MLJ: Recent Uploads: Metro, Satánico, Virus b Mr. México, Ohara, Shigeo Okumura

2006-09-17 @ Arena Coliseo
Metro, Satánico, Virus b Mr. México, Ohara, Shigeo Okumura

Midcard lucha from Arena Coliseo in 2006. With all the matches that are out there, why this one? It's a recent upload, so I figure not many people have seen it for a while. I always think late era tecnico Satanico is worth watching since it's both surreal and vaguely masterful. He was limited here but so smart in how he worked. Moreover, there's a bit of a black hole for Virus between 98 and the start of his current rudo run, so it feels worthwhile to fill in that gap whenever possible.

Ohara was an Ultimo Dragon trainee and is currently in NOAH. Metro is, as best as I can tell, the current Neutron. Mr. Mexico, is of course, the IWRG Niebla unmasked. Metro and Mr. Mexico were practically made for each other. That's a lot of the joy in this match, watching these two goofballs paired up. Mr. Mexico has this stiff sort of charisma that reminds me of Mike Masters or someone, like the bully in a Charles Atlas comic book ad who kicks the sand on the 80-pound weakling before he gets on the juice. There's not a lot subtle about it, but it's sure fun. Metro on the other hand is someone who hits everything cleanly but with a weird awkwardness, the sort of guy who just makes it over the pole, and whose body weight seems distributed poorly, Valiente without the preternatural grace.

So this was pretty good for what it was. A tecnico shine match for the most part with some heat in the middle. Satanico was a lot of fun it, bringing the little leverage moves and tricks to compensate for the fact he's old as hell, just the way he grabs the ropes to stop a whip or yanks his opponent out of the ring after getting tossed himstelf. They're simple little things but not everyone does them:

Even weirder is the fact that that Kemonito was there, I guess for virus or Metro? Look at this and tell me it's not unnerving, horror show, Varsity Club stuff. Get away from Kemonito, Satanico!

For some reason, I find no-face paint Virus doing much more straightforward tecnico offense (and doing it well) a little unnerving too. He's still got the mullet and he definitely matched up well against both Ohara (who was leadable at least) and Okamura. I think it's little question that if we had more of this era easily available, it'd only help Virus' case.

The finish was pretty badly botched, or at least confusing, one of those cases where even if the shoulder wasn't entirely down, you wish the ref would have just counted for the sake of everyone there. At least Satanico got to encourage Kemonito to do an apron splash after the match. I'm just disappointed that there's not a Mr. Mexico vs Metro/Neutron singles match out there.