ohtani's jacket

Sangre Chicana vs. Perro Aguayo (Hair vs. Hair) (2/28/86) This was another match several years in the making. Chicana and Aguayo first began as a tag team in September of 1982, taking on Riki Choshu and Gran Hamada at El Toreo on 9/19/82. This was at a time when the economic crisis was hitting Mexico mercilessly, and promoters had to make the cards increasingly attractive to draw the fans. The sight of two of the biggest rudo names in the sport aligning brought back memories of the great rudo tag teams of the past like La Ola Blanca, Blue Demon y Black Shadow, Mendoza, Guajardo y Lagarde and the Espantos. They continued to tag together a few more times until the violent Chicana/Faraon vs. Aguayo/Fishman feud erupted, spanning Arena Mexico and El Toreo in some of the bloodiest matches ever recorded. Over the next few years, Chicana and Aguayo met in mano a mano matches, and title matches, and trios matches and elimination bouts, but never until this point a hair match. In 1985, Chicana began tagging with the newly turned Cien Caras and together they formed a formidable tag team. EMLL at the time had a lot more focus on their tag team division, which had been dominated for almost three straight years by the Mendoza brothers. Los Hermanos Mendoza had seen off the threats of Perro Aguayo and Fishman, Satanico and his Infernales partners Espectro Jr. and MS-1, and Los Brazos de Oro y Plata, but on 4/12/85, they succumb to the unholy alliance of Cien Caras and Sangre Chicana. Chicana, for much of ’85, was feuding with Tony Benetto, whose hair he took on 3/31/85, and it would be Benetto and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. who lifted the tag belts from Chicana and Caras on 10/28/85. Tensions then began to develop between Chicana and his regular partners Caras and El Faraon, leading to Chicana and Faraon brawling with one another after a trios match. Aguayo got involved somehow, and the end result was a three-way match at Arena Mexico where the first person to earn a submission or pinfall over the two over combatants was eliminated and the losers forced to have a lucha de apuesta match the following week. Faraon cheated to win, and Chicana and Aguayo had a huge post-match brawl. One thing I’ve always admired about Aguayo is his honesty about getting into the business. Most luchadores of his era claim they were inspired by Santo, Blue Demon or Black Shadow, but Aguayo says he was an amateur luchador for 14 years and got into it out of hunger. Born on a ranch in the town of Nochistlan, Zacatecas, the land his family worked didn’t give them enough to eat, so they moved to Guadalajara where eventually Aguayo had to leave school and go to work in Mexico City as a baker. Eventually, he returned to Guadalajara, where he took up boxing to stand up to the street gangs that harassed him. A luchador named Apolo Romano convinced him to take up wrestling training, and he eventually moved to Mexico’s Olympic Center where he won a national championship before Diablo Velasco convinced him to turn professional. Aguayo’s star was made with his legendary 10/3/75 apuesta with El Santo, where according to luchawiki: “Perro ripped Santo's mask and bloodied him like few had before, and Santo retaliated by going back to his beginnings for rudo tactics of his own.” Chicana himself called this match with Perro the high point of his career. In the immediate aftermath, Chicana took Faraon’s hair on the 3/7/86 Arena Mexico show, and later in the year Faraon took Aguayo’s hair in Monterrey. Two hair losses in the same year was a pretty big deal for a wrestler who in 1985 the magazines had called the wrestler of the year, but the Aguayo/Chicana feud would continue for many years, and Aguayo took Chicana’s hair in 1989 in Baja California and again in 1990 at Arena Mexico. This one, however, was the big one, as the later hair matches were overshadowed by the rise of Konnan as a main event player.

Chino Sato vs. Tomi Aoyama, Guam 9/80 This Sato girl had a good attitude and showed a lot of promise. It must have been a disappointment when she didn't amount to much. Here she got a big win over Tomi Aoyama, which surprised me somewhat. I wonder if the writing was on the wall for Aoyama at this point. Black Pair vs. Queen Angels, 1980 Well, if you're going to do the brawling, cheating style, you might as well go the whole hog and that's what the Black Pair did here, forgoing the match for the sake of injuring Aoyama's already injured knee. I practically despise the commentary team for AJW, but they were good at feigning concern. The female reporter wouldn't shut up as the Black Pair took apart Tomi's leg/knee. Ring girls went flying and even commissioner Ueda took a few bumps to the outside. Earlier on, Kayama did her plancha off the top rope, which she couldn't execute properly to save her life. On this occasion, she hit Kumano in the face somehow and bust her nose open. All in all, this was a pretty wild and chaotic match and a better attempt at creating an out of control brawl than their usual efforts. Black Pair vs. Nancy Kumi/Lucy Kayama, 2/5/80 It's pretty apparent by now that title matches bring out the best in early 80s AJW. What the girls lacked in pacing or execution, they made up for in intensity and this had a championship feel to it. The finish was nuts as Kayama again went for her plancha off the top turnbuckle, missed everyone and clipped the announcer's table on the wall down. That looked like it really, really hurt.

Pierroth Jr./MS-1/Ulises vs. Mogur/El Dandy/Popitekus (1/5/90) A week before their title match, it's the match-up the internet never told you about, Mogur vs. Pierroth Jr. Their exchanges here may have been even better than during their title fight, as they really slapped the shit out of each other. At one point, Mogur was lying prone on the canvas and Pierroth went all romper stomper on him, kicking him in the back until he had finally cleared the ring of him. Another outstanding match-up here was El Dandy vs. MS-1, which was every bit as good as you'd imagine it to be. MS-1 was fantastic around this time. I remember when I first got into lucha thinking that MS-1 was almost like a Mexican Jumbo Tsuruta. Like Jumbo, he got old fast, and when I think about that Infernales/Dinamitas match I watched the other day, his decline sticks out even more. Dandy also slipped from this level really quickly, which makes this an in-ring encounter to savour. Popitekus was a wee bit disappointing here, but Salazar under the hood and MS-1 mostly went the comedy route with him. There was a nice violent rudo control segment in the bout and Pierroth was in fine form. I always thought he took a while to come into his own, but this feud was a nice showcase for him. Match of the night as far as my viewing goes. El Dandy/Ringo Mendoza/Sangre Chicana vs. El Satanico/Fabuloso Blondy/MS-1 (11/16/90) I wouldn't call this weak, but there weren't really any special moments. Dandy and Satanico brawled and there was double juice, but that's nothing we haven't seen before. Everybody else just sort of chipped in without shining. Mascara Sagrada/Octagon/Atlantis vs. Pierroth Jr./Fuerza Guerrera/Kung Fu (1/25/91) Before the match we got a lengthy vignette of Pierroth working out in tight blue bicycle shorts while some up tempo smooth jazz played over the top. If you'd told me that would be the highlight I would've stopped the clip right there. This meandered. A lot. I was so bored that I became overly fascinated by the size difference between Fuerza and Pierroth. I often don't click about things like that until my mind starts to wander. One thing I'll say for this match is it shows how easily these pre-singles match brawling trios can descend into complete bores. The next time you see a really good one remember that. Jerry Estrada/El Satanico/La Parka vs. Lizmark/Octagon/Mascara Sagrada (6/4/93) This started off with a decent effort by Satanico to make Mascara Sagrada look competent on the mat, and some decent enough exchanges between Lizmark and Estrada, but aimless pre-singles match brawling trios were almost AAA's forte, and this dragged on and on without any spectacular moments. Jerry Estrada/El Satanico/La Parka vs. Lizmark/Octagon/Mascara Sagrada (6/11/93) This was also a dull rudo dominated trios. For some reason, Satanico vs. Octagon was one of the least compelling match-ups of the early 90s. It's not like Satanico didn't bump or sell for him, or try any of his bag of tricks; it was just interesting. I was begging for a hot babyface comeback here with the kind of dive train you know AAA is good for, but it never came. These are the kind of matches which have long soured me on AAA, and the fact this was worse than the previous week makes things even worse. Lizmark should have been up against it here against three of his major foes, but they couldn't even thread the Lizmark/Estrada issue through properly and the narratives were pretty pathetic in general. Not a great night for lucha libre watching.

Well, I thought I'd let lucha fans know what's happening on my blog lately. Starting from the beginning of this year, there's a look at some late '92 CMLL, which was the start of a troubling time for CMLL after the AAA split -- http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-392-1992-cmll/ Then there's a two-part look at CMLL's "lost years" of '93-95 when hardcores were so enamored with AAA and the business they were doing that they stopped bothering to tape CMLL -- http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-393-cmll-the-lost-years-pt-1/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-397-cmll-the-lost-years-pt-2/ If you're more interested in recent lucha, there's a review of Virus/Titan, which is one of the only strong lucha matches in what's been a pretty quiet year to date -- http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-399-virus-vs-titan/ There's also a brief review of a match off the DVDVR set -- http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-400-dvdvr-best-of-the-80s-13/ and the most recent entry is a look at some early 90s lucha from a wonderful YouTube channel -- http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/blog/8/entry-402-90s-lucha/ Please enjoy.

One thing I only just learnt about this match was that they did the same finish as the 1993 Mano Negra/Atlantis mask match where Atlantis won the third fall in 15 seconds with the the La Atlantida torture rack. Since this is a popular match on the set, people might like to know (or alternatively be gutted to hear) that there was a super libre revancha match the following week, as cubsfan discovered on his trip to Mexico.

El Solitario vs. Dr. Wagner (Mask vs. Mask) (12/1/85) Here we go… a match that was 15 years in the making. According to Jose Fernandez’ Wagner bio for the WON HOF, Monterrey was red hot in ‘85. Having maxed out all the smaller arenas in the city, promoter Carlos Elizondo began running weekly shows at the 15,000-seat Plaza de Toros Monumental bullring. Despite a hike in ticket prices, this long awaited mask vs. mask match sold out the bullring and drew the largest gate in the city’s history. It was such a big deal that it was even taped for TV, which was rare back then as we’re all too painfully aware. Wagner was 49 years old at this time and no longer a headliner in Mexico City (his last major match being arguably his hair match against Angel Blanco in 1979 after a short technico turn), but he remained a big draw in Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo, where he turned rudo again and feuded with Solitario and Anibal. It may be difficult to gauge from his one appearance on the set, but Solitario was one of the top three or four stars in the history of lucha libre; making this one of the most famous mask matches in the history of the sport. Wagner had a short run as a headliner at El Toreo after this match, as people in Mexico City where curious to see him sans mask, but the aftermath to the match was nothing short of tragic. On April 6th, 1986, during a match against Fishman in Nuevo Larendo, Solitario took a move that aggravated an injury Solitario had. He was taken to the hospital complaining of abdominal pain, and as the story goes doctors initially misdiagnosed his condition. When the doctors realised he was suffering from internal bleeding, he was rushed into surgery where he died from a cardiac arrest. Rumours have long persisted about the actual cause of death and his general health at the time, but the official story is that he suffered a cardiac arrest from receiving an anesthetic. Twenty one days later, Wagner was driving with a group of wrestlers from a matinee show in Nuevo Larendo to an evening show in Monterrey when a tire on the car exploded, and Wagner lost control of the car and collided with a truck. The wrestlers in the backseat where unharmed, but Blanco in the passenger seat was killed instantly and Wagner suffered a broken back with severe spinal damage. Doctors initially told him he would never walk on his own again, but he eventually learnt to walk with the use of a cane, even taking a taxi driver job in his old age. A grim entry this time, but the tragedy that followed the mask match is a huge part of these wrestlers’ legacies. For anyone interested in their glory days, there are detailed bios at luchawiki and other places.

Atlantis/Apolo Dantes/Octagon vs. Blue Panther/Javier Cruz/Emilio Charles Jr. (8/2/91) It's always exciting when you see a rudo line-up like that. I don't know if they cranked up the pace or it was just edited that way, but this was one lively trios. Under ordinary circumstances, they might have meandered along setting up the Cruz vs. Dantes hair match and Panther vs. Atlantis title match, but in this case there was always something interesting going on. Dantes wore a purple wrestling leotard that made him look like an exotico (lilac even, for those of you who get the reference.) I'm sure his dad could have pulled it off, as dad wasn't the sort you messed with. Still, it's not the colour of your leotard that counts but how hard you pack a punch, and Dantes' fists caused Cruz to blade here. Cruz was good value here as the annoying little jackass alter-ego to his awesome fired up babyface act of 1990. Interesting enough, Atlantis v. Panther brought the violence during the technico's comeback. Their title match may have been a breathtaking display of pure lucha libre, but they beat the tar out of each other here. The finishing stretch was wild with everyone going for broke. Octagon, who I'll defend until the day I sign off from this blog, pulled off a big dive which he sold beautifully, and Panther caught Atlantis in no man's land for the submission finish. As soon as he got the call, he dropped Atlantis like a sack of potatoes and motioned for the title around his waist. I was pumped to say the least. Fun trios. Pierroth Jr. vs. Mogur, National Light Heavyweight Championship match (1/12/90) This was surprisingly good. I almost passed up the opportunity to watch it as it didn't seem that interesting, but by the first fall I was hooked. It was a lengthy Arena Coliseo match with a heavy focus on (light) heavyweight style mat work. There was a lot of selling, which gave it a slightly different feel stylistically. One really cool thing they did was sell the impact of such heavy bodies being thrown about and slammed into the canvas. They'd do an armdrag, for example, and sell both the impact and the strain on the person's shoulder. It was probably took long for what these guys are capable of, and being a traditionalist I didn't particularly care for Pierroth cheating during a title match, but there was a lot to like here in terms of details. It's also a side of Pierroth that he didn't show a lot of later on, particularly his mat game. Worth checking out as a match that's well under the radar. Atlantis/Lizmark/Ultimo Dragon vs. Emilio Charles Jr./Bestia Salvaje/Felino (7/24/92) I don't know who runs the channel that I'm getting this stuff from, but whoever it is he's a Godsend. I'm hauled up inside with a stuffy nose and my second bout of influenza in a month and this stuff is the perfect tonic. I continue to change my tune on Ultimo Dragon. Sometimes when a guy is flashy it's easy to go off him, but flashy works well in trios matches and his exchanges here were lightning quick. This had a cracking pace. I just sat back and enjoyed this one. I need to reel myself in before I start comparing it to my recent obsession with New York disco funk. What was really cool here was that Atlantis started brawling with Emilio, which is the closest we're ever going to get to an Altantis vs. Emilio apuesta match, and it was awesome. It's a shame that Atlantis didn't work more mask matches in places like Monterrey as he looked as good a brawler as Santo. Cien Caras/Mascara Ano 2000/Pirata Morgan vs. MS-1/Satanico/Pirata Morgan (7/9/93) Not as awesome as I imagine some of those rudos contra rudos bouts from the early 80s to be, but still a pretty fun trios. It's debatable how well the Infernales fit with what AAA was going for, but I get the feeling that Pena was like Eric Bischoff with Turner's checkbook just buying up everyone from the competition. The Infernales were still a polished act and had a number of fun moments, but Los Hermanos Dinamita weren't so cohesive and their control segment lacked imagination. Mascara Ano 2000 bled, but having just lost his mask his selling was a little weak. Caras, looking suave with an almost Richard Gere-like hairdo, slipped in here and there to have a neat exchange with MS-1, but it was all too fleeting. Regardless of all that, Satanico looked good with his punch exchanges, and it was still a dream match of sorts. Espectro Jr./Espectro de Ultratumba/Bestia Salvaje vs. El Dandy/Angel Azteca/El Jalisco (5/1/92) Ha, Bestia was with his boys the Espectros. This wasn't as smooth as some of the other trios I watched since the workers weren't as good, but Dandy was oozing with confidence and his mat exchange with Espectro de Ultratumba (of all people) is a must-see if you're a Dandy fan. Azteca continued to look like the next in the Lizmark/Atlantis lineage, and I still regret that his rise to that top babyface worker level evaporated after his super push. I dug the rudo comeback here, and I loved the way it continued through to the beginning of the third fall. Trios were so fluid in this era and the action seemed so close to the crowd, not like the current sterile Arena Mexico set-up. Nice babyface ending here. Dandy would've looked cocky if he was anyone but El Dandy.This is a wonderful YouTube channel.

Lizmark, Mil Mascaras & Valente Fernandez vs. Sangre Chicana, Angel Blanco & Angel Blanco Jr. (12/1/85) More action from the Wagner/Solitario card… Angel Blanco was Wagner’s long time friend and tag team partner. Together they had formed La Ola Blanca, one of the most legendary tag teams of the 60s and 70s. In the late 60s, the team became a trio when they added El Solitario to their ranks. Solitario was a young rudo star who had rocked the lucha world by taking the hair of both Ray Mendoza and René Guajardo in a matter of weeks. A high flier with incredible natural charisma, his meteoric rise had many claiming he was the best worker in Mexico. By 1969, La Ola Blanca were the hottest act in Mexico, described by Jose Fernandez as “a pre-Four Horsemen type unit where all three were considered among the top ten wrestlers in the country.” With Solitario’s appeal growing by the week, EMLL struck gold by having Wagner and Blanco turn on him. Solitario instantly became the hottest babyface act in the country. Solitario vs. La Ola Blanca set business on fire all over Mexico, and Solitario had a record string of sellouts at Arena Mexico. After two years of chasing each other around the country, Solitario and Blanco met in a mask vs. mask match in front of yet another Arena Mexico sellout. Solitario took Blanco’s mask, but the feud continued to do great business. The downturn in Blanco’s career came when he jumped to UWA and was swept aside by the new wave of main eventers. By the 80s, he was working predominantly in the Northern states and remained popular in Monterrey. He died on 4/26/86 in the car accident that ended Wagner’s career. The Angel Blanco Jr. here is Rey Salomon, who was the original Blanco’s son-in-law. He used the gimmick until his divorce from Blanco’s daughter where upon it was given to one of Blanco’s sons (the one who works in Santo’s Todo x el Todo promotion.) Valente Fernandez was a light heavyweight/middleweight worker from Nuevo Leon who worked for UWA right up until ’92 and continued to work the independents for some time after. He had a reputation as an excellent worker, but never made a huge impact in the capital. Notable career matches include a mask match against legendary Monterrey rudo Fishman, a hair match against Negro Casas and title matches against the likes of Mano Negra, Solar, Blue Panther and Sangre Chicana.

It can take advantage of narrative opportunities that real sports can't. It's crazy when they squander that for one reason or another. What narrative opportunities does it present that real sports can't? Wrestling is nowhere near as dramatic as real sports.

Perro Aguayo vs. Sangre Chicana vs. El Faraón vs. Villano III (Elimination Match) (10/84) Skip all the stuff at the beginning and head straight to the Chicana tope on Villano III. That has to be one of the best topes I've seen. An absolute bullet that was made even better by the camera being fixed on Villano III on the outside, and Chicana rocketing into frame at a million miles an hour. For a guy who's mostly known for brawling and selling, Chicana had an awesome tope and the big gamble on a tope suicida is something that really fit his character. This was a four way elimination match featuring Perro Aguayo against three of his biggest rivals at the time. It came down to Perro vs. Chicana, one of the best match-ups in lucha history if not all of wrestling. Watching these two work is fantastic, even in a match like this where they're essentially holding back. I love the theatrical spin they put on every bump and every bit of selling.They get so much mileage out of the kick-punch style that typifies 80s lucha brawling. The nuts and bolts of what they're doing couldn't be simpler, in fact it's very Memphis-like the way they're able to weave a compelling narrative around knocking each other to canvas. I also love how the highspots are missed or teased more often than they're hit. The message is clear on the big tope bailout and the DQ finish: nothing's settled here, but if the crowd's lucky they'll get that hair match sooner or later.

The whole selling thing in wrestling is bizarre. Like, I've yet to watch a baseball game, see a guy get hit in the arm with a line drive, then keep playing with it hanging limply at his side for six innings. Or that time Joe Thornton played a playoff series for the Bruins with a busted rib but he just forgot to sell I guess. The whole notion of pro wrestling is that it's a fake competitive event, and while there are guys that have used the ole' wounded duck trick well in wrestling, most of the time I just find myself asking "if that other guy is trying to kick your ass why are you making it as obvious as possible where he should be hitting you". Exactly. The way some wrestlers sell a body part they should be out for the season with a torn ACL or medial meniscus tear yet they're out their next match happy as Larry. I much prefer wrestling styles where they don't try to injure an opponent's body part or where injuries are worked like accidents.

Rimi Yokota vs. Yumi Ikeshita, 3/15/80 Clipped for TV but looked to be an in-ring focused bout worthy of both women's talents. Jackie Sato vs. Nancy Kumi, 12/80 Clipped to the point of being non-rateable. Jackie Sato vs. Tomi Aoyama, 1/4/80 Jackie vs. Jackie Jr. Worth watching if only to see the difference between Sato's more 70s style spidery matwork and the style of work that Jaguar and Chigusa were ushering in. The highspots were decidedly unspectacular, but it came across as an important contest and it's better to watch Sato wrestle than fuck around with heels.

El Hijo del Santo & Black Shadow Jr. vs. Espanto Jr. & Eskeletor (12/1/85) This is from the Plaza De Toros Monumental bullring in Monterrey and was on the undercard of the El Solitario vs. Dr. Wagner mask vs. mask match. It was part of the build to an El Hijo del Santo vs. Eskeletor mask match on 12/22, at a time when Santo was taking masks all around Mexico. Eskeletor’s partner here was one of Santo’s great career rivals, Espanto Jr., while Santo’s partner was the worked son of one of the most legendary luchadores of all time. Espanto Jr. (Jesus Andrade) was the son of El Moro, a Laguna based wrestler who trained all seven of his sons to wrestle in an effort to keep them off the streets. Andrade made his debut at Arena Ferrocarrilero de Gomez Palacio in 1971 at the age of 14, and recalls the crowd laughing at him for being so skinny and nervous. Like many luchadores, he drifted in his early days, winding up in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, where he began working for Gori Guerrero, who had become a local promoter in the Cd. Juarez area. Over the next few years, he worked Juarez to Monterrey under the guise of various different gimmicks. In 1978, with no other profession or studies to fall back on, he began working for EMLL at the Plaza de Toros Torreon in Chihuahua, where he worked his way up to the third match on the card, and by 1982 he was working Arena Coliseo in Mexico City. Andrade’s preferred gimmick was as El Moro II (or sometimes El Moro), but promoters changed his name practically everywhere he wrestled. Supposedly unhappy at EMLL wanting to change his gimmick to Negro Andrade, he returned to Gomez where he wrestled locally until promoter and journalist, Hector Valero, suggested he return to Mexico City as Espanto Jr, part of la dinastia de los Cisneros: José Vázquez Cisneros, Espanto I, y Fernando Cisneros Carrillo, Espanto II. With the blessing of Espanto II, Andrade was given permission to work as Espanto Jr. and made his debut in 1984 at El Toreo, tagging with Blue Panther against El Hijo del Santo and Black Shadow Jr. Black Shadow Jr. was a Monterrey native who was considerably older than either Santo or Espanto Jr. having made his debut in the mid 60s. He was already working El Toreo as Pequeño Solín, a gimmick believed to be derived from the famous Mexican comic book Kaliman, when he approached the original Black Shadow about wrestling as his “son.” Since none of Black Shadow’s sons had wanted to wrestle, he gave Solin his permission and Black Shadow Jr. made his debut around the same time as Espanto Jr. And in another striking parallel to Espanto, Black Shadow Jr. would go on to have a bloody mask match against Santo in this same arena some six years later.

Body part work is a wrestling cliche. If wrestling were a work of narrative fiction it would be the equivalent of "it was a dark and stormy night."

The Shield vs. The Wyatts (Elimination Chamber) 2/23/14 This was the first time for me to see a Shield match, so it was never going to resonate as much with me as it did others who've been following their development. The early stuff was okay. There wasn't anything particularly outstanding about the Shield's double and triple teaming or the Wyatts' brawling and big man spots, but the match built well and picked up steam when they started doing what I assume were sequences they'd laid out with the road agent. Said sequences were a bit too choreographed, but the crowd was molten and seemed like it would come unglued at any time, which gave the match a tremendous energy. I couldn't in good faith rate it as highly as some people have as I think there's been much better six mans with better workers over the years, but it was certainly memorable. No-one struck me as a great worker and I was surprised by how poor the Shields' offence seemed, especially Rollins, so I wonder if this wasn't a terrific piece of booking. Elimination Chamber (Elimination Chamber) 2/23/14 This was pretty good up until the eliminations began then it became sports entertainment fluff. There's no way I can buy a match with that much outside interference as great, especially when it ate up so much of the stretch run. Cesaro, Shemaus and Christian added the best stuff to the match, but it wasn't as good as their non-gimmicked stuff and they were all off on spots at times. I liked the brogue kick into the pod. That was the highlight of the match.

He doesn't have a hair metal gimmick. He just does shitty air guitar poses.

Tanahashi is a better worker than Okada, but Okada has the height. I'm highly skeptical about how good his English is.

http://web.archive.org/web/20030310205420/http://www.puroresupower.com/sheldon.htm

Sasuke staying at Tokyo Inn, a nationwide chain of cheap business hotels:

If the best match is only three stars, then I would say there hasn't been a MOTYC so far. I guess I prescribe to the old-school mentality that MOTYC means 4 1/2 stars or better. I couldn't see a three star match contending for MOTY no matter how novel it may be, though I'm sure I could convince myself otherwise if I really liked the match. What happens when there is a year like 2000 (or whenever) where there aren't any ****1/2 matches? Does that mean that there aren't any MOTYCs? If that were the case then you'd have to lower the threshold. If there were nothing below **** then you'd be stretching to come up with a MOTY.

'This is from the UK gossip website, Popbitch. >> The Masked Shagger Is Sasuke a porn star? Masanori Murakawa is a Japanese wrestler, better known as "The Great Sasuke". By day he's also a local councillor in Iwate, northern Japan. Last week he won a legal battle to wear his full-face wrestling mask in council chambers because, he claimed, "voters know me that way". However, Murakawa is under suspicion of starring in a porn DVD currently doing the rounds in Japan. Viewers say the mask and muscles are identical to the Great Sasuke. Murakawa's response? "It's obvious to anyone who knows me. My tool is not that big."'

This is a funny one -- http://news.3yen.com/2005-07-14/the-great-sasuke/

Haven't seen this. My lucha viewing is pretty selective these days.

He's some type of UFO researcher and has brought it up in public forums: "For the people of Japan, their hard-earned tax dollars at work with The Great Sasuke has led to some important discoveries. Some people worry about North Korea. Some people worry about Iraq. Some people worry about oil prices. But The Great Sasuke is a man of the people, and he decided to take up an important issue recently at assembly hall in Iwate. According to Sasuke, there is a crisis in Japan. Not inflationary rates, not the Yakuza, but instead... there's a problem with aliens. Sasuke recently gave a speech that caused laughter to leak out in assembly hall about the growing number of sightings of UFOs from residents in his district. He relayed his concerns with a straight face, talking about how shiny flying objects were floating in the sky at a super high-speed of zig-zagging. For a half-hour, Sasuke debated with others about UFOs and martians, wondering what kind of threat they would impose on society. He even asked one person if their mother had sighted a UFO in the past."