Sunday, April 11, 2010

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?

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No LATV/52MX reviews today b/c LATV was a repeat (not sure of what yet) and 52MX was a women's trios and another trios involving Super Porky. That's the definition of a show that should never have made television. Instead here are some random matches I've watched lately:

Mascarita Sagrada/Shockercito/Tzuki vs Pierrothito/Espectrito I/Fire - 9/17/04: The only match from the Anniversary Show that never made television and I think I found out why. *L* Early in the first fall after some nice work Shockercito tries to set Pierrothito up for a 6-1-9 and BANG... the entire second rope snaps causing Pierrothito to get hurt and Tzuki to fall off the apron (since he was holding the second rope). According to the SuperLuchas live report the match actually stalled for about 10 minutes as they fixed the ropes but thankfully that was edited off the version of the match I got. Things were really awkward afterwards though as nobody wanted to use the ropes for fear of them snapping again and when Pierrothito finally tried he crashed and burned. Thankfully things picked up in the second fall with Sagrada doing some really nice stuff. Tzuki used a crossface for the win! Third fall was also good with plenty of neat dives including Fire's awesome run-up-the-ropes plancha and Tzuki's tornillo. Sagrada got the win with an awesome bodyscissors off the top into a small package.

Negro Casas/Perro Aguayo Jr. vs Rey Bucanero/Ultimo Guerrero - 9/19/03 (CMLL Tag Titles): This aired in Mexico on the special 2 hour Anniversary Show broadcast but never made it to the U.S. airing b/c at the time CMLL was only getting a 1 hour TV show. It was pretty good but had the usual Negro Casas BS where he tries to steal the attention for himself. First two falls were quick (see, it wasn't a Mistico invention like some claim) and had creative finishes which is the standard for UG/RB title defenses. Third fall is where Negro pulled his BS. He got superplexed off the top and faked death. He wasn't even moving. Obviously he clued nobody in on this b/c then the rudos put Perrito in a submission and Negro just lay there dead instead of breaking it up. The refs didn't know what to do b/c Perrito was clearly not getting out by himself so one ref did what any old man would do when he's confused... he just pulled Bucanero off Perrito and told him to leave the ring. WHY? Bucanero even yelled out "QUE?" So good job, Negro! Perrito had to get up (after being double teamed) and slap Negro to "wake him up" and get him back involved in the match. Negro is sooooooooooooooo annoying when he pulls this crap. Minutes later Negro eliminated Guerrero clean but then got rolled up by Bucanero. This left Perrito vs Bucanero and we had a cheap ending with Guerrero tripping Perrito and Bucanero rolling him up. I expected way more out of this.

Alto Voltaje/Fantastik/Turbo vs Los Hijos De Pirata Morgan - EAW 6/6/09: I fucking hate the double ring bullshit but I need all Turbo matches and Fredo never got this so I had to hunt this one down. Not much to say since all these double ring matches go exactly the same. It's just a collection of spots from one ring to the other. At least here the guys are so spectacular that you did go HOLY SHIT at a ton of the spots but the match itself had no meaning so nobody even attempted a pinfall or submission at any point. Some of the insane spots included: Turbo's moonsault dive to the lower ring, Freelance's springboard somersault plancha to the lower ring, Pirata Jr.'s second rope somersault dive to the lower ring, both Turbo and Fantastik jumping off the high ring with sillas to the floor on the lower ring and Pirata Jr. missing a cannonball off the big ring into the small ring which really seemed to hurt him. Freelance made him submit for the win but I cannot stress enough how quiet the crowd (of 100 or so in a building for 3,000+) was outside of going "OOOOOOOOOH" for the big leaps.

Valiente vs Sangre Azteca - 4/9/10: I was pretty disappointed by this. They were only given 7 minutes and yet twice each guy did a 30-second sell-job. That takes away 12% of your match! It shoulda been non-stop highspots with 2 minutes or so of nearfalls from big moves. Valiente did so little that I'd be afraid to show this to anyone interested in a preview before he comes to Chikara or New Japan. Same for Sangre Azteca who seems to love posing more than his running buddy Dragon Rojo.

Mistico/La Sombra/Mascara Dorada vs Felino/Negro Casas/Dragon Rojo - 4/9/10: Rudos dominated the first fall. Tecnicos had their quick comeback followed by three huge dives and then Mistico used a press slam into a lungblower on Negro for the win. It's still strange watching Mistico use power moves. Third fall had a showcase for each tecnico with Dorada looking the best as you'd expect. His running the ramp into a Dragon Rana spot is absolutely insane! Dragon Rojo looked good catching Sombra but embarassed himself when he couldn't keep up with Mistico and blew catching a rana. Dorada got eliminated and then Negro got dumped. Eventually Mistico cheated to beat Felino who challenged for a singles match.

Mascara Dorada/Stuka Jr./Metro vs Poder Mexica - (Mex Nat Trios Titles) 4/6/10: It's hard to judge this b/c due to the long local commercials the first and third falls were both JIP. But what aired was really solid and I assume Fredo's version will be more complete since it's the actual C3 feed, not the Juarez feed. Lots of absolutely insane dives. Dorada literally *FLEW* in the second fall. UNREAL! In the third fall he tried to invent a new dive but I'm not sure what happened. He didn't blow a spot since it looked fine but he was certainly trying something more spectacular than what came off. Finish was a bit anti-climactic though. I don't get beating the Poder Mexica clean two times in a row though.

About 160 Fredo DVD's should be in this coming week so the reviews will pick up and I still have more random unaired matches I just got sent this weekend so those are still to come.

Lineup comments in a bit.

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