ohtani's jacket

I don't agree with this. If it wasn't for Baba and Inoki pro-wrestling would have died with Rikidozan. They were as important as Rikidozan if not more and just as popular.

Joint Promotions is like the territories in that it's still good up until the mid-80s and then there's a huge drop off. I would say Grey carries the ship for the type of wrestling you enjoy. Guys like Saint, Breaks and Rocco jump ship to All-Star and are off TV for a few years and Joint replaces them with their boy apprentices who are Young David-esque and you're basically left with Steve Grey vs. Clive Myers being the premier workrate feud.

I would make the case for Breaks in the top 5, since he spent the entire year on television being saddled with Alan Dennison and being saddled by Alan Dennison is like being saddled with a rock, but he still made it work.

Lucy Kayama, Nancy Kumi & Jackie Sato vs. Mami Kumano, Yumi Ikeshita & Leilani Kai, 7/80 All Japan Women felt like a stale promotion in 1980. They'd been doing variations of this Black Trio vs. Beauty Trio stuff since the mid 70s, the schoolgirls had moved on after Ueda's retirement, and it was just the same match-ups with no story progression. The only reason to watch matches like these are for the Black Pair. Yumi Ikeshita is the best worker from this era that nobody talks about and Kumano is a superb bitchy heel. She wore this awesome black cape and gloves combo to the ring, so props for her costume sense too. And she went on to have something like six kids, so she was a heck of a lady. The only problem with Ikeshita is that she's so small that Sato could have just kicked the shit out of her and she would have never come back. Whenever Ikeshita bumps for her, it's like Sato is Hogan. This was a bit more workrate driven than the usual AJW brawls, but nothing about it really stood out. Leilani was third string as usual. Jumping Bomb Angels vs. Leilani Kai & Judy Martin (11/24/87) Really hot semi-sprint at MSG. Once again, Judy Martin did the bulk of the work for her team, but y'know, Judy Martin was a pretty good worker. The JBA looked better here than in the Rumble match and I think the one fall stip suited them better. Martin busting out a powerbomb was not something I expect from 1987 WWF.

The debate wasn't as heated as advertised. Poor old Parv sounds more fired up on paper than Skype. Why do you care so much, Parv? Is it because you wanted it to be some kind of amazing title vs. title match or because you just don't like Backlund? Everybody agrees that it's not that good a match, but it's hard to see why you're so offended by it.

Nakamura/Okada vs. Tanahashi/Naito, 12/23/12 -- This was okay, but at 30 minutes plus it felt like too much of a good thing, or in New Japan's case too much of a decent thing. -- I don't think anyone really stood out as the best worker in the match. Nakamura obviously has the best strikes of the four. His front kicks in particular are really good, some of the best in wrestling. But aside from that he's like a Japanese DDP and really needs to expand his moveset. Tanahashi and Okada were Tanahashi and Okada, and Naito is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. If anything, I thought he brought the most energy to the match. -- It reminded me a lot of post interpromotional era Joshi, where all they could think to do was up the ante each time. Whatever problems there are in a match like this, they started a long time ago. This is why I prefer shoot style (real shoot style, not that UWF-i bullshit) that's stripped of all the excess. -- There was a submission that Naito put on Okada that should have been the finish of the match. Unfortunately, Nakamura tried to break up the submission and Tanahashi did his frog splash on him and the life was sucked out of the submission. Then they went on to do a four way knockout where everyone was counted out, which was supposed to be some kind of epic image leading into the Dome match, but was like some shitty ending to RAW. I really wanted that submission finish. -- Probably *** 1/2 or so.

What kind of a casual fan cries when Lex Luger loses a bout? Are you implying that casual fans think it's real?

I want to make a correction to this. Los Guerreros did work El Toreo in '83 but it was against Perro Aguayo, Fishman and Babe Face. In the Misioneros matches, El Faraon subbed for Cota.

Perro Aguayo vs. Sangre Chicana vs. El Faraon vs. Villano III (Elimination Match) (10/84) This was the main event of the 10/14/84 show. Chicana, Faraon and Villano III all had issues with Perro Aguayo. We've covered them before, but let's recap: After Faraon was unmasked by Fishman in April of '76, the first big feud he was involved with was a program with Perro Aguayo. They feuded over the NWA World Middleweight title and later the NWA World Light Heavyweight title, but their feud was so heated that it led to a hair vs. hair match on the 43rd Anniversary Show and a double hair vs. hair match between Faraon & Ringo Mendoza vs. Perro Aguayo & Joe Palardy on the year end show for '77 after Faraon had beaten Palardy for the World Middleweight title a few weeks earlier. The great thing about lucha at this time is that they didn't stop feuding when Faraon became a rudo. In 1982 there was an atomicos match at Arena Mexico that paired El Solitario, Mascara 2000, Ringo y Cachorro Mendoza and Perro Aguayo, Fishman, Sangre Chicana y Faraon against each other. In the third fall, Fishman accidentally hit Faraon with one of his kicks, which ignited a brawl between the two. Aguayo immediately entered to attack Faraon and when Chicana intervened in support of the Pharaoh, Arena Mexico apparently became a madhouse with just this incredible reaction at seeing the rudos fight. The following week there was a wild Chicana/Faraon vs. Aguayo/Fishman fight that was said to be one of the most memorable rudos contra rudos fights ever seen with no quarter asked and none given. That led to an even wilder super libre match where Aguayo bled so much he couldn't finish the third fall and had to leave because of blood loss. The violence didn't stop there, however, as they took the feud to El Toreo in February of '83 for a pair of revenge matches where the blood continued to flow. Fishman bled so much in their second fight that the doctor wanted to stop the fight, but Fishman ultimately forced Chicana to submit in a match people still talk about as one of the bloodiest in Mexican wrestling history. And of course, Villano and Aguayo had their own war the same year with their hair vs. mask bout. And what more can be said about Sangre Chicana, voted 1983's most outstanding wrestler by Box y Lucha Magazine, which was a tremendous honour for the 50th anniversary of lucha libre, his three feuds with MS-1, Satanico and Aguayo sealing the deal.

Re-watching a few wrestlers I haven't given a fair shake to in the past. Brian Maxine vs. Robby Baron (2/21/77) Here's what I said about Maxine the first time I saw him in back in 2009: "Maxine was a heel who wore a crown and had "I am Super Star Maxine" handwritten on his tights. Maybe he went through Memphis at some point. A pity that he sucked. Robbie Baron was one of your most game no-namers around. I don't think I'll be watching Maxine for a while." I've learnt a lot since then and come to appreciate Maxine as one of the most colourful characters of his era. This had some excellent wrestling in the first fall, but was criminally short. It was around this time that Maxine began making a face turn, which was a slow burn deal where he gradually began behaving himself. The upshot of that was that we got to see more of Maxine the wrestler, which was interesting to see. He wasn't the most skilled worker in the business, but pretty much rock solid. Brian Maxine vs. Mick McMichael (1/28/80) Maxine by this stage was a fully fledged blue-eye, but because he wasn't on television so frequently Walton kept expressing surprise at the "new" Maxine. This was a much stronger bout that I remembered, in fact it's probably the second best McMichael bout I've seen after the McManus one. Two thirds of the way through, this looked like a nomination for the Europe set, but there was some oddly timed comedy from McMichael at the business end and then an injury finish that left McMichael with a dislocated shoulder. It was more believable than a lot of injury finishes, but they're always downers. There was unlikely to be a winner in this one and the injury finish allowed Maxine to continue his babyface push by refusing to accept the decision, but there's no sweetening the disappointment.

I'm fairly certain they took turns making noises while on top. Hmm, that sounded dodgy.

I'm not really a fan of either of these guys, though I do like the Hase/Hashimoto matches. I thought this was fairly good when they worked submission holds and not so great at other times. A lot of the early transitions were poor, and I couldn't stand the dueling figure four leg lock spots on the outside. I also couldn't stand their breathing sounds. A lot of people can't stand the screaming in Joshi, but I'd rather listen to that than the noises Hase and Chono make. That was easily solved though as I just put on a record. While I may not have liked some of the details, I thought they did an excellent job of turning their semi into an epic. Hase's victory at the end was really convincing in terms of the emotion. So, overall I'm not sure I'd call it a classic but it was a strong match.

Javier Cruz, Impacto II y Solar II vs. El Dandy, Franco Colombo y Panico (10/84) This was part of the Javier Cruz/El Dandy feud, which was an important feud in the young careers of both men. There's a good chance it took place on the undercard of the 10/14/84 show, but I can't find any evidence of it. We'll get to El Dandy vs. Javier Cruz in due course. For now here's a quick look at their partners: Panico and Franco Colombo are most notable for being present day CMLL bookers. Panico came from a lucha family, his father Manuel Robles being one of four brothers who wrestled (two as "Robles" and two as "Sitos.") Despite the fact that his father was a popular wrestler, Panico refused to take advantage of his family's reputation and tried to make his own way in the wrestling business as a luchador enmascarado. Probably the most interesting story about Panico is the story of how he unmasked. On August 17th, 1982, Panico lost his mask tagging with his father against Franco Colombo and Faisan, who later became Rocco Valente of Los Destructores. Where it gets interesting is that while everybody agrees that Panico lost his mask, nobody can seem to agree with how it happened. As the story goes, the match ended in a draw and that's where things start to get hazy. Because lucha was governed by an actual regulatory body, there had to be a winner in wager matches. Draws were unheard of for the first 50 or so years of lucha libre. From all accounts, the first instance of a draw in a luchas de apuestas match was the MS-1/Gran Jalisco draw on 7/23/82. On that occasion, both competitors were forced to lose their hair, but with the Panico match accounts of how the draw was dealt with is murky at best. Some claim that one of the refs declared the technicos the winners while the other raised the rudos' hands, while others say only the rudos were declared the winners and therefore the technicos were forced to lose the wager. One person even claims there was an official fourth fall but that the crowd were on the verge of rioting and nobody noticed the fourth fall amid all the confusion. Whatever the case, it seems Faisan unmasked and Colombo lost his hair, and after a week of controversy the commission forced Panico and Robles to do the same. Colombo was a Diablo Velazco protege and part of the same group of trainees as Satanico, Espectro Jr., Asesino Negro, Sangre India (who sadly died doing a tope at Arena Coliseo on Christmas Day 1979), Cesar Curiel, and others. He had a brief run with the Mexican National Welterweight title from late '80 through to early '81, but like an NBA bench player who goes on to be a head coach he spent most of his national career as a JTTS. In fact, he gave up his hair to Cruz twice after this in 1985 and '86. Impacto II is an enigma in that nothing is known about him. I think it's better that way. Solar II is the brother of Solar I, who in Solar I's own words he brought with him to Mexico City because he wanted him to become an accountant or get a good job, but while he thought his brother was studying he was in fact training to be a wrestler. So, Solar formed a tag team with his brother. Solar II had a much more modest career than his famous brother, but he had a few moments in the sun, including taking Enfermero Jr.'s mask and winning the NWA World Welterweight Championship. I don't think it's difficult to make out who's who, but Panico is the guy in the black amateur singlet and Colombo is the guy in the green trunks.

I don't know if they're the five best, but these are the ones that shaped my fandom: Clive Myers vs. Steve Grey (10/8/75) Steve Veidor vs. Gwyn Davies (5/26/76) Mark Rocco vs. Marty Jones (6/30/76) Terry Rudge vs. Marty Jones (11/30/76) Jim Breaks vs. Young David (Davey Boy Smith) (12/3/79) There's a list on the front page of my recommended matches.

It's impressive that a 33 year-old match can offend you that much. It's like it's been lying in wait your entire life to offend you.

CMLL "The Lost Years" (1993-95) Mocho Cota, Felino & Kahoz vs. Silver King, El Texano & La Fiera, 8/22/95 Is it time to re-evaluate old man Cota? He was pretty damn good here. He didn't move as well as the 1984 version we've been watching, but he brought a little mat work, a little brawling and some great trios bumping. It helped that he was working against world class workers in the shape of Silver King and Texano, but long time fans of the blog will know that I've never been the biggest fan of Los Cowboys and yet here they looked like absolute world beaters. It may have just been the occasion as even La Fiera looked surprisingly athletic for this point in his career and was doing all his old spots with gusto. This had a little bit of everything and was given enough time to be one of those neat Arena Coliseo matches that pop up from time to time. Felino and Silver King had a mat exchange to begin with where Silver King looked like the most exciting guy in Mexico, and then Cota and Texano had themselves a good old fashioned contest on the mat. The finish to the first fall was really cool as Cota was resisting a sunset flip attempt by Texano and Silver King nailed him with his super kick. Between falls, they tried lifting Cota from the mat and he fell straight back to canvas. Later on, he sold one of Fiera's kicks by taking an amusing bump to the outside where he signaled that he'd had enough of Fiera and stumbled into his corner. Back in the ring, he had Texano in a suspect choke hold, which led to a punch exchange between the two of them where Texano kept delivering jabs to the face. Basically, everybody was ruling it here. Not to be outdone, Felino took a bump off Fiera's spinning high kick that looked like it could have easily decapitated him. The only weak link was Kahoz, who was a fairly average worker, but had been in a thousand career trios and at least knew what to do. The big talking point, though, is whether Cota was some sort of 90s maestro. It's too early to say whether this is the start of a reappraisal, but if I were scything through '95 looking for the good stuff this would definitely be a keeper. Dr. Wagner Jr., Gran Markus Jr. & El Hijo del Gladiador vs. El Dandy, Silver King & El Texano, 7/15/94 On one hand this version of La Ola Blanca were better than I expected as El Hijo del Gladiador (Talisman) served as the the workhorse and Gran Markus Jr.'s involvement was kept to a minimum. On the other hand, they weren't that good. Talisman was a decade past his best, and while Wagner did plenty of his father's mannerisms, he wouldn't really get how to work until he went to Japan. This was a title match for the CMLL Trios titles, but you wouldn't have been able to tell that by watching the match as it wasn't treated as special. Having said that, for as important as trios matches have been in Mexico in the past 30 years, the various trios championships have never been accorded the same prestige as the national and world singles titles, and you'd be hard pressed to recall too many classics for the trios titles. The trio of El Dandy, Silver King and El Texano should be a dream trio, but something about them felt a bit off. Their opponents weren't ideal, but to be honest I don't think this was the best period of El Dandy's career. He'd get a lot better when he started working for WCW, ironically, as whenever the WCW luchadores worked Mexico dates they tended to blow the cobwebs out of their working boots. Dr. Wagner Jr., Gran Markus Jr. & El Hijo del Gladiador vs. El Dandy, Silver King & El Texano, Arena Coliseo 7/94 This was an earlier match that set-up the trios shot. I'm not sure of the date as cubsfan didn't have anything listed for Arena Coliseo. I suppose they were holding something back for the title match, but both the match and the post-match challenges lacked conviction. Samson Fuyuki, Pierroth & Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon, Vampiro Canadiense & Atlantis, 6/10/94 This was a decent enough match for what it was. There are times during this period where Atlantis feels a bit stale as he'd been going at it with the same gimmick for a decade, but he ran through his classic exchanges with Emilio and no matter how many times I've seen them they always warm the cockles. In the past, I've tended to be down on Ultimo Dragon's early years in Mexico, but he's been serviceable in these past couple of matches. And God help me, I kind of dug the Pierroth/Vampiro kick-punch exchanges. Mind you, I'm an unabashed Pierroth mark. He could kick and punch the corner ring post and I'd dig it. The finish here was kind of weird as Vampiro went to the top rope, slipped and took a bad spill. Emilio pounced on the opportunity by entering the ring and pinning him, and on the replay Vampiro could be seen selling it as though he'd blown out his knee. I couldn't really figure out whether they were covering for the blown spot or it was real, but either way the match ended on a flat note. For those WAR enthusiasts out there, Fuyuki didn't do much, just stereotypical East Asian heel stuff. El Dandy, Negro Casas & Ultimo Dragon vs. Ray Gonzalez, Bestia Salvaje & Felino, 8/11/95 Disappointing given the talent involved. There was a lot of focus on El Dandy vs. Gonzalez as they were scheduled to meet for an NWA World Light Heavyweight title match in a fortnight. Gonzalez wasn't the most talented of the Puerto Ricans they brought in around this time so I wasn't really feeling this as much as I would have if it had been say Miguel Perez Jr.

Zoltan Boscik vs. Leon Fortuna (2/21/74) I was kind of expecting Leon Fortuna to be this flashy, charismatic guy since he was from Tonga, but he had absolutely nothing in terms of charisma or personality and wouldn't emote. He was just a wrestler; a good one, but about as stone-faced as they come. Boscik didn't have a huge personality either, so this was flat with a dead crowd that didn't help matters. The wrestling wasn't bad, but it wasn't much of a spectacle. The finish revolved around Fortuna being knocked groggy by a Boscik back elbow and I kind of wondered if it was legit as Fortuna wasn't much in the way of a seller. Vic Faulkner vs. Leon Fortuna (8/15/74) This was more exciting as Faulkner was a showman and Fortuna could simply play the foil with his good wrestling. However, there was a great example in this of what a dick babyface Faulkner was when he was applying a hold on Fortuna and used Fortuna's forearm to wipe the sweat from his brow. It supposed to be a cheeky joke, but if I was Fortuna I would have given him a receipt. Apart from that cocky shit, Faulkner was slick. Zoltan Boscik vs. Mal Sanders (1/10/78) This was only Sanders' second television match and he was about 19 years old. He was already a big athlete for 19 by the standards of the day and didn't look anywhere near as scrawny as the usual boy wrestlers. The match wasn't very long, but Boscik carried him to something halfway decent. Clayton Thomson vs. Majid Ackra (8/1/74) The first two falls of this featured some decent stylings from Clayton Thomson. The problem with Thomson is that Walton puts him over so strongly on commentary as one of the best wrestlers he's ever seen, etc., which may have been true in the 60s but wasn't on show in the 70s. Still, there were some decent Euro style holds in the opening two falls before his opponent got frustrated and turned it into a brawl. Ackra was a Pakistani wrestler who hadn't been on TV since the late 60s and was basically doing a gimmick where he was wearing lifts in his boots. Walton did his damnedest to sell it like the boots were dangerous but it was still pretty lame. The finish was awful as Thomson surprised Ackra with a flash pin coming out of his corner for round four and it was one of those weakish looking pins wrestlers sometimes score in British wrestling instead of something super slick.

All-Star Promotions began sharing the time slot from the start of '87 after Joint Promotions' five year extension with ITV expired at the end of '86.

Count Bartelli is the most boring I've seen. Singh had zero personality and would rarely emote, but he did the smash mouth stuff as well as anyone and when they'd put him in there with Pat Roach or Terry Rudge the matches were good. If he was the lead guy, then they tended to be weak. The heavies take some getting used to, and unfortunately the most exciting heavyweight worker, Steve Veidor, stopped appearing on TV around this time. Bridges, Quinn and St. Clair jump to All-Star within a few years and the promising young heavyweights of the 70s fail to materialise into anything, so Roach ends up being the cream of the crop working mostly catchweight contests with the occasional challenge from a young heavyweight like Tom Tyrone. Roach was one of the best big men ever; whether that comes across in the matches to follow we shall see. This is a judgement call, but I think it would be better if you labelled World of Sport as either Joint Promotions or All-Star Promotions as WoS was simply the name of the television program and was cancelled in September '85.

Irish rugby legend who got dropped on his head in the opening minutes of a game in New Zealand and hasn't stopped whining since.

From what I've seen he's okay. I'd say the biggest problem with him is that he's so bloody hyper. The space between moves is important in wrestling in terms of controlling the rhythm and pace and Devitt has no idea how to utilise that space. If he did, he wouldn't have to use so many moves and the moves he did use would be more effective. Aside from that, mechanically he's fine. Cosmetically, I'm not sure jacked up little guy is my preferred wrestler type. His heel act doesn't bother me too much as he's really Irish looking and sounding and comes across like a whiny Brian O'Driscoll.

This also occurs if you use accent marks as I've discovered a few times with lucha names. Not sure if it happens on the forums but definitely on my blog.

2/2/80 was the air date. I'm thrilled (and slightly relieved) that you're enjoying this stuff. If there's anything you want to see that's not online let me know.

Is Jeff Lynch still using the same e-mail address?

Satanico vs. Super Astro (10/84) The date on this one is 10/14/84. It was the semi-final of the show that featured the Perro Aguayo vs. Sangre Chicana vs. El Faraon vs. Villano III elimination match. Super Astro debut in May 1974 in Ensenada, Baja California under the name Rey Bucanero. Despite possessing the talent and charisma to succeed, Astro had a hard time breaking in the business due to his size. At only 5'3", he was the shortest guy in the ring no matter where he worked and was often told he couldn't make it as fighter. In his early years, he drifted between Tijuana and Los Angeles trying to catch a break. After a while, it dawned on him that he might be more successful as an enmascarado, and in the late 70s he took a sketch of mask he'd made when he was only 9 years old and developed it into the Super Astro mask. At the same time, he took advantage of being unable to get a booking by lifting weights and adding muscle to his frame. He managed to secure a booking at the Olympic Auditorium and on the opening match of the card debut his Super Astro character against Principe Hindu. People were taken with his mask and signature spots and the gimmick was enough to secure him a spot on the Baja California circuit. Then came his big break when Francisco Flores brought him down from Tijuana to the Federal District. 1984 was a big year for Super Astro. Los Cadetes del Espacio were formed that year, possibly for the UWA World Trios Tournament which ran for two months from late January until the middle of March. The Cadetes shocked the lucha world by defeating the pre-tournament favourites on 1/29/84. They also defeated La Ola Lila and Los Temerarios on the way to the final, the Cadetes vs. Exoticos match possibly being the one from the set. The final took place on 3/18/84 against Los Fantasticos, however an hour before the show, Super Astro found out his mother had died and immediately left for Tijuana with Gran Hamada taking his place in the final. Singles success then came in the form of the UWA World Middleweight Championship, which Astro won from Gran Hamada in Guadalajara on 7/6/84. It was that championship victory and this semi-final match against Satanico at Arena Mexico that convinced Astro that he had finally made it in the pro-wrestling business. Astro fell prey to Satanico in both this match and the 1/85 rematch at El Toreo, highlights of which you can see online, but for a guy who they said would never make it the experience was a big deal. Astro went on to have a lengthy career working for EMLL, AAA, the independents and Japan, as well as working in the States. In 1999, he dropped his mask to Villano III in Tijuana in a Relevos Suicidas match with Lizmark and Fishman, but continues to wear his mask even to this day, claiming that the promoter never paid him. Initially, this got him in trouble with the commission, and he occasionally worked under different names in order to keep wrestling under the mask, but these days nobody seems to mind. He also owns a cafe in Mexico City, which is run by his ex-wife. It's famous for its giant torta, which is free if you can finish it in 15 minutes. As of 2011, only 99 people had ever succeeded in 20 years of trying.