Into the Indies 02.23.10: Los Perros Del Mal

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Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Into the Indies, the only column that knows not to drink the water.

When I first began writing I2I in August of last year, I billed it as a column about international independent wrestling, i.e. anything not based in the United States. However, as the column has progressed, it has wound up consisting almost (though not quite) exclusively of coverage of the Japanese indies. Why? It’s in part because, more than any other country in the world, Japan has several independent promotions with some degree of television coverage. It’s also in part because, more than anything else, I personally have the most sources for getting my hands on footage from the Land of the Rising Sun.

However, I’ve never really abandoned the prospect of taking a look at independents from non-Japanese countries should I have an opportunity to do so. That’s what brings us to today’s column. That’s what brings us to Mexico for a long, hard look at Perros del Mal.

Perros del Mal is one of the few instances in the history of professional wrestling in which an acknowledged stable of professional wrestlers in one company split off to form their own promotion. The PDM faction was first formed as a group of rudo (a.k.a. heel) wrestlers in CMLL, lead by Perro Aguayo, Jr., an incredibly popular second generation wrestler who was both the storyline leader of the stable and the man who spearheaded the plans for the Perros to become their own promotion. Originally the idea was for the new company to essentially be a spinoff of CMLL, with Aguayo and his crew running their own shows featuring their own brand of lucha libre while simultaneously appearing for CMLL, with the idea to turn them into more of an “outsider” group a la the nWo.

However, things quickly went south. There was sentiment in the CMLL locker room that Aguayo shouldn’t be getting such preferential treatment, and this built and built until there was some legitimate bad blood between Perro and the CMLL office, which in turn resulted in Aguayo’s promotion being a clean break from the company as opposed to the almost “worked shoot” departure that was originally planned. Aguayo’s running buddies Mr. Aguila (formerly Essa Rios of WWF fame) and Damian 666 (formerly of WCW fame) flew the CMLL coop alongside him, setting up the formation of the PDM promotion. Aguyao’s concept for the company is that any wrestlers appearing on his shows would be “true” independents, i.e. that they would have no actual contractual connection to Perros Del Mal, with everybody appearing on a series of one-shot deals. That way, they could take advantage of high profile independent wrestlers like El Santo, Dr. Wager, Jr., and LA Park without having to meet high money demands to get long-term commitments out of them.

On December 7, 2008, PDM hosted their first ever event, which was in fact headlined by Wagner, Aguayo, and Park along with Cibernetico, a top star on loan from AAA. However, despite the unique business model and despite the fact that they have been able to bring in some additional big names for isolated appearances, Perros Del Mal hasn’t done quite well as some expected. Yes, they’ve survived, but they’ve not thrived, which many blame on a lack of reliable television exposure early in the promotion’s run. Some now speculate that Aguayo may just be using the promotion to bide his time, giving him something to do until one of the major promotions in Mexico, either CMLL or AAA, is in serious need of a top level wrestler and will, as a result, be willing to sign him to a big money deal.

However, regardless of how the promotion has done and regardless of what ends Perro Aguayo is using it for, today we’re here to take a look at the December 19, 2009 show from Perros Del Mal, which was taped for television and split up into two hour-long programs.

Match Number One: Celestial vs. Cosmico vs. Talisman

We start off with mini-luchadore action, though these guys are all among the bigger minis that I’ve seen in my time as a wrestling fan. They’re all probably only an inch or two shorter than Rey Misterio, Jr. and all have builds similar to the one that he had when he first debuted with WCW. This is also my first time seeing any of the three wrestle unless they’ve competed elsewhere under different gimmicks.

There’s a three-way shoving match between the wrestlers to start, followed up by all three guys exchanging overhand chops. Talisman gets the first offense that isn’t insanely basic, as he superkicks Celestial as Celeste comes off of the ropes. He follows that up with a sunset flip for two, but Cosmico saves with a dropkick. Celeste then gets a top rope cross body block out of nowhere on Talisman, which Cosmico follows with a senton. The two wrestlers team up on Talisman at this point, chopping him against the ropes and hitting him with a variation on the flapjack, though they wind up fighting over who should get the pin. Talisman tries to attack both men but fails, and that starts of a sequence in which each man tries a legdrop/splash/elbowdrop on another but misses. Cosmico winds up down on all fours at the end of the sequence, and Talisman uses that opportunity to jump off of his back with a dropkick on to Celestial. Tali then Irish whips Celeste into a DVD variant by Cosmico, after which Cosmico gives Talisman a one-legged flapjack, followed by a Celestial 619. Cosmico tries to steal the cover, but that’s prevented when Celestial FLIES about 3/4 of the way across the ring with a guillotine legdrop to break up the pinning combination.

Many more rollups are broken up by many more dropkicks in the next minute or so, and, at the end of it all, Talisman spills out to the arena floor. Cosmico and Celestial jaw with one another, leading into a flashy sequence off of the ropes, culminating in a Cosmico armdrag that tosses Celestial from the ring. Talisman makes his way back in and armdrags Cosmico before hitting a rana that puts Cos’ on the outside. Talisman teases a dive but gets distracted by Celestial and hit with a slingshot rana. Celestial then does a massive backflip for no apparent reason, followed by a satellite headscissors that sends Talisman to the floor yet again. Tali sells it like a real champ as well, bumping once over the ropes and then once again over the guardrail. As if the poor guy didn’t have it hard enough, once he gets back over the guardrail, Cosmico hits him with a tope suicidia. Not to be outdone, Celestial goes up to the top . . . SHOOTING STAR PRESS TO THE FLOOR HITS BOTH MEN!

Celestial and Cosmico are back in the ring frighteningly quickly, and Celestial hits his man with a back body drop for a nearfall. If a shooting star press didn’t finish him off, I don’t think that will. Cosmico rallies and tries to come off of the top rope, but Celestial pops up there a la Kurt Angle and hits him with a one man Spanish fly. As Cosmico is laid out on the mat, Talisman flies in out of nowhere with a Superfly splash and pins him. I guess this is an elimination-style match, as it continues after the fall. Talisman gets several rollups and a rana on his remaining opponent, but none of them end the match. He misses a dropkick, which allows Celestial to turn things in his favor. He gets a wild armdrag off of the top rope, which he follows with another Superfly splash, and that’s enough to win the match for Celestial.

Match Thoughts: There was some great stuff here towards the end in terms of big, athletic spots, but the majority of the match felt like it was fairly basic and fairly disjointed. It was an entertaining little match to watch, but it was still a far cry from the glory days of the Triple A minis division in the mid and late 1990’s, when you would see matches that were all action from bell-to-bell and had great builds, almost similar to what Dragon Gate is known for today. **1/2

Match Number Two: Alebrije w/ Cuije, El Angel, & Oriental vs. Mr. Aguila, Psicosis, & Histeria

You know how, on some wrestling shows, there will be footage of a competitor warming up for a match by stretching, doing squats, or even lifting weights? Here we get footage of Aguila preparing for this match by blow drying and spraying product into his massive mohawk, which has to stand a full foot high.

Oriental and Aguila begin the match for their teams, trading armdrags and armbars early until Aguila pushes Oriental back into the rudo corner and he eats some cheap shots. This sends Oriental out to the floor, and, very quickly, all six men are brawling in and around the ring. Angel gets a particularly bad beating, as he is Irish whipped by Psicosis in such a way that he goes up and over the guardrail at ringside, his body landing across several rows of chairs. Psicosis then doles out several chairshots for his opponent, while, in the ring, Histeria gets his hands on the tiny Cuije and literally spanks him. Eventually Cuije’s protector Alebrije catches up with Histeria, but, when he does, Histeria takes the advantage and knocks him down. Even heel referee Tirantes gets involved in the insanity, taking a few cheapshots at the technico wrestlers when he gets close enough to do so.

Eventually a ladder makes its way into the ring, and the bad guys make sure that both Oriental and Angel are Irish whipped into it before they set it up across the top rope in one of the corners and slingshot Alebrije face-first into the metal. Cuije is brought back into the squared circle, where Psicosis grabs him by the mask and beals him halfway across the ring before the rudos repeatedly drop the ladder across his tiny, prone form. The bad guys quite literally play catch with the dwarf after that, but, somewhere in there, the little bugger manages to catch Histeria with a low blow. Somehow this one low blow turns the entire tide of the match, with the technicos IMMEDIATELY making a comeback after it connects. Angel and Psicosis wind up in the ring together, with Angel repeatedly faking out his opponent on a handshake before Psicosis has enough of it and just clotheslines him. Angel responds with a headscissors takedown out of the corner and a front flip off of the top rope into an armdrag. Histeria saves for his partner, though, running in and blasting Angel . . . only for the heavenly wrestler to fire back with a double armdrag and ranas that send both rudos down to the floor. Alebrije checks into the match at this point to do battle with Histeria, with Alebrije repeatedly running the ropes and slamming into Aguila in the process. All three rudos get so annoyed with his antics that they run in to do battle with him, but Alebrije dominates all three to the point that little Cuije gets an opportunity to get his licks in, even stopping to, um, rub his crotch in Histeria’s face.

We return to action after a commercial break, with Oriental being taken down by an Aguila clothesline before running into a big boot by the former Papi Chulo. Oriental blocks a follow-up clothesline and hits one of his own, though, setting up some chops against the ropes and a rana/armdrag combination. Orinetal slaps on a version of the octopus hold afterwards, but Aguila’s fellow rudos run in to break it up, after which Oriental’s fellow technicos run in to cut them off. This results in Histeria and Psicosis running in for a double team suplex on Alebrije, after which Angel sneaks up on one of them as they’re pinning his partner to grab a schoolboy. It only gets two. Alebrije and Angel get in stereo sunset flips after that and try for stereo ranas, but both Histeria and Psicosis turn them into powerbombs. They go for covers with their feet on the ropes, but Angel and Alebrije are out at two. They knock Histeria and Psicosis out of the ring, and Angel tries for a dive down on to the two men, only to get caught. Alebrije tries to knock them down by throwing Cuije onto the pile, but he’s caught and held as well. Eventually Alebrije has to take matters into his own hands, coming down on to the entire pile of men with a pescado that finally takes the bad guys off of their feet.

Immediately after this happens, Aguila and Oriental are going at it on the inside, with Aguila kicking out of Oriental’s attempt at la magistral and then hitting a flying kick and a standing moonsault. Tirantes is the only referee in the ring, and he fast counts Oriental, giving the victory to the rudos.

Match Thoughts: As with the opening mini match, I thought that they biggest flaw of this contest is the fact that it felt so horribly disjointed. There was a segment of straight brawling, a segment of hardcore wrestling, a small segment of comedy, and a segment of traditional lucha libre, and the guys involved moved from one segment to the other with no real logical transitions. The wrestling within each individual segment was good for its genre, but the fact that the jumps from one type of wrestling to another type of wrestling were so rough that it took me out of the bout as a whole more than once. **

Match Number Three: Skayde & Black Thunder vs. Turbo & Black Spirit

This is a match that I was fairly interested in watching coming into the show. Skayde, as many of you reading this probably know, is a long-time luchadore who has gained a cult following in recent years based on the fact that he has assisted in the training of several Dragon Gate and CHIKARA wrestlers. Turbo is one of his most notable proteges, who has gotten some tours overseas with DG as a result of the Skayde connection. Black Thunder and Black Spirit are also Skayde trainees, and Spirit is probably the more noteworthy of the two given that he’s the legitimate son of the original La Parka (now LA Park). He’s adopted an outfit similar to his father’s, though it lacks the traditional skeletal pattern, though he’s significantly thinner than I’ve ever seen Park.

Spirit and Thunder kick things off, with Thunder going to a leg lock rather quickly before Spirit manages to escape and hit an armdrag. Thunder’s next trick is a modified surfboard, which he eventually relinquishes before getting armdragged again. Thunder rolls to the floor, so Skayde and Turbo check in, exchanging armbars and armdrags for a bit. Eventually Turbo gets the upper hand on his maestro with a couple of armdrags that catch Skayde offguard and force him to tag out. Spirit returns to the ring alongside Thunder, but he’s taken down almost immediately by a missile dropkick out of nowhere by Turbo. Skayde runs in but is also dropkicked out of the ring, leaving Turbo and Black Thunder to do battle. Thunder hits his man with a SWEET backbreaker and then Irish whips him into the corner, but that allows Spirit to get the blind tag and a big plancha that dispatches Thunder. Skayde and Thunder go at it for a little bit, with the veteran taking the less experienced wrestler down, only for Spirit to respond by popping off to the top rope before coming off of it with an armdrag. Another trip to the top sees Thunder leaping off with an armdrag, and Skayde is gone from the ring. Turbo repalces his partner, but he is also rana’ed off of the top before being hit with a satellite headscissors takedown. Thunder joins Skayde on the floor, and, after a bit of a break, Turbo and Skayde return to the ring.

Skayde hits his man with a series of chops but gets armdragged down a douple of times. Skayde leaves the ring, so Thunder runs in and gets a virtually identical treatment. Turbo then does the old Tiger Mask dive fakeout, which is the first time in a while that I’ve seen the move used for its original purpose. Everybody stands around for a bit to regather their bearings, and, when we get back to action, it’s Black Spirit and Skayde. Skayde manages to take his man down and drop an elbow, after which he tags in Thunder. Skayde and Thunder land a double back elbow and a wacky two man powerbomb of some sort before going for a double pinning combination that Turbo breaks up. Turbo pays for it, as he gets double teamed, with the rudos hitting a series of moves off the ropes and another two-man pinning combination. Thunder breaks it up, so the rudos double team him for a while. Thunder hits a really weird move at this point, lifting Parka up as if for Chris Daniels’ angel’s wings but then falling in such a way that Thunder’s knees hit Spirit’s face. Turbo has to reenter the match after his partner takes that one, and he and manages to crotch Skayde on the middle rope. Once that happens, Spirit sneaks into the ring with a top rope rana on Thunder. Turbo tries to hold Skayde in position for some kind of top rope attack by Black Spirit, but Thunder cuts it off. This results in Spirit sitting on the top rope and the Thunder sitting on top of his shoulders, only for Turbo to cut off whatever the hell Thunder was attempting to do and giving him a SUPER RANA off of Black Spirit’s shoulders.

This results in both rudos taking a powder out to the floor, with Spirit following them and hitting some kind of somersault plancha on Thunder. It looked awkward and Spirit was looking back over his shoulder as he fell, so I almost wonder if he was trying to dive out of the ring and give Thunder an armdag on the floor, only for the spot to be botched. Turbo takes his turn on Skayde at this point, giving him a flip dive off of the ringpost. Spirit and Skayde are the wrestlers who wind up back in the ring, with Skayde getting a quick rollup for a two count. Spirit reverses it for two, and then he hits what looks like it will at first be a floatover DDT. He keeps rolling and makes it into a cradle, though, then hitting a dropkick that again puts Skayde on the arena floor. Spirit gives him an Asai moonsault as Turbo and Thunder return to the ring, with Turbo hitting a rana for two and then a second rana to the same result. Rana number three is blocked and turned into a powerbomb, which gets Black Thunder a nearfall of his own. Seconds later, a really complicated satellite rollup allows Turbo to score the victory for his team.

Match Thoughts: This was similar to the opener in that, though there some impressive spots that made my jaw hit the floor, the rest of the match surrounding those spots was not great shakes. I have to note that I respect the wrestlers for the fact that they were able to get into the ring and do such athletic maneuvers nonstop for around ten minutes, because that takes some great conditioning. However, even though they are obviously athletically gifted, I got fairly tired with the about halfway through because I just couldn’t take another huricanrana or armdrag spot off of the ropes. It was almost as bad as a Japanese indy match which devolves and consists of nothing more than forearm and kick exchanges. However, I will say that I was impressed with the athleticism of the young wrestlers to the point that I would be interested in seeing them all in bouts that have a bit better of a structure. *1/2

Match Number Four: Leo, Riveiro, & Super Nova vs. X-Fly, Veneno, & Scorpio, Jr.

Well, this match is going to be a bit confusing, because Leo and Riveiro are a tag team with similar physiques wearing identical gear, so I’m warning you all right now that there’s no way I’m going to be able to track which one is which throughout the course of the bout. Oh well, at least they do fun little stripper dances on the way down to the ring.

It’s X-Fly and either Leo or Riveiro to begin, with the stripper getting a quick rana and top rope armdrag before following X out to the floor with a pescado. The other four wrestlers in the match hit the ring, with the rudos whipping the technicos into one another. We’re in to the standard six-man brawl at this point. Scorpio and Veneno give Leo/Riveiro a double back elbow and then maul his partner in the corner, setting up for an axe bomber by X-Fly. Super Nova hits the ring in an attempt to deal with the rudos, but he’s triple teamed and hit with a legdrop by Fly and a double axe handle from Veneno. One of the men in the red masks is isolated for a Veneno DDT, and then the other one eats a series of axe bombers from the rudos, followed up with a running Yakuza kick and a vertical suplex from Veneno. Scorpio follows with a butterfly suplex to lead into a Veneno senton. Super Nova reenters the match. Just give it up, Nova. He is also kicked in the face by Veneno and given a senton atomico by V . . . though he pulls Nova up at the referee’s two count. Leo/Riveiro hops into the ring and is repeatedly Irish whipped in to Veneno’s boots before being tossed out of the ring yet again. The other one replaces him and appears to have recovered a bit, but he’s quickly roughed up and hit with a triple big boot. Nova runs in for the save. Would you be surprised at this point if I told you it was ineffective?

Eventually Nova does show some life, dodging offensive moves from all members of the rudo team and hitting a rana on Veneno. Leo and Riveiro are revived as soon as this happens, landing planchas on both Scorpio and Veneno. Super Nova isolates X-Fly in the ring and sits him on the top rope, eventually hitting a SUPER RANA with both men standing on the top strand. Tirantes is the referee in the ring, and he hesitates before having no choice but to register the three count and give the win to the technicos.

Match Thoughts: This was an odd little match, as it felt like it was on the road to being a three-on-three squash until the very end, where Nova did a comeback that literally lasted all of thirty seconds before the finish. In my mind, it made the rudo team look like a real set of goofballs, because they beat on the technicos for several straight minutes with no interruption whatsoever, only for the good guys to STILL be able to come back and win with a couple of moves in short order. *

Match Number Five: Hijo del Lizmark, Charly Manson, & LA Park vs. Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Halloween, & Damian 666

Kicking it off are Park and Halloween, though that winds up being a ploy so that Aguayo can cheapshot Park from the apron and begin our BRAWL~! All six of the wrestlers go at it, with Halloween and Damian eventually isolating Charly Manson in the ring for a little bit of poetry in motion. Lizmark, Jr. is also isolated for a bit, with Damian and Halloween dragging him crotch-first into the ringpost and then simultaneously dropping legs across his throat and his groin. Even Park gets ganged up on for a bit, as Damian and Halloween hold him in place for a double stomp from Aguayo. Manson tries to save after that, but Mexico’s Most Wanted gives him an elevated codebreaker for his trouble.

Then, out of nowhere, the six man brawl ends and we’re just doing a standard trios match again. Halloween and Park are your men in the ring, and Park eats a HY-UGE spear before Halloween tags out to Aguayo. Perro puts the boots to the Chairman and tries to Irish whip him, but Park blocks it and starts chopping away on all three of the rudos. He then tricks Damian into clotheslining Perro, but 666 is able to break up the ensuing pin attempt by hitting a slingshot senton. Park also succeeds in causing miscommunication between Damian and Halloween, with Halloween dropkicking Damian before Park gives him an enzuguiri. That sets up a tag to Lizmark, who misses a dropkick directed at Damian but succeeds in hitting a top rope cross body on Halloween. He botches a kip up but does manage to connect with a superkick on Halloween and tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Damian, then challenging Perro to meet him in the ring. Aguayo doesn’t do it, and we head into a commercial break.

Park and Aguayo are squaring off upon our return from the ads, and the skeleton man is armdragged off of the top rope by the dog. That sets up a sequence of various wrestlers missing legdrops, sentons, and similar moves, which culminates in Aguayo rolling to the floor and being hit with a tope suicida from LA Park. Park is then hit with a tope by Halloween, who is then hit by a tope from Lizmark. That leaves Damian and Charly in the ring, with 666 missing a moonsault and allowing Charly to attempt his own move from the top. X-Fly runs in, however, causing Charly to be crotched and hit with a muscle buster by Damian. That gets a three count for the rudos.

Match Thoughts: This was without a doubt the best match on the card and, when compared to the other bouts, it is a shining example of how much better polished, veteran professional wrestlers can make a match look than a less experienced competitor, even when the matches contain the same basic offense and follow the same basic structure. Aguayo had so much charisma and so much snap in the execution of his offense that it is easy to see how he became one of the top stars in the country, as, despite the fact that he is so much younger, he fit right in with the veteran set of Park, Halloween, and Damian. It wasn’t a blow-away match by any stretch of the imagination, but it was perfectly competent, well-worked lucha libre that did a fine job of anchoring down the television show. My only complaint, really, is that the finish seemed to come out of absolutely nowhere and focused on two of the less important wrestlers in the match, leaving the really big stars to stand around with nothing to do instead of being the main trust of the final segment on the show as one would expect them to be. **3/4

Overall

After I got done watching this card, I thought that it wasn’t particularly bad but was also not anything spectacular that anybody needs to go out of their way to see. However, the more that I thought about it, the more that I realized that it was perfect for what the promotion was attempting to accomplish. This isn’t a television promotion like WWE, TNA, or even AAA. Perros Del Mal is still very much a promotion that makes the majority of its money by drawing fans to live events, with television being much less of a priority. If you keep that in mind while watching the matches from the December 19 card, you will probably wind up being much more accepting of them. They’re not the greatest lucha matches of all time, but, by the same token, PDM isn’t exactly in a situation in which it can afford to give away its biggest and most exciting bouts on television. They have to save those matches for the people who actually come out to the arenas and plunk down their hard-earned money for tickets. With that in mind, the matches here as edited together for television did a fine job of alerting fans to the type of matches and the kinds of stars that they can see if they come out for PDM live. That’s exactly what the shows need to do to ensure the continued life of the promotion, so I’m not going to fault them for that, even if it means that shows like this are a little less impressive than shows that can be seen elsewhere.

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See you all next week!