The Furious Flashbacks – NWA Presents Fiesta Lucha

The Furious Flashbacks – NWA Presents Fiesta Lucha

Mexican legends, anti-Mexican heels, a mini-Rumble, Adam Pearce rocks Old School style and Billy Kidman gains some weight!

You can purchase this DVD from Big Vision Entertainment located here. 10 bucks for 3 hours of wrestling? Can’t be bad. Because I’m feeling slightly ill I won’t be playing the lucha drinking game, which is probably for the best. For those playing along at home every time you see an armdrag, or read one, you take a drink. Anytime there’s a flying headscissors you take two drinks. Seeing as this is lucha you’ll be hammered in no time.

We’re in the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hosts are Kriss Kloss & C. Edward Vanderpyle. The latter you should know as Adam Pearce’s manager while Kloss used to call the action for XPW.

PROMO TIME – The Real American Heroes: Joey Ryan & Karl Anderson. They kindly play the “Mexican national anthem”. Joey says they said some harsh things about Mexicans last time he was out here. He needs to apologise. He figures they didn’t ask to be Mexicans and if they had a choice they’d want to be white. “We’re sorry you’re Mexican”. They decide to honour the “Spaniard National Anthem”. Instead of that we get the hat dance. “Isn’t that the national anthem?” – Vanderpyle. The crowd boo as Anderson asks for La Migra because there’s illegal’s everywhere and Los Luchas make the save for Mexico.

BACKSTAGE Bobby Joe Marshall, an Australian, competing in the King of the Summit match. He says he’s been up partying in Vegas for two nights and he’ll kick everyone out of the battle royal regardless of race, creed or nationality. I like the AC/DC hat. Just in case you were in any doubt over his nationality.

Midnight Dynamite v Tommy Kim/JJ Perez v RGO v The Young Bucks

EGO have a manager called Johnny LaRoca. Young Bucks are Nick & Matt Jackson. I assume they’re brothers or at least kayfabe brothers. Horrible team name. Charles Mercury & Johnny Paradise make up Midnight Dynamite. Mercury is one of many PWG guys to appear on this show. AJ Hirsch & Nathan Rulez are EGO. All the faces hit dives. Back inside and JJ Perez breaks out the AAAAAARRRMMDRAAAAG. Kloss points out that Perez normally teams with TJ Perkins, which would explain why the box says TJ Perkins is in this match when he isn’t. Perez decides to imitate JYD with those damn crawling headbutts. In comes Kim for a spin kick into the corner. That was tidy but then I always liked him as Funky Bill Kim in PWG. The Bucks start showboating with flipping and whatnot. They’re wrestling like its 1985 and they’re the Rockers. I like how everyone in this match has matching tights apart from the two guys who’ve never teamed together before. Nice touch. Rulez levels Matt Jackson with a tasty lariat and they start cheating behind the ref’s back. Midnight Dynamite start teaming up to keep Matt isolated. The Bucks come back with some nice teaming of their own on Mercury. Lack of selling from Matt otherwise good stuff. This match has never really had the chance to establish any rhythm and they keep making frequent tags. That would be fine if we were dealing with established guys and the tags got pops but that’s not the case. Crowd is still appreciative because there is effort but there’s not much in the way of story. Rulez is the one guy who seems to shine as an individual because he has an odd look (the double Mohawk, and its green) and he’s a jerk. He roughs up JJ Perez and LaRoca cheats on his behalf. JJ makes his own save with a counter up top and a neckbreaker from the ropes. JJ makes the desperation tag to Matt Jackson. Didn’t he used to play for Norwich? Producers manage to miss Kim doing a springboard dropkick. Everyone comes in and hits spots one after another. Paradise takes over with a superkick but miscues and knocks Rulez down with one too. The Bucks take advantage of the miscue and hit TANDEM 450 SPLASHES! Neato! **1/4. Really messy and most of the guys in the match were superfluous. I’d have rather have seen EGO v Bucks in a straight up tag match. They could have still worked in all the good stuff and the finish.

BACKSTAGE David Marquez, of New Japan USA, interviews Human Tornado. He says he can’t find his partner Matt Classic who’s getting a workout somewhere. He says his nanorate is up 10% because he’s been on TV and he’s now “pimpin”. He’s not worried about the Mexican team he’s facing later because they’re not on TV.

Peter Goodman v The Mighty Kafu

Ok, I’m drawing a blank on Kafu. He’s running a Berzerker gimmick and is apparently Brazilian. Goodman looks like a young Shane Douglas. He’s in there to bump around for the bigger Kafu. Goodman claims he’s lost a contact lens and gets the ref to look for it so he can jump Kafu, which doesn’t work because his attack is pathetic. At least go low! Kafu is pretty sloppy but he is big so look for him to be in Florida inside a year. Goodman bails because he figures arguing with fans will be more entertaining and less painful. Kafu pulls him back in and he can’t even do the mudhole stomping convincingly. This is not a technically sound wrestler folks. Goodman does his best to work around it and he finally gets a break by taking out the leg but if they really wanted to sell Kafu as a beast then he’d have won 5 minutes ago. Goodman shows a lack of respect for lucha by working the left leg. Not that anything in this match even remotely resembles lucha. Goodman tries for some weak kicks but Kafu just levels him with a lariat. Kafu throws him over the top with a suplex. Kafu stupidly goes up top for a kneedrop. A kneedrop? You r-tard. Goodman hooks up a Figure Four but Kafu is too strong and turns him over. How fucking LONG is this match? IRON CLAW BACKBREAKER! Oh-ho-ho-ho! That’s nifty. ½*. Match was terrible and really long for what was essentially a squash. Goodman never looked like winning because Kafu isn’t accustomed to fighting from behind. So he can’t time comebacks or anything like that.

BACKSTAGE Big Q gets interviewed. He’s in the battle royal too. He says this is his house because he’s from Vegas. He also refers to himself as the “Ghetto Psycho”.

Ricky Reyes/Bobby Marshall v Colt Cabana/Sonny Sampson

That would be why H-Tizzle couldn’t find Matt Classic. Marshall is pretty big and Sampson is too. Sampson is more a comedy guy and manages to work in the tango on Marshall but unlike in ROH they pump in music while it’s happening sadly. Sampson keeps stamping on Marshall’s feet so he hops around and Cabana feels the rhythm and comes in to dance with him. GOOFY! Crowd isn’t big on the comedy unfortunately. Colt wants a tag and he faces Reyes. Colt’s “kung-fu” is hilarious and he starts dodging attacks. OLE! Colt runs the “stop” and look up leading to a slap gag. THREE armdrags from Colt. It IS a lucha show! They run another great comedy spot where Reyes gets tripped up and headbutts Marshall in the groin. The crowd are finally starting to find this funny, which is probably a relief to the guys in the ring. Reyes gets picked off and the faces work his arm over. Marshall charges in and gets ARMDRAGGED. That’s four drinks in this match alone! Reyes gets in a cheap shot on Sampson and that allows the heels to isolate him. The heels decide they’re going to run formula into the ground and kill the crowd again. Nice work fellas. Colt gets the hot tag and cleans house but the crowd seem very nonplussed. Colt takes too long on a double noggin knocker but saves himself with a double quebrada press. Marshall gets tripped up schoolyard style. Both the heels then get rolled up for the loss. **. The comedy didn’t play too well with the crowd but I quite liked it. The formula tag also didn’t play too well and that part was rather frustrating because everyone knew it was formula and didn’t care but they ran it anyway.

BACKSTAGE Nelson Creed gets an interview. He’s wrestling Adam Pearce tonight. He says Pearce has no integrity, discipline and honour, which are the three things that make a champion. Creed says he has those and he’s bringing them.

King of the Summit

Thankfully we don’t start out with everyone in the ring, which was my largest fear. It’s a Royal Rumble style match with a new competitor joining every 45 seconds. They’re sure trying to keep this show fast flowing huh? First two guys are Steve Payne and Big Q. The latter got interviewed earlier so he’s a favourite. Payne with a springboard crossbody. That was risky! #3 is Nathan Rulez. #4 is Ryan Taylor. He’s absolutely tiny. Well, he’s tall but he’s skinny as fuck. #5 is Diablo. Wow, this sucks so far. Diablo is tall and goofy looking. Payne manages a springboard rana. #6 is Bobby Joe Marshall. Diablo charges like an idiot and then Payne doesn’t clothesline him out…like an idiot. Big Q charges into Marshall and that knocks Diablo out. Good. #7 is Johnny Paradise. I wonder if Johnny Swinger knows this guy ripped off his old gimmick. Payne is out thanks to Ryan Taylor. #8 is Charles Mercury. Midnight Dynamite are both in there now. Marshall has squared off with Q and they’re the only guys who look likely to win in it so far. MD throw Taylor out and he lands on Johnny LaRoca. #9 is Sexy Chino. They miss both of Midnight Dynamite going out. Chino goes after Marshall, which is pretty stupid but he appears to be running the Shawn Michaels ’95 deal. Only he’s too crap to skin the cat. #10 is Big Q’s old tag partner from XPW Iceman. He eliminates Big Q. So much for that old connection. #11 is Tommy Kim. He charges in there and cleans house. Chino tries to throw Marshall out, which raises a few chuckles. Airplane spin from Kim! Awesome. #12 is JJ Perez. #13 is Jay Ryan. He has chewing baccy all over himself. Chino tries to throw someone out so Ryan knocks him out. #14 is Scott Lost. He looks lost as soon as he gets in there. Nice that he teams with Kim. They used to be the X-Foundation in PWG. They still have the same colour ring gear, which is a nice touch. #15 is Matt Jackson. Lost miscues and superkicks Kim. He figures he might as well throw him out after that. SHARPSHOOTER ON CHINO! #16 is AJ Kirsch. Now EGO is both in there. They double team Matt Jackson. Chino survives another trip over the ropes. #17 is Nick Jackson. So now we have a TAG TEAM WAR! They all end up going over the top in a TAG TEAM WAR! #18 Damien Slater. Another Aussie. Chino survives another trip over the top. The crowd is actually chanting “Chino” now. Lost breaks his ribs. #19 is Sonny Sampson. He does the Truffle Shuffle on the way in there. #20 is Cameron Wallace. He sells the popcorn shots from the fans. Most wrestlers just ignore those. He’s also an Aussie. Vanderpyle suggests the three Australians should team up and they’d have a big advantage. Lost catches Ryan with a superkick and a neckbreaker. #21 is Ray “Boom Boom” something (Morilla?). I can’t hear the name. I’m assuming it’s not Mancini. He’s a big, big guy. #22 is Mighty Kafu. Most of the big hitters are in there now. Marshall gets thrown out thanks to Kafu. Poor luck in the draw I guess. Scott Lost is thrown out too. And Slater. 3-0 Kafu. Sampson is out too. 4-0. #23 is Peter Goodman. Webster Delfini, the Iceman, gets thrown out as well. 5-0 Kafu. He throws out Cameron Wallace and JJ Perez. Seven guys now. Kafu throws Boom Boom out as well just in case there was any doubt about his dominance. Eight guys. Ryan goes after Kafu and gets brain chopped a lot. #24 is Ultra X. Apparently he’s from Kazakhstan. Kafu throws him right out. Ryan & Goodman have taken to teaming up but Kafu is too strong. #25 is LTP. He’s a tiny guy. Kafu catches him coming and presses him onto all the wrestlers still hanging around at ringside.

FINAL FOUR – Kafu, Ryan, Goodman and Sexy Chino! Kafu has eliminated 10 guys. Unfortunately for him he spends too long standing near the ropes and Ryan & Goodman get him over. Ryan accidentally bats Goodman out of the ring and Chino DROPKICKS RYAN OUT! Sexy Chino wins! *1/2. Not the best of battle royals but it had all the right elements; the dominant babyface and the double teaming heels and so on. But having a joke win it kind of deflates the whole thing. Ryan goes to beat him up but Kafu makes the badly timed save. “Is this a rib on me?” – Kloss.

Human Tornado/Matt Classic v Los Pochos Guapos

Los Pochos Guapos are better known as individuals. They are former XPW star Kaos and former WWE competitor Aaron “Jesus” Aguilera. Referee is Jabberjaw. This is kinda of a WSX feature match. Matt Classic is hilarious without even entering the ring. He’s busy wiping his feet on the apron. Tornado with an armdrag. DRINK! He breakdances and dropkicks Kaos out of the ring. Classic in. He tests the ropes for durability and then pulls up his trunks EIGHT TIMES. Apparently he’s been in a coma for 60 years. He grabs Kaos and works the arm. Release suplex from Classic gets 2. That was a finish back in the day! Tornado back in but Aguilera boosts him up with a flapjack and Kaos catches him coming down with a neckbreaker. Tornado goes for a moonsault block but Aguilera catches him and sets for a big slam but Tornado counters him into a DDT. Kaos charges in but gets backdropped outside and Tornado uses Classic to boost him outside for a plancha. Classic adds in a dive from ALL the way up on the apron. He poses. Fantastic. They should use this gimmick on WWE TV. IRON CLAW! Aguilera boosts Kaos into an elbow drop. They’ve had some good continuity in this one. Poetry in Motion from Los Pochos Guapos. GAAAAAAAY! Aguilera breaks out the dive onto the top into the flying back elbow. Great sell from Cabana as he turned right into it as the character would never expect it. Kaos goes up but misses a moonsault. Tornado in with a rana on Aguilera and an ARMDRAG. HOUSE PARTY! H-Tizzle fakes out the ref with dancing into the low blow. Classic is fucking with the cameraman on the apron because he doesn’t understand the technology. Aguilera boots him off the apron. Tornado gets double teamed as a result and wheelbarrow bombed for 2. Three ladies come out to watch and Kaos loses focus. Aguilera has gone to chat with them and he’s left! Classic ties up Kaos on the mat for Tornado to flip off the ropes onto him for the win. **3/4. That was a lot of fun. I don’t care much for the finish but I do love Matt Classic. I think the WWE should use Cabana in that capacity.

Los Luchas (Phoenix Star/Zokre) v Real American Heroes (Joey Ryan/Karl Anderson)

This is a flag match but pinfalls count too. Karl claims to be one of the Anderson family, which is a blatant lie. That whole family isn’t related anyway but just because you’re bald doesn’t mean you can become an Anderson. At least CW looked like Arn. Some fat guy in the crowd wants to rumble with Joey Ryan. We get a test of popularity and Los Luchas are OVER. Ryan predictably jumps from behind after losing. “Once again Americans…smarter than Mexicans” – Vanderpyle. ARMDRAG! Star with a flying rana and Ryan backs off so far he crotches himself. The Real American Heroes kinda remind me of Los Gringos Locos. Only not as talented. But then that was a very talented team. Anderson easily overpowers Zokre but gets cocky and is caught by the flying headscissors. DRINK TWICE! Flying headscissors off the top. THAT’S LIKE FOUR DRINKS! The heels bail out and the Mexicans eye up the flag but that brings the Heroes back in. DOUBLE ARMDRAG! That’s two more drinks. Double sunset flip and the Heroes hold onto each other to block but the Mexicans pull down the trunks. Hah, THONG SHOT. Ryan breaks out a great dropkick with some serious height on it. They mess with Zokre while isolating Phoenix Star. Kloss works in a plug for the NWA TV show that JD Dunn covers for 411. Hot tag to Zokre who flies in with a lariat off the top. Handheld stuff commences and we get a double headscissors. MORE DRINKS! BLOCKBUSTER OVER THE KNEES from the Mexicans. That was cool. The camera misses Star flipping to the floor. Zokre flips onto them as well. The heels recover and Ryan gets a superkick but Zokre saves his partner and Anderson spinebusters him. This should be over as the heels are in total control now. Both Mexicans roll them up for 2. Malfunction at the junction. Double springboard sentons. Vanderpyle decides he’s seen enough and he’s down at ringside distracting the ref. The Mexicans capture the flag but Adam Pearce runs in and takes it away. Ryan ends up on top and gets the winning pin. ***. Hot match with some nice high spots from the face team but I couldn’t help but feel deflated that it never hit the higher gear it was capable of.

BACKSTAGE Adam Pearce gets an interview, which is impressive considering he was in the ring less than 5 seconds ago. He tells Nelson Creed to make the most of his opportunity this evening.

NWA Heritage title – Adam Pearce (c) v Nelson Creed

Nick Bockwinkel is out here but Pearce refuses to shake his hand. I like the wry smile from Nick. He knows when he’s being heeled on. Crowd is very pro-Creed because Pearce is an “asshole”. They start out with some nice standing counters and Creed looks pretty capable. Pearce complains loudly of a hair pull. HAHAHA. In case you don’t know the gag here’s a photo of Mr Pearce…

He has even less hair in this match. They go back to the standing counters and Creed looks sharp. ARMDRAG! ARMDRAG! Two drinks. Pearce refuses a clean break and slaps Creed in the corner. He’s got the heel playbook and he’s running it play by play. They run the International but Creed breaks it up with a slap and ARMDRAGS Pearce over. Kloss’ commentary really starts to grate during this match. “Oh yeah…listen to this crowd right here”. He sounds like bad Vince McMahon impersonator. They do a test of strength but Creeds out by working the arm. Kloss takes a moment to berate Vanderpyle and apologise for his comments earlier as he trips Creed up and gives Pearce the opening. Then he chokes away behind the ref’s back, which Kloss calls a “virtual 2 on 1” as opposed to an actual 2 on 1. Pearce pulls a spinning heel kick out of his ass. It’s not a very good one but kudos for effort. Vanderpyle chokes away some more. There’s that heel playbook coming into the action again. Creed makes a hash of a discus lariat. Pearce flip bumped it but the contact was way low. Vanderpyle throws in brass knucks and Pearce waffles Creed for 2. That Creed guy has a strong jaw. Creed starts his comeback and hits a fisherman suplex for 2. Ref gets bumped. He really should be spotting those brass knucks that are on the canvas there. Pearce grabs a chain but Creed sees him coming and counters into a suplex. That chain is pathetic. It looks like a piece of jewellery. Creed smacks Pearce with the chain and pins him. A new ref runs down and we get a title change…OR DO WE? The first ref is up and he saw the chain. BOOO. DUSTY FINISH. **1/2. Solid old school bout. Pearce has one of the best heel acts in the business.

El Hijo Del Santo/Billy Kidman v Super Parka/Nicho El Millionairo

Here he is El heredero de la leyenda de plata. Son of the legendary Mexican grappler El Santo. And he’s teaming with former WCW and WWE cruiserweight champion Kidman. On the other side we have Super Parka, not to be confused with La Parka, who lost his mask to El Hijo Del Santo back in 2003. Because we’re in America he’s masked anyway. People seem less concerned about that sort of thing North of the border. That and he kinda has that “fuck you” attitude and wore it to mess with everyone. Nicho is the former Psicosis. Santo is 45 here and looks fresh as a daisy. Kidman is looking a little doughy. Nicho on the other hand is looking somewhat scrawny. He gets booed heavily just because he’s wrestling against Santo who’s over like clover. Vanderpyle makes fun of Kidman’s weight. Santo’s first move? ARMDRAG. Drink! Santo gets a little rowboat action on the go. Santo with the head spin legscissors. He is freakishly good for his age. Every time I see him I’m staggered that someone can compete at that age and make it look easy. He’s like the Mexican Flair only I think he’s probably in even better condition (comparatively so we’re looking at Flair in 1994 who was still in good shape). Nicho gets a hug off Santo and knees him in the happy sacks. Santo is the star though so Nicho starts bouncing all over the place for his stuff. Kidman brings in a few low dropkicks and Nicho bails. Parka comes back in with a sloppy dropkick. Kidman looks a mess as he puts the boots in. Let’s keep him on the apron shall we? Santo back in and they run a fucking great spot where he ends up on the apron and Parka charges. Santo dropkicks his knees away and Parka flies over the top rope. Santo back in – TOPE SUICIDAAAAAAAAAAA! You don’t get many 45 year olds who can fly like that. Kidman and his gut get a tag. He breaks out a gutbuster, which is no longer him going to the buffet for the 7th time. The heels have to double suplex Kidman. They go for another and Kidman somewhat fluffs his counter into a double neckbreaker. That always makes the heels look bad. Still there wasn’t a massive delay. Santo gets a hot tag and he rips Parka’s mask off again. Santo with a headscissors. That’s two drinks. Another headscissors. That’s two more drinks. Kidman hits a plancha but Parka runs away from Santo but SANTO GETS HIM WITH A HUGE DIVE TO THE FLOOR. Holy shit! That was a long way to dive. Kidman flattens Nicho with a crossbody for 2. Santo breaks up a pinfall and then hits another tope on Parka before he can even get back up and Kidman rolls up Nicho for the win. ***1/2. That was a lot of fun. Santo was superb as ever. Can you believe that Kidman is heavier than Santo now though? That’s a lot of weight to gain.

The 411: This is a decent and fast paced effort from the NWA. Their production values are really strong and they have the presence of mind to bring in big names that will draw crowds. Mexican stars will always fair well in areas with high Hispanic populations. The WWE has names they market in these areas but they don’t have many Hispanic stars. The NWA can book in guys like El Hijo Del Santo and do good business on the back of it. The crowd here was really strong and they’re doing a fine job of building up heels based on a majority Hispanic audience. There is some really good stuff on this show though and you can see the NWA shows going in the right direction with some good talents. Shame they’ve lost Matt Classic to the WWE. His antics are always a highlight.

Final Score:  6.8   [ Average ]