IWRG TV 7/10/11 (taped 7/7/11)

A review of a current show? YEP!

Rolling Boy/Triton vs ?Anubis?/Keshin Black: I'm not sure if it was Anubis on the rudo team. All the results list him but there was no graphic and I watched without audio. This guy looked very different from the regular Anubis which is why I'm not sure. Or maybe it's a new Anubis? Either way he looked excellent here and basically carried the match for all three guys who are still very green. I liked Triton better when he was dressing like 1993 Triton (aka Pantera). Some rough moments with Rolling Boy/Keshin Black which is to be expected but otherwise nothing was really messed up. They teased dives in the third fall until Rolling Boy hit a weak tope suicida and Triton won with a shooting star press. My style of IWRG opener.

Black Terry/Multifacetico/Angelico vs Los Oficiales: Really fun match! Naturally it was centered around Multi/911 who had their masks ripped up and were both bleeding. Only in IWRG do you see that these days! Black Terry got a few moments to shine. Loved his vicious lariats and selling when AK-47 nailed him with a tope suicida and Terry rolled around like his shoulder had just popped up which got both refs distracted so Multi could nail 911 with a tombstone! Huge heat! (well for the 50 or so fans in attendance that is) Really the only negative here was Angelico who seems to not be a fan of selling and much prefers to be doing his fancy kicks or third-rate flying. Can't wait for the mask match!

Trauma I vs El Hijo De La Park - Juniors Title: Loved it! Park's kid is really starting to get it which is frightening to see. He still needs to get bigger though if he wants to be taken seriously - especially as a rudo. Same advice goes for Bestia 666 although that has nothing to do with this match. I was shocked at how well Park hung in on the mat and at the same time worked the crowd perfectly as a rudo. Some really great matwork as you'd expect and the type of thing you only get here in Naucalpan. In the second fall Park did an awesome tornillo dive that the camera just barely caught in time. My favorite spot was Trauma headbutting Park into the crowd to start the third fall. Looked fucking BRUTAL! He did again a bit later. A couple of times they teased the match was "breaking down" as both guys put their fists up and looked like they were gonna punch the crap out of each other before it settled down. That was very neat. Honestly this would have been the perfect match if not for generic overbooking by IWRG as the seconds (Trauma II/AK-47) got involved for no reason at all since it didn't even effect the finish and why would an Oficial help Park's kid? Finish was also overbooked as after many great nearfalls Trauma I hit a vicious Rosa DDT and Park clearly kicked out at 2 but the ref called the match anyhow. I guess it sets up a future rematch. Well worth checking this one out.

Canek/Negro Navarro/Trauma II vs Pirata Morgan/El Hijo De Pirata Morgan/Barba Roja: I am not a huge fan of Canek obviously but I was surprised at how agile he was even at his age. Last time I saw him he was immobile and here he could do all his usual spots. Must be hoping to get one last run somewhere so he can drop his mask? Who knows with these ancient wrestlers. Navarro and Pirata are ancient too but they were fantastic here. I'm a huge fan of the Pirata family so it was great watching them do their thing. That submission in the first fall was just SICK! Also majorly sick was Navarro's pinning hold to win the second fall for his team. Canek blew me away by doing a plancha off the top rope for the win in the third fall! God bless the reconstruction of knees!

Excellent episode of IWRG TV! Gotta go out of your way to see the top three for sure.

IWRG TV 9/26/10 (taped 9/23/10)

Chico Che/Eragon/Veneno vs Guerrero Negro/El Hijo Del Diablo/Comando Negro: Freelance was originally in this match but he was selling a tombstone from Comando Negro the week before and Veneno took his spot. OUR LOSS! Not sure what the deal was with Guerrero Negro working here for a bit and not losing his hair. Why else was he here? Seemed like they were setting him and Tony Rivera up for a match from what I recall but then he vanished. Maybe he didn't feel the payoff was good enough? This match was mainly a brawl outside of a neat segment with Chico Che flying all over the place. How a man that size does a double springboard is beyond me. Finish was typical IWRG booking gone too far as they did a DQ but it took forever to set up. Basically both Chico and Veneno were in opposite tree of woe's and the rudos rammed Eragon into each of them. But when they tried to do it again they didn't notice the ref was trying to unhook Chico and they accidentally rammed him which led to the DQ. Bleh.

Los Oficiales vs Hijo Del Cien Caras/Hijo De Mascara Ano 2000/Hijo Del Pirata Morgan (not Pirata Morgan Jr. as listed in the archive): I thought this was a fun brawl. MA2K Jr. did a nice bladejob and the Oficiales were laying in their chops. MA2K Jr. also got a nice segment to show off some flying which clearly tells us he is not legit related to any of the Dinamitas. In the third fall the Oficiales isolated Cien Jr. by pressing MA2K Jr. onto Pirata Jr. on the floor. Cien Jr. then gave up to a triple submission. Not as good as the 4 on 4 match with Oficiales vs Dinamitas from two weeks prior.

Silver King/Tony Rivera/Trauma I vs Pirata Morgan/Ultimo Gladiador/Chris Stone: This was a Relevos Incriebles AAA vs IWRG match that really made no sense. Rivera/Stone were on opposite pages for most of the match and it seemed to boil over in the third fall where they seemed to legit be throwing bombs at each other until things calmed down. Weird. Gladiador/Trauma did some nice stuff together. Things completely fell apart at the end as Silver King turned on his team and Pirata turned on his team. SHOCKING, HUH? Lots of challenges afterwards.

Totally skippable show.

That & This

- You know it's a fun week for Lucha Libre when your viewing including ROBIN, TURBO, NEO, SEMENTAL, NEW IWRG TV, LOCAL RUDOS VS RUDOS FROM GDL, MISTICO VS VOLADOR & PANICO! Okay... scratch that last one.

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-hfcgCaLl8 -> This is so sad. Not the match but the post-match stuff with Hombre Bala on crutches being honored on the show raising money for his surgery. I actually feel like such an idiot b/c I understood why Atlantis and Bucanero were there and so broken up but I couldn't figure why Maximo was in tears. It was only afterwards that I remembered he married India Sioux who is Hombre Bala's daughter which basically united the Brazos and Piratas. Imagine those family gatherings! Bala was always an underrated wrestler who always got overshadowed by his younger brother Pirata Morgan. The Pirata/Bala/Verdugo trio was just fantabulous and provided a ton of memorable moments even though their run was so short. Unfortunately for Bala, after that trio he got saddled with gimmicks that people weren't a fan of such as the Cavernicolas deal and of course The Monster. Even the smarkiest of smark fans just dismissed the gimmicks but it was the same Bala. Just bumping his ass off and working as hard as he could. Even in the 2000's as The Monster he was always trying new stuff with Alebrije and took bumps no 50 year old should have been taking. He never got the amount of respect he should have gotten as a veteran who hung around to work with youngsters instead of his just his buddies like you see with a lot of the vets who stick around for too long. Hopefully he recovers from this surgery and can at least move around enough to teach classes in the future. If I had it in me I'd do a Hombre Bala 50 much like the segundacaida guys did for Black Terry.

- Moving onto happier things... Robin or Brazo Metalico -> who is the better 3rd gen Brazo? Granted I've seen very little of Robin (two TV appearences + the UD show) - I really think he's a great Robin Hood clone. He's got the style down and really comes off as a clone of the original which is a good thing. Would like to see him in some more extended mat sections to see if he can hang much like Brazo Metalico can. Metalico has looked great since returning to IWRG in August. Most should take notice of him from the excellent IWRG tag opener in their return to TV. ByL forum folks are dubbing him the new La Mascara but hopefully he aims higher than that! It'll be interesting to watch both of these guys progress.

- It always amazes me how Skayde and his students will always try at least one new thing per match no matter what tiny arena they are working in. It's not always even a wacky highspot, just a little new trick on the mat or a funky way to setup a spot they always do. It's fantastic. I wish every wrestler was taught to work that way. Watching Neo bark out orders in Spanish to get the T2P guys to keep up just brought a smile to my face.

- Never thought I'd end up seeing a match with Los Temerarios vs Los Missioneros De La Muerte (yes, that means Navarro vs Terry) that would end up being a complete bloody brawl including SPILLING OUT ONTO THE STREETS! I certainly expected a way different match but can't say I was too disappointed with the result. Always great to see a bloody brawl with vets who know how to pull it off. A nice rare find. Hoping I can acquire more shows like this.

- Mistico vs Volador from 9/17 was epic. No, it's not a MOTYC like Sombra/Volador or Negro/Dorada. Dr. Lucha said it correctly - Mistico is not really a singles match type wrestler b/c he doesn't have the offense for it and he relies too much on the generic CMLL singles match formula. However this match had more 10x more heat than both the previous matches combined. Volador as a rudo act is big time over and he's done a marvelous job with the role. This is the way it should have been from day one of this year to be quite honest. TV really edited the third fall but it went long enough that even with the edits it didn't seem rushed. The finish was just brilliant and I'm glad somehow had the guts to book it to end the way it did. Mistico missing his tornillo dive and being semi-KO'ed. As soon as he stumbled to his feet in the ring... ~BACKCRACKER! Very IWRG-ish! Volador got the clean win he desperately needed and the crowd ERUPTED! Volador will now make money for CMLL as a rudo. This is how it's done. The deal with Satanico afterwards was very nice and seemed to be a shoot b/c Satanico was first to grab Volador and say something privately to him which prompted Volador to grab the mic and dedicate the win to his teacher.

- I really want to upload this extended matwork/rope running sequence between Panico and Triton (not Pantera, the guy who replaced him in mid-1993) from a TV show I watched recently. I'm just afraid it'll out me as the biggest dork ever. I just found it so creative the way they were maneuvering on the mat and built up to their rope running spots that were ever so simple but ever so creative. It surprised me coming from these two who were never really known to stand out. They had another great exchange later in the match when they were the final two left. This is really making me want to dig out some CMLL TV shows from 92/93 that I haven't watched in ages. Their undercard guys were actually very good but got no attention b/c of how spectacular all the AAA undercard guys were. (BTW, match was Metalico/Triton/Antar vs Panico/Tornado Negro/A MOTIVATED KUNG FU from July '93 - well worth hunting down)

- By the time I post next I should have seen the Dorada/Mistico vs Aguila/Garza tag title match. I'm not expecting much. The buildup has been really lackluster and it's involved Tirantes big time. From what I read the match is more focused on him rather than the titles so it's really gotten me less interested in watching the actual match. I really want Tirantes to go away by the end of the year. I just fear he isn't going anywhere b/c Paco is a fan of the old-time heel ref ala Gran Davis.

- Does anyone know how to record the online GDL local TV stream? Can someone teach me? I want to share the joys of Palacio Negro with the youtube world and even when Palacio doesn't show up we still have other locals who provide good matches like this week the rudos vs rudos match with Malefico and Exterminador vs Mr. and Rey Trueno was quite decent. They really went all out in the third fall. Shame this footage will be seemingly lost forever after the initial airing.

Non-Lucha quick thoughts...

- Vintage Collection this week aired the WWF IC Title tournament from 1990! Hello earliest childhood memories! I will always fondly remember this tournament. It was so great to know there'd be a match with two "stars" on TV every week for a few straight weeks b/c this was back when only squash matches were being shown. I don't care what anyone says, the Tito vs Perfect final match was good and the SNME rematch was OFF THE CHARTS AWESOME! A heel winning cleanly! In 1990!!!

- Recent DGUSA PPV was good. The 4 way was really good. Richochet was mind blowing. Coulda done with Adam Cole and Rich Swann switching places on the show though. Finish was something I'll never forget. How Ricochet didn't break his shoulder is beyond me. The elimination match was also really good but they really killed the crowd about 3/4 of the way through. Actually I think the exact moment the crowd died was when Yamato did his finisher to Yoshino who KICKED OUT and was back countering the next move right away. Anything they did after that got a tepid reaction and the crowd seemed more confused than anything about the double submission at the end. Main event was meh.

- Not sure if I want to devote any time to watching the new Chikara 'Young Lions Cup' shows. Think it'll be worth it? I don't recognize half the names which worries me and all my usual Chikara favorites seem MIA.

More November '09 Lucha!

CMLL 11/13/09 @ Arena Mexico:

Estrella Mágica, Lady Apache, Lluvia vs. Amapola, Mima Shimoda, Yezca: Estrella Magica is slowly making these matches with all the novatos (novatas?) more bareable because she tries some fun stuff (like a rana off the apron where she smacked her head into the side of the ring) and she is so skinny that the rudas just abuse her big time with their offense. Perfectly acceptable match.

Ángel de Oro vs. Arkangel de la Muerte: Pretty bad. I've said it before and I'll say it again... Arkangel is not for Lightning Matches. His style is far too slow and deliberate. Angel De Oro got in some (but not all) of his offense and won by countering Arkangel's finishing backbreaker into the grounded rocking chair submission.

Ephesto, Mephisto, Virus vs. La Máscara, La Sombra, Máximo: Pretty good match when Maximo wasn't involved. The idea here was to get the rudos over Sombra in two falls so they could get the tag title shot in a few weeks but it was strange b/c Sombra only got pinned by Mephisto in one of those falls. If I didn't know about the upcoming match it would have appeared like the goal here was to get Virus over as he scored clean pins on both Maximo and La Mascara who are pretty high on the CMLL food chain.

Shigeo Okumura, Tetsuya Naito, Yujiro vs. Averno, Terrible, Texano Jr.: Much better than the garbage from the previous week. They were working hard and they should have b/c time was running out to get this feud over. Tons of dives including a rare tope suicida by Yujiro! Averno took out Okumura with a running somersault plancha in the third fall. No Limit cheated to low blow Texano and thus won the match.

Héctor Garza, Místico, Strong Man vs. Atlantis, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero: By the numbers. I liked the spot where Strongman threw Mistico waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too high for a rana on Ultimo Guerrero so even though it was a botched spot it really just worked more to establish how strong Strongman is. Tecnicos won clean because that's what they do in matches like these.

CMLL 11/20/09 @ Arena Mexico:

Ángel Azteca Jr., Ángel de Oro, Ángel de Plata vs. Puma King, Skándalo, Tiger Kid: Amazing stuff. It's not that much praise since the TDN run was so short but this was easily the best match on TDN. I would have put it on my MOTYC list but there was a chunk of the third fall missing (I'm guessing an Angel Azteca Jr. exchange + big dives) due to editing being done thanks to time constraints. Both teams were just tremendous. Even the opening matwork/exchanges were creative. Loved how they didn't just tag out and continued from one exchange into another guy taking over and so forth. Felino's kids easily have the best tag team moves in the business right now and their superkicks are AWESOME! Tecnicos picked up the win. Excellent must-see match!

Máscara Dorada vs. Euforia: The perfect showcase for Dorada! Working against one of the best catchers in the company he got to bust out a ton of his big moves and hit them all perfectly. The finishing spot is one of my favorite spots of all time. This is another must-see match. I want to somehow create a time machine and send this match back to myself in 1997 so I can watch it and be happy in knowing someone like Mascara Dorada will come along one day.

Ephesto, Mephisto, Virus vs. Blue Panther, La Sombra, Volador Jr.: Not as good as the setup match a week before. With these six you would think it would be fantastic but there were lots of standing-still moments and I hated the surprise pinfall finish in the second fall. Efesto had his mask torn up which seemed to hamper some of the stuff he was trying to do.

Naito, Shigeo Okumura, Yujiro vs. Terrible, Texano Jr., Vangelis: Not as good as the previous week but a solid enough match. It's still absolutely amazing to see VANGELIS taking part in the major CMLL angle of the month and blending right in. Is there anyone else in CMLL's uppercard who could be fired on Monday and by Tuesday be working indy shows in only the third from the top slot? No Limit won cleanly.

Místico, Shocker, Strong Man vs. Averno, Felino, Negro Casas: Another by the numbers match but it was much more fun than the previous week. Fredo's DVD actually cuts out the end of the first fall and early portion of the second fall but the 3ra Caida highlights showed we didn't miss much. Felino and Negro were bumping like madmen for Strongman including this amazing spot where Strongman kicked Negro right onto the top rope. *L* Mistico won clean with an amazing Mistica on Averno.

CMLL 11/24/09 @ Arena Mexico (C3):

Disturbio & Semental vs. Molotov & Súper Camaleón: SEMENTAL! FUTURE OF CMLL! Much like earlier with Dorada, this is the match I would send back to myself in 1997 so I'd know someone like Semental would come along one day and eventually take over for Rey Bucanero as the best #2 guy in the company. He carried both tecnicos at various points here and also destroyed them with his unbelievable offense. When I make the music video of this show, it'll be 70% Semental. I'll try not to include Disturbio who has clearly never seen a gym in his life nor cut his hair since he was 15. But his dad is an important man so...

Mima Shimoda, Princesa Sujei, Zeuxis vs. Estrella Mágica, Lady Apache, Lluvia: No thank you. I tried but had to hit the FF button as soon as Lluvia started blowing moves with Shimoda.

Ángel Azteca Jr., Ángel de Oro, Ángel de Plata vs. Euforia, Pólvora, Virus: Excellent match. This was the official debut of the Cancerberos so naturally they lost (Euforia low blowed Angel De Oro) but at least they looked good in a losing effort.

Blue Panther, Brazo de Plata, Máximo vs. Felino, Ray Mendoza Jr., Shigeo Okumura: Awful.

Máscara Dorada vs. Negro Casas: Very slow paced as they were clearly saving up the big stuff for the upcoming title match which I can understand completely. Dorada did get in a neat springboard armdrag from the ramp and a tope suicida afterwards. He pinned Negro clean with the Casita in the expected finish.

CMLL 11/27/09 @ Arena Mexico:

Dr. X, Hooligan, Loco Max vs. Flash, Pegasso, Rey Cometa: Awww... this was the match that ruined Cometa's nerve to ever try the dive of the decade again.:( He went for it in the second fall but slipped and got his leg caught in the ropes. He seemed okay but was more embarassed than anything else. Still they improvised and went with him being injured so Hooligan yanked Flash's mask and pinned him in a quick third fall. Weird that even though the Cancerberos had already made their debut, Flash was still Flash both in name and costume even though he transformed into Fuego at the same press conference. Maybe an issue with the commision?

Dark Angel vs. Amapola: Excellent match. These two love working together and didn't disappoint. A bunch of really great nearfalls. Sarah eventually won with a tiger driver.

Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto vs. La Sombra, Toscano, Volador Jr.: More weak build for the upcoming tag title match. This only went two falls and included both tecnicos having their masks and outfits ripped up. Rudos won clean and got their title match.

Naito, Shigeo Okumura, Yujiro vs. Terrible, Texano Jr., Vangelis: Weaker match than last week. Mexicans tried to tombstone Okumura but were stopped and then instead just crotched Yujiro on the ringpost which earned them a DQ. Isn't that a regular spot for the Poder Mexica?

Atlantis, Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero vs. Héctor Garza, Shocker, Strong Man: By the numbers. Crowd was really happy to see Niebla and he was the most over tecnico when he went up against Strongman and almost took him down. Garza did a moonsault off the apron and was caught by Atlantis/Ultimo. Shocker then tried a tope suicida but hit Garza who got angry and kicked Shocker. Boy that never went anywhere. Rudos then triple teamed Strongman and pinned him clean. Well... Atlantis had the ropes but it's not like Strongman would have been able to reach them anyways. Garza/Shocker argued afterwards.

AAA 11/18/09 in San Luis Potosi:

Aerostar, Laredo Kid, Súper Fly vs. Pasion Kristal, Polvo de Estrellas, Yuriko: OMG! FUERZA AEREA ON TV! Wanna hear something even wackier than that??? Only 4 out of 6 matches from this show aired! They were actually picked to air over the other two matches!!! Of course the other two matches must have stunk b/c this wasn't anything special. Aero Star got in his obligatory two insane dives where he looked to destroy his tailbone each time and made me shake my head in disgust that he tries so hard and it means nothing in the end. Most of the match was edited down with only the big spots left. Laredo Kid used a sloppy Spanish Fly on Yuriko to get the win.

Alex Koslov & Ozz vs. El Elegido & Rocky Romero: Fun match. Koslov/Romero love working together and I promise that won't lead to any joke about the homoerotic youtube videos they do together. Romero was funny when he put on Koslov's hat and made fun of his dance. Poor Ozz had to try his best with Elegido but they were really only involved 20-25% of the match anyways. Romero pinned Koslov clean.

Dr. Wagner Jr., Electroshock, Silver King vs. Chessman, Teddy Hart, Zorro: Brawl brawl brawl. What else can you say? It did have two spectacular moments though - the first being Teddy Hart doing an incredible moonsault senton off the top rope in the middle of the ring and the second being the finish where Chessman was launched over the top rope and naturally overshot the table at ringside which must have broken his tailbone. Just vicious. He got stretchered and attacked while he was on the stretcher.

El Mesías, La Parka Jr., Marco Corleone vs. Cibernético, Joe Lider, Nicho el Millionario: These same six guys had an excellent match the month before in Xalapa but this was not that match. Mesias/Ciber had a decent finishing exchange but otherwise nothing memorable outside of Corleone climbing the lighting stand and having to wait a long time for Joe Lider to walk over and take the flying clothesline.

AAA 11/20/09 in Orizaba:

Mascarita Divina, Mini Charly Manson, Octagoncito vs. Mini Abismo Negro, Mini Histeria, Mini Psicosis: Fun match but not on the level of their previous TV appearence. In one of the most annoying edits of all time they showed a replay of a spot while Divina was doing his springboard Dragon Rana to the floor. REALLY?!?!?!?!!? Ugh. Mini Charly got pinned clean to set up the big mini's title match at Guerra De Titanes.

Cinthia Moreno, Fabi Apache, Mari Apache vs. Jennifer Blake, Rain, Sexy Star: Can't remember anything about this outside of Koslov getting involved in the finish.

El Elegido & Rocky Romero vs. Alex Koslov & Ozz: Another fun match from these four. Elegido and Ozz got to do more than the SLP match. At one point Elegido launched Romero over the top onto both rudos. Elegido took out Ozz with a tope suicida and then Koslov low blowed Romero and thought he won but Piero gave the match to the tecnicos.

Dr. Wagner Jr., Electroshock, Silver King vs. Chessman, Teddy Hart, Zorro: Much like the SLP taping this was just a brawl. Chessman was perfectly fine after that scary bump only two days later. I am not surprised. I'm pretty sure he thinks if he misses a single show he'll be demoted to Aero Star one TV taping per two months level. It was funny seeing Wagner afraid to take Teddy's offense and hiding his face when Zorro went for his slingshot dropkick in the corner. Wagner is the prototypical "I'll get in all my spots on you but make your stuff look awful in return" wrestler. For the first time in ages Silver King did his assisted moonsault dive and it was Electro assisting him. Last time they teamed up for that spot? The infamous Electro Shock/Bronco dual debut at Arena Mexico! Obscure trivia: La Parka was their partner!

El Mesías, Latin Lover, Marco Corleone vs. Joe Lider, Konnan, Nicho el Millionario: Watching Konnan is so sad. He just stood in the corner and waiting for the Hermandad to bring the tecnicos over so he could hit them. Either than or he'd lock a submission on and lay on the ground which to him probably means he's "stretching" his opponent and he'd explain it to Dave as saying he was working the mat. Yep. That's what it was. He couldn't even take Corleone's big punch properly. So naturally this match was awful. Lider took a pretty wicked bump to the floor off a rather simple over-the-top spot with Latin Lover and then he ate Corleone's clothesline off the lighting rig. Two weeks in a row? Latin pinned Nicho to win the match.

IWRG 11/19/09:

Gemelo Fantastico I & Gemelo Fantastico II vs. Keshin Black & Menfis: Menfis is the prototypical IWRG booked gimmick. Shows up out of nowhere... gets placed in low tag matches like this and random trios matches up top to be a filler rudo... and then disappears as if he was never around. At least take his mask if you're gonna have him show up! Odds are we'll never find out who he was. It was nice to see the Gemelos back in action and they looked like a really solid team here. They carried the rudos big time and then murdered them when it was time to put them away. Really liked the catapult into two feet to the face spot.

Bushi & Freelance vs. Avisman & Hijo del Signo: Really enjoyed this. Just a simple tag with four guys who are feuding. Freelance looked tremendous but saying that would be like saying the sky is blue. Bushi is a rare case of a Japanese guy who is in Mexico to actually work hard and try and improve so I can always appreciate that. Avisman gave Freelance a tombstone to end the match.

Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro vs. Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro: I enjoy brawling as much as the next guy... okay maybe not so much compared to the next guy but I can deal with matches that are just brawls if they lead somewhere and the crowd is red hot for the brawling. This match just didn't do it for me. Too much aimless brawling with lots of predictable moments. Never slowed down like I thought it might since I love watching these guys in one-on-one battles rather than three-on-one. Terry's team tore apart AK-47's shoulder to the point he had to leave any get it taped up. In the process his two partners made a comeback and did dual tope suicidas (with Fierro crashing and burning like a motherfucker) which of course left 911 all alone with Black Terry. HMMMM... Black Terry vs 911? Black Terry will win. Black Terry with one hand tied behind his back vs 911? Black Terry will win. Black Terry vs 911 with only one good arm? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? 911 got destroyed. This would have been a great way to split the Oficiales up with 911 being mad at them for abandoning him at the end but nobody wants to see the Oficiales ever split up.

Angelico, Hijo del Lizmark, Ultramán Jr. vs. Gringo Loco, Máscara Año 2000 Jr., Tóxico: Strangely passable match. I've certainly seen much worse and expected way less. Gringo Loco was really good eating Angelico's offense and keeping the rudo team interesting. Lizmark Jr. even brought his working boots and didn't just stand on the apron all match long like he does in the few PdM matches I've seen. He took a low blow from MA2K Jr. to lose the match for his team.

Solid enough show.

Early November '09 Lucha

CMLL 11/3/09 @ Arena Mexico (11/7/09 C3):

Pegasso, Rey Cometa, Tigre Blanco vs. Hooligan, Pólvora, René Guajardo Jr.: The only thing that needs to be said about this match...

DIVE. OF. THE. DECADE.

My good friend and someone I respect very much Steve 'Dr. Lucha' Sims was on F4D a few days after I uploaded this to youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUghFNMYwIE) and his reaction (besides being impressed) was that someone would come up with something to top this a week later in the never-ending quest of 'top this' in the world of Lucha Libre. But by now I feel completely vindicated in rightfully dubbing this the Dive of the Decade.

1. Nobody has yet to be able to copy the dive.
2. Rey Cometa only managed to successfully hit the dive one more time after this before retiring it permanently after almost hurting himself bad the third time.*
(* -> He tried to bust it out on the 2/26/10 Arena Mexico show but ended up doing it very slowly and using his hands to "cheat")

So the bottom line... that was your Dive of the Decade! As for the match? It was very good. Not only did Rey Cometa provide one of my favorite highlights ever but he also wrestled a spectacular match especially when against Hooligan.

Flash, Metro, Stuka Jr. vs. Euforia, Shigeo Okumura, Vangelis: Standard match. I like the work with Stuka and Euforia along with Flash/Euforia but this was nothing memorable.

Mephisto vs. Tetsuya Naito: Mephisto opened quick with a tope suicida but then Naito took over for the rest of the match. I wished they could be magically transported to Japan b/c then Naito would have actually cared and worked a good match. Instead they kept fighting in Arena Mexico where Naito just takes a vacation and all he did were his silly poses and other stalling tactics. Remember when foreigners used to work hard when they came to Mexico? Yeah... those days are over, especially in CMLL. Okumura and Yujiro ran in for the DQ.

Máscara Dorada, Místico, Volador Jr. vs. Ephesto, Felino, Negro Casas: Too short for my liking but okay for what it was. Typical format of rudos in control early, tecnico comeback and then they all got their exchanges in during the third fall. Dorada kept chasing Negro around which was the first hint of their upcoming feud. Negro ended up low blowing him for the loss.

CMLL 11/6/09 @ Arena Mexico:

Rare five match show, only the opener didn't air anywhere b/c the tercera aired on both TDN and the regular Galavision show.

Eléctrico, Mascarita Dorada, Pequeño Olímpico vs. Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Violencia, Pierrothito: This was really good! They all came out working hard, especially Mascarita Dorada and Electrico. Crowd was really into it and the third fall was just absolutely spectacular! Must-see!

Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, Sagrado vs. Dragon Rojo Jr., Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca: Obviously it couldn't follow the previous match but it's not like they tried. I honestly expected way more but they worked it like a Sunday Arena Coliseo match. Poor Quemonito took Sangre/Rojo's double dropkick off the top.:( Third fall had lots of back-and-forth stuff but nothing overly creative or exciting. Sangre did use his rare big splash off the second rope to the floor on Sagrado and he tried to protect Sagrado so much that I think he hurt his knees on the landing. *L* Was NOT surprised to see this random tecnico team win clean over the established rudo trio. Not at all.

Mephisto, Terrible, Texano Jr. vs. Ray Mendoza Jr., Tetsuya Naito, Yujiro: Not so good. No Limit have gone so progressively worse since they first showed up. I thought this new feud would bring them around but this first match didn't show any signs of it. Mendoza really stuck out like a sore thumb and doesn't belong in this feud at all. It still boggles the mind that the son of one of the most iconic Mexican wrestlers ever is the generic guy that teams with foreigners and invaders.

Atlantis, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero vs. Brazo de Plata, La Sombra, Shocker: Complete mail-in job. Did everyone think this was an FSE/52MX taping except the mini's? Porky was already stale in only his second appearence. Sombra looked great as usual. Rudos won clean so this should have ended Porky's return to CMLL but alas... it's almost July and he's still around.

CMLL 11/9/09 @ Arena Puebla:

Euforia, Pólvora, Virus vs. Fabián el Gitano, Horus, Metro: This was one of THOSE nights for poor Horus. He blew his first spot of the match, barely hit his second spot of the match and then went for his step on the second rope plancha into an armdrag on the floor and Polvora was in completely the wrong position so Horus took a NASTY spill onto his shoulder/face. I (and the announcers for that matter) was shocked he continued the match. Rudos really laid into him extra hard with slaps and Polvora destroyed him with the inverted power bomb off the top for the win.

Barbaro I & Fuerza Chicana vs. Milenium & Tigre Rojo: This was Milenium's debut and it's a good thing he changed the spelling of his name or I would have sued! Sadly his night went much like Horus' night. He blew his first spot of the match and then slipped on the second one as well. Fuerza Chicana wasn't having any of that and just flung him outside. He didn't do much of anything the rest of the match except a big running somersault plancha near the end. Barbaro I in his second TV appearence looked as good as he did the first time. Hopefully he gets some more TV matches and a chance to work with the CMLL guys down the road.

Arkangel de la Muerte, Hooligan, Inquisidor vs. Guerrero Maya Jr., Molotov, Starman: Pretty fun match thanks to the rudos being fantastic bump machines for even the two lazy tecnicos (that'd be Starman/Molotov). Inquisador won the match with his Electric Chair Driver variation which always looks brutal.

Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, Valiente vs. Dragon Rojo Jr., Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca: Valiente replaced Sagrado and you had almost the exact same match/level of work from Friday's Arena Mexico match. Total mail-in job.

Brazo de Plata, Héctor Garza, Volador Jr. vs. Atlantis, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero: Rinse, repeat. This was Friday's match all over again with Porky having different partners who do the same thing anyhow. Only change was Porky's team went over clean.

IWRG 10/29/09:

Maldito Jr. & Samoa vs. Mascara Magnifica & Pendulo: Love the rudos. They looked really good here and have only gotten better since. Tecnicos are pretty low on the talent scale when it comes to IWRG tecs but they were just fine here. Enjoyable match.

Avisman, El Hijo del Diablo, Gringo Loco vs. Bushi, Chico Che, Suicida: Rudos were just starting to hit their stride as a team and were great here. Tecnicos... not so much so but they hung in there. Chico Che looked the best of the three which shocked me.

Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro vs. Trauma I, Trauma II, Ultramán Jr.: Excatly what you'd expect from this crew with Ultraman Jr. tossed in to show you what an average wrestler is compared to five professionals. Loved the matwork. Match kinda fell off the rails in the third fall but I'm just going to blame Ultraman Jr. for it.

Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro, Super Porky vs. Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan, Tóxico: FUCKING PORKY! HE'S ON ALL MY DVD'S IN THIS TIME PERIOD! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! At least he had partners to balance his shitty work out here unlike on the CMLL shows. So I give this match a thumbs up for the hard work of the Oficiales and rudos.

Very good show. Highly reccomended!

IWRG 11/5/09:

This entire show was the Ruleta De La Muerte that Cubsfan and I were marking out over via twitter when it originally occured. Let me just sum up this show by saying it was far more interesting on twitter.:) None of the matches really worked for me and the tournament just seemed thrown together for no reason at all. Case in point: Arlequin Negro was making his debut... in a RULETA DE LA MUERTE. Right there that takes away any importance the show may have had. But you also had shitty guys like Menfis and Miss Gaviota involved which made it even worse. The best match was of course the final with Chico Che vs Gringo Loco but even that had some really awful moments and no drama at all. Major fail.

Catching up October '09 Lucha...

CMLL 10/16/09 @ Arena Mexico:

A full show made various TV shows!

Molotov/Starman vs Artillero/Super Comando: Excellent way to open the show. The tecnico team has shown in the past they can be lazy at times but they were trying hard here and the rudos always work hard. Crowd got into the match near the end and they had a nice little finishing sequence put together. The short TDN run was worth it for matches like this.

Estrella Magica/Lluvia/Marcela vs Hiroka/La Amapola/Princesa Sujei: Can't remember much about this so it clearly didn't stand out in any way. I do remember Estrella Magica trying her little half-moonsaultish dive to the floor and the rudas trying to catch her but failing miserably. Such is the CMLL women's division...

El Hijo Del Fantasma/Stuka Jr./Valiente vs Poder Mexica: Excellent match. You really can't go wrong with this crew and these guys had the extra motivation of knowing they'd be heading to a revenge match the following week. The Valiente/Rojo feud was the center of attention but everyone had their chance to shine. Rudos got DQ'ed and stole Valiente's mask post-match.

Volador Jr. vs Averno - Lightning Match: Exactly what you'd expect. Volador got in his trademark moves and Averno was only there to catch and wait for the part of the match where he got to tear at Volador's mask. Volador won to set up the title match the following week.

Mistico/Shocker/Strongman vs Atlantis/Negro Casas/Ultimo Guerrero: Mainly the Strongman show as the rudos were bumping all over for his sloppy moves. I don't really get it though b/c the idea is to push him as something DIFFERENT. So why have him do moves like fancy armdrags and planchas off the turnbuckles? I get that you want the crowd to be impressed but look at Giant Silva. He did his usual shtick for months before he began trying to do things like planchas off the apron. If you blow your load in the first month you are in - what's left for the crowd to be amazed by?

Black Warrior vs Yujiro - Hair vs Hair: Oh my god. Fucking awful. I knew Warrior didn't care any more by this point but he really drives the point home with his performance in this match. He just wanted to get his head shaved and go spend his dough on weed. So sad for a guy who used to be so talented. Crowd totally didn't see the finish coming because it was so lame. Warrior didn't even act like the loss meant anything so I don't think this even accomplished anything for Yujiro. A win over Maximo may have meant more.

CMLL 10/20/09 (10/24/09 on C3):

It should be noted that NOBODY came to see this show. I'd be stunned if more than 600-800 fans were in the building. The floor seats were virutally empty outside of the first 3-4 rows on each side and every time they did a longshot it appeared the bleachers were completely deserted outside of the usual tecnico supporters section. Pretty sad and even sadder is the wrestlers worked to the level of the crowd. They treated it like a nothing show and just wanted out.

Astro Boy/Guerrero Maya Jr./Sensei vs Dr. X/Hooligan/Nitro: Average opener. I've certainly seen better. Dr. X and Nitro really drag down any Tuereg matches they are involved in. Both are clearly out of shape and their bodies are wearing down. At least the actual team went over here which made sense.

Bracito De Oro/Electrico/Mascarita Dorada vs Pequeno Nitro/Pequeno Warrior/Pierrothito: As I noted above... these guys just wanted to go home. The entire match lasted 6 or 7 minutes. Third fall didn't appear edited at all and just had the dives and the finish within a minute. Even Dorada who always works hard didn't appear to be breaking a sweat here.

La Sombra/Mascara Dorada/Toscano vs Felino/Heavy Metal/Virus: This was the last chance to save the show and no dice. Dorada had a somewhat decent exchange with the rudos but once again these guys just wanted to go home. Sadly Dorada and Felino didn't make it as the planned finish went all wrong. They tried the old Mascara Magica/Felino deal where Dorada did a headstand and Felino caught him for a Splash Mountain off the top rope but he lost control of Dorada and they both tumbled to the floor with Dorada smacking his head on the apron and Felino landing awkwardly on his neck. They both lay there dead. Felino actually seemed more stunned than hurt but Dorada was clearly in pain. To their credit the other four wrestlers improvised a finish very nicely. Both guys got stretchered out.

Averno/Mephisto/Efesto vs Ray Mendoza Jr./Yujiro/Naito: A worst match of the year candidate. I still want an explanation of why the son of a legendary Mexican wrestler is always teaming with foreigners.

CMLL 10/23/09 @ Arena Mexico:

Women's tag opener did not air anywhere. Writing that just brings tears of joy to my eyes...

Bam Bam vs Pequeno Damian 666 - Lightning Match: Sadly this was joined in progress but what aired was awesome. Damian lept off the top into two feet from Bam Bam who then did his guillotine legdrop as Damian hung in the ropes except TO THE FLOOR! AWESOME! Then came one of the best spots of the year where Bam Bam tried an asai moonsault dive and Peq Damian just picked up his feet causing Bam Bam to bounce into the front row! Gave me fun flashbacks to the Astro Boy/Ramstein greatest spot ever! Clearly Bam Bam was dead so Peq Damian rolled him inside and gave him the J-Driller just to make sure. The reaction of the rudo fans in the front row was hilarious.

El Hijo Del Fantasma/Stuka Jr./Valiente vs Poder Mexica: AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWESOME! I cannot believe CMLL didn't air this on TV. Well... actually I can. THIS is how you do a revenge match. You don't start with matwork or rudo brawling... you send the guys out to kill each other! The tecnicos attacked the rudos during their entrance and threw them off the stairs! Then Stuka/Fantasma did dual dives off the stage as Valiente gave Dragon Rojo a rana on the ramp! YES! MORE MORE MORE! So then Valiente tossed Rojo into the ring and the other two tecnicos beat up Azteca and Misterioso until they tossed them off the ramp and hit them with dual somersault planchas from the ramp! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! Valiente then completely fucked things up and got pinned clean by Dragon Rojo. Hot first fall! Crowd was really into by this point and the chants were louder here than for anything else on the show. Second fall was mostly just Valiente/Rojo stuff with the rudo running away and some mask ripping. The other tecnicos eventually got in just to hit more big dives and just when it looked like Valiente had things wrapped up... Rojo dropkicked him in the back as he tried a springboard and got the win. *standing ovation*

Blue Panther/Hector Garza/Sagrado vs Okumura/Yujiro/Naito: Another two fall match and a decent one too. Couldn't touch the previous match and was a definite comedown for the crowd so they should have reversed the order. Hindsight is 20/20 though. I thought Sagrado's performance was especially excellent but Garza was no slouch. Rudos got DQ'ed for a low blow on Garza. I guess they changed their minds after this b/c the feud switched over to Texano/Terrible.

Volador Jr. vs Averno - NWA Middleweight Title Bout: Excellent match! Much better than I originally remembered. First two falls aired in full. Third fall had a big chunk edited out but if you have the 3ra Caida DVD you can see almost everything you missed which looked really good. Some fantastic nearfalls and great dives from both guys. Finish was fun with Averno killing Volador dead with three straight Devil Wings. Crowd threw a bunch of coins into the ring afterwards.

Mistico/Shocker/Strongman vs Atlantis/Negro Casas/Ultimo Guerrero: Same deal as the previous week except more focus on Strongman vs Ultimo after last week's low blow finish. Mistico drove Negro Casas into the crowd with a bullet tope suicida in the third fall and a fan seemed to get hurt. Shocker and Strongman went over and did their dual pose to end the show.

CMLL 10/27/09 (10/31/09 on C3):

Leono/Metalico/Tony Rivera vs Caligula/Messala/Hooligan: Pure laziness. I can expect that from this tecnico crew but the rudos should be ashamed of themselves. Los Romanos mailed it in so much that they didn't even bust out their usual double team moves.

Fabian El Gitano/Flash/Rouge vs Dr. X/Skandalo/Vangelis: Flash was the only one motivated here. Weird match to pick to get motivated though since the crowd was boo'ing everyone here for their lack of effort and rightfully so. The rudos looked absolutely terrified every time Rouge did that move where he just runs at you and jumps as if not knowing what he is planning on doing...

Averno/Mephisto/Efesto vs Ray Mendoza Jr./Yujiro/Naito: A *little* better than the previous week but still absolutely horrific. I now know why the crowd here was only a bit better than the previous week.

Mistico/La Mascara/Volador Jr. vs Atlantis/Heavy Metal/Ultimo Guerrero: This was like usual main events where the rudos dominate early and the tecnicos come back to do their dives and then get all get exchanges against each rudo. Except this part skipped the exchanges and just had constant dives + a Mistico exchange with Ultimo Guerrero and Volador with Atlantis. Either they had another show to get to or just wanted to go home as fast as possible. Either way it annoyed me. Mistico went over Ultimo clean with La Mistica.

IWRG 10/8/09:

Jack & Miss Gaviota vs. Epidemia & Heavy Boy: Tecnicos were abysmal but the rudos held their own and had some interesting moves. I could do without Gaviota existing.

Eragon vs. Hijo del Signo: This wasn't as bad as I was led to believe. I enjoyed it and wouldn't be opposed to random singles matches weekly on IWRG TV. (I will eat those words before I finish typing this update)

Bushi, Exodia, Hombre Bala Jr. vs. Arlequin Amarillo, Arlequin Rojo, Gringo Loco: Fun match! Tecnicos were all trying stuff they were incapable of pulling off and I love stuff like that!:D All three rudos were tremendous at trying to catch the ridiculous moves and making sure the tecnicos didn't completely die on wacky dives and moves off the top. Bala Jr. impressed me enough to want to see more of him but I think he just disappeared after his two week run. Both Exodia and Loco screwed up dives in the third fall although I think the ropes were messed up.

Barba Roja, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr. vs. Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro: AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWESOME! I seriously think the pirates have some issue with police officers b/c they destroyed the Oficiales as bad as I've seen them get destroyed. Words wouldn't do this match justice. Third fall ended up as a handicap situation with AK-47 being taken to the back for medical attention on his arm. Needless to say it was total destruction. Finish was BRUTAL. God bless IWRG!

IWRG 10/22/09:

Exodia vs. La Rata: ... Ugh. Told you I'd eat my words. I don't know where this match came from but I wish it would have never occured. Exodia isn't even good enough to be working tag matches let alone singles matches against a pretty much known guy who lies about being a former National Welterweight Champion! Nothing to see here.

El Hijo del Diablo & Gringo Loco vs. Pendulo & Star Boy: Barely better than the previous match. What happened this week? All the regular were working their real jobs?

Black Terry, Pirata Morgan, Tóxico vs. Brazo de Plata, Chico Che, Suicida: Would have been better without the immobile Porky and Pirata. Segura/Terry working the mat was really great. Chico Che almost killed himself on a botched ringpost tope suicida in the first fall. He bled a lot in the second fall but the match was a giant bore. Just guys stumbling around doing much of nothing. Morgan low blowed Porky for the win. Appropriate ending.

Flor Metalica vs. Atsuko Emoto [hair]: I have so many mean things to say about everyone involved in this match but I will bite my tongue. Plus I want to go watch Hawks/Flyers.

CMLL 10/12/09 + 10/1309 & IWRG 9/24/09

CMLL Puebla 10/12/09:

Very angry they didn't air the Tzuki match! It was his last official CMLL appearence.:( This week's show actually marked a sad day for Puebla fans as it was the first time the show got chopped down to 1:30 which eventually became rather common...

Diamante/Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Caligula/Messala: First fall was cut right to the finish so not much to say. Diamante looked good in his exchange but GMJr was having an off night. The rudos were tremendous as usual. An old fan almost got killed during the double tope suicidas in the third fall. Nice finishing sequence. Tecnicos get the win. Not as good as it could have been w/o first fall being edited down.

Strongman/Mistico/Sombra vs Peste Negra: Comedy. You expected something else? At least the rudos were hilarious running away from Strongman who needs to stop using the screaming pose so many times per match. It's funny 2 or 3 times but he must have done it like 8 times in this match. I should mention the pre-match was nuts with everyone in the building running to ringside to get a picture with Strongman and security was nowhere in sight as he was being swarmed. Some father even handed his kid to Strongman for a photo. WHO WOULD HAND THEIR CHILD TO SOMETHING THAT LOOKS LIKE THAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Finish was VERY weird as Niebla took his mask off and tossed it to Strongman for the DQ... or so he thought. Strongman argued that he didn't touch Niebla's mask and even though Strongman doesn't speak a word of Spanish he managed to convince the refs he was telling the truth and they raised his hand.

Reyes Del Aire: I can't believe CMLL took one of the best matches of the year and just stuck it on a random Arena Puebla show. Even though it was pretty much the guys you'd expect outside of Texano and Black Warrior - clearly the wrestlers weren't going to go all out in front of a half-full Arena Puebla. This was worked exactly like a random Torneo Cibernetico on a Sunday Coliseo show would be. It was far too generic with everyone pairing off to do exchanges, dives by everyone and then rapid fire eliminations. It also annoyed me that even though it was the REYES DEL AIRE - Texano and Black Warrior outlasted guys like Valiente, Flash and Mascara Dorada. Actually reminded me of the 2006 Reyes Del Aire (the worst one of all-time) where not only was Loco Max actually involved - he even outlasted VALIENTE! Holy crap does anyone actually remember that match? ORO II! DANGER! NEUTRON! MASCARA PURPURA! It's like a who's who of WEHT queries! Anyways... finals came down to a tag match with Volador/La Mascara vs Averno/Mephisto. GO FIGURE. Volador pinned both rudos to win after La Mascara got eliminated. This was a win he really didn't need. I would have prefered a local flyers vs CMLL flyers match to crowd a new Rey Del Aire.

My question is: Are we not counting this as an official Reyes Del Aire? They had the fancy graphic and everything!

CMLL 10/13/09 (aired 10/17/09 on C3):

Delta/Metalico/Sensei vs Bronco/Escorpion/Puma King: FUCKING OLD MAN REFEREES! This was going along just fine until the rudos crotched Sensei on the ringpost in the second fall and for whatever reason the refs called a DQ! Ending the match in two straight falls! The same move that Misterioso uses in every match is somehow a DQ here! WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!?!?!?!?!? Reminds me of another show I watched recently but am not reviewing (b/c all the 52MX/FSE shows blend together way too much) - it had matches from the 10/11 Arena Mexico show including the segunda where for some reason after double dives both Polvora and Tony Rivera were left in the ring to fight. This happens in almost every Lucha Libre match I've ever seen. But for some reason... the refs wouldn't let them fight??? WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT? They stood in between them and forcefully pushed them out onto the apron until the other guys got back in the ring. Then when Polvora saw his partners being pinned the refs refused to let him get in the ring to make the save. I AM NOT JOKING! I'm convinced Polvora was getting Punk'd in this match.

Princesa Blanca vs Lady Apache (Mex Nat Women's Title): They screwed up a spot pretty badly about a minute into the first fall and Apache looked hurt so they rushed the finishes to the first two falls. She seemed okay by start of the third fall so the match improved but it's nothing worth going out of your way to see. Blanca retains.

Maximo/Rouge/Toscano vs Euforia/Okumura/Virus: Yeah, I'm wasting my time talking about THIS.

La Sombra/Mascara Dorada/Volador Jr. vs Efesto/El Mephisto/Texano Jr.: Awesome match! Rudos dominated early on but once the tecnicos took over it was just unreal stuff. The triple running somersault plancha looked so gorgeous with Dorada doing his Dorada Especial II and FLOATING IN THE AIR over his partners! UNREAL! Dorada was just a machine all match long to be honest. This was one of his most amazing performances yet and that's saying something! Rudos deserve so much credit for being able to keep up with the tecnicos and always be in the right place to take the big spots. Tons of awesome dives in the third fall and a super finish! Highly recommended match!

IWRG 9/24/09:

Imperio Azteca/Miss Gaviota vs ~BLACK THUNDER!/El Hijo Del Signo: What a waste of Black Thunder. He mainly only worked with Gaviota who is one of the worst wrestlers in North America along with Necro Butcher, half the WWE roster, most of FCW, El Signo, Villano III & Rouge. Imperio Azteca looked fun but was never seen again. At least he made an impression by doing a bullet tope suicida into the front row and landing right on top of the designated commisioner for the show. OOPS! The guy did NOT seem happy! Thunder used a wicked submission to end the second fall but went down along with his rudo buddy in the third fall.

Eragon/Jack vs Carta Brava Jr./Xibalba: How random. Sometimes random matches like this are fun. Other times... not so much. This was one of those times unfortunately.

Bushi/Exodia/Freelance vs Avisman/Gringo Loco/Toxico: MADNESS! MADNESS I SAY!!! Freelance/Avisman brawling. Tons of insane dives. Bushi looking the best I've seen him. Toxico shooting a fan in the face with his fire blowing thing. Gringo Loco eating flying spots as if he were a 10 year veteran. LOVED THIS! Well aside from Exodia doing about 15 spots where he got backdropped onto the apron. Is that the only way he knows to set up his next move? The dual dives with Freelance/Exodia were awesome to end the first fall. Toxico's tope suicida in the second fall was psychotic. Loved the finishing stuff between Freelance/Avisman. I might be motivated to watch more IWRG after this!

Chico Che/Rigo vs Arlequin Amarillo/Arlequin Rojo (Hairs vs Hairs): If you came into this expecting a total brawl full of blood and Chico Che throwing himself like a dart at the rudos... you got what you wanted. Awesome fucking match! IWRG is the only place in Mexico where you can see something like this now. CMLL doesn't do blood and AAA only does blood in hardcore matches and will never zoom in on the blood. TVC is certainly not afraid of a little blood as they did the extreme zoom-in as a bloody Rigo had his face ripped apart by Arlequin Amarillo. I approve! Reading about this match will not do it justice though - you need to see it for yourself. Good job by all four guys!

Some awful CMLL & IWRG

Not a good run of recently watched DVD's...

CMLL C3 10/3/09 (9/29/09 @ Arena Mexico): The opener was decent enough since it had Diamante, Bronco and Escorpion but the third fall only lasted one minute and didn't appear to be edited. Women followed and were abysmal. Then came the one match that looked good on paper but was mostly mailed in between the 2/3 of the future National Trios Champs and the Poder Mexica. I liked the finish though. Main event made me scratch my head since the entire two fall match was built around Atlantis and Heavy Metal not getting along with Ray Mendoza. Why? What do they have against him? Who could possibly think that'd be an angle that would draw fans? They ended up turning on him and it led nowhere.

CMLL Puebla 10/5/09: Opener had Akron's debut. He reminded me a lot of Bronco since he was tall and lanky. I was impressed with the stuff he did. Also always good to see Espiritu Maligno back on TV. Segunda was largely mailed in but I enjoyed watching Trueno work. He did a neat spot where he and Tiger Kid were on the apron and he jumped on Tiger Kid's back with his knees and then flipped into the ring for a rana on Inquisador. For guys looking to impress the six really didn't try harder than the guys in the next match which was... Angeles Celestiales vs Virus, Vangelis and Nosferatu. A nothing of a match and really disappointing. Main event was Strongman's Puebla debut and he did a lot of Strongman stuff. That's about it. Really bad show.

CMLL C3 10/10/09 (10/6/09 @ Arena Mexico): MORE WOMEN TO START! WHY?!?!?!?!?!? This was the debut of Negro's wife and she clearly wasn't trained before being thrown into the ring. You could tell just by the way she was selling and running the ropes. On the bright side for her both Star Fire and Seductora were in the match so nobody expected much anyways. What has happened to this division? Next up was the only good match of the night with the Tuereg and flying tecnicos. Last time we'd see Tigre Blanco in his mask on TV too. Rudos got DQ'ed for launching Pegasso over the top onto his teammates. (Note to Cubs if you're reading this: You have the wrong result listed) Semi-main and main event were completely worthless although I give the main event a pass only b/c Panther messed up a tope suicida and took a horrible fall to the floor before getting stretchered. Everyone was out of sorts after that occured.

CMLL 10/9/09 @ Arena Mexico: MORE WOMEN TO START! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! At least it was the better women but Lluvia and Zeuxis were still involved so it got dragged down when they got in the ring. Finish was a DQ for Lluvia's mask being torn off. She ain't a looker. Following that was Maximo vs Misterioso in a Lightning Match which completely defeats the purpose of that sort of match since they did nothing at all and the crowd was bored shitless. Especial was the match of the night. I was very impressed with everyone. It also helps that Quemonito was constantly involved in the action.;) Semi-main was also good but not as good as the previous match. It definitely had more highspots though as Dorada/Sombra were rocking it. The Volador/Averno feud continued and they threw challengers out afterwards. Main event was Strongman's debut which overshadowed the build for next week's Warrior/Yujiro match. I was impressed with Strongman at least getting the psychology of not selling lame strikes from the rudos except when they'd all team up on him or try to take out his legs. I remember when Groon XXX was in CMLL in 2005 he was immediatly selling in his debut match and taking big moves from the rudos which just totally ruined his aura.

IWRG 9/10/09: There couldn't have been more than 60 fans in attendance for this show. That says all that needs to be said about what running a Villano III vs Sangre Chicana feud will do for your promotion. Opening two matches were decent. Turbo wasn't exactly on fire for his rare IWRG appearence but the other guys were alright. Freelance vs Avisman wasn't balls out awesome b/c they were saving up for the following week (which never made DVD but you can see the clip of the finish on youtube which is DISGUSTING) but the match was at least enjoyable. Final two matches were brutal. Blasfemia in a semi-main event? Masada and Pirata Morgan as your main event rudos? PASS.

DTU 'Descontrol' 7/11/09: This was one of the NOT GOOD DTU shows where they focused more on the hardcore shit and every match had something dumber than the next. It still always cracks me up when the wrestlers are so afraid of the barbed wire ropes but later in the match will hit them without even selling b/c they forget which ropes they are running into. There was a tag with Super Fly/Laredo Kid where Super Fly turned on Laredo and helped in his beatdown. So his rudo was completed outside of AAA and never even stuck. Awesome! The final two matches were horrible.

~RANDOMNESS!

As usual I fell behind and watched way more shows than I care to actually go through and comment on one-by-one so instead I'm just going to start discussing random things in a random order. Sound good? Let's get started...

- CMLL 'Homenaje a Dos Leyendas' 2010: Show started off on a good note with two solid opening matches that were quick and to the point. One of them put over the team that should be the trios champs and the other put over three guys CMLL wants to be stars down the road. The middle of the show was just piss fucking poor though. Two matches that had no right being on a megashow and didn't deliver anything enjoyable outside of Quemonito kissing Rey Bucanero. Thankfully the main event delivered BIG TIME. One of my favorite matches of the year with everyone going all out. The story in the middle with Mistico/Felino messing with each other was tremendous and all the nearfalls between Sombra/Felino were epic. Loved the finish. A must-see match. I give the show a thumbs up just for the main event alone.

- Leono/Tigre Blanco vs Apocalipsis/Ramstein (10/2/09 @ Arena Mexico): This aired on TDN and I loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooved it! I'm probably the only person who could possibly enjoy this match though. Four guys who will never move up from this position and have been around forever and thus know exactly what to do when opening up Arena Mexico. They didn't go all out with insane spots trying to steal the show b/c they know their limitations. Instead they just worked a smart match with everyone getting their moments to shine and building to a nice finish. What I really enjoyed was the contrast in the second fall between these guys and some of the recent similar second falls I've seen with newer undercarders (Durango Kid, Tiger Kid, Puma King, Bronco, etc.). The newer guys are all about ending the fall as quick as possible and getting in their big moves. There's no build to the moves - they just want to get them all in since it'll be their only chance in the match to do stuff. The veteran rudos here let the tecnicos shine for a bit and then took over but didn't rush their stuff. They beat them down, they threw them around outside the ring including launching Tigre Blanco into the ringpost, Ramstein speared Leono on the ramp and THEN they teamed up to hit tag team finishers on each tecnico. It was so simple and yet brilliant. Sometimes it really bothers me when the tecnicos will dominate an entire fall and then (random names used) Trueno will just enter the ring and walk right into Bronco's finishing suplex for the loss. How can one move put someone away without any sort of damage being inflicted beforehand? Highly reccomended match!

- Arena Coliseo de Monterrey 8/19/08 & 8/24/08: This DVD is available here (http://www.slambamjam.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SDC&Product_Code=WDVD4904&Category_Code=ACDMZ). 3 matches and all of them range from good to excellent. I know... it's shocking. Totally expected to just FF through the entire DVD for the most part. The thing I really can't get over is that I've been watching Herodes do his thing since the 80's. In his prime he was an excellent big man who took the best rolling bumps I've ever seen. But when these shows were filmed he was almost 60 years old and had serious back issues. He didn't let that stop him though and worked really hard and even used... A TOPE SUICIDA! CHACHO HERODES! WITH A TOPE SUICIDA! I've *never* seen him do that before in his career and on this random night he decides to bust one out! Unreal.

- Sombra/Valiente/Volador Jr. vs Terrible/Texano Jr./Mephisto (10/2/09 @ Arena Mexico): Total spotfest! Like a billion dives including the first ever TV appearence of the triple moonsault dive (w/ Sombra going over the ringpost). Sagrado/Sombra/Volador were the first to do this spot back in September 2007 but it never aired on TV. SuperLuchas photos had to do. I'm stunned it took this long for it to get busted out again. Scary moment at the end of the match where Sombra did the Aero Star Special and completely missed Texano. I'm stunned he didn't get seriously hurt and even crazier - he didn't miss a single booking!

- Dynamic Black/Fly Star vs Alan Xtreme/Eterno (5/16/10 @ Arena Mexico): To be honest lots of the recent undercard stuff from Naucalpan has been disappointing. This may have finally broken that trend. Awesome match with a ton of creative spots and the insane dives we've come to expect from this crew. Check it out on BTJr's youtube page!

- If you know me you should know I've been really down on AAA lately but I did come across some decent stuff recently. The Atomic Boy/Laredo Kid/Gato Eveready vs Brazo/Decnis/Billy Boy match from 4/6/10 was fantastic. In 9 days on Galavision U.S. there will be a show with Aero Star/Relampago vs Billy Boy/Decnis which was pretty fun and also a six man tag with the usual cruisers along with Daniels mixed in and I thought that was decent as well.

- Bushi/Chico Che/Freelance vs Avisman/Brandon/Gringo Loco (9/3/09 @ Arena Naucalpan): I don't know who Brandon was but odds are he was a last minute sub and was Halcon Salvaje under the hood. I don't know why I just said that. Anyways... another good match well worth checking out.

- Right now Mistico vs Volador Jr. needs to heat up or it will soon be surpassed by the CMLL vs Invaders deal for feud of the year. All the matches have been EXCELLENT (especially the Puebla stuff) and supposedly Sombra vs Psicosis coming up this weekend is great and has a hot angle afterwards. I cannot reccomend this feud enough even with the inclusion of Rayo and the Dinamitas. All the interaction with Quemonito and Cuije is just golden.

Tons more stuff I wanted to get to but I'm already tired of writing. I don't know how Cubs does what he does.

Two quick $hills for the same guy for different reasons:

1. Alfredo @ slambamjam.com for all your DVD needs!

2. Alfredo @ luchaworld.com with the Luchaworld Monthly for May! The cover is just spectacular! Kcidis outdid himself and that is my new cellphone background.

CMLL 9/1/09 & IWRG 8/27/09

That last post was my 100th! Yay or something!

CMLL 9/1/09:

Big crowd (heavy into the rudos) for the fan appreciation show.

Guerrero Maya Jr., Metálico, Tigre Blanco vs. Hooligan, Pólvora, Tiger Kid: Enjoyed this one. The Blanco/Polvora feud was focused on here so maybe we should have paid more attention to that fact when it came time to pick who would lose the mask match a month or so later. Guerrero Maya Jr. got to showcase his stuff here with the excellent catchers on the opposite side but ironically enough he got over the most after doing a tope over the top and almost piledriving himself on the floor! It looked really scary but he managed to continue the match including doing another tope suicida in the second fall which the crowd cheered for. Two fall match ending with a Polvora low blow.

Euforia, Nosferatu, Skándalo vs. Fabián el Gitano, Pegasso, Rey Cometa: Another good match with everyone working harder in front of the bigger crowd. Liked the first fall finish with Cometa missing his 450 and Pegasso getting his but Skandalo just waiting to dropkick him in the face. Second fall had dual dives by Pegasso/Cometa. Third fall was the tecnico showcase. Finish was neat as Cometa went for an asai moonsault but Euforia/Skandalo caught him (mostly just Euforia) and then dropped him on the apron. I would have marked out more except I saw this same spot on an FSE DVD I watched (but forgot to blog about) with Angel Azteca Jr. and it looked 100x cooler since Euforia caught him almost in the crowd and then threw him into the ringpost like a bullet. Rudos won.

Héctor Garza, Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara vs. Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto: Another round with these teams. Not as good as the week before but it had it's moments. Garza/Mephisto was heavily pushed with Garza getting the pinfall in the end and challenging for a singles match.

La Sombra, Místico, Volador Jr. vs. Felino, Mr. Niebla, Último Guerrero: Really couldn't tell who the tecnicos were here since the Super Sky Team worked like tecnicos but the crowd was 100% behind the rudos who still acted like rudos. This is the type of match that should have been done like the great 6/2/09 match with the same tecnicos vs La Peste Negra where the teams switched roles. Third fall had an awesome triple dive spot with the tecnicos as Sombra did a moonsault over the ringpost at the same time as Volador Jr. did a running somersault plancha and Mistico did a tope suicida.

Overall an enjoyable show but nothing worth going out of your way to see.

IWRG 8/27/09:

Star Boy/Miss Gaviota vs Carta Brava Jr./Vampiro Metalico: This was okay. I like Vampiro Metalico and really wish IWRG would have gave him a gimmick to run with. He carried Gaviota big time and I guess it's no coincidence that Gaviota looked the best she ever has. Fun match with a couple of neat submission finishes.

Bushi/Chico Che/Freelance vs Avisman/Fantasma De La Quebrada/Gringo Loco: Typical crazy IWRG midcard match. Freelance fucked up a rana in the first fall and his head BOUNCED off the mat. Doctors immediatly checked on him and he looked done for the night but... HE'S FREELANCE! So naturally he got up fine and even did a rana off the top to the floor which is insanity (the move itself + the fact he almost concussed himself doing it IN the ring). Rudos showed some nice teamwork which foreshadowed the Avisman/Gringo future pairing. Third fall had some psycho dives and eventually Freelance beat Avisman clean. Well worth checking out.

Terribles Cerebros vs Pirata Morgan Kids (EdM Trios Titles/DF Trios Titles): Really good match. Some excellent matwork early on and the match built fine from there. I thought the third fall in particular was outstanding. Terry got the win with his lungblower (aka everyone's finisher in IWRG).

The main event isn't worth my time. I fast forwarded through and saw a fork, lots of bleeding and Villano III laughing to really put over the HATRED he supposedly had for Chicana. There's a pro! Can't wait till I get to the IWRG shows where they put the youngsters over these guys. Oh wait... they don't? But... these are two professionals!

Lineups!

As always - via www.thecubsfan.com/cmll

CMLL (MON) 04/26 Arena Puebla
1) Tigre Rojo & Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Siki Ozama Jr. & Toro Bill Jr.

- I'm always in favor of seeing new blood so this should be fun and hopefully makes TV. Two excellent rudos to carry the rookie.

2) Metálico, Tigre Blanco, Tony Rivera vs Artillero, Mortiz, Súper Comando

- I guess this is where we find out what Mortiz is like when he can't use his Spanish Fly to the floor. Surely none of those tecnicos are taking it, let alone @ Arena Puebla in a match that may not make TV. This isn't Tijuana.

3) Ángel de Oro, Ángel de Plata, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Arkangel de la Muerte, Hooligan, Nitro

- Standard match. Trivia note: Nitro is the actual leader of the Rebeldes Tuereg, not Arkangel or Hooligan. Said so himself in an interview for TVC.

4) Blue Panther, Strong Man, Toscano vs Atlantis, Terrible, Último Guerrero

- Really hope this gets edited off TV but I fear it's setting up a future match so...

5) Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, La Sombra vs Gran Alebrije, Histeria II, Psicosis II

- This will be... AWESOME! I cannot wait to hopefully see this on TV. The ex-AAA guys will prove they can hang with the CMLL dudes. I guarantee it.

CMLL (TUE) 04/27 Arena Mexico
1) Horus & Metatrón vs Camorra & Disturbio

- And Horus is back where he belongs. I approve!

2) Diamante, Pegasso, Rey Cometa vs Arkangel de la Muerte, Loco Max, Skándalo

- FINALLY! NEW FUERZA AEREA! They teased this team a few months back but Rey Cometa got hurt and had to be replaced. But now... FINALLY! This will be fantastic. I refuse to even think otherwise.

3) Rush, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca, Virus

- One of these does not belong! But to be fair he'll only get better working with these rudos so might as well book matches like this where his partners will carry the bulk of the match and he can just come in for his trademark moves.

4) Blue Panther, La Sombra, Strong Man vs Atlantis, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero

- Probably gonna be by the numbers. Maybe the ex-AAA guys run-in here? They haven't attacked on Tuesday yet. Atlantis/Buca/Guerrero vs Monster/Maniaco/Psicosis next week? BOOK IT!

5) La Máscara vs Mephisto [NWA WELTER]

- Should be a decent match. With the Universal Title tournament coming up I'd expect to see a few title changes in the next little while as CMLL sorts out who they want involved and try to make it look different than it was last year.

IWRG (THU) 04/29 Arena Naucalpan
1) Dinamic Black vs Keshin Black

- Dynamic Black looked great in BTJr's latest upload so this should be fun.

2) Guizmo & Miss Gaviota vs Alan Extreme & Eterno

- OH NO. SHE'S BACK! BACK TO RUIN MY UNDERCARDS O'FUN!

3) Black Terry & Cerebro Negro vs Trauma I & Trauma II

- And the IWRG forum passes out in excitement. BTJr hinted at an upcoming IWRG school vs Navarro school feud so maybe this is where the seeds get planted.

4) Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro vs Bombero Infernal, Maldito Jr., Samot

- Oh yes - this will be quite fun!

5) Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Máscara Año 2000, Máscara Año 2000 Jr. vs Avisman, El Hijo del Diablo, Gringo Loco [EdM Trios, final]

- I just want Gringo Loco or Avisman to get the winning pin on MA2K. That would be tremendous. Team MA2K is clearly winning the belts though.

CMLL (FRI) 04/30 Arena Mexico
1) Leono & Starman vs Bronco & Inquisidor

- I swear Starman and Bronco started the whole mess of mask match challenges on Sunday and now it looks like they won't even be included!

2) Fuego & Metro vs Euforia & Raziel

- Clearly this is ending in a DQ with all four agreeing to be in the cage mask match o'doom. All four should be safe in the actual match though.

3) Dark Angel, Lady Apache, Luna Magica vs Hiroka, Mima Shimoda, Princesa Blanca

- Oh joy, Luna Magica is back to ruin matches. Sad thing is she will be a step up for this division compared to the awful rookies they have ruining matches currently. Shimoda is also back and that's no surprise since Mexico vs Japan starts up again next week.

4) Bracito de Oro vs Pequeño Warrior [mask]

- I don't see what all the controversy is. The result here seems pretty obvious if you look at the facts:

1. Bracito De Oro is old.
2. This is the biggest match Bracito De Oro will ever get.
3. Bracito De Oro has won all the matches leading up to this Friday.
4. CMLL is not going to unmask a guy who just lost his mask 5 years ago.

Pequeno Warrior is clearly winning the match and Bracito's mask.

5) Delta & Volador Jr. vs Héctor Garza & Pólvora [Gran Alternativa, final]

- I really think Delta is coming out the winner here but stranger things have happened. Polvora will always have the benefit of winning the bodybuilding contest which is Paco's pet project so his minions would want to please him by booking Polvora to win. Garza doesn't need the win though while Volador Jr. could clearly use this to show he is a top tecnico like Mistico. I'm gonna stick with my pick of Volador Jr./Delta and hope this ends up airing somewhat full on TV.

6) Strongman, Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, Místico vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Ultimo Guerrero, Shigeo Okumura, Taichi

- Fantastic! CMLL finally busts out the atomicos gimmick for their regular sized guys and stick a bunch of crap in the match! I think the last second change in match + position on the card indicates the tecnicos will win and the rudos will break-up after losing in two straight falls. This should set up something along the lines of Dragon Rojo, Guerrero and Bucanero vs Tanihashi, Taichi and Okumura next week as Mexico vs Japan takes over Friday nights in May.

AAA TV (FRI) 04/30 Gimnasio Jose Maria Arteaga, Queretaro, Queretaro
1) Atomic Boy, Fabi Apache, Octagoncito vs Mini Abismo Negro, Rain, Tigre Cota

- Yes please! Atomic Boy looked fantastic on TV the other week and I can only imagine how great he'll look here working with those two rudos. This is a nice mix-and-match.

2) Aerostar & Relampago vs Billy Boy & Decnnis

- Well since the taping is being split to air over two weeks this will surely make TV and hopefully be given some time. The rudo team is amazing and I'm still not sold on Relampago but he has improved steadily in all his appearences so I'm not down on him. He needs a different look though. Looking forward to see what these guys do together.

3) Extreme Tiger, Jack Evans, Rocky Romero vs Alex Koslov, Christopher Daniels, Joe Lider

- I'm pretty sure much like Solar/Navarro, Romero and Koslov would be more than happy to spend the rest of their careers working opposite each other. Everyone has a natural opponent here so this will probably be good and end up more like three singles matches rather than a trios match. Still not totally in favor of randomly using Daniels instead of sticking with the regular talent.

4) Monster Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs Chessman, Hernandez, Kenzo Suzuki

- God at this point I just want the Clowns to lose to SOMEONE! They've actually gone past the point to where a loss would mean anything so if they're waiting for the big match to get the big pop for the big win... it ain't gonna happen. Might as well have Hernandez just kill them all here. Although it would please me if Konnan ended their winning streak since that's what I originally predicted would happen.

5) Dr. Wagner Jr., Octagón, Pimpinela Escarlata vs Electroshock, Silver King, Último Gladiador

- How's this for an interesting debate: Who's the best worker on the tecnico side? I'd take Octagon with Wagner third.

6) Cibernético, Heavy Metal, La Parka Jr. vs ?, LA Park, Zorro

- Vampiro? Meh. I could care less about anything here although a Metal vs Zorro singles match down the line would be... interesting.

CMLL (SUN) 05/02 Arena Mexico
1) Bengala, Metálico, Trueno vs Camorra, Cholo, Zayco

- Cesar will be very happy since he hates the rudo team.:)

2) Ángel Azteca Jr., Diamante, Fabián el Gitano vs Dr. X, Puma King, Tiger Kid

- Oooohhhhh I like this! Fabian and Dr. X will continue their feud and leave the other four to go wild and do all their fun spots! Looking forward to his! (hopefully it's as good as this past weekend's segunda that aired on 52MX)

3) Blue Panther, Metro, Sagrado vs Euforia, Vangelis, Virus

- Blue Panther working lower on an Arena Mexico card than Histeria, Psicosis and Alebrije. WOW. Makes sense though so I'm not complaining.

4) Brazo de Plata, La Sombra, Toscano vs El Alebrije, Histeria, Psicosis

- Probably won't be nearly as good as the Puebla match b/c of... well... obvious reasons. It'll be interesting to see who goes over. Guessing the indy guys cheat to beat Sombra.

5) Mistico vs Volador Jr.

- WOO-HOO! Might actually get to see a somewhat full match with these guys since it won't be Televisa slaughtering the editing.

IWRG (SUN) 05/02 Arena Naucalpan
1) Héros vs Imperial

- Want this on youtube! I'll see it one way or the other anyways.

2) Dinamic Black & Tonatiuh vs Alan Extreme & Comando Negro

- Tonatiwho??? I want to see this just to see what kind of wacky outfit he'll have and to see if we can figure out which rookie he was in the IWRG vs Queretaro Torneo from a few months back.

3) Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro vs Avisman, El Hijo del Diablo, Gringo Loco

- Ugh, they had to put this in the dead spot for TV! Curse you IWRG!

4) Black Terry, Chico Che, Jack vs Cerebro Negro, Maldito Jr., Samot

- Confusing booking. I guess we're all turning on Cerebro Negro again? Maybe Black Terry helps him out to set up a tag vs Maldito and Samot next week?

5) el Ángel, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Scorpio Jr. vs Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Universo 2000, Veneno

- YUCK!

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.

Lineups:

CMLL (MON) 04/12 Arena Puebla
1) Centauro de Fuego, Fuerza Chicana, Toro Bill Sr. vs Asturiano, Black Tiger, Crazy Black

- Nice mixing and matching here, should be good.

2) Ángel Azteca Jr., Ángel de Oro, Ángel de Plata vs Hooligan, Loco Max, Skándalo

- Always fun to see these teams work together. It's a bit surprising that Loco Max isn't growing his hair out, isn't it? He's due.

3) Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, La Sombra vs Shigeo Okumura, Taichi, Virus

- Taichi just keeps dropping on the cards even though this is a loaded card.

4) Brazo de Plata, Místico, Strong Man vs Averno, Terrible, Texano

- Poor Mistico. Hope he doesn't have any plans on screwing over his teammates b/c Strong Man will squash him and Porky will proceed to eat him.

5) Máscara Dorada vs Dragon Rojo Jr. [CMLL SL]

- Now this will be good! Hopefully we get to see it soon b/c I'm curious to see how Rojo does in a big singles match. I expect Dorada to retain but stranger things have happened.

CMLL (TUE) 04/13 Arena Mexico
1) Bengala & Principe vs Artillero & Súper Comando

- I really wish Bengala would make TV. All I know is he was trained by Pantera originally and has gotten good reviews.

2) Fabián el Gitano, Leono, Starman vs Durango Kid, Puma King, Tiger Kid

- More build to the upcoming cage match I would assume. Starman and Fabian are definitely two guys in my danger zone. I think we can officially narrow the match down to: Starman, Fabian El Gitano, Sensei, Molotov, Angel De Oro, Angel De Plata vs Puma King, Tiger Kid, Dr. X, Euforia, Nosferatu, Bronco OR Durango Kid. That's 12 guys and everyone who has been involved in the mask ripping/challenges thus far. Not sure if they remember Starman/Bronco's issue and might just insert Durango Kid after this match.

3) Bam Bam, Fantasy, Pequeño Olímpico vs Pequeño Damian 666, Pequeño Universo 2000, Pequeño Violencia

- Now I'm convinced there is a feud going on here that has slipped under the radar. Bam Bam vs Pequeno Damian seems like the issue. Upcoming title match?

4) Rush, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Euforia, Sangre Azteca, Vangelis

- Some interesting pairings here. Rush vs Vangelis seems like such a natural feud if you wanted to do a quick hair match but I don't think that's in the cards. Should be by the numbers.

5) Shocker, Strong Man, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Taichi, Último Guerrero

- Maybe CMLL is secretly hoping Strong Man will injure Taichi?

IWRG (THU) 04/15 Arena Naucalpan
1) Dragon Fly vs Dinamic Black

- Dragon Fly was probably involved in that IWRG rookies show I watched but I have no idea which one he was. Guess we'll find out if BTJr can upload the match.

2) Guerrero 2000 & Héros vs Comando Negro & Eterno

- Heros/Comando Negro are always great together so this should be fun.

3) el Ángel, Freelance, Suicida vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro

- Should be the usual good match.

4) Brazo de Plata, Brazo Metalico, Hijo del Brazo de Plata vs Hijo de Máscara Año 2000, Máscara Año 2000, Máscara Año 2000 Jr. and Chico Che, Ultramán Jr., Zatura and Bombero Infernal, Maldito Jr., Samoth [EdM Trios, semifinal]

- Oh my god... another fake MA2K kid. Just shoot me. Would really like to see Bombero's team win this but can't see the Brazos or TeaMA2K losing here.

CMLL (FRI) 04/16 Arena Mexico
1) Rayo Tapatío I & Rayo Tapatío II vs Apocalipsis & Bronco

- Rayos Tapatios on a Friday night show! That's certainly a rarity.

2) Bracito de Oro, Eléctrico, Shockercito vs Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Warrior, Pierrothito

- Holy shit... are we STILL delaying the inevitable? I don't know how many more combinations they can come up with at this point. Bracito either sits on Warrior or Warrior yanks his mask off. WE GET IT. FINISH IT PLEASE!

3) Diamante & La Sombra vs Blue Panther & Rey Cometa and Héctor Garza & Pólvora and La Máscara & Sensei and Atlantis & Inquisidor and Disturbio & Terrible and Cancerbero & Mephisto and Rey Bucanero & Semental [Gran Alternativa]

- See below.

4) Místico vs Felino

- This should be interesting on crowd reaction alone. Mistico was cheered big time this past Friday but it could be different against Felino who the crowd still cheers. I wouldn't be surprised to see Negro Casas get involved here somehow.

But of course the real main event on this night will be the much hyped Gran Alternativa. My favorite tournament of the year which is presumbly being done this early in the year to erase anyone's memories of last year's debacle where Semental was attacked by Okumura and Naito who went on to win the tournament for no reason at all in the low point of booking for the entire year. CMLL seems to have learned from their mistake this year and have been hyping a spectacular tournament to be split over three weeks with two seperate elimination rounds leading to a big final on Kids Day. Obviously I approve! Let's look at the teams entered and rate their chances:

Diamante & La Sombra: A 'C' level rookie teaming with an 'A+' level vet. Both guys have similar styles and will likely work well together. Chances: HIGH.

Blue Panther & Rey Cometa: An 'A' level vet teaming with a 'C' level "rookie". They teamed last year and went out in the first round. Based on the teams entered this year it would appear that may happen again. Still... I think this team could surprise some. Chances: MEDIUM.

Hector Garza & Polvora: An 'A+' level vet teaming with a 'B-' level rookie. The interesting thing here is obviously Garza was 100% tecnico until this past Friday. Now here he is teaming with a rudo. Que? This should clearly establish he won't be going out in the first round since the storyline will need to be played up a bit. Chances: HIGH.

La Mascara & Sensei: An 'A' level vet teaming with a 'D' level "rookie". Odd pairing here. La Mascara is always booked strong but tends to be the weak part of his team when booked high in trios matches. Sensei is really low on the depth chart and should be more focused on his Sunday feuds at the moment. La Mascara already went far in the first tournament of the year so this team shouldn't advance past the first round unless they get a really favorable match-up. Chances: LOW.

Atlantis & Inquisador: An 'A+' level vet teaming with a 'D-' level rookie. This will be the second year in a row Atlantis is being paired with a wrestler who rarely escapes the opening match even at Arena Coliseo. Gotta feel bad for the guy. Inquisador has looked alright in his few TV appearences but is clearly not a guy the promotion has any plans for at the moment so even advancing him past the first round would be a questionable decision. Chances: LOW.

Disturbio & Terrible: A 'D-' level rookie teaming with a 'B+' level vet. Even though Disturbio is the lowest ranked rookie in the tournament and Terrible doesn't have the star power the other vets have... I think this is the wild card team. Disturbio has family connections and Terrible makes the perfect partner appearence-wise. Disturbio has only made TV in Puebla though so it's hard to judge whether his ability is good enough to warrant a push. I just can't stop overlooking the family connections. Chances: MEDIUM.

Cancerbero & Mephisto: A 'C' level rookie teaming with an 'A' level vet. An interesting pairing. Cancerbero is currently in the position Mephisto was back in 2002 so the two will have much to discuss. They are both great catchers so keeping them around in the tournament would be beneficial to many of the tecnico teams. However it would seem odd to have Cancerbero win a tournament while Raziel keeps working alone lower on the card. Then again... Angel De Oro was briefly elevated last year. Chances: MEDIUM.

Rey Bucanero & Semental: A 'B+' level vet teaming with a 'D-' level rookie. Really pains me to say this but I can't see this team going far even though they are probably the best all-around pairing. Semental is a machine. He is what Ultimo Guerrero was in 1997. He'll be a star. It's just a matter of when. I'm not convinced this is his time although he'll have the best story going into the tournament after last year's debacle. Bucanero always gets treated like a second-rate guy so I can't see him going far either. I'd really love to see this be the surprise team that takes it all and it would set up a final that works (vs Shocker/Rouge) both in storyline and gives us the winner the promotion wants (Rouge). Chances: LOW.

So now I'll try to predict how the tournament will go although it still pains me to think back to how hard I tried to figure it out last year only for everything to be thrown into chaos when Semental got kicked out in favor of Naito.

Round 1:

Sombra/Diamante over Terrible/Disturbio
Mephisto/Cancerbero over Bucanero/Semental
Panther/Cometa over Atlantis/Inquisador
Garza/Polvora over La Mascara/Sensei

Semi-Finals:

Sombra/Diamante over Mephisto/Cancerbero
Garza/Polvora over Panther/Cometa

Final:

Garza/Polvora over Sombra/Diamante

It's not the result I want but it's the result I think will occur and will set up next week's tournament where I think Rouge and a partner will win. I mean... this is Rouge's tournament to lose. It's as simple as that. Sad but true. If the teams for next week get announced mid-week and Rouge is not included, I will clearly have to put up a new post and re-book the tournament. So to clarify...

Team I think will win: Garza/Polvora.
Team that may get a surprise win: Terrible/Disturbio.
Team I want to win: Bucanero/Semental.

Let's just pray no last minute substitutions for silly angles!

AAA TV (SAT) 04/17 Plaza de Toros la Concordia de Orizaba
1) Cuervo, Escoria, Espíritu vs Crazy Boy, Gato Eveready, Relampago

- Is Crazzy Boy still assembling the new Mexican Powers? He must be really picky. More bookings like this and I wonder how fast Crazzy will jump to the Perros. Other DTU guys are already there and he could do more of his style matches on those shows.

2) Jennifer Blade & Rain vs Fabi Apache & Mari Apache

- Don't care.

3) Extreme Tiger, Generico, Jack Evans vs Billy Boy, Decnnis, Ozz

- Should be the match of the show and hopefully the rudos are out to impress b/c a good match here might open certain people's eyes to their talent. Looking forward to this!

4) Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Sabu

- Holy hell this will be a mess. This is such a style clash it isn't funny. The people who edit TV will have their work cut out for them.

5) ?, La Parka Jr., Octagón vs Electroshock, Silver King, Último Gladiador

- Black Warrior? Pimpinela? Mr. Niebla? Human Tornado? A random gimmick with L.A. Park under the mask only to reveal himself halfway through the match and attack his teammates?

6) Cibernético, El Mesías, Heavy Metal vs Hernandez, Vampiro, Zorro

- I have no idea what to make of this clusterfuck. I guess Vamp is returning now that he and Konnan are still on good terms and Konnan is in charge. That should last till May. Maybe he can put Mesias out of action b/c we know that would mean much more than someone like Decnis doing it or the Psycho Circus being responsible. My god... it's 2010 and Konnan/Vamp are still trying to headline. I really gotta dig up the old WON's where Konnan would write in weekly complaining about Perro Aguayo/Cien Caras still headlining in 1995 and being all pissed about it.

CMLL (SUN) 04/18 Arena Mexico
1) Metálico & Trueno vs Cholo & Zayco

- Whoa that's low for Metalico. I fear Trueno will never go anywhere with that gimmick even though he seems to be quite talented and easily outclasses everyone else in this match.

2) Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Molotov vs Dr. X, Nitro, Raziel

- I presume more build for Molotov vs Dr. X here. Dr. X is another guy on my danger list when that cage match rolls around. The Delta/Raziel stuff here should be fantastic.

3) Fuego, Metro, Pegasso vs Arkangel de la Muerte, Euforia, Nosferatu

- Hey it's 1/2 the Arena Coliseo tag champs against seemingly the eternal #1 contenders for said belts! Have we even clarified if Fuego is still a champ or if he got stripped when he changed gimmicks? Actually, the title defense in December was post-name change so he should be okay. This is Pegasso's chance to stand out without Cometa around, let's see what he does with the opportunity.

4) Brazo de Plata, Máximo, Sagrado vs Ray Mendoza Jr., Shigeo Okumura, Taichi

- *yawn*

5) Shocker, Strong Man, Toscano vs Atlantis, Último Guerrero, Vangelis

- Might as well just finish the tercera and find another show nearby.

IWRG (SUN) 04/18 Arena Naucalpan
1) Héros vs Alan Extreme

- Looking forward to it!

2) Daga & Dinamic Black vs Comando Negro & Eterno

- And this!

3) Chico Che, Eragon, Jack vs Dr. Cerebro, Maldito Jr., Samoth

- When did Dr. Cerebro lose his hair last? Perhaps he's due for a match with Chico Che?

4) el Ángel, La Roca, Suicida vs Black Terry, Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Veneno

- This does not look good.

5) Canek & Scorpio Jr. vs Máscara Año 2000 Jr. & Pirata Morgan

- This looks worse. What's up with the horrible IWRG matchmaking lately?