Definitely stupid idea. Having non-PPV events on the network is an attraction, PPV events not on the network, not so much.
Oh man, if that happened we would be hard pressed to keep the network. I don’t know if NXT would hold enough water, especially for us because we can just go to a house show every other week
Wouldn’t it not matter though? I mean how much upkeep does the network have now that the startup costs have been taken care of?
Also, where did Uhaa Nation come from? I know he’s popular and people know him, but from where?
Speaking of ole Uhaa…
Ms Cups said she read a tweet that he will have his debut in Brooklyn and go by the name of…
Apollo Crews
So the bastard child of Apollo Creed and Terry Crews? This will be interesting on Friday now to see if they call him that when during our house show. I’ll let everyone know. It should be said that both times we’ve seen him they have called him “Uhaa Nation”
*BAHWANGGGAAAAHHHH
BANNNHHH*
Ultima Lucha culo pateado. They began with a dedication to Roddy Piper, the original rudo. What great timing for his death.
Vampiro was replaced in the announce booth by Mike Schiavello. I hadn’t heard of the guy before, but he’s called real-life fights worldwide. He brought a great energy and enthusiasm to complement Matt Stryker, and I hope to hear him call more matches again.
I think pretty much all the matches were no DQ no countout, so that much chaos could ensue and drive the audience into blood-fueled frenzy.
Johnny Mundo vs. Alberto El Patron: Mundo was the chickenshit heel, hiding from Al the first part of the match and resorting to dirty tricks. Literal dirty tricks, like throwing corroded ring dust in his face. This is probably the most intense I’ve seen Al. Mundo did his share of acrobatics, and Al retaliated with righteous fury. In the end, Melina returns, who used to accompany Mundo when he was Johnny Nitro and teamed up with a dreadlocked Joey Mercury in WWE, and hits Al with the AAA belt, allowing Mundo to get the pin and win. Afterwards, the violence lasted another 5 or so minutes as Al threw Mundo threw the office window this time and gave him the Crimson Mask. He then gave the naughty Melina a spanking.
Vampiro vs Pentagon Jr: I’ve seen some bloody matches in my lifetime, including Necro Butcher vs Rick Link. This topped them all. This was not just excessing blading; it was a virtual black mass. Vampiro completely abandoned his cheerful announcer personality and came out in white face paint, dressed as the Anti-Pope, looking like he was about to ascend the throne of Hell.
At first, it seemed like the match would end early. PJ bombarded Vamp with chair shot after chair shot after chair shot. The meds eventually rolled out the gurney and Stryker called for a commercial break. However, after the break, Vampiro rose from the gurney and struggled back to the ring. From that point on, they used thumb tacks, fluorescent bulbs, teeth, and whatever sharp objects were available. At one point, PJ licked blood off Vamp and stuck his tongue out for the camera to show a big wet mound of gore piled at the tip. Vamp would eventually lick his own gore and swallow it. At one point, Vamp superflexed PJ onto the thumbtacks and bulb shards. All we needed was Paul Heyman to scream GORE GORE GORE!!!
The match ended in a surprise twist: PJ whacked Vamp hard with a big stick outside the ring and covered him for the pin. He then grabbed a mike and started to announce this would be a sacrifice for his Maestro, when Vamp crawled back in the ring and demanded PJ break his arm! PJ was happy to comply. Vamp then got up, grabbed the mike, congratulated PJ, and told him “I am sure your Maestro will be pleased… for I am he!” PJ looked shocked, then bowed to Vamp. The two then posed for the camera together in unholy partnership, blood everywhere. Holy Mother of FUCK! “This is awesome” chants aren’t good enough. These two need to be worshipped and have lambs sacrificed to them.
Gift of the Gods match: Fenix vs Sexy Star vs Big Ryck Fury vs Jack Evans vs Aero Star vs Cat Guy vs King Cuerno, guest starring Marty the Moth and Les Bloomfield
This was a fun match, but I’m too drained from covering Vampiro vs Pentagon Jr to go into detail. Very well choreographed, with each performer getting to do their trademark moves. Fenix wins at the end.
Texano vs Blue Demon: If anything was a dud, it was this match, mainly because events leading up to it were muddled due to Chavo’s injury, so they made Texano Mexico’s favorite son and BD a heel. I don’t know BD’s age, but I assume he’s at least in his fifth decade, as it seemed like they had to cover his weaknesses with constant interference from the Crew. In the end, Chavo came hobbling out with a chair, acting like he was going to help Texano, but of course he turned on him. Chavo always does that. He and BD then formed an alliance of “two of Mexico’s most powerful families.” Will the Mexican President have to call on the army for help, like he did vs the drug lords? Maybe Chavo will be better by the time Season 2 starts, but I think they should have just dropped this angle a long time ago. It was the LU equivalent of the “cool down” match that precedes the main event so the audience can rest up.
Prince Puma vs Mil Muertes: PP is not only incredibly agile, but he’s also strong like a whip. MM outweighs him by 80 pounds or so, but PP could hoist him and throw him overhead. Excellent excellent match that incorporated just about every move in the book. PP got off several 630 splashes which MM kept avoiding or kicked out from, and in the end MM countered a PP jump from the top turnbuckle and smashed his face to the mat for the win and the title. Catarina came in for the Lick of Death and called the Disciples of Death to her side as mist covered the ring.
It seemed like the show was going to end early, but they closed with some storyline vignettes to whet our appetites for next season. From what I recall:
[ul]
[li]El Azteca Dragon found Black Lotus in her cell and promised to free her. Dario Cueto emerged and said BL now knows the truth. She grabs EAD through the bars and puts him in a choke hold. He says “whatever he told you are lies,” but presumably BL kills him with a final twist. Dario then says “We have to leave, the war is starting,” and unlocks the cell door. He then lets out Matanza and the three skeedaddle. In the last scene, Dario is driving a truck with BL as passenger, pulling a trailer. The camera shifts to a hole in the trailer’s side, and there’s a man with cloth wrapped around his face peering out.[/li][li]Aero Star and Drago are outside. They embrace and say farewell. Drago assumes dragon form and takes off in a column of flames. Aero Star ascends to the stars leaving a comet trail.[/li][li]Fenix gets in his car with the GotG belt and drives out. A truck whose driver wears a cowboy hat that conceals his face follows.[/li][li]Marty the Moth has Sexy Star tied up. He laughs like a maniac and says “You think I’m funny? Wait till you meet my sister!” Marcia the Moth? Brenda the Butterfly?[/li][li]The white hooded guy who talked to El Azteca Dragon last week puts on his mask, then spray paints a question mark on the LU banner.[/li][/ul]
*BAHWANGGGAAAAHHHH
BANNNHHH*
He’s spent most of his career in Dragon Gate USA, the American sister promotion of the Japanese company of the same name. He apparently had a memorable feud with Brodie Lee (the future Luke Harper) early in his career and has wrestled extensively in Japan as well.
LU so blew my mind, I wasn’t much into NXT last night. Since Bayley is soon to be the lone Horsewoman, she got a victory over Charlotte, will face Becky Lynch next week, and probably Sasha Banks for the title at NXT: Bulldover. Then she gets to carry Emma, Eva Marie, and Dana Blecch for a few months.
I’m sick of Caron Boring and his ten-second matches. We get it. He’s all-powerful. Now have him go against some of the A-listers so he can do something besides play human swing set.
Bull Dempsey has found his niche as the likeable goofball loser, I think. It’s a lot better than his last gimmick. I think he would have been a good partner for Bagles, in a Jay & Silent Bob way.
Corbin annoys me because he’s not THAT good of a wrestler, and he’s not going to get any better if all he is doing is destroying jobbers in 10 seconds. Dude needs to get better at wrestling. He’s not even doing much at house shows…
Fun Fact: The dude the Tyler Breeze squashed is Bayley’s RL boyfriend.
I currently hate him
Been thinking the same thing for months. Corbin needs to go 5-10 minutes on a regular basis or he’s not going to improve. Hell, he isn’t even being set up for a “straight to the top, lose to Cena, disappear” run with what they’re doing now.
[quote=“Knowed_Out, post:2565, topic:690124”]
[li]Fenix gets in his car with the GotG belt and drives out. [/li][/quote]
In a Firebird Trans Am, no less.
I figured it was Texano, as the hat and pickup would seem to go along with the character. But I saw another review that thought it was King Cuerno, which might make sense in a rivalry sense.
I wasn’t real thrilled with the big Vampiro reveal, but really that might just be a matter of contrast–even what I feel is a little weak in storytelling from LU is still as good as WWE/TNA has showed us in the past several years.
Speaking of which, I went straight from LU to TNA. I mostly fast-forwarded TNA–and unless I missed it in the fast-forward, they took out their “authority figure” offscreen, with just Jarrett and Dixie in an office saying “Hey, did you see what just happened to Bully Ray?” I guess good for him that he got a paycheck to be in about 3 segments that could have been filled by just about anyone…
Well, Rosa Mendez has announced that she’s pregnant. Apparently didn’t tell the locker room until it came up in the interview.
So I expect she’ll be gone, but then I expected her to be released anyway.
Here’s an excerptof New-hoo Day-hee’s interview with Chris Jericho. They discuss the process of coming up with their current gimmick.
It sounds like they wanted to have a coalition gimmick from the get-go, and tossed around ideas for months. Vince finally came up with the idea of them being preachers. Kofi didn’t like the idea, but Big E’s dad is a preacher, and he’s done some preaching himself. Xavier wanted to be a big mouth, so they figured out how to make it work. They discuss past roles blacks have played in the industry and how they’re trying to avoid the stereotypes.
At least the process wasn’t as hilariously bad as we imagined. They managed to keep some dignity. 
Good catch! heheheeeee
As much dignity as Uhaa Nation gets to keep by being Apollo [del]Creed[/del] Crews? :dubious:
Do you realize there was a Divas match on a WWE show that actually ran through 2 commercial breaks???
Makes me wonder if the reason the Divas matches were 2 minutes before was because they just plain sucked?
WWE names the 10 funniest wrestlers in history
- Kurt Angle
- R-Truth
- William Regal
- Chris Jericho
- Mick Foley
- Santino Marella
- Stone Cold Steve Austin
- Edge & Christian
- Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
- The Rock
I would add Jim Cornette and Paul Heyman to this. William Regal was funny when he would act like the disgusted upper crust snob in WCW, but not necessarily top 10 material.
Others that are chuckle-inducing: Bo Dallas, Mae Young, Big Show when he’s doing his uncoordinated klutz bit, Honky Tonk Man, Iron Sheik when he goes nuts during interviews, and occasionally Jerry Lawler.
When Daniel Bryan and Kane teamed up and went through the Anger Management angle, they had me in stitches. Bryan was such a whiny drama queen and Kane was so macabre about pushing his buttons.
Where’s George ‘The Animal Steele’ on that list?
Fan hits Roman Reigns with Money in the Bank briefcase at WWE house show, police called
JBL: ONE OF BRAY WYATT’S FANATICAL FOLLOWERS BEANED ROMAN REIGNS WITH A PHONY MONEY IN THE BANK BRIEFCASE! THE MOVEMENT IS GROWING MAGGLE!
Maybe it was the grandson of Hatpin Mary.
I won’t bore everyone with a play-by-play on our show, but I’ll call out the highlights…
The second match of the show was BULL! BULL! vs. a new gimmick-ed Elias Sampson. He’s now “the drifter” and has a guitar and is like a johnny cash dude. Bull wins and as he’s celebrating Tyler Breeze comes out with just a tall huge mofo. Dudeis tall, built, and scary silent. After some digging we found his name is Radomir Petkovic. He comes in to shake Bull’s hand, and then proceeds to pick him up and pile drive him. Wow that dude was scary.
Next interesting thing happened the very next match. Eva Marie and Dana “The Cleveland Steamer” Brooke vs Carmella and a cute thing named Billy (Billi?) K. The match is what it is until Dana and Billy are goin at it and you can just tell the match took a bit of a turn. Dana gets tight, the ref rushes around and postpones the match because Dana busted Billy in the face and her nose was bleeding. Doc comes out of the back, they fix it and we all boo The Steamer and cheer poor Billy (who was crying). Funny point was Carmella mumbled to the ref “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do”.
Tye Dillinger (The perfect 10!) was really over for us and actually played face in his match
MATCH OF THE NIGHT ALERT! A mixed tag: Vaudevillians and Bayley vs The Superhappys and Alexa. Wow what a match. It was back-and forth, there were good spots, and the best moment by far came when Bayley and Alexa were in. Alexa did something that brought in the boys who looked like they were going to team up on Bayley, she ducked one of the guys (who was taken out by a vaudevillian), nailed Alexa, and then proceeded to DO A STUNNER ON ONE OF THE SUPERHAPPYS. It was so cool and the crowd exploded. The match ended when Alexa was instigating the Vaudes, who were gentlemanly while still throwing her around a bit and would do a bow, then Bayley kicks her, and then they did a dip which led into the Bayley to Belly for the win. An awesome match
Uhaa offically came out as Apollo Crews and the crowd was mostly behind him. They called him Crew-ha which is funny. Crews isn’t easy to chant though. He faced a guy we’ve never seen before named Tucker Knight. He looked like Bull’s less hairy twin brother. Same face, same body…it was kinda creepy
Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson faced JJ and Bagels. Bagels got a bloody lip during it and actually took the pin, which is the first time we’ve ever seen the heels win
Main event was Breeze vs Solomon Crowe. A Yawner of a match til the end. Tyler came out with Radomir who was eventually kicked out by the ref. Surprising to absolutely no one he eventually came out and caused Crowe to win on a DQ. They then beat up Crowe more until Bull came out and chased Radomir to the back. Crowe had a bit of a second wind and Breeze started walking backwards out of the ring, Bull then comes out of the back and throws Breeze back to the ring. It was an interesting ending because they did a story through the show instead of little independent matches…which is another first for us.
We keep getting surprised at these things! We have our next one in the first week of September!
Also, while I was there, I asked about Full Sail Tapings. Apparently, they are next to impossible to get online and the best way to get them is to go to campus the night of a taping, just chill in the parking lot for literally 4 or 5 hours and rush in when the taping is done in order to secure tix for the next week. That’s big effort for Ms. Cups and I right now, so if things stay the way they are with NXT at Full Sail we’ll try and nab some in about a year or year and a couple months, when we live closer to Orlando.
Triplemania just wrapped up. It was a pretty good show overall… but there were some major technical problems that hurt it overall. Hugo Savinovich’s mic was dead for nearly half the show leaving Striker to call the matches by himself, and Hugo’s attempts to translate for the ring announcer were nearly inaudible. There were a few points where the English audio cut out altogether and the camera started glitching out like there was an earthquake happening, and they couldn’t seem to get the video packages into the feed - they literally pointed the arena camera at the Titantron (Tripletron?) to show the packages on the air. They pretty much had the technical problems solved in time for the main events, but it made the undercard (which was surprisingly slow-paced to boot) difficult to sit through.
The opening match was the eight-person atomicos match - two teams of four, each one man, one woman, one mini, and one exotico. Goya Kong, a gigantic woman who moves a lot faster than you’d think someone of her size could, was great in this match. Pimpinela Escarlata got the win for the babyface team by tapping out Sexy Star (who’s a heel in Mexico) with a Black Widow-ish submission.
The six-man tag was alright - it was the final match for Villano III, who unmasked at the end of the fight after he and his brothers beat the Psycho Circus (whose theme song was, of all things, ‘The Show Must Go On’ by Three Dog Night.) There was a lot of classic rock getting used for entrances that I can’t imagine AAA actually paid for the rights to - people were coming out to Michael Jackson and Guns & Roses and Red Hot Chili Peppers throughout the night. This was the only match that actually ended with a pinfall, and AAA uses a much slower count than American promotions do - the time it was taking the refs to count to three would have been nearly a 5-count by WWE standards.
The trios title match was a steel cage scaffold match which Striker said was a brand new format - the belts were suspended from a scaffold hanging above the center of the ring, and to win the match, one luchador had to climb to the top of the cage, get onto the scaffold from there, and crawl to the center to unhook one of the belts. All nine wrestlers were legal at once, which made the action kind of hard to follow. Texano got thrown through a table and it looked like he got taken off to seek medical attention. Angelico was wearing a Gopro on his chest, but if they took any video from it it didn’t get used on the live feed. The Hell Brothers retained.
Blue Demon Jr. & La Parka vs. El Mesias & Electroshock was another just-OK match. El Mesias just seems kind of off without the Mil Muertes gimmick - he has the same body language, and the same unnaturally bright blue eyes, but with his long hair and the tattoos he looks more like the singer in a heavy metal band than a wrestler. Blue Demon got the win by tapping out Electro Shock with a modified sharpshooter.
El Patron vs. Cage was the first match that was really a standout. Cage was playing the evil American, coming to the ring in a Trump for President t-shirt and waving an American flag, whereas El Patron came out accompanied by a mariachi band and with the Mexican flag. (Another glitch; when Cage came out to the ring, they put up a chyron that read “BRIAN CAGE - WINNER” before the match even started.) El Patron had Fenix in his corner and Cage had Hijo del Fantasma with him, both of whom eventually got involved in the fight. Alberto bladed early on in the match and was a bloody mess by the end. The referee eventually turns out to have been paid off by Cage - he starts helping him set up tables to throw Alberto through, deliberately looks the other way when Fantasma is interfering, refuses to count Alberto’s pin attempts, etc. Alberto eventually gets tired of it and attacks and KOs the ref, and a second ref eventually shows up in time to give Alberto the victory via armbar. They shaved Cage right in the middle of the ring after the match was ended (they don’t ring a bell in AAA - the ref blows a whistle to start a match, and there’s no signal at the end other than the ref gesturing that the match is over.)
There was some sort of Mission Impossible tie-in promotion for the main event which didn’t make an awful lot of sense. Myzteziz rappelled in from above a la Tom Cruise in the first movie, and Rey entered from under the stage in a black and gold Birdman-esque costume with giant wings. Myzteziz got busted open under his mask and was literally wearing a crimson mask by the end. Lots of back and forth here, with Rey working his typical style and Myzteziz going for a more strength-based style. Rey got powerbombed through a couple of tables and hit with both a 619 and a frog splash before eventually coming back and winning with a Fujiwara armbar. After the match, the Perros del Mal (Pentagon Jr’s stable, which the late Perro Aguayo Jr. was the founder of) rushed the ring and attacked both men with a staple gun. They teamed up to fight them off, but Myzteziz then turned on Rey again, setting him up for a further beatdown from Pentagon and company, and challenged Rey to a mask-vs-mask match at the next AAA pay-per-view. Konnan came out and was in the middle of aligning himself with los Perros and telling Rey off when the feed cut off (another glitch).
Was it worth $30? Kinda. The two main events were great, though El Patron vs. Cage was a bit overworked, and the undercard was decent and had some quality wrestling with clean finishes. AAA really needs to step up their game and fix the technical problems they’ve been having if they want to be successful in the US market, though. Vince McMahon would literally be killing people backstage if a WWE show had been this sloppy. I’d even expect better from TNA.