An apuestas match in Coliseo. Brazo De Oro is getting a little pounch like his brother Porky. He is bleeding literally 30 seconds into this one. Quick first fall with Valentin winning off a missile dropkick. Valentin is really proud of himself. Second fall starts with Valentin rushing in but Oro moving and he flies through some quick offense to win in about 30 seconds on a rana. A really fun short caida as you can see the frustration with Valentin thinking he had him and now things are all tied up. Third fall has a good bit of desperation with Brazo pulling it out with a pendulum swing submission. This Coliseo apuestas matches are interesting in that they are entertaining but definitely leave the door open for the bigger apuestas matches within Arena Mexico for the promotion. This was on par with the Mr. Mexico vs Rivera effort. ***

This was okay, but as hair matches go, a bit on the disappointing side from a violence perspective. I realize this was smaller in scope and they weren't trying to have an all-timer, so it wasn't a bad match or anything. But it wasn't really memorable either. Brazo had a nasty bladejob, though.

Thought this was pretty bad actually. I get that it's Arena coliseo and you don't want to go all in on such a small show. However, this was so short with the two falls meaning nothing and the final fall being ok but the finish was very anticlimatic. Brazo had a nice bladejob which was the highlight of the match.

The clarity and compactness of the first two falls were far superior to the final third I thought. I know they were very brief but thought they told really nice self-contained mini-stories in each and then I felt like the final fall just kind of went through necessary motions to get to the conclusion. That said, I really liked the setup of those first two falls and the action was well-paced and good so I enjoyed this quite a bit. Really loved Mayo wildly throwing himself into his missed turnbuckle charge and the way he bumped for dropkicks so big. Braza pulled out a nice rana too.

 

***

What an entrance by Valentin Mayo. He sure saw himself as a star even if the crowd didn't know who he was. This was a bare bones apuesta match. Don't expect too much from it and you won't be disappointed. The most notable about it was Brazo's cut. There was some decent action in the third caida but it's hard to get a feel for the rhythm of a bout with some much left on the cutting room floor. Brazo looked distinctly un-maestrolike, I thought, but the crowd was behind him. Might have meant more to us if we'd seen the build up.

Brazo de Oro lost the first fall quickly after nicely bouncing off the turnbuckle and getting dropkicked. He turned it around in the second, and he did that bouncing pin that I never understand why it doesn't count as getting the shoulders up. They took a little more time in the third. Brazo had Valentin in the figure four, but he jumped up quicker than Brazo when it was broken. I guess it didn't hurt. Valentin clearly puts his arms up before Brazo reaches for them in the final hold, but with Brazo knocking Valentin's head into the mat as he swung him, the match had a fun ending. This felt really short for a hair match and lacked any real intensity, even though it had blood. **1/2.