CMLL Guerreros Del Ring August/September 2006:

August 26:

I really don't want to go through this show match by match. It started with a battle royale to determine matches for an eight team tag tournament. I'm a fan of the battle royale concept to determine matches b/c there will always be the mark in me that likes to pretend these things aren't planned out ahead of time. The tag matches themselves were quite shitty and I'd be shocked if I went back and found out any match got over 3 minutes. 8 matches @ 3 minutes each = 24 minutes. Time for an extra match, right? Wrong, this is Guerreros Del Ring. 24 minutes is actually too much wrestling!!! The one good thing I will say about the tournament is the matches got a little better as the tournament went on which I guess should be the goal.

If they ever plan on doing an episode like this again - please at least use non-boring guys like La Mascara, Terrible, Hombre Sin Nombre, Hijo Del Pierroth, Lizmark Jr. and Heavy Metal. This could have been a fun tournament with interesting guys involved but if you know you are getting a 3 minute match for sure and then see it's the Lizmarks against Misterioso and Terrible... that just sucks all the joy you may have left right out.

September 2:

El Hijo Del Texano/Kronos/Sagrado vs Hombre Sin Nombre/Misterioso II/Sangre Azteca: I guess this marks the end of Kronos' horrible CMLL run? *ahem* ... YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Volador Jr. was originally in his slot but got moved up. If this had only been two weeks later they wouldn't have had Kronos around to insert! We may have seen Stuka Jr. instead! Or Chamaco Torres! Oh well. Even though this looked like it could have been fresh and interesting, it really wasn't. Just seemed like 3 finishes with a couple boring dives tossed in. There was nothing in between. *yawn*

Heavy Metal/La Mascara/Volador Jr. vs Pierroth/Mascara Ano 2000/Universo 2000: I'm guessing Tony Salazar or Jose Luis Feliciano were having a really bad night when it comes to matchmaking? I mean, it doesn't take a genius to figure out you put Texano Jr. and Kronos in this match, move Mascara and Volador Jr. down - then you can stick all the shit in one match instead of spreading it over two matches. Ugh... CMLL booking. Volador Jr. was totally wasted here as you'd expect. La Mascara didn't even get to use his boring offense b/c none of his 3 moves can be done on any of the rudos. Well, Universo could probably take it but why would he bother making that shithead look good? Rudos don't need to win this so of course they do.

Horrible episode. Seriously... one of the worst of all-time for this show and that's saying something.

September 9:

Brazo De Oro/Metro II/Virus vs Mr. Mexico/Hajime Ohara/Shigeo Okumura: I thought something went wrong and they were showing the same match I saw on CMLL TV this past week but turns out this had Brazo De Oro and the CMLL TV match had Satanico. Make your own joke please, I'm tired. Metron and Virus looked really good. One thing that stood out in the pre-match promo is how little charisma Jimmy Neutron really has. The ONLY thing he had going for him was the gimmick and Dr. Morales yelling out JIMMY JIMMY JIMMY NEUTRON! Now he doesn't even have that. Even worse - I'll never get my Jimmy Neutron vs Apocalipsis Now feud!:( Why is CMLL trying to kill Neutron dead? He can do that himself, at least give him a push so it can happen on TV! Rudos did a fine job here and I enjoyed the third fall which didn't have one of two usual endings you are used to seeing.

Mistico/Negro Casas/Heavy Metal vs Black Warrior/El Averno/El Mephisto: LUCHA BY NUMB... whoa... I apologize, I'm just so used to crappy main events on this show. Luckily I was paying attention enough to realize - THIS WAS REALLY GOOD! Seriously, I'm tempted to call it my favorite GdR match of 2006? If I could remember any past episodes, I'd confirm that. But for now we'll just call it a top 3. Mistico/Warrior were really good working together and everyone seemed to be working under the Arena Mexico mentality instead of the Arena Coliseo "we can take it easy" mentality. I really loved the finish of the first fall b/c something like that never happens on GdR since it's a finish that involves THINKING! Second fall was also a bit out of the ordinary as you rarely see a big tecnico dive in the second fall unless it's Mistico and this time it wasn't. IT WAS HEAVY METAL! *shakes head* W-O-W! Third fall somehow managed to surpass the first two falls thanks to some amazing work by Mistico and Heavy Metal just staying the fuck out of dodge. More thinking(wtf is going on???) is shown when Mistico/Warrior switch masks which is a spot I haven't seen on CMLL TV in a while. Mistico takes out Warrior with a slingshot corkscrew and the Casas brothers go over on the... uh... they don't have a team name but you know those guys that hold two important singles titles and yet always manage to lose in tag and trios matches.:)

Holy crap - I reccomend this episode!!! Opener is alright and main event is must-see. Good job by everyone involved. I just wish this show had matches like that every week. I gotta go back and find out what was so special about this show that had these guys working extra hard...

CMLL Guerreros Del Ring - August 2006:

August 5:

Dark Angel/India Sioux/Marcela vs La Medusa/La Nazi/Princesa Sujei: I guess this was the start of the India/Medusa feud although I didn't see any hatred building until the finishing spot where Medusa yanked India's mask so she lost. You'd think they would have teased at least a little hatred with a mask match coming in two weeks? This was solid, if a bit boring at times. I really need Amapola in a match like this to keep me a little interested b/c she's the glue of the division. As mentioned, Medusa yanks India's mask for the ruda win. Sets up a revenge match the following week I believe.

Dr. Wagner Jr./Mistico/Negro Casas vs Atlantis/Olimpico/Ultimo Guerrero: Extremely short by the numbers match just to setup a tag title match the following week. Mistico brought the excitement at various points and Guerrero was the only rudo who was bumping and treating this like a match that mattered - as he ALWAYS does. There's just something about Olimpico I don't enjoy. He's so... robotic. He used to have the ability and no charisma. Now he's got the charisma and no ability. Damn wrestlers who can't find the medium! Rudos win clean which is always a bonus.

Okay episode.

August 12:

Dark Angel/India Sioux/Marcela vs La Medusa/La Nazi/Princesa Sujei: Definitely didn't like this as much as the previous week. Too much brawling. At least this time you could tell who were the main feuding wrestlers. Angel/Marcela did nice dives at the end. India pulled off Medusa's mask(took a while...) and rolled her up for the win. Mask challenge followed. Crowd seemed quite indifferent.

Mistico and Negro Casas vs Atlantis and Olimpico - CMLL Tag Team Titles Bout: Olimpico's last chance at these titles got messed up when he landed short on a dive. The person who was supposed to be catching him? Atlantis! IS THIS THE ULTIMATE YEAR AND A HALF BUILD UP TO HIS REVENGE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? No. On the bright side this was a pretty good tag match. I read cubs' review before I watched it and he seemed pretty happy with it. I'd have to agree. I certainly wasn't expecting anything more than two short falls and lots of nearfalls we've seen a ton before in the third. Instead I enjoyed the first and third falls a lot. Second fall even though it was really short wasn't offensive at all. Mistico sporting the Volador Jr. via Rey Misterio Jr. gloves was neat. He's extra "on" when he has the gloves you know! Olimpico showed his worth by being a good catcher for Mistico so I guess he does serve a purpose. Crowd was really into the third fall but surely they couldn't have been expecting a title change... could they? Tecs win by hitting their finishers at the same time and yes cubs - Tony Salazar presents them with the belts!

Another okay episode. Finally fit the criteria of what I've been looking for as this will be a show that stands out for the tag title match alone.

August 19:

Leono/Stuka Jr./Tony Rivera vs Arkangel/~HOOLIGAN!/Loco Max: HEY NOW! So... this was weird. At first Stuka Jr. and Arkangel seemed to be feuding which I didn't remember reading about. Then it just seemed like Arkangel was in his own world during this match. I like the guy and respect him but he definitely seemed a little... ummm... well... I guess if a WWE guy had a match like this, people would accuse him of being in "no condition to perform". You have to see the match to understand why I think that way though. He just seemed to be in his own world and at various times would do the oddest things that I've never seen him do in 15+ years. Like one time he had Stuka Jr. in the corner and went to punch him... then kinda stopped and just stood as if frozen for at least 10 seconds before finally softly jabbing him in the stomach. Other times he'd just run into the ring for no reason disrupting an exchange or be late for a double/triple team move. It was just very awkward all match long. However, some of the awkwardness led to the match feeling a little more heated as if they was some actual hatred between these guys! So instead of the usual flippiness and straight to dives to end falls, you had them brawling a bit and the match seemed new and interesting... at least to me. Hooligan didn't get to show much. In fact... his first bump and catch was at the end of the match on a Leono hiptoss and dive. That's like having Mistico in a match and telling him he can only do 1 armdrag and dive... and it can only be with 1 minute left in the match. C'mon - LET HOOLIGAN BUMP ALL MATCH LONG! HE WANTS TO! HE LIKES IT! Leono did a cool top rope springboard moonsault dive. Loco Max nailed Stuka Jr. with a running somersault plancha. Rivera and Arkangel had a pretty bad closing segment as Rivera had to wait up top for years until Arkangel decided to get off the mat and walk over for the finish. I'm not surprised the actual move was screwed up. Minus Arkangel/plus Super Comando = better match. Still... nice change of pace.

India Sioux vs La Medusa - Mask vs Mask: Wow... not as horrific as I expected! Crowd seemed into it and halfway through I started to get a little into it. Probably after India's cartwheel + dance combo.;) She did a nice dive and then Medusa did an ugly silla dive. The 6-1-9 is now officially the most overdone move ever as Medusa pulled it off! Some of the nearfalls at the end were really good and I like that India used an actual high impact move to put Medusa away b/c I was dreading a roll-up while using the ropes for some reason. Medusa's contacts are cool. If they insist on doing women's matches all the time, could they at least do me a favor and book Marcela/India vs Amapola/Rosa Negra?

Good show. Good > okay for those wondering.

These were officially the first GdR shows to air while the FSE show had started and you can see the difference already with the show being a little more interesting without the usual blah format of semi-main/main event.

Weekend Lucha TV:

CMLL opened with a match from Arena Coliseo - Virus/Metro II/Satanico vs Okumura/Ohara/a clean shaven Mr. Mexico. How disapointed will the Box y Lucha forum members be next week when a pointless Coliseo tercera makes television and Gronda's debut or the trios titles match is edited off? It ain't gonna be pretty but this seesm to be the new style of TV. The match was pretty good but suffered from a 10 minute commercial break between fall one and fall two which made it seem like the match was going on FOREVER. Metro II looked fantastic but I hate the fact that the gimmick has no potentital whatsoever. He nailed a really sweet running somersault plancha in the third fall. Referee screwed up the finish so everyone got lost. Quemonito did a plancha off the apron onto Okumura to end it. Next up was a repeat Momentos. Then the ladies title match aired. Lady Apache... boring. Hiroka... bland. Women's division... very disinteresting. Bad combo. At least it was very short and had two nice dives. They better be setting up a hair match or this was extremely useless. Next up was the semi-main JIP in the third fall just so we could see Volador Jr.'s injury and post-match ambulance ride. Main event was exactly what you'd expect. Lots of Mistico/Warrior mask ripping, a few dives and a DQ ending when all the rudos beat the shit out of Mistico so everyone thinks he is going into the match injured and losing his mask. OH NO!:p GO MISTICO GO!!!

AAA had part 1 of Verano De Escandalo. I was extremely negative about this show on paper but as usual with AAA big shows... almost everyone stepped up their game and came through to cover up for the awful booking which this time can be blamed on Konnan and not Pena who had absolutely nothing to do with the show. First up was a review of the semi-finals in the Luchandor por un Sueno tournament. I WANT TO SEE COMETA VS APACHE DAMNIT! The finals came next with Laredo Kid vs Kaoma Jr. vs Gran Apache. Two words: FUCKING BRILLIANT! Laredo Kid was on fire and nailed everything he tried perfectly. Meanwhile Apache and Kaoma used their experience to control the match perfectly and tease being friends before eventually turning on each other. Apache was a huge dick and kept wanting to break up the pinfalls so neither could win. Laredo Kid nailed Apache with a bullet tope suicida that was so sick. I mean... Laredo's feet never even touched the ground until he was in the aisleway already!!! Later he did his trademark springboard 2 1/2 rotation corkscrew plancha to perfection! Lots of neat spots inside the ring and good nearfalls. Kaoma went out first after an Apache Swanton Bomb and while he was posing for the crowd - Laredo nailed a 450. After a few minutes of nearfalls, Laredo went for a Stardust Press but rolled through and used a bodyscissors into a small package to win!!! *** 1/4 - *** 3/4 or so. Great work by all three guys. Next up was La Secta vs Mexican Powers. I won't talk about this too much b/c it was pretty awful. A bunch of weapon shots, dives that came out of nowhere or were setup awfully and lots of standing around waiting to setup equipment for the next spot. Chessman tried to spear Lider off the top rope through a table on the floor but slipped and almost took a header to the floor.:/ That's great. Injure the MVP of the promotion for a stupid garbage spot. Chessman should have been nowhere near this match but you know Konnan... he's still a draw! HAHAHAHAHA. Anyways, Chessman survived b/c he is a machine. It should also be noted he got the largest pop of the night thus far.:) MexPower won after Juventud gave Escoria a Juvy Driver off the top rope. Next match was the one I expected to be a total clusterfuck... TNA vs Vipers. Samoa Joe vs Electro Shock, A.J. Styles vs Histeria, Lo-Ki vs Charly Manson, Homicide vs Abismo Negro... it reads like the ultimate worst booked fantasy wrestling card ever! But somehow... someway... THEY MADE IT WORK! Joe and Cide did dives early on. There were tons of nice exchanges without anyone looking out of place. It's as if they actually talked things out beforehand and were on the same page!:o IS THIS AAA??? There was even some psychology with Joe being positioned as the monster and the Vipers needing to use two guys to constantly take him down. Abismo/Joe had some solid exchanges together, as did Styles/Manson. The only screwed up moment in the match was when Manson tried a springboard and slipped but he just rolled outside and Histeria came in to face Homicide. The finish of the match was really good as Joe nailed Histeria with a tombstone but then he was dropkicked outside the ring and Abismo nailed Homicide with a double underhook piledriver which Cide sold like DEATH. Tirantes gave TNA the win by DQ as Cide got stretchered. Crowd was really hot for all of this. Great match! Main event was Zorro, Oriental, Intocable and Porky vs Los Guapos and Hator who really doesn't fit in at all with his partners. He had a nice performance in the match though and looked better than I've ever seen him. This was your typical AAA big show random atomicos match with everyone getting to shine at various points. Zorro had a neat spot where he caught Alan Stone and threw him backwards over the top rope onto his partners! Lots of dives including an Oriental tope suicida, Oriental moonsault, Zorro running somersault, Intocable asai moonsault, Zumbido plancha and finally POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORKY with a TOPE SUICIDA!!! Finish had a masked guy(A.J. Styles?) run-in and low blow Intocable. Really good stuff until the shitty ending. So far I give the show a thumbs up just based on hard work alone. During Noti AAA they announced 5 AAA TV Tapings from October 12th to the 24th! That will cover till late November so we should have a good idea on where the promotion is heading into Guerra De Titanes unless of course Konnan has TNA dates booked and isn't around. Then we'll get the usual great AAA shows until Konnan comes back to book his own silly TNA influenced December year-ender.

AULL aired the finals of the Lightweight Title tournament which had Terry 2000 vs Sadico in a fucking INSANE match. Sadico is a fucking nutcase and has no regard for his body at all. They started by showing cool promos with each guy and then long ring introductions. They took it to the mat early on and had some creative back and forth stuff going on. Terry 2000 eventually ended up outside and Sadico took him out with a crazy moonsault plancha!!! He won the fall with a Ki Krusher. Second fall was mostly Sadico on offense until he screwed up and Terry 2000 sent him outside, then flung him into the crowd. They brawled around for a few seconds and then Terry 2000 climbed on top of the entrance and DOVE OFF WITH A PLANCHA!!!!!!!!!!!! He beat the 20 count back into the ring to take the fall. Third fall had some nice nearfalls and a great near submission win by Sadico. Once again Sadico went nuts and threw Terry 2000 into the crowd, then got back in the ring and hit him with a SPRINGBOARD SOMERSAULT PLANCHA OVER THE GUARDRAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Words cannot explain the sick landing. After both guys somehow recovered, they did some more stuff in the ring until Terry 2000 was up next with a normal plancha onto Sadico on the outside. Sadico almost won with a cool armbar early on and for the finish they played off that with Terry 2000 nailing the same move and getting the win! So Terry 2000 is the first ever AULL Lightweight Champion! Really strong match from two relatively unknown guys. VIVA AULL!

Random AULL Matches:

AULL is the banner name Hector Guzman uses to run shows out of Arena Lopez Mateos. They've been doing Wednesday and Sunday shows for the longest times and have a steady crew of regular workers who are mostly young and trained by Rocky Santana. Non-hardcore lucha fans or people who aren't even lucha fans may recognize the arena from the Best of Mike Quackenbush DVD as both his matches from Mexico took place in this building. Recently AULL got a weekly 2 hour TV slot on a small cable channel which is hard to pick up for most people even in Mexico. They fixed up the building so it looks REALLY NICE with a great big screen near the entrance way and a huge AULL logo where the wrestlers enter from.

Los Tortuguillos Ninjas I/II/III vs Los Tortugas Mutantes I/II/III - 8/2/06: I like to call this the true battle for turtle supremacy! What we have here are the three good Turtles who practice ninja as Splinter instructed them too and battle for all the kids in the world. Their opponents are the MUTATED Turtles who have given up on the ninja lifestyle after suffering a horrible accident where... well... they were mutated! There is a purple one, a blue one and an orange one. What about Raphael?!?!?!?! It's hard to distinguish these guys apart sometimes as you try to focus on the fact the good turtles are mostly green and the evil ones are mostly black but the shells they wear are quite confusing when you can only see them from the back. As with most AULL matches, it's a very old school feel early on so we get matwork from both teams. The first thing that sticks out is the purple mutated turtle is fucking FAT. Not obese but definitely pudgy to the point it's noticeable. It's odd b/c sometimes he'll look slow and sad... but then out of nowhere he'll take a great bump and pop right up like a great fat man worker. Miguel Angelo has a rough time with blue mutated turtle during one exchange but they cover nicely. Finish has all three good turtles using submissions on the mutated turtles. Second fall has some fun exchanges to start off before the rudos take over and hit some triple team moves. Lucha by numbers? Nope! Good turtles fight back and after a little bit we wind up with dual tope suicidas from one good turtle and one mutated turtle! This leaves purple fat mutated turtle with Miguel Angelo! Our hero goes for a Victory Roll but purple fat mutated turtle walks towards the ropes, steps on the bottom rope and falls backwards! GENIUS! Weird submission! Rudos even it up!!! Seriously... GENIUS finish. Stuff like that really wins me over b/c it shows the wrestlers are thinking. Such a simple thing but yet it means so much more than if he had just dropped the tecnico down. Third fall has some nearfalls and then a triple team spot from the good turtles... only they mess things up and the mutated turtles take advantage! A few double team moves later and the mutated turtles win clean! Evil triumphs over good! Really good match. Of course you have to overlook the silly gimmick and just appreciate the work... so since this isn't AAA I'm sure everyone will have no problem doing that.;) I need more matches with these teams.

Robin Maravilla/Super Nova/Terry 2000 vs Ira/Negro Navarro/Sadico - 8/2/06: Robin Maravilla is a Robin Hood type gimmick. Super Nova and Terry 2000 have already been explained. Same for Ira and Sadico. Negro Navarro though... he is a just a machine. He is also seemingly using AULL TV to get himself into contention for wrestler of the year. Match starts with Terry 2000 and Sadico on the mat. They do a fine job. Next up is poor Robin Maravilla against Negro Navarro. How'd you like to be in Maravilla's shoes here? They work back and forth stuff with each guy trying to one-up the other with pretty armdrags and eventually submissions holds. It's absofuckinglutely insane! I give 100% credit to Maravilla who hung in there with Navarro quite well and didn't look completely out of place as I expected. Navarro even gave him a nice ovation at the end of the sequence. Brilliant stuff. Nova and Ira are next and they change the pace of the match by both doing moonsaults onto their own heads. I'm serious... it was quite weird. Maravilla and Sadico are next and Maravilla uses a fireman's carry lungblower to take Sadico down and then Ira accidentally asissts Nova into a splash on his own partner. Maravilla then uses a weird backbreaker move to pin Ira as Terry 2000 makes Navarro submit. Second fall opens with a FANTASTIC Maravilla/Navarro fast exchange. Yes... the old man can also bump around the ring and work fast exchanges! Maravilla uses a great 6-1-9 into an armdrag to send Navarro outside. Terry 2000 and Sadico are next and they go fucking crazy with some insane flying spots. In particular Terry 2000 nailed a backwards twisting spinning armdrag off the top rope and a corkscrew armdrag. The rudos take over soon after and Navarro puts Maravilla away with THE MOST INSANE SUBMISSION I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! I need to grab a screen cap for the Wiki but I wouldn't know what the hell to call it to be quite honest. Ira splashes Nova and then Sadico hiptosses Terry 2000 into a tree of woe, then kills him dead with a dropkick. Awesome fall. Third fall has some rudo brawling which leads into some nearfalls and near submissions. Once again Navarro busts out another crazy submission on poor Super Nova who looked like he was in way too much pain. Robin Maravilla continues to impress by saving Nova and then putting a crazy submission on Navarro! WHO IS THIS GUY?!?!?!? Nova sends Ira outside and decks him with a running somersault plancha! I thought it was finish time but the match kept going and it looked like Terry 2000/Sadico were gonna finish it off but as he is whipped into the ropes - Terry 2000 launches himself with a bullet tope suicida on Ira!!! Maravilla and Sadico finish things off with the tecnico winning by using a spinning sidewalk slam move. Crowd gives the match a huge ovation. I do too. Easy MOTYC for me.

Angel Azteca and Solar I vs Arkangel and Negro Navarro - 8/9/06: Joined in progress which is a shame b/c I heard this went long and was really good. What I got to see was Azteca and Arkangel doing an okay exchange, ending with an Azteca tope suicida. Then it was time for Solar and Navarro to exchange submissions. Now don't get me wrong... I love both these guys so I'm not bashing them. I love all kinds of wrestling and try to keep a general positive outlook when watching things so I will never go into a match ready to bash guys no matter how hard they try or what they do. But of course there are certain people out there who hate blindly. Those type of people are quick to dismiss most high flying matches b/c they say it's too much "your move, my move". I can understand that criticism and I guess matches like that aren't for them. But what are Solar/Navarro matches? Or the infamous Dandy/Navarro IWRG match? It's the same thing only without headdrops. It's "your move, my move" using submissions. When Kaz and Kondo take turns dumping each other on their head for a few minutes - it's crappy wrestling. When Solar and Navarro trade submissions for minutes it's beautiful wrestling. I don't get it. Once again, I have no problem with this since I can appreciate any type of wrestling without being overly anal. Just trying to point out an obvious double standard here. But back to the match... it was basically as I described... Solar and Navarro taking turns putting submissions on each other. Fun to watch for sure. Arkangel eventually ended up back inside with Azteca and pinned him clean. A little later Solar made Arkangel submit to La Solarina. Once again Solar and Navarro trade pinfalls and submissions. Navarro thought he had it won with a cool submission move that got turned into a pin attempt but the ref counted both guys shoulders down and ruled a draw. Fans threw money into the ring afterwards. Navarro looked brilliant once again. Solar also looked amazing but he's only wrestling a part-time schedule so I won't be so quick to say we need to see more of him. Sometimes less is more.

Dr. Wagner Jr. vs La Parka - 8/9/06: Eh... not too much to write about here. A longer version of their Arena Mexico match with more brawling and the same referee screwiness at the end. Nothing to get excited about unless you are a HUGE mark for either guy and have the patience to sit through lots of stalling.

Astro Boy and Robin Maravilla vs Dr. Karonte and Dr. Karonte Jr. - 8/16/06: Interesting match here as you have three young guys and then Dr. Karonte who looks extremely old. It showed as he couldn't keep up at certain points but he was trying hard so I appreciate that. Astro Boy and Dr. Karonte Jr. are VERY green. They also definitely own a VCR and have seen a few ROH tapes. First fall goes to the tecnicos via an Astro Boy lungblower on Karonte Jr. and Maravilla making Karonte submit. Second fall has a nice Astro Boy segment ending with a headscissors on the outside. Rudos take the fall via Karonte Jr. giving Astro a Spanish Fly off the second turnbuckle... *AND THEN* a Canadian Destroyer. Yes, b/c it takes BOTH those moves to win a fall. Third fall has some back and forth saves on pinfalls and submissions. They seem to setup a spot where Astro Boy dives onto Karonte but someone was out of position and by the time they get to the actual dive, Astro Boy loses his balance up top, falls into the ring, then tries to make up for it with a pescado but slips and lands awkwardly on the apron -> then on Dr. Karonte who hurts his ankle. MESSY. Maravilla uses his spinning slam finisher to win the match for his team. Solid effort and about what you'd expect from guys at this level.

Astro Boy and Super Nova vs Dr. Karonte Jr. and Valiente - 8/30/06: Oh fucking YES! IT'S VALIENTE. Are you in awe? You should be. Along with Hooligan, Jeque and Super Comando... they form the cream of the crop CMLL under/mid-carders. He's usually a tecnico but is obviously so much more advanced that he can switch to rudo with no problems. First fall has him leading Super Nova through some intricate matwork. They give way to the brothers who get to do all the stuff they've been practicing for years. Nova is back in and does some cool flips. Valiente finally catches him and nails the VALIENTE DRIVER! (http://www.luchawiki.com/index.php?title=Valiente_Driver) Nobody kicks out of that. Karonte Jr. puts Astro Boy away with a Spanish Fly off the second turnbuckle. Second fall is more rudo domination although no crazy moves from Karonte Jr. as I expected. Tecnicos make their comeback as Nova counters a monkey flip into a diving tope! Nice! Astro Boy does a tope suicida on Valiente who takes a manly bump over the guardrail! Nova finishes Karonte Jr. off with a neat submission hold. Third fall has a nice segment between Nova and Valiente which ends with a cool move. Valiente slides outside the ring and Nova does the Flair flip onto the apron. Valiente chops him in the back and pulls him down into a torture rack... but Nova counters with a flipping armdrag!!! W-O-W! Astro Boy and Karonte Jr. work a nice exchange as well ending with a springboard 360 twisting armdrag from the tecnico. Nova ends up taking Valiente out with a great running somersault plancha. Astro Boy then pins Karonte Jr. with a Canadian Destroyer. I don't get that at all. That was Karonte's move a few weeks ago. Why is Astro Boy using it now? Oh right... b/c YOU NEED THAT MOVE IN EVERY MATCH! Minus the stupid finish, this was a pretty good match. Nova and especially Valiente had outstanding performances which shows why they are working CMLL shows and Astro Boy/Dr. Karonte Jr. are happy to just be on AULL TV.

Overall... very happy with the AULL I've seen. Has the old school feel and with a guaranteed 2 hour time slot. And by 2 hours it means at least 1:40 of wrestling. It's not CMLL TV 2 hours which means at least 50 minutes of commercials. Today I was watching CMLL TV and the first hour of the show had an 11 minute match and a repeat Momentos Estelares. IN 1 HOUR!

I could be jumping the gun by proclaiming AULL as promotion of the year but you have to understand once in a while when a new promotion pops up, real lucha fans tend to go nuts and get into it big time before tiring out. It happened with IWRG, it happened with Monterrey, it happened with Guadalajara and it's going to happen with AULL. The one advantage AULL has over the other groups/territories listed is they use a revolving door of talent. Rarely will you see even half the guys one week that you saw the previous week. It could fix the eventual issue of the TV getting stale. They also have ties with CMLL which works out well when you get to see guys like Valiente, Artillero, Super Comando and Sangre Azteca who don't get much CMLL exposure. Time will tell as to whether AULL continues to be crazy awesome as it is so far or if it becomes another IWRG with a predictable format and repetitive roster that stops appreciating having a TV time slot.

More AULL soon!