ohtani's jacket

I'm not sure if we're supposed to use the taping date or the air date for these Smackdown matches, but there's already a thread for the Eddie vs. Edge match and I don't want to confuse people about the dates. For the record, this was taped on 9/24. Cole will not stop going on about how Benoit vs. Angle from Unforgiven was one of the greatest matches he's ever seen. C'mon, Michael Cole. This was too short to be anything of note, but you get some more Angle vs. Benoit, and Rey does some breathtaking spots. They also have the good sense to put him over in his hometown..

This didn't do a lot for me, either. At least not until the finishing stretch. I didn't help that Cole & Taz wouldn't stop harping on about what a great match it was. Eddie was a lot more "Eddie-ish" here than in the early parts of his WWE run, but something's still missing. I can't put my finger on it, but his work is missing that signature touch that you get from the great workers' bouts.

The set-up for this involved some bad acting and shitty backstage vignettes, but the match itself was pretty much a PPV level match. It was a lot better than it looked on paper. I know Jericho's matches and feuds from this era weren't always winners, but Jericho comes across as a valuable player. It seems his best matches in 2002 were on television and not PPV, which doesn't leave as much of an impression, but if you want to see a guy make something out of crappy scripted WWE TV, you can do a lot worse than Chris Jericho. EDIT: This was taped on 7/23.

Steel Cage Match: Dusty Rhodes & Eddie Graham vs. The Spoilers (June 20th, 1978) -- this is mostly Dusty rapping over some standard cage match action, when all of a sudden, DUSTY DOES A HIGHSPOT FROM THE TOP OF THE CAGE. Dusty Rhodes jumped from the top of the cage. Dusty Rhodes. Florida Heavyweight Title Match: King Curtis (c) vs. Rocky Johnson (December 23rd, 1975) -- King Curtis is a guy I haven't see a lot of, but he had a hell of a look. Dusty got involved in the finish enabling Johnson to win the Florida title. So many screwy title changes in Florida. No wonder Dusty booked the way he did. Nothing special. Florida Heavyweight Title Match: 'Superstar' Billy Graham (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes (February 15th, 1977) -- this was pretty shitty. Almost everybody looks good in this Florida footage, but not Superstar Billy Graham. No sir. Dusty tries, but when Dusty is the workhorse of the match, you're in trouble. Not good. Florida TV Title Match: Dick Slater (c) vs. Mike Graham (November 20th, 1973) -- Solie says these guys were high school classmates, but I can't believe a word you say anymore, Gordon Solie. Apparently, it's true. These are some lengthy highlights by Florida standards. Some decent looking action, but Slater isn't doing much to shed his reputation as a poor man's Terry Funk. Match goes to a draw. Slater no-shows the rematch, and the NWA awards Mike Graham the title. Another screwy title change. Decent footage. Florida Tag Team Title Match: Bobby Shane & Bearcat Wright (c) vs. Bob Roop & The Great Malenko -- it was hard to tell who the heels were here. I thought it was Roop and Malenko, but the crowd pops for the title change. They may have been popping simply because they saw the titles change hands. Solie puts Bearcat Wright over as a babyface, but that may be because of the way Shane treats his partner during the match. They get into an altercation at the end, and the crowd is behind Wright. I'm confused. The match isn't very good. I'd like to see some prime Malenko. Nothing special.

Universally acclaimed is a bit tough considering how small our circles are, but the other Valentine match ought to be in that category. He's another guy who was better before he went to work for Vince.

Bret was wrestling for the coalminers and the lumberjacks.

I haven't watched a Hart Foundation match in years, but off the top of my head, I would say fundamentally sound but didn't work in an era where WWF tag teams were able to have proper matches. I can't think of too many tag matches that era that go 25 minutes and serve as a second main event on a card. WWF tag wrestling in that era felt like a novelty -- two guys tagging together wearing matching outfits and always with a manager. It worked for me as a kid, but these days I guess I would focus on how much the Hart Foundation did with the time they were given. Did they use their ring time well or could they have done more? That sort of thing. By the time they got to the top of the food chain, Bret was already starting his singles push. 90s WWF tag wrestling wasn't an improvement over the late 80s, but they probably left a couple of feuds on the shelf.

You should watch the Bret/Yokozuna cage matches.

I seem to remember people liking that FlairPiper/Greene six man against the NWO. Jerome, I’m pretty sure Piper has more than just the Bret and Valentine matches. People like his Portland work and the rest of his Mid-Atlantic stuff, as well as his first run in the WWF.

Arai went into hiding after FMW’s bankruptcy due to the fact that he owed so much money to the Yakuza. He killed himself so that his life insurance would pay off the debt, but apparently his wife’s father needed to continue paying off the debt for several years afterward.

Texas Tornado Match!: Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch vs. Harley Race & Bob Roop (September 13th, 1975) -- Dusty is having a whale of a time on commentary. The action is good as well. It's basically Dusty clearing house after being "semi-comatose" on the outside, but you get to see a bit of Murdoch vs. Race as well, which is one of Race's better match ups, and Roop looks good n this role. Good stuff. Dusty Rhodes & The Haiti Kid vs. Gary Hart & Bobby Duncum (August 13th, 1974) @Ft. Hesterly Armory -- I don't know how PC Dusty's commentary is here, but it sure is funny. He even cracks himself up. The ending has some flat out insane rambling from Dusty. Good stuff. Eddie Graham vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (February 7th, 1976) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- this OK, but Jumbo ain't no Pak Song. It was nice to see Graham working a more fundamentally sound wrestling style. You could tell he possessed all the tools a wrestler needs in terms of both wrestling and brawling. If we could get some more footage of his prime, he would leap even higher in my estimation. Solie tells us some ridiculous shit about Jumbo. At one point, he says he was a former Japanese heavyweight champion who lost his title to Inoki. That's disappointing, Solie. I thought you were better than that. Decent footage. Jos LeDuc & Paul LeDuc vs. Mad Dog Vachon & Dale Lewis (December 18th, 1973) -- scrappy brawl, but a crowd pleaser. Dale Lewis was new to me. Didn't get to see much of him since he was on the backfoot most of the time. Jos LeDuc was a beast, and I could see him being good in a really heated stip match. I was surprised by how weak Vachon's selling was. OK footage. Jerry Brisco & Bill Watts vs. Robert Fuller & Ron Fuller (Bill Watts Turns Heel) (June 26th, 1974) -- Brisco & Solie do a bang up job of describing the action here even if the pictures don't always match up with the narrative. Watts continues to intrigue me since I've only ever thought of him as a booker and promoter. Not much to see ring-wise, but a decent angle. OK footage.

Greg is billed as Johnny’s brother in the Florida footage.

Can we stop toting this line that Lou Thesz did lots of comedy spots or shtick? He didn't really. His favorite go-to spots in most footage is to lose his cool and use inside moves.

Could this live up to the build? You betcha it could. This is how you do a single fall apuesta match, CMLL. You give them 20 minutes not some sub-10 minute bullshit. I will never doubt Rey Bucanero again after this feud. If his name gets brought up in the future, I will sing his praises as a worker. I don't know what Vampiro took before this match but he was jumping off the set and doing over the top rope tope suicidas, and all the while Bucanero was working his ass off. Both guys thought they won it with a submission only for the ref to wave it off. Vampiro was reckless and insane, but I can't say I disliked the guy. This felt like his finest hour, and I marked out for Porky's tackle celebration after the pinfall. It kind of felt like the seconds were into this match as much of the fans. Classic hair vs. hair post-match as well. Probably the CMLL MOTY when you consider how epic it was. I'm pretty sure the first time these two squared off, I mentioned how awkward it was. A few months later and they're having the MOTY. Incredible.

This was melodramatic as fuck, but why would you expect any different? Regardless of whether you like the match or not, the biggest thing the WWF Attitude Era had going for it is that you'd get the pre-match hype video where the wrestlers would say what they were going to do to each other in the match, and then you'd get a match where they'd do exactly that. JR would screech one hyperbolic statement after the next and the King would squeal whenever things got squeamish. People often complain when there's no story in a wrestling match and they complain when there's too much story. I can understand not liking Triple H and Shawn Michaels, and I can understand not enjoying the story here because you don't like the wrestlers involved, but I can also see an alternative viewpoint where the melodrama and production here was better than the CM Punk and Danielson AWE debuts. Personally., I thought it was a decent popcorn match, and it didn't drag like I thought a match between Hunter and Shawn would. So, in the end, it was an okay match.

Here we go, the #1 tecnico in the company vs. the #1 rudo in a proper title match. CMLL did the right there here and made it two out of three falls. It wasn't the greatest title match I've seen, but it had matwork and submission holds and the tercera went back and forth. In a year where CMLL underdelivered on so many of its singles matches, I cannot reiterate enough how important it was that the match went two out of three falls. The finish was a little screwy, but it kind of needed to be if Ultimo was going to go over Shocker. The seconds, Vampiro and Tarzan Boy, got into a scuffle on the outside of the ring. While the officials were sorting it out, Tarzan Boy slid into the ring and counted three on a Shocker nearfall. Shocker thought he had won, which broke up his momentum, and after the restart, Ultimo was able to beat him. I was happy that Ultimo won clean instead of some low blow bullshit, but the drawback was that it wasn't exactly a crowning moment where Ultimo announces himself as a singles superstar. In fact, Shocker tried to get his heat back immediately by demanding a mask vs. hair match. Aside from that, it lived up to the hype and was a strong match.

The catalyst for this match was ridiculous. Chris Benoit laughed at Angle while he was getting a stinkface, so Angle held Benoit down and forced him to get a stinkface of his own. And then he laughed at him. WTF is this playground shit? I like this match up, but this was all work, no story, though do be fair I don't know how much mileage you can get over being angry at a guy for laughing at you. We've seen X-Division matches that were all-workrate, so I'm happy to give this a pass, but it was kind of weird that they booked it in the first place. I was impressed by how hot the Staples Center was for the submission reversals. Who would have thought a WWF crowd would pop so big for submission holds?

I don't think this match stands out as much anymore with all the wrestling that came after it, but this was like nothing we had seen before in the WWF. What was the pinnacle of workrate in the WWF before this? The standard bearer was probably Steamboat vs. Savage. This type of match in the WWF was a brand new thing, and the amazing thing was that Vince was letting them do it. Finally, the WWF was letting these guys work workrate matches. I agree with the criticisms that there's not a lot of story in the match and that it could have been a lot better. I think Booker/Goldust vs. Jericho/Christian blows it out of the water in that regard. But I will say this -- when the WWF was at its nadir for in-ring work, and we were looking for scraps of anything good in a Hardy Boys vs. Brood TV match, there was no way we could have dreamed that this sort of match was in store for us. So, yes it is overrated now, but it's still a damn sight better than the ashes it arose from.

The first time you see Omega it is a WTF moment. It was the same for me with Shinsuke Nakamura. It's just too much. There should be a little warning on the screen like "do not adjust your television set." Omega & Danielson grew up in the same era as us, watching the same tapes, wanting to emulate the wrestlers they saw and have great matches. There's no way that they can't be self-aware. If you are actively trying to become the image of what you think a great pro-wrestler should be then you are fully self-aware. In the hardcore tape trading days, this is what we all wanted to see -- great wrestlers, great matches, workrate, four star classics, five star classics, the kind of things ROH fans ate up. So it's no surprise to me that Danielson and Omega are the way that they are, or that those are the types of fans they appeal to. These are the wrestlers we created on messageboard forums and online chatrooms.

Dusty Rhodes Promo (1979) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Dusty cuts a promo about Madison Square Garden and New York city. The Dream is the greatest being to ever step foot in the garden. Fun stuff. Bunkhouse Match: Dusty Rhodes vs. Terry Funk (July 27th, 1982) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Dusty is in badass street clothes. Terry is wearing long johns. J.J. Dillion, Kendo Nagasaki, King Kong Tonga, and Dory Funk Jr interfere. Nothing special. Florida Heavyweight Title Match: Dusty Rhodes (c) vs. Bill Watts (Title Change!) (11-12-74) -- Dusty vs. Watts is a great match-up. Their brawling here looks really nice, but there's a bunch of horseshit with Gary Hart and Dusty loses the title on a count out. Lame. Not the match though. That was good stuff. Ali Vaziri (The Iron Sheik) vs. Mark Stone (12-25-73) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Holy shit, young Iron Sheik is a wrestling machine! Please tell me there is an Ali Vaziri vs. Jack Brisco match out there. Pat Patterson vs. Kevin Sullivan (May 24th, 1977) (Championship Wrestling From Florida) -- Pat and Solie commentate over the footage (very entertaining.) Young Kevin Sullivan is a dynamo. Watch him charge about the ring. Pat Patterson was an awesome worker. Mike Graham hounds him throughout this bout, and Pat is brilliant in and out of the ring. Great stuff. The Super Texan (Austin Idol) & The Psycho vs. Cowboy Bill Watts & Ron Fuller (February 19th, 1974) -- Watts shares his wrestling philosophies on commentary. Bit of a nothing match. The Psycho was a weird gimmick. OK footage. Rocky Johnson & Tiger Conway Jr. vs. Bob Roop & Larry 'The Axe' Hennig (August 12th, 1975) -- Man, Larry Hennig looks like a cross between Harley Race and a middle-aged Curt Hennig. Pretty effective gimmick to walk around with your arm flexed all the time. Roop and Hennig are a good team and the babyfaces are fun as well. Good stuff.

WTF is going on with CMLL singles matches? This is a single fall mano a mano bout. Now granted, they pack a lot of action into their single fall, and mano a mano bouts are only supposed to whet the appetite for an apuesta bout, but c'mon, is this really the way you want to use Santo while you've got him? I can't help but think there were negotiations for a mask vs. mask match but it fell through somehow. Otherwise, I can't understand why this was on TV.

Y'know, if someone had told me that Rey Bucanero vs Vampiro would be one of the hottest feuds of 2002, I would have told them to get their head checked. But CMLL has been weird like that. The singles matches keep disappointing, but the Japanese guys weren't as bad as I thought they'd be and now this Bucanero vs. Vampiro beef is hot. Perhaps I'm just mellowing in my old age. This match planted the seed for Ultimo vs. Shocker, which is almost an afterthought at this point, but a possible WOTYC vs WOTYC match. Watch this space.

The WWF resurgence in 2002 is impressive. They go from the Invasion disaster and a crappy Mania to this all-time classic in October. This is a great match. It's easily the best brawl in the WWF since the Iron Sheik/Sgt. Slaughter boot camp match, and arguably the best brawl in WWF history. I can(t think of a match from any promotion in 2002 that was better than this. There wasn't a sleazy indy brawl or crazy Japanese death match that came close to the bloodshed, and for one night, WWF is like the territories/indies on whatever the fuck kind of a drug that makes you wanna be even more excessive.

Takayama has been one of the few bright spots in Japanese wrestling in 2002, which has been getting its ass kicked by PRIDE, and deservedly so. I'm not a fan of Ogawa, but I can understand why other people like him. This was kind of by-the-numbers until the hot finishing stretch, but it was a fun finishing stretch for sure . Only pro-wrestling can make you think that Ogawa had a believable chance of defeating Takayama.

This was a good match. I admire the way Danielson has been trying to wrestle in 2002. This kind of felt like Danielson wrestling a Dean Malenko, which would have been a totally fine match in '02. Danielson hasn't put it all together yet, but if you want to see some mat wrestling in 2002 then he's your ticket.