2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

12. Arkangel De La Muerte v. Gallo CMLL 6/24

PAS: Such a treat to watch Arkangel get some time to stretch out and have a long singles match. He is 48 years old and what was really surprising is how he is still so athletically impressive. A lot of older luchadores used technique, guile and performance to make up for not having as much pop, but Arkangel looks really great eating all of Gallo's offense and really threw an explosive looking tope. He also broke out two awesome looking moves I have never seen before, a Tapitia where he springboards Gallo into a flapjack, and evading a corner run by leaping onto Gallo's back into a backcracker. Gallo was fine, seemed to keep up in the mat sections and had a nice quebrada, but this was mainly a showcase for an all time great, and it was a hell of a showcase

ER: Arkangel!! This guy has been one of my absolute favorites since I started watching lucha some 15 years ago. He trains tons of guys, and most often gets put in the Finlay role of working undercard matches with young guys to guide them through stuff. He also gets matched up with foreigners a lot, which speaks a lot to his ability to tie together a decent match no matter the worker or language barrier. But he sadly doesn't get many singles matches to showcase all of his skills. It's always a blast watching him tear up fliers in trios, or masterminding entire sequences in a trios, but I honestly don't think I've seen a long singles match from him since that random Angel Azteca mask match popped up on Galavision a decade ago. And here he gets to show everybody what they've been missing out on all these years. Here he has no problem filling 20 minutes, even looking like he could easily fill twice that. His mat stuff is arguably the best in the promotion, and I die just knowing that he and Blue Panther have been in the same fed for almost 20 years and only matched up 5 times, none of them making tape. And the matches on paper all sound like all time classics. Last Christmas in Guadalajara saw Blue Panther and Solar vs. Arkangel and Negro Casas. How much money would you pay to see that!? I would plunk down $20 right now to watch that match. That match would headline the first Segunda Caida money mark show. In 2006 Blue Panther and Satanico went against Arkangel and Pierroth. Fuck you, wrestling. How many Dolph Ziggler/Kofi Kingston matches exist on tape? Why does wrestling torture us?!

Anyway, the mat stuff is great, the innovative  offense Phil mentioned is so cool you wonder how you've never seen it before. The slingshot Tapatia was a thing of beauty and would make a cool early fall finisher. Gallo is a larger guy than Arkangel but the move looked entirely plausible and Arkangel managed to throw him (with his legs) with a nice amount of force. The back cracker evasion will be stolen by every worker everywhere. Expect to get sick of it in one years' time, but do remember this first moment where it looked awesome. But even if you don't get that stuff you can still marvel at all the simple stuff Arkangel does better than almost anybody: The tight elbow drops, expertly getting into position for his opponent's offense, believable takedowns, keeping guys honest on drop downs, a brutal tope, a wicked bump over the top to the floor. Hardly ever a wasted movement from this guy, he really does work as the lucha Finlay. Go watch this now.


2014 MOTY MASTER LIST