MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 6: Felino vs Sombra 3: La Sombra, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr. vs Felino, Místico, Negro Casas

2010-03-05 @ Arena México
La Sombra, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr. vs Felino, Místico, Negro Casas

6:00 in

This is why I can't be allowed to do career retrospectives, or really anything with too broad a focus. It made sense to look at Felino vs Sombra as that felt like Sombra's first big singles feud in CMLL, at least that we have footage of online, and there were three definitive singles matches, all different in format, with the last being an apuestas match, surely the biggest of his career up until that point. Then I decided I liked the pairing and in order to appreciate the apuestas match I should look at the trios match that made up the build even though I pretty much knew how it was going to go. Beatdowns, mask-pulling, revenge mask pulling, challenges. It's the CMLL build.

Still, I wanted to look, for Felino vs Sombra, sure, but also because it'd let me tackle a few things from my previous 2010 watch, most specifically rudo Mistico. Also, while most of the weekly TV is online for the year, it's very hard to search for. You pretty much have to know what you're looking for or go through the match finder. For that reason, pulling out matches theoretically has a purpose. Also, it's just cool to see Mistico and Casas teaming as rudos, even if this was the road to Mistico going tecnico again.

He was billed as neither rudo nor tecnico here, but was also in red with the horns. I'm not the world's biggest Mistico fan, but I really enjoy rudo Mistico from this period. He wrestled like a bully. For one thing, while he was feuding with Volador, he didn't differentiate. He'd beat the hell out of anyone he was in the match with (and on comebacks feed for anyone). It made his matches seem more unfocused but also more chaotic and less orchastrated. He'd also wrestle 'bigger' than he was, including gleefully utilizing a press slam falcon arrow thing, which no guy his size should probably be doing. So long as he was playing a rudo bully, it worked. More on that for the finish of the match.

Volador was feuding with Mistico. Sombra was feuding with Felino. They were building to singles matches (and eventually to the Volador/Mistico double turn). Casas and Dorada were just there. The point of the match then was to keep heat on the feuds and then to give the tecnicos the shine at the end. So they went with the rudo ambush to begin, Casas mainly playing crowd control as the other rudos got to focus on their opponents. The beatdown was wild enough that the camera had a hard time catching the right thing. We'd get the last second of Mistico slamming Volador into the post or Felino diving off the ropes as Casas held Sombra for him. Everyone got some individual focal time on the rampway. This all ended with Sombra getting propelled over the top rope from the ramp into the a Felino foul in the ring, and losing his mask immediately thereafter (at which point Casas casually stepped on him before doing a cartwheel). When the rudos have a long beatdown and lose the fall by DQ in that way, it's often a sign that things are just going two falls.

That was the case here. The tecnicos finally came back (though it wasn't a very clear thing. We had yet another wasted Volador stage dive. It's one of the most spectacular spots in the company and he wastes it in almost every match. It drives me nuts. If you're going to dive off the stage on your opponent as part of a trios comeback, make that the key moment of comeback. He almost always gets beaten on again afterwards). Anyway, all of this led to the dives clearing the ring and Mistico fighting against Sombra and Volador, both at once. They had come out with matching ski masks and actually felt a little like the Misterioso/Volador, sr. team to me. This felt like the main event bully against the up and coming team, and was worked as such. Mistico really held his own believably but fell to a tandem Spanish fly. It was one of those exchanges where everyone came out looking better than they came in though.

Post match there were the expected challenges. This was good. It let the tecnicos get over, but only in part because Felino had been so nasty with the foul and the mask ripping on Sombra. It let Mistico look like a world beater but Volador and Sombra still had the rub of beating him through working together. Since Sombra was going to ultimately go over Felino, this let him have a win and look strong so that Felino could get the next couple to build heat for the match. Good, functional stuff.