ohtani's jacket

Wilber Snyder vs. Wally Greb I'm a Snyder fan. He reminds me of wrestling's version of Burt Lancaster. It's just a shame that he was so often in these veteran vs. youngster matches instead of a technical showpiece. Not that there's anything wrong with what they do. It's solid pro-wrestling between a veteran journeyman and a young buck, but I'd like to see what Snyder was capable of on the mat. Bobo Brazil vs. Jim (Brute) Bernard Well, this was over quickly. The most interesting thing about this match, aside from the gimmick of Brazil beating opponents in under 20 seconds, was Bobo being interviewed afterward by Lord Layton. I don't think I've heard Bobo speak before. He seemed like a likeable fella. Dick Hutton vs. Wally Greb I believe this is the only Dick Hutton match we have on tape. Segunda Caida lists this as being from 11/1/57. If that's the case, then it's about two weeks before Hutton defeats Thesz in Toronto. It's difficult to watch this and imagine one guy is about to be crowned NWA champ. Hutton looked like a tough customer, but he didn't come across as the anointed guy to beat Thesz. Very much by-the-numbers pro-wrestling.

It was hard not to draw comparisons between this and Rob Van Dam's excellent ladder match with Eddie Guerrero, but these two won me over in the end. I'm surprised they gave away a PPV-quality match like this for free on RAW. It was certainly better than a lot of the PPV matches from this era. Christian wasn't really a huge personality at this point, but he was an excellent workmanlike talent. He had a bit of an air about him of a second rate Chris Jericho or Edge, but there's no questioning whether he brought his working boots. A couple of things stand out about Rob Van Dam. First of all, he's not as goofy as you'd expect. Secondly, he was over with the crowd. You have to think that someone in the office had hopes that he'd break through to the next level. Obviously, that didn't play out to the full extent, but it strikes me as an interesting and somewhat forgotten run. Great finish for a TV bout. You certainly got your money's worth if you went to this RAW show.

This was an excellent match. They had a match a few weeks later that was a real cookie-cutter bout and nowhere near as good, but this was superb. It wasn't the first time they'd met in singles competition, but they sold it like it was. The match felt like two great workers feeling each other out for the first time. It was endlessly creative. It's a shame that they dumbed it down for the rematch, but at least we have evidence here of what they could really do.

The internet is not concerned with preserving the build to this match. I thought this was a lot of fun. Both guys are limited and take an age to run between the ropes, but the match had the right sort of feel to it. It was shorter than you'd like, and in other parts of Mexico Pierroth would have definitely bled, but it had an element of sleaze to it. There was something grimy about the match that harkened back to the days of filthy mats and smoke filled arenas. Much better than some of the other Los Boricuas hair matches.

Fit Finlay vs Tony St. Clair (11/12/94) This was a fairly typical Finlay match from this era. A lot of whistleblowing, warnings, and boos from the crowd. Finlay is an excellent agitator, but it grows a bit wearisome after a while. I can understand why Finlay cultivated this heel act, and he had a lot of success with it, but a little bit of wrestling wouldn't go astray. I did like his promo afterward. Finlay has some underrated mic skills.

This was really good. It's amazing how good Kobashi's matches are considering how slow they are and how immobile he is. The level of detail is amazing. What a happy crowd. I don't think I've see so many shots of smiley, happy people before.

This was pretty crappy compared to Homicide vs. Funk. This Raven thing needs to go away.

This was a fun match. These two match up really well, and honestly I think I'd rather see Angle face Undertaker than just about anyone else in the company. It's amazing that Undertaker can try to work MMA spots and not come across as a total knob. Then again, he's somehow able to work the Undertaker gimmick as a redneck biker, so I shouldn't be surprised.

You can call it storytelling if you like, or composition, but I don't see it as one of his strengths. He may be one of the greatest artists of all-time, but I wouldn't rank him as one of the better writer/artists. To be honest, I prefer his collaborations with Stan Lee to his solo work. He would have been better suited to doing graphic novels in the 70s. I personally see his 70s output as a series of grand failures. Brilliant ideas that fail to stick. There are times when comics have come close to literature, but personally I don't see the need for them to be accepted as such. I'm perfectly fine with appreciating comics for what they are. I have a higher opinion of comic book writing than you, however.

I actually kinda liked this. Marufuji and KENTA seem like pinup boys for a style of wrestling I don’t particularly like, but they went out there with the clear intention to pop the crowd, and having been part of Japanese crowds that pop for every nearfall, I know how fun that can be. Kanemaru brought the right amount of violence to counteract the floppy shit, and Hashi was a sneaky dynamo. It helps that I never did watch a lot of NOAH, so this is fresher to me than folks who’ve seen these workers dozens of times, but a lot of the time I find that “bloated” boils down to the rhythm of the match and whether you’re feeling it. They certainly had me paying attention, which isn’t easy at times

Man, the Elite wish they were as cool as a hardcore punk band playing rock songs.

Fit Finlay vs. Tony St. Clair (8/13/94) This was surprisingly good. It was a British Commonwealth title match, but instead of going ten, twelve rounds, as it may have done in the UK, they worked a tight 15 minute Tony St. Clair vs .Fit Finlay match. The kind of match they could have worked anywhere in the world in '94. It had a very 90s international wrestling feel to it (as opposed to a Catch feel.) The crowd really enjoyed it and were right behind St. Clair. What an interesting career Tony St. Clair had. Watching him from the late 70s, you'd never have guessed how he'd stretch his career out and the places he'd end up wrestling. I wonder why he never ended up following Taylor and Finlay to WCW.

MS-1, Pirata Morgan & Satánico vs Apolo Dantes, Black Magic & Oro (CMLL 9/4/92) Nothing of import happens in this match, but it's kind of fun seeing a young, fresh-faced Apolo Dantes taking on the Infernales, especially when so much of his bread and butter was earned as a rudo. Satanico and Black Magic do a comedy skit, but I would have preferred a legitimate exchange. There's potential in that match-up. Oro is given the Atlantis spot, but his work isn't very good. The tecnicos don't have great chemistry here, and the Infernales don't bother to go all out.

Half the battle with lucha is to get people to watch the good stuff, which is why you don't get a balanced critique of the workers. Satanico is not alone in this respect, and neither is lucha. His matches would have to be watched by a lot more people to get the type of critiques that other top flight candidates get. Satanico was very much a case of a handful of us saying: "Satanico's one of the all-time greats!" Not everyone agreed with us. I know of a few people who weren't big fans of his. That's all right. We should be at a place with lucha where there's enough great workers that folks can like different guys. I especially welcome the idea of folks having different ideas about who the best rudos were. Satanico had some rough patches in his career, and some lean times performance-wise. To be perfectly honest, I don't really care that the Octagon or Garza matches aren't good. It would be nice if they were great matches, but I'm not about to change my opinion about Satanico because he didn't carry Octagon the way Fuerza did. You could probably argue that he was unprofessional in that match, but it's no skin off my nose. I'm more frustrated by matches between good workers that don't reach their potential than a match like Octagon vs. Satanico. I don't really care enough about Garza to be offended by Satanico's performance. I guess he could have done more to get Garza over, but I have no idea bout the story behind it. He certainly redeemed himself in my eyes by helping to get Tarzan Boy, Rey and Ultimo over.

I totally understand about the early 90s vibe. I just prefer street level, grim and gritty Spectre to all-powerful, philosophical Spectre. Give me some of those violent Fleisher stories over Spectre debating with angels and demons. I would probably get some flack for saying this at the other site, but I don't think Kirby was a great writer.

The first time I read Shooter's Legion, I just read the famous stories. This time, I read the entire thing. I was impressed by how solid the rest of the stories were. It's not that long a run, especially if you skip the final year without Swan. I've been slowly reading Kamandi. It's the same as every other Kirby series from the 70s. It starts off with a bang and quickly fizzles out. Kirby diehards can't seem to accept that fact and are always looking to blame editorial, but how many times can it happen before it's no longer a coincidence? I had the opposite reaction to Spectre. I liked the storyline that run through the first year and pretty much hated everything that followed. I don't really like Tom Mandrake's art, either.

Why do they call it a media scrum? It's a god damn press conference. A media scrum is like those scenes from television where the media swarm around a figure on the courthouse steps.

I finished Jim Shooter's run on Adventure Comics. It loses its charm when Curt Swan leaves. Win Mortimer isn't a bad artist, but I was used to the aesthetic Swan gave the book. Shooter was getting older too, and didn't have quite the same youthful enthusiasm. It's a great run, though, with some classic stories and a ton of folklore. The first appearance of Mordru is a brilliant two-parter and the peak of the run to me. I understand that Shooter continued to write some backup Legion stories in Action Comics, but I can't imagine that they're much better than the final Win Mortimer stint.

This was okay. It was a cross between a brawl and a workrate sprint, neither of which are my favorite style of Homicide match, but both guys bled hard way and worked hard.

Kawada gets attacked by Mike Awesome (I think) right before the bell. What the fuck is that shit? Just when Japan was getting good. Did they think Ohtani needed some kind of leg up? That's kind of insulting. Why'd you book him in the final if you thought he didn't stand a chance against Kawada? This is an appealing matchup on paper since it features two of the most expressive wrestlers of the 90s, but it ends up being unimaginative and uninspiring. And a lousy Triple Crown match. Despite a bum wheel (when doesn't Kawada have a bum wheel?), Kawada steamrolls Ohtani and makes him look like a bitch. Ohtani does some goofy selling toward the end where he pops up and gets tangled in the ropes. That was cute in '96. And to think this was supposed to be Kawada vs. Hashimoto. This wasn't very good even through the lens of 2003 Toshiaki Kawada. I'm pretty sure Kawada vs. Kojima would have been better than this.

Hey look, Homicide wrestled Terry Funk in 2003! And it wasn't a tribute show, either, but a legitimate effing match. Funk totally outclassed Homicide here. I love Homicide, but he followed Funk around like a puppy dog in this match. I'm sure it's tough to go up against a legend like Funk, but Homicide treated him with kiddy gloves. The match was fun because nobody told Terry that there was no need to fight tooth and nail and bleed a gusher, but it ended with a ten minute angle setting up the 6th Anniversary Show that was apparently Funk and Sabu vs. Homicide and Mafia/Dan Maff.

So, Nicho no-shows this show and the commissioner decides to strip La Familia of the trio titles and hand them to the Infernales. The Infernales don't want to be awarded the trio titles that way and they're officially held up. The giant bear in the tecnicos' section isn't sure what to make of it all. Halloween and Damian call out Violencia. He comes to ringside but bails on the Familia. Then El Terrible takes his place. I'm sure it all makes sense in Spanish, or maybe not. The end result is a decent piece of business with Averno and Mephisto finally looking useful as Satanico's partners. Halloween and Damian continued to work for CMLL after this, so it wasn't exactly a kick in the pants on the way out, but the matchmaker was clearly done with this feud. Not sure what the scoop was with Nicho, but it was an odd month of CMLL wrestling.

I don't have much time for Ohtani as a heavyweight, but Kojima has been one of my favorites in 2003. Ohtani was an absolute genius as a junior heavyweight. I could write a tome about his junior heavyweight work. I've never really put much thought into why his heavyweight work disappoints. I suspect it's because he was never really The Man in the junior ranks. His juniors schtick was predicated on being the unlucky loser. It's hard to see where you go from there. Here, he was in two minds about whether to be the asshole heel invader or the plucky underdog. Kojima seemed unsure of his role too. Was he meant to be the gatekeeper to the Triple Crown title shot? The first stage boss? A contender as well? The finishing stretch was decent, but Japanese finishing stretches are almost always decent. I was looking for a reason to care and couldn't really find one. It wasn't a bad match. Just like of average. I actually kind of wish Kojima had gone over, but I guess inter-promotional crap was still the rage.

Liverpool fans also sing a version of it.