Lucha Worth Watching: Recent CMLL, Recent Kurisu

Hechicero/Negro Casas/Mephisto vs. Soberano Jr./Hijo de LA Park/Flyer  CMLL 8/24/18

ER: You ever see a match with sloppy execution and some flubbed sequences, but think that's it's good fun despite its flaws? That would be this kind of match right here. A few of the guys didn't have their best night; Flyer worked like a young guy wrestling the top stars for the first time, really hesitant for some reason, Casas having to really telegraph and lead and RE-lead him through some spots. I've enjoyed Flyer, but this wasn't quite his night. There were plenty of misses here, but the energy kept the crowd way into it and played well. Casas got to work with all three young tecnicos throughout and he looked like he was having a ball. Flyer looked like a real choad trading push kicks to the jaw with him, and the fans were getting way more into rudo Casas as he kicked face and mule kicked his way gleefully around the ring, fouhgt on the apron with Parkito, and took a nice crazy DDT from Park right on his head. Hechicero had one of his best performances of the year, and while the match wasn't quite working, well nobody ever told Hech that. He took big flying moves from everyone, took big bumps to the floor (watch him get flung through the ropes and sprawl out on the floor), dropped a cool elbowdrop from the apron to Park draped over the barricade, and covers nicely for some out of position whoopsies: Late in the match he goes to hit his fast middle rope springboard dropkick, only to find Soberano not in the middle of the ring to get kicked, but waiting in the corner. Hechcero lands on his feet off the springboard and hitting the ground running his does a 360 and perfectly hits his mark to strike Soberano in the corner. All the tecnicos got to fly, and Soberano broke out his big tornillo (one in ring and one to the floor), Park hit a big moonsault, Soberano hit his handspring flipping rana to the floor only to get caught and swung hard into the barricade by Mephisot (Mephisto, who was decked spectacularly out in Villano pink/purple), so as I said the heart and energy was clearly full in this one. This thing threatened to fall apart but never did, it just kept chugging ahead with the aspirations of having a classic.

Rush/Cavernario/Bestia del Ring vs. Volador Jr./Matt Taven/Caristico  CMLL 9/7/18

ER: This was a good, fun-sized snack best enjoyed stoned in the dark in the movie theater. It's that fun-sized pack of Reese's Pieces I grab and throw in my pocket on my way out the door to catch a last minute flick. By the time I'm sitting there an hour into the film, those Pieces are little crunchy manna from heaven. The match is about 6 minutes long, is disposable and forgettable like tiny portion-sized candy, but enjoyed to the fullest in its moment. Rush is in full asshole mode, and we peak with Rush high kicking Matt Taven in the balls in full view of every human in Arena Mexico. To describe Matt Taven's look would be to describe a man who looks like he deserves to have his balls kicked in. We get flash highlights: The rudos kicking around a soccer ball head, Volador flying fast over the barricade, Volador hitting a big flip dive, a stiff lariat from Bestia, big splash from Cavernario, a stiff frog splash from Taven to end it; it was a short hot match. The match went 7 minutes, and had plenty of worthwhile fun in 7 minutes. It definitely made me want to see the hair match.

Masanobu Kurisu/Okumura/Felino vs. Solar/Mano Negra/Villano IV Lucha Expo 9/15/18

PAS: I have no idea how Kurisu ends up working a lucha expo at a museum in 2018, but god bless the guy with the handheld which lets me watch it. We get a bunch of the Kurisu greatest hits, he blasts people with that headbutt right to the side of the head, sick body shots and some nasty chair shots. I really enjoyed the Villano IV vs. Kurisu sections that feels like the great bloody apuestas match which never happened. There was also a moment where Solar gets smacked by Kurisu and remembers he is a tough fucker who had a MMA fight in his 50s and starts wailing away. Solar tried a couple of things he could do in his late 50s, but not in his early 60s and nobody was really taking bumps, but it fuck it, its 2018, its Kurisu, its lucha libre, god is great.

ER: I would wager we've never seen any lucha Kurisu, though we can probably assume that the term "lucharisu" clearly came about due to a portmanteau of Lucha Kurisu. I assume every smaller worker from All Japan or New Japan during that era had at least one Mexico tour, and obviously Kurisu's was historic. This was almost exactly what you would expect, although I didn't expect Kurisu to be wearing baggy denim Dockers shorts and a large weight belt. He looked like an old dad doing yardwork on the weekends. He threw headbutts like Kurisu and choked out people with his boot like Kurisu and got a chair involved like Kurisu, so we can confirm that early 70s Kurisu is still Kurisu. I don't think I've ever witnessed Solar wielding a chair before, so Kurisu is responsible for that. He's a bad influence. Kurisu hits guys in the back with a chair, they all get to hit him, we have fun. The tecnicos all seemed to be in really good shape considering their ages, and we got some fun quick exchanges with V4 and Felino, and even though Solar bailed on something a bit complicated on the ropes, he also ran and booted Okumura hard in the stomach, a stomach kick that looks better than most today. This never really gets past a certain level, but maintains its fun and weird pace throughout, and still maintains it's status as "most unexpected thing to catch my attention on a Monday".

PAS: Did a luchablog search on Kurisu, there are a handful of matches between 1979-81(Including a Gran Hamada title match, and a tag with Scorpio Sr. against Brazos Oro and Plata) and then nothing until 2018. Someone said "Remember that guy from 1979, that we haven't seen in 37 years? Does anyone have a contact number?"

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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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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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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: PARK Invades the Cathedral

41. LA Park/Volador Jr./Flyer vs. Rush/Terrible/Bestia del Ring CMLL 5/25/18

ER: This match left me weirdly flat. It wasn't really what I was expecting from the first big Park/Rush showdown in CMLL. I think the match went way, way too long. It felt like the longest non-mask match CMLL main event I've seen in years. And I think it would have been far more effective to have both teams go in there, tear it down for 8 minutes, DQs all around, get things started off nice and rabid. This went on for so long that it left me feeling as if I'd already seen way too much of the feud. After one long match, I'm already not very excited to see more of them. That's not good. It's still recoverable, but a lot of this match felt really uninspired and lazy, tons of guys just walking around casually past guys on the other team, with nobody reaching out to attack. This thing meandered, and really should have been half this length. Leave them wanting more, you know?

I thought Rush looked fantastic in this. He brought the magnetism and came off like a megastar. I loved that big bump he took into the front row after a Park dive in the primera, and the match energy seemed to hinge on whatever he was doing at the time. Most of the Park/Rush stuff was great, especially the tercera. The others seemed to be holding back. We've seen Terrible be sadistic in other matches, and there were prime opportunities for him and Bestia to really bully and mess up Flyer, but that didn't happen. The big Rush/Park moments all landed, though. Park beats Rush with a rolling suitcase (why have I not seen that done before 2018, and why have I now seen that twice? Brad Attitude is an innovator), Rush rips Park's mask and soccer ball kicks his head into the stands, Park absolutely squashes him with a fantastic crossbody off the top to the floor (filmed amazingly, really looked like Park flew 15 feet), but even then I didn't love how Rush was right back in the ring on offense after he just got flattened by the fattest skeleton. I liked Volador resorting to a chairshot for the finish, but overall the tecnicos didn't really looked fired up, and the rudos didn't look mean enough. These men wrestled like it wasn't a very special occurrence, like it was just another Friday night main event. An inauspicious start to the feud, but I think it can be recovered. Perhaps I went in with hopes too high, and I just expect more from these guys. I'm sure if this was a trios with 6 guys I like less, I would have been a higher vote. Park and Rush got a lot of time across each other, and that's almost always going to land on a list.

PAS: I liked this much more then Eric did, although I am probably still a bit of a low voter. I agree that these matches are better off as quick 10-13 minute brawls, there was no reason to watch Flyer and Bestia Del Ring exchange armdrags. I get why this went so long, this was a big shift in CMLL modus operandi and was clearly a big draw.  There was a lot to love about this match though, I really like the Ingobernables coming from the crowd to jump the technicos from behind, while sporting awesome letterman jackets. The others in this match didn't deliver much, but Park vs. Rush is why we are here, and their stuff was great. I loved the rolling bag stuff, especially when it broke open and someones undies ended up all over the filthy floor.  That top rope plancha was incredible, Park is so graceful for an old fat man, and he always lands with such a thud. His spear on Rush was an all time great spear, it was the kind of thing that pre-CTE would have been a highlight shown on every Inside the NFL show. As an opening to the feud I thought this did it's job for sure, and I am looking forward to weekly wars and an all time apuestas match.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LA PARK

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Lucha Worth Watching: Tecnico Kraneo?

Kraneo/Diamante Azul/Atlantis vs. Rush/Terrible/La Bestia Del Ring  CMLL 4/13/18

ER: Well, my big boy is a tecnico now, and I'm not totally sure how I feel about it. It's so appealing to have an agile monster fat guy in lucha, on the rudo side. We've dealt with big goony tecnicos like Giant Silva, and we've gotten big hunky tecnicos like Marco, but a big giant fat rudo is something that hasn't been around lucha in awhile. As a tecnico it looks like he'll be doing more offense, which isn't a bad thing, Kraneo has big offense. Here he goes on a tear of hard hitting belly bumps, a big standing splash, big legdrop while lifting Mije into one as well, and a crazy Diamante-assisted top rope splash. But there were also some uncomfortably clumsy moments that have been typically absent from Kraneo matches the last several years. He slips off the ropes while Rush is slumped in the corner, before doing his hip attack, and the finish is set up because he physically can't climb to the middle rope to do...something. He keeps slipping on the middle rope, sort of makes it to the top rope but can't come close to standing up, so instead kind of flops onto the rope like a wet towel tossed over  your shower door. Rush has been lying on the mat for some time now, and Bestia/Terrible just casually walk over at this point and just get him the hell down from there. It was awkward as hell, but it's the only time I've seen this happen to him. Could it have been intentional? Was he purposely showing what his weakness as a tecnico would be? Unable to do larger moves required of modern lucha tecnicos which leads to rudos catching him off guard? Maybe. On first glance, I'm not liking big offense tecnico Kraneo as compared to big bumping violent offense rudo Kraneo. We'll see. Everybody else in this was kind of background to the new tecnico, but still had moments: Bestia eats a couple big monkey flips from Azul, Rush bullies around Atlantis and uses Tirantes to help him remove his pants, Terrible accidentally smacks Commandante off the apron, but this was the Kraneo show. We'll see where the second episode of that show takes us.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Rush!! Pierroth!! Kraneo!! Mascara Ano Dos Mil!!

Kraneo/Rush/Pierroth vs. Marco Corleone/Mascara Ano Dos Mil/Gran Guerrero  CMLL 2/27/18

ER: Two fiery falls, really all I need. This is a cool rudo team, we got the most fired up Pierroth performance we've seen in many months, and Kraneo and Rush as a team could take over the world. Kraneo is bullying and headbutting guys right from jump and Rush follows his lead, with Pierroth acting as the enforcer who would run in and windmill punch and chop guys in the corner if they got out of line waiting for their beating. Kraneo looked resplendent and massive in his red/black gear, and he's really feeling like a guy who should be a major star in CMLL (and they seem to be treating him as such). Marco is a good tecnicos foil for Rush/Kraneo, eating the apron kicks from Mije, finding his spots to fire back with his big punches, still hitting the huge crossbody. But, he also got his head ripped off his body and had it volleyed around by the rudos (including several chest volleys by Kraneo). All three rudos looked like total asskickers throughout, but I really liked Mascara as a tecnicos here, old guys make good tecnicos and I like that he's typically a rudo but is default tecnicos against the assholery of Rush. Mascara's segments with Pierroth were fired up when they could have been slow, and added a nice dimension to the match. Pierroth losing a quick exchange and just casually walking up and punting Mascara in the balls was a fine finish for this. The meanest rudo behavior happens the match when upon being DQ'd Pierroth immediately rushes Tirantes and starts muscling him around, with Rush soon joining in. Tirantes' facials read that he had no clue these two were coming at him, and as they tried to throw him he was clearly holding onto the ropes for dear life and not going along with their plans. I don't remember the last time I saw Tirantes get a beatdown, but it's not been often and when it has happened it's been clearly part of an angle. This did not look cooperative in any way, it really looked like Pierroth and Rush just stomping him and ripping at his shirt and suspenders. The fans sounded really pissed too as you just don't see refs take a beating in CMLL. Rush even kicks him hard right in the legs as he's walking away. Perfect deranged ending to all of this.

La Bestia Del Ring vs. Mascara Ano Dos Mil  CMLL 3/13/17

ER: This match may not be worth watching for some, but it felt like if anyone was going to watch and review Pierroth vs. Mascara Ano Dos Mil, two men with an average age of 55. As Phil said to me, "So you have to review the MA2K vs. Bestia Del Ring match. It is singing your song...You are the biggest Bestia Del Ring stan on the internet." I can't really say he's wrong. And I really liked the match. It had problems that a lot of people won't be able to get past: it was slow, these two are old and less graceful than many luchadors, and there are no highspots. So, climb aboard! I like old guy matches more than most people (any people?) as it always feels like there's more at stake: they're old, they break easier, old rudos are awesome, old tecnicos are the most sympathetic tecnicos. MA2K is a Capo! But because he's opposite Pierroth the fans are cheering for him. Pierroth is an island I'm fine being stranded on. I like what he brings to a match. Here he's a dick by making Mascara do a bunch of rope running early in the match (nothing like gassing out your opponent in the first minute), throws him into the ring barricades, smashes a full soda in his face, really takes the entire primera other than MA2K geting a quick octopus hold to end it. The camera pans the crowd to find a dozen white people, who are all certainly trying to reconcile the few things they thought they knew about lucha libre, with this maskless old man fight happening front of them. Nitro provides some strong work as Pierroth's second (and considering one man has three sons and one has three nephews in the fed, I was surprised to see Nitro and Cancerbero as seconds), filling in some of the energy for the match, really stomping Mascara like a jerk at any opportunity, and Nitro does one of the all time greatest trips from the floor that I've ever seen. He hooks Mascara's foot in the corner and Mascara goes down hard like he had no clue his foot was being hooked. Awesome spot. Pierroth wins the segunda by holding the ropes, and the fans hate it. I love when Pierroth apes Rush's moves (he's not exactly going to ape his other son's moves) like the front dropkick and the opponent's head as soccer ball move, and I love how much the crowd is getting into MA2K. Finish is great as we get Pierroth pulling the ref in the way and sneaking in a roll up, which felt like the finish but instead was a great kickout by Mascara, who then gets Pierroth in a sub AND holds the ropes for the tap. The rope hold was the first time he did anything rudo the entire match, and totally wrapped up the story of the match. I enjoyed this. Your mileage may vary.

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