ohtani's jacket

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.

He really is awesome. This is great up until Vince McMahon.

Jackie Turpin vs. Alan Dennison (7/11/79) Just the final round. Looked like a fun bout with Dennison doing spots like Turpin being unable to break his wrestler's bridge. Tony St. Clair vs. Colin Joynson (7/11/79) The late 70s were Tony St. Clair's peak and 1979 may well have been St. Clair at his best. He was quick for a heavyweight and this was a match which showcased his speed and athleticism. Colin Joynson, who Walton was besotted with calling the "little tank" on this occasion, was game for an up-tempo bout and so there was a lot more rope running in this than you'd usually find in a heavyweight wrestling bout. Joynson really was tank-like, so St. Clair's arm drags (or rolls as Walton called them) looked awesome. Really good, energetic heavyweight bout. Mal Sanders vs. Chato Pastor (6/27/79) Joined in progress. Sanders was the new young superstar at the time and had the type of annoying habits you'd associate with a new guy getting a big push. Pastor was fun, but not the superworker you want a visiting Spaniard to be. To their credit, the crowd were really into it and completely behind Sanders, but I felt like I've seen this kind of thing done better. Tony St. Clair vs. Lenny Hurst (6/27/79) Another good St. Clair bout. Hurst is a bit of an underrated grappler as he's another who wasn't too flamboyant, but he was a good opponent for St. Clair and they were able to do the quick, all-action stuff that made Tony popular with the crowds. Spiros Arion vs. Romany Riley (10/30/79) This was the twilight of Spiros Arion's career. He was doing this gimmick where he claimed to be the World Heavyweight champion with Walton actually referring to him as the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight champion. The belt he brought to the ring ended up becoming the UK version of a World Heavyweight championship and was taken to All-Star when Quinn jumped, but at this point they were pretending it was a US belt. Because Quinn had just had a successful run that culminated with the big Wembley show, Arion did a similar anti-British gimmick where he got on the house mic and ran down the local talent, even aligning himself with Quinn, who they planned to bring back in the new year. Unfortunately, his accent was a little thick and he didn't speak into the mic properly, but once the bout got going he drew tremendous heat for his heathen all-in wrestling style. Riley put up a fight, but he was fodder here and Arion soon ran rough shot over him. Colin Joynson vs. Spiros Arion (11/13/79) This was crazy. One of the most heated WoS bouts I've ever seen. Arion did the same schtick as above, but this time he claimed he'd beat Joynson within two rounds. He did his all-in brawling and somehow bust Joynson's nose wide open. Then he took the pad off the corner post and rammed Joynson's head into it. Well, the crowd didn't like this. They were on their feet and swarming the ring. More than a few guys had their jackets off and were ready to jump Arion. The only other time I've seen this sort of reaction was with the Caribbean Sunshine Boys. Joynson was the victim, but he was punching guys off the apron to stop them from entering the ring. Finally, Big Daddy came down and cleared Arion from the ring, and one kid who kept trying to enter the ring finally made it through the ropes and tried to raise Daddy's arm, but Daddy being the prick he was shoved the guy out of the way. The ring area was just a swarm of people as Walton closed out the show. Daddy vs. Arion was something they were obviously teasing, but Bridges took his title the following month and that was the end of Arion's run.