ohtani's jacket

There's an art to it, Matty, my boy. Jack & Jerry Brisco vs. Paul Jones & Dory Funk Sr. (1972) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Paul Jones was new in the territory and only wanted to wrestle Jack Brisco. In reality, I believe it was Brisco's idea for Jones to turn heel. He sure as hell wrestled Jones like it was his idea. Plenty of feisty brawling between the pair. Jack has so many great match-ups in Florida. He owned that territory in a way few babyfaces did. Dory Funk Sr looks like Dory Funk Jr if you slapped on Terry's face. Good stuff. Jack Brisco & Jerry Brisco vs. Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk (November 22nd, 1972) -- this was a short clip, but people who say Funk vs. Brisco was boring need to witness the intensity here. Brisco chasing Funk in the early 70s was a real thing. It's pretty clear to me that Terry didn't come into his own until 1974. That might be me swallowing Solie's narrative about Terry living in his brother's shadow, but it seems that way from the footage as well. OK footage. Mike Graham vs. Bobby Shane (May 23rd, 1972) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- this was supposedly Mike Graham's professional debut. Bobby Shane is one of those guys who wasn't that great but had a flamboyant gimmick. If I see more of him, he may win me over, but my first impression is that he suffers in comparison to a lot of the other workers I've been watching. According to Solie, Graham is supposed to be a great amateur wrestler, but it's not so evident in this footage. OK footage. Florida Heavyweight Title Match: Jack Brisco (c) vs. Greg Valentine (April 18th, 1978) -- Hey, look! Brisco wrestled Greg too! Brisco is supposed to be washed up in the late 70s, but he looked pretty good here. This wasn't a fair comparison to the Brisco vs. Johnny Valentine footage, but I think it's safe to say that Greg wasn't as good as his daddy. Perhaps in the 80s, but not in the 70s. OK footage. Jack Brisco vs. Dory Funk Jr. (1972) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- this was that slower, chess match style of wrestling that some people find boring, but I can appreciate for what it was. They've had more fiery footage, but I liked what we saw here wrestling-wise. OK footage. CWF - Terry Funk vs Cowboy Bill Watts (Dusty Rhodes Interferes!) (March 26th, 1974) -- Funk vs. Watts is a great match-up. Watching Watts in his younger days is an eye-opener. Scratch that. Watching Watts wrestle is an eye-opener. I'm pretty sure these two could work an excellent bout if the circumstances permitted. This was booked for Dusty and Slater to make run-ins. Apparently, Dusty and Funk were on the same side at this point. I guess Dusty was a heel. OK footage. N.W.A. World Title Lumberjack Match: Harley Race (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes (October 28th, 1978) -- If you're going to wrestle like a Buddy Rogers type then I guess this is closer to an ideal match-up for Harley than fighting Brisco or the Funks. The finish was controversial so the footage was centered around that. Dusty cut a cool promo afterward in the locker room. OK footage.

Negro Casas/Silver King/Vampiro Canadiense vs. Bestia Salvaje/Dr. Wagner Jr/El Hijo del Gladiador (CMLL 2/10/95) This was a big step down in terms of the quality of workers. Casas matched up with all three opponents, which means we got to see Casas vs. Wagner here. That sounds more exciting than it actually was since Wagner hadn't really arrived yet and was a few years off being great. Casas vs. Bestia is always good, but Casas' main role here was to be the little guy who worked rapidfire exchanges with El Hijo del Gladiador. He tried, but there wasn't a lot of chemistry between them. Silver King is a guy I consistently underrate, but this match never got going, and Vampiro, eh. Skippable. Corazon de Leon vs. Bestia Salvaje vs. El Dandy vs. Felino vs. Negro Casas vs. Ultimo Dragon (CMLL 3/3/95) This was a special Copa Campeon de Campeones Torneo Cibernetico match. Basically, it boiled down to Casas & Dandy vs. Ultimo & Jericho, which isn't a match-up that I particularly like. The first half was Ultimo vs. Casas and Dandy. Casas and Ultimo obviously have chemistry together, but there wasn't any hint of a beef here to take things to the next level. Not like their outstanding run in 1993. Dandy vs. Ultimo was perfectly fine and wouldn't have looked out of place on a random WAR show. The Jericho vs. Dandy & Casas portion was better than it had a right to be. The match came down to Jericho vs. Casas, and while it wasn't off the charts, it could have been a hell of a lot worse. I can see other people liking this more than I did. I have specific expectations for lucha libre, especially when it involves workers the caliber of Casas and Dandy. I don't really like watching them work the juniors style like this. If you prefer the juniors style over classic lucha, or you like seeing guys work outside their comfort zone or being forced to work a different way, then you'll probably get more out of this than I did. I wanted a little more from Bestia and Felino than their brief cameos, and I thought Casas and Dandy on opposite sides would have been far more interesting. Decent showing from Casas, but not a mesmerizing one.

Terry Funk vs. Sonny Rogers (1976) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- this was a studio match, so it's kind of cheating, but nice to see Terry posing with the World Heavyweight Championship at the beginning, and pretty much a clinic from the champ. You get some gorgeous looking matwork from Funk as well as those huge clubbing forearms (Solie calls them sledgehammers.) Rogers gets a couple of neat hope spots before Funk hits an insane brainbuster for the victory. High quality TV match. If I had to guess, I'd say Funk was in the best shape of his career here. Great footage. Greg Valentine vs. Bill Dromo (July 23rd, 1974) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Greg is being billed as Johnny Valentine's younger brother here. He uses the same moveset as his dad but without the poise. Everything is a million miles an hour, as you'd expect from a younger wrestler. He even takes some uncharacteristic bumps. Dromo is a big unit, and I can only imagine how awesome Johnny Valentine vs. Dromo would have been. Still, it was fun to see baby Hammer. Good stuff. Southern Title! No DQ! Killer Karl Krupp (c) vs. Cyclon Negro (July 22nd, 1975) -- I don't have to spell out what's going on in this one. I like Killer Karl Krupp a lot, but this is just the tail end of a wild brawl that ends in a pull apart. OK footage. Florida TV Title Match: Bob Roop (c) vs. Jerry Brisco (Title Change!) (1978) @The Sportatorium -- this was an excellent match. Brisco & Roop working amateur holds with Coach John Heath on commentary? Yes, please. Jerry Brisco could flat out wrestle. And this is the version of Bob Roop that I need to see more from. The only downer about this is that Dick Slater gets involved on commentary, which detracts from the match. Otherwise, great footage. N.W.A. World Heavyweight Title Match: Jack Brisco (c) vs. Dory Funk Jr. (November 23rd, 1974) -- Holy crap balls, this is amazing and easily the best thing I've watched so far. People used to say that Brisco vs. Funk was the Steamboat vs. Flair of the 70s, which kind of got picked apart a lot by people who didn't like the match they had in Japan, but this was incredible. The pace of the work, the selling, the grappling, Dory's bladejob... this is the exact same scenario as Funk vs. Race (the finish to a 60 minute broadway), but the action couldn't be further apart in quality. I love the desperation from Funk in trying to win back his title, and Brisco has to be considered one of the all-time great babyfaces and one of the best at selling. Special referee, Lou Thesz, makes an odd call when he allows Brisco to have a two minute moratorium, and there's a bit of tension between him and Dory -- what a match-up that could have been even in the mid-70s. Great finish with Brisco roaring back. All-time great footage. N.W.A. World Heavyweight Title Match: Harley Race (c) vs. Wahoo McDaniel (10-31-78) -- you want this to be like Johnny Valentine vs. Wahoo McDaniel, but touring champ Race is too much of a goofy bugger for that to be possible. Am I being too harsh on Harley? Is it wrong to wish he wrestled more like Johnny Valentine than Pat Patterson? Right now, he looks like the least of the 70s NWA champions. Hopefully, he comes storming back soon with some better footage. Nothing special.

I read the first arc of Sandman Mystery Theatre. This series has been on my bucket list for a while. I was actually on board with Vertigo when it first launched, but Sandman Mystery Theatre wasn't a title I picked up. I may have had a few issues or flicked through it at my local comic book shop, or perhaps I just read the monthly blurbs in Direct Currents, but it didn't seem unfamiliar to me. I'm not sure why I didn't buy it at the time. I knew who Matt Wagner was. I remember going on a family ski trip and heading to my comic book shop to get some comics to read at the chateau, and my friend who worked there went through the back issue boxes choosing stuff for me to take. One of the books he picked for me was a Dark Horse collected version of Devil by the Deed, which I loved. That led me to discover both Grendel and Mage. The first arc of Sandman Mystery Theatre drew on pulp influences, as you'd expect, but it was darker and more violent than I expected. I guess that's not a surprise given that it was a Vertigo book, but I wasn't quite prepared for some of the more graphic stuff (especially for a title about a Golden Age character.) I was hooked after issue 3, but if I had one criticism about an otherwise excellent arc, it's that there wasn't much mystery surrounding the identity of the killers and the ending was somewhat predictable. Good start to the series, however. I finished Epic's Akira series. I know there are better ways to read Akira, but as I said a while back, I really wanted to read those Epic Akira volumes that I could never afford as a kid. It was interesting to learn about the process of how Epic worked with the Japanese publisher to adapt Akira for a Western audience. I wouldn't call it one of my favorite anime series, as it was drawn out and didn't really move me, but the artwork was excellent throughout and Epic did a fantastic job of coloring it. I am kind of inspired to watch the movie again after finishing the manga. Regarding my other reading habits, Ernie Chan has just rejoined Conan and Buscema's art never looked better, IMO. The What If? story didn't quite work for me, but the COTB ongoing series looks fantastic. Jonah Hex continues to be extremely readable on a monthly basis even if there aren't a lot of big stories. I just got up to the Five Years Later Legion of Super-Heroes issue where the Earth is destroyed (after all)... ok... and I am almost at the end of J.M. DeMatteis' Captain America run. I also knocked out a couple of volumes of Yasuhisa Hara's epic manga, Kingdom, which deals with the Warring States period of ancient Chinese history. I'm not even halfway through the series yet, but if you love epic battle scenes this is the manga for you. I enjoy it a lot but not in large doses. In fact, I often take long breaks between reading each volume.

Jack Brisco vs. Don Muraco (May 28th, 1974) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) N.W.A. World Heavyweight Title Match: Jack Brisco (c) vs. Don Muraco (July 30th, 1974) I think this is the first time I've seen 70s Muraco. He looked like a good young wrestler, and was a decent match-up for Brisco. I don't know the context behind this, or how big a deal it was, but Solie went bananas over Muraco reversing the figure four. He proclaimed it as the first time in the history of professional wrestling that anyone had reversed the hold. Whether that's true or not, I don't know, but skip ahead a few years and everybody would be reversing it. Good stuff. Terry Funk vs. Tony Charles (October 8th, 1974) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Funk was feuding with Dusty Rhodes during this period while moonlighting as a mercenary for Gary Hart. This was a short clip showing Tony Charles injuring his shoulder after a dropkick and selling it like a WoS finish. Funk unleased a vicious attack on the shoulder, and we got to see some of his early heel work on film. I get the impression that Tony Charles wasn't used very well in the States, but maybe there's some contradictory footage out there. Good stuff. N.W.A. World Heavyweight Title Match: Terry Funk (c) vs Dusty Rhodes (February 10th, 1976) -- this was wild and crazy Terry Funk. Dusty commented his own match which can't be beat. Smoke and mirrors stuff, with lots of outside interference, but undeniably fun. Good stuff. Dory Funk, Jr. vs. Harley Race (July 20th, 1974) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- the last few minutes of a 60 minute draw. This was supposed to determine the number one contender to Brisco's title. Solie gave the match to Race since he withstood Dory''s best stuff and still had something in the tank. I'm not sure if I've ever seen this match-up before. The action wasn't very exciting given it was the finishing stretch. I can't say this Florida footage is doing much for Harley's stock right now. OK footage. Texas Death Match: Jerry Brisco vs. Abdullah The Butcher (August 12th, 1975) - never, in my wildest dreams, would I ever conceive of Jerry Brisco and Abdullah the Butcher as a match-up, but here it is, and Brisco continues to shine as a great worker. Watching Brisco throw rights and lefts at Abby was a total blast. Time to step out of your brother's shadow, Jerry. You are a bona fide great worker. Good stuff.

I changed my tune about Mike Ploog's work on Werewolf by Night just in time for him to leave the book. To be fair, I didn't realize that the story began in Marvel Spotlight. The first issue of the ongoing series was a bit jarring in retrospect. I still think some of his panels are way off, but I like the overall aesthetic he brought to the title, especially his designs for the villains.

I made a mistake. Buddy Colt didn't wrestle in France. That was Bud Cody.

Jack Brisco & Paul Jones vs. Johnny Valentine & Buddy Colt (June 5th, 1973) (CWF) -- Brisco vs. Valentine looks like an all-time great match-up. Johnny's elbow drops are incredible. Add great tag wrestler to his resume as well. Good stuff. Jack Brisco (c) vs. Terry Funk (November 13th, 1973) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- This was another piece of the puzzle of what a Brisco vs. Terry Funk match must have been like. I liked the way Solie gave us some narrative here. You don't often get a lot of narrative from Funk fans about his career. They generally describe his career based on whatever phase he's in. Here, Solie tells us that Funk is no longer in the shadow of his brother Dory, and that instead of being a gatekeeper for wrestlers who wanted a shot at Dory's title, he is free to chase the title for himself. I thought that was interesting. We all know that Terry was World Champ in the 70s, but to have a bit of narrative is appreciated. Good stuff. N.W.A. World Heavyweight Title Match (No DQ): Harley Race (c) vs. Jack Brisco (August 12th, 1978) -- We get more of this that you might think. The no DQ stip doesn't come into play in the way it would in most bouts, but it does set the tone for a proper fight for the World's Heavyweight title. I thought Brisco looked like the better wrestler, but he was the one working from underneath striving to win the belt. One cool thing about this is that you could hear fans in the crowd calling out shit. Good stuff. N.W.A. World Heavyweight Title Match: Dory Funk Jr. (c) vs. Jerry Brisco (January 23rd, 1973) -- Jerry Brisco is an underrated wrestler. He was more of a showman than his brother. He was almost like the Terry to Jack's Dory. He deserves a better rep than being remembered as Vince's stooge. I don't have a problem with Junior, but it was interesting that Brisco's fire made Junior bump and sell like Terry. I don't know how often that happened, but it was something I was expecting. Good stuff. Grudge Match: Dusty Rhodes & Eddie Graham vs. Bob Roop & Bob Orton Jr. (January 27th, 1976) (CWF) -- Fun heel commentary from Roop & Orton. Dusty was basically Dusty Rhodes here, but he could move, which you'd probably expect from 1970s Dusty. Graham continues to be a legend in this footage. Roop kept putting Orton over as the new breed of wrestler. I'm buying it. Good stuff.

I finally finished Astro City. It's one of those rare series where there are no bad issues. I enjoyed some stories more than others, and there was the odd character that didn't do much for me, but I can't think of a single issue that was bad, which is amazing given how long Busiek has been churning out stories. I'll have to fill the void in my day with something else now.

I don't think it's new. It's just all on one YouTube channel. Lou Thesz vs. Johnny Valentine (July 31st, 1973) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) Lou Thesz vs. Johnny Valentine (September 1st, 1973) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) Thesz was 57 here and had been wrestling for more than 40 years, and he still looked great. The purpose of the first film was to air the controversial finish. The second film was shot by Solie and extremely stylized. It was almost like he was trying to portray wrestling as a type of ballet. There are a lot of great close-ups and slow motion shots. I don't think people realize how good Thesz was at forearm smashes and inside moves. It's something he did a lot when he worked heel. He does it a lot against Valentine because he knows he's in the ring with a tough son of a bitch. Valentine's grappling is awesome. It's amazing how multi-talented and versatile he was. Lou Thesz doesn't really need any more feathers in his cap, but it's impressive how good he was in the early 70s. I'd put his work in his 50s up against anybody else's. He truly is the Godfather. So, you've got two top 100 guys of all-time going at each other's throats. Great footage. N.W.A. World Heavyweight Title Match: Jack Brisco (c) vs. Terry Funk (Title Change!) (12-10-75) -- this is basically the finishing stretch showing how the title was won, which to be honest, is probably the least interesting thing they could show. There are some nice moves and some cool slow motion replays, and Solie is amusing trying to sell Funk's punch drunk antics as deadly serious (Funk has lost his equilibrium!), but I would have rather seen what they were capable of on the mat. Funk's promos afterwards are better than the match. The promo in the locker room where Solie announces him as the new World Heavyweight champion is a brilliant post-match promo. Funk really was a genius at telling a story with his promos. The shift from the look on his face when Solie declares him World Champ to the disgust at the clause in the contract and Solie goading him about Brisco having him down for a five count. It's brilliant stuff. Footage is good stuff. N.W.A. World Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Hiro Matsuda (c) vs. Bob Orton Jr. (December 23rd, 1975) -- Matsuda continues to fascinate me. He looks a lot like those Hawaiian-Japanese heels from the 50s except he's lightning quick and does a ton of suplexes. He seems like an underappreciated figure in the history of light heavyweight wrestling. I'm not really sure why they made Orton a heel when he had all the credentials to be a popular young babyface, but he didn't hold back on the bad guy act. Pretty exciting match. Good stuff.

Florida Heavyweight Title Match: Paul Jones (c) vs. Johnny Valentine (June 19th, 1973) -- Johnny Valentine is awesome. Why was I never high on him before? I must've been stupid. I guess I didn't consider this sort of thing a wrestling match. What I love about Valentine is his selling. He's really great at not only selling these wars of attrition, but putting himself over as Johnny Valentine, which is probably the hardest thing to do in all of wrestling. Who can forget the name after watching his bouts? Great footage. Florida Heavyweight Title Match: Jack Brisco (c) vs. Bob Orton Jr. (Title Change!) (May 17th, 1976) -- Jack Brisco vs. Bob Orton Jr.? Are you kidding me? Orton was heel here and took big flamboyant bumps, but at its heart it was still Brisco vs. Orton Jr and there was some great technique on show. The finish was screwy, but I was still excited to see these guys go at it. Good stuff. Eddie Graham & Bob Armstrong vs. Bob Roop & Dick Murdoch (December 28th, 1974) -- Chaotic tag. Graham is fun to watch, but I'm not so sure I'm sold on 'Georgia Tornado' Bob Armstrong. There was a time when I really liked Dick Murdoch but it hasn't been for awhile. I haven't seen a lot from him in this footage aside from that weird thing he did where he hit himself in the face with a chair. Match ends with a Pier 6 brawl. OK footage. Hiro Matsuda vs Tosh Togo (Judo Jacket Match) - Championship Wrestling from Florida TV 1973 -- this is Matsuda vs. Oddjob. It's worked like a fake-looking judo match until Togo begins to cheat. Matsuda ends up shedding the gi to win the bout with catch-as-can wrestling. Better than Delaporte vs. Oddjob but nothing special. OK footage.

Dude had a great career. His 90s WCW work is underrated.

This was built around the beefs between Wagner and Rayo and Black Tiger and Black Warrior. The rest of the cast didn't really do anything. There was almost no interaction between Wagner and Atlantis except for one tiny exchange. Wagner vs. Rayo is a different match-up to Atlantis/Wagner and requires Wagner to be more theatrical. I suppose that is Wagner in his element. He seemed to enjoy the spectacle here and produced a lot of great pleasing stuff. It was fun watching Rayo cut Wagner down to size. It's too bad the others couldn't find better ways to get involved in the match, but we did get some signature stuff from the tecnicos.

Bearcat Wright vs. Johnny Valentine (April 18th, 1972) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- pretty good fight. For a guy with a reputation as a tough SOB, Valentine is remarkably giving with his selling. Bearcat was a maniac here, so Valentine spent most of the footage selling from underneath, and it actually cemented Valentine in my mind as a great worker. Bearcat was never the greatest worker around, but the heat these guys generated was impressive. Good stuff. Jack Brisco vs. Mr. Wrestling (1971) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- this looked like a great match-up, but we joined it in time for a worked knee injury. Ends without a finish as well. Nothing special. Florida Heavyweight Title vs Cadillac: Eddie Graham (c) vs. Buddy Colt (Title Change!) (12-17-73) -- I'm digging Graham as the veteran master. He's wildly entertaining in these bouts. Colt isn't bad, either. Good stuff. Lights Out Match: Paul Jones vs. Dick Murdoch (May 22nd, 1973) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- a lights out match was Florida's version of a street fight. I'm no expert in this sort of thing, but it looks like Paul Jones throws a pretty good punch. Some nice brawling, but I didn't see any blood. Good stuff. Hiro Matsuda vs. Bob Orton Jr. (June 3rd, 1975) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Matsuda is badass with his barefoot style of wrestling and his close-in fighting. There's a hint of orientalism with his chops, but he also has that air of superior mat skills and suplex ability. Early Bob Orton Jr is great. Super quick and super skilled. Good stuff.

This was short but violent. Don't ever screw Satanico out of some trios titles or you'll be stretchered out of the arena. One thing I don't love about Satanico is his penchant for low blow finishes. Must Satanico matches always involve his nuts?

I'm not sure why Mil was on this card. I've always liked his style of wrestling and would love to see more of his early stuff. This was polished lucha. It was Apolo Dantes' birthday and for some reason he painted his age on his forehead. The rudos treated Mil with the upmost respect and tried to make him look good. We got some Atlantis vs. Black Tiger and Atlantis vs. Wagner, which was the drawing card for me. It's a shame that the latter two never had an apuesta. There's every chance that it could have been as legendary as Atlantis vs. Villano. Good match.

Le Grand Vladimir vs. Bernard Vignal (aired 5/16/64) Vlad was younger and fitter here. His gimmick has been done better by other wrestlers, but I feel on the right night against the right opponent he could have produced something heated and fun. Les Copains (Dan Aubriot/Bob Plantin) vs. Blousons Noirs (Manuel Manneveau/Claude Gessat) (aired 5/16/64) Manneveau has one of the best moustaches in wrestling history. Just throwing that out there. He's a tremendous showman and deserving of a prominent place in the French Rogues Gallery. What I like about the Blousons Noirs is that the quiet one, Claude Gessat, is also the most vicious and nasty. Nice to see our friend, Bob Plantin. This wasn't new, but it still holds up well as one of the better matches in the blur of 60s tag matches. Arabet Said/Abdel Kader vs. Pierre Bernaert/Marcel Manneveau (aired 1/10/65) Bernaert and Manneveau is an interesting pairing. This had a lot of comic stooging from both guys. There was some decent wrestling here and there, but... the rhythm. I hate to keep harping on about it, but these tag matches had no rhythm whatsoever. It's almost as though you're watching three premiere manch stringed together. You could join this match at any point and think you're in the first fall. And I don't really understand the need to have each fall the same length. This wasn't a bad match, but it could have been a brilliant one if it had been paced differently. I really liked the breakdown in teamwork between Bernaert and Manneaveau late in the match, so I'll end this on a positive note.

Southern Heavyweight Title Match: Johnny Valentine (c) vs Tim Woods (1973) -- great looking brawl for the title. There's a lot of Greg in the way Valentine sells. Really cool sleeper spot that ends with Valentine punching Woods in the eye. Finish is forgettable, but Woods keeps pummeling Valentine afterward. Johnny rolls under the bottom rope with a bloodied forehead and the title in hand. Great footage. World Title! Jack Brisco vs Johnny Valentine (June 24th, 1975) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Great looking title match. Tremendous selling from both men, and a cool looking submission from Valentine. Brisco was such an incredible athlete. Why don't we talk about him more? He should be in the upper echelons of discussions for the best ever, but his name is hardly ever brought up. Great dynamic here with Valentine's power vs. Brisco's skill & finesse. Great footage. Harley Race vs Bob Roop (June 11th, 1974) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- personally, I like Harley Race's bomb throwing style, but this clearly isn't as good as the Valentine matches. Harley doesn't really look like a guy who should be a Buddy Rogers type. You kind of wish he would just maul folks. Roop is a guy who I should love in theory, but I've never really seen any evidence that he was able to transfer his amateur skills to the pro game in a compelling or successful way. Nothing special. Eddie Graham & Paul Jones vs Buddy Colt & Chris Markoff (May 15th, 1973) (CWF) -- I'm interested to see what Eddie Graham brings to the table. He looked like a masterful old hand here. This was classic Southern style tag wrestling -- blood, sweat, tears, pain. Huge heat. Plenty of peroxide blonde hair. Always nice to see Chris Markoff again. He has some much credit in the bank for that Inoki match. Paul Jones pretty cool here. I'll definitely be checking him out. Good stuff.

If you told me I could watch a newly discovered Valentine match, or a newly discovered Regal match, I would pick Valentine. The reason for that is because the Valentine match is going to be The Hammer in his element. Greg came up at the perfect time for Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Regal was a tremendous worker, but as a heavyweight I always felt like he came along too late in the European wrestling scene. Even if he had only been working from the late 70s onwards, he still would have had the chance to wrestle against some fantastic British heavyweights. I do respect the way he made a success of his WCW run, and eventually did some good WWF work after overcoming his drug problems. However, I feel like the Hammer had a better career.

Saint was in some great matches. They tend to be more serious, competitive bouts or catchweight contests. I'm not a huge fan of showcase Johnny Saint bouts where he does some tricked out moves and gives the crowd a few laughs. I would rather watch other guys' showcase bouts. Saint was never my gateway into WoS, anyway. Steve Grey vs. Clive Myers was my gateway. Saint is this kind who has this idiosyntric style that's not really unique where you start to explore British and European wrestling, but was unique for overseas audiences in the same way that Dos Caras on an M-Pro style felt tricked out and unique. If you watch WoS, you soon discover that there's so many other guys. Now if the floodgates open with the archives, I may change my tune. It's possible that Saint has a ton of great undiscovered matches. We're kind of at the stage where we need more footage to validate a lot of the assumptions we have about British guys. But as of right now, I would say the big advantage Casas has over Saint is that he was great at working face or heel. I cannot imagine a heel Johnny Saint. I can't imagine any promoter would ever want to book that. IIRC, there is pissed off Johnny Saint out there, but no heel work. That's not a problem in and of itself, but it does limit the breadth of Saint's work compared to Casas who had multiple runs on both sides of the ledger.

El Dandy & Mascara Magica & Negro Casas vs. Bestia Salvaje & Mano Negra & Mocho Cota (CMLL 1/13/95) Casas was a tecnico here and an excellent one at that. It's interesting how he digs deep into his bag of flashy moves during a tecnico run. He does all sorts of moves he'd never do as a rudo. He was mostly paired with Mano Negra here. I love unmasked Mano Negra. I cannot over-emphasis how much better Mano Negra is unmasked. He's like a CMLL version of Dave Finlay. They work the mat in the primera caida, and honestly, I think I underrate Casas as a mat worker. He doesn't really work traditional lucha matwork. He works a far more realistic style. Dandy was similar, so I guess there was some influence coming from somewhere (possibly Japan?) You pretty much get every pairing in this with Casas and Dandy taking turns wrestling all three guys. Cota is entertaining but not Machiavellian. Bestia is mainly there to be a base for Magica, but what a partner to have in a trios match. One of the all-time great trios workers, IMO. The match is mostly about Cota and Negra, but Bestia makes sure that every exchange he has is excellent. Cota makes it clear that he hasn't forgotten his hair match with Casas, and you know I love callbacks in trios matches. Dandy & Casas make an invincible team. Dandy looks pretty good in this, which isn't always the case post '92. A strong showing from Casas and a good match. El Dandy & Mascara Magica & Negro Casas vs. Arkangel de la Muerte & Bestia Salvaje & Mano Negra (CMLL 1/20/95) Another entertaining trios match. We get a lot of Dandy vs. Negra in this, which is a great match-up, and one I didn't know I needed to see until I saw it. Casas works with Arkangel de la Muerte a lot, which is an interesting match-up. Arkangel's not quite as good as later work, and I'm not a huge fan of his costume during this era, but It was cool seeing Casas work so well with a midcarder. About halfway through the bout, they did this weird thing where it seemed like tempers were flaring between Casas and Dandy, and Bestia and Negra kept egging them on in hilarious fashion. Then they wound up doing a double team move together and high fiving. After the bout, they were back at it acting like they couldn't co-exist. I'm not sure what was going on there. Perhaps CMLL were testing the waters for something. Maybe a Dandy turn? Or perhaps they were simply trying to get the crowd behind Casas a tecnico. After all, nobody should trust a rudo explicitly when they turn tecnico. Not until they truly prove themselves. Another good showing from Casas, who makes a great tecnico.

Fit Finlay vs. Eddie Gilbert (Bremen 12/19/92) Eddie Gilbert, what is your Southern style ass doing in Germany in 1992? This didn't resemble Catch at all. It was a pretty great fight, though. It was one of those matches were they stall at a lot at the beginning then go hell for leather when it's too late and time is running out. I would have preferred a bit more back and forward action, but Finlay was a bit of a staller in his own right. Some really nice exchanges when they do hook up.

I can't remember if I've seen that match. I know it exists on tape but it's not really in circulation.

These two sure wrestled each other a lot in 2002, didn't they? This wasn't their best match together, but I thought it had excellent psychology for a 2/3 fall television 'cruiserweight' bout. (I can't help but think of it as one with Tenay on commentary, and the fact that the whole X Division thing doesn't really gel with me as someone watching this stuff for the first time twenty years later.) It's been interesting to watch Low Ki go from East Coast indies to a national promotion like this, and Japan as well, and not trade away a ton of his persona.

Lately, I've been able to reconcile how washed up Satanico looks in '94-95 with the beginning of a very promising program against Damian 666 in 2002. I am pretty sure the eventual singles matches between Satanico and Damian won't match his classic stuff from the past, but I'm glad he's finally getting a showcase run in '02 and the feud as a whole interests me. Not sure what was going on in '94-95. Was he uninspired with his role in the company? Was it something to do with his jump to AAA?