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GENERAL LUCHA LIBRE THOUGHTS


RIPPA

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Speaking of CMLL, cubsfan saying Mistico II has left CMLL.  So I'm putting money either on he's going to RoH and joining LFI, or LFI's coming back to AAA and he's coming with them.

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71 year old Satanico is most definitely coming back to headline Arena Mexico shows in September which is great for a handful of people online who write blogs but is such an indictment of CMLL. As bad as 2005 when Mistico was starting to get red hot & they insisted on still going with Pierroth/Cien Caras matches on top at major shows.

No doubt Averno is returning soon so they can do Mistico vs Averno & pretend it's 2006 all over again except this time instead of 13,000 fans they'll have 300ish. It's the UWA death march all over again but this time inside Arena Mexico.

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Should be another interesting week in CMLL as Bandido's Big Lucha promotion announced a combined show with ROH in September. A few of the CMLL guys actually held onto the hope ROH would beg CMLL to take them back & open relations back up. Seeing Bandido's crew working with ROH guys will certainly get more people questioning why they are sticking around if NJPW appears not be sending talent any longer, Fantasticmania is likely done for the near future & now ROH is looking elsewhere for a place to trade talent with.

But hey they got Ice Ribbon so good job CMLL for partnering up with the 17th most popular group in Japan who run shows without a ring (I think).

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  • 4 weeks later...

Loved the Black Terry/Perro Guerra Jr. match from the Battle of Coacalco. Perro starts off looking like a deer in the headlights and becomes increasingly more vicious and violent as the match goes on pushing Terry to his limits. Really enthralling stuff.

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Spoiler

The Hechicero vs. Ultimo Guerrero match from tonight is, for the moment, "out there" for your perusal, if you're so inclined.  I really enjoyed it from beginning to end.  It actually felt important.  If anything, it cements the fact, at least in my mind, that Hechicero belongs at the top of the promotion.  For that reason alone, it is worth your time to check out. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Omega vs Vikingo on 12/4. Think I'll head down to see that live.

CMLL counters by posting Friday's lineup hours later with Mistico vs Ultimo Guerrero as the semi-main to TJP's return in the main event with Templario vs Volador Jr. & Titan which is probably the strongest non-Hechicero match CMLL can present with their current roster.

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Negro Navarro vs Jonathan Gresham was a fine enough match considering how Navarro has slowed down a bit in recent years. He still has some neat guard transitions and counters, which is all he really needs in a match like this. Crowd was wretched though. Just a bunch of drunks trying to get themselves over with stupid little remarks. Shit is embarrassing for lucha fans. 

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Definitely drunk. But that is an authentic lucha crowd. They just want interaction & ended up liking the guys more who play back at them. Gresham was there to do his super serious polite applause match like he had vs Virus in a full Arena Naucalpan & it wasn't gonna fly after 2+ hours of wrestling where the crowd had already seen 3 different wrestlers work llave style matches. It's cool for the people watching online trying to decide between ***3/4 or **** but this live crowd wanted either action or entertainment. They got neither.

It didn't help the crowd was like 50-60 people which is an embarassment for Ledesma. The local Sundays with zero names (mostly rookies & building locals) outdraw him these days. With a crowd that small any one comment gets heard by all. I assume you mean the "you are small" comment directed at Gresham... which is factual but that's besides the point. I've never been to a show in Mexico that didn't have people yelling out insults or jokes at the wrestlers' expense. The ones who play back at them are the ones who end up the most over.

I just re-subbed to IWTV to catch up on Lucha Memes & Lee Moriarty gets a similar reaction in Battle of Coacalco. Even the same chants. Yet by the end of round 1 he's cheered by everyone because he had a good match & didn't stop wrestling to just stare angrily at the people for daring to not sit waiting for their cue to politely clap for a reversal. Lucha Libre has changed a lot over the years but drunk fans yelling dumb shit is never going away. They existed back when Atlantis & Blue Panther were working 30 minute mat matches & they'll exist 10 years from now when Destroyers are the opening spots of matches. I'm sorry if this offends anyone but those are way more authentic lucha fans than folks who talk about how great Black Terry's punches are.

As long as we're discussing Memes though... wow these shows are bad. I'm not done my entire catch-up but one good match per show is literally where the bar is set. Far cry from Coacalco being packed & guys busting their asses for fans who demanded good matches. Ledesma has no idea who the good young guys in Mexico are any longer & just seems to be pairing up guys randomly. Freelance vs Perro de Guerra, Perro De Guerra vs Avisman, Avisman vs Freelance & so forth. Navarro/Terry are pretty much done no matter how much you wanna sugarcoat it. They are good for one excellent match per year if someone on the other side can carry the load. The lack of environment is a big killer as you could have a decent match end up great if the crowd is screaming, doing duel chants, chanting esto es lucha... whatever. These small crowds cannot provide that atmosphere.

The real killer for me is the awful production. Ledesma often like to brag (yes, brag) he doesn't watch his own shows & it's very evident. The guy doing the production is robbing him blind by clearly just using a program that automatically makes cuts at various intervals so it looks like real editing is being done but it's just for show. No human being is making real time calls on some of these cuts. If I wasn't a hardcore lucha fan these shows would be unwatchable. I wish someone was still doing handhelds because I'd prefer those instead of cut to corner cam shooting the opposite ringpost as two guys are brawling on the floor off camera. Que?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Saw some clips of the match, looked really promising.  Can't wait to see it in full.  Cavernario has looked decent but not quite 100% since coming back, but he looked to be back in form last night from what I could tell.  

Edited by Evil Otto
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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm wondering about the wisdom of making a 5 way for the vacant AAA Megatitle having 4 participants that don't even work for AAA, but then again I don't book the promotion, so *shrug*.

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