MLJ: 2015 Volador, Jr! Wrestler of the Year? Still Sort of Crummy? 4: Volador Jr. vs Último Guerrero

Aired: 2015-02-28
Taped: 2015-02-24 @ Arena México
Volador Jr. vs Último Guerrero

This was an interesting match with a few wrinkles you don't usually see in an Ultimo Guerrero singles, but that was ultimately flawed. I think it was a fairly good showing for both wrestlers, despite the flaws, especially compared to the singles with Bucanero, which was more balls to the wall action but ended up meaning a lot less than this did.

The biggest problem with the match was the end of the primera. Volador was going over. Because Volador was going over (and I'd assume he was going over to help build him up for his Leyenda main event, but it's CMLL so who the hell knows) and Ultimo Guerrero is a very savvy wrestler who understands how to keep his heat, sometimes to the detriment of matches,
there had to be some BS. Here the BS came in the form of UG (who had carried the whole caida after taking an early advantage) getting DQ'd at the end of the primera for stomping repeatedly in the corner. Now, the stomps looked good, but the camera didn't catch the ref admonishing Guerrero and frankly there just wasn't enough of them, so it all came off as very disjointed. The moment came after the stomps as well, as he was going for the Senton de la Muerte in the corner and ended up hanging, upside-down, in limbo, as the ref pulled Volador out of the fire to raise his hand.

The moment was redeemed immediately thereafter, at least to an extent, as UG went right back for the move again to start the segunda. That's the sort of clever usage of the two out of three falls format you don't see a lot and I would have actually, for once, been happy if the segunda pinfall happened immediately like that. It sort of reminded me of the Rick Rude ironman match where he hit a top rope move, drawing a DQ in Watts' WCW, only to immediately get a pinfall thanks to the move that had gotten him DQ'd. This wasn't quite the same, but I still thought it was interesting. In fact, I would have expected an immediate pin in a UG singles match, which are generally known for short segundas. Here, they went around with it a bit, staging the sort of comeback that's only possible in a match where the rudo is DQ'd in the primera but maintains the advantage. It was sudden, with a whip reversal and a couple of superkicks, but I can let it go as UG seemed to be playing with him too much.

The finish leads me to the second problem with the match. There was something like five to seven ducked clotheslines. It went from being frustrating, to feeling clever (at this moment, actually, as Volador ducks one, maybe the third or fourth in the match at this point, but Guerrero is ready for him, does a pick up/drop down and locks in a sub), to being way over the top. I don't get how two guys who are so experienced couldn't figure out more ways to transition from one spot to the next. The third problem would be that there was just too much jumping up in the tercera. Volador was the main culprit. He went from laying to leaping to the top rope to counter maybe three times and that was probably two too many. It was a good attempt at selling out of him but he shot himself in the foot in the name of getting stuff in and really, you can't do that against Ultimo Guerrero or you start to babyface him a bit.

I thought Guerrero looked good in general. He really portrays himself as a power wrestler but not an outright gimmicky one in a way that's made him stand out over the years. I think that, the bandit attitude (and yeah, the cool mask), were what kept him as a top level player for so long. He feels like he belongs in ways a guy like Jon Anderson or Marco or even Thunder never do but he really is able to be distinct in what he does. The problem is that he can be lazy, either in execution or, more often, in design.

And then sometimes he can do something like this (or change his usual segunda structure around) and surprise you:

I wish the finish had been a little hotter. The jumping up hurt it and it came on yet another ducked CL. All in all, this was one of the stronger Guerrero singles performances I've seen in the last few years and Volador matched up against him better than he had Bucenaro a month previous.