MLJ: 2015 Volador, Jr! Wrestler of the Year? Still Sort of Crummy? 3: Euforia, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero © vs Mistico, Valiente, Volador Jr. for the CMLL World Trios Championship

Aired: 2015-02-21
Taped: 2015-02-13 @ Arena México
Euforia, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero © vs Mistico, Valiente, Volador Jr. for the CMLL World Trios Championship

This was a tough one. Normally, I'd have watched the 2-3 matches in the build to this one and really get a sense of things. I just don't want to spend a month watching these matches though. I have other things to watch. I half thought I'd do a Kraneo trios today and then two of the matches to set this up but that'd mean a second week of things before I even got to this. I'll just for the highlights instead.

This was a trios title match with the new, assumedly quite marketable Sky Team getting the big push. Granted, I don't get why they were all in Ingobernables black. That sort of defeated the purpose of appealing to kids. Los Guerreros Laguernos had them since the previous March (almost a year) and had beaten Valiente and Mistico (along with Mascara Dorada) to get them. Volador, Jr. had actually never held them before. I'm not saying that the outcome was really not a big question coming in, but it sort of wasn't. That said, this match had a ton of time, and for the most part was something I'd go so far as to call borderline great.

The primera started with Guerrero vs Valiente and they did a really strong job setting the mood of a title match. There was a real sense of feeling out here, as well as struggle, and frankly, I was surprised. I know UG's had some good indy showings in the last year when it came to this sort of thing, but it's some of the best title match primera caida work I've seen out of him. I liked Volador vs Euforia less, with Volador putting him in position more and having more of a sense of moving on to the next spot, which I didn't get nearly as much with the other pairings. They ran through said pairings before UG swarmed and by doing so and giving things time, it all felt weighty. That's so, so important in a title match and CMLL Gets it wrong more often than they get it right (Though I feel they've been better about it lately. That might just be a selection of what I've watched though). It ended with this silly but still awesome UG spot (And I'm stealing cubs' gif on this one because I actually found his review of this:

Again the segunda got just enough time to go over the line between not mattering and mattering and it was hugely appreciated. Too many of these modern title matches have a flash pin out of nowhere after thirty-five seconds to even things. This had a real comeback. It meandered for a moment but got me back too. There were two GDI alley oops first including a twisting one on the floor and then the comeback came with a dodge after a whip and the sky team diving (Valiente's fireplug tope, Mistico's huge shooting star press, and then Volador finishing things up). They meandered back into the ring after that, but it was to hit the superkick, backcracker, Valiente Special combo which really worked for me once I realized what they were going for. Could have used another minute but that's almost always the case.

They reset with a ton of time left in the match for the tercera so I was a little worried but they delivered. I'd call Ultimo Guerrero both the star and the biggest perpetrator of the tercera as he hit some great power stuff, had an awesome sense of weariness in his selling, and was generally in the right place at the right time all the time, including an amazingly timed corner knee out bump to help set up the finishing stretch, but he also fought against the odds a little too much for a rudo and took just a bit too much which meant that I was inclined to cheer for him, not the response you want in a match that's there to set up your tecnico superstars.

Volador hit his stuff and was a cog in this high spot machine. My only real complaint about his work here past him draging down the primera matwork a bit was that he, more than anyone, recovered too soon to get the next spot in. Usually that's not a huge issue in a trios match because, by its nature, guys sell and take a breather so that the next person could hit a spot, but he took some crazy, crazy things and recovered way too soon. Maybe it's because I'm watching him with a closer eye, but he seemed the one to do it the most. There were a few two-count kickouts that I wish had been broken up by a partner, but more often than not, they did that, protecting everyone's moves while still maintaining a hugely exciting bunch of nearfalls.

If you haven't seen this one yet and like high-octane title matches, you should go out of your way for it.