2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

31. Blue Panther, Rey Cometa & Angel de Oro v. Virus, Polvora & Dragon Rojo Jr. CMLL 9/11

ER: This is pretty much what you hope for when you watch a trios featuring non-feuding guys. There's nothing major at stake, just guys wanting to put their best foot forward. And you can always tell pretty quickly in non-stake trios if guys are going to be dogging it a bit or at least attempting to do something special. And right out of the gate Panther and Polvora look like they're really going for something. A spirited Panther is still one of my absolute favorite things in wrestling, and this match was a great BP performance. He and Polvora get a few minutes to tear things up and it's all good, cool float overs, Panther doing a great headstand out of a headscissors, just beautiful lucha matwork. That starts the match on a great note and the rest of the match is all smooth, quick work, everybody showing what they got. Oro isn't great but hits some big moonsaults including one from the middle turnbuckles to the floor. Cometa starts off a little glitchy but by the tercera he's rolling. Virus eats a big Oro dive in the primera.....but you know what you want from this match when looking at the lineup, and it delivers wonderfully. Right around the 22 minute mark Virus locks a nasty bow and arrow on Oro, really bending him back, and then Panther casually walks in pats Virus on the shoulder, and Virus just drops the submission while keeping his eyes on Panther the whole time. You start to get excited, and the crowd got that same kind of excited. Crowd started getting nice and electric when they saw BP/Virus about to happen. Up to this point they matched up for literally 4 seconds of the match, and suddenly it was like the dance floor cleared to make space for a showdown. And we got a killer little showdown with Virus clearly showing off and Panther looking impossibly smooth. I could watch these two roll and tumble and work in and out of sequences on an infinite loop. This all peaks with Virus getting plastered by a high speed Panther tope, crowd going nuts, Panther jumping up and down.....and then Panther hitting a second awesome tope. Virus pays him back by winning with a nasty looking sub that had BP yelping immediately. Match had a super quick pace, tons of spots, everybody working with something to prove, and that little slice of heaven that was BP/Virus. What more would you want?

PAS: This was a solid slightly above average trios for most of the matches. The Panther v. Polvora stuff was really solid, and another example of how great Panther still is. It isn't like you are searching out Polvora matches, but he looks totally awesome matched up with Panther. The finish run with Panther stepping up and going after Virus was spectacular. I loved the idea of Panther tapping on Virus's shoulder and saying "let's move the kids out of the way and show the fans some lucha." Totally unexpected treat, the equivalent of putting on an old pair of pants and finding $20.


2015 MOTY MASTER LIST

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MLJ: Recent Elite matches: Traumas vs Guerrero Maya Jr./Rey Cometa and Cavernario/Negro Casas vs Mistico/Caristico

2015-12-27 @ Arena México
Trauma I & Trauma II vs Guerrero Maya Jr. & Rey Cometa

El Cavernario & Negro Casas vs Carístico & Mistico

I'm still playing catch up, so here are two Elite matches from the last couple of weeks. There are two different video shots for them, one having better VQ, the other being less cut. You get the idea for both though.

You could tell, clipping or no, that they were fairly short, brisk affairs, but they were both a lot of fun. I still can't tell the Traumas apart as in I couldn't tell you which of the two was better, but their act is great (and they were paired up well against Puma/Tiger in previous weeks). I love how they dominated early on here, with a choreographed attack of letting Cometa in, only to slide out pull him back out to set up the double team dive onto the apron. 

The comeback here was very brief, a missed move, a dive, and Maya's finisher. In general, I thought Maya looked better than Cometa. I really don't think he ever quite recovered from losing his mask, even if it was for a good cause. He comes off as a poor man's Volador and could probably do well if he was paired with him in a trios. Maya just comes off as far more charismatic, even if Cometa does his his stuff cleanly. The tercera was a lot of tecnico shine until the Traumas finished it out of nowhere. Not a classic but a great use of ten minutes.

People could watch the Traumas tag and be happy. They should actively watch the Casas/Cavernario tag, though. That's probably my favorite quasi-makeshift tag team in the world. They're great together and the Misticos were great foils for them (though really, of course, it was meant to be the other way around). This was just as brief. 

It won't take you much more than ten minutes to watch, less if you watch the clipped version, but the clipped version sort of comes off as a good parts version, and it's all good parts, from the initial ambush to every bit of awesome Cavernario offense, to Zacarias getting to do a 619, to Casas doing a Fargo Strut, to seeing Caristico interact with Casas and Cavernario, to sort of accepting Mistico's crummy superkick, to the way that Casas and Cavernario make the tecnicos work for their comeback, to the fun back and forth tercera, ending with Casas' Oscar-deserving antics to break up the last pinfall so his team can win.

Negro Casas never not been revitalized but he feels even further so against Caristico. I'm looking forward to them having a singles match. Cavernario's such a star too, seeming like he absolutely belongs in there with the rest. 

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