Random Matches
ALL ELITE 2/8/15:
Atlantis/Xtreme Tiger vs Ultimo Guerrero/Super Crazy: A typical UG match but in front of a crowd actually reacting to his big spots. Thought Crazy looked really good which was bound to happen as he's trying to get in here as a regular between Japan gigs and it looks like he'll succeed. Never been a huge fan of Xtreme Tiger but he's certainly much better than his AAA days. He had some nice spots but didn't really stand out as I can name 20 better flyers without even hestitating. 3rd fall dragged a bit but crowd was into it so I'll say this was good.
Negro Casas vs Fuerza Guerrera: Man the reactions for the entrances were great. The main thing this match proved to me is Negro Casas is the greatest of all-time (after Rey obviously). I know everyone will be all about Fuerza but I've seen a few Fuerza matches over the last couple of years and he's bad. Real bad. But he looked great here. Was he extra motivated? Sure. But he also wasn't in there with someone like Octagon or Veneno or Villano IV where he had to do the heavy lifting. That was Casas' job here and Casas did it beautifully. There is no way Fuerza would be able to replicate this performance on a regular basis nor without Casas on the other side. First two falls were pretty generic and slow but I thought the 3rd fall was just oustanding. Casas was doing everything he could to make Fuerza look great including that sick dropkick to the floor bump and eating the senton off the apron. There were some really nice nearfalls and I fell in love with the multiple Casita counters before Casas finally managed to grab Fuerza and pin him. A definitely must-watch match but not a MOTYC. Would love to see a tag with these guys mixing it up with Terry/Navarro.
La Sombra/Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Volador Jr./LA Park: I think I'll be in the minority but I enjoyed this a lot and thought it was the best match of the show (that I've seen so far). Wagner/Park are the greatest at being one-and-dones. I can watch them once every 6-8 months and their act is great. But if they were weekly attractions I'd be so bored of their antics. So as a one-off I loved their brawling and interacting with the crowd like a lot of younger luchadors are incapable of doing. But the real MVP in this match was La Sombra. Just a super fucking dick refusing to do the Wagner hand sign, then tricking him into doing it and kicking Wagner over when he did his pose. Oh, and when he hit the enzuigiri in the corner and just laid on the ropes doing his pose. I cannot see how anyone can NOT dislike Sombra as a natural rudo. There was this spectacular 3rd fall sequence with the stage dive, dragon screw & ramp dive by Wagner. I even accepted the ending because I knew it was coming - it ALWAYS is with Wagner/Park involved. Like I said, I give them a pass this time but if ALL ELITE runs again next month with these same guys and same finish it'll be a different story. Should definitely go out of your way to see this from entrances to finish.
AAA Toluca 1/30/15 Part 1:
Gotita De Plata/Super Nova/Nino Hamburguesa vs Apache/Mamba/Belial: God bless random AAA TV openers! Super Nova really doesn't fit in with this crew as you'd expect him to be much higher with his talent and family connections but he was actually the worst guy here. Not that he was bad, he just did nothing. Maybe he thought he was better than being in this match. Gotita was the star! He hit a ton of crazy shit including our first DOTYC! Crazy that he's only 16. Belial did good as a rudo and still got his trademark spots in. Apache & Mamba were great as usual and kept the tecnicos in check. Every promotion should have openers like this.
Angelico/Jack Evans vs Averno/Chessman: The tecnicos were fantastic. They always are. I thought the rudos - particularly Averno - couldn't keep up. Averno has come off like that for the entire AAA run except when he works Myzteziz. He clearly is so set on working with generic CMLL high flyers he has no idea what to do with anyone else. The same thing was evident in CMLL if you ever saw him working with Rush or tecnico Hector Garza. Averno is the guy you want as a base, not a guy who has to take strikes which he seemed to be very afraid of here. This is the second match with these teams and I've yet to see any chemistry. Would reccomend AAA not doing it again.
Mesias vs Cibernetico vs La Parka vs Parka Negra: My main takeawy from this match was Parka Negra was so obviously being played by Ultimo Gladiador. He didn't even try to hide it except for not using a piledriver as he's prone to do. The Mesias/Parka Negra finishing run was good enough but this isn't a match you really need to see.
CMLL FOX 2/7/15:
Maximo vs Terrible: Really wanted to enjoy this and was pleasantly surprised to see it got so much time on TV but... I just couldn't. There was some really good stuff like Maximo changing up his offense, the Cavernaria/armbar fakeout which I popped for & Terrible's killer dropkick. But Maximo blew a big spot really badly and the entire ending stretch just killed it for me. That's a finish I can accept in AAA or Park/Wagner one-off matches but as a finish for a big title match that just went 20 minutes... eh... that's annoying. I'll give Maximo lots of credit though - he is trying to be more than just an Exotico act.
Mistico/Volador Jr./Valiente vs Ultimo Guerrero/Euforia/Niebla Roja: Perfect. Exactly what I want from this crew - moves, dives, more dives, rudo beatdown, more dives. That's really the only thing they are great at when working each other. All the big spots looked fantastic and they got out before UG got the chance to be annoying and selfish. If you want to see a quick sprint this match is definitely for you.
Randomness...
Ninja Turtles & Seiya vs Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro/Dragon Celestial - IWRG 2/8/15: Seiya didn't even play along and get stuck when he fell on his back! NOT COOL! As the biggest Turtles mark on the internet (there was a fan with a "MIKE! VAMOS A GANAR!" sign so she is clearly the real #1 fan) I can safely say this ranks in the upper half of all their matches. Lots of really neat exchanges especailly when Dragon Celestial was in there working. Thought it was funny when Leo/Seiya exchanges outfits for a moment and Leo got all dizzy doing Seiya's martial arts moves. Rudos winning clean was not cool! Think of the children!
Freelance/Mike Segura vs Rayo Star/Skyman vs Andy Boy/Guerrero Mixtico - 2/7/15: Super fun match! Always nice to see Guerrero Mixtico in action and he delivered here with a couple great spots and his usual fun basing including catching a springboard Dragon Rana by Rayo Star and turning it into a Code Red basically all on his own as Rayo looked to be dead-weighting him. Skyman looked better than he did on the CaraLuchas show. Freelance & Segura even looked better than they did on the OTHER CaraLuchas show. The highlight was Freelance/Mixtico getting to work together. I'm happy to see the cheap finish may be setting up a straight up Freelance/Segura vs Andy Boy/Mixtico tag match on the next show. If there is a god (or if AAA keeps taking ideas straight from my brain) Guerrero Mixtico finds his way into an AAA random opener this year and gets a role to work matches against their young flyers.
Dragon Rojo Jr. vs Niebla Roja - CMLL 2/3/15: Weird match. The first fall was real good and I liked the counter to finish things. The second fall definitely seemed like someone screwed up because Roja kept wearing the same mask that got torn off which usually doesn't occur when they plan mask removal spots. The third fall turned into a generic CMLL by the numbers title match although I will say Dragon Rojo had an extra bounce in his step. Niebla Roja is a hard guy to figure out. He'll occasionally show brilliance but then go through long stretches of just doing enough to get by. Not to mention his big matches almost always fail to deliver (see: vs Titan). Maybe he's just better as a trios wrestler?
Atlantis/Xtreme Tiger vs Ultimo Guerrero/Super Crazy: A typical UG match but in front of a crowd actually reacting to his big spots. Thought Crazy looked really good which was bound to happen as he's trying to get in here as a regular between Japan gigs and it looks like he'll succeed. Never been a huge fan of Xtreme Tiger but he's certainly much better than his AAA days. He had some nice spots but didn't really stand out as I can name 20 better flyers without even hestitating. 3rd fall dragged a bit but crowd was into it so I'll say this was good.
Negro Casas vs Fuerza Guerrera: Man the reactions for the entrances were great. The main thing this match proved to me is Negro Casas is the greatest of all-time (after Rey obviously). I know everyone will be all about Fuerza but I've seen a few Fuerza matches over the last couple of years and he's bad. Real bad. But he looked great here. Was he extra motivated? Sure. But he also wasn't in there with someone like Octagon or Veneno or Villano IV where he had to do the heavy lifting. That was Casas' job here and Casas did it beautifully. There is no way Fuerza would be able to replicate this performance on a regular basis nor without Casas on the other side. First two falls were pretty generic and slow but I thought the 3rd fall was just oustanding. Casas was doing everything he could to make Fuerza look great including that sick dropkick to the floor bump and eating the senton off the apron. There were some really nice nearfalls and I fell in love with the multiple Casita counters before Casas finally managed to grab Fuerza and pin him. A definitely must-watch match but not a MOTYC. Would love to see a tag with these guys mixing it up with Terry/Navarro.
La Sombra/Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Volador Jr./LA Park: I think I'll be in the minority but I enjoyed this a lot and thought it was the best match of the show (that I've seen so far). Wagner/Park are the greatest at being one-and-dones. I can watch them once every 6-8 months and their act is great. But if they were weekly attractions I'd be so bored of their antics. So as a one-off I loved their brawling and interacting with the crowd like a lot of younger luchadors are incapable of doing. But the real MVP in this match was La Sombra. Just a super fucking dick refusing to do the Wagner hand sign, then tricking him into doing it and kicking Wagner over when he did his pose. Oh, and when he hit the enzuigiri in the corner and just laid on the ropes doing his pose. I cannot see how anyone can NOT dislike Sombra as a natural rudo. There was this spectacular 3rd fall sequence with the stage dive, dragon screw & ramp dive by Wagner. I even accepted the ending because I knew it was coming - it ALWAYS is with Wagner/Park involved. Like I said, I give them a pass this time but if ALL ELITE runs again next month with these same guys and same finish it'll be a different story. Should definitely go out of your way to see this from entrances to finish.
AAA Toluca 1/30/15 Part 1:
Gotita De Plata/Super Nova/Nino Hamburguesa vs Apache/Mamba/Belial: God bless random AAA TV openers! Super Nova really doesn't fit in with this crew as you'd expect him to be much higher with his talent and family connections but he was actually the worst guy here. Not that he was bad, he just did nothing. Maybe he thought he was better than being in this match. Gotita was the star! He hit a ton of crazy shit including our first DOTYC! Crazy that he's only 16. Belial did good as a rudo and still got his trademark spots in. Apache & Mamba were great as usual and kept the tecnicos in check. Every promotion should have openers like this.
Angelico/Jack Evans vs Averno/Chessman: The tecnicos were fantastic. They always are. I thought the rudos - particularly Averno - couldn't keep up. Averno has come off like that for the entire AAA run except when he works Myzteziz. He clearly is so set on working with generic CMLL high flyers he has no idea what to do with anyone else. The same thing was evident in CMLL if you ever saw him working with Rush or tecnico Hector Garza. Averno is the guy you want as a base, not a guy who has to take strikes which he seemed to be very afraid of here. This is the second match with these teams and I've yet to see any chemistry. Would reccomend AAA not doing it again.
Mesias vs Cibernetico vs La Parka vs Parka Negra: My main takeawy from this match was Parka Negra was so obviously being played by Ultimo Gladiador. He didn't even try to hide it except for not using a piledriver as he's prone to do. The Mesias/Parka Negra finishing run was good enough but this isn't a match you really need to see.
CMLL FOX 2/7/15:
Maximo vs Terrible: Really wanted to enjoy this and was pleasantly surprised to see it got so much time on TV but... I just couldn't. There was some really good stuff like Maximo changing up his offense, the Cavernaria/armbar fakeout which I popped for & Terrible's killer dropkick. But Maximo blew a big spot really badly and the entire ending stretch just killed it for me. That's a finish I can accept in AAA or Park/Wagner one-off matches but as a finish for a big title match that just went 20 minutes... eh... that's annoying. I'll give Maximo lots of credit though - he is trying to be more than just an Exotico act.
Mistico/Volador Jr./Valiente vs Ultimo Guerrero/Euforia/Niebla Roja: Perfect. Exactly what I want from this crew - moves, dives, more dives, rudo beatdown, more dives. That's really the only thing they are great at when working each other. All the big spots looked fantastic and they got out before UG got the chance to be annoying and selfish. If you want to see a quick sprint this match is definitely for you.
Randomness...
Ninja Turtles & Seiya vs Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Cerebro Negro/Dragon Celestial - IWRG 2/8/15: Seiya didn't even play along and get stuck when he fell on his back! NOT COOL! As the biggest Turtles mark on the internet (there was a fan with a "MIKE! VAMOS A GANAR!" sign so she is clearly the real #1 fan) I can safely say this ranks in the upper half of all their matches. Lots of really neat exchanges especailly when Dragon Celestial was in there working. Thought it was funny when Leo/Seiya exchanges outfits for a moment and Leo got all dizzy doing Seiya's martial arts moves. Rudos winning clean was not cool! Think of the children!
Freelance/Mike Segura vs Rayo Star/Skyman vs Andy Boy/Guerrero Mixtico - 2/7/15: Super fun match! Always nice to see Guerrero Mixtico in action and he delivered here with a couple great spots and his usual fun basing including catching a springboard Dragon Rana by Rayo Star and turning it into a Code Red basically all on his own as Rayo looked to be dead-weighting him. Skyman looked better than he did on the CaraLuchas show. Freelance & Segura even looked better than they did on the OTHER CaraLuchas show. The highlight was Freelance/Mixtico getting to work together. I'm happy to see the cheap finish may be setting up a straight up Freelance/Segura vs Andy Boy/Mixtico tag match on the next show. If there is a god (or if AAA keeps taking ideas straight from my brain) Guerrero Mixtico finds his way into an AAA random opener this year and gets a role to work matches against their young flyers.
Dragon Rojo Jr. vs Niebla Roja - CMLL 2/3/15: Weird match. The first fall was real good and I liked the counter to finish things. The second fall definitely seemed like someone screwed up because Roja kept wearing the same mask that got torn off which usually doesn't occur when they plan mask removal spots. The third fall turned into a generic CMLL by the numbers title match although I will say Dragon Rojo had an extra bounce in his step. Niebla Roja is a hard guy to figure out. He'll occasionally show brilliance but then go through long stretches of just doing enough to get by. Not to mention his big matches almost always fail to deliver (see: vs Titan). Maybe he's just better as a trios wrestler?
posted by Rob at 5:54 PM
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