-2hr 15min. Q=Master. 2 DVDs
Shusaku Wada vs. Takashi Tachibana
CMLL JAPAN Joshi Title Match: Chikako Shiratori vs. Policewo~men
Osaka Meibutsu Sekai Isseguro Senshukenjiai: Kuishinbo Kamen vs. Ebessan
Tsubasa & Takehiro Murahama & Oriental vs. Black Buffalo & Daio QUALLT & Gamma 19:14. Buffalo was in top form here, faciliting some exciting lucha action with technicos who were more than happy to express with quick counter laden sequences and spectacular flying. The rudos tended to dominate because Buffalo was the only rudo who put the match before his own dominance, but the technicos did get to really showcase their athleticism to go on offense and maintain the advantage. Murahama was the best worker on the technico side, as he was interested in doing more than simply flying. He impressed with his body control that allowed for athletic counters where Tsubasa & Oriental were more purely flyers. Gamma tried to show a lot of nice offense despite being on the rudo side. he doesn't always execute to perfection, but generally had a good match. QUALLT was pretty bland, but as he's the intimidating power wrestler, not a lot was really asked of him. ***1/2
Super Delfin & Kaiju Zeta Mandora vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai 19:19. Somewhat entertaining match that simply paled in comparison to the average Liger & Samurai match. Mandora wasn't near the level of the others, which they could have gotten around if Delfin was in the mood to carry a match. Unfortunately, Delfin mostly stood on the apron while Samurai beat Mandora up. I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to laugh when Samurai elbowed the base of Mandora's giant bobble eye. Delfin was motivated when he was actually in, and he did some nice work with Samurai, but not enough of it. And you felt that Liger & Samurai were bored because they couldn't do anything challenging or nifty with Mandora. Mandora did pick it up when he finally went on offense, but while he has some nice moves (the same ones he's used under every gimmick), he doesn't really work with his opponent. There's nothing in Mandora's arsenal that requires any real thought or skill to set up, or timing to pull off, he basically just has the opponent lay there while he hits a moonsault or stand there while he hits a quebrada. And that was really the problem with the match, it was just rather vanilla. **1/2
Shusaku Wada vs. Takashi Tachibana
Takehiro Murahama vs. Kengo Takai
Chikako Shiratori Osaka Puroresu Last Match (Man & Woman Mixed Tag Match): Super Delfin & Kuishinbo Kamen & Chikako Shiratori vs. Miracle Man & Ebessan & Policewo~men
Osaka Tag Festival Osaka Puroresu Shidao Tag Oza Kettei Leaguesen: Kaiju King Mandora & Kaiju Z Mandora vs. Azteca & Diablo
Osaka Tag Festival Osaka Puroresu Shidao Tag Oza Kettei Leaguesen: Tsubasa & Black Buffalo vs. Daio QUALLT & Gamma
Tigers Mask vs. Azteca 7:09. Mask wears the uniform of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team. He didn't show me that much here. Azteca is an adequate luchador that lacks spectacular offense. *
Kaiju King Mandora vs. Nise Great Nita 5:53 of 8:27. The wrestling was poor, but at least there were a few funny spots.
Super Demekin & Kengo Takai vs. Shusaku Wada & Takashi Tachibana 10:10. Competently wrestled, but these guys don't have much offense yet. The best move would have been some kind of swandive by Wada, but he slipped off the ropes. In spite of this flubbed spot, the paced picked up tremendously when Wada made this hot tag and the last 5+ minutes were good. Wada is pretty explosive when he wants to be. He was the best along with Demekin. **1/4
Chikako Shiratori LAST Korakuen (Man & Woman Mixed Tag Match): Kuishinbo Kamen & Miracle Man & Chikako Shiratori vs. Ebessan & Kaiju Z Mandora & Police Wo~men 20:58. Police impressed me. She hung with the men and did some nice moves like the huracanrana. Surprisingly, Kamen & Ebessan hurt the match. They kept gringing the match to a halt with their clowning that wasn't even all that entertaining today. That said, the fans did react to everything they did. Ebessan was moleting Shiratori, so she kicked him in the balls. As the match progressed the others brought it closer to perpetual motion. Some of it didn't work, but there were a lot of quality sequences toward the end. **1/2
REAL OSAKA LIVE!!: Tsubasa & Black Buffalo vs. Daio QUALLT & Gamma 14:30. Nice display of teamwork, including INFINITY giving Gamma, who was sitting on the apron, a sandwhich dropkick. Tsubasa was really impressive with his spectacular moves, but it dragged somewhat when he wasn't in. Buffalo is extremely solid, clearly the best worker in the match. However, while he had perfect rudo offense, as a technico he can't carry the match in the same way, using solid offense he makes meaningful with his mannerisms to set up the flashy offense from his opponent. Gamma is a rudo with good offense, so they were able to look to him to pick up the slack, and QUALLT's offense has developed to the point the match was more or less as good when he's in. ***1/4
Super Delfin & Takehiro Murahama vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai 13:57. An excellent five minute finishing sequence tacked onto a rather ordinary match. Liger & Samurai controlled most of the first 9 minutes in surprisingly slow and standard fashion. They were able to work as rudos because they were the outsiders. This helped the match because they are the more solid team, allowing Delfin & Murahama to be the exciting ones the fans got behind. Samurai and Delfin didn't work perfectly together, but they were way better than in their 4/20/01 singles match. Liger vs. Murahama was power vs. quickness, and the difference between Murahama's speed and the other three was pretty stark. It was very smartly done with Liger trying to stay away from Murahama's strikes then rush in and grab him. Murahama did a nice job of going into his submissions off a counter or right out of a setup move. One highlight was him turning Liger's shotei into a flying armbar. This could have been an excellent match if they did more early and it went another 3-4 minutes, but they seemed content to be solid in building up to the late explosion. ***1/4
ReMIX 3min 5rd: Ikuma Hoshino vs. Mako Ogawa
Takako Inoue & Miori Kamiya vs. Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe
Osaka Puroresu Battle Royal Senshuken: Osaka Royal Rumble
Chikako Shiratori Intai: Chikako Shiratori vs. Rie Tamada
5 Min Bonus 3 Way Dance: Chikako Shiratori vs. Rie Tamada vs. Kumiko Maekawa
Takashi Tachibana vs. Tigers Mask
Super Demekin vs. Kengo Takai
Kaiji Z Mandora vs. Jeremy Lopez
Kuishinbo Kamen & Azteca vs. Ebessan & Shusaku Wada
Super Delfin & Takehiro Murahama & Miracleman vs. Gamma & Tsubasa & Black Buffalo 14:59. The rudos worked over Delfin's knee in the first half, but it wasn't exactly a serious or intense match. Suddenly Gamma and Miracleman flipped the switch, and the action was hot until the finish. Delfin had no real involvement in this good portion, in fact it was mostly Gamma or Buffalo against Miracleman. Miracleman isn't the greatest athlete, but was very carryable and ade up for his deficiencies with effort. Buffalo was pretty easily the standout wrestler in this one. **3/4
Kaiju King Mandora & Kaiju Zeta Mandora vs. Tigers Mask & Shusaku Wada
Man & Woman Mixed Tag Match: Kuishinbo Kamen & Bolshoi Kid vs. Ebessan & Policewo~men
highlights of Takai vs. Kashiwa and Tachibana vs. Tobikage
Miracle Man & Azteca & Super Demekin vs. Gamma & Tsubasa & Black Buffalo
Tennozan 2001 Final: Super Delfin vs. Takehiro Murahama 21:25. Murahama was totally making the match, but I guess Delfin deserves credit for being so willing to sell. The problem with Delfin is, when left to his devices as he is in a situation such as this where he's wrestling a lower ranked and less experienced wrestler, he tends to revert to the rather lazy you do your spots and I'll do mine manner. The efforts were good, but the structuring left something to be desired, and along with the lack of crowd, kept the match from reaching its dramatic potential. It was better than their 11/6/00 match, but that's to be expected as Murahama is a far better wrestler than he was a year ago. ***1/4