2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

23. Ultimo Guerrero/Blue Panther v. Black Terry/Solar CMLL Sanchez 11/15

PAS: Such a pleasure to watch masters ply their craft. Very old school lucha match,  had some very pretty mat wrestling, but a little more spice then a straight maestro match. I had no idea Ultimo Guerrero had this in him, add this to his mask loss and we are looking at an out of nowhere classic year from I guy I have been totally indifferent for his whole career. He looked like he belong right there with all of these mat wizards, his stuff with Solar was just great. as was the section where he matched up with Black Terry. Panther is clearly inspired when he gets a chance to do this kind of thing, and he looked great. Loved the third fall, with the very cool Star variations and roll ups. Maestro match of the year for sure.

ER: Man this was cool. I realized while watching this that I've been watching Ultimo Guerrero since I started watching lucha some 15 years ago, and while I've historically not been as bearish on him as Phil, I have never in that time seen him do the things he does in this match. He's always been more of a brawler and a main event spot guy, I don't think I've ever seen him go very long on the mat, and I've definitely never seen him go on the mat like this. Here he gets to tie Solar and Terry in knots and make them look completely helpless. He looked GREAT. And don't think we're just praising him because it was a surprise seeing him like this, as most of the sweet transitions and subs he broke out would have gotten just as much praise if Navarro or Panther broke them out. My two favorites in the match are 1) this awesome drop toe hold he did to Solar while also holding his arm. Like he grabbed his arm for an Irish whip and then threw him right into a drop toe hold. So simple, so genius. And 2) in the tercera he locks on an impossible nasty surfboard on Terry that saw him Indian death locking the legs, while pressing his own legs into Terry's armpits. When he rolled over Terry ended up crucifixed and splayed apart like Hannibal Lecter's guard victim during his courthouse confinement. Panther has been having a wonderful year, getting to shine in a bunch of neat lightning matches and here gets to work tons of great stuff with Terry which is just a dream match up. All three falls get tons of time, and these guys all fill the time wonderfully. This was just so satisfying and so much fun.


2014 MASTER LIST
COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY