ohtani's jacket

I don't really see why it's one or the other. Some people are great peak candidates and some people are great career candidates and you weigh them up against each other. It seems odd to me that you would have a list where the top spots were full of one or the other.

I don't know the answer, but I remember that being a real head trip as a kid when our local tabloids revealed it.

Back to the 70s: Kendo Nagasaki vs. Prince Kumali (4/6/76) I'll say this for Nagasaki: he drew an incredible amount of heat. The crowd were right behind Kumali here and I don't think it was because he was a crowd favourite. You won't hear too many bigger pops in British wrestling than the nearfall Kumali got here. It even had me sitting up and taking notice. Nagasaki actually looked good here. Not "all-time great" good, but he was definitely backing his gimmick up with some substance. It helped that the crowd were electric, but there was a clear formula to what he was doing and the whole Nagasaki act went up in my estimation off this one match. Fun stuff. Kendo Nagasaki vs. Lee Bronson (1/25/77) Same Croydon crowd, same hot match. Maybe the Nagasaki act worked well in Croydon, I don't know. These were the days when Bronson was the next young hope, before he lost all his hair and they moved onto the next young heart throb. His attempts at rolling his eyes back into his head on Nasagaki's chokes were almost comical, but apart from that he was perfect babyface material. Nagasaki again looked slicker than in other matches I've seen. He could execute the basic holds all right, he just wasn't that pretty a mover. I absolutely love his finisher. There's no getting up from that unless you're one of the top stars, which Bronson obviously wasn't. Another thumbs up for Kendo. Dynamite Kid vs. Tony Scarlo (7/29/77) This was a neat match between Dynamite Kid and skilled veteran Tony Scarlo. It wasn't particularly long but everything they did was quick and extremely fluid. I said it the other day, but with Dynamite being this good at such a young age and having already taken the British Lightweight title off Breaks, if he'd stayed in England and bought a pub or something (and never done steroids), he would have been every bit as good as Breaks, Grey and Jones in the 80s and possibly the best of the lot Steve Kelly vs. Dino Scarlo (7/29/77) Young "boy match" between two proteges of Mike Marino, one the son of Peter Kelly and the other the nephew of Tony Scarlo. They did their thing for several minutes and the crowd gave them good support. Scarlo kept putting his dukes up, which was amusing. The finish was a bit of an over eager double countout that they were probably nervous about. Scarlo tried to sell how much pain he was in, but it sounded almost obscene. Never underestimate how hard it actually is to sell well. Afterwards, Marino was in the ring with the Kelly and Scarlo Sr., and Walton tripped over himself to shake hands with Marino. Man did he love Mike Marino. Mike Shannon vs. Steve Kelly (10/4/77) Young Kelly got a big win over a second year man here. Not much of a match, but a neat moment. I thought the MC did a superb job of handling the result afterwards without embarrassing Shannon. Wayne Bridges vs. Ed Wensor (10/4/77) Before the match, Bridges was approached by this woman wearing a sort of cheap "I Dream of Jeannie" outfit. She gave Bridges a peck on the cheek and some sort of homemade gift, and Walton could be heard off air telling something that her "racket" was pretending to be a Duchess. Wensor was making his re-debut here, having appeared once before on television according to Walton. He pushed Bridges pretty hard for a couple of rounds. The match was no great shakes, but not as bad as a lot of Bridges' stuff. Wensor would go on to feature sporadically over the next few years and "sporadic" is being generous. Sid Cooper & Joe Murphy vs. Johnny Kwango & Clive Myers (8/15/74) It took me a while to click here that Kwango and Myers were actually called "The Coloured Superstars" and that announcer Bobby Palmer wasn't simply calling them that. This was the usual tag mess. "The Roughnecks" Murphy and Cooper got tremendous heat with the crowd throwing the towel in for them and almost coming unhinged when Cooper threatened to get into a scrap with Bobby Palmer, but Murphy was one of the least talented journeymen I've seen on a television broadcast and there wasn't much super about the Superstars. The Exorcist vs. Bob Kirkwood (12/4/74) This was the supposedly long awaited debut of The Exorcist. I was hoping he'd come to the ring with a bible and cross, maybe a little holy water, but he was just another masked grappler. I think it Clayton Thomson under the mask here. Walton did his best to put the gimmick over, stating repeatedly how The Exorcist had refused to speak to him in the locker room or give any information about himself. There was some awkwardness at first as Thomson did some freestyle moves while Walton was trying to put over that he was a slow mover, but he soon settled into his work with the claw hold. As with most angles on WoS, it could have been done so much better (and probably would have on a Paul Lincoln show, I imagine), but credit to Bob Kirkwood. He may not have looked like much, but he was the consummate pro who did whatever the promoters asked of him, including putting over masked men. Clive Myers & Johnny Kwango vs. Pete & John LaPaque (10/10/74) The LaPaque brothers were awesome. I love Pete LaPaque. One small regret I have is that I didn't order every match he has on tape. This was much better than the Roughnecks tag with the LaPaques operating more like a 60s catch team, cutting off the ring and working more of a Southern style tag. There were a lot of great exchanges between all four men, but this was another tag where Walton saw no drama in the final stanza. With three minutes to go it was anybody's match yet Kent was remarkably subdued. In the end there was a result, but it was another case where the losing partner stood by idly as his teammate was pinned. That's a hard convention to get used to when you're coming from other styles. Apart from that it was an enjoyable tag. Bill Torontos vs. Ivan Penzecoff (5/8//74) It's been a while since I've seen Torontos in full blown comedy mode. I'd forgotten how mad it was. Some of the jokes here were pretty funny actually, and as with most British comedy matches, the timing of the spots was excellent. Torontos had this ongoing bit where he'd try to copy what his opponent had just done to great effect. As a piece of post-modernism, his gimmick was actually quite intriguing given how well conditioned the WoS fans were. I mean these were fans who were so well trained by Walton that they'd cry "that's not wrestling!" at rule benders. They knew their wrestling well and they had to have been in on the work here. Performance-wise, I think the biggest compliment you can pay Torontos is that was an element of the silent film comedians to him. This is the first time I can remember seeing Penzecoff's Indian Rubber Man schtick. or maybe I just never noticed before. The match wasn't as fun when they started taking it seriously and it went a bit long, but surprisingly Penzecoff jobbed. I guess he was just happy to get out of there and hit the bar.

Ultimo Dragon vs. Negro Casas, UWA World Middleweight Title, Los Angeles 7/9/94 This was the house show version of a lucha title match, and a US house show to boot, but it was still a lot of fun. Casas had the Olympic Auditorium in the palm of his hand and it was a great lesson in watching him work a live crowd. There wasn't much mat work to speak of in the primera caida. It was mostly Ultimo getting the upper hand over Casas with some limb work, leading to a beautiful counter to Negro's kip up where Ultimo span and caught him with the arm drag. Ultimo was never the most interesting guy on the mat, so I didn't have a problem with them using counters to set a competitive tone. It wasn't as though they were Atlantis and Panther and forgoing the mat work. But when Ultimo went for a left/right combo with his kicks, Casas feigned that one had drifted too high, and with the ref distracted, delivered a low blow. That got the desired heat, but it was a sign that this wasn't going to be your regular sanctioned title bout. From there they threw title match structure out the window and allowed Casas' natural charisma to take over. He spent much of the second fall hugging the ref and egging on the crowd. In one of those great lucha moments, there was a guy with his own towel helping fan Ultimo. That must have aided him in his recovery as he soon cut loose with a barrage of kicks. Casas was sent flying into an old-school guard rail and lay sprawled out on the floor. Some punk kid ran and whispered something in his ear while another tried to kick him. Back in the ring, Casas tried faking a low blow, which had whole sections of the crowd waving it off to the referee. The referee was this little guy who milked his interactions with the crowd for all they were worth. It would have been annoying in a proper title match, but again this was a house show version. Ultimo took the segunda with another flurry of offence and this likewise began to resemble a 1994 juniors match. There was a whole bunch of shtick between Casas and his second during the toweling off period that the camera man didn't really catch and I didn't really get, but I think the crowd were taunting him with the "ole" chant. Noodles would probably know. He knows everything like that. As for the third fall, it was basically Casas trying to survive an onslaught of Ultimo's Japanese offence by taking out his leg in the guardrail, which is not a very "title match" thing to do, is it? Casas tried getting Ultimo to submit in the scorpion deathlock then Ultimo popped up when Negro went to the top, which won't delight too many people. Casas took a neat bump from a dropkick, though, and then Ultimo followed up with a cool looking tope w/ the cameraman zooming in on Casas' selling to make you forget that egregious pop up. Casas does great work out on the floor, it has to be said. I loved the way he crawled along on all fours before getting up. Back in the ring, the nearfalls came thick and fast and even Casas went to the mid-90s juniors well with a type of powerbomb. Really good selling from Casas down the stretch. You bought that he couldn't withstand the moonsault at the end after almost biting it on a few of the moves prior. Ultimo winning got a big pop even though it was a bit of a blah-ish sequence of 1994 juniors moves, but hey it was 1994. Not really essential, but plenty of fun watching Casas do his thing in front of a receptive crowd.

El Hijo del Santo, Misterioso, Ultimo Dragon vs. Emilio Charles Jr., Fuerza Guerrera, La Fiera, CMLL 11/22/91 This was another match from the Misterioso feud; this one happening the week before the trios match I wrote about last time. The match had tremendous heat but wasn't as fun as the return bout. Fiera took an inordinately long time folding his bandanna and seemed disinterested in his opening exchange with Misterioso. Emilio tried to get something going with Ultimo, but Asai was still quite green in '91 so the stuff Emilio was bumping for didn't look that good. Then Fuerza didn't want to wrestle Santo, which had a payoff later on but sucked in the meantime. The second go through gave us our first real look at Misterioso working a fast paced trios exchange. Not surprisingly, it was the splitting image of modern lucha. 1991 Misterioso could walk straight off the street and fight in in with the current lot. If anything, he was faster than the present mob. Emilio had another go at making Ultimo look good and they actually got into a pretty good groove sprinting between the ropes. Ultimo did that Peking Opera School move of his where he dives over the top of his man, but Emilio outfoxed him with a lariat. He was so pleased with himself that he was celebrating in the ropes like Cota, which led to the Fuerza Moment of the Match w/ Fuerza coming across and ruffling up his hair. The rest of the Ultimo exchange was pretty good as well. They did this neat spot where Emilio caught Ultimo and put him on top turnbuckle. Then as he was going to hit Ultimo, Asai blocked his punch with a kick and countered with a reverse hurricanrana. Emilio went sprawling to the outside and did one of his stock bumps onto his ass. I also loved the way he sold Ultimo's enziguiri as though he'd been shot. He even saluted when catching the leg, which looked brilliant in slow mo. Santo's diving headbutt also looked killer on the replay, but sadly for us taking one to the noggin was about Fuerza's only contribution to the match at that point. The segunda caida was a tidy rudo response. It began with more of the dream match-up, Santo vs. Emilio, and progressed to a lesson from the rudos to Ultimo in how you kick the shit out of someone rudo style. Then a couple of fouls when the refs weren't looking (which Emilio claimed were the inner thigh), and enough right hands to need ice afterwards, and you've got yourself a deciding fall. Fuerza was pretty happy with pinning Santo despite the fact he'd still barely wrestled. I'll say one thing for Fuerza, though: he was extremely good at kick/punch brawling. If you're not good at kick/punch brawling it can be extremely meandering, especially in lucha rudo falls, but Fuerza was a master at it. Fiera flog splashed the crap out of Ultimo at the end of the fall. He crushed him like a bug or a lizard. Whatever works for you. Early on in the tercera caida, there was more quality brawling from Emilio and Fuerza, two of the greats. The tecnico comeback was lively and spirited with the rudos eating plenty of postings. Santo finally got his hands on Fuerza and bulldogged him into the mat. Then he whipped him into the corner and Fuerza took a Psicosis style bump into the ring post and out to the floor. That's another thing Fuerza could do well -- take nutty bumps. It's also where being smaller came in handy as he would take such pastings when the tecnicos finally got their hands on him. The match ended with two big dives and a mano a mano section where Misterioso got a submission victory over Guerrera. Fiera avoided Ultimo's tope only to walk straight into a rocket-like plancha from Santo. That looked so fucking cool. The early 90s truly were Santo's peak. Not to be outclassed, Ultimo followed it up with his Asai moonsault on a helpless Emilio. Bits and pieces of this were good, but as the build-up to Fuerza vs. Misterioso, the actual exchanges between them continued to be underwhelming with Fuerza not really doing enough to push the feud to the forefront of the matches. I'm not sure why he was so big on avoiding Santo here. I guess the switch to Misterioso at the end set up the revancha and title shot. Again a lot of the entertainment was provided by Emilio. Fiera was okay, but not as good as he was in the revancha. Next up is the title match.

I like the pictures, but the numbers are way too arbitrary. Baba gets a 20 for matwork? Bret is an 8 for brawling? I don't get a lot of the stiffness rankings either. Why is Eaton so low for stiffness? I think it would be better if people were about to vote themselves instead of just being presented a bunch of numbers. The numbers as presented don't really make me want to argue the point. They just confuse or surprise me.

You won't find a lot of information on the web. Even in Spanish a lot of the info is sketchy. On top of that, almost all of the footage up until 1989 is missing or was never recorded. You'd be better off going through either the 80s set or starting in a year like 1990. You can follow most of the big feuds in the yearbook threads. The best English resources are Jose (pantherwagner), Robert Bihari from DVDVR, Luchawiki and cubsfan's match database. The best Spanish resources would be the magazines if there were full sets of them.

I think most people would agree that Morton was better at selling than Race or Martel. It seems like you're giving out too many 20s.

I don't see how Brisco, Race or Martel are better than say Ricky Morton, Rey Mysterio or Mayumi Ozaki using your criteria for selling.

Virus vs. Stigma, CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship, CMLL 7/14/14 This was generally regarded as the weakest of Virus' title matches this year, largely because Stigma didn't hold up his end of the bout as well as Virus' other opponents, but it was still a decent title bout. I especially liked the opening fall. It was great seeing Virus back in his element after the somewhat disappointing Navarro bout. Virus was back in the driver's seat where he belongs and guided Stigma through a high quality primera caida. I liked the way Virus rode Stigma here and the force with which he applied his take downs, especially the arm lock. Like most Virus opponents, Stigma was mostly limited to counters, but Virus did a sterling job selling each hold and it never felt like he was leading Stigma by the nose. Stigma's problem wasn't on the mat, but in the standing exchanges. He had one beautiful arm drag in the opening fall, but another instance where he was all at sea figuring out what to do with a hunched over Virus, who really had to feed Stigma a lot of his counters when they were standing. Stigma's the kind of youngster who likes to add a flip to everything to stand out from the pack, but he really needs to work on his transitions. Fortunately, Virus gave him plenty of examples like the little shoulder tackle that led to the power slam and submission. Neat fall that played out well in Arena Puebla. I don't know if you can have a fall like that in Arena Mexico these days as the workers are cordoned off so much from the crowd. The ring looks like it's surrounded by a moat and the atmosphere's not really conductive to title match wrestling. The worst part of Stigma's performance came in the second fall. Virus was dominating the fall and it was time for Stigma to make his comeback, but it didn't seem like he had a cool how to transition back onto offence. There was an awkward pause in the corner where it was almost like they were taking a timeout. Even Virus seemed to be thinking "don't you wanna win this fall, kid?" Then when he did make the transition his offence was less than inspiring and the submission he applied was laboured. Tecnicos are meant to have superior technique to rudos or at least do cool shit. Still, Virus sold it like a champ and the match continued. The third fall was an honest attempt at an old school barn burner. It didn't really work because of how nervous Stigma seemed on offence, but once Virus took over he did his damnedest to make it seem like he was going deep in the pocket to pull out the win. There were some nice nearfalls towards the end, and I thought the selling and pacing were good which meant the effort was there even if the execution wasn't. The only real misstep Virus made was not saving his best stuff for late in the stretch run. Unlike his other title matches this year, he didn't take any bumps to the outside or hit any big moves. Stigma had already tossed out his best dive; the one where he takes off from the second rope. I don't know if it's just me, but it looks like a blown spot in real time. It's kind of ugly and pretty at the same time. Without any big artillery, they ran out of things to do, which is surprising in a match laid out by Virus. I liked the way he took it home w/ the heel hook and elbows that set up the finish (more examples of the transitions Stigma lacked), but the match didn't really end on the right beat. Despite all that, it was the best Virus performance so far during this catch up period and an enjoyable attempt at trying to create something memorable amid the millions of hours of regular programming. Virus vs. Dragon Lee, lightning match, CMLL 9/2/14 This was skippable. I liked the tenacity that Virus showed while they were rolling around on the mat and some of the chippiness later on when neither man had any qualms about kicking the other in the face, but for the most part it was a generic lightning match that was geared towards the finishing stretch. Regrettably, the finishing stretch was unremarkable, and Lee wound up over doing the boot to the face to the point where he seemed to be aping New Japan workers. Not a great Virus performance this one. Wouldn't really bother with it if I were you. Lee brings a lot of energy to his bouts, but I wish he would slow down and stop being so hyperactive. If he picked his spots more, he'd be better to watch. We'll see how good he looks in the title match to cap this year-end review.

Maybe the barber only had those scissors with him. To be honest, I think enough of Estrada's locks came off in the ring to satisfy the crowd.

Continuing with the 1983 theme: Vic Faulkner vs. Johnny Kidd (aired 5/28/83) There's been some talk on here lately about how there are two types of Faulkner, the smart alec prankster and the royally ticked off type (pun intended.) But there was a third variation and that was a straight wrestler. He still had a smart arse grin on his face and pulled a few of his tricks, but for most part he was determined to guide the Ken Joyce protege through a solid bout. It didn't last long, however, as there was a screwy finish a few rounds in. Tom Tyrone vs. King Kong Kirk (4/7/83) Inexplicably bad match as Kirk just did whatever he liked, including laying on top of Tyrone and cutting off his breathing, and yet Rees refused to throw him out. That kind of heel cheating works okay if there's a payoff, but it's boring in a bout like this one where the heel is going over. Pat Patton vs. John Wilkie (11/1/83) I had disc troubles on this one but it looked all right. It was a short bout from a special Haystacks vs. Daddy team event. Wilkie was a journeyman, but solid. In Patton, they not only had a replacement for Kung Fu, but someone who was better. I doubt he drew as well as Kung Fu. though. Jim Breaks vs. Mick McMichael (3/23/83) Pat Patton vs. Sid Cooper (3/23/83) Steve Grey vs. Pat Patton (3/23/83) These were part of a special one night only knockout tournament, which meant that each match had a five minute time limit. The Breaks match was awful from the point of view of those of us who want to see more of his matches as he was DQ'ed after only a few minutes. He had an amusing reaction to being awarded a baby doll with pacifier however. The Cooper match was a flash pin and another nothing bout. The Grey bout went to the time limit, and was good, but you want more than five minutes from those two. I made a mistake and didn't order the final between McMichael and Patton, but surprise, surprise it went to a draw. Mick McMichael vs. Pat Patton (4/7/83) The standard rematch. I thought McMichael looked somewhat stupid trying to do the same comedy spots from his Faulkner bouts in a more serious tournament final. After forcing a replay of this bout, they actually had the nerve to book a screwy finish with Patton going down injured. Marty Jones & Clive Myers vs. John Naylor & King Ben (6/13/83) I think this is the first time I've seen Jones wrestle Ben. It was awesome to see that match-up. Jones vs. Naylor was also good, but a bit more flippy-floppy. What was less impressive were the Myers sections. Myers vs. Ben was okay, but the Naylor stuff was downright sloppy. It seemed to me there was a step up in quality every time Jones was in the ring. Steve McHoy vs. Barry Douglas (4/7/83) Only the last few minutes of this were shown, but the young heart throb Steve McHoy continued to look impressive. He was extremely athletic for a heavyweight and won with a beautiful folding pin move that looked wonderfully executed given the size difference between the two men. John Naylor vs. Kid Chocolate (2/16/83) This may have been the most predictable bout I've ordered. Kid Chocolate always underwhelms and Naylor is Naylor. There was some decent looking stuff, but you knew they were going to potter along until the finish. Dave Duran vs. Jim Moser (3/21/83) Perhaps the most inauspicious World of Sport debut ever as poor Dave Duran was injured only minutes into the opening round. Fuck knows why. He deserved more as he was a solid worker.

I'd also have that #100 on the set.

In fairness, I think only the first 55 minutes are shtick

Whenever a luchadore loses a hair match they end up fully shaven. Some hair matches are the culmination of a heated feud or part of an ongoing rivalry. Others are thrown out there with very little build. Estrada's hair was part of his persona, but that's not important. Hair is hair as far as apuesta matches go. It doesn't really matter whether it's a big part of your look. It's a matter of pride.

Virus vs. Negro Navarro, Arena Olimpico Laguna, 11/15/14 When I first watched this, my initial thoughts were: "Was that even a match? That was some weird minimalist shit I didn't get. Was it some sort of anti-match?" Watching it again, I can see what they were going for, but I still wish it had been more of a match. The reason I like Charlie Lucero bouts so much is that even though there are execution problems he's trying to emulate a 1992 Monterrey title bout. This bout was like a gym sparring session which turned into a masochistic contest where they each took turns trying to make the other submit. I might have dug it if the grappling had been better, but it was that catch and release style matwork that lacks any sort of struggle. I did like the way the match escalated as a one fall contest, and I can see people digging it if they get into the whole "test of strength" vibe it had going, but I would have liked to have seen them wrestle a more traditional bout, or even worked a few more stand-up exchanges even if they were strikes. On one hand, this was just a YouTube clip we were fortunate enough to have recorded. On the other hand, it was a dream match five or six years too late. I would have liked something like those old Terry vs. Navarro clips that were set to Metallica. That would have been epic. Navarro forcing the win was cool; it just needed to be more of a slog. You always wanna feel that the guy who won knew he was in a fight, and I'm not sure this was grueling enough for the level of the guys involved. At no point did I think that any of this was bad ass and that's rare for Navarro. Still there was some nice escalation from the early castigos and their counters to the punch and the "say uncle" finale, even if I'm not sure that Virus was treated as entirely first rate.

I'm guessing I didn't like Rey's 2005 as much as most people. The Angle match that Meltzer gave four stars was a case of diminishing returns between them. The Michaels match was a tribute match thus beyond critical appraisal, but not very good nonetheless. The JBL match-up was a breath of fresh air and well done, but unfortunately the year was dominated by the Eddie feud. I actually don't know how people viewed the Guerrero feud at the time or even how it's viewed now, but IF it's supposed to be some sort of center piece for Rey's WWE run then count me as unimpressed. The 1/6 Smackdown match I thought was really good until the bullshit houseshow finish. The Wrestlemania match I thought was a missed opportunity to do something special on the biggest stage of all. The Judgment Day bout showed some pretty glaring weaknesses in terms of Rey being an all-round worker, namely that he can't really brawl. The famous Smackdown bout was a slow burner at first and I thought it was overrated for much of the beginning, but it got hotter and hotter and by the end was the best match from the feud. The GAB match was the best of their PPV efforts with the Dominic stuff not detracting majorly from what was a pretty good match, but the SummerSlam match was the pits. I hate ladder matches to begin with (it's a wrestling match, wtf is a ladder doing there?), but the angle the match revolved around was an absolute low point in the modern cinematic storytelling style and the big ladder spots were either botched or shit. By the time I got to the Cage match all I wanted was for the feud to end. I don't want to drag up the 619 discussion again, but I hated the way Eddy bumped for that spot. I was kind of burned out on Mysterio by the time I got to the MNM tags, but I could appreciate the excitement of the title switch even if Batista looked like a stiff. I think I'll take a small break before I get to 2006, because I never got the sense in 2005 that Rey was the one in control of his bouts or the driving force behind whether they were good or not and that's one of my barometers of whether I think someone is a great worker or not. I don't want to develop a prejudice that he's overrated simply because the Guerrero feud was underwhelming.

Isn't being a UFC judge a lot worse than commentating a wrestling show?

It can't be as bad as a match where Warrior talks to his hands.

Dynamite Kid was brilliant in England, as evidenced by them letting him take the British Lightweight title off Breaks at such a young age. I'm convinced that if he had stayed in England and bought a pub or something and never done steroids he would have been as good as Breaks, Grey and Jones in the 80s and possibly the best of the lot. His match against Jones in '83 is the best match of his I've seen and much better than his Portland work.

That makes sense. '95 seemed to me the year that the core group of workers perfected the AAA style. The '95 trios and atomicos from memory are better than the '93-94 stuff. Lucha suffers from not enough people going through it with a fine tooth comb. There's plenty of stuff good enough to make a supplementary set, it just needs to be watched. The problem is the best stuff really ties into the feuds that were going in at the time, the history of the workers or the lead in to singles matches. I'm not sure a lot of it works on a stand alone level. In that case, it may be better as part of a Lucha Yearbook than an overall global one. There's two guys who upload quite a lot of interesting stuff on YouTube and I know Loss has handpicked a lot of promising stuff. The mid-90s were dark years for CMLL in particular, but I'm hoping we'll shed some light on them in the near future.

Fuerza Guerrera/Emilio Charles Jr./La Fiera vs. El Hijo del Santo/Mascara Sagrada/Misterioso, CMLL 11/29/91 You all like Fuerza right? Everyone likes Fuerza, but not enough is written or said about him. So whenever I have an hour to spare I'm going to write one of these. I read something cool about Fuerza when I was doing some research for the Lucha History Lessons. Apparently he was a big lucha fan growing up, but his family didn't have enough money for him to attend the big arenas in the Federal District, so he would go to the smaller shows instead. There he was exposed to a lot of costumed gimmick workers, who maybe weren't as talented as the guys working in the larger arenas, but who were great entertainers. That experience clearly had an influence on his own wrestling philosophy, and throughout this series I'm going to point that one Fuerza moment in every match that typifies the charm of Mexican lucha libre. This was trios was part of the build up to a rematch between Guerrera and Misterioso for the NWA World Welterweight Title on 12/8. Misterioso, for the unaware, was a protege of Rey Misterio Sr, who'd knocked around the Tijuana/California area for a number of years before being brought in by Pena on the advice of Konnan. Pena, as you'll know, was always looking for fresh new talent to play the gimmicks he'd dreamt up in the CMLL back office, and this feud with Fuerza was the fabled rocket strap you hear so much about on wrestling forums. The rudos attacked from the get-go, and I tell you, if there was ever a guy I'd want to take to the ring with me to attack from the get-go it would be Emilio Charles Jr. He was so great as the secondary guy in a classic rudo fall. In the span of a few short minutes, he'd done a number on his own man (Mascara Sagrada), helped Fuerza work over his own man, got the crowd all hyped up, worked beautifully in tandem with the other rudos, and made Santo submit while biting his fingers. Fiera was also good in this fall, really fucking with Santo and the referees, which made me think two things: one, maybe that chain match with Estrada wasn't an anomaly and I just haven't been paying attention to early 90s Fiera, and two, Fuerza was good at choosing rudo partners. A really succinct and efficient rudo fall. It wasn't particularly violent, but everything the rudos did was bound to piss the tecnicos off, and Fiera's frog splash was picture perfect. There was a great shot between falls of the tecnicos recouping on the outside and Santo raring to go. Fiera had worn his bandanna for the entire first fall, but he pulled it down around his neck during the interval like a bandito. The stage was set for a tecnico comeback attempt and with the bell came a charge of sorts. It was more like a confrontation really as Misterioso was determined to show he wouldn't back down from Guerrera. The rudos tried to double team the young man, but both Emilio and Fiera at Fuerza right hands, and in the ring Santo went to town on Fiera as the son of El Santo has been known to do. Fiera's exaggerated sell of Sagrada's backbreaker was one of the golden moments of the bout as he froze in pain while twisting and contorting himself like Wild E. Coyote. I don't know if it was the quality of the rudos, or if Sagrada was particularly on this day, but he was a perfect clog in this. He did a series of nice drop toeholds on Emilio, which led to the Fuerza Moment of the Match. This one was a double act. Every time Sagrada hit his toehold, Emilio would sell his nose being smacked into the canvas. Finally, he became irate and kicked the bottom rope that Fuerza had been leaning on. Fuerza took the most brilliant spill between the ropes. It even looked in real time like he'd hit his head on the middle rope. It was the kind of spot Psicosis would have been proud of and there was probably a boyish glint in his eye recalling those long ago cards in tiny arenas. The match dipped a bit as Fuerza began dancing about feigning a foul and ripping Misterioso's mask, which are tactics I'm not particularly fond of, but there were still a lot of great moments in the tercera caida. I loved the camaraderie of the rudos to begin with. Fiera put his arm around Fuerza to reassure him they weren't letting this one get away and gave Emilio the same kind of assurances. The fall began with Emilio vs. Santo, which is an absolute dream match-up. If those two had been booked in a match during this time period and given more than the truncated amount of time that Emilio often got for singles matches then you'd probably be looking at an all time classic. The mask ripping sucked, but interspersed between it all was some tremendous bumping from Emilio and Fiera. Fiera took a glorious posting while Emilio got his legs caught in the bottom ropes and had his head rammed into the hoardings. Later on, Fiera missed his spinning heel kick and sent Emilio flailing to the outside, which set up the tope de cristo sequence that ends with Santo running across the ring, going through the corner and hitting the tope suicida. No matter how many times he's hit that, it's still the best sequence in lucha. This time was kind of cool as he entered from off camera and dove into the darkness. Afterwards there was a clear replay of it, but I dug the spontaneity. (The replay also showed Fiera shuffling into position, which was too bad.) That was pretty much the end of the fun, though, as Misterioso got the big win over Fuerza, whose mask was sprouting tuffs of dark black hair. Not really a showcase match for Fuerza as his partners did a lot of the heavy lifting, but this is the kind of lucha I love. It wasn't a four star classic or a hidden gem, but the kind of lucha you can sit back and enjoy and trust you're in competent hands. Hopefully, we'll have much more of that and more as the Fuerza hours continue.

Virus is my favourite guy left in lucha and yet I never watch his matches the week they air. That's terrible. Hopefully, I can catch up by the end of the year. Virus vs. Cachorro, lightning match, CMLL 10/21/14 This was pretty good. It was nice to watch a lightning match where you weren't reminded of the clock every five seconds. Props to the editor for concentrating on the action. Lightning matches are tricky even for maestros like Virus because they put the worker in two minds: you can either work them like one long primera caida or try to condense a three fall match into 10 minutes. The latter is more dynamic but often quite telegraphed in the way workers move from section to section without the natural break in falls. The first approach is sound, but it's rare that anyone works a primera caida that lasts 7-8 minutes so the workers run out of things to do. Here Virus seemed to take the primera caida approach, extend it out a bit, and loop it. It worked out pretty well despite some sloppiness from both men. The matwork in an opening caida usually ends in a stalemate or draw, which is basically what happened here. Virus kept going for the arm, and in true maestro fashion was thinking several moves ahead and all the rest of the cliches. Cachorro had no choice but to counter with the leg, which meant they switched positions a lot. There was a lot of movement on the mat although not a lot of fluidity. I wouldn't really call it great matwork as Cachorro's only real contribution was to trip Virus, though in fairness to him, Virus kept blocking his submission attempts and didn't really give him anything. Still, a good five minutes of holds and counter holds is nothing to sneeze at. In a typical primera caida, they end the stalemate by working some up tempo exchanges that usually end in a pinfall or submission. Here they had a bit more time to fill so Virus actually aborted the first rope exchange and went back to the mat and back to the arm. This led to the only real false note in the match when Cachorro hit a tope. It was a good looking tope and you can justify it in many ways, but to me the tope's not a primera caida move. Younger guys are increasingly doing it at any point in a match, but I was reared on a different sort of lucha where topes came deep in the match. Yes, it was a one fall bout and not a primera caida, but it didn't fit in with the general theme, Virus shouldn't have been dazed enough for Cachorro to even hit it, and it ended up being little more than a transition into a typical first fall finishing stretch where the workers chance their arm on a flash fall. Virus in fact shelved a lot of the bigger stuff that he probably would have done if the workers had been going for broke with a three fall narrative arc. The match ended with a final flourish and Virus came out on top with a flash submission that probably would have looked better if he hadn't lost his balance. Still, the muscle pose while in the Virus Clutch makes for a great statement, and he finally got that persistence with the arm to pay off. Definitely better than your typical lightning match, but not a match where Cachorro was made to look particular good. He looked better in the En Busca de un Idol, in my opinion. Virus could have done more to make him shine, but Cachorro could also do with taking a page out of his old man's book and mastering the mat before he worries about the mechanics of anything else. If he could become a bit more forceful on the mat in the way that say Trauma II did, he'd show a heap of potential. As for Virus, he's slowing down a bit as he approaches the wrong side of 45, but still a modern day genius. If only he had a running partner to create something special with. That's sort of the catch with Virus these days. He's getting more and more singles opportunities but it's mostly carrying young guys. Still, beggars can't be choosers, and we'll see what the rest of his year brought.

Did AAA really have such a bad year in 1995? I think it's probably the best year of their '93-95 run in-ring wise.

I dunno about that. Rewatching and reevaluating stuff is all hunky dory when you're uncovering hidden gems or championing something that had a bad rep in the past, but when you start panning things that were popular in the past you do tend to lose a little perspective. The fact that reappraisals fall in and out of favour means they're more reflective of modern whims than some sort of timeless standard. Dave's default position always seems defensive, as though nobody would ever believe that older wrestling holds up, but I do think taking into account the history and context of what you're watching is important when re-evaluating matches and too often overlooked in favour of the immediacy of "did that do anything for me?"