Saturday, May 22, 2010

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.

Labels: , , , , ,

Thursday, May 20, 2010

CMLL 'Sin Salida' - 6/6/10 @ Arena Mexico

So the lineup for (presumably) CMLL's biggest show of the summer came out today and thanks to copy/paste I can easily grab it from Cubsfan:

CMLL (SUN) 06/06 Arena Mexico
1) Bam Bam & Shockercito vs Pequeño Damian 666 & Pierrothito
2) Metro, Rush, Stuka Jr. vs Histeria, Maniaco, Monsther
3) Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, Shocker vs El Alebrije, Olímpico, Psicosis
4) Máscara Dorada, Místico, Mr. Águila vs Averno, Negro Casas, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]
5) Brazo de Plata, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Strong Man vs Giant Benard, Máscara Año 2000, Universo 2000

Couple of thoughts immediatly jump out...

1. The 'Sin Salida' name is usually used due to a cage match being the main event. Get it? No escape. You will take note there is no cage match on this show. Perhaps it's time to come up with some different show names or go back to what they did in 2002 and just use 'Juicio Final' 3 times in 1 year!

2. That main event isn't going to convince anyone to skip Triplemania. Even combined with the semi-main event. It also provides the AAA guys lots of material to bash CMLL and make them look awful in the press. Question: What is CMLL always accused of? Answer: Being stuck in the past and never changing. That main event gives plenty of ammo for the top AAA officials to prove CMLL is behind the times. 'La Nueva Era' on this night will feel a lot like 10+ years ago. Not good. Not good at all.

3. I guess I'm alone here but I find it absolutely idiotic that this feud has been built as CMLL vs Independents and on the first major show built around the feud the top two matches... ARE CMLL WRESTLERS TEAMING WITH INDEPENDENT WRESTLERS!!! Seriously? Nobody has a problem with that except me? I'm sure that twist was coming down the road but did we really expect it on the first show? The main event at least makes sense b/c Rayo showed up to SUPPORT CMLL. But that semi-main event is just dumb. Why would Mistico and Dorada want to team with an outsider? How is it Relevos Incriebles if there is no outsider on the other team? The bookers have been using the 'Relevos Incriebles' match as a crutch the entire year (starting with the January tag tournament) and are clearly determined to run it into the ground as fast as possible.

The first four matches should be very good although I think the semi-main event will be more angle than anything resembling a ****+ match. Monito/Cuije will clearly get their moment in the tercera which should be the highlight of that match.

Quick predictions:

1. It's still possible the cage match with the undercarders somehow gets added to this show. I'd say it's a good possibility since nobody involved got a match on the undercard and I want to believe deep down that CMLL is still using the name 'Sin Salida' for a good reason.

2. Mr. Aguila gets a severe beatdown following the semi-main. Maybe the Volador Jr. rudo turns kicks in and he tries to save Aguila?

3. Main event will end in a DQ. When I initially read the card I was very curious as to who could possibly be doing the job and after thinking it over I'm pretty sure it will end in a DQ for a low blow. Don't get me wrong... I don't think that's the way to go. But that is the typical CMLL way and they *WILL* fuck this show/angle up by ending it on a low note with a horrible match ending without a pinfall.

Labels: , , , ,

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

~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.

Labels: , , , , ,