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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2025 Ongoing MOTY List: Fallen Angel Dies a Texas Death

Hangman Page vs. Christopher Daniels AEW Collision 1/18/25

I stopped getting invested in authority angles a long long time ago, and I can't lie and say I was very excited about this one. But it turns out my mental approach was all wrong, because this was not an authority angle, and watching the match it was clear how unimportant that aspect of the story was. Far more important things were happening here. This was a man's last stand, his last match, a last chance to publicly die on a sword, a last chance to see how FAR he could push things before the inevitable. 

Christopher Daniels is 55 years old and that is a reminder of my own rising age. The first wrestling shirt I ever purchased was a Fallen Angel shirt, acquired at an APW show when I was 18 years old. My wrestling show attendance really kicked into high gear when I was 18. Mike Modest and Christopher Daniels were my favorite wrestlers who I was regularly seeing wrestle live. I felt lucky to see them wrestle so often, and their matches together made me feel like I was seeing something special before everyone else. A few months later, I was wearing my Fallen Angel shirt on my college campus. A stranger pointed me out in passing and said, "Hey, nice shirt!" Months after that, I saw that same person waiting in line to get into ECW's Heat Wave 2000 and struck up a conversation with him and his friends. Those guys (Devin, Jason, Sean) became my best friends. I saw more live wrestling with - and watched more wrestling together in our respective living rooms with - those guys than anyone else in my life. Devin lives in Oregon now so I don't see him much, but Jason and Sean are still my go-to guys to watch wrestling with, live and in my living room. I don't know if that happens if I wasn't wearing that Fallen Angel shirt. 

Tastes change, favorites change. Daniels went on to have a 2,000 match career and now it's over, and he gets to go out having what could be called the best singles match of his career. Isn't that incredible? There's no hyperbole in that statement. Is it possible one of the TNA AJ Styles or Samoa Joe matches is better? Sure. There were two iron man matches in 2005 alone that could be better, and nothing will replace the memories of the two Modest/Daniels singles matches I saw live (and the multiple times I saw them tagging, including the great Modest/Daniels vs. Boyce LeGrande/Robert Thompson match from December 2000). But if any of those matches are better - I am not going to watch all of them before writing this - it is far more meaningful to me to have your last match ever be in the discussion with the greatest matches of your entire 30 year career. That's not just special, it's incredible. 

I don't always connect with the Texas Death stipulation. Sometimes it is killed by slow counts and frequent stopping, all momentum killed so that we can have a 40 second 8 count every other minute. But this was different, because Daniels and Hangman delivered the kind of damage that justified the repeated 10 counts, and gave the match (and each other) necessary breath while making any temporary recovery believable. They stayed within their respective roles the entire time. Nothing was even. Every part of the match reminded you who the fresher, more resilient man was. Watch the way Daniels gets knocked around by Hangman's stronger elbow strikes that were "worth" more than Daniels' strikes. Both men felt like they were selling the other's strikes exactly how they looked, matching the strikes and selling to their roles. But while Daniels was outgunned, it didn't mean he wasn't constantly trying to upset (and anger) Hangman. 

Daniels hits what I would wager, having seen hundreds of Christopher Daniels matches, his greatest ever baseball slide dropkick, firing through the bottom two ropes square into Hangman's chest. There are hundreds more Daniels matches I will never see, so anyone who's seen him do a harder baseball slide dropkick, let me know where it happened. But this was not a match about Daniels hitting a lot of offense, and that's clear when he gets pulled down roughly to the apron the floor attempting a split legged moonsault and is bleeding soon after from a chair edge to the face. I, not realizing how hard they were going to go in this, was appreciating how well Page did a HHH style "my hand is covering the edge of this folding chair back and I'm going to jam it at your face in a way nobody has ever used a weaponized chair before" chairshot and thought this was going to be a professional brawl where they tighten up the important strikes and work some smoke around the rest. Then one minute later Hangman is just slicing Daniels' head open, using barbed wire to saw into him like he was using a cheese wire, and the rest of this was not the professional Good Hand match I had expected. 

I always like when a guy gets choked over the ropes, but it is elevated to impossible levels when the guy getting choked is streaming fresh blood down the bridge of his nose and you can hear it dripping onto the mats below. The Fallen Angel is psychotic. Anyone who has a 30 year wrestling career has to be, but most men you can say that about haven't taken a powerbomb kidneys first through folding chairs, which is just one of several ways they actually shocked me during this match. Taking a fallaway slam on the floor onto those same kidneys right after is some real salt in the wound, and the way Daniels getting flung splatters blood across the mats looked like Hangman experimenting with abstract expressionism. When Daniels gets the top of his head run full speed into a chair, my admiration of Hangman's "worked" chairshot earlier feels silly. 

On commentary, I thought Matt Menard did an excellent job getting over Daniels' blood loss as a hindrance, talking about how it clots in your eyes and can't be wiped away, impairing vision while leaving you feeling depleted. He was so sincere and speaking from experience, that it gave me new perspective on what Daniels was going through. Just as I gained this new perspective, they shocked me again when Daniels gets double stomped through a table. It highlighted the fact that Hangman was not wasting any part of the match trying to finish Daniels off. He understood the rules he was working within, and was a man working like he was actually trying to win, never worrying about going "too far" because his only goal was to keep a man down for a 10 count. 

Daniels: Bloody, mostly defeated, refusing to quit/not knowing when to quit, hits his greatest ever BME. It is his greatest, because it lands as well as any other BME he's ever pulled off, except none of them were executed by a 55 year old man. If you can hit a clean moonsault, with impact, in your mid 50s, then you have miracle knees or are insane. It's almost surely the latter. He does another with Page under a barbed wire board because things hadn't gotten bad enough. Once Hangman survives that, there is nothing more. How can you handle a man standing tall after you have plumbed the depths to give him your worst? Well, you can't. That's when it's over. Daniels sells the Dead Eye like his neck got shoved up to his ears, so painful that it made everyone watching it also pray for Daniels' retirement.  

I thought this was brilliant, emotional, and downright shocking. If this really does turn out to be Daniels' public send off (so far so good, but 55 or no, you can never trust pro wrestlers) then few could ever hope to go out on a higher note. 

2025 MOTY MASTER LIST

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AEW Five Fingers of Death 3/9 - 3/15 Part 1

ROH TV 3/13/36

Athena vs Maya World [Proving Ground]

MD: Studio wrestling stemming from recent events when Maya, with Hyan and Deonna, stood up to Athena/Billie/Diamante back during the collaborative Metroplex show. Maya being an Athena protégé has not necessarily been a key part of her presentation so far in AEW/ROH up until this point, but I'd argue that she and Hyan don't necessarily have a clear, defined presentation relative to some others.

Who are they? Where do they come from? Why are they tagging? What brings them together past an opportunity taken when others did not? What do they want out of life? What are their similarities? What are their differences? Etc. So far, it hasn't been super clear.

This helped though.

In some ways, Maya feels like even more of a "minion" to Athena than even Billie, because Billie was romping up and down the indies for a couple of years before arriving to AEW and finding her away under Athena's thumb. From a story perspective, one might wonder then why Billie was on TV with her and Maya was watching from the sidelines and then, once she arrived, left to her own devices.

Maya seems pretty happy with her lot in life though and doesn't care to ask those questions. Athena, on the other hand, in wonderfully hypocritical fashion, takes offense at Maya opposing her, complains about Maya crossing a line that Athena herself never truly drew.

Which brings them to this, a chance to make an example out of Maya, to teach her a lesson as she'd taught Billie lessons before, at the end of a forearm. But to show that Maya was even more beneath her notice (even as she was obviously getting under her skin), this was instead a proving ground match.

And Athena meant to prove her point right from the get go. Left hand extended. Her usual dainty code of honor handshake. Right into the magic forearm. Athena stomped Maya in the corner and started in on the ref, the crowd, Maya, the world. She wanted it too badly, however, showing that vulnerability which makes her stand out as much as the intensity. It's a give and take with her and once Maya got just a bit of distance between them, she took, forcing Athena to run into a very clever rope-assisted spin kick.

Now it was Maya's turn to take advantage of Athena's mistake. She had caused it by getting under Athena's skin and now she pressed the issue and reaped the benefits. She hit a series of moves, including doing damage on the floor. The problem was, in the micro, time was against her. She could keep Athena on her toes, but it was too early in the match for her to keep Athena down.

Athena got up. She reversed a whip, caught a kick, snuck in a knee, and then jammed both knees right into Maya's face in the corner. She would then, of course, lean on Maya. Maya's hope spots were solid and believable and tended to come not because of any mistake Athena made (she had already made her mistake at the start of the match and wouldn't make it again), but because she had such familiarity with Athena's offense.

Eventually that let her dodge just enough moves to come back all the way and things went back and forth with bombs, blocks, and roll-ups down the stretch. Maya managed to dodge the O-Face and position around to hook in a Reinera slam just as the bell rang. We were meant to wonder if maybe she could have snuck a win there; all it takes is three and this was deep into the match. But we have seen Athena survive far more than that. No, instead, this was a moral victory, a draw in a Proving Ground match, something unheard of in all of Athena's forever reign, and an opportunity for more. Phantom pin or no, what we're actually left wondering is if Athena would learn from her mistake or if her fury would overwhelm her all the more in their next encounter.

ROH TV Special Friday Episode 3/13/26

RUSH vs BEEF

MD: Two wrestlers. All Caps. You know what you're getting. Look, I have been fairly hard on Dralistico in specific situations when he's up against a babyface and playing a heel, not even a de facto heel, an outright heel, and he tries to steal the clap up and the cheers, not in a jeering way like, let's say, Yuta does, but to really get the crowd behind him. 

And yes, to some degree, Rush does this too, he does. He eats guys up. He takes the air out of the room. But unlike Dralistico or just about anyone else, he's beyond the realm of such expectations. He draws the eye that much. He turns the head. He locks you in so that you can do nothing but hang on and go for the ride. He's Ultimate Warrior and he's Goldberg and he's Buzz Sawyer. There are so few wrestlers in 2026 that can carry that sort of energy. He is an attraction. 

He's not treated like an attraction. He's not used like one. But he is one. Sometimes, I get the sense because of how he's presented, the fans don't really have any idea what they're getting into until that bell rings and the power takes them. 

And it rang here. He kicked away the code of honor. The great thing about this is that Beef, himself, can be sort of an attraction, an everyman. Is he more Hillbilly Jim than Dusty Rhodes? I don't know. Ask me again in five years, but also don't downplay the connection a guy like Jim had with the crowd. Beef has it too. They went off the ropes to start, Beef crashing into Rush, Rush holding his ground. That's the thing about Rush. When push comes to shove (no pun intended), he does give, he does show ass, he does falter. He just makes his opponent work for it and then he takes twice as much back as wrathfully as possible. Here he won that exchange by taking Beef out on a leapfrog allowing him to land an explosive dropkick, but then he ate a bunch of BEEF's fun pokey punches, stooging around the ring for him.

That stooging was short-lived; because he is Rush, he started to fire back. Look, I am not a strike exchange sort of guy. But the strikes being exchanged aren't generally these strikes and not from these two. There was something rough and raw and wild here, something completely out of control. It wasn't pretty. It was far more about the throwing of the strikes than the withstanding of them, and as much about hyping the crowd up and getting into it as anything else. Rush would take a shot and then channel it right into the crowd as he waved his hands to try to rechannel the pain. It went from Beef's hand into his chest, into his arms, into the crowd, back through the crowd, into Rush's body, and then back at Beef. If that's not pro wrestling, I have no idea what is. And it all built to Beef just slapping hands one after the other, an out of control dynamo that wan't to lash back at what had been hurting him. 

It worked until it didn't. Rush caught him, thrashed him one last time with a forearm, sent him spiraling down to the corner. He teased the Horns, rolled back into the Tranquilo pose, and really never looked back from there. Beef had put up a good fight, a noble fight, an admirable fight, but there was a big hierarchy difference here, and all he could do was to try to catch his breath, to keep alive, to roll to the floor to recover. That's the last place you want to be against Rush though, and the end had already begun. The fans knew it too. They embraced Rush, let him lean back into a flag and bask. 

And in a different setting against a different opponent with different stakes on a different stage, maybe it would have frustrated me, but here, on an episode of ROH on YouTube in front of a crowd that just wanted to feel something, anything, no matter what, what can I do but throw up my hands and grin along. He's an attraction being an attraction. Hang on, ride the wave. He comes. He goes. He gets injured. He gets suspended. He gets grumpy. Let's enjoy him while we have him. Now and again we're allowed nice things.

Top Flight/Eddie Kingston/Ortiz vs MxM/RPG Vice

MD: We talk about moments. Usually we talk about moments negatively when it comes to WWE because they fabricate unnatural ones and put them above and beyond matches, right? But moments are an important part of wrestling because they're an important part of wrestling matches, just like they're important in any other form of fiction. They should stem from the characters within the match naturally. They should be built to and they should pay off. One of the great fallacies of wrestling discussion of this decade is that it's either/or. It's not. It's all organic. That's true with promos and angles and matches and it's true with moments around and within matches.

And here, they did a great job of building to character-driven moments which had meaning within the match. Part of the joy of a match like this is to see the weird interactions. You have Top Flight interacting with Ortiz and Kingston. I was as interested in how Eddie would interact with Daniels post-match during the hand-raising as anything else in the match. That doesn't mean I don't love action. It just means that I find these characters and their history and all that they carry behind them fascinating as well. It's not either/or. It's additive. And Eddie looked as happy as I've seen him in ages post match celebrating with these guys, and I loved to see it.

There were big spots. Of course there were. Top Flight was in there. But my favorite moment in this whole thing was when MXM got Trent to pose (after trying to do so earlier in the match). He lingered too long and it ended up a transition allowing the babyfaces to take back over. That was very lucha-coded to me (though a lot of people wouldn't think of it that way because of the way lucha has been minimized in the States over the years), cocky heels doing cocky things either too many times or for too long and paying for it. What's great about it is that if the babyfaces did it, it'd be a big culminating moment, like Brody King finally doing the macarena but because it was the heels, it was them getting stooged. 

This was a lot of fun and it's always great to see Kingston in the mix with younger and contrasting talent. That's the strength of him. Yes, he can trade chops with Minoru Suzuki or whatever, but it's so much more interesting when you put him in there against a Lee Moriarty or Soberano, Jr. or, I don't know, Doink and see what happens.

AEW Dynamite 3/11/26

Dogs (David Finlay/Gabe Kidd) vs Orange Cassidy/Darby Allin

MD: This match was a cog in the storyline machine, a set up to the Roddy turn (or non-turn or whatever you'd call it) and setting up the six-man for the PPV, but it was also a way to really debut Finlay and make a statement about just who and what the Dogs were. They had that pretty amazing enhancement match on Collision, but this punctuated that real well in an actual match.

They're different than almost every team on the roster because they're dogged, just incessant energy. They have big spots for down the stretch, but for a lot of the body of the match, they just stay on their opponents. If you put Connors in there as well, then he's just throwing himself at people. With these two, it's more catching, like Finlay caught Darby on his dive with a forearm in order to really take over after the initial ambush and fire back. I liked how much they made Cassidy work for literally every inch when he was fighting from underneath. There were one or two times I thought he was about to make the hot tag but they dragged him back like their namesake and it really worked for me. 

And of course, Darby and Orange are the secret main character team of AEW, an odd couple that feed into one another in perfect, subtle ways. To make a very dated comic book reference, they're the Defenders of AEW, a non-team that absolutely work. I get there's mileage out of Roddy and Cassidy (a similar if less subtle team-up) right now, but I'd love to see Darby/Cassidy against FTR or hell even the Bucks (and for me to say that..). They're the TV workmen of the company and I'd be really interested to see a fighting champions run at some point. 

Anyway, this really got the job done and I hope that Finlay, Kidd, Connors get the freedom to keep working matches like this. So much of it was still all action but it was stifling and oppressive in the best way at the same time.

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Found Footage Friday: BIG BUBBA~! ARNOLD~! HAMILTON~! MIGRAS~! FALCON~! HALCON 78~! TAKANO~!

Larry "The Missouri Mauler" Hamilton vs. Don Arnold Hollywood Wrestling 8/31/53

MD: This was 2/3 falls and went over 30. The first fall was clean and mostly hold based. Arnold would put on a hold (armlock, toehold, headscissors), and then after a great deal of struggle, Hamilton would get a counter (hammerlock, bodyscissors) and control with that for a while. Within five or six minutes, they were looking fairly haggard, just for how hard they were working the holds. Arnold was clearly the aggressor here, but Hamilton took it with his great "rodeo" headlock takeover, which has a big windup, enough to be a viable finisher. Second fall had the cracks start to show. Early on Arnold turned a legsplitter into a standing anklelock and the commentary called it a "Hackenschmidt". When he won the fall with an abdominal stretch, called as such, which he got on cleverly by ducking another windup for the headlock takeover, commentary called it a Billy Varga special. As the match went on the fans started to boo Hamilton as he kept going to the ropes to escape. It was subtle. He also grabbed the hair for a smaller headlock takeover and went for a toehold after a rope break too soon. It wasn't much but it was enough to turn the crowd. That meant when Arnold put on a long and fast airplane spin to pick up the win, everyone was pretty happy with the result. A lot to like here in between the formula of the first fall and how hard the holds were worked, the callback counter that won Arnold the second fall, and the subtle but definite heeling from Hamilton as things went on. 

Migra I/Migra II vs. Falcon/Halcon 78 WWA 9/19/87

MD: Los Angeles WWA with two teams that basically look alike. Cheat sheet is that Falcon has some extra flourishes on the sides of his mask. And Migra I is the more massive Migra. The commentators work with the ring announcer and spend the first three minutes of this trying to figure it out while the Migras just hug one another repeatedly to get heat. We only have the first two falls of this (best as I can tell) but they're fun.

Primera was full of fun stuff. Halcon clowned Migra I on the mat. Migra II kept going to the eyes and hanging on to Falcon's mask to keep a headlock on until he got shrugged to the floor and ended up punching the post. They had a pretty elaborate finishing sequence where Halcon and Falcon had to figure out how to avoid getting tossed into one another so they could get distance and lure the Migra's into a trap. Crowd-pleasing stuff. 

Segunda had Migras take over just by separating their opponents and leaning hard on Falcon. This ended up mostly mask ripping and wound work, but we like mask ripping and wound work. It seemed like they were going to end a caida once Halcon finally got past the ref to get in and they took him out too, including with a nice stump puller, but things kept going. At one point, Falcon, bloodied and sprawled on the ground was offered a drink by a kid through the guardrail so that's always nice. Eventually the ref just called it and the tape cuts after twenty minutes with the last fall still to go. Good for what we had though. 

Shunji Takano vs. Big Bubba AJPW 3/27/88

MD: Maybe the most fun four and a half minutes you'll have today. This was a Classics drop we're just catching up on. Takano, by 88, had a lot going for him. Size and fire. He'd grow into it even more in 89 before his career started to take weird turns. Looking at him here and he looked like the future of the company though. Also, oddly enough, Bubba looked like the future of the company too. He looked like a guy who could have toured as much as Doc and Gordy and fit right in. Yeah, he was a different size and shape, but he had such presence and could move. He looked like a million bucks here.

He pressed in right from the start with punches to the face and this great axe handle. Takano turned it around and dropkicked him out. He sold it with huge frustration, going after the guardrail, only to come back in and dominate. Lots of great power offense here, his spinebuster slam, back body drop, clothesline, and more great strikes, a headbutt and this beautiful sweeping chop. Then he got out the belt and started choking Takano with it, jarring, effective stuff. He climbed up to the top with it but that just let Takano come back tossing him off in a big moment. Takano followed up with a body press off the turnbuckles but Bubba turned it around for the Bubba Slam. It felt like a really refreshing WCW Syndicated TV match in a way AJPW very rarely does. Ah, what could have been.

ER: Shunji Nakano is a kind of under-discussed guy. Maybe people just hated Super Ninja, I don't know. His look was Larger Japanese Mike Awesome and he could really take a hit and throw a suplex. This is 4 minutes of Big Bubba dishing out hit after hit after hit and Takano had one suplex that might have been the biggest suplex bump Bubba had taken to that point in his career. Bubba is barely 100 matches into his career, in his 2nd match ever in Japan, a couple months away from WWF, just a baby. Boss Man was my favorite wrestler as a kid because he was shaped exactly like my dad. That same exact belly, dress shirt pulled tight, hugging his stomach because of the tuck. Never fat enough where they had to get larger pants and tuck their stomachs into their pants - that's what we call Ronnie P. Gossett fat - but incredible belly hang over the waistband of their slacks. Some of us have Bald Dads, some of us have Tall Dads, I was lucky enough to have a Fat Dad. 

How quickly did Bubba get this good? When was he Actually Good? He's a marvel here. Find me a single misstep, all match. It's the perfect 4 minutes of material. Every detail, every hit, every miss. Complete package. 15 year pros don't have a fast swing and miss clothesline as good as Bubba's. The speed he takes a dropkick bump over the top to the floor, and the anger he shows after (scaring a few ringside fans) is done with a veteran's confidence. He double axe handles Takano in the back of the head; the man hits a sidewalk slam with one suspender down like the world's largest Jeff Leonard. He tosses Takano so high with a back body drop, and the visual looks nuts because you never see guys Takano's height taking back body drops. Bubba throws his full weight into his falling clothesline, like a big fat guy STO. His enziguiri slashes across the face. The casual removal of his belt before choking Takano to his knees, climbing to the top rope for choking leverage, was like something you'd see a hitman do in an 80s Hong Kong action movie. 

And, while I'm not sure it needs to be said, I will say that the Bubba Slam clears the Black Hole Slam every day of the week. This isn't swing dancing. This stomach goes over the belt. 

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80s Joshi on Wednesday: Mimi! Nancy!

Disc 2   

10. Mimi Hagiwara vs. Nancy Kumi 8/81

K: 1981 after Jackie Sato drops the belt is the period of AJW where it's most difficult to date anything precisely. The company is at a relative lowpoint in popularity, and for whatever reason I've struggled to find many sources referencing it so have had to just depend on what's on the footage itself, which for some reason is even more sporadic than 1979 or 1980 was. Hopefully the matches on the set are at least in the correct airing order, but it's hard to give much more context of what's going on. We're just watching a good match here.

Having debuted in 1976, Nancy Kumi is now the most senior wrestler on the roster and the only one left who debuted before the 'classes' system introduced when the company was overwhelmed with applicants inspired by the Beauty Pair boom. This cool and collected veteran role is the best fit for her talents than anything else I've seen her do. She's dominant on the mat, twisting Mimi up (mostly targetting her arm) and coming across like she's clearly just superior in this field and Mimi's going to have to pull something out of left field to get the better of her. 

I never feel like there's much effort to get Mimi over as anything other than a sympathetic babyface. She sells well, a bit melodramatic and screamy sometimes but it never gets too much for me that I find it annoying. She never gets anywhere near the passionate reactions Beauty Pair used to get, but that might be a harsh comparison as she's clearly still over.

There's a cool moment where Mimi attempts a flying crossbody off an Irish whip, but Nancy ducks out of the way with excellent timing (it really looked like Mimi intended to hit that crossbody), and with impressive speed Nancy quickly grabs Mimi off the mat, throws her to outside and dumps her into chairs, for which Mimi does a committed bump and sell. That's how they end Mimi's brief respite, as when she gets back in the Nancy locks in her a figure four, and this gives Mimi and opportunity to sell and scream her head off.

Mimi's second respite comes when she counters Nancy into a rollup. In what feels like more emotion and revenge than a well thought-out gameplan, Mimi immediately throws Nancy out of the ring when she's still a bit dazed from kicking out of the rollup, and tries to throw her into chairs. It doesn't pay off, as Nancy just blocks it and Mimi eats chair once again. In cool fighting babyface energy, Mimi doesn't just let the momentum fall away from here. She keeps fighting and when they're back in the ring, does another counter which leads to her doing a big elevated backdrop from Nancy being up on the ropes. The announcer puts this move over as the 'Mimi Special'. Looks like something Misawa could have used as a secondary finisher.

There's not much time left so they go right into the desperation cover attempts after this trying to sneak out a win. This is probably the best example of that we've seen so far. It's lots of kickouts but nobody hits anything big enough that it makes it feel excessive/cheapening moves. It's a time limit draw. A result which puts Mimi over a little bit.

***1/2

MD: This felt like a pretty strong one overall. Kumi had a strength advantage. Hagiwara had a speed/agility advantage. They met in the middle on technique. What stood out the most were transitions, so essential in a babyface vs babyface match like this, especially one going to a draw. You need those momentum shifts to give it all substance. 

They were even early, with both wrestlers really scrapping. Kumi tried to heft her up into a gorilla press but she got out of it. Maybe Kumi had a slight advantage from the get go but Hagiwara was able to open things up with a front dropkick to the gut and a great headscissors takeover followed by a bridging surfboard. Kumi came back with a kick off the ropes and cemented it with power moves (including two fireman’s carry lawn darts across the ring) and then went in hard on the arm including a short arm scissors. Hagiwara was able to come back off the ropes and started in on the leg. That would pay off later with a revenge figure-four from Kumi but not before Hagiwara missed a body press and Kumi beat her around ringside, tossing her into chairs multiple times.

They went into a hot finishing stretch after the figure-four (and Haigwara getting some revenge on the floor as we’re seeing more symmetry in these matches) with a lot of nearfalls and shooty pin counters, before time ran out. Kumi probably looked a little stronger and might have won it on points but Hagiwara had no quit in her. 

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AEW Five Fingers of Death (and Friends) 3/2 - 3/8

AEW Dynamite 3/4/26

MJF vs Kevin Knight

MD: A few weeks back, I wrote up some thoughts on the idea of a “neo-kayfabe”, a sort of new and open social contract with crowds where they're convinced that it's in their best interest to let themselves go and play along during a pro wrestling show (reprinted way below). That doesn't mean that they don't truly get mad at the heel. People watching Game of Thrones absolutely got invested and mad at Cersei Lannister. It just means the second they walk through the gate and sit down at their seat, they realize that they get to actively boo at Cersei Lannister in a way that no one watching at home can. They get to be part of the show and let their anger out openly. The idea is to convince them that they're robbing themselves of a one-of-a-kind experience if they play it too cool or too "smart" and the real smartness is to actually be part of the show and serve the match as much as the wrestlers do, to truly be inside in a way that every smart fan in the history of pro wrestling has wanted to be.

In some ways it's defeatist, because as I said, while people really got upset at Cersei Lannister, they still realized it was a show. At its absolute best, pro wrestling really, truly infuriates a crowd and gets them to boo at the heel and cheer for the babyface having completely forgotten that it's just pro wrestling. 

But I see a crowd like this and I don't think we can chance it anymore. I'm not even sure the wrestlers should try. 

This crowd was absolutely infuriating. Imagine getting a chance to boo MJF, the most loathsome, wretched heel going today and cheer for Kevin Knight, one of the best, most dynamic, most engaging babyfaces. For the world title! Just on a random Wednesday. That crowd had no idea how good they had it.

I'm not going to try to guess why the El Paso crowd was aligned like it was. You can come up with lots of possibilities. Maybe they were more of a casual audience and less familiar with Knight. Maybe they were enamored by MJF's attitude or his relative star power. Or maybe some other things.

Regardless, Knight got a mixed reaction at best as he came out and was announced. On the other hand, they sang along to MJF's theme, chanted his name, including as he was announced, and even clapped him up early (more on that in a minute).

In the end, it matters to a degree why the crowd was so for him and against Knight because it's like a disease the wrestlers had to treat. But it only matters so much.

Why? 

Because they got them. They turned them. I'm not sure if they 100% turned them away from MJF but they turned them towards Knight enough to make the match work and to make the central story resonate and the finishing stretch sing.

But it took absolutely everything they had to do it.

That it worked was a testament to both wrestlers, and honestly, to the power of pro wrestling in general, to details mattering. The art of pro wrestling is to move hearts and minds, to manipulate people to a certain emotional reaction. 

Here MJF and Knight had to drag them there, kicking and screaming, had to force them there for their own good, but they got them there nonetheless.

Here's how they did it.

Most important of all, they had a purity of vision. Knight may have come in with a chip on his shoulder and an aggressive attitude, but the match had incredibly clear lines. MJF gave the crowd absolutely nothing to latch on to (to their discredit, they still managed to latch for a while; that says more about them than him). He was arrogant, dismissive, hypocritical, cowardly, opportunistic, cruel. There wasn’t an ounce of valor in anything he did. Meanwhile, Knight had to fight back against injury and adversity and through selling so strong that it informed his body language completely, it showed in everything he did. 

MJF was totally on right from the start. As he was being announced, he went over and shoved his hand in Knight’s face. That matters. It sets the tone. He hit an early armdrag and went to the camera proclaiming that yes, what he had just done was called “an armdrag” and then noted it to Knight, as if he was unaware. Knight subsequently armdragged MJF leaving Max to stare at him coldly, tasting just a little bit of immediate comeuppance. The fans weren’t going up for Knight here, not yet, not even after he armdragged MJF twice more. Max went for the eyes and that didn’t turn them either. 

Max went further. He shouted “Gotcha!” (as good at anyone today at being “vocal” to achieve an effect) as he scored an armdrag of his own only to have Knight roll through and end up with the advantage, locking in an armbar. What did the crowd do in return? They clapped up MJF to get out of it. 

After getting out of it, he used the ref as a stalking horse for a cheapshot. Every advantage was stolen, nothing earned. Purity and consistency of vision. It would matter over time. Max stopped here to yell at the crowd as if they had chastised him for what he had done. They hadn’t, but for him to get so mad at them anyway, mattered even more than the cheapshot itself. That’s what started the cracks to form. He didn’t wrestle as if he was in a vacuum. He didn’t hit his spots like spots alone were going to move those hearts and minds. It’s interactive theater and damn it if he wasn’t going to do everything he could to get them where they needed to be.

He’d do it even at the cost of his own character’s coolness and toughness and control. Especially at that cost, because that cost has huge benefits. Of course it does. Vulnerability is a strength for a heel and it’s only the self-conscious who don’t realize that and kneecap themselves. Knight took advantage of the distraction and stomped a mudhole in MJF in the corner before going for his first attempt at an arcing UFO splash from the top. Max moved and then nailed Knight with a knee to the gut off the ropes (Kitchen Sink, but even as much as I like Choshu, I do sort of hate that name). That set the stage for the rest of the match as Knight came up selling his ribs in a big way. 

Max made maybe his one creative misstep in the whole match next (and even that is arguable). He has a bit he does where he rope runs back and forth past a dazed opponent as if he was setting up for a big kinetic babyface attack only to slam his groin in their face and then lean over the ropes and play to the crowd. The idea is that it denies the crowd that big babyface moment in the crudest way possible. Here, maybe it would have made sense to deny this specific crowd even the crude moment as if they (and Knight) weren’t worth it and just shove him down with a foot and lean over the ropes instead. But then it’s hard to plan for a crowd quite this backwards.

Anyway, Max is generally supposed to get his comeuppance after that bit, and here he did. Knight came back hot, but Max grabbed the tights to redirect him. Nothing earned. Everything stolen. Knight, on the other hand, ribs hurting, fighting from underneath, earned every inch he got on his comebacks, even if Max, either through cheating or superior size, would keep putting him down. Yes, Max would arrogantly provide him with openings, but Knight had to take initiative and fight through the pain. For instance, Max tossed him face-first (Bret bump) into the corner twice and then played to the crowd again (it was starting to have some impact). On the third attempt Knight reversed the whip. Max tried to dodge the subsequent charge but that just allowed Knight to come flying off the second rope with a clothesline that got the fans buzzing a bit.

It was working. And what was it? It was the combination of MJF being as much of a jerk as possible, being as underhanded as could be, being consistently terrible to both Knight and the crowd, and Knight constantly selling the ribs, constantly getting stomped on, but constantly fighting back and hitting bigger and bigger spots with each comeback. Knight was doing something worth watching, something worth rooting for. Max was giving them absolutely nothing but ire and spite. Simple machines. The lever. Max was pushing down. Knight was pushing up. And they were moving the crowd.

By this point, they had only moved them to a more even vantage point. They were chanting This is Awesome (which is a chant for the crowd itself as much as the wrestlers). They were increasingly open to the idea of supporting Knight. They were more hesitant about the idea of supporting MJF. So Max and Kevin pushed even harder on the lever. Even though he was straining through every movement, Knight hit a series of dropkicks. Then, showing as much effort as if he was trying to lift Andre the Giant (with the ribs being the great weight, far more than Max), he slammed MJF, having made it seem like an accomplishment well worth celebrating. He hit a twisting splash and this time the fans counted along with the pinfall. Then, when he went for his second UFO attempt, Max rolled out of the ring. And look at that, they actively booed him.

And that set MJF up perfectly for Knight, still moving laboriously, and still as daring a babyface as could be despite that, to hit a huge dive over the top. He took a risk. He put it all out there. And then, finally, for the first time in the match, the fans went along with him. Huge pop.

It had taken ten minutes of laser-focused artistry, of the sort of singular pro wrestling vision that we’ve occasionally feared was lost to the world, but Max and Kevin got them. They turned the crowd. 

They would keep them for the rest of the match. Max continued in on the ribs. He continued to take cheapshots. He continued to play the coward to save his skin. Knight fought through the pain but found the strength to fight back and hit big spots. Eventually, he did hit that UFO only for Max to kick the ref into the ropes on the point of impact. The fans counted well past ten waiting for the ref to recover, fully invested in the outcome. 

On one final UFO attempt, Max would get his knees up allowing him to hit the Heatseeker and escape through the skin of his teeth with his belt. The crowd would have been elated by that result twenty minutes before. Thanks to the match they had just witnessed, however, they were anything but.

Ultimately, it’s unfortunate that this was the crowd that Max and Kevin got for their match. Look at how far they’d managed to move these people, a complete inversion from the opening bell. Imagine how much farther and how much higher they could have gotten if they weren’t dragged down by the weight they had to carry? 

Still, as an object lesson, I’m almost glad they were hampered and dragged down, because what a case study in how the art of pro wrestling, when 100% committed to by selfless, dedicated, talented, fearless wrestlers, can still still be just as powerful as it ever was. 

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I'm increasingly convinced that the future of pro wrestling is a reframed social contract with crowds, a transparent "neo-kayfabe" that convinces them it's in their best interest to leave irony behind and embrace a unique interactive theatrical experience. Some words on that.

(1) Kayfabe is dead. 

For the last fifteen years, the solution to that has been offering fans "great matches," the ability to brag at being part of something no one else got to see live, unique match-ups aiming to end up on best of the year lists, all within the trappings of the stagnant 21st century pro wrestling presentation.

It means you end up with crowds not engaged in the text but only in the subtext, frothing at the bit for their entitled opportunity to chant "This is Awesome" instead of actually responding with cheers and boos to what's unfolding before their eyes. 

This feeds on itself, the snake eating its own tail, matches being constructed more and more to get a score from the Russian Judges, with botches punished and elaborate counter sequences and outright action rewarded over constructions that try to take a crowd up and down and up again. Keeping them up as much as possible has become what matters most. Wrestling has become more navel-gazing and less universal, less about human themes and more about perfect plastic performances.

(2) Kayfabe isn't coming back.

And matches SHOULD still be good and valued, 100%. They're the point. Everything builds to them. The solution isn't some sort of Pavlovian corporate slop. 

The goal instead becomes more genuine emotion, more universal human themes.  

What is needed is the creation of a neo-kayfabe, a new social contract which incentivizes both fans and wrestlers (and promoters) towards the things that make pro wrestling unique and special. 

What wrestling can uniquely offer people is not gymnastics and athleticism, is not stunts and special effects, is not even blood and gore. They can get that in any number of other places.

It's the live interactive experience of witnessing all of those come together in a narrative that you, as an audience member, are a part of. Unlike movies or television or even plays, the second you cross the gate you become part of the fictional world. 

(3) That doesn't mean audiences are the stars of the show, but the best wrestling has them interacting with it. Their chants empower a babyface. Their boos get under the skin of a heel. There's no other fictional medium so interactive in the moment.

We're in an age of interactive live-streaming, where the appeal is that interaction, of the streamer noticing the chat and responding accordingly.

Wrestling should be marketed accordingly, as a bespoke live experience where the audience gets the unique privilege to play a role. It's not kayfabe. It's not pretending or throwing the wool over an audience's eyes. It's the audience realizing that in order to get something that no one else has, that no one else gets to experience or enjoy, it's their job to give in, to let go, and to play along with the show. 

They can leave the niceties of society behind, can troll a heel, can scream for a babyface to draw blood, can yell at a ref for missing cheating. It offers people a release they can't get anywhere else in life and that should be listed in the program, advertised as such.

(4) All of the spots and counters and reversals can still be there. Matches can still be conventionally great. In fact, everything can be better because it'll all have more meaning and grounding. The product can still be worked for a televised audience. A hot crowd makes televised wrestling better. It always has. 

And the best hot crowd is a crowd that reacts not after the fact, not with neutral chants, happy that both sides are having fun and are dying for their enjoyment, but in the moment, with each move and each punch. We've lost that "oooh" that came with every strike and there's no way to trick or fool or kayfabe people into bringing it back.

They have to be convinced that it's in their benefit to do so, that by doing so, by agreeing to be part of the show, they'll be experiencing something unique and special. 

And they will! It's all true. It's time to just outright admit it and to reframe and market pro wrestling in that way. It was unspoken in a time of kayfabe but it's pro wrestling's comparative advantage and it's time to treat it openly that way. That's how wrestling can grow.

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Death Valley Days: Road Report

ACTION Wrestling Death Valley Days: Road Report 2/28/26

MD: Usual disclaimer to start. This is Segunda Caida, of course. But I don't personally have a hand in these shows. It's all Phil, Eric, Matt G, and JR. I get no privileged info. Up until now at least, I don't suggest that they try to book Marco Corleone. While I'm proud of these guys for putting their money where their mouth is, my mouth is here. I wouldn't say what you're about to read is fully unbiased, but it does have a level of distance at least. That said, they're doing great. But they already have a Matt, and he could hit an Iconoclasm on me.  

It's also been great seeing so many people write about the show in general. Engage with pro wrestling, write about it, talk about your experiences. That's the spirit that drove DVDVR and this place and the internet needs more of it once again.

Ok, on with the show.

Darian Bengston vs Ryan Mooney

MD: Kicking things off and setting the tone, this was for the ACTION title, one of the two title matches on the card. Bengston is free-flowing, technical, engaging, dynamic, entertaining. He's constant motion, shifting from one hold and position to the next. 

It was up to Mooney to stop him cold as many ways as possible then. Sometimes that meant throwing himself headlong at Bengston, foot first off the ropes and with a body block from off the top. Sometimes it meant throwing Bengston all around the ring with tricked out offense. And yeah, sometimes, especially when things got particularly hairy and Bengston inched closer to the Makabe Lock, that meant biting. 

As things escalated, tricks that worked earlier in the match failed later on, like a hitter who had seen a pitcher a couple of times late in a game, and that was true first and foremost for the biting. Bengston was able to redirect Mooney's hand right into his own mouth, lock the legs, and flip over for the Makabe Lock. This was solid, smart, straightforward. Both men were stylized in their approaches but the match itself was grounded and easily accessible compared to what was to come.

Angus Legstrong vs Oldman Youngboy

MD: I made the choice to write about this all at once, because it, even more than the DEAN shows, is a single card and should be looked at as such. In some ways, this match is here to prep everyone for the BattlARTS match to come, but it's also to pull people out of their comfort zone. Bengston vs Mooney was very much in their comfort zone, something well executed and familiar.

This though? 

This probably took a lot of the crowd for a ride into Parts Unknown. Legstrong looks like a mostly bald Cliff Clavin, if he had the strongest legs in the world, which he immediately showed off. Youngboy returned the favor with a super impressive bridge. 

And then they were off to the races. Gritty grappling where nothing was given and everything was opportunistic. In theory, it was a bit like a CWF undercard match where Eddie Graham sent a couple of guys out to shoot. 

Back on their feet, neither getting a decided advantage (though Legstrong was able to get Youngboy to go for a rope break), they each utilized more of a professional wrestling flourish. Youngboy faked high and picked a leg with a roll; later on he'd hit a beautiful takedown scissoring Legstrong (ironically enough) with his legs. Legstrong, on the other hand, was able to get Youngboy in a vulnerable position and just paintbrushed him.

Maybe, just maybe, Oldboy was winning on points, but none of that mattered after Legstrong hit the first real bomb of the match, a literal one. Oldboy, on instinct, managed a kickout on the folding press, but Legstrong did his best SENKA impression and bullied Oldboy over for the pin. 

This was two men plying their trade, showing off their skill, presenting a vision of what pro wrestling can and should be that's very different than most of what we've gotten this century and it was very welcome to see.

Isaiah Broner vs Jake Shepherd

MD: Exactly what it should have been (which is something you can say about every match on the card, really). Two behemoths going at it. Jake Shepherd possesses real Jerry Blackwell energy in the best way. There's just something about how he moves. They just threw shots at each other to start and Broner got the better of him. Shepherd had this way of shaking his leg as he stumbled backwards. When you're a super heavyweight, every movement matters. It draws the eyes, it tugs at the imagination. By stumbling back like that, it put over Broner's shot in a massive way. 

Then he crashed right through him (which is no small feat). They ended up on the floor and Broner started to get the best of him again, but there was Shepherd out of nowhere with an unlikely kick. He had an answer. And then he punctuated it with an absolutely brutal splash on the floor. Much of the rest of the match was Broner trying to heft Shepherd up for what the commentators thought might be a Death Valley Driver. Eventually, after catching him on the ropes, he did get him up, and then he planted him with the craziest F5 you'll ever see. I could have watched these two throw massive shots at each other all night, but clearly in a clash this titanic, something had to give. Broner's always worth watching, no question; we knew that. But Shepherd is such a perfect DVDVR guy.

Kasey Owens vs Adrian Alanis

MD: Character should always drive action, but that's especially true when you're deviating from conventional narratives. This was heel vs heel, but it was completely driven by who these two were.

That meant Owens came out, turnbuckle in hand, causing a fit and demanding the ref to check Alanis. That let him slip the brass knuckles into the turnbuckle himself, presumably to use later. 

Once the action started however, it was more akin to goofus and gallant, if both were heels. Alanis had one poised piece of offense after another, posing in between. Owens, on the other hand had cheapshots and finger pulling. 

After Alanis nearly got the win with a Flosion and Owens finally hooked in the Chicken Wing, things completely devolved into one of the best and rarest forms of wrestling there is, a dirty rotten scoundrels scenario. A crutch ended up in the ring, then one chair after the other. Owens tried to use the turnbuckle. The ref was yelling at them. They were yelling at the ref. They were yelling at each other. Then they both went for the Eddy Guerrero chair fakeout at the same time and only came to when it was obvious the ref was going to throw the match. It was fun stuff and completely different than anything else on the card and most things you'll see on any card all year. 

Alanis felt a little more out of his element though, which allowed Owens to get the better of him. Instead of getting to use the knucks, he ensured that Alanis went head first into the turnbuckle. I'm not 100% sure about the actual physics of that, but the pro wrestling physics (which tend to be more moral than anything else) were spot on, and the slovenly trickster of yore beat the slicker athlete on this night.  

Slim J vs Tim Bosby

MD: Slim J looked like the most professional professional wrestler in the world here. This was sharp as you'd expect, one of the most imaginative, versatile babyfaces of the century, with some of the best, smartest instincts, against a dynamo of a athletic base with bomb after bomb after bomb for offense. 

Slim tried to pry off an arm early, and he'd have some success with that technique, but there was always the sense that Bosby was just too big and too much for it to slow him down enough. Even then, were it not for Hales getting involved, maybe it would have been. But Dylan did get in the way and that let Bosby start in on the back. 

Some of his offense looked like it broke Slim in half. Despite that, Slim would climb up and around, bound over, hit from every angle as he was want to do, but he couldn't turn the tide. A match like this, while being as pro wrestling as it possibly can be, also has a bit of that sports feel. Bosby had the ball and was driving on net again and again but no matter the pressure, Slim J didn't break. And once he got ball possession, he ran with it. 

Even then, it seemed like it all came to naught as Bosby finally planted him with an F5, something they had conditioned the crowd to be a match-ender earlier in the night in the Broner match. It led to a huge kickout here. Finally, after a couple of finishing stretch counters, Bosby hit a spinecrunching German and it looked like that might be it. It just wasn't that sort of night though. It was, instead, the sort of night where Slim leaned as hard as anyone possibly could into being an arch-babyface, hulked up, ripped the shirt, nailed Dylan off the apron, and wholly immune to even the idea of negative consequence of that distracted action, took Bosby up, over, and around for the pin. And for at least a few minutes, all was right in the world. 

You know what? Sometimes we need that. Sometimes we need pro wrestling to be that. Why the hell not here and now?

Toby Klein vs Nathan Mowery

MD: Variety is the spice of life, and if you ask these guys, blood is a viable spice. This would be the death match portion of the show. The great thing about using a VCR as a ranged weapon, like Klein did to start this before Mowery could even make it to the ring, is that then you can use the tape from the VHS itself as a garotte. It's economical when you think about it.

This was about as straightforward as could be. Two maniacs (said affectionately) jabbing jagged objects ranging from antlers to a handsaw into each other's forehead and then peppering the bloody remnants with punches. Occasionally you'd get a DDT. More likely you'd get a chair, or a door, or a light tube. 

If there was the overarching theme to the night, it was wrestlers giving it their all, not in the A for Effort sort of way, but instead in that these characters, these unique, twisted, brilliant, wonderful entities, were pressing up against each other in this overwhelming cacophony of violence, technique, and grit that would drown out all the petty, meager worries of the day. And that was completely at play here. These two were, in this moment, the very most of their class, of their type, and they battled each other with all the trappings of their chosen style. It just so happens that Mowry had the Reverend at his side and the means to set his elbow on fire. Past that? Could have gone either way.

Jamesen Shook vs Tank

MD: Speaking of characters (but then I could start literally every one of these matches like that; that's the strength of this card!)... Shook and Tank. 

For a guy with just a few years under his belt, Shook is markedly good at commanding a room. He's very entertaining, especially when he's taking stuff. He wrestled this match big even in a small room, and you need to wrestle big to stand out against Tank. 

Tank's got the mass, but he's a center of gravity not because of what he is but because of who he is. It's because of the timing, the gravitas, some of the best punches you could possibly see in 2026 (or 2016 or...), and the wisdom to know how to twist the act just a little depending on his opponent, like here with the eyepoke. Meanwhile, Shook was living up to his name, arms flailing at every shot.

Even so, there's over a thirty year age gap between these two, and you got the sense that Tank wanted to win this one through crook as much as hook, just to show that he was canny, that he was the master of whatever game you put in front of him. Thus the feigned knee injury. If he had just plowed through, maybe he could have won this thing, likely he could have, but he wanted to win it on his terms and that gave Shook exactly what he needed to get a roll up and slip away with his title for yet another day.

Karl Greco-Malenko vs Matt Mako

MD: So Greco-Malenko could be Timothy Olyphant's stunt double on Justified, and I mean that in the very best way. He doesn't need to be though, because he's already Karl Greco-Malenko, and that's more than enough.

Back during the DEAN~!!! 1 review here, I noted my own difficulties in writing about shoot style given that it tends to be so free-flowing and full of primarily intrinsic storytelling. I've watched a lot of Newborn UWF since then, and I've more or less come up with a framework to see me through.

You're looking for the contrasts. They say styles make fights, but it's really a combination of character, physical attributes, and preferences (you can call that styles, I guess). If you can map out all three through the action, you've got things managed.

Here, Mako was younger, stronger, faster. He wanted that armbar. Was he starstruck a bit? Hard to say. Greco-Malenko was savvy with plenty to prove. They both had hunger but it maybe manifested differently, and it's in that difference, as much as all the skill and technique between them, that a fight like this shines.

The sum of it felt fairly equal to me. Mako looked for his opportunities, was quicker to grapple, was more the aggressor. Greco-Malenko had answers for mostly everything; sometimes that was firing off palmstrikes, both when in a hold and not. Sometimes it was a clever reversal. There was one time where he avoided a rope break by spinning out into a leglock. That was the sort of escape that would have gotten a huge pop in Japan decades ago from educated fans who knew the skill needed to not just settle on grabbing the rope and the crowd here, to their credit, understood and reacted just as they should have. 

In the most whimsical part of the match (proof positive that just like when Tank went for the eyepoke or the double drop down chair spot between Alanis and Owens, humor can find its way into almost any situation if the wrestlers are talented enough and allow their humanity to shine through), Greco-Malenko turned things around into a floating bodyscissors with his hands outstretched like he was king of the world. 

In the end, Mako came close, very close, to prying that arm off and getting what he wanted, using a fakeout punch to score a huge takedown, but maybe he wanted it too badly and Greco-Malenko was able to pull out one last counter into a heel hook and seize victory. It was a triumphant return in every way for Greco-Malenko with Mako looking all the better for pushing the old master as far as he did.

Mad Dog Connelly vs Slade

MD: Six minutes. Six minutes bell to bell, almost exactly. Maybe off by five seconds, maybe. 

That could be the review, right? I could stop there. That they packed this much violence, animosity, and mayhem into just six minutes. For a complete match with a beginning middle and end, it might be second for second, the most ... well, let me leave hyperbole aside. 

This was hot iron clashing with cold iron. Mad Dog Connelly is, and I say this with great fondness and at a great distance, a maniac. He channels the gaping wounds of the world into rage, seeking vengeance for all the wrongs done by man and done upon man. Slade on the other hand is a stone cold sociopath, the sort of man that would gleefully inflict those wrongs in the first place. There are universes of torment to be found in the eyes of Mad Dog Connelly. Within Slade's? Nothing, nothing at all. 

And here they were, in the middle of the ring, two dynamically opposing forces throwing fists, throwing heads, throwing each other. When they were done wailing on one another in the ring, they went to the floor. There they entered into an unholy pact to bloody one another with the crash of bone on bone alone. Goal achieved, Mad Dog drank in the fruits of their collective effort.

Things boiled over. This wasn't six minutes due to curfew. This wasn't six minutes due to people wanting to go home. This wasn't six minutes due to another show starting on IWTV. This was six minutes because it couldn't possibly be seven. Something had to give, and after the gutwrench and after the choke slam, what gave was Slade's throat with the chain from the dog collar wrapped around it. Violent fiend that he may be, he's still only flesh and blood and bone and sinew after all. Of course, the bell wouldn't stop these two. Six minutes now, but the promise of more to come. I'd expect nothing less from such polar entities of wrath and spite.

MD: Which takes us to the end of the card. I leaned hard into the six minutes of Connelly vs Slade, but look too at the tight two hours that this show came in under. It had a little bit of everything, an ode to the sort of shows that were written about by those of the Death Valley Driver faithful two decades ago, and those that they obtained on tape. 

There was conventional wrestling, Slim J vs Bosby being a modern version of Tito Santana vs a Heenan Family member in its own way. There was like vs like, contrast vs contrast. A deathmatch, a shoot style classic, a hoss fight, title matches, an outright war. It ran the gamut, with the underlying unifying element being the competitiveness, the struggle, wrestlers giving it their all across different styles. 

And that's exactly what pro wrestling, in all of its variety and gripping wonder, is all about, right?

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Found Footage Friday: 1991 WWF TAPING~!

WWF London Ontario 2/16/91

MD: This is all new save for the Crush vs. Butch match, and therefore, we'll cover the rest.

Koko B. Ware vs. The Barbarian

MD: Early on, Lord Alfred talks about seeing a young, young Barbarian in Puerto Rico when he was wrestling there with Monsoon and I wish we had 70s Lord Alfred in Puerto Rico. Ah well.

This was very good, especially the early feeling out process. They framed each and every exchange well, Barbarian's early strength (holding him up in a one-handed choke, which you never seen), and then Koko chipping away at him with dropkicks, until he went sailing over the top and menaced the camera man. Back in the ring, Koko was able to fire back with shots to the face, but Barbarian hefted him over the top and then crushed him against the post on the outside and that was that. 

Pretty good face-in-peril with some nice hope spots (including a sunset flip in). The nerve hold could have been a little more active, maybe, but the crowd came up for Koko getting the elbows in on his comeback. That got cutoff but then Barbarian missed an elbow drop and Koko was back in it. They actually had me on a couple of the nearfalls even though intellectually, I knew there was no way Koko won this one. Barbarian won it with a hotshot out of nowhere, which really did feel like the ultimate match-ender for this time period. A guy ends up with his throat draped over the top and it's over.

ER: I was impressed with how well Koko overcame the size difference here. 1991 is some Peak Gas WWF (see how fucking jacked Bushwhacker Butch is in the match after this) and Barbarian looks immovable. Well, Koko moved him real well and threw babyface punches so good that they believably kept moving him. I love Koko, a great sympathetic babyface seller who knew how to take bumps that garner even more sympathy. His low fast backdrop to the floor made the bump look more tough and his selling once he was on the floor built it more. Barbarian will slam your spine into the ringpost but a great salesman like Koko will make it look truly backbreaking. Koko has two strong nearfalls: an inside cradle that was pulled off quick, and his missile dropkick which was done well enough that I bit on it as a finish. He took Barbarian's hotshot finish so exuberantly that the top rope practically touched the bottom. Frankie wasn't there to see the loss. 

Ted Dibiase vs. Jimmy Snuka

MD: Pretty interesting point in time and space here as Snuka actually got on the mic and brought out Virgil to Dibiase's horror. Virgil was super over as you can imagine. Once this got going, it didn't wear out its welcome. Dibiase got sneak attacked by Snuka while distracted and then everything he tried for the next couple of minutes backfired on him. Honestly, this is as good as I can remember seeing Snuka look in this run and so much of it is due to the set up. Dibiase did take over by getting a gutshot up to counter a double axe-handle, and they built to Dibiase trying to suplex him in and Virgil grabbing the leg to set up the upset. Dibiase got rocked by him post match. Very effective, crowd-pleasing stuff to help get over what they were doing with Virgil.

ER: Agree that this feels like the best 1991 Snuka, but a lot of that felt like the best 1991 Dibiase. This was a basic 1991 Offense WWF match that Dibiase was working like an All Japan match. He took extra, probably unnecessary, snap off every surface Snuka bounced him off. Dibiase made every connection an impact, dedicated to making every slam into a turnbuckle look brain scrambling. He could have gotten away with going lighter on the 2nd night of a week straight of house shows. Snuka had timing and Weird Buff Old Guy energy, using simple offense like clubbing hands, and "grabbing Dibiase to shove him into a thing". I can't recall when I've been so impressed by someone getting their head bounced off the ring apron. Jimmy Snuka was in his late 40s and moved older than that, but Dibiase made him feel like a fighter. 

The camera doesn't film his fistdrops from the best angle but he does three of them and we keep seeing each one from a slightly different too close angle, and by the third it felt like a cool look at the up close magic form of his fistdrop. He was a guy whose Ace Worker status dipped after we watched the Mid South footage, a guy who plays incredibly in the greatest matches of all time but doesn't hold up in the weekly TV. But I'm quite high on 90s Dibiase. He started working more like Arn Anderson and I thought he was great. I love '93 Dibiase. He stands out in unique ways from the other strong WWF heel workers from that year (Doink, Michaels, Headshrinkers, Yokozuna) and takes his impact bumping to All Japan and locks it in until his injury. Ted Dibiase is destined to become one of our wrestlers whose discourse constantly waffles between overrated and underrated until we die, but I think any unearthed 90s footage has only added to his case as a great worker. 

Gen. Adnan vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

MD: I don't remember seeing a singles match between these two make tape during this run but I could be wrong. It's one of those things you'd see in house show results and wonder how they did it. Now we know. A lot of "Back to Iraq" chants by Duggan. Adnan snuck up on him with the turban, choked him, got slammed, and ate the three-point stance clothesline. Another crowd-pleaser but now we know what it'd look like at least.

ER: To think, looking like a reasonable facsimile to Saddam Hussein would get you a certain death gimmick as a decoy in one part of the world, while in another part it could net you a plum late career WWF gig. I have a ton of respect for Adnan Al-Kaissie's 90s WWF run. You're in your early 50s, haven't worked WWF since your 30s, and you happen to look like a dictator from the country you're from and don't have to get in actual shape for the gig. You get to have one minute matches on house shows where fans watch Saddam Hussein get no offense in on America (OR Canada!!) before quickly losing. It all ends with a main event PPV gig opposite Hulk Hogan. Also you get to wear incredible boots. It's one of wrestling's greatest gigs ever and should be celebrated as such. How many wrestlers get the chance to work in front of 20,000 people in a main event, ever, in their careers, let alone in their 50s? I wonder what his Summerslam paycheck looked like compared to Virgil's. 

Rick Martel vs. Jake Roberts

MD: Martel on the mic with just a few words about how everyone was jealous to ensure he wouldn't get any Canadian cheers. Jake had the blue and gold cobra crotch tights. Important everyone knows that. 

Very fun early. Martel ambushed but crashed into the post on a shoulder block attempt. Jake started on the arm, including lifting him up and holding him there for a second, and punches. Best part was when he faked high, causing Martel to duck, and then kneeled down to punch the model in the face. Big sell of the nose. Big pop. Jake really bathed in the DDT chants too, milking them.

Martel's control, after using the ref as a stalking horse, wasn't as interesting, but he had some good cut offs at least. Jake ended up trapped in the ropes as Martel went for Arrogance, but he got out while the ref was fighting with him and hit the DDT. He took forever, absolutely forever, to creep over and pin him. 

ER: It was truly stunning to watch how long Jake took to pin Martel after the DDT. They were both down so long that the ref started counting both down. I have no idea why Jake was down so long. He set up the DDT with a long stretch of being stuck in the ropes just like Andre, doing great physical work of stretching out his body as he tried to pull both arms out of the ropes. His physical work was so good, his selling for Martel so emotive, and his post DDT crawl was the slowest thing you have ever seen. 

Undertaker vs. Tugboat

MD: I don't have a lot to say about this but it's a great example of how the initial heel run Undertaker had total commitment to his character. He moved like a lurching zombie, ever creeping forward. It was a great act and has been rarely emulated. You could push him back but he'd keep coming in a way that was sort of unnerving. When they shoot to the audience for Superstars/Challenge matches and show scared kids, they were scared for a reason. And then, when least expected, like in the finish here, he'd do something extra quick or agile and it'd go from creeping doom to jump scare. Here it was vaulting over the top rope so he could climb up, take a few steps and hit an elbow drop to beat Tugboat. 

ER: Marvel at the front row of Very Canadian Men who all seemed amused/confused by the Undertaker. None of them understood what it was they were supposed to be seeing and silently stared accordingly. Imagine if zombie heel Undertaker actually worked like a heavyweight and hit like he was a big man. He could have been one of the scariest heels of all time. By the time he learned how to strike 15 years later he was incapable of ever being a heel. He had a kick to the ribs that was so light he may have confused people into thinking he was portraying a ghost who is incapable of making physical contact with our realm. His backward leap into the ringpost is a cool bump in theory but he doesn't know how to give it weight or impact. Tugboat is the one of the two who felt like a guy with potential. His powerslam has rotation that makes it feel big but a controlled landing that safely drops a 300 pound zombie. When Tugboat hit and then missed his leaping avalanche I was thinking how much more agile he was than Taker, but just then Taker leapt over the top rope to the apron and got to the top rope so fast that it was like I was watching a wrestler I'd never seen before. Taker's rope walk elbowdrop finisher was a cool piece of his arsenal that felt like a dead man falling off a roof. 

Brooklyn Brawler vs. Virgil

MD: One thing I appreciate about the Brawler's act is that they let him come out with Yankees gear. My guess is that if he came around today, he'd have Brawler written on his shirt instead. 

He did a good job of showing fear of Virgil early, which only helped him be over with the crowd. They had a nice bit of rope running with multiple leapfrogs too. In general, this went longer than it should have. Virgil took some big bumps including one through the ropes to the floor, but I do think this was set up to give him some ring time selling. The match was sacrificed to prep him for future matches which makes total sense. He won it with a power slam which is not a move you usually associate with him. 

ER: This era of Virgil's work was so weird. This match was smack dab between his babyface turn on Dibiase at the Rumble, and their big WrestleMania match next month. It is the only match Virgil worked in February. No matter your thoughts on Virgil's in ring, it is undeniable how well his babyface turn got over. Listen to the response he gets from the people of Ontario! This is a man they are rooting for! He hasn't wrestled as much as you might think for being on WWF TV for so many years, but he wrestles like a guy who is barely trained while also wrestling like a trained wrestler who is wrestling as an untrained wrestler. You see glimpses of a man who can't run the ropes, who throws clotheslines like he's only seen them portrayed in children's drawings, but also see a man who throws himself into big babyface bumps and knows how to use them to draw sympathy. His bump flying through the ropes with nothing slowing him down, back bump past the mats and onto the London Gardens floorboards, was the best bump on the show and kept his reaction peak. But he also took a "hard way" bump back into the ring that I thought was among the best of its kind. His powerslam looked terrible. 

Brawler is a worker I like more whenever I rewatch him. Any era. Virgil gets a great reaction for a bizarrely scarce post-turn match, but Brawler is great at keeping them interested in Virgil all match. What's the best Lombardi match? Is there a consensus? I think Tom once sold me on an Abe Knuckleball Schwartz/123 Kid match.  I don't think this one would be in the discussion for Best Lombardi match but it's a great showing and a professional handling of the green veteran Virgil. 

Hart Foundation vs. Power & Glory

MD: These two teams were very well matched. Bret started with Roma, lots of rope running ending with him catching him on a leapfrog and then hitting the inverted atomic drop/clothesline combo. Herc outpowered him but didn't outpower Anvil. He did catch Bret off the ropes and took over accordingly. They worked over Bret's back including some nice Roma backbreakers. We rarely get close up footage without commentary like this and you could hear how vocal Herc and Roma were in rooting for one another. To set up the hot tag, Bret climbed across the mat on his back using the ropes. Great stuff. Finish had Roma cut off the Hart Attack and Neidhart cut off the Powerplex and then everything spill out to the floor for a double countout. Post-match Harts ran P&G off but it mostly set up a second encounter. 

ER: This should have been better but there was a really great Bret/Roma match in the middle of a good enough tag match with a bad finish. I don't know if I've watched the Bret/Roma singles matches but now I'm going to, but if there are Hercules/Anvil matches I can probably skip them. This was two FTR teams that are better than FTR working a so so FTR match. I wonder what Bret's thoughts were about he and Anvil working over Herc's shoulder only for it to build to a Hercules gorilla press slam? That's the kind of backwards set up that Bret never wants to take part in, while feeling like a sequence Bret was mapping out. Bret matches don't build to the heel press slamming the babyface after getting his shoulder pummeled. 

Is P&G the best era of Paul Roma? Has to be. It's crazy they kept trying to make him a babyface. He looks so untrustworthy. He'd assault your girlfriend at a party while you were in the bathroom. Power & Glory Roma was fully in his element. The Bret/Roma stuff works so well because he's essentially working a heel Bret style, if Bret were a greasy forcible sexual assaulter. The snap was the same, the heel bumping was the yin to Bret's baby bumping yang. He's a great punch taker, a truly hateable piece of scum like Tully Blanchard who moves similar to Tully as well. I loved the work from everyone when Roma ad Hercules were tying Bret up in a bearhug; Bret's selling was compelling, Roma's bearhug was even better than Hercules', and Roma worked a false tag far better than you'd ever think from someone who teamed with Jim Powers. I don't remember the last time I saw a team work a modern false tag spot without also doing it with a I'm A Heel wink. Roma wasn't out for glory, he had business to take care of. 

The finish stunk, but there was a tremendous reveal while setting up the late match Hart Attack: The way it was filmed, you couldn't see where Roma was. He got knocked off the apron into the guardrail but his location couldn't be seen. As Bret started his run into the opposite ropes, he was expertly kept off camera to preserve the mystery behind whether Bret would hit it or whether Roma would make it back in time to grab his ankle. It was the latter, but until Bret went down it looked like he was gearing up to take Hercules' head off. 

Sgt. Slaughter vs. Ultimate Warrior

MD: I know we already had one or two of these Sarge w/Sherri matches but I haven't seen them for a bit so I couldn't tell you how similar this was. All I generally remember is Sarge bumping all over the place and Sherri dying at the end. This starts with her doing a saluting ceremony with Sarge on the floor after Warrior runs in, including putting the title up to her waist to taunt him, and it's good stuff. Warrior gets Sarge's helmet and goes nuts with it which is also good stuff. 

Warrior chases Sherri around including the usual 1991 high culture bits of them coming out from under the ring with him having undressed her. That lets Sarge take over though and there's a pretty long heat which is well done. Sherri works her ass off helping and cheering on Sarge, especially in a never-ending Camel Clutch. That's going to end with him shrugging Sarge off of course. What's surprising is that the cut off has Sarge getting his knees up. They really make Warrior work for the comeback, which makes it all the more frustrating when he shoves the ref for basically no reason once he does come back. Post-match, he continues to cause havoc including the press slam on Sherri. It's impressive how much they got out of this honestly. 

ER: Sherri was looking THIS hot on Canadian house shows!? That's the major takeaway from this match, which was such a "should have been better" match that I feel I was too quick to give Hart Foundation/Power & Glory that title. Sarge looked more washed than I remember - great bumps still, including his classic over the ringpost that I love so much - with sludgy offense where he looked afraid to fall over too fast. His stomps and some of his other offense looked like he was working a kid with progeria, not as gassed up freak sporting his dumbest haircut in a lifetime of dumb haircuts. Warrior comes as close as humanly possible to hitting a 50 yard head of steam Pounce on a ringside cameraman who sprinted out in front of him like a wild rabbit. Warrior was only going to do so much to avoid him and this guy came about 3 inches from being driven brutally into the guardrail. It would have been the highlight of this event. The Canadian crowd clearly had no idea how they were expected to react to Warrior assaulting Sherri both physically and sexually, but they rightly sat in uncomfortable silence while he hit his hardest offense of the match on her, dropping her from his gorilla press with a real flop, then actually stepping on her as he exited the ring. I wonder how many in attendance had actually seen a woman this hot before. A satin pink teddy with black thigh highs? Girl, Detroit is thataway. 

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