[2001-07-26-IWRG] Blue Panther vs Blue Demon Jr

[ohtani's jacket]

Blue Demon jumps Panther before he gets to the ring and takes the first fall in under a minute. That may sound kind of lame but it leads to a neat revenge fall where Panther won't let go of his armbar. Panther targets the arm for awhile in the third fall, but they drop it in favour of some back and forth pinfall attempts. Then they ruin everything with a DQ finish.

If you remember, I said I'd give this match a shot given how good Panther's 2000-2001 run has been. 

Is it a lost classic? No.

An unheralded great match? Nope. 

It's not a match I would put on Panther's resume from this era, and not a particularly great performance from him, but coupled with the build up it's a decent TV match. I should have known better than to expect a decent finish, but however good the match was up until that point, it was cut off at the legs with that screwy finish. It reminded me a bit of some of Panther's AAA matches where he wasn't given the chance to have a great match because of the booking. That's a missed opportunity, but fortunately Dandy is starting to heat up which gives me something else to look forward to.