Dan Aubriot is the Brainwasher

Dan Aubriot v. Pierre Bernaert 9/11/62-EPIC

PAS: This project just keeps churning out classics with guys I have never heard of. Aubriot is the flashier of these two guys, he moves really quickly, super fast ranas, headscissors and the quickest spinning toe hold I have seen. Sometime I think the video might be a bit sped up things are so fast. He also takes a crazy bump getting slammed into the turnbuckle pad and flying over. Bernaert really starts shining when things break down and get nasty, he ends an uppercut exchange with a straight forearm which dims Aubriot's running lights, and as things get chippier he sneaks in nasty stiff cheapshots, by then end he almost feels like a proto-Terry Rudge or Finlay. I still haven't gotten a sense of how these matches end, as it felt a bit abrupt, but the work here was off the charts and we get to add two names to the list of forgotten French maestros. 

ER: This stuff is just impossibly cool. The ref looks like Michel from Breathless, and all the matwork looks like stuff Jackie Chan could have stolen and milked for several more movies. The headscissor reversals at the 4 minute mark alone are worth the price of admission. Seeing these two skinny French guys throw knees makes me realize how poorly the modern knee lift has been appropriated. Aubriot throws a couple quick variations to the side of Bernaert's face, and Bernaert throws one short and fast to the stomach that looked better than any Mr. Wrestling kneelift I've seen. The stiffness of these guys continually surprised me as they throw finer uppercuts and forearms than any of the modern tiny overcompensating indy guys. This whole match had a different feel to the others that had popped up so far, as it still had all the cool ranas and armdrags and reversals that you've never seen before, but by the end had devolved into a real slugfest. Soak these up while we got 'em, people!

La Complète et Exacte French Catch

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En Busca de un Idolo - Week 1

The CMLL En Busca de un Idolo tourney is the most fun non-WWE thing in wrestling in 2014. Pretty much fun WCWSN lucha style 8 minute matches. I like tourneys (although not lucha tourneys usually), and most of these matches are nice and short, so I figure I will review it all, hoping to catch up by the finals. My Complete and Accurate grades don't really work here (I don't think there are going to be any EPICS for example) so I am going to review them with a Must See, If You Have a Spare Moment, Don't Bother.

3/25

Qualifying Cibernetico (Black Panther, Cachorro, Canelo Casas, Cavernario, Dragon Lee, El Rebelde, Espiritu Negro, Flyer, Guerrero Negro Jr., Hechircero, Herodes Jr., Metalico, Oro Jr., Soberno Jr., Star Jr., Super Halcon Jr.) - Spare Moment

These matches are like Ice Cream Sundae's for the most part. Sweet, will give you a head rush, but not a ton of substance and you definitely don't want too much. This goes 30 minutes +, and while the first couple of bites are great, you are going to have a stomach ache when you are done. It is hard to really focus on one guy, or one crazy dive when the match has 20+ dives. Watching them all, I decided I am pretty much a fan of a simple tope, and there are some great ones here, especially by Panther's kids. Star Jr. gets the most height on his dive and Hechicero takes the biggest bump. It seems like the picked the right 8 guys to advance (although I would have liked to see more Black Panther), but this is a hard platform to judge people on. Plenty of crazy individual moments, and if you just want to see crazy kids do every spot they know this is fine in an ROH scramble kind of way

4/4

Cachorro v. Star Jr. - Must See

Cachorro is the son of Blue Panther and one of the most exciting young wrestlers in the world. Star Jr. is a 20 year old technico with all of the nut up testosterone of a kid that age. Star Jr. looked a little tentative in the exchanges, although he hit them all fine. What you want from Star Jr. is one crazy bump and one crazy dive and you get both as he flies through the ropes head first to the floor and hits a springboard flippy twist. Cachorro throws out his tope although it isn't as crushing as it has been, he also ends with a rana counter leglock which would make his daddy proud. Fun stuff.

Dragon Lee v. Soberano Jr. - Spare Moment 

Parts of this were a bit of a mess, Soberano kind of blows his first big dive, an inside to out asai moonsault which he doesn't clear cleanly and looks like he clips Dragon Lee. There are also off a bit on some of their in ring exchanges. Still this had some cool stuff, Lee is a really graceful flyer and that signature hip toss to the floor bump is one of the crazier signature spots I have seen. Not much to this, but it had enough moments for a mild rec.

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