THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne – now in it’s 10th year!
E-mail: juli316uk@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
Sponsored by Intimidation Clothing, makers of high quality, affordable MMA apparel and T-shirts. Visit their website at www.intimidationclothing.com.
Watching American wrestling time and time again can get a little boring after a while, which is why I’m going to take a trip south of the border for my latest review, and the lucha libre stylings of AAA, with Volume 1 of a compilation that’s been doing the rounds of the tape traders over the past couple of years, The Best of 2007.
The majority of the matches here are tag-team affairs, beginning with Black Buffalo, Headhunter #1 and El Millionaire (aka Psicosis) against Charley Manson, Chessman and Cibernetico.
This starts off as one big brawl, with the rudos ganging up on Cibernetico, connecting with numerous chair shots.
It then settles down into the more traditional tag-team match, before going back to the brawling. From there we get an interesting spot involving one of the referees, before Chessman pinned Millionaire after Cibernetico took him down with a low blow.
Normal tag action followed with Zumbido and Alan Stone against Charley Manson and Pirata Morgan.
This was a whole lot better than the first match. No wild brawling here as both teams put together some nice exchanges and some good high flying sequences.
Manson thought he’d got the win here when Stone submitted to his modified figure four, but the referee was busy admonishing Zumbido. Stone then took his chance by taking Manson down with a head scissors for the pin.
It was back to six man action next as Nate Webb, Josh Raymond and Black Buffalo faced Psicosis (known in some parts as Psicosis II), Joe Lider and Crazy Boy.
This one switched from regular tag to brawling action quite a bit, but it was still quite entertaining. Raymond looked a little lost at times and ended up lying on the floor being checked over by a couple of medics.
Some of the aerial moves were great, especially Webb’s version of the Van Daminator. The end saw more rudos rush down to the ring as Psicosis was about to pin Buffalo. Charley Manson and Chessman came down to help, evening the score before Psicosis finally managed to pin his man.
After a promo involving Konnan, Scott Steiner and Jeff Jarrett it was back to the action as Charley Manson, Chessman and Cibernetico faced Norman Smiley, Headhunter #1 and El Millionaire.
This one began when Konnan and his boys appeared on the stage and goaded Cibernetico. At least I think that’s what happened, because I don’t speak Spanish. Smiley and the Headhunter then appeared, and the brawling began in earnest while Konnan watched on from his wheelchair.
Smiley and the Headhunter put in some good team work here, while Millionaire provided the aerial moves, putting Manson through the large piece of plywood he’d brought down to the ring.
Things got out of hand when Kenzo Suzuki joined the rudos attack. This brought out a guy in a leather jacket, who I assume was the general manager or something. He exchanged harsh words with Konnan, with Cibernetico then grabbing the microphone and shouting something at Konnan. Anyone know where I can get cheap and quick Spanish lessons?
Then it was onto mixed tag action as El Apache, Faby Apache and Mini Charley Manson faced Billy Boy, Sexy Star and Mascarita.
Equality of the sexes was very much the order of the day here. Faby and Sexy Star pulled off moves that you wouldn’t see anywhere near a Divas title match as they went after each other and their male counterparts, while Apache pulled off some great high flying moves for a man of his size.
In the end Apache used Faby to take Billy Boy out, flap jacking here right on top of him for the winning pin.
The Dark team of Cuervo, Ozz and Scoria then went up against Psicosis, Joe Lider and Crazy Boy.
I have no idea which rudo was which here, but they pulled off some great triple team moves, easily matched later by the technico counterparts.
One of the Dark boys for the winning pin, blocking Psicosis’ top rope hurricanrana attempt and taking him down with an awesome looking Styles clash from the middle rope.
The only singles match on this disc saw Billy Boy taking on El Apache in a falls count anywhere match.
No PG rated stuff here. These two really tore into each other, beginning when Apache attacked Billy as he warmed up backstage, quickly busting him open.
There was a brief foray into the ring before they began to brawl through the crowd, with Apache soon catching his man up as far as the crimson mask was concerned.
Then came the big move. After placing Billy Boy on what looked like a merchandise table Apache climbed up to the balcony above and came down with a swanton that Jeff Hardy would have been proud of.
And that was it. With neither man moving after their exertions the referee stopped the match and ruled it as a not contest as both men received medical treatment.
It was back to tag-team action for the next match as Octagon and Juventud Guerrera clashed with Pirata Morgan and Fuerze Guerrero.
This was a rather interesting encounter. Early on Guerrero tied the tassels on Octagon’s mask to the middle rope, immobilising him. Morgan and Guerrero then took turns attacking Juvi, taking time out to kick Octagon every now and then.
But when their manager, whoever he was, attacked Octagon Joe Lider came out and made the save, freeing Octagon and giving him a new mask so he could return to the match. Seconds later Guerrero submitted to his modified abdominal stretch.
The disc concluded with tag-team title action featuring Crazy Boy and Joe Lider, Ozz and Cuervo, Pegasso and Super Flyer, and Zumbido and Alan Stone. I’m guessing from the pre-match stuff that Zumbido and Stone were the defending champions.
Contested under elimination rules, Zumbido and Stone were the first team to go. As Zumbido lifted Pegasso (or Super Flyer, they looked pretty similar) onto his shoulders Stone climbed to the top rope. But as he flew off the masked man countered with a victory roll to pin Zumbido.
Pegasso and Super Flyer were next to go as Ozz and Cuervo took them out. This left the Dark boys in with Lider and Crazy Boy, and with just four men left in the match the action seemed more fluidic, and quite a bit better.
After the Dark boys put Crazy Boy through some wood, they turned their attention to Lider, who put up a good fight until a razor’s edge onto a chair. A three count later and Ozz and Cuervo had won the titles.
In conclusion – this is the first time I’ve watched any Mexican wrestling since the now defunct Wrestling Channel dumped CMLL from their schedules early on due to the apparent lack of viewers here in Britain, and having only really watched the likes of WWE, TNA and ROH recently this was a welcome diversion.
The matches were enjoyable for the most part, although it took a while to get used to the slightly different psychology and the format of the matches, and the fact that weapons shots were as legal as arm bars and clotheslines.
The reaction of the crowds was a whole new experience as well. I haven’t seen support this rabid since the Canadian Stampede show back in 1997.
So in all I enjoyed my foray into the world of lucha libre, and given that this particular collection has another ten discs, I’ll definitely be returning to AAA’s 2007 action in the future.
