by Bowie Ibarra
Lucha Libre USA took its wild show on the road and made its way to San Antonio, Texas. I was looking forward to this for weeks now ever since River City Wrestling mentioned the show and stated that it would be collaborating with the promotion. I walked up to the legendary boondoggle we call The Alamodome and was ready for some fun lucha action.
Here's some notes and pics from the event. And this blog is dedicated to REBY SKY, who Tweeted me and other fans for pics and viddys for the event. Well, Reby, thanks for the Tweets (heart attack, heart attack once I discovered who she was and her role at the event).
Here it was. Ground Zero for Lucha USA action. It took place in the 'Alamodome Illusion Theatre', which was a draped off portion of the actual mammoth dome. I think it was put together okay. I sat in the sixth row with some other rowdies and we had a good time. However, I think they could have scooted everyone much closer. But I imagine with all the high flying that goes on, they wanted to leave room for the wrestlers without injuring fans.
They have clearly never gone to an Anarchy Championship Wrestling show, where the action pretty much spills into the crowd every time.
Many, many people in the crowd were masked. I saw a lot of Rey Mysterios, Dr. Wagner, Jrs., and other stars as well, including Pierroth. A very hot Pierroth, who was not the fat Puerto Rican I remember one of the Pierroths used to be, was in attendance. Or was it Dominican? Whatever.
She was in attendance with 'Rey Mysterio, Jr' and 'Psicosis'. Rey's let himself go during this whole 'health and wellness' policy violation.
Being so far from the ring, I couldn't capture some good snaps. But here's those general notes I mentioned.
-- The pre-show sucked. At first, that is. The guy that was an announcer got an earful from me every time he came out. Fortunately, he was able to keep some fan cred by having REBY SKY (who was named 'Reyes) at his side as well. Reby was challenged to a fan dance-off against another team leader who was none other than ROCKY ROMERO. Wrestling fans might know that Romero was part of the grand Japanese tradition of 'Black Tigers', specifically 'Black Tiger IV'. When I shouted to confirm that fact at Romero, who was walking through the audience to pick team members, he pointed back at me and said "Yes. And you're a bad ass for knowing that." Talk about making this wrestling fan proud!
-- RCW stars Bigg Dogg, Joey Spector, Honkey Kong, RCW Champ AJ Summers, and Galvan participated in the opening Royal Rumble Match. And RCW refs 'Weird Guy' and Howie were officials for the night. The winner was LLUSA's 'The Firewall', who took out AJ Summers as the last competitor.
-- There was 'Minis' action, featuring Mini Octagon, Mini Park, and Mini Halloween.
-- LIZMARK, JR., was in action, and the announcers did a good job getting us to tell him 'You Shut Up'. Though I feel we would have said it anyway without prompting. Sometimes people aren't used to live shows like I am.
-- There was a father 'shushing' his kid when he was getting loud. I thought it was cute, because the kid ended up getting louder and louder as the event went on and the shushes become less and less. We're not watching Tennessee Williams at the Majestic here. This is a participatory experience!
-- Ambulance chaser Wayne Wright and Associates helped sponsor the lucha action, and for that I'm thankful. We were treated to commercials featuring 'Nelda' and 'Jose' and how they won their injury case because of Wayne Wright's legal magic. Lucha needs to get the respect it deserves, and we demand it. Thanks for bringing LLUSA to SATX, Mr. Wright.
-- I, personally, would have liked to see LLUSA book a match between Wright and 'The Texas Hammer' Jim Adler.
-- Chavo Guerrero, Jr. was on the card as well.
-- I'm pretty sure MAGNO was also on the card as well. Wrestling fans might remember Magno as being one of Hunico's friends when Hunico was Incognito. He wrestled a guy that might as well have been 'Dr. Pepper Man'. His name was 'EL NUEVO MACHO', and he was a corporate shill for PepsiCo and part of the 1%. So I boo'd him.
But yet Dr. Pepper is a Texas-born beverage, so maybe I should cheer him. He also got his powers by drinking a Dr. Pepper 10, the discriminatory beverage that only men can drink, apparently. It was a fun match, and I cheered for him in the end. I'm a sellout, but he did a good job.
-- RJ BREWER was in the main event with BLUE DEMON, JR. RJ Brewer made videos featuring 'luchadores' crossing the border illegally. He claimed was doing his best in and out of the ring to protect the US and send who he considered wetback luchadores back to Mexico.
He was accompanied to the ring by 'The Firewall'.
And here is a pic of me touching the hand of the son of a man who fought Dracula, the Wolfman, Dr. Frankenstein, and zombies/Las Momias de Guanajuato with El Santo and Mil Mascaras. Your arguments are invalid.
And I don't know about you, but even though RJ Brewer hates Blue Demon and lucha libre, you know he's putting this rivalry down on his resume.
Blue Demon, Jr. vs. RJ Brewer.
Though the fans were encouraged to chant 'Mexico, Mexico', I thought chanting 'Texas, Texas' might have been just as appropriate. Brewer was representing Arizona after all. And we all know Texas is better than Arizona! ;)
In the end, Brewer lost the wager (Career vs. Having to wear a mask like a luchador), and Blue Demon, Jr. made him put on a lucha mask to humiliate him. On all the video promos, Brewer talked about his mother raising him right, but never mentioned his father. I took note of that, and so did Blue Demon, who had some choice words for Brewer after the match. You can see the video for the end of the match here.
In the end, it was a good time. I think the politics injected into the event was curious, and would love to see it play out in places north of Texas. Hell, in places IN north Texas. But it was a lot of fun and worth the ticket.
If you have a chance to go see Lucha Libre USA, do it. It was a lot of fun.
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Bowie Ibarra is the author of the 'Down the Road' zombie horror series from Permuted Press and Simon and Schuster. His latest upcoming book, "Pit Fighters: Baptism by Fire", is a combat-sports themed book featuring as one of the fighters a Mexican luchador who crosses over into MMA. It will be available in paperback, Kindle, and other e-reader versions.
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