ohtani's jacket

This unification business led to some strange commentary where Ross mentioned Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt, the King's 1988 AWA title victory and Lou Thesz in the same breath. Later on, he mentioned that Austin worked in WCW from '91-94. I thought wrestling wasn't supposed to exist outside of the WWF? This was face Austin vs. heel Angle, not that you can tell from the match. This would have made for a perfectly good television match, but it was well short of PPV standards.

I didn't really care for the match these guys had in All Japan in 2000 that everyone seems to like, but a year later I just want to see something good. This was good, so that automatically makes it one of the better matches of the year. That's a sad indictment on Japanese men's wrestling in 2001, but that's the reality, especially with Kobashi on the shelf. The amazing thing about these NOAH matches is how much they lack the psychology and storytelling of classic All Japan. If Baba hadn't gotten sick and died, and Akiyama had earned his big moment over Misawa in an All Japan ring, you can be damn sure this would have been better. Again, it wasn't a bad match, but can you look me in the eye (over the internet) and with a straight face tell me this is up to the usual pass the torch standards in Japan? You can't! Because Kobashi comes back with bung knees and has better matches than this. Perhaps Misawa was exhausted from working that style. I'm not sure if Akiyama ever really mastered it. But this was All Japan-lite.

This was from a weird venue. It was an outdoor amphitheater at some Seaside Park in Okinawa. Ishikawa got his win back from earlier in the year, but I'm not sure how much it mattered in the grand scheme of things. Short fight, but one of the better BattlARTS matches of the year. As far as I can tell, this was their last show until the following year. Another reason to dislike 2001.

This was cool. These guys match up really well and I'm looking forward to seeing how their rivalry progresses.

This was a good match. I'd never seen Spanky before, and wasn't sure what to make of him based on his look, but he was quick and skillful. Danielson selling the leg/knee afterward was such a Bret Hart move.

Fit Finlay vs. Chris Benoit (Wien '91) FInlay vs. Benoit, this has to be good right? There's no comedy, I can tell you that much. They beat the shit out of each other in the Finlay vs. Benoit tradition. I'm not sure if people are interested in this match up anymore, but it was a decent match. Fit Finlay vs. Franz Schumann (Street Fight, Wien '93) Both guys came to the ring in white t-shirts and jeans with taped fists. They both bladed but not enough to ruin those white tees. Another decent match from what seems like a pretty good run for Finlay in Wien that year. Fit Finlay vs. Franz Schumann (Chain Fight, Wien '94) I thought this was a boring and uninteresting fight, but the camera angle gives us a good look at what the outdoor Wien venue looked like.

Japanese men's wrestling has been incredibly weak in 2001. At this point, I'm just looking for a match I enjoy. This was a three star match through and through, but each of the match ups was good and Tenryu vs. Araya was awesome. There's no point breaking it down like a normal match because it's not a contender for anything special.

I know this match has its fans, and it's cool that they worked a traditional 5-on-5 elimination match into the Survivor Series pay-per-view, but this was a story driven match if ever I saw one. It felt like a month's worth of RAW storylines packed into a single match. Some of it was cheesy as fuck (like Stephanie's reaction at the end) and some of it I guess you could say was well booked (like Austin and the The Rock being the last men standing), but in a world full of New Japan elimination matches it's hard to argue that this is a great match. If you ask me, the best thing about it was Farooq and his cigar.

Jesus, this match. What a bloodbath. I'm surprised they put this much effort into a mano a mano. You'd think it was an apuestas match with the amount of blood they shed and how long they went. This has to be the best mano a mano we have on tape. I can't think of another one that's a full match like this. It's Monterrey so of course it has a screwy finish, and of course it involves the referees, but there was NO WAY that either of these guys were getting a decisive pinfall or submission. Parka vs. Santo? Are you kidding me? This is definitely on the shortlist for lucha MOTY, and it's pushed Santo to the forefront of the wrestler of the year race.

The GAEA channel has released a full length version of this from the hard cam. The TV version we had was cut in half. The TV version I thought was a case of diminishing returns, and the first of their matches to not be in consideration for Joshi MOTY, but the hard cam version is much better. The parts that were cut mostly involve the submission work at the beginning. Joshi submission work can be pretty pointless, but this was an Aja control segment that added to the totality of the match. It gave you a greater sense of how grueling the match was and how fatigued they were at the end. Plus, I think I prefer the hard cam because it feels like you're in the crowd. There were a few parts I didn't like, such as the garbage brawling on the outside and Aja's punch drunk selling at the end, but there were so many great touches to offset that. I really liked the takedowns and the strikes. Satomura overdid it a bit with her Death Valley Bomb, but that comes across much worse in the clipped version. I still think it's the least of their three matches (up to this point), and it's nowhere near as emotional as the Hokuto match despite being Satomura's big breakthrough, but it's probably a top 5 women's match for the year. The hard cam version also features a bit of the post match proceedings as well.

Fit Finlay vs. Steve Wright (Wien '91) Steve Wright matches are always a bit disappointing to me. He's one of those guys who has a false rep for being a super worker when, in reality, his matches rarely meet my expectations. This one showed his fighting side, and it looked like he had the potential to have a really good fight with someone, but I doubt that he ever did. Maybe I'll turn the corner on him some day. I'm starting to turn the corner on my idea that Finlay was poor between '86 and '96. Fit Finlay & Hiro Yamamoto vs. Steve Wright & Alex Wright (Wien '93) The Wrights' entrance is lame. They deserve to be beat on for that. Fit Finlay vs. Alex Wright, what a wrestling education that is for the wonder kid. If you've never seen a young Tenzan before, he looks a bit like Tajiri. He doesn't do much, but that's okay because this is mostly about Finlay vs. the Wrights. Steve Wright is like a house on fire. I could dig this Steve Wright. I guess you need to mess with his kid to get him all fired up. Fit Finlay vs. Alex Wright (Wien '93) Steve is at ringside for this. This was the best beat down since Dibiase and Virgil. Steve got involved just like Piper, and of course he got beat down too. I hope there's more of this.

This was the final of the Leyenda de Plata tournament. Black Warrior challenged the holder of the trophy, as was the tradition at the time. I was looking forward to this, but it was underwhelming. It was a short, single fall contest with no drama whatsoever. A bit odd, really. Even Casas' acting was off. He tried to appear dejected but laid it on a bit thick. Not the great moment I was expecting.

Panther and Demon bring their match to Tijuana. I was curious to see how this would pan out. On the whole, I guess it was better than their IWRG match. They reversed the scenario from that match by having Demon work the revenge fall. I liked the way he went after Panther's arm, but it lasted about five seconds. The finish was screwy, which was frustrating, but I guess it was in neither guy's interests to lose cleanly. The Blue Panther Super Fan in the audience was shattered. There was a smattering of applause for Demon's victory but Super Fan wasn't having any of that.

This was cool. They did a really good job of creating an intense, nervy atmosphere. There wasn't a single shot that wasn't laid in or sold heavily. They were on edge the entire match and it felt like one slip up would cost either man the match. Usually, you'd have a commentator ramming that home, but here the work spoke for itself. Whenever I see Danielson from this period, it always seems like he's going through an early Owen/Benoit phase (maybe it's the tights.) I might have been caught up in the moment, but it felt like he was coming into his own during this tournament.

What the heck happened to Sasaki's mullet? This was big, dumb and goofy. Just the way it should be.

Man, I love Bas Rutten and I love Carl Malenko. What's not to love about this? This was as close to the old Pancrase/RINGS style that we've seen all year. PRIDE made that style of wrestling obsolete, but we could have done with a healthy dose of it as an alternative to the men's promotions. I kinda wish Rutten had done more works. Imagine Rutten vs. Ikeda, or Ishikawa, or Tamura, or Sakuraba.

This was about as good as a sub-10 minute mano a mano can get, I suppose. Mano a manos are usually shorter than title matches or apuesta matches, but this was kind of taking the piss. The action was good, but of course it had to get screwy. Mascara Magica interfered in the end and pulled Villano IV's mask off. I was disappointed that he had the same male pattern balding as his father and brother (not my image of Villano IV), but surprisingly a ton of fans left after the finish. I don't remember seeing that before. Afterwards, Villano IV made an empty mascara contra mascara challenge, but I suppose dyed in the wool lucha fans should be used to that.

This was a treat even if it was short. I would have liked a more traditional title match, but for a 10 minute title bout the fans sure got their money's worth. The Arena Coliseo tecnico fans were behind Ultimo while Pierrothito had Los Boricuas in his corner, and apparently Pierroth cared as much about the minis title as he did the National trios titles. The match almost ended on a botched moonsault to the outside where Ultimo's head hit the ramp with a sickening thud, but he was able to continue the match. There was one spot after that where Pierroth had to walk through a sequence that he'd usually execute in a flash, but they managed to right the ship and finish the bout. This might not be on the level of the Minis Classics, but in an era where the minis usually wound up on the cutting room floor, it was a joy to watch.

This was the semi-final of the Leyenda de Plata tournament. I guess I should have watched the cibernetico first as I was confused by the booking. Black Warrior, who's supposed to be a rudo, had Atlantis in his corner while Black Tiger, who is still a tecnico, had Pierroth as his second. I'm not sure if he wanted Pierroth as his second, though. There was some sort of drama that ended with Pierroth being barred from ringside. Maybe it something to do with the Mexico vs. Japon element. The action was good, though fairly standard for both men. Black Warrior uncorked a pearler of a tope. That man is on the shortlist for best tope ever. It looks like he's getting a tecnico push, which is well deserved. He's been the third guy on his trios team for the longest time despite being a rock solid worker.

Karl von Kramer vs. Serge Gentilly (aired 4/29/58) I thought I had seen this before but apparently not. I love Karl von Kramer. He reminds me of what Terry Rudge would be like if we transported him to this era. This was a bit disjointed, and would been better as a 25 minute match completely controlled by von Kramer, but there were enough flashy moments to keep me occupied. It was a strange sort of bout as it never boiled over into a forearm smash contest despite the niggle, and the finish to each fall was weak. Gentilly wasn't the greatest, which may have been the cause. I'm pretty sure the other von Kramer bouts I watched were better.

Looks like the Villanos will be the first program for Los Guerreros del Infierno after the Anniversario. Works for me. Dunno how fans took it at the time. Perhaps they wanted GdL to feud with younger wrestlers. At least the focus is on Guerrero vs. Villano IV and not Villano III. I always enjoy it when Villano IV gets a little piece of the spotlight. EDIT: The correct date for this is 10/9. The 10/2 match featured Tarzan Boy and ended in a DQ finish when Mascara Magica attacked the Villanos. This is a return match.

This didn't break any new ground from the PPV match, but this has been one of the better match ups of 2001 so it's worth watching in that regard. I couldn't really understand the title switching in this feud, and after building Angle up as this resilient babyface, I read that they turn him heel again. Why?

Fit Finlay & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Mile Zrno & Prince Zefy (Hannover '91) Man, Iizuka is a vicious prick in this. You'd have to be to foot it with Finlay, but I'm impressed with this Catch work of his. We get more Iizuka vs. Zrno, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite match ups of the early 90s era. But mostly the bout is about Finlay and Iizuka beating on Zefy. Zefy makes a great target for abuse, and I could happily watch this match up in every town. Finlay gets DQ'ed in the most awesome fashion. Zefy is celebrating a fall when Finlay lifts him from behind and dumps his crotch on the ropes. Someone needs to make a GIF of it 'cos It's brilliant.

Nice story! There's a few more Gypsy Joe and Billy Goelz matches in the Davis collection. Hopefully, they see the light of day at some point.

Osamu Nishimura vs. Michel Kovac (Wien '97) Nishimura in catch seems like a dream come true. We just need to find a better opponent than Kovac. Fit Finlay vs. Steve Casey (Hannover '94) Look, it's Finlay against Wild Angus' boy. I always had a soft spot for Casey and I loved the way he kicked the shit out of Finlay in this match. It's kind of rare that you see a wrestler use their size advantage with their legs instead of their reach. I didn't have huge expectations for this but it ended up being a cool bout. Fit Finlay vs. Tony St. Clair (Graz '86) This was clipped, but it's professionally shot so worth checking out. They're so young. Fit Finlay vs. Tony St Clair (Wien '91) This is decent by Wien standards, but nothing essential. Fit Finlay vs. Dave Taylor (Hannover '91) Man, Hannover is a hell of a wrestling town. Don't let 'em tell you that Dave Taylor was never over anywhere because they loved him in Hannover. This took a while to get going because they were playing off the crowd heat, but it got good in a hurry. I guess everyone has an expectation of what a Finlay vs. Taylor match should look like, but they were adlibbing nightly in front of paying crowds, so you kind of have to remind yourself that it's a house show and not your own personal dream Finlay vs. Taylor match. Fun match. And Hannover, hell of a town.