MLJ: 1000 words on King Jaguar & Lestat vs Disturbio & Policeman

2015-12-14 @ Arena Puebla
King Jaguar & Lestat vs Disturbio & Policeman

25:00 in

So a couple of people I know get together in an online chat room for the Monday Puebla and Friday Arena Mexico shows. It's never more than three or four people and everyone's generally distracted but it's still plenty of fun. It also makes certain things (like Porky matches) more enjoyable. A few of us were really enjoying this one on Monday night. In the end, it's probably just the circles I travel in. There are two types of people in this world, those who are going to go nuts for six minutes of rudos demolishing some poor bastard's leg, ending in a stretcher job, and those who will not. I travel in the circle where that's pretty awesome.

Jaguar lost his mask to Lestat back in July. They don't get along. Lestat also doesn't get along with the rudos. I have no idea why Disturbio is working the second match on Puebla. Policeman belongs there, sure, but in the best possible way. He's the world's best Rey Apocalipsis and Toro Bill, Jr. partner, and I think that if CHIKARA brought them in to King of Trios next year they'd be a smash hit. Physically, he's a pretty appropriate Disturbio partner too. Just from the get go, it looked like a triple stand off with Lestat and Jaguar pushing each other and Policeman in next to face off against both. Disturbio and Policeman were on the same page though, which was the story of the match.

The primera was serviceable. Jaguar is not exactly dynamic. He wasn't helped by the loss of his mask. Policeman and Lestat were pretty well matched up though, working in and out of holds competently. They did a nice little parallel spot where Policeman faked a test of strength only to go for a leg dive and then a minute or so later, Lestat doing the same thing. That time Disturbio broke up the subsequent submission, and Lestat was pissed at Jaguar for not stopping him, so it was both paralleled and functional in the grand scheme of the match. Disturbio and Policeman were doing over the top high five tags while Lestat seemed annoyed whenever Jaguar wanted him in the ring. They leaned into the animosity more for the fall's finish. Jaguar saved Lestat from a corner whip by flipping him up and onto the apron but then immediately punched him off. He turned around, hit a pick up/drop down on Disturbio and a leglock as Lestat recovered and dove in and over with a body press and rope run up moonsault on Disturbio. Totally functional, serviceable primera with a couple of clever moments.

They got right to it in the segunda. Jaguar got the better of Disturbio in a quick exchange, but then Disturbio drew him in with a handshake allowing Policeman to dropkick him from behind. They darted across the ring to take out Lestat and the leg mauling was on. Like I said, it was about six minutes and very focused Arn and Tully work or Power and Glory vs Rockers Summerslam '90 work. The latter's probably the better example considering where this ended up. None of it was flashy but I'll take focused over flashy anyday. They were unrelenting, stomping and kicking, one holding and one hitting. They pulled him to the post and slammed it and did a double sledge onto leg that was against the post, which was a nice touch. Disturbio put his foot on the back of the leg and stomped it. They draped it over the rope. Polceman came off the second ropes as Policeman held it with a double sledge and later put it over the guard rail on the ramp and just ground it to dust. At one point, Jaguar made it to Lestat but instead of tagging him, he just wiggled his fingers and kicked at him instead. That didn't work out so well though. With Jaguar incapacitated, they took Lestat out soundly, Policeman pinning him after a second rope splash. Then they dragged the carcass of Jaguar back in for a brutal single leg lock. After he submitted, Disturbio turned to hold the leg straight so that Policeman could put all of his weight upon it. Again, nothing groundbreaking, but still really gritty small stuff.

The tercera was short and sweet, functional again, leading to whatever will come next. They pulled Jaguar out, locking his leg in one of the fixed chairs in the audience, and pounded on it some more. That was the end for him, as the stretcher came shortly thereafter. Policeman and Disturbio started back on Lestat, beating him down until Espirtu Maligno came out in all of his goofy glory for the save, setting up, presumably a Lestat/Espirtu Maligno vs Policeman/Disturbio tag, now that Lestat no longer has to look past an old grudge to find a partner to fight them with? Or something. I thought that the nebulous nature of the bad blood and the finish contrasted well with the really focused legwork. Was it a little scattered narratively in that the sympathy was generated by the work on Jaguar, and Lestat's refusal to help him was part of that but the key moment in the end was Lestat being saved by Espirtu Maligno? Sure. At the same time, though, it all felt character driven. There was no moment in the match where someone did something that felt off. Lestat's pride and frustration was obvious. Jaguar made stupid, angry mistakes in hitting his own partner and refusing to work with him, despite how difficult he was being, and that cost him in the end. Disturbio and Policeman were just vultures preying upon the dissention and hacking away at Jaguar's leg.

So yeah, no Space Flying Tiger Drops if you like that sort of thing and no visceral comebacks if you're like me and like that sort of thing, but this was a functional little match with a pretty brutal, very focused segunda.