ohtani's jacket

Watching this again, this really was a sterling performance from Triple H. I can't say I've watched a hell of a lot of Triple H matches since I stopped watching the product religiously in 2001, but the attention to detail here lived up to the nickname of the "Cerebral Assassin" and I can only imagine that if he'd worked more like this through his career that he'd have a better rep as a worker. One thing that I've noticed about modern WWE is that attention to detail. Sometimes it comes across as forced, but for the most part there's a lot of thought put into match layout and logical and interesting spots. Another thing I liked about this was that it was put over as a hugely important match without being a show stealing main event. The scale of the match was perfect.

Americo Rocca, Cacharro Mendoza y Kung Fu vs. El Talisman, El Dandy y Guerrero Negro (September 1986) This trio of El Talisman, El Dandy and Guerrero Negro are sometimes referred to on the internet as "Los Bravos." The more famous version of Los Bravos was Fuerza Guerrera, Talisman and El Dandy, a trio which ran from 1985 through to some time in '86; and while I've seen a magazine cover that also calls the Guerrero Negro version Los Bravos, I'm not sure how often they tagged together or how long their association was. Talisman and Dandy often appeared without Fuerza, especially on smaller shows, and it's possible that they gained a new partner along the way. Guerrero Negro was a talented wrestler from Monclova, Coahuila, who was brought to Mexico City by Herodes. Apparently, he didn't adapt to life in the capital so well and returned to Monclova some time after the 1985 earthquake, so whether he was working full time in the Federal District at this point is unclear. In the Coahuila area, he had a long running rivalry with Remo Banda, who later became Volador/Super Parka, and the two had several apuesta matches. Negro wrestled for CMLL up until 1991 and then worked a bit for AAA through to the end of the 90s. He then suffered a stroke and was in poor health for some time before his death in 2006. Kung Fu was a veteran worker who had made his pro debut at the end of the 60s. During the mid-70s, he capitalised on the kung fu craze by changing his gimmick to a masked martial artists fighter and had success in EMLL both in singles and teaming with another practitioner of the martial arts, Kato Kung Lee. In 1979, they formed a trio with Satoru Sayama called "El Triangulo Oriental," a forerunner for the UWA trio they formed with Black Man, "Los Fantasticos." The Fantasticos were one of the most exciting trios acts of the 80s, working a fast paced, all action style that was a perfect blend of high flying, martial arts kicks and lightning quick lucha exchanges, but by this stage they had broken up and gone their separate ways. Kung Fu moved back to EMLL, Kato Kung Lee was working for Mora in Tijuana and Black Man stayed with UWA. So long as he was masked, Kung Fu received a solid push from EMLL. He won the NWA World Middleweight title from Gran Cochisse on 10/17/86 and again from El Dandy on 10/7/87 before losing the belt to Atlantis in 1988; a rivalry that would culminate in Atlantis taking his mask on a 1990 Arena Mexico show. This was in stark contrast to his partners, who lost their hoods shortly after breaking up, but once the public realised how old Kung Fu was, his career took a steep nosedive. He also died relatively young, just shy of his 50th birthday, from a heart attack.

He strikes me as more of a Bret Hart than a Bob Backlund. Heck, they even pinched the Wrestlemania X injury story.

In my country he was a big deal from 1988 through to his title win in 1990. I had an Ultimate Warrior hoodie and action figure as a kid.

6 years? It's difficult to imagine Daniel Bryan being some kind of dynastic babyface champion.

In the UK, Walton always sold being too close to the ropes as a mistake by the wrestler executing the hold.

Rush vs. Shocker, hair vs. hair, CMLL 3/21/14 This wasn't your papa's hair vs. hair match, but then what is these days? I was ready to write this off as another CMLL apuesta match that fails to keep the traditions alive, but they actually won me over with their physicality. It wasn't as measured as an old-school hair match where they flail about selling, but they hit each other hard and there was even a bit of hard way blood. They rushed through it even quicker on TV, but at least there was no let up. Rush is like a modern, super athletic version of Perro Aguayo, and Shocker is this fat, middle-aged Guapo, who's rediscovered his admiration for the craftsmanship of lucha through regular brawls. This was spotty, but it was good spotty, and even though it was Shocker's first hair loss they didn't beat you over the head with those cinematic narratives that everyone's so fond of these days. There was just a lot of stomping. Rush, Marco Corleone y La Mascara vs. Negro Casas, Shocker y Ripper, CMLL 3/28/14 This continued the whole Perro Aguayo/Sangre Chicana/Faraon thing that Rush, Casas and Shocker have going on, but was otherwise worthless. Magno vs. Cassandro, Arena Kalaka 3/23/14 I dig Cassandro's indy-fied version of lucha and it was cool to see it in a Mexican setting. This may be the most pleasing one fall lucha possible, and Cassandro's bumping was beyond the call of duty for a tiny gig in Ciudad Juarez, but that's Cassandro for you I suppose. Few wrestlers show the same attention to detail and commitment to selling night in, night out and certainly not after so many years of performing. A fabulous worker who doesn't get enough of the spotlight. Villano IV vs. Chessman, AAA Latin American Championship, AAA 3/16/14 This would have made a good mano a mano bout if it hadn't been a title match, but eh, it's the closest thing to an old-school Villanos brawl in the old Monterrey bullring we'll get to see, if you can excuse the bright blue, six-sided ring. There was plenty of Villanos style "technical brawling" along with punching, and of course blood. Chessman didn't bother me, even if he can only really work by setting up and executing high spots rather than any sort of fluid sequences. The only erroneous thing he did was the obvious blade job. Some people complained about the finish, and while the execution wasn't that great, I thought it was a great way to knock the stuffing out of an old warrior like Villano IV. Atlantis vs. Negro Casas, CMLL 1/27/14 There was a time when this would have been a dream match. Obviously, that time is not now, but curiosity got the better of me on this one and I was pleasantly surprised. It was a short brawl and inconsequential, but Atlantis' selling was excellent and his comebacks made this feel more complete than any of the short lucha matches of the past few years. For what it's worth, I thought this was better than the Virus/Panther or Panther/Casas lightning matches. Definitely sensed the potential for an apuesta match between the two if CMLL ever head down that route. Hechicero vs. Barbero Cavernerio, CMLL 4/8/14 This was a bit over-hyped. Hechicero has long been the best wrestler in Mexico not working for either CMLL or AAA and Barbero Cavernerio is fun in Puebla under card matches, but they didn't exactly set the world on fire here. When Hechicero was in control it felt like he was working a regular match on fast forward, trying to hit the same points you would in a two-out-of-three falls match in tournament wrestling, and when Cavernerio was in control it slowed down without a proper heat segment on Hechicero, who had just taken a big spill on a missed dive. Hechicero's comeback wasn't one to get the blood flowing and the whole thing felt like a series of spots between two wrestlers you're supposed to like.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, 4/6/14 * I still can't get over how odd Nakamura is. He's like Shinjiro Ohtani on some kind of stimulant. * Wow, they actually did something interesting from the lock-up. The lock-up is one of the worst parts of Tanahashi's game, but they had an extended lock-up sequence here with a handful of restarts that was one of the better starts to a Tanahashi match I've seen. * Tanahashi worked the not-so-subtle heel role here. Think Bret Hart but without the frustration and sense of entitlement. There was a lone guy in the crowd booing, but otherwise the crowd didn't care. He worked Nakamura's leg over, which isn't my favourite kind of wrestling, but here it added a new wrinkle to the Tanahashi formula, especially with stuff like the High Fly Flow onto the leg. * The middle sagged a bit as middles tend to do. Nakamura sold well, but Tanahashi wasn't really interesting in his subtle heel role. The match picked up when Nakamura draped Tanahashi over the turnbuckle and delivered some running knees into his rib section. Tanahashi matches have a lot of weak strikes, but that's something Nakamura will never be guilty of. * As usual, they turned it on for the ending. The ending was awesome. Nakamura caught Tanahashi in a hurty looking armbar that put extra strain on his ribs, and when Tanahashi managed to break it, there was this incredible shot of Nakamura landing a running knee to the back of his head. A couple of awesome looking strikes later and it was goodnight Tanahashi. Man, that was an exciting ending sequence. * Topped out at ****, mainly due to the exciting finish, but the body was probably around *** 3/4.

Well, no one believed he could lose and the match was a failure for that reason (among others). It will be memorable because of the result, but him losing that way after that match and that finish was just a big time fail. Of course people were shocked. But it fell flat and seemed anticlimatic. Anyway, no, after such a shock, there was no way in hell Bryan was not winning. Lightning just doesn't strike twice that way. I don't think you can call it a failure. It was one of the more shocking results in wrestling history, possibly the most shocking result in WWE history since Koloff beat Sammartino. The post-match was surreal and you could hear a pin drop, but that's a genuine reaction like a sports upset. The match wasn't any good, but the alternative is a self-conscious WWE epic with Brock second guessing himself over whether he should end the streak, telling Taker he loves him, and the crowd chanting "Thank you, Taker" over and over. I think the "holy shit" moment was better. It was just a bit awkward at the end with him being concussed.

That's the same kind of logic that says UT was never gonna lose in the first place.

Undertaker losing made it seem like anything could happen in the main event and helped those near falls at the end have a bit more scare to them. It helped the show a lot more than an Undertaker victory would have. It was a clever bit of booking even if the match was dead.

It was a better show than it looked on paper and was a memorable Wrestlemania at the least. I was surprised by how clean the finishes were all night long.

They milked the nearfalls well at the end.

Bret looks even more thrilled.

That was like a funeral.

How bizarre.

Another narrative heavy match in front of a crowd who want to pop for highspots.

I thought Warrior was going to run to the ring.

Cena/Wyatt was okay, but they would have been better off working a straight match than all that psycho babble.

Look at that Ozzo with his flag.

The psychology in this match is too cute for the audience.

Look at the quality of the AJW 1988 and 89 classes and then 1990 onwards. While they aired in prime time, they'd advertise the tryouts along the bottom of the screen. The number of girls they had trying out was significantly higher in the mid-80s than in the 90s and the quality of the girls chosen was higher. New Japan's best talent came on the back of Inoki being a big TV draw in the 70s and New Japan's popularity in the early 80s. Baba seemed to prefer guys from an amateur background or from judo or sumo, but TV was a factor and I think the promotions should have worked harder at keeping earlier timeslots or at getting them back.

I read that the Arion run was derailed somewhat by ITV going on strike during the autumn. Looking at the results, he worked for Joint up until the end of January, 1980. He seems to have been booked against Pat Roach quite often, similar to how they used Roach against Quinn. Apparently, Arion got huge heat in the halls the same as the Joynson match. Whoever was booking this stuff at the time, whether it was McManus or Marino, was keen on foreign heels. Aside from Arion and Quinn, they had Adnan Al-Kaissie and his controversial sleeper hold in the same time period.

Pirata Morgan, Babe Face y Cien Caras vs. La Fiera, Lizmark y Rayo De Jalisco Jr. (September 1986) This is a fairly straightforward match that likely took place in July of '86. The only confirmed date I have for the trios matches leading into the Babe Face vs. Fiera hair match is La Fiera, Ringo Mendoza y Tony Benetto vs. Babe Face, Satanico y MS-1 from 7/18/86. Since there's not much to talk about with this one, I thought I'd tell the story of how Morgan lost his eye. In December of 1981, when Morgan was still an unknown, he was wrestling a match against El Jalisco in Guadalajara. They traded the first two falls and the match was going pretty well when Morgan launched himself at Jalisco who was on the floor outside the ring. I'm not sure who was to blame, but Jalisco was out of position for the tope and Morgan crashed head first into the ground. The impact of the crash burst Morgan's eye open. Fans who were in the front row were sprayed with blood, and when they looked down they saw Morgan was a bloody horror and had no eye. Medical assistance arrived and in the panic it was feared that Morgan might die as Sangre India had done in 1979. Morgan survived, but he needed surgery to remove the remaining part of his eye. When Morgan returned to the ring, he had to wear an eye patch to cover his missing eye, and used the disability to cultivate the Pirata Morgan gimmick, naming himself after the Welsh 16th century pirate Henry Morgan, one of the most ruthless privateers of his era.

All Japan lost theirs in April 1988. New Japan was in April 1993. I don't know the exact date for All Japan Women, but their prime time slot ended in October of '86 and I guess they moved to midnight after Dump and the Crush Girls retired.