Current Watch List:

• Titan, Blue Panther & Dragon Rojo, Jr. vs. Hechicero, Euforia & Niebla Roja (CMLL)
• Arkángel de la Muerte, Cancerbero, Puma, Tiger, Virus vs Esfinge, Gallo, Leo, Magnum, Omar Brunetti in a cibernetico (CMLL)
• Marco Corleone vs Shocker (CMLL)
• Kofi Kingston vs. Tyson Kidd (WWE)
• Jack Swagger vs. Bray Wyatt (WWE)

Matches Watched:

Titan, Blue Panther & Dragon Rojo, Jr. vs. Hechicero, Euforia & Niebla Roja
Lucha
CMLL

Dragon Rojo, Jr. and Niebla Roja feuded during the match, naturally, seeing as how they are both big fans of the color red.  Their interaction was pretty good so the eventual singles match (assuming we get there) looks promising.  This was a bit of a nothing trios but everyone did get in some of their stuff, so it was not by any means a wasted match.  Good mat work from Panther.  Titan had a nice dive and a cool head scissors into a roll up move.  Hechicero wasn’t given much of a spot light but was fine in what he got.  Not much to see.

Kofi Kingston vs. Tyson Kidd
United States
WWE

Your typical, current WWE C-show where it feels like a toned down, shorter US indie match.  I say that as a positive for the most part.  They run through a bunch of stuff in a short period, some of which is a little too unnecessarily cute/innovative for my own personal taste.  In current US indie matches, they run through a lot of stuff in way too long of a period, most of which is a little too unnecessarily cute/innovative for my own personal tastes.   In both cases, there is not much in the way of story to be found.  I thought Kidd had better offense when he was in NXT late last year.  Since the move to the main roster, he’s ditched the good, basic stuff he had for other stuff.  Kofi looked like his usual inoffensive, energetic self here.

Jack Swagger vs. Bray Wyatt
United States
WWE 

A good looking match up.  Swagger has had a solid month of C-show performances, working as sort of a modern day 1999 WCW-era Mike Enos.  Like Enos, Swagger works relatively snug and has good offense for a big man, but is going to struggle to get any sort of honest push given his lack of plus tools.  A wrestler with Swagger’s skill set and current level of work should theoretically match up well with Bray in a 5-minute, big man sprint.  That’s sort of the style they worked, it just didn’t gel as well as I envisioned.  Then again, you don’t watch C-show matches expected every potentially interesting match to pan out.  You watch those shows for the one match out of fifty that is truly high level.

Marco Corleone vs. Shocker
Lucha
CMLL

As a WCW loyalist to the bitter end, I love playing the “if WCW never went out of business . . . “ game.  If WCW never went out of business, I could have envisioned this match up stuck somewhere in the mid-card of a mid-2000’s WCW PPV.  Shocker had some crossover success in the 1999 and into the 2000’s.  He had wrestled a stiff style that would have possibly lent itself to US success, given that he was pretty popular amongst lucha-watching US fans at the time.  Mark Jindrak was destined to turn on Sean O’Haire at some point before settling into a below-main event role (O’Haire was tabbed as the future star).  If the political winds below the right way and WCW worked with CMLL (or just stole their wrestlers), you don’t have to blink too hard to see this as a possible match in 2003-era WCW.

Ten+ years after that hypothetical scenario, I thought these two had a solid match.  It aired on FOX Sports which means it was clipped to shreds, but they definitely left some good stuff in.  Unfortunately, one thing they left in was a terrible looking Shocker knee lift right at the start.  Why they wouldn’t just start the match 5 seconds later is anyone’s guess.  Shocker’s work was far tighter after that.  He still lays in a good shot (when he wants to) and landed a nice forearm or two in this one.  Shocker took the first fall with an STF that he refused to let go of.  Corleone evened up with a nice crossbody from the second rope.  He always did have a nice crossbody block.  The third fall was fun, back and forth stuff, with Corleone scoring the relatively big win.  Corleone has been getting a little bit of a push lately and if nothing else, it could freshen things up.  Also has me fantasy booking a 3-way Heavyweight title feud between former trios champions Rush, Maximo, and Marco once Rush returns.  Rush recruits Marco to his side while Maximo convinces him to stay on the straight and narrow.  A battle for Marco’s soul (and the CMLL Heavyweight title).