Lucha Worth Watching: CMLL as Late 80s NWA

Blue Panther/Soberano Jr./Diamante Azul vs. Sam Adonis/Negro Casas/Dragon Rojo Jr. (CMLL 7/14/17)

ER: Well this starts with some great chaos. Sam Adonis is packing on the pounds and he's wearing a Love Machine mask and going right after Panther. He hits a big boot on the floor and then punches BP in the back of the head, fishhooks him, and eventually shoves Tirantes for the DQ. A commissioner gets in Adonis' face to remove the mask that's not his identity, and this commissioner with his ponytail, working goatee and nice fitting suit is a classic "guy I would not make eye contact with". Adonis throws meaty chops and I love Panther going after him and clotheslining him into the crowd. Rojo Jr. hits a nasty double stomp off the top, and Azul press slams his own boy into Casas/Rojo, and this match is a lot more gritty than I expected. Casas and Soberano have a nice standoff, with Casas putting over Soberano's power by getting shoved hard into and through the ropes, and Casas pays him back with a hard shoulderblock. Azul grabs a snug headlock on Casas, drags Casas from the apron into the ring with that headlock, absorbs a bunch of shoulderblocks...and I kinda REALLY like Azul working as babyface Luger. Press slams, flexing, no selling heel strikes, he's kind of good at it. Azul is working as babyface Luger and Panther is working as Dusty and it's pretty great. Adonis is good at forcing the fight momentum into Tirantes, to distract BP, and I like Adonis' hooking punches to Panther's neck. Then we get Azul/Soberano's Fabulous Flying Azul's tumbling routine, with Soberano getting monkey flipped to the floor, and it's pretty great. This was a real simple but real effective trios. If I had known ahead of time that Casas would be the least involved member of this match, I would not have expected it to be this fun. I really want some more Adonis/Panther feud and more of 1990 babyface Azul.

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 32: Dragón Rojo Jr. © vs La Sombra [CMLL MIDDLE]

2012-04-30 @ Arena Puebla
Dragón Rojo Jr. © vs La Sombra [CMLL MIDDLE]

10:40 in

Dragon Rojo, Jr. had that great match with Guerrero Maya, Jr. a few months ago. Apparently, he hadn't done a heck of a lot between 2012 and now, four years later, but that's no reason not to dig into these Sombra matches. I'm glad I did too, since I really liked this one. I think the worst thing that ever happened to Rojo was him leaving the Guerreros. It wasn't great for the Guerreros either. There's a sort of homogeneity to them now in appearance. They've got similar mask and color schemes. Euforia and Gran Guerrero and when he's there, Niebla Rojo, all kind of come off as the same. It's a big difference from the sort of diversity you'd get over the years from Bucanero and Olimpico and Toscano and Atlantis (obviously), and yeah Rojo, Jr. There's a certain purity to them, which was nice during the year or two where Los Ingobernables were the main heel act while still being tecnicos, but that wears a little thin week after week, especially when there's Mephisto/Ephesto/Lucifierno hanging around too.

This was really straightforward, but that's part of what I liked about it. Solid matwork. Solid progression. Solid escalation. Solid payoff. I'm not saying a title match can only be one thing, but there's definitely a sense of something primal when it's this. They started on the mat straddling the line between fundamental locks and agile one, picked up the pace, and cut it off with Rojo's slingshot off the ropes Power Bomb (which is still very effective as a fall ender/late match near-fall today).

One of the things I like the least in lucha is a burst after a move. You usually see this in a corner clothesline, where after getting hit, the victim will rush back out of the corner and hit something of his own, sometimes in the opposite corner. We also see it as a finish in Ultimo Guerrero matches, whether it be a quick roll up after the Special or the hilarious roll through he did with Stuka recently. In the latter case, I thought it worked, but it's certainly not a well they can go to often. The segunda ended with something like that, with Rojo countering a Sombra springboard into the ring with a dropkick, celebrating for a scant second, and walking right into a roll up. I was okay with it here, for the most part, because Sombra sold his midsection heavily after the fact and they did have that moment of celebration. Plus the execution of the roll up was good, which helps, but it's such a fine line. The selling after the fact is really what makes it work (and part of why I was okay with the UG/Stuka gimmick too).

The tercera was very measured. There were near-falls and an escalation of violence, but they were smart too, using the ropes as a break to justify the split-legged moonsault not finishing the match, for instance, and believable (and earned) exhaustion for why Sombra couldn't keep the bridge after the roll up suplex, and using repetition and call-back spots well. Very good stuff that showed how good Rojo was in 2012 and again, how far Sombra had come.

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 31: La Sombra, Marco Corleone, Shocker vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Último Guerrero, Volador Jr.

Aired: 2012-05-05 

taped: 2012-04-29 @ Arena Mexico 

La Sombra, Marco Corleone, Shocker vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Último Guerrero, Volador Jr.

I took some time off after hitting the two year mark. I'm hoping to keep up a 2x a week posting schedule on lucha and other things now, including the DVDVR 80s Puerto Rico set. Here, I'm going to try to push forward on the Sombra spotlight. It's been a bit, so I wanted a match to catch up before hitting the Dragon Rojo title matches. I was hoping for some Rojo/Sombra interaction too, but Volador was here so it wasn't meant to be.

This was lucha libre comfort food, a Guerreros match with a beatdown to start, heat, some comeback, and exchanges to finish it out. Matches like these are tough to watch as part of a larger show (especially if you're watching live on Friday, Monday, AND Tuesday) but in a bubble I really enjoy them. They're pure, distilled CMLL and as such, so much depends on how the rudos interact with one another (especially if there's a cog out of place, like Volador), how charismatic the tecnicos are in hope moments, how imaginatively they're cut off, and just how they manage the comeback. Finishing stretches are finishing stretches, of course, but that payoff means a lot less without a solid build.

And this was all solid. Volador fit right in with the Guerreros. I'll take him in a trios match over a singles match anyday, especially as a rudo. He's in and out, works well with his partners, and is a sufficient dick to his opponents. In a singles match, they probably wouldn't use his corner headscissors into a Canadian destroyer until the tercera, and then probably as a near fall to set up the finish. It's such a game-ender, though, that I like it here a lot more as the finishing move as the primera. The finish was perfect as Sombra and Volador did a bunch of that built-to rope bounce posing, only for Volador to rip his mask right off and deny the fans another heated athletic exchange.

Marco was used really effectively here. He still had a little more gas in his tank so he was able to supplement the great punches and size discrepancy spots with a few big dives and more frenetic exchanges. He had the comeback with a bunch of leapfrogs and a twisting top rope move. And I especially liked this exchange (which cuts off right before his clothesline doesn't look all that great. 

I could have used just a little more Sombra vs Volador here as it's endlessly more tolerable in a trios match, but the whole point was to put heat on Volador by denying it, and it was ultimately effective, so I was happy with what this was. 

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 30: Atlantis, La Sombra, Triton vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Último Guerrero

Aired: 2012-04-28
taped: 2012-04-20 @ Arena Mexico
Atlantis, La Sombra, Triton vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Último Guerrero

We're jumping ahead a couple of months here. I skipped over another Ultimo Guerrero singles match because I didn't want to watch the exact same match again (it probably was). What I was hoping for with this trios was a lead-in to the upcoming Dragon Rojo, Jr. title matches. Unfortunately, the 1 Week Ahead trios match with them isn't online, and that's probably all the build it had. this was close and had both Rojo and Sombra but that wasn't the focal point at all.

Instead, it was Negro Casas vs Atlantis, and this goes back to just how maddening CMLL's booking or lack there of can be. Casas was amazing in this match, just amazing, working rudo in a far more devoted and considerable way than he usually did in the Peste Negra era, playing chickenshit, getting his shots in on Atlantis, hiding behind his partners, just a brilliant performance, and because it was up against Atlantis and not Sombra or Triton, the crowd bought into it. Any other night, they'd probably be cheering for Casas in the same way that crowds tend to cheer for old man Flair no matter what, because he's that charismatic relative to everything else around him and because he's a legend. Atlantis is a legend too, though, and he's as tecnico as tecnico can be in this day and age. All well and good, right? Here's a trios with them up against each other, with the payoff deferred and delayed throughout the match until Casas was finally able to sneak out a dirty finish. That'd obviously lead to a heated singles match, be it a title match or just a mano a mano one, or maybe even an Apuestas (though, of course, Casas had JUST lost his hair in the Blue Panther draw). Nope. There's no sign that they had a blow off to this, or even an escalation. CMLL strikes again.

Past that, it was sort of business as usual for a match like this. They ran Guerrero vs Triton with basic and servicable matwork to start, ending with the rudo swarm. The best thing here was Casas throwing some crazy headbutts at Atlantis. I've seen hundreds of matches where he didn't use those headbutts but they made sense here and they were nasty and visually compelling due to the contrast of the white mask, and they worked. This ended with some of this era GdI spots, including the alley oop into Dragon Rojo's missile dropkick and the senton de la muerte in the corner, made all the better by Rojo putting his foot down upon Triton's foot to hold him there in the set up (which I'd not seen before but it's the little things that matter).

And lots and lots of Negro Casas being an awesome, loathesome rudo.

It all ended with the afformentioned nefarious mask-pulling and rolling up and I wish there was a singles match, but what can you do?

Sombra, here, was very effective as sort of the second tecnico in the match. He was in there to do some big spots, to eat GdI offense with Triton, to keep the match moving and add some excitement, to try to do his best to help Atlantis get his hands on Casas, and to hit the dive at the end. Speaking of little things, during an exchange against Dragon Rojo and Ultimo Guerrero, I like how he made an extra little grab at Rojo, one that had to be reversed, before doing some of the stock miscommunication spots. It was a tiny thing but it added just a little bit of struggle to something that often comes off as choreographed (benignly, mind you).

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 23: Blue Panther, Hijo del Fantasma, La Sombra vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Shinsuke Nakamura, Volador Jr.

2011-06-12 @ Arena México
Blue Panther, Hijo del Fantasma, La Sombra vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Shinsuke Nakamura, Volador Jr.

I wanted a Nakamura match from this period and this was the one that looked the best on paper. People who have followed me on this know that I'm no big fan of Volador, but he's perfectly acceptable in trios as someone who can hit a lot of stuff. That's one of the great things about lucha. The nature of trios is one where people's flaws are very often hidden and their strengths are emphasized. You need to be great to be great in one, but if you're great at certain things, those can shine through. EVeryone else here is pretty great, though. I especially loved both that Panther was called El Jefe de Jefes on the way out and how Nakamura had a weird executioner's mask and interacted with the ring girls.

And this was another hugely fun match. Nakamura was able to interact with just about everyone. He had a lengthy mat sequence with Blue Panther to begin which was everything you'd want from the two of them together. He was great during the beatdown in the segunda, including fun strikes and plenty of choking. He had the chop off with Sombra. All good stuff.

Volador and Sombra matched together well too. Them doing two or three minutes of spots works so well in this environment and never quite becomes overkill like it might in a singles match. That's not to say everything hit, though. There was a moment in the tercera where Volador wanted a handshake and a hug, even appealing to the kids to get Sombra to go along with it, and it ended up lasting just a little too long, with him shushing everyone way too obviously before chopping. The idea was good, but the execution just wasn't there.

It was the only down part of pretty exciting tercera. The segunda had ended with a very earned comeback and Fantasma's arrow from the gates of hell (or whatever they call his tope in Lucha Underground) and things didn't really let up after that. There were lots of cutoffs and dives and resets and saves with Nakamura fitting right in (another reason why I grabbed a match towards the end of his tour instead of the beginning). The string of fun Sombra trios continues. Either I'm picking well or he just had a very good, even if slightly unmemorable 2011.

(And for some reason the only thing I decided to mark to gif was BP being especially hurty to Nakamura):

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 21: Blue Panther, La Máscara, La Sombra vs Atlantis, Dragón Rojo Jr., Último Guerrero

2011-03-29 @ Arena México
Blue Panther, La Máscara, La Sombra vs Atlantis, Dragón Rojo Jr., Último Guerrero

5:37 in

There's something to say for predictable ritual in pro wrestling. Hulk Hogan was the most successful thing in the world for six years by giving the fans what they expected again and again. Some shine, a beatdown after cheating, the hulk-up, the bodyslam, the big boot, the leg drop, five minutes of the ear cupping. It worked, in part, because you only saw it once every couple of months, either live or on a TV Special or Pay Per View. It never really had a chance to wear out its welcome.

So imagine it on a weekly basis over twelve years or so. That's Ultimo Guerrero. There are wrinkles, but he's presented the same trios match to the Arena Mexico crowd, generally in the main event or second-from-the-top match for well over a decade. It's intentional. It's ritual. He draws a crowd for his big matches. It's what the people expect. It might even be what a large number of them want to see.

Either there's an ambush to begin or, like here, there's at least one exchange. Here it was Sombra and Dragon Rojo, and they did a good job with it. They match up very well at this stage of their careers. The singles' matches for the title are still a year or two off here, but I'm bet they'll be good when we get there. This ended with Sombra chasing Rojo outside and Atlantis and Guerrero swarming out after them. That gave us a pretty good beatdown on the floor.

and the start of their standard tandem offense. That's one reason why this match is acceptable week in and week out. The tandem offense (the alley oop body splash; the drop toe-hold/elbows; the flip up facebuster; the triple corner attack ending with the senton de la muerte; here, the press up drop kick) is zingy and iconic.

And the transition, pretty much the same in every match. They go for the alley oop body splash for a second time (the first usually being on the ramp, the second in the ring), and it fails. It's pure, excessive hubris, predictable but stemming from an eternal well of ego, which is why it probably works.

Sombra fit into this formula well. He could match up with Rojo evenly, with Guerrero as a slight upstart, and with Atlantis as a young rebel against the grumpy old legend. He felt like an equalizing force in the ring, especially in the tercera which was full of cut offs and resets. By this stage, he came off as a star.

As Guerreros trios go, this was a fun one. It was zippy. It kept moving. There was little fat to cut. Rojo was a really solid part of the act, even though rudo Atlantis was probably wearing thin by this point. Fun match.

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 16: La Sombra vs Dragón Rojo Jr. (2010)

Aired: 2010-12-26
taped: 2010-11-30 @ Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
La Sombra vs Dragón Rojo Jr.

I've been cherry picking my way through Sombra's 2010. There were a few trios titles matches but they weren't anything interesting (I blame Mascara). There was an Aguila match I skipped too. As always, cubsfan's match finder (http://www.thecubsfan.com/cmll/roster/matchfinder.php) is the greatest tool in the world if anyone is interesting at filling in the gaps. I skipped a Volador title match too, because Volador brings out the worst tendencies in everyone he faces. If you like crazy spotfests, though, you might want to take a look.

This, however, was the first singles match we have of Sombra vs Dragon Rojo, jr. They feuded more heavily in 2012, and I'll look at those later. This was a blast, though. I liked it a ton, and I think it was yet another good indication of just how far Sombra had come. I'd liken this to some of the recent Dragon Lee vs Kamaitachi matches. The spectacular stuff wasn't quite as spectacular, but it was still thoroughly enjoyable.

It was all grounded where it had to be too. It was back and forth, throughout. Every transition felt earned. There was a lot of struggle, even if it was broad. The dives were plentiful and served as chapter breaks, even on top of the other transitions. There were a few moments of call back and payoff (Dragon Lee sliding out early to try to get the advantage on Sobmra, only to have it backfire on it, and then trying it again in the tercera with much greater sucess; Sombra springboarding in one too many times and paying for it; the roll up suplex working in the primera but generating a kickout in the tercera).

That last one didn't feel over the top either. It was part of the escalation towards the big finish. This wasn't a title or an apuestas match. In that regard, there felt like less of a finishing stretch to me. There were a lot of two counts in the tercera, but the real crazy kickouts weren't until the last minute or so. I was high on some of the tags but this is probably my favorite Sombra match that I've seen for this spotlight so far. Dragon Rojo, Jr. in 2016 is no great shakes, but I'm very much looking forward to their 2012 title matches now.

Bit of character from both to close it out:

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 13: Volador Jr./La Sombra/Sagrado vs. Sangre Azteca/Black Warrior/Dragón Rojo [MEX TRIOS]

2009-02-03 @ Arena México
Volador Jr./La Sombra/Sagrado vs. Sangre Azteca/Black Warrior/Dragón Rojo [MEX TRIOS]

Last offramp for now. I thought it would make sense to watch at least one of the Mexican National Trios tag title matches that Sombra had as well, just to cover all the ground before we move on. I like looking at a luchador in all of the different roles he might play and while I won't do that entirely for every stage of Sombra's career, a trios title match seemed logical. I'm not going to go back to the match these three had vs Hijo de Fantasma, Maximo, and Mascara too even if that does look interesting. See, I have some restraint. That's online, for anyone curious though. If you do watch it, let me know how it is.

This was a match that had a lot of time and that showed off a lot of the strengths of the genre, with all the dives and cut offs and fast action you'd want, with a little bit of heat and a spattering of early matwork that I'd call middling, and some big spots and really solid character work. It's not necessarily a trios title match I'm going to remember in two years but I'm not going to hesitate in calling it good.

My biggest takeaways were:

1.) Sombra really stood out at this point. Volador did too, sure, but Sombra felt like more of a total package, even at this point. The biggest example I can give is this: at parts of the match, just from their gear, it was almost impossible to tell Sagrado and Sombra apart. They all had team gear and while Volador had the silver mask, both Volador and Sagrado were in black. Despite that, I never had a hard time here. Why? Because Sombra was so much smoother, so much faster, so much more graceful, and so much more dynamic in almost every aspect of his work, and that's including the opening matwork.

2.) I got a real kick out of the rudo side and it's disappointing to me we don't have more title matches with them. I'm no big fan of Sangre Azteca in general, but he was a little younger here, a lot faster, and didn't JUST launch creative shots to places he shouldn't be striking (though he did that too). Black Warrior was hugely emotive. I need to run through his big matches at some point.

3.) Dragon Rojo, Jr. came off as a very solid foil for Sombra. I've got a number of their matches ahead of me, and I'll probably end up diving a little deeper than I first intended.

and 4.) The crowd was really into this, straight down to the finish. That's another reason I'm sad that there weren't many defenses (if any) by the rudos. This felt like a big deal and some of that was due to the big entrances, some to the work itself, and some just to the time they had.

I'd definitely point to this as another indication of how far Sombra had come up to 2009. It takes a different set of skills to be a cog in a trios match like this than a singles title match, and at this stage Sombra was a solid fit for matches like this.

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2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

31. Blue Panther, Rey Cometa & Angel de Oro v. Virus, Polvora & Dragon Rojo Jr. CMLL 9/11

ER: This is pretty much what you hope for when you watch a trios featuring non-feuding guys. There's nothing major at stake, just guys wanting to put their best foot forward. And you can always tell pretty quickly in non-stake trios if guys are going to be dogging it a bit or at least attempting to do something special. And right out of the gate Panther and Polvora look like they're really going for something. A spirited Panther is still one of my absolute favorite things in wrestling, and this match was a great BP performance. He and Polvora get a few minutes to tear things up and it's all good, cool float overs, Panther doing a great headstand out of a headscissors, just beautiful lucha matwork. That starts the match on a great note and the rest of the match is all smooth, quick work, everybody showing what they got. Oro isn't great but hits some big moonsaults including one from the middle turnbuckles to the floor. Cometa starts off a little glitchy but by the tercera he's rolling. Virus eats a big Oro dive in the primera.....but you know what you want from this match when looking at the lineup, and it delivers wonderfully. Right around the 22 minute mark Virus locks a nasty bow and arrow on Oro, really bending him back, and then Panther casually walks in pats Virus on the shoulder, and Virus just drops the submission while keeping his eyes on Panther the whole time. You start to get excited, and the crowd got that same kind of excited. Crowd started getting nice and electric when they saw BP/Virus about to happen. Up to this point they matched up for literally 4 seconds of the match, and suddenly it was like the dance floor cleared to make space for a showdown. And we got a killer little showdown with Virus clearly showing off and Panther looking impossibly smooth. I could watch these two roll and tumble and work in and out of sequences on an infinite loop. This all peaks with Virus getting plastered by a high speed Panther tope, crowd going nuts, Panther jumping up and down.....and then Panther hitting a second awesome tope. Virus pays him back by winning with a nasty looking sub that had BP yelping immediately. Match had a super quick pace, tons of spots, everybody working with something to prove, and that little slice of heaven that was BP/Virus. What more would you want?

PAS: This was a solid slightly above average trios for most of the matches. The Panther v. Polvora stuff was really solid, and another example of how great Panther still is. It isn't like you are searching out Polvora matches, but he looks totally awesome matched up with Panther. The finish run with Panther stepping up and going after Virus was spectacular. I loved the idea of Panther tapping on Virus's shoulder and saying "let's move the kids out of the way and show the fans some lucha." Totally unexpected treat, the equivalent of putting on an old pair of pants and finding $20.


2015 MOTY MASTER LIST

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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 Worth Watching 1/4/15, 1/18/15 & 2/1/15

Hechicero, Ephesto & Niebla Roja vs. Blue Panther, Valiente & Maximo (1/18/15)

On paper you look at that match and go "man I hope Panther and Hechicero match up a bunch" and if that's what you went in wanting, you'll leave a happy human. There are also many other things that happened that were a blast, but I personally showed up for Panther and Hechicero squaring off. They get a nice long exchange in the primera and more in the tercera. Primera is those two have a bunch of cool struggling matwork, which really is worth the price of admission (zero dollars, technically so easily worth that). Hechicero is a super adaptable mat guy and Panther still looks like Blue Fucking Panther on the mat which is one of the first things that made me fall in love with lucha. All the takeovers and sweeps and arms held painfully behind backs. It's glorious. Hechicero gets runs with all the guys and he really makes Maximo's stuff look spectacular. And all of Hechicero's little roll ups and submissions are so fluidly executed. I'm a fan. Segunda is short but we build to a nice crescendo in the tercera with Valiente hitting the mother of all great topes, just bending Roja in half over the barrier. Just a scud missile flying fast and accurately right at you. Wrestlers are crazy. Ephesto gets a big dive of his own and this delivered in the exact ways I was hoping it would.

Rey Cometa vs. Niebla Roja (Lightning Match) (1/4/15)

This was really cool as Roja throws way more rudo elements into a lightning match than almost anybody I've seen. Usually this format is used for guys to show off their highlight reel in heatless exhibitions. But here's Roja kicking Cometa in the face, ripping at his gear, choking him and being a dick. Cometa is a guy with plenty of great looking spots but he goes along with Roja's match plan and it makes a standard lightning match mean so much more, makes Cometa's few highlight spots seem that much bigger. The opening mat stuff is nice and engaging, and then things go to a new level when Cometa goes for a leaping tornado DDT off the apron but gets caught by Roja and tossed brutally into the barrier. It made Cometa's later rana off the apron mean so much more.We also build to a great Cometa tope that blasts Roja impressively into the barrier. Roja dicks it up the whole time, Cometa's hope spots come off better for it, and all that equals a much more satisfying 7 minutes than we normally get.

Kraneo, Olimpico & Ephesto vs. Blue Panther, Titan & Dragon Rojo Jr. (2/1/15)

So Cubsfan should get around to uploading this one so more people can see it, because it's really fun. I mean, it's not like that guy uploads hundreds of matches over the course of a year or anything. It makes me feel just a tiny shred of minimal importance to write about a match like this, since it does not appear to exist online, and one day somebody might ask "I wonder if anybody ever watched a Kraneo match from 2/1/15?" and then they will find that, yes, at least one man did watch a Kraneo match from that date, and documented it FOR THE WORLD. Match was really fun and would have landed on the MOTY list had the segunda and tercera gotten more time. Primera had some of Titan's best stuff, doing some lightning fast exchanges with Ephesto with no Titan silliness. Then Panther and Olimpico got to roll and that is all of a sudden one of my favorite match-ups in lucha. Olimpico has looked better in the last couple months than he has in 8 years. Now he's working a weird glammy Egyptian gimmick and looks like Ben Kingsley playing the Jaye Davidson role in Stargate. His mat stuff with Panther is great with BP always going after an arm or leg but Olimpico scrambling all over him, working more to disorient. Kraneo continues to be my favorite luchador of the moment as he's all massive shoulderblocks and big bumps and fatness. He always works as if he has something to prove, as if he gets ribbed about his mass all the time and wants to show everybody that he can work harder and better than anybody. He's like the modern lucha Buddy Rose. So yeah, upload this match Cubs! Pretty please?

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 7/27/14

Alright looks like we're back into a regular rhythm as these matches were all from the 6/22 Coliseo show.



1. Lightning Match: Blue Panther vs. Ephesto

Well damn this was great. This is like something that would pop up on some cell phone shot indy show, not on an actual TV show. We get 9 minutes of a purely grappling/mat based match that really illustrates how junk most lightning matches are. Most of them are just guys going in to show off their trademark highspots, and here two guys totaling over 100 years of age go in and show what can be done with the unica caida quick match format. It's an extra cool display knowing that Ephesto wanted to be like Blue Panther when he started, and here there are trading hold for hold. The first three minutes are just cool standing exchanges with some neat stuff you haven't seen, and once they take it to cool pendulum armdrags and mat stuff I was beyond hooked. There are some old man moments but they don't detract as they seem more real because hey these guys are old. Sometimes you're gonna end up in awkward positions on the mat. Panther playing possum on the mat before rolling through into a half crab was beautiful. Again this kind of thing showing up on TV, knowing that somewhere a couple of cool old guys are working a no bump grappling match while the cameras are rolling and not just because some flea market ring was too hard to bump on, but because it was a cool match to work is really special. [**This match ended up landing at #51 on our MOTY list, and I used this very same identical review as my review in THAT write-up! Hopefully you find more of value in the rest of this electronic post. If not, tell me that I'm cheating you by re-using 45% of the content from a prior post and you demand more original content. Then I'd likely feel bad and sorta guilty, and probably do something nice. Phil, however, would go tell you to kick rocks.]



2. Okumura, Puma & Kamaitachi vs. Stuka Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr. & Delta

Well damn this was really good too! The primera was especially great. The rest of the match had plenty of nice moments but that primera was awesome. It was well on its way to making the MOTY list before finishing merely nice, instead of keeping up that pace. Primera we got all sorts of cool fast match ups, my favorite being the Puma/Stuka mat stuff, but Kamaitachi (first time I've seen him) had cool scrambly mat stuff as well and Puma looked really great. As the match goes on we break down into more 3 on 1 rudo stuff which isn't always interesting, but the tecnico comebacks were always spirited. Maya hits another crazy dive because that's his thing, Kamaitachi feels like this year's Namajague (oh where have you gone Namajague?!) as he bumps all around and looks like he's having a ball working in front of a Mexican audience. All of this was really fun.

3. Rey Escorpion, Dragon Rojo Jr. & Polvora vs. Maximo, Super Porky & Volador Jr.

This one was not as good. It was not very good in general. It's disappointing to remember the fire Escorpion temporarily lit under Porky last year, and then see him here. I've been a long time Porky defender but god is he just mostly horrible now. You occasionally see flashes here and there, but so much of what he does looks so bad and just drags a match down. At one point he gets tossed into the ropes to get kicked by all three rudos, and he wasn't even able to bump backwards into the ropes. Instead he hilariously took the kicks, turned around and walked towards the ropes, then took waaaaay to long to step through the ropes and kind of sit on the apron. It would have been a hilarious comedy spot if it was intentional, and didn't instead look like somebody's grandfather needing to find a place to sit down at the supermarket because he got dizzy. Escorpion didn't bring any of that fire towards Porky, and maybe it's because it wouldn't get returned, who knows. At one point Porky at least hit a crossbody off the apron so he tried something. Maximo looked good here and hit a wild dive, but this whole thing was a dud.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 9/13/14

These matches were from the 8/29/14 Arena Mexico show.

1. Rush, Atlantis & Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Negro Casas, Rey Escorpion & Niebla Roja

Absolute nothing first two falls, and absolute blast third fall. First two falls are like 2 minutes. Rojo doesn't even take off his vest. Third fall we get some fun Casas/Atlantis interaction (odd that I just watched a big trios with them from January the other week, but don't remember them interacting at all the rest of the year. I just happened to see them on opposite sides in matches 7 months apart, in the same week), with Casas concurrently playing stooging rudo opposite Atlantis and fiery tecnico opposite Rush. One minute he's stumbling away on his knees after a quebradora, and the next he's firing up the crowd by kicking Rush. Finish is ridiculous and hilarious as Rush gets into it with the ref and while he's arguing chest to chest, Casas reaches through the refs legs, grabbing Rush's foot and forcing it to kick the ref in the balls for the DQ win. Totally absurd. Awesome.



2. Cavernario, Mr. Niebla & Felino vs. Mascara Dorada, Valiente & Rey Cometa

It's funny because if you only watched the Lucha Azteca program, you would have no idea the kind of year Cavernario is having (and really not even know who Cometa is). And this was a really fun match so hopefully these guys make Azteca more often. It's a pretty fun match up with a bunch of guys who you don't see against each other. Mascara Dorada is a complete loon and he really gets to show why here. Oh sure he'll take a high back drop bump and hit some keen headscissors and a smooth flip dive, but then in the tercera he hits a tope on Niebla that practically made me spit out my drink. Dorada gets a full head of steam and hits Niebla while he's completely vertically upside down. They both slam into the barricade and Dorada practically brainbusters himself. I love Dorada. Niebla works smartly with the fliers, brushing off attacks when appropriate (Cometa hits a light dive on him, so he doesn't sell it much, but then moments later gets slammed by a Valiente dive which takes him down). Cavernario got to show off here, kissing a gal in the crowd and then flipping over the barricade into the front row to sell a big dive. A couple of the falls end by ball shot DQs so I can't call this a MOTY, but this was the perfect kind of fun on a groggy Sunday morning.

3. La Sombra vs. Ultimo Guerrero for the CMLL Universal Title

I hate that going into big CMLL main events you always just expect them to be bad. This wasn't bad, but it was disappointing as both of them could have figured out smarter ways to do all of the stuff they did in this match. The thing that bugged me the most was UG popping up to hit his finisher in the 3rd, after taking a move that caused him to be pinned in the 1st. He took La Sombra's running double knees to lose the 1st, but then apparently the move barely damages him in the 3rd. Awful. The match finished with him taking the knees, Sombra going up top to hit a moonsault to polish him off, and UG just jumping up to hit the Guerrero Special. That's just lazy. The match overall wasn't bad as both guys looked good, they just shot the move psychology full of holes. I even had higher hopes as we started with some amusing exhibitiony mat work which usually doesn't happen when the main event is going to turn into a your move/my move affair. We never really got to a traditional awful CMLL ym/mm section, as the move trading in the 3rd made sense. But man what a stupid ending.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 9/6/14

Again, on 8/15/14 (and, now sadly, 8/22/14) it looks like they did a tournament for the CMLL Universal championship. Tournament lucha, baby! Catch that 150 second action!! So we all know these matches will be, best case scenario, the 2nd or 3rd best match on an episode of Worldwide, so I'm not really going to review the matches themselves because why bother. I'll make some notes of standout individual performance. The one positive I can take from this is that we might get some unique match-ups, however brief. It looks like there are a lot of rudos in the tourney so we may get some fun rudo on rudo shenanigans.

^^^ That is what I wrote during the first week of lucha tourney. It was worse than I expected. I expected bad. There was one total match that was not a complete waste of time. I'm willingly going into this expecting to waste my time. And I'm complaining about it. That is the definition of an obnoxious person right there.

1. Ultimo Guerrero vs. Mr. Niebla

Fun mat stuff and headscissor roll throughs that were indeed fun, but always felt very exhibition-y. Niebla broke out his cool code red arm drag, UG threw in the Jerry bump, Niebla did the wild moonsault off the top to the floor and another big moonsault press back in the ring. Niebla is throwing in more cool stuff in his 3 minute allotment than anybody else in this tourney. And it's nice as it actually ties into and leads to the finish, with him going for a 3rd moonsault, allowing UG to polish him off with the Guerrero Special for the win. So that was a good use of the time right there.

2. Virus vs. Dragon Rojo Jr.

Rojo comes out to the theme from Ghostbusters which is kinda weird. It's nice to see Virus in a match like this as he doesn't usually seem to crack the main event picture in CMLL, and at least being in a tournament for a title is something above his usual level. At this rate he might make it into the main event scene when he's 52. Virus works this match real smart, for such an awful format. He's a guy who's really good at mixing up rope running stuff, and is such a different worker than a lot of these guys that you get some unique exchanges. He finds a cool way to reverse Rojo's big seated corner dropkick, by pushing up at the right time to send Rojo's legs under, then locking on a front facelock. Great false finish as Rojo looked taken off guard but was already in the ropes. You got the sense that it could have finished the match otherwise. Finish was smart as it played into the match long story of Virus trying to win using his submission smarts, and it costing him. Virus always breaks out cool subs, and the one that backfired involved him rolling through on his opponent, but Rojo being much larger than Virus, causing him to roll through to far (like over rolling him), ending with Rojo on top and submitting Virus. It even makes sense in the worked setting as Virus usually works guys that are closer to his size, so him locking on a sub incorrectly against a larger guy works for me. Still wish Virus could have gone through to at least the semis.

3. Diamante Azul vs. Niebla Roja

This match was at least a good use of two minutes, though I kind of felt bad for Roja as this was a total Azul showcase. Azul looked really good on the mat with a couple cool ankle picks and looked real good at fluidly moving on to other parts of the body. Really smooth chain wrestling done in a way that didn't feel overly rehearsed. He also hits a big dive (first dive of the whole tournament actually) and then gets to roll back in and hit his awesome delayed german to win. They even put over his finisher by having a doctor come in and check on Roja after the match. Roja got totally steamrolled here, but Azul looked sharp in his showcase.

4. Titan vs. Volador Jr.

Not great, but short and they kept the back spring handstand nonsense to one part of the match. Titan hits a big moonsault and gets a nice false finish by catching Volador in a dragon screw into a sub. Volador's samoa drop driver finisher always looks completely dangerous, like it's just a matter of time before somebody gets their neck snapped.

5. Ultimo Guerrero vs. Dragon Rojo Jr.

Partners collide! But it really wasn't that exciting. Both guys doing moves until it was time for the Guerrero Special. Rojo took a nice bump to the floor off UG's baseball slide, and Rojo's dropkick off the rampway is a truly awesome and incredibly stupid move. Basically just a giant running back bump onto the floor, totally nuts.

6. Diamante Azul vs. Volador Jr.

Super short, very Volador heavy. Azul hit his nice rampway senton. I somehow got bored even though it was 2 minutes.

7. Ultimo Guerrero vs. Volador Jr.

Of course this one gets the most time of the tournament, and since Volador is losing then we get to see tons of goofy ass Volador stuff. None of this was very good. It did have one completely awesome moment though, with UG catching Volador on a flip dive to the floor and power bombing him into the ring post. That looked amazing. But Volador was back in the ring flipping around like a dungus just a few moments later. Match also had a really weird moment where Volador went for a roll up after a superkick, and UG kicked out, and then both of them sat upright on the mat for almost 20 seconds afterwards, just sitting there right next to each other, both staring out at the same direction (but not at each other), not selling or hitting each other or doing anything. Just sitting there. This happened really early in the match too. It was really strange. We'll edit it in post, boys!


Headline:

Tournament Lucha: Still the Worst

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 8/23/14

These matches were from the 8/8 Arena Mexico show.

1. Rey Escorpion vs. Dragon Rojo Jr.

I've been loving the build up to this singles over the previous couple weeks, with Escorpion punching the hell out of Rojo's face and blindsiding him in trios matches. I guess I'm a pretty easy guy to please if I can get excited for a match just by seeing a guy hit another guy. But this match was a major letdown. Everything that made me excited for it during the build was completely absent from the match itself. We had a match ruined by bad quick fall formatting, and a bunch of spots - some of them very impressive - that didn't have too much rhyme or reason to them. We also had a lame and oddly out of place strike exchange. Just an uninteresting match. The first two falls are blink-and-you'll-miss-'em, so even though they have some cool matwork in them, you're already kind of set up to see what kind of match this is going to be. And sure enough, the tercera plays out like the worst kind of lightning matches, with them heatlessly taking turns showing off what neat moves they can do. Escorpion does a dive, Rojo hits a gnarly dropkick off the rampway, Rojo hits a powerbomb, whatever. The move order seems like it was drawn out of a hat, with the moves determined ahead of time. No flow, just moves. The strike exchange was hilariously bad, with it coming out of nowhere to start the tercera. Both men immediately start selling like they'd been in a WAR!! with Rojo selling a chop by staggering around like current Pacino milking a heart attack death scene. The match had two incredibly quick falls, and suddenly these guys are just using the last of their strength to throw kick combos. Which is even more hilarious since they were totally fine afterwards, fine enough to run through the depths of their offense. Just a brutally constructed match, made both guys look awful.

2. Marcela, Princesa Sujei & Goya Kong vs. Amapola, La Seductora & Zeuxis

Fun match although it would have meant a bit more if Blanca had been in it the week after losing her hair. Amapola looked good and continued to be her same under appreciated self. I love the way she flings herself into the Cassandro bump. Zeuxis looked pretty sloppy last week and her she was nasty, hitting big running kicks and a wild moonsault off the top onto Kong. Kong has great charisma and I love how excited the Arena Mexico fans get for her. Plus her apron dive can look pretty great. Sujei and Marcela didn't make a giant impression here, but considering they won a mask and a whole lot of hair the week before I think that's fair.

3. Rush, La Sombra & La Mascara vs. Negro Casas, Ultimo Guerrero & Shocker

Not a bad match but I was expecting a lot more after last week's amazing Rush/Casas showdown. Look at me, watching something with raised expectations. La Sombra has really come into his own this year, but this match was not the one to show somebody if you were trying to prove that point. He was off the whole time, flopping bad on a headscissors and over-shooting a big flip dive that sent him stumbling chest first into the ring barrier. Shocker had some nice moments opposite Mascara, with my favorite being Mascara doing a drop down and Shocker just splatting him with the biggest elbow drop. Ultimo Guerrero integrated Sombra's double flip moonsault about the best way you can, by purposely rolling out of it so that he could make Sombra hit his knees. Now Rush vs. Casas. That was about as limp dick revenge as I could have possibly imagined. It's like both guys were sore from the week before so just agreed to take it easy on the other. Casas' big revenge moment came off so bad, where Rush goes to kick him in the balls again, and Casas just kicks him first, with a glancing blow that Rush just kind of falls over from. And then Casas runs around the ring jumping up and down like he's never beaten anybody in his life. It looked so pathetic. If that was supposed to be a moment I can't imagine many ways it could have fallen harder on its face.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 8/9/14

All of these matches were from the 7/25 Arena Mexico show. 

1. Rey Escorpion, Ultimo Guerrero & Shocker vs. Atlantis, Dragon Rojo Jr. & Titan

 Fun match that was quick and violent with lots of mask ripping and stiff strikes. Escorpion has been on a roll lately and here's another match with him dishing a beating to Dragon Rojo. He punches him all over the ring and violently rips his mask off. At one point he was tearing Rojo's mask off with his teeth while also punching his face. Rojo hit a great corner flip dive as a comeback at one point. But the match even ends with Escorpion dragging Rojo around by his mask while stomping the hell out of him. It was odd seeing Shocker as a rudo here since he's mostly been featured on TV this year as a tecnico opposite Rush and his goons, but here he gets dropkicked by Kemonito and it's awesome (has Kemonito not appeared with Atlantis for a really long time, or is that just me…). For the most part Shocker and Titan stayed out of the mix. Most of it was naturally centered around Atlantis/UG, and all of their stuff was nice and snug. Both of them dished it out, with Atlantis ripping apart UG's mask, UG hitting a fast Jerry bump, Atlantis handing out quebradoras to every man in his way. Fun, high energy match with a few stories going on at once.

2. Marcela, Goya Kong & Silueta vs. Princesa Blanca, Amapola & Zeuxis

Decent, if sloppy match. Marcela isn't on TV as much as the other gals even though she's clearly heads above all of them. She always breaks out more daring things than the others and looked good here, with a nice rolling senton off the apron, big bump into the front row, does a cool armbar takeover on Blanca over the top rope. Kong is always somebody I get excited to see. I don't know if she's really that good, but she's always fun and the crowd always responds big to her. She breaks out some big splashes, misses a big elbow, does an apron dive, a bunch of fun stuff from a bigger gal. Silueta is cute and is fairly decent at pumping up a crowd, but she's also not that great. She's kind of sloppy and there's a pretty unfortunate botch that is covered up about as much as it can be by Amapola. Amapola is a good hand, but Zeuxis also isn't very good. She gamely attempts big spots but usually blows a couple, so I guess she gets some points for trying. Blanca is a great ruda, one of my absolute favorites to watch, and her and Marcela always work great together. Here is no different as both of them can really wail on each other. Hilariously, the match ends with a powder to the eyes DQ, with Blanca missing her powder shot and Marcela hitting hers, with the ref seeing and DQing Marcela. I cannot remember ever seeing a powder to the eyes finish in a lucha match. That seems like something so American that it was just weird seeing in lucha. Maybe Mexico has a long history of powder to the eyes finishes, but damn if I can't recall any. Now I want to see some hide the object lucha matches!



3. Rush, La Sombra & La Mascara vs. Negro Casas, Mr. Niebla & Volador Jr.

Awesome short match, full of guys working stiff and with a hot surprise finish. Rush and Casas beat the holy hell out of each other here. I'm not sure how Casas' throat can stand up to some of the stomps that Rush unleashes on it. Both guys throw some nasty kicks to the other's chest and face, shove each other violently into the ring barricade. At one point Rush charges Casas in the corner, stops short, whips his hair back and slaps Casas right across the ear. Great dickhead spot. Niebla is a guy who can wrestle lazy when he's not feeling things, but then we get *this* Niebla and all is well. He slaps guys the whole match, really laying the shots in to a nasty degree, and at one point even breaks out his great back bump to the floor (Rush front kicks him and he falls through the ropes backwards onto the floor). Volador stayed out of most of this, spending a lot of it getting kicked and stomped by Sombra/Mascara, but does hit a spectacular top rope moonsault to the floor. And obviously he plays into the finish which I really dug. Sombra is kinda manhandling him, but Volador gets the surprise flash pin by reversing a Sombra samoan drop into a brutal Sombra head drop. Flash pins don't feel like they get used in lucha that often, and I really love how the match just ended since Volador pinned the captain. Felt like they finally outsmarted the rudos and the cuts to a surprised Rush on the floor were a nice touch since Rush hasn't shown tons of ass in this feud. This could have been epic with more time, but for a straight falls match I can't imagine it being much better. This was some of the stiffest ring work I've seen in lucha this year, and no matter how long it was this was a hot match. (Oddly, the TV version of the match completely edits the 2nd caida down to just the Sombra/Volador finishing run, making the total match seem like 7 minutes instead of 12. This caused the episode to end 8 minutes early, so I have no clue why they edited out Casas' comeback or any of the other fun stuff from the segunda. Really strange.)

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 8/2/14

These matches were from the 7/18 Arena Mexico show.

1. Stuka Jr., Atlantis & Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Rey Escorpion, Ultimo Guerrero & Polvora

Fun match with an asskicking performance from Escorpion and nice contributions for the others. Escorpion went after Rojo right from the beginning and didn't let up the whole match. He was really punching Rojo in the dome, as Escorpion can do, and didn't let up so that it looked like they would eventually work a hair vs. mask match. Even between falls Escorpion would follow him to the floor and club him. Stuka always breaks out impressive stuff. I love his torpedo splash, and he throws a nice flip dive. He also manned up for a beating here, taking a big back bump to the floor off a baseball slide. Nothing revolutionary happened here, but it was all fun while it lasted. Seriously wonder if they're setting up an Escorpion/Rojo feud though.

2. Negro Casas & Shocker vs. Rush & La Sombra for the CMLL Tag Titles

I was not a fan of their tag title match a few weeks before this, but this I liked. I thought that match lacked intensity and drama. Seeing this match shows everything that previous match lacked. These four were at each other's throats the whole match, and both teams actually felt like teams. A key part of what made this match so great was the team work. Not the double teams, but each person saving their partner at key moments throughout the whole match. Saves are a great way to build drama and cut down on silly kickouts, and I loved all the saves in this. Sombra has really come into his own under his rudo persona. It added an edge his character needed and just didn't have as a faceless flier. Now he's a smug shrugging prick who gets bailed out by his even tougher buddy and opportunistically dishes out violence of his own. His running knees to Shocker were brutal, but he has no problem giving back (watch him fly ass over elbow over the barrier off a clothesline). Shocker breaks out his fat guy tope, and some other cool stuff like his abdominal stretch slam (which sends Sombra right onto his head). Casas looked on fire too, having some fun scrambly matwork with Sombra, locking in one of the snuggest STFs onto Rush that you'll ever see, kicking Sombra's chest in while he's tangled in the ropes. This match builds off stuff from their previous tag match, and I especially loved Casas setting Rush up for the Thesz press and Sombra saving him out of nowhere by clotheslining Casas right in the shins. Awesome, heated match.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 7/5/14

2014 Leyenda de Azul

feat. Valiente, Maximo, Rush, Rey Escorpion, Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Atlantis, Shocker, La Sombra, Super Porky, Mr. Niebla, Terrible, Rey Bucanero, Dragon Rojo Jr., La Mascara & Vangellys

We start with a battle royal to decide Group A and Group B teams and much of the battle royal is spent with me watching and wondering how the hell Porky is going to take a bump over the top rope. La Mascara has never watched a battle royal before as he takes a break to celebrate on the apron while the camera cuts to two people old enough to know better wildly tongue kissing in the crowd. Niebla takes a fast and crazy looking elimination bump. UG takes his elimination like a man getting monkey flipped by Atlantis and flipping wildly to the floor. Escorpion just walked over and punched Porky in the boob (left). Ohhhhh all of the first 8 people eliminated are all in one Group. That makes sense. But also means that I didn't get to see how Porky would take his elimination bump since he was clearly in the group of guys who didn't get eliminated.

The cibernetico itself starts out pretty hot with Rojo hitting a big rana off the apron onto Euforia and then Porky shockingly being the next person in the ring (I assumed he would need a bit of a breather before getting back in) and damn if I don't really dig Porky's bit with UG, seeing Porky take a big bump off a stiff shoulder block and come back with a deep arm drag. Nice. Escorpion hits a nasty baseball slide through the bottom ropes into Rush, with Rey flying all the way out to the floor. Rush and Vangellys have a real fun run (for two guys who never actually fight each other due to affiliations) with Rush really kicking the shit out of him but also leaning face first into a seated Vangellys dropkick. Shocker adding the Stunner actually fits pretty well with his style and isn't soul crushing like indy Lawler doing it. Valiente hits the most badass high speed headbutt tope on Niebla and then we get a cool UG Euforia showdown which obviously has never happened, ending with Euforia hitting a wild dive. Holy shit and then we get Porky/Maximo…but Sombra and Mascara are dicks and break it up before anything happens, but that does lead to Porky hitting a headscissor/headlock takeover on both so who can be mad? Escorpion hits a giant guillotine leg drop on Rojo, which is not a move you see much anymore, for whatever reason. Porky is a special kind of fat, as his belly sticks out just as much when he's lying down as when he's standing. Rush has mastered the rich dick hair flip. Maximo hits a couple really cool delay hang time arm drags on Escorpion. Eventually things end up with Atlantis opposite Ultimo Guerrero and they have their standard exchanges and work about a 4 minute singles match. We get some mask ripping, a nice Atlantis dive, some big move nearfall exchanges that I zoned out during, and a win for Atlantis.

Overall this was much more interesting than many of the ciberneticos they've run over the last few years. This was given WAY more time than most of those (excluding the battle royal this clocked in at over 30 minutes) so you didn't have a bunch of awful strung together eliminations off moves that would never end a regular caida. Add to that the battle royal setting the teams provided some unique match-ups that I've never seen. It sounds odd to like a match in part because Euforia did a cool headscissors to UG, but lucha match-ups and feuds don't always get mixed up that much, so it was neat seeing brief "new pairing" moments. Fun match, tons of cool stuff in it.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 6/28/14

All these matches were from the 6/13 Arena Mexico show.

1. Euforia, Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero vs. Maximo, Atlantis & Super Porky

Fairly short match, also fairly by the numbers. Maximo is one of the more underrated guys in wrestling today (at least I think he is? I really like Maximo but I don't see him getting talked about tons, but maybe I only go to like two web pages. Also I say "web pages"), and Porky at this point is on his last legs, so I'm looking forward to some day when Maximo isn't automatically in Porky matches. I've been seeing Porky matches for so damn long that it's funny all of the things that I overlook that would seem bizarre in anybody else's match. Watching Porky stand wide-legged and walk his hands up until he's upright just seems normal now. Porky can still surprise me in matches, as right in the middle of his schtick he'll occasionally pop someone, or do a neat little bit of selling (which makes up for most of time in Porky's matches where he doesn't really sell, he just kind of focuses on breathing). Euforia runs into him a bunch and makes him look good. Atlantis and UG always match up well, but their feud will truly be the Moonlighting of lucha as they'll eventually get it on for reals and my mom won't care about them anymore (who am I kidding that shit will get over).

2. Blue Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr. & Delta vs. Rey Escorpion, Dragon Rojo Jr. & Polvora

Another short match, this one ending is straight falls. Nobody had much time to make too big of an impression here, though Panther hits a nice tope and Guerrero Maya (so glad he is back on TV more!) hits an awesome flipping tope. The rest of this is too sped through. Fast falls, big silly indy move finishers instead of matwork. Meh.

3. CMLL Tag Title Match: Rush & La Mascara vs. Negro Casas & Shocker

Well this was the big tag title change, for the belts Rush and Mascara have held for 8 months, and I could not imagine a less dramatic title change. The match was fine, I suppose, but there just wasn't much to it. Rush and Mascara have spent many months cheating and beating the snot out of these two, and here they just work a straight tag match, one of the falls ends with Rush getting DQ'd for Mascara pulling the ref out, there's no struggle, no dramatic tide turns, nothing. Things happened, eventually Casas and Shocker won the tag titles. I know titles in lucha really don't mean a whole lot, but damn was this bland. In the segunda Shocker did the exact same sequence he did in the trios last week, catch Rush, twist his arm, hit a stunner, Mascara goes for a dropkick, hits Rush instead, etc. But it looked way better in the trios. Shocker looked tired but still hit a big tubby tope and Casas hit a massive running balls to the face off the apron. But nothing about this even hinted at this being an important match. Very disappointing.

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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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