Post by anotherspammer on Sept 27, 2018 8:00:36 GMT -5
I made this joke on twitter once but whenever anybody talks about Pentagon they say something like "is there any guy out there that coasts more on reputation? Anyway, I have Pentagon as the 43rd best wrestler in the world," and they are right! Penta shows flashes of brilliance and has had great matches but is also very willing to settle on having a string of good-but-not-great matches, which is what I have seen most in 2018. Part of it is his offense is built for a heel as it is a lot of cut-off spots (the sling blade, superkicks, the dropkick in the ropes) and he has not been much of a heel for 2 or 3 years now. So it's no surprise, then, that the best Penta matches this year have been the ones where the crowd is mixed, at best, such as the Caristico singles match and the Lucha Bros. vs. LA Park & Caristico match. He still holds his own in wild tag matches, but from what I have seen (mainly the Crash, FWIW) he is booked to be an underdog babyface, which is not his best role. Still, he is consistent and never completely dogs it in these matches, so you always get something that is at least fun if not great. I had him at 38 on my list last year. My hunch is he will drop a bit but still wind up in the middle of my list, barring a string of amazing matches in these last few months of the year.
If you've not seen the Caristico singles match or the tag vs. Caristico & LA Park, these are both very good and the tag is one of my favorite matches this year. As you can see below, most of what I have seen comes from Mexican indies. What are the Penta matches from US or UK indies that are worth watching? Should I check out that match vs. Sami Callihan in Impact? (I saw them live in AAW and loved it)
| PROMOTION NAME | NAME OF SHOW | DATE OF SHOW | MATCH | NOTES | RATING | LINK |
| Lucha Underground | The Temple | 2018 | Penta 0 M vs. Matanza | This was fine but felt more like Penta vs. Jeff Cobb than Penta vs. Matanza. | 3 1/2 | |
| MLW | Orlando | 1/11/18 | Penta O M vs. Rey Fenix | Not as competely unhinged as their AAW match last fall, but still a good, wild match. | 3 3/4 | youtu.be/xD4TcF2KMFk?t=27m3s |
| The Crash | Auditorio de Tijuana | 1/20/18 | Penta 0M, Daga, Masada vs. Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf, Garza Jr. | Everybody was brawling all over so you don't see much or get too good of a feel for the whole thing, but it is a fun garbage brawl from what you can see, and felt like a better camera angle would have turned this in to a great match. | 3 3/4 | youtu.be/K1oW98c80TA |
| Revolucha | Gimnasio Nuevo Leon Unido | 2/11/18 | Fenix, Penta 0 M vs. Garza Jr., Ultimo Ninja | Fenix's offense is fantastic at the beginning of this, just nailing Garza Jr. in the face with pinpoint kicks no matter how awkwardly out of position he may be. The match drags a bit with all of the crowd brawling and the stupid plywood spots, but there is some really good stuff throughout. | 3 1/2 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qZESNG9088 |
| The Crash | Auditorio de Tijuana | 2/16/18 | CIMA, Rey Horus, Xtreme Tiger vs. Penta 0M, Rey Fenix, Rey Mysterio | Starts off maybe in house show mode (which is still really good for these guys) but then really picks up with lots of fun, fast-paced stuff. | 3 3/4 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUsbE4qsyTE |
| G21 Meca | Arena Queretaro | 3/21/18 | Caristico, LA Park vs. Fenix, Penta 0 M | The ropes came loose so we got shoot style Fenix with stiff kicks and LA Park throwing headbutts. Yeah, they played to the crowd but they also beat the hell out of each other and this was great. Maybe not as fast-paced as some of the Lucha Bros. other matches but really stiff and angry and violent. | 4 1/2 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=th1Lyx5fCxQ&feature=youtu.be |
| The Crash | Auditorio de Tijuana | 4/14/18 | Garza Jr. vs. Bestia 666 vs. Penta 0 M | This is built around the 2 Rebellion Amarilla guys beating down Penta and even getting the ref involved so it's silly but works. | 3 1/2 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg3dH0Q_4AY |
| G21 | Lienzo Charro Rafael Molina | 4/27/18 | Penta 0 M vs. Caristico vs. LA Park | Match is built around Caristico selling a beating by the other 2 forever, then eventually getting his comeback. It's not bad, but they take their time and it's basically just crowd-pleasing stuff that does not translate to the not-live crowd. | 3 1/2 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJWGsZiKQdc |
| LLB | Arena Naucalpan | 5/2/18 | Caristico, Octagon vs. Penta 0 M, Fuerza Guerrera | Fuerze and Octagon are pretty useless at this point, but Penta and Caristico looked good. Match was decent and well paces overall. | 3 1/2 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iv1bEB9i14 |
| The Crash | Lienzo Charro Prof Enrique Gonzalez | 5/18/18 | Bestia 666 vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Penta 0 M | House-show style match but these 3 (well, 2 of them) have a great house-show style match. It's also clipped so who knows what we got out of the total match. | 3 1/2 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y79MOmwnHbI |
| The Crash | Auditorio de Tijuana | 5/19/18 | Caristico vs. Penta 0 M | GREAT match that sees both guys playing their roles perfectly. Caristico bumps all over the arena and sells a beating as great as ever, and Penta leans in to his more sadistic, more violent side. There is a part where Penta and the ref are taking forever to set up a piece of plywood over some chairs but it still works because the delay allows for Caristico to make his comeback. Also, this plywood doesn't break but makes a loud crack when Caristico is pile-driven on it which is worse than if it had broken. | 4 1/4 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bcPLTofFZw |
| G21 Torta Super Astro | Salon de la CNC | 5/27/18 | Trauma I, Trauma II vs. Penta O M, Rey Fenix | This is fine if nothing special. Kind of short, kind of slow, but still 2 cool teams. | 3 1/2 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTws_6sYTD4&t=1s |
| The Crash | Auditorio de Tijuana | 6/16/18 | Alberto el Patron, Penta 0 M, Rey Mysterio vs. Bestia 666, Garza Jr. Rush | Very house show type brawl but again these are all very good wrestlers so it was fun. | 3 1/2 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RZ2cP_F4YQ |
| LLB/MDA/Lucha Memes | Arena Lopez Mateos | 6/17/18 | Penta 0 M, Sadico vs. Octagon, Octagon Jr. | 3 1/2 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_BjOXcp9gE&feature=youtu.be | |
| The Crash | Salon Citlali | 6/17/18 | Penta 0 M, Mesias, Daga vs. Hantor, Kronoz, Savage | Clipped but this is a fun and wild match | 3 3/4 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=832aVQlzhEk |
| CMLL | Arena Mexico | 7/20/18 | Caristico, Dragon Lee, Mistico vs. Penta 0 M, Cavernario, Negro Casas | Fun brawling match. | 3 3/4 | youtu.be/cOytwVKdr-E?t=1h24m28s |
| MDA | Arena Coliseo Monterrey | 7/29/18 | Rey Wagner vs. Penta 0 M | This card was nothig but brawls and this is of course another one but these are two of the best at it so they know some little things to stand out from the other matches. | 3 3/4 | www.youtube.com/watch?v=85DB9LQ5YL0&feature=youtu.be |
| AAA | Arena Ciudad de Mexico | 8/25/18 | Psycho Clown vs. LA Park vs. Hijo del Fantasma vs. Penta 0 M | The stuff in the cage at the start is pointless and short but then it comes down to just Park and Fantasma, which is wild because I think everybody expected Psycho and Fantasma. Good brawl from there on, but with lots of AAA ref stuff. | 3 1/2 | |
| CMLL | Arena Mexico | 9/14/18 | Caristico, Hijo de LA Park, LA Park vs. Diamante Azul, Fenix, Penta 0 M | great match with Lucha Bros. running all over the place, chaos everywhere, big beefy chops between LA Park and Diamante. | 4 |
