July 2003

Eddie and Tajiri were a fun looking tag team. Unfortunately, this is the last we see of them as a tag team as this is the match where Eddie turns heel. Are Haas and Benjamin supposed to be heels or faces? It's hard to tell from their ring work. They're athletic and hardworking, but don't have the charisma it takes to shine in the WWE. It's hard to imagine one of them turning on the other and becoming a big star. The match is OK, though kind of standard Smackdown stuff. There's a drawn out angle at the end where it appears Eddie is concerned about his partner but attacks him instead. Cole says, "that's not the Eddie Guerrero I know." Really, Michael Cole? Are you stupider …

This was only a tournament match, but it was spirited. And we got to see Satanico vs. Shocker! Forget the Japanese guys and the Tijuana Family, the 2003 Satanico feud you needed to see was Satanico vs Shocker. The only drawback here was El Terrible, who still doesn't look like he belongs on the Guapos. I'm telling you, it should have been Zumbido.

Heat is shit kid Minoru Tanka doing a masked luchador gimmick, wearing some ridiculous get-up that would have looked better on his wife. He had no idea how to work like a luchador, and it shows. It doesn't really matter since they had plenty of experience working together in New Japan, and the Arena Mexico is 100% behind Dr Wagner as the Mexican representative in the bout, but it's not much of a lucha bout. They tease a big submission finish, since apparently Tanaka made Wagner submit the week before, but this time Wagner manages to break the hold. He doesn't sell it particularly well since it's not a common lucha trope, but it pops the crowd. I could do without these sor…

This was an intriguing match on paper. I expected a bunch of matwork from this, and true to form they spent plenty of time trading holds. It wasn't overwhelmingly impressive, but the best parts had a judo flavor to them. Real judo has a lot more urgency to it, however, and is much more exciting. After awhile, they ditched the matwork and ran the ropes. It's always a disappointment when workers do that. I was kind of surprised that Yabushita got the win over Maekawa here, and with a weak flash pin as well. In the end, I suppose this was all right. Just curb your expectations a bit and don't expect too much from the matwork.

A big match at Budokan that I've somehow heard next to no pimping and only found out about when it showed up in my recommended videos this morning. Really strange as it's a great match. It's a perfect example of a match that has absolutely no wasted motion from Hashimoto hobbling to the ring up to him (I think) challenging Kawada to a singles match in the post-match promo. The crowd is molten from the beginning and all four guys do an amazing job of keeping them there throughout, making every strike thrown and tag made feel like a huge deal. There's nothing that could be seen as "down time" or "time killing" yet the match still has a great sense of progression through sel…

Fucking great big match that came out of nowhere. I've heard not a peep of pimping for this and didn't even know it happened until I opened up the video of this event, but it absolutely delivered. Match starts a little slow with them working the mat, but I enjoyed it. Kawada's gameplan initially is to ground Mutoh and work over his arm. Mutoh's selling is interesting, initially just seeming dumbfounded by Kawada's strategy but then progressing into selling legit pain as Kawada keeps going after the arm. There's this great little hope spot where Mutoh tries to stand up and turn it into a striking match, but his hurt arm means there's not enough behind his strikes and Kawad…

shameless shilling for the Amano Complete & Accurate The first few minutes of this had the two do some fairly nothing grappling; Asuka's background means that she more or less controls these until Amano starts to take a small lead via negotiating into an Achilles Tendon attempt. Rather than humouring this, Asuka immediately goes into super disrespect mode by backhanding the shit out of her and throwing out big stiff PK's whenever possible to really hammer in the frustration at almost getting out-grappled by a pipsqueak. Asuka was never really known for her particularly striking grappling capabilities (at least in terms of match entertainment, anyway!) but her try…

Talk about it here.

This match is ugly, folks. But really fun too. But ugly, really. The one issue that appears really quick is that Makabe, a few weeks removed of being renamed Togi, is not very good. Not good even. So the beginning of the match with a long sequence against Honda just drags forever. Each time Takayama tags in, the match comes alive. Each time Makabe gets back in, it's a yawnfest with his boring, plodding brawling style. So, from there, Kobashi beats the shit out of him and now it gets fun, as soon enough after another heat sequences that works a bit better (Takayama gets things moving), the match loses it's structure and it's just a bunch of brawling outside, Honda suplexin…

Hijikata has always been kinda of a mid-card act: technically competent, a Battlarts vet with tons of experience; yet always struggling to engage with his bland charisma and look and generally held back by his lack of depth as a worker in regard to that. This jr heavyweight title shot is one of his bigger accomplishments all things considered, and it's a match that I generally quite enjoyed for what it was trying to do. I liked Kashin trying to mess with him early on with goofy antics and just getting his ass kicked afterwards for his troubles after underestimating his striking advantage. Kashin takes the advantage in the mat-work; I love how much he makes his opponent un…

This is a simply WONDERFUL 4-way dance with each competitor firing on all cylinders. Everybody has multiple shining moments & they all simply look constantly good in there as the action keeps on getting hotter & hotter as each moment passes. Just when you think that the energy might be going down a little, BOOM -- here is one of them busting out some more hype shit. ***3/4

An absolutely bonkers ringside brawl with 8 dudes just going at each other recklessly. Not exactly Onita & Goto vs. Kurisu & Dragon Master, but still a wild brawl in it's own right. Some absolutely brutal bumps featuring chairs such as Fast Eddie hitting a brutal German suplex on Masada on top of a chair and Masada hitting Fast Eddie with a Spider German suplex through a chair. Plus a ton of nasty unprotected chairshots and a spike piledriver off the ring apron through a table on the floor. This lacked blood which would have elevated this, but it didn't lack intensity for a second.

This wasn't as dramatic and epic as it could've & really should've been given all the circumstances around it, but it's still a helluva match. It's two of the best wrestlers of 2003 going at it, and when you put it that way, it probably didn't reach its full potential as I already implied, but it still rules. London & Joe seemed to have a natural chemistry, with London using his quickness to get some flow going in his output, and then Joe of course looked like a killer with his always lovely offense, which London also sells tremendously. Really good underdog dynamic throughout. The post-match with London saying farewell to ROH is really special as well, making thi…

Raven vs CM Punk - ROH Death Before Dishonor Dog Collar Death Before Dishonor is a great name for a Wrestling Supercard. Thankfully they include the pre-match promo and post-match angle on the ROH DVD I bought. I always love when I get a chance to dig into my DVD collection. Early CM Punk is a great promo reminds me a lot of MJF in terms of conviction and cadence (the Better Than You stuff does naturally draw comparisons). As someone who has never drank or did drugs, reading about CM Punk in high school actually did mean a lot to me. It was cool to know there was someone else out there who was proud of being alcohol-free and drug-free. I stopped identifying as …

This was my first time seeing the late Jimmy Rave. I can't comment on him too much as he spent most of the match on the defensive. I'm trying to hold off on judging workers too quickly these days. A few years ago, I was weirded out by seeing some recommended Styles matches from TNA when I was only familiar with his New Japan work. Now that I'm acquainted with this era of Styles, I'd probably enjoy those TNA matches more. Styles looked good on offense here, as he often does, and I liked the way they scrambled on the mat. Decent sprint.

For all the hype Shibata gets, you do forget sometimes that him pre-BIG MOUTH could be very hit and miss. Tana is in his weird punk-phase of his life as he sports a bizarre half-Mohawk/half-mullet with red and yellow dye just thrown in around to boot. Shibata's always looked the same pretty much. You'd think a match between the two even this early would be at least decent, but I don't think they clicked well at all. They do the "rolling out of the ring while in a submission" spot with dual Achilles Tendon holds applied to crickets, it's the least hype I've ever seen for that. Shibata's dickish heel antics are enjoyable, at least, but Tana is trying to be something he isn'…

I was thinking on what on earth a "Different Style Fight" between these two would tangibly look like. Josh was still pretty green and Norton isn't exactly known for his shoot-style antics. So what do you do? You cheat, of course; this is barely a shoot-style match. Barnett rocks Norton early with kicks and he in turn gets the guy in the corner for gut punches that Barnett DOES NOT sell for in the slightest, so they look like shit. Norton bullrushes Barnett with all of his power moves, including a super early powerbomb! That gets a near 10 count from the ref before he gets up. Norton stupidly trots in and tries for a chokeslam to finish things off, that goes about as well …

Oh how I'd love to have seen this with a Nakamura from a few years later. Not to say that he was bad here, just nowhere near seasoned enough to get the most out of a matchup like this. Match was still quite solid though. Murakami runs in early for the rush of strikes and corner stomp spot. Mura shit-talks and the two exchange shots, with Nakamura's forearms and slaps winning out. Match slows as Nakamura and co get weary of the other, so we see lots of takedowns and sprawling to escape them. Smooth mat-work as Murakami effortlessly escapes multiple kneebar attempts, trying for a toe-hold and a head/arm choke. The sticker comes when he tries to pry the arms open for a …

Pretty decent return match. Probably deserved to be on a pay-per-view instead of some random RAW where JR wasn't calling the match because Kane set him on fire. Instead, we get Coach calling the match, which gets annoying, quickly. I'm not a huge fan of this style of wrestling. I especially dislike some of the Steamboat/Savage pin attempts they do, which isn't a knock on Savage and Steamboat per se, but on workers who crib those spots. I like Jericho better against different opponents, but I totally get the dynamic they were going for, and why it might appeal to a large segment of the fanbase.

It's been a while since we've seen Los Talibanes on TV. This was part of a three-week build to a cage match. I always have time for Los Talibanes, even when their matches are shit, but they brought their working boots here. Talibanes vs. Halloween and Damian is always good, but they also managed to make Terrible look more interesting than he has in any other bout simply by beating him up. Gotta love a trio of old-school rudos.

Brock Lesnar defends the WWE Heavyweight Title in a No DQ Triple Threat Match The WWE was generally pretty good at booking these three way matches with Rock vs Angle and Undertaker from Vengeance 2002 being particularly memorable for me. This wasn't nearly as good as that match, but you could still see the road agent's fingerprints all over it. The road agents were really good at creating a wave, and delivering enough high points that you're left thinking you saw a pretty good match. There were enough holy shit moments in this to satisfy the video game crowd, and the finish pushed the Angle/Lesnar storyline forward. I'm not really into Lesnar vs. Angle as much as I w…

This was really good up until the bullshit finishing stretch that reduced it to "just another match." I loved how they built the match from the crowd up, and worked at a slow, methodical pace, instead of giving the crowd the video game wrestling it wanted. There was a real old-school build to this that was comforting for an old fuck like me. When they did hit their signature stuff, they got nice pops. Then the malarkey began. The first part was "Cheat to Win" Latino Heat stuff, which is okay I guess. At least they went a beat or two beyond Eddie simply winning by hitting Benoit with the belt. It seemed like we might get a decent finish after all and then Rhino showed up a…

WWE Tag Team Champions World's Greatest Tag Team vs Rey Mysterio/Billy Kidman - WWE Vengeance 2003 Heralded match at the time and for some reason I don't remember watching this PPV live. I think this was the only post-Mania XIX PPV I didn't watch that year. Very fun little tag match. You really start to see the post-modern style creeping into this match. There are almost zero babyface/heel dynamics, it is more about spots and the nearfalls are huge in this. What keeps this above water is that the crowd is still old school and Rey Mysterio is on fucking fire in this match. There is an awesome nearfall where Rey snaps Haas off the top rope with a rana and everyone i…

This was a match that Cena was supposed to win, but Vince changed the plan on the day of the show. The match is okay. Taker was a fairly decent brawler at this point.. He gets a bloodied mouth and Cole keeps on harping on about Taker having internal bleeding. Junior Cena isn't the greatest worker, and I can't stand his J-Roc gimmick, but he was working hard at getting himself over. He could have used the rub from Undertaker here. I can understand Vince getting cold feet over jobbing Undertaker, but in the long run, who's going to remember Undertaker losing on a July PPV? Taker didn't gain anything from beating Cena. Apparently, people weren't happy about the decision inte…