Monday AIW - Double Dare Tournament Night 2 11/5/16

PAS: So in classic Segunda Caida style, I watched night 1 of this tourney a year and a half ago, watched 80% of Night 2, and then it sat in our drafts forever. As part of Monday AIW I decided to finish off this review, and there is some fun stuff here.

Night 1 Review

Jollyville Fuck-Its (Nasty Russ/T-Money) vs. Massage NV (Dorian Graves/VSK)

PAS: Massage NV's gimmick is less rapey when it is against guys, although it is still pretty stupid. Once we got through their shtick and got to the Fuck-Its beating their ass it got pretty fun. T-Money was especially laying in the clotheslines. I wasn't really buying the offense of Massage NV when they had control, although their spot where VSK oils himself up and slides on Graves back into a headbutt is amusing. Finish was pretty great as T-Money nearly murders VSK with a pounce, great bump by VSK he honestly looked like he broke his neck.

ER: I dug this the whole way through. The comedy massage stuff was relegated to the beginning, and then we transitioned suddenly into the violent part of the program. I've never seen Massage NV, but I actually thought the massage stuff was pretty amusing. I don't know how much legs it has (probably not a gag I'm going to be chuckling at during my 5th NV tag) but I got a kick out of them working out T-Money's traps and doing some deep tissue work between the shoulderblades. Maybe it's just because my neck could use a good massage, and watching this is like going to Trader Joe's when I'm hungry. It didn't crop up at all when things got serious (outside of some oil), and I don't think it overstayed its welcome. And the actual tag wrestling we got was really good! Jollyville really laced it in when they finally went on the attack, and I thought NV held up their end. Graves did a great classic bulldog, and I loved a spot where Money missed a charge in the corner and Graves shot out of the corner to knock Russ off the apron. It felt like something the Fuck-Its would do and it was cool to see the tables turned on them. But not long after, T-Money was throwing lariats through them and hitting his big spinebuster, Russ hot tags in and is throwing even harder lariats and whipping VSK violently into a cool as hell spinning blue thunder bomb, all great. I was impressed by Graves throughout; his elbows packed a wallop and he threw his whole body into pinfall saves. VSK's oil slide headbutt was freaking great, he really lawndarted himself into Russ (little did I know what was about to happen). The actual finish was spectacular, Russ planting Graves with a tornado DDT to get him out of the ring, and a shocked VSK taking the absolute worst neck crunching bump off a Pounce that you've seen. He really takes it on the back of his neck, and there's no way someone should be kicking out of that.

Headhunters vs. Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham/Brian Carson

PAS: Short squash as might be expected. You aren't going to have the Headhunters work two long matches on one night. Couple of nasty chairshots and a big second rope splash call it a night. Headhunters v. Fuck-Its is the match I want to see in this tourney.

Team IOU (Nick Iggy/Kerry Awful) vs. To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech/Colin Delaney)

PAS: This match kept bringing me in, losing me and bringing me in again. All of the opening matwork by Iggy and Delaney was cool, as was IOU's double team beat down on Delaney. I thought Cheech's hot tag kind of sucked and the TIB offensive set was full of improbable double teams where their opponents end up suplexing each other. Lots of set up for not a ton of delivery. We had a pretty hot finishing run with Iggy killing folks, and then IOU ends up winning with a goofy "make a guy Canadian Destroyer his own partner finish. It had more I liked then didn't like, but I really didn't like the parts I didn't like.

Tracy Williams/Matt Riddle vs. Crazy Pain (Steve Pain/Gringo Loco)

PAS: When Riddle quit AIW he shit on this match, claiming the promotion jobbed him to "two luchas who couldn't work," but this was one of my favorite Riddle matches of 2016 and Crazy Pain were awesome in it. The match opens with Riddle hitting a flying armbar, and quickly all four guys throw on cool submissions with Riddle and Williams being more shoot and Crazy Pain being more llave. I also loved the story of Pain being a tough motherfucker and refusing to stand down from Riddle's big shots, and Riddle getting pissed that this guy is stepping to him. At one point Riddle eats a bunch of body kicks and hits this great flurry ending with a springboard rana, which he ripped off like he was Soberano or someone. Finish run is pretty dominant for Crazy Pain with them hitting a bunch of big double teams including this awesome move of Pain putting on a step over toe hold on Riddle, quebradoring Williams and holding him as Loco gives him a Demolition Decapitator, I have no idea how it didn't shred Riddle's achilles.  Match end with a clean win for Crazy Pain with Riddle getting Pain Killered on top of Williams. I was expecting this to be a bit of train wreck, but it was awesome instead.

ER: Yeah this ruled, a style clash that I never thought of but loved that it happened. I never heard the Riddle comments at the time, but I have to assume there were two different luchadors, because this was constant fun. I honestly have no clue what part/s Riddle would even be complaining about. I dug all of this. Williams rolling Loco around in painful crossfaces, Pain throwing strikes at Riddle until it kept inevitably blowing up on him, Pain throwing hard elbows but staggering around great to get caught by BroSauce's shots, throw in all the crazy double teams and this was tag mismatch heaven. Riddle's rope walk rana was impressive as hell (weird how everybody has an impressive landing on their flying when Steve Pain is the one whose feet are on the mat), we get a couple big dives to the floor (love Pain vaulting over the ref with a tope con giro), and Phil is damn right about some of the craziness of these double teams; that sequence ending with Williams getting upended by the Decapitation was flat out crazy, but then moments later Loco is vaulting off the top, onto a prone Riddle on Pain's shoulders, and coming off that with a splash on Williams (that isn't far off from him coming in vertically). This was a wild spotfest, a great clash that never crossed my mind as a possibility, the kind of thing that would have made me flip out the whole time live.

Flip Kendrick vs. Eric Ryan vs. Lucky 13 vs. Facade vs. Angel Ortiz vs. Mike Draztik

PAS: Fun six way scramble with three of the eliminated teams trying to one up each other with crazy moves. Eric Ryan was the highlight, taking way too many bumps and doing way too much for a throw away non-tourney match. He has a spot where he three straight topes on three different guys only to tope the ring rail ribs first with the fourth. He also smushes Flip's face with a huge double stomp and gets bealed over the top rope through a barbed wire board to the floor. Ryan is nuts. Kendrick gets the win with some flippy stuff. Nothing I will remember tomorrow outside of maybe Ryan being a loon, but it was a fine use of 8 minutes

Jollyville Fuck-Its (Nasty Russ/T-Money) vs. The Headhunters

PAS: I expected this to be a wild brawl, but it was actually a pretty deliberate Southern tag, with the Headhunters dominating Nasty Russ for a large part of the match. One of the Headhunters missed a second rope senton which let Russ tag in T-Money. T-Money gets a little offense including a great over the top rope tope, but then the Hunters took over again with chair shots. and a nasty Michinoku Driver on two folded chairs. Finish comes with one of the Headhunters missing a moonsault onto the chairs (totally nuts that such a fat old guy is still doing moonsaults) and then Russ hits a crossbody which gets caught and T-Money hits another and they get a banana peel win. The work in this was fine, and the Fuck-Its make surprisingly good underdog babyfaces, but I am not sure why you would book your tough guy team to get dominated by semi-retired fly-ins only to win like the 1-2-3 Kid. If the Headhunters wouldn't cooperate, book Horace Hogan and Crash the Terminator or something.

Team IOU (Kerry Awful/Nick Iggy) vs. Crazy Pain (Gringo Loco/Steve Pain)

PAS: This is a match where despite liking all four guys, I thought it fell a little short of my expectations. Crazy Pain were put over huge in this tournament, as they dominated much of this match too (which is a match structure which doesn't maximize what a pair of big bumping rudos do best.) I have mostly seen the Carnies work heel, so it is strange to see them work strict babyface, Awful is a pretty great hot tag, and I loved his Warriors Way style Earthquake drop. Parts of this just looked a bit ragged, although the structure was good, this was the best Loco's platform dive superfly splash has looked, he really lands on Iggy hard. I have a feeling this would be better now, as they would have a chance to iron out some wrinkles.

No Strings Attached (Alex Daniels/Gregory Iron/Marti Belle/Ray Lyn/Veda Scott) vs. Weird Body/Garry Baller/PB Smooth/Dick Justice/Space Monkey

PAS: I want to start with the positivity. Alex Daniels and Weird Body had some really fun exchanges, with Weird Body taking some really sick bumps on slams and a great looking discuss lariat. Outside of that stuff, this was a rough watch. Lots of borderline non-consensual spots with the Twerk Team, including Dick Justice jamming one Twerk Teams face into the crotch of another, gonzo porn isn't what I want in my wrestling, I guess I am getting to be a prude in my old age. Most of the match is guys cycling through all of their comedy spots, and a lot of the actually wrestling looked pretty bad, with some moves really whiffing. Maybe just fast forward to the Weird Body spots.

Shayna Baszler vs. Britt Baker

PAS: Man Baszler was so great so early. Her she is Fuchi mode for most of the match, twisting and pulling at Baker's joints and limbs, super nasty stuff. At one point she throws Baker to the floor, ties her calves up in the ring barrier, places the ring steps on her back and puts on a camel clutch. Baker gets a couple of spring boards, and some tetchy forearms which Baszler sells her ass off for, before falling to a rear naked choke. Baker was game, but I can imagine this match would have even been better with someone with better looking offense.

Crazy Pain (Gringo Loco/Steve Pain) vs. Jollyville Fuck-Its (Nasty Russ/T-Money)

PAS: This was a lot of fun, but kind of short, and it really makes me want to see a match between these two teams that wasn't a tourney final. First part of the match is all ringside brawling, and these are four pretty great brawlers. Pain and T-Money were especially heavy handed. There was a really cool spot where T-Money goes for his pounce and ends up hanging himself on the second rope, and some really nifty dives by Crazy Pain. It felt a bit abbreviated, as both teams seemed to leave stuff in their bags, but everything we got looked really good.

ER: This did come off short, even though it was 8 solid minutes of action, and I actually liked how fatigued the Fuck-Its came off. They came out selling a tournament's worth of injuries, Russ especially had some great zombie stagger throughout, even while on offense. I thought it played great. The crowd brawl stuff was fine, Russ smacking Loco with his inflatable middle finger before just punching him in the face, people getting tossed through chairs, Loco getting suplexed on the ramp, all done as tired guys who already hurt. Loco and Pain's flip dives were really impressive, super graceful with heavy landings while also looking totally safe. My favorite spot of the match was T-Money missing a Pounce but committing to it, flying hard into the middle ropes and recoiling. It was such a cool moment I wished they had saved it for part of the finish. Crazy Pain brought some mean stuff, like Loco hitting a missile dropkick to start Pain spinning on a blue thunder bomb, or double stomping Russ in the ribs to eat Money's knees on the big splash. Russ breaks out a dragon rana to the floor, which - c'mon, you guys are crazy - and then really gets whipped into the mat on Pain's powerbomb, then rolled directly into the Pain Killer. Russ took the PK better than anyone in the tourney, really getting crazy height and landing flush, looked like something that would finally finish two asskickers.

ER: Another AIW show, another AIW show that lands a couple matches on our 2016 Ongoing MOTY List. I think these two shows had the earliest Jollyville matches I saw, and it's fun looking back before they became my favorite team. The Catch Point/Lucha Base tag was fun as hell, AIW is fun as hell.

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Lucha Underground Season 4 Episode 13: The Circle of Life

ER: I have thoughts on our opening cinematic. I went through a lot of shifting opinions on that thing. So, it was cheesy, but then I started to like it the longer it went on. It moved past typical Lucha Underground locker room fight cinematic and attempted to go full They Live. Obviously there was zero chance they would even approach They Live, and obviously there was very little chance they would even approach a direct to Redbox ripoff of They Live called Aliens Among Us. But they tried to do it and the digital video looked cheap in spots and it had bad early 2000s editing and coloring and they did a bunch of annoying shaky cam on certain impact...but I liked the fact that it took forever. They did something kinda bad but they committed a lot of time to it and that kind of committment means something. There were great moments, like Catrina throwing a freaking chain at Melissa, missing, leading to a great pause in the action as Melissa gives a bitchreally? reaction. You know their acting isn't usually there, but they're going for it and I kind of weirdly like the loving ways they film Melissa and Fenix. It's like when David Lynch makes young love super sunny and optimistic. This last scene felt like a fan made Morrissey video version of that.

TL: LU went from 40 to 22 episodes this season and I feel like the reason that happened was because they needed to budget out this intro sequence. Can’t get over how they use the same sound effects here that they do in the actual matches. It’s truly amazing that they took 11 minutes to tell this story. I do agree they were going for an ode to They Live, but even then, I don’t think I expected this, with Michael Bay-level jump cuts before we get what’s essentially a Power Rangers episode ending at the end with the return of Fenix. These last few weeks, Walk Hard has been prevalent in my meme-like responses to things I’ve been watching, so Fenix coming to and then telling Melissa, “Time travel has changed me” like he’s Dewey Cox coming out of rehab would have absolutely floored me. He had the same vacant look in his eyes, at least. Aerostar obviously repping the Purple Parrots, and he will now head on to the Temple looking for a full pendant. I don’t think there’s a person alive, even the world’s biggest LU fan, who could tell you why this intro happened in the first place. Even if I don’t think it’s good (and it isn’t), I love that it exists. This seems like something that would have been in Florida in the 80’s.

Joey Wrestling vs. Matanza

ER: Joey Mercury on my TV is a great thing in 2018, and he gets a fake Darkness theme song that brings me back to classic WCW straight faced rip off themes and I get a nostalgia kick. And this delivered what I wanted from a Matanza sacrifice match, and that is Joey actually getting a lot of offense and not getting steamrolled in a minute. Wrestling has nice punches and can hit hard on everything, and we get a cool moment were Joey shoulderblocks Matanza through the ropes to the floor. There's a silly spot where Joey no sells a pedigree, which seems a little too 1999 as a competing brand diss (maybe they hired the guy who edited the opening vignette from the same 1999 time machine hiring spree that netted them the guy who laid that spot into the match). Glad they didn't actually murder Joey since they do that now, means I might get to see him again this season and not as a ghost.

TL: Joey had a rough 2018, as he dies here and then fell asleep in his car the morning of All In and was taken to jail, which led to the infamous ending where they couldn’t convince Okada/Scurll to not go 86 minutes and they rushed to a black slate during the main event. I do love he got a good run against Matanza here. Doing the whole blind low blow, then a blatant low blow where there wasn’t a DQ was a hilarious lapse in psychology, but he bumped well enough and was fiery on offense. A no-selling of a Pedigree is fine by me. Best sacrifice match since Vinnie Mass went via death by pizza.

Killshot vs. Big Bad Steve

ER: Steve appears to be walking with a limp and I'm unsure if this dude is just working hurt or he's just got a cool walk, like he installs drywall and also plays on a softball team so has aches, and worries. And it's weird we get a match where Killshot takes more of a match than Matanza took in his match. I don't know what the deal is with Steve's knee or ankle, but I pointed out he was limping and then early in the match Killshot kicks his knee so Steve spends the match selling that leg. A lot of the match was worked around Killshot doing sick experiments on Steve's knee, stomping it and twisting it and doing stupid Killshot kicks to it. It works though, and even the (overly produced) strikes by Killshot work. The sound effects are absurd at this point, but the strikes looked good, even tossed in a nasty backhand. Steve had a big cutter and big powerbomb (yeah yeah the knee) and threw a fantastic overhand right in the corner. Brenda was terrible as Steve's second, even compared to other terrible Brenda performances. Is Steve supposed to be some 50s greaser caricature? He doesn't act like it, but Brenda keeps screeching at him to "Hit him with your hot rod" (which could also be a really confusing attempt at innuendo) and calling him Daddy-o. This got pretty good, though I'm still confused by Steve working a babyface injury from entrance to exit, but also like that we're getting Steve on TV sooo.

TL: THE RETURN OF BIG BAD STEVE, DADDY. The tire rotation tips from Striker during his entrance were terrific, and now I need vignettes of Steve taking care of beaters coming into the shop and grifting folks out of some extra bucks. Meanwhile, Killshot gets the announcers talking about contract kills like he’s gonna be the focus of Season 2 of Killing Eve or something. Finally, Striker uses the word “luchaness.” I dunno, man. Steve sells like hell to get over Killshot’s offense to the previously broken ankle, which I do admit looks better than normal here. Steve’s offense is really good, too, with the cool side suplex reversal off a punch and then a nutty double pumphandle facebuster. Killshot working more like Strickland isn’t bad, per se, but it doesn’t come off as something that looks hurty at all. He’s the guy who benefits most from LU’s overly produced show. Big Bad Steve impresses again, and honesty, him and Havoc as a big/little tag team would be awesome. Promos out by Havoc’s motorcycle with Steve checking his shocks? Sign me up. And sure enough, there’s the play for the apuestas match. Killshot will be Strickland soon enough, methinks.

ER: I had a mechanic a decade or so ago who would offer you a discount if you paid in cash, so he could hide he payments from his ex-wife. That feels like a good bit to have Big Bad Steve doing at his shop.

Pentagon Dark vs. Hernandez

ER: Hernandez is as good a choice as any guy to bring back as Pentagon cannon fodder, but considering we've now seen Pentagon handily dispatch Matanza, Cage (a couple times), the entire roster in Aztec Warfare, and even more than hold his own against Cage/Cuerno in a handicap match, I don't really need to see a competitive match against Hernandez. Pentagon gets the full Sexy Star treatment with sound effects, not taking chances that his light shots won't sound like they're breaking boards. Hernandez tries his greatest hits, hits the big no hands tope which is very much crazy at age 45, hits a nice over the shoulder backbreaker, and tries a cool brick wall spot that Pentagon doesn't help him with at all: Pentagon ran into Hernandez while Hernandez didn't budge, but Pentagon didn't fly off him like he ran into a wall, it made it look like more of a blown spot than a Hernandez power spot. A big part of HHH at peak HHH was getting slightly out of position for opponent's offense or otherwise sandbagging (think him going up slowly for suplexes in his big Eddie singles). Pentagon is truly fulfilling the prophecy. After the match Cuerno attacks Pentagon, and considering he had a tough time with Pentagon while teaming with Cage, and was getting tooled by Ivelisse a few weeks ago, I can't wait to see Cuerno definitely have a chance in this future match!

TL: Triple P out here cutting promos that are longer than they need to be given the guy whose title reign this is patterned off. Hernandez definitely has bigger balls now as he looks considerably smaller than his peak, which, you know, makes sense. He also comes out wearing purple velvet pants, which is definitely a choice. Penta’s off and on offense starts the match, then Hernandez hits his slingshot tackle and his still impressive no-hands plancha. Already losing me and we aren’t even five minutes in after that, though. Just an absolute snail’s pace here, and this is just after what happened in the Killshot match. This is also a perception thing; they’re going for “presence” here by trying to play to the crowd, and it’s just not grabbing me at all. It’s a lucha trope as old as time, but then the work after is important to what they’re playing towards with the crowd work. They don’t have me here with it. Hernandez being gassed here isn’t helping things (as Eric said, he’s 45, and while he’s in great shape, he’s not working nearly as much), as Penta plays really only to what his opponent can do. Eh, who am I kidding. Penta’s on cruise control here. Sudden finish, too. Sure. This was a Pentagon 2018 LU title match. No idea how Penta loses the belt realistically unless it’s to Paul himself, and Cuerno, for being presented as an actual threat? No chance.


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Lucha Underground Season 4 Episode 4: Pain, Love and Sacrifice to the Gods

TL: Catrina trades in the dominatrix starter kit for the Jessica Rabbit dress sans sparkles thanks to a reverse Snow White? I mean, considering the magic threshold on this show, a wardrobe change seems like an odd way to show off your newly stolen lifeforce. Also, I’m sorry, but the dude’s LITERALLY NAMED FENIX. As in, HE RISES FROM THE DEAD. How are we not supposed to see him coming back from the dead after this? “Hey, Mark. We’re gonna call you Big Mac not because you’re super strong and your last name is McGwire, but because you’re a big fan of Burger King.” Zigging when they should zag, man.

Also, we get Striker saying Famous B might need a literal leg amputation due to what Jake Strong did to him two weeks ago, which is less believable than anything that happened with Catrina to open the show.

Big Bad Steve vs. Jake Strong

ER: Damn this was shaping up to be my favorite match of the new season, as it had the pacing of a cool big dude stiff fest (really looking forward to see what Google hits we get from "big dude stiff fest"), but then it kind of quickly flipped switch into full Jake Strong showcase squash. Strong and his flesh beard still come off a little mouth breath-y, but with Steve's bumping he came off pretty badass. Steve threw a couple of thee fucking best punches of 2018 in the middle of this, throwing one corker, and than a wrist bending shot right off Strong's forehead, staggering him. Strong had big shots to the gut, hard back elbows, stiff avalanche, wrestling tougher than I expected from his Impact run. After the match Strong hits a nasty powerbomb on the floor, Steve really getting planted. This was cool, really could have been awesome with a bit more time.

TL: Not gonna lie: Kinda want a shirt with the Big Bad Steve logo on it. The fact they actually made a logo for him is awesome considering a lot of folks in WWE can’t even get a damn shirt made. Steve has some great right hands as previously mentioned, as someone named Big Bad Steve should have, but they just look nasty as all hell, even with Strong’s stiff strikes going right back at him. Really shows how even the simplest of offense can make someone look good like that. We lost our boy Pindar due to beheading at the end of last season, so I’m definitely down to see Steve in his place as burly base with good looking offense. Strong squashes are necessity due to what they want him to be this season, but yeah, I wish this had more back and forth to it. Still, a good piece of business, as the kids say.

TL: As good as lucha masks and sweet suits are, lucha masks and cowboy hats are basically right there with them, and Cuerno makes it look good. Cage gets to flex and flex into a Muertes match next week and yeah, I am on board for that.

Daga/Kobra Moon vs. Johnny Mundo/Taya

ER: Really fun match, Mundo and Taya working full on babyface, and Taya looks to be having a blast with it, and it's kind of infectious. She really laid it in too, hitting some spirited back elbows and strikes, kicking Moon in the back of the head and hitting a sick curb stomp that bounced her forehead off the mat. Mundo hit his timing spots nicely, he and Taya actually come off tas the rare cool "shades of gray" characters, that can work either way one week to the next. Moon took a nice beating here, and Daga runs nicely into Mundo kicks. I liked this a lot more than I expected (just like Strong's performance, I must be in a real good mood, leaded instead of unleaded.

TL: I really want to like Daga because he’s got the athleticism and looks like a guy who can hang either as a tecnico or rudo, but he just doesn’t have charisma like you’d think. Taya was the standout here, doing a good lucha sequence with Daga and just bringing the stiffness with her strikes. That curbstomp was NASTY, as was PJ Black’s kick to set it up. Don’t know if I liked it as much as Eric, but it certainly didn’t suck.

ER: We're definitely into Leaded territory here because I dug that Vibora wrecking ball segment after the mixed tag. Vibora hitting goateed lizard cannonballs and big boots was apparently just what I needed.

TL: So Vibora goes off in the offseason and has some honest-to-god improved offense and looks like way better ring presence. Suffice to say, if this Vibora is the one we get this year, count me in.

Mr. Pectacular vs. Matanza

ER: I didn't feel like seeing Mr. Pectacular (although maybe in my good mood I'd like him in a gassed Power Plant trainee kind of way), and Matanza puts in a nice unlocked and unleashed squash. He hits a cool twisting back suplex after throwing Pecs into the corner, and then hits probably his greatest Wrath of the Gods, stopping, pivoting, feet leaving the mat to slam him the other way. A nice comeback for a person who murdered someone by ripping their face off a couple seasons ago.

TL: Pec just makes me miss Tino Sabbatelli (who, coincidentally has a pec injury right now), but he takes a great beating here. The Matanza body control points have been pointed out time and time again by us, but this was it at the top of its game. Everything had extra oomph to it, and sign me up for an unleashed Matanza, which was my favorite part of Season 2. This was a Mil Muertes-level squash here.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. King Cuerno

ER: Wasn't expecting the comeback of Chavo, and it's good to see him still. a guy who should get more credit for what he's done. Chavo can still put on a good show, limps out a tweaked knee, hits a heavy crossbody, bumps hard over the top the floor, eats a chairshot, do some nice balance beam fight work around the raised barrier (which Cuerno hits a great high crossbody off of); Chavo is like the better version of David Sierra, and that's a good thing. We do get an unfortunately messy teeter totter spot, with Chavo setting up way close to the ropes, but Cuerno got through the spot well, and hit his bullet dive right after, which was convenient timing. I thought both came off well overall, but Cuerno came off stronger and that's more important.

TL: It’s funny that Eric waxes strong on Chavo to begin this after what I said about Muertes in our last review. Totally agree that he’s underrated in a way, and that he’s done a lot in a career that’s basically a quarter century long. I think I might be higher on Cuerno than other people, as I always liked his offense, and he shows off some personality here, too, playing to the crowd and helping build to the big spots, like the aforementioned bullet tope (preceded by an awesome top rope sunset flip). Guerrero shtick never really gets old, and Chavo knows how to do little things in matches that stick out. Enjoyable stuff and yeah, a good ending to a good top-to-bottom episode. The further we are away from the season premiere, the more this is turning into a show I enjoy watching again.

ER: My favorite episode of the season so far, We got manageable length matches with big dudes doing cool spots, just a really fun quick moving show. Felt exciting and action packed.


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Lucha Underground Season 4 Episode 2: Darkness and the Monster

ER: When I told Tim I was done reviewing the 2nd episode of the season I believe his exact words were "Good lord you watched the 2nd episode!?" I never knew when to quit.

TL: Good lord, watching the recap of the season premiere just brought back some terrible memories, and then the video package literally finished with the following Matt Striker quote: “Destruction has torn through this virgin domain.” I don’t even want to know where he got the idea for that line, and I now feel more gross for having watched it. Must’ve blocked it out the first time he said it.

Catrina needs to get her lifeforce back, Cuerno doesn’t give a shit, and I just want to know what local Orange County Republican donor so graciously gave the production team access to his hunting lodge for this incredible piece of acting.

The Mack/Killshot/Son of Havoc vs. Big Bad Steve/Sammy Guevara/Jake Strong

ER: I was pretty surprised to see the big reaction for Jack Swagger. Is that a guy that people are excited to see in 2018? I mean we saw hundreds of Swagger matches. Did anybody think there was some untapped potential, something that we didn't see in those matches that can now be tapped, now that he's untethered by The Man? He certainly doesn't do anything here that makes me ache to see more. We've seen enough standing ankle locks, though Sammy Guevara certainly makes his postmatch falling lariat look fantastic. Mack had a lot of great moments here, bumping big to the floor, hitting a great Pounce as Guevara flew backwards off the top, and throwing several nice strikes at Strong while Strong stood there holding an ankle lock like a doof. Steve Pain is a guy who needs to be in this kind of match way more, instead he kind of hangs back and eats a stunner at the end. You know what kind of great base shit Steve can do, let me see Killshot and Havoc work off that more, not trade flips with Guevara.

TL: I can’t get over how Infamous Inc. gets introduced between Famous B’s bad Stokely impression and Brenda’s terrible screeches, but yeah, I was surprised with Strong’s pop, too. Considering what just happened at All In in regards to the “hip” wrestling fan’s views, just no longer being associated with WWE makes you that much better in their eyes, I guess. It’s also interesting to watch Killshot in this environment now considering he’s presented as a big deal both in MLW and EVOLVE, and especially after he ended Season 3, he’s almost just another guy here, and gets outshined by Guevara pretty heavily. Love that Big Bad Steve was here specifically to take the fall, like he was the guy under the Yellow Dog hood or something. Like most matches in LU, lot of guys not used correctly while one guy gets the shine. This was used as a vehicle to get Strong over, but he didn’t do much in a way that makes me want to see more of him.

Drago vs. Dragon Azteca Jr.

ER: This was fine, and was more than I'd enjoyed Drago in awhile. I thought a lot of his kicks looked good, liked his fast roll-up, took a big suplex bump off the bottom buckle, hit a slingblade that actually made it look like a move that would hurt someone (although it's odd he's still doing it in a fed where Pentagon is champ). Now, some of that MAY have been Azteca having no problem being flung onto the back of his head, but it looked good is what I'm getting at. Azteca is a guy who seems to relish getting dropped on his head, and he's often busy in matches, always thinking, always there with a spit take to sell a strike...and it's good, but I wonder if it wouldn't come off better if he were less busy? I think he needs to let things sink in a little, breathe a bit.

TL: Ah yes, the ol’ lucha mirror sequence standoff. Surprised it took this long in the season to get our first one, honestly. After that, I actually liked this more than I thought I would. One thing I hate about those mirror sequences is that they’re always just for show, but then the two big sequences after this were just as quick, but led to one guy getting the advantage instead of something more than an exhibition. I’m a huge fan of rollups off the top as finishers; thought it was awesome when Sin Cara would do it during his Lucha Dragons days. Agree that Azteca is better playing from underneath than 50/50, as his time across from Matanza was his best stuff. Guess the postmatch is to set up Kobra/Taya, which is a shrug emoji for me, but at least we got a good foul from Johnny on Drago.

ER: Catrina had a so-so wig in season 3, so I guess I shouldn't be too shocked by how outright bad Cueto's wig is, but....for all the money they spend on other things, you'd thing they'd have a respectable wig budget. A good wig is expensive, and it feels like something that an executive saw and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. "I'm fine shelling out money for Godfrey, but you expect us to pay HOW much to give this woman bangs?"

TL: I think the Cueto facial hair trips me out more than the Doc Brown wig, and I do love that he has that one weird eye. Wardrobe for this show is just so weird, which I guess is part of the appeal, but yeah, there were definitely some choices made in this vignette.

Pentagon Dark vs. Matanza

ER: This wasn't bad, but we got a comical overuse of the gunshot thigh slap effect on the majority of Pentagon's strikes, which really does a lot of them a disservice. If they were a bit more selective then they would mean more. Matanza really busted ass to make Pentagon look like a big deal. It's weird seeing Matanza work from behind most of the match considering he entered the fed as Zeus, but it was great seeing him fly hard into a bunch of chairs around ringside. I liked the gunshot sound effect when Pentagon chopped the ringpost, and liked the ping of Matanza's mask hitting the ringpost. Matanza's throws all looked predictably good, but Pentagon is so damn uninteresting the way he takes them and then just opts to go back on offense. The end run was good and a believable way to put down a monster, with a series of flipping piledrivers and a package piledriver, but Pentagon just isn't interesting to me at this point. Maybe saying Cero Miedo another dozen times per match will help? Real fine Matanza performance here, propping up a guy who seems a bit too preoccupied with being cool, instead of just being good.

TL: It’s really weird to see Matanza go from this unstoppable monster to just a dude with a weird mask and some great power offense, but I guess you can’t book a guy like that forever. Penta just outworked Kenny F’n Omega at All In, showing up the supposed Workrate King on his own damn produce show in his own house style, and there are WWE rumblings with him, so after a stinker of an Aztec Warfare, I’m stoked that he brought it here against Matanza. A lot of that is because you basically have to if you want to make it look like you took down Matanza in any believable way, but this was still another match that exceeded my expectations, and it was necessary to push Penta as The Guy in the promotion. I do agree this was more about Looking Cool than Beating Matanza, but it’s better than the alternative that we’ve seen from Penta time and time again.

TL: Jeremiah Crane being a horn dog for Catrina is a bit too on the nose for me but he got his ass righteously whooped in the last Grave Consequences match he was a part of so I’m ready for that, at least.


COMPLETE GUIDE TO LUCHA UNDERGROUND

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AIW Double Dare Tournament Night 1 11/4/16

After really loving AIW Absolution show this year, I got pretty excited that Powerbomb.tv was going to start putting up AIW shows. They didn't have anything from 2017 up yet, but this was a super intriguing set of shows from 2016 a big tag tourney full of fun teams.

Space Justice (Space Monkey/Supercop Dick Justice) v. To Infinity and Beyond (Cheech/Colin Delaney

PAS: Space Justice had their Chikara shit they had to shoehorn in, and it was pretty groan worthy. When this wasn't half assed junior college improv troupe stuff, the wrestling was pretty good. Justice is a really fat dude, he looks like a less athletic Ron Jeremy, but he looked pretty good doing some lucha exchanges with Colin Delaney, he also took a great looking bump on a Delaney dive. The finishing run had some nice fancy stuff, and ended with a double team Kudo driver on Space Monkey which seemed like way too mean of a finish for a comedy guy to have to take.

ER: I showed up to this party mostly to watch my boy Weird Body, but caught the end of this one, and Phil is right, that Kudo driver is WAY too nasty to use against freaking Space Monkey. They practically dropped him vertically, seconds after he was doing comedy Baba chops (and some surprisingly nice headbutts to the midsection). Dick Justice is fat enough that I probably need to seek out more of him.

Jollyville Fuck-Its (T-Money/Dirty Russ) v. Weird World (Worldwide Alex Kellar/ Weird Body Evan Adams)

PAS: One of the reasons I was most excited to dig into this show was to see more Fuck-Its, and they didn't disappoint. Weird Body is one of the oddest looking wrestlers in the world, he has this hesher hair and a famine victim physique, but being such a tiny guy he takes a huge impressive beating. Worldwide is a big dude who kind of looks and wrestles like a young Bugsy McGraw, and he basically uses Weird Body as a weapon. Meat of the match is the Fuck-Its laying a beating on Weird Body which is exactly what I want. T-Money does multiple violent bodyslams that feel like they might break him in half, at one point T-Money hits the pounce and Weird Body flies violently into the ropes. Really fun beating, great first round match from the Boys from Jollyville.

ER: This was really fun, Weird Body is just totally entertaining to me, for reasons I can't explain. Maybe it's because his body looks like the David Cross acid bath character in the Mr. Show Titannica sketch, probably more because I've always been drawn to the weirdos and the chubsters and the freaks in my pro wrestling. Now that Ellsworth is out of WWE, I can't think of anybody more worthy of a strange Gowen/Delaney/Ellsworth contract. I guarantee you Weird Body would get over in WWE. Bring him in, sell a few t-shirts, send him to 205 Live, quietly release him. Then someday Chikara will bring in Delaney/Weird Body/Ellsworth for their trios tourney. And yes, this match is what I wanted it to be. I have absolutely no clue how long Adam's weird body will actually be able to hold up to pro wrestling bumps. He has absolutely nothing except his skeleton to absorb the shock. I imagine there is a finite amount of brutal T-Money bodyslams he'll be able to take before his skeleton just shatters apart, ruining the lives of everyone in attendance. But until then, we get to see him getting pounced violently into the ropes and getting suplexed while atop another man's shoulders. Alex Kellar has preposterously small "over trunks", as if he stole them from Adams. He borrows his boy's trunks, he needs to do a better job of protecting him from savages like T-Money! T-Money really did look awesome, and I don't think it was because he mostly matched up with a guy smaller than any female wrestler. Money has a Chris Dickinson aggressive jerk vibe, smashing headbutts and full force. Weird Body has some fun offense, most of it ineffective due to his size, so you see him hit a crossbody with his opponent draped over the ropes and instinctively go OH! and then immediately realize oh wait he's 85 pounds. But no matter, this was a blast. Finish is great as Russ drops a huge elbow/senton off the top (like Izu's old falling meteor)on Kellar, and Weird Body bursts in with the save!! Which is a huge mistake, as T-Money then wastes him, and Kellar gets pinned anyway.

Massage NV (Dorian Graves/VSK) v. Twerk Time (Marti Belle/Ray Lynn)

PAS: Ick. Massage NV's gimmick is that they give unwanted massages to their opponents to unnerve them, so watching them work a team of women was basically Harvey Weinstein the wrestling match. Even worse, Twerk Time are part of Gregory Iron and Alex Daniels crew, so team inappropriate touch were the baby faces. No one in this match seemed particularly good at straight wrestling (Marti Belle was famously the worst part of the MYC) so the parts of this that were a standard match weren't good either. This was gross and I wish the OCD completist part of my brain allowed me to tap out after the first minute or so.

FBI (Tracy Smothers/Little Guido) v. Team IOU (Nick Iggy/Kerry Awful)

PAS: Lots of pre-match horseshit with Smothers coming out with a Cubs shirt and Cubs flag to taunt the Cleveland audience. Smothers is a master of cheap heat, and it feels like he is beneath baseball team cheap heat, he wasn't bringing his best. Smothers is clearly in the no bumps portion of his career, which is fine his chops and karate thrusts still looked good. Not sure why Guido isn't booked all over the place, he still looked really good and the initial takedown and grappling section with Iggy was the highlight of the match for sure. Match itself was about half as long as the pre game stuff, and was a fine but unmemorable use of all four guys. Looking forward to seeing what IOU/Carnies did for the rest of the tourney.

Tracy Williams/Matt Riddle v. EYFBO (Mike Draztik/Angel Ortiz)

PAS: This was an enjoyable tag. I was really impressed how good EYFBO looked when they were doing some grappling early, you would expect them to get smoked, but they both looked good. There was a longish beatdown section on Riddle with a bunch of fun double teams, including an insanely high cannonball by Draztik. There was some SAT memorial silly double teams, including a goofus looking romero special on one guy, camel clutch another guy which definitely was the result of some stoned late night brainstorming. Finish run was exciting including a brutal tombstone right into a German finish by the Catch point team. Didn't out stay it's welcome and had some real exciting moments. Good stuff.

ER: I really liked this, and liked how it kind of evolved out of a semi-joking around atmosphere (fitting in with the rest of the card) into violence, big risks and some big nearfalls. I thought the early wrestling was really good, haven't seen anything close to this interesting from them during their entire Impact run. And during the opening half we get a nice look at what a solid underdog babyface Riddle is. He's an amazing athlete but his athleticism can cause him to go overboard on offense sometimes. Here we get to see his athleticism putting over the attacks from EYFBO and it makes them look like credible threats. The (brief) comedy moments are kept during the moments where EYFBO is cutting off the ring, so the match never stopped for everybody to work a bit, it was instead worked in as heel taunting: Ortiz posing while throwing weak mocking stomps to Riddle, or breaking out several backrakes while isolating him in their corner (though on a show where Weird Body already did an electric chair backrake, we had already reached peak backrake). It all lead to a super hot tag to Williams (perhaps Fiery Hot Sauce?) that sees him sprint across the ring to boot Draztik in the face, then kicking at him until he's off the apron, and hitting a nasty back elbow on Ortiz. We get hot nearfalls, some awesome BroSauce double teams, a dope Ortiz tope con giro through the ropes that smashes Williams into the guardrail, Riddle's big splat senton, just a super hot finish. The match built nice and really exploded.

Crime Tyme (JTG/Shad Gaspard) v. Brian Carson/Dr. Daniel C. Rockingham

PAS: I am too old to get any nostalgic thrill out of semi-crappy early 2000s racist WWE gimmicks. This was fine, but if you are going to book the Gangstas, book the Gangstas not some ripoff team aimed squarely at the Trump voter inside of Vince. This had some amusing shtick from the student team who cheated a bunch, until Crime Tyme got pissed and smacked Carson with the hoverboard in front of the ref. I did like the part where they blew a leapfrog and JTG started potatoing Dr. Dan, outside of that it was very skippable.

Crazy Pain (Steve Pain/Gringo Loco) v. NES (Facade/Flip Kendrick)

PAS: Always happy to see Segunda Caida favorite Flip Kendrick, having two great rudo bases like Pain and Loco is a perfect fit for all of Kendricks fancy shit. Liked the early lucha rope running section, both Pain and Loco are crazy agile for portly dudes. We had a rudo beatdown, which including Loco hurling Kendrick in the air into a Loco cutter. Cool dive section with a nutso multi spin dive by Flip and a fun finish run, with the rudos really winning convincingly with Pain hitting the painkiller and slamming Facade hard on Kendrick. This probably maxed out as a fun IWRG opening tag, but I really like IWRG opening tags.

ER: This was a perfect vehicle for the super impressive lucha stylings of Loco and Pain. Both have big bellies and seem like they have only grown since buying their ring gear, but damn are they just as quick as any tiny flier out there. The rope running and armdragging to start was maybe my favorite I've seen all year, just gorgeous stuff and the kind of flippery I love. Facade is a guy I always forget that I like, as I see him on sight and immediately go "ugh look at this guy" but he brings big strkes from weird angles, really feels more complete than a lot of juniors. Also, tagging people's signs during his ring entrance is a genuinely cool touch. The flying in this had a nice dangerous feel to it, as after we get past the super fast armdrags and quick exchanges, we get into some daredevil flying, quick ranas (Pain and Loco take fast ranas perfectly) big power moves (that alley oop into the cutter Phil mentioned was insane), the whole thing was tons of fun.

Headhunters v. Lucky 13/Eric Ryan

PAS: Pretty shocked that the Headhunters have all four of their feet at this point, much less actually moving around pretty good. Lucky 13 and Ryan are deathmatch guys brought in to eat the bumps for the Headhunters and both guys get killed and bleed all over the place. Headhunters really weren't taking bumps, but they were getting hit hard with chairs, and one of them even takes a Van Daminator from 13. Hunters are still flying, with each Hunter hitting a tope rope splash and one of them hitting a splash off the ring apron crushing a plastic table. I have no idea where the Headhunters had been for the last 20 or so years, but for nostalgia guys they looked pretty good.

PAS: Nothing blow away from the first night, but all of the right teams advanced for the most part, and I dug the Fuck-Its beating of Weird World, lucha tag, Catch Point and the Headhunters. Very excited for night 2.

ER: I greatly enjoyed the matches I watched , and we decided that the BroSauce and Pain/Loco AND the Weird World tags deserved a spot on our 2016 Ongoing MOTY List. AIW delivers the goods, again.

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AIW Absolution 7/21/17

Dominic Garrini v. The Duke

PAS: This was kind of an odd match. Duke is a heel manager who looks like a Illinois High School Defensive Line coach. You would think Garrinni would just squash him, but it was a really competitive match with Duke kicking out of a piledriver, throwing back suplexes, escaping submissions ect. Duke is a big dude, but it is weird to have a manager take 60% of a match with suplexes and not eye pokes. If you were watching the match in a vacuum the work was pretty good, and Garrinni is always worth checking out, still the booking was goofus.

Frankie Flynn v. PB Smooth

PAS: I had seen both of these guys in CWF before but they both looked better here, working with people you are familiar with can be really helpful. Smooth is listed at 7 feet tall and is probably legit 6'9 or so. He had really nice power moves including some nice bodyslams and a great chokeslam. Flynn works over the knee and does a nice job working it over, and Smooth does a nice consistent job selling it. Finish has the ref distracted while Flynn's crew attacks Smooth, while everyone is confused Flynn clips Smooth's knee with the rookie trophy and puts his feet on the ropes for the win. I enjoyed this, basic match, but well done and I would enjoy seeing either guy against Cain Justice in CWF-MA for the RGL belt.

Britt Baker v. Swoggle

PAS: This was a comedy fans bring the weapons match between a midget and a woman with a lot of mishigas, lots of run ins including Dick Justice doing a flip flop and fly and Space Monkey doing a Orihara moonsault. Swoggle took some semi-nasty garbage bumps including going but first into carpet tacks and getting barbed wire up his nose. I was semi amused by Swoggle taking a bump into Lucky Charms like they were thumbtacks. The finish had Adam Cole run in under a mask and clean out the heels so Baker could get the win. I am not a Cole guy, but he seems like a pretty big star to book for a surprise run in on a comedy match.

Eddie Kingston v. Tom Lawlor

PAS: I am always very happy to see a big time Eddie Kingston singles match. Kingston isn't going to grapple with you, so this had less jujitsu rolling then the other Lawlor matches I have watched, but they replaced with grappling with Kingston chops and backfist to the face. This was these guys doing an All Japan main event and Kingston's selling put it at a higher level then most matches of this style.  Every shot was impactful and every suplex was compressing. Lawlor has really good looking suplexes and is willing to take an asskicking. Lawlor does his neck snap move and Kingston sells it like it gave him nerve damage. Even the suplex no sell section had Kingston fighting through adrenaline and both guys collapse on their face. Finish was pretty great with Lawlor turning a Tazmission into a nasty ground and pound into a guillotine. Loved Kingston fighting from the ground until he ate one too many elbows and slumped unconscious.

ER: These two matched up great, and I think they used the right percentage of each man's strength. Kingston is a furious striker who often gets into fights with better strikers, and still brings it even as you can see his life meter draining the whole match. Lawlor comes out looking like Chuck Liddell and messes around by immediately flopping to his back. Kingston is game and I loved this front to back. Kingston tries his luck with some go behinds, lands some shots, and the longer the match goes - as Phil says - Kingston makes this mean so much more with his elite selling. Watching him go for a strike and become aware of numbness in his arm, or watching him take a strap down only to stumble down to a knee, things like that are part of what I love about pro wrestling. Suplex trading is almost always an instant fart noise in a match for me these days, but I love how these two handled it. Lawlor's first two Germans were absolute beasts. I don't know if he was planning this but I love that he played to the camera side with them, showing us the full side angle of the suplex. It really allowed us to see every step of it. Kingston is not a small guy and seeing the lift and the the throw and the landing was awesome.  Both guys throw full strength and I thought it was a big moment once Kingston got up and threw Lawlor. None of this felt like fighting spirit, it felt like typical Kingston not knowing when to quit. Kingston is a guy who quits when his body quits. He's still able to fire off some backfists, and that fist is always his ace in the hole, but you can't hit that backfist when you're on your back getting elbowed in the face. Lawlor locks in a tight standing guillotine and you can see Kingston fighting forward, trying to back Lawlor up, but smartly tapping. Awesome performance from both, killer style clash.

Ethan Page v. Shawn Schultz

PAS: This was a bullrope match, and a pretty well done one. Shultz is a southern guy who I remember enjoying in SAW. He has really nice downward punches, and for a guy billed as the master of the eye rake, he has a great eye rake. This could have used some blood, there were multiple times I assumed Page was about to blade, but he didn't, still Shultz had some really nasty choking with the rope. I also really enjoyed the crowd brawling, mostly fighting through the crowd rather then hair pulling and walking. Finish was slightly anti-climactic as Page just hit three uranages and dragged Shultz around to the corner, although overall the match exceeded expectations.

Chase Oliver/Garrison King/Joshua Bishop/Tre Lamar/AJ Gray  vs. Jollyville Fuck-Its (Russ Myers & T-Money)/Matt Justice/Young Studs (Bobby Beverly & Eric Ryan)

PAS: Man did I love this match. The concept is a group of AIW students challenged team of old school AIW guys. The first section of this match has the Old AIW laying a 75% Kurisu level beating on the rookies. Matt Justice nearly beheads Tre Lamar with a leg lariat, the Jollyville Fuck Its (who are a team I love and I need to seek out more of) have this great spot where T-Money puts Lamar in an airplane spin and Russ just punches him in the face on every spin. Garrison King has light up shoes an awesome secondary nickname (Garry "The King" Baller) and takes an absolute shellacking. After a really long one sided beating the rookies get a bit of an advantage with AJ Gray (who is sort of a ringer) and that leads into this awesome dive train, with Chase Oliver doing a Taka moonsault to the floor, Lamar hitting an insane looking Fosbury flop, Gray hitting a skytwister off the top and Justice Davey Boy Smith style powerslamming King off the top rope into a crowd on the floor. Finish run is pretty bonkers with everyone hitting big moves until the rookies get the big upset win. Batshit spotfest, with the old school team beatdown leading to a real structure that most of these kind of matches lack.

ER: This was the best. I had seen only a few of the guys in this match before, and a couple only because of one-off CWF appearances. The match is like a wrestling school horror story mixed with a prison drama, where 5 guys pay off the guards to look the other way while they lay a beating on the fresh fish. King draws the short straw and gets wasted by all of Old AIW. It never feels as unprofessional as Kurisu shoot KOing a rookie, but we get all sorts of slams and chops, the kind of slams that you know left some tingling fingers, and the kind of chops where they were being held prone and unable to defend. Matt Justice is a guy I'd never seen and came off as badass as Drew Galloway, just a big dude who can move as fast as anyone in the ring, and probably hit harder. His shotgun kick really was decapitating, and his chops to the chest and back played as the best chops in a match filled with sick chops, and his knee drop ranks among the best in wrestling. JFI are a killer team and their tag ins and doubles teams always brought the violence. T-Money came off like Sweet Brown Sugar in some of those violent 80s squashes, using impressive agility and stiff work. I can't believe the top rope didn't snap when he leapt over Myers and crashed full weight onto his opponent, and I loved him catching a Chase Oliver rana and powerbombing him into the buckles. Myers threw a bunch of nice punches, and that airplane spin with Myers throwing a punch to the ear every rotation was a riot! And for good measure he went and punched the rest of the New AIW in the head on the apron. Old AIW was clearly filled with glee at the beating they were delivering.

But the strength of the match was how genuinely and appropriately they sold New AIW's offense. This wasn't some Japanese match where the veterans puff out their chests and no sell every shot from the rookies, not even close. When Bobby Beverly got hit with a huge pop up double stomp to the chest it felt like a huge moment. And as Beverly lay on the mat we got a great shot of the beaten and tired New AIW standing on the apron, rooting him on, with King pulling himself up from the floor and slowly up each rope to root on his team. The dives really were a spectacular bunch of dives, with Lamar's super high leap Fosbury Flop being a standout, but that powerslam winning on craziness. Each dive was reckless and felt big, like New AIW had just taken their beating like men, and here we are STILL doing crazy shit. The spots in this were great, but there was real meat on these bones, the story an old and simple one, but one that almost always delivers. Every bit of this ruled.

Mia Yim vs. Shayna Baszler

PAS: These ladies had a very good match in the Mae Young Classic, that was more of a sprint, this was more a slow building title match, I am a bit torn to which I liked more. Shayna was great here, taking apart Yim's leg, low kicks to the thigh, nasty ankle joint manipulations, methodical and nasty, like if Ole studied ju-jitsu. Loved how the legwork came into play in the finish with Yim unable to fully lift Shayna for the package piledriver (which had beaten Shayna in their previous AIW matchup) she only got a close two count. When she goes for a second piledriver, Baszler slinks out hits an awesome gutwrench, and transitions into a brutal looking ankle lock for the tap. I am not sold on Yim's offense, but she did a great job selling and this was a really nifty match.

ER: I like how these two match up so it wasn't much of a shock that I enjoyed this. I loved Baszler going after Yim's leg the whole match, and thought Yim sold it nicely. After Yim misses an axe kick Baszler takes her down by grabbing her plant leg and we don't really look back. Baszler starts twisting at Yim's leg, kneeling on the inside of her knee, standing on her knee, stomping at her ankle, and I loved Yim trying to butt scoot away. Things peak when Yim attempts a cannonball in the corner, and Baszler leaps out of the corner with a knee. The knee looked flat out devastating, timed perfectly. It looked so damn good it was almost a shame that they had more match in them. But we still got cool moments the rest of the way, and I dug the shifting momentum gutwrench, thought Yim had a nice high knee of her own, always like that short clutch piledriver, super fun match.

Alex Daniels v. Joey Janela

PAS: Pretty fun Absolute title defense. Shortish spotfest sprint which is what Daniels does best. I haven't been following this fed, but out of context Gregory Iron as a heel is really weird. It just doesn't feel right to be cheering Janela beating the shit out of a guy with Cerebral Palsy. Iron takes a whooping too, big bumps and some nasty kicks to the face. I don't get why Daniels uses that brutal looking brainbuster throw into the corner as a set up move, but at least it lead right into a second slam and a two count here. Liked the finish, earlier in the match Iron rang the bell when Janela had Daniels in the crossface, here Janela puts the crossface on both of them until Daniels passes out. Nifty match which didn't wear out it's welcome.

Crazy Pain (Gringo Loko/Steve Pain) v. DJ Z/Laredo Kid v. NES (Facade/Flip Kendrick) vs. To Infinity and  Beyond (Cheech/Colin Delaney)

PAS: This reminded me of one of those IWRG school v. school ciberneticos, bunch of nuts just trying every insane move they can dream up. Delany does a baseball slide to the floor while german suplexing the guy in the ring, Facade does a rope walk Canadian destroyer, Flip hits a Code red into the turnbuckles, and on and on. Love Steve Pain, he is one of the best rudo bases in the world and he just flies with every rana and armdrag. Match really falls apart unfortunately as Flip does a 630 to the floor and cracks his skull either on the ringapron or floor. Everyone understandably freezes and they never really get their rhythm back. Finish has Loko faking another heart attack, and it is tough to do a worked injury angle moments after a real injury. This was apparently a rematch of an earlier match, and it did really make me want to check that one out.

Josh Prohibition v. Louis Lyndon v. Tim Donst v. Tracy Williams

PAS: I really enjoyed the opening sections of this match, which were mostly spirited crowd brawling. Lyndon was nuts, armdragging Williams into a row of chairs and hitting a rana off the merch table. I also enjoyed the Prohibition v. Donst brawling with Prohibition dumping an entire garbage can full of wet garbage on Donst's head, there was a moment where the moist garbage water cascades down his legs that was a disturbing as any death match bump. The match unfortunately really falls apart when everyone gets back into the ring Donst brings in a bunch of plunder and just kind of stands around for a bit until he is attack. Prohibition handcuffs him and they do this bad section where everyone is about to hit him but gets cut off (this included Williams preparing to chair shot Donst and then for some reason placing the chair against his own cheek to get dropkicked, painfully bad looking). There is then a long set up of chairs and fight on the top rope between Prohibition and Donst while I assume Lyndon and Williams went and got dinner or something. Just a mess. Post match Nick Gage comes out as a surprise to challenge Donst, and Nick Gage is always an awesome surprise.

PAS: Overall this was a really great show, three matches that make our MOTY list, two really high, and only the main event was actively bad. I wish AIW was a little easier to get, but I think I will be sending some more dough to SMV.

ER: Any time a show lands 3 matches on our Ongoing MOTY List, you know it's quality. I came away really impressed by some people I had never watched before, and that's always quality wrestle watching.

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Matches from AIW Bloodsport 9/9/16

1. Shawn Schultz vs. Tim Donst vs. Eric Ryan vs. Facade

ER: I haven't seen three of these guys before, and it's obviously been several years since I've seen Donst. Donst used to have his amateur wrestling body and gimmick, but now he's been clearly inspired by Kevin Owens' WWE success and Ethan Page's continuing Evolve push, so has modeled his look more after them. I came away from this really impressed by Eric Ryan, and also Facade. Facade looked like a guy playing a club promoter in the movie Strange Days. But he ties togther his indy offense nicely and adds nice thump to his transition strikes, feels much more like a late 90s OMEGA guy like Shannon Moore, than your current breed of similar indy workers who have flash but all their tie-together stuff looks garbage. Ryan was killer, moved really fast and took big bumps, hit some nice power offense. Best spot was him going for a suicide dive early, and his opponent just moves, and Ryan literally just does a suicide dive into the guardrail. Whole match was built around Donst in the crowd not wanting to wrestle, so you knew he was going to come in and win. But this was worth it just for the Ryan/Facade parts.

2. Eddie Kingston vs. Dan Severn

ER: Neat little 4 minute match, cool enough that had it happened on a 1998 episode of Shotgun would still be talked up today as a syndicated gem. Dan Severn is almost 60 and has hardly aged in 18 years, so it may as well have happened on Shotgun. They do a bit of tough matwork, Severn getting a double while Kingston works underneath for a kimura. Next time Severn shoots in for a double Kingston is waiting with a low knee, and Kingston acts surprised that it actually worked! Severn goes down from the knee and Kingston punces with muay thai knees, Severn blocks a backfist in a cool way, and that puts him in grappling range and Severn tosses Kingston a couple times with some cool unorthodox throws, then chokes him out. This came off like a cool Dave Taylor/Jerry Flynn WCWSN match, which makes it a win in my book.

3. Colin Delaney/Cheech vs. Russ Myers/T-Money vs. Steve Pain/Gringo Loco

ER: AIW is really good at throwing together these multi man spot tags, but it helps when you have someone like Steve Pain in there running things. This probably would have been better if we dropped Myers/Money from the equation, but there were enough moments that they added to that their inclusion was fine. Steve Pain, though - especially in matches like this - is just a bank full of money. He has all sorts of awesome convoluted offense, big slams and trippy powerbomb combinations, he's good at hand holding through other guy's cool spots, bumps big on a hiptoss to the floor, and will run face first into a back elbow. Loco has slowed down a little since his IWRG peak but he brings professionalism to a spotfest like this, so while maybe he should cut down on the complicated dives that have barely been clearing the apron, he's still an excellent hand in there to tie things together. Cheech and Delaney are fun together, dug their stereo dives and their silly Rube Goldberg style assisted rana. For their part Myers brought some amusing comedy, I did laugh at his terrible kip up spots, and his wild moonsault off of Pain's shoulders threatened to kill everyone. Money brought a slick dive over the top rope and a big pounce. Really love these kind of matches and I really need to start seeking out all Steve Pain matches.

4. Louis Lyndon vs. Matt Riddle

PAS: Louis Lyndon is an original Beyond Wrestling dude who I always enjoy, he used to do a Bruce Leroy gimmick and now seems to be doing some sort of Captain Mike Rotundo shtick. I really liked the start of this with Lyndon throwing cool lucha armdrags and Riddle countering them with armbar attempts, it was a very cool mix of styles and got me amped for the match. Unfortunately it didn't really live up to its early promise, as Riddle did a lot of hack cheap shotting and they were off on a couple of spots. Finish was a ref distraction and a low blow. Wouldn't mind seeing them match up again, but this wasn't much.

ER: I thought this maintained more than Phil did, as the early awesome spots ran longer than the couple troublesome spots down the stretch. But I liked Lyndon more than I liked Riddle in this one, which surprised me. Riddle definitely facilitated some of Lyndon's more complicated things and went over easy on germans, but Riddle also has begun doing tons of complicated build up to weak looking finishes. There was a moment where he was doing some slick standing floatovers and I thought he was going to spin into an old Minoru Tanaka armbar but instead he ends with a stupid looking Pele kick that just rarely reads well. It's like the more confident he gets in a wrestling ring, the more stupid stuff he tries, and the more he gets further away from his actual cool MMA integration. I didn't really need to see him ever try his hand at KENTA style kick combos, but we're starting to get more of that and less of the wild bumps and less of that Fujiwara/Ishikawa "always dangerous" spirit lurking underneath. Phil is right that Lyndon started this out hot, and some of those armdrags made me flip. That one where he grabs Riddle's wrist and does a snap bridge, tossing Riddle over? Nuts. Lyndon had a bunch of cool stuff here, and although they got crossed up a couple times down the stretch I thought the cool outweighed the overly cooperative. I actually liked the finish with Lyndon pulling the ref in front of him to stop Riddle's attack, then punting him low. So overall I liked this more than Phil, but it's starting to look like the bloom is coming off the Riddle rose a bit, but hopefully it's just a case of the guy working more and more, therefore more less than stellar performances emerging with the larger sample.

5. Shayna Baszler vs. Heidi Lovelace

PAS: This was the main event of an MMA tinged show, and by far the best I have seen Baszler look in her short pro-wrestling career. She comes off a little like a female Don Frye, cocky asshole, sort of likable, but a total killer. She has this great taunt early in the match where she chains into submissions while counting them out, I could have tapped you with this, or this, or this. Her cockiness leads to a great near fall where she flips off Lovelace only to get her head kicked in. Heidi brought it, working super stiff, and finding cool ways to use ranas as piledrivers. Bayzler still will occasionally pull a shot too much, but she is developing a better sense of when to lay it in, and has great charisma. Finish was cool with Heidi going for a senton, which lands her right into Baszler's rear naked choke. Post match Jessyman Duke and Rhonda Rousey come out to help her celebrate, which was pretty neat.

ER: I really liked this and was really impressed with Lovelace. Baszler was impressive as well, especially for someone who's probably just 25 matches into her career; but Heidi had this all mapped out, paced things really great, fed some great spots to Shayna, and really knew how to build this. The counting off submissions spots was such a great dickhead spot, "Here's an armbar, here's a wristlock, kneebar, heel hook, now I'll let you up." Phil pointed out how she can still pull too many shots, and there were a couple that came off bad, but that's where I thought Heidi really excelled, as when Shayna would pull one Heidi would respond with one of her stiffer shots, almost waking up Shayna to a "oh yeah, I can hit harder!" and her response blows would always be bigger. Loved Heidi's headscissor that smashed Shayna's face into the guardrail, and that kneeling rana that did the same, into the mat. Also dug Baszler shit talking a skater kid in the front row, who looked like a tiny male Heidi, with a starter mustache. There were a couple times where they went out to fight right in front of him, and they would lay it in for a little close up magic. Heidi knocked the finish out of the park with her "getting choked out" facials. Her face was looking pale and her lips even looked blue, made me think Shayna was actually murdering her. Really cool match, and I really hope they match up again somewhere down the line.

ER: Really fun show (especially when you skip matches with Ethan Page, Michael Elgin and BJ Whitmer!), and Baszler/Lovelace was good enough that it landed on our 2016 Ongoing MOTY List. But I dug all the matches I watched.

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2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

Aerostar/Australian Suicide/Fireball v. Hijo De Pirata Morgan/Steve Pain/Daga AAA 11/6

PAS: Totally lunatic spotfest, the best crazy lucha spotfest of the year. Steve Pain and Aeorstar have just crazy chemistry, breaking out some super awesome next level spots, felt like nuclear powered Rey v. Psicosis, Dick Togo v. Yakushiji stuff. Aerostar also breaks out an insane tope where he goes fully vertical. Daga and Australian Suicide were fun potato shotting each other, and all the other guys broke out some cool spots. Still you have to watch this for Pain v. Aerostar

ER: When you're going to do a spotfest, do a spotfest! And this right here was a good spotfest. And while you would rightfully come for the Aerostar vs. Pain match-ups, the rest of the guys all had value as well. Hijo de Pirata Morgan is not a guy I watch much, and after he took the safest bump possible on an early rana I already had him as the weak link, but after that I thought he looked good. He's a nice power wrestler, stands up to dives, hits a really nice vertical suplex, hits a really great moonsault and handles some basics very nicely. He was a pleasant surprise. Daga is not a guy I love, but a guy who certainly works far better as a rudo. And he was a total dickhead in this match. That was a major strength of the match, not just Daga being a dick, but the rudos feeling like rudos. And more than that, the rudos felt like a TEAM. Not just three assembled rudos, but they felt like three like-minded dickheads. That adds sooooo much to a match like this. The tecniocs all had fun stuff, with Fireball dying on a dive and breaking out some nice ranas, and Australian Suicide flipping out post-match as he and Daga beat the absolute shit out of each other. I have no idea what happened but it was a couple seconds away from the post match of an Onita vs. karate guy match. For whatever reason that start rapidly and violently teeing off on each other, in a way that immediately screamed "we are actually punching each other's faces". They get split up and Daga has a brutal cut under his eye that's gushing blood. Holy shit. But yeah you want Aerostar and Pain. Pain is a classic rudo base, working almost like a larger version of a great mini base like Demus 3:16. He does really vicious power offense and then hangs in for the ride on some of Aerostar's nuttier armdrags. These two clearly know each other and bring out some magic. The Aerostar tope is an easy contender for spot of the year, as he plows through Pirata completely vertical and then flips into the 4th row. AAA does the opposite of AAAing the shot, as they get a couple great shots of the tope and show it several times in all its glorious detail. This was too much fun.


2015 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

Rey Horus v. Steve Pain OWA 3/14

PAS: This is pretty much a Psicosis v. Rey Jr. for the 2015s, I am not sure either guy is a complete wrestler, but they dance together really well. Horus gets crazy, old school Gran Hamada height on all of his ranas and throws, while Pain gets whipped around in headscissors like Dick Togo. A lot of these exchanges feel like that kind of MPRO stuff, with even more speed and height. There are a couple of moments where Horus adjusts in midair, where he looks like a gymnast doing a rings routine. Some slow spots early, and the strikes should either be tightened up or removed, but this is a partnership really worth watching, and it is cool we got a nice singles between the two

ER: This did feel real exciting, while at the same time feeling like a tryout match showcasing all of your coolest rehearsed shit. But, when you got cool shit, you gotta show it off. Pain controls early and I really liked all of his flapjacks into strikes. Horus gets insane height every time he's tossed up in the air, and Pain is always there waiting with a kick or slap. Things slow down a bit in the middle and it's a clear calm before the storm, as once things kick in, they don't stop until the pin. Horus hits a wild dive and a huge rana to the floor, Pain SUWA's himself on tons of weird angle ranas and armdrags, Horus dropkicks so high he practically goes over Pain's head, Pain has even more cool moves involving tossing Horus into the sky and hoping for the worst, and yeah this ramped up into some awesome stuff.


2015 MOTY MASTER LIST

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