Tag: GALLI

GALLI 03/10/2012: Culminacion Final iPPV

thecubsfan 3 Comments

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.

02/04 GALLI in Addision

thecubsfan 1 Comment

(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.

01/28 GALLI in Addison

thecubsfan 2 Comments

Almost forgot to do this! That would’ve been a shame, since they handed out programs listing all the matches and the rudos and tecnicos, so I can actually identify these people with little effort. Well, most of these people.

I’d guess attendance around 100, give or take 25. Show started about 7:20, listed 7. I was running late everywhere today, but apparently I was on indy time all along, showing up late enough to be a couple minutes early.

1) Valentino (rudo) b Sea-Man (tecnico) – Valientino is the ex-exotico now working generic loud mouth rudo. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a GALLI show, so he may have been this bit for a while. It felt like a long time since I’ve been to a show, because about 45% of the wrestlers were in different roles since I last saw them, and 45% were guys I’d never seen. Sea-Man, maybe doing a low rent Shark Boy bit with the double entrande name, was announced as the best wrestler from the Skayde training seminal the last two nights. I would guess that means they had a lot of guys who were just starting out (or they were just really amused by the name.) Sea-Man’s moves included a fisherman’s suplex and Starfish Press. Valentino was good, this was an opening match.

2) Jake Shining (tecnico) b Mat Knicks (rudo) – Mat was the first of a rudos accompanied by the same white guy manager. He was there for three matches, but they never seemed to announce his name. Everyone knew who he was, I was just not in this loop. He was good interacting with the people. Crowd had been pretty dead during the opener, so Knicks made fun of the crowd for being dead while getting them to make noise, mostly relating to his ugly pink zebra shorts. He did enough to get the vocal ladies yelling at people the rest of the night, so mission accomplished. There were some slight psychological issues – do not use a piledriver on a lucha show, and do not use it for a two count, there are plenty of other moves to use for that – but this was a really nice indy wrestling match. Work was solid, crowd was entertained. Finish was Jake beating Mat after Mat missed a shooting star press, which was a bit odd after the opener’s finish was Valentino beating Sea-Man after Sea-Man missed a shooting star press. Mat’s missed SSP was roughly 29 times better, which may be underselling how horrible Sea-Man’s SSP was.

3) (tenicos) Flash Metal & Atomico b (rudos) Destructo Alfa & Funebre. Funebre, as always, was accompanied by Kid Funebre. Kid Funebre is going to be a 10 year vet before he ever has his first match. The Funebre’s had really impressive looking gold masks, and their partner’s looked high class as well. I was completely unfamiliar with the masked tecnicos. Atomico is a chubby guy who was absurdly dancing slowly on his way to the ring, so hopes were low. He didn’t do much of the dancing bit in the match, and was surprisingly smooth, like he was a veteran using a different name. Flash Metal was an average indy luchador. Rudos were the heroes of this match, doing a great job covering up for tecnico mistakes (not going along with the mistakes to avoid magnifying them, hitting them, and then setting them up to get back on track.) It was professional work. Flash Metal took the match on a frog splash.

4) (tecnicos) Acid Jazz, Noriega, Kenny Sutra b (rudos) Ripper, GPA, Rob Michaels – again, match moved one sooner. It occurred to me that Acid Jazz has been on these level of shows since I was in college, I was in college quite a while ago and then I was disappointed for both of us. Ripper is a big masked rudo, Rob Michaels is a large unmasked white guy, GPA is a doing a ‘smart!’ gimmick (reading a book before and during the match, loca ladies chanting “teacher’s pet” at him), Kenny Sutra is a generic undersized indy flyer, Noriega is the charismatic ex-WWC who’s just a level or three most everyone else on this show. He’s also was increible here, for what he didn’t have to do. He was in for about 45 seconds in the opening tecnico offense, sending the rudos out and setting up Sutra for a dive on to them, Sutra got beat on for a long time, Acid Jazz got the hot tag (not a great reaction, which may be the usual lucha thing about no one about US hot tags – lucha audiences react to the offense, not the anticipation of it or the escape), Jazz blew his hot cocoa mix at Michaels, blinded Michaels chokeslamed GPA and covered him, Noriega came in for about 15 seconds and beat Michaels for the win. A grand total of a minute of working, with a lot more energy spent fooling around with GPA’s book and the fans after the match, and he got the win and was probably more over at the end. A virtuoso performance, and I’m not being mocking. This was probably the best match of the night; it was a lot of stock indy characters, but they played their roles well.

5) Joshua Cristian & Ovirload (rudos, champs, with the manager) b Flash Metal & Furia Roja (tecnicos) [GALLI TAG] – this was supposed to be the third match; Furia noticeably arrived during the opener and it seems his scheduled partner Scorpion never arrived. Maybe they pushed back the match in hopes he’d turn up? Ovirload is the masked guy of the team, Joshua Cristian is the taller one, but they’ve both generally playing the same cocky champion role. Match really never got going well – tecnicos went for a double dive thru the ropes, Furia went okay, but Flash Metal hit the ropes on the way into the dive and just rolled thru them to the floor. It looked more clumsy than painful, but he was done for a while and things never got into a groove after that. I don’t know if was ever going to be a good match, but it didn’t seem to have a lot of hope after that. Champs beat one of the tecnicos with a sideslam/neckbreaker combo to keep the titles.

Intermission was here, to fix sound problems. I don’t know if they did, there was a lot of talking after the Skayde match I couldn’t really understand. This went on long enough for many of the rudos (and Acid Jazz) to wander out and talk to people. It must’ve been around here where my phone started calling people on it’s own, people starting calling me back thinking something tragic had happened, and I kept ignoring them thinking THEIR phone was calling people on it’s own. This was as distracting as that last sentence was confusing. Somewhere in here, Rob Michaels and GPA wandered out so Michaels could apologize to GPA for chokeslamming him in their match. I have no idea why this happened, but I’m happy those two are better friends now.

show resumed!

6) Mason Conrad (champ, rudo, with the manager) b El Bandolero (tecnico) – Again, been coming here long enough to remember Conrad as Shining and Knicks, but not enough to get used to the progression to being the champion. He has improved. I was unfamiliar with Bandolero, but he’s got a great mask – a black/gold Soltario mask with a red bandanna sown over the mask. Same design on the back of trunks too, and it looks very good. Bandolero is very athletic – this was the match with the biggest highspots of the night, including a nice Asai moonsault – but his fundamentals aren’t there yet. He’s an indy luchador, no shame in that, but Conrad was clearly the better wrestler and it would’ve felt wrong if he had lost his title here. Finish was Bandolero going to the top, taking forever, and Conrad catching up to him to drop him with a huge fisherman’s suplex. I think the idea was Ripper was supposed distracting Bandolero, but I didn’t even pick up Ripper being at ringside until after the match. At any rate, Ripper puts up his title (Lucha Chicago) against Bandolero next Friday in Elmhurst

7) Discovery & Skayde (tecnicos) vs Gigolo Americano & ?? (rudos) – the program mentioned the previous partnership of Discovery and Skayde, and they did a bit before the they came out talking about how those two got started as the Power Raiders. I think I might have been the only person there who knew who the Power Raiders were, but it was a nice touch. Skayde was wearing his mask and his NWA Mexico title. Gigolo came out wearing his mask too, but unmasked and introduced his surprise partner….KID FUNEBRE! This was the greatest thing ever. Gigolo and the nine (???) year old pose and yell to the tecnicos about how they’re going to beat them. Tecnicos are facing away from the enterance, so I’m expecting the real mystery partner to run out and attack them from behind. I’m wrong. Skayde attacks Discovery, he’s Gigolo’s partner.

7a) Discovery & ??? (tecnicos) vs Gigolo Americano & Skayde (rudos, w/Kid Funebre) – I found Arena Xalapa’s facebook this past week. I always love finding promotion’s facebook accounts, because it always gives me lineups (and sometimes even results) more reliably than newspapers. It’s almost enough to get me to join Facebook. Anyway, going thru their lineups for the last few months, I noticed Skayde had actually been working rudo in Xalapa, a bit of a surprise. I guess I should’ve seen this turn coming! Gigolo & Skayde beat up Discovery on his own for quite a while. A Masked Tecnico eventually ran out to be Discovery’s partner, but it was someone I didn’t know and someone who’s name was never (audibly?) said, so I still have no idea who it was. The kid did not have a great night, looking nervous or confident on some spots, and out of position or late for others. It dragged the match down, which was obviously much more of a brawl than the llave classic match of Discovery & Skayde on the same side. Rudos eventually beat Discovery with an unseen foul and a frog splash. Destructo Alfa & Funebre returned to help beat up the tecnicos post match, and Gigolo and Discovery set up a Alfa/Funebre/Gigolo vs Discovery/Masked Tecnico/TBA (Sutra? he was out at the end, though not just for this) match for this Friday.

8) Apacalypto & Justified (tecnicos) b Gabiel Herrera & Doug Simmons (rudos) – the last match was listed as the main event, and this match was listed as the Showcase match. I don’t know, this one came last. If you recall back a month or so ago, I linked to a Chicago Tribune article about Apacalypto; he’s an over 50 year old man just starting out in lucha who also happens to be a major funding source for this group. His partner Justified (cowboy gimmick, not as cool as the show) was mentioned as having only three matches (a lot more time spent in the gym), but had a significant rooting section. (There also seemed to be wrestlers, trying to hide in the bleachers, cheering very loudly for the tecnicos here.) This is exactly the kind of match you’d think it would be – fantasy camp we could pay to watch, more or less. Herrera & Simmons did strong work making the tecnicos look impressive, selling a lot of stuff huge. Match felt way too long – show was already 2h45m by the time this started, and fans (and occasionally Kid wrestlers) were checking out before this one finished. Tecnicos beat up on the rudos for quite a while before Justified was trapped for a while. Appacalypto got the hot tag, of course. Match came down to Simmons and Apacalypto. Apacalypto put on his special glove for his chokeslam and tried to start his own fan chant for the chokeslam, but Simmons bopped him with a roll of pennies. Pennies went flying everywhere but the referee – who worked all the matches, and must’ve been too tired to notice – counted three anyway.

(Sutra had not so subtly passed the roll of pennies to the referee in between matches, and the referee passed it to Simmons. Both of them took multiple looks at the item they were secretly passing, as if they were a guy in his first poker game who just got dealt two aces and needed to keep checking that they were really aces. I will hire none of you to be my secret agents! Though I couldn’t tell exactly what they were passing.)

An EMT rushed in the ring to check on Apacalypto, who appeared to be dead from this deadly maneuver. Meanwhile, promoter Carlos got the microphone, declared he saw the loaded punch and the match could not end that way. He ordered the match restarted, despite Apacalypto having seemingly passed on to the next plane of existence. The EMT was still checking on him when they rang the bell (or played the MP3 file of a bell), which really seemed kind of cruel of Carlos.

8a) It turned out okay, because Apacalypto recovered, chokeslammed Simmons, and won the match. HOORAY. This was definitely a match that happened.

The first half of this show was better than the second half of the show, and my attention and patience wanes as things go over the three hour mark – this may be a problem with the CHIKARA/ROH doubleheader, now that I think about it – but I definitely got my $5 worth. There were some solid/good indy matches here. I may go to Friday’s Elmhurst show – it won’t have Skayde, but maybe it’ll have some of these other guys.

03/13 GALLI results

thecubsfan 7 Comments

(photo by thecubsfan)

GALLI (SUN) 03/13/2011 Addison Community Center
Attendance: 175
1) Ovirload b Joey Marx
Marx is still really good. Ovirload is a masked dark skinned man, with manager JC Smallz. Marx was about to do a top rope move when Ovirload’s manager tripped him. Ovirload dropped Marx with a reverse stunner for the win. Good opener. Ovirload has the worst music, only fans of German noise bands could appreciate it.
2) G2L & Rey Fuego b Funebre & Sepultura
I’m sure I have at least two names wrong in this match; undercard was changed around quite a bit from what was listed. Fuego is a dancing flyer in the mold of Zumbi, G2L (can’t be right) is a ex-convict who’s a tecnico but still in touch with his convict roots, Sepultura was a bald man. Disjoined match – I’d look away for a second, and the other team would be in control when I looked back, for no apparent reason – but lots of action. Fuego got his trunks pulled on a sunset flip spot, but recovered to pin Sepultura on a bridging cover. 10 minuet match.
3) Ace Martino, Diego Corleone, Jack ONeil b Alex Olsen, Matt Knicks, Nikita Allanov
When Matt and Alex came bouncing out to the ring and Nikita sternly walked behind them, I was sure there was a turn coming. There was, just the wrong guy. Knicks and Josh? had a miscommunication that led to Knicks shoving Alex into the rudos attack, starting a long face in peril bit. After a lot of triple teaming and chicanery, Alex made the hot tag to Nikita. Things broke down from there. Triple stunners by the tecnicos looked to set up dives, but Matt crotched Alex on the top rope, then fouled Nikita just as he was going to get his hands on Diego. Diego covered for the win, and Knicks joined the rudos post match. About 11 minutes.
4) Bryce Benjamin, Mason Conrad, Valientino b Furia Roja, Golden Star, Guardian
Rudos represent the Underground, but Guardian has their (Bryce’s) title belt. Guardian is a lot better than the last time I’ve seen him; he was OK, now he’s quite good. Most everyone looked good in this match, built around Bryce wanting to fight Guardain but not head to head. Rudos were no match for the tecnicos near the end, tecnicos almost slaughtering them, when a ref distraction allowed Ovirload to slip and punch Guardian with knucks. Conrad picked up the pin. GALLI promoter Carlos Robles suspended all four rudos and their manager from the next show (in a couple weeks) for this vile act of cheating. 11 minutes.
5) Discovery & Mascarita Dorada b Pierrothito & Yakuza
it’s the Mascarita Dorada/Pierrothito show, it’s up to the other guys just to keep up. Discovery and Yakzua did enough. Pierrothito was not only vexed by his diminutive opponent, but by the microphone (holding it to close and breaking up every time he talked.) Probably not a lot you haven’t seen if you’ve seen these two, and not a full on crazy match, but still a very good one. First three fall match of the night, rudos taking the first, tecnicos rallying back for the second and third. Didn’t realize Dorada and Octagoncito are using the same exact cradle finish until Dorada used it here to win. Pierrothito and Dorada talked about a title vs title match after this one. About 22 minutes, including breaks.
6) 450 Hammet, Samuray del Sol, Shiima Xion b Emperador, Low Rider, Pesadilla
Low Rider & Pesadilla wore Perros del Mal shirts. Samuray had a I [heart] DTU shirt, and Xion was wearing a EXTREMO one. Another match where a lot of people looked really good. Low Rider was the standout to me, a great guy at interacting with the crowd and showing personality, besides the other excellent work. Very high on him after seeing this match. Just like the semimain, rudos took the first, tecnicos came back to win the second (maybe a too over complicated finish here), big dive train (Xion last) in the third, and all the tecnicos did 450 splashes on all rudos for the win. Funebre helped the rudos attack the tecnicos post match; Samurai’s mask was pulled off and ripped up. Tecnicos from earlier in the show made the save. Joey Marx slid face first into the ring at full speed, but his pants must’ve got caught on something, because he slid half the way out of them, mooning the crowd. Everyone in the ring just about died laughing for a moment about it, before more post match challenges. About 22 minutes, again.

bottom rope broke during intermission, thanks to kids jumping on it. Was right at the end of intermission too, which turned out to be about the middle of it. Everything was working by the time the fifth match started.

Next show is 03/27 with a tecnico vs tecnico main event of Rey Fuego & Discovery vs Samuray & Skayde (yes, that Skayde.) More at luchatv.com. Had a fun time at this show, will probably try to make it out to Addison for that one.

More blurry photos are here!

04/03 GALLI in Melrose Park

thecubsfan

GALLI ran a show on April 3rd, in Melrose Park, IL, a few miles west of Chicago. The ring was set up in a pizza place (Poochies), in a building so new that google maps still has the picture of the construction in progress. The ring was squeezes in between the building’s poles, with seats all around and booths a bit farther back, back where I was hanging out. It was a tight fit, leaving only room on a couple sides for dives (even then, an Asai moonsault went into the crowd), but it was comfortable, loud, and my seat gave me a good view of the ring and the TV with the NCAA basketball semifinals on, can’t ask for much more. Attendance seemed around 100, give or take 20.

I went to this show in large part to check out returning hero Gringo Loco, back for IWRG in one of the promotions he had worked in before going to Mexico. I figured, on the 1% chance I could corner him into a conversation after the match, I’d do the internet a favor and ask all the questions they wanted to know about everyone’s favorite tiny Mexico independent promotion, like what Chico Che is like in real life, and how Hijo del Diablo keeps his lightweight figure.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get that chance. After the second match, GALLI promoter/ring announcer Carlos Robles explained Gringo Loco had gotten paid in advance,  but had not shown up and was banned from the promotion unless he came back for a public apology. Gringo had been advertised in the main event, and it seemed like he probably would’ve been getting a title shot on the next show, so this changed pretty much the entire card. Personally, I thought it was generous to allow Gringo to come back under any circumstances; I think I’d be a more vengeful/grudge holding promoter.

Even though I didn’t get to see the guy I came to see, I was really happy with the show. The matches were fun and didn’t over stay their welcome, the crowd was into the show, and the characters were amusing. It was a fun time.

The results, and we’ll see what names I actually get right. I’m the worst person in the world at understand names at an indy show, but I am smart enough to check other results for corrections.

All matches were una caida, sin limite de tiempo. Ref for all matches was El Vaco. Show was not taped.

1)Furia Roja (rudo) beat Valentino (técnico) in about 4 minutes with a shining wizard. This was your basic opener, with no big flaws.

2)Billy Star (rudo) won a six way match with Thomas St. Clair (rudo), Demencia del Muerte (rudo), Negro Thunder (técnico), Cameron Salem (técnico) and a guy in a blue and orange mask I can’t identify (técnico) with his similarly masked manager. Billy Star and his manager demanded a title match before the match, so Robles made this match for a shot at the  International title. Billy pinned Salem with a flatliner (Kanyon was awesome) in a 6 minute match that kept moving. Negro Thunder, the disco dancing wonder, is very fun. After the match, Demencia beat up Star for reasons I could not understand

3)Venom (rudo, with Mini Venom as always) defeated Joey Marx (técnico) to win a shot at the GALLI Title. This was right after the Gringo Loco announcement, and Joey Marx was the exact right guy to send out, at least for me. He’s still the Chicago indies version of Jack Evans, and this was an exciting high flyer vs big man match (even though both are about with a couple inches of each other.) This was the match with the Asai Moonsault, with Joey going into the front row and nearly into the kitchen. Venom won with a swinging neckbreaker n 9 minutes; it didn’t feel like a big enough move for the finish given what Joey was doing, but the match was still good.

Intermission. I had cheese pizza, popcorn, and orange soda. Also, I saw Butler win, while setting back college basketball 20 years. I love my Horizon League beating everyone, but college basketball 2010 is a ugly, unappealing game.

4)Demon (rudo) defeated Mason Conrad (técnico). Conard, Salem, and Valiento are “Victorous Salem”, more or less doing the exotico gimmick. They were rudos last year, but they are great at the characters, enough so that it makes a lot of sense that they’re técnicos now. Demon is a guy wearing red with a pitchfork, but no mask. Eight minute match, with Demon taking down Conard and pinning him with the feet on the ropes. This was the least interesting match of the night, just missing something. After the match, Demon won me back by putting his pitchfork in a invisible sheath, and marching off.

In between matches, Robles held a voice vote to determine if next week’s show would be on Saturday or Sunday. Sunday was louder, so Sunday it is. Indy wrestling is so great sometimes.

5)Chilango & International Champion Emperador Azteca (rudos) fell to “Negrotistico Fantastico” Bryce Benjamin & GALLI Champion Golden Star (técnicos). Before the match, Chilango (accompanied by Chilango’s Grilfriend) explained to us that the peak of GALLI was the six minutes where Chilango was champion, and he hasn’t gotten the respect he deserved since then, especially from Bryce & Joey Marx, nor the rematches for the title he deserved. Bryce Benjamin remains 12 oz of charisma in a 10 oz glass, just overflowing with it, but Golden Star was the big surprise to me. I’ve just thought he was OK, but he was superb on this night. Highlight was pulling off the Mascarita Dorada like double rotation headscissors on Azteca, then following with a tope into an armdrag. Both técnicos came off very well, and the rudos were helping. Golden Star picked up the win with a La Mistica on Azteca in 12 minutes, champion beating lesser champion. Rudos laid out the técnicos after the match, but Azteca forgot his belt as he left for the back, allowing Bryne to pose with it after they recovered.

Show was over in under two hours, but I saw all I needed to see.

Next show is 04/11 in the same location, with the Azteca/Star International title match, as well as Golden Star defending against Venom. Should be a good time, and I’d totally go if it was possible. (Same thing applies for next weekend’s SHIMMER show, but I’m not going to make either. Go for me!) You can find out more about GALLI at http://www.galli.ws

I took a few pictures, but stopped because the flash was annoying. (After it got dark, not even the flash helped, anyway. Better ones will turn up elsewhere, I’m sure.)

Billy Star's manager talks to Carlos Robles
Billy Star, Cameron Salem, Negro Thunder, ? and ?'s Manager
Billy Star, Cameron Salem, Negro Thunder, ? and ?'s Manager
La Vaca, Golden Star, and Bryce, after the main event
La Vaca, Golden Star, and Bryce, after the main event

10/25 GALLI in Aurora

thecubsfan

Better write this before I completely forget.

GALLI made their Aurora debut this past Sunday at the Sierra Restaurant. It was a nice setting – it’s a lot more of a club than a restaurant, and the ring was set up on the main dance floor. Beside the normal lights, this meant the ring was constantly light by some random colorful lights and a couple disco balls, but the sound bounced off the walls pleasantly and the building sounded loud all night. The horns they were selling helped; I think I ended up near most of them.

Since the last time I’ve been to a GALLI show, they’ve changed things around – less matches so the shows don’t go so long (5 on this one), and they’ve gone to all one fall matches except the main event. I don’t know if this was just a coincidence, but most of the trainee types and Chicago normal indy guys were not on the show, where they’d be a all over it previously.

Show started a few minutes after 6:30. I’d guess attendance to be around 100, maybe 120. Referee for all matches was LA VACA.

1) Golden Star & Chiva V b Resistencia & STIGMA – if it looks like a CHIKARA worker’s name, it probably is. Lots of horn based comedy, much STIGMA yelling “Chiva – NO!”. I have this sneaking suspicion this may have not an authentic soccer playing goat come to life, because he had yellow soccer socks on. What a fashion no-no. Anyway, it was an entertaining if not always technical sound match, both tecnicos beating both rudos with bodyscissors cradle for the win.

2) Flip Kendrick & Louis Lyndon b Amasis & Ophidian – who are the Osirian Portal, and not the Neo Solar Temple. I know this, quiz me. Moving on from my emotional scars to other jokes, someone at GALLI must’ve really enjoyed the last Dragon Gate show! This was actually a match that would’ve been better received in front of that sort of crowd than this one. Crowd still liked it, but it was US indy style match in front of an audience expecting something a little bit different.

Crowd did dig the snake luchador, and Amasis did his usual fine job of interacting with the crowd in amusing ways. When I saw Lyndon at the Dragon Gate show, I thought his faux-Bruce Lee gimmick would be great in a lucha setting, so I was disappointed when he wrestled this straight for the most part. Didn’t even wear the afro until taking picture later. Both tecnicos were super athletic, and the crowd was awed at the dive sequence.

Finish here was – well, Amasis put Lyndon in a cristo, Lyndon reversed into a bodyscissors cradle, La Vaca slapped the mat one two three, and the crowd cheered huge for the win. Except, the match kept going for about ten seconds, then the promoter asked if the match was over, and La Vaca decided it was. You think it’d be tough to convey emotion while wearing a giant snake mask (er, being a giant snake), but Ophidan (who broke up the pin late) was so clearly unhappy with that turn of events. I’m pretty sure I saw Amasis not moving at all until just before the three count, but definitely getting his shoulder up. I think La Vaca meant it to be two, but really ought to have indicated it was only 2 right away, instead of letting the crowd make the call for him. It’s tough being a referee.

The other comedy here is the DJ had no idea who’s music went with who here, so the entrances were messed up and the tecnicos celebrated to Walk Like An Egyptian. How can you actually get that one wrong? It’s right there in the name!

free suggestion no one asked for: next time lucha fans tart chanting MEXICO MEXICO at the Portal, start chanting EGYPT EGYPT right in rhythm. It makes as much sense as the Mexico/Japan stuff.

3) Guardian del Amor & Lince Dorada (w/mini Lince) b Emperador Azteca & Venom (w/Mini Vemon)

Not as much to write about here, more of a standard lucha match. The minis are the usual deal of kids dressed up like their partners. Lince, despite looking quite off in his first big run of this match, was way over with this crowd. Again, tecnicos win clean. Lince hit a SSP on Venom, Dorada did a swanton on Azteca.

The mini kids hit the ring after the match. The tried one clothesline. It did not go well. La Vaca counted that pin too anyway.

INTERMISSION. Everyone from the undercard came out to take photos. Lince seemed to have the biggest line, but the Portal were popular too. Nice of GALLI to set up the lineup so the east coast guys could all take off after this point (not even 8pm)

4) Negrotistico Fantastico & Joey Marx b Victorous Secret (Mason Conrad & Cameron Salem)

Conrad & Salem are doing the super effeminite bit. I was worried the act would seem as played out as their Backstreet Boys entrance music, but they really threw themselves into it, Salem especially, and it was fun. Fantastico & Marx’s gimmick appeared to be “The Coolest People In The World”, and you could tell the moment they started dancing to the ring. They were way over, and deserving so. ATTENTION PROMOTER OF DRAGON GATE USA: I know you’re reading this, because you’re totally a renown fan of lucha libre and people outside your company discussing what you should do. Please, please book Joey & Negrotistico (under that name, even!) on the next show. It doesn’t matter if it’s the dark match, they both deserve to have a much higher profile. Since Gringo Loco has gotten himself an actual job in lucha libre (if IWRG counts!), I think it’s I need to start relentlessly hyping these two now.

A lot of schitk early, but it was good stuff so no complains. When they got going late, it good stuff (so much that I don’t have notes for it.) Conrad & Salem were taking some big and sometimes extra pinful looking bumps. I think it was Conrad who took the huge German suplex out of the corner. I know it was Salem who took a backdrop, and hit hard on a ring that wasn’t giving all that much. He looked to be hurting a bunch the rest of the way.

Marx hit a shooting star press on Conrad for the win. And then everyone danced! HOORAY.

5) Samurai & Huracan Ramirez Jr. b Amenaza del Siglo & Chilango

Since I’ve last been to GALLI, Chilango not only grew his hair back, but has the GALLI championship and a valet. That right there is a productive summer. Between his frilly cowboy hat and gear, Amendaza del Siglo walked to the ring looking like crazy masked Mexican Randy Savage. (Didn’t really need crazy there.)

This was three falls. Liked some of the other matches better, but fell in the same ok->good range. Tecnicos won the first fall with ‘ranas on both guys. Rudos came what with a Silgo top rope ‘rana on Huracan, and Chilango spearing Samurai and putting his feet on the ropes. Siglo got Huracan’s masked untied and pulled it off between falls – I didn’t recognize him! – and they ended up doing crowd brawling. Tecnicso makes their comeback in the third fall, including Huracan sending Siglo into and on top of the bar for some revenge, then Samurai splashing Chilango with a 450 for the win.

There was a lot of post match work with Siglo and Huracan teasing a mask match, Siglo deferring. There was a lot less time spent on it, but the match was for sure set up was Samurai vs Chilango for the title, which makes enough sense. And that was it – or that’s when I left.

Show ended about 9:15, so I think they were still a little longer than they wanted, but 9:15 is still pretty good. There was no bad matches on the show, and only one unexplained intermission (between the last two matches), so I didn’t feel like my time was being wasted as much as usual. All the tecnicos won and all the matches were clean, both nice to see. I’m glad I went.

GALLI is back in Addision on Sunday, with the main event of Cameron Salem, Samurai, Negrotisico, and Joey Marx against all four Soul Touchas. That’s kinda intriguing, so I may make it out. Didn’t catch when the next Aurora show is, but I’ll mention it when I see it.