Recapped: 2020-01-19
This is the 420 show, taped in November. Unlike the other RIOT shows, it’s only on their Pivotshare streaming service so far, not the Highspots Wrestling Network. That may just be a temporary issue.
Matches:
Madness vs Kill Korton
(12:05, good)
It helps to be a certain level of weirdness to get over in RIOT. Kill Korton had the weird part down, enough to get the crowd really into his match despite being a newcomer. I’m not really sure if Korton actually did a move in the entire match and it still worked. He had no problem taking Madness’s spots and was a good counterpoint to Madness being super athletic. It’s hard to explain why this one worked but it did.
Charro Negro vs Mr. Iguana vs Oro Negro
(14:06, good)
The three-way match was a little up and down. Oro & Charro have promise and worked well with Iguana at times, but often looked more comfortable just with each other. Even between them, there was a missed kick spot the crowd got on them a little. That was overshadowed by the better moments; they did well basing for Iguana’s trickier spots. The match, including the entrance bit, was still vastly entertaining. Fourteen minutes felt a little bit too long for that match but they never lost the crowd.
Lady Flammer vs Baby Love
(10:38, ok)
The women’s match fell short in parts; the two straight failed top rope headscissors near the end was the point where it could no longer be considered good. Baby Love did show a lot of potential and willingness to do aerial spots not typically done by women, so the match did leave hope she might be impressive down the road. Flammer did seem like she was on a higher level but did her best to raise Baby Love up. The finish was brutal.
Caifan II vs Demonio del Aire
(14:12, great)
I was totally impressed by the Caifan II/Demonio del Aire match. It was tough to know how much to expect from Caifan and Demonio’s a guy who seemed to get hurt in every RIOT match. He was a different guy here, a fast and solid wrestler who hit everything except a very tricky dive. The even spots, in the beginning, set a positive tone and they kept it up the rest of the way. Caifan’s senton to the (cement!) floor was crazy. These two followed some wild personalities earlier but kept the crowd into it by just the action. It was impressive.
Muerte Extrema vs Aero Boy
(10:06, good)
Muerte Extrema’s match with Aeroboy was the best Muerte’s looked here; he made steady progress in 2019 and had a good opponent to work with. Aero’s a professional luchador and figured out what to do with him that would look best. The effort was there too, though it felt slower than some of the other matches and didn’t connect with the crowd as much as those too. The wrestling seemed good, they just had a lot of hard stuff to follow.
Lord Byron vs Kaientai
(13:00, good)
The UnMexicans singles match went from parody comedy to serious murder very suddenly. It held together, though it seemed like they did their most brutal bit well before the finish. They went to head drops later after so I guess it worked out. Kaientai seemed like he tried to brace himself on his senton to the apron and it made an uglier noise so that must’ve sucked. The poison rana was even more frightening.
CIMA, Látigo, Skayde vs Erick Ortiz, Kratoz, Prometo
(11:24, ok)
The big-name trios match didn’t come together. The local guys seemed to want to do a big match to impress CIMA, CIMA and Skayde seemed to want a greatest hits match, and the meeting point wasn’t strong either way. The fans seemed to just want to see CIMA do spots they knew, though CIMA seemed hardly invested. It wasn’t bad, but it also was only memorable for the names rather than the action.
Arez © vs Aramis [RIOT CHAMP]
I wrote up this match for a Watch Later post a while back. It holds up well – a Great in the rating – but I don’t have much new to say about it. The crowd going nuts after the finish was entertaining.