|
Articles, columns, tape reviews, and random observations from the Viva staff _________________ _________________
|
|
|
|
The Auditorio was seemingly sold out for a mixed night of action. Promociones de Baja California started then night off with an unannounced match featuring some local guys... Shamu d. Halloweencito in one fall after a big splash. Pretty ugly match that was probably set up just to get Halloweencito, who looked too big to be somebody's mini, some time in front of the crowd. Both men wrestled in street clothes, with Shamu, who now sports a mask, playing giant rudo to Halloweencito. |
||
|
|
||
|
Super Boy & Depredador d. Pandillero & Neon
Although the action was average at best, they told a great story in the ring. The ultra heel Pandillero was paired with ultra tecnico Neon, who replaced the MIA Super Raton. During the first and last falls, Pandillero refused to help his partner who was getting double teamed in the ring. The rudos looked good, with Depredador working a solid American style, and the husky Super Boy delivering some good high flying moves. The third fall got ugly when Pandillero seemed to refuse to work with Depredador. He kept squirming away from him, and attempting to reverse any moves he attempted. In what I honestly believe was a shoot, Pandillero became extremely difficult when Depredador went for his finisher, a Razors Edge, and was dumped on his neck for his trouble. |
||
|
|
||
|
Mascarita Sagrada beat Piratita Morgan for the Worlds
Minis Title
I had really high hopes for this match, as I'd never seen mini's work a ladder match before. Although it's hard to not enjoy watching Mascarita in the ring, overall, it was a pretty bad match. There wasn't one highspot in the entire match, let alone any ladder spots. I figure it was due to the rotund Piratita Morgan and his fat midget ass. To make up for the slow action, the minis' seconds, Neon and SuperBoy respectively, kept getting involved in the match. Eventually, Mascarita handcuffed Piratita to the ropes and scaled the rickety ladder to capture the title. Afterwards, Mascarita refused to give the little rudo the key unless he agreed to a future hair vs. mask match. Piratita reluctantly agreed. |
||
|
|
||
|
Nicho, El Hijo de Anibal and Blue Demon Jr. d. El
Cobrade, Fantasma and El Salsero by DQ
After some controversy over an imposter Hijo de Anibal, he is now being billed as 'The Real Hijo de Anibal.' Surprisingly, neither him or Blue Demon got much of a reaction during their entrances. It's always a pleasant surprise to realize how insanely over Nicho is in TJ. Everybody, little kids, elderly women, and drunken cholos, all lost it when he made his energetic entrance. As over was he was, he got very little offense in during the below average match, and bumped his ass off the whole time. The heel referee got involved during the third fall, which prompted the tecnico referee to award the victory to faces. As soon as the match was over, Nicho quietly went to the back while the rest of the luchadores cut promos for the next 15 minutes. Interestingly enough, the promos revolved around Cobarde claiming that this Anibal was also an imposter, and that his father would have been ashamed to see him wrestle. |
||
|
|
||
|
La Familia de Tijuana d. Blue Panther, Pentagon and
Hijo del Diablo.
Diablo garnered cheap heat working his pro-America shtick, while Panther got a nice face pop when he made his entrance. Much like Nicho, the Famila was ridiculously over as they made their way to the ring with Halloween brandishing an XLAW title belt. The first fall was mildly energetic with Blue Panther and Damien 666 busting out with some matwork early on. Lady Victoria blew a spot during an attempt at a doomsday device, and La Familia eventually picked up the first fall. The second round got hardcore when the Familia brought some chairs and pieces of plywood to the ring. The two teams took turns slamming each other through the pieces as wood, with the rudos getting the better of the exchange and taking the second fall. The third fall was all over the place with Pentagon and Diablo double teaming Halloween in the Audience, and Victoria catching a beatdown from Blue Panther. After tecnicos won the match, Rey Misterio and Blue Panther berated each other on the mic with Panther challenging Misterio to a ladder match. Misterio shot back that unlike Panther, he wouldn't have to ask any bosses permission to wrestle the match. Before they were finished, Parka came to the ring in street clothes. Just as the crowd on hand began cheering for him, he established himself as a heel in the next match by verbally attacking Damien 666. "Once I'm finished with Santo tonight, I'm going to come after your hair!" he barked in Spanish. He went on tell the Tijuana crowd that, "I'll destroy Damien, and you all will love me when I'm done." |
||
|
|
||
|
El Hijo del Santo d. La Parka in a LA JAULA INFERNAL
cage match
La Parka got a huge pop once he got into the cage where he did his signature chair posing. Santo got a slightly bigger ovation from the Tijuana audience. After a brief staredown, the cage was padlocked shut and the two luchadores tore the house down in a brutal steel cage match. Parka stacked the two chairs flat on the ground and proceeded to powerbomb Santo repeatedly on them. Shortly after, Parka began tearing at Santos mask, ripping most of the bottom half off. The angered Santo responded by TEARING OFF NEARLY ALL OF LA PARKAS' MASK! During the 3 seconds after this happened, Parka realized just how much of his mask had come off, and almost panicked. We worked the rest of match with his face exposed, once in a while attempting to cover his face with a ripped portion of his mask. In THE BEST use of real danger in a cage I've ever seen, Parka and Santo climbed to the top of the cage and straddled the top of the rather, uh, inexpensive cage. Although they were careful of their positioning, they traded blows with each other, and dangerously swayed back and forth, causing a collective gasp throughout the auditorio. It was to the point that you forgot what was going on, and just really hoped that neither of them accidentally fell. Once they returned to the ring, Parka continued to brutalize Santo, and the two of the went on to tease cage escapes, only to be slammed back to the ground. As Santo began to get the upper hand, Depredador, Hijo Del Diablo and El Salsero ran down to the ring and climbed into the cage. They handcuffed Santo to the cage and Parka was handed a pair of bare electrical wires that he touched together to create sparks. Parka electrocuted the subdued Santo with the wires, which caused Damien 666 to run in for the save. At first, the rudos were able to overpower Damien, until the rest of the Familia joined him and the insanely over trio ran the three interfering rudos out of the cage. La Familia then went on to handcuff Parka to the cage, and gave him some of the old shock therapy. At this point, Santo was freed from the handcuffs, and was still selling his electrocution. The three members of La Familia had to pass his limp body from person to person over the top of the cage for the victory. Altogether, a great, great match. Although the undercard wasn't very solid, the main event more than made up for it. The crowd was very much into the match with half of the auditorio cheering for Santo, and half for Parka. The dueling chants for both luchadores was reminiscent of the Rob Van Dam/Chris Jericho matches as far as crowd reaction. Both wrestlers took big slams as they were pulled away from the cage, and Parkas powerbombs looked great. With all of the different elements in the match, I'd have to say it was one of the best cage matches I've ever seen. On a finishing note, I must comment about Parka losing his mask early on in the match. Whenever the subject of Parka dropping his mask comes up, it is pretty much a consensus that losing the mask will do great damage to his gimmick. And while I would usually agree with this, when Parka lost his mask, while playing the role of rudo, he really became a whole different wrestler. His long hair covered most of his face, while he kind of resembled a young Rey Misterio. Maybe it was just the circumstances of being in a cage match, but as a brutal heel, his act seemed very refreshed, and his shredded mask only added to his psychotic image. If La Parka does drop his hood in the near future as many fans speculate, I think we'll see the emergence of an entirely different Parka that will be surprisingly fun to watch. |
