ohtani's jacket

As some of you might know, Mal Sanders is among my least favourite World of Sport workers. It's not really Sanders' fault, it's just really hard to like a genuine blue eye. But with footage drying up and Sanders having so many matches against workers I either like or want to see again, I decided to bite the bullet and get a Mal Sanders comp made. I know, I can hardly believe it either. Welp, without further ado... Mark Rocco vs. Mal Sanders (6/25/80) This was a stock performance from Rocco. He started off a little subdued and Sanders got the better of him with some flashy counters and a nice dropkick, then started with the rule bending and the inside moves. He gradually increased the tempo and before too long had the crowd behind Sanders. Rocco's peak was in '78, and while I've criticised him a lot in the past, I really do think he was sensational that year. This wasn't bad, though. Sanders was up a fall and doing pretty well when Rocco nailed him with a great looking piledriver. Really a highlight for me on this whole batch of WoS I got in. And that was Mal Sanders done. Mal Sanders vs. Alan Dennison (11/8/80) Dennison was a dick in this match. He kept doing his strongman shtick and taking the piss. Even when was supposedly putting Sanders over for scoring a fall, he couldn't help but draw attention to himself. Mal Sanders vs. King Ben (6/16/82) This was very good. A really athletic, enjoyable contest. I don't usually find myself enjoying King Ben matches that much, but these two worked well together and got into a nice rhythm. Mal Sanders vs. Johnny Kidd (2/9/83) It was Sanders' turn to take the lead here since he was facing someone younger than himself. It wasn't as compelling as watching one of the great heels, but it wasn't bad for a blue eye. Considering how bad these types of matches usually are this was a feather in Sanders' cap. Mal Sanders vs. Mick McManus (8/2/78) Sanders made his television debut in November of 1977 and was immediately pushed as a newcomer with tremendous potential. Whoever had the book at this point decided to give him the mother of all pushes by having him beat McManus on television. Only a handful of people ever beat Mick on TV and Sanders doing so earned him a title shot for the European Middleweight Championship, which Mick had held for seven years. This was the title bout complete with flags and everyone rising for the national anthem. It was a pretty good McManus bout but not at the level of his best stuff. The big surprise was that Sanders took the title, but he did it on a disqualification after McManus threw him over the top rope. The crowd didn't seem to mind as they crowded the ring apron, but I thought it was a cheap way for McManus to put Sanders over even if two television losses to the same wrestler was historic. If you want a star to be born, that's not the way to do it. And sure enough, McManus got his win back later that year with a KO victory over Sanders. Despite putting the belt on Sanders, he never really took over and you can tell in his 80s bouts that he hasn't progressed. The booking here certainly didn't help him any. This is what I'm talking about when I say McManus wasn't looked at critically prior to his Hall of Fame induction. Mal Sanders vs. Dave Bond (3/14/79) Because Sanders was the lighter man, Bond started this bout with a one fall handicap. It seemed like it was over early in the second round when Sanders appeared to be counted out, but it was just a tease and the ref overturned the result. That fooled me as I thought this was dud footage. The bout continued and it was pretty good though questionable of why Sanders was being put in this position. They gave him the win, but again by DQ to protect Bond's credibility. Bond was amusing here claiming that Sanders was a pipsqueak and that he wanted a bigger man like Haystacks. Bitching aside, Sanders is faring pretty well so far. I'm not sure I'm ever going to love him, but the bouts have been solid thus far.

That's a crass comment to make about Gran Davies. You could at least explain what you mean.

It depends whether you like real shoot style or that fluffy UWF-I crap. I wouldn't even call BattlARTS real shoot style since it was too much of a hybrid. I could see him both in and out of a top 10. I don't think it's much of a talking point since shoot style was so niche. Carl Greco would be in my top 10 and I can't see him making the top 100. I would definitely take him over Takada, Yamazaki. Anjoh, Suzuki, Kakihara and Takayama.

I don't think his SC placement was nutty. It was a reflection of how highly rated his juniors work was at the time. I'm sure in 2026 some of the choices people make this time will seem nutty, but I would urge people to look at the original poll as a snapshot of the smark mentality at the time and not "Oh, they got this wrong" or "How could they have thought that?" Having said that, Ohtani is a guy I wouldn't vote as high this time if only because I've discovered a bunch of new workers since then. If a couple of those '98 Liger matches were released in full, I could see there being a re-interest in him. I've always resisted his heavyweight stuff, which isn't very fair, but I doubt one or two matches will sway me unless they're particularly good.

The Israeliens (Georges Cohen/Gaston Doukkhan) vs. Pierre Payen/Daniel Boucard This was another fun tag match with a real Euro flavour to it. By now the sequences aren't that special as we've seen them played out in numerous tags from the 60s and 70s, but I thought Daniel Boucard was a real dynamo and when the Israeliens started throwing forearm smashes they were very cool.

I'm still figuring it out. I find he's still great in '91 but not featured as much because Pena is beginning to exert more influence over the product and Dandy was clearly a Herrera guy. Then in '92 he stops being great on a weekly basis and from there he slowly gets out of shape. But I keep tempering my thoughts with the knowledge that the entire company was dire during 1993 and 1994.

Pat O'Connor vs. Legs Langevin was a lot of fun. O'Connor was ridiculously smooth on the mat. Man I would love to see him wrestle some of the Euro heavyweights.

Pat Roach vs. Tony St. Clair (8/5/80) This was a re-watch of a bout I saw many years ago. Back then I was young and stupid and thought Tony St. Clair wasn't very good and Roach was carrying him. Nowadays, I realise that Tony St. Clair was a fine wrestler and that this was a meeting of equals. Really fun bout that was held back only by the booking, which was never going to let one guy go over the other cleanly. Roach was transitioning from a heel into a blue eye here and that in itself was an interesting metamorphosis. John Quinn vs. Johnny Wilson (3/12/80) Digbeth was such an interesting venue. It was like this mini amphitheater where the wrestlers almost seemed encaged. Whatever you think of the way John Quinn was ultimately used by Joint, you can't deny that the lead-up to his headline matches was extremely well done. Of course, Johnny Wilson being Johnny Wilson, he gave him a fight and together they produced some pretty damn good TV. Wayne Bridges came to ringside after the bout for what looked to be a contract signing, but the tape cut out before we saw what happened. Ringo Rigby vs. Steve Peacock (3/12/80) I don't think Rigby was ever better than in 1980, but Peacock was no Barnes or Street. Not much to write about here. Keith Haward vs. Kurt Heinz (3/25/80) Heinz was this tattooed, shaven head guy who was quite an interesting looking fella for 1980 World of Sport. He lasted about 30 seconds into the second round of his television debut before being squashed like a bug. Walton cracked me up by saying he hoped to see more of Heinz because he's great~! John Naylor vs. Jackie Robinson (5/13/80) World of Sport only aired the scoring action from this, but what was shown looked really good and I say that as someone who's in no way fond of Naylor. Jackie Robinson was a great worker though and sadly underrepresented on tape. I'll give Naylor a lot of credit for this though as he looked in sharp form. Alan Dennison vs. Tally Ho Kaye (11/26/80) This was the other semi-final of the 25th Anniversary Trophy tournament I was talking about the other day. On paper it was either going to be surprising good or complete horse shit. Thankfully, they worked like two old carnies and Kaye in particular took it seriously. He outshone Dennison with his antics and his one liners were awesome, accusing strongman Dennison of not being strong enough and claiming he was fighting a man now. I also loved the way he'd scream at the ref that Dennison's shoulders were down when they were nowhere near the canvas. Late in the man, it looked like he legitimately broke a finger (or dislocated it), but he worked it into his shtick and continued with the match. Very entertaining bout that instantly became one of my favourite Kaye bouts.

The thing about Breaks is that he is as good as he thinks he is. He was probably the ultimate example of Walton's "if he'd only stick the wrestling" routine. Watching his early work it's easy to see why he was too stiff when he first turned pro as he was a machine. Just a great wrestler. But he let the crowd get under his skin and they'd really get him worked up when they called him crybaby and through pacifiers into the ring. His temper tantrums were fantastic as well when he'd blow his lid and jump up and down. He managed to pull that shtick off for over a decade without viewers tiring of it. The whole joint manipulation, Jim Breaks special and not liking his ear or nose being worked over were great as well and even better when you realise how many workers tried to have shtick and how only the best guys pulled it off and remained television regulars. The other area where he excelled was working with teenage kids. His matches with Davey Boy Smith and Danny Collins were not only better than anything those kids could have with other workers, they were arguably better than the matches he'd have with Saint, Grey or Cortez. If people like him he's a great gateway into the other television characters like McManus and Kellett. Brian Maxine is another guy people should check out if they like Breaks.

Here's the first of what will probably be a long line of lucha appraisals -- http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-425-doubting-el-dandy/

You don't have to like Aja being stoic. It can be a reason for voting other people above her if you value facial expressions and great acting. I find her one dimensional myself, but I think it's a bit presumptuous to say she did something wrong. It's not really the case that Aja has emoting issues, it's that Goodear has issues with her emoting.

She had no problem emoting for the audience she wrestled for. They all knew what her character was and why she was stone faced. You may like expressive, emotive workers with great selling and facial expressions, but that doesn't fly for an ace working from the top in Japan. When she was an up and comer, she would get on the house mic and over emote, but The Woman doesn't do that. The Woman chastises other workers for not being strong enough and so forth. She's meant to be a tough stoic character and managed to portray that well.

No chance. You want him to work like he does in that Michinoku Pro stuff and then you find out he doesn't work like that at all.

Doesn't belong within a hundred miles of this list. Seriously, he's fun and all, but not a top 100 candidate. Both of his brothers were better workers, IMO.

I'd say Atlantis' peak was '88-91. During that peak he was one of the best technico workers I've seen and really one of the classic masked luchadores of the era alongside Lizmark, Solar and El Hijo del Santo. The fact that he was such a good worker on the technico side is a big plus for me because often he's completely holding up that side. I disagree that he was raised to the level of the great rudo workers; I think he was legitimately outstanding during that period, and in fact I would give him more credit for giving Blue Panther great matches than vice versa since Panther wasn't as good a singles match worker as people think. There's a large chunk of his career that I don't care about, which is a problem. I wish he'd shown up in maestros matches more often.

That 12/93 match is only 23:34.

Some girls cut their hair short because they play sports or because they can't be bothered looking after their hair, but in many cases it's decided when the girl is small what hair style they suit based on how cute they are. Attitudes towards appearance are different from what we're used to.

That was Villano IV.

Nothing bugs me more in lucha than the lack of critical appraisal that El Dandy and other all-time greats receive. I can understand there not being as much evaluation of Dandy as workers we all grew up on, but to me it's a sign that he's not taken that seriously. Of course when you watch El Dandy for the first time, as many people did on the 1990 Pro-Wrestling Only Yearbook, you're struck by how good he was -- one of the best in the world that year, and possibly one of the best of all-time -- but you wouldn't base your entire opinion of Ric Flair on his best year and neither should you with Dandy. Don't get me wrong, I love Dandy and have done for close to a decade now, but here on the Great Lucha blog I've always tried to turn a critical eye not only towards workers I dislike but favourites too, and particularly the workers who people seemingly do nothing but praise, the Negro Casas, the Blue Panthers and the El Hijo del Santos. It may come across as negative at times, but that doesn't bother me so long as it's fair. Recently, I've been a bit disappointed in how Dandy's come across in Vintage Negro Casas of the Day particularly in comparison to Casas, so I wanted to take a fresh look at him away from Casas but still in the same era. Here's what I came up with: El Dandy/La Fiera/Apolo Dantes vs. Pierroth Jr./Bestia Salvaje/Mano Negra, CMLL 4/29/94 Bestia's nose was well and truly like W.C. Fields at this point. Mano Negra was still sporting his Dave Finlay look and hammed it up for the camera as George Thorogood blared through Arena Coliseo. There's no way a match with this many good workers should be a lame duck. It was a stock trios; one you've seen a thousand times before where the technicos get the better of the early exchanges, the rudos beat them down as penance, and the technicos make a comeback. But there was a strange disconnect between the workers as though they weren't paying attention to what the other pairs were doing. It didn't help that the match wasn't filmed very well, but talk about another Arena Coliseo stinker. Pierroth kept bickering with Negra, which is a pain in the ass as it distracts from the match and meant that Negra couldn't continue his rich vein of form. The rudos also chose to beat on Fiera, who was caught on camera making no effort to sell whatsoever. It was embarrassing really. These were hard times for CMLL and even good workers like these were struggling for motivation. Dandy had gotten back into shape in '94, suspiciously so it must be said, but didn't add a single bit of spark to this. That's a big difference between Dandy and Casas and even this Dandy and the 1990 version. In 1990, business would pick up every time he was in the ring. It was magic the way he'd dazzle the crowd whenever he stepped between the ropes. Here he had the chance to do something special with Dave "Mano Negra" Finlay and didn't take it. In 1990 he would have been all over that action. El Dandy/Atlantis/Pierroth Jr. vs. La Fiera/El Satanico/Emilio Charles Jr., CMLL 11/13/92 Now this kicked ass. They did a rare pre-match angle where Dandy was being interviewed back stage and was jumped by Fiera and his boys. Fiera was great here wearing a jacket and shades and looking every bit the sleaze thread material that he was. The technicos escaped to ringside, and the camera stayed on the rudos as they did their jackets up for their entrance, which was unintentionally awesome. The rudo beat down to begin this was one of the best rudo beat downs I've seen in a long, long time. The vigour with which Emilio got stuck into his work was brilliant. He was such an unbelievably awesome worker. I still think he's under-appreciated even by hardcore lucha fans. Gregor mentioned recently that Emilio taking the monkey flip from Atlantis and charging into the backbreaker is a routine he wants to see every time and I wholeheartedly agree with that position. Satanico and Pierroth also teared into each other. They still had a lot of heat from the Infernales/Intocables feud, and what you basically had here were three great match-ups where the guys were all feuding with each other. Dandy bled (yeeesss), the technicos made their comeback and Fiera bled (yeeesss), and then his chain got involved. The whole thing was very Memphis and a throwback to the early 80s Arena Mexico shows. This really made me want to see the Fiera/Dandy hair match again even though I recall it being disappointing. El Dandy/Atlantis/Ultimo Dragon vs. Bestia Salvaje/Felino/Mano Negra, CMLL 8/20/93 We get an erotic workout video to start this. It must be apuestas time if they're showing gym workout videos. The Atlantis vs. Mano Negra feud wasn't very good. I'd dearly love it to be, but I just got done popping for the hundredth time as Atlantis and Emilio did their signature spots and didn't pop once here. I don't know how they could have made it any better actually. The limb work they did was boring, but mask ripping and having Atlantis face to canvas covering his identity would have been just as bad. They just didn't have any chemistry. Dandy was in a secondary role here, but still found a way to be unimpressive. One of the great disappointments of 1993 CMLL has to be any time Dandy and Felino square off. Felino was trying too hard to be charismatic in '93 and his humour came across as forced. I can't say I blame him for overacting since his push was new and he was in his brother's shadow, but even today he's a ham actor. He gelled more with Ultimo in this match since they did pure workrate stuff. Bestia might as well have had a table cloth draped over him for as much of a part as he really played in this. It's amazing what an afterthought he became after an excellent 1992. Things were definitely going south for him. It's rare that you see a match like this where something's always happening yet none of it is interesting. Los Infernales vs. El Dandy/Ultimo Dragon/Atlantis, CMLL 09/11/92 This was better than most of the build for the 1992 Satanico/Dandy hair match, probably because the Infernales were involved, but still a case of diminishing returns. Dandy bled, which was a good thing, and the Infernales were lack of a pack of wolves in the opening caida working over the cut. Satanico really grew his hair out for the Anniversary Show, so he definitely looked the part even if he was the wrong wrestler for the match. Wrong match or not, he did an excellent job of working Dandy over here and had a few women in the audience engaged in running arguments with him. Dandy was good, but this was mostly a Satanico special. The other Infernales contributed nice little touches and I loved the way they bumped and sold for the technico comeback, which was build around a pair of dives from Atlantis and Ultimo Dragon. The technicos were excellent as well with snarky little stomps and kicks. I liked the way Atlantis laid the boot in after Pirata had taken his back crawl bump to the outside. Not a very long match and no big comeback from Dandy to show where he was in this match work wise, but like I said it was the best piece of build in a largely forgettable rematch of a rematch of a rematch.

That thread isn't the place to debate it, but my view is that if you want a real fight, go and watch UFC or the Olympics. I prefer my pretend fighting with Irish whips in it. And dropkicks. And suplexes. And "selling" in the manner of a Ricky Steamboat or Terry Funk. I have no problem being wedded to that particular vision of pro wrestling, because that's what made me a fan and that's what I'm a fan of. I'm open to other styles, and other things, but that UWF style is so far from what brought me to the dance that it might as well not be pro wrestling. I am really almost philosophically opposed to it. I don't understand what it's trying to achieve or why. I actually hate it, to be honest, I'd go as far as to call it "anti-wrestling". It's more offensive to me than a George Steele match in which he eats the turnbuckle and spends most of the time outside the ring. And if I want to watch a worked shoot what do I do? You don't half carry on about this stuff. It's possible to like a worked shoot and a MMA fight just as it's possible to like a worked shoot and something carny just as it's possible for a worked shoot to be carny. It's obvious what it's trying to achieve and why. If you legitimately don't know then you're just being flippant.

Ultimo was great in CMLL even in 1993 where I had previously thought he was weak. Casas vs. Ultimo was a real bright spot in a pretty dark era for the company, but he's good in other trios too. I can't think of anybody who was faster between the ropes. I need to get a copy of the Casas/Ultimo singles match from '93 to see whether it transferred through to singles. I also remember him getting good stuff out of Malenko in WCW. Seems like a case of being so overrated he's underrated.

I've watched wrestling almost my entire life and have no attachment to the irish whip. And I hate badly coloured tights. That's some kitsch nonsense, Parv.

The majority of the girls had long hair. Japan is a very image conscious country with a lot of stock put in appearance. To put it bluntly, the pretty girls had long hair and the other types had short hair as would have been the case in every junior high school around the country. They did try to avoid sex scandals and were extremely careful about who they let into the locker rooms after the shows, which is similar to how idols are promoted even today, but the hair thing I don't think was a big deal and you had Mimi Hagiwara right here who was as sexualised a Joshi wrestler as it gets.

Yeah, that's it. Eduardo also uploaded one of the trios that people were high on in the yearbook.

I don't mean to nitpick, but sporty athletic girls almost always cut their hair short in Japan. I don't think it was done to desexualise them.