MLJ: Barbaro Cavernario Spotlight 2: Leo, Metatrón, Stigma vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Bárbaro Cavernario, Skándalo

Aired 2012-09-22
taped 2012-09-18 @ Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
Leo, Metatrón, Stigma vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Bárbaro Cavernario, Skándalo

The first Cavernario trios that we have online was only a few weeks after the last match. Stigma I've seen before but I'm not very familar with Metatron or Leo. They're mid-to-bottom of the card tecnicos that get more play regionally than in Arena Mexico, from as best as I can tell. Cavernario took Leo's mask back in July of 2012. Arkangel de la Muerte we've seen before and  Skandalo (who has a pretty crazy look) is his stablemate of Los Guerreros Taureg which was a spin off of Pandilla Guerrera which was the Guerreros del Infierno sub-group, so it all ties together, somehow. Stigma and Skandalo are brothers, which is always fun.

This was a perfectly fine mid-card match (of a card which had a title match between Olimpico and Diamante and Prince Devitt in the main event trios), though it didn't have the sort of snap I like in comebacks and there were some definite moments of awkardness that you kind of expect more out of the younger and lower-card wrestlers. It was partially made up for by everyone working hard and a couple of really big spots. Skandalo and Leo began with a decent effort at mat work, but one that never really got past collaborative to competitive and could have been smoother. Arkangel showed tons of character against Stigma, who eventually got the better of him, right until he sent both Arkangel and Skandalo out with a headscissors/armdrag combo and went for a dive. They caught him and punished him on the floor, which was a great cut off spot to end the tecnico shine sequence and one that I wish we saw more often. 

From there the beat down was in full effect and Cavernario worked well with his partners for it. They had some fun tandem offense including pulling the legs of Leo apart so that Arkangel could drop a second rope elbow, and did a good job of using distraction and diversions to keep on top of the fresh tecnicos whenever they entered. the finish was a nutty alley oop out past a power bomb position and over the shoulders on poor Leo, who when he was in mid air, fell prey to a top rope Cavernario dropkick. Great looking spot. 

The beat down continued into the segunda, including Cavernario charging over people on the outside and more diversions and cut offs on the fresher tecnicos upon entry. Eventually Cavernario would miss a corner splash and the tecnicos would storm back, both in and out of the ring. It felt more disjointed than wild but again, the effort was there. This ended with Cavernario taking a rana through the ropes, and then eating a massive and beautiful step up inside-out tope con hilo by Stigma, and Metatron and Leo hitting their finishers within the ring. 

The tecera was mostly a reset with the pairings getting to work each other again. Some of the what stood out was Stigma's nice little rope-draped sell of a shot, Cavernario's really cool clothesline-into-a-backbreaker where he just got his knee forward as his opponent falls, Stigma's contrived but entertaining flippy offense against Skandalo and Cavernario, and the tiger driver that he finished Cavernario off with. Stigma looked pretty impressive out of the tecnicos, enough so that I want to go back and watch his title match against Virus from this year. They ended it with a weird video cut: the tecnicos had things under control but a distraction allowed the eliminated Cavernario to slip back in to foul, though we never really got to see it clearly.

Certainly another good showing from Cavernario, especially acting as a base for Stigma, working well with his partners, and bringing a great intensity to the beat down. I think, if anything, he works better in a trios setting because he doesn't have to carry the matwork (which isn't a matter of talent but character) as much and can fit into a broader ebb and flow. I'm looking forward to seeing more of his development into 2013.