2019 Ongoing MOTY List: San Juan Pantitlan Brawl

44. Romano Garcia/Rocky Santana/Hijo del Fishman vs. Wotan/Fly Star/Toxin BELLO 9/14

ER: Gimme some young bleeders and some crazy old men and just let them go to war baby! This was wall to wall chaos, more chairshots than I could count, too many ugly spills. Santana and Garcia are both in their 60s, and Santana has that awesome old man luchador hunch. Neither is closed to washed, and I'm in love with the amount of punishment they can take and dish out. Fishman ups the crazy to keep up with his AARP discount eligible partners, and he's the one who really takes things into the fans. Fishman and Wotan take this to the people, loved the cool spear early in the match into a regular family (4 year old curled up sleeping directly behind them), and right before the finish we get the spot of the match when Fishman hits a running death valley driver into a set of chairs. Wotan gets a hard trash bucket bounced off his head a few times, and I love how the fans allegiances change as the match goes on. At first they are loud and proud for Wotan, but as the match goes on they clearly get behind Rocky, and how could they not!? Everyone takes gnarly chairshots off the head, and there was a running game of seeing who could could take a harder shot to the chest, with plenty of contenders. Wotan blistered Garcia with a double handed chop, Fishman leveled an elbow directly into Wotan's sternum, and the crowd was responding to every stiff strike. Peak crazy hits when Rocky and Wotan started flying at each other like territorial bighorn rams, and seeing Rocky Santana clonking coconuts midair in his mid 60s means I haven't been going out of my way enough to write about old man Rocky Santana matches (although a lot of Rocky/Romano match links I click end up being just 3 minute clips). The moment of Rocky going from violent headbutt offense into classic lucha exchanges (the first of the match) was a genuinely beautiful thing. I loved that late match exchange between Rocky and Toxin, showing that an old bleeding man can still do graceful sequences. Oh, and then eat a suplex into the turnbuckles. This kicked ass.

PAS: Wotan must have really hated his grandfather, because any time he is in the ring with a senior citizen he is unleashing hell. This isn't as good as the Wotan vs. Black Terry match (although maybe 20 matches in the history of wrestling are), but is still a heck of a grizzly brawl. There was some sort of broken concrete in the ring which made even the simplest bumps look super painful. There was way too much head trauma, I mean Garcia and Santana are already at the age where the average person forgets where their keys are, add in all of those chair and bucket shots and they will be drooling in their pudding in a couple more. There was a couple of modern wrestling moments which looked off, random Toxin Canadian destroyer and a tower of doom spot which took forever to set up and looked bad, but when they kept it simple and violent, it was simple and violent.


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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Demon vs. Park

17. LA Park vs. Blue Demon Jr. IWRG 12/15

PAS: So Blue Demon Jr., after basically stinking his entire career, goes ahead and puts out a serious Wrestler of the Year candidacy at age 53. This is a great bloody LA Park brawl, with Demon being right there at every step. Park really might be the best bleeder since prime Tommy Rich, he really gets it red and soppy. We get some classic Naucalpan brawling spots, including some beer cases getting tossed at noggins and using the glass to slice. There is some nonsense with a heel ref, which probably keeps this from the absolute peak of this year, but I did love how Park wasted both Demon and the ref with a huge tope. The Traumas run from the back and hand Demon his trusty claw hammer, which he uses to bang Park on the knee, but Park gets the hammer and KO's Demon (there is a great timber sell from him) there is some more stuff with the Trauma's and Park's kids, but that was basically the finish. Hammer murder is a great wrestling finish.

ER: As a rule I already like any match between two guys in their 50s, but when it's between the greatest tubby skeleton in wrestling history and the guy with the weirdest and most unparalleled career, it gets pretty tough to beat. I keep trying to idly think of any person in any medium who can be compared to Blue Demon Jr.'s career trajectory. Every time I think I come up with someone there are details that just don't compare. Would it be like Nelson coming out with the album of the year in 2020? Maybe, but it's a stretch to call Nelson active musicians for all of the past 30 years. Would it be like Max Landis becoming an actual good person in 20 years? Maybe, but no matter how many people would pay to see him get his head carved open by a broken bottle, it won't happen. So Demon stands alone at the top of his own bruised scarred broken body pedestal, and takes the option of punching Park in the face and getting punched right back. They brawl around Naucalpan, both throwing stiff chops and punches, and I think about how crazy it would have sounded a few years ago to know that I'd look forward to Demon/Park matches in the same way I look forward to Rush/Park matches. There's a lot of BS in the match, some satisfying some not, but even the not satisfying stuff is a means to the great stuff; the combatants age adds to their vulnerability, which adds exponentially to the most violent and crazy parts of the match. I will just react bigger to old man punching, old man diving, old man falling, than I will to the same moves done by a 25 year old. I even weirdly got into the rudo ref fast counts - which is something I'm sick to death of in lucha and especially faux lucha feds - and the payoff to Park crushing that guy into the barricade was a wonderful moment. The hard shots keep landing, Demon gets gouged by a broken bottle and gets that perfect pro wrestler fanned out blood splatter down his chest, and the claw hammer really puts this over the top. Demon smashes that thing into Park's knee and it actually makes an audible thump! If I thumped my knee on the corner of my bed and it made that same sound I would be on the floor screaming. BS happens, but that BS ends with Blue Demon taking a hammer to the head, doing a great tim-berrrrrrrr sell to the mat, and then presumably growing a large cone shaped lump from that spot, so that starry eyed birds may fly around it.


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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Latigo & Atomic Star's Apuestas Blood Drive!

29. Latigo vs. Atomic Star RCH 11/17

ER: Mask vs. Hair, super libre, rudos interfering at will, blood everywhere, love to see it. Latigo must have made a ton of enemies because there are no shortage of rudos who want his mask and, apparently, want to drain him of his blood. When I thought this was going to be constant seconds interfering on Atomic Star's behalf, I had trouble getting involved in the action. But Latigo had such a big tecnico presence that by the time he was busted open, Atomic Star throwing knuckle punches right at his deepening cut, I started pulling for the guy as if he was my best friend. He gets launched into the crowd and within a minute his body shows the bruises from landing on hard plastic chair edges, Atomic Star bouncing those same chairs off his face and busting him open. Latigo's mask is ripped, and he starts bleeding so much that I wonder if he had been scalped. He can't make any headway due to the interference, but his big break does come and man does he make the most of it. He sets up a tope con giro on Star and some goon who has been involved the whole time, and it is maybe the most rewatchable dive of the damn year. The physics of it are violently gorgeous: as Latigo crashes into them, his body flies into the crowd, but the momentum of Latigo sends them whipping ass over crown with him a split second later, his tope con giro ending with a spectacular double lariat. My god.

And soon Atomic Star is bleeding too, and you can see literal drops and puddles of blood any time they slow down. Arena Naucalpan is covered with their blood. In one shot I saw their blood dripping and splatting onto a half dozen plus chairs, seats that are totally ruined for the main event, ruined by a couple of lunatics bleeding onto and then weaponizing them. Even the ref hits a great gusher. Lucha Underground just used blood packets, but give these men long enough and every single person in Naucalpan will be juicing. The fans really get behind Latigo and his mountain of adversity, and we build to some great final moments. Having extra bodies out there means we didn't have to have our guys waste time setting up prop spots. No, our boys continued to punch blood out of each other's faces while the props were set up for them, and Star hits a Spanish Fly off the apron through a table, chairs, and barbed wire...for a big damn nearfall. And when they're finally alone in the ring, and Star delivers that sure to be last kick to the balls, the bloodied ref refuses to count, and by the time a new ref comes in it gives Latigo just enough time to recover. The martinete he saves his mask with is as triumphant as it gets, completely playing off every second of bullshit the match had produced. It's tough to pay off that kind of match-long interference, and that bloodied up ref finally having enough of this mess was a great moment, and the beating Latigo was willing to take really added up to a great long-form lucha story.

PAS: A lot of the lucha extrema stuff I have seen is more about big gross spots than real traditional lucha storytelling, and I normally don't like ref shtick and lots of interference, but this match made all of it work. Eric was right about that dive, honestly it was one of the cooler dives I can remember seeing ever, like an even more violent version of the Super Calo WCW dive into the crowd. I got to give the ref a bunch of credit for breaking out the blade, I imagine that guy had some great apuestas matches in small gyms in the 80s. Big win for Latigo, as he had to basically run through the entire rudo roster to keep his mask, but I bought him doing it and it was a big moment when he finally was triumphant.


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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Demon vs. Wagner

1. Blue Demon Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. AAA 8/3

PAS: This was one of the most viscerally violent matches I can remember seeing. Demon was a wandering dead eyed psychopath in this match, with Wagner doing a great job as a charismatic babyface fight back against a horror movie villain. I have seen plenty of matches with big weapons shots over the years, and this match was a great example of making each weapon shot a memorable moment. Demon opens up the match with by breaking a bottle over the head of Wagner, who had come into the match wearing his mask, which maybe stretched the rules a bit, but did allow for a bloody white mask which is always a great visual. The second huge moment came when a sickeningly bloody Demon goes out of the ring and grabs a claw hammer, and attacks Wagner like he was Richard Speck. He slams Wagner in the back of the head and spine, and hammers his hands like his knuckles were penny nails. It was a great bit of close magic by Demon, it really looks like an attempted murder, and I have no idea how you gimmick a hammer to the back of the head. The final huge moment comes at end of the match, after Wagner gets a bunch of close near falls with nasty Wagner Drivers, Demon’s kid runs into with a cinder block, he awkwardly stands around a bit before getting bums rushed by Wagner’s seconds. Demon Jr. gets his hands on the cinder block and smashes in over Wagner’s head, in a pretty gross tribute to Angel o Demonio,  KOing him and winning his hair. Hell of performance by two guys in their 50s as they just milked every bit of drama out of everything they did with Demon leaving puddles around the ring like an un house broken puppy.

ER: Just a couple years ago it was the safest bet possible that Blue Demon Jr. would spend the rest of his days in lucha casually making money off his established birthright while also doing the exact level of work that legacy sons can get away with, and not an ounce more. And then for reasons I'm not sure I've seen anyone properly explain, he turned 50 and just decided to hit the ground running and take terrifying death match beatings. It's the 2nd most unexpected plot twist for a 50+ year old wrestler this decade, and it's only 2nd because somehow David Arquette happened. But even that seems up for debate, as we'd have to weigh which was more unexpected between a) shocking return to wrestling *period*, before the near throat slashing vs. b) long time coasting legacy act deciding to suffer for his art and achieve genuine greatness. Blue Demon Jr. just might be the most intriguing wrestling story of the decade, and that makes this match even more special, makes it feel even more historic. The action is perfectly paced and the whole match is spiked with crazy violence. Demon smashes a bottle on Wagner's head and later smashes his hand with a freaking hammer like he caught Wagner counting cards for a buddy. This match really announces what the hell it's going to be and it never veers from that violent promise. I still don't know how Blue Demon Jr. can suddenly be Satanico, but here he is punching Wagner in the chin all over the ring, and Wagner gets absolutely nuclear reactions with fast schoolboy rollups, fast counted by Hijo del Tirantes. Blood spurts like mad, both guys covered, huge puddles on the mat, Demon ripping at Wagner's arm and hand, Wagner spiking him with some savage Wagner Drivers for more great nearfalls; the whole thing is impossible to pull your eyes from. It's amazing how high they kept the drama throughout; this was a huge match on paper and even more huge in execution. This match is the sweetest kind of wrestling gift, the kind of all time great match that nobody could have predicted, bloated in the best ways, shocking in even better ways, just a total classic.


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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Crazy MexaWrestling Opener

34. Águila Oriental/Dinámico/Noise Boy/Spyder Boy vs. Canibal/Mike/Teelo/Voltrex MexaWrestling 10/26

PAS: 10 minutes of lunacy as a bunch of tiny green flyers break out a bunch of crazy flips and armdrags, while being based by some great tubby rudos. Then when the flip gets switched the rudos obliterate the little guys with some pretty nasty combo offense including Voltrex hitting a doomsday crucifix driver and Mike and Teelo hitting a bunch of nasty assisted dropkicks out of nowhere. I really liked how the technicos landed cleanly off of difficult throws, they felt like cartoon cats. Not everything was hit clean, but if you are going to do a crazy spotfest, do a crazy spotfest.

ER: Man this was just what I needed tonight. This is the kind of match that makes me celebrate the joys of pro wrestling. I probably could not correctly name 4 of the 8 guys in the match (thank you Canibal for having your name on your gear, thank you Spyder Boy for having a spider on you), and I love when we write up a match with 8 guys, and we've never written about any of the 8 guys before. That's special. And these guys are special! Every lucha show I have ever been to in Mexico cost no more than $10 US. Can you imagine plunking down $10 and seeing this first match in? I will always love when crazy wrestlers shoot for the moon and land on it, and these guys were coming up with constant innovative insanity. There were so many complicated throws with complicated landings, and I was flipping out for every one. The tecnico in the red/black (Noise Boy?) had some left of the dial Aerostar insanity, so many crazy spots: He takes a fast overhead belly to belly suplex past the top rope and hooks his arms on it on the way out, landing safely on the apron in a highspeed version of Misawa's dive fake out. Later he gets thrown the same way INTO the ring, sprints out of sight, and comes blaring back towards the rudos with one of the highest vertical leap springboard ranas to the floor I've ever seen, caught with perfection. The rudos were all tremendous bases, a couple of real good fat guys, all 4 good catchers, and all 4 trying to outdo each other on stiff dropkicks. This was more than a great spotfest, this had some real nice underwork as well, with the rudos coming off nicely oppressive and nobody taking lazy routes to complicated spots. The strikes joining everything together were stiff (hard elbows and those running dropkicks from the rudos), though nothing in the building looked as stiff as the ring itself. That ring looked like bumping on cardboard over concrete. The biggest spots were unique and dangerous, everyone took a few unnecessary risks, spots like big powerbombs and other splats only looked more insane due to that ring, and these guys crafted something really special. This is pro wrestling passion!


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Lucha Worth Watching: Wotan vs. Fly Star! Hijo de Canis Lupus! Dragon Bane!

Wotan vs. Fly Star FILLM 3/16/19

ER: Hey, it's 13 minutes of grimy indy lucha asskicking, bleeding, and nasty spills onto concrete. I love those things in my wrestling! This is a super libre which should always be code for "covered in blood" and wouldn't you know, that code is still active! Wotan starts by throwing Fly Star violently into, onto, and through some chairs (those hard ass old wooden arena seats), ripping a chair back loose for later, and hitting quick and mean headbutts whenever Fly Star puts up a fight. By minute 3 of what we have here, Fly Star's face is already covered in blood. Wotan is obviously going to keep headbutting him and punching him in the face, and the great thing about Wotan is even though he might beat the blood out of you, he will happily donate his own plasma to the bottom of your boots. Fly Star hits him with a dropkick on the floor that sends him tumbling, punches him in the head, and eventually tries to do a corner dropkick that had to be Fly Star seeing just how hard he could run and kick Wotan in the jaw. I love when Wotan's mask is ripped and loosely covering only his mouth, blood running everywhere, and both guys still decide who hits harder. I dug Wotan just wasting fly Star with a double chop, with Fly Star taking it as if he'd been hit by a truck, and I imagine Star's chest and neck were already tender, because Wotan had thrown 5 of the hardest possible lariats up to that point in the match. Both guys take HUGE violent bumps to the floor on missed offense, with Fly Star crashing hard on a slingshot senton, and then Wotan crashing hard on a somersault senton off the apron. These guys are dying out there, but neither man really got finished, the batteries just kind of ran out or just plain broke. It looks like we'll have to run this back again with another violent stip.

Dragon Bane/Hijo de Canis Lupus vs. Aramis/Imposible IWRG 4/28/19

ER: Super high octane sprint, that made smart use of partner saves to keep the crazy spots turned up without making for any eye rolling kickouts. They also figured out that the best way to make a stupid dance-y sequence look good is to just work stiff. Spinning around someone and hitting a superkick is fine by me, as long as you're Aramis here and look like you realign a jaw. The dives were expectedly spectacular: Bane and Lupus took both tecnicos with them on bullet topes into the front row, Aramis hits a gorgeous dive past the ringpost in the segunda, Imposible wears impossibly small trunks, etc. They throw in some fun visuals, like Bane running around the ring away from Imposible, only to get caught with a quebradora from Aramis, both Bane and Lupus taking vertical suplex bumps on the entrance ramp, and the saves all got great reactions from me as they went to big moves early and didn't turn the match into a bunch of kickouts and lying around. Hijo de Canis Lupus looked really good, had that same vibe Los Traumas had when they started to get noticed more. Lupus hit some of the hardest damn corner clotheslines I've seen this year, and the forcefulness of many of the strikes and running shots really added to the match. We also got a couple nice powerbombs, including Lupus tossing Aramis onto his partner with one, followed by immediately rolling him through to hit his own sitout powerbomb. The breakdown at the end was fun, and the way they staggered the pins was nice. Aramis surprised me with an awesome ankle lock to finish things, suddenly making me want to see Aramis work a Bloodsport show.

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Lucha Worth Watching: El Hijo Del Santo & Juvy in London! Arena Neza Highflyers!

El Hijo Del Santo/Hijo del Fantasma vs. Juventud Guerrera/Laredo Kid LLL 5/11/19

ER: We've been getting a little more current Santo footage poking its head out, an occasional handheld, and now he's actually doing more of a US tour. Phil got to take his son to see Santo live, and I saw him work a singles match against Ultimo Dragon a week ago. This tag was from London and I dig how Santo is a guy who finds a dance partner he likes, takes them around the horn, lays low for a couple years, then does it all over again. He did it earlier this decade with Mystico de la Juarez, did the same with Angel Blanco Jr., and Laredo Kid appears to be the new Santo dance partner, and that's cool. And the match is really fun, though I was left wishing they mixed it up more. Outside of one brief attempted unmasking, Santo and Juvy steered clear of each other, and after awhile I assumed the big match ending blowout was going to be the two of them finally going at it. They never did, and that's a shame because Juvy looked game as hell throughout, and outside of a post WCW rush of luchadors back into Mexico there aren't a ton of times we've seen Santo across from Juvy. Juvy still has an argument for best strikes in lucha (and easily in the discussion against anyone), as he's a guy with good enough chops, punches, and elbows that he could survive as a wrestler even when he body eventually begins to fail. I absolutely love how Juvy throws a chop, it's one of my favorite wrestling motions. He works well with Fantasma, hits a nice rana off the apron and really stays fired up throughout (though I was amused by him bumping to the floor and then getting of dodge to not take a potential Fantasma tope). Santo looked like Santo, rolled a bit with Laredo on the mat, hit a few wild pendulum armdrags, hit a great baseball slide dropkick to the floor, and hit his rolling senton/dive past the turnbuckles. His knees buckled after the senton and I believe that's the only time I've seen that happen, it's crazy to me that he's still doing that spot around the horn. This whole thing was clean and professional, but needed a hotter tercera to get bumped up to list. Santo squaring off and brawling with Juvy would have gotten it there. Somebody book that.

Neza Kid/Dragon Bane vs. Aramis/Auzter AAA 6/1/19

ER: I love seeing flyers go nuts on a lucha undercard, and here are four guys pulling off some bonkers spots while hot Neza crowd goes nuts. I will seek out any Freelance/Neza Kid stuff, and thanks to him I also got to discover the joy that is Dragon Bane. I'm confident I've never watched him before, but he impressed me here and I'll be watching more. He and Neza are technically the rudos, though this isn't muddled up by cheating or fast counts or anything like that; this is much more about the four of them hitting weirdo headscissors and flying into the crowd on dives. Auzter was pretty raw and had a little uncertainty, didn't quite know how to get from a to b, but the b usually looked good when he got there. Neza and Dragon were much more the glue, and Bane especially did a pretty awesome job of reining in Auzter, going over for some of his less thought out ideas, taking big hard bumps and spilling to the floor far too quickly. I dig this guy. Neza brings his unmistakable aim and grace, and he and Bane work overtime as we get a zillion superkicks from Aramis and Auzter, but a bunch of them look good! But people want dives and they deliver dives! Boy do they. Neza hits a couple of doozies, a huge Asai moonsault off the top to the floor that bends Aramis over the barricade, and later hits his gorgeous springboard hilo, bending both Aramis and Auzter over that barricade. Auzter hits a wild springboard tornillo, Aramis hits a crushing bullet tope that threatens to literally collapse the barricade while at the same time Dragon Bane hits a crazy multi jump moonsault, and later Dragon hits a huge twisting press off the top, crashing into everyone before the video just fades to black (disappointingly leaving us with no visible finish). So yeah, the dives were spectacular, and if we got an actual ending this would have likely landed on list.

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Lucha Worth Watching: El Hijo Del Santo is Turning 56 Years Old.

El Hijo Del Santo/A Fake Rey Mysterio vs. Fishman Jr./Super Comando Lucha Libre NY 7/13/19

ER: El Hijo Del Santo is turning 56 years old soon. Here he is in front of 400 people in New York, moving like someone much younger than 56. I actually kind of like fake Rey Mysterios, and this one was actually good. Fishman comes off like a tough guy and his trades with Santo were a highlight. Comando was a guy I dug when he showed up in early decade CMLL, but I haven't seen him since. This was all really fun and had a classic lucha feel to it. Comando and Fishman are very capable rudo luchadors, so they handle some complicated swinging spots from our tecnicos. Santo shows he has the core work of a 30 year old by lifting himself up and over Fishman into a sunset flip, they worked through Santo's great fireman's carry pendulum armdrag, Santo hits his still-best headscissors, launches Fishman into the ropes with a great monkey flip, throws kneelifts that are ALSO still the best kneelifts in wrestling, the guy is just incredible. He hits a cool in ring headbutt tope, and late in the match does his fantastic, impactful somersault senton off the top, then he stops short to shift direction, catching Fishman past the turnbuckle with a tope that is absolutely insane to be doing at 56 years old. I liked Fake Rey Mysterio's tecnico charisma, and though he strung together Rey-adjacent offense as well as most of the pushed young flyers in CMLL. He had crisp handsprings and nice execution, came off like an older pro at times (and maybe he is a older guy, for all I know). The rudo control section probably went on a bit too long. It was filled with cool stuff, and I really liked how all of Fishman/Comando's offense involves running Santo and Rey headfirst into things. Santo is amazing at it, actually. There's a spot where Santo gets run headfirst into a chair that had been set up in the corner, and this crazy old guy goes into it like it's 1996 ECW. Santo and Rey hit a chair right into Comando's balls, Rey gets run headfirst into Santo's gut, Santo takes a half dozen Irish whips hard into the buckles, all good stuff...but it probably needed to get to the Santo fireworks closer a little earlier. Still, this man is a true legend. Santo is God.

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Alvarado Family Feud

24. Maximo vs. La Mascara AAA 2/1

ER: What a tremendous bit of family theater. This was a hair vs. hair match, except that Maximo was fighting for Super Porky's hair, and Mascara was fighting for Goya Kong's hair. It starts pretty simply, two very quick falls, but Maximo gets busted open in the segunda, serving as a sign of the drama that was coming in the tercera. Everybody played their role tremendously, and the fans were literally jumping out of their seats for nearfalls down the finishing stretch. Maximo turns in one of the great tecnico performances of the year, really eating some hard shots from Mascara before finally snapping. Maximo snaps off a couple nice headscissors, hits a plancha off the apron into his sister (with Mascara awesomely moving at the last minute so Goya takes the hit), and then goes nuts in the crowd throwing hard rows of sharp chairs at Mascara's head. Maximo was really throwing those things and suddenly this is an Alvarado take on a Park/Rush brawl. But Maximo manages to hit a better tope than any tope in a Park/Rush match. Maximo has an argument for best tope in lucha, and this is one of his finest ever, his chest and head battering Mascara hard into the barricade, like booby trapped tree knocking a storm trooper down a hill on Endor. I loved all the family interaction: You had Mascara slapping Porky, Porky hitting Mascara in the face with the handle of a ring squeegee, Porky hobbling after Goya - Porky was moving pretty poorly but has lost weight, looked like a lucha Sebastian Gorka - and smacking that handle against the ground with every step before hitting his daughter with it (!), and later an awesome nearfall when Goya runs in to interfere and splats Mascara with a great elbowdrop. The nearfalls down the stretch were fantastic, and the fans were dying with them. They wanted to see Goya without her great head of hair, and every single Maximo kiss into a schoolboy lead to the crowd going bonkers. Maximo even pulls out a triple dip kiss for a nearfall, the ref eats a kick to the back of the head, some other guy gets involved and kicked to the floor; that kind of overbooking can feel like a total mess but here I thought it all added to the chaos and the fact that a couple heads of hair were on the line! This tercera (which was basically the whole match) was too much fun. Maximo is a guy I've pretty much checked out on post-CMLL, but he does always seem to turn in one big early year performance. For all I know he's putting on shows like this all over town.

PAS: I feel like I need to get the backstory of this match with a brother fighting his cousin while wagering the hair of their invalid father and sister, respectively.  The weirdness of this match was really elevated by everyone being family. Porky can barely walk but he is still bleeding and hits a splash on an imposter who he thought was his nephew, and hits his daughter with a giant cane. Maximo ends up getting multiple near falls after he kisses his cousin on the mouth. Hell of Maximo performance, if this had been a bigger match the image of him hurling rows of chairs at his bloody brother would have been iconic, this was a small Arena Lopez Mateos match and only available via handheld, but it felt like a huge main event. Lots of goofiness and shortcuts, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Demus! Robin! Dark Magic!

Demus vs. Robin RLL 6/1/19

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


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

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

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CMLL Juicio Final 5/31/19

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

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

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

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

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

4. Career vs. Career! Virus vs. Metalico

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

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

Hair vs. Hair! Kaho Kobayashi vs. Amapola

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

Euforia/Gran Guerrero vs. Valiente/Diamante Azul

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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Lucha Worth Watching: Aeroboy vs. Aramis! Diabolicos vs. Super Pinocho/Super Raton/Super Muneco!

Aeroboy vs. Aramis MDA 2/17/19

ER: Sadly this is going to be another one of those LWW posts where I didn't actually like the match I was recommended, but wanted to write it up just to show I did the leg work and gave it an actual chance. This is one of those modern lucha matches that I absolutely despise, the kind that borrows from every single awful American indy trope and sullies my beautiful lucha with stupid suplex no sells and mirror sequences. What makes this actually worth watching is 2-3 legitimately spectacular spots peppered throughout. I don't love a lot of the stuff in between those matches, although things don't get too egregious until the back half of the match. Before we get to the "I take a nasty German suplex but it rolls me onto my feet so I run at you and hit a huge lariat but that you pop up from that lariat and hit a superkick and then the superkick bounces me into the ropes and I hit you with a superkick and then we lie on the mat selling but also I adjust my gear a ton while selling" portion of the match there was some stuff I actually enjoyed. There were a couple nice pop up ranas and headscissors early, Aeroboy hit a hard tope that smooshed up his body while crunching Aramis into the barricade, and Aramis gets thrown nicely into the ringpost. A lot of the rest is that "run into the corner and lariat me, but then I'll turn around and run right after you when you run back and hit you" kind of stuff that is a pox on modern lucha. But again, the two spectacular spots are spectacular: Aramis hits a bonkers tope, super fast, hard contact, that sends both of them smashing violently into the second row through a few fans. Later, Aeroboy is in the crowd, and Aramis climbs to the top, rope walks a few feet out on the top rope, and hits an amazing tope con giro into the crowd. The match itself never really matched those two moments, and didn't offer me a ton more than those moments, but your mileage may vary.

Romano Garcia/Gallego/Rocky Santana vs. Super Muñeco/Super Raton/Super Pinocho Sanchez 3/2/19

ER: Man I love lucha. This wasn't technically good, but it sure was enjoyable, and it had all the silly charm that really drew me to lucha 20 years ago. I think Romano Garcia is so good. He's getting older (he's literally 61!) but he has such a great brain for lucha and still knows how to put together a satisfying match, shining with a few moments worthy of being stolen by younger guys. He set up a couple comedy pratfalls including one where he really took his time before missing a planned spot, it was great. Gallego is fun too and it's cool we're getting full length Diabolicos matches in 2019. For awhile none of them were making tape, so either they all took a few years off or they just worked out of sight. Our tecnicos looked crazy, truly a collection of looks and gimmicks that could only work within lucha libre: Raton and Pinocho in particular, with their tiny little shorts and massive bellies with tight little shirts and suspenders doing some major heavy lifting. I presume that these are at least 2/3 original members, which would put them all in their late 50s/early 60s, and that's an old age to be wearing this gear. It's fun seeing old tubby guys pulling off armdrags, and I flipped out when Pinocho did a huge fat guy tope in the tercera. I mean that was just completely unexpected. It's lucha and it can be ridiculous, and it certainly gets there as Muneco steals the segunda pin while Pinocho is setting up a Vader bomb, and then to pay him back he punts Muneco right in the balls to give the match to Los Diabolicos. You have a man in his 60s dressed as a little wooden boy, kicking a clown in the balls, all for free. I love spending time with this kind of lucha.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Arandu vs. Miedo Extremo! Blue Panther in Alabama!?

Arandu vs. Miedo Extremo AKE 4/6/19

ER: I am listing this as Lucha Worth Watching, though I wouldn't actually personally recommend it. It's a match that's been recommended to me a couple times, and one I've seen talked about in the weird corners of the internet that talk about small attendance Tijuana lucha shows. It's a match I've seen praised, so I wanted to at least show my work that it crossed our desk. And while there were several individual moments to like, but this did not need to go 25+ minutes, and it really felt like they wanted to do every kind of match they could in that time, regardless of it fitting or not. This starts on the mat, with Arandu working as dime store Navarro and Miedo working more MMA style submissions. It's fine, and it builds nicely to an Arandu tope after shoving Miedo off the top to the floor, with nice brawling around ringside (especially liked Miedo's hard kicks to Arandu's spleen). There were a couple of big bumps before then, including Arandu hitting a real beast of a lariat after a brief chop exchange, really flipped Miedo upside down and inside out. But the match suddenly devolves into a bad American indy match, and I hate when my indy lucha suddenly gets plagued by the worst American indy tendencies. They do a German suplex exchange completely out of nowhere, and both sold them less than any move that had happened to that point in the match. These were two neck crunching Germans, Arandu in particular really ate a rough bump on his head, and there was nothing else to this point in the match anywhere close to as big, but they each treated them like a simple armdrag exchange and quickly moved on while I checked out. The improbably take this to a gigantic garbage spot, with Miedo taking some time to set a large piece of particle board on two freaking tractor tires (were those there the whole time?!) and putting lighttubes on top of that. Of course he's the one who goes through it, and it is a pretty spectacular bump off the top, bouncing off those tires and coming up with a bloody back. It gets a 2 count. A package piledriver immediately after gets 2. A nice tapatia gets the win for Arandu, but it's anticlimactic after the big stuff they suddenly felt justified in doing. This wasn't it for me, but your mileage may vary.

Blue Panther vs. Antonio Garza IMLL 6/8/19

ER: We are living in an era where old lucha maestros get flown in to work shows in states they've likely never been to, so it shouldn't be a surprise that Blue Panther showed up working in Alabama, but it still is. And we get 12 minutes of a really fun match before a silly kendo stick run in by two masked tubs (Kato Kung Lee Jr. and Elemento?) which I'm sure might eventually beget a tag match that won't be as interesting as the singles match they interrupted. I wrote earlier this year about Panther finally transitioning into Rusher Kimura, but I'm clearly incorrect. I think the problem is Blue Panther in CMLL, as he's trying to do rope running and base for flippers and work way younger than he should be working, but in a maestro environment he's still clearly sharp. If he had Negro Navarro's touring schedule and the ability to work more Navarro maestro matches, he would still look in his element, as he does here. Garza has been around for awhile working small southern indies and small southern lucha, and they bill this as Garza facing his idol. As recently as 2016/2017 we got to see a lot of Panther matwork in CMLL matches, even getting to see him in lightning matches. That's not really the case now and I lapped up every second of seeing one of my all time favorites break out some mat tricks that even I hadn't seen. When I watch BP in a match like this I am endlessly satisfied if I get just one cool trick, and I love when I see something like BP hooking his left leg behind Garza, then maneuver into better position by shifting his left ankle with his right. I love that stuff and it's a crime we never got luchadors working the World of Sport guys, it would have been mat trick paradise. BP even maneuvers him into a cool inverted Gory special, and the strength to hold Garza up while Garza starts to climb out of it and ends up on and near Panther's shoulders was really impressive. Garza hits a nice cannonball off the apron, and I was really excited for how this was going to wrap up, but then the run in happened. Normally I'm through the roof for fatties getting involved in a match, but this wasn't the time. Still, this is more than worth it to see Panther working the mat for many minutes in an Alabama strip mall in 2019.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Metalico vs. Disturbio for HAIR! Crash Minis!

Metalico vs. Disturbio CMLL 5/4/19     3ra Caida

ER: Here's me, loving the career ending Virus match, talking to Phil and saying "When was the last time Metalico even worked a singles match!?" Well, it turns out he worked on earlier in the month AND it was also a stips match. It's quick and fun and worked stiff, two rudos going at it while Metalico is default tecnico. Disturbio sneak attacks him to draw a DQ, but sets himself up for an easy segunda win by ramming his knees into Metalico's face a bunch while he's still recovering from that sneak attack. The tercera is where all the action is, with Metalico unleashing two big topes and his Asai moonsault, and we get both men trying to distract the other before hitting cheapshots. Metalico's payback cheapshots were great, loved him getting Disturbio to take his eyes off the action before laying him out with a lariat, and the match ends with Disturbio almost hitting the ref and then getting punched right in the balls. We got a real stiff kneeling punch exchange with both guys comically recoiling before springing up and hitting harder and harder shots, and while this never quite felt like a high stakes apuestas, neither guy was holding back. Also, it's a fact that Disturbio's post haircut look is easily the best he's looked. Everybody wins!

Los Haraganes (Animal/Demencia/Silver Star) vs. Toto/Torito Negro/Xperia The Crash 5/4/19

ER: Real shame this only went 6 minutes or so, because this was a wild super libre match with tons of dives, tons of guys getting thrown into a packed crowd, and tons of stiff shots by our rudos, Los Haraganes (does that really directly translate to "The Lazy"? If so that's my favorite rudo team name ever). We start with a couple dives, including an unhinged flipping moonsault by Demencia, and from there we get a ton of chaos, guys getting launched 5 rows deep with hiptosses and taking out entire sections of chairs, honestly someone either gets thrown or lands in the crowd no less than 8 times in the 6 minute run time, and then come the chair shots. Everywhere you look someone is getting tossed through chairs, hit with hard chair shots, or choked with a chair. A kid gets shoved, more chaos. An important thing about Los Haraganes, is that all of them hit hard. Silver Star throws some forehead bruising punches from the mount, a guy who really makes all of his strikes count (and that's not something that really happens in these kind of spotfests). Animal hits a great dive, Xperia hits a cool climb up headscissors/rana on Demencia, Demencia takes a wild bump off the top when he tries - standing on the top rope - to BODYSLAM Torito, and we get another tornillo into the barricade for good measure. I could have gobbled up another 6 minutes of this, easily, but these guys get deservedly pelted with coin money after this ends (shout out to the kid standing at the entrance ramp launching coins as hard as he can from the back row).

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

22. Ultimo Guerrero vs. Caifan XMW 3/2

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

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


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Lucha Worth Watching: Niebla's Return! Mephisto's Title Loss!

Mr. Niebla/Mephisto/Rey Bucanero vs. Diamante Azul/Dragon Lee/Mistico CMLL 3/12/19

ER: This was Niebla's return to Arena Mexico after 6 months of suspension, and he kind of owned it. Niebla owned this with the confidence of a white dude waltzing back into his old government job after accepting a voluntary demotion. Niebla was walking around ringside slapping fives with regulars like someone greeting people at the You Served Your Time cookout thrown in his favor. This is a total throwaway straight falls Arena Mexico main event, but I love that straight falls because Niebla lost the first fall for his team because he was kicking too many asses. Always feel bad for the tecnico getting his hand raised because his ass got kicked too hard. This whole thing just livens up the second Niebla high-stepped it across the ring to palm slap Mistico across the dome. I was dying. It looked like a hilarious move Sandman would use to kick someone off the Apollo stage. Niebla just slapped his way through this whole match, in the ring and out, and it was great. He mugged with fans, slapped face, and looked like a megastar. Azul hits a great dive, Bucanero throws some nasty chops at Mistico's throat, Mephisto plants Dragon Lee with a powerbomb, the whole thing was short mean and triumphant.

Mephisto vs. Dragon Lee CMLL 3/19/19

ER: A match that lost me at points during the long tercera, but that overall felt like a big enough match for a title to change hands. I know lucha titles don't mean a whole lot to American fans, Mexican fans, or the promotion themselves seemingly, but it feels like Mephisto has had this thing for ages and that should mean SOMETHING. They went big enough with this that it felt like a big stip match, so I think it earned it's third fall bloat. Also, I just really liked Mephisto in this, especially his work in the primera/segunda, but he had plenty of nice rudo moments in the tercera. It really felt like a guy sadistically beating down Lee, smacking down this punk coming for his belt, and that's a great pro wrestling feeling. The primera is short but mostly matwork, and it's cool to see Mephisto work some maestro exchanges that we don't often get to see from him, some cool tricks like standing on Lee's foot while shoving him over. He controls all the matwork, and when Lee breaks free into some rope running he immediately tricks Lee into a pin. And then Mephisto only gets MORE dominant in the segunda, when he starts stalking and dishing stiff kicks. He does a flapjack and hits a mean kick on the way down (possibly because Lee didn't get as much height as expected), and then does a second flapjack, Lee gets tons of height, and then gets kicked just as hard on his way down, again. I liked Lee's selling during these nasty kicks a lot, as he showed great pain through the mask, and was also working to loosen the area of his mask around the nose, freeing up the pressure and selling it like Mephisto had broken his nose [note: if I find out later that Lee just got his nose broken, forget all the stuff I said about good selling]. Mephisto goes on to throw a few more kicks, slowly, confidently, letting Lee crawl around on the mat while he would come in with a hard kick to the face or chest, letting the crowd really build a Lee comeback. The comeback stuff wasn't as exciting to me, as we knew we'd eventually get a long series of nearfalls, but some of them I really liked and the match threatened to lose me at a couple points but never did. There was always something to bring me back into it, like Mephisto casually waiting on the apron to catch Lee's high jump rana and just planting him with a nasty powerbomb on that apron, or Lee crashing fast into Mephisto on two straight topes. There were at least two moments where I was positive Mephisto had sealed up the title defense, and while I didn't love a couple of the kickouts in this I thought the overall excitement level sustained. Mephisto is 50 now. He lost his title that is a thing. Now he needs to go on more grimy indy shows like Ultimo Guerrero and be an old guy asskicker.

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2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Blue Demon Jr. vs. La Parka vs. Dr. Wagner Jr.

12. Blue Demon Jr. vs. La Parka vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. AAA 3/3

ER: This might be the oldest triple threat match that I've ever seen, every one of these dudes is in their 50s. Blue Demon is the baby of the match at just 52, and it's fascinating to me that Blue Demon only became a remotely interesting wrestler at the age of 50. He hit 50 and suddenly decided to start bleeding and bumping and it's one of the more bizarre career transformations we've seen. A lot of this is Parka and Wagner beating Demon around the building, ripping at his mask, busting him open big time, throwing sturdy as hell chairs off his face, throwing him into those same chairs, really killing him. Demon is somehow now a guy who takes a really great beating, again totally bizarre, but undeniable. He really draws some great tecnico sympathy here, and by the time he makes his big comeback I'm sitting here actually rooting for freaking Blue Demon Jr.! His tope into Wagner is truly a fantastic old guy tope. Now, this is AAA, so we need about a dozen more guys to run in for shenanigans. But when one of those guys is Rey Escorpion, you know the run in will feature enough potatoes to feed a Thanksgiving soup kitchen. Escorpion and Texano target La Parka (as well as any masked fliers dumb enough to try to stop them), with Texano throwing nasty bullrope shots and Escorpion punching him and beating him with chairs. Demon and Wagner brawl through the crowd and Wagner taps his own massive gusher. It's so wild to see these old dudes spurting blood and crashing into chairs, falling over the barricade onto concrete floor, while a half dozen guys get dispatched by two stiff maniacs who aren't even in the match. The whole thing is chaos and plays out like the best of 1995 ECW, but if everybody was as old as Terry Funk when he was in ECW.

PAS: This was a quality bit of lucha mayhem and is about as entertaining a match you can get with basically one good wrestler, although old man Blue Demon is really weirdly turning into a great brawler. It's like when Flair went to ECW and started taking all of these crazy garbage bumps, if Flair was a 30 year veteran who sucked, like instead of Flair it was Jeff Gaylord who turned himself into a cool garbage guy. This match made me excited to see Demon vs. Wagner mascara contra cabellera which isn't something I thought I would say. I dug Escorpion and Texano wrecking half the roster, while Wagner and Demon traded good looking punches and leaked all over each other. It is a good example of what a bloody half ripped mask can add to a match. Overbooked goofiness which shouldn't work but weirdly did.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST

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On Brand Segunda: Faarooq vs. Kama! Blue Panther as Rusher Kimura!

Faarooq vs. Kama Mustafa WWF Shotgun Saturday Night 6/20/98

ER: This isn't necessarily a great match, but it's a pretty damn cool match because it is completely different than the short match WWE structure that came over the next 20 years. This feels much more like a WCW match from this era, who had no problems throwing out "slugfest" style matches, and it didn't have any kind of WWE structure tropes (no extended consecutive run of offense from either guy, no chinlock spot to build to a babyface comeback), so the whole thing felt very foreign and unique. Charles Wright is a pretty frustrating wrestler. He was really big (6'6", 300+ lb.) and moved pretty quick, but never had a ton of thump to any of his offense. But this might be the best match I've seen him involved in. Are there actual good Soultaker/Kama/Papa Shango/Godfather matches, in particular singles matches? I can't remember any. Well, here's one. The movement and energy in this whole match was top notch. It was go go go but based around ass beating instead of "kewl moves" and that is the best kind of go go go. There were a couple lariats that felt a little light, but damn does Faarooq come off like a great southern regional babyface here, taking the strap down right as the match starts and working super aggressive. I loved how he whipped Kama around ringside with his belt, hit his nice flying shoulderblock to send Kama to the floor (which lead to a great moment where he missed that same shoulderblock off the top when Kama sidestepped him and smacked him on his way down. Kama works nice body shots and a hard as hell avalanche. Faarooq was a great babyface with the way he would always fight back to transition, but there were several moments where he wasn't a great opponent for Kama, tanking a couple moments with bizarre selling choices. Kama threw nice body shots in the corner and Faarooq didn't even budge for them; later Kama hits a mule kick to the stomach and Faarooq just takes a slow flat back bump from it, which makes zero sense from a physics standpoint. But there's a ton of other stuff that owns and keeps the whole match moving at a pace that WWF heavyweights just didn't often work. Loved Faarooq eating knees on a standing splash, dug a big time mid-ring collision, dug the brawl to count out. This was really good, and wasn't more than a few little things away from being great.

Blue Panther/Stuka Jr./Esfinge vs. Felino/Barbaro Cavernario/Luciferno CMLL 2/12/19

ER: This match had a kind of sloppy, disheveled charm that I really liked, feeling like a lucha version of an opening match All Japan trios that had a couple of the comedy old guys, and a couple young juniors. Blue Panther is finally starting to show his age. Others saw it earlier than I did, but at this point he isn't moving like a guy who is going to be doing three dives and a cool rana in one match. But I love this guy's scruffy face and smiling eyes, and I hope I get to see him be Rusher Kimura forever. Panther has the charisma and ability to be a great Rusher, and that's on display here. He had a fun sequence in the corner with Barbaro, making Milton Berle faces while taking punches, then yanking on Barbaro's hair before jumping off the buckles into a hair drag. He got tangled amusingly when working mat stuff, stumbling like a cute old man when finishing rollups, still working fun sunset flip sequences, and playing to the fans more than anybody. Mildly resurgent Felino is also a thing I really like. He was an early favorite when I started watching lucha 20+ years ago, and then some years later he became the most annoying guy in CMLL. Most annoying guy in a fed that has Volador Jr. is a thing that bummed me out, so I like seeing him work a little harder these last couple years, really ever since his sons gained some prominence. His shtick is a little better (teasing a shirt removal is always a win) and he shows he can still work a fun quick showoff segment, and I like that there's still something there. Barbaro really comes off like a star in matches like these, feels like a guy who will be as big a star as his body will let him. He's not doing splashes from the top to the floor anymore (right!?) but he is still a crazy man, and his fantastic corkscrew press through the ropes to the floor was an incredible looking dive that blows away any dive by Audaz or any of those more brazen fliers. Stuka is a guy who I think I rate higher than most, and I like him in matches like these, feels like a modern guy with late 80s lucha sensibilities. Esfinge hits a really big dive, we get an abundance of funny uncle in an Olive Garden commercial Blue Panther, and it all made me feel the way only lucha can make me feel.

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