Tag: 2013 catchup

05-26 Chico Che, Dr. Cerebro, Golden Magic vs Alan Extreme, Apolo Estrada Jr., Imposible: A fun trios match aspiring to be nothing more and fine for what it was. Thought it might turn out not so well after Golden magic missed with his 450 splash but Apolo survived and they want onto to have the usual match. Chico Che is very good at what he does and the rudos worked well.

 

 

 

05-26 Dinamic Black, Fenix (AAA), Trauma II vs Black Terry, Fresero Jr., Pentagón Jr.: GREAT – Disappointed this match existed, disappointed that Dinamic Black and Fenix didn’t just start head kicking each other during the pre-match promo (with Trauma II picking up all the title belts and walking away.) No reference at all to that last match in this one, so I really wanted to dislike it, but they won me back. A great first fall, with some awesome Black Terry mat work near the end led into a superb second fall with the rudos being absolute jerks. It was the usual brawling, but it wasn’t the usual brawling because the rudos were so gloriously evil the whole way. There was a spot here in between falls where Fresero stepped on one of Fenix’s hands, Terry stepped on another hand, and Pentagon stopped Fenix in the head repeatedly which was the great rudo moment ever. Tecnicos comeback was good as well. I would’ve declared this excellent and one of those matches to show people when they claim to know that lucha libre is just people flipping around, but then production managed to miss the finish while showing replays and never actually got a replay of it. Still worth checking out if you are prepared for AYM being awful.

05-26 Negro Navarro & Trauma I vs Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Pirata Morgan for the IWRG Intercontinental Tag Team Championship: Okay, maybe Negro Navarro knows the most ways to do a double pin. He’s a UWA veteran after all, where there appeared to be one draw a night. This was epic length technical title match which seemed good but didn’t totally connect with me. Maybe I needed to see more of the Piratas/Navarros leading into it. Better production would’ve helped here too; the announcers were cranked up to the max, the fans were barely audible and the ring was mute. Ending it with a few minutes of just Trauma I and Hijo de Pirata was a nice twist and everything was solid.

06-02 Angel Blanco Jr. & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs LA Park & Villano IV [ACM]: Much more the fatty travelogue version of Dr. Wagner versus LA Park, as they visit many sites of Arena Coliseo Monterrey and bring back souvenirs to use on each other. Meandering brawling at times, making for a much more drawn out match than it needed to be.

Noches de Coliseo only has the one hard camera. That man did a really good job of trying to keep track of the action but this is a hard match to follow into the crowd without someone on the ground (or on a crane.) Wagner & Blanco working as tecnicos strange decision given Park was the hometown favorite but that’s just the way they do this match. Blanco and V4 were here to give Park & Wagner breaks, and breaks from fighting each other – they are background characters to be easily rid of in the end. It kind of amazes me how many people approach the luchadors during the match. La Park punched a fan, punched a drunk fan in that very building, give him a wide birth if you know what’s good for you. I think this was probably a great match in the building (definitely the announcers felt so) but it felt much too long on TV (and wasn’t help by knowing how long it was going in.)

06-02 Centvrión, Chico Che, Golden Magic vs Fulgor I, Fulgor II, Imposible: Another enjoyable midcard match with some really good moments. Chico Che only made occasionally appearances in IWRG in 2013 but seems to be the same. The Fulgors started appearing on TV much more regularlly from here on out and are good additions. The other guys are consistent. Not special enough for a year end list but good enough if you were checking it out on TV that week. Chico Che is good at many things, but applying the Nieblina is not one of them.

06-06 Centvrión, Dinamic Black, Golden Magic vs Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro: I put together this list on a weekly basis without really thing about it in aggregate. Now that I’m spending a lot of time over a few days watching everything, I apparently reimagined the first half of 2013 IWRG as a youth oriented federation centered around the adventures of amigos Golden Magic, Centvrion and Dinamic Black. That period, even in my distorted reality, is shortly coming to an end. It didn’t include a lot of the Oficials as a trios – they’re an effective trio who just wasn’t one in Naucalpan for long stretches, but this match was more about their rudo antics than the técnicos. They’re still smooth with a team and working with the técnicos highspots, and they got a lot of mileage out of one America jersey for what’s basically a regular good build up trios match. Finish was done well. Golden Magic and Centviron have nice time on their double dive spot, especially for two guys doing totally different dives.

04-07: Centvrión, Dinamic Black, Golden Magic vs Alan Extreme, Carta Brava Jr., Imposible: GREAT. A fun trios match between guys who are skilled have worked against each other many times most of the way, enough so that the first two finishes are surprise counters to set up moves. They found a couple extra gears in the third fall when the rudos were just wrecking the tecnico’s lives. The toss into a dropkick in the third fall was the best one anyone’s ever done. They got the money thrown in treatment and deserved it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2013-04-11 Mr. Leo & Saruman vs Alan Extreme & Fulgor: I don’t know how Mr. Leo didn’t break Alan Extreme for all time on that German suplex. First fall ended with three men hurt on the mat; Leo was the survivor more than the winner. Rest of the match was good quality (with even more head droppy) but it doesn’t crack the list. Fulgor had a really nice tornillo in the third.

04-11 IWRG: el Ángel vs Eterno for the IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Championship: Technically fine match which didn’t connect with me at all. Technical throughout but also feeling like they could’ve had this match in an empty gym without changing anything. Angel wasn’t bad, but the most entertaining thing he did was take the towel away from Alan Xtreme in between, wave him off, and then pull out the old matador bit. I think he’s got a personality but it’s never come across during the match. Finish came off well because everyone was generally surprised it happened and reacted like it was a big deal, but the match itself didn’t do a lot for me.

04-14 IWRG: Black Terry, Centvrión, Golden Magic vs Canis Lupus, Carta Brava Jr., Imposible: Seemed like it was sizing up as a good match, but then that gif happened and they had to finish the rest of it 3 técnicos on 2 rudos. Refereee Rosas worked as blatant heel referee the rest of the way to make it work as best they could but it was not an appealing match and everyone seemed a little thrown off by Impossible getting streteched out. I know I was – I wouldn’t be using that gif if this wasn’t months ago and Imposble was back and threading his dreadlocks thru his nose hole. Finish was an absurd bit of Carta Brava clearly fouling the técnicos twice in front of the referees and getting away with it, maybe because of how plans had fallen apart.

04-14 ACM: Blue Panther & Sagrado vs Caifan & Rey Hechicero: GREAT. First fall was outstanding, with just creative and awesome mat work. Rey Hechicero is a wizard (that’s sort of the gimmick) but Sagrado kept up with him with some stuff he never shows, and Panther and Caifan also really good. The rest of the match wasn’t as much that way, but there was plenty going on here to make this easy call for great and maybe more. The only real flaw was production missing the finish while showing replays; the draw came quickly and felt more random when they missed it live. I bet no one knows more ways to pin themselves than Rey Hechicero.

05-20 Puebla: Asturiano, Meyer, Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Akrón, King Jaguar, Siki Ozama Jr.: Useful as a look at a couple of the new Arena Puebla guys but not a good match in itself (and those new guys aren’t so good that you really need to look at them.) Akron had some problems and King Jaguar was wrestling one armed by the middle of the second fall, so this wasn’t going to work out. Meyer and Akron look like they need more time to develop. I think I put this on the list because Asturiano and Siki Osama are quality and they still are, but there wasn’t enough to work with here. Things did get interesting to end the third fall. This match might have set the record for most people selling being beat up by sitting in an empty seat.

03-14 IWRG: Centvrión, Dinamic Black, Trauma II vs Argenis, Drago, Fenix (AAA): Trauma II replaced Golden Magic, and Trauma II is not doing a crazy go nuts match from this start, so this was a bit more sane. Still, it was crazy enough for Fenix to dropped on his head to end the second fall and either did his best selling job ever or was seriously messed up the rest of the way. (I’d really believe either.) It’s sticks out stronger in a marathon watching how lucky they (and we) are that more guys don’t disappear with injuries for months at at time given the current style. Third fall was worked around Fenix’s injury a bit, but it was stilla pretty good build up match. Fenix not knowing what the title was called takes it down a little bit.

03-15 CMLL (Handcam): La Máscara, Máscara Dorada, Valiente vs Averno, Ephesto, Mephisto: GREAT. This is a handcam – there’s probably a Samurai TV version but I haven’t seen it, and this is the ancient days of lore pre-Terra. Really fun trios which would be bigger than most Tuesday main events but relegated to the segunda for Dos Leyendas. Pretty standard formula which got very good by the end. This match had a stacked up superplex – has the 2 on 1 superplex actually been completed by anyone in the last five years without more people getting involved? Crowd would’ve exploded if Averno beat Máscara clean with the Devil’s Wings at the end of the finisher run – and then they did after the big powerbomb. That’s really enough to push into the list; it’s completely lost without the context (of them never actually just doing that finish), but it’s my list so it’s in there.

03-15 CMLL (Hanicam): Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Tritón vs Felino, Puma, Tiger: watched out of order and mildly distracted, but this was a pretty good match with an outstanding finish. Finishes were generally pretty good on this show, but the Cats just destroyed the técnicos at the end here. Felino’s best work all year has come when he’s been paired with his sons and this was no exception. Really surprising CMLL stuck with the Delta/Maya pair all year given how forgetful they are on some midcard concepts (Triton and his Cadetes!) but maybe they’ll stick together next year and we’ll get that tag match against Puma and Tiger.

03-17 IWRG: Dinamic Black vs Carta Brava Jr. for the IWRG Intercontinental Welterweight Championship: I had the AYM version of this playing on my TV. It’s so much easier to watch on my TV than YouTube. I noticed I could watch this on YouTube with the TVCD crew instead, and changed immediately. TVCD not being the flagship IWRG broadcaster is most frustrating story of 2013. This was a IWRG title match, right down to the rudo second interfering and being thrown out, and a very good match in front of a very excited crowd. I’m fairly certain this inverted DDT before the finish wasn’t supposed what it turned out to be, because the finish itself was Carta Brava mostly pinning himself, but it was quite a move.

 

03-21 IWRG: Dinamic Black vs Fenix (AAA) for the IWRG Intercontinental Welterweight Championship: GREAT. Occasionally, some sequence goes horrendously poor and it causes me to believe lucha libre may be fake. This match caused me to believe lucha libre is real. Very very real. Things kind of broke down at the end of the first fall; it might have been earlier, but it stuck out to me when Dinamic Black just didn’t go for Fenix’s handspring cutter, Fenix responded by not submitting to the motocicleta, and Dinamic Black decided to try to break Fenix’s shoulder. Match wasn’t the crazy move fest I was expecting even before that, but it turned into one of the most hate filled matches of the year for seemingly very genuine reasons. Moves which relied cooperation did not go well for a while, moves that required just hitting someone else very hard were very frequent. Dinamic Black took some hard shots in the second fall, and Fenix did the same in the third (though he ducked out of one dropkick to protect himself.) It’s always possible they did a masterful job of faking the hatred, but it felt very genuine and very intense. It’s conflicting, because giving people acclaim for appearing unprofessional is not a good idea (and usually leads to bad matches), but this was undeniable an entertaining match. It’d probably be an excellent match if they were not (purposefully?) screwing up moves at times – it added to the authenticity of a real fight going on but did make both guys look silly to keep trying them. I think Dinamic tried to screw over Fenix over in the finish, trying to get him down for a five count, and it ended up working out better for Fenix. Fenix was happy to point out the two count to have an out and book his own match. Remind me never to have Trauma II as my corner man – he let Dinamic Black put Fenix in the hold after the match, didn’t do much about it, and sided with the IWRG guys. Argenis couldn’t have been that busy.

03-24 ACM: Silencio vs Símbolo for the Arena el Jaguar championship which might be the FILL Absolute Championship and probably doesn’t specifically matter either way: A generally good title match with some flaws but a lot of effort. I liked parts of the third fall finishing sequence. Silencio tried to go all Mascara Dorada and slipped on the ropes, which was sad. Second fall finish was Silencio losing by being dumb, which is probably not the way to go in a title match. Finish looked clunky, but there was still a lot of good stuff here.

02-17 IWRG: Centvrión vs Golden Magic, Carta Brava Jr., Dinamic Black, Alan Extreme- A match where Alan Xtreme gets piledrived so hard that he loses his mask – and then Dinamic Black piledrivers him again. (I think they screwed up the finish.) More sane than I was expecting, working it mostly as a series of one on ones with a third person jumping into to take over at points – though there was some crazy five way action. Ambitious but too choreographed to set up the planned spots. Fun good if flawed match.

02-26 GDL: Astral, Fantasy, Último Dragoncito vs Demus 3:16, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito: a time when I was excited about the CMLL minis! For good reason, because this was much better than the matches of most of the year. The guys were more creative here – first fall finish is a good example – and generally working smoothier. This is not great, with Astral specifically having good and bad moments, and it’s helped by having a having healthy Demus. It’s also helped by guys appearing more motivated and more practiced. There’s a four man spot which goes perfectly fine here which was blown many ways ten months later with the same exact guys. The CMLL minis division has fallen on tough times, but they had better moments not that long ago.

02-26 GDL: Rey Escorpion, Okumura, Namajague vs Hijo del Fantasma, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr.: A match so old, Namajague is wearing a mask. Hoped for a hot trios match but they were focused on building up the upcoming mask/hair match and this didn’t develop into anything more, especially given the time and the abrupt DQ finish. This is a match with an extended Rey Escorpion/Hijo del Fantasma pose off. (Escorpion does pull off a big flip to the floor soon after.) You can skip this.

02-28 IWRG: Dinamic Black, Dr. Cerebro, Golden Magic vs Canis Lupus, Carta Brava Jr., Eterno:  Fun build up trios match that didn’t feel like one. They were setting up Dinamic/Carta for next week, though Dinamic getting the win is a bit mitigated by Dinamic Black laying face first on the mat after the finish for an extended period of time and had to be strechered out. (And so, in that, it wasn’t a great build up.) Rudos were sharp and Golden Magic did destroyed some chairs.

 

03-03 IWRG:  Centvrión, Dr. Cerebro, Pantera vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Eita, Tomahawk: back in the day where Tomahawk didn’t have gear despite about 50 different people in the Mexico City area who make gear (including probably a couple guys on this card.) If you’re making a list of the best running lucha libre jokes of 2013, Tomahawk’s shorts are somewhere behind Fusion/Evolucion. This was a very average match with some occasional good moments. Apolo and Doc Cerebro have good chemistry, they should try to feud about 8 months from here.

 

03-07 IWRG: Centvrión, Dinamic Black, Golden Magic DCOR Argenis, Drago, Fenix (AAA): I watched this while trying to watch something else. It worked out OK; there was no story to be miss. Crazy go nuts match from the start which kind of lost a bit of steam after the first fall. This is a good match of big moves and break ups but absolutely nothing more, and one with an unsatisfying finish to build to the rematch next week. Great if you want the moves. I wanted something different than they they were doing but this will work if you just want high spots – they were pretty on with most of them.

 

 

I have no idea how many parts this is going to be. Lots and lots of parts, but six matches at a time.

Trauma I & Trauma II vs Diluvio Negro I & Silver Star (02-03 Monterrey) – so many rope breaks. Standard technical Traumas match, which includes a lot of holds being put on, held on for about 10 seconds, then the person putting on the hold lets go of it or the other guy gets the ropes. It’s a great collection of interesting holds, but I’m looking for (maybe preoccupied by this point) getting series of moves and that’s not what this match is about at all. It’s also slower than usual. Match was well executed – until they got to the finish and it one of the Monterrey guys fell down trying to apply a reinera. Only worth watching if you’re looking for the specific style.

Negro Casas vs Valiente for the NWA World Welterweight Championship (02-04 Puebla) – EXCELLENT. A superb back and forth title match in a variety of styles; they did mat wrestling early before picking up to the bigger moves late, and everything looked good and looked like a battle. Both guys were pulling out ideas they don’t normally use. The second fall finish was so good, Valiente doing a variation of the Dorada corner spin escape only for Negro to immediately connect on the dropkick and casita – it was flashy but the timing and smoothness was there as well. This match definitely still used the usual CMLL singles match template – there was a dive followed by a cavernaria – but getting far more out of it than usual. That clichéd spot was followed by a superb back and forth battle to set up a superplex, with much more to it than the usual climb up the ropes and get hit bit. There’s one bad slip right before the end, but they use it to make the end work better. Negro Casas had an outstanding run with this title.

Dragón Rojo Jr. vs Titán for the CMLL World Middleweight Championship (02-05 Guadalajara) – So weird to see Thin Dragon Rojo. So weird to have Dragon Rojo on a list of matches to go back and rewatch. This match shouldn’t have been on the list – it’s completely unwatchable because of a giant CMLL graphic which covers up the screen during many of the big spots in the match. It’s random and annoying. There’s probably a very good version of this match in CMLL’s video vault, and it’s possibly Dragon Rojo’s best match of the year, but you should skip this version of it.

Centvrión, Dinamic Black, Golden Magic vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Canis Lupus, Eita  (02-14 IWRG) –  Turned out to be just a normal midcard trios match, which was fine for the situation but jarring personally because of it following some other crazy matches – and then, in the end, Apolo Estrada takes a Golden Magic 450 kneedrop to the face and is knocked out in a ugly way. Match is fine but you don’t want to see that.

Cerebro Negro vs Carta Brava Jr. for the World Wrestling Stars Welterweight Championship (02-14 IWRG) – Very good title match just missing something to make it stick out among all the other matches this year. Cerebro and Carta Brava were rudos at this point but both worked essentially a straight técnico title match and it was all solidly done. Nice surprise finish and nice tease ending with the knee submission prior to that. Both guys are good and were good here and I’ve got nothing bad to say about it, but I’m also missing anything to write about it here.

Chico Che, Freelance, Hijo del Pantera vs Apolo Estrada Jr., Avisman, Eita (02-17 IWRG) – GREAT. Fun IWRG trios with a lot of good matchups and parts of dives we could actually see. (This is no-panning AYM.) There was a point where a blur ran across the ring and apparently did a tope con giro into the crowd, and before I could wonder how far Freelance had landed, I noticed Freelance was still in the ring – it was Hijo del Pantera being suicidal. I hope Hijo del Pantera makes some video in his return to Mexico in 2014 because he looked really good in the little stuff I’ve see of him in Japan and this is probably my favorite match he’s been involved in Mexico.