CMLL on LATV Workrate Report, 11/26/11

Zayco/Camorra vs. Robin/Freesbee:

Freesbee and Camorra ain't that great. Especially Freesbee. That guy is just a stumblebum. Zayco and Robin have made some great strides in 2011, starting the year as guys I didn't think were very good, but being guys I enjoyed by the end of the year. They match up very nicely against each other, too. Maybe they just look good because of their respective tag partners. Huh.



Bronco/Inquisidor/Apocalipsis vs. Sensei/Starman/Metatron:

Fairly forgettable midcard match that wasn't without its moments. Bronco would work out great as a fake Dinamita. He's a real nice throwback to that style of lucha. Here he goes above and beyond by taking a really low and quick bump to the floor. Sensei is like a Great Sasuke throwback, just without the death wish. The others are fine.



Princesa Blanca/Princess Sugei/La Seductora vs. Ayumi/Luna Magica/Estrellita:

Damn do Sugei and Ayumi match up well. Just a whole bunch of nice kicks and knees getting thrown around. Estrellita makes me sad. She's not a very old woman, but dressing so young makes her seem so much older than she really is. I get the fake boobs. Some gals get them to fill out tops better. Others get them because they desperately want attention. Whatever. But the hot pink outfits and now the pigtails? I'm surprised she doesn't have dark red blush painted on her face. She comes off as a mom who wears the same outfit to the mall as her 15 year old daughter and dances with her daughter's friends at birthday parties. Something about it just bums me out. Just...play it down a bit. Your desperation is playing to the back row.



Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Escorpion/Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Atlantis/Guerrero Maya Jr./Delta:

LATV has this stupid visual effect that they use occasionally, where in the middle of a match they'll start showing it in "widescreen". Now I put widescreen in quotes because it's not actually widescreen, they just add large black bars across the top and bottom of the screen, literally obscuring about 40+% of what's going on. Matwork going on? tough luck, buster, because it's underneath the bottom bar. It's really maddening and happened a bunch in this match. TNA does this as well when they take up the bottom third of the screen with their "Upcoming Events" news. The matwork from the recent Storm/Roode match was almost totally obscured by these screen pop-ups. I just don't get the point in doing that. That being said, I don't think the youtube videos do this, I think it is specifically LATV. Allll that being said, this match was fast-paced and fun, and seemed to be built as a major showcase for Maya and Escorpion. The more time he gets to shine, the more Maya shows that he totally belongs. I love the snap he puts on his dropkicks. Big things should be happening for him. Ultimo continues to have maybe the comeback of the year, as he's been busting ass all 2011.



Terrible/Rey Buccanero/Texano Jr. vs. Hector Garza/La Mascara/Super Porky:

Pretty paint-by-numbers. Garza strips in the 3rd and hits some great headscissors, Mascara hits a few nice ranas (each one faster than the last), Terrible and Texano are total pros bumping around for those two, and the spot where Terrible punches Porky down to the mat and follows up with kicks to his stomach was great. Not much to the match, but there are always fun moments.

Read more!

CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report, 11/5/11

Virus/Okumura/Yoshihashi vs. Valiente/Sangre Azteca/Dragon Lee:

Man, what a bunch of teases. You have Virus and you have Valiente, on opposite sides, and I don't think they exchanged more than one move. I think Virus did his awesome running pendulum dropkick to him. And that was it. I like Valiente matched up against Okumura. I like Virus matches up with Sangre Azteca or Dragon Lee. But I would have fucking LOVED Virus and Valiente, just...doing shit, against each other. Dragon Lee hits his super cool running dragon rana from the ramp to the ring, but I can't even enjoy it fully because I should be watching an insane amount of super fast Virus/Valiente sequences. Valiente was at his most Super Astro here, too, so it would have been otherworldly. Virus was crazy dickish, and while the match was good, it could have been sooooo much better, just with a slight re-matching.



Marcela vs. Amapola:

Pretty short match from two of the better CMLL ladies, and it was really good, but didn't really have enough time to become an excellent match. A lot of moves had to be kinda brushed off since they were rushing through, so it didn't have as epic a feel as it could have Amapola came out with her hair stuck into her cape, and I thought she had cut her hair into a super stylish bob. But she tricked me. First fall is really fun with some nice engaging matwork that the crowd is actually into, and then a great rana and missle dropkick from Marcela (with Amapola taking them like a champ). 2nd fall sees two really cool overhead backbreaker slams by Marcela, and a cool full nelson (applied with her legs) submission. Amapola takes a great Cassandro corner bump in the 3rd, then does a cool flip dive (landing on Marcela's knee though. Ouch.) and Marcela hits a cool dive off the 2nd turnbuckle to the floor. Both women will def. be bruised after this one. There have been some nasty spills. The ending falls really really flat and was part of what kept the match from being great. Amapola missed an elbow off the top (even though Marcela moved a few seconds before Amapola leapt), then Marcela hits a Wagner Driver, which Amapola kicks out at 2 from, and the ref counts 3. Hard to have a much flatter ending than that.

Still, two good matches make for a nice hour of TV. I'm actually surprised Galavision didn't show the two main event matches from this card, as the star power was WAY bigger in those two matches. Panther/Liger/Rush vs. Peste Negra and Averno/Ephesto/Mephisto vs. Garza/Sombra/Dorada. I probably also would have rather seen those matches on TV, but I'm fine with what we got since they mostly delivered.

Read more!

APW TV Workrate Report: 4/30/11

1. Rock of Love (Billy Blade and Kadin Anthony) vs. Suburban Commandos (D-Unit and T-Rent) starts us off, and this should be a pretty awesome show starter. I hadn't seen Rock of Love for many years (back then they worked a vampire tag team gimmick) and I didn't care for them too much, but then got to see them live in Santa Rosa a couple months back and they were awesome. Both had gotten so much better in the few years since I'd last seen them. Commandos are two fat dudes who look like Rik Luxury, have nice offense AND take offense well. This should be real good.

Billy Blade looks like he's wearing those pajama jeans that I've seen on infomercials. Some go behind sequences come and go and D-Unit nails a sweet flying back elbow on Blade, and then they go into a brutal chop exchange that the audio doesn't really do justice. Blade hits some LOUD chops live, and D-Unit looks like he more than holds up his end, but the audio is mixed so the fucking horrible announcers (Matthew Theall doing shitty Gordon Solie riffs and John Roberts talking in forced announcer voice) are squealing over the ring noise. Oh well. So instead of hearing the chops, I hear two doofs yelling "These chops are so loud right now!" T-Rent calms me back with two GREAT press slam spots, one throwing Blade to the floor on his partner, and the other dropping Anthony stomach first over D-Unit's knee. Press slam spots are not used enough in wrestling. They look awesome, they're impressive, and they look painful. All wins. Interference allows RoL to take over for awhile (with Blade air guitaring T-Rent's chest while holding a chinlock). Anthony does a real stiff corner clothesline, and Blade follows it up with one of those nice sliding legdrops that X-Pac used to do but nobody does anymore. They look really cool. RoL has a chubby roadie who had been interfering, and there was a GREAT spot when T-Rent knocked him off the apron using Anthony as a weapon, and the roadie takes a MASSIVE bump to the floor. Kudos, roadie. Hot finishing sequence with Blade throwing a nice yakuza kick, the roadie taking another big bump off the floor, and the Commandos finish with a massive flapjack into a powerbomb. This match was a total blast with a bunch of big moves and nice offense, really lived up to how good I thought it was going to be. WELL worth taking the time to watch.

2. Dave Dutra vs. Mikey Jay: I haven't seen too much of Jay as he seems like a recent APW graduate, and Dutra is usually as good as his opponent, so we'll see about this one. It was worked pretty even and that really wasn't a very interesting way to work this. Roberts kept putting over that "This is the kind of skills you can expect if you go to the APW Boot Camp", so it was being pushed as a showcase of wrestling skills which means this was a REALLY bad way to work this. Really your-move-my-move right up to the end, especially the stretch run with Jay "barely" kicking out of a move, and then of course immediately doing something like a missle dropkick. Boy did Jay throw some bad body shots in the corner. John Roberts gets props here for at least trying to put them over as "plam strikes" instead of really bad punches. Dutra had a couple nice moves like a forward suplex and a superplex, but they really didn't mean too much in the grand scheme of things. Jay is just too new and not good enough to work a even-skilled "war" kind of a match. This wasn't good. Heart, fire, hear to say, after all he's been through in the boot camp blah blah.

3. Main event is Corvus vs. Mr. Wrestling IV. I actually like Corvus' look here, as the singlet top with long tights actually works for him. It's a look that doesn't work for everybody (APW's own Vennis DeMarco as an example), but with the studded black gloves he gives off a recent Undertaker, or 90s Yoji Anjoh vibe, which is a look I think is pretty cool. Matthew Theall gets on my good side in this one when Corvus hits a nice back suplex, John Roberts actually calls it a suplex for once, and Theall says, "Are you sure that wasn't a suplay?" Few things annoy me more than Roberts' "suplay" call, so thank you Mr. Theall. Corvus controls most of this, and has some pretty nice control offense with decent forearms, a cool kick from the floor while 4 was on the apron, and some nice punches to the gut. Darkness (Corvus' short and wide and often embarrassing valet) earns her keep by taking an accidental baseball slide dropkick to the face from Corvus in a pretty great spot. Mr. Wrestling moved, and Corvus looked like he didn't hold up much at all, really blasting her in the face. 4 gets the kneelift for the win, and that was a pretty satisfying ending to a pretty average match.

Next week we get Wil Rood teaming with Jody Kristofferson, and I seriously wish I could screen cap Rood's "tale of the tape" photo. It's still the photo where he's making a face like those starving kids or abused kittens in those commercials where the sad Sarah MacLachlan song plays and I fast forward because they make me too sad and make me want to adopt 12 kittens. His photo makes me want to donate money to give him three square meals a day. Can't wait!

Read more!

APW TV Workrate Report: 4/23/11

Looks like we got Timothy Thatcher vs. Dylan Drake tonight, and I'm excited to see what Thatcher can do in a long main event. He has real good presence and a great slimy British scumbag vibe.

OK, looks like the only match on this whole episode is Thatcher vs. Drake, which seems like a lot of time for the match. I know I just requested a longer Thatcher match to see what he's made of...but I'm already getting nervous.

Drake starts with a bunch of dropkicks, some hit and some don't. Thatcher slows him down with some matwork, and he's a guy who seems like he can work the mat. He does some cool hammerlocks and is good at making it look like he's really trying to inch a guy's arm farther up his back, slowly and painfully. He never goes into autopilot during the matwork, always letting his smugness shine through. Drake takes over with leg work in a real cool, simple way: Thatcher stands up with a kimura, gets cocky and stands on Drake's arm, poses, and Drake just takes him down with a single leg. Drake's arm work isn't as interesting as Thatcher's leg work, but Thatcher is really good at selling the leg.

Drake goes up top for a crossbody, and Thatcher European uppercuts him out of the sky, then lifts up Drake's arm just to stomp it back to the mat in a real nasty way. Ouch. Thatcher misses a corner charge and Drake tries to lock on the "Bay to Breaker" (basically the sharpshooter), and Thatcher is really great in blocking it, holding onto Drake's leg so he can't turn it, then punching from his back to break it. Thatcher goes up top and gets dragon screwed off. Thatcher comes up with another cool way to block the Bay to Breaker, this time holding Drake's leg and palm striking Drake's knee over and over until he breaks the hold. I'm not sure why more guys don't try to break submissions by just hitting the guy putting the submission on. It seems like instinct, but it doesn't happen often. Fritz Von Erich locked The Claw on a ring announcer and the guy grabbed Fritz's balls and squeezed. Somebody puts me in a sharpshooter, his knee is the closest thing for me to attack. Makes tons of sense to me.

What doesn't make much sense to me is when Drake tries a diving headbutt to Thatcher's knee. It misses, but even if it hit...does that move make sense to anybody else? When the BEST case scenario is throwing your OWN head into somebody's knee, is it really a move you should be doing? I mean, he is actually kind of lucky that the move missed. I would rather do a diving headbutt to the floor than to somebody's pointy, boney knee. Why not just stomp it? You're standing right next to the knee...just jump all over that thing. I just don't get it.

At this point it's pretty clear this match is going to a time limit draw, horrible commentator Matthew Theall is really bad telegraphing it 10 minutes out. "Thatcher has the Thatcher Stretch locked on, it should definitely finish the match this time. This definitely won't be a time limit draw!" "Time is ticking down, but somebody will win before the time limit is up!" This guy is really fucking horrible.

They exchange some big moves, Thatcher takes a real nice release German, they trade holds for awhile, Theall takes all the wind out of my sails by completely foreshadowing the time limit draw, and it ends in a time limit draw. Man this guy is awful on the mic. He does not have a good voice for this, and he constantly stumbles all over himself. Awful.

Match was going fine and was hurt by commentary. Drake looked real inconsistent here, selling the arm when convenient and pacing things out really awkwardly. Thatcher looked good though, with solid matwork, nice leg selling, and he really made Drake's offense look nice.

Read more!

CMLL on LATV Workrate Report, 12/10/11

Princesa Blanca/La Commandante/Zeuxis vs. Marcela/Luna Magica/Lluvia:

Not really sure why this match needed so much time to stretch its legs. It's good to see Luna Magica back on TV, as she brings something different to the table than most of the tecnicas. Her butt splash in the corner in the match was awesome. Blanca/Marcela is always a match-up worth seeing, but Lluvia/Zeuxis is about as polar opposite as you can get. And we got a lot of that here, with a lengthy match never really evolving beyond "one side lying around while the other side does sloppy triple teams". Plenty of painful moments of Zeuxis or Commandante struggling to lock on lousy submissions. Just mostly ugly stuff here. Zeuxis' bodysuit is pretty fantastic, though.



Arkangel de la Muerte/Nitro/Skandalo vs. Rey Cometa/Stuka Jr./Dragon Lee:

This was all about Rey Cometa: Bump Freak, and Arkangel: Twister of Young Tecnico Limbs (you probably already guessed that last one would happen). Arkangel gets cool sequences with everybody here, including throwing Lee around by his arm in the first fall, but the 3rd is really his time to shine. He works some cool spots with Cometa, and Arkangel/Cometa is fast becoming one of my favorite pairings in all of lucha. CMLL must agree with me, too. Arkangel is just the perfect base for this guy, never getting lost on his inside out armdrags and catching all his ranas (dropping from some great heights). Arkangel looked flat out great here. Cometa, though, also looked great. He took two nasty bumps in the 1st, one a flat back bump to the floor after spilling through the ropes; the other a massive bump from the ropes to the ring ramp, sending him asshole over elbow after being dropkicked by Nitro. Lee is always good for some spectacular flying, same goes for Stuka. There were also two separate synchronized dive trains by the tecnicos (the first with all three doing big somersault topes almost totally in sync). This match really had potential to be just a tossed off throwaway midcard trios, and the longer it went the more it kinda built into something special. It just kept gaining momentum and being just about the best possible version of this match-up. I recommend you watch it.



Misterioso Jr./Polvora/Okumura vs. Valiente/Metro/Sagrado:

Pretty longish match that doesn't really go anywhere but is never unpleasant. Kinda seemed like a house show match instead of a match taped for TV. None of the faces get to unload and do anything really spectacular (though Valiente did leap up like he was about to do Valiente Special, but leaped back into the ring to do a halfway-across-the-ring rana). Misterioso still got to look like a tassly, slick-bumping star, Okumura threw some fine back elbows, Sagrado threw in a surprisingly good performance, and Metro had an brutal somersault senton into the corner in the first fall. Just full on sprint and then splatted right into Misterioso. Ending move was pretty great as Sagrado just leveled Polvora with a superkick, which knocked him into a bridged Metro german suplex (landing him on his head).



Terrible/Rey Buccanero/Mephisto vs. La Mascara/Angel de Oro/Rush:

Second match in a row with a kind of random rudo team of guys who usually team with others. First fall showed potential for this to be a pretty great main event, but then the rest of it got kinda rushed. Rudos were getting good heat (not exactly difficult to do opposite Rush), Terrible has stepped up his game over the last couple months and has been coming off like a superstar, and Mephisto stepped things up here (maybe saw an opportunity to shine more than usual since he wasn't teaming with Averno and Ephesto). Oro has been bringing it, too, and Rush kinda just stayed out of the way so it could have been worse. Kind of the story of most of this episode, with a bunch of wrestling that mostly stayed out of the way, exiting your memory as soon as you see it. The Arkangel/Rey Cometa match is worth spending 20 minutes on, but the others are kinda "fan only" affairs.

Read more!

CMLL on LATV Workrate Report, 12/3/11

Cholo/Rammstein vs. Horuz/Camaleon:

Damn, LATV is really crate digging this week. This reminds me of episodes a year ago before more stars got injected into LATV. I believe this is the first time that Camaleon has popped up this year, and the first time I have ever seen him. He seemed OK, hit a big dive, has a goofy fun mask. Horuz looked even better here. He's another guy I haven't seen since like March or April, and I wasn't too into him then. But CHOLO. Motherfucking CHOLO is where it's at. I want a Cholo/Bronco team, of tallish rudos who are not flashy, but always solid. Cholo also has a great mask (it looks like Super Calo's, but with a drawn on Mexi-stache). He bumps, he hits a nice splash, you might not think of him often, but you appreciate him while watching him. Rammstein is getting tubbier, but hey, I like fatsos.



Tiffany/Mima Shimoda/Amapola vs. Lady Apache/Estrellita/Silueta:

Well this was pretty sloppy. There seemed to be some spots where gals got lost, and the whole thing was pretty directionless and meandering. Some good spots (Tiffany was awesome again, I really love her head stomps), Amapola stiffing Silueta, Shimoda throwing a boss elbow drop. The crowd started making a lot of noise when Tiffany and Estrellita were in against each other (because booobz), and isn't that what it's all about, America? Just women taking armdrags and throwing 'bows and having jugz. Silueta also hit a neat Thesz press off the apron.



Loco Max/Hooligan/Euforia vs. Angel Azteca Jr./Dragon Lee/Diamante:

Another disappointment. I like most of the guys in this, but this never really got the chance to get rolling. Dragon Lee will hit some crazy stupid awesome stuff off the ropes, Hooligan was wearing a completely ridiculous and amazing get-up, with union jacks and tassles and leather vest, Loco Max makes Diamante look pretty great in taking a nasty bump on the apron, then getting just leveled by Diamante's crazy flip dive. So the match wasn't without merit, just had no cohesion.



Rey Buccanero/Terrible/Texano Jr. vs. Sangre Azteca/Stuka Jr./Sagrado:

You know, this match got a decent amount of time, and I can hardly remember anything about it. Sagrado may be the most forgettable wrestler on the entire roster. Is there anybody who likes Sagrado? Dude is blandness with a capitol B. He's been around for years now and he seems no better now than he was when his failure of a debut push happened. Sagrado: The answer to the question nobody asked. Terrible and Texano are always fun together, they're always playful and look like they're having a good time, kinda goofing around and just punching and kicking dudes. Stuka Jr. is always good for some pretty flying, and Azteca hit a giant jumping ball stomp off the top rope. Hey, it wasn't bad. You won't remember it tomorrow.



Averno/Ephesto/Mephisto vs. Angel de Oro/La Mascara/Super Porky:

Averno and Ephesto are just born to make guys like Mascara and Oro look good. I think Oro and Mascara are fine, but their value goes up insanely when they are opposite Averno/Ephesto. Like, when Phil or SLL post something write after I post something, they look way better just by association. Phil is my expert rudo base who makes all my ranas look good and bumps faster than necessary to the floor. But, hey, I *like* Oro and Mascara, and I *like* their ranas and headscissors and flippy hoo-ha. It's fun and slick and looks good. But I was a big fan of Mistico's flippy hoo-ha and we've all seen how that works out when a guy (you'd think would be capable) like Chavo gets his mitts on a Mistico special. Sin Cara still works for me because he has more physical charisma than most guys that do what he do. He takes moves well and projects well and gets great height on moves. I have a feeling that Oro would look pretty ugly in the ring with Curt Hawkins. But I enjoy Curt Hawkins. Just don't want to see him as a lucha base. And that's why Averno and Ephesto are fucking awesome. They make me want to see guys do moves to them. And Ephesto has an amazing mask that nobody ever really talks about. He looks like a stalker that Arnold would kill early on in "The Running Man". I mean that in the best possible way. Richard Dawson.

Read more!

Dick Togo is Sweet to Me, Diabetes, Peace Treaties, Breakfast of Champions He Needs Wheaties

Dick Togo vs. Masahiro Takanashi vs. Kudo Indie Summit 12/3/11 - FUN 

PAS: This was originally booked as Togo v. Kudo and would have been way better that way. Takanishi was kind of a load, mostly goofy comedy spots and hairless social dancery. Kudo has similar tendencies, but will at least kick hard. Togo hit a nice fist drop and his hanging over the ropes senton, but he felt like a bit of an afterthought in what should have been a showcase match for him. Pretty disappointing, and I am glad I didn’t go to Philly. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DICK TOGO

Read more!

CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report, 11/26/11

Hey CMLL. Thanks for showing the two matches from this card that I was least interested in seeing. You had a minis tag with Pierrothito opening, a trios with Panther and Valiente opposite Casas and Felino, and a main event with Volador. And CMLL gives me Yoshihashi. Have I mentioned that I hate the one hour format?



Vangellis/Okumura/Yoshihashi vs. Delta/Metro/Guerrero Maya Jr.:

Enough good moments and spots, but not enough to make it into a good match. It wasn't a bad match at all, just nothing much. It did start with some Maya/Okumura matwork that was really good. And I always love Metro's somersault dive off the ramp, and Delta's ropeflip headscissors from the ring to the floor. Maya hits a nice out of control dive in the third. Okumura is a good SUWA replacement. I'd rather have 0.67 SUWA than 0.0 SUWA. Yeah, this match happened. It happened and it was on TV instead of other matches.



Jushin Liger vs. Dragon Rojo Jr.:

Well this confirms that I was right to be mad about Gala's match selection. This was not very good. This was the lucha equivalent of Eddie Edwards vs. Roderick Strong. Liger hit some moves, Rojo hit some moves, they were executed well, they were powerful enough to hold the other down for upwards of 2 counts, and then they did all that some more. Some fine spots, but the flow of the match was just non-existant. Rojo hit a dive, they rolled back in and Liger hit a brainbuster. Moves meant nothing, Liger looked like one of Los Chivas, Rojo's moves looked good but meant little.....yeah this match was a time waster. I thought Rojo really shined in moments here, but it was just all applied in pointless ways. This match was just so misguided I just didn't like it in the least.

Read more!

CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report, 11/19/11

I've been falling behind. I'm sorry. Turner Classic Movies has been really good lately. They've been digging deep and showing great stuff like Dodsworth and weird 70s prison movies like The Slams. So lucha fell by the wayside a bit. But I'm back. This episode had two short matches that I enjoyed. In fact, I loved the main event. It was short, sure, but everybody was working with a passion that you don't always see in your Arena Mexico main events. Volador is fast becoming my favorite luchador, but this match highlights another great Ultimo Guerrero performance, who's showing more energy in 2011 than he has in years. Main event is well worth watching. More below.



Tiffany/La Seductora/La Commandante vs. Lady Apache/Dark Angel/Estrellita:

Yeah!! Tiffany is back and she fucking ruled it in this match. Talking tons of shit and bumping all over for all the tecnicas. When did Estrellita turn? Tiffany goes out with an injury and Estrellita is just a good girl now? A good girl wearing caution tape over her business? Rachel is watching this with me and she thinks Commandante looks like Harvey Keitel. Like, current Harvey Keitel. She also looks like that couple in the crowd who look like twins (are they brother/sister? Two people who fantasize about having sex with themselves? Mother/son? Love triangle with Commandante?). Lady Apache is clearly a cut above here, though Dark Angel always looks good. Tiffany was the real superstar though. She does all these little things that can get easily skipped in lucha, such as standing on Apache's wrist while everybody gets in position to triple team her. How many times in lucha have you seen somebody just waiting around to take a beating? It drives me batty sometimes. A tecnico will get bodyslammed, and then just lie motionless on the mat waiting around for all three rudos to sync up and start beating his ass. But here, Apache runs into a boot, and Tiffany awesome stands on her fucking wrist, waiting for her rudas to get into position to commence ass beating. Such a tiny thing, but something that gets skipped a lot in rushed CMLL lucha. Tiffany is awesome.



Ultimo Guerrero/Volador Jr./Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Jushin Liger/La Sombra/Atlantis:

Liger isn't wearing his stupid yellow wig, to the thanks of everybody. Rudos attack before the fall on the rampway and it is swift and violent. Oftentimes rushed CMLL main events are just pointless quick spots and unrealistic pinfalls, with guys just being pinned after hardly taking any offense. But the rushed nature actually worked in this match's favor. The rudos were rushing through spots in the first fall, yes, but it gave the rudos a sense of immediacy and brutality, with them coming off as a wicked well-oiled machine (instead of guys just trying to get their spots in). Rojo smacks Liger around with glee, Ultimo beats the piss out of Atlantis, and Volador is my favorite wild card in lucha right now. He rarely sticks to one tecnico during a match, just floating around and beating up whomever needs it. He hits a running superkick in the first fall that is just sooooo fucking great, pretty much my favorite superkick in the history of my wrestling fandom. Atlantis gets thrown into the turnbuckles, and Volador sprints across the ring and just superkicks the feeling out of Atlantis' face. I'm not sure I've ever seen a running superkick before. It's a move performed with an opponent running towards you, or from standing next to your opponent. But Volador just sprints corner to corner and plants it under Atlantis' chin. Brutal. I literally played it back 8 times. It's around the 2 minute mark of the youtube video embedded here (huge thanks again go out to Cubsfan for posting all of these). Atlantis gets tossed violently to the floor, rudos pull off an complex slingshot/missle dropkick combo from the ramp to the ring, UG stretches the shit out of Atlantis with a nasty over shoulder single leg Boston crab, while grapevining Atlantis' neck with his legs. Fucking awesome sub. So that's the first fall, just about 4 minutes, but a non-stop violent beating.

Second fall is more rudo beatdown until the tecnico comeback, with UG taking his now-common lightning fast head over heels bump to the floor, Liger hitting a nice big plancha from the top onto Rojo, and Volador making a Sombra finish look great. Sombra had Volador in an electric chair position, dropped him into a belly to back, then dumped him with a German. It looked awesome, too.

1st fall dance partners square off in the 3rd, with UG clotheslining Atlantis' face off (nice bump from Atl off it, too), and then UG taking another ridiculous bump to the floor, with him whipping over the top and just plunging out of sight. Volador and Sombra top their sequence, though, with one of the more spectacular rope running segments since the days of Freelance regularly making tape. Crazy fast evasions, a couple great headscissors from both, Volador throws a missed clothesline that would have robbed Sombra of his taste if he didn't duck, Volador spills to the floor and Sombra hits a GREAT flip dive, which Volador then just fucking AWESOMELY ignores, standing up and swinging. Volador looked very uncooperative on that dive no sell, but in a way that totally added to the segment. I mean, Volador was practically up on his feet before Sombra, and Sombra seemed legit surprised when Volador jumped him. Back in and UG takes a THIRD nutty bump over the top to the floor (good lord!) and Atlantis hits a great dive that sends UG into the seats. Sombra hits a big moonsault into Volador, who then knocks into UG, sending him into the seats again (awesome). Rojo rolls through a rana and pins Liger to win, and this was just too much fun and awesome. One of my favorite "under 10" matches of the last couple years. WELL worth taking 10 minutes of your day to watch this.

Read more!

They Gave Black Terry a Sneer, a Guitar Pick and a Yellow Dandelion

Black Terry v. Paranoiko v. Rocky Santana DTU 11/29/11 - FUN 

PAS: This is a lightubes 3-way, and I don't care for lightubes or 3-ways, but despite that I enjoyed the match. Terry is a great brawler as is Santana and they made large parts of this really look like a fight as opposed to a stunt show. Paranoiko didn't show me a ton, but he did take a crazy Psicosis corner post bump through a lightube bundle. I really liked when Terry was just smashing guys with wooden boxes and metal buckets, that felt more Moondogs then Ryuji Ito. They had a great spot where all three guys needed to get separated because they were just clawing at each others eyes. Part of me never wants to see Terry work matches like this, another part of me wants to see him work Necro in round one of the next IWAKOTDM 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

Read more!