MLJ: Rush vs Negro Casas 2: Atlantis, La Máscara, Rush vs Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Shocker

CMLL on Fox Sports (Mexico): 2014-04-12
taped 2014-04-04 @ Arena México
Atlantis, La Máscara, Rush vs Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Shocker

Hey, I've seen this match before. So, after doing the Rush vs Shocker run, I wanted to take a look at the next Shocker match. This was back a few months ago, when I REALLY didn't know what I was talking about. I took a look at this, saw how much Shocker's hair had already grown back relative to how short it usually is, and got really confused if this was in fact post-hair match. I went to ask good-friend-of-the-blog Kris Zellner and then felt like an idiot when the date was in fact accurate. What can I say, Shocker's hair restoration powers are pretty damn guapo. 1000% Guapo even.

Moving on, this was, as I stated, right after the hair match, and it's really a lot of fun. For one thing, as the year went on, there were less and less chances to see Rush (and to a lesser extent Mascara) in a match where he was at least arguably the tecnico. We're getting into the Onset of the Ingobernales slowly but surely and to see two of them teaming with the eternal idol of the children (except for, you know, that long rudo run we just covered) Atlantis, was a little jarring, but in a good way. So, there was that. More so, though, this thing was just more heated than a throwaway Arena Mexico TV match should be. Both Niebla and Atlantis brought far more to the table than I was expecting, Casas vs Rush was Casas vs Rush, and Shocker had a fire lit under him after the hair match, as you'd expect.

Case in point, he did something pretty rare. We see ambushes happen all the time before all three combatants on one side make it out. This was the opposite. The rudos came out after the tecnicos and La Pesta Negra came out after Shocker, but before they arrived, he launched himself right at Rush. That was the spirit of the primera. Sometimes those who dare, succeed, and when his partners arrived, they really took over. That earned them the primera, making this a B-A-B sort of match.

It was a little more complicated than that, though. Here's why. The crowd was split on this match, more so than what would come before. Atlantis being in there gave the tecnicos more of a tecnico feel. Rush and Mascara almost seemed subdued, like they were in their with their dad and they could only be dicks when he wasn't looking. More than that, the heat in the primera was very much on Atlantis, which made the comeback more heated and sympathetic. The crowd still loved the rudos here though, so they got to have a comeback of their own leading to the finish after the tecnicos took over in the second fall and carried the momentum (with a slight reset here or there) in to the tercera.

The actual transitions were fun. The rudos took the primera with fireman carry set ups and top rope moves from Shocker (elbow) and Niebla (amazing senton). They did it one and then the other which was a shame because if they hit at the same time, it would have been even better. Tecnicos came back with this great running Quebradora from Atlantis. Usually the guy comes to you but this time, he ducked a double clothesline and hit it, while his partners swarmed back in. Mascara and Rush then hit tandem corner dropkicks. Add in an Atlantis roll up and that was the fall. The tercera had some good stuff including a pretty good Mascara/Shocker exchange and a very good Casas/Rush one, including some crowd brawling, but the key turning point was a callback, when Mascara and rush were going for the corner dropkicks again and the rudos burst out of the corner to meet them head on and pick up some quick pins. Fun stuff, and once again, a way to change things up.

Atlantis was more than effective in his role as a punching back, but it was Niebla who really impressed. You always get the sense he's very talented and extremely charismatic, but he usually tosses a whole chunk of his bullshit into matches to drag them down. When paired with Felino, that becomes massive overkill, as it does when he's in a more serious match instead. Here, he seemed happy to be working with Atlantis. From what I understand, he's a guy who always wanted a big apuestas match in the back half of his career and he never got it. No matter the reason, he was punching and chopping Atlantis all around the ring and ringside area, laying in a few choice headbutts and a great slam onto the guardrail too. Late in the match, they had a more measured exchange, one that showed Atlantis' age, but it was followed by a missed dropkick, Niebla doing his ridiculous over spit act and then paying for it by getting dropkicked out of the ring and one tope suicida later, out of the match.

Good stuff with Shocker getting a bit of revenge, Niebla looking maybe as good as I've seen him in 2013-2014 and Atlantis giving Rush and Mascara a nice tecnico sheen.