Lucha TV Report for April 17th, 2001

EMLL-

(Arena Coliseo) Tigre Blanco, Mascara Magica, Kendo vs. Karloff LaGarde, Valentine Mayo, Dr. X-

Primera Caida- This one is over quick. Tigre Blanco does a great tope to Karloff, while Kendo and Magica do submission holds on his rudo partners to win the fall in less than a minute. 

Segunda Caida- Kendo works his comedy with Mayo, Magica has a quick set with O’Borman, and then Tigre and Karloff enter to continue their feud. After some brief mask ripping the rudos decide to take over the ring and do so. Karloff beats Blanco with a boston crab.

Tercera Caida- Karloff continues to work over Blanco’s leg as Kendo bitches about something to the ref. The rudo squadron continues to beat on their enemies until karloff gets caught in the tecnico corner. Now the tecnicos comeback with some ok offense, like Magica’s swinging DDT. O’Borman takes out Kendo with a somersault off the apron. Magica dives onto Valentine with a tope sending him up the aisle. Tigre and Karloff are left alone to finish their feud, and Tigre gets him with a short-arm clothesline followed with a cristo variation. After the smoke clears he asks for a title shot but Karloff says no…

[.75] Even if it is great to see these guys get two straight weeks of TV time, this match was only ok so I can’t give it a full point.

(Arena Mexico) Mini-Trios Tournament: 

First they start with a battle royal to determine pairings for the tournament. The battle royal is over the top and is between the team captains only. Lizmark Jr. and Safari, representing their teams, are the first to go over leaving Shocker and Emilio Charles. So effectively it’s rudos vs rudos and tecnicos vs tecnicos.

(One fall)Lizmark Jr., Negro Casas, Felino vs. Safari, Mr. Niebla, Olimpico- Olimpico and Casas, almost tag team champions, start the fall for their respective teams with some good matwork. I’m pissed that Casas couldn’t have worked like this against the Infernales. Now former teammates in a short-lived trio(w/ Antifaz), Felino and Safari square off. And then finally Niebla and Lizmark Jr., who would have had Safari’s place in the trio had he shown up for work (tee he..) go at it. The pace picks up a bit now, with a few quick switches. Safari takes Lizmark down hard with a tope, then Felino does his usual “planchita” out of the corner, and Olimpico finishes things up with a tope. Casas and Niebla, the captains are left to finish the match off. Niebla misses his cartwheel reverse tope, then Casas tries to do one(amazingly) but misses. Niebla quickly ties him up in La Neblina but Casas kicks free before he is turned over. Lizmark tries to catch Niebla with a moonsault, but Niebla runs under it, then catches him trying a rana and powerbombs him down for the three count. Olimpico then avoids a Casas flying cross chop and uses his bodyscissors into a small package to pin him. 

[full point] Good work from all involved. Should have gone longer. Surprisingly the tecnico vs tecnico match-up wasn’t a disaster. 

(One fall) Emilio Charles, Scorpio Jr., Bestia Salvaje vs. Shocker, Dr. Wagner Jr., Satanico- Someone tell me what Shocker’s 70’s-centric music is so I can suggest EMLL change it back to “Crazy.” Before the match Shocker tells Emilio that this is his one opportunity to prove himself and if he can beat Shocker he can hang with them. The crowd is really hot. Shocker and Charles take it to the mat for a long time. Shocker and he want to turn this a brawl so the Guapos try to cool everyone down, then once Shocker and friends turn their backs the match becomes a brawl. Shocker’s team is able to fight back, as Wagner, Scorpio, Satanico, and Bestia all go outside. Shocker meanwhile hits a powerslam on Emilio, but only gets a two count. He goes up top for his flying elbowdrop, but is crotched by Bestia from the apron. Charles uses a superplex for the win. Shocker says he’ll be a team now with Charles and Scorpio but I don’t think he mentioned Bestia. 

[half point] They handled the Guapos storyline fine but the match wasn’t all that good, just heated.

(Final- One fall)Niebla, Safari, Olimpico vs Charles, Bestia, Scorpio- Guapos try to make this a brawl but it fails about two minutes in. Niebla and Olimpico send Bestia and Scorpio out then use double tope suicidas from the corner. Safari uses a huracanrana on Emilio to win the match. This trio of Safari, Olimpico, and Niebla got pushed huge by the announcers and are now to be known as the new “Ola Azul”. The first one was Lizmark, Atlantis, and Anibal, I think.

Now comes a long skit which I think takes the place of Momentos this week. El Poder Boriqua are talking in their office when Pierroth calls in to congratulate his son (I think that’s what he said, all I could make out over the static was his great laugh). The guy in the Pierroth mask that threw water in Perro’s face was indeed Hijo del Pierroth. Next we see bald Perro in the hospital bed and the doctors say how messed up his neck is. Then a commissioner explains why they didn’t call it a piledriver and DQ Universo. First they show that a piledriver is basically a tombstone(belly to belly, kneeling). Tigre Blanco demonstrates this whole thing on Dr. O Borman. Next he shows a sitting powerbomb, and the commissioner states that Universo wanted to do that to Perro, but he didn’t move, so the result was him landing on his head instead of his back(even though it was just a sitting piledriver). Lastly the Dinimita brothers congratulate Universo. Universo calls his piledriver “Martillo Negro” and says he hopes Perro returns so he can send him straight to hell.

Cien Caras, Universo 2000, Mascara Ano 2000, Apollo Dantes vs. Gigante Silva, Brazo del Plata, Atlantis- Only thing of note was Silva trying to piledriver Universo. Universo hit him with a low blow to win. [zero] Same old shit with Silva, really.

AAA

La Parkita(entering the ring in a giant dog suit), Mascarita Segrada, Octagoncito vs Abismo Negro, Mini Kahoz, Espectrito-

Primera Caida- They have a new ref here “Super Frasero”. Note that these matches are all from Reyes de Reyes and thus in AAA’s 6 sided ring. First fall has lots of tecnico armdrags and headscissors. Parka eventually catches Abismo trying a sunset flip out of the corner and powerbombs him for the three count. The other two rudos are pinned soon thereafter. Both announcers point out the Hijo del Tirantes fast counts.

Segunda Caida- Octagoncito hits some more headscissors on Abismito, but gets caught trying his finisher, the top rope tornillo splash with, and is drop kicked in the stomach. He is able to keep up though, and tags out Mascarita who Abismito greets with a hug… and knee to the groin! LOL! From here it is a quick win for the rudos as they just demolish his partners. Abismito pins Octagoncito with a run up the ropes frankensteiner.

Tercera Caida- Octagoncito starts with some ranas on Abismito that Hijo del Tirantes gives quick counts for, though none get a pin yet. The older Frasero picks a fight with Tirantes Jr. over these fast counts. Abismo takes some moves from the other tecniquitos, and ends up on the floor and on the receiving end of a slingshot somersault headscissors dive from Mascarita! Que Lance! Parkita then takes Kahoz down and out with an asai bodyblock, and Octagoncito takes care of Espectrito with a springboard axehandle(maybe he slipped). Mascarita and Abismito make it back first to the ring. Mascarita counters a powerbomb with a facejam, then hits a frankensteiner and then a huracanrana for the pin and match!! [full point] Very good minis match.

Final del Rey de Reyes- Abismo Negro vs. Latin Lover vs. Heavy Metal vs. La Parka Jr.(elimination match)- Abismo and Parka Jr. start the match off with something alien to AAA rings… mat wrestling. Tirantes tries to give Abismo a fast count already. Heavy and Latin do the same until Lover throws a kick at Metal while he’s down turning this into less of a friendly exhibition. They go back and forth for a bit, then Heavy misses a flying senton and gets pinned. Now Parka and Abismo resume and pick up the pace a bit, though neither man is pinned. Parka goes out over the top and Lover quickly replaces him. Now Abismo is breaking out of pinfalls left and right. Lover had him with an Olympic Bridge but Tirantes counted slow. Abismo then hit a clothesline, crossed both Latin’s arms over his neck… straightjacket camel clutch!!! The tecnico quits and the crowd is furious. So now either Abismo will be a repeat champ or Parka will get his first crown. Parka strikes first with a quebradora and a tope to the outside. Parka rolls him back in and hits a missile kick but Tirantes does what he has to delay a count. Tirantes goes down and Abismo uses a low blow, but Parka Jr. is able to kick out. Crowd is electric. Abismo hits a suplex but misses his frog splash. Parka wants a count but Tirantes feigns an arm injury. Now Parka misses a 180 splash, so Abismo climbs up top and tries for his frog splash one more time, but Parka brings him back in with an armdrag off the top. Parka then blocks a clothesline and uses La Reinera to get the win and the crowd goes wild! [full point] A very good match for AAA. Normally the Tirantes stuff would piss me off but here his change of speed in slapping the mat didn’t affect the matches outcome so it’s OK. Only thing I don’t get is why AAA didn’t make Mascara Segrada win, since he had the feud with Abismo and is their most popular wrestler in many territories? I suppose Peña is trying to make a few stars that can main event, plus the real Parka is probably going to go down in history this July when he unmasks Dr Wagner Jr(rumour)...

Overall: (2.25 out of 4 for EMLL, 2 for 2 for AAA)- EMLL was pretty good but the matches weren’t as great as in past weeks and Silva sucks and shouldn’t be returning with guys like the Infernales and Shocker on the verge of stardom. AAA only had two matches, but both were good and entertaining so it gets the passing grade with me.