Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 2/1/14

These matches were from the 1/17 Arena Mexico show.



1. Blue Panther, Diamante Azul & La Mascara vs. Averno, Rey Bucanero & Terrible

Strange match as it was a mixture of sloppy old indy spots (Terrible breaking out a Styles Clash and Bucanero bringing the age old trend of doing normal spots onto his own knee), mixed with cool long Panther segments (cool mat stuff with Averno and really gets to work long sections with everybody) and some (possibly unintentional) pure insane bumps. Azul takes a slingshot hiptoss directly on his head. He lands vertically, planted on his head. Later in the match Terrible dropkicks Panther, and BP takes the Chris Hamrick somersault-off-apron to concrete bump. WHY IS PANTHER TAKING THAT BUMP!? Panther really takes a beating in this match. Mascara and Azul really aren't factors, coming in occasionally for end of falls or hitting dives (though I did dig Mascara in this, but most of it is Panther working bell to bell. Pretty damn impressive performance.

2. Lightning Match: Princess Sugheit vs. Estrellita

Lightning match, so throw any hopes for story, selling or psych out the window, and just hope for cool spots until one of the spots happens to end the match. Sugheit is always good tossing around and punting tecnicas, but something overall felt off here. It was pretty sloppy so even spots that felt like they should have been cool (Estrellita body press off the apron, Sugheit slamming Estrellita on the rampway) didn't really resonate. BUT, Estrellita got part of her weave pulled out, so I mean...that's pretty fucking rad right?



3. Negro Casas, Felino & Mr. Niebla vs. Valiente, Atlantis & Shocker

Weird match as you get Felino and Niebla doing their usual dick around routine that they seem to love doing at Arena Mexico (although Niebla's dicking around is almost always more interesting than Felino's). The standout story here is Casas vs. Shocker. Shocker's a little older and a little slower now but sometimes he can still bring the chubby goods and he delivered over the heads of most of his participants here. Valiente was mostly paired with Felino and they weren't a great match, but Valiente still showed a bunch of fire and obliterated Felino with a dive. Shocker and Casas though really tear it up. They work a bunch of fun reversal segments with Casas using his speed and Shocker catching him with a big yakuza kick. Not great, but had some worthwhile stuff.

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

5. Daniel Bryan/John Cena/Sheamus vs. The Shield WWE Raw 1/27

ER: Another good six man from The Shield. If you give those guys 20 minutes I don't really think it even matters who the other 3 guys are. The Shield just pushes all the right wrestling buttons for me. Match does start slow but picks up when Sheamus unleashes his 10 count clubbing forearms on Rollins. I love that spot, one of the cooler crowd interaction spots that nobody really talks about. Then we get Reigns doing a running dropkick onto the apron while Cena is draped over the ropes and shit just gets better. I loved Reigns setting up the Superman punch like he's a character out of SoulCalibur. Him powering out of the STF was epic. I love Ambrose selling the Brogue Kick like he stepped on a rake, and then bumping like Ted Knight falling off the couch in Too Close For Comfort, all stiff-bodied. Bryan is also absolutely on fire in this match. Watching him fly all over the ring and outside the ring is one of the most awesome things in wrestling right now. Real nice two night performance for him with this match piggybacking off the Rumble match the night before.

PAS: I didn't love the first part of this, Cena is normally good at FIP, but this was a bit dull, but man did it kick into gear. Reigns has really developed a series of fun signature spots, I love the jumping apron dropkick, he is a hell of an athlete seems on a different level athletically then most of their big guy wrestlers (outside of Henry and Langston). Bryan is always fun when he breaks out his frenzied hot tag and the end runs of these Shield matches are really the best Dragons Gate stuff around.


2014 MASTER LIST

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