DMT Azul and Blue Demon vs. LA PARK and RUSH
Triplemanía XXXI: Monterrey (AAA) 4/16/2023
There was a lot of great wrestling throughout the world this week, Jake Lee and Kazuhiko Nakajima kicked the lungs out of each other in a hard hitting NOAH title match. Mad Dog Connelly, my favorite young indy wrestler right now, and Manders tried to behead each other with clotheslines in St. Louis Anarchy. Zach Sabre Jr. and Tom Lawlor had some Pancrase style grappling exchanges on a New Japan show in DC, and much more. However, down in Monterey, Mexico, some old fat luchadores hit reckless topes and bleed a ton, and that right there is Philcore pro-wrestling
This was the first round of a Parejas Incredibles tag tournament where enemies team up with each other, with the loser eventually advancing all the way to a mask match between teammates. Pentagon Jr. and Alberto del Rio defeated Psycho Clown and Sam Adonis, sending Clown and Adonis to the next round to face off with the loser of this match. Rush and LA PARK have had a violent rivalry where they have warred throughout the lucha independent scene as well as AAA and CMLL (I saw them against each other in a tag match in Denver earlier in the year and it is an awesome spectacle live) and are perfect antagonists for a match like this.
DMT Azul started wrestling under the name Metro in CMLL, but was repackaged as Diamante Azul and given a mask and cape which resembled the legendary luchador Blue Demon, even winning the Leyenda De Azul (a CMLL tournament dedicated to Blue Demon). When Azul left CMLL he became a natural rival to Blue Demon Jr. who was the official successor to Blue Demon despite not actually being related to him. Blue Demon Jr. has had a long and successful career, although one built mainly on his famous name rather than any tremendous skill, although he has had a late life transformation, doing some of the best work of his career in his 50s in gruesome violent brawls.
DMT Azul for some reason is dressed in yellow during this match (he is not DMT Amarillo), he is a thick dude, built kind of like a shorter late-career Hercules Hernandez (think under the mask as Super Invader, not Wrestlemania 3 against Billy Jack Haynes). Azul and Rush cheap shot their own partners to start and then Rush starts pounding on Demon while Azul squared off with LA PARK and started ripping his mask and opening up his forehead after a posting. Demon ate a chair shot on the other side of the ring and the plasma started flowing. Rush was especially vampiric, biting into Demon’s bloody forehead and smearing Demon’s blood all over his body like warpaint.
After a couple of minutes of beatdowns, Rush and Azul (who were former partners in CMLL) ended up jaw jacking with each other and exchanged hard slaps, which allowed Demon and PARK to recover and send their antagonists to the floor and drill them with topes. Park still has one of the best dives in the world, all of the tortas he has eaten since his WCW days hasn’t diminished the speed of his tope, but have added a ton of force, it’s like being hit by a minivan careening down a hill. Demon’s tope didn’t look as good, but it did leave a grody smear of blood on Rush’s chest.
Soon both Azul and Rush start dripping as well. They do some exchanges in the ring, including a super impressive spot by Azul where he catches a PARK bodypress, which has to be like catching a adolescent Hippopotamus jumping off a waterfall. We got some mishigas, with Rush’s dad Bestia Del Ring running in and putting the boots to both PARK and Demon, and LA PARK Jr. running in and cleaning out Bestia with a big boy tope of his own.
There is a ref bump, and PARK takes advantage by low-blowing his own partner Rush, and letting Demon pin him. That may have been a loss for PARK’s team, but a win for PARK overall, he wants Rush’s luscious hair to put on his mantle and he got one step closer to a match he has been calling for, for years. Rush vs. PARK hair vs. mask is arguably the biggest match you could run in Mexico right now, and although AAA is teasing it in this tourney I will be shocked if it happens, but man oh man is the possibility enticing.
Orange Cassidy vs. Buddy Matthews
Maybe the most personally surprising thing in professional wrestling over the last couple of years has been what a big Orange Cassidy fan I have become. He was someone I actively avoided when he was on the indies, but he’s been a consistent workhorse in AEW the last couple of years, putting on great matches nearly every week. AEW has a large roster, and wrestlers tend to disappear for a while if they are not being used in a program. Cassidy, however, has worked 19 matches so far in 2023 (a pace of more than one a week,) and all 19 have been very good to excellent. He has taken what seems like a one note character and found a symphony full of notes to play.
This match was built around Cassidy coming in with a damaged hand, and his unwillingness to adjust his attack in any way. He went on an initial offensive run, spinning Matthews around until he drilled him with a great looking Orange punch, one that jacked Buddy’s jaw but also sent Orange to the ground withering in pain. Buddy then took over, stopping the doctors from checking the hand, stomping it into the stairs, and wrenching it in the ring bolt. Cassidy fired back using his speed and grit to find moments against the bigger stronger opponent. Spinning circles around Buddy, while Matthews always had the hand to go back to. There was a really exciting finishing run, with Orange landing three big DDTs, and the Orange punch again, but Buddy was able to survive. Cassidy took some huge shots as well, including some nasty knee strikes, only to bait Matthews in and roll him up with the mousetrap pin, to win another tremendous title defense.
The secret to Orange Cassidy is that, despite the fact he acts like he doesn’t care at all, he cares more than anyone. He is going to carve his own path and will not deviate. He will defend the title against all comers even if he is hurt. He will put his hands in his pockets even if it means he takes a beating, and he will throw the Orange Punch even if the little bones in his hand are crackling like popcorn. The record shows he took the blows, and did it his way.
Solo Sikoa vs. Matt Riddle
WWE Smackdown 4/14/23
Now that Vince is back, the days of 20-minute-plus TV matches may be in the past. Luckily we are still getting some good main events on TV. Riddle returned after WrestleMania after being put on the shelf by Sikoa and the Bloodline (in the storyline, the real reasons are googlable and unseemly). I think Riddle is a significantly less interesting worker in the WWE then he was in the indies, but he is good at this kind of push the pace sprint. I liked how he kept going for submissions, both a jumping hammerlock and a back take choke, his MMA background is the most interesting thing about him, and it is better when he leans into that, rather than just doing workrate WWE main event wrestling.
I really dig how they have built up Sikoa up as a one hitter quitter, someone who doesn’t have the technical skill of Riddle and his black belt in jujitsu, but can equalize a fight with a single punch. He is like a wrestling version of Deontay Wilder, he might lose every round, except the one that matters. Riddle’s first offensive run was snuffed by a Sikoa uppercut, and the finish saw Riddle dive right into a body kick and a Samoan spike for the win. It is a unique presentation and differentiates Sikoa’s matches from your traditional WWE style match. It feels like the Bloodline storyline is in a bit of holding pattern right now, but it is still delivering in the ring, and Usos vs. Zayn/Owens 2 in a couple of weeks should be excellent.