ohtani's jacket

The '98 Hashimoto match is even better than the '94 one. It's getting harder and harder to see Fujinami as anything less than a top 10 Japanese worker.

CMLL TV (October 16th, 1994) (61st Anniversary Show Week 2) Javier Cruz/Gran Markus, Jr./Hijo del Gladiador vs. El Brazo/Hayabusa/Pantera (CMLL 9/27/94) Started off with a neat exchange between Pantera and the criminally underrated Javier Cruz, but was largely forgettable after that. Another slow Coliseo bout. El Brazo teased a rudo turn. He sure sucks. When did he become the worst Brazo? Cruz and Pantera worked hard throughout, but you can skip this. Scorpio vs Silver King (hair vs hair) (CMLL 9/30/94) This was fun. They filmed a vignette where Scorpio surprised Silver King in the gym and mocked him for working out so much. Scorpio's pants and shoes were a riot. He was an ugly brute. Silver King came to the ring dressed like a male stripper. You can probably guess how the match unfolded. Scorpio ran through some fun old man lucha stuff. It looked like Silver King was afraid to gig himself so Scorpio did it for him. SK looked nervous. Pretty basic, but I have a high level of tolerance for this type of lucha. Apolo Dantes/Brazo de Oro/Brazo de Plata vs. El Brazo/The Headhunters (clip) (CMLL 9/30/94) Emilio Charles, Jr./Negro Casas vs. El Satanico/Miguel Perez, Jr. (clip) (CMLL 9/30/94) I doubt that tag was any good, but I wanted to see how Casas matched up with his opponents. El Texano vs. Ricky Santana (hair vs hair) (CMLL 9/30/94) Decent match. It felt like a generic match that they could have had in any promotion in the world in 1994 rather than a classic apuestas match, but it was cool to see Texano have a big singles match.

Nice post, KB8. I love a lot of the guys on my list, but I can't say that they were substantially better than Ted. Tully is probably the closest comparison since they played similar characters and worked similar styles. It's difficult to split Tully and Ted in my mind. Watching the Mid-South stuff again, I love how the matches are 10 minutes long. Ted was really great at working short brawls. I also love his offense. It's simple stuff, but he hits everything with precision. The crowds are rabid as well. You could argue that Ted's not as charismatic as Tully or Flair, but he doesn't waste time begging off. It's straight asskicking with plenty of subtle selling/stooging.

Ted drops the fist on this slander. #Tedforpresident

The ROH commentators claim this is going to be a mat classic, so of course they work more of a hard-hitting, high impact match. It's still pretty cool, and Williams is now on my radar as a guy worth watching.

Atlantis/Corazon de Leon/Dos Caras vs. Satanico/Dr. Wagner, Jr./Emilio Charles, Jr. (CMLL 12/9/94) This paled in comparison to the trios match from the week before, but it still had a lot of interesting match-ups. You had Satanico, and his stupidly long hair, vs. Jericho, which is interesting enough by itself, Emilio and Atlantis reprising their career rivalry, and Caras working an absolutely breathtaking exchange with Wagner that was the highlight of the bout. The fact that Caras had wrestled Wagner's father made it all the better, but he also gave us an amazing tease of what a Caras vs. Satanico match might look like. Worth watching if you want to see more of Dos Caras in CMLL.

Speaking of which, does anybody happen to know why JWP vacated said title for a year after Masami won it?

The DiBiase/Magnum TA feud is awesome. That Tulsa match, good god almighty. Guys who have a better rep than Ted that I can't understand: Tully Blanchard Arn Anderson Greg Valentine Sgt. Slaughter Roddy Piper Buddy Rose Barry Windham Ric Rude Bret Hart Curt Hennig Rick Martel Bill Dundee DiBiase doesn't take a backseat to anyone in the 80s. #No Ted, no list

I see. Love the blog, btw. I've been hitting it up every few days.

This was short but plenty of fun. I was glad that Shocker and Masada didn't ignore each other and worked a grudge match sequence. Watching the Japanese guys position themselves for classic Porky spots was an amusing exercise, and anytime you get Panther and Casas square off in a match it's a must-see.

This was given plenty of time, and Atlantis & Co. tried hard to make something of it, but it was criminally boring. I'm not a huge fan of Halloween and Damian at the best of times, but Juvie didn't pull finger here, and Nicho must have had another booking. The Tijuana guys are another example of CMLL starting something with no payoff in mind.

For some reason this is JIP in the third fall. It's not a bad caida of wrestling, but it's clear that Santo is no longer in the picture and CMLL have transitioned to Ultimo vs. Casas. I generally like the Casas/Ultimo match-up, but CMLL were onto something with the Santo/Ultimo feud. One of the most frustrating things about CMLL is that they'll stumble onto something you want to see more of, and then they either drop it or it falls apart because guys become unavailable or difficult to deal with.

Very good 2/3 falls handheld shot from an overhead camera position in classic JWP. If you like strike & submission based wrestling in Joshi, and you're wondering where it migrated to after ARSION changed styles, then look no further than JWP. If you need a reminder that Hyuga and Ran Yu Yu were great pro-wrestlers look no further than this match. Probably the best wrestled women's match of the year thus far.

I thought you didn't really like Devil.

CMLL TV (December 3rd, 1994) Apolo Dantes/Brazo de Plata/Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. vs. Bestia Salvaje/El Brazo/Gran Markus Jr (11/26/94) Slowass Arena Coliseo match. Porky is feuding with his brother, but it's not entertaining. El Brazo keeps shouting in people's faces and is really annoying. Bestia tries to do some quality stooging, but this kind of made me realize that 95% of his career was spent in matches like these. Weird seeing Apolo Dantes with a full head of hair and in prime shape. He never really catapulted to stardom, did he? I mean he had a long career, so he was successful in that sense, but I'm sure somebody, somewhere, at some point, had higher hopes for him. You forget how athletic Porky was before all of the heart attacks. Atlantis/El Texano/Silver King vs. Corazon de Leon/Dos Caras/Negro Casas (12/2/94) Great match. Man, I haven't seen a Texano match in years. He worked the mat with Casas to begin with. Now normally folks think of lucha matwork as being choreographed and cooperative, but this was the complete opposite. It was almost entirely defensive with both guys blocking each other's moves. It was an amazing and unique thing to see in a CMLL ring, and then Atlantis and Dos Caras followed it up with a traditional lucha exchange that was just as beautiful. There were so many great match-ups in this match. I usually hate Jericho in Mexico, but he had his ribs strapped here and mostly sold other guy's moves, so he wasn't a problem. Casas wound up having individual match-ups with all three opponents and each of them as tremendous, including a forehead to forehead standoff with Atlantis which really got me pumped. Silver King and Texano had some tremendous teamwork in this bout, but you know what the best thing about this was? When everyone entered the ring to end the falls, they flew into the ring at a million miles an hour and took guys out with phenomenal looking dropkicks or topes. This may be the best example of the transition to pinfall phase I've seen in a lucha libre match. Silver King, in particular, was lightning quick. And it fucking had Dos Caras in it. C'mon, who's dream isn't to see more great Dos Caras performances? He's always a bit disappointing with the heavyweights, but in a catchweight contest he is an absolute legend. Do yourself a favor and watch this. El Satanico/Emilio Charles, Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner, Jr./Pierroth, Jr. (CMLL Tag Team (Parejas) Tournament Finals Contender Match) (12/2/94) This was weak. I'm a fan of all four of these guys, but this was completely half-arsed.

Nobody ever talks about the Lelani Kai matches. Those were always my favorites.

That is some massive praise, but I'm not gonna say you're wrong.

I just think it's an overused metaphor. You can have Shintenno for pretty much anything at this point. I think people get carried away with it when describing the All Japan guys, I guess because it sounds cool. They were called Shitenno by fans and media, and their style of wrestling was referred to as Shintenno Pro-Wrestling, so it's not wrong. I just think it's something people shouldn't be overly reverent about. Shintenno gets used in the entertainment business all the time. There are Shintenno for everything from impersonators to karaoke singers. I don't know when people first started using the term in English to describe the All Japan guys. I don't understand where they got the word pillar from, but I guess it's part of the vernacular now.

The only times Casas is given something to do in 2000-02 is the Wagner program that we don't see because of the Olympics and every time Santo returns and they re-ignite the Guerrero & Bucanero feud. The rest of the time he's treading water. It makes sense after they ran Santo & Casas vs. Bestia & Scorpio into the ground, but at no point does Casas wow you in that secondary role. I just reached the point where Santo left again and the focus switched from Ultimo vs. Santo to Ultimo vs. Casas, and it's been a real letdown. There are a few positives. He adapted to the new style of wrestling well, and it makes sense that Santo and Casas are the team to consistently feud with Ultimo and Rey over the tag titles since they can work the modern style. I particularly like some of his strike exchanges around this time. But there are a few myths that need destroying, namely "Casas is brilliant in every match" and "Casas was the best in the world for every year of his career." Not true. He had runs like every other headliner. Ultimately, it's not going to matter to voters because they'll vote for the highs, and Casas' highs are all-time genius level, but I completely agree with Chad on this.

Well, it depends on how loosely you use the term great. Satanico, to me, was still a great worker in the early 90s. I don't love his AAA work, but the hair match with Morgan is one of my favorite Satanico bouts. He wasn't that great when he returned to CMLL, aside from the odd trios match here and here, until he earned back their trust and was given the opportunity to have the Tarzan Boy and GdI feuds. I am up to 2002 in my viewing and Satanico has looked great in every performance. I can't say the same for Fuerza. He's had one or two performances that show he wasn't isn't washed up, but even when he's given the perfect opportunity to shine in the trio with Wagner and Panther, he hardly does anything interesting. I can't understand why he's not able to do a great heel spot or something amusing. To be fair, Wagner hasn't been great either. Atlantis is always good. He's had some bad matches over the years, but he's carried the tecnico side in so many trios matches. He's the best tecnico trios match worker that I've seen. I don't want to sound too down on Fuerza. I'll see his praises to the moon if it's his earlier stuff, but I can't pretend that his later stuff isn't a disappointment.

Blue Panther vs. Gran Hamada (UWF 11/13/90) Good match. Neat hybrid between Hamada's UWA work and what Panther might have wrestled like if he'd been a junior. Blue Panther & Guerrero Negro vs. Huracan Sevilla & Gran Hamada (Monterrey 1991) You won't find too many bigger fans of Huracan Sevilla than me. I dig his run as Huracan Sevilla, and I think his hair match with Bestia is a low key classic. He's not really that good, but he sure as hell thinks he is, which is fun to watch. Very good tag match by lucha standards. Starts off on the mat and ends with a bunch of challenges being made. And in this case, Sevilla and Guerrero Negro made good on the challenge. Gran Hamada was a great luchador. Arguably, the best run by a Japanese worker in an overseas environment. Panther is Panther. Sevilla's tope is a big highlight. Villano III vs. Fishman (Monterrey 1991) Cool little title match that never reaches any great heights. I have a nagging feeling that a lot of Villano III single matches were like this. Decent tercera caida, and some cool looking holds throughout thanks to the masked luchador aesthetic.

I really hate the concept of Shitenno, which Western fans refer to as the Four Pillars. Don't get me started on King's Road. I think it's fairly simple. In the 90s, Misawa was the best. In the 00s, Kobashi was the best.

You guys are out to lunch! The Ryuma Go series, the Calgary match against Dynamite Kid, the Kimura matches, the Teranishi match, the Tony Rocco match, the freaking Ray Mendoza match, Fujinami was spectacular before the Choshu feud. There was a Fujinami boom in Japan prior to the Choshu feud. He was the number three guy in the promotion once he returned from his overseas excursion, replacing Strong Kobayashi who had slowed down by that point. Personality is a real sticking point. It's easy to say this guy had black trunks. a salaryman hair cut and no personality, but Japanese fans didn't think so. Personally. I think he was a brilliant wrestler as a junior, and perfectly fiery, but he also had the qualities in Japan that people value both in terms of his strength and his grace. That's why he continued to be popular throughout his career. I get the mentality of "now he's a veteran, and he's grumpy and showing more personality." I can see how people gravitate toward that, but his early work is full of virtue and aesthetics that couldn't help but appeal to Japanese fans.

The Bockwinkel/Oki match is a bit disappointing. That may be because it's clipped, but IWE Oki hasn't been very good so far.