TYWGIGB is a series where Sam breaks down the wrestling that was in 1984 week-by-week. Always expect match of the week but a grab bag from there.

MATCH OF THE WEEK

Atlantis vs. Satanico

Sometimes when I’m talking wrestling I’ll just say shit. Not to stir up the pot (typically) but to see how it feels rolling off the keyboard. And I can’t not hit enter in those instances, part of this is you need to feel that physical response to a take entering the world. A recent one that I rattled off is “Atlantis is the lucha Tito Santana”.

Not perfect, but has the right mouth feel. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

Both are wrestlers I like but do not love. And it is for the same reason. They both embody what a babyface is. When they fire up the energy tends to radiate off the screen, no person in the crowd isn’t behind them. But when it comes to the moment-to-moment, the punching, the kicking, the big spots, I’m a little bit of an empty husk. There is so much media in the world I could ingest that give me the feelings of a good guy in wrestling. I watch wrestling in part because I like the bodies slamming into each other in a theatrical way, not because of the Stories by themselves. Other media can get me behind a character wrestling is unique given the action, so if you aren’t packing heat there you are taking part of the experience away. Need to reiterate, do like both of these wrestlers, I don’t believe either of them sucks butt.

And a wrestler that doesn’t suck any butt at all is Satanico. One of the most gnarly bastards that has ever entered a wrestling ring. After fall one where it is about showcasing Atlantis a little more (BLAH), the violence goes up several notches. Not sure if this is a technical issue or what, but we get the camera going black and white once the blood from Atlantis picks up. And Satanico is relishing and going after the gash.

There are other people that consider this a classic, something to fantasize about at night. I’m not quite there even with the stellar comeback from Atlantis in the end. It all comes down to when Atlantis has to be the engine, I space out ever so slightly. I wish it connected at the level other folks did, I’m built different though.

SUPERFLUOUS OF THE WEEK

First Time Sam Has Mentioned A Women’s Match Of The Week

Jaguar Yokota vs. Mimi Hagiwara*

Not sexist, just the footage is outlined weird!

A 20+ minute match is always going to be a tougher sell, 9/10 there are ways to get it under 15 without losing much of anything. You deal with what the good lord gives you and the good lord gave me Jaguar kicking ass.

Where with Santanico in the Atlantis match is evil in a wrestler way, Jaguar is evil in a way “that can’t be any fun to be on the other side of” type of way. The way she attacks the leg early on, she makes sure to squeeze all the juice out of it, wrenching, stomping, parlaying into other nasty subs.

Mimi gets to enact revenge and do her own version of practically the exact thing…but it lacks the juice. There is anger without looking like the leg is going to snap based on how she’s feeling in the moment. Not bad by any stretch, it just makes Jaguar’s complete commander of situation be all that more impressive.

When Mimi does more of babyface comeback the match seems to click in place a bit more. The tope ain’t too shabby but when she rams Jaguar’s head into the turnbuckles a couple time you get a real smushy feeling on them. You got to have a partner that is real committed to making it look like their face got wrecked. Between grainy footage and a disregard for her own life in addition to the life of others, Jaguar lets the post leave a dent into head.

Oh and the way Mimi brings Jaguar’s corpse over the top rope to hit this truly disgusting spike piledriver is a delight. Or call it a sheer-drop powerbomb, something or other, you don’t come here for accurate move names.Sure, does it end up just feeling as though we are going to be hitting meaningless big moves at this point? Yes, 100% but she manages to up the game with a SECOND ROPE ELECTRIC CHAIR DROP THAT JAG LANDS A BAAAADDDDD WAY! It rules. Jaguar a great wrestler with a screw loose, maybe a redundant statement.

Stellar Jaguar performance all around with enough major fireworks to turn into a hearty recommendation.

Other Musings

Jim Crockett, More Like Jim Crock-of-Shit Promotions

A bit of a rough week. Jim Crockett Promotions had a show where I caught three matches from and all three were fine. You’ve got a tag match of champs Don Kernodle and Bob Orton who are fun as a rough-n-tumbling tag team taking out a couple of jobbers. Sam Houston is a jobber right? I always hear about the Ric Flair match to the point I have no reference point for him. But he’s certainly fodder here for the champs. There is a tag match with Dory Funk Jr…it is fine but he’s shown up but Rufus R Jones. Biggest disappointment though was Flair against Dick Slater. Even with the expectations of a quick TV bout, there ain’t no meat on these bones! And I know Flair can make these short bouts work…but just going through the motions.

Kerry Von Erich’s Body is an Enigma

When you put Kerry Von Erich against a monster, starting to feel like a coin flip. Or Missing Link is that good, hard to say. The Kamala match from the 20th doesn’t have the juice. Kerry is a god like figure with a god like physique. When you put him against 99% of wrestlers, he is the more physically imposing individual. With Kamala, it is a push but if Kamala is the overwhelming monstrous force, you need better than a push. There is this moment Kerry hits a body slam, they build to it, but it is not a feat of stength by any stretch. You look at it and go “yes, that shouldn’t be that hard for Kerry.” What a gift and a curse to have that body. Then Kerry also is part of a trios where he has a 10 second section with Missing Link and rules. Maybe that pairing just rocks.

Who Cares

Not something you need to carve out time on your schedule for but Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami versus Bad News Allen & Rusher Kimura is a lot of fun. The Bad News Allen stuff in New Japan to start the year has generally been full of energy. You get an Abdullah the Butcher appearance which I will always support.

*I received a different date for this match than what is listed on YT so working off that