Uprising: Lucha Libre Workrate Report 10/18/14

This week's show has a match where I'm not actually sure where it's from. John and Demon have worked a few cage matches, so the best I can say is that this match happened from 2009-2012. I think the two of them had a cage match in Mexico City at one point and I really would have liked to see that  as I've never actually seen John working in front of an actual Mexican crowd. I've seen a couple shows he worked where the audience was 80+% hispanic, but not a Mexican crowd. I'd want to see if he would work his usual pre-match race-baiting schtick (I saw him embarrassingly call the crowd "wetbacks" at an SF show) although it would have been infinitely more entertaining to see what would happen to him if he did that in Mexico City. Here (wherever this is) he just does some colorless  "I'm the REAL champion" stuff you've heard before.

1. Oliver John vs. Blue Demon Jr. (CAGE MATCH)

Match starts and I quickly find out it's escape rules, which is normally less exciting. Cage matches are almost always better when people use the cage as a means to violence, not as a climbing contest (and there's also a door, meaning we get a lot of "guy holding onto other guy's ankle" spots). John worked really hard here and it was easily one of his best showings that I've seen (especially in these Demon matches). He tried his best to play into Demon's strengths, which was more difficult in this match as Demon really didn't show up to do much. John's entire role was to basically make Demon look superhuman, and to make it appear like Demon was in danger even though Demon planned on taking no bumps. So John bumped all around for Demon's big strikes, flying into the cage from big chops and elbows and took some mammoth bumps off the top on failed escape attempts. The best one was Hamrick-esque, as John was tossed off the top crotch first on the top rope, and then messily bounced from there into a second bump. It looked dangerous, and awesome.

Now as for Demon, he bled. And that counts for a lot, because Demon bled a lot. He didn't bump, and he made John do a lot of the heavy lifting, but he bled. Bloody mask eyeholes is one of the coolest lucha visuals, and this delivered. There were also a bunch of cool shots of big drops of blood all over the mat where John was pounding him, so big hats off the PWR camera crew on those. The non-bumps were a little ridiculous. Demon would get caught on an escape attempt, and John would grab him to deliver a backdrop suplex, and every time Demon would reverse so he wouldn't have to bump off the top. John would grab him, there would be a false struggle, Demon would kick him off or something to send John flying, and then Demon would just hop off the top rope back to the mat (which is odd as you think he would just go back to trying to escape). After the third time it became pretty clear Demon was actively avoiding taking bumps (which is weird that they kept going to the spot). The worst was one time he teased doing a move off the top to a prone John, but then just ended up hopping down to the mat and doing a normal standing elbow drop. Teasing a big spot and then purposely not delivering seems like another item on Demon's list of "rudo acts performed by a tecnico". John eventually won when there was interference and a weird swerve with Vaquero Fantasma turning on Demon and hitting him with a chair, allowing John to slither over Demon out the door to the floor. Since John only won one of their cage matches, that means this was from the 2/27/10 King City show.

So overall, even with Demon's refusal to do a lot, I liked the match. John had a heckuva performance and Demon did hit a gusher which is a pretty special thing to see in wrestling these days so was effective here.

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Uprising: Lucha Libre Workrate Report 10/11/14

Last week's episode was a repeat of the episode shown the previous week, with the really poor Kafu match. Match so nice you had to pay to air it twice. This show was clearly an old one, as it's always easy to tell how old the matches are when the Border Patrol is featured. Since Brian Cage looked to be about 200 lb. here, you have to assume it was about 3-4 years ago. He looked like a normal human being, not one with a gassed up 260 lb. body and a lifetime of kidney problems. So I searched and sure enough, this featured match was from the 5/11/14 show in Turlock, CA, an awful little town right outside Modesto, CA, an awful larger town right outside of Manteca, CA, also an awful town.

I've talked about the poor editing of this show many times before, but this 30 minute show starts with a full entrance from the Border Patrol, and then several long minutes of mic work from Oliver John running down Mexicans. Then Derek Sanders gets mic time to run down his tag match opponents, which is a match that won't even be happening on this episode. There was nothing revolutionary about these promos. And by the time we go to commercial and get Blue Demon into the ring, we're already 12 minutes into the 30 minute broadcast. Just a remarkably poor use of time. I would think that paying money to air something would keep me in check in regards to what I show, really force me to show only the best stuff, only the stuff that was most important. Not bland mic work building a match that I wasn't going to air. It's just lazy, bad editing.

1. Oliver John vs. Blue Demon Jr.

I've talked before about how Demon always uses weird rudo mannerisms in his matches, despite being pushed as the hero to all the fans in the crowd. He sticks to that here by slapping John across the face before the bell rings. Doesn't seem like something a tecnico would do. So there is occasional weirdness like that in the match, but overall I thought the match was really good. John is a guy who has worked Demon a lot, and they pair up nicely. Demon brings a lot to the table in this match, throwing really stiff strikes and some nice suplexes. John bumps around like crazy for him, then cheats to regain control, and that kind of simple stuff always works well when done well. Demon worked stiffer than I've probably ever seen him here, really leaving some handprints on John's face with some nasty slaps. A couple of them wouldn't have looked out of place on a RINGS card. Demon also threw some really great knee lifts, holding John's head in kind of a cravat while kneeing the side of his head. They looked awesome. John took some big bumps including flying through the ropes to the floor of a running knee, and taking a vertical suplex on the concrete. Rough stuff. Finish saw John get a weapon passed to him by Sanders, but Demon kicks out of the weapons shot, and gets the knees up on a big splash attempt from John. A minute before Demon had done a double leg and locked on a half crab and I would have bet money on that being the finish, as it just seemed like the laziest "I want to go home, Imma do a double leg and lock on a whatever" but it ended up being a nice red herring in the context of Blue Demon matches. You see a sudden random lazy submission and it's easy to think "oh he wanted to end the match" and then when it doesn't it's like a shocking false finish. Fun match, would have been real good live.

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Uprising: Lucha Libre Workrate Report 8/23/14

For this episode we go back to the 2/22/14 SF show that I was at live. My favorite match of the card was a trios featuring Drake Younger and Willie Mack, and then of course there was the main event of Timothy Thatcher vs. Blue Demon Jr. which was an interesting performance seeing one of the absolute best workers in the world go up against one of the laziest.

Oliver John & Brian Cage vs. Rocky Romero & Vaquero Fantasma

Few things can make me less excited for a match than the words "And their opponents....Rocky Romero!" Babyface Rocky is even worse as he doesn't have a very likeable face and just does more goofy faces and dancing in between his random move generator offense. But if they insist on putting him against Cage and John then obviously it wouldn't make sense to have Rocky as a rudo. Oliver John has a pretty belligerent personality so really only makes sense as a rudo and Brian Cage works well as his bloated, gassed up enforcer. But there is just not going to be anything remotely interesting enough about Rocky to make me get behind him in any way. Fantasma is most often on rudo teams in this fed, so here he's just kind of thrown onto the tecnico side (I assume due to lack of other bodies?) and doesn't really work any differently than when he's a rudo. Except that from what I've seen he has more rudo strengths than tecnico strengths. Not necessarily through personality, as he wears a mask and doesn't really bother to emote anything through the mask, but more in his actual work technique.

Live Oliver John got on the stick before the match and called the audience a "bunch of wetbacks" which is a bit too mean and a not too clever racist insult. I mean, there's going to be some blatant racist schtick when you're working a border patrol gimmick in front of a crowd that's 80% hispanic. I'm about as Caucasian as you can get (Swiss-German ancestry) so it doesn't offend me, but the use of the work "wetback" is just lazy and an obvious attempt to shock. There are so many more inventive ways to insult an audience, and this just came off as uncreative and hack. I mean if you're going full on over the top racist hack, might as well just find a couple old Blanche Knott books at the Goodwill and at least fit some structured jokes into your routine. It would at least come off a little more prepared than just red-face screaming "wetbacks!!!" into a mic. Although the hispanic teen girl in front of me was clearly not expecting to hear that word, silently turning to her friend with her mouth and eyes wide open. So...mission accomplished, I guess? Wisely, the TV actually leaves off the opening mic work, which they normally include (you GOTTA include full entrances and middling heel stick work when you're paying for the time!).

Match itself was as okay as a match featuring Rocky Romero is going to be. Cage has packed on so much mass that he's not nearly as mobile as he was even a year ago, but he can still occasionally surprise, like when he bumped nicely for a Romero rana. Romero for his part hit a real nice dive. As with a lot of PWR matches there just isn't a lot of substance. The matches always seem to take a long time to get going, and then they end right when they seem like they're going to roll. There's often a lot of bullshit and rudos taking powders on the floor, some threatening to walk out, some regrouping, and then rudo control segments with holds. The formula works to a degree, and sometimes it doesn't take much more than that. But there needs to be a certain quality level of the workers involved and a lot of guys in PWR aren't at that level. Oliver John is a good heel and I've enjoyed his work in the past. Brian Cage is gassing himself to full Scott Steiner levels of immobility. I mean like he's literally bigger and bigger at every single show I see with him. But he's still young and has ability, so he's still athletic enough to overcome things like not being able to put his arms down all the way. But these two just had nothing to work with opposite Fantasma/Romero. Romero had one hot 15 second bit with a nice rana and that dive, but the rest just shows he has no idea who he is or who he's supposed to be within a match. Him at one point doing horrible "he's standing right behind me, right?" comedy, blindly feeling behind him and discovering Cage was there, is not even normally a babyface spot and yet still was so badly executed that it was embarrassing to watch. I mean this isn't exactly news in 2014, but Romero is just completely clueless as far as working any sort of compelling characters to build drama within a match. Just an awful worker. I could see Cage/John working well with more capable faces. These weren't they.

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Uprising: Lucha Libre Workrate Report 1/25/14

There's a Pro Wrestling Revolution show in SF in a couple weeks, with Timothy Thatcher vs. Blue Demon Jr. as the main event. Oliver John is also on the card so this kind of acts as a sneak preview of what I'll see if I decide to attend (even though this match was from 7/28/12). This match may also serve as a move-for-move blueprint of the singles match I might see. It would not stun me at all to find out Blue Demon Jr. has exactly one singles match that he works with gringos. Oliver John is a good worker but Thatcher is clearly superior in my book, so if this match turns out decent I'd have high hopes the Thatcher singles could be better.


1. Oliver John vs. Blue Demon Jr.

Demon always does a bunch of rudo things even though he's a constant tecnico, similar to Hogan always using stuff like eye rakes when he's the ultimate good guy. Here we immediately start with Demon slapping John on a clean break and the crowd actually reacts like they're totally confused. John rolls to the floor and in an awesome moment threatens to slap a kid across the face, while another kid belts John in the head with his vuvuzela. He honestly could not have planned that better. Demon is capable enough on the mat and doing leverage exchanges that the opening stuff is compelling. He also is actually showing ass here which normally doesn't happen. I knew as soon as I wrote that stuff about Demon's exchanges being compelling it would bite me in the ass. Immediately after typing that Demon goes into the loooooong portions of his singles matches where he slowly gets his opponent into position for holds that don't look very painful, and then just lies in each of them for minutes at a time. John tries his damndest to make them look dangerous but nobody is buying it. We also go into our long stretch of the announcers talking about referee Tom Castor, who is a referee you would never at all notice if they didn't constantly point out that he's just doing his job. Ending is a rushed mess with the other members of La Migra running in, pulling out the ref, and John winning on a quick roll up counted by a second ref. John has a lot of personality so in the right spot he can look really good, but Demon was giving him next to nothing to work with, so this was what it was.

Still on the fence on whether or not I'll go see them live in a couple weeks. It's only $10, it's about a mile away from one of my absolute favorite restaurants (Papito!!), Thatcher is probably my favorite Bay Area worker, and the show also has Super Crazy and Willie Mac. Buuuuuttttt based on my previous live experience with them, the show will be a neverending hype show for a local hispanic radio station (so many "we'll give a free t-shirt to the loudest section" moments, even during the matches!), and also for every guy I'm excited to see live there's a dud like Ricky Romero or Blue Demon working opposite him. What to do what to do.

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Uprising Lucha Libre Workrate Report 11/3/13

Blue Demon Jr., Mascara Sagrada & Strongman Jon Andersen vs. La Migra (Oliver John, Derek Sanders & Zack Reeb)

Wow, I can see why they took the time to unearth this 4 year old match. What a pile. You know that Blue Demon Jr.'s side is going to go over, but there are plenty of interesting ways to get to your destination. This was not one of them. The tecnicos get - I kid you not - 98% of the offense. The only offense that La Migra got would be when one of them was in a submission, and one of the others would come in a break up the submission. That was it! Oliver John got a couple chops in on Demon, also hit that Jeff Jarrett move where your opponent is draped over the ropes and you run at him and end up draping your leg over him.

The match was almost 16 minutes long! That is so much time to have an awesome match. But the tecnicos did not show ass for two seconds in this whole match. The first 7 minutes were spent with one of the tecnicos (Demon or Strongman, as Sagrada sat on the aprong until the final minute of the match) standing in the middle of the ring, then a member of La Migra would come in, get chopped by Demon, flat back bump and roll to the floor, then repeat with the next member. Strongman would get in the ring, a member of La Migra would come in, lock up with him, and Strongman would shove him down. Usually each guy got shoved down a couple times. This literally happened for the first 8 minutes of the match.

The rest of the match were members of La Migra getting put into submission holds, coming in to break up submission holds, and then getting put back into submission holds. It just would not end. Demon would slowly lock on a submission, it would get broken up, and then he'd just put on another submission. Eventually all three of them came in and awkwardly all got into position to be put into submissions by the tecnicos, including Sanders doing the hilarious "I'm gonna jump at you legs first like we're at a picnic and the wheelbarrow races are starting!" as Demon left him no good option of getting into position. Then the match mercifully ended with a clunky triple submission.

So I'm still dying to know, what the hell is the point of this show? They pay to air it, so they must have a goal in mind. They air mostly matches from 4+ years ago, featuring mostly wrestlers who no longer work for them. A lot of the matches they air aren't very good (with this one being arguably the worst one they've aired so far). They don't advertise upcoming live events. They don't try and sell merchandise. They don't even mention Pro Wrestling Revolution, their own brand name. For some reason they chose to re-brand their TV property as "Uprising", which doesn't make tons of sense in building their PWR brand. They just seem to exist to show old matches, but they PAY to show these old matches.

The best case scenario is that people find the show, and tune in the next week...but since they don't get advertising dollars this really doesn't benefit them at all. Please, anybody, tell me why you think this show exists?

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Uprising: Lucha Libre Workrate Report 10/27/13

Come journey back in time with me to 7/25/09, thanks to a promotion inexplicably willing to use paid programming to show 4+ year old matches at midnight on a local Spanish-speaking network.

1. Strongman Jon Andersen vs. Oliver John

It's kind of shocking how poorly edited this show is, as the bell for the match doesn't even hit until 10 minutes into the show. It is a half hour show. Literally the first 10 minutes of the program were ring entrances. You are paying money to show guys walking to the ring, jawing with fans, slowly wandering around ringside, and standing in the ring for A THIRD OF THE SHOW THAT YOU PAY MONEY TO AIR! They easily could have fit two matches onto this show if they had just started with Andersen and John in the ring. But I guess we needed to see La Migra revolutionize the art of getting heat by throwing tortillas at Mexicans for 8 minutes. Hilariously, when the bell finally rings, THAT'S when we go to our first commercial break. Amazing. That means that halfway through the show there has been zero wrestling, zero promos, zero ads for upcoming shows, nothing whatsoever that could benefit the promotion or viewers at home in any way. I would LOVE to hear any sort of justification from the people that paid for this to represent their company.

And why did we sit through 10+ minutes of ring entrances? Why, so we could get a 2.5 minute match that ends with John getting counted out by walking to the back, of course! Once the bell rang, John tried to avoid locking up with Strongman, rolling to the floor a couple times. Eventually Andersen caught him and clotheslined him to the floor. Then the other two guys in La Migra got on the apron, and got clotheslined off. Then John snuck in with a chair, hit Strongman with it, and bailed to the floor again, followed by all of La Migra walking to the back and getting counted out.

Yep, couple clotheslines, a chairshot. That's why we needed more than 10 minutes of ring entrances. You see, we wouldn't have been able to figure out that we need to boo one of the guys, and cheer the large roided up guy who kept asking for the crowd to cheer. This match set up a tag match later on in the show, so I assume we get that in a coming week, because lord knows we need to take up a few weeks of programming to set up a tag match that took place last decade.

I have no clue what the point of this program is.

2. El Amante & Ulysses (The Latin Explosion) vs. Derek Sanders & Zack Reeb (La Migra)

Ironically this match is joined right when the bell rings and both teams are in the ring. So...they DO know how to edit filler...which means that they just genuinely felt that showing 10 minutes of ring entrances was the best possible use of their paid programming. Wow.

This is a fun match, a solid 8 minutes of wrestling. Ulysses is a smaller guy who is good when sticking to his size, and stumbles when working bigger. Here his armdrags and headscissors look real good, but then he starts working as if he's much bigger and tries a powerslam and backdrop and it becomes clear that Sanders is working with a Real Doll. Amante is the better of the two and is real fluid in his ranas and dropkicks. Sanders and Reeb are a good team, know how to stooge, and know how to give logical comebacks. Match ends with Reeb hitting an accidental clothesline on the ref, then Latin Explosion getting the pinfall when another ref runs in. Naturally the ruling is reversed and La Migra are still the tag champs. Obviously this was such a devastating moment for Latin Explosion that they felt it would still be relevant 4 years later. Also, 3 of the guys in this match are no longer with the promotion. Jon Andersen hasn't working here in over 3 years. Only Oliver John and Derek Sanders remain in the promotion, so they paid money to promote a guy who hasn't worked there in 3 years, and a heartbreaking moment of an underdog tag team (who also hasn't worked there in 3 years) almost winning the tag titles.

This is a promotion that runs practically monthly, and has been doing so for 5 years. What could possibly be gained from showing matches this old?

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2013 Lucha Roundup

Chico Che/Saruman/Freelance v. Eita/Tomahawk/Imposible IWRG 3/21

Pretty mediocre match. The DG guys didn't do anything as bad as they have in previous matches, but this was a really subdued Freelance and Che performance. No real crazy dives, Che threw some nice headbutts but didn't fly around or anything. More forgettable then bad, but pretty forgettable.

El Hijo Del Santo v. Oliver John TXT 4/7

Great to see a Santo singles match show up. Haven't had much of an opinion of John before but he definitely worked hard here, he took some big bumps including doing a diving headbutt directly into Santo's feet and flying to the floor. I also really liked his piledriver counter. Santo did cool Santo things, headscissors, headbutts, mat counters, topes. Built to a pretty exciting finish run and a satisfying finish. Very good match better then I was expecting

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Queens Lucha Libre ROAD REPORT 11/23/09

PAS: I wake up at 6am (7 hours earlier then I usually get up on Sunday) and head down to the Greenbelt metro station to meet Childs. Tomk is surprisingly only 15 minutes late and we head off to Queens.

TKG: It is Sunday and it took me longer to get to Greenbelt than I expected. At every bus stop there is an old lady carrying a full grocery cart on to the bus. We get to Queens with plenty of time to spare. Every time Phil says ”we’re making good time” I tell him not to jinx us and we immediately get caught in a goofy detour or mess. We find the location, confirm that the show is taking place and get some food to eat. We are all Allen Iverson fans.

PAS: Long line snaking around the block, it gets split into two lines and the start of the show is completely disorganized as people don't even start getting in until 2pm.

TKG: Security seemed surprised by the size of the crowd. There were three levels of tickets sold ( $85-75, $50, $40), plus people who were buying tickets on day of show. All of them were in the same line. To keep the line from snaking around the block they separated into two lines and then couldn’t figure out order of people. They seemed to be letting in ten people at a time. There also was a required coat check which slowed stuff down. It was a large dance hall space (approximate 800 capacity without ring-700 with the ring), with good lighting rig and sound system set up (they had the guys from Sonido Caluda running the sound), a mask table inside, two bars, a food vending area, beer girls walking around, girls running a clamato promotion, girls offering you prices on pictures with the wrestlers (back room set up for pictures), a bathroom with a really fancy trough urinal ( I don’t think I’ve seen a trough that elaborate at any baseball stadium) and a bathroom attendant, and Super Porky in sandals running a gimmick table in the back.

LOCAL v LOCAL: AZRIEL v DANNY DEMANTO v BANDIDO JR

TKG: First match was advertised as local v local. Phil predicts this will be Danny Demanto v either Azriel or Bandido jr. It turns out to be Demanto v Azriel and Bandido Jr.. They then introduce heel ref Jaquetas. I got the sense that the JAPW guys intended to work a three way dance and Jaquetas forced them instead to work an elimination triangular. When we went to the Delaware show I talked about the misscomunication between U.S. indy ref Brice Rensburg and the Mexican workers. That was nothing compared to the misunderstanding between US indy workers and heel Mexican ref. This match was totally defined by that misunderstanding. The JAPW guys tried to have a match whithout getting sidetracked by Jaquetas stuff. Jaquetas would try to set up heel ref spots, pulling Azriel’s hair, holding back his punches, fast and slow counts. The JAPW guys didn’t know how to work those spots and tried their damnest to keep it from throwing them off their game. I don’t think Bandido Jr was supposed to eliminated at the point he got fast counted out of match.

PAS: I enjoyed Danny Demanto as tubby stooging heel, a lot more then enjoyed him as tough guy kicking out of burning hammers in JAPW. Despite that this was a total mess. It felt like you JAPW guys were trying, but it didn't matter what they did this match was going to be about Jaquetas. I really can't stand heel ref lucha, I remember five years ago or so, Alfredo would get in DVD's of Arena Coliseo Monterrey shows, and they would have these amazing looking match ups. You would be excited to see Blue Panther v. Felino and what you would get was Blue Panther and Felino working spot with El Mulatto the heel ref. Azreal and Badido Jr. are not Blue Panter and Felino, but I still would have liked to see what they could have done without Jaquetas shitting all over the match

SWAT KAT v BAZOOCAA

TKG: Swat Kat and Bazoocaa are both Chicago luchadors and got the impression that they have lots of experience working matches with lucha heel refs. No culture clash here as they really knew how to work those heel ref spots and work a match around the heel ref being the real star. It doesn’t make it any better but they knew that formula. They hit some nice stuff early on: Swat Kat hit a huge tope into a woman holding an infant, followed by rana’ing the large heavyweight Bazoocaa into a woman holding a newborn. But this match went on forever (2/3 falls) and really was completely formless. Not completely formless…just totally built around Jaquetas. Non ref interaction sections had any rhyme or reason and there was a lot of bad execution. At one point Swat Kat decides the match needs blood and raises some bruises on Bazoocaa’s forehead and then squeezes them the way you would squeeze a pimple. Some of the Jaquetas spots might make for amusing comedy but three falls of it was really dull and had drunk patron attacking him.

PAS: I thought this was close to the worst match I have ever seen live. Not only did we have more endless dull Jaquetes horseshit, but the execution on the wrestling the guys actually did was abominable. It must have gone close to 30 minutes and outside of the rana into the baby there wasn't a single redeeming moment. Some real awkward obvious moments of cooperation and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to when El Jaquetes would count fast and when he wouldn't.

TKG: After this we go to intermission, and Blue Demon’s merch table is set up. Show advertised Cassandro v Aguila del America, Mascarita Sagrada v Octagoncito, Super Porky v Hurricane Ramirez Jr. Two matches and an intermission, I don't know how they'll make it through the rest of card and still get to Jersey.

PAS: There are scantly clad waitresses coming around with free shots of Clamato. I have done some nasty things before for and to pretty girls, but I can't see why you would drink the clam juice in shot form.

SUPER PORKY/TZUKI v AGUILLA DE AMERICA/OCTAGONCITO

PAS: Aguilla de America comes to the ring with his kids, one about 4 and one about 8 in matching gear. The 8 year old is pretty much the third guy on the rudo team and significantly better then his father. Aguila de America has to be the loosest wrestler I have ever seen live. I mean nothing made contact at all. The match was pretty much built around Porky and Tzuki sticking their nuts in the rudos faces, lots of different variations of nut facing dudes. Pretty uncomfortable to watch a match like that, when one of the rudos is 8 years old, added a weird tension I really felt like I was about to witness a molestation, it was like watching the scene in Happiness between Dylan Baker and his son. Porky is charismatic as fuck, but seems to have lost a little something off his athletic fastball, he was getting no height on his splashes and was moving way slower then last time I saw him. The mini were really mailing it in too, mostly working comedy spots and not athletic spots at all. It was like Tzuki remembered Vince bringing him in and told Octagonicto "this is how midgets work in NYC."

TKG: Porky tried to hold something together by working blue on the mic and doing his filthy vaudeville spots in the ring… but yeah the whole match was being built toward child molestation spot, to where you were actively surprised you didn’t get it. Every other heel in the match got repeatedly fondled, teabagged, covered in soda and spanked with a belt, etc. Eight year old thankfully manages to avoid that fate. The eight year old does do a dive on Porky who then chucks him into the crowd. Perhaps he was manhandled by the audience then. Tzuki and Octagoncito are essentially doing nothing but Cuije v Chuukky house show spots. But its Tzuki, and he’s one of the fastest wrestlers in the world…so his teabagging spots are really fast and vigorous.

HIJO DEL SANTO v BLUE DEMON JR v BORDER PATROL OLIVER JOHN

TKG:Oliver John comes out first as Border Patrol gets on the mic talks about all the illegals in the audience and how they all need to show him there green card and how some people say Blue Demon is a legend but he is just another illegal who needs to be deported. Basic cheap heat gimmick that works at riling up the crowd. Then Blue Demon as Mexican Savior with the Mexican Flag comes out to great musical fanfare and does some mic work, then Hijo Del Santo comes out and the announcer poorly explains the concept of a triangular match. Santo has to ask for mic and then explains the rules of the match to crowd. Referee is Jaquetta and while normally your rudo ref will not engage in shenanigans to help a foreigner (nationalism comes before rudoism) here he seems to interfere against Blue Demon no matter who the opponent. Demon and Santito do their awesome opening matwork exchanges and Santo whips out his scarecrow climbing stuff that I really like (standing choke into octopus variation etc), Oliver John does a bunch of stooging bumping and flies around for Blue Demon’s hand clapping strikes. John gets eliminated and then comes back out in Santo mask to cheer on Santo and interfere in match on Santo’s behalf which pisses Santo off. Post match Blue Demon challenges Santo about how he can’t win without outside interference andis always running from facing Demon one on one or in a mask match, challenges for a mask match back in NY, Santo counters with challenge for MSG and actually does a nice job convincing me that I should call all my friends so we can fill up MSG for that match, Blue Demon accepts and calls for the support of his Blue Demonites and then Blue Demon challenges Oliver John to a title match. Oddly booked match where Santo does all the work and gets the win but still is booked as secondary star.

PAS: This felt like a show money marked by Blue Demon, as Santo came off as an attraction, but not the big deal. The way Beastmaster Rick Link might bring in Wahoo to tag with him, Wahoo is the star, but Rick Link is the focus. It really makes no sense, nor does flying in Oliver John to work your generic Border Patrol heel. If for some reason you have to make this a triangular, just stick Danny Demanto in Border Patrol gear, it isn't like John did anything Demanto can't do, and then maybe you could have flown in Cassandro like you fucking advertised. Santo is always worth watching, this was Santo by the numbers, but they are awesome numbers. We got the Santo tope and plancha, plus some pretty sweet mat exchanges with the carriable on the mat Blue Demon. Demon isn't worth a shit on his feet and has some of the most obvious hand clap punches I have ever seen. Still as much as he sucks I would still be all about MSG. Maybe put Bruno v. Perro Sr. on the undercard.

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