Current Watch List:

• El Hijo del Fantasma, Fenix & Penatgon, Jr. vs. El Hijo de Fishman, Flamita & Skyman (Cara Lucha)

• El Texano Jr. & Super Nova vs. Trauma I & Trauma II (Cara Lucha)

• Carta Brava Jr., Super Fly & Dragon vs. Fly Star, Guerrero Mixtico Jr. & Rayo Star (Cara Lucha)

• Lottery Single 5 on 5 Gauntlet (ZERO1)

Matches Watched:

El Texano & Super Nova vs. Trauma I & Trauma II
Lucha
Cara Lucha

I watched the fan shot handheld of this match pitting two sets of brothers against each other in a solid, lucha indie brawl.  Super Nova – from what I have seen of him recently – is underutilized in the current lucha landscape.  I think he looked the best of all four guys in this match, although the other three weren’t too shabby either.  Good mix of brawling and in-ring stuff and the match was shot well enough that all of the action could seen.  Good crowd heat, although the crowd noise faltered a little down the stretch.  The no contest finish was built to really well so it was an effective ending.

Carta Brava Jr., Super Fly & Dragon vs. Fly Star, Guerrero Mixtico Jr. & Rayo Star
Lucha
Cara Lucha

Really enjoyable trios.  The layout was clean and crisp with a long opening fall (nine minutes give or take) that built from strong mat work into impressive flying.  I’ve seen precious little of Guerrero Mixtico Jr. – this might have been my first look, actually – but I cam away really impressed.  He impressed me all the way around with the way he handled himself on the mat to his agility to his presence in the ring.  The AAA trio was led by Super Fly who garnered ridiculous heat throughout the match.  He wore his mask to begin the match which is a good way to draw heat in Mexico and continued baiting the crowd the rest of the match.  Super Fly’s wrestling was as solid as usual but his heel performance is what really stood out.  A bunch of neat triple teams from both sides, including a pair of triple team dives.  There was a cool spot where the rudos wanted to whip each of their opponents from one corner to the next.  Rayo Star went first and hit the turnbuckle hard.  When his two partners were sent in, Star backdropped them over and onto the apron where they safely landed.  Sort of a modern take on the old Memphis spot where a wrestler would lay across the turnbuckle as his partner was sent in to shield him from hitting the buckle/post.

Solidly above average match that is the best non-CMLL lucha match through the first half of January rather easily.  Perfect undercard lucha trios in terms of structure and tone.

Lottery Single 5 on 5 Gauntlet
Japan
ZERO1
Gauntlet

Full write up on this one forthcoming.  I think from a conceptual perspective, a gauntlet match featuring most of the promotion’s bigger stars as well as most of their bigger outside attractions is a neat filler main event.  Neither an Otani vs. Takayama or an Akebono vs. Hideki Suzuki singles match sound very appealing on their own, but as part of this gauntlet with big freelance/ZERO1 names like Masato Tanaka, Takashi Sugiura, and Kohei Sato it takes on a bigger feel.

The wrestling was just okay and depended a lot on who was in the ring at any given time.  The entire ordeal took close to an hour and a half.  They probably could have clipped some time off and been better off for it.  If nothing else, the motley crew of wrestlers involved in the match ensured that it would be entertaining even if simply for the curiousness of it all.  It was like a big family reunion where you can check on a bunch of familiar faces in one fell swoop.  Not a good match by any means, but a neat concept match that I didn’t necessarily mind spending 80 minutes on.