Guerra de Titanes - Part 1

TripleMania

AAA TripleMania XXIII

(2015/08/09)

AAA 07/03

AAA 2015/07/03

Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, Mascara Ano 2000 Jr. vs. Elegido, Drago, Bengala

A match. No big stakes, no big heat, no backstories, just six guys doing moves, and that’s about it. As good as it gets all things considered.

**3/4

Chismo Pick: Best of 2014

I just realized I never posted the list of my favorite matches of 2014, so here's my Top 15. Now, why 15? Why not 10? Or 20? Fuck me if I know. 16 is my fave number but I can't go with that. So I'm going with the closest thing. Then why not 17? Oh well... It needed to be more than 10, though, because 10 matches is way too few considering the fact there are thousands of televised pro-graps matches every year. Ergo:

Nasty Lucha

IWRG 199???

Misioneros de la Muerte (Signo, Texano, Negro Navarro) vs. Villanos (III, IV, V)

So, I have no idea what’s the date for the match, all I know is it has to be from the late 90s due to V3 still having his mask on. This is a classic. Great primera with some tight clinic on the mat, it ended properly, in a classic lucha fashion, but then in segunda all the hell broke loose as Misioneros got sick of llaves and turned the match into a violent dogfight. Poor Villanos got their asses kicked pretty hard, as Misioneros were ripping off their masks, making them bleed like pigs, shoving them into ring posts head first, Texano was stabbing them with his fork… Madness! Best thing is, the rudos took their time and the whole sequence was just uncomfortable to watch, it was some heavy shit. Obviously it made the Villanos’ comeback in tercera super sweet, it was their time to dish out some good old scuffle punishment. Excellent, nasty brawl, totally recommended.

****1/2

Guapos/Villanos

IWRG 2000/5/11

SUPER LIBRE: Super Guapos (Shocker, Scorpio Jr., Bestia Salvaje) vs. Villanos (III, IV, V)

This was 15 minutes of good old school lucha sangrienta awesomeness, two surly rudo trios going into a grueling battle filled with violence and tension. The Guapos worked as the “true” rudos here, dominating the primera and good chunk of segunda before an amazing Villanos comeback where they got super pissed off and just beat the shit out of Super Guapos for the whole tercera before the screwjob finish. Needless to say, there was blood, Scorpio was covered in red. When it comes to the body of work, there was nothing fancy about it, just heavy punches, biting, mask ripping, kicks, etc. Basically, a Villanos match, hehe. I especially adored the V4/Scorpio tussles, those were gnarly as hell. Excellent match.

****1/4

AAA Rey de Reyes

AAA Rey de Reyes 2015

(2015/3/18)

Campeonato Mundial Crucero de AAA: Fenix vs. Hijo del Fantasma ©

Good spotfest, but kind of soulless all around, visually it was spectacular but in the end pro-wrestling is way more than just “my turn-your turn” big move exchanging. However, Fantasma super fast and killer tope deserves two stars alone.

***1/4

AAA Rey de Reyes 2015

(2015/3/18)

Villano IV vs. Blue Demon Jr.

Epic throwback smackfest, this was a three act play and they did one helluva job in recreating the old school lucha. The opening stage was a long hold-for-hold matwork session, it wasn’t anything particularly scientific or fancy in Virus style, it was just two veterans struggling and fighting on the mat, using simple and traditional moves. After a stalemate on the mat, they suddenly switched to nasty blood brawling, both guys cut themselves and bled hard, it definitely added to the drama. Naturally, V4 was godlike in punching, there was a moment with him and Demon going back-and-forth Rocky Marciano on each other and the crowd went apeshit for it. Third act saw things going back to normal, they exchanged some big moves before the awesome finish. Match was very similar to the last year's masterpiece, which was one of my favorites in 2014. These two fucks are slow and not very athletic, but wrestling is the game of minds, not the game of jumping around. After the match, Villano IV asked for one more match down the road, Demon accepted but he wants it to be mascara contra mascara. FUCK! YEAH!

****3/4

AAA Rey de Reyes 2015

(2015/3/18)

Rey de Reyes 2014: Aerostar vs. Mesias vs. Texano Jr. vs. Psycho Clown

Another excellent match, probably the best 4-way in over a decade (?), this was a helluva slugfest, Aerostar did another big ass dive from the lightning structure and his three minutes of fame before he got eliminated were amazing. Mesias is a freshly turned rudo so he teamed with Texano a lot here. Psycho Clown and Texano had a relatively long mini-match as the last men standing, and they made sure to recreate their TripleMania magic, they worked such a surly brawl, both guys bled like pigs and fought outside the ring a lot. Epic match. The only slight negative is ref Maya shenanigans.

****1/2

AAA Rey de Reyes 2015

(2015/3/18)

Hijo del Perro Aguayo & Pentagon Jr. vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. & Myzteziz

Damn good match, but very hard to watch because this was Perro’s last match for AAA. L Both Perro and Pentagon did their usual best here – they made the high flying tecnicos look like solid gold. Rey-Rey looked great in his AAA return.

***3/4

Ray Mendoza Jr.: A Man on a Mission

CMLL 2009/3/27

Guerreros del Atlantida (Ultimo Guerrero, Atlantis, Rey Bucanero) vs. Ray Mendoza Jr. (fka Villano V), Villano IV, Texano Jr.

Rudos contra rudos, this was a revenge match, first time seeing Villano V wrestling unmasked, the new chapter of his life has begun, he’s a man with a mission now, and the first stage is the annihilation of Ultimo Guerrero, and boy oh boy, he did a pretty damn good job here. He was a nasty, surly beast with all them stiff punches, slaps, vicious chops to the neck, etc. He looked like the best goddamn wrestler of all time here, and his hermano VIV was right up there with him in his own quest of trying to avenge his brother’s mask loss. Texano was more than a suitable backup, so naturally this turned out to be a top notch entertainment. The Guerreros’ comeback in the segunda was marvelous, there was that one sequence where UG looked like an action movie character made by Leonardo da Vinci, if that makes any sense, it was unreal, beautiful poetry in motion. Atlantis did his stuff, which is always good, including the gnarly crowd killing tope that might put him in prison some day, he could kill someone in the front row. Bucanero was kind of the weakest link, but that’s absolutely no biggie considering the amount of greatness the other five dudes produced. This is a must-see high-end action, one of the best trios ever, mos def.

****3/4

Hide Your Kids, Villano IV Might Punch Them in the Face Just Because

I'm in a random mood to watch some Villano IV, so here we go:

AAA Rey de Reyes 2014

(2014/3/16)

Campeonato Latinoamericano de AAA (vacant): Villano IV vs. Chessman

The scheduled match was actually Chessman challenging Blue Demon Jr. for this belt, but Demon didn’t come to Mexico (probably refused to do the job) so he had to vacate the title… via satellite. But we still got a title match, and Demon’s replacement? None other than Villano Fucking IV, everyone’s favorite bladder of lucha libre. Right before the opening bell Chessman feels like he should cut a promo but Villano stops him, he’s here to fight. Yes! The opening two or three minutes were spent on the mat, they did some simple and effective ground based lucha. VIV wins that one and hits an impressive suicida, but Chessman then decides that shit is on and blasts VIV with a stupendous chairshot right across the fucking head. From there on this match is a violent orgy of violence, bloodied violence. Nasty shots are being thrown, both dudes are kind of old and lack in athletic department, but that’s why a Mike Tyson in the mouth always works, Villano’s short range punches are tremendous, there are few moments with both guys rolling on the mat while viciously fighting each other, totally gritty and straight outta a tequila bar. The final chapter is traditional lucha again, the brawling is over and it’s time to call it a day, they’re going for some nice, basic combos to finish the match before Chessman outsmarts Villano with a spear for the title win. What a great old school brawl, loved it the first time, love it even more now.

****1/2

AAA 2014/4/19

Villano IV vs. Blue Demon Jr.

Perfect match. Simply – perfect. I’m trying to think of one reason why not give it five stars, but shit, I just can’t, it’s picture perfect. Watched it half a year ago and loved it, but now on a rewatch? I fucking adore it, honestly it felt like I never even watched it, so many details in there I forgot to register in my head. We start with 5-6 minutes of terrific ground based llaves, old school lucha with a great mixture of comic book takedowns, Captain Kirk-esque selling and an organic struggle. Loved every second of it. Then comes one of my favorite sessions in all of wrestling this year – violent, gnarly brawling with both guys bleeding buckets. You know those moments when you’re watching something and suddenly feel a super strong bond with the content, you get this feeling it’s talking to you, like it’s made specifically for you? That’s what happened to me here during the punching phase of this masterpiece. The third act is traditional lucha again where drama reaches epic proportions, with both veterans busting out few impressive combos until one of them hits the road. What a wonderful match, so damn good in its simplicity. Honestly, I love this even more than Virus/Titan now, which means we’re talking about my new lucha MOTY here, today is a good day.

*****