Wrestlemania Weekend Cherry Picking: CRASH

Brian Cage vs. Sami Callihan vs. Willie Mack

ER: This was fine, felt like a Lucha Underground dark match, a quick 10 minute pleaser that these three could probably have in their sleep. I think heel Callihan carrying a bat around with him is pretty effective, as when he tries to hit Mack in the face with it you buy it, because we've all see him hit someone in the face full force with a baseball bat. You want to get over a prop, you use it on a sap. "Don't worry honey, these guys don't want to hurt anybody, they just want to leave the bank with all of the money. Oh my god they shot a guard." Cage is fun throughout, I especially like a couple ways he no sells Callihan, like eating a chop and not blinking (while holding Mack in a Samoan drop) and earlier just running through a lariat. I don't think I've ever seen someone attempt a lariat only to have the other guy just sprint through it. Cage throws really heavy corner clotheslines, and I liked a spot where Mack was still in the corner, Cage went to clothesline Callihan who ducked, and Cage still clotheslined Mack. Still this felt rushed and everyone was coasting. They have more tricks in their bag than the average guy, so they can work an amusing coasting match, and it will still have things like Callihan throwing a stiff forearm shiver to Cage, hitting a nice sitout powerbomb, and a big vertical suplex spot, but coasting is coasting.

Rey Fenix vs. Flamita

ER: This goes just 5 minutes, which was likely annoying to those in attendance, but played as a fun WorldWide sprint to me. Fenix is really good for something like this, as his spots are always nice (big flip dive to start and followed up with this killer late rotation swanton in the ring) and Flamita hits a big moonsault to the floor. Flamita always finds Fenix works tight with kicks, and throws in neat little things that add to a sprint-y spotfest, like a great spit take while getting folded up by a Flamita superkick, or reaching out to grab Flamita's boot to try and stop Flamita from going up top. Those kind of things are great as typically you just get guys lying there waiting to get hit. Flamita works tighter strikes than a lot of flippers (I loved him kicking Fenix in the face when Fenix grabbed his boot), hits a mean 450, all fun stuff. This would be legendary if it happened on WCW Saturday Night, here it just gets complaints for going to short. Oh well.

LA Park/Damian 666/Psicosis vs. Garza Jr./Bestia 666/Mecha Wolf 450

PAS: Fun if sloppy rudo vs. rudo brawl. Match opens up with Rebellion Amarillo getting the upper hand on the LWO, including Psicosis taking a powerbomb into the crowd and through some chairs.  Lots of amusing shtick by both teams Garza Jr. has inherited his uncles hateful face and he does a lot of amusing begging off. Lots of nasty belt shots with PARK's big belt and we get a great fat boy Park tope and an awesome looking Mecha Wolf low missile tope. There was some real issues when guys were trying to apply moves, the LWO guys are pretty old and probably should have stuck to brawling, still it would be hard not to enjoy this.

ER: This was a bunch of fun, with fat old rudos (except Psicosis who looks exactly the same, the other two are clearly XXLWO at this point) going up against three young rudos of varying quality (I like Garza Jr. as a 0.6 Hector Garza, Wolf has some impressive spots, and Bestia usually leaves me cold). The big star of the match is clearly Park's belt, as it gets removed early and amusingly gets used by every member of the LWO to break up pinfalls. Park used it in the best way possible, to belt Garza as he's tearing off his tearaway pants. Bestia gets whipped in the face, Psicosis breaks up a pin from the apron, truly some excellent belt usage throughout. Park is a total megastar. I bet plenty of people in the crowd haven't gone out of their way to watch him since WCW, and he showed them what they've been missing. He completely engulfs Bestia on a huge dive, still somehow bumps big for a guy that size, and works a great spot where he gets frustrated and slaps the ref in the face. Psicosis is still Psicosis somehow, OPENING the match by getting powerbombed over the railing into a bunch of chairs, still crazy after 25+ years in the game. He still moves quick and fits in totally fine with the younger guys. I can't believe the LWO was literally 20 years ago. I think my buddy still has the t-shirt (though he's a poseur because he wasn't there the night the LWO party vignettes aired. Eddie always wins!).