ohtani's jacket

This was a decent match. It was slower than you'd expect and there weren't very many breakneck lucha exchanges. It's purpose was to set up a revenge match between Los Caifanes and the Orientales, and to that end you had one of the Caifanes bleeding and an Oriental's mask ripped wide open so you could see his entire face. Things picked up after the tecnico comeback, and the tercera caida had some nice exchanges. Not a Virus showcase, if that's what you're looking for, but he did have a nice exchange with Violencia at the end. Not the most thrilling of matches, but it did make me wanna see the revancha. So job done, I guess.

Man, if you thought Japan was bad in 2002, then 2003 didn't get off to a promising start either. I watched this solely for the Hashimoto vs. Kojima interactions, which were good but not worth the price of admission. The rest of the match was the usual inter-promotional bullshit.

We've seen these guys have their match on the indies and in TNA, now it's time to see how they do in Japan. I was pleasantly surprised by the crowd reaction here. They gave both guys warm reactions and popped for little touches in the match. As we know, that's not always the case with a Japanese crowd. The match itself was excellent. These guys are hellbent on destroying each other in every single match. Even the Japanese crowd could feel that there was no love lost between them. Personally, I don't mind the escalation in these bouts. Surely, it's over the top at times, but wrestling can go too far the other way as well with guys lying on their backs making dramatic Shawn Michaels faces. I don't know if AJ Styles was a real life douche, but his wrestling character is a douche... but he's a douche that can back it up with stiff strikes, and you come at the king, you best not miss. You almost get the feeling that these guys shouldn't match up so well, except for the fact that they hate each other so much. Great finish after the rope break tease. For a touring match in Japan, this was outstanding. Best I've seen since that Santo/Panther match.

This was really good. Actually, I think this was the best Hyuga performance I've seen from 2002. I love Ran Yu Yu, but Kuragaki was a better match up. I didn't expect Kuragaki's offense to be so good. Never judge a worker by their appearance, or their ugly ass tights. She could do elaborate flip sequences and throw killer suplexes, in the same breath. There were some iffy transitions, and I didn't like the way Hyuga sold the suplexes, but it was a strong fight. I dug the submission at the end, but after the effort she put in, Kuragaki deserved a more spectacular downfall. Still, an excellent fight considering they wrestled in front of maybe 50 people.

Yoshida was still a top 20 wrestler in the world at this point, and this was a match where we really got to see that. It was a much better all-round match than the Tamada fight, and not necessarily because Omukai was a better opponent. She was pretty much a taller version of Mima Shimoda, though to her credit she knew how to work Yoshida's style. Yoshida pulled out all the stops here and produced a fine performance. I mentioned in the Tamada fight that I wish she had gone freelance at this time, but hopefully there are a few more ARSION matches like this where Yoshida is allowed to do her thing. She looked far from done, and I'd hate to think that her prime was wasted, or shortened, by Lioness Asuka's unfortunate intrusion.

This was a neat contest. It was very much a hybrid style that encapsulated a lot of the strong points of ARSION and BattlARTS, as well as some of Yokota's personal style. In fact, at times it was reminiscent of Yokota vs. Chino Sato. They didn't have quite as much intensity, but they were committed to the bout. It was nice to see a match that was a grappling contest at heart. Good stuff.

I don't have a problem with Kawada's matwork in that Takayama match. He mostly works pro-wrestling holds, and they're really just an excuse for him to lay in some stomps, but that's exactly what you'd expect from a pro-wrestler in that sort of environment. I wouldn't expect some Pancrase looking shit. The only shoot-style holds he knew were the arm breaker and probably some Takada-style leglocks. If anything, I'm less convinced by him using a series of enzuigiris to put Takayama away. I think Kawada would have been decent in spectacle matches. I doubt he would have gone full Sano and learnt the style. He would have been able to make the stretch plum look convincing. Of the top of my head, I can't think of any of Kawada's contemporaries who would have fared better crossing over into the UWF-i. Akiyama may have been a better mat wrestler, but I'm not sure.

Kawada's matwork is perfect for his character. I don't know if he would have been able to hang in UWF-i, definitely not against the younger guys like Sakuraba and Tamura. He probably would have been fine against the older guys like Takada, Yamazaki, and Anjoh. Kawada vs. Sano would have been amazing. It would have been a hell of a lot more interesting than what he achieved by staying in AJPW. And don't get me started on fucking Honda.

I can't stand Hase's Tutti Frutti Johnny B Badd act, but I do respect his wrestling. And I dig any Kawada opponent who takes him out of his comfort zone and makes him work the mat. I love Kawada's matwork. It's grim, gritty, and no frills, and matches his character perfectly. The rest of the bout is basically Kawada kicking Hase's ass. Doesn't make for a great match, but I can get down with that.

This was a Bob Barnett handheld. Rey Mysterio looks like such a knob in this match. Can you imagine what his career would have been like if he'd never gone to the WWE? Jeez, talk about a different narrative. My boy, Vampiro, tries working some holds with Charlie Manson. I fucking love everything Vampiro does. Rey and Santo get their shit in, and this is very much house show lucha. Still, it's not every day you get to see Santo work from ringside. His signature stuff looks pretty, and we get a really cool view of his corner tope. The rudos make their comeback and the match descends into a brawl (with Barnett doing his best to capture everything that's happening at ringside.) Santo & Rey bring back their tandem dive spot from AAA, and the match ends in a messy disqualification. At least one of the rudos had the good sense to rip open Mysterio's fishnet top. Not a lot to see here, really, outside of the usual signature spots. Santo teaming with Rey again was something, I suppose.

I did not know that Kohsaka worked some New Japan matches. This was pretty fun. Probably not the right environment for it, but they didn't hold back. I don't know how I would have felt about Koshaka working New Japan full-time, but I do know that Japan was desperately missing the likes of Tamura and Kohsaka at this time. Takayama is pretty much the MVP in terms of being able to cross over and work any promotion, but the talent pool in Japan is thin. Tamura vs. Takayama is another fight I would have liked to have seen around this time.

Pretty much all of these Tenryu in AJPW matches are worth watching as he continues his WAR revival. Here, Araya and Arashi decide that Fuchi is the lesser of the two evils and give him a working over, but if they think years of comedy six-mans have dulled Fuchi's edge, he gives them a reminder or two of what a vicious bastard he can be. Tenryu takes a backseat to Fuchi, but he dishes out a beating every time Fuchi throws him one of the pups, and he kicks everyone's ass when he finally does tag. This could have done with a bit more violence, but it was still pretty good.

This is only a few minutes long, and you get the true classic later on in MUGA, but if there's a pro-wrestling heaven it looks something like this. Fujinami looks great here. Man, I'd love to have seen a long Fujinami vs. Ishikawa match. That would have been the match of a lifetime, for sure. Fujinami fires a bunch of shots at Nishimura, who gets the win in a match that has no business being on a dome show. But hey, there are worse novelties in wrestling than two grappling legends having a workout in a baseball stadium.

VIllano III just edges it over Blue Panther for Mexico, though not necessarily due to ringwork. I think Panther is clearly a better worker than Villano at this stage, and probably all-time as well, but that's an argument for another day. Kobashi, to me, is the biggest star in Japan. Benoit is probably the best guy in the US.

Even I can't argue with Jumbo for this year. Satanico, Dandy and Fujiwara the best of the rest.

I had Santo and Blue Panther neck and neck in Mexico. Austin's stuff is good, but Low Ki is my favorite dude from '01.

El Dandy is another guy who deserves consideration for '89. I'm pretty sure Fujiwara didn't jump to UWF until halfway through the year.

I don't remember Yuki Miyazaki being a comedy worker, but that's how she presented herself here. In between the comedy, they went at each other pretty hard, and there were a few times where Miyazaki had to desperately avoid getting her arm torn off. Not bad for what it was.

Short match by their standards. Pretty well worked. The transitions were less than ideal, but hey, it's a Joshi sprint not a work of art. I'll say this for Hyuga -- for a girl from the Fukuoka style of Joshi, she sure developed some nasty looking knee strikes to go with the flashy moves. Ran is awesome as always. One of the few bright spots on the Japanese scene.

This was JIP, but it was a chance to see one of the best workers in the world practicing her craft. Rie Tamada was a tough lady, but she was basically putty in Yoshida's hands. It's a damn shame that Yoshida was practicing a dying craft at this stage, but she spent some time on the mat. The Joshi style stuff wasn't bad either, to be fair, and I dug Yoshida's punches, but you really want 1999 Yoshida to continue forever. It doesn't, and the scene is shittier for it. I wish Yoshida had worked some JWP dates instead of floundering about in ARSION. That would have been the perfect promotion for her in 2002. There's no way Yoshida vs. Ran Yu Yu wouldn't have ruled in 2002. I shouldn't be complaining too much. At least we got to see this, and at least it was halfway decent.

I believe Delfin & Demekin got a shot at the tag titles thanks to their win at the Osaka Tag Festival. This was the revancha match for QUALLT & MA-G-MA, and you could see the result coming from a mile away. That said, it was still an entertaining diversion. Demekin was given a lot of ring time, presumably because they were grooming him as a Deflin's heir, which meant we didn't get as much Deflin as I'd like, but beggars can't be chooser when it comes to getting Osaka Pro on tape.

This was exactly what you'd expect from a JWP house show of this era. JWP was running afternoon and evening shows on the same day, so the girls had to converse their energy a bit, but it was the classic mix of hard hitting action and slower paced psychology. Set up the Hyuga vs. Ran match later in the month.

Lesnar had an undeniable presence in '02. He had arguably the most impressive physical presence since Vader in the early 90s. This was a smartly worked bout. I wouldn't call it a great match, but the people who put it together knew what they were doing. The remarkable thing about it was Rock put Lesnar over clean. You don't see that too often. Give n the company's history, it's amazing that they didn't fuck things up when it came to Brock's push.

Roger Delaporte & Andre Bollet vs. Warnia de Zarzecki & Mr. Montreal (aired 12/12/65) Boring match. The Delaporte/Bollet magic just wasn't there anymore. Worst of all, they kept it going for 40 minutes. I kept waiting for a flurry of excitement but it never came. The babyfaces were as much to blame in that regard, but honestly, this was the least entertaining that Delaporte has been thus far.

I read Hulk: Future Imperfect and The Thanos Quest, both of which would make my (very short) shortlist of best Marvel comics of the 90s. The former is set in a future where the Hulk has become the insane ruler of a nuclear wasteland, and the latter sees Thanos travel around the cosmos kicking butt and collecting Infinity Gems. Both books have outstanding artwork, Perez on Future Imperfect and Ron Lim on The Thanos Quest, as well as solid writing. Peter David was knee deep in his Hulk run at this time, and Starlin had just made a triumphant return with Silver Surfer. In many ways, this was the end of "my" era of Marvel where the writers still had equal billing to the artists. I was particularly impressed by Ron Lim's artwork. I didn't realize that he was so good. My biggest memory of Lim is being profoundly disappointed when he took over the pencils on Infinity Gauntlet. What surprised me most was the range of facial expressions he was able to get out of Thanos, especially those looks of despair whenever he was in the doghouse with Mistress Death. Villain-led titles aren't the easiest to pull off, but Thanos is such a multi-dimensional character that Starlin is able to make it work. You know he's going to succeed in his quest and claim all of the Infinity Gems, but it's a bunch of fun. The Maestro in Future Imperfect is likewise charismatic, and quite an outstanding character in an era not renowned for introducing a lot of new outstanding characters. So yeah, thumbs up for both.