[1996-01-18-AAA] Psicosis vs Ultraman

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This isn't a TLC match, but it might as well be, as tables, ladders and chairs all get involved here. Psicosis is superhuman, doing all the standard Michaels ladder match bumps with extra gusto. The WM X spot where Shawn rode the ladder to the ground, Psicosis slightly modifies and uses it to propel himself and does a super legdrop. He also takes a mid-air chairshot off of a tope that rivals the Benoit/Jericho Rumble spot.

 

There some fun spots that feel like Fuerza tributes at ringside, and I'm not sure if Fuerza ever did them or not, but I kept thinking this is exactly what Fuerza Guerrera would do in a ladder match. Psicosis wants to show off and do a moonsault off a ladder through a table which he finally does, but first, he can't quite get the table in the right spot and keeps missing. It may be a little Sabu-esque in terms of repeating a blown spot until you get it right, but Psicosis has typically been above shit like that, so I'm going to pretend it's a Fuerza tribute, whether it actually is or not.

 

Lots of great weapons brawling with Konnan, Rey, and tons of others getting involved, and Rey using the ladder to do tons of highspots to the floor from greater height on the other rudos at ringside. Psicosis tries doing a piledriver on a table in the middle of the ring, but the table collapses before he can execute the move.

 

Psicosis takes a powerbomb from the apron onto a ringside table and lives to tell about it, even though the table isn't locked in place and slides out of the way so he only partially breaks his fall. He takes a ridiculous head-first bump from the top rope to the floor when he completely misses a dive.

 

It's funny that for all the insanity, Psicosis sneaking in a low blow to counter a tombstone piledriver gets the biggest pop of the match.

 

Ultraman is kinda sloppy, and the finish is botched, with him trying a DDT from the top rope onto a chair (!) but losing his grip. Still, it's the finish.

 

Probably 40% great match, 60% trainwreck, but definitely worth watching. I'm curious to hear if others love or hate this, as I think it will be polarizing. Lots to love and be annoyed by in this one. It's just hard to criticize much about that effort from Psicosis though, even when he fell short.

[Childs]

I might put the trainwreck percentage above 60, but this was a hell of a spectacle and I'm glad it was on the set. Psicosis' performance might have been the greatest attempt at suicide by wrestling I've ever seen. He just kept doing insane dives to nowhere. Ultraman mostly sucked dog, but it didn't matter who Psicosis was wrestling. This was more elemental than man vs. man; it was man vs. fear.

[Robert S]

Often when I watch Lucha there are some small things that confuse me a bit, here during the third fall I did not have the slightest clue what was going on (as in who is interfering why, why is the ref ignoring everything, why is Psicosis trying to kill himself again and again etc.). There was quite a big bunch of dangerously missed spots which made me appreciate the relative safeness of WWE TLC matches (at least in recent years).

[Tim Evans]

It's a wonder Psicosis isn't like Jerry Estrada and crippled now. The bumps he took were insane. Especially the ones to the outside. The match started to drag in the middle but the finish was good. Wasn't Ultraman the future Damien 666?

[El-P]

This match used to be pimped hard back in the days. One of the hights of Lucha-goes-ECW.

[jdw]

Pimped is probably the wrong word.

 

John

[Kronos]

I'm going to be honest and do some whining here: I can't watch this match because the vuvuzelas are making me nuts. I had a hard time even finishing the previous Psicosis/Rey tag for the same reason.

 

Awhile back, I bought two matches from clickwrestle featuring Cheerleader Melissa. It was in Indy promo in northern Cali that apparently handed out free horns to the kids, who proceeded to blow them nonstop through each 20 min match. Despite the fact that I really enjoyed the wrestling, I developed such a distaste for the horns that I can't ignore them.

 

I'll have to skip this one, sadly.

[rainmakerrtv]

Who were the guys in their undershirts who came out to interfere on behalf of Psicosis? Los Pandilleros?

[Jack_Briscoe_Is_My_Hero]

What is the point of the first two falls? Psicosis is just crazy for continuing to attempt big spot after big spot after they all fail. He could have broken his neck on two or three of those. I can't say it was a horrible match as I was entertained, however I was not entertained in the fashion they were going for. Kronus the horns were not a distractions at all as the microphone is not as good as the television show, and there is a little roar to the crowd the whole match that covers up most of the horns.

 

Almost forgot to mention that Rey's dive was spectacular. Also what title were they fighting for?

[fishbaugh]

Psicosis is a legit crazy person, so his matches should be judged on their own scale. As far as crazy Psicosis matches go, this one has the bumps but not the opponent to make it good. The crowd barely reacts to the riding the ladder spot, so if the people in the building barely care then why should I? Glad it was on the set, but I wouldn't call this a good match at all.

[Kevin Ridge]

Psicosis starts things off by launching himself back down the aisle way after getting dropkicked during his entrance. The horns did bring me back to the nightmares of 2010 World Cup. Psicosis went completely head first into that chair shot. He tries a moonsault off a ladder and lands on the floor with maybe his foot hitting the table. Ouch. He just continues the reckless bumps.

[Zenjo]

It's Ultraman 2000 rather than the Ultraman who appeared on the 80's set. The future would not be kind.

 

This match is what I might imagine AAA booked by Paul Heyman would be like. It's totally crazy and a complete trainwreck. Psicosis must have been out of his mind. He's a talented wrestler, there's no need to do this shit to get over.

[soup23]

So this was a different Ultraman?

 

Anyway, I was psyched going in and some stuff was completely nutty but most of the stuff here was blown and there wasn't any rhyme of reason to it. Tack on a LONG post match and this was pretty disappointing for me as I had Psicosis as the guy to watch in 1996. I know with his style you probably aren't going to get a great ratio but this was just a mess. (**)

[PeteF3]

I'm not sorry I watched this but I certainly wouldn't call it good. I guess Psicosis' performance could be called admirable, in a way, considering how committed he was to dying. I think a lot of people could properly call it stupid, though. Ultraman sucked, all the run-ins sucked, the magically playing entrance music for Konnan and Rey sucked, and the furniture arranging sucked. This was basically Shark vs. Kudo if Shark took incredibly loony bumps. AAA's heavy ECW influence has not been for the better. Chad says there's a long post-match but I'll be damned if I'm going to watch it. Next chapter.

[tim]

NOTHING in this match went right. Every big ladder or table spot botched somehow to make it 100 times nastier than it should have been. Psicosis totally misses a moonsault off the ladder and splats on the concrete. Ultraman tries to powerbomb Psicosis through a table to the outside but the table slides away and Psicosis takes the powerbomb on the ground. Psicosis is meant to dive into a table set up on the guardrail, but the table falls while he's in mid-air and he crashes between the rail and the concrete. There's also tons of outside guys running around beating each other up amidst the chaos. There's this great moment where one of the seconds keeps hitting wild dives on the other seconds to the outside, while Psicosis and Ultraman try to pull off spot inside the ring standing on a table, and you know with every fiber of your being the table is going to collapse under them, and it does. Completely ridiculous spectacle and a lot of fun.