ohtani's jacket

Another self-correction here, Chicana vs. MS-1 wasn't the main event of the 51st Anniversary Show but rather Talisman vs. Atlantis.

Finally, we come to 1989. 1989 was a significant year in lucha as it laid the groundwork not only for the early 90s television boom but for EMLL's return to prominence. You'll recall that at the beginning of the decade, Lucha Libre Internacional was selling out El Toreo and other venues on a weekly basis while EMLL was struggling to fill Arena Mexico. Around 1981 or so, EMLL began using independent wrestlers to boost their gates. In the eyes of the fans, these matches represented the "coliseinos vs. independientes," but in reality they were more about freelance wrestlers using their drawing power to boost earning opportunities rather than any sort of inter-promotional feud. When business began cooling off in '84, there were more obvious signs of co-operation between the two promotions, but the ins and outs of this era aren't well known and it's impossible to say the extent to which the promotions worked together. When Canek defended his UWA World Heavyweight Championship against Cien Caras, for example, the title wasn't billed as the "UWA" World Heavyweight Championship, making it difficult to guess how much of a "loan" it was and how much was Canek simply brokering his own appearance. Nevertheless, NWA titles were defended at El Toreo and UWA titles at Arena Mexico during this period. As with many breakaway promotions, LLI began splintering from within. In 1985, Rene Guajardo, who ran the successful Monterrey branch, tried breaking out on his own and had the territory taken away from him. Then Cesar Valentino managed to secure a Televisa deal but couldn't get his rebel promotion off the crowd. The real body blow came in 1987, though, when promoter Franciso Flores died of a massive heart attack. His nephew, Carlos Maynes, took over the business, but made the mistake of continuing with the same formula his uncle had used. Crowds continued to dwindle, and by the time they hopped on the television bandwagon in November 1991, it was too late for the struggling promotion. Television broadcasts of lucha had been banned in Mexico City since 1953 when the city's regent Ernesto Uruchurtu, at the behest of concerned parents, prohibited not only televised wrestling, but also banned women from wrestling in Mexico City and barred children under the age of eight from attending live shows. By 1985, Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre's control over wrestling had loosened, and as mentioned previously, the Asociacion de Luchadores, Referís y Retirados discovered that it had never been granted legal authority in the first place and that lucha libre had no binding regulations. Nevertheless, Televisa had been somewhat hesitant to resume broadcasting wrestling in the capital due to the risk of public criticism. Antonio Pena, seeing the potential in televised wrestling, convinced Paco Alonso that EMLL should approach Televisa with a proposal to broadcast Arena Mexico and Coliseo shows on Mexico City TV. Televisa at the time broadcast three wrestling shows -- two EMLL shows (one for Galavision in the US and one for Cablevision) and the Pavillon Azteca show on Cablevision. Televisa began experimenting with broadcasting EMLL on Channel 4 in Mexico City in 1990, first on Saturday nights at 11pm then moving to prime time at 7pm. As the ratings grew, it was moved to Channel 9 (broadcast nationally) on Saturdays at 6pm and finally Channel 2, the biggest channel in the country, broadcasting every Sunday at 5pm. EMLL (now CMLL) was by now the hottest promotion in the country, but the television broadcasts caused a huge amount of controversy in the lucha world as Sunday at 5pm was when the El Toreo show began as well as several other major shows around the country. As ticket sales began to suffer, the wrestlers' union, the Sindicato Nacional de Luchadores, organised a strike against all CMLL owned or controlled arenas demanding that Televisa suspend its broadcasts. They even arranged a protest in front of the interior ministry with the luchadores parading in full costume. On September 30th, 1991, the Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Board ruled in the union's favour and Televisa was forced to change the time slot. They moved the time slot to Sunday afternoon from 12-2pm, which the wrestlers reluctantly agreed to, and were given conditional permission from the Department of Radio, Television and Film to broadcast lucha libre provided there was no excessive violence. Televisa's frustration with CMLL during the strike action led to them supporting Pena's rival start-up promotion, AAA, which was later revealed to be wholly owned by Televisa; a thinly veiled attempt at seizing control of the lucha business by stepping around CMLL and the SNL union. But all of this is 90s history. On to the matches!

Thanks, Jose. Do you have any idea why the accounts differ so wildly? Is it people relying on their memories or did the magazines spin different stories on some of these feuds?

It's his lucha ratings I like. Not a fan of lucha brawling at all. Sangre Chicana vs. MS-1 no more than average and the following week's trios terrible.

Blue Demon, Blue Demon Jr. y Ringo Mendoza vs. Emilio Charles Jr., Pirata Morgan y Satanico (11/25/88) This was supposed to be Blue Demon's retirement match, and there was even a documentary made about it called Blue Demon, el campeón, but he was lured by promoters into a retirement tour in '89, especially in his native Monterrey, where he was booked in two mask vs. mask spectaculars against Rayo de Jalisco Sr. and Matemático. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZTxpOzdjmQ The Blue Demon vs. Rayo de Jalisco mask match was actually one of the biggest mask matches in lucha libre history as Rayo Sr. had been a massive star in the 60s and 70s and Blue Demon was legitimately the second biggest star in lucha history. You may find it odd, then, that unlike the 15 year build to the Dr. Wagner vs. El Solitario mask match, the build for Demon vs. Rayo lasted exactly one week. On 7/23/89, Demon appeared at la Plaza Monumental de Monterrey to accept a career award from mayor Sócrates Rizzo. In an angle similar to Funk vs. Flair at WrestleWar '89, guest of honour El Rayo de Jalisco interrupted the award ceremony, claiming that Demon didn't deserve the recognition and that Jalisco himself should be the one being honoured. When Demon ignored him, Jalisco attacked him with the plaque he'd been given, challenging him to a mask vs. mask match. In actual fact, there had never been any rivalry between the two. They'd appeared alongside each other regularly as idolos in both movies and tag matches and were both bona fide lucha legends; nevertheless, the promoters whipped up a jealousy angle and Demon came out of "retirement" the following week, where, after his moment of madness at the award ceremony, Jalisco lost the mask he'd worn for 27 years and was unveiled as Máximino "Max" Linares Moreno, native of Mexico City, though obviously billed from Jalisco. Originally, Demon hadn't planned to make any stops in Monterrey on his retirement tour, but so many people were turned away from the Jalisco fight that business was too good to not keep milking the cow and a feud with Matemático was concocted. EMLL apparently wanted in on the action as well, as a week after the Matemático fight, Demon, Rayo Sr. and Matemático fought in a mask vs. hair vs. hair bout at Arena Mexico. That may be an urban myth, however, as there isn't a lot of evidence that a triangle match took place. Lucha history is not particularly well recorded. While researching for this entry, one source said that Blue Demon was a spectator during a Rayo de Jalisco bout and that Rayo began insulting him after the bell until it escalated into a wager challenge, while another claimed that Matemático was Jalisco's second during the mask match and kept attacking Demon during the bout. The footage shows that's not the case and that Rayo Jr. was in his father's corner. Matemático possibly challenged Demon after the fight, but in any event the story the promoters and magazines concocted was that the younger Matemático, who really wasn't that young, saw a chance to cover himself in glory and use Demon as a stepping stone to become a legend in the sport. The match was another sell out with yet more people waiting outside trying to get in. Demon saw off the "younger" man's thirst for glory and at 67 years of age finally walked away from the ring. Despite a series of serious head injuries, Demon had kept making films through to the mid-70s and main eventing regularly through to the late 70s. When El Santo's heir emerged in the early 80s, Demon began expressing the sentiment that "if the silver legend of Santo can continue, the blue legend will continue as well!" Fierce rivals with Santo for much of their careers (despite their on-screen partnership), Demon was known to make disparaging remarks about Santo in his later years. Wherever that resentment stemmed from, Demon was so desperate for the name of Blue Demon to live on that when his biological son showed no interest in wrestling he gave the gimmick to another young wrestler much the way Black Shadow had done. Originally billed as Blue Demon's biological son, the magazines picked the relationship apart until the story was changed to Demon Jr. being his adopted son. Even that failed to appease some critics who were none too pleased by the lack of any blood relationship between the two. Demon Jr. has always maintained that the story is no lie and that he was adopted at six months old even providing a back story about going to military school and training for the ring in secret while he completed a Bachelor's degree. In their ongoing dispute over booking fees and the rights to the gimmick, Demon's biological son Alfredo Muñoz has added fuel to the fire by claiming that Demon Jr. is unrelated to the family and not adopted. Whatever the case, Demon Jr made his debut on 7/11/84 alongside his father and Villano III against Perro Aguayo, Fishman and Kato Kung Lee at the Auditorio de Tijuana and hasn't stopped working since.

I don't know. I'd have to look for more people's blogs. He/she buys from Alfredo, which I thought was cool.

名勝負 is mei shobu, which basically means "best match," though I believe it can also be used to describe historically famous bouts.

Mogur vs. Mascara Ano 2000 (Mask vs. Mask) (9/23/88) This was the main event of EMLL's 55th Anniversary Show. Despite main eventing the previous year's show, Mogur was already beginning to slip down the card in '88. He'd gone from appearing in the 5th or 6th match of every card to the 3rd, and his only significant apuesta win prior to the Anniversary Show had been firmly rooted in the midcard with him unmasking rudo midcarder "Quazar" as veteran worker César Curiel. He'd also lost his Mexican National Middleweight title to Satanico, which, while not significant in and of itself, having successfully defended it against Satanico on at least two occasions, was notable for the fact they moved the belt onto Dandy shortly after the show; a wrestler whose stock was definitely rising. Still, the smart money was on Mogur defeating Mascara Ano 2000, the way Atlantis had defeated the similarly positioned Talisman. It was something of a shock then when Mogur was unmasked as José de Jesús Pantoja Flores, an eight year man out of La Barca, Jalisco. Despite the fact he had a good body, a nice looking mask, and the biggest push since Atlantis, he'd failed to fire at the box office; and while he never fell out of the midcard (particularly with the defections to AAA), in hindsight this apuesta loss marks the end of his push. Unmasking MA2k in 1988 would have been a major coup for Mogur, but tellingly, taking Mogur's mask did little to raise MA2k's status and it was business as usual the next year with Los Hermanos Dinamita. Mogur was thrown a bone with veteran El Egipcio's hair the following year, as well as Hombre Bala in 1990, which was probably his last significant singles win, though it should be noted that they both took place at Arena Coliseo and not Arena Mexico. He also had a fun feud with Pierroth Jr over the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship, which produced some good matches. By no means a terrible worker, he managed to eke out a thirty year career, much of it spent working for EMLL/CMLL, though that may have had something to do with being former booker Tigre Hispano's son-in-law. As for MA2k, he went on to lose his mask to Perro Aguayo in front of 48,000 people in one of the biggest lucha shows ever, so I'd say he made out all right.

I thought this might interest some of you: http://wrestlingheart.com/info/matches.html

Negro Casas vs. Maximo, CMLL 1/11/15 This was the first pimped lucha of the year. Naturally, I was a bit dubious given I don't exactly love modern day Casas, but it was actually pretty good. For the life of me, I'll never understand what people see in this present phase of Casas' career with the parrot and the dancing and all of the carry on. Not when I've seen how great he was in his prime. But for the first time in a while, I was actually excited to see him wrestle someone who's not a fellow maestro. Having said that, Jesus did he look old. Perhaps it's more noticeable after delving into his vintage stuff, but the Rush feud seems to have aged him about ten years. It was particularly noticeable at the end when they were issuing cabellera challenges and there were close-ups of his face. Of course he'd just finished a match, and I should look so good now let alone when I'm 55, but he looks like he's shrinking every time I see him. I guess the short hair plays a part, but he's looking leaner and leaner all the time. I hated him mocking Maximo's limp, because if I were Maximo, I'd just mock how fucking old Casas looks, and you know that strikes right where it hurts. The early attack on Maximo's leg was good, but nowhere close to outstanding. I wouldn't pin that on Casas as everything he did was logical; Maximo simply isn't able to garner a smidgen of the sympathy his father elicited. To be fair, he's not morbidly obese, but he's also not as charismatic and nowhere near as beloved. Casas could have perhaps been more vicious, but the real problem was that you knew the payoff wasn't going to be very good and so it was with a weak segunda caida comeback. Scoring a flash pin off two clotheslines is weak sauce. Fortunately, Maximo sold the leg well and the focus was soon on the doctor patching him up, but I think a submission would have worked better. Where the match came to life, as it so often does with modern matches, was in the third caida. Casas flying in with the dropkick was easily the best thing to happen to that point, and I love how the doctor kept taping up Maximo's leg regardless of what Casas tried. The spray to the eyes and the tape around the throat were spots from a bygone age, and I appreciate that. There's been a bit of talk in some places about Maximo dropping his selling, but to be honest I couldn't give a shit given how balls out his tope is. That is one hell of a tope and looks like a surefire concussion*. It wasn't as though he was better off for trying it either, as Casas caught him in that awesome looking choke submission. It's too bad he scratched his nose selling the after effects, but hey, even the greats like to fix this tights or pick their trunks out of their crack. Given he was crawling about on all fours, hobbling during the strike exchange, and even pulling at his bandage, it seems Maximo only dropped his selling for his dives and then again for the finish. Not a criminal offence. If fact, if the leg was so important then why wasn't Casas targeting it more apart from one dropkick to the bad leg while trying to take out the good one? The finish was worse as you were meant to believe an arm drag from the top was all it took to put Casas away. Mano a mano finishes are often weaker than apuesta falls, but unless he was winded, the alternative is that he was reeling from Maximo's kiss. Which, given the exoticos Casas has faced before, is not bloody likely. Casas sold it as though he was winded, Maximo hobbled about like people want him to, and the parrot was depressed. If I were a Casas fan, I'd spin the whole thing as his back playing up due to old age. All told, it was a solid three star mano a mano that got me excited for the hair match. That's bound to disappoint if it's at Arena Mexico, but I will say it was great to see the babies and young couples in the crowd. A nice throwback to the AAA cutaways I loved so much during my early days a fan. * His plancha is awesome too. Dude has fab looking dives.

They have a website shop but it looks pretty crap -- http://www.shosen.co.jp/shop/

Emilio Charles Jr./Pierroth Jr./Javier Llanes vs. El Dandy/Ultimo Dragon/Silver King, CMLL 1/25/94 Javier Llanes was so good in the Dandy feud. If you only watch the title match, you might think he was along for the ride, but watching the build I'd almost suggest he spearheaded the feud. No matter what you think of Dandy post 1990, whether you think he entered into a steady decline or was still an all-time great, there's no denying he was spinning his wheels until this feud happened. Llanes was sporting emerald green for this bout, making him look every bit the Ace of Arena Coliseo that Misawa was at Budokan. A low angle close-up of his nose and teeth exaggerated his ugliness and made him seem like some repulsive figure from a German expressionist film. The fact that he was the least likely guy to enter into this feud with Dandy worked for him and he ran with it. I love the way he'd line Dandy up for the fingers to the throat or a punch to the jaw; and while we didn't see the fabled digit manipulation, Llanes' arm work was every bit as good. The primera caida was a great rudo fall with Pierroth and Emilio being perfect in their roles as thug henchmen, and a wonderful image of Dandy trying to crawl back to his corner on his elbows. I know I harp on about it a lot, but there were more points of action in that opening fall than in any trios match I saw last year, and I simply don't understand why no-one has the chops to work this way anymore. It's not like sizing guys up and delivering theatrical looking strikes is difficult. It just takes a bit of panache. One of the reasons why I don't think Dandy was the one fueling this Llanes feud is because his retaliatory work wasn't anywhere near as strong as Llanes' heel work. Admittedly, there was a whole deal with the ref not allowing Dandy to fully retaliate (and Llanes getting heat by hiding behind the ref), but it wasn't vintage Dandy. I've been known to be harsh on Dandy in the past, so your mileage may vary, but I saw the rudos as carrying things in this match. Llanes used what looked to be a roll of coins to bust Dandy open and pinch the bout, so it was definitely a match where the tecnicos were meant to be stymied; but something about Dandy getting riled up and challenging Llanes didn't quite click for me. I think he put too much windmill on his punches. What I did love was Llanes sticking the object in his knee pad then slipping it to Emilio, who shoved it in his trunks and left promptly; the master conspiracy complete. Brazo de Plata/El Dandy/Vampiro Casanova vs. Mano Negra/Black Magic/Javier Llanes, CMLL 2/6/94 This was the Javier Llanes show if ever there was one. The footage began with Dandy lying prone and Llanes kicking him in the gut while still wearing his robe ala Ric Flair. Vampiro came over to help and was punched in the face, the same way a babyface would vs. the Horsemen. I love it when a guy like Vampiro gets punked. Llanes finally got the chance to take his robe off and we were away. He worked Dandy over with a series of rights and knife edge chops, making sure to dish out a little treatment to his partners as well. In particular, he harried poor Porky. The inside shots kept coming and the clothesline chops, and he began dropping the elbow onto Dandy. He even went up top for a plancha like he was Misawa going for the frog splash. Again he made Dandy bleed; this time by ramming his head into the hoardings and punching him repeatedly in the face. That'll please some of you out there! It was actually a nastier cut than it looked as Dandy ended up getting blood on his arms and by the end of the match Llanes had Dandy's blood all over his tights and even smeared against his own forehead. Of course when Dandy wanted to fight mano a mano in the ring, Llanes quickly bailed, which had the Coliseo faithful screaming and shouting at him. When they finally did square off, they went for a Casas/Dandy style inside/outside spot, but it looked like Dandy pulled something getting back into the ring. Vampiro chased Llanes around the ring as Llanes scurried about trying to avoid him and finally Dandy uncorked one on Javier's jaw. There was a real Memphis feel to Llanes' shenanigans. They call him "the worm" in Mexico. Whether that's flattering or not, I'm not sure, but he was certainly worm-like in the way he evaded Dandy here. In a neat little touch, Llanes went for the elbow drop again, but missed, and Dandy turned it into a submission. The tercera caida was either joined late or one of the shortest on record as Llanes pinned Dandy within seconds. When he stood back up, you got a good look at how bloody his tights were. I'm sure it was Dandy's blood on his face, though he may have jigged himself. Watching Negra trash talk Vampiro over his continued uselessness was a treat. In a hurried trios there wasn't much chance to for the others to shine, but Negra had a few golden moments like his jawing contest with a woman at ringside who stood up and danced while her partner roared with laughter, and his ongoing pestering of Porky. The wild eyed grin he gave Porky before they locked up was classic and later on he tried a comical fake out on a tope before hitting a plancha off the apron. They even had a workrate exchange, Porky style, that saw the same woman catcall Negra. This match was all about Llanes lording it over Arena Coliseo with a part Flair/part Tully performance, and a bloodied Dandy on the mic afterwards looking as though someone had smudged red ink all over his face, but Negra's goofiness was awesome. I thought Dandy was better in this than the first match. Again the story was him only getting a piece of what makes the Nature Boy tick, but by bell's end, he was rightly looking ahead to their singles match, looking to inflict a little payback even if it was a title bout. I'm not a huge fan of title match feuds where the build up is brawling trios, but this is as fun a Coliseo feud as it gets during the lost years. Emilio Charles Jr. vs. La Fiera, CMLL 4/1/94 I can't believe these former partners squared off. Remember that consoling nudge Fiera gave Emilio during the Misterioso/Fuerza feud? It's almost sad in a way. Fiera had a falling out with Sangre Chicana in '93, which knowing them was over drugs. Fiera either turned clean, found God, or hated Chicana that much he'd rather be on the tecnico side. Why the tecnicos would let him return to their side is one of those things you shouldn't think too hard about if you're a wrestling fan. I suppose in a heavily Catholic country like Mexico, tecnicos accepting stray lambs back into the fold almost has religious connotations if you think about it. The door's always open, I suppose. You wonder how a guy like Emilio felt about watching a brother turn face. Emilio had a couple of runs as a tecnico, but he was basically a lifer as far as rudos go. Is there a sense of betrayal when a guy you rode with turns tecnico like that? Here's what I do know: this was a decent mano a mano bout with the obvious caveat being that it was a mano a mano bout, meaning they spent most of the time bleeding. The names might get people excited, but honestly I like Fiera better as a shady rudo than I do a baby, and I can't shake the feeling that as God-like as Emilio is in trios, he's not that good at singles matches. Don't expect anything as good as a grainy Sangre Chicana mano a mano bout where you're squinting to make out the blade job; this was a simple piece of build to their hair match and nothing extraordinary.

Jumbo vs. Misawa setting Tokyo on fire for a decade is also hyperbole.

King Ben vs. Dave Finlay (6/26/85) Finlay vs. Ben is actually a match-up with a lot of potential provided the "good" Ben shows up, but as many of you will know, Finlay's matches in this era were a showcase for what a great wrestler he was and how obnoxious his wife could be. There was some good stuff in here, but Ben was there to put Finlay over as just about everyone in the midcard did. Mike Bennett vs. Clive Myers (9/3/85) Mike Bennett was an interesting case. He was a former teenage "boy apprentice" who turned heel in the 70s by writing "Marvellous Mike" on his trunks with black felt pen. That's all it took in the UK, really. Joint had never given him much of a run, but Dale Martin brought him in during '85 and gave him a strong push. In fact, you could probably argue he was the méchant de l'année in 1985. With the likes of Rocco, McManus and Breaks gone, Joint needed more rule benders who were over with the crowds. Myers did a good job of putting Bennett over -- no more headband just an incredibly fired up Clive Myers. Bennett could have pushed the envelope a bit more, but the ref was Peter Szakacs and he was always quick to throw a bout out. King Ben vs. Kid Chocolate (11/27/85) Solid bout between these two. Pretty much what you'd expect from both men as well as the television clipping and what not. Kid got a legit bloody nose which Ben later targeted. He took the match with a nice vertical suplex, making this basically a showcase for a guy higher up the pecking order than Kid. I'm not sure wrestling was popular enough anymore to have simple showcase bouts like this. Joint Promotions and Dale Martin had always conservative -- those were the sort of barbs thrown at them by Paul Lincoln during their promoting war, and I'm sure by Dixon too when he was strong arming his way into a TV spot -- but they really should have been trying harder in '85 for the sake of the business. People like to blame Greg Dyke for wrestling's decline w/ him shunting around the time slot, but to be brutally honest, the product wasn't up to scratch. Jackie Turpin vs. Rick Wiseman (11/5/86) Jackie looked out of shape here and disinterested in this wrestling racket. He jobbed to Wiseman, which pretty much tells you they had no use for Jackie Turpin in 1986. Pete Roberts vs. Bearcat Wright (5/14/86) It seems odd to me that they brought Bernie Wright in '85/86 and billed him as being from Calgary. The did the same thing with Steve Wright, billing him as the German "Bull Blitzer." I guess they needed more heels. Bernie had come back from Calgary considerably heavier (surprise, surprise) and was rocking a Mad Max look. I never really got into Bernie, but I thought his strikes looked good here as well as his submission work. Just about anything where Roberts was grounded looked good, but he was pretty crap when he had to move about. Things were starting to warm up when Peter "you're outta here" Szacaks struck. He DQ'ed Wright for intentionally throwing Roberts over the ropes in a spot that didn't even good. Hold your fire, Peter Szacaks! Pat Roach vs. Skull Murphy (8/7/86) The purpose of this bout was ostensibly for Roach to announce that he was relinquishing the British Heavyweight Championship as outside business interests made it impossible for him to defend it (so why the fuck did they give it to him?), but was this ever a crazy round or two. I don't know that I've seen Roach take a bigger beating than he did here or sell more for a guy. Murphy was all over him. They did some cool shit like Murphy trying to put his gator submission on Roach despite Pat's height. It was a bit like a gnat annoying a lion. It didn't last long, but it was cool while it did. Afterwards, Roach delivered an eloquent speech vacating the heavyweight title. Mean Gene would have loved that. I still don't get why they gave Pat the belt.

Monsieur Montreal vs. Jack Meurs Fun maestros match that will test your patience if you don't like watching old guys fighting over basic holds while delivering headbutts and forearm smashes. If you do then it's a purist's heaven. Be warned though that a decent amount of clipping hurts the flow.

Mocho Cota/Silver King vs. Negro Casas/El Dandy, CMLL 3/18/94 When Cota was released from prison in '93, he went to work for Pena in AAA, and became embroiled in a feud with Latin Lover that was a hell of a lot better than it sounds. The matches were the typical rhythmless AAA affairs, but the brawling beteen Cota and Lover was fairly engaging and there was even a smattering of colour. A week before their hair match, Cota jumped to CMLL, leaving Latin Lover high and dry. In CMLL, he continued his habit of starting shit wherever he went and royally pissed off Casas during this relevos increíbles match. Forty years old at the time, Cota was mostly viewed as a joke by hardcore fans. There wasn't the same appreciation for maestros in 1994 that there is twenty years later let alone workers who relied on charisma more than workrate. 1994 was the Age of Workrate and a guy like Cota didn't fit the mould. People weren't familiar with his 80s work the way we are and nobody was clamouring for more. He always had a strange body type, and as he aged his skinny torso and chicken legs became even more outstanding the wilder his afro grew. Watching this match with 2015 eyes, firmly believing that Cota was a Machiavellian genius in the 80s, of course I want 90s Cota to be one of the great revelations; but I find myself leaning towards a more even handed view. He wasn't the decrepit, hopeless foggy he was made out to be at the time, but he wasn't exactly Emilio Charles Jr. either. Either prison took something out of him, or we weren't given the chance to familiarise ourselves with the slow, gradual change that time inflicts, making the contrast between the cool, slick Cota that seconded Sangre Chicana and the older ex-con that feuded with Casas too strong to comprehend. Any way you slice it, good but not great sums up my feelings on mid-90s Cota. This match was in effect an angle. Dandy looked even weirder than ex-con Cota. Knee high boots and a pair of trunks made it look like he was auditioning for a part in UWF-i. The way the match broke down, Cota had a problem tagging with Silver King while Casas simply had a problem with Cota in general. Spanish speakers may be able to understand why Casas disliked Cota. The rest of us will have to fill in the narrative ourselves, not that it's difficult to surmise why someone might dislike Cota. Dandy and Silver King had this whole Los Cowboys Explode workrate thing going on, but the main thrust of the match was Cota not giving a fuck if this was Casas' CMLL or not. After being dropkicked by all three men in the ring (inadvertently), Cota headed to the back and returned with a pair of plastic knuckles. He gave Dandy a shot to the ribs then hit Silver King flush in the jaw. Casas managed to wrest the knuckles from Cota, but the refs saw him wallop Mocho with them and awarded Cota the bout. Casas snapped and attacked the bloodied Cota further, and the refs weren't spared from his wrath either. It wasn't Casas' finest hour in terms of selling or acting, and to be honest the Cota/Lover brawling was stronger, but this was the beginning of several weeks of Casas switching between the tecnico and rudo sides, sometimes tagging with Cota and sometimes opposing him, in the lead up to a hair match pitting afro vs. greasy curls. I have no idea whether the hair match is any good since I've never heard a single soul speak of it. It's one of the great unknowns of the CMLL Lost Years, and though the build hasn't been classic, how can you not look forward to it as VIntage Negro Casas of the Day continues.

The next disc from my stack of World of Sport is a collection of matches from '85-88. Unlike 1980-84, I wasn't interested in getting all of the footage we have of the final few years, so this will be a pretty random selection of matches: Tiger Dalibar Singh vs. Bully Boy Muir (5/22/85) Joined in progress getting started right at the point where the forearm smashes begin, which is basically what you want to see from these two. Some decent clobbering. Nice appetizer for better wrestling on the disc. King Ben vs. Little Prince (10/16/85) Rumour has it that these two didn't like each other, which you'd hope would lead to a stiffer than usual bout, but my god was this boring .Even Walton could barely mask his contempt, criticising the poor technique of each wrestler on their winning falls. Steve Grey vs. Rick Wiseman (6/24/85) Lord knows what Rick Wiseman had done to receive a British Lightweight title shot, but it should come as no surprise that Grey gave him the best match of his television career. It's a broken record at this point, but Grey's name really needs to be thrown in the hat for best television match worker ever, along with best babyface and a number of other plaudits. Somewhat oddly, this match aired on TWC but had no commentary. A television bout without Walton was a bit of a shock, but it gives you a different perspective on what watching a taping was really like. Wiseman put in a credible showing, but wasn't a match for the Lightweight champ and Grey ended up working knots around him. Ray Steele vs. Colin Joynson (5/22/85) This was Steele's first title defence as British Heavyweight Champion and another challenger that didn't make a lot of sense. Joynson was a fine worker, but the line on him was always that he was part time. So even if folks believed he could lift the heavyweight title, he wouldn't have been able to defend it. This was a slowish bout that didn't have a lot of the forearm smashes that make a select group of the British heavyweights exciting, mostly because it was a clean bout. Walton tried to stay enthused, but aside from the odd moment of skill, you could tell after a lifetime of watching this stuff he was burnt out. John Naylor vs. Little Prince (6/26/85) Better than the King Ben bout, but just about anything would be better than that. If Walton is to be believed, Little Prince was the same weight as a heavyweight, which seems hard to believe. This was okay, but ended with an injury. After watching the original broadcast stuff, the injury finish was a lot less common than it seems watching TWC footage, but it doesn't suck any less. Pat Roach vs. Colin Joynson (9/17/85) These two had better in-ring chemistry than Joynson and Steele. The size difference always makes for a fascinating match-up. At one point you had the short, tank like Johnson lifting the giant Roach in the air and I swear it was one of the more memorable images I've seen from British wrestling. They were also better on the mat against each other and just seemed to generally click better.

New Japan basically lost their prime-time Friday night spot in 1986. They were shunted around on Monday and Tuesday for a while before being moved to Saturday afternoon in 1988. That time slot wasn't popular with fans as the show was often preempted for golf. In 1994 it moved to a midnight slot and in 2004 was shortened to 30 minutes. New Japan was replaced on Friday nights by Music Station, a hugely popular music show that's still broadcast in the same time slot. If you want a neat piece of trivia, it was replaced on Mondays in 1987 by none other than Knight Rider. Most people in Japan only watch free-to-air terrestrial television. The major networks offer subscription based broadcast satellite channels that carry specialised content like American sports or television dramas. There are cable, satellite and internet TV providers, but most of the channels are privately owned and content gets scattered across all sorts of channels often leading to extra subscriptions on top of your basic package. If you like tennis for example, you've got to be subscribed to one channel to watch the ATP tour and another to watch the Grand Slams and the chances are neither are included in your basic package. I've had both satellite and internet TV in Japan but ended up getting rid of both. As Nintendo Logic mentioned, the pay TV penetration levels are extremely low in Japan. I don't think they've shown any significant growth in the time I've been here. NJPW has content spread out over Asahi's BS channels and a few other pay channels, but even on Asahi's BS channels the content airs in the dead of the night. Japanese people basically don't want to pay to watch television, are content with the variety shows and dramas that air during prime time, and only subscribe to pay channels if they have some sort of niche interest like American dramas or tennis or the NBA or professional wrestling. I assume the reason they lost their Friday night spot back in '86 is because ratings tanked after the shit hit the fan with everyone leaving. Both Inoki and Baba were forever battling with TV executives to keep their time slots throughout the latter half of the 80s and basically lost the battle.

New Japan know they can't sell out Seibu Dome or Tokyo Dome. To them 20k to the Seibu Dome and 35k to Tokyo Dome is a success. A straight comparison with WWE is pointless. It's like comparing American Major League Soccer with the Premier League.

I live in Japan, but I don't go to shows so please double check the info I give you. My (limited) outstanding is that people either order the tickets through pia (which then deliver them to your home) or buy them at convenience stores. You can also buy them from the New Japan shop in Suidobashi. A certain amount of tickets are reserved for door sales, but I'm pretty sure that the best seats sell out the day the tickets go on sale. I don't think there's any way that you can really buy a ringside seat from Europe unless you were able to get it through pia and delivered to an address in Japan. I'm not 100% sure on that, though. You might want to get in touch with that Eric gaijin guy on Twitter because he got the 50,000 yen tickets to Wrestle Kingdom and was seated right behind the press.

"Doing well" is a much better description than being "hot." I think they're doing well to draw 36k on the strength of word of mouth. The problem with its TV is that it airs in the dead of the night. Like tonight if I want to watch highlights of Naito vs. Styles and Ishii vs. Makabe it's on TV Asahi from 3:20 to 3:50 a.m. That's the worst that New Japan's TV situation has been in the history of the company. Not only that, but the time changes each Saturday. On 12/20 it was 3:15 to 3:45 while on 12/27 it was 3:30 to 4:00 a.m. Hardcores will subscribe to NJPW World or cable channels, but there's actually a fair chunk of hardcores that aren't interested in watching wrestling on TV and only go to the shows. I do think they should be commended for drawing stronger live gates. I just wanted to point out that continuous growth is a bigger hurdle than Okada and Tanahashi simply drawing more people.

I finally finished catching up on all of the Virus from last year. Overall, I thought his form in the first half of the year was stronger than the second, but with Hechicero being better in the indies than he was in CMLL, I don't think there was a better worker in the company at least singles wise.

It's not hot. It has a product that drew back some of the lapsed hardcores while drawing new fans for whom it may or may not be a fad. Those people bring casuals to the big shows (like my wife whose co-worker took her to a couple of Sumo Hall shows) and you get a boost in crowd numbers but not a hot product. The trouble is that online fans often have no context for how wrestling fits in to the million other entertainment options in Japan (and specifically Tokyo.) They perceive it as a bigger deal than it really is because it's a big deal to them. There are musical acts in Japan that are so hot you have to enter a lottery just to get to the chance to buy a ticket to their shows. Wrestling is very niche, but as a hobby it exists in a bubble in the area around Tokyo Dome and for people who make the pilgrimage it seems like a bit of a Mecca. What I don't put much stock in is jumping to conclusion over whether it's the main event's fault that they didn't draw more. I don't think the company is in a position to draw anymore than it does. Where are they supposed to conjure these fans up from? Wrestle Kingdom is their maxed out audience. Whatever success they've had has essentially been based on word of mouth. So I think their ceiling has to be taken into account.

The moral of the story is to check which seats are on sale. That info was on both the NJPW site and the official Wrestle Kingdom site. The Tokyo Dome website has a cool interactive seating guide that gives you panoramic views of the dome -- https://www.tokyo-dome.co.jp/dome/seat/# NJPW's goal is basically to fill the first and second floors. They don't sell tickets for the bleachers or the terraces. This will give you a better idea of the seating areas -- http://www.livehis.com/seat/seat2_tokyodome.html What's abundantly clear is that they're not filling the stands to the point where I doubt they put all the 1st and 2nd floor tickets on sale. You can see entire sections of the first and second floors empty in just about any picture of Wrestle Kingdom.

You are right, sorry. It's the vocal minority. It probably is, and that's why I made sure to say certain fans in my initial comment. Those fans are tiring though, and they give the rest of the fanbase a bad name. Don't you think you've made the odd provocative statement?