2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Ultimo vs. Caifan CABELLERA CONTRA CABELLERA

22. Ultimo Guerrero vs. Caifan XMW 3/2

PAS: This was a hair match and another chapter of the inexplicable UG indy run. This one wasn't the blood fest their early match was, but UG still took a pretty big beating, getting smashed with crutch, tossed into chairs, hit with full cups of beer. Caifan took a thumping too, including eating a baseball slide on the apron which sent him crashing to the floor and may have opened up the back of his head (you couldn't see anything, but the ref was checking it good). Really good near falls in this and UG's final submission was nasty. Great little two match feud between these guys, and Caifan is pretty consistently a must watch.

ER: UG the indy monster is back in San Juan Pantitlan again, showing those fine folks what a beating his head and face can take the smaller the crowd is. Small arena UG + stips match Caifan and you knew this would be good. I think hair match and I think blood, and while this didn't have that, it did have a ton of mean spills and Caifan taking his future loss out on UG's face. UG taking a beating around ringside is one of the more sympathetic tecnico things in modern lucha, as he is really able to portray that Blue Panther old man sympathy in these moments, really tapping into a guy too old for this shit, as he takes several headers into old as hard seats, absolutely cruel overhand chops to the face and chest, and punches right to the chin. He gets so much sympathy from me during these beatings that I just find myself sitting here saying "WHY?" But his comebacks always deliver and the baseball slide dropkick was an awesome moment, and I love how they treated it like a huge potential stoppage, really made the move feel like a huge deal. UG's running hip attack looks cool when he's jumping barriers, but HERE it looks its best ever as he literally hip attacks Caifan directly through the back of a chair, looked like a comic book where someone gets thrown against a wall and the wall cracks behind them. The reversals in the ring were hard fought and added extra excitement to the big nearfall spots (loved the fight that ended with a dangerous rana off the middle rope from Caifan, with him maneuvering around UG's shoulders and looking like he was going to take a lethal powerbomb). They kept up their violent pace well, and this kept paying off.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST