2000 Match of the Year

Atlantis vs. Villano III CMLL 3/17/00

PAS: We have been waiting for a while to write up this match, and talking about his most legendary performance is a great way to salute Villlano 3, what an all time great may he rest in power. I hadn't watched this in over a decade and it was as great as I remember. The early matwork was tight and crisp, and then Villano 3 goes rudo by unloading a punch and then taunting Atlantis. There is some brawling and we get some mask ripping by V3 and a big tope which splits both guys open (there is a great replay which shows them clashing heads like in a southpaw versus conventional boxing match). Atlantis especially is just gushing blood, and we get an epic lucha moment as his mask goes from white to pink to dark red. Much of the rest of the match was dramatic near fall after near fall, it isn't a match structure I normally love, but so much was at stake in this match, every close two count or big submission felt huge. These are both guys with great pacing and timing on the application of holds, Villano's escape of the first Alantida was awesome, just desperate hurling himself to the mat. After that escape he is just stumbling around holding the small of his back, he hits a clothesline to the back of Atlantis's head, but he doesn't have much left, and when he gets caught again, and Atlantis drops to his knees with the Atlantida, it is all over. Matches aren't bell to bell, and the dramatic teary unmasking, with his father Rey Mendoza removing his mask with his family around him was one of the great emotional moments in wrestling history. Pretty much a perfect wrestling match.

ER: Yeah I'd like to make it clear that when we started our All Time MOTY project we outlined the whole thing and put in placeholders for years we hadn't yet written up. This was the year 2000 MOTY from go, and now is as good a time as any to write it up. I'm with Phil, I haven't seen this in over a decade and watched it tonight right when I got home from work. It was better than I remembered. We get two very different dives in this match - a big plancha to the floor late in the match from Atlantis, and a big tope from V3 early. My favorite moment in any mask match is V5 getting the back of his head smashed into a chair  off a Blue Panther dive, causing a big blood stain to spread across the back of his mask. Here V3 clonks heads with Atlantis and Atlantis gets up trickling blood, which turns to a drip which evolves to a dark red soaked mask. V3 winds up with the entire right side of his mask as one large port wine stain. And bloody luchadors fighting for glory is always the best part of the best lucha matches.

I've gotten so tired of modern CMLL title matches that just devolve into a series of turn trading 2 count exchanges, that it was jarring how much I enjoyed these two doing just that. The stakes felt bigger, the falls felt dramatic, the submissions felt wrenched, and the crowd kept getting louder (also I forgot how jarring all the cutaway shots to mostly indifferent faces were in this era lucha). I was blown away by Villano's athleticism here. We've all seen plenty of V3's post-unmasking brawling matches from when he was (not much) older and moving slower, but there were moments here where he moved like Santo. I loved him popping up for a sub and rolling up Atlantis, pivoting his hips in the waistlock to turn it into a high cradle; later he (twice) pulls himself up out and over Atlantis during subs, looking as if he was being pulled skyward by an invisible force, the kind of thing you don't often see from guys half his age. He also picks and chooses when to use his short punches, throwing a few out early and then opting to play Atlantis' game, getting more and more frustrated by kickouts until he unloads on Atlantis in the corner with some shots that would make Satanico suck on his teeth. I like how both men worked in and out of submission predicaments and pinfalls, and the two Atlantida moments were spectacular. The home stretch sequence of V3 getting caught in it (and how often does someone escape that move once it?) followed by that nasty lariat to the back of the head, leading to V3 charging his way right into his doom, was expert. V3 hadn't charged Atlantis the entire match, but had to sense victory was near after that lariat and went for another. Arturo Mendoza graciously carrying Atlantis around the ring on his shoulders immediately after losing his identity was a rare, warm moment


ALL TIME MOTY LIST