Congress Notes, 06/25

Scattered Congress thoughts, just to get them down before they’re out of my head.

– Let me point you towards a recap on CW.com, with the caveat that it’s what happened but not necessarily how I saw/felt it. But it’s good to have multiple views.

– They set up the ring differently than I had seen it before; kinda on angle in relation to the stage, and up close to the front row of permanent seats. There were seats on the other three sides. On the stage, there were production people (which was kinda distracted), a mounted camera, and what looked to be the setup for a band. I was hoping to escape a time killing rock show all night, and somehow we did, so who knows what that was about.

– I felt dead tired from the second match till the start of the main event, which woke me back up. Blame it on it being extremely hot and draining all weekend, and watching Cubs/Sox in a place with bad air circulation and nothing to drink. Obviously didn’t help my mood. All considering, the Congress wasn’t as hot as it could’ve been, which was nice.

– Somehow managed to have a nearly-coherent conversation with Rob (w/ his new Parka autograph) and CW.com’s Romane in between the matches. They seemed cool. The SWAT Kat shirt was definitely cool.
– They were better about filling the time between matches, but I’d much rather they just get to the match.

– The ring ‘broke’ at the start of the second fall in the second match. It was something really simple, Siglo bouncing off the ropes, that did it. The top rope snapped off it’s hooks, as the corner posts bent around. Siglo seemed out of it for a minute (can’t feel good on the back), el Tigre almost immediately cut a promo asking for the crowd’s patience while they fixed the ring, and then the rudos attacked Siglo on the outside and eventually Tigre. While the ring was being fixed (ropes taken down, corner posts straightened), they brought the fight back in the ring and the rudos got the pin. Tigre didn’t seem happy about this, cutting another promo ripping the rudos for being unprofessional, and sorta walked off to the stage, refusing to participant in the time killing fight. Yakuza stood in the ring while they were getting it finally fixed, and Tigre came back for the third fall. Odd situation.

– There were tons of promos on the day. Not so good for a guy who pick out one word in ten in spoken Spanish, but I think even if I knew what they were saying, it was a big excessive. When you have inbetween promos between each fall of every match from the second on, and people in the crowd getting to yell on the microphone, it’s a bit much.

– SWAT Kat was pretty over, but Tigre was over crazy. Maybe it’s the stuffed animals? Maybe because he was the first tecnico they knew as one?

– I’d rate the matches “A, A, AA, AAA, ML” in that order. Locally, they need more guys who can go and less who look the part. Or they need to do a better job of matching up those who can go.

– the LA/Cali vs Chicago feud might have gotten over better if Piloto Suicida wasn’t a guy who was here for the first time and was presumably an LA guy. The LA rudos were better and getting heat on the mic the earlier ones.

– The main event was good, even if they had trouble cueing up Thriller for Parka’s entrance (they finally got it between falls.) I’m always a little disappointed by the style of match we get. Most every main event has been of the “very special Velocity/house show” type, where the tecnicos get to go thru their spots and the rudos get to react to them, and I keep hoping we get the “PPV/throwing everything out and even trying something new” match. Unreasonable and unlikely standard, I know, but the Atlanta Santo/Park match kinda makes me wish we get the same.

– Show went about 3:15 (start ~7:45, ending promos wrapping up at past 11), which is way too long for a 5 match show.
– A half hour lucha show is supposed to start airing on Telefuture Chicago on 07/08. More details as I get ’em.