MLJ: Atlantida Rising 5: Blue Panther, Brazo de Plata, Virus vs Olímpico, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero

Aired 2006-05-06
Taped 2006-04-30 @ Arena Mexico
Blue Panther, Brazo de Plata, Virus vs Olímpico, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero

Ah, riches in the from of silver, of only the finest panther pelts of azure, and of, well, I suppose unless you're some sort of bond villain, viruses aren't really riches, but Virus absolutely is. This is one thing lucha will almost always have over all American wrestling save for maybe late WCW Syndi shows. There are a billion guys that work for CMLL and if watching in some sort of sequence, you'll suddenly go from a half dozen Mistico matches to THIS.

Let's run through the pros. I get to see a slightly younger Porky. I get to see Virus in a role I really haven't seen him in yet. I get to see more Blue Panther which is always a joy since I know I haven't scratched the tip of the iceberg on his work. Maybe most of all, I get to see the Guerreros in a situation where they're not against a young upstart in Mistico or a charismatic blowhard like Wagner, but instead against Porky, who is as babyface as babyface can be when it comes to the crowd's support.

There were absolutely some cool heel trappings with the Guerreros. They celebrated together and with the sections of the crowd that were behind them. They had flashy triple team offense. Atlantis was still over with parts of the crowd. Ultimo seemed over with other parts, and you had Rey and Tarzan Boy and Olimpico who all had a certain level of swagger. The big difference between them and far less effective (dare I say "cool") heels of a similar ilk is that they weren't afraid to show ass. I knew that Porky was beloved. I see how beloved he is now and in this match, I heard the crowd behind him. Even so, I didn't think for a second that the Guerreros weren't taking this match. That it ends with Ultimo getting literally squashed by his opposing captain was really surprising to me.

Porky was an interesting case here. He was super over and he was also able to do more things than now, eight years later. That's hardly surprising. It was a bit of a duel edged sword though. It meant that he went for some things that he doesn't now, some things that maybe he shouldn't. Currently, he's this force of gravity that people work with and around. Back then, when he tried to do more, some of it looked too collaborative. It was a transition time. That said, it was still fun to see Ultimo work with him, and it was nice to see some comedy in a Guerreros match in general, since there hasn't been much of that in what I've been seeing.

Virus and Panther were likewise a lot of fun. This match had an opening stretch of feeling out, unlike the last many Guerreros matches I saw. Ultimo got to work Porky. Rey and Panther did some solid, if too short, matwork, and Virus and Olimpico kicked out a frenetic bit of roperunning. The tercera ended with a revisiting of the match-ups and some dives, including Ultimo taking one from Porky, before the two captains faced off and Porky sat down on a sunset flip attempt for the win.

In general, the match felt fairly disposable but definitely enjoyable. Los Guerreros got to work with some different opponents and show off even more varied offense. There was a great backflip to powerbomb on Panther and a huge Olimpico springboard splash on Virus, who was being held up by his hands and legs. they did the alley-oop body splash on Porky and his selling of it almost made the match worth watching all by itself. Both Olimpico and Ultimo took crazy knee first flip bumps, Olimpico on a back body drop and Ultimo into the corner and out of the ring to set up Porky's dive. It is a testament that they were able to vary up what they did so much without losing the focus of the match. Weekly wrestling can really be a joy to watch, even when it's eight years old.