Lucha Worth Watching: Cassandro! CMLL Undercard!

Cassandro/Flyer vs. Magnus/Medico Asesino Jr. FILLM 11/18/18

ER: Man how cool is Cassandro?? Here he is working the coolest lucha arena in the world, the one that looks like it's a Street Fighter II background, and he comes out wearing a spectacular green coat with a long train, which somehow looks elegant while being dragged across the dirty concrete. He's not a guy who shows up a ton on tape, as that is part of the excitement around Cassandro. But he's the exact same guy you remember, here pulling off tight armdrags, a painfully precise missile dropkick, and his signature tope con giro. Asesino came off like a fun rudo stooge, Magnus hits a nice dive into the aisle and Flyer gets to hit two (which makes sense as his name ain't Matwork) including a big asai moonsault. Cassandro commanded the crowd like a conductor at a couple points, really a guy who knows exactly what to do no matter the setting, and while this match didn't set out to be a classic you definitely would have left satisfied had you gone there seeking a fun Cassandro main. Lucha shows are becoming more and more common in the States, and it feels like Cassandro should be able to bring buzz to these shows. There's no reason one of the three lucha feds running Denver isn't running Cassandro/Zumbido matches, but come on people let's make this happen!

Akuma/Espanto Jr./Espiritu Negro vs. Star Jr./Pegasso/Stigma CMLL 4/16/19

ER: This was a real fun undercard match that had a real fine rudo trios team performance and a bunch of great big tecnico moments for Star Jr., in the kind of match that really looked like they were already looking at Star Jr. as a future Soberano Jr. (when Soberano moves up even higher on the card). The crowd reactions for Star Jr. hear were real loud and real organic, felt like a guy who the locals were really treating as a star (he can just drop the Jr. once he's an actual star). The rudo team is a bunch of guys who haven't gotten much ink on Segunda Caida even though they've all been in the biggest lucha fed for like 5 years. Here they really make the case as an interesting team, standing out in ways that I think the Dinamitas started standing out a couple years ago on undercards. They had a bunch of mean double teams (loved a missile dropkick into tandem vertical suplex that poor Stigma took), Akuma hits a sky high flapjack, all three guys bite opponents at one point, and they handled their end of big base bumps. They were a team that made me want to see more of them as a team. Star Jr. had a big exciting match; crowd was flipping out for his headscissors, his big springboard rana to the entrance ramp looked as big as it should have, the crowd went nuts for every time he outsmarted the rudos, just a really fun performance that got a deserving response. Pegasso is a pro in these kinds of "2nd flashiest tecnico in a trios" roles, and Stigma was in there for some big bumps; the whole match has a nice breezy vibe that I think made all 6 look strong.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CASSANDRO

Read more!

En Busca de un Idolo - Week 1

The CMLL En Busca de un Idolo tourney is the most fun non-WWE thing in wrestling in 2014. Pretty much fun WCWSN lucha style 8 minute matches. I like tourneys (although not lucha tourneys usually), and most of these matches are nice and short, so I figure I will review it all, hoping to catch up by the finals. My Complete and Accurate grades don't really work here (I don't think there are going to be any EPICS for example) so I am going to review them with a Must See, If You Have a Spare Moment, Don't Bother.

3/25

Qualifying Cibernetico (Black Panther, Cachorro, Canelo Casas, Cavernario, Dragon Lee, El Rebelde, Espiritu Negro, Flyer, Guerrero Negro Jr., Hechircero, Herodes Jr., Metalico, Oro Jr., Soberno Jr., Star Jr., Super Halcon Jr.) - Spare Moment

These matches are like Ice Cream Sundae's for the most part. Sweet, will give you a head rush, but not a ton of substance and you definitely don't want too much. This goes 30 minutes +, and while the first couple of bites are great, you are going to have a stomach ache when you are done. It is hard to really focus on one guy, or one crazy dive when the match has 20+ dives. Watching them all, I decided I am pretty much a fan of a simple tope, and there are some great ones here, especially by Panther's kids. Star Jr. gets the most height on his dive and Hechicero takes the biggest bump. It seems like the picked the right 8 guys to advance (although I would have liked to see more Black Panther), but this is a hard platform to judge people on. Plenty of crazy individual moments, and if you just want to see crazy kids do every spot they know this is fine in an ROH scramble kind of way

4/4

Cachorro v. Star Jr. - Must See

Cachorro is the son of Blue Panther and one of the most exciting young wrestlers in the world. Star Jr. is a 20 year old technico with all of the nut up testosterone of a kid that age. Star Jr. looked a little tentative in the exchanges, although he hit them all fine. What you want from Star Jr. is one crazy bump and one crazy dive and you get both as he flies through the ropes head first to the floor and hits a springboard flippy twist. Cachorro throws out his tope although it isn't as crushing as it has been, he also ends with a rana counter leglock which would make his daddy proud. Fun stuff.

Dragon Lee v. Soberano Jr. - Spare Moment 

Parts of this were a bit of a mess, Soberano kind of blows his first big dive, an inside to out asai moonsault which he doesn't clear cleanly and looks like he clips Dragon Lee. There are also off a bit on some of their in ring exchanges. Still this had some cool stuff, Lee is a really graceful flyer and that signature hip toss to the floor bump is one of the crazier signature spots I have seen. Not much to this, but it had enough moments for a mild rec.

Read more!

Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 2/22/14

Because I'm an idiot I'm continuing to review the Gran Alternativa tournament. Cubsfan even referred to that pointless show as "the better week of the tournament" which means I am a 100% idiot for watching this.  Even mores because I know I'm an idiot *before* I am watching it. Sometimes I like being a completist in life. It's helped me out a lot in some areas, most certainly as an auditor for the county. But then my brain knowingly walks eyes wide open into the wrestling torture porn that is tournament lucha.

1. Reapper & Espiritu Negro vs. Shocker & Herodes Jr.

The one tiny thing I can take away from this is this is the first time I've seen a lot of the junior partners. I've never seen Herodes Jr. before and his segments with Reapper here were fun. Reapper looks really good in this with fun mat scrambles with Herodes, a big double missile dropkick, nice Silver King dive to the floor. Shocker looks good too, working fairly stiff with Reapper. Couldn't really gauge Negro.

2. Rush & Dragon Lee vs. Negro Casas & Canelo Casas

Not one bit of Casas/Rush which is disappointing, but not really what this tournament is about. Canelo Casas doesn't look very good. Rush leans way into his springboard dropkick and makes it look killer. Dragon Lee and Negro segments are kinda boring too. Rush looks awesome here though, kicking the snot out of Canelo. I love all his corner stomps and kicks and his hands free thrust headbutt.

3. Diamante Azul & Black Panther vs. Mr. Niebla & Barbaro Cavernario

Never seen Cavernario before and he looks...okayish. Black Panther hits a wicked tope and I like what I've seen from him in the Blue Panther trios. Niebla gets crazy height on a monkey flip and Azul takes a big bump off the top to the floor. Niebla also hits a sweet middle rope senton so it may be easier for him to put on his working boots when the matches are only 3 minutes long. Finish is fun (if not kinda sloppy thanks to Barbaro) with Azul going to press slam Barbaro and getting dropkicked by Niebla, dropping Barbaro on top for the win. Barbaro didn't really fall right for the spot to work, but hey they tried. I love press slam spots and Azul had Barbaro locked in, really impressive.

4. Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Hechicero vs. Atlantis & Star Jr.

Yeah! Loving that Hechicero is in CMLL now. Good pick up for them. Never seen Star Jr. before and this didn't really inspire me to rush out and watch more. He blows a moonsault twice, slipping off the ropes, but still goes through with it eventually. Hechicero was good bumping around for Atlantis and hitting a weird chickenwing backbreaker thing on Star. This was like 2 minutes though.

5. Rush & Dragon Lee vs. Shocker & Herodes Jr.

Rush throws one of the meatier chops in the biz, and I loved the segment with Herodes saving Shocker from a pin, only for Rush to slowly stand up like "Okay, okay" and then chop, headbutt and facekick the hell out of Herodes. And then he bumps big and manly for Shocker, to give back to the people. Herodes has a cool double planted kneedrop. Rush blasts Herodes with his corner dropkick (which makes Rachel sit up and take notice) and then just spikes him with basically a pedigree piledriver. Can't remember the last time I saw a piledriver in lucha. Shocker boots Rush in the balls for good measure. This was probably the best of the GA tourney.

6. Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Hechicero vs. Mr. Niebla & Barbaro Cavernario

Barbaro takes a lightning fast bump to the floor off a UG clothesline, Hechicero throws some nice body shots to Niebla, Barbaro hits a wild tope and Niebla hits a fucking moonsault off the top!!! When was the last time Niebla busted this much ass? Killer spot back in the ring as Niebla vaults Hechicero over his shoulders to get met with a Barbaro missile dropkick. Dayum.

7. Mr. Niebla & Barbaro Cavernario vs. Shocker & Herodes Jr.

How did I know it would come down to caveman on caveman violence? You guys will never get taken seriously by the learned class of homo erectus if you just keep eating your own young like this. This card is the most ass I've seen Niebla bust in a couple years, blasting Shocker with chops and hitting a nice tope. He slams Herodes on the floor and Barbaro gets the holy shit spot of the night by hitting a freaking giant splash from the top turnbuckle to the floor. Holy lord. Gotta say I dug the caveman tag on this card.


Alright Cubs you're crazy, this was the WAYYYY better Gran Alternativa lineup. Out of the 14 total GA matches I'd say 6 of these would be in the top 7 overall. It's not even close. This was actually a fun show that went by quick. That first night was an absolutely brutal slog that ruined my day. You need to explain yourself buddy.

Read more!