SLL's 2010 MOTY List

1. Suicida & Zatura vs. Los Traumas - IWRG 1/14
2. Sangre Azteca, Dragon Rojo Jr., & Misterioso II vs. Mascara Dorada, El Metro, & Stuka Jr. (Mexican Trios Title Match) - CMLL 1/6
3. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (IWGP Heavyweight Title Match) - NJPW 1/4
4. Solar I, Suicida, & Zatura vs. Negro Navarro, Black Terry, & Dr. Cerebro - IWRG 1/28
5. Christian vs. Ezekial Jackson (ECW Title Match) - WWE 1/31
6. Solar I, Ultraman Jr., & Angelico vs. Negro Navarro, Trauma I, & Trauma II - IWRG 1/7
7. Pantera, Suicida, & Zatura vs. Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, & Dr. Cerebro - IWRG 1/7
8. Centella de Oro, Blue Center, & King Jaguar vs. Ares, Alarido, & Crazy Black (Una Caida) - CMLL 1/11
9. El Metro, Stuka Jr., & Fuego vs. Virus, Polvora, & Dr. X - CMLL 1/11

1. Suicida & Zatura vs. Los Traumas - IWRG 1/14

This past month, I've been fortunate enough to see a lot of great lucha matches that had great long opening mat sections, something I was starting to think was a thing of the past. Something anomalous that no one under the age of 50 did anymore. I'm glad to see that's not the case. This match starts with a long mat section between Trauma II and Suicida, and at first, it looks like the worst of the bunch. Kinda sloppy and ugly looking stuff. But then they get up and start slapping each other around, almost as though Dick Murdoch was commanding them from beyond the grave. "C'mon, what are you guys doing! That kid over there's got a video camera! This is gonna be on the internet!" And they realized that they could not not take the night off, nor could they clown around. They then proceed to have the best opening mat segment of any match I saw last month. Every move, no matter how tricked out, is applied smoothly and forcefully.

Then there are the beatings that the Traumas deliver all over the arena, which is where Trauma I really excels. He has been kinda overlooked next to his brother and his dad, but 2010 looks to be the year where he comes into his own. The technicos looked good and ate stuff well. I don't want to sound dismissive of them, because they are both really great wrestlers and give strong performances here. Still, this is a match that puts the spotlight on Los Traumas, and they shine.

4. Solar I, Suicida, & Zatura vs. Negro Navarro, Black Terry, & Dr. Cerebro - IWRG 1/28

For some reason, I am hearing otherwise sane people arguing that Negro Navarro is starting to suffer a bit as a worker because he gets paired up with Solar I too much. "Navarro is gonna slip if they keep pairing him with Solar. He needs fresh match-ups." You know, like how Flair slipped in '89 because they kept pairing him with Ricky Steamboat. Like how Jerry Lawler was really good, but never got to the next level because he kept getting paired up with Bill Dundee. Like how El Hijo del Santo's career stalled because he had all those matches with Negro Casas. Like how Benoit having all those matches with Regal where they would headbutt each other until they bled hardway hurt his car...wait, scratch that last one.

Point is, I don't see how having an opponent who you regularly have awesome matches with is supposed to be a bad thing, but it's extra weird to see that argument springing from this match which, aside from being great, is a bit different than your average Solar/Navarro showdown. The other match with those two on my list was about building up the their epic one-on-one encounter. This match opens with it. Actually, it opens with Solar and Black Terry, but Solar wants Navarro instead. Terry and Navarro have a nice little intra-team rivalry starting here, as Terry seems to feel slighted by Solar dismissing him, and Navarro taking a cool, all-business approach in telling to go back to their corner and let him do his thing. So Navarro and Solar rule it on the mat for a while, and then Terry gets to pair up with Zatura, and they have a mat exchange where Terry seems to be cranking his stuff in harder, trying to one-up his partner. Then Cerebro and Suicida come in, and Cerebro says "fuck it, I'm just gonna beat the shit out of this guy", but ends up getting sent to the outside and blasted with a Suicida tope. Unfortunately, these guys pretty much disappear until the very end of the match, but the four guys we're left with aren't exactly slouches. Solar and Navarro would face off again, and this time, they're brawling and doing rope-running stuff. I mean, I know Navarro can brawl, but when these guys fight, you have a certain idea of what you're going to see, and it was cool to see them go outside that comfort zone for a little while.

Also of note was Cerebro's nasty post-match beatdown of Suicida. Did somebody put a hit out on this guy? Every other match, his opponents are dragging him around the arena trying to kill him.

5. Christian vs. Ezekial Jackson (ECW Title Match) - WWE 1/31

I had some friends over for the Rumble. They don't watch wrestling regularly anymore, and they were a little slow to buy my claims that Christian became awesome when the came back to WWE last year. Thankfully, this match made a much more convincing argument for Christian than I was able to, but it also made a very convincing argument for Big Zeke, which surprised me. Not that he hasn't been making big strides over the last few months ("Hey, this pasty guy could hang with Goldust, and now he's WWE Champ...maybe if I can hang with Goldust, I'll get a belt, too!"), but my friends still think I'm talking crazy talk when I try to tell them that John Cena and Mark Henry are great wrestlers. I figure if you're not sold on Henry by 2010, you're not going to be sold on Ezekial Jackson. But he hit this one out of the park, mauling Christian like a bear, and everyone was rightfully impressed. His enzuilariato might be the harshest thing I've seen anyone do to anyone other than Suicida so far in 2010. Hell, at one point, he just palmed Christian's head like a basketball, picked him up, and threw him to the mat. Just a total beast. In fact, the only real knock against this match was that Zeke came off as such a badass, it was hard to believe he lost as easily as he did. And it's not like they haven't done a good job of establishing the Killswitch as a guaranteed match-winner. Christian works a lot of matches based around getting his ass kicked, but staying in the fight long enough to find an opening to hit the Killswitch, and grabbing the win off of that. That's what they went for here, but something went wrong. Christian landed kinda out of position somehow, and he had trouble shooting the half, and by the time the pin actually happened, you feel like Zeke was too hardcore to stay down for that. I'm sure that was all an accident, but it did throw me a bit. Still, this may end up being the last great ECW Title match ever, and flubbed finish aside, it was a great way to go.

9. El Metro, Stuka Jr., & Fuego vs. Virus, Polvora, & Dr. X - CMLL 1/11

Virus looks really crazy now. He's wearing this spike-laden gear and facepaint, and he's starting to put on some weight. Between his gear and his gut, it looks like he's turning into Oderus Urungucito. The important thing is that he's still Virus, and he still rules. And guess what? This match starts witha great long mat section with Virus and Stuka Jr.! I'm the luckiest boy in the world. Stuka Jr. is definitely a guy you should be keeping an eye on this year. Great, smooth high-flier, and as he shows here, he can take it to the mat as well. Keep your eye on Metro, too. For powerhouse technicos, he's getting better faster than Dos Caras Jr. did. Polvora and Dr. X are good, solid rudos. I dug Dr. X cowering in the arms of a little old lady in the audience after the technicos took the first fall. Fuego looked pretty sloppy, and dragged things down a bit, but overall, I still liked this a bunch.

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IWRG 1/24/10

First match and HH version of the second match (with post match locker room stitching of wounds) are on

http://www.youtube.com/user/tvluchadelpasado

TV version of second match and third match are on

http://www.dailymotion.com/thecubsfan

El Hijo del Signo/Alan Extreme/Heavy Boy v. Zatura/Eragon/El Hijo Del Pantera

PAS: This match starts out with a really nice Alan Extreme vs. Eragon mat section which was kind of weird, why would you start with that and why would it be good? Match falls apart for a bit as the rest of the first fall, the second fall, and the first part of the third fall are all a mess. They bring it back together a bit for then end of the match as both Zatura and El Hijo Del Pantera have great rope running sections and dives. Still mostly pretty bad.

TKG: I don’t know what Phil’s problem was with this match. They do the two guys pair up to work the mat untill rudos say “screw this” and start the beatdown first fall,/rudo beatdown until face comeback second fall. I liked all of this. This format that they’re using kind of needs meaner rudo triple teams and better underdog sympathy faces…but it didn’t really go long enough for that to be real complaint. I thought the Heavyboy corner bump into face comeback was a good opening for face comeback, and I dug the actual work in the facecomeback. Faces win the second fall with dual topes taking out two rudos and Eragon awkwardly doing a top rope super drop thing. Once the faces are back in control they regroup for third fall, Eragon and Zatura do a “one technico wins exchanges with all three rudos in succession” thing, which I don’t really think of as a third fall series but worked for me here. The rudos try to regroup only to have Hijo Del Pantera take out Alan Extreme.

Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro v. Gringo Loco/El Hijo Del Diablo

PAS: This was a Super Libre match and an old fashioned bloody brawl. It reminded me of the kind of brawls we saw on the Memphis set. This is as basic as it gets, four guys beating the shit out of each other and painting the canvas red. Really cool start with Terry and Cerebro trying to rush the USA team in the aisle, but end up getting faked out and jumped from behind. The Gringos get the advantage and Cerebro and Terry are bloody, and they go back and forth, punching each other and slamming each other into things. Gringo Loco brings out his bag of cactus, that felt like a comedy spot other times we have seen it, here it had a real Abby feel as he drove a Cactus into Black Terry's bloody head.

TKG: This was a blast. Brawling asskicking Black Terry is awesome as he is always super tough and vulnerable at the same time. I saw Hijo Del Diablo working as a main event babyface teamed with Santito on one of the Juster shows. You watch this match and that just feels completely unbelievable. That scumbucket worked as a main event face? I’d recommend watching the handheld version. The HH misses some of the nasty hammerfists where Dr Cerebro and Hijo Del Diablo appear to be trying to break each other’s cheeks. And I think the wider TV shot of Diablo and Terry trying to bathe the audience in their blood is probably cooler, and there are a couple of other things you miss with the hand held. But you miss a ton with the TV. One of the things that lucha fans always have to explain to people is how much heat lucha matches can have and how poorly the television gets that across. I mean the TV never captures the heat of stuff in Arena Mexico as well as the handhelds capture the heat for this in Naucalpan.

Brazo de Plata/Brazo de Plata Jr. v Fuerza Guerrera/Juventud Guerrera v. Hijo de Pirata Morgan/Pirata Morgan v. Máscara Año 2000/Máscara Año 2000 Jr.

PAS: This is the second part of the tourney to crown new tag champions (first part is unavailable so far), it is set up the same as the father/son match on 12/20/09 with all four sons starting the match and the fathers coming in when they are eliminated. Only having four teams match the match less clusterfucky then the Dec. match. Juvi was the standout of the sons portion, he was jazzed up and working hard, although everything wasn't hit cleanly. Fuerza also had some pep in his step as he was fouling folks, spitting on them and being a total bastard. The match builds to a Pirata v. MA2K showdown which I was totally amped about. The actually face off is a little disappointing, we got some crusty old man brawling, but it was mostly based around MA2K Jr. interference with the Dinamita team finally getting DQ.

TKG: The December father son tourney had similar problems with it's finish. I mean this at least makes sense in setting up future challengers. It does feel like this is a tourney format that they are slowly polishing as this was far less of a cluster. This actually hada build and some direction. Again there is a sense that this could use some face/heel parity as this was pretty much all rudos and the Brazos.

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