Moonsault Marvin

Black Liger comes out super aggressive again. They put together a nice story of Liger underestimating Tanaka and getting caught with an armbreaker. Liger gets a nice counter with the sleeper to regain the advantage and go on to finish off Tanaka. Liger is so great with his body language that the viewer can imagine the face he's making even though he's under a mask. Good short match.

Average match. The slapping back and forth wears thin for me. I did like the half crabs and wish there was more of that.

I liked the section where Kashin kept getting rid of Takaiwa, so Otani couldn't make the tag. Otani demonstrated good expressiveness through his movements, and I thought he might end up losing. Good match.

These Onita Pro matches suffer from a sameness about them. The powerbomb on the chairs was cool, but that was the only thing that stood out about this one. Slightly below average.

Poor Tarzan Boy gets his weekly beating. He gets triple teamed in the first fall. Then, in the second fall, he gets a low blow and his fingers munched on by Satanico. He makes his comeback, but he goes splat on the floor when missing his plancha on Fuerza. The guy can't catch a break. Good match.

This was a weird one. We have Blue Panther almost playfully taunting the crowd by pushing Olimpico on them as smiling people push back. When we go back to the pair, Olimpico is just gushing blood. Blue Panther is a major sicko, smearing the blood over Olimpico's chest and then licking his fingers. Then, when we get Niebla and Rencor Latino in the ring, Niebla is rolling Rencor into a ball, like it's a comedy match. With Olimpico making a comeback, mask ripping action ensues, leading to Panther's disqualification. Panther comes off despicable in this one, and it makes me wish I had voted him higher in GWE. CMLL's hot streak continues.

Good match. It was interesting that Nakanishi got taken out twice in this one, first with the sleeper while intervening and then submitting to Hashimoto's armbreaker. Hashimoto brings so much to these matches with his intensity.

This was joined in progress. Liger in the black suit is very angry guy. He stomps and stomps Tanaka before Tanaka gets the best of him with the heel hook. I almost thought angry Liger might attack El Samurai when Samurai lost. Good job of building up a Liger/Tanaka matchup.

This one started off with some tense battling including hard slaps and kicks, but Otani busting it off the ropes caused the match to lose its momentum. I thought Wagner Jr. performed well, as I've never quite figured out the hate for him that some people have around here. Maybe I haven't seen enough of him. Average match.

Good match. Old Stan had gained some pounds and maybe lost a step, but he still had the effort and the crowd showed him love. His exchanges with Kobashi were the highlights of the match. Even though you knew from the beginning Omori was going to eat the pinfall, Omori put on a good performance and didn't look out of place with the top guys.

I wish this wasn't clipped. I wanted to see more of that leglock exchange between Ishikawa and Otsuka. The match didn't really come together, but Ishikawa is always fun to watch.

Billy Reil had the gift of gab in this one. His heeling was the most entertaining aspect. The match didn't do much for me. There were too many corny sequences and the camera angle exposed Low Ki's kicks.

Solid match. The match was a bit boring at first, but it picked up when Bad Attitude started heeling with the low blows and the fake tagging in and out.

Smothers has the same clothes as the previous match. I thought wrestlers were always supposed to carry their trunks. Not much of a match. The old ether rag strikes again. I'm still not sure why Baxter turned on Ali.

Fun match. Dundee threw some nice punches in this short tv match. I agree that it's always great to hear Lance Russell's voice.

Good match. When the Villanos convince two guys to give them their seats, you know there up to no good. One highlight in this one was the punch by Fuerza when Casas goes for the leapfrog. Atlantis was trying so hard to rip that seat out to use against Villano III, but he just couldn't get it. Emilio Charles crotching himself on Fuerza's head probably hurt. Those Villanos finally got up and gave Atlantis a beatdown, costing his team the match. CMLL had a really good January.

The Infernales continue their streak of destruction, and Tarzan Boy and friends take another beating. That press throwing Olimpico into the seats was amazing. The Infernales were so vicious in choking and tying up Tarzan Boy. The middle of this seemed to be unfortunately clipped out. Satanico finishes Tarzan Boy off by shattering a bottle over his head. This feud has been must-see material.

This was a fairly standard match with nothing really standing out. Rose and the Bad Crew both used "Hair of the Dog" as their theme music, so I was expecting them to show up at some point. The backfiring interference was a humorous finish.

Backseat Boyz heeled it up in their entrance. I loved when Trent left the guy hanging on the high five. The match took a long time to start and it seemed like they were filling time. The match was a solid standard tag match. The other guy in Backseat Boyz seemed like the weak link in terms of performance as his timing was a little off. Average match.

The piledriver through the table was completely sick. It didn't look like Onita protected the guy at all, but he got up and kept going. Fun match.

The crowd seems dead. The first fall was over quickly. The rest of the match was competent but unmemorable. Slightly below average match.

Very good match. Akiyama came out hitting big forearms and german suplexes and really looked like a top guy. The middle of the match was sort of plodding as Vader lacked his old urgency, which kept it from being a great match. They had a nice finishing run and Vader's release german suplex was killer.

This was a hard hitting match with the kicks and big boots flying. Nice storytelling as the younger team overcame the greats. Takayama and Omori used their double teams effectively and executed a smart strategy of keeping Taue on the outside. Excellent match.

After looking washed up in the U.S., Dr. Death is completely reenergized in Japan. Williams puts in a nice performance as the aggressor in this match. His gorilla press and his punches are awesome. Ogawa does a good job of taking his usual beating and it was good to see him get a win. Misawa continues to look off in these matches. Good match and fun post-match brawl.

I had forgotten Christopher Daniels with hair. This started off with some sequences that they rushed through. The match just went on and on and was crammed full of moves that were competently performed but didn't seem meaningful. Daniels at least tried to get the crowd involved by posing, but Modest was quite boring. He tried hulk-ups, but he didn't really build to them. Below average.