2014 watch later catchup, part 5

In this one (the last for this stretch)

Alberto Dos Rios vs Charles Lucero (04-06, ACM)
Tony Rivera vs Black Terry, hair vs hair (04-06, IWRG)
Águila Egipcia & Black Tiger vs Ares & King Jaguar (02-24, PUEBLA)
Stuka Jr. vs Virus in a lightning match (03/24, PUEBLA)

The bump out of the ring is crazier than the top

Alberto Dos Rios vs Charles Lucero (04-06, ACM) [good]: Lucero just beat Alberto like he owed him money for five minutes. Dos Rios sold big for everything, though maybe sometimes too big or not quite at the right time. The referee got in more offense on Lucero in the first fall than ADR, which seemed to set up a longer beatdown in the second fall despite ADR really needing to get in some sort of comeback to maintain interest. Instead, the match paused to calm Lucero down, and Alberto jumped him to deliver his own long beating before it finallly turned a bit more even. This was quite the difference from Nova/Eterno (watched just prior) – that was a somewhat dispassionate match which went back and forth, this was a passionate match which went all one way or the other. I would’ve liked to see some balance, but this one felt like a battle at least. Alberto really wasn’t asked to do as many big spots in this one as the other match, but looked more solid here. This is a weak good and so obviously a set up to a more complete match.

Rivera tope

Tony Rivera vs Black Terry, hair vs hair (04-06, IWRG) [GOOD] I didn’t like the early portion of the match as much; I wanted to see the two guys fighting in the ring, but there was too much distracting craziness on the outside inside. Not that it was all bad – Ciclon Black running around like a crazy man with the “Terry 58” sign is worth a star alone. Crowd was into it, and it may have just been one of those things that didn’t translate well to TV – well brawls on the outside are not something AYM does well. (Uncertain what LAS does well, but only one slow camera guy on the floor wasn’t helping.) Match finish, with Terry overcoming powder, a foul, and Alan Extreme’s apparent suicide via poor tope, was pretty enjoyable and the third fall leading up to it was pretty good. It really helped to be in an Arena that loved Terry and hated Rivera – this doesn’t work nearly as well out of it’s context.

absurd plywood usage
Alan Extreme defeated by the ropes
Michinoku Driver (and another bump Puebla GIF)

Águila Egipcia & Black Tiger vs Ares & King Jaguar: [GOOD] Lost this summary somewhere, but I seem to recall enjoying it more than I thought I would. The Puebla openers are getting here more on memory than merit; the young guys aren’t as good as the older guys they’re replacing generally. This was a nice exception – Aguila Egipica looked promising and Black Tiger is still good when he turns up here. Ares & King Jaguar were a solid rudo team, with Jaguar having improved significantly from when he moved onto that side.

Black Tiger senton
wipe out dropkick
Stuka moonsault

Stuka Jr. vs Virus in a lightning match (03/24, PUEBLA): [OK/GOOD] Watched basically because I was one match short (and it was on the list anyway), but it was fine lightning match. Virus seemed to playing rope a dope early, letting Stuka get in his spots before taking him apart, but never got closer to winning than the ring post armdrag. This was 7:30 of guys setting up and executing their signature moves, though in interesting ways. Just on the wrong side of the good line, because there wasn’t really much here but it did make me want to see the title match that’s coming up soon after this.

Virus trademark armdrag