ohtani's jacket

People were selling it at the time as a shoot style match/worked shoot, or at least the WWE/John Cena equivalent of one, and I thought that was bollocks.

I'll never understand why people are bothered by this. It was a great promo by Bret.

That's not necessarily the case. I watched both cold and thought Punk/Cena was outstanding and Punk/Lesnar overrated.

Y'know something, I think you may be right. It looks like they re-aired the Atlantis/Lizmark/Rayo vs. Kung Fu/Mascara Ano 2000/Universo 2000 trios as well as the Fuerza/Octagon fight. The Brazos match from the same 11/3 TV show is a different Brazos match from the 2/1 taping and looks like it's clearly from a different show than the Octagon match. Goddammit, lucha.

Back to the 70s: Steve Veidor vs. Phil Rowe (10/4/77) You may remember me mentioning the "Duchess" from this episode of World of Sport -- an eccentric female fan who wore a cheap looking Disney princess outfit and gave gifts to the wrestlers on the way to ringside. She was wearing a homemade t-shirt that read "Steve's Lady," so apparently Veidor was her favourite. Can't fault her taste, but Veidor didn't seem that comfortable with it. She gave him a basket of fruit, which he presented to MC Mike Judd, and Judd stood there doing the introductions with the basket in his hand. Unfortunately, that was about as eventful as the match got. Rowe was from Cleveland originally near North Yorkshire, but according to Walton learnt to wrestle in South Africa. This was his television debut and they basically worked some holds until Rowe started cheating. Veidor overreacted massively and drew a public warning, stream rolling Rowe for the win. Afterwards, the Duchess tried to make her way to Veidor's corner, but he looked ready to bolt. Sandy Scott vs. Johnny Kincaid (1/10/78) This had a surprise start with the Scot Sandy Scott absolutely railing on Kincaid from the get-go. It was a squash match for all intents and purposes, but Scott made sure to get his licks in. Kincaid had such a great heel run in the late 70s. It's a shame the racial element made it too hot for television, because I'd actually put it in my top 10 heel runs for the entire period we have footage from. He took a bunch of shots from Scott before a really beautiful gut wrench suplex put Sandy out of business. Kincaid seems like such a nice guy outside the ring, but talk about a guy born to play the heel. Tally Ho Kaye vs. Chris Adams (7/12/78) Well, here you have Chris Adams' television debut for all of you Gentlemen Chris Adams fans out there. Kaye was one of those trusted hands like Cooper or Breaks that the promoters could put with a newcomer like Adams and ensure he got over with the crowd. The story here was that Adams had the judo background but Kaye knew all the tricks of the trade professionally. As far as television debuts go, it was an entertaining bout with some pretty good wrestling mixed in with the heat seeking elements. Adams definitely looked a ton better than he really was in the early part of his career, so there's a testament to Tally Ho Kaye. Kendo Nagasaki vs. Pete Roberts (7/29/77) I'll say this for Nagasaki: he knew how to work a crowd. His manager Gorgeous George was decent on the mic, but after the bell rang it was Nagasaki's ability to pace a performance that really shone. He'd start with some legit grappling, which he was only half way decent at but good enough to look credible, then slowly start backing off as his man took the upperhand. Then he'd begin with the inside moves and cheating and bring the house down. Here Roberts got a questionable fall where it really did seem like Nagasaki's shoulders were up, and he took it out on Roberts by giving him a hard head first posting after the bell and dishing out quite a lot of violent punishment. Roberts was doing a silly "Kung Fu Fighter" gimmick at this time being the era of Bruce Lee and Shaw Brothers films, and Walton showed the limits of his ability to dress this slop up by claiming that Roberts had picked kung fu up in Japan and Korea. At any rate, Roberts used a chop he hardly ever used in ordinary bouts and went after Nagasaki's mask lucha style trying to pull it up over Nagasaki's nose while Kendo fought to cover his face. The crowd were worked into a lather by this point, and even though the schmozz finish was inevitable, it was a great television brawl that I imagine the ITV higher ups frowned upon. If they had a problem with Rocco and the Caribbean Sunshine Boys then I couldn't see them approving of this as it was much more violent than your ordinary World of Sport bout. Gorgeous George, who looked like a member of Sweet during this taping, cut a promo afterwards claiming that Kendo deserved a shot at Tony St. Clair and rubbishing the likes of Roberts as an opponent and Pete got another of his sharp tongued retorts in. It's funny how a guy with such little in-ring personality could have such a sharp wit on the mic. Kendo Nagasaki vs. Pete Roberts (7/12/78) Same match a year later. Same sort of bout, same finish, and just as entertaining. Nagasaki was unmasked and wearing those crazy red contacts that made his eyes look the kids from Village of the Damned. He also did this great bit of schtick where he'd try to block out the crowd noise by covering up both his ears. I'm actually starting to gain a bit more respect for him as a performer. He wasn't a great worker, but he had a well honed act and pushed the limits of what was acceptable on TV. Here he actually beat on a second, which you never saw happen on television. Of course it helped that he was wrestling Pete Roberts, who didn't mind working stiff, but both these matches were wild brawls that would have maybe had some blood if they'd been wrestled in the halls but were otherwise great theatre for Saturday afternoon TV. Brian Maxine vs. Gary Wensor (2/6/78) Fun squash with Mick McManus on ringside at the commentary and both wrestlers making sure to spill out onto the announcing table as a rib. Maxine got on the mic afterwards and cut a rousing promo where he was drowned out by the crowd. Tremendous heat for wrestling's greatest self-promoter. (Note to John: the ITV site has a typo on that last date listing it as 6/12/78 instead of 6/2/78. The Kincaid bout should also be 10/1/78 not 10/11/78.)

I've been noticing a lot more suplexes in the late 70s footage I've been watching. They tend to do them in transition as opposed to setting them up as a big highspot. I think they're kind of cool. They seem like more legitimate throws than pro-wrestling moves.

Some extra bouts from '82: Pat Patton vs. John Wilkie (2/3/82) This was from one of those Davis Cup style team tournaments they'd run between a team of blue eyes and a team of villains, in this case the "Jets" vs. the "Ring Battlers." Despite Wilkie being the "pride of the Potteries," he was too much of a journeyman to really trouble Patton, but they managed to fill in a fun couple of minutes before taking it home. I love me some Pat Patton, so I didn't mind watching this despite the fact it was a bit of fluff. Big DaddyKwik Kick Lee vs. Crusher Brannigan/Tony Walsh (5/11/82) This was actually pretty entertaining. I have no idea whether Maeda understood the significance of Cup Final Day, but it was a hot match nonetheless with the heels going full throttle and Walsh pin-balling all over the place. The awkwardness of Daddy tagging with a guy who doesn't speak English is painful to beyond, but it worked in the bout's favour as I don't think anybody clued Maeda into the fact that this was a bout where he should pull his kicks. Walsh was great and again I lamented the fact that he worked so many of these tags instead of appearing in "proper" television bouts. Brannigan, of LA, New Zealand and Australia fame, was also game, charging about like a smaller John Quinn. Generally speaking, these Daddy bouts live and die by how good the heel performances are, and this was definitely one of the better ones. Marty Jones vs. Bret Hart (11/30/81) We only really saw the latter scoring rounds of this, so I have no idea how good it really was, but if you've ever seen early Bret you'll know he was fairly nondescript with a focus on execution and not much in the way of charisma or playing to the crowd. He tried to play the outside foreign heel w/ his heathen North American "all-in" rules in the same subtle heel manner he'd perfect later on, but it was in direct contrast to Walton trying to put him over as one of twelve children, and so on. Marty Jones vs. Bret Hart is actually a match-up with a lot of potential, but the timing wasn't right with each man peaking ten years apart. Dave Taylor vs. Jamaica Kid (Caernarfon, taped 1982) This was supposedly from the very first Reslo taping on 8/18/82, but I can't confirm that. In any event, it appears to be the first Taylor match to make tape, so if you're interested in that sort of history/trivia you should check this out on that basis alone. Taylor is pretty smooth for such a young worker even in spite of his family pedigree, and Jamaica Kid (or "George" as he was more commonly known) was another in a long line of solid West Indian UK grapplers. Not an epic in terms of structure, as you ought to be aware, but some nice work from a WCW b-show favourite who'd go on to be a staple in the German scene.

garetta's criticisms aren't unique. Meltzer wrote a similar sort of thing in his 1990 Yearbook where he claimed that the only "complete" workes in CMLL were Dandy, Morgan and Estrada, and that the rest of them didn't compare favourably to American and Japanese workers. But the whole "I'm not invested in the match/I don't care about the characters" thing is a two way street. If you're sitting there waiting to be impressed then you're not making an effort to be invested. You can't get into lucha watching a match here and there. If you don't speak the language, can't understand the interviews or vignettes and aren't following the stories or characterisations in the magazines then it takes time to learn about the workers. Watching them on a Yearbook may be enough of an introduction, but w/ a trios like this one it helps if you're familiar with the workers because on paper this is an exciting match-up with six of the best workers on the company and expectations should be high. I think Matt would admit that he struggled to find the narrrative in lucha at first, and now it's like he's been a fan his entire life, but he watched a lot of lucha to get to that point. I can't remember what motivated him to continue watching, but he aptly described it as a journey. The point is that he made a concerted effort to watch something that didn't have an immediate appeal to him. Of course, nobody's saying that you need to do that -- if you don't like something, you don't like it, and that may never change -- but writing matches off for reasons that are patently untrue like these guys aren't great workers or have no character, or whatever, just seems baseless.

Do you agree that lucha commentary is poor?

The Wu Tang Clan watching WWWF isn't as cool as Screamin' Jay Hawkins being a fan of that era.

I only know half a dozen Spanish words, but Alfonso Morales and Arturo Rivera always seem excited to me. I usually listen to music while watching wrestling. The only commentator I make a point of listening to is Walton.

Fuerza Guerrera vs. Octagon vs. Huracán Ramírez II, mask vs. mask, CMLL 12/14/90 This was the main event of CMLL's season ending show for 1990. We all know that triangle matches don't make for the best of apuesta matches, especially with a non-brawler like Octagon, but circumstances here were out of the ordinary. CMLL was coming off a record breaking Anniversary Show and business was hot. Arena Mexico was packed, and anticipation rife. Virginia Aguilera once said that the lucha public were barbaric: "we go to the matches because we like to see Christians killing each other." Having whet their appetite on Dandy/Satanico, the crowd were ready for more slaughter. It took Sevilla literally seconds to prove he was as good as thought, and that it wasn't just Bestia making him look a million bucks. It's rare that a guy working a classic masked luchador gimmick is a good brawler, but Sevilla harkened back to his rudo days at Pavillon Azteca where he used to stomp the shit out of other toy characters. The hardcores knew La Empressa wasn't giving away Fuerza vs. Octagon so soon, so the booking here was that instead of presenting the obvious wager, Fuerza fought his way to freedom and the final contest was a tecnico vs. tecnico showdown. That meant that Fuerza only wrestled half the match, but what a half of wrestling. His mask was ripped at the front so you could pretty much tell what he looked like anyway, which would have pleased the ringsiders who paid top dollar. Using the hole in his mask, he got stuck right in there and hacked the shit out of his forehead. The crazy mother was dripping blood everywhere. He got it over himself, Octagon, the ref, and even his second Gran Cochisse. Then came the Fuerza Moment of the Match, which this time wasn't divine comedy but an insane bump off an Octagon arm drag sequence that sent him crowd surfing into the front three rows. There's no way those people left without blood on them. A word on those arm drags: they were so fucking good. I've lightened up on workers like Super Muneco and Mascara Sagrada and no longer think they're the terrible workers I thought they were when I first started getting tapes, and really I'm starting to care less and less about whether guys are bad workers or not,; but whether you love Octagon or hate him (and I don't think there's anybody who really loves him), you can't tell me those arm drags weren't impressive. It's funny because I was sent this article that Dave Meltzer wrote for his 1990 Yearbook where he talked about how he'd started getting into lucha on Galavison, and how there weren't a lot of what he called "complete" workers. He cited Atlantis as a guy who had great high spots but couldn't work a match. I don't know where he got that idea from, but it fits Octagon to a tee. (Maybe he had his eyes gorged by that shitty Atlantis/Kung Fu feud.) Octagon wasn't a great worker, but he was malleable, and this was, I think, one of his career best bouts with the finishing stretch to the Octagon/Fuerza portion being one of the most legitimately exciting things I've seen in lucha in all my years of watching it. About two or three times, Octagon tried to hook on his La Escalera submission, but Fuerza kept blocking his leg and finally got a counter into a submission of his own. He sort of fell into Cochisse's arms like Shawn Michaels fulfilling his boyhood dream and then gave the most awesome triumphant fist pump. Fuerza Guerrera, your man of the hour. A rudo fan with a cowbell shook his hand, and we should all do the same after that tour de force. Since they weren't planning to turn Sevilla heel, the actual mask vs. mask part was worked cleanly. They went at each other hard and fast and there were some huge collisions in the centre of the ring. The winning falls came a little easily, but it was very much in keeping with the theatrical style of big time apuesta matches. With Octagon being one of the biggest stars in the business, and the most popular tecnico in the new television era, they were never going to have him lose, especially not on the season-ending show and not to a guy who was doing a third rate homage/rip-off to/of a classic gimmick; but like any well booked apuesta match there was a reason why the defeated wrestler lost. In this case, Sevilla missed on two topes and the second appeared to separate his shoulder. I'm not sure if it was a legit injury or a work, but he was attended to by two docs after the match and took some time to unmask. When he finally did, he had amazingly long eyelashes, and I couldn't help but wonder if he had a bit of the old Isiah Thomas eye make-up going on. The best ever triangle apuesta match remains by some distance the Casas vs. Dandy vs. Santo match from 1996, but this was a thoroughly enjoyable match that could have easily been a dud following on the heels of Satanico and Dandy and not delivering on Fuerza vs. Octagon, which was no doubt what everyone wanted to see (except for me, the world's biggest Huracan Sevilla mark.) At the very least, Fuerza's cameo (?) deserved to be talked about more, and you owe it to yourself to watch it if you're a Fuerza fan and you haven't.

I like some of Perro's later stuff for the spectacle, but I don't think he was the most coordinated of workers. Even in the 80s footage, the way he moves about the ring or applies a hold is unaesthetically pleasing to me. He was a tremendous brawler with unbelievable charisma, but even if we had footage from his prime I'm not sure he'd be that much better technique-wise. It's possible that I'm overrating Azteca and Faraon. I like the idea of ranking the luchadores, but when I sit down to do it, I feel like I'm forgetting everybody. Then I figure I'll go through luchawiki so I don't miss somebody, but give up after "A." Azteca I have different expectations for since I regard him as a classic masked tecnico. Faraon I'm not even sure how I feel about as it's been ages since I've watched him. I change my opinion on guys from one match to the next in a very fickle "what have you done for me lately?" kind of a way, but with lucha so much of how you judge a guy is based on what they contribute to trios matches, and I tend to get swayed one way or the other depending on what I've been watching.

A few years ago Dr. Wagner Jr. and LA Park would have fit the bill, but they've worn out their welcome by jerking around promoters. Perro Aguayo Jr. was another guy who had that sort of appeal but pissed it all away.

Ha, I'll probably knock him off the list the next time I see one of his drug fueled train wrecks.

Super Astro, Atlantis y El Faraón vs. Fuerza Guerrera, Blue Panther y Emilio Charles (8/18/89) Atlantis, Mascara Sagrada y Super Astro vs. Hombre Bala, Pirata Morgan y Verdugo (September 1989) These were a pair of standard trios matches. Just like Blue Panther, Super Astro began working for EMLL more frequently in the late 80s. He'd made spot appearances for EMLL in the past (we have one of them on the set, you'll recall), but after Flores' death in '87 there was a real trend in independientes branching out and looking for work in other places. They still worked shows for Carlos Maynes, but it as no longer the case where they'd work the UWA shows each week and fill in their schedules with additional bookings. UWA shows were becoming additional bookings for guys who had moved on to Monterrey or the Tijuana circuit. A lot of guys worked under the tent for Pavillon Azteca while they had TV. Even the big Sunday shows at El Toreo had the thinnest of cards compared to the bullring's heyday. It really was quite disparate from how the decade began. Astro was working all over the show at this point. Los Cadetes Del Espacio had well and truly broken up, and while Astro still traveled the road with Solar, he mostly took his own bookings in either Tijuana or the Federal District. Japan opened up as an option the following year with Hamada's UWF promotion, and unlike a lot of "UWA guys," Astro remained a freelancer for the rest of his career. He was treated pretty well by EMLL despite not being a full-timer. He was over with crowds and brought a lot of novelty value to cards. They even booked him in singles matches from time to time such as his UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title match against Gran Cochisse on the undercard of the Popitekus/Blondy hair match. Atlantis y Satanico vs. MS-1 y Tierra Viento y Fuego (Hair/Mask vs. Hair/Mask) (9/22/89) This was the main event of EMLL's 55th Anniversary Show. As mentioned before, EMLL didn't always put a maximum of effort into their Anniversary Show cards. Sometimes the cards would be stacked and sometimes they'd be thrown together. Sometimes they had big plans that didn't eventuate and sometimes they made panic moves, changing the card at the last moment. For a show that's supposed to EMLL's equivalent of WrestleMania, it has a checkered history of delivering memorable main events. To illustrate the contrast from one year to the next, the following year's show would deliver the biggest match in the company's history when 23,000 people packed Arena Mexico to witness Cien Caras drop his mask to Rayo de Jalisco Jr with thousands more watching on giant screens outside the arena. The UWA, for all its struggles, managed to draw 21,000 to its 4/23/89 Palacio de los Deportes show (again headlined by that man Rayo de Jalisco Jr.), but despite business being up, EMLL failed to strike while the iron was hot and delivered an unmasking that nobody wanted to see. To the wrestlers' credit, the show sold out, but there wasn't the crush to enter the building that there had been for other historic main events. Originally, the plan was supposed to be for Atlantis to fight an American, but the plans fell through when there were either visa issues or the American disappeared. Given his hot run the year before with Lizmark, and the fact that they used him in singles matches later in the year (including an IWA title shot against Mil Mascaras at Arena Mexico in November), I think it's safe to say that Blondy is the unnamed wrestler, if in fact the rumour is true. Whether it would have been a mask vs. hair match, I'm not sure, but that seems like a hot main. The plan then changed to the Satanico face turn and the pairing of bitter rivals Satanico and Atlantis against the Infernales. Unlike the Mega Powers explode angle, which was a year in the making, EMLL turned Satanico face a month before the show. The initial plan was to have an Atlantis/Satanico/Faraon vs. MS-1/Masakre/Tierra Viento y Fuego trios apuesta match, but Masakre was injured (I believe) and they slot Faraon back down the card. It's often said that Tierra Viento y Fuego joined the Infernales to replace Satanico, but from the records we have he was plucked out of the midcard at the last moment as a guy who was obviously willing to lose his mask and later tagged with MS-1 on cards where Masare was absent. There wasn't any sort of Summer long feud with Satanico feuding against the Tierra Viento y Fuego Infernales. Tierra Viento y Fuego, whose real name was Alfonso Lira Román, was a midcarder originally from the Ciudad Altamirano area in Guerrero. He'd been an EMLL regular since the early 80s mostly working in the 2nd or 3rd match of a card. After unmasking that's more or less where he returned, but like a lot of midcard vets in the television era, Pena repackaged him with new gimmick: Damián El Guerrero. Along with Guerrero Maya (Black Terry) and Guerrero del Futuro (José Luis Feliciano), he formed the mid card trio act Los Guerreros del Futuro and managed to eke out another 10 years with the company.

The standard answer would probably be Casas or Rush.

I felt like updating this. v2 February 2015 All-Time Greats Satanico, El Dandy, Negro Casas, El Hijo del Santo Great Workers Emilio Charles, Jr., Atlantis, Blue Panther, Pirata Morgan, Solar, Lizmark, Black Terry, Negro Navarro, Virus, Sangre Chicana, Villano III Excellent Workers Cassandro, Espanto Jr., MS-1, La Fiera, Fuerza Guerrera, El Signo, Bestia Salvaje, Mocho Cota Strong Hands Angel Azteca, Perro Aguayo, Dos Caras, Villano IV, Villano V, Dr. Cerebro, Black Man, Herodes, El Faraon, El Texano, Gran Cochise, LA Park, Brazo de Oro, Demus 3:16, Pierrothito Solid Hands Sergio El Hermoso, Ultraman, Jerry Estrada, Super Astro, Freelance, Brazo de Plata, Chico Che, Espectro Jr, Hombre Bala, Masakre, Tony Salazar, Psicosis, Pierroth Jr., Apolo Dantes, Javier Cruz, Ringo Mendoza, Silver King, Dr. Wagner Jr., Felino, Valiente, Los Traumas I y II, Cicloncito Ramirez, Mano Negra, Americo Rocca, Huracan Sevilla, Gran Apache, Charles Lucero, Rambo, Ciclon Ramirez

La Fiera/Espectro Jr./Kahoz vs. El Brazo/Brazo de Oro/Brazo de Plata, CMLL 12/25/92 So, we've established that washed up Fiera (who really wasn't that old) was better than I ever gave him credit for, especially in scummy lowdown trios matches that reflected the shadiness of his character outside the ring, but here he got to show off his comedic talents. Comedy is an important (often misunderstood) element of lucha libre. No matter how great your brawling is, or how bloody your apuesta matches are, to be a top rudo worker you need to master the art of comic timing. All the world loves a clown, and that goes twice for a bumping, stooging heel. What Porky and Fiera did better than most was to escalate from comic playfulness to fierce rage, playing off that old adage "it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt." Fiera was all up in Porky's grill during the intros, poking him in the chest. Porky responded with a slap to Fiera's face, and they launched into an exaggerated circling lock-up before Porky got the better of Fiera on a criss-cross exchange. Fiera was incredulous as he backed away, but when Porky beat him to the punch a second time, he decided he was sick and tired of playing games, and blew Porky off, returning to his corner. No sooner had Porky turned his back when Fiera charged him. Porky span round to face him, and Fiera quickly pretended a handshake was all he was interested in. Porky looked at the out stretched hand and slapped Fiera in the chops. It was a brilliant mix of comedy and underlying tensions. Porky had embarrassed Fiera, and Fiera wasn't the sort of guy you should embarrass. Fiera went right at Porky the next chance he got with shots to the face, but fell victim to one of the Brazos' patented finishing sequences -- a swank two man move that left Fiera wondering whether he was coming or going. Porky was having a great time bumping Fiera off his stomach in the second caida until Fiera grew tried of playing the fool and struck Porky hard. Porky clutched at his head and his lower lip began quivering. Fighting back the tears, he absolutely barreled into Fiera and sent him flying off the apron. Porky was cocky the next time they sparred, but this time there was no fucking about. Espectro held Porky back while Fiera began dishing out the headbutts. Oro made the save with Porky laid out like a Christmas ham, but Fiera was merciless and continued working him over on the outside, throwing aside Rangel and kicking Porky in the gut. The fans called him an asshole, but he just stared them down and posed in their face. Porky struck back with a huge running splash to the corner, which Fiera sold like it had crushed the life out of him, and the usually affable Porky was livid. Twice he tried to use the martinete on Fiera but was talked out of it by his brothers. Oro took over and Fiera's selling of his tilt-a-whirl back breaker was sublime. Part Michael Jackson, part La Parka. Porky claimed the win for his side with a measured splash, and Fiera scampered away like a coward when Porky came after him. The Brazos held Porky back while Fiera goaded and taunted Plata, and they finally got stuck into each other with Porky trying to shoot on Fiera (!) with the one legged take down. Black Magic and an unmasked El Supremo hit the ring for the next match, which Fiera was pulling double duty for, and together they beat the Christmas stuffing out of the Brazos w/ Fiera body slamming the ham. Nothing ever came out of this -- it was just a bit of fluff on a Christmas Day Arena Coliseo show -- but it would have made for a fun apuesta match if they'd gone all the way with it. The rest of the match was okay. Brazo de Oro zipped about in fine form and worked some decent exchanges with Kahoz, whom he was familiar with from the UWA. The trios that followed was rubbish, but Fiera/Porky was a great stocking filler. Atlantis/Rayo de Jalisco Jr./El Dandy vs. Satanico/Emilio Charles Jr./Gigante Kamala, CMLL 3/8/91 Remember that epic Kamala/Black Magic feud from '91? Neither do I, but Smiley was busy cutting promos on him decked out in a top hat and cloak like a two bit Mandrake the Magician. He even had a wand and gloves and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. It's funny because you don't usually see guys doing their full gimmick on TV like they would for the magazines. I have no idea what Smiley was on about when he said "we are one of a kind and then again we're not." What, they're both black? I get the "Black" Magic thing and all, but what was with that? They're both gringos? Masters of magic? Pierroth, on the other hand, cut a bad ass promo in a bad ass jacket and signed it off with the best evil laugh in Mexico. My love for Pierroth knows no bounds. I know I've mocked CMLL vignettes in the past, but the short Kamala one was actually pretty decent with Big Jim Harris doing his best National Geographic impersonation. None of this had much to do with the match in question, but it's best not to question the internal logic of CMLL television when it delivers a trios this good. This was so much fun. It was never going to win Match of the Year honours or anything like that, but as far as the need for fun goes, it was just about perfect. Each of the individual match-ups were great. I hadn't seen Satanico and Dandy go at it for a while, and I realise now why their feud spoiled so much of the lucha to come for folks watching the yearbooks. Their chemistry together was unreal; like capturing lightning in a bottle. That's difficult to replicate if you're looking for a product that delivers more of the same, especially in a promotion as poorly booked as CMLL. They weren't the only ones going off, however. Atlantis and Emilio did their usual routine, we got a throwback to Dandy vs. Charles, and there was even a bit of Emilio/Rayo, which I don't remember seeing before. All of the stuff with Kamala was great; roughly a thousand times better than the Andre match which made the Death Valley Driver set, and this was basically one fun exchange after another in a match of little significance other than to remind people that Kamala was back in town. Kamala had a feud with Mil Mascaras on the Sunday shows that built to a cage match, which was only the third time the gimmick had been used. The TV of course was a mess with Pierroth, and Black Magic, and all sorts of shit that didn't lead anywhere unless you count Gran Davies being splashed by Kamala as the blow off. CMLL was a success despite itself in the television era, and this match was in part entertaining because of how hot the promotion was. Atlantis/Sangre Chicana/Octagon vs. Blue Panther/El Satanico/Jerry Estrada, CMLL 9/13/91 This is the kind of match where you look at the names and immediately start thinking: "Chicana vs. Satanico? They never settled anything in '89. Satanico vs .Atlantis? Classic rivalry. Panther vs. Atlantis just weeks removed from their classic. Chicana vs. Estrada? Don't think I've seen that before. Shit, even Chicana vs. Panther seems interesting." Then you watch the match and it's an angle to turn Chicana heel. Welcome to the kick in the balls that is lucha. Not only do they waste that sort of match-up on an angle, the two matches that could have come out of it (Chicana vs. Atlantis and Chicana vs. Satanico) never materalised MS-1/Masakre/Jerry Estrada vs. Ringo Mendoza/Super Astro/Black Magic, CMLL 10/18/91 I have a lot of respect for the way Smiley was able to adapt to Mexico and become comfortable working the style, but it's fair to say it didn't happen over night. He looked tentative in this bout as though he wasn't sure what to do other than to continue stepping forward and cutting off his opponent's offence. Fortunately everyone else was on point, and this was a brisk trios that like Smiley never took a step back. I was really high on MS-1 when I first started buying tapes then I just sort of forgot about him; but he was really good in this, especially the way he worked with a much smaller man in Super Astro. They had some excellent cat and mouse style exchanges where Astro was zipping about trying to elude the grasp of those lengthy MS-1 arms. Masakre was also solid, though not at Fuentes level. Together they reminded me of why I loved the Masakre version of the Infernales, which even today is underrated in comparison to the Morgan runs. I was also really impressed with Estrada in this, who had a stellar (read "clean") night. He pulled out a great bit of comedy when he bumped to the outside and deliberately walked into a fan who was returning to his seat. He sold that beautifully just as he did Super Astro's wild hay maker, which not only cleaned his clock, but left him checking for loose teeth. Ringo was also solid with a variety of high tempo takedowns that run contrary to the opinion people sometimes him slowing these bouts down. The finish was nuts as Super Astro had some kind of death wish on a springboard plancha. He undershot it so bad that Estrada had to lunge forwards for Astro to even clip him. Mental. Just a word on Astro -- he was balls out here. I haven't always put him over as a worker, but his full throttle bumping and leaping about made this a thousand times more memorable than it would have been otherwise. Coupled with the Chino title match, he's doing well in the "what have you done for me lately? stakes, that's for sure.

Arn and Steamboat were the best workers in WCW in 1992 in my opinion. I would've had them share MVP honours. Arn for the heels and Stramboat for the faces.

Clive Myers vs. Johnny Apollon (7/27/82) The story here was that Apollon had a rib injury but wasn't really experienced enough to threaten Myers anyway. More of an offensive workout for Myers than a truly competitive match, though Apollon did hang with him for five or six rounds. Myers' shit looked great, which isn't always the case with his Iron Fist shtick, and Apollon did a good job bumping and selling for it even though there was an apparent styles clash on the surface with Apollon being a legit amateur type. Worth watching if you're a Myers fan and want to see him do his shit with some extra snap to it. Steve McHoy vs. Jim Moser (8/11/82) Just the finish. Vic Faulkner vs. Kid Chocolate (6/15/82) This was pretty fun from two guys who are pretty hit and miss for me. Kid Chocolate didn't have a ton of personal charisma, but he played along with Faulkner well, and there was a smattering of quality wrestling in there to go along with the smart-aleckry. Wayne Bridges vs. King Kong Kirk (11/9/82) Slow, plodding match that Bridges intended to more dramatic than it actually was. Unless he's working a technical contest against a quality heavyweight, I have no real use for Bridges. The exception is that wild title match against Quinn, but most of the credit should go to Quinn for that one. I don't think this was a title match, but Bridges wore the belt to the ring all the same. Walton was still referring to him as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, which was an amusing bit of bullshit given how many years had passed since Arion had been in the country and Walton first pushed that line. Tom Tyrone vs. King Kong Kirk (3/9/82) This was joined in progress with the two beating the absolute shit out of each other. It was night and day compared to the Bridges/Kirk match and showed that not only could Kirk go under the right circumstances, but the merits of a young heavyweight who bumped and sold his ass off to make the match exciting. This rocked from beginning to end with only small let ups in the action. Again that growth on the side of Kirk's head creeped the shit out of me, and there was one close-up of it which looked like he didn't have an ear. I think it was actually a patch of hair he wasn't shaving for some reason, but with the grainy VHS transfer footage it takes on a life of its own. At one point he had all this white shit over his face, which Walton explained was a combination of sweat and Tyrone's newly "blancoed" boots (yeah, I had to look it up too.) Kirk was such a mongrel. Tally Ho Kaye vs. Kid Chocolate (1/27/82) Typically sold-to-fun Tally Ho Kaye performance. Nothing to write home about, but enjoyable all the same. He behaved himself fairly well in this bout, though the crowd gave him stick over the MC's description of him as a country gentleman. In a sign of the times, Walton mentioned Chocolate had been having reoccurring problems with a concussion every time he wrestled. I can't see a commentator putting that sort of info out there these days given that it was very likely true that KC had been concussed. Peter & Johnny Wilson vs. Clive Myers & Kwik Kick Lee (11/9/82) Some decent action in this, but a bit flat considering that it was supposed to be the semi-finals of an important knockout tag contest. Myers looked really small mixing it up with the heavyweights, but provided the only real highlights. Perhaps sensing it hadn't been that great a bout, he decided to bow out of the tournament in the most insane way possible by taking a huge bump over the ropes and into the announcing table. That was pretty dramatic and reminiscent of the bump he took into the crowd in his match against McManus. A bit risky, though, as he could have knocked Walton's block off. John Elijah vs. Tom Tyrone (5/11/82) Solid bout that was more along the lines of the quality Tyrone we're familiar with from his bouts against other top heavyweights. It didn't reach any great heights, but I've never really seen Elijah be a poor foil for an opponent. Tyrone and McHoy were exciting heavyweight prospects. Jim Breaks vs. Vic Faulkner (11/3/82) This was a fun 1982 version of what was a fairly typical match between the two. Faulkner stirred the pot, Breaks responded with inside shots, Faulkner got pissed and began throwing punches while Breaks complained to all and sundry. You can fill in the details yourself if you know the wrestlers. A couple of women had a real go at Breaks, and the match finished with Faulkner and Jimmy having a right old scrap. Nothing that will make you forget their bout from '77, but pretty good for a rehash. Ray Steele vs. John Elijah (7/22/82) Another excellent heavyweight contest. There were a number of these low key bouts that punctuated the 1982 landscape. Really great power wrestling with tremendous strength holds and plenty of speed and athleticism from Steele. There were a few hecklers in the back accusing them of being boring, but they picked up the pace a bit and got a warm response from most of the crowd. The entire thing aired on World of Sport back in the day, which was a rarity, and was more proof that the heavyweights decline was slower and less pronounced than the lack of quality light and middle weight work.

I've only discovered Chino recently, but I thought he was awesome in a light trios match against Trio Fantasia and impressive in his title match with Super Astro.

I seem to recall some decent Fishman brawling in a few of those AAA trios. Judging by Arena Mexico cards, MS-1 received a push after losing his mask and was firmly lodged in the upper midcard when the Infernales were formed, but it doesn't seem like he was a huge star. Was he a bigger star than Faraon, for example?

People keep saying that Arn was solid or consistent, but at his peak he was a master performer who could work the full range from comedy to asskickery. If you asked me which I'd rather watch, '91-2 Arn or '85-6 Tully it would be an awfully close call. Tully was more of a leading man, but I think Parv has a fair point about his lack of offence. He was 90% bumping and stooging. Arn had a wider range, but was more suited to multi-man bouts. If you gave Arn something to do he was brilliant whereas Tully in his prime could create something from nothing. Can I cheat and say Tully in singles and Arn in multi-man bouts? I think I'll give the edge to Arn since his brilliance isn't being recognised enough. 1992 Arn is better than just about 90s worker I can think of States-side.

With British wrestling, anything from the 50s or 60s would be a major find, but particularly workers whom we have nothing of like Billy Joyce, George Kidd or Billy Robinson. I'd take that over say 60s McManus or Pallo as I expect they wrestled pretty much the same way they did in the 70s. If we're talking about guys we already have footage of, I'd go with more 70s Breaks, more Adrian Street and maybe more Gwyn Davies. Heel Albert Wall would be up there to. If we're just talking about a new match from any worker in general, I'd be excited to see a new Steve Grey match or a new Jon Cortez bout. Pretty much any new lucha match would be welcomed, but if I had a choice I might actually be tempted to go with a journeyman like Charles Lucero or Leon Chino. Maybe a bit left field, but I think it would be fun. Blue Fish anyone?