2017 Ongoing MOTY List: Navarro vs. Sabre

15. Negro Navarro v. Zack Sabre Jr. Lucha Memes 4/28

PAS: I have seen Navarro work this Maestro match against a wide variety of opponents, from fellow oldsters like Solar and Panther, to indy lucha scuzz like Electroshock and Angelico, it was cool to watch him work that match against an indy fake WOS guy. I thought Navarro looked awesome, as he found interesting ways to counter all of Sabre's spots, into really painful looking twists and pulls. I also loved how when Sabre started to throw hands Navarro escalated and cracked him even harder. Finish was cool with Navarro putting on some nasty arm lock and Sabre throwing a hissy fit after getting tapped. Really showed the difference in craft between a guy like Navarro who was trained by Florintino Martinez in a garage in a slum in Mexico city, and a guy who watched a bunch Johnny Saint tapes.

ER: I saw people talking about how Sabre got tooled by Navarro here but that really seems like wishcasting, as there was nothing close to unprofessional, Sabre didn't need his hand held, it was just a bunch of fun call and response mat counters. The whole match Sabre came at Navarro with flash, and there would be that moment where it was working, and then Navarro would find some trippy way to clamp down on Sabre's leg with his leg, or trap Sabre's arm unexpectedly; I thought Sabre did a great job getting slowly more and more frustrated, as Navarro always had an answer to anything Sabre would toss out. Sabre starts finding cracks in the armor and I especially liked him making Navarro yelp by bending his wrist back in gross ways. We've seen some of these Sabre subs before and it was a blast watching Negro get out of them or twist the leverage in ways that nobody else has done.

2017 Ongoing MOTY List