Guerrero Indy Wrestling - Arena Azteca Budokan 01/08/2015

Wasson vs Arez

Decent enough stuff, both guys seemed pretty competent. The opening matwork was well worked, especially a lovely float over into a headscissors by Wasson. Things started to heat up a bit after a nice slingblade by Wasson, as they follow this with a fluid little sequence ending with a Wasson tornillo to the floor. Arez seems to have a nice variety of kicks, including a nice capoeira kick to the back of Wasson’s head. I also liked him stopping a top rope armdrag by just yanking Wasson off the top onto his knee. The problem with the match is that it feels a little bit too co-operative, both guys sit in place waiting for moves in an unrealistic manner, and they both seem to look at one another to make sure they’re ready before hitting a move. I also thought Arez hitting a big sit out piledriver was wasted, should have been the finisher, before Wasson hits a huge cannonball in the corner to win.

Negro Navarro vs Herodes Jr

This is almost entirely worked on the mat, and I know if I’d seen this when I was 21 and didn’t know much about lucha, I’d have hated this. Just two unimpressive looking men, not even wearing masks for goodness sake, grappling on the man. I’d also have been very wrong, because this was really lovely stuff. Navarro is always slightly ahead of Herodes, you can tell he’s very comfortable on the floor, but at the same time he doesn’t just overwhelm Herodes, letting him show what he can do. In contrast to the first match, which felt very co-operative, things here felt earned, and you could see each of them always looking for a weak spot to grab to escape a hold or chain to their next one. There’s a lovely bit where Herodes has an abdominal stretch on Navarro, and starts elbowing him in the ribs, only for that to lessen his grip on the hold and for Navarro to reverse and hit his own string of harder looking elbows. Given Navarro’s dominance there, it makes sense for Herodes to try and get things working off the mat, but Navarro is always able to yank him back down, applying an armbar for the victory.

Metaleon & Power Bull vs Impulso & Belial

This one kicks off with a bang right away, featuring a string of fast action and dives before I’ve managed to work out who is who. I really liked Belial in this, he’s got a nice variety of kicks and he hits Metaleon with an insane bullet tope into the railings. Impulso also has nice strikes and hits maybe the most insane highspot of the show, as he hurls himself over the top rope in order to hit an elbow drop onto Power Bull on the floor. Impulso and Belial also have some nice double team moves, with Belial flipping his partner into a moonsault from an Alabama Slam position. This was a really fun spot fest tag match, no resting and though Metaleon and Power Bull don’t get to look quite so flashy as their opponents, they’re still a lot of fun. Metaleon picks up the win with a running DVD on Belial, and I really need to see more from all four of these guys.

Virus & Valiente vs Solar & Black Terry

This was a really good match to finish on, both teams looked terrific. The Virus/Solar exchange was the highlight of the early part, it had that same kind of feeling as the Navarro/Herodes match where every escape and counter felt earned, but these two felt more like contemporaries, more equal on the mat. By contrast, Terry and Valiente decide to try and smack the shit out of each other, wobbling each other’s legs with vicious slaps to the face. Terry at this point was in his early sixties, but you wouldn’t know it from how he flipped over for each Valiente armdrag. We end up with all four guys in the ring, and the ref counts a dual pin, with Solar pinning Valiente and Virus pinning Terry. From the referee’s gesturing, this gives each team a fall, and we end up with another few minutes of just Virus and Solar in the ring, Solar getting the win with a rolling cradle that took out Virus’s legs. Really good bout

Guerrero Indy Wrestling - Arena Azteca Budokan 06/06/2015

This is that time, about once per year, where I decide to review some lucha, a genre I know little about. This is streaming on Powerbomb TV, and this was a really fun 45 mins

Aeroboy vs Herodes Jr vs Trauma I vs Trauma II

The Traumas don’t seem to be working together here, and when they are both in the ring, there’s a fun sense of sibling rivalry as they try to one-up each other. Trauma II coming in and just smacking I in the head sets this up nicely. Trauma II has blows that don’t just look good, they really resonate too. Trauma I gets a submission on Aeroboy by leaping into a twisting leg lock that looks nasty. II soon eliminates his brother by adjusting his bodyweight on a la majistral. The final leg between TII and Herodes is pretty fun, and at this point Herodes hasn’t really been in the match. Herodes gets the win with the brainbuster, but it’s the Traumas I came out of this wanting to see more of.

Solar vs Negro Navarro vs Pirata Morgan

Kind of a weird match to write about, as I’m far more aware of the reputations of each of these men than have experience in watching their matches – I’ve seen a little Solar and I really enjoyed the Navarro/Sabre Jr match from earlier this year – so even though I really enjoyed the match, I don’t know if this is mid-range for these guys, or where this would compare to their top tier stuff. All I can hope to do is rate this as a match on it’s own, and it’s a match that definitely makes me want to investigate further on all three. Navarro in particular has incredible mat speed that belies the slightly paunchy elder gent you see on the stand up parts. He just seems so able to make the most of any slight opening, just floating his way into a headscissors counter. Solar and Navarro seem to pair up the best on the mat of any of these three combos. I loved how Navarro will move and, without my even realising, he’d hooked an arm along the way and was working it over. When Morgan comes in, he’s got a very different approach, rather than working takedowns, he powers wrestlers down with big moves in order to apply submissions. He’s the least agile though, and it’s not such a surprise when Solar takes him down with a rolling heel hook for the submission. With Morgan gone, the two remaining men really up the speed, as if they’d been holding back until it was time for one-on-one. Again, they pair up wonderfully, until Navarro gets a hammerlock rollthrough for the submission. As I said, for all I know this could be lower tier for these guys (I suspect a younger Morgan has better stuff in the back catalogue), but for my eyes, this was terrific.

Extreme Tiger vs Flamita

This is a real change of pace, and in that respect it works. Both guys go hell for leather, and it’s a rel fun spotfest. There is a slight anomaly of a spot, where Flamita flattens Tiger’s leg with a chair on the ramp and then dropkicks it in the ropes, but given that they both soon forget about this injury and never go back to it again, it’s pointless to focus on it. There’s a few fun little bits of detail – loved Tiger disorientating Flamita on the mat, slightly dizzying him before German suplexing him into the turnbuckle. Tiger hits an insane twisting dive to the flaw, looked super impressive. Tiger picks up the win with a great looking leg capture suplex. Really quick sprint of a match, not something you’ll remember for long, but just good fun whilst it lasts.