Articles, columns, tape reviews, and random observations from the Viva staff

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Check out some great pictures from the event at this lucha photo site

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The drunken ramblings of Northern California's lucha enthusiasts.

Lucha Libre's official message board.

The Official Site of El Santo.

The Official site of Blue Demon.

CMLL's official home page.

Photo Archive of lucha toys!

From Parts Unknown Magazine's site.

Great Eddie Guerrero fan site.

Visit La Mosca de Francia. He rocks the ass.

This event was put together by XLUM, a newer Tijuana fed that is proudly integrated 'garbage wrestling' into lucha libre, in association with Huerta Promotions. The first big difference I noticed about this XLUM event was the higher quality of the ring and ramp, as well as many large screens surrounding the Auditorio where various backstage vignettes would air throughout the night. Although kids seats were free, the price of ringside seats were considerably higher than last time I visited. While not completely sold out, the house was still packed as the action kicked off with...

Mandingo, Mazambula and Mozambique d. La Mascara, Zeus and Forastero by DQ

Mandigo's rudo team seem to be a staple of TJ opening matches. Known as 'Los Brujos,' their timing is really bad, although they have a good look, and really seem to get under the fans' skin. Tecnicos looked green, although La Mascara (who did have a really cool looking Blitzkrieg-like mask) hit many impressive spots. The Brujos offense consisted solely of punches, kicks and senton splashes, but they were able to win the match when the slimey rudo ref awarded them the third fall when one of the tecnicos threatened him outside. The tecnico team extracted revenge afterwards with a few atomic drops to the ref.

A backstage interview with 'Los Sexy Boys,' Ricky Marvin, Tony River and Principe Arandu is played on the giant screens.

Extreme Tiger d. Extassis & Halloweencito in a 3-Way match

Definitely the sleeper match of the night. I had seen Extreme Tiger once before in a trios match, but he totally blew me away in this 3-way dance. Impeccable timing, amazing kicks and wicked high spots, this guy should be huge someday. His tribal ring gear and bi-colored tiger mascara definitely adds to his potential as well. Extassis also had a great look, even though it looks like he stole Psicosis's WCW gear (I've actually had a picture of him on the site for a while under the SuperEstrellas De Lucha Libre MP3 download in the music section). Halloweencito still looked pretty green, although his enthusiasm and determination were cleary evident. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury halfway through the match and had to be stretchered out afterward. After the match, the ring announcer boasts that Extreme Tiger will be moving up to the bigger matches with this win under his belt.

Depreaddor, Virus and Venum Black d. Tony Rivera, Príncipe Arandu and Ricky Marvin 

I totally marked out when Virus made his entrance, as all three rudos made their entrance to a generally quiet response. Virus and Marvin quickly went after each other, with Marvin continually making signals indicating that he wanted Virus's mullet in a hair match. Now, I've seen a few Marvin/Rivera matches in the last few months, but their performance in Tijuana that night outshined all of them. Both hit AMAZING highspots throughout the match, with Rivera suffering a mild ankle injury in the third fall that would cost his team the match. Virus also looked great in every fall, and of the three rudos, was able to get the most heat. After the match, Depredador and Arandu scheduled a one on one match for the future, and Los Sexi Boys demanded revenge from their opponents. Altogether a great, great match.

Hilarious backstage vignette showed La Parka, Salsero and the unmasked Mosco de la Merced playing Super Nintendo. When somebody alerted them that the rudo XLUM promoter was coming, the three men put the Nintendo away, and began doing pushups, starting their count with, "...900, 901, 902." The promoter informed La Parka that if he lost his upcoming street fight with Rey Misterio, he would have to wear a dress next week, and vice versa. When the promoter left, the three rudos resumed their Nintendo playing.

The next vignette showed Rey Misterio, and his new valet, La Dama de Negra, a bondage queen. Misterio warned Parka that even though she was a woman, she could kick Parka's ass. He then proceeded to rip a XLUM poster off the wall, stating that tonight was all about him, and all about Tijuana.

Scorpio Jr., Mosco de la Merced y El Salsero d. Rey Misterio Jr, Negro Casas y Super Parka

Salsero is in the midst of getting a huge push by XLUM, including the longest entrance of the night (in which he brings a dancing toddler to the ring who mimics his salsa dance routine). Scorpio Jr continues with his 'Taliban' gimmick, complete with arab headdress. Negro and Super Parka both get decent responses from the crowd, as does Rey Jr (but not as loud as I'd have thought). Rudos take the first fall, after the rudo ref ignores a foul by Scorpio. Misguided "Nicho" chants arise as the second fall begins. Rudos rip the top of Super Parka's costume off, but tecnicos still get the second fall. Rey Jr has definitely upped his game, and added some innovative spins to his signature spots. Bizarrely hilarious sequence in the third fall with Salsero biting Negro Casas' ass, followed by Rey Jr biting Salsero's ass and every other luchador continuing the chain, resulting in a six man, continuous, ass biting train. The match ends when the rudo La Parka runs in, and fouls Super Parka, allowing Scorpio to pin him. Afterwards, Salsero accuses Super Parka of being a copy and a brawl ensues.

Rey Misterio d. La Parka in a street fight

A garbage can full of the standard 'hardcore match' weapons is brought to the ring before the match begins. Misterios valet, La Dama de Negra comes to ring before he does, and Parka nails here with a wicked guitar shot that results in her being stretchered out before Rey even makes his entrance. From start to finish, the match had many problems. The objects scattered around the ring cause the pacing to be thrown off. Almost everybody from the previous match makes a run in, which adds to confusion. A table being use breaks under La Parkas weight, before Misterio has a chance to complete the spot. In general, the Tijuana audience didn't pop for the garbage spots, so altogether, the match had little heat. Salsero attempted to make up for it by taunting fans at ringside, and was responded to by GALLONS of beer and soda being thrown on him. After outside interference, La Parka was able to get the pin, but Misterio pleaded to a commissioner on hand for a 5 minute overtime, that was granted. Hot finish when Misterio nailed a standing hurricanrana in the first two seconds of overtime for the win, which garnered a huge pop from the crowd.

The opener and the main were definitely flat, but the mid card provided some great action with Virus, Ricky Marvin and Extreme Tiger all giving great performances. Although I've never been a fan of 'garbage' style wrestling, XLUM really seems to have thier shit together, and it shows in the high quality of their shows. My only real complaint would be Salsero. He really seems to be a very talented wrestler, and gets tons of heat from the crowd, but he's been given too high of a spot on the roster in my opinion. He is being packaged as a main eventer, but is clearly not ready for that type of exposure.
With all of the talk of Rey Misterio Jrs return to mainstream American wrestling, it was great to see him live. I can definitely vouch for his workrate, as it hasn't suffered a bit, and I'm very interested as how he will be packaged if and when he makes his WWF debut.

-RobAnalog