ohtani's jacket

Wait up, Ricky Morton was on AEW? Who would have thought it?

This wasn't an EMLL match. It was on an independent Monterrey card. I didn't even know this match existed. If I've seen this before then that brain cell definitely doesn't exist anymore. Wait, there's a whole thread about this match where people are debating whether it's any good and who's performance is worse, Lizmark or Satanico. I love that sort of shit. The match is okay, but kind of average. I don't think either guy gives a particularly good performance. The most telling thing about the match is that the third fall doesn't have the big nearfalls you'd expect from a lucha classic, and no dives. They don't really even try. And early on, the matwork isn't great. If you're pinning your hopes on anything for this match it's that the matwork is great, or failing that the exchange are good. I can't think of one highlight from this match. I love both guys, but they had better matches against other people in the 90s. Not sure how this made it so high up your list.

Look at that rudo lineup. They started this match off with a technical fall and the first pairing was Casas vs. Dandy. When you think about it, 2001 isn't that far removed from their classic matches together. Still, there was a great nostalgic feel to their work, for me anyway. We also got a bit of straight Parka vs. Panther grappling, and Satanico stretching Antifaz for a bit, which was cool. For some reason they kept the first fall rolling forever and it unraveled into some lazy rudo work. You could tell by the running time that this was match was going to be too long. If they'd trimmed the fat, it could have been one of the best matches of the year. Instead, it was just another Monterrey bout .There was an issue between Casas and Antifaz at the end, but they resolved it for the time being.

Juan Botana vs Paul Villars (aired 1/1/59) God, I love Villars. I love how stoic he appears, but beneath the surface is that violent, psychotic temper. And we saw it here with the mauling he gave Botana. Shouldn't have raked the face during that head scissors. That was your big mistake, Botana.

This got better off the false finish (since when did a ref have the power to overturn a DQ?) I love Homicide, but injured babyface challenger isn't a role I wanna see him play. This heated up once he got some offense in. Was Danielson a good heel? The only heelish thing he did in this match was refuse to break the count, and even that was really on the nose. He jawed with the crowd a bit, but it almost feels like a post-modern heel champ act. I feel like Danielson never draws criticism. Every other worker gets scrutinized but Danielson seems untouchable. He did some cool shit in this match with his elbows and arm work, but other than that I wasn't hugely impressed. I suppose he sold the shoulder well, so he can have a couple of Bret Hart brownie points. The finish kind of sucked with the ring bell shit, but the post match was awesome. Homicide rules. I can only imagine how exciting this must have been for people following Homice and ROH since day one.

This was a good match. I would have liked it even more if the commentators hadn't screamed about the psychology every five seconds. Every time I watch Joe, I come away thinking he's the perfect wrestler. He had size, strength, skill, a great look, and he could cut a promo. I haven't watched the other matches in this trilogy, but I got the gist since they wouldn't stop talking about them. I actually thought Punk was gonna win this, so I was surprised when Joe put him away (I know nothing about ROH.) And didn't he put him away? That was a definitive finish.

This was a fun match. I really want to see Liger vs. Murahama after watching this match. Actually, I want to see Murahama vs. the World at this point. Is there a more exciting wrestler on the Japanese scene than Murahama? Liger and Samurai do their visiting rudo act similar to the year before. Samurai, in particular, seems to revel in the role. Deflin hasn't been at his world beating best this year (compared to 2000), but the real story here is Liger vs. Murahama. Did it happen? If not, why not?

This was a decent match. I forgot how busy Toryumon can be, but at least this felt fresh and sometime new not like the rest of the decaying men's promotions.

Awkward undercard Monterrey wrestling is interesting, I guess? I was hoping this would have a bit more of a punk rock, DIY feel, but it didn't.

Y'know, I never watched Chene vs. Cholak before. What a fantastic bout. Cholak was fucking huge. An absolute beast. And he could wrestle too. But the working over he gave Chene, and Chene fighting to stay in the fight despite the cut. This was great stuff.

Y'know, I've wanted to see this match ever since I got into Japanese wrestling, which is more than 20 years ago now. A match I've been wanting to see for 20 years. Weird. It's good. One of the better Hase matches I can remember seeing (not a guy I'm high on), and recently I've started to appreciate prime Liger again after viewing his Euro bouts. It didn't change my life, but it was a damn good match. I never really thought I'd want to watch a Liger match again, but I'm starting to see the similarities with Santo where both guys excel at working their formula. I loved the intensity at the beginning, and I was surprised by the shotei attack from Liger. I didn't realize he was using that move in '91. Great finishing stretch. Liger's dives looked great, and I liked how he sold his disappointment at the end.

I'm gonna start working through the matches I haven't seen. I hope you don't take my comments personally. I'm going into this match cold. I don't know who Masao Inoue is, and I've only seen one NOAH match that I liked. Perhaps if I had seen more NOAH, I'd have more context for this. I kept wondering why a limited guy with post-injury Chono level offense was in a big match with Jun Akiyama. I always have a problem with Akiyama matches. I just can't get into the guy. Lots of people like him. I don't know why I have this stubborn resistance towards him. One thing I did like about this were the knees to the head. He probably did one too many as it was verging on cruel, but I liked how he used them to put Inoue in his place.

This was a typical Monterrey bout. A lot of comedy, ref spots and dick jokes. Fun for the whole family. The fans got into it with the wrestlers a bit and were treated to the usual shit finish. There were a few good exchanges and some killer dives at the end, but probably too much Porky and La Parka for my liking. Zumbido was awesome. I wonder why he hasn't been appearing on the main shows. They were about to make him a Guapo at one point. Was he injured? (Looks like he got hurt in August.) I imagine if you were a Monterrey fan it was fun seeing the CMLL guys in person, but when they were leaving at the end, I kept wondering if they were really happy with that shit finish. The kids climbing into the ring is awesome. Reminds me of when kids used to invade the pitch after rugby games.

I haven't gotten around to revisiting the Chene match yet, but there's another sponsored upload from the Davis Collection. This time it's a women's match -- Rose Roman vs Ramona TeSelle. No sound, which might be a blessing. Typically solid women's match. Women's wrestling in the 50s was a lot different than people might expect. You'd think it would be all hair pulling and scratching, but they're technically sound wrestlers in the Mildred Burke ilk.

This was fun. Watching Ebessan try to work shoot style with Murahama was a hoot.

One thing I always remember about Kamala is a mate of my friend's older brother remarking, "Ugandan Giant? More like a cabby driver from Detroit." Close. More like a truck driver from Minnesota.

This was a cool match. Not every dream match needs to be a five star classic. Sometimes it's enough that the match made tape. These guys didn't know much about each other, presumably, and there was no hook or story to their match, but they still managed to work a pretty dynamic bout.

This is fascinating. I will devour this list in my free time.

Batman vs. Jo Gonzalez (aired 7/19/73) This wasn't as good as I was hoping for, but it had its moments. Larsen looked like he'd eaten a few too many French cheeses but he still busted out some of his neat arm drag work. Gonzalez was an awesome heel and I'm sure the gang is gonna love him. The best thing about him is that he has this distinctly 70s look. He was bald but grew out the rest of his hair. It's the sleaziest shit imaginable and I'm sure folks will have a field day with it once they get to this era. Batman vs. Klondyke BIll (aired 6/6/74) I'm pretty sure this was the British Klondyke Bill and not the Canadian wrestler with the panties fetish that Tony Schiavone likes to talk about. What an amazing gut. That has to be one of the mightiest guts in the history of professional wrestling. And he knew how to use it too. The tiny little rake thin ref took the hugest bumps off Klondyke's gut. You'd have to be crazy to expect this to be any good, but Batman did go to the top rope to try to put the big man away.

Love Kamala in these Mean Gene outakes.

Triple H, eat ya heart out! Shocker entered this match dressed as an Egyptian Pharaoh while Emilio came to the ring dressed like Caesar. After a fairly lackluster build up, this was about as good a match as you could have hoped for. It was smartly laid out with three solid falls. After weeks of running away from Shocker, Emilio went on the offensive and was the aggressor early on, which I liked. They dealt with the Babe Richard problem in the most WWF way possible w/ Shocker taking him out with one of his signature moves. Usually, I'd bitch about that sort of thing, but they made it work. Richard was replaced with a tecnico ref, which Emilio immediately latched onto during the post match. There was a lot of great work from the seconds in this match and everyone was on their game performance wise. One of the smart things about the match was that it constantly highlighted Shocker's athleticism as opposed to his rudoism. So, it wasn't a surprise when he cut a face promo afterward. Emilio getting his beautiful locks cut was quite the sight. I really liked this match. It was the CMLL equivalent of a smart WWF main event. Good stuff.

Thank you, sir.

Fit Finlay vs. Jushin Thunder Liger (Bremen '93) I didn't realize until recently that this match took place in Bremen. It's a fancam, so the camera angle isn't great, but it's a pretty good walk through of a Liger vs. Finlay bout. It doesn't resemble Catch whatsoever. It's basically a Liger tour match. You wouldn't put it on either man's resume, but that's a compliment in a way. I usually dislike fish out of water matches, but thid wasn't bad at all. Fit Finlay vs. Steve Casey (Wien '94) These guys are on my must-see list after their last match. I think Casey is still doing the Lord gimmick here, but he looks like a Chippendale's stripper. Finlay is wearing yellow, which doesn't sit well with me. This is one of those bouts where nothing happens. I mean, stuff happens, but nothing really happens. I wonder if wrestlers can explain why nights like these happen. Casey doesn't start wrestling the way I want him to until the finish. Finlay has another off night. And I do mean another.

I can't find the hair matches anywhere, but we do get this fun return match. It's the holidays season, so the match is interspersed with clips from the year's best vignettes. It's been a fun year. We get Stone Cold Porky and Stone Cold Emilio Charles, Jr. in this bout. Emilio tries to wrestle with a beanie on, which is cute. Black Tiger remembers he has issues with Black Warrior, which pleases me. It's the holidays and the regular crowd don't seem to be there, so this is a bit of fun before everyone goes back home to their families. And that's how the year wraps up for CMLL, arguably the best company in the world in 2001.

I didn't expect them to have this match so soon after the PPV. The first fall was a super serious title match fall. During the second fall, the rudos began doing nasty things to the tecnicos and the tecnicos finally unleashed the can of whoop ass they'd been saving. The third fall was a bit of a mess. They teased a lowblow finish, which would have sucked, before the tecnicos got their win back from the PPV. This wasn't the match I was hoping it would be. It felt rushed and came too soon after the PPV. It would have made more sense to run it in the New Year, I would have thought.