ohtani's jacket

Fancy duds for the tecnicos. CMLL match times have grown criminally short but the action is fast. Bestia celebrating with the cowbell was a nice touch and Shocker continues to look like the emerging WOTY.

This could have been a fun little Villanos vs. Capos brawl but Villano III gives up his spot to another wrestler... Uh oh, don't get too excited folks, it's Hijo del Lizmark! He rides to the ring on a motorbike and blows red mist for no apparent reason. lol at the motorbike falling over. HDL has a new mask with his hair poking out the top. It kind of makes him look like Beaker from the Muppet Show. The match has some decent action, particularly when the Villanos are on offense but HDL remains as wooden as ever.

I thought this was a pretty good apuesta match considering we had no idea who Silver Fox was. Was there any buildup to this? It was very much an Atlantis formula match but as we all know that formula has been successful in mask matches ever since the Villano feud. This had an appropriate level of violence. They didn't go all in with the mask ripping and bloodshed but the brawling was good and they sold well. The dives, submissions and pin attempts were all magnified like they should be in apuesta match and the Guadalajara crowd was passionate, especially that one woman who was screaming at the wrestlers while they brawling in the seats. The finishing stretch was sloppy but it wasn't a huge blight. I loved Silver Fox's posse of masked rudos and the joke about how his second, Asesino Negro, wasn't fooling anyone with his mask. There are other touches I liked as well -- like Atlantis' passion for taking a mask and the kids getting in the ring at the end to celebrate with their idol. It was a singles match, so it's easier to get noticed, but I'd put this on the shortlist for the most memorable CMLL matches of the year.

This was a short match but they packed it with plenty of action. I thought it was easily the best that Perro has looked aside from that one match in Japan. He seemed to have natural chemistry with Wagner and the pair worked well together. Satanico vs. Ringo took me back and I loved watching them reenact their battles from 20 years before. No false notes here. It was just too short.

Fun match with both Blue Panther & Santo and Tarzan Boy & Shocker going at it. Honestly speaking, the action between Tarzan Boy and Shocker leaves the Satanico feud for dead. They match up extremely well.

Criminally short and butchered in the edit but can't complain about the action. Rey Bucanero and Ultimo Guerrero are such hard working rudos.They bump their hearts out in a bout that ends with a kick to the balls. That was vintage Casas, though. If you're going to be DQ'ed for a fake foul might as well kick a field goal.

Crowd-pleasing trios that featured plenty of good work to go along with the theatrics. Emilio and Panther produced one of the best exchanges of the month in the segunda caida, Tarzan Boy and Black Warrior added some spectacular highspots, and Alushe getting his revenge on Wagner provided one of the highlights of the bout. Fantastic dive from Emilio in the third caida and then Pierroth makes a surprise run-in to help orchestrate some mayhem against Alushe. Where are JR and the KIng when you need them?

I think the answer to this pretty clearly that Fujiwara had a better singles career than any of those wrestlers. If all Fujiwara had in his resume were multi-man tags during hot feuds like Choshu vs. Fujinami and UWF vs. New Japan then you could make a comparison to someone like Animal Hamaguchi but Fujiwara clearly had a more significant singles career than the names you listed and was an occasional headliner. I do think he is a marginal candidate but he wasn't a career midcarder.

This was an excellent match. It was easily the best that Tarzan Boy has looked all year and better than anything he produced in the Satanico feud. Ordinarily, there would be the potential for him to look pretty lame doing a Hulk up but in this instance, it felt like he'd finally had enough of all the shit he'd endured. I don't know if this is a step beyond his maligned pretty boy phase or not, but he looked like a real gladiador here and that's something I would never have imagined heading into the bout. And how smart was Shocker? The counter to win the opening fall, the sneak attack after Tarzan Boy was celebrating his dive... everything that Shocker did felt measured like he was in perfect control of the bout. I honestly felt like it was a "next level up" performance from him. Some of the footage was lost at the beginning of the third fall and the editing was poor with the editor preferring to focus on crowd reactions than highspots. It may be the only time I've seen an editor cut away from a highspot to show the crowd. I didn't love the finish either but it was fairly typical for Monterrey. I thought Tarzan Boy could have won clean for an even bigger pop but it was still a career match for him and a breakout performance if he manages things right.

The Pancrase guys left because they didn't want to work pro-wrestling matches. And the BattlARTS guys left because there was a problem with Fujiwara's sponsor and not Fujiwara himself. PWFG was a promotion of little significance. It was founded because Fujiwara didn't belong to any of the factions within the UWF and instead wanted to create a promotion for his students. It didn't operate any differently from any other small indy during the time period. It had backing from Super Megane and provided talent for their shows. After that dried up, there was a working agreement with New Japan. As a small-time promoter, he deserves credit for building the promotion back up after he was left with only Yuki Ishikawa,

This was house show lucha but they drew good heat. The crowds in Monterrey are much bigger than later on, I suppose because the big names are still working there week in, week out. The best thing about the meandering house show style is that it allows more time for character work, and Shocker, in particular, gets to shine with his rudo shtick. The finish is anticlimactic as the crowd is geared toward a dive train but instead Casas does this weird choke hold on Shocker and Scorpio sneaks in a foul to steal the bout. Now let's talk about Casas. There is not a single moment in this bout that you'd describe as vintage Casas. The most notable thing about him right now is that he's sporting a beard. It's hard to see but you can spot it at the end when they show him reacting to the rudos celebrating. I hope this puts to bed this notion people have that Casas is the best worker in Mexico year in, year out. He clearly has his down periods the same as any other wrestler. He'll have another run in 2001 but for now, there's no way that he makes the top 10.

Lucha house show wrestling if ever I saw it. Only worth watching if you want to see the heat between Santo and Blue Panther continue to build.

I remember a buddy of mine sending me this match back in the day. I can safely say that I like it more now than I did then. The first fall almost feels like the birth of the maestros match. I don't think that was their intention. They were probably working the same way that they always did but there were so many old-school ideas that it felt like a maestros match even if it wasn't. I loved the contrast between the hardnosed, no-nonsense Villano IV and Pimpi. Their mat exchanges were some of the best all year and the other pairings weren't far behind. The second and third fall disintigrated into a scrappy brawl but the dynamic between Pimpi and the Villanos remained strong and Villano III had his ribs worked over to dramatic effect. I love Pimpi's flailing strikes that look like slaps, and watching Panther mix it up with the Villanos had me flashing forward to the mask match. Worth watching for Pimpi alone.

This was a slow burner that had a nice tercera caida. There was plenty of chemistry between the teams and Shocker vs. Villano III is shaping up nicely. 2000 was clearly an important year in the career of Villano III and arguably the most relevant he had been in the lucha scene since the very early 90s. He continued to have the fire in his belly here whether it was grievances with the ref or his rage at having his knee worked over. but what was nice to see was his wrestling skills in the early exchanges with Shocker, especially when they butt heads during the test of strength. One thing that struck me truly the lively tercera caida was that even though this was far removed from the golden era of trios team, 2000 has at least four solid trios teams in the Villanos, Los Guapos, Los Capos and the Infernales. We're lucky that IWRG had this ESPN deal at the time to show us some longer form trios bouts. The other thing I liked about this was the kids getting in the ring at the end. That used to be a staple of lucha libre but it's something you don't see a lot of these days. Check out the kid trying to take bumps and some of the others jumping off the top rope and trying to run the ropes. That coupled with the autograph signing at the start makes this seem like retro lucha libre.

Now, this was a treat. It's always a bonus to get a Villano IV singles match and this is possibly the best match of his on tape. It could have easily been the main event from one of those early 90s UWA television tapings and was definitely worked in the same style. Scorpio Jr. isn't the type of guy you associate with matwork. He's more of the roided-up power wrestler type. In fact, on paper, this match read like a lucha version of Arn Anderson vs. Lex Luger. But Scorpio' matwork was surprisingly effective. He kept things simple and used his strength to good advantage. Another thing that stood out was the bodywork. Lucha workers are often criticized for not targeting a body part and not using fundamental psychology in their matches, but here there was a strong focus on Scorpio's neck and Villano's leg. In fact, the psychology was so focused that Scorpio came out of the bout looking like a cerebral assassin. The Triple H of Mexico, if you will. Villano brought his usual brand of technical brawling and the pair put on an excellent show, One of the best lucha matches of the year for sure.

This was another classic, old-school trios match. I thought it was some of the best trios wrestling of the year -- not from the standpoint that it was a MOTYC because, frankly, trios wrestling doesn't produce a lot of MOTYCs but because of the traditional structure. There was the rudo beatdown, the tecnico comeback, and the back and forth finale. There was brawling, blood, and dives all in the same bout and even comedy spots. The tecnicos looked fabulous during their comeback and the dives were better than anything we've seen all year, and this was all within the context of a bout which really only served to set up some wager matches. That's classic trios wrestling -- you run 3 or 4 of these on television and set up the big singles matches. All of the best apuesta feuds have had these lead-in matches and they add to the bouts immensely. Whether we get a payoff to all this is uncertain but it's fun to watch the storylines develop particularly in a style of wrestling that can be short on story at times. The Shocker vs. Villano feud harkened back to the days where guys would work all over the country and have different feuds in different regions and Ciclon vs. Bombero & Cerebro continues to be an unheralded surprise. I thought Ciclon looked bad in the late 90s IWRG I've seen from him but he is kicking ass during this stretch and it was fun seeing him buddy up with the dude who took his mask. And didn't Felino look like he finally had something to do?

This was traditional trios wrestling with a lot of classic elements to it. The heat seems to have moved away from Ciclon vs. Cerebro toward Ciclon vs. Bombero Infernal but it was cool to see them work a classic lead-in match with their beef being at the forefront of the match. Ciclon looks like a middle-aged frontman from some band that was big in the 80s but his sleazy look fits the surroundings and I was impressed by his swank tecnico work. There was a time when he could have been the next Atlantis, IMO. That obviously didn't happen but his dives remain a thing of beauty and I definitely want to see him put that greasy hair on the line.

I'm talking about the really early handhelds with Smiley Mami and Dirty Yamato. I think it's fairly obvious that Harley Saito didn't have the goods to be a star. Her calling card was underrated midcard worker and she was very good in that role. Yamazaki was excellent in both AJW and JWP. She was a great worker that ought to be discussed more. It's too bad that she retired prior to the inter-promotional era but she'd already had a 10 year career at that point and was one of the pioneers in defying the retirement age. Jackie Sato wasn't the founder of JWP. It was formed by an entertainment group that wanted to cash in on the success of the Crush Girls. Jackie and Nancy Kumi were lured toward the new startup but it wasn't like Chigusa founding GAEA.

June Beyers vs. Penny Banner was one tough wrestling match. If you had asked me a few years back what I imagined women's wrestling was like in the 1950s I would have said catfighting and hair pulling. But these women could wrestle. And not only that, they worked at a faster pace than the men and took bigger bumps. For some reason, Russ Davis was extremely dismissive of "gal wrestling" but it's been some of the more enlightening footage from the Chicago region. Next up was Angelo Poffo vs. Maurice Roberre. Poffo isn't really a favourite of mine but he did more wrestling here than usual even if it was mostly grinding away at a hold. Roberre showed some nice agility for a big man and looked like he had more to give. I'll keep an eye out for him in other matches. Finally, Lorraine Johnson vs. Shirley Strimple was another hard-fought women's bout. The women's matches may not be the glamour pieces of the Chicago collection but they're consistently good and some of the best footage from the Archives. Both women's wrestling and midget wrestling have been a revelation for me thus far. It seems Kohler was intent on presenting both styles as serious wrestling and not a sideshow. There's still a fair share of xenophobia in the promotion and a lot of casual racism but the girls and he midgets shatter any stereotypes you may have of 1950s wrestling.

Thesz vs. Ray Gunkel was a classic while it lasted. The amount of energy and effort expended in the opening fall was amazing to watch. It may be the greatest opening fall in the history of NWA Heavyweight title matches. I recall a debate with dear old Professor Von Kramer about whether Thesz did anything different on the mat from later NWA champs. I've never seen matwork with the intensity of Gunkel vs. Thesz from any other NWA champ. Unfortunately, the amount of energy they expended was a signal that this wasn't going to last the distance and sure enough after Thesz jackknifed Gunkel to win the second fall, Gunkel was unable to continue the bout. Which was a shame really because it deserved a third fall. One of the things I love about Thesz is when he gets frustrated and starts needling his opponent. Supreme wrestler that he is, he's not above using questionable tactics to break his opponent's concentration and regain the upper hand. It reminds me of the All Black rugby legend Colin Meads, who played at the same time that Thesz was champ and wasn't above taking the law into his own hands when dealing with opposing players. It's awesome whenever Lou starts using the heel of the hand and other little tricks. He does it against Gunkel in the second fall and it's almost a mark of respect for how well Gunkel wrestled in the first fall. I love the edge that it brings to his bouts especially in longer bouts. He's also surprisingly good at selling. He's not iconically great or anything like that but he knows how to sell well in a wrestling sense as opposed to more theatrical types like Flair or Buddy Rose. Right now I would put Thesz on a Rushmore with Londos.

The best thing about this match was that it furthered a feud. Trios matches that further a feud tend to have stronger narratives than your typical trios match. In this case, the feud in question was Ciclon Ramirez vs. Dr. Cerebro, a feud that began when Ramirez shoved Cerebro at the end of the Ultimo Vampiro title fight. Ramirez was tremendous in this as the sleazy washed up vet in a tiny televised indy fed still having a point to prove against the rudo champion. I don't know if this ever materialised into a singles match but their exchanges here were as good as anything in the Atlantis/Villano or Satanico/Tarzan Boy feuds for my money. Ramirez gave a throwback performance to his younger days where he was every bit as slick as masked tecnicos like Solar or Atlantis and Cerebro gave as good a Wagner impersonation as you could imagine. Everyone else was good in their roles as second and third string parts w/ Black Dragon providing the dive of the night. Classic old-school trios wrestling.

This was one of the better title matches of the year. Not that the bar for title matches has been set particularly high but at least they made an effort to work a meaningful match where both wrestlers were striving to win. Vampiro was awkward at times but always on the same page as Cerebro and they did a good job of building the match from the ground up concentrating on matwork early on and paying it off with dives later on. They milked about as much drama out of the bout as they could get in a small arena and stayed faithful to a lot of the staples of title match wrestling. Cerebro felt superior to Vampiro, and there were hints of a carry, which you don't want to see in a title match where both workers are giving it their all, but that was a minor quibble given the effort on display. Some nice dives, accumulated fatigue, and classic submission holds make this well worth watching. And Cerebro is great as a quasi-Dr. Wagner.

When I first came to Japan 11 years ago, I rented many of these tapes from Champion. If you think the shows looked low budget you ought to have seen the packaging on the VHS tapes. The early handheld stuff is tough to watch but the commercial tapes and TV are fine. I actually think LLPW is the great unknown as very few people have watched their output outside of the interpromotional matches.

Cosign.

Nice to see the proud tradition of Star Wars gimmicks continue. This was a match that never got going. There were some nice exchanges but the match was flat and fairly monotone. The Japanese rudos were bland which didn't help matters. Wouldn't go out of my way to watch this.