Been watching a lot of rudo-driven matches this week, so this one's a tribute to rudoism.
Rey Bucanero, Satanico y Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Apolo Dantes, Black Warrior y Dr. Wagner Jr., CMLL 3/21/97
This was a one fall, rudos contra rudos final to decide the vacant trios titles. Since it was a title match, the rudos kept with tradition and worked a technical match instead of brawling with each other. For a single fall match it was a well worked bout and could have been something special
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera (AAA handheld 3/16/96)
I was all ready to moan about how this wasn't real lucha, but the first two falls of this were actually really cool. It was a really spiteful match compared to most Rey Mysterio vs. Juventud Guerrera bouts and the atmosphere was fantastic with a seat right at ringside and a pan of the arena that made it seem like an amphitheater. There were a lot of neat details that a pro shot match would never dwell on, like a "long take" of Rey
La Parka vs. Jerry Estrada, Mexican National Light Heavyweight title, AAA 3/28/95
Man, how good was Parka at this point? He brought the same sort of attitude to this as the Lizmark match, shoving Estrada early and gyrating in his face. And if there was ever a guy who deserved a Park gyration it was Jerry Estrada. This wasn't as epic as the Lizmark match as it had a ton of bullshit with Tirantes, but it was a similar brew of uncooperative matwork and killer high spots. On the Jerry Estrada sc
Villano III vs. Rambo, mask vs. mask, UWA 10/25/87
This was the match Cronicas y Leyenda teased us with a few years ago and which I posted so pictures of from DJ Spectro's blog about a year ago. Finally, the bout is in circulation and while it's hurt a bit by clipping what's shown is good enough to take pride of place alongside the other great Luchas de Apuestas matches that exist from the 80s.
The exact chain of events aren't shown in the first two falls, but basically Villano III ta
Blue Panther/Fuerza Guerrera/Pierroth vs. Atlantis/Super Astro/Angel Azteca, CMLL 11/8/91
This was nowhere near as good as these teams are capable of, but there was still a lot of talent on show. I liked how we got some match-ups that you don't usually see like Fuerza vs. Angel Azteca. It's always bugged me how they didn't do more with Azteca during his cooling off period. They groomed him to be the next Atlantis, at least in my eyes, and then he fell by the wayside as Octagon got over. Of c
"El Ninja", Kato Kung Lee & Super Astro vs. Black Shadow Jr, Invasor II & Espanto Jr, Monterrey 11/91
Great to see Espanto again, one of the most underrated luchadores of this era. Unfortunately, he didn't do anything truly outstanding, even in his exchanges with Super Astro, but Monterrey was a bit of a holiday for the workers at times and this was one of those nights off. The focus was really on the upcoming mask match between El Ninja and Invasor, but Monterrey has always been th
Hijo Del Centurion Negro, Rey Hechicero, Simbolo vs. Black Spirit, Charles Lucero, Golden Boy, Monterrey 7/21/13
Monterrey has kind of snuck up on me as a good place to watching wrestling from. This was my first look at maestro Charles Lucero, who's supposed to be cut from the same cloth as Mexico's other maestro greats, but for me this was all about Rey Hechicero, who continues to impress. The other guys were there to make up the numbers and aside from the Hechicero/Lucero exchanges this w
Chico Che/Freelance/Hijo del Pantera vs. Apolo Estrada Jr./Avisman/Eita, IWRG 2/18/13
I really wanted to like this as it had Freelance, Avisman and Chico Che in it, but there wasn't a single exchange I thought was special. Freelance, in particular, seemed really off and nothing like the worker who used to dice with death every time his feet left the ground. It kind of meandered along in a very old-school way, which may appeal to some people, but there was none of the overlapping of falls or
Finally! I have first-run watched the entire decade and I'm so glad, because 2009 was a difficult thing to watch. So with that said, I'm going to end/suspend this blog and do my final run through (which will be much more fun/easy as it is only a limited subset of matches) and probably post my "results" in the main forum.
The blog didn't really help as much as I thought it would as it really became a hassle to remember to update it when I have excel files and assorted information here on
Virus vs. Blue Panther, CMLL 5/12/13
Ten minutes? They were only getting warmed up. I don't have a problem with ten minute matches, but CMLL workers generally aren't that clever at working lightning matches and I don't really like the gimmick of an enforced time limit. Still, this was all about the matwork, which, while not life changing, was pretty at times. Virus is pretty clearly the best guy in the company, in my opinion, but I couldn't help but think if it was Demus against a mini it wo
Negro Casas vs. Valiente, CMLL 2/4/13
Dream match for workrate fans as Casas and Valiente are two of the best in the business, but this was a disappointment. I'm not so sure it was a case of the chemistry being off between the two as much as it was a case of them not bothering to do anything creative. In fact, I was kind of annoyed that Casas put in such a cookie cutter performance against someone as talented as Valiente. Some of the early exchanges were okay, but the third fall in particul
Rush/Rey Escorpion/Maximo vs. Negro Casas/Terrible/Shocker, CMLL 6/28/13
Negro Casas, Mr. Aguila & Rey Bucanero vs. Blue Panther, Rush & Maximo, CMLL 7/14/13
So, this is the best thing going today or so I've been told. I like Rush a lot so I'm excited to see these. He kind of reminds me of the true, modern day heir to Perro Aquayo, since Perro's own kid hasn't been any good since about 2007 as far as I can tell, and he's learnt the value of having a great head of hair.
True t
So I finished the year of PPV's/big shows (with the exception of ROH as I am completely burned out with that promotion) and about about 60% through TV which I'll be finishing up this month. The plan from here is going to be:
Get a Top 10 for both WWE and TNA from the re-watch pile for 2008.
TV and PPV for TNA/WWE 2009
ROH 2008
ROH 2009
Top 10's/year for WCW, ECW (00-01), WWE, TNA, and ROH
Try and hammer out a Top 20 for Other US
Who knows after that. I'm going to eventually
TNA VICTORY ROAD 2008
MCMG/Curry Man v. Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero/Averno v. Doug Williams/Alex Koslov/Tyson Dux v. Yossino/Puma/Milano Collection AT - 3rd Round of World X Cup.
Great, fun match. Constant action and executed just like TNA wanted I'm sure. I definitely was entertained. If this was 12 TNA guys, it probably would have stunk, but having some vets in there from all over just made it awesome. Standings before was Mexico and TNA tied for 3. Team International and Team
There is a thread on the main board asking if TNA is the worst promotion in history. The thread was started six years ago and I never commented on it. I figured I would post my thoughts here to avoid accusations of trolling because my opinion may not be a popular one.
TNA is not the worst promotion in history. In fact, I believe it is better than the sacred cow known as the original ECW.
I've watched 154 of TNA's PPV's and all Impacts so I feel confident in this statement. Granted,
TNA Lockdown 2008
Black Machismo, Curry Man, Sonjay Dutt, Johnny Devine, Consequences Creed, Shark Boy - X Title
Pin or submission until last two with winner having to escape the cage. Dutt and Shark Boy go out early. Creed looked good before being eliminated. Devine stole Jay Briscoe's Jay Driller calling it the Devine intervention to pin Curry Man. Lethal retains with goofy finish. Nothing special
Frank Trigg gives his analysis on main event. Says Angle wins.
Queen of t
Final Resolution 2008 (January Edition)
Only thing notable about the opener is the reveal of Salinas as the "thug" attacking Christy Hemme. I have an unhealthy love for Shelley Martinez.
Silliness throughout the show for the drinking championship between Young and Storm. Was what it was.
The rest of the show up to the main event was skippable stuff with the exception of Gail Kim v. Kong which was the best match on the show.Notable angle stuff was Sharmell getting a "broken jaw"
I wanted to make a quick post to say that going over 2008 and 2009 is going to be a first time run with the material and I really am looking forward to it. The last PPV I ordered and watched was 2008's WrestleMania 24 and the last PPV's I watched in any fashion was a semi-reliable stream of WrestleMania 25 and then the top three matches from this year's Mania show.
Beyond that and probably 2% of television I've seen nothing since WrestleMania 24. I did "come back" a few times, but they
I finally acquired 2008 TNA and WWE PPV's to continue this project, and then I remembered I had three ROH shows I had to download and watch before I could. This post will cover those shows.
Race To The Top Tournament Night 2- Edison, NJ 7/28/07
Honor Nation- Boston, MA 10/5/07
Unscripted III- Chicago Ridge, IL 12/1/07
Race To The Top Tournament Night 2- Edison, NJ 7/28/07
Having moved ahead in 2007 ROH, I knew that Claudio Castagnoli had won the tournament, but I still
Finally. I just finished the second to last run through for 2000-2004 US. I've also finished up first viewing of US through 2007 and am about to begin what I just finished for the first half of the decade for 2005-2007. I hope to have all 2008/2009 footage available by then.
I was able to eliminate 50 matches that made the initial cut through 2004. Most of these matches looked good to great while viewed in context of complete shows, but somehow either fell short when compared against ot
Thanks as always to Black Terry Jr for making these reviews possible.
I thought both the 8/1 and 10/13 Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs Super Astro/Solar maestro tags were excellent. In fact, I thought they were the most balanced, best worked maestro tags since Black Terry Jr began filming their matches. That may be time and distance talking since I was so wildly out of the loop last year, but I watched these matches more than once before commenting and enjoyed them immensely each time. They're
For anyone who may be keeping up with this blog, but mostly for my own records I wanted throw up a quick update.
It seems I've hit a wall with this project, but I seem to be coming around and finishing up some lose ends.
I've finished all of WWE TV (RAW, Smackdown, ECW, etc) for 2007 and about the first six months of TNA Impact!. So far I have seven TV matches picked as contender's for MOTY.
I felt I needed a change of pace half way through Impact for 2007 so I went back to try a
First off, thanks to Black Terry Jr for shooting these matches and making them available. Terry is selling his videos here from now on -- http://tvluchadelpasado.wordpress.com/
Solar vs. Navarro is still the best mat wrestling on the planet as evidenced by their 8/17 match. The excitement of seeing this match crop up isn't the same as when we only got to see it once a year (or not at all), but that's the funny thing: as lucha fans, we're always wishing we could see more -- more from a worke
