AULL, UWE, PDM, ACM, ect.

Black Terry/Shu el Guerrero vs. Negro Navarro/El Signo, 2/14/10

You guys weren't kidding about this place. I've been collecting Super Luchas magazine for quite a while now and every issue has images from venues just like this one. There's usually some really seedy looking locals who will blade themselves in front of crowds of 40 people. If only Black Terry Jr. could tape that stuff for us.

I love this match up. I remember these teams met last year at the Festival de Mascaras and their match there was great. This may not have been that good but featured a much better performance from El Signo. In last year's match Signo spent most of the match punching at an open wound on Terry's head and really, that's all that I need. Here the beat down is much more serious and only seems sicker with the intimacy of the handheld footage. Terry gets a nasty cut and is bleeding just like the seedy locals I mentioned earlier. That's not a bad thing. Navarro vs Shu was as satisfying as you'd imagine. What is there to complain about?

Black Terry/Shu el Guerrero vs. Negro Navarro/El Signo, 2/14/10

I really loved the whole feel of this match and where it took place added a lot to it. The brief moments of brawling we get with Navarro and Terry are really cool stuff, and I hope we get more stuff like this soon. The best thing about all these BTJr. HH's are that it is really capturing what live lucha libre feels like. There are a lot of little moments like catcalls from the fans that the workers react to or very funny shit talking from Navarro, Terry, or Signo that would never come across on a TV version of this. Signo did a lot of good work here, those headbutts Mike mentioned were really incredible. Really liked the Shu vs Navarro work, and Black Terry continues his excellent 2010. This was so charming and fun.

Turbo v. Black Thunder PDM 2/8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2tdG_bamU8

Fun match, kind of a poor mans ECW Rey v. Psicosis. Turbo breaks out three or four crazy looking spots and hits them perfectly. There is a tope con hilo armdrag which is just bonkers. The stuff in between the spots wasn't much, and there was more dead time then a crazy spotfest like this should have, but this was neat cotton candy lucha

Eh that was okay. The big spots were fun, but the nearfall segment was TNA-like and the pacing sucked.

Super Calo Jr. v. Maiden
Metal Boy/Impalixx v. Skrash and Chris Stone

2/19/10

These are the best two matches of the random show BTJ taped a couple of days back. Neither are going to blow you away but I thought they were both fun matches for under ten minute, one fall, Lucha bouts. Calo Jr. looked good in the singles bout and Impalixx had a really fun dive in the tag match. Both sorta reminded me of what an X-Division match would look like it if didn't toally suck.

Simply amazing. I can see how a lot of what they did went over the heads of most but it was just perfection watching these two work together. So many simple things like Turbo kicking Thunder away before armdragging him to set up the rana of the year instead of them just doing the obvious whip into the ropes spot. Also loved the Atlantida dropping Turbo onto Thunder's knees. Totally went against the grain of what Turbo usually does from that position. And of course Turbo getting revenge for what Thunder did to him in the mixed tag by kicking the fuck out of Thunder when he tried to charge him in the corner. FIGHT BACK LITTLE MAN! Thunder dropkicking the fuck out of Turbo looked better than anything the Traumas have done all year. His roll-up was also clearly the second greatest spot of the year (after Turbo's earlier corkscrew rana). The dives were all insane but probably my least favorite part of the match. The nearfalls were great and played off what they did in the Skayde/Black Spirit tag. My only complaint would be the rana to counter the top-rope power bomb was set up all wrong and everyone knew what was about to go down. Thunder will learn in the rematch and put Turbo away rather than getting cocky. No need to search for something that isn't there just to be different or the 'first' like with some of the pimped IWRG undercards tags - this was a perfectly put together match with amazing execution by two guys who hate each other. It would be a crime to not enjoy this match on some level.

Turbo v. Black Thunder PDM 2/8

If it wasn't for a few breathtaking highspots, this would have been pretty bad. Matwork transitions were terrible and there was way too much dead air. Average.

Santo/L.A. Park v. Perro Aguayo Jr./Blue Demon Jr. PDM 1/31
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKQZvTTZXxk

Santo is still Santo, he broke out his spinning headscissors and crazy tope and looked great. Everyone here worked really hard, Perro and Parka took nutty bumps, and Demon Jr. even hit a tope. Still this was AAA style brawling for the most part, and that isn't really my thing. It felt like a main event though, and Aguayo and Santo really do work well against each other

Misterioso Jr. , Pancho Tequila, Rey Hechicero vs Neurosis, Raiden, Sergio Romo Jr. 2/21

Misterioso Jr. is a fake version of the CMLL one. This would have been a good match without Tequila and Neurosis. Both guys are fat and not the good kind like the Brazos or Super Panda. Neurosis is a dead ringer for a smaller Mexican Big show. The rest of the guys were actually pretty good. I'm a big fan of Rey Hechicero whenever he makes tv and Misterioso is a decent luchador with some nice mat work and good dives. Kinda reminds me of Angel Azteca Jr. a little bit. As for the match, it was OK but too much Tequila and Neurosis for my liking.

Traumas v. Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Buccanero Toryuman 2/27

Funny that Guerrero and Buccanaro were once considered the best tag team in the world, and they are total smoked by the Traumas. They didn't look as good as Samot Jr. and Maldito. I want to watch all Traumas though, and UG and Buccanaro did look good hitting their big offense.

Traumas vs Guerrero/Bucanero

Fun to watch matches like these with wrestlers that will likely never meet again for many years to come. The Guerrero/Trauma matwork was really fun and I could actually hear Trauma crying during Ultimo's submission to end the first part. ONE ARM! Wasn't much to the match afterwards since it was a one fall tournament match so they had to get going and move along for the next set of teams. Guerrero's big moves annoy the fuck out of me since his opponent has to do all the work to get in position for them. Same deal with Bucanero's finisher. Why would anyone ever try to roll Bucanero up like that? YOU KNOW WHAT HE'S GOING TO DO TO YOU!

I would have liked this a lot more if it was five minutes shorter. Really just too much meandering and stand still pacing, which is a shame because when they were working I thought everyone looked good.

While I might agree with you if you said Traumas were working harder, I don't think you can realistically say they "smoked" Ultimo & Buccanero.

I thought it was a good little ten minute match that was good for what it was, which was one of the best teams in the world a few years back, going out there and having a nice little match with two up-and-comers. Based on the way things went, you could totally tell Ultimo wanted to go out there and see what the Traumas could do, while Rey wasn't going to do anything crazy in front of that small crowd.

The Brazos vs. Angelico/Fantasma Jr. match from that show was pretty good too.

Black Jaguar v. Latin Brother -mascara contra mascara 2/28/10

A lot of current masks are lost in these big cage matches which inherently kind of stink. So I am happy to see an old fashioned bloody mask v. mask match, and also love these random tiny arena HH. The brawling in this was a lot better then the actual wrestling, but two bloody guys punching each other in their cuts will always be worth seeing.

Cassandro/El Hijo del Santo vs. El Hijo del Solitario/Magno, Todo X El Todo, Brussels, 28th February

Unless by some miracle this turns up on a tape somewhere, you may just have to take my word for it. Massively fun match with a classic formula. Santo took a backseat and let Cassandro take centre-stage, and he was spectacular, his execution is perfect, his workrate tireless. He goes from a dazzling sequence to a playful hip shake to the crowd right into a comedy exotico spot with barely a pause. Rudos were solid bumpers, Solitario in particular was a heat-magnet, and they brought a surprising stiffness in the second caida. I am excited about the possibility of several Cassandro matches making the rounds this year, he'd be in my top ten if I could justify it with several performances.

I put a full write-up of the trip on my blog.