698 replies to this topic

[Robert]

AAA 5/6/07 in Oaxaca:

Mini Abismo Negro/Mini Histeria vs. Mascarita Divina/Mascarita Sagrada: Quite the disapointment due to editing and the fact Mini Histeria blows. This match easily shows why the CMLL mini's are generally more fun than their AAA counterparts most of the time. The AAA guys can be so bland in the ring. Sure, they have the more spectacular dives and if Mascarita Sagrada/Mini Abismo are on, nobody in CMLL can touch them, but they rarely are (especially since Mascarita's injury). Mini Histeria is exactly like Rocky Marvin in 2000... he has no offense and is a horrible base which makes for one shitty rudo. The tecnicos could do NOTHING with him here and lord knows Sagrada isn't trusting him to catch anything dangerous when it comes to a dive. The mini's gotta stand out by doing stuff bigger guys can't do... these guys just didn't do it. I'd rather have seen another Chivas vs Diabolicos match.

Fabi Apache/Rossy Moreno/Tiffany vs. Cinthia Moreno/Estrellita/Sexy Star: Another match butchered by editing although I'm not a huge fan of the women aside from Fabi so I can live with it. Estrellita's landing on the asai moonsault dive was all sorts of ouch. They picked it up at the end but looked lost during the match aside from when Fabi was in the ring. Oh yeah... and before the match Konnan was cutting a promo and they kept going to crowd shows and editing the promo like they'd do a match. Why even bother airing the promo if it's gonna be so obviously edited to the point nothing he is saying makes sense b/c he's making referenes to stuff he said earlier in the interview which we didn't hear? AAA is becoming far too trigger happy with that edit button. It's very what made me stop watching WWE-ish.

Aero Star/Laredo Kid/Pegasso/Super Fly vs. Alan/Decnnis/Gran Apache/Super Calo: Already discussed this in-depth. FANTASTIC MATCH! Great way to get the feud going and introduce Aero Star as a new official Fuerza Aerea member. Definitely go out of your way to see this! BTW Chui, I finally figured out what dive Super Fly tried to do! He did a Space Flying Tiger Drop OVER a ducking Gran Apache! Shame the cameras missed it.:(

Cuervo/Escoria/Espíritu/Ozz vs. Crazy Boy/Joe Lider/Juventud Guerrera/Psicosis: Surprisingly short. Dives to start, then a quick beatdown (probably edited) and an amazing comeback spot with Juventud giving Ozz a frankensteiner off the top rope as La Secta were doing the KDX posing spot. Camera seemed to miss Lider doing the Extreme Tiger dumbass legdrop which is for the best. Crazzy Boy jumped off a ledge about 12 feet high with a moonsault. Psicosis may have done a dive that was also missed b/c next thing you know Ozz pins Juventud with the Darketa. Accomplished what it was supposed to and I'm all for Mexican Powers matches being kept under 10 minutes.

Abismo Negro/Kenzo Suzuki/X-Pac vs. Intocable/Super Porky/Zorro: I didn't expect much going in but somehow I ended up disapointed. The brawling was AWFUL and went on WAY TOO LONG. If anything - the brawling should have been edited out and the mini's should have gotten 2 or 3 more minutes. Intocable can't sell and Porky can't move... so explain why you'd put them in the position to be beaten on for roughly 8 minutes? Match didn't even pick up all that much as the comedy didn't get over and Intocable blew some stuff. He must have blown his dive real badly b/c it got edited out. X-Pac pinned Zorro to win after Alicia interfered.

Mesias vs. Charly Manson: Pretty fun match. Mesias really isn't the messiah of the main eventers in AAA since there is finally a rudo who can work singles match and has good offense as well as the ability to sell for his opponents and take big moves. It'll be a shame when he decides to leave Mexico and we go back to the days of Cibernetico and Pirata Morgan main events. The crowd seemed pretty tired at this point and wasn't popping for the stuff you'd expect them to. Lots of neat moves and the usual constant interference + referee bias. Manson did his bullet tope suicida and Mesias must not have known that Manson can fly b/c he was standing way too close and landed bad on his shoulder, rendering him useless for the next two or three tapings. They went straight home after that. Zorro ran in after the match to save Ciber from a beatdown which really didn't make any sense since all match long Ciber was getting beat on. Zorro waited till Manson lost and then came out? Normally I'd suspect a rudo turn coming but this was taped 3 months ago so...

The Fuerza Aerea match alone makes this show must-see and I bet I'll be saying a lot of that in the upcoming show reviews. Main event is a nice added bonus.

Rob

[Tim Evans]

Isn't Mini Histeria, Rocky Marvin?

And as far as AAA being too Trigger happy with the editing, Look who's booking it.

[Misteriorana]

tomk, on Nov 2 2006, 08:33 PM, said:

Hey Phil and I wrote about this show in DVDVR and on segundacaida:

Thoughts on Dragondoor?Gate? Hole? whatever in Mexico from DVDVR 158
Arena Mexico- 5/13/06

Arkangel de la Muerte/Negro Navarro/Skayde vs. Hayato Fujita Jr. /Kanjyuro Matsuyama/Shinji Nohashi

PAS: We only got about half of this match but it was pretty fun. It is always a treat to see Negro Navarro, and he was pretty great here, locking up a nice submission and doing his great kip-up. Nohashi hit a cool tope with a nice camera angle.

TKG: Yeah that was a great camera angle. Arkangel threw some really nice elbow drops and Navarro took a posting well and any time you get to see Navarro it‘s a treat but there really wasn’t much to this match.

Dark Angel/India Sioux vs. Mima Shimoda/Raven Hiroka_

PAS: Hiroka is the worlds shittiest Etsuko Mita, but she did have a really nice exchange with Dark Angel. Mima Shimoda doesn’t do a ton here, and we didn’t get a ton of time.

TKG: This was real clipped and nothing you want to see again. I liked India Sioux’s version of Virus’ finisher.

Dragon Scramble Match: Matematico vs. Ultraman vs. Kahoz vs. Cuchillo vs. Black Terry vs. Astro Boy Jr.vs. Brazo de Plata Jr. vs. Daisuke Haonaka vs. Hijo del Fantasma vs. Toshiya Matsuzaki

PAS: Ridiculously fun match which was a total train wreck but in a really entertaining way. You got to see a bunch of old luchadores who never see the light of day. Black Terry had an awesome punch exchange with Ultraman. For an ex-high flyer Ultraman has really turned into Jose Luis Castillo in his old age. Cuchillo and Kahoz are guys I haven’t seen in years, and they looked like guys I hadn’t seen in years. Kahoz especially looked shitastic, as he was completely unable to bump over the top on his first attempt, so he has to run to the other side of the ring to bump to the floor Also that actually looked like the real Matematico who must be 70. Total blast.

TKG: Black Terry looked to be guy holding this entire thing together working fun sections with Hijo del Fantasma, Matematico, and Ultraman and one of the Japanese kids. Gran Cuchillo comes out and stretchers the other Japanese kid just smacking him around with the butt of his gun, suplexing him on the ramp and then dropping elbows. Cuchillo hitting opponents with the butt of a pistol may expose the business more than Tiger Jeet Singh hitting opponents with butt of sword. But Cuchillo is way more fun. Cuchillo and Kahoz are really too old to pull off their miscommunication heel double team stuff. But fuck all that other shit: BLACK TERRY~!!!

Brazo De Oro/Brazo De Platino/Passion Hasegawa vs. Mazada/NOSAWA/Katsushi Takemura

PAS: This was alot of fun, the early parts were a little rough, as Platino spent the opening parts just doing all of Super Porky's spots but not as well as Super Porky. However when it got kicking it got really fun. Oro was especially awesome here, especially his stuff with NOSAWA, and his incredible tope. Passion was really fun as the fake Brazo fucking up all of the Brazo spots, and when Platino stopped apeing his brother and started hitting all of his dives he looked great too. Easily the match of the show.

TKG: Was that really Brazo De Platino. I remember him looking more scummy and garbagey. He does all of Platinos big dives but I don’t remember Platino looking that kind of classically handsome. Platino’s section where he was apeing Plata spots wasn’t much and the Passion v. Takemura exchanges weren’t much. But then fucking Brazo de Oro worked his section with Nosawa where they essentially did Ki vs. Red spots with Oro working superfast to dodge all of NOSAWA’s offense and then getting in his own strikes. Brazo de Oro’s speed was just amazing. And then once the match got going it was just on. I think my favorite Passion being too small to do Brazo signature spots was when he kept trying to lay across the heels only to get tossed off while Platino set up his big dive.

4 Way Dance: Averno/Mephisto vs. Trent Acid/American Gigolo vs. Brute Issei/Shigeo Okumura vs. Milano Collection AT/Kazuchida Okada

PAS: The match listing listed the Backseat Boyz, but instead American Gigolo was Trent Acid’s partner. You know someone sucks when you are pissed about being baited and switched out of Johnny Kashmere. Okada took some big bumps, but this match may have been the worst multi man match of Trent Acid’s career. Imagine what that entails.

TKG: The screen says that this went 11:23 but I swear it felt twice as long. They do the everyone puts everyone else in a headlock section before the big guy comes out only to do a big man miss-communication spot two or three times. With Issei really playing poor man’s Pancho Tequilla playing a poor man’s Brazo Platino playing a poor man’s Brazo de Plata. Averno and Mephisto are first eliminated for excessive rudisimo. Yeah so the Arena Mexico crowd is left to watch Issei/Okamura vs. Gigolo/Trent Acid. Do the Arena Mexico fans have any stake in an All Japan vs. PWU match up. All Japan is eliminated for PWU vs. Toryumon finish. This needed Slugger.

Decision Match for the vacant NWA Welterweight Title: La Mascara vs. Hajime Ohara

PAS: This was okayish. Mascara is a little green to lead Ohara through a real lucha title match, and it came off as more of a mediocred BOSJ match which doesn’t make TV.

TKG: Yeah this was where the lucha and the resu in your lucharesu just fall apart. This isn’t worked like a lucha title match at all. There is a cool part early on where La Mascara appears to get pissed as though Ohara is taking liberties with him and the two just start swinging at each other. Baby Richard keeps on trying to remind Ohara about his closed fists and elbows. This would be fine in a lucha brawl but you build to the brawling parts of match. Ohara paces his stuff like a puroresu match so you don’t have the lucha ebb and flow where wrestling section leads to break down into brawling section which leads to a regroup to wrestling section.

Super Libre: Dos Caras Jr./Hijo del Lizmark vs. Mark Jindrak/Johnny Stamboli

PAS: This was a pretty fun WWE Heat main event tag (2002 Heat, all four of these guys are liver enzymerific.) I don’t think this was as good as the technicos v. Stamboli/Palumbo would have been, and definitely not as good as the technicos v. Jindrak/Cade (especially with all the real life familial heat between Dos Caras Jr. and Lance Cade) Still these teams work each other alot, and they have a ton spots with each other. Jindrak looks like a total superstar as he hits all of his high spots and is a taunting fuck, doing a little bird flapping with his arms after he flew. He has crazy ups, and if he actually moves to Mexico he will be a big ass star.

TKG: Not as good as a Heat main event tag…closer to a RAW one. Jindrak’s taunts are great and him and Stamboli work like a touring tag team with lots of heel miscommunication spots that they could work against any face team. They do the old MX arm pull over rope spot that always makes me smile. And well, so about a year ago New York Times printed an article about the success of lucha libre in Mexico. Someone in WWE read the article and said “the only people who watch our shows are gays and wetbacks, we need more wetbacks”. There was all kinds of writing on the internet about WWE bringing in Mistico and Ultimo Guerrero and who they should and shouldn’t bring in. I proposed that they bring in Dos Caras Jr and either Sicodelico Jr or Hijo del Lizmark as they essentially can work you’re basic OVW style and are tall and masked and would be easy to plug in and build around..WWE ended up bringing in a bunch of minis and having them work US midget comedy spots. After watching this match, if I were to fantasy book luchadors in WWE, I’d use Sicodelico Jr as my Dos Caras Jr partner. But still fun, full Worldwide point.

Relevos Increibles: Atlantis/GREAT MUTA/Ultimo Dragon vs. Perro Jr./Dr. Wagner Jr./Ultimo Guerrero

TKG: Man I was expecting this to be BA—AD. Arena Mexico announcer says that Ultimo Dragon is thought of in Japan the way Santo is thought of in Mexico…and I was all ready for the worst type of money mark match. But this turned out to be pretty fun. Dr Wagner and Perro come out and agree to team while Atlantis and Ultimo Guerrero are pissed that they are on opposite sides. And they do a lot of great lucha storytelling throughout the match with Atlantis and Guerrero sparring happily. Guerrero unhappy whenever his partners go after Atlantis. Atlantis and Perro Jr stoked to match up, etc. Atlantis just looks super great in this as he has to carry his team in ring. Ulitmo Dragon has been useless for years and for the most part never eats anything. At least in this match he spent a lot of time eating offense. Muta has had twenty years of great ring entrances and essentially works as Abby here. Guy wandering around looking deranged and scary. His elbow drop isn’t as good as Abby’s and Abby can work a simple effective match around opponent stealing his fork and forking Abby while Muta having opponent dragon screw him really doesn’t mean a ton in Arena Mexico. Also the Arena Mexico crowd has become enough of a heel crowd that they react to Muta’s stuff like its camp while the Coliseo crowd seemed to have a more visceral reaction. Still Muta was hell of fun in this and the movement back and forward from guys just doing shtick and storyline to guys wrestling is what you want out of this type of main event lucha.

PAS: I liked this a lot too. MUTA is fun as an old old guy who still kind of can hit some of his signature spots at half speed. It’s lucha every weekend there are a dozen shows main evented by guys like that. Ultimo who normally works exactly like a old old guy who hits some of his signature spots at half speed, actually seemed kind of energized, with his spots being hit more 3/4 speed.

Great review. For some reason I thought everyone would shit on the main event.
Where can I find a copy of dragonmania 06 on vhs or dvd?

[Robert]

CMLL TV 5/12/07:

Dark Angel/India Sioux/Sahori vs Princesa Sujei/Rosa Negra/Hiroka: First and third falls were really just the finishes. When you combine the horrible edits and the fact India/Sahori did nothing when they were shown, it was a pretty bad match. The definition of "waste of TV time".

Momentos had nice spots from the Arena Mex opener the previous week and Corleone kicking Ultimonito before doing his superman flight.

Negro Casas/Felino/Heavy Metal vs Black Warrior/Averno/Mephisto: I remember when I first saw this I called it a worst match of the year candidate. Upon viewing it again, I wouldn't go that far. It was pretty brutal though. Heavy Metal and Black Warrior were particularly embarassing. The first fall was one of those falls that makes no sense at all because nobody did ANYTHING for 2 minutes (I'm talking about barely touching...) and then the rudos took over and within 15 seconds pinned the tecnicos. What does that say about the ability of the tecnicos if 15 seconds of punishment can do them in??? Things completely fell apart at the end of the third fall when Felino forgot how to take a double hiptoss and it culminated with Mephisto doing an elbowdrop off the FIRST TURNBUCKLE and trying to get the ref to count three but he would only count two. Negro and Warrior just stopped the match (really!) and did their own finishing sequence. Embarassing for everyone involved.

Gran Prix: The nicest thing I can say about the match is it wasn't rushed. There were a few fun moments but overall it was pretty disapointing. Minoru Suzuki and Hiroki Goto were exceptionally awful. It's pretty clear Shocker was planned to go the finals with Guerrero and Liger since Sagrado ended up replacing Shocker and somehow made it to the final three without even tagging in until 20 minutes in. The best pinfall was Guerrero reversing the superman flight and eliminating Corleone which got a huge pop. Liger did nothing so it isn't a wonder why the magazines were bashing his performance. Same for all the Japanese guys really.

I'd be tempted to call this the worst Arena Mexico show of the year but the opener was Brillante/Leono/Stuka Jr. vs Virus/Euforia/Nosferatu and was a pretty great match. There have been certain 4 and 5 matches shows at Arena Mexico this year where every match has blown so the opener saved this show from the distinction of the worst Arena Mexico show of the year.

Rob

[Robert]

IWRG TV 5/17/07:

Ave Fenix/Bacteria vs El Macho II/Nemesis: If learning from your mistakes is supposed to help you, Ave Fenix is going to be the greatest wrestler in the world some day! I don't think I've ever seen a match where he's screwed up less than 3 spots. This was your typical IWRG opening tag formula with Bacteria looking the best out of the four in the ring and Nemesis looking the best with the awesome blue and red mask.

Fabian El Gitano/Freelance/Turbo vs AK-47/911/El Fierro: As of right now my guesses for the new Oficiales would be two of them are Comando Mega and Black Jaguar. Not so sure about Jaguar. Comando Mega sorta fits the middle sized one. I'm stuck on the tall white one. I remember Ave Fenix used to work opening tags against a rudo that was really t all but for the life of me I can't recall who it was. Freelance and Turbo were both awesome in this! Turbo did this one awesome armdrag spot to open the second fall which was so simple but also so cool. I was worried the new Oficiales group would just be randomly assorted singles guys who had no intention of learning combo moves but thankfully they worked great together in the second fall so I look forward to seeing more of what they can do. Two INSANE dives by Turbo (second row!!!) and Freelance in the third fall. Very innovative yet simple finish.

El Dandy/Negro Navarro/Tony Rivera vs Enfermero Jr./Mascara Ano 2000 Jr./Pierroth Jr.: Man... this was going great until the third fall. Why only till the third fall? BECAUSE THERE WAS NO THIRD FALL SHOWN!:( Really slow worked match... IWRG is the only place where you can see that kinda thing on TV in Mexico these days. Dandy looked great and Navarro looked more than great. I really like Navarro as a tecnico since I am not a fan of his brawling when he's a rudo so as a tecnico he just wows with me submissions and basically treats the rudos as his puppets till they are forced to triple team him. Rivera and Pierroth Jr. worked a couple nice exchanges and weren't too offensive. Shame this had to end early.:(

Copa High Power - Black Warrior/Dr. Cerebro/Mike Segura/Stuka Jr. vs CIMA/Don Fuji/Masato Yoshino/Naruki Doi: This match had 8 less wrestlers and was 25 minutes shorter than the Gran Prix but I liked it ten times better. Everyone worked well together but here's the best part... DON FUJI GOT IN THE RING *TWICE*!!! They kept him out the entire match aside from a short opening exchange and then brought him back for his angle and to be eliminated. That's we call "genius booking". The only negative is there were no dives but I'm willing to sacrifice that in exchange for a solid match. Crowd really seemed to like the match which is also a bonus.

Really strong TV episode.

(Note for those who care... I will be trying to catch up with older reviews as I do new ones. For example when my GdR/FSE DVD's come in, I'll review a new show and old show at the same time.)

Rob

[Tuco Ramirez]

I'm under the impression that I saw that show, or probably first half of it. I remember thinking Ave Fenix might had been Soberano Jr working incognito, and even thought more so with the blown stuff since it looked as if the guys didn't know each other, learning that Fenix is a regular is kind of a downer, for his look and size, I wouldn't be surprised if he's one of the guys IWRG wants to push.

I remember a Turbo match that was heavily edited, maybe even a fall missing or something, pretty weird since it was mostly rudo beatdown, then Turbo started to react going out of the ring and then sliding back in, but everyone stood there looking at each other not knowing what to do... so rudos took over again... kind of funny but not in a good way, even the announcers looked puzzled...

Chui

[Robert]

AAA 5/12/07 in Apizaco:

YUCK!!!

Nemesis/Path Finder/Takeda (Jr.?) vs Ari Romero Jr./Sangre Chicana Jr./Tigre Cota: I never thought I'd see Tigre Cota again, let alone on an AAA TV show. Anyone remember his amazing CMLL debut match against Oriental where they stiffed the fuck out of each other? Sadly this match wasn't as fun. Nemesis seemed nervous about trying stuff with guys he doesn't work with regularly and Path Finder kinda blew. Takeda was alright. Lots of clips at the finish indicating they blew stuff. Still nice to see some relatively unknown guys getting a TV spot.

Aero Star/Laredo Kid/Pegasso/Super Fly vs Alan/Decnnis/Gran Apache/Super Calo: I'm not sure if Super Fly came into the match hurt or if that first chairshot from Apache legit KO'ed him. I have two ways of looking at it...

Option A - He went in hurt: The guys did lots of complicated spots where everyone needed to be in the right spot and it must have been planned knowing Super Fly wouldn't be around.

Option B - He got hurt via the chairshot: Things completely fell apart in the second half of the match meaning Super Fly's spots had to be done by someone else and that's why Calo was barely in the ring and when he was there were a ton of blown stuff.

Either way... it made for a bad match.:( Really disapointing. Aside from Aero Star doing the most complicated assisted moonsault armdrag spot ever (move of the year candidate!) and some wacky dives to nowhere, this was quite the mess.

Chessman vs Kenzo Suzuki: Horrible!!! Kenzo was on offense the entire time and did NOTHING. Mesias was at ringside interfereing right in front of the referee. It went on forever and ever and ever. I thought (and you should have too) that this was leading to a huge Chessman comeback. WRONG. It led to Chessman blowing a springboard, then getting cracked in the head trying something off the top and pinned. Killed the crowd.

Cuervo/Escoria/Espíritu/Ozz vs. Crazy Boy/Joe Lider/Juventud Guerrera/Psicosis - Atomicos Titles: They've had better matches. Lots of dives and Joe Lider doing a stupid apron DDT that made no sense at all. Secta wins but the decision gets reversed. ANOTHER MATCH NEXT WEEK??? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Do you realize these same guys have been facing each other since May 2006? Almost on a weekly basis!

Porky/Elegido/Tinieblas Jr./Super Astro vs Abismo/Antifaz/Histeria/Aliens: I swear I remember reading the ByL people praising Super Astro for his great return. I must have read it wrong and am going to go double check because he blew EVERYTHING. Not some stuff... not half his stuff... ALL OF HIS STUFF! He first fucked up the 6-1-9 spot that the announcers were non-stop talking about how he invented. Then he went for an asai moonsault and slipped. Then he almost blew a tope suicida and blind rope off the turnbuckles. It was so sad. Another supposed legend hanging on for too long and turning himself into a joke. Entire match was slow motion. REALLY BAD.

Cibernetico/Zorro vs Head Hunter I/X-Pac: I thought Chessman did nothing in his earlier match so he could do a run-in here and do all the work for Ciber as usual. I WAS WRONG. Just a horrible brawl that went way too long. They did the hot tag tease which was good but then Ciber came in and... well... he threw punches and if you've seen Ciber's punches that should be enough said. Then he tagged Zorro back in which made no sense b/c wasn't Zorro dead and trying to make the tag for 5 minutes beforehand? Add in a complicated finish and X-Pac mistiming his jump on Ciber's choke slam = really really really bad match.

Make that a REALLY REALLY REALLY awful show. Stay away from this one unless you must have every Fuerza Aerea/Apache's team match.

This left such a bad taste in my mouth that I'm gonna go watch CMLL. Imagine that!

Rob

[Robert]

CMLL TV 5/12/07:

Brillante Jr./Leono/Tigre Metalico vs Loco Max/Mr. Mexico/Nitro: I admit... I fell asleep during this. It was in the second fall when the rudos began their beatdown and it was mostly b/c they really have no offense except for punches and kicks. A spot like this would be far better suited for Hooligan, Super Comando, Artillero, Caligula and Messala who all have offense and for that matter - are better catchers than the rudos in this match. Brillante really didn't do much here except for his big moonsault dive. Metalico did less. Leono got to show the most and well... yeah... HE SUCKS. Just had to establish that.:) He tried either a corkscrew dive or somersault plancha in the first fall and even though Nitro was standing very close, he still managed to undershoot and crash hard. Why does he still have a job? For some reason Nitro low blowed Leono to end the match. At least Leono didn't get a clean pin...

Momentos had two dives that were edited out of the Gran Prix the previous week b/c obviously we needed to see everything Takayama did at ringside instead of the actual action.

Dark Angel/Diana La Cazadora/Marcela vs Hiroka/Mima Shimoda/Princesa Sujei: WHOA! STOP RIGHT HERE AND LISTEN! Everyone should know my feelings about the women's division so keep that in mind when I say...

THIS WAS AWESOME!

I'm not sure what the ladies were out to prove since they were coming off an awesome Torneo Cibernetico two weeks beforehand and a supposedly great Marcela vs Sujei match that was too edited for TV to tell if it was as good as the live reports indicated. The ladies were due a week off but holy crap they went all out and I *might* rank this ahead of the Torneo. The most surprising performer in the match was Diana. She totally took on the Tzuki 2007 role of being the tiny tecnico whose offense isn't taken seriously and bumps like crazy for everything the rudos do but whose comebacks get the biggest reaction and are done perfectly. It SHOCKED me how good she was. Hiroka was also really fantastic as a ruda who just wanted to kick the tecnicas as hard as possible. Marcela and Dark Angel were their usual awesome selves and Sujei and Shimoda hung in there. I won't spoil the match but the finishes to the second and third fall were extremely well done. There were some new spots I hadn't seen the ladies do before and they actually managed to tell a story throughout the match rather than just seperate each fall as "rudo fall", "tecnico fall" and "dives and finish fall".

The men really need to take a look in the mirror and figure out how the ladies could put on such a good match full of intricate twists in each fall while sticking to the television time limit and doing three falls. I'm thrilled they decided to air this match in full instead of the horrible looking tercera with Takayama and Suzuki and the even worse looking main event with Corleone/Wagner vs Atlantis/Guerrero which by the way... was terrible. ****ish for those who like ratings.

Leyenda De Plata - Group A: The match really didn't flow well right from the begining since Aguila and Tarzan started. They're two of the most awkward wrestlers in the company right up there with Leono, Eclipse and Mictlan so you'd think someone would have booked this different and had Volador/Negro start. Oh well. The usual bunch of dives you'd expect although they spaced them out instead of doing them all at once in a trainwreck sequence. Mictlan got to do NOTHING which is a huge positive. He even took a knee to the face on the Spanish Fly that eliminated him. Volador is really too wild when he does that move. Stuka was the star having a great opening with Negro, a nice squence with Volador, then Felino and then eating Felino's finisher. Glad to see someone took notice at least for a bit and he was in terceras a month later. Aguila was supposed to be the star of the match but he really look bad at times. His dive was cool but you have to expect that. Not sure what the fuck happened to Tarzan Boy be he bailed out with an injury and yet was working the next day so who knows. Anyways... ignore all the previous stuff I said because the only thing anyone will (or should) remember from this match is the finish where Mr. Aguila BLEW A DOUBLE STOMP! That's right... HE BLEW A SPOT WHERE YOU STEP ON YOUR OPPONENT. How can someone blow a double stomp? You gotta see it to believe it. He didn't even bother trying it again or covering up with a different finisher. He just covered Negro and that was that.

Bad start, bad finish, AWESOME middle. Must-see show just due to the women. Trust me, it's worth going out of your way to see. This actually makes me excited for the GdR feud between Diana and Amapola. How weird is that?

Rob

[Robert]

CMLL Guadalajara 5/13/07:

Leon Blanco/Neutron/Oro II vs Satanico/Euforia/Nosferatu: Henrik will kill me but god damn Neutron is sucking these days. His offense is better than La Mascara's but it's still entirely predictable and you can see he's just going through the motions. I'm wondering if he's just sick of not getting a shot or if he's hurt. Oro II looked okay although he had a trainwreck sequence with Nosferatu. Oro II vs Chamaco Valaguez Jr.... that must frighten cubs beyond belief. The rudos looked very good in their Guadalajara debut and really this was just an extended squash with them showing off their moves and a pair of tope suicidas in the third fall. No, Satanico was not one of the pair to do the dives.:)

Vampiro/Lizmark Jr./Blue Panther vs Damian El Terrible/Emilio Charles Jr./Mr. Aguila: LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY wrestlers alert. Vamp was working a bit since this was his big return match but the other five were coasting. The finish was completely lackluster. Panther must hate the current lucha scene...

CMLL Guadalajara 5/20/07:

Torneo Cibernetico: Not bad. Dragged at some points but overall was pretty decent. They got the dives out of the way early with a 9 dives in a row trainwreck spot. Naturally the genius editors were showing a replay of the first dive as the second dive was taking place which had me worried they would miss every other dive but they smartened up after that. Best dive was Metal Blanco's opening springboard moonsault off the top rope. Flash is not the GDL Flash, it's the red and yellow Flash. He definitely shows too much promise for a guy his age. Sagrado was on fire throughout the match and even invented this wicked new move where he turned an inverted stomachbreaker into a spinning suplex with a bridge. It was pretty fucking cool. I wonder why he hasn't busted it out on regular CMLL TV yet? Lots of nearfalls at the end when it was down to 5 guys and a couple of extra dives by Rayman for good measure. Worth checking out.

Vampiro/Volador Jr./Lizmark Jr. vs Damian El Terrible/Damian 666/Malefico: Standard brawling main event with a short segment in the third fall for Volador and Lizmark to do their things. They did a double dive and then Terrible low blowed Vampiro to win and setup a singles match I believe. YUCK!

Should also note that was the tiniest crowd I have ever seen for a Guadalajara TV show since I started watching regularly in late 2003. Vamp not a draw? Perhaps. Not sure what else was going on the day it was taped.

Rob

[Robert]

CMLL TV 5/26/07:

Tony Rivera/Tigre Blanco/Kid Tiger vs Dr. X/Hooligan/Nitro: They re-united the top contenders for the National Trios Titles in late '04!!! Wouldn't Los Tigres including Kid Tiger be a cool team? Shame Tigre Metalico is now just known as Metalico. Pretty basic Coliseo match with the dives you'd expect, the boring beatdown you'd expect and a quick finish. Rivera hit a neat dive near the end. Kid Tiger was alright in his debut but obviously needs a ton more in-ring time before he'll be ready. I fear for him since he isn't as spectacular as tons of other CMLL guys but as long as he's got a family to rely on, he should be alright. Unless Negro Casas gets booking power when he retires and continues the Felino hatred...

Leyenda De Plata: Much better match than the previous week although less spectacular. In fact, I thought this was one of the better Torneos in recent time as it didn't have the ultra-fast eliminations nor the generic dive sequence we've come to expect. Valiente and Virus had multiple awesome exchanges. Valiente did his typical crazy dive but the announcers ignored it since they were plugging an upcoming soccer game. So don't say that kind of thing only happened in WCW! Leono and Loco Max both stood out big time here but not in a good way. They both seemed totally outclassed and undeserving of being in a match like this. Lots of neat elimination spots. Especially liked Virus and Heavy Metal teaming up to eliminate Warrior. Sagrado vs Metal was an interesting finale. Metal blew a moonsault (I think he did it purposely as it's an old spot of his) and then Sagrado hit the same move to get the win.

Mistico/Dr. Wagner Jr./Lizmark Jr. vs Damian El Terrible/Hector Garza/Mr. Aguila: Weird to see Mistico doing all his usual spots except with only one arm. Still... a 50% Mistico is better than a lot of top-card CMLL guys at 100%. Really enjoyed the Mistico/Aguila interaction building to their eventual singles match for the Leyenda De Plata.

[Robert]

CMLL TV 5/26/07:

Tony Rivera/Tigre Blanco/Kid Tiger vs Dr. X/Hooligan/Nitro: They re-united the top contenders for the National Trios Titles in late '04!!! Wouldn't Los Tigres including Kid Tiger be a cool team? Shame Tigre Metalico is now just known as Metalico. Pretty basic Coliseo match with the dives you'd expect, the boring beatdown you'd expect and a quick finish. Rivera hit a neat dive near the end. Kid Tiger was alright in his debut but obviously needs a ton more in-ring time before he'll be ready. I fear for him since he isn't as spectacular as tons of other CMLL guys but as long as he's got a family to rely on, he should be alright. Unless Negro Casas gets booking power when he retires and continues the Felino hatred...

Momentos had all repeats sadly.

Leyenda De Plata: Much better match than the previous week although less spectacular. In fact, I thought this was one of the better Torneos in recent time as it didn't have the ultra-fast eliminations nor the generic dive sequence we've come to expect. Valiente and Virus had multiple awesome exchanges. Valiente did his typical crazy dive but the announcers ignored it since they were plugging an upcoming soccer game. So don't say that kind of thing only happened in WCW! Leono and Loco Max both stood out big time here but not in a good way. They both seemed totally outclassed and undeserving of being in a match like this. Lots of neat elimination spots. Especially liked Virus and Heavy Metal teaming up to eliminate Warrior. Sagrado vs Metal was an interesting finale. Metal blew a moonsault (I think he did it purposely as it's an old spot of his) and then Sagrado hit the same move to get the win.

Mistico/Dr. Wagner Jr./Lizmark Jr. vs Damian El Terrible/Hector Garza/Mr. Aguila: Weird to see Mistico doing all his usual spots except with only one arm. Still... a 50% Mistico is better than a lot of top-card CMLL guys at 100%. Really enjoyed the Mistico/Aguila interaction building to their eventual singles match for the Leyenda De Plata. Aguila hit a wicked Aguila dive in the first fall and seemed to hurt himself a bit but continued the match. Typical action from these guys as you'd expect and in the third fall Mistico accidentally did a springboard plancha onto Lizmark Jr. who just caught him and walked around with him as Perrito came out. IN THEORY... Lizmark Jr. was supposed to nod at Perrito and use his spinning slam move on Mistico to complete his turn. IN REALITY... Lizmark Jr. put Mistico down, time stood still, Lizmark Jr. must have remembered what he was supposed to do and then grabbed Mistico (who didn't even resist) for his finishing move. The turn got a big pop but newer CMLL crowds are a lot like WWE style crowds who will pop for any random shit that happens but not care the following week. Perrito cut a promo on Mistico afterwards and both Mistico/Wagner were destroyed. It was a pretty good angle which makes it all the more of a shame that the follow-up went NOWHERE.

Pretty good episode and worth picking up to see the Torneo and post-match angle from the main event. Who knows... Kid Tiger's debut might be worth having some day in the future.

Rob

[Robert]

AAA 5/20/07 in Morelia:

Now THIS is more like AAA!

Mascarita Divina/Sombrita Azul vs Jerrito Estrada/Mini Histeria: Who is Sombrita Azul? Just some fun really athletic guy who wears a really cool yet weird outfit! THIS is why AAA rules! Randomness can be so much fun. Great way to open the show with cool moves from the tecnicos and a great finish with Mini Histeria going over Divina with a nice move. He still sucks but least he has a cool finisher I guess. Crowd was really hot for the opener so you knew it'd be a good night.

Mr. Condor/El Gallego/Toxico vs Los Payasos Diabolicos: The old gag with the original Payasos would be they'd bring out balloons and just as the kids would grab them, they'd pop them and confetti would go all over the kids. The new gag is one Payasos gives a balloon to a fan who is happy and soon afterwards the next Payaso in line pops it in front of the kid's face! *L* I LOVE IT! Not the best debut for the clowns as they really didn't get to do much. They just got beat on and had a quick reaction which led to a sorta botched finish. At least they got introduced properly as being a team that doesn't care who they face... tecnicos or rudos. BTW, what ever happened to them? They've been lost in the shuffle I guess.

Fuerza Aerea vs Apache/Calo/Barrios: Awesome match! Words won't do it justice but this featured the debut of Aero Star's head-first tope suicida and had tons of awesome spots and sequences. The rudos looked great during the beatdown doing a bunch of fun double and triple team moves. Crowd was really into it. You really can't ask for more than what they did here. Feud of the year? I think so! Get this!

Mexican Powers vs Secta - Atomicos Titles: Wow... two shows in a row where I didn't mind the MexPowers match! Moves, moves, moves as you'd expect but most of them hit which is what you hope for when the MexPowers are out there. Cuervo and Escoria take a lot of punishment in these matches. You'd think by now they would come up with their own illogical moves to hurt the Mexican Powers with, especially Crazzy Boy, but they don't seem to. Escoria tried to kill Lider with a 360 double stomp off the apron but missed him.:( Juventud was the only guy off in this match and took a lot of moves the wrong way. I figured out why at the end... he was doing the job. Juventud no wrestle good when Juventud has to do a job.:) This was where Psicosis turned and made room for Extreme Tiger to join the group. DAMN YOU PSICOSIS!!! DAMN TRAITOR!!! Oh yeah, the top-rope inverted frankensteiner by Juventud where Escoria landed on Ozz was pretty crazy.

Zorro/Intocable/Laredo Kid vs Kenzo Suzuki/Psicosis/X-Pac: Really good match with Laredo coming out as a star. Everything clicked here. Was my second favorite match of the night actually. I'm in favor of putting Psicosis in for a no-showing Abismo since his heat wasn't gonna get any hotter than it was on that night. Awesome dive by Laredo onto both X-Pac and Alicia putting them through a board at ringside. Clean win for the rudos was very surprising but they had to be put over when you think about it. Good showing by all.

Cibernetico vs El Mesias: Well... this certainly ended the show on a flat note. I haven't read cubs' review yet but hopefully he pointed out the obvious horrible booking in this match. Mesias comes out with the entire Secta and Konnan. Ciber counters with Chessman b/c according to his interview - "I need someone to watch my back and keep your (Mesias') guys from interfereing". Got it? I thought I did. I'm sure the fans thought they did. The only guy who didn't seem to get it was Chessman. He was booked to look like the ultimate idiot. Honestly... this was straight out of the Hogan playbook of how to bury a guy in one match. Not only did the entire Secta and Konnan interfere... they interfered freely all through the match! It was a 6 on 1 and Chessman just stood at ringside like a moron since someone must have told him not to get involved. Numerous times members of the Secta ran right by him to get props from the back and all he did was shake his head. It'd be the perfect rudo turn except Chessman wasn't turning! The ultimate in stupidity occured late in the match as finally someone saved Cibernetico... Zorro? Nope. Parka? Nope. HIJO DE TIRANTES!!! He pushed the rudos away and out of the ring while Chessman just stood around. FINALLY the rudos came back in the ring and Chessman got his cue so he cleaned house for a bit until he too was beat down. Zorro and Parka then made their entrances to clean up the mess Chessman couldn't but it was too late. The match was awful and made no sense. Konnan certainly isn't dumb enough to have booked the match to go this way so he either wanted to make Chessman look like a total idiot or Chessman was told to try and stop the interference but played his part all wrong. Who knows...

Strong show. Top-to-bottom you can't go wrong getting this.

Rob

[Robert]

Woohoo! CMLL weekend DVD's came! Thanks cubs! Was able to watch these at work thanks to my new portable DVD player...

CMLL GdR 6/2/07:

Brillante Jr./Flash/Super Nova vs Apocalipsis/Hooligan/Ramstein: An Arena Mexico opener! WTF? Well, they did air an opener two weeks beforehand but that was a 3 match show and it was the only match left to air. So they decided to air this instead of a match involving guys like Negro Casas, Blue Panther, Koslov, etc. DOUBLE WTF??? This was just balls out 150mph action. Some unfuckingbelieveable spots... my favorite was the Hooligan Crash on the ramp but the tecnicos all had wild dives throughout the match. I think Sombra rattled off 3 different dives. Flash actually looked the best of the tecnicos but he hasn't held up in future matches. Shocking to see Apocalipsis hold his own here. Well worth checking out on cubs' dailymotion site.

Mistico/Sagrado/Volador Jr. vs Averno/Mephisto/Efesto: No matter how much you may dislike Mistico, you gotta give him credit for trying to tough this one out. It was obvious right from the start he was in pain and couldn't raise his arm above his shoulder... hell, he could barely raise his arm at all. The rudos took over to start which was a good thing. The tecnicos made their comeback in the second fall (led by Mistico of course) and hit TRIPLE RUNNING SOMERSAULT PLANCHAS which was fucking nuts. Mistico immediatly hit a head-first tope suicida ala Aero Star (except a few weeks before Aero Star started doing it regularly) which was also fucking nuts. Volador used a crazy super frankensteiner on Mephisto and then Sagrado almost fell off the turnbuckles trying his double jump moonsault. In the third fall Sagrado blew a spot early on but covered decently if you ask me. Unless you know the spot I doubt you'd have noticed the botch. Volador then had an awesome exchange with Efesto. Mistico then entered and things fell apart as he was in obvious pain and when he went for his usual backdrop into a headscissors spot, his arm gave way and he almost had a pretty bad fall. The rudos knew Mistico was done so they immediatly went home with a cheap low blow/mask pull finish. Horrible ending but you can't fault them as Mistico was absolutely done for the night. The guy has guts to go out there in so much pain knowing the promotion depends on him. One would question the logic of booking a match where he has to do his trademark spots though. Perhaps a smarter match could have been worked out to cover up his injury as best as possible.

CMLL FSE 6/3/07:

Opening match clips while the announcers talk! I hope that becomes a regular thing. Mini Fantasy's asai moonsault was nice. I wonder what the monkey flip spot ended up being? Stupid interviews.

Kid Tiger/Maximo/Mictlan vs El Hijo Del Texano/Scandalo/Virus: Disapointed this start in a brawl as I'd like to have seen some holds exchanged with the new guys. Texano Jr. is really great these days. He's matured into a good worker and discovered he is ten times better as a rudo so it works out perfectly. Pretty much by the numbers including what I think was a third fall clip covered up real nicely. I think there was a clip b/c no way CMLL would not have Kid Tiger/Mictlan go through at least one exchange all match long even in the era of 8 minute matches. Nice dual dives at the end and a cheap low blow finish but at least the feud is extended.

Heavy Metal/Leono/Valiente vs Black Warrior/Goto/Ohara: Not as bad as cubs' review led me to believe. I thought Metal was just fine including using two dives. Leono was his usual awful self. Valiente didn't get to show much but also didn't blow anything so he was a fine replacement for whoever was originally booked here. He did a nice asai moonsault in the third fall. Leono then did a somersault off the apron which is such a weak dive and at this rate Leono can't afford to stop using his springboard moonsault dive which is the only thing that makes him a bit interesting. Funny finish with Warrior tricking Metal and pinning him.

The interviews and features really kill the flow of these shows. I understand the features a nice bonus and needed but the interviews need to be killed completely or cut to 2 or 3 per show. None of the CMLL guys seem to actually be able to talk. It's a lot like the old WWF promos in front of the blue screen except with way less energy. Do I need to hear random guy A saying "I'm gonna get you (random guy B) inside the ring!" on a weekly basis? Sometimes two or three times a show? Total waste of time.

Rob

[Robert]

CMLL TV 6/2/07:

Flash/La Sombra/Super Nova vs Okumura/Ohara/Goto: This is Sombra's debut and he doesn't disapoint! Great match as this tecnico trio team has great chemistry. Shame they weren't kept together for longer but I guess the Sombra superpush had to begin quickly. The Japanese guys were great bases here and even used some fun moves of their own which is rare. Tons of great dives including a Super Nova asai moonsault where he barely hit Goto, a Flash running somersault plancha that was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too out of control and a then a Flash running corkscrew dive that was even more out of control! Now you know why he's injured so often.:) Sombra gets the win after almost murdering Okumura by dropping him off the top rope and then hitting a great springboard ropeflip monsault. Awesome TV opener.

Momentos had Valiente's dive so it was an automatic A+! It also had one clip of the match that didn't air from the previous week but double armbars aren't that special.

Mistico/Marco Corleone/Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Damian 666/Damain El Terrible/Lizmark Jr.: Mistico was hurting here but still did way more than he should have including two dives. Disapointing rudo debut for Lizmark Jr. who really didn't stand out in any way and was actually overshadowed by his partners who are the PdM 'C' team. Second fall finish seemed a bit messed up as Wagner was waiting to do his dive but Lizmark grabbed Mistico and went into the Mistica spot so Wagner ended up doing his dive as Mistico did his finisher. Oh well. Share the spotlight! Corleone had some funny comedy bits in the third fall. He did a flying clothesline off the ramp which was impressive. Lizmark low blowed Wagner to win the match for his team.

Sagrado vs Mr. Aguila - Leyenda De Plata Final: BEYOND AWFUL. Keep in mind they edited out all the spots Sagrado blew badly and what was left was BEYOND AWFUL so imagine if the entire thing had aired! They cut out early stuff that Sagrado blew and just aired his running somersault plancha. He used a moonsault to win the fall. Second fall had another edit and Aguila won with a lame spin kick. I'd complain about a spin kick being a finisher but wait till you hear what they did in the third fall. Sagrado hit a tope suicida after more editing in the third fall and they did 2 or 3 not believeable at all nearfalls. Get this... for the finish Sagrado went to suplex Aguila into the ring from the apron... Aguila was supposed to slide down and roll Sagrado up but screwed up and just fell down beside Sagrado who lost his balance and fell backwards. Instead of covering up and improvising a new finishing spot, they showed their combined 20+ years of experience by just having Aguila cover Sagrado for the win. So basically Sagrado did the job for an invisible roll-up! Both of these guys should be ashamed of their performance here but even moreso for not having the knowledge to do a different finish when things went wrong.

I'd say get this episode and watch the opener, the Mistico match and then re-watch the opener again instead of the main event.:)

CMLL GdR 6/9/07:

Lady Apache/Dark Angel/Diana La Cazadora: Nice start as I enjoyed the Lady Apache/Medusa matwork early on. Medusa really got good once she dropped the mask and a few pounds as well. The tecnicas appeared to have the fall won but the rudas quickly countered and won. Why do we never see that in men's matches? Second fall was also really good, if short. The third fall though... wow. I'm not sure exactly what happened but after Dark Angel and Lady Apache both had their exchanges, I figured it was Diana's turn and her partners must have thought that as well b/c they were waiting on the apron. Only thing is... Diana never entered. They seemed to be arguing about who's turn it was (not a work) while the rudas stood there confused as well. Dark Angel eventually got in but had no idea what to do. Lady Apache stood on the top rope for... uhhh... something. She waited a full 45 seconds or so as Dark Angel stumbled around the ring with Amapola and Medusa, even almost crashing into the ref at one point. Finally Apache hit her flying dropkick and thankfully they went home. Dark Angel almost killed herself trying the Sahori dive. Sujei then did a somersault off the apron. Diana barely connected with a frankensteiner and held the ropes for the win. This is where I'd go on a rant about how the women suck but I still can't forget that amazing TV match I reviewed above...

Negro Casas/Marco Corleone/Blue Panther vs Atlantis/El Mephisto/Toscano: Totally by the numbers but there was nothing wrong with what they did. If you've seen enough CMLL, you should have been able to call this move for move. Casas is really starting to show his age...

Weak episode.

CMLL FSE 6/10/07:

Valiente/Trueno/Starman vs Apocalipsis/Ramstein/Super Comando: Nice to see some fresh faces to the weekend shows here. Too much advertising for the Ramstein mask giveaway means I don't get to see Starman's slingshot frankensteiner to the floor properly.:( Valiente looked great early on. Starman did a wicked dive onto Ramstein which the camera had the perfect angle for. Second fall had an exchange from each tecnico which is always something I like to watch. Valiente tried a 360 off the top onto his feet and messed up but it was his only screwup of the match so we'll let him slide. Sadly the rudos didn't show off any fancy double or triple team moves so the second fall was a letdown. They joined the third fall in progress ruining Super Comando's dive!!! Luckily they showed it on the replay. Trueno hit a tope suicida and Ramstein hit a plancha off the top rope. Valiente knocked Apocalipsis to the floor on the other side of the ring and... YOU GUESSED IT! DOUBLE JUMP SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT PLANCHA!!! That dive gets more beautiful every time I see it! He almost landed in the front row with this one! Starman pins Ramstein to win a sometimes entertaining match as Valiente gets to do the post-match live interview! I should also note Trueno looked the best in this match that he has in all his previous TV appearences combined.

Hey, Cyber Black in a move segment!

Maximo/Mascara Purpura/Volador Jr. vs Satanico/El Hijo Del Texano/Virus: I expected a lot more from this but to be fair... they did a lot more than they usually do. I guess this would be their version of going all out although we know they are capable of so much more but are limited by the bookers instituting time limits and such. Oh well. The Volador Jr./Texano Jr. and Virus stuff was great. Purpura looked good every time he was in the ring. Maximo and Satanico worked well together and didn't drag the match down. I really liked the finish to the match with Volador's dive getting stopped by Purpura hitting his and then Maximo beating Satanico cleanly.

Fun episode. FSE takes it over GdR this time!

Rob

[Robert]

CMLL Guadalajara 5/27/07:

Rayman/Leon Blanco vs Arkangel/Nitro: Terrible. The rudos did nothing and the tecnicos did less. The finish came during the beatdown which made no sense and it got no pop. What happened to the old Arkangel?

Fabian El Gitano/Flash vs Cien Caras Jr./El Hijo Del Cien Caras: Also a terrible match. The fake Cien's are awful. They tried the spot where one leapfrogs the other to splash the tecnico hanging on the ropes but the Cien who is Parka's brother is so fat that he just ended up squashing his partner which got a laugh from the crowd. Thankfully Flash instigated a comeback and used a HYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGE running somersault plancha almost into the first row to provide the only highlight of the match. Rudos win obviously.

Rayman/Leon Blanco vs Cien Caras Jr./El Hijo Del Cien Caras: Blanco got eliminated first in a botched spot. I don't think the crowd even knew he was eliminated which took away from the "drama" of having Rayman face two rudos alone. Sheriff Caras slammed Rayman and Parka's brother Caras went up top. I was thinking "damn, the fat dude's gonna have to fly far to nail this" and of course... he couldn't do it. He barely managed to headbutt Rayman on the way down and looked to injure himself. They went straight home with a cheap DQ ending.

Dr. Wagner Jr./Lizmark Jr./Shocker vs Pierroth/Okumura/Terrible: Not a match, just a quick angle where Lizmark Jr. turned on his partners and Wagner ripped his mask off in return. I'd feel ripped off paying for a main event like this.

SKIP THIS SHOW.

(The missing 6/3 Guadalajara show had Mistico/Sagrado vs Averno/Misterioso!:()

CMLL Guadalaajara 6/10/07:

Rayman/Sagrado vs Cien Caras Jr./El Hijo Del Cien Caras - Occidente Tag Team Titles Bout: HOLY MIRACLE ALERT!!! After seeing the above show and witnessing how awful these rudos were, I was prepared to fast forward through half this match but I'm glad I didn't. THIS WAS AWESOME!!! The tecnicos combined for 6 dives (3 each) including Rayman busting out a moonsault plancha I haven't seen him use since his days as Rayititititito. Lots of great spots in the third fall and nearfalls that were totally believeable. Huge pop for the first fake Cien Caras being eliminated and then a genius finish. I'd give it close to ****. Crowd was into it all the way and I guess these guys all wanted to prove something. Get this match!

Dr. Wagner Jr. vs Atlantis: If you've seen one of their matches, you've seen them all.

Show ended with highlights of an undercard trios match. Mascara Purpura did a nice bullet tope suicida but nothing else was of note. Appeared to be a typical Infernales squash.

The tag titles match makes this DVD a must-have. One of the most surprising matches of the year, right up there with the women's Torneo from 4/27.

AAA 5/26/07 in Minatitlan:

Nemesis/Nygma/Canibal vs Los Payasos Diabolicos: Pretty shitty match. Second week in a row I haven't been impressed with the Payasos. Nygma was trying his hardest (obviously since he knew he'd never get on TV again at this rate) but he couldn't save this. Lots of messy spots and guys being in the wrong position. Double dives from Nemesis and Canibal and then Carrona made Nygma submit for the win. On a side note, Nemesis needs a new outfit. The current one makes him look too skinny and it looks pretty cheap.

Cynthia Moreno/Estrellita/Sexy Star vs Fabi Apache/La Diabolica/Rossy Moreno: This started nicely but dragged big time. They seemed to get lost at the end which hurt things even more. Fabi pinned Estrellita with a dragon suplex to win. Usually matches like this are saved by Fabi's hotness but she had on a disgusting green and yellow outfit that covered her entire body. WTF?

Laredo Kid/Super Fly vs Gran Apache/Super Calo: Tecnicos tried to get the edge early with dual dives to start off but Laredo slipped and took a header to the floor. Super Fly hit an asai moonsault anyways. Yay for caring about your partners' life!:) This was a perfectly acceptable match to continue the feud and take it to a new level somewhat with all four guys bleeding and have their masks ripped (well besides Apache obviously). It dragged A BIT near the end but in this case the guys selling exhausting made sense b/c it was a 15+ minute tag. It wasn't like those CMLL title matches with the first two falls lasting 4 minutes combined and the guys pretending to be exhausted to start the third fall. I HATE THAT! Anyways... Super Fly hit a space flying tiger drop and then Apache could have beat Laredo Kid but instead chose to keep beating the shit out of him. When Hijo De Tirantes tried to stop Apache, he got shoved and responded by DQ'ing the rudos which got a huge pop. Good stuff.

Charly Manson/El Alebrije/El Elegido/Juventud Guerrera vs Antifaz Del Norte/Fuerza Guerrera/Histeria/Psicosis: Interesting teams so I expected this to be fun and it was. Not good... just fun. Lots of dives from the various guys, all of which were setup nicely which was good to see. I still don't understand putting Elegido in a TV match if they end up editing out 3/4 of his spots anyways b/c you can't show crotch comedy. Is that even the right term? Juventud/Fuerza had a 'pique' during the match which the crowd didn't really care about. Of course this match exemplified one thing I *hate* about AAA. They did the stupid deal with Piero being the ref and refusing to count Juventud's pinfalls. He even crotched Juventud on the top rope at one point. So after 15+ minutes of not counting any falls, trying to make the tecnicos lose, ignoring all the rudos cheating... what do you think happens? Juventud covers Fuerza and out of nowhere Piero counts to 3 like normal. HUH??????????? What magical force was forcing him to count to 3 this time??? Even the markish crowd seemed confused since it's not like Fuerza did anything to provoke Piero into fast counting him.

Crazzy Boy/Extreme Tiger/Joe Lider vs Escoria/El Cuervo/Ozz: YAY - EXTREME TIGER IS BACK!!! My YouTube account will be so happy!:D I liked Juventud coming out to give Extreme Tiger a big intro and the crowd not reacting at all. Oh look - it's a midget in a Tiger Mask hood! Seriously, Extreme Tiger and Guapito need to be feuding cornermen. You know the drill with these teams - moves, moves, moves and more moves. Tiger actually hit his flying legdrop to the floor but it's such an unimpressive move either way that I don't care.:) Finish was a weird backwards piledriver onto a chair. Naturally Joe Lider took the move b/c HE'S HARDCORE!

Cibernetico/Chessman/Zorro vs Mesias/Kenzo Suzuki/... everyone else?: I guess it was the Hell Brothers against the entire Secta although that was never really made clear. It was the usual main event with the tecnicos getting the crap beat out of them until Zorro hit a running somersault plancha and Chessman nailed a slingshot tornillo. Mesias low blowed Ciber allowing the tecnicos to win by DQ.

A while back I was talking to Dr. Lucha and he noted how AAA is just a two-man promotion right now with Konnan and Mesias. I disagreed but the more I think about it and catch up on these shows, the more Dr. Lucha is right once again. Cibernetico and his partners are being booked to look like idiots. Chessman standing around the previous week... Ciber always being outsmarted and needing help from his friends or the ref... Mesias looking like he deserves to win every match even when he loses... Konnan being untouchable even though he's a cripple. It's very WCW-ish. In fact, all I can think about it all the times Konnan whined about how WCW mistreated him or when he complained about TNA booking LAX to look like idiots and yet here Konnan is doing the same thing to the top tecnico stable in the promotion. Sure, Ciber and his friends won the big Triplemania match. So what? They got humiliated the next night and the week after and the week after. Chessman is just a pinata, Manson is weak and Ciber is helpless unless his buddies are around or Roldan is helping him. Meanwhile Mesias is unbeatable in the ring and a guy who needed a new kidney is untouchable. It's frustrating to watch as a fan.

Rob

[Tuco Ramirez]

I agree and disagree with the last comments, I mean, HB are booked to look like fools, but AAA is not WCWish and not a 2 men promotion, they actually have more stars than CMLL. HB are no different to what Peña did with Heavy Metal, Perro Aguayo, Parka-ris, Octagon, et al the difference is that those guys were unliked by you (Robert) so you didn't mind, while Chessman playing that role feels wrong.

Chui

[Robert]

CMLL TV 6/9/07:

La Sombra/Mascara Purpura/Super Nova vs Euforia/Nosferatu/Misterioso II: Another awesome segunda from Arena Mexico! I can't even begin to describe some of the amazing moves they did so I'm just gonna include a link to the entire match so anyone who cares to read my reviews can watch it. Misterioso II's new outfit is kinda funky and takes some getting used to. Super Nova really won me over with his performance the week before and sealed the deal by turning in another great performance here. I'm happy he sorta blew the Silver King dive into a frankensteiner in the second fall b/c I woulda shit myself. That spot needs to be saved up for a big match! I know it sounds like the tecnicos stole the show but the rudos did a better job catching and pacing the match properly.

Check this one out here:  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z9I1VBYC (WARNING!!! Dive of the year candidate alert!!!)

Momentos had fatass Villano III crushing Sangre Azteca with a flying senton of death and Atlantis using the Atlantida on the balding Villano. No spots from the awesome looking opener with Stuka Jr., Metalico and Neutron.:(

Los Villanohunters -weighing in at- III(hundred)/IV(thousand)/V(million) vs Atlantis/Olimpico/Sangre Azteca: This wasn't as bad as I was led to believe. Pretty fun brawl with some wicked punches thrown by Atlantis and the Villanos. Crowd turned on the Villanos halfway through the match b/c... well... the stink. Unless your mind is stuck in the 80's, it's pretty clear when you see them in action that they are long past the point of "should be retired by now". To prove my point - Ultimo Guerrero did a run-in and used the Guerrero Especial on Villano IV who is so fat that he couldn't control the landing and shattered his leg which put him on the shelf till the end of the year.

Mistico vs Mr. Aguila: At this point Mistico was in so much obvious pain that they didn't even try to work a normal Mistico singles match and instead just had Aguila work the arm the entire match. Mistico sold great which once again proves how underrated he is. In fact he was selling (well you gotta think he was in a lot of legit pain too) so great that he might have overdone it to the point the crowd (and myself) thought there was no way this should even be a contest and Aguila should have wrapped it up in two falls. They blew the surprise roll-up finish in the second fall b/c Mistico's shoulder gave out on the flip over Aguila. Weird spot in the third fall as Aguila gave Mistico a flying elbowdrop and might have landed on his shoulder too much so they just lay beside each other for a bit with Aguila seemingly talking to Mistico (perhaps apologizing over and over and over again?). Mistico then kicked it into high gear and hit a few dives (still selling the shoulder!) including an awesome spot where it looked like he was going for his ringpost plancha but then he moonsaulted back and nailed Aguila with a tope suicida! GO MISTICO!!! Finishing sequence was the spot these guys are so great at... the double backflip right into La Mistica and they nailed it PERFECTLY! I enjoyed this.

Strong show. A little bit of everything - flying, brawling, big singles match.

CMLL GdR 6/16/07:

Dark Angel/Diana La Cazadora/Luna Magica vs La Amapola/Poly Star/Princesa Sujei: Not a mess like the week before but a good match either. Poly Star was a total waste. I hope she at least had her flight paid for. Luna Magica looked the best she has during her entire CMLL run. Although it helps that she was working against Amapola and Sujei rather than Medusa, Hiroka and Shimoda. Diana was much improved over the week before and it's fun watching her wrestle as the underdog tecnica. I liked the finish with Amapola interfereing with a flying dropkick on Diana while she had the Blackman special locked on. Good setup for the hair match the following week.

Who was the hot chick interviewed after the match? A Diana interview straight into an interview with another hot chick... I love this show!

Alex Koslov/Marco Corleone/Rey Bucanero vs Damian 666/Halloween/El Terrible: Surprisingly good even though it was Team Lazy vs Team Awesome but Also Lazy. They must have threatened to send Koslov back home before the match since he busted out a neverusedsincetheAvernotitlematchalmostayearago running no-hands somersault plancha! The entire match was basically a glorified High Society squash which is fine by me b/c I could watch these 3 rudos bump and do comedy all night long. I am REALLY going to miss Halloween as Damian is worthless without him and seeing Halloween spear people is always fun.

1 for 2. Do we call that a successful show when there are only 2 matches?

CMLL FSE 6/17/07:

Tony Rivera/Metalico/Fabian El Gitano vs Loco Max/Nitro/Okumura: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING. Metalico must have forgot his gear since his mask didn't match his outfit and his normal mask doesn't look like the one he wore here. These rudos are probably among the most boring rudos in the entire promotion. Seriously... this match made me long for the days of Olimpus, Alacran and Ultimatum against El Fiero, America and Panico. I guess only 2 people reading this will get that joke but trust me - it's funny! Metalico is SHITTY. It must suck to know the only thing you will ever be remembered for in your career is surviving a face-first plunge to the cold concrete floor in Pachuca. If Tony Rivera ever got in a life-threatening situation and survive, this could be quite the trios team. Does anyone get that joke?

There was a move of the week segment with someone wearing a Romano outfit! BUT IT WASN'T CALIGULA OR MESSALA!!! WTF??? I think Alexis is sometimes in this segment under a mask or maybe he was just in the segment this past week b/c he was hinting at it. Why is Cyber Black always doing the job in these segments?

Mistico/Negro Casas/Rey Bucanero vs Damian 666/Halloween/Misterioso II: Totally by the numbers but a really fun by the numbers match b/c it was mostly Mistico vs the rudos. Halloween was awesome once again. WHY DIDN'T MISTICO SHAKE HIS HAND??? HE KISSED HIS FOOT FOR CHRIST SAKE!!! Misterioso finally caught Mistico's asai moonsault the way it should be caught so Mistico didn't have to take the full impact on his knees like every other rudo makes him do. Sadly the only other time Mistico and Misterioso made contact was at the finish when Mistico hit 2 awesome moves in a row and then nailed La Mistica. Two things are a shame here:

1) Mistico and Halloween were never programmed together.

2) Misterioso isn't high enough in the pecking order to work with Mistico on a regular basis.

Main event was fun but probably not fun enough to go out of your way to see.

Closing thought: I guess Halloween is loyal to Paco Alonso and is content being an indy guy but business is business and how great of a Hell Brother would Halloween be? DUAL SPEARS WITH CHESSMAN!!! He already has the look down and an in with Konnan...

Rob

[Tim Evans]

Any Idea why Halloween was fired/quite CMLL? I'm guessing drugs but if he was kicked out, Why is Shocker still employed? Halloween must have pissed in Mistico's mask or something.

[Robert]

Supposedly he just wanted out. Wasn't happy with his position or where he was headed and they split on good terms.

Everything doesn't always have to revolve around drugs. This isn't the WWE.

Rob

[BobBarnettt]

Robert, on Sep 3 2007, 11:10 PM, said:

Supposedly he just wanted out. Wasn't happy with his position or where he was headed and they split on good terms.

Everything doesn't always have to revolve around drugs. This isn't the WWE.

Rob

It was drugs