Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 9/13/14

These matches were from the 8/29/14 Arena Mexico show.

1. Rush, Atlantis & Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Negro Casas, Rey Escorpion & Niebla Roja

Absolute nothing first two falls, and absolute blast third fall. First two falls are like 2 minutes. Rojo doesn't even take off his vest. Third fall we get some fun Casas/Atlantis interaction (odd that I just watched a big trios with them from January the other week, but don't remember them interacting at all the rest of the year. I just happened to see them on opposite sides in matches 7 months apart, in the same week), with Casas concurrently playing stooging rudo opposite Atlantis and fiery tecnico opposite Rush. One minute he's stumbling away on his knees after a quebradora, and the next he's firing up the crowd by kicking Rush. Finish is ridiculous and hilarious as Rush gets into it with the ref and while he's arguing chest to chest, Casas reaches through the refs legs, grabbing Rush's foot and forcing it to kick the ref in the balls for the DQ win. Totally absurd. Awesome.



2. Cavernario, Mr. Niebla & Felino vs. Mascara Dorada, Valiente & Rey Cometa

It's funny because if you only watched the Lucha Azteca program, you would have no idea the kind of year Cavernario is having (and really not even know who Cometa is). And this was a really fun match so hopefully these guys make Azteca more often. It's a pretty fun match up with a bunch of guys who you don't see against each other. Mascara Dorada is a complete loon and he really gets to show why here. Oh sure he'll take a high back drop bump and hit some keen headscissors and a smooth flip dive, but then in the tercera he hits a tope on Niebla that practically made me spit out my drink. Dorada gets a full head of steam and hits Niebla while he's completely vertically upside down. They both slam into the barricade and Dorada practically brainbusters himself. I love Dorada. Niebla works smartly with the fliers, brushing off attacks when appropriate (Cometa hits a light dive on him, so he doesn't sell it much, but then moments later gets slammed by a Valiente dive which takes him down). Cavernario got to show off here, kissing a gal in the crowd and then flipping over the barricade into the front row to sell a big dive. A couple of the falls end by ball shot DQs so I can't call this a MOTY, but this was the perfect kind of fun on a groggy Sunday morning.

3. La Sombra vs. Ultimo Guerrero for the CMLL Universal Title

I hate that going into big CMLL main events you always just expect them to be bad. This wasn't bad, but it was disappointing as both of them could have figured out smarter ways to do all of the stuff they did in this match. The thing that bugged me the most was UG popping up to hit his finisher in the 3rd, after taking a move that caused him to be pinned in the 1st. He took La Sombra's running double knees to lose the 1st, but then apparently the move barely damages him in the 3rd. Awful. The match finished with him taking the knees, Sombra going up top to hit a moonsault to polish him off, and UG just jumping up to hit the Guerrero Special. That's just lazy. The match overall wasn't bad as both guys looked good, they just shot the move psychology full of holes. I even had higher hopes as we started with some amusing exhibitiony mat work which usually doesn't happen when the main event is going to turn into a your move/my move affair. We never really got to a traditional awful CMLL ym/mm section, as the move trading in the 3rd made sense. But man what a stupid ending.