Saturday, August 12, 2006

Monterrey Randomness:

La Parka/Safari vs Super Parka/Blue Panther - Gimnasio Nuevo Leon Dec. '03: Match of the year candidate, right? Well it should have been. Started off really nicely but turned to shit fast. How a match with these four awesome guys can turn to shit I do not know but UGH it pissed me off so much since I had such high hopes. The finish was particularly embarassing with them looking like they forgot what to do and just randomly low blowing each other right in front of the referee who had to pretend like he didn't see it. I demand a rematch in any location besides Monterrey so we can avoid the crowd brawling and referee nonsense.

Blue Panther/Gitano Del Norte/Kaoma Jr. vs Super Parka/Super Crazy/Mongol Chino, Gimansio Nuevo Leon Feb. '04: Fun little match. The only guy who looked bad was Kaoma Jr.. He's not the same Kaoma Jr. who will often appear in AAA openers when they are in Queretaro, instead he is just some dude from Matamoros(according to the announcers) who is pretty bad. I don't know why he got a main event push. Maybe he's a star in Matamoros? Anyways, Gitano hit a cool spot where he ran at Crazy for a spinning armdrag, bounced off the ropes and caught Crazy for a headscissors on the way back. Hard to picture unless you see it.Smile Kaoma Jr. slipped off the top rope trying an armdrag and almost nose-dived on a tope suicida in the third fall. Panther/Parka appeared like they were working towards a finish and after the standard ref bump I thought they'd do it, but instead Parka did that cool spot where he backflips off the top rope, then he dropkicked Panther outside and did a tope suicida. Crazy and Gitano ended up deciding it with Crazy pulling Gitano's mask after another ref bump and pinning him. Solid action.

Volador Jr./Gitano Del Norte/Satanico vs Super Parka/El Averno/El Mephisto, Gimnasio Nuevo Leon Feb. '04: Another fun little match. Main focus early on is of course Satanico vs his former students(who had just turned on him two months ago so the feud was hot) but by the end of the match the story is Super Parka refusing to fight his son. Eventually his teammates force him to so he and Volador Jr. work this awesome fast exchange. Seriously, it was as if I was watching in fast forward mode. Tecnicos end up winning when Super Parka refuses to break up pinfalls on Averno/Mephisto. They beat him up afterwards and the tecnicos make the save. I'd love to see an actual Volador Jr. vs Super Parka match. Or maybe them teaming vs Mistico/Perrito. HEY, maybe I will when Fredo gets new footage eventually.Very Happy

Friday, August 11, 2006

AAA TV in Puebla 4/1/2005 (aired on Galavision U.S. 6/4/2005):

Pegasso/El Angel Sevilla vs Charly Manson/Picudo: You mean people seriously couldn't tell Angel was Sevilla? How is that possible? Announcers kept blabbering about how Angel was like Rey Jr. when he was younger. Yeah... maybe the way they were both skinny as hell but Sevilla was so awful in this one that comparing him to Rey Jr. pissed me off big time. My favorite thing in the match was the announcers didn't mention Pegasso even once and he ended up blowing away Sevilla BIG TIME. Pegasso is reaching Flying "holy shit this guy is so awesome and we'll probably never see him again one day" level. He hit every spot perfectly and showed more charisma than Sevilla who fucked up doing a slingshot into the ring onto his feet. Mind you, that's how Cien Caras enters the ring and Sevilla couldn't pull it off. I hate that this was clipped but I'm guessing Sevilla blew way too much so they had to cover it up. Tecnicos win. Embarassing finish with the fireball Picudo blew coming nowhere near Manson and Sevilla blowing his big finishing spot. Just make Pegasso into El Angel, let Sevilla go back to being an opening card comedy act and all will be right with the world.

El Brazo/Pimpinela/Mascarita 2000/La Diabolica vs Espectro Jr./Polvo De Estrellas/Mini Abismo/Tiffany - Not one of the better AAA mixed matches. Diabolica is soooooooooo far from her 1993 female Fuerza Guerrera form. Mascarita 2000/Mini Abismo were the stars but they worked all the same spots I've seen before and showed no fire doing them. A few nice dives but this was lucha by the numbers which is very boring to me.

El Hijo Del Anibal/Intocable/Alebrije vs Monster/Pirata Morgan/Tinieblas Jr.: Alebrije and Monster did some okay work to start. Nice double dives from Alebrije/Cuije in the first fall. Second fall was the usual rudos brawling. Third fall was the usual comeback. Intocable almost clipped the ropes on a tope suicida but Pirata saved him. Alebrije did a really nice tope suicida on Hijo De Tinieblas. I should mention - Alebrije is really underrated. Lame finish with the rudos beating up Intocable with a chair.

Juventud Guerrera/Histeria/Psicosis vs Nicho El Millonario/Aliens/Muerte Roja: I was told Muerte Roja was Venum Black from Tijuana and the body type + mannerisms sure fit. I haven't seen Venum wrestle in about 2/3 years though so I'm kinda hoping it wasn't him just b/c Roja looked pretty bad aside from an okay dive. Everyone looked bad here actually. Even Juventud/Nicho blew a spot pretty badly. Maybe the ring was slippery b/c most of the blown stuff seemed to come from guys tripping. After double dives from Roja/Aliens, Mini Psicosis interferes but it backfires and Nicho wins.

Two bad AAA episodes in a row.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

AAA TV in Puebla 4/1/2005 (aired on Galavision U.S. 5/28/05):

Lady Apache vs Tiffany vs La Diabolica: There was nothing wrong with this match as they did some good stuff and worked hard. I just can't get into women's wrestling. Especially in Mexico... it just looks so half-speed and I can't help but laugh. It takes each lady about 10 seconds just to run into the ropes and every move Tiffany does involves her sitting down with the move. gAAAy finish but yeah.

Kick Boxer #1 I don't care about vs Kick Boxer #2 I don't care about: They punched, they kicked, I slept, it was over a few minutes later. Is Pena jerking off to this stuff or was this just a favor for Vampiro?

Gronda/Electro Shock/Alebrije vs Charly Manson/Picudo/The Monster: OH BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOY! Horrible brawling, more horrible brawling, even more horrible brawling and then the tecnicos made a half-assed comeback. I will always remember this match for one of the most hilarious blown spots I've ever seen though and shockingly(or not?) it wasn't from Gronda. Electro and Manson were doing some spots which eventually led to running the ropes... so as Electro runs by Manson, I guess he was supposed to be tripped but it didn't go down that way as Manson just stood there so Electro kept running(remember the AAA ring is huge) and about 3 seconds later he falls to his knees right into 6-1-9 position while clutching at his throat. *LM F'N AO* WHAT THE FUCK? Even the 100% kids AAA crowd was laughing at him and they tend to not give a shit about blown spots. THIS GUY MAIN EVENTED ARENA MEXICO TWO MONTHS LATER!!! The entire CMLL roster should have quit when they saw the lineup sheets. This embarassment of a match continues with Gronda throwing the weakest clotheslines since Giant Gonzalez. I'm a skinny white dude and I think I could take Gronda in a bar fight. Hell, I think Mascarita Sagrada 2000 could take Gronda in a bar fight. Fuck, Cuije could take him. FUCK GRONDA IS SO AWFUL!!! As you can tell, I was not a fan of this match. Electro did a tope suicida but he still sucks. Cuije lept into Chucky's awaiting arms ont he floor. Alebrije did an okay flip dive through the ropes onto Monster. Gronda stayed on the apron as Manson/Electro did some more awful spots. Manson low blowed Electro. Gronda came in and had trouble doing a choke slam on Picudo. Way to show you're a big tough guy you dumbfuck. Oh wait... it gets better. He covers Picudo and Manson breaks it up with the softest stomp you will ever see. GRONDA SELLS IT! In fact, it was the only thing he sold all match! So when guys try to clothesline him he's okay... when guys try to dropkick him he's okay... when guys try to jump on his back and knee him he's okay... but when someone barely touches him with their foot he crumples to the mat and sells it like the Canadian Destroyer. BAH... Chessman runs out, spews Manson with the mist by accident, Gronda clotheslines Chessman out of the ring(guess who took an awesome bump for the weak clothesline?) and pins Manson for the tecnico win. Let me make this clear... GRONDA WILL NEVER BE A STAR. Everyone makes the comparisons to Konnan and Vampiro when it comes to Gronda. How he has "the look" and is so different from all the other wrestlers that he's bound to be a star no matter how awful his ring work is. NOT TRUE. He's a joke. No... he's a freak show. Konnan and Vampiro were not freak shows. They understood at least some of the business even though they were really green when they started getting pushed to the moon. They knew enough not to sell the lame offense so they could look like monsters but at the same time sell the bigger offense so the crowd could buy into their comebacks. They knew when to play to the crowd and when it was time to get down to business in the ring. Most importantly, they knew at some point they'd have to bump so they were taught. If the stories are true, Gronda didn't even want to learn how to bump. There is proof that he has no clue how the wrestling business works. He's a fucking steroid filled MORON. And yeah I'd say that to his face b/c I've seen him piss himself waiting to take a kick from Chucky. No... really, I'm not exaggerating. I'd post a video clip if I could. ANYWAYS... for those saying Rob you're talking out of your ass - Gronda recently headlined Arena Naucalpan and the building didn't sell out. It doesn't take much to sell out that building and he couldn't do it. There's your proof. He's a one trick pony and he'll be back with AAA as soon as he runs out of new buildings to work in. Then he'll blow his knee out and be a cripple for the rest of his life. Mark my words.

Octagoncito vs Mini Psicosis - Mask Mask: Not much of a match since they kept cutting backstage to some angle going on that I paid no attention to as usual with gAAAy angles. Octcito did a nice tornillo dive amidst the camera cutting backstage. Another hilarious blown spot in this one as Mini Psic was setting up for that very popular lucha spot where Wrestler A goes for an asai moonsault but Wrestler B pulls his feet out and Wrestler A's head smacks the edge of the apron. Problem is Octcito forgot to grab Mini Psic's leg so the rudo basically just jumped and bashed his own head on the apron for no reason. The gAAAY crowd ignored it b/c it wasn't really embarassing like the blown spot I described above. After a ton of interference and no drama whatsoever, Octcito did a perfect springboard tornillo to pin Mini Psicosis and unmask him. YAY!!! What a horrible way to lose your mask. The good part was Mini Psic seemed legit sad and was hiding his face which is what you'd expect from something like this. Not like Monterrey where Shrek gets unmasked and is laughing about it.

Almost the worst lucha TV episode I've ever seen. ALMOST.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

More Random Matches:

- Super Parka vs Nicho El Millonario from Gimnasio Nuevo Leon late '04: Hate filled match. I'm still a huge fan of Remo Banda/Volador/Super Parka and am glad to see he doesn't wrestle as old as he looks. He should probably change his name though... I don't wanna boo a Parka.Sad Nicho bleeds right off the bat and since this is a one fall match, the entire first half is just Parka beating on him till the comeback begins. Nicho does a wicked dive over the ref and then a legdrop while Parka hangs on the guardrail. Hell, THE REF EVEN DOES A DIVE! The finish is your usual Monterrey screwiness involving said referee but you have to expect that so I liked the match a lot. Definitely is a good sign since I have lots of singles matches coming up from Gimnasio Nuevo Leon and was wondering if guys mail it in or not.

- Plaza De Toros Monumental De Monterrey on 5/25/03: This is on Fredo's Lucha Libre Azteca Vol. 1. I was dreading the show b/c you had Kato in a match, the Payasos and Muneco's team in another match and a main event that I figured I could call as the match took place but 2/3 turned out to be very surprising. The opener with Kato/Gitano vs Caifan I/Karonte was made okay by Gitano and Caifan obviously. Gitano tried to hit this weird cartwheel ropeflip armdrag but blew it. It looked so promising too.Sad Kato and Karonte spent most of the match on the apron which was good. Average match but I like that since I expected it to be awful. The Muneco/Raton/Pinochio vs Payasos match was pretty much the most insulting lucha match I've seen in a long time. I'd rather have seen Rayo vs Pierroth from this past Sunday at Arena Coliseo. The only cool thing about the match was when I noticed Coco Rojo was bleeding so badly that the entire white part of his mask wasn't visible any more. Main event was the Parka's and Humberto Garza Jr. against Signo, Navarro and Texano's kid. IT WAS ACTUALLY FUN! The Parka's worked really hard in the first two falls and did this unbelievable new spot I've never seen before that I can't even explain but it involves Super Parka hanging upside down in the corner, La Parka going for a slingshot headscissors and Super Parka then using his feet to assist Parka in the move while still hanging there! Lots of comedy as you'd expect. Texano Jr. and Humberto Jr. did a tope suicidas in the third fall but the cameras only caught the start of Texano's and the end of Humberto's. Kinda funny if you think about it. Finish was once again your usual Monterrey screwiness involving multiple refs and low blows.

- Dos Caras/Pantera/Gran Hamada vs Karloff Lagarde Jr./Villano IV/Shu El Guerrero from FULL March '93: This was off a handheld I got from Lynch and was the only good match on the show. They were all working hard in front of a small crowd. I wonder who filmed it b/c he was definitely talking English to whoever he was with and seemed to really be into the action. Pantera looked the best here but I'm biased. He did the old Volador spot where the rudo assists you onto the top rope and you backflip off of it. I love that spot sooooooooooooooooooooooo much. Each tecnico did two dives I think so the rudos were mainly pinballs aside from a short stretch at the end of the second fall. They did a battle royale after the match with everyone on the card but it wasn't like the cool newer battle royales where spots are planned out and/or they do a 15-20 person dive sequence. This was old-school when it's your turn to go out, everyone just jumps on you and then resumes brawling. Came down to Brazo De Plata vs Super Brazo(or maybe it was Brazo De Platino) and Porky did not win. I ordered another handheld from the same tour so maybe that will be a bit better.

Caifanes Rockeros I y II vs El Moro III/Super someone vs Piloto Negro/Piloto Suicida, Gimnasio Nuevo Leon 11/30/03: Someone pimped this to me as a crazy sprint full of highspots so I was pumped but... it really wasn't. Well, it could have been if you just joined it in progress with like 6-7 minutes left. It started as a triangle match with all the teams in the ring and was pretty much the Caifanes just getting beat up on. They get a short comeback when the Piloto's go for dual dives but both Caifanes move and Moro III/Super someone get taken out with Piloto Suicida taking a nasty header on a flip plancha. But the match continues to be just a brawl with the Caifanes get eliminated and then a clip to see the Pilotos getting eliminated. *sarcasm* THANKFULLY *sarcasm* Moro III/Super someone get to stay at ringside and along with a rudo ref, they all team up to destroy the Caifanes until security interferes to drag them away. AND THIS is where I would start copying this match for someone who wanted it. The now blood-soaked Caifanes fight back and try to get pinfalls but the rudo ref refuses to count. Finally the promoter comes to ringside and sends in a new ref to take over. Caifan I tumbles outside... Piloto Suicida runs into the ropes... TOPE SUICIDA INTO A CHAIRSHOT!!! Caifan II is hanging in the tree of woe... Piloto Negro charges but Caifan II pulls himself up and Negro ends up outside... Caifan II into the ropes... SOMERSAULT DIVE BETWEEN THE ROPES... TO NOWHERE!!! Sick sick sick splat landing. Match goes on with some nearfalls before both Caifan I and Negro get double pinned. Suicida and Caifan II then decide the match and after a nearfall or two, both men bloody and tired... Suicida slams Caifan II, goes up top... goes for a moonsault... AND GETS MET WITH TWO FEET STRAIGHT TO HIS HEAD!!! HOLY SHIT! That was fucking cooler than the Mistico/Averno-Astro Boy/Ramstein spot! Reminded me of the first time I saw that spot from a Momentos clip in 2002 where Volador Jr. goes for a moonsault and Sangre Azteca puts both feet up to nail him in the face with Volador taking a perfect bump to make it look like death. Back to the match... it's over, duh.Razz Suicida is DEAD and Caifan II makes him submit. The last 6-7 minutes were absolutely wonderful.

Hasn't been much to say about the rest of the Gimnasio Nuevo Leon stuff I've been watching so far. Lots of half-assed work, especially from the top guys and CMLL imported guys. Pancho Tequila is funny the first time you see him, then you realize he's just a fat guy who can't bump right and brings down any match he is in. The Rayo Tapatios looked good in the one match of theirs I saw. Both Diluvios look as good as I remember. The saving grace is seeing the locals. For example Flecha Azul/Orientales I y II vs Raiden/Caifanes I y II had a bunch of neat spots and was a really fun match. Without the locals these shows would be awful and totally skipable. But there's still lots more footage to go through.

From Arena Coliseo De MTY I saw more of Corazon Sagrado in his Le Parke gimmick. He and The Beast are pretty great. I wonder if they are Americans like the announcer claims or if they are just from some different city in Mexico, grew up working together and came to Monterrey. Black Dragon from this arena is not the IWRG Black Dragon, he's just some fucking awful wrestler who they claim is Kato Kung Lee #1 student as part of his gimmick. Even Kato would take offense to that. He's right up there with Kung Fu Jr. as one of the worst wrestlers I've ever seen. I also got the chance to see Los Teletubbies. They do a Kumbias type deal where there are 4 of them vs 3 rudos. I don't know how they wrestle in those outfits. Not that they do much wrestling... they really looked bad. But I blame the outfits b/c you could put Ultimo Guerrero, La Parka and Silver Black Bronco King Tiger in the same outfits and they'd look like the worst wrestlers in the world. Gato Volador is perhaps one of the finest technical wrestlers I've ever seen since Skayde... problem is he has no charisma and works the exact same match every time. Seriously, he has WWE written all over him. You can call every spot he is going to do before he does it and he shows no emotion doing anything. He'll even walk into position for the next spot and just wait for something like 20 seconds till the rudo is ready to come over and do it with him. Sad b/c he has all the tools to be awesome.

Also saw the first El Hijo Del Santo vs Blue Panther match from UWA in Europe. They go 33 fucking minutes! Santo does 5 dives which ties the all-time record(as far as I know) for dives in one match. Bet nobody will be able to guess who holds that record with him. No seriously, I'd be shocked if someone knew b/c it's someone nobody would expect. Anywho... this match was just an exhibition of everything these guys can do which is... well... fucking awesome!Very Happy They didn't blow their entire load so to speak as I've seen them do many spots they didn't use in this match. Lots of neat matwork and everything you'd expect from these two. Also have to say I loved the crowd as I'm guessing it was most of their first time seeing these guys and they were really respectful and stayed in the match for the entire 33 minutes.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Various Gimnasio Nuevo Leon Matches:

Super Parka/Zumbido/Caifan Rockero II vs Nicho El Millonario/Damian 666/Halloween - Gimnasio Nuevo Leon Late 2004: YOU ALL WANT THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't seen any Monterrey footage since oh... Fredo's early 2003 Coliseo De MTY shows so I just assumed everything blew and guys were half-assing it like usual but FUCK... THIS WAS AWESOME! I swear everyone was working as if they were in Arena Mexico. Nicho took the frankensteiner off the apron spot from Caifan II just like the old days. SPLAT! Damian and Halloween also did a bunch of nice stuff and brought intensity to the match instead of only comedy which I'm used to from them on non-Arena Mexico shows. Finish was cheap but that's a Monterrey norm.Smile I LOVED THIS MATCH! I also must say I love the way Gimnasio Nuevo Leon looks. Aside from Arena Mexico, might be my favorite place for wrestling now.


Sombra De Plata/Stuka Jr./Chucho Mar Jr. vs Charles Lucero/Super Comando/Caifan Rockero I - WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! This was taped about 3 months before the Volador Jr./Virus/Stone vs Crazy/Zumbido/Violencia and if I had managed to see it on time it would have been my trios MOTY until that later match came along. Where do I fucking start... first Chuchito and Lucero take it to the mat and put on a fantastic show. That actually takes up most of the first fall as they go right to a finish from there with the rudos winning. The second fall is just AWESOME! Stuka Jr. looked the best hitting a bunch of neat flips and this unreal spot created by his dad in the 80's where he stood on the apron as if going for an asai moonsault...Caifan I went to slap his leg but Stuka Jr. grabbed his hand, then did a MOONSAULT ARMDRAG sending Caifan into the chairs at ringside! FUUUUUUUUUUCKING SWEET! Sombra and Comando did some neat stuff as well but I can't remember it for some reason.:/ Tecnicos win the fall after two awesome dives(STUKA JR. ALERT!) and Sombra rolling up his brother. Third fall had some more awesome action and a triple dive from the tecnicos which shockingly wasn't the finish as they kept going and the rudos came out on top. I liked the finish a lot. This was a beautiful mix of solid lucha and great flying, an easy **** match for me.

Ricky Marvin/Virus/Volador Jr. vs Raiden/Los Caifanes Rockeros I y II - This was the 11/9/03 match. Very comparable to the same tecnicos vs Habanas matches from CMLL but this had less insane flying spots. The action was SUPER FAST! I was having trouble keeping up with it at times. One of my favorite new spots to come along these days is when all six guys are in the ring doing their own sequence, it's just beautiful to watch. Must be the sleep b/c I'm forgetting a lot of details once again but I remember Caifan II takes the nastiest monkey flip I've ever seen from Volador Jr.! He basically took the move and ended up taking the bump just like Psicosis takes his bump when he gets kicked into the ropes and lands with his ass on the top rope and proceeds to fall on his head. I thought Caifan II was dead for sure but he got right back up and continued the sequence! The rudos have this really cool trio move where Raiden tries to german suplex a tecnico off the apron but he gets elbowed off to the floor, pulls the legs out from under the tecnico, Caifan I then dropkicks the tecnico off the apron to the floor and Caifan II does a huge running dive! They used a bunch of other neat combo moves in the ring which I won't spoil. The third fall was done at an insanely fast pace with guys entering and exiting the ring every few seconds. Finally just when it looked like the tecnicos had the match won, Marvin went for a huracanrana and got nailed with a surprise power bomb from Caifan I and the rudos won. Huge pop for the finish as the hometown crowd wanted their guys to go over and I was surprised Marvin took the pinfall. Crowd threw money into the ring afterwards.

Ricky Marvin/Virus/Volador Jr. vs Raiden/Los Caifanes Rockeros I y II - This was the rematch from 12/7/03. Slower start than the above match but it obviously picked up late in the first fall and carried over for the rest of the match. Caifan II scared me again by taking a monkey flip from the corner and sailing all the way across the ring! Eddy Guerrero would be so proud. I refuse to spoil all the great moves they pulled off along with a neat little dive sequence in the third fall. The third fall actually went about 10 minutes and would be right up there with the Habanas matches in terms of great third falls. Oh, almost forgot... the first fall had this awesome spot that looked to be so difficult to pull off. All six guys were in the ring doing a bunch of moves and Marvin ended up being laid out with a power bomb by Raiden. Caifan II sent Volador Jr. outside, then tossed Virus into the air where Caifan I caught him for a power bomb as Raiden went up top. Caifan II nailed Volador Jr. with a crazy flip plancha through the ropes and in the ring Raiden came off the top with a dropkick on Virus and at the same time turned his body to nail a splash on the prone Ricky Marvin as Caifan I power bombed Virus! IS THAT NOT NUTS???

If you liked the Ricky Marvin/Volador Jr./Virus vs Habana Bros. series of matches, you can't go wrong picking up these two matches from Fredo. And though it may seem like Raiden is really Nicho El Millonario... he isn't. They must have been twins seperated at birth.Smile

Pequeno Cocoliso/Tigro/Thunder Fighter vs Mr. Regaee/Black Soul/Titanic - Erm... yeah... so most of these guys were all new names to me except for Black Soul/Titanic who I've heard good things about and so I skipped forward to watch this before starting from Vol. 1 and working my way up... that turned out to be a mistake. I can't be sure but I think the ring broke at the end fo the first fall which would explain why the next FUCKING 13 MINUTES OF THE MATCH were spent on the floor and had the worst brawling in the world along with no pinfall or submission, just the whistle blowing to announce the third fall was starting. They finally re-entered the ring a few minutes into the third fall and went straight to some dives. Lame plancha by Thunder Fighter, nice tope suicida by Titanic and finally Tigro with a nice running somersault plancha onto everyone. Cocoliso pinned Mr. Regaee to win. Maybe the ring is to blame but my final judgement is I never want to see these guys again until they sharpen their skills. Waste of precious TV time.

One other comment about this stuff... I hate the way TV Azteca films these shows. So many camera angle switches... it made me really dizzy at times. When Tigro did a dive in that above match, I swear they used 4 different camera angles for a 3 second spot!

Monday, August 07, 2006

CMLL March 1985:

Rayo De Jalisco Jr./Tony Salazar/Mascara Ano 2000 vs Tony Benetto/Herodes/Perro Aguayo - CMLL March '85: HOLY MOTHER FUCKING SHIT! Never in my life did I expect to enjoy a match with most of these guys but fuck if I wasn't proven wrong after this. For those who don't know Benetto = Gran Markus Jr. and he was the STAR in this one. But I should forewarn anyone who eventually picks this up - it's more angle driven than a straight match full of great work. But the work was still there. The story is Benetto not getting along with his teammates as he wants to wrestle clean but they keep using rudo tactics. The way they build it up is so awesome though. First off, Perro is an asshole. I mean, watching him here in '85 is like watching Perro Jr. these days only slower and with no moveset. But the facials and rudo tactics... they are so alike. Tony Salazar is the biggest tecnico pussy in the world. Perro walks up to him and smacks him, then Salazar grabs Perro's hair and signals to the crowd "should I hit him?". Perro just smiles and leans forward to get hit. Salazar does NOTHING. Perro starts to walk forward with his hands behind his back... and Salazar BACKS THE FUCK UP! What kind of a tecnico is that? Perro then laughs and walks away, what an awesome rudo. There is a bunch of great wrestling during all this with everyone looking in top form. After a few minutes the story begins with Perro running into the ring to attack Rayo Jr. from behind but Benetto casually steps in front of Perro who is shocked that his teammate stopped him. The brilliance of how they did that can only be explained by hearing the pop from the crowd when it happens. The entire fall is filled with Benetto wrestling clean but also protecting the tecnicos when the rudos try to double team them. My favorite spot was when Salazar was whipped into the ropes by both rudos and as he came off Benetto ran over as if he was gonna shoulderblock him but instead grabbed him and pulled him aside so he wouldn't get hurt. Fucking genius booking and work by Benetto. Tecnicos won the first fall. Second fall had a crazy exchange with Benetto doing a few spots I could never picture him doing as Gran Markus. The rudos finally get to take over but Benetto refuses to help and in fact he leads the tecnico comeback eventually. The crowd is awesome during all this as they are screaming at him not to help the rudos and when he doesn't, they give him a big ovation which pisses Perro off. I know it sounds dorky and all but you gotta see Perro's face reacting to the crowd. That's what makes a great rudo! The climax to all this is Perro and Herodes ganging up to beat the shit out of Benetto after he gets pinned to lose the second fall. Tony Salazar continues to make a jerk of himself(unintentionally too which is why this is so funny) as he gets on the apron post-match as Benetto is being slaughtered and he asks the crowd "should I save him?" The crowd of course is screaming for him to do it but he just keeps looking around wondering if he should make the save. What the fuck is wrong with that idiot? If he turned rudo the following week, then it would make sense but I don't think he did. So he was probably just drunk. ***** in terms of combining work and story. I really haven't been this into a match in a long time. The ironic part is when I was looking at the listings for this tape, this was the match I was least looking forward to.

Atlantis vs El Faraon - CMLL March '85: Meh, not many matches could follow the above but that's no excuse for these two just not having a good match. They barely left the mat in the first fall which is not why it blew, just that they didn't really do anything on the mat and the submission came out of nowhere. The second fall was more of the same and finally Atlantis put on a submission and after 30+ seconds of saying no, Faraon finally couldn't take the pain and gave up. Third fall had two old-school head-on-head tope suicidas by Atlantis and a pescado. After the third dive, Faraon snuck up behind him and yanked him back to the floor, then he entered the ring thinking he had won by countout. Atlantis snuck up behind him, Victory Roll, 1, 2, 3! Very nice finish to a below average match.

La Fiera/Mocho Cota/Sangre Chicana vs Satanico/MS-1/Pirata Morgan - CMLL March '85: Final match of the TV show. I was expecting more, I gotta be honest. They all looked okay but I just thought they'd go more all out for a rudo vs rudo main event. First fall ended weird as Pirata Morgan was trying some sort of move off the top but slipped bad and looked to hurt his shoulder. Second fall had Satanico do a dive off the apron and the other two Infernales got pinfalls to win the fall. Sadly that is where the show ends as the next show began right away.Sad

Americo Rocca vs Talisman - CMLL Mar. '85: Really old-school style work here. Pretty much all mat stuff and submissions. No big armdrags, headscissors or any fancy stuff. The third fall had each guy hit a simple dive but was mostly just submissions and the winning submission came out of nowhere as Rocca just moved from a camel clutch that he had on for a while into an STF-esque hold and after about 15 seconds Talisman had enough. Not saying it was bad because it wasn't at all, it was just very bland and unless you're a hardcore lucha nut you won't enjoy this.

El Egipcio/El Faraon/La Fiera vs Satanico/MS-1/Pirata Morgan - CMLL March '85: Total brawl. Egipcio and Pirata seemed to be feuding but the match really wasn't centered around them. Third fall started to get good when they finally put Egipcio and Pirata in the middle of the ring and it got heated. Faraon did a tope suicida onto MS-1 and then La Fiera seemed to be wobbly standing up top but left off with a plancha anyways which was a BAD idea as he fell sideways and barely grazed Satanico while smashing his head into the apron... OUCH. In the ring they did some nearfalls before Egipcio pinned Pirata clean(take notes current CMLL booker[s]) with a power bomb and issued a hair match challenge.

Sombra Poblana/Javier Cruz/??? vs El Salvaje/Buffalo Salvaje/??? - CMLL March '85: Awwww what a ripoff! Lynch's list said Blackman was one of the wrestlers but turns out it was just Sombra Poblana who was wearing a Blackman-esque outfit. This was joined in the third fall and had SOME OF THE WORST WRESTLING I HAVE EVER SEEN. The rudos in particular were doing some of the weakest elbows I have ever seen and one of them slipped off the second rope trying something. It was such a mess and yet somehow in the middle of this mess El Salvaje dropkicks Cruz to the floor and goes up top for a fucking insane somersault dive!!! Great height and impact! The announcers were really marking out as was I of course. To see a spot like that in a match like this and from a guy who looks like an old-timer that never leaves his feet... it was nuts. I forget who won and I really don't care.Smile

Sunday, August 06, 2006

CMLL PPV 3/17/2002:

Started on the 3/17/02 CMLL 'Apocalipsis' PPV that I had yet to see. Got the tape a while back but it was busted and totally forgot I hadn't seen it till a little over a month ago. Opening mini's tag was a solid match but nothing I'd say people should go out of their way to see. Pequeno Olimpico(Cicloncito) and Fire were easily the stars. That tope suicida near the cornerpost in the first fall by Peq. Olimpico was SCARY. Near-disaster for him. I should also add he really did a good job studying up on Olimpico and all his trademark moves. The segunda was Safari/Fiera/Olimpico vs Zumbido/Violencia/Dr. X. Really great match with everyone except Fiera looking super. The rudos were bump machines here. Violencia took a monkey flip on the floor and Dr. X took one on the ramp! Zumbido even took a sunset flip on the floor delivered by Safari. Once again, great match. Third up was Negro/Felino/Super Parka against Satanico/Averno/Mephisto. Average match... nothing too exciting but nothing wrong with it at the same time. Felino and Super Parka looked the best. Really neat finishes to each fall which is always a plus.

Shocker/Vampiro/Rayo De Jalisco Jr. vs Universo 2000/Ultimo Guerrero/Tarzan Boy - CMLL PPV 3/17/2002: This was better than it had any right to be. Rayo in particular was doing moves I haven't seen him do since 1996 when he was last seen in shape. Everyone worked hard and the match never dragged. In a match with Rayo, Universo and Vamp - this was a miracle. Weak low blow finish but the action more than made up for it.

F
inished off the 3/17/02 CMLL TV but nothing of note. The trios titles match was AWFUL. Everyone except Warrior and Wagner seemed to be on a different page. Panther and Fuerza didn't look awful but they were working with nothing as Niebla and Antifaz were blowing everything. Third fall went an eternity and my favorite part was after one near fall, some guy in the front row looks at his watch with an annoyed look on his face. That sums the match up as they kept going forever and nobody was popping for any of the nearfalls. Horrible. Not as horrible as the Markus/Veneno main event but at least that was short and had a non-overbooked finish for once in a Boricuas stip match.