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Secret Santo 2018-2019


Matt D

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Ok guys. Let's take this into 2019.

cad
Tim Evans

joe g
boss rock

Jetlag
SirEdger

Matt D
Microstatistics

NintendoLogic
aaeeoo_

Headcheese
NotJayTabb

I think these are new pairings. Micro, I'll get something to you tomorrow. Remember, even if you can't hit your own match immediately or are behind, get your partner something. 

Happy New Year, guys.

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@Matt D 

Akira Hokuto vs. Kaoru (GAEA, 4/12/1997) 

For this match I'd be particularly interested in Matt's thoughts on the opening sequence and the role (negative or positive) no-selling can play.

I think this will be my final participation with regards to Secret Santo, for now atleast. With the GME project and other things, I am finding it difficult to keep up with stuff.

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@Microstatistics

This was a little tough actually. I know as of a few years ago, you hadn't seen much Virus or Jim Breaks/WoS. Those are two people in my GWE top 10. But I decided I'd go easy on you since I know you've got a lot on your place.

....

Or not. The Virus vs Valiente lightning match from 2009 is no longer online. 

Something with meat on the bone then. Here's one of the very best CMLL matches of 2014 then (if not the best):

 

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I was given Ricky Steamboat vs. Takashi Ishikawa from 1982 by Matt D which was a nice opportunity to check out T. Ishikawa working a more technical match. The match starts with Ishikawa controlling with a headlock for a bit and Steamboat trying various escapes. Ishikawa does the fun rope walking headlock takeover and looks all kinds of solid. A clever transition happens and Steamboat controls with an armlock for a bit. Ishikawa fights out and escalates the match hitting a tubby guy plancha and some nice elbows before Steamboat catches him with a crossbody for the flash pin. Rock solid stuff and something modern workers should study to understand how control segments and transitions work.

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On 1/1/2019 at 2:08 PM, cad said:

EDIT: No, I think I'll choose something different for Tim Evans. How about Panterita del Ring vs Megatron, 1990s?

If that's too long or the video quality is too bad for you, then you can go with Negro Casas/Cien Caras/Arandu vs Panterita del Ring/Black Magic/Centurion Negro (also 1990s).

First for cad: Jay Lethal vs Sensational Carlitos from CWA Puerto Rico in December 2016:

I watched the Panterita vs Megatron mask match. The god awful video quality actually adds to the match. First two falls were very ref heavy which is always the case in Monterrey. Final was alright but kinda slow. Finish came out of nowhere and I liked when it ended everyone rushed to ringside. Not great but a decent mask match.

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On 12/31/2018 at 3:28 AM, Microstatistics said:

@Matt D 

Akira Hokuto vs. Kaoru (GAEA, 4/12/1997) 

For this match I'd be particularly interested in Matt's thoughts on the opening sequence and the role (negative or positive) no-selling can play.

I think this will be my final participation with regards to Secret Santo, for now atleast. With the GME project and other things, I am finding it difficult to keep up with stuff.

Initially, I had taken Kaoru to be younger and less experienced than she actually was, and that colored the two areas of the match which are a little problematic (being the opening and the abruptness of the finish) as better in my eyes initially. So far as I'm lacking context, I'm going to continue to be kind to them, however. I enjoy matches that are presented like puzzle boxes, the idea of "How is wrestler X going to deal with situation Y?" and a lot of times, situation Y is a wrestler that's bigger/stronger/more dominant/more established. It's one reason why I'm so disappointed with so many Brock matches that devolve into the suplexes within the first minute (and one reason I loved the start of the Joe vs Brock match so much). It's the most enjoyable part about later Hansen matches or the Aja Kong GAEA matches I saw.

Obviously, that's at play here as Kaoru rushes in and assaults Hokuto before the bell. She DOES hit a few bombs right off the bat, but there's also a strange nonchalance to her stomps. Honestly, if you look at what she actually hits, it's a kick out of nowhere, the stomps, the dive which isn't super clean, a slam, a moonsault. Most of that stuff would have a big impact on a wrestler later into a match, but maybe less so on one that's fresh. We're not looking at a bunch of headdrops or postings or power bombs. Even the moonsault, when you think about the physics of it, may be something that'll knock the wind out of a battered opponent more than doing damage to a fresh one. It was all effective in keeping Hokuto on her toes and unable to fire back, but none of it was going to do enough damage to really knock her for a loop. When Kaoru got too cute about it with the springboard (which is a high risk-high reward sort of move), Hokuto yanked her off the ropes like someone swatting a fly. She was more pissed off than hurt and I thought that was both believable and effective. From a kayfabe perspective, Kaoru had a good idea but poor execution. 

Honestly, I thought the selling was perfectly appropriate as the match went on after that. There was a lot of cumulative damage. Except for one run towards the end, Karou was just trying to contain Hokuto however she could. Again, at first watch, I thought Karou was a bit younger/less seasoned than she was, and the end stretch and kick-outs felt like a pretty effective way of getting her over as tough, even though she was going to fall to one move too many. Now, I'm a bit iffier on it, but just a bit. 

I get the sense that I might not enjoy other Hokuto or Karou matches from this period, but I thought this held up pretty well for what it was.

 

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On 12/26/2018 at 6:59 AM, Tim Evans said:

For NotJayTabb: Looking over your posts, I see you're an NXT guy. Matt Riddle is pretty new there so here's one of his earlier matches and one I enjoyed:

Riddle is a guy I forever feel like I'm playing catch up with. The first time I saw him wrestle was also the only time I saw him live was when WCPW stupidly booked him as a surprise opponent for generic bland heel Alex Gracie's open challenge, and it ended up being the only truly bad Riddle match I've seen (and I don't put that down to him). Since then, every Riddle match I've seen has impressed me more and more, and I though this was really fun. Felt like an interesting parallel of two charismatic natural athletes, who'd both come to wrestling via other sports, both had simple catchy chants ("Bro" vs "Moose") and both came in carrying some gold, and the commentary putting this over as a battle of two alpha males felt accurate. Really liked it when Riddle took the submissions route against Moose, at times he was all over him like a spider trapping his prey in a web, and it felt like that would be his best route to success. Both nailed some big shots, some of Moose's kicks to the face in particular looked nasty, but thankfully nothing too big just got shrugged off and I liked the fact that Moose kept trying for a discus clothesline that he never hit, it put the move over as a killer blow as Riddle was always desperate to avoid it. Riddle's rolling gutwrenches looked really impressive on a guy that size. If I had a small complaint, Riddle hit a few too many big moves towards the end that should have finished it, but at least he sold exhaustion on the mat after the Canadian Destroyer so Moose didn't have to kick out of it. The end was predictable from the moment both guys came out carrying belts from other promotions, but I really enjoyed this.

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Sorry guys, got a big caught up in things. Microstatistics and aaeeoo are stepping off. I think we'll revisit things a bit after this week, make sure that we all want to move forward. For now, we've got 10 still, which is a pretty good number for this.

We might see some dupes in here starting now though not many (I think this is the second match that cad gave headcheese for instance):

NotJayTabb
boss rock

Jetlag
joe g

Matt D
NintendoLogic

Tim Evans
SirEdger

cad
Headcheese

@NintendoLogic

Did you catch this newly uncovered handheld when it popped up last year?

 

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No, I haven't seen that. For you, here's something pretty far removed from a typical lucha title match.

Rocky being billed in CMLL as Ricky Romero is a story in itself. From Luchawiki:

Quote

Previous to CMLL, the Havana Pitbulls were a tag team of Rocky Romero and Ricky Reyes, who'd borrowed the name from a previous team who used that name.

CMLL did not seem to know who these men were before their debut in Mexico; they were loaned to them by NJPW in a talent sharing agreement. They had wrestled for AAA at one point, but weren't known in Mexico, and CMLL didn't appear to know which man was which. To complicate things further, Ricky Reyes broke his arm shortly before their start in CMLL and was replaced, though CMLL didn't seem to figure this out. For no known reason, they also decided to call them Havana Brothers instead of Pitbulls and number them.

From July till mid September, the Havana Brothers were

  • Havana Brother I: Rocky Romero (often called "Ricky Romero")
  • Havana Brother II: Puma (often wearing 'Pinoy Boy' tights, unmasked)
  • Havana Brother III: Bobby Quance (sometimes called "Rocko")

Part of the name confusion came from an initial interview (also notable for being remarkably bad), where Bobby Quance gave himself the nickname Rocko. The CMLL announcers presumably looked at the list of wrestlers they were supposed to have (before Ricky Reyes was hurt), and since one guy called himself Rocko and another called himself Puma, the remaining guy had to be the Ricky they had listed, and Ricky Romero was born. CMLL never corrected their mistake.

 

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