CMLL on LATV Workrate Report, 10/8/11

1. Trueno/Bengala vs. Camorra/Zayko

Well...this wasn't that good. I don't really like the two rudos, but I can see Zayko being OK in a couple years. I don't think Camorra has been doing this for too long so I don't really expect much out of him and don't get much. He's your pretty standard newbie rudo, backcrackers and all. He bumps in really slow motion and is just boring. Zayko can at least bump to the outside off headscissors OK. Bengala is a guy I've seen a bunch and he regularly shows why he is right where he belongs, working paint-by-numbers openers at Arena Mexico. He never shows any emotion and there's rarely any flow to anything he does. It seems like before he does anything, he says to himself, "OK, now I have to do *this*". "OK, now I have to flip him over. OK, now I have to put on a surfboard." There's that delay. Trueno is a good tecnico and seems to have more potential than the others here, though he has a problem overshooting things. This was the definition of a skippable opener.



2. Goya Kong/Marcela/Ray vs. Amapola/La Seductora/Mima Shimoda:

Quick and fun women's match. Goya Kong is always a blast as the crowd always loves her and she uses her size well (big butt attacks, and an awesome "trust fall" senton where she just fell straight backwards onto an opponent), but also does really nice armdrags and has a very nice springboard arm drag that looks impressive. Marcela always looks great and is arguably the best luchadora in CMLL, with Amapola the being the other one I would argue for. This is great because they match up a few times and look great. Ray is a Tajiri student who I had never seen, but had some fun flying offense, nice rana, silly little dive off the apron. I really dug Shimoda's axe kick to a seated Ray. Fun popcorn match with not too much substance, but plenty of fun individual moments.



3. Angel de Plata/Metal Blanco/Palacio Negro vs. Cancerbero/Nosferatu/Raziel:

Some good moments, some stumbly moments, overall fairly decent. The rudos trio are kinda hard to pin down into a "quality of work" hierarchy. Every match I see, a different member of the group looks like the better worker. I think it's called the "Los Oficiales Conundrum". Cancerbero seems to get better every match, and Raziel is probably the most consistent. Nosferatu has impressed me before but has had a pretty bleh 2011. So I'd go Cancerbero, Raziel, Nosferatu. Nosferatu also doesn't do anything remotely like a vampire. He doesn't even have fangs on his mask as far as I can tell. Blanco can be fun when his spots are on, but he seemed just a *little* off in this one. And his knees and ankles hate him for not being able to enter a ring without doing a springboard flip while landing on his feet. I do like Blanco's springboard "crotch myself, then bounce off the middle rope back to the top rope and do a rana" spot. Palacio Negro seems to get some praise around the internet, and sometimes his spots are cool, but other times there is a hilariously awesome amount of set-up time. It's like when Chris Hero was working his "2001 JAPW throwback" gimmick and the NOAH fans were confused. Negro can't just do a rana to the guy on the floor, he has to bounce off the opposite ropes, roll over the top rope to the floor, spin around, then do a rana. That being said, his ranas always do look nice when he actually finally does them.



4. Blue Panther/Super Porky/Toscano vs. Ephesto/Euforia/Vangelis:

This was good, and quite frankly if it had been nothing but the two minutes of Panther/Ephesto matwork then I would've loved it just as much. Panther is having one helluva year, and my favorite part of it is all the different people he's worked. When Panther comes into the match against an opponent I haven't seen him work so far this year, it's always a really exciting moment, and it seems like he always gets a solid 2 minutes against a bunch of these guys. So far when looking back at the year, when you think of who so and so matched up best with, Panther's name is always the one that immediately comes up. Panther, Virus and Arkangel all can hang their hats on certain workers' "best 2 minutes" this year. I'm pretty sure this was Ephesto's best 2 minutes this year, and he's always good. Panther seems to work the mat different with every single person he works, doing things I've never seen him do before each and every time. Him slowly getting out of an Ephesto headscissors was maybe my favorite mat transition of the year. All the bridging back and forth and fighting for leverage just looked totally great.

Toscano was wearing some absolutely ridiculous jorts that just came off too desperate. I just don't know what to do with you Tarzan Boy. Dude has to be one of the lazier workers of the last 10 years, and it's annoying because when he tries then he can totally rock it. His 3rd fall performance here (once he did a Garza and removed the stupid pants) was awesome, with him whipping off a great rana and a great missle dropkick. The more I see Euforia the more I love him, just a big bumping rudo who allows tecnicos to shine. Vangelis always stands out since he's a power worker and usually the only power worker in a given match. Here he hits a cool spear through the ropes onto the rampway and a nice dive into Panther. Also of note was Blue Panther getting a hot tag and starting to undo his pants, threatening to remove his tights while poking fun at Toscano getting a cheap pop from the ladies. Blue Panther, ladies and gentleman: Best wrestler in the world, 2011?



5. Atlantis/Hijo Del Fantasma/Mascara vs. Mr. Niebla/Ultimo Guerrero/Volador Jr.:

Niebla hides on the rampway to start and blindside Atlantis after he makes it down the stairs and while all of this is fun while it lasts, I knew we weren't long for this world (match started with about 11 minutes left in the show). Rudos get DQ'd 2 straight falls in a row, first one for taking Atlantis' mask off, 2nd for Niebla just punting Atlantis in the balls right in front of the ref. Volador was awesome trying to roll up Atlantis immediately following the ball shot, as if nothing happened. The rudos get fun runs with Fantasma in the 2nd, with Ultimo leveling him with a shoulderblock (great bump by Fantasma), Fantasma and Ultimo work a lightning fast segment where Fantasma charged, got tossed to the top rop by Ultimo, Ultimo gets his arm kicked away (love that spot) and then Fantasma snaps off a rana. Volador has the same luck against him, with Fantasma nailing him with a big enziguiri. Niebla figures out the Fantasma riddle by just punching him in the face and it rules. Super short match, but enough fun moments for me to enjoy.