Written By Robert Bihari

Thoughts on 6 weeks of Guerreros Del Ring…

3/25/06:

Satanico/La Mascara/Pantera vs Hombre Sin Nombre/Mazada/Misterioso II: Fun little match. I’m a Pantera mark so nice to see him getting lots of TV time on this TV show. Mascara/Misterioso II seem to have good chemistry together. The finishes to the second fall were indy-rific with a Code Red and Styles Clash used. Still weird to see those moves in Mexico. On CMLL TV the other week, Momentos had Pantera doing a second-rope Styles Clash! Liked the entire third fall as it was full of exchanges. Good stuff.

Mistico vs Perro Aguayo Jr.: Cubs’ comment sums it up perfectly – “nothing special”. Some nice bumping from Mistico but your run of the mill Sunday singles main event. A few trademark spots and a cheap finish. Someone really needs to coach Mistico into using certain spots only once in a while b/c these singles matches are starting to get far too similar.

Alright episode, worth checking out.

4/1/06:

Satanico/Starman/Ultimo Dragon vs Mazada/Misterioso II/Shigeo Okumura: I didn’t get the point of the comedy. Might have made the match a bit more memorable but there really didn’t seem like it served any purpose other than waste time so there could be less actual wrestling. Starman looked the same as he did from back when he was regularly on TV in 97/98. No improvement = no push? I guess I’ll do my Ultimo Dragon rant now rather than later…

Is there a worse worker in CMLL besides Ultimo Dragon? Is it possible TNA was fine with the list of guys CMLL sent them but wanted Ultimo Dragon pulled off the team and Ultimo wouldn’t budge? The guy is practically unwatchable. I posed an interesting question to a friend the other day about who is the better worker right now – Mil Mascaras or Ultimo Dragon. It’s really hard to pick Ultimo. Ever since his WWE stint, he’s been brainwashed into thinking he is some sort of superstar/legend which is VERY debatable. Let’s look at the main things Mil Mascaras gets insulted for:

1. Doesn’t sell
2. Same moves over and over
3. Always gets the win

Ultimo Dragon… doesn’t sell. Sure he’ll take a 3-on-1 beatdown and act hurt for 2 or 3 seconds but even Mil does that if you go re-watch CMLL Japan tapes. Ultimo has even started to use the spot where he fights back during the beatdown, then rolls outside and watches the rest of the fall so he doesn’t have to take the pinfall. It’s an old Rayo Jr. trick. When it comes time for a pinfall, Ultimo will gladly get pinned as long as two or three guys are covering him, never when one guy is over him. Mil has submitted many times to three-man submissions in 2/3 falls matches. Finally, Ultimo Dragon is probably the most predictable wrestler on the planet now. He never changes up his offense and uses the asai moonsault like Mil uses the flying cross body press. At least in Mil matches, you might see the odd nice mat exchange if he’s in a good mood. Ultimo just doesn’t seem to care. He’s as lazy as Wagner… MAYBE MORESO!!! Maybe it’s not laziness. There were always rumors he got a huge attitude when the WWE came calling and it’s no secret he would drop everything just to get another shot there. I think his WWE stint caused so much psychological damage, that he is trying to repair it by pretending he is a Mil Mascaras-esque legend who doesn’t have to sell for anyone, always wins and never has to work to impress. At least he’s working in the right promotion to do that.

Dr. Wagner Jr./Dos Caras Jr./Lizmark Jr. vs Atlantis/Ultimo Guerrero/Universo 2000: Big time mailed in. I was calling spots 30 seconds before they happened. Finish was sudden and should have led to a Wagner/Universo match or at least a re-match the following week but oh well. Another quick pay day and time to move onto another arena.

You really don’t need this episode.

4/8/06:

Stuka Jr. vs La Flecha – Mask vs Mask: Already posted my thoughts on this. Fantastic. Puts every other match in the history of Guerreros Del Ring to shame although I guess that’s not a huge compliment.:/ Let’s leave it at this – it was excellent. (NOTE: Rob wrote about this match prior to going through all these GDR shows, so here’s his thoughts from the post he made at that time!)

I was just able to watch Stuka/Flecha(thanks to cubs!) and wow it was way better than I thought it would be. It was interesting as even though the first two falls were pretty short(thought not 1 minute each like I expected), they each got their moments rather than Perrito/Univero style -> ‘I’ll dominate and pin you, you fight back and pin me’. I hate when guys do that b/c it shows a total lack of work ethic. It was interesting to hear the commentators mention Flecha being the second person to use that gimmick after Skayde and how even Skayde wasn’t the first Skayde. Also, did I hear right or did they say Stuka Jr. was Stuka’s brother???:/ La Flechecita looked AWESOME to end the second fall. Third fall was the show stealer though and probably the longest fall(in a non one fall match) on TV since Mistico/Averno from over a year ago. Too much awesome stuff to describe starting from Flecha doing a Skayde Special and Stuka Jr. doing this crazy sunset flip counter into one of his own that I’ve never seen before. I was getting worried they were going to edit and later it got to the point where I thought they did edit and I missed it b/c I clearly remembered pictures of a Flecha dive and it hadn’t occured yet. But they didn’t clip it which was great.:) There were a couple of nearfalls that I totally bought even though I already knew the winner. They were just so convincing! Flecha moves around quite nicely for a guy who (when he unmasked) looks like he should be doing brawls in Guadalajara with Ringo Mendoza and Javier Cruz. I liked the finish although Stuka Jr. should just done his move and that’s it, forget the lame standing frog splash. Unless that has some historical significance I am not aware of. Great effort by both guys and I know I’m not alone in thinking that as the crowd seemed to really enjoy what they are seeing. Plus, no interference + no referee garbage + no editing = GREAT STUFF! We need more matches like this on TV.

I’d put this on the MOTYC list if we ever get that going on the LuchaWiki(which you should all check out b/c it’s being UPDATED LIKE CRAZY!). It’ll be interesting to see how it compares to Segura vs Dr. Cerebro which I hope to get really soon as I heard that match was OFF THE CHARTS and one of the best Naucalpan matches in years.

So what happens with Flecha next? He didn’t announce his retirement so it wasn’t just him selling his mask for a retirement fund and yet he hasn’t been booked on any shows since. Time off for an injury perhaps? I’d expect him to come back unmasked on the undercard and not take on a new gimmick like Fredo suggested. Would be way too transparent. A bloody hair feud with Leono would be cool!:D

Dos Caras Jr./Negro Casas/Ultimo Dragon vs Olimpico/Rey Bucanero/Tarzan Boy: I felt like I saw this match somewhere already but am too lazy to check the old CMLL TV reports and see if they just did the same match as another time. I dunno… what can you say about this match? It was so normal, I honestly have nothing to say about it.

Get this show b/c Stuka Jr./Flecha was great.

4/15/06:

Pantera/Maximo/Mascara Purpura vs Emilio Charles Jr./Loco Max/Nitro: I’m still not quite clear why Mascara Purpura wears red. Or why his mask is just a red Universo 2000 mask. Has anyone noticed that yet besides the Box y Lucha forum lurkers? Purpura looked alright in his debut. He does a lot of flips. Naturally, I enjoy that. But you could have had Tigre Cota in his place doing cool brawling and I would have enjoyed that just as much b/c it was just nice to see a new refreshing face. Fine match with one or two decent exchanges by Purpura and Pantera each. Maximo just did comedy which is fine by me. Emilio pins Purpura clean with a power bomb to win. Oh how I wish that would have led to a singles match between them!

Mistico/Dr. Wagner Jr./Dos Caras Jr. vs Perro Aguayo Jr./Hector Garza/Damian 666: I kinda liked this. The comedy spot in the first fall where all the rudos fell off the turnbuckle was HILARIOUS! Match seemed to go longer than usual although there was no added in-ring work, just comedy and stalling. Still – a fine effort for a Sunday main event. Dos Jr. shocked me as I never pictured him doing his tope over the top onto anyone except all of Los Guerreros or Universo. Mistico and Perrito blew La Mistica but it turned into a cool spinning headscissors rollup so points for the nice cover!

Alright episode, worth checking out. Does this mean GdR has a 33% chance of being good?

4/22/06:

Marcela/Lady Apache/Sahori vs Hiroka/La Medusa/Rosa Negra: UGH. Don’t care. I did find it hilarious watching Lady Apache doing early 90′s mix-up spots with the two rudas who had no clue what to do and were just stumbling through the exchange. WHAT? STUDY OLD SPOTS AND LEARN TO WORK? PFFT! THIS IS CMLL 2006! Hiroka pins Marcela clean to setup a title match which… just… thrills… me.

Mistico/Dr. Wagner Jr./Heavy Metal vs Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Bucanero/Olimpico: WOW. So mailed in it isn’t even worth making fun of. The finish made no sense as Mistico did La Mistica and Ultimo’s mask came off so he won by DQ. I guess that’s just a way around having Mistico pinned clean.

You don’t want this show.

4/29/06:

Marcela vs Hiroka – CMLL Women’s Title: *sigh* Still don’t care. Yeah, the match wasn’t as awful as I expected it to be but… it’s still women. I don’t care about women’s wrestling. Marcela wins obviously. Hilarious to hear the commentators struggle to find reasons why Hiroka could win the title. They finally seemed to agree on she wants to win the title so she can take it back to Japan and never return to Mexico. They followed it up with this equally hilarious thought: If the belt went to Japan, it would probably never be seen again b/c Mexicans rarely go over to Japan to wrestle.

Mistico/Lizmark Jr./Ultimo Dragon vs Ultimo Guerrero/Tarzan Boy/Olimpico: This is the type of match where Lizmark Jr. and Ultimo Dragon weren’t really needed. You could have had Mistico vs these 3 rudos and the match would have gone exactly the same. Finish has Ultimo reversing La Mistica… so he should have the advantage… but then he low blows Mistico for no reason. I don’t get the booking of this at all. If Ultimo had thrown his own mask off and won by DQ, you’d have another singles match setup but what reason does he have to kick Mistico in the balls besides being annoyed that he keeps doing that awful handspring moonsault onto his own chest?

Another episode well worth missing. But hey, the 1 in 3 rule means the next episode will probably be fantastic! (Judging by the listings, it probably was! I might be onto something here!)