MLJ: Atlantida Rising 14: Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Lizmark Sr. vs Olímpico, Pierroth, Último Guerrero

aired 2006-07-22
taped 2006-07-16 @ Arena Coliseo
Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Lizmark Sr. vs Olímpico, Pierroth, Último Guerrero

I've worked on my context over time. I know way more about lucha than I did six months ago. I know way more about the people in this match. I know way more about CMLL in 2006. Etc. I'm still not watching this in full context. I sort of get the impression that Lizmark, Sr. showing up in a match in 2006 would make most people, in the moment, groan heavily. For me, though, it was a positive surprise because he's sort of a fresh and legendary face, and a good counter to Pierroth. Whether it be good or bad, it'd be a slightly different element at least. Really, Pierroth too, even though I hadn't been too impressed the last time I saw him, which was a year or two later, admittedly. I like the fact that he somehow ended up with the late era Paul Jones gimmick (with the PR twist) as the Commandante.

The match was pretty straightforward. A solid rudo beatdown, with UG, pissed off from his title loss, ambushing Caras as he came out, and Olimpico hiding behind the stage and really ambushing Wagner as he entered. UG was on fire, fighting with the crowd over a sign, going right after Caras' mask, taking it off repeatedly when the ref couldn't see it, just looking like a beast. Pierroth made himself useful by hitting Wagner a few times with his own belt. They finished the tecnicos off with a couple of submissions. Between falls, they kept on Caras while Wagner posed with a fan and a sign in the crowd. What a dick. The segunda kept the beatdown going. I do quite like how in lucha, you can just pick up your opponent and wait until your partner comes over and hits him. Sometimes it gets amusingly awkward as no one's paying attention or in position. GdI variation time as first they hit the leaping body splash (Olimpico version) on Caras and then after UG's catapult, Olimpico hit this awesome running  somersault senton on him as he's being held in the post-catapult position. It looked way better than Tarzan Boy's legdrop.

The comeback came when they went for the body splash again (after the huddle, those overconfident Guerreros), and Caras sidestepped it. Fairly fiery comeback with Wagner posing a lot and kicking the crap out of Olimpico after he ripped up the sign from before. Tecnicos took it with a Wagner power bomb and a really-nice-for-his-age somersault senton followed by a rana from Lizmark onto Olimpico. Tercera was back and forth with some stalling to keep UG and Caras apart, a pose off that was sort of lame, Wagner being Wagner, including hitting his big tope con giro and finally Caras almost hitting the body press on UG only to get fouled by a desperate rudo for the DQ from ref #2 after ref #1 counted the pin. This set up the mano a mano match the following week. Perfectly fine lucha trios match.

I was definitely glad to see Olimpico back. He had been out with an injury apparently and his absence had been felt. I think in some ways he's everything I wanted Marco to be, though he does have the advantage of being a rudo which means he doesn't have to hit as many contrived aerial moves and can be more of an ass in general. He did have a great mix of size, presence, personality, and athleticism, though. For instance, he'll have a great stooging moment of teasing a handshake and forcing a hug to get a cheapshot in one moment, and then eat a big monkey flip or catch a dive the next. He had a ton of zing and agility moving around the ring during sequences but was still quite good at working the crowd and getting in his taunts.

Dos Caras felt almost exactly the opposite. He had the size and a sort of charisma, but it felt like he learned it out of a book or something. He'd do these pose offs that were stiff and empty. Really that summed up his crowd interaction in general. You'd get a spark now and again but most of the time it just felt robotic. There was a definite sense of physical awkwardness in his movements, too. I had the impression when he went to WWE that there really wasn't a buzz to him at all and I can see why. Still, up soon is his singles match with UG, so we'll see what he did there. I know that he turned into a wrestler I quite often like and at the point of writing this, right after his release from wWE, I'm itching to see him back in CMLL. I just don't think he made that transformation in 2006.

On the absolute other end of the charisma scale was Wagner.  I thought he was just an amazing force the first time I saw him. Now that I've seen more of him though, I think a little bit goes a long way. He had a tendency to make whatever match he was in seem less serious and more cartoony in a way that probably worked extremely well with the live crowd but hasn't aged well. It's the stooging when getting hit, or how he focused more on pointing out a sign than helping his partner. It's posing for three times too long before hitting a dive and making his opponent look like an idiot. The first time you see it and how engaged the crowd was, it seemed great. The third or fourth time, it starts to wear thin. I'm still excited when that music hits in a match I'm watching, but the cracks show up very quickly with him, even if they don't completely mar his performances.

Like I said, another fun match and one that was pretty effective in setting up a singles too.