Guest jtronx Report post Posted August 17, 2003 I was pleased to discover when I moved to Chicago a couple weeks ago that not only was there local wrestling, there was local lucha, and it was within walking distance! So, accompanied by my friend Velcro Lewis and fortified by Schlitz I took the half-hour walk down Armitage to the Club Deportivo Coliseo. Paid the lovely lady at the door my twelve bucks and walked in... capacity maybe one hundred, green/white/red ring ropes on a pretty nice looking ring; rafters near enough to the top of the ringposts that the wrestlers would use them for support while waiting to do moves... and a score of kids running around with Mil Mascaras and Octagon masks. In fact for the whole show the kids were the dominant force in the crowd, followed only by the gringo smart mark contingent (of course [and not in a bad way {that is to say no "You ####ed Up" or "Who Booked This" or any of that crap}]). 2DA LUCHA MANO A MANO A 3 CAIDAS TOYO YAMAMOTO (Japones Maldito) vs JOSE GRERRERO (El Jalisco) [All spelling and description courtesy of the flyer... plus I think '2da lucha' means 'Second match' but this was the first] Yamamoto, despite his Japanese flag and trunks, was the total babyface here, and Jose was a great dickish heel. Some of the execution was a little funky but I totally enjoyed this match, great playing to the crowd, the greatness of Jose being a shortish skinny guy but using some moves usually associated with Rikishi (the ass-bump in the corner, the 'Banzai Drop'), Yamamoto yelling at the ref 'Japanese or English!' when being admonished in Spanish, and the finish, which involved Jose going up top with his Mexican flag (aided by the heel ref, who was either 'El Tobi' or 'El Apenitas,' I'm not sure, but both refs were awesome), and getting it taken away by Yamamoto, who stiffed him right on the bean with it then flipped him down for the pin. The kids loved Yamamoto but no-one seemed to want to boo the Mexican rudo against him. 3RA LUCHA DE RELEVOS A 3 CAIDAS LANCER 2000 (Revelacion del Año) y VIENTO MAYA (Tecnico de Guerrero) vs EL REO (Ex-Convicto de Chicago) y TIME PAGE (Rudo del Año) El Reo had a striped mask (which I guess he got in jail), Lancer 2000 had a fine gold and black mask with grey camo pants, Vento Maya was more traditional with a black and gold mask and black trunks, and TIME PAGE was a gringo Hardy Boy Jr. This match was fine; took a while to really get going and there seemed to be a lot more doing-moves-for-the-sake-of-doing-moves than the last bout, but there was a good bit with TIIIIIME PAGE initially not wanting to get in the ring and tagging El Reo in which by the end of the match progressed to El Reo abandoning his partner to the mercies of the tecnicos, and intra-rudo fighting as well. By the end of the match, TIIIIIIIIIIME PAAAAAAAAAAGE had gotten his ass kicked by both tecnicos, his partner, and even the heel ref! Good times. Oh yeah, Lancer 2000 hit a SICK plancha to the matless outside (and TP demonstrated his excellent moonsault but unfortunately overshot and only hit his opponent with his hands). GRAN LUCHA SEMIFINAL DE RELEVOS DISCOVERY (Idolo Volador) y MASCARA DE JADE (Idolo Oaxaqueno) vs PRINCIPE AZTECA (Sangre Nueva) y MISS TAYLOR (Luchador Exotico) Discovery had a great mask, with horns, fangs, the little Liger forehead diamond etc. Mascara de Jade had strangely enough a stately green mask. Principe Azteca had a sorta Mascara Sagrada-esque mask and swank shiny black tights that well accented his beefiness. Miss Taylor... ahhh, sweet Miss Taylor. Not much of a 'wrestler' per se but funny as hell doing all the exotico schtick. This match was alright; the high points were Miss Taylor's gimmick work and Discovery's high flying (he took a sick Asai Moonsault that enabled Taylor to get the out-of-nowhere pin on Jade). RELEVOS AUSTRALIANOS FUERZA AEREA (Actual Campeon), ESQUELETON (Primo Hermano de La Parka), y AZTECA DE ORO (Idolo de Mexico) vs PODER BORICUA (Desde Puerto Rico), INFERNAL (Rudo de la Ciudad Neza), y MALEFICIO (Hechicero de Catemaco) The intros for this match were done in strobe light, and yes Esqueleton shakes them bones. Fuerza has camo tights and mask (with the paratrooper logo around his eyes... awesome!) and Azteca de Oro is friend to children (pretty much the whole match there was a constant 8-year-old chorus of AZTECA! AZTECA!). Poder Boricua you know from EMLL, he was sporting his half-Boricua, half-Pierroth mask this night, Infernal had sort of... well, COMPLETELY an Ultimo Guerrero/Mephisto/Averno thing going on, and Maleficio with his yellow-on-red trident pattern jumpsuit and freaking RAM HORNS might have the best ring gear I've ever seen in person. If Vince would realize that not every rassler needs shiny pleather pants and gave Test some RAM HORNS Raw might not suck as much. Anyhow I'm not going to get too into the match except to say Esqueleton works the gimmick well and takes nice bumps, Poder looked brutal and surly, Azteca got chopped like crazy (prompting the little kid sitting next to me to comment on how red his chest got... it was like 0.8 Regal), Infernal is a very good worker, Maleficio in addition to leading 'Chiva! Chiva!' chants had some great comedy spots, and Fuerza ended up getting fouled while the ref's back was turned by Poder, who immediately faked the foule himself, leading to a rudo victory. Overall: A great time, some good action and great atmosphere, I could see making this a regular Saturday night trip and I hear next week's show is going to be way better: Next show: El Caudillo/Azteca de Oro Jr. vs Reo/Golum Fuerza Aerea Jr./Lancer 2000 vs Miss Taylor/Nacho Barrera Esqueleton/Azteca de Oro vs Dorado/Infernal Apolo Dantes/Hermanos Escobedo vs Chamaco Valaguez/Principe Franky/Fuerza Aerea Club Deportivo Coliseo 3949 W Armitage (corner of Armitage & Pulaski) Chicago, IL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
