January 2005

This was the go home show before the Elimination Chamber match. It was a short, intense bout between the two that managed to be compelling despite run-ins from every participant in the Elimination Chamber and Shawn Michaels to boot. That was largely because the match was allowed to continue after the brawl, and Orton scored a clean pinfall from a RKO. For as crappy a reputation as Hunter has, he sure knew how to do business.

This was an extremely fun undercard bout although it was basically cut into a highlights reel by the Televisa people. The focus appeared to be on Felino vs. Averno, which was a cool matchup. I expected that they'd be the final pair, so I was surprised when it wound up being Felino vs. Mephisto. Then I put two and two together and realized they had a title match the following week. Virus went the distance and got to square off against the Infernales, which I enjoyed. I was also taken by Maximo. I don't think I've ever seen him this young. This was a really entertaining episode of CMLL TV wrestling-wise.

Talk about it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQLHyqzgjH4&feature=youtu.be

This was a really good match. It even had a lengthy opening mat exchange between Blue Panther and Tarzan Boy which reminded me that I'm not crazy and that Tarzan Boy developed into an excellent worker from 2000-2005. The rest of the bout was full of smart lucha exchanges. Atlantis continued his long-running rivalry with Rey Bucanero and Mistico was given some showcase moments. The finish was screwy but in a way that actually worked and made the rudos look clever. The trios set up a tag title match between Atlantis & Panther and Olimpico & Bucanero. I had no idea Atlantis & Panther were the tag champions at the time as for the some reason their title win didn't…

What's my boy Super Parka doing at an Arena Coliseo show? He brings the Monterrey vibes with him and these guys have a fun, crowd-pleasing trios match. Casas is over with the Coliseo crowd. Do something with him CMLL! He works some fun exchanges with Black Tiger throughout the match. El Terrible has been forgotten about it seems, but he's growing his hair out for a rainy day. Porky does an amusing job of mocking Terrible's facial expressions. Super Parka is super throughout and I would have loved to have seen him have a problem run in Mexico City. They probably wouldn't have done much with him, but I'm sure he would have made every match better. This was one of those noth…

I am slowly learning that there's more to Jaime Noble than Rey Mysterio matches. This was a fun match between two evenly matched guys. I'm already on record as saying I prefer workrate Homicide to brawler Homicide, and Noble is an excellent opponent for Homicide in that respect. Unfortunately, the match gets interrupted by CM Punk, but that leads to a memorable "backstage" scene where Homicide beats Punk up while he's straddled on a bucking bronco ride then turns the machine on. Punk goes flying everywhere. That would have been a great spot in a Memphis match or one of Black Terry's Arena Naucalpan brawls.

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Remember when NOAH was really fun for a minute there? I thought Tenryu was pretty exceptional in this, in a subtle, low key sort of way. It was a match largely built around strike exchanges, but it was Tenryu's reactions to them that stood out (insert point here about those exchanges not just being rote "you hit me, I'll hit you" affairs, that they sold the strikes in interesting ways, that they injected personality into them, etc). Tenryu was 55 by the time he got to NOAH (this is his first appearance there, actually). He's a big name and still has pretty good mobility for a 55 year old who's been wrestling for nearly three decades. He can still go and he'll hit super ha…

Pretty sure I've never seen Takaiwa before. These guys don't mess around at all. Four main segments each controlled by one wrestler then a brief finish. Takaiwa looked really good. His transition into control was cool - essentially just saying 'absolutely not' to any Kanemaru high-flying stuff, dropping him with a superplex and falcon arrow. His 6 powerbombs in a row looked awesome as well. Lots of high impact offence. I probably would have enjoyed this more in 2005, but I still liked it a fair bit. ****

Brief thoughts: -Wow was the Puerto Rico crowd hot for the this in the best way - they popped for nearly every spot, big or small. -Benoit and Jericho's chops were insanely stiff throughout this match. -You can say what you want about HHH, but he certainly was willing to take a bunch of brutal bumps in this match. -The chamber seems to be, quality wise, the best gimmick match of the 21st Century (although I personally prefer many ladder matches). It's a fairly difficult match to get wrong, and these guys don't. Hard-hitting, big spots and an interesting story in Batista and HHH's teased split to carry us through. It's a really good match, but I don't think i…

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There seems to be a pattern with the ROH matches throughout the early/mid 2000s - it's all really good action, but it lacks a compelling narrative. There aren't momentum changes in this match, or even much of a discernible story, just two guys going back and forth with moves. They are really good moves, and it's a crisp match. You don't feel Cabana is ever actually going to win the title, and the 'brainbuster' on the outside which finishes Colt off actually looks like a rather soft suplex. I've probably been a lot more negative about this match, it IS very good, but the lack of character and story can become quite frustrating with ROH. *** 1/2

They have a great, intense brawl through the crowd to begin, really laying it in. The camera cuts and I'm not sure exactly what happened. The kayfabe reason was the intensity of the brawl escalated and Julius Smokes cut the camera, but I get the feeling it got a bit rough and the crowd got too involved so they had to stop. Anyway, they come back to the ring for a more standard submission match. My main issue was that none of the submissions carried much drama. Even Danielson tapping out (which would seem huge now) was rather flat. I mean, it's executed very well and is still a good match, but I think they have much better in them. *** 1/2

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Pretty by the numbers japanese big match but not bad. Sasaki gets the advantage using his power early on, finisher on the floor, some limbwork ensues, lots of stiff shots etc. It's a formula that works and these two are good at it. Sasaki is pretty fly here hitting a big plancha to the floor and really walloping Kawada with potatoes. There is some neck work which ends up not being of much importance but leads to some fun moments. Sasaki cosplays 90s Kobashi by chopping Kawada in the neck and hitting flimsy bulldogs, it also leads to a pretty sick piledriver. Kawada was halfway into lazy mode as he had some nice transitions such as kicking Sasaki in the face when he tried …

I was expecting this to be replete with overly convoluted and choreographed sequences. Whilst there were a few, by 2017 standards they were very basic, and they spent a good portion of the time wrestling a standard match, which is definitely to this matches' advantage. A few cool spots, with AJ's massive flipping back bump being the best. Terrible finish, as Williams and Sabin have a tug of war with the belt at the top of the structure, only for AJ to springboard in a steal it away, but drops it mid-air and therefore just knocking it on the ground. All around, a a good match showing the range of what these guys can do. Also I forgot how much I loved AJ's theme when I …

This felt like fairly typical TNA fare for the time, from what I recall. Bland brawl to start, although Young gets a nasty bump to the head that swells up to the size of an egg on his forehead. Match improves a lot when they get into the ring. Beautiful elbow drop from Young, same for Harris' spinebuster. You can't say these guys aren't trying their hardest to both get themselves over and get TNA noticed. Usual interference and weapon shots at the finish. Interesting that fans boo and chant bullshit after numerous finisher-based nearfalls. Definitely a fun match, with lots of really good to outweigh its shortcomings. *** 1/2

This was a very good match that was overshadowed by a serious neck injury on a botched Olimpico dive. Atlantis and Panther, the two legends and former rivals, bucked recent trends in CMLL by attempting to produce meaningful falls and Panther insured that there was at least some matwork in the title match. The botched spot occurred early on in the tercera caida when Olimpico tried to do a running tope near the ringpost. He mistimed grabbing the top rope with his right hand, and instead of Atlantis catching him, he fell straight on his head. Babe Richard and the ringside doctor immediately ran to his aid. Galavision replayed the accident several times. Olimpico would be out…

This was an awesome, grimy Monterrey trios match. It was supposed to be rudos vs. rudos, but as we all know, Super Parka is our hero. La Familia de Tijuana were one of the best trios units of the early 00s and their matches are always worth watching. I wouldn't have imagined that when all I knew of them was WCW job guys + Super J Cup Damian impressions, but it's the God's honest truth. Watching them square off against Zumbido was a treat. That dude is low key one of the best lucha workers of the 00s. This match set up the Super Parka vs. Nicho singles bout, but it was far better than that bout.

I LOVE this match. One can shit on the Openweight Hardcore Belt all you like: it didn't produce very good matches and was too gimmicky for audiences to invest in: but it works perfectly here. Marufuji is one of the top stars on the rise in NOAH, big act, trained by Misawa, all that stuff. Just this same year is when he would drastically start to pick up steam as him and KENTA were quickly getting a bunch of attention from audiences and would be pushed perhaps too quickly into main event stardom. Eigen, on the other hand, hasn't won a title in literal decades and has spent most of his career at this point being in comedy matches: he's also 60 years old by this point. Every…

This was more about Orton's upcoming match against Triple H than it was Flair against Orton. Flair's main contribution to the match was busting open the stitches on Orton's forehead before it became the Orton vs. Triple H go home show confrontation. There was more tension between Triple H and Batista as well. I'm curious to see what they do with Orton after the Rumble.

Fun six-man tag heading into the Rumble. The set-up for the Edge vs. Shawn Michaels match is weak sauce, but it's kind of fun watching Edge mock Michaels. Benoit vs. Christian was a solid match-up and made me wonder if there's more instances of that pairing.

Disgusting short for an atomicos match, but there were a bunch of talented dudes involved and they made the most of the time they were given. Atlantis continued his beef with Bucanero, two future Mistico matches were set-up against Averno and Ultimo Guerrero, Hector Garza continued to get his rudo act over, and they threw in a Black Warrior tope for good measure. It wound up being a high octane bout despite how criminally short it was.

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This was billed as tecnicos vs rudos. I can understand Hector Garza working as a tecnico in Monterrey, but that's a pretty short memory when it comes to Zumbido. This was more of a typical scrappy, bullshit Monterrey match than the trios from the week before, but it had its moments. A large part of the match seemed to be about Garza's physique, which wasn't great, but they loved a good size comparison during this era of Monterrey. Zumbido had one awesome flurry but was stuck on the sidelines for most of the bout. Halloween and Damian were engaging but there was a lot of smoke and mirrors. My ad\vice is to watch the other bout.