ohtani's jacket

Andre Bollet vs. Iska Khan (aired 10/2/59) It's strange that Bollet was off TV for so long. My opinion of him has pretty much plummeted since those early appearances. His stalling and antics did very little for me in this match. It might have been different if it was the first time to see it or if I was in the mood for it. What I did like about this were the actual wrestling parts. Isha Khan was a generic Asian wrestler with generic Asian offense, similar to the Hawaiian guys in the States, but the one thing I like about those workers is when they unleash a barrage of strikes. They're no great shakes on the mat, but once they get a bit of go forward, they can be entertaining. I really liked the way Bollet sold Khan's strikes. He could have hammed it up and played to the gallery, but instead his selling was subtle and sophisticated. And his own offense was tight. I adored the finish as well as the post-match. They trashed the shit out of that bouquet. This was miles better than Bollet's later performances. I imagine Matt and the other Segunda Caida guys will like those bouts more than I did, but I think we can agree that this is definitely a signature bout.

I liked bits and pieces of it. It grew more frustrating once the serial killer arc concluded. I wasn't fond of his prose either.

How about Robert Gastel and Karl von Chenok? Roger Delaporte & Paul Villars vs. Yves Amor & Georges Gueret (aired 9/5/59) This was far more entertaining than the previous Delaportes tag, largely because Amor and Gueret were much better opponents than Said and Minisini. I stopped worry about whether Delaporte was a face, a heel, or a quasi-face, and enjoyed the amazing chemistry he had with Georges Gueret. It looks like Delaporte lost some weight around this period and was including a few more wrestling moves in his bout. Does anyone else think he looks smaller? This had Couderc roaring with laughter at the beginning then turned into the kind of vicious brawl that only heels are capable of. Lots of beard pulling.

Cheri Bibi/Pierre Bernaert vs. Ami Sola/Jo Labat (aired 8/6/59) Bibi wouldn't be my first pick for a guy I want to see on television now that we know how scarce televised catch is about to become. But I guess I've gone from being happy to see any and all catch there is to being greedy about what I want to see. Bibi appears quite frequently from here on out, either because the gimmick was popular or because the promoters had pull. Interestingly, it appears that Bernaert was his original partner. Usually, you watch these type of matches for the heel antics, but this match was all about the faces. Sola and Labat were outstanding workers. They'll probably get lost in the shuffle when it comes to evaluating all of these European workers, but personally I'd take them over any of the personalities we've seen so far. I especially like Sola. He's everything you'd want from a face. Bibi and Bernaert were pretty much the opposite. There was nothing outstanding about them as heels. Their bag of tricks was pretty much the standard catch heel tropes. Bernaert was more interesting than Bibi, but didn't have the killer edge that would have made him a mesmerizing heel. Fortunately, they didn't need to be any more than average because of how good the faces were. The match was a good piece of business. It's not a match that will stand out to people who only have the time/interest to cherry pick the best stuff, but seeing Sola and Labat again was immensely valuable to me. Johnny Stein vs. Michel Allary (aired 8/21/59) This was classic pro-wrestling. You could have run this match anywhere on the continent and it would have gotten over. Hell, you could have run it in the States or pretty much anywhere in the world. It was exactly what you'd expect from a bruising German hardman and a young French heavyweight. Stein did an excellent job of beating the crap out of Allary. Allary was a bit raw and some of his timing was off on his comebacks, but it didn't really matter because Stein had the crowd eating out of his hand. Which wasn't hard because the crowd really wanted to eat from his hand. It's often the crowd that makes matches like these. This crowd was both delighted and delightful. Interesting to see Allary get his heat back by attacking Stein with a towel. That's a spot we saw quite a lot in earlier footage. This was nothing really special about this as catch, but it was an entertaining wrestling match.

It's possible. I don't really discuss politics with a lot of people. The last I heard Hase was being accused of sexual harrassment. Those cricketers are popular in New Zealand, but our national heroes tend to be rugby players.

I don't know how people feel about Garth Ennis, but fuck me, was I glad to be finished with that Delano run on Hellblazer. Suddenly there's a plot. Despite being a huge X-Men fan growing up, I had never read God Loves, Man Kills. It's pretty good, but I guess Claremont went on to incorporate the core ideas into the monthly books because there was nothing revolutionary about it. I've been messing around reading Starlin's Captain Marvel & Warlock stuff, pre-Miller Daredevil, and J. M. DeMatteis' run on Spectacular Spider-Man. Starlin's stuff is okay, but doesn't really knock my socks off. I love Colan's art on Daredevil. DeMatteis gets heavily into the psychology of the characters in his run. There are some great stories, but it's very angst ridden. I finally finished 100 Bullets. The story wasn't that great but the art was fabulous.

I fell behind on this because of work. Now that things have settled down, I'm hoping I can catch up. Serge Francille vs Pierre Bernaert (aired 7/16/59) Going on memory here, but I recall it being pretty boring. I'm not feeling 50s judoka gimmicks whatsoever. Roger Delaporte/Paul Villars vs. Arabet Said/Leon Minisini (aired 7/16/59) This didn't make much sense in terms of Delaporte's face turn. There was tension between Delaporte and Villars, but it was resolved by the end of the match. The match was dull compared to the spectacles we've seen from Delaporte in the past. Said and Minisini weren't very interesting, and even the typically excellent Villars seemed disengaged. Minisini's butt cheeks were hanging out of his trunks, which seemed to bother Delaporte, who spent the entire match readjusting his own trunks. It was truly distracting. If that doesn't paint a picture of how boring the match was, I don't know what would.

I can't say for certain about history books. I would imagine Japanese people learn about the 1964 Olympics or perhaps the history of Koshien, the famous high school baseball tournament. I read recently that in 1896, a Japanese high school baseball team defeated a team of resident foreigners in Yokohama and were hailed as national heroes by the press. Apparently, their victory gave rise to the popularity of baseball in schools. Whether that's taught to Japanese high school baseball players, I have no idea. I'm not saying that Japan doesn't have any famous sports people, or that Rikidozan wasn't important in his time, but the stuff that Dave says about Rikidozan is crazy. When he named Rikidozan the most important wrestler of the 20th century in 2000, he wrote: "Even to this day, nearly 40 years after his death, his name is known by everyone in Japan. His grave site in Tokyo is practically a national monument where wrestlers go to get their photos taken." Really, Dave? I don't know who was feeding him that shit. Maybe it was different 20 years ago when more people remembered him. As far as I am aware, people are more familiar with Inoki and Baba than they are Rikidozan. That's largely because they were around for so long, but also because Inoki tried so hard to make himself seem like an important social icon.

I don't think Japan has ever had a sports person on the level of Muhammed Ali or Jackie Robinson, etc. There have been famous baseball players and soccer players, Olympians, sumo wrestlers and judokas, but I can't think of anyone as significant as the athletes you named. Historically, sport in Japan was tied to religion and the military, which meant upholding the traditions of the past. The modern influence of sports like baseball came during the post-war rebuild and was mostly related to economic growth. There have been instances of Japanese athletes proving themselves on the world stage, and moments of national pride, but nothing that brought about a change in society. To be honest, I don't think Japan is political enough for athletes to wield that sort of influence.

Not really given how crazy Japanese people are for K-Pop and Korean Drama.

I'd like to thank Cornette for introducing me to Undertaker's Cameo videos.

I live in Japan and I have a daughter in grade school. I don't think she has begun studying history, but I could be wrong about that. Rikidozan was a cultural icon from the 50s and early 60s who is largely forgotten today. He is not a significant cultural figure in Japan in the year 2020. His legacy is not as important as Meltzer makes out even within the pro-wrestling business. If you look at Japan through the lens of Pro Wrestling Only (zing!) then of course he seems like a huge deal, but even when he was drawing all those street crowds, he wasn't the only thing attracting the attention of Japanese people. There were other cultural phenomenon and other important events during that era. Some of which are more enduring, to be perfectly honest. I get where pro-wrestling fans are coming from. If you're a wrestling fan, and you see Japan through the lens of pro-wrestling, then the first time you come to Japan you mark out when you see a wrestler doing some kind of random shitty advertising. Little do you know that every two-bit celebrity does random shitty advertising in Japan. I'm not denying what Rikidozan meant in the 50s and early 60s, but Japan is a country that is constantly moving forwards, is constantly attracted by the latest boom and the newest trends, loves to tear down the old and build something new, and has little interest in the past unless it is aesthetically pleasing. The war isn't even taught properly in this country, and the younger generation aren't interested in it anyway. Western fans with an interest in Japanese pro-wrestling get excited that there was a movie made about Rikidozan, but the movie bombed at the box office. Why would it bomb at the box office if Rikidozan was a cultural icon the likes of JFK? If you listen to Meltzer, Rikidozan is such a big deal he should be on the thousand yen note. Maybe if you're a pro-wrestling fan with a deep interest in its history.

Dave clearly stated that the legendary Rikidozan & Kimura vs. Sharpe Brothers bout that we all bow to the altar of every day was more important than Santo because the Japanese wrestling industry has at times been the No.1 in the world. I know I've seen the light.

It started because Dave said Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega could prove to be one of the most important matches in wrestling history. Rikidozan's not as important as Dave thinks. Inoki was more important to the history of Japanese pro-wrestling than Rikidozan. What's more, Dave refusing to acknowledge El Santo because Japan > Mexico was pathetic. And Hogan was a bigger deal than all of them put together.

Meltzer is daft. Rikidozan is the JFK or Eisenhower of Japan? Rikidozan is taught in grade school? Someone needs to tell Meltzer that Japan has thousands of years of history.

Jaka's Story is one of the all-time great graphic novels. It's been a while since I re-read Sandman, but from memory, Brief Lives is my favorite arc. You can find the behind-the-scenes info if you look for it. One of the first things I did when I got the internet was try to find out why Chris Claremont left the X-Men, which was a huge deal for me as a kid. I remember reading this interview where he outlined his plots for the next couple of years on the X-Men titles. I stopped reading comics for a long time and never got heavily involved into it online, but I did go down a couple of foxholes about Lee vs. Kirby or the Jim Shooter era at Marvel. The info is there if you're interested in that sort of thing. I am currently catching up on all the Stray Bullets I missed. I've almost finished Transmetropolitan and 100 Bullets. I'm slowly getting to the end of the Delano run on Hellblazer. I am trying to get up to date with Love and Rockets, but I always get confused with the chronology. I've been reading Man Thing and Son of Satan on that 70s Marvel kick. Not really digging Man Thing. Son of Satan is far better. IMO. I keep trying to do the Jim Starlin thing but I don't like his art as much as other people do. I have been trying to re-read Usagi Yojimbo as well, but I keep forgetting to continue with it. On the Japan side, I am slowly ploughing through Kingdom and still trying to keep up with new Berserk and Vinland Saga releases. I have been trying to hook my daughter on Attack on Titan. I think the anime is better than the manga, though.

What about Master of Kung Fu?

Isn't one of the Rocco vs. Yamada matches highly regarded? Who are the other guys in your top 10?

If that's what's holding you back from watching Joshi, I don't see how things are going to change, particularly with the level of violence in some of the more acclaimed stuff. If you are still interested, I think tracking the narratives from 1990-95 is your best bet. It kind of depends on what you're into. If you like 80s wrestling, then it's worth starting in the 80s. If you're into modern wrestling, then I guess you should start with the modern stuff. The problem with the 80s stuff is that it's not very well chronicled. You won't be able to read up on it like you can with the early 90s stuff. If you're not looking to do a deep dive, then that's not a problem. If you want to follow the wrestlers' growth and development, then I think you should start with 1990, but there is quite a lot of violence in that era.

Jacky Corn vs. Georges Gueret (aired 7/9/59) Now that we know catch wasn't broadcast every week, and how many promoters there were in Paris vying for television time, it seems that there are a disproportionate number of Jacky Corn matches shown on TV. And sure enough, there's dad, and matchmaker, Robert Lageat being interviewed before the match. I don't think it was a secret that they were father and son, but he definitely made sure that his boy got plenty of TV time. Not that I'm complaining since I'm a Jacky Corn guy. This wasn't the best Jacky Corn match in the collection, but it had a classic Jacky Corn finish. Gueret reminded me of a French version of Emilio Charles, Jr., and drew tremendous heat. That spectator at ringside looked a bit touched in the head, though.

It's a shame that the Bob Remy match doesn't appear to be available.

You get a better look at him in this video: I'm not sure that Great Zorro is out of the question, especially with those eyes and lips: Also, it seems that whoever is playing the role is not a native French speaker. Mortier ended up in the States, which would suggest the need to have another wrestler don the gimmick. Interestingly enough, Mortier and Voiney tagged together in the States and both seemed to use the Brigitte Bardot bodyguard gimmick at one time or another.

Sorry, '66. My bad.

Fit Finlay vs. Franz Schumann (Wien '91) I liked this a lot. The secret to this match was that both refs stayed on the outside so it was straight asskickery. Some great selling too. The crowd hated Finlay's guts and kept taunting him throughout. Awesome finish as well. Another one in the good pile.

The only doubt I have over Kasbarian being the original L'Homme Masque is that it appears that you can see some hair sticking out of the bottom of the mask, and the hair appears to be blonde. L'Homme Masque vs. L'Ange Blanc (aired 12/13/69) This was better than I expected. I'm pretty sure this was Voiney as he had a huge build. Voiney was shorter than Kasbarian but he had a bigger build, especially his legs. I spent an absurd amount of time comparing their calf muscles. The next thing you know, I'm gonna be reading bodybuilding magazines. The real reason I think this is Voiney is that L'Homme Masque was surprisingly good at working working holds. That's something I've seen from Voiney before, but not Kasbarian. L'Homme Masque flat out dominated this match. He took maybe 80% of it. It was kind of weird because L'Ange Blanc was all smiles and waves, but he got his ass pinned to the mat. A balding, happy-to-lucky L'Ange Blanc is not really my idea of some avenging angel, but this match was weird in general. Some dude showed up half way through with a pelican. I kid you not. I have no idea why he brought a pelican to ringside, but I kind of felt sorry for the poor thing as he was grasping it by the neck and it's head was flailing about. Despite there being a pelican at ringside, L'Ange Blanc couldn't seem to draw any inspiration. L'Homme Masque beat on his ass until finally he got himself disqualified. Then L'Ange Blanc actually celebrated and bowed to the audience like he'd accomplished something. A fitting idea to a surreal bout. Mammouth Siki vs. L'Homme Masque (aired 8/21/71) This was pretty damn good, and I never thought I'd catch myself saying that about a Mammouth Siki match. It was mostly strength holds with barely any movement except for two guys trying to hold each other down, but with the right sort of intensity you can get a contest out of that. Shit, I'd rather see two guys pin each other to the mat than waste my time doing shitty wear down holds. Again, this had to be Voiney because Kasbarian wasn't this good a worker. I usually hate ref involvement in a match, but this had one of the best ref spots I've seen in a while as Siki absolutely flung the ref into L'Homme Masque. That dude was like a torpedo. I should probably add that L'Homme Masque had his mask removed at one point, and it looked for all money like it was Voiney under the hood. I think it's definitely Voiney in these two bouts. I'm leaning towards it being Voiney in the '59 match, but the L'Homme Masque in that match is nowhere near as good a worker as in these two bouts. I have my doubts over the L'Homme Masque in the '62 match against Drapp. He seems taller and his legs are skinnier. Another masked wrestler: Daniel Boucard vs. Red Demon (aired 2/6/66) Man, Red Demon had some shitty ring attire. He had this weird gimmick where he would stop and freeze every time he landed a move. it seemed like he was some kind of Kamikaze ripoff, but every time he tried something athletic he was unbelievably awkward. I mean, he could barely get any height on the athletic spots he tried and almost fell on every landing. It just goes to show you the sheer athleticism that Kamikaze possessed, but Christ, who wants to be Kamikaze with lead feet? Apparently, a poor wrestler named Francis Bertin, that's who.