A look back at the Lucha World Cup

It has been twenty-one years since the last time AAA broadcasted a pay-per-view in English, back at the illustrious When Worlds Collide, which most fans will remember as the show WCW built the Cruiserweight division from. But that changed on May 24, 2015 with the broadcast of the Lucha Libre World Cup on internet pay-per-view.

It’s a bit crazy that AAA never held a major trios tournament until this event, almost as if they’re taking a page from Chikara’s book for their return to English language action. Lucha Underground’s Matt Striker and Vampiro called the action, although both were a bit less polished than their El Rey appearances. It’s been awhile since I’ve heard Vampiro be quite this lecherous.

The Chikara connection actually received a call out in the very first match as the Dream Team took on Team NOAH. The NOAH unit featured the legendary Takayama alongside captain Taiji Ishimori and former King of Trios standout Atsushi Kotoge. The Team Osaka Pro alum was allowed lots of time to shine against the superstar trio of Alberto El Patron, Mysteziz and Rey Mysterio (the only carryover from When Worlds Collide.)

The other teams all brought it. The workrate was surprisingly deep based on the roster, but Team AAA and Team ROH/Lucha Underground brought a ton of great in-ring work. American fans already know how good El Hijo Del Fantasma is (with his Lucha Underground alter ego getting a subtle nod from Striker) and that El Texano Jr is a solid guy in-ring, but most everyone probably saw Psycho Clown for the first time. Perhaps Los Psycho Circus as a whole would have been more fun, but the three men put on an amazing battle against ROH’s Moose and ACH and Lucha Underground’s Brian Cage. Cage still strikes me as a man WWE missed the boat on in a huge way, as shown by his excellent work here and in the American tie-in.

Team All Japan took on the Mexican Legends Solar I, Blue Demon Jr and Dr. Wagner Jr. Against a team with 99 combined years of experience, Kenzo Suzuki (whose in-ring time was very limited), Tiger Mask III and Masamune didn’t accomplish very much. They were perhaps the most disappointing team of the eight in the tournament.

The final first round match was my favorite of the night. Team TNA Underground brought some good star power with Mr. Anderson, Matt Hardy and Johnny Mundo (otherwise known as John Morrison.) They took on the most intriguing team of the night, the thrown together Team Rest of the World. Drew Galloway (UK) and El Mesias (Puerto Rico) teamed with arguably 2015’s breakout talent of the year Angelico (South Africa). It seemed impossible that Team TNA wouldn’t make it to round two but the worldwide team gave them a run for their money. And again, Striker and Vampiro give another sly reference to one talent’s Lucha Underground alter ego.

With the four teams left, round two felt a bit telegraphed. As set up, the Dream Team vs. Team ROH and the Mexican Legends vs. Team TNA were solid battles, but they telegraphed the finals a bit.

The format of the tournament involved sudden death overtimes after the 15 minute time limits, which equaled one on one fights for five minutes. The third place match was ran only as such and it lasted all of seven minutes. But with AAA pushing Brian Cage hard, it made sense to give him a very decisive showing here.

The finals featured the Dream Team and Team TNA Lucha Underground. Anderson, Hardy and Mundo worked as great heels for the finals. The story of Rey Mysterio’s Mexican return played a huge part in this story and they revealed their purpose for doing so as the match moved into its third Sudden Death overtime. The final period pitted Mysterio against Mundo. Everyone that knows Mundo knows he’s an excellent base for the assault of someone like Mysterio. In a fast paced blast of action, Mysterio reverses an End of the World (or Starship Pain for WWE fans) into a Victory Roll for the finish.
The pay-per-view ran a little long in typical Mexican fashion with over four hours and a lot of pageantry between battles. The show did have some issues with silenced promos, which was especially annoying for the English language talk. But the in ring action and great commentary made up for the slow points.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen no word of replays or purchasing rights for the show in perpetuity. The PPV replays are only available for a week. But if it does become available against stateside, I recommend it.

And hey, Mysteziz works thirty times better here than he ever did in WWE.

How I'd Book Sting

I came back to watching wrestling at the same time it was announced that Sting would join the WWE. Since then I've tried to familiarize myself with his history and his greatest matches. I've known who Sting was since the 80's, when he seemed like a younger, less cool version of Hulk Hogan. When Hogan went to WCW, I watched Sting in a few matches during that era but that was it. The only time I can say I was a Sting fan was early on when he started his whole "Crow" gimmick and the NWO was formed. Most of those matches were incredibly disappointing. Sting's matches never had grit, they always seemed to end in someone interfering. When Sting joined the NWO/Wolfpack with Kevin Nash, he was at his peek as far as being entertaining went.

I've always been a WWE fan first and a wrestling fan second. As I've gotten older I've come to appreciate the talent that exists outside the WWE universe, but back when I was a kid they were always the #1 wrestling company. Sting was the perfect person to represent WCW because he was, at least in my eyes, a perfect representation of what WCW stood for: Second Rate Wrestling. He had the ability to fire up the crowd, but not as good as Hogan. He had style and flair, but not as much as Randy Savage. In other words Sting always seemed like a B-level player who just wasn't able to convince me that he was a legend in the making.

While watching a DVD of his greatest matches, I realized that there were many flaws: For one, he got dragged into some of the worst storylines in WCW history. Secondly, his matches rarely ended with a bang, often his finish would be an old-fashioned roll-up pin or something similar, I am not even sure when he started doing the Stinger Drop or the Sharpshooter but I am pretty certain it wasn't for years into his career. It always seemed as if there was someone better than Sting, no matter how hard he tried. His mic skills weren't very good and his in-ring style was traditional but without style. Without Rick Flair to put him over, I am not sure how far Sting would have gotten on his own.

But hey, let's give the guy some credit for such a long career without Vince McMahon's help.

So how do you bring this guy into the WWE and actually make it relevant and entertaining? Well TNA fans already got a glimpse into what Sting can do, as the Joker-inspired Insane Icon.

With the Authority in charge, everything on the WWE seems very organized and controlled. This hasn't hurt the storytelling, but eventually order breeds boredom. Throwing Dean Ambrose into the championship mix was a good start, but bringing the Insane Icon into the WWE would be absolutely nuts.

All it would take would be one more pay-per-view match against Triple H. Sting loses the match and starts to go nuts. Week after week he starts acting more and more unpredictable until one day. . the WWE network is hijacked. Stephanie McMahon is missing. And Sting appears, still thinking its 1995, still thinking WCW has a chance. He can work his way through the roster, painting the faces of those he defeats, laughing and dancing like a maniac until . . the Big Event. Perhaps the final match against Triple H, or the return of the Undertaker. . . you could take it in any direction. Throw Stardust in as a groupie and you'll have a storyline that can carry Sting into retirement.

Imagine an Insane Sting forcing Rick Flair and Hulk Hogan to fight. . . beating them and tossing them back into the ring like a lunatic referee. Or sitting front row at NXT. . . there is no limit to how far it could go. Hell if they buy the broadcast rights from TNA, they can show the first appearance of the Insane Icon on the WWE network. The WWE has an incredible production team, if they released the TNA stuff through their media channels, both companies would make a LOT of money. There is no reason for the WWE NOT to help smaller companies when it works in their favor, not when it will make them money and cross-merchandise their product. TNA might not want the help in production and distribution, out of some kind of weird sense of individuality, but you can always work around that. I'd easily watch the Insane Icon take on the Wyatt family, or the Authority, or the SHIELD reunited just to put down the Stinger. . .

Now is the only time this gimmick would work. Hell, imagine Sting against Brock Lesnar, the insane one taunting, teasing and manipulating Brock, the least funny guy in the WWE roster. It's magic, just waiting to happen. He's the craziest character in their roster right now and the timing couldn't be better. If Sting waits too long, he's not going to be able to come back in any real capacity, fans have a lot of wrestling to watch that's really good right now and if he isn't back in the ring soon, he will be forgotten. One great storyline at the end of his character could be his final legacy, because let's face it, he still owes us one for that Robocop debacle.