July 2004

Casas and Perro Jr aren’t getting along. Despite the ongoing angle, this was one of the better trios matches in recent times. The dynamics between the workers were strong, and the work was tight. The falling out between partners didn’t over shadow the contributions of the other workers, and they continued to build Garza’s heat by having hum square off with Shocker throughout. These drawn out heel/face turns in lucha rarely deliver good matches. They’re usually a waste a bout. This is one of the better examples I’ve seen, even if the actual turn is a far cry from the best turn in lucha history.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Randy Orton has been receiving a heck of a push in 2004 and it’s about to get even bigger. I guess they truly believed he’d be the next breakout star. To his credit, he’s improved a lot during this IC run and is starting to produce some excellent matches. This is a fantastic title defense in front of Jericho’s hometown crowd. They actually had me believing that Jericho would win the title. Never would have thought I’d be digging a Randy a Orton vs Chris Jericho match n my old age, but this hit my WWE sweet spot.

This was more along the lines of a traditional rudo turn than the previous week’s match. The action took a backseat to the constant “will he or won’t he?” teases, and the rudo side took the piss throughout. Finally, the turn happened. It wasn’t a vicious turn, but it did enough to get Perro hear with the crowd. I still think the timing of the turn was far too soon after Perro’s arrival in CMLL, but it’s the summer and I guess they have the Anniversary Show in mind. Plus, there have been a few shows where they turned down the lights and blackened out the crowd, so perhaps they were desperate to drum up some business ahead of the all-important summer stretch. That said, wha…

It's Ikeda vs. Taue and it is just as much fun as you would expect. Yone takes a monster beating in this one. Includes a cool shot of Misawa watching from the back. ****

I had high hopes for this as Kanemaru is one of my favorite NOAH guys, but this was disappointing. You could probably argue that it got things right in terms of fan engagement, however it was a crappy bout in terms of detail. Part of that was because it was tailored towards a Dome crowd, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that Kanemaru was out of his element having a big singles match. The result came across flat to me when it should have been a huge moment. The crowd seemed happy, though.

Talk about it here.

I haven't watched this since when I first got this show in after it happened, and I was really biased against Rikio at the time. Takeshi II have some serious swag on their way in. Way better than I remembered, everyone looked great and had a distinct role to play. Rikio's good as the ass kicker of his team, Morishima the fiery youngster of the 4, Suzuki constantly stirring the pot, and Takayama the confident monster. They went out of their way to make the local boys look great and I could see some saying to the detriment of the match but Suzuki and Takayama look strong by the end. This was a very good heavyweight tag title match that didn't outstay its welcome and did exa…

This has a semi-decent video package showcasing a semi-decent reason for Edge and Orton to be feuding and includes at least one good line where Edge tells Orton: ” I may not be a legend, but I dare you to spit in my face .“ What’s cool about this bout is that they take a totally old school approach to it. It’s much longer than you’d expect a IC title defense to be on a 2004 WWE pay-per-view, but they’ve done such a good job of rehabbing the IC belt through Orton that it’s awesome to see the belt holding the same status it did in its glory days. If the idea of a long Orton vs Edge match sounds boring to you, I beg to differ. IIRC, they had some convoluted matches in the la…

It feels like they’ve been dragging Chris Benoit vs Triple H out for too long, which is a laughable statement given how long they flogged the Shawn Michaels vs Triple H match up, but I think the angle with Eugene is proof that this rivalry is running out of steam. The Eugene stuff is in poor taste if you ask me. The match isn’t bad. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from Triple H vs Chris Benoit. I have an extremely high tolerance level for Triple H matches, so ymmv, I don’t mind his ponderous technical stuff, and generally find that JR can talk me through those portions of the match. Benoit is Benoit. The problem is that the match up isn’t fresh anymore. Its better tha…

This was a decent capper to the JBL vs Eddie feud, though it would’ve been far more memorable if Eddie had won the belt back. The action was good, and Eddie’s selling was phenomenal throughout, but the storytelling didn’t always make sense. I couldn’t buy into the idea that JBL was afraid of this type of match, or that cage matches were Eddie’s playground. Given the size advantage, JBL should have been far and away the aggressor. I’m fact, it would have played out better if JBL was stooping to barbaric means to retain his title. The other problem I had with the match was the frog splash from the top of the cage. I can’t remember if Eddie had done it before (probably), but…

Not the greatest Cibernetico match in company history, but in the context of the weekly TV it was an enjoyable match and a refreshing change from the norm. The match was built around the continuing beef between Casas and Perro Jr. Highlights included a Perro vs Satanico exchange and a rare Casas vs Atlantis exchange. We also got to see Mistico in action, though he fairly raw at the time. Neat scrap between Atlantis and Perro at the end.

I absolutely love this match up. I think it's one of the best match ups in the business in 2004. They go hard in every match and the balance between wrestling, striking and big moves is damn near perfect. We were guaranteed a winner here after their previous match in 3PW went to a time limit draw, and they didn't disappoint. The only thing that bothered me was the cheap finish. Other than that, they put on a clinic. I'll say it again, but it's really hard for me to put Bryan Danielson ahead of AJ Styles at this point in their careers.

Billed as a Six Man WAR with all the issues between the teams, this one goes over 30 minutes, so it's a pretty long boy. It's full of some hard-hitting & VERY intense action though, so it kept me entertained for the entirety of it. The Briscoes & The Havana Pitbulls serve in their roles wonderfully, and I thought that especially the Pitbulls - in particular Rocky Romero - delivered some really compelling offense in the form of submissions & kicks. Homicide & Joe are definitely unsurprisingly the clear stars though, with the energy being off the charts whenever they come in & start smashing fools in their nasty, vicious ways. ***1/2 The post-match …

Talk about it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei5FLpe82to

Talk about it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAwk4WPeZUU&feature=youtu.be

Talk about it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3lpffpukXU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Lm6mkIdBg

Calling this match shoot style or just shoot inspired might be the easiest way to get it over it but it would provide a shallow and historically inaccurate description. Shoot style was the creation of 1984 and 1988. New Japan continued to have its own style that would come in contact with the shootiness, but really started seriously flirting with it when they had the UWFi feud and then started bringing in Naoya Ogawa, Don Frye and so on. It peaked in the early 2000s as that was the peak of both PRIDE and Inoki's insanity, and you can see it in this match. It doesn't feel like UWF or RINGS or UWFi or PWFG. There's a distinct flair and style in this match-one that has maxim…

Just to prove their Vengeance match was no fluke, here is an excellent television rematch from the WWE’s best matchup. They play up Edge’s title victory like it was a fluke, and continually refer to the fact that Edge’s first IC reign lasted a day whereas Orion’s reign lasted for seven months. Edge doesn’t always get his dues, and deservedly so at times, but he was excellent in his role here and seemed legitimately hungry after sitting on the sidelines for so long. I’m not sure how they’ve going to repackage Orton as a number one contender for the World’s Heavyweight Title after coming out on the losing side of this feud, but this mini-feud with Edge was the perfect warm …

I was interested in how much matwork they would do in this, and the answer was a little. If you squint a bit, it almost looks like Kawada is fighting Yamazaki, which would have been a pretty cool match up come to think of it. The idea of Kawada vs shooters has always been tantalizing to me, but it would have had to have happened in the mid-90s. Kawada looked washed in 2004. He’d done his dash in the immediate post-split period. Nagai was a fairly lousy pro-wrestler as evidenced by his weak selling in this bout, and even weaker facial expressions, but they could have worked a much better bout if Kawada had brought more energy to the bout.

It's Ishikawa facing the most insignificant first period BattlARTS guy on a random AJPW card in the 2nd match on the card. It can't be more than just a fun little exhibition? And well that's WRONG because these two just do one of the most brutal under 5 minute sprints of the decade. Crowd brawling that looks legit (why is Ishikawa, a quasi shootstyle working Inoki worshipper arguably the best crowd brawler in japanese wrestling history?), some of the stiffest slaps you'll ever see, and then probably the stiffest Enzugiri you'll see ever, insane Maeda/Fujinami blood, stoppage drama... yeah this kicked ass.

This was a decent trios match. It was kind of trippy seeing Satanico square off against Garza since my prevailing image of those two is Satanico abusing a young Hector Garza In ‘95. Garza is a different sort of rudo from the norm, but he’s managed to fit in well with the CMLL regulars and he does a lot of quality shtick. Park, on the other hand, hasn’t had the impact you’d expect from his jump to CMLL. He does work a decent house style match here with some good exchanges with Garza. For some reason, Rey is dressed in his old pirate outfit. OK match.