April 2004

With 2004 seeing the introduction of the FWA’s new weekly TV show, it meant that matches from live events that were not a signature show and wouldn’t have often been part of a home video release were now being seen as part of TV tapings. It also meant much greater storyline development on smaller shows. This is a case in point. This match is from the Morecambe Dome, which before demolition was a great venue for wrestling. It’s domed roof kept in the atmosphere and it was a venue that translated well on camera. It was to become the Northern home of the FWA, which previously having been a Southern/London based promotion was trying in 2004 to become more or a national to…

Maybe not a great match due to some structural issues but I think it had some great moments, with a barefooted Nishimura challenging Kawada for the Triple Crown and trying to destroy his knee. Well, maybe not DESTROY but hurt it. Kawada's going to do his best to play gruff defense, leg kicking and headbutting and chopping Nishimura. They kick each other in the face fighting over a leglock, Nishimura wins, then goes to work with the deathlock and sickle hold. The struggle to hit the snapmare was well-conveyed and Kawada fights out and tries to keep Nishimura from attacking the leg but his big boot is caught and Nishimura dragon screw legwhips him down and puts him in the f…

The days of the fun CMLL undercard matches with the Havana Brothers appear to be over. Things come and go pretty quickly in CMLL. This had the potential to be a fun undercard bout, but it was mostly setup for Super Crazy & Zumbido's hair match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ub707DChaU This was a pretty legendary match in the fairly short history of the FWA and one which was heavily built to as a hook for the new FWA TV show. Shane was now firmly the focal point of the promotion, transplanting his off screen role as the company’s managing Director onto TV and looking to take the company to the next level with him at it’s centre. In storyline terms, a guy looking like Jack Xavier – stocky and wrestling in a shirt and shorts, a Mick Foleyesque figure – was not what he wanted in the FWA. Reflecting the intensity of the feud, I love the beginning of the match as we jump right into it the action with Xavier…

This was a hot 8-man tag featuring all the guys working against each other on Sunday's Backlash show. It was the kind of match you figure the WWE could roll out on every go-home show, but don't. Somehow RAW has become the most exciting thing in wrestling. I don't know if that was the reaction at the time, but business has definitely picked up as far as I'm concerned. I had no idea that Evolution were so entertaining. I always figured Triple H was stroking his ego by having some weak ass version of the Horsemen follow him around, but they're actually a pretty cool stable. I was really surprised by Flair. I expected him to be awful, but he was great in his role. He mostly t…

Jeff Jarrett vs James Storm Non-title match, while Chris Harris has been built into a credible challenger over the last month. Hey, if this version of Jarrett showed up more often, I'd have no issue with him. Not the lazy formulaic Jarrett, although we get a Korakuen-style visit brawl early on, which was decently intense, as he busts out some big time offense including a superplex and an ace-crusher. Storm's best single match until this point, as he didn't overwork himself with too-fast sequences (the bad influence of the X-div style), keeping it simple and revengefull. Didn't turned into a Double J Special, barely a ref bump to give Storm a visual pinfall, and a good…

Raven vs Chris Harris (04/14/04 TNA) For the right to get Jarrett in a cage for the NWA title. Talk about a selling clinic, this is one. Harris milks his left shoulder injury for all its worth and Raven always goes back to it. To even things up, at one point where they fight near the ropes, Harris tangles Raven's right leg in the ropes and goes after the knee, so it's knee vs shoulder. Raven's selling is wonderful, just not hobbling around but selling the pain and annoyance with excellent facials and body language. Some different kind of moves too, with Raven going for a japanese armbar as a counter with the announcers pointing out Harris is not familiar with this hol…

This was a fairly typical workrate match. Unfortunately, it was clipped at various points, which hurt the flow a bit. Still, the baseline for a Styles vs. Homicide match is fairly high, and they delivered everything you'd expect from these two. Styles continues to surprise me as he's not the type of wrestler I would usually enjoy, and in fact, the first time I encountered this era of Styles' career it was a massive turnoff having only been familiar with his New Japan run. But the dude is consistently good, and extremely hard working. And he adapts so well to his opponents. Respect.

Samoa Joe vs "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson - PWG 4/17/04 It has always smacked me as peculiar that Joe and Danielson have never had an epic together or at least one that is considered canon. Each man has classics with Low-Ki and AJ Styles. Joe had his series with Punk and Danielson had a classic with London. I would say these two (maybe Punk also) are the most beloved wrestlers of the hardcore wrestling fans. I saw that there is an ROH Title Defense by Joe against Danielson at the peak of Joe's powers but I dont see it as widely praised, which surprises me. Before, I watch that match I decided to watch this match to get a feel for their chemistry. This matc…

I always liked this match but watching it in context has made me appreciate it even more. This is easily the best match Park has had in CMLL so far and the best match that Ultimo, and CMLL for that matter, has had for several months. The reason for that is largely because they're working in Guadalajara, which is a hell of a lot closer to Park's old haunt of Monterrey than Arena Mexico. Why CMLL can't stage epic main events in Arena Mexico is beyond me, but the fact remains that if this had been held in Mexico City it would have been half the length (if not a third.) It's not a perfect match, I felt the rhythm of the match could have been better,, and it could have done wi…

Total house show match. Probably a fun match to watch live, but not the sort of thing you're looking for if you're craving an alternative to CMLL. The highlight for me was the Satanico vs Zumbido match up, which is a match up I've never seen before and a pairing that I doubt occurred on a regular basis. Their exchanges were great but all too brief. Instead, there were a bunch of Niebla vs Wagner shenanigans, which ought to be a red flag for most folks if you're familiar enough with Monterrey.

WWE IC Champion Randy Orton vs Cactus Jack - WWE Backlash 2004 Street Fight Never seen this one before, but remember it getting raved about even from those that hated Orton though they pinned it all on Foley for carrying it. This was a pretty awesome violent spectacle. This is just great old school booking putting the young pretty boy against the maniacal sadist to prove his mettle to all the fans that he is a man. The crowd was clearly cheering for Foley and Orton is a great obnoxious douche tool, but this match was clearly crafted to get Orton over as a babyface, which within four months he would be the babyface World Champion (way too soon, one of the more bonehead…

I should mention out of the gate that because this match is held in Benoit's hometown of Edmonton that there are a number of uncomfortable shots of Benoit's wife and son at ringside. The match is decent considering it's a rehash of the WrestleMania main event. I've got to believe that there were Benoit fans who were afraid that the WWE was going to have him job the title straight back to Triple H, and that they'd have the audacity to do it in his hometown. In fact, I'm pretty sure the WWE played that shit up as much as they could. There was a Montreal spot that came a bit too early in the match, but had the crowd booing Michaels the rest of the way and chanting "You screw…

RAW continues on its roll with this great television tag match. What's with the WWE giving us all these happy endings in Canada? Are they trying to atone or what? Edge makes the jump to RAW and suddenly the tide is turning with all these Smackdown dudes bringing the workrate back to the flagship show. This is the perfect marriage between solid heel work and Canadian babyfaces working in Calgary. Plus it has Lawler and Ross commentary, which is vastly superior to Taz and Michael Cole, in my ever so humble opinion.

This could have potentially been a pretty fun bout, but it was butchered in the edit. CMLL goes through waves, but it's in a rut right now and the crappy TV isn't helping things. Once again, Negro Casas fails to impress. It's not entirely his fault as the editor seems obsessed with only showing the parts that involve Park, but for a guy who's supposed to excel at all the little things he sure has been coasting. Park hasn't been a great fit in CMLL. Dude needs to head back to Monterrey and feud with Super Parka again.

Jeff Jarrett vs AJ Styles (04/21/04 TNA) The conclusion to the quite good "Road to the cage" ends with AJ Styles taking the place of Chris Harris after Raven goes after him and fucks his shoulder up. Although the Russo promo was bad as always, this was a neat twist in that raven manipulated his way to that point but Russo refuses to give him the props and design AJ Styles, whom he "owned" one from their past history. Raven gets crazy of course and watches the match from afar (as does Ron Killings, but who the fuck cares ?). And the match is really good. They not only play familiarity, but they do it in a nice, subdued way (as opposed to super-obvious underlined way)…

This is actually their first ever 1-on-1 meeting, which makes it quite noteworthy on paper. It's a really good match! At 26 minutes, it definitely goes on for a bit too long & there's periods where it isn't as compelling as you'd like, but for the absolute majority of it, the wrestling is lovely. Danielson seeing a target in Punk's mid-section, going to work over it & then getting the win with the abdominal stretch was awesome. Also have to say that knowing what happens years later, the dueling "YES! NO!" chant when they're battling on the top rope towards the end always pops me. ***1/2

ROH World Champion Samoa Joe vs Homicide - ROH 4/23/04 Man Samoa Joe was a fuckin boss and Homicide is a just worker. Joe just had Alpha Male down. He was tooling on Homicide. He was one upping him every step of the way. This was Bob Backlund esque anything you can do I can do better. He would absorb the chop and slap the shit out of Homicide. Homicide would headbutt and Joe would not even register and he would knock his ass down with his own. Honestly, I have seen some Homicide when he was in TNA. I love the name and the gimmick in LAX, but here I didnt think he was dangerous enough. Your name is fucking Homicide, he was getting punked out the whole time. Joe was to…

This was a simply magnificent four corner survival. Everyone involved delivered a show-stealing effort - it truly felt like I was watching four hungry young guys go out there & make a little statement. Aries was the most over man at the start of the match & he looked really good with everything he did, I absolutely loved the pure intensity & aggression Rocky brought into the thing, and then there's Nigel McGuinness. Goddamn I love that man. Maybe my favorite moment of the entire match was when there's one very vocal fella in the crowd making noise that gets rest of the crowd to focus on him & get distracted from whats going on inside the ring, then Nigel b…

ROH World Tag Team Champions Briscoe Brothers vs Second City Saints - ROH 4/24/04 No commentary! Hell Yeah! I dont know the backstory or if there is one. Punk & Cabana are over huge as this takes places in Chicago and they work as "big babyfaces" as CM Punk so eloquently puts it at one point. I am not sure if they were babyfaces all over or just here in Chicago. In the post-match promo, CM Punk lays into Ricky Steamboat so that seems to say to me at least they may be heels outside of Chicago. To me this felt like the high stakes 21st Century version of the Rockers vs Rougeaus. Punk & Cabana just bust out the funnest shine in this match. Cabana does a gr…

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Woo-hoo, Park is back in Monterrey! This was worked at the exact pace I was hoping for. There were some house show shenanigans, and a little bit of Monterrey bullshit, but mostly it was solid brawling and a bunch of cool exchanges between Ultimo and Park to accompany the match they had in Guadalajara. I was vibing with this.

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