Ranting & Raving

Let's address various topics that are annoying me...

1. Sombra in the Super Juniors Tournament

I think he's had a great showing so far based on the 3 matches I've seen (vs Gedo, vs Davey, vs Ibushi). He clearly "gets" the style better than any of the other CMLL guys who have went over. He's giving 100% and is also working WITH his opponents rather than making them work down to his level like Mistico did. He isn't constantly stalling to look for crowd support and takes his opponents big moves with ease even though he would have never come across some of these spots in his Mexican career. If you want a good comparison - watch Mistico's first tour of Japan in 2003. Before he had the fame and was just Astro Boy he went over to Michinoku Pro as Komachi and worked 100x better than he did in his recent New Japan run b/c he was more open to learning new things and a lot of the bad habbits hadn't yet crept into his game.

Here's my problem with Sombra in New Japan though: He's losing. Don't get me wrong - I'm not angry with New Japan for having him lose. I'm angry with CMLL for not doing this when New Japan sends their scrubs over. What's with the inferiority complex that Mexicans seem to have? Every wrestler New Japan sends over CMLL immediatly pushes to the top of the cards as if they are somehow better than every CMLL guy. Let's run down a quick list...

Taguchi, Ohara, Tanihashi, Nakamura, Gedo, Jado, Lyger, Yujiro, Naito, Goto, Taichi and Giant Bernard.

All wrestlers sent by New Japan. Every one of them immediatly started working at semi-main event level and destroyed every Mexican wrestler in their path for the most part. I understand if you are bringing in some foreigners to work a few weeks/months you need them to get victories so they seem important and by the time they lose it feels like the Mexicans have really accomplished something but CMLL overpushes *EVERY SINGLE ONE* of the Japan guys that come over. It's an automatic that if you are Japanese and are sent to Mexico, CMLL will immediatly have you destroy one of their top wrestlers. At some point wouldn't it be a good idea to treat the Japanese guys like the Mexicans are treated in Japan? Terrible and Texano lost their tag match in under 10 minutes. Mistico lost the IWGP Jr. Title in his second defense in under 10 minutes or so. Mephisto wasn't given any wins to hype his match against Mistico. Neither was Averno. Sombra is currently losing to wrestlers like KUSHIDA and Davey Richards. CMLL isn't more important to New Japan than SMASH or a random overhyped U.S. indy wrestler? C'mon now.

At some point CMLL needs to stop with this nonsense and bury the New Japan guys as much as the CMLL guys get buried in Japan. It's horrible for business when you tell your own fans that the wrestlers they pay to see on a nightly basis aren't even better than a guy like Taichi who is the lowest of the low on the New Japan chain.

I would love a Mexican to explain to me what's up with the inferiority complex most seem to have. I'd love to ask on the Box y Lucha board but foristas over there don't handle English very well (understanding it AND accepting when someone posts in it).

2. Was the CMLL vs Independents feud worth it?

It seemed like a brilliant idea at the start. You had ex-AAA wrestlers running in with no prior press conference to announce they were coming. You had Quemonito getting abused by Cuije. You had fun trios matches and eventually fun singles matches. Then... something went wrong. CMLL seemed to jump the gun on an angle that should have been stretched out for months. Within a couple of weeks the group of ex-AAA wrestlers turned into Los Capos returning, Mr. Aguila returning, Rayo De Jalisco Jr. returning... except being an invader who supported CMLL, Olimpico returning, Ray Mendoza Jr. & the Japanese wrestlers teaming with the invaders, Latin Lover showing up only to get attacked by Hector Garza - leader of the independents - who announced he wasn't happy with Latin Lover invading a CMLL arena, etc.

Oh... and there was that moment last Tuesday where Olimpico... who returned to CMLL as an invader only 1 week earlier and promised to destroy everyone in the company to prove independent wrestlers were better... kissed the ring at Arena Mexico. I'm guessing he didn't kiss the ring on the first Arena Naucalpan show he worked or the ring in Coacalco on the first indy show he did after he left CMLL originally.

One could argue that this angle was no different than the first "live" TNA Impact this year where every segment had the return of a famous ex-star who did a major angle. None of that never went anywhere and it seems like none of the CMLL vs Independents matches are going anywhere.

So what does CMLL have to show from this angle?

As far as I can tell:

1. Rayo De Jalisco Jr. back in CMLL rings.
2. Mascara Ano 2000 and Universo 2000 back in CMLL rings.
3. Olimpico being groomed to lose his mask to Hijo Del Fantasma by the end of the year.

So was it really worth it? Were the mark out moments from the end of April until early June worth now having to put up with Rayo and the Capos on every CMLL show? Was seeing Quemonito vs Cuije a few times worth having Olimpico working CMLL main events instead of Euforia or Sangre Azteca?

My answer: No.

Of course there is still time to see if something else comes out of this feud and there is still the chance that CMLL will just have Rayo and the Capos work the rest of the month and then let them go because they will have overstayed their welcome but I doubt that is happening. I think those guys are here to stay...

3. Volador turning rudo

This is how it should have been from the very begining. I think CMLL knows this and just decided to hit the reset button. Volador is a good rudo. He has proved that in the past when put in the position and I'm very positive that it will work out this time around. But the worst thing CMLL can do right now is follow the same format they did when Mistico "turned rudo" in January. If Volador is going rudo - he has to start teaming with the rudos regularly in matches that aren't just opposite Mistico. The last thing I want to see happen is Volador win this Sunday and then announce he is not a rudo, he just hates Mistico. WE'VE BEEN DOWN THAT ROAD BEFORE - IT GETS US NOWHERE! Lucha Libre needs TECNICOS and RUDOS. Hopefully CMLL learned from their past mistakes and clearly defines which side each wrestler is on as this feud kicks back into high gear heading into September.

4. LA Park losing his mask

I've said it before but I'm going to repeat it here so when I'm right I can find this saved somewhere and can proceed to brag about being right...

L.A. Park will not lose his mask in AAA. He will not lose his mask to La ParkAAA. He will not lose a singles match cleanly to anyone in his entire time with AAA. He will stick around for as long as things are going his way and as soon as he even sniffs anything about doing a job or taking a pinfall on a big show - he will be out the door and giving interviews to TheGladiatores.com/Fuego En El Ring/every website except luchablog.com about how he proved everything he needed to by destroying the fake Parka and defeating all the AAA stars.

You can all sit there and dream about all these fancy scenarios where Park loses his mask to either ParkAAA or Wagner but it won't happen. Park has an ego almost as big as Mil Mascaras at this point. He hates ParkAAA and will never let him be seen as the better man even in a random singles match on a small TV taping. He's smart enough to know if he takes a pinfall (even from a screwjob finish) AAA will edit the footage up and use it against him if he ever leaves. I'm sure Park would have no problem losing his mask to Wagner if the price was right but the price would never be right for AAA since they can draw just as many fans and just as big of a gate with or without that match on one of their shows. So if Park and Wagner ever have a mask match - it's going to be in Torreon, Monterrey or Tijuana on a show run by a moneymark in a giant stadium/bullring.

The only reason Park is working with AAA right now is b/c Konnan is in charge and they are former friends. Konnan is always looking for hotshot angles that not only work for the casual fans but also work for the hardcore insider fans and you can't do any better than this Park vs Parka feud. Park knows Konnan doesn't have the guts to tell him to job and he also knows Konnan isn't a huge fan of ParkAAA so there will be no biased booking in his favor even though it's ParkAAA's own company. So enjoy the angle while it lasts but don't come crying to me when the Pena Memorial rolls around and Park is back to working indy shows b/c he refused to job to ParkAAA in the finals of the Pena Memorial Battle Royale.

Feels good to get that stuff off my chest without hijacking cubsfan's blog in order to do so.