MLJ: Rush vs Hechicero

05/30/2015 @ Arena San Juan Pantitlan, Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal
Cara Lucha 1st Anniversary Show
Rush vs Hechicero

We'll round out the week with a couple of Black Terry Jr's taped matches. These were shared with me by my old friend Mark (Odessa Steps Magazine), who just launched the Winter Palace podcast https://winterpalacepodcast.squarespace.com/, which is worth checking out for a couple of reasons. I really love the 3-4 hour retrospective podcasts that are out there on the history of wrestling but this usually clocks in at under an hour, so it's much more easily digestible, and it generally runs the gamut of interests, between wrestling, soccer, hockey, comics, etc in a pretty swift digest form with good guests (Jeff Marek and Mike Sempervive to talk about Dusty for instance). I've shown up at the end for five minutes or so (no one wants to hear more of me, trust me; no one even wants to hear me that much, not even my wife and kids). Ideally, I'll be talking about some of these indy matches on the show at some point, thus the point of sharing, but I wanted to write up a couple this week.

At least in the circles I travel, this was one of the more exciting match-ups on paper this year. Save for some of the craziest fliers, Hechicero is one of the most fun luchadores in the world to watch. He straddles the line between contrived but dynamic indy offense and engrossing matwork with interesting holds. He'll even fly a bit and he's got a ton of attitude. There's something for everyone with him and it's never boring. I think sometimes he's a victim of excess and I think he does well in CMLL where he's constrained from his worst tendencies due to the nature of the structured matches. That doesn't mean it's not fun to watch him unload on the indies sometimes. Rush is, of course, Rush, and his intensity and charisma are always a blast to watch, whether he's in his natural habitat or not.

That said, I had some doubts about this match. Hechicero was working technico (de facto or otherwise) and that's not my favorite role for him given his body type and the way his athleticism leans. Rush may not always be entirely inclined to work his hardest in certain settings. Moreover, from the clips I saw, there didn't look to be a lot of coherence, which is a bigger issue for me than it is for some others. Thankfully, that was just the nature of the highlight reel and there was a surprising amount of meat and heat in this for a match that didn't go all that long.

That's not to say that it didn't break down into an extended back and forth, sort of like the last fall of a title match, after a reset, but there were moments of real heat. Moreover, Hechicero, while physically better as a rudo, is very good at being a local hero of sorts, and that played out here. It's easy to get behind any opponent of Rush and Hech is excellent at playing to the crowd and channeling their adoration. I think this was especially true in the finishing stretch when he was defiant in taking the best Rush to the point of forcing him to kick out his super finisher, which is something he only actually does a few times a year.

Past that, this had most of the big spots you'd expect, Hechicero's sliding splash to the floor and his twisting plancha, a belly to belly reversal off the top followed by a senton, a bunch of awesome kicks and dropkicks, and a few great submissions. If the initial heat got three or four more minutes before they switched it up, it would have went over the top. As it was, it was better than I was expecting coming in (though maybe not as good as I might have hoped when it was announced.). I'd call it a solid match with a fun setting. Hopefully they get a chance to go at it again, either here or on a bigger stage. It's worth checking out if you have a few bucks to dispose of.