ohtani's jacket

This was so uninspired. You look at the listing and think, "Ugh, three way match." Then you watch it and think, "Ugh, three way match." JR was strangely subdued in this match. I don't know if he was trying to sell the gravity of Kane sending Shane McMahon to the hospital, or he was meant to be nervous about his upcoming tag match against Al Snow and Jonathan Coachman, OR because he was still recovering from Kane setting on fire, but he seemed bored. So you've got a bored Jim Ross commentating over a boring match that barely rises above the level of a television match. I didn't realize that 2003 WWE was this meh. Such stupid booking. If they had ran the Christian vs. RVD ladder match on this PPV, the effect would have been much greater. Avoid this. Nothing interesting happens in this match.

I finished Mark Waid's first run on The Flash. It was okay, but it was full of generic superhero stories. I don't see why it's considered a landmark run. I guess Mike Baron and William Messner-Loebs' runs may be considered weird to some folks, but to me, they were far more brilliant. There were some positives to Waid's run. He was good at multi-part storylines, and he did a lot of nice stuff with Wally and Linda. To his credit, his writing was solid enough that it didn't really matter when the art was subpar, but I don't get what the big deal was, other than the fact that it was long. Perhaps the appeal is that it was a solid superhero run in a decade not known for its solid superhero runs, but you'd think it was the equivalent to Peter David's Hulk run the way some people go on about it. I guess other folks are way more into the Speed Force thing than I was. I must really like Wally West, though, as I intend to keep going through the Morrison and Millar run and back to Waid, and maybe even Johns.

I finished Chew over the weekend. It took me a while to get used to the art, but once I did, I was in for a ride. What a weird and wonderful series. It was batshit insane but strangely moving. And always entertaining. Thanks for the memories, Chew!

It's been a while since we've seen Los Talibanes on TV. This was part of a three-week build to a cage match. I always have time for Los Talibanes, even when their matches are shit, but they brought their working boots here. Talibanes vs. Halloween and Damian is always good, but they also managed to make Terrible look more interesting than he has in any other bout simply by beating him up. Gotta love a trio of old-school rudos.

Heat is shit kid Minoru Tanka doing a masked luchador gimmick, wearing some ridiculous get-up that would have looked better on his wife. He had no idea how to work like a luchador, and it shows. It doesn't really matter since they had plenty of experience working together in New Japan, and the Arena Mexico is 100% behind Dr Wagner as the Mexican representative in the bout, but it's not much of a lucha bout. They tease a big submission finish, since apparently Tanaka made Wagner submit the week before, but this time Wagner manages to break the hold. He doesn't sell it particularly well since it's not a common lucha trope, but it pops the crowd. I could do without these sort of matches, but I could see a certain type of fan thinking this was a better match than usual.

This was only a tournament match, but it was spirited. And we got to see Satanico vs. Shocker! Forget the Japanese guys and the Tijuana Family, the 2003 Satanico feud you needed to see was Satanico vs Shocker. The only drawback here was El Terrible, who still doesn't look like he belongs on the Guapos. I'm telling you, it should have been Zumbido.

I did not know that the Sexy Boy wrestled Randy Orton on PPV in 2003. The reason I didn't know is because the match is instantly forgettable. Orton was being pushed as the future of the company while Cena was barely holding onto his career with his Thuganomics gimmick, but for whatever reason, Michaels barely lifted a finger to help him. It was the most generic TV match imaginable on a RAW PPV. Orton wasn't a very good worker at this stage, but everybody involved could have tried a little harder.

This was the most generic of their matches together, but there were a few positives. Brock finally wrestled like the piece of shit that abused Zach Gowen, Spanky and Stephanie, and they peppered the match with enough falls that they avoided the problems Shawn and Bret had. They also avoided the temptation of a cheap finish. In fact, it was a bold decision to have the challenger go over. Brock's tactics meant that we never got to see any wrestling between the two, but the match was never boring. Just generic. I'm not entirely sure why Brock has such a cult following. I like the guy, but there was nothing outstanding about his performance in the match. I still think he's better off brawling with Big Show and the Undertaker than wrestling Kurt Angle.

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.