A live professional wrestling show from KCXW and Martinez Entertainment Lucha Libre Mexicana held on May 19, 2024
A few weeks ago, I took a gamble and went a tad out of my comfort zone for a chance to see a lucha libre show in Kansas City at Soccer Nation. This wasn’t because I was new to Mexican Wrestling or anything, I love CMLL and AAA and while I can’t always keep up on it, I try to check in on the bigger shows from time to time. I figured that there would likely be somewhat of a language barrier, and I knew my two years of high school Spanish from 2001 were NOT going to cut it. Thankfully, this was not really an issue at all because the host for the evening, local TV and radio personality Kike Morales, was on it with announcements in English just for all the Gringos like me in the crowd.
It was a very hot Sunday evening, and even though Soccer Nation had their doors open it was pretty hot inside. That it pretty standard for indy professional wrestling shows, so this didn’t faze me in the slightest. If a fan hasn’t sat baking in a high school gymnasium or seventy-year-old military armory, have they ever really experienced wrestling? Soccer Nation is not new to the world of pro wrestling as it is basically the unofficial home of KCXW, a company that was also co-sponsoring this event and allowing the traveling production company to use their ring. While I am not too familiar with them, Martinez Entertainment Lucha Libre Mexicana is a traveling company that puts on shows all over the United States throughout the year, although a lot of their shows are in Texas. The two companies have partnered before, and considering the sizable crowd at this show, I’d imagine they will be back in the future.
The big draws for this show, and largely why it piqued my interest so much, were two fairly big names in lucha libre – Pimpinela Escarlata and Psicosis Ryper (Psicosis II). For those unaware, Pimpinela Escarlata is known for his flamboyant and charismatic gender-bending persona. He has carved out a unique niche in the world of Lucha Libre as an “exótico” wrestler, but as I found out at this show, his fandom crossed multiple boundaries. In Lucha Libre, exóticos are a special category of wrestlers who perform in drag or adopt effeminate mannerisms and attire, blending camp and theatrics into a more traditional approach to the business. This role challenges conventional gender norms and adds a layer of performance art to the sport. The best comparison I can give to somebody unfamiliar – think of Goldust in 1996-1997 in WWF.
Psicosis Ryper is not the same man with a similar mask that wrestled for WCW, however he took the mantle over when the original was in WCW and later WWE. Despite the confusion that sometimes arises due to the shared name, Psicosis Ryper has established his own identity and legacy within the world of professional wrestling, continuing to entertain fans for decades. In many ways, he has had the mask longer, and is the real deal to many fans. This happens sometimes in Lucha Libre, a character will occasionally be passed down to a relative or another wrestler, and generally fans are pretty accepting of it. In America, they tried something similar with “Fake Razor” and “fake Diesel” in WWF after the real deals jumped ship, but it never took off. It has become a trend you only really see in Lucha
Without Further ramblings from me, here are the results and a rundown of this show!
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The Card:
KCXW / Martinez Entertainment Lucha Libe Mexicana (joint production)
5-19-24
Kansas City KS, at Soccer Nation
- Three Way Tag Team Match – Captain Shabam and The Guapo Gato Defeated the teams of “All Slay” Angel Shay and Charlie Graham and Jose and Duane
- Three way match – Zavian Zamora Defeated Juventud Aerea and Angel Rebelde Jr.
- Singles – “Big” Clay Huna Defeated Sykawtic
- Tag match – El Diablo and Payasito Tilin Defeated Chancla Violence (Bruiserdor Violencia Y Angel De Paz)
- Tag Match – Epydemius Jr. and Pimpinela Escarlata Defeated Psicosis Ryper and Calibus
DISCLAIMER:
I make it a point to cover most, if not all, of the matches and provide reports on what happened, along with any significance they may have to ongoing feuds. You might think some of my opinions are dumb, or the way I review things is dumb, and that’s OK! Diversity in preferences is what makes wrestling so great. I strive to maintain a positive outlook because there’s already enough negativity in the wrestling community (in my view), and we can all contribute to making it better. However, it doesn’t mean I won’t offer opinions or criticisms when warranted. Let’s cut the B.S. and, as the old saying goes, “Just enjoy Wrestling!”
My Thoughts:
It’s been a long time since KCXW fans have seen Captain Shabam in action! He brought a buddy along named El Guapo Gato that was new to me but may have popped up before. Gato had all of the mannerisms of a cat down so much that I almost instinctively tried to hide my open drink cup from his view as to not get knocked over. These masked men came up against two groups of KCXW wrestlers – the teams of “All Slay” Angel Shay and Charlie Graham as well as XWC students Duane and Jose. The odds-on fan-favorites were likely Shay and Graham, but you can never count out two young up-starts starving for a huge win.
The first half of the match was dominated by Shay and Graham until Shabam and Gato started to really pick up the pace towards the end of the match. Some highlights definitely included Duane coming up against El Guapo Gato, exchanging high-flying moves and Angel hitting her big moonsault. Sadly, Jose finally succumbed to Gato’s “smooth as Satin” moves, and the masked men secured the big win. It was an impressive showing all around, and with Duane and Jose being trainees and Charlie just recently graduating, they all did a hell of a job. I think the fans in attendance were initially not so sure about some of the competitors in this match, being local guys, but they definitely came around by the end.
This match was full of firsts for me, as I was not familiar with any of the three men featured. Now that I’ve seen them all, I hope they come back through here soon! Zavian Zamora, in some ways, reminds me a lot of a young AJ Styles with his athleticism and willingness to take some big risks such as a big Tope con Giro that he launched onto both of his opponents more-or-less sealing the deal for his win. Juventud Aerea has apparently wrestled in Impact Wrestling and GCW in the past, and I need to check that out and keep an eye out for him in the future. Aerea looked like he was putting together all of the building blocks for a big win at one point, only to sadly take that big hit Zamora, allowing him to finish of Rebelde.
As far as I could tell Rebelde Jr. was the youngest man in the ring (but who can tell when wearing a mask!) and did a hell of a job. He took a lot of risks, some that sadly did not pay off, such as an attempt at a big top-rope crossbody that was reversed by Zamora. Perhaps due to his lineage, he had an old-school vibe and style that I quite enjoyed. Not enough people wear capes to the ring, I want more dudes decked out like classic luchadores like El Santo and Blue Demon! It was a great match, the crowd was energetic, and everyone had a blast.
Fresh from graduation was Sykawtic, one of the most unorthodox wrestlers in this entire area, and I don’t say that lightly. Not only does he move around in a serpentine manner that likely freaks out his opponents, but he pulls off some pretty impressive moves considering he actually only has one arm! This led to a great spot where his opponent, “Big” Clay Huna, went for what I assume was going to be a whip of some sort, only to pull a prosthesis ff for his trouble. There was a moment where it looked like Sykawtic was going to attempt to hit Huna with his arm, only to have the referee pull it out of his hand. I call shenanigans as the rule explicitly says “foreign object”, and Sykawtic‘s arm is clearly part of his body, so I don’t see the problem! With Danhausen getting away with using teeth, or Dan the dad with a belt, this seems selective!
“Big” Clay Huna is a recent fave of mine since I’ve started attending KCXW events – he has an infectious energy and hypes the crowd up no matter what he does. Sykawtic put up a good fight, but he was really no match for the experience of a former Season of Excellence tournament winner such as Huna. Once he got over the abject terror of what he likely assumed was the act of ripping a man’s arm off clean, he regrouped and was able to dominate the tail end of the match. A solid win for “Big” Clay Huna.
Next up was the unlikely pairing of KCXW’s “The Aztec Demon from the year 3000” El Diablo and Payasito Tilin going two-on-two against Chancla Violence (Violencia Y Paz). This was my first time seeing Tilin, and I cannot express how entertaining that dude is. From his Super-Mario themed ring attire to simple things like pulling his yarn hair back in a ponytail when the match got serious, the guy exudes fun at every turn. To be paired up with a high-flying time traveler that wields his body like the perfect aerial weapon, it meant that under the right circumstances they could be unstoppable.
Sure, Buiserdor Violencia is a huge mountain of a man, but both he and Angel de Paz were too wrapped up at trying to intimidate the children in the crowd and figure out ways to cheat than actually wrestle. They slowed the match down for an insane amount of time right off the bat bickering, and constantly wanted time outs. The fans were going absolutely wild when they got their comeuppance with Tilin’s insane top rope splash, one that I was not able to get a picture of, and that sweet 1-2-3! Chancla Violence has to pack up and head back into the deepest reaches of Kansas with a big “L” their record once again, better luck next time boys!
The main event for the evening was a wild tag team bout between Epydemius Jr. and Pimpinela Escarlata versus Psicosis Ryper and Calibus. Before the match really got started Pimpinela Escarlata was presented with an award by Kike Morales, and unfortunately my grasp of poorly retained high-school level Spanish did not allow me to fully understand what was happening. Once the rudos came out, all hell broke loose as Pimpinela ran wild throughout the arena kissing fans and his adversaries alike.
The referee even turned heel for a while trying to get a lid on Pimpi’s explosive charisma. If you have not experienced the insanity of a Pimpinela match, I’d recommend trying to find his match against Effy in GCW from a few years back, it’s a perfect representation of what to expect, and it really shows how talented he is even today. He had that crowd eating from the palm of his hand, and he was getting something akin to a John Cena pop in that sweltering soccer field. I’ll post a video below where you can hear how loud the “Pimpi! Pimpi! Pimpi!” chants were. If I’m not mistaken Pimpinela is around 55 years old, so the fact that he can still move around really well and do some moves is impressive, and having this be somewhat of a brawl really helped make this match very exciting and unpredictable.
I loved seeing Psicosis in action and Calibus and Epydemius Jr made great first impressions on me. Like with some of the other guys on this tour, I will have to start following their work more and hope for a return later in the year. When it was all said and done, Pimpinela had to resort to a little bit of crime to win this match and rolled up Psicosis after a cleverly placed low-blow. The crowd erupted once again into deafening “Pimpi!” chants again and that was all she wrote. This was a great match and something that felt entirely new to me as a wrestling fan. Sure, I’ve been in the crowd for big brawls, but with the different fans I’m not used to, and the cultural differences made this a great experience.
Shout out to the little boy that was always getting super excited for matches and wrestling his teddy bear during the show, at one point Epydemius Jr used him as a weapon, which I’m sure made his night.
In Conclusion:
I will definitely do another show from this company when they come back into town. I already attend KCXW matches, and if this continues to be a long-term partnership between them and Martinez Entertainment Lucha Libre Mexicana, they just made a new fan. Seeing any wrestling legend is awesome, but one has to really respect the likes of Pimpinela Escarlata as he really broke barriers down alongside other exoticos such as May Flowers, Mamba, Cassandro and Maximo, making a group of people notorious for not being very open minded to social issues (wrestling fans) in a culture that usually aren’t receptive to LGBTQ stuff (even if it’s in character), and became a hero to millions. Great stuff all around.
Videos:
[…] NOTE: For my full review of this show CLICK HERE […]