A list

So the rumor is that we’ve (I’m speaking of us here who watch Velocity, because c’mon) seen the last of Ultimo Dragon in WWE for at least now, as he’s taking a leave of absence after this taping, and possibly for good, because the paycheck’s the only thing left to come back for and how good can that be these days?

Ultimo Dragon WWE TV Matches

1. Ultimo vs Shannon (4:55), 06/26/03
2. Ultimo vs Eddie (3:34), 07/10/03
3. Ultimo vs Noble (2:14), 07/17/03
4. Ultimo vs Kanyon (4:07), 07/27/03
5. Ultimo vs Nunzio (5:18), 08/02/03
6. Ultimo vs Shannon (5:03), 08/09/03
7. Ultimo/Funaki vs Matt/Shannon (6:18), 09/06/03
8. Ultimo/Funaki vs WGTT (7:44), 09/13/03
9. Ultimo/Funaki vs Joey Matthews and Jasoc Picaro (6:00), 09/27/03
10. Ultimo vs Tajiri (3:11), 10/09/03
11. Ultimo vs Joey Mathews (5:10), 10/18/03
12. Rey/Kidman/Ultimo vs the FBI (10:20), 10/25/03 
13. Ultimo vs Rey Mysterio (2:40), 10/30/03
14. Ultimo/Noble vs Tajiri/Nunzio (6:57), 11/06/03
15. Ultimo/Funaki vs WGTT (5:05), 11/15/03
16. Ultimo vs O’Haire (4:48), 11/22/03
17. #1 Contenders Battle Royal (2nd out), 11/27/03
18. Ultimo vs Tony Salantri (3:22), 12/13/03
19. Ultimo/Kidman vs Akio/Sakoda (5:36), 12/20/03
20. Ultimo vs Shannon (5:54), 01/17/04
21. Ultimo/Funaki vs Bashams (5:47), 01/24/04
22. Ultimo vs Shannon (6:16), 01/31/04
23. Ultimo/Funaki vs TWGTT (7:45), 02/07/04
24. Ultimo vs Shannon (5:10), 02/14/04
25. Ultimo/London/Kidman vs Tajiri/Sakoda/Akio (5:35), 02/15/04
26. Ultimo/Kidman/Rey vs Akio/Sakoda/Tajiri (4:41), 03/04/04
27. Ultimo/Funaki/Kidman/Rey vs Tajiri/Sakoda/Akio/Noble (7:02), 03/11/04
28. Cruiserweight Open (2:15), 03/14/04
29. Ultimo vs Chavo (8:39), 03/20/04 
30. Ultimo vs Nunzio (6:07), 04/17/04

If this is it, of all the memories I’ll have of the Ultimo Dragon WWE era, the second best one will be how they had the analysts dogged him for not doing enough to connect to the fans in his first few months, then after he started doing what they wanted, started dogging him for doing too much stuff for the crowd.

My top memory will be what’s missing from that list.
– Longest singles match with Mysterio: 2:43
– Longest singles match with Noble: 2:14
– Longest singles match with Tajiri: 3:11
– Longest singles match with Kidman/London/Spanky: N/A, no match

Ultimo wasn’t the same guy he was before the arm injury, but that’s obviously not something that was ever fair to expect. But he was stellar in many of those tags, and certainly wasn’t embarrassing himself in the singles. So the reason they went out of their way not do Ultimo vs the Top Guys for any significant time is…I’ll get back to you after I find out how many licks to the center of a tootsie pop. Maybe Ultimo insisted on having that match against Shannon as many times as possible?

All together, I wish he had somehow stayed in CMLL – he stopped over for a couple dates in Mexico City before heading north – for a few months rather than come to the WWE for six. CMLL is historically cheap, so the concept is sorta ludicrous – but then, so was what happened here.

Velocity seems headed for a 2AM CST appearance.