2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Casas vs. Aramis

3. Negro Casas vs. Aramis Lucha Memes 3/11

ER: Hot sprint from the greatest live wrestling venue in the world. Casas don't care about no pesky January broken rib, he's gonna go go go against a flier half his age. Casas is molten lava in this match and matches up improbably great against a young speedster, really working as quick as I've ever seen him work. The fast armdrags are the early sign that they're going for speed, and they cram tons of cool stuff into 8 minutes. All the transitions were smooth, fast, and explosive. Casas had all these great high kicks to the face, like he was the world's tannest Rockette, great kneelift, big dropkick in the corner, slick small package reversal off a vertical suplex; I don't think Casas did anything out of the ordinary here, but damn was he working fast, like he had something to prove. Match peaks with Aramis landing a couple kicks on Casas and dropping him to the floor with a dropkick, and AS IS WRITTEN in an insane Coliseo Coacalco edict, "Every young flier must be chucked into a support post". Aramis hits a horizontal dive that goes vertical, sending Casas into the chairs and Aramis screaming into the post. My sweet heavens. A boisterous fan amusingly starts hugging Casas to see if he's okay (who cares about the guy that just crashed into a pole, right!?) and Casas breaks, laughing at the man's excitement while still paying service to his ribs. We get a couple solid nearfalls, a super cool rolling kneebar from Aramis, a gorgeous standing rana from Aramis that gets reversed into a powerbomb after he tries another, and we get Aramis returning the favor with a nice seated powerbomb. Aramis cannot escape La Casita (and my oh my was this Casita a real byoot), and Casas heaves through a promo after the match congratulating Aramis on what he put him through. This was as fast as I've seen any luchador work, ever. I really need to see a show at Coacalco. These jerks got the Casas sprint that *I* was supposed to see!

PAS: This was so good, Casas comes off a broken rib (which has to kill your endurance and effect your breathing) and works a just break neck paced match against some kid young enough to be his grandson. Nothing unusual about oldster luchadores having great matches, but how in the fuck does a 58 year old man work this kind of sprint, Casas looked like 22 year old Juventud Guerrera for shits sake. Aramis is obviously a little green, but I though he was pretty great in this, landing some awesome leglocks, which Casas would counter beautifully, he also breaks out a nutso tope, right into the stantion, and crushing Casas into the seats. Finish was super cool too, with Aramis making the fatal error of trying to Casita, Negro Casas and Casas rolling through and wrapping him up with a gorgeous Casita of his own. Absolutely loved every second of this.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Lucha Worth Watching: Cuatrero/Angel de Oro!

Cuatrero/Negro Casas/Ultimo Guerrero vs. Angel de Oro/Volador Jr./Atlantis  CMLL 3/9/18

ER: Hot sprint building up next week's mask match between Oro and Cuatrero, with the two of them getting super loud crowd reactions with some mask ripping and mask removal, Cuatrero blatantly pulls Oro's off to lose the primera (with Oro returning and flying off the entrance balcony) and Oro getting a huge reaction when he rips Cuatrero's in the middle of the ring. I've never seen Oro appear so interesting. The other four aren't as important to the match, but all make solid cameos. Casas is back from his rib injury and looking energized (and he's so tan that I assume he's going to start working as Chief Jay Casas any day now), UG took his big Jerry bump to the floor, Volador came in with a huge springboard rana, Atlantis and Casas have an old guys showdown, all fun noise. Oro has never made an impression on me, Cuatrero is my favorite Dinamita, and I am suddenly more interested in their mask match, all in about 7 minutes of work. Well done. You all thought this was gonna be the mask match write up. That's coming next.

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All Japan Handheld Cherry Picking: Rip Rogers!

Kenta Kobashi vs. Rip Rogers  AJPW 1/15/90

ER: I loved this. Kobashi is all decked out in Taue red but almost as big as he would be in his prime, and Rogers is the most cocksure man in the world. All Japan needed someone like this, and it's really a shame he didn't regularly tour Japan. His energy was unlike anybody else. This match is truly worth watching for Rogers' entrance alone, as he does the greatest strut in wrestling history all around the ring, sleeveless pink tuxedo jacket modeled to perfection, pink hand mirror at his side...and then it peaks when he lifts a child onto his shoulders; and that child is holding a full size American flag. He then parades the child through the crowd, flag waving proudly. There's great pre-bell shenanigans, grabbing the ropes and doing some sexually suggestive deep knee bends for the crowd's benefit, working some bits with the ref (my favorite being verrrry carefully removing his pink coat, brushing out wrinkles, folding it just so as he hands it to the ref, who then just tosses it to a ringboy on the floor), really I considered not watching the match as it wouldn't ever hold up to the greatness of Rogers' entrance.

But Rip is Rip, so the match rules, and 22 (!) year old Kobashi was a great babyface. Kobashi had some well executed tools, big open handed chops, hard back elbows, solid shoulderblocks, painfully wrenched in Boston crab, really some of the hardest hitting young boy offense I've seen. And those things are more than enough for Rogers to work with. Rogers stooges around, takes some great pratfalls (that flying leap into the turnbuckle after an atomic drop!), misses a big kneedrop, smacks Kobashi in the nose with a great punch from a headlock, rakes at his back as a way to escape matwork (shoot, rakes that back over and over to beat the band), pinches a love handle to break another hold, muscles Kobashi over for a superplex, all great stuff. Rogers would be a great wrestler if it was just stooging, but his ringwork is so crisp and stiff that it just sets him apart. Kobashi was doing one of those 7 Match Challenge Series that are a thing, so is eager to impress, and even breaks out a weird kneeling piledriver that is basically a ganso bomb, unceremoniously (and accidentally) dumping Rip on his head. Pump the breaks there, Kenta. Much nice was after Roger's missed knee, Kobashi went immediately after that knee and locked on one of the most snug and quickly applied cloverleafs that I've seen. This is what I want out of a 10 minute match. Everybody should aim to be 10 minute of Rip Rogers.

Haruka Eigen vs. Rip Rogers  AJPW 1/26/90

ER: This begins with a minor disappointment, in the form of Haruka Eigen's navy blue trunks. I assumed many people watching this were interested in seeing a battle of pink trunk supremacy, but alas Rip is the only one clad in pink. No matter, the war on pink is already decided, so Rip teaches everyone how to do the ring entrance of your dreams. The rhythmic clapping thing is instantly adored by fans, really feels like he could have been a staple on All Japan shows. We get another great parade with the young American flag waving child, AND THE CHILD BRUSHES RIP'S HAIR WHILE HOLDING THE FLAG! My god this guy is a legend. That kid is a legend. We get more great pre-bell shenanigans, he brushes Eigen's hair, the ref deals with his hand mirror again, Rip concealed perfume in the back of his trunks which he uses on himself and the ref, he amazingly puts his legs up on the top rope so the ref can give him a thorough pre-match inspection. Really check that inner thigh, ref.

This match is obviously much different than the Kobashi match, as a 40-something Eigen is a slightly different worker than a 22 yr old Kobashi. And Rip makes the most of it. The Kobashi match was very physical, this match you knew was going to build to some spit gags (though this pre-dates people bringing newspapers to block the spit). Eigen was reaching the 5th row with his spit takes, and Rogers hilariously spits straight into the air on one of his takes, landing it right in his hair. Eigen basically acted annoyed at Rip for the duration of the match, so Rip just riles him up, gets him to chase, rakes the hell out of Eigen's back, puts over Eigen's holds, and sprinkles in a few little things that modern wrestlers should steal. My favorite little thing was Rogers reversing an Irish whip but treating it like an actual spot in the match. It's a means to get to something more important, and an Irish whip is probably something we've all seen so many times that we don't even notice them anymore. Rogers treats the whip like it is actually an important, tide turning move, short hopping to stop his momentum after Eigen starts the whip, then uses that hop to gain momentum on his whip reversal. It's a spot we tune out, and Rogers made it an important part of the match, while also looking like he really chucked Eigen into those ropes. Moments like that are why I got so excited when unseen Rip Rogers showed up. A true gift.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 39 Ultima Lucha Tres Part 3

1. Last Luchadora Standing: Taya vs. Sexy Star

ER: So this worked better than it should have, and was probably Sexy Star's best actual performance. I think I've said in several other matches something along the lines of "This was probably the best possible match that _____ could have had with Sexy Star", and while I can't say she was actually good in it, for the most part, this felt like her best actual performance. All Sexy Star matches will always have that feeling of minding a toddler while he waddles around a playground: You're omnipresent and next to them at all times, but they don't really take your suggestions on what to do, and sometimes they'll stare at things overly long, and then they'll point and shout something unintelligible at something, and then they'll need help climbing steps, and they'll grab things that don't belong to them, and you don't really feel like you're needed there but need to be there constantly trying to catch them if they fall. Sexy Star kind of toddles around the Temple, and Taya follows her around, throwing herself through chairs and into grating and into tables and bleeding. For her part of things, Star slaps Taya with authority, lands a couple stomach kicks, and throws shots to the back of Taya's neck that actually look painful. They fall into a lot of things, chairs, the bleacher seats, a table, and it almost always looks good. I don't want to see Sexy Star wrestling anymore, but I appreciated that she tightened a couple things up in what should be her last LU match (unless season 4 is already planning on being the Season of Sexy!).

TL: Take a drink every time Striker says “war.” Seriously, it’s amazing. I remember saying it maybe a time or two too many during a recent PPW main event, but he’s in love with the word. Taya got one of my favorite Jeremiah Crane performances out of him in the Cueto Cup and so I am all in on her actually making a Sexy Star match good with her bumping and stooging. Taya even blades, which I am not surprised at in the least. God, hindsight is amazing here with Striker saying Sexy fights for what’s just and ethical. My favorite part about Eric’s toddler analogy is when I look up and see Sexy literally crawling around the ring as if she can’t find her favorite pacifier. They really do lay it in, at least, with the chops looking good even if the sound effects oversell their effectiveness. Sexy does lead Taya around by the nose everywhere; it’s amazing how much Taya is chasing her in this match. The garbage spots do look good, even if there’s a few times where things got telegraphed, but Taya really had a great performance here again. Now make sure there’s no more Sexy Star in Season 4. After the bullshit she pulled last year, she doesn’t deserve to be back, let alone get a push similar to what she got in Season 3.

2. Pindar/Vibora/Drago vs. The Mack/Killshot/Dante Fox

ER: I like this, very edgy subversive stuff here, an impressive Black Lives Matter allegory having every black member of the roster trying to save their America by waging global war against the Deep State Lizard People. It's some pretty revolutionary stuff here on hour 3 of Ultima Lucha Tres. And you know what? I really liked this as a title win for Mack/Killshot/Fox. The Lizard People have been really disappointing as champions, feels like they shouldn't need belts. But Mack's team winning felt like a great tecnico moment, and there aren't a ton of great tecnico moments in this fed that aren't immediately made bittersweet. I don't really know if the match was good, but it felt like a couple doors shutting that had been open for way too long. The Lizards haven't felt as big as they probably anticipated, so it's a good time to dial them back a bit, and the Fox/Killshot feud went on too long and I'd rather see their style as a team than as opponents. Mack came off - again - like a major star in the match, and they really messed up by not shoving him high up the card way quicker. It may get there eventually, but Mack is a guy they could make face of the company, and should. Although I can't believe that the cameras switched away and miss most of Vibora's bump off the Pounce. I don't think I've ever even seen Luchasaurus take a bump, so Mack making him fly off his feet feels like it should have been a big deal. Striker takes forever wrapping up a bootlace-as-secret-code story to just say that Fox and Killshot are working nicely together. I also really liked Pindar in this, he's been a great add to the roster, and I'd love for him to be repackaged. He is an awesome base, gets to show a little bit of personal lizard pride by refusing Kobra Moon's demand that he use a chain, and he's one of the few guys to opt to do a moonsault to sell a Stunner. Has anyone done a moonsault stunner bump? Rock would infamously handspring his way across the ring, but I don't know if I've seen a moonsault bump from it. Dante Fox's back still looks completely disgusting (his death match was filmed the day before!), and him doing a major flip dive over the buckles and just skidding on his back was gruesome. There was flayed skin hanging off. The match was okay, decent energy, but the actual moments and implications were the best.

TL: It wouldn’t be a professional wrestling match if all the available black guys in the fed didn’t wrestle in the same match together. Legit surprised Famous B didn’t come out with them. I’m all about the first few minutes of this match, where Fox and Killshot try their usual stuff but their injuries catch up and it becomes what I wanted most in this match: A Pindar showcase! He has a great little run here during the Lizard control segment, and then when Mack gets the hot tag and the tecnicos figure it out, it gets good. That shot of Fox’s back was absolutely disgusting. Pindar taking the fall was bleh because he looked the best in the match on the Lizard side, but he also made the finishing run look good. And yeah, it’s nice to see tecnicos do something cool without consequence. This was definitely a match where the moments were more important than the sum of its parts, but there was a good layout and everyone was used well. Surprised Drago didn’t get much of a showcase here. Fox is an insane person for going out there and doing his usual stuff with his back like that basically 24 hours after that match. Killshot was at least smart enough to take flip bumps onto his stomach most of the time.

3. Ladder Match: Son of Havoc vs. Pentagon Dark

ER: This isn't very good, and has some absolutely brutal prop set up. The only interesting moment of prop set up is when Pentagon starts throwing a bunch of ladders into the ring and Striker brings up the Public Enemy match. Vampiro compares this moment to when he was in FMW with Terry Funk, and I genuinely don't think that Funk and Vampiro were ever around each other before WCW. I don't think Vampiro ever wrestled in FMW, and I don't think Funk ever wrestled in WAR, really don't think they would have ever been on tour with a company together, before WCW. But then again he has already stated that he got to see Misawa/Kawada matches while on tour with All Japan and...that never happened. The match reaches peak crazy when Pentagon delivers a package piledriver through opened chairs. It didn't lead to a finish. Pentagon proceeds to slowly set up several ladders, and it's completely interminable because the whole time you knew it wasn't going to lead to anything nearly as cool as Crazy Crusher vs. Hell Storm. And for a guy who is I guess spreading the devil's message of violence, Pentagon never actually feels very comfortable setting up all these ladders and tables. It leads to this silly moment where there is a ladder resting on the middle rope and within the rungs of an opened ladder, and he and Havoc are brawling slowly on it because it's rickety and they don't want to fall...but it's like 2 1/2 feet off the mat. This is no Bill Dundee hanging off a scaffold, this is more a red panda hanging off a low branch, and he's trying to recover, but he's just got his panda strength to work with, and eventually he falls...but it's like a 1 foot drop. This didn't work for me.

TL: Dark is gonna have to show me something here because after so much time giving him the benefit of the doubt and saying he’d bring it in a big match, this is the type of situation where he needs to show up. Vampiro bringing up tours of Japan he never went on goes into the JBL Honorary Hall of Fame right alongside “Riki Tenryu” and his drugged showdown with an inflated dinosaur he calls Godzilla during a WWE tour of Japan. Also, not a single ladder hit Havoc when Dark threw them in there, so that wasn’t even close to the Funk ECW chair stuff. Striker also makes an Art Vandelay joke. With as much as I’m talking about commentary, it should tell you what I think of this match. It’s literally setup spot after setup spot. Something happens, weak transition spot (they tried the Randy Orton/Evan Bourne RKO spot and it didn’t look good at all), guy sets something up. Rinse and repeat. Dark literally wrestles as if he’s not getting paid enough for this shit, and since I’m not getting paid at all for it, I’ll care just as much. For a match between two ultraviolent characters where one of them came up as a real-life backyarder, this was as anti-violent and plodding as anything you’d see on this show, but set up much like you'd imagine a backyard ladder match would be. You saw how the first night ended. You saw how the second night ended. I understand if the feeling was that they couldn’t top any of that, but at least go out and try. It’s the blowoff show. Literally no reason to hold anything back here. This was a hastily put together match but could have been much better than it had any right to be. As far as Dark is concerned, I’m out on him.

TL: Man alive, are they telegraphing what’s gonna happen to Puma here. I mean, if you read this site, pretty sure you are up to speed on current pro wrestling news, so it’s no secret what’s going to happen to Puma. If I was watching this when it aired not knowing what was going to happen, it wouldn’t have made me change my mind on Vampiro obviously looking to screw over Puma. It’s another part of this that I had watched previously in highlight form so I’m foggy on specifics, but we’ll see if my feelings change watching the finale.

COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

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New Japan Pro Wrestling: Strong Style Evolved 3/25/18

I'm planning on doing an Segunda Caida X00 this year, whether that number be 100, 200, 300, or what. So I have to watch a lot of wrestling, including stuff that I don't think I'll like a lot. I need to keep an open mind and look for names that might eek onto the list. This is a show New Japan is running in Long Beach, and while I'm not a big modern NJ fan, I like the idea of a non-WWE fed coming into America now and again. It can only be a good thing for wrestling. So the show is on TV, baseball season hasn't started yet, and I forgot about WWE Fastlane (thus no love blog), so I may as well make up a Sunday.

Christopher Daniels/Scorpio Sky/Frankie Kazarian vs. Rocky Romero/Sho/Yoh

ER: Well this write up is looking like a dumb fucking choice. I don't like a lot of guys in this match, but I guess I relate to it. All the Americans are people that I first started watching and seeing live in 2000/2001, going on road trips with friends to Southern CA. They're all older, balder, still doing the same thing they were doing nearly 20 years ago. So I am them. Older, balder, still writing about pro wrestling, still seeing the same guys. Life is a straight line. All guys do something I like, some things I don't. Kazarian doesn't shortchange stomach kicks and gets great height on a legdrop. Sadly he majorly botched a springboard legdrop off the freaking bottom rope. Once he slipped he just hopped on one leg to finish the spot. He at least sold a knee injury on the apron for a bit, so that was a decent bounceback. Yoh is a decent face in peril, Scorpio throws a better right hand than I remember, Daniels is still doing the same offense he did in '99, but he hits a nutty split legged moonsault to the floor, throwing himself into the barrier. This was kept short, and was fine.

Juice Robinson/David Finlay vs. Gedo/Hirooki Goto

ER: This was a fun one. Juice is a mean dude who would be the best possible member of a Breezango trios. His kicks land, he's got good punches, a high senton, and he always surprises with stiff shots. Here he busts open Goto's mouth with a hard back elbow. Goto shows more personality than I have maybe ever seen from him, after he gets his mouth busted. Something snaps and he is suddenly intense. Finlay is never the wrestler I want him to be, and with that last name he won't ever be, but he's a good fired up babyface. His hot tag was great, tons of energy, great flying back elbow, good presence on that pasty bod. Gedo is always a favorite of mine, and we get typical great Gedo punches and a superkick that looks like it still matters. This was quick and fiery, I dug it.

Davey Boy Smith Jr./Lance Archer vs. Toru Yano/Chuck Taylor

ER: Over/Under on how many time's JR compares KES to Hansen/Brody? 4. I think 4 is fair. KES are too goofy, Yano is too goofy, serious Taylor is still too goofy. KES are never as hoss as I'd like them to be, and I hate the look of orange spray tan, blonde spiky hair, big doopy mouth guard. Smith still moves so stiffly around the ring. He never looks comfortable in there. Archer has a face I dislike on sight, but he hits hard on a shoulderblock, and he and Smith can at least sometimes act like big guys. I don't have much use for Yano, and I still can't buy Taylor as a competitive heavyweight.

Marty Scurll/Cody vs. Tanga Loa/Tama Tonga

ER: This match has one of my favorite NJ guys (Tama Tonga) opposite my probably least favorite NJ guy (Marty Scurll), so I know which team I'm rooting for. Scurll stinks. I hate how JR always compares him to Marty Jones, Regal, Finlay, it's gross. Scurll always comes off so hack. He attempts a Regal-esque spinning wristlock sequence and clunked his way through it, getting hung up twice. Tonga is awesome, though, like the Usos working a main event Roman Reigns style. His exchanges are fast, he throws nice strikes, goes down like a shot on a Scurll superkick, misses a Superman punch in style, I always dig him. Loa is good too, never really got a chance to do much in WWE, but he hits hard and has a nice moveset, really sinks that spear. Both Tonga and Loa take offense well. Cody still doesn't do a lot for me, but his ring confidence is far bigger now than ever, and that counts for something. Scurll stomped Tonga's elbow nice a couple times. I'll give him credit for that, at least.

Hiromu Takahashi/BUSHI/SANADA/Tetsuya Naito vs. Ryusuke Taguchi/Dragon Lee/KUSHIDA/Hiroshi Tanahashi

ER: Boy with all these multi-mans they must be trying to use 40 guys on one show. We're 5 matches in and we've had 26 guys on the card. It's a lot. This match felt like it should have been better. It's impossible to have a bad 8 man, really with almost anybody involved. Everyone has to be in so little that you can really play to strengths. This wasn't a bad match, but it had guys with a lot of strengths, and should have been better. Takahashi and Lee cram a lot of ideas into their singles matches, yet here only get a couple quick moments together, nothing really memorable (though Takahashi does chuck Lee into the turnbuckles on a wild suplex). I like "Tanahashi is injured" matches, and they kind of start going after his arm but it doesn't go anywhere. The stretch run dance partner trade off was really fun, one guy after the next running in to do a move or two before getting taken out by the next guy. Those moments are always fun with talented guys. Taguchi impressed me here, liked his energy, liked his heel hook roll through, liked a couple of his hip attacks. I was similarly impressed by BUSHI. But this should have had more oomph to it.

Jushin Liger vs. Will Ospreay

ER: I was optimistic about this one, as Liger is great enough to reign in the excesses of Ospreay, and Ospreay is talented enough to be reigned in. And I liked the story they went with of Liger working up to big time the hot rising star and surprise him. Liger is aggressive and nails a somersault dive off the apron, crushes Ospreay on the floor with a brainbuster, drops him with a Liger bomb. We get more intrigue when Ospreay lands funny on his left knee and I honestly can't tell how legit the injury is. He still does a bunch of crazy flying stuff, but he sells his knee the whole damn time, even during flying moves, and I don't know if Ospreay's selling is THAT good. There was some impressive attention paid to his knee injury here. He also takes a great bump off a shotei, with Liger hooking him under the chin, and Ospreay looked like a cartoon cat running into a laundry line that he didn't see. The match ends a lot shorter than I expected, about 10 minutes, not sure if that's the overstuffed card or if they went home earlier because of that pesky real/fake leg injury. But we get a couple nice nearfalls before the sudden finish, and I thought the match was real good. Ospreay even cuts a good promo post-match, giving credit to Liger but also acting big for his britches. He gets a good reaction by challenging Mysterio too, which could be a fun match. But then they have Scurll come out and cheapshot Ospreay and rip Mysterio's mask off. Did we really need to give Scurll that much of a rub? Spend your time on other guys.

Zack Sabre Jr./Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomohiro Ishii/Kazuchika Okada

ER: Okada just doesn't to it for me, but there's enough personality in this match to really make it work. And sure enough, cocky doofus ZSJ is awesome and I love that I'm now the high vote on the guy. Seeing he and Suzuki put a bunch of dickhead tandem submissions on Ishii while the crowd chants "Fuck you, Sabre" is joy. You see, Suzuki is too cool for them to be mad at, they would want to be friends with him and hope Suzuki thought they were also cool. But Sabre is just a hateable mug who should be pummeled. He stomps Ishii to the rhythm of their chant claps, and continues to poke the bear by rubbing his boot laces in Ishii's eyes, kicking him condescendingly, rubbing it in while Ishii is on the mat. When Ishii snags him and lifts him into a deadlift German it's a great moment. I love ZSJ using Okada as his submission jungle gym. Okada can often come off Polar Express-eyed and this makes him show some emotion, a little fight and a little desperation. Okada throws some embarrassing elbows when it's his turn to fight, really disappointing stuff. I hear Sabre get called out a lot for being too skinny, but he's practically the same size as Okada, and I don't hear that complaint about Okada. I don't get it. I think people just like to hate Sabre, which he should get credit for. Sabre continually doesn't learn his lesson. After a (too long) Suzuki/Ishii who-can-hit-harder contest, Sabre is back and mockingly kicking Ishii. Ishii catches a kick and steps in with a great headbutt and stiff powerbomb. Ishii is okay but is he as good as even Kazuyuki Fujita? Is he even the best Japanese guy working a "Man with no neck" gimmick? He's nowhere near Masa Saito. I don't know if he's better than Fujita. But I do really like how Sabre and Ishii match up, loved their July 2017 singles match, love how Sabre acts around Ishii. Sabre taps him with a great tangled up grapevine, puts Okada in an octopus hold after (but does not tap him during the match, which would have felt like a huge deal), even tosses Okada's title on the floor after the match. That's an Okada singles match I would watch.

Jay White vs. Hangman Page

ER: Last couple matches were pretty exciting, crowd is noticeably cooled off for this one. I usually like White, but he can also benefit from good opponents, and Page isn't very good, so I get the quieted down crowd. They make an effort though, so things liven up a little bit down the stretch. Once they really get the crowd into things, they immediately go into this lonnnnnnnng and drawn out spot where Page repeatedly tries to set up the slingshot lariat, and White keeps wandering unnaturally to the side to break it up, and Page keeps resetting him, and never actually gets to hit. It's like they were working a silent vaudeville comedy act and it could not have come at a worse time in the match. And then they go from Page not succeeding at hitting his indy offense four times in a row, to the other end of the spectrum, with White hitting a DDT on the apron and then a freaking German suplex from the apron to the floor. What the fuck!? Page flips and lands on his feet and then falls backward, so it's not like he got dumped on his head (earlier he did take a nasty snap dragon suplex in the ring), but it's a crazy spot to come out of nowhere. So much Page offense has a really implausible set up, which means he'll fit right in with New Japan main eventers. This match is really overreaching at this point, it's going way too long. White singles matches can drag on too much. I think he's much better in trios. Page sets up an improbable swinging neckbreaker off the top rope, and it's treated like a big move on commentary, but moments later White is hitting Page with a nasty back suplex on the floor, and another in the ring. They trade big moves. JR even shrugs off a "Well they're hitting a lot of big stuff..." after they keep trading moves. That shooting star shoulderblock is such a risk for what the payoff is. It just looks like a less impactful normal sholderblock, with added risk of breaking his own neck. He throws a nice lariat, but adds in that stupid rope flip right before (that he always stumbles a bit on). White throws so many rough suplexes in this match, all with really low launch angles, all looking like they bounce Page off his head. Way too many of them. And after all of those suplexes, his finisher is basically a Roll the Dice. These two tried to do way much. Page looked tougher than anybody else on the show tonight. Everyone else pinned and submitted so much quicker. They did a lot of things you'd think this crowd would like, but the reactions were never really there.

The Young Bucks vs. The Golden Lovers

ER: This was overly long, overinflated, overkilled match that had plenty of great moments. It tried to have way too many great moments, but it had some great moments. It also had moments where I watched in 2x speed. It was around for awhile. This was the match fans in attendance wanted to see, they wanted to celebrate modern New Japan, and this match gave them the chance to chant and clap "Fight Forever" and "New Japan". They are a part of something, this is their punk rock, etc. I thought this was a great Nick Jackson performance, with Matt stepping it up down the stretch. Ibushi is a nut, but I hate that he does so much offense that can occasionally drop himself on his own head. But this whole production was just stretched too long. They could have made much better use of partner saves. There are a lot of kickouts, and by the end Matt Jackson is kicking out of everything. It was a little deflating. They overpeaked it and suddenly they were the last person to finish at an orgy, and everyone's been done for 15 minutes and you're still working towards a finish. The big time where they utilize a partner save to great effect, Matt had just kicked out of some huge things, so Ibushi hits the V Trigger, with Omega hitting the One Winged Angel. OWA is one of the more contrived set-ups in finisher history, but it's super protected and Nick flying in for the save was awesome. But it had all gone on for so long at that point. Ibushi was off a bit all match. He'll still commit to crazy, but some nights he's like Sabu, looking just as ready to injure himself as his opponent. The first table spot was handled really nicely, I always like a good instance of something set up early that is forgotten later, until it makes its presence known again. This usage reminded me of the great Modest/Daniels vs. LeGrande/Thompson match I flipped out live for so many years ago. The table had been set up at ringside long before, and the Bucks were trying to separate Ibushi from Omega, Omega kept getting knocked to the floor, as the Bucks tried to string offense together, and after Nick hits a 450 then Matt goes crashing off the top through Omega, through a table.

I loved the sequence around that, but it is always fleeting with these guys, as it felt big enough to lead to a finish, but instead Omega is back quicker than expected and - and here's what I hate - instead of coming back and just beating ass, Omega is worried about getting Matt up onto his shoulders so Ibushi can fall on his head kicking someone. Having such clunky, difficult to set up finishers just makes guys look stupid when they come roaring back into the match and have to go through a convoluted sequence. We get Omega snap dragon suplexing Matt, only for Matt to bounce off his own neck and spring up to do a piledriver. Both moves looked great, and Matt grabs at his neck (after popping up from a suplex and delivering a piledriver, naturally), but they always leave me a little empty. Matt was good down the stretch and delivered the storyline heft, and Nick was great throughout, his timing more on point than anyone in the match (and matches like this obviously need some precision timing), I loved some of the sequences in the match, but didn't always love where they lead, and I think some of the bigger moves would have felt even bigger if Hangman Page hadn't just brushed off several headdrop suplexes. I want more space in a match like this, but the fans got the exact match they wanted, so I am not shocked that this is getting called classic. I wouldn't go classic, but it was plenty fun.


ER: A not bad show. They announced they were coming to the Cow Palace on 7/7, and I'm not sure what would need to be on the card to get me in the building. The word is Jericho/Naito, and that will not get me in the building. But if they do Liger/Mysterio? That would probably get me. It all depends on the price point, as I have an unknown mental price point in my head for everything ("I will happily see this music band for $10. Oh, the show is $20? I am less interested."), but I'll know it when I see it for this show. It's like art, you know what you like when you see it. For the Cow Palace show, I'll know if it's out of my range or not when I see the price. But on this show, I liked Liger/Ospreay, liked the Sabre/Suzuki tag, really thought the show breezed by nicely until White/Page.

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Ancient Andre from the Archives: Andre the Giant vs. Franz Van Buyten (Aired 1/20/68)

Andre the Giant vs. Franz Van Buyten (Aired 1/20/68)

I have no idea why this came out now. I'm just glad it did. This is one of the earliest Andre matches we've seen and it's potentially his first title win. Van Buyten is a guy we just have bits and pieces of at disparate points of his career. We have him in Germany against Lasartesse and Dave Taylor and Terry Rudge in the mid-late 80s. We have him in one of my favorite comedy performances of all time in a 6 man against Andre in 1973 IWE. This is a straight up title match with him absolutely shining.

After about eight minutes of ceremony, this gets going. It's actually structured unlike many Andre matches I've seen, but in a way that I really love. Van Buyten, the more experienced technician (champion even), who has dozens of tools in his arsenal, has to figure out how to deal with the problem of Andre. The problem of Andre in 1968 is different than in 1978 or 1988 when he was thicker, slower, easier to keep grounded once you got him down. Here he was all arms and legs, with incredible strength and incredible reach. Just twisting an ankle or stepping over for some sort of legvine was near impossible, and if Van Buyten somehow managed it, Andre would be within reach of the ropes almost no matter where he was in the ring.

This played out in practice. There's a 30+ second segment at the start of Van Buyten trying desperately to get a leglock of some sort on. He does everything from attacking at the leg to trying to ride it down with all of his body weight, to no avail as Andre shrugs him off in the end. The sheer struggle of it was tremendous though. Ultimately, Van Buyten's able to use his speed and skill and sheer aggression and confidence to hold his own during this first third. He'll leap right into Andre just to get a front facelock on, will dive head first into Andre's torso just to buy some distance to lock in another cravat. He knows his only chance at long term survival is to keep these holds on; if Andre gets his hands on him, it's over. So he hangs on even as Andre tries to shrug him off, leading, at one point, to Andre taking a fly mare (an appropriate naming, as opposed to a snap mare, believe it or not), but Andre's just too big and too lanky and any movement around the ring takes him towards the ropes.

The culmination of this is a pair of 'ranas, outright, real, true ones. One unfortunate development in wrestling over the last fifty or so years is that we've come to take so many spots for granted. Things are done for the sake of doing them and without the purpose or struggle that something newly developed might have. Here, to hit that first rana, Van Buyten has to twist his body back and forth. Absolutely nothing in this match is taken for granted. Everything Van Buyten does is fought for. Part of that was the fact that he was trying to do it to Andre, yes, but so much of it was just about the fact that this was a match from Frace in 1968. Times were different and the struggle was visceral.

The middle of the match is Andre getting his hands on Van Buyten. Yes, it's a bear hug. Yes, it's an Andre bear hug, but it's like none you've ever seen. There is struggle here to go along with the selling, and Van Buyten has to sell this. Andre's winning the match and  it's up to Van Buyten to keep himself over by both showing how hard he's fighting and also showing Andre to be the threat that he is. In the end, though, he tries to hip top his way out of the bearhug, which is a crazy thought, and Andre hangs on, causing both men to tumble to the mat.

The finishing stretch is all about Van Buyten's skill and desperation against Andre's inevitable strength. Towards the end, as Van Buyten tries to charge at him once more, Andre lifts him up for a first press-slam into a gut buster. Then, remarkably, Van Buyten tries it again. When you're watching a match from an alien time and an alien place, in an alien style, with one wrestler you're only passingly familiar with, there's always a danger of reading too much or too little into the text. Here, though, I feel fairly sure of myself. Van Buyten all but jumped into the second press slam-gutbuster, without the struggle of the first or most of the rest of the match. This surprised me in the moment, until it became relatively clear that it was part of a broader gambit. At the moment of contact (knee to stomach), he arched his body, grabbing hold to Andre and rolling him over. It was a moment of true sacrifice, a desperate gambit late in the match to get the advantage back, to lock on one pin attempt or hold that might win the day, to fight the tide of Andre's gargantuan presence. It failed. Andre was too big, too lanky, and no matter where he was, just too close to the ropes. After a clean break, Van Buyten, selling the side, came up firing, a last ditch attempt at survival, firing off nasty forearm blows. Andre shrugged them off and lifted him for a third press slam-gutbuster. One slam later and it was over.

This was great and we're lucky to have it. It's maddening to think what else might be locked up in a warehouse in France, but exciting as well. It's a testament to both men that they could have a match like this so early into Andre's run and it's also a testament to them that their interaction five years later in Japan was so wildly different and so differently entertaining. Hopefully more of these might slip out in the months to come.

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Let Your Hair Down Shinya Hashimoto, Shake it Free and Do The Dixieland Rock With Me

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tony Halme NJPW 2/5/91 - EPIC

ER: Man I loved this. Handheld 1991 Tony Halme was 100% Brock Lesnar. You could fool almost anybody by telling them that. Same size, same shape, same big meaty fists in MMA gloves, same flat top crew. And this is such a wonderful 1991 post-Rocky III proto-Street Fighter II vision of professional wrestler versus hulking boxer. Hashimoto gets lifted off his feet by thundering body blows, spins himself into the mat on haymakers, really every time Hashimoto gets knocked down by a Halme shot it looks awesome. Halme will double him over, then hook him with a big uppercut to the belly, and Hash comes up with a bunch of great ways to hit the mat. Halme throws these great exaggerated blows that explode right when they should, and Hash plays them up big to the back row. Hash fights back in cool ways, getting Halme on his back and pounding, throwing liver kicks, backing him into the ropes at one point with kicks (and the ropes looked looser than normal, giving it a real fight feel), Halme weary and leaning way back on the ropes. Hashimoto attacks with snapping low right leg kicks, and when Halme buckles for one Hash immediately greets him with a high left that floors him. I loved how Halme stood up panicking and threw a WAY too aggressive hook, Hash easily ducking him and throwing him with a tough belly to belly. Hash smells blood but gets way too cocky, throwing a big left kick that Halme absorbs, and just smashes Hash in the face with a short left. We get a final Hash desperation tactic after he gets up, as he runs at Halme and tries to smother his arms, but Halme easily breaks free and clubbers him into the TKO. Hashimoto was so great at feeding Halme, doing some of the absolute best knee buckling wobble selling, really letting Halme know with body language when he should be throwing bigger blows, really cementing himself as the best opponent for monsters.

PAS: Man alive was this awesome. There have been wrestlers that have done boxing gimmicks well, but they are always fast hand technicians, Jose Lothario, Rocky Johnson have all shown off hand speed and craft, Halme in this match was Ernie Shaves or Ike Ibeabuchi a brutal powerpuncher ready to waste Hashimoto with every shot. Those bodyshots he was landing on Hashimoto looked like the kind of thing that would liquify livers and calcify kidneys. I think a lot of that has got to be on Hash's selling, as I doubt Halme was throwing full force windup body shots. I loved all the counter work, with Hash throwing this great belly to belly suplex on the hook counter. The spot where Halme catches the body kick and lands a Joe Frazier hook is one of the favorite wrestling spots I have seen in forever. I also loved his KO shiver elbow. The Ogawa series gets a lot of press, but on first glance this might be as good. I can't wait to watch the rematch.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE SHINYA HASHIMOTO

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And Now These Three Remain: Faith, Hope and Love. But the Greatest of These is Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Dick Murdoch NJPW 10/10/82 - FUN

PAS: One of the coolest things about this NJ HH trove is the chance to see early 80s Fujiwara. I guess this is young Fujiwara although he looks like he is in his mid 40s. Much like the Slaughter match this would have been better five years later, when it would have been competitive. This was more like a competitive squash, but as you might imagine the execution on the simple things in this match was off the charts. Murdoch is so great at working a simple armbar and wristlock, Fujiwara tries a bunch of different adjustments to get out of it, and Murdoch is constantly twisting the wrist in different ways, such masters at work. I also loved how Murdoch kept bionic elbowing Fujiwara's hard head and how frustrated he kept getting, only to get smacked with headbutts. Fujiwara is pretty overqualified to work as Rufus R. Jones, but he is a great Rufus R. Jones.


Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Seiji Sakaguchi/Keiji Muto/Nobuhiko Takada/George Takano vs. Riki Choshu/Tatsumi Fujinami/Akira Maeda/Super Strong Machine/Kengo Kimura NJPW 10/6/87 - EPIC

PAS: The treasure trove of NJ HH footage delivers us what seems to be a previously unearthed New Japan 10 man elimination match. The other Elimination matches finished very high on the NJ DVDVR 80s sets, and this might be a slight step below a MOTD level, it is still really awesome. This was worked at a super sprint pace which works well with all of these guys in this match, and with Choshu, Muto and Fujiwara we have some of the greatest sprint wrestlers ever. I actually really loved Takada in this, he was about as violent as I have seen him, he really kicks the shit out of Choshu and at one point mounts him and lays out some nasty ground and pound. I also love Sakaguchi as a big bruiser chucking people around, he kind of felt like a proto Akira Taue in this. Kind of an odd match structure as the Choshu team gets a four on one advantage on Fujiwara at the end. We get an awesome Stone Cold moment where the crowd in chanting for Fujiwara as he tries to fight everyone, but while he gets a near fall or two, it would have been cooler if he had gotten an elimination before going down. We did get a great Choshu lariat on the finish and Fujiwara sells a Choshu lariat better then anyone. Still that was a minor complaint for an otherwise awesome match. Had no idea this match existed until a week ago, and it was such a treat to have it show up.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE FUJIWARA

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 38: Ultima Lucha Tres Part 2

ER: Sami Callihan is a really impressive actor, I totally bought him having a mean domestic spat with his partner, getting inappropriately into her face and calling her bitch with a clenched jaw, spit flying out, really looking like he might hit her. It was a super impressive method performance where you could tell he did a ton of research to get motivated to act that way.

TL: Ivellise kicking Sami through the bathroom stall door is female empowerment. But first, he’s got to physically threaten her, not let her get a word in, and then call her a bitch when he doesn’t get his way. Hashtag feminism.

TL: Vampiro wearing a 10 out of 10 on the Barry Darsow Municipal Golfer Polo Shirt Scale, by the way. I halfway expected him to say Lucha Underground was brought you in part by Callaway.

1. Battle Royal w/ Joey Ryan vs. PJ Black vs. Ricky Mundo vs. Vinnie Massaro vs. Mascarita Sagrado vs. Argenis vs. Mala Suerte vs. Saltador vs. Paul London vs. Cortez Castro vs. Son of Madness vs. The Mack vs. Pimpinela Escarlata

ER: Tim recently came over to hang out for my birthday and our little group spent all night watching old battle royals and essentially wagering on the outcome, betting on things like who would have the best bump, who would be first out, who would have the best overall performance, etc. It was amazing, makes me want to track down literally every battle royal that's made tape and make this a regular thing. This was a bit short to qualify for a great battle royal, but it was fast moving and we got a lot of big elimination bumps. Son of Madness gets chucked far by the Rabbit Tribe; Mascarita gets a fun elimination of Ryan/Castro as they fight on the apron; Pimpinela is oddly the main guy featured, given the last entrance, Striker not shutting up about him, which is odd only because he was only a fringe part of season 1; Vinnie is first out but hits a big uppercut and eats a big superkick; there was plenty of fun for the time allotted. It worked.

TL: That birthday party included me basically knowing the winners of the Cruiserweight Battle Royal ahead of time in nearly every category, and I ran away with all the points on the scoreboard that night. My finest hour in my friendship with Eric, I’d say. Vinnie should have lasted longer. Pimpi coming in for a one-off to do a bunch of homoerotic spots seems odd to me. Makes me wish we got Cassandro instead. This was fun, but short. Dario getting more jokes written for him! Where the hell was this all season? Guess he only got up for it because it was Ultima Lucha??

ER: The rules will be slanted against Tim next time. He should have purposely dumbed down a few of his answers, thrown a couple of matches, made it competitive. Dude took 80% of the match and refused to job.

2. Catrina vs. Ivelisse

ER: What a weird featured match. Catrina is someone who is a part time wrestler at best (this match was filmed exactly 4 years to the date of her last WWE match, and she has two listed matches that happened in the interim), but can teleport, and is out in fighter braids. Ivelisse has not wrestled on TV for almost a year prior to this match. Their feud is slightly cold. But the match was probably better than it should have been, and I don't mean that in a backhanded way, it was really fun. They used a few tricks to stretch it to (short) match length, but it worked. Ivelisse charges out and takes her down, and considering what they were wearing I'm shocked Striker didn't do a hack Joel Gertner "Catfiiiiiiiight!" But Catrina bails and runs into Dario's office, and by the time Ivelisse breaks in she gets a bottle broken over her head. Now, she ends up breaking THREE BOTTLES over Iverlisse's head, which seems...a bit much. We get a blood packet, as the camera cuts away from Ivelisse's clean face and cuts back to her just absolutely covered in blood. Catrina takes a cool shot into the guardrail and they brawl up the stairs and around the Temple. We get a good nearfall, we get a good spot with Ivelisse kicking Catrina's arm as Catrina was swinging her special rock at Ivelisse's head. They took some good shortcuts, I thought Catrina handled herself well, and it was good to see Ivelisse back.

TL: MIL MUERTES IN A SUIT ALERT. Good lord almighty, what a badass look. There’s a part of me that wishes Andrade “Cien” Almas would do the same in promos, wearing his Sombra mask. Hearing Striker try to sell the backstory to this match is hilarious when it was literally booked as a way to get two good looking women down to their skimpies like it’s Russo-booked WWF. Catrina isn’t great in ring, but she has good facial expressions and knows how to be aggressive. When it finally gets back in the ring, there’s a couple good nearfalls (Striker: “THERE WERE NO FANCY WRESTLING MOVES!” - That comes literally right after Ivellise hits a step-up DDT to finish) and some interesting fighting over the stone. Of course, they HAD to give Sami his heat back, but beating a woman with a hammer while she’s bleeding is more than a bit much. Good lord. This show needs to make up its mind, man. Hashtag feminism.

3. Mask vs. Hair: Fenix vs. Marty the Moth Martinez

ER: Vampiro says that no main event match stip has ever been bigger, but the fed has had a match with a career on the line, and I believe stips that have lead to murder, so...I'm afraid I'm going to have to start taking what Vampiro says with a grain of salt. I'm not sure he's always 100% truthful or accurate. Lucha Underground runs a lot of gimmick matches, a lot of #1 contender matches, but not a ton of stipulation matches. Or, if there is a stip, Dario tends to do something to meddle with it. This is an old fashioned Hair vs. Mask stip, with no shenanigans, a good amount of blood, and a great payoff. This felt like a big time lucha brawl, and not like one of their overstuffed overproduced epics. There was even kind of a flubbed miscommunication moment, which oddly enough also made the match seem more "real" than the other stunt show matches the fed has put out, where they've re-done spots and edited them in. This felt like a honest lucha apuestas match and I loved it. Moth is such a fat-faced psycho, tearing at Fenix's mask early and then busting him open on an uncovered turnbuckle. Fenix is still able to fight back with a big superkick and a huge flip dive onto the Martinez siblings, and a couple flipping cutters (including one on the apron). We get some nice character work with Martinez as the sadistic oaf, tripping on his way back into the ring, but it leads to Fenix eating boots on a moonsault and then eating knees on Moth's crazy chestbreaker/dominator. Fenix catching Moth off the top with a Spanish Fly was huge, and the move really benefitted from the LU cameras. Moth ramped up the psycho by going after Fenix with a pair of rusty scissors, jabbing them into his cut and running them across Fenix's throat. Gross. We get great involvement from both seconds, as Melissa gets on the apron to trick Marty, ending with her slapping him and punting him right in the balls, leading to a huge kick and ropewalk 450 from Fenix to win. Mariposa gets her great second moment after the match as Moth is escaping, bashing him in the head with a chair at the top of the steps, then handcuffing him to the railing to get his haircut. You knew Marty would make great faces during his haircut, and he delivers. Awesome traditional apuestas, probably my favorite LU match this season, with great storyline culmination, great blood, some comeuppance for Melissa, everything I wanted.

TL: I had seen highlights from this match but don’t remember seeing this in full, so I’m pretty stoked to see this thing from the start, especially now knowing that I’ve seen all the Emmy-level acting in the story leading up to this. Fenix is wearing white, so you know what’s gonna happen here. And a couple minutes in, he eats the exposed buckle and this turns into the best apuestas match with blood I’ve seen in maybe a decade. Fenix hits an absolute gusher and is all over the place bleeding. Some amazing shots in this thing of blood falling off Fenix’s mask and forehead, dripping onto the mat. I’m a huge fan of Fenix’s offense here: Every move he normally does with his trademark snap is weary and reached for here. He’s bleeding out, he’s on adrenaline, he’s going in whatever spurts of energy he can find. It’s not your traditional brawling tecnico performance that you might be used to in these apuestas matches, but you are with Fenix on every move he makes to try and get back into this thing. Marty toed the line between going too far and going just far enough. The scissors stuff before Melissa got involved legit made me feel uncomfortable. The finish is the best culmination of a story in LU history. Melissa getting to be a part of Marty getting his comeuppance and doing the haircutting is perfect. We rip LU for doing a lot of things wrong in storytelling and getting too wrapped up in minutiae bullshit, but for all the melodrama we raked them over the coals for leading up to this, the payoff was so good you forget all of it. WAY better this time around watching it for me, and it’s hilarious to say this after what ended last week’s show, but they topped that match here with the drama beating out the craziness for me. I’m still big on Matanza/Muertes Grave Consequences for best match in LU history, but this is right there with it.

COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

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New Japan Handheld Cherry Picking: Buzz Sawyer! Vader! Manny Fernandez! Russians!

Manny Fernandez vs. Timur Zalasov  NJPW 8/5/89

ER: Cool match. I've never heard of Zalasov before and he seemed pretty green, but it's impressive how adept these Russians were. Even if they don't always know how to fall, they always know how to fall interestingly. This had a bunch of cool almost shoot looking armdrags. They were obviously too stylish to be a shoot, but they were executed as if someone was trying an armdrag in a shoot. Manny would kind of tug-o-war with Zalasov over a knucklelock, with Manny getting his momentum  going one way and using that leverage to toss Zalasov the other way. They would hook each other's elbows and drop each other down to a neck bridge, in a couple ways I haven't seen before, cool little twists on common spots. Zalasov appears to be sandbagging Manny a bit (though it doesn't really look intentional) but it doesn't stop Manny from dropping him with a couple cool deadlift Germans. Manny's strength was really impressive here as he doesn't really work a grappling style, but his throws look professional. I liked Zalasov's wobble leg selling, and it looked especially good after Manny surprised him with a nice straight right to the jaw. Zalasov finished it with a great high angle belly to belly, popping those hips and tossing the heavy Fernandez with what looked like ease.

Big Van Vader vs. Wahka Eveloev  NJPW 8/5/89

ER: What a weird little match. It seems vaguely unprofessional from the first minute, and it only goes about 4 minutes. Eveloev tries to keep his distance and Vader keeps rushing him with sumo slaps, and aims to punch him in the face. Russians start angrily climbing into the ring and we get a little pull apart. Vader does more of the same, bullies Eveloev into the ropes, shit is clearly being talked, and more Russians try to get into the ring with NJ ring crew holding them back, and now Sawyer and Murdoch are getting up on the apron. My god I would go into war if I had Vader, Buzz Sawyer, and Dick Murdoch backing me up. Vader hits a quick headbutt but Eveloev hits a boss belly to belly and tries to lock in an armbar, but it's tough to keep a 400 man down and Vader escapes the armbar by rolling over and punching Eveloev in the face, then stands up and kicks him right in the temple, sending Eveloev reeling into the ropes. Russians are actively spilling into the ring to stop this now and Manny Fernandez is in the ring telling them to back off, so Vader slams Eveloev with a super stiff bodyslam, and then full weight splashes him right on the neck/chest for the win. Vader talks shit from the ring to the Russians, Eveloev stands up slowly and cautiously, the way you imagine a man would after getting a 400 lb. weight dropped onto his lungs. Jokes on you, bub. Wahka, Wahka.

Buzz Sawyer vs. Victor Zangiev  NJPW 8/5/89

ER: This match was on the DVDVR New Japan 80s set, but I thought it finished criminally low (which I assume was because it was only 5 minutes or so) and we've never written about it before. This show had a 5 match series of America vs. Russia matches (as you might have guessed from reading the above reviews). This was the 5th match, with the series tied 2-2. Even though the match goes just about 5 minutes, it is straight fire. This star couldn't have burned much longer the way they worked. Brawling bumper Buzz Sawyer is awesome, but bald GaryAlbright Sawyer is maybe just as awesome. Zangiev is super chippy throughout, really showing off and rubbing it in Sawyer's face, tripping him to the mat, snapping on maybe the best sharpshooter I've ever seen (and flexing while doing it!), doing a kip up out of some mat grappling, and really chucking the larger Sawyer around with freak strength. The knucklelock sequences are awesome, real struggle, and seeing Zangiev bridge up high on his neck with burly Sawyer on him. Sawyer decides to not fuck around and rushes in with a great knee to the gut, and then begins showing off his suplexes. I thought we were going to get a KO finish when Zangiev deadlifts him into a backdrop suplex. It feels like Zangiev is cockily moving in for the kill when Sawyer grabs him and throws him practically straight overhead with a gorgeous amateur suplex for the quick pin. The Americans rushing the ring with an American flag to celebrate was an awesome moment. Zangiev was such a natural and I really need to see what other grappling style Buzz is out there.

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Aoyagi Drank That Poison Whiskey Until It Killed Him Dead

Masashi Aoyagi vs. Masanobu Kurisu NJPW 2/5/91 - EPIC

PAS: Just a sleaze indy dream match. It is weird that this is New Japan and not main eventing a NOW or ZIPANG show. Aoyagi comes out jumps the rail, and spin kicks Kurisu right in the mouth, and it is fucking on! Aoyagi beats Kurisu around the ring a bit, and is really laying in to him, you know Kurisu is going to potato you, so you got to throw spuds at him. Kurisu fires back with those odd angle vicious headbutts, unprofessional stomps and chair shots where he digs the corner right into the throat, the whole Kurisu shebang. There is this great moment where Aoyagi blocks a headbutt with a karate forearm block and thrust Kurisu right in the throat. The match stays ragged and unprofessional throughout, lots of wince inducing shots and a DQ finish that has Kurisu violently chair shotting Aoyagi, the ref and multiple trainees. This is part of a batch of new NJ HH's unearthed by Pete over at PWO, this is what I was dreaming it was going to be like when I saw the match listing and it lived up to every second.

ER: Phil and I spoke today and he told me about this match, and when I asked how it was he said, "Close your eyes and picture what you think a Kurisu/Aoyagi match would be like. It's that. It's exactly that." And wouldn't you know, it's exactly that! Kurisu matches always have a vague feeling of unprofessionalism to them (and, you know, sometimes a very blatant feeling of unprofessionalism to them) and this is no different, just a bunch of kicks to parts of the body that don't get kicked, kicks that get caught when the kicker doesn't expect them to get caught, half crabs sunk in deep (while holding onto the ropes for dear life!), Kurisu standing on Aoyagi's neck while Aoyagi holds Kurisu's other boot from going god knows where (that throat standing getting paid back with a nice thrust back to Kurisu's throat), and of course Kurisu eventually getting sick of things and grabbing a chair. Kurisu really should have been the man given the Chairman of Wrestling gimmick. At one point the action wanders off the camera to the right while the mysterious cameraman is asleep at the wheel, but we assume, obviously, that it is an artistic choice, like Tarantino panning away from Mr. Blonde hacking a cop's ear off. We know that the unseen violence is made that much worse by forcing us to imagine the horrors that could be happening. Wrestler vs. karate guy matches are always the best, trainees always get shoot beaten, chaos always ensues, and Kurisu is creator of chaos. Phil was right, this was the match you pictured when you dreamed of Kurisu vs. Aoyagi.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 37: Ultima Lucha Tres Part 1

ER: Striker: *Makes a bunch of jokes and goofy statements, switches to Owen voice* "Folks, all joking aside, war is hell."

TL: He also did the squinty eyes, because he was concentrating really hard on being serious. That’s how you know it’s real.

Texano vs. Famous B/Dr. Wagner Jr.

ER: The usage of Wagner in LU has been so weird. He's never been treated like a big deal even though he's easily a bigger star than anybody in the fed other than Mysterio. And he's brought back here as a surprise partner after last being seen 9 months prior. Anyway, this match was shaping up to be surprisingly killer. B takes a ridiculous hip toss from practically halfway up the Temple steps, just a huge bump and they couldn't have filmed it better. Texano looked more motivated than in maybe any other LU match he's been in, really connecting on his enziguiri, dropping Wagner with a huge powerbomb, really looking fired up. But things end super prematurely with some Brenda interference, leading a doofus like Texano to be distracted and rolled up. Also of note, Vampiro said Brenda was giving him a migaine, and Striker let him know "there are pills for that". Vampiro probably doesn't need the rundown on taking pills.

TL: Have this feeling Wagner only got the call here because his booking fee was too expensive otherwise. Also, this is before he lost the mask and turned into The Most Interesting Wrestler in The World, but it’s also really weird that he is a tecnico being brought in as a rudo’s mercenary. Famous B knows how to bump; PWG highlight videos have shown me that, at least. Imagine being Texano and having the career he had and was the supposed future of AAA when LU started and then be told going into Season 3, “You’re gonna take a shit pinfall against a manager on the opener of our WrestleMania.” Incredible. Wagner being brought in for this? Hilarious.

Hell of War: Killshot vs. Dante Fox

ER: The match is a 3 part stip, with First Blood being the first stip, No DQ as the second, and third is a stretcher match. It's a big batch of match stips, although I don't like First Blood or stretcher matches, as the best brawls just get way better once blood is involved. This match could get around that as there are still two parts of the match after the bleeding starts, but First Blood is usually lame. The psychology is all over the map as you would think guys would just be scratching and clawing and throwing punches to try and get blood, but most of the time that doesn't happen. I'd like to see a bunch of knuckle punches thrown at eye sockets, but we get a fun spotfest instead. Fox hits his ringpost moonsault onto Killshot (who was on a ladder), we get a fun hot potato section with a chair thrown back and forth and caught/dodged, Fox hits one of the crazier spots in LU history when he leaps from the second level of crowd with a legdrop to the apron while Killshot was sandwiched between chairs. So things are pretty wild even though most of the things done would not ever draw blood. Fox brings out a glass panel and they fight around that for awhile before Killshot goes through it off the top rope, cutting open his back, arms, hands, etc. Pretty grisly stuff. The No DQ portion has some more wild stuff, all the glass still in the ring so both guys keep getting cut up with each bump. Fox hits a nasty 450 onto Killshot (on a ladder) and Fox later gets planted with a DDT off the top. I still have no idea what Killshot's finisher off the top is supposed to be, he just jumps off the top and lands with his feet next to Fox. Is it a bad Bombs Away that doesn't connect? Is it a stomp to the face that doesn't come close to the face? I genuinely don't know what it's supposed to be. I've never seen it hit his opponent, whatever it is. Fox kicks out at 1, which seems appropriate for a move that doesn't make contact.

We get a barbed wire board and Fox eats a powerbomb into it, and a Storm Cradle Driver into the glass. This is getting pretty crazy. Striker hasn't been nearly as wretched as he was during their first match, but in the third fall we get a "in the vein of John McCain" which...I guess Striker just can't help being fucking awful. It's his natural form. Fox eats a death valley driver off the top onto the stretcher, and a double stomp off the top of the crowd also through the stretcher. They brawl to the band stage and Fox gets hit with a bottle, falling off through a giant sheet of glass (apparently just set up there by Dario to be an ass). Well, these two sure went out of their way to have an insane match, pretty huge start to Ultima Lucha. If this is (basically) the first match of a show, I have no idea what the other matches are going to do to live up to this. We had several moves off the top to the floor, several bumps into and through glass, bumps into barbed wire. I would already be exhausted if I had been there live (though they likely filmed these in a different order). Crazy start to Ultima Lucha.

TL: This is one of two matches from this show that I had seen previous, with the other being the main event. I’ll say this: The story didn’t really add too much to get here, as this seemed like a program where the gimmick and the end of the road dictated everything else. Seeing it in a vacuum isn’t all that different from seeing it with everything leading up to it.

First fall with First Blood is worked oddly like Eric mentioned because they don’t go for the blood right away. Hell, they sexy dance fight for a bit to start it out! Once Fox gets his moonsault spot out of the way, things finally fall into place with the stipulation a little bit with the chair stuff. And then they both work apron spots. And THEN they do a double springboard into a Spanish Fly. Like…what is the idea behind this match? Why even make it a First Blood fall? Killshot is a CZW regular, and I’ve seen him do a dive off the top of the Cage of Death through some absolute bullshit, but that glass spot was just nasty looking due to the setting. The glass pieces sticking in his back on close-up is nasty as all hell. I don’t understand why we got the 10 minutes of wrestling we did before we got to that, but that’s a damn good way to get first blood, at least.

The second fall sees them up the crazy, and it was here where I realized that both of these guys are absolutely insane. Eric hit all the details on the specific spots, but I’m just gonna say that when I first saw this match, I remember seeing this fall and being absolutely floored that these two were having THIS match. And that there was an entire third fall waiting. Watching it a second time, this is going to sound insane, but the Dante Fox kickout at 1 after the Killstomp worked better here than almost any match where I’ve seen that spot in years. Considering what the hell is going on in this match, if you aren’t amped up on all the adrenaline your body can process, that’s how someone kicks out at 1. (Although Eric equating Killshot’s finish with that wussy-ass mushroom stomp from Son of Havoc makes me smile; welcome to the club!) Fox agreeing to take that Storm Cradle Driver on the broken glass right after taking that powerbomb is absolutely insane.

The third fall somehow builds to an even higher crescendo thanks to, of all things, a gurney. The DVD off the turnbuckles to the gurney on the floor (with the absolutely insane visual of a chunk of Fox’s back left behind) and then the Killstomp that looks like it crushed the damn thing just added to the craziness of this match. The finish to this match is insane. This whole match was insane. I don’t know so much about the wrestling part of it, or what the hell Striker was saying at points with him being able to verbally masturbate over it being a war in a wrestling ring, but this was as visceral a wrestling match as you’ll see. I’ve seen plenty of deathmatches in my day, but this is right up there with the outright nuttiest things I’ve seen. I thought for sure that Killshot was going to take the lion’s share of the bumps because of his CZW background, but Fox went above and beyond here. Nothing will top this over the next three shows.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 36: The Rise of the Ring Announcer

ER: I really liked the opening Melissa Santos/Fenix segment, a lot. It came off like an updated take on Girlfight or something. The prior romantic scenes between Fenix/Santos came off silly, this came off downright steamy, like the George Clooney/Jennifer Lopez scenes in Out of Sight, or the Timothee Chalamet/Armie Hammer scenes in Call Me By Your Name. I thought their body language was really strong, loved the interplay of submissions, loved the sparring and grappling as metaphor for relationship dynamics, that gentle hair flop onto Fenix's face, thought all of it worked tremendously well. Now, if you think of it out of a vacuum it gets weirder, as you realize that Melissa Santos is going to be in the ring wrestling for the first time ever and they only announced it at the beginning of the episode where that was happening, and then you start thinking "Wait these two are locking in these tight go behinds and she's letting her hair seductively flop all over Fenix's face and...she hasn't even seen his face? This all seemed pretty intimate. It feels like they've been hanging out. And this whole time, during meals, during dates, during post training showers...Fenix has not removed that mask? How terrible must that mask smell?? Santos has let herself grow dangerously, emotionally close to a man who may have a Monster energy tattoo on his forehead for all she knows. But that's what thinking gets you. Follow your heart. The segment was good.

TL: I can’t even begin to top what Eric just said so my only addition to this, whether it was good editing or camera cuts or what have you, is that Santos looked like she could go!!! I all of a sudden am into whatever that tag match is gonna be. This was one of the best examples of female empowerment the show has ever portrayed because this was natural as opposed to shoved down our throats like Sexy Star was. Santos came off as a big deal with this, which is what wrestling promos are supposed to do!

Dante Fox vs. Texano

ER: I liked this more than I expected, and it's true that Fox is typically more interesting when he's against more of a power base than another athletic flipper. Texano can get really lazy during routine moments, looking like a somnambulist going through simple sequences like a lazy clothesline/back elbow sequence, but he excels here at making Fox look strong. When a guy throws a lazy clothesline you wouldn't expect him to throw himself into a crucifix bomb, and Texano is good at working around fast Fox sequences, like all of the stuff on the apron that eventually lead to the run-up-ringpost moonsault. The match was a good Worldwide length of 5-6 minutes, and even though it got too move trade-y down the stretch I was pleasantly surprised overall. Famous B botches (in storyline) the ending and calls Texano the winner, so Dario sets up B vs. Texano for next week. B says his arm is still broke from Pentagon and Dario FINALLY gets a classic Dario line in (feels like it's been WAY too long) when he says "Well then it looks like it will be a...handicap match!" Pure gold. Dario hasn't felt fully "Dario" this season, and comes off really ineffective and less the all powerful manipulator. That line was needed.

TL: Striker makes a “Clerks” joke (“I’m not even supposed to be here today”) because of Dante and not only does it make me feel old but reminds me that Kevin Smith almost died mere days ago. I thought this was alright, but not a standout or anything. Fox doing a faceplant on an enzuigiri was amusing and then became even moreso when he just went back on offense after taking a bump that looked like it would have killed him. I’ve talked about how Texano has basically looked disinterested ever since when he first came to LU with Alberto Del Rio and was used to put him over not only in LU, but in AAA, so this really does feel like he’s collecting a paycheck at this point. Agree with the line usage, but in Dario’s defense, he was in jail, man. He’s seen some shit. Just not the same guy anymore.

Marty "The Moth" Martinez/Mariposa vs. Fenix/Melissa Santos

ER: Still really surprised that this match wasn't announced at all in advance. Do they advertise? Maybe they advertise and this was announced. It feels like a pretty big match within the LU universe. And it was really fun, although after all the wins and big moments they gave to Sexy Star it's ridiculous that they can't give Santos a good moment. Moth has been licking and rubbing on her for a couple seasons now, and while she's a non-wrestler that never stopped Sexy Star from wrestling. Give her a fucking pinfall, who are we protecting here? Anyway Fenix works a nice match against the two, including hitting an actual good looking Lethal Injection and hitting a wild twisting dive to the floor. Santos getting into the match was a great moment, with Moth running into a perfectly timed high kick from the apron and the gets Irish whipped into elbow smashing Mariposa. The tandem offense didn't look great but the moment was still good.

TL: This WAS announced in advance, but Eric, much like me when I’m trying to burn through reviews, most likely fast-forwarded past the 20-second mention of it from a couple weeks ago by Striker and Vampiro. So…what I’m trying to say is that Eric made the right decision in skipping past how this match got announced in the first place. Striker says Fenix has a “legendary mask” like he’s Atlantis or something. Mariposa is so sudden with her offense, it’s amazing to think she’s been doing this for two decades. One thing in addition to Melissa doing the job in this match: There’s now absolutely no doubt that Marty is gonna lose. Had Melissa gotten a pin on Mariposa, at least you could have seen a more level playing field. Melissa’s offensive moments were definitely cool, but the way this ended was a bit too much.

ER: We get a rundown of the epic card for the 4 episode (!) Ultima Lucha extravaganza, which should make for plenty of fun. Although how absolutely ridiculous does Ivelisse vs. Catrina look at this point?? The last Ivelisse match aired 6 months before this episode, and Catrina has never wrestled in the fed. Does anyone watching even remember why they made that match?

TL: It’s a huge card, but to be honest, I’m really only looking forward to the main event, the cage match, and the Fox/Killshot match. There’s gonna be a lot of filler for me to get into.

Paul London vs. Mala Suerte vs. Saltador vs. Cortez Castro vs. Drago vs. Son of Havoc vs. Pentagon Dark

ER: This was a pretty cracking spotfest, one of the best Drago performances in awhile, a continuation of Paul London as an extremely relevant wrestler after a few years in the woods, some great Saltdaor stuff, just a ton of fun. Drago was the centerpiece of this whole thing, either tying things together and finding things to occupy time. I loved him sprinting across the ring after London leading to London doing his bananas springboard tope en reversa to the floor. he easily could have just stood there doing nothing since London was going to do the spot anyway, this made things feel more immediate. Saltador got some nice moments and I especially loved him getting backdropped into London (who was slumped in the corner). We got a couple big dives, everybody moved in and out of it smoothly, a couple nice saves, just a fun spotfest. We do get a dumbo ending with Havoc and Pentagon getting simultaneous pinfalls, but Dario comes out to announce a ladder match between the two, which is fine.

TL: I like that this match was basically laid out like an atomicos or a cibenertico, as it never really let up and gave everyone some shine. If you’re gonna do a damn seven way, you might as well take advantage and sprint. And yeah, they sprint, big time. London looks great in this match, like a true Droog. I wish he would talk shit in Cockney gibberish slang between moves. But my guy in this match? Saltador. All his offense looked crisp as all hell. He had this great springboard legdrop that looked snug when it landed and he had a great dive. Also looked great taking down Pentagon to start. I don’t like the ending either, a true bait and switch bullshit ending, but we got to see Dario yell “LADDER MATCH!” in a way that made me smile. He must have known tapings were winding down, man. He went for it in this episode.

ER: I love all the backseat of a limo scenes with Dario, and they're only better with Godfrey. I don't know who they can get to be the cigar smoking boss, but considering the programming on El Rey can we PLEASE make it Fred Williamson? We all know everyone in power is a rich old white man, so LU needs to flip the script and present us a rich old black man as the one in charge. If it's Fred Williamson I will happily go back and watch every second of every single Sexy Star moment, and not complain.

TL: Fred Williamson is awesome, but considering he’s done voiceovers for WWE highlight packages before, I’d look at the budget and just not pull ANY punches: KEITH. DAVID. MAKE IT HAPPEN, CHAVO. I NEED Keith on this show, man. Also, I love how in the span of two mintues, Dario adds two more matches I’m actually fine with for Ultima Lucha in the three-way and the ladder match. He might be getting it back just in time for the biggest show of the year, baby.


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Lucha Worth Watching: Rush!! Pierroth!! Kraneo!! Mascara Ano Dos Mil!!

Kraneo/Rush/Pierroth vs. Marco Corleone/Mascara Ano Dos Mil/Gran Guerrero  CMLL 2/27/18

ER: Two fiery falls, really all I need. This is a cool rudo team, we got the most fired up Pierroth performance we've seen in many months, and Kraneo and Rush as a team could take over the world. Kraneo is bullying and headbutting guys right from jump and Rush follows his lead, with Pierroth acting as the enforcer who would run in and windmill punch and chop guys in the corner if they got out of line waiting for their beating. Kraneo looked resplendent and massive in his red/black gear, and he's really feeling like a guy who should be a major star in CMLL (and they seem to be treating him as such). Marco is a good tecnicos foil for Rush/Kraneo, eating the apron kicks from Mije, finding his spots to fire back with his big punches, still hitting the huge crossbody. But, he also got his head ripped off his body and had it volleyed around by the rudos (including several chest volleys by Kraneo). All three rudos looked like total asskickers throughout, but I really liked Mascara as a tecnicos here, old guys make good tecnicos and I like that he's typically a rudo but is default tecnicos against the assholery of Rush. Mascara's segments with Pierroth were fired up when they could have been slow, and added a nice dimension to the match. Pierroth losing a quick exchange and just casually walking up and punting Mascara in the balls was a fine finish for this. The meanest rudo behavior happens the match when upon being DQ'd Pierroth immediately rushes Tirantes and starts muscling him around, with Rush soon joining in. Tirantes' facials read that he had no clue these two were coming at him, and as they tried to throw him he was clearly holding onto the ropes for dear life and not going along with their plans. I don't remember the last time I saw Tirantes get a beatdown, but it's not been often and when it has happened it's been clearly part of an angle. This did not look cooperative in any way, it really looked like Pierroth and Rush just stomping him and ripping at his shirt and suspenders. The fans sounded really pissed too as you just don't see refs take a beating in CMLL. Rush even kicks him hard right in the legs as he's walking away. Perfect deranged ending to all of this.

La Bestia Del Ring vs. Mascara Ano Dos Mil  CMLL 3/13/17

ER: This match may not be worth watching for some, but it felt like if anyone was going to watch and review Pierroth vs. Mascara Ano Dos Mil, two men with an average age of 55. As Phil said to me, "So you have to review the MA2K vs. Bestia Del Ring match. It is singing your song...You are the biggest Bestia Del Ring stan on the internet." I can't really say he's wrong. And I really liked the match. It had problems that a lot of people won't be able to get past: it was slow, these two are old and less graceful than many luchadors, and there are no highspots. So, climb aboard! I like old guy matches more than most people (any people?) as it always feels like there's more at stake: they're old, they break easier, old rudos are awesome, old tecnicos are the most sympathetic tecnicos. MA2K is a Capo! But because he's opposite Pierroth the fans are cheering for him. Pierroth is an island I'm fine being stranded on. I like what he brings to a match. Here he's a dick by making Mascara do a bunch of rope running early in the match (nothing like gassing out your opponent in the first minute), throws him into the ring barricades, smashes a full soda in his face, really takes the entire primera other than MA2K geting a quick octopus hold to end it. The camera pans the crowd to find a dozen white people, who are all certainly trying to reconcile the few things they thought they knew about lucha libre, with this maskless old man fight happening front of them. Nitro provides some strong work as Pierroth's second (and considering one man has three sons and one has three nephews in the fed, I was surprised to see Nitro and Cancerbero as seconds), filling in some of the energy for the match, really stomping Mascara like a jerk at any opportunity, and Nitro does one of the all time greatest trips from the floor that I've ever seen. He hooks Mascara's foot in the corner and Mascara goes down hard like he had no clue his foot was being hooked. Awesome spot. Pierroth wins the segunda by holding the ropes, and the fans hate it. I love when Pierroth apes Rush's moves (he's not exactly going to ape his other son's moves) like the front dropkick and the opponent's head as soccer ball move, and I love how much the crowd is getting into MA2K. Finish is great as we get Pierroth pulling the ref in the way and sneaking in a roll up, which felt like the finish but instead was a great kickout by Mascara, who then gets Pierroth in a sub AND holds the ropes for the tap. The rope hold was the first time he did anything rudo the entire match, and totally wrapped up the story of the match. I enjoyed this. Your mileage may vary.

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Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 35: Cien

ER: I cannot believe there has been 100 episodes of this show, and I really can't believe that I have officially written about 100 episodes of this show. My goodness that is a lot of words written about Lucha Underground, with 3 different people. Props to Tim for crossing this threshold with me.

TL: Happy to have been here for the handful I’ve done. Always loved the work Eric, Phil, Matt, and all the other contributors have done on the site. I am definitely stunned that this show made it to 100 episodes in a way. Makes me wonder how many other feds could do 100 episodes of wrestling with such huge variations of quality. Hell, CWF Mid-Atlantic is blowing this out of the water on a regular basis and they’re about to do episode 150.

Sexy Star/Fenix/Cage/Prince Puma vs. Taya/PJ Black/Johnny Mundo/Marty "The Moth" Martinez

ER: This match had a comical amount of "I make your partner do a move to you" goofy mousetrap offense, but I liked it. It was just a 6 minute atomicos match but had a lot to like with all the goofiness happening. I liked all the moments where Mundo uses Taya as operation human shield, like rushing to tag her in when Cage gets into the match, or blatantly throwing her right into a big Cage lariat so that he is in a better position to attack Cage. The double teams were all goofy but they fit well into the match just because they were pulled off seamlessly, with both Puma pulling out some ridiculous combos, a crazy spinkick out of something that started like an armdrag, a big springboard kick, plenty of fun bits. We get a couple good DDTs, both Moth and Puma really took them on the side of their heads, really outside of Moth having to bump around for Sexy Star this was plenty fun. Also looking forward to Crane/Cage if it ends up happening as more than just a backstage beatdown.

TL: So, this is some really basic quibbling with wrestling booking. Okay. You have Fenix in a blood feud with Marty that is building to an apuestas match. Marty starts off the match with Sexy Star. He shows ass and basically has to tumble to his corner for a tag because he can’t handle Sexy Star. So this means, with Fenix going to a standstill with PJ Black in the next section of this match…that Sexy is being booked stronger than all three of them? Really? I just wanted to expand on Eric’s point about Marty bumping around for her because it’s just one of those things that seems really out of place with all the stories they’re trying to tell in this match. When everyone pairs off into the feuds they’re in at the end, it’s really fun, and I dug Puma doing a gainer off Mundo’s springboard kick. Looked really sick. A good little match, if not something that felt rushed.

TL: I’m such a huge fan of the corny-ass backstage segments that LU has. It’s really amazing that they even exist in a universe where Being the Elite is also a thing. I’ll take this overacting over tongue-in-cheek inside references at wrestlers being better than “The establishment” any day of the week. Also, if it becomes a three-way between Muertes/Cage/Crane, I’m in. Just don’t give Crane a bat.

Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Pentagon Dark

ER: They're keeping the matches to 6-7 minutes this episode, which keeps things fast and avoids bloat. You know you're likely not getting a great match, but you don't get guys working themselves into corners either. I thought this was really fun, even though I'm bearish on Pentagon he's still a really nice base for Azteca, and I loved all of Azteca's crazy height and balance he would display, every time Pentagon would toss him into the air. Him landing on his feet on the top was super impressive, and I loved him getting tossed up onto the stage and running back and immediately hitting a beautiful rana to the floor. Azteca hit a big skytwister press to the floor not long before that, and back in they did some nicely done sexy dance fighting. Pentagon would cut off Azteca when he got too cute (like making him pay for a handspring attempt by hitting a double stomp), and the package piledriver was nicely planted. Azteca gets launched a few times postmatch by Matanza, a sure curse when an employer knows how great you take big throw offense. This episode is nice and brisk.

TL: One of my favorite things in lucha when I first started watching it was Hector Garza’s tornillo. It was so amazingly graceful and also looked like it completely wiped you out when it landed. Azteca hits a great one here, mainly aided by the camera angle, but it also gave me a reason to talk about one of my favorite moves. This is better than most Pentagon matches this season because Azteca’s offense is good and Penta knows how to take it, and Penta can be a good transition guy. Azteca landing on top in an ode to early Rey stuff was awesome, as was Penta hitting the Fear Factor to finish off it. Matanza tossing around people never gets old.

Matanza vs. Rey Mysterio

ER: Good match, as you'd expect. Rey sticks and moves until Matanza sticks him, and then we get a nice long Matanza beatdown, slamming the back of Rey's head into various surfaces, clawing at his eyes, cutting him off with a nice straight leg big boot, Rey tries to tangle him in the ropes and Matanza keeps beating on him with Vader-like full arm blows. The Code Red was a nice comeback and then we go a classic Rey run, big springboard senton and legdrop, big DDT, Matanza gets a chair kicked into his face in nasty fashion a couple times (I wonder how hard front of his mask really is? It doesn't seem pliable but I'm not sure it's protective), and I love Matanza finally just taking Rey out at the knees with the chair. End run was big with a couple large Matanza throws, a nice missed charge into the post, but Rey moonsaulting into the Wrath of the Gods. This match didn't necessarily seem like a huge deal, which is a shame since you had without a doubt the biggest wrestling star in the company versus a murderer who has never been beaten in a straight match, but in a vacuum the two of them matched up predictably well.

TL: Rey’s barrage to start this was fantastic and really made the match have a sense of urgency that can sometimes be missing in LU. Of course, Matanza is a great base for Rey’s offense, including snapping over on a springboard rana with a tight window. The baseball slide Rey bump is one of my favorite lucha bumps ever, right up there with the Estrada bump. Matanza just slamming Rey into whatever he finds appealing is great stuff, just overpowering him in every way possible. The Code Red off the top was nasty as all hell and a great way to get Rey back into it. Why does Matanza need a chair, though???? As Eric said, he’s literally killed a guy. Like he needs a damn chair. The rotating German Suplex is still an awe-inspiring spot even though I’ve seen it done so many times. Cool finish and I liked that Cueto made sure Matanza won. I do think it was treated like a big deal, but it didn’t get the pageantry that you expect from a monumental episode since it was rushed into from the previous match. It was definitely worked like a big match, and I liked the postmatch beatdown with the chair more than the chair stuff during the match due to there being more intent there, but I’ll like anything these two do together, really.

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Briscoes vs. EYFBO

76. Briscoes vs. EYFBO wXw 10/7

ER: Tons of fun, just go go go go with no stopping for breath, great way to start off night 2 of this tournament. Even though the Briscoes aren't too much bigger than EYFBO, they are able to convey a super overpowering aura in their matches, always coming off faster, stronger, crazier, and I thought EYFBO was good at finding their moments and bumping big for the Briscoes. We start with a kind of lucha style opening, arm drags and rope running and ranas, but once they kick into the next gear and start chaining together big moves and double teams they never look back. Match really got great once Jay got the hot tag and started throwing savage lariats, really throwing from the shoulder with huge follow through. Both teams keep one upping the other, everyone is throwing huge dropkicks in the corner, Draztik hits this crazy swanton into Mark slumped in the corner (vaulting off Ortiz), they set up some loony cutter in the corner with Mark stretched from the turnbuckle to the shoulder of Ortiz, and Draztik runs the length of Mark and flies off with a heavy crossbody on Jay. Mark takes out Ortiz with a cannonball off the ring apron, and Jay crushes Draztik with his best lariat of the match (which is saying something), and they really knock Draztik's block off with the Doomsday Device. This match couldn't have been more than 12 minutes but was a fantastic spotfest, not a second of slow down. I would have been burnt out already had I been there.

PAS: This was the best EYFBO match I have seen, as they have always felt like a team I should love but always fell short for me. This was total go-go stuff, reminded me of the great Garden State Gods JAPW matches in the mid-2000s. I have been watching the Briscoes since their earliest matches, and man have they fully gone in on their scraggly militia look. They look like they should hijacking Federal land for grazing rights. All of their stuff looked great, they have gotten so good at making little things look impactful, big highspots, but also great looking elbows and clotheslines. I haven't watched ROH in years, but I need to check out some more recent Briscoes.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Rottweilers vs. Nationalists

23. Low-Ki/Homicide vs. WALTER/Timothy Thatcher wXw 10/7

ER: I love a good style clash, and they don't get much clashier than two small Puerto Rican lunatics going against two large Euro clubbers. There is no chance Homicide has crossed paths with these two, Ki definitely has never fought Thatcher, and apparently Ki matched up with WALTER a decade ago, but this is about a fresh and weird a match up as you can get. In a fair exchange stand up battle, the Rottweilers don't have much of a chance. Thatcher tosses Homicide around with ease, and Ki matches up against WALTER...and awesomely suckers him into eating a kick on a test of strength. You knew this would roll to the floor early and I love how Thatcher and WALTER had no hesitation playing into the Rotts' game. WALTER especially looked like he would have fit great into JAPW, not hesitating to brawl through the crowd and jump over chairs to grab Homicide in a choke, Homicide's only hope is cheapshots and eyepokes (which I'm fine with). Ki and Homicide are two guys who can keep a match interesting outside of the ring, really felt like we needed a split screen, but I'm glad we caught Ki hitting a mammoth running dropkick on a seated Thatcher. Ki is awesome reversing WALTER power offense, loved him getting press slammed into the ring but landing on his feet to set up his shot out of a cannon dropkick, then he absolutely crushes WALTER's sternum with a crazy double stomp to the narrow rampway (and wrecks his knee in the process). You need something big to conceivably keep WALTER out of a match long enough to isolate Thatcher, and that was it. Ki is insane as even with a torched knee he still opts to lift Thatcher up on his shoulders so Homicide can hit the match finishing cutter. It's a shame the injury robbed us of Rottweilers/Briscoes, but still happy we got this.

PAS: This was a total blast, the kind of dream match you never even thought about until someone booked it. I loved how this went Bayonne, with the crazy crowd brawling, we just needed WALTER to press slam someone into a wall. Thatcher is known for his technical stuff, but he is a great brawler and isn't afraid to wade into a street fight, I loved him uppercutting Homicide mid tope con hilo. Homicide is really spry here, he feels like he has caught a late career second wind. Ki is so great, loved his insane reverse shining wizard and how great he is working David against WALTER. That double stomp on the apron was nuts, and the fact he lifted Thatcher on his shoulders with a blown out knee is totally bonkos. Heck of match to close out a pretty great Ki year.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LOW-KI

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