Lucha Underground: Episode 21

Episode 21

aired: 2015/4/1

 Big Ryck enters Dario's office and tells him the word on the street is Dario ordered the (Crew) hit on him. Ryck introduced his two new pals, The Mack and Killshot. The intimidated Dario put them in the Trios Title tournament and gave them money. Killer little segment.

Angelico/Mundo was damn neat, it was like two cats jumping around in a fight, both dudes used their flippy parkour offense, but they didn't go OTT, they sold the struggle eventually and built well to the finish. Awesome showcase for Angelico.

Black Lotus is alive! She's writing a diary and we find out the mystery man is called El Dragon Azteca, and he's training her for a clash to come with Matanza! Great campy vignette.

Alberto and Mundo had a funny meeting in the locker room, I smell an awesome feud.

The Cueto office again, he put Sexy Star in the tournament and her new partners are Super Fly and Pentagon. Sexy's eyes are sexy.

Drago/Aerostar was good once again, they did their usual stuff with some jawdropping moves, and the finish was sweat. The blow-off match should be insane.

Dario's office once again, he's very disappointed into Son of Havoc, Ivelisse and Angelico, and as a result he's making a tournament trio out of them! Problem solved.

Main event was another really good match, Pentagon didn't like his partners and wanted to beat the opponents by himself. It didn't work out well. The Mack and Killshot had nice debuts, especially The Mack. Ryck was great here, probably the MVP of the match. Super Fly ate the pin, Pentagon tried to break his arm as a punishment, but Sexy Star kicked him in the face and there you go, the new feud is born.

Great episode once again, they hit the reset button quite successfully and we got two new characters and lots of new stories on the horizon. A new chapter has begun!

1. Angelico vs. Johnny Mundo ***3/4
2. Drago vs. Aerostar ***1/2
3. Trios Title Tournament: Big Ryck, The Mack, Killshot vs. Sexy Star, Pentagon Jr., Super Fly ***3/4

NJPW on AXS TV: Episode 11

New Japan Pro-Wrestling on AXS TV

Episode 11, March 27th 2015

They aired the very clipped version of Naito/Ishii from Invasion Attack 2014. Shame, it was a great match, but I do realize it was a warm-up for the main event. We still got to see Ishii dropping Naito on his head repeatedly. Damn, that was nasty! Go and check the full version of this match!

Somewhere in the studio, Tana is talking about the third Nakamura match in only three months.

Invasion Attack 2014

(2014/4/6)

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi ©

The very best Nakamura/Tanahashi match, the ultimate edition, the pinnacle of the rivalry, I gave it five stars last year and was pretty much alone in doing so, I literally don’t remember anyone other than me going full boat on this masterpiece of pro-wrestling. Hopefully there’s someone out there who came around. I bet that in 20-30 years there will be some kids on some message board discussing about “hidden gems” of pro-wrestling and this match is going to be a hot topic for awhile, someone will dig it out beneath all the famous Ishii, Shibata and Okada well-known classics.

They start things with some neat catch wrestling packed in the feeling out process, there were sweet reversals and patient, defensive wrestling, but then Tana gets bored and goes into semi-full heel mode. He goes after Nakamura’s left leg and is fucking relentless in doing so. Think a honey badger attacking a cobra. He just won’t let it go. Tanahashi puts on the Tanahashi pace and makes everyone know this is a Tanahashi match, through and through. Basically, he’s a dick. He’s sick of working with Shinsuke again and doesn’t care from the crowd boos, he’s just here to fuck up Shinsuke’s leg. Shit man, it is a thing of beauty watching him work over it, every time Shinsuke is about to make a proper comeback, Tanahashi simply goes after his leg again and again and again… Truly relentless. The match is full of amazing little details that display their big wrestling IQs, full of twists and turns, but the main plot is still Tana destroying the challenger’s left leg. There’s an occasion or two with Shinsuke kind of “forgetting” the previous legwork, but Tana always “kindly” reminds him what the match is all about. Shinsuke eventually makes a proper comeback after working from behind for a whole match and throws a plethora of super nasty blasts, including punches, and then a series of Boma Yes brings Tana down and bang – Nakamura regains his white strap.

What a fucking masterpiece!

*****

Backstage, Tana mumbles about something.

Inside the ring, the Gracie duo arrives and Daniel challenges Nakamura. But first, it’s the Gracies vs. Nakamura and Sakuraba!

Somewhere in the studio, Tana is reflecting on the match, he’s talking about respect Shinsuke’s grown for him and how it was an honor to hold the IC strap.

Lucha Underground: Episode 20

Episode 20

aired: 2015/3/25

 A great feud-reminding video package makes us ready for the episode.

Angelico/Havoc was awesome. They got enough time and damn sure they used it to the maximum. Havoc is crazy over in the Temple. And finally, his arc met some success as he finally scored the pin over someone, he also realized Ivelisse was holding him back and just dumped the bitch right before the finishing move! Boss! The whole thing was great, Havoc celebrating with the front row marks was so neat, and then to cap off the entire angle, the angry Ivelisee kicked Angelico right across the head post-match, after he was trying to flirt with her. Excellent storytelling.

Dario's in his office, he's signing a contract for... HERNANDEZ! In Lucha Underground universe, Homicide was holding back HIM.

Texano/Alberto was an excellent hardcore match. Alberto took a chair and a table bump. Texano was great at slowing the pace down and taking the direction to the brawling side. Top notch fun. There was a cow bell in the middle of the rope and they used it, they made an effort to really work a different match within the gimmick. Match of the night, but the other two were really close.

Konnan and Puma are training backstage, getting ready for the main event. Hernandez approaches them, Konnan introduces him to the champ, they're good since their LAX days.

Cage/Puma was another great blow-off match. They went back-and-forth before Cage getting ultra pissed and just destroying the champ like in their previous meeting. He had the match won but got extra cocky and provoked Hernandez to a fight, which gave Konnan an opportunity to sneak in the ring and hit him with his new cane. Bang! La revancha! Puma wins. Cage basically beat himself here. The actual match was very well done, there were some jawdropping spots from Puma, Cage once again displayed his grand powerhouse habits.

P.S. Vampiro was hilariously ridiculous throughout the entire episode. Love the man!

1. Angelico vs. Son of Havoc ****
2. BULLROPE MATCH for AAA Mega Championship: Texano Jr. vs. Alberto el Patron (c) ****1/4
3. STREET FIGHT for Lucha Underground Championship: Cage vs. Prince Puma (c) ****

Nakano/Tenryu

WAR 1996/5/26

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Genichiro Tenryu

Fantastic five minute match and such a pleasure watching Tenryu in a shoot style environment. Nakano is a proven standout of his genre and Tenryu takes him very seriously, charges at him right away with fast palm strikes, but Nakano is too fast and strikes mercilessly, and before you know it – Tenryu’s on the floor. The chubby Nakano is very tough and danger level is now very high for Tenryu as he gets suplexed, armbared and kicked around silly. But then he decides he’s had enough of it and just blasts Nakano with hard slaps and palm strikes, and then with the game ending half crab. Boom! That’s it. Glorious little gem right there.

****

Fujinami/Tenryu (WAR)

WAR 1993/12/15

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Genichiro Tenryu

The greatest New Japan wrestler ever versus the greatest wrestler ever, fuck yes, this has to be good despite the relatively short length (11 min). It’s clear from the start this is going to be a battle of different philosophies, Fujinami applies a nasty side headlock, Tenryu is not into that shit and answers with dickish kicks from every position available, Fujinami regains control with a figure four leglock, Tenryu reaches the ropes. Fujinami goes after Tenryu’s left leg but Tenryu answers with another round of rough smacks. Poor Fujinami. We get some smashing back-and-forth action with strikes being thrown all around, Tenryu finally realizes Fujinami’s back are taped and goes after it, however Fujinami is still relentless with the leg thing and applies a sharpshooter. Fujinami is in control now and kicks Tenryu’s head, the Tenryu style. But the grumpy motherfucker finds new ways to stay alive and we’re in the closing stretch now, the fans realize it, Fujinami tries to lure Tenryu into his mat games but Tenryu answers with a DDT and hits his powerbomb for 1-2-3.

Man, if only this was longer, maybe 4-5 more minutes.

****1/2

Two Matches from WM Play Button

WWE WrestleMania 2015

(2015/3/29)

NO DQ: Sting vs. Triple H

Hm, judging from the video package, the build-up to the match sucked a bag of dicks. Apparently Sting was sitting in his basement for 13 years and growing a pair all this time to take on Levesque. LOL. But nevermind, I’m here for actual wrestling, not the talking. Stinger’s entrance was great, the daylight certainly helped too, it really looked cool. Then Ahnold announces Levesque’s Terminator entrance and I’m not exactly sure how to feel about the whole thing. It’s a mystery to me. :/ Sting’s in a damn good shape. I’m talking 2006/07 TNA shape. Props to him!

Man, this sucked. Stinger came to this? Even before the interferences the match was simply not good. It had its moments, but it was meh overall. Stinger should really call it a day. I love you, buddy, but c’mon now… I hated, HATED the nWo/Clique geriatrics jerkoff nostalgia, it was so stupid. Save that crap for shitty Raws. Last thing I need is watching a bunch of old farts doing their memorabilia thing, fuck off with that shit. Not to mention DX being presented as the equals to nWo, but whatever, WWE won, they can do whatever they want. Bad match, although I did like the post-match handshake, it saved the match from being a total DUD.

bad

WWE WrestleMania 2015

(2015/3/29)

WWE Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar ©

Technically, I don’t know how to treat this, is this one match or two? Weird situation, hm. Nevermind, because it was mostly fun. The Reins/Bork portion was really good, could’ve been amazing if they did one F5 less, I could really do without the third one, that was an overkill if there ever was one. One more thing, Roman looked like a total caricature out there, still sporting that Shield outfit and getting his ass kicked for a VERY long time, that’s not how you present someone who’s aspiring for Cena’s spot at the top. He did make a good and exciting comeback, but it needed to happen sooner, IMO. The match gets big bonus points for all around brutality and barbarism displayed through some truly vicious knee strikes, lariats, slaps and slams by both guys, but mostly Lesnar. You’ve never seen strikes this stiff in WWE. And holy smokes, his suplexes never looked better. And then Rollins cashed in, and things happened. I don’t really know what to think about it. Actually, I do know what to think about it – I didn’t like it. Hm, shame, Reins/Bork could’ve been a masterpiece with a thing or two fixed, but the whole thing feels kind of disjointed now.

***3/4