Lucha Worth Watching: Demus! Robin! Dark Magic!

Demus vs. Robin RLL 6/1/19

ER: I love seeing Demus pop up in indy singles matches, pretty much regardless of opponent, so seeing him show up against I like is obviously going to be something I seek out. And this kept flirting with jumping up onto MOTY List level, but a couple things held it back. It was worked much more like a lightning match (and was a nice brisk 11 minutes) which means that it didn't have some of the drama, and a couple spots didn't quite hit flush, but these are two guys who will do a couple stupid cool things in a match. Demus is his amusing self: Early he takes his belt off so he can choke Robin with it, but the ref takes it away pretty quick. And I then laughed several times as we get the reveal that it was a load bearing belt, and Demus is pulling up his jeans for the rest of the match. I kept rooting for a spot where Demus asked for the belt back as long as he promised to not use it as a weapon. Robin takes plenty of big bumps on a hard mat, to the floor, and one I'll get to in a bit; he splatted several times missing flying moves into the ring (all his landings on Demus slams looked hard as hell, and his corkscrew moonsault bump landed with a splat), hits a great tope, and is generally a fun opponent to see Demus headbutt a ton (and Demus is going to headbutt you a ton). The absolute spot of the match - and what made me root hard to include this on a list - was crazy and unexpected. Robin sets Demus up on the entrance ramp and goes for a running somersault senton from in ring to out of ring. Demus moves and Robin crashes to the ramp...and then Demus spears him off the ramp, into the crowd and chairs below! Holy shit. I didn't think the rest of the match was tidy enough to make list (Robin gets up from the spear immediately back in control, and kinda whiffs on a tornillo to the floor, Demus drops Robin while attempting the muscle buster, etc.), but had one moment that I loved: Robin has Demus locked in a bow and arrow, and Demus breaks it by reaching behind his head to grab Robin's head, and forces Robin to headbutt the back of his own head. Things like that keep me coming back for more Demus. The double underhook piledriver is completely insane and really shouldn't be allowed in lucha, but who can contain Demus?


Dark Magic/Polvora/Kawato San vs. Black Panther/Blue Panther Jr./Rey Cometa CMLL 7/9/19

ER: I really liked the big energy in this midcard Tuesday Arena Mexico match. Occasionally that happens and it's always great. This was spirited as hell and at times felt like an ECW house show fancam brawl. We get crowd brawling during several points of the match, guys really giving the fans their monies worth by getting them right up close. This kept the crowd loud for the duration of the match and that always makes these things more exciting. Black Panther looks huge, and he hits a nice tope that slams Polvora hard into the barricade; Cometa as Tonto is growing on me and I'm starting to think he looks cool, and it's awesome to see Tonto hitting a nice tope con giro. Dark Magic comes off like a guy trained by Norman Smiley, hitting axe handles and straight kicks to the chest, taking a fun tumble over the barricade, leaping off the apron; what I'm saying is everybody here did something I liked. A bump, a hard shoulderblock, a swift mask rip, all throughout. Add in an engaging crowd brawl and this became one of those fun midcard gems that happen to shine brighter than usual without real reason to.