My Lucha Journey: Rush vs Shocker Part 6: Marco Corleone, Máximo, Rush vs Felino, Negro Casas, Shocker

aired 2014-03-01
taped 2014-02-21 @ Arena México
Marco Corleone, Máximo, Rush vs Felino, Negro Casas, Shocker





There was a trios match with Shocker teaming with Ultimo Guerrero and Mr. Niebla right after the turn but I don't see it online. Therefore, this is the first 2014 rudo Shocker we have easily available. It fit well into the storyline since this was the match where Rush, who had just lost the Mexican National Trios belts to La Peste Negra, took out Negro Casas. Frankly, there's a lot going on here in the midst of some pretty fun, if sort of slight, trios wrestling.

I like La Tercia Sensacion quite a bit, now that I've seen more of them. They work very well as a trio, with each one playing his role. Maximo's flashy and can handle a lot of the brunt of the comedy work while also being spirited in comeback and able to take a beating when the rudos are in control. Marco is someone who I might not like in singles matches (I haven't seen enough to know) but that really serves a purpose in trios. He's a physical force that the other wrestlers have to work around in interesting ways, can hit a big move at any point to turn the match around, and holds up his end of the comedy shtick too. Rush is Rush.

The purpose of this match was twofold. First, it was one of Shocker's coming out parties as a rudo. He doesn't cheat heavily, but the change was pretty unmistakable past that. He walked out with his mask momentarily on in the entrance and went right after Rush, who had been brawling with Casas on the ramp. In general, he was pretty well protected during the match, not backing down from Marco, effectively trading strikes with Rush, and working well with his partners, including pairing with Felino to take a rather uneventful first fall where he submitted Maximo, whose kiss of death he even survived later on.

The second bit was eliminating Negro Casas from the immediate proceedings. Rush accomplished this deep into the second fall, after a number of heated exchanges between the two. Exchanges between Rush and Casas are almost undoubtedly the best thing in wrestling in 2014. Maybe the Shield/Wyatts matches would be in second place, but it'd be a far second. The speed, brutality, knowledge of each other, and sheer character that bleeds through make them can't miss wrestling, and the fans know it. There's ten effective seconds of each wrestler hyping the crowd up before almost every exchange. The injury was worked well. Rush caught Casas when both were on the apron, fighting with the post between them, by dragging Casas over the second turnbuckle and unloading. This set him up for Rush slamming his arm into the post. He then locked on a cross-armbreaker and refused to let go, pushing the ref away when he tried to break it. The Rudos took the victory in two straight falls but perhaps lost the war.

There were a lot of other moments to like in the match. Marco had enjoyable exchanges with Felino and Shocker, with a delayed punch spot with Felino standing out as both gross and kind of hilarious. Maximo and Marco got their dives in. There was one distracting cut which left us with different people in the ring and little explanation.

Post match, Rush gloated in his unmistakable fashion, even as Casas was stretchered out, selling like a king the whole way. Shocker fired back on the mic during a slow retreat, demanding a cabellera vs cabellera match. This time, now that he had turned on Rush and escalated things, he got his way. This was fun, with a very solid injury angle and served as a good outing for rudo Shocker but given its nature, it never really had a chance to get out of second gear.