News and Views from South of the Border 01.02.11: The Best of 2010

Here we go it’s the end of the year, 2011 is here and we have the obligatory best of edition of News and Views from South of the Border. Now as many of you might see this column has more “meat” than it normally does. Instead of answering your questions and comments in the beginning you can now see that before the signoff on the newly added “La Voz” section. While I do believe an open mic is a dangerous thing it’s a risk I’m willing to take. Hopefully it works, if not I’ll just axe the damn thing!

FEUD/STORYLINE OF THE YEAR

CMLL – Volador Venom – While the Mistico rudo turn made a lot more sense and would of more likely been a bigger draw had the creative team in CMLL let Mistico run with it, Volador Jr. has done a very good job with what he was given. Turning on Mistico and siding with Averno as payback for Mistico having done the exact same thing. Volador Jr. has taken his heel turn and run with it. His feud with Mistico hasn’t completely finished yet, but of course with the booking CMLL has been doing in 2010 nothing is certain. Hell next week we might see Volador Jr. return as a technico for no apparent reason.

AAA – L.A. ParK VS La Parka – In the feud that no one ever thought they would see the original La Parka, now known as L.A. ParK returned to AAA hell bent on destroying the person that was given the La Parka name. The match was brutal; L.A. ParK actually made La Parka look really good. It was violent, it was bloody and it was everything we could all hope for. The right person won the match, and although L.A. ParK wasn’t given back the La Parka name due to some B.S. call from Mexico’s Boxing and Wrestling Commission, the fact that this feud overshadowed the rest cannot be denied.

BREAKOUT OF THE YEAR:

CMLL: Dragon Rojo Jr.- Dragon Rojo Jr. started out the year as a part of Poder Mexica alongside of Misterioso Jr. and leader Sangre Azteca. Not a bad stable and Dragon Rojo Jr. was always a popular figure in the stable. Then he left the group, and Dragon Rojo Jr. enjoyed tremendous success! He joined up with the lucha veteran Atlantis and arguably the top luchadore in CMLL Ultimo Guerrero, bringing about a new version of Los Guerreros de la Atlantida. As fate would have it Atlantis injured a rib and Dragon Rojo Jr. took his place in a match for the CMLL Tag Team Championship, winning the titles. After a few successful title defenses Dragon Rojo Jr. participated in the Copa Jr. He defeated Averno to win the cup. This was a tremendous year for Dragon Rojo Jr. Hopefully 2011 is even better for the young star.

AAA: Electroshock – For a guy that has been a permanent mid-carder Electroshock broke through the glass ceiling in 2010 and had a hell of a year. The 2009 Rey de Reyes joined up with Dr. Wagner Jr. and Silver King as part of los Wagnermaniacos. That wouldn’t last long when he would turn on Wagner and a rivalry was born. Electroshock achieved the highlight of his career when he defeated El Mesias and Mr. Anderson in a 3-way match to become the AAA Mega Champion. He would go on to lose the title against Dr. Wagner Jr. He stayed consistent throughout the year finding himself in a feud with La Sociedad due to his refusal to join them. For breaking through the glass ceiling and achieving a shift from mid-card to main event status Electroshock is AAA’s breakout of the year.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR:

CMLL: The Independent Invasion- Charly Manson, Mr. Aguila and Olimpico. That would have been good enough right there, but then you add the not so great Alebrije, Histeria II, and especially el Tirantes, and you get the most disappointing moment in CMLL. I actually don’t know what is most disappointing, that this storyline and faction was a main focus of CMLL for a big chunk of the year or that Paco Alonso hasn’t pulled the plug on it yet!

AAA: Who Attacked Octagon – Someone laid out Octagon before Triple-Mania, a person in a motorcycle looked on while La Parka checked on his buddy then drove off. How hard is it to screw that up? Apparently not hard at all because all we had was confusion afterwards. Cibernetico was consistent disputing the accusations that he had something to do with it, then it turns out Octagon saw two people, but only one attacked. In the end Super Fly turned out to be the person who attacked him and Cibernetico just looked on and then drove off. Super Fly is now a rudo, Cibernetico looked like a dick, and In the end no one cared.

PREDICTION FOR 2011 LUCHADORE OF THE YEAR

CMLL – MASCARA DORADA – Sure Mascara Dorada had one hell of a year in 2010, Sombra just had a better year. Injuries were the only thing that slowed down Mascara Dorada this year, without that injury Mascara Dorada might have had a better year than Sombra. Tours to Japan and matches where Mascara Dorada pulled out moves that would make you believe a man can truly fly. Here is hoping he fully recovers and goes on to have an even better 2011.

AAA – Silver King – Silver King was quite the MVP for 2010. While he was part of a hot feud with his real life brother Dr. Wagner Jr. which saw a nice twist with the rumors and audio of their deceased father the original Dr. Wagner stating that he was always prouder of Silver King since he made a name for himself and did not use the Wagner name. He had tremendous success alongside of Ultimo Gladiador winning and defending the AAA Tag Titles. The best word to describe Silver King/Cain is “consistent”, I predict his hard work will pay off with even bigger feuds and maybe even more single success.

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR

CMLL – Guerreros de la Atlantida – Consider it too biased, early, or whatnot! Sombra and Volador should have taken this, that’s a no brainer but they were split up and didn’t do much as a team until July when they lost the titles to the team of Hector Garza and Mr. Aguila. So a gap was left and as fate would happen Atlantis suffered an injury that would place newcomer to Los Guerreros de la Atlantida in his place. Ultimo Guerrero and Dragon Rojo Jr. won the titles and a red hot new team was formed that would actually draw fans in. So far they have had successful title defenses against the likes of Olimpico and Psicosis. A rematch with the former champs Hector Garza and Mr. Aguila, and the latest tite defense against La Mascara and Valiente. This team has been a great success and a tremendous draw, and if they continue this way they might overshadow the team of Ultimo Guerrero and Rey Bucanero.

AAA – Los Maniacos – The team of Silver Cain and Ultimo Gladiador started off strong winning the AAA Tag Team Championship from La Hermandad Extrema, the team of Go Shiozaki and Atsushi Aoki and Beer Money. They feuded throughout the year with the former champions La Hermandad Extrema, always walking away with the titles. A new feud would began with the new Dinamitas, el Hijo de Cien Caras and Mascara Año 2000 Jr. Los Maniacos would continue being successful all throughout the year, even at Guerra de Titanes when the successfully defended the tag titles in a ladder match that also featured La Hermandad Extrema, and the team of Hernandez and el Ilegal. No other team dominated as much as Los Maniacos did in AAA.

LUCHADORE OF THE YEAR

CMLL – Sombra – What a year! Sombra started the year strong being one half of the CMLL Tag Team Champions alongside Volador Jr. He went on to have a huge win when he defeated and unmasked Felino. That’s enough for someone to have a great year, but then something happened. Sombra had himself a Japanese tour when he participated on the NJPW Best of the Super Jrs. Tournament and he grew up right before our eyes! Sombra returned to Mexico a different performer! He put on great matches with the likes of Mistico and a tremendous match with former partner Volador Jr. Maybe that alone would have been enough for Sombra to win Luchadore of the Year, but that wasn’t enough! Sombra then went on to unmask another athlete, defeating Olimpico and also taking his mask. You can say Sombra over achieved this year, and who can complain when we were all able to witness such greatness.

AAA – L.A. ParK – While I hate to sound cliché the best way I can describe 2010 for Adolfo Tapia is as a roller coaster ride. In March L.A. ParK had a successful XLAW Heavyweight Title defense against Sabu in a match that would see fans throw money in the ring at the end. L.A. ParK returned to AAA, something that nobody would even imagine being possible. Stating he was back for his name. He put on quite a match in Triple-Mania that would see him winning and taking back his name. The match would be deemed a no contest by the Wrestling and Boxing Commission of Mexico, pissing off many including L.A. ParK. He would continue beating the second integration of the La Parka character. He found a new rivalry in Guerra de Titanes 2010 and he requested a AAA Mega Championship match from Konnan. Konnan agreed he would be granted one if L.A. ParK defeated el Mesias. A task that L.A. ParK accomplished, all signs now pointing that he would have a title shot in 2011. Then in November tragedy struck, L.A. ParK’s half brother, el Hijo de Cien Caras was brutally murdered. Throughout the end of 2010 L.A. ParK has made it his mission to bring homage to his brother, wrestling in the Cien Caras gear. L.A. ParK has had a hell of a year without a doubt, here’s hoping 2011 is even better and even brings him gold.

Lucha Poster of the Week

La Voz / The Voice

Funny Dibiase said that considering that there are more wrestling in CMLL and AAA than in WWE and TNA. I’m just saying……….

Posted By: USAUSA1 (Guest)

That’s a very good point, while in a WWE show you might see half a show be in ring action and the other half promos, vignettes or what not a CMLL will always be about 90% in ring action, as opposed to AAA that is usually 70 to 80%. Once again, Lucha-Libre is a completely different animal.

Next we have a guests thoughts on Lucha and foreign wrestling in general.

The problem people have when they criticize lucha libre for “no story” is that they don’t understand the story. There’s a pretty big difference in the cultural influences that have shaped how stories are told. The same could be said for the puroresu in Japan, which tells a much different story than in American wrestling with a focus in something like King’s Road on the build to the finish in the context of both that specific match (using prior matches to determine the move selection) and that specific opponent, or traditional European catch wrestling, which focuses more on joint locks and submission wrestling and would probably be seen as boring by most Americans.

The moral here is, cultures create their own kinds of entertainment. It would be like criticizing a Bollywood film because it doesn’t adhere to a traditional American story structure; that’s the entire point of Bollywood in the first place, to exist as its own form of entertainment within the context of its own culture, and all the various storytelling tropes that encompasses.

A lot of it can be chalked up to cultural ignorance in that most Americans don’t understand the history of lucha libre, puroresu, or catch wrestling. We’re only seeing the growth of WWE as an international entity because its a special attraction in foreign markets. If they tried running a regular schedule in most foreign markets, they’d probably run into a serious problem maintaining audiences who have been trained to think a certain way about wrestling for almost a century. As it stands, they run quick loops through a foreign country and get out before they overstay their welcome.

Posted By: Guest#7918 (Guest)

Definitely hits the nail on the head when it comes to the cultural difference, and I love the Bollywood comparison! That is a perfect example, the only thing that pisses me off is that I didn’t think of making that comparison.

Thank you Csonka for the freaking lucha coverage! Hey why don’t you cover the lucha indys like X-LAW, IWRG, DTU, PDM, etc?

Posted By: Kurruption (Guest)

Yes, Csonka deserves all the praise in the world for giving me a job! Now if he’d only give me a pay raise, but that’s a different story for a different day! Oh my lord, ok the problem with the Mexican indys is mainly that shows are not run that often. That is with the exception of IWRG. Coverage is also kinda hard to come by, requiring quite a bit of research time. The exception to this once again is IWRG and sometimes XLAW since it is rumored to be owned by the people that own/run superluchas.net. The problem with XLAW is that shows aren’t run as often, the last one I can think of is their Halloween show in October, I could be wrong though. Lastly, there are way too many Indy companies in Mexico, leaving me little time for family and my many other hobbies. Once I do get settled in properly at my new home and get a better working laptop I do plan on investing more time on this column, but that’s something for the future.

Thanks for the sources! This discussion about the appeal of lucha libre and what makes it special (different) from US pro wrestling is really interesting. Part of the intrigue of this sport/exhibition to me is how it appeals to so many people in so many different cultures. I won’t pretend to “get” lucha (yet), but I appreciate the help!

Posted By: s1rude (Guest)

You’re welcome as far as the sources are concerned, every week it seems I use information from different sites so the sources could change on a weekly bases. Hell if you know of a good lucha site that I haven’t posted as a source shoot the info this way, I could use all the info I can get! Also let us know when you think you “get” lucha, I’m sure many of the people commenting would love to lend out advice.

I love this coilumn and I love these discussions. Great job everybody!

I love the posters every week, keep em comin!
Thanks for the support, always appreciated. Ah yes the famous “Carteleras” have always been one of my favorite things regarding lucha, it’s always a site to see when you’re actually in Mexico to see these things on paper stapled to utility poles and store windows. The only issue I have is CMLL posters are a lot more easier to come by on the net than other shows.

Who are you looking at for breakout star of 2011? I think based on CMLL’s need for top technicos, coupled with a pretty decent push ATM, that La Mascara has the opportunity in 2011.

UG going over mistico, good thing or bad thing for the future? Has this hurt Mistico at all in terms of appeal and drawing power?

Posted By: Guest#0491 (Guest)

Well if you’re reading this week you can see my answer. La Mascara definitely had a good year dethroning Volador Jr. for the CMLL Light Heavyweight title, and 2011 can be bigger for him. Another contender in my opinion Misterioso Jr. He’s been bubbling as a rudo for a while, all we have to do is play the waiting game.

Ultimo Guerrero is arguably the top guy in CMLL now, and him going over Mistico will not do any harm since these days Mistico has suffered the Cena effect. This meaning he actually gets booed a majority of times. He may still be the CMLL poster boy, but that’s because Paco Alonso chooses it to be as opposed to the fans.

Thank you Csonka for the freaking lucha coverage! Hey why don’t you cover the lucha indys like X-LAW, IWRG, DTU, PDM, etc?

Posted By: Kurruption (Guest) on December 27, 2010 at 05:29 PM

Just being honest, they don’t cover it because the target audience is so small that it wouldn’t be worth the effort.

Posted By: Guest#4826 (Guest)

While that is a good point, you have to also look that this is a Lucha column in a American wrestling site, a site that get’s Ryan Byers a lot of hate mail due to his love of Puro! Obviously Lucha is not aimed at our core audience, with that said it’s mainly an issue of time more than the actual target audience. If I didn’t have a 40+ hour job, a wife and a kid on the way I sure as hell would make this column a lot longer.

That’s all the questions for this week, so if you people want to keep this section of the column going I’ll shoot some questions depending on the responses, it will determine if we keep this active.

Questions for next week.

1: What would you like to see added to the column? This can be anything.
2: Who is your favorite Luchadore and why?

Ke Monito Signing Off

FR:Ke Monito, 2010 is done, what was your favorite part of it?
Ke Monito: I would have to say the sexiness that is Sexy Star
FR: I should of figured!
Ke Monito:Hey don’t blame me, just because you think Faby Apache is hot!

SOURCES:
http://www.cmll.com/index.htm
http://www.luchalibreaaa.com/inicio.html
www.superluchas.net
www.thecubsfan.com/cmll
www.luchas2000.com
http://www.revistaluchas2000.com.mx/sac/
www.luchawiki.com
www.estrellasdelring.blogspot.com