October 2002

IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs Kazuyuki Fujita - NJPW Tokyo Dome 10/14/02 First Review of 2023! LFG! I think the morning time slot is my best bet as my girlfriend is not much of a morning person (I’m not either for record she’s just less of one lol). Different than their 2001 match. This is way more pro wrestling oriented. The throws are coming a lot easier, there’s more high spots and it has a pro wrestling pace. Fujita feels like less of a Mountain to climb or force of nature, he is more of a bully heel. Two reasons for that. One is he goes over for throws a lot easier in the beginning. Nagata was very aggressive to start throwing Fujita’s characteristic gr…

This was loosely wrestled under European Catch Rules with Tony St. Clair serving as ref. A cool match in theory, considering the two dudes involved, and a really cool match in execution, despite some of the clunkiness early on. Bas is strike heavy in the opening round, Nishimura focuses on the arm in the second. Nishimura got to show off in the third round and fourth round, pulling out the sickle hold and bow-and-arrow holds, but Bas really lays into Nishimura with some stiff leg kicks in the fifth, both in and out of the ring. At one point, he gets a yellow card for blasting Nishimura as he's getting back into the ring. Bas continues targeting the leg with submissions, a…

One of my favourite current wrestlers versus one of my favourites all-time. Syxx is the X Division champion and he is defending against Styles who has debuted his new manager Mortimer Plumtree here. This was really good. After a nice slow build AJ unleashed some good offense while in control. Watlman's comeback was real good with some amazing spin kicks (even if AJ did flip sells). He brings out his own dive and a nice suplex, before AJ goes for a discuss lariat and nails the referee. X-Factor, but Plumtree breaks it up and as Waltman goes for revenge the referee wakes up and stops it. Vicious punches sets up a bronco buster, but instead of the stupid riding he …

Match starts with a contract signing between Satanico and Damian that lasts longer than their bout probably will That's followed by a short, action-packed match.. Satanico and Damian brawl before and after the bout. I thought this was good TV.

How's this for a trios? The match is built around Panther vs. Atlantis, which is one of my all-time favorite lucha pairings. They run through some nice looking stuff in the primera caida before the match turns into a mask ripping brawl. Normally that would piss me off, but they worked a tight bout that kind of had me wishing that Atlantis had been the one to take Panther's mask. We also got to see Satanico brawl with the others. It's not every day you see Satanico trading right hands with Casas, so this is pretty much a must-see for anyone who likes these workers.

This wasn't as hot as some of the other Rey vs. Vampiro matches. Honestly, I thought that was because Wagner had to get his, and so there was a large focus on Wagner beating up Niebla. Vampiro and Rey had a couple of exchanges but nothing electric.

Someone's posted a ton of 3PW in the last day. I won't link to the whole show but this is out there, currently, as part of the "A Night for the Flyboy" show. Keep that in mind. This was a Ted Petty tribute show, immediately following Jasmin St. Claire turning on Blue Meanie and going with Tod Gordon and preceding Saby vs Pitbull Gary Wolfe. So you can imagine the sort of crowd here. The match itself was very cool for what it was. Hennig was bloated, absolutely, as this was just a few months before his death, but it fit the way he was working, and was very appropriate for this match. Past a couple of big bumps (a 360 off a punch and one over the top onto the announcer…

Talk about it here.

Sad to see so many empty seats for Momoe's big moment. The match followed a similar pattern to their previous matches. Ito threw Momoe around like a ragdoll and all Momoe could do was hang in there and hope to hit a reversal. Momoe was great at bumping and selling, and she brought a lot of energy to her reversal game, but I was hoping for more from this. Momoe basically won the title with a botched reversal that she was able to hold onto for a three count. The fact that it was messy didn't bother me. It was the overuse of the reversals that made the finish anticlimactic. She kept trying the same thing over and over again until one finally stuck. Instead of overcoming the …

I liked this a lot, felt like a showcase match between two tough NOAH undercarders except these two are way more nimble on their feet. Plenty stiff and generally fresh due to them sticking to what works for them. Ran Yu Yu has good knee based offense and really vicious elbows, Amano has some nasty short kicks. Some damn impressive sequences and moves here: Yu Yu's wheelbarrow lift into spinning argentine backbreaker felt like a move Cesaro should steal.I also really like Amano's flying armbars and they worked some neat counters around them. This didn't have the kind of sustained selling or story that makes me think I'm watching something epic, but they kept bringing the q…

I didn't like this at all. Toyota played the veteran bitch outsider, but it was too much of a caricature. They had zero chemistry together and the size difference didn't work in their favour. I can't remember the last time I saw a Nagashima match where she blew so many spots. Worst of all, I couldn't understand the booking. Why would you put the ex-All Japan Women's champion over the future of your promotion? On the same day that All Japan pulled the trigger on Momoe as WWWA champion. On paper this seemed like a match you'd fantasy book, but it was rough as guts.

WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs Undertaker - No Mercy 2002 Hell In A Cell If you described this finish of this match, most people would think you were describing a murder scene. Undertaker was drenched in his own blood and was spilling blood all over Lesnar. Brock was covered in Taker's blood by the end of it. 2002 was a pretty underwhelming year, but featured some of the all time best bladejobs in pro wrestling history. This match and the Nagata/Murakami match are the standout matches for 2002 to me. I don't yet, which I would place on the top of the heap. Violence is never been the strong suit of the WWF. Character-driven wrestling and Clash of the Titans is where Vinc…

Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle vs Edge & Rey Mysterio - No Mecy 2002 WWE Tag Team Titles Here is an early 00s classic that I have never seen before. The Survivor Series Triple Threat made a DVD, but did not seem to get as much love as this did at the time. I will say this had a double hot finish stretch that in a very weak year for the wrestling world (guess I have not seen any ROH, but this is a weak Japan year) makes this a match of the year contender. I love the Angle & Mysterio interaction early and definitely need to rewatch their Summerslam match. Angle is great as the cocky jock and the look on Rey's face when he realizes he needs to stomp on Angle's…

Awesome match. Not sure that it would have worked in Arena Mexico, but it was perfect for Arena Coliseo. It was equal parts heated mano a mano brawl and sublime technical wrestling. There were a surprising number of nearfalls for a mano a mano bout, and a clean finish to boot. It wasn't until afterward when Atlantis demanded a title shot that I realized the significance of the tercera caida and all of the nearfalls. I'm biased because I love this pairing, and their 1991 and 1997 bouts are two of my favorite matches of all-time, but I honestly thought this was one of the best matches of 2002, especially when you consider how badly CMLL has struggled with delivering compell…

This was a serious contender for the greatest US indy match I've ever seen. Virtually flawlessly worked 30 minute junior epic which had everything – matwork, storytelling, selling, devastating moves and guys slapping eachother in the mouth. We start with 10 minutes of nearly uninterrupted matwork which was ultra tightly worked, smooth stuff. Quance is someone nobody really talks about anymore, but he was a great talent and just mindlbowingly good for a dude in his 2nd year of wrestling. The matwork they did here was much better than the wristlocky WoS imitation stuff you usually get in US indies and closer to lucha matwork with a bit of japanese influence sprinkled in. Qu…

This Vampiro vs. Bucanero beef is so much better than it has a right to be. I can't really say much more about GdI at this stage except that they're compulsory viewing, but Vampiro looks like the real deal in this feud. There's no sloppiness, no awkward moments, and no moments where he's hunched over sucking in the big ones. He looks like a badass and fights like one. I don't know why these two are clicking, but it's fun to watch. There's a nice callback to the Casas/Tarzan Boy hair match, too, with Tarzan Boy trolling Casas over losing his hair. Casas lets rip on Tarzan Boy, which is both awesome and a reminder of how shitty the apuesta match was. I can't believe I want …

I thought this was a decent match in the context of the feud and the matches that led up to it. If you watched it as a standalone match, you wouldn't enjoy it. Once again, it was a single fall apuesta match, which I guess was something they were experimenting with in 2002. The problem with a single fall match is that the workers' rhythms are out of sync. They were trying to work a intense, violent bout, but there were lulls where there should have been falls, and it didn't make much sense that it wasn't 2/3 falls. I liked the basic performance from both guys, but it was another case where the singles match didn't live up to the build. It's strange to me that CMLL doesn't …

This is a No. 1 contenders match for the FWA’s All England Title. These two, both FWA Academy graduates had been part of the 3 way match that had opened British Uprising two weeks before. Tighe had actually won the title shot in that match, but as Ghosh wasn’t the man pinned, being a good fighting babyface, Tighe agreed to put it on the line again here. Both men are coming in as faces, and with them both coming through the FWA’s training school together they know each other well, so we get a lot of feeling out and parity exchanges early on. That was very much the en vogue Indie style at the time but makes sense given the context of the story of the match. Tighe…

This is for the FWA All England Title. Zebra Kid is coming in as the reigning champion, while Storm is coming in fresh off beating AJ Styles at British Uprising I a couple of weeks before this. Storm offers a handshake to start, but ZK responds with a slap and the two guys go at it while the ref is still trying to get the belt to officially start the match. That sets the tone nicely for what is essentially a 10 minute sprint with both guys going balls to the wall. There isn’t much selling, including Storm essentially just popping up right after a piledriver (which was confusing as this was banned move in the FWA) to go up top for a springboard drop kick, but there is…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bftPCKrQfpA This is just a couple of weeks after the big British Uprising show and kept up the FWA’s momentum nicely. On the undercard there is not too many big stories to note, the biggest probably being Alex Shane and Ulf Herman beating the UK Pitbulls for the tag titles. Given the very bloody and intense feud that Shane and Herman get into with The Family that runs for pretty much all of 2003, that’s a big moment. We are in Walthamstow Town Hall, which is a fun venue (I’m biased for having worked there), and one I’m glad that Rev Pro is now running again. The main event is Fleisch putting the belt that he won at Uprising on the l…

NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Champions Nathan Jones & Jon Heidenreich vs Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa - Zero-One 10/26/03 I am no expert in Zero-One but it seems that NWA I-C Tag Belts were actually the main prize. Again I don’t know how much of that is their allegiance to the NWA but TNA holding the World Title hostage. It makes sense though as Hashimoto & Ogawa feel like co-Aces. As we saw last year, their mutual hatred for the foreign invaders under Tom Howard has united them as a tag team. Before this match we see the Behemoths, Jones & Heidenreich pummel & pulverize Ohtani & Tanaka en route to winning the titles. Forget Heidenreich &am…

Bas Rutten wrestled a total of 6 matches in NJPW, two of which I've seen, and his last match in NJPW was against Koji Kanemoto for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title. Not to my surprise, he plays pro-wrestler quite well. Sure, he's got some goofy...uh, dropkicks...but he knows how to work the fans and he sells Kanemoto's legwork well. He's able to use his raw strength to muscle Kanemoto into predicaments or escape them, like his awesome powerbomb counter to the triangle. At one point, he just starts slamming Kanemoto's head into the canvas. And of course, we get some slick matwork from Bas. Kanemoto's clearly overshadowed here, and while he'll get in some mounted tantrum slap…

Decent match, but a bit of an exhibition. Low Ki seemed to be suffering from that weird pressure foreigners feel to work a serious match in Japan instead of something dramatic. He had the tools to work a Japanese style bout, but the match was never super exciting, and Low Ki brought almost no personality to the bout. The commentator made an allusion to Dynamite Kid, which was a nice comparison, but the actual execution was lacking.

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Great Muta - AJPW 10/27/02 The big October Anniversary show at the Budokan, the biggest main event they could deliver without Kawada or any outsiders. The beauty of Mutoh is once you have run his matches in to the ground with someone you can always run one with The Great Muta. This doesn’t touch their ‘96 WAR classic but it is on par with their April title match. It is the Great Muta so lots of slow-paced brawling which sometimes works and sometimes is boring. This is more the latter. Lots of looking under the ring he finds that wicker witch’s broom again but doesn't use it. He spews some mist. He finally kicks into…

X Division Champion AJ Styles vs Amazing Red - NWA TNA 10/30/02 AJ Styles was at his early 2000s goon best. If there is a God in Heaven, let bangs for men never ever come back! 2002 TNA is great for awesome Nitro cruiserweight matches. For the most part it has been debunked that Nitro was home to all these **** cruiserweight matches. Of course, they exist, but due to time constraints they are not as plentiful as one would be led to believe. TNA continued the lineage of Nitro cruiserweight matches but I think with better presentation (this is very shocking, the commentary is god fucking awful though) and some more time actually enhanced these matches. I think the b…