2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

35. Negro Casas vs. Dragon Lee CMLL 5/22

ER: Nice little Leyenda de Plata final. The Arena Mexico crowd liked Casas a little more than Lee, which led to a fun dynamic where they wouldn't totally boo Casas' subtle heeling but would kind of boo Lee's appeals to the crowd. This had a real main event feel to it which many CMLL big time singles matches don't reach. Casas made things nice and clear how things were going to go, reaching for an early knucklelock and tricking Lee into eating a low mule kick. Casas kept going back to that kick and they all looked knee buckling when they landed, and also led to a satisfying Lee reversal later. Lee for his part added some nice little touches that are usually ignored by far more experienced workers. I particularly noticed when he was setting up his big tree of woe double stomp to Casas' chest, he held onto Casas' knees while getting his own balance. That's some wise beyond his years shit right there. Most every other worker would have left Casas up to his own, letting him find his own way to believably dangle there without anything really keeping him. But there's Lee holding Casas' knee while setting him up for the kill. The Casita works great as a flash pin and Casas was masterful going hard for other subs to keep Lee off balance before burying him with it. Lee had a nice big match showing here, Casas is still a top worker, life is happy.

PAS: This was really good. Casas has been having these kind of great main event matches with lesser guys for a while and it was good to see him get to work with a kid with some real ability to bring something to the table. Lee is an athletic marvel and clever worker that he can hang with Casas and not look smoked. I really liked all of the early matwork, with Casas countering the arm drags by flipping over, really simple stuff with Casas using his guile and experience to counter Lee's athleticism advantages. Casas reminded me of late period Bernard Hopkins in this match, outgunned in every way someone can be physically, but such a master of the ring and placement that he can survive and thrive. I loved how he kept grabbing at the arms in the STF to keep Lee from getting a rope break, and how he tried a bunch of different approaches to the Casita before pulling it out. Great Casas performance, and a very good Dragon Lee one.


2015 MOTY MASTER LIST