March 2004

Genichiro Tenryu vs Tadao Yasuda - NJPW 3/21/04 I was in Ireland last week for work and got out of the habit of watching and reviewing wrestling. Going to the Carolinas next week. Hope to get back in the habit soon. Yasuda would be gone from New Japan in 6 months and this is one of his last ten matches in NJPW. It seems like he was booted from Makai Club after this and started teaming with Tenryu. The writing felt like it was on the wall for during this match. He was not treated like a star. The beauty of Yasuda is that a fucking huge ex-Sumo dude that chokes the shit out of people and moves awkwardly. He forces conventional pro wrestlers out of the th…

The biggest story coming out of British Uprising II was arguably Alex Shane turning heel on Ulf Herman. In 2004 he would become the No. 1 heel in the company, with them now being open on air about Shane being the Managing Director of the FWA alongside being an in-ring competitor. There is a pretty good promo that Shane cuts where he explains why he turned on Herman, sighting him – with his use of weapons and fire and his swearing in interviews - as a detriment to getting a TV deal. The Shane/Xavier rivalry and the associated segments involving Doug Williams and Steve Corino show how far in 2004 the FWA would use the internet and ‘shoot’ angles to push its storylines f…

I’m a huge fan on the Indies when a storyline/rivalry crosses over different promotions. It adds a sense of realism and that there is a wrestling universe (rarely the WWE universe of course) where everything is interconnected. It enables you to feel wrestlers characteristics and motivations much more strongly. Over the past 15 years or so one of the best examples was the Raven vs CM Punk feud. I won’t go into too much of the detail, as I think there’s a fair amount of familiarity with it, but Punk’s straight edge lifestyle and Raven’s more ahem ‘colourful’ drug and alcohol past made them perfect opponents. Generally the FWA was decent at incorporating imports into st…

The build-up for this match comes out of the burgeoning Corino/Alex Shane feud that ratchets up on this show (read more about that here) when Doug agrees to defend the FWA Title against Corino, in part to stick it to Shane (who was the FWA’s heel authority figure, both on and off screen). WOS legend Mick McManus is the guest timekeeper for the match which gives a nice nod to British wrestling history and also makes the match feel more bigtime. FWA Title matches at this stage were 2/3 falls and reflecting the need for both guys to pace themselves we get a methodical start, with Corino trying to hang with Williams on the mat but being outmatched and caught off guard by…

These two would end up forming a union later in the year as heels, but at this stage, both are faces. Tighe is coming off a great 2003, arguably the most consistent in ring performer in the company outside of Doug Williams, but unsuccessfully challenging Doug for the British Heavyweight Title at British Uprising II at the end of the year. Belton hadn’t done too much in the company yet but was getting more opportunities. As a face/face matchup, we get respect at the beginning with lots of counters and escapes. While some of the exchanges are a bit rough, it feels nice to see some more traditional British WOS influences in there when the FWA style was usually very US i…

After the slightly disappointing reception that British Uprising II received in October 2003, it incredibly took over five months for the FWA’s next show - New Frontiers. While that could’ve had a significant impact on the company’s momentum, it is arguable that across all metrics; attendances, visibility, storylines and in ring quality 2004 was the strongest year in the FWA’s history. However, by the time the year was out, the company was already on the path to its untimely demise. The biggest news going into 2004 was that the FWA had secured its first ever national TV deal, a weekly one hour slot on the newly established Wrestling Channel. For those outside the UK t…

IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Bob Sapp - NJPW 3/28/04 Well this was FUCKING AWESOME!!! Couldnt find any of Tenzan’s title defenses or Sasaki’s title win. Nakamura vacated the tile after 1/4 I assume due to eye injury. Tenzan seemed liked a great transitional champion than Sasaki. But I cannot complain too much because we got a killer match. Bob Sapp looks like a hundred million bucks. They just get into a three point stance and charge each other like two battering rams. It is just beefy wrestling, slapping their meats against each other and I’m here for it. Big body slam by Sapp establishing his power and size advantage. Sasaki butts low to get a lau…

Tenryu vs Suzuki looks amazing on paper, as does Tenryu vs Takayama, but they never really get into it in the way that you'd like. Instead, Suzuki is an absolute dick towards Nakanishi, Match is on the short side, and once you realize it's a title defense, it doesn't feel like it was substantial enough.

Super fun debut match on RAW for Shelton Benjamin. Not only does he show more personal charisma than he did during his entire Smackdown run, but he instantly becomes JR's wet dream. Gotta give Triple H his props here. This is a superbly worked television match and another high profile job on the back of his WrestleMania loss. Lawler was in full heel commentary mode, but I actually found it kind of endearing. His mocking of JR was on point and far better than Michael Cole and Taz's squabbling.

Perro Jr vs Universo 2000 is just about the best thing going in CMLL. Not that it's particularly great, but at least there's some passion behind it. Perro Sr looks feeble when he gets involved, but the tecnico comebacks are exciting and adding Dantes and Black Warrior to the mix helped elevate things a bit. Weak praise, but I'm trying.

This was 10 minutes of a Santo vs. Park match that aired on Samurai TV of all places. Looked like a decent brawl and Park showed more charisma and character than he has in any of his CMLL matches so far,.