Other Lucha Nominees

THE LIST:

Negro Navarro vs Solar, AAA Arena Neza 1/8 - 6 YES, 1 NO
Black Terry vs Solar vs Negro Navarro vs Villano IV vs Rey Mendoza Jr vs Ultraman vs El Dandy vs Fuerza Guerrera, 1/29 - 5 YES
Traumas vs Apaches, DTU 1/29 - 5 YES, 1 NO
Black Terry/Traumas vs Rocky Santana/Sadico/Robin Maravilla, 1/19 - 3 YES
Solar I/Ultraman vs Black Terry/Negro Navarro, 3/13 Coliseo Coacalco - 3 YES, 1 NO
Black Terry/Negro Navarro/Rey Mendoza Jr. vs. Blue Panther/Solar/Rocky Santana, UWE 3/16 - 3 YES
LA Park vs. Mesias, AAA 6/19 - 3 YES
Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs. Trauma I/Trauma II, LUCHA POP 8/27 - 5 YES
Black Terry v. Negro Navarro v. Judas El Traitor v. Terremoto v. Triton v. Belial LUCHA POP 11/26 - 3 YES

THE NOMINEES:

Mike Segura/Trauma I/Trauma II vs Black Lancer/Carta Brava Jr./Dr. Cerebro, 1/1 - 2 YES, 2 NO
El Hijo Del Santo/Rayo De Jalisco Jr. vs Blue Demon Jr./El Hijo Del Solitario, Arena Neza, 1/1 - 1 YES, 2 NO
Pierrothito vs. Mascarita Dorada, WWC 1/8 - 2 YES
Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs. Solar/Ultraman, 3/13-Evening - 1 YES
Black Terry/Negro Navarro vs. Solar/Ultraman, 3/20 - 1 YES
Black Terry/Ray Mendoza Jr/Robin Maravilla vs. Blue Panther/Rocky Santana/Solar, 3/26 UWE - 1 YES
Black Terry/Villano IV/Ray Mendoza Jr vs. Oriental/Hijo del Pantera/Solar I, 4/23 - 2 YES
Damien 666/L.A. Park vs. Mesias/Dr. Wagner Jr., AAA 3/21
Black Terry/Romano Garcia/Dr. Cerebro/Oficial AK47/Comando Negro/Oficial Fierro/Cerebro Negro vs. Rocky Santana/Robin Maravilla/Sadico/Yakuza/Herejia/Rambo/Terry 2000, AULL 5/15 - 1 YES
El Mesías, Extreme Tiger, Jack Evans vs Decnnis, Halloween, LA PARK AAA 5/18 - 1 YES
Black Terry/Dr. Cerebro/Negro Navarro vs. Judas el Traidor/Magnifico/Último Vampiro Coliseo Coalaco, 6/5 - 2 NO
Daga vs. Mickey Suicida Segura, IWL 7/31 - 1 YES
Negro Navarro vs. Decnis, DTU 8/13 - 1 YES, 2 NO
Negro Navarro vs. Rocky Santana UWE 8/14 - 1 YES
Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. LA PARK, Tijuana 10/7
Negro Navarro vs. Nicho el Millonario, DTU 10/15 - 2 YES, 2 NO
Negro Navarro vs. Solar, 10/16 - 1 YES
Black Terry, Dr. Cerebro & Robin Maravilla vs. Dinastia Navarro, AULL 10/29 - 2 YES, 1 NO
Trauma 1 vs. Trauma 2, 10/29 - 2 YES
El Hijo Del Santo vs. El Hijo del Solitario, TXT 11/3 - 2 YES
Aguilita vs. Celestial, PDM 11/13
El Hijo Del Santo vs. Angel Blanco Jr., TXT 12/15 - 1 YES

This post has been edited by Wrestling_KO Mike on May 13 2012, 02:41 AM

El Hijo Del Santo/Rayo De Jalisco Jr. v. Blue Demon Jr./El Hijo Del Solitario 1/1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC1WJ6l69ow&feature=feedu

One of the better Santo matches in the last couple of years. We get a really nice long grappling section with Blue Demon Jr. in the first fall. They have been working together so much that it feels like Demon has picked some stuff by osmosis. The segunda brawling looked pretty good, with everyone bleeding, and we got a pretty Santo tope in the third fall. Shitty finish, but this was the best match of the New Years Neza show, and a fine indy lucha youtube start to 2011.

El Hijo Del Santo/Rayo De Jalisco Jr. v. Blue Demon Jr./El Hijo Del Solitario 1/1 - No

Only a borderline no, as Santo and Solitario were real good for the most part, but Rayo de Jalisco was dogshit, and Demon only looked good at the start, exchanging holds at the start. THis suffered a bit as being a handheld, as all the mask ripping kind of loses a bit of it's appeal when there aren't close up shots of it, and it instead comes off as just a bit dull, rather than exciting. Santo's intense brawling with Solitario during the final fall was very nice. Good in places, but Rayo especially really drags it down, and it doesn't really have a "must see" feel to it through the whole of it.

Voting YES:

El Hijo Del Santo/Rayo De Jalisco Jr. v. Blue Demon Jr./El Hijo Del Solitario 1/1

I agree with Rob in the sense that I think this actually suffers from being a hand held as some of the better brawling sequences are obscured and don't come off as intense as they probably should. The second fall seemed sort of meandering at times as well which hurts this. Having said that I really enjoyed Solitario's over the top schtick and I thought Santo looked great in this. Opening mat work was awesome, his brawling looked tight and his top rope flip into sprinting tope was a great way to set up the finish. This is a borderline Yes and might not hold up, but getting to see Santo own shit is always worth your time.

Voting

El Hijo Del Santo/Rayo De Jalisco Jr. vs Blue Demon Jr./El Hijo Del Solitario, Arena Neza?, 1/1 - NO

I probably shouldn't look 21st century El Hijo del Santo matches in the mouth, and he was as great as ever in this...but then there was everyone else. This certainly wasn't Blue Demon Jr.'s worst showing. His exchanges with Santo were a highlight. But he still didn't bring much to the table beyond that. I also agree with Rob about Rayo, and I'm not a Rayo hater by any stretch. His comedy shtick was really poorly done and felt out of place. And I honestly thought Hijo del Solitario's over the top stuff was a little too over the top. He wasn't looking any better than Rayo in their exchanges, which just killed this dead for me. Santo ruled it throughout, and tried really hard to save this for me, but it just wasn't happening.

Nominating:

Mike Segura/Trauma I/Trauma II v. Black Lancer/Carta Brava Jr./Dr. Cerebro 1/1/11

As a rule I seem to like these IWRG sprints more than almost anyone else so it doesn't surprise me that I liked this more than almost anyone else. Thought everyone looked really good but I actually thought the standout was Suicida. He just seems to excel in these short matches as he gets good height on his big bumps and always hits his big spots in a super explosive fashion. He's my favorite big spot guy in wrestling aside from Freelance in large part because of that. Traumas hit their double stomp of doom, Cerebro was a beast on the mat, Trauma I took a sick face plant bump on the apron off of a teased dive, Suicida's dive at the end rules and I actually thought the Trauma II sub at the end looked fucking awesome.

Mike Segura/Trauma I/Trauma II v. Black Lancer/Carta Brava Jr./Dr. Cerebro 1/1-NO

Match starts out with a pretty great T2 v. Cerebro exchange, Cerebro continues to look amazing. He also matched up well with Suicida's flashier stuff. Lancer and Brava don't bring much, and I wanted more Trauma 1, so not a nomination, but worth checking out.

Voting

Mike Segura/Trauma I/Trauma II vs Black Lancer/Carta Brava Jr./Dr. Cerebro, 1/1 - YES

This is maybe a little generous, but as IWRG (close enough) sprints go, I thought this was one of the better ones. Weird seeing Suicida teaming with the Traumas instead of getting mauled by them was odd, but he was the star of the match. There was something very right about him giving this great performance on New Year's Day while wearing a t-shirt with a tie drawn onto it. Agreed with Phil you'd probably want to see Trauma I featured more, but I think he's underselling Lancer and Brava. Lancer in particular is a guy I came away from this match wanting to see more. I loved the chutzpah of him taking off his shirt and daring Trauma I to hit him, which went about as well for him as you would think asking Trauma I to hit you would.

Negro Navarro v. Solar 1/8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxz7UVSLLX8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G_UtaTa_uM

Best singles match I have seen between the two, and possible their best overall interaction. This is a title match, and worked with way more intensity then we often see. Navarro v. Solar happens a ton and frequently it is worked as kind of gentleman's game of one upsmanship, a chess match between two guys who have been meeting at the same park for the last 20 years. Not what's going on here. Here we can feel the stakes, and there is an extra twist and pull on all of the submission holds. Very little catch and release, pretty much everything is countered, often beautifully. I loved how as the match progressed, they would have to grab the ropes more. Lots of things I hadn't seen, even though I have seen them work a million times. Navarro does a ankle pick counter of a lateral press which is amazing, I also loved his wrist leverage judo throw. Solar was right there hold for hold as he always is. Early MOTYC which I could see holding my #1 spot for a while. LUCHA LIBRE!!!

Voting: Negro Navarro vs. Solar 8th Jan - No

Eh, I didn't get the intensity at all, quite the opposite in fact - I didn't really see anything from Solar at all, and even though there were indeed more genuine counters than normal rather than standing up and starting again, it all seemed a little too "your turn, my turn" still. Navarro having to use the ropes was a nice touch, and a bit different, and the hold out of Solar's pinfal by Navarro was very well done, but that's about it. It held my attention, but I can see myself forgetting about it by then end of the month, nowhere near a standout for the year. I seem to be enjoying Solar less and less every time I see him, which is a shame, but he just seems to be going through the motions somewhat. Navarro still has a little edge to him, and more often than not he manages to keep it interesting, but I'm not really sold on Solar any more.

Negro Navarro v. Solar 1/8 - YES

Even with the annoying clipping, this was pretty great.

"Navarro does a ankle pick counter of a lateral press which is amazing"

Yeah, I'd never seen that reversal before. It was seriously one of the coolest pro wrestling related things I have ever seen. Already rewatched it half a dozen times.

I could see an argument for there being some "your turn, now my turn" stuff near the middle of Part 2, but aside from that, everything felt really competitive. I thought both guys did a great job countering and working their way out of holds. For example, Solar would take down Navarro with a sweet judo throw and then lock on an anaconda vice. Navarro would then desperately attempt to reverse the hold by going for a headscissors. When that failed, he'd fake another headscissors before quickly rolling to his side in order to escape.

Two maestros working the mat, doesn't get much better than that.

According to Cubsfan the Navarro v. Solar match was from an Arena Neza AAA show.

Negro Navarro vs. Solar - 01.08.2011 (YES)

I too enjoyed the more competitive feel to this match-up. Less blatant turn-taking, a greater push for counters. It did come across that there's more at stake than their usual encounters entail. Navarro's mannerisms are great. I always like how, whenever he faces Solar, you can witness the initial respect gradually shift into something more heated, more competitive. Unfortunately that arc was disjointed a bit by the clipping but it's still there. Clipping is something that never fails to annoy me. I got shitty when they didn't reveal how Miz got the upperhand over Morrison on RAW. Here the clipping seems excessive and just bugs me with what it makes invisible. What did I miss? Unless a full version crops up that's going to work hugely against this match. I can't really justify voting Navarro 'worker of the week' with what seems like half a performance either. What we got was great though and deserves a nomination.

Negro Navarro vs Solar, AAA Arena Neza 1/8 - YES
The usual dose of Solar/Navarro, but this time in a singles venue to make everything more meaningful and with enough new stuff thrown in to keep things interesting. I didn't think this was blow away awesome but with matwork and complicated armdrag exchanges from these two, good is guaranteed and the moments of desperation near the end made it worth watching.


Mike Segura/Trauma I/Trauma II vs Black Lancer/Carta Brava Jr./Dr. Cerebro, 1/1 - YES
I actually liked this a good bit more than anything else on that show. Some nifty matwork to kick it off, some triple teaming which was far above standard, some crazy flying maneuvers from Segura and good energy overall made this match. Can't really say what hasn't been said about this match, Trauma I essentially scoring a knockout using a chest slap should be enough reason to youtube this I guess. Pretty sure this wouldn't be a Top 20 IWRG match by the end of the year but I think it has it's place here.

I don't the clipping was a huge issue, the way it worked it just felt like a guy using his video editing software to do a wipe whenever there was a little dead time, it hurt the pacing a bit, but I would be surprised if we missed even a second of actually contact between the wrestlers.

Voting YES:

Negro Navarro v. Solar 1/8

The clipping was annoying and I didn't care for the random lateral press that proceeded one of the last edits, but otherwise this was pretty great. Don't get Rob's criticisms of Solar. I thought he looked more aggressive than usual and I thought the monkey flip spot that led to the quicker exchanges prior to the finishing run was really great. Navarro was a beast as normal on the mat and I even dug the finish which I often don't in matches like this. To me this is the easiest "YES" of the year so far.

Negro Navarro vs Solar, AAA Arena Neza 1/8 - YES

There is only so much two guys can do to keep things fresh when they have wrestled each other on tape over a hundred times, and halfway into this it was looking just like more of the same. I am a fan Solar and Navarro but there is only so many times I can watch them trade the same holds over and over. Fortunately it picked up in the second half and both guys seemed to crank up the aggression and intensity, putting a bit more rigor and torque into their holds. They busted out a couple of nice new moves too, like Solar's judo throw into the vice. This didn't break away from the mould enough to be a great match but it was still good.

Mike Segura/Trauma I/Trauma II vs Black Lancer/Carta Brava Jr./Dr. Cerebro, 1/1 - NO

I didn't think too much of this. The early matwork with Cerebro was fine but the constant CMLL type triple teams killed it for me. Lancer and Barva were useless and the only one I really liked was Segura. The match had a hot crowd though.

Voting

Negro Navarro vs Solar, AAA Arena Neza 1/8 - YES

What you guys said. The clipping was odd, but these were two guys putting on a clinic the way only they knew how. The only thing even close to a knock that I've ever had against these matches is that the gentlemanly game of one-upsmanship can sometimes feel like matwork spot-fu to me. Mind you, that's not an actual knock. I'm not anti spot-fu when it's done well, and these guys are the masters, but that's how it can sometimes feel to me. Not here, though. Here, there's a clear build through the entire match, tempers flaring, things getting more intense, and a growing sense of urgency as they work towards the finish where you feel like the gentleman's game might get ungentlemanly at any moment. A great twist on a classic match-up.

No blood in the following match but I'd still put it above the Terry/Navarro vs. Apache/Mortal fights.

NOMINATING:
Black Terry/Traumas vs. Rocky Santana/Sadico/Robin Maravilla

I've just started watching lucha on a regular basis now, and it's already starting to scare me. I mean, thanks to Black Terry and his kid we're getting +**** material on a weekly basis now, for free and in high video quality and for everyone to see and in YT and not some hard to seek out download site. The thought that I might get accustomed to watching matches like this is just that, scary. And so is this match which is just a testament to Terry as the King of Rudos, the end boss for every technico to go toe to toe with and try and match him. And it's also a testament to the Traumas being more than worthy successors to their ole' daddy, both with their black ring gear and the fierce masks, looking like what you'd expect lucha mafia henchmen to look like, the kind of guys who'll drop a dead horse's head in your bed the night before you have to face them. And they are just that, Terry's henchmen, because they won't test their opponents out like he does with some tentative grappling and the swift beautiful counters and that, but rather go right for the tapout as soon as the opportunity arises. Even when brawling they go for the instant kill, bringing out their atrocious double stomp and crashing their opponents into chairs instead of slapping them and squirting their blood around. Real henchmen don't test out their victims either before shooting them. Terribles Cerebros and Dr. Cerebro punching people in the face, but that Terry/Traumas Trios right there is money in the fucking bank.

And opposing them are Rocky Santana who looks like he's been waiting for this match for the last 30 years because he know Revancha is like wine, and Sadico and some superhero type guy who both go into this match with a real bad feeling and it has something to do with dead horses. And this structure makes the match, as it's total destruction in progress and perfection, starting out with the gentle and beautiful kind of destruction, like the symbolic gore effects in Day of the Dead, and ending in a chaotic disarray that is astounding the same way Un Chien Andalousian is. Well, Terry knows very well who he is and who the Traumas are and who Ricky Santana is and how he has to treat those people, he knows he needs to show that 55 year old punk who's the boss in this ring and that Navarro's kids are Navarro's kids and thus have no problem tearing local stooges to shreds in style, especially Trauma II.

I've never hated YouTube lagging as much as while watching this, as this match is just packed with drama and excitement.

Black Terry/Los Traumas vs Rock Santana/Sadico/Robin Maravilla, UWE 1/19

YES. This was pretty great and seemed to one of those matches driven by role-playing. Rocky and Terry start on the mat, and their body language tells the story. While they trade holds evenly, Rocky is visibly working for every advantage, whereas Terry is just so casual and seems to brush Rocky off. “Yeah, I’ll just trap your legs together then stomp on then, what of it?”. Later on one of the Traums held Rocky in place so Terry could casually pick his shots. The Traumas were fucking great in this. Their beatdown during the second fall was brutal, beating the shit out of everyone and busting out the apron double-stomp and riling up the fans to boiling point. Combine it with their looks and they are probably the most intimidating guys in wrestling. There was one great moment where Sadico briefly got the upper hand on T1 by going after his injured shoulder, only for T2 to run in and go bezerk on him for it. All of the Terry vs Rocky interaction was excellent, from Terry treating Rocky like garbage early, to Rocky later getting in a big flurry on him, to the final showdown between them with the crowd fully behind Rocky. Sadico was also great.

Black Terry/Los Traumas vs Rocky Santana/Sadico/Robin Maravilla, UWE 1/19 - YES

I doubt I would have nominated this, but I think it's just good enough for a yes vote. Terry/Santana matwork wasn't even half as good as the grappling in the recent IWRG maestro tags, but still enjoyable. Both guys were intense, they made the submissions look painful and I loved the final scrappy little exchange. Later, Black Terry made a Santana elbow look pretty devastating. Post-match old man scrap helped me forget about the clumsy finish. I dig pretty much all of Trauma II's submissions, but I don't think he's a complete worker, especially when it comes to matwork. Perhaps I need to rewatch, but I thought his matwork was a little too "your turn, my turn" and spotty. There were two great moments during an otherwise solid brawling section. First being Black Terry sending Robin into the crowd, second being T2 dumping Robin onto a chair. Robin being a little unlikeable made both spots even more entertaining.

NOMINATING

Black Terry v. Solar v. Negro Navarro v. Villano IV v. Rey Mendoza Jr.v. Ultraman v. El Dandy v. Fuerza Guerrera 1/29/11

This is a Maestros Toreno match worked as a four team tag tourney with the winners wrestling each other. Your opening tag is Terry/Solar v. Navarro/VIV and is really the only match worked Maestros style. Villano IV v. Black Terry is a match up I hadn't seen before and they do some really slick matwork with very fast countering, there is a really cool moment with Terry countering an armbar into an indian deathlock which VIV flips into a headscissors. Navarro and Solar tag in and do their thing. Always great to watch and there was some especially neat standing submissions and counters.

Your next match is Ultraman/Rey Mendoza Jr. v. Fuerza/Dandy and this is a brawl. These are four guys who can throw hands, and they rail on each other. I love watching Ultraman throw combos and he unloads some pretty ones. Dandy looks like Dandy and he is a guy I am super happy to see resurface. He has some nice head movement and landed his hooking slapping right.

Your final is Navarro/IV v. Fuerza/Dandy and is also a slugfest. Navarro v. Dandy had a great feud in IWRG 10 years ago (holy shit that was 10 years ago? I am old.) and they start it right back up here. There is some nice arm drags and fast exchanges too. Our final is Navarro v. Villano IV it starts out as a brawl, but they take it to the mat at the end, and it is great to watch, with both guys wrenching in some cool kneebars. All of these guys seemed really inspired and were working hard, and while there are some matchups I wanted to see, which we didn't get (Dandy v. Terry for example) every thing we did get was a blast.

Where did you find that?

Edit:

http://www.youtube.com/user/drlandru#p/u/3/XEoy6YOruCg

I'll watch this after the Rumble.

NOMINATE

Traumas v. Apaches DTU 1/29

It is pretty difficult to lose clean to a pair of girls and still come off like nasty badasses, but the Traumas pull it off. Cool matwork at the beginning and then the Traumas lay it into Mary and Apache. Parts of this felt like Ike v. Tina and the comeback felt like Mrs. Richie v. Lionel. Fun stuff, we need the Traumas back in IWRG already