ohtani's jacket

When I saw this match listing, my eyes lit up thinking we'd get Charlie Lucero vs Blue Panther exchanges, but Panther actually squared off with Averno in the opening caida. It was the type of old-school primera caida exchange that we've barely seen in 2004, and pretty cool. You could tell that Averno was a guy on the rise, much like Ultimo had been about five years earlier. When Lucero and Panther finally did square off, Lucero launched an all out attack on him. Now, usually I'd bitch and moan about how they were doing mask ripping instead of mat wrestling, and have a bit of a cry, but I gotta tell you, Lucero's attack on Panther was fucking awesome. It was more of an assault than an attack. I didn't know Charlie had it in him. I swear I haven't been this excited watching a rudo beat up a tecnico since the days of grainy VHS footage. I also wanna add that this was the first time I've seen Azteca wrestle without a mask, which was really weird and kind of blew my mind a bit considering I still see him as the heir apparent to Atlantis and Lizmark in my mind's eye.

Whaddayaknow, another good match on RAW. I haven't been following the Jericho vs. Christian feud, but this was a kickass blowoff match with all the trappings of a WWE cage match, including the obligatory dive from the top of the cage and a really cool finishing sequence. There was also a ton of blood. Where is all this blood coming from in the WWE? Dudes are blading left, right and center. RAW keeps its hot streak alive, and the WWE is running away with 2004.

My story, and feelings, are similar to Jerome's. Dean was always there and now he's not. And that sucks. There's no two ways about it.

This was a fairly typical workrate match. Unfortunately, it was clipped at various points, which hurt the flow a bit. Still, the baseline for a Styles vs. Homicide match is fairly high, and they delivered everything you'd expect from these two. Styles continues to surprise me as he's not the type of wrestler I would usually enjoy, and in fact, the first time I encountered this era of Styles' career it was a massive turnoff having only been familiar with his New Japan run. But the dude is consistently good, and extremely hard working. And he adapts so well to his opponents. Respect.

This was very much a US indies inspired apuesta match, but I had a lot of time for it, and I'll tell you why. I love Zumbido, and I'm happy to see him steal a piece of the spotlight. Plus, it's easily the best thing Super Crazy has done since joining CMLL. His run had been a dud up until now, but he upped his game for this show. Outside influences had been slowly creeping into lucha since the 90s, but even in 2004 it was rare to see a guy do a moonsault off the top of the set. The rest of the match was built around similarly big spots (with surprisingly good camera work on the replays, I might add.) Not everyone's idea of a classic apuesta match, but I enjoyed it. The match had good rhythm, Super Crazy showed up and showed out, and the post match was top notch. Terrible and Mascara Magica also had a hair match on this show after feuding all month. Apparently, I am the only person on earth interested in seeing that feud because nobody's bothered to upload it, but I'd really like to see it.

Woo-hoo, Park is back in Monterrey! This was worked at the exact pace I was hoping for. There were some house show shenanigans, and a little bit of Monterrey bullshit, but mostly it was solid brawling and a bunch of cool exchanges between Ultimo and Park to accompany the match they had in Guadalajara. I was vibing with this.

This was such a great Shawn Michaels vs Chris Benoit match. Michaels brought it here. I guess he figured that he needed to match Benoit's intensity if he was going to look credible. Males you wonder why we couldn't see more of this Shawn Michaels. Hell, Michaels is so intense here that this time it's Benoit who bleeds. Gharly match.

That Zbyszko vs Backlund match is really good once they finally lock up. I still think Backlund is one of the weirdest wrestlers of all-time, but his weird ass shit works in context. Larry is highly entertaining and one of the highlights of 1980, Man, they milk those big spots. Those were the days where a single suplex was treated like a deathblow. Great stuff.. Even the screwy finish was well executed.

This was taped at the end of April, but it appears that we're going by air date in the database. Noble vs. Mysterio is a great match up and this match is no exception. Noble works like a smaller version of Benoit, and I love how he brings out a side of Mysterio that we don't often see -- his striking game. Noble's a guy who Mysterio can realistically strike and it's cool watching him go all Manny Pacquiao on Noble's ass. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it was still cool watching Mysterio throw strikes.

This was a big show for CMLL (possibly the Arena Mexico Anniversary Show, but cubsfan isn't sure.) That means less bullshit, more wrestling, and as a result, it's one of the better trios matches in a while. The premise is simple -- you've got three ex-partners of Satanico who hate his guts and can't wait to stomp a mudhole in his ass, and a fired up Satanico delivering one of his better performances of late. Mr. Niebla and Atlantis do Mr. Niebla and Atlantis things, and even the dreaded low blow finish is above average. Could still use another five minutes or so, but at least it was entertaining.

This could have potentially been a pretty fun bout, but it was butchered in the edit. CMLL goes through waves, but it's in a rut right now and the crappy TV isn't helping things. Once again, Negro Casas fails to impress. It's not entirely his fault as the editor seems obsessed with only showing the parts that involve Park, but for a guy who's supposed to excel at all the little things he sure has been coasting. Park hasn't been a great fit in CMLL. Dude needs to head back to Monterrey and feud with Super Parka again.

The days of the fun CMLL undercard matches with the Havana Brothers appear to be over. Things come and go pretty quickly in CMLL. This had the potential to be a fun undercard bout, but it was mostly setup for Super Crazy & Zumbido's hair match.

I was at this show, but I've never actually watched it on tape until now. The crowd was dead for this match after being electric during the Crush Girls vs Nagashima & Sato match, and it's not difficult to see why. It's a better match than I expected given how shitty Hamada looked heading into the show, but the majority of the bout is close quarters stuff, which looks good on tape but doesn't really play to folks in the arena. Some great facial expressions and plenty of intensity. Probably looked good on the big screen, but pales in comparison to the pops that Chigusa and Lioness drew. Hamada botches a spot on the outside that sucks the life out of things a bit. They try to make up for it in typical Japanese fashion by stiffing each other for a bit, but it still leaves me a bit sour faced. The right person goes over, and they run a post-match angle that I had totally forgotten about, but was designed to draw folks to the next show.

RAW continues its hot streak with another great television match. I don't know who was booking RAW at the time, but it's quite the shakeup given how bad RAW became after the brand split. Of course, there's still nonsense between Shawn and Hunter, but it's surprising that they haven't cut Benoit off at the knees. Ric Flair continues to defy any and all expectations I have for him in 2004. Great veteran heel and a fun foil for Benoit. Batista doesn't quite live up to the hype JR and King give him, but he has a great look and is able to follow his opponent's lead. Match ends with Michaels accidently hitting Benoit with a chair and Benoit snapping and putting Michaels in the sharpshooter. Edge convinces Benoit to let go, Michaels hams it up by rolling around the mat in agony, and Benoit looks generally scary as JR closes out the show. Best thing going in wrestling? Let's see how long they can keep it up.

I quite enjoyed Juvie's CMLL run, especially when he was involved with La Familia de Tijuana. I didn't watch his NWA-TNA stuff, but my overall impression was that his early 00s stuff was similar to Psicosis in that he was still a solid worker.

It's cool that you're getting into him. He still feels slept on by the majority of folks.

Can't say I'm a huge fan of what Arena Mexico has become over the last 25 years, but that's progress I guess. The best venue in Japan is probably Korakuen.

Les Kellett.

Selling - Mayumi Ozaki Comebacks - Atlantis Basing - Fuerza Guerrera Control Segments -- Satanico, Pirata Morgan & MS-1 Charisma - Dusty Rhodes Being a face - Steve Grey Being a heel - Rene Lasartesse Face in Peril - 80s Chigusa Hot tags - Rock 'n Roll Express On the mic -- Dusty Rhodes Adding intensity to feuds -- Randy Savage Brawling --Stan Hansen Athleticism - Le Petit Prince Ring IQ - Nick Bockwinkel Highest floor - Steve Grey Highest ceiling -- Akira Hokuto TV matches -- Steve Grey Big matches - Kenta Kobashi Best looking/most impactful offense -- Stan Hansen

RAW continues on its roll with this great television tag match. What's with the WWE giving us all these happy endings in Canada? Are they trying to atone or what? Edge makes the jump to RAW and suddenly the tide is turning with all these Smackdown dudes bringing the workrate back to the flagship show. This is the perfect marriage between solid heel work and Canadian babyfaces working in Calgary. Plus it has Lawler and Ross commentary, which is vastly superior to Taz and Michael Cole, in my ever so humble opinion.

I should mention out of the gate that because this match is held in Benoit's hometown of Edmonton that there are a number of uncomfortable shots of Benoit's wife and son at ringside. The match is decent considering it's a rehash of the WrestleMania main event. I've got to believe that there were Benoit fans who were afraid that the WWE was going to have him job the title straight back to Triple H, and that they'd have the audacity to do it in his hometown. In fact, I'm pretty sure the WWE played that shit up as much as they could. There was a Montreal spot that came a bit too early in the match, but had the crowd booing Michaels the rest of the way and chanting "You screwed Bret!" at him. In the end, the WWE did the right thing, which was a surprise. I didn't know the result of the match and wasn't sure whether Benoit would drop the belt or not, so I was as pleasantly surprised as you can be by Benoit going over.

This was a hot 8-man tag featuring all the guys working against each other on Sunday's Backlash show. It was the kind of match you figure the WWE could roll out on every go-home show, but don't. Somehow RAW has become the most exciting thing in wrestling. I don't know if that was the reaction at the time, but business has definitely picked up as far as I'm concerned. I had no idea that Evolution were so entertaining. I always figured Triple H was stroking his ego by having some weak ass version of the Horsemen follow him around, but they're actually a pretty cool stable. I was really surprised by Flair. I expected him to be awful, but he was great in his role. He mostly threw chops and got beat up, but it was really solid veteran heel work and honestly a credit to him considering how hard it must be to accept that sort of role after being The Man for so many years. I'm sure he was doing some batshit insane things in his private life, but credit to him as an in ring performer. The segment ended with a lame Mexican standoff shot between Michaels, Hunter and Benoit that was almost comedic in its timing, but it was still a hot as TV match.

I always liked this match but watching it in context has made me appreciate it even more. This is easily the best match Park has had in CMLL so far and the best match that Ultimo, and CMLL for that matter, has had for several months. The reason for that is largely because they're working in Guadalajara, which is a hell of a lot closer to Park's old haunt of Monterrey than Arena Mexico. Why CMLL can't stage epic main events in Arena Mexico is beyond me, but the fact remains that if this had been held in Mexico City it would have been half the length (if not a third.) It's not a perfect match, I felt the rhythm of the match could have been better,, and it could have done with a few more dramatic beats. However, it was a lengthy title match, which is a plus, and one of the better matches from the first four months of the year. The finish was kind of lame, but it was an 80s territories finish and I guess that fits the Guadalajara setting to some extent.

Kobashi does it again. Despite being barely able to move, he manages to have arguably the best match of the year to date (it's either this or Eddie vs. Brock.) Several years, I would have scoffed at watching these NOAH matches, and I was never a big believer in Kobashi as a genius worker, but I'll be damned if he isn't a slow motion master, who'll lay in a shot and soak up every bit of heat he can. It's kind of amazing given that even in 2004 the younger guys were trending towards everything at a million miles per hour and here you've got this broken down warrior hobbling about having slow moving masterpieces. Takayama, fwiw, is a monster and a great foil for Kobashi.

Cagematch says this is from September 3rd.