MLJ: Chilanga Mask X-Mas in August 2: Trauma II vs Blue Panther

2015-08-16 @ Arena Naucalpan
Trauma II vs Blue Panther

Starts at 1:28:22

We've been lucky over the last few years to have all of the BT Jr. captured lucha. The Traumas have been a big part of the footage and it's on me and my watching habits that I just haven't seen more of them. They're Negro Navarro's kids, as I'm sure most people reading this know. I just haven't gotten around to seeing a ton of them as of yet. I will rectify that at some point. They have a lot of stuff with their dad out there, and I'm seeing a trios right now of Cerebro/Traumas vs Virus/Tiger/Puma that I need to watch, etc. There's a lot out there.

Short answer on this one is that it would have come off better if it didn't have to follow Virus vs Cerebro, but the finish here was better. I think the match itself, wasn't, and a lot of that was in the matwork. It's not that what they did was bad. It absolutely wasn't. I'm just not sure it compared. They were going for high level, complex stuff, and it fell into the sorts of traps that the Virus match avoided: there were moments where limbs were given over too freely, or even for no discernible reason. There were times where Trauma would lock in a hold and I didn't really have a great sense what he was going for or how it'd work. Sometimes it just looked like a mess of limbs. There were times where Trauma especially fumbled a bit going for a hold or that Panther would lack a bit of zing in snapping one on; these are the sort of things I'd have forgiven if I hadn't just seen Virus vs Cerebro, I think.

That's not to say there weren't flashes of brilliance, both little and big. I liked how Trauma went for the same move that ended the Virus match, that sort of lifting scorpion deathlock but it was too early into the match and he couldn't hook it. There was a great moment early on where Panther was trying to step on the back of Trauma's leg to get out of a hold by shifting the leverage, but it didn't work so he shot a quick chop there to do it. Just a tiny detail that really stood out. There was a great Tapitia war, including Trauma ALMOST hooking one in using a method I'd never seen before. Some of his holds and escapes were really good and they definitely had the crowd. I just thought the match had more than its share of dubious moments too.

As I said, I did like the finish better. At first, I had gotten worried since they made some distance and did a dive, much like the other match. I thought they were going to do exactly the same thing for a moment. Instead they stretched out a few signature holds to really amp up the drama with Panther ultimately winning the match by sticking to his own move instead of trying to steal Trauma's (after Trauma showed something of a lack of maturity by doing the opposite). It was a good match but I think it paled to what Virus and Cerebro accomplished just a few minutes previous.