2017 watch later catch up, part 14 of 14

healthy and normal behavior

The final one of these posts this year! About half The Crash and one-forth regrets. There’s eight matches here, so a total of 80 matches over these extra roun ups. Hope they’ve been useful.

Volador Jr. vs Mephisto
(CMLL @ Arena Coliseo Guadalajara on 11/14, 8:16, ok, via thecubsfan)

An abbreviated version of exactly the match you’d expect from these. Short on term, though really short only about two of the near falls you’d expect. (No time for the ground floor Devil’s Wings, direct to the super version.) The pace is worked a little bit faster at the start but it doesn’t really amount to anything, and the TV network actually loses the picture during the finish. You get the replay and you can figure out what it’s going to be in advance, but this isn’t worth the time even for a Volador or Mephisto completest.

this is how the finish aired. You can tell it’s a local issue, the time graphic stays up there until someone realizes there’s an issue.

Rey Fénix vs Flamita
(The Crash @ Auditorio Miguel Barragan, San Luis Potosí in 11/29, excellent, 15:42, excellent, via Juan Zárate)

This is out of order; I saved this one for last so I knew I’d have something good to watch. This absolutely delivered on that. Flamita & Fenix were going fast and big the entire match, pulling off sequences with and against each other that I’m not sure if anyone else could do. The 619 avoidance segment, partially blocked out by a referee who involved himself in the match a bit too much early, is otherworldy. My notes for this match aren’t much, I was too into the match, but they looked sharp thru the match. Fenix breaking out a farmer’s roll out of a torito was a random as all get out and a great curveball to the usual cradle battle bit . There’s sections of this match where the crowd isn’t make much noise. It’s not that they don’t care, it’s a rare lucha crowd so into the match that they don’t make a lot of sounds while the action is going. They do after big turns of events, and go more deliriously crazy as the match goes on – the San Luis Potosi fans lose their minds on Fenix’s triple springboard double stomp. This is a surprisingly pro-Flamita crowd at times, and I appreciate that they’re having these finishes go back and forth even though Fenix seems like the bigger star in the rivalry. They probably could’ve added more to go even longer, but it felt like it built well at the time they had, and hopefully they’ll keep having chances to mix more stuff in.

I really liked the sequences in this match
the best the double stomp has looked

Aramis, Astrolux, Black Boy vs Látigo, Tiago, Toxin
(The Crash @ Arena Neza on 12/15, 6:00, great, via Adrian Martinez)

The time didn’t seem right when I checked the video, but both version of this match are about as long. It is edited in a t least one moment, but this is mostly just a hyper speed sprint, guys flying around just to try and get what they can in while they can. Aramis stands out the most, looking strong against Tiago, getting knock for a loop and pulling out a beautiful dive moments later. I don’t think that I can say everyone had their moments because there just wasn’t enough time for moments, but there was always something crazy to look at. It’s about as good as six minute flippy indie match is going to get, which makes it a very slight Great for me.

behold the power of Aramis
walk rope tope con giro
Toxin pumphandle shoulderbreaker
Black Boy missile

Neza Kid & Séptimo Dragón vs El Bandido & Laredo Kid
(The Crash @ Arena Neza on 12/15, 7:10, ok, via Adrian Martinez)

Lots of action, and yet still a little unsatisfying. It’s a tag match which doesn’t at all feel like one. They’re all going at the same time, coming off more like a four way and I’d imagine it’s pretty easy to get confused on teams. Everyone did a lot in the short time they got, but the crowd really just reacted like it was a missable opener match in the video I saw. The crowd reacts to the dives – which seem to turn into a contest about who can most overshoot their target and hit the guardrail – though it’s definitely helped there by the luchadors giving the crowd a moment to react to the dives coming rather than just speeding thru them. I like fast action but it’s also somehow got to register and a lot of the more physically impressive stuff just melded together into one piece. I didn’t hate it but it could’ve been better.

Laredo Kid dive
Neza Kid crowd dive, as required

Daga © vs Mike Segura vs  Willie Mack for a LWA Championship
(The Crash @ Arena Neza on 12/15, 13:05, good, via Adrian Martinez)

This was much better than the tag match for having less people in it (so much so that I had to reconsider my grade for that.) Willie Mack most was just in random trios for 2017 The Crash and shows here he could do so much more. The Neza crowd really wanted to root for Daga and Mack stole the match. This was a lot of one on one, which made it feel like Mack wrestled Segura & Daga back to back. (Mike disappears on the outside for the last four and half minutes; it was so unusual that I thought he got eliminated somehow.) Mack comes across as a monster again both smaller opponents, knocking Segura around and making it more impressive when Daga’s able to suplex him over and over again. He wasn’t really playing rudo, no one was, but he was shocking the crowd with the agile stuff he usually does. The was about as good has looked lately too. He’s not taking over a match the way he used to, but he does have a nice run here.

that’s a lot of Mack behind that kick
Mack earns a bow

Mecha Wolf & Sammy Guevara vs Flamita & The King
(The Crash @ Arena Neza on 12/15, great, 10:06, via Adrian Martinez)

Fenix & Flamita are such an absurdly great make shift team that it makes this match worth seeking out even if there had been nothing more to it. Guevera & Wolf are good, though they’ve had better nights, but it feels like the wrong when they get a questionable win. Fenix & Flamita are just super humanly fast when they’re working together and spectacular when they’re fighting alone. Fenix’s ramp running dropkick look so spectacular that I’m pretty sure all Fenix matches should have a ramp now. Flamita & Guevera taking the backwards bump over the top rope to the floor to set up the finish was crazy. The result seemed to set up a rematch or Fenix/Mecha, but who knows with The Crash.

got to get your workout in
the case for all lucha shows having a ramp
this was so ridiculous, it went from bad to great

Imposible vs Dr. Cerebro
(IWRG @ Arena Naucalpan on 12/17, 4:38, ok, via IWRG tv)

I didn’t realize this was so short until getting ready to watch this match, and then it’s even shorter than it seems. They try to go fast to make the most of the time, but you’d have to absolutely nail it to make it work in under five minutes and they’re not that close. Imposible standing still while Dr. Cerebro slipped and recovered on the ropes was not the greatest moment. It just comes across as a lot of stuff and then a sudden finish.

the finish, so you can skip the rest

Arez, Bombero Infernal, Dr. Cerebro, Fantasma de la Ópera, Internacional Pantera, Oficial 911, Robin Maravilla, Yakuza vs Akira San, Cadilac, Diablo Jr., Dragón Bane, Fulgor II, Lacerado Kid, Moto Cross, X-Corpio in a cibernetico match
(IWRG @ Arena Naucalpan on 12/20, 27:10, good, via thecubsfan)

This is the teachers versus students version of Copa High Power. I thought this was decent though I’m a sucker for elimination matches and the logic didn’t make much sense: this is students versus teachers, shouldn’t the teachers have a pretty easy win here? The finish was not much good no matter what the set up was. I also have no member of Arez being in this match so don’t go be watching this if you’re looking for him. This is the AYM broadcast so the announcers (with Avisman?) have no clue who’s who in this sort of match, making identifing the unknown rookies a challenge. The one who stood out the most was “Lacerado Kid”, who normally spells it Lasserado Kid. He’s a Pantera trainee from Guanajuato who showed superior agility, busting out a Triton like moonsault at one point. He’d be a guy to watch if it was actually possible to watch him; whoever put the match knew what they have to let him go very long at least. The kid in orange – might have been Yakuza’s trainee Akira San? – was also impressive in spurts. I got two names to look for out of this, so it wasn’t all bad by any means.

the newest example of mystery awesome guys being hidden all over in Mexico. Still a great inefficiency in identifying the best guys who aren’t in lucha center.

Caifan vs Mr. Niebla
(Lucha Memes @ Arena Naucalpan on 11/20, 12:40, great, via +LuchaTV)

I watched this one much later the the rest in this back, when I looked at match of the year listings and realized this was the big lucha match that had slipped past me this year.

Caifan decides the right away to approach this match is to hit Mr. Niebla with a loaded punch as soon as possible. He appears to be correct! Caifan is so dominant in this match, Niebla doesn’t even get in a shot in the first six minutes. Caifan comes off as so strong and in control that the CMLL guys winning with his finish move at the end feels shockingly like some sort of upset. Caifan is great, great enough that he was set to make this match worthwhile even if bad Mr. Niebla had shown up, so great that I’m heartbroken that this will be has last great match if his retirement actually sticks. I can see him moving awkwardly at times with his knees bugging him, I’m sure it makes sense for him to stop wrestling when there’s no big money payoff coming if one hasn’t come already, it’s still sad to see.

Niebla turns out to be game for this, which turns this match into something close to a Rush/LA Park brawl than you’re likely to see elsewhere. Bottles of beer get involved, there’s a wooden box sitting in the ring for an extended period of time, fans are frightened by luchadors fighting inches away from them. There’s even a Park tribute ludicrous ref bump, though Caifan’s casual foul later on is great. Niebla keeps talking about wanting to do the match with Atlantis, but he’s the guy who should be going after Rush if he can find a way to fight like he did here.

Caifan taking time to carefully load up the bottles before just chucking the box at him makes it special.
he had better follow thru on this box.
two Niebla spots you don’t get to see in CMLL nowadays

IWRG chefs, DTU in Arena Aficion tonight, LU

IWRG (WED) 02/21/2018 Arena Naucalpan [Estrellas del Ring]
1) Black Puma b Puma de Oro
2) Chef Benito & Haziel b Guerrero 2000 & Power Bull
Chef Benito is actually a chef. Or at least a Chef character.
3) Kanon & Toto b Hijo Del Bombero & Skanda
Kanon beat Bombero & Skanda at the same time.
4) Dragón Bane, Lunatic Xtreme, Ram El Carnero b Ángel Oriental, Shadow Boy, Súper Brazo Jr.
5) Eterno, Leroy, Ovett b Leo, Mike, Rafy
Team Ovett won fall 1/3.

Chef Benito is a luchador Chef. The cultural reference is probably Chef Benito Molina, who was a star of the Mexico version of the MasterChef reality show for five seasons (and left amidst some drama with the production.)

IWRG has a bonus free show on Friday with no card announced. It looks like it might be a government sponsored event.

Wrestlers have been mentioning on social media heading to Lucha Underground the last few days. I think I was too soon in saying most people were going to be there Tuesday, but people have been headed there and will be there soon. Their first taping is tomorrow.

The one name jumped out yesterday was Daga. Daga missed all but the final weekend of tapings of Season 3 due to visa issues. Since then, Daga left AAA to work for The Crash among other promotions. During season 2, AAA warned their wrestlers that anyone who worked for AAA who left that promotion would not be allowed to continue on future seasons Lucha Underground. Fenix & Pentagon also left, but they’re so important to Lucha Underground that exceptions could be made in their cases. Daga missed 99% of last season and could be more easily written out without most people noticing. It looks like he’s staying. Which means one of three things:

  1. the original story about AAA threatening their wrestlers is false
  2. OR Daga’s gone back to AAA.
  3. OR Lucha Underground’s creative staff can pick and use who they want, regardless of AAA’s wishes.

I don’t think 1 is right, because many people heard that story. I don’t think Daga’s going back to AAA, because Daga’s still booked on The Crash shows. So that points to 3. Lucha Underground people have maintained they have the say over who works there all along, and they appear to be correct.

This used to be an important bit because of the idea that AAA wrestlers would become well known from Lucha Underground and then take that fame to work on their own. I’m not sure it matters as much now, because Lucha Underground fame wasn’t as transferable to the rest of the wrestling world in Season 3, and the AAA wrestlers on LU are generally near the top of the card and/or given the freedom to work a lot of their own dates anyway. But maybe it’s something to keep an eye on in Season 4 if someone new gets hot.

I wonder who’s running AAA’s taping on Sunday, since Vampiro will definitely be at Lucha Underground and possibly Dorian Roldan would be as well. It looks like they’re going to handle this situation for Rey de Reyes by just not running a Lucha Underground taping on 03/04 judging from Jeff Cobb’s tweet.

DTU has a big show in Arena Aficion tonight. Violento Jack & Aeroboy vs Ciclope & Miedo Extremo vs Halloween & Ovett main event in an extreme match. Negro Casas is on this DTU show as well, in a four way with Jimmy, Cobre and Draztick Boy.

Arolucha revealed Ricardo Rodriguez and Konnan will be the announcers for their pilot show. The Wrestling Observer mentioned Arolucha will not be running more house shows for “several more months”, working on TV tapings and getting a TV deal instead. The attendance seemed better last weekend, but I’d guess they weren’t making money on those shows if they’re putting a pause on them.

ROH’s “Manhattan Mayhem” on 03/03 (Saturday @ 6pm CTST) in NYC has these CMLL matches

This show will be ROH’s first show on their Honor Club service. The short explanation is you can watch this show live for $10 USD. At some point, I’m going to stop wrongly calling this ROH’s Anniversary show without anyone needing to reminding me in the comments. It’s going to happen. Just give me about fifty more tries. Castle defends against Lethal about a week later at that actual Anniversary show, so that’ll be the focus of the tag match.

03/24 MexaWrestling (MexaWar) at Arena San Juan has

The Crash on 04/06 at WrestleCon

Terrible was interviewed on CMLL’s Facebook page.

MLW announced Garza Jr. vs Ultimo Ninja for their 03/08 show in Orlando.

LuchaWorld has the new edition of LuchaTalk.

AAA on Twitch: 2018-02-02 

Angelikal seemed to do this on purpose

Recapped: 02/17/2018

All matches aired live from Salón Rojo del Club Toluca, Toluca, Estado de México.

Matches: 

Big Mami & Lady Shani beat Ashley & Faby Apache
(12:29, Lady Shani northern lights suplex Ashley, ok, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Dave The Clown beat Niño Hamburguesa
(5:20, beal off the top rope, below average, Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Joe Lider & Mr. Águila beat Histeria & Psicosis  
(12:07, Mr. Aguila moonsault Histeria, ok, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Angelikal, Hijo Del Vikingo, Lanzelot, Máscara de Bronce beat Australian Suicide, Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly
(7:05, Angelikal torito Averno, 7:05, good, Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, La Parka beat Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr., Tito Santana
(9:19, La Parka inside cradle Carta Brava Jr., ok, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Hijo del Fantasma beat Texano Jr. & Villano III Jr.
(9:03, Fantasma Thrill of the Hunder on Villano III Jr., ok, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

Psycho Clown & Vampiro beat Dr. Wagner Jr. & Rey Escorpión
(17:51, Psycho Clown foul and small package Rey Escorpion, below average, via Lucha Libre AAA (Twitch))

What happened:

Vikingo SSP

In the main event (which is treated as a dark match), Wagner is on the rudo side but is reluctant to fight the técnicos at time. He’s really a tecnico at this point and definitely going forward.

Psycho bleeds heavily after a chair shot the head. Vampiro is run into the post, loosely body slammed onto the floor, and stretchered out. It does seem severe enough to need him being taken out of the match when Psycho is covered in blood. Vampiro’s exit by Rey Escorpion attacking the medics, and the medics later accidentally dropping Vamprio off the stretcher. After a ref bump, Maximo and Mascara came down to make the save, clearing out the rudos. Rey Escorpión does mange to foul Psycho Clown, but Psycho returns the favor, following and small packaging him for the win. Rey Escorpion took Psycho’s mask anyway.

Prior to the match, Vampiro and a frail looking Villano III come to the ring to remove Tirantes as referee. He needs the help of both Vampiro and Copetes to get down the steps, which really is what makes him look old. He’s relatively fine otherwise, but those steps are the first impression. Copetes stays to replace Tirantes.

Faby war cry

Wagner attacks his partner Fantasma out four minutes into the match, and hands him over to the rudos to beat. Wagner walks out. Fantasma continues fighting, including kicking out of the Tornado Texano that was his finish. (He doesn’t often win with a move, so I’m unsure if it’s suppose dot be his finish)The referee gets taken out moments later, and Tirantes runs in to attack Fantasma. Bengala runs out to make the save, with Copetes being out for 90 seconds before recovering just in time to count Fantasma’s pin. As with every técnico win, Fantasma is immediately beaten and unmasked.

 

It’s announced before the match the winning person will get a title shot. The stipulation has no affect on the match. The finish of the match is Carta Brava fouling La Parka (missed by the cameras), Carta Brava covering, and Carta Brava stopping covering because Averno is on the apron. Averno spits at Carta Brava, and Park rolls up Carta for the pin. Mocho Cota Jr. appears to be injured after taking a dive.

Argenis appears before the match, in his outfit but limping. He can hardly put weight on his right foot and apologizes for not wrestling tonight. OGT & Suicide come out to confront him, but Argenis holds them off with his giant sword. The técnicos eventually make the save, though everyone’s standing around for a few moments before it happens. (They seem to be waiting for Tirantes to make it to the ring, since it happens two seconds after he gets there.)

Bronce dives onto whatever

Dave the Clown attacks Nino’s legs after the match. He doesn’t seem to know how to do the worked version of that spot (where you hit the mat a little past the foot so you don’t actually connect) and actually hits Niño in the foot repeatedly. Niño needs help getting ot the back after.

Big Mami has her AAA Mixed Tag Team championship back. Last time we saw it, La Hiedra & Villano III had stolen it from her and given it Hernandez. Faby berates Ashley after she takes the loss in the match.

Thoughts:

Faby doesn’t take the loss well

The main event was a slow paced action less brawl, where Psycho Clown was the only one who didn’t know they were mailing this in and bleed a dramatic amount. I’m never particularly high on psycho Clown as being the cornerstone of the promotion, but he was a great representative of the promotion in this match, trying to make something out of another match by blood and effort alone. It still wasn’t any, a boring trying affair to get thru that was twice as long as it needed to be and an unimpressive way to end a show.

Just like in Guerra de Titanes, the Fantasma/Texano match here was more of angle to set up Tirantes & Bengala’s participation than an actual match. Bengala is fine but his and Tirantes inclusion in this is really forced. The rudo post match attack and unmasking is so common place that it means nothing any more. Hijo del Wagner’s suplex on Villano III was the most impressive thing he’s done. He needed to have a bigger impact on the match if he was going to be part of the main title feud past this.

This happened a lot on the live broadcast; they switched shots too soon and missed things that were already going in front of them, like the end of Texano’s rant. I hope they lay off the switcher in the future.

Poder del Norte continue to be miracle works because they made Escoria & Cuervo seem exciting for the first time in their técnico run. Escoria came off as a good high flyer. The biggest success was how heavily they fed into La Parka’s offense, just making him look super destructive while also enabling him to stand in the same place for the entire bit. These rudos would be really helpful in CMLL, even if they were still stuck on the Puma/Tiger level. I wouldn’t strongly recommend this match but it’s about as good as a trios match between these two teams with a dumb finish is going to be.

The atomicos was a lot of fun. The young guys were flying all over the place and getting better as the match went along. The dive sequence was as wild as anything, with Mascara de Bronce’s rough landing on the barricade only tope by Angelikal’s rough landing right on the floor. Angeliakl’s missed dive was insane and planned to be crazy and played into him coming back for the finish well. I normally like a longer comeback, but I can’t deny the crowd went nuts when Angelikalk snuck in the torito for the surprise win (and only wish the técnicos got to run off before they were attacked to let it sink in.) This was a hot, easy to enjoy match.

what a finish

Dave/Hambruguesa didn’t have any tragically blown spots. It was largely boring, and featuring a finish where Niño Hamburguesa took a chair shot to the head and sold it by climbing all the way to the top rope so he could get tossed off. It was dumb and so was this match. The new Dave The Clown idea seems to be a scary methodical brawler. It asks him to do less. I’d like to see him nothing.

Women’s match was alright. There were some iffy moments (Shani stopping and starting halfway to the corner was not good) and Big Mami doesn’t fit in the style of match the other three are going for. Still, it’s worthwhile because the character work is great. Faby’s now fully committed to the ruda role the entire match, and great at it. The sarcastic war cry was awesome, the taunting and her other antics were good, and berating Ashley for losing the match afterwards was played just right. They even got the fans to boo Faby by the end. Ashley is going to be so over as tecnica if AAA lets this play out and does the split right. You can tell on day 1 that this is going to work great. It’s also greatly foolish to expect something to play out right in AAA so I’m going to be vastly disappointed when this all just gets dropped by April. If anything, they do risk at making Shani a small player than she need sot be in this, but she did get the pinfall win and they can get there in time.

this GIF submitted as part of my continuing Super Fly Is Actually The Best campaign