2009 Tapatia Discussion: Unit, Rivalry, Promotion

Today, we’re talking about three categories (odd numbers – one’s pretty simple)

  • Best Unit
  • Best Rivalry
  • Best Promotion/Territory

A couple notes about the last one, after the link

CMLL’s Arena Puebla shows will still be considered their own territory as long as they continue to use some luchadors which are local to their building. It’s kind on the edge of it now, but as long as they have the opener of guys who aren’t working elsewhere, I have no problem leaving it on.

For ease of use, I think all Arena Coliseo Monterrey can be lumped into one promotion.

Is there anyone besides these two, CMLL, AAA, IWRG, DTU, Perros, maybe AULL or UWE (did more than one show air?) that needs consideration? I’m sure there was other stuff that aired a little bit, but maybe not enough to deserve a vote here.

18 thoughts to “2009 Tapatia Discussion: Unit, Rivalry, Promotion”

  1. The Toreo Requiem shows were UWE shows I believe. That would put them over 4-5 shows that aired. Probably more I’d assume, but some shows can be confusing to place given they ran shows at Arena Lopez Mateos, where AULL runs and on the AYMSports channel, sometimes people don’t notice the name of the promotion and just call it UWE.

  2. Best Rivalry- Mistico vs Negro Casas. Their were many feuds in 2009. Ultimo Guerrero vs Villano V, Mexico vs Japan, Konnan vs the luchablog. However there was one feud that was the best of 09, & that was Negro Casas vs Mistico. The matches, the angles, etc., it all was just great.

    Best Promotion- CMLL. 2009 was a year that saw promotions succeed & fail. Within the last year, IWRG gained more exposure. AAA began it’s downward spiral that continues to plague them to this day. However CMLL had ( in my opinion) the best product, matches & roster, which makes CMLL the promotion of the year.

  3. Best Rivalry = Japan vs. Mexico. I think this is almost unarguable if you step back and think about it. No Limit/Okamura cost Black Warrior, Maximo & Toscano their hairs, and cheated their way to winning the Gran Alternativa. Tiger Mask 4 vs Mistico was treated as a big deal by both NJPW and CMLL, and the IWGP Jr. belt was traded back and forth. Jushin Liger got a few big wins in CMLL, and had a big showdown with Ultimo over the CMLL title. Plus, we had the big blow off with No Limit dropping the hairs to Texano & Terrible.

  4. Best Unit: Probably Peste Negra but I did really like Poder Norte in AAA. They deserve a mention.

    Best Rivalry: I agree with Mistico/Negro. If AAA didn’t back Wagner/Mesias though, I would have picked that Rivalry just based on the lead up to the Triplemania match alone.

    Best Promotion: I really want to put Arena Coliseo Monterrey for this but they have had some problems towards the end of the year. I’m going to go with IWRG. Even though CMLL has the best roster, I think IWRG brings the best matches.

  5. Best Unit-Peste Negra is tough to argue with. They were as over as anyone in CMLL last year. The Hijos del Averno’s strong start to the year and ending with Texano/Terrible getting No Limit’s hair makes them strong contenders as well I would love to nominate the Tuaregs and the Perros de Mal (did I really just put those two in the same sentence), but Poder Mexica deserves mention for sheer entertainment value and the fact that they so far exceeded expectations last year.

    Best Rivalry-Again Negro vs Mistico seems like a clear choice here and I won’t argue at all. Wagner vs Mesias would probably be my choice if it hadn’t been drug down by 6 months of bad matches after the great initial build and the classic at Triplemania. I’d say Billy/Sexi vs Fabi/Aerostar is also worthy of consideration based on a feud that ran for most of the year and resulted in many solid matches.

    Best Promotion-OK, everyone knows that I want to nominate the Perros here, but even I don’t think that is possible for last year. Maybe if they keep things going this year, but that is a long way off. CMLL would be my choice based on the solid in ring work, a few good storylines (Mistico vs Casas, Mexico vs Japan), and just generally sticking with a traditional format that has worked for them for years. Secondly, AAA is going to get dumped on, but it is easy to forget that going into Triplemania everyone was talking about how they had CMLL on the ropes and that CMLL needed to make a big move to stay alive. The second half of the year was lackluster wheel spinning, but I think from March to July they did enough to deserve being in the running here. I would give the nod to Puebla over IWRG for my third spot for last year. The booking there was solid throughout the year, the locals were quite entertaining, and the local minis vs national minis feud was outstanding, even if it did indirectly lead to Tzuki’s demise in CMLL.

  6. Best Unit- Peste Negra. They were entertaining, could draw a crowd & had consistently good matches in 2009. ‘Nuff said.

  7. @Alan: You had to go there. You just had to.

    These three categories are hard. Well best promotion is easy but I’ve done enough ranting about AAA today.

  8. OH, forgot to nominate Daniel vs Fake Daniels for rivalry of the year. Much like Wagner vs Mesias it was entertaining to start with and then went on way too long.

  9. This is so easy it doesn’t need nominations.

    Best Unit — Terribles Cerebros
    Best Rivalry — Terribles Cerebros vs. Dinastía Navarro
    Best Promotion/Territory — IWRG

    Runners up will all go to the Puebla locals except for maybe best unit which Dinastia Navarro probably qualify for.

    Casas/Mistico, Peste Negra and all that crap was deplorable. I hope we can get the IWRG board to vote. Common sense has to prevail.

  10. @ohtani’s jacket: No bias at all, eh?;) Common sense is not the opinion of 20 people on an IWRG message board.

    I have no doubt the Tapatias will look very different this year b/c last year there were 24 voters in TOTAL. If the 20 members of the IWRG forum are going to get together to make sure to vote together then it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out how the results will look since it’ll be 20 guys with the same opinion and 20 or so others with different (and more random) opinions. It’s gonna be a blowout for IWRG.

    To call everything non-IWRG “deplorable” is … well … I don’t even know what to say to that. But once again – you guys do understand you are a very very very tiny group that enjoys a certain niche of the Lucha Libre world, right? (Did that make sense? It’s 3am and I’ve watched too much hockey today)

    Yesterday or earlier today I watched Turbo vs Black Thunder. I thought it was absolutely incredible. 10 billion stars and one of my new favorite matches ever. Just perfect stuff. Yet it aired 2 weeks ago and all everyone on the Mexican forums commented on from that show was the X-Fly vs Charly Manson brawl with a car being used. Am I going to go on the Box y Lucha forum and tell everyone they are idiots for not recognizing what a great match Turbo/Black Thunder had? As soon as the forum goes back up, yes I will. But I’m not a dummy and I do realize what the average Mexican wrestling fan wants to see is not what I want to see. I’m just curious if you and the 100% IWRG crew realize this or not? It’s fine to enjoy the small-time product and praise guys who get no respect but with your latest replies you are really coming off like you know everything and everyone else with a differing opinion is an idiot.

    With that said… I’m going to vote for Terribles Cerebros vs Dinastia Navarro for feud of the year and IWRG for promotion of the year. Doesn’t mean the other stuff was CRAP or DEPLORABLE… it just wasn’t as good… in MY opinion.

    Bed time.

  11. @Alan

    2 things

    1. I feel honoured that you would nominate my feud. ha ha ha

    2. I agree that AAA has had some bright moments this year. There is no doubt that AAA does come up with some geat ideas and bright moments but the only problem is that they come and go in spurts. They’ll have a good thing going for a few weeks and then once that’s done they continue back onto their downward spiral right where they had left off. They never build upon a good idea, they just get the good idea over with and then they fall back onto their crap formual. For that reason I don’t think they deserve consideration for top promotion of 2009.

  12. But as long as it got brought up…

    @Alan: … You are a fool for not praising that Turbo/Thunder match more in your live report. IT WAS AMAZING! Crowd really seemed to dig it too even though it was just the opener. You are a lucky man for getting to see that brilliant match live.

  13. Sorry Rob, all that went in one ear and out the other.

    It sounds like something people would say if you tried to pimp any lucha on a wrestling board whether it was IWRG, CMLL or otherwise. If we’re talking about a niche interest within a niche interest then what does it matter? I don’t see the bias in voting IWRG the best in these categories when it was clearly the case.

  14. Best Promotion: I am a huge AAA fan but this year most of their product just sucked. so im going to vote for CMLL. they use their younger talent great and have managed to come through with almost all their big matches. perros del mal is a close second for promotion of the year.

    Best Unit: im gonna say los hijos del averno. they ve had great matches and have been part of some of the most imprtant matches this past year. for me peste negra is a very close second

    Best Rivalry: mistico vs negro casas was great. for the aaa billy boy vs the apaches has also been pretty good.

  15. Okay guys, this isn’t “Team most likely to be confused with pasta” so I’m going to have to disqualify all those Peste Negra votes and change them into votes for the Psycho Circus.

  16. @Rob: I am a fool yes. I actually need to go back and watch the match again now. I’ll confess that at the live show I was disappointed by the lack of Skayde and Black Spirit and the fact that they were only getting one fall. I was impressed with the match, but it was early in the show and I was a little distracted by things like figuring out where the restrooms were at for my wife.

    FWIW, I’m glad OJ is posting his picks here and not just ripping into other people’s picks as he started initially. I’m now considering a vote for Terribles Cerebros vs Dinastia Navarro and IWRG. I’ll confess they get less consideration from me largely because they were more difficult to watch in 2008, and the one show I saw live (Lucha Expo) was lackluster overall. But, they may move into my top three and replace AAA.

  17. Finally getting around to do this…

    Best Unit: Here’s some nominees…

    Terribles Cerebros and Dinastia de la Muerte out of IWRG were great. As were Los Oficiales. They all had some fantastic matches in 2009. In CMLL, I found La Peste Negra enjoyable. Guerreros Tuareg were fun. Poder Mexica looked like they were going to be on their way up, it kept Black Warrior interested, then he disappeared again and Poder Mexica kind of got lost in the shuffle again.

    Hijos Del Averno were a pretty strong unit with Hijo del Texano & El Terrible getting a big push in 2009. No Limit was ok. They were in the top storyline throughout 2009, but really felt that Okumura being put in with them AND moreso what they did with Gran Alternativa, really was upsetting. I like Okumura probably more than a few others on here, but I thought that was ridiculous and I also thought he fell into that category of guys getting pushes who really are not that over. I also liked Super Sky Team. A fun tecnico trio, but I get the feeling they’ll be overlooked due to people being more familiar with them separately.

    I’m surprised tromataker hasn’t brought up the L.A. Fuckers.

    Psycho Circus is undefeated! I liked Poder Del Norte early on, but that Rio Bravo switcheroo didn’t do much for them.

    Best Rivalry: Mistico vs. Casas was great. Dinastia de la Muerte vs. Terrible Cerebros might actually be my favorite rivalry from 2009. Really enjoyed all their matches. Sexi Star/Billy Boy vs. Fabi Apache/Gran Apache was okay, but died down towards the end. I agree with Nikita about Japan vs. Mexico. Its an easy feud to get the fans blood boiling and they were able to extend this feud up until December with the Yujiro/Naito vs. Texano Jr./Terrible hair match.

    Also, thought Centella de Oro vs. Policeman was a fun feud. Having the Puebla show on TVCDeportes to go with the 3ra Caida show, really helped this feud. They were able to cut additional promos to the hair match on the news show, which I thought was great considering how some people hate that sort of thing on their wrestling show. There’s also the CMLL Puebla locals vs. CMLL Minis feud, which did feature drunk Tzuki. Still haven’t watched the other part of the feud. It was brief, but very enjoyable.

    Almost forgot about Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. El Mesias. I thought that was an ok feud. It felt like it went too long.

    Best Promotion/Territory: I liked CMLL Puebla and IWRG, but I haven’t really decided on this. CMLL had so many TV shows that its easier for people to nitpick everything that they do and anything bad that they do will be magnified. AAA had a good 1st half, then Triplemania arrived and post-TM they went downhill. Not an easy show to watch.

    I’m surprised there isn’t a Best TV show award. Not that I’m suggesting one either.;) Just the amount of lucha the last year or so has really increased and it should continue to grow with youtube, etc.

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