In Case You Weren't Aware, Lucha Indies Kinda Rule!

Lucha Memes Chairo II

(2015/12/25)

Flamita/Volador - No Good

CaraLucha 2015/06/14

Flamita vs. Volador Jr.

Such bitter disappointment, true story. The new Octagon Junior has let me down quite few times in what people pimped as strong singles matches, he underdelivered in those almost every time. He underdelivered here too, obviously. I love the guy in tags and trios because his wrestling mindset looks like perfect fit for those, but in singles competition that requires little bit more of brains and wit – he’s not good yet, he needs much more polishing. His spots are technically impressive, but it’s what he does between those spots that’s bugging me, and he can’t structure a proper match to save his life. It most certainly didn’t help his opponent here was Volador Jr., who’s mostly good and watchable, but his nothing-but-spots mindset often gets better of him. This was the worst possible version of CMLL Volador title match we got, and it was just bound for failure. It’s astounding to me that people would praise this painfully average spotfest as MOTYC. Give me a sloppy Psycho Circus brawl over this all day every day.

**1/2 (and I’m being VERY generous here)

Lucha Underground: Episode 39

Back in August of 2015 when Part 2 of Ultima Lucha aired, I was so mesmerized I didn't want to review it until I rewatched it few times. And then I simply couldn't make myself do it, lel, I was waiting for Season 2 debut instead, to revisit the show again and review it excatly on a day of premiere, so here it is (yes, I know I'm one day late, heh):

Episode 39: Ultima Lucha - Part 2

DDT 2015/12/13

Super Star Lanes 2015

(2015/12/13)

Sombra and Volador - The Last Stand!

CMLL 2015/10/30

Campeonato Mundial Peso Welter Historico de NWA: Sombra vs. Volador Jr. ©

Sure, these two faced each other more than 20 times in singles competition, and sure, their matches range from two stars (or less) to four stars (and more), and sure, there’s no real novelty to this pairing anymore, but this match is maybe their last meeting ever and main event of one of the 5-6 biggest CMLL shows of the year, so all things considered – it’s a must-watch. And really, every lucha fan should check this match, because it’s really great and they went all-in for one last time, you could clearly see them going the extra mile, in both moves arsenal and passion/intensity. Even in usually short primera and segunda they were hitting each other super hard, as well as shoving each other into barricades. Tercera was epic, with the crowd rooting hard for Volador and both guys busting out devastating high-impact moves. Every spot was hit with surgical precision the way they were landing on their neck was on Misawa levels of scary, that’s some true living on a thin line right there. Excellent clash!

****1/2

God Bless DDT

Never Mind 2015

(2015/12/23)

Have a Lucha New Year!

CaraLucha 2015/09/16

Centvrion & Latigo vs. Fly Warrior & Mr. Leo

Sooo, thecubsfan uploaded this match today for free because he watched it live and loved it, but the match is simply not good, IMHO. It’s a generic athletic indie match, no different than what you see in USA, but here it just happens that participants wear cool masks and the crowd chants “esto es lucha” instead of “this is wrestling”. The best parts of the match were the opening five minutes of cool matwork and maybe two really awesome fancy moves/dives, but that’s about it, because everything else was just – average. Technically, they did everything mostly right, but the match lacked flow and there was no emotional depth. Basically – a match. Some cool and visually attractive shit happened, that’s for sure, but it wasn’t enough to make this match good.

Apparently a turn and stable formation happened after the end, and I always take that stuff into account (rating), but it’s not shown in this video, therefore I don’t know whether it added or took away from the overall story.

**3/4

They're Good at What They Do

Stardom 2015/12/23

World of Stardom Championship: Io Shirai vs. Meiko Satomura ©

Not on the levels of the two Meiko vs. Kairi Hojo clashes, but that particular bar was set just too damn high, lol, however this match still kicked some major ass. This is a big year-ending show from Korakuen, also Io is surely a very capable and believable challenger, so anything is possible in this Christmas time. Plethora of great shit happened in this match: nifty counters, violent strikes, great storytelling with all the subplots and drama, etc. However, the match did have certain problems, such as a clunker here and there (that semi-stupid moonsault from the wall) and kinda directionless pacing in the middle. But because there was so much good shit that occurred, those flaws totally seem so minor in comparison. Another superb joshi gem from 2015, all hail MEIKO!

****1/2

Arena Puebla 12/28

CMLL 2015/12/28

Meyer, Astro, Zaeta Roja vs. Malayo, Guerrero Espacial, Mini Joker

I have never seen any of these dudes wrestle, except for Mini Joker. It was a good match, I liked how they worked a strict and heavily controlled structure instead of chaotic and overambitious botchfest. They kept it tight and the pacing was strong. Zaeta Roja and Malayo looked the best. Fun opener that got enough time to showcase its competitors’ abilities.

***

New Guy

Soooo... There's a new guy on this blog, Patrik, he'll contribute with such things as Wrestle-1, All Japan, Dragon Gate, etc. Whatever he wants, basically. Now, whether it'll be five posts per day or two per month - I don't really know, hehe. He's a good fella, he's into puroresu and especially all things Dragon Gate. Recently he's become a huge W-1 fan (The Sanshiro Theorem), and I don't know what to think about it, tbf. xD

We might even do mini-projects if we feel like it, huh! Anyway, this is just for fun and I have a feeling you're gonna like this contributor.

He runs this cool message board: https://wweforums.net/

And obviously he's on Twitter: https://twitter.com/clutzspot

Cheers! And good luck, Patrik!

Shit Battle '15

Final Battle 2015

(2015/12/18)

Black Terry Christmas and Cerebro New Year

IWRG 2015/12/20

Cabelleras vs. Cabelleras: Black Terry & Dr. Cerebro vs. Eterno & Apolo Estrada Jr.

Good match, but man, it could’ve been so much better. Obviously the finish was not clean because lucha libre reasons, but that’s not the only negative, because Eterno and Apolo were so fucking bad here, they had to be carried by the veterans and it was a painful ride for me as a viewer. Terry was tremendous, though, but you already knew that, as he once again displayed his amazing brawling abilities, Cerebro had a big match tercera, but all of that was barely enough, because Eterno and Apolo were so sloppy, too slow, tired etc. it felt like watching backyard amateurs. Terry and Cerebro were really into it, they wanted to fight fiercely, but Eterno and Apolo couldn’t meet them half way. They almost ruined all three falls, especially the brawling portions from the first two, but fortunately the booking was strong enough to hide their weaknesses with few neat shortcuts and tricks, and the aforementioned Terry & Cerebro carryjob managed to save things. But at the end of the day, the match was good, and I don’t want to complain too much, let’s rather focus on nice things, such as Terry wrestling like a rabid fucking bulldog and Cerebro busting out his very best in tercera.

***1/4

NXT London (Cherry-Picked)

NXT London

 (2015/12/16)

Asuka vs. Emma

Really good match that would’ve been great without the ref bump and interference crap, oh man, it was completely unnecessary and off-putting. IMO. But let’s talk about positives, there was a lot of those. Both ladies were awesome, Asuka was balancing between the FIP and surly aggressor very well, and Emma was just getting better and better throughout the match, and she really got it going eventually. Asuka was something else once again, they told a compelling story about her grappling and striking craftiness and really – both competitors sold the dynamics properly. Good shit!

***3/4