Everyones second favorite lucha promotion. More of this has been showing up lately. Lets talk about matches we should look out for. Undercarders who have been standing out ect.

My favorite Puebla guy is Policeman. I liked the tag match he had with Rafaga vs SWAT and Asturino. I've enjoyed him since he was a undercarder in AAA years ago. I need to watch more Puebla though.

1/18

Fuego/Metro/Stuka Jr. vs Virus/Dr. X/Polvora
- Two Caida match but it featured some nice Virus/Stuka mat work. The other 4 guys were fine and it's nice to see Dr. X although he wasn't in much. Fuego did a nice dive where he moonsalts from inside the ring to the outside without really touching the ropes but he kinda screwed it up. Stuka had a nice moonsalt also.

Porky/Strong Man/Sombra vs Atlantis/Ultimo Guerrero/Negro Casas
- I'm not the biggest fan of Porky but god he was great here. Giving the finger to Ultimo Guerrero, comedy spots with Negro, Tag team with Strongman. Everyone played their parts well. Negro bumped like a freak for Strong Man and Porky along with Atlantis. Ultimo looked good with Sombra and he even bodyslammed Porky. Way better than I expected.

Fuego/Metro/Stuka Jr. vs Virus/Dr. X/Polvora

God damn I was dead wrong on Virus as he's been good-to-great in every match of is I've seen this year really standing out. Really enjoyed his matwork with Stuka here, but I have to admit my favorite moment in this was Dr. X giving Fuego a "WTF?" after their first exchange. This really wasn't much of a match but I did like the blatant running dropkick to Stuka's nuts as a rudo spot.

Porky/Strong Man/Sombra vs Atlantis/Ultimo Guerrero/Negro Casas

This really just illustrates how great Casas is. Actually Sombra was really good in this too as he had a great mat exchange with Casas early, an awesome plancha on Atlantis and a really fun sprint run at the finish before Guerrero punted his nuts for the finish. Still this match was about Casas and how great he has at anything. Even at his age he moves around the ring better than virtually anyone and has the really unique to change tempos at the drop of a dime. Strong Man doesn't bring shit and Porky has got schtick and nothing else but Casas makes them both look solid enough when he's in the ring. Not a great match at all and arguably not even good but a good showcase for Casas as a guy who can get something out of anything.

Centella de Oro y Lestat vs. Fuerza Chicana y Policeman, 1/25/10

Holy shit is all I can about this. Centella de Oro and Fuerza Chicana did the best opening matwork I've seen all year and Lestat and Policeman weren't far behind. The locals are only getting a single fall these days but if it wasn't for Lestat and Policeman's poor dive and catch this would've been the perfect lightning match. As it was, it was pretty much three falls in one with all the shifts you'd expect from a trios match. Centella de Oro was amazing in his second go around with Chicana and absolutely destroyed everyone in Mexico with his performance here.

I am really not seeing it OJ. I like all four of these guys, and enjoyed this match, but this felt like the undercard tag it was. Oro and Chicana's matwork looked fine, but we have seen multiple Solar v. Navarro exchanges this year, not to mention the stuff Zatura has done with Black Terry and Dr. Cerebro or Blue Panther v. Averno. It was pretty basic go behind, armdrag, ankle pick stuff. Really well executed basic stuff, but basic stuff nonetheless. I feel bad because I feel like I am shitting on a match I dug, but this wouldn't crack a top 15 of lucha matches I have seen this year

Personally, I like Puebla matwork better than IWRG matwork because of the go-behinds and takedowns, which I prefer to watching guys release submission holds over and over again, but with the new one fall restrictions there aren't going to be as many good local matches as there were last year so it's a bit of a moot point. I watched it again and it wasn't quite as smooth as I remembered but Oro is still the man as far as I'm concerned.

There actually hasn't been too much of that this year.

I am all about the CMLL Puebla undercards right now. You take the undercard of any given CMLL Puebla show and replace the main and semi-main with the main and semi-main of any given IWRG show, you pretty much have the best promotion money can buy in 2010.

1/18/2010 (aired 1/24):

Asturiano & S.W.A.T. vs. Policeman & Mr. Rafaga (Una Caida)

I am digging these una caida opening matches. The Puebla crew seems to be really good at taking a typical good full-length lucha match and condensing it into under 10 minutes of all killer and no filler. I also kinda dig that there is actually a technico doing a law enforcement gimmick. That has always been strictly rudo territory, hasn't it? I mean, I thought Fierro was pretty sympathetic in his match with Freelance, but he's still a rudo. Seeing SWAT is almost like a small-scale version of Nikita Koloff's babyface turn. And you can imagine the natural animosity between SWAT and Policeman. I mean, you send in the SWAT team when the local policemen are out of their depth. His very presence suggests Policeman can't get the job done. He has to feel a little insulted.

Weirdly enough, they actually don't match up a whole lot here. Bulk of the match is SWAT vs. Rafaga and Asturiano vs. Policeman. I have no complaints about the SWAT/Rafaga sections. Rafaga looks like he's 100 years old and has some facial resemblance to Don Rickles. They do some fun stuff on the mat and trade a lot of armdrags, and it always ends with Rafaga getting shown up and having this expression like Don Rickles right after hearing something stupid and right before going off on a tirade as a result. Policeman and Asturiano are a lot faster and slicker. Asturiano is sloppy at points. He blows what should have been an awesome spot when Policeman tries to do a Whisper in the Wind type of thing where he leaps off of Rafaga's back, but Asturiano comes out out of the corner and leaps off of him first into a flying headscissors, but he botches the headscissors so it falls apart. Otherwise, Policeman did a good job keeping him in line. Also got a great spot where he tried to do an axehandle off of the apron onto Asturiano, but Asturiano dodged and Policeman took a facer into a chair. Good finishing stretch built on double team stuff. Highlight should have been the aforementioned counter that got botched, but it's backup was pretty choice - SWAT catching Rafaga with a sunset flip, Policeman trying to break it up with a dropkick, but SWAT rolling back and pulling Rafaga up so he gets dropkicked instead. Policeman did manage to score the fall over SWAT with a kimura, so that oughtta show the Chief that he can handle his business.

Ultimo Dragoncito, Electrico, & Fantasy vs. Pequeno Damian 666, Pequeno Violencia, & Pequeno Universo 2000

I don't usually praise matches on the basis of wrestlers giving shit performances, but in this case it really just helped to illustrate how good some of the other guys in this match were. Pequeno Damian 666 is my favorite mini right now. He is just such a surly pint-sized bastard, and that attitude carries over nicely to his partners. They all beat the shit out of the technicos whenever they get the chance, but Damian is definitely leading the pack. Fantasy and Electrico both gave strong performances here. They are both guys with spectacular offense. Fantasy had this crazy rolling leg pick thing, and Electrico had some nice dives, including a great Asai tornillo. They also both ate stuff really well, and I dug Electrico's spunk while selling. Violencia and Universo are holding him for Damian to attack, and Electrico is still trying to kick at Damian as he closes in. But Ultimo Dragoncito looked pretty bad here. He has his moments, like at the end of the second fall, Damian is on the outside, and Violencia and Universo try to whip him off the ropes. They even hook their arms for a double clothesline, but instead of coming back off the ropes, Dragoncito just dives through them and hits a boss tope on Damian. But for the most part, he looked really sloppy, and actually his bigger moments of sloppiness are the most memorable parts of the match for me, because the rudos don't try and pretend that he didn't fuck up. When he fucks up eating some sort of triple team maneuver, Damian punches him in the face. When he flubs a spinning armdrag on Universo, Universo doesn't go over like it worked. He stays upright and kicks him in the head. They don't allow one guy's mistakes to drag down the rest of the match, and that's always good to see.

I think I liked this more than you, but honestly thought Chicana and Lestat both looked bad here. Lestat moreso than Chicana, as Chicana at least got a laugh out of me when Lestat did one of his big flippy entrances as Chicana just clotheslined him out of his boots. But otherwise he looked like he was taking up space that should've been filled by Mr. Rafaga or Ares or Crazy Black. Certainly didn't destroy everyone in Mexico with his performance. Match was still great because Centella de Oro is, in fact, the man, and Policeman is quite masculine as well. Really, much as I dig Oro's matwork, this is really a match made by Policeman being an awesome rudo and throwing all sorts of neat touches into the match, like when he almost crotched Oro with the ringrope at the beginning, but Oro caught his gaze at the last moment and Policeman tried to play it off like he wasn't doing anything. Or the way he pulled up Oro's shirt before slapping him in the chest. I don't see what was wrong with the catch of Lestat's dive at the end. He looked like he got it alright. Frankly, it's more than Lestat deserved. After the 80th meaningless springboard, I probably would've just Mike Grahamed him. That might have been the most retarded looking dive I've seen in my life. I'm kinda shocked something like that could find it's way into a match this good, but there you go.

Centella de Oro destroyed everyone in Mexico with his performance not Chicana. Oro is the best technico in lucha right now and doesn't get enough hype. Lestat fucked up his first springboard attempt and had to redo the dive. Policeman was out of position and the result was a bad looking catch.

Chicana and Lestat are okay. There are far more offensive workers in Mexico, like three quarters of the CMLL roster. The thing about the locals has always been the imbalance between the rudo and technico sides, with most of the best workers working on the rudo side, but it doesn't really matter since CMLL have managed to screw us by not giving them three falls. Trust CMLL to fuck up a good thing.

For the record, Ares was not particularly good last year and neither Crazy Black or Rafaga are as good as Espíritu Maligno, Siki Osama or the Toro Bills, who unfortunately seem to have dropped off the face of the earth.

Skimming through the match again, Policeman ruled. Most people round here missed the boat on not watching his hair match with Oro last year.

HES BACK

First match on the next Puebla show

1) King Jaguar & SWAT vs Ares & Toro Bill Sr.

No idea where he has been for the last year, or for the 25 years before that.

Yeah, from what I've seen, Policeman's really good. I should have checked out some of his work BEFORE submitting my WKO ballot.

Did you review that hair match, OJ?

Toro Bill's last Puebla match was in November. In fact he main evented some indy show there. He had a couple matches before that in June and March.

Yeah, the match was uploaded on youtube. Most of it anyway.

2/15

Blue Panther/Valiente/Hijo del Fantasma vs Misterioso Jr/Ephesto/VANGELIS

Pretty fun match with Valiente looking great. He had one little blown spot towards the end but he made up for it with his beautiful moonsalt that he does. The rudos really know how to take the offense from the tecnicos. I was really impressed with Misterioso as he looked the best. Panther was regular Panther and Fantasma held his own too. Good Puebla match. Nothing great but worth checking out.

You got a link for that Tim?

starts here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRtWlAiWgH0

That was anti-climatic, if inoffensive. I thought Panther looked really good again, and aside from the one really bad botch Valiente was fun as usual, but the rudos were a total black hole of disinterest.

Asturiano - Mr. Rafaga - Bam Bam vs Pequeño Universo 2000 - Pequeño Violencia - Pequeño Pierroth, 3/1/10

First fall had the usual solid matwork as well as a pretty intense Bam Bam/Violencia exchange. Hopefully those two have a singles match in the near future. Really dug the M-Pro-ish heel triple team spots during the rudo beatdown. We all know that Bam Bam and Pierroth are world class, but Violencia may have been the best guy in the match. He'd viciously go after Asturiano's neck, continuously work over Bam Bam's kidney with punches etc. Quality violence. Couple of nice dives. Final fall was too short...

Alfredo has some new Puebla up on Slambamjam, including two matches with our man Toro Bill Sr.

CMLL 12/6

Crazy Black & Toro Bill Sr. vs. Milenium & SWAT

CMLL 1/10

Brazo de Plata, Místico, Sagrado vs. Atlantis, Rey Bucanero, Toro Bill Sr.

Really interested to see Toro Bill mix it up with the CMLL main eventers.

CMLL Puebla 3/8

Fuerza Chicana/Siki Ozama Jr. v. Tiger Rojo/Black Tiger

This was a bunch of fun. Fuerza Chicana looked totally awesome, like there was an argument for him as the top Pubela guy, his spear looked great. I also really enjoyed Black Tigers flashy stuff. Siki Ozama Jr. is good, fat and has the coolest mask/outfit in lucha.

Arkangel de la Muerte/Loco Max/Skándalo v. Ángel Azteca Jr./Astro Boy/Trueno

Total blast, Rebeldes are a great rudo trio, with lots of really awesome triple teams. The dropkick the guy off the apron into space was awesome. All three of the technicos have some flashy shit, Trueno's superman plancha was pretty great, and Angel Azteca Jr. is one of the most graceful wrestlers in the world.

Asturiano/Mr. Rafaga/Bam Bam vs Pequeño Universo 2000/Pequeño Violencia/Pequeño Pierroth, 3/1/10

What an awesome trio of tiny rudos, they are total asskickers in this, Violencia is such nasty bastard in this, pulling hair, cheap shotting, just being a total prick. Bam Bam takes a really great nut shot too.

Asturiano/Mr. Rafaga/Bam Bam vs Pequeño Universo 2000/Pequeño Violencia/Pequeño Pierroth 3/8/10

Revanche isn't as good, although I did continue to dig Bam Bam v. Violencia (who has a great look) I loved Bam Bam diving on him to start, and Violencia is a heck of a brawler. I hope we get to see their hair match.

Asturiano/Black Tiger/Crazy Black vs Fuerza Chicana/Toro Bill/Centauro de Fuego 4/12

Really long for a one fall lucha match, as it goes over 15 minutes. Fun shit as usual for the Puebla locals. Crazy Black takes an insane bump as he gets tied in the ropes and dropkicked so he flies backwards and lands on his neck on the concrete. Chicana continues to look awesome too, and Toro Bill is as great as you remember him. One ugly blown spot, and Centauro de Fuego didn't show me much, but this continues the trend of awesome undercard Puebla

Mascara Dorada v. Dragon Rojo Jr. 4/12

I am not sure either guy is completely ready to have a great singles match but this was pretty good. They actually work the mat for quite a while, it isn't great stuff, but I appreciate the effort. I thought the finish to the first fall was awesome, as Rojo did a really cool looking counter storm cradle driver. The third fall seemed a little subdued as I was expecting Dorada to break out some crazy shit, but I had no real beef with this. Solid stuff

Tiger Rojo/Tiger Rojo Jr. v. Siki Osama/Toro Bill Jr. 4/26

A little shorter then some of your other Puebla locals matches. I enjoyed this a fair amount. I really like Toro Bill Jr. and he has disappeared for over a year, I really dig the tag team with Osama as they are a pair of bulky asskickers who also bump big. The Rojo's are fine but nothing special.

Archangel De La Muerte/Nitro/Hooligan v. Angel De Oro/Angel De Plata/Guerrero Maya Jr. 4/26

Technicos are pretty green, and there are parts where they look it, but they have a ton of athletic talent and there are some pretty looking spots here. The Angel double quebrada where they are both springing off the same rope is a sneakily insane highspot.

I'm not a big fan of short one fall lucha matches, but still thought this was OK. Tiger Rojo (Jr?)/Osama matwork was smooth and started to get really interesting seconds before they tagged out. Rudo beatdown didn't do much for me.

Blue Center/Black Tiger v. Mr. Rafaga/Karissma 5/3

This was a bunch of fun, I really wish we had footage of the tiny fed all of these guys work when they aren't getting their one opening match slot a month. I can't remember seeing Mr. Rafaga since he lost his mask, but he was awesome here, I especially dug all of his tricky matwork with Blue Center, there is a point where he blocks a reversal by just stepping on Centers hand. This was a match where everyone looked pretty great, and I just wish we had multiple falls

Asturiano, Centella de Oro, Milenium v. Centauro de Fuego, Fuerza Chicana, Toro Bill Sr. 5/10

Total blast, maybe my favorite Puebla match of the year. First minute or so isn't much and then these guys just go into crazy WCWSN lucha kill, death mode. Austriano takes the backwards tree of woe dropkick fly into the crowd land on your head bump again. Which is the single craziest signature bump in wrestling history. Fuerza Chicana is flying around killing folks, Toro and Oro have an awesome series of exchanges, that again makes me curse the lack of footage from the previous 20 years of their respective careers. Toro also gets hip tossed off the ring apron. Plus awesome dives. Great shit, everyone go watch this.

Link?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq-xiVqnf78

When in Doubt, always go to the WarriorsX2000 channel.

Milenium/Centella de Oro/Asturiano v. Espiritu Maligno/Siky Osama/ Cocolores 5/31/10

Another fun opening match trios from our boys in CMLL Puebla. Didn't think a ton of Cocolores, but everyone else was on point. Espiritu Maligno was awesome as usually breaking out his nasty spear and hitting a crazy dive, really like the Milenium v. Siky Osama sections as well.

Milenium - Centella de Oro - Asturiano vs Centauro de Oro - Toro Bill - Fuerza Chicana, CMLL - Arena Puebla - 17-05-10

I assume Phil's referring to this trios. Fun match, although I wish they'd give these guys more time and, you know, an extra two falls. Would have liked to see Oro and Toro Bill work the mat at the start as the other two guys didn't do anything of note. Thought Toro Bill was the best worker here. Love how he'd charge into defenseless dudes, he also took some great bumps and sold them really well.

Austriano/Lestat v. Siki Osama/Karisma 1/4/10

Fun, but not at the level of your normal Puebla undercard match. Lestat had some fun spots, including a quebrada armdrag. Karisma isn't as good as most of the Puebla undercarders and drags this a bit. Siki Osama has a beautiful mask.

Mascarita Dorada/Pequeno Olimpico/Bam Bam v. Pequeno Damien 666/Pierrothcito/Pequeno Black Warrior 1/4/10

Really fun match, Mascarita Dorada is totally awesome in this spinning around a crazy speed and getting chucked high in the air. Started out with some pretty slick matwork. Pequeno Black Warrior is OK, but the other two rudos are right up there with the best wrestlers in the world

Brazo De Plata/Mistico/Sagrado v. Toro Bill/Atlantis/Rey Buccanaro 1/4/10

Not much at all, Sagrado v. Atlantis was OK, and I liked the initial Toro Bill v. Porky comedy section, but the rest of the match was a mess. Seemed like a couple of guys legit hurt themselves and multiple spots got blown. Not good.

Is this online at all?

I don't think so, I got the DVD from Alfredo

We got some new Puebla finally

57th Anniversary show 7/29

La Mascara/Mascara Dorada/La Sombra v. Felino/Negro Casas/Rey Buccanaro

This was pretty great stuff, Felino especially was awesome, I loved his early speed battle with Mascara Dorada, and how he kept cutting off the flips. Rey Buccanaro was a little disappointing although I dug his baseball slide bump. Finish was as wild as you would hope, and this got plenty of time. Right up there with the best non IWRG lucha of the year

Loco Max v. Centella De Oro- Cabellera contra Cabellera

This was good, but I was really hoping it would be better. Pretty much worked 2010 CMLL apuestas style, quick falls, lots of moves, no blood. For a match of that style it was OK, I though both guys stuff looked good, and Oro especially stepped up. Still it is a shitty style and the match slams up against a pretty low ceiling.

La Mascara/Mascara Dorada/La Sombra vs. Felino/Negro Casas/Rey Bucanero, CMLL Puebla 7/29/10

Mascara/Bucanero stuff was a let down. I mean, Bucanero's overrated and has looked disinterested for years and Mascara's fairly average, but still, I expected more. Thankfully everyone else looked great, especially Dorada. That dude is a freak and may even be more spectacular than Freelance. I seriously always end up rewatching most of his dives. Negro Casas will usually work in a creative spot or sequence in a big trios, this match being no exception. Here he sold Sombra's ankle lock brilliantly before getting revenge by locking in a heel hook and ankle lock variations of his own. His no look savate kick to Dorada's ribs was also pretty cool. Felino cut back on his comedy, so we were treated to some of his super smooth matwork and rope running. Really good match.

Estigma/Asturiano vs Siky Ozama/Fuerza Chicana 7/26

Solid Puebla undercard tag, I like the rudos a fair amount although I have seen them better. The technicos are a bit bland. Chicana hit his great spear again.

Will watch the rest of this show later.