ohtani's jacket

I checked Meltzer's Twitter and he was discussing Roller Derby... Many of the elements of the Genius gimmick predated the WWF and were Lanny's doing. The Genius gimmick was Lanny's idea, so he was hardly saddled with it. Personally, I preferred his more ambitious medieval knight gimmick, Sir Lanny Poffo.

Vassilio Mantopoulos/Armand Zarpa vs. Pierre Bernaert/M'Boaba (aired 4/5/69) I spoke too soon when I talked about how black wrestlers were treated in France. I clearly forgot about M'Boaba. For those of you who've never seen M'Boaba, or N'Boa the Snake Man as he was called in the UK, he's basically a wild man from the Congo who occasionally brought a python to the ring. It was a popular gimmick in the UK the same as The Wild Man of Borneo and other outlandish gimmicks, and I guess it appealed to Parisian audiences too. Bob Elandon was a great worker and didn't need the gimmick to get over. He did a good job of playing M'Boaba, largely because of how good he was in the ring, not that it justifies the gimmick in any way. That said, it's a good bout. Bernaert and M'Boaba make for strange bedfellows, Zarpa is typically solid, and as much as I usually dislike Mantopoulous' George Kidd shtick, it's a lot of fun when he's working circles around M'Boaba. Robert Gastel/Roger Delaporte vs. Warnia de Zarecki/Giacomo Guglielmetti (aired 4/19/69) This was tidy enough. I'm beyond expecting anything amazing from Delaporte this late in his career. Inca Peruano/Anton Tejero vs. Rene Ben Chemoul/Walter Bordes (aired 4/21/69) From my recollection, Ben Chemoul and Bordes gave the heels a bit more offense in this one, and sold for them a tad more The heel work is solid, but it's still kind of weird seeing Inca Perunao as just another guy in a heel tag team. I swear, if I were a French heel and Ben Chemoul and Bordes did that Mamadou Meme shit to me, I'd want to beat the tar out of them, Jean Ferre vs. Robert Duranton (aired 10/4/69) This could have been a fun bout if it had gone longer, or we'd seen more of it, simply for the novelty of Andre and Duranton trading blows, but of course there's all the shit with Duranton's valet to contend with. Pierre Bernaert/Gilbert Le Magouroux vs. Vasilious Mantopolous/Robert Camus (aired 10/4/69) I'm fairly certain that this is another pairing of Bernaert and Le Magouroux. It should come as no surprise that this was my type of Catch. Classic heel work, exciting stylists, no egos. These midcard gems are the best thing about late 60s Catch. Jean Corne/Michel Falempin vs. Inca Viracocha/Steve Haggerty (aired 10/8/69) I'm not sure if this was really Steve Haggerty. It was just a guess on my part. I'm a huge fan of Jean Corne, and I did the Celts tag team. This was another example of a vibrant midcard gem. Pure catch. No strings. L'Ange Blanc vs. L'Homme Masque (aired 12/13/69) I'm not even gonna hazard a guess to who L'Homme Masque was here. Whomever it was, they knew how to cinch on a hold and could throw the odd punch or manchette. I'm not a fan of matches where the babyface gets beat up repeatedly and barely has a chance to retaliate. You have to give a pretty incredible babyface performance to make that type of match work, and L'Ange Blanc was no Gilbert Leduc in that respect. L'Homme Masque did some cool shit grounding him at times, and I really liked the finishing stretch where L'Ange Blanc finally cut loose, but the BS finish made me wonder what the point of the match was. Better than the Scarface match, but I'm still not sold on L'Ange as a worker. The pelican at ringside was weird, but still not as weird as the martian.

I finished Chester Brown's Yummy Fur series. Personally, I preferred the Ed the Happy Clown era to his autobiographical stories, but Brown was making up the Ed story as he went along and for some reason he grew frustrated with it. You get the sense that Chester was always a bit restless as a cartoonist, as he began experimenting heavily with panel layout as the series progressed (to the chagrin of some readers who didn't appreciate the small number of panels per page.) I enjoyed some of the autobiographical stories from his childhood. I'm sure a lot of fans our age can identify with trying to get their hands on a copy of Playboy each month and then figuring out where in the hell they're gonna hide it. I also liked his adolescent tales of dealing with coming of age and interacting with girls. The Drawn and Quarterly publisher, Chris Oliveros, convinced Chester to end Yummy Fur, which led to the ill-received Underwater series. Yummy Fur was one of the first alternative comics I was drawn to as a teenager, discovering it through the back issue boxes at my local comic shop. I was especially drawn to the Gospel adaptations where a grumpy and cantankerous Jesus spits fire at everyone. Looking back on it now, it was quite a bold choice for an alternative cartoonist to adapt the New Testament, but a natural thing to do for Brown to pursue as he was interested in alternative Gospel sources. From a comics standpoint, the Gospel adaptations represent his best cartooning work from the period, IMO, especially his Matthew.

I finally read Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan's Night Force. It's not bad, but it's not surprising that it struggled to find an audience. It probably would have done better a few years later when the direct-sales market was more established and there was a larger audience for mature readers books, however the biggest problem was that the cast of characters simply wasn't as interesting as the Tomb of Dracula cast, especially the Baron. If Wolfman's intention was to have the Night Force itself be a rotating cast of characters, then the Baron needed to be as charismatic and interesting as Dracula, but he didn't hold anywhere near as much appeal. The art was somewhat inconsistent. Lately, I have a hard time unseeing some of the criticisms that the likes of John Byrne made about Colan's artwork in the 80s, even if those comments stemmed from a ridiculous "us vs. them" mentality that Byrne seemed to have at the time, and later forgot about when it became one of "them." There are a lot of wonky elements to Colan's artwork at times. Some of it is no doubt intentional as Colan was always a fan of using interesting camera angles or perspectives, but sometimes there are some odd looking panels that aren't touched up or fixed by the inker. I can't say I really missed the series once it came to an end, and I don't have much desire to read the two volumes that followed, however I will praise it as a valiant effort to try something new.

Bloody awful.

I finished Scalped yesterday. I wasn't as thrilled with the final arc as some people seem to be, but overall I thought it was one of the best series I've read from the modern era, which, for my purposes, encompasses 2000-2023. What I liked about it most was that it dealt with a subject matter that, to the best of my knowledge, hadn't been addressed before in comics, at least not in a full blown series. That's a goal I wish more creators who strive toward instead of giving us their latest take on fascist superheroes. It's a shame that the TV series wasn't picked up, as it probably would have made an even more powerful TV show than a comic, especially if led by a full indigenous cast.

This was an entertaining bout. Perro Sr had a long history with the Capos, so it makes sense that Perro Jr would get involved with them. He especially had a hard on for Universo 2000 after the things Universo did to his padre, and this led to some decent brawling. Far between than Satanico vs. Averno, though not at the level of L.A. Park vs. Super Parka. It was a short bout, but gave you plenty of bang for your buck. The Guapos were excellent in their secondary role, and while MA2k will probably never make a list of the top rudos, he was a consummate pro who knew how to bump and stooge, and work rudo. This felt like a proper trios match even if it was less than 10 minutes long. I also love Cien Caras' moustache from this era.

This was worked at a slower pace than Homicide vs Styles, and the commentators kept harping on about how Homicide had a different attitude this evening and they weren't sure what had come over him, which I guess was meant to be some sort of storyline where he was tired of losing and wanted to establish himself as a top contender for the world title. There was a fair bit of stalling and fluffing about, but it didn't bother me all that much. After hearing other workers diss Punk's ability as a wrestler during his ROH days, I can't unsee a lot of his weaknesses, but then Homicide's not exactly perfect either. Decent bout, but not the kind of thing you watch if you're searching for stone cold classics.

This was a decent debut match for a rookie. Hayashi was billed at 168cm and 75kg, which is quite big by Joshi standards, and Satomura allowed her to show off her strength and power by repeatedly knocking Meiko off her feet. Given that she was a rookie, she didn't have a lot to follow up with once she knocked Meiko down, but it was still an impressive feat for a new girl. In the end, Meiko was able to win comfortably, but in a way that was respectful of the rookie. Hayashi received a taste of what it was like and gained some motivation for future bouts. She didn't last the year, but it wasn't because her debut was poor. There's been some holes in my viewing when it comes to GAEA, but I'm prepared to accept Satomura as one of the best workers in Japan at the beginning of 2004. That may not be entirely accurate, but Japan needs a few heroes and this was a fine start to Meiko's 2004 campaign.

This was disappointing given the talent involved. I mean look at that tecnico lineup -- they should have kicked some serious ass. The match was clipped and severely disjointed, and it looked as though the workers didn't have a lot of experience working with Parka. It wasn't really clear who the top dog was meant to be, and they never really settled into roles. None of the wrestlers paired off, and there was no through line. I wasn't a huge fan of Parka getting his masked ripped so badly in a regular trios match, as it ruins the imagery of the skeleton mask and the overall impact of Parka being in CMLL, but that's a personal quibble. It seemed as though they were setting up Shocker and Parka vs. Ultimo and Rey for some future date. I'm not sure what spare parts Vampiro and Super Crazy were meant to do in that case. Not exactly the most natural pairing in the world.

Averno and Mephisto had split from Satanico at this point, so much of the focus here was on Satanico vs his former partners. To be honest, it wasn't all that great. Certainly not on the level of some of the work Satanico was capable of as late as 2002. Averno and Mephisto hadn't found a new identity for themselves now that they were no longer Infernales and wore generic outfits. Super Crazy has been less than impressive in his CMLL run, and I can't see him going anywhere as a rudo. Casas and Felino didn't add anything either. The match was butchered in the edit, which isn't a new thing for CMLL but was particularly bad on Coliseo shows. Skippable.

A staple of 90s and 00s CMLL. One of the best bullet topes ever.

They really should do this into a TV show.

It's like a YouTube comments section in him. Y'all inspiring me to listen to some of this music that's being derided.

Nirvana's MTV Unplugged was released in November of '94 and became the number one selling album. Pearl Jam's Vitalogy was number one in December. I bought Vitalogy the day it came out and saw Pearl Jam live in March '95, which changed my little teenage life. Nirvana and Pearl Jam were popular enough in the mid-90s that From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah and No Code both reached number one in 1996. Alice in Chains also reached number one with their 1995 album. The height of grunge was in the early 90s, but the wrestling landscape wasn't the same in 1991 as it was in 1995. The Raven gimmick worked for the edgy presentation ECW was pushing. I don't think the gimmick sucked. Raven was just crap at promos. He was trying to do Patrick Swayze in Point Break and didn't have the acting chops for it. And I just wanna point out that he used a skate punk song for his theme., so I think there was more of a Generation X/Alt Rock vibe going on than strictly being about grunge.

Grunge was still big when Raven made his debut, but I'd argue it had more to do with Raven's look than his promos. Raven delivered low rent Jake Roberts promos. He ended up being a step or two below early Taker interviews. Not even sure he was better than Hellwig, to be honest.

Even when Thesz and Gagne were in their primes, there were plenty of wrestlers working in a Shawn Michaels vein. It was never the case that there were all of these wrestlers working a believable Lou Thesz style. That would be my wrestling nirvana if it were true. It just so happened that Thesz and Gagne were better at actual wrestling than the Buddy Rogers style guys. Some people might argue that the Buddy Rogers types were better at working the crowd and getting the matches over, and that may be true, but it basically comes down to personal preference. I have a certain amount of respect for guys who can work the Buddy Rogers style well, but I'm never going to rate them above someone who can wrestle.

Welcome to the Gilbert Leduc fan club.

This was a good match. It was a Styles match, so it was work rate driven, but that's okay because I like work rate Homicide. It wasn't a huge, epic match. Instead, it was a smarter, tightly contained bout that played to the strengths of both men. There were a lot of counters and reversals, but also some cool punches and forearm strikes. Homicide took himself out with a tope con hilo into the crowd, but continued with the match. I'm not sure if he was legit hurt, or it was just a way to make him look strong in defeat, but either way he was too shook to beat Styles. We've gotta talk about Homicide's tope con hilo, though. It may have been a little self-hazardous, but what a badass move.

More Parka on Parka violence. This feud is better than expected, largely because Super Parka is having a better run than a lot of well known luchadores. I complain about Monterrey bullshit a lot, but if there was ever a match where it had its charms, this is it. Park was on form here -- celebrating between falls by gyrating against the ring post, running around with a white garden chair above his head just like his Chairman days, and even picking up a kid from the audience to use for a double team move. The match breaks down when Parka accidently hits a tope on his partner, then there's a run in from Texano of all people. If there's gonna be a run in during a match, it might as well be by freaking Texano! Parka's partner turns on him and there's a four-on-one beatdown before Parka gets so help. Then he goes into the crowd to celebrate with his people and lets members of the public cut promos on the house mic. I swear it's one of the best endings to a house show bout I've ever seen. I have a sneaking suspicion that 2004 is going to be the Year of the Park.

This was mostly Steve Corino wrapping Terry Funk in barbed wire and screaming at him to quit. If I were Steve Corino, I'd be stoked at getting the chance to recreate Funk vs. Lawler and Funk/Flair. Half the fun is listening to Funk's replies. Terry, God bless him, couldn't really do much at this stage, but he could still cut a promo and sell his ass off, and he does a pretty good job of coughing and spluttering while choking on barbed wire. Gary Hart shows up again and lays into Funk on the mic. He blames him for quitting against Flair and destroying J-Tex. Y'know, I kind of like that MLW is playing off past history and continuing old NWA feuds. The commentator needs to chill out a bit, though. Dude, we can clearly seeing that the barbed wire isn't slicing through anybody's flesh and that there aren't chunks of flesh hanging from anyone's back. And if you've never seen Corino act like this before, you clearly haven't been following his feud with Homicide, and God knows who else. I know commentators have a job to do, and I'm probably being overly critical, but Funk wrapping barbed wire around his neck is a big enough sell that you don't need to over hype it.

This was a badass little contest. I would have preferred a more even contest, but Suzuki looked awesome.

Triple H defends the World Heavyweight Title This was incredibly mediocre. It's hard to put a finger on why it was so bad. It was a WWE formula match with a horrific amount of blood (even more than Sasaki vs. Nagata, if I'm not mistaken), and had a storyline that was "seven years in the making." Yet it fell flat. Perhaps the audience was sick of seeing his match up. They'd already seen Shawn's return at SummerSlam '02, his title victory at Elimination Chamber, and the Three Stages of Hell. There's only so much Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H you can take. And it doesn't end here either. The finish was such a bullshit copout, and Michaels getting the "moral victory" of walking out on his own two feet was even worse. Michaels' ham acting is unbelievable. There's one part where he tries to do a stagger sell after going through the Spanish announcers' table, and he oversells it completely. Who the hell oversells trying to stand up? That's impressive. And shame on you King for claiming DX was one of the best things in the history of the WWE.

The only good parts of this were when KENTA was in the ring. He was fantastic here, from his "Where's the Hood At?" entrance to his flourish at the end to win it. Marufuji was awful. His timing was completely off. He kept on coming up short on his moves, barely grazing his opponent instead of hitting them flush. I've never understood the appeal of El Samurai. What's the deal with that guy? Why does he wear a mask and call himself El Samurai? KENTA was awesome.

I love me some Low Ki vs. Homicide, You can keep your Bryan Danielsons, I'll take Low Ki and Homicide stiffing the crap out of each other thanks. This was going along swimmingly until it turned into an angle where Gary Hart, of all people, ordered Homicide and Low Ki to attack the MLW owner, Court Bauer. I can't stand screeching indy commentators, but I dug Julius Smokes bringing up the Great Kabuki nearly blinding the Junkyard Dog with green mist, and the other dude squealing about Gary Hart trying to kill Ric Flair with a plastic bag.