ohtani's jacket

That may be the case, but his kanji is 高野 讓治 and initials usually come from either hiragana or kanji. Perhaps his father wanted to call him George but his mother wanted to use kanji. In any event, I think JT comes from his kanji and not the katakana.

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR Ep 18 Dave Finlay vs. Orig Williams (Denbigh, taped 1988) This was the last chance saloon for Orig Williams to convince me his matches are worth watching. There were some fun moments early on with Finlay stiffing Williams, but it soon disintegrated into some BS countout victory for Finlay and Teenage Tracy somehow got involved (looking distinctly like Cyndi Lauper.) Finlay had to hold Paula back to spare us from her overacting, and all of this dreck signaled the end of me watching Orig Williams. Skull Murphy & Kendo Nagasaki vs. Pete Roberts & Steve Adonis (9/6/88) This was the main event of the Mick McManus VHS tape, which a bit of research tells me was called "The Mick McManus World of Wrestling." The commentator whose name I couldn't make out before was Lee Bamber. Fairly typical sort of British tag. All-Star at least tried to work more of a Southern style tag format than Dale Martin, so there was a big FIP segment with Nagasaki and Murphy working over Roberts as the crowd grew increasing livid. That was the highlight of the match really as some of the crowd had a real go at Nagasaki in particular and things got a bit dicey when the heels went over. Nagasaki's manager got a lot of stick as well, but he always did as he was openly gay. He pretty much gave up on his post-match promo to kick at a ringsider. Not a lot of action otherwise. Adonis looked hopeless green, Nagasaki was old, Murphy's great work from earlier in the decade had taken a dive, and Roberts was too long in the tooth to hold it all together, not that the great workers ever really could in these British tags. Make like VHS and fast forward to the end. Danny Boy Collins vs. Ritchie Brooks (Cage Match, Cardiff, taped 3/30/90) This was the last match I expected to be any good. Anybody who's followed this thread will know how I feel about Ritchie Brooks and Danny Boy Collins and here they were in a cage match on TV with escape match rules. Not a great recipe for success, but I really, really enjoyed this. Brooks dished out a meaningful beating to Collins. Collins sold well and hit some big offence. A couple of big spots off the top of the cage including a missed splash from Brooks and a superplex that was straight out of the Hart family playbook. There was also one cool spot where Brooks stopped Collins from escaping out the door by using the side of the cage to run up the ropes and deliver a diving stomp. A bit hard to describe, but I'd totally pinch that if I were a wrestler. Anyway, I was right into this. My only criticism would be that Brooks should have stayed down longer from the move that let Collins escape instead of popping up quickly to dramatise his shock and disbelief, but that's a minor quibble. One of the big surprises thus far. Johnny Saint vs. Barry Douglas (Corwen, taped 4/7/90) Another decent Saint match. A short technical bout with a lot of cool looking escape holds. Straight up with very little in the way of shtick. Douglas couldn't really add anything to the bout, but that's all right. It was fun watching Saint. Dave Taylor vs. Robbie Brookside (Caernarfon, taped 1987) Short match with a heel Dave Taylor squashing a young Robbie Brookside. I'm not sure what the timeline was on Taylor turning heel after being the ladies' favourite in early Reslo, but he was offside with the crowd so he clearly made a go of it. Brookside had one offensive tear, but then it was goodnight nurse. Marty Jones vs. Ross Hart (12/7/83) This had extended squash written all over it and sure enough Jones was just brutalising Hart here. If you ever want proof of how great Jones was on offence during this time period then this is a good example. There was some awkwardness between them when they ran the ropes, but otherwise Jones decimated Hart. It was as though they didn't belong in the same ring together. Whether Jones really felt that way I don't know, but he often wrestled that way when he didn't think his opponent was up to scratch. Wish Hart had stayed down longer on some of the suplexes, but I suppose it doesn't pay to quibble about squashes. Boston Blackie vs. Yavus Selectman (Caenarfon, taped 1988) The matwork in this was so cool. I have no idea who Yavus Selectman was, but his name alone suggests East European mat wizardry. Blackie looked rock solid as well, and things were going great until they stood up and botched the finish. Blackie was supposed to be laid out on the floor unable to beat the count while Selectman made it back into the ring, but they botched the tumble over the ropes and Blackie ended up kneeling against the apron waiting sheepishly to be counted out. Shit finish to a fun bout.

Well, according to the Yearbook thread it was a botched lift from Onita and not an amazing counter from Tenryu, but it worked for me regardless. I also didn't pick up on Tenryu brushing aside then ducking Goto's final two enzuigiri attempts while I was caught up in the moment.

Who is this guy?

This was a hell of a match. Interesting contrast at the start with the FMW team coming to the ring with feudal era flags and a huge entourage while the WAR boys arrived with a minimum of fanfare. Really wild, chaotic opening to the bout with some big men flying about trying to knock each other out. Things dipped a bit during the Onita face in peril segment, but picked up again when Tenryu chased after Goto for interfering in the bout. He dished out his harite attack as Goto was crumpled against the guard rail and that set off a chain reaction that ended up costing the WAR team the bout as Goto attacked Tenryu with a chair leaving Hara to fend for himself in a two-on-one situation. Hara's not really great at any one thing, but he always puts in a solid shift and his selling was decent enough to keep things ticking over. However, the glue that held this together was Goto. I thought he was immense in this both in dishing out the revenge spots against Tenryu and keeping the crowd hooked when Hara in peril was the main focus. As for Tenryu, well what more can be said about his selling. I think he may be entering the upper echelon of sellers for mine. I was really impressed when Hara made the hot-ish tag and Tenryu launched into a high tempo attack then staggered backwards against the turnbuckle selling both his cut and his wooziness. The stretch run was full of great images and a bucket load of passion, which is what you want from these interpromotional matches. Goto worked overtime to ensure his team got the win, Hara was out of action with taped ribs, and Tenryu was fighting on guts alone. This had so much going for it that even Tenryu's abdominal stretch hold felt like a huge moment. I absolutely adored the finish with Goto hitting the enzuigiri and then Tenryu fighting desperately against the Fire Thunder Powerbomb. That first counter to the powerbomb where Tenryu made it impossible for Onita to lift him despite the fact he was hanging upside down in a compromised position is one of the coolest powerbomb counters I can remember seeing. Onita nailing the second attempt sent shock waves through the crowd and the commentary put over what a shock win it was. Great match. I was even excited watching the highlights afterwards.

Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs. Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto (3/2/94) This was a hell of a match. Interesting contrast at the start with the FMW team coming to the ring with feudal era flags and a huge entourage while the WAR boys arrived with a minimum of fanfare. Really wild, chaotic opening to the bout with some big men flying about trying to knock each other out. Things dipped a bit during the Onita face in peril segment, but picked up again when Tenryu chased after Goto for interfering in the bout. He dished out his harite attack as Goto was crumpled against the guard rail and that set off a chain reaction that ended up costing the WAR team the bout as Goto attacked Tenryu with a chair leaving Hara to fend for himself in a two-on-one situation. Hara's not really great at any one thing, but he always puts in a solid shift and his selling was decent enough to keep things ticking over. However, the glue that held this together was Goto. I thought he was immense in this both in dishing out the revenge spots against Tenryu and keeping the crowd hooked when Hara in peril was the main focus. As for Tenryu, well what more can be said about his selling. I think he may be entering the upper echelon of sellers for mine. I was really impressed when Hara made the hot-ish tag and Tenryu launched into a high tempo attack then staggered backwards against the turnbuckle selling both his cut and his wooziness. The stretch run was full of great images and a bucket load of passion, which is what you want from these interpromotional matches. Goto worked overtime to ensure his team got the win, Hara was out of action with taped ribs, and Tenryu was fighting on guts alone. This had so much going for it that even Tenryu's abdominal stretch hold felt like a huge moment. I absolutely adored the finish with Goto hitting the enzuigiri and then Tenryu fighting desperately against the Fire Thunder Powerbomb. That first counter to the powerbomb where Tenryu made it impossible for Onita to lift him despite the fact he was hanging upside down in a compromised position is one of the coolest powerbomb counters I can remember seeing. Onita nailing the second attempt sent shock waves through the crowd and the commentary put over what a shock win it was. Great match. I was even excited watching the highlights afterwards.

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR Ep 17 Barry Douglas vs. Ian McGregor (7/3/86) Barry Douglas came from wrestling royalty as part of the most famous family in the North, but was one of the most colourless journeymen on the circuit. He wasn't a bad wrestler per se, but bouts like this were indicative of his lack of showmanship. McGregor was one of the better teenage wrestlers around. Instead of working an exciting bout to put the kid over, Douglas took it easy on him. I wouldn't even call it a workmanlike performance. It was almost as though kayfabe wise he was thinking "well, here's a night off." Flat pace and a bit uninspiring. Mick McMichael vs. Greg Valentine (4/16/86) This was the final of the 1986 Golden Grappler trophy between veteran Mick McMichael and Farmer's Boy/Promoter's Son, Greg Valentine. It was obvious to all in sundry who was going over here. Max Crabtree clearly wanted a vet in there to make his boy look good. There was no way in hell that McMichael was winning this thing. McMichael usually annoys the shit out of me, but he got stuck into his work here and delivered a quality performance without any mickey mouse bullshit. It was actually a pretty good match with Valentine looking just how his old man wanted and Mick earning his paycheck. Surprised me as I expected it would be dreck. Pete Roberts vs. Barry Douglas (1/28/86) There was no taking a night off against Pete Roberts, who may have been the best guy in the promotion at this point. He was certainly the guy who delivered the best matches in the first year that wrestling became a stand alone program. Speaking of which, this video includes the ugly opening credits for the stand alone show and that awful voice over narrator guy I can't stand (the poor man's Dickie Davis.) This was a good match. I'm the only Pete Roberts mark I know outside of the Heritage old-timers, and even then he's at the tail end of the era that they're invested in. But it's always a pleasure to watch him work and the fact that working with him prompted Douglas to step up his game is a sign he was respected among his peers as well. Because he was well traveled, he brought slightly more high impact offence to the ring, and while Douglas made a strong start to the match, Roberts was able to mow him down in the end w/ a beautiful suplex. Supa Desutoroia!

Sweet, I'll check that out later.

I'm fairly certain the female commentator was Cuty Suzuki. The reason Takano uses the initials JT is because his real name is Joji Takano.

George Takano the shoot stylist? When did that happen? He actually made a pretty decent first of it during his opening gambit. Just as I was beginning to contemplate "what if" scenarios about Takano working shoot style it turned into a regular pro-wrestling match, but even that portion was pretty damn good. They packed an amazing amount of action into 13 minutes and the crowd was super hot. I'm not sure whether Tenryu had a dedicated fan base or if these guys were just hardcores looking to get in on the ground floor of a new promotion, but they made a lot of noise and the shot of that one guy losing his shit ought to be some sort of internet pro-wrestling meme. With so much action it could have easily been a spotfest, but it was fairly seamless thanks to some killer cut-off spots and Tenryu doing a marvelous job of working his ankle injury into the mix. I'm normally frustrated by the repetitious powerbomb spots in Tenryu matchs, but here I thought all three powerbomb spots were outstanding. I don't know how much credit Takano deserves in taking the move, but it's the best it's looked in any match so far. Really good match. Excellent even by 13 minute match standards.

Genichiro Tenryu vs. George Takano (10/11/90) George Takano the shoot stylist? When did that happen? He actually made a pretty decent first of it during his opening gambit. Just as I was beginning to contemplate "what if" scenarios about Takano working shoot style it turned into a regular pro-wrestling match, but even that portion was pretty damn good. They packed an amazing amount of action into 13 minutes and the crowd was super hot. I'm not sure whether Tenryu had a dedicated fan base or if these guys were just hardcores looking to get in on the ground floor of a new promotion, but they made a lot of noise and the shot of that one guy losing his shit ought to be some sort of internet pro-wrestling meme. With so much action it could have easily been a spotfest, but it was fairly seamless thanks to some killer cut-off spots and Tenryu doing a marvelous job of working his ankle injury into the mix. I'm normally frustrated by the repetitious powerbomb spots in Tenryu matchs, but here I thought all three powerbomb spots were outstanding. I don't know how much credit Takano deserves in taking the move, but it's the best it's looked in any match so far. Really good match. Excellent even by 13 minute match standards.

I like the maestros stuff, but they do things at about a quarter of the speed they used to. The exception was Navarro, but even he's ten years on from when he first changed his style. EDIT: Loving your new avatar, btw.

A match where Yatsu doesn't slap on a side headlock and where Tenryu has some sustained offence.

I reckon Wanz is the best guy in it since he signed-off on the thing. Hell, it could have even been his idea. Love the ref's dancing as well.

I was a bit worried about this when Yatsu came out to a weak Japanese hip hop track and paced about the ring so pensively. Looked like it would be one-way traffic for a while there as Tenryu made his way to the ring w/ his theme music blaring and that awesome Revolution jacket. But Yatsu showed early on that he meant business and my fears were soon dispelled. Having said that, they really only half-delivered on what should have been a pretty heavy physical contest. It was a methodically paced bout that never really settled into a groove. As others have mentioned, the transitions were poor and the flow was slightly off. Yatsu didn't look that great working from the top in large part because he lacked the charisma of his opponent, but to be fair it wasn't one of Tenryu's finer performances. I've noticed that Tenryu doesn't really go in for epic matches. That's rare considering the era he was working in where everyone was trying to be bigger and better. I'm not sure if it's because he was aware of his opponent's limitations, as well as his own, or if it was a deliberate choice because of the style of match he liked to work where you beat the crap out of each other until there's only one left standing. In any event, he often went short. This had a cool finish with Tenryu using sumo style harite slaps to set Yatsu up for the power bomb, but there wasn't a hell of a lot else that had you sit up and take notice. Would have liked to have seen them pummel each other more.

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu (10/29/91) I was a bit worried about this when Yatsu came out to a weak Japanese hip hop track and paced about the ring so pensively. Looked like it would be one-way traffic for a while there as Tenryu made his way to the ring w/ his theme music blaring and that awesome Revolution jacket. But Yatsu showed early on that he meant business and my fears were soon dispelled. Having said that, they really only half-delivered on what should have been a pretty heavy physical contest. It was a methodically paced bout that never really settled into a groove. As others have mentioned, the transitions were poor and the flow was slightly off. Yatsu didn't look that great working from the top in large part because he lacked the charisma of his opponent, but to be fair it wasn't one of Tenryu's finer performances. I've noticed that Tenryu doesn't really go in for epic matches. That's rare considering the era he was working in where everyone was trying to be bigger and better. I'm not sure if it's because he was aware of his opponent's limitations, as well as his own, or if it was a deliberate choice because of the style of match he liked to work where you beat the crap out of each other until there's only one left standing. In any event, he often went short. This had a cool finish with Tenryu using sumo style harite slaps to set Yatsu up for the power bomb, but there wasn't a hell of a lot else that had you sit up and take notice. Would have liked to have seen them pummel each other more.

I don't know if it's a commonly held view. It's my personal opinion. The execution is maestro matches is often poor or slow and the matches generally aren't structured well.

I'm honestly not sure what the standards are in this thread. Given that no one is listing Hogan, Dusty, Rock, and guys like that, it seems like it isn't about look or reaction and is based on in-ring actions. "Great matches" has been listed as a criterion, but even though people are primarily listing highly regarded workers I don't think it's simply "who was the best worker of all the people who were faces?" In any case, I'm not sure it matters all that much for Atlantis. Would you really bat an eyelid if someone called him a better worker than Lizmark but a worse tecnico, or if they called him a worse worker but a better tecnico? Atlantis seems fairly close to all four of those guys both as a worker and as a tecnico (although I know you found Rambo more likeable than Villano III). It's probably easier to judge Solar and Villano as tecnicos than as workers, though, just because of footage limitations. As I said earlier, I can see the argument that Dandy's not a pure tecnico, but who was? Atlantis, Lizmark, and El Hijo del Santo, obviously. I assume Villano III and Angel Azteca continued to be pure tecnicos after they unmasked (when they were tecnicos - I don't know if they ever had any runs as rudos). What about Javier Cruz, Americo Rocca, and Ringo Mendoza? Dandy didn't seem to be presented all that differently from them. I'm limited by my lousy Spanish, but, even though Dandy's rudo past did seem to get mentioned and pop up in his character (the feud with Azteca, cheating to beat Satanico and Fiera, and I'm not sure but I think after that time he hanged Fiera he got asked in a post-match interview if he was still a tecnico), he still seemed a lot closer to Atlantis than to tecnico Perro. Regardless of whether he's a pure tecnico, I brought him up mostly because I think that he's a better babyface than Atlantis - better seller, better at getting fired up, better wrestler, and his character just came across as sharper than Atlantis'. A lot of food for thought here. I've always bunched Atlantis together with Lizmark, Solar, and at times Santo in terms of classical masked luchadores in the modern era. Azteca I think was the heir apparent as you know. All of them came after the glory days of the lucha mags. Atlantis got a strong push on debut and then settled into a sort of consistent presence, but as a hardcore fan watching what limited footage we have, I think he held up the tecnico end of a lot of matches w/out being the focal guy that Dandy was in his various feuds. To me that's a different strength or skill than Dandy presented. I know I said it before, but they're different types of babyfaces. Dandy had a run where he was the man. I don't think Atlantis had the charisma to reach that level. He had a different sort of appeal. To that extent, Dandy was better, but I think he faded fairly quickly. If we're being honest, is he as relevant after 1990 as he was during that run? CMLL chose not to push him as strongly, but he also gained weight and what not. Atlantis has a lot of horrible stuff admittedly. A lot of his apuesta feuds in the early 90s suck and he disappears off the radar a lot during the lost years of '93-95, but how do we factor in his longevity and his later apuesta matches against Villano and Ultimo Guerrero? I sometimes think if he hit the maestro circuit more people wouldn't doubt him as much as a worker.

Not really. I forget who coined the term. Perhaps Phil Schneider? A maestro in lucha (as best I can tell) either refers to a trainer or a guy with a lot of experience and technical expertise. The way we use the term is a vet who works an older, often mat based style of lucha that is rarely seen in the contemporary product. It tends to have an old-school feel to it even though it's far more exhibition-y than old-school lucha libre and is marked by slow or poor execution that is offset by the workers having the right idea or trying to work lucha the classic way. The other clear indicator is that it happens on the indy circuit and is usually handheld footage.

Unfortunately, that match was taken down off YouTube and Ditch doesn't host it, so I'm waiting patiently for a re-up. In the meantime, some SWS... Genichiro Tenryu & Samson Fuyuki vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi Nakano (7/26/91) This was a good little match; no doubt about that. It actually reminded me of an All Japan tag in terms of the pacing and even the structure and lay out were reminiscent of an All Japan match. It clearly wasn't as good as All Japan, but at the same time it as noticeably different from WAR. Shinichi Nakano gave a spirited performance, and I actually thought he played the most important role here at least during the body of the match. Tenryu threw him around like a rag doll and he bumped well for his superior, but he was also sprightly on offence and meshed well with Fuyuki. Tenryu and Yatsyu were a lot more lively here than in their methodically paced singles bout and had one eye on the prize and one eye on each other. The finish was madness with Yatsu going batshit insane with a chair, the ref not disqualifying him, Fuyuki blading admirably, and Yatsu not really having much grounds to be held back as Tenryu hit the power bomb on Nakano. Good stuff.

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR Ep 16 Karl Kramer vs. Gary Clwyd (Cage match, Beaumaris, taped 3/7/91) Whew, that Karl Kramer was a big boy. This wasn't an outstanding match, but it was a decent attempt at incorporating the gimmick into the match and they seemed to have a better sense of what to actually do with, and inside, the cage than a lot of the other wrestlers. Shaun South vs. Franz Schumann (Chain match, Newcastle Emlyn, taped 2/5/92) This was about as good a chain match as you could hope to see on terrestrial TV. It was wrestled under the Pirate Fight rules we've seen before in Germany and Belgium (iirc) -- a sort of cross between a chain and flag match. Both guys gave as good as they got, and South even appeared to bleed hard way. This was Schumman's first appearance in the Arthur Psycho Hour and he made an immediate impact and veteran South still had something left in the tank even in '92. Gems like this make it worth wading through the late period TV Psycho puts up. Marty Jones vs. Skull Murphy (Cage match, Beaumaris, taped 3/7/91) This would have been a main event anywhere in the UK in the mid-80s, but in '91 it was a rubbish six or seven minute cage match. Masked Marauders vs. Orig Williams & Bryn Fon (Porthmadog, taped 1987) This was a special tag match featuring Orig Williams teaming with the Reslo television commentator Bryn Fon. Don't ask me why I bothered watching this. I wanted to see the Welsh version of Hogan teaming with Mean Gene, I guess. Just awful. Fit Finlay vs. Danny Boy Collins (9/6/88) This was from some VHS tape hosted by Mick McManus and a commentator whose name I couldn't quite make out (Lee Banda, or something like that.) It was basically an All-Star show taped at the Fairfield Halls at Croydon. A. Psycho gives a pretty amusing description of the pre-match vignette: "Before the match we see Collins limbering up and Paula giving Finlay a pre-fight massage. I was quite relieved when he moved his hand to see that he had [under] pants on. Equally so that Mick McManus interrupted them before he was tempted to ask for a happy ending." Mick's hair was so jet black that he looked like Bela Lugosi when he popped up on the screen. This was a pretty standard Finlay heel performance, but the crowd were right into it and it was a decent match. The commentary was an interesting deviation from the standard Walton fare, as they pointed out Paula's wrestling career, which Walton always ignored as Dale Martin didn't feature women's wrestling and her wrestling career occurred entirely on the rarely mentioned indy circuit. (She was always refereed to as Finlay's wife and manager by Walton.) They also pointed out that Collins had suffered from kidney problems the year before and had one of them removed and how he defied the odds to return to the ring (even pointing out the surgical scar.) I don't recall Walton ever sharing that information. Aside from the stock Finlay cheating and the Paula shtick, they worked this around the premise that Finlay was a monster and Collins a boy and that Finlay was used to wrestling much bigger men in the UK and Continental Europe. Again, nothing outstanding, but it had good heat and was well worked for the paying audience.

I thought this got off to a decent start even if their takedowns were super slow and it was more about gamesmanship than the awesome physical confrontation it could have been, but then the bullshit started. If you ever wanted to see Tenryu's foot then this is the match for you, I guess. Taking off his boot and working over his foot wasn't a bad visual motif considering how often Tenryu kicks guys, but it didn't fit the mood of the opening few minutes, and there was nothing to really trigger it or set it up as for the most part Goto had gotten the better of the early exchanges. The switch from Goto using his surprising speed and agility to play a little mind games with Tenryu to ripping off his boot was disjointed. Tenryu doing his "soccer ball kicks" with only one boot on was pretty cool, however. And then all of the rubbish began with Goto wandering off into the crowd to beat up WAR wrestlers, the bottle, Goto taking out the ref, Tenryu hobbling about on one foot and throwing the bell to the ground to demand a restart, and a wrestler stepping in to ref the match until the original ref returned all bandaged up. Clearly they were going for a spectacle, but Goto was a good enough worker that they could have had a regular Tenryu style main event and it would have been fine. Once the ref returned, they settled into a more traditional build, but they repeated a lot of the same moves and by then I didn't care and wanted the match to end. Tenryu did hit a particularly nasty jumping back elbow that made a loud clunking sound when it connected, but even then there was a moment of awkwardness where he looked at the ref like "are you gonna check on him?" before taking the bout home. Not one of the better Tenryu matches.

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Tarzan Goto (7/6/97) I thought this got off to a decent start even if their takedowns were super slow and it was more about gamesmanship than the awesome physical confrontation it could have been, but then the bullshit started. If you ever wanted to see Tenryu's foot then this is the match for you, I guess. Taking off his boot and working over his foot wasn't a bad visual motif considering how often Tenryu kicks guys, but it didn't fit the mood of the opening few minutes, and there was nothing to really trigger it or set it up as for the most part Goto had gotten the better of the early exchanges. The switch from Goto using his surprising speed and agility to play a little mind games with Tenryu to ripping off his boot was disjointed. Tenryu doing his "soccer ball kicks" with only one boot on was pretty cool, however. And then all of the rubbish began with Goto wandering off into the crowd to beat up WAR wrestlers, the bottle, Goto taking out the ref, Tenryu hobbling about on one foot and throwing the bell to the ground to demand a restart, and a wrestler stepping in to ref the match until the original ref returned all bandaged up. Clearly they were going for a spectacle, but Goto was a good enough worker that they could have had a regular Tenryu style main event and it would have been fine. Once the ref returned, they settled into a more traditional build, but they repeated a lot of the same moves and by then I didn't care and wanted the match to end. Tenryu did hit a particularly nasty jumping back elbow that made a loud clunking sound when it connected, but even then there was a moment of awkwardness where he looked at the ref like "are you gonna check on him?" before taking the bout home. Not one of the better Tenryu matches.

Can somebody confirm whether this is actually a different match from their 7/21/96 bout? I tried downloading this off Ditch's site and it was the same match as the '96 link. I can't find a record for it on the catchmatch site or a match listing for it on Lorefice's site and the match Childs described above is the same as the '96 bout. Plus July 21st was a Monday that year which is an odd time to run a show.

You're going to have to do some apples-to-oranges comparisons when determining the best babyface ever. Even then, I think Dandy stands out from maskless tecnicos more than Atlantis does from masked tecnicos. Hijo del Santo and Lizmark could conceivably rate above Atlantis. Solar and Villano III probably have backers. Dandy's competition is... tecnico Casas? Other than him, the maskless tecnicos who are as good as Dandy at the babyface aspects of being a tecnico are guys like Brazo de Plata. I think this is a difficult argument to have because if you compare Atlantis to Santo, Lizmark, Solar or Villano what are you basing the comparison on? I think most people base it instinctively on who they like as a worker not how well they work as a babyface. What are you thinking about specifically? Selling? Appealing to the crowd? Match structure? Who has the best look? Who drew the biggest reactions? Or are you thinking more about the tecnico role in trios matches and what not? Or the tecnico side of an apuestas bout? For me, without speaking Spanish and not being part of the lucha culture proper (magazines, attending shows, talking to fans, etc.), it's hard to know who was really the best of the workers above, though I suspect Santo has more of an argument and Solar less of one. As for Dandy's competition, maybe a rudo Sangre Chicana eliciting sympathy? I guess that doesn't really count. Perro working tecnico? Something about Dandy being the best pure tecnico doesn't really sit right with me. It's not that he was a natural rudo. I think he as a great tecnico, but like Frankensteiner it's hard to think of him as a pure tecnico.