Saturday, April 24, 2010

Puebla 8/24/09, AAA Lucha Libre Premier 8/15/09 & IWRG 8/20/09

CMLL @ Arena Puebla 8/24/09:

Lestat/SWAT vs Policeman/Siki Osama Jr.: Should SWAT and Policeman really be feuding? Shouldn't they be teaming up to go after the guy with the name 'Osama' in his name? Is my blog now being watched by the FBI? Oh, the match... right... it was pretty good. Lestat was the star. He did a bunch of neat stuff including this great rope-walk reversing positions moonsault into an armdrag! These were the perfect rudos to oppose him since they're the best of the local rudos. SWAT is really getting fat and didn't do much of note. Finish was strange since they did the stacked-up superplex spot but Policeman just no-sold it and then the rudos finished off the tecnicos.

Angel Azteca Jr./Angel De Oro/Angel De Plata vs Dr. X/Hooligan/Nitro: Very disappointing. The teams just weren't clicked, the rudos were uninspired and Nitro was very tenative since this was only 10 days into his return from a serious knee injury. Azteca had some neat moments in the third fall including busting out his double jump springboard rana spot that I love but that couldn't save the match.

Hector Garza/Hijo Del Fantasma/La Mascara vs La Peste Negra: Not much to this. Basic stuff to set up the upcoming title match. I did mark out for the second fall dual Campana/Mecedora submissions by Mascara/Garza. That move was Garza's staple back when he was in Mascara's spot on the roster from 1994-1996.

Mistico/La Sombra/Volador Jr. vs El Mephisto/Terrible/Texano Jr.: Generic Super Sky Team match. They got beat on, they came back with a triple dive and their finishers, they showed off their flying moves, they did more dives and La Mistica on Texanito got the win. Of note was Mistico almost overshooting an asai moonsault in the second fall but Texanito made the save.

AAA Lucha Libre Premier 8/15/09:

El Elegido/Pimpinela Escarlata/Octagoncito vs Decnis/Polvo De Estrellas/Mini Abismo Negro: Pretty good match thanks to Elegido staying out of the way and Octagoncito/Mini Abismo controlling the bulk of the action. Pimpinela seemed extra motivated and the crowd was really into him. Rudo beatdown didn't overlast it's welcome and the finishing segment was really well done. Can't complain about this.

El Zorro/Jack Evans/Marco Corleone vs Alex Koslov/Chessman/Electro Shock: I'm gonna need to check out Cubsfan's archive to figure out why that tecnico team was the way it was but I'm not complaining b/c this match was AWESOME! Seriously! I'm not joking! Easily the best match not involving mini's or undercard flyers the entire year in AAA. I'd reccomend everyone checking this out and taking note of what AAA could be like if they focused on the wrestlers they have on their roster instead of always looking for which foreigners they can bring in to fuck with the formula. Evans/Chessman had a fantastic exchange early on as did Zorro and Electro Shock. There was a dive sequence which creatively led to the rudo beatdown. Corleone led the comeback and then did an awesome spot where he went for his dive but Koslov told him to... STOP! He even put up the hand! Corleone just shook his head and ran right at Koslov who pissed himself and ducked as Corleone flew over him and almost over Electro Shock too! Announcers were confused at the end since Zorro pinned Koslov but the match continued and Jack pinned Chessman with the 630 after a neat setup from Zorro. Great job by all six guys!

Fabi Apache/Koa vs Mari Apache/Rain: I don't even know what happened here. The rudas beat on Koa early on and to demonstrate how green she is - she was actually whipped into the ropes but just collapsed onto them instead of rebounding to take whatever spot was planned. WHAT ... THE ... FUCK? A minute or so later she rolled outside the ring and seemed injured so the doctor checked on her and whether it was legit or not I have no idea but Sexy Star came strolling down to ringside a few minutes later and distracted Fabi leading to Rain using an implant DDT for the win. Whatever.

Dr. Wagner Jr./El Mesias/Rocky Romero vs Cibernetico/Kenzo Suzuki/Sugi: Pretty much a mess. Just tons of brawling that led nowhere in particular. Romero and Sugi got one exchange which was mostly to put Sugi over as he did his trademark spots and finished with a springboard moonsault dive. Then Wagner/Ciber took over and Ciber took a bump off a missed knee strike that would have made Koa look like the greatest wrestler ever. Wagner used his somersault off the apron. Mesias ducked a Kenzo clothesline so Kenzo fell outside and then Mesias easily put Sugi away with his finisher.

Overall I thought the dual set of tapings was really fun but I didn't bother getting into any of the point systems or storylines they were trying to do with the studio segments. Is it right that the only other tapings they did with the one in October which Fredo has and then the final taping in November which I assume will come in the next shipment?

IWRG 8/20/09:

This was the Festival De Mascaras show where all the old wrestlers get to put their masks back on for one night only... which is pretty hilarious since most of these guys always work small shows in their masks or at least begin the match with their masks on. Yay for con artists! At least the gimmick drew a better than average crowd but you can usually do that once a year with this crew.

Orito/Panterita vs Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro: Pretty bad. I'm gonna blame it on the fact all four guys weren't used to working with masks again and that the idea SEEMED to be to do spots they used to do when they were younger and doing these same masked gimmicks. It failed miserably. Who wants to watch a toned down Freelance?

Negro Navarro & El Signo vs Black Terry & Shu El Guerrero: Had it's moments but they were FEW and far between. It was kinda hilarious to watch Signo huffing and puffing like he was about to collapse from exhaustion after the slowest opening exchange ever. Sad thing is he probably was about to die.:/ Also hilarious was Shu doing the old Espectro gimmick of sitting in the ring and daring Navarro to come at him and when Navarro did he would get thrown. Why hilarious? Because: a) Shu never did that when he was younger & b) Navarro was taking bumps seconds before Shu actually got out of sitting position to throw him. Naturally in a match with four supposed technical experts working technical style it degenrated into a brawl with Terry bleeding and there were low blows involved in the finish. If I'm going to invest time into watching these guys work together, I at least want a clean finish.

Pantera/Ricky Cruz/Scorpio Jr. vs El Veneno/Kraneo/Rambo: Since when are Ricky Cruz and Veneno legends? Since when are either masked? Well... Veneno was masked, but the mask he used here wasn't his original mask so I was so confused. Very little to comment on here because I don't want to be all negative. I'll save it for the main event.

Fantasma/Mano Negra/Villano III vs Kahoz/Mascara Ano 2000/Sangre Chicana: Fucking awful. There is no doubt in my mind Villano III and Chicana were completely wasted. They just stumbled around throwing punches and honestly if that's your idea of good professional wrestling then you should get your fat ass off the sofa, put the laptop away and go spend your nights at the local pub b/c you'd get to see some awesome professional wrestling every night instead of waiting for Fredo to get DVD's in. This was unbelievably sad. I'm so glad that when these guys pass away we'll only discuss how great they were in their primes instead of what sad old men most of them turned out to be.

Avoid this show like the plague.

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Friday, April 23, 2010

CMLL GdR 9/5/09 + 9/12/09 & Random FSE

CMLL GdR 9/5/09:

Dragon Rojo Jr., Hijo de Lizmark, Sangre Azteca vs. La Máscara, Metro, Sagrado: Standard stuff. Metro had a fake tattoo around his neck which looked odd. Sagrado was the hardest working tecnico and I applaud him for the effort but this is nothing you need to go out of your way to see. La Mascara seemed to tweak his ankle on a tope suicida at the end.

Atlantis, Black Warrior, Mr. Niebla vs. La Sombra, Shocker, Volador Jr.: Pretty fun match. Tecnicos took the first fall in less than a minute with dual running somersault planchas and Shocker pinning Atlantis. The flying tecnicos got some nice sequences in the second fall. Warrior did a somersault off the apron and then while Atlantis rolled up Volador, Niebla kicked Shocker low for the pin in the second fall. Third fall ended clean with the rudos getting the win. Strange to see some hard work in this slot on the show but the crew was motivated.

CMLL GdR 9/12/09:

Flash, Metro, Rouge vs. Euforia, Tiger Kid, Virus: Rouge was so awful here. He almost killed Tiger Kid on a botched spinning backbreaker and then almost elbowed Virus in the head when doing his tope suicida. Flash had some nice moments and the rudos were great on offense but nothing memorable here otherwise.

Atlantis, Black Warrior, Hijo de Lizmark vs. Máscara Dorada, Mictlán, Sagrado: I cannot believe Mictlan is returning soon and we'll have to put up with his antics.:( Hopefully he stays M.I.A. to keep me happy. Dorada was the star of the tecnico team here. Totally blew me away in the first fall when he did a springboard somersault into the ring and then followed with his awesome step-up somersault plancha (Dorada Especial II) onto Warrior! Rudos got the clean win.

From FSE...

Angel Azteca Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., Starman vs. Arkangel de la Muerte, Loco Max, Skándalo - 7/3/09 @ Arena Mexico: Really enjoyed this since it was mainly the Angel Azteca Jr. show! He got a long sequence in the first fall and ended the fall trying for some crazy assisted springboard move via Starman but he couldn't get his balance and was about to bail out when he just said fuck it and lept at Loco Max successfully. He got to do some more stuff in the second fall and even did an intricate spot leading to the rudo comeback where he did a slingshot headscissors to Arkangel on the ramp but Arkangel caught him and just flipped him back into the ring for a Skandalo power bomb! AWESOME! Probably looked better than I described. Third fall had some nice stuff by the rudos until the tecnico comeback. Maya got assisted into a pescado but the rudos caught him and posted him. Azteca tried a tope suicida but the rudos caught him and slammed him down hard! Starman then stood no chance against the group of Tueregs. Good match.

Horus, Metalico, Tigre Blanco vs. Bronco, Inquisidor, Pólvora - 7/19/09 @ Arena Coliseo: I just want to mention how silly it was to air this match. For some reason they tried to squeeze it in along with the Dorada/Peq Warrior lightning match from 7/17 and the Arena Coliseo main event from 7/19. MAJOR FAIL. Each fall was JIP during the last 45 seconds so all we saw were dives and the finish. What REALLY pissed me off though was... get this... THEY AIRED ENTRANCES AND PRE-MATCH PROMOS! Is there really a point in airing all that if the match is only going to get 3 minutes total? Why not skip the intros, skip the promos and air 7/8 minutes worth of the match instead? ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Gran Alternativa Predictions

I didn't brag but I did do pretty good last week! Got the winner, the final match and 3 out of 4 semi-finalists correct. So let's see how I do this week...

Teams:

Delta & Volador Jr.: A 'C+' level novato teaming with an 'A+' level star. Now THIS is a team! Clearly THE team to watch in the tournament and if anyone could be considered favorites it'd be these two. Delta has been nothing but spectacular since coming into the promotion and they are said to be really high on him. Volador Jr. could use a big win and if the promotion really thinks he can be their #1 tecnico, what better way to test it than have him headline Kids Day, right? Chances: HIGH

Guerrero Maya Jr. & Valiente: A 'C+' level novato teaming with a 'B+' level star. Now we're assuming Valiente actually shows here instead of choosing to work Chikara's King of Trios. I know it's a huge assumption but let's just run with it. I think this team is a fun combination. Both guys have some really fun spots and these quick tournaments matches will be perfect for them. The problem I see here is the Guerrero Maya Jr. gimmick is clearly just temporary. When CMLL decides to push Black Terry's kid, it will be with a new gimmick of their choosing. If they really wanted him to win this year they would debut him with a new gimmick like they did with Diamante Negro/Dragon Rojo. So right away that's a giant strike against this team. But stranger things have happened. Chances: MEDIUM.

Angel Azteca Jr. & Shocker: A 'C' level novato teaming with an 'A-' level star. Unlike the previous two teams, this team's clear advantage is the star instead of the novato. We already know Garza is in the finals and who better to oppose him than his (supposed) ex-buddy in Shocker? But would CMLL really reward Shocker for his constant no-shows by giving him a major tournament win? Can they even trust him to show up next week? It's a tough call for sure. Angel Azteca Jr. really deserves to move up on the cards and he is a natural opponent for the other finalist (Polvora) but it just doesn't seem like this is his time. This team will only go as far as Shocker takes it. Chances: MEDIUM. (Funny note: This is the second time these two have teamed in this tournament - other time being '08.)

Pegasso & Toscano: A 'C' level novato teaming with a 'A-' level star. What a weird pairing. These two have NOTHING in common and I'd clearly wager this is their first time teaming together. Probably going to be their last time teaming too.:) Toscano doesn't even have enough moves for one match, let alone three in one night. Sure... he'd make a logical opponent for Garza in the finals but then you have to look at the other half of this team... Pegasso. He is never going to be higher than where he is right now in the promotion. He's not as talented as his regular partner (Rey Cometa) and has zero charisma. He should be happy he made the jump from AAA and at least gets regular bookings. Clear first-round losers here. Chances: LOW.

El Averno & Raziel: An 'A+' level star teaming with a 'C' level novato. Ain't that funny? Mephisto/Cancerbero one week and Averno/Raziel the next! Sadly I can't see these two having any more success than the first pairing did. Raziel is the better worker of his team but that's the key word... "team". Why would he get chosen for a push on his own? Averno is a great rudo but... there's already a rudo in the finals. A Polvora vs Raziel main event doesn't seem like something you'd put together under regular circumstances, much less on a Kids Day! Chances: LOW.

Durango Kid & Texano Jr.: A 'D' level novato teaming with an 'A' level star. I like this pairing since it's so random and that's what this tournament is all about! Durango Kid is a strange case since he came in on his own (presumably) but has some New Japan ties from the past so you never know if he'll suddenly get a push for that reason. If that was the case this would be the time to do it but I just can't see it happening. Texano is a good 'padrino' to have but I'm not sure what the deal would be with him and Garza in the finals. Could be a team that goes far just to put over the winning tecnico team in the end. Chances: LOW.

Puma King & Ultimo Guerrero: A 'D' level novato teaming with an 'A+' level star. Puma King has one advantage here... there is no better rudo to team with in tournaments than Ultimo Guerrero! He will never lose a first-round match! NEVER! Beyond that is a major question though. I'd probably take this team more seriously if they were in Block A and I didn't know who the other finalists would be. I'd also probably take them more seriously if Felino wasn't also in the tournament with his other family member. Chances: MEDIUM.

Felino & Tiger Kid: An 'A' level star teaming with a 'D' level novato. But at least they're family! This team is definitely the wild card of the tournament since they can double as both tecnicos and rudos depending on the opponent. Felino is on his hottest run in quite some time so a win isn't out of the question and who better to get elevated than his own family member? Chances: HIGH.

Before I make my official predictions, here's a wild theory: Toscano and Pegasso somehow shock everyone and make it out of this group. In the final both Garza and Toscano lay out their partners to complete rudo turns. I didn't come up with this theory, my buddy Bill did and while it sounds absolutely retarded let's just think back to last year when OKUMURA AND NAITO WON THE TOURNAMENT. Nuff said.

My predictions...

Round 1:

Ultimo Guerrero/Puma King over Toscano/Pegasso
Volador Jr./Delta over Averno/Raziel
Shocker/Angel Azteca Jr. over Texano Jr./Durango Kid
Felino/Tiger Kid over Valiente/Guerrero Maya Jr. (just to run in the fact Valiente skipped three nights of Chikara for a 6 minute first-round elimination)

Semi-Finals:

Volador Jr./Delta over Ultimo Guerrero/Puma King
Felino/Tiger Kid over Shocker/Angel Azteca Jr.

Final:

Volador Jr./Delta over Felino/Tiger Kid

I'm going with the favorites here. Volador Jr./Delta vs Hector Garza/Polvora seems like a match I can see headlining Kids Day while still giving us the right winner (Delta) and allowing the continuation of the big angle (Garza getting mad that he lost and taking it out on Volador). A new Super Sky Group w/ Volador Jr., Sombra, Mascara Dorada and Delta sounds good to me!

Predicted winners: Volador Jr./Delta
Team that might surprise everyone: Ultimo Guerrero/Puma King
Team I want to win: Volador Jr./Delta

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Monday, April 19, 2010

CMLL @ Arena Mexico - 8/28/09 + Tuesday Preview + Skayde vs Apache

Top 3 aired on Televisa, opener didn't air, matches #2 & #3 aired on TDN.

Only Momentos clip of the opener was Molotov doing a great running tope over the top and Trueno (not Astro Boy) finishing off Camorra with his moonsault finisher.

Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Caligula: Fantastic match! Caligula really did a great job here guiding the youngster through the opening section of the match and then eating his offense. Maya connected with a tope suicida while running on the apron and leaping through the turnbuckles! They did a neat spot on the apron leading to Caligula sliding Maya face-first to the floor and hitting an awesome cannonball senton off the top rope! Another awesome spot was Maya trying a flying headscissors and getting slammed face-first! BRUTAL! Lots of fun nearfalls off innovative moves until finally Caligula made Maya submit clean and got a nice ovation.

Stuka Jr./Flash/Pegasso vs Arkangel/Loco Max/Skandalo: Another fantastic match! Six guys had their working boots on and came to impress! Great finish to the first fall and the second fall too although the camera missed Flash's neat jump from the floor onto the turnbuckles and back to the floor for an armdrag spot on Skandalo. Third fall was really great with the tecnicos flying all over and Pegasso looking the best he has in his CMLL run so far. The finishing sequence was just full of killer moves. Skandalo murdered Stuka with the Skandalo Driver but Pegasso broke up the pin only for Skandalo to murder Pegasso with a package piledriver! DEATH! Stuka then recovered and gave Skandalo the Skandalo Driver but dropped him RIGHT ON HIS HEAD! BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTAL! Skandalo was clearly hurt and after being pinned didn't even move so Arkangel/Stuka had to work their finishing stuff around his dead body. Great match!

Unfortunately after those two it was pretty much downhill...

Maximo/Mictlan/Rouge vs Poder Mexica: Welcome to my nightmare. Three of the worst wrestlers in the promotion on one team. This was awful. You cannot say anything good about this match except that it finally ended. To celebrate their victory the rudos stole Quemonito and posed with him at the top of the ramp before beating him up. The genius tecnicos just sat in the ring consoling each other rather than help Monito. Way to understand wrestling psychology!

Blue Panther/Black Warrior/Ultimo Guerrero vs Ray Mendoza Jr./Yujiro/Naito: Another bad match in this feud. Awful awful awful brawling and sloooooooooooooow action. Couple of bleh dives at the end and a run-in by Okumura for the DQ.

Mistico/Sombra/Volador Jr. vs Atlantis/Felino/Mr. Niebla: The tecnicos were jumping in this one! They all looked great and managed to keep it together even though Niebla kept clowning around trying to slow down the action. During a triple dive spot Mistico whiplashed himself but still did his dive and continued on just fine. Finish had Volador taking out Sombra with a moonsault dive by accident and then La Mistica on Niebla only for Negro Casas to run-in with a garbage can and attack the hero of the children.

Great undercard action and a decent enough main event but those two middle matches... oh man... so brutal.

I should probably start IWRG soon, huh? I will. Gonna preview Arena Mexico show for tomorrow since I won't have any other time before it occurs...

CMLL (TUE) 04/20 Arena Mexico
1) Bengala & Camaleón vs Apocalipsis & Disturbio

- Welcome back to openers Disturbio! And what an opener. With three guys who will never escape openers...

2) Fabián el Gitano, Horus, Starman vs Dr. X, Hooligan, Nitro

- I can only assume this will be more build for the upcoming cage match. We're only at 46 guys so far so I assume Horus and Hooligan will toss their names in. Perhaps CMLL is going to lift an IWRG idea and do the three-stage cage match? (No)

3) Bam Bam, Eléctrico, Pequeño Olímpico vs Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Universo 2000, Pierrothito

- AGAIN WITH THE MINI'S! FOUR WEEKS IN A ROW - THREE TIMES AS A TERCERA! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? For the third day in a row - I'm going to watch this week's C3 show and figure it out.

4) Máximo, Rush, Sagrado vs Taichi, Vangelis, Virus

- Late change as Nosferatu is in for Virus. Panico must read Cubs' blog! Rush and Vangelis will surely continue their feud and if there were ever a time for the ex-AAA guys to attack...

5) Héctor Garza, La Máscara, La Sombra vs Ephesto, Mephisto, Terrible

- Gee, what do you think will happen here? Well... it's CMLL so Garza will probably work the match 100% tecnico and La Mascara will have no issue with him. Maybe they can tease an Efesto turn just for fun?

On a final note... watched Skayde vs Gran Apache and was unimpressed. Apache blew up really early and kept having to slow things down. The finish was brutal and not the good kind of brutal. Clearly they wanted both guys to save face but why not just do the Solar/Navarro double pin spot? Hopefully this sets up a rematch with both guys working harder.

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Two Random Fox Sports Matches

Two matches are not worthy of a post but I want to make sure I did the title thing right.

Mascarita Dorada/Bam Bam/Shockercito vs Pequeno Damian/Pierrothito/Pequeno Warrior - 5/15/09 @ Arena Mexico: A far cry from the MOTYC these almost-exact teams had in February. This was very short due to the Shockercito/Pequeno Damian feud. Rudos were DQ'ed in the first fall for excessive violence and in the third fall Shockercito rolled up Damian and used the ropes to pin him. In between that you had some clumsy work from Dorada and Bam Bam which isn't like them at all. In fact rarely do you see Dorada blowing spots left and right. Their dives were great as usual but lost their impact since the moves to set them up were so awkwardly done.

Mistico/Hector Garza/Toscano vs Averno/Mephisto/Texano Jr. - 6/14/09 @ Arena Mexico: Rarely will I go out of my way to mention an almost year-old Sunday match taped for a weekend show but this was actually pretty great. It was a father's day crowd so you had lots of families so Mistico was super-over. Those type of matches are always fun b/c the heat makes the match. Mistico was so motivated he even did his running tornillo that he saves for only rare occasions! Toscano was obviously the weak link of the match but thankfully he stayed out of the way. Really liked the entire third fall.

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CMLL 8/21/09 @ Arena Mexico

These matches are taken from the regular TV show as well as TDN...

Principe/Sensei vs Cholo/Zayco: This goes to demonstrate that it's not wise to beg for all unaired matches to make TV/DVD.;) These four aren't neccissarily the best workers in the world and it's not that the match stunk... it's just that it was too generic in a promotion that has a roster full of good to amazing wrestlers who are almost all spectacular in their own way. So technically it was a fine match with some neat moments but the crowd just didn't care at all and I don't blame them since they've been conditions to openers with guys like Delta, Los Romanos, Trueno and Astro Boy.

Second match didn't air but Momentos had a neat clip of Angel Azteca Jr.'s gorgeous double jump springboard moonsault plancha!

Lady Apache vs Hiroka: Another pretty dull match. Once again... technically solid but just void of any big spots or crowd interest. Hiroka's feet to counter Apache's flying splash was the highlights of the match. Apache won with a rolling surfboard.

Atlantis/Black Warrior/Ultimo Guerrero vs Ray Mendoza Jr./Yujiro/Naito: So awful. So fucking awful. No wonder Naito loves working in Mexico... he doesn't have to do anything. 90% of the match he spent running around the ring and messing with the crowd. I'd take that in a heartbeat over daily 20+ minute stiff matches in Japan. Black Warrior has long since given up and was just waiting it out for the hair match. AWFUL.

Blue Panther/La Sombra/Mistico vs Felino/Mr. Niebla/Negro Casas: Sadly only the first two falls were on the DVD and they were decent enough that I was angry there was no third fall. But Fredo warned me so I'm not mad at him!

Pretty awful Friday night although I imagine the two unaired matces were good. Go figure.

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AAA Lucha Libre Premier 8/14/09

Fabi Apache/Koa vs Sexy Star/Rain: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So fucking awful. Koa isn't a real wrestler, is she? I can't imagine she was anything but a fuck toy for the boys in the back and as a joke they sent her out to pretend to be a wrestler. She had trouble STEPPING INTO THE RING. Why not just use Nicole in this role? She was there anyways to be with Teddy. I felt bad for Fabi working with these three giant turds. Sexy Star threw her mask to Fabi for the DQ which gave her -1 points. I gave this match -*****.

Elegido/Pimpinela/Mascarita Divina vs Decnis/Polvo De Estrellas/Mini Abismo Negro: Decent enough thanks to the work of the mini's and Decnis. Pimpinela looks so old and tired every time he steps into the ring that I can't even imagine how he is fitting in now as a main event player. Elegido held his own for the most part and was big time over with the crowd being mainly women. Tecnicos won.

Dr. Wagner Jr./Jack Evans/Rocky Romero vs Electro Shock/Teddy Hart/Alex Koslov: Shockingly decent and easily the best match of the show. Would have been better if not for Jack/Teddy pretty much splitting up on their own and running through all their spots without paying attention to anything anyone else was doing. Tecnicos won this one too. A surprisingly reccomended AAA match!

El Mesias/Marco Corleone vs Kenzo Suzuki/Cibernetico: For whatever reason Ciber worked this in his mask. Standard stuff from these four which means mainly fast forward material outside of Corleone's big dive and Cibernetico actually taking bumps which shocked me.

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CMLL @ Arena Mexico 8/18/09 (C3 8/22/09)

Horus/Metalico/Tigre Blanco vs Inquisador/Los Romanos: Excellent match! Everyone was on their game except for Horus who was awful as usual but at least had a strong group of rudos to carry him. Inquisador actually impressed me and stood out instead of blending in as he's done in the past. He busted out a bullet tope suicida and was a good base for Metalico. Los Romanos were excellent as usual. They used an undescribable submission in the second fall that I've never seen before or since. One of those once in your lifetime moves like Rey Cometa's dive of the decade. Sadly Horus was put over at the end of the match but thankfully disappeared soon after.

Pequeno Olimpico/Ultimo Dragoncito/Mascarita Dorada vs Pierrothito/Pequeno Damian/Pequeno Warrior: AMAZING! One of the better mini's trios matches of the year. Everyone was on fire and there was a ton of great shit here such as Dorada being tossed around by Warrior, Dragoncito hitting two huge dives including his flip plancha into the crowd, Pequeno Olimpico being exciting for a change and Pequeno Damian abusing anyone he could get his hands on. Finish was naaaaaaaaaaaasty as Dorada went for a springboard moonsault and got two feet right in the face which caused him to flip back onto his skull! At least ****!

Hijo Del Fantasma/La Mascara/Mascara Dorada vs Lizmark Jr./Mr. Niebla/Virus: This was the fourth time in a row this tecnico team had teamed up and this was also a revenge match. Niebla was in full comedy mode including kissing random female fans. Can you imagine the outcry if someone in the WWE tried that? Dorada did a new move - a springboard splits into a huracanrana on Virus to end the second fall. He went nuts in the third fall with his usual flying spots but fucking Niebla left him hung out to dry when he tried a splits double springboard rana. NOT COOL NIEBLA! Finish had Niebla throw his mask to Hijo Del Fantasma for the lame DQ. Figures a trio starts to get over and CMLL has a random trio beat them.

Hector Garza/Shocker/Toscano vs Terrible/Texano Jr./Efesto: Aside from Garza working hard there wasn't much to this. I can't stand Toscano's vertical suplex finish.

Definitely pick up this show for the first three matches.

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CMLL @ Arena Puebla 8/14/09

This was the big 'Infierno en el Ring' show which was being built around locals vs CMLL mini's. Such a flawed concept and such a horrible build-up. 16 people were supposed to be involved but Tzuki had an 'incident' the week before so he couldn't participate. To explain how flawed this concept was... it was 5 locals vs 10 CMLL mini's. I guess you can go with the concept that 1 regular sized guy = 2 mini's but Pierrothito/Pequeno Warrior/Pequeno Nitro/Fantasy were bigger than the locals.

Metalico/Rayo Tapatio II vs Artillero/Super Comando: Metalico was a sub for an injured Rayo Tapatio I which sucked b/c I wanted to see the eternal Arena Coliseo opener.:( It also sucked b/c it meant the match was worked much slower with Metalico involved. He didn't try to do too much which is his usual downfall so I was happy with his performance. The rudos were great and carried the tecnicos through most of the match but my performer of the match goes to the gentleman sitting in the front row near the ringpost. In the third fall he JUMPED UP AND STOOD IN FRONT OF A WOMAN HOLDING HER NEWBORN BABY as Metalico did a ringpost tope suicida! Now THAT was the spot of the night!

Women: Completely average match. Lluvia just holds back this crew way too much. She was gassed after a simple one minute exchange with Amapola. Tecnicas took the match which was a waste of TV time.

La Sombra/La Mascara/Volador Jr. vs Mephisto/Terrible/Texano Jr.: By the numbers but at least an entertaining by the numbers match. Terrible/Texano crack me up with their rudo shtick. Sombra hurt himself when he botched his second rope tornillo to the floor and hit his head on the apron. Reminded me of that brutal blown spot from his second TV match with the gimmick in Arena Mexico. Rudos got DQ'ed.

Cage Match: Alright... so I already explained the flawed logic of 5 vs 10 but this got even more ridiculous when everyone entered the cage. ... PIERROTHITO ATTACKED PEQUENO WARRIOR! ELECTRICO ATTACKED PEQUENO OLIMPICO! WHY??? WHAT THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT FOR? After weeks of building this as CMLL mini's vs Puebla... in less than 10 seconds it turned into a random cage match! At least the Puebla guys seemed to grasp the concept although that may have just been b/c they were so outnumbered they never got the chance to attack each other. The usual rules were in effect so nobody could escape the cage for 5 minutes and right when that 5 minute mark hit... MASS EXODUS! People were just flying out of the cage and nobody even tried to stop them. It was such a mess. When someone would do something cool (Fantasy's finisher or Dorada taking big bumps), the camera would naturally be in the wrong spot. I WAS SO FRUSTRATED AT THIS MATCH! It only got good when it came down to four guys since Dorada had room to show off some moves including a moonsault from 3/4 up on the cage and his acrobatic escape. To put an exclamation point on how awful this was - Pierrothito blew his finishing submission spot and just had to roll Mr. Rafaga over and pin him. It looked horrible and the crowd didn't react... not that they reacted to much anyhow.

Horrible show and the main event killed the cage match gimmick in this arena much like the midcarders match a few weeks later killed the match in Arena Mexico. FWIW, they aired this show instead of the usual Monday show taped 3 days later in the same building which had:

CMLL (MON) 08/17 Arena Puebla
1) Ares & Guerrero Mantis b Black Tiger & Tigre Rojo
2) Artillero, Fuerza Chicana, Súper Comando b Centella de Oro, Delta, Diamante
3) Fabián el Gitano, Leono, Tony Rivera b Durango Kid, Escorpion, Loco Max
4) Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas b Mictlán, SWAT, Toscano and Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, Sagrado and Naito, Shigeo Okumura, Yujiro
5) Último Guerrero b Héctor Garza [CMLL HEAVY]

I'm pissed we will never get to see that segunda but pretty sure this show would have been worse overall so no harm done.

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CMLL 9/18/09

Ah the big Anniversary Show! Somehow all the matches ended up making TV in one way or another with the top 3 as usual making a TV special a few months later, the mini's being a bonus match on a repeat week in October and the women + Poder Mexica match airing on TDN the night of the show.

Women: Solid match between the four solid workers. They clearly weren't out there to steal the show and worked a pretty tame match for their standards with the only big move being Dark Angel's plancha to the floor. Got the show off to a good start with the tecnicas going over as the crowd filed in.

Mini's: Short but accomplished the point of putting Electrico over. He looked great in all his exchanges as he busted out some innovative headscissors spots on all three rudos (especially liked the one with Damiancito and the skin-the-ropes into a spinning one on Warrior). Bam Bam seemed to tone his stuff down a bit as to not overshadow Electrico although he did take a wild bump near the end of the match. I understand the logic... Bam Bam goes for an asai moonsault but the rudo on the apron kicks the ropes and he tumbles outside taking a big bump in the process. He's done this spot two times and the problem is the cameraman is not a Lucha Libre superfan and has no clue what is coming so b/c of the camera angle it just looks like Bam Bam is slipping while trying an asai moonsault and he looks like a goof. Finish was really great as Pierrothito went for his usual roll-up but Electrico rolled back into a full nelson variation for the win.

Hijo Del Fantasma/Mascara Dorada/Sagrado vs Poder Mexica: Best match on the show. Everyone was working hard and they did some really neat spots that they've obviously been saving up for big shows like this. Dorada got LAUNCHED into a dropkick on the ramp by Dragon Rojo in a sickening spot. Then Rojo almost splashed his own partner when he springboarded into the ring and Sangre forgot he was in the way. OOPS. Rudo beatdown in the second fall was brutal with each tecnico taking a big move including Dorada being bounced around like a basketball before getting dropkicked into a tag team power bomb on the ramp. OUCH. The comeback spot was brilliant with Sagrado countering the usual Poder Mexica assisted dropkick spot with a rana, Fantasma doing the Flying Phantom and Dorada following with an unreal running rana off the ramp. He was FLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYING! Third fall had back-and-forth action. Loved Dragon Rojo's dropkicks to counter everything Sagrado tried. Great spot near the end where it looked like Sagrado was about to do his moonsault finish but then lept over the ringpost with a somersault plancha into the first row! Great camera work! Dorada then followed with his insane Dorada Especial II! A THING OF BEAUTY! Fantasma tried the Flying Phantom again but Sangre moved and gave him a spinning leg lariat but then got rolled up. *standing ovation* Dorada is so awesome.

La Mascara/La Sombra/Volador vs HdA: I wasn't as down on this as most folks were. The main complaint seemed to be Volador's gear didn't get along with him but outside of his mask falling off while taking Averno's finisher off the top rope in the first fall I don't think his gear effected him. He blew a satellite headscissors in the third fall but that was his fault, not the outfit's fault. Also seemed to hurt his knee on that spot which is why a few seconds later he came up short on a tope suicida and had the doctor checking on him for some of the third fall. Then during the finish the spot seemed to call for Averno ripping off Volador's mask but the ref counted to three at the same time so it looked like Volador's mask just came off again which it was supposed to. Either way my point is this was a decent enough match. Sombra and La Mascara both looked good and the rudos were in usual excellent form. La Sombra not only busted out the awesome spiderman outfit but also busted out Aero Star's springboard inverted 360 dive to perfection! Takes guts to do that!

Team Mexico vs Team Japan: Pretty weak for a major show. Team Japan is full of stiffs though (Lyger included) so I wasn't expecting much. The rudo beatdown took forever and was very clumsy. The comeback by the tecnicos was also awkward and the cameraman made sure to pan away as far as he could as Warrior loaded up his tope of death. Third fall had the fun Garza shirt spots and the much anticipated (by the crowd) Guerrero/Lyger confrontation which went nowhere. There was a dive sequence and then Lyger pinned Guerrero clean. Easily the worst match on the show.

Mistico vs Negro Casas: DID NOT ENJOY! I expected a lot from these two and figured at worst it would only be a 'good' match b/c... it's the biggest show of the year and you have Mistico's usual greatness combined with Negro Casas who is a genius inside the ring. Things just didn't seem to click at all. Right away I didn't like Felino getting involved and then Mistico using a power move to win the first fall. Since when does Mistico use power moves? Since when does any tecnico use power moves on a bigger rudo? Things kinda picked up in the second fall thankfully and then it really improved in the third fall with both guys scoring amazingly believable nearfalls and teasing the Mistica. In fact they teased the Mistica so well that I was just waiting for Mistico to get it out of nowhere for the big pop when Negro gave up. Instead... they completely ruined it. They became the first two wrestlers to blow the finish of the Anniversary main event. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??? Never in my life would I have thought these two would be capable of such a thing. After brilliant teases of La Mistica & La Casita finishes they went up top for a Spanish Fly and slipped. THEY SLIPPED. WHAT THE FUCK. Negro took a flip bump and Mistico landed on his feet. You would think these two professionals would be smart enough to figure out how to cover this screw-up... but no. They both looked like rookies just out of wrestling school. Mistico just slammed Negro and went up top to hit the worst Swanton Bomb ever and scored the win. WORST FUCKING FINISH TO A CMLL MAIN EVENT EVER. Even Rayo/Universo and Dantes/Porky had better finishes than this. Crowd totally didn't see the finish coming and neither should they have. It shouldn't have been the finish! Casas seemed geniunely pissed afterwards and the win really didn't come off as big as it should have for Mistico.

Overall a very good show but it definitely had it's flaws. Also I'd like to ask the CMLL production crew to calm down with the multiple angles. It's great that you can have a camera shot from behind the ramp but we can't actually see the ring so what's the point? Get the fancy camera shots out of your system in the opener and then retire them for the night, thanks.

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