I got lost. I got lost while listening to a radio program about GPS car navigation. I tried to use my phone GPS navigation to get unlost while the radio show discussed how awful phone GPS navigation can be. I still made it in plenty of time.
Attendance guess is 600. Considering what they were charging for tickets ($22 to $42), they still might have done some good money. Crowd was a weird mix of indy fans, Mexican lucha libre fanatics, and kids. Crowd was as easy as I’ve ever seen – there were some angles during the night that might have gotten groans from different people, but the people (and particularly the kids) were totally into.
Show was scheduled to start at 7. Being an indy show, it started a bit after 7pm. They had a nice setup, with guardrails around the ring and down the entranceway. They had a camera (and spotlight) on the upper bowl and a handheld camera at ringside. Timekeeper looked oddly familiar. We got a ten bell salute for Moolah, the Mexican National Anthem (which wasn’t announced in English before hand, so it took about 10 seconds for everyone to realize they ought to be standing for this song), and the US National Anthem.
Show was run better than any lucha show I can remember going to. They had a match, it was over, adn then they had someone introduce the next match instead of everyone sitting around for ten minutes. It’s CRAZY.
1) Skullkrusher over Tyler Black – basic coward heel (Black) vs cartoony power wrestler (Skullkrusher) match. The eight year near me for this (and the rest of the show) made it far more fun than it would’ve been otherwise. Black got the heat by posting ‘krusher on the outside, and Skullkrusher came back to win (in a method I forget to write down)
2) ??? vs Misterioso – no idea who this was, didn’t catch the name and wasn’t on the original lineup. Misterioso’s apparently won his mask back, again. He ran wild early, mystery indy heel took over for a long stretch with strength stuff (a few burts of comeback mixed in.) Match dragged a bit, particularlly in a lengthy bearhug where the fans were rooting for a comeback but Misterioso was instead fading away. Mystery heel powerbombed Misterioso in the middle of the ring, walked around the ring to tell everyone he was going to do it again, and Misterioso reversed it into a ‘rana for the winning pin.
3) Roughneck Ryan vs Metal Master – Roughneck Ryan’s music goes from the Bonaza theme into random metal, and he so should’ve stuck with Bonaza. He looks less like the missing member of Disorderly Conduct and more like a four generation Bobby Duncam Jr. clone (though with an odd German flag tattoo on his right leg.) Match seemed good while it lasted. Masters sent Ryan out, followed with a pescado and guys alternated in whipping the other guy into the rail until the ten count. (Double countout.)
4) Jason Dukes vs Special E – Since I’ve last seen Dukes (a while), he’s gone from being a fat guy to a guy who’s only fat compared to other wrestlers, he’s dyed his hair Ric Flair blond, got the robe too, and at least for this show has a new manager – Davari! Special E is the Eugene gimmick, but maybe the “U-Gene” name didn’t get cleared. He was wearing something like his superhero outfit and brought a dog stuff animal. The match itself was the extended dance remix of every Eugene Heat match ever. Test of strength dancing, riding his opponent like a horse, all the usual spots. After the Hogan Comeback spot, he’s added Cena’s back suplex into a powerbomb and the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Just when he was going for the airplane spin, Davari grabbed the dog and yanked his head off. Stuffing flew everyone, it was so sad. Dukes got the rollup win.
5) Los Luchas (Phoenix Star & Zokre) vs the Real American Heroes (Joey Ryan & Karl Anderson) for the NWA Tag Team Titles – Joey’s Real American look is great. The lucha fans wanted someone lucha to root for at this point, and the rest of the fans were willing to boo the people with the USA flags. Los Luchas flattened Ryan and Anderson with tope con giros to start the match, destroyed Ryan in the ring for a couple minutes, and hit their double springboardy finish, but Anderson pulled out the ref, which was somehow a DQ.
Los Luchas complain about all the cheap finishes in their title matches and demand the match continue, no DQ. The ref goses along with this, and the match restarts with more dives.
6) Match goes a lot longer, of course – good, fast paced match that keeps moving. Los Luchas go for their springboardy finish on Anderson early, but Ryan and the Evil Fat Manager yank them off the ropes to get control. Skipping ahead to the end, Phoenix Star has Ryan beat, so the Evil Fat Manager hits the ring and breaks up the pin. Phoenix Star works over the manager in the corner, but turns into an Anderson chair shot to the head. (get your hands up!) That’s good enough for three. Zokre takes out both Ryan and Anderson post match, and Adam Pearce runs down to uneven the numbers. Heels have control for a couple moments, but X-Pac runs out to make the save. (Crowd goes nuts – yes, X-Pac as a wildly over face.) X-Pac wants to do his title match Right Now, but Pearce decides to leave.
That’s the cue for intermission. X-Pac sells $10 photos at the merchandise table, and is taking pictures for the entire intermission. He did some pretty good business.
7) Rocky Romero & Magno vs Cassandro & TJ Perkins – Romero does NOT have the CMLL Super Liegro Championship (given all the NWA midwest belts showing up in the first half of the show, was nearly an upset), but he does have Scorpio Jr.’s music and one Intocable-style dance move. TJ Perkins replaced Cobra II. Incognito missed the show, or he was just living the name a bit too soon. They worked this complete lucha style, Cassandro & Perkins as the tecnicos and Romero & Magno doing the long beatdown. Cassandro got over well with this crowd, and he and Perkins won with clean cradles.
8) X-Pac vs Adam Pearce for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship – X-Pac has no (announced) weight, green and black gear with “Pac” on it, and the DX music. I guess you can do that? Both NWA and AAA are doing it. This was a nice back and forth match with neither guy getting much lengthy control. X-Pac missed on the Bronco Buster early, so the rest of the match was about getting back to that spot and hitting it. After Pac did, he got the X-Factor, covered and the Real American Heroes ran in for the DQ. This is where I think another crowd would’ve rolled their eyes and groaned, but the people here were still into it, and went nuts when Los Luchas made the save. The Evil Fat Manager got the Bronco Buster to finish him off.
9) Super Parka & Nicho vs LA Park & Blue Demon Jr. – Super Parka won his mask back too! Amazing. As usual, Nicho came to the ring wearing his mask and took it off after being announced. LA Park was announced as that name. Blue Demon Jr. has Full Throttle ads on his trunks. Nicho cut a promo on Blue Demon before the match, and it started as a total lucha brawl, even into the crowd for a bit. Match settled enough down for LA Park to get in his usual spots in the ring. Referee was an indy one, not a lucha one, and occasionally befuddled about what he had wandered into (like when Park had him beating up the rudos.) The teams changed corners during the match, which was amusing. Match broke down late with the introduction of a chair. Nicho went to hit Park, got Super Parka, and Demon took him outside. They brawled as Park hit the corkscrew plancha for the win. Nicho ran for his life to the back, Demon chased him, and Park beat up Super Parka a little more and celebrated alone in the ring (highlight: pole dancing.)
Show wrapped up at 10:22.
No Alicia Webb?
Did she stay home to take care of the dog?
With an AAA TV taping today, it probably wasn’t worth flying an extra person back and forth from Mexico.
Was this the tv taping for the show that will be on the colours channel?
That’s what they said, yes.
I think Cobra II IS TJ Perkins by the way. Unless you already knew that.
My sarcasm is really not coming thru lately.
I was worried it was sarcasm. :) Debated whether to post or not, was just checking. Since its pretty obvious sometimes with SoCal guys doing multiple gimmicks.