Chris' Lucha Roundup: April 2024

Author
Recent Posts

the biggest paul mccartney fan on the wrestling internet

Latest posts by Chris (see all)

Vote Now in the 2024 VP100 - January 2, 2025
Chris’ Lucha Roundup: August 2024 - December 23, 2024
The VP2010s Case for Black Terry - November 15, 2024

Hechicero vs. Heddi Karaoui (Lucha Memes, 4/21) – IWTV

This tops Heddi Karaoui’s llaves match with Avisman from February. Heddi and Hechicero start the match trading holds, and as the match goes on you can see that Hechicero gets sicker and sicker that this guy keeps having an answer for his moves. The mat is Hechicero’s domain and he should have put this sucker away by now. He starts laying in his strikes more. He looks like he’s throwing a bit more into all his holds, but Heddi just won’t go away. It’s a really beautiful and logical pro wrestling match filled with incredible transitions and nearfalls. Hechicero plays a great bully, and Heddi Karaoui is a brilliant underdog. An easy match of the year contender for me. Check this out immediately if you haven’t.

LA Park vs. Rush (Lucha Libre Elite, 4/21)

Of course this match has to be here. After destroying each other in a four-way match with DMT Azul and Blue Demon Jr. in March, Rush and Park continue their endless blood feud in Lucha Libre Elite. The grrainy fancam footage of everything you want. Rush has blood pouring down Park’s half-torn mask within seconds. They take turns brutalizing each other in the barricades, beating the shit out of each other with chairs. Both men are bloody messes by the end of the match. The only people who might have it worse than the two fighters are the poor refs, who get destroyed multiple times before the match gets thrown out. This feud may never truly end. That apuestas match may never happen. Rush says he will only accept it at Madison Square Garden. I do not care, so long as we keep getting two of the best brawlers of their respective generations giving each other everything they have whenever the opportunity strikes.

Aguila Roja, Fandango, Hell Boy & Puma de Oro vs. Carta Brava Jr., Lunatik Extreme, Super Boy & Toto (IWRG/Lucha Libre Boom, 4/7)

I’ve enjoyed a lot of IWRG stuff this year whenever I’ve caught up, but there haven’t been a lot of truly transcendent Arena Naucalpan garbage brawls. This is the good shit. They play all the hits. You’ve got crowd brawling, balcony dives, stretcher spots, beer throwing, steel signs, scissors, and buckets of blood. At least one of the eight people in this match is getting murked at a given moment. It’s go-go-go from the first minute. Absolutely astonishing chaos.

Argus & Gaius vs. Osiris & X Dragon (Lucha Memes, 4/21) – IWTV

It’s time to talk about Argus & Gaius as a tag team of the year contender. I liked what I saw from them in 2023, but it seemed like they were still getting it together. They are improving with an amazing quickness this year. Their match against Dement Extreme and Lunatik Extreme just missed the cut in this column last month, and they’ve had highlight matches on every show I’ve seen them on this year. Their tag offense is starting to look really smooth. This match starts off as a fun brawl before it goes into some crazy highspot territory. Argus and Gaius have so much energy in them for two guys who look like they’re 5’4 and 110 pounds. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Arez vs. Noisy Boy (IWRG, 4/25)

This is a continuation of the Mala Fama/Mexa Boys feud that’s been happening in IWRG throughout the year, and it’s easily the highlight of the story. This is a three falls match, first a ras de lona fall on the mat, a lucha aerea fall showcasing the two’s high-flying abilities, and then a hardcore lucha extrema fall as the decider. As somebody who’s waded through a lot of very uneven at best IWRG Thursday Night cards, this was a breath of fresh air, showing just about everything two of IWRG’s best performer’s can do in the ring. Really cool match throughout, but it really cooks in that third fall.

Honorable Mentions