ohtani's jacket

This was a fun match. The Joshi revival was all but over, but it was cool that there was a niche for them to have this style of match.

Decent match, but a bit of an exhibition. Low Ki seemed to be suffering from that weird pressure foreigners feel to work a serious match in Japan instead of something dramatic. He had the tools to work a Japanese style bout, but the match was never super exciting, and Low Ki brought almost no personality to the bout. The commentator made an allusion to Dynamite Kid, which was a nice comparison, but the actual execution was lacking.

Awesome match. Not sure that it would have worked in Arena Mexico, but it was perfect for Arena Coliseo. It was equal parts heated mano a mano brawl and sublime technical wrestling. There were a surprising number of nearfalls for a mano a mano bout, and a clean finish to boot. It wasn't until afterward when Atlantis demanded a title shot that I realized the significance of the tercera caida and all of the nearfalls. I'm biased because I love this pairing, and their 1991 and 1997 bouts are two of my favorite matches of all-time, but I honestly thought this was one of the best matches of 2002, especially when you consider how badly CMLL has struggled with delivering compelling singles matches. This hit all the right notes. The falls were decisive and the match never lost its rhythm. I kept waiting for some derailing moment like a DQ or a double pin, but surprised the heck out of me with the finish. And the technique was sublime, especially from Panther's end. Total under-the-radar bout.

I thought this was a decent match in the context of the feud and the matches that led up to it. If you watched it as a standalone match, you wouldn't enjoy it. Once again, it was a single fall apuesta match, which I guess was something they were experimenting with in 2002. The problem with a single fall match is that the workers' rhythms are out of sync. They were trying to work a intense, violent bout, but there were lulls where there should have been falls, and it didn't make much sense that it wasn't 2/3 falls. I liked the basic performance from both guys, but it was another case where the singles match didn't live up to the build. It's strange to me that CMLL doesn't want to hit these singles matches out of the park but at least the weekly TV is good.

This wasn't as hot as some of the other Rey vs. Vampiro matches. Honestly, I thought that was because Wagner had to get his, and so there was a large focus on Wagner beating up Niebla. Vampiro and Rey had a couple of exchanges but nothing electric.

Match starts with a contract signing between Satanico and Damian that lasts longer than their bout probably will That's followed by a short, action-packed match.. Satanico and Damian brawl before and after the bout. I thought this was good TV.

How's this for a trios? The match is built around Panther vs. Atlantis, which is one of my all-time favorite lucha pairings. They run through some nice looking stuff in the primera caida before the match turns into a mask ripping brawl. Normally that would piss me off, but they worked a tight bout that kind of had me wishing that Atlantis had been the one to take Panther's mask. We also got to see Satanico brawl with the others. It's not every day you see Satanico trading right hands with Casas, so this is pretty much a must-see for anyone who likes these workers.

Volk Han didn't thumb his nose at pro-wrestling. He was scouted at a sambo tournament and invited to join the RINGS promotion. You're barking up the wrong tree if you think it was Volk who was disgusted with pro-wrestling. We're talking about a martial arts practitioner who agreed to do worked shoots. If he had been disgusted by pro-wrestling, he would have never agreed to do works. By his own admission, he was "working" in the sambo tournament to attract Maeda's attention, and he got over with the Japanese press and fans in large part to his charisma and the pro-wrestling licks he used in his matches. There was never a question of Volk working anywhere else. He was fiercely loyal to Maeda and called himself Maeda's soldier. You can hold that against him if you wish, but it was never on the cards.

The whole of Japan is miserable right now.

I wasn't overly thrilled with the Sandman Mystery Theatre "Phantom of the Fair" arc. For the first time in the series, it felt like there was too much story in the arc. Sandman Mystery Theatre is such a tightly plotted book, and so well paced, that I almost always feel compelled to read an arc in a single sitting, but this arc dragged. It couldn't figure out what it wanted to be. At first, you had Wesley brooding over the future, and the spectre of war, against the backdrop of the World's Fair. Then suddenly it was about Wesley confronting his own prejudices and homophobia. Personally, I couldn't understand how Wesley could be homophobic given everything we've learned about him thus far. My bigger problem, however, was how the two themes were meant to be connected. Utopia ideals vs. man's basic nature? Another murder, another direct connection to the titular character. At least this murder prompted Wesley to behave in new ways. I don't like the way Wesley and Dian's relationship has been thrown on the backburner. Dian has a job now and has found some purpose in her life, all Wesley and Dian do is engage in endless rounds of foreplay (okay, people had sex in the 1930s, I get it!) I did like the clumsy fight scene at the end of the arc. I like the fact that Wesley is perhaps the most nonathletic superhero, ever. I guess Dian being involved more in the crimefighting side of things is a welcome development, but their relationship hasn't felt right to me since she ran off to England. There are an increasing number of cameos from other Golden Age heroes. Ted Knight did not seem like the Ted Knight I know from James Robinson's Star Man. I dug the Jim Corrigan appearance, though. Another thing that threw me off about this arc was the overhaul of the cover designs. They are trying to make the covers look like the covers to an old pulp magazine or movie poster, but they would have looked much better if they'd been painted or done with pencil art. Another series I wrapped up was Earth X. I'm not a huge fan of dystopian future storytelling these days (perhaps because we're living in one right now), but the series grew on me towards the end. I'm not in a rush to read the sequels, but the art was nice and there was some intrigue, which is all I really hope for from a comic.

Harley Race vs. Gino Hernandez (NWA World Title Sept 28, 1980) This was a decent match. One thing I'll say for Harley is that he did a good job of working with younger guys like Gino and the Von Erich kids. As far as bogus finishes go, I think I'd take Flair with his feet on the ropes over Harley being tossed over the top rope.

This Vampiro vs. Bucanero beef is so much better than it has a right to be. I can't really say much more about GdI at this stage except that they're compulsory viewing, but Vampiro looks like the real deal in this feud. There's no sloppiness, no awkward moments, and no moments where he's hunched over sucking in the big ones. He looks like a badass and fights like one. I don't know why these two are clicking, but it's fun to watch. There's a nice callback to the Casas/Tarzan Boy hair match, too, with Tarzan Boy trolling Casas over losing his hair. Casas lets rip on Tarzan Boy, which is both awesome and a reminder of how shitty the apuesta match was. I can't believe I want to see more Vampiro.

Buddy Colt vs. Big Bad John (December 26th, 1972) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Buddy was one of those guys who could size up their opponent and deliver exactly the right kind of match. Big Bad John is pretty bad, but watch how Buddy sells for him, and the offense he uses to clobber him later on. Just perfect. Good stuff. Buddy Colt vs. Frank Hester (January 4th, 1975) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) - tremendous heat for this, especially when Hester makes his comeback. Buddy rules as usual. Good stuff. Buddy Colt vs. Tim Geohagen (August 29th, 1972) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) (CWF) -- I've never head of Tim Geohagen, but Solie sold this Buddy vs. Geohagen was a major feud, and suddenly I was all revved up about Tim Geohagen. Danny McShain was the ref for this one, which is cool because he's another guy who we have limited footage of who could have a case for Top 100. Good stuff. Don Muraco vs. The Mongolian Stomper (November 12th, 1974) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- not really a showcase for Muraco. Stomper beats him up after the match and Dusty does a run-in. OK footage. Don Muraco vs. Pak Song (June 18th, 1974) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- another Muraco match that puts over the heel. Pak Song had some cool offense. Gary Hart is on commentary and does some decent schtick. OK footage. Jack Brisco vs. Mike Hammer (1979) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- fabulous little television match. You've gotta love how much amateur stuff Brisco pulls out in these short TV bouts. What a wrestler. Great stuff. Jack Brisco vs. The Gestapo (October 24th, 1979) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- even against masked wrestlers like The Gestapo, Jack is doing his amateur takedowns and awesome pin attempts. Jack Brisco, I love you. Great stuff. The Last Tangle In Tampa: Harley Race vs. Dusty Rhodes (August 3rd, 1980) (Tampa Stadium) -- Dusty cuts a barely audible promo in a swimming pool (something about Apocalypse Now II). Match is simple but effective. It's a one hour broadway, so I'm assuming it had a lot of down time. There's no deny the connection Dusty had with the crowd. Race is getting fatter here and growing out his beard. He barely gets a lick of offense in during the footage, but it's cleared towards showing Dusty as the victor of the match but not being able to claim the title. Awesome Dusty promo afterward. Good stuff.

Demon Slayer is a decent series. I read it because my daughter was so heavily into it, and I was buying the volumes for her. Towards the end of the series when the popularity is exploding, you get the feeling that the mangaka is burnt out and in a desperate rush to finish the series. My favorite thing about the series was the tragic backstories. Every time they'd slay a demon, you'd find out the person's history and what led them to becoming a demon. Some of the backstories really got to me.

I finished the Sandman Mystery Theatre arcs "Dr. Death", "The Night of the Butcher", "The Hourman" and "The Python." Absolutely one of the most tightly plotted series I've read with each arc being compelling reading. The relationship between Wesley and Dian has taken twists and turns that I didn't expect, but I have to say it's the development of the supporting cast that I've enjoyed the most. I love Burke. Readers have come across cops like Burke in fiction countless times, but he still feels like a living, breathing character. I also like that they're saving some of the reveals until the end and throwing in a few red herrings. Night of the Butcher finally introduced a killer that wasn't immediately connected to the characters, and all it took was a bit of mutilation. I like Guy Davis' art, but I still find him to be a bit inconsistent. The characters' weight seems to change all the time, and I often get confused between his depiction of Dodds and the coroner, Hubert Klein. I'm really enjoying the series, which is why I'm burning through it so quickly. I also read Jim Starlin's Metamorphosis Odyssey from Epic Illustrated. I've been reading quite a few Marvel magazines lately, and I feel like they were an untapped avenue for Marvel's creators to enjoy creative freedom and explore their own original ideas instead of trying to shoehorn them into the monthly books. Very few creators took advantage of the possibilities of this new format, and there weren't a lot of successes, but Metamorphosis Odyssey was definitely a success. It was gorgeous to look at and the concept was intriguing. The execution wasn't perfect (it felt a bit rushed to me), but it was magnificent in its scope. I must admit, I immediately thought, "Wow, it's Green Arrow" when Vanth finally appeared.

When did Edge morph into Emilio Charles Jr?

Harley Race vs. Wahoo McDaniel Dream Match February 10, 1978 This was much better. Race gives Wahoo pretty much the entire match, but that's okay when it's a guy as tough as Wahoo, I actually liked how the only offense Race was able to muster was the headbutt while on one knee and those little jab-like headbutts from a standing position. I also liked that flat body bump Race took off Wahoo's chops. It was a touring champ performance from Harley, but it was an exciting one, and what the crowd wanted to see. This one goes in Harley's favor.

I finished J. M. DeMatteis' run on Captain America. It took me a while to get through it as it wasn't a huge page turner for me, but I made it to the end. The reason I wanted to read the run was that I've always liked DeMatteis as a writer, and I really like the work he did on Spectacular Spider-Man in the 90s. DeMatteis likes to put his characters through a lot of anguish and mental torment, and they lash out at their loved ones a lot. We got plenty of that here. He really dug deep into the soul of the man, Steve Rogers. Captain America isn't a favorite of mine, and strikes me as a difficult character to write much like Wonder Woman or Superman, but DeMatteis did an excellent job of portraying Cap as more than just a symbol or an icon, but a guy with all sorts of anxieties. But he was also a guy who had hope, and believed in people and the values and ideals of his country. Now, a lot of that stuff is difficult to relate to as a non-American, but DeMatteis certainly explored it in depth. One thing I love about DeMatteis' work is the relationship between the hero and his antagonist. He develops these incredibly complex relationships between the hero and villain that aren't purely black and white. In Spectacular Spider-Man, it was the relationship between Peter Parker and Harry Osborn. In Captain America, it was Cap vs. the Red Skull. I don't know how much of Red Skull's backstory DeMatteis invented for this run, but the issue where Red Skull tells his life's story to Cap while Cap doesn't say a word the entire issue was a phenomenal piece of storytelling. Another thing i love about DeMatteis work is that you get those pages with no dialogue or captions that let the art tell the story, and those standalone pages are always emotionally powerful. For the most part, I thought the art was serviceable. Zeck did some good stuff before they pinched him for Secret Wars. DeMatteis' final issue was re-written by the editors, and he quit the series in anger which is a bummer, but overall I thought it was a decent run. I doubt it's something I'll revisit, but I'm glad I stuck it out to the end.

I didn't realize these two had another match. Cool beans. Once again, they work a sweet mix of strikes, submission holds and counters. The Ironman stip is kind of pointless, especially with a 20 minute time limit, but it's a solid match.

Robert Duranton vs. Gilbert Leduc (aired 1/15/65) This wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The first 10 minutes had some decent grappling. If they had built on that until the tempers flared and they began throwing manchettes, then the match would have been perfectly fine. It was when the valet got involved that it became unnecessarily silly. If Firmin's interference had been memorable in any sort of way, it may have been a different story, but it wasn't executed very well and spoiled the match. It would have made more sense to me if Duranton had unleashed a more vicious attack on Leduc similar to the beatings we've seen Leduc take in the past, or if it had led to a stirring comeback from Leduc. Instead, it was a limp disqualification. But the work itself wasn't that bad. Duranton brought his wrestling boots and clearly didn't want to be shown up by Leduc. Leduc didn't look as good as he did in the 50s, but very few wrestlers from the 50s look good in 60s footage for reasons I have yet to figure out. Forgettable match but nothing that really bugged me.

Harley Race vs. El Halcon (AUGUST 31, 1979 NWA World Title) Not a great match to start revisiting Harley. He gets beat up before the bell by Bruiser Brody and spends the majority of the bout getting beat on. And this is a week after he won the title back on a bogus disqualification. I suppose he deserves some credit for fighting his way back into the match, but his comeback isn't particularly awe-inspiring, and then he gets beat up again after the bout. This is how you book your World's Heavyweight champion? Not the kind of Harley Race I want to see.

One thing I find underwhelming about 2002 CMLL is that the single matches don't deliver like they ought to. I'm slowly starting to accept that CMLL is sliding closer toward having basic TV matches than the blowoff matches of ole. That said, this a well-worked bout. Damian jumped Satanico by running through the crowd and they basically pounded on each other for a solid five minutes. Satanico was fired up and the crowd fed off that energy. I didn't have huge expectations for this, so I was glad to see them work such a tight match. Satanico laid down the challenge for a hair match, and as we've seen with 2002 CMLL, the build up to these types of matches has been strong but the payoffs have been weak. We'll see if Satanico and Damian can take it up a notch. It's mystifying that despite some fairly solid booking by CMLL standards, we're still not seeing better singles matches.

This match was built around Rey Bucanero trying to pick a fight with Vampiro. It was extremely well done and a tremendous showcase for Bucanero's talents as a worker. We all know he's a good worker, but he's often in the shadow of Ultimo Guerrero, the alpha. Here it was Bucanero's chance to shine and he took the bull by the horns and made Vampiro look like a bigger badass than he has during his entire CMLL return. Ultimo & Black Tiger did their part with some cool looking spots, but this was all about Vampiro & Bucanero and an excellent piece of business. GdI have become compulsory viewing in 2002, and this match is a perfect example of why.

Quick match worked in the tecnico's style. I often wonder how they decide which way they're going to work these matches. Actually, I was surprised that the Talibanes could still work this style of match. Felino seemed to injure Emilio on a diving headscissors spot off the apron, and it looked for all money like Emilio gave him a receipt later on, but that may have been me getting excited about their mini match up. Bestia was awesome as usual. Such a hugely underrated talent. Casas had a buzz cut, which is something you don't see often. Surprisingly good match.

One of the joys of lucha libre is random undercard trios matches. This wasn't the best example of this most pure of lucha libre artforms, but they did show it in full, which is rarity. I'm not sure where they dug Ringo Mendoza up from, but you've got to marvel at how clean looking his dropkick and plancha were. There were plenty of talented guys in this, but for the most part it was solid action without anyone standing out.