04/27 Galli in Hoffman Estates

Grand Sports Arena is another indoor soccer arena with some offices (including for the AFL’s Chicago Rush.) There are a lot higher ceilings than the place I saw the Chela Salazar show and it was a lot bigger room than GALLI’s running in at the hotel. There were probably 120ish there, but the area was big enough to fit in 500 if they had enough bleachers and such. (As it was, they had the right amount of chairs/bleachers for the people who showed, so I think that means good things.)

Show was scheduled to start at 6:00. I rolled in around 6:07 and the show started about 6:10. I’ve got GALLI’s clock figured out and it’s great.

0) Joey Marx & Concussions Casseli b Two White Guys, One Of Which May Have Been “Chuck Norris”

Not that Chuck Norris. It could’ve “something Chuck and Norris something” for all I can remember. I was just dumbfounded over what I thought I heard and this match is never on the program so I had no chance at names anyway. We had a guy in a white tanktop and black dress pants and a guy in star trunks and boots and I remember little else. Concussions Casseli, the man who has suffered so many concussions in training he must wear boxing headgear, is a tecnico. Who knew? It was a fine enough opener and the crowd is into Joey Marx. Joey went for a top rope moonsault on Star Trunks, Star Trunks rolled out of the way, Joey landed on his feet and hit a standing moonsault (directly onto Star’s face) for the win.

1) Centella de Oro & Nemesis b Venganza & Resistencia

Went about five minutes too long. They should’ve gone home instead of the second dive sequence, and Nemesis seemed have a groin injury after his (admittedly good) tornillo from the top rope. Tecnicos were gassed after those dives and the rudos pretty much rolled themselves up for the finish.

Even by the standards of indy lucha libre, Centella de Oro is tiny (probably would work as a mini if such things were possible) and appeared to be half Venganza’s weight. This things happen in indy lucha libre.

2) Meteoros b Funebre & Chilango

I don’t have any notes on this but remember this turned out to be one of the better matches of the night. Nothing super great but very solid. Of the GALLI undercard regulars, Chilango stands out personality wise. He’s the one guy with no mask, which helps stand him out, but he interacts with the crowd well. I believe it was Meteoro I who got a 619/springboard silla combo on Chilango for the win.

For those who haven’t seen the Meteoro I and II, which I guess would be everyone reading this, I think it’s II who’s a bit taller and very slightly bigger than his partner/brother? And they have I and II on their wrist guards and have different hand signals, but otherwise the same gear. I’m sure they were first in line to get the new Hardy Boyz DVD.

3) Steve Boz & Isias Velaquez vs Coco Liso Tony Scarpone & Negrotistico

my notes for this match start “no coco!!!!!” but I think I really needed about fifty more exclamation marks. Instead of the Fun Time Dance Party combo of Coco and Negrotistico, we got Tony Scarpone. To Tony’s credit, he went full out, 1000% into his gimmick. Oddly, his gimmick appeared to be “Wrestler Completely Disinterested In Wrestling”. Tony Scarpone, a tecnico, yelled at the crowd for speaking Spanish. Tony Scarpone wanted the guy with the loud horn to stop using it. Tony Scarpone wandered out into towards the bleachers and stole a chip and some cheese dip. Tony Scarpone greatly enjoyed the nachos. Tony Scarpone changed corners one third of the way into the match. When it was time for Negrotistico to dance, Tony Scarpone participated by eating a bag of chips (though not in time with the music.) When Negrotistico desperately needed a tag, Tony left to go take more chips and a water bottle from the front row. Tony asked Steve Boz to stop choking his parnter, and casually distracted the referee so Steve Boz could do it some more.

In Tony’s defense, that horn was loud.

Since Tony wasn’t always there for a tag (and pulling back a couple times he could’ve made it), it was a long face in peril for Negrotistico. Negrotistico was beat down so long and so hard, it may qualify as a hate crime.

I was totally shocked Tony Scarpone did not immediately turn on Negrotistico when he finally took the tag, but I think that sort of backstabbing required more interest than Tony Scarpone was allowed to show on this night. Scarpone did delight in spinning side slams, like spinning around three times before dropping the man. Tecnicos ended up with stereo pins for the win, and then Scarpone refused to dance afterwards.

Scarpone’s act was so weird, it was great. Once! I still missed Coco Liso. Boz and Isias are growing on me.

Intermission #1 was here

4) Guerrillero & Pentagon del Infierno b Blade Quinto Sol & Slayer

Blade’s a rudo now, so the substitution makes sense. Though we didn’t see Blade the rest of the night, so that’s #2.

Not good. I like Guerrillero, but there always seems to be communication issues in his matches and this was no different. I have no idea who’s fault it was, but there was a lot where people seemed to be on different pages. Pentagon got a foul in on Slayer for the win, there was challenge for a rematch, and a fight broke out with rudo referee La Vaca helping beat down the tecnicos.

I need to point out that La Vaca worked EVERY SINGLE MATCH tonight. He did this at Addison as well. I’m not sure where Apentits was, but I hope GALLI finds a backup ref to help Vaca out. Refs work more spots in lucha matches, and he must’ve been exhausted by the time this was done.

5) Huracan Ramriez, Samuray, Tigre vs Yakuza, Demencia, Amenaza del Siglo

This was cut down to a tag match, because people were bumped up to the main event. Long first fall lost me – there was about 5 minutes of talking/teasing walk outs before they even really got going, and then it was a slow 10 minute fall. (This was the first 3 fall match of the night.) Huracan Ramirez showed off his ability to speak make fun of the rudos in Spanish and Japanese before the match, which was nice. I should take everything back!

During the second fall comeback, the tecnicos went after the rudos masks, Demencia’s mask got knocked off on a bump, and I had a moment that briefly felt like discovering relativity: either Quinto Sol has another brother they’ve never acknowledge, or Demencia is Golden Star, the guy who lost his mask in Addison earlier this month. Same dark mushroom hair cut, same lower face (from what we could see), makes sense people would be working multiple gimmicks around here.

This big discovery is off set by
– few people were in Addison and Hoffman Estates (or otherwise saw Golden Star unmasked)
– of those people who were, most of them are family/friends of the luchadors and so probably already knew
– who cares!

So while I’m thinking about this amazing thing no one could possibly care about, Huracan and Tigre make the comeback with chair shots. They loved the chair into a chair into rudo’s groin bit tonight. 2nd fall and 3rd fall are around 4 minutes each. Tigre had a tired looking tope to take Demencia out and Huracan got his namesake move on Siglo for the match.

6) Hijo de Rey Misterio, Huracan Jr. Samuary, Charly Manson Jr. vs Anibal Jr. Yakuza, Misterio Negro, Gringo Loco

I don’t if Anibal and Hurcan Jr. missed the rest of the weekend, though I suspect I’ll eventually read Anibal was in IWRG on this night. Misterio Negro has the same body type as Infernal or one of the Malefico. I don’t know if it’s one of those guys, but he’s got that sort of stout body type, not a rival high flyer for Hijo de Rey. He’s also got a No Misterios symbol on the back of his tights, in case you don’t know where they plan on taking this. No mask challenge this time, which is a slight surprise. Gringo Loco knows one tune to sing, but a lot of words to it.

First fall (~6 min) allowed Charly Jr. to showcase against Yakuza, then the rudos took over when Hijo de Rey got in.

Tecnicos made their comeback in the second fall, and all the tecnicos got their own showcases in the end of the fall. Hijo de Rey was last and totally outshined by the two guys in front of him. Hijo de Rey was okay, but no one in Mexico is expecting Charly Jr. or Samuary to be the second coming. Hijo de Rey would be fine if he wasn’t “Hijo de Rey Misterio” and kids were expecting him to be as good as they think the guy on TV is (including the one next to me who wanted Hijo to ‘do it for Eddy!’) In a lot of ways, it’s easier to be Blue Demon Jr., because you’re competing against faded memories instead of a guy who’s on TV every week when healthy.

Hijo de Rey did have a nice apron diving headscissors in the third fall, which seemed shorter. (It was getting on 9:30, so short falls were a-okay.) There was a really awkward moment where it took Samuary three tries to get Gringo Loco off the top rope with a ‘rana (Samuary was in such a hurry to get it right that he didn’t stop to chop or hit Gringo to explain why he was still sitting there.) Charly got the Manson inverted figure four for the fall.

GALLI plugged a show this upcoming weekend in Belvidere. It’s at a flea market, and they’re knocking $5 off GA. Which makes me wonder what GA is going to look like, but okay. Afternoon shows are nice, though I don’t think I’m making this one.

The big news is the next show in Addison on 05/16: SIXTEEN TEAM TAG TOURNAMENT FOR NEW BELTS. I can not fathom this – I know they can scrounge up 32 guys, but I just can’t think of any team that’s really great. I’m hard pressed to think of even four quasi regular teams: Boz/Isias (who seem to be outsiders), Guerrillero/Pentagon del Infernal (“Guerrilleros del Infernal”; UG protests this too), Los Meteoros, and maybe the Cocos? Coco Liso/Negrotistico would work if Coco Liso is around, but the great majority of teams are going to be two random rudos or tecnicos bolted together.

And I can not wait! Even if I think this concept is absurd, I must be there to watch it in person. 15 matches! La Vaca may work every one! Even not knowing the teams, I highly encourage everyone to go because you’ll get value for your money.