Randomness:

CMLL Guadalajara 4/25/05...

Oro II/Makabre vs Antrax/Ebola - Lighting Match: Joined in progress as with most GDL openers. Only about 5 minutes shown but they worked really hard in that time. A few rough looking spots but they made up for it. Makabre did a really fast tope suicida near the ringpost as Oro II connected with a top-rope(I think, camera was late) springboard moonsault on Antrax. Rudos recovered and countered moves by the tecnicos to win.

Satanico/Flash I y II vs Danger/Magnum/Toxico: I'm surprised CMLL hasn't signed Magnum to add to the gigantic list of undercarders they already have. He has a nice look and would easily fit in b/c he's a great worker. Then again, he has the GDI tights and does their pose so maybe he joined whether they want him or not? Average match with nobody looking particularly great. Satanico somehow got busted open during an early mat exchange with Danger. The story ended up being revealed in the second fall as Satanico got hit by his partners accidentally so in return he beat them up as they were about to win the fall and tie things up. 4 on 2 rudo beatdown afterwards.

Mascara Ano 2000/Universo 2000 vs Perro Aguayo Jr./Pierroth: *yawn* Lots of brawling, that's for sure. Universo did a pescado(!!!) onto La Nazi. A few low blows. Rudos win, I lose.

CMLL at Arena Monterrey 7/17/2005...

All matches are "highlights" but thankfully not just the end of the falls or clips of the third fall only, they are edited in such a way that you see everything that happened except all the stalling is edited out so you go from move to move to move. It's fantastic stuff b/c you still feel like you've seen the entire match. Galavision should look into it.

Mistico/Neutron/Tigre Blanco vs Hooligan/Ramstein/Sangre Azteca: HEY NOW. ~LA ALIANZA! The first thing I noticed is La Pandilla(GDI 'B' team) stole all their triple team moves from La Alianza. I guess it's okay since 2 of the 3 are in the actual stable. Poor Ramstein... I wonder why he was looked over? I'll take him over Arkangel any day just b/c Arkangel is old and doesn't fit in with the group if you ask me. Anyways... less opinions, more match talk, okay. So there's a little matwork... some cool flying... some neat triple team moves by La Alianza... tecnico comeback... Tigre Blanco with a gorgeous asai moonsault, Neutron's dive gets edited out for some reason and Mistico finishes Azteca off with ~LA MISTICA! 6 minutes worth of highlights. Why can't Galavision do this with weekly Valiente matches? *sniff*

Safari/Felino/Volador Jr. vs Misterioso II/El Hijo Del Texano/Brazo De Oro Jr. - Mexican National Trios Titles Bout: I don't have much to say b/c aside from a Volador Jr. asai moonsault in the second fall and Brazo De Oro Jr. taking a regular Splash Mountain instead of a top-rope one, this was an exact copy of their match from Sin Limite that I've already discussed elsewhere. Fantastic stuff but nothing new to me.

Negro Casas/Satanico/Black Warrior vs Black Tiger/Super Crazy/Shigeo Okumura: I'm surprised Negro put himself here instead of in the main event instead of Atlantis. This was a pretty bleh match, nothing much went on at all. Casas and Satanico did dual dives off the apron and Warrior/Tiger had a nice exchange before Tiger got pinned with a DDT.

Rayo De Jalisco Jr./Shocker/Mr. Niebla vs Pierroth/Mascara Ano 2000/Universo 2000: This was the most heavily edited match out of everywhere that aired thankfully. Only went two falls b/c the rudos didn't get along and eventually everyone just beat up poor Pierroth.

Canek vs Dr. Wagner Jr.: Boring brawl but very heated as you'd expect. Wagner used a low blow to pin Canek but ended up getting DQ'ed I think.

Atlantis/La Parka/Perro Aguayo Jr. vs Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero/Tarzan Boy: AWESOME! I could watch Parka work with Los Guerreros all day long, it's just that much fun. First fall ends with Parka doing a tope suicida into an armdrag on Ultimo, Atlantis pinning Bucanero and Perro Jr. double stomping Tarzan. Guerrero refuses to accept the decision so Parka gives him a Code Red and pins him. NOW he must accept it. Rudos take fall two with some neat triple teaming. Third fall is fun back and forth stuff. Parka ends up nailing Bucanero with a frankensteiner off the apron... Bucanero gets up and nailed with Perro Jr. silla as Tarzan Boy does a tope suicida onto Parka. Atlantis makes Ultimo submit to the Atlantida.

Looked like a really good show but I guess it didn't draw well since they haven't returned.

Various odds and ends...

Tigre Universitario/Oriental II/Caifan Rockero II vs Charles Lucero/Oriental I/Chucho Mar Jr., Gimnasio Nuevo Leon 11/15/04: AWESOME MATCH! It's Relevos Incriebles as Caifan II and Lucero are rudos. Also, both Orientales hate Caifan II which you have to know to understand the story. Match starts as a tecnico style match with back and forth action but the main feud starts to build with Tigre vs Lucero. Caifan II nails Oriental II with a frankensteiner off the apron and in the ring Lucero makes Tigre submit clean to win the fall. Things totally break down after that with both Orientales teaming up to attack Caifan II and Chucho Jr. trying to help him fend them off. Meanwhile Lucero rips open Tigre's mask and makes him bleed. Eventually the tec...rud...well...Chucho Jr., Caifan II and Tigre make a comeback EVEN THOUGH THEY AREN'T ON THE SAME TEAM! This leads to dual running somersault planchas by Chuchito and Caifan II. Lucero looks to have Tigre pinned but Tigre hits a surprise huracanrana and wins the fall for....erm...half of his team and half of someone on the other team? The madness continues in the third fall with Oriental II and Caifan II actually working an exchange against each other even though they are on the same team! Same goes for Chucho Jr. and Oriental I. Tigre and Lucero get into a slapfest with neither wanting to go down and oh, by this point Lucero is a bloody mess. Tigre eventually dropkicks Lucero out and nails him with a tope suicida. The Orientales ends up stuck hanging on the ropes and Caifan II/Chuchito go for flying legdrops(ala Psicosis) but the Orientales move, then slingshot themselves into the ring, dropkick their rivals outside and nail dual running corkscrew planchas!!! This leaves the two guys who hate each other the most and they do another slapfest. Crowd is BIG TIME into all this with both guys bleedy and exhausted. Tigre prevails at the end by making Lucero give up and issues a challenge for a mask vs hair match but I think eventually they just agree to mask vs title(Lucero being WWA Middleweight champion). Fantastic effort by everyone and a great way to start the new batch of Monterrey footage.

Fantasy/Mike Segura vs Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro - IWRG IC Tag Team Titles Bout, Sept. '04: Old match from an episode I never received till now. Just wanted to use it as an example of how you can't be fooled by IWRG listings. On paper this looks really good, in reality it was boring and predictable. Rudos retain their belts and I almost dozed off halfway through. BOOOOOOOOOOO!

Two missing Guerra De Titanes matches...

Gronda/Electro Suck/El Intocable/El Zorro vs ~CHESSMAN!/Charly Manson/Juventud Guerrera/Mr. Aguila, AAA 12/5/04: THIS MATCH WILL SHOW YOU ALL WHY CHESSMAN RULES THE WORLD! First he has this awesome exchange with Electro and makes the guy look FUCKING UNBELIEVABLE including two spots I've never seen before. What happens next? Electro blows his first spot with Manson and then tries a Code Red on Chessman but gets stuck. It was so embarassing that Manson actually had to walk over, help Electro(HIS OPPONENT!) up just so he could finish the move he started 15 seconds ago. I'm totally not making that up either. If CMLL wanted Electro to get over, they should have signed Chessman to work on the rudo side opposite him for his debut. Holy shit I just got an awesome idea - A CHESSMAN, HOOLIGAN & ULTIMO GUERRERO TEAM! Intocable had a nice exchange with Manson. Electro/Zorro did dual tope suicidas. Intocable/Juventud tried what could have been a great spot but it went wrong. Juventud went for the 6-1-9 but Intocable did the matrix move to avoid it only when he got back up from the bridge, Juventud was waiting with a 6-1-9 using the bottom ropes. Sounds good but it came off awkward since Juventud blew both 6-1-9's he tried. BTW, does every luchador in Mexico use that move now? It was embarassing enough when Black Terry used it but Chris Stone even used it on the 3/19/05 CMLL TV episode! Intocable ends up doing a second rope springboard flying backwards body press overshooting Juventud. This leaves Gronda(yep, his first appearence in the match is the finish) and ~CHESSMAN! Chessman continues to show how amazing he is by putting his life on the line allowing Gronda to superplex him. Gronda totally lost control of Chessman but he was smart enough to take his own bump properly so he survived. After that Manson tried to get involved and something happened which fucked up the finish so they just had Haytor run out to hit Chessman with a chair by accident, Gronda then speared Chessman and Manson and won the match for his team. Still a better finish that the CMLL TV episodes with Damian/Halloween.

(Note to cubsfan: I actually wrote FRED two times by accident instead of 'Gronda'!)

Mascara Sagrada/Pimpinela Escarlata/Mascarita Sagrada 2000/Lady Apache vs Abismo Negro/Sexy Francis/Mini Abismo Negro/Tiffany, AAA 12/5/04: The Sagrada's show is what I'd call this. Big Sagrada hit a ton of spots including a slingshot corkscrew plancha early on when working with Abismo. Mascarita's newest spot was a nice move where he went for a ropeflip armdrag but turned it into a headscissors where Abismo held him for a tombstone, then threw him up in the air so Mascarita did a 360 spin and caught the rudo with a headscissors on the way down. Both Sagrada's did tope suicidas to the Abismos. Pimpinela and Francis had an awful exchange. Francis is sooooooooooo awful. The ladies did nothing... that was good. Both Exoticos got eliminated early... that was also good. Mascarita nailed Mini Abismo with a frankensteiner to the floor. Tiffany did a flip plancha through the ropes onto Mini Abismo by accident. Lady Apache then got assisted by Sagrada into a plancha on everyone. Sagrada/Abismo went at it and the finish had Abismo throwing his mask to Sagrada for the DQ. Ah... AAA, how I love thee.

WRG TV 5/1/05...

Rey Estruendo vs Gato Felix: If you've seen one IWRG opener, you've seen them all... especially with these two. Estruendo took an okay bump or two. Gato Felix takes it with a boston crab variation.

Avisman/Nuevo Multifacetico/Stuka Jr. vs American Gigolo/Fantasma De La Opera/Paramedico: Should it be Nuevo Nuevo Multifacetico or Nuevo Multifacetico II? Clearly looked to be like a new guy doing the long lost gimmick. Gigolo did a nice Styles Clash(Gigolo Clash?) to win the first fall. Tecs came back to win the next fall. Stuka Jr. did some awesome stuff in the third fall. The guy is gonna be a huge star in CMLL. He did a somersault plancha off the apron at the end of the third fall as Nuevo Multifacetico did a tope suicida. Paramedico fouled Avisman for the win I think. Nice little match.

Mike Segura/Black Dragon/Fantasma Jr. vs El Veneno/Pentagon Black/Cerebro Negro: I expected more and got way less. That may just be the IWRG motto. Some nice work but the match never really clicked like it could have with these guys. Segura SCARES ME TO DEATH when he takes backdrops and goes flying 10,000 feet into the air. Story here was Veneno and Dragon feuding which is eventually leading to a singles match between them. Dragon nailed a running tope over the ringpost on Veneno in the third fall. Fantasma Jr. then did a cornerpost tope suicida to Pentagon Black and Cerebro Negro pinned Segura for the rudo win. Solid match.

Mascara Sagrada/Mr. Niebla/Villano III vs Scorpio Jr./Black Tiger/El Texano: Los Efectivos team again! It was nothing like the old days... trust me. Crappy match full of brawling. Niebla vs Scorpio Jr. was the big feud and Niebla even bled a bit through his ripped mask. Lots of fouls at the end. Rudos win.

2 out of 4 good matches makes it a good IWRG show as you usually don't get 2 good matches.

CMLL Guadalajara 5/2/05...

Hey, these matches were taped on a Tuesday night and AIRED instead of the usual Sunday show! WOOHOO!

Rayman/Neutron/Volador Jr. vs Satanico/Cesar Dantes/Toxico: Rayman/Cesar Dantes have this never ending feud going on. It's not that either wants to job, it's just bad luck keeps stopping them from having the big mask/hair match as they were about to have it a while back and then Rayman got injured so they just restarted the feud in Guadalajara recently. The match was alright but the problem with GDL TV is they do it in real time, thus you remember when you used to hear the WCWSN announcers yell "if this match ends before the commercial break, we'll show you the highlights when we return!" Well... same thing here except you get no warning. Thus when the third fall hit, most of it had already been wrestled so we join a Neutron plancha off the top rope onto Satanico in progress. Volador Jr./Rayman then do this nice complex exchange with both Dantes and Toxico. Dantes ends up laying down on the apron... Volador Jr. does a slingshot and Dantes moves to the floor so he doesn't get squashed... Volador Jr. nails Toxico with an asai moonsault to perfection as Rayman does a tope suicida to Dantes. Neutron misses his flying backwards tope in the ring and Satanico makes him submit. Good stuff in the final two falls... at least the stuff we saw.

Negro Casas/Felino/~MISTICO! vs Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero/Magnum: Maaaaaan... Ultimo has PRESCENCE. So does Bucanero actually. They are so fucking great. Crowd is just in awe of them which is exactly what you want to see. This match was pretty damn good. The main feud was Felino vs Magnum so the other guys took a backseat and just did their normal stuff which of course works for me. Mistico and Ultimo had a nice exchange in the first fall ending with a Misteriorana from Mistico and then a slingshot into a huracanarana on the floor. Tecnicos took the first fall. Rudos did a bunch of neat triple team moves in the second fall and won. Third fall had the tecnico comeback and Felino/Magnum undid each others' masks. Mistico did a running corkscrew plancha onto Bucanero and Negro did his silla onto Ultimo, leaving... DUH... Felino and Magnum. Before they could do anything, Felino had his mask yanked off and Magnum covered for the win. Nice way to advance the feud.

Fun episode to check out when Fredo gets it in.

IWRG TV 5/8/05...

Sadly this was a repeat episode except they showed the extra match that was taped and didn't air the week before, that being Panterita/Mr. Libra vs Carta Brava Jr./Bacteria. Bacteria has a good look but not so much talent. Lots of blown spots in the first fall to the point I swear they improvised the finish and had the rudos win instead of the tecnicos since things were going so bad. I say that b/c in the second fall they seemed to have no idea what they were doing and the tecnicos won the fall out of nowhere with lame submissions that didn't look threatening at all. Spot of the night at the end of the third fall and you really need to understand IWRG to know how special this was... Panterita sent Carta Brava Jr. to the floor, ran into the ropes and nailed a FUCKING HUUUUUUUUUGE running somersault plancha with no hands! He ended up landing IN THE FIRST ROW! Crowd went nuts. Didn't matter much as the rudos won the fall shortly afterwards. IWRG is known for having no dives in the opening two matches as the matches are usually filled with rookies who are just learning and don't want to steal from the guys later in the show so to see Panterita do what he did was absolutely shocking. BTW, from everything I've seen of him - Panterita is pretty awesome and if it wasn't for his height, I'm sure he'd have a better position on the shows. He'd make a good CMLL mini.

CMLL Guadalajara 5/9/05...

Toro Negro/Nube Roja vs Antrax/Ebola: MOTHERFUCKER! This was one of the sickest matches I've ever seen. Not sick like good, sick like SICKENING. It was joined in progress and I wish I could do screencaps b/c the sight when they joined was incredible! The ring was COVERED with three of four giant puddles of blood and I was like "WTF" b/c neither rudo was bleeding too badly. Then they cut to Nube Roja... and... HO...LY... SHIT. He was absolutely... DRENCHED in blood. Not only his face, but his entire body was just covered in the stuff. This was Pirata Morgan/El Faraon level blood loss. I couldn't even make out who it was at first since I had no audio. It was disgusting to look at. The rudos dragged him up and into the ring as he left trails of blood whereever he went. He tried to fight back once or twice but was quickly pinned. Toro Negro, also bloody though definitely not as much, fought back for his team and actually pinned both rudos to win the match but it didn't matter as everyone was just focused on Nube Roja and what happened to him. He ended up passing out on the floor(no joke) during the challenges that were being issued after the match and they rushed him out on a stretcher. Fredo, when you get this you need to make a screen capture for all to see.

Felino/Safari/Leon Blanco vs Magnum/Cesar Dantes/Sheriff: CIEN CARAS JR.! Who better to work with than Safari and Felino to learn your trade, eh? Pretty good match here but nothing that would make it stand out or anything. Felino and Magnum continued to feud here and Magnum cheated to win again for the second week in a row.

Atlantis/Dos Caras Jr./Mascara Magica vs Mazada/Shigeo Okumura/Ryusuke Taguchi: I actually don't know what the hell to say about this. Totally a run of the mill match with every move being predictable and the result never in doubt. Tecnicos win, fans go home happy.

If you can get a screen cap of Nube Roja's blood loss you've basically seen all you need to see from this episode.

CMLL Guadalajara 5/16/05...

Toro Negro/Nube Roja vs Antrax/Ebola - Hairs vs Hairs: Once again this is joined in progress which kinda sucks as I'm sure it was a good match. Roja has his head taped up from the week before. He gets eliminated quickly once again here. Toro saves his ass once more by fighting back and eliminating Antrax. He and Ebola then have a bunch of nice nearfalls before Ebola blocks a flying dropkick and pins Toro to win the match. Both tecnicos get their heads shaved although they left a huge patch of hair on Roja's head where he was all bandaged up.

Brazo De Plata/Black Warrior/Lizmark vs Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero/Olimpico: WOOHOO GUERREROS! BOOOOO OLIMPICO! Seriously... it seems like Olimpico is just along for the ride and the other two guys are guiding him through every match he is in. I'm sure he'll get better with time but I hate waiting, just put Sangre Azteca in his place and get it over with! The Guerreros SOMEHOW make Warrior look like a superstar in the first fall by carrying him through a complex exchange. He sends Guerrero into the first row with the tope of death. Tecs win. Guerrero has an awesome exchange with Porky in the second fall where Porky didn't even have to MOVE AN INCH and Guerrero was bumping so awesome that the crowd was going nuts. Rudos take over in the second fall and make Warrior and Lizmark submit to win. In the third fall Porky does a plancha off the apron onto Olimpico and Lizmark does a plancha off the top onto Guerrero. Warrior tries a huracanrana on Bucanero who counters into an STF for the rudo win.

Rayo De Jalisco Jr. vs Blue Demon Jr.: Zzz... zzz... zzz... Demon Jr. tope suicida... zzz... zzz... Rayo Jr. tope suicida... zzz... zzz... Guerreros Del Infierno run out to attack Rayo for the DQ. Rayman runs out to make the save and this sets up Rayo Jr./Rayititititititititititititito vs Rey Bucanero/Olimpico for the following week. That could be really fun if Rayo no-shows and Mistico replaces him.

Second match is worth seeing but a skippable show.

Chucho Mar Jr./Flecha Azul/Caifan Rockero I vs Gitano Del Norte/Bengali/Mongol Chino Jr., Gimnasio Nuevo Leon 4/18/04: Another one of these Relevos Incriebles matches where the teams break apart in the middle and end up forming their own teams that make sense. Bengali/Mongol Chino Jr. seem to hate each other here though I don't remember reading about them ever feuding before this. Match ended up being pretty good even with the teams breaking up. I've come to expect the G.N.L. matches with these guys to be good so I'm bound to be disapointed one of these days. Gitano seems to be really underrated as he does a lot of neat spots you don't see too much these days. Chuchito's team wins and THIS IS OF IMPORTANCE! Why? Well, this was part of a trios incriebles tournament so Gitano's team moves onto the finals to face the other losing team while Chuchito's team escapes and faces the winners of the other match which leads to the next episode of TV but before I get to that...

Atlantis/Mr. Niebla/Satanico vs Dr. Wagner Jr./Damian El Terrible/Zumbido, same place + date: Surprisingly a pretty great match with the CMLL guys who usually mail it in when in this building. I enjoyed the match a lot and Niebla/Wagner were especially working hard. Finish went over great with Niebla yanking off Wagner's mask and pinned him to a HUGE pop.

Chucho Mar Jr./Flecha Azul/Oriental I vs Jungla Negra Jr./Los Caifanes Rockeros I y II, G.N.L. 5/2/04: What happened was Jungla Negra Jr., Caifan II and Oriental I won the other half of the trios incriebles tourney so they made a normal match out of the winners and we got this. Match was joined in progress during each fall but what was shown was pretty damn great. Lots of neat double/triple teams and tons of flying. The rudos did a wicked spot where both Caifanes held Oriental I in mid-air as Jungla Negra Jr. hit him with an asai moonsault. Every tecnico got to do a spectacular dive at one point(the best being Chuchito/Flecha Azul dual tope suicidas taking out at least 5 rows of chairs) but the Caifanes won most spectacular dives of the match by doing a combination where Caifan I did a tope suicida and Caifan II did a big moonsault plancha over his partner's dive onto Oriental I! Chucho pinned Jungla Jr. to win.

Now the losers of the tournament met with the losers of this facing off in a triangle mask/hair match...

Gitano Del Norte/Bengali/Mongol Chino Jr. vs Raiden/Oriental II/Gavilan Negro, G.N.L. 4/25/04: Back and forth action and many nearfalls. Then a trainwreck dive sequence with the first dive being the best... that being a Gavilan Negro no hands running somersault plancha. Gitano did the same dive. Bengali did a plancha off the top rope. Oriental II did a running corkscrew plancha. Raiden nailed everyone with an asai moonsault. Oriental II ended up pinning Mongol Chino Jr. when his partners weren't looking so his team survived.

Before the match Bengali demanded odds be evened up since Chino Jr. hates him and Gitano is a tecnico. Cats happened to be at ringside so Bengali requested his friend be put in the match. The crowd wanted it so the commisioner agreed.

Bengali vs Cats vs Gitano Del Norte vs Mongol Chino Jr., same place + date: Another bloody match. Mongol Jr. seemed to be the only one that escaped without spilling some red. They did another trainwreck spot with Bengali doing a tope suicida, Gitano doing a running somersault plancha and Mongol Jr. doing an ugly somersault plancha off the top rope onto everyone... or something like it as he actually missed them a bit. Maybe he was aiming for the floor? A bunch of nearfalls. Crowd was really into it, mostly b/c of the blood loss I think. Even with Cats, Bengali could not be saved and he ended up getting pinned by Mongol Jr. as Gitano watched. Bengali unmasked afterwards and seemed to turn tecnico by the way he was acting.

La Parka/Mr. Niebla/Sagrado vs Ultimo Guerrero/Super Parka/Arandu, same place + date: THE LA PARKA VS ULTIMO GUERRERO SHOW!!! This was incredible. I can watch those two wrestle all day! It's like the old Volador/Blue Panther stuff... they don't often get in the ring together but when they do, they are working 100mph and are doing stuff years ahead of everyone else. Parka had this awesome blue outfit on by the way. I think it added to how cool his stuff looked. He did a crazy top rope diving backwards headscissors sending Guerrero outside and nailed a tope suicida into an armdrag perfectly. In the third fall they had another awesome exchange ending with Parka doing his reverse wheelbarrow into an armdrag sending Guerrero outside and he nailed a running corkscrew plancha to perfection. Niebla/Sagrado followed with dual tope suicidas onto Super Parka(rather quiet this match)/Arandu. This left Parka/Ultimo and after a ref bump, Parka did his Code Red but in an AWESOME way... he lept on Guerrero's back, got pulled into the air, then Guerrero ran forward as held Parka in mid-air and THEN Parka nailed the Code Red! FUCKING AWESOME SPOT! No ref though. Parka got up and kicked the other ref in the ass for not turning around and making the count. When he turned around, Ultimo low blowed him and covered. Ref made the 3 count and motioned that he didn't care about the low blow b/c of how Parka kicked him beforehand. I would have LOVED to see them do a Parka vs Guerrero singles match since they challenged each other afterwards but it never happened.

IWRG TV 5/15/05...

Mr. Libra vs Kaleth: Kaleth has a cool look and Mr. Libra is pretty good. This was a better match than most IWRG openers as they did some neat matwork and good back and forth stuff. Definitely want to see more of both of these guys.

Panterita/Gran Cuchillo vs Carta Brava Jr./Fantasma De La Opera: Panterita did it again... he saved a rather lackluster match with a great dive at the end. He did another huge no-hands running somersault plancha into the crowd as Gran Cuchillo hit a tope suicida on the other side of the ring. We need more Panterita in higher matches!

Tony Rivera/Star Boy/Marco Rivera vs Negro Navarro/Black Terry/Mazada: This was a repeat of an older match and a pretty bad match at that.

Dr. .Cerebro/Cerebro Negro vs Cyborg/Xibalba: This may have also been a repeat, I can't really recall. It was a very bad match with tons of brawling that went nowhere. Cyborg won the match all alone to give his team a two fall sweep.

Negro Casas/Mascara Sagrada/Mr. Niebla vs Scorpio Jr./El Texano/El Veneno: Figures this pretty awful episode ends with another bad match.

Skip this show.

IWRG TV 5/22/05...

Shortened episode for some reason as they just went to the big matches...

Avisman I vs Dr. Cerebro - Hair vs Hair: Fun match. Avisman did two dives early on, neither of which was anything special. Then the blood started to flow from both guys. Avisman took the first fall, then Cerebro won the second using only one arm as he was selling Avisman hurting his arm in the first fall. Third fall had a bunch of nearfalls and the crowd was loving it. Avisman went for a clothesline but Cerebro blocked it and twisted it into his upside down submission finisher that is WAY TOO AWESOME. Avisman got his head shaved and shook hands with Cerebro afterwards.

Heavy Metal vs Scorpio Jr. - IWRG IC Heavyweight Title Bout: Didn't I see this match last time I sat through new IWRG TV? This was the rematch since Metal got screwed over a few weeks beforehand. Really boring match b/c Metal sucks and Scorpio is only good working with an entertaining opponent. I did like the finish though as it played off the first match with the ref getting KO'ed except unlike the previous match where Veneno ran in to low blow Negro, this time Scorpio did the honors himself as Veneno and La Corporacion were banned from ringside. He covered Negro but no ref. He went to wake the ref up and covered again... still no ref. He smacked the ref around a bit more to get him up. The ref started to come to his senses and turned around. Scorpio was mad and got down to show the ref how to count to three but as he did, Metal popped up and used the Casita to score the win and become the new champ. Crowd popped for the finish but was quiet all match long.

I'd say if you are a Heavy Metal fan you should get this episode but c'mon, are there seriously any Heavy Metal fans out there?

CMLL Guadalajara 5/23/05...

Centurion Azteca/Flash II vs Maximo/Toxico: Weird pairings.:/ Azteca might be Canek's little brother Principe Maya doing a new gimmick. I say this b/c I've only seen him work Guadalajara three times. Two times before this and he was an instant main eventer teaming with Canek and now he was actually wearing Canek's mask... so yeah. Flash II did an asai moonsault onto Toxico as Azteca pinned Maximo for the first fall. Rudos came back and won the second. In the third fall Maximo did a nice tope suicida onto Flash II but Azteca pinned Toxico again to win. He didn't job... he HAS to be related to Canek!

Felino/Volador Jr./Oro II vs Dr. X/Nitro/Sangre Azteca: Non-title match but the champs did come out sporting their belts. This is where the new Guadalajara TV style bit me in the ass. I always wanted them to show more undercard stuff but in exchange now, they've begun editing the top matches and whoever is doing the editing does NOT know how to do it. Horrible jump cuts and he joins after the big spots have already been done. The first awful example was Volador Jr./Azteca being tagged in for their matwork segment...they both get ready to go...then all of a sudden you see them tagging out to their partners. WTF? The editing was very annoying but at least the match was full of fun moments. The rudos won the first fall when Azteca absolutely *MURDERED* Oro II with a dropkick as he did a springboard. Nitro did the same to Volador Jr. when he tried a handspring elbow and Dr. X made Felino submit. Second fall was quick with the tecnicos fighting back almost right away. Volador Jr. did a running corkscrew plancha onto Nitro and the other tecnicos put the rudos away easily. In the third fall Volador Jr. and Sangre Azteca had another one of their awesome exchanges that survived the editing thankfully! There was a big clip after it though and we joined a Volador Jr./Oro II tag team plancha in progress. Nice spot from the Mistico/Volador Jr. playbook. Felino busted out his old somersault plancha from inside the ring onto Dr. X. The rudos ganged up on Volador Jr. and after Azteca hit his awesome top-rope headscissors, they all piled onto him for the elimination. But never fear - Oro II is here! He got a surprise pinfall on a roll-up of Sangre Azteca, then he quickly made Dr. X submit! Tecnicos then challenged for the trios titles and were awarded a shot on the next show. I've got my fingers crossed for that one as it is the MAIN EVENT so it has less chance of clipping. The more I see of Volador Jr., the more I am convinced I have underrated big time. He's so much like his dad in that everything he does is so fluid and perfect that you tend to take it for granted.

Rayo De Jalisco Jr./Rayman vs Rey Bucanero/Olimpico: Damnit, Rayo showed up! Solid match even with the fat man. Bucanero got to kill Rayman in the first fall with his Storm Cradle Driver type move. In the third fall Rayo did a plancha off the top rope onto Bucanero and Rayman got a clean pinfall on Olimpico.

Pretty fun show. Worth picking up to see the second match and main event if you are a Guerreros fan.

IWRG TV 5/29/05...

Mr. Libra vs Rey Estruendo: Another really good opener. Mr. Libra was perfect with all his spots and Estruendo is good playing the rudo taking a bunch of bumps. He's tiny though so I doubt he could work as well with the bigger tecnicos. Libra takes it with a flying huracanrana ala Rey Jr.!

Crazzy Boy/Kaleth vs Carta Brava Jr./Fantasma De La Opera: Oh boy... this was pretty fucking awful. Crazzy Boy was just such an embarassment to watch. Didn't even bother working the mat, right away he hit a double knee to the back on one of the rudos and from that point on every move he hit was something that could have been a finisher but naturally he didn't go for the pin b/c he's Crazzy Boy. To make things worse he didn't sell a thing in the second fall b/c if you ain't going through a table on fire or being dropped on your head, it ain't worth selling, right? Carta Brava Jr. elbowdropped him and pinned him, and then Crazzy Boy rolled out of the ring as if he was embarassed to take the pinfall. In the third fall he hit a bunch of other finisher type moves... in fact at one point he did a double knee to the chest, a Michinoku Driver, an asai moonsault... and then he kicked his opponent and just walked away. What the fuck? It came down to him and Fantasma De La Opera. Crazzy Boy missed a moonsault and Fantasma pinned him but of course since he's Crazzy Boy and he should be main eventing Arena Mexico already, he kicked out of the finish and just got right up arguing it wasn't a 3 count. What is wrong with this guy?

Blue Panther vs Charles Lucero - WWA Middleweight Title Bout, Gimnasio Nuevo Leon 5/9/04: Awesome match if you are an old school lucha fan and enjoy a slowly built match full of great matwork and very little running of the ropes. Just move, counter, hold, counter and a ton of nearfalls/near submissions. They went about 25 minutes and Panther thought he won with his armbar submission but Lucero had the ropes. While Panther argued with the ref, Lucero rolled him up and got the win. Panther gave him the WWA Middleweight Title afterwards and shook his hand. Crowd gave both men a standing ovation.

La Parka/Antifaz Del Norte/Perro Aguayo Jr. vs Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero/Tarzan Boy, Arena Solidaridad 6/27/04: Not a great match by any means but it's La Parka vs Los Guerreros Del Infierno. YOU CAN NEVER GO WRONG WITH THAT COMBO! Antifaz had a rather weak showing considering this was his home building. I think his knees are shot. Perro looked great. The angle at the end was fantastic as Garza attacked Antifaz and Parka, then Perro Jr. joined in to help him out. Fans loved it and they brawled all over the building.

Continuing with IWRG 5/29/05...

Solar I/Super Astro/Ultraman vs Felino/Los Villanos IV y V: This was part of the Trios Titles tournament IWRG held. Villano III was hurt so Felino took his place but didn't continue on in the tournament. I SMELL A FIX! This was very old-school and slow paced. First fall alone went 12 minutes and the entire match went near 30 if I timed it right. Super Astro looked the best out of the tecnicos. Why does he get to wrestle with a mask? For that matter, why does Ultraman get to wrestle with a mask? I'm very confused now. Felino got pinned in the third fall, the Villanos got pissed at him and took their anger out on the tecnicos by pinning them all and advancing in the tournament. Felino apologized afterwards but the Villanos just walked off.

Dos Caras/Mr. Niebla/Blue Demon Jr. vs Canek/Scorpio Jr./Pantera: Boring match. Dos Caras has definitely lost a step or two. I'd still like to see him and his son team at Arena Mexico though. A Dos/Dos Jr./Lizmark/Lizmark Jr. team vs Guerrero/Bucanero/Tarzan/Olimpico would be a fantastic special attraction match. Caras/Canek feuded here and Dos won. I think he challenged for a shot at the UWA Heavyweight Title but wasn't paying too much attention to know for sure.

Pentagon Black/Black Tiger/Pantera(double duty) vs Cyborg/Xibalba/Polizon: What a weird little main event considering the match that just took place. Total brawl with very little to zero in-ring action. Shockingly the police team took it in two straight falls. Way to job out the top heel stable(it gets worse next week).

The first three matches were good but the show ended on a whimper.

CMLL Guadalajara 5/30/05...

Idolo/Lider vs Maximo/El Veneno: Average match. Nothing good, nothing bad but nothing stood out. Lider/Veneno were begining their feud here. I think they eventually have a hair match on TV. Oh... joy...

Dakota vs Irlandes - Hair vs Hair: WTF? Dakota hasn't been on TV in over a year and a half and Irlandes was M.I.A. for a few months. All of a sudden they are in a stip match on TV! Dakota looked pretty good and Irlandes took his usual nice bumps but they seem so... not motivated... for such a big match. Dakota monkey flipped Irlandes on the hard floor. Irlandes did a big man plancha off the top rope onto Dakota. Not much suspense in the finish as Irlandes did a sunset flip and CLEARLY held the ropes for assitance but the referee ignored it and Dakota got shaved.

Volador Jr./Felino/Oro II vs Dr. X/Nitro/Sangre Azteca - Mexican National Trios Titles Bout: WHAT A DISAPOINTMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where do I begin? First - the match was clipped HORRIBLY once again. They skipped almost the entire first fall and just showed the pinfalls at the end. Not the moves that led to the pinfalls... ONLY THE PINFALLS. Replays showed an Oro II springboard somersault plancha onto Nitro. Second fall started with Volador Jr. *BLOWING* a few spots with Sangre Azteca. Since when does Volador Jr. blow spots??? He did a nice tope suicida but the exchange was so awful up until then, it just didn't matter. Felino continues to scare me as he did his usual run the ropes, clothesline, dropkick spot that he does in every match and that's ALL he does. He's one of my favorites... it would suck if he lost his heart for wrestling. Rudos dominated the fall but here's my question - why couldn't they edit THIS STUFF instead of the first fall and third fall stuff. I've seen the rudos offense a million times. In fact, it's getting kind of annoying. Triple team wheelbarrow slam...triple team wheelbarrow slam onto his back...triple team wheelbarrow dual dropkicks...I mean, DO SOMETHING NEW. This is where this trio of rudos comes nowhere close to the actual Guerreros Del Infierno who are always doing fun stuff and changing things up. Third fall, as I noted, was clipped to hell. Actually there was only one clip but it included taking out what had to be many minutes of the third fall as we rejoined as Volador Jr. did a super frankensteiner on Dr. X. Soon after he got dumped outside and Sangre Azteca did a plancha off the top rope onto him. Not much build to the finish as the rudos quickly dispatched of the remaining tecnicos to retain their belts. Very disapointing match. I won't say effort b/c who knows what was clipped out.

Don't waste your time on this episode. If Volador Jr. is blowing spots, you know the episode is cursed.

IWRG TV 6/5/05...

Panterita/Galactik vs Crazzy Boy/Kaleth: This was FUN! Why fun? Not b/c of that shithead Crazzy Boy(though he was a bit better here)... because of PANTERITA. I have never seen a guy at his size carrying three different people through a match. The guy is really awesome and is probably CMLL bound just based on his gimmick. Crazzy Boy didn't even touch the matwork once again. Just went straight to his spots and boy were they messy. On the bright side he sold a bit in this match. Only the strikes though. Even though he got to hit each tecnico with about 15 different power bombs and headdrop moves combined, he didn't take one move the entire time. Maybe that's why he works so well with Extreme Tiger. One wants to die, the other doesn't want to bump. Perfect match. Rudos won the first fall. Tecnicos won the second fall. Panterita did a PSYCHOTIC running somersault plancha again but failed to reach the crowd this time. Instead he just SQUASHED Crazzy Boy which is fine by me. Third fall was a fucking disaster. Guys just doing move after move after move not carrying about how sloppy it looks. At one point Galactik was trying to do something to Crazzy Boy and Kaleth came over to break it up but Galactik just ignored him and kept setting up his move, no-selling all of Kaleth's punches. That got a lot of whistles from the IWRG crowd. That's not a good thing by the way. About 15,000 finishers later, the rudos were victorious. Crazzy Boy... you suck... please stop appearing on TV. Thank you.

Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro/El Veneno vs Cyborg/Xibalba/Polizon: DEATH TO LA CORPORACION - ACT 2, SCENE 1! Another two falls squash for La Policia. I really hate this feud since La Corporacion is being made to look so weak.

Black Dragon/Felino/Matrix vs Los Villanos III/IV/V will be the next match when I resume watching.

Now for the good stuff of the day... ~LUCHA LIBRE AZTECA VOLUME 15!

Mr. Niebla/Black Warrior/Safari vs Dr. X/Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero: GET THIS MATCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Easily ****1/4 or something like that and I was totally blown away by how hard these guys worked as some of them(Niebla, Warrior, Dr. X) don't even work half this hard at Arena Mexico. The third fall in particular was off the charts. Ultimo is THE MAN. He worked... no joke... an all-out 100mph exchange with EACH TECNICO. I swear, that guy has about 2 or 3 different exchanges for every single opponent he faces. Someone please try to disagree about him being the best wrestler in Mexico today. PLEASE!!! Scary spot in the second fall as Safari went for his double armdrag on Bucanero/Guerrero where he uses the ropes to flip himself but Bucanero lost control of him and fell down but... NEVER FEAR - ULTIMO GUERRERO IS HERE! With *ONE HAND* he managed to hold Safari up and they would have completed the spot perfectly had the referee not accidentally got in the way. The teams split the first two falls and as I said... the third fall was INSANITY. The rudos were in control until the tecnicos came back and did triple dives onto them... Safari/Niebla with tope suicidas and Warrior with a running somersault plancha. Everyone got some nearfalls in and they even did a cool spot teasing the Ultimo Guerrero-plex. Somehow everyone ended up on the outside in a huge pile and Warrior took off with his insane BULLET TOPE OF DEATH taking EVERYONE into the huge pile of chairs behind them. Match over? Match not even CLOSE to over! Many more nearfalls until Bucanero low blows Warrior to eliminate him. Match continues on as Warrior wasn't the captain and after a screw-up by the GDI, Bucanero ends up being eliminated by a Niebla roll-up. Niebla/Ultimo tumble outside and Safari/Dr. X go at it ending with Safari doing a BRUTAL HEAD FIRST TOPE SUICIDA on the rudo. Both of them seemed shaken up. Niebla/Ultimo finally end the long fall. First, Bucanero low blows Niebla while he is climbing up top. Ultimo picks up Niebla in the Valagueza for the win? Nope! Warrior enters the ring and low blows Ultimo causing Niebla to fall on top and get the 3 count! BUT WAIT! Both referees are raising the arms of Niebla and Ultimo. End result... no-contest due to a double disqualification as one referee saw Bucanero's low blow and the other saw Warrior's low blow in revenge. WHAT A FUCKING FANTASTIC MATCH! Totally didn't expect this to rule as much as it did.

But the awesome volume wasn't done there...

Jungla Negra Jr./Los Orientales I y II vs Bengali/Cats/Raiden: After his umasking, Bengali started to wear a wifebeater and jeans to fit with the Cats/Raiden look. This was mostly highlights. Extremely bloody match with Cats in particular getting cut real bad and dripping with blood by the end. Raiden did a plancha off the second deck at Gimansio Nuevo Leon onto both Orientales and Bengali. Jungla and Cats fought in the ring. As Cats ran into the ropes, Jungla kicked him in the balls but at the same time Cats tore off Jungla's mask. Ref turned around, saw Cats with Jungla's mask and gave the match to Jungla's team by DQ. Very heated and nice finish.

Gato Volador/Chucho Mar Jr./Flecha Azul vs Los Caifanes Rockeros I/II/III: That's right - there are 3 of them now! Caifan III looks like Gato Volador(Lasser) did when he was with Los Arqueros so watching them work together was like TV magic where you have the same guy fighting himself from 15 years ago, hehehe. They did an awesome exchange in the opening fall. Two of them actually. Chuchito went for his stupid legdrop while the opponent hangs on the ropes but Caifan II stopped him, hit a top-rope frankensteiner and then Caifan I did a frog splash for the first fall win. Second fall had Chuchito and Flecha Azul doing tope suicidas onto Caifan I y II and Gato Volador pinned Caifan III to even things up. Third fall was verrrrrrrrry long and was more Japanese style with many saves and people holding their opponents back to not break up the pinfalls/submissions. I enjoyed it. Scary spot where Caifan II landed on his head by accident when trying to flip over Chuchito but he was alright and continued on as if nothing happened. Caifan III finished his great debut by doing a nice asai moonsault dive onto Flecha Azul. Gato Volador did a pescado onto Caifan II. Chuchito and Caifan I finished the match off and the rudos were victorious when Caifan I nailed a big time spinning running power bomb which appeared to legit hurt the tecnico.

The other matches on this volume are Atlantis/Sagrado/Virus vs Black Tiger/Violencia/Charles Lucero, Gato Volador vs Raiden - Mask vs Hair and Atlantis/Mr. Niebla vs Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero. I've yet to watch the tag match but the other two matches were pretty good.

I highly reccomend Lucha Libre Azteca Vol. 15 to anyone! God bless Alfredo for having a source for this stuff.

El Hijo Del Santo/Negro Casas vs Rey Bucanero/Ultimo Guerrero, CMLL Guadalajara 6/26/05: Not a great match or anything coming close to any of their Arena Mexico matches but you always get a fun match when these guys are programmed together. This was a special attraction match so since they had nothing to build to, they pretty much just ran through all the usual stuff they do but the crowd loved it and I enjoyed it.

Raiden/Los Caifanes Rockeros I y II vs Damian 666/Halloween/Nicho El Millonario, Gimnasio Nuevo Leon 7/25/04: Fredo has this listed as all 3 Caifanes Rockeros by accident. Really fun match b/c Raiden's team usually play the rudo rule and this time they got to work as tecnicos which added an interesting spin to things and allowed them to do moves they normally don't do. It's a good thing Raiden lost his hair the week before or else I'd have been fucking freaked out if he locked up with his twin Nicho. Surprisingly the match had a clean finish after a couple of nice dives and this was a great way to elevate the young locals.

Virus/Alan y Chris Stone vs Raiden/Los Caifanes Rockeros I y II, Gimnasio Nuevo Leon 8/15/04: This was another match straight out of the Habanas vs Marvin/Virus/Volador Jr. playbook. Just really fast action with everyone in and out of the ring and a bunch of great moves. Virus and Raiden were the stars here as every time they got in the ring it was just BEAUTIFUL Lucha Libre. My only complaint with the match was they were going so fast in the third fall and doing such complicated spots that a couple of guys(the Stone's in particular) got caught out of place which screwed things up and everyone just stopped while Virus yelled out directions as to where everyone should go. Some scary dives in this one as Caifan I almost nose-dived into the hard floor during the second fall and in the third fall these guys weren't afraid to take out rows of chairs. Caifan II took a tope suicida from Chris and took out AT LEAST 5 rows of chairs behind him. Good stuff, highly reccomended match.

El Hijo Del Santo vs Perro Aguayo Jr., Arena Solidaridad 9/5/04: I really didn't like their Arena Mexico match, part of it due to the sound being off on the tape I got and the other part was just how short it was plus the cheap ending. So IMO, this match EASILY beats their Arena Mexico effort as they get 20+ minutes and are working in front of an equally hot crowd. Santo does a sick somersault tope through the ropes on Perro Jr. who is laying in the aisle! There is lots of mask ripping by Perrito and eventually he ends up bleeding himself. Usually goofiness at the end but at least we got a winner this time. Crowd loved this.

Antifaz Del Norte/Mascara Sagrada/Mystico(Juarez) vs Hector Garza/Maniaco/Monje Negro Jr., Arena Solidaridad 9/26/04: This was my second time seeing Mystico and he is pretty damn good. Still a little rough around the edges but you can see he's a superstar in the making. His outfit in this match was hideous but thankfully it got ripped off during the seocnd fall. Was happy to see Maniaco after a long absence. He's always been a guy I enjoyed watching. This was an overall smartly worked match as they didn't stick to the formula which I despise. Mystico did a really nice springboard flying backwards bodypress onto Garza in the second fall and then a nice bullet tope suicida in the final fall. Sagrada, who was dragging the match down big time in the third fall, ended up having his mask ripped off and Garza pinned him. A solid match and well worth picking up.

Chucho Mar Jr./Oriental I/Tigre Universitario vs Apolo Estrada Jr./Charles Lucero (Jr.?)/Oriental II, Gimnasio Nuevo Leon 10/3/04: MUY BIEN! Another one of these Relevos Incriebles matches where the teams only split up in the third fall so the first two falls were full of great action. Oriental I did the most awesome move I've seen in a while where Chuchito went for a bodyscissors, Oriental I picked him up and then dropped him down on his chest but as he was dropping him, he turned his body around so when Chuhcito landed, Oriental I landed on his ass and then quickly applied a submission. Kinda like Super Comando's Comando Clutch move. The Orientales seemed extra motivated in this one as during the second fall they did this crazy exchange that had me marking out. As I noted, in the third fall things broke down as the Orientales(now rudos for those who don't know) wanted to be together and Tigre/Charles were busy feuding amongst themselves. Apolo/Chuchito did double dives onto the Orientales which the camera did a horrible job catching. Tigre/Charles decided the match but the finish could be seen a mile away and they ended up dragging it out for over 3 minutes.:/ That put the damper on what had been a good match up until then. Anything you see on the Lucha Libre Azteca as relates to Relevos Incriebles is worth seeing. I kinda wish CMLL would do something like this. Imagine something like Volador Jr./Sangre Azteca/Safari vs Virus/Dr. X/Felino. It'd be 10 billion stars and we'd never get to see it on TV!

Americo Rocca/Angel Azteca/Javier Cruz vs Chavo Guerrero/El Dandy/El Texano, CMLL TV 3/11/90: This was supposed to be tecnico team vs tecnico team but things broke down by the end. The main story here was Azteca/Dandy begining their feud so they were the focus of the first fall. Awesome mat exchange and then running the ropes exchange. The finish was a VERTICAL SUPLEX. But what a brutal one. Simple finishes that look like death are AWESOME! Second fall the other people in the match finally got to show their stuff and it was fun all around. Crowd was really enjoying the subtle way they were building to every tecnico eventually going nuts and wanting to fight like a rudo would. Again Azteca/Dandy finish the fall up. Third fall had a bunch of nearfalls. Cruz did a dropkick off the apron to Texano. Chavo/Rocca eliminated each other. This left... you guessed it. *TONS AND TONS OF NEARFALLS* which had the crowd screaming until finally... well I won't give the finish away. It was clean and awesome though. Lots of challenges afterwards but thankfully the only one they agreed upon was a revenge match for next week. WOOHOO!

Rayo De Jalisco Jr./Lizmark Jr./Silver King vs Emilio Charles Jr./Satanico/Rey Bucanero, CMLL Dec. '96: You know why nobody remembers this match? Easy... b/c the match that aired afterwards was the Santo heel turn match. To set it up, Silver King and Emilio are coming off a big feud and Bucanero just won the Torneo Gran Alternativa so he was the focus of the match as they did an interview with him and listed his bio on the screen. First fall had some great work from everyone involves and an absolutely insane finish. Bucanero and Emilio ended up outside. Both Lizmark Jr. and Silver King went for dual dives but the rudos ducked. Lizmark Jr. slingshotted himself onto the apron and did an asai moonsault... TOTALLY OVERSHOOTING BUCANERO AND LANDING IN THE SECOND ROW AT ARENA MEXICO!!! OMFG!!! Silver King follows with a somersault dive off the middle rope inside the ring onto Emilio and in the ring Rayo makes Satanico submit to a surfboard. Well that dive by Lizmark Jr. was absolutely incredible and I can't believe he got up without being injured. *claps* Second fall had a good exchange with Silver King and Emilio but as usual the rudos took over and won. Third fall had a bunch of classic spots including the star, the triple submission where Rayo snuck in and tried to get a pinfall on all the rudos and a few teased dives. Rayo was eventually left with Emilio and was dominating him until Bucanero reached in and tripped him as he came off the ropes. Rayo got up to complain but Emilio snuck up behind him and rolled him up for the 1...2...3! Bucanero assists in having a major star pinned and allows his team to win! Great match and story.

Mascarita Sagrada/Octagoncito/Super Munequito vs Espectrito/Jerrito Estrada/Fuercita Guerrera, AAA Mar. '94: Man I love the AAA mini's. Another really fun match with them doing a bunch of stuff ahead of its' time. It's great as even during the rudo beatdowns the tecnicos get a bunch of hope spots which involve flying so you aren't just watching brawling for 7-8 minutes straight. Couple of neat dives and perfectly acceptable wrestling inside the ring. Jerrito pins Octagoncito with a low blow at the end to setup a title match between the two.

El Dandy vs Oriental, IWA Mar. '93: Oh boy. This...was...not...very...good. Oriental was way too green to be doing a Japan tour, let alone working with El Dandy. Oriental blew a ton of stuff including a somersault dive off the middle rope inside the ring. That sounded very ouch. Dandy tried but Oriental was a waste here. Dandy wins with the Dandina and I cry about how good this really should have been. Oh well.

Pantera/Sagrado/Americo Rocca vs Kung Fu/Cadaver De Ultratumba/Tornado Negro, CMLL Mar. '94: CMLL TV in 1994 is very hard to come by since AAA was so hot. I believe CMLL had their TV time cut to only an hour and most tape dealers didn't even bother to save the shows compared to all the awesome TV that Pena was putting out. It's a shame. I assumed Sagrado was just some random undercard guy since CMLL has done that before but then when I saw him it immediatly came to me that he was Lasser. Dunno why I didn't put two and two together right away when I saw the listings. This was his CMLL debut under this gimmick. I liked the outfit. For those keeping track - that makes 3 Sagrado's in the history of CMLL. I still don't know who played the second one who made one appearence in a Torneo Cibernetico doing 3 dives in his 10 minutes but my gut feeling is it was Axxel aka Nieto Del Santo. Rocca and Kung Fu...well...it's kinda funny b/c they were aging big time here but you could tell they knew exactly what to do and when to do it... their bodies just weren't co-operating. I've always been a big Tornado Negro fan and Pantera is one of my favorite luchadors ever so this all had the makings of a really awesome match... and it came through. Sagrado did everything you would expect him to do... only he did it exactly in the order you expected him to do it in which sucked. That guy is so talented and lazy it isn't funny. At least he did a nice slingshot somersault plancha at the end which I never saw him do before. The story of the match was Rocca vs Kung Fu and the crowd was really into them. They kept the rudo brawling pretty short so the match was centered around the tecnicos was a good thing. Kung Fu went over Rocca clean with a power bomb + bridge. I wish more of these type of matches ended up seeing the light of day.

Janeth vs Migaly - Hair vs Hair, AAA Aug. '96: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! First off, Janeth was smokin'! Yes, that is Miss Janeth for those wondering. Secondly... HOW AWESOME WAS THIS? I'm usually not into women's wrestling at all but these two went all out and had what must be the match of their lives! Great start with Migaly doing a tope suicida and almost snapping her shoulder on the landing. She then grabs a chair and the fun begins! Both women end up bleeding badly, Janeth in particular. Migaly took the first fall clean. In the second fall Janeth's second - Pierroth Jr. - ended up helping her out. He held Migaly so Janeth could do a somersault plancha off the apron and kept picking on Migaly's second - Lady Victoria. Janeth won the fall easily. Third fall was more action involving a chair. I should mention the crowd was SCREAMING during all this. Never seen so much emotion for a womens match in Mexico! Migaly took a bad spill doing a somersault plancha off the top rope and barely hitting Janeth. Both women were EXHAUSTED! Pierroth took the opportunity to pick on Lady Victoria some more. They ended up in the ring together and Pierroth POWER BOMBED HER! Oh maaaaaaaaaan was the crowd pissed off! This wasn't TJ where it gets a pop, this was in Mexico City where you just don't do that kinda stuff. As the crowd was screaming, KONNAN ran out from the back and started punching Pierroth. Along with Konnan came some other woman... I think it was La Sirenita but not sure. She attacked Miss Janeth a bit before Pierroth came back inside to shove Sirenita away and outside. Konnan jumped back in and started to brawl with Pierroth. Tirantes was trying to stop Konnan and all of a sudden in one corner of the ring Janeth and Migaly had rolled into the ring, Janeth picked her up... TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE CROWD WAS PISSED!!! Konnan fought Pierroth to the floor, Tirantes turned around and counted...1...2...........3!!! It deserves saying again, THE CROWD WAS PISSED!!! They immediatly clipped forward to a knocked out Migaly getting her head shaved as she lay on the mat. What a fucking fantastic match, angle and atmosphere. You want a hate filled lucha match, this is it. I know I know, sorry Ernesto - it's no Dark Angel or Nikki Roxx who are great to stare at or offer coke in exchange for a little head, it's just two women who know what wrestling is about and don't need looks or a mark magazine writer to advance their careers. I had to do it Jose.

Los Tortuguillos Karatekas I/II/III vs Mr. Condor/El Gallego/Fantasma De La Quebrada, AAA Mar. '93: Ugh... what do you call a Ninja Turtles match with very little flying? Useless. And that's exactly what this was. Why even let them work a match on the show if they aren't going to fly? That's all they are for. The Arqueros knew that, the Power Rangers knew that and Los Kumbias Kids know that. The only dive was at the end of the first fall when one of the Turtles did a running somersault plancha onto Gallego. The finish just consisted of the rudos beating up the Turtles. No build or anything. Waste of tape space on a compilation.

Atlantis/El Dandy/Hector Garza vs Apolo Dantes/Dr. Wagner Jr./Felino, CMLL June '96: DING DING DING - JACKPOT!!! Welcome to the first match that will eventually go on my next series of comp. tapes. I really can't say all the good things I wanted to say about this match, partly b/c I am really tired now and also b/c the board would crash from the length of what I'd have to say. Basically, this took place on a special show for kids at Arena Coliseo so you had a hot crowd and all the guys in the ring were working as hard as they could since most probably had their own kids in the audience. Just 25 minutes or so of BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL Lucha Libre! I can't say enough about the exchange between Dandy and Wagner just to open the match, and yes they stuck to the mat for 90% of it. The only hiccup in the match was by Garza at the end of the first fall but they covered nicely. In the third fall Garza hit the most gorgeous moonsault bodyblock I have ever seen on Wagner inside the ring. He got so much height it was scary! He also nailed an awesome dive a bit later and no, it wasn't the corkscrew plancha. ****1/2 match at least. This along with the 4 on 4 Torneo from April '96 with Atlantis/Lizmark/Santo/Dandy vs Felino/Wagner/Panther/Negro are the forgotten gems of CMLL in 1996. Let me make this clear... if you are a lucha fan - YOU WANT THIS MATCH!

Argo/The Ghost/Aquario Jr. vs Cara Dura/Sable Roja/El Guerrero - AAA in Morelia Jan. '94: I know what you're all thinking... "who the fuck are these guys?" Well... I dunno either. Just some locals I guess who got on TV. Argo looked the best out of the bunch but HE'S NO ARGOS! Your typical match with local guys as they all got to show off their stuff. Neat triple tope suicida spot in the second fall with Aquario Jr. overshooting big time and landing jaw first on the guardrail. Ouch! Third fall had some really fun spots from Argo who looked to be in a different league than everyone else. Tecnicos win and I will forever wonder what became of this Argo fella. I guess I'll just have to live through ARGOS.

Mr. Niebla/Bronco/Super Astro vs Karloff Lagarde Jr./Americo Rocca/Mocho Cota - CMLL April 8/96: Arena Mexico was *EMPTY*! You know it's bad when this match is your tercera and your top guys are working the Tuesday Coliseo shows so they can get booked elsewhere on Friday nights. Anyways... if you guys don't read Ryan Faulconer's stuff, you should. He's got a good lucha mind. If you do read his stuff, you know he's always talking about Mr. Niebla as if he's good... or at least used to be. For those of you who just became lucha fans lately, you probably think he's a crack addict. But he isn't. Niebla used to be AMAZING. This match is PROOF! I don't think I've ever seen Niebla look as good as he did here. Well, maybe on a CMLL Japan show or two. He hit every trademark spot of his beautifully including this insane springboard armdrag type move. If you want to see why Niebla got pushed, pick up this show from Lynch. It's only an hour long so you can squeeze it on the end of a tape. Aside from Niebla looked like a superstar, everyone else held their own just fine. I was really happy watching this... perfect old-school lucha. Nobody had just *one* exchange before going to the finish. The tecnicos got to do multiple exchanges with different rudos each time. First fall went something like 12 minutes. Niebla pinned Karloff with a SICKENING german suplex. Poor Karloff. Second fall had some more fun stuff and the rudos ended up taking over as you'd expect. I expected it and thought it'd be a boring beatdown but the rudos were entertaining here and Mocho even got an assist into a flying splash on Niebla! THE FUCK?!?!?!?! Tecnicos got pounded on for a while in the third fall as well before Super Astro had enough and cued a comeback. Unfortunately during his comeback he had Mr. Niebla hold Karloff Jr. down on the floor and when he went for his slingshot somersault headbutt, Karloff moved and Niebla got hit. 1 tecnico vs 3 rudos doesn't work out well so Bronco got destroyed and the rudos won. Great match though! I should add Bronco looked pretty decent but from what I remember he ended up getting big time exposed the more and more he made TV.