ohtani's jacket

I ended up watching a fair bit of 70s wrestling today. Harley Race vs. Giant Baba, 12/9/75 This was pretty good for a match with mostly headlocks. Harley was good at working these kind of holds, using enough movement and the right kind of selling to keep things interesting. As with most wrestling, all of the switching on the mat was just a way to bide time before the hard hitting stuff. In this case, Baba was really into the heavy hitting & it came across as a hard fought bout. Harley's supposed to have this rep as a tough guy -- he could shoot on anybody, other wrestlers were afraid of him -- but as a touring champ he spent most of the time putting his opponent over. Baba didn't need to be put over this strong; I guess that speaks for Race's work ethic. Billy Robinson vs. Giant Baba, 7/24/76 Man, this is awesome. Definitely the best match I've seen from All Japan in the 70s. I was really surprised that they worked this standing up instead of taking it to the mat. The basic strategy of Robinson trying to take Baba's legs from under him & Baba trying to strike Robinson down was brilliant. Robinson was a wrestling machine, but you have to give Baba a lot of credit here for understanding what Robinson was trying to do & working with that. Great match. Looked like something from the 90s. Jerry Lawler vs. Harley Race, 12/10/77 Long, excellent title defence by Harley. It wasn't without its flaws, but that's to be expected when they go one hour. This was different from the Harley you see in Japan. Here he was like Flair and pretty much got his ass kicked for one hour. Lawler won this thing on points and then some. That kinda led to a less than hot ending, because Lawler was in control the whole bout and you knew he wouldn't put the champ away as the time keeper counted off the remaing minutes. Still, the body of the match was strong with lots of deft touches. The Destroyer vs. Mil Mascaras, 10/9/73 Man can Destroyer wrestle. It never ceases to amaze me. He had the best possible build for wrestling ever. This doesn't get as much praise as their match from '74, but I guess anyone who cares to see Destroyer has seen him by now... That was a great time when we all started discovering The Destroyer. Mil always gets overlooked when talking about Beyer. He was a fine wrestler in his own right, and the figure four leglock they work in this match is quite possibly the best figure four spot I've seen. The Destroyer vs. Horst Hoffman, 12/17/75 Fun bout, nothing more. It's a treat any time you see Destroyer work.

Atlantis vs. Emilio Charles, Jr., 9/21/90 Most of the great workers in this era were rudos. Occasionally you'd get a rudo turn technico to even things up, but generally speaking the rudos made this era of CMLL great. Atlantis is a guy who I've admired for a long time now because he was the best of the technicos & adds something to every trios that he's a part of. There are so many trios where it's three great rudos vs. Atlantis and two technicos, that you start thinking of Atlantis as some kind of MVP of late 80s-early 90s CMLL, but he was also a great singles worker. This match isn't a classic -- it doesn't go long enough to achieve that type of status -- but it shows how good Atlantis was in singles. Emilio Charles, Jr. was one of the best rudos in Mexico at this point & could mix it up in any style... He had this amazing afro that was just begging to be shaved & was the perfect blend of a stooge and a guy who can flat out go. What I loved the most about this bout was that Atlantis did a counter to a tope that I've never seen before in lucha, and intentionally or not, it seemed to throw Emilio off for the rest of the bout. Call it psychology or whatever you like, but it was a nice touch. Atlantis' selling was great in this bout, too. Something you might not expect if you're used to his trios work, where he was often there to hit his signature spots in rhythm.

Pirata Morgan vs. Masakre, hair vs. hair, 2/28/92 Pirata Morgan was the KING of hair vs. hair matches at this time... I think this might be better than the El Faraon match from 1990. The great thing about lucha is you can take a standard lucha brawler like Masakre & put him in the ring with a great worker like Pirata Morgan and have an awesome hair match. It's the same with an older guy like El Faraon. I can't think of another style of wrestling where older or more limited guys come off better -- and in a singles environment no less. Pirata puts on a show here & Pierroth gives a master class in being a second. This isn't the first time that I've seen Pierroth give a master class as a second, but here it has a sweet payoff, since Pirata milks these hair vs. hair matches for everything they're worth. I once asked Jose who he thought the best worker was in Los Infernales & I'm pretty sure he said Pirata Morgan. There's a compelling case for each of them, and I reckon if there was more MS-1 footage available Pirata might bow to the real king of these type of matches, but man this was good stuff from Morgan.

When did this modern trend begin of people thinking they're above the con? If people really think wrestling is this incredibly sleazy business then what are they doing lining up their next match to download? Anyway, I chose porn since it affects a greater number of people's lives.

I forgot Tamura/Frank Shamrock, 4/23/99, which was supposedly a shoot. EDIT: Oh, and Kohsaka/Shamrock, 9/26/97... One of the best matches in company history. Awesome.

Tamura/Yamamoto, 9/21/98 is a good fight. I'm sure there's others, but I never got around to renting much RINGS from Champion. Shootstyle is my favourite form of Japanese heavyweight pro-wrestling & although RINGS only had a few great workers and a few great matches, it's the pinnacle of that style in Japan. If you want to see a shoot match that's like pro-wrestling you need to see the famous Funaki/Rutten fight from PANCRASE. Not sure how much of a shoot it really is, but it's awesome. Incidently, Loss, Lorefice's ratings are pretty good for RINGS. They suck for UWF because he couldn't understand that Fujiwara was a God and was too high on Funaki and Minoru, but at least he realised that UWF-i sucked for the most part.

Today I decided to watch some New Japan heavyweight pro-wrestling. New Japan is a promotion I've never really cared for, and I could give a shit about New Japan heavyweight wrestling, but I felt like watching some Hashimoto fights. More than any other Japanese heavyweight from the 90s, Hashimoto was capable of bringing that big match feeling to a bout. Judging by the shitty heavyweight wrestling I see on Sky Perfect, New Japan heavyweight wrestling has gone the way of heavyweight boxing... I know some guys like that stuff, though, so let's not dwell on that... Instead, let's dwell on Hashimoto/Hase, 8/9/93 and Hashimoto/Hase, 12/11/94, two great matches. The first is an opening match from a single elimination G-1 Climax tournament, the second is a classic heavyweight title bout. They're beautifully worked to suit each set of circumstances. The title match is the classic, but the G-1 match is no slouch and you should go out of your way to see both. These are the type of matches that make you think Hase was 100% better as a heavyweight instead of a junior, but in reality it's because he's wrestling Hashimoto that the matches are such tight, hard fought bouts. The other match I watched today was Tenryu/Hase, 9/23/93... These type of matches are never as good as they should be because there's a certain element of showmanship involved in wrestling an outsider. Hase was capable of some of the gayest showboating ever seen, and I thought Tenryu did a really good job of settling this bout down, since Tenryu didn't care which New Japan wrestler you were or where you fit on the totem pole, you were on the list and that's Tenryu's list. Hase wrestles the Hashimoto matches straight up. There's a clear pattern to both matches, as there are to most matches. I don't mind that, I think most wrestlers need a basic idea of the shape of their matches and the way they want to work. I always thought that "thinking it through" shit was armchair stuff. They sell well in these matches and put over the struggle. That's all you need from pro-wrestling. What really impressed me about Hashimoto this time round was the way he carries himself. People talk about fighting spirit and all that shit, but from my experience in Japan, power, skill and dignity or grace (hinkaku) are the most important qualities in any kind of fighting. Everybody knows that Hashimoto is an exceptionally strong stand-up fighter, but what you see in his matches is that he's also exceptionally fair. He uses his strong kicking power to his advantage but his kicks are never unsighted. He always waits until his opponent is aware that he's about to kick him and has a chance to defend himself. I think these little touches are what made Hashimoto such a popular wrestler in Japan. He's like a great yokozuna or judoka. I have to give a lot of credit to Hase too. Hase is a wrestler who's more than capable of annoying the fuck out of me, but he fought hard. Great, great stuff.

Today is ADRIAN ADONIS day. Adrian Adonis was so fucking cool. I once had this great conversation with a Japanese rock guitarist about how cool Adonis was. If I could do it all again, I think I'd change my user name to adonis' jacket. There wasn't a single second in any piece of footage where that guy didn't work his gimmick, & his strange body shape made his offence unbelievably cool. He makes working in and out of a wristlock mesmorising -- the single most unorthodox big man ever. I watched a few Southwest Championship Wrestling bouts (vs. Terry Daniels, Bob Sweetan and Ric McGraw), and there he was in a dinky little ring, in a dinky little studio set-up, ruling over everyone with his gimmick and athleticism. There aren't that many great Adonis matches out there, but the ones we have are some of my favourite memories of US pro-wrestling. One of the better Adonis bouts is the Adonis/Murdoch vs. Inoki/Fujinami, 12/84 tag. Inoki and Fujinami are about as interesting to me as a Japanese salaryman, which is kinda ironic, since in the 80s there were probably tons of drunk salarymen stumbling out of izakayas and imitating these guys on their way home. This is a great match, though. Hot crowd. Inoki and Fujinami can work, and Adonis and Murdoch are probably my favourite tag team ever. Take one look at them & you think -- that's a tag team. One guy's supposed to be a street wise, tough New Yorker and the other a Texan redneck, but they like fucking people up with their elbows and knees. I'm a sucker for freakish bumping, comedic stooging & punch drunk selling. I think those are the staples of US heel work & these guys were kings.

Here's an old Gong interview between Sayama and Mil Mascaras from Hisa's site. They talk a bit about the origins of flying in Mexico. Or Mil's take on it anyway: http://www.puroresu.com/articles/sayama-mascaras.html

Atlantis/Angel Azteca/Satanico vs. Pirata Morgan/Emilio Charles, Jr./Jerry Estrada, 4/20/90 I haven't watched wrestling for a while, but I knew that when I started again it would have to be lucha. Anything that could possibly bother anyone about lucha is something I'm completely comfortable with. Lucha is predictable, but what that really means is that I get all the payoffs I'm looking for. Take this match for example. This isn't a spectacular match by any means. It's the type of match they ran all the time, leading into a big money bout. But if you know the characters, it's a real treat. And since we don't have much lucha from the 80s, it's an even bigger treat. I'm sure all lucha fans can get satisfaction from watching Pirata and Satanico brawl, Emilio putting on the full rudo act and Atlantis pulling out all the moves he usually does, just as the rhythm and flow of each fall is a comfort. Even the old lady in the front row is something synonymous with lucha. One other point... The top workers spent all of 1990 putting Angel Azteca over as the next big thing in lucha, but I gotta say his performance here was on point. One of the better performances I've seen from him actually.

I heard recently that Inoki is a muslim. His Islamic name is Mohammed Hussein. Is this common knowledge? The con thread should be full of Inoki stories.

Christ, I wouldn't use the Diet as evidence of a more important political career.

What's the difference between ROH doing a show in Japan and CMLL?

I see.

I suppose there's a distinct possibility that Benoit could have eventually died from the same causes as many other wrestlers. To me, the real unanswered question was how premeditated it was. In situations like this, I think it's natural for things to escalate to the point where people say it was bound to happen, but what exactly was going on when Benoit cancelled his PPV appearance and flew home? I guess we'll never know, but one way or the other he was a timebomb.

Funnily enough I remember my wife saying she really hated Dump Matsumoto at this time. I hope more people watch those Chigusa/Leilani Kai matches. Great stuff. And I'm sure Jose will agree that the best Asuka match is the '85 one against Jumbo Hori, but again it's because of Jumbo.

That's not really a Japanese thing to do. Besides, Chigusa showing her shame and humiliation just milked things more for the rematch. If I were Loss, I would've included the rematch, too, plus Dump attacking Chigusa while she sang and slitting the chicken's throat at the press conference. Asuka was just poor at selling & that included angles, too. I don't know why people in the 80s thought she was better than Chigusa, something that people like Lorefice have clung to. There's actually a Dump vs. Asuka match from the JGP '86 that shows how good Dump was at setting up spots that made the schoolgirls implode. One of Asuka's more dramatic matches, and one which doesn't involve divided loyalties. The other thing people don't realise about Dump is that either side of this period -- when she weighed less -- she wasn't such a bad athlete and did a lot more moves.

The UWF was massively popular and made a lot of money. The problem was that it wasn't managed well.

The people who "saw it coming" are sources for Keller, Meltzer or some newspaper reporter. It's just hearsay and likely retroactive. Most of the guys on TV who are saying it was out of character hadn't seen Benoit in some time. They probably didn't know a lot of what was going on, but that doesn't mean that they're not being genuine.

You're being way too cynical. The guy was answering a Q&A. He was asked questions about his book and Fozzy.

Whenever this type of thing occurs, there's people who reckon they could see it coming. But that's after the fact. If you're going to take their word for it then you might as well give Jericho the benefit of the doubt. We'll never know why Benoit did this. I can understand people wanting to read the Observer or news reports to get some inkling, but it's speculation and in many cases hearsay. It's one thing to say "it was bound to happen" after hearing the news, but an entirely different thing to suspect he's going to kill his family before he actually does it. Looking back, maybe there were signs, maybe you could cite something as a trigger point, but I find it hard to believe that anyone believed he was going to kill his family. There's a tendency to act as though Benoit was never a good person, never a good father or husband and never did anything decent in his life. Perhaps that's understandable, but people like Jericho have to reconcile the Benoit they (thought) knew with the Benoit that did this. That's not easy. Maybe Jericho knows more than he's letting on. Maybe looking back there were things that didn't seem right. But Benoit's father said something similar. Are you gonna call bullshit on that? Anyway, this whole thing is a mess. It's fucked up. It's easy to maintain a running internet commentary, but dealing with this shit must be tough.

Knowing someone has domestic problems doesn't mean you saw it coming.

You have to give people like Jericho a break here. If a friend of mine did something like this, I'm sure I'd have a hard time coming to terms with it as well.

In the rematch, Dump has the scariest motherfucking look on her face while they shave her head.

Drug laws in Japan are severe, though as Jose says, speed is fashionable & other drugs are easy to get (though you have to get them from scary dudes). Most Japanese people don't use drugs, however. They're simply afraid of them & if you get caught, as foreigners sometimes do, you're fucked. Drinking is a huge part of Japanese culture, however. As for painkillers, there's a 1993 commercial tape where the whole ending is Hokuto getting an injection from a doctor. (This is in Japan.) Taking painkillers and abusing painkillers is a totally different subject mind you. Most Japanese wrestlers seem to come off the roids and get fat. Their training and prep seems to be better, too. Kazuo Yamazaki has a book about how to stretch.