ohtani's jacket

Pancho Zapata/Vicente Castilla vs. Dan Aubriot/Remy Bayle (aired 11/28/65) This was an old Bob ALPRA upload. Zapata was supposedly Joachim La Barba and Castilla was Quasimodo. Why they didn't wrestle as Barba and Quasimodo in mid-60s France is anybody's guess. It's one of those great Catch mysteries like whatever happened to that Martian at ringside. One upside of them wrestling as a Mexican and a Spaniard, and wrestling lesser names like Aubroit and Bayle, as opposed to a showboater like Ben Chemoul, is that we got to see them work a lot more holds. Unfortunately, the beat down of the faces dragged on forever, and the match had the usual problems with rhythm and pacing. It didn't seem to bother the crowd, but it didn't do much to spark my imagination. Maybe it needed Ben Chemoul in there after all.

This is one of the most overrated feuds of the early 00s. I appreciate a fat Kikuchi trying to work a Southern style brawl against Liger and shoot headbutt Kanemoto, but this is a weak brawl that turns into a regular juniors match. At least Kikuchi had a heroic death at the end. Japanese guys are so bad at pull apart brawls and acting angry with each other. It reminds me of fights on the train platform where they pull at each other's collar.

Atlantis, Lizmark & Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. vs. MS-1, Pirata Morgan & Satánico (CMLL 5/15/92) This was a standard Infernales match with no real story to it. My favorite part was when the tecnicos showed out in the second fall. Lizmark was much better here and actually managed to outdo Atlantis during the tecnico comeback. The Infernales had some nice triple team spots in the first fall, but no one stood out individually. They teased some dissention afterward between Pirata and Satanico, but they regroup to win back the trios titles in September, so I don't expect that to much of a storyline in the weeks ahead.

This was the complete opposite of the Angle/Mysterio video game style. Benoit and Haas worked completely old-style trading holds and having Haas work over Benoit's hand so he couldn't apply the Crippler Crossface. Benoit did a fantastic job of running through his offence with only one arm. Really neat unorthodox TV bout.

This was a good TV match with a nice flow to it, but they cut it short for the sake of having Edge, Benoit and Rey beat up on Angle. It was highly scripted, video game style wrestling but it's hard to argue against the crowd reactions. Wish they'd teased the upset a bit more.

56 is just warming up for a luchador.

CWF Workout Video At The Sportatorium (1974) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- are you kidding me? Slow motion workout clips between Les Thorton, Ali Vaziri (The Iron Sheik), Danny Hodge, Bob Roop and Tony Charles with commentary from Don Curtis and Coach John Heath? This is like wrestling porn. They transition into showing the moves in actual matches, and I swear to God, Tony Charles is wrestling The Destroyer. Excellent footage. Wild Bill Irwin Attacks Dutch Mantell In Orlando (1985) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- this was a blast. Wrestling on a shoestring budget. So much fun. 'Hangman' Bobby Jaggers vs. Gordon Nelson (1980) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- I watched this to see Gordon Nelson work as jobber, but to my surprise, Lord Alfred Hayes sat in on commentary and cut the most wonderful promo about the dearth in cowboys from Texas. Good stuff. Mr. Saito vs. Hector Guerrero (1980) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Masa Saito was such a great worker. Shades of a young Eddie in Hector here. Saito ends a fun studio bout with a killer sleeper hold before the bearded Muraco cuts a promo on Dusty. I'm loving heel Muraco. Looks like Muraco was another guy who New York ruined. Jack Brisco vs. Geoff Portz (1980) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- British great Geoff Portz goes after Jack's injured knee for a bit until Jack wins with an unconvincing inside cradle. Dusty cuts a promo about how everything is being intensified, and we the credits to the TV show where we learn who supplies Solie's wardrobe and the people who style his hair. Interesting. Not much to see here. Manny Fernandez vs. Raul Mata (1980) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- I didn't know that the luchador Raul Mata worked Florida. This was pretty competitive for a showcase bout. I've always had a soft spot for Manny. He cuts a promo afterward calling out three guys -- Ernie Ladd, Don Muraco, and Harley Race. I like how he had so much going on in the territory. Good stuff.

Satanico, Pirata Morgan & MS-1 vs Atlantis, Mascara Sagrada & Lizmark (CMLL 3/13/92) This was part of the build up to a Satanico vs. Lizmark title match on April 5th. A solid match, but nowhere near as good as the Intocables matches. Satanico ripped the top of Lizmark's mask off, which made him look like Super Muneco for the entirety of the bout. It looked like Lizmark was going to force a little color later on, but it never really went anywhere. Atlantis had some impressive flurries, including one stretch where he took on all three Infernales by himself, but I felt like that sequence should have been reserved for Lizmark to dish out some revenge on the rudos. Lizmark was pretty ordinary for a match that supposed to be centered around him. Sagrada hit his stuff cleanly. Pirata Morgan was a heat merchant but not employed that often. MS-1 mostly stood around barking. The tecnico comeback was cut off in the second fall, which took the wind out of the match's sails, but it was the lack of a compelling through line that hurt this bout more than anything. 1992 wasn't a great year for Satanico feuds, and I would probably include it as part of his lean years.

That match is her debut as Bolshoi Kid. She debut under her real name (Yuriko Koya) in November '90 after joining JWP in 1989. She grew up in an orphanage and joined JWP after graduating junior high school. Her father died when she was young, and they put her and her seven siblings into state care when she was three years old. There is some handheld footage of her wrestling as Yuriko Koya.

I'd like to see that quote since so many of his matches involve legwork.

What is pre-peak Fujinami? He is phenomenal in the earliest footage we have of him. One of the all-time great juniors. Then he made the successful transition into a heavyweight star, which let's face it, not more wrestlers have done. Post-injury Fujinami is a good worker. He wasn't a contemporary of Bret's by any measure since the Musketeers were the headliners in the 90s. There isn't a single Bret Hart match in WCW that compares to Fujinami's 90s stuff except for possibly the Benoit Owen Tribute match. When people talk about what Bret could have done with the next generation of talent I'm always a bit skeptical since he couldn't achieve much with the talent that WCW had at the time. Bret, to me, was a guy who fed off the WWF hype machine. Without that machine behind him he was a far less interesting wrestler. The only way I can imagine his career have ended differently is if Montreal had never happened, and even then his contract was such an albatross around Vince's neck that I don't see things ending well. My biggest What If? with Bret is that Austin return match at Wrestlemania 14. Anyway, Fujinami was clearly a better wrestler than Bret in-ring, though I can see the argument for Bret working better matches (Austin vs. Bret, etc.)

I love this match. Forget all the noise about star ratings, this is one of the most competitive wrestling matches in WWE history. As a WWE fan growing up, what did we have that compared to this bout? Savage vs. Steamboat? Bret vs. Owen? Maybe a few other matches here and there, but not a lot in terms of pure wrestling matches. This is the culmination of the Angle vs. Benoit matches that had come before it, and if it's not their best match then it's their most iconic. I don't think it's a spotfest whatsoever. I'm not about to hold it against them that the finishing stretch was exciting. Surprisingly clean finish. Benoit looks heroic in defeat. Excellent match.

This was a mix of comedy and serious wrestling, but it went too long. Ran Yu Yu should have put Miyazaki away earlier. I get what they were trying to do in terms of making it semi-competitive, but it didn't really jell.

Just a short match, but we get to see Bolshoi work some holds which is always welcome.

Pirata Morgan vs. Masakre, hair vs. hair (CMLL 2/28/92) This wasn't a classic hair vs. hair match, but it was 100% authentic with both guys bleeding buckets and Pirata doing the infamous bladejob from his eye socket. Masakre is a taller guy, and a pretty good worker for a dude his size, but he's obviously not going to bring as much to this as a middleweight would. There is a lot of focus on Pierroth at ringside, which is the real feud here, but the match builds to a satisfying tercera caida that has a lot of nice spots, and some great defensive wrestling at times, especially the way Maskre tried to prevent the finish. The main takeaway I had from this is how in the hell did I block Pirata Morgan out of my mind for so many years?? When I first got into lucha in a big way, Pirata was a top five guy for me. Somewhere along the way, I started to overlook him. Not anymore. This dude is legit.

Eddie Graham vs. Bad Leroy Brown (January 3rd, 1980) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- into the 80s now, and the beginning of the end for Florida wrestling. Graham looked okay here, but it's the first match where I haven't gone gaga over what a master he is. Mind you, Leroy Brown isn't much of a worker, but I think Graham was starting to show his age. OK footage. Bob Armstrong vs Buddy Colt (February 10th, 1975) at the Orlando Sports Stadium (CWF) -- heated match sees an injured Bob Armstrong wearing a neck brace and valiantly defending his North American title against the opportunist Buddy Colt. This was right before the plane crash that ended Colt's in-ring career. Judging by the footage, he wasn't done yet and the world was robbed of a few more years of prime Buddy Colt. Good footage. Dusty Rhodes vs. Terry Funk (February 10th, 1976) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- heel champ Terry Funk vs the Dream in front of a molten crowd. Lots of bullshit in this match -- the Missouri Mauler, a ref bump, a second ref, a Dusty finish, and not a lot of Funk vs. Dusty action. We do get Dusty on commentary, though, which makes for some colorful moments. Decent footage. Don Muraco vs. Barry Windham (1980) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Well, this was something. Don Muraco has a beard. Don Muraco beats the shit out of a skinny Barry Windham. They have to take Windham away on a stretcher. Muraco cuts a promo and spits everywhere. Gordon Solie stares into the camera in disgust. Interesting studio footage. International Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami (c) vs. Mike Graham (February 15th, 1980) -- hey, Fujinami in Florida! They went all out for this match with flagbearers and national anthems. Fantastic looking action, as you'd expect from 1980 Fujinami, though slanted toward Graham's offensive highlights. Eddie Graham attacks Fujinami on the outside for reasons that don't make sense. Graham gets the win. Good footage.

Jack Brisco (c) vs. Buddy Colt (October 6th, 1973) -- it doesn't get much better than Jack Brisco vs. Buddy Colt. Ha, Buddy doesn't have time to go out there and kiss babies like Jack Brisco does. It's hard for me to believe that there was anybody in North America who was better than Jack Brisco in the early 70s. Buddy complains about a fast count at the end. Then he gives Jack a beating so that he'll regret having stepped in the ring with Buddy Colt. Brilliant. Very good footage. Ivan Koloff & Pat Patterson vs. Jack & Jerry Brisco (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- The Briscos get their asses kicked here. Pat is a mean son of a bitch and fucks Jerry's leg up with the figure four. Jack wants Patterson at the end, and I also want more. Jack isn't really known as a brawler, but there's a nice spot where he unloads on Koloff with rights and lefts. Not only is Jack an all-time great singles wrestler, but he was part of an excellent tag team as well. Good footage. Steve Keirn vs. Bob Orton Jr. (Bob Roop interferes!) (1976) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- nice studio match between these two. Roop keeps calling Orton Jr the "new breed" of wrestler, and I have to concur that he was an absolute machine. If we were living in 1976 and posting on message boards, I have no doubt Orton Jr would be a favorite among the young posters. Botched interference from Roop. That's embarrassing. Decent footage. Grudge Match: Dusty Rhodes & Eddie Graham vs. Bob Roop & Bob Orton Jr. (January 27th, 1976) (CWF) -- I say this every time, but Eddie Graham is an absolute legend. His exchanges here with Bob Orton Jr. were so good. I love the heel commentary in this one. They put Eddie Graham and Dusty over every step of the way while still celebrating each other's moves and calling the babyfaces out on their illegal holds. Orton hits Graham with a beautiful piledriver to end it, and Roop loves it. Very good footage. Jack Brisco - N.W.A. World Heavyweight Champion (1973) -- here we get some of the backstory surrounding what was happening with the NWA title in the early 70s. Dory claims he came back too early from a shoulder injury, which is the reason why Race defeated him for the title. Since Brisco has never defeated Funk in an NWA title match, Dory claims that he should be declared the world's champ or given a title shot. Worth watching.

This was a decent match. It was slower than you'd expect and there weren't very many breakneck lucha exchanges. It's purpose was to set up a revenge match between Los Caifanes and the Orientales, and to that end you had one of the Caifanes bleeding and an Oriental's mask ripped wide open so you could see his entire face. Things picked up after the tecnico comeback, and the tercera caida had some nice exchanges. Not a Virus showcase, if that's what you're looking for, but he did have a nice exchange with Violencia at the end. Not the most thrilling of matches, but it did make me wanna see the revancha. So job done, I guess.

Man, if you thought Japan was bad in 2002, then 2003 didn't get off to a promising start either. I watched this solely for the Hashimoto vs. Kojima interactions, which were good but not worth the price of admission. The rest of the match was the usual inter-promotional bullshit.

We've seen these guys have their match on the indies and in TNA, now it's time to see how they do in Japan. I was pleasantly surprised by the crowd reaction here. They gave both guys warm reactions and popped for little touches in the match. As we know, that's not always the case with a Japanese crowd. The match itself was excellent. These guys are hellbent on destroying each other in every single match. Even the Japanese crowd could feel that there was no love lost between them. Personally, I don't mind the escalation in these bouts. Surely, it's over the top at times, but wrestling can go too far the other way as well with guys lying on their backs making dramatic Shawn Michaels faces. I don't know if AJ Styles was a real life douche, but his wrestling character is a douche... but he's a douche that can back it up with stiff strikes, and you come at the king, you best not miss. You almost get the feeling that these guys shouldn't match up so well, except for the fact that they hate each other so much. Great finish after the rope break tease. For a touring match in Japan, this was outstanding. Best I've seen since that Santo/Panther match.

This was really good. Actually, I think this was the best Hyuga performance I've seen from 2002. I love Ran Yu Yu, but Kuragaki was a better match up. I didn't expect Kuragaki's offense to be so good. Never judge a worker by their appearance, or their ugly ass tights. She could do elaborate flip sequences and throw killer suplexes, in the same breath. There were some iffy transitions, and I didn't like the way Hyuga sold the suplexes, but it was a strong fight. I dug the submission at the end, but after the effort she put in, Kuragaki deserved a more spectacular downfall. Still, an excellent fight considering they wrestled in front of maybe 50 people.

Yoshida was still a top 20 wrestler in the world at this point, and this was a match where we really got to see that. It was a much better all-round match than the Tamada fight, and not necessarily because Omukai was a better opponent. She was pretty much a taller version of Mima Shimoda, though to her credit she knew how to work Yoshida's style. Yoshida pulled out all the stops here and produced a fine performance. I mentioned in the Tamada fight that I wish she had gone freelance at this time, but hopefully there are a few more ARSION matches like this where Yoshida is allowed to do her thing. She looked far from done, and I'd hate to think that her prime was wasted, or shortened, by Lioness Asuka's unfortunate intrusion.

This was a neat contest. It was very much a hybrid style that encapsulated a lot of the strong points of ARSION and BattlARTS, as well as some of Yokota's personal style. In fact, at times it was reminiscent of Yokota vs. Chino Sato. They didn't have quite as much intensity, but they were committed to the bout. It was nice to see a match that was a grappling contest at heart. Good stuff.

I don't have a problem with Kawada's matwork in that Takayama match. He mostly works pro-wrestling holds, and they're really just an excuse for him to lay in some stomps, but that's exactly what you'd expect from a pro-wrestler in that sort of environment. I wouldn't expect some Pancrase looking shit. The only shoot-style holds he knew were the arm breaker and probably some Takada-style leglocks. If anything, I'm less convinced by him using a series of enzuigiris to put Takayama away. I think Kawada would have been decent in spectacle matches. I doubt he would have gone full Sano and learnt the style. He would have been able to make the stretch plum look convincing. Of the top of my head, I can't think of any of Kawada's contemporaries who would have fared better crossing over into the UWF-i. Akiyama may have been a better mat wrestler, but I'm not sure.

Kawada's matwork is perfect for his character. I don't know if he would have been able to hang in UWF-i, definitely not against the younger guys like Sakuraba and Tamura. He probably would have been fine against the older guys like Takada, Yamazaki, and Anjoh. Kawada vs. Sano would have been amazing. It would have been a hell of a lot more interesting than what he achieved by staying in AJPW. And don't get me started on fucking Honda.