ohtani's jacket

Osaka Pro is alive and well. This was a standard Japanese tag match, but I was happy to see that Osaka Pro is still the most genki promotion in Japan. Daio QUALLT is Osaka Pro's Big Red Machine and his partner here was clearly meant to be the Undertaker to Daio's Kane, so you can imagine how this played out. We didn't get to see the full repertoire from the little maestro, Delfin, as he was mainly doing tag spots, and his partner Demekin was getting most of the shine, but Delfin still looked like one of the best workers in Japan. Exciting finish and a nice payoff. Osaka Pro knew how to book for its audience. I wonder if any of @gordi's buddies were there.

I like both these workers, but a 40 minute Street Fight is far too long, especially when they're using the same boring style that LCO had already ran into the ground. I'm not wholly convinced by Hyuga as a brawler. Ran was better, and someone who's worth following throughout 2002, but I was getting restless after 10 minutes of this.

JAPW Low Ki is definitely my favorite Low Ki. This was a pretty basic match but it will wash some of the taste out of your mouth from those TNA spotfests. I'm not familiar with Tony Kozina, but he was game and appeared to have a variety of skills. I wasn't expecting him to take so much of the match, and for Low Ki to be working from underneath, but it was enjoyable all the same.

This was a good match. There's no way I'm watching a Zero-1 match unless Jetlag recommends it first, even though they were probably producing the closest thing to the style of Japanese wrestling I prefer. Sakata looked raw here, but he's an interesting guy to follow in 2002. Cool finish.

Dusty Rhodes & Sonny Myers vs. Pak Song, Mr. Uganda & The Missouri Mauler (November 21st, 1978) -- typically hot Dusty match. Bread and butter stuff. Decent footage. Dusty Rhodes vs. Dick Slater (January 4th, 1975) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Dustin Rhodes commentates over a decent looking match between his dad and Dick Slater. Not sure when this was recorded. Dusty is continuing to grow on me as a performer. Decent stuff. U.S. Tag Team Title Match: Mike Graham & Steve Keirn (c) vs. Jack & Jerry Brisco (March 7th, 1978) -- Fabulous looking match between two very good teams. The post match sees the Briscos save Keirn and Graham from an attack from Mr. Sato & Mr. Saito, and the two teams bury the hatchet. Jack Brisco's late 70s decline appears to be greatly exaggerated. Jerry is stellar as usual. Very good footage. Southern Heavyweight Title Match: The Zodiak (Bob Orton Sr.) (c) vs. Tim Woods (8-12-72) -- it's kind of trippy for me seeing these guys I'm familiar with from the 50s working Florida matches in the 70s. Tim Woods rules as always. Decent footage. Florida Tag Team Title Match (No DQ): The Hollywood Blondes (c) vs. Eddie Graham & Mike Graham (1974) -- Eddie Graham was so awesome. This is a pier six brawl finish to a title match. Lots of blood and flailing about. Another screwy title change. The NWA must have had their hands full reviewing all of these Florida bouts and sanctioning all these rematches. Decent stuff.

If I could get one piece of footage out of the ITV Archives it would be a George Kidd match. I have no doubt that he is a worthy HOF candidate, I'd just love to see him in his prime and gauge how good he was. I don't recall him being on TV that often, and from memory, folks have said that when he did appear it was mostly showcase matches. I'm not sure if he was a huge TV personality. My image of him is a guy who drew folks to see him at the halls. It would be interesting to uncover who originated the George Kidd style and whether there were other pioneers. I was surprised by how much of Kidd's schtick Mantopolous uses in the French Catch footage. I'm assuming there is a George Kidd influence there.

Dump is getting her own Netflix drama. Hope it's as good as The Naked Director.

I should know better than this, but I've been kind of high on Chris Jericho's 2002 work and I don't hate Triple H... but, yeah, what was the point in them having a Hell in a Cell match? Vince was feuding with Hunter at the time, and HIAC I guess was supposed to punish Hunter and stack the odds against him, but it also stacks the odds against Jericho. They tried to make out that Jericho was this ruthless, cutthroat heel and that he was in his element, but who's buying that? I have a hard time buying Jericho as the heel and Triple H the face let alone believing that Jericho can dominate a cage match against Hunter. The work is middling. It's not bad, but neither guy is prepared to take a big bump so it mostly revolves around using a ladder and the steel steps, and everyone, including the ref, suffering from lacerations. They take the fight to the roof like they're expected to, and everybody is waiting for something shocking to happen. Hunter takes a backdrop on top of the cage, which is as hairy as they get. Then they add the test of Hunter pinning Jericho on top of the cage, which doesn't make sense because it was never announced as falls count anywhere, and earlier the ref had told the wrestlers to get back in the ring because they couldn't win the bout on the outside. This felt like a lot of blood and hard work for nothing. Not one for the recommended viewing list.

This was the go home show before the Angle vs. Rock vs. Undertaker Triple Threat match at Vengeance, and as you can imagine it was a well produced piece of TV from the WWE. Taker was looking on at ringside and predictably he got involved, but it's all part of the hype. The crowd was dead for the heat segment where Angle picked The Rock apart, but I think that was mainly because they wanted to see the returning Rock kick some ass. They put Angle over strong with this segment, and at this stage he had made pretty much every big star tap to the Angle Lock. Ross mentions that Angle could go on to the greatest superstar in WWE history. You have to wonder how high Angle's ceiling was at this point.

I was interested in seeing the ROH crew, or at least what I identify as the ROH crew, in another indy promotion. This match had some weird ass gimmick where Low Ki and Danielson were the tag champs, but they were feuding with each other so they agreed to a stip that whoever won the match could choose to tag team champions with whomever they pleased. Can't say I've seen anything like that before. The match was high octane stuff. It was nonstop action, but essentially a spotfest. It lacked the depth of the best ROH stuff, but it wasn't as bad as the TNA X Division stuff. It was somewhere in the middle like an amped up version of the Smackdown Six stuff. There's a lot of hype around these guys in '02 as the saviors of professional wrestling, but matches like these are extremely spot happy. Not seeing much salvation with this one.

Isn't he referring to Montreal? That was on November 9th.

Cheri Bibi vs. Mr. Montreal (aired 4/9/65) This was perfectly fine. So long as both guys are moving forward and striking each other, Bibi matches are generally fine, and this was no exception. Roger Delaporte vs. Warnia de Zarzecki (aired 4/9/65) This was solid. Delaporte did his grandpa shtick at the beginning, but when de Zarzecki pulled some whiskers from Roger's moustache, Roger fired back with a vicious beatdown. It was cool seeing that side of Delaporte again. He got de Zarzecki so riled up that he attacked Roger and the ref after the bout. Delaporte's singles matches are much more entertaining than Bollet's, and Delaporte was great with other tag partners as well, so I think he should have gone in as a solo representative on the WON HOF ballot.

South African wrestling from the 80s -- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnsIMf-oMGBUBR0OGNcAcrA/videos

I was hoping for more of a mat and strike based match from these two. They did a bit of that, but there was a lot of brawling and swearing outside of the ring. Hyuga was dominant throughout and Bolshoi never really threatened.

This was a nice old-school super libre match. They could have coasted by on showboating and cheap heat, but they actually made an effort to do some old school brawling. There was too much plunder for my liking, but by 2002 weapons of that sort were endemic. Of course, this being Monterrey, there was a ton of bullshit with the referee that went on forever and threatened to spoil the bout. Still, this was worth comparing to CMLL apuesta matches to get a feel for the differences.

This was really good. Tenryu is a guy who can work with pretty much anyone, which makes him an ideal fit for the post-split All Japan landscape where he pretty much has to work against anyone they have. Tenryu treated this like a WAR match, and while it "helped" that Miyamoto seemed to legitimately bust his nose, it wouldn't have been half as compelling if not for the sheer force of Tenryu's personality. He's a guy who can get other guys to work harder in the ring by barking from the apron, or stepping into the ring and punting someone, and a guy who can get you excited about Taiyo Kea. Miyamoto was also good in this. He took a hell of a beating and showed plenty of ticker. Don't skip this.

This was much better than their Judgment Day match. It was just shy of being a great match, and probably needed more dramatic selling to bump it up to the next level, but it had sustained heat throughout and the crowd bought into the contest. The finishing stretch was especially strong. They avoided any overkill and executed the nearfalls well. I loved the way Angle countered the spear with a punt. That looked awesome. Looking at the card, this was bang in the middle. That accounts for why they only got 13 minutes, and probably makes it more impressive that they stood out this much, especially on a show that had Hogan and Triple H on top.

This was a pure spot fest, and a pretty stupid one given that both ROH and WWE have had good three way matches in 2002, but at least Mike Tenay came in his pants about a thousand times.

Gordon Solie Interviews Mike Graham (1978) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Gordon Solie sits down with Mike Graham prior to his World's Heavyweight title shot against Race to discuss his preparation and strategy heading into the match. To Graham's credit, he gives thoughtful answers to Solie's questions and carries himself well. Good stuff. Haystacks Calhoun & Kevin Sullivan vs. Dick Slater & Stan Vachon (1974) -- I didn't know Haystacks Calhoun still wrestled in the 70s. Solie kept trying to put Haystacks over like he was Andre the Giant. Maybe in a past life. Nothing special. Gordon Solie Interviews Andre The Giant (1977) -- Solie sits down with Andre and has a very respectful, serious interview. Andre is very articulate here. Good stuff. 16 Man Battle Royal (December 25th, 1973) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) (CWF) -- Solie is a little too obsessed with Battle Royals. He would have loved commentating a Royal Rumble match, I suppose. Solie talks, and talks, and talks, and we never find out who won. Don't bother. Dusty Rhodes vs. Ali Bey (1978) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- This was a studio match during Dusty's Stardust period where he dressed up like Ric Flair a lot. I wonder if Goldust was a play on Stardust by any chance? Dusty was a different sort of worker around this period. You wouldn't recognize him if you only knew him from his Crockett days. OK footage. Florida Tag Team Title Match: Pak Song & Mr. Uganda (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes & Jos LeDuc (11-28-78) -- a bunch of pro-wrestling bullshit. Don't bother. Gary Hart's Army Attacks Bill Watts (January 7th, 1975) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- a bunch of pro-wrestling greatness. Do bother. Bill Watts sells this shit like a champ.

I liked this a lot. In a down year for Japanese wrestling this stood out more than it usually would. One thing I like about Japanese wrestling is that everyone accepts their limitations. Saito isn't a great athlete, so he wrestles as a perfectly scuzzy heel. Shiga has a small build and is undersized, so he wrestles from beneath. Kobashi has fucked knees, and isn't the same worker he was before his surgeries, but he lets it show. Even Akiyama wrestles with a chip on his shoulder that could be construed as being real. This was a classic Japanese tag match with the heels working over the weaker partner. We've seen it countless times, but there's something about it that's tried and true. Watching the match unfold, it was obvious that Akiyama was the best wrestler in the ring, and that Kobashi wasn't quick enough on his dodgy knees to save Shiga, but Shiga put up a hell of a fight and made Akiyama work for the victory. It looked as though Shiga bled hard way, and rather painfully at that, and his kick outs at the end were riveting. A fine match.

I burned through Y: The Last Man. It seems to be a series that a lot of people have a problem with due to politics, but I thought it was a ripping yarn. Briskly paced, easy to read, and a great cliffhanger at the end of each issue. I wound up binge reading it, by my own standards, which raises the question, did comics become like TV or did TV become like comics? When it came time for the big reveal, I was a little disappointed and thought it was gonna be another mystery that's so big it's impossible to pay off, but ultimately the story was bigger than the premise and the final run of issues was a fantastic finale. I wouldn't put it up there with the very best Vertigo stuff, but I liked it more than 100 Bullets.

This was nowhere near as good as their TV matches. It didn't help that they were working in front of a crowd that only popped for finishers, but you can only blame the crowd so much. The work wasn't very compelling, the character work was nonexistent, and it was a boring call from JR & Lawler. It was almost like they were striving for a main event level match without the guidance of an agent. The ending was lame with Angle refusing to have his head shaven and a backstage brawl that led to Angle passing out in the barber's chair. I'm pretty sure they dug Brutus' Barber Shop chair out of storage. but nothing about this segment compared to that Shawn Michaels heel turn. Hell, it wasn't as exciting as Beefcake making jobbers pass out and cutting their hair. Angle & Edge definitely improved on this.

I liked this a lot, and I usually hate NOAH matches. Kobashi's return match, and boy has Japanese wrestling missed him. He is clearly the best heavyweight wrestler in Japan at this time, and the ace of the entire industry the way that Jumbo and Misawa were before him. Every time he was in the ring with either Akiyama or Nagata it was compelling viewing. The match was booked perfectly with Akiyama and Nagata testing Kobashi's fitness, health and resolve, and Kobashi showing his fighting spirit and awesome ability. The result could have gone either way, but the champ deserved to go over after Kobashi's long absence, and Kobashi showed enough in the ring to remind the fans why they missed him so much. People mentioned that this was a big star tag, but I thought it was a heck of a lot better than the big name inter-promotional matches from this era, largely because of the dynamic between Kobashi and Akiyama. I was ready to roll my eyes at this one, but it was excellent.

This was a really good three way. I liked the way they continually focused on the psychology of the triple threat match by having spots where all three men squared off, as well as the inevitable double teams and saves. They managed to deliver an outstanding main event while also setting up matches for the next show. The flow was extremely good as well. The match never dragged and it didn't outstay its welcome. The commentators went overboard about how good the match was, but the workers delivered on the pre-match hype. Good stuff.

Crazy, PPV quality ladder match on free TV. This ain't the WWE I grew up watching. Eddie takes a while to introduce the ladder, and you can hear JR and the King getting fidgety on commentary, but once the ladder gets involved, Eddie takes some crazy ass bumps. I always fear a bit for Eddie with that smaller frame of his taking vicious bumps. The ladder portion of the match is better than the Edge No DQ match, but unfortunately Van Dam blows his big ladder spot at the end, and Eddie has to call a a finish on the fly. Then, after all the punishment they took, the match was overshadowed by an Austin run-in and Benoit turning heel. Not sure why they turned Benoit heel in Edmonton. Despite all that, the match had to have given Eddie a major confidence boost after his return to the WWE in April. It's too bad we never got to see Eddie vs. Austin. That might have been one of the highlights of the year if it had gone down.