleMania match but not particularly exciting. I have a high tolerance for Triple H matches, however I don't think he's the right opponent to carry a Batista match. Triple H vs. power guy isn't the first thing that springs to mind when I think of good Hunter matches. Plus, the entire bout was built around the Pedigree, which Lawler kept annoyingly referring to as "The Truth" vs. the Batista Bomb, and the fact that both men only needed a second to apply their finisher. Not exactly the most gripping storyline in WWE history, especially if you consider the Pedigree to be about as interesting as a sledgehammer spot. JR puts Batista over so hard that he's frothing at the mouth, but this feels like a stepdown from the Orton feud.

This was a cool feud that came out of WrestleMania, but unfortunately they made them work a Last Man Standing match. The WWE has traditionally been weak at Texas Death Matches and the like, and this was no different. It didn't help that the crowd were dead. I wanted to like this, but it was a bunch of shit you've seen before. The finish kind of bothered me. Benoit made the ten count despite being speared, so Edge opened his Money in the Bank briefcase and pulled out a brick. He struck Benoit on the back of the head and Benoit failed to make the count. Edge pulled a bunch of stupid facials, but what bothered me was the brick. To me that's crossing the line. Maybe I'm being stupid in a match with other hardcore spots, but a brick to the back of the head seems like something that could kill a person. I don't know, it just didn't sit right with me.

This was the pay-per-view opener, and for my money the best match on the card. For the sounds of things, there was a pretty flimsy reason for the match taking place, but Jericho was still an excellent worker at this point and Benjamin's exciting blend of matwork and athleticism make him fun to watch. His theme music and gimmick are shit, and JR leans too far into college crap, but the guy was a blast to watch even if you knew the WWE machine would crush him in the end. JR mentions that Jericho is a record seven time Intercontinental Champion, but I'll be damned if I can remember any of his reigns. It wasn't clear whether he was a heel here. He was acting like a dick, but he's Jericho. The crowd seemed to want him to win the title, perhaps because Benjamin wasn't over with the fans. This was a great performance from him, though. Apparently, he carried the momentum through to the following night's RAW, so I'm looking forward to watching that.

This is the main event of the 49th Arena Mexico Anniversary Show. That's a pretty cool tecnico lineup and I'm down with rudo trio of Pierroth and La Familia de Tijuana. There's a lot of slapping the shit out of each other in this match. Wagner vs. Pierroth is pretty great, and I enjoyed watching Casas taking on Halloween and Damian. Mistico has to take his lumps before he can do his big dive in the tercera. The finish sets up the Friday main events for the month of April. Decent TV bout.

John Tolos & Bud Curtis vs. Fred Blassie & Larry Hamilton (NWA Los Angeles, 07/20/1953) Another long ass 50s tag match. They were fully committed to the idea of wearing a guy down to win the fall. Tolos was incredibly young here. He'd of course go on to have a legendary feud with Blassie. I liked the segments between falls where Jules Strongbow would chat with the commentator, Bill Welsh. Strongbow also had some enjoyable interviews with the wrestlers after the bout. I particularly enjoyed hearing a younger Blassie joke around with Strongbow, and the way the heels interacted with Jules. Jules a classy interviewer, it has to be said.

Complete tecnicos Lizmark, Atlantis, Angel Azteca, Ciclon Ramirez, Ultimo Dragon Stunning flyers who could also work the mat. Very common type of masked wrestler. Not big personalities. Lizmark is more or less the father of this group, although he no doubt was inspired by other similar workers beforehand. In general these guys don't have very many mask matches, Atlantis an obvious exception here, and they're much more technical workers than brawlers. This is a type of wrestler that will get over with a strong push but easily gets lost in the shuffle otherwise. Hard to imagine these guys as rudos (although it did happen with Atlantis) Probably the most important role in lucha to me. Masked tecnicos may be a dime a dozen, but it's far more common to find a great rudo than a great masked tecnico. These guys are the MVPs. I used to consider Lizmark, Atlantis and Solar to be the Holy Trinity. I would probably change that now to Lizmark, Atlantis and Santo. Azteca was the heir apparent, but didn't kick on from his initial Atlantis-like push. There's a long line of burnouts, though. He'd be at the head of the pack. I was surprised to see Ciclon Ramirez on your list. I like him a lot, but he never got the push that the others did. Ultimo adapted well to the lucha style, but I wouldn't really consider him a great tecnico.

Pat Patterson vs. Ken Patera (WWF, 12/29/80) I wish we'd gotten more from this feud, but Patera went on to challenge Backlund immediately after winning the IC title. This had the makes of a decent scrap, however the card appeared to have gone long and they had to work an 8 minute bout as a result. Not exactly the return match I was looking for.