Category: chicago lucha

The wrestling area was an indoor soccer field, attached to a flea market. The ring and the seats were on the artificial turf, and they had cut the field in half to set up entrances. They had seats and standing room, and it felt pretty packed considering the area. Maybe 150? There was no obvious place to videotape a show from, but I figure they must’ve been doing it from the table near the front. By about match 3, they had a person ringside with a camera as well. No idea how it looked on the internet – if you ordered it, can you let me know?

1) Furia Roja b Henry Maxwell

Missed this by being lost, then not being lost, then not actually being able to find my way to the wrestling ring part of the building. Thanks to Kevin for filling it in for me.

2) La Corporacion (Funebre w/Funebrito, Destructor Alfa & Emperador Azteca) b Flash Metal, Atomico, Pentagono

Pentagono’s brother or son or whichever was also at ringside. Indy lucha trios match all the way. Some stuff that went well, some stuff that did not look so good. Flash Metal had great looking gold pants but was the most inconsistent guy here. Rudos had great aspirations, did not always achieve those hopes. With everyone else out of action (dives), I think it was Azteca who beat Pentagono. Rudos beat up Pentagono after the match too, taking his mask and hitting the others with chairs. Other Pentagono belatedly tried to make the save, and Funebrito chopped him a bit.

3) Noriega & Lince Dorado b Rob Michaels & GPA

The match which could most easily fit on any other type of show. A well worked, fun, professional tag team bout. Lince Dorado still looks like Lince Dorado of CHIKARA, maybe better because nothing went wrorng for him here. He got worked over for a long time, Noriega cleaned house, and Dorado landed the top rope SSP on GPA for the win. Everyone did well. Noriega was in the process of thanking the fans when a bald rudo hit the ring, clipped him with a chair, threw Dorado out, and went to town on Noriega’s leg. Dorado ran him off, and Noriega limped away.

4) Ovirload & Joshua Christian (c) b Jake Shining & Acid Jazz [GALLI TAG]

Tough place to be in, because this match was alright, but the previous match was a bit better (prior to the finish.) Oviload & Christian have gold chains in their belts so they can wear them hanging from their necks. It’s like the world’s largest pieces of bling. It’s fantastic. There was some good stuff with Christian & Jazz in here. I don’t remember having a problem with anyone, it just wasn’t a strong a build to the finish as the last match. Jazz took out Christian and manager James Russo with a dive, and Jaked seemed right about to beat Ovirload when Mason Conard ran in. Belt shot to Jake for the DQ. Mason complaining about being champion yet not booked on the debut iPPV show, which does seem a fair complaint. Finishes keep building towards Jake vs Mason for the title sometime soon, so this made sense if that’s the plan, but it was a long way to go tonight to get no real finish.

5) Bandolero b Ripper (c) [Lucha Chicago]

New champion. Bandolero had new gear and proved the old CRZ axiom: “new gear = win.” These two tried to break each other last time out and went at it with the same intensity. It almost ended really early. A lot of killer dive problems on the night, the worst here when Ripper tried a slingshot tope con giro and went nowhere, landing back first on the apron. Bandolero walked over to him, grabbed his legs, and Ripper turned it into a headscissors of the apron. It worked so much better than it should’ve. There were a couple of other spots with the ropes betraying them or just slipping that didn’t go great in the first half, but it seemed like things were more smooth in the later stages of the match. Dives and big moves and really hard chops, as expected. Finish was both guys ending up on the top rope and Bandolero getting a top rope ‘rana for the pin. They did well to end it right there, it was the biggest move of the night. Bandolero was very slow getting up after the finish, looking like he might have taken the worst of it.

Ripper, who seems a influenced by guys like Averno despite being heavier, went to do the Averno move of putting the belt around the waist of the (new) champion. Except, here, Ripper kicked Bandolero and belt shot him to leave him laying. I guess they’re not done! I was a bit disappointed Bandolero didn’t get a big celebration, but maybe down the line. They were saving that for a different match here.

Intermission! Lince came out by the merchandise booth and took pictures with fans. He was hanging out there the rest of the night.

6) Discovery b Skayde [NWA MEX WELTER]

This fued, from what I’ve seen of it, had been mostly angry brawling. This was different, they worked the old title match technical style the whole way thru. I’m not sure the entire crowd got into it, maybe because Skayde didn’t do a lot overtly rudo, but it’s the type of match I’d been hoping to see between these two the whole time Skayde’s been in so I was happy with it. They did a really good job of it, even huffing and puffing their way thru, with a sort of general idea of Skayde being a little bit better but Discovery fighting back to make it even.

Every match on the show used the same ref, except for this one, which used a guy in a bow tie. They needed him for the finish. Skayde accidentally dropkicked Bow Tie Ref right out of the ring. American Gigolo and members of the Corporacion ran out. Gigolo handed a Discovery mask to one of the Corporacion members – maybe Alfa? He’s was much larger than Discovery, but he put on the mask and attacked the ref while he was on the floor. Meanwhile, Fuenbre attacked Discovery’s second (Atomico) to take him out. Skayde & Discovery just watched this for a bit, then the Normal Ref ran out and they continued the match. Skayde got a near fall off the Virus Cradle, Skayde argued the count, Discovery trapped him in a cradle, covered, ref counted 1, ref stopped to complain Skayde’s shoulder wasn’t down, ref counted 1, ref counted 2, ref stopped to complain Skayde’s shoulder wasn’t down AGAIN, Discovery moved Skayde slightly, ref counted 1, ref counted 2, ref counted 3. Discovery got a 6 count and had Skayde pinned for about 15 seconds. Discovery gave the referee such a look after the three, and that ref earned it.

Anyway, Regular Ref gets the belt, indicates Discovery as the winner, but doesn’t exactly give him the belt, being obviously hestitant about it. Bow Tie Ref returns, and the two refs talk, and talk, and talk – this is making the three count to end it look snappy. Everyone’s kind of expecting Skayde to get the belt back, by losing DQ for the dropkick, by winning DQ because a man in a Discovery mask beat up Bow Tie Referee, whatever. But there’s still no clear announcement. While they continue to talk, Rey Fuego runs out for no particular reason, and attacks the rudos who are still lignering in and around the ring, including diving on one. Other tecnicos might have gotten involved, or Atomico might have done something, but there was just more fighting in here. At the tail end, Skayde seems randomly to have become a tecnico, sending a rudo into the post and signaling Discovery as the champion. Apparently, that’s all it takes, Discovery gets the belt and gets carried around in big celebration by the tecnicos.

Now, what I suspect is going to happen is they’re going to explain it was actually it was actually a DQ, because they worked hard for that finish to ignore it. Or they’re not going to actually explain, but Skayde is going home to Xalapa with that belt. But I guess Discovery could conceivably keep it – it is a joke Mexican belt that’s they pretend is two different belts and has had phantom title changes prior, this is about normal for it. It’s a title that would be nice to take seriously, but hasn’t really been treated that way ever. No one really cares about the belt, Discovery got a big happy win and that’s okay.

7) Chavo Guerrero & American Gigolo b Jorge Paez & Rey Fuego – or maybe Discovery

This was something. I may miss something here, but I’ll give it my best.

Paez, the boxer wrestling, was the main attraction on this show. Paez walked out wearing a suit, with at least two different posse members near him. It seemed like a setup for Paez to step out of the match and someone who actually looked ready to have a match to step in his place. Nope, he just took off suit coat and tie and was going to go like that. Great start.

Gigolo, Paez and Chavo all talk on microphone quite a bit before the match starts, which seems like a smart idea. Besides whatever is up with Paez, Chavo is looking every bit of 63. He shows off a nice backwards roll and talks the game, but he’s not looking like someone who should be in a wrestling match. He instead looked like he may have been drunk.

American Gigolo and Rey Fuego start! It’s two fine minutes of lucha. No problem. Gigolo tags in Chavo. Fuego tags in Paez. This may be a problem. Chavo stalls, going out to taunt a fan. Gigolo and Paez screw around to keep busy in the ring. I’m watching them when suddenly Fuego sprints out of the ring, and slaps Chavo hard on the chest. At that time, it looked like a wrestling spot, and I go back to paying attention to the guys in the ring. There’s a commotion, and Fuego and Chavo are rolling around on the ground. That’s an odd wrestling spot, I thought. Security, the promoter, and guys from backstage rush over to pull Rey Fuego and Chavo Guerrero apart. I’m still thinking this is just a weird part of an odd match, until Gigolo gives us a “I want nothing to do with any of this, I am so annoyed with what’s going on what’s going on right now.” I did not see it, so I am not sure what happened, but the crowd consesus was Chavo and a teenage fan had some sort of phsyical incident. The fan must’ve been Rey Fuego’s family, and that sparked whatever happened next.

The match is stopped at this point. Rey Fuego & Chavo are pulled apart. Gigolo yells that he’s leaving, though he does not. Paez is either confused or oblivious. (No idea what his deal is all night, but he seemed the same way at the other show.) Rey Fuego’s walked backstage. Someone chucks a gatorate bottle at Chavo (now in the ring) – people assume it’s the same fan. Bandolero walks out, and for a moment it looks like they’re going to keep the match going with him instead, but he and the referee talk and Bandolero goes backstage. Discovery comes out, and he talks to people. Eventually, they continue the match with Discovery replacing Rey Fuego, but before they can get going, Rey Fuego, Bandolero, Funebre (hastily putting his mask back on), Funebrito and maybe others come out with their bags, go over to the crowd where the fan is, talk to him for a minute, go over the barricade to join him, and he and the rest of them make a big show of walking around the seats 180 degrees to get out of the building. They’re gone. Match sort of continues; Paez gets in his couple of punches on someone (it might have even been Chavo), but Gigolo suddenly cradles Discovery for the pin. Your loser, the guy who wasn’t actually in the match.

Chavo gets a microphone. I’m not sure why this happened. Chavo praises Discovery for his professionalism, congratulates him on winning his title, then gets into a screaming match with the promoter, both using microphones. This is now starting to feel like maybe it’s supposed to be part of the show, though Gigolo previously yelling “This is not part of the show!” seems to rule against it. Chavo tries to turn himself babyface at the end of it, though the crowd is not really buying it. Chavo goes to the back. Paez get the microphone and rambles a bit. He gets the message to end it, ignores the message, and just sort of stumbles to a stop. I believe his last words were “What Happened?” I dunno. They announce people can take pictures with Paez, some do, and I get out of there.

I’ve seen things break down and people actually walk out of matches before – that one Incognito/Hunico match with Charly Manson Jr. is sitting on my hard drive, I really need to put it up so everyone can see a bit of craziness – but this was a complete disaster in terms of things just faling apart. This looked like a bad idea and actually got worse. I’m not sure it’s a great idea to book Chavo Guerrero and Jorge Paez as in-ring competitors in 2012 (they did they draw live), but one would expect a smidgen of professionalism from both of them. They really got none from either. I got more than I expected from the show and I’m glad I went, but just wish it didn’t end with a total car crash.

This is the last GALLI show for Skayde on this run, but you have one more chance to catch him later today: there’s a packed lucha show tonight at Berwyn Eagles Club with Azteca/Yakuza/Skayde vs Discovery/Fuego/Lince on top.

(Shorter? Hopefully.)

I made it to the building around 7:20 for a 6:45 start. No good reason, just screwing around and not staying on schedule. Didn’t matter – the 6:45 start (presumably) was just the start of a meet and great for Jorge “Maromero” Paez. He was still signing autographs at a side table when I showed up, and the actual show didn’t start until he was done. It looked like he was heading out after, but did came back (so maybe he got dinner? maybe I just lost track of him?)

Attendance looked down from last week, but tickets were double the price so maybe that part worked out. No Apocatlyptco tonight.

Around 7:30 or so…

0): (rudo) El Traidor b (tecnico) Golden Dragon

Golden badly needs to work on his basics (taking a clothesline, doing a leapfrog) before he does another rope walk. He must’ve had a bad day, because he did not look even close to ready to being in a match before the crowd; there’s no way you put someone out there who’s this neon green normally. I didn’t get a read on Traidor because his opponent overshadowed him, but the right guy won with a back suplex (or something) in about 4 minutes.

1) (rudo) Valentino DQ (tecnico) Jarod Priest

Jarod Priest is a large man (horizontally, not particularly vertically), but there’s a lot of people here who fit that descrpiton.  Priest, Michaels, Fuenbre, Alfa,

This would be a demonstrative loud large man, who talks to the crowd a lot and tries to get them to react, which gets them talking back. Valentino was amusing. This one started out pretty strong then kind of lost me late – there was a clip spot to set up some leg work here, and maybe it was the kicks that bugged me – but it was fine enough for the opener. Valiento tried to use a chair a couple times without being successful, then used a ref distraction to toss a chair to Priest and simulate a chair shot. Ref turned around to see Priest with the chair and called the DQ. Valentino did a fine job of holding his head as if he suffered a grievous wound, while letting the crowd know he was okay. Priest chased both the ref (two of them this week!) and Valentino to the back.

2) (rudos) GPA & Rob Michaels b (tecnicos) Furia Roja, Dark Scorpion

Dark Scorpion was the only one I hadn’t seen last week. He was eh. (I think he messed up a dive in this match; I know there was an additional one on this show I’m forgetting, besides the one I’ve mentioned later.) Fine enough match with the rudos looking better than the tecnicos. Both tecnicos pounded the rudos in the corners with punches, GPA slipped in a low blow on Roja, hit Scorpion with his book, Michaels powerbombed him, and GPA pulled Roja out of the ropes with a sweet backcracker for the stereo pin. Good thing they made up last week, they’re succesful team.

3) (rudos) Destructor Alfa & Funebre (w/Kid Funebre) b (tecnicos) Pentagono & Flash Metal

Pentagono was returning. He had a neat mask. Rudos destroyed it. They pretty much destroyed him the entire way. They beat up Flash Metal too, but Flash Metal also got in some offense and had a big dive at the end. The rudos beat Pentagono like he owed them money, especially Alfa. There was a brief comeback, and then he was pinned clean with a powerbomb. Just kind of odd.

4) (rudo) Ripper DCOR (tecnico) Bandolero

Ripper had his title belt with him, but this was non-title. These two hit each other loud and hard from the start. This match really didn’t make a lot of sense at time, with the barest psychology, but it was a lot of Ripper in control, Bandolero getting in a few shots, hard chop fights, and occasionally crazy spots. The craziest was maybe two-fifths of the way thru, when Bandolero decided to jump off the ropes for a spinning headscissors to the floor, and Ripper just powerbombed him on the way down onto the hard basketball floor. I’ve seen this plenty where guys have missed and powerbombed themselves onto the floor, but this looked to be a planned spot and a brutal one. Bandolero took it on his back and one shoulder, but not his head (that would’ve been the end of Bandolero), but was down and not moving for about forty seconds. Given where they were going, that should’ve been saved for the finish. Instead, twenty seconds after he pulled himself up, Bandolero did a moonsault off the stairs. The two made it back to the ring to fight for a while. Bandolero has definitely figured out that you can stomp the mat to get people to clap for you, but hasn’t figured out that you should probably get in some offense after you’ve got people clapping for you. You don’t want the clapping to fail, that’s the magic.

Finish had Bandolero getting sent out of the ring, Ripper attempting to follow with a tope, Ripper hitting the ropes on the way thru and Ripper coming up way short. Bandolero helpfully sold it anyway, but Ripper got up and hit the tecnico hard, and threw him into chairs harder. No one hits harder than a luchador angry about blowing a spot. Bandolero came back enough to keep the fight going for the twenty count. And they kept brawling. And they kept brawling more, so most everyone from the opening matches ran out to separate them. They did a spectacularly poor job of it, so these two kept fighting for a while until Bandolero dove onto all the rudos to end it. Post match brawl was really good, and this seemed to me to be the best match of the night. Effort was definitely there, and it’s the one I wish I had video of by the end of the night.

Intermission!

5) (tecnicos) Noriega, Acid Jazz, Jake Shining b (rudos) Mason Conrad, Joshua Cristian, Ovirload

Rudos had Conrad’s belt and manager James Russo (thanks Kevin!) with them. Standard trios action – every tecnico gets a turn against a rudo, a tecnico gets trapped for a while, hot tag (that doesn’t get much of a reaction), craziness and finish. Straight forward and well done. First two were Jazz/Ovirload and Noriega/Cristian, leaving the very indy-Zack Ryder looking Jack with Conrad. Mason’s champion without a current challenger, so it would’ve made sense for Jake to pin him to set something up – and that’s actually what happened, Jake pinning Conrad after a rocker dropper-ish move the 10-12 minute range. The tag champs, Cristian and Ovirload, looked better than last week. Cristian seemed the better of the two here. Ovirload looked good with Jazz in their opening sequence and less so laster on. Jazz took out Cristian and Russo with a plancha right before the finish, with Ovirload and Noriega out elsewhere (though he was still able to flash a smile at the front row despite his crippling pain.) No particular challenge post match.

6) (rudos) Gigolo Americano (w/girl & Kid Funebre), Skayde, Emperador Azteca (?) b Discovery, Rey Fuego, Atomico

Only three fall match of the night – rudos took 1/3. This was disappointing, probably for them too. The Emperador Azteca spot was a mystery man spot, which was supposed to be someone of note. Their plane did not arrive in time. Emperador Azteca (this is who CPW has listed) was just out there as a replacement – they didn’t try to make it as if he was the surprise, he was just the guy. First fall turned in to a very long beatdown, and was fine for that. Second and third fall…yea, no. No. Just a ton of unscheduled miscommunication spots – people staring at each other, people tremendously off in moves, people taking bumps from moves they were a foot away from. A large amount of this centered around Azteca, who maybe didn’t know he was wrestling and wasn’t ready, but he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time a lot. It’s not just him, everyone involved has to take some of the blame. Including the referee, who was in the way on spots and quite not in the way on the scheduled ref bump. It took Skayde and Discovery three tries to make contact with him (Skayde hilariously veering off course to clothesline him) and that set up the finish.

First, Skayde got Discovery in a campana, but no ref. Skayde let go, and Discovery eventually lifted him in a over the shoudler submission. (This took a couple tries, which was one of a couple depressing moments in the match.) Gigolo foul uppercutted Discovery, which caused him to let go of the hold, but not fall down or really sell the foul in any other way. Skayde knocked him down, sentoned him, and the ref returned to count the three.

Fuenbre walked to ringside for no real reason after the match. Paez – the boxer from the beginning – got in the ring to avenge the tencicos. He argued with Azteca briefly before getting into it with Gigolo. Gigolo tried a punch, Paez blocked it and gave him a right and a left. At least that was the idea; it must be hard for people who throw real punches for a living to try and fake them, because they know they can actually hurt people with them, and they’ve never tried to throw a real looking fake one. These looked less like KO punches and more like The Mummy slaps to the side of the head. (though there was one later to a kneeling Gigolo that was great.) Paez taunted Kid Fuenbre (!) and left the ring, but someone must’ve decided it didn’t look good enough and sent him back. Paez grabbed a chair (holding it the wrong way) and stepped back in against the rudos. He thankfully never got to make contact with the chair, but the punch spot with Gigolo (with Gigolo telling him to do it while we all waited for Paez to catch up) was only marginally better. These was a mic bit setting up something with Paez and Gigolo later – maybe Sunday?

Match just fell apart. You laugh and move on.

Let me try to find some positives here: Discovery has lost a lot of weight and is much better shape than the last time I saw him (prior to last week.) Rey Fuego was better than last week. The fans like Atomico’s act. It doesn’t work for me, but maybe he just needs a funnier look to match the gimmick. Paez seemed to enjoy himself. I was entertained in a way I was not expecting.

Bandolero/Ripper was memorably good and there was some servicable stuff on this show.

GALLI’s next show is Sunday afternoon. It’s a brave promotion that expects to get a paying crowd to an indy show opposite the Super Bowl. I wish them well. I’ll be back at some point.

GALLI (SUN) 10/19 Addison Community Center
1) Furia Roja & Pinocho vs Emperador Azteca & Venom
2) Centella de Oro, Golden Star, Nemesis vs Funebre, Resistencia, Yakuza
3) Charly Manson Jr. & Joey Marx vs Chilango & Mason Conrad
4) El Tiger & Slayer vs Amenzaz del Siglo & Vengazna
5) Samurai vs Bryce Benjamin vs Gringo Loco [GALLI]

Hey, look, a poster. I haven’t been to a GALLI show in quite a while (there hasn’t been as many, and I don’t notice the free shows at the car dealership until after they happened), but I’m thinking I’ll be able to make it to this one. Looks like Charly is back and Negrotistico is Negrotistico no more. I like how they tease me with only five matches, as if I’d go and it’d be done by 7:30. ha ha NO.

GALLI has/had a TV show, though it’s not even listed as GALLI in the TV listings, with matches from the aforementioned car dealership shows I think. (It’s not listed as GALLI or lucha libre or anything in the guide, just the normal Azteca America program for that half hour.) I have 2 or 3 episodes on my TiVo and I haven’t gotten to them yet, but I guess I need to catch up and/or find the YouTube links so y’all can see it.

Almost forgot about this

GALLI (FRI) 07/11 the Odeum, Villa Park, IL
3) Darin Corbin & Ryan Cruz vs Arik Cannon & Tony Scarpone
4) Meteoro II vs Chilango [hair, mask]
5) Centella de Oro, Joey Marx, Nemesis (GALLI) vs Guerrillero, Pentagon del Infierno, Tokio Lee
6) Samuary vs Negrotistico, Gringo Loco, Amenaza del Siglo [TLC, GALLI]

Since I’ve last checked in with this group…
– Charly Manson Jr. apparently left, vacating the title. Haven’t seen his name on another lucha indy, and no idea what the deal is
– the tag title tournament they were pushing heavily last time in this building is apparently on hiatus
– No idea where the mask vs hair match came from, but okay

Main event was not actually called a TLC match, but that’s what it is. Amenaza del Siglo is taking Charly Manson Jr.’s spot, and doesn’t seem to fit the match, he’s a veteran rudo (with comedy) guy. I also wonder if this means Negrotistico has switched sides yet again and is back to being a tecnico to balance out the match.

Haven’t seen Tokio Lee previously, but I’d assume he’s one of the novatos getting a gimmick. Two young guys in a big singles match looks like it might be trouble on paper, but I’m guessing they’ve been working thru it for the last couple weeks and you just hope they don’t get derailed. The Northstar Express is good, right? I have no idea and haven’t seen Arik Cannon in many a year.

Tickets are $10 for Kids GA, $15 for Adults GA, $20 for ringside. Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7:30. Say hi if you see me hanging out there.