Saturday, May 07, 2011

CMLL Japan - February '00

Mr. Cacao decided to relive his childhood starting with this tour as he brought over Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras to team up. A fine idea which drew strong crowds naturally since nostalgia always gets over for a short time. The entire tour was focused on them along with Solar as their third wheel and rudos like Apolo Dantes, Violencia, Ultimo Guerrero and Rey Bucanero doing the job of taking pinfalls and big bumps. The undercard had two names that stood out - Ricky Marvin and Fugaz! Two of the supposed best rookies in CMLL at the time who were never able to crack TV outside of the odd Momentos Estelares clips. So when these shows became available (at first only the 2/8/00 show aired on Samurai TV) it was exciting to many CMLL fans to see the two guys who got compared to Rey Misterio Jr./Psicosis. They didn't disappoint and stole the show on almost every undercard match they had including at Korakuen Hall in a match even Dave Meltzer watched and praised! Some of the other really fun guys/girls on this tour included Tigre Blanco, Arkangel, Lyguila and La Diabolica! The standout matches were the previously mentioned Marvin/Fugaz singles match from Korakuen, the six man tag from 2/12/00 with Bucanero/Guerrero/Arkangel vs Solar/Starman/Fantasma and one of the best CMLL Japan matches every on the last night with Ricky Marvin/Tigre Blanco vs Fugaz/Ultimo Guerrero!

Music Videos covering the tour:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/c175z8 - 2/5/00
http://www.sendspace.com/file/v24fty - 2/6/00
http://www.sendspace.com/file/4ehwd5 - 2/8/00
http://www.sendspace.com/file/68mxio - 2/11/00
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hkub2w - 2/12/00
http://www.sendspace.com/file/10kq7a - 2/13/00

Enjoy!

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Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Forjando un Idolo Rounds 2 & 3 Comments

Magnus vs Polvora: Wasn't expecting much and got exactly that. Magnus is not good at all and Polvora is not as good as Angel De Plata so he couldn't help out here. Very generic Lightning Match format with the slow start, blocked big dive, big dive and a finish. Hoping there's a twist to come and Magnus will go down to Fuego allowing Fuego to advance but not holding any hope out for that outcome.

Angel De Plata vs Fuego: Another good performance from Angel De Plata in a rudo capacity. Fuego was also good so he strung together two nights of above average stuff. It's nice to see these matches b/c we can actually start to learn what kind of a moveset guys like Angel De Plata have! The dives were great and I really liked the finish.

Hombre Bala Jr. vs Puma King: A travesty of justice! How could they put Bala over Puma King? Just shameful. Especially when Bala had a pretty off-night blowing a few major spots including the finish. The scarier blown spot was the springboard where he landed on Puma King's back and could have hurt him badly. Puma King tried his best so I'll give the match points for that but nothing close to both guys round one matches.

Diamante vs Hijo Del Signo: Good match! Signo continues to impress and the crowd seems to be getting behind him. Still worry he's too plain for CMLL though. The hiptoss to the floor spot was beyond nuts and came out of nowhere! Really liked the finishing sequence. Diamante is a lock to to the final four here.

Rey Cometa vs Escorpion: Criminal that they only gave them 5 minutes and then turned it into an angle with the cheap finish and post-match stuff. The start of the match was incredible with Cometa looking like a world class wrestler and then he did his big dive which was incredible. Match went nowhere after that. This really should have been Cometa's breakout tournament.:(

Angel De Oro vs Palacio Negro: Good match with Palacio hanging in there even though the Palacio of DF is NOT the Palacio we know from Guadalajara. He still seems to be getting used to working against fresh faces and in a different ring. For example in GDL he'd have NAILED that run-up-the-ropes frankensteiner onto the ramp. Didn't understand the ref forcing Palacio to release his submission mid-match. But who can ever explain what CMLL refs do? He used that same move against Rey Cometa if I remember correctly and there was no break ordered then! Finish was REALLY GOOD!

Dragon Lee vs Guerrero Maya Jr.: Maya looked great once again and Dragon Lee... is Dragon Lee. His dive was neat but everything he does looks so awful. It's not that he's a terrible wrestler. Same goes for Magnus. It's just that THEY ARE KIDS! They shouldn't be in this position and I blame CMLL entirely. I watched a match with both guys opposite Arkangel in Guadalajara. Perfect guy to learn from. But b/c the match was "CMLL style" they just did their spots and learned nothing. Gotta get them off TV ASAP. But back to the match... it was average. The finish is the part everyone will remember as Lee went for his SSP which was the planned finish and he came up way short. In typical rookie fashion he just popped right up and Maya tried to cover by doing a Northern Lights Suplex but Lee didn't know any better and just kicked out right away and did a springboard elbowdrop for the win.

Delta vs Metal Blanco: Pretty damn good! My newest conspiracy theory is that all these Gen11 guys were brought in to make Delta look good since he's not the best but compared to them he looks like the greatest flyer ever! Metal Blanco continues to outshine Palacio Negro. He definitely wants to take advantage of this opportunity and stick in DF like his former partners Metalik and Metatron. Another really good finish.

Angel De Plata vs Polvora: Angel De Plata sure bombed when it comes to points but I think he's probably the top standout guy with only Delta and Guerrero Maya Jr. coming close. There was some great matwork early on and Plata looked so much comfortable working his own style rather than how he usually is when he has to do what Angel De Oro does except he isn't as good at that kinda stuff. They did a nice teased finish and then the finishing dropkick was just BRUTAL! Hopefully this is a wake-up and they re-gimmick Angel De Plata as a rudo.

Fuego vs Magnus: This was winner moves on so I was sure Magnus was going over but I was wrong (and cubs was right!). It was a pretty generic match with everything you'd expect. In fact it dawned on me during this match that as the tournament has progressed the matches have gotten shorter and shorter and more in a Lightning Match formula rather than the first round where it was more like your typical one fall IWRG opening match format. Fuego's finishing combo was neat but he'll never be able to do that to a rudo. Surprised to see Fuego move on b/c he's a mid-carder for life. What happens to the Arena Coliseo Tag Titles if Fuego becomes the Idolo and Stuka is stuck working against the Rayos Tapatios by himself?!?!?!?!?!!??!?

Diamante vs Hombre Bala Jr.: A nothing match. Lasted less than 5 minutes and that includes prolonged selling after dives. I guess they were running long on the show and there was no point in extending this since nobody figured Bala was going over. I fucking hate the Canadian Destroyer finisher. There are like 10,000 guys on the CMLL roster who do the move and each one is uglier than the next. Not to mention it should be a DQ but I guess referees are too busy watching for Palacio Negro's choke o'doom!

Hijo Del Signo vs Puma King: This got time so I'll gladly take that trade-off with the previous match. Always nice to see two young rudos go at it which is a rarity in CMLL. Puma King looked excellent once again and Signo is still showing he is so ahead of the rest of the Gen11 guys... although I gotta find a new way to compliment him since that's not such a big accomplishment. That generic roided up WWE dude I saw wrestle Kane yesterday on RAW might be ahead of most Gen11 dudes. Puma's sunset flip from the ramp was killer! Really good match.

Angel De Oro vs Rey Cometa: Just superb. Both matches to end the tournament were great and it started here. Aside from one nearly botched armdrag it was just smooth lucha with Cometa looking out of this world once again. Angel De Oro nearly ruined his chances to win the tournament when he caught Cometa's dive incorrectly and it looked like his arm got trapped underneath his body but he was okay. The blocked "torito" was really neat. Good finish too. I like the finisher teasing and hope some of these guys don't just do that in singles matches. It would be nice to see some of those in trios matches rather than guys just hitting their move and you know it's over.

Palacio Negro vs Escorpion: SOMEONE FINALLY DROPKICKED PALACIO WHILE HE TRIED TO WALK ON HIS HANDS! FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe that'll teach him! (Until someone tries to dropkick him and he counters with a backflip) This was the best Palacio has looked in his entire CMLL run thus far (not counting the trios tourney) and it's no surprise it came against long-time underrated rudo Escorpion. Loved Escorpion just dropping Palacio's head onto the ringside seats as the fans ran away. Palacio's dive was absolutely nuts. Was hoping for some sort of screwy finish b/c at this point it really made no sense for Escorpion to win clean after getting caught cheating and then not getting caught cheating. I have no faith in CMLL to follow-up on this at all but the fantasy booker in me is intrigued by Ultimo Guerrero taking Escorpion on as his personal protege, Dragon Rojo Jr. proceeding to get jealous and splitting along with Atlantis.

Only matches still missing are the Puebla matches from last Monday as I guess Alexis didn't receive the master tape. It's a shame since Delta vs Guerrero Maya Jr. was said to be the best match of the tournament and I wanted to see how epic Dragon Lee failed this time around.

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