ohtani's jacket

Ricky Morton is the same as any other wrestler, but because he said something you want to hear suddenly we should believe him?

Ricky Morton runs a wrestling school and works on the independent circuit. What do you expect him to say?

Let's take what the old timers say with a grain of salt... until they say something we agree with!

Ricky knows which side his bread is buttered on.

Cheri Bibi vs. Paul Debusne (aired 8/16/58) This wasn't as good as the Jacky Corn match, but you can still mark it down in the "good" column for Cheri Bibi matches. Debusne is the guy they looked to put in the ring against boxers, so of course the part where they started throwing manchettes is exciting. The build up to that? Not quite on the same level. It didn't help that there was some weird distortion with the film that made the wrestlers appear bigger than they really were every time they were in the middle of the frame. Debusne looked like he was working hard as he was sweating profusely, but he didn't have the skills of a Jacky Corn to keep things interesting, and it wasn't until the finishing stretch that I bought into this. Heck of a finish, though. Wild stuff.

The main purpose of this match was to set up the Blue Panther vs. Blue Demon singles match. Now ordinarily, I would complain about Blue Demon Jr as the choice for Panther's singles opponent, and there could have been better picks (Dandy and Panther get into it at the end, which is mouthwatering, BUT, Panther is having such a great run that I am curious to see how the bout holds up. It's not a match with a rep, but the Panther vs. Santo match from CMLL Japan didn't have a rep either and that was fantastic. I'm not going to get my hopes up, but I do want to give it a shot. And I've managed to talk myself into looking forward to it. This match was pretty much a table setter for the singles match to come, but it's always fun to see Panther matches where he is the head honcho.

Not sure. It's not something I've noticed before. In this case, the commentator declares Chaisne the winner of the premiere manche and signs off for the night. You can see the wrestlers standing in their corners waiting for the bell.

This was a return match of sorts with Cerebro wearing a type of karate outfit made out of one of his old masks. Presumably to make fun of Kato Kung Lee, whom he is kind of feuding with, but not really. Again, it's a fall-out-of-bed trios for these guys, and a waste of Cerebro's talents, but I should know by now that luchadores can't be in electric feuds every month of the year.

Casas and Santo get a shot at the Infernales' titles. The most notable thing about this bout for me was how good Casas was. When I think of Casas, I tend to think of the facial expressions and the crowd manipulation, and those moments of genius that only Casas can produce. But he was also a good worker on a technical level. He may not have been the best wrestler in Mexico per se, but he knew how to work, and he was excellent at adapting to changing trends. I don't really think of Ultimo Guerrero and Rey Bucanero as classic luchadores. They strike me as among the first wave of modern luchadores. They certainly used a lot more moves than their predecessors did. Other workers came along who took the modern style further, but in 2001 it feels as though the Infernales are at the forefront of the push towards a more modern style. Satanico was old-school as fuck, but was able to mesh with the Infernales because of their ongoing storyline. Santo and Casas, on the other hand, were able to work with them seamlessly. You can see Casas switch gears here compared to his regular fall-out-bed trios performances from '00-01. He had a lot of experience working in Japan and it's clear that the CMLL Japan shows have an influence on how the Infernales want to work. They don't abandon the lucha style completing since they're playing to an Arena Mexico crowd, but they definitely have their working boots on. The trouble is that the booking is screwy. I should have smelled the Dusty finish coming as soon as I put the bout on (I wonder who you are, Mexican Dusty?), but it was a disappointment all the same. I really hope we get a clean, satisfying payoff to a lucha match some time soon.

Return match that gets screwy when Tarzan Boy does a run in. Again, promises a lot but doesn't quite click. They really need to let these teams wrestle and forget about the cute finishes.

This didn't set the world on fire, but I was happy to see Los Guerreros de Infierno working with someone else for a change. And of course, it gives Casas something to do. There were enough flashes of goodness to suggest they could have a great match if they pulled it all together.

My pick would be the 10/97 minis trio. My favorite trios are the Atlantis/Angel Azteca/Javier Cruz vs. Satanico/Dandy/Emilio Charles Jr matches from May 1990 as those were the matches that got me hooked on lucha. I think one is regarded as being better than the other, but I love them both.

Mile Zrno vs. Fit Finlay (Wien 1991) Mile Zrno vs. Fit Finlay (Hannover 1993) This guys had good chemistry together. They did all of their regular holds against each other but made them look extra punishing. I'm not a fan of Finlay from this era, as I've said many times before, but he was more athletic against Zrno. Now you might be thinking, "It's Fit Finlay! Who gives a fuck if he's athletic?" And you might have a point there. But if you've seen how spry he was when first hit the scene, you'll appreciate him hitting the ropes with a bit more verve. If you're the type who never grows tired of him clobbering folks, you might not appreciate this matches as much, but I was happy to see him forgo the clobbering for some proper wrestling. Of course, this matches never build to a big finish, so they're inconsequential in that regard, but I thought these were better than your run-of-the-mill German handhelds. Mile Zrno vs. Steve Wright (Wien 1991) This was house show Zrno vs. Wright. Still good, but house show Zrno vs. Wright. Filled with stupid ref jokes and casual exchanges. A hard match to recommend in light of the Finlay bouts.

Jo Labat vs Ami Sola (aired 7/31/58) This was an excellent wrestling match filled with holds, counter holds, and forceful strikes. I swear if this match came from any other archive, we'd be heralding it as one of the best matches of the era, but because it's part of this amazing period of French catch, it's just another match. It will be interesting to see where Sola ranks among the French wrestlers when we're done with this footage. He's carved a niche for himself in this 50s footage as The Midcard Guy. One of the problems we face as we head into the 60s footage is that we don't get the same week-to-week footage. In fact, for some years we barely get any footage at all. I'm not sure if that's an indication that catch went off the air for a time. There was some sort of controversy that happened in the early 60s, but I haven't been able to nail down what it was all about. At any rate, Sola quickly disappears from the footage we do have, and I guess he retires at some point because he's not on any cards after 1963. Robert Duranton vs Michel Chaisne (aired 7/31/58) They only showed the first fall of this, which is strange because usually they'd clip the Sola match and show the Duranton match in full. I'm kind of glad they gave us the entire Sola because it was clearly the better bout. This was kind of goofy at times. The popular blue-eye, Chaisne, was a bit over the top with how he dealt with this massive slab of a man. I didn't really get what all the bobbing was about. Once again, early Duranton exceeded expectations with how much he was willing to wrestle, but against a decent technician like Chaisne, his short comings were apparent. My favorite part of the fall was when Duranton stepped over Chaisne. That's a move Duranton did a lot and one I'm surprised other wrestlers didn't pinch. We all know how irate basketball players get when players step over them. It seems perfect for wrestling as well.

I suppose that may be true for the big apuesta matches, especially the Pena booked Konnan ones. But I have a hard time believing that random, pointless trios matches were laid out in advance.

This was about a month out from the famous Dandy vs. Navarro singles match (well, famous to me.) There were any hot Dandy/Navarro exchanges, aside from one slap that knocked a few of Navarro's teeth out. It was a pretty mediocre match on the whole. A lot of house show Wagner and meaningless contributions from the Rayos. I can't really think of a reason to watch this.

I took a long hiatus from IWRG, so I don't have a clue what's going on. Super Astro is wrestling unmasked. That's something I've never seen before. He has a perfectly shaven cue ball head that's the same shape as his mask. Kato Kung Lee has a mustache that makes him look like Gomez Addams. Dr. Cerebro is supposed to be the main focus of the bout, but he's not beefing with anyone. This was a walk in the park for these guys, but it was leisurely. I'd like to see Cerebro start a feud with someone if possible.

This was a sweet return match. It was wrestled in a tiny ass ring, so they worked the mat a lot. These guys bring the right amount of intensity to their bouts. I find their work just as believable as the big name WWF acts despite the fact they're playing to tiny audiences. This was going along perfectly until Xavier ran in and caused a disqualification. I was pissed because I was enjoying the bout. To me, it's lazy booking. If you did it every now and again it would have shock value, but it happens on a nightly basis with these American feds. As you can probably tell, it's starting to grind my gears.

Since this was brought up, I assume it was impossible to Savage to script all of his matches. Can anybody point to a clear example of a Savage match where it's being called in the ring, or where Randy is letting the other guy call the match? What about the Hogan matches? How come we never hear any talk about Savage scripting those?

Gilbert Leduc & Jacky Corn vs. Der Henker (aired 7/3/72) For some reason, this was a handicap match. I didn't find it terribly exciting but the spectators sure did. Der Henker got rid of Jacky Corn and it became Der Henker vs. Leduc for a while. Corn returned all bandaged up and then it all kind of fizzled out into a draw with Leduc and Corn declared the winners. Der Henker vs. Marcel Montreal (aired 2/10/73) Montreal is a guy we've seen a few times. A good wrestler, but a bit dry. Like a lot of catch matches, this got better once they started clobbering each other. The Hangman ended up claiming another victim, but I couldn't help but wonder if some type of swinging neck breaker would have been a better finisher than his tombstone pile driver. Then again, at least it's a pile driver that everyone sells. Gilbert Leduc & Jacky Corn vs. Der Henker & Daniel Schmid (aired 3/30/74) This is the last Der Henker match we have. What can we say about him? Not the greatest masked worker of all time, but certainly not the least. I thought he would be a questionable worker like L'Homme Masque, but he ended up being a lot better. I would put him on the level of a guy like Villano V. This was a wildly entertaining bout and easily the best of Der Henker's tags. The reason for that was Daniel Schmid. Schmid is awesome. He really should be everyone's new wrestling hero. He's this chubby blonde kid who bumps and sells like a European Buddy Rose. I really need to devour everything we have from him. This was the first tag where Leduc and Corn felt like they were anything special. Together, that is. And to make things better, Pat Roach showed up between falls and challenged Der Henker to a match. It's too bad we don't have any of that, but it was nice to see Pat.

This was one of my favorite rivalries of 2000. I really dig Homicide, and I like Low Ki matches that have a harder edge to them. I don't know if this was good as their matches from 2000, but there were enough moments to remind me that this shit's my jam. The finish was amazing. One of the best submission finishes I can remember seeing. Indy wrestling can get a bit OTT with its hyperbole, but they hit the right level here .The wrestling might not have been at a MOTYC level, but the moment was.

This was the yusho for the Young Generation Battle Tournament 2001. As you can probably tell, a lot of these tournaments take place in August in Japan. It was good to see Ishikawa have a proper BattlARTS match. I'm not a big fan of Usuda (I feel like I say that every time I write about his matches), but he's a guy who'll give you a proper BattlARTS match. This wasn't great, but it was good, and I thought Usuda was a step above throughout the match and deserved his win. Ishikawa didn't quite salvage Japanese men's pro-wrestling with this performance, but that's a big ask for a tiny indy show, so I'll try not to hold it against him.

This was the yusho for the Japan Grand Prix '01. Both women had already wrestled once that evening, so they worked a sprint for the yusho. Some people would argue that a sprint is the best type of match for them because it trims the fat (and they don't have to watch them for as long), but I'll take their longer matches, warts and all. It made sense to work a sprint here after exerting so much energy earlier in the evening, but it was over in a flash and didn't settle into the sort of groove I'm used to. It was cool that they put Momoe over, but her match with Ito seemed more epic. She earned herself a title shot, and I loved the look on Ito's face when she shook Momoe's hand. How can you not love Ito? Easily the most badass champion in Japan at this point. I don't think it's even close.