ohtani's jacket

I hadn't watched this match in nearly 20 years. At the time, we thought All Japan Women's was having a renaissance and would go on to survive in the same way that modern New Japan has. Little did we know that All Japan would fold within a few years and that Momoe would retire young and start a family. Watching this 20 years on, there's nothing here that would bother a Joshi fan. For every criticism you could make, the reply would be "that's Joshi." They don't do anything that wasn't already well established in the genre. You can criticize this type of match until the cows come home, but it will never change anything. There are Joshi matches where the selling is better, the transitions are better, the offense is better, but those are outliers. Joshi is a fast-paced "go-go-go" style of wrestling, and whatever's happening next is usually more important than the transition, or the sequence, that led to it. This was a 30 minute draw, but I wasn't bored once. They both fought hard. On the surface, Maekawa should have won, but Momoe had those famous All Japan guts. There are flaws, and there is excess, but show me a men's match with as much heart. At least these girls were trying to keep the classic style alive. It may have been futile in the long run, but to me this bout was worthy of the 90s Joshi that proceeded it.

This was supposed to be Relevos Increibles, but before the bout there was a cheesy vignette that would have warmed the heart of any B movie director, where Satanico used his demonic powers to transform Rencor Latino into a prototype version of Averno. And then when they were wrestling, Mascara Magica was way too into partnering with Ultimo Guerrero. But the bout itself was much better than the Ultimo/Satanico mano a mano. There was urgency and intensity, and the bout moved at the right clip. I was kind of surprised by how easily Satanico and prototype-Averno were disposed of in the end, but the match held my interest the entire way.

This was okay, I guess, but I'd rather watch their classics then watch them run through their greatest hits.

This was a great match. Austin was amazing in this match. This wasn't just the touring champ against the hometown hero. There was all the emotion of Austin's heel turn mixed with the hometown hero's title shot. I love how Austin wrestles like a rattlesnake during this run. The best part in the match is when he gives Benoit that suplex into the announcer's table and pushes the cameraman out of the way as the adrenaline starts to flow. This was laid out superbly for a television match and was good enough to be on a pay-per-view. You could see the TV finish coming a mile away, but it was expertly handled. This was head and shoulders above anything I've seen from May thus far.

These two had great chemistry. This was easily the best pairing I have seen in May. The finish went over like a lead balloon. Everyone was clearly sick of Montreal references in 2001 except for Vince. But the finish couldn't change the fact that these two had serious chemistry.

Michel Chaisne vs. Jo Labat (aired 2/27/58) This started with Ami Sola getting a win, which I wish we'd seen since he's become something of a favorite among our Catch circle, but always seems to do job on TV. Then they introduced Cheri Bibi to the wrestlers and crowd. If you want my honest opinion, Cheri Bibi can stay far away from Catch, but the opposite happens as far as the footage goes. After Bibi leaves, we get the match. And it's a good one. It's a shame we don't know more about the backstage goings on from this era, but it can't be a coincidence that Chaisne has been on television so many times. The promoters must have seen some sort of potential in him. I can only imagine the promoters at the time were always on the look out for a new heavyweight star. I'm not sure how things panned out with Chaisne. His name appears on a lot of 60s bills, but there's nothing to suggest he became a big name. At this point he was a classy young heavyweight. This was a nice technical bout. It seems as though they had a heckler in the beginning. Hecklers always bothered me in the WoS footage, but I can't understand what's being said here. Every time they stood up and worked an exchange they got a warm response, and they actually looked really great doing those exchanges. The matwork was fine as well, but the part I really liked was when Labat starting laying in his shots. We've all seen the formula by now where they work a long technical match and start throwing forearms. This match had some really interesting shots from Labat. His stock kind of rose with me because of it. The quality of wrestling in '58 has been just as good as '57 thus far, and the week to week quality of the wrestling continues to be unparalleled in any episodic TV that I've ever seen.

This was a decent match but unconvincing. Am I really supposed to believe that Shinjiro Ohtani can beat Otsuka with BattlARTS rules? While he was still a junior in 2000, I thought Ohtani remained one of the better workers in Japan, but shoot style was never one of his strengths. This should have been a mismatch, but Otsuka is so often the job boy in these situations. I hated the use of pro-style moves. It's a pet peeve of mine in shoot style. That was the kiss of death as far as me recommending this.

This was good, but I wanted it to be life-changing. These guys were awesome against each other in tag matches, but their singles matches don't use the same elements as the tag bouts. They try too hard to have quasi fights when they should be out and out brawling. Their styles don't really mesh well as MMA, and I hate the way that Ishikawa always jobs. I know people love this feud, but their singles bouts leave me cold.

To be honest, this was probably the most entertaining match from May. The exchanges were slow and telegraphed, but there was an urgency to the bout and everything flowed well. Matches like these show how valuable Atlantis was as the glue in trios matches. It helped that 75% of his career matches were against these guys (which may, or may not, be an exaggeration), but I found him entertaining in this. Especially for a guy in no-program land. When you don't have a program in CMLL, it's easy to fade into the background. CMLL, at the best of times, is a blur of trios matches. But Atlantis stood out here. If you don't like the Capos, this will be a yawn, but if you like their dopey shit with Rayo, you'll know exactly what to expect.

This is rudos contra rudos, but Apolo Dantes is conflicted about whether they should be attacking Shocker. He agonizes over the decision until he can it no more, and attacks his partners instead. The rudos soap opera continues.

Wagner was a bit of a rock star at this point. He spent so much time working in Japan that he only made limited appearances in Mexico. The fact that we get a Dr. Wagner Jr singles match is a good thing. The fact that it's against Hijo del Lizmark is unfortunate. There's not a lot of good things you can say about Hijo del Lizmark. I guess he had a couple of moves that looked okay, but everything about him, from the way he moved in the ring to his selling and mannerisms, is a turn off. Wagner made a match out of it, and for all Lizmark's shortcomings it was probably more entertaining than the Ultimo Guerrero vs. Satanico match, but it was a truncated 2/3 falls match with a few New Japan leanings that didn't really mesh with the level of opponent. Won't make any end of year lists, but I guess it was nice to see Wagner in Mexico.

Bit of a lightweight match but it sets up a mano a mano the following week between Wagner and Lizmark.

This took forever to start with both Shocker and Silver King cutting promos, and Mr. Niebla coming out to replace SK for reasons I wasn't following. Once it started, the action was pretty good. Casas has nothing to do at this point, but we get to see him work with Zumbido here, which is nice. Your mileage may vary on how much you care about him working with Bestia for the millionth time, but it's a pairing that I always enjoy. I forget how good even a washed up La Fiera is. This was a nice, tidy win for the tecnicos, and the bout was clean, which was a blessing.

This coulda had class. It coulda been a contender. I like how CMLL brought back rudos contra rudos at this time, and reinstated the importance of mano a mano bouts. Two perfectly good throwback moves. I also like the storm they created between Satanico and Ultimo Guerrero. This could have been intense, short and indecisive and it wouldn't have mattered so long as it kicked ass. But this didn't kick ass. Instead, it danced around it. It pushed the storyline further, but not in a way that kept me begging for more.

I took a long break from this stuff so I need to relearn the lay of the land. This is rudos contra rudos. Satanico hates Ultimo Guerrero. Ultimo Guerrero hates Satanico. Shocker hates Bestia Salvaje and Emilio Charles Jr. Bestia Salvaje & Emilio Charles Jr hate Shocker. And Black Warrior's the guy wondering "why can't we all be friends?" This had some decent moments, but it was hardly red hot considering Satanico and Ultimo were about to have a singles match. Ultimo Guerrero fouled Satanico with a foreign object, which I guess is a step up from a low blow, but doesn't bode well for their mano a mano.

Clipping hurt the flow of this, but there was enough shown to get general idea. The best pairing was Virus vs. Marvin. If you're a lucha fan, you'll know that a lot of the time you watch matches like these to see one particular pairing. Virus and Marvin weren't otherworldly here, but they were good enough that I'm gladly watch anything they did together. The other workers were serviceable. Solar wasn't at his best, but I was happy enough with what Virus and Marvin gave me.

Cheri Bibi & Eric Husberg vs. James Brown & Jean Corne (aired 6/19/66) Cheri Bibi & Eric Husberg vs. Giacomo Guglielmetti & Philippe Crapez (aired 3/6/66) Cheri Bibi & Eric Husberg vs. Remy Bayle & Marcel Montreal (aired 4/25/65) The first two matches dashed any hope I had for the Cheri Bibi and Husberg tag team. The first match featured lightweight comedy and the second match was a listless brawl that wouldn't end. But the third match was everything I thought the Bibi/Husberg team would be. Husberg did the lion's share of the wrestling, and later on the bumping, stooging and selling, and when Bib tagged in he was fun, charismatic and interesting. There was night and day between the matches. I don't think you can truly appreciate it unless you watch them in the order that I did. If you watch them in chronological order, you'll probably end up disappointed. I watched them in random order picking the Corne match first. I'm just glad I found a match where the combination worked. I was ready to slag them off after the first two matches, but as a Husberg fan, I'm really glad I stuck it out and watched the third bout.

Jose Arroyo vs. Pierre Bernaert (aired 2/11/58) This was fine. I would have liked to have seen the whole thing to compare Bernaert's performance with Husberg but there was enough here to suggest that they were at a similar sort of level. Arroyo's selling bugs me. He's one of the worst selling babyfaces we've seen so far. I like his flurries on offence, but he can't sell the transition from selling to offence. Jo Labat vs. Ami Sola (aired 2/11/58) This was a nice technical match. I wasn't paying attention to the commentary but apparently the commentator called them stylists and referred to this as a gentleman's contest. I wouldn't really call them stylists in the sense that later workers were, but they were certainly focused on their craft. Sola is forging a reputation for being a man for all seasons when it comes to these television matches. This wasn't as exciting as the last bout we saw him in, but he's been one of the more flexible talents to date. Jacky Corn vs. Inca Peruano (aired 2/21/58) This was everything you'd expect Jacky Corn vs. Inca Peruano to be. I was happy that they delivered on their billing. When only got the last two falls but it's highly entertaining. Peruano was never a "catcheur" in the sense that he worked the French style, but he adapted remarkably well to the Parisian scene. When we start thinking of the outsiders who adapted the best to catch, I think he'll do well. He ends up globetrotting, and we lose him so to speak, so soak this up while you can. Fortunately, he's not the only South American to leave his mark on French wrestling, but he's the guy who did it while catch was still in its prime. As for Corn, this was a nice return to form after that surprise beating at the hands of Robert Blasco. I only discovered this recently, but the French wrestler who fought Billy Howes on the undercard of the famous McManus vs. Pallo match, is actually Jacky Corn. I need to revisit that match soon.

What did Meltzer say specifically?

Yuki Ishikawa.

Let's be realistic about it. Even if promoters knew, the idea that you ran with a bad crowd when you were a kid, may have raped a girl, but were only convicted of having sex with a girl who was "younger than you thought", those things were not enough to blacklist a wrestler in the territories era. They would kill a guy in this day and age, but not back then. There's a lot we don't know about the case, but I imagine that Walker served some type of probation period and it wouldn't surprise me if the people who broke him in thought that wrestling put him back on the straight and narrow.

I don't think it's a surprise that these charges happened given the fear of juvenile delinquency in the 1950s. As far as I can make out, 17 juveniles were charged with the rape of two girls on July 9th, 1953, and three of them were also charged with a second rape on July 5th. Walker was indicted for the rape of one of the girls on July 9th. The focus of much of the newspaper coverage is on the boys who were charged on two counts. Those youths pleaded not guilty. Walker entered a plea, but I can't make out what it was without paying. The three other boys ended up pleading guilty to reduced charges. I'm assuming Walker either pleaded guilty to reduced charges or was cleared of rape but convicted of sex with a minor.

Has there ever been any proper research done on the case? The Honolulu Advertiser says he was indicted on rape charges in February 1954. His disposition was apparently in July 1955 where he was convicted of having sex with a minor. There is no record of the disposition in the Advertiser. Walker's first recorded match is in Honolulu in May 1956 and his first stint in a territory was in Toronto in 1958. The Advertiser says he was connected to a hoodlum gang, some of whom were connected to another beach rape. Two of them also had burglary charges.

Oh boy.

Rene Lasartesse vs. Dave Taylor (Piratenkampf, Hamburg 1987) This wasn't the best Piratenkampf match and it wasn't the worst. You could probably make an argument for Taylor being better at Piratenkampf matches than regular matches, which is peculiar. You'd think it would be the opposite. This had more heat mongering than violence, but it was perfectly ok.