Segunda Caida: MLJ: 2010: A Garza Odyssey 21: Héctor Garza, Terrible, Texano Jr. vs La Máscara, Máximo, Volador Jr.

Taped 2010-06-04 @ Arena México
Héctor Garza, Terrible, Texano Jr. vs La Máscara, Máximo, Volador Jr.

5:16 in

http://youtu.be/9WmEfVHzI8c

http://youtu.be/LFvfbwcU61w

http://youtu.be/yksgFHVHT0c

Oh CMLL, you crazy, hapless diamond. So, this is the last show before Sin Salida (this was a Friday. That was a Sunday), which, as we remember, was the show CMLL was putting up against a pretty stacked Triplemania (LA Park vs La Parka over the name La Parka). The theme of the show was CMLL vs Invasores. Past Garza and the visiting Giant Bernard who was not actually affiliated with the group, I don't think there was one Invasor on this Friday card (it did have the Virus vs Valiente lightning match though). Nor did it have CMLL ally Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. Or... look, I'm boggled. There's just no build at all. It's maddening. A lot of the build in this specific match was because Latin Lover was at ringside, and that seemed thematically on point. Maybe he'd join Los Invasores. Maybe he'd be loyal to CMLL. Hector Garza, leader of the invaders, was right there after all. They had a history, and lo and behold, at the end of the match, they hugged and then Garza clocked him. Aha! He'd be a force at Sin Salida after all, right? No, not right. He didn't show up again until November! There HAS to be some crazy internal power struggle between the people who book the outer shows and the ones who book the Arena Mexico shows but I've got no idea. It all just hurts my head.

There was a match, though, and I really love the Texano, Terrible, Garza trios. They were made for each other and balanced one another very well. Moreover, by this point, they'd worked together a couple of times and were more in sync. This was your stereotypical modern CMLL trios. They teased a few feeling out exchanges. At a key moment, the rudos swarmed. There was an extended beatdown that carried into the segunda and lasted until a bit of miscommunication let the tecnicos take a quick fall. Then they reset in the tercera for some exchanges, tecnico shine, dive cut offs and pay offs, and the finish. I've seen this match dozens and dozens of times and I bet most people reading this have seen it more, and I don't care. It works. When done well, it's great. It's the bread and butter of modern CMLL and there's a reason why they go back to it. It's sort of the "southern tag" of CMLL and so long as the characters are good and the work is spirited, I could watch these all day. Maybe I'll feel differently after a few more years. I know so many of you have been drowning in this stuff week in and week out for a decade now, but I'm not there yet. It's not fresh to me anymore, but it's still a lot of fun, and in that regard, this match delivered.

Things of note: Kemonito came out on his own (or maybe right before Maximo) and had a little stuffed Kemonito with him. He got beaten up a little after the primera but we mostly missed it. They showed Latin Lover a lot. One of the best spots was during a comeback where it looked like Mascara was going to take out Garza either with a dive, but instead slid out, faked a punch, and shook Lover's hand.

I really miss the tecnico fans. Look at these guys in their pink shirts cheer for Volador. CMLL seems to have driven them away for the most part now and it's a shame.

As noted, TGT's tandem offense was great. They crotched Maximo and then dropkicked him out. They did this really neat toss out of the corner into the Garza kick.

That took out Mascara. Then they brutalized Volador with a catapult, kick to put him over Terrible's knees, moonsault from the ropes back in. It was hugely ouchworthy and the two tandem moves ended the fall.

The comeback was fun but not super memorable. There was miscommunication. Mascara hit a clumsy roll up. Again, I'm not necessarily in this for smoothness and beauty, so it's ok. The reset was fine with some fun stuff. I loved this Volador spot where he hit a rana and landed on his feet, driving Garza out, who then shadowpunched hilariously.

I don't love Volador or Mascara but at least with the former, I'm perfectly fine watching him get beaten up and then hitting some flashy things on the way out. On the other hand I alawys love Maximo/Terrible interaction, especially when they do spots like having Maximo leap off the apron, Terrible catch him and then crush his spine on the pole:

That was followed by Volador getting tossed and eating the best kick I've seen this week.

This all ended with Mascara getting a kick in on Commandante, to keep some heat, and then walking into a flip up double powerbomb and a splash to end the match (I'm not quite sure how since he wasn't the captain but whatever).

Post match they do the super-heated Latin Lover thing that didn't go anywhere and certainly didn't build to the big show on Sunday.