2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

17. Blue Panther/Black Panther/Cachorro v. Felino/Puma/Tiger CMLL 3/24

PAS: I have really enjoyed all of the Casas v. Panther family feud matches, but this was the best. It is in Arena Puebla and they get a chance to stretch out and riff a bit more then they would in Arena Mexico. We get an awesome long matwork heavy opening fall, with Blue Panther and Puma ripping it up, and an awesome Felino v. Black Panther section. Felino has been mainly horeshit for so long it is great to see him actually strut his stuff, and Black Panther looks like he is going to be awesome. There is a cool meta story here as the Panthers dominate when it is wrestling based, while the Casas boys get the advantage when it gets a bit rougher. Third fall has a bunch of nifty near falls, a couple of awesome dives and a great finish. Just a high quality lucha trios which got me nostalgic for the past and excited for the future.

ER: So I can't decide if it's a great and magical thing when Felino hits the mat and busts ass for a whole match and shows that, yes, he is indeed still Felino; or instead a giant slap in the face for making me watch an armpit licking goober 95% of the time. Is it better to not know? No matter, because this match is awesome and Felino is awesome in it. Puma and Tiger have gotten real good over the last couple months with Tiger getting all bump crazy and now Puma getting a great mat showcase. Sometimes Panther can kind of go into Atlantis mode and just sorta run through some bare minimum spots and hang back in a 6 man. And then you get a match like this where he does everything that Blue Panther does and everything is okay. I probably would have thrown this match on if it ended after the primera, just because shit remember when CMLL gave you 9 minute primeras? I've seen so many damn 90 second opening falls that it's just maddening. There were so many nice little touches throughout this match, things like Tiger kicking the middle rope as Cachorro starts to get back in the ring, or Felino in-ring leaping to try and prevent a dive. Little things like that don't always happen, but thrown into a match that's already good it just bumps it up that much more.


2014 MASTER LIST