ohtani's jacket

I really liked the DK/Fujinami match from Calgary.

Big day for me as I finished up Jonah Hex, Sandman Mystery Theatre, and Roy Thomas' original run on Conan the Barbarian. Jonah Hex remained a high quality book until the end, though it takes a dip toward the end when the book goes bi-monthly and Fleisher is busy at work on the Hex series. The last three issues are drawn and colored by the Gray Morrow. The artwork is gorgeous and the people are beautiful, but Morrow's style doesn't fit the gritty image of the series. The Crisis tie-in is awful, and yet it isn't the most frustrating part of the conclusion. Throughout the series, one of the most important aspects of the story was the women in Jonah's life, and yet we never find out what happens to Adrian or Emmylou, and even Mei Ling is treated shabbily. I suspect Fleisher felt that he could always return Jonah to the West and continue telling these stories, and indeed a few years later, Fleisher wrote one last Jonah story in Secret Origins which confirms that Jonah made it back to the West. It also sets up some lore about some tragedy befalling Jonah's son. I don't know if another writer followed up on that. I'm currently weighing up whether to read any of the later Jonah runs. Fleisher ended up penning over 100 Jonah stories. It was a brilliant run. Aside from the unresolved plot points, the only part I didn't like was when Jonah was abducted and taken to China, and even then I liked the story on the boat ride back. I'm gonna miss that ugly mug. Sandman Mystery Theatre ended strongly. I was pleased that Seagle resolved the things that had been nagging at me about Wesley & Dian's relationship. The final issue is really beautiful. It's almost as perfect as the ending to Casablanca. It's amazing how Seagle was able to wrap up so many plot points within a single issue. There were more stories the creators could have told, but they were fighting an uphill battle with sales. Having Wesley pull the plug on his own comic was brilliant. Personally, I thought the middle of the series was when the book was firing on all cylinders, but the book maintained its integrity until the end, which is rare with comic book runs. Roy Thomas was also able to exit Conan on a high, penning the 10th anniversary issue where Conan finally deals with his grief over Belit's death. Conan had spent a couple of years wandering about having adventures in the wake of her death. Occasionally, there would be references to her, but we never saw Conan grieve over her. This actually bugged me a bit as I wanted to see how a barbarian would react to these types of circumstances. I didn't expect him to have an arguments with God like Jonah did, but I wanted to see how his brooding would play out. Thankfully, Roy handled it beautifully and signed off with one of his best stories. Not sure where I'll go next with Conan. There is so much content I haven't read yet.

Ron Fuller and Bill Watts vs. Buddy Colt and Larry Hennig (April 9th, 1974) -- fun bit of footage from the Bill Watts vs. Buddy Colt feud. Has all the elements I love about Buddy Colt -- the taped thumb, Colt's reputation for putting wrestlers out of commission, and the flying knee from the top rope. Hennig and Fuller are fine tag partners, but this is all about Bill & Buddy. Good stuff. Florida Tag Team Title Match: Toru Tanaka & Dick Slater (c) vs. Eddie & Mike Graham (10-22-74) -- Eddie Graham was a great brawler and a great hot tag. He's so much better than Mike Graham it's not funny. The difference between Slater working Eddie and Slater working Mike is night and day. Eddie makes Slater look a top tier talent. Mike makes him look like a poor man's Terry Funk. I really want to see more Eddie Graham vs. Dick Slater after this. Good stuff. Gordon Solie Interviews Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. + Dusty Rhodes vs. Terry Funk (1979) -- We've seen this footage before of Terry and Dory attacking Dusty and ripping off his cast. This is book-ended by Terry and Dory being on the studio with Solie. Terry showed a gift for the gab as always. Junior fucked one the one line he had. I do like the cowboy hat and beard look he was sporting in '79. Repeat footage. Mike Graham & Steve Keirn vs. Don Muraco, Bugsy McGraw & Thor The Viking (April 28th, 1979) -- this was pretty basic pro-wrestling but the crowd was into it. Buddy Rogers makes the save at the end, if you can believe that. He looked pretty good too. Muraco continues to look like a stud in this Florida film. Decent footage. Florida Tag Team Title Match: Mike Graham & Steve Keirn (c) vs. The Spoilers (August 29th, 1978) -- not my cup of tea, though Steve Keirn looks pretty good. Another screwy Florida finish. OK footage.

The past couple of years, I've mainly watched lucha from '00-02. I now have a newfound respect for workers like Shocker, Ultimo Guerrero, Rey Bucanero and Tarzan Boy whom I was dismissive of in the past. I didn't like the fact that they pushed the style away from the classic lucha I liked from the 80s and 90s toward a more modern style. Now that the early 00s footage is reasonably classic itself, I've come to terms with the fact that the style changed, and I can finally appreciate how good these guys were as workers.

Are you guys talking about the 2/17 MSG match? Solid match. I liked it a lot. Satisfyingly worked for a time limit draw. The best thing about it for me personally was getting to see Bret work with Jim Brunzell. That's a fresh match up for me as '86 was a shade before my time. Bret was pretty methodical during his Hart Foundation days (in my books, anyway), and when he did play to the crowd it came across as ham-fisted, but from a pure wrestling point of view, I really liked that front face lock that Bret used to stop Brunzell from moving to his corner. I also liked it when he gave Brunzell a dropkick of his own. Jim Brunzell's dropkick. though. That thing is like a Ciclon Ramirez tope.

I was talking about Piper.

God, I hate the commentary on these ROH matches. They rehash the same talking points over and over again, that is when they're not busy shilling ROH. This is the first time for me to see a Paul London match, though I've heard of him before. Without knowing anything about him, he comes across as a CAW where you add whatever move set you feel like. That may be grossly unfair, but it felt like the dude knew way too many moves. Danielson is frustrated about not breaking through to the top of ROH (I know this because the commentators told me so.) He takes a more aggressive approach against London than the commentators have seen from him so far in ROH, but it's more of ode to pissed off and frustrated Bret Hart than anything full blown. The finish was cool. I loved their fight on the top ropes. I can do without the post-match, but ROH was big on the handshaking thing. Good match.

I thought this was a decent TV match, but I'm pretty sure they were capable of more than this if the focus had been on Benoit vs. Mysterio and not the ongoing Benoit/Angle rivalry. It's obvious that the bout is filler before the Benoit/Angle pull apart. Well worked filler, but filler all the same. The part apart itself is pretty good. lol at the ref who tells Benoit: "It's over, Chris. It's fucking over."

The advent of the Triple Threat match has got to be one my least favorite things in wrestling history. but I have to admit that the combination of WWF main event booking and JR on commentary won me over here. If there was one thing that the WWE did well at this time it was the booking of their main events. They're incredibly well produced. I don't know who was responsible for blocking out this match, but they did an outstanding job considering how contrived the gimmick is. You've got to hand it to the performers as well. They may have had the match laid out for them, but they still had to execute. This was a polished performance from all three men, and a strong call from JR. They took a shitty bit of matchmaking and turned it into a high quality main event. If you were burnt out on the WWE at the time, I doubt this was the tonic you were looking for, but two decades later this stands out as the type of match that no other company in the world was capable of having. Certainly not this polished.

I might check some out as well.

I'm not sure if we're supposed to use the taping date or the air date for these Smackdown matches, but there's already a thread for the Eddie vs. Edge match and I don't want to confuse people about the dates. For the record, this was taped on 9/24. Cole will not stop going on about how Benoit vs. Angle from Unforgiven was one of the greatest matches he's ever seen. C'mon, Michael Cole. This was too short to be anything of note, but you get some more Angle vs. Benoit, and Rey does some breathtaking spots. They also have the good sense to put him over in his hometown..

This didn't do a lot for me, either. At least not until the finishing stretch. I didn't help that Cole & Taz wouldn't stop harping on about what a great match it was. Eddie was a lot more "Eddie-ish" here than in the early parts of his WWE run, but something's still missing. I can't put my finger on it, but his work is missing that signature touch that you get from the great workers' bouts.

The set-up for this involved some bad acting and shitty backstage vignettes, but the match itself was pretty much a PPV level match. It was a lot better than it looked on paper. I know Jericho's matches and feuds from this era weren't always winners, but Jericho comes across as a valuable player. It seems his best matches in 2002 were on television and not PPV, which doesn't leave as much of an impression, but if you want to see a guy make something out of crappy scripted WWE TV, you can do a lot worse than Chris Jericho. EDIT: This was taped on 7/23.

Steel Cage Match: Dusty Rhodes & Eddie Graham vs. The Spoilers (June 20th, 1978) -- this is mostly Dusty rapping over some standard cage match action, when all of a sudden, DUSTY DOES A HIGHSPOT FROM THE TOP OF THE CAGE. Dusty Rhodes jumped from the top of the cage. Dusty Rhodes. Florida Heavyweight Title Match: King Curtis (c) vs. Rocky Johnson (December 23rd, 1975) -- King Curtis is a guy I haven't see a lot of, but he had a hell of a look. Dusty got involved in the finish enabling Johnson to win the Florida title. So many screwy title changes in Florida. No wonder Dusty booked the way he did. Nothing special. Florida Heavyweight Title Match: 'Superstar' Billy Graham (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes (February 15th, 1977) -- this was pretty shitty. Almost everybody looks good in this Florida footage, but not Superstar Billy Graham. No sir. Dusty tries, but when Dusty is the workhorse of the match, you're in trouble. Not good. Florida TV Title Match: Dick Slater (c) vs. Mike Graham (November 20th, 1973) -- Solie says these guys were high school classmates, but I can't believe a word you say anymore, Gordon Solie. Apparently, it's true. These are some lengthy highlights by Florida standards. Some decent looking action, but Slater isn't doing much to shed his reputation as a poor man's Terry Funk. Match goes to a draw. Slater no-shows the rematch, and the NWA awards Mike Graham the title. Another screwy title change. Decent footage. Florida Tag Team Title Match: Bobby Shane & Bearcat Wright (c) vs. Bob Roop & The Great Malenko -- it was hard to tell who the heels were here. I thought it was Roop and Malenko, but the crowd pops for the title change. They may have been popping simply because they saw the titles change hands. Solie puts Bearcat Wright over as a babyface, but that may be because of the way Shane treats his partner during the match. They get into an altercation at the end, and the crowd is behind Wright. I'm confused. The match isn't very good. I'd like to see some prime Malenko. Nothing special.

Universally acclaimed is a bit tough considering how small our circles are, but the other Valentine match ought to be in that category. He's another guy who was better before he went to work for Vince.

Bret was wrestling for the coalminers and the lumberjacks.

I haven't watched a Hart Foundation match in years, but off the top of my head, I would say fundamentally sound but didn't work in an era where WWF tag teams were able to have proper matches. I can't think of too many tag matches that era that go 25 minutes and serve as a second main event on a card. WWF tag wrestling in that era felt like a novelty -- two guys tagging together wearing matching outfits and always with a manager. It worked for me as a kid, but these days I guess I would focus on how much the Hart Foundation did with the time they were given. Did they use their ring time well or could they have done more? That sort of thing. By the time they got to the top of the food chain, Bret was already starting his singles push. 90s WWF tag wrestling wasn't an improvement over the late 80s, but they probably left a couple of feuds on the shelf.

You should watch the Bret/Yokozuna cage matches.

I seem to remember people liking that FlairPiper/Greene six man against the NWO. Jerome, I’m pretty sure Piper has more than just the Bret and Valentine matches. People like his Portland work and the rest of his Mid-Atlantic stuff, as well as his first run in the WWF.

Arai went into hiding after FMW’s bankruptcy due to the fact that he owed so much money to the Yakuza. He killed himself so that his life insurance would pay off the debt, but apparently his wife’s father needed to continue paying off the debt for several years afterward.

Texas Tornado Match!: Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch vs. Harley Race & Bob Roop (September 13th, 1975) -- Dusty is having a whale of a time on commentary. The action is good as well. It's basically Dusty clearing house after being "semi-comatose" on the outside, but you get to see a bit of Murdoch vs. Race as well, which is one of Race's better match ups, and Roop looks good n this role. Good stuff. Dusty Rhodes & The Haiti Kid vs. Gary Hart & Bobby Duncum (August 13th, 1974) @Ft. Hesterly Armory -- I don't know how PC Dusty's commentary is here, but it sure is funny. He even cracks himself up. The ending has some flat out insane rambling from Dusty. Good stuff. Eddie Graham vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (February 7th, 1976) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- this OK, but Jumbo ain't no Pak Song. It was nice to see Graham working a more fundamentally sound wrestling style. You could tell he possessed all the tools a wrestler needs in terms of both wrestling and brawling. If we could get some more footage of his prime, he would leap even higher in my estimation. Solie tells us some ridiculous shit about Jumbo. At one point, he says he was a former Japanese heavyweight champion who lost his title to Inoki. That's disappointing, Solie. I thought you were better than that. Decent footage. Jos LeDuc & Paul LeDuc vs. Mad Dog Vachon & Dale Lewis (December 18th, 1973) -- scrappy brawl, but a crowd pleaser. Dale Lewis was new to me. Didn't get to see much of him since he was on the backfoot most of the time. Jos LeDuc was a beast, and I could see him being good in a really heated stip match. I was surprised by how weak Vachon's selling was. OK footage. Jerry Brisco & Bill Watts vs. Robert Fuller & Ron Fuller (Bill Watts Turns Heel) (June 26th, 1974) -- Brisco & Solie do a bang up job of describing the action here even if the pictures don't always match up with the narrative. Watts continues to intrigue me since I've only ever thought of him as a booker and promoter. Not much to see ring-wise, but a decent angle. OK footage.

Greg is billed as Johnny’s brother in the Florida footage.

Can we stop toting this line that Lou Thesz did lots of comedy spots or shtick? He didn't really. His favorite go-to spots in most footage is to lose his cool and use inside moves.

Could this live up to the build? You betcha it could. This is how you do a single fall apuesta match, CMLL. You give them 20 minutes not some sub-10 minute bullshit. I will never doubt Rey Bucanero again after this feud. If his name gets brought up in the future, I will sing his praises as a worker. I don't know what Vampiro took before this match but he was jumping off the set and doing over the top rope tope suicidas, and all the while Bucanero was working his ass off. Both guys thought they won it with a submission only for the ref to wave it off. Vampiro was reckless and insane, but I can't say I disliked the guy. This felt like his finest hour, and I marked out for Porky's tackle celebration after the pinfall. It kind of felt like the seconds were into this match as much of the fans. Classic hair vs. hair post-match as well. Probably the CMLL MOTY when you consider how epic it was. I'm pretty sure the first time these two squared off, I mentioned how awkward it was. A few months later and they're having the MOTY. Incredible.

This was melodramatic as fuck, but why would you expect any different? Regardless of whether you like the match or not, the biggest thing the WWF Attitude Era had going for it is that you'd get the pre-match hype video where the wrestlers would say what they were going to do to each other in the match, and then you'd get a match where they'd do exactly that. JR would screech one hyperbolic statement after the next and the King would squeal whenever things got squeamish. People often complain when there's no story in a wrestling match and they complain when there's too much story. I can understand not liking Triple H and Shawn Michaels, and I can understand not enjoying the story here because you don't like the wrestlers involved, but I can also see an alternative viewpoint where the melodrama and production here was better than the CM Punk and Danielson AWE debuts. Personally., I thought it was a decent popcorn match, and it didn't drag like I thought a match between Hunter and Shawn would. So, in the end, it was an okay match.