More AAA & CMLL (& PdM!) from early Feb. '10!

AAA 2/18/10 in Toluca:

A total abomination of a show. I don't see how anyone could have enjoyed this. From the opener with six guys who should have had at least a DECENT match that ended up being a total mess to the main event that just dragged and had nothing of note it was a terrible show. The only SO-SO moment was the mini's match but I thought that was even weak by their standards. An easy early worst show of the year candidate.

Perros Del Mal 1/31/10 at the Sala De Armas:

Turbo vs Black Thunder was a clear MOTYC. Don't see how anyone couldn't have enjoyed this. Two guys who know each other going back and forth with mind blowing creative spots and very smart counters to each other's signature moves. They were given plenty of time and the crowd got more into the match as it progressed which is the idea, no? Must-see match.

Charly Manson vs X-Fly was really fun if you like this style. They pulled out everything they had pretty much and Tirantes as ref really didn't matter since they were out of the ring brawling for most of the time. Crowd loved every moment and the atmopshere was fantastic when they brawled towards the car and started doing spots with it and on it. Of course both bled big time (especially Charly). Great way to kick this feud into high gear and I'm actually interested in seeing their clean singles match on the next show. Charly loves starting feuds off well... too bad he's never around to finish them.

Cosmico/La Parkita vs Mr. Aguilita/Mini Talisman wasn't too hot. Parkita is abysmal and completely dragged the match down with his horrible work and unfunny comedy. Cosmico was okay but didn't get to show too much. I thought the rudos came off much better here and they played off the crowd well. Finish was neat.

Oriental/Groon XXX/Hijo De Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Damian 666/Halloween/Mr. Aguila was what you'd expect. The rudos were super motivated since technically this was their show. Halloween did a wild splash over the ringpost onto Oriental who was on a table and it looked like Oriental didn't want to take that spot at all which led to a scary landing for Halloween and the announcers without a table for the rest of the show. This was my first time seeing Wagner's kid and the crowd hated him. Not sure why though (superpush?). He was okay but definitely seems very green and not ready for prime time. Camerawork in the third fall was really bad for explainable reasons and not only did they almost miss Oriental's big dive but they almost completely botched showing the finish where the rudos cheated to win.

Super Nova/Celestial/Lizmark Jr. vs Super Crazy/Veneno/Pesadilla was really just an excuse to send six guys out there so five could catch Celestial's moonsault off the second deck. I honestly can't remember if Lizmark Jr. did ANYTHING at all in this match and I had to look up the listings again to see who was the third member of the tecnico team. After moonsaulting off the second deck Celestial and Crazy just walked to the ring to do their finish was really silly. Didn't even give time for the spot to settle in. Celestial ended up doing a shooting star press where he hit the turnbuckles on the way down and hurt himself. So of course Crazy then power bombed him as hard as he could for the win.

Main event was your typical indy main event with stars who don't want to job. Only problem is this was taped for TV so all the brawling really made it drag. It's so easy to watch this and pick out 12-14 minutes that would have made for a good match. The only 10 were just completely unneccessary and the brawling in the crowd seemed really lame after watching Manson and X-Fly do it 10x better. (not to mention they also brawled in the crowd during the Groon XXX match)

CMLL Puebla 2/8/10:

Tag team opener with the locals was fun. I prefer their match from April but this had it's moments (mostly with Milenium in the ring). They had a fantastic finish which seems to be a staple of Siki Osama matches. He's really underrated.

Segunda was pretty weak but I expected that going in. It's not that they didn't try but most of the guys in the match just aren't capable of producing good matches unless they are paired with superworkers. Skippable.

Mini's match was really fun and easily the best match on the show. I liked seeing Asturiano get the shot to work with Pierrothito since they seemed to have some chemistry back during the ill-fated CMLL mini's vs Puebla locals feud. Usual nutty dives that you'd expect here with the tecnicos winning clean.

Semi-main was decent to good but nothing mind-blowing. Panther didn't work his magic this time as the match stuck to the generic formula but I'll give him a pass. Dorada was incredible as usual. I would love to invent a time machine and transport him back to CMLL 1991 just to see the crowd reacting to his spots since NOW in 2010 they're ahead of their time so imagine them 20 years ago!

Main event was so beyond confusing but welcome to Mistico as a rudo. He came out mocking the crowd but then had to play the "babyface in peril" during the match as the rudos were beating him down. He led the comeback and the crowd boo'ed him. Then in the third fall he just worked his normal style and the only hint of being a rudo was he wouldn't high-five his partners. After the match Toscano asked him for a hug and Mistico just walked off. Nothing to the match outside of the Mistico drama.

CMLL TV 2/13/10:

Opener was edited big time and had some really awful camerawork. I guess the new thing at this time was to shoot more from ringside and on the apron which led to them missing some spots or filming certain spots in a way that made them look less spectacular than they really were. You have to know you're doing something wrong when you miss the Valiente Especial! Maximo was super over and his kiss to Ultimo to cue the comeback was actually hilarious. Rudos won cleanly and crowd was overjoyed.

Brazo De Plata/Strongman/Sombra vs Peste Negra was your typical comedy match to calm the crowd down before the main event they came to see. Sombra had a great ringpost moonsault in the third fall and the tecnicos went over clean.

Mistico vs Volador was... not... that... good. Mistico was clearly trying to switch his style up as he didn't do any of his usual flips and focused on more on tearing at Volador's mask and power bombing him everywhere he could. It worked but I thought the match went off the rails when Mistico just kept taunting the crowd instead of going for the win and when Volador did his multiple comebacks which weren't really strong and even included some awkward pauses where he would just stare at Mistico before doing something. They did one segment which had like 4 dives in under two minutes but once again they were filmed poorly. Mistico winning the first fall by yanking Volador's mask was great and I thought it was a tease for the finish but they didn't play off it. Volador ended up tearing Mistico's mask off and the ref gave him a new one (can you say planned spot? or does Pompin always carry a spare Mistico mask in his pocket?) which Volador promptly tore as well. I hated the finish b/c time stood still again when both got confused as to who would go for the Mistica first. Then Mistico unleashed an awesome counter to it but went for a magistral cradle and Volador just held on and grabbed the ropes. That's really not the way Volador should have won. Very disappointing.

AAA/CMLL Early Feb. + 1/25/10 Puebla

AAA TV 2/5/10:

Mini's opener was fun but clearly showed how weak the division is. The same three rudos as always (except for Mini Chessman once a year) and the tecnico side had Mini Charly who is a big time stiff and the fourth Mascarita Sagrada who is useless after he runs through his 3 spots and asai moonsault dive. The finish of course made no sense with Tirantes Jr. helping the rudos but then DQ'ing them for excessive violence. Suddenly he had a heart?

Still angry Lasser Boy's debut match didn't air! What a wasted angle, huh? If Pena were alive he would have made Lasser Boy a star. How couldn't you? The gimmick had a MOVIE behind it! Forget that the movie didn't do too well - WHO ELSE IN AAA HAS A MOVIE BEHIND THEM? You could have had an instant main eventer. Instead Lasser Boy was quickly dropped and never heard from again b/c if the idea isn't Konnan's or hasn't been done in the U.S.... well... you know.

Vipers 3.0 vs Black Family was edited to death and all that aired were the Vipers getting their asses kicked. So there was that.

Semi-main was fun only b/c the rudos were kicking ass and seemed to be stiffing Alan Stone/Elegido at various times. I am not a fan of this Pimpinela push so anything he did just annoyed me. Why would you choose to push Pimpinela NOW when his career is clearly winding down and he is physically shot? It's like AAA picks exactly the wrong guys to push just to prove they can't cut it. Oh wait... that actually makes sense to me.

Main event went about 15 hours. How did Fredo fit 15 hours on one DVD? The man is a genius. There is no reason for anyone to have watched this match live and in full.

AAA TV 2/7/10:

Opener was FANTASTIC! Seriously! An amazing match that holds up with anything CMLL offers. The only sad part was while watching this amazing match I couldn't help but think the efforts of these guys will never be rewarded. The rudos are just fantastic bases and they really carried Relampago/Lasser Boy here. Some absolutely insane dives including a DOTYC from Relampago and brutal triple team spots from the rudos. Oh, the sixth guy in the match was GATO EVEREADY! Nuff said. Best worker in AAA always delivers. Great finishing sequence with Lasser Boy going down (and presumably building him up as an underdog... which went nowhere). WATCH THIS!

I usually skip the skits b/c AAA storylines are generally: a) bad, b) confusing, c) embarassing. Thus I had no idea why Koslov was teaming with Sexy Star against the Apaches. Match was pretty bleh but Koslov superkicking Fabi in mid-air made me smile. She can be annoying at times. He went over b/c men > women I guess.

Crazy Boy/Extreme Tiger vs 187 was really short (maybe 7 minutes tops) but they made full use of their time and I really enjoyed it. Nicho took a wild salida bump and then ate a wilder dive from Extreme Tiger! 187 won clean which makes sense.

Semi-main had Cibernetico attack Konnan during his entrance which led to the most comical selling of all-time. How embarassed must Konnan be when he watches himself on tape/DVD? With that said... the rest of the match was just fine. Konnan got his ass kicked so he was out of it and then the Clowns beat the fuck out of Chessman, Zorro and Koslov (again this guy?). Some really great teamwork spots and the one hope spot the Legion got was pretty intense. Zorro ended up getting backdropped onto Chessman on the floor which took them out and then the Clowns easily put away Koslov. Good stuff.

Main event was long and the only thing I got from it was they began teasing problems with Wagner and Electro Shock. Didn't that stable just start like 4/5 months before this match? How could they already be having issues? On another note - am I the only one that is sick and tired of Mesias? Pena would have sent him packing long ago and replaced him with some new blood. The AAA uppercard certainly needs it.

CMLL TV 2/6/10:

Nothing much to say about the heavily edited opener. It was just there. Garza looked to hurt himself on the tornillo to finish the match.

Finals of the tag tournament were sadly not as good as the actual tournament. It was edited but I didn't get the sense we missed much. They seemed to be working an old-school slower style and tried to stay away from the generic spots we've come to expect but they weren't doing anything spectacular. And what is the point of a match like that when you have Mascara Dorada involved? He came off looking the worst of the three b/c he didn't get to show anything at all. Atlantis didn't seem very motivated either. I have no need to ever see this again. I do wonder if CMLL is planning on bringing the tournament back to start 2011 off...

Mistico vs Volador was TREMENDOUS! Right from Mistico's spear of Volador during his entrance this was a sure fire MOTYC. I think it would compete with Volador vs Sombra from Puebla if only TV hadn't chopped up the third fall (the missing stuff you can see on CMLL's youtube page). Each fall finish was genius and the crowd was molten for everything they did. I'm excited for the rematch next week!

CMLL Puebla 1/25/10:

This was the first Puebla show to not get 2 hours and thus they aired as much as they could of the full show. I'm a big fan of this format rather than just airing certain matches or trying to fit in the full show with major editing. This way you keep a pointless semi-main but only air the third fall instead of wasting TV time airing the full match or even showing it in majorly edited form.

Locals opener was pretty bleh. Lestat was the only one who looked good. He tried to do the Mascara Dorada rope-walk moonsault dive but slipped and seemed pretty pissed about it. Maybe this is where Dorada got the idea? (No, he was walking the ropes long before Lestat)

Segunda was really fun with Puma King/Tiger Kid standing out due to being amazing rudos. Super Comando/Starman did some mask rip teases and match only went two falls with Comando fouling the tecnico. Delta looked really good here.

Tercera only had the final two falls but they were good while they lasted. Cometa/Pegasso are just such a fun team to watch when they are on (85% of the time). Pegasso almost crashed badly when he tried his usual dive but was running so fast his hands missed the ropes. He landed with a thud but Loco Max did his best to make sure it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Cometa's double tornillo was just sickening.

Semi-main only had the third fall and nothing worth noting.

Main event was TONS OF FUN! It was a revancha from the week before and they tore the building apart. The front row seats got ripped out of place multiple times and security was scrambling to keep the fans safe. Niebla and Guerrero were fantastic as ass kicking rudos who were pissed at Volador/Shocker. Heat was off the charts and third fall was insane. There was a funny spot where Guerrero took his usual bump to the floor but the TVC cameraman wasn't paying attention and got kicked HARD in the face which knocked him back into the first row. The camera took a beating too! TVC made sure to show this replay about 15 times before the show ended. Felino/Niebla countered Sombra/Volador's finishers for the win and challenged for the tag titles. Well worth checking out.