ohtani's jacket

Pirata Morgan vs. Masakre, hair vs. hair, 2/28/92 When I first saw this match I was in awe of Pirata Morgan. Like most people I saw it as a big time performance from the best wrestler in the world. This time I'm not so sure. As awesome as Pirata was, he could've worked the match with one arm tied behind his back. Watching Los Intocables, it's clear that Masakre lacked focus. When you're facing a guy who isn't a great brawler, you've gotta have him fight. You've gotta make him work harder than he usually would. Despite the blood it never seemed like Masakre was kicking his ass, and in a match like this there's a problem with Masakre looking piss weak. The guy didn't have any great charisma. He was never gonna beat Morgan so bad he didn't care if he killed the guy. He only knew to stagger and punch, walk around and hit someone. Still Morgan should've taken the fight to him. It felt like he took the soft option. It didn't help that PIERROTH was a constant focus on the outside. The camera was on him way too much in this match. He was brilliant, but if he were a manager he'd be killing his guy in the ring.

1. Los Destructores: Tony Arce/Vulcano/Rocco Valente vs. Love Machine (Art Barr)/America/Mano Negra Los Destructores were really good in this. It's a bit difficult to tell one from the other, but they worked well as a trios. Plenty of good "routine", particularly their two and three man bumping act. The highlight was Mano Negra taking all three on at once in a beautifully coordinated sequence. Los Destructores have a neat trick they do where they sit on someone's lap to dissuade the technico from diving. The only dive in this was America (El Pantera) launching a springboard senton off Mano Negra's shoulders. Just a nice match. Even Art Barr was solid, particularly on the mat. I'm not declaring myself a fan yet, but of all the guys who made it south of the border he got it better than most. 2. Los Infernales: El Satanico/MS1/Pirata Morgan vs. Los Intocables: Pierroth Jr./Jaque Mate/Masakre PIERROTH disappoints again It started off like the awesome Rudos vs. Rudos feud you'd expect, but there was such a huge gulf in class between Los Intocables' half-assed brawling and the way Los Infernales take a man apart. In particular, I loved the way they treated Jaque Mate like he was a piece of shit, trying him up in knots and delivering a trio of headbutts, before pressing him over the top rope and getting rid of him completely. The match fell into a lull before Satanico turned it on like a man possessed and fought all three at once. Pierroth lost his mask a bunch, the finish saw the usual challenges. A woman in the crowd thought it was the best thing to happen all year in Arena Mexico, but I was waiting for Pierroth to crank it up. 3. Los Brazos vs. Rayo de Jalisco Jr./Solomon Grundy/Vampiro Canadiense This was the worst Brazos match I've seen. The highlight was Porky bringing a small pig with him, literally. 4. Bestia Salvaje vs. Huracan Sevilla - Hair Match. This was an extremely good match between a youthful looking Bestia and the former Huracan Ramirez knock-off. I was expecting this to be an early Bestia carry job, so I was a little surprised by how well Sevilla did. He was so cocky and sure of himself in the introductions, with a leather jacket and the classier ring girls in his corner, and they worked a smart heat ploy involving the heel ref, his second Norman Smiley and the crowd. This was UWF Bestia, just absolutely rock solid as a base. His stuff always looked stiffer than most workers in Mexico and I think it was because of his accuracy. Even off a shoulder block, he'd look at where the technico landed before making his charge into the ropes, and in the second fall when Sevilla was throwing wild punches, Bestia's cut offs (punches to the back and kicks to the calves) looked right on target. It helped that Sevilla was bumping and selling like Satanico, but even Salvaje's drop toe hold into the submission finisher was class. The match opened up beautifully in the final fall, with Bestia working his man from pillar to post. The ref screwed Sevilla throughout and sweet, sweet payback followed. Bestia bleed and took head first bumps off the ring post. El Brazo and the ref tried to spare his life and the whole thing was almost perfect lucha. To top it all off, Bestia got incredible height on the back body drops oover the ropes and took Sevilla's topes with full contact. They took it home with one of the better finishing stretches you'll see in lucha, a mix of the ref helping Bestia cheat and Bestia taking it to the top rope with either ungodly planchas or huge missed sentons. Bestia's not with us anymore, and he never did his body any favours, but fuck it if he ever held back. He even made tucking your knees to counter a senton look like it wasn't co-operated, though I should reiterate that Sevilla's selling was great as he swam backwards on the mat to sell it. It was one of those matches were never guy would quit and sold in a believable, convincing way. From the huge dives at the end to the ref LEAPING over a cradle attempt when he realised Bestia had the hold, the last fall was awesome. Neither guy could put the other away and they just duked it out. I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was when Sevilla sold his leg giving out on him only to monkey flip Bestia all the way over the top rope. Bestia just soared. And the finish was controversial, beautiful and so much more of a punch to the guts than the usual rudo way out. Sevilla giving his hair to both Bestia and the ref was the finishing touch to a classic. One of the great matches of the whole '89-92 period.

1. Los Brazos vs. Pierroth Jr./Masakre/Jaque Mate This was a rehash of their January match. If you were expecting them to kick on and ratchet it up a notch like I was, you'd be greatly disappointed. There was some amusing stuff, like Masakre and Jaque Mate pin pointing the pressure points on Porky's gut, but it was too low on the card to deliver. 2. Ultimo Dragon vs. Blue Panther - Non-Title match It sucks how much of Blue Panther's prime was wasted on being a fall guy for shitty workers. Ultimo Dragon didn't attempt to work a lucha style and this was the lowliest of junior matches. 3. Atlantis/Solomon Grundy/Rayo de Jalisco Jr. vs. Cien Caras/Mascara Ano Dos Mil/Universo Dos Mil Is there anything more awesome than the Rayo vs. Caras feud?? Rayo brawled in his Mariachi get-up and threatened the rudos with a PISTOL, I kid you not. This was pretty wild for a match that featured a bunch of loose, theatrical workers. Rayo shoved the ref into the front row, some fan got caught up in the brawling and took a bump with the rudo, Universo 2000 had all sorts of novel ways to work Solomon Grundy over in the corner, sitting on his shoulders and twisting his head... even the finish was inexplicable as a second Solomon Grundy did a run in. Double Doink. 4. Octagon vs. Fuerza Guerrera - Mexican Middleweight Title This was a poor man's version of their "as close to a classic with Octagon as you can possibly get" 11/91 match. Comparing the two is like Richie Rich and a street kid. Sure Fuerza did some cool shit with Octagon, but there was too much heat on their seconds, Cien Caras and Konnan. With the amount of cross cutting they did between cornermen, you knew an angle was on the cards. Caras looked like some asshole dad or football coach here and his low blow of Octagon was pretty classy, especially when a woman leapt to abuse him as Caras wagged the finger, "no, no, no." But it led to one of the most hideous, bare chested displays of ring clearing ever witnessed. Konnan looked like a prize dick. Fuerza provided one last classy moment when he used Konnan's shirt to choke Octagon out, but the whole thing left a sour taste in the mouth.

1. Ciclon Ramirez/La Pantera II/Aguila Solitaria vs. Arkangel de la Muerte/Guerrero de la Muerte/Guerrero Negro Fun opener. It kinda reminded me of those travel shows where they do a feature on lucha libre. They usually focus on lucha as a live show, as though you've got a front row seat. CMLL TV doesn't give you the same pick-ups from ringside, but this felt like a live match. They could probably fall out of bed and have this trios, but it was good stuff from guys I don't usually write about. The technicos outwitted the rudos through superior technique, leaving them all at sea and bickering with one another. There were the usual appeals to the crowd about who the bigger dickhead was, before the rudos took it out on the technicos. It all led to the night train where Ciclon Ramirez, the greatest practioner of the tope, gave the crowd the type of souvenir those TV presenters never receive. I can't think of anyone who did the tope harder or faster. He took out the end of three rows. 2. Ringo & Cachorro Mendoza/Mogur vs. Kung Fu/Hombre Bala/Sultan Gargola For some reason I get a kick out of Ringo Mendoza, even if everything he does looks soft. I even got a kick out of his tag partners. Something about the whole thing screamed babyface to me, I could just imagine them doing muscle poses for the lucha mags. They weren't too bad actually, since they had Hombre Bala bumping and stooging for them, something the great man deserves a lifetime achievement award for. These matches usually have an odd man out, but it wasn't the Gargola guy. Kung Fu looked RAGGED. I'm not a fan of Kung Fu gimmicks, but that motherfucker Octagon stoooole the Los Fantásticos gimmick. Anyway, the maskless Kung Fu was supposed to be a pint-sized, pissy little heel who used nunchukkas and foreign objects. Dunno if it was a Pena gimmick, but he looked like a wiry old man. 3. Blue Panther/Fuerza Guerrera/Emilio Charles Jr. vs. El Volador/Blue Demon Jr./Misterioso Good Lord, Fuerza Guerrera's purple and yellow get-up was awesome. This was the type of match that would soon crossover into AAA, I'll spare you my thoughts on how much better it was in CMLL. Misterioso had shocked Fuerza for the NWA World Welterweight title the month before, so his whole purpose here was to make Misterioso look like a dick on national television. The rudos won in straight falls, which'll hurt any technico's pride and sure enough the post-match was wild, especially Fuerza hitting a takedown that spilt through the ropes. The best part came while Fuerza was giving an interview at the end. As Fuerza demanded a title shot, Emilio propped Blue Demon Jr. up behind him for an awesome right hand from Panther. BD went down. As an aside, Emilio was insane. It's no wonder his body is shot. He took by far by the biggest bumps on the show. I thought Pirata Morgan was crazy, but Emilio didn't give a second thought about catapaulting over the ropes. Jeepers. Pierroth used to be the same way too, until he damn near killed himself and then he didn't bump anymore. After that he was a little stiff in the way he moved, but he made up for it by being a rudo extraordinaire... 4. Los Brazos vs. Los Intocables (The Untouchables): Pierroth Jr./Masakre/Jaque Mate If there was ever a trios carried by a rudo personality, it was Los Intocables. Los Intocables were PIERROTH. He couldn't move very well and wouldn't bump, but he knew how to punch a man. Just as Satanico would punch different parts of the body, Los Intocables used all sorts of ways to hold a man down while Pierroth rearranged the guy's face. The three on one beatings in this match were awesome, especially when the Brazos spat in Pierroth's face and got nasty fish hooks in return. The catch to it all was that Pierroth was absolutely chicken shit when he didn't have a 3 on 1 advantage and since this the type of fight where Porky ditches the comedy and is stiffer with his spots, Pierroth was soon running scared. Man can the Brazos can take care of business, especially when Porky's focused. They ripped Pierroth's mask off completely, the ultimate insult for a guy who hooking the mouth only moments before. He returned with a new mask and a shit lot of attitude on the house mic, there were challenges galore and Porky wanted to go rounds with Jacque Mate. He even feigned kick boxing. As a brawl it never got off the ground, but in terms of the amount of mayhem that can stem from one man, highly entertaining.

I'm not sure who they're comparable to, but Muto's a hell of a lot more popular in Japan than people make out. I don't really understand where the Muto was a poor draw thing comes from.

If you go to the rental store, there's a whole row of Muta/Muto VHS tapes and a handful of Hashimoto tapes. Even the smallest video shop has Muto videos and no Hashimoto tapes. You can even rent the movies he was in. He still gets his face plastered on pachinko machines, he's on TV regularly and in TV dramas. I don't think Hashimoto was ever as mainstream as Muto, regardless of how much people read into numbers.

Muto was more popular in Japan than Hashimoto and you can never discount that from Dave's opinion.

Seems like a pretty common form of eulogising to me.

Atlantis vs. Blue Panther, Arena Mexico 07/11/08 This was a match to mark Atlantis' 25th Anniversary in wrestling. Atlantis was one of the great technicos, but he doesn't hit the small shows much, so we don't get to see him work an older style. Some of his Guadlajara stuff is alright, but you know the small show mastery I'm talking about. Fitting then that Panther was chosen to be his opponent, since they had the most pure of title matches in 1991, a match which more than any other shaped the way I think about lucha libre. The match was nothing special, but satisfying enough. Neither guy is a patch on what they used to be, but both take pride in their work. I wanted 20 minutes of matwork, but they had to move it along for the Arena Mexico crowd. Panther was there to job and Atlantis to take his bows. Might've been better somewhere else, but Atlantis was clearly moved by the whole occasion. Some tenor sang for him at the beginning and after the high note Atlantis lept over the ropes to embrace him. Perhaps the best they can do these days.

Brain death is not a diagnosis doctors make lightly. One doctor alone can't make that diagnosis. So either he was misdiagnosed or the family misunderstood what was happening to him. The idea that the old bugger hung on for longer than the doctors said he would is comforting for the family and pretty harmless. As far as misdiagnosis goes, the current diagnostic criteria for declaring brain death can lead to misdiagnosis and is one of the reasons why some medical professionals oppose apnea testing. Apnea testing is nasty.

Seems to me like it's just part of getting a break, making it, whatever you want to call it. I dunno if Big Dave showed any potential back then, but you'd have to think it worked out better for him in the long run than if he'd stuck with those power plant guys. Perhaps the power plant guys fucked up, but there's a pretty long line of agents, talent scouts, promoters and producers who've done the same. As far as wrestling goes, NJPW didn't want Kawada. Liger bummed his way to Mexico to get a gig. AJW rejected Ozaki and Kansai. Megumi Kudo was a kindygarden teacher before breaking back into the business. Picking talent's not an easy thing to do, even when it's your job. Nobody gets molly coddled in other walks of life, so I'm at a loss to how people think wrestlers should be trained.

I don't see what's so bad about this.

More of a heads up than a review. If you've never seen the Villanos/Brazos masks match, it was uploaded onto youtube a few days ago. It's not that easy to watch, because of the low tape quality and the guy playing with his camera functions, but it's a big match with an incredible atmosphere. The third fall is a great lucha brawl. You don't get a great look at the dive train or the finish since people are standing, but you do get to see the wrestlers leave the ring, which is footage you rarely ever see. The Brazos make a quick exit, while, one by one, the bloodied and battered Villanos stop to acknowledge the crowd, as they step through the ropes out onto the apron. You have to squint a bit and miss a lot, but it's pretty much worth it for moments like that.

Blue Panther/Shu El Guerrero vs Black Terry/Villano III (2004?) This is the match that Black Terry's son put on youtube for us. It's thirty minutes of old school lucha, worked entirely on the mat. I've watched it twice now, and of all the mat based lucha that's ever been pimped, this is up there with the best of it. Of all the small show, veteran matches that have been pimped this decade, this is almost certainly the best. You almost have to watch it twice to catch all the subtleties. The highlight for lucha fans is watching Blue Panther in a match like this & his exchanges with Villano III in the first fall are AMAZING. You don't have to be a lucha fan to enjoy this, just a pro-wrestling fan, as Robert on DVDVR said. Non-lucha fans will enjoy the physicality of the mat work, which is sometimes mistaken as being loose in lucha, while lucha fans will be blown away by how much further they take some well known spots. One of my favourite matches this decade.

Perro Aguayo vs. Villano III, WWF World Light Heavyweight Title (UWA - 12/5/84) I'd love to say that Perro could go back in the day, but he was a pretty limited worker. His approach was pretty direct, either going straight for the pin or submission or throwing out a clothesline, piledriver, tope, senton, double footed stomp, that sort of thing. Similar to his son, though the younger Aguayo is far more athletic. This was essentially a juniors match and had the same flaws as other matches from the time, namely the "get up and go" mentality. I liked Villano's submission work and his tope attacks, but that was about it. I'm not a huge Villanos fan, but I prefer their brawling to the scientific stuff. We need to bring back that term scientific. The match was OK. UWA can be either gold or wildly disappointing.

Mascarita Dorada/Tzuki vs. Pequeño Damian 666/Pierrothito, 3/30/08 Guadalajara When I said lucha had lost its charm, I clearly forgot about Tzuki. I have all the time in the world for these guys, because they work like rudos v technicos. The rudo work wasn't great here, but the technicos were oustanding. I'm not a fan of modern lucha offence, but it's amazing how much better the minis are at pacing and set-up (or perhaps they just look awesome running the ropes.) I don't even mind how many rotations Dorada does, because he looks so spectacular going round and round the bend. If they'd upped the ante a little, they could've tore the roof off the mother, but props all the same. The dives at the end were amazing. The rudos deserve credit for being on the receiving end, particularly when you see the slow motion replay of Dorada's descent. Too many highlights to name -- Tzuki wanting to box, Dorada's snazzy footwork (signalling his charge into the ropes), Tzuki signing autographs for the kids and high fiving babies... My personal fave is the fake out spot Tzuki does when he's inchworming the middle rope. The minis are the crew to watch.

La Sombra, Sagrado, Volador Jr. vs. El Hijo Del Fantasma, La Mascara, Valiente (Mexican National Trios Titles), 04/30/08 There's no way I'm going to criticise this match, since that would be completely dickish. Instead I'm going to focus on the good points: * Valiente is awesome. Not since the days of Halcon Negro has there been such a fun guy on the undercard. Rudo Halcon Negro had the shtick and bump spots, but the plumper, rounder Valiente has Super Astro's footwork and agility & can roll with a wristlock like a legendary fat man. * El Hijo Del Fantasma, La Mascara and Valiente have a good look about them. The highlight for me was their decision to dive as one. Go boys! * The kids aren't allowed to climb the ring anymore, but there were plenty of kids and babies. Love the publico. * And the kids got what they wanted to see, big moves and a tit for tat finish. It was a match for the kids and thoroughly entertained them. Like the best kids' movies, a fair few adults enjoyed it too. * Valiente's three step springboard is an adventure into another stratosphere where fat men fall gracefully from the sky. * The ending, where all the men raised each other's hands, capped off the spirit the match was worked in.

Mano Negra & Negro Navarro vs. Solar I & Super Astro, 10/14/07 Nice. There was some beautiful lucha in this match. Nothing amazing, just age old pros working a classic lucha style. Solar was in fine form, particularly in the vintage second fall, and Super Astro got amazing height on his springboard tope. Watching Super Astro float is a sight to behold. I thought the rudos were a little quiet in this, though Navarro was always lurking. Anytime Navarro and Solar square off, you expect something special. Once again it wasn't just the holds, but the way out of them that was so impressive. And there's no half stepping the finishes either. These guys put some thought into each pin. They were out there, they were wrestling. A flick of the wrists and it could be all over. Not a bad one to kick back to.

Satanico vs. Jerry Estrada, hair vs. hair, 3/23/90 Jerry Estrada again. I swear if you can't work a hair match with Satanico then you can't work. If I didn't have such a huge dislike for the guy, I might be able to appreciate what he did here, but it was crap. It was Estrada's match from the start, yet it was nothing like an Estrada match. He seemed more sober than usual, perhaps that was the problem. He developed a strange fixation with Satanico's shoulder and you could feel the match waste away as he worked over Satanico's arm. Brawl motherfucker! Nobody wants to see that in a lucha libre hair match. If there was ever a time for Estrada to take mad bumps, blade and be thrown around like a ragdoll this was it. Satanico should've pummeled the fuck out of him. A clever piece of "psychology" from Estrada to take away the punch? This is lucha. It's a hair match. That's a form of mano o mano. You take a punch, get up and punch the guy back. Working the arm doesn't have a place in this kind of match, unless you're particularly excellent at hurting someone. Worst of all, he didn't give The Master room to sell the arm. Satanico should've taken this one by the scruff of the neck, but he didn't. I'm throwing it away.

Satanico vs. Sangre Chicana (Classic Lucha 5/28/1989) This was mano a mano and these two were men. Satanico has a buzz cut from losing his hair the month before and right from the start he's hunched over in his grappling stance, fingers stretched, ready to rearrange Chicana's face. The first lock-up is a beauty. In rugby we call it niggle, in wrestling it's a red rag to a bull. This isn't a great match by any stretch of the imagination, but it's awesome to watch the bout disintegrate. Chicana's none too happy with Satanico's aggressive start and he sends a bit of a message with a rougher than usual submission around the head (and face) area. A facial, if you will, to continue with the rugby parallel. And since he knows exactly what he's done, he starts the next fall by walking over to Satanico and delivering an apologetic open handed slap. Satanico spends the rest of the match slapping himself in the face. It's a pity this didn't turn into a bigger brawl than it was, though they did go into the crowd a lot, which in 1989 means everyone crowded around to get a better look. No blood, but Chicana had a punching combo Ultraman would've been proud of. The ref called the whole thing off, but even then they weren't paying any attention. Aborted greatness. Worth watching if you're a Satanico fan.

Dr. Wagner Jr/Mano Negra vs Super Astro/Ultramán Jr, 10/28/07, Arena Coliseo de Monterrey This seemed like a good opportunity to see Wagner work. I mean actually work. His first exchange with Ultraman was really good. It was pretty much test of strength stuff, but both guys have great grappling stances and there was real strength in the takedowns and the way they tried to hook each other. Niebla couldn't grab an arm and do anything with it, so this wasn't bad, but it was soon apparent that it was ALL Ultraman. Wagner was in the ring for almost the entire match, but boy was he content to get away with the bare minimum. I'm not sure what he's getting at with most of his posing. He looks like an exotico half the time. Ultraman battled away valiantly, making Mano Negra's stuff look really good and launching his combination punches on the doctor, but I'm having my doubts about how good a worker Wagner really is. Bit of a disappointment, though I had forewarning. Super Astro's tope is still a thing of beauty.