ohtani's jacket

I’d take three Wanz fights.

This was a really good match. In fact, I thought it was something of a statement match from GdI. We've seen them have great matches with Santo & Casas, but not with anybody of the calibre of Damian and Halloween. Damian & Halloween are hardly slouches. Their double teams rock in this match, and Halloween busts ass to keep up with GdI, but you get the point. This is pretty much non-stop action. I don't know if it's edited, but it doesn't need to be because the teams keep hitting that sweet spot where each spot is more interesting than the last .Even though it's a quick match, they do a really good job of taking a fall a piece and setting up a tercera that goes back and forth in classic lucha fashion. The finish isn't worthy of the action that proceeded it, but the celebration is top drawer. Considering that this could have been a nothing bout, it was outstanding.

This was an improvement on the match from the week before thanks to the injection of Ultimo Guerrero and Rey Bucanero. With Shocker turning tecnico and Wagner off the boil, GdI have risen to the fore as the best heel act in CMLL. I was always dismissive of GdI in the past, and probably a bit of a jerk, but watching them in context, I appreciate their work a lot more than I did in the past. They worked more of a modern, action driven style, but beneath the sheen they were excellent rudo technicians. I love watching Atlantis wrestle these guys. He pairs off with Ultimo at the beginning and instantly I'm thinking this is a match-up I want to see more of (outside of the mask match, that is.) I know Atlantis wrestled some cool singles matches with Bucanero. Props to Halloween and Damian as well. They're not the greatest workers in the world, but they worked the GdI style here and did a fine job of it. This match set up a title bout between GdI and Familia de Tijuana after Halloween and Damian ate topes instead of the tecnicos. Seems short notice, but I'm glad to see CMLL trying something a bit different.

Fun handicap match. We got to see Villano III, who we haven't check in on in a while, and I was glad to see that he could still go even if it was in a labored way. Dantes drew the short straw in facing Silva and did some fun stuff.

Gorgeous George was essentially a comedy worker. Buddy Rogers was the template for your Ray Stevens/Pat Paterson/Buddy Rose/Ric Flair style worker.

I have a hard time thinking about Thesz in those terms because every Thesz match that is unearthed is a treasure trove. My stock answer would be that we don’t have as much 60s footage as we do 50s footage, and what we do have from the US in the 60s doesn’t have the same appeal to me as the 50s television wrestling. Theoretically, Thesz should have still been good throughout most of the 60s, but we don’t have a lot of film. As far as his individual traits as a worker go, that’s not something I’ve thought about a lot. I don’t really need Thesz to be anything more than how he presents himself in those 50s matches.

I have the same problem with Eddie. I love his 1997 and 2004-05 runs to the point where everything else is a disappointment in comparison. That's strictly because of character work. The other periods of Eddie's career are simply Eddie doing work. Now usually I don't care about that sort of thing. I've long outgrown the need for characters in wrestling, but I either really love Eddie's character work or I find his work by itself dull. Maybe a bit of both.

I would start with the Hans Schmidt fights as they're great matches. Then I would watch his matches with Gagne and Carpentier. If you like those, there are plenty of other matches to enjoy vs. Ray Gunkel, Ruffy Silverstein, and more. There's also some maestro stuff from the 70s. Here is his Microscope thread -- This thread also has Thesz matches included:

I've had some time to reflect on this in the past few days instead of bursting into uncontrollable tears. Miura was one of the greatest mangakas ever, and one of the finest artists in the history of comics. Please google search his work if you've never seen it. If you think manga is thrashed out work with little attention to detail or no background work then Berserk was the complete antithesis of that. It was the best manga I've read. It was dark fantasy that was uncompromisingly dark, but the main character's struggle was better than anything I've read in comics. It's uncertain at the moment whether Miura's assistants and publisher will continue with the series, but I'm not worried about whether we'll learn how the manga ends. We lost someone who had a profound influence on so many lives. Berserk is Darkhorse's top selling book. I hope it's reputation continues to spread in the West.

The irony is that Pete Parker was only in high school for the first 28 issues of Amazing Spider-Man.

Kentaro Miura died. I am going to lie down. When I wake up, I hope this was a bad dream.

I finished up Gene Colan's run on Batman. It started off okay. I liked the early Gerry Conway scripts. But there were no classic stories and the monthly continuity wasn't that interesting. No matter how hard Moench tried, I wasn't interested in Batman's romantic relationships or the cast of characters. Colan had a lot of different inkers, and I don't know if it was his pencils or the inkers, but I didn't like the way a lot of the characters' faces were depicted. I especially disliked the way he drew Jason Todd and other kids. His Bruce Wayne was inconsistent as well. It's possible that his work on Batman works better in isolation than reading it within the continuity. The last issues I read were Batman #373 and 383, which he drew after he stopped working on the Batman book regularly, and those books were much more interesting visually than his end run on Detective, but again, that may be because of the inking. The reason I started reading Colan on Batman is because I liked a lot of Colan's work on Daredevil, but I'd have to say that his Daredevil work was better than his Batman run. Not sure if anyone feels differently about that.

Contenders -- Jim Breaks, Satanico, Fujiwara, Steve Grey, Negro Casas, Lou Thesz, Verne Gagne, Le Petit Prince, Marty Jones

Alan Sarjeant, Billy Howes, Peter Szakacs, Albert Wall, Gwynn Davies, Adrian Street, Tony Charles and Abe Ginsburg are great wrestlers with limited WoS footage. From the States, Enrique Torres is the first name that springs to mind. Billy Goelz as well. Lord James Blears. Baron Michele Leone. Mariko Akagi for Joshi. I'd love to see some 60s and 70s German catch -- Horst Hoffman, Bock. For French catch, I really liked Rene Gerber, and Modesto Aledo left a strong impression.

Glad to see I'm not crazy. Looking forward to seeing more Cruz too. CMLL TV (March 14th, 1993) Lasser Tron/Metalico/Triton vs. Los Guerreros Del Futuro (Damian El Guerrero/Guerrero del Futuro/Guerrero Maya) (CMLL 3/12/93) This is the first Guerreros del Futuro match I've bothered to watch. They were a fun midcard trio. Damian El Guerrero is a freak. We get some Guerrero Maya vs. Lasser Tron in this. What's so special about that? Well, it's not every day you get to see Black Terry vs. Hector Guerrero now is it? Of course, there are better ways to see Black Terry vs. Hector Guerrero, but it was still pretty cool. Terry was pretty solid in general as Guerrero Maya. I would have preferred CMLL to bring Terry and Feliciano in without masks, but their role makes sense when you see them in action. Ciclon Ramirez/Oro/Ultimo Dragon vs. Bestia Salvaje/Felino/Negro Casas (CMLL 3/12/93) This was part of the buildup to Casas vs. Dragon and Felino vs. Ciclon Ramirez, the two best feuds in CMLL in 1993. What I love about the Casas vs. Dragon feud is how Casas adapts to Ultimo's offense. It's almost like he has to adapt or die because of how deadly Ultimo's kicks are. I can't remember too many Casas matches where Casas dishes out this many kicks. The Ramirez/Felino stuff is great, but what struck me this time was how good the Bestia vs. Oro match-up was. Bestia got to do some serious wrestling in this, and I kind of wish we saw more serious wrestling from Bestia instead of stooging all the time because Bestia was a fucking great wrestler. He's another guy who was out of this world during this '92-93 period. The ending to this match was spectacular. All three highspots were sensational. One of the best endings to a trio match I can remember in terms of big spots. Very good match. Atlantis/Rayo de Jalisco, Jr./King Haku vs. Black Magic/El Satanico/Mano Negra (CMLL 3/12/93) This was an average main event brawl, but it had a few things going for it. Firstly, Atlantis was pissed, and I always dig fired up Atlantis. Secondly, we got a healthy dose of Atlantis vs. Satanico, which I wish was the apuesta feud instead of Atlantis vs. Mano Negra, to be honest. And thirdly, we got Satanico vs. Haku, which I know is a match-up somebody out there wants to see. Satanico trying to figure out how to solve the Haku problem was fun to watch. Negra and Atlantis may have had one or two good exchanges, but I remain unconvinced. They definitely haven't lit the arena alight like Felino and Ramirez or Casas and Ultimo.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Mando Guerrero (6/9/78) Another Fujinami gem from the70s. Junior title match from LA. Mostly worked on the mat. Very cool.

Jimmy Dula/Jean Martin vs. Monsieur Montreal/Leon Minisini (aired 11/16/62) I was kind of dreading this when I saw it was 46 minutes long, but it ended up being one of the better tags in the Archive. Jean Martin was a revelation. He was fun in that Bernieres match we caught the end of, but he looked like a Wrestling God here. Look at what he had to work with here -- Jimmy Dula being goofy and weird and a couple of wise guy babyfaces. Martin was brilliant and carried the match with his unparalleled showmanship and phenomenal brawling. Martin and Montreal had one of the all-time great brawl exchanges in this match. Probably the best manchette contest we've seen so far. Sleeper match this. I can't think of a tag I liked better than this.

I didn't like this at all. Toyota played the veteran bitch outsider, but it was too much of a caricature. They had zero chemistry together and the size difference didn't work in their favour. I can't remember the last time I saw a Nagashima match where she blew so many spots. Worst of all, I couldn't understand the booking. Why would you put the ex-All Japan Women's champion over the future of your promotion? On the same day that All Japan pulled the trigger on Momoe as WWWA champion. On paper this seemed like a match you'd fantasy book, but it was rough as guts.

CMLL TV (March 7th, 1993) Mogur vs. Javier Cruz vs. Ringo Mendoza (hair vs. hair, CMLL 3/2/93) This was a fun match. I thought Mogur was great in this. First during a cool little rudo vs. rudo match with Cruz and then selling for Ringo. Now I feel the need to watch every Mogur performance from '93. Cruz continues to be a revelation as well. I knew he was great as a tecnico, but I don't remember being this impressed by his rudo run. I've always had a soft spot for Ringo, so I dug all three guys in this. The result was a bit of a shock, though. Cicloncito Ramirez/Ultimo Dragoncito vs. Felinito/Piratita Morgan (CMLL 3/5/93) Ha, Felino and Ramirez' minis hate each other too! Brilliant! This was good stuff. Pirata's mini is probably better than him at this point. Atlantis/Brazo de Plata/Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. vs. Black Magic/El Satanico/Mano Negra (CMLL 3/5/93) This had some decent brawling between Atlantis and Mano Negra, but not at that red hot level where you have to see everything from their feud. In fact, I thought Satanico was noticeably better than Mano Negra when he stepped in to help. That had a lot to do with how Satanico sold the beating he was dishing out. People tend to think of selling was the work guys do from underneath taking a beating, but the way you deliver the blows is just as important. Satanico had his best showing so far and worked some fun stuff with Porky that was probably cribbed from the Infernales long run of matches with the Brazos, but I can't remember of that so it felt fresh to me. The rest of the match was built around the sucky Black Magic/Rayo feud, so there was a ceiling on how good this could be. Vampiro Canadiense/Pierroth, Jr. vs Jaque Mate/Masakre (CMLL Tag Team semi-final, CMLL 3/5/93) This started off as a chummy show of respect between former trio mates and turned into a hate-filled brawl with Pierroth taking a king-sized beating. I dug the throughline here of Pierroth vs. Jaque Mate, and thankfully Vampiro stayed out of the way for the most part, hobbling around selling the beating, and being kayfabe useless. I always loved Los Intocables, so it was fun to see the Intocables explode.

That 2020 Ikeda match is wonderful. Ishikawa has finally completed his metamorphosis into old man Fujiwara.

Steve Grey Microscope thread -- https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/topic/21054-steve-grey/?tab=comments#comment-5564390 British wrestling thread -- https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/topic/15983-the-beginners-guide-to-british-wrestling/

The Slater cage match is a good 'un. I like their TV match as well.

Some thoughts: The crowd was non-existent at this point. Not only were the lights turned off, but there was barely even a smattering of applause. Unfortunately, that made a lot of the gimmickry come across as lame because there was no reaction for it. Those Marine Wolves costumes at the start were embarrassing. I don't know who thought that was cute. The match had a house show fell to it, and the falls weren't very good as a whole, but it was interesting to see a leaner, more mobile Aja working through the exchanges she would have practiced at the dojo a thousand times. Bull didn't really have it all together as a headliner at this point and couldn't carry the bout. Hokuto put in a decent performance. I really hated the hand clapping she tried to start in the third fall, but I imagine working in front of a dead crowd is tough, especially in a rhythm-based style like Joshi pro-wrestling. I was impressed with Minami. She had all the physical tools, and you could tell that Jaguar had a hand in her training because of the force with which she applied her offense. She could have been a bigger star in the mid-90s if she'd had a stronger personality and more charisma.

Heart says yes, head says no. There was a period from '88-90 where Emilio was on par with the other top workers in Mexico, but after that there is a steady decline. It's not that he's awful or anything. It's just a significant dip. He's still an engaging personality, but he's banged up and damn near falling apart. You can hide that in trios matches, but in singles it's painfully obvious. Still, it's Emilio Charles, Jr. I always loved the way that name rolled off the tongue.