2014 Ongoing Match of the Year
36. Negro Navarro v. Rey Hechicero Caraluchas 12/25
PAS: Probably the match I was most looking forward to, and I while I enjoyed it tremendously, I can't deny I was a little disappointed. Both guys looked great, and there were some very impressive mat counters by both. Hechicero especially was inventing new ways to roll and spin Navarro into torture. Still much like the Navarro v. Virus match, this was a Navarro style match with Hechicero in the Solar role. Hechicero is a great Solar, but I would have rather seen Navarro in a Hechicero style match, mix up the matwork with a little more flash. Very good but it felt like the set up for a better revanche.
ER: Phil is right that this was worked as a Navarro/Solar match, with Hechicero as Solar, but damn if this wasn't the best Navarro/Solar style match I've seen in years. Solar is a legend obviously, and I always seek out any match he still turns up in. But damn is Hechicero great and a tough and maybe unfair guy to be compared to if you happen to be Solar (who as a luchador is also almost as old as my dad, and while my dad is decidedly a trusted small town dentist, he is not very athletic). I thought this was some of Navarro's best mat stuff ever, really twisting up Hechicero, and Hechicero is a great damn foil and agitator. Watching them work leverage holds all with their legs or arms was almost hypnotic, and played out like a tripped out version of some of the best Thatcher/Gulak stuff. All of Navarro's cool arm wringer leverage spots seemed very uncooperative in the best way possible. Sometimes doing this kind of intricate matwork you have a few "gotcha" spots where you see a guy willingly leaving his arm hanging out there because that's the next spot, but this was intricate yet rough. Navarro grabbing limbs, snapping them around and forcing limbs to violently work against each other. At one point Navarro does this awesome kick out I've never seen him or anybody do, where he grapevines Hechicero's leg both of his own, and yanks him off with a quick tug. Really made me do a "what the hell was that!?" rewind. Hechicero has real cool lift strength, I've referred to him as 0.7 Backlund in the past. Here he does that awesome old Backlund spot of lifting Navarro up with one arm after getting caught in an armbar, with Navarro clinging for life all the way up. Hechicero can go matches without using his freak strength , as opposed to working it into regular spots, so it's always a great "oh that's RIGHT" option when he unleashes it to break a hold. He's really great at keeping a bunch of tricks up his sleeve, really feels like the most complete worker presently going.
2014 MASTER LIST
Labels: 2014 Lucha, 2014 MOTY, Best Wrestling of 2014, Negro Navarro, Rey Hechicero
posted by Phil @ 12:17 AM
4 Comments:
I don't know what you're guys seeing in Navarro. Everything I've seen from him in '14 sucked, he brought down every match he was in. His llave never builds to anything... ever. Compare his matwork from 1st minute to the matwork from 15th or 20th minute, see any difference? There's no difference, it's all the same shit. It's all just one same timeline of scientific catching, and that's about it. It looks nifty, but has no purpose without escalation.
TLDR, Navarro is probably the most overrated world wide wrestler in the last 2-3 years, and I curse every dollar I threw at BTJr for Navarro. :p
Lucha matwork doesn't build in the same way "work a knee, put on a figure four" matwork builds. It is about two guys working to find an advantage and make someone submit. Navarro also definitely ramps up the force of his stuff near the end of a match, where it often gets more violent. A bummer you can't dig what he does, although I always support anyone willing to throw Black Terry Jr. some coin
I love how lucha matches will work a pin (fancy or not). There's much emphasis on getting those shoulders to the mat.
Phil, I know lucha pillars are different than the rest of the world, but look at the guys like Terry, Hechicero, Traumas, Virus, Panther, etc. There's clear escalation in their llaves, the holds get nastier and surlier, I just don't see it in Navarro's stuff, he's especially unbearable when working with Solar, who is better than him.
Chismo
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