ohtani's jacket

I watched a 1975 Funks vs. Jumbo/Baba tag with the express intent of judging whether Jumbo was one of the "best in the world" in 1975. Then I started wondering how you can prove or disprove that sort of statement. You can't really, so instead I decided to focus on how good I thought Jumbo was with only a couple of years under his belt. The impression I got was that his execution was far smoother than most second or third year guys, but he wasn't overly confident in what he was doing and not the one calling the action. There wasn't much wrong with what he did mechanically, but he didn't strike me as great yet. You can always tell a less experienced worker/rookie by the way they're trying to follow the bout and Jumbo was still trying to follow and respond to the others here. On the other hand, he was better than the majority of wrestlers with the same level of experience. He just wasn't great. The match itself was okay. The Baba/Jumbo dynamic doesn't do much for me despite understanding it fairly well and the aggression from the Funks was fairly timid.

I felt like watching some Hokuto since I hadn't seen her perform in ages. So I decided to check out the 1/93 LLPW vs. AJW tag, which could have been WAR-like in its presentation if they'd just bothered to stop for five seconds every now and again. So many good workers, so little breathing room. The post-match dress down of LCO and Hokuto/Kandori posturing was easier to get a bearing on than who was working whom and why they were suddenly squaring off. I often talk about needing to be in the groove to watch certain styles, but this may have been too fast for an old-timer like me.

Less than 10 minutes of the 4/93 Hansen/Taue match aired on TV, but it was still pretty rad. The only problem with this match-up is that it's just not conceivable that Taue can beat Hansen as he's clearly the inferior worker. It's no surprise then that he beat him the following year because of the rib injury.

If you look at the rspw awards, Benoit was voted the best non-American worker in the world for 1994 and 1995. For the Observer awards, he finished third in the Most Outstanding Wrestler category in 1994 and first in the Best Technical Wrestler category. In 1995, he finished fourth in the MOW category and was again voted the Best Technical Wrestler. Eddie was actually 5th in the Wrestler of the Year voting for the 1995 WON awards, second in the Most Outstanding Wrestler category, and third in the Best Technical Wrestler category. In 1994, Los Gringos Locos were big winners in both the rspw and WON awards. Objectively speaking, regardless of personal taste, both guys were considered top 30 in the world in the '94-95 period.

If it's top 30, then I don't see how you can realistically have Arn as top 30 in the world from 1986-96, for example. Arn's peak was pretty clearly 1991-92 and in those years he'd have a realistic chance of being top 30 in the world. I know you don't like the Manny/Rude team, but it seems inconsistent to me that you shorten Rude's peak (and, tbh, Arn's '93 is no better than Rude's) while giving Arn a full 10 years. Then there's guys like Ole Anderson, who I kind of doubt was ever a top 30 guy. Guys like Eddie and Benoit's peak seem to start latter than general consensus while other guys are hindered by footage issues, but Baba from '69-79 seemed odd to me because we have footage of him from earlier than 1969. The '69 thing in itself seems little more than probable to me unless you watch as much footage as you can from '69.

Gordy and Williams' WCW run seems divisive on this site. I remember digging it when I went through WCW, but haven't watched it in ages.

The length of peak category seems a mess to me. I think you'd be better off redefining it as the number of years they were a good or great worker, because there's no way that some of these guys were "best in the world" for as long as you state (if at all) unless you have a broad definition of best in the world. How do you define best in the world? Top 10? Top 20? The way you've set it up dozens upon dozens of guys can be classified as best in the world at any one time. One other thing, if you put Breaks through this, there's no way he can finish in your top 10. Are you going to make exceptions or will this affect your actual rankings?

Go back and read the stuff Scott Keith used to write about 1992-93 WCW, which was more or less parroting what he'd read on rspw.

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR Ep 41 Greg Valentine & Pete Collins vs. Tally Ho Kaye & Sid Cooper (10/31/85) "Farmer's Boy" Greg Valentine and "The College Boy" Pete Collins, who came up with these names? They sound like Buster Keaton films. Pete Collins was the older brother of Danny Boy Collins, and as Arthur Psycho astutely pointed out, the one who was going to drop the falls for his team while Crabtree's son continued to rack up the pinfalls. Cooper and Kaye were responsible for breaking in new talent and were trusted ring generals in the Crabtree set-up. Even as late as '85 they were effective at drawing heat for newcomers and guiding them through a simple match, but the bouts were such fizzers when the heels won. There wasn't much reason why Cooper & Kaye should win this. If Valentine had gone over too many of the veteran heels since bursting onto the scene then they shouldn't have booked the bout. Poor old College Boy came across as the weak link as Valentine had won a knockout tag tournament with his brother only months before. Sid Cooper vs. Chris Bowles (2/5/85) Cooper put former British welterweight judo champion Bowles over clean as a sheet. In days gone by that would have meant something, but it had zero impact here. Pete LaPaque vs. Bobby Bold Eagle (7/27/87) I love me some Pete LaPaque, but this was one of the dullest bouts I've seen. UK promoters never got over Billy Two-Rivers and would bring in pretty much anybody they could get with a Native American gimmick even if they weren't that good. Eagle hadn't been on TV since 1981 and was never going to get any heat. Walton sounded like he wanted to end it all. I've never heard him sound so depressed. He was even screwing up his syntax. At one point he talked about the tragic car accident that claimed the life of Tommy Lorne "as well as Pete LaPaque." Sounded like he needed a stiff drink. Magnificent Maurice vs. Steve Logan (1/19/83) This was Maurice's reappearance on TV after playing a bleach blonde exotico alongside Beautiful Bobby Barnes. He'd shaved his head, grown a "Mexican tache" (a Waltonism), and gotten a number of tattoos on his chest and arms. If I knew more about gay subculture, I'd be able to tell you the kind of look he had adopted, but he basically looked like a bald Rick Rude or gay sailor. This was actually one of the better Maurice bouts I've seen as 19 year-old Steve Logan sold the shit out of everything he dished out. Maurice was able to work from a standing base and keep on top of his opponent, which he was far more comfortable with than wrestling. I can't remember too many British workers selling the way Logan did here. He got his back worked over and was screaming the entire time. It was almost like watching a Joshi bout. But he was extremely focused on each move, and you could see the cogs turning in his head the way you so often can with rookies. There was only the vaguest hint of Maurice's exotico past, but he had tremendous swagger, and I was enjoying this until Logan botched his comeback sequence and the bout fell apart at the seams. Still better than a lot of Maurice's Brody stuff, though. Jackie Turpin vs. Lucky Gordon (10/16/85) Short three session contest. I'm beginning to appreciate Lucky Gordon in his JTTS role. Here he got to shine a bit more because Turpin had fallen even further down the pecking order than Gordon. Some great facials and nice timing on his moves. Turpin also provided some nice moments even if the promoters had given up on him. Too bad the time keeper and ring announcer were all at sea. They couldn't keep a handle on how many public warnings had been issued and who won the bout, and Crabtree was grinning like a dipshit after awarding the bout to Gordon by mistake. Given how much Walton hated mistakes, he must have had his hackles up over that one.

Since I liked the Taue/Hansen match so much, I decided to watch some of their other work. I enjoyed their 1992 Triple Crown match. It's a clear attempt at a back and forth title match, and by those standards it doesn't live up to other matches of its type, but as a Hansen/Taue match it's perfectly satisfying. I like watching Hansen match up with a legitimate heavyweight and again Taue brought an element of sumo brawling that I dug. Taue was probably a bit too limited to work the type of match Hansen laid out for him here, and at times it felt like Hansen was over compensating for Taue's lack of precision, but when they got the basic hoss stuff right it clicked. There was one clanger that threatened to wipe out everything they'd done when Taue botched a bulldog, but they got back on an even keel and Hansen put together a decent finishing sequence. Not a match I'd recommend unless you're interested in Taue/Hansen, but an interesting study case if you are.

I'd recommend the two Leilani Kai matches, as well as the Hokuto match. Some of this stuff may have disappeared from YT recently.

One thing I've noticed about Myers of late is that while his singles matches suffered from the Iron Fist gimmick, he became quite an exciting tag wrestler by the standards of the day. That's a pretty low bar when it comes to British tag wrestling, but he ushered in a flashier, more workrate driven style of tag wrestling that made it seem more like the spectacle it was billed as.

Considering Baba's best work was in the 60s and 70s, I have a hard time buying that Hansen was his best opponent. And as far as I recall, there wasn't really anyone who liked the entire Hansen/Inoki series. It seemed more a case of guys having one clear cut pick from the series. Best 80s opponent makes sense, but not best opponent overall. .

A lot of people said the Kobashi/Hansen match the night before Hansen/Taue is better because Kobashi has better offense than Taue and his win over Hansen means more. They're totally different matches as the rib injury occurs literally halfway through the Kobashi bout whereas with the Taue match it's the focus right from the start. The Kobashi bout has a bigger feel to it with more of the back and forth beginning you'd expect from two guys who are healthy. Kobashi does have better offense than Taue and is a better athlete. What he's not as good at in this two match comparison is selling. He looks like some kind of string puppet the way he sells. He was trying to be dramatic, but it was awkward looking. Hansen sold his demise well, as you'd expect, but it wasn't a truly great match despite the crowd reaction, and the Taue match seemed cooler to me.

The 3/96 Taue bout is a decent watch. It's a bit like watching two tag partners try to prove who the better wrestler is without trying to maim one another. Kawada works from the top a lot as Taue sustains an early arm injury, which in itself is a bit too cutesy since the guy's big move is a chokeslam. I wouldn't really call it an aggressive performance from Kawada, but again I liked the way he's able to give his submission attempts a shoot like quality by making them seem like it's a fight to keep them locked. Taue sells a lot, and is okay in that role, but naturally when he tries to work his way back into the bout it's through the chokeslam. Loss described the Hansen/Taue fight as academic, but to me the shifts in momentum from Taue selling a lot to Kawada being stunned by a chokeslam are far more academic. It's not that the wrestling is bad; it's just that you know it's going to swing back and forth down the stretch despite Taue being injured for two thirds of the bout. They do a decent job of evening things up, and it's more staggered than in a lot of wrestling bouts, but it's kind of predictable in the way it unfolds.

The 3/96 Taue bout is a decent watch. It's a bit like watching two tag partners try to prove who the better wrestler is without trying to maim one another. Kawada works from the top a lot as Taue sustains an early arm injury, which in itself is a bit too cutesy since the guy's big move is a chokeslam. I wouldn't really call it an aggressive performance from Kawada, but again I liked the way he's able to give his submission attempts a shoot like quality by making them seem like it's a fight to keep them locked. Taue sells a lot, and is okay in that role, but naturally when he tries to work his way back into the bout it's through the chokeslam. Loss described the Hansen/Taue fight as academic, but to me the shifts in momentum from Taue selling a lot to Kawada being stunned by a chokeslam are far more academic. It's not that the wrestling is bad; it's just that you know it's going to swing back and forth down the stretch despite Taue being injured for two thirds of the bout. They do a decent job of evening things up, and it's more staggered than in a lot of wrestling bouts, but it's kind of predictable in the way it unfolds.

THE ARTHUR PSYCHO HOUR Ep 40 Burslam, 9/27/86 Knockout tournament: Blondie Barratt/Rocky Moran vs. Brian Maxine/Keith Myatt Clive Myers/Fuji Yamada vs. John Wilkie/Zigue Zag Myers/Yamada vs. Barratt/Moran This was by far the best episode of Satellite Wrestling on Screensport I've seen. It wasn't as though the wrestling was a match for WoS in its pomp, but it was consistently entertaining from top to bottom, and so long as you drown out the moronic commentators there's a lot to enjoy. Judging by this, the one area where increased exposure to American bouts improved British wrestling was tag wrestling. At least during the '74-84 period that I'm most familiar with. The tag wrestling from Paul Lincoln Promotions in the 60s looked pretty good. These matches had 15 minute time limits, but they managed to work in the FIP elements that are so often missing from British wrestling and the heels got tremendous heat, especially Barratt, who was slapped in the face by one woman, attacked on the apron by another, and chewed out by an irate father carrying his baby under one arm. Brian Maxine did a surprisingly good job of playing a fired up babyface in the first bout. It was much better than his other face work I've seen. Yamada was making his television debut and was keen to impress. He looked a thousand times better here than in his Reslo bouts. Myers also looked slick and complemented him well. I've grown to accept his Ironfist gimmick for what it was. I still hate it compared to the simple trunks and boots, but such a huge chunk of his career was as Ironfist that you've got to accept it. When he's on point, there's no-one in British wrestling who's as exciting to watch. Moran was also good. I was sky high on him when I first encountered his work then he tailed off badly, but here he was the Emilio Charles Jr style foil I loved so much from his ITV work. Even the lesser guys like journeyman Wilkie, potbellyed local Keith Myatt, and some fella called Chris McNeill doing a Bobby Barnes inspired "punk rock" gimmick, brought something to the table here. There was some bullshit in the final with Moran and Barratt challenging Clive Myers to arm wrestling contests (those of you familiar with Myers will know he was a legit world champion arm wrestler), but all up an entertaining hour. Yamada even cuts a promo in English and since it's the last show of the series there's a post-match vignette where Rocco attacks the commentators with a cake (what else?) Amusing that this was the last episode ever made and the only one I enjoyed.

A lot of people said that the Kobashi/Hansen match the night before Hansen/Taue is better because Kobashi has better offense than Taue and his win over Hansen means more. They're totally different matches as the rib injury occurs literally halfway through the Kobashi bout whereas with the Taue match it's the focus right from the start. The Kobashi bout has a bigger feel to it with more of the back and forth beginning you'd expect from two guys who are healthy. Kobashi does have better offense than Taue and is a better athlete. What he's not as good at in this two match comparison is selling. He looks like some kind of string puppet the way he sells. He was trying to be dramatic, but it was awkward looking. Hansen sold his demise well, as you'd expect, but it wasn't a truly great match despite the crowd reaction, and the Taue match seemed cooler to me.

I can't remember if they had a great match in their series, but I definitely remember enjoying the series as a whole. It doesn't really hold a candle to Savage/Santana or Savage/Steamboat, though, which makes it a non-entry into the greatest in-ring feuds of 1980s WWF.

I think Hansen's work improved as the house style changed. I don't think there's any way he could have worked the matches I've watched of late against Kawada or Taue a decade earlier. There wasn't the same focus on the moment-to-moment build as there was in the early 90s and not as much focus on selling and receiving damage. Hansen deserves a ton of credit for adapting to the changes in the company's style and excelling at the new match structure, but I think it was the change in style that prompted it more than a change in roles. I dunno if he was playing a different role in the 80s, or simply protecting his spot, but the focus ought to be on whether it was any good. A lot of his 80s work seems aimless to me. I think he makes poor decisions on a moment-to-moment basis and his character work borders on self-parody at times. I don't mind if he's guzzling opponents. It's the mechanics that bother me, specifically not being able to work over an opponent in an interesting way or crappy/predictable brawling on the outside. Things you wouldn't really associate with Hansen in general.

Haven't watched lucha for ages. Didn't know where to start so I started all over the place. Blue Panther/Guerrero Negro vs. Huracán Sevilla/Gran Hamada (Monterrey 1991) I love Huracan Sevilla. Everything I've read about his reign of terror at Pavillón Azteca as Darth Vader seems the stuff of lucha journeyman legend. Terrorising toys, puppets and cartoon characters is surreal enough, but having his partners turn on him, and losing his mask to a local star in Guatemala, only adds to the legend. I liked him as the highly unnecessary Huracán Ramírez II and loved his run without a hood. I don't know much about his later gimmicks, but if you're a lucha fan you learn to love journeymen in a country where there's been literally hundreds upon hundreds of professional wrestlers. This started off with some welcome mat exchanges between Sevilla and Blue Panther, who I believe was in his prime in 1991. That was followed by some slick exchanges between Guerrero Negro and Gran Hamada, who execution wise was a notch above all but the best Mexican wrestlers. There wasn't a lot of Panther vs. Hamada exchanges in this, which was strange because the upshot of it all was that Hamada issued a challenge for Panther's mask while Sevilla demanded a wager with Negro, but the exchanges we did get between Panther and Hamada were promising and suggested other matches of theirs out there where they lit things up. This followed a generic tag structure of matwork in the first fall, rudo brawling/dominance in the second, and high flying in the third. It had its high points like Guerrero Negro single-handedly winning the second fall by almost putting Hamada on the shelf with a botched double leg takedown on Hamada then getting the same takedown right on Sevilla and following it up with a neat submission. There was also some cool teamwork on a Negro tope where Panther gave him an irish whip assist. Negro sold the tope like he'd wrecked his shoulder, which he may well have. I tend to come out of most Monterrey matches thinking "well, that could have been better," and lucha tags are underwhelming at the best of times, but this had its moments here and there. There was a time when Monterrey meant a lot more money in your pocket, but by this stage it was an extra date and an extra payday. La Parka, Octagon, Latin Lover, Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Blue Panther, Fuerza Guerrera, Pentagon, Psicosis (AAA 7/28/95) Everybody knows AAA isn't my favourite type of lucha so I'm not going to get into that again, but I actually enjoyed this. The opening exchanges between Octagon and Pentagon were awful, but as soon as the ring was cleared of that pair the bout was snappy and entertaining. Originally, I was going to write it up for Your Fuerza Guerrera of the Hour, but it was closer to Your La Parka of the hour. His former partners were lining up to get their shots in, but nothing they did could stop him from dancing. Fuerza vs. Parka was awesome and worthy of a singles match. Psicosis was his usual dynamic self (and really, I don't think it ever got better for him than during this AAA run), and Mysterio also looked sharp. The only member of this crew that really delivered below expectations was Pentagon. I'm a big fan of Espanto Jr., but he had an off night here. That was all right as the match moved on without him and the third caida dive train was full of all sorts of goodness. Rey and Psicosis brought a bit more of their touring match act to Mexico than I'm used to seeing and it gelled nicely with the send 'em home happy nature of the third caida. There wasn't much of a through line as the Pentagon/Octagon stuff fell part, but two thumbs up for this. Bestia Salvaje/La Fiera/Jerry Estrada vs. Huracan Sevilla/Blue Demon Jr./El Hijo del Solitario (1/17/92) This was another chapter in the lead-in to the Huracan Sevilla vs. Bestia hair match; a match I may be higher on than any other person on the internet if not the planet. Bestia was an elite worker at this point and able to carry a trios with only a limited number of appearances. Who brings Blue Demon Jr and El Hijo del Solitario to a fight? I've said that before about Sevilla. He was left with the dregs when it came to partners while Bestia had his running mates with him each time. A guy like Matt D would love the snear Fiera has on his face the first time he squares off with Solitario. The brawling exchanges between Bestia and Sevilla were outstanding here and a focal point throughout. Bestia was clearly higher in the pecking order and made no bones about it, but Sevilla got to make a valiant comeback. Eventually, he was overwhelmed and bled about as heavily as was possible in 1992. Someone in the crowd offered Sevilla a tissue, but Bestia was too busy beating his ass. Blue Demon Jr. and Solitario actually managed a pair of cool looking topes (in real time that is; Solitaro looked to have overshot his badly on the replay), but the tecnico reply was snuffed out by a clever Bestia and the rudos took round one in the march to the apuestas. Remo Banda/Aguila Solitaria vs. Leon Chino/Comando Ruso (5/4/90) Remo Banda is the greatest looking motherfucker in lucha ever. He looks like the sixth member of the Blue Oyster Cult. I've enjoyed the Leon Chino I've seen before but he was the third best guy in this. Ruso was the consummate journeyman and carried Solitaria through some pretty looking arm drag exchanges. This bout was a lot of fun. In many ways, it was the type of bout that shows the essence of lucha. Banda had taken Russo's hair earlier that year, but you'd hardly notice it from the bout. Their job was to put on an undercard match that entertained the fans and they achieved that by working quintessential lucha exchanges. The hardest of hardcore fans would enjoy the staples they ran through here. A nice piece of undercard wrestling, which isn't something that gets a ton of love in lucha circles. Atlantis/Shocker/Satanico vs. Tarzan Boy/Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero (2/1/02) A while back, Matt D tried to tell me this was better than the classic 1997 minis trios. I can see why Matt liked it more according to his philosophies, but that's not an idea I'm going to entertain. Instead I'll focus on the fact that it was a pretty good bout. The version I watched was slightly sped up in the first and second falls, but even with the video quality issues I could tell this was a fairly classic brawling trios. There were more moves-per-fall than in a classic lead-in trios, but the gist was the same. I was impressed with Satanico during the bout. As big a Satanico fan as I am, I kind of give up on him around 1996-97 and haven't see much of his later stuff. In fact, elliot from the board has probably seen more Satanico than me at this point. I didn't think this was overly special in the context of all the brawling trios lead-in bouts I've seen before, but it was plenty entertaining and a sign that 00s Satanico might be worth exploring.

Their Champion Carnival bout from '94.

I liked the Kana match from 2010 a lot, though it was a bit "on the nose" with its transitions. I can see how Meiko's stiff strike-based style appeals, though. Her submission work is good as well and her moves have plenty of impact. Kana was pretty good as well if not wholly organic. Will watch more.