MLJ: Dragon Lee vs Virus/Casas 5: Dragon Lee, Pegasso, Rey Cometa vs Kamaitachi, Okumura, Virus

Aired: 2014-11-29
Taped: 2014-11-21 @ Arena México
Dragon Lee, Pegasso, Rey Cometa vs Kamaitachi, Okumura, Virus

Well, on paper, this looked to be a really fun match, and sort of the reason why I decided to go about this the way I did. I could have just done Dragon Lee vs Kamaitachi, but I think that's gotten enough play and frankly, I just wanted excuses to watch Casas and Virus matches while feeling DL out. I like the sides here a lot. Cometa and Pegasso aren't necessarily wrestlers I'd want to watch a lot of singles matches with but part of the joy of trios is that people play their roles and you don't necessarily need to be strong in all aspects or well-rounded in all aspects to contribute to a match.

The rudo side was a lot of fun. I just don't give Okumura enough credit. He's been in Mexico forever and works the style very well. He's more solid than dynamic but if I had to choose between solid but not dynamic or dynamic but not solid, I'd take the former anyday. He makes a good mentor for younger Japanese talent, though he did kick out a rudo quebadora in the segunda here which was very offputting. Just saying.

Structure-wise, this was just a fun trios match. A primera of feeling out with the tecnicos finessing a win, a segunda of matching up that led to the rudos catching the tecnicos, and then a tercera with just a little bit of heat before a comeback and the finishing barrage. I like matches with more heat, generally, but this was a showcase and that's certainly as fun as any sort of lucha.

I won't run through all of it, but there were little things I liked up and down. Cometa and Virus had a nice exchange, including Cometa trying to do a headscissors takedown from a grounded position and Virus just shrugging him off.

Aberrations in normal spots are hugely important to me because they add an air of logic to the proceedings. Sometimes, things that always work, shouldn't work. The finish was cute. The rudos had tripped the tecnicos from the outside and they paralleled it with Pegasso doing it to Virus which set up a Cometa roll up.

Dragon Lee and Kamaitachi were obviously paired up and I think this was relatively early in their feuding. It showed. They were spirited and exciting but pretty thoroughly sloppy. I've seen enough of their recent work to know that they've tightened things up. Here they get an A for effort and the out of control feel of some of their spots actually does convey a sense of immediacy but it's not like that was the intent. Even still by November, 2014, it was really a world of difference when Lee is up against someone who can contain and guide him like Casas or Virus.

My favorite spot of the tercera was Cometa going for a dive and Kamaitachi holding the ropes open from the outside so he'd fall through. I love stuff like that. Anyway, the finishing stretch was just as exciting as you'd expect and the match is probably worth watching just for it. I so, so much prefer when Lee uses the spider suplex as a finish instead of the double stomp. Just a good, fun trios. And very gif-worthy too: