December 2002

This was a treat. They got 20 minutes to go out there and have a classic trios match. The una caida was a mat fall that saw Zumbido square off with Magica, Ricky Marvin take on Juventud, and Apolo Dantes duking it out with Takemura. Ricky Marvin vs. Juventud was especially interesting as Juvie seemed to be on a mission to remind everyone that he used to be a hot shot himself. The second fall saw them branch out into classic lucha exchanges before the rudos took control of the bout. The tecnicos made their comeback in the tercera, and we got a hotly contested third fall that was extremely competitive for a midcard bout. It's amazing the difference it makes when it feels li…

We only get the tercera here, which is a bummer because I wanted to check in on these guys before the end of the year. Averno & Mephisto have almost been forgotten guys in 2002, which I guess is a consequence of Ultimo & Rey rising further and further to the top and the Infernales being de-emphasized even when Satanico was feuding with Damian 666. Averno is starting to pick up some wins, however, and we'll see if that momentum carries over into 2003. Even with the limited footage, Virus still shone. It's clear that he's one of the top workers in the company, but he's languishing in matches that seldom, if ever, make it on the show. That's too bad because I don't t…

We only get the tercera here, which is a bummer because I wanted to check in on these guys before the end of the year. Averno & Mephisto have almost been forgotten guys in 2002, which I guess is a consequence of Ultimo & Rey rising further and further to the top and the Infernales being de-emphasized even when Satanico was feuding with Damian 666. Averno is starting to pick up some wins, however, and we'll see if that momentum carries over into 2003. Even with the limited footage, Virus still shone. It's clear that he's one of the top workers in the company, but he's languishing in matches that seldom, if ever, make it on the show. That's too bad because I don't t…

We close the year with an Arena Coliseo show. I think there was another TV episode after this, but I can't find any footage from it. Pretty much a "fall out of bed" trios match. Nothing terribly exciting. We hardly got any Panther vs. Atlantis, which sucks. Panther vs. Niebla was disappointing, and reminded me why I've never rated Niebla that highly. Atlantis vs. Black Tiger & Tarzan Boy was okay. I've never been terribly high on Silver King, but I really liked this run as Black Tiger. I kind of thought I would hate it, but he's been one of the most reliable rudos all year long. I didn't find Tarzan Boy vs. Porky very funny. Alushe had changed his gimmick to KeMo…

I remember loving this match years ago and it's really nice of MLW to upload this in excellent quality. Some fun early wrestling exchanges where they mesh better than you expect and Sabu hits everything cleanly. They even did a good build, for example by avoiding the obvious table bump early on or La Parka understanding the Camel Clutch is a finisher. But the crowd keeps calling for tables, so the match turns into the usual Sabu bombfest. Parka really outbumps Sabu here, take a big Necro bump where he nearly overshoots the table and just flying into the turnbuckle. Sabu grabbing the scissors (backstory?) and carving Parka up added some needed grit to this spotty type braw…

Tag team titles on the line with Booker and Godust defending. The idea is that they're an odd couple and Goldust thinks he's the weak link in the team. Jericho cuts a heel promo on Goldust backstage, calling him a failure as a father, a husband and a performer. This has decent star power for the mid-2000s WWE tag scene. I love how Dustin throws rights. Faces clean house and Goldust catapults Jericho over the top and onto Christian on the floor. Christian pops up to pull Goldust from the second rope to get the heat and Jericho works over his back. Booker plays a good second, getting the crowd clapping for Goldust to fight out of a hold. Crowd are really into the fired-…

I can't remember if I saw any of Billy Kidman's WWE run. It's weird seeing him in trunks instead of jean shorts. This was a decent TV match, but it featured not one but two restarts. How did Smackdown refs become so powerful that they could over-rule DQs and count outs? I'm pretty sure I would have marked out for the ref ordering the bout to continue when I was a kid, but it happens every single week with Los Guerreros. The second half of the match is action packed, and I am delighted that Eddie is ending 2002 on a high, but it's exciting fodder for an A-Train run-in and another cheap Guerreros win, so ultimately this wasn't that essential.

A good comparison to this would be the Crowning A Champion 4-way, because this is also a true long boy, going to the 45-minute time limit draw, but much like that said match at Crowning A Champion, this is also absolutely excellent. The 45-minutes fly by, as the action is very good & compelling throughout, with the peaks of the match being straight up great. Corino was on fire with his character work & he brought his own old school-ish flavor to the thing which fit it super well, and then of course Dragon, Ki & Joe just killed it. Every combo in the match just WORKED and created for some damn fine professional wrestling throughout. A terrific way to close out …

Xavier is getting a shitload of heat from the crowd at this point, and London is THE babyface underdog going, so this unsurprisingly ruled. All of Xavier's work on the offense is very good, and his gameplan of softening London up by the neck was fun to follow. London's performance from underneath was really good as well, all of his comebacks ruled & his selling n' bumping was great. Good stuff all match long, with everything from the London win-tease w/ that Xavier rope-break on being red hot great. ***1/2