2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Gringo Loco vs. Bandolero in a Cage!

145. Gringo Loco vs. Bandolero GALLI Lucha 9/9/18 

PAS: We get a bit of a black swan here, with an actual good lucha cage match. With the return of Gringo Loco to the spotlight in recent years, he has been mostly working as a base in spotfests or as a tag worker, but this was main event brawling Loco which is what he made his name on in that amazing IWRG run. It wasn't at that level (Bandolero isn't Black Terry or Chico Che) but it had some good moments. Loco jumped Bandolero in the aisle and worked him over with chair shots and tossed him around ringside, and it's the kind of wild brawling I love and my favorite part of the match. When they got into the cage it turned into more of a 21st century cage match with the cage being used for big spots. And there were some big spots, with Bandolero doing a bunch of cool Spider Man climbing on the cage to fly off and a crazy huge top of the cage rana.

ER: For a match type neither of us like, Phil and I have weirdly written up several lucha cage matches over the past couple years. Is the format getting better, or are Phil and I getting dumber? You know, I take that back as I'm still scarred from that All Cage Match IWRG show and that weird ass Negro Navarro show that took place in an MMA cage. So...no, lucha cage matches are still terrible, but still capable of being fun, and this was plenty fun. It manages to combine two things I dislike - lucha cage matches, and lucha main event big move 2 fall lay around structure - into something palatable, so give these two credit. They managed to sequence nicely overall and build to the big stuff appropriately (even though I did think Gringo hitting a powerbomb, rolled into a piledriver, rolled into a tiger driver.....well that feels pretty "finisher" combo to me), and we got some pretty great big stuff. Gringo is a master at basing, that magical combo of taking moves gracefully while landing heavily. It's the latter thing that most wrestlers don't have. Sure, CrossFit guys can take a reverse rana, but there's never any heft to it. It's like a movie with bad CGI, just 2002 Incredible Hulk bounding around light as a feather. Bandolero does some big flying off the top of the cage, and OFF the cage, like in a cool spot where he leaps off the chain link with a moonsault (not off the top mind you, off the side of the cage itself!). A lucha cage match hinges on cool spots and big bumps and blood; this didn't have blood, but 2 out of 3 ain't bad. Gringo is still a guy with a couple cool bumps into a cage, and when chairs get involved at least the violence is going to have a high floor.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Dick Riviere!

Dick Riviere/Akuma/Nitro vs. Aguila Blanca/Magia Blanca/Oro Jr. CMLL 5/28/19

ER: What a surprising little Tuesday CMLL treat. Riviere and Aguila are two lanky as hell French geeks who perform up to the crowd's standards and get a real fun, enthusiastic reaction the whole match. Riviere wrestles like a Quackenbush trainee but embraces the fact that he looks like a background coder on Silicon Valley. He's not a nerd pretending to be a comic book hero, he's a nerd who flexes his tiny muscles, has a shitty goatee, Dudley "Booger" Dawson hair, builds to a very funny shirt removal spot, and gets wrecked on a powerbomb while attempting a rana. He brings a fun sniveling heel charisma to CMLL and I hope he stays longer. Aguila Blanca is a flyer who works like a less polished Soberano Jr., but it felt like the crowd wasn't expecting a lot and were then pleasantly surprised once he hit a big springboard splash to the floor and a big 450. I've seen a lot more seasoned guys come into CMLL and not blend in and adapt, and these guys looked good. Akuma has turned into a Demus clone, which is a cool guy to be a clone of as I won't ever object to a fed having more than one guy who works like Demus. He rushes hard into tecnicos and takes those embellished headscissors from Blanca like a good base junior. I love these kind of no frills undercard weeknight matches, they always have a chance at overdelivering because the stakes are so low, and they can take chances like putting a couple of French goofs in a match.

Dick Riviere/Star Jr./Starman vs. Hijo del Signo/Akuma/Nitro CMLL 5/29/18

ER: I enjoyed our French dweeb so much in his CMLL appearance last week, so I sought out the only other lucha matches he's showed up in the past couple years, just for a little bit more of the story. Here we get to see him as a tecnico. He's even more of a dweeb, as he's wearing superhero cosplay but still has a dumb Shaggy goatee and a snaggletooth. But it's fun seeing him as a tecnico. The Quackenbush vibes are still strong, but in a good way. He has a lot of nice high arcing armdrags, hits a crazy Asai moonsault that hits well and sends him flying into the barricade, and leans into some big lariats. I like this weirdo! Everyone shows up for this one though (Star Jr. has a notably awkward moment but leans into strikes well), Nitro throws the hard lariats I mentioned, Signo is arguably the most professional guy to not break out of the undercard, Starman is maybe the smoothest tecnico to break out of the undercard, and Dick Riviere still does the shirt removal spot as a tecnico and it still works! This was a really fun match that nobody would have possibly gone far out of their way to see, but I just had to see more Dick!

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Lucha Worth Watching: Cassandro! CMLL Undercard!

Cassandro/Flyer vs. Magnus/Medico Asesino Jr. FILLM 11/18/18

ER: Man how cool is Cassandro?? Here he is working the coolest lucha arena in the world, the one that looks like it's a Street Fighter II background, and he comes out wearing a spectacular green coat with a long train, which somehow looks elegant while being dragged across the dirty concrete. He's not a guy who shows up a ton on tape, as that is part of the excitement around Cassandro. But he's the exact same guy you remember, here pulling off tight armdrags, a painfully precise missile dropkick, and his signature tope con giro. Asesino came off like a fun rudo stooge, Magnus hits a nice dive into the aisle and Flyer gets to hit two (which makes sense as his name ain't Matwork) including a big asai moonsault. Cassandro commanded the crowd like a conductor at a couple points, really a guy who knows exactly what to do no matter the setting, and while this match didn't set out to be a classic you definitely would have left satisfied had you gone there seeking a fun Cassandro main. Lucha shows are becoming more and more common in the States, and it feels like Cassandro should be able to bring buzz to these shows. There's no reason one of the three lucha feds running Denver isn't running Cassandro/Zumbido matches, but come on people let's make this happen!

Akuma/Espanto Jr./Espiritu Negro vs. Star Jr./Pegasso/Stigma CMLL 4/16/19

ER: This was a real fun undercard match that had a real fine rudo trios team performance and a bunch of great big tecnico moments for Star Jr., in the kind of match that really looked like they were already looking at Star Jr. as a future Soberano Jr. (when Soberano moves up even higher on the card). The crowd reactions for Star Jr. hear were real loud and real organic, felt like a guy who the locals were really treating as a star (he can just drop the Jr. once he's an actual star). The rudo team is a bunch of guys who haven't gotten much ink on Segunda Caida even though they've all been in the biggest lucha fed for like 5 years. Here they really make the case as an interesting team, standing out in ways that I think the Dinamitas started standing out a couple years ago on undercards. They had a bunch of mean double teams (loved a missile dropkick into tandem vertical suplex that poor Stigma took), Akuma hits a sky high flapjack, all three guys bite opponents at one point, and they handled their end of big base bumps. They were a team that made me want to see more of them as a team. Star Jr. had a big exciting match; crowd was flipping out for his headscissors, his big springboard rana to the entrance ramp looked as big as it should have, the crowd went nuts for every time he outsmarted the rudos, just a really fun performance that got a deserving response. Pegasso is a pro in these kinds of "2nd flashiest tecnico in a trios" roles, and Stigma was in there for some big bumps; the whole match has a nice breezy vibe that I think made all 6 look strong.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CASSANDRO

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Lucha Worth Watching: CMLL Unexpectedly Stretches Out

Blue Panther/Black Panther/Blue Panther Jr. vs. Misterioso Jr./Puma/Tiger CMLL 7/10

ER: What a smokin' trios hidden in the middle of a Tuesday night Arena Mexico show. For whatever reason they get a ton of time to do their thing, and they make some real cool use of that time. The primera is long and is entirely on the mat, easily the most matwork I've seen in a CMLL match in a couple years, totally cool and unexpected. Most of the time is taken by Panther and Misterioso, as the respective maestros working a bunch of longform leglocks. CMLL just doesn't let matwork stretch out like this any longer, and it was awesome seeing these two work holds, and work in little moments, like Panther getting his leg twisted but you see him start to wedge his free foot in between Misterioso's knees and it leads to him sweeping and cleanly picking up Misterioso's ankle. They go to a couple standoffs and then go right back to attacking legs, the crowd getting more and more into it the longer these two stay in the ring. I cannot recall a recent CMLL match where the same two guys held court longer than this (over 6 minutes) to start a match, and I loved it. BP Jr. comes in to do some more leg lock and Indian deathlock battling with Tiger and ties him up with a cool inverted stretch, part cruceta, part making his shoulder blades touch.

Rudos weren't messing around in the segunda and jump Panther familia and gleefully kick their black and blue asses around the ring until they were black and blue. Panther Jr. takes a few bumps over the barricade, Tiger throws a full beer at BP (who ducks), just a fun mugging around the ring as if Misterioso was a battle hardened general shouting "beat the crap out of them and don't let them roll on the mat with our legs!" The tercera is a continuation and much more of a modern lucha tercera, but better. It never devolves into big move 2 count kickouts, instead jamming in a ton of partner saves which is infinitely more interesting. They kept ramping it up and the crowd got louder with every save. We had a couple false finishes and a couple peaks; you watch enough formula Arena Mexico trios matches and it's obvious when something is doing something a bit differently. Panther Jr. hits a couple dives, Misterioso wraps himself around the ringpost on a great bump, crowd gets super hyped for the elder Panther matching up with Puma and Tiger, really the tercera felt like a whole CMLL trios in itself. Cool vibe with several things out of the norm for this kind of trios, and I smiled the whole time as they kept going and the fans kept getting more rabid for Panther.

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Ultimo Guerrero vs. Corsario Negro Jr. FOR HAIR!

64. Ultimo Guerrero vs. Corsario Negro Jr. FILLM 11/3

ER: Ultimo Guerrero is one of the bigger stars in modern lucha, who occasionally will show up to an arena to take an actual vicious beating. Corsario Negro is a big tubby guy with a physique that would stand out as tubby on the PBA tour, who apparently really values his 1.5" of hair. This whole thing opens with them brawling on the floor, and Ultimo getting battered with a crate and then stabbed in the head. Ultimo is soon bleeding, plentifully. Corsario really punches him around the arena, shots to the face and cool punches to the chest, even hits a great sneaky headbutt in the corner. Ultimo returns fire with some nice chairshots, hard but glancing. Corsario responds by bouncing a chair off Ultimo's head so damn hard that it ricochet's off Ultimo's head bones and hits a fan 10 feet away. Seeing that things have come to this, Ultimo returns the favor and pastes him with a shot straight out of 1999, that probably erased much of 1999 from Corsario's memory. This is definitely a lucha stips match. Corsario impresses the hell out of me with a monster tope, a real fast, graceful, heavy shot; and we get a series of big top rope moves and big spills, and a moment where I thought UG could plausibly lose his valuable (I assume) mullet. Bloody hair match is a match style with a pretty high floor anyway, but Corsario's beating and UG's sick enthusiasm made this one special.

PAS: For a guy who mostly bores me, Ultimo Guerrero can sure deliver in alternative circumstances. This was an old school small arena hair match. We get a bunch of blood, guys getting smacked with splintery crates, a big fat guy tope into chairs and some unprotected chair shots. The big reverse suplex and top rope powerbomb, which come off so trite when they are thrown out in the middle of the six hundred and third Volador Jr. match, really come off cool in a bloody hair match. Corsario Jr. felt like a guy losing his hair in a high profile match, and performing up to the moment. Fun stuff, and we really need to dig into all of Lucha.Tv's stuff, what a treat that Youtube gives us so much small venue lucha.


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Lucha Worth Watching: Heavyweight Cibernetico! Sangre Azteca Stomps Balls!

Kraneo/Valiente/Rush/Volcano/Blue Panther Jr./Diamante Azul vs. Shocker/Rey Bucanero/Terrible/Gran Guerrero/Euforia/Ultimo Guerrero  CMLL 10/9/18

ER: This was a match I didn't really know I wanted until it was right in front of me. A 12 man cibernetico with heavyweights, not a fliers showcase, but a fun heavyweight spotfest. Rush is the fun monkeywrench in this whole thing, and while the teams are divided into tecnicos and rudos, there are still teammates that hate each other and everyone is mostly out for their own interests. Plus it was a good chance for some guys like Shocker and Rey Bucanero to show they can still go in the right situation. Bucanero is going for 2002 status here which is a shock since I saw him live a few months ago and he never moved faster than walking speed. Here he hits the somersault senton, takes a classic Bucanero bump over the top to the floor, gets nailed with a dive, clearly looked like he was working hard here for whatever reason. And everybody was. I'm not sure what will make a bunch of guys in CMLL suddenly make the decision to work hard in a random match, but this whole thing felt spirited, guys worked snug, made the match feel more important than it likely was. We get a lot of Kraneo and a lot of Volcano, and let's just talk about how silly it is to have the two largest guys in the fed (largest guys in lucha) both on the tecnicos side. We need one of the big guys to be rudo and we can then build to a Clash of the Titans. Kraneo is great but was better as a rudo, but also way over as a tecnico, so I get keeping him where he is. I think Volcano and his modern take on Roadblock's gear (his Caltrans vest highlighter and weird brown back brace) look pretty doofy, but maybe working rudo would open him up a bit. Panther Jr. turns in a nice tecnico performance here, Valiente hits a big dive, Terrible don't care who his partners are for the match, he's still gonna stomp out his enemies, Azul gets his class Mexico mask shredded, whole thing was fun. Ciberneticos feel like more of a thing I wanted when I first started watching lucha, but this unexpectedly delivered. Less spots than your typical ciber, but more character and tight work. That's a good trade.

Sangre Azteca/Metalico/Nitro vs. Oro Jr./Star Jr./Retro CMLL 1/15/19

ER: Stiff work and plenty of shtick will almost always win me over, and this undercard gem easily won me over with both. Rudos worked stiff and tecnicos bumped big, and this thing didn't need any dives to make it a ton of fun. Azteca was a real standout and he's a guy I've always really liked, someone whom I assume there must be backstage reasons that he's never been moved up the card before, because he's been great as long as I've been aware of him. He makes it his mission in this match to stomp all over the tecnicos butts, balls, and loins, and succeeding in his mission. At least once a match he usually throws his big high angle dropkick right to the balls (do we not do faultas anymore?) while an opponent is seated in the corner or being held spread eagle...well, here he does that like 7 or 8 times, flying into the corner with precision shots, teasing doing one from the middle rope but then climbing to the TOP rope to drop straight down like Slim Pickens riding a missile to straight to tender tecnico loins. He even kicks the middle rope as Retro is climbing back in the ring, the lucha equivalent of the turkey tap. Nitro gets in on the action, dropping a great elbow drop off the middle rope. Metalico was Metalico, and I love Metalico, so he was taking pratfalls and throwing nice big hooking lariats (Oro Jr. took four lariats in a row, really throwing himself back and landing on his shoulders with gusto), and bailing on the tercera by ripping off a mask rather then suffer a pinfall defeat. Oro Jr. had a really nice performance for a tecnico I don't often notice, I was really impressed with how he ran into rudo strikes. Star Jr. is kind of like Soberano Jr. but with floppier limbs, but he still snapped off a really cool headscissors that was like a cross between a smooth lucha headscissors and a Marty Jannetty one. Retro appears to be working a 70 year old Mil Mascaras gimmick, but his shoulderblock hits snug enough and he leans jaw first into a low Nitro dropkick, and those are a couple things that will at least get you into the 490s of a 500. This match scratched a nice lucha itch for me. A match that might seem inconsequential, but having something like this that doesn't steal flash from later matches, while still presenting high end work, is an important part of any card.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Dalys vs. Isis! Rush & Cavernario Put Up Their Hair!

Dalys vs. Reyna Isis  CMLL 9/7/18

ER: This wasn't in an easy spot on the card, right after a micros trios match that was fairly epic in scope, had a ramp dive and got a lot of time, big triumphant Micro Man finish. So this match had to follow that, and they opted for opening with 3 minutes of snug matwork. They went right out and said "you're getting something different" and I liked it. Dalys works mean throughout the whole match, totally turning a woman who is the QUEEN of ISIS into a tecnica. I liked their mat exchanges, a lot of hard takedowns and nice headlocks. Dalys muscled her around and stomped her around the ring, hit a couple nice throws and looked real scary in spots. Isis had a couple nice tecnica comebacks, a nice rana, dive off the middle rope to the floor, a nice Santo rolling sunset flip. But Dalys was real tough here, came off like someone who could believably work intergender trios. Dalys finished with a stiff senton, and I liked how energized Isis was throughout, and even while getting pinned she was still limply trying to kick her limbs out. I thought this was a tough match, and probably the most interested lightning match I've seen this year.

PAS: Dalys looked awesome in this match, sort of a mix of Finlay and Cris Cyborg. She really punishes Isis, putting her in a STF and yanking up on her neck, driving her knee into Isis chest, lifting her up by her hair. All of her slams had Isis landing flat backed, which is pretty rare in lucha, and felt like she knocked all of the air out of her. Isis had some headscissors and an OK dive, but I really didn't buy her getting any offense on Dalys. Joe Gomez wasn't ripping off offense on Fit or anything. Still a great vicious performance by Dalys and I need to dig around and watch more of her.

Hair vs. Hair: Barbaro Cavenario/Rush vs. Volador Jr. Matt Taven  CMLL 9/14/18

ER: Say what you will about this match, but these are four heads of hair worthy of a hair match. If my head were shaved, it would be grown back to where I typically keep it within 6 weeks. Not a valuable guy to have in a hair match? But Cavernario has the most hair by volume in the fed, Rush has the most valuable hair in wrestling, Volador's is among the longest in the fed, and Matt Taven is a garbage direct to video Pauly Shore as Slender Man. The match has plenty of flaws, Matt Taven stinks up most of his time in the match, but he's countered by a touchstone big match performance from Cavenario, a performance that really cements him among the best main event workers in the world today. A crazy tercera also helps kick this to the good side, with plenty of big moves, a huge moment I don't think I've seen, and that continually crazy Barbaro performance. Barbaro breaks out some some unhinged caveman moments, diving off the entrance ramp with a big splash, diving off the top with a big splash, crazy missile dropkick that he lands on his feet, breaking out his from the apron past the ringpost dive, nearly beheading himself on a Fuerza bump, eating a flip dive from Volador, taking a suicide elbow from Taven, eating Volador's flipping piledriver with a death wish, taking a rana standing on the top rope....it was a fucking stunt show and Cavenario was Hal Needham. Taven looked like shit and even spent a large part of the match getting booed. Did the crowd sense the rudo turn, or were they just sick of his dogshit flipping neckbreaker variations? Sick of him hitting bad springboard dropkicks? Volador does  plenty of stuff I dislike, and I think we're beyond needing a moratorium on backcrackers in lucha, but he throws himself hard into a quebrada and a big flip dive and that adds to the match. Rush walked around like a punk and threw some hard corner dropkicks, had an excellent timely save, and absolutely planted Volador with the piledriver finish. This whole thing was plenty fun, even with flaws, but even if the match stunk it would be worth seeing just for Cavenario.

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Lucha Worth Watching: June CMLL

Puma/Tiger/Okumura vs. Drone/Guerrero Maya Jr./Rey Cometa  CMLL 6/1/18

ER: What a fun little match that snuck right up on me. I was skimming through this card to get to the Park main event, and a lot of the guys in this match have made nice improvements over the last couple years, I've particularly found myself really liking Drone. He's been working with the most confidence he's had in the gimmick, and he's been tossing out more fun sometimes trippy offense, like he's a guy trained by both Skayde and Joel Maximo. And the match delivered all the spotty goods I was hoping for. I don't know if the wrestlers and more and more pumped up from the Park crowds, but guys are working a lot more loose and playful. Puma was really soaking in the crowd and working like a dickhead, Cometa was taking bumps on his head like he was 5 years ago Rey Cometa, Drone is rolling into offense with the flair of a World of Sport guy, Puma and Tiger see who can catch a rana better, it's all tons of fun. Cometa takes a nice beating, takes a really nasty bump off a Puma clothesline, jumps off the top face first into Puma's boots and makes the spot look great, Puma catches him in a huge rana from the top to the floor and swings him into the barricade. We get some dives, some springy armdrags from Maya, fun little moments like Puma kicking the ropes as Maya was getting into the ring, big 450 from Cometa to end the segunda, just a real good go go go pace for this kind of thing.

Rey Cometa/Stuka Jr./Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Templario/Mephisto/Ephesto  CMLL 6/29/18

ER: Rey Cometa works this whole match like a Cometa reborn, acting like he's the hot new flyer in town and bringing some big flying spots and bumps. And then everybody sees that and everybody busts ass and even on a show without LA Park, they act like the big draw on this show isn't Ciber the MAIN MAN (which is a name so bad that he should come out sporting suspenders and snap them obnoxiously before hitting big moves, but that doesn't work when one of your top tecnicos already wears lame suspenders), this whole thing is worked like it mattered, perhaps the homegrown guys showing what they can do while three less talented invaders (though I do like Zorro) work the main event. Everybody is showing off and it's real fun. Mephisto does some nice bully matwork, Maya breaks out a couple big dives with his awesome tope con giro sending him flying upside down into the barricade and another tope right through the legs of Stuka. Stuka hits a gorgeous moonsault over the ringpost to the floor, Templario is a huge bumping rudo who mixes in super athletic flying, and he's a fun complement to the tougher old guys Ephesto and Mephisto. Cometa really felt excitedly reinvigorated here, and that's something I've been noticing from him lately. His big rope climb tornillo to the floor was super fun and a nice surprise, seemed like everyone was working faster to make up for a shorter match. Whatever the reason, this delivered.

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Hechicero vs. Aramis

40. Hechicero vs. Aramis Lucha Memes 7/22

PAS: Another awesome CMLL star visit to Coliseo Coacalco. Really well done power vs. speed match, with Hechicero using his strength to stretch and throw Aramis, while Aramis hits a bunch of crazy flips and dives. The seats in Coacalco are a ways away from the ring, so it is even more awesome when an Aramis tope drives Hechicero into the fans (including a guy with a bandana, locs and a 40 oz, he looks like he is about to ask Ethan Hawke if he ever had his shit pushed in), Aramis also hits a great springboard flip plancha into the chairs. Both guys get more and more covered in dirt as they land on the floor. There are some great Hechicero power moves too, including a short arm scissors lift into a slam, and multiple Hechicero rana catches into big slams. So much fun, Aramis is two for two against cool CMLL wrestlers getting to stretch their legs.

ER: Oh the wonders that Hechicero will do with a ragdoll-y young flier. Coliseo Coacalco is like my ultimate wrestling match Mecca, and (as long as the picture is still the same) it has a great image representing it on Google Earth. It looks like an abandoned lot in an alley that I would likely feel at least a little cautious driving down. And yet inside it's a magical dirt caked terrain that's the site of some of my favorite wrestling of the decade. Not much is going to top Aramis' bananas match against Casas, but on paper you knew Hechicero was a match made in heaven. Hechicero is great at muscling around guys his size, so you know he's going to have a blast with a ragdoll. Aramis gets great height on everything and has impressive body control on his ranas and movements. It's weird to say "I like the way this guy moves", but I like the way this guy moves. And Hechicero knows how to move perfectly around him. There was a Hechicero regular spot in here that I don't know if I've seen done better, when he grabs a leg of a leapfrogging Aramis out of the air, whips him to the mat, and then violently rolls into a sub. The dives in Coacalco are always a treat, as you see Aramis fly inches past a support pole, and his springboard flip dive is excellent, as is both men rolling through dirt. There's a little clunkiness as Hechicero was going for something on the apron but Aramis didn't know what so kinda froze while Hechicero awkwardly moved his body into position in what felt like an eternity, but the payoff was big as Aramis gets planted on the apron and tumbles recklessly into the dirt again. Back in the ring and Hechicero really pulls off some cool slams and reversals, and Aramis is nice and pliable so makes Hechicero's nasty bow and arrow choke look great. I loved him against Casas and this officially lands him on my radar as a guy to seek out. I'm really digging the dust storms this kid is whipping up.


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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Ageless Negro Casas Teams w/ Pentagon

62. Negro Casas/Penta El Zero M/Cavernario vs. Dragon Lee/Caristico/Mistico CMLL 7/20

ER: This match ends in straight falls with Cavernario stripping Caristico of his mask after kicking him in the balls. And everything before that abrupt but expected finish was straight fire. Pentagon worked way more inspired than we typically have seen from him over the past couple years. Watch him fly recklessly into the front row fans as the match starts and create energy all around ringside. One of my frequent complaints about him is how sluggish he can come off in the ring, especially between moves. But here he's lighting up the tecnicos and not just hanging back when he's not the featured guy. The crowd was into him, and he beats the brakes off of Dragon Lee around ringside. Lee takes that over the barricade fast bump so crazy, he looks like OJ Simpson on the stretcher flying off the second deck at Dodger Stadium in Naked Gun (man that description was a mouthful). Caristico takes his own bump into the front row, getting beaten by Cavernario while fans tried to keep their distance. Cavernario was a bulldozer as well, not giving the tecnicos time to breathe during a beatdown, landing hard kicks and a big springboard splash. But Negro Casas was the main man in this one. He picks apart Mistico in the primera works over his knee and twists his ankle, and after he and Cavernario have beaten him Casas even lifts him up at a 2 count and soaks in the boos. Casas kicks the hell out of Lee on the apron, and I still think Casas is the most exciting apron wrestler in the game. I mean, maybe I can just take the word "apron" out of that sentence. Lee comes close to kicking Casas' chin while draped in the ropes, Casas comes up holding his chin and shows Lee how to land a kick by punting a hole in his chest. Casas hits one of the most violent/gorgeous standing kicks to the face I've seen, hitting the best Kick of Fear on the apron, then gets absolutely leveled by a leaping Lee knee. We get some nice dives and ranas to the floor down the stretch: Lee gets crazy height on a flip dive, Cavernario tries to send his body through the barricade catching a dive, Penta eats a rana, just a fantastic rudo performance. These guys had so much natural charisma together, hopefully we see them team more than this one time.

PAS: This is a match where Negro Casas who is in his late 50s, is teaming with arguably the cream of the crop of luchadores in their 20s and 30s and not only is the superior performer, but also looks on their level athletically. He is 35 years older then Dragon Lee, Dragon Lee is a freak athlete, and Casas looks right there with him move for move. What kind of black magic is this? Pentagon was making his Arena Mexico debut, which I am sure was a dream of his, and he really worked hard, flying around the ring and laying in his shots. Straight falls was a little disappointing, as I really think with a big time Tercera Caida this could have been a real top tier match. Still really cool stuff, and the influx of indy guys has seemingly upped everyone's game.


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Lucha Worth Watching: Fenix Debuts

Negro Casas/Barbaro Cavenario/Ultimo Guerrero vs. Rey Fenix/Mistico/Caristico  CMLL 6/8/18

ER: Casas/Fenix is one of the modern lucha match-ups I've been most excited to see, and I didn't think that CMLL would be the place where I would see it. This match was a nice taste of that, and while it didn't strive to be much more than some greatest hits from all participants, these are guys with some nice greatest hits. The crowd was REALLY loud for the Mistico/Casas segments and I wish they would have built off that, wish they would have picked up on that and wish Casas would have been a little more vicious. He seemed understandably focused on keeping up with everyone, which is what this whole match is all about, and it's good enough as that. Everyone gets big moments, a high Jerry bump to the floor from UG, big ranas off the top to the floor by Mistico and Caristico (with outstanding catches on both from UG and Cavernario), Barbaro throwing nice worked punches and his big Vader Bomb, Casas works fast segments like he somehow still can, but this match was clearly designed to introduce Fenix to anyone who might not have seen him. Fenix is the focus of the rudo beatdown on the floor, Barbaro tosses him over the barricade, he works with everyone (with them saving the Casas showdown until the tercera), gets a pin on UG, really only has one awkward moment as he whiffs on a spin kick in the corner opposite UG (and I don't think UG leaned out of it). He hits an awesome late rotation flip dive off the top to the floor, splats spectacularly on the floor after eating the running dropkick from the apron, works a bunch of fast exchanges with Casas that ends with Negro taking two boots to the face. This was designed to get Fenix over, and he got over. Looking forward to where this all goes, and want even more of him against Casas.

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Lucha Worth Watching? Angel Dorado/Difunto Mask Match!

Angel Dorado vs. Difunto I  ERLL 1/28/18

ER: This is apparently a match with some contentious opinions. Some have said it's one of the best matches of the year, others assume that those people took advantage of the trust of friends to trick people into watching a match that they had already wasted their own time watching, just paying this nightmare forward, and now it's my duty to trick somebody else so that this lurking, menacing man will stop following me and my friends no matter where we hide and no matter how far we run. We get 28 minutes of match, and it somehow feels majorly clipped in spots. Was this match actually 50 minutes?? I cannot imagine what was deemed not good enough to air, because we got a LOT of footage of two guys hitting some semi-blown spots and then lying on the mat for long periods of time. There was a lot of mat lying. I didn't see how Dorado first got his mask ripped open, but I saw both men lying on the mat for long periods of time. We get a couple of great moments: Dorado hits a gorgeous tornillo through the ropes, a spot that should surely make the gif rounds; Difunto breaks a beer bottle over Dorado's head, and I have no clue what the access to prop glass is down in Monterrey, but I'll assume it's slim. So it's a crazy holy shit moment, a guy busting a bottle over someone's head...but it also happens maybe 4 minutes into this match. Dorado did that tornillo and another huge dive off the top to the floor after having a bottle smashed over his head. Other than that, we get a lot of very lazy moments of getting into position, we get that nasty modern big match lucha thing of a big move off the top (like a Spanish Fly), then a kickout, then both men lie still for a long time, then the guy who took the Spanish Fly is the next to do a move. That happens throughout. The fans are really into Dorado, and both men bleed, but man I wish I had seen a 2 minute highlight video of this match, with no other footage showing up. We all could have thought we'd missed out on a violent classic. But now here I am with my back against the ocean, car facing me on the beach with the parking lights on, watching the tree line, waiting for it to appear. Somebody else please watch this before it finds me.

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LA Park in Santa Rosa Live Report 7/28/18

ER: I got to see LA Park 16 years ago at a flea market in LA. He walked into the flea market like he was walking on a yacht. I mean, he was wearing a mint green polo tucked into tight Jordache jeans. He may as well have been a chubby Mexican Warren Beatty. He worked Shocker on that show, at a time where Shocker and LA Park were two of my absolute favorite wrestlers. 16 years later and half that statement is still true. I've had unfortunate or awful circumstances lately with all time personal favorites working lucha shows close to my area, with our devastating fires canceling a Negro Casas appearance, and then a broken rib canceling his return date. So tonight LA Park was working 10 minutes from my house and I kind of expected LA Park to suddenly retire earlier this week. But he didn't, and the match happened, and I was there.

LA Park/Skayde vs. Rey Bucanero/Damian 666

This was not going to be a match where Park was going to take one of his crazy bumps or do a dive out onto an unpadded gym floor. But it was going to be a good fat Elvis performance with plenty of brawling, and I love watching Park brawl. The match takes an odd turn pretty early, as the referee just flat out turns on Park, essentially becoming a member of the Bucanero/Damian team. I get having a rudo ref, but this guy didn't slow count, he just started putting the boots to Park and choking him in the corner with his boot. I'm not sure anybody would have actually asked for that, but our eventual payoff was very satisfying.  This match was worked like a lucha match in front of a Memphis audience. Park's belt got ripped off very early and Bucanero whipped him right across the face and chest, and twice across the back. I've not seen Park live in the era of Park belt whippings, and my gracious do those belt whippings read 300% better live. The belt snapped so loudly across Park's body that it sounded like something structural was breaking in the building. We brawl to the floor and Park really lays it in on Damian with big right hands, and Damian takes a big beating around ringside, getting shoved face first into a ringpost and getting slammed into the guardrail. Park was throwing bombs and looked huge. But the big moment of the match came when Park got revenge on everyone with his belt. And before I was verbally cringing at Damian's whippings. But Park made Damian look like a guy who had never whipped another man in front of 300 people in a veteran's building.  Park's belt shots must have felt like being struck by lightning. But the lightning really struck when Park finally got his hands on the ref. The ref was a young man, slender, smaller than any man in the match. And Park hazed him like a frat guy dishing out a racially charged takedown of a pledge. Damian and Bucanero both beg off getting more whippings from Park, and totally throw the referee to the wolf. Damian got a Coke and a bottle of water from the crowd, and offer it up as sacrifice to Park. Skayde lifts the ref's shirt while holding him in pedigree position. Park douses the ref's back in coke and water, and hits it as hard as any man possibly could hit a back with a belt. Rey and Damian stay on the floor and continue fearing the volcano god who is burning his sacrifice whole in the ring. They flip the ref over, lift the shirt again, and Park whips him right across the exposed stomach and ribs. A million times more verbally painful than being whipped across the back. Think of your stomach, exposed, getting slapped as hard as possible with a leather belt. I'd probably puked until I cried.

Now the rest of the match brought plenty of lazy and missable moments. Bucanero wrestled like he had the flu, his offense being worked at about 70%, like he was afraid to make contact with Skayde or Park. Rey went for what I think may have ben a shining wizard at one point, except his leg never came close to making contact with Skayde, so we can only wonder what it was supposed to be. He had a nice punch to a seated Skayde, and dropped a nice legdrop. But he whiffed on stomach kicks and kneelifts and barely grazed Park on a corner splash. Bucanero was not interested in showing up tonight. Skayde took most of the match off, bailing to the floor from most of Park's beatdown, disappearing to the floor later with Bucanero and doing little of note. He's slimmed back down a bit since I saw him earlier in the year, but he did nothing that would remind you of your favorite Skayde memories. That's twice now. But Damian worked hard. The man is 57 years old and isn't anywhere near as graceful as he was 20 years ago, but he hit hard on forearms and threw a couple nice clotheslines, and matched up nicely with a force of nature like Park. Park looked lazy as hell on a couple missed clotheslines with Damian, but commanded the ring like a boss, built to little moments that turned into huge moments because of his superstar aura, and gave everyone a glimpse at what it looked like to see someone perform who really understands their craft. This was not a great match. It was a basic match with a broken structure that spent half it's time on belt whippings. But to see it live on a Saturday night after driving 10 minutes with a lifetime friend? I wouldn't have wanted to watch any other wrestling in the world.

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Cuatrero vs. Angel de Oro Mask vs. Mask!

53. El Cuatrero vs. Angel de Oro CMLL 3/16

ER: Fun mask match that sees Angel de Oro really step up more than I've seen from him. He showed a personality in the trios sprint the week before, really putting in some quality tecnicos work, and I think it carried over into the big apuestas match. Match starts wild with Cuatrero taking the big Sgt. Slaughter bump to the floor, with Oro attempting to vault out after him but getting matador'd right into the barricade. And that would be the story of the match. Oro was going to take flying risks knowing it was his way in, Cuatrero was going to try to send Oro into the barrier or off into the crowd. He sends him into the barricade, throws him into another barricade, crotches him on the barricade, drags him into the crowd and powerbombs him in the aisle, easily wins the primera. By the time he's ripping at Oro's mask, and Sanson is putting the boots to him from the apron (never underestimate how awesome your stomps will look when you're wearing a nice-fitting suit jacket w/ lucha mask. Sanson looked like an Ivy League valedictorian majoring in Sneaky Ass Kicking here), the fans are dying for an Oro comeback. And I think he does great with all the big spots: He hits a dive off ring entrance, beautifully times a moonsault to the floor, hits a wild handspring moonsault, and the fans are into it all. Cuatrero does get to plaster him into the barricade once more on a dive, and we get a compelling nearfall stretch run. They went to the well a couple times too many on some of the spots, but overall I thought the stretch built well, especially liked how some classic lucha spots played into nearfalls (such as Oro getting a rana with a pin, but Cuatrero smoothly rolling it through for a close call in the tercera). I didn't know who won when I watched the match, and I thought they did a great job of making it seem like any man's game down the stretch. Oro is really good at milking his unmasking, but eventually he is revealed to....look exactly like his brother, Niebla Roja. Sheesh no wonder they tossed these two into a team with Hector Garza, they all look alike (although the brothers were under masks then so it makes no sense). This was a nicely done big time stips match, with modern luchadors (i.e. guys 30 and under). Usually a mask match needs some kind of age or sympathy or legacy to get me involved, and while this didn't have those things, I thought they worked great with what they did have.

PAS: I really liked the opening of the match. I love a lucha apuestas match where the rudo dominates the Primera and Cuatrero side stepping the tope, smashing his head in the door and powerbombing him in the crowd was awesome. I also liked how Oro stole the segunda after getting beaten down. Tercera I liked less, it felt very 2018 lucha with the stage dive and a bunch of big moves. I did love Cuatrero's bullet tope which bent Oro's back. I thought Cuatrero was a great brawler early, and I would have liked to see the end be more of a war, instead of a moves match. Still this had some great moments and was a solid new generation mask match.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Dinamitas vs. Young Fliers

49. Cuatrero/Forastero/Sanson vs. Soberano Jr./Mistico/Angel de Oro CMLL 5/18

ER: Dinamitas getting to go all out against a team of fliers dying to impress has been a really fun match type the past year. Dinamitas are all such great fast bumpers, really know how to whip themselves out of and around the ring on ranas and armdrags, and are also great classic lucha brawlers; not theatrical, but very believable as asskickers. I love Forastero's deadlift tilt a whirl backbreaker, and their springboard elbowdrop is one of my favorite finishers of the past several years, and they broke out all kinds of new crazy with Cuatrero catching a rana and spinning around a couple times before hitting a powerbomb, and Forastero hitting a wild springboard dropkick to a seated Soberano. There rudo offense is super athletic but explosive. But I always look forward to them for their bumping. I love how these guys fall. And the fliers all dial it way up and by the tercera we got some fantastic spots. Soberano sometimes comes off as a bit much, but I like that he seems like he's out there just thinking up things he wants to try, just crazy ideas that might end with him falling on his face. But when he's on we get intricate multi jump huracanranas, gorgeous Fosbury Flop dive, a tornillo into the ring, and a physics defying handless tornillo over the top. That tornillo was just insane, looking like he wouldn't clear the ropes and instinctively lifts his body at the right time. Mistico doesn't want to be outdone and he throws in a nice flip dive and then blows that effort away with a huge flip dive running from the rampway and running up and over the turnbuckles. A hot lucha crowd is a wonderful thing, and the crowd was getting to fever pitch levels as these guys kept building the match hotter and hotter. Great fun.

PAS: This reminded me of the really great run of IWRG Oficiales matches a while back. This wasn't at that level because none of these technicos are Freelance or Suicide Segura level dudes, but the Nuevo Dinamitas are a great classic rudo team. The group of kids in this match are just up to try crazy shit, and lots of it would have gone very badly if not for a solid group of rudos keeping it together. I believe that Soberano will get really good, he really has moments of off the charts craziness, but then will hit something off or awkward. Once he works off the yips I think he will be a real treat to watch. I imagine having him really pair off the the Dinamitas will help that development. I haven't seen much of Mistico 2 before, but he had some really impressive moments. I was never a big Mistico 1 fan, maybe I will debut the Slate pitch claiming M2 as the superior Mistico like the people who like the Monkees more than the Beatles.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Park and Rush Unleashed

3. LA Park vs. Rush CMLL 6/22

PAS: This was about as grimy as it is going to get in the cathedral in 2018. Nobody even goes into the ring for the first 10 minutes or so, with Rush getting powerslammed into the chairs and Park taking a rude awkward bump right on his calves into the seats. It honestly looked like he may have hurt himself, but the undead don't die and a minute later Park is wasting Rush with a huge tope. Bestia comes down and decks the ref with a chain for the DQ on the first fall.

Second fall had some really fun stiff beatdown stuff from Rush with some really rude kicks and stomps, we get another ref bump (ref was getting pounded in this match) and a martinete on Park.  Bestia comes back with a framed poster, Rush is about to smash the poster when he gets waylayed with huge Park spear, which felt like the out of nowhere car crash in Children of Men. Park then smashes the poster on Rush's head opening up some cuts on his back, Park then just lays in this huge beatdown, with some sharp punches which were clearly trying to bust Rush open hardway (Park was clearly pissed we only got back blood) and finally just starts smashing Rush's head into the mat like he was an ape trying to open a coconut. He starts whipping Rush with a cord, punching officials, smashing him with a stretcher. Eventually one of the officials has to fireman's carry Rush out of ringside, while Park is basking in his glory, hurling beers at fans and talking mad shit, we get an apuesta's challenge and consider me AMPED!!!

ER: This felt like a giant surreal jump in the feud, to see Rush and Park doing their Rush and Park thing in Arena Mexico for CMLL. The whole match was wild, with both taking nasty spills into chairs (Park gets backdropped legs first into them and Rush gets thrown hard onto them), Park getting buried in chairs, an old man actually thinking Rush was going to throw a plastic popcorn bin right at his head, Rush successfully hitting Park with this bin (which looked like a hard plastic yellow milk container) but Park absolutely bouncing that container off Rush's head, Rush gets a large umbrella broken over his back, big brawling, ref's getting pulled in the way of offense, Park hitting a big dive, Rush eating all of Park's heavy shots, Bestia punching a ref in the face, just all of the exact things I was excited about when their CMLL feud started. And it's all in the first fall. Park is unleashed in the segunda and breaks a picture over Rush's head, starts staring down security and a doctor, attacking the commissioner, attacking Rush with a stretcher, things devolving to Edgar just counting both guys out to end it and get the hell out of there. The only reason other matches in their feud might seem more grimy is because this is merely a cleaner venue. This was a fight and a spectacle no matter where it happened. Their CMLL feud has taken some odd turns so far, and while I thought it was a mistake to put them opposite each other in matches every single week, they easily show that if they're given the right platform (i.e. let us show how much we hate each other) then they will put on a freaking show.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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When They Come to Take LA Park Down, When They Bring That Wagon 'Round

LA Park/Rey Fenix/Volador Jr. vs. Rush/Terrible/Cibernetico CMLL 6/15/18 - FUN

ER: I'm sure there's someone out there who was excited when Cibernetico was suddenly brought into this feud. But I'm also sure there's someone out there who eats their own feces, so that qualifier doesn't mean a whole lot. And, since this is just a numbers game, there are probably actually more people in the world who eat their own feces than there are people who were excited to see Cibernetico in a CMLL main event in 2018. But this also just happened to be the match I was in the mood to watch. We got good energy the previous week, this was a toned down soap opera which had a lot of acting and allowed time for a lot of individual personality. We had a big early peak with some big spots, a big LA Park dive, big flip dives from Fenix and Volador, and a great looking section with Fenix throwing awesome spin kicks to Cibernetico's jaw and rolling into place for moves like a ninja, even back bumping lengthwise on the top rope at one point as part of a springboard arm drag. Fenix is shining in the big Arena, and he's an awesome flashy addition to this group. The rest of this straight falls trios is slow burn gags and schtick, several different bits with different combos that were all allowed to breathe. Long belt whippings by both sides, Park whipping backs and chests, Volador and Terrible with a super long staredown with Volador working a bunch of comedy faces and Terrible cutting off rope running flips from Volador and Fenix with mid air punches. Terrible also misses a big leaping punch and clocks La Comandante. Earlier Comandante rubbed Rush's back to calm him down, and I bet that felt kinda gross. Rush wins both falls with bullshit screw jobs, the first of which inspires Commissioner Rambo to get up on the entrance ramp showing his disappointment in referee Edgar for being such a fuck up, while wearing a full length black overcoat. It's the highspot of the match, which also featured a Park spear on Rush that would have left me with 4 broken ribs. Before that we get a wonderfully slow played Park/Rush moment of Park rubbing his belly across the face of a kneeling Rush, and Rush selling it with this great gulping Vince McMahon face. Cibernetico has trunks that say "Main Man" on the back in kicky letters, which is so douchey it should be on the back of some white jeans. Oh, it might be slightly worth noting that fucking nunchucks get involved and fought over, and then Park actually appears like a man who knows how to use nunchucks and does a stretch of photograph worthy showing off.  The bullshit finishes were silly but fun, overly dramatic and cheesy, but getting loud reactions from the crowd. This was all fun popcorn drama.

PAS: This didn't have the violence of the previous weeks matches, this felt much more like a house show lucha shtick trios, like we needed a star and a spot where everyone misses dives. Park is a great shtick wrestler, I loved him rubbing his fat belly on Rush's face, and the nunchucks spot was classic GIF worthy horseshit, but this was a weird build to a violent singles match. Things really should be escalating and this felt like a week off. Fenix has a bunch of fun rope tricks and great agility, but he is a great brawler too, and I would have liked to see him bring that side to this feud. Cibernetico is an inexplicable addition to the indy CMLL invasion, he brings nothing to the match and is a big step down from Bestia, who is at least a crowbar. I enjoyed this, but it isn't what I wanted to see (spoiler alert.. they turned it around big time next week)

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Park vs. Rush Family Feud Continues

45. LA Park/Hijo de LA Park/Volador Jr. vs. Rush/Terrible/Bestia del Ring CMLL 6/8/18

ER: I complained the other couple weeks that there was a lack of urgency, and I certainly can't make that same comment about this match. All six guys go right at it, HdP and Volador both hit a couple sets of dives to the floor, Park spearing Rush through the ropes crashing into everybody (and as crazy as his spear through the ropes was, the spear towards the end in the ring was spectacular, with Rush flying into it and Park intercepting him midair like a hawk), Park and Rush exchanging suplexes, Terrible smacking chumps around, Bestia del Ring getting those legs up high and crashing into Park's face on a dropkick, everybody making themselves known around the ring. HdP isn't very good, but damn was he trying here. Park was busting butt too (big shock) and I rewound a bump of his into the barricade a few times, such a big guy to be flying ass over teakettle like that, and he still makes me enjoy getting clonked with a ring door. I didn't love Edgar taking a full force Rush missile dropkick and being up seconds later to call for the DQ and raise Park's hand, and Hijo/Volador really hung Bestia out to dry for too long as he waited to take a springboard legdrop. We get the straight fall DQs, love Rush being unprofessional, love Park being just slightly slow on the ball kick draw. This had flaws, but I liked the energy here more than the two matches that proceeded it.

PAS: I agree that these matches are better in a condensed format. The first trios had a great atmosphere, but needed some more aggression and oomph in the middle sections. This had more of that, and the PARK spear to the floor is a spot of the year contender, and completely insane for such an old dude to be breaking out. Park's spear is great, but we also have to give some credit to Rush for how well he takes a spear, he compresses his entire body and flings it out on impact, I imagine he could have even made Edge look good. I do wish Park had better running partners then Volador and his kid, I guess you can't choose family. Nice moving forward of the feud.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Stuka Jr. vs. Hechicero: A Feud of Relampago

While looking through some matchlists I saw that Stuka Jr. and Hechicero have now had 4 lightning matches over the last 4 years, and being that they are two of my very favorites in CMLL I figured it would be pretty easy to knock them all out. Given CMLL's roster, there are an absurd number of potential lightning match combos, so it seems odd that they've matched up 4 times, and I'm curious how much they mixed things up match to match.

Stuka Jr. vs. Hechicero  CMLL 2/1/15

ER: A fairly easygoing start to our feud. Much of the early matwork felt perfunctory and uninterestingly cooperative. The matwork still has some cool segments like Stuka going for an armbar and Hechicero turning it into his one armed deadlift, which Stuka then rolled through for another shot. Hechicero takes two big bumps to the floor, one over the top tumbling, the great one a Fuerza bump that he lands butt first. Yeowch. Stuka hits a big quebrada and gorgeous hands-to-side springboard crossbody; Hechicero hits his inverted monkey flip and a hard dropkick to Stuka's ear, and Stuka finishes a little too easily with his torpedo splash. This was a pretty basic intro to these two, but nothing really outside of what you might expect out of these two in a typical trios. Let's see where we build this.

Stuka Jr. vs. Hechicero  CMLL 9/27/15

ER: This match is much more Hechicero-controlled than the first one, and features more overt rudo work from Hechicero. The first match was pretty genial, this at least has Hech taunting the crowd and picking on Stuka as both do some fun tumbling, and Hechicero breaks out a fast dropkick through the ropes to the floor and a slingshot tornillo back into the ring. Hechicero pulls out two even bigger bumps in this one, getting thrown under the bottom rope and landing stomach first, and then peaking when he whiffs on a charge and wraps himself around the ringpost to the floor. Stuka follows with a completely bonkers moonsault over the ringpost to the floor, just wild. I always love Stuka's dedication to roll-ups and he always stays tight on sunset flips, really reminds me of El Dandy in that way, and it made the finish look good. Hechicero catches Stuka on a rana and deadlifts him up to powerbomb him (which itself was used earlier to toss Stuka into the buckles), but Stuka just keeps the momentum going and rolls right over the top, Santo style. We still haven't had any WorldWide classic between the two, but it's in there somewhere.

Stuka Jr. vs. Hechicero  CMLL 7/28/17

ER: Closer to the second match in the series, but less satisfying. The ending is a little more modern lucha for me (Hechicero misses a moonsault, Stuka moonsaults into boots, cut to spinning backbreaker win for Hechicero), but the big stuff plays big. Hechicero takes a fast rolling bump through the ropes to the floor, and Stuka hits a locomotive of a dive, and later we get another nasty Hechicero bump past the ringpost with another great Stuka moonsault over that ringpost. You got a crazy spot, you do your crazy spot in a lightning match. I liked the way they tied some things together, loved a silky tilt a whirl armdrag from Stuka, a nice springboard elbow to a standing Stuka, but this one felt a little more hollow.

Stuka Jr. vs. Hechicero  CMLL 6/8/18

ER: I figured with 4 different singles matches between these two, we would get one good enough to land on a list. Well, I don't think they did it. This was probably the best of the 4, but it felt more like a fun collection of stuff than an actual complete match. This felt like probably the best combination of the best parts of the other matches, with all their nice offense and a nice callback finish. This match felt weirdly saved by a minorly flubbed spot. We basically get all of the same things we've seen in the other matches, some nice Hechicero strength spots, big dive, torpedo splash off the top and moonsault to the floor from Stuka, Stuka flying halfway across the ring off Hechicero's inverted monkey flip, all cool stuff. They got a bit crossed up and saved it by snapping off a couple of nice spots right away to immediately distract, with a nice headscissors by Stuka and then a fast Code Red. That immediate covering for a flub quickened the pace from there out, not sure if that moment was the catalyst or not but it felt possible. The finish was cool and not one typically used in CMLL (that I've seen) with Stuka going again for his torpedo splash and landing right in the waiting arms of a Hechicero armbar. It's a cool finish and maybe because I haven't seen it in CMLL, it surprised me and felt like a big deal.

So, all four matches were fun (and short, these are lightning matches after all), but nothing MOTY list worthy. Now, the series is evened up 2-2, so I'm sure someday we'll get the conclusion to this best of 5.

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If You Plant Ice, You are Going to Harvest LA PARK

LA Park/Volador Jr./Hijo de LA Park vs. Rush/Terrible/Bestia del Ring CMLL 6/1/18 - FUN

ER: A sloppy follow-up to the first clash, with Park's son replacing Flyer, but this match felt a little more misguided and had a lot of timing issues, a few multiman set pieces that required awkward waiting around. I think Rush has come off like a megastar in these matches, and Park is a great foil. Park has found numerous entertaining ways to get his face bounced off a ringpost or a barricade door, and the big moments played big, like Park hitting his big fat skeleton dives, Park getting hit with his kid's dive, Rush landing a big flip dive, all dives looked good. We get some greatest hits, Rush kicks around Hijo's head like a soccer ball, pastes Park with a corner dropkick and  stops short to trick him into getting kicked. But nobody was very good at getting into position for offense. There's a cool moment where Park and Rush start to square off, and Park takes off his gloves for some chopping, and you sense things are heating up...but then Rush goes and stands on the apron and challenges Park to follow...and then just stands there the whole time while Park bounces off the opposite ropes and kicks Rush to the floor. We blow threw some ball shots that don't mean much of anything, only to get to an immediate and poorly constructed revenge spot where all three Ingobernales argue with ref Edgar for an extended length of time so Familia Real can set up a silly triple ball punch roll up spot, with the cameras focusing on Volador loudly counting the timing for everybody. I don't look to these guys to work a match based around tandem spot timing, I want some unprofessional brawling. I thought the finish was flat but understandable, with Rush attacking everyone with a stretcher, but the stretcher comes off flimsier than stuff Rush typically attacks guys with. Park also built some drama with an attempted martinete, but I'm wondering why they expect me to still care about martinetes on a show that had a few different flipping piledriver variations for nearfalls. While this did have Park coming through the crowd in a kilt, overall this is feeling a bit too sanitized.

PAS: This was a pretty big step down from the previous week, which was a small step down from the heights of this feud.  Park is universally entertaining, I am going to enjoy him in everything he does, the dives looked great, the spear looked great, but this really did feel like a throw away trios match, which is a shame this early in the feud. Super disappointed to see La Commandante come out with the glass picture of Jesus and not have it smashed over someones head, the whole point of Chekov's gun is that it goes off. They really need an out of control brawl to heat this up again, Volador doesn't need to hit all of his armdrags in every match.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LA PARK

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