Lucha Libre Thread - AAA, CMLL, & the rest of the masked lads

[Lorne Malvo]

I've got nothing to add except this thread is ace. Good work BomberPat and JLM!

Lucha libre seems equal parts fascinating and infuriating.

[waters44]

Yeah thank you so much for this Pat. I really wanted to get into Lucha but didn’t think there was any other interest on the board, glad I’m wrong! I’ll start checking it out. I have watched a little bit of CMLL recently (they are drawing big crowds at Arena Mexico) but I haven’t seen any AAA at all

If you can recommend five or so matches from the last few years I’d welcome it very much!

I went to Mexico in 2011 and the hotel put Triplemania on a TV in the bar for me. I can’t remember much of it apart from La Parka had a class match and RVD was in the main event. I had a La Parka mask with me but was too shy to wear it. Here I am with it from last year at a local Indy! It cost way too much money but I love it (I’m on the left)

[CleetusVanDamme]

There's only been two Indy PPVs I ever paid for and they were both just to see one match, one of those was LA Park vs Masato Tanaka. I love him.

I skim through the Triplemanias most years with no context or knowledge of the scene at all, there's usually something that'll catch my interest, this one looks dire. It will take a hell of a forklift staredown to stop me fast forwarding through Nemeth/Alberto!

[Statto]

I've watched very little actual lucha over the years, save odd bits on TWC back in the day. But I do quite regularly disappear down Wikipedia rabbit holes into that world, tracing through all the Hijos and Jrs and the naming conventions around that, etc. 

I always enjoy finding out the English translation of lucha names I come across, which tend to either be very cool or bonkers or both. This the makes me wonder if a wrestler being called "Cibernetic Arm" seems as mad to a Mexican as it does to me.

I recall a few years back there was a very cool looking coffee table book of photos of lucha masks which I'd have liked to have picked up, but I think it was very expensive. 

[no user name]

So in May there is fantasticamania in London. I just know lucha libre will be amazing live. Tickets are a bit pricy but have to go 

[ultimo the great]

On 3/19/2024 at 1:01 PM, JLM said:

La Parka 2 sadly passed away following complications from an injury sustained from a botched dive to the outside. LA Park however, has said that he will never go back to the La Parka name, nor will his sons, out of respect for the deceased La Parka 2.

LA Park has two sons, who also do the gimmick as El Hijo Del LA Park and LA Park Jr. Most notable outside of Mexico for being fired by MLW (along with LA Park himself) for stiffing the hell out of Alexander Hammerstone and Jacob Fatu during a post match angle. LA Park’s uncle also did a Super Parka gimmick. 

Lastly La Parka 2 has a son, but the son is working as Karis La Momia Jr. In honour of his father’s previous gimmick. However, it is thought that if he develops/gets good enough he may eventually become La Parka Jr. Which would also technically make him La Parka Jr Jr. 

La Parka's injury that led to his death is one of the worst thing's you'll see in wrestling. A perfect storm coming together of La Parka's arm injury (he hadn't had full use of his right arm for years) it was the first time he'd worked with Rush and Rush probably didn't know to be nearer the ring for the dive, he clipped one of his legs on the rope and flew off head first into the metal barrier. it sounds comical but it sounded like a car wreck.

There's also at least 3 La Parkita's, first one murdered, second one is/was Mini Rey Misterio and 3 or 4 people have played Parka Negra.

I've been watching Lucha for years but lost my way during the pandemic and haven't got back into the routine of watching week to week plus CMLL and AAA's tv situation changed. I've mostly only watched the bigger shows since the pandemic. I have recently caught up on some AAA from the end of 2023 and start of 2024. I'd recommend

AAA Guerra De Titanes 19.11.2023 - Arez & Komander vs. Forastero & Sanson

AAA Guerra De Titanes 19.11.2023 - Cage Match: Lady Shani vs. Chik Tormenta

AAA Guerra De Titanes 19.11.2023 - El Hijo del Vikingo vs. Dralistico - Sloppy at the beginning but picks up half way through

AAA/Impact Wrestling Ultra Clash 26.11.2023 - Forastero & Sanson vs. Arez & Frankie Kazarian

Only recommended if you like the traditional AAA Atomico's (1 Guy, 1 Woman, 1 Mini, 1 Exotico on each team) matches which are fun not the "we're trying to have a great match" matches.

AAA Retro 06.01.2024 - El Elegido/Estrellita/Mini Charly Manson/Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Arez/Jessy Ventura/Lady Shani/La Parkita

AAA Retro 06.01.2024 - World Mixed Tag Team Title: Abismo Negro Jr/Lady Flammer (c) vs. Aero Star/Fabi Apache vs. Drago/Sexy Star

and if you love a Lucha brawl with blood, fighting around the arena and LA Park throwing boxes of glass bottles at Rush (which i do) then....

AULL Pokar De Reyes - LA Park vs Blue Demon Jr vs Rush vs DMT Azul

Edited March 30, 2024 by ultimo the great

[ultimo the great]

On 3/19/2024 at 1:19 PM, JLM said:

Also a huge fan of LA Park and his sons in their Los Parks gear: 

Definitely some of my favourite Lucha masks ever, totally  bad ass. 

LA Park Jr's regular mask is also GREAT

[jm29195]

Is there anywhere a discerning viewer can watch the recent Bryan Danielson CMLL matches please?

[ultimo the great]

You can only get it by subscribing to CMLL's youtube channel for around £27-28!

I'm not sure if i'm allowed to post it so i'll send you a pm

 

[waters44]

I watched via a guy on Twitter called Luchablog. He had a Google drive with loads of lucha on but he’s had to close it down ?

[LaGoosh]

On 3/19/2024 at 7:01 PM, waters44 said:

 I had a La Parka mask with me but was too shy to wear it. Here I am with it from last year at a local Indy! It cost way too much money but I love it (I’m on the left)

Nice! Here's mine:

 

[waters44]

That’s fantastic!!

[ultimo the great]

On 4/11/2024 at 10:31 PM, waters44 said:

I watched via a guy on Twitter called Luchablog. He had a Google drive with loads of lucha on but he’s had to close it down ?

He'll find somewhere else to post them or might try opening the drive again and hope it was just Dos Leyendas that got flagged.

Very few are going to pay the CMLL subscription so people not having access to what he posts would probably make his site a lot less busy.

[JLM]

I was praying to the grappling pervert gods that somehow during this Forbidden Door season they would find a way to get Hechicero and Zack Sabre Jr. in the ring together. I didn't think I'd get it in AEW because they're both outsiders, but with ZSJ in North America for a little while I was holding out hope. 

CMLL have answered my prayers and I simply must find a way to see this match. 

[waters44]

Finally got round to watching CMLL Homenaje A Dos Leyendas from back in March. This is the show with Team CMLL vs Team AEW

It was a fun time!

Good stuff from Magnus in the opening tag match which eased me in nicely.

Esfinge had a decent match with Zandokan Jr. I can’t remember which way round it was now, but one of them was draped over the barrier on the outside, and the other did a dive from the ring onto him, looked awesome and would have been relatively safe I think, the perfect combo!

There was a very slooooooooooow four way Mask vs Mask match that saw Pequeno Olimpico unmask. This was a big change of pace compared to the previous matches and didn’t really hold my attention, but presumably that unmasking is a fairly big deal (although I’ve never heard of him) 

Willow Nightingale up next in trios action! She’s great isn’t she. Almost lost the crowd with a botch but Willow saved the day with an awesome looking powerbomb for the win

Next there was a tribute to two legends, one being Tony Salazar. There was a really nice video package, the highlight being this transition! 

 

Next up was a great tag team match between Mascara Dorada & Rocky Romero vs Atlantis Jr & Soberano Jr which was the final of the “Torneo Incredible De Parejas 2024”. This match had the best monkey flip I’ve ever seen, Romero literally launched the whole way across the ring. Crowd really into this one. There was a lovely looking shooting star press from the turnbuckle to the outside, and an absolute huge frog splash - it’s hard to tell from the pic but look how far away he was

A cheap finish with Romero removing one of the opponents masks but it didn’t take much away from a really entertaining bout

Finally it’s time to get to what I’d been waiting for, Team CMLL vs Team AEW eight man tag.

Straight away the crowd are absolutely electric! Frenetic action and a really fast pace. The match was 16 minutes but felt half that.

There was a drone flying around the ring which looked awesome. Even better than that though was the house lights flicking on and off along with the chants! Never seen that before but it looked great!

The AEW heels were hardly ever stood in their corner, they treated it like a tornado tag, really simple way to get heat.

It must have been a Captains Fall match, as CMLL took a pinfall but the match continued. Then Matt Sydal got beat and it was over. Imagine having a team with Bryan, Claudio and Mox and you make Sydal captain! Uncle Howdy more realistic than that

Anyway an absolutely fantastic match where as usual Bryan absolutely shines. What a legend. Best in the World. 

I’ve seen some people say it’s a MOTYC - I wouldn’t go that far myself but a really enjoyable 16 minutes nevertheless.

Bryan challenged Blue Panther to a match so I’m going to have to track that down next.

I have to say that the commentary is preventing me from absolutely loving this. If there was an English team I think I’d be all over this, but there’s just a disconnect due to the language barrier

@ultimo the great did Luchablog ever sort anything out with regards to CMLL footage or is that all over now?

I’m really tempted to track down Triplemania but I’ve heard it’s absolutely shite ? has anyone seen it?