AAA, From Toreo de 4 Caminos, Naucalpan, EdoMex. Taped March 7th. REY DE REYES. Announcers: Jesus 'Viper' Zuņiga, Arturo 'Rudo' Rivera and Andres 'El Negro' Maroņas. Toreo de Cuatro Caminos looked full capacity.
*** Las Brujas: Xochitl Hamada, Miss Janeth and Migala vs Las Hermanas Moreno: Alda, Rossy and Esther Moreno. Xochitl arrives to the ring with her 'Reina de Reinas' belt, the Moreno sisters had ornamental Aztec dresses (a la Chiquita Azteca), and were wearing 'Dinastia Moreno' t-shirts.
-- The Moreno sisters attack first, they whip all brujas to a corner and then Rossy assists first Alda then Esther into missile kicks and then they whip Rossy to help her deliver drop-kicks, Brujas react by escaping of triple head locks and making the Moreno crash in the center of the ring, the rudas go to the ttb, but the sisters get them into triple superhuracanranas, to get 2 counts, as the Brujas kick out and leave the ring, things settle down a little, as the 'tecnicas' (?) go to their corner, a shot to the crowd, and it usually means 'edit forward to', as now the rudas are on command with some brawling, they set Alda and then Rossy to receive bronco rides from Hamada, Esther dodges a third bronco ride and it looks as if they're back (huge pop), but Xochitl brings her down with a clothesline (Esther oversells it with a full flip, as she normally does), Xochitl gets a 2 count after a powerbomb, but Rossy made the save, Esther gets a rana on Hamada but Alda stops the referee from making the count? Well, she did, the three sisters enter the ring and place the Bruja on the ttb, next, Rossy delivers a belly to back suplex so Alda and Esther can deliver diving topes on Hamada!! Rossy covers and Xochitl kicks out, Rossy has her in a headlock but Hamada suplexes her back and Rossy nearly falls on her head!! Hamada does a powerbomb on Rossy, while Rossy is on top, Miss Janeth hits missile drop-kicks!! Migala with an elbow drop, then a pin prevented by Alda, Rossy reacts slamming Migala's face to the mat but Janeth makes the save as well... Rossy holds Miss Janeth so that Esther does a moonsault twisted into somersault bodyblock from the ttb, then, Alda connects a senton, but Janeth kicks out at 1, Alda and Janeth trade near falls, then Esther hits somersault drop-kicks (?), Migala enters to fight with Esther and they both go out as Esther headsicssors the ruda out of the ring, later, Esther delivers a second rope quebrada, 'quebrada' means 'broken', that defines Esther leg after that move, she nearly falls on her feet, without making any contact on Migala. In the ring, Miss Janeth does a Fuerza Guerrera through the ropes bump, Hamada assists Rossy into a side plancha on her, the Alda whips Hamada who does a tope, and finally Alda comes with her somersault plancha through the ropes... nailing Rossy!!Pentagon comes out and Xochitl goes there to argue, in the ring, Rossy does a giant swing and pins Janeth while Alda hits a superhuracanrana to pin Migala, the match is over but Xochitl receives another somersault body block from Alda. The report said that Janeth and Hamada had attacked Migala at the end of this match, but it wasn't shown.
Quite good, it is weird, but the Moreno sisters didn't played the match as 'tecnicas', I guess this could be the beginning of a 'viperetts vs morras locas' feud? Well, it could, but Esther will be out of the ring for 4 months, it's a shame, if Rossy and Alda feud with Xochitl and Miss Janeth, then, they're at the same spot as last year. I saw a card in Tlanepantla that had Rossy and Alda vs Kawasaki and Linda Star, so it seems that AAA either dumped the 'tecnicas/rudas' format, or the Moreno sisters will be rudas...
*** Octagon vs Hijo del Solitario vs Espectro jr vs Alebrije.- Alebrije and Espectro jr start working for a while, usual stuff from them, Octagon dominates Hijo del Solitario with some 'la jarocha' armdrags, and a 'quebradora con giro', Espectro and Alebrije return for more of their work, then Octagon swiftly puts Hijo del Solitario out with a crucifix pin, Hijo del Soli had no offense at all (well, maybe they edited it out). Alebrije sent Espectro to the floor with a carthwheel+reverse tope, next comes the tope suicida, it looks as if Alebrije is too much for Espectro, but he then reverses a Huracanrana into a powerbomb, Alebrije kicks at 2, but his shoulders were never lifted, and the 3 count comes. Octagon does some armdrags on Espectro, then the Russian leg sweep and the octaclutch to get the match.
*** Mascara Sagrada vs Cibernetico vs Abismo Negro vs Dos Caras.- This resulted more like a tag team match than a four corners match, (Not)Mascara Sagrada worked with Cibernetico for most of the time, while Abismo Negro did the same with Dos Caras, little brawling, Abismo even used tecnico style as he armdragged and delivered flying headsicssors on Dos Caras!! Dos Caras ended on the floor, so Abismo went to the apron to perform a somersault plancha... but Dos Caras dodged away!! What is this, Octagon vs Huracan Ramirez jr? Caras and Mascara end in the ring at the same time, so they exchange some moves, and then tag to Abismo Negro and Cibernetico!! They don't know what to do, Abismo goes for some shoulder blocks, but Ciber doesn't even care, Mascara Sagrada and Dos Caras enter to cheer the guys... but the Vipers attack them, the tecnicos send Ciber out of the ring, but then Dos Caras hits drop-kicks on Mascara Sagrada, who goes out also, Dos Caras puts Abismo into a submission hold and Abismo submits, Mascara tries to surprise Dos with a cradle, but can't get the 3... Ciber returns to fight with Mascara Sagrada, eventually pinning him after a blocked huracanrana into powerbomb. Dos does another of those wacky submission holds, but Ciber escapes, then, a couple of near falls with Ciber kicking out just in time, at the end, Cibernetico does a small package and pins Dos Caras to get the match!!! A clear pin!!
*** Oscar Sevilla vs The Panther vs Apache vs Latin Lover.- Sevilla starts fighting Panther, then Lover vs Apache, which goes against the logical rivalries... then Sevilla does get to fight Apache, they do their normal stuff, Sevilla gets to deliver a tope suicida and a moonsault (I think), the Panther goes vs Latin Lover, they go on for a while, not too bad, it seems all four guys are trying harder than usual and do some OK stuff, Sevilla is the first out, as he goes to the ttb to do some flying headsicssors, but Panther reverses into powerbomb to get the pin. Apache does some kicks on Latin Lover but at the end also gets powerbombed and out. Panther gets some near falls but Latin surprises him with a small package and Latin Lover advances to the final.
*** Pentagon, Electro Shock, Canek and Blue Demon jr.- Pentagon, like Abismo Negro earlier, also worked as tecnico soon in this match, hitting armdrags and staying away from rudening, he dominates Blue Demon jr first, then, crowd shot, edit forward to Pentagon and Electro Shock going at it, they work a little, then tag to Canek and Demon, they trade some holds, forward to Pentagon attacking Canek, who, due to his size, has little trouble to deal with him, doing a press slam and getting the pin, Electro Shock drop-kicks Canek out of the ring, he seems to be going for a tope suicida but Demon jr gets him first with a back body drop, but Electro Shock gets the better from Blue Demon jr as he pins him after a Mexican powerbomb, so its Canek vs Electro: Canek throws Electro from the apron, and then goes for a tope suicida!! Electro Shock made it back to the ring before, he tries to throw Canek from the apron before he reenters the ring, but Canek headbutts him, next, goes for an over the top senton, but Electro Shock rolls away, 'Canek' chant!! They both go down after double clotheslines, Canek does a bodyslam, but an ultra slow count from Tirantes doesn't let him take the match, another bodyslam, and Canek goes to the middle turn buckle, but misses a senton, Electro quickly does a senton and gets a fast count from Tirantes to take the match!!!
Rey de Reyes final: Octagon vs Latin Lover vs Electro Shock vs Cibernetico.- Just what you would expect from Latin and Cibernetico, they fight a while, Latin dances more than working, Octagon works harder with Electro Shock, but it is Latin the one who gives Electro a little (*cough*)sweet chin music (*cough*) and then puts him into the (*cough*) sharpshooter (*cough*), Ciber wants to make the save but Tropicasas prevents it and Electro Shock quits!! Later, Pentagon comes out, Octagon goes to face him, Tropicasas starts counting him out, Octagon returns, Xochitl Hamada also gets out, she wants to fight with Pentagon so Octagon and Hamada start kicking and stomping Pentagon!! This last enough to have Octagon counted out, well, they always do that thing to take someone out while keeping his reputation intact (last year, Perro and Ciber were counted out while fighting with 'el Hombre de Negro'.) Latin Lover and Cibernetico go their 'pulling trunks down' sequences, and Latin gets some near falls, Ciber bumps into Tropicasas who goes out of the ring, Latin uses 'la Casita ' on Cibernetico, Electro Shock enters and does the 3 count, so Latin lets go, Cibernetico low blows him and covers, Electro Shock takes Tropicasas up so he can make the 3 count and Cibernetico becomes Rey de Reyes. After the match, all Vipers arrived to the ring to celebrate with Cibernetico.
I was surprised by this tourney, it had its good quantity of interference and screwed endings, but most of them were not so obvious as the blowtorch/tombstone/steel chair type that is common on PAPSA, Electro Shock almost got a clear pin on Canek ( a fast count is not that bad, 10 years ago, at Toreo, Canek would have needed to get a bulldozer over him to get pinned), the last match had a 'Hart Foundation' ending, which I think was cool and well done, since Tropicasas was down, and not like some times in which the referees got to see the cheating but don't say anything... Next week would have the hair triangle bulldog match (maybe the weakest match of the night), Vipers vs Vatos Locos, which was reported as not good, but who knows, and Kickboxers vs Atomicos juniors which was said to be very good, PAPSA pulled out all stops and delivered the strongest card in quite some time, hope next week is as good as this...
CMLL, Arena Coliseo taped March 16 (first match), Arena Mexico, Taped March 19. Announcers, Alfonso Morales, Leobardo Magadan and Javier Llaņes. Arena Coliseo looked full, but I'm not sure if it was. They used a lot of open shots to show that Arena Mexico was full house!!!
*** Black Warrior vs Shocker for the NWA light heavyweight title. Although the Ultimate Lucha File and the Huracanrana! Year in review has Shocker taking Black Warrior's NWA title on March 10th 1998, I think it was Black Warrior the one who took the title that day, so it's about a year and Warrior faces the former champ... would it go back to Shocker?????
1.- They do some matwork trading some holds and pin attempts, then Warrior delivers flying headsicssors, follows with a half powerbomb to put the tecnico into a nudo lagunero to take the first fall. 2.- They go back and forth, Warrior hits drop-kicks, but then misses a ttb bronco ride and Shocker sends him down to the floor, Shocker slides out of the ring but Warrior climbs back into it, Black Warrior attacks Shocker in the apron but the tecnico blocks and goes to the ttb to perform a plancha, but Warrior recovers with a heel kick, Shocker is whipped to a corner, but receives Warrior with a double boots to the chest, then misses a senton but manages to put Black Warrior into a side torture rack (he almost misses at first, but eventually gets it). So they both had made their finishers, so, who would end up winning the match? Well, Black Warrior still has to do his top rope drop-kicks which is always countered into powerbomb finisher...
3.- Shocker opens the fall with a 2 count from a huracanrana, then, Warrior goes for a powerbomb but the tecnico changes into an armdrag, the rudo ends on the floor, so Shocker can deck him with a --jump into the second turnbuckle then jump out of the ring plancha-- move, they take a lot of time down there, when they return to the ring, Black Warrior puts Shocker into a 'la cavernaria' hold, then drop-kicks Shocker out of the ring to hit him with an over the top rope somersault plancha!! More time spend down there with a little non-title-match brawling, then the tecnico gets into the ring, he tried to suplex Black Warrior in, but Warrior counters with a small package to get a near fall, next, a frankenwarrior for another 2 fall, (somewhere, they edited something out of this fall), Warrior goes for his top rope springboard drop-kicks but Shocker reverses into powerbomb, and gets a near fall, Shocker powerbombs Warrior, lifts him again and powerbombs once more to get another 2.7 count... Shocker goes for the side torture rack but Warrior grabs the top rope before the move can be done, Shocker bodyslamms Warrior and goes to the ttb to do a moonsault, but lands on Black Warrior's knees!! Warrior seems to be going for el nudo lagunero, but thinks it over and does a leglock with la cavernaria like move to make Shocker submit and retain the NWA belt!!!
After the match ends, Shocker lifts Warrior in a way to show his respect, they both rise their hands and everyone is happy, so no masks match is there, right? Well, after that Morales interviews Warrior, Violencia (cornerman) and a rudo fan, they all said that Black Warrior is the best. Good match, although I starting to wonder why CMLL pushes angles with titles on the line, and when the title match is done, the challenger never wins (Fuerza Guerrera, Astro Rey jr, Shocker). Now Warrior has defeated since December all of CMLL's top tecnicos on title matches (Felino, Atlantis, Mr Niebla and Shocker.)
*** (Handicapped match) Atlantis, Brazo de Plata and Gigante Silva vs Universo 2000, Mascara Aņo 2000, Apolo Dantes and Gran Markus jr.- They had a clip before this with Markus, Universo, Mascara and Apolo training in a ring, with a nameless guy standing there with a punching bag, Universo does a tombstone piledriver on the punching back (note, punching bag as in punching bag, not punching bag guy) and said that that was how he destroyed Rayo de Jalisco (since the 'martinete' from Universo 'put' Rayo out for the rest of the year, Universo leads the 'luchador of the year' so far...) and said that that way he would deal with Porky and Atlantis, then Apolo wonders about how would they do a martinete to the Gigante Silva, they all put 'calculating 17 times 6' faces... BTW, Super Luchas said that Lizmark Sr would be in this match after having recuperated from his heart problems, but I guess Lizmark condition is not good enough, it seems he is now retired.
-one fall- The rudos gang up on Atlantis and send him to the floor, then gang up on Porky who also goes out of the ring, then the Giant Silva enters and manhandles the rudos without breaking a sweat, mainly (rabbit?) punches and slaps, Apolo goes to the ttb but Gigante Silva gets him into a press and slams him to the other three rudos!!! Atlantis works with the rudos with some weak tecnico offense (1), and at the end nails Apolo with a tope suicida!! Porky does some comedy (who cares?), then Gigante Silva enters again, the rudoes corner him and start beating him, but soon Silva makes short work out of them with giant big boots, Silva even goes out of the ring by jumping over the top rope and landing on the floor while chasing Dantes (I don't think Kevin Nash could ever do so), he punches Apolo a couple of times, then presses throw him back to the ring, Silva returns to chokeslam Mascara Aņo 2000, then gives Universo a sky-high bodyslam, to end the match pinning Markus jr with a sunset flip (rana).
*** Mask/Hair vs Mask/Hair: Negro Casas and Hijo del Santo vs Scorpio jr and Bestia Salvaje.- Some 16.5 years ago, Hijo del Santo started his career in Toreo de 4 Caminos, there, he worked with Jose 'el Negro' Casas, first as partners, but their 'character clashed' and soon became rivals, first feuding for Negro's UWA title (which Santo took), leading to a hair vs mask match in 1984. The feud continued from there, but they always took second seat to Canek vs the big foreigner stuff. In the early 90's, Negro went to Arena Mexico, and became one of the top heels be forming the 'Ola Negra' with Mano Negra and Black Magic, they were the top guys there since they feuded with Vampiro Casanova, the biggest draw in lucha at the time (and still pretty big). Eventually Negro became popular and was a rudo who got cheered, meanwhile, Hijo del Santo was at AAA during that's promo's best years, feuding first with Eddy Guerrero and then a brief feud with 'Santo Negro' and Psicosis. When Hijo del Santo returned to Arena Mexico, Negro Casas was still cheered, and Santito was shocked. Negro was feuding at the time with Scorpio jr and Bestia Salvaje, but the later rudos were not good enough to deal with Negro, so they prepared a surprise... Santito turned rudo!! This re-ignited their 13+ year old feud, and produced another hair vs mask match in late '97, eventually, it got old, since it still was Santo vs Negro, only difference being the now Santito jobbed most of the time... so Santo turned on Scorpio jr and Bestia and joined Negro to feud with them, Negro and Santito were billed as the 'nueva pareja atomica', and they got to their biggest match yet: mask and hair vs mask and hair with Bestia Salvaje and Scorpio!
1.- At first, Scorpio jr and Bestia Salvaje don't want to fight until Referee Guero Rangel goes away, he doesn't, then is Rudo brawling, in less than 2 minutes, Santo's mask is ripped open and a bloodstain is noticed, Scorpio takes Santito to the floor and slams him to the announcers desk, Leobardo handles the mic so Scorpio can say that he is the best, the brawling continues, Scorpio throws Santo to the chairs, then take him back to the ring and places him on the ttb to do a powerslam Scorpio jr gets the pin. Then both Scorpio and Bestia kick, slap and stomp Negro for a while, Negro has some blood on his face... Negro submits to a double armbar hold from Bestia. 2.- More of the same stuff, Negro leaves the ring and both rudos are happy beating Santito, they whip him to the ropes, Negro catches him, so Santito can stop and then deliver double clotheslines (the only team move they seem to know in 1999) the rudos, so the tecnicos rally back, Santito beats Scorpio for a while, even taking him to the announcers desk...Scorpio had then the mask ripped and was juicing as well. They made it back to the ring and Santito puts Scorpio into 'la cavernaria', but Bestia does the save, anyway, Santo drop kicks Scorpio out of the ring and nails him with tope suicida, both referees are looking out of the ring and Bestia low blows Negro, referee Babe Richards goes for the count but before 3, Rangel stops him and DQd the rudos, but I think he never saw the foul!! 3.- Scorpio and Santito start trading near falls, then Negro works for a while, he even ends doing an over the top rope somersault plancha on Scorpio jr!! Negro holds Scorpio and Santito delivers tope suicida, but Scorpio ducks!! Negro is decked, in the ring, Scorpio and Bestia double team Santito, who reacts ducking to a double splash, Bestia is out, but Scorpio powerbombs Santo, before he can go for the pin, Negro returns and clotheslined Scorpio, then, used 'la Casita' to pin him!! Bestia soon submits to Santo's 'la de a caballo'. After a long time of refusing to do so, Scorpio takes off his mask and said he is 30 year old, from Mexico City and named Rafael Nuņes, Bestia hair is cut but he doesn't get shaved.
At some point during the rudos arguing and refusing time, Negro Casas took some scissors and started cutting his own hair!!! I think he realized that the match sucked and felt remorseful or something, well, it was not really very very bad, I could give it ***, but some times, some matches have to be great classics, and this was not it. First, Scorpio and Bestia Salvaje are not the kind of guys to have a classic match with, even worse, Negro seems to be down to their level and dragging Santito there for the last few months. Santito worked most of the time, with Negro being out of the ring (or sitting while 'beated'), I don't know if Negro is injured or something, but if he is, he should take his time to recover. And then, the booking was awful (and Negro is to blame here, I guess), they set the match to Scorpio jr and Bestia Salvaje's... 'style', and at the end, it looked as if they were clearly superior to the tecnicos and lost in a moment of bad luck, sure the crowd popped big (but not 1000 megaton huge), but I would have liked better to have Santito and Negro dominating the first fall with some creative (or even old fashioned) team moves, with the rudos scoring the fall with some luck, then dominating the second but getting a clear DQ, and in the third, Negro should have been defeated to increase the drama on Santito-Scorpio near falls. After all, Santito is the one who worked harder in the angle, even dropping (clearly) the 'leyenda de plata' tourney to Scorpio jr. I felt bad about Negro being the one to pin Scorpio... BTW, by the end, Negro Casas' face was clear of any blood, so it seems it was fake!!
Worse yet, it seems that the feud will continue the same, with Santito hitting more topes suicidas on Negro than on the rudos, it was about time that Negro turns on Santito, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Of course, if Negro turns on Santo, they I'd be ranting about 'more of the same' stuff, but I think that the feud could lead to Felino losing his mask to Santo, and maybe, a Santo vs Negro Casas retirement match! Well, maybe I'm being a little hard on Negro, but I'd rather see him retiring in a great match by the end of the year than becoming another Perro Aguayo in a couple of years...
