Recapped: 06/19/2019
Matches:
This show took place on February 2nd, 2019 at Arena Femenil in Monterrey. I haven’t added timestamps yet but you can see the whole show at https://riotlucha.pivotshare.com/ via a $5 monthly subscription or $3.50 rental. It is also available as part of the Highspots Wrestling Network’s $10/month subscription. The show is worth the money.
Erick Ortiz vs Madness
(10:01, great)
Erick Ortiz has medium length hair and Erick Ortiz showed real charisma in this match. I don’t know if this is causation or correlation but he shouldn’t be allowed to cut his hair until we’re sure either way. Ortiz is always good in the past in RIOT. This one seemed better, with Ortiz just seeming sharp and enjoying what he was doing. There were cool hold exchanges to start that didn’t follow a usual pattern, then generally normal off done really well. It felt like a Caifan match with less chops if that makes any sense. Madness looked better in his in-ring flying than his one big dive, and his spear off the ropes was very well timed. There’s some off moments early on but this far exceeded my expectations.
Kratoz & Prometeo vs Chik Tormenta & Willy Banderas
(12:54, good)
Brian Villa should be concerned about being bumped out of his team by Chik Tormenta. She and Willy showed some good teamwork for a non-team, matching and occasionally outshining the regular Mismos de Siempre team. This match had some entertaining moments and moved well, feeling shorter than the time indicated. It was a bit sloppy at times, sometimes dangerously. Willy looks about knocked out at the finish and Prometo seemed to be hurting earlier. Both do make I to their feet and this was overall entertaining, but it could’ve landed a bit better.
Látigo vs Belial
(15:16, good)
This is two my favorite under the radar guys so I was particularly excited to see it, and then I just wasn’t in it a lot on the first moments. The “proving you can do technical wrestling part” of classic lucha libre matches is tricky. Just doing the same routine everyone else does makes it totally skippable, but overly creative stuff like here (and earlier) seems off because there’s no credibility to holds early in the match. Belial and Latigo were doing a Negro Navarro/Solar bit, with the same hold demonstration quality that keeps me from enjoying some of their work. This is maybe overemphasizing the first quarter of a match that got plenty of time to work with, and stuff like the rolling cradle sequence they pull in right after was really good. Latigo feels like a guy with a lot of Skayde in him right now with the surprising roll-ups and armdrags. Belial did the low elevation tope among other things and I always like that. This just never got me emotionally but I could see others liking it more.
Aeroboy vs Laredo Kid
(14:28, great)
Another Laredo Kid match of just throwing bombs at each other until someone is no longer moving. This in no way felt like nearly 15 minutes, helped by both guys have a big variety of offense to go thru. Laredo’s cutter looked as good as it ever has in this match and his moonsault isn’t far off. Aeroboy is a good match for him, though he gives on his plan to attack Laredo’s shoulder awful quickly. He did absolutely squash Laredo with the senton. This fits in with some of Laredo’s best stuff from this year.
Kaientai & Lord Byron vs Golden Boy & Símbolo
(9:32, good)
These guys are still not my favorite but I liked this Unmexicans matches more than previous ones. They had some good action and it didn’t overstay it’s welcome. They teased a sunset flip bomb thru a lot of objects, did a dive instead, and I think the bomb would’ve been much safer somehow. Golden Boy & Simbolo are a professional tag team and the crowd seemed happy to see them in this environment.
Demonio del Aire vs Aramis
(19:16, good)
It didn’t seem like many in the Monterrey crowd knew who Aramis was when he came out. He made sure they knew who he was by the time they were done. Demonio del Aire is good for his experience level, with some cool moments and some shaky points. Aramis is just a protege. He seems to know not just the moves (and does them well) but has a feel of when to slow down and when to pick up, and when to just let the other guy go for a while. The one count kickout here didn’t quite get over with this crowd, but seems a clear sign he’s been watching a lot of wrestling where it did get over. This was a strong introduction match of what he could do for new fans.
Bandido vs Sammy Guevara
(21:01, great)
This would’ve been a “dream match” if it had been announced beforehand, and Bandido and Sammy Guevera live up to the expectations that didn’t actually exist. There’s a lot of flying, there’s a lot of superkicks, Sammy Guevera flips off many people. They did a good job of mixing up what they were doing throughout the match to not run anything in the ground by the end. The backbreaker bit worked much better for the RIOT crowd than most, as did the over the top Canadian Destroyer bit that ended up going viral from this match. The end game lacks a little of drama. They both got to do their big moves, and they both had a lot of impact on them, but there was not a lot of fight to them. It’s about a straight forward as it goes. I keep going back and forth about the rating. It’s somewhere in this area.
