ohtani's jacket

Decent cage match but nothing to write home about. I might have felt differently if I were more invested in the feud as the match was largely story driven. Once again, the post-match was more enjoyable than the actual bout with Punk declaring he going after Austin Aries.

This was a decent Edge vs. Shawn Michaels match. It was mostly a bunch of nearfalls and high risk maneuvers from Michaels, and nothing really inventive like the Angle or Benjamin matches. That said, it was action-packed and never boring. The ref got knocked out at the end and you'd have to be a first-time viewer not to figure out what would happen next. "Money in the Bank" Edge wouldn't be my first choice to challenge Batista. I'd much rather see a Batista/Michaels match. But Edge is the guy right now.

This was a cookie cutter match despite the talent involved. Very mid-tempo. I think it was a mistake having Hector Garza as the lead guy. I like his shtick, but it tends to slow the bout down and it's better as a secondary thread to whoever the main pairing are. Given that they'd just had a singles match, you'd think it would be Heavy Metal and Halloween, but they didn't make any sort of effort to steal the spotlight. it was never boring -- it's a match with Casas, Halloween and Damian, after all -- but a step down from some of the April spectacles involving Perros del Mal..

Will a 60 minute match dull my interest in this matchup? Nope, i's still the best matchup in wrestling. To be fair, there was a lot of time killing in this bout with a bunch of trashing talking and jawing with the crowd. It was far from their best match, and they've had better and more intense matches that 30 minutes plus. But when they did wrestle, they remained the best pair in the business.

This was no Valentine vs. Piper, but it was a decent dog collar match, I suppose. With so many of Rave's crew at ringside, it was obvious that the match was going to end with Rave's people beating on Punk. That made the dog collar gimmick somewhat unnecessary as they could have achieved the same thing with a straight brawl. Punk bled a huge amount for a bout that was basically a sampler for the following week's cage match. I liked his promo afterward.

This was less spectacle, more story. The rudos ruthlessly picked up on Mistico and didn't care if they were disqualified for it. In the first fall, Perro ripped Mistico's mask off to reveal his frosted tips. Mistico had to go to the back and get a new mask, but it didn't stop the beatdown. If I'd been a paying customer, I would have been pissed that of all the weeks I chose to go to Arena Mexico, it was a week where the rudos were prepared to throw the bout so they could foul an opponent. Mistico demanded a hair vs. mask match, so the weekly attendees were no doubt excited about that.

I really wanted to see the revancha between the Casas brothers and Halloween, Damian and Blue Demon Jr, but it's not available online. I'll have to settle for this entertaining spectacle instead. I'm not sure when and how Universo became a tecnico, but this is one of those rare instances where the lead rudo has beef with all three of his opponents. There were a lot of fun exchanges in the bout, but what stuck out most to me was the way the rudos treated Mistico. They were such dicks to him that it kind of had me rooting for the little guy. Garza, in particular, was a giant dick. By the end of the bout, you wanted to see Mistico wipe him out. The finish was some weak ass sports entertainment stuff that CMLL still can't do well, but the meat and potatoes of this was highly entertaining.

Sandor Szabo & Dr. Lee Grable vs Jack McDonald & Gino Garibaldi (NWA Los Angeles, 08/24/1953) Fairly typical 50s tag match, though the workers were energetic and Strongbow put over the pace of the match, which tells us that it was probably quicker and more action-packed than the fans were used to. There were a lot of cool rolling holds. Garibaldi, in particular, was a ball of energy every time he was in the ring. This is the second Szabo & Grable match we have, and they make quite a good team. I don't have a firm opinion on Szabo in his prime, but I've always enjoyed his elder statesman stuff from the 50s. A controversial finish leads to some great post-match interviews and some fun jawing with the crowd.

These two always have good matches against each other and this was another gnarly little bout. Benoit selling a concussion may be disturbing to some viewers. Triple H was merciless with his shots to the back of Benoit's head and Benoit sold the shit out of each blow. Usually, I would hate the run-in at the end, and I was hating it until the brilliant finish that saw Triple H stuck in the sharpshooter and desperately clawing his way to the ropes only for Batista to pull back the bottom rope so Hunter couldn't reach it. Triple H tapped and was sensationally knocked out of the number one contender tournament, which was the perfect outcome even if you know Hunter will weasel his way back into the title picture somehow. Benoit was reduced to an afterthought, but Batista mocking Hunter for tapping was fun.

This was a by-the-numbers Chris Jericho vs. Edge match with slightly increased stakes (being part of the number one contender tournament.) Mentally unstable Edge and his briefcase are my least favorite thing about the WWE right now, but Jericho put in a solid performance, especially since he jobbed on back-to-back nights.

Wow, that was a hell of a finish. If you're going to put Michaels over your IC champ on TV then that's the way to do it. Really good match. That shouldn't come as a surprise given Benjamin's performance from the night before as well as the spate of good TV matches Michaels has had since the Smackdown guys jumped to RAW. It's also not a surprise that Michaels could have this sort of match with Benjamin as he had that amazing match with Angle. What really impressed me here were Shelton's kicks. Good lord were they flush. Not sure how I'm gonna feel about what creative have in store for him.

Daredevils Mascarita Sagrada, Rey Misterio Jr., Mascarita Dorada Similar to the other masked tecnico group, but with a greater emphasis on flying. These are the guys fans will seek out just to see a particular spot that they did. I don't know if small size is a necessary part of this personality or if it's because it's hard to do those crazy spots with similar sized wrestlers. Dancers Super Astro, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Kung Fu Kendo and Kato Kung Lee also in this group. Masked workers who, as much as signature moves, have signature sequences that involve a lot of playing along from the rudos. Not as much emphasis on technique as other masked tecnicos, much greater emphasis on comedy. These guys generally have bigger personalities than the other two masked tecnico groups. Rayo aside, they don't usually end up as main eventers, but in contrast to the Lizmark group this is a type of wrestler that thrives in the midcard. Their personalities shine through with everything they do and allow them to stand out even without a push. Kato is the only one of these guys who could do this maskless. Astro remasked, Kendo remasked and Kung Fu worked a different style when he was unmasked. Fairly tight grouping, not a common type of worker and possibly extinct. These categories make sense and are relatively straight forward. I think the line is blurred somewhat between masked tecnicos, speedsters and daredevils. It basically comes down to what the workers are capable of physically and ultimately the most spectacular guys will be billed as daredevils. For most part, their gimmicks are built on athleticism, and in many cases, youth. Dancers I think is in a broader sense a house show trope and a comedy spot built off bullfighting. Most workers are versed in doing the dancer shtick because a lot of Monterrey bouts, and other spot shows, are comedy based. The workers you mentioned are famous for doing it, but I'd wager that there was a time when you could have seen this spot on any lucha show on any night of the week in Mexico. As far as making an artform of it, Parka and Porky come to mind.

This was marginally better than their WrestleMania match but not particularly exciting. I have a high tolerance for Triple H matches, however I don't think he's the right opponent to carry a Batista match. Triple H vs. power guy isn't the first thing that springs to mind when I think of good Hunter matches. Plus, the entire bout was built around the Pedigree, which Lawler kept annoyingly referring to as "The Truth" vs. the Batista Bomb, and the fact that both men only needed a second to apply their finisher. Not exactly the most gripping storyline in WWE history, especially if you consider the Pedigree to be about as interesting as a sledgehammer spot. JR puts Batista over so hard that he's frothing at the mouth, but this feels like a stepdown from the Orton feud.

This was a cool feud that came out of WrestleMania, but unfortunately they made them work a Last Man Standing match. The WWE has traditionally been weak at Texas Death Matches and the like, and this was no different. It didn't help that the crowd were dead. I wanted to like this, but it was a bunch of shit you've seen before. The finish kind of bothered me. Benoit made the ten count despite being speared, so Edge opened his Money in the Bank briefcase and pulled out a brick. He struck Benoit on the back of the head and Benoit failed to make the count. Edge pulled a bunch of stupid facials, but what bothered me was the brick. To me that's crossing the line. Maybe I'm being stupid in a match with other hardcore spots, but a brick to the back of the head seems like something that could kill a person. I don't know, it just didn't sit right with me.

This was the pay-per-view opener, and for my money the best match on the card. For the sounds of things, there was a pretty flimsy reason for the match taking place, but Jericho was still an excellent worker at this point and Benjamin's exciting blend of matwork and athleticism make him fun to watch. His theme music and gimmick are shit, and JR leans too far into college crap, but the guy was a blast to watch even if you knew the WWE machine would crush him in the end. JR mentions that Jericho is a record seven time Intercontinental Champion, but I'll be damned if I can remember any of his reigns. It wasn't clear whether he was a heel here. He was acting like a dick, but he's Jericho. The crowd seemed to want him to win the title, perhaps because Benjamin wasn't over with the fans. This was a great performance from him, though. Apparently, he carried the momentum through to the following night's RAW, so I'm looking forward to watching that.

This is the main event of the 49th Arena Mexico Anniversary Show. That's a pretty cool tecnico lineup and I'm down with rudo trio of Pierroth and La Familia de Tijuana. There's a lot of slapping the shit out of each other in this match. Wagner vs. Pierroth is pretty great, and I enjoyed watching Casas taking on Halloween and Damian. Mistico has to take his lumps before he can do his big dive in the tercera. The finish sets up the Friday main events for the month of April. Decent TV bout.

John Tolos & Bud Curtis vs. Fred Blassie & Larry Hamilton (NWA Los Angeles, 07/20/1953) Another long ass 50s tag match. They were fully committed to the idea of wearing a guy down to win the fall. Tolos was incredibly young here. He'd of course go on to have a legendary feud with Blassie. I liked the segments between falls where Jules Strongbow would chat with the commentator, Bill Welsh. Strongbow also had some enjoyable interviews with the wrestlers after the bout. I particularly enjoyed hearing a younger Blassie joke around with Strongbow, and the way the heels interacted with Jules. Jules a classy interviewer, it has to be said.

Complete tecnicos Lizmark, Atlantis, Angel Azteca, Ciclon Ramirez, Ultimo Dragon Stunning flyers who could also work the mat. Very common type of masked wrestler. Not big personalities. Lizmark is more or less the father of this group, although he no doubt was inspired by other similar workers beforehand. In general these guys don't have very many mask matches, Atlantis an obvious exception here, and they're much more technical workers than brawlers. This is a type of wrestler that will get over with a strong push but easily gets lost in the shuffle otherwise. Hard to imagine these guys as rudos (although it did happen with Atlantis) Probably the most important role in lucha to me. Masked tecnicos may be a dime a dozen, but it's far more common to find a great rudo than a great masked tecnico. These guys are the MVPs. I used to consider Lizmark, Atlantis and Solar to be the Holy Trinity. I would probably change that now to Lizmark, Atlantis and Santo. Azteca was the heir apparent, but didn't kick on from his initial Atlantis-like push. There's a long line of burnouts, though. He'd be at the head of the pack. I was surprised to see Ciclon Ramirez on your list. I like him a lot, but he never got the push that the others did. Ultimo adapted well to the lucha style, but I wouldn't really consider him a great tecnico.

Pat Patterson vs. Ken Patera (WWF, 12/29/80) I wish we'd gotten more from this feud, but Patera went on to challenge Backlund immediately after winning the IC title. This had the makes of a decent scrap, however the card appeared to have gone long and they had to work an 8 minute bout as a result. Not exactly the return match I was looking for.

Pat Patterson vs. Ken Patera (WWF, 4/21/80) Well, I thoroughly enjoyed this. Is this the first great Intercontinental Title match in WWF history? Granted, it was a lot better when Patterson was on top as opposed to the brief moments where Patera was in charge, but that's okay. Patera was an excellent bumping stooge for a guy his size and Patterson was an amazing offense seller for a guy who had an incredibly limited repertoire. Patera's win was cheap, but I suspect that was part of the strategy. He could have easily controlled long portions of the match if they'd wanted him to look like a killer.

Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter (WWF, 4/6/81) Here's another Patterson/Slaughter match I didn't know existed prior to the Alley Fight. This has some really good brawling in it. I'm not really a Patterson guy but he was fantastic in this. He went after Slaughter like a man possessed and manhandled the ref as well. There was a great shot of a woman cheering Pat on during the figure four spot. The Cobra Clutch sequence wasn't as good as the Philly bout, but chalk this up as another bout I prefer to the Alley Fight. I really think they missed a trick not using some of these spots in the Alley Fight. Incidentally, I used to think the MSG matches were the pinnacle of this era of WWF and that Philly was the leftovers. I was hugely impressed by solo Vince the first time I heard him commentate late 70s matches. However, I'm starting to enjoy Dick & Kal a hell of a lot more than solo Vince. During the bout, I kept wondering how Kal would react to the action. We talk about stock rising and falling... Kal Rudman may end up being the biggest mover once it's all said and done.

Andre the Giant & Tony Garea vs. Sgt. Slaughter & Moondog Rex (WWF, 4/18/81) This was fun, to an extent. It would have made more sense if it had set up the Slaughter vs. Andre singles match since the result left everyone frustrated. The faces were frustrated, the crowd was frustrated, the ref was frustrated, this viewer was frustrated. Andre clearing house after the shitty finish wasn't the same as Andre clearing house in a live match.

This was so much fun. The match marked Casas' 25th anniversary as a wrestler. He received all sorts of bouquets and plaques and had a parade of guests including his wife and mother. The rudos brought a gift to the ring which looked suspiciously like one of Damian's pool cues, and while Halloween serenaded Casas with a song, Damian attacked him with their gift. What followed was a solid, energetic bout. The Casas brothers were an awesome trio unit, and my love for Halloween and Damian is well documented. I was glad to see they gave Casas something to do and his exchanges with Halloween were awesome. I didn't expect to see Blue Demon on the rudo team. If I knew anything about him turning rudo during this era, I've long since forgotten it. However, I was pleasantly surprised by good he looked. I don't usually have a lot of good things to say about Blue Demon Jr, but he was excellent here. The finish to the match saw a DQ where the rudos laid Casas out in a dangerous way and he did the stretcher spot that's been done to death ever since Atlantis was stretched off for real. Heavy Metal was fired up about his brother being injured and Demon flashed him some mock crying gestures that were quite possibly the best thing I've seen him do. Perro Jr showed up at the end cutting a promo like he was the Final Boss. Great TV match.

Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter (WWF, 8/1/81) I'm not sure why they ran the Alley Fight in Philly three months after the New York bout, but I thought this was a much better bout. The build was smarter and they used better transitions. The chokes came latter in the bout and somebody remembered the Cobra Clutch. It was the same basic finish with Slaughter's bladejob and the cowboy boots, and that was probably more shocking in New York, but add the mutant Philly fans at ringside and Dick and Kal doing a better job of calling the match than Vince, and I give it to the Spectrum. Now, if you took the body of the match from Philly and added the finish from New York, you'd get the Dr. Frankenstein version of the bout.

Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter (WWF, 5/4/81) This is a match I've always struggled to get into, and even immersed in the culture as I have been, it's still a match that doesn't do a lot for me. In fact, I like the April a lot more than the Alley Fight. The finish is great with Slaughter bleeding like a stuck pig and Patterson attacking him with his cowboy boot, but the beginning of the fight isn't violent enough and I don't believe that the Slaughter bladejob is earnt. There's too much smoke and mirrors stuff with the belt and Patterson's shirt, and they don't tease the Cobra Clutch at all, which I thought was a mistake. The WWF was never very good at these no holds barred matches during this era, and while this is the probably the best one they ran, I'm still not a huge fan.