CMLL Workrate Round Up 7/6/14, 2/9/14, 1/19/14

So I got a lot of things on the back burner wrestling-wise, that should be bumped up to the front burner. I watch lucha more than any other kind of wrestling, but I got to the point where I realized I probably don't need to write about EVERY single lucha match that I watch. I watch plenty of CMLL. How many different things can I really write about a Corleone match or a blown up Shocker performance or a perfectly horrible Volador Jr. main event or a perfectly fine Maximo performance. So I'm gonna combine all the CMLL I watch into more concise write-ups, skipping over the stuff that doesn't need to be written about, writing up in depth the stuff that deserves it, dumping on the stuff that is notably horrible. This will leave more time for other cool stuff, give a little more variety to the blog, and avoid pointless burnout. C'est la vie!

1. Misterioso Jr., Metalico & Bobby Zavala vs. Rey Cometa, Oro Jr., Sagrado (7/6/14)

Great energy here and a nice little rudo showcase. The tecnicos kind of got steamrolled a bit but Misterioso is always a fun rudo when he gets the chance to be. Bobby Zavala has the same kind of unwitting douche charisma as Rush, and Metalico was a fun little bulldog going after Oro. Sagrado is almost always bad and this was no different. What a total long term dud. Every move always misses by just enough with him. Every moonsault gets slightly overshot, can't do painful looking submissions, and can't hold himself into others' submissions. Just a total zero. It was nice seeing Metalico punch him in the jaw a few times. We get several really nice dives in this, with one of them sending Zavala right into a mom and daughter and flattening them in the front row. It let to a incredibly smart (planned?) ending as Rey Cometa has an oh shit moment and is instantly down on his hands and knees apologizing to the women, and back in the ring moments later Sagrado gets submitted handing Cometa's team the loss. Metalico has developed a nice little undercard vicious streak, loved him ripping Oro down off the ropes in the middle of a moonsault attempt. Real fun stuff.

2. Euforia, Okumura & Kamaitachi vs. Guerrero Maya Jr., Atlantis & Delta (7/6/14)

Kamaitachi is showing himself to be a valuable add. Loved how hard he went after Delta in this. I've said it before but he seems like he really enjoys the lucha crowd atmosphere, really seems excited to be there, gets dumped on his head off a clothesline. Maya hits his nice dive past the turnbuckles, Euforia has a kind of lazy night for him, Okumura hits a mean missile dropkick to Delta's face for the win. Atlantis was having a very "Atlantis in a trios" performance until he went on a spirited run opposite Euforia that ended in a capable old man dive.

3. Lightning Match: Bobby Zavala vs. Super Halcon Jr. (2/9/14)

Well hey, this was pretty good! You remember Super Halcon from being the worst guy in the Busca de un Idolo. Here he looks pretty good! They work a tight and smart little 6 minute match with Halcon hitting a big flip dive and nice tope, and Zavala taking advantage of Halcon going for high risk stuff. For every big move Halcon did that worked, the next one would see him taking boots to the face or stomach. He crumpled fantastically on a moonsault-to-boots off the top, and Zavala nicely timed a dropkick to Halcon's stomach off a springboard. Zavala also hit a bunch of stiff clotheslines. Zavala has a sturdy build and does great clotheslines and shoulder blocks the way a guy with a sturdy build should.



4. Atlantis vs. Mr. Niebla (1/19/14)

Man, fun and spirited Niebla really makes you realize what a crap bag that can be in trios matches. I really dug this; both guys worked hard and this was a fun old guy sprint. Niebla took a bunch of big bumps off of simple Atlantis stuff, really whipping himself into the mat of dropkicks and quebradoras, getting crotched on the top turnbuckle violently in the tercera and taking a painful bump to the floor. It was real impressive how quickly both men worked, even though the match went a decent length. Really made things seem more immediate. Atlantis wins the first with a smooth roll up, Niebla wins the second while holding the ropes. The ropes holding turns out to be his undoing as he keeps trying to end it the same way in the third and keeps getting caught. Finish is odd and funny, as both men resort to cheating at the exact same moment, with Atlantis' cheating being more violent and thus more effective: Niebla swipes Atlantis mask off at the same time Atlantis punts him in the balls. Ballshot gets the win. Fans in the crowd yell things at Atlantis that get blurred out. These two matched up again a few months later and that match wasn't very good. This one is definitely worth watching.