ohtani's jacket

Mark "Rollerball" Rocco, a man who needs no introduction. This to me is one of his finest performances. It was supposed to be a Royal Albert Hall match against Kung Fu, which they'd built to on television for several weeks, but Kung Fu bailed on the promoters at the last moment and went to work for Stu Hart. Steve McHoy may have been the standby guy for the show, I'm not sure, but he was an unknown and far from the level of Rocco's billed opponent. But just watch what Rocco does with him and the heat he gets. It's phenomenal. Another two birds with one stone -- Dave Bond and Johnny Kincaid, the Caribbean Sunshine Boys. Near riots at each show caused the promoters to break up this racially charged tag team, but we have this gem on tape. Bond is one of the most lovable WoS wrestlers around -- a real trier whose performance level goes up and down with his weight. Kincaid had a pretty solid run in the late 70s. I recommend all of the Tony St. Clair matches that tie into the CSB run as that was the actual focus of the heel run not Roberts and Kung Fu.

Super Destroyer Pete Roberts, like everyone I was put off by his lack of charisma at first, but keep working at it and you'll find he was one of the best workers of his generation. Here he is in a feud with top face Wayne Bridges, who turned not-so-subtle heel for the duration: The brilliant Caswell Martin, as fine a wrestler as you'll see in a WoS ring, but overlooked by promoters in the UK:

There are five Cortez/Haward matches on tape. I liked their 11/5/80 and 1/13/87 bouts the best. Tremendous cutting edge series. I actually didn't click about the UWF influence until now. I've never bothered to watch Haward's UWF stuff, but he brought back some of that to the UK.

The main guy in the 80s was Kuramochi. Wakabayashi took over as the lead announcer in 1990. The guy you've been listening to on the Excite Series podcast is most likely Wakabayashi not Fukuzawa. Fukuzawa was a secondary announcer at the time. Wakabayashi started the whole screaming thing, which is why people confuse the two. Fukuzawa took it to an extreme in case you're trying to tell them apart. I didn't mention Baba because I thought you wanted to know who the other commentators were. The colour guy with the gravelly voice was Yamada.

It was probably either an actress, model or comedian. I found a list of talent that made guest appearances, but nothing substantial. It was a slightly old practice with the networks. AJW would have guests all the time.

Never have I seen so many sheepish looking musicians in a recording studio.

I've never heard of that. Can you post an example? Was it a sound-byte where they spoke to the flower girl momentarily or something longer? Perhaps the flower girl was someone of note. Occasionally they had special guest commentators who were celebrities.

I have no doubt that Villano was a great worker or at least an excellent one, but the only proof we have that he had countless great matches is hearsay. We only have a half dozen matches from his prime and none of them are blow away great matches. I respect what his peers have to say about him, but that leads to grey areas like opinions over workers such as Santo or Solitario. Did you see tons of Misioneros matches live or on tape? I can't see how it would be the latter since we don't have tons of Misioneros footage. I'm aware of their rep, but I suspect it may be over inflated. I don't doubt that they had an influence on trios groups and live gates particularly after the Santo incident, but there were other trios gimmicks before them like La Ola Blanca that did big business and plenty of gimmick tag teams were likewise draws. First and foremost, I think their biggest legacy was that light weight wrestlers could be pushed to main event slots, though ironically the two guys who they saw the most potential in (Texano and Brazo de Oro) never achieved the kind of success Flores foresaw for them *because* they were put in trios teams. The work we have of theirs on tape doesn't hold up well. Navarro wrestled nothing like he does now for example.

As for Fukuzawa, the less said the better... I'll defer to Hisa here: "No offense, but among the Japanese fans, Akira Fukuzawa was not the most popular announcer. His approach was rather comical and over-reacting (plus, his high-pitched voice), and that contradicted the stiff style of All Japan during that time. His style was somewhat controversial, and Hiroshi Hase, still with New Japan then, once said, "if I meet him in person, I'd probably punch him into the face". So, if you knew the language, there's a big chance you wouldn't enjoy his style. Don't get me wrong, though. He had a lot of fans because of his unique style, but in general, his predecessor Kenji Wakabayashi is a lot more popular and respected."

Wakabayashi was the one the fans loved and petitioned to come back. He complained on air about the show being cut from an hour to thirty minutes, which I'm sure would endear him to folks.

I love Keith Haward. I think he's a wrestling machine. He reminds me of a 1981 Ken Shamrock. The trouble is he was all business, no personality and that lack of charisma will cost him dearly, especially when there's so many larger than life TV personalities to be discovered.

Boscik is a guy who disappointed me at first I suppose because I expected him to be the most tricked out mat worker ever (with the name and him being Hungarian and all.) It wasn't until I watched his matches with Grey (who else?) that I realised what a great bumping and stooging heel he was, and I appreciate that aspect of his work more now. I need to revisit some of the earlier stuff I dismissed, but he's a second tier WoS guy to me and he's hurt by his 80s stuff not being that great. We do have a good sampling of his late 70s peak though, so that's a positive.

That's interesting. I didn't pick up on that. You should be writing this blog!

The "deaf and dumb star" Alan Kilby. Yes, he really was deaf, and a fantastic wrestler too. Bert Royal, brother of Vic Faulkner and one half or the Royals tag team which were the Rock 'n' Roll Express of their day. Another contender for Walton's favourite wrestler of all time. This is a 2-1 as it also has McManus' long time partner in crime, Steve Logan. See if you can spot his neck.

The mat genius, Alan Sarjeant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyLWeyqcIN8 The wrestling machine, Keith Haward:

Perhaps the only world class wrestler to ever wrestle cross-eyed, Marty Jones. Here in one of his classic matches against Mark Rocco: One of the finest lightweights to ever grace a ring, the incomparable Jon Cortez:

Jackie Turpin vs. Sid Cooper (11/20/78) This was a fairly standard Cooper match. In fact, he was on TV two other times in the same year working similar matches with newcomers Mal Sanders and the Dynamite Kid. Walton mentioned that Turpin was really coming along after looking like a novice in his first two or three bouts. It's nice to have some honesty sometimes. Cooper would have these nights where it all clicked, the heat was tremendous and the match fantastic. This wasn't one of those nights. He got good heat -- there was a woman in the third or four row who kept getting out of her seat and whacking him -- but the heat was on him more than it was Turpin. It didn't help that Cooper scored the first fall only to have it waved off by the ref -- a decision even Walton couldn't explain. Turpin was up a fall when again he punched an opponent and was disqualified. I have no idea why they kept using that finish. Yeah, Turpin was a newcomer and yeah maybe he was used to boxing, but why make him look like an idiot? His uncle was booked in boxer vs. wrestler fights, but as far as I know this was just a cheap finish with no payoff in the halls. Jackie Turpin vs. Tally Ho Kaye (3/12/80) By 1980 Turpin was much improved and looked like the guy I admired from the Steve Grey and Jim Breaks bouts. The Digbeth crowd was raucous and got on Kaye's case by imitating hunting dogs. I've never heard anything like it. He began the bout by straight out wrestling (since he didn't need to lift a finger to get heat) and I was impressed with his strength holds. The first few rounds was the best Turpin has looked so far, but the bout wore on, the crowd became tired of yelping, and the match stumbled towards a conclusion as the middle rope came undone. Jackie Robinson vs. Jackie Turpin (12/17/80) The only part of this that survived is the finish with both men unable to beat the count in round two. Poor old Jackie Robinson. He looks like a great worker, but so much of his footage is butchered.

Play-by-play Ichiro Shimizu (1972-78) Takao Kuramochi (1976-1990) Kenji Wakabayashi (circa 1985-1995) Akira Fukuzawa (1989-1997) Colour Takashi Yamada (1972~) Hiroshi Tatsuruhama (1972-85) Kosuke Takeuchi (early 90s) Basically, there would be a main announcer and a secondary announcer who worked for NTV and then colour commentators who were sports writers or worked for the magazines. The dates are a bit rough, but somewhere within that ball park. Kuramochi and Wakabayashi are the most famous All Japan play by play announcers and Kuramochi & Yamada the most popular pairing among fans. Akira Fukuzawa often gets the credit for Wakabayashi's work. I'm 99% sure for example that Wakabayashi called Misawa's win over Jumbo, for example.

I'm not a big fan of that Masami/Nakano match either. It felt like one giant stalemate. To an extent that's what they were going for, but there were too many momentum shifts and I agree that it was largely filler. The part that bothered me most was about 10 minutes in when Devil gave Bull the power bomb on the outside. That was an opportunity for Devil to take control of the match and enjoy some sustained momentum, but Bull countered the very next attempt and did a stomp off the apron. Those back and forward momentum swings typified the match and I hated that they reset the bout halfway through with Devil passing her the nunchucks. The length didn't really bother me, but I did watch it in a detached way. The stretch run was okay. Overall, it felt like they were going for a slow build without there really being a slow burn. It could have been more boring I suppose if they'd just laid around in holds. Be thankful for small blessings. I kind of felt it vindicated my views that modern NJPW isn't such a far cry from what wrestlers were doing in the 90s structure wise.

I would avoid that Satanico/Jerry Estrada/Pirata Morgan stuff at all costs. The Pirata Morgan vs. Estrada mano a mano match is one of the single worst things I've seen from AAA.

Marty Jones is the kind of wrestler that people around here are geared towards liking. I have no doubt that Regal and Finlay would tip their hat and call Jones the Daddy. He had the kind of psychology that people like from those sort of workers. Here's my list of recommended matches: Mark Rocco vs. Marty Jones (6/30/76) Terry Rudge vs. Marty Jones (11/30/76) Mark Rocco vs. Marty Jones (7/26/78) Marty Jones vs. Tony St. Clair (9/26/78) Marty Jones vs. Johnny South (10/7/81) Marty Jones vs. Dynamite Kid (1/19/83) Marty Jones vs. Dave Finlay (4/4/84) Marty Jones vs. Dave Finlay (11/23/84) Marty Jones vs. Bull Blitzer (Steve Wright) (4/23/86) Once you get deeper into the Marty Jones catalogue there are the inevitable disappointments and his form wavered as he gained weight in '85, but even late in the television run he's one of the more consistent workers and tries to carry the flag with a series of title match defences. They just clip the shit out of his matches, that's all.

Most of the AAA I suggested got taken down. Sorry.

Octagon had a pretty average mano a mano bout with Satanico in '91. Not as bad as his title matches against Blue Panther but not a patch on the first match against Fuerza. You should check out the Jerry Estrada/Satanico hair match from 1990. I thought Estrada ruined it, but you might get something out of Satanico's performance. Satanico vs. Perro Aguayo from 1994 is disappointing given who it is, but you should probably check it out as well. And the Infernales/Dinamitas feud if you can find it.

I'm getting this mental image of a war picture where Jumbo lets his injured platoon member save himself.

I can see that. If you view it as just another Japanese pro-wrestling fed then I guess it's a step above SWS. If you're a big Vader fan or even enjoy the fish out of water element I can understand enjoying it. If they were pro style matches in a shoot style vein and completely mind blowing like Hashimoto/Zangiev, I would be all over it.