ohtani's jacket

I watched one of those Baba/Jumbo vs. Kim Duk/Oki tags the other day and they bring Tenryu out to greet the crowd. I wonder how many people in the crowd that day realized they were seeing a future legend of the sport?

It was a popular opinion among hardcore fans, and among Jumbo's seniors, and some of his fellow wrestlers. Kagehiro Osano explored the topic in his book. In an interview, Osano said: "There is a persistent theory that Tsuruta is the strongest Japanese wrestler, that he is a genius, that he has inexhaustible stamina, etc. But why did he not become the number one wrestler in the Japanese mat world? No one has ever been able to figure out why he couldn't become the number one wrestler in the Japanese mat world." Jumbo was a different cat. He tried starting a folk music career during the Japanese folk boom, preferred to train by playing tennis and other sports rather than spending time in the dojo, and wasn't interested in spending all night drinking in Ginza. He wasn't stoic. His seniors considered him soft. He had a rep for losing title matches and people called him Good Fight Man. Try comparing him in your mind to how the average fan viewed Antonio Inoki. We think of Inoki as a con artist, but to Japanese fans he was super human. Inoki was quite possibly one of the most charismatic men to ever walk the planet. I'm not exaggerating. Hardcore Japanese fans didn't have those feelings about Jumbo until he showed his true strength in the Tenryu feud. People started seeing him as a monster. All Japan became red hot, and people still talk about the reaction Jumbo received at the NJPW vs. AJPW show. I'm not saying people have to follow that viewpoint. It may not mesh with their experiences viewing the matches. I'm just explaining how people/hardcores view things in Japan, right or wrong. People draw their own impressions from Japanese wrestling -- Jumbo is grumpy, Tenryu is stoic, etc. -- but there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. One thing that the book makes clear, is that Jumbo paved the way for a new generation of wrestler who take their earning potential as wrestlers and their lives after wrestling extremely seriously. The things that Jumbo was criticized for not doing -- living and breathing wrestling, spending all night drinking, paying for his juniors' meals, etc. -- are bygone relics of the Showa Era. Not just in wrestling, but in Japanese society in general. During his younger days, Jumbo repeatedly said that he didn't want to be a wrestling idiot. During his second career, he was determined to prove to younger wrestlers that they don't need to limit the potential for their life after wrestling. Sadly, his own life was cut short, but like his tombstone says: "Life is a challenge!"

Roy Lucier getting hold of Mike Tenay's tape collection is exciting news. It looks like we now have a complete run of 1993 CMLL. That ought to start shedding some light on CMLL's dark years. Felino/Kahoz/Sultan Gargola vs. Blue Demon Jr/Ciclon Ramirez/Lasser Tron (CMLL 1/15/93) I watched this on the off chance that Felino squared off with Ciclon Ramirez and got far more than I bargained for. Not only did they square off, they were already beefing. Ramirez went right after him! This was 'no fucks given' wrestling from the tecnicos, and I loved every second of it. Felino was awesome as the rudo in peril and seemed to spend the entire match on the back foot. I thought Lasser Tron was some bum, and I was loving how involved he was getting (shoot for the stars, Lasser Tron!), but apparently it was Hector Guerrero. I kind of wish it had been a random bum instead. Love the Evel Knievel get-up. This had a nice flow to it and the crowd was hot. Ciclon Ramirez' tope! Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Clearly, I need to watch every second of Felino vs. Ramirez from '93. El Satanico/Mano Negra/Negro Casas vs. El Brazo/El Dandy/Ultimo Dragon (CMLL 1/15/93) This had a few exciting exchanges -- Casas and Dandy locked up and reminded me why they're one of the all-time great pairings, Ultimo was excellent throughout with his lightning quick ringwork, and Dandy and Satanico played off their history of hair matches -- but the main focus was Mano Negra and El Brazo, which was the worst pairing. I love me some Mano Negra, but I prefer him after he unmasked and not as the main guy in a trios match. Not that I can blame him too much. El Brazo kind of stinks as a singles wrestler. This had a lot of stalling and they weren't really putting forth their best effort. It was one of those matches that looks better on paper. The Felino/Ciclon trios match eclipsed it by a large margin. Still, you might want to check out a few of those exchanges I mentioned if you're a fan of those guys.

I can't be entirely sure that the story is true. I didn't want to spend time fact-checking it, so I thought I would relay it as a story.

I don't think he has a lot of televised singles matches. Here's a tournament match against Wagner:

The popular narrative in Japan, which may or may not be factually true, is that Jumbo wasn't a hugely popular wrestler until the Tenryu feud. He was seen as the successor to Baba and Inoki in terms of his ability, but fell behind Choshu and Tenryu in terms of popularity. The reason for this is said to have been his calm personality, which made it difficult for fans to become emotionally involved in his character and match performance. From all accounts, Tsuruta was a great guy. He was a kind-hearted, stay at home dad who was a gentleman. You never hear anyone say about bad about him as a person. However, his personality, and his philosophies and attitude towards wrestling, were the complete opposite of what the fans wanted to see. We all remember the line Dave used to push that he heard from Terry Funk about Jumbo being lazy, but the real issue was that Jumbo treated professional wrestling like a job and when your core fanbase are salary workers desperate to escape the realities of their everyday life, who wants their hero to be exactly like them? Tenryu wanted to give the audience a fresh feeling and make a strong impact, so he began feuding with Jumbo. On one side, you had Jumbo, the salaried wrestler who never spent much time in the wrestling world and saved every penny, and on the other, Tenryu, the samurai wrestler who devoted his entire life to wrestling and never had any money to spend. It was a collision between two men with different philosophies about wrestling and life. It gave rise to the image of Jumbo as a monster and then the perfect ace, not only of All Japan but all of professional wrestling. I am not sure if Jumbo was entirely comfortable with the way he was viewed during this time. In his own words: "I'm the type of person who wants to wrestle. When I was young, I fought Dory Funk Jr, Bill Robinson, and Jack Brisco, so I guess that has a lot to do with it. But Japanese fights tend to have more of a brawl feel to them. I'm a mat fighter, while Tenryu is more of an up-and-comer. Maybe it's the demand of the times, but I don't want to change my style, even though the Warriors are doing the same, and they are all up-style. I'm not going to change my style. My style is to deal with Tenryu's up style in an up style, and Dory's mat style in a mat style. When I fight Tenryu, I get emotional and end up fighting more than wrestling...jumping knees and such, so I guess people will say "Tsuruta got serious. I usually measure my opponent's condition while closing in on him, so it may look like there is a pause. In the end, it depends on the soil. Tenryu, who comes from a sumo background, is the type to go all out in a flash, but my style is based on playing basketball and wrestling." The thing that the lay fan was unaware of was that Jumbo had a deep love for professional wrestling. He didn't show that passion in the ring, but at his lowest point after he first got his diagnosis, the thought of having his wrestling career taken away from him drove him to some pretty dark places. The story goes that he met a girl in hospital with a tube in her nose and an IV drip being administered, and she was staring at the ceiling wondering if she would be alive tomorrow. This encounter inspired Jumbo to eventually pursue his second career where he tried his best to expand on the possibilities of wrestlers still fighting in the ring. From a young age, Tsuruta and Fujinami had shared the same goal of changing the public's perspective on wrestlers, and to an extent Jumbo achieved that during his second career.

I thoroughly enjoyed Grant Morrison's New X-Men once I accepted it for what it was -- "new" X-Men. It's the most modern take on the X-Men that I've read, which is kind of amusing given it's twenty years old. I didn't mind the art. A lot of the art on writer driven Vertigo/DC stuff can be just as inconsistent. The covers bothered me more than the interiors. Are modern covers usually like that or was it particular to New X-Men? I wasn't thrilled with the final couple of arcs, especially the big reveal, but I was keen to read more right up until Morrison walked. I'd have to read a hell of a lot more modern comics to know where the run stands in the grand scheme of things, but for me it was a unique and enlightening experience even if it's not really a modern comic anymore. I also finished Michael Golden's run on The 'Nam. Not bad. Is there a compelling reason why I should keep reading it now that Golden is gone? JRJR's run on Punisher War Zone was fun. It was blatantly exploitative -- the Punisher was jacked, his guns were huge, and he had relations with women, but I liked Dixon's scripts. It was grim, but the mental anguish was kept to a minimum, the action was good, and it was a pretty good story arc considering it was the third bloody Punisher title on the market. Your mileage will vary, however. I was less keen on Weapon X. I know everyone was gaga for Wolverine's origin story back in the day, but it didn't do much for me as a read. I suppose the art was nice, but is it really what I want to see BWS pencil? I dunno. He seemed to borrow a lot of writing tics from Claremont as well, especially snippets of conversation that take place offscreen. Another title I read was Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee's Inhumans. I've been trying to find good Marvel comics from the 90s since it's such an unpopular era. I appreciate that they tried to do something with the Inhumans, but I have to question whether there was enough story to justify a 12 issue mini-series, and the entire thing felt too dark. Jae Lee does some beautiful looking close-ups, but his storytelling lacks fluidity. So often it looks like characters are standing around posing (usually grimly.) The series had its moments, but not a favorite. Lee drew a great Lockjaw, though. Finally, after a long, hard slog, I finished Gerber's Man-Thing. Well, that's not entirely true, I still have some of the Giant Size issues to go, but it's a series I'm glad to have put behind me. I get why Gerber wrote the series the way he did because of the inherent limitations of the main character, and I can understand why people thought his take on the comics medium was revolutionary at the time. I guess having grown up in the era of independent comics and creator owed titles that it's not as special as it was in the 70s. Some of the satire feels dated, or should I say of its time, and I never quite got into the mesh of fantasy elements, social commentary, and deconstruction of the comics medium. I feel like a bit of a philistine, but you can't enjoy 'em all.

This was great. A bit like 1996 Cruiserweight wrestling for the new millennium. They set it up from the beginning as move-counter move wrestling, so you know not to expect a match with a ton of depth. I'm cool with that. I have a hard time taking Styles seriously without the beard and long hair, but he does a great job of countering Low Ki's offense. I'm not a fan of Styles' signature spots, but I liked the way he pulled off the win here. The angle afterwards wasn't bad either.

This was a good match, but Danielson looked tentative at times. I know he had those great Low Ki matches in 2002, but judging by his other matches, it seems he was still figuring things out. If someone were to say he was already one of the best workers in the States, or the World, in 2002, I'd have to give an emphatic no. That said, this style of wrestling is much closer to the kind of work I like and the indy guys are trending in the right direction.

The '98 Hashimoto match is even better than the '94 one. It's getting harder and harder to see Fujinami as anything less than a top 10 Japanese worker.

CMLL TV (October 16th, 1994) (61st Anniversary Show Week 2) Javier Cruz/Gran Markus, Jr./Hijo del Gladiador vs. El Brazo/Hayabusa/Pantera (CMLL 9/27/94) Started off with a neat exchange between Pantera and the criminally underrated Javier Cruz, but was largely forgettable after that. Another slow Coliseo bout. El Brazo teased a rudo turn. He sure sucks. When did he become the worst Brazo? Cruz and Pantera worked hard throughout, but you can skip this. Scorpio vs Silver King (hair vs hair) (CMLL 9/30/94) This was fun. They filmed a vignette where Scorpio surprised Silver King in the gym and mocked him for working out so much. Scorpio's pants and shoes were a riot. He was an ugly brute. Silver King came to the ring dressed like a male stripper. You can probably guess how the match unfolded. Scorpio ran through some fun old man lucha stuff. It looked like Silver King was afraid to gig himself so Scorpio did it for him. SK looked nervous. Pretty basic, but I have a high level of tolerance for this type of lucha. Apolo Dantes/Brazo de Oro/Brazo de Plata vs. El Brazo/The Headhunters (clip) (CMLL 9/30/94) Emilio Charles, Jr./Negro Casas vs. El Satanico/Miguel Perez, Jr. (clip) (CMLL 9/30/94) I doubt that tag was any good, but I wanted to see how Casas matched up with his opponents. El Texano vs. Ricky Santana (hair vs hair) (CMLL 9/30/94) Decent match. It felt like a generic match that they could have had in any promotion in the world in 1994 rather than a classic apuestas match, but it was cool to see Texano have a big singles match.

Nice post, KB8. I love a lot of the guys on my list, but I can't say that they were substantially better than Ted. Tully is probably the closest comparison since they played similar characters and worked similar styles. It's difficult to split Tully and Ted in my mind. Watching the Mid-South stuff again, I love how the matches are 10 minutes long. Ted was really great at working short brawls. I also love his offense. It's simple stuff, but he hits everything with precision. The crowds are rabid as well. You could argue that Ted's not as charismatic as Tully or Flair, but he doesn't waste time begging off. It's straight asskicking with plenty of subtle selling/stooging.

Ted drops the fist on this slander. #Tedforpresident

The ROH commentators claim this is going to be a mat classic, so of course they work more of a hard-hitting, high impact match. It's still pretty cool, and Williams is now on my radar as a guy worth watching.

Atlantis/Corazon de Leon/Dos Caras vs. Satanico/Dr. Wagner, Jr./Emilio Charles, Jr. (CMLL 12/9/94) This paled in comparison to the trios match from the week before, but it still had a lot of interesting match-ups. You had Satanico, and his stupidly long hair, vs. Jericho, which is interesting enough by itself, Emilio and Atlantis reprising their career rivalry, and Caras working an absolutely breathtaking exchange with Wagner that was the highlight of the bout. The fact that Caras had wrestled Wagner's father made it all the better, but he also gave us an amazing tease of what a Caras vs. Satanico match might look like. Worth watching if you want to see more of Dos Caras in CMLL.

Speaking of which, does anybody happen to know why JWP vacated said title for a year after Masami won it?

The DiBiase/Magnum TA feud is awesome. That Tulsa match, good god almighty. Guys who have a better rep than Ted that I can't understand: Tully Blanchard Arn Anderson Greg Valentine Sgt. Slaughter Roddy Piper Buddy Rose Barry Windham Ric Rude Bret Hart Curt Hennig Rick Martel Bill Dundee DiBiase doesn't take a backseat to anyone in the 80s. #No Ted, no list

I see. Love the blog, btw. I've been hitting it up every few days.

This was short but plenty of fun. I was glad that Shocker and Masada didn't ignore each other and worked a grudge match sequence. Watching the Japanese guys position themselves for classic Porky spots was an amusing exercise, and anytime you get Panther and Casas square off in a match it's a must-see.

This was given plenty of time, and Atlantis & Co. tried hard to make something of it, but it was criminally boring. I'm not a huge fan of Halloween and Damian at the best of times, but Juvie didn't pull finger here, and Nicho must have had another booking. The Tijuana guys are another example of CMLL starting something with no payoff in mind.

For some reason this is JIP in the third fall. It's not a bad caida of wrestling, but it's clear that Santo is no longer in the picture and CMLL have transitioned to Ultimo vs. Casas. I generally like the Casas/Ultimo match-up, but CMLL were onto something with the Santo/Ultimo feud. One of the most frustrating things about CMLL is that they'll stumble onto something you want to see more of, and then they either drop it or it falls apart because guys become unavailable or difficult to deal with.

Very good 2/3 falls handheld shot from an overhead camera position in classic JWP. If you like strike & submission based wrestling in Joshi, and you're wondering where it migrated to after ARSION changed styles, then look no further than JWP. If you need a reminder that Hyuga and Ran Yu Yu were great pro-wrestlers look no further than this match. Probably the best wrestled women's match of the year thus far.

I thought you didn't really like Devil.

CMLL TV (December 3rd, 1994) Apolo Dantes/Brazo de Plata/Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. vs. Bestia Salvaje/El Brazo/Gran Markus Jr (11/26/94) Slowass Arena Coliseo match. Porky is feuding with his brother, but it's not entertaining. El Brazo keeps shouting in people's faces and is really annoying. Bestia tries to do some quality stooging, but this kind of made me realize that 95% of his career was spent in matches like these. Weird seeing Apolo Dantes with a full head of hair and in prime shape. He never really catapulted to stardom, did he? I mean he had a long career, so he was successful in that sense, but I'm sure somebody, somewhere, at some point, had higher hopes for him. You forget how athletic Porky was before all of the heart attacks. Atlantis/El Texano/Silver King vs. Corazon de Leon/Dos Caras/Negro Casas (12/2/94) Great match. Man, I haven't seen a Texano match in years. He worked the mat with Casas to begin with. Now normally folks think of lucha matwork as being choreographed and cooperative, but this was the complete opposite. It was almost entirely defensive with both guys blocking each other's moves. It was an amazing and unique thing to see in a CMLL ring, and then Atlantis and Dos Caras followed it up with a traditional lucha exchange that was just as beautiful. There were so many great match-ups in this match. I usually hate Jericho in Mexico, but he had his ribs strapped here and mostly sold other guy's moves, so he wasn't a problem. Casas wound up having individual match-ups with all three opponents and each of them as tremendous, including a forehead to forehead standoff with Atlantis which really got me pumped. Silver King and Texano had some tremendous teamwork in this bout, but you know what the best thing about this was? When everyone entered the ring to end the falls, they flew into the ring at a million miles an hour and took guys out with phenomenal looking dropkicks or topes. This may be the best example of the transition to pinfall phase I've seen in a lucha libre match. Silver King, in particular, was lightning quick. And it fucking had Dos Caras in it. C'mon, who's dream isn't to see more great Dos Caras performances? He's always a bit disappointing with the heavyweights, but in a catchweight contest he is an absolute legend. Do yourself a favor and watch this. El Satanico/Emilio Charles, Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner, Jr./Pierroth, Jr. (CMLL Tag Team (Parejas) Tournament Finals Contender Match) (12/2/94) This was weak. I'm a fan of all four of these guys, but this was completely half-arsed.

Nobody ever talks about the Lelani Kai matches. Those were always my favorites.