ohtani's jacket

Vic Faulkner vs. Mick McMichael (6/28/72) Man, it's been a while since I've seen a new ITV match. Maybe it's because I've been starved of ITV wrestling, but I really enjoyed this. I wouldn't classify either guy as a favorite of mine, but this had some really nice wrestling in it. Mick McMichael looked so young! The most recent McMichael stuff I've seen was from when he was a ref in the CWA in the 1990s. Walton clearly liked him as he kept calling him underrated and a great technician. They did a great job of mixing up the competitive wrestling and comedy spots. Faulkner can come across as smug at times with his in-ring tricks, but I thought he likeable here. They went at each other so hard and so fast that the inevitable draw felt like the most realistic outcome, but wow, that nearfall that Faulkner countered into the equalizer was a superb sequence. Highly entertaining bout.

Rene Ben Chemoul/Gilbert Cesca vs.. Inca Peruano/Anton Tejero (aired 3/12/65) This was another of the original French catch matches. I thought this was far more entertaining than the Black Diamonds match largely because of the Peruvian style lucha that Peruano and Tejero brought to the match. When this first appeared, we were stumped trying to figure out how to spell the Peruvians' names. Now we know that Peruano was a mainstay of late 50s Catch and that Tejero was a regular up until the 1980s. Peruano was brilliant in this match. He made Cesca and Ben Chemoul look sensational. Seriously, this was Ben Chemoul at his very best. This is the Ben Chemoul that Couderc adored and who entertained him so much. And honestly, it was largely because Peruano was such an amazing foil. He didn't show any of his personality from earlier matches. It was straight workrate, but it lit a fire under the babyfaces and elevated them beyond a lot of their other tag match performances. There was more structure to this as well with the Peruvians utilizing more Southern style tag tropes. It wasn't a large match in scale, but it was brisk, energetic and highly entertaining. Pat O‘Connor vs. Roger Delaporte (aired 3/14/65) Grandpa Delaporte vs. Belgian Pat O'Connor was more entertaining than I thought it would be. It didn't really amount to much, but it was funny. Delaporte proved once again that he was a master of the form.

Abe Ginsberg & John Foley vs. Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca (aired 2/28/65) This was one of the earliest matches made from the archives. Back then it was a rare gem. Now it's possible to watch it with more of a critical eye. Ginsberg stars in one of my favorite WoS matches of all-time, and he's one of dozens of British guys I'd like to see more from. It's hard to tell Ginsberg and Foley apart at times, and of course Couderc refers to them as Americans, which leads to a funny exchange at the end of the bout where Foley tells Couderc he's going to the American Embassy to complain about the French ref. The match itself is a series of heel double team spots vs. heel face-in-peril spots. They switch between the two like clockwork. There's some entertaining stuff, but apparently no-one in Europe had heard of Southern style tag wrestling with its heat segments, hope spots, and hot tags. They don't even utilize the manchettes very often. It's kind of frustrating in a way because every time Cesca enters the ring, I'm interested in seeing how he matches up one on one with either Foley or Ginsberg, but he does a few spots and tags out to Ben Chemoul, who is a lukewarm tag in this. Likewise, the Black Diamonds never take over for any extended stretch of time, so we don't get to see the depth of their heel work. It's a good match despite all that, but I'm itching for a really hot French tag.

This started off how you'd expect with Bucanero and Vampiro brawling on the ramp and got really hot in the tercera. Loved watching Shocker take on Tarzan Boy and Black Tiger, especially Tarzan Boy with all that history. Vampiro hitting reckless moves on Bucanero, trying to break his neck, is perversely entertaining. Vampiro got DQ'ed at the end when he refused to let go of an armbar and tried to break Bucanero's arm instead. They challenged each other on the house mic then Vampiro caught Bucanero in a Fujiwara and fucked up his arm some more. Then Shocker hit Tarzan Boy in the mouth with a lariat. Who says rudos are always better than the tecnicos?

Veneno and Gran Markus Jr have another contender for Worst Match of the Year. Well done, fellas.

This was a bit of an odd cibernetico. There was an angle running at the time where a bunch of guys were doing tryouts to join Los Guapos. The week before some CMLL guys made fun of them, so this match is the Guapos wannabes vs. a bunch of CMLL guys. The editor gives us full intros then cuts right to the end. We get a bit of Ricky Marvin vs. Virus for our troubles before Averno gets the rub. Not sure why Averno went over. You'd think they'd give one of the Guapos bragging rights over the other hopefuls. It's a shame they didn't show the entire match.

Rumi Kazama died. That was unexpected.

We get a return match. The rudos are more focused on beating Santo up than in the previous week's match. Demon does some good stuff in this match, but he's just so wooden, especially compared to Santo. If you remember, Santo started a program with Ultimo Guerrero right before he left. I haven't forgotten, and I doubt the Arena Mexico faithful have either. Speaking of things we'd rather see, this match reminded me that a full blown Satanico vs. Casas feud would have ruled (even in '02), Wagner vs. Ultimo was a match-up with major potential if one of them ever turned rudo, and the awesome Wagner vs. Casas sequence in the tercera reminded me of the lamentations that their headline work in '00 didn't air because of the Olympics. In other words, everyone else was more interesting than Santo vs. Demon. Santo did lead a pretty cool "mascara" chant at the end, though, after laying down the challenge for a mask vs. mask match.

I'll have to check that out at some point.

Oh, look, Santo's back. And he's brought Blue Demon Jr with him. Swell. Blue Demon Jr never gets better does, he? A lot of guys become tolerable if you watch enough of them, but not Blue Demon. Fortunately, this had plenty of Casas vs. Wagner, Satanico vs. Ultimo, Satanico vs. Casas, and Wagner vs. Ultimo, all of which were better than Santo vs. Demon.

This wasn't your traditional title match. It was a decent trios match but a poor title match. All six guys were talented, so there was nothing wrong with the action, but I don't think there should be mask ripping in a title match even if there's long standing heat between the competitors. And I'm an old fuck who thinks there should always be matwork in a title match. I did like the finish, however. I won't spoil it for folks, but it was a twist ending with a satisfying conclusion.

I read the final chapter of Berserk that Kentaro Miura worked on before passing away. It's still uncertain whether the series will continue, but if that is the last chapter then it ends with the most incredible cliffhanger. The artwork was as sublime as ever. I don't know how much work his assistants did to finish it, but we'll never see Miura's like again. There's an exhibition of his work happening this month that I may have to drag myself along to. I've been going through a bit of a rut with Sandman Mystery Theatre. I've never read a single issue of Blackhawk, so I wasn't sure what I should make of the Janos Prohaska depiction. To me, the most interesting thing about that arc was Burke's reaction to the murders. Then I really didn't like the Return of the Scarlet Ghost arc until the last issue where Wagner and Seagle drastically upped the ante. The Crone was better. The relationship between Wesley and Dian has grown bleak, but I found that storyline more interesting than the murder mystery. I guess one of the difficult parts of this series was coming up with murder mysteries. I'm not really a fan of how they used comics and then radio as the backdrop for the murders. It seems over-the-top to me that there would be a spree of murders in either industry. I realize that the writers want to tap into everything that was shaping society in the late 30s, but it's a tad contrived at times. I read Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld over the past few weeks. It's a comic I always seem mentioned as an underrated title. The first issue was rushed and felt like a comic for a toy line, but once it settled into a groove, it was a highly enjoyable max-series. The most outstanding thing about it is Ernie Colon's artwork. I'd probably recommend it on that basis alone. And I finally finished Five Years Later through to the last issue written by the Bierbaums. What a complete and utter non-investment. I remember the first time I read Five Years Later it was after I had read all of the classic runs on Legion of Super-Heroes, and I really enjoyed the first dozen issues before Giffen stepped back from the series. This but this time round it felt inconsequential. I got absolutely nothing out of it, and a lot of the time it was just plain confusing. My opinion of post-Crisis reboots is starting to nosedive. Today I read Conan the Barbarian #100, which some of you may know is the conclusion to the Belit saga. It wasn't as moving as it might have been if the readers didn't know what was going to happen in advance, but it was beautifully rendered by Buscema and Chan, and a monumental chapter in the series given that Conan spent so many issues with the Black Corsairs. I've been reading Conan and Jonah Hex at the same time, so I've had these duel narratives of Conan and Belit and Jonah and Mei Ling play out simultaneously. I prefer the way Fleisher handled Jonah and Mei Ling to the way Thomas wrote Conan and Belit, but I'm yet to see how Thomas handles the aftermath. Curse you DC for cancelling Jonah Hex in 1985! Actually, apparently it escaped cancellation three times. That's unfortunate because I honestly think Fleisher's run is one of the best comic book runs ever.

Excellent match. Pretty much a PPV quality match on free TV. Amazing how much drama they could build around a simple and effective promo from Jericho. Dustin was great, but I thought Jericho was excellent as well. From memory, this stood out at the time because there wasn't a lot of good wrestling on RAW compared to Smackdown, but also because it was more of an old-school style tag match compared to the Smackdown Six style. It holds up amazingly well all these years later.

I don't usually go in for four ways but this had too many big names to ignore. It was a bit slow because they were going the distance. There was some good stuff between Danielson & Low Ki, and Low Ki & Joe, but it was a rehash of stuff we'd already seen in 2002. The finish was stupid with guys suplexing each other left, right and center, but I guess that happens when you have a four way going to a time limit draw. ROH had a strong year, and for fans this was probably the icing on the cake, but I wasn't overly thrilled by this.

Atlantis/Negro Casas/Ultimo Dragon vs. Dr Wagner Jr/Mocho Cota/Pierroth Jr (CMLL March 7th, 1995) The opening fall of this was excellent. It was the type of mat-based fall that fans like me were always searching for great lucha back in the day. Mocho vs. Casas was outstanding. Better than anything they did in the lead-up to their hair match in '94. Mocho dialed it back to '84 when he came across as a master grappler. The other match ups were solid too. The trouble started in the second fall when the rudo beatdown went past the point where they should have claimed the fall. if you've watched enough lucha, you know the rhythm of the falls and you know the beat that the fall will end on. The fact that they went past the beat usually means that the momentum will be reversed and the opposing side will steal the fall, but that didn't happen. The beatdown continued and the rudos refused to listen to the refs, which can only mean one thing -- DQ. Lousy finish and a crappy way to follow up on that opening fall. Casas vs. Mocho was must-watch stuff, though.

Dusty Rhodes vs Ivan Koloff (Dusty's Hair vs. 30 Days In The Hole) (August 23rd, 1980) -- Dusty wins the services of Oliver Humperdink for 30 days and we get a couple of fun vignettes of Dusty ordering Humperdink about. Fun stuff. N.W.A. World Heavyweight Title Match: Jack Brisco (c) vs. Buddy Colt (December 18th, 1973) -- Brisco vs. Colt is such a great match up. This wasn't their best match together but it was still exciting to watch. Good stuff. Mike Graham & Eddie Graham vs. Dick Slater & Pak Song (October 12th, 1974) @Bayfront Center -- Pretty good match. I don't care much for Mike Graham, but Eddie Graham comes across like a legend in all of this footage. Slater is okay. Song is better than most Asian heels and has some cool signature offense. Good stuff. Florida Tag Team Title Match: Dick Slater & Johnny Weaver (c) vs. Harley Race & Roger Kirby -- This is mainly Race doing some heel commentary over the footage. OK, but not as good as Colt's heel commentary. OK footage. Florida Heavyweight Title Match: Bill Watts (c) vs. Dusty Rhodes (October 22nd, 1974) -- Dusty vs. Watts is a fun match up. Watts commentating over the top of it is even better. Fun stuff. Florida Tag Team Title Match: Rocky Johnson & Pedro Morales (c) vs. Ivan Koloff & Mr. Saito (1977) -- Awesome seeing Mr. Saito in action. One of the better Japanese workers of the 70s. Johnson and Morales made for a fun babyface team. Johnson was limited, but effective, kind of like his boy. Good stuff. Florida Tag Title! Ivan Koloff & Mr. Saito (c) vs. Don Muraco & Pedro Morales (November 26th, 1977) -- We get to see quite a bit of Don Muraco vs. Ivan Koloff in this, which is cool. Hot finish with Morales once again being a super babyface. Good stuff. The Superbowl Of Wrestling: Harley Race vs. 'Superstar' Billy Graham (January 25th, 1978) (CWF) -- this was better than I expected considering the rain and the fact it was Superstar Billy Graham. I'm sure there was a ton of lying around but the footage they showed wasn't bad. Good stuff.

This was the final of the #1 Contenders tournament for the CMLL Trios title, so they got more time than in the other tournament matches. Very good match. Best Shocker performance in a while. He gave a complete three-fall performance with strong offense in the first fall, excellent selling in the second fall, and a fiery comeback in the third. We got to see the two heavy hitters, Wagner and Shocker, square off, but I also liked the way Apolo got in the mix. You can see what an excellent worker Apolo was through his interactions with Vampiro. Just a really good hand. There was some predictable interference from Rey Bucanero, but it was actually pretty cool. Ultimo & Rey beat the shit put of Vampiro on the entrance ramp and left him for dead while the rudos moved on to next week's final. This would make my Best of the Year comp.

This was the semi-final of a #1 Contenders tournament for the CMLL Trios titles. The super beef between Vampiro & Bucanero continues. One fall. Nothing major happens.

Bit of a nothing match. I like watching Ultimo Dragon in Mexico, but he was a bit player here. Some cool teamwork by the rudos at the end of the second fall. Atlantis & Mascara had some decent exchanges, but I would have preferred more Panther vs. Atlantis instead.

This was clipped but it had plenty of guys you want to see on TV like Felino and Zumbido. Casas came across as a huge badass in this. There was a callback to his history with Fuerza. Fuerza didn't have much left at this point, but it was cool to see them square off. Casas vs. Juventud was excellent

I really liked the matwork in this. I thought it was fantastic. After the hot start, it became more of a generic back and forth "epic." You can see the pattern emerging of what fans expect to see in terms of nearfalls and finishing stretches. I appreciate the thought that goes into countering your opponent's finishing moves, but if it's too clever then it looks choreographed. I don't like being told I'm watching a Match of the Year candidate, either, but that's not really the workers' fault.

Austin is a contender for best in the world in 2001, although personally Low Ki is my favorite US wrestler from that year. I'm not a huge fan of WCW Austin, so I can't really agree with him being the best in the 90s. I guess if you're a huge Steve Austin fan he was. There's definitely a lot of merit to his WCW work if you're into it.

This was a fun match. The Joshi revival was all but over, but it was cool that there was a niche for them to have this style of match.

Decent match, but a bit of an exhibition. Low Ki seemed to be suffering from that weird pressure foreigners feel to work a serious match in Japan instead of something dramatic. He had the tools to work a Japanese style bout, but the match was never super exciting, and Low Ki brought almost no personality to the bout. The commentator made an allusion to Dynamite Kid, which was a nice comparison, but the actual execution was lacking.

Awesome match. Not sure that it would have worked in Arena Mexico, but it was perfect for Arena Coliseo. It was equal parts heated mano a mano brawl and sublime technical wrestling. There were a surprising number of nearfalls for a mano a mano bout, and a clean finish to boot. It wasn't until afterward when Atlantis demanded a title shot that I realized the significance of the tercera caida and all of the nearfalls. I'm biased because I love this pairing, and their 1991 and 1997 bouts are two of my favorite matches of all-time, but I honestly thought this was one of the best matches of 2002, especially when you consider how badly CMLL has struggled with delivering compelling singles matches. This hit all the right notes. The falls were decisive and the match never lost its rhythm. I kept waiting for some derailing moment like a DQ or a double pin, but surprised the heck out of me with the finish. And the technique was sublime, especially from Panther's end. Total under-the-radar bout.