ohtani's jacket

This was another excellent match between these two, however it was clear that they were running the match up one more time before transitioning towards something else, so it didn't have the epic one-on-one feel of their previous match ups. Both guys were so good at taking each other apart. There wasn't a sequence that went by where they weren't thinking about how to inflict the most pain possible. Forget about indy respect, these guys were out to hurt one another.

Bob Backlund vs. Don Muraco (WWF, 11/14/81) Kal and Dick joke that this might go 90 minutes. The joke's not funny. These guys sure didn't mind working at a snail's pace. It's easy to blame Muraco for being deadweight, but Backlund wasn't exactly setting the world alight with his performances. Once again, the work isn't bad, but it's not that far off watching paint dry.

Bob Backlund vs. Greg Valentine (WWF, 12/12/81) This was a fairly intense bout between the two. Kal and DIck deliver a classic rambling call. For some reason, Kal is in a strange mood and keeps getting agitated by Backlund's mistakes. It's like listening to a dude at a bar get pissed at the TV screen when his favorite player is having an off night. There's another shitty finish to go with the other shitty Backlund vs. Valentine finishes, but the work itself is top notch. Bob Backlund vs. Don Muraco (WWF, 10/17/81) Here we go. I know to some fans this match is the punishment that awaits sinners at the Seventh Circle of Hell, but armed with the knowledge that this goes broadway, a real man can stomach it. It's not like they do anything illogical. It's just slow. Even Dick and Kal get bored at times. They started off all fired up, but halfway through Dick is wondering how it's gonna last and starts talking about random shit like Backlund's teeth. The work isn't bad, it's just a stalemate. That word gets tossed around a bit, but this really was a stalemate. They could have wrestled for 8 or 9 hours and there wouldn't have been a winner. Staler than a month old loaf, perhaps, but I made it to the end and that's a badge of honor for me.

This didn't look like much on paper, and didn't seem like much in the beginning, but they worked hard to turn it into a match worth watching in the tercera only to piss it all away with an awful DQ finish. The kind of finish that makes you wonder why you bothered to watch the match in the first place. From three stars to DUD in the span of a few seconds.

This was a match from Guadalajara, so it had a bit of a houseshow vibe to it. Santo and Ultimo didn't go anywhere near as hard as they could have and Bucanero did comedy, but they succeeded in getting Mistico's offense over. He produced most of the highlights and hit his spots cleanly. The fans were wowed if nothing else.

This was around the time when Olimpico won the University de 1000% Guapo vs. Los Guerreros cibernetico match and was promoted to the role of third member in the GdI trio. I believe Wagner was still a rudo here. The match was largely built around the Guerreros beating on Wagner until he made a triumphant comeback and squared off with Ultimo one-on-one. You can do worse than Ultimo Guerrero vs. Dr. Wagner. Shocker took a backseat but had some decent moments. If you ever want to see what Olimpico looks like, this is the match. His mask was ripped in such a way that it was impossible for him to hide his identity. Dos Jr continued to suck, but they were committed to breaking him in.

This was a jam-packed match while it lasted. It was rudos contra rudos which is always fun. It's comforting to know that Universo 2000 still hates Perro Sr after all this time. Perro Jr & Universo have a big scrap on the outside to begin with until the attention shifts towards Satanico vs. Perro Jr. This was a rare match up and was awesome. It kind of made me wish Perro was feuding with Satanico instead of Universo, but that wasn't the case. Satanico and Dantes threatened La Comandante on the outside, which fired up creaky old Pierroth and set in motion the main event for Sin Piedad.

RIP, Jim Breaks.

This was a fun match. Granted, I haven't watched CMLL in a while, but it was fun to see the wresters work their shtick. There weren't a lot of awesome exchanges outside of the tremendous potential of the Shocker vs Perro match up, but I enjoyed watching Park and Garza try to one up each other. Dos Jr was weak -- like Blue Demon or Lizmark Jr weak -- makes you wonder why they bother doing the Jr gimmick at times, but it was still a fun bout and mercifully wasn't clipped.

James Gibson is Jaime Noble wrestling under his real name. Fun match that's set up like a competitive squash but ends up being an upset. I really ought to watch all the Noble on tape.

This was a decent scrap, but like a lot of 2004 indie wrestling it leaned too heavily into the sports entertainment tropes that it had rallied against previously. Indie wrestling was suddenly overrun by factions and featured more interference and post-match brawling than I can recall. I'm sure the bookers were drawing inspiration from classic territory wrestling and ECW than the latest episode of RAW, but little by little the wrestling, and the matches, were becoming secondary to the factions.

I can't believe they pulled the trigger on Aries. This should have been a routine title defense for Joe but produced the biggest upset of the year. I'm not sure the moment meant as much in the long run as it would have if Punk had beaten Joe in their third match, however I will say that the crowd was hot for the finishing stretch and the way that Aries put Joe away was convincing. Joe did a great job of selling his fatigue down the stretch and Aries went all out on offense. It's just hard to believe that he was the guy to end Joe's 21 month reign. It's not exactly like Ron Simmons defeating Vader but it felt that way.

This was a decent enough mano a mano between hated rivals. Universo dominated the early going and went after Perro Sr on the outside. Perro Jr made a superhuman comeback and the camera cut to Perro Sr sitting in his seat cheering his son on, so apparently quick recoveries run in the family. Perro looks awesome when he's on offense, but it works better against a Santo or a Casas than Universo. The finish is convoluted with the man in black distracting Perro Jr with an appearance on the ramp, Perro Sr. interfering and getting his boy disqualified, and the Capos showing up to remind the Aguayos that it's always going to be three against one.

Bob Backlund vs. Greg Valentine (WWF, 11/23/81) This was a no DQ match for the held up title. Valentine snatched the title from the commissioner during his entrance and snapped it around his waist, which incensed Backlund. This was short and sweet. Vince made a big deal out of Backlund reversing the figure four. I'm sure it wasn't the first time Greg's figure four had been reversed, but it was a cool looking visual and Backlund sold it like it took a ton of strength. The count seemed fast but no one questioned that sort of thing when the babyface won. This was a fraction of the length of a regular match between the two, but I concede that not everyone wants to see these two grind it out for an hour.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Enjoy this holiday classic:

This was a decent bout. Low Ki was leaning pretty heavily into his heel character instead of bringing his A game, but it still managed to be a strong encounter between the two. It's noticeable how overlooked the code of honor has become at this point with more of an ECW feel creeping into the booking, but I suppose that was inevitable in order for the company to have ongoing storylines. Low Ki ducks the extra five minutes after a time limit draw, and we're left without a number one contender for the world title.

This was an exciting bout. I was glad they decided to forgo going broadway and deliver a shorter, more compact bout. I was surprised they didn't pull the trigger on Punk here. He had the crowd behind him and the timing seemed right, but instead he was Kawada to Joe's Misawa. That would have been fitting if they hadn't taken the belt off Joe weeks later. If the plan was to shift the belt off Joe, why not cap off an incredible feud by having Punk take the title?

Bob Backlund vs. Greg Valentine (WWF, 10/19/81) Hard fought bout that ends with the belt behind held up. Backlund and Valentine's work in the 80s was a stepdown from their '79 feud mainly because of how short the bouts were, but it was still a quality match up.

It's a washed Kawada vs motherfucking Tenzan~! Tenzan is either proof positive that if you stick at something long enough you'll get good at it, or if you watch enough of a guy you'll develop a soft spot for him. Either way, he's probably my favorite Japanese worker of 2004. I wish he'd laid his shots in a bit more during the early going since he was working with Kawada of all people, but aside from that he looked convincing in the challenger role. Kawada's selling and psychology was nowhere near the level of his mid-90s prime. I've always had a theory that the psychology in those matches didn't come from the minds of the workers in the spur of the moment but were carefully planned spots, but regardless, Kawada's skill set here was pretty much at the level of an ordinary worker. He even "Hulked up" to transition back onto offense. The coolest part in the entire match was Kawada blading hardway from a Mongolian chop that caught his eyebrow. The finishing stretch was okay, but devoid of those nearfalls that rock the building's foundations. The overall impression I got from this was that it was decent but both men could have raised their game higher.

Bob Backlund vs. Greg Valentine (WWF, 1/16/82) I was curious to see Valentine in a cage match since it wasn't his natural environment. There was built around Valentine and Backlund trying to stop each other from escaping out the door, but I found it highly entertaining. There was a big figure four spot, Greg bled, and Backlund ultimately won with a badass piledriver spot. Dude was not afraid to be a badass babyface. The Philly fans lost their shit when Bob walked out of the cage.

Was Danielson cosplaying Kobashi here? It sure looked like it with the hood, the black trunks and black boots. This was a surprisingly mediocre bout. Danielson dominated the majority of the match after Homicide suffered an ankle injury. Not sure why they went with an injury narrative since the crow had zero sympathy for Homicide. Danielson won the bout, and afterwards the Rottweilers tried to break his arm. To be honest, the post match beatdown was more exciting than the match itself.

The WWE did an impressive job of setting all six guys up as legitimate title contenders. Pretty much everyone had beef with each other, and they all hated Michaels as well. I can imagine dyed-in-the-wool WWE fans having a favorite they wanted to see win. The fact that it was in Puerto Rico raised the bar fairly high for blood and violence. I'm not sure how much crossover there was with a typical WWA audience, but four out of the six guys bladed, so there was respect for the traditions of the island. The match was okay, but didn't live up to the pre-match hype. It wasn't laid out in a particularly compelling way. They favored Orton vs. Triple H and the Triple H vs. Bastia tease over the over three competitors, and the eliminations were weak. It didn't help that Batista and Orton gave subpar performances. I kinda wanted to see what was going to happen if Triple H and Batista were the final two since that was the tease, but instead Triple H deliberately failed to help Batista and Orton ended up being wedgied and pedigreed. Batista didn't turn on Triple H in the post-match, Michaels was barely a factor aside from the weak Edge elimination, and Triple H was once again the World Champ. It wasn't boring, but it could have been better.

This is Senegalese wrestling. They call it Burre in Wolof. It's similar to sumo. It's a shoot as far as I'm aware, but if they rig sumo then they probably rig Burre too. EDIT: Not sure if it's Burre or Laamb, but it's Senegal's national sport.

The world title is still vacant as Lawler and JR keep reminding us every five seconds. There's kind of a weird vibe to this storyline where the wrestlers are making out like Bischoff will anoint them as the new champion if they physically dominate the other contenders. In reality, he schedules an Elimination Chamber match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee. What this match does present us with is a rather non-subtle ending that the commentators choose to ignore. There was some sort of vignette earlier in the show where Batista told Triple H if he stood victorious at the end of this match that Bischoff would have no choice but to award him the world title. However, it was Batista who stood victorious at the end while Triple H looked on incredulously. The subtext was fairly obvious but JR downplayed it to an almost crazy extreme. That wouldn't have mattered so much if the camera hadn't lingered on Triple H for so long in the aftermath of Batista's win. It was obvious to everyone watching that Triple H was beginning to realize what a threat Batista was, but it made JR and Lawler seem dumb by not opining on the finish.

These two had great chemistry and this was another excellent match between the two. I never dreamed I'd write a sentence like that prior to watching this stuff. This was basically a PPV quality match as the opening bout of RAW, which is nothing to sniff at. The finishing stretch was slightly counter-iffic, but that comes with the territory. I was just happy it was clean. The highlight of the match was a sensational dropkick by Orton as Edge was flying off the top turnbuckle. I definitely did not expect to like Randy Orton as much I did this year.