If you're expecting full-on match reviews, you can stop reading here; I'm going to point out various things that impressed (or annoyed, etc.) me most, and other random notes.
CMLL Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, 2015-03-20
Dragon Lee vs. Kamaitachi was easily the best match on this show, but the hairs match exceeded my expectations, with Máximo doing way more than you would expect from him. (Volador Jr. did too, for that matter. A plancha into the crowd is always insane.) The straight-fall matches (1 and 5) were skippable, but 2 and 3 had their moments of fun. Hearing the "thwack" and seeing the shaking of the barricade up close from a The Panther tope was something, and Titán/Caveranario bits are always fun. Overall, this was the worst show of the three that I attended, but it was also by far the shortest, and still fun.
One thing to note is that security was strict about not loitering in the parking garage, both before and after the match. They did allow fans to enter through the garage, but you couldn't just wait around and watch luchadores come in. We weren't there to do that, but we had agreed to pick up our tickets there, so that was slightly worrisome as the security guards kept bugging us to leave. (We did end up getting to stay long enough for the tickets, obviously.) I'm not sure whether this protocol was followed because H2L was a big show, or whether it's standard for all Arena México shows now.
XMW, Gimnasio Gloria, 2015-03-21
Black Terry Jr. called Gym Gloria "the real lucha underground", and with due respect to the American version, he's right. Gym Gloria is in Tepito, famous for being a rough neighborhood. The gym holds about 500 people, I'd say, and there are enough seats for maybe 50, which means that if you don't arrive super-early (we didn't), you were going to be standing for four hours, or at least until people shuffled around enough such that you could get a temporary seat. It's a great atmosphere for watching lucha, but a horrible one for trying to take pictures, with the people standing all around and large pillars partially obstructing view in a lot of places.
The best match of the show (and of the trip) was the four-way tag match. Definitely seek that out when Black Terry Jr. has it available. I didn't really watch the main event too closely, because lucha extrema generally bores me, and it was disappointing that Virus wasn't there, but the card was otherwise strong. Overall, this was the best show of the three.
Speaking of Virus... Cecilia picked up on the fact that, before the match, XMW blamed Virus publicly for not accepting the match he was booked for. Really poor taste. The XMW/CMLL booking situation seems terribly fragile at best. The four-way tag match was great, and I would like to see matches like that happen again, whether in XMW or elsewhere, so it makes me sad that people seemingly want to burn bridges.
Chilanga Mask 2nd Anniversary, 2015-03-22
This was a weird show for me. It was significantly better than CMLL, but it also disappointed me in that the matches that I was looking forward to most (4-way, Fulgor/Navarro) seemed too short, and a couple others seemed to take too long to get going. I actually was kind of amused by Violento Jack vs. Herodes Jr. for being tamer than normal, but the crowd was not. If you had anyone but Violento Jack there, that might have gone over better. The opener was a nice spotfest though, and Extreme Tiger vs. ACH was very good.
For the mixed feelings that I had about the matches on this show, the atmosphere was excellent, and the best of the three shows that I attended. The packed Coacalco crowd was quite boisterous the entire show and it felt like a classic Yankee Stadium Bleacher Creatures atmosphere, except in Spanish and at no time anywhere close to being PG. The effects of alcohol as the event went on were probably comparable. Putos a quienes se quiten ("Fuck those who get out of the way" [of dives]) might be my new favorite lucha crowd chant.
As I mentioned on Twitter, the crowd was predominantly rooting against the Traumas during their match, and one of the Traumas responded with the middle finger. They seem to care less and less about professionalism as time wears on. It's kind of sad.
Other notes and thoughts
- Perro Aguayo Jr.'s death was, of course, big news everywhere. It was cringeworthy to see how it was treated in the general media in Mexico, but more heartwarming that the lucha world universally paid tribute in some way at practically every show.
- Everyone we met, as usual, was extremely nice to us, especially Black Terry Jr. and his family. We also spent a disproportionate amount of time with Hechicero (who happened to be working all three shows) and his significant other. At H2L, we also got to meet Guapito, who was hanging out with Titán before the show.
- Indy lucha crowds tend to be vocal in their dislike of anything CMLL, but Hechicero was super-over at both the XMW and Chilanga Mask shows.
