ohtani's jacket

I love big, dumb, goofy pro-wrestling. This was a lot of fun. The chop fest was one of the most ridiculous things I've seen in a pro-wrestling match and it would not fucking end.

This was a solid bout. It was stylistically different from their Smackdown Six stuff and worked at a much slower pace. Eddie's heel run continues to be one of the highlights of 2005.

Thanks for sharing that. Phil. Fascinating stuff even if Corne never broke kayfabe.

The Hart Foundation vs. Rougeau Brothers (WWF, 2/7.87) The Hart Foundation vs. Rougeau Brothers (WWF, 3/7/87) This is a pair of matches from Boston where the Rougeaus win a non-title match and receive a title shot the following month. It's earlier on in the Hart Foundation's championship schtick, and Bret doesn't do nearly enough for my liking, but there are a few sparks here and there.

The Hart Foundation vs. The Rougeau Brothers (WWF, 9/22/86) This was a very good match. The Rougeaus were babyfaces at this point. Jacques was the workhorse of the team and did some circus stuff that wasn't very practical but showed off his athleticism. I don't usually enjoy Lord Alfred on commentary, but I loved him being a mark for the Rougeaus. Anvil was surprisingly good in this and had good chemistry with Jacques. Rougeaus scored the upset pinfall by taking a page out of the Hart Foundation's book.

It was kind of fun seeing AJ work a different type of match with the street clothes and taped fists, but the brawling wasn't great and they basically did indy shit instead of working an old-school taped fist match. The match ended with a ton of folks in the ring fighting. Not my thing.

The James Gibson indy tour continues. These two match up together well size wise. We get a bit of wrestling to start with before the Rottweilers bullshit takes over. Gibson shows his frustration as the match wears on and even pushes the official. Shitty post-match angle. ROH is bush league at that type of stuff.

Great TV match between these two. One of the better WWE matches of the year.

El Hijo del Santo vs. El Dandy (6/14/98) This was very cool super libre match between two all-time great luchadores. They didn't cut any corners with the match and wrestled it almost like an apuestas match. Instead, it was the booking that reminded you that it wasn't a big money match. Of course, the exciting thing about it was that it was WCW Dandy spending a weekend in Mexico having a near classic match. I would consider this to be post-prime Dandy, but it's a lot closer to the end of his prime than some of the other post-WCW work we have of him. It was a better Santo match than a Dandy match, IMO, and fits right alongside some of his other Monterrey bloodbaths. There was some ref stuff, but I've seen much, much worse in Monterrey. I loved how the kids jumped in the ring every time they went to the outside, especially that kid who got in a move off the top rope when they right there at ringside. This wasn't really a lost classic, but it's Dandy and Santo and should be on everyone's radar.

This is an interesting list. There are some things I disagree with, and a lot of things I'd like to revisit, but I appreciate you posting it. We had almost nothing like this when I embarked on watching lucha and two decades later the canon still isn't that well established.

Never finished this. Everymen Javier Cruz, Texano, Dandy Kind of an unmasked version of the Lizmark group, but these guys are generally more grounded and more likely to brawl. All three spent substantial time as rudos. Previously quite common (Americo Rocca belongs here), but unmasked workers are a lot rarer now. I'm not 100% confident that this is a cohesive group, especially Texano, who was much more muscled than the other two and is remembered more as a rudo Misionero than as a tecnico. Idols Perro Aguayo, Sangre Chicana, Villano III, Black Terry Beloved workers with a penchant for bloody brawls. Spent time as rudos, some even while still beloved. Black Terry seems out of place here, but he mattered as much to his smaller fanbase as Chicana and Aguayo did to theirs. Not really sure modern wrestling supports this kind of worker, although I guess LA Park has matches in the same style. Everyman is a tough descriptor. I get what you're going for, but in my mind an everyman is a babyface like Steve Grey. I also can't ignore the fact that there was a period in my lucha fandom where Dandy was The Man for me, and that in the most recent match I watched of Texano, he also came across as The Man. Cruz always felt like a sidekick to me. He may be the best example of the workers listed, however I can't think of too many other guys like Cruz off the top of my head. I'm sure there have been a ton. I get what you mean, though. Unmasked workers who were different from the superhero liked masked luchadores. Idols is a strange category When I think of idol, I think of a huge star like Canek or Mascaras. Perro fits that criteria, but he could also be an example of a great lucha brawler. Villano could fit into a number of different categories, though the jury's still out in my head on how good of a worker he was. Sangre was over in a way that befit an idol, but I don't think he was legendary as some of the big lucha names. Terry I would consider an all-round talent and an idol to a small group of people including myself, but not a big enough star to be on the list. He's probably the greatest journeyman in the history of lucha.

Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd (WWF, 11/10/84) Shout out to Chess Knight for recommending this. The man knows his 80s WWF. This was beyond anything I expected. Great performance from Andre both on attack and when selling. Studd was excellent on offense, and the storyline of Heenan handing him a foreign object and Studd holding off on using it was executed beautifully. Kudos to Andre for blading in a match where he really didn't have to bleed. Both guys got in some great shots. The finish wasn't what anyone in the Spectrum would have liked but almost unavoidable. The bout was thrill a minute while it lasted.

Magica was a rudo here as he blamed Mistico for walking out on him during the cage match. He harasses Mistico in the early going, but it doesn't become a big thing and Magica ends up with Wagner during the tercera. This ends up being a bit of a flex by the tecnicos. I thought Ultimo might struggle, but he delivered his greatest hits. No dives, though.

Rick Martel & Tony Garea vs. Wild Samoans (WWF, 12/13/80) Pour one for Sika. This was such a fun match. Kal Rudman was unfiltered at the start. He kept on gushing over how handsome Martel and Garea were, and how if he went to a disco or a bar with these guys he'd never go home alone. The match was 2/3 falls and was structured in a confusing way but that somehow made the match even better. The Samoans played the brute savages as heels, and to be honest, I like their babyface work better, but they had some decent heel tricks. Rudman and Graham interview the faces at ringside after the bout like those old 1950s bouts, and I get a kick out of Gaera slipping into his Kiwi accent from time to time. He's not bad at this adlibbed stuff and does most of the talking. Really fun stuff. As always, God bless Kal Rudman.

I'm not American! And I like a lot of comedy wrestling. I just don't want to see a guy in the gateway Catch match doing comedy shtick in the other matches we have of him. Other people appear to enjoy it, so I'll forgive that sacrilegious comment from Matt about the Cesca match. I also reserve the right to watch those 70s match in 20 years time and have an entirely different take.

Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis vs. Rocky Johnson & Tony Atlas (WWF, 3/23/84) This was another awesome match between these teams. Murdoch & Adonis have officially moved from the coolest team in 1980s WWF to the best tag team in 1980s WWF until proven otherwise. The only thing that stops this from being a must-watch match is the confusion over the finish. It's still awesome, though.

This is a decent cage match by lucha standards. It helped that Perro Jr vs. Mistico is a hot feud. Mistico does some cool spots off the cage and the top rope, though he bails on the big spot off the top of the cage at the end that I'm sure a US worker would have done in a US cage match. The booking is confusing at times and some of the escapes are weak. It all boils down to Damian vs. Mascara Magica in a quick apuestas match. I like both guys, but they didn't wring out the drama and it wasn't clear whether Magica was teasing a rudo turn or his timing was off. Not terrible, but not noteworthy either.

Tony Atlas & Rocky Johnson vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis (WWF, 2/10/84) Rocky Johnson comes to the ring with a bandage on his forehead and blood already seeping through. Apparently, he's wrestling against doctor's orders. That's a red flag to a bull, but they work an energetic sprint before the ref calls the bout. Not as epic as SD Jones & Atlas vs. Saito and Fuji, but an awesome match. Watching these Murdoch and Adonis bouts has made me reminisce on what an awesome worker Murdoch was.

This was another meaningless Groond bout. I thought the work was better than his debut, but I can see the argument that it was a worse showcase. Whether it was intentional or not, they more or less ignored Groond and concentrated on the guys who can work. I'm not sure how I feel about Olimpico as a member of GdI. He doesn't have a ton of charisma as a rudo and has big shoes to fill in the form of Tarzan Boy.

Wild Samoans & Samula vs. Dick Murdoch, Adrian Adonis & Big John Studd (WWF, 8/10/84) I never thought I'd watch a Big John Studd match for this thread. I'm not sure that I did watch a Big John Studd match as he barely did anything throughout. Lou Albano put in a better performance than Studd. This was okay. There was some decent stuff between Samu and Adonis, and the tag champs were entertaining as always, but it didn't blow my socks off like the Slaughter match.

Great stuff, Phil. I've always felt that the decline of Catch began in the 60s, and I think a lot of older British fans felt the same way about British wrestling. The French decline happened much faster, however. Do we know the dates when each promoter quit? The promotions whittling away seems like a big factor. There was a serious reduction in the amount of foreign talent available as well, similar to the situation that Japan faced in the late 80s-early 90s where they were forced to create their own native stars.

How about Walter Bordes? I was also wondering whether you watched the Great Malenko vs. Paul Bosch match?

You've listed Jacky Corn twice.

Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis vs. Sgt. Slaughter & Terry Daniels (WWF, 7/23/84) This was awesome whenever they picked up the pace but had some serious lulls due to Daniels. He just wasn't believable as Sgt. Slaughter protégé. The finish was amazing. I don't know if Murdoch legit injured his eye on the finish, but it was the most badass looking finish I've seen in ages. A few things stood out to me: it was amusing how over The Marines Hymn was with Slaughter as a babyface compared to when he was a heel, the crowd again threw trash at Adonis, who was super over as a heel, I found it deeply ironic that Slaughter was recruiting people into the Cobra Corps, and Murdoch and Adonis are so entertaining that I wish they had a three year run.

This was a fun match. That's not a surprise since Flair had been doing some pretty good stuff in Evolution tag matches, but it was still a decent length singles match. The one thing I've learnt to do with these Ric Flair bouts is to not compare him to whatever idealized image I have of Flair, but rather to think if this was the only footage we had of Flair, what would I make of it? Would I want to see more? Would I speculate on how good he could have been when he was younger? To me, the answer is yes. I probably wouldn't have been able to guess that he was some great champion in the Buddy Rogers mode from watching this bout, but like watching the Ray Stevens footage we have, I'd still think there was something there. I love how Flair used the first hook and the eye gouge in this match, especially when JR is going on about amateur wrestling and catch-as-catch-can. As for Angle? Between this match and the Jannetty match, how can anyone doubt the guy?