Evil Lucha II

ILLM 2015/2/7

Wotan vs. Corsario Negro Jr.

This is a rematch of a helter-skelter from early January, and it’s just as awesome even with the roles reversed. You see, now Corsario was the one dictating the pace and demolishing Wotan, he sucker-punched him before the bell and proceeded to beat the shit out of him. Corsario took silly beating in the first match and here it was payback time, he did mean things to Wotan. Helluva hardcore fight with both guys going all in, those chairshots were cringeworthy. I hear they might work a rubber match soon – hair vs. hair! Oh, boy…

****1/2

Lucha Underground: Episode 15

Episode 15

aired: 2015/2/18

 Mil/Chavo was a decent match but as an angle it totally served the purpose, which was to advance the Mil/Catrina/Fenix story. Also, Mil came across as a big badass once again. Also, dat Catrina!

Black Lotus is somewhere in the Temple, breaking in door-to-door. Or something. Dat ass!

Dario hates Sexy Star, Pimpinela and Mascarita Sagrada, wants them gone, destroyed. The Crew thugs get the honor.

Ivelisse/Angelico was another story advancer. I dislike Angelico. Douchebag attitude and jerkoff gear.

I love how Texano Jr. came across as a total badass star in the Vamp interview and Super Fly squash. Great booking and presentation.

Cage comes into Dario's office and business is being discussed. TLDR, we're getting Cage/Puma again and a new belt, not "that Aztec crap". Also, Chavo quits.

Black Lotus finds "Matanza" and talks to him/it about revenge. Suddenly she's taken. I love this stuff.

Main event was good enough, they told a good story and Big Ryck returned as promised. Is the end near for The Crew?

1. Mil Muertes vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. **3/4
2. Ivelisse vs. Angelico **1/4
3. Super Fly vs. Texano N/A (squash!)
4. NO DQ: The Crew (Castro, Cisco, Bael) vs. Sexy Star, Pimpinela Escarlata, Mascarita Sagrada ***

Newish CMLL

CMLL 2015/1/27

Disturbio, Espiritu Negro, Akuma vs. Sensei, Magnus, Flyer

Average trio match. Flyer was botching lots of key moves, he got huge anti-tecnico heat from the crowd. Espiritu Negro and especially Magnus were bloody great here. First time seeing Magnus and he seems an awesome guy, his lucha makes sense and he’s not afraid of doing crazy shit.

**3/4

CMLL 2015/1/27

Zeuxis, Tiffany, Seductora vs. Estrellita, Princesa Sujei, Dark Angel

Nonstop action and constant movement, there wasn’t a moment in the match without someone getting smacked hard. CMLL ladies like their hard hitting style of lucha, Tiffany especially, she was the undisputed MVP of the match with all the aggression and malicious intensity she displayed. Sujei was a tremendous lady hero who takes no shit from anyone, Dark Angel was awesome as well, totally Ishii-ish, I know her as a hot fitness chick, but boy oh boy, she can wrestle very well. Damn good match.

***3/4

CMLL 2015/2/3

Zeuxis, Tiffany, Dalys vs. Estrellita, Princesa Sujei, Dark Angel

CMLL ladies do it again, this was another neat trio, with Dalys instead of La Seductora on the rudo side. They got a solid amount of time and they took advantage of it. Sujei was great.

***3/4

CMLL 2015/2/10

Divinos Laguneros (Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther) vs. Comando Caribeno (Pierroth, Sagrado, Misterioso)

The primera was literally the shortest fall ever, the segunda was mediocre, the tercera was very good and saved the match, The Panther was easily the best guy in there and once again he proved his ability to make things hot with just one move, dude’s unreal.

***

CMLL 2015/2/10

Volador Jr., Dragon Rojo Jr., Angel de Oro vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Polvora, Hechicero

Really fine trio match with great primera and peculiar finish that advanced the Volador/UG beef. The primera was nifty with everyone hitting their stuff on the mat and the rest of the match was your typical CMLL trios action, but done right. Volador and UG have a great chemistry. It’s really cool that every Hechicero match gets good amount of time for primeras to display llaves, I like to think he manages to talk the other participants backstage into it, I’m telling this because matwork is something I wouldn’t expect from this combo of names involved.

****

CMLL 2015/2/6

MATCH RELAMPAGO: Maximo vs. Rey Bucanero

Average lightning match.

**3/4

CMLL 2015/2/6

Campeonato Mundial de Parejas CMLL: Mascara & Sombra vs. Negro Casas & Shocker ©

Hot damn, this rivalry is so fruitful, it delivers once again. Casas and Shocker are pretty much a perfect tag team of surly veteran badasses schooling younger luchadors, they’re glorious in this match, especially the underrated Shocker who had great matches with Mascara and Sombra last year and the mutual chemistry is clear. Very fun match with an awesome structure.

****

CMLL 2015/2/8

Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Dragon Lee vs. Virus, Puma, Kamaitachi

This was fucking great all the way through, 15 minutes of high-octane action carried by Dragon Lee vs. Kamaitachi hate, Virus and Maya revisiting their rivalry and Delta being the MVP of the match(!), I’m telling you this was amazing and my new CMLL MOTY. Holy shit, the mask match can’t come fast enough. Maya’s dive into paying customers was both dangerous and glorious.

****1/2

CMLL 2015/2/8

Maximo, Valiente, Marco Corleone vs. Ephesto, Mephisto, Cavernario

11 minutes of crazy diving and gnarly smacking. Fuck, Cavernario/Corleone stuff was tons of fun. There was a moment with them in the middle of the ring, the caveman was mocking Marco’s antics only for the latter to punch him in the jaw silly. Smashing. Great match.

****

CMLL 2015/2/10

Maximo, Mascara, Marco Corleone vs. Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Cavernario

Super fun match, probably the funniest this year, all things Marco/Cavernario/Terrible was genuinely amusing, they played off the punching thing beautifully and all the taunts and teases were gold.

***3/4

CMLL 2015/2/13

Maximo, Atlantis, Marco Corleone vs. Terrible, Rey Bucanero, Thunder

Short but good, once again Marco and Terrible were building on their mutual love for left hooks. The finish was great.

***1/4

CMLL 2015/2/17

Divinos Laguneros (Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther) vs. Comando Caribeno (Pierroth, Sagrado, Misterioso)

Neat, heated rematch from a week earlier, this was a nasty brawl dominated by the rudos before the Panther family got a chance to execute their excellent comeback with a series of awesome moves, including The Panther’s AMAZING dive. Shit man, that one was crazy great. The fans love him, and so do I. BPJ has been improving rapidly, btw, I see him shining in this year’s Busca de un Idolo (if there is one, you never know with CMLL).

***3/4

CMLL 2015/2/13

Campeonato Mundial de Trios del CMLL: Sky Team (Mistico, Volador Jr., Valiente) vs. Guerreros Laguneros (Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Niebla Roja) ©

Spectacular trio title match, back-and-forth tussle with everyone doing the right thing. Yes, that includes Niebla Roja as well. Funny. The Guerreros’ simple plan is to calm the pace down and tame the tecnico trio via questionable brawlish methods, and it works for a fall and a half before Sky Team’s inevitable big ass comeback. From there on, the match is a breathtaking spectacle fucking loaded with both sumptuous visuals as well as captivating story elements. Truly awesome match and my NEW match of the year by the oldest active promotion in the world.

****1/2

NJPW on AXS TV: Episode 5

New Japan Pro-Wrestling on AXS TV

Episode 5, February 13th 2015

We’re at the final show of Kizuna Road 2013 tour, in Akita on July 20^th. We start with the clipped version of the 8-man tag that had Anderson, Terrible, Fale and Tonga of Bullet Club taking on New Japan’s babyfaces Tana, Makabe, Liger and Captain. It was fun stuff with hot crowd and everyone did their thing well.

Kizuna Road 2013

(2013/7/20)

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Prince Devitt vs. Kazuchika Okada ©

I liked this better now, on a rewatch, just like Makabe/Okada. This time I noticed some neat things that went under my radar 18 months ago, such as few nifty psychological battles in the first half of the match. I also loved the finishing stretch, particularly the very climax of the match, and Gedo interfering to help his client was awesome touch. The announcers did a nice job in explaining why Devitt and Bullet Club had such a big heat in New Japan while they were interfering in the match a lot. I know people don’t like Bullet Club hindering their matches but it can be lots of fun when done right, and here in this one – it was done right and led to some dramatic moments in the closing run, because the fans wouldn’t normally buy into Devitt as a true threat to Okada’s dominant reign, but now with the gaijin jackals – everything is possible. Although not touching the Tana and Makabe classics, this was still a great match in its own way.

****

Devitt is shown backstage, he’s disappointed but he’s going to get his revenge against Okada as the G1 is around the corner.

Okada and Gedo are doing their usual post-match thing inside the ring to say goodbye to the fans. Okada said it was tough fighting the entire Buller Club at once, and thanked Gedo for saving him from Fale.

Back in the studio, Okada’s talking about the match and how Devitt surprised him with his unusual strength. He already knew he was very quick. He said he wouldn’t have won without Gedo’s help.

Drama in Saitama

Saitama Super DDT 2015

(2015/2/15)

1.       Yoshihiko, Antonio Honda, Great Kojika vs. Akebono, Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata

The HIRATA GO! magical glasses fad goes on, this time with Bono in the mix. Dancemania is on! Yoshihiko is scarier than ever! Akebono doubts himself!

GOLD

2.       12-PERSON BATTLE ROYAL for Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship: Kubo Yukamoto © vs. Yasu Urano vs. Shunma Katsumata © vs. Yuto Aijima vs. Soma Takao © vs. Hikaru Sato © vs. Bernard Ackah vs. Tomomitsu Matsunaga © vs. Zeus © vs. Saki Akai vs. Makoto Oishi © vs. Aja Kong ©

Ridiculous(ly fun), which is always the case with these looney Ironman Title matches, this time we had the cameraman jumping Aja Kong backstage to win the title, among many other things that happened. Pure camp.

**1/2

3.       RULE RUMBLE for DDT Extreme Championship: Shiori Asahi vs. Akito ©

The Rule Rumble gimmick means the match rules change every 90 seconds, which led to one of the most creative matches I’ve seen lately, this was top notch entertainment.

***3/4

4.       KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Shuten-doji (KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi, Masa Takanashi) vs. Gorgeous Matsuno, Brahman Shu, Brahman Kei ©

Whacky Brahmans style match, first there was some really funny brawling through the crowd before calling it a day inside the ring, starring Sakaguchi and Matsuno, they had a surprisingly competitive round. Fun stuff.

***1/4

5.       4-WAY SUPER TLC MATCH: Daisuke Sasaki & Suguru Miyatake vs. MIKAMI & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Ishii vs. Sanshiro Takagi & Jun Kasai

So basically the point of the match was to promote DDT’s next outdoor show, and the prize Takagi and Kasai won is the right to compete in a Street Wrestling Match there. Hehe. The match wasn’t super spectacular and they didn’t exactly break any new ground here, but damn it if it wasn’t tons of fun and charm. Cute little match worth of your time.

***1/2

6.       Michael Nakazawa vs. Danshoku Dino

I understand the stories they were telling, but I’ve never been a Nakazawa fan (probably my least favorite puro guy ever) and Dino’s act can be very amusing, but more than often it’s not. Again, though, I get it why they did what they did here, but they bored the shit out of me because I don’t care for the participants.

bad

7.       Super Sasadango Machine vs. Kazushi Sakuraba

PowerPoint presentation, hilarious slides, banana peels, three Lehman shocks, narrated video packages… Vintage SSM!

wat

8.       KO-D Tag Team Championship: Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Konosuke Takeshita & Tetsuya Endo ©

Marvelous match with interesting booking where the Strong BJ duo proved to be a more complete and experienced tag team, as they dominated majority of the match, basically they slowed the pace down and were systematically wearing down the Happy Motel duo in all the slow paced workovers. The only way for the young champions to gain some advantage was through heroic comebacks and rapid fire shots, which led to great tag team wrestling. Seriously, the entire thing was beautifully booked in this clear cut piece of storytelling, and I hope we get all the one-on-one match variations possible, matter fact they already booked Endo/Okabayashi for February 21^st to play off the finish from this match. Fuck yes, DDT!

****1/2

9.       KO-D Openweight Championship: Kota Ibushi vs. HARASHIMA ©

Excellent main event between DDT’s biggest stars, HARASHIMA’s long reign is in real danger here against his biggest rival. This was a three act match: careful/defensive grappling and SHIMA working on Kota’s mid-section in the beginning, the second act was fighting on the entrance stage and the third one was calling it a day slowly but surely, Kota didn’t give the champ another opportunity to damage his mid-section and that’s what prevailed. They threw some very rough smacks at each other and the finish was amazing.

****1/2

Awesome show with loads of hot shot entertainment, DDT delivered again.