Some stuff from the 7/26/86 Great American Bash that I watched last week and have mostly forgotten about

I wanted to watch and write about the whole 7/26 show. But then I only watched parts of it and then had to spend a few days in Orlando and never wrote about anything and now I can't remember things. Here are some words anyway. Accuracy may be questionable. 

Wahoo McDaniel v Jimmy Garvin (Indian Strap Match)

This wasn't all that different from the match they had earlier in the month, but this one hooked me a little more from the start. Or Precious did, as she told the ring announcer to expressly forbit people from smoking whilst Gorgeous Jimmy is wrestling. Obviously people were itching for Garvin to get mollywhopped after that and when Wahoo whipped Precious on the arse with the strap the place erupted. He then whipped both of them mid-smooch and sometimes yer pro wrestling doesn't need to be complicated, no matter what its most prominent historian and critic might say about it and the brain-rending complexities of how each wrestler worked for a specific crowd on a specific night in a specific point in history. Garvin realises the predicament he's in and tries to bolt several times so Wahoo yanks him straight back in. By the end he's pretty well bloodied up and his decision to wear white ring gear was a good one, at least for us vampires who appreciate such visuals. This is the sort of match I could watch 10 times in a row with a few wrinkles here and there and enjoy 10 times in a row. 

Magnum TA v Nikita Koloff

I loved this Magnum performance. It feels almost pointless to say at this point but you watch stuff from that '84-'86 run and think about where the wrestling business was at the time and it's hard not to conclude that he would've been a megastar had he not been involved in the car accident. His crowd connection here was incredible. This was match 4 in the Magnum/Nikita best of 7 series for the vacant US title, Magnum coming in already 3-0 down. His back is against the wall and the crowd knows it, but more importantly so does he. If the series was tied at 1-1 he might've swung for the fences with a little more abandon, some of that rabid Magnum intensity bursting out early on. He wouldn't be goaded into making a mistake though; wouldn't allow himself to bite when Nikita tried faking him out with a cheapshot early. Both guys are great at working around a top wrist lock in the opening third, really milking a basic hold and making it look like a struggle that needs to be overcome. To ram home how desperate a hole he was in Magnum spent most of this on the back foot. When Nikita rams his head into the turnbuckle bolt he's covered in blood within minutes, on the brink of being swept by the Russians. Nikita played king of the mountain and every time Magnum climbed back in the ring he'd be thrown out the other side, bleeding on the concrete selling the blood loss and fatigue like few other babyfaces of the era could. Nobody does a fired up, last-legs, blood-soaked comeback like Magnum, those little staggers and hesitations as he fires back, the crowd coming unglued with every punch. The pop for the sunset flip is out of this world. A very good wrestling match. 

Ric Flair v Dusty Rhodes (Cage Match)

This is the best Flair/Dusty match, right? I feel like I've asked that before, probably about a few of their matches. I also feel like I've written about those matches here and prefaced all of them with "I don't REALLY need to see another Flair/Dusty match for the rest of my life" and so I guess I needed to make a liar of myself one more time. But this is the best one. It felt similar in some ways to the Flair/Morton cage match from 7/5, which is the best Flair match, period. He had that nasty mean streak here when he got the chance to cut loose, albeit less spectacularly than against Morton. He was not acting the goofball here when he had Dusty where he wanted him and that Flair is the very best Flair. Both of them bled because of course Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes bled in a cage match. Flair tried to run away, realised he couldn't run so tried to climb, then Dusty climbed after him and almost pulled his trunks off, Flair screaming bare-arsed as Dusty drags him back into the lion's den. It had a metric ton of drama down the stretch and built and built and they even ran a callback to Flair/Race from Starrcade '83. I wish I could remember more but it's been about 10 days now. Either way - the best Flair v Dusty match. Probably. 

Hard-Headed Listenin' to Some Rock and Roll, Tenryu's Driving a Hand-Me-Down Like it's One He Stole

Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya v Satoshi Kojima & Taiyo Kea (All Japan, 10/12/02) - GREAT

Why can't some people just let sleeping dogs lie? Our boy Tenryu was fairly quiet for the first half of this. Other than one moment where his rage almost got the better of him and he threatened to throw the ring bell he was damn near civilised. The early outburst might've even left him a little ashamed, emotionless as he was to any further prodding. Kojima takes a swing at him while he's standing on the apron and Tenryu is unmoved, literally so as he doesn't so much as blink in response. Didn't stare a hole through Kojima or nothin. Of course you wait in anticipation but maybe tonight will be different and he won't flip out and you don't really want that because why would you but it could also be cool as an anomaly one time? When Kea swings on him, again as he minds his business on the apron, he's so unbothered he even dusts his shoulder off. That's how unperturbed he is, how little his opponents are under his skin. Kea and Kojima isolate Araya for a spell and when Kojima spat on Tenryu I would've put the savings on him coming in rampaging. I'd have lost everything because once again he never rose to it. Then Kojima hits the ropes and out of nowhere Tenryu clobbers him with an enziguri from the apron, a real cannon of a shot and it did not look like Kojima expected to be getting hit in that moment. And really from there we're off to the races. Tenryu takes off the turnbuckle pad and smashes Kojima's face into it, throws blistering chops, punches to the jaw and eye socket, the full revenge tour that was expected deep down even if a small part of us questioned if we'd get it. Kojima in peril is good stuff and I loved Tenryu hitting his own flip senton as an insult. From the point he took the shackles off Tenryu was pretty much a total wrecking ball and looked as strong as he might've 10 years earlier. There was really only one instance of him properly being put on the back foot and that was late on when Kojima hammered him with a lariat. Because Tenryu was so dominant before then that one move landing felt huge and it was also the catalyst for them putting away Araya, much the same way all those boys would have to get Misawa out the road long enough to tear down Kobashi or Akiyama. Kea's never been someone I've thought too much about honestly, but he always hits like a bastard and his striking was world class here. At one point he hit a wild axe kick to the back of Tenryu's head and Tenryu sold it like he'd lost control of his limbs, almost falling into a Dick Murdoch face-first splatter. Kea will also open himself to BEING hit like a bastard and Tenryu lost the plot with him, dragging him to the floor and throwing a full table at him. I forgot Araya was one of those AGILE beefy boys and when he went up top I thought he was going to copy Kojima's elbow, which is the sort of petty shit you expect from Tenryu, but Araya was always pretty straight-laced. Then he hit a moonsault instead and I remembered he was wont to doing such things now and then. Everyone really leaned into establishing and playing off their status in the hierarchy and the match wound up being pretty awesome because of it, led by a wonderful second-half performance from Tenryu. 

Complete & Accurate Tenryu

Dandy v Casas - the Lead-In Trios

Negro Casas, Espectro Jr. & Espectro de Ultratumba v El Dandy, Mano Negra & Ringo Mendoza (CMLL, 6/19/92)

This was the lead-in to Dandy v Casas for the world middleweight title a few weeks later. If I didn't know already that it was a title match they were building to I'd have bet the house on it being the lead-in to an apuestas match. It was not the title match lead-in I was expecting, basically. I figured we'd at least get a clean start, maybe some chain wrestling before it got tetchy, by the end both guys even throwing a fist or two. It did not start the least bit clean and Casas had fouled Dandy two times in the first 90 seconds, then fouled him a third time a couple minutes after that. First he kicked the middle rope into Dandy's privates, then hoisted him up on his shoulders and rammed him balls-first into the ring post. The third low blow came as a cut off from his own knees, practically a double punch to the nuts. This was a phenomenal Casas performance. He walked the line between cowardice and confidence as well as anyone. At points he was only properly willing to fight when his boys had his back, but then at other times he'd pare away the bullshit and go full force, no backing down. It was sort of Flair-esque, like when the latter would bare his teeth and attack with fury when he knew his title was in jeopardy. Even if there was no title on the line for Casas here there was still a point of pride and people weren't about to forget how good he was. In true Nature Boy fashion there was even a spot where Casas was throwing knife edge chops in the corner and the crowd exploded when Dandy turned the tables and unloaded with his own. It never needed any escalation as such, because Casas had turned it into a street fight from the jump, but Dandy going from the chops to the punches was amazing and of course these were some ungodly punches. Casas' signature running flip bump off the ropes might've been the best of his entire career, practically landing him in the middle of the ring, coming up affronted and holding his face only to be kicked in the jaw immediately. In a match loaded with awesome moments my favourite was when Casas had Dandy's leg stuck in one of the front row folding seats, repeatedly kicking the chair closed into Dandy's knee while some guy has to shield his poor mother in the seat directly next to them because she's too old or frail or both to get up and move. Dandy effectively spent the whole match chasing a one-on-one with Casas and the final exchange was the perfect payoff. Casas was always the sort to come out guns blazing when he knew he had no other choice and pretty often his hubris would bite him. It did again here when he charged Dandy and flung himself like a torpedo, Dandy moving and Casas taking a fucking absolute screwball face-first bump into the middle turnbuckle, something that I really can't do justice by typing nonsense on a page. The fight and STRUGGLE over the tapatia is as good as you'll get. There has never been a wrestler more belligerent than Negro Casas and he would not give up an arm for this hold, not when Dandy was punching him in the ribs, not when he was slapping him about the ears, not for anything. And not only did Casas manage to buck him off, he went and fucking pinned him with the man's own cradle! I don't even know where this would rank among Casas' best performances - probably not top 20, maybe not top 50 - but it had everything from wanton cheating to technical mastery and whatever else we might fawn over. I haven't said a single word about the other four guys in the match, not because they never added value but because Dandy v Casas needed however many hundred words they got. The Espectros were a really fun pair of idiots though, routinely complaining about being fouled when they very obviously hadn't, stooging to the back row while getting vicious when they needed to, sort of like their captain for the evening. Post-match Casas offers up a handshake, then kicks Dandy in the chest instead. Based on how livid Dandy was I'm surprised they never changed the title match to a hair match on the spot.  

Re-Watching Jushin Thunder Liger (part 5)

Jushin Liger v Shinjiro Ohtani (New Japan, 2/7/98)

This felt like a story of Ohtani trying his absolute best to exorcise his demons, or at least the very singular demon that is Jushin Thunder Liger. Almost a year to the day earlier he came up short against Liger for the J Crown, 11 months before that stumbling at the last hurdle for the IWGP juniors title, letting his emotions get the best of him and paying for it. He'd beaten Liger in non-title matches, probably pinned him in tags (cagematch it or something), but never for a belt. Ohtani's journey over the previous couple years was one that had him primed for success, but it was also laden with hiccups in big moments and most were of his own doing. He wasn't about to let it happen again and this was as aggressive as I've ever seen him. The match started with a rugged collar-and-elbow tie-up, Ohtani then sprinting at Liger only to get flipped on his head with a shotei. After that he makes the conscious decision to not get hit in the face like that anymore and goes after Liger's arm because maybe trying to take that strike away would be smart. It was the same strike that put an end to him the year before so it's hard to question his judgment. Ohtani wasn't the least bit afraid to take liberties here, milking the ref's count on rope breaks and even outright ignoring it on occasion. This wasn't the same Ohtani of years past though, who'd get frustrated and start making weepy faces when things got rocky - he got MEAN but stayed focused and the aggressiveness was an asset rather than a hinderance. It felt like he could control it more, harness it in a way that he couldn't in some of his biggest matches previously. There were some callbacks to those matches too, like the springboard dropkick to the arm as Liger used the rope to pull himself up, which almost sealed him the deal a couple years earlier. And really just any time Liger smashes Ohtani in the face with a shoei feels like a callback of a sort, if for no reason other than it being the one thing in Liger's arsenal Ohtani has never quite been able to overcome. I thought Ohtani was pretty incredible at putting across a sense of desperation whenever Liger mounted any serious offence. Maybe desperation is the wrong word, maybe it was more urgency, but either way you knew HE knew he needed to put a halt to momentum whenever Liger started picking any up. Sometimes he'd take a bullet and immediately roll close to the safety of ropes, sometimes he'd crawl there and almost cling to them, then sometimes he'd just roll out the ring completely. After the initial stretch of arm work Liger hits a brainbuster and Ohtani rolls straight outside, so Liger hits a plancha and follows up with a brainbuster on the floor, a big bomb for the big occasion and one that tells you how serious he's taking this version of Ohtani. When Ohtani comes back from that he goes to the arm again and Liger progressively sells the damage incurred. Liger set the bar for selling a busted arm higher than anyone back during the Sano feud and I'll be honest with you, this doesn't come close to that, but even still if there's anyone who can make you buy that their arm is fucked it's Liger. The stretch run is super dramatic and not knowing the result going in I found myself pulling majorly for Ohtani to get the win, to finally get that monkey off his back. He seemed assured as they went into deeper waters, or at least more assured than he'd been in the past, not grasping at openings or getting too far ahead of himself. There was some by god growth and maturity and he didn't almost burst into tears when Liger refused to stay down, an unfortunate tendency of the past that never did him any favours. He also takes Liger's best shots and manages to stay in the fight, kicking out of the shotei and avalanche brainbuster, scrambling again to the ropes after the latter. When he escapes a second brainbuster off the top by the skin of his teeth, reversing it in mid-air and almost landing on Liger's chest, he pumps his fists like he knows this is his chance. He hits the release dragon suplex but composes himself right away, a stark contrast to a couple years earlier where he immediately went for a second but lost his bearings and dropped Liger too close to the ropes. When he took down the kneepad and followed up with a springboard wheel kick I thought for sure he'd pulled it off, only for Liger to slip out in an amazing nearfall. Maybe Ohtani should've stuck to the arm until the very end though because Liger always had that shotei in him. Even when Ohtani ducked Liger would improvise and the shotei to the back of the head was fucking diabolical. Honestly I could be convinced that there not being a payoff to the arm work IS the payoff, as Ohtani dropping a successful strategy a little too early had been his undoing in the past, one time against Liger himself. In the end maybe it wasn't a matter of strategy anyway; maybe Liger was still just that much better, the cream of the crop, an inevitable force like Pep's Barca. That might've stung Ohtani even more. He never fucked up or let any inexperience steer him off path, he just simply wasn't good enough to beat The Man in the biggest moments. This was fantastic and might be my favourite of all their matches together (even more than the '93 match I proclaimed my favourite not but three weeks ago). 

Tenryu's Grandaddy Ran Shine in East Tennessee. I Guess that's Where He Got His Need for Speed

Genichiro Tenryu, Masa Chono & Manabu Nakanishi v Yuji Nagata, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yutaka Yoshie (New Japan, 6/13/04) - FUN

The old (somewhat) guard versus the new (sorta) guard. I could not have told you this before I looked up cagematch to confirm the date on this but apparently Tenryu, Chono and Nakanishi were in a stable together, along with Scott Norton (!), called Pirates Gundan. It was very much news to me but it feels right somehow. They didn't really work like they were in a stable, unless Nakanishi was always the unruly scruff going rogue and starting fights. He went rogue and started many fights here but maybe his partners were used to it. Either way you could boil this down to three main pairings - Nagata and Nakanishi, Chono and Tanahashi, Tenryu and Yoshie. Yoshie was the one I most wanted to see matching up with Tenryu so maybe sometimes life really does give you lemons. Chono was smart enough to almost goad Tanahashi into taking a yakuza kick, Tanahashi still a few years away from being the unquestioned Ace of the company and a little more prone to naivety. I think I prefer him hitting inverted atomic drops here to what he was doing against Okada and the boys years later. But then I would, wouldn't I. Tenryu hits Yoshie with many a punch and chop and even nails a vertical suplex, like Murdoch on Abdullah once upon a time. Yoshie responds with a PHAT Thesz Press then hits a Vader Bomb/bronco buster thing in the corner and Chono gets in irate like fuck sake mate is that even a wee bit necessary??? Nagata v Nakanishi made up the bulk of the match and both of them brought the testosterone-fuelled stupidity, but in a sort of endearing way maybe. They trade chops and headbutts and at a certain point Nakanishi can no longer be contained so he starts swinging on his own partners. He clobbers Tenryu for stepping in and throwing a cheapshot to Nagata, which begs the question why anyone would hang around with Tenryu if they didn't know for a fact he would do that at least once, but maybe you conclude Nakanishi is just a stickler for sportsmanship. Then he and Nagata start wellying each other with chairs so I guess it was never about the sportsmanship? Nakanishi finally wins the exchange by just smashing a broken piece of chair over Nagata's head and, you know, fair enough. Nakanishi is a drunk and aggressive cousin of the groom at a Yorkshire wedding starting fights with strangers and family alike so Tenryu just walks away like any sane person would. Always the bigger man, was Tenryu. Eventually Nakanishi gets counted out when he puts Nagata in a Torture Rack up by the bleachers and Chono looks on like what the fuck did I bother getting myself into. Pirates Gundan, fer cripes! A countout in 2004 Japan is rare as hen's teeth so I guess that was cool? 

Complete & Accurate Tenryu

Casas being Casas, Los Cowboys throwing punches, Rambo and Hamada! And Dr Wagner Jr!

Negro Casas, Dr Wagner Jr. & Rambo v Gran Hamada, Silver King & El Texano (UWA, 2/23/92)

About as pure a representation of the beautiful lucha libre trios match as you can get. It was sort of like a lucha version of the best Rock 'n' Roll Express v Midnight Express match, with all of the shtick and sequences and ridiculous fun while still having the serious edge to it when needed. And like the very best of your Rock 'n' Rolls v Midnights, it had so many cool and notable moments that to mention all of them would turn this into a play-by-play and not a single soul can be arsed with that. You'll just have to take my word for it and when have I ever steered you wrong before? In a broader sense, Rambo acting like a bully shithouse was amazing and definitely worth talking about. On the rudo side Wagner Jr. was the most low key of everyone given his standing and relative youth, Casas was Casas and as magnetic and captivating as only peak Casas can be and not even remotely low key, so Rambo was there to be the grizzled bruiser, just as happy to eat shit and look the fool as to run someone over like a boar in army fatigues. He also took one punch late on from Texano and I swear to god, this might've been the best KO sell of a punch I've ever seen. Your All Japan folks will tell you Kawada did it better but let me tell you he did not. Texano actually threw several - SEVERAL - amazing punches in this and clocked Casas with one that was absolutely impeccable. Some inventive rudo miscommunication results in Casas throwing his toys out the pram and defecting to the tecnico side, which of course is only a ruse and really he deserved to be punched in the face like he was, probably by both sides if we're being honest about it. He looked phenomenal in all of this though, Casas. Every time I watch him from this '92-'97 period in particular I feel like it's one of the very best runs of any wrestler in history; just a staggering level of consistency and peak output up and down the card. Outside of getting punched in the face by Los Cowboys his exchange with Hamada here was exceptional. He matched the wee fella for grace every step of the way and that it no small thing given Hamada is who he is. That guy is in the absolute top tier of hitting things clean as a whistle regardless of difficulty. He was damn near majestic in this and nobody flips out of a back body drop like Gran Hamada. The rudos must've taken exception, especially Casas, because they even bloody him up with Casas punching him in the cut and Wagner Jr. trying to guzzle blood out his head like a ghoul. At the core of it the rudos always had that nasty, vicious side. They'd be made to look like doofuses more than once and people might have a chuckle at their expense, but they'd always be able to regain credibility with some savagery. 

Danielson v Bandido!

Bryan Danielson v Bandido (AEW Dynamite, 1/18/23)

It's kind of cool watching this two years after it happened, knowing how the Danielson retirement tour went and who he got to work with the following year. At the time I can only imagine that it must've made THOSE folks amongst us melancholy for the fact Danielson is clearly in his element working luchadores but we'd never get to see him against, say, a Blue Panther. What did we know, right? I actually think this is the first Bandido match I've ever seen. He got to look like quite the superstar and the crowd, who I guess were more familiar with him than me, were really into him. I liked the beginning of this with them going at least somewhat down the lucha matwork route, even if it had an Americanised spin on it. They traded the tapatia and Danielson stomped down on the knees when he couldn't quite grasp it, then Bandido teased the nudo lagunero which was a cool tip of the hat to Panther, a favourite of Danielson's but maybe an idol of Bandido's or maybe that's horse shit and just sounds cool in my head, who can say? Some of Bandido's stuff came off great. The delayed vertical suplex with Danielson trying to go dead weight only to be muscled up was awesome, there was a go to sleep thing out of an Atlantida that looked way better than I'd have thought it would running through the idea in my head, the double topes, and then the backflip fallaway slam off the top which was insanity. I usually can't be bothered with moves that use elaborate rope-bouncing prior to being hit - the jawbreaker lariat comes to mind - and when Bandido tried his 21 plex initially (which was reversed) I sort of hoped that would be the end of it. But he went back to it later and wouldn't you know it but it looked like the bounce off the rope while headstanding on a bent over man's back actually did generate extra momentum, as absolutely nonsensical as that sounds. I thought this was quality stuff and I definitely wouldn't be opposed to checking out more Bandido. 

Whiskey & Wrestling 1300!

It's now been 15 years and change since I started up this here stupidity of a blog. Fuckin 15 years! Who'd have thought I'd be 1300 posts deep by now? Not me, I'll tell ye that. As with every 100-post milestone I went BIG for the occasion, watching some matches I've been meaning to watch for ages. A time was had by all. Here are words to express such things. 

Harley Race v Wahoo McDaniel (Houston, 2/10/78)

This may be the most Wahoo performance I've ever seen. You hear a lot of stories about Wahoo being one of the toughest men to ever wrestle and if you watch enough of him you can see why people tell those stories (usually the people who wrestled him). Sometimes that stuff can sound like carny nonsense, old-timers waxing nostalgic about an era of REAL men who knew how to WORK and get HEAT. Our time was a better time, by god! My old man and his friends would tell me about some of the people they grew up with, the real basket cases, spouting all sorts of outlandish shit about big Billy McGilverie who once drank a litre of Grouse, beat up three policemen and punched a mountain goat to death. They don't make them like Wahoo or Billy McGilverie anymore, they tell us. Well I never did meet Billy McGilverie and as far as I know there's no footage on this here internet of him beating up policemen or punching mountain goats, but if the NWA Classics on Demand service did anything it was give us a look at the Wahoo we all heard about. This was the Wahoo who'd chop down trees with his bare hands, those chops looking like everything Flair told us they did. He was scooping Race up with body slams like Race was not the size of man Harley Race was, hitting a gorgeous butterfly suplex and his cross body block must've felt like getting smashed by a car. It was an awesome Wahoo performance. And yet somehow I thought he was only the second best guy in the match. This might be the best representation of Harley Race, NWA Champion that I've ever seen, or at the very least it's my favourite. I guess I say that through the lens of what I've come to expect from touring NWA champ, which honestly is mostly driven by years of watching Flair. I don't really know if the chicken or the egg came first, whether Flair was the obvious choice to succeed Race in the long term because of how he worked to begin with, or Flair took parts of what he admired about Race (and Stevens and whoever else) and used them himself. I haven't watched enough non-Flair touring champ stuff in too long to say one way or the other about Dory's reign or Brisco's reign, never mind Thesz or O'Connor or even Rogers. Plenty of what Race did here brought Flair to mind though; maybe less frantic and exaggerated, less constant motion and momentum, but still very much a keep things moving approach. I wonder if Flair got the kneedrops from Harley because there were some absolute corkers here and any sane person would want to steal these. One landed right across the eyebrow, one to the forehead, one to the gut that I thought was about to make Wahoo puke. The first fall was basically the inverse of a heel control segment, with Wahoo using the headlock to grind Race down, letting him up for air before cutting him off and bringing him back down again. Race was taking these awesome bumps off of Wahoo's chops, almost hanging in the air before crashing down on his back, really playing to that back row of the Sam Houston Coliseum. I loved how Race would go to the headbutts in desperation, nailing Wahoo in the gut several times and a few might've been lower than that. Again it reminded me of Flair, where he'd cut people off with those nasty short knees to the midsection. More than the headbutts to the gut it was the headbutts to the face that were truly savage. These were legitimately some of the best headbutts I've ever seen, total Fujiwara shots to the jaw and cheekbone, just ramming cranium into face and every single one of them looked brutal. He backed Wahoo into the ropes at one point and hit about five in succession, then later he outright jumped at Wahoo's face with one like a human battering ram. I also liked how Race would be a little more overt with the cheating the longer it went, the more desperate he got. The headbutts were entirely unnecessary but choking a guy in a front facelock is a steeper sort of cowardly. By the third fall he was fully scrambling and they'd whipped the crowd into enough of a frenzy that someone in the second row was cuffed and carted out by three cops! I guess Nigel McGuinness borrowed Helmsley's Harley Race tapes because Race was a fucking lunatic eating these post shots. I thought they were going to do a blood stoppage the way he was hunched in the ropes spurting blood out his head, but then he sneaks it in the end by reversing a roll-up and grabbing the tights, an NWA champion through and through. This was fantastic stuff. Maybe if I tell myself often enough to go back and watch a bunch of touring champ Harley Race I'll eventually do it some day. 

Rick Rude v Masa Chono (New Japan, 8/12/92)

I really wanted to love this. Rude is one of my 10 favourite North American wrestlers ever and I thought he was the best wrestler in the world in 1992, his absolute peak year. I don't know why it's taken me so long to get to this, something that's been heralded for years as a Rick Rude masterclass. Maybe my expectations were too high, maybe I still haven't recovered from Chono fatigue from years past, but it never really landed like I wanted it to. I did at least love Rude being unashamedly, 100% Ravishing Rick Rude. He never toned down anything about his act and it garnered some amazing heat for the occasion. Maybe someone else might've come in and thought to toe the line for the G1 Climax final, but not Rude. This was fully a Rick Rude match, something you could see him working in the States, like his match against Sasaki earlier in the tournament. That meant there were obvious pros and I'd rather see a Rick Rude match than a Masa Chono match anyway, but there were some cons as well. Early on he got bumped around for a string of clotheslines and even took an amusing sort of Flair Flop. I love Rude bumping around off clotheslines so I naturally loved this. When he swivelled the hips like we knew he would the crowd were on his case, then Chono mocked him with his own and the place erupted. Pro wrestling doesn't need to be hard, I guess. Once they brought it down it lost me for a while though, despite moments like Rude trying to break a headlock by yanking on Chono's goatee. Rude is someone who'd slow things to a crawl at times and really grind on a chinlock or whatever, and normally it would work for me and I find him compelling enough in control even when it's brought to a crawl, but this time I was left zoning out and I can't blame it all on Chono from underneath. Rude had used the top rope kneedrop throughout the tournament to get him to the final and it's presented as a big deal, so Chono working the leg makes sense. It neutralises a major offensive weapon and sets up his own STF. I just never found it all that engaging and they spent a chunk of time on it. The final third dragged me back in some, at least. They really put over everything from the top rope as being important and used it to tease or follow through on big momentum-changers. The superplexes swung the tide and any time Rude went up there it created real drama, because everyone knew the kneedrop could follow. Chono had to operate with some urgency to get him down and when he couldn't he at least needed to be upright, which made for a cool progression from Rude hitting the top rope axe handle to the missile dropkick to finally the kneedrop that he wanted all along. The pop for Chono kicking out of the latter was huge and of course Rude was off his chops that it didn't end things. Chono winning with his own top rope shoulderblock was cool too and maybe Rude really bought into Watts' philosophy about moves off the top being treated as death. 

LA Park v Dr Wagner Jr. (TXT, 5/11/13)

Is there anybody better at these insane plunder murderfests than Park? I've seen this referred to as the best ECW match ever and boy it might be, but you can take it a step further and say Park is the best ECW wrestler ever. Some FOOL, some uncultured SWINE, will take that as a slight, turning their nose up at such a notion, but I assure you I mean it as a compliment and there isn't a soul I'd rather see work this sort of thing more than our boy LA Park. This had the incredible pre-match image of Park draping a Wagner Jr. t-shirt over a chair in the middle of the ring, setting the thing on fire, then getting down on one knee and flipping Wagner the bird. The fire wasn't even extinguished by the time Park had taken the chair and walloped Wagner with it. The primera followed the tried and true path of a thorough rudo beatdown, only this rudo beatdown was loaded with the tecnico being annihilated with furniture. Some of these chair shots were ludicrous but he was also slamming Wagner on top of pieces of guardrail, throwing a step ladder at his kneecaps, powerbombing him onto a stack of upright chairs. He smashed Wagner's head against the ring post while the latter was sitting up on the turnbuckle, then he grabbed him by a torn piece of mask and smashed his head into the mat like he was trying to break open a piggy bank. To start the second caida we get an amazing grizzly image of Park licking Wagner's blood off his own fingers, the sort of thing that would've had those old ECW bingo halls in raptures. I was expecting the segunda to be a short tecnico comeback fall, but revenge is not a dish to be hastily prepared and I guess Wagner knew that too. The start of the comeback was amazing, Wagner spearing Park through a stack of chairs to counter some other madness Park was trying to cook up (something with the chairs, probably). After that he took his time and paid Park in kind for all of the shit he'd unleashed previously. Park basically takes a chair shot fully in the face and then Wagner bonks him with a glass bottle, smashes the bottle on the ramp and uses a piece of it to stab Park in the head. Park bled so much that at one point the doctor either tried to wrap tape around his head to stem the bleeding and keep part of his torn mask attached, or he was trying to keep his face attached to his face. You couldn't even SEE his face for the blood. It was wild stuff and some of the close-ups were ghoulish. All of those chair shots must've scrambled their brains because for a brief second they went about a rope running sequence. Thankfully Wagner cleared the cobwebs and stopped Park mid-run, put his hands up like "what are we even doing here?" and then went back to chopping him in the neck. You can even forgive the ref' shenanigans at the end with how they were booting each other in the balls before it. This was unbelievable and it's sort of crazy that Park has at least three matches like this that I'd easily call a match of the decade contender. What a mad bastard. 

Darby Allin v Konosuke Takeshita (AEW Dynamite, 1/3/24)

Speaking of mad bastards! This was an awesome Darby performance. It had all of his qualities on show -- the bumping, the selling, his knack for making creative yet sensible comebacks (sensible within the context of who Darby Allin is), his timing on nearfalls, everything you'd expect from him. I don't have a whole lot of time to watch a whole lot of pro wrestling these days so in that respect I don't have a whole lot of time for Konosuke Takeshita, but we are all about fairness and impartiality here so credit where it's due, I thought he was great in this and it's easily the most I've ever enjoyed him. It's kind of easy to forget that he's a pretty big dude but he really played up that size advantage here and almost worked like a Coke Zero Takayama with the knees and suplexes. He slowed the pace down and seemed to enjoy being able to chuck the little fella around, and some of those moments where he tried throwing him gave Darby a beautiful canvas to work escapes or teased momentum shifts on. Darby backflipping out of the first big high-angle German was gorgeous and seamless and could not been remotely easy to do, even if it looked like Darby did it with a graceful ease. Darby flies out for a tope and Takeshita hits him with one of the best looking knees to counter it you'll see. Following that up with the triple rolling German on the ramp was lunacy and Darby taking that last one on his neck looked hideous. Takeshita ends up in most trouble when he gets cocky, taking too long soaking up his own bullshit and giving Darby a window for recovery, smashing into the barricade off a missed flying knee. Darby's code red was perfection, partly in his timing of it and the speed with which he hit it, but also with how Takeshita set it up, hunched over selling the leg without making it obvious he was getting into place to take a move that requires an obvious level of cooperation. Allin is certifiable so those moments where he tells someone to hit him don't come off as typical macho strike-trading nonsense and more like a pain junky trying to rev himself up. Only here he asked for Takeshita to hit him again and Takeshita fucking obliterated him with an elbow. The Everest German was complete madness and then the running knee finish was a picture. It's been a while since I've watched Darby and it only took me a couple minutes of this starting to remember how good he is. He is very, very good, brothers and sisters. 

There we go then. 15 years, 1300 posts, all nonsense all the time. Here's to 1300 more. 

Re-Watching Jushin Thunder Liger (part 4)

Jushin Liger v Shinjiro Ohtani (New Japan, 5/28/93)

Outside of a couple brief moments where they frittered in a kneebar, this was pretty much fantastic. Ohtani was a phenomenal underdog with a chip on his shoulder and took it to Liger right from the start, slapping him when Liger offered up a handshake before the bell and really never letting up. His performance had a great balance of defiance and understanding of the gap in hierarchy between them at this point. It's kind of insane that he hadn't even made his debut 12 months prior so he was a literal rookie here. It felt like he went to the leg because that was what a young guy not even a year into his career would do, especially against the ace of the division. It's probably a decent enough strategy to begin with, nothing overly complicated, nothing that forces him too far out of his comfort zone, and he wouldn't have enough bombs to go at Liger more directly yet anyway. Liger is one of the best "okay he's about to kill this kid" wrestlers ever and there were a couple stellar moments where you knew he'd had enough. Ohtani had him in one of those leglocks and Liger broke it by rolling onto his back and heel kicking him in the face. When he stood up I would've put money on where it would go, and initially it went there when he fucking obliterated Ohtani with a shotei, but I loved how Ohtani fought back quickly and weathered the storm before Liger could really punish him. You could tell Liger made a point of giving him a ton, selling big for everything Ohtani hit and Ohtani absolutely made the most of it, to the point where the crowd were molten getting behind him. Liger hit one disgusting rolling kick to Ohtani's face, then whipped him into the corner to follow up with another, but at the last second Ohtani flipped out onto the apron as Liger crashed into the buckles, Ohtani hitting a springboard dropkick as Liger gets up and turns around. Ohtani followed that up with two more of the same, the second as Liger is down on one knee selling the leg and Ohtani basically lands across that leg while dropkicking him on the back of the head. It was an awesome sequence and people were going ballistic. Towards the end Liger starts picking apart Ohtani's arm, trying to break the thing across his own shoulder with some really nasty shots, and Ohtani was amazing selling all of that. Liger was always going to string together some proper offence and he wouldn't need much of it to put Ohtani away, but the Ligerbomb being as outrageous as any you've ever seen is sort of a compliment when you think about it. Liger might've been bang in the middle of his peak here - not a particularly short peak either - and honestly, this was probably par for the course for him in terms of performance level. He gave Ohtani the floor though, something that maybe isn't as easy as we take for granted, and you better believe Ohtani ran with it. I really think this might be my favourite of all their matches together. 

Re-Watching Jushin Thunder Liger (part 3)

Jushin Liger v Rey Misterio Jr. (WCW Starrcade, 12/29/96)

Imagine being a tape trader in 1996 and you hear they're running this match on PPV. Tenay as the voice of the wrestling nerds tells it true when he calls it a dream match and I can only guess how crazy people went when it was announced. It's cool to see Liger work as a base and get to bully a much smaller guy, even if he never truly mauls Rey like he might've if he were INVADING. Maybe there wasn't enough enmity between New Japan and WCW for that. I loved the early moment where Rey tried to take him to the mat with an ankle pick and Liger just looked down at him like no. If you're taking him down you're earning it and I guess Rey never earned it, although he never got stomped on the back of the head like Gran Naniwa would've. Liger hits Rey with a crazy suplex off the apron and then a powerbomb on the floor, sort of working the back for a little bit. Liger putting the clamps on someone in their own house is usually fun and I wish they played it up a bit more. They don't go for crazy epic here, probably due to card placement, but Rey still gets to hit some spectacular stuff, the springboard moonsault looking amazing as always. I think that finish might've been mistimed so I'm sure the 1996 internet wrestling community would've had a word or two to say about that. You know, probably. 

Jushin Liger v Chris Hero (PWG Battle of Los Angeles, 9/2/16)

This might be the most recent Liger match I've seen, four years shy of his eventual retirement. It was pretty minimalist, first round match of a tournament and all that, but also pretty awesome! It's ageing junior heavyweight legend versus peak beefboy heavyweight and Hero is extremely BEEFY here, looking almost Takayama-ish. He throws lots of really nice elbows and kicks, nice stomps and knees, some great running variations and rolling variations of everything. I usually cannot be arsed with most most modern strikes, all thigh-slapping for the audial effect, but these ones looked good and some were great. He's obviously substantially bigger than Liger and plays up the size difference in amusing ways, patting Liger on the head condescendingly before the bell, then challenging him to a shoulderblock contest, mockingly searching for Liger afterwards because he's a little guy and whatnot. When he got mean he got mean and there was one snap piledriver that looked brutal. Liger mostly played the hits when he got the chance to play anything at all, but the hits were probably what this crowd wanted out of a 51-year-old Liger at this stage of the game and of course he played them well. He also threw a number of palm thrust and koppu kicks and those still looked as great as always. I like that he couldn't hit the Liger Bomb due to the THICKNESS of Hero, so instead he used his veteran smarts and waited for Hero to climb the turnbuckles before catching him and hitting a regular powerbomb from there. In the end Hero was too much for someone at the tail end of their career, finishing the old man with a flurry of elbows that even prime Liger might've gone down to. I liked this a lot and I will endeavour to watch more old man Liger. 

Re-Watching Jushin Thunder Liger (part 2)

Jushin Liger, Riki Choshu & Kengo Kimura v Bam Bam Bigelow, Owen Hart & Pat Tanaka (New Japan, 8/31/89)

I think a pretty underrated Liger quality is his ability to be a part of obscure match-ups and really thrive, or at the very least make an effort to make those match-ups work. I love Choshu and wouldn't put more than 30 wrestlers in history ahead of him, but he struggled sometimes to make matches with some foreign talent interesting, and I'm not talking about the semi-obscure names like Biff Wellington or, say, Pat Tanaka. With Liger, you could throw out 50 names, from Hulk Hogan to Hillbilly Jim and I'm at least interested in seeing how he approaches every one of those match-ups. One of my favourite New Japan matches of the entire 80s was a six-man tag from earlier on this tour, with Liger on the opposite side of Vader, Buzz Sawyer and Manny Fernandez and each match-up fucking ruled. Liger against Bam Bam Bigelow? Couldn't not be awesome. Liger and Owen Hart? Haven't seen their singles matches in forever but I bet they work well together. Liger and Pat Tanaka??? Take my money. And this was indeed at its best when Liger was in there. A Liger/Bam Bam match would've been great based on this and their exchange early on here was the highlight. Bigelow whips Liger into the ropes and Liger slides under his legs quicker than just about anybody I've ever seen do that spot. Bam Bam barely needed to lift his foot off the ground or spread his base to allow Liger space to fit through; it was seamless and rapid and when he did it successfully you couldn't help but concede that it was the correct decision to make in that moment. Liger drilling Bigelow SQUARE in the face with a koppu kick as Bam Bam turned around further solidified Liger's decision. Liger v Tanaka was brief but culminated with Liger dropping him with a quick flurry of palm strikes to the jaw. Owen looked kind of lost at points honestly, but he's three years into his career at this stage so it's hard to be overly critical. Liger, who'd only been wrestling a couple years longer, was much quicker and more assured and absolutely hammered Owen with a tope into the barricade. Depending on how deep this Jushin Liger rabbit hole I go I should re-watch one of their singles matches. Bigelow was a total blast on the Americans' side. Amazing energy, great bumps, greater headbutts. His exchange with Choshu at the very start was only slightly below his exchange with Liger and I guess I'll take back what I said about Choshu working with foreigners. Tanaka isn't involved a ton and you can guess what his primary role in the match is, but there was one amusing spot where he came in illegally and ran across to the opposite corner, thrust kicked Kimura as he was stepping through the ropes, then bolted all the way back to his own corner. Bigelow's flip bump over the top off a Choshu lariat looked spectacular, then Tanaka tried to one-up him with his signature inside-out bump off another lariat. 

Jushin Liger v Dr Wagner Jr. (New Japan, 2/6/99)

The problem with this match is that it lasted like two hours. Or it didn't but by the end it kind of felt like it had. It wasn't terrible or anything and it actually started great, with Wagner doing a backwards roll after giving Liger a clean break in the corner, seeking the crowd's recognition for his act of cordiality, only for Liger to blitz him with a running shotei. The first half and then some was basically Wagner working Liger's leg. It had some decent stuff but it was very...deliberate. Methodical, if you want to be generous, uninteresting if you don't. I did like how Liger was more vocal with his selling the longer it went, a little more desperate with each hold applied, but by the fifth figure-four I was sort of ready for it to be over. The back half wasn't mindblowing. I don't even think people would've been going nuts over it at the time if only the last 10 minutes had been shown on TV. Liger's leg never once came into play after he transitioned out of the heat segment either so I guess that's 15 minutes of my life I'll never get back. And at this point I'm not even stodgy about limbwork always needing to GO SOMEWHERE or whatever. This really did just feel like a perfect example of why some of the 90s New Japan juniors fell out of style, where everything before the finishing stretch felt disconnected, like the wrestlers knew it wasn't going on TV so they chose to sleepwalk their way through that segment of the match, turning something that could've been a tight 13 minutes into a tedious 25. I've also seen Liger shotei a man's nose all the way across his face and the ones he went to as an equaliser down the stretch were nothing to write home about. Wagner hitting the Michinoku Driver on the ramp was at least cool and I thought Liger milked about as much out of the 20 count as he realistically could. Too long for me overall but the less impatient sort might dig it. 

Re-Watching Jushin Thunder Liger (part 1 of possibly a few parts maybe?)

Jushin Liger was one of the first two or three wrestlers from Japan that I really dove into back when I decided to devote a quite frankly stupid amount of time to this nonsense of a hobby. There was a point in time where I'd have considered him a top 3-5 wrestler ever, maybe even number 1. Then as the years went by my tastes changed and I guess there was a part of me that got a little bored by him. When we did the PWO GWE poll in 2016 he was just outside my top 40; unthinkable 10 years earlier. I don't feel like he's someone I need to re-evaluate or whatever, because at the end of the day this is supposed to be fun and there's only enough time in the day to treat it as a PhD project. 

But over the last few years I've gone back and watched smatterings of him and you know what? That dude was awesome basically right out the gate. The '86 stuff with Fujiwara and Takada and the UWF boys while he was going by his government name? Ruled. Early masked Liger against Sano? Amazing. Peak Liger putting people like Sasuke, Kanemoto and Ohtani in their place? Great. Post-peak defending the New Japan turf against snarling goblin NOAH bastards like Kikuchi? Tremendous. He ultimately works a style that isn't always my favourite and some of the stuff I used to love doesn't do a ton for me nowadays, but that match against Ohara I wrote about the other day was killer and now I want to watch a bunch of Jushin Liger. 

We'll see where it takes us. 

Jushin Liger & Masa Chono v Shinya Hashimoto & Naoki Sano (New Japan, 1/6/90)

Any Liger v Sano we can get is a real treat so seeing that this handheld from a quarter-century ago even exists at all is a beautiful thing. Liger v Hashimoto is also one of those match-ups that looks amazing on paper and pretty much always delivers in execution, and this was some of their best stuff together, even on an untaped house show. Liger was fucking great in this. The match starts with him and Hashimoto going at each other with shoulderblocks. Liger manages to keep things at a stalemate on the first couple but probably realises that can't last very long, so on the third he zips past Hash for an extra run of the ropes and hits a diving shoulderblock that sends Hashimoto to a knee, then Liger follows up with a rolling kick right to the top of Hashimoto's head. You know Hashimoto will make him pay for that later, and you get giddy at the prospect and then it happens and you nod your head because this is why you watch the professional wrestling. The shoulderbreaker Hash hits on Liger was less shoulderbreaker and more tombstone, dropping Liger on the top of his head like he was trying to nail him to the mat by the horns on his mask. They had a martial arts stand-off mid-match with Liger taking up a sort of crane stance, ducking out the way of a couple Hashimoto roundhouse kicks that would've decapitated him. I haven't seen their February '94 match in probably 16 years and I'm hyped to check that out again. Sano hitting a bullet tope on Chono was a thing of beauty and there aren't many people who will torpedo a guy with a tope better than Sano. But then Chono just kind of decides he's going on offense again and they transition into a brief Sano in peril segment. Brief but awesome, as Chono holds Sano down and Liger crushes him with a double stomp to the guts off the top rope. I don't think Chono expected Liger to do that because he shoots him a look afterwards like "fuck sake steady on there, mate." I'd have been happy with either Liger/Sano or Liger/Hashimoto pairing taking us home and the Liger/Hashimoto we got kept pace with earlier. Hashimoto's running brainbuster thing was even wilder than the shoulderbreaker/tombstone monstrosity, then he throws his whole weight behind a wheel kick and that is a whole lot of weight being thrown, particularly from a man so prone to violent outbursts. I loved this. 

Jushin Liger & Takehiro Murahama v Naomichi Marufuji & KENTA (NOAH, 7/16/03)

I didn't think this was quite as good overall as Liger's run against the NOAH boys the previous year, though it was still a really good Liger performance. There was probably a bit too much Marufuji for me. The story seemed to be about him scoring the big win for his team and establishing himself as someone on semi-level footing with the horned one. He's by a significant margin the least interesting person in the match. I haven't watched any Marufuji in forever but his offence was still as flimsy as I remembered, though he did hit one spectacular dive. That springboard moonsault over the barricade always did look amazing. The general WIMPINESS of his offence stands out even more when you compare it to his partner's. I'm not even a KENTA fan but he'll absolutely kick the living shit out of someone and both he and Murahama did that often and to each other. It's also hard to take Marufuji seriously when you've got Liger on the other side ready to throttle someone before the bell even rings. I guess Marufuji was never really one to thrive on HATRED and such though so it's probably an unfair criticism. Maybe. But Liger had his hackles up during the intros and you knew someone was getting cracked in the temple with the palm of his hand. The first exchange with him and Marufuji has Marufuji leapfrogging and finessing his way around Liger, so Liger just stops running the ropes and takes his jaw off with a shotei. It makes so much sense you can only wonder why everyone doesn't do it. I liked the structure and layout overall, with each team having one guy play face-in-peril before it builds to the finish. The video file was like 35 minutes long so when they started trading nearfalls around the 20-minutes mark a part of me was looking for an excuse to dip out, but they never went overboard and I thought it hit that feeling of epic. Marufuji winning with the Shooting Star Press while Liger was out of commission on the floor was a cool finish, tbf. It looked like it really meant something to Marufuji too. 

Casas v Santo - the end of the road (for a little while...)

Negro Casas v El Hijo del Santo (Mask vs Hair) (CMLL, 9/19/87)

Not to labour a point, but this really is a singular match in lucha libre history; maybe all of wrestling history. An apuestas match with no blood that starts with several minutes of mat work and it's somehow more violent and visceral than 99% of apuestas matches ever? I suppose trying to rip your hated rival's blood-soaked mask off or cave their skull in with the ring post will communicate an adequate level of enmity. It's also very fun to watch if you're a bloodthirsty degenerate who enjoys that in your pro wrestling. On the other hand, these two trying to stomp each other's face into the ground repeatedly might've been even more effective in laying out their history. The Battlarts/FUTEN comparison is apt and obvious if you've seen any Battlarts/FUTEN, but there are also elements of the wildest Choshu brawls, the nastiest WAR potato-fests and even the pacing at times reminded me a little of the best 90s interpromotional joshi. Never for a second though did I forget that these two fucking despise each other. 

Casas was grinning like a dog eyeing a pork chop before the bell and while the opening was cagey, the first strike thrown in the whole match being a disgusting kick to Santo's knee really set the tone for everything that followed. It looked like Santo did not expect to be kicked side-on in the leg like that, half planted as it was, the knee almost buckling inwards underneath him. Santo responding with an armdrag that was really more of a judo throw, landing Casas high on his shoulder and neck, also provided some nice foreshadowing of how Santo would ultimately win out. The matwork had none of the grace and beauty of lucha grappling, instead it was rough and gritty and coarse and every time they went to the mat it felt like things were about to go off the rails. I don't even remember who started it now but before long they were throwing slaps and punches to the face, stomps to the head, kicking each other in the shoulder and liver and ear. I've seen Wanderlei try and volley a man's head off his shoulders and somehow it looked less TRUCULENT than some of the stomps Casas was throwing here. Maybe it's because those Wanderlei kicks were business, a largely impersonal endeavour in pursuit of victory, whereas these were steeped in murderous intent. The way he ran and jumped on Santo's knee as it was draped over the bottom rope was putrid, then when Santo grabbed that rope to break a half crab Casas just punted him in the wrist. The violence just escalated and escalated and there were a hundred different moments both subtle and not so subtle that you could mention. I think my favourite part of the whole match was when Santo grabbed Casas by the hair to apply a tapatia, yanking him back and forth with enough force that he wound up having to release it because he ripped a handful of Casas' hair out. Then Casas spun around into the mount and started headbutting Santo in the face while he held the eye holes in his mask. 

They almost do a reset of sorts with about 10 minutes to go, coming after Santo slides out the ring - or is kicked out the ring - and smashes Casas' face into the ring board before kneeing him in the head half a dozen times. When they make it back in after that they stand in opposite corners staring a hole in each other, and if they hadn't the measure of one other before that then they absolutely knew what the rest of the match was going to be. Santo's rocker dropper/shoulderbreaker thing was nuts and I like how that really set us up for the finish, even if Casas never sold it to a huge extent afterwards. Casas dropkicks Santo in the face while the latter is hung up in a tree of woe, then when Santo slips out of la Casita Casas decides he'll hang him up in the corner again, unperturbed and maybe even a little pleased that he needs to dish out some more punishment. You could see it in how he casually walked over and dropped an elbow to the back of Santo's head and I'm pretty sure he did it with a smile on his face. Of course Santo is who he is and avoids the second dropkick, Casas goes sliding out the ring, and Santo sits up and immediately crushes him with a plancha to the floor. His gradual comeback after that was almost All Japan-ish and brought to mind some of those Misawa comebacks where you knew deep down the other guy had missed his chance, even if he'd still get some licks in as he went down swinging. Santo brutally headbutting Casas in the face before hitting the corner senton was amazing, then when he couldn't hook the Caballo he transitioned into the nastiest cross armbreaker you ever did see. 

Before watching this again I went through everything between these two from the point where Santo turned rudo in November '96, through the three awesome trios matches in June '97, even both Santo/Felino matches from July since Casas was there in Felino's corner. There were elements of the feud from everything that came before it that they touched on here, like the powerbomb that Felino had used to put away Santo in trios and singles matches. Callbacks like that aren't really what I think of with lucha, but I guess it makes sense that they'd do it here since this is such an abnormal sort of match. There's really nothing else like it and I wouldn't argue with anyone who called it the best match there's ever been. 

Fujinami v Kabuki! Liger bringing FURY!

Tatsumi Fujinami v The Great Kabuki (New Japan, 2/5/93)

Old man Kabuki with his grey beard and red and black face paint is such a cool look. A VIBE, as the youth might say. When I'm old and demented or perhaps MORE old and demented then that's the look I aspire to on an everyday basis. Choshu was out before the bell raving about something or other so I half expected Kabuki to start this by misting Fujinami. Choshu always did have a sense for such things. This wasn't as crazy heated as the majority of WAR v New Japan but it did have a goodly number of Kabuki uppercuts and thrust kicks so how loudly can we complain? Fujinami decides he's had enough of getting peppered off of clean breaks and unloads with a barrage of body shots that leaves Kabuki slumped in the corner. He raised an arm with a roar afterwards and it was almost reminiscent of Jumbo across the way when he'd get fed up being elbowed in the face by Misawa. Fujinami's chinlocks were as tight as ever here and you could imagine Kabuki's true face turning even redder without the face paint. Fujinami locks in the dragon sleeper but someone in a WAR tracksuit - the best of all tracksuits - gets up on the apron to run distraction, a SCUFFLE ensues, and Fujinami turns around into a tidal wave of green mist. I was kind of worried when Fujinami went for the dragon suplex because it might've legit killed Kabuki at this stage. 

Jushin Liger v Michiyoshi Ohara (New Japan, 11/20/93)

We really were spoiled by the WAR/New Japan/Heisei Ishingun feud. The hit rate was insane and every night you'd have people elevating their game and bringing the heat, or in this case the thunder. In a lot of ways Liger is the perfect interpromotional feud wrestler. There are very few wrestlers who express searing contempt or even just mild annoyance like him and what is interpromotional wrestling built on if not searing contempt or even just mild annoyance. In the New Japan/NOAH feud I bought that he truly wanted to kill Kikuchi. If you play with fire you'll get burned and Liger is the perfect fire in that scenario. Ohara decided he wanted to play with fire here, for whatever stupid reason. He jumped Liger at the start and tried to rip his mask off, so when Liger made his comeback he tried to dent Ohara's skull with a rolling kick and launched him into the barricade. What was really awesome was the escalation of violence and how they used revenge spots. Liger smashes a chair over Ohara's head and piledrives him on exposed concrete, so later Ohara pays him back with the exact same. After that, Liger takes it a step further, rips up the mats and hits a powerbomb. They fight over a suplex while Liger is on the apron and Ohara is in the ring and I figured they wouldn't have Ohara take a suplex bump from the ring to the floor on a house show, but sure enough they make a fool of me and dial it up a notch into the bargain as Liger tries to break the poor guy's neck with a fucking brainbuster on the apron. Liger throws a couple disgusting dropkicks to the knee, one as he comes flying off the top rope, and I'm left shaking my head wondering why Ohara chose to start the match the way he did. That shotei at the end was as emphatic as you could get. I now want to go back and watch a million Liger matches. For a while there I'd forgotten how good he could be, maybe from 90s New Japan juniors fatigue or whatever, but this Liger is never shy of tremendous.

Savage v Tito! From the Spectrum!

Randy Savage v Tito Santana (No DQ) (WWF, 5/31/86)

I thought I'd seen every Savage v Santana match from this feud years ago. Thought I'd gone through all of it for a greatest WWF matches ever poll back in the faraway time of 2009. I guess I was wrong because I didn't remember this one at all, and I'm sure you're shocked to hear that it was awesome and I loved it. What an amazing feud.

Randy Savage was very good at the pro wrestling. I don't even know if I'd put this up there as one of his very best performances, which says a whole lot about his consistency, but it was still a performance that struck me as world class. There are a few words I'd use to describe him here - desperate, opportunistic, cowardly, reactionary, fevered. They all applied at various points, sometimes for different reasons, sometimes for the same reasons. The match started with him throwing Liz in the line of fire, then jumping Tito when he stopped to check on her. It was a pretty cowardly way to approach a fight. There were also times where he outright tried to scramble away from Tito only to be dragged back by the tights, although I guess some would call that smart rather than cowardly. His desperation jumped off the page on everything he did; every run of the ropes, every pin attempt, every punch, every axe handle off the top, every bump, every twitch, every movement. Sometimes he never created openings of his own as opposed to using Tito's momentum and fire against him. Tito was going hell for leather to win that belt back so he could push the envelope a bit without worrying about getting himself disqualified, but a few times he pushed it too far, let his heart and fists drive him rather than his head and Savage used it to his advantage. I've also said this a bunch of times about Savage over the years, but for someone who was notorious for planning everything in a match to the tiniest detail beforehand, there's almost never an occasion where I watch him and get the sense he knows what's about to happen next. Nothing comes off as rehearsed or pre-planned. He's almost the definition of reactionary, in response to not just his opponent but the environment, the world around him. There was a fan about five rows in with a sign that read "I WANT TO SLAM ELIZABETH" and I swear to god I expected Savage to drag the match those five rows deep just to take a swing at the guy. There's a level of immersion I get with Savage that I get with only a handful of other wrestlers in history. I don't want to turn this into a tirade against modern wrestling, but there are so many instances today of wrestlers trying to communicate desperation and urgency, despair, frustration, whatever, and just about all of it comes off as bad method acting. The shocked, bug-eyed staring when the opponent won't stay down, it's some of the worst stuff going and it seems to happen in every WWE match nowadays (and probably most AEW ones). No matter what Savage did in this match it never felt like he was performing or actively trying to communicate something. His urgency and desperation were a state of his being and not once did I see the gears turning, the strings moving, the acting out of whatever ropey screenplay had been written before they walked through the curtain. 

Savage's desperation is never more obvious than late in the match, bloodied up after being ran into the post, when he turns around and cracks the referee. I've seen him do that in a few of his matches with Santana and Steamboat, but I wasn't expecting it here and it was an amazing "to hell with this" moment. It was as pure an example as any of what a madman will do when his back's against the wall and his title's in jeopardy and Savage was as mad as they came. He couldn't escape by taking the disqualification here but it did save him from being counted out after the flying elbow, which as an aside looked fucking spectacular. The finish is the same as some of the other no DQ matches they'd ran around the horn, with the ref' coming to again just as Savage reverses a roll-up by grabbing the tights. Naturally everyone involved would've walked through that finish before the match, rehearsed the steps and the timing and everything else to get it just right. Yet every time I see it I fully believe it's what Randy Savage would've done in that moment. An incredible pro wrestler. 

Is Negro Casas still the GOAT? (yes of course Negro Casas is still the GOAT)

Negro Casas v Great Sasuke (CMLL, 7/7/96)

An unreal Casas performance. A lot of times I'll see matches between some of my favourite wrestlers from Mexico and my favourite wrestlers from Japan and I'll be less excited than I should be, just because stylistically they'll meet somewhere in the middle and maybe rein themselves in a little for the occasion. Sometimes there's just a styles clash and it doesn't really work in practice like you'd think it would on paper. I've seen Casas work New Japan where, for obvious reasons, he's not the Negro Casas you'd see in front of an Arena Mexico crowd who knows him inside out. You get 80% of Casas and 80% Casas is still great, but you know what 100% Casas looks like and why wouldn't you want that. I wondered if Sasuke would roll into Mexico City and scale back some of his wilder tendencies. I probably shouldn't have because he did not scale anything back and pretty much fit like a glove, working in front of this crowd like he would've in Korakuen Hall or any Michinoku Pro gymnasium. Stylistically the primera caida was closer to the sort of grappling you'd see in Japan than Mexico, but it was plenty rugged and Sasuke never pissed about sitting in holds just to be doing it. Whenever he had Casas grounded it looked like he was trying to finish him, really yanking on armbars and leaving Casas scrambling to the ropes, each time with a little more desperation. He more or less dominated that first fall and it set the table for Casas' response in the next two. His response of course was to be the biggest shithouse conman bastard imaginable. He knew he was up against it going into the segunda and straight away he dipped into his bag of horse shit, crying to the ref' about Sasuke's chinlocks being chokes, coughing and spluttering and pointing to his throat. The ref' starts to come around to the idea that maybe he really is being choked, Casas being a world class thespian and all that. As you can imagine, Sasuke gets more and more irritated that the ref's actually buying this. Sasuke is being seconded by Tiger Mask on the night so Casas hangs out the ropes over by that corner, whipping his head back and flying across the ring as if he's just been struck. Tiger Mask is FLUMMOXED and pleads innocence, but Casas does it again while the ref' checks on Sasuke and this time he slaps himself for the audial effect! Casas runs the ropes and trips himself into a face-first bump, Tiger Mask immediately backing away with his hands up. Then as the ref' goes to have a word Casas thumps Sasuke in the balls. As far as setups and payoffs go it was pretty much perfect and maybe the best low blow ever. Sasuke kicking out of TWO fouls was ludicrous but Casas did make him pay for it in the tercera with some brutal work on the leg, including dropping him into the fixed seats and repeatedly kicking one of those seats closed on Sasuke's knee. You make peace with Sasuke blowing off that leg work because you already knew he would anyway and also because his lunatic dives might play even better in Mexico than they do in Japan. This Arena Coliseo crowd isn't as attuned to Sasuke's madness so people don't clear out the way instantly. It means you get moments like Casas being dropkicked off the corner to the floor and almost killing a photographer and Sasuke flying outside with his Asai moonsault or crazy tiger kick, the ring close enough to the first row where you expect a spectator to be caught in the crossfire. How Sasuke never overshot the moonsault and put the toe of his boots through someone's face I'll never know. One of my favourite Casas spots is him going up top and getting unreasonably ahead of himself before missing whatever move he's about to hit, but this time it actually connected and it looked like Sasuke's lungs got popped like balloons. His cockiness still nearly costs him as Sasuke has been in enough car crashes before where you know he'll come back from anything, but Casas rights the ship in the end with a gorgeous, rapid fast casita. Casas was a phenomenon in this, a force of nature if you want to get all purple about it, as charismatic as any wrestler to ever live who took an already very good wrestler and wrestled them to a level nobody else could. The best to ever do it, doing it at a point where he might never have been better. 

Another day of Santo v Felino

El Hijo del Santo v Felino (CMLL, 7/25/97)

A very different match from the title bout earlier in the month, yet one no less great. I actually might've preferred this one by a hair. It wasn't quite a full blown brawl, but they go at each other hammer and tong from the very jump and everything has an amazing intensity to it. It started perfectly with Santo torpedoing himself at Felino with the corner tope, the former still in his ring jacket while the latter was yammering into the camera about whatever. Felino unfortunately kind of blows it off and goes on the offensive with his own senton off the apron, but it was early enough in the match where it didn't bother me too much. I'm repeating myself to a stupid degree at this point but by christ is rudo Hijo del Santo a fucking marvel. He has to be in the conversation as one of the best ever at flipping that switch and going for a guy's throat. I mean that in a figurative sense as well as a literal one, because here he had Felino in the corner with a boot across his throat and it looked like he was trying to remove his head from his shoulders. He hangs Felino off the apron by the creases in his boots and stomps him on the back of the head, kicks him in the liver, slaps the whiskers off his mask, it was phenomenal. I don't think he's ever leaned deeper into the camel clutch than he did to end the second caida and he threw Felino's head to the mat in disgust after it finished him. Loved how the powerbomb came into play yet again. It's been a thread running through the past six weeks' worth of exchanges between them and it almost did for Santo AGAIN here. Felino hit him with three variations, all of them looking pretty brutal, and Santo only managed to escape by being pinned close enough to the ropes to limply reach out and grab one. The dives towards the end are of course fitting of Santo v Felino, especially Santo's screwball tope over the top that blasts Felino into the first row. Like in the title match the finish might be a bit of a letdown, as you really want Santo ripping Felino's mask to turn into a blood-soaked revenge piece by the tiger man, but instead it leads to Casas storming the ring and punting Santo clean in the head. This was honestly insane, proper FUTEN level stuff and I cannot wait to revisit their September apuestas match for the first time in an eternity. 

A Fuerza Guerrera Masterpiece

Fuerza Guerrera v Pantera II (CMLL, 5/4/90)

I first watched this over 15 years ago now, at a time where I was very much learning to love Fuerza Guerrera, but had never seen him work a long title match with a heavy technical focus. It blew me away and became one of my favourite matches of the decade. Fast forward to today and Fuerza is one of my five favourite wrestlers of all time and shockingly enough this match holds up as being great. I've seen about as much Fuerza footage as I have from anybody to ever wrestle in Mexico, which is a whole lot of footage, and I don't know if there's a better example of Fuerza Guerrera, Technical Wizard. The crowd being sceptical initially is amusing, like the mere idea of Fuerza Guerrera reining in his bullshit for the purposes of a gentleman's contest is hilarious. He was almost CHAGRINED at that and you knew there would be several instances of him giving in to his true nature, but by and large he behaved himself. Some people just have that inherent, intrinsic need to cheat. A pathological liar will just do it no matter the situation. A natural shithouse will naturally shithouse and with Fuerza, even when he doesn't need to, at one point or another he will inevitably let that side of himself take the wheel. I don't think he can help it. There was never a moment where Pantera fouled him or even came close to it, but Fuerza sure tried to frame him for it more than once, rolling around frantically, pointing to his privates, the ref' disinterested at best and appalled at worst. Everybody in modern football - or soccer, if you will - rolls around like they've been shot or elbowed in the face or had their legs broken after any sort of moderate contact. Luis Suarez, who was unplayable at his best, would dive and roll around at least once a game when he obviously didn't need to. That's Fuerza Guerrera and like Suarez he would also definitely bite you in the shoulder. The primera caida was fantastic and full of the sort of lucha matwork you love as a cultured fan of the lucha libre yet scoff at if you're an uncultured philistine who is not a fan of the lucha libre. Fuerza didn't take kindly to being shown up and once or twice he was a bull in a china shop, Pantera using that recklessness to take the fall. Pantera was good enough overall, if a little slow getting properly into position for things as the match went on. That at least played into the story of the segunda with Fuerza showing why he's the champ, picking up steam as Pantera starts to lag. The tercera was an awesome deciding fall. It maybe went a touch too long but I couldn't say I was ever waiting for it to be over and if nothing else the length of it let them play up the exhaustion. Pantera would grab a preposterous hold and after a little while he'd be so spent that he could barely apply it properly, doing all he could just to keep Fuerza's arms or legs hooked, while Fuerza didn't have enough left to break free of even a half-applied submission. The finishing hold itself was a very fitting way to cap it off. Tremendous match and a real career highlight for Fuerza; the sort of thing you'd build a case for him being a top 5-10 Mexican wrestler ever off of. You wouldn't hear any argument from me. 

1990 CMLL Project

Revisiting 90s Joshi #56

Aja Kong v Meiko Satomura (GAEA, 4/24/98)

This is one of my favourite feuds in all of joshi so I'm surprised I'd never seen this instalment of it before. It's their first singles match together and of course had some of the elements that made their match a year later a classic, but a year can be a lifetime and Meiko was nowhere near ready to scale this mountain yet. The hierarchy gap was much more pronounced here and Aja was far swifter with her murderousness. But the Bulls needed to run into that Pistons brick wall a few times, needed to taste failure and be force-fed half a dozen elbows before realising what it would take to reach the PINNACLE and such. Success is earned, not given, as my great granny would always tell me. And Aja never gave her much but Meiko earned at least a little something to build on here. I loved her scrappiness above all. I seem to always mention how crazy it is that Satomura got so good so early, but it's worth repeating and every time I watch her in those formative years her persistence is captivating. It's impossible to watch her and not get behind her, even if you know in the end it likely won't matter, especially against someone this much higher up the food chain. You want to see her score those small victories though; see her finally take Aja down and lock in the armbar. She was determined to hook that thing and it usually failed, but the one time she succeeded had Aja scrambling to the ropes and it felt like a significant moment in a broader sense, like it'll stand her in good stead going forward. Her dedication to making everything feel important makes those moments stand out. Obviously Aja being awesome and knowing when to give and when to destroy helps too. She barely registered any elbow or forearm thrown her way and her expression rarely changed, unperturbed as she was. At one point, amid a barrage of forearms, she went to look out to the crowd like "who the fuck is this kid?" before changing her mind and dropping Meiko on the spot. Meiko hitting the death valley driver was an awesome moment and then Aja came back and showed her what a real death valley driver could be. Then she stood her up, patted her on the cheek for her efforts and took her head off with the backfist. For Satomura, maybe next time would be her time, or the time after that, or even the time after that. But not this time. 

Santo v Felino - a Different Sort of Title Match

El Hijo del Santo v Felino (CMLL, 7/4/97)

I've watched a lot of Santo recently and let me tell you, that guy was fucking stupendous. I guess I'd kind of forgotten just HOW good he was, but man, he was SO good. 1997 is maybe one of the three best wrestling years in history and he has as good a case as anybody for being the best in the world that year. This follows on from three trios matches the previous month. The first one I wrote about a few days ago, with Felino not actually being in the match but involving himself via shenanigans at the end. The rematch of that from a week later was even better and had Bestia Salvaje sitting front row causing a ruckus. Everybody beat the bejeezus out of each other and Bestia stuck his nose in allowing the rudos to pick up the win. The third match from 6/20 actually had Felino in it and this time Bestia's interference backfires, as Santo ends up hitting a tope straight into his face. It was a brilliant series of matches and set up a title match with some proper heat behind it. Bestia was cornering Santo here while Casas was cornering his brother so you knew that would come into play at some point too. As far as title matches go this followed a bit of a different path than you might expect. It was only two falls for a start, but it never felt disappointingly short. If anything it made you absolutely want to see a rematch, while at the same time continued building anticipation for that next Santo/Casas installment. The opening caida was a wonder, though. These two are a sensational pairing when they hit the mat and wrestle and as always with Santo when he's in there with Felino, everything he does has an extra layer of intensity to it. He'd grab Felino's leg and work through half a dozen holds, one Indian deathlock variation that I can't even explain, switching to something else every time Felino managed to find an answer. I've probably said it 20 times on here by now but for a guy who's typically known for his gracefulness there are very few wrestlers in lucha who can tear at a guy's limbs like Santo when he's compelled to. In one of the cool deviations from the norm we get a huge Santo tope in the primera. Felino had been a pain in his ass recently so he probably saw his opportunity and decided to waste him, no hanging around. Santo's achilles heel in this feud rears its ugly head again though and Felino picks up the fall with a powerbomb. People will sometimes say there's not enough STORY~ in lucha but that move had been a big part of those trios matches the previous month and the crowd responded like it mattered when Felino hit it here. The segunda is high energy the whole way and pretty quickly you realize it's not just going to be one of those short equalising falls. Even if the finish is screwy it adds yet more fuel to the eternal Casas/Santo fire, and any disappointment fades as soon as you see Casas walking away smirking. Why would anybody think they can out-bullshit the master?

Rudo Santo and Dr Wagner Jr. on the warpath

El Hijo del Santo, Dr Wagner Jr. & Scorpio Jr. v Negro Casas, La Fiera & Ultimo Dragon (CMLL, 6/6/97)

Now and then I'll forget that Santo/Casas might be the apex. Santo v Felino, Santo v Parka, Santo v Espanto, Santo v Panther, all awesome match ups. Casas v Panther, Casas v Dandy, Casas v Ultimo Dragon, Casas v Rush, also awesome match ups. But then I watch this and I'm like yeah, Santo v Casas is still the apex. You couldn't take your eyes off them during this and every second of them together was magic. I know that Rudo Santo had a shelf life but by god he puts absolutely everything into playing the role, particularly when Casas is on the other side of the ring. His aggression, intensity, viciousness, all of it here was phenomenal. The early pairings across the board were full of that and none more than his and Casas', then as soon as it goes south any semblance of sportsmanship goes out the window. He turned near feral and once again Casas bore the brunt of it, but it didn't stop him lashing out at Ultimo or Fiera as well. Ultimo got it in the primera when he came in and broke up a Santo submission by punting him in the back. You didn't need to see Santo's face to know he was peeved and he immediately got up and went for Ultimo. This wasn't New Japan or the WCW mid-card, this was the Son of El Santo in Arena Maxico. After things break down the rudo assault is inspired, including Wagner Jr. ramming Ultimo shoulder-first into the post enough times that he can't continue. Wagner Jr. was actually a tremendous wildman in this, running around causing chaos, cutting off tecnicos, instigating gang beatings, everything you want as Santo's maniacal henchman. Casas of course gets destroyed when it goes down to 3v2 and Santo body slamming him head first into a row of seats was incredible. Then as Casas is almost fully vertical with his head stuck in one seat Santo repeatedly slams it shut like the scene from Daredevil where Fisk crushes a guy's skull in a car door. Truly the apex of this great sport. Ultimo coming back out in the tercera like nothing had happened was kind of jarring until the post-match angle shows that it may not have been Ultimo Dragon after all and was in fact Felino in Ultimo's garb. Which is kind of cool and sets up at least one amazing Santo/Felino match down the line. 

A Sunday Rudo Spectacular

Fuerza Guerrera, Emilio Charles Jr. & Blue Panther v El Faraon, Super Astro & Atlantis (EMLL, 8/19/89)

Look at that rudo unit. You know that on any given day there's going to be some magic from all three and there were several moments per person here where I thought "that guy might've been the best wrestler in the world." The first caida is an all-time amazing rudo show; stooging, bumping, timing, shithousing the lot. Obviously the tecnicos are amazing playing off them. The Panther/Astro exchange to begin was sensational and as soon as Emilio bounced in to throw a cheapshot the tecnicos chased him up the ramp. They were ready to throttle him and Emilio was almost taken aback by the response, maybe feeling sorry for himself given his freshly shaved head from his recent apuestas loss. All three tecnicos were vocal about wanting him in the ring but Atlantis was loudest. When Fuerza jumps in and throws a kick shortly afterwards the tecnico response is far less vehement and there was almost perplexity as Emilio saw it. "Why am I a prick and he isn't?" Maybe with Fuerza you just expect it more. There was a moment where Fuerza gave Emilio a little pat on the head and Emilio turned to him with obvious irritation, but Fuerza was very Fuerza about it and couldn't see why Emilio might've been annoyed. Atlantis slaps Fuerza off the apron and Fuerza's pirouette before falling off was beyond words. Every 10 seconds the rudos were doing something great, basically. Super Astro was a magician in this and that little fella running people in circles will never get old. His springboard headbutt in the primera was incredible and then he went and topped it at the end, doing the apron-to-floor version, cracking Panther in the face with the latter getting hurled into the seats. He even did a stretcher job, getting carted out as Fuerza and Emilio were left staring at the ceiling. This was honestly one of the most fun trios matches I've ever seen. 

Wake up babe, a new Sangre Chicana match appeared on the internet!

Sangre Chicana v El Faraon (EMLL, 11/23/95)

I guess it's fitting that I finally watched this on the same day I saw that Springsteen was coming out with a new album full of previously unreleased tracks. I'd need to think long and hard about the answer to a hypothetical "which wrestler's entire career would you want to have available on tape?" question, but Sangre Chicana is about as good an answer as any. Things like this are a good indicator of why and any new Chicana footage is to be celebrated. He came out of nowhere at the start here and jumped Faraon, the latter getting absolutely nothing in the short primera. Chican revelled in it and Faraon's selling was amazing, really looking like a guy who'd been caught off guard and maybe concussed into the bargain. The ending to the fall was perfect Chicana, submitting Faraon with an octopus stretch and then, needlessly and unprompted, punching Faraon in the dick while the hold was still applied. As far as low blows go it was an easy 9.5/10. Faraon's comeback was full of the venom you'd expect and Chicana wanted none of it, continually backing off without outright turning and hightailing it. At points he knew he had to fight and when they started trading punched it was spectacular. The highlight was Chicana backtracking as Faraon stalked him down outside the ring, Chicana picking up a glass bottle and shattering it on the ring post to use as a weapon. Faraon's immediate and instinctual response was to pick up a piece of that glass and continue walking down Chicana and for a second there you wondered if he wouldn't actually try and stab him. I've seen Glasgow street fights where you'd bet the house on someone leaving in an ambulance and this was similar, the referee in a very precarious position trying to talk both of them off a ledge. By the tercera they're both bleeding and cracking each other with punches and if it ultimately led to a hair match you'd happily sell your soul for it to appear on the internet one day.  

Revisiting 90s Joshi #55

Akira Hokuto v KAORU (GAEA, 4/12/97)

This was only around 15 minutes and never really felt like the Big Time Epic I was expecting. I don't mean that as a criticism either. Even if I was EXPECTING Big Time Epic it wasn't exactly what I was HOPING for. It was much more of a gritty affair, very scrappy with a nice amount of viciousness to tide us over. I also have to use my wrestling-watching time sparingly these days so 15 minutes gave me a little extra time to figure out how to do my taxes for the first time since moving to the US so that was a cool or at least useful thing. KAORU starting like you might've expected Hokuto to once upon a time was great, blitzing her with a springboard dropkick while Hokuto's back was turned. But it's not the first time someone's tried jumping Hokuto before she's even taken her coat off and her comeback was savage. That comeback was maybe a wee bit easily earned initially, but her selling as the match progressed was really good and by the end it felt like one arm and one leg were hanging off. To hell with that though, she was nasty as fuck and made KAORU pay for her early insolence. There was lots of mean shit, like the disgusting armbars, finger-biting and dropping KAORU on her neck several times. At one point KAORU tried to hit a back suplex off the top and Hokuto just grabbed her by the head and threw her out the ring, totally reckless, then followed up with a wild senton. She might not be THE Dangerous Queen anymore but you'd be a fool to think she isn't still dangerous. KAORU was pretty great here and she's become a favourite of mine the last couple years. She was willing to give as good as she got and hit a couple sick bombs of her own. I think my favourite thing she did was her low dropkick to Hokuto's notoriously dodgy knee. This thing was putrid and the desperation of it made it even better. The finish itself might've been the nastiest move of the lot, which I guess is a good way to cap a match. I don't know if these two have another singles match together but they face off in a couple tags that year so I should go back and watch those too probably. 

Revisiting 00s US Indies #44

Nigel McGuinness v Austin Aries (ROH Rising Above, 12/29/07)

The Austin Aries hits keep on coming! I watched this over a decade ago and thought it was better than all but one of the Nigel/Danielson matches and this watch didn't change my mind. I'm not really a Nigel McGuinness fan but I thought he was great in this, even if some of it might've been circumstances beyond his control. Was his selling of being concussed and running on fumes at points terrific? Sure. Was he absolutely and legitimately concussed and running on fumes at points? You better believe it. Was some of the match an uncomfortable watch as a result? Well this is a post-Benoit world and we know what we know about concussions so it's hard not to feel at least a little icky about enjoying a match in which someone's clearly had their brain rattled. Nigel was already injured even before the concussion, coming in with a torn biceps from when he won the belt. He'd missed a few shows before this because of it so of course the ROH crowd were on his case. When Danielson was champ he wrestled hurt for like two months! What happened to putting your body on the line for the STRAP??? I'm not sure if they'd planned on eventually turning Nigel before this or he just went with the crowd reaction and played into it, but either way he was giving it back to a few fans at the intros. The opening few minutes are tentative, with Aries almost testing the waters by going for that taped up arm, not too aggressively but enough where you know he's willing to exploit it. And why wouldn't he, I guess? Then Nigel takes a powder to go at it again with a fan and Aries wastes him with a tope to the back. Nigel's head crashes into the guardrail and you can tell immediately that his lights are out, and a nasty cut opens up above his eye. For the next few minutes he's left staggering around, partly selling (probably?) but also not even close to being all the way there. It's maybe a wee bit hard to watch through current day eyes. Aries might've already been up on that CTE research way back in 2007 because he looked a bit tentative for a few minutes afterwards. The concern was probably legit and he wanted to kill some time to let Nigel recover, but regardless it worked for the pacing of the match and created a story of Nigel trying to keep his concussed head above water for the remainder, having to break his own momentum a few times and get himself right. The crowd do not give Nigel an ounce of sympathy during this and pretty soon Aries is like yeah sure maybe this guy is an asshole and starts throwing elbows to the head. The focus after that was Aries working over the cut and scrambled head of Nigel - which again, wee bit unsettling - while going after the arm when the opportunity arises. People continue to just eat this up and Nigel gets more and more belligerent (can you blame him?). When Aries tried the pop up dropkick out of a headscissors Nigel blocked it with his forearms, turning away while giving Aries the fingers - middle AND index like a proper Englishman. When Aries tried it again later Nigel blocked it the exact same way, this time giving him the middle finger with a bit more venom behind it. Aries just punted him in the face after that. Nigel had started using his new arm submission around this time so we get some duelling arm work in the back half and the crowd are invested in all of it. I'd forgotten about 99% of what actually happened in this as well so when Aries went for another tope later I wasn't sure if Nigel was enough of a lunatic to let himself be torpedoed into the guardrail again. The finishing stretch is BIG and there are some BUMPS and the transitions between everything are mostly on point. Aries takes a screwball flip bump off a lariat to the floor while he's seated across the top rope, then takes an even SCREWBALLER bump off the jawbreaker lariat at the end. I kind of hated that move after a while because, while the actual lariat part always looked good, the set up either ranged from daft to ridiculously contrived, mostly because he just wasn't quick enough to do the rebound part smoothly. Well Aries is the best I've ever seen at setting himself up for it and not making it obvious he's standing around hoping Nigel doesn't get tangled up in the ropes. Then he eats the lariat and basically spikes himself on his own head like a fucking stone cold psychopath. 

Revisiting 00s US Indies #43

ROH Manhattan Mayhem (5/7/05)

One thing I did not expect to want to do when I started going back through this stuff a few years ago (lockdown was a wild time), was sit down and watch a full Ring of Honour show. Full, in its entirety, from start to finish (in several sittings over the course of about five years). ROH holds fond memories for me and that '04-'07 peak will always have a special wee place in my heart, but my days of wanting to watch ANY 3-hour wrestling show in its entirety are really only reserved for 90s RINGS or WAR. But I watched the thing and it was not a terrible time whatsoever.  

Lacey's Angels v Dixie & Azrieal 

This was supposed to be a 3-way tag match where the losing team would be forced to disband. Quite a severe stipulation for a curtain-jerker, but this is ROH's debut in New York - even Jay-Z is in the building, apparently - so I guess we're pulling out all the stops. Before it starts the Carnage Crew run out and annihilate Dunn and Marcos and tell the crowd they can kiss their ass, then they spit on the Ring of Honor turnbuckle padding, then leave. So it becomes a regular tag match instead, though the stipulation remains. I'll be honest, it's been so long since I've watched anything involving any of these guys that I had no clue who was who for a while, and possibly still don't. Lacey's Angels are Izzy and Deranged and they come out to the ring wearing tuxedos (without Lacey, who has a business meeting with P. Diddy, which I'm sure she regrets deeply now), while Dixie and Azrieal are part of Special K, which is the stable/group/unit that Jay Lethal was once a part of (under the name Hydro). So there you go. Do with that information what you will. I figured this would be your standard sort of 2005 ROH opener fare, and it probably was in all honesty, but it totally did the trick in the same way any good opener from any promotion or any era should -- it got the crowd fired up and ended with an awkwardly brutal headscissors takeover-reverse rana thing that probably could've killed someone. Deranged was pretty amusing in this as a skinny maniac. He took some impressive bumps, did a bit of stooging, got into a shoving match with an even skinnier referee, hit his offence nicely, a real fun ten minutes' worth of work. Dixie - or maybe it was Azrieal; I know it was one of them - definitely comes from the Dynamite Kid line of stocky juniors who work very intense, as he slashes a thumb across his throat and shouts "IT'S OVER" before grabbing a rear waistlock on Deranged and rolling backwards into a camel clutch. That was done to set up a top rope double stomp that, unfortunately for our man Dixie, went horribly awry, as one of those other people involved in the match intervened and instead it was Dixie - or possibly Azrieal - who got double stomped on the back of the head. For a spot-a-thon opener this ticked pretty much all of the boxes. They did cool shit that looked like it might even hurt, they fit in an actual heat segment, the crowd were red hot and that finish was a proper finish. 

Colt Cabana v Nigel McGuinness 

I don't really have much use for either of these guys but for a WHIMSICAL lower midcard match this was fine, if maybe a little too cute at points. Cabana is very jovial and he's here to have a nice sporting contest. Nigel is less jovial but seems to be on board with the sporting contest. The Euro style matwork was all neat enough and they ran through it at a decent pace. Like, you can tell that both of them have been doing this for a while so even the more elaborate and tricky sequences come off smoothly. There's a bit of comedy in there, some light-hearted parity stuff, all-around acknowledgment of the other's prowess, but then Nigel visibly starts to get a little more frustrated. There are about six exchanges in a row where Nigel tries to tie Cabana down and Cabana escapes every time by literally crawling away, once while Nigel rode his back like Cabana was a Shetland pony. The next time Cabana tries to shoot in for a leg Nigel just boots him in the mouth, and in that moment we all live vicariously through Nigel McGuinness because who hasn't wanted to boot Colt Cabana in the mouth at least once? Things never get properly surly and the matwork stays pretty light right until the end, but I thought the finish was cool as an idea, even if they had to just up and redo it because they made an arse of it the first time. 

James Gibson v Black Tiger IV

This was fine. Black Tiger is Rocky Romero and I can't really say I've ever been arsed about anything involving Rocky Romero, but Gibson was on a hot streak in '05 and they both meshed pretty well. A lot of Tiger's offence in the first half of the match consisted of him grabbing a cravate and ramming Gibson's head into things, sometimes the turnbuckles, sometimes the ring post. That was pretty neat. I actually really dug the last few minutes, and the best part is that a move I thought was sort of stupid initially wound up being the thread that ran through the best bits. Tiger going to an ankle lock straight out of a tiger driver or something (I genuinely don't remember the move now) felt kind of silly initially, and I wouldn't even say I'm someone who's particularly tied to the idea that submission moves need a ton of limb-focused build up. Fujiwara never spent every match working the arm but when he grabbed that armbar you knew the people bought it. This just felt more along the lines of being flashy for the sake of being flashy. HOWEVER who really gives a shit anyway and Tiger kept going back to it and Gibson sold it really well and it had a by god payoff in the end so who are we to complain? Who has given us that right? A perfectly okay wrestling match, this was. 

Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer v Roderick Strong & Jack Evans 

I enjoyed this about as much as I possibly could've hoped for. There were some iffy moments, some bits of questionable selling, a few parts where something didn't come off great, but for the most part it was a pretty awesome blend of workrate and traditional tag. It followed a fairly linear shine-heat-finishing run template and each segment was strong on its own, and that finishing run never stuck around too long and ended with a man nearly impaling himself head first on the canvas so we certainly can't complain about an anti-climax. This was whimsical mini-Brody Jimmy Jacobs rather than stab you in the head with a railroad spike and drink your blood Jimmy Jacobs, but whimsical Jacobs is still fun and he'll bump wildly if called upon. His personality is infectious and nicely offsets the lack thereof brought by his partner. Whitmer isn't even someone I actively dislike, he's just one of the least interesting wrestlers ever. He was mostly here to hit cool offence and make it look good though, and in fairness it all had some impact behind it and I guess that's enough. Him and Strong also chopped each other hard so there's another thing that happened. The transition to Jacobs in peril was truly ludicrous, as Strong flips Evans off his shoulders into a moonsault double stomp while Jimmy is lying prone in the corner across the middle ropes. For a second you wonder how his spine wasn't mangled and I guess Gabe did as well because he shouted "DANGEROUSSSS!" and I can't even tell you the face I made. The doomsday contra code at the end was very ridiculous and Jack Evans is a screwball. What a fun wee match. 

Samoa Joe v Jay Lethal

I liked the story of this. They didn't necessarily thread it through a ton of the match, it was more backstory narrative that the commentators explained until I muted it when Gabe got to talking about something or other, but knowing what that backstory actually was accentuated some of the moments. Joe had taken Lethal under his wing a while back and taught him how to BE A MAN. Lethal is now ROH Pure Champion and wants to prove that he has not only BECOME A MAN but become his OWN man. So a play on teacher versus student when you boil it down. A few of the broader story points were fairly self-explanatory. Lethal has been Pure Champion for a couple months and is familiar with the rules and strictures of a Pure title match. Joe has never been in a Pure title match and takes a while to collar how best to operate within one. He gives up two rope breaks early because going to the ropes to break a hold is what he'd do in a regular match. Then he loses his third break by throwing two punches. The first warning is met with annoyance, probably at himself as much as the rule that you can't punch someone in a wrestling match. I liked the spot because it wasn't telegraphed for dramatic effect, he just threw one of his regular combos because he's been doing them for years. It was muscle memory as much as anything. Then he throws the second one and right away he knows he's fucked up, which was cool because it gave you the sense that he was absolutely taking Lethal seriously. As the match goes on it feels like Joe is the most likely to actually win, but Lethal understands the challenge a little better, and if nothing else can maybe manipulate Joe into shooting himself in the foot. Lethal beat Spanky on a previous show by using a rope-assisted submission (which Spanky couldn't break because he'd used up all his rope breaks). This time he locks in a choke while both guys are on the apron, using his legs to wrap the ropes and keep Joe pinned. So Joe bites the bullet and just hurls the both of them through a ringside table. The final transition was a little weak, with Joe kicking out of the dragon suplex and just reversing another attempt into his own string of offence, but the stretch run itself was pretty tight and they never went crazy so you take the good with the questionable. Maybe the best Jay Lethal match of them all. Do with that what you will. 

CM Punk v Jimmy Rave (Dog Collar Match) 

This was kind of long and drawn out as a match-angle segment, but the Punk/Rave feud has been fairly enjoyable on re-watch and I at least appreciated them keeping the match itself relatively short. Part of me was worried they'd go 30 so I was pleasantly surprised when they went like 14. Punk is obviously a huge Piper fan so you knew he'd have some gnarly stuff up his sleeve. Sure enough the point where Rave had the chain across Punk's mouth as he shoved his face into it with his boot was disgusting, but then he took it a step further and turned it into a chain-assisted curb stomp! It looked very brutal. They also didn't do anything overly flashy or INNOVATIVE and leaned into wrapping a chain around their fists and throwing punches, which of course I liked a lot. Punk taps a gusher and his blood-loss selling was pretty great, staggering across the ring to get at Nana only to be cut off when Rave yanks the chain up into his privates. This is building to a cage match in Chicago a week later so there's plenty of interference, I think in the end from every single person in the Embassy, so eventually the numbers catch up to Punk and Rave yet again stands victorious. I've watched this feud in smatterings over the past five years so it's not like much of it is fresh in the memory, but they've built Rave well over 2005 and overall it's been a really fun pairing. 

Austin Aries v Alex Shelley

Honestly, I keep waiting for the point where I'm over Austin Aries. I don't even really know why, maybe because he's a real-life shithead or whatever, but I always expect to go back and revisit something and think he maybe wasn't as good as I used to for a while there. He was my favourite guy in ROH when I was following in real time from around '05-08, then when I fell out of that loop he was someone I'd still check out from time to time if something caught my eye. When we did the PWO GWE project in 2016 he made my list (at #99) and then when I started going through this stuff again in 2020, everything with him in it held up great. Maybe at this point I should just embrace the fact he was kind of fucking awesome? I thought this was an excellent match and I thought Aries' performance was absolutely top banana. He was an offensive dynamo here. He's quite often an offensive dynamo, but what really impresses me isn't just that he a has LOT of offence. I mean he does have a lot of it and all of it looks great, with real snap and intensity and impact, but if you've bothered reading more than five entries of this stupid blog over the last 15 years then you'll probably gather that I don't really need a ton of varied offence in my pro wrestling to enjoy it. What I like most about Aries is how he uses all of that offence - his offensive REPERTOIRE, if you will - and builds compelling control segments and cut-offs and sure, at the end of the day some of it just looks badass as fuck. His work on Shelley's neck was tremendous - varied, targeted, focused, paced well, the lot. It was an awesome control segment and kind of brought to mind Eddie working over Rey in their Smackdown! match a month after this, albeit played to an audience that was looking for different things. The original transition was great, with Shelley being rocked and stood dazed by the ropes, Aries catching him with an amazing Randy Savage style clothesline, snapping Shelley's neck back over the ropes as Aries himself landed outside the ring. This was lightning quick, even faster than Savage and he LEAPT into this thing, almost making it a flying cutter/clothesline combo. He followed up with a brutal looking apron neckbreaker across the middle rope and to borrow another page from the Eddie Guerrero playbook, a hilo across the neck, rolling up and sprinting to the opposite ropes, hitting a flying kneedrop to the neck on the way back. The coolest part of the workover is that it actually felt organic, even when he was doing some complex stuff. It didn't look choreographed or mapped out to the letter. I guess you could call it innovative or whatever, but it was reactive rather than wanky and he did it in response to whatever the situation gave him. Those neckbreaker variations obviously looked great. The twisting one off the middle turnbuckle also made sense in the moment because it was a reaction to Shelley trying to superplex him. The snap neckbreaker onto his own knee is always a cool spot. He didn't just do it to be flashy though; it was used to cut Shelley off when he tried to run the ropes and build up momentum. His signature stuff was geared towards the neck as well, like the pendulum elbow while Shelley was on all fours, then later he grabbed him in a crossface and tried to twist his head around by fish hooking him (which would've fucking ruled no matter what). And then he has the brainbuster to set up the 450, so it all built back from his killshot. I liked this a ton. 

Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal v Low Ki & Homicide 

I watched both of the wild Joe/Lethal v Rottweilers matches from '05 about 12 years ago and thought they were just about the best tags to ever happen in an ROH ring. Unless the rematch from later in the year doesn't hold up then my opinion has not been SWAYED by the passage of time. This was a fantastic balls out sprint and the crowd were nuclear from the jump because it was impromptu. Homicide and Ki were a pair of maniac bastards here and tried to murder Jay Lethal several times. Lethal and Joe had already gone through their Pure Title WAR - skirmish at minimum - earlier in the show only to be jumped post-match by Ki and Homicide. So this is payback, but the promise of revenge can only carry you so far, as my great grandmother would always say, and pretty soon fatigue kicks in. When it does the Rottweilers isolate Lethal and get to the killing. Ki's tree of woe double stomp to Lethal's chest might be the craziest version of that move ever, and that includes the times he did it to Necro Butcher's face and willy. Joe coming in off the hot tag was molten but I love how even his adrenaline could only last so long. He ends up hanging between the ropes and Ki hits a double stomp to the back from the top rope with such force that he bounces himself all the way across to the opposite corner. It was like Joe was a trampoline. How they never honest to god killed Jay Lethal with that double stomp/Cop Killa combo is a mystery. A fucking absurdity of a thing, I'll tell you. These four should've had a dozen 10-minute matches that year.