CMLL Juicio Final 5/31/19

ER: This show had THREE big stips matches (including a rare retirement match) and all the non-stips matches have on paper potential, so I figured I may as well write up the whole show!

Disturbio/Misterioso Jr./Kawato vs. Rey Cometa/Blue Panther Jr./Black Panther

ER: Quick opener that manages to pack a lot of fireworks into its short runtime. Cometa is out dressed like Johnny Depp's Tonto, a weirdly underrated movie. I'm going to need someone to start wearing Alita: Battle Angel gear to draw some more attention to that one. This is a match that tried to open the show with some big spots and delivered. BP Jr. is gassed to the gills and is starting to work more like Gronda and his father. I'm cool with that as it leads to great moments like him pouncing Kawato over the top rope into Disturbio (who was standing on the ramp). Cometa hit a big 450, huge tornillo to the floor, big crossbody off the entrance stairs (with Black Panther); Kawato hit a big flip dive over the ringpost, Misterioso is basing all over the place, and Kawato gets to yank Black Panther's mask for the DQ. This didn't have a ton of substance but was a nice junkfood snack.

Ephesto/Luciferno/Mephisto vs. Soberano Jr./Niebla Roja/Angel de Oro

ER: This was the match on the card I was least interested in, and it certainly played as something I shouldn't have been interested in. Niebla Roja and Angel de Oro may be my least favorite guys in CMLL, with Roja being a greater offender. I hate how they quit on all of their offense, it always feels like they're running through a practice exhibition and putting 100% of the work on the rudos' shoulders. Roja and Oro move with these big looping gestures, quit 75% of the way through on their ranas, aim to land as gently as possible on everything, all of their offense looks like how guys run through sequences backstage. It puts the rudos in a pretty thankless spot, as these two are only entertaining when rudos beat the shit out of them (which thankfully does happen in some matches, just not here). Roja hits a flip dive, Soberano (who I like much more than these two goofs) hits his Fosbury Flop, but this was a showcase for two guys I don't care to see showcased.

4. Career vs. Career! Virus vs. Metalico

PAS: There is nothing I love more then a random luchador given a big showcase match and stepping all the way up. Metalico has been a random undercard guy for years, and he gets a chance to fight for his career against an all time great and comes up huge. Two pretty great looking topes, an Asai moonsault and a nutty dropkick off the apron, he threw it all out there. I loved how they both stretched the rules, the ref wasn't DQing someone in a one fall career match, so they were throwing hard right hands to the face. Virus is one of the greatest singles match luchadores ever, and he is so great here, he gives Metalico plenty of shine, but comes off so dangerous. There are multiple moments where he just whips out a slick counter into a vicious submission, he was like a devastating counter puncher, any mistake his opponent would make its lights out. Loved that we didn't get a bunch of traded near falls near the end, just Metalico dying on his shield. Small arena lucha libre has been my favorite stuff over the last couple of years, but there is nothing in wrestling like an Arena Mexico match with real consequences, and I was so glad we got this.

ER: I've been a big Metalico drum beater for several years now. He's an undercarder who is basically the only CMLL undercarder who works Memphis stooging into lucha matches. He's a comedy rudo that doesn't really exist much anymore, and I love what he brings to a card. He's not the kind of guy to get long singles matches - or singles matches in general (I'm not sure I've seen a singles match of his since he lost his mask 4 years ago) - and here he gets to have an awesome dying in the ring performance against one of the all time best. Metalico breaks out every single thing he ever learned, from his ring entrance to highspots he hasn't broken out in years, and the crowd gets more and more involved and excited by his absolute refusal to quit. Metalico gets more and more tired as the match goes on - he's not a long singles match guy - and that just adds to his perseverance and desperation. You look at the difference between Metalico's two dives in this match: the first one, early in the match and filled with confidence, sending Virus into the barricade; the second one, late in the match, exhausted, Metalico does more damage to himself by just doing the dive. From minute one Metalico looks like a guy who has no real chance at beating Virus, and at times it looked like Virus was almost just letting Metalico have a respectable showing before letting him know just how quickly he could put a stop to his bullshit. Metalico started breaking out things he hasn't done in years, like a picture perfect Asai moonsault and a rana off the apron, and he started making headway on the bottom end as well. Phil noted how refs were being loose with DQ calls in a single caida big stips match, and I liked how each guy kept pushing the boundaries, hitting closed fist punches to the jaw, dropping a headbutt to the balls, and I loved Metalico's dickish combos where he would punch Virus and also kick him right on the inside of his knee. Metalico was tired but that just made him hit harder. There was a spot in the corner where he was supposed to flip over the ropes to dodge a charging Virus, but when his gas tank wouldn't allow him he merely opted to hit one of the most savage back elbows I've seen. Virus was a monster on the mat and was going to outclass Metalico at every opportunity, so Metalico had to play a little more dirty. But unfortunately for Metalico, Virus doesn't have to get dirty to do damage. When Virus locked in a gross STF, Metalico reaching for the ropes as his literal only chance of survival, Virus grabs that reaching arm and adds that to the pain. I thought it was the finish for sure. I loved desperate, last stand Metalico, and loved how the crowd kept getting excited as he kicked out of a sick vertebreaker and getting flipped off the top, the fans fully buying into Metalico refusing to step away forever. This was a wonderful display of character and storytelling, and I'm glad Virus was there to send my boy off into the sunset.

Hair vs. Hair! Kaho Kobayashi vs. Amapola

ER: I really liked this, and it wouldn't have taken a tong more to get this on a list. I thought the ending was building to something, and what we got was more abrupt than I wanted. But this was a great Amapola performance, with Kaho making up for her shortcomings with great energy and a willingness to be lead around by Amapola. I like Kaho and thought this was a good showing for her, and it felt like the Arena Mexico crowd was getting behind her effort while knowing she had no chance of leaving the ring with hair. This felt like when they let Virus lead a younger luchador through a match, and the younger luchador gets some surprising moments while overall getting worked by Virus. Amapola as Virus is something she can easily handle, she's clearly been one of the top CMLL ladies as long as she's been in the division, and showcase singles are somewhat rare for the women. You could see her really leading Kaho through - at one point she essentially moved herself through a complex pin combo - but she was generous and I think that helped Kaho thrive. This was all about the tercera as the first two falls went very quickly, but there were highlights throughout. Each hits a real rib breaking spear, with Kaho snapping Amapola in half to start and Amapola returning that favor in the tercera. Amapola was really awesome, crushing Kaho on a dive (Kaho kind of gets made fun of for bad catching skills, but she got smooshed here), hitting a hard dropkick to the spin as Kaho was trapped in the ropes, and later Amapola wraps herself around a ringpost violently so that Kaho can hit a beautiful crossbody off the top to the floor. There were some good nearfalls, and I thought they both did a good job building drama down the stretch, and for me I always get more into luchadora hair matches, feels like the stakes are even more real. A lot of women really tightly associate their hair with their femininity, so the drama always feels real to me.

Euforia/Gran Guerrero vs. Valiente/Diamante Azul

ER: This one felt a little low stakes, which was understandable on a card with three high stakes matches, but it had three stout boys so it was at minimum going to be fun. Azul and Valiente are a fun little team of power packs; Azul has been slowly bulking up and he appeared to gas down the stretch (Guerrero even appeared to dump him on the entrance ramp just to get him out of the way), and this didn't reach the heights it could have, but we still got moments. Azul's added heft does add to certain moves, loved his running elbow, high arcing hip toss, and the cannonball off the ramp lands even harder. Guerrero is coming into his own, and he sets up a gross bump taking an armdrag off the apron from Valiente (big splat on the floor there), hitting a nice heavy flip dive of his own in the tercera, and being tasked with taking that super fast Valiente tope. The finish felt a little unnecessarily dangerous, with the rudos hitting a press slam on Azul off the top, then doing the same to Valiente on top of Azul, but they almost end up lawndarting Valiente straight into the mat. The set up was really long and required Valiente to do almost all the climbing and all the work, so you had the ugly combo of "guy taking move doing all the work" with "move looking almost dangerously botched".

Barbaro Cavernario/Negro Casas/Mr. Niebla vs. Mistico/Caristico/Volador Jr.

ER: This one underperformed, had some timing issues, and didn't have a lot of Casas. It had a lot of Niebla dancing and Caristico being a step slower than everyone else, and some ugly moments like Cavernario whiffing a kick and Caristico bumping early on a Niebla slap. It was kept quick, a comedic palette cleanser with dives, mindless entertainment before the main event, and it worked fine on that level. Volador hit the best dive of the match, a high speed tope con giro that Cavernario took nicely. There was a big tandem dive by all the tecnicos and Caristico hit an additional dive into Casas. This was kept breezy, and I was hoping for more.

52. Hair vs. Hair! Mascara Ano 2000 vs. Ultimo Guerrero

ER: All the CMLL dancers are decked out in sexy Ultimo Guerrero outfits, which I must say seems a little biased. But who cares, because this whole match rules! Ultimo Guerrero does this weird thing where he has a match or two year and just gets punched in the face a ton. And this match keeps coming right back around to Guerrero getting punched in the face, and Mascara gleefully throwing right hands up and down the left side of UG's head. This is really one of the finest big match lucha performances from a 60+ year old in some time. Mascara Ano Dos Mil pulls out every trick he's ever pulled in his long career, all the bullshit is impeccably timed, the cheap shots are cheap, the nearfalls are great, and we always go right back to fists punching face. Mascara hits a nice springboard splash, nice vertical suplex, gets a great nearfall on a backslide, and Disturbio's involvement is excellent. Disturbio and Gran Guerrero are the seconds, and Disturbio eats a great dropkick from UG, and later has a pitch perfect piece of interference: Guerrero locks on the sure fire finishing sub, and Disturbio is able to run in to kick UG away and bail back to the floor just as ref Edgar is turning around. On the floor we get a killer scrap between Gran and Disturbio, a ton of other Dinamitas come out to cause problems on the entrance ramp, Mascara boots UG right in the balls (which got him a win and set up this very match), and it's all incredible theater. There's a series of fun desperate pins, Mascara grabbing the rope, getting his foot on the rope, grabbing ref's hand to stop the count, all of it was great. This is my favorite old man scrap of the year, with all of the drama I love from lucha, plus an old guy punching a less old guy in the eye. It'll work for me every time.

PAS: MA2K can't really bump or run the ropes anymore, but he is very willing to throw multiple punching combos upside UG's head, so Dayenu. This had plenty stuff built around Gran Guerrero and Disturbo which makes sense to pad the time, and give the oldsters in the ring time to catch their breath. Still once the wind came it was nasty stuff, hard knuckles to heads. I liked UG's goofy dive into the crowd, not pretty at all, but this wasn't a pretty match. I kind of wanted a big post match Dinamitas beat down, if your gang is going to come let them roll deep, but this really was aimed at my lucha libre pleasure centers.


ER: This card looked real dynamite to me on paper, and three of the matches delivered various levels of big for me, and the rest of the stuff was either fun or inoffensive. I really liked the women's hair match which wasn't far from making list, Mascara Ano Dos Mil is still a compelling guy into his 60s and I love the couple matches a year where Ultimo Guerrero agrees to get shoot punched in the head, and the retirement was an instant lucha classic. The latter two matches were obvious additions to our 2019 Ongoing Match of the Year List.