El Dandy v Antifaz del Norte (Monterrey 9/17/00)
--"A lengthy Dandy apuestas match from 2000? How come I've never heard of this?"
40 minutes later: "oh nevermind"
This
only goes 40 minutes if you watch the pre-match interview/Antifaz
weight training stuff, but even at like 33 minutes it can be a complete
drag. Antifaz gets busted badly really soon, and by the time
Dandy's...doing something to him (poking eye? pulling hair? JUST
POINTING AT HIS HEAD?) you can pretty much see his entire face anyway.
Kind of makes me think "who gives a shit if he loses his mask tonight
now? we all fucking saw him." Dandy's buddy with the shitty-ass haircut,
who if I understood the commentators right was Zumbido, was a shitty
shitface shithead that was shitty at everything. He interfered a few
times and just made the match longer with everyone standing around in
confusion. I must have checked on my DVD player 15 times how long the
match had until it was over. Shithead Zumbido sets up Antifaz on the top
rope and literally turns around just waiting to be flipped. I could go
on about this but I won't. It's just not really worth watching.
El Dandy v El Hijo del Perro Aguayo (AAA 8/31/02)
--I guess I
expected more AAA clusterfuck bullshit, but this was surprisingly good.
It pretty much went swimmingly like a good title match with Dandy
getting help from other rudos and stuff. Finish was shitty, though, and
it didn't exactly come deep into the third fall. If they had been let go
for 10 minutes in the last fall this could have entered that "very
good" territory, me thinks.
El Dandy v El Hijo del Perro Aguayo v Mr. Aguila v Electroshock (AAA 9/2/02)
--Aguila
comes out to the DeGeneration X theme here and is almost a bona fide
Jeff Hardy imitator. So each guy has to escape the cage separately
and....you know what? No. I will not talk about this. It. Was. Fucking.
Bad. You will not watch this- say it with me, "I will not watch this."
None of this "oh maybe different strokes" or "I want to watch everything
talked about" or "I've wanted to watch some more Mr. Aguila so.." NO.
Don't watch this. DO. NOT. WATCH. THIS.
El Dandy v El Hijo del Perro Aguayo (AAA 2/28/03)
--Looked
ok. I say "looked" because I was more fixated on the watermelon I was
eating. Wasn't long before this turned into a fuck of the cluster kind.
Not as much as the stuff on the 1996 yearbook, but it's just confusing
and unneeded. AAA was a shithole around this time.
El Dandy v Heavy Metal (AAA 5/3/03)
--"Bull
Terry" match, and since they had chains tied to ther necks which
connected each other, I can assume "terry" is Spanish for "collar" or
something. I don't care. This wasn't good either. Death to Pena. {*} = NOTE
El Dandy/Super Crazy/Ultimo Guerrero v Nicho el Millionario/Damian 666/Halloween (LLA 7/11/04)
--Finally
AAA fucks off and I can look at something really worth watching. Thank
you Lucha Libre Azteca. This won't stick out with great trios, but it
def sticks out on a disc of shitty AAA. Is pretty much a really cool 90s
trio match. Super Crazy looked pretty awesome in the exchange with
Damian. Or Halloween, IDK. They look similar and I don't care for
either. I hope there's more footage of Super Crazy in trios like this
because he looks like a guy who really fits in with the sort of stuff
you see in the really great lucha tags. But yeah, THIS was good.
El Dandy v LA Park (ENESMA 10/29/04)
--Park's
outfit really is cool. Reminds of when Jushin Liger wore those actual
anime-inspired outfit before settling on "Thunder." This has everything a
good little lucha match should have and without going into depth, it's
really good. Not a MOTYC like I've seen it called, but as far 2004 goes I
think I prefer this to Kobashi v Akiyama.
{*} = NOTE: I wrote this before having the knowledge Antonio Pena died years ago. I feel like a piece of shit, obviously.
Showing posts with label 2004. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2004. Show all posts
Friday, 22 June 2012
Lucha. That's It.
Negro Navarro v El Engendro (NWG 2/16/03)
--Man I could see people who don't like lucha very much thinking nothing of this. First of all, it's almost entirely mat work, like, 99 decimal point %. Second, it's a little take-turn-ish, but if you're going to go your turn/my turn, I'd much rather it be used while exchanges some really sweet looking holds instead of 50 second periods of beat down, which none of this was. The ref was terrible with slow counts, too, but that's something even a lucha diehard would pick at. This is one fall for the Intercontinental Title and Navarro's the challenger, but he still manages to come across as the maestro of the two. Engendro held his own really, really well and they worked tremendous with the idea that "there's a hold for every counter and a counter for every hold," but Navarro would seem much less trouble when Enegndro had him working from the bottom. Some of the submissions were sublime; there just can't be a name for the cross-legged things Navarro pulls out here. I actually paused it to try to figure out which way who's leg was going where at times. One of the submissions had Navarro tie up Engendro's leg with his own and then pull his up upwards so they were both above the mat (terrible explanation but it was awesome). Looked hard as hell to hold and that was confirmed when Navarro himself had to drop him because he couldn't keep the weight up. There sure as shit aren't names for the counters whipped out. During another leglock thingy they both wind up sitting up and sort of trying to grasp each others hands while still having their legs all bundled. This was an ideal chess game, and you got the sense Engendro had to stay on the mat because Navarro had a counter for everything anyway and would have more freedom to wrench him when upright, but Navarro's clearly got him outclassed, so he pops up with lariats and stuff. THAT left him more open to attacks and got wrangle up in Navarro's rolling keylock move thing. He was the pawn getting destroyed by the knight either way, I guess. Really good match in a quiet year for lucha.
Negro Casas v Perro Aguayo Jr. (CMLL 9/25/04)
--Perro's cocky and attacks Negro and pulls his head up for the pin in the first fall, which becomes his stupid mistake when Negro flash-pins him with la magistral a minute later. Only one more fall after that, but it's mostly Perro booting Negro here and there. He uses the block thing that's a step in modern day CMLL, and sits Negro down in the stands, etc. Bunch of nothing, really.
--Man I could see people who don't like lucha very much thinking nothing of this. First of all, it's almost entirely mat work, like, 99 decimal point %. Second, it's a little take-turn-ish, but if you're going to go your turn/my turn, I'd much rather it be used while exchanges some really sweet looking holds instead of 50 second periods of beat down, which none of this was. The ref was terrible with slow counts, too, but that's something even a lucha diehard would pick at. This is one fall for the Intercontinental Title and Navarro's the challenger, but he still manages to come across as the maestro of the two. Engendro held his own really, really well and they worked tremendous with the idea that "there's a hold for every counter and a counter for every hold," but Navarro would seem much less trouble when Enegndro had him working from the bottom. Some of the submissions were sublime; there just can't be a name for the cross-legged things Navarro pulls out here. I actually paused it to try to figure out which way who's leg was going where at times. One of the submissions had Navarro tie up Engendro's leg with his own and then pull his up upwards so they were both above the mat (terrible explanation but it was awesome). Looked hard as hell to hold and that was confirmed when Navarro himself had to drop him because he couldn't keep the weight up. There sure as shit aren't names for the counters whipped out. During another leglock thingy they both wind up sitting up and sort of trying to grasp each others hands while still having their legs all bundled. This was an ideal chess game, and you got the sense Engendro had to stay on the mat because Navarro had a counter for everything anyway and would have more freedom to wrench him when upright, but Navarro's clearly got him outclassed, so he pops up with lariats and stuff. THAT left him more open to attacks and got wrangle up in Navarro's rolling keylock move thing. He was the pawn getting destroyed by the knight either way, I guess. Really good match in a quiet year for lucha.
Negro Casas v Perro Aguayo Jr. (CMLL 9/25/04)
--Perro's cocky and attacks Negro and pulls his head up for the pin in the first fall, which becomes his stupid mistake when Negro flash-pins him with la magistral a minute later. Only one more fall after that, but it's mostly Perro booting Negro here and there. He uses the block thing that's a step in modern day CMLL, and sits Negro down in the stands, etc. Bunch of nothing, really.
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
These Are All WWE Matches. Insert Crappy Title.
Bob Backlund v Hussein Arab (WWF 4/6/79)
--This is really damn good, and not even one of the better Backlund matches there is. I'm not even saying that as a gimmicky poster or anything, either. He's one of the best ever at mixing mat wrestling with pure fun, and Sheik's no slouch at it too. Match goes thirty minutes and I loved it all, even the pre-match stuff with Lou Albano when McMahon threw what looked like coffee straight in this damn face. The match itself had a bit of a mix of everything, I've always loved how Backlund can make the most simple common move look so deadly and entertaining. He has the best Full Nelson reversal ever. Sheik's actually growing on me more and more not just as a fun pleasure to watch, but a legitimately GREAT match worker. Him countering a rope jump with a (spiked) boot to the face was a highlight. Match was mostly mat stuff, though, but then they get tired of it and batter each other with chairs (not sure what the rules were back, no one was DQ'ed), and the crowd was sucking it up like hell. No way Sheiky could have resisted BOB'S ATOMIC DROP, and he got his dues. GO BACKLUND.
The Undertaker v The Big Show (WWE 23/2/03)
--Nothing of a must-see, but as far as WWE style slugests go this is a pleasant watch. Very rough-housian with heavy punches, forearms, BS' backwork, headbutts. Not really ultra-stiff but satisfying enough to make you believe that shit really hurt. Taker even bladed. A-Train interference was a bit of a pain but it set up a cool UT dive on him & PAUL E. DANGEROUSLY. Definitely don't regret watching, need to check CS08 real soon.
Owen Hart v Davey Boy Smith (WWF 3/3/97)
--If you asked me last year I would've said this was a top twenty matches I've ever watched or something. Now? About top 250, but I still really liked it. Started off with some bizarre twisty rolly thingys that I can only explain as being each guy trying to say "I'm a better mat worker than you are, partner". They were cool on the eye and stuff but I don;t love them like I used you. I find it really funny that a while ago I used to worship the armbar-rolly thingys, and now my favourite part was by far when they were hinting that they might cheat each other out of the match. Totally different things. Also loved how Davey would do some athletic taunt and Owen would duplicate it to get in his head. Both guys were pulling tights, putting feet on ropes, etc. and I though it was all great. I've heard some were bothered or whatever that all that tension didn't explode into a fist outburst or something but I though it didn;t warrant it anyway since they were tag Champions together. Not surprised this wasn;t the mind-blowing "scientific technical clinic" or whatever I used to think this was, but I'd be ltying if I said I didn;t really like it. Like, I wouldn't be against watching this again tomorrow, for example.
HHH v Edge v Chris Benoit (WWE 29/11/04)
--the result of this was bloody stupid given HHH was the Champion and lost the title only to win it back at NYR, but the match itself is a blast, glad it was recommended to me. This is the type of 3-way match I mean when i said "good spotfests", no dull moments and everything was really fun, like an attitude era match or something. Opened up with Unter taking it easy while Benoit and Edge beat each other up, he was jokingly clapping and giving those little "ow" facial expressions and it was awesome. It's a given all WWE three-ways will have two guys in the ring while one's on the outside, and a lot of the times it'll be done in a stupid way like getting throwed over the top rope and landing on their feet and "collapsing" or something. This was done greatly though, there was only like one that wasn't that convincing, but it was coincidentally my favourite one, because Benoit got Edge and Suplex'ed him on Helmsley fucking HEAD. Batista and Flair coming out made for another good "take-ou-on-guy" moment when they bashed Benoit, too, and Orton's (acting GM) involvement added a little bit to the match cos of his HHH feud. Not sure if they even had any matches after this in 04, but... yeh. Benoit used the sharpshooter a couple of times, likely in reference to Backlash 04, and i thought that was really cool. Again, they should've learned from Taker/Angle 02 that this type of finish doesn't go down too well, but Vince loves those "who won?" moments. Still doesn;t explain HHH bringing in a chair after the referee got knocked down in a no DQ match, though. Anyway, great match.
--This is really damn good, and not even one of the better Backlund matches there is. I'm not even saying that as a gimmicky poster or anything, either. He's one of the best ever at mixing mat wrestling with pure fun, and Sheik's no slouch at it too. Match goes thirty minutes and I loved it all, even the pre-match stuff with Lou Albano when McMahon threw what looked like coffee straight in this damn face. The match itself had a bit of a mix of everything, I've always loved how Backlund can make the most simple common move look so deadly and entertaining. He has the best Full Nelson reversal ever. Sheik's actually growing on me more and more not just as a fun pleasure to watch, but a legitimately GREAT match worker. Him countering a rope jump with a (spiked) boot to the face was a highlight. Match was mostly mat stuff, though, but then they get tired of it and batter each other with chairs (not sure what the rules were back, no one was DQ'ed), and the crowd was sucking it up like hell. No way Sheiky could have resisted BOB'S ATOMIC DROP, and he got his dues. GO BACKLUND.
The Undertaker v The Big Show (WWE 23/2/03)
--Nothing of a must-see, but as far as WWE style slugests go this is a pleasant watch. Very rough-housian with heavy punches, forearms, BS' backwork, headbutts. Not really ultra-stiff but satisfying enough to make you believe that shit really hurt. Taker even bladed. A-Train interference was a bit of a pain but it set up a cool UT dive on him & PAUL E. DANGEROUSLY. Definitely don't regret watching, need to check CS08 real soon.
Owen Hart v Davey Boy Smith (WWF 3/3/97)
--If you asked me last year I would've said this was a top twenty matches I've ever watched or something. Now? About top 250, but I still really liked it. Started off with some bizarre twisty rolly thingys that I can only explain as being each guy trying to say "I'm a better mat worker than you are, partner". They were cool on the eye and stuff but I don;t love them like I used you. I find it really funny that a while ago I used to worship the armbar-rolly thingys, and now my favourite part was by far when they were hinting that they might cheat each other out of the match. Totally different things. Also loved how Davey would do some athletic taunt and Owen would duplicate it to get in his head. Both guys were pulling tights, putting feet on ropes, etc. and I though it was all great. I've heard some were bothered or whatever that all that tension didn't explode into a fist outburst or something but I though it didn;t warrant it anyway since they were tag Champions together. Not surprised this wasn;t the mind-blowing "scientific technical clinic" or whatever I used to think this was, but I'd be ltying if I said I didn;t really like it. Like, I wouldn't be against watching this again tomorrow, for example.
HHH v Edge v Chris Benoit (WWE 29/11/04)
--the result of this was bloody stupid given HHH was the Champion and lost the title only to win it back at NYR, but the match itself is a blast, glad it was recommended to me. This is the type of 3-way match I mean when i said "good spotfests", no dull moments and everything was really fun, like an attitude era match or something. Opened up with Unter taking it easy while Benoit and Edge beat each other up, he was jokingly clapping and giving those little "ow" facial expressions and it was awesome. It's a given all WWE three-ways will have two guys in the ring while one's on the outside, and a lot of the times it'll be done in a stupid way like getting throwed over the top rope and landing on their feet and "collapsing" or something. This was done greatly though, there was only like one that wasn't that convincing, but it was coincidentally my favourite one, because Benoit got Edge and Suplex'ed him on Helmsley fucking HEAD. Batista and Flair coming out made for another good "take-ou-on-guy" moment when they bashed Benoit, too, and Orton's (acting GM) involvement added a little bit to the match cos of his HHH feud. Not sure if they even had any matches after this in 04, but... yeh. Benoit used the sharpshooter a couple of times, likely in reference to Backlash 04, and i thought that was really cool. Again, they should've learned from Taker/Angle 02 that this type of finish doesn't go down too well, but Vince loves those "who won?" moments. Still doesn;t explain HHH bringing in a chair after the referee got knocked down in a no DQ match, though. Anyway, great match.
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