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Robert

By Robert
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Robert

Robert

Posted
Posted

Since it's guaranteed to be on for at least 39 episodes - maybe it should have it's own thread?

 

My first show Pro's & con's...

 

PRO:

- Show looks different & feels different. In a good way. That's the most important thing right there. It's not trying to be WWE which is what a lot of new wrestling companies fail at right away.

- Dario Cueto was a fantastic choice for the role. Speaks well & has on-screen presence.

- The backstage videos shot like movie scenes (sort of like GTA style cut-ins) were tremendous. Way better than the over-produced stuff WWE does where guys aren't even looking at each other & clearly reading off cue cards. I typically hate stuff on wrestling shows that isn't actual wrestling but these segments were the highlight of the show for me.

- Both the introduction videos for Sexy Star & Prince Puma were great. Very happy the decision was made to introduce the new charachters rather than throw people out there with zero explanation as to who they are. I wasn't even mad both of them ended up losing their matches because clearly this is just the start of stories that will go on through the season.

- Main event was excellent. Exactly what it should have been which is the type of match you won't see in WWE. Every week needs to have a match like that, maybe two. Even the post-match angle was done great and quick. We know who the bad guys are, we know why they were there and we have our first storyline going forward without a 20 minute speech from someone in a suit telling us why he did what he did.

- Show has a very Mortal Kombat-ish feel. I APPROVE!

CON:

- Ceiling cam is good before a match or when two guys are down on the mat selling. During the match it's distracting and offers no value.

- Camera cutting to the announcers is a nice trick for editing purposes but is also a completely distracting shot that makes the product look bad. We can hear the announcers, we know they're there. No need to show us.

- I would rather watch matches uncut/unedited but if you insist on edits all I ask is you do it by inserting replays or cutting to realistic crowd shots. I noticed a few jump cuts of the action in the ring that is very jarring and looks quite amateur-ish when guys go from one side of the ring facing one side of the arena to a completely different area 1 second later.

- Vampiro needs someone to give him direction & enforce the point he's just an announcer. He shouldn't be always talking about his own career or making it seem like he could wrestle the guys in the ring. He's an old guy (as we saw many times when the camera cut to him) who should have no business even pretending he could hang with anyone on the show. He should just be a voice and nothing more.

- AUTHENTIC LUCHADORES! Okay... I guess that's coming in episode 3 so I can't wait!

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Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

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Yeah Konnan looked like like Jabba Lite in his scenes. That neck is vanishing. Also looked completely disinterested. 

 

As I said in my review elsewhere, that ring is just plain huge which might be a detriment to the workers. We'll see. 

 

Even though I don't like the evil promoter idea I agree with Robert that they executed it with simplicity and ease. Nothing was overdone which is so easy to do in this territory. It's also nice to know they will give us a long main if they want to.

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Tim Evans

Tim Evans

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I thought the episode was fine but it didn't really feel like a alternative. Especially with matches like Blue Demon Jr and Chavo Guerrero. Hopefully it gets better with the AAA guys coming in. The commentary was awful. Especially Matt "I'm marking out bro" Striker. They need a straight guy reign a guy like Vamp in and Striker isn't it. It was also weird to see a woman like Sexy Star play the progressive intergender wrestling role compared to her AAA character. They should have changed her name like they did with almost everyone else.

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mco543

mco543

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I thought this show was dreadful. I was really looking forward to it when it was announced and then everything else that came out made my optimism plummet. It seemed very much like the bastard child of WSX and Lucha Libre USA just without the explosions or the racist lead heel gimmick. I'll continue to watch in hopes they work out the kinks but I found everything except the talent to be severely lacking.

Sexy Star seems to be really miscast and the booking of the match and announcing (Vampiro calling her baby) during it did her no favors. The announcing in general is pretty bad, Vampiro should go and Striker needs to be following him right out the door.

I agree with Tim, it didn't remotely seem like an alternative especially when you look at them bringing in a guy like Zeke and subjecting me to Chavo.

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Shawn411

Shawn411

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I wouldn't call the show dreadful but I do feel like they were rushing everything until they got to the main event.

 

I am more excited about episode 3 than 2. The man of a 1000 deaths is coming next week.

 

I think Sexy Star losing her first intergender match was smart and realistic. They can build to her first win and make it a huge deal.

 

Puma/Morrison was basically a Sting/Flair situation with the veteran winning round 1.

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Pete

Pete

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I actually like Striker on commentary, though I agree Vamp isn't the guy to execute a whole lot of control on his goofier tendencies.

 

Wednesday nights are always bad for me (it's our weekly "happy hour") so I'm hoping they have replays at more opportune times. It isn't like El Rey at all to beat their programming into the ground.  -_-

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OSJ

OSJ

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I'm afraid that I don't get the hate that some of the usual suspects are bringing. My only complaints are like Robert's, very minor in nature and more of production aesthetics than criticism of the in-ring product. I don't know Dario Cueto from a fat, Spanish waiter, but the guy has presence, came across as a total rich prick, and still made it about the wrestlers, not about him (until the beatdown and he was still pretty restrained, putting over the thugs as being among the best fighters in the world and working for him.)

 

I was a bit disappointed by Chavito and Blue Demon jr., they can still go, but it was more of a WWE match than anything different.

 

The ceiling cam shot is very cool, but not during matches.

 

I thought Vampiro was actually pretty good (as I had expected a trainwreck). For those that were saying he was putting himself over, they must've watched a different show. Does no one recall the following exchange: Striker :"Did you ever have abs like that?" Vampy: "Yeah, I did; but that was way back in the day." How does that even begin to insinuate that he thinks he could hang and bang today?

 

We don't need edits during matches, if we must have them, cut away to a crowd shot or something. Don't make the cuts so that the wrestlers appear to defy the laws of physics and be appearing out of nowhere on the other side of the ring from where they just were.

 

Puzzled at the use of Sexy Star doing the intergender thing, but it was a fun little match.

 

Anyone that thinks VKM kept the right guy in Miz, needs to watch this main event. Prince Puma is amazing, but Johnny hung with him the whole match and showed just how good he really is. MIz might be more fun at a Mall opening, but there ain't no question who the workhorse of that team was.

 

Overall, a very solid B+ count me in for all 39 episodes. My only real regret is that they didn't sign Chessman (my favorite lucha guy ever)

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thecubsfan

thecubsfan

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For those who care, the other henchmen out with Big Zeke/Rycklon Stephens were Ricky Reyes and Lil' Cholo.

 

They're going with 

 

Ricky Reyes -> Cortez Castro

Lil’ Cholo -> Mr. Cisco 

Ezekiel Jackson -> Big Ryck 

 

I know too much about this.

 

was also weird to see a woman like Sexy Star play the progressive intergender wrestling role compared to her AAA character. 

 

Totally was. It's very obvious that they figured out the characters they wanted on this show and then used available talent to cast them, instead of the usual opposite way. Sexy Star got the "tough masked chick" role because she's the checked off the masked chick (better than La Jarochita) even though other people would've worked better if they didn't need a mask. It's a good idea for a character but it's so different from what she's done.

 

They blew thru this in the opening seconds, but the whole thing with Dario and money and TripleMania and Dorian was Dario Cueto buying the contracts of five AAA wrestlers (Demon, Sexy, Fenix, Pentagon, Drago) for his promotion. They've mentioned this in press releases but I'd guess 90% of the people had no idea what that scene was about. Maybe they were waiting for the other guys to explain. If you're doing that story, Sexy has to be Sexy...but they could've had him bought someone else and introduced Sexy differently, as they will with other AAA wrestlers starting next week. 

 

"I agree with Tim, it didn't remotely seem like an alternative especially when you look at them bringing in a guy like Zeke and subjecting me to Chavo. "

 

You guys are not alone on this. It wasn't meant to work out that way - they incredibly did not have the work visas done for Drago/Fenix/Pentagon in time so they couldn't be on the first shows - but they got some strong feedback from people and appeared to correct course by adding more than just those three. It takes a couple episodes to get there and it's still a lot more high spot US influenced than CMLL style lucha, but that style AAA would promote if they could restart fresh.

 

"so I'm hoping they have replays at more opportune times"

 

 

They're doing a Saturday 9 AM repeat and then the Unimas airing at 3pm the same day. But they should have it on more than that (like why not just air it during RAW for wrestling fans flipping around?) and maybe they will once they have a few more episodes. 

 

"I was a bit disappointed by Chavito and Blue Demon jr., they can still go,"

 

 

 

Blue Demon (or Daymon?) can go when Villano IV is there to punch him in the face. 

 

 

 

My only real regret is that they didn't sign Chessman (my favorite lucha guy ever)

 

Supposedly, everyone in AAA will eventually make an appearance here - though I'm not sure how that's going to work with Chessman. Serial killer named luchadors probably don't work as well in the US. Maybe he gets a new gimmick too?

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Shawn411

Shawn411

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I actually like Striker on commentary, though I agree Vamp isn't the guy to execute a whole lot of control on his goofier tendencies.

 

Wednesday nights are always bad for me (it's our weekly "happy hour") so I'm hoping they have replays at more opportune times. It isn't like El Rey at all to beat their programming into the ground.   -_-

 

There is about 3 replays on the schedule.

 

I hope El Rey let them have a 5 minute overrun in the future. They really need an extra 5 minutes to let things soak in.

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RRR

RRR

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Blue Demon (or Daymon?) can go when Villano IV is there to punch him in the face.

 

The Daymon thing was killing me.

 

Anyone else notice Vamp fighting with every bone in his body not to bury Morrison's entrance?

He made some subtle comment like "Yea..he's so cool" in the most subdued tone of voice possible.

 

The top of Konnan's head is starting to sink in to the bottom of his head.Really hope he doesn't still

have his hopes up for one more run like he's been talking about on his show forever.

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OSJ

OSJ

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Chessman wasn't a serial killer, but point taken... I would hate to see them start assigning new gimmicks all willy nilly when AAA has such a rich history. Hard to believe that a show with such high quality production values and obvious attention to detail dropped the ball on something as basic as work visas. That's so TNA...

 

I am totally down with having a Villano on hand to punch Blue Demon jr. in the face, preferably with great frequency. Konnan just need to go away, has there ever been anyone (except maybe Kevin Nash) that's had such a long career doing so little?

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OSJ

OSJ

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Yeah, I'm not a big Vampiro fan. As for Mil, he was vastly entertaining way back when. I bought a bunch of lucha figures years ago and mixed in with all the cool ones, I got stuck with one of Vampiro and some guy named "Ice Killer". At least Ice Killer looks cool. I've been too lazy to put the Vampiro up on eBay as I have a sneaking suspicion that no one would buy it anyway...

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scraylo187

scraylo187

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I loved loved LOVED that the backstage segments were telenovella scenes. Absolutely loved it. 

 

I would have preferred that our lucha veterans had captained trios teams for the opening bout, and that Havoc would have needed to cheat more than just tights pulling to put Sexy Star down but those were my only real complaints.

 

When Striker is just straight forward telling you facts and not MARKING OUT BRO he's not too bad. 

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Skelemania

Skelemania

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Agree with most the stuff in the OP. Thought it was a great debut show & I'm really happy with it. I will be tuning in again next week.

 

Blue Demon was not impressive at all. He seemed old, fat, slow & sloppy but maybe he just had a bad night. Vampiro got worse as the show went on for me & he kept repeating stuff like "bro" & "brother" which started to grate my nerves but that's a minor complaint. He also called Sexy Star "baby" which seemed inappropriate (unless it turns into an angle?) -- I thought Striker was OK but he just needs a different guy with him out there.

 

I don't know what the tapings are like or how many are in the pipe already or what. I'm going to avoid spoilers though.

 

Great main event. I like the roster for the most part that I've seen so far. Some good talkers. Loved the movie-style vignettes. The overhead camera was different & a welcome shot but should definitely not be overused. Worst part of the show was the random camera cuts over to the commentators for no reason which became really apparent in the main event.

 

I really liked the intro too with the backgrounds of some Lucha history & the character development videos. Good stuff. Konnan talking about the seven Aztec tribes each having a village champion to battle was tremendous. Really explained the masks well.

 

Love the look of the arena & think it would be a ton of fun to see a live show there. I like the look and size of the ring too. The basement feel fits.

 

Good show with just a few first episode nit-picks. Will be back to watch again for sure.

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Stay Gold

Stay Gold

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Blue Demon is almost 50 and that's his normal pace, to be honest. Negro Casas he is not. 

 

I'm not big on the over produced "tv show" presentation, but there were a lot of things I did like. Pretty cool seeing Ricochet. That guy's been having such a tremendous year. 

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AlfredoE

AlfredoE

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I enjoyed the show. I went to a couple of tapings and quite honestly the way I view the match quality is that you'll get 1 good match on most of the shows and the other matches weren't very good or not much to talk about. So, if they edit down the bad matches, I'm ok with that if it means they'll keep the good matches close to complete and yes, it is very similar to LLUSA & WSX in some ways. Better talent though than LLUSA.

 

Matt Striker constantly calling Blue Demon Jr., Blue "Daymon" was annoying as fuck. I didn't hate Striker or Vamp on announcing as much as I thought I would, but they really could use a lead color guy.  If you thought Vamp was bad on here, just imagine what those of us who ordered the Triplemania iPPV had to go thru! He was way worse. Here he seemed to get some info and was better.

 

I think they re-did some announcing because the first taping I went to, Vampiro stood around a lot.  Also, they have him going to the crowd and tell them to cheer stuff like "This is Awesome" or "Culero". I don't think its a bad thing, but at times it can come off a bit fake, but I guess its better than having fans just silent in the crowd.

 

Fenix, Pentagon Jr., King Cuerno (Hijo del Fantasma) were pretty great in matches that I saw them in, so you have that to look forward to.

 

I like Dario Cueto's promos. When I had to interview him in his office on press day, he was really good at being Dario Cueto. The El Rey staff kept him in-character the entire time. 

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