ohtani's jacket

I don't really get what you're saying here. The wrestlers use moves to tell the story, but they're not the actual story. A story always begins with characters and a theme. After that, you plot it out. Whenever people get carried away about All Japan finishes, it always seems like they're describing the plot and not talking about the story. Even if you can find a trope to describe the finish, I think it misses the point, because that trope is specific to the match. If it weren't specific to that match, then it would come across as a cliche or a parody. The most important thing in wrestling stories is not how the wrestler won the match, but why the wrestler won the match.

I don't think they're so disimilar. The audiences know the characters and know why they're fighting. Everything else is just plot points to tell the story. The details may differ, but at the end of the day it's all pretty universal stuff. I don't know if your comments about All Japan are entirely true. There were angles and promos and stories heading into the big matches. I mean any match you build to is a payoff, right? At it should be. Even shoot style promotions couldn't resist that type of booking, and they were the closest wrestling has come to the actual work being the story and the outcome being less predictable. There's a lot of people who get heavily into the play-by-play at the end of a big epic All Japan match, but to me Kawada kicking out of one move and Misawa having to do another isn't the story. A great sportswriter doesn't tell the story like that, even if the finish to a sporting event is memorable. Anyway, back to the original point. I'd argue that the five moves of doom was part of the characterisation of Bret Hart being the Excellence of Execution. I can't think of a Bret Hart match where it was a big story point, other than being part of his overall thing -- i.e. his whole Gretzky gimmick and how that played into his babyface role.

Black Terry, Cerebro Negro y Dr Cerebro vs Negro Navarro, Trauma I y Trauma II, 4/23/09 There's been a lot of "lost lucha" over the years, but not this feud... Chapter four started off with a lengthy mat sequence between Black Terry and one of the Trauma kids. It wasn't a bad mat sequence, but it was fairly typical of IWRG matwork in that the guy applying the hold allowed for a reset, which to me isn't much of a mat contest. I realise that it's largely about machismo and letting the other guy know you've got the upper hand, but they trade holds a bit too evenly. If you watch some great trios matwork, you'll notice that one worker dominates the mat for several exchanges at a time before the other guy shows his wares. Terry's a bit too generous, which, to my mind, lessens whatever impact there is in the age and experience gap and the fact the Cerebros are champs. Nevertheless, the matwork was more than perfunctory and I thought the Trauma kid, whichever one it was, had a far better stance than usual. Lately, these guys have been working a lot of individual exchanges, but this saw a bit of a departure from that. Trios wrestling actually came into play, with the champs deciding to use the numbers. The Navarro family fought back in an aggressive manner and I guess the big story here was that Negro was in no mood to be fucked with. This was presumably because Terry low blowed him in the previous match; if in fact we're allowed to give wrestlers the benefit of the doubt that they follow-up on their previous matches. Anyway, Negro was surly here. You could see it early on when Terry had his kid in a hold, and he was staring at it like, "fuck, is that all?" Negro's been threatening to cut loose in recent weeks and maul someone, which we know he can do 'cos he's a monster, but it was actually one of his kids who got the best shot in. He nailed Terry with a wicked kick, which left me in two minds about whether it really connected. It was all business from there -- Negro was in no mood to be fucked with and the Cerebros were a little disorganised, so it wrapped up quickly. The eminent mike187 says this was a MOTYC, but I dunno if I'd go to the wall for a MOTYC that doesn't have a big finish. In fact, this feud reminds me a lot of the old Infernales/Intocables feud in that every match is entertaining but none of them stand out as classics. Still, I dunno when we'll be seeing new IWRG, due to the swine flu, which made its way back home to New Zealand. So, we might have to wait a while for the next part in the serial. In the mean time, enjoy the shoot kick action.

Yeah, that's not much of a story either.

If I am getting it: It's basically the concept that we have certain elements we use in putting together a story, and that those elements tend to be common across storylines. You pick and choose "tropes" when building the story. So, in wrestling a story is put together using a heel manager or a specific finisher or a Heel/Face conflict or whatever. Understanding after the fact how the story was put together can sometimes help to make better stories down the road. Eh, telling a story in wrestling isn't about five moves of doom or a finisher. The moves are used to tell the story, but they're not the story themselves. Thematics, structure and archetypes are far more important. The fact that Bret used the same five moves in every match is enough to tell you that's not what the story is about. Sorry if I'm rambling, but this has long been a pet peeve of mine. Bret's a guy who used a lot of actual tropes -- I mean thematic tropes -- and it bugs me when people say, "they worked a story where one guy worked over the other guy's arm." What kind of a story is that?

God that tropes website gave me a headache. Somebody explain to me what five moves of doom or finishing moves actually have to do with telling a story.

Black Terry, Cerebro Negro y Dr Cerebro vs Negro Navarro, Trauma I y Trauma II, Distrito Federal Trios Championship, 4/16/09 This is the third Terribles Cerebros/Dinastía Navarro match to find its way onto youtube in the past few weeks and lo and behold there were multiple versions of it. Watching the handheld copy, I wasn't that impressed, but the televised version ended up being far more enjoyable. In a longer, mat-based match like this, there are a lot of details which you can only pick-up on with the camera in close, and switching angles not only provides you with a fresh perspective, but shows the work from the dominant side. This was a long-ish title match with two solid falls of matwork. The biggest difference between uploads was Terry's work. It was a lot better than I originally thought, so I didn't pick up on the injury theme. Terry's a guy who's been looking noticeably older in the past few weeks and I haven't been overly impressed with his work against the Navarro kids. At first I thought it was the size difference, since Terry was going great guns against both Turbo and Freelance, but watching this two or three times it's clear that the Traumas ain't no chip off the old block. I don't think it's a coincidence that the only time they're interesting on the mat is when they're working with Dr. Cerebro. With Cerebro, they can tie each other up in knots and do all sorts of wacky submissions. In fact, Cerebro's work here was reminiscent of when he first came to attention; prior to losing his mask. Terry's more of a takedown guy and I don't think Navarro's kids are particularly good from a vertical base. Working with Cerebro allows for constant movement and mat "highspots"; and if there's one thing younger workers crave, it's highspots. The first two falls were good. If I had any criticisms it would be that they were kinda slow and didn't have the greatest rhythm, but they made up for it with some heavy duty selling, which you don't always see in lucha, and their new found love of chokeholds. Negro Navarro was badass in that respect and his submission finisher in the first fall is one of the highlights of my lucha viewing this year. The third fall was a bit of a waste, since it was clearly designed to set-up the revancha, but the build-up to Terry vs. Navarro was interesting. It was a bit lighthearted at first, as Navarro, in a former life, was often times a comedy bumper (if you can believe that), but things grew serious in the final fall. They had this fantastic exchange where they were beating the living daylights out of each other; Terry contemplated tagging out, but thought better of it and circled back round. If they'd gone back out it, it would've ruled, but these guys haven't quite reached the MOTYC level that some of us are hoping for. So, yeah, good match, but I keep thinking there's more where this came from.

Centella de Oro, Sensei & Starman vs. Espíritu Maligno, Inquisidor & Pólvora, 4/6/09 Spirited Puebla opener, this time in front of a full house. Centella de Oro and Espíritu Maligno are two guys you need to check out whenever they make TV. The match wasn't overly special, but the work was smooth and the larger attandence helped. Blue Panther/Maximo/El Hijo Del Fantasma v. Negro Casas, Felino & Heavy Metal, 4/10/09 This was entertaining. I dunno if I'll ever get used to Blue Panther without a mask, but he looked sharp here and had some great exchanges with both Casas and Felino. This was the first time I've enjoyed the Casas brothers' comedy act, which is so sketch based that it breaks kayfabe. I can deal with the stop/start stuff if the actual work is good. Maximo is one of the stranger exotico gimmicks I've seen, and while I'm not inclined to check out the rest of his work, he was OK here. Heavy Metal, on the other hand, did nothing. Máscara Dorada, Metro & Valiente vs. Okumura, Skándalo & Virus, 4/17/09 Dorada, Metro and Valiente are rapidly becoming a must-see trios. The Valiente/Viruse exchanges in this match were incredible. Those two guys are the best match-up in Mexico right now, and Valiente is making a push for worker of the year, but the encouraging thing is how well the others are doing. They're hitting their spots cleanly and making smart decisions on offence. When you've got guys clicking and backing each other up, that's when you can fully enjoy the Valiente spots. That tope spot was hot buttered. I tell you what -- CMLL is far less offensive when you watch it on youtube.

Wasn't the Sakuraba fight after he was inducted? A lot of Dave's connections are in the press, right? They were extremely supportive of Pancrase.

You've got to be a little careful when talking about the history of wrestling in Japan, because there's never been anything definitive written about it in English. It was first staged in 1887, which was a long time before the war. They failed throughout the 20s to promote pro-wrestling in Japan and the first efforts after the war weren't promoted by Japanese. Originally it was entertainment for US servicemen. I do not think that Funaki was ever seen as an elite world athlete and I don't agree that PANCRASE was a Fujiwara offshoot. I wouldn't give Fujiwara any credit for PANCRASE. They couldn't have been further apart ideologically.

What does this mean?

Funaki was the man in 1996.

Satanico vs. Super Astro, mano a mano, 1984 Satanico's hair was awesome in this. I wasn't digging his work to begin with. It was good, but not the genius you'd expect from Satanico. And I thought they made a mistake giving the first fall to Super Astro, especially since he turned on a dime to make his comeback, instead of fighting his way out of a corner. They went straight back to the beatdown, which isn't the overlap you'd expect, but the third fall was really good. Super Astro made a brawling comeback, and as we all know, brawling comebacks are where Lopez kicks it up a gear. Super Astro bit his forehead open and the maestro was incensed. That's when the genius began to emerge -- they dropped the cliched story of the technico not being big enough and fought it out. I always thought Super Astro was a worker who couldn't use his fists, but he pelted Satanico a couple of times and turned his tope into an awesome headbutt. They did this really cool spot where they were trading blows on their knees and Super Astro bent all the way back, touched the mat with his head and popped back up with a headbutt. The finish wasn't the greatest, but the lead-in was vintage Satanico. There was a great visual of him pulling on a hold -- blood pouring from his head, spit flying from his mouth. Just a fantastic image of the effort needed to win a match. He's a guy who put so much into his finishes. You watch a Satanico match and his selling tells the whole story. It doesn't matter whether you're in the front row, back row or sitting at home, the guy was just a genius at selling. And he understood structure and the need for an arch. He'd clue you to why he lost, then bullshit himself and everyone else. Just a hell of a performer.

Black Terry, Cerebro Negro y Dr Cerebro vs Negro Navarro, Trauma I y Trauma II, 3/28/09 There was something a bit off about Terry's matwork in this match and even Navarro was a bit skew-whiff. I'm not sure that he should out and out dominate Dr.Cerebro like that. The match stayed on an even keel, but the only explosive moments where when Terry and Navarro brawled and even that wasn't outstanding. I think they're building to a title match, so we can live in hope, but shorter mat sequences with the Navarro kids and more of a focus on Negro vs. Terry would probably help.

Mascara Dorada, Metro, Valiente vs Euforia, Nosferatu, Virus, 4/10/09 This was really good. It started off with an extended mat sequence between Valiente and Virus, which is a hell of a match-up, but what made this match was the rhythm. The timing on the dives was perfect and I think the crowd picked up on that. A tidy match with good, clean progressions. Nobody overplayed their hand and the bumping & catching was strong. Valiente might just be prettier than Super Astro.

Yeah, not reeeaally in the mainstream. Though a late night TV comedian did used to have a regular Fujiwara segment on his show.

Mainstream acting success?

Atlantis/El Hijo del Santo/Tony Salazar vs. El Satanico/El Dandy/Espectro Jr., mid-80s This was pretty cool. Not the three fall classic you're looking for; in fact the technicos ran away with it, but if you're into your technicos then this was irresistable. Santo did the kind of things you've seen him do a million times before, but at three times the speed. Even though he's Santo, it was staggerly how cleanly he hit everything. Whenever a match pops up from his UWA period, it always seems so much fresher and I've no doubt that this was the peak of his athleticism. Not to be outdone, Atlantis and Dandy couldn't match him for pace but put together some ridiculously intricate exchanges. Atlantis was a special luchador in his youth and it's almost impossible to pin him as the same guy today. The captains were Satanico and Tony Salazar, who, as you'd imagine, had heat with each other. It seems Satanico's had an issue with everyone at one point or another. Satanico wanted to throw away the contest and have a boxing match, and when the refs put a stop to that, the crowd took great delight in Salazar delivering the bulldog. The finish was a popular one in the 80s, with the rudo avoiding one technico's dive and getting blindsided by another's. Considering the technicos were Santo and Atlantis, I won't lie, it was a bit of a mark-out moment. And when Santo hit his dive proper, a bit of a fuck yeah. Friend of the blog, Robert Bihari, talks about all luchadores wanting to up the pace of things in their youth, and it's true -- Santo, Atlantis and Dandy were dramatically quicker than Caras, Wagner and Mendoza, but the kids today don't do shit this good. Even Freelance can't touch this stuff and he's the best thing going down. Something has gone awry with the modern luchador. Mind you, something's gone awry with all modern things. Perhaps I have entered my old age. I have arrived. I wonder if you can pinpoint the whole thing to Diablo Velazco's death. Robert's a great champion of the younger guys, but jeez they get shown up on even the most limited footage of the older days.

Dos Caras Sr. vs. Dr. Wagner Sr., All Japan Pro-Wrestling I remember Jose telling me about this match when we hung out one time. Now that I've seen it, I can honestly say it's one of the high points of my lucha fandom. Caras was mobbed on his way to the ring. The crowd were on their feet, trying to get a glimpse of him, and kids rushed from everywhere to touch him. And there, waiting for him, was the Doctor. In full attire. The TV producers cut to the body of each fall, but what was shown was the most beautiful lucha you'll ever witness. Watching this, I saw the lucha contest in its full light. The gracefulness of Dos Caras and the sheer physicality of Dr. Wagner Sr. Caras was sublime in all his movements, while the Doctor was coarser, but the contest was such that at one point the sweat was just pouring from their masks. And the selling was exquisite. After a Caras plancha, a young boy was brave enough to run up to him, and you could sense it was unlike anything the crowd had seen before. There were the slower, exaggerated spots, then the perfect dives... the exact turns and rolling bumps. Caras flew through the air with his headbutts and the Doctor's remedy for everything was brute strength and forearm smashes. If it were a work of art, you'd make a pilgrimage to see it. And the thing is that it was so short, just a few minutes... but those minutes were priceless. And I was fortunate to see them.

LOS TEMERARIOS (Shu el Guerrero, Black Terry y Jose Luis Feliciano) vs LOS FANTASTICOS (Kato Kung Lee, Kendo y Blackman), 3/16/02 This was from some UWA tribute show back in '02. It was a typical Fantasticos match, with a bunch of dueling takedowns leading into Space Cadets type spots, and Blackman in particular was really good at that shit, but what impressed me were the Los Temerarios. It was like they hadn't skipped a beat. Terry had this really awesome slap exchange with Kato Kung Lee, where he got backhanded by a slicing karate chop and sold the fuck out of his nose. Shu asserted himself as the patron saint of this blog by doing the greatest trip up ever. It was classic Shu -- planting himself face first, then going after the ref, accusing him of pulling on the top rope. And Jose Luis Feliciano, I dunno where he is these days or what he's doing, but he ought to be working 'cos he was all class. The rudos strung together some nifty spots and even better than that -- nifty reactions to the technicos, who were dancing like technicos should. Watch Terry's selling in the finish. Beautiful. Black Terry, Cerebro Negro y Dr Cerebro vs Negro Navarro, Trauma I y Trauma II, March/April '09 This kinda reminded me of 2008 BattlARTS -- lots of stiff shots and nasty looking submissions, with Navarro and Terry playing the Ishikawa and Ikeda roles. I'm not sold on Navarro as a brawler, but man, you do not want to piss him off. The big Navarro and Terry exchanges were awesome, following on from the clips we saw last year. At this point, it's a toss-up whether you wanna see Navarro face Solar or Terry. I kinda lean towards Terry because you know they'll bash the shit out of each other. Terribles Cerebros are becoming a really fun trios, but get the fuck out of the way and let's see a singles match again. Is there any bigger legend than Black Terry? His work this year has been better than anything Casas has done in years. One thing I want to say about the Casas love this year is that his skipping in that Mistico match was fucking embarrassing and I just knew that people would point to it as classic Casas. Enough. We will be canonising Black Terry this year.

IWRG 3/26/09 Freelance, Turbo & Chico Che vs. Black Thunder, Black Terry & Capitán Muerte IWRG is back and it'll only take a few seconds of matwork to make you realise what you've missed. The match itself was low-key. There wasn't much of a crowd and they didn't bite on the switch-up in the first fall, which, considering the technicos snuck a fall they should've lost, kinda killed the tone for the rest of the match. The rudos played it a bit loose after that, but the work was good. The Black Terry matwork was awesome and Freelance was able to bust a move or two from the mat without killing himself. Fuerza Guerrera vs. Oficial 911 [Campeonato Intercontinental Welter IWRG] Hadn't seen Fuerza in awhile and wasn't sure if he still had it. He still has it. In spades. He's a lot heavier and slower than the Fuerza I remember, and his body can't move or bump like it used to, but it's all about the top two inches and Fuerza's as keen as ever. Through two falls he looked better than Blue Panther and Negro Casas combined, but they worked this awful finish that was straight out of '94-95 AAA with an Americanised twist. What a gaffe. You could see it coming, actually -- they passed up on some awesome finishes and you knew the beat beyond would be shit. Still, the finer points in this were awesome.

El Signo vs. Villano V, UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, 4/3/92 Signo really was a fantastic worker. Not only was he ridiculously smooth with his rolling bumps, he was also quick on the mat. And he could sell too. Which no matter what people say is the art to professional wrestling. This match was unique in a lucha sense in that Villano spent a lot of time targeting a body part. Often times, you'll see a guy work a body part for a finish or perhaps even a fall, but Villano was hellbent on separating the arm from the shoulder, which, if you're into that psychology shit, was to render the lariat arm useless. The holds were reminiscent of his father, but the force with which he applied them was astonishing. You could almost describe it as technical brawling; just sheer brute force. If it had been any closer to a shoot, he would've wrenched the arm off completely. Signo, as defending champ, didn't get much of a rub. He was up against it the whole match, but sold well and negotiated a tricky comeback in the second fall. The match opened up towards the end, but Signo was spent from the smothering he'd received. You could see that he was looking for a way out, but Villano was too strong and probably too young at this point. Signo seemed a little gassed, but he got up one last time for a pretty finish. Villano took a lot of people by surprise, himself included, and the post match came across like a legit title upset. Shit like that is always cool to see. I wish they'd bring back the aura of a real title fight. This wasn't the best I've seen in lucha, but it was a pleasure to watch.

Signo, Negro Navarro y Black Power vs. Solar, Fantasma y Psicodelico, early 90s This was really cool. Hard-hitting, fast-paced lucha, with more action than you see these days. Guys kept hitting the ring and working cool exchanges. Clipping may have sped it up, but the Misioneros were going flat tack. Signo was motoring and must've been a dynamo in his prime. He led with the headbutt and Psicodelico got so pissed with the smash mouth tactics that he started grabbing people by the ears and fish hooking them. Solar was amazingly athletic and did a classic 3-on-1 spot. He was shit talking after that, as tomk puts it. Navarro wasn't the maestro he'd become (i.e. the best mat worker on the planet), but there were glimpses of it. He worked a few rope exchanges with Solar and it was as slick as you'd expect. The Misioneros were a smooth unit even with BP in their ranks. They hit the ground running and I swear you don't see guys work this hard or fast anymore. Awesome bumping and rapidfire exchanges. Not a dive in sight yet the technicos were spectacular. You've gotta love real pros.

Cheers, The Puebla locals are awesome. Shame about the crowds, though. There seems to be less and less people each week.

Valiente vs. Rey Hechicero, WWA World Middleweight Championship, 1/27/08 This was good stuff. If I'd seen it earlier, I would've voted for it in the Tapatía Awards. It was a genuine attempt at a lucha title match, with Valiente showing how skillful and competent he is on the mat. I'm sick of sounding like a broken record, but I can't understand why CMLL don't give us matches like this. With the numerous TV shows they have, you'd think they could throw out something authentic from time to time. There's no reason why you can't mix the old with the new, as this match aptly demonstrated. It was chock full of matwork and submissions, but had newish moves and pretty flying -- modern moves with a classic structure. I'm sick of guys hiding how good they are on CMLL cards. Shit this good shouldn't be a throwback. Anyway, y'all need to watch this and appreciate what a guy like Valiente is capable of. Rey Hechicero also looked like a quality worker and it was a deft little encounter. Some great struggles on the mat, smart use of the dives, jinking footwork. Good showing.