Tag: recap

Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre: 2020-04-30

thecubsfan
Tromba with some trauma

Recapped: 2020-05-17

I have this as Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre, but there’s no less than three different promotions named, plus two Dragon Gate trainees just hanging out in Mexico. The shirts are Mi Sagrada Lucha Libre so let’s go with that. The venue appears to be Mexico City’s Star Gym, seen occasionally in AAA vignettes.

Matches: 

Yoruba beat Futuro and Tromba in a semifinal
(3:57, ok, +LuchaTV)

This didn’t last long at all, but they made the most out of the time by going at a fast pace and pulling out interesting moves. Yoruba really was in love with utilizing the bottom turnbuckle in this match. There wasn’t enough time to make much out of it than that.

Shun Skywalker beat Chris Stone Jr. and Prismatic in a semifinal
(6:31, good, +LuchaTV)

This one did get some time, and it was helped in a way by going longer than the opener. The Chris Stone/Shun Skywalker sequence at the end might have been longer than the entire last match, which caused all the pins to feel like it’d be it. Shun remains very good and Chris Stone looked the best I’ve seen him working against him. Prismatic had a cool dive, though falling on top of Stone during what’s supposed to be Stone’s finisher took me out of the moment.

still think he should’ve gone with Motocross Jr.

Demasiado & Yoshioka beat Blaze & Kilvan
(13:56, ok, +LuchaTV)

I found this match particularly visually hard to watch and follow. This is a venue not meant for filming. (Ceiling lights were turned on for the main event.) The light is coming in through windows, which must make it bright in the room. It doesn’t come across that way on video, looking dark whenever the camera’s pointed slightly up at the ceiling. The strong light from behind turns everyone into living shadows at times. Everyone’s wearing dark shirts or dark gear in this match, leading to small moments where two people grappling turns into a blob of indistinguishable darkness. It’s also harder here because it’s a tag match but it’s hard to keep track of the teams. Plenty of lucha libre video is not shot or presented well but this one especially uncomfortable to watch.

This is a tag match but it also might have been a four-way for the lack of teamwork. It’s a lot of two people working together, and both getting dismissed for the other two to work together. Blaze has obvious and great promise with his agility, though he needs some refinement. Yoshioka stands out as being more polished despite just being Dragon Gate trainee with fewer years of experience than some of the others.

Tempo beat Yoruba and Shun Skywalker for the CELESTE Championship
(9:49, ok, +LuchaTV)

The main event kills a lot of time with WWE style three-way hijinks that get dropped before the end. The idea is to have the winner overcome the odds, but the odds are dropped ahead of the finish anyway. It’s a lot of stuff I’m not a particularly a fan of in three-way matches. The finish does come off well.

Blaze breaker

IWRG: 2020-03-12

thecubsfan
Baby Extreme has been watching some tapes

Recapped: 2020-04-14

Matches:

Ave Rex, Hip Hop Man, Mosca beat Baby Extreme, El Mimo, Príncipe Aéreo
(17:54, ok, +LuchaTV)

A trios match moving at a leisurely pace that doesn’t seem to be using everyone. There’s no sense of what Ave Rex can do despite this going 18 minutes. Baby Extreme is really good now but he’s barely in this one. He does get to be the guy who does a dive onto one of the foot tables, a big achievement for Thursday Night wrestling. The action was fine but the rudos could’ve played into Mimo’s mime bit stronger.

Lunatik Xtreme beat Puma de Oro
(4:30, ok, mluchatv)

What Happened: Lunatik Xtreme gets away with a mask pull on the finish (though the finishing move might have beat Puma de Oro anyway.)

Review: This one also didn’t get much going, though it was more due to the lack of time. Puma and Lunatik can show good moves but haven’t been able to pull it together as a full match yet. The post-match challenged were for an apuesta match and maybe it would’ve come together in that match. There wasn’t set up to be a big match with the time given.

double team faceslam

 

Ayako Hamada, Lolita, Perla Lagunera beat Diosa Quetzal, Hahastary, Lady Cat
(12:52, ok, mluchat)

This match started very rough, with people lost and confused leading into a dive, but it recovered a bit during the middle. Hahastary got to do her highspots with Ayako Hamada and looked a lot better. Lolita was really good again. Lady Cat is willing to take hard shots from the rudas. The Diosa Quetzal whiffed stunner was very amusing and the rest of her offense was very hit or miss.

Demonio Infernal, Fresero Jr., Shun Skywalker beat Jesse Ventura, Pasion Cristal, Soy Raymunda
(20:37, ok, mluchatv)

A reason I tend to stay away from IWRG are matches which go an extremely long time for no particular reason. This is a twenty-minute light comedy match featuring the exoticos. It was fine. It went on forever. Fresero did good comedy work I wasn’t expecting. Shun Skywalker seems almost as miscast as a rudo as Kawato San. Skywalker is doing better at it, but he has obvious high upside the other way.

Lady Cat with a surprising double suplex

IWRG: 2020-03-08

thecubsfan
ideal IWRG dive

Recapped: 2020-04-13

Matches:

Charro Negro (Nuevo León), King Rex, The Mummy beat Fly Warrior, Hip Hop Man, Mosca
(9:46, ok, +LuchaTV)

What Happened: The Mummy’s team are all Monterrey based wrestlers, brought in by promotion Lucha Time but working most of the indie groups in the region.

Review: You can see the potential in the Lucha Times guys, even if this match started to fall apart by the end. Charro Negro seems ready to move into a bigger indie spot as other people get swooped elsewhere. Hip Hop Man had no idea how to absorb Charro Negro’s dive, but I’m not sure I blame him. That thing was athletic but weird. Mummy starting the end game by tripping his way into the ring was rough and it took too long to get the point. The Mummy came off as a regional attraction who was not wrestling in his region. It was nice to see Fly Warrior anyway.

Charro Negro moonsault goes well except for the whole landing part

 

Jessy Ventura, Pasion Kristal, Zoy Raymunda beat Fuerza Guerrera NG, Lunatik Xtreme, X-Fly
(9:42, ok, mluchatv)

A thoroughly fine match that I’ll remember little off once I close this window. The sequences feel more out of control and not as patterned as the CMLL ones, but the match feels similarly weightless. I don’t know why it feels like Imposible is less impressive as Fuerza Guerrera NG; it may just be more him treading water even with the new name. The finish worked as mockery of the over done “ref bump, foul” finish, though in no way did it seem like it meant to be subversive. Funny unintentionally maybe.

Demonio Infernal, Fresero Jr., Hijo De Espectro Jr. (Nuevo Leon) beat Emperador Azteca, Hijo del Alebrije, Shun Skywalker
(17:08, ok, +LuchaTV)

There’s a good 13-minute match in the 17-minute semi-main. It seems to hit a peak on the comeback and the last act of the match gets stretched out for too long. Emperador Azteca had a really good match and then knocked himself silly on a handspring in embarrassing fashion. There was a lot of building up of IWRG/Lucha Time issues; maybe the plan was for the IWRG guys to go to Monterrey, but it comes across as Fresero bleeding just for fun.

Lolita can’t be stopped

Ayako Hamada, Lolita, Miss Delicious beat Diosa Quetzal, Hahastary, Mary Caporal
(13:27, good, mluchatv)

What Happened: This is the International Day of Women, so the women are in the main event spot.

Review: The women’s match was a pleasant surprise, a clear improvement over the recent action. This might be the best assembly of the women available to IWRG at the moment, though it was also a lot more figuring out what wasn’t working and getting rid of it. (The Hamada wheel kick only shows up here as something intentionally missed. It seemed like it would take a remarkable Ayako performance to have a good match but this was more everyone taking a step forward; this was the best match so far for Miss Delicious and Mary Caporal in particular. Lolita was the quiet star of the match, just a solid wrestler who seems so useful in a division full of wildcards. Lolita hasn’t figured out the personality side – this might be a time for her to come up with a new character – but she’s the glue these matches need. Diosa Quetzal looked great working with Lolita, and Quetzal hasn’t looked great often. Hahastary seemed to have the weakest match. There was some confusion with her and Quetzal on the comeback spots. The bigger problem is Hahastary can’t do her flying spots (or doesn’t trust doing them) with most of these women, and she’s not worked out a whole lot else to do.

gif: 548/937/1004/1139

IWRG: 2020-03-05

thecubsfan
smoothly done

Recapped: 04/04/2020

Matches:

Dragón Fly, Hip Hop Man, Mosca beat Alas de Oro, Alas De Plata, Manchas
(15:13, ok, +LuchaTV)

This TV opener was technically fine as a generic Mexican wrestling trios – tecnicos controlled early, rudos took over, tecnicos make a comeback, rudos use a foul to win – but seemed just that generic. The Alas duo is missing a personalty or actions to make them seem like more than the latest take on the Místico mold. Rudos trying to actually win the match during the beatdown was a nice deviation from usual.

Lunatik Extreme went to a draw Puma de Oro
(14:46, DCOR, ok, +LuchaTV)

Puma de Oro fits the mold of a young tecnico, fun in trios, and showing some gaps in a singles match. This was good to go long for the experience for both guys but they didn’t have ten minutes of ideas and nearly went fifteen. They also couldn’t totally pull off the ideas they did have. It wasn’t a disaster, though there were moments like Puma de Oro trying a pin while completely under the ropes where he came off as very green. There were also a few cool spots, but it wasn’t worth the entire time. Doing a draw finish on a show about people getting drunk is a bold choice

a well-located kick

I wrote about the Death Metal vs Black Dragón hair vs hair match previously.

Big Chicoche, Big Mike, Big Ovett beat Demonio Infernal, Shun Skywalker, X-Fly
(10:26, ok, +LuchaTV)

Just an extended Strippers Big showcase. It fits the mood of the night but it doesn’t try to do anything remarkable. It’s good to see if you’ve never seen them but not particularly memorable.

MasLucha Semifinals & Finals

thecubsfan

Recapped: 2020-05-10

Demonio Infernal beat Arez in a tournament semifinal match
(4:24, ok, 00:07:27)

Demonio Infernal/Arez seemed to be a victim of the structure. They went full out for the sub-five minutes they went, but it felt like they went quick because they had all they had. It was also a victim of not using the advantages of the format. They recovered from the messed up poison rana fine, but they didn’t really need to recover. They could’ve just restarted the match. There were a couple of other points that didn’t seem like they went exactly right or were otherwise peculiar. Demonio Infernal did show he could keep up with Arez speed, and Arez didn’t struggle to work against a bigger guy. Hope we get to see this again in another situation.

Ricky Marvin beat Aramis in a tournament semifinal match
(4:51, good, 00:08:08)

Another quick sprint, the last few minutes of what could’ve been a good long match where I’m left mixed about if there was enough there to make it worthwhile. It was close, even if it drifted off from what story they were telling to start. Ricky doing a bit where he’s grabbing Aramis around the head with his legs and then slamming his own knees into the mat was a peculiar choice in a tournament where his knee injury is the only story. (I guess the other story is kicking at one is the most suicidal thing you can do since both guys who’ve done it got pinned immediately after.) The big moves were great when they got to them, there just could’ve been more to it.

Ricky Marvin beat Demonio Infernal in a tournament final match
(9:24, good, 00:13:09)

The tournament finished well enough, with the final getting a good bit of time and some drama to it. Ricky’s DDTs have looked impressively brutal during the tournament. All that knee work really didn’t lead to anything interesting in the final, though Demonio Infernal was the wrong guy to have in there for that sort of tease. Demonio did raise his stock the most in the tournament; he doesn’t get the super indie bookings outside of IWRG but felt like he could hang with all those guys. There are parts of where he could use some polish, but kept the matches interesting. Ricky Marvin was at the level we’ve seen from him the last couple of years. He makes his matches feel important, even if sometimes they come off as a bit one-sided. There was no doubt he was going to win this final, but they still kept it entertaining.

Lucha Fighter: 2020-05-09

thecubsfan 2 Comments
a kick

Recapped: 2020-05-09

Matches:

Dinastía beat Laredo Boy
(5:30, bridging pin, ok, 00:16:11)

Psycho Clown beat Chessman
(9:11, code red, good, 00:30:54)

Pentagón Jr. beat LA Park
(7:31, foul, ok, 00:51:19)

Lady Shani beat La Hiedra
(6:10, submission, good, 01:10:52)

Pentagón Jr. beat Psycho Clown
(10:00, Factor Miedo, great, 01:29:20)

What happened:

Pentagon Jr., Lady Shani, and Dinastia won their tournaments. There were no awards or plaques given to the winners. Shani made a speech praising her opponents and encouraging the AAA fans. Pentagon also praised Psycho Clown while feeling he’d proven he was good in Mexico as he had been elsewhere.

None of the angles set up went anywhere here; they seemed to be there just to keep those issues warm until AAA could run again. There was no indication of when that would be beyond the previous mentioned of AAA saying they’d announce their plans at the end of the month.

Thoughts:

Aerial Ace Psycho Clown

This was a good final, though not an especially strong one. The minis tournament was a disappointment through the final and LA Park/Pentagon was nothing special. The men’s final did feel like a final. This didn’t overall feel as big as the Lucha Capital fans but couldn’t really in the no fans situation.

Psycho Clown and Pentagon Jr. threw out their best moves for ten minutes, and filled the quiet space in between by yelling a lot. Some of them where things out than their catchphrase. It’s better than I’m making it sound, even if it was still missing the emotion of this match happening in front of a crowd. They built off of spots they had done earlier in the tournament, they had a few big near falls. It didn’t escape the environment as much as Laredo/Park and Vikingo/Park but it works as a final.

Hiedra got obliterated by a boot to the face and then really didn’t stand a chance the rest of the way. Shani came off as an impressive dominant winner, even as she paid respect to the other participants in her post match promo. Her holds and rolling cradle came off well done in this match and it felt like just a matter of time before she was going to win.

Chessman went out doing a top rope tornillo which is a heck of a way out. Chessman had sort of ran out of tricks in this tournament, just sort of repeating the same cookie sheet stuff for lesser effect, but it was still a good effort by both men. Psycho Clown was working very hard to reach through the video screen to get a reaction and I’m not sure it totally worked, but this was a good enough match.

no one more hyped than Pentagon

Having watched so many LA Park matches, I knew he was doomed as soon as he got the visual pin when the referee got taken out. That’s a killer every time. This was the default touring LA Park referee silliness match where Pentagon happened to be in the spot against him. The 0M taunting gave it a bit extra, but those touring matches would normally have a big crowd brawl missing here. You’ve seen this match before if you’ve seen Park and probably better.

What I enjoyed about Dinastia about was his ability to put together 30 second (give or take) fast agile sequences. Here, he was more just doing moves and the moves itself weren’t enough to make it. He and Laredo Boy exchange spots but it didn’t really mesh in anything during the time they had, or ever felt like Laredo Boy was going to win.