ER: Metalico and Policeman and Arkangel may be my favorite three wrestlers who are usually in matches that aren't very good. And here we have the three of them teaming for what is - at least from what I could tell - the first time, on tape. And they work it like three friends doing a bit. I don't know much about the tecnicos. Rojo seems the most rounded out of the bunch. Millenium is either working a gimmick 17 years expired, or 983 years into the future. Judging by his 2000 Scoot Andrews offense I think it's the former. Arkalis was also in this match. It doesn't matter because it's the rudos who are the stars. Policeman comes out literally brandishing a firearm. He just walks to the ring, unholsters his pistol and just starts aiming it around the arena, as if he was clearing the room. When he gets to the ring Tirantes politely asks him to hand over the weapon, and he does, which makes me laugh more than it should. Please, do not book Policeman in a No DQ match. We need referees to be allowed to take his firearm. Metalico comes out dressed in tan resort wear, looking like someone who would be lounging around the pool at Elliott Gould's house in the 70s. And the three of them proceed to work a few bits, like you do.
Arkangel is amusing as the guy nonchalantly directing traffic, you can see him lightly waving Policeman into position a few times. Policeman is a generous bumper with some nice strikes, a guy I'm happy is showing up more often. Metalico is the real ham, and I love some of his bits. My favorite is the one after the primera, with his team losing, and he just runs out of the ring down the ramp, out of danger, to avoid eating a pinfall, then trips and falls on his face. He later does a couple variations on the Eddie Guerrero/Hector Garza "head down, eyes averted, hands behind my back" sheepish weenie. You couldn't possibly hit meeeeee, could you? Metalico throws weird lariats, comically puts boots to guys who have wronged him, laughs when Arkangel hits a sharp back elbow, does a dozen spit takes, plays to the crowd in a way a lot of guys don't do any longer; he's a guy working several bits with friends. Rojo eats a couple lariats in nasty fashion (again, he is the only tecnico here that looked like a keeper), Arkalis tries to throw a couple armdrags that don't look great, Millenium gets minimal height on a rana, but nobody watched this for the tecnicos. These three rudos have a shtick, and it's not one I'm anywhere close to tired of seeing. You get the sense that they know each other well, get the sense they have some in-jokes, all due to knowing the same lucha language. Like a roommate who can walk into your bedroom eating a bowl of cereal without announcing himself and you're totally fine with it, such are Metalico, Arkangel and Policeman.
MLJ: 1000 words on King Jaguar & Lestat vs Disturbio & Policeman
2015-12-14 @ Arena Puebla
King Jaguar & Lestat vs Disturbio & Policeman
25:00 in
So a couple of people I know get together in an online chat room for the Monday Puebla and Friday Arena Mexico shows. It's never more than three or four people and everyone's generally distracted but it's still plenty of fun. It also makes certain things (like Porky matches) more enjoyable. A few of us were really enjoying this one on Monday night. In the end, it's probably just the circles I travel in. There are two types of people in this world, those who are going to go nuts for six minutes of rudos demolishing some poor bastard's leg, ending in a stretcher job, and those who will not. I travel in the circle where that's pretty awesome.
Jaguar lost his mask to Lestat back in July. They don't get along. Lestat also doesn't get along with the rudos. I have no idea why Disturbio is working the second match on Puebla. Policeman belongs there, sure, but in the best possible way. He's the world's best Rey Apocalipsis and Toro Bill, Jr. partner, and I think that if CHIKARA brought them in to King of Trios next year they'd be a smash hit. Physically, he's a pretty appropriate Disturbio partner too. Just from the get go, it looked like a triple stand off with Lestat and Jaguar pushing each other and Policeman in next to face off against both. Disturbio and Policeman were on the same page though, which was the story of the match.
The primera was serviceable. Jaguar is not exactly dynamic. He wasn't helped by the loss of his mask. Policeman and Lestat were pretty well matched up though, working in and out of holds competently. They did a nice little parallel spot where Policeman faked a test of strength only to go for a leg dive and then a minute or so later, Lestat doing the same thing. That time Disturbio broke up the subsequent submission, and Lestat was pissed at Jaguar for not stopping him, so it was both paralleled and functional in the grand scheme of the match. Disturbio and Policeman were doing over the top high five tags while Lestat seemed annoyed whenever Jaguar wanted him in the ring. They leaned into the animosity more for the fall's finish. Jaguar saved Lestat from a corner whip by flipping him up and onto the apron but then immediately punched him off. He turned around, hit a pick up/drop down on Disturbio and a leglock as Lestat recovered and dove in and over with a body press and rope run up moonsault on Disturbio. Totally functional, serviceable primera with a couple of clever moments.
They got right to it in the segunda. Jaguar got the better of Disturbio in a quick exchange, but then Disturbio drew him in with a handshake allowing Policeman to dropkick him from behind. They darted across the ring to take out Lestat and the leg mauling was on. Like I said, it was about six minutes and very focused Arn and Tully work or Power and Glory vs Rockers Summerslam '90 work. The latter's probably the better example considering where this ended up. None of it was flashy but I'll take focused over flashy anyday. They were unrelenting, stomping and kicking, one holding and one hitting. They pulled him to the post and slammed it and did a double sledge onto leg that was against the post, which was a nice touch. Disturbio put his foot on the back of the leg and stomped it. They draped it over the rope. Polceman came off the second ropes as Policeman held it with a double sledge and later put it over the guard rail on the ramp and just ground it to dust. At one point, Jaguar made it to Lestat but instead of tagging him, he just wiggled his fingers and kicked at him instead. That didn't work out so well though. With Jaguar incapacitated, they took Lestat out soundly, Policeman pinning him after a second rope splash. Then they dragged the carcass of Jaguar back in for a brutal single leg lock. After he submitted, Disturbio turned to hold the leg straight so that Policeman could put all of his weight upon it. Again, nothing groundbreaking, but still really gritty small stuff.
The tercera was short and sweet, functional again, leading to whatever will come next. They pulled Jaguar out, locking his leg in one of the fixed chairs in the audience, and pounded on it some more. That was the end for him, as the stretcher came shortly thereafter. Policeman and Disturbio started back on Lestat, beating him down until Espirtu Maligno came out in all of his goofy glory for the save, setting up, presumably a Lestat/Espirtu Maligno vs Policeman/Disturbio tag, now that Lestat no longer has to look past an old grudge to find a partner to fight them with? Or something. I thought that the nebulous nature of the bad blood and the finish contrasted well with the really focused legwork. Was it a little scattered narratively in that the sympathy was generated by the work on Jaguar, and Lestat's refusal to help him was part of that but the key moment in the end was Lestat being saved by Espirtu Maligno? Sure. At the same time, though, it all felt character driven. There was no moment in the match where someone did something that felt off. Lestat's pride and frustration was obvious. Jaguar made stupid, angry mistakes in hitting his own partner and refusing to work with him, despite how difficult he was being, and that cost him in the end. Disturbio and Policeman were just vultures preying upon the dissention and hacking away at Jaguar's leg.
So yeah, no Space Flying Tiger Drops if you like that sort of thing and no visceral comebacks if you're like me and like that sort of thing, but this was a functional little match with a pretty brutal, very focused segunda.
We take a trip down to Puebla to see a bunch of great under-pimped locals, including our favorite lost but not forgotten chubster.
Toro Bill Sr., Toro Bill Jr. & Policeman vs. Asturiano, Lestat & Centella de Oro CMLL 2/2/09
ER: Man do I love this match. This match is only 5 years old but at times feels like it could be 20 years old or 5 years into the future (where people will still be whining about hoverboard technology). Obviously the immediate standout is Toro Bill Sr., who works and looks like fat Satanico. His brawling is nice but you came for the bumps and Bill delivers the bumps. Aside from just an insane bump to the floor, he takes armdrags more gracefully than most luchadors half his size. Centella de Oro seems like a cool regional Freelance type, though with less flying. His arm drags are gorgeous. Lestat has some cool offenense, Toro Bill Jr. hits an out of control fat guy trainee dive, Policeman works like a cool Dinamitas throwback worker. What makes this match so great is that these are six local guys you had never heard of before, being given an opening slot on a CMLL show, and just completely making the most of it. Maybe an opening match shot on a Monday night Puebla show doesn't sound like a big deal, but nobody told these guys if it wasn't. This felt like their M-Pro Barely Legal showcase, and it delivered. Now 5 years removed, Toro Bill Sr. stopped showing up a year after this match, TBJ shows up sporadically (as recently as last year in CMLL for a few matches), Policeman, Lestat, and Centella de Oro haven't made tape in a few years, and Asturiano still gets pretty regular work in CMLL. So they had their shot, delivered, and things don't always work out. But this match will always exist and will always rule.
