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: Ageless Negro Casas Teams w/ Pentagon

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

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

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


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Lucha Worth Watching: Fenix Debuts

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

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

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It Was All Night Pouring Rain, Pouring Rain, But Not a Drop on LA PARK

LA Park v. Caristico Lucha Elite 10/21/16 - FUN

ER: Weird match with some odd pacing, squirrelly logic shifts and a couple awkward transitions, but damn was the spectacular stuff spectacular. Most of the match is Park just beating the ever loving hell out of Caristico, blasting him with chairshots, hitting a boss overhead belly to belly suplex while also holding a chair to his back, hitting a sick powerbomb into a few set up chairs, and hilariously spearing Caristico threw a bunch of chairs that he had spent all his free time setting up. The spear was so epic. Caristico even seemed like he had a special plan to trick Park into going into the chairs, and Park just steamrolls him into that pit of metal. A guy that was as big a draw as Caristico shouldn't feel the need to take this kind of damage. Park continues beating him with a chair, then whips him with his belt. Eventually Rey Escorpion runs in to attack Park, and Carisitico has apparently been trapped in a cage with his attacker for so long that's he's developed Stockholm Syndrome, and begins attacking Escorpion. Confusion ensues. Park somehow beats Caristico to his feet after Caristico hits a crossbody off the top of the cage, not everything makes sense. Caristico even takes an absurdly dangerous pacakge piledriver from Rey that plants him right on his head, surely shrinking a couple of those pesky vertebrae of his. But Park was a total boss in this match, really knows how to control a ring, and Caristico was just a lunatic with the damage he took. Flawed and epic at the same time.

PAS: This was a mess, but an undeniably compelling mess. Lots of great individual moments broken up by long replays and then another big moment, add that to a really dumb finish it would be hard to call this a great match. Still there are some really memorable awesome spots. I loved Park doing his old Rey Jr. exchange, pinching Caristico on the cheek like a baby and eating a rana. The spear into the chairs was true lunacy, and it is nuts that Caristico turned down a lifetime of easy WWE money to take those kind of bumps and bleed like that. I also dug the big cage dive, although it was goofus that Park got up first. This might have been the best lucha cage match I have ever seen, and it was still only OK.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE LA PARK

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2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Corleone & Kraneo CKlash! Diamante Vanquishes Terrible!

9. Kraneo/Vangellys/Terrible vs. Marco Corleone/Diamante Azul/Caristico CMLL 1/12

ER: I love this kind of Godzilla vs. King Ghidora match in wrestling, and it's especially weird and cool in Mexico where you don't really have many "monsters". But they don't come much larger than Kraneo and Marco, and I always love when they cross paths. This seemed more violent than past confrontations, which always had more Kraneo stooging for Marco. This was much more them kicking each other's ass. Diamante Azul is a strong tecnico and probably underrated, and Vangellys is a great heavy who occasionally really steps up, Terrible is always a reliable asskicker, Caristico still has his value to a trios. That's a great lineup of guys for a quality trios. We get a couple nice fired up Diamante moments and Terrible beating him around ringside, Vangellys beats Caristico around ringside and hits a brutal atomic drop on the barricade, and when Kraneo starts mixing in this thing gets great. He punches Marco hard in the face, knees him in the gut, then really chokes him over the ropes while Mije kicks the shit out of Marco's face from the apron! Holy shit!! Terrible keeps smashing Azul into things at ringside, and Kraneo continues to mug Corleone, violently running in with a corner hip attack that whips Marco's neck.

The segunda has an awesome Diamante tecnico hero sequence, with Kraneo and Vangellys holding him while Terrible punches him in the face, and Diamante breaks free just to rip Terrible's shirt and throw it on the ground, only to get beaten back down by all three. Marco gets triple teamed next and his comeback is awesome, flying through the giant Kraneo and Vangellys with a shoulder separating shoulderblock, and Azul fires into the ring with an awesome superkick on Terrible, following it up with hard low dive. Tercera is filled with great moments, like Mije giving his best match performance of his life, with those earlier kicks on Marco, now grinding in his face and then slapping him in the tercera, allowing Kraneo to shoulderblock a distracted Marco (and then later Mije gets absolutely launched onto Kraneo by a Marco press slam). We do get great Kraneo stooging, taking a big bump to the apron that sees him slowly go high up and over, then he wobbly knee sells on the apron before getting upended by a Marco haymaker. Tercera is just packed with great tecnico/rudo showdowns, Azul getting great comeuppance against Terrible, plastering him with a flying elbow and putting him away by catching him midair and dumping him with a deadlift German. Vangellys does a lunatic spear to Marco on the entrance ramp, taking both out of the match. Kraneo catches a Caristico rana better than anybody you've seen take one, whipping over fast and sliding to the floor, then Caristico flattens him with a heavy crossbody to the floor. This trios was all so awesome, you could realistically build three quality singles feuds off this one match, that's how good everyone matches up. Here's to more of this kind of lucha in 2018!!

PAS: There were a lot of really fun performances in this, I especially loved Mije, his Kawada kicks were awesome, he really laid it in for such a tiny human, I also loved Marco hurling him in the air like pizza dough. Kraneo has a great hip attack, he is a super fat dude, with a but that is outsized even for his big body, so it really looks violent when he smashes Marco with it. Last minute was really awesome and what got this match on a list for me. I loved Marco's ramp running in ring plancha, and the Vangellys intercepting it with a spear felt like the kind of thing that would be on an NFL films highlight before the league got all squeamish about head trauma.  Also really love Azul's German, he isn't a great luchador, but that is one great German.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Lucha Worth Watching: As the Casas Turns

1. Negro Casas vs. Caristico (CMLL Puebla 1/16/17)

ER: Awesome little almost house show type performance from Casas, which also features an awesome Zacarias performance. Casas comes out ready to entertain as rudo, smacking Caristico around and soaking up the jeers. Casas stomps Caristico to the mat and Zacarias flies in with a fast low dropkick (that Caristico amusingly sells as much or more than Casas' kicks up to this point). Zacarias is really active through the entire match, choking Caristico in the corner with his boot, even flying into him with a tope! Caristico catches the tope, but it allows Casas to hit his Thesz press off the apron. Casas takes Caristico headscissors really nicely, sliding far across the ring and acting like they leave him totally disconcerted. We get an amusing take on the "which side can cheer loudest" spot, because Casas' facials put it over huge. He cannot believe that Caristico is getting bigger cheers than him, looking completely incredulous and convinced that the NEXT side will certainly cheer louder for him, getting angrier with each side's betrayal. Angry old Negro Casas looks somewhat like actor John Marley, and lucha needs more angry old John Marleys. Caristico is sorta lazy about setting up his trademark spots, but Casas keeps them feeling fresh, finding nice ways to get into position properly, and it makes for a nice satisfying low impact lucha match.

2. Negro Casas/Barbaro Cavenario/Felino vs. Sam Adonis/Rush/Pierroth (CMLL 10/6/17)

ER: This is a fast, dirty match with a super hot Arena Mexico crowd, and I'll take a hot crowd over crisp ringwork any day of the week. Adonis and his doofus crew go after Casas and the rudos run the boards, are good at keeping Barbaro and Felino at bay, and commence all the double team strikes on Casas. Adonis has his shitty trump tights, Pierroth doesn't bother taking his shirt off, and Rush always seems to work stiffest with Casas. This match does nothing big, but the crowd eats it up, responding huge from bell to bell (errr whistle to whistle?). Casas is getting held prone over the apron by Rush as Adonis chops him violently, and Barbaro runs over and punches him in the ear to gigantic cheers. It really needs to be made into a side by side gif with Richard Spencer getting punched in the ear. Pierroth and Rush jam up Barbaro with stiff chops, and Casas tries locking on a triangle from the apron on Adonis. Adonis' best feature might be his Nicolas Cage crazy eyes, a nutty feature like that really enhances his mad beatings, so it looks even better when he's chopping and stomping Casas into the corner. Rush is a real jerk (you heard it here first), and at one point he goes to do his stiff corner dropkick on a slouched Casas, stops short...and just punts Casas right in the nose with his boot toe. Casas' feebly grabbing at his face made me want Casas to wreck these fools even more. Adonis does a big mafia kick to Casas while Rush and his daddy hold Casas' arms, but Casas hits a mean dropkick to Rush's knee to get a quick Casita! We get some decent brawling around the floor, guys get thrown into the metal announcer kiosk, Felino spiritedly leaps in to beat up Pierroth and save his bro. Felino later gets backdropped into a plancha on the floor, and Barbaro hits a boss tope from the apron past the turnbuckles. We finally get an Adonis/Casas solo showdown in the ring, and in a great moment Casas catches a kick, flips Adonis over and brings the front of Adoni's thigh down over his knee. Adonis shoves him into the ropes and punts balls for the DQ, and I officially want to see this punk lose his Nazi haircut and tiny ponytail.

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Lucha Worth Watching: 2017 Leyenda de Plata Cibernetico

2017 Leyenda de Plata Cibernetico CMLL 10/13

ER: Ciberneticos were definitely more of my thing when I first started watching lucha in the late 90s, but that would also line up with WCW cruisers being my favorite style of wrestling at that time. Now ciberneticos usually still leave me hungry, unfulfillingly set up spotfests with sudden pinfalls. But I am not made of stone, and sometimes there's a collection of moves too tasty to not force a smile or an oooooohhhh. This started simple and exploded once Guerrero Maya flew at Barbaro with a tope and also flew recklessly into the first row. Full Eric attention achieved. We get a Virus/Casas sequence which is always a thrill, two masters delivering a greatest hits collection. Later we see Virus get his brains stomped to the mat by Dragon Lee. Casas tries to outbump the youngsters by getting thrown fast ass over elbow over the top to the floor. We get a concurrent somersault plancha, Asai moonsault, somersault plancha. Forastero works as if he were a darkside Soberano Jr. and it works better than Soberano Jr. being Soberano Jr. Casas has more charisma and gets louder reactions than anybody in the match, getting the fans rabid just for not locking up right away with Barbaro after pinning Titan. Lee is a dangerously fearless bumper and always wanting to please, so we get him doing a nutty rana from the ring to the floor on Titan, bumping a Virus lariat on his head, dumping himself on his head for Caristico, taking a nutso spinning powerbomb from Sanson. Mephisto is wearing a fantastic gimp outfit that makes him look like a beefy extra from the movie Cruising. I think I saw him in the background set at a bar called The Toolbox. Soberano does a nasty seated tombstone to Barbaro and I guess we just don't give a fuck about the sacred death danger of the martinete anymore.

Mistico and Caristico have the most palatable teacher/student showdown because instead of flipping and rope running they just rip masks. Mistico ripped Caristico's mask like a lifetime solid citizen who finally experienced how fucking good it felt to steal an extra newspaper from the machine. The final 5 contains 4 of my least favorite guys in the entire 16 man match, meaning Sanson is my old hope. Volador also seems rudo by default which is his best side, and he bumps fast to the floor which is better from a rudo. Soberano takes stupid modern era lucha moves real stupid on the back of his head, taking things like fast code reds or reverse ranas - dangerous looking moves that can be botched - in a cartoony rollercoaster manner, rolling off his head and then freeze framing for a second before completing the bump. I want him pinned. Sanson catches Volador on a motherfucking flip dive to the floor, doesn't let him touch the ground, and then powerbombs him SIDEWAYS into the front of the ring barrier. Sanson may have passed Cuatrero on the "baddest ass Dinamita" after this match. This is a cibernetico, so by Mexican law it was required to have one confusingly dogshit double elimination, but at minimum it was done because Sanson pinned Caristico while also suplexing Soberano. Everybody's shoulders looked down. And then Sanson is immediately pinned because they wanted to give me the last final showdown I would have picked out of all 16 participants. But that's life. Dare to err and to dream. Deep meaning often lies in childish plays.

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Lucha Worth Watching: CMLL 7/21/17

Rush/Kraneo/Pierroth vs. Marco Corleone/Caristico/Diamante Azul 

ER: I really like this rudo trio, whenever Kraneo fills in it brings a different kind of chaos, the guys pair off differently, and he's just awesome. They all bully Caristico around, Rush slams his head in the barricade door, later goes to hit his high jump corner dropkick, stops as Caristico braces for the dropkick, then just kicks Caristico in the teeth with his boot toe. The rudos run wild, Kraneo hits the running hip attack and dances around the ring, Pierroth hits a stiff senton on Azul, Marco punches a bunch to comeback but it's not enough. I love when Kraneo is opposite Marco as otherwise you don't have a heavyweight presence large enough to counter the biggest tecnico. Dominant tecnico is a difficult thing to pull off, and it's easier with Kraneo looking massive across from him. Pierroth rips off Caristico's head, kicks it over to Pierroth, Pierroth juggles it a bit, kicks it up to his chest and belly, bounces it around some more, kicks it up for Rush, and Rush boots it DEEP into the Arena Mexico cheap seats. We get some nice comebacks, with Caristico hitting a crashing dive into Kraneo, Rush takes a couple big bumps to the floor, Marco hitting the high jump crossbody and even Azul hitting a high jump flying clothesline. I love how Rush and his team never truly get comeuppance, it's going to be the biggest thing in lucha history when it finally happens. The second things are going badly for the team, Rush boots Caristico in the balls directly in front of the referee, then rips his mask off. He is hate.

Euforia/Gran Guerrero/Ultimo Guerrero vs. Niebla Roja/Dragon Lee/Volador Jr. 

ER: A lot of these guys feel like they match up a lot, so it becomes clear pretty early in a match when they're doing something a bit beyond typical. This is the best version of their match, long enough to satisfy, short enough that everyone could go go go, nobody dogging it, and some actual hate instead of just through-the-motions spot rehearsal. Euphoria gets matched up with Dragon Lee a bunch and admirably keeps up, and both Euforia and Niebla Roja had star caliber performances. I thought the rudos gelled great and had some great taunts (the huddle rally while holding the tecnicos in Gory Specials was inspired), all of them bump big and put on super impressive catching displays, and their double teams all looked violent (Gran's powerbomb off a Roja springboard was gross). It was fun to see Lee mix it up with a different kind of rudo; usually he's against younger, crazier guys, so it's cool to see him against older sturdy guys like Euforia and UG. They both know how to eat his creative kick combos, loved the one where he slams a guy's head into the buckle from the apron and kicks it. Roja broke out impressive flying and made me jump out of my seat when he dodged Euforia (Euforia takes his nice bump around the ringpost) and then hit a BOSS rolling elbow all the way across the ring. UG takes his fast Jerry bump to the floor, Lee smooshes him with a big flip dive, but Volador/Euforia break out the holy shit moment of the evening, when Volador doesn't just hit a hurricanrana to the floor, he does a SPRINGBOARD first, and Euforia is standing close to the barricade, so Volador really has to leap to grab him, and Euforia is a crazy person for catching something that far. Awesome spot. Gran Guerrero and Roja mix it up most of the match, and GG has really improved over the last 6 months. He's acting like a real violent rudo, and I'd love a mask match between the two. Everybody in this match busted ass and made this thing pop. Nothing better than some young guys showing star power, and old guys showing they still belong.

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Lucha Worth Watching: CMLL 6/16/17

1. Rush/Kraneo/Pierroth vs. Terrible/Vangellys/Shocker (CMLL 6/16/17)

ER: Not a great match, but one I was looking forward to and one that delivered what I wanted it to. Vangellys attacked Pierroth with some great bat shots last week and here's the payback, hopefully building to a hair match. The rudo team is a great pairing, one that's been fairly regular in 2017. They all complement each other really well in this kind of bullshit brawl. It's the kind of match Pierroth excels in, it brings out the best asshole qualities in Rush, and Kraneo...well, Kraneo is just always awesome. I really like all the Rush familia ringside brawl stuff, it's great junkfood, guys getting slammed into the announcer corral, guys getting thrown into barriers, balls are almost kicked, big chops are thrown, anabolics are flowing through Los Toros Blancos, complex carbohydrates are flowing through Kraneo, Shocker is wearing headgear to clamp down on his constant snacking, Terrible throws a beautiful left hand, the rudos juggle an imaginary soccer ball around with Kraneo getting extra ball handling time, Pierroth splats Vangellys with a great senton, balls actually get kicked, it's all great fun.

2. Dragon Lee vs. Barbaro Cavernario (CMLL 6/16/17)

ER: A different kind of junkfood, rewarding in different ways, annoying in different ways. I have little interest in the newer trend of luchadors working faux New Japan style. I hate seeing brainless emotionless forearm exchanges when lucha standing exchanges usually have so much passion and eye contact with the crowd. But these guys are crazy and we get a suitably crazy lightning match. Lee hits a couple nice dives including a bullet tope that just glues Cavernario to the barricade, and Cavernario hits a flat out gorgeous dive from the apron past the turnbuckles. I lose a lot of interest once we go into the "look what moves we can do that are dangerous but don't hurt that much because we can still do a lot of moves afterward" portion, but the blockbuster DDT is pretty damn notable just because it turns Lee into a literal exclamation point. These guys both work matches that have more meat to them, this was 9 minutes of expected flash between two guys who could sleepwalk through some exciting spots. They know how to work some exciting spots, and exciting spots was what we gots. They just tend to excite me more when they mean something.

3. Ultimo Guerrero/Sanson vs. Caristico/Soberano Jr. (CMLL 6/16/17)

ER: A fitting finale to the Gran Alternativa tourney, and a nice job by CMLL for actually pushing a new guy who has made some strides. Soberano Jr. has been kicking around for awhile, and was showing promise as early as 2014, and he's obviously been busting his butt in 2017. I flipped my lid for his Dick Fosbury dive to the floor, that takes some stones and looked gorgeous, and he has a great step up headscissors. I think Sanson worked expertly as a Caristico base, catching a dozen armdrags and headscissors that all looked fluid, and the flip dive catch was pillow soft. Caristico himself appeared to be working harder than I've seen him, maybe since his return, bumping big on UG's baseball slide dropkick, tossing out his largest assortment of ranas and headscissors (his slingshot one to the floor still the best) and also hanging in there to take UG's hip attack that sends him sprawling down an aisle. Sanson and Soberano got a chance to shine and outside of a hinky Soberano lariat I thought they looked good. I hope Sanson still stays with Cuatrero/Forastero, but this was a nice bigger match foray for him, overall very satisfying.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Fresh Casas Match-Ups! Tournament Lucha?

1. Negro Casas/Canelo Casas vs. Valiente/Astral (CMLL 6/9/17)

ER: Leave it to Casas to make a 1st round tournament lucha match something approaching meaningful. It's 5 minutes but plenty enjoyable, with Valiente breaking out weird World of Sport matwork that he doesn't normally break out, and Astral getting a big chance to shine against normal sized people, while Casas has a long showdown with the former/current mini. This is the first time Casas and Astral have ever had reason to be in the same match, and fresh match-ups/new allegiances are the one saving grace of tournament lucha. Casas hypes it up all match and make it feel like a huge deal that he's going toe to toe with this kid who's half his age. He stooges around for him, keeps pace, and gives Astral moments to shine. Astral makes the most of it, hits a wild double jump tornillo, Casas set him up to look like a big deal and he did. Canelo isn't great but he spends his segments dedicated to being a rudo instead of shoehorning highspots, and I appreciate that. Tournament lucha should be a little more like this.

2. Negro Casas/Canelo Casas vs. Caristico/Soberano Jr. (CMLL 6/9/17)

ER: Another fresh Casas match, as Soberano has been lingering in the undercard for a few years, prior to his 2017 push up the cards. At his best he's shown to be a bump freak with some cool movement, at his worst he's a bad Volador clone. But he's never squared off with Casas (they were in a decent Cibernetico in 2014), and that's obviously the money combo here. Casas is great throughout, and I loved his stiff body/timberrrr selling of Caristico's superkick, loved his stiff forearms and lariat on Soberano (and Soberano lands some nice kicks to the chest later). Casas brought interesting character to strike exchanges, we build to a fun moment of Casas snapping off a nice 57 yr. old rana, but Soberano cartwheels out of it and hits his nice long-legged version. The home stretch was really wonderful: Soberano finding multiple ways out of La Casita, with Casas getting more and more desperate as he became more obsessed with beating him. Casas starts with a simple drop toehold to lead to La Casita, but Soberano yanks his arm out, so Casas dropkicks his knee to get him back into position but Soberano shoves him away, back off the ropes and Casas dropkicks him to the knee again, but Soberano rolls through to his own pin! Generous performance from Casas here, truly the theme of the day.

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MLJ: Recent Elite matches: Traumas vs Guerrero Maya Jr./Rey Cometa and Cavernario/Negro Casas vs Mistico/Caristico

2015-12-27 @ Arena México
Trauma I & Trauma II vs Guerrero Maya Jr. & Rey Cometa

El Cavernario & Negro Casas vs Carístico & Mistico

I'm still playing catch up, so here are two Elite matches from the last couple of weeks. There are two different video shots for them, one having better VQ, the other being less cut. You get the idea for both though.

You could tell, clipping or no, that they were fairly short, brisk affairs, but they were both a lot of fun. I still can't tell the Traumas apart as in I couldn't tell you which of the two was better, but their act is great (and they were paired up well against Puma/Tiger in previous weeks). I love how they dominated early on here, with a choreographed attack of letting Cometa in, only to slide out pull him back out to set up the double team dive onto the apron. 

The comeback here was very brief, a missed move, a dive, and Maya's finisher. In general, I thought Maya looked better than Cometa. I really don't think he ever quite recovered from losing his mask, even if it was for a good cause. He comes off as a poor man's Volador and could probably do well if he was paired with him in a trios. Maya just comes off as far more charismatic, even if Cometa does his his stuff cleanly. The tercera was a lot of tecnico shine until the Traumas finished it out of nowhere. Not a classic but a great use of ten minutes.

People could watch the Traumas tag and be happy. They should actively watch the Casas/Cavernario tag, though. That's probably my favorite quasi-makeshift tag team in the world. They're great together and the Misticos were great foils for them (though really, of course, it was meant to be the other way around). This was just as brief. 

It won't take you much more than ten minutes to watch, less if you watch the clipped version, but the clipped version sort of comes off as a good parts version, and it's all good parts, from the initial ambush to every bit of awesome Cavernario offense, to Zacarias getting to do a 619, to Casas doing a Fargo Strut, to seeing Caristico interact with Casas and Cavernario, to sort of accepting Mistico's crummy superkick, to the way that Casas and Cavernario make the tecnicos work for their comeback, to the fun back and forth tercera, ending with Casas' Oscar-deserving antics to break up the last pinfall so his team can win.

Negro Casas never not been revitalized but he feels even further so against Caristico. I'm looking forward to them having a singles match. Cavernario's such a star too, seeming like he absolutely belongs in there with the rest. 

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Lucha Worth Watching: Dragon Lee/Kamaitachi and Caristico/Sombra

Dragon Lee vs. Kamaitachi (CMLL 12/4/15)

These two have built up the rep of doing some high speed crazy moves in the last year +, and this match does not disprove that rep. But it also felt like the most "moves exhibition" of all their singles matches so far. Some of the stuff is crazier than any of their other matches, but moreso than any other of their matches (even their lightning match, somehow) this felt like a super series of unrelated gifs. Many of the gifs looked awesome, but the order of them didn't make any sense whatsoever, and oftentimes one of them would take a giant move, only to beat the person delivering the move to his feet, and do one of his own. There was some nutty as hell stuff happening here, and that counts for something. The crazy stuff looked crazy. I mean the match starts with Kamaitachi missing a crazy ass dropkick from the apron to the floor, to be followed up with a Lee dive that sees him plowing upside down into the barricade. That's the level we start at. It's like starting a first date with a blow job. We get tons of lunatic reverse ranas and Canadian Destroyers, tons of headdrops, dropkicks to the face and back of the head, Kamaitachi hits an AWESOME senton from the top to the floor onto a standing Lee, we get a couple engaging moments of both men fighting on the top rope, a Japanese woman at ringside wildly cheers for Kamaitachi (including when he stomps on the title). We get a fun silly restart when it's revealed Lee's foot was on the ropes (and I'm kind of a fan of fun silly restarts) and I like the end sequence of Kamaitachi setting up his rampway dropkicks which has leveled Lee for the past year, and Lee timing it right to counter it (like Little Mac properly countering the Bald Bull Charge) and then dumping him with a suplex. So tons of things looked cool. But it just didn't add up to anything of substance for me. I thought the 8/30 match built really well and the spots kept getting crazier as the match went on, really making it feel like they were pulling out all of the stops. This felt like showing off. And both guys got a lot of cool shit to show off. But there really felt like no rhyme or reason behind what moves could end a fall, what moves were devastating, what moves are setting up bigger moves. Sometimes a move would end a fall, and then get kicked out of when performed moments later. It's an easy way to suck me out of a match. But, there was plenty here to just sit back and marvel at.

La Sombra & Ultimo Guerrero vs. Caristico & Atlantis (All Elite 11/8/15)

Matt wrote up some other All Elite Caristico so I figured I would tackle the other one, also because I've been more interested in soaking up all of the post mask loss Sombra. And the match itself is fun, if not extremely by the numbers for these guys. The first fall is probably the most inspired thing here, with Sombra especially looking awesome with tons of sliding kick variations to Caristico that all looked really good. As the (short) match went on he eventually became Caristico's Averno, impressively catching a slingshot rana and big springboard dive to the floor corner. Caristico looked hesitant or off in spots, or just plain rough. It's cool you can land on your feet after your alley oop dropkick and all, but it would be cooler if you made contact with your opponent. Ultimo and Atlantis continue doing the house show version of their feud, and this match could probably be quite good if fleshed out a bit more, but the bare bones version was fun enough.

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MLJ: Carístico, Negro Casas, Valiente vs Black Warrior, Ephesto, Mephisto

11/15/2015 @ Arena México
Carístico, Negro Casas, Valiente vs Black Warrior, Ephesto, Mephisto

This might have been the single most straightforward, simple, disposable lucha trios match I've ever seen, and that's saying something. It was there just to tease Cibernetico's arrival, to do a bait and switch with Black Warrior, to let Caristico do his stuff against some familiar opponents, and to give his side a solid win before the post-match beatdown. They had subbed Valiente in for Volador earlier in the week, moving Volador down into a tag against FdT, in a match that might actually lead to an Apuestas, and frankly, that was fine because you didn't really need Volador here.

Despite the simplicity, this was still fun. It just definitely wasn't must see by any means. I think they new they were going short due to the most match angle, which was about as long as the match itself. It meant that none of the exchanges were particularly long and that the beatdown was stilted. From a structural level, it's sort of interesting how they did things then.

For instance, they went A-B-A, with the tecnicos taking the primera, the rudos the segunda, starting a beatdown that lasted a couple of minutes into the tercera until they went home almost immediately with the dives and comeback. The wrinkles were that they slipped the "tecnicos vs the world" section into the primera, made sure that Caristico got to do his dive to set up that finish, had the segunda end with just Caristico getting pinned (by a second rope devil's wings after kicking out of the standard version), and teased a brief reset before continuing that short ambush-laden beatdown.

I'd love to make a statement on how Black Warrior looked, for instance, but there just wasn't much there. He did have a nice exchange with Casas, who seemed to be enjoying playing tecnico (so did Zacarias, for what it was worth; he's a natural anyway). They traded blows, with Casas eating his stuff and rousing the crowd until he caught the second attempt at a big boot. Later on, the only really memorable part of the beatdown was Warrior just smothering Casas with grounded knees and clubbering. The other standout part of the match was Casas' chance to go vs the world in the primera, fighting off Mephisto and Ephesto in the corner. It felt weird because the other tecnicos didn't help. Usually, that makes sense in the tercera when everyone's getting knocked out of the ring and recovering but here it was just a portion of a match moved around due to time issues. Casas was still great in the role though.

Anyway, everyone was eager to work the crowd and try to get them into it. Between that and the brevity, it didn't have the standard CMLL feel. It felt more like a spectacle. It was just a fairly forgettable one, the sort of match that would have made it less special to see Caristico again the next time, were it not for the fact that no one will remember it relative to the post-match angle.

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MLJ: Carístico & Volador Jr. vs La Máscara & Rush

2015-10-25 @ Arena México
Carístico & Volador Jr. vs La Máscara & Rush

This was from the recent Elite Lucha Libre Sunday Arena Mexico show. It was Mistico I's return to Arena Mexico and was something of a very fun mess. I'm enamored to the CMLL grind where you get a lot of content every week, because none of it as that offensive, and there are a lot of chances for good, if rarely great matches. That said, over time, it all starts to feel sort of interchangeable and unimportant. This felt important.

Right from the get go, it felt like a different crowd. You get the sense that the traditional tecnico fan heavy crowds from years past have eroded over the years and a lot of what's left is there to cheer for Casas or Ultimo Guerrero and boo almost anyone who feels like a traditional tecnico. That wasn't the case here as there was a continuous chant for Mistico and even, at one key point late in the match, a chant for Volador.

Structurally, this was pretty straightforward, with just a few more wrinkles than your average match. The start had a long beatdown after an ambush, with the tecnicos fighting back just a little (probably just enough), Rush shining, especially in how he worked the crowd, and Mascara looking like a goof between his little back and forth dancing and whatever this atrocity of a move was:

They took the primera soundly and it was a solid beatdown. The segunda build to a comeback weirdly with too much of a tease. Volador's giant ramp dive really shouldn't be a hope spot. Caristico got one as well only for both of them to get cut off. The idea was good. I'm just not sure about the execution. Rush really milked the heat with the crowd here, though, so that was good stuff. The comeback seemed flubbed but everyone was watching Caristico, who hit his stuff, so it hardly mattered. It was pretty much what you'd want from a Caristico/Volador comeback.

The third fall had a bit more hamming up by Los Ingobernables, including Mascara kissing Mistico's foot on the ramp while begging off, which was pretty funny, and a decent amount of stalling, before resetting to exchanges and cutoffs. They did some nice stalling/misdirection to set up Ingobernables ambushes, which were well appreciated (and heat-garnering), and the imaginary punt into the crowd, which I feel like I haven't seen for a while. On the other side, both tecnicos got to have "vs the world" exchanges and this was all fun. It ended with Mistico going to the well once too often with his spring back off the rope and Rush catching him with a foul and ripping off his mask for the DQ.

This was all a lot of fun, but really a dual edged sword. They had more freedom to break away from the usual formula and that was refreshing but I don't think it always worked. On the other hand, they honed in on a few call-back spots and really built to the final Rush vs Mistico exchange, so the big picture was spot on. Mascara, in this less constrained setting came off as slightly exposed. It wasn't that he outright botched much. It's just that he's not all that compelling. He was best when begging off or interacting with Rush, who came off like a real star and one of the most charismatic wrestlers in the world. Rush thrives when having an opponent he can really play off of and Caristico was reveling in the attention and adulation he was receiving in Arena Mexico.

People should check it out if only because it's a fun taste of what's to come.

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