New Footage Friday: BELLOMO~! TSURUMI~! NEIDHART~! KIMURA~! VLADIMIR~! MOROWSKI~! QUINN~!

Hanover Germany 

10/20/81

Sal Bellomo vs. Goro (Tsurumi) Tanaka

MD: It's insane how much this crowd loved Bellomo. And he gave them lots to root for. The first couple of rounds here had him ducking every Tsurumi shot and then firing back big. Tsurumi was game for it too. He got a throat shot or knee to the gut in here or there but ended up getting stretched by Bellomo. Bellomo got to slam him but he really had to work at it including a gut punch. He hit a bit back body press off the second rope but it was at the end of a round. Tsurumi finally took over with a great bear hug into a belly to belly, which he followed with nasty abdominal style stretches that were half octopi but Bellomo kept on fighting as much as he could nonetheless, surviving to the end of the match and the draw. Post match, he and Tsurumi hugged. 

ER: I love Goro Tsurumi's matches with Sal Bellomo. They officially have a series and we are documenting it, and it's one of those great things wrestling offers us, giving us something unexpected to look forward to. You watch enough wrestling, you find yourself getting excited by sometimes unexpected things. Matt and I wrote about a different 1981 Goro/Bellomo match a few months ago and it was a good feeling, gaining an opinion on Salvatore Bellomo. Isn't it great when you gain an opinion on a wrestler, especially one who you've known about so long? Wrestlers are just footage waiting to be found. It's never too late to recognize how good Iron Mike Sharpe was. Sal Bellomo was a German babyface superstar before and after he worked interminable undercard matches in WWF. Goro Tsurumi is a dude tough with throwing power, and they build the first two round into a wild 3rd round fight. 

Bellomo thinks he came a beat away from winning the match at the end of the 2nd, so Goro charges out like a wild man in the 3rd and goes straight into the buckles. When he finally recognizes he can't out-quick Sal, he drops to his knees and challenges him to a fight. In the 1st, Bellomo was landing every punch and dodging every overhand Baba chop Goro threw; in the 3rd, Goro goads Sal into a kneeling fist fight, and before long they're trading meaty headbutts. The 3rd round is one of the best individual rounds of all the 1981 Germany we've written about. It's a real fight. Bellomo throws himself into a Thesz press but Tsurumi catches him in a bearhug, holds him a beat, then throws him with a belly to belly like 1991 Scott Steiner. Tsurumi comes off so dangerous that the crowd screams in unisons, counting down the final 10 seconds of the round, relieved that Bellomo was simply going to survive. They cheer for Bellomo not tapping out to an abdominal stretch like they were watching David Hasselhoff perform on the Berlin Wall. Sal Bellomo was there. 

10/6/81

Grand Vladimir vs. Sal Bellomo

MD: This wasn't bad by any means, but it was a little dry, especially considering just how good a stooge Vlad can be and how into Bellomo the crowd could be. This was stark, that's a good word for it. Vlad controlled a lot of it by cheating, hairpulls, cheapshots, just laying stuff in. My favorite thing he did was an alternating clubber/headbutt in the corner. Whenever Bellomo would start to come back something would work against him. The ref would hold him back in the corner and he'd eat a gut shot around him or the bell would ring. He did come out one round guns blazing and gave Vlad the what for, but Vlad was able to turn things around and chuck him over the top. That was the beginning of the end and Vlad ultimately put him out with a cobra clutch. Post match he helped him up just to deck him (which was great heeling). Bellomo fired back but Vlad cut him off since he was still groggy and left with his head high in victory.

ER: There are different things to value about Sal Bellomo in his matches against someone as large as Vladimir vs. someone his size but with a different skillset like Tsurumi. Vladimir doesn't react to Bellomo's strikes at all, isn't moved by them at all. So, Bellomo starts throwing uppercuts as targeting missiles, leaving his feet and flying up into Vlad, and that starts to move him. I loved Eddie Guerrero's flying back elbow, thrown like a full body block like a Darby Allin cannonball. Bellomo's weren't that advanced, but it made them look more raw, like when Bill Dundee would leave his feet for a few fired up punches. Bellomo didn't throw uppercuts like this to Tsurumi, because he didn't have to. He changes full range of motion depending on opponent, and a year ago that's something I wouldn't have known Sal had in him. The finish was great work from Vlad, choking Bellomo out but helping the referee get him back to his feet, only to knock his ass back to the mat. That's for the 8th flying uppercut. 

Mile Zrno vs. UFO

MD: They introduce Mile Zrno as "Super Talent" and yes, yes he is. How do I put this? When you watch Mile Zrno you realize that you've been taking so much for granted. The world is a more vivid place during a Mile Zrno match, even with this not ideal video quality. There's more snap to everything, more torque, more struggle, more balance, more rotation. One thing I tend to try to do as I write about wrestling is talk more about structure and story and feel and mood and plot than actual execution. Because I can tell and understand stories but I haven't done any martial arts since I was a teenager and certainly not most that come into play here. But with Zrno, you can just see the technique on the screen, it's undeniable.

UFO is obviously no slouch and he is the aggressor for the brunt of this, but everyone knows what's going on. He's there to put on a hold so that Zrno can escape in the most spectacular way possible and put on a tricked out counterhold of his own. There are so many bridges and flips into bridges and rotations and everything. In the second round, UFO takes things to strikes first and has an advantage because of it, but Zrno can fire back that way too. They take this just about as far as they can, going right to the bell in the last round. They're really slugging away and trying quick takedowns and pins as the fans are counting down. As good as it sounds.

ER: Mike Zrno is a great Girlfriend Wrestler. I've watched a lot of pro wrestling with a lot of unlucky girlfriends in my life. Since wrestling is such a constant dripping faucet that is leaking every day, my girlfriends have all just gone through the same habits and same projects as I have, experiencing DVDVR 80s sets and other neverending streams of dvds and video files in my own real time. They absorb maybe 5-10% of it and I have only modest influence over what is absorbed. Zrno is a guy who moves in a way that gets noticed, gets absorbed. The way he floats on kip ups, the way he fights hard and falls odd. He is noticeable. All the girlies watching Mile Zrno's kip ups and Bob Della Serra's lightning fast lucha maestro drop toeholds are over here in the corner, unnoticed. Bob Della Serra is Silver King to Zrno's Juventud. Zrno is Baryshnikov and Della Serra is...uh, whomever Baryshnikov's thicker rival was. Both men throw different kinds of violent strikes and strike like cobra's on single leg takedowns. The second round has grinding matwork and UFO slamming his way out of a flying headscissors attempt. The third fall builds to a sick fight down the home stretch. Both men move with such grace and control that it looked like two Cirque de Soleil performers miming Futen. 

Goro "Tanaka" Tsurumi vs. Moose Morowski

MD: Two guys who really knew what they were doing in this setting. Morowski didn't break clean right at the start and controlled the entire first round, including tossing him out liberally. Tsurumi carried himself in a way that it was clear once the round was over, he was going to strike back hard, and he did, taking basically the whole second round with karate shot after karate shot. When Morowski came back it was with an extended atomic noogie, so that was great. He hit a pile driver to cement it. Morowski drove him off of the ropes throat first repeatedly, only for Tsurumi to come back with one of his own to a big pop. Finish had Morowski jamming a roll up off the ropes and then hitting a shoulderbreaker. Straightforward stuff but they worked very well together. 

Kengo Kimura vs. Jim Neidhart

MD: If there are WAR tags, there should be weird 1981 Germany match ups. This one is so bizarre on paper, but it worked. Neidhart screwed around by breaking Kimura's full nelson to start, but then ate a dropkick after he broke it the second time and Kimura switched it right into a mare the third time. Kimura then started in on the leg with a take down and later a low kick. Neidhart sold it well and eventually escaped to the floor while Kimura theatrically helped the ref count. 

Second round had Neidhart charge right in with an eyerake and clubber down on him. After a while, Kimura ducked a shot and came back with chops and overhand karate strikes. Neidhart actually took the bret face first bump into the corner. Neidhart tried to charge in again in the third round but Kimura ducked it and started chopping. He hit a body block but got caught in a side backbreaker the second time. Then Neidhart hit the stampede for the win. Pretty good for two and a half rounds. 

Axel Dieter/Klaus Kauroff vs. Karl Dauberger/John Quinn 

MD: Pretty unsubstantial tag, a feel good sort. The heels never really controlled for any length of time and it was straight babyface pins. Dauberger got the worst of it, just getting knocked around the ring with hard shots from both Dieter and Kauroff. Fans loved Kauroff and would stomp when he was pounding on his opponents. Quinn fared better and could more than hold his own. Against him, Kauroff needed to pull out headbutts and the like. But it was all feeding and stooging for the most part. Dieter got a pin with a nice rollup for the first fall and Kauroff took the second with a big slam. Sometimes I guess you just need to send people home happy.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 3/23 - 3/29

AEW Dynamite 3/25/26

RUSH vs Darby Allin

MD: This match was a gift.

Professional wrestling can be so many things, but one of the things it can be, one of the best things, is a release. It can be an invitation to take all the worries of the world, all the frustrations, all the sadness and darkness and pain, and to just lean in, lock in, hang on, and let go. 

It's functioned as this for generations, the artistic use of simulated violence as a means to quell the violence in our own hearts, as a conduit to let us scream along, wince along, clench our fists and gasp as we channel all of that emotion into a safe outlet.

It is succor and sanctuary. It understands. It knows that now and again we need to tap into the primal, tap into something grisly and raw and passionate, something forbidden in everyday society. It forgives. 

Through most of what wrestling offers us today, we can be awed. We can be entertained. We can marvel. We can wonder. We can be impressed. We can feel smart. We can feel connected. We can feel elation. And yes, some of us can chant "This is Awesome." 

All of those can be found in pro wrestling in one form or another.

But that wasn't this. 

In an age where we, as a society, have been given other invitations, public ones, harmful ones, toxic, manipulative ones, to be our worst selves in the very worst ways, this form of pro wrestling is an invitation to be our worst selves in the best of ways. 

And maybe, maybe the sanitized, produced, athletic, and choreographed form of wrestling that taps into something OTHER than our worst self is better.

But my god, we're only human, aren't we? And if we're going to get some release, let's get it through this, just like our parents could, like our grandparents could, like our great grandparents could, and like our children and their children will hopefully still be able to someday.

It is a gift. It was a gift to us, watching at home, and it was a gift to the people of St. Paul in the stands.

Even a match like this was beholden to the limitations of modern televised wrestling. There was a commercial break. They set it up well. Darby wiped out massively on a tope attempt, the sort of trainwreck you expect from him. The doctor was checking on him. Rush menaced, and then he basked.

And St. Paul chanted "Fuck ICE." They're not the first, but previously, it was tied to Brody King's meaningful presence or tacked on to already existing "Fuck Don Callis" chants. Here it was unrelated to any of that. From these people who needed to combine their voices and chant it so badly. Why then during this pause in the main event, certainly not the only pause in the show? Why get it all out here? 

Because through their sheer intensity, through their planned and spontaneous artistic expression of violence, Rush and Darby opened the floodgates of emotion and gave this crowd an invitation to let it all out. Pro wrestling.

And how did they do it?

Rush ambushed Darby right at the start, shoved him off the top rope on his entrance. That wasn't a surprise. The mood was in the air ever since the match was announced, as Rush made his entrance, fist pumping to the music, as Darby skateboarded down and everyone wondered when the violence would begin. 

This was "no countout" and they made use of the stipulation, brawling around ringside. Rush immediately went under the ring, probably for the wire he uses to choke people. It wasn't there. That gave everything an immediate feeling of being natural, organic. It drew you in. It wasn't a botch. It was the panacea to carefully planned out spots that define every other match on the card. You got the sense that Rush simply wanted to hurt Darby with any means at his disposal and if he couldn't find the first thing, he'd take the second.

And he did just that throughout the match, with Darby returning the favor when he could. This wasn't a "no disqualification" match, but he could toss Darby into the ringsteps and cause him to bump head over heels into the barricade. He could sit Darby in a chair and topple him over. Later on, after a now bloodied up Darby did hit a tope successfully, Rush would end up in that chair to eat a missile dropkick off the top to the floor. 

There was another moment during the break which was just as organic. Rush walked over and took Taz's water, pouring it over himself. It felt like a fully formed, completely "on" character doing exactly what he would naturally do in the moment. Every pro wrestling match would be better off with two or three moments like this, just someone making use of the situation in front of him, even if it meant things go off track for a few valuable TV seconds. Part of the appeal is the live improvisation. It's always been part of the appeal.

Darby was a clear underdog here. He had set a dozen traps for Gabe Kidd the week before, but here he was trudging through nature naked and with only his wits, skill, bravery and resolve, and Rush was the storm. The advantages he got where daring, defiant, and clever. He pulled the apron curtain out to trap Rush's foot. When Rush was leaned back in his Tranquilo pose, he pounced at him from across the ring to attack. He moved out of the way as the Horns corner dropkick came sailing in causing Rush to wipe out which allowed him to float over with a jackknife pin to win it. 

These were not sure things by any means. In the first two cases, Rush fired back. He would be quick to cut Darby off with an eyerake, a headbutt, a sharp kick. Darby won, not with the Scorpion Deathlock, not even with the stylized Last Supper, but instead with whatever flash pin he could sneak on to escape with his skin intact. 

It was eleven and a half minutes, with a chance to take a breath, or to express pent-up frustrations with that breath, in the middle. They let things set in. They made sure to portray massive physical consequence to everything that happened. It was a war but not necessarily a sprint or a bomb-fest. Even when they did a strike exchange, there was contrast and things were not just absorbed without immediate meaning. 

It didn't need to be a twenty minute epic to grab  you by the soul and twist. It was a match that made the most out of every second, even the seconds where Darby was convalescing or Rush was basking, preening, or seething. That sort of inaction and reaction can be just as consequential as any spot, maybe even more so.

No matter how you used that breath during the commercial break, you were almost certainly catching it by the time the match ended. Maybe your heart felt lighter. Maybe you felt inspired to run through a wall. Maybe you were left jittery, not sure what to think, not sure how to feel. But you did feel. Maybe it had pulled you away from the worries of the day. Maybe it had dragged you right through them to the other side. But wherever you were, it wasn't where you had began and you were almost certainly better off for the journey.

Pro wrestling can be so many things.

But it can be this too: organic, raw, visceral, meaningful, beautiful, terrible, and brisk, if only we let go and allow it to be; if only the wrestlers can let go and dive in and commit themselves to it fully and fearlessly.

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80s Joshi on Wednesday: Mimi! Kai!

Disc 2 

12. Leilani Kai vs. Mimi Hagiwara (All Pacific Title) 8/25/81

K: I'd say Mimi Hagiwara is the earliest Joshi wrestler who was obviously pushed for being conventionally attractive to male fans. Her gimmick was that she an 'idol wrestler', but I'd argue she is not truly a precursor of Idol Wrestling (capitalisation deliberate) as we know it today. It was a gimmick, something to make her stand out. She wasn't working in a company full of idols, she still had to operate under pro-wrestling logic. Especially now that she's being pushed as the company's #2 babyface.

My first thought on the opening is how it's laid out to make Mimi look strong and should be taken seriously. Leilani makes the first attack, but Mimi just starts throwing strikes back in retaliation and doesn't even seem phased by the attempted ambush. She doesn't just win the striking battle though, but she gets to throw in a few impressive take downs as well like her flying headscissors, and counter-wrestles Kai to beat her on the mat. Watching this in kayfabe, you'd have to reach the conclusion that anyone dismissing Mimi's wrestling ability is a fool, but even outside of kayfabe, she hits all of this with pretty good execution. She's not Jaguar Yokota but it's all good enough for me to buy into it.

Kai's comeback is that move where she just throws her opponent chest first into the top rope. I've never liked that move and it's a weak transition here and didn't play off well everything that'd happened before (i.e. Mimi steamrolling her). It barely goes anywhere though, as Mimi's back on offense soon enough, this time looking even more dominant taking things to the outside and throwing Kai into the chairs. And when Kai gets in the ring, Mimi pulls out her boxing skills and pummels her with a flurry of body-shots which I thought Kai sold very well. She looked like the air had been punched out of her.

The finish is a double countout after Mimi apparently got so carried away beating up Leilani on the outside that she forgot about the 20 count. I don't know how else to read it as Kai was hardly stopping her from getting back in the ring. I guess there was a bit of politics involved, even if it is a bit funny to me that it was ok for Kai to look totally dominated by a skinny pretty girl so long as she didn't take a pin. 

***

MD: Well, this was a match. Mimi took about 80% of it over 14 minutes or so, maybe even more. They slugged it out to start and Mimi took over with a great headstand ‘rana/flying headscissors takeover combo and she really never looked back. There were two bits of Kai coming back and she looked pretty credible when she did, but this was not shine/heat/comeback. It was a mauling. First time she missed a splash after maybe two or three chained moves and the second she missed a top rope splash after a (nice) suplex and body slam.

Meanwhile, Hagiwara was a force, inside the ring, outside the ring. Her offense started to loop a bit because she could only do so much to Kai. She hit a bunch of neckbreakers, a couple of suplexes, had an octopus hold, some pinning combos, and so on. Jackie was on commentary and I wouldn’t say Haigwara looked like an ace here, but when she was tossing Kai around the outside without any real opposition she looked like a force. Finish had them roll out on the figure-four and brawl with Mimi just missing the count back in to make this a face-saving draw for Kai. Kind of a weird one, honestly.

13. Mimi Hagiwara Sings Stand Up 1/4/82

K: I’m not going to review the singing performance ha. There is an old DVDVR thread discussing a potential 80s Joshi set where someone comments that each disc must have a song, and they’re right. You’re missing too big an element of the promotion without them. If you watch the original TVs (which were 1 hour or 30 minutes) almost every episode has a song on it. So they actually take up a much smaller proportion of screen-time on the set.

MD: And just like that, we’re in 1982. And Mimi Hagiwara is commanding the room, or the ring, singing Stand Up. I’ve seen Jackie and others sing as part of this and you don’t get quite as much of their in-ring personalities, but I think you do get that more with Hagiwara, but I am not going to go much deeper than that here, sorry.

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 3/16 - 3/22

AEW Dynamite 3/18/26

Darby Allin vs Gabe Kidd [Coffin Match]

MD: Darby Allin coffin matches are bulletproof, right?

Maybe not.

There was a real booker's dilemma here. Kidd is a guy that they want to push over time. He's the apparent centerpiece of the new heel stable, a pretty dynamic and over the top persona, the kind of wrestler that maybe you can market. 

Darby, on the other hand, after getting mobbed and mogged by the Dogs for the last month or two, is ready to move on. He's not just ready to move on but to be pushed back into the world title scene. The Coffin Match is his match. Theoretically, it makes things easier since you don't need a pinfall or submission. It's perfect for a heel to slip on a banana peel and get shut in.

Finally, AEW prides itself on fostering the wrestlers' creativity and that is honestly wonderful in a processed, overly produced top-down world of pro wrestling. It doesn't always work out and it can lead to excess and bloat, but when you sum it all out, this sort of creative freedom is ultimately a good thing.

So where did that get things here? This time, Darby ambushed Kidd outside the arena. Every else was banned so he didn't have to worry about numbers, and he used his pluck and canniness to ether Kidd, toss him in the truck of a car, and immediately crash it. While both would be battered, Darby was more prepared and accustomed to that sort of insanity and he had the advantage. He pressed that advantage by carting Kidd into the arena and trying to put a straightjacket on him. He got most of the way there, limiting his motion. Kidd fought back, but got swept under again, allowing Darby to cinch the straightjacket, giving him even more of an advantage. Kidd, with no arms, had a last burst of offense anyway, and then, even after surviving two Coffin Drops, was so tough that needed to be crashed into by Darby at full speed to go into the Coffin. 

On paper, it checks boxes, right? Darby gets to be creative and do a big stunt that people will remember, one that gives some poetic closure to the Dogs' out of ring ambushes. The character of Darby is shown to be clever and a world-beater. Kidd is doubly protected, both for the car crash and then the straightjacket. Maybe triply so for all that he survives. Darby moves on with a definitive win, ending the feud, and goes into the main event scene.

So where does this go wrong?

Let's start with the car crash. They noted that cameras were on the scene. Maybe not the best rationale but better than some omnipotent outside force. This was supposed to be live though. Darby ambushing Kidd by where he parked a beat up car, Darby using the ether rag, Darby stuffing him in the trunk. All plausible enough. Darby setting things up so that there was a trash pile right in front of the car that would cause a perfect flip? I mean, he's Darby, maybe? Likewise that Kidd would be more hurt by Darby. Hell, maybe Darby even wore a seatbelt. Seatbelts save lives. 

Maybe that's me giving all of this a lot of grace, but I've seen some crazy things out of Darby over the last few years. 

But those picture perfect camera shots? A bridge too far. I buy that a camera and production crew used to filming live wrestling would be able to cut from one shot to another relatively quickly. But that's around ringside in a controlled environment. Here, in the midst of what was supposed to be the insane antics of two madmen, some of those cuts were just too perfect, whether it was the flip, the aftermath, Kidd falling out of the trunk. You can do something like this if you really feel the need to, but you have to make it plausible, which they did well enough, and then make sure it's not so polished that it seems like it's just part of the show. Here, it absolutely did.

Which leads me to the straightjacket. In principle, it's a fun idea. Darby's a trickster, to a degree, maybe not as much so as Orange Cassidy, but he's a trickster nonetheless. He's an underdog. He's resilient and resourceful. He's done arts and crafts before to create weapons of war. Kidd had an obvious physical advantage. This helped to level the scales. 

Plus I love the idea of wrestling around limitations. The coolest part of the match wasn't the car crash (Sorry), but after Kidd was fully locked in the straightjacket when he kicked the ref into the ropes to stumble Darby and somehow hit a running power slam with no arms. Just like endless, boundless, borderless creativity has its charms, so does creativity within firm limits, even limits that wrestlers don't have to usually deal with. And this created a sense of the real. He really couldn't move his arms. That draws you in immediately.

The problem was, maybe, that Kidd isn't the guy I was supposed root for here, and this wasn't just Darby being clever and resourceful. It was Darby laying a trap on top of a trap on top of a trap. This isn't Home Alone. There's a size disadvantage, but it's one thing to set up a rake for your opponent to step on; it's another to ether him and put him in a trunk for a car crash. There's a different power dynamic there. This was partially mitigated by the first half of the match where Kidd was slowed down but had his hands still free, and this was leaning on a lot of bad actions that Kidd and his cronies had done up until this point, making this more of a revenge fantasy against bullies, but by the end of it, you were maybe left wondering just who the real bully in this situation was. 

Again, there's an interesting story there that could possible be told, but it's not the one that they were telling and not the one that will propel Darby back into the main event scene. We're used to the notion of a babyface having to fight back against the odds, and wrestling is set up so that what matters the most is what's happening in the moment. Instead, Kidd had the deck stacked against him from the get go, and he came off as an almost valiant madman who refused to quit in the face of adversity, which is, in so many ways, Darby's own deal. 

Even on the finish, it was just too much. Kidd had made his last burst after being helpless. Just let him get put away with the two Coffin Drops. Don't have him fight back onto his feet after that. It protects him just a little more, maybe, but it doesn't necessarily protect him as a heel. That's borderline heroic stuff in today's pro wrestling. It's one thing for the monster to rise up one last time, a boss' final form, before the hero finally slays him. That doesn't work if the monster's in a straightjacket and is an easy target. It's a headshot on a helpless opponent. 

You can't fault them for what they went through, how they put their bodies on the line, how hard they worked, and you also have to be sympathetic to the way this was laid out, because on paper, it did check certain boxes. In reality, however, this one crashed off course (and maybe did a flip in mid air along the way).

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Found Footage Friday: WWF 1998~! AUSTIN~! TOO SEXY~! AGUILA~! FAAROOQ~! CACTUS~! TAFKA GOLDUST~! QUEBECERS~!

WWF House Show Anaheim 3/13/98

Mr. Aguila vs. Brian Christopher

MD: This was the good stuff. I can't imagine anything else on the show is going to reach this level. Christopher was as on as a human being could possibly be. Fascinating reactions to things, fascinating creative choices. He went for a German out of the corner and Aguila landed on his feet. Yet he celebrated like he had just tossed him across the ring. Surely, he would have felt... well, no matter. Then he ate a massive dive and sold his throat for some reason. I enjoyed it. He had some really nice offense too, not just the power bomb down the stretch but a Stroke and this Bulldog which for some reason Aguila decided to sell by compacting himself in a seated spot. Story of his comeuppance was going for the same thing twice and then having it backfire on him in the most spectacular way possible (bulldog #2 let to him crotched in the corner). Really, this was Christopher wound up and given room to run as fast and as far as possible to amazing results.

ER: I love how long they both took coming to the ring. We've never seen Aguila take this long to walk to the ring, and because of that this is the most we have ever heard of Aguila's music. This is the clearest this theme has ever been played. We're learning more about WWF Aguila than ever before, as this is also a clear beautiful look at his gear. This is a GREAT set of gear on Aguila, great use of bright color against white, Lisa Frank color with a clean white canvas. He uses that canvas to paint something beautiful, like the sequence where he knocked Christopher down with a spinning heel kick, hit an effortlessly high floating dropkick to knock him to the floor, then hit an incredible twisting moonsault press to the floor. Cleanest shit ever. 

Christopher was great at setting up his own offense and Aguila's. His set up and execution of the Stroke, rolling Aguila through and firmly planting him, got a stunned reaction and he knew it, soaking in the crowd's hate even more than normal. His messy bulldog (complimentary) nicely set up Aguila shoving him off the next bulldog, balls first into the turnbuckles. The elbowdrop Aguila dropped right on Christopher's face after he dropped to the mat was the best...or was it the best when Christopher hopped to his feet running in place selling that the elbowdrop smashed his nose. How often did we get to see Christopher use two different powerbomb variations in WWF? Funny that I'm seeing it on a house show. Both men covered from the blown spot well, Christopher worked as base for luchadors far better than anyone could have expected. 

Steve Blackman vs. Faarooq

MD: Farooq looked really good here. Just tons of presence. He called everyone ugly on the mic to start, then got Blackman to pose, lured him into the corner and hit a spinning heelbutt I've never seen him do. It was just the way he carried himself. He went for a handshake and Blackman kicked it away but then he got him to run right into the spinebuster slam. Most of his offense was just tossing Blackman out so D-Lo and Henry could beat on him, and Blackman won far, far too soon with a small package out of nowhere, but Farooq looked great in the few minutes we got here, just like the savviest wrestler going. Post-match there was Nation dissension and Rocky ran out and drew chants to try to calm everything down.  

ER: Faarooq looked so damn good here. As someone who's been throwing 1998 WWF on as a break from 1997 WCW, I can attest that this is the best Faarooq looks in the ring in the entire first half of '98. Was he saving it all for the house shows? I'm so confused. He had a really cool Raw match against Shamrock in January '98, so maybe we just weren't getting enough Faarooq against shooters? Honestly, this is one of the greatest NATION performances we have. This is more than just the leader, this is everybody contributing. Faarooq is out here channeling Jungle Jim Kelly with a corner spinkick that he never otherwise used, showing off his peoples' karate to some white karate champ, while his whole team is putting in great work. How about Mark Henry throwing fucking BODY shots full arm into Blackman's stomach? Mark Henry is in baggy light wash jeans and a leather vest and is so wide it's insane. He looks like prom night Shaq. Kama and D-Lo put the boots to Blackman and Kama throws one of the best punches he's ever thrown. Faarooq's singlet doesn't get enough credit for being as elegant as it was. A truly great piece of pro wrestling gear. The simple band diagonally across his torso and the confidence to have so much of the singlet all black. This is confidence. Blackman's inside cradle finish was so slick and so well executed that it played as a finish just as well as Ogawa beating Akiyama, but this was a whole damn Nation show.

Cactus Jack vs. Billy Gunn [Falls Count Anywhere] 

MD: This was great fun. Just constant motion with weapon shots and big bumps all around and stooging from Gunn. Gunn landing on the outstretched chair and taking a goofy flopping bump was one of my favorite Billy Gunn things ever. The transitions were otherwise basically of convenience. Gunn would roll out on the Mandible Claw. He'd roll Cactus back in and Jack would take over in the corner with punches and the running knee, etc. So it wasn't exactly rocket science, but it was still very enjoyable and the sort of thing people weren't going to get on TV. 

ER: Also as part of my 1998 rewatch, I have become a much bigger fan of Billy Gunn than ever before. Did I contribute to the not-long-ago Billy Gunn discourse online? I sure did. I don't know why we didn't give him credit for what he was doing in '98 while it was happening, but damn has his work aged well. This man is a true stooge who is incredible at setting up opponents and taking a lot of damage. All of that is on display here, and all of it plays perfectly off Cactus. Gunn is the best part of the brawl on the floor, the way he hits the ring steps for max volume, the way he flops around on all his bumps and the way he and Cactus get so dirty after a suplex. Why is the floor of the Arrowhead Pond so damn filthy!? Was this a cowboy bar on days the Ducks weren't playing and they needed to fill the arena with sawdust? Gunn and Cactus get so covered in dust that they look like they're on a crew who hauls asbestos out of office buildings. 

Gunn is the perfect foil for all of Cactus's offense, from the violent to the absurd. He leans into Jack's best punches and holds firm to take a running knee in the corner. He gets tossed through a table in the corner and later takes a hard whip into the table he broke. But he is at his best getting over through absurdity, and that is on full display when he gets his balls salad tonged by Cactus and the crowd loses their damn minds for it. Gunn lays Cactus out with a chair and lays the chair over his face, setting up a fistdrop off the middle buckle - he even kisses his fist, which is some expert fistdrop knowledge from a guy who I've never see do a fistdrop before - that is of course reversed when Cactus raises the chair to meet Billy. Gunn's running in place face flop to sell the absurdity was divine. His two big pieces of offense looked great, snapping off a piledriver with real torque and sticking the not-yet-named Fameasser when Cactus ducks his head. For the finish, I loved Billy's kickout attempt after taking the double arm DDT on a chair. No life in the legs, no chance of kickout, but a visual attempt to roll his shoulder up at 3 that didn't take away from any of the violent and/or silly damage he took. 

Mark Mero vs. Chainz

MD: No idea how they thought this was going to work. The only babyface out there was Sable (and someone was whistling for her the whole match). Mero's entrance was over with all the lights and Sable was very over in general, getting her own chant as the match started. Mero played to the crowd, especially when it came to her. Chainz was just there, a de facto babyface who didn't get a shine (he tossed Mero out right at the start). Mero's shots and knees and what not looked good, but no one wanted to see Chainz work up from a chinlock (even being choked by wrist tape). He had a brief comeback but missed a Bombs Away kneedrop and ate the TKO. Probably good to see the state of the Mero/Sable act in a setting like this but this was doomed from the start.

ER: Chainz was definitely the babyface here, he was just the least defined character of the DOA. Part of this was because he didn't have a nazi twin, part of it was having a Z in his name like he was a member of the Burger King Kids Club. But he was a babyface at this point of 1998, even if that was mostly because DOA were in a regular feud with the Nation and WWF crowds were definitely going to be in the corner of DOA for reasons beyond face/heel alignment. Would a heel have the kind of shiny, lustrous hair that Chainz had? 

I thought the match worked really well with Chainz as babyface, throwing strong punches that Mero took like a great overpowered heel. I was also surprised at how fast Mero bumped to the floor when Chainz threw him through the ropes. Both men bump real well for the other. Mero goes down hard for a shoulderblock and clothesline, Chainz takes a shockingly cool bump when Mero snaps his neck over the ropes. He took it the exact same way Jimmy Hart took his apron bumps, and bumping was an underrated part of Chainz' game. Yes, I realize while typing that that every part of Chainz' game was underrated, because there isn't a person reading this who can clearly picture their favorite WWF Chainz moments. What did Chainz use as a finisher? I can't ever recall him winning a match during this run. But in the couple months around WrestleMania this year, he seemed like a guy who was trying for the last time to be noticed. We're not counting that weird stretch in TNA where he was losing 10 pounds a week until he was all teeth and jawbone and his hair started suffering from vitamin deficiency, I mean that he was trying to stand out to someone in WWF who might notice. 

Go watch how much Chainz puts himself out there in the DOA vs. DX vs. Boricuas chain match angle from Raw 4/13/98 (I fully understand if you do not do this) and it was clear he was trying to be noticed by someone. Was it me? Was it me, Chainz, noticing you 25 years after the fact? I love what you did against Marc Mero, Chainz. I loved your missed kneedrop off the middle buckle, and loved you leaning in to take Mero's kneelift to the side of the head rather than to your breadbasket. Nobody else took Mero's kneelift this way, only you Chainz. And it looked really good! I am a noticer, always noticing things. Your effort was true. 

Steve Austin vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley 

MD: I haven't actually written out the word "Helmsley" in a very long time. It still has a red underline under it. I'm not going back to check. Let me dump in some of the personal stuff here actually. I didn't watch a hell of a lot of wrestling from ~93-98. I remember seeing Hogan turn on scramblevision. Mania XIV was in Boston (I lived in a suburb) so with the public workout and everything, people were buzzing about it at High School and that's when I more or less got back into it, right around here.

That said, I don't go back to 98 WWF much. If we had more house shows, maybe it'd be different. What I have seen tends to be C-Shows. So I haven't seen these guys from this particular year in a long time. And it's fascinating just to see Austin move. I'm more used to the Austin of a couple of years earlier or a couple of years later, but here he was a superstar just ready to get the belt and carry the company. He conducted the crowd and fed off of them. It was a house show. The act hadn't quite calcified yet. So he was a little looser but it didn't feel pandering in any way. 

What I'll say about Hunter here is that he was very giving. His character didn't earn a single thing. He got everything through cheating or Chyna or chance. I imagine it wouldn't have carried through quite as well if TV cameras were on but he let himself be genuinely vulnerable in a way that, after a certain point, he never did genuinely again. And he came off as a better, more effective heel because of it. 

Early on they did a couple of hammerlock bits which were very good. Great back elbow and fun punch out of them. That's probably what I will remember out of this as much as anything else. Austin had to fight his way back from some legwork, but he did. The finish was wonky, overthought. Even vulnerable Hunter is still Hunter. It did six or seven things (too complicated a set up for the comeback with a double down that wasn't really needed, shrugging of the stunner the first time, a ref bump, Chyna, etc.) when one or two would have hit so much better. Still, the good in here was quite good.

ER: Man, I loved this. I loved this. I thought it was great. Austin was flat out incredible and constant motion towards something More, while HHH turned in what might be his best performance of the year. I have seen enough Austin/HHH matches and don't think they always work well as opponents, primarily because of HHH, but this was tremendous and a perfect use of time. If you dare, go ahead and check out their brutally long match a few weeks later from Mayhem in Manchester, and you can see a HHH with no idea how to treat a match against Austin. Here? Like night and day, roles defined perfectly and not a single wasted movement by either. HHH was not attempting to work cool heel, he was just feeding and setting things up for Austin to knock down, which he did spectacularly. The work over Austin's perpetually injured knee/s was interesting, and the ways Austin moved around that knee work was amazing. It's crazy how active Austin was in this era. 

For a guy who would eventually be surrounded by go go go wrestlers, it's wild how much he went went went without making his actual work feel empty and forgotten. It's funny whenever I see Austin talked about as a guy who "didn't do much" in the ring. Maybe that's referring to his "small moveset" (silly) but I watch the guy and see someone who is constantly doing something. Austin is a very active wrestler and this 12 minute and change format is perfect for him to craft this active, cool story. I loved every beat of this. When Hunter was getting his ass kicked, he was actually getting his ass kicked. This was not a self-service stooge performance from Hunter, he wasn't yet at the time where he was "showing people he could work down" he was just the heel taking a beating. Early, Austin rocks him so good with a back elbow to break a hammerlock that I had to rewind it a few times, both to see the elbow and to see the actual anger in Hunter's face. That's how a heel should look when a tough babyface elbows him in his big nose. And, while it didn't smash Hunter's nose, Austin's falling elbow is one of the greatest pieces of offense in wrestling history. What an incredible magic trick. This wife beating beer drinking Texas rattlesnake also figured out how to work an incredibly dangerous elbow, pointed directly at someone's throat and never showing a sliver of light, in a way that looks like he's collapsing a man's trachea. The trust he built with that elbow is incredible, and earned. 

When things settle down into Hunter working the knee, I loved the way Austin would stay in the match while selling, never settling into a long Hunter control sequence (because Austin rightly understood that Hunter has next to no ideas how to control things for that long), which fits perfectly into Austin's style. He is a fighter, a man who wants to constantly advance and who will keep after you after losing a limb, and that's how he sells the leg. There is an incredible spot, my personal favorite moment on this show, where Austin misses a clothesline and falls forward into the ropes, recovering in time for Hunter to kick him straight in the knee. The way Austin missed this clothesline pays such perfect attention to detail, every frame looking like a man who threw to connect, falling into the ropes because your missed momentum carried you there. His fall into the ropes looked like a man who hadn't considered he would ever miss that clothesline. Only the top 0.1% of wrestlers can miss offense with that kind of conviction. 

Chyna's involvement was the perfect amount as well, as her presence was always acknowledged while her threats were mostly implied. When she finally elbow smashes Austin from the floor it played as one of the best moments of an already excellent match. When she finally gets in the ring for the finish, the crowd was rabid for any kind of involvement from her. The way they played Chyna's first year in the company was an incredible use of restraint, totally unimaginable today. Austin's greatest feat in this match is actually making Hunter's goof ass Flair/Race cosplay bumps mean something other than "now is the time Hunter can show that he has watched several Flair/Race matches". His rolling upside down bump in the corner is almost always shoehorned into a match, but here felt like the best possible use and execution, adding an off the rails feel to Austin's comeback fire. 

I honestly don't think I could name 10 better matches in 1998 WWF. If these house shows keep coming, maybe eventually we'll be able to name 20 better. 

Godwinns vs. DoA [Country Whipping]

MD: Three minutes. The fans didn't really care at all until a couple of hard Godwinn shots in the ring towards the end. I was off thinking why they didn't get a couple more hillbillies (Moondog Splat was still active in 97?) and have them as part of the whole gang wars thing. And then I blinked and there was a slop drop and the thing was over. On some level this was kind of Death Valley Days coded. Just guys whipping the hell out of each other for three minutes and going home. If Phil, Matt and Eric booked this though, it'd have way more emotional resonance. 

ER: This was only two minutes long and a mostly useless two minutes, all likely for a very good reason. When you have Nazi Bikers taking on Confederacy Nostalgists it is only a matter of time before they come to some real Can't We All Just Get Along conclusions. Why are we lightly whipping each other for two minutes? We all collectively, the four of us, hate blacks, so why are we fighting each other? Henry and Skull have a moment of understanding that they're wasting their own energy fighting those with the same goals, so they agree to a lazily set up Slop Drop and clear the ring so a full crew of tough black dudes can do something more productive. 

Rock vs. Ken Shamrock

MD: Sort of a tale of two matches here. Shamrock looked great early, charging right in and having a lot of dynamic offense. Rocky fed and fed and fed and he did a great job with it. Some distraction from the outside let Rocky take over and it was a little off to me, a little rough around the edges. He didn't register some of Shamrock's stuff in the hope spots. That sort of thing. They did another ref bump here, but it was a nice one with a ducked clothesline. Then the rest of the Nation got involved and everything fell apart. It looked like Rocky was going to sneak away with a win after a D-Lo chairshot but another ref ran out and the Nation swarmed in. DQ win for Shamrock with the fans getting at least one big moment as he hit the Belly to Belly on Henry after a heated face off. 

Headbangers vs. Quebecers

MD: I had high hopes for this one, and it seemed like they'd be personified in Jacques' look. It was pretty amazing. Quebecers had the blue gear here, but Jacques had his hair pulled back tight, which made him looking like the hairline was really receding, with an almost fluffy ponytail, and a baldspot in the middle. Amazing stuff.

There was nothing wrong with this match really, but I wanted more elaboration in the early stooging. Pierre bumped all over the place, but I needed a bit more pluck and comeuppance from Jacques. It's a house show. Do all the bits. They did barely any of the bits. There'd be more bits on a 1989 Rougeaus TV squash. So I was a little disappointed there. I did like the finish where one Headbanger leapfrogged over the other to avoid a whip into one another, only to run right into Quebecers clotheslines. That set up the Quebecers going for their finisher, it getting broken up and the Headbangers hitting theirs. I needed this to have 600% more bullshit and I'm not sure why it didn't.

Undertaker vs. TAFKA Goldust

MD: There were elements to the initial Goldust character which pushed things in clever, if not entirely subtle ways. I don't think much of that was in this incarnation. It was all trying too hard and so little of it landed. Dustin wasn't at his physical best here but he still bumped all over the place for Taker and had his usual timing. Another distraction transition, this time with Taker choking Luna. I liked the comeback though as Taker hit a flurry of punches to the gut like he was playing Punch Out! Then the lights went off and the place went more nuts for Kane than they did for any of the matches. You wonder about the mic-ing with the cameras as they are for most of this, but when the place explodes for something like that it really does make you feel like they've just been quiet for most of the wrestling. I kind of liked Taker's punch exchange on Kane too. Weirdly, the ref didn't call for the DQ even though it would have made total sense (it wasn't a ball control thing either; Kane was getting shots in). But they wanted to send the fans home happy with a "clean" win after the Tombstone I guess and they couldn't do yet another ref bump. 

I'm going to chalk this off as a dubiously agented show. There were good things, but past the Christopher match, which they still might have gotten pre-show, just at half the length, and the Cactus Jack match which they wouldn't be getting anywhere else save maybe PPV (at least until the Hardcore division started up), I don't think it was all that much of a stronger experience than you would have gotten from a Raw of this era, and as a house show, it really should have been.

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El Deporte de las Mil Emociones: To Be or Not To Be Champions

Week 59: To Be or Not To Be Champions

EB: Aniversario 1991 is in the books and it was an interesting event. Carlos Colon retained the Universal title with help from invader #1, a win that some would deem controversial. You can bet El Profe and Dino Bravo will want a rematch. Overall, Aniversario 1991 was a feel good event with the tecnicos winning most of the matches. Before heading into the post Aniversario world, we do have to mention that CSP did do an Aniversario related card on Sunday. The card was held in Ponce and featured the following matches:

Miguelito Perez defeated Skandor Akbar

Ricky Santana vs. Rod Price went to  a time limit draw

Huracan Castillo defeated Galan Mendoza

Koko B Ware defeated Action Jackson

Monster Ripper & Hugo Savinovich defeated El Profe & Billy Joe Travis

TNT defeated Ron Garvin

The Samoan Swat Team defeated Super Medico #3 & Giant Warrior

Invader 1 & Bronco #1 defeated Demolition by dq

Carlos Colon defeated Dino Bravo by dq

After this Aniversario weekend, we have seen the last of Gen. Akbar, Action Jackson, Billy Joe Travis and Rod Price. But where people leave, that means we’ll get some new or rerunting faces so stay tuned. The TV we have picks back up on July 27, which is three weeks after Aniversario. While we do not have results for July 13, we do have the card lineup for July 20 in Carolina. It looks like we have some major developments going on based on the lineup.

Universal title match: Carlos Colon vs Sadistic Steve Strong

For the World tag team titles: Invader #1 & Bronco #1 vs The Caribbean Express

Monster Ripper vs El Profe

No DQ Rematch: Giant Warrior vs Atkie Mulumba

Rematch for the World Jr. title: Ricky Santana vs Lt. James Earl Wright

Super Medico #3 & Invader #4 vsThe Ring Lords

And other great stars,

There are a few things that stand out. We have a new tag team in the Ring Lords plus the returns of James Earl Wright (of the State Patrol) and Atkie Mulumba. Ripper and Profe still are feuding and wrestling each other. The big news though is the top two matches for that card. Sadistic Steve Strong is coming back and this is something I remember from watching in real time. They were promoting his return by showing highlights of old matches against Carlos Colon and indicating that he had been given permission to return for that weekend to challenge Carlos Colon (if you remember, Strong had lost a loser leaves Puerto Rico match). But before we get too excited, Strong ends up not showing up for that night’s card. CSP did book a replacement and instead Carlos faced Nikolai Volkof on that card. 

The other big development(and again something I clearly remember from watching in real time), is that we have a very rare tecnico vs tecnico title match. The Caribbean Express seem to have issued a challenge for the World tag team titles and Invader #1 & Bronco 1 have agreed to the match. This is a break in tradition, as the custom is for members of El Ejercito de la Justicia to not challenge for each other’s titles. However, it seems that all four men have decided to wrestle in the spirit of sportsmanship and we’ll get a sort of dream match out of it. Let’s go to Carolina and see what happened.

Miguelito Perez & Huracan Castillo Jr vs Invader #1 & Bronco #1 - July 20, 1990

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cFlx3_go-8

It’s tecnico vs. tecnico as the Caribbean Express (the reigning Caribbean tag champions) are challenging Invader #1 and Bronco #1 for the World tag team champions. As we previously talked about when TNT decided to challenge Carlos Colon in 1990, it is not customary for members of El Ejercito de la Justicia to challenge each other for their titles. Before the match starts we get the entire tecnico locker room coming out and entering the ring in a show of class and sportsmanship. All of the tecnicos have publicly declared their well wishes to both teams in the match (looks like they’ve taken a different view of how to approach this since the TNT deal from the year before). Carlos Colon, Ricky Santana, Super Medico #3, Giant Warrior and Invader #4 are all here to shake their comrades hands in a show of sportsmanship and well wishes. Also among them is Miguel Perez Sr., who shakes the hand of both teams in a sign of sportsmanship even though his son and someone you could consider like a son in Castillo are the challengers. Both teams shake hands with each other and then Invader goes over and shakes Monster Ripper's hand as well. Hugo says that this is basically a dream match we are about to witness, because only in your imagination could you have seen this happen until now.

How did we get here? As Hugo explains in the first minutes of the match, opinions are divided about this match. There are people who think that Castillo and Perez should not have thrown down the challenge, that Monster Ripper should not have pursued to have that match signed for her guys. Others think that the whole reason you're in wrestling is to compete, to show who is the best. Hugo says that he agrees that opinions should be respected, but that he as a fan of wrestling also agrees that in wrestling you should be competing to prove who is the best. They showed a good portion of the match on TV, going through two commercial breaks. The match is mainly wrestled straightforward, although tempers do flare up a bit as the match goes on. Things get hectic near the end as all four men end up in the ring. Hugo mentions that Invader and Castillo are bleeding, so those two seem to have gone hard in the match. Perez and Castillo are whipped into each other and it looks like the champs are on the verge of successfully defending their titles. Invader backs Castillo into a corner, while Bronco and Perez are trying to throw each other into the ropes. Perez sends Bronco into the ropes and then hits a dropkick that knocks Bronco out of the ring. Perez follows up with a moonsault press off the apron, which takes both him and Bronco out of the action. As Perez was doing his dive, Invader hooked a small package on Castillo. The ref was focused on Perez and Bronco, so Monster Ripper sneaked into the ring and turned over the small package, putting Castillo in control of the pin. The ref turned around, noticed the pin and made the three count. We have new World tag team champions! Castillo and Ripper celebrate and then head to the floor to hand over one of the title belts to Miguelito (who had been out loopy on the floor and was not aware they had won the match). Perez joins the celebration with his teammate and manager but Invader doesn't seem too pleased about how the match ended. 

MD: I do think this would probably hit better outdoors, as we can see the basketball hoop on the camera the whole time, but it is also a starting point of sorts. It diminishes the pomp and circumstances a little. They wrestle clean to start, basically Invader vs Castillo and Bronco vs Perez and it’s good, competitive. You buy what they’re going for in setting a tone. As we come back from break, Castillo tags to Perez and Invader goes after Castillo for some reason, hitting a belly to back. That lets Perez hit a missile dropkick on him to take over. We’re lacking context given the break but it did feel weird especially for a transition. Maybe tempers flared. Who knows? 

After this, they start in on Invader though. A lot of that was just grinding down on him. He had a nice hope spot or two but they cut him off (with Castillo’s jumping knee for instance). I’m not sure the crowd entirely knows what to make of this. It’s real chinlock heavy. We come back to Bronco clearing house after a hot tag we never got to see. The fans ARE into this, including when Invader comes in to get some “revenge.” Chaotic finishing scene with bodies everywhere. Perez hits a standing moonsault off the apron which we’ve never seen in the footage up til this point so it had to blow minds (just ask Esteban!). But that distracts the ref so while Invader has Castillo rolled up, Ripper turns it over and the Express win the belts. Certainly a controversial ending. This one was hurt by the cuts so we can’t really get a good sense of it, but at this point, we’re just lucky to have it at all.. 

EB: The finish did blow my mind at the time (and it’s what I distinctly remember from that match… well that and what followed). The controversial finish of the World tag title match set off a series of meetings with the commissioner that led to a surprising development. Hugo will mention it during the next episode’s show intro, with the meeting and fallout being shown later in the same program. So let’s go to the July 27 episode of Campeones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCVyapi4u2Y

EB: We open with Hugo and Profe,  who happens to be posing for the viewers as Hugo welcomes everyone to the show. Hugo even makes a remark about maybe changing Profe’s name to El Modelo with all of the posing Profe is doing when he sees a camera. Profe says that he should have maybe been an actor or a TV heartthrob. Hugo cuts that off by running down what we’ll have on today's program, including showing  what happened last week in Carolina when Monster Ripper was facing El Profe (who Hugo says we’ll get to see what kind of a person Profe is despite what he may claim in front of the cameras when he gets in there with a lady). We also have some old matches highlighting returning wrestlers such as Abdullah the Butcher, Fidel Sierra and Nikolai Volkoff and music special for newcomer Alex Porteau. The big news for those who have not heard (as Profe applauds this news) is that Huracan Castillo and Monster Ripper have attacked Miguelito Perez. Profe happily says that Castillo has a bright future in wrestling. Hugo says that later in the program they will show the meeting the Caribbean Express had with the commissioner and what led to the aforementioned incident occurring. Also, we’ll have highlights from Nikolai Volokoff’s attack on Carlos colon last weekend, Volkoff was the substitute for Steve Strong (who was not able to appear due to circumstances beyond their control). Tonight there is a rematch between them with the added stipulation of it being a Russian Chain match. Profe says that the simple fact is that last week we left Carlitos Colon drenched in blood and this time he will be at the end of a chain. Volkoff is a master at this type of match, to which Hugo retorts that Carlos has been in matches like this before. Profe: ‘But he fights like a Puerto Rican, Volkoff is from where this type of match originated, from Russia’. Hugo again states that Carlos knows how to handle himself in these sorts of matches (this chain match has the touch all four corners rule), although he conceded Volkoff does have a size and experience advantage. 

Tonight we’ll also have the return of Abdullah the Butcher as he faces Giant Warrior. Hugo mentions that Abdullah did not fare too well the last time these two faced each other. Profe says that was before, Abdullah has been on a great winning streak in the Orient and will be ready for tonight. Hugo mentions that Ricky Santana will take on El Profe, so that may mean Profe’s face might not look so good tomorrow (Profe laughs it off). Rounding out the card for tonight is Sasha vs Monster Ripper, Invader #1 & Super Medico #3 vs the Ring Lords, and Invader #4 vs. Alex Porteau. Before finishing the announcements, Hugo says that we have some big news about next Saturday. The rematch is signed as Carlos Colon will defend the Universal title against Dino Bravo. Profe is happy about this news and promises that this time there will be no one to save Carlos. With that, Hugo sends it to the Alex Porteau music video as El Profe says we now have a magic finger to cue up the music specials (as he points at the camera). The music video highlights for Porteau are from some TV studio matches, with the most notable opponents being Super Medico #3 and Ricky Santana.

MD: Pretty sure this is set to Sepultura and the music is heavy and foreboding. Maybe the clips of Porteau doggedly working over Ricky Santana’s arm don’t quite match the destructive tone of it but it doesn’t hurt his presentation I guess?

EB: Back to Hugo in the studio, as he introduces the clip of what happened last week when Profe was in trouble against Monster Ripper and someone came out to help him. We cut to Monster Ripper attacking Profe on the arena floor, when suddenly Lt. James Earl Wright of the State Patrol runs out to grab Ripper from behind. Profe doesn’t have much time to get a blow in before Ricky Santana rushes in to fight the rudos off and chase them away. Ricky helps Ripper to her feet as the clip ends. 

Profe is in the studio and cuts a promo on Ricky Santana. Profe has always said that Santana loves sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong and tonight he will teach him a lesson, because women and imbeciles like Santana should be treated the same way. He is going to disfigure Santana's face, he is ugly and big eared. So get ready because El Profe does not discriminate by gender, nationality or age. Ricky responds by saying that it won’t be a woman tonight, it’ll be man to man, or he should say one man because Profe is no man. After Hugo translates we get a card rundown for tonight;s show in Carolina. We also get an ad for next Wednesday’s TV taping in Miramar, with TNT vs. Abdullah the Butcher, Invader #1 vs. Fidel Sierra, and Ricky Santana & Giant Warrior vs the Ring Lords. 

MD: Profe really didn’t seem all that cowed or like he’d learned his lesson during the opening of the show. Lots of preening and posing. Most striking thing here is that Santana showed up almost immediately after Wright appeared, so they didn’t do any sort of extended beatdown on Ripper. Not sure if they’re going for mixed tags or just moving the feud over to Profe/Wright vs Santana moving forward.

Abdullah the Butcher vs. Dutch Mantell - February 1988

EB: With Abdullah the Butcher returning tonight, they show a match from February 1988 where Dutch Mantel takes on Abdullah the Butcher. This is from the first round of that year’s Gillette Cup and the match does not go Dutch’s way as Abdullah jumps him as soon as he enters the ring. Most of the match is Abdullah getting the better of Dutch with foreign objects, although Dutch is able to get some offensive flurries in. We also have Chicky at ringside with Abdullah here, we have not seen him in almost a year. I wonder what he’s been up to?  Anyway, Dutch wins the match by dq when Abdullah refuses to stop punching and choking Dutch (who is draped over the top rope).

We then go to some highlights from the last time Abdullah the Butcher and the Giant warrior wrestled. The date is September  8,1990 and Giant Warrior goes after Abdullah out on the ballfield. Warrior grabs a piece of wood that he uses to hit and gouge Abdullah with, causing Abdullah to bleed. We cut back to the studio and we are met with a closeup of Abdullah’s face as El Profe cuts a promo on Giant Warrior. Abdullah is balancing a metal case on his head as Profe promises that Abdullah is going to make Warrior a victim tonight. Abdullah has made other wrestlers bleed and left them scarred, and tonight will be no exception. Also, El Profe has some quick words for Carlos Colon, it seems he and Abdullah are scheduled to wrestle tomorrow in Humacao.

Giant Warrior is next and laughs at Profe’s comments and says that people saw Profe’s failed attempt of getting rid of Giant Warrior. Abdullah is back again and Warrior is still standing, so let’s see what happens tonight when the two trains collide again. 

MD: It’s notable just how little we’ve seen Abdullah between 89-91. I think he’s just popped up once, maybe twice, and never for long. But now they have him against both Giant Warrior and TNT. Of course, we haven’t seen Dutch at all. The old match between them was fun. Abby tossed Dutch onto a table and then got the object out and opened him up in the ring. Dutch came back with Shoo Baby (using it as a blunt object and not a whip). Abby cut him off as he was want to do and then got DQed for attacking him in the ropes. 

The clip we see of one of the times we did see Abby is against Giant Warrior who by this point had the object already and was getting revenge on Abby with it. Abby, when we cut to him for the Profe promo, has a black case over his head. We cut to footage of him beating on guys and come back to him doing different things with the case or his fingers, just staring at the screen. Warrior cuts a confident promo after that.

Fidel Sierra vs. Victor Cantcel

EB: We have a match from 1985 featuring Fidel Sierra taking on Victor Cancel. Fidel is making a return to Puerto Rico this week and this match is to serve as a reminder to fans of his ability. Profe’s first comment is that he has recently learned that not all Cubans are bad (since Ricky Santana is Cuban), people like Sierra and Castillo are good eggs in his book. Hugo quickly shuts that down, saying Profe’s job is to commentate on the wrestlers’ performance, not anything else. Hugo says that Fidel is returning and if a few years ago he was someone to watch out for, this time he is coming back with more experience and fame. Profe again talks about Castillo Jr with Hugo then asking him about Monster Ripper.  Profe says she can go fry some asparagus (no love lost there). Fidel wins the match with a flying kneedrop off the top. We’ll see how this stint goes for Fidel in the weeks to come.

MD: Another guy we haven’t seen. In general, I haven’t seen much of Sierra with this specific character looking cool with the hat. There’s commentary over commentary so this is older footage likely? Lots of complaining about hairpulling and what not but he’s overall dominant and wins with a side backbreaker and bombs away kneedrop. 

Commissioner Meeting and Miguelito Perez & Huracan Castillo Jr. vs The Ringlords

EB: It’s time for the new World tag team champions the Caribbean Express to have their meeting with the commissioner. Hugo is already there and says that everyone has been talking about what happened last week in the World tag title match. Commissioner Felix Suarez is here, along with Miguelito Perez, Huracan Castillo and Monster Ripper. Hugo says that it has been a hot topic, a controversial one, and that the commissioner had already met with Invader #1 and Bronco #1. The commissioner confirms that he already met with Invader and Bronco, and rather than speak with the Caribbean Express, he wants them to first watch the footage of the match ending before talking. Castillo isn’t too keen on having to watch the footage but Miguelito says they should. We get the replay of the match finish where Miguelito does his dive onto Bronco and in the ring the small package gets reversed with help from Ripper. The commissioner says that now that you have watched the footage, he thinks that it was an unjust win. Castillo tries to justify that Ripper was only there checking on him and nothing more. The commissioner continues that he has already proposed two options to Invader and Bronco, which they  accepted. These are either that the Caribbean Express reject the win and relinquish their titles back to Invader and Bronco, or that they leave the title belts with the commissioner and a rematch will be had for the held up titles. Castillo is all for doing a rematch, although he keeps saying that we are the champs so we’ll give them a rematch (glossing over that they would still have to vacate the titles in that scenario). Miguelito is not on board with that idea, because he feels that was clearly the wrong way to have won the match. Ripper tries to say something but Miguelito cuts her off by saying he had no idea this was how they won. Hugo follows up on this and Miguelito is insistent that he had no idea since he was out of it on the floor after the dive on Bronco (which is true). Miguelito feels this was an unjust loss for Invader and Bronco, feeling that they shouldn’t have done that. A discussion breaks out between Castillo and Ripper on one side and Perez on the other. Perez wants to relinquish the titles because they didn't do it the right way, Castillo and Ripper insist that they are the champions now and should just have the rematch (again glossing over the fact that in both scenarios they cease to be the champions). Miguelito says that accepting a win like that would make them nothing more than paper champions, Castillo says what do you mean paper champions, we beat them 1-2-3. Castillo brings up that they've had times where they’ve lost titles under similar circumstances, but Miguelito says that those were other wrestlers that did that to them,  but not people like Invader and Bronco who are on the same side as them. Miguelito says let’s relinquish the titles, but Castillo is against that (again, I don’t know if they goofed on the setup details or if Castillo is being deliberately obtuse, but either way they are not leaving that office with the title belts). Perez ends up deciding that he is going to relinquish his title belt, Castillo is mad since that means he has to relinquish it as well  and ends up getting bleeped after Perez leaves the room. Castillo tells Ripper how dare he do this to us.

Back to Hugo in the studio where he summarizes the end result. Miguelito Perez relinquished the title belts and they were returned to Invader and Bronco. The situation in the office got heated, so much so that you heard they had to censor some of Castillo's language. But this is not the end of the situation as this past Wednesday the Caribbean Express was taking on the Ring Lord and this is what went down. 

To Miiramar we go as Miguelito Perez is in trouble and trying to make the tag to Huracan Castillo. Instead of making the tag, Castillo seems to be distracted talking to Monster Ripper. Perez continues getting beat up and every time he tries to tag Castillo in he gets waved off, ignored or Castillo motions in a you got this fashion. Eventually, Perez gets fed up with Castillo not wanting to tag in and leaves the ring. Ripper starts arguing with Miguelito for leaving the ring and blocks his exit from the ringside area. Perez tries to push Ripper out of his way so he can leave, and Castillo runs up from behind and attacks Miguelito. Ripper holds Miguelito for a couple of those punches, and then Castillo rams Perez three times into the ringpost. Castillo then rams Perez on a table and hits him with a chair, before throwing Perez into the ring. The attack continues as the Ring Lords have won by countout. Perez is a bloody mess which brings out Carlos Colon and Invader to try to reason with Castillo, but each of them gets shoved by Castillo before leaving the ring. Castillo and Ripper exit the building instead of going to the locker room as a bloody Perez is being checked on in the ring. Hugo on commentary is condemning what Castillo did since Perez and Castillo basically have been friends since they were kids. We end with Perez being helped to the locker room by Invader and Carlos Colon.

MD: The Express review the footage with the commissioner. They see what Ripper did. Perez ultimately agrees to relinquish the belts back to Invader/Bronco though Castillo strongly disagrees. Cut to the match against the Ringlords, who are Magnum Force, here Rick Slagle and Speedy Gonzales (why that? I have no idea. It’s up there with the weird name for one of the State Patrol before). They’re a step down from the Studs but it really doesn’t matter because this was a high heat angle.

Perez fights back enough to go for a tag and Castillo just puts his hand out limpy, avoiding it. He does this a few times and then Perez tries to walk out. Ripper stops him and it seems like she’s trying to convince him to go back but Castillo hits the floor and she grabs Perez so Castillo can nail him. He bloodies his partner, even as Invader and others try to stop him. This was the good stuff. Usually, I’d think this followed something in the US like the Rockers split but the’re well ahead of it here. 

EB: After the big angle with the Caribbean Express, it is back to the promos for tonight’s card. This time we have the Ring Lords and Invader #1 & Super Medico #3 talking about their match tonight. The Ring Lords claim they’re the best tag team to be in Puerto Rico while the tecnicos say that they will be stopped tonight. We also got part of a commercial with some of the tecnicos for Capriccio's restaurant.

MD: I’m not 100% sure where Bronco is here but if you need to get the Ring Lords over, having them go over a champ and another name isn’t the worst way i guess?

EB: We have an old match from Mid-South where Nikolai Volkoff defeats Johnny Rich as the showcase match for Nikolai. After that Profe introduces the clip of the beating Volkoff gave Carlos Colon last week. Colon comes off the top rope with a whoopie cushion but Profe puts Volkoff’s leg on the rope to stop the count. A clothesline leads to another cover and again Profe puts Volkoff’s foot on the ropes. Carlos sets up for the figure four and Profe jumps up on the apron. Carlos runs over and decks Profe, then goes out to punch Profe some more on the arena floor. However, this gives Volkoff an opening to attack Carlos and ram him against the ringpost. This busts Carlos open and Volkoff continues kicking Carlos in the head. The attack stops when Giant Warrior runs out and Vokoff simply stops and heads off before Warrior can get any hands on him. 

We get comments from Nikolai Volkoff where he is looking forward to the chain match since it means that the coward of Carlos Colon cannot run away. Carlos follows by saying that Volkoff may be an expert in this type of match, but that Carlos himself has never lost a match of this type before. Volkoff and Profe better be ready to be paid back for last week, because he is not planning on touching all four corners until he has gotten some licks in with the chain. 

MD: He may have been one of the most over babyfaces on the roster in Summer 1990 WWF but 1983 Volkoff is a very different beast from 1991 Volkoff. He does two of my favorite things here: the one handed lifting choke and then how he turns his press backbreaker into a perfectly angled pin. Puerto Rico does bring out the best in people, and we’ll see if it can for 1991 Volkoff, I guess.

In the clip vs Colon we get, Carlos had his number and was working the leg until Profe interfered. Post match, Giant Warrior made the save. The promo is surreal both for the Russian music playing in the background and just to see Volkoff cut a promo in grumpy English.

Ricky Santana vs. The Fly

EBL Our last match is Ricky Santana vs. The Fly, with Fly getting some quick offense by jumping Santana at the start. This advantage does not last long and Santana makes quick work of The Fly. On commentary, Hugo starts needling Profe about his match tonight against Santana, with Hugo asking Profe if he is now friends again with Monster Ripper. Profe is disgusted by that question and says that he’d rather show up in Sasha’s corner tonight than be friends with Ripper. But he still thinks Castillo has great potential and has always been a good kid. Santana wins with a top rope splash.

Hugo and Profe then close out the show by hyping up tonight’s card and reminding viewers about the big rematch for next week as Carlos Colon defends the Universal title against Dino Bravo. 

MD: I want to say I’m an immediate fan of “The Fly” but he’s just a guy in a mask with no real Fly elements to him. Santana makes short work of him obviously. 

Abdullah The Butcher vs. Giant Warrior - July 27, 1991

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd9usQCi1rY

EB: We end this week’s post with the Giant Warrior vs Abdullah the Butcher match from July 27. This is from a later VHS release so the commentary isn’t related to the current happenings. Abdullah is taking his time on the outside so Warrior decides to rush him like in their previous encounter. Only this time Abdullah was waiting on that and surprises Warrior with several jabs using a foreign object (looks like a spike). Abdullah continues relentlessly jabbing Warrior in the forehead and the blood is starting to flow. Abdullah throws Warrior onto a table and then uses whatever furniture he can find to attack Warrior. A momentary breather reveals that Warrior is quickly becoming a  bloody mess (and he is wearing white tights so it’s going to get messy). Abdulalh finally gets in the ring and a dazed Warrior gathers himself. There’s blood splatter on the table, on the floor and on Warrior’s tights as he finally gets near the ring. We get some king of the mountain as Abdullah jabs the spike once more onto Warrior’s forehead and prevents him from entering the ring. Finally Warrior is in but can’t mount any offense as Abdullah continues attacking. 

Surprisingly, Warrior is able to kick out of Abudullah’s elbow drop. Warrior starts a comeback and even hits a dropkick on Abdullah. This causes Abdullah to drop the spike, so Warrior grabs it and uses it on the Butcher. Abdullah kicks out of a pin attempt and Warrior starts booting Abdullah's head. Warrior gets knocked to the outside and he decides to take one of his boots off. Warrior then uses it as a weapon on Abudllah ,just hitting him over and over again on the head. The ref tries to intervene but gets shoved and then hit with the boot. Warrior continues his attack as the ref calls for the bell. Several wrestlers come out to try to separate Warrior and Abdullah, but they end up getting attacked by both men as they try to get at each other. Warrior ends up knocking down Abdullah and (in an amazing visual) the rudos resort to just dragging the downed Abdullah by his arms across the arena floor towards the locker room.

MD: It is very possible that we have written about more Giant Warrior matches than anyone alive, and while there are some that are pretty good (at least one tag, a Murdoch match, the Tyler Mane match that overdelivered), this has to be the best. He came out in white which he never does and yeah, that meant he was going to bleed buckets. Abby got him on the outside early and tossed everything that wasn’t bolted down at him. He bled right from the get go and then bled some more. Eventually, he managed to come back and get the object and get revenge. It was an Abby match but it absolutely worked. When Abby tried to fire back, he took off his boot and started in on everyone, including the ref and every person in the locker room who tried to break things up. Very much an Abby match but you can’t say that Warrior didn’t do his part, even if his part was just to bleed.

EB: Next time on El Deporte de las Mil Emociones, a TV rematch between Giant Warrior and Abdullah the Butcher leads to a series of events that causes a major change to that night’s house show.  Also, the Caribbean Express collides and the debut of Ray Gonzalez.

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80s Joshi on Wednesday: Kumano! Ito! Jaguar! Noriyo!

Disc 2 

11. Hiroe Ito & Mami Kumano vs. Jaguar Yokota & Noriyo Tateno 8/81

K: Black Pair and Jumping Bomb Angels are Joshi tag teams from totally different eras, so the biggest novelty of this match is that their careers overlapped just enough to see one of each team against each other. By 'just enough' I mean this is Noriyo Tateno's TV debut and, from the footage we have available, the last in-ring appearance of Mami Kumano. Noriyo is part of the class of 1981, and early in her career gets pushed as an understudy of Jaguar Yokota (or to be more blunt about it,  punching bag/pin-eater in tag matches).

It's also the first time that Jaguar Yokota is now 'Jaguar' rather than Rimi. So I can stop worrying about accidentally calling her Jaguar in these reviews. The other wrestler here is Hiroe Ito. She's in Black Gundan faction, part of the class of 1980 and will later get the ring name 'Wild Kazuki', and pretty soon after that will be put in a mask to wrestle as 'Tarantula'.

The start is kinda funny as Mami squares up to Jaguar, making you think she's actually gonna wrestle her, but then just charges at poor Noriyo on the apron and drags her in to beat her up. Signalling from the start that the heel gameplan here is to target Noriyo and act like Jaguar isn't even there. The beatdown is very vicious and very loud. Kumano and Ito are both big screamers but in slightly different ways (yes I'm gonna analyse Joshi screams). Kumano comes across more out of control maniac in her screaming, whereas Ito feels more like she's just really exerting herself trying really hard to hurt her opponents, and her scream isn't a high-pitched so it's not so grating on the ears.

The hierarchy and dynamic is pretty clear here. Jaguar is way better than everyone else, she's almost able to fight both the heels on her own if she can keep things in the ring. But it doesn't play out like that. She's either being thrown to the outside so the heels can target Noriyo, or we get some crazy fighting on the outside where Mami Kumano in particular is causing mayhem. It's kinda funny how unpredictable she is, even stuff that isn't technically impressive like how she just kept kicking at Jaguar on the other side of the announce table while standing on it. You'd think after the first couple she'd done enough but she wouldn't stop. She's just all instinct. Noriyo took a funny bump into the chairs, knocking over a bystander in the process.

They gave Noriyo a little bit of shine when Jaguar got control of things in the ring and actually tagged her in to help out. Noriyo did a few single-legged dropkicks which didn't look that good, but I guess they didn't really need to. Jaguar was getting pretty big reactions earlier on with her hip attacks. Big relative to the time period, despite the reputation of "80s Joshi", 1981 AJW crowds really aren't that loud at all.

Noriyo is left in the ring a little too long though, so we get the predictable result. In some classic early AJW they cut away to brawling on the floor during a pinfall so we don't actually see the 3 count. I don't understand how that happens on a taped show. Good match though. The kind of 10 minute tv tag that achieves everything it set out to do.

***

MD: Our last look at Mami Kumano and her cool leather jacket with one arm cut off. Our first look at Noriyo Tateno. Ships in the night. It’s not like I’ve never seen a Jumping Bomb Angels match. And I had vague working knowledge of Masami and Yokota coming into this. I certainly have a good sense of Chigusa and Dump and all that’s coming, but I did come into this footage a lot blinder than you might think. I’d probably never seen a full Jackie Sato match, or Mimi Hagiwara or Nancy Kumi or the Queen Angels. I certainly hadn’t seen the Black Pair. I have now seen more of them than any other joshi, quite probably, as we’ve gone through years of footage comprehensively. So it’s been a bit of a hit to my weekly watching to lose Tomi or Jackie and now we’re losing Mami Kumano who I’ve probably connected to as much as anyone in this footage. One last romp on the way out though.

The commentary tells us that Tateno had done the high jump and was good at swimming, so important stuff here as always. Anyway, after a failed attempt for handshakes by Yokota and Tateno, Kumani ambushed them and took right over. Ito stood out early, dragging Tateno’s eyes across the mat and jamming her elbow right in it. Good, vicious stuff. She jammed a suplex later and draped a knee right over Tateno’s throat, so she had gotten the correct Black Army tutelage. All that and a stomach claw, including in the tree of woe too. Kumano likewise did her usual stuff, including ramming Tateno into the post from the apron, which everyone at ringside took very seriously. She went for a cavernaria just by yanking Tateno’s hair too but that was broken up by Yokota quickly. And yes, we got to see her do her dangling Brody King style choke at least one last time too. The last big thing she did was stand on the commentary table and cause chaos while the commentator’s voice rose in pitch accordingly. Hot tag came after some heel miscommunication but the finish was Ito reversing a whip causing Yokota to hit a body press on Tateno. A fun changing of the guard of sorts in a way. Mami Kumano will be missed. 

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AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 3/9 - 3/15 Part 2

AEW Revolution 3/15/26

Jon Moxley vs Konosuke Takeshita

MD: Who are we as a people? What do we deserve? What do we demand? What standards do we hold ourselves to? What standards do we hold others to?

The most pernicious truth of the last ten years is that the worst thing a public figure can do is apologize. At best, he can tell people that he's sorry for how his actions made them feel. So long as he doesn't look down, doesn't hesitate, just posts through it, then even in the worst case, he will likely survive to enjoy the fruits of his actions with very few consequences.

What does this have to do with wrestling? Everything. Wrestling has always been a mirror of society, a morality play where wish fulfillment fantasies of justice finally being done could play out in the form of violence and stooging comeuppance.

What does it say about AEW and what does it say about us that Jon Moxley was allowed to get away with what he did without true punishment, all because he worked hard, spouted platitudes, and most importantly, won?

Let's recap some of what he did again. He betrayed a brother, committing regicide and fratricide all at once, ending a man who even on the downswing of his career had reached the pinnacle through his own efforts. And why? Was it because Danielson had lost sight of the goal? Had left promises unfulfilled to achieve personal gain? Was it that the inner peace Bryan found made him complacent and lazy? Was the world still on the wrong trajectory, the Jack Perrys of the world getting title shots instead of the truly deserving? Was the only course correction possible one of betrayal and destruction?

Or was it something else? Jealousy of not just this brother but all of his brothers near and far? Jealousy of the peace Bryan found when his own heart was roiling? Fear that he was being left behind? That those things he claimed to believe in mattered less than ever? 

Maybe it was a little of both. Every crime has motive and opportunity. That inner peace of Bryan Danielson? That provided the opportunity. I don't buy that it created a valid motive. 

So a bag went over Danielson's head. Cleaning solution went down Orange Cassidy's throat. Darby Allin was tossed down stairs. Mark Briscoe was crushed even after dedicating victory to his children. Will Ospreay's neck was shattered. Lies were whispered again and again in poor Wheeler Yuta's ear.

And the hypocrisy went hand-in-hand with the fell actions. Private Party were bullied into elevating themselves and not a word from Mox for their triumph. The belt was locked away. No one under thirty was getting title shots. 

Instead it was Cope and Cope and Cope again. And with Cope came the baseball bat with nails on it, Spike. But as Spike came down upon Mox's back, fear found its way to the forefront of his heart.

That fear created an opportunity for Hangman Page to defeat Mox and restore the belt to its proper place, to bring it back to the people.

The fear didn't fade. It made Jon Moxley tremble as Darby Allin got revenge, delayed as it was. Having tapped once, he found his back against the wall, first against Daniel Garcia (who he was able to recruit instead of vanquish, more whispered lies) and then against Kyle O'Reilly. Running, hiding, tapping. He was a wounded animal on his (damaged) back foot. Yes, some, like Darby had gotten a measure of revenge on him. Yes, even Bryan Danielson had come back to help ensure he didn't leave All In with the title. But was that justice? Had he truly gotten his comeuppance? Even looking the coward, even looking WEAK, had he truly paid for what he had done?

He had reached a sort of bottom, a physical bottom, a reputational bottom. But had he paid for what he had done?

And what about his claims of justification? Had he made AEW stronger? Better? Maybe. Or maybe its strength was always in plurality. Many different styles. Many different voices. Many different views of what pro wrestling is and what it can be. 

See, maybe it was never about AEW at all. Maybe it was always about Jon Moxley. Maybe he realized that the world was leaving him behind. Maybe it was a last, desperate grasp of a conservative man to hang on to relevancy, to force meaning itself back into a shape that he could recognize, that he was comfortable with. 

So at the start of the Continental Classic, he was a man who, to the world, looked like he had so little left to lose, but that too was a lie. He had lost so much but had never truly paid for what he had done. He was, in many ways, right back to where he had been before betraying his brother, except for now, it was all revealed to the world.

Maybe that's what he needed after all. A reputational bottoming out. To gain something tangible and then lose it. To be pushed against the wall. Maybe he needed to build something up, a false castle of sticks instead of stone and see it all burn down so that it might burn with it the brush that had grown around his soul. 

Hobbled, he entered the C2. No interference. No compromise. No surrender. None of the crutches of the last year. Just a man against other men. A man against nature. 

And after an initial deficit, a fallen man falling even farther, he triumphed. He triumphed through one battle after the next. Sometimes he got a bit of help from the machinations of those around him, Fletcher's failed attempt to cheat, how far Takeshita had pushed Okada (before his successful cheating attempt), but he triumphed none the less. And then he stood in the center of the ring and pretended like it was enough, that it was all his doing, that this was the world he had made through his wretched actions, a world of warriors, of valor, of hard work. 

And here's the thing. I think he may well have believed it. The fans had started to support him again, and they'd only support him more and more in the weeks to come. After all the underhanded chicanery of his world title run, he had insulated himself through the rules of the Continental title. 

The worst thing about all of this wasn't that he had a title again, wasn't even that the Death Riders hadn't turned on him for his weakness, the monster he created devouring him. It's that he found a delusional sort of peace through it all, a mockery of what Bryan Danielson had actually worked for.

--------------------

Actually though, the worst thing was that we, as fans, were just meant to accept it. That's how it looked at least. Maybe the worst thing was that we were accepting it. The Continental Classic had been masterful. It took a Moxley at the end of his rope and had him climb, hand after hand, inch after inch, all his way to victory. 

He earned it. He earned the title. But that didn't mean he earned the speech. That didn't mean he earned forgiveness. 

But in front of crowds who are just happy to be there, who just want to cheer for all the wrestlers and see awesome things, it was enough. He was an awesome thing. His struggle was an awesome thing. Crowds were in awe of it. 

It was a babyface turn that wasn't earned. A turn without a turn. In many ways, it mimicked both Hangman and Statlander's journeys, where the crowds went for them before they did something worth going for. Where they got their prize before apologizing (in Hangman's case) or deciding to stand for something again (in Statlander's). 

Moxley is a star. He is a presence. The fans want to cheer him. 

It left the Death Riders high and dry. They didn't turn on Moxley to cement it, not at his lowest or not when he won the title and started spouting off in ways that went against everything they had done in the previous year. It meant that instead of two months of Wheeler Yuta hiding hiding his hair from the world, he had to reveal it quickly, his own heat muted because Mox is a de facto babyface. It means that we're back to the early days of the BCC where they can be babyfaces one day and heels the next, good hands that can be fit into matches, interesting matches even, but that don't actually mean half as much as they could in the grand scheme of things. 

And it meant that we had this very strange match where a babyface who acted like a heel went up against a heel who acted like a babyface.

---------------

Takeshita wanted what Moxley had, redemption (true or false) through combat. His sins weren't quite as bad. He had betrayed Omega years earlier, had been a bully and a rogue, was trapped in an association, a family, that no longer valued him as it once did. 

But he was a man remembering his honor and he wanted what Moxley had, a shield against all the evil of the world, including the evil within him. Being Continental Champion meant no interference but still having plausible deniability to his own family members for why they couldn't be there to do dark deeds in his name. 

He had taken Moxley to the limit but that wasn't enough. Takeshita wanted this badly. Moxley needed it, for the second he lost the title, he would lose this shield to hide behind. No longer able to hide from the world, and especially from himself, his peace would be shattered.

So they fought, and it was a clever, clever match, both the parts I enjoyed and the parts I didn't. 

They met in the center of the ring to begin, forearms smashing into one another's face. Usually, this was exactly where Moxley loved to be, in the midst of a strike exchange. Takeshita was younger, larger, stronger, just as tough, and Moxley was forced to retreat. 

One thing that's incredibly clear to Mox now, however, is that it didn't matter how he wins. All that mattered was that he does, so he honed in on Takeshita's damaged eye (damaged in a battle with Claudio). He pounded it. He bit it. He dragged it across the top rope. The eye opened up the leg. 

And the leg was supposed to open up Takeshita completely, was supposed to allow Moxley to hit the Death Rider, a Pile Driver, his stomp. It didn't though. Takeshita refused to bend. Moxley could chip away at him but not hit bombs. Takeshita, on the other hand, hit his bombs, the cradle tombstone into the German, the Blue Thunder Bomb. But he hit them as hope spots he couldn't capitalize on. 

They went into a second strike exchange and this time Takeshita's knee gave out. Moxley couldn't hit that stomp the first time on the apron, but he powered through and got it the second, opening Takeshita up both literally and figuratively.

As they passed the twenty minute mark, the match went off the rails and became a fighting spirit epic. Takeshita came back to get the best of a third strike exchange, and both men not just hit bombs, but hit them in a way to show their over the top toughness. They kicked out of finishers. Takeshita even kicked out at one. They popped back to their feet and hit move after move without consequence until both fell over. It's all the stuff I tend to have no use for because it inverts the narrative weight of moves the deeper the match goes. I get the value of it. I get the excitement. I get the warrior spirit it represents and how it highlights adrenaline and toughness and everything else. I just don't think it's worth the cost relative to showing the escalating weight of moves down the stretch.

Here, though? Here, maybe it was worth it, not because of anything specific they did, but because it was very much Takeshita's match at this point, his world, and because Jon Moxley survived it.

Jon Moxley endured it. Jon Moxley powered through it, forcing that leg to give out one last time, finally locking in the choke, finally stamping down Takeshita's final act of defiance to lock the arm, finally making him pass out to win the day.

Once again, toughness, grit, determination, endurance were shown to matter more than anything else, including conventional morality. Once again, might made right.

And so Jon Moxley was rewarded. He put out his hand, and despite his better judgment, despite his first instincts, despite all the emotion in his heart, Takeshita returned to the ring and shook Moxley's hand. 

Peace through combat. Fabricated peace in the soul of Jon Moxley. So long as he continued to win, he'd never, ever have to look down again.

It's the perfect crime for our modern world.

----------------

But then the lights went off. The video package played. The whole arena went green. The music hit. And there was Ospreay. 

A loose end. 

And I don't know what to think. I really don't. Look, there's an amazing story here. Jon Moxley did horrible things, unforgivable things. He burned it all down to build it all back up, all for his own sake, and he was finally at peace for it. The fans were back behind him. He had gold once again. The Death Riders were by his side and a willing, even loving, part of his glorious facade. He hadn't done a single thing to earn redemption except for to fight and win. He hadn't owned up to anything. And yet, he had his cake and ate it too. It was the perfect modern male fantasy in so many ways. 

We're months into it now and he's up against heels. He made it past the point of no return. Over the border. He's safe.

Yet here's Ospreay, a ghost of his past, someone the crowd will support, someone who theoretically can call Mox out for all he did, and all he had become, and all he still was, no matter how much he won. He could beat him, but in a perfect world, he could remind him what that would mean again and again before he did. Even in pro wrestling, justice can and should be more than just putting someone through a table.

But it's Will Ospreay, who for all of his charisma, innovation, athleticism, and enthusiasm, has the nuance and subtly of a brick to the skull. It's not a good "moral high ground" month for Will either, given some of what happened in EVE recently. And the fans are already firmly behind Mox, so to call him out in all the ways that matter and that will make them uncomfortable, the ways that matter not just for this storyline, but also in restoring a moral underpinning to literally every storyline AEW does, an essential cornerstone that is already weak and frayed, preventing emotional investment and narrative coherency from audiences in ways that matter most (and that may not fully register with the creative forces within the company, I hate to say)... 

Well, I guess time will tell, won't it. Maybe, unlike Jon Moxley, we're getting what we deserve after all.

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