Lucha Worth Watching: Leyenda de Azul Cibernetico

Leyenda de Azul Cibernetico (CMLL 12/22/17)

ER: Ciberneticos are a fickle creature. It doesn't take too much in one direction to make them good, and it doesn't take much in the other direction to make them totally skippable. This one already starts as a win as Mije and Zakarias sit on the entranceway steps with their heads in hands, as if they're sitting on a curb waiting for their parents to pick them up after soccer practice. Then you see that referee Edgar is sporting cornrows and you know it's going to be a great cibernetico. The strength in a cibernetico is always the action that happens before the eliminations. Eliminations typically come quick and are predictable, and often unsatisfying (and you know there's going to be a double elimination), but the work that takes place before pinfalls start is gonna make it worthwhile, and this had some great action.

Ultimo and Euforia start of with some fast matwork, the kind that UG doesn't often do in CMLL, and it's fun as I don't recall these two ever going opposite each other. It never gets mean, but it's a good exhibition. Bucanero and Terrible do more of the same and we get a nice fun engaging scrap to our cibernetico. Stuff bumps up when Kraneo splats Vangellys with a big legdrop, but then gets backdropped over the top to the ramp, Kraneo taking an awesome big fat guy bump to the ramp and down the side stairs, with Vangellys immeditely shifting his focus and hitting a big dive on Misterioso.  We get a fat guy showdown between Niebla and Kraneo, and Niebla had a pretty nice showing. Maybe the key to Niebla now is just thinking of him as the new Super Porky. Don't be mad at him for having trouble standing up or kind of standing still while people get into place around him, just get excited for the 1-2 matches a year that he shows up for and just enjoy him slapping dudes the rest of the year. With this match and the Caifan match this is two straight Niebla matches where he utilizes his hip swiveling and silliness much more like Dusty than just a fat goof. It's a fine line. But I loved Kraneo slapping him, with every slap leading to Niebla turning around and slapping someone else on the apron. He and Kraneo are the fattest in the match, so I'll always love the two bigguns exchanging armdrags. Shocker has deflated a bit so he's not as fat (you can really see it in his arms, Shocker has really small arms now). Vangellys is the sneaky pick to be 2nd fattest in 2019. Nobody is getting as fat as Kraneo, I really don't think there's a luchador in history who is as big as Kraneo. But if something stressful happens in Vangellys' life, I could see him hitting the tortas pretty hard. Later on Niebla works a couple complicates armdrags with UG, and does a fired up Dusty act against Bucanero, swiveling his hips and pop locking with his legs, even flicking his own nipples. I don't think I've seen the nipple flick before. I'd much rather see that than the loogy.

Hechicero was treated like a big deal here, so much so that I thought he would win. He had a cool run  where he did his nice middle rope dropkick to knock Sanson to the floor, then gets Mascara Ano Dos Mil to the floor, then taps Vangellys with his awesome inverted bow and arrow choke. I was the drum beater for Pierroth the last couple years and haven't run across too much recommendable Pierroth this year, but I really liked him here, easily best Pierroth moments of the year. We get a nice old guy battle with he and Mascara, we get an actual Rush/Pierroth face off which is something I've never seen, with Pierroth actually soccer kicking Rush before they stand up. Then, he sweetly brushes the hair out of his baby boy's face, and tenderly kisses him on the forehead (much to the hate of the Arena Mexico crowd). Later he helps Rush pin UG from the floor, grabbing his son's hand in a perfect Schwarzenegger/Weathers Predator handshake to give Rush pinfall leverage. I wish Kraneo and Rush got more of a showdown but we did get one, with Kraneo bumping big for him and getting a soccer kick as a thank you. We end with Euforia/Rush and I was rooting for Euforia. He's got kids, man. Euforia takes his always nice ringpost bump and eats a Rush flip dive, and the Rush win is academic. Afterwards Rush stomps on the Blue Demon plaque and HOW COME I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE HORRIBLE BLUE DEMON BELT BEFORE!!?? Has this awful thing been around for years and I somehow keep missing it? Or did I always just stop watching the match after the pinfall and never watch the award ceremony. Oh man that belt is awful. Wearing it essentially gives you a Kuato growing out of your torso, or turns you into Krang's mechanical suit. Just Blue Demon torso flexing around your stomach. It's awful. And the best way to end this cibernetico.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Templario + Metalico, Dinamitas vs. Pierroth Familia

Templario/Metalico/Arkangel vs. Astral/Pegasso/Starman (CMLL 10/3/17)

ER: Who is Templario and why do I need to watch so many more of his undercard matches!? I have never seen him before (though I think he only recently started showing up on occasional Arena Mexico undercards, so I don't think I've missed tons), and he's like a 4th Dinamita. He works really fast in this match, bumping big for the tecnicos, but gives as he gets: he's a guy who will whip fast on an armdrag but also snap one off. I'm not sure I've ever seen Astral look better working fast mat exchanges and quick rope running than here opposite Templario. They matched up most of the match and I came away really impressed. The best was in the tercera when he took and awesome somersault bump through the ropes to the floor after getting faked out by Astral, then perfectly catching Astral's gorgeous handspring rana to the floor (where he vaults from in ring, handsprings off the apron, and flips into a rana). He fit in great with best buds Arkangel and Metalico, always quick with a save (and throwing nice clubbing forearms during saves). Metalico's ham was especially delicious here. He comes out wearing tattered office attire and carrying a rocking horse. Why? For he is Metalico. Later he kisses a woman in the front row. And this was no grandma kiss, he planted one on her lips, lips that have kissed before but never so publicly, paying attention to her, noticing her nice sequined dress, telling her with his eyes that she looks good for her age, making her sister giggle and the woman herself blush and wave it away. The cameras cut to a young lady holding a baby. One might think that lucha camera crews just like cutting to cute ladies. One might also think that this camerawork was implying that this particularly lady was just another in a long line of ladies who have been gifted a child by Metalico. Later, he would eyeball the big butt of the tercera ring card girl. Later still, he would take a nice bump on the floor from a slick Pegasso headscissors. The rudos got each others' backs, I loved the three of them stomping the flipping tecnicos, and again, this was the best my memory can recall Astral looking, and it sure felt like it was because of his dance partner: Templario, my new dreamboat with horrible torso tattoos.

Cuatrero/Sanson/Forastero vs. Mistico/Dragon Lee/Comandante Pierroth (CMLL 11/24/17)

ER: This was the finals of a mini tournament that included teams made up of dinasties. You had the Panther family, The Munoz family, the Dinamitas, Felino's family, fun little concept and I love the family tradition in lucha. All styles of wrestling obviously have generations, but the family aspect in lucha seems to be more much powerfully respected in lucha. This is super fun and energetic, with the Munoz family all being heels. I've seen Lee work rudo with Rush on an indy show, but I don't recall seeing Mistico and Lee working rudo on CMLL TV, with their nefarious father. The Dinamitas work tecnico for the first time I've seen, and it's funny as they don't really wrestle any differently, but they're now doing their offense against three guys acting like dicks, so the fans are into it. Munoz familia has some great bullshit in the primera, with the three of them working a new twist on their soccer ball volleying as they instead play a little game of baseball with Lee tossing an invisible head to Mistico who blasts it for a home run, holding the pose. Later, Pierroth fakes the crowd into thinking he'd actually attempt a dive, and ends up slowly bouncing off and flopping through a somersault to pose like Burt Reynolds in Vanity Fair or Shawn Michaels in Playgirl with the belt (which I believe was used as Segunda Caida's masthead from 2007-2008, before I joined). The Dinamitas are all lanky and mean, which makes them seem like valiant tecnicos. I love their catapult monkey flip spot that flings Cuatrero fast and upside down into the corner. They do axe handle attacks and act as great bases for Mistico and Lee, and there's something about rudos doing gracious highflying that seems deliciously disingenuous. It feels like showing someone up, flashy hubris, even if it's done the exact same when they're tecnicos. The rules force the concept force the perception. Lee hits a wild rana leaping from the ring to grab Cuatrero on the apron, with Cuatrero flipping onto the floor. Cuatrero is the best. Naturally Rush comes sliming out at one some point, and I know they rarely do 8 mans but add Rush to one side and Masacara Ano Dos Mil to the other and I'd love to see that. There's mask yanking and shenanigans, but you knew that. This was a real fun role reversal, well worth the time.

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Lucha Worth Watching: More Familia Pierroth! More Mascara!

Rush/Pierroth/La Mascara vs. Terrible/Rey Bucanero/Shocker (CMLL 5/13/16)

I realized I had skipped a couple matches in the Pierroth/Mascara saga, which I have absolutely loved. The was the Ingobernales EXPLODING and it was great. Mascara and Pierroth come out in matching yellow on black masks, and Rush/Pierroth are on fire the whole match. Father and son, juiced to the gills, stooging and stiffing. Pierroth starts things with a running dropkick to Shocker, pops Terrible on the apron and then stomps on a displeased Shocker's head a bunch (Shocker pays him back with a post-match stomp to the back of the head). Mascara's timing screws everything up for the boys, forcing them to look like doofs and hit the wrong guys. C'mon, Mascara. At one point Rush goes to do his soccer kick taunt, drops his invisible soccer ball, Pierroth goes searching on the mat for it, finds it and tosses it back to Rush...who then Pele kicks it into the crowd. Holy shit. Lucha Azteca are ignoramuses and rob me of hearing crowd noise during that segment. Shocker looks slow and a step off throughout, but Ingobernales cover nicely for his shortcomings. Bucanero looks fired up though, and hits a nice crossbody to the floor on Rush/Pierroth. But you want to watch this for Rush and his dad, their cross ups, their beat downs, their ousting of Mascara. I just adore the asshole charisma that Rush and Pierroth bring to this.

Pierroth/Kraneo/Rey Escorpion vs. La Mascara/Terrible/Shocker (CMLL 6/10/16)

Here is some more of the saga to love. I mean, when Kraneo is in a match there is ALWAYS more to love, but take a look at that rudo team! That's a rudo team right there! It's not a team for everybody, but a team of lumpy asskickers is a team for me. Even the entrances are fun as the rudos won't let the tecnicos get into the ring, and as Mascara comes out Pierroth meets him on the ramp and they start beating the hell out of each other. Rudos easily dispatch the tecnicos and it leads to all those great moments of Kraneo and Escorpion holding Mascara prone so Pierroth can land cheap shots in between shit talk. And damn does Pierroth beat down Mascara. I love that overhand chop-knife edge chop combo he does is an awesome strike that he uses so effectively, and here he kicks Mascara's butt into the crowd and plows him into the announce station. Then Pierroth backs down a fan like Vader backing down police dogs!! Shoot even Mije gets in on the beatdown and starts lobbing kicks at Shocker's eye. Jesus, Mije. Pierroth and his thugs get DQ'd for being merciless in assbeating, which has to be like winning a fight because the other guy broke his fists on your nose. The rest of the match isn't quite as exciting as the primera, but the tecnicos get an admirable comeback, Pierroth shows ass by taking his own bump into the announce tower, then gets his mask ripped off by Mascara. Mascara gets his fired up pants removal spot and I pray for a cocky Pierroth coveralls removal spot...AND WE GET IT!! It's incredible. He rips open the coveralls, and then Escorpion starts helping, like a gentleman removing a lady's coat at dinner. And then Pierroth takes forever because coveralls are really hard to take off over wrestling boots, so Mascara attacks!! Nothing else could have happened in this match and if I got that spot I would have loved the match. We get a double ballshot finish, but with some expertly timed interference spots. Pierroth is prone and Mascara is running in for the kill, Escorpion comes out of nowhere with a perfect trip allowing Pierroth to kick some BALLS! Then Shocker makes a last minute save by pulling the ref away before the 3 count, allowing Mascara to punch some BALLS! I really love this feud. Pierroth beats the hell out of Mascara, and then has no problem leaning way in on payback superkicks, and there's just so much attitude and hubris on display. It's too much fun.

Dragon Lee vs. La Mascara (CMLL 7/29/16)

And now we get the great rudo Mascara, picking on Rush's little baby bro, and rudo Mascara is goooood. He's wearing absurdly small trunks that say "Papi", he oles Lee right into the barricade on a tope, powerbombs him into the jagged metal announcers station, rips at his mask, throws some brutal low superkicks to a slumped in the corner Lee, and then puts the exclamation point on things with a swift kick to the balls to end things. Mascara is coming for the Pierroth family's testicles. This didn't get much time, Lee didn't get a whole lot of shine in this, and it really could have used a Pierroth pull apart at the end, but I love the angle of Mascara being the good guy against Pierroth, but being a sadistic asshole to his sons.

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2016 Ongoing MOTY List: Pierroth and Rush!

24. Pierroth/Rush/Rey Escorpion v. La Mascara/Terrible/Shocker CMLL 5/20/16

ER: Hey look at that, a 10 minute violent brawl with father and son being untethered dickheads, and it's awesome! Rush and dad jump Mascara on the ramp and drag him to ringside, smashing him through the barrier. We get tons of brawling through this, with Pierroth throwing the best strikes. His chops looked brutal, and when he and Terrible matched up it looked like a slaughter. I loved him holding punks nice and snug so Rush could get cheapshots. Pierroth would really yank on arms and Rush would blast them with kicks, then make dumb faces at the crowd. It was glorious. I loved when their mugging would cause a momentary tide shift, like when Pierroth was goofing off and Terrible just ran past him in the ring to break up a pin. Rush is super violent with Mascara and him getting held by Pierroth and Escorpion as Rush rips his mask apart was vicious, like we were witnessing a scalping. It made Mascara charging out with a fresh mask in the segunda even better, hitting a spinebuster on Rush on the rampway. This was a total father and son show, and it was killer.

PAS: I really liked this, had the ragged violent feel of your best lucha brawls. One of the things I love about Rush is his mastery of pace, his fast stuff is really explosive and his taunting really feels like it is in the right place. Also happy to see Rey Escorpion again, he disappears and shows back up and is always worth seeing, he is in the background here but is wailing on dudes in the background. Pierroth was pretty great, he has a very Kurisu crowbar vibe which is awesome, every shot he throws is a little nastier then everyone else, loved his body shots and he had a surprisingly great powerslam. OG Pierroth was also a great old man brawler and new school Pierroth lives up to his legacy.


2016 MOTY MASTER LIST

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On Liking Comandante Pierroth

It has recently been brought to my attention that I may be the one human being who enjoys watching Comandante Pierroth matches. Before now I had actually been blissfully unaware that I was the only one. I don't typically read a lot of others' writings on wrestling, often just short reviews on a message board like PWO. I'm not on Twitter, don't know any wrestlers, don't actually have tons of friends who I discuss wrestling with. I kind of operate within my own little bubble most of the time - in wrestling fandom and in life.

So I was a little surprised when someone sent me a link today to lucha superfan Rob Viper's twitter account, which was lambasting me for telling somebody on a message board that I thought that "Pierroth has been one of the most consistently awesome guys the past year". I was not aware that this was a controversial opinion. There are several guys I like writing about that I don't see written about much elsewhere. I really love Kraneo, and don't see him talked about tons in the circles I travel. Is liking Kraneo controversial? I am unsure. Somebody mentioned disliking Pierroth, I was surprised as I thought he looked awesome in the stuff I've watched of him the last year plus, and replied to that person. So Rob posted my seemingly innocuous Pierroth quote, and went on to tweet "Everyone look at me! I have an absurd opinion! It's different! PAY ATTENTION! LOOK AT ME! HOT TAKE!" I imagine if he were to verbalize that quote, I would be given a SUPER obnoxious voice, too. Later, I receive the dreaded "Some people just get off on being different. Always gotta have the one opinion nobody else does. Smartest guy in the room."

So that's some stuff to unpack. And it's weirdly accusatory coming from someone who I'm not actually sure has ever had an actual exchange with me. We both frequent a couple of the same message boards but I've never noticed any sort of hostility before. I actually seem to remember Rob liking one (maybe several?) of my lucha reviews a few years ago, so I've always foolishly - possibly wrongly - assumed he liked my lucha reviews. But there seems to be a lot of vitriol there. I always bristle at the accusation that I'm almost pretending to enjoy a wrestler or a match, just to be different. I have no clue why or how it would benefit me to pretend to enjoy wrestling that I don't actually enjoy. I spend a comically absurd time writing about pro wrestling. I have yet to see my "Different Opinion" check arrive in my mailbox. And this was an opinion I did not even realize differed from the consensus. I can't remember reading anything positive OR negative being written about Pierroth. So while I was aware that nobody else I knew was praising him, I was unaware that people were slagging him off. The idea that I was desperately looking for attention by writing a few paragraphs over a 3 year period about an undercard luchador seems like a really weird way for me to seek attention. Having any sort of opinion on Pierroth seems like a tepid take at best. But he even used fire emojis next to my perceived hot take, so it must have been fairly scorching. I really don't think the paintbrush of "some people get off on being different" is very applicable to me, although the visual of me literally getting off because someone might think I'm different is an amusing one. Saying that I act like "the smartest guy in the room" is another tag that doesn't seem to fit me very well. If that's the takeaway that people have gotten from my wrestling writing, I would be surprised. I'm a pretty easy going guy, and I've kinda lived my life not thinking I was the smartest guy in the room, but instead thinking I was the guy in the room who everybody else in the room assumed won a sweepstakes. A sweepstakes to gain entry into the room.

So the comments and tweets don't make a lot of sense to me, they're kind of confusing, and they're clearly meant to be hurtful. But they did make me curious to look at my own opinions on Pierroth over the years. He's a guy who has really stood out to me over the past year, but I've been writing about lucha for longer than that and he's been regularly popping up on TV for the last few years. So I looked into it and found I had written about 9 different matches featuring Comandante Pierroth, the first one on 12/4/13 and the most recent on 3/17/16. So we have 27 months worth of opinions on Pierroth, so let's see where the switch flipped for me:

1. Valiente, Maximo & Super Porky vs. Comandante Pierroth, Ephesto & Rey Escorpion (10/11/13)

I mention him having a "mammoth senton" but mostly talk about Porky/Escorpion. Inconclusive.

2. Blue Panther, Atlantis & Diamante Azul vs. Felino, Mr. Niebla & Comandante Pierroth (11/15/13)

I start this review out with "Wow, this stunk. The first two falls were among the worst I can remember seeing from a match with competent workers." Felino and Niebla were dreadful, and Azul looked bad. But I close the review with "Comandante had some cool left uppercuts. That was about the best thing that happened here." Okay, so being the best part of a  Niebla/Felino turd sandwich isn't exactly burning down the house with praise, but the mention of him at least being the best part of the match is notable.

3. Euforia, Ultimo Guerrero & Comandante Pierroth vs. La Mascara, Titan & Diamante Azul (4/13/14)

I wrote that this was by the numbers and pretty boring, and only ended up highlighting the performances of Titan and Pierroth and not even mention the other guys. "Pierroth looked good in the first in a cool Dinamitas kind of way, but he looked like a muscle headed lunk by the end of this." Okay, so some bad with the good, and my first comparison of him to the Dinamitas.

4. Virus, Sangre Azteca & Comandante Pierroth vs. Stuka Jr., Triton & Sagrado (5/4/14)

"Out of all the guys in the match to get opening matwork we get Sagrado and Pierroth. Not Stuka/Virus, not literally anybody else. We get Sagrado really stretching it out to start things. C. Pierroth takes a Super Porky-slow bump to the floor off a Sagrado dropkick." Well, no way to spitshine that one. Tecnico Sagrado is one of my all time hated luchadors (though amusingly I really like him teaming w/ Pierroth in the Boricuas). But neither guy looked good here. I do later note that Pierroth hit a "stiff senton" in the tercera.

5. Shocker, Niebla Roja & Comandante Pierroth vs. Marco Corleone, Titan & La Mascara (5/25/14)

This was a match I really liked, but was mainly about Shocker vs. Marco. I did not mention a single thing Pierroth did. Though I did highlight Roja as looking the best of the 6. So, here we have Pierroth doing nothing noticeably offensive or good in a fun match.

6. Blue Panther, Fuego & La Mascara vs. Virus, Niebla Roja & Comandante Pierroth (6/8/14)

This was a real fun match and a total Virus show, but Pierroth does get a mention: "Everybody got a chance to do their thing, so we got Panther doing some fun mat stuff with Pierroth, Fuego being a nice punching bag for Virus and Pierroth." I really liked the rudo team of Virus/Roja/Pierroth, though the writing did come off like I thought the other two rudos did more than Pierroth in the match.

7. Virus, Hechicero & Comandante Pierroth vs. Blue Panther, Titan & Dragon Rojo Jr. (3/8/15)

This seems to be where the switch flipped for me as I spend the whole review talking about Pierroth:
"You a see a match with a lot of these guys and expect it to be good, and look at that it is! I really dug Pierroth here. He's working like he should be, as a lost Dinamita. He didn't do anything fancy but was great cutting off guys with stiff kicks to the stomach, nice strikes and an occasional senton. He seemed on paper to be the weak link on a team with Hechicero and Virus, but I ended up digging him just as much as the two stalwarts. Virus always brings out the best in Titan and there stuff together here was as good as their best. Panther got to mix it up with Virus and Hechicero and of course that was glorious. Rojo was kind of a weak link in this but I just don't see a match with Virus, Panther and Hechicero being anything but good. But now I find myself more excited for Pierroth which is awesome as I don't recall ever being like "oh nice, a Poder Boricua match!!!" That family is looking like the super unfuckwithable wrestling family of 2015." So even there I express my surprise at how much I enjoyed Pierroth, but highlight several things I liked about him. I linked the match in case anybody wanted to judge for themselves.

8. Comandante Pierroth, Tiger & Sagrado vs. Fuego, The Panther & Blue Panther Jr. (5/10/15)

Two months later and the love train continues: "Man I dug this. Pierroth has been one of my favorite CMLL guys this year, real high energy ass kicker who always wings nasty clubbing shots, stomps guys into oblivion, jumps all over them while stomping them, breaks out some nice slams, etc. He's like a throwback Dinamita. As in, if you've been missing Mascara Ano 2000, Cien Caras or Universo 2000 on your TV (and I have been), Pierroth has been an oddly, unexpectedly great fill-in this year. Sagrado as a rudo is the only worthwhile stuff he has done in his entire career. This guy was just a clueless tecnico, always tripping over himself, and now suddenly he looks capable, has nice presence, takes a tope like a man (god did Panther just snap Sagrado's back over the barrier on a tope) and hits a mean piledriver to end the primera (say aren't those things sorta illegal down there?). BP Jr. is pretty green and can't really work long sequences, but he hits a nice dive in the tercera, and the greenness of BP's kids works to the match's advantage, as the segunda has a satisfying finish with the rudos getting cocky, chasing BP Jr. and Fuego up the ramp, allowing Panther to get a surprise roll up on Pierroth as he roots on his goons. Tiger sold the loss great, like he could not believe they lost even one fall to these wimps. Real satisfying story here, and the work fit the match nicely." Match linked again, if curious.

9. Comandante Pierroth, Sagrado & Misterioso Jr. vs. Delta, Esfinge & Rey Cometa (CMLL 2/9/16)

And here's the most recent Pierroth match I wrote up. And now that I read it back I remember Cubsfan linking to my review and even nothing something like "Someone likes the Boricuas!" That should have clued me into being maybe the only human being who enjoys Comandante Pierroth. But it somehow did not. Watch for me naively thinking Pierroth wasn't getting praised online because he's "not part of any major programs". What a dummy. Here's the review: "You know who I really like? La Comando Caribeno. They're just classic rudos, like the nuevo Dinamitas. Dragon Lee and Rush get a lot of deserved praise, but you know who is also awesome? Their papa, the Comandante. He's a juiced up nasty asskicker who really should be getting more love, but isn't exactly part of any major programs so I get it. I'd love to see him team up with Rush and just beat the hell out of flippers. But the team just works so nicely together. Misterioso Jr. has been one of the more underrated CMLL undercarders for years now, so that's not a surprise. Sagrado is the surprise of the team, because Sagrado is a guy you've seen for a decade now, and a guy that has blown for a decade. He was a clueless tecnico, star of several aborted pushes, as once they would try and push him they would again realize "oh wait he still wrestles like Sagrado and also has the charisma of Sagrado." You watched that guy suck for a decade. Or maybe you were smart and did not watch Sagrado. I watched Sagrado. He was terrible. Now he is decidedly not terrible at all. He's a totally different wrestler as a rudo. He has much better instincts and doesn't do wretched highspots. He throws himself into being a rudo (sometimes literally, watch him hurl himself into the barrier after taking an Esfinge dive in the primera). These guys all really fit nicely as a team, which is oddly something I don't often get with lucha teams. Many tecnico teams are fungible. Volador can team with Stuka or Delta or Dragon Lee or Diamante Azul or Valiente and those teams would all seem like guys standing on the apron around each other. And they do. Ingobernales feel like a team. And like them, so do La Comando Caribeno. And Pierroth is somehow becoming a marvel. I don't remember a bunch of Poder Boricua stuff jumping out at me, but suddenly he's old and on the gas and I'm seeking out every new match that pops up. Welting up tecnico chests with hard slaps, stiffing guys with sentons, just running that ring like a real dickhead general. The tecnicos get some fun highspots, Esfinge hits a potentially botched armdrag but hangs in there and makes it work, we get two different stereo dives, but the real fun is watching Caribenos nail all of the little things. Pierroth is working more like Ronnie Garvin than a classic lucha rudo, and it's awesome." What's a shame is that match is still not online, as it feels like a pretty great single match to watch to see if I'm spouting bullshit or not. I saw it on LATV but hopefully it somehow makes its way online in the future.


And there you have it. I actually like Comandante Pierroth. You don't have to like him. But I write about stuff that I like. If you DO like him, I can promise you that I won't be waiting nearby around a corner, ready to jump out and yell "HaHA I got you good!! Pierroth actually sucks!!" I won't even do that in the privacy of my own home, laughing to myself for pulling off yet another classic scheme, tricking some person somewhere into liking a wrestler I don't even like! Because I do like Pierroth. He's a luchador I currently seek out. He brings a certain style of brawling that I've missed in my lucha. When I started watching lucha in 1998 I HATED the Dinamitas. Hated them. And yet by 2005 I fully loved them. I loved old man Dinamitas matches. I loved how limited they sometimes were, and loved the energy and atmosphere old man Caras would bring to things. And that's the same vibe I get from current Pierroth. A lot of people who watch lucha don't want to watch a guy being a lucha Ronnie Garvin. I get that. But I just love what he brings to the table. I love him slapping guys around. I love when he acts as Rush's second. Outside of his senton he doesn't do any highspots. He's a puncher and a kicker and a stomper and an elbower. Again, things that people often don't watch lucha to see. I think he's been a really fun classic brawling rudo, and there aren't as many classic brawling rudos out there these days. There aren't many guys out there who have no problem getting booed, not many guys who actually want to commit to working rudo. He's old, he's clearly injecting wild amounts of illegal substances into his body, but he satisfies my Dinamita fix, in the same way Namajague satisfied by SUWA fix. So watch him. Love him. Hate him. Feel completely indifferent about him. I'm fine either way. Just don't accuse me of some "trying to be different" or "acting like I'm the smartest guy in the room" nonsense. That's absurd. It's rude, it's lazy, and it's absurd. If you want to tell me I have terrible taste in wrestling, then fine. I'm okay with having terrible taste in wrestling.

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Lucha Worth Watching 2/5/16 & 2/9/16

Barbaro Cavernario, Negro Casas & Mephisto vs. Mascara Dorada, Volador Jr. & Mistico (CMLL 2/5/16)

Major crowd pleaser Arena Mexico main event with everybody getting the opportunity to shine. Dorada is back from his NJPW sojourn and looks like a star, snapping off ranas and headscissors with more whip than anybody else on the roster, projecting huge on bumps; Cavernario is his perfect dance partner, excellent yin to his yang, taking those ranas and making them look neck breaking. They peak with Dorada catching Barbaro on the apron with a rana that sends him sprawling hard to the floor. Barbaro looked so big time in this match, right from the opening seconds of him entering the arena in his Fred Flintstone smock on up to the mammoth top rope splash to the floor that his knees still somehow allow him to do. Casas is gorgeous in his simplicity and it's always a treat to watch him front kick twerps like Volador square in the mouth while his goons hold onto him. A motivated Casas is a thing to marvel, and here he's in his Arena Mexico hamming-it-up glory, acting as ringleader to the chaos, sneaking shots when needed and stooging when that's needed. He takes a bullet fast flip bump off the top rope to the floor that made my head spin. For his part Volador actually shows some balls here and finally snaps and punts Casas right in the dick to end the match. It's nice to see Volador not looking like an utter wimp for once. Mephisto gets a nice main event appearance and clearly aims to make the most of it. He makes his intentions clear right away as he breaks up a tag by kicking Volador right in the eye with his boot toe. Mephisto gets to hog some nice big moments and gets to show off a bit, too, bumping to the floor a couple times, launching Mistico into the entrance steps; The tecnicos all hit stereo flip dives, tons of beautiful headscissors abound, and the whole thing is worked rather breathlessly. As it should be.

Comandante Pierroth, Sagrado & Misterioso Jr. vs. Delta, Esfinge & Rey Cometa (CMLL 2/9/16)

You know who I really like? La Comando Caribeno. They're just classic rudos, like the nuevo Dinamitas. Dragon Lee and Rush get a lot of deserved praise, but you know who is also awesome? Their papa, the Comandante. He's a juiced up nasty asskicker who really should be getting more love, but isn't exactly part of any major programs so I get it. I'd love to see him team up with Rush and just beat the hell out of flippers. But the team just works so nicely together. Misterioso Jr. has been one of the more underrated CMLL undercarders for years now, so that's not a surprise. Sagrado is the surprise of the team, because Sagrado is a guy you've seen for a decade now, and a guy that has blown for a decade. He was a clueless tecnico, star of several aborted pushes, as once they would try and push him they would again realize "oh wait he still wrestles like Sagrado and also has the charisma of Sagrado." You watched that guy suck for a decade. Or maybe you were smart and did not watch Sagrado. I watched Sagrado. He was terrible. Now he is decidedly not terrible at all. He's a totally different wrestler as a rudo. He has much better instincts and doesn't do wretched highspots. He throws himself into being a rudo (sometimes literally, watch him hurl himself into the barrier after taking an Esfinge dive in the primera). These guys all really fit nicely as a team, which is oddly something I don't often get with lucha teams. Many tecnico teams are fungible. Volador can team with Stuka or Delta or Dragon Lee or Diamante Azul or Valiente and those teams would all seem like guys standing on the apron around each other. And they do. Ingobernales feel like a team. And like them, so do La Comando Caribeno. And Pierroth is somehow becoming a marvel. I don't remember a bunch of Poder Boricua stuff jumping out at me, but suddenly he's old and on the gas and I'm seeking out every new match that pops up. Welting up tecnico chests with hard slaps, stiffing guys with sentons, just running that ring like a real dickhead general. The tecnicos get some fun highspots, Esfinge hits a potentially botched armdrag but hangs in there and makes it work, we get two different stereo dives, but the real fun is watching Caribenos nail all of the little things. Pierroth is working more like Ronnie Garvin than a classic lucha rudo, and it's awesome.

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CMLL Worth Watching 5/10/15 & 6/19/15

Comandante Pierroth, Tiger & Sagrado vs. Fuego, The Panther & Blue Panther Jr. (5/10/15)

Man I dug this. Pierroth has been one of my favorite CMLL guys this year, real high energy ass kicker who always wings nasty clubbing shots, stomps guys into oblivion, jumps all over them while stomping them, breaks out some nice slams, etc. He's like a throwback Dinamita. As in, if you've been missing Mascara Ano 2000, Cien Caras or Universo 2000 on your TV (and I have been), Pierroth has been an oddly, unexpectedly great fill-in this year. Sagrado as a rudo is the only worthwhile stuff he has done in his entire career. This guy was just a clueless tecnico, always tripping over himself, and now suddenly he looks capable, has nice presence, takes a tope like a man (god did Panther just snap Sagrado's back over the barrier on a tope) and hits a mean piledriver to end the primera (say aren't those things sorta illegal down there?). BP Jr. is pretty green and can't really work long sequences, but he hits a nice dive in the tercera, and the greenness of BP's kids works to the match's advantage, as the segunda has a satisfying finish with the rudos getting cocky, chasing BP Jr. and Fuego up the ramp, allowing Panther to get a surprise roll up on Pierroth as he roots on his goons. Tiger sold the loss great, like he could not believe they lost even one fall to these wimps. Real satisfying story here, and the work fit the match nicely.

Blue Panther, Maximo & Marco Corleone vs. Euforia, Niebla Roja & Gran Guerrero (5/10/15)

You've probably seen some combination of this trios a dozen times, but sometimes guys show up a bit more spirited than other times, and this was one of those times. I always love Panther but spirited Panther is just the best. Here he works a nice long opening mat sequence with GG, which was arguably the most interesting thing GG has ever been involved in. Panther has a million reversals and the way he rolls through into various grapevines and leverage moves always leaves me slack-jawed. We don't get any dives in this, and the falls go quick, but the tecnicos amusingly must have decided before the match to see who could throw the nicest/neatest arm drag. Panther throws more in this match than I've seen him in years, including one where he gets tilt-a-whirled by Roja into performing an upside down arm drag on Euforia; Maximo throws some nice rolling ones too, one springing high off the top rope and another rolling over Roja's back. Even Marco throws a shockingly good one while rolling over Euforia's back. Marco's punches have been looking kinda lackluster this year, and here he breaks out some nice ones as he pinballs his fists back and forth between Roja and Euforia. Kind of a one sided affair for the tecnicos, but everybody busted ass and it's stunning to see Panther so spry at 54.

Stuka Jr., Angel de Oro & Super Porky vs. Barbaro Cavernario, Felino & Okumura (6/19/15)

So I'm not sure this is very good, but "worth watching" and "very good" are two different things, and I thought this was worth watching, more for its parts than its sum. Firstly, Porky takes FOUR bumps in the primera. This feels noteworthy to me. Porky is a guy who goes to great lengths to avoid bumping. Yet here he's splatting all over the mat for shoulderblocks and lariats. Think of the effort it takes him to stand up from a back bump!!! And here he does it 4 times in about 40 seconds. I admittedly starting writing this up right after witnessing that. I had made up my mind to immediately include it in a "worth watching" list. Beyond that we got one of the better Oro performances, as he hits a couple very impressive flying spots, and then spikes himself on an Okumura apron DDT. We get a Kemonito apron splash, Porky doing a seated senton to the rudos on the rampway, Felino not acting like current Felino (including getting heat from starting the match wearing his mask and jawing with the Arena Mexico old people) and Stuka Jr. doing his awesome bullet splash. It's like 8 minutes of your life, and it will bring you joy.

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CMLL Worth Watching 9/19/14, 2/6/15 & 3/8/15

Negro Casas & Shocker vs. Rush & La Mascara (9/19/14)

PAS: I am never going to get tired of Rush and Casas beating on each, and Rush was at his douchebag best, smacking the old guys around violently slapping and dropkick them. Casas was firing back and using his guile to catch the younger more powerful team unaware. Rush was a beast in this, as was La Mascara and you really got the sense the veterans escaped with their titles by the skin of their teeth. I also liked Casas getting a bit of revenge for getting steamrolled for his hair.

ER: Just realized I hadn't watched this which is strange since I watched the rest of the Anniversario show. I think I just thought I had seen it as I know I've seen these teams square off a couple times, and I'm pretty sure that was in 2014 as well. And I thought this match was easily the best of the three, actually felt like a title match, and actually felt like a big match on a big Anniversary show. All guys work up to the show, and finally we get Casas not looking neutered in a match against Rush. It felt like he lost his hair too easily with no real revenge. Here he gets to lace into both guys, at one point stiffing up Rush on the floor with mean punches that all lead up to a thrust headbutt into the chin. Shocker also mans up here and really goes after both rudos. It's kinda shocking how Rush and his gang have really gotten to be such bullies for over a year. They've really been a part of some stunning one-sided beat downs and while they haven't necessarily won tag titles, they usually come out looking like ass kickers who cared more about being dickheads than winning gold. They still do those things here (pull up early on pinfalls, showboat) but never feel like they're quite steamrolling the tecnicos. I loved all of Shocker's roll ups and subs, loved Casas' aggression (and him hitting a somersault dive instead of the usual Thesz press!), Mascara bumped all over (him getting thrown into the barricade by Casas was brutal) and Rush was Rush. Really good stuff, glad I realized I hadn't watched it.

Negro Casas & Shocker vs. La Sombra & La Mascara (2/6/15)

Boy Shocker really brings it for these tag title matches, which is nice to see. He obviously has more physical limitations than he did a decade ago, and his gas tank empties quicker (a lot quicker, he usually looks pretty slow by the tercera), but you can tell when he's really busting ass and it's awesome. This was a match saved by a great tercera, and it really was a great tercera. The first two falls were nothing. Blink and you'll miss them, silly endings. The tercera though, was great. It got tons of time and our tecnico champions came out of the gates hard. Mascara and Sombra stooged all over for them and didn't do their too cool for school routine, instead showing ass all over. Shocker looked super motivated, even breaking out mat stuff that he usually doesn't, and flying with a reckless tope. Sombra does his great bump over the barrier, we get some nice pins broken up with superkicks, tecnicos finally get to look strong against these punks.

Virus, Hechicero & Comandante Pierroth vs. Blue Panther, Titan & Dragon Rojo Jr. (3/8/15)

You a see a match with a lot of these guys and expect it to be good, and look at that it is! I really dug Pierroth here. He's working like he should be, as a lost Dinamita. He didn't do anything fancy but was great cutting off guys with stiff kicks to the stomach, nice strikes and an occasional senton. He seemed on paper to be the weak link on a team with Hechicero and Virus, but I ended up digging him just as much as the two stalwarts. Virus always brings out the best in Titan and there stuff together here was as good as their best. Panther got to mix it up with Virus and Hechicero and of course that was glorious. Rojo was kind of a weak link in this but I just don't see a match with Virus, Panther and Hechicero being anything but good. But now I find myself more excited for Pierroth which is awesome as I don't recall ever being like "oh nice, a Poder Boricua match!!!" That family is looking like the super unfuckwithable wrestling family of 2015.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 7/6/14

So this week we appear to catch back up to the previous schedule (not sure what the 6 month flashback was all about, but lucha gonna lucha). These matches were all from the 6/8/14 Arena Coliseo show.

1. Puma, Skandalo & Metalico vs. Triton, Oro Jr. & Sagrado

Boy, just about as forgettable a match as you can get. Most CMLL guys have enough talent where if they're given a decent amount of time they can through together something suitable. And even though this was straight falls, it was still given over 10 minutes. And there was practically nothing memorable about it at all. Skandalo did that thing where he targets a guy's taint the whole match, so poor Oro got kicked in the taint a couple times. Triton broke out wretched early 2000s Scoot Andrews offense. Sagrado has improved less than anybody else in CMLL in the last decade. Oro Jr. did the most hilariously bad missed dropkick you've ever seen. You know that overused missed lucha dropkick? The one that happens so much that you just accept it as part of lucha instead of recognizing how awful it looks? The one where a guy kind just jumps up and lands on his tummy, basically to get into position for somebody else to do offense? It always looks bad, some guys make it look less worse. But Oro Jr. took the bad missed lucha dropkick to levels of high art here. To get into position he just dropkicked gently into the center of the ring, with no other wrestlers within 7 feet of him. Anybody watching would have had no reason to believe he was attempting to hurt somebody. It's like he just took a really bad bump from a move that never happened. So…I guess something memorable did happen!

2. Lightning Match: Valiente vs. Vangellys

Too short to be much of anything, shorter than a lot of lightning matches. Valiente blasted Vangellys with a couple of consecutive dives, although that might have been because Vangellys stumbled a bit on the catch of the first one, so when Valiente hit him he looked like he sold it by kind of tripping over a lady's purse in the aisle. For all I know Valiente was like "dude we're doing that again and you're gonna bump down the aisle).

3. Blue Panther, Fuego & La Mascara vs. Virus, Niebla Roja & Comandante Pierroth

Boy that's a WAR-like random assemblage of 6 guys right there. And hey look at that, the match was really fun. Everybody got a chance to do their thing, so we got Panther doing some fun mat stuff with Pierroth, Fuego being a nice punching bag for Virus and Pierroth. Virus was easily the star of this as he always knew what tone to hit at the right time. He stooged for Panther (though really would have rather seen them tear it up), bullied Mascara and especially Fuego, even threw in some comedy when Mascara  took his shirt off and soaked in lady squeals, Virus teased his own shirt removal before shoulder tackling Mascara's knees. Plenty of neat Virus "little things" on display here. He really throws himself into everything, and it adds to the match that he also does that on planned misses. He cuts low on missed clotheslines and leveled teammate Roja with a nasty elbow on a miscommunication spot (you know, as if he was actually aiming for the guy he was supposed to hit and wasn't expecting him to move, sending him into his own guy). Fuego ended it on a real slick trapped leg Russian leg sweep rolled into a snug submission. Looked cool.

4. Negro Casas, Rey Escorpion & Felino vs. Rush, Maximo & Atlantis

Another short match, fitting 3 falls into about 9 minutes. I mean, there was a lot of action, but when the whistle blows and there's only 10 minutes left in the episode you kinda know you're not about to watch a classic. This is kind of an odd match as Casas works most of it rudo and Rush works most of it tecnico but it's pretty clearly opposite when they're opposing each other. So Rush was kind of tecnico for half the time, except when he was being kicked a bunch by Casas. Not enough Escorpion. Escorpion/Rush would have been an interesting pairing, I don't remember the last time I've seen them oppose each other. Also, I just don't want to see Felino on TV anymore. I'm getting sick of the ceiling being "well Felino wasn't entirely miserable to watch during this match". He ran the ropes nicely at one point here. His comedy (?) is very much not funny.

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MLJ: Atlantida Rising 14: Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Lizmark Sr. vs Olímpico, Pierroth, Último Guerrero

aired 2006-07-22
taped 2006-07-16 @ Arena Coliseo
Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Lizmark Sr. vs Olímpico, Pierroth, Último Guerrero

I've worked on my context over time. I know way more about lucha than I did six months ago. I know way more about the people in this match. I know way more about CMLL in 2006. Etc. I'm still not watching this in full context. I sort of get the impression that Lizmark, Sr. showing up in a match in 2006 would make most people, in the moment, groan heavily. For me, though, it was a positive surprise because he's sort of a fresh and legendary face, and a good counter to Pierroth. Whether it be good or bad, it'd be a slightly different element at least. Really, Pierroth too, even though I hadn't been too impressed the last time I saw him, which was a year or two later, admittedly. I like the fact that he somehow ended up with the late era Paul Jones gimmick (with the PR twist) as the Commandante.

The match was pretty straightforward. A solid rudo beatdown, with UG, pissed off from his title loss, ambushing Caras as he came out, and Olimpico hiding behind the stage and really ambushing Wagner as he entered. UG was on fire, fighting with the crowd over a sign, going right after Caras' mask, taking it off repeatedly when the ref couldn't see it, just looking like a beast. Pierroth made himself useful by hitting Wagner a few times with his own belt. They finished the tecnicos off with a couple of submissions. Between falls, they kept on Caras while Wagner posed with a fan and a sign in the crowd. What a dick. The segunda kept the beatdown going. I do quite like how in lucha, you can just pick up your opponent and wait until your partner comes over and hits him. Sometimes it gets amusingly awkward as no one's paying attention or in position. GdI variation time as first they hit the leaping body splash (Olimpico version) on Caras and then after UG's catapult, Olimpico hit this awesome running  somersault senton on him as he's being held in the post-catapult position. It looked way better than Tarzan Boy's legdrop.

The comeback came when they went for the body splash again (after the huddle, those overconfident Guerreros), and Caras sidestepped it. Fairly fiery comeback with Wagner posing a lot and kicking the crap out of Olimpico after he ripped up the sign from before. Tecnicos took it with a Wagner power bomb and a really-nice-for-his-age somersault senton followed by a rana from Lizmark onto Olimpico. Tercera was back and forth with some stalling to keep UG and Caras apart, a pose off that was sort of lame, Wagner being Wagner, including hitting his big tope con giro and finally Caras almost hitting the body press on UG only to get fouled by a desperate rudo for the DQ from ref #2 after ref #1 counted the pin. This set up the mano a mano match the following week. Perfectly fine lucha trios match.

I was definitely glad to see Olimpico back. He had been out with an injury apparently and his absence had been felt. I think in some ways he's everything I wanted Marco to be, though he does have the advantage of being a rudo which means he doesn't have to hit as many contrived aerial moves and can be more of an ass in general. He did have a great mix of size, presence, personality, and athleticism, though. For instance, he'll have a great stooging moment of teasing a handshake and forcing a hug to get a cheapshot in one moment, and then eat a big monkey flip or catch a dive the next. He had a ton of zing and agility moving around the ring during sequences but was still quite good at working the crowd and getting in his taunts.

Dos Caras felt almost exactly the opposite. He had the size and a sort of charisma, but it felt like he learned it out of a book or something. He'd do these pose offs that were stiff and empty. Really that summed up his crowd interaction in general. You'd get a spark now and again but most of the time it just felt robotic. There was a definite sense of physical awkwardness in his movements, too. I had the impression when he went to WWE that there really wasn't a buzz to him at all and I can see why. Still, up soon is his singles match with UG, so we'll see what he did there. I know that he turned into a wrestler I quite often like and at the point of writing this, right after his release from wWE, I'm itching to see him back in CMLL. I just don't think he made that transformation in 2006.

On the absolute other end of the charisma scale was Wagner.  I thought he was just an amazing force the first time I saw him. Now that I've seen more of him though, I think a little bit goes a long way. He had a tendency to make whatever match he was in seem less serious and more cartoony in a way that probably worked extremely well with the live crowd but hasn't aged well. It's the stooging when getting hit, or how he focused more on pointing out a sign than helping his partner. It's posing for three times too long before hitting a dive and making his opponent look like an idiot. The first time you see it and how engaged the crowd was, it seemed great. The third or fourth time, it starts to wear thin. I'm still excited when that music hits in a match I'm watching, but the cracks show up very quickly with him, even if they don't completely mar his performances.

Like I said, another fun match and one that was pretty effective in setting up a singles too.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 6/8/14

These matches all took place at the 5/25 Arena Coliseo show. So glad they're back in Coliseo on these Sunday shows. I was getting a little burnt out on Arena Mexico performances.

Blue Panther, Fuego & Sagrado vs. Ephesto, Mephisto & Dragon Rojo Jr.

Hoo boy we get a mostly toothless woman in the crowd yelling at Mephisto, looking like Sir Cecil Creape, to start the show. Oh my. This is my favorite Blue Panther performance of the year, guy moved around like he's still in his 20s. We get a long mat exchange with he and Ephesto to start which is filled with all sorts of nifty things. I really loved is headstand reversals which seems like a young man's game but he pulled off fabulously. All throughout he had some great exchanges, on the mat, super fast standing reversals like he was a young junior, in the tercera he hit a gorgeous rana off the top (him leaping off the top to his opponent standing on the mat). I mean just incredible stuff all through the match, not just one quick segment and then catch your breath on the apron. I really liked everybody here, really. Sagrado even had a nice showing, probably the most I've ever liked Sagrado. He did some cool exchanges including a nice rana off the apron onto Mephisto. We got a bunch of fast dives with guys given hardly any time to set up to catch which is always exciting. For example in the tercera Sagrado takes a move to the floor and right when he lands Ephesto hits him with a tope. Fuego hits some really nice stuff here including a couple flip dives and some slick armdrags. The team of BP/Fuego/Sagrado seems a little random but it totally works here as all three worked like they had something to prove. Awesome little match.

Shocker, Niebla Roja & Comandante Pierroth vs. Marco Corleone, Titan & La Mascara

Damn this match had some crazy heat the whole way through. I don't know if it's just because Coliseo is smaller and the sound is more cacophonous, but it really made a match-up like Shocker/Marco seem like a big deal. Nothing mind blowing happens here, but the crowd is so amped that it sucked me right in. They cut back to that Sir Cecil woman again and have to blur out the foul atrocities that she screams, and then they regularly cut back to a foxy redhead woman who screams for Mascara's shirt removal and acts completely unimpressed when Marco flexes. Marco is really entertaining here as I'm starting to like him working more equal with other luchadors. Before there was always kind of a Giant Silva disconnect where (even though Marco is a WAY better worker than Silva) the whole match was always everybody else working Silva into the match and selling all his stuff like death, and it was the same with tiny Mexicans always running from giant Marco. But I think it's much better to just treat him like another worker, as it keeps the match moving at a more brisk pace. You still get spots where guys gang up on Marco and he believably throws lefts to all of them to break free, but it works better within the match. Niebla Roja was really good here, always keeping busy and working a bunch of high traffic spots with his team, always interjecting himself at the right moments to eat a rana or kick a tecnicos leg out.

Rush vs. Volador Jr.

Disappointing match but it served its purpose I suppose. Things got way too Attitude era for me, with the finish being Rush taking some backcrackers, bumping the ref, Mascara hitting Volador with his own backcracker, you know the drill. The kinda finish that more makes me eye roll than anything. Primera makes Volador look like a weenie because he only wins because Rush gets DQ'd, then Rush wins the segued by kicking the hell out of him more. The tercera makes Volador look like a dummy as he sees the ref get bumped but still holds the pin on Rush for way too long. Just sloppy work most of the way through from Volador and Tirantes. Rush looked good and had the crowd all fired up, and I even liked some of Volador's comeback in the tercera, with him hitting a couple low superkicks on Rush in the corner. But too much overdone and dated booking took me out.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 5/18/14

These matches were from the 5/4 Arena Coliseo show.

Lightning Match: Fuego vs. Puma

This was pretty much what most lightning matches aspire to be, for the good and bad reasons. I wish lightning matches were just self-contained high quality 8 minute singles matches. It's obviously possible, as the entire Busca de un Idolo tourney proved that great stuff can be achieved in under 10 minutes. But I don't think there has been a single Lightning Match this year that would rank amongst the top 10 Busca tourney matches. There's no reason most lightning matches should be as disjointed and clunky as they end up being. They always end up looking like they've been clipped, but they're not. They just wrestle that way. Like after every sequence the guys reset and move into the next sequence. They may as well be shaking hands after every move. So this wasn't great, but it was good. Puma is awesome and a real favorite of mine this year. Here he gets into position for some not unpreposterous flying and does nice little things like swing low on a massive missed clothesline. Fuego is getting the Elegido treatment of guy who's okay but gets a catchy song and a sexy dance and has abs. He's pretty sloppy here but throws out a lot of action, some looking good and some…well, getting an A for effort (trying a weird ring post assisted head scissors took a lot of disbelief suspension, but it was unique at least). We get a dildos roll up finish, but also get some surprisingly fun mat flipping. This also didn't have that horrible lightning match staple of endless heatless 2 counts, with each guy exchanging big moves, and then lying around after each pinfall.

Virus, Sangre Azteca & Comandante Pierroth vs. Stuka Jr., Triton & Sagrado

Out of all the guys in the match to get opening matwork we get Sagrado and Pierroth. Not Stuka/Virus, not literally anybody else. We get Sagrado really stretching it out to start things. C. Pierroth takes a Super Porky-slow bump to the floor off a Sagrado dropkick. And we are rolling. We do get a brief kiss of Stuka/Virus, with some fun armdrags and Virus bumping a dive into the entranceway. Sangre Azteca is a guy I always dig but it seems like he rarely makes TV anymore. Similar and not as good guys like Niebla Roja get a rub by getting into a high profile stable, and Azteca is always at the same spot, hanging in second from the bottom trios. I really dig the Virus/Stuka match-ups. Stuka always feels like a guy who should be talked about more. Here he takes a painful bump to the floor to put over the (usually) silly looking rudo double big boot. And the Virus/Stuka chop exchange is really fun, ending with Virus faking him out and busting his chin with a short left hook. Azteca has really taken the art of dropkicks-to-taint to the next level. I don't know how he practices those, but Triton is a brave man for being on the bad end of two nasty twasn't kicks, one in the corner and one off the top rope. Think the Wazzup headbutt, only a dropkick to Triton's tweren't. Final one minute is worth the price of admission as Virus and Azteca take big bumps, Triton crashes and burns on a dive, and Pierroth hits a stiff senton. Also, Sagrado still gets pushed. Also, Sagrado still wrestles like Sagrado.

Valiente, Titan & La Mascara vs. Euforia, Niebla Roja & Gran Guerrero

This was a hot little match that wouldn't have taken TONS more for me to consider it for the MOTY list. It's nice seeing the rudo side flying solo without UG, although Gran Guerrero being in the match instead of UG probably lowered the quality overall. Valiente totally wipes the mat with GG in the primera and it's pretty great. Titan hits a bunch of silly floppy stuff and Euforia is a guy who is good at taking silly floppy stuff. This was all fast paced, had a bunch of cool twisty submissions (the one Valiente does where he stretches a guys legs over his calf and flexes always makes my quads scream in agony), GG got pantsed on a roll-up (for the ladies) and this was plenty fun lucha junk food.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 4/27/14

These matches were from the 4/13 Arena Coliseo show.

Princesa Blanca, Princesa Sugheit & La Seductora vs. Marcela, Silueta & Lady Afrodita

Boy Lady Afrodita is not one who pops up very often. I'm not sure I understand the gimmick name as her ring gear is best described as a mother who kept her figure and is on her way to yoga class. When your name is Afrodita and you're the most conservatively dressed worker in the match, there are things you should reconsider. Possibly a name change to Lady Good for Her, or Lady Getting Back Out There. This match was plenty fun though, with Marcela landing double knees to various ovaries and did a cool apron dive, Seductora and Silueta doing some cool armdrags, Blanca and Sugheit are total bitches. This is all good. Primera was really good and the last two falls were too short, but still good stuff.

Euforia, Ultimo Guerrero & Comandante Pierroth vs. La Mascara, Titan & Diamante Azul

This was about as by the book as you can imagine. It ended when it ended, and before that stuff happened as it happened. Guys alternated between looking good, and looking not good. The tercera especially was sloppy, with really lazy rope running featuring guys just kind of moving past each other and going through lazy motions of getting into position. Pierroth looked good in the first in a cool Dinamitas kind of way, and he looked like a muscle headed lunk by the end of this. Titan was a bright spot as he broke out some cool ranas, nice running boots, and even the old Tiger Mask II feint which I always like. But this was very skippable.

Rey Escorpion, Dragon Rojo Jr. & Polvora vs. Valiente, Maximo & Marco Corleone

This match was super listless too. Without list. The first two falls went by with just a whisper. Stuff happened. I don't even remember seeing Valiente until the tercera. He's a pretty easy guy to see, too. The tercera does start with a bang, with Escorpion fishhooking Maximo while punching him knuckles first to the forehead. So that's awesome and reminded me of the great end of 2013 Porky clan vs. Escorpion feud. The rest of the fall doesn't really live up to that opening moment, even though the rudos beating down Maximo was fun. Meh.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 11/30/13

These matches were from the 11/15 Arena Mexico show, so we're back to being just 2 weeks behind. Remember when Galavision was like 6-8 months behind?



1. Lightning Match: Titan vs. Bobby Zavala

Titan is pretty goofy but I guess a lightning match is about the best place to hide him. I'd rather have him doing bad matwork and "hold my hand while I walk on ropes" and handstand flippy spots in a match like this then muck up a decent trios with it. Bobby Zavala is also a goofball but in a different way. He was still able to standout by showing up his douchebag...charm? Charm doesn't seem like a good word for it. He's a rudo, and he's a complete douche. He wears his full body suit and comes out with a dorky spiky mask because I assume he thinks he looks cool but instead he kinda looks like some sort reptilian leather daddy. He's one of those new breed of luchadors who watch a lot of bad indy wrestling and then mimic it, so while Titan is doing goofy headstand backflip head scissors, Zavala is doing crappy things like death valley drivers into turnbuckles, or vertical suplex into turnbuckles. Basically, most moves into turnbuckles looks dangerous, stupid, and less impactful than just doing the move normally. It works better for him since he does act like a total douche, so he may as well have douchey offense. Zavala did do some cool things as well, like Titan leaping over the top to the floor (like the Silver King dive from the middle rope to the floor) and Zavala blasts him with a dropkick on the way down. This was mostly goofy, but still sorta fun.



2. Blue Panther, Atlantis & Diamante Azul vs. Felino, Mr. Niebla & Comandante Pierroth

Wow, this stunk.The first two falls were among the worst I can remember seeing from a match with competent workers. I've seen fairly recent Felino involved in a good match, but when he dogs it I don't think there's anybody who dogs it harder. Here he just gets in the way and can hardly be bothered to do anything when he's in the ring. Panther tries to work mat stuff with him and he just kinda lies there. Niebla was amusing in this but seemed to be more invested in yukking it up with the crowd instead of working the match. Azul seems pretty awful, too. Just because they dress him up like Blue Demon Jr. doesn't mean he has to wrestle down to that level. Comandante had some cool left uppercuts. That was about the best thing that happened here.



3. Negro Casas, Terrible & Tama Tonga vs. Rush, La Sombra & La Mascara

Who cares about that lousy Felino match when you get something like this!? This match is awesome and Rush/Casas completely ramp up the intensity and beat the shit out of each other the whole match. Arena Mexico loves Casas and Rush soaks up the hate, as he taunts them with fake soccer kicks and boots Casas in the balls. Both guys take turns dishing a beating, Rush kicks in Casas chest while he's slumped into the corner, Casas cashes his receipt on Rush's chin later on. Casas throws all his kicks really violently here, Rush had to have been hurting after. Casas throws all those awesome full extension kicks, catching Rush with knees, tons of great stuff. The other guys know their place and do fine complementary stuff. But they knew you were here to see Rush and Casas tear things down, and hung back. Go out of your way to watch this. It will have you salivating for the Rush/Casas singles.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 11/16/13

This is cool as we jump back a couple weeks to the 10/11/13 Arena Mexico show, meaning we get another chapter in the Porky/Escorpion saga.




1. Valiente, Maximo & Super Porky vs. Comandante Pierroth, Ephesto & Rey Escorpion

Follow up to the first Porky potato fest (Porky's Revenge!) is just as fun as the first, with Escorpion hitting some nasty shots on Porky until Porky snaps with a single leg takedown and just wails on him like when Ralphie finally snapped and made Scut Farkus cry. The addition of Valiente here is nice and even though the match is clearly about Porky/Escorpion, Valiente still hits a boss tope (which was preceded by a fast Jerry bump by Ephesto) and Comandante Pierroth hits a mammoth senton. Maximo's brawling and punches from the mount took away from this a bit as he was whiffing by like 3 feet, but Porky is basically the most sympathetic babyface ever in this as he looks completely helpless. Escorpion throws so many huge bombs that it just made me want that Porky comeback even more. Judging by all the loud Porky chants, the crowd wanted it bad too. I'm loving this feud!



2. Lightning Match: Averno vs. Titan

All you can usually ask out of lightning matches is that the cool spots are cool, and this one had some cool big spots. Titan took some pretty nutty bumps here, including getting splattered on the floor after getting pulled off the apron by Averno, getting crotched in such a way that it looked like he damaged his knee and his balls, and then the coup de grace: Averno sidestepping a crazy fast suicide dive, throwing Titan right into the ring barrier. Averno gets the countout win and Titan may have died. Crazy spot.



3. Rush, Marco Corleone & La Sombra vs. Terrible, Rey Bucanero & Tama Tonga

Quick couple falls and a really fun third fall. Rush gets a nice extended run with Tonga and those two match up nicely, ending with Tonga getting blasted by a Rush seated dropkick in the corner. Terrible bumps all around for Corleone who does a lot of show off stuff with the abs. La Sombra is all bulky now and whiffs on a big flip dive that sees him faceplant the barricade. This is another one for the Rush fans, without tons else to recommend, but Rush is such a dynamic worker now that even seeing so-so matches with his involvement are fairly worthwhile.

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