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.