April 2002

This wasn't on TV but they showed all of this on the VHS release afterwards, which I'm thankful for because the two have good chemistry in the ring. Williams offers a handshake but wrecks Kea with a lariat when he accepts, but Kea uses his speed to outpace the guy by dodging his corner splash and landing a dropkick. We get some decent outside brawling as Williams stumbles around and tries for a backdrop but gets reversed out of it. Kea lands a apron forearm to send the guy into the crowd, but his big running splash gets countered as Williams dumps him belly-first on a table instead. He controls things in the middle half, cussing all the time and threatening the ref when h…

Some young Japanese guys were on excursion in Mexico during this month. I don't like seeing Japanese guys in my lucha, but I'll try to keep an open mind about it since they're here all month. This rudos trio had no chemistry whatsoever. Takemura spent the entire match following the others around, trying to figure out what to do. Third wheels can usually make do in a trios match, but the Mexican guys seemed uninspired. Rey Buncero phoned in it, Casas as a tecnico is starting to bore me, and even Atlantis vs. Wagner failed to deliver. Wataru Inoue attacked Casas at the end of the match, which Wagner and Rey weren't happy about, so I guess Japan vs. Mexico will be the t…

Black Tiger is back. Haven't seen him in a while. This was billed as CMLL vs. New Japan. I'm not sure which is worse, Japanese guys trying to do lucha triple-team spots or the posing they do afterward. I was kind of hoping that Shibata would do some shoot style stuff, but actually, the match was much better when the Japanese guys did their regular spots instead of trying to play at lucha. This was better than the first match with Takemura. I was at least a little bit interested in seeing Shibata in CMLL since he's a guy whose work I've liked in the past. He was over-emoting the entire time, but he had some fun exchanges with Niebla. I thought Shocker would be slightly bet…

They turned up the heat a little with this one. Good frantic undertones to open the match and Nagata has more answers for Yasuda this time, throwing him with an overhead suplex to counter the double arm lock, all the reversals to the submission attempts on the mat, and that wrist-clutch Exploder to set up the finish. Yasuda dishes out more here but also takes a lot from Nagata. More suplexes are thrown, including a big launching double arm from Yasuda, and the stuff on the ground has a bit more life to it. Great performance from Nagata with his facial expressions and underdog spirit. Yasuda is still weirdly captivating. Good stuff.

I was interested in seeing the ROH crew, or at least what I identify as the ROH crew, in another indy promotion. This match had some weird ass gimmick where Low Ki and Danielson were the tag champs, but they were feuding with each other so they agreed to a stip that whoever won the match could choose to tag team champions with whomever they pleased. Can't say I've seen anything like that before. The match was high octane stuff. It was nonstop action, but essentially a spotfest. It lacked the depth of the best ROH stuff, but it wasn't as bad as the TNA X Division stuff. It was somewhere in the middle like an amped up version of the Smackdown Six stuff. There's a lot of hyp…

Not one of the better Akiyama sprints, but it sure drives the point home. Shigas massive opening barrage of offense trying to put Akiyama away was really entertaining, but the conclusion was just not that interesting. Matches like this were very important in NOAHs booking as they conditioned audiences that the opening of a match was important, so I appreciate them.

This was a nice old-school super libre match. They could have coasted by on showboating and cheap heat, but they actually made an effort to do some old school brawling. There was too much plunder for my liking, but by 2002 weapons of that sort were endemic. Of course, this being Monterrey, there was a ton of bullshit with the referee that went on forever and threatened to spoil the bout. Still, this was worth comparing to CMLL apuesta matches to get a feel for the differences.

Talk about it here.

Controversial match, but I thought this was a stroke of genius as far as pro wrestling booking can go. Sometimes keeping a promotion fresh and unpredictable is more important than having the biggest and most credible guy on the roster be champion. And the match is really good too because they do a tremendous job messing with the audiences expectations. Working cutoffs in such a way has become a lost art, I'm afraid.

For a year where AJPW was mostly in the pits, this was a surprisingly really good match....and it only needed 15 minutes. Starts with both men feeling each other out on the mat, with Muto eventually able to get a good hold of Kojima's leg and works it for a bit until he smartly reverses it into his own hold; this causes Muto to quickly get to the ropes with him laying down uneasy while Kojima gets right back up in the middle of the ring, super confident. Good starting spot that establishes how Kojima's prior experience with Muto gives him a edge. Both men explode into their signature spots, Muto going for a early Wizard that's blocked, Kojima going for a lariat that's blo…

Japon vs. Mexico. This was pretty weak. It was something different, I guess. At least it gave Casas something to do. He seemed more energized than his usual second wheel in a midcard trios appearance. His exchanges with Black Tiger were good, but the trouble with Casas is that you expect something special.

This was a ridiculous looking matchup on paper. Giant Silva vs. Great Khali? From what I could see through the unwatchable VQ, the parts with the Mexican and Japanese workers was surprisingly good, and the surreal Giant Silva vs. Khali matchup was something I can't imagine too many wrestling fans wouldn't want to watch.

This is the one. Tenryu is fucking with Mutoh from the get-go by doing a 52 years old Shining Wizard. Mutoh is butthurt about it, so he manages to hit the same spot outside, pushing the old geezer against the steel barricade, injury his left arm in the process. From there, it's focus on that arm, the kneecap dropkicks' only purpose being to keep Tenryu down, and eventually hit some SW too. There are also callbacks to the moonsault spot, which Mutoh insists on trying despite Tenryu always getting a way out. Good stuff here. And of course, a bunch of punches to the face, stiff chops, Mutoh doing this ridiculous backflip kick... This is everything you'd want from these two a…

Storyline-wise, there was no reason to have this match in April. At least no reason that I could think of. But forget about serialized lucha, the good news here was that this was a hell of a workout. CMLL presented it as rudo vs. rudo, but you might as well trust your own instincts at this point. The first fall was polished, but bland, GdI work. You know the drill. What made this match exciting was the second fall comeback and the back and forth tercera. It was short by classic lucha standards, but Satanico continued his amazing 2002 run, Shocker flexed his tecnico muscle, and Magica took a step up and showed he could hang with the big boys without embarrassing himself. G…

This was Mashimo's second pro match, with Oishi having debuted a month prior for Michinoku Pro. Right off the bat, we're treated to some incredibly slick mat work from Oishi and Mashimo. Shockingly so, considering their level of experience. The transitions in and out of submissions are seamless as Mashimo swiftly catches Oishi in a leg lock and forces him into the ropes. Oishi, for his part, makes good use of takedowns. Mashimo outclasses him on the mat, but said takedowns are enough to give Oishi a fighting chance. The defensive scrambles are breathtaking, with Oishi perhaps putting up more of a fight than Mashimo expected despite Sambo being the more seasoned of the two…

A damn fine main roster debut for Lesnar. He looked like a world-beater here. Jeff Hardy is established enough that Lesnar's win over him feels like a massive deal. Hardy bumps his ass off for all of Lesnar's shit. Heyman trash-talking and blaming Lita at ringside for Jeff's beating because she refused to sleep with him was creepy and it added another layer to the villainous Lesnar/Heyman pairing. Hardy is able to hit a few hope spots and Lesnar even kicks out of the Swanton Bomb, which I don't think anyone had done up to that point. Jeff soon realizes that he can't beat Lesnar, so he grabs a chair and attempts to lay him out, but Lesnar is able to catch him with an F5. L…

This was much better than their Judgment Day match. It was just shy of being a great match, and probably needed more dramatic selling to bump it up to the next level, but it had sustained heat throughout and the crowd bought into the contest. The finishing stretch was especially strong. They avoided any overkill and executed the nearfalls well. I loved the way Angle countered the spear with a punt. That looked awesome. Looking at the card, this was bang in the middle. That accounts for why they only got 13 minutes, and probably makes it more impressive that they stood out this much, especially on a show that had Hogan and Triple H on top.

This atomicos match has a few things you'll immediately realize -- like Panther vs. Atlantis, which is probably my all-time lucha match-up, and Panther vs. Casas, which foreshadows the matches they'd have later on. It also has Juvie vs. Casas and Atlantis which is different .The Japanese guys try to take their cues wherever they can, but the native matchups don't rise above how they look on paper, so it it's not their fault that this bout is average.

I was hoping for more of a mat and strike based match from these two. They did a bit of that, but there was a lot of brawling and swearing outside of the ring. Hyuga was dominant throughout and Bolshoi never really threatened.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Ohtani is not terribly fond of Ishikawa and goes all out trying to murder him (literally speaking at one point in the postmatch). Ishikawa fights back with fire and disdain. A super heated and extremely intense sprint, with zero letup. All time great squash. ****