September 2003

Juventud Guerrera vs Chris Sabin - NWA-TNA 9/3/03 Super X Cup Juvy still had plenty of Juvy Juice left in 2003. I know he is a headcase, BUT of all the 90s workers I think I wished Juvytud had a much better run in the 21st Century. Besides the lame Mexicools run, where did he work? Lots of 90s workrate throughout that I mean a lot of symmetry dropdowns at the same time, dropkicks at the same time. The length cradle reversal segment is another hallmark of 90s workrate. Very interesting that Sabin was the clear heel at the start and he plays it up at times, but by the end, it is full workrate. They are working USA vs Mexico but with Juvy as the bigger star it is e…

WWE Champion Kurt Angle vs The Undertaker - Smackdown! 9/4/03 Another Kurt Angle match, I thought could have been a classic, but just veered off the tracks. I thought this was an absolutely fantastic Undertaker performance. He is clearly an MMA mark and loves wrestling Brock and Angle. I saw the pre-match promo to this and loved it. Taker says he will let Angle break his ankle and that he will combat Angle with his fists and then tap him out beating him at his own game. I loved how focused this was on strategies. I am such a mark for strategy-based pro wrestling and I think Undertaker was committed to the striker vs the wrestler in this. Angle was fine in the early going…

This was an excellent match. They had a match a few weeks later that was a real cookie-cutter bout and nowhere near as good, but this was superb. It wasn't the first time they'd met in singles competition, but they sold it like it was. The match felt like two great workers feeling each other out for the first time. It was endlessly creative. It's a shame that they dumbed it down for the rematch, but at least we have evidence here of what they could really do.

This was a sub-10 minute bout, but highly enjoyable because of the talent involved. The rudos attacked the tecnicos as they were coming to the ring. GdI did some nifty stuff on the ramp with the steel box CMLL uses for ring steps. Aguayo was a ball of energy, and Wagner and Shocker spent the entire bout brawling with each other, which was a potent reminder that the two biggest matchups in CMLL were Shocker vs. Ultimo and Shocker vs Wagner. The finish set up Aguayo & Casas vs. GdI at the Anniversary Show.

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This is Kawada, the last remaining AJ faithfull against Zero-1 dickhead Ohtani, who really never has proved himself at that level in single competition. So at first, he really can't hang with Kawada, which is the story. When he does that boot in the face deal in the corner, my thoughts were "Hum... Kawada ain't gonna like that." Yep. Kawada gets up and slaps the shit out of Ohtani. Basically, every time Ohtani was too much of an irrespectful dickhead, Kawada would get up, walk right in his face and kick the shit out of him. Ohtani's strategy is to go after a knee, with quick dropkicks and kneebars. He also no-sells regularly Kawada's jumping kicks to the back of the head,…

I think this smokes their Wrestlerave match tbh. And that match already ruled & had quite a few insane moments, but this is totally great & super consistent with its action (which is something I thought the Wrestlerave match wasn't). It feels very sprint-y with how fast they go right from the get go, and that adds a lot to the overall intensity & the feeling of the dislike they have for one another. Acid & 'cide both bring some truly fantastic offense w/ their own signature touches into the thing, and it's just awesome to watch them beat each other up, to put it bluntly. The blood added quite a bit too, and the ways they both got cut? Naaaaasty stuff. Supe…

This was a decision match for the World Super Lightweight title, a title which hadn't been used since CMLL Japan stopped promoting shows. It was reinstated to take advantage of the success of the Southern California workers' matches against Ricky Marvin, Virus and Volador Jr. CMLL ran a torneo cibernetico to determine the participants for the decision match and gave them a decent amount of time for the final. Romero wasn't a true luchador, but he was a pretty good worker and held up his end of the match. The Super Lightweight division showed a ton of promise. Generally speaking, CMLL's at its best when there's exciting shit happening up and down the card. One of the reaso…

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WWE Champion Kurt Angle vs Brock Lesnar - Smackdown 9/18/03 Ironman Have not seen this since original airing. Long match split into parts First 15 minutes: Brock's masterful in the opening. Such a great wrestler. Violent when he needs to be and a coward when it is right. The two times he takes advantage is by jumping Angle once right at the bell and using the ref. On top, he works like a beast. When it comes time to bump, he takes the big bumps and then scurries to the outside. Then he throws his temper tantrums on the outside. I wish Angle was better at selling these moments. He can be a little bland in the ring. The transitions are bit weak. Brock is in there se…

This was disappointing, which I suppose is why I've never heard anyone talk about it before. Usually in these Casas vs. GdI matches, you can rely on Casas to have some awesome exchanges with the Guerreros, but aside from a few slaps, he was mediocre, just as he has been all year. Perro Jr brought a fair amount of energy, but he was a rookie as far as big time Arena Mexico matches go. The match was poorly structured, and I thought the workers were hurt by having the match thrown together at the last moment. Casas and Perro had zero chemistry together, and while the standoff between Ultimo and Perro was something new, they clearly didn't have a ton of experience working tog…

This was another solid bout from this crew. I can't keep track of what the Sol Cal guys were calling themselves in Mexico, so I just used their regular names. Collectively, CMLL referred to them as the Havana Brothers. You can read about the confusion over the names here -- http://www.luchawiki.org/index.php?title=Havana_Pitbulls -- which also explains why the announcers were constantly referring to "Ricky Romero." I guess, they were technically Rocky Romero, Rocko and Puma, but the announcers didn't appear to have a clue and didn't seem to mention either Quance or Perkins by name. But enough about all that. These guys were a breath of fresh air in CMLL at the time, and V…

This was shorter than I would have liked, but it wasn't helped by the director going nuts with the crowd shots and the extra handheld camera option. There were some poor edits in this match that took away from the drama of the bout. The in-ring work was the focused action you expect from a Shocker match. I loved the finishes to the first two falls. Tarzan Boy crucifixing the arm during the pinfall, and Shocker flinging Tarzan Boy to the mat after the Gori Special were great slow-motion replay moves. The tercera was almost perfect. If they'd just continued for a few more beats and given Tarzan Boy a couple of nearfalls, I would have been a lot higher on the match. Tarzan B…

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Handheld footage from MSG. Talk about it here

There is a ton of backstory going into and around this match, so settle in… For the match itself, former ECW alum Chris Hamrick had been working regularly for the FWA during the summer and had won the All England Title from the Zebra Kid. He’d then put that up in a title vs title match against Storm’s (coveted) XPW European Title. Jonny was the one who walked out with both belts, before subsequently losing the All England belt to the former champ the Zebra Kid. Coming into this match, Hamrick, as former regular in XPW before the company folded is trying to win the title so he can retire it, arguing, perhaps logically, that it’s stupid to be carrying round a title from…

I have to confess not knowing anything about either of these two guys, as this was pretty much their only appearances in the FWA and they are not workers who did anything on my radar. I’ve written previously about the FWA relying on a core set of guys, so this was part of an idea to try and showcase some new names by having a guest match slot on some cards. This is on behalf of Premier Promotions, who are a company that was running since the late 80s and which staged more traditional World of Sport style bouts and more family orientated shows. In other words a very different scene to the type of fan that the FWA was catering for. As such I was expecting this match to …

As ever before the opener of the show, a little intro on where the FWA was at this point; this is the final stop before the company’s biggest event of the year - British Uprising II the next month. As such, this show is used as a set up with a much heavier use of angles, promos and non wrestling segments than previous FWA cards. With no TV in place at this stage, and being in the pre YouTube era, it makes some sense to try to build up the big upcoming show, but as you’ll see in the individual match threads I’ll post, the matches suffer as a result, and after a strong run of shows from British Uprising I the previous October, this was a clear step back in quality. As w…