We Need to Talk About Zumbido

Zumbido & Yuriko vs. Relampago & Hijo del Medico Asesino (FULL 6/18/15)

Remember Zumbido? I don't think a lot of people remember Zumbido. Certainly nobody talks about Zumbido anymore. Remember how good he was?? And how much you would smile when the announcers would call him Zumbidowski? I think a long time ago he beat up the mother of his children. I think he was also caught stealing diapers. I don't think I made up either of those things, but we're flying without a google net on those two facts. Both of those crimes easily could have been committed by Juventud or Ryan Leaf. But still, he may be a scumbag. My memory and instincts and internal compass tell me he is a scumbag. He looks like a guy who would be a scumbag, so the math checks out so far. But Zumbido was also one of my absolute favorite wrestlers for a time. And now he's a guy who nobody ever talks about. So I went on a little mini Zumbido rabbit hole to see if there's any particular reason people aren't talking about Zumbido. And using this one match as a sample size, Zumbido looked great in 100% of the matches I just watched. 

I would assume the reason people aren't talking about Zumbido, is because they don't care just how good Zumbido is if he's wrestling matches against roid slugs like Medico Asesino or Relampago, while working in front of 17 people. Fair points, those. BUT the important thing we learn here is that ZUMBIDO doesn't care if he's working in front of just 17 people, because he still wrestles like Zumbido. He looks great here. The match itself? Not great. Relampago is okay-ish if you squint, Asesino is bad, so he didn't have much to work with. But that didn't stop him from breaking out his blistering left hands and gorgeous overhand chops (Zumbido may still have the best overhand chop in lucha, rivaling LA Park), throwing beautiful dropkicks, his weird cannonball elbowdrops, and just a general sense of energy and excitement that nobody else was really attempting to bring. Yuriko is probably the most consistent Night Queen, but that's like ranking your favorite to least favorite jury duty summoning letters. Still Yuriko also has nice overhand rights (is a hearty overhand right the first thing they teach exoticos? That was a staple of Cassandro and Pimpi matches as well...) and breaks out a cool flip dive. S/He also hits some super sloppy ranas and takes forever to set up armdrag spots, but you expected this. Zumbido also breaks out a big flip dive and basically beats the hell out of the two slugs the whole match. The whole thing was a Zumbido show. Zumbido, who we don't talk about. Still a great wrestler, likely still a terrible person.

Zumbido & Scorpio Jr. vs. Alebrije & Histeria II (Leyendas Immortales 3/28/15)

This was from a much more well attended show, and Zumbido definitely works harder than anybody else in the match (though Guapito and Cujie do try). Scorpio is approaching certain load status, as he is tubby and looks like he can barely move. His Irish whips were an exercise in touching a man's hand and then watching them run all by themselves. Histeria I believe is Morphosis, and he doesn't do a ton here. Alebrije I believe is Kraneo, as I refuse to believe there is another active luchador who is that size, but I am not 100% sure as a certainly doesn't bust as much butt as he does on Arena Mexico shows. His brawling is there, but he's working about half speed and doesn't take any big bumps like he does in CMLL. Zumbido, though, busts ass throughout. He throws some mean left hands to everybody, including the referee, and at one point he throws one of the loudest overhand rights I've ever heard. I cannot believe he didn't get a receipt for that one. Zumbido hits a pretty senton, his big hang time plancha to the floor, all the strikes. Zumbido is still clearly a guy well worth seeking out on small time indie cards.

Read more!