ohtani's jacket

Ted vs. Jake Roberts is freaking awesome. 1985 was Ted's sweet spot. I'm convinced if they'd worked the same match, move for move, in 1988 WWF it wouldn't have been as good because of the molten Mid-South crowd. #Youwillbebought

This was shorter than I would have liked, but it wasn't helped by the director going nuts with the crowd shots and the extra handheld camera option. There were some poor edits in this match that took away from the drama of the bout. The in-ring work was the focused action you expect from a Shocker match. I loved the finishes to the first two falls. Tarzan Boy crucifixing the arm during the pinfall, and Shocker flinging Tarzan Boy to the mat after the Gori Special were great slow-motion replay moves. The tercera was almost perfect. If they'd just continued for a few more beats and given Tarzan Boy a couple of nearfalls, I would have been a lot higher on the match. Tarzan Boy cutting off Shocker's plancha with a forearm was brilliant. It's too bad they didn't let him control the finishing stretch afterward. It was still a satisfying bout, and Tarzan Boy looked unreal with a clean shaven head, but I have to be honest: I enjoyed the spectacle of Shocker vs. Vampiro more.

This was disappointing, which I suppose is why I've never heard anyone talk about it before. Usually in these Casas vs. GdI matches, you can rely on Casas to have some awesome exchanges with the Guerreros, but aside from a few slaps, he was mediocre, just as he has been all year. Perro Jr brought a fair amount of energy, but he was a rookie as far as big time Arena Mexico matches go. The match was poorly structured, and I thought the workers were hurt by having the match thrown together at the last moment. Casas and Perro had zero chemistry together, and while the standoff between Ultimo and Perro was something new, they clearly didn't have a ton of experience working together. Worst of all was the finish. The match finished with some rudo BS. It didn't ruin a classic, but do the constant schmoz finishes make the GdI a better rudo team? They succeeded in pissing me off, but I don't know if it was a positive thing.

Time for the biggie. This is the consensus MOTY for 2003. Either this or Benoit vs. Angle from the Rumble. I've seen it once before, and from memory, they defied my skepticism towards NOAH and these guys having anywhere near as good a match as they did in the 90s. Watching it again, it's not a match I have a strong attachment to. It's an important moment, a passing of the torch, the culmination of all of Kobashi's struggles, and a fitting end to their rivalry, but it's not a match that gives me goosebumps or makes me emotional. I was happy for the fans who seemed hugely invested, and felt sorry for that girl sitting on her mother's lap who had to cover her ears because it was too noisy. I liked the work in Kobashi/Honda more. However, if you're a Kobashi fan, or a Misawa fan, and you care about the story being told here then I totally understand why this match is a big deal. I have my own All Japan memories that I rate higher than this, but kudos to NOAH to finishing the story and giving us an ending.

This was another solid bout from this crew. I can't keep track of what the Sol Cal guys were calling themselves in Mexico, so I just used their regular names. Collectively, CMLL referred to them as the Havana Brothers. You can read about the confusion over the names here -- http://www.luchawiki.org/index.php?title=Havana_Pitbulls -- which also explains why the announcers were constantly referring to "Ricky Romero." I guess, they were technically Rocky Romero, Rocko and Puma, but the announcers didn't appear to have a clue and didn't seem to mention either Quance or Perkins by name. But enough about all that. These guys were a breath of fresh air in CMLL at the time, and Virus vs Bobby Quance was a thing of beauty. When I first saw Quance's APW stuff, I had no idea he'd turn into a credible opponent for one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. I don't think Quance wrestles anymore, but there's a feather in your cap. You can also see Volador growing through this experience as well. It shouldn't come as a surprise that he slowly made his way up the tecnico ranks throughout the rest of the decade.

This looked tasty on paper, but it was more of a hate-filled sprint than a shoot style match. Yamada took a backseat to Hotta, which kind of bugged me, but we did get to see moments of Yamada vs. Kandori, and the Hotta/Kandori matchup itself wasn't too bad. Poor Harley was there to play whipping boy. If the hierarchy established Yamada as being below Hotta and Kandori, then Harley was even lower on the totem pole. Personally, I think they should have been pushing Harley as LLPW's #2, or close to it, or at least giving her the credibility that Mayumi Ozaki was afforded. If they wanted a whipping boy, LLPW had plenty of other talent to choose from. It would have made more sense to split Hotta and Yamada as well, rather than make Toshiyo look like a second stringer. Choose one or the other and pair them with a weaker girl. Then you've got an even dynamic. The way around all this was to work an epic match where everyone looks good, but they never got close. It's strange that Harley was given such a solid run in the '93 Japan Grand Prix but is the weak link here. I've pretty much talked myself into preferring the Big Egg match over this.

Hashi and Kanemaru were by far my favorite opponents for KENTA and Marufuji. Something about their workmanlike style contrasts nicely with the show pony stylings of KENTA and Marufuji. This wasn't as good as their match later in the year, mostly because it was shorter, but the action was solid, especially the sequences involving KENTA.

I quite liked the early issues of Jemm, Son of Saturn, where Jemm first arrives on Earth, and Colan is being inked by Klaus Janson, but the story lost its way when it became a space epic, and I didn't think there was enough story to justify a 12 issue maxi-series. I mostly read it because I'm interested in Colan's 80s output. There seemed to be a huge difference between street level Colan and outer space Colan. I can't really claim that the Jemm character is all that interesting, either. He seems kind of redundant in a world where there's already a Martian Manhunter.

I did not know that. Does Dave explain why Kandori was upset?

The Villano match was pretty good, though I hated the count out finish. I can kind of understand NJPW not really appreciating what they had in Villano, as they probably thought they could throw anybody at Tiger Mask. It would have been nice if they'd developed more of a rivalry, but it wasn't to be. Sayama worked an interesting hybrid style. I kind of like how he could draw on both the Mexican and British style and also do a bit of quasi-shoot style.

Ted took Brad Armstrong to the pay window. #Everybodysgotaprice

That Forbes list is based on the most edited Wikipedia entries of all-time. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamary/2016/01/25/wikipedia-people/?sh=6f14fe146ffb

Ted puts Bob Sweetan to bed in the taped fist bout. Great match. #Tedin26.

I have a lot of negative things to say about this show and basically think it was a giant mistake by AJW. It's stupid that Kandori wasn't in the V*TOP tournament, which I can only assume was because she didn't want to job, but at least it gave us this brief moment in time where Kandori and Yamada squared off in the ring. In an alternate reality, I'm sure they met two or three times in singles because their exchanges in this match are so freaking good. i used to think Kandori vs. Chigusa in '89 was the great missed opportunity in Joshi puroresu, but now I'm starting to think it was a Kandori vs. Yamada singles match. The armbars, Kandori giving Yamada the finger, the scuffle at the end... why didn't AJW capitalize on this?

This was okay. I was happy to see Murahama again, but less than thrilled that he was a whipping boy for KENTA and Marufuji. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a Liger match, and it was a bit hard to get invested in a tag team partnership with Murahama that didn't really mean a hell of a lot, but I did enjoy some of the individual exchanges between KENTA and Liger and Murahama. Marufuji was more of a goofy bugger in this than the other tag matches I've watched, and overall I felt this lacked the rhythm of the other two KENTA/Marufuji matches I watched.

Andre Bollet/Roger Delaporte vs. Mr. Montreal/Warnia de Zarzecki (aired 1/25/69) This was broadcast in colour, and man, I forgot how bright the ring is. I wonder if they used a similar canvas for all of the promotions or it it was unique to Delaporte. I'm not gonna lie and pretend I was looking forward to this, but it wasn't too bad. It was kind of like watching an Arn Anderson and Ric Flair tag match from the mid-90s while knowing what an Arn Anderson and Ric Flair tag match from the 80s looked like. Abdel Kader Bousaada vs. Jean Luc (aired 2/1/69) I'm not sure about Abdel Kader's ring name here. There was a Moroccan worker based out of France who was billed as Abdel Kader Kabache, who I'm assuming was the same person. He may or may not have been the same guy who worked as Abdul Kader Hassouini in England, who, IIRC, features later on in the footage. In any event, this was a solid undercard bout. Mostly manchettes and both guys jostling for the win. Robert Gastel/Fred Magnier vs. Don Barreto/Eddie Williams (aired 3/8/69) Fred Magnier was perfectly cast as Gastel's tag partner. They looked as though they could have been related, or at the very least, business partners outside the ring. Gastel reminded me of a French Dick Murdoch in this bout. It was standard heel schtick, but more entertaining than Duranton vs. Williams. Don Barreto was Luc Barreto, a Cuban born wrestler based out of Spain. He suffered a career-ending injury in Germany not long after this match and began a successful singing career, releasing thirty records. I actually listened to a few of them while watching the bout. Not bad. I don't know if Eddie Williams took James Brown's spot after Brown died, but it sure feels that way. Props to the French promoters for largely pushing the black wrestlers as athletes and not billing them from deepest darkest Africa or the Caribbean, like they did in the UK.

Imagine if he'd booked the Deadman.

This was a decision match for the World Super Lightweight title, a title which hadn't been used since CMLL Japan stopped promoting shows. It was reinstated to take advantage of the success of the Southern California workers' matches against Ricky Marvin, Virus and Volador Jr. CMLL ran a torneo cibernetico to determine the participants for the decision match and gave them a decent amount of time for the final. Romero wasn't a true luchador, but he was a pretty good worker and held up his end of the match. The Super Lightweight division showed a ton of promise. Generally speaking, CMLL's at its best when there's exciting shit happening up and down the card. One of the reasons why 1997 CMLL was so good was because of the minis, and going further back, there was a far greater emphasis on the different weight classes. Sadly, the So Cal guys didn't stick around for much longer and the division fell apart, but it did give us VIrus' tremendous title run a decade later, so all was not lost.

This was a sub-10 minute bout, but highly enjoyable because of the talent involved. The rudos attacked the tecnicos as they were coming to the ring. GdI did some nifty stuff on the ramp with the steel box CMLL uses for ring steps. Aguayo was a ball of energy, and Wagner and Shocker spent the entire bout brawling with each other, which was a potent reminder that the two biggest matchups in CMLL were Shocker vs. Ultimo and Shocker vs Wagner. The finish set up Aguayo & Casas vs. GdI at the Anniversary Show.

My latest obsession is watching any Toshiyo Yamada match that sounds remotely stiff. This wasn't worked under combat rules, but these were two like minded workers and brought a significant amount of striking and stiffness to their bouts. Yamada was a chameleon in that she could blend between shoot style and the AJW Joshi style, and you get a little bit of both here. This is a tournament bout that goes the distance. It's not as dramatic as Yamada vs Hasegawa, but that's to be expected. Saito's a LLPW worker, and they don't know each other as well. There's a ton of action to sink your teeth into, and the work is generally of a high standard. I was impressed by how much energy they exerted.

KENTA & Marufuji were the tag team darlings of 2003. I believe they won the WON Tag Team of the Year award for 2003. I don't have a horse in that race. If I had a time machine and a ballot, I'd probably vote for Rey Bucanero and Ultimo Guerrero, but let's see a little more of what KENTA and Marufuji could do. I grew to like 2000s Juvi during his CMLL run, and I don't know anyone who doesn't like Ricky Marvin. So, I'm keeping an open mind here. The match took a long time to settle into a groove. It wasn't bad. Stuff was just happening. It got good when they started busting out the crazy moves. I liked the Juventud vs. KENTA matchup that developed, and for a while, I was considering how much of Juvi's generational talent he wasted. I do think it's interesting that Rey Mysterio became a WWE legend while Juvi and Psicosis became their own worst enemies. The match turned into a crowd pleasing spotfest, which may not be enough for seasoned fans, but it's not like I'm setting the bar impossibly high for a KENTA and Marufuji match. It was a decent bout. Maybe not worth the lovefest at the end, but Budokan's not an easy place to work and I'm in a generous mood.

This was a great match. It was kind of a hybrid shoot style match since Hasegawa didn't have much to offer outside of her strikes and a few choke submisisons, but what she lacked in technique she made up for with gutsy intensity. Is it possible that I've been underrating Toshiyo Yamada this entire time? This is isn't the type of Joshi match that was ever on my radar because as far as I'm concerned shoot style is shoot style and Joshi is another thing entirely, and the two should only meet if it's early ARSIOn Yoshida, however this was some first class striking from Yamada. It makes you wonder how far she could have taken this style if she was allowed to do it more outside of Korakuen Hall spot shows. She was a hell of a lot better at it than Yumiko Hotta, Lioness Asuka, or Rumi Kazawa. The last third of the match was outstanding. Sakie shrugging off the knockout hits and fighting back with slaps and kicks of her own was awesome, and the heat for the submission attempts was out of this world. I actually thought this was legitimately one of the best worked time limit draws I can remember seeing as the match was still live up until the final count. So many time limit draws end with the workers dawdling about. This was still rocking right until the end. Yamada maybe should have gone over, but it's nice that they wanted to give Hasegawa some rub, and the moment where she blocks what should have been the finish was truly epic. It was long, but in a good way. Clearly if you're not enjoying it, you're going to dread the fact that there's more, but if you like the match as much as I did, it's a treat. I never really felt like the match was messy or rambling... it was just a great contest and a hell of a fight.

Well, thanks for trying.

What an awesome match. I don't think I'm ever gonna be a Honda fan... a lot of people whose opinions I value are, but I don't see it happening for me. He has the strength of an Olympian, but he doesn't move with the grace that I'd expect from a high level amateur, and though it's superficial, I hate his hair and wispy goatee. That said, he was a mother******* problem for Kobashi in this match. I loved the way this match escalated into high stakes puroresu with extremely well-executed moves and tight looking holds. I am firmly on team Kobashi. For the longest time, I was put off by this GHC run because it was NOAH and Kobashi was broken down, and it couldn't possibly be better than 90s All Japan, and 2000s puroresu sucks (all of which is true!), but Kobashi was brilliant in this run. Easily the best worker in the world. This is a Kobashi masterpiece that ranks alongside matches like the Takayama bout from 2000. Greatness.

Who's an active moderator on this site these days? I have a backlog of match reviews waiting to be approved in the database.