A number of you guys have mentioned that Japanese tapes were a lot easier to get ahold of in the 1990s. Therefore the bulk of the discussion was about Japan, and that led to people being trained that Japan was special.(I'm not saying it isn't special.)

 

I think it happened later, too, at least in my experience. I came to wrestling late in life. I discovered the existence of Indies like Ring of Honor in 2007, after I had been a fan of the WWE product for almost 2 years. If you were a fan of that product in 2007, it was absolutely encouraged that one should watch NOAH. And from there, it obviously proceeded back to All Japan. Same for a new fan of women's wrestling: one immediately gets advised to watch the Japanese women.

 

Aside from Sarah Stock, nothing I watched or discussed on forums led me to Mexico. No one was telling me as a new fan that I should be learning about Lucha. I barely knew it existed. So in those early days I put in the work to learn to understand and follow Japanese wrestling. Not Mexico.

 

Then when it became my turn to suggest good matches outside of the WWE scene, what I knew was Japan.

 

It's a self-perpetuating cycle.

We're wasting time here when Dataintcash is posting again after 5 months.

We're wasting time here when Dataintcash is posting again after 5 months.

 

Thanks for the heads up! Those look like a lot of fun.

We're wasting time here when Dataintcash is posting again after 5 months.

 

Niiiiiiice

 

 

But why would anyone want to watch matches with both Dandy and Casas in them?

So I watched CMLL's Lucha Azteca program (just discovered I get TV Azteca, gotta love the southwest). The langue barrier didn't make it too difficult to keep up. As a first time viewer I enjoyed it. Rush vs Bobby Lashly, Xtreme Tiger vs "Mascara Dorada" and La Mascara, Ultimo Guerrero and Volador Jr vs Atlantis, "Mistico" and Caristico were the matches. The trios Main Event was alot of fun and given alot of time. I enjoyed the presentation and I didn't find Lucha was hard to understand on a first time viewing. After a brief search I read that CMLL is the more conservative Lucha promotion so maybe that's why I felt I could pick up the basic Lucha structure right from the beginning. CMLL is the more accessible Lucha promotion perhaps? I don't know.

The program you watched was from the Lucha Libre Elite group. It is affiliated with CMLL and uses their talent and their buildings but it is a separate entity. I would not really consider it an accurate representation of the actual CMLL product.

Well it was still a fun show.

Oh, I agree. That tournament made for a lot of fun, off-the-wall matches I never knew I wanted to see. I wish it had been more successful and more influential on CMLL.