ohtani's jacket

Leon Arras vs. Ray Steele (6/2/70) This is from the sole episode of WoS we have from 1970, a show which provides us with the only real Jackie Pallo match in circulation. Arras was a school teacher and part-time wrestler who became an actor and writer in the 70s under his real name, Brian Glover. He was a bit of a poor man's Les Kellett and a walking bundle of catch phrases, though I did enjoy his film and television acting the few times that I saw it. This was actually Ray Steele's television debut, and he would go on to appear on television right up until the end in 1988. Walton kept on playing up the fact that Arras had broken Steele's nose in only Steele's third professional fight, as though it was going to play a part in the afternoon's bout, and when Steele got off to a slow start Walton seemed almost miffed. Walton was never one to hide his frustration with a bout, and I can only imagine what the reaction would be if a guy like Gorilla Monsoon acted the way Walton did, though to be fair to Walton this was pretty average. Johnny Wilson vs. Steve Logan (2/4/76) Another television debut, this time Johnny Wilson. Usually, the wrestlers are skinny teenagers on debut, but Wilson was already built. Walton was gushing over how handsome he was, playing on the sexual undercurrent to the Saturday afternoon wrestling, whereas Wilson immediately wormed his way into my heart by smashing Logan with forearms. Wilson put in a good showing here and got Logan to work a bit, which is like getting a donkey to move at times. It was a one fall contest, so a bit on the short side, but Wilson made a good first impression. Steve Logan vs. Johnny Kincaid (2/21/74) Typical example of Logan not wanting to work. Kincaid was better as a heel than a face, so there was that too, but it seemed to me that Logan was dogging it. Dave Bond vs. Steve Logan (2/21/77) This was another less than stellar Steve Logan bout. He had a style that generated a lot of heat despite the fact he would ignore the crowd completely and only acknowledge their existence by staring at the odd fan during the break between rounds, but it relied very much on Logan fueling the fire, and when he wanted to mail it in, nothing would happen in his bouts.

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.

I forgot here that Fuerza Guerrera supposedly left EMLL in August of '86, vacating the Mexican National Welterweight title.

Americo Rocca, Ringo Mendoza y Tony Salazar vs. Negro Navarro, El Signo y El Texano (Hair vs. Hair) (9/19/86) This was a triple hair match from the 53rd Anniversary Show. In my previous entry about the Misioneros, I stated that they left the UWA around this time, but a quick look at the bills we have from this time shows that's clearly not true. They may have taken on more dates for Mora, but they still worked for UWA fairly regularly. There's a record of one more appearance at Arena Mexico on 12/12/86 taking on Chamaco Valaguez, Javier Cruz and Tony Salazar, and for what it's worth there was an earlier match at El Toreo on 4/13/86 where they took on La Fiera, Ringo Mendoza and Tony Salazar. Blue Panther, El Talisman y El Dandy vs. Stuka, America Rocca y Chamaco Valaguez (11/86) This was right around the time that Panther was getting his first big push at El Toreo. He'd gotten his initial break in Monterrey after his trainer recommended him to booker Rene Guajardo. Guajardo was impressed with Panther's skill level for a rookie and not only gave him a small push on the Northern circuit but sent him to Mexico City less than a year after his debut. Within six months, he was working for Francisco Flores and spent the early part of the 80s fighting an array of talented light weights in what was arguably the most stacked under card of any promotion in wrestling history. Throughout 1984 he continued to take minor masks on the smaller shows and then at the end of the year he teamed with Black Man to take the masks of Las Sombras de Plata I & II at El Toreo, his first apuesta match on the big stage. A few weeks later he won his first major title, the UWA World Welterweight title, which he took from El Matematico, and held onto it until 2/86 where he lost it to Black Man. A week later, Black Man took on Panther in an apuesta match and lost his mask in a move that severely hurt the Fantastico's career. Heading into the winter season, Panther took the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight championship from Gran Hamada on 11/16/86 right around the time this match is meant to have taken place. Talisman had spent much of 1986 as the Mexican National Middleweight champion, having won the title from Atlantis in March. During his reign he defended the title against both Americo Rocca and Stuka. Stuka was a young high flying wrestler from Durango, who'd been trained in part by the father of Espanto Jr. He'd spent the early part of his career wrestling under his real name of Joel Garcia before adopting a masked gimmick based around the World World II German dive bombers; his mask adorned with iron crosses and other Luftwaffe insignia. True to his name, he was an aerial artist with a number of big dives. He didn't reach terribly great heights with EMLL, and as the decade flicked over he became a regular in Monterrey where he lost his mask to Perro Aguayo in a triangle match with El Hijo del Santo. He then worked for a long time in the Northern district as well as for AAA. The Stuka Jr that currently wrestles in CMLL is his younger brother, who was born the year after Stuka debut. Talisman would lose the middleweight title to rising star Mogur on 11/30/86 while his rivalry with Rocca spilled over into another hair match in '87. El Dandy was also feuding with Americo Rocca at this time. Dandy had won the NWA World Welterweight title on 8/24/86 from Javier Cruz and lost it to Rocca on 11/3/86. The pair were booked for a rematch on the 12/12 show. So there's quite a lot going on in this match.

There's not much competition from other promotions. You'd be better off comparing the WWE with other periods in its past.

It's on The History of New Japan vs. UWF Vol. 1.

The UWF guys did challenge Inoki and the NJPW wrestlers when they first showed up on 12/6/85.

Babyface, Cien Caras y Mascara Ano 2000 vs. Lizmark, Rayo De Jalisco y La Fiera (September 1986) This was another trios from before the hair match. Babe Face, so called because when he came up from his native Colima to Mexico City he was like a boy amongst men, was forced into wrestling by his mother because he was a troublemaker. What he lacked in height, he made up for with his bulky physique and he was said to have been one of the hardest punchers in the business. He also showed surprising vigour and agility for a man his size, however these qualities took their toll on his body and he wound up wrecking his hip. He worked for UWA for practically its entire existence and had one last run with AAA in the late 90s, but by that stage he was a wreck and needed a hip replacement. Babe retired for good and now runs a food stall behind Arena Mexico where he serves Japanese inspired rice dishes and Mexican huaraches. Somewhat amusingly, when this career rudo was touring Japan in the 70s and 80s, he'd spend his off days taking cooking classes and that's where the Japanese inspiration comes from.

I did like this more than the RAW match, but mostly because of Dean Ambrose's FIP performance. The Shield still leave me a little cold. Maybe I'm coming at things from the wrong angle, but where are the double and triple teams you'd expect from a well oiled trio? It just seems to be three individuals who hit the ring at different times, and I don't see what people see in Rollins. Was that even a submission he put on Rowan? Once through the combinations and then a finishing stretch was a bit hollow, but this isn't two out of three falls I suppose.

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.