2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

45. Negro Casas/Shocker v. Rush/La Sombra CMLL 7/18

ER: I was not a fan of their tag title match a few weeks before this, but this I liked. I thought that match lacked intensity and drama. Seeing this match shows everything that previous match lacked. These four were at each other's throats the whole match, and both teams actually felt like teams. A key part of what made this match so great was the team work. Not the double teams, but each person saving their partner at key moments throughout the whole match. Saves are a great way to build drama and cut down on silly kickouts, and I loved all the saves in this. Sombra has really come into his own under his rudo persona. It added an edge his character needed and just didn't have as a faceless flier. Now he's a smug shrugging prick who gets bailed out by his even tougher buddy and opportunistically dishes out violence of his own. His running knees to Shocker were brutal, but he has no problem giving back (watch him fly ass over elbow over the barrier off a clothesline). Shocker breaks out his fat guy tope, and some other cool stuff like his abdominal stretch slam (which sends Sombra right onto his head). Casas looked on fire too, having some fun scrambly matwork with Sombra, locking in one of the snuggest STFs onto Rush that you'll ever see, kicking Sombra's chest in while he's tangled in the ropes. This match builds off stuff from their previous tag match, and I especially loved Casas setting Rush up for the Thesz press and Sombra saving him out of nowhere by clotheslining Casas right in the shins. Awesome, heated match.

PAS: One of my favorite Sombra performances ever. He was working at a faster pace then the other three guys and it really adds something to the match. He and Casas rip off some incredibly fast and intricate mat work, and he is great at throwing in these athletic saves and cheap shots. The out of nowhere chop block to Casas as he was going for his dive was totally awesome. We of course get another great Rush and Casas stomp party, and a great turn back the clock performance from Shocker, who looked like he showed up mostly sober and ready to rumble, loved his tope as is was way less athletic then his heyday, but still super violent.


2014 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

49. Rush/La Sombra/La Mascara v. Negro Casas/Mr. Niebla/Volador Jr. CMLL 7/25

ER: Awesome short match, full of guys working stiff and with a hot surprise finish. Rush and Casas beat the holy hell out of each other here. I'm not sure how Casas' throat can stand up to some of the stomps that Rush unleashes on it. Both guys throw some nasty kicks to the other's chest and face, shove each other violently into the ring barricade. At one point Rush charges Casas in the corner, stops short, whips his hair back and slaps Casas right across the ear. Great dickhead spot. Niebla is a guy who can wrestle lazy when he's not feeling things, but then we get *this* Niebla and all is well. He slaps guys the whole match, really laying the shots in to a nasty degree, and at one point even breaks out his great back bump to the floor (Rush front kicks him and he falls through the ropes backwards onto the floor). Volador stayed out of most of this, spending a lot of it getting kicked and stomped by Sombra/Mascara, but does hit a spectacular top rope moonsault to the floor. And obviously he plays into the finish which I really dug. Sombra is kinda manhandling him, but Volador gets the surprise flash pin by reversing a Sombra samoan drop into a brutal Sombra head drop. Flash pins don't feel like they get used in lucha that often, and I really love how the match just ended since Volador pinned the captain. Felt like they finally outsmarted the rudos and the cuts to a surprised Rush on the floor were a nice touch since Rush hasn't shown tons of ass in this feud. This could have been epic with more time, but for a straight falls match I can't imagine it being much better. This was some of the stiffest ring work I saw in lucha that year, and no matter how long it was this was a hot match.

PAS: Man I had forgotten what a great act Rush and his boys were. Sombra is such a dick bag, I loved him lounging on the ring barrier. I agree with the greatness of Niebla here, he really gets his ass kicked and him spitting on the heels while he gets beaten is a fun bit of babyface fire, as was his lighting fast slaps on the outside, with this match and the awesome 2017 Caifan matches I think a Neibla reinvestigation maybe on deck. I liked the use of Volador here too, one cool dive and otherwise getting gang stomped is about the only way I can tolerate that dude, although his finishing move was some goofy Will Osprey looking shit. Rush and Casas are the headliners and they are great as always, just violent asskicker with Rush having Bruno level awesome stomps, and Casas landing his great chops and his all time awesome looking facewash dropkick, I have no idea how that move doesn't put Rush's nose into the third row.


2014 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

89. Negro Navarro/Black Terry v. Trauma 1/Trauma 2 IWRG 12/14

PAS: Really fun if unsubstantial brawl. Really worked like it was setting up next weeks revanche, but it is always weirdly enjoyable to watch Navarro and his sons work out their oedipal issues with each other. Meanwhile Terry is the dirtbag uncle, who is running around with blood dripping down his face and escalates the fight by pulling out a chain. Navarro rarely brawls anymore, but he was a Missionary of Death, so he can still throw a nasty right hand which just thumps. I hope Christmas at the Navarros wasn't too akward

ER: This was not what I expected, but pleasant for what it was. Traumas weren't really much of a factor here, but this was a pretty fun Terry/Navarro show. Navarro doesn't brawl a lot but his brawling here is all really good, but Terry is a vicious little monster. He's punching Traumas the whole time, and his stuff where he breaks out the chain is the best of the match, just lacing into with brutal chain punches from the mount while blood pools around his eye. But there were other neat tricks he had, probably my favorite little brawl trick of his was coming up on Trauma on the floor like he was going to punch, and then just kicking him right in the shin. I can't really picture these teams matching up and not doing something interesting.


2014 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

66. Rey Hechicero v. Caifan 7/5



PAS: Hechicero is a master, we have gotten to see him work on the big stage in shorter matches, so it is a treat to see him in a garage work a longer crazier match. This was against his long time Monterey opponent and tag partner, and was kind of the equivalent of Dean Ambrose going back and working a crazy match with Sami Callihan in IWA-MS. The mat work here was awesome lots of cool twisty counters and takedowns that had real violence to them, every leg lock looked like it was going to rip out a knee, every takedown looked like it was going tear out a shoulder. The finish run was a little indy, but Hechicero smashing a plastic chair with a powerbomb, and the finishing armbar were pretty spectacular. Great match, so happy this showed up.

ER: This match had a pretty difficult task, which was filling 33 minutes of time with no real rest or breaks, and it did that admirably. 30+ minute, una caida lucha matches are pretty rare. Normally you get the breaks in between falls to kind of reset things, but these guys really just go go go for the duration. It's pretty impressive. At times it did give the match a kind of aimless feel, not quite filling time, but more that there was no real ebb and flow, not always rhyme or reason for the comebacks or dominance transitions. But this was quite a nice little feather for Hechicero. He plays into Caifan perfectly and finds plausible ways to deal with some of his stumbles. Caifan takes far to long to get Hechicero into a pendulum? Hechicero bides his time, waits for it to be locked on, and then immediately grapevines a leg, hooks Caifan's arm and reverses things. Caifan taking a bit too long to do a rope walk rana? Hechicero busies himself with his own hubris. Hechicero's subtle hubris led to some logical Caifan comebacks throughout this, with Hechicero easily having the upper hand, but waving Caifan to keep going, to come at him. I really loved all of the submissions throughout this, especially the first 8 minutes. Hechicero really gets to show off his full arsenal of subs and I get the feeling he could have kept going. Caifan eventually brings strikes, using some Moe Howard type stuff, like grabbing Hechicero's nose and smacking downward. The powerbomb tease was awesome as there was no way I thought Hechicero would take a powerbomb on the floor, and he made the struggle look sooo great, really clutching those ropes and hugging them tight. When Caifan finally broke him free and planted him through a chintzy plastic chair it felt like he had just plain worn him out. Good match that never lagged, impressive with what they had to fill. The referee had the worst pants.


2014 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

72. Diamante Azul/Dragon Lee/La Sombra v. Hechicero/Cavernario/Negro Casas CMLL 9/16

PAS: Just a great trios match with a bunch of guys hitting on all cylinders. Hechicero, Lee and Cavernario are such great additions to the CMLL mix. Hechicero does some really nifty twisty matwork livening up the normally dull Diamante Azul, Cavernario is a whirlwind, just flying around the ring getting huge air on all of the armdrags and monkey flips, while Lee also bumps big and throws in a huge assisted tope con hilo where he gets major air. While the young kids are doing there thing, Casas and Sombra are doing a only slightly bargain bin version of Casas v. Rush. I never cared much for high flying technico Sombra, but nasty fake technico Sombra throwing headbuts to the bridge of Casas's nose and mafia kicking him in the mouth I can get behind. Shocking how hard everyone was working in a random Guadalajara trios, so much fun

ER: It's weird to me how CMLL runs hundreds of trios matches per year, including tons of different ones where at least half of the opponents are the same, yet there's really no formula to predicting which ones will be MOTY level and which ones you forget the moment you're done watching them. There's no algorithm like "Blue Panther + Arena Coliseo + 3rd match from the top + minimum two other guys you like in the match = Really Good Match!" The matches all feature the same guys and sometimes they're really good and sometimes they're really not. Watching them all is pure insanity, but cherry picking your favorite guys can make you miss little unexpected gems. Now this match obviously has a bunch of guys worth going out of your way for, but it's also a Tuesday evening match in Guadalajara with nothing at stake. All of that just to say, this was really fun. Seeing Casas team with Hechicero and Cavernario is just a cruel middle finger with all the Felino/Niebla quarter assed performances making tape. La Sombra as rudo opportunistic shit kicker has been a real revelation this year, and his exchanges with Casas in this were excellent. Cavernario really went for broke here, Dragon Lee hit the highest tope con hilo of the year, Casas hangs back in a non-lazy way but just lets the young guys shine while throwing out great stuff of his own (helllllo headbutt to Sombra's face). Really really fun.


52. Rey Hechicero v. Barbaro Cavernario CMLL 6/20

PAS: Very good final, between the top two wrestlers in the tourney. Match was going good with Hechicero throwing Cavernario around early. Cavernario took briefly over until he caught his kneepad on the ring post and ended up crashing and burning on a dive. Hechicero clearly called an audible and really worked over Cavernario turning this into an underdog fighting to survive match. Cavernario got a couple of big hope spots, including the craziest superfly to the floor yet, but was mostly on defense, absorbing a beating and clawing his way back by biting at the knee, and headbutts. The finish was great, Cavernario survives some big spots, including a Liger bomb and a powerbomb into the turnbuckles, and as Hechciero gets him up in a submission he squirms down and hooks in his knees to the back camel clutch which has been his kill move all tourney. Really great match, with both guys on the fly working in a blown spot into a compelling match. Hell of a finish to a hell of a tourney

ER: Really great way to end the tournament, felt like both guys were really leaving it all out there. I will forever be curious what the plan for the rest of the match was, had Cavernario hit that misguided tope past the ring post. Hechicero is a great guy to take over and control a match as he has freak strength and it's easy to buy him as a man overpowering another. All his reversal spots and slams have more credibility and look more vicious because of this. Hechicero is also incredibly agile for a bulky guy, and his moonsault variations are among the prettiest in wrestling. His agility in his springboard moonsault to the floor was incredible. Barbaro is a total nut who absolutely despises his knees and decides to punish them with the nastiest big splash from the top to the floor possible. This was an exciting final to a tourney where both guys killed themselves. And for that they were awarded with the dinkiest looking trophies possible.


2014 MASTER LIST

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Black Terry Never Got Rich But to Save his Soul

Black Terry v. Aero Boy Chilanga Mask 4/27/14 -EPIC

PAS: Pretty slept on 2014 match, including something we are pretty late on. Chilanga Mask was my favorite promotion to watch in 2014, the booking isn't always great, but you have to love any fed that gives Black Terry this long to work a singles match. Aero Boy is an indy guy who has been mostly working garbage feds but he is a game guy who is willing to work this kind of varied match. This really reminds of the 2008 Multifacitico series, with Terry taking a young guy with a couple of things and crafting a classic. Pretty insane he can still do this 7 years later, he is truly ageless. Opens with some pretty great mat wrestling, not showy but a bunch of cool moments, including Terry using a roll up a a submission. Match transitions into brawling with Terry taking some nasty bumps into chairs which is nuts for a dude this old, Aero Boy was probably wishing for light tubes getting hit by those Terry headbutts. We then go into a pretty dramatic finishing run, with Terry breaking out his flying lungblower, and Aero Boy doing a cool fight for a cross armbreaker. Some of the finishing stuff wasn't super easy to see because of the handheld, but that is really my only beef with this match.

ER: This was my least favorite of the 2014 Terry Chilanga Mask matches, admittedly because there were plenty of things that just weren't visible. Now these are the nature of some handhelds so I understand, but I can't very well rate what I can't see. It does make me wonder if Black Terry Jr. was the guy with the camera getting all the best angles of the mat stuff and the crowd brawl. But Phil is right that Terry is ageless and I think he's still the best brawler in current wrestling. I have never seen Aero Boy before but he holds his end up here. He took a wild bump into the crowd, and ramped up the brawl in response to Terry. I loved when Terry when for the JYD kneeling headbutts, Aero responded with a nasty one of his own. I dug Terry doing the arm breaker that we've seen Pentagon Jr. using lately (10 months after Terry breaks it out here) although some of the mat stuff was impossible to judge due to the camera angle. Unrelated to the match but am I the only one who thought it was weird that the ringside photographer was wearing a Señor Frogs shirt? That feels like wearing Mardi Gras beads in the summer, or wearing a Belize It Or Not shirt in South America (I did that. In my 20s. It had beads on it.).

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

15. Virus v. Dragon Lee CMLL 12/9

PAS: Virus title matches are one of my favorite things in wrestling and I am really excited we got to see one against a technico I really enjoy. Dragon Lee was one of the highlights of the Busca De Idolo and I am glad he got a chance to stretch out and have a long match with a master. I had big expectations for this match and for the most part it delivered. Lee is very carriable on the mat and his high impact stuff looked awesome, his tope was a missle and I am very happy that the classic tope has made a comeback in 2014. Virus is a master and the counter of the running dropkick is possible the spot of the year. Finish run was really great, with Lee fighting out of the STF and them exchange big throws. Lee is going to be so good in a couple of years and I think this is the first of many classic matches he is going to have.

ER: Wow, this might be the best Virus performance of the year. Just a real emotional performance where he not only got to show off his clear wrestling talent, but got to show cockiness plunging right down into desperation and all ranges in between.The segunda especially got really great with all of that arm work. It's similar to other Virus arm work, but I don't think I've ever seen him do it with this kind of snap, just throwing Lee around by his arm and then dropping knee first right onto it. The sequence with Lee reaching for the ropes while Virus tried desperately to keep him away from them was one of my favorite moments of the year. Virus had the STF locked in and Lee kept inching closer to breaking it, so Virus keeps modifying it to try and prevent that, grabbing Lee's outstretched arm and turning it into a choke. Virus' facials during it were great. I'd have to think hard about what my favorite spot of the year was, but I will say while watching the match and seeing Virus' glorious reversal, I immediately thought it was the coolest thing I saw all year, the saw Phil had felt the same way. Wrestling these days is filled with tons of "scouted my opponent, know what's coming next better than he does" type moves, and most of the time they feel very choreographed and planned. Virus turning a running seated dropkick into a submission felt like something that Dragon Lee himself didn't know was happening. He did the move the same as he always does, except this time he got caught in a way he wouldn't have ever expected. It really made things jump up a whole level. Awesome performance by both guys.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

68. Freelance/Arez/Micke Segura v. Los Tortugas Ninjas 12/13

PAS: Really fun lucha trios with everyone moving at a brisk pace and hitting all of their spots cleanly. Freelance is great at this kind of fast moving sprint, and I enjoyed Arez more here then I have in other more ambitious performances. There is a great Turtle Lady of the Lake spot in the first fall where a Ninja turtle gets stuck on his back and wiggles around, and when Arez goes to capitalize the turtle rolls him up. Finish was a bit of partner disunity between Arez and Segura which felt like a cop out finish to this kind of match, otherwise this was a blast

ER: Fun spotfest with a bunch of great ranas and armdrags, and of course the sheer joy of just watching grown men wrestle in ninja turtle costumes. For the record, I think the wrestling turtle power rankings are 1. Tortuga Leonardo 2. Tortuga Raphael 3. Tortuga Michaelangelo. Donatello was a no-show apparently. Wrestling in the turtle outfits seems really difficult, what with those floppy half shells always getting in the way. Huge bonus points to all of them for doing dives, I could easily see those shells getting hung up on the ropes and sending them to their doom. The outfits are pretty bulky so Freelance and Segura also get bonus points for working pretty spots with those shells getting in the way. Arez is one of those guys who isn't great at acting natural when he's waiting to do a spot. He just kind of runs in place until it's his turn, like a puppy waiting for you to throw a ball. He also usually breaks out at least one spot in a match where you think he took a real nasty move, but then you realize "Oh, apparently that was supposed to hurt the other guy." But here he does a lot of cool big stomps, really trying to crack Leo's shell (and of course there is a move that dumps him on his own head while a turtle takes a back bump, but apparently it hurt the turtle more? Some sort of shell psychology I suppose). Leonardo was the best at taking all of the intricate Freelance/Segura offense, I dug his opening matwork the most, and he did great little things like cut low on clotheslines , lean into super kicks and go for trips on drop downs. Plus he and Raphael knew how to mug best as turtles. This was all good fun.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

66. Solar v. Negro Navarro 10/11

PAS: This is a dance we are familiar with at this point. This is a touring match up I have seen probably 50 times, and just like watching a favorite band again and again you know what songs they are performing but you go to the concert to watch them tweak the arrangement a bit. This goes about 18 minutes which is long for a Solar v. Navarro match, and it is fun to watch them stretch out. They do some especially nifty arm work and we get an a clean finish with Solar twisting an elbow until Navarro taps. Better then the Philly match earlier this year and a fine representative for this matchup on the MOTY list

ER: This is just a match up I can watch over and over again. It's a good thing I didn't know who these two were when I was younger and used to try out wrestling holds on my poor little sister. I could see me pausing and dissecting frame-by-frame Solar's cool roll through arm lock or Navarro's weird trust fall single leg Indian deathlock, or Navarro's weird one-legged surfboard. I always know what I'm going to get when I start watching a Solar/Navarro match, and at the same time I'm always pleasantly surprised to see them trying new things, and effortlessly breaking out old classics. It also always serves as a nice affirmation for me, seeing these two men closer to 60 than they are to 50, still able to do what they do. Is it weird feeling wistful while watching professional wrestling? I'm older, grayer, ache more when I wake up, and here are these two for 18 minutes, same as they ever were.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of Year List

48. Negro Navarro v. Virus 11/5

PAS: Man alive is Negro Navarro a beast in this match. Virus is an amazing wrestler and is amazing in this but Navarro is so great he kind of makes Virus look like a Navarro opponent. These aren't guys with a big history together so unlike Solar and Navarro their sequences look pretty fresh. There was a catch and release section, which isn't my favorite thing in Maestro matches, but they violence of the holds they released made it feel more like a threat, then a show of sportsman like grappling. Like both guys were showing each other that they could break them just like that.  There was this totally awesome moment where Navarro used an ankle pick to break a vertical press pin which I had never seen before. Pretty shocked at the clean finish too, figured we would get a double pin, or maybe a roll up, but instead Navarro puts on this nasty hammerlock and taps Virus clean. I wonder how many of these under the radar dream match ups are happening every weekend. God bless camera phones.

ER: Man, this is the closest we'll ever get to some sort of dream Virus/Finlay match, and it was cool to see Virus work this kind of catch matwork as he doesn't really get the opportunity to work guys like Navarro in CMLL. Of course I enjoy his stuff with various floppers, but seeing him hang with a cool old guy is just too cool. I'm a big fan of matches where the combined age of the two workers is over 100. That does happen more often in lucha, but I dig old guys fighting it out. There's more respect, more wear, a little more gamesmanship because each man's tactics and strategies are more well known. Virus broke out some cool tricks I haven't seen him use before, cool drop toe holds, nice little touches like locking on a modified figure 4 and using his free foot to apply extra pressure. This match and the Hechicero match make quite a nice companion piece for Navarro's work. They are both Navarro matches with similar things done slightly different, showing Navarro as a man who yes often works a very similar singles match but also a man so good at his craft that he can do a similar spot with just a little adjustment here or grabbing an arm at a different angle there. It's like when you see raw audition footage of an actor working a scene in a few different ways, or listening to Pavement outtakes where Malkmus reworks lyrics on the fly. It's a treat watching him do his thing.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year

36. Negro Navarro v. Rey Hechicero Caraluchas 12/25

PAS: Probably the match I was most looking forward to, and I while I enjoyed it tremendously, I can't deny I was a little disappointed. Both guys looked great, and there were some very impressive mat counters by both. Hechicero especially was inventing new ways to roll and spin Navarro into torture. Still much like the Navarro v. Virus match, this was a Navarro style match with Hechicero in the Solar role. Hechicero is a great Solar, but I would have rather seen Navarro in a Hechicero style match, mix up the matwork with a little more flash. Very good but it felt like the set up for a better revanche.

ER: Phil is right that this was worked as a Navarro/Solar match, with Hechicero as Solar, but damn if this wasn't the best Navarro/Solar style match I've seen in years. Solar is a legend obviously, and I always seek out any match he still turns up in. But damn is Hechicero great and a tough and maybe unfair guy to be compared to if you happen to be Solar (who as a luchador is also almost as old as my dad, and while my dad is decidedly a trusted small town dentist, he is not very athletic). I thought this was some of Navarro's best mat stuff ever, really twisting up Hechicero, and Hechicero is a great damn foil and agitator. Watching them work leverage holds all with their legs or arms was almost hypnotic, and played out like a tripped out version of some of the best Thatcher/Gulak stuff. All of Navarro's cool arm wringer leverage spots seemed very uncooperative in the best way possible. Sometimes doing this kind of intricate matwork you have a few "gotcha" spots where you see a guy willingly leaving his arm hanging out there because that's the next spot, but this was intricate yet rough. Navarro grabbing limbs, snapping them around and forcing limbs to violently work against each other. At one point Navarro does this awesome kick out I've never seen him or anybody do, where he grapevines Hechicero's leg both of his own, and yanks him off with a quick tug. Really made me do a "what the hell was that!?" rewind. Hechicero has real cool lift strength, I've referred to him as 0.7 Backlund in the past. Here he does that awesome old Backlund spot of lifting Navarro up with one arm after getting caught in an armbar, with Navarro clinging for life all the way up. Hechicero can go matches without using his freak strength , as opposed to working it into regular spots, so it's always a great "oh that's RIGHT" option when he unleashes it to break a hold. He's really great at keeping a bunch of tricks up his sleeve, really feels like the most complete worker presently going.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

26. Rey Hechicero v. Black Terry Chilanga Mask 11/23

PAS: Man I love the Hechicero indy tour, he is so versatile and this is the kind of grimey brawl he isn't going to have a chance to do in CMLL. We have some very wrenching and aggressive mat work to start the match before all hell breaks loose. There is some great around the ring brawling including Terry chucking a case of beer bottles at Hechicero's head and Hechicero responding by throwing chairs around and tossing Terry roughly into fans. We also got some of Terry's vicious headbutts which as long as FUTEN is MIA are the nastiest in wrestling. Kind of a goofus ending as Guerrero Maya Jr. runs in wearing a ski mask and attacks Terry before accidentally chairshotting Hechicero. After all of the violence that kind of banana peel finish is weak sauce. Still well worth throwing Black Terry Jr. a couple of bucks to check out

ER: This match kept dragging me in and by the end felt like a real war with both guys trying anything to put the other down…and then it was like Godard decided to end Breathless with a fart joke (and not even a good fart joke). Great match/bad finish is maybe the most consistently frustrating things in pro wrestling. Imagine how we would have felt if Black Terry Jr.'s battery had died around the 15 minute mark. It would be the same way we felt about all those JIP New Japan matches in the 90s. What treasures could possibly be contained in the first several minutes of these juniors classics!? Yeah, we later all found out that it was just guys lying around in legbars for those several minutes. It was better not to know. Well, here we know so we may as well just focus on the positive because the positives are REALLY great. The work here was awesome. Hechicero is the best wrestler in the world in 2014. I waffled between him and Ambrose but this recent handheld run has really showcased Hechicero's versatility. He can work main event style, he can brawl, he can go on the mat, he finds neat new ways to do his signature stuff, and he always brings unexpected things to matches. The match was fun before the crowd brawling. I loved Hechicero actually being the first person in wrestling history to make a freaking ROLLING CRADLE look awesome. Match was kind worth the money just for that alone, taking a simple hooked leg and cradled neck pinfall, then using his .7 Backlund strength to hold the pin, roll through and try again. It looked great. Then we roll to the floor and they do an amusing tour through the front row. It really felt like they were two close-up magicians and letting all the people in the front in on their trade, which involved punching and head butting each other. Things get amazing when Terry throws a freaking box of empty beer bottles at Hechicero's head, and Hechicero flings Terry into fans, using a couple guys as support to prop Terry up to nail him with shoulders to the gut. Hechicero also slings chairs with the accuracy of Necro Butcher, with an incredible visual of Terry falling between folding chairs while trying to shield himself from those flying at him. All in all, this match was awesome…right up until the moment that it wasn't. Just pretend that battery ran out.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

33. Dragon Lee/Stuka Jr./Star Jr. v. Belial/Extreme Tiger/Impulso Chilanga Mask 11/23

PAS: Another Black Terry Jr. banger. Go email him and Paypal him a couple of bucks. This was CMLL v. Independents and was kind of worked like a Puroresu interpromotional match. Starts out with everyone brawling in the crowd reckless chucking chairs at each other, has some million mile an hour stuff in the ring including a bunch of bonkers dives by the Indy guys, and then goes back to wild brawling. Finish was a double pin which felt incidental, as they barely paused wailing on each other. Just a total blast, really exceeded my expectations.

ER: This kind of match is where Black Terry Jr. really shines. Over half the match takes place outside with guys flying all over the place, and he's right in the middle of the action, taking in a couple guys brawling through the crowd to his right, then whipping around to see a guy fly through chairs over to his left. The bulk of the match felt like that awesome long tracking shot scene on True Detective. For a guy I've never seen before I really loved Impulso in this. I thought he stood out as a real star. Took high bumps for all the CMLL guys, flew around like Freelance in the ring, took a crazy flipping head first tumble through a sea of chairs on the floor. This whole match took place in what looked like a backyard, fenced in by different sized panels of corrugated aluminum. And this match felt wild enough to justify being held in a dirt yard fenced off with scrap aluminum. Dives into the crowd, brawling through people, guys covered in dirt. This was all awesome.

ONGOING MOTY LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

50. Rey Hechicero/Barbaro Cavernario v. Veneno/Negro Navarro Cara Lucha 11/29

PAS: The awesome Black Terry Jr. run of handhelds continues. As does the unexpected step up from a random dude, a couple weeks ago Ultimo Guerrero looked awesome in a Maestro match, and here Veneno of all people had some really great moments. This was worked more aggressively and quicker paced then most Navarro matches and he fit in really well. At one point he invents this nasty figure four variation which everyone should steal, Cavernario is awesome but he isn't a mat guy, but Navarro made him look golden. The Hechicero v. Veneno stuff was a real highlight too, Hechicero throws Veneno around really violently, and Veneno responds with some really sharp nasty shots, he even throws out the one dive of the match a nutty flip dive. My wife is probably going to get me some nice things for Christmas, might be getting a new leather duffel bag, maybe some slick Rag and Bone shirts, but the highlight of the holiday season is Black Terry Jr. recording Rey Hechicero v. Negro Navarro on Christmas day, they don't match up very much in this match, but when they do it is a total battle of the bulls, that singles match is going to be so awesome.

ER: Chelsea should realize that for just the fraction the cost of a Rag & Bone shirt she could easily make Phil happy by just shelling out for a bunch of Black Terry Jr. exclusives! Seriously, she could be saving some money there. And holy cow how great was Veneno in this! Talk about satisfactory luchadors who I've seen plenty of, and haven't thought about in years! Quick somebody track down and tell me what Mr. Mexico or Karloff Lagarde Jr. have been up to these days. I mean Veneno (!) was just awesome here. He had cool takedowns, nasty kicks to knees, cool short dropkicks to the legs, did this weird headscissors to Hechicero while Rey was deadlifting him, plowed through Cavernario with a wicked senton off the apron, did a weird elbow drop off the top, had some odd Tracy Smothers style kung fu chops…I mean shit Veneno looked like a star here. It made me genuinely want to catch up on what the hell Veneno has been up to the last few years. I mean everybody looked good in this and it's possible Veneno stood out because I'm used to seeing the other three look good, but talk about your fun surprises! Phil is right about Navarro bringing out the best in Cavernario's mat game, as watching the two go at it I was thinking "man this is the best I've seen Cavernario look on the mat!" Also props to Navarro's weird crossed arm submission on Hechicero, crossing Rey's arms across each other in a painful way making it look like he was breaking his wrist with his own other wrist. Great selling by Rey, too.

Ongoing Match of the Year List

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

14. Brazo Jr. v. Kortiz WMC 8/24

PAS: This is the son of a Brazo vs. the son of a Villano  and it is the kind of gritty a old school bloody lucha singles match which would have been right at home on the 80's set and something which does the legacy of that family feud proud. Kortiz is great, really a nasty asskicker truly in the family tradition, he mauls Brazo Jr. early with nasty punches, and post shots until Brazo Jr.'s gear is covered in blood. Very traditional structure for this kind of match, with one sided rudo domination early, until Brazo ducks a punch and unloads with an over hand slap. He then takes over and bloodies Kortiz by smashing his head into the top of the metal post. Then we get more of a back and forth match including an awesome section with both guys on their knees unloading everything they have. The finish was a little goofy, with Brazo's second faking a towel throw, and then Kortiz gets distracted, his mask pulled off and rolled up, but for a bs finish it was pretty clever.

ER: This was a 3 part match for me (well, erm…I suppose most lucha matches are). I loved the first two parts, right up with the best stuff I've seen all year, and the third part was good but lost me a little by the end. But damn those first two parts. Kortiz comes out not rocking the Villano name, but unmistakably rocking the Villano body and viciousness. You realize what kind of match this is going to be around the 4 minute mark, as the action had spilled out in front of the camera and Kortiz punches Brazo a lot right in the ear, and Kortiz is really mean throughout all of this. His overhand chops sound like the sound-sweetened versions on Lucha Underground. Brazo looked like kind of a pushover (I really appreciate that somebody somewhere taped this, but you get the feeling the match would be that much better if filmed up close so we could really get inside Brazo's selling and comeback) until a missed Kortiz strike and then it was on! Possibly my favorite lucha moment of the year (and think of the ground that covers in 2014) sees Kortiz climbing up the ropes but getting caught by Brazo, and with both men facing out towards the corner, Brazo starts bashing Kortiz's face into the edge of the ring post. I've never seen that before and lucky us it was happening on the post closest to camera side, so we could see all the glory of a guy getting smashed into a ring post. We get some nasty leg work from Brazo in the tercera, the worst when Kortiz has his leg draped over the bottom rope and Brazo just curb stomps right through it. They lost me a little with some move and submission trading, but upon rewatching the match it wasn't really nearly as bad as my initial impressions. There aren't wild lucha brawls with blood anymore so I should really have been focused more on how exciting THAT was, instead of getting a little lost with some mostly pointless "but he didn't sell the knee long enough" type stuff. As a whole picture the match was great, total hidden gem that - thanks to Phil's OCD about searching for obscure wrestlers every day on the internet - totally pays off.

2014 Match of the Year Master List

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

51. Blue Panther v. Ephesto CMLL 6/22

ER: Well damn this was great. This is like something that would pop up on some cell phone shot indy show, not on an actual TV show. We get 9 minutes of a purely grappling/mat based match that really illustrates how junk most lightning matches are. Most of them are just guys going in to show off their trademark highspots, and here two guys totaling over 100 years of age go in and show what can be done with the unica caida quick match format. It's an extra cool display knowing that Ephesto wanted to be like Blue Panther when he started, and here they are trading hold for hold. The first three minutes are just cool standing exchanges with some neat stuff you haven't seen, and once they take it to cool pendulum armdrags and mat stuff I was beyond hooked. There are some old man moments but they don't detract as they seem more real because hey these guys are old. Sometimes you're gonna end up in awkward positions on the mat. Panther playing possum on the mat before rolling through into a half crab was beautiful. Again this kind of thing showing up on TV, knowing that somewhere a couple of cool old guys are working a no bump grappling match while the cameras are rolling and not just because some flea market ring was too hard to bump on, but because it was a cool match to work is really special.

PAS: This kind of straight Maestro match is pretty rare to see on CMLL TV. Thanks to guys like Black Terry Jr. we have had a chance to see a bunch of lucha matches based around grappling in the last couple of years. This isn't a high end version of that, but Ephesto doesn't get a chance to work those kind of matches much, and acquits him self well. I really liked all of the standing counters and struggles early. Could have used a bit more aggression, I never got the sense anyone was going in for the kill, but this was pretty stuff.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

23. Ultimo Guerrero/Blue Panther v. Black Terry/Solar CMLL Sanchez 11/15

PAS: Such a pleasure to watch masters ply their craft. Very old school lucha match,  had some very pretty mat wrestling, but a little more spice then a straight maestro match. I had no idea Ultimo Guerrero had this in him, add this to his mask loss and we are looking at an out of nowhere classic year from I guy I have been totally indifferent for his whole career. He looked like he belong right there with all of these mat wizards, his stuff with Solar was just great. as was the section where he matched up with Black Terry. Panther is clearly inspired when he gets a chance to do this kind of thing, and he looked great. Loved the third fall, with the very cool Star variations and roll ups. Maestro match of the year for sure.

ER: Man this was cool. I realized while watching this that I've been watching Ultimo Guerrero since I started watching lucha some 15 years ago, and while I've historically not been as bearish on him as Phil, I have never in that time seen him do the things he does in this match. He's always been more of a brawler and a main event spot guy, I don't think I've ever seen him go very long on the mat, and I've definitely never seen him go on the mat like this. Here he gets to tie Solar and Terry in knots and make them look completely helpless. He looked GREAT. And don't think we're just praising him because it was a surprise seeing him like this, as most of the sweet transitions and subs he broke out would have gotten just as much praise if Navarro or Panther broke them out. My two favorites in the match are 1) this awesome drop toe hold he did to Solar while also holding his arm. Like he grabbed his arm for an Irish whip and then threw him right into a drop toe hold. So simple, so genius. And 2) in the tercera he locks on an impossible nasty surfboard on Terry that saw him Indian death locking the legs, while pressing his own legs into Terry's armpits. When he rolled over Terry ended up crucifixed and splayed apart like Hannibal Lecter's guard victim during his courthouse confinement. Panther has been having a wonderful year, getting to shine in a bunch of neat lightning matches and here gets to work tons of great stuff with Terry which is just a dream match up. All three falls get tons of time, and these guys all fill the time wonderfully. This was just so satisfying and so much fun.


2014 MASTER LIST
COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

43. Guerrero Maya Jr./Hechicero v. Traumas 1 & 2 CMLL Sanchez 11/15

PAS: Really fun mat based match which very much delivered on the promise of Hechicero mixing it up with the Traumas. We open with a spectacular Trauma 1 v. Hechicero section which has some cool athletic counters, and a series of nasty rolling cradles into submissions. We also get a cool second fall exchange between T2 and Hechicero. Maya looked good when the match sped up a bit, but he looked a little lost during the mat stuff, Trauma's will eat you up if you can't hang. The other thing that kept this from being really high end was the wonky finish which felt like some sort of double pin cop out so on one had to job. More of a match with great exchanges then a great match, but man alive were those exchanges amazing.

ER: This was a fun match but really more of an amazing mat exhibition than an actual mat that built to finishes. But if you're going to to a mat exhibition, might as well break out some of the most gonzo crazy submissions you've ever seen. Some of the submissions here I can't even begin to describe. When people hear about "trippy lucha submissions" I don't think they've ever seen anything like this. Hechicero vs. either of the Traumas was the stuff lucha dreams are made of. Hechicero might be the best current mat guy in the lucha game, and yes I understand implications of that statement. I want to see Hechicero against Thatcher/Gulak as he can easily work the lucha version of their thing, and some of his movements are just so damn impressive. He always does these cool things with leverage and is really great at highlighting how close some of his riskier submissions can come to being reversed. He'll lock on a high leverage move but you can see how it can be quickly reversed by an able opponent. Hechicero will lock on a nasty legbar and then when wrenching it in will take the leverage too far, and then the Traumas gamely take control back. My favorite sub was this nasty three-parter with Hechicero starting with a half Rings of Saturn, holding onto that while locking in an Indian deathlock (with it locked in by holding Trauma I's legs in place with his chest, and then rolling all that through into a surfboard. That he didn't make it look like Trauma was just waiting around to be put into it speaks volumes about both men. Maya was lost during all the mat stuff and did a bunch of annoying stuff like offer up his arms without making Trauma even begin to fight for them, but Hechicero vs. Traumas heals all wounds.


2014 MASTER LIST

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Ongoing 2014 Match of the Year List

3. Atlantis v. Ultimo Guerrero CMLL 9/19

PAS: Wow. Totally exceeded my expectations. Really felt like a classic mascara contra mascara match. The stakes felt really high, two huge stars wagering their masks, which made every near fall huge. Ultimo Guerrero was throwing huge bombs, and Atlantis was trying to survive and catch him with the Alantida, there was a great moment where Guerrero hits the superbomb, rushes in an gets caught with the Altantida, only to have Atlantis collapse against the ropes unable to hold him. I didn't love the finish with UG hitting his reverse superplex, which is always a kill shot, only to get two, and then get caught in the Alantida, almost felt like Atlantis no sold it a bit. This was a superhero in a mask match, so I forgive it a bit, but I thought it was slightly abrupt. Guerrero's career match, everything he did seemed like it was done with more force and intensity, he knew he was losing his mask and he wanted to go out on top. Atlantis is such a great big match worker, he has tremendous timing and presence, he is the Idol of the Children and fights like losing will be breaking the hearts of little kids. Postmatch is great with UG surrendering his mask while his family is sobbing and the crowd is throwing money

ER: Great great GREAT match. I was really nervous going in that this was going to be a bad CMLL move exchange main event, but man it was so much more than that. These are two big masks right here and I love how CMLL kept panning back to show the crowd. They never do that (is it because the upper deck is usually empty?) but pulling back here made everything feel more grand, more large scale, more epic. The drama here was intense, with every move having extra gravity. But I don't think the match was good just because of the stakes, I think even without masks on the line this same sequence of moves would still have created a very good match. The Atlantida collapse into the ropes may have been the spot of the year. UG knowing he was that close to certain doom, like a car accident happening seconds after you squeaked through an intersection. Atlantis knocking UG to the floor has to be among the bumps of the year. That's a move you never see countered and here it happens in extravagant fashion with UG spilling dangerously onto the apron to the floor. The match did lose me a bit with the finish, which I did not like. These two spent the whole match crafting neat counter sequences based on knowing each other's gameplan so well, and then the finish is just one guy hitting their finisher, with the other just standing right up and doing his for the win. That's lazy and obnoxious. But then they go and win me right back with the postmatch, with Ultimo's voice cracking as he removes his mask, and his beautiful family tearfully embracing him. It was an amazing moment that caused me to tear up a bit. And I can honestly say that not many things do that to me. Overall just fantastic stuff.


2014 MASTER LIST

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

11. Rey Hechicero v. Black Terry Chilanga Mask 10/26

PAS: Total dream match which totally delivers. Hechicero has been having the best year match quality wise of anyone in wrestling, while Terry has been a little AWOL when it comes to great stuff available to watch. So happy our man Black Terry Jr. had his video camera ready to capture this match. We start out with some really great chain wrestling. Terry has been mostly a brawler in his late career resurgence, but he can still really rip it up maestro style on the mat, and when he gets a chance he seems right on the level of guys like Panther, Solar and Navarro. Hechicero is definitely the younger guy (respectively, he has been wrestling since 2001) in lucha most comfortable working a long mat section and he does some very cool stuff, including some nasty rolling leglocks. I also liked how the mat work was more intense and violent then a lot of maestro mat work, this was less of a showcase of technique then a matwork fight. When the match broke down into an actual fight it was awesome. I loved the finish with them brawling into the crowd and Hechicero taking a nasty little bump into folding chairs, they both get their legs stuck and just wail on each other Necro Butcher bar fight style. This was when you really appreciate BTJr.'s cinematography as we are really close up as both guys unload potato shots on each other. So much fun and right up there with the best things anywhere this year

ER: Man this was fun (who could have ever guessed with those two involved?) and made me want to see more Black Terry as he looks as good as ever. The first half of this is all on the mat, and it's some of the most grueling matwork I've seen. Instead of two guys flashily reversing and exchanging holds, both guys looked like they were using all their strength to lock on holds and actually hold them there. My legs started knotting up just watching Hechicero try to pop Terry's head off with a tightly flexed headscissors, and damn does Terry find an amazing way out of it. So Hechicero has a headscissors locked in, with his legs over Terry's shoulders, and Terry lifts his own legs up to grapevine one of Hechicero's legs and begin twisting it. Awesome way out of a sub. The matwork really felt like an exhausting test of wills, really seemed liked something that would gas you out after a few minutes. And that's when the asskicking starts. I think Terry might be the best brawler currently in wrestling. He has so many nasty little short shots, short punches, mean kicks to the knee, the best knee lifts possible, fast and accurate headbutts. He will really just beat a guy around the ring. Hechicero is a great guy to beat around a ring, too, as he always finds fantastic ways to fall into things and get into position for things. Ending is truly unique as the brawl onto the floor and into the crowd and both get their legs wedged into the wooden auditorium chairs. Those things are like Chinese death traps and both guys beat the hell out of each other while stuck, like two animals stuck in a trap fighting and panicking. Crazy stuff.


2014 MASTER LIST

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