There have been parts of my life where I have absolutely loved Lucha Libre. I remember being a kid flipping through the channels with my brother and stumbling upon KMEX 34 and seeing Ninja Turtles in a Wrestling Ring. I stopped everything to watch intently. The high-flying, the masks, it was all so intoxicating. It was WCW’s Cruiserweight Division highlighted by the likes of Rey Misterio Jr., Psicosis, Super Calo, Juventud Guerrera, that kept me as a fan of wrestling, when I was ready to stop watching. And I have fond memories of watching Lucha Libre cards at the Anaheim Market Place with WPW or Frank & Sons with AWS. So when I saw Volador Jr. was going to be at a local indie show, I was really excited. Volador has been wrestling since 1998, but I was only aware of him for his matches in 2003 when Pinoy Boy, Bobby Quance, and Rocky Romero started working in CMLL. At that time Volador Jr. was regularly teaming with Ricky Marvin in Trios matches. Sepetmber 17th, Rocky Romero defeated Volador Jr. to become the CMLL Supra Ligra Champion. Once the Havana Brothers were out of of CMLL, I stopped watching. Volador defeated Johnny Mundo and Mephisto to win the UIPW Title in Los Angeles last summer. I have wanted to go to an Underground Independent Pro Wrestling show, in hopes of catching the UIPW Champion and CMLL Star Volador Jr. for some time.
The first fifteen minutes of this show, were worse than anything I’ve ever seen at a wrestling show. Ever. And I mean, I’ve seen some pretty bad shows. Razor Rizzotti with his own personal camera woman, and a body-guard that has his entire face tattooed take center stage at the show. Razor claims he was sent from the UIPW owners in New York. Aside from dropping a healthy amount of F-bombs in front of a crowd made up of about half children, he introduces us to the Gut Punch Challenge. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Taking turns punching dudes in the gut until someone quits. To make things more interesting, Razor has a title and will defend it against three other Gut Punchers. No, I’m not kidding. His opponents were some dude, I don’t know, Biggie Biggs (who looked dapper AF) and the OG Playboy (who would have a match immediately following this atrocity). So basically, Rizzotti exchanged punches with this dude, who wasn’t throwing shit, Biggs who looked like he was putting an effort, and the OG Playboy who got hit so hard, he took a knee and called it a day. The kids who were jumping around in the ring before the show provided more entertainment. Seriously, Cary… this was the drizzling shits.
No Stars… it was garbage.
Next up was “Mr.USA” Super Natural vs. “Mexican Assassin” OG Playboy. Wasn’t the OG Playboy originally R2K? Not sure if those punches (I don’t think they were) in the opener were shoot or not, but seems like a bad idea to do that before you actually have to wrestle. The match almost instantly spilled out to the floor right away. After brawling back and forth on the outside, they both get into the ring. On a side note, I really think Super Boy (who was doing the announcing) is under rated as a play by-play. Even though most of the announcing was in Spanish he was very easy on the ears. I bet he’d work nicely in a color position. Playboy had the advantage briefly, but missed a moonsault. Super Natural missed a senton. With both men working their way up, the two exchange chops and slaps. Super Natural wraps up Playboy in the turnbuckle and hits him with a chair. No DQ??? More brawling on the outside. Both get into the ring before a 20 count. Super Natural forces the ref into the corner, again No DQ? Playboy charges, Natural moves ref gets knocked out. Natural goes for brass knuckles, because of course you cheat when the referee is out. Playboy is able to take the fight to Super Natural and gets the knuckles from him. Of course Natural eats a knuckle sandwich and the ref counts three, sees the knucks and DQs Playboy.
Winner: Super Natural. So wait, Super Natural uses a chair, roughs up a referee, and no DQ. Referee guesses that Playboy used the knuckles and DQs him. Plus no 2/3 falls? So that’s the game we’re playing tonight?
** It was a fun match, it was just okay. This is how they should have started the show.
Nightmare Azteca vs “Lockdown” Tony Raze vs “Rocket boy” D’Marco Wilson vs Human Tornado four way was up next. Gran Tahoma was replaced by Tornado. Outside of Tornado I don’t think I’ve seen any of these guys before. I made sure not to put a hand on Human Tornado has he entered the ringside area. Nightmare Azteca had a real cool lucha look, I think he works mostly for OWA in San Diego. I believe D’Marco Wilson is out of the UEW Camp. Not really sure where Raze comes from, no relation to the talented female wrestler. As good as Super Boy on commentary was, Razor Rizzotti was the absolute worse. The match opens with Raze getting attacked by all three, but fights them off and takes time squashing them in the corner with avalanches. Wilson and Tornado stay down to recover while Azteca and Raze go at it. With Azteca taking him over with a few flying head scissors. Rizzotti referred to Torando and Wilson as “Super Negro.” after they both dive at the same time. Rizzotti says “The Negros are going after the Mexican” as Tornado and Wilson double team Azteca to get him out the ring. Tornado and Wilson go back and forth exchanging arm drags. This was pretty fun. Wilson gets the upper hand, just in time for Raze to get into the ring, who drops him down. And then Azteca rejoins the fight to take on Raze. At this point the match kind of falls apart. Tornado and Wilson are battling outside the ring and Raze and Azteca are going back and forth inside.
Winner: D’Marco Wilson wins be defeating Nightmare Azteca with a Van Daminator with a skateboard (without the wheels).
**Again a fun match, it was okay. Rizzotti is just awful as a live color announcer and a tad bit racist. Wilson has a lot of potential.
Next up is a Triple Threat match featuring Super Boy Jr vs Principe Indu Jr vs Legacy. This show has too many multi-man matches. I have good memories of Super Boy at Bart’s shows going back 14 years ago. I thought this was going to be good with Super Boy Jr. in the match. Super Boy Jr., for those who don’t know looks just like his father. Big Guy, that can do a lot of high-flying. Incredible to see in person. Principe Indu Jr. was slightly smaller than Super Boy Jr. and then you’ve got Legacy, heard someone say he’s a teenager. The kid is going to be a star someday. UIPW should be putting him in the ring with guys like TJ Perkins or Scorpio Sky. Based on this match alone, I’m nominating him for Rookie of the Year 2016. This match was mostly Principe Indu Jr. and Super Boy Jr. taking turns beating the shit out of Legacy. Legacy spent sometime on the outside while Principe and Super Boy beat the crap out of each other. Legacy did botch a spot when he bounced on the top rope while holding Principe’s arm, but recovered nicely. A lot of fun dives. Legacy showed a lot of heart, fighting against a duo probably out weighed him by 150-200 pounds each.
Winner: Legacy scores the victory when he hits a rana into a armbar submission on to Princpe Indu Jr..
***Pretty cool ending. Real fun match. It wasn’t anything ground breaking, but this by far was the best match on the card so far.
In lieu of getting the UIPW Tag Team Match, we got Classicus Shadow vs. Barrio Boy. I wasn’t especially excited for this as I was really looking forward to seeing Famous B-Boy defend their titles (see what I did there). Classicus cut a promo in Spanish. The crowd seemed to enjoy it. I’m not really sure what was said. I think he addressed the champions not being there, but I’m not really sure. Classicus Shadow vs. Barrio Boy was a typical Lucha match. I honestly couldn’t get into it. This was coming off of intermission and I was just not really into it. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good. It was another okay match. Classicus Shadow gets the victory and then is attacked by Barrio Boy. At this point I just kept thinking that I paid $20 for this show, and thus far, I’m disappointed.
* This wasn’t the best match to get the crowd back after intermission. I was genuinely bored during this match.
Intergender 4 Team Elimination
Enigma & Amazona vs. Steve Pain & Machiko vs. Shamu Jr. & Holidead, vs. Teddy Hart & Datura.
Teddy Hart is world renown for his unique, death-defying dives. I’m sure we’re going to see something crazy tonight Teddy looks like a million bucks. I haven’t seen Steve Pain since the Santa Monica Dojo… he doesn’t even look like the same guy. Amazona and Datura look solid, with Datura being over with the crowd. She kind of reminds me of Bailey giving out hugs and high-fives. And I think Holidead is from Knoxk Pro. I think this match would have been better off as Datura vs. Amazona one-on-one and Teddy Hart vs. Steve Pain one-on-one. I don’t know, it just felt like too much for one match. Machiko came out with Teddy’s cat. I’m sure there is some sexual innuendo there, but I’m above that kind of journalism. The match started off with Enigma trying to flex on Teddy Hart and they exchange chops, before he exits the ring and Shamu Jr. and Enigma get into it. I still think this wasn’t a good way to book this match. Enigma used a series of head scissor take downs on Shamu Jr. to control the pace of the match. Shamu took over with arm bards. This was definitely a slow star to the match. Amazona and Datura got into the ring. They both have a lot of energy. I’d like to see them go one on one. Amazona and Machiko were working heel, they double teamed Datura in the corner. Amazona tossed Datura out of the ring. The match really picks up with Teddy and Enigma squaring off. This match very quickly turned into intergender match. I mean really this match had too much going on to keep track. The first team eliminated was Amazona and Enigma. Which was a shame, because Amazona worked well with the men. She should get booked more. Teddy was pretty funny throwing quips out to the crowd. Machiko (who I think is Teddy’s woman) ate a nasty powerbomb on to Teddy’s knees. It looked sick, like it broke her in half. Not sure how she was walking, let alone wrestling after that. She was easily the weakest link in this match. Enigma had a pretty cool tope to the outside, followed up with Amazona diving from the top. Enigma and Amazona were eliminated with a cradle to a face buster (like the X-Factor). Datura held her own against Shamu Jr. with a couple of head scissor take downs but eventually he took control of the match. Teddy heckled his opponents through out the match, it was pretty funny. Holidead and Shamu Jr. were eliminated when Teddy Hart did this incredible 360 rotation moonsault landing on his feet to stomp Shamu. It looked incredibly dangerous and I kept thinking that Teddy’s legs are gone. The last two teams broke into a brawl. The finish saw Teddy hit a Canadian Destroyer from the Top Rope to put Steve Pain and Machiko away.
Winner: Teddy Hart & Datura
*** Really fun match with good spots, but too much going on in this one. I’d rather they had broken this up into 2-3 matches instead of the crap we got earlier.
Finally the match I was looking foward to was the Main Event. Mariachi Loco vs. Volador. This match delivered. Marachi Loco wrestles as El Siniestro de la Muerte at Lucha Underground. I know he’s been around for a while, but I really didn’t discover him until he started working for Alternative Wrestling Show. This match was a 2/3 falls, which is the more traditional route. Most of the announcing was in Spanish, so I don’t know if I missed that part or if it was just implied because of the BIG MATCH. Never in this match did Loco look intimidated or outmatch from his opponent. Early on Mariachi Loco used a pretty crazy somersault tope con hijo (did I say that right?) dive over the top rope and was able to get the first fall in the 2/3. Which shocked me, because I was unaware that it was 2/3 falls match and thought the title changed hands in about 4 minutes. One the 2nd fall started, Volador was all business, gave a rana to Loco that sent him to the outside. And then delivered his own somersault tope dive. Once they got back into the ring, it was a super kick, cross body, and a codebreaker to give Volador his first fall. So the first two falls happened in the first 8 minutes of the match. This match continued to be an excellent back and forth. At this point, I was wishing the entire card had been like this match. A scary moment in the match was it looked like Volador was going for a monkey flip and Loco just dumped him over the top. Then scaled the top rope for a crazy dive. It was intense. Fans ate it up. I kind of checked out for a bit, just concentrating on the match. That typically happens when I’m really invested. Volador hit a strong huricanrana of the top rope that almost saw the finish of the match. About 14 minutes in and both men are looking winded. But neither man can finish each other. Fortunately there is a bootleg copy of the match on youtube. Then things get stupid. They kill the lights, (it’s not even Sabu), but a masked Misterioso enters ring side and they project on the screen of a pre-taped promo, I’m guessing. When the lights come back on, Volador doesn’t hesitate to hit another codebreaker for the victory.
Winner: Volador Jr. with the codebreaker.
*** I think the ending really hurt this match. It was great until the stupid lights off gimmick. Probably would have been 4 stars without it.
I wasn’t happy about a $20 ticket. But I literally went to see Volador Jr. (which was a real good match) and Teddy Hart (which was a pretty good match). I’m not sure I would go to another UIPW show as I could tell the fans in attendance had a good time, but I wasn’t really disappointed with the under card. The show felt over booked and we didn’t even get the Triple Threat Tag Team Match. Over all, this show was just okay.
