Lucha Worth Watching: Your 2017 CMLL Midcard

Virus/Disturbio/Okumura vs. Pegasso/Soberano Jr./Fuego (CMLL 2/3/17)

ER: We get more of 2017 tecnico superstar Soberano. He's really connecting with the Arena Mexico crowd, and it's always exciting when a crowd starts really reacting to a wrestler, the excitement in a worker's movements when he's getting loud reactions are palpable. Here he gets to show off a lot of flash, and also shows his bump freak side. The bump freak side is my favorite side of his, with him flying recklessly to the floor in the primera off a bull rush shoulderblock from Virus, taking an Okumura lariat on the side of his head, taking a hip toss from the ring to the rampway, and the bumps all lead to bigger reactions on his comebacks. Rudos really take a back seat to tecnicos here, with all three just trying (and succeeding) in drawing heat from the crowd verbally instead of just hogging all the offense. I mean, Virus is always going to look good, but here he hangs back, mostly keeping his offense to simple things (big shoulderblock, sharp elbow drop to the "lower abdomen", big lariat). The finish gets wild with Pegasso hitting a tornillo, Fuego hitting a missile dropkick followed immediately by a springboard missile dropkick, then pins Virus with a cool crucifix variation. Soberano clears the ring with a springboard rana, hits a smooth as hell tornillo off the top, and a moonsault off the middle onto a hanging Okumura wraps it up, crowd flipping their lid the whole time. Fun stuff.

Hechicero/Sagrado/Misterioso Jr. vs. The Panther/Guerrero Maya Jr./Blue Panther Jr. (CMLL 11/17/17)

ER: I really like this rudo team, they same to show up fairly regularly together and they all mesh nicely. They're good at being jerks and bullies, and they're good at allowing openings for any tecnicos that want to grab them. The rudo antics in this one are as good as expected, like The Panther sending Misterioso to the floor with a rana, so Misterioso responds angrily yanking Maya off the apron and then chucking Kemonito into the front row. Just as Stan Hansen turns a pinfall save into an opportunity to beat the hell out of the guy pinning his partner, I love and appreciate how Misterioso took out frustrations on the other team. We get some big bad triple teams too, like Hechicero doing his weird inverted monkey flip to Panther while Sagrado and Misterioso dish kicks on the way down. The tecnicos get some big dives and get to show some stones, like when Hechicero hits his cool moonsault to the floor, and he then gets jumped on the floor by the other two opponents. You don't normally see that from a tecnico team. Guerrero Maya peaks things with an insane tope con giro that sends him flying into the second row, The Panther keeps getting better, and these rudos know how to get an Arena Mexico reaction, and I love when these midcard acts go out of their way to get noticed on a nostalgia show.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Soberano Jr. + Bonus Negro Casas

1. Soberano Jr./Guerrero Maya Jr./Fuego vs. Felino/Ephesto/Luciferno (CMLL 8/8/17)

ER: Hot Arena Mexico trios where Soberano comes off like a star and Felino has one of those matches where it's suddenly 1997 again. You never know when Felino is going to have one of those memory lapses and slip back into actual awesome worker, but it happens a couple times a year and it's always awesome when it does. Felino was rudo extraordinaire here, showing off by working super fast armdrag sequences with Soberano, showing him up by doing fancier forward rolls, handsprings and rope running tricks, then turning mean and dropkicking him low, stomping him out with his buddies, and sticking him with a powerbomb off the turnbuckles. I have no idea what motivates Felino at this point, but when he shows up, he still shows up. Fuego and Maya hang back more but still get nice moments, Fuego ends the segunda with a trippy little roll up, Maya hits a fast and accurate tope, but the fans are going ape for the Soberano/Felino interactions. Tercera is when Soberano breaks out, flinging Luciferno with a cool slingshot armdrag on the ramp, hitting his Fosbury Flop on Felino. This whole thing is kept simple and everybody works quick. You get smooth work from the tecnicos and classic rudo misdirection worked at actual non-lazy speed, and the fans love it all. I love a hot lucha crowd more than most things in wrestling, and this was a crowd pleaser.

2. Negro Casas/Barbaro Cavenario/Ultimo Guerrero vs. Rush/Valiente/Mistico (CMLL 8/8/17)

ER: You know Casas wasn't going to get shown up by his brother on a hot Arena Mexico card! All of La Peste Negra were busting butt tonight, with Felino turning in his performance of the year, Niebla turning in his most spirited performance I've seen from him this year in the next match, and then Casas turning in a typical great Casas act in the main. The teams are all weird because Rush is on the tecnicos but and Casas is on the rudos, but the stuff between them is gold, peaking with Casas throwing tons of stiff kicks in the corner on Rush. Not long after Rush gets Casas prone in the corner, stops short on the dropkick, waits for Casas to peak out from his fingers, then pops him in the cheek with the toe of his boot. What a jerk. Valiente takes some big spills and works the match essentially nude (his tiny trunks are like awful early 80s bodybuilder Kevin Sullivan levels of yuck), UG acts as a great base for Mistico, Barbaro turns in a wonderfully hammy performance, and the best part of his ham is when it turns suddenly violent, like in the tercera where he catches a Casas Thesz press off the apron and powerbombs him into the ringpost. I don't know what got into the crowd tonight, not sure if a hot crowd made the workers all kick it up a notch, or the hot workers got the crowd going bananas, but this was one of those Arena Mexico night where everything clicked.

3. Barbaro Cavernario vs. Soberano Jr. (CMLL 8/25/17)

ER: Two wild and crazy guys pulling out all the stops in a 10 minute lightning match? Yes, please. The first 6 minutes of this are a total Barbaro mugging, setting the tone right out the gates as he bullies Soberano around the ring with his chin. There's something awkwardly intimidating about him just jamming chin into jawbone and shoving a guy around the ring with it. But Barbaro is totally coconuts and hits this flat out amazing tornillo through the ropes, I mean just a crazy spot for a bulky guy to do. Soberano takes a mammoth back body drop on the floor and the beating continues, with Barbaro hitting some double stomps and a big reverse springboard splash. Even Zacarias hits a 619 (a 55?). Soberano comes back when Barbaro misses a splash on the rampway, and Soberano superkicks him down the ramp (with a big spit take from Barbaro). Soberano - as you might expect - hits a bonkers tornillo off the top of the entrance way, does one of his effortless double springboard ranas back in the ring, and follows that up with a gorgeous Fosbury flop dive to the floor. Crazy. We get some nice nearfalls and reversals: another tornillo crossbody from Soberano; a vicious package vertical suplex by Barbaro that whips Soberano into the mat; a long, uncomfortable slow zoom shot of Zacarias plaintively looking at the action; a super dangerous looking crucifix bomb gets reversed into a rana by Soberano, and then reversed convincingly into a nice roll up nearfall by Barbaro. Sadly the finish features a vintage Tirantes fuck up (seriously get this guy the hell out of CMLL), as Barbaro goes to dropkick Soberano off the top and gets stuck with a powerbomb, which Barbaro clearly kicks out of. Tirantes calls it the finish, even though the two continue with the actual finish. Ugly stuff, all because of one doofus. But this was the best lightning match in a year or so, and not just for the nutso spots. Barbaro was gluing things together nicely and not just moving from spot to spot. Every pin saw him lay a hard fist or forearm across Soberano's jaw, he moved him into position with big strikes and kicks to the back of the head. This wasn't just guys putting on an exhibition, this stuff had meat.

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MLJ: Dragon Lee vs Virus/Casas 7: Dragon Lee, Fuego, Valiente vs Ephesto, Mephisto, Virus

Aired: 2014-12-06
Taped 2014-12-02 @ Arena México
Dragon Lee, Fuego, Valiente vs Ephesto, Mephisto, Virus

More set up to the Lightweight title match the following week. Valiente and Fuego are both guys who I think shine most in trios matches where they can play a role. I'd rather see Mephisto in a trios match than in a singles match too, certainly. I actually don't have a great sense of Ephesto. Let me go take a look at wiki:

I like that his first persona was based on Blue Panther having trained him. Geez. He's 50? How old is Mephisto? Mephisto is 46. Ok then. Anyway, Ephesto debuted in 1982 according to this. That's nuts. Blue Panther's only a few years older than him anyway. Ah, he was Safari. I don't think I actually knew that. I mean, I did but I forgot at some point. Then he followed the Lucifierno path of being Hombre Sin Nombre for a while before CMLL let the fans come up with a new name for him (being after Hephaestus). That sounds like CMLL. As an aside, I miss Averno, especially given how little Rey Escporion had been used before the Guerrero feud started. They need more rudos who are really rudo and not cool heels or whatever.

On to the match: on paper, I think this should have been good. Some solid flyers/spot guys with personality on the tecnico side, competent beatdown rudos who can eat offense and were anchored by Virus on the other side, a title program shaping up for the following week. Etc. For the most part, I'd say it delivered for what it was trying to do.

Pairings to begin were Mephisto and Valiente, Fuego and Ephesto, and Dragon Lee and Virus (they didn't delay that too much). Lots of methodological and competent matwork to begin. I think it was a conscious pacing decision as the build was for Dragon Lee vs Virus. Once they got to it, the pace picked up and the crowd got into things, only for a Mephisto cheapshot from the outside to cut things off right when it was getting exciting. They did a good job of taking the fight out of Lee here, but the swarm on the tecnicos was a bit too delayed. Usually that happens right on time and we don't get a half minute of them looking like idiots on the apron. Here we did. I kind of like how Ephesto just uses a shoulder-breaker, by the way. It's refreshing, especially in a match with the frigging Valiente Driver.

The beatdown flowed into the segunda. There was a moment early on where Mephisto seemed to be going into business for himself on Dragon Lee's mask and Virus made sure to come over and join in to keep the focus where it should have been. This was a fun diversion of a beatdown because it played more into a traditional FIP. The tecnicos ended up back on the apron and they kept one rudo in at a time for the most part. They even played some southern tag tricks with the tecnicos being held back by the ref which allowed illegal changes by the rudos. So long as there aren't three rudos in the ring, I think this does work in lucha. Usually it doesn't pay off well and after a few minutes of it they just let the tecnico out of the ring anyway, but here that didn't happen. Instead, Dragon Lee did his usual handspring off the ropes/heel miscommunication comeback and the tecnicos ran in. Lee hit his big dive here but then Fuego slid out of the ring for no reason in the world except for to have Ephesto hit a dive on him and set up Valiente beating Mephisto. Blatantly bad wrestling there, but it was just a blip in the stream, really.

The tercera was mainly a reset, lots of action, and then a focus on Virus vs Dragon Lee. It's a great pairing, surely less dynamic than Dragon Lee vs Kamaitachi but with enough familiarity by this point that they were able to switch up things (kicks, for instance), and in some ways I like it more as there's more of a contrast. Fuego and Valiented played their roles well, including Fuego dancing about and Valiente hitting the fireplug tope. Virus locked in this awesome submission on Fuego:

and said tope took out Mephisto to leave things as Virus vs Dragon Lee. Lee was challenging the following week, so he had to take the win here, and he did after a pretty good exchange: check out this roll-up counter spot for instance,

Anyway, this was good stuff with just a few iffy moments and I'm looking forward to seeing the title match.

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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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MLJ: Dragon Lee vs Virus/Casas 3: Dragon Lee, Fuego, Oro Jr. vs Metálico, Skándalo, Virus

Aired: 2014-07-27
Taped: 2014-07-27 @ Arena Coliseo
Dragon Lee, Fuego, Oro Jr. vs Metálico, Skándalo, Virus


Dragon Lee, Fuego, Oro Jr. vs Metálico... by thecubsfan

Well, this is match that Dragon Lee and Virus just happen to be in. Most Trios matches have some sort of singles focus, some issue. Sometimes there are multiple issues. Sometimes the issue really is one faction and another. A lot of times, though, like I said, a single focus. In those matches, the other wrestlers play their roles. Sometimes, they get to shine; sometimes they shine too much. Sometimes, like in this match, I wish they had a chance to shine some more.

The issue here is Metalico vs Oro, Jr. I've seen Metalico as a tecnico; he was rudo here (more on that in a second). I've never seen Oro, Jr. but he comes from a big wrestling family. He was 21 or so here, I think. Both he and Metalico had just been in the Busca cibernetico a month or so before, but neither had made it far. That's where the issue came from. Oro had apparently hurt Metlicao on a dive and after coming back, Metalico teamed with him but had fell to some miscommunication and he had gone rudo over it.

I don't remember a whole lot about Metalico as a tecnico. He's been wrestling for twenty some-odd years so the experience level difference between the two is severe. This was, as far as I can tell, his first time as a rudo though and he relished in the role. Maybe it was because he was hanging out with Skandalo but he was opportunistic, gloating, and downright scummy as a rudo here. He seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit.

He had plenty of time to enjoy himself too. The first 2/3 of the match was a beatdown. Oro had charged up the ramp as Metalico came out and got himself clocked for his trouble. The rudos didn't look back. Once they got Oro into the ring, they knocked the other tecnicos off the apron and started on him. It was one move after the next with a lot of stomping, kicking, and mask-ripping in between. Oro did a pretty good job as a sympathetic face in peril, actually. Given the nature of trios matches with far more cycling in and out of the participants, you rarely get to see a tecnico just sell for so long in that role. The rudos looked good in the beatdown too, but there was, maybe, as always, a bit too much Skandalo groin based offense; here he seemed to get everyone involved, focusing more on the set ups. The best of that was him putting Oro in Shattered Dreams position so Metalico could come flying in with a knee. Shortly thereafter, they tossed Oro out and obliterated the other tecnicos for a minute or two, ending with a Virus submission on Dragon Lee and a Curtain Call by Metalico on Oro. Between falls, Oro ended up with a new mask since his was so tattered by the violence.

Two fun moments from the beatdown (now having gone into the segunda). One: This match had no commentary so we could hear the fans better than usual. One guy, and only one guy, was chanting Virus and Skandalo pumped his arm along with it from the apron which was amusing. Shortly thereafter, Metalico walked around the apron to stomp on Dragon Lee and actually tripped over him, which popped the crowd. He followed up on this with either feigned or actual fury and it fit into the character he was playing well.

Anyway, I was actually really digging the match at this point. I like opening technical exchanges as much as the next guy and I think for a while CMLL was really overdoing the ambush/beatdown start for matches (and this match might have been from around that time actually), but there is a good emotional hook to it, especially when there's an actual issue and even more so when there's one tecnico getting beat on. That said, the comeback has to live up to it and I don't think this one did. Oro got beat up some more but eventually got free enough to run out of the ring. Virus gave chase (and why I'm not sure since usually they'd just let another tecnico come in), ran into an apron rana from Dragon Lee, and the comeback was on. Oro was able to get some revenge, even starting to undo Metalico's mask while his partners ran interference, but it wasn't all that heated.

It needed to be more heated too, especially because Metalico was going to squirm away with the victory. He utilized a ref distraction (due to Virus) and tossed his mask at Oro. The ref saw it and the rudos took the win. Dragon Lee didn't really show me much here, but I think I'm going to go and watch the Oro vs Metalico apuestas match that this was building to. I was intrigued enough for that. This is already going to be a 20+ match project. What's one more completely unrelated match right?

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CMLL Worth Watching 2/6/15 & 3/22/15

Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia & Niebla Roja vs. Mistico, Volador Jr. & Valiente (2/6/15)

Fun quick and dirty spotfest. Ultimo has been so much fun ever since losing his mask. I love when guys get a new lease on life like that. I love how the match starts with Volador taking the Sombra bump asshole over elbow into the crowd, then Ultimo high jumping the barrier to crash into the recovering Volador. Rudos mostly set up nice spots for the tecnicos in this. Volador actually looked much better here than usual. Roja was doing the lord's work catching some Mistico ranas and making them look good. Euforia is always an admirable bumper. Valiente has one of those matches every several months where he just has no balance, and that was this match. Poor guy. Everybody else looked about as on point as possible, and he fell a couple times and seemed rattled. Nice recovery though for the big finish as the Valiente Especial looked wonderful. This is 3 falls in well under 15 minutes, and as lucha junkfood it worked just fine.

Virus, Okumura & Bobby Zavala vs. Dragon Lee, Pegasso & Fuego (3/22/15)

You see that team of tecnicos and instantly think "those are three guys I like watching opposite Virus"  and that is not only accurate, but fun. I would have liked to see him opposite Pegasso more, as they don't seem to pair off that much. But Virus/Lee is a guarantee win and he usually brings some extra spice out of Fuego. Bobby Zavala is a unique presence who never really gets talked about, but he feels like he has Rush breakout rudo potential. He always has the false modesty to him, a real "who, me??" face. He plays to the crowd using some old Hector Garza tactics and that attitude has been missing from CMLL. Okumura works really nicely with Pegasso here, taking some complicated armdrags and flinging himself into the barricade off a rana from the apron. We get some big dives, and while you know these same six guys could have an epic match, they weren't given the time to do so, but still had a fun one. Come for the opening Virus/Fuego matwork, stay for the rest!

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CMLL Worth Watching 10/12/14, 12/26/14 & 1/4/15

1. Welterweight Cibernetico, feat. Rey Cometa, Fuego, Mascara Dorada, Negro Casas, Kamaitachi, Titan, Sangre Azteca, Triton, Delta, & Polvora (12/26/14)

When I first got into lucha it was ciberneticos and Rey/Psicosis matches that broke me in. And then once I discovered lucha brawling I lost interest in ciberneticos. When I started watching lucha I went in not understanding its complexities, went in assuming like it would be like a never-ending WCW Saturday Night spotfest. I didn't realize at the time what a low bar I was setting, and just how deeply I would come to accept lucha into my life. Ciberneticos just became a waste to me, as it was mostly guys rushing through spots with no sort of character, and fairly quickly I learned that lucha was much better as a character piece than as a spotfest. But obviously there can still be some tremendous spots and occasionally you still get a cibernetico such as this one with tons of fun stuff. Cometa and Fuego really shined in this one, with each hitting some nutso dives (gotta compete with the televised craziness of Lucha Underground after all), but Cometa here seemed more fired up than I've seen from him in over a year (that middle rope tornillo is so cool!) and had a nice snap to everything he did, Dorada took some major bumps, Fuego finally looked like the guy that people have been pimping him to me as, Sangre Azteca is dressed like Michael Jackson in The Wiz, and I *love* when Casas gets in a match like this with some younger guys and shows he can run circles around all of them. Casas in these kind of showcases brings out something else entirely in him, as everybody seems nervous about hitting their spots while he just seems like it isn't even a job to him, always smiling big and having a ball. Kamaitachi always misses stuff with gusto and I loved Casas grabbing ahold of him and dismantling his leg. Very fun, well worth the time.

2. Astral vs. Electrico (10/12/14)

Well hey these guys went out and had a nice little match! I can't recall the last minis singles match I really enjoyed but who cares because this was real good. Really I liked all of this, with the opening mat stuff being nice and snug, great headlock takeovers, nice Indian deathlock variations applied nice and quick, Electrico's caida-winning submission was a thing of beauty. The nutsy dives start in the second and we really get a couple of doozies, with an Astral bump around the ringpost leading to an Electrico dive out the corner, and later on we get a huge double springboard Astral tornillo. There was too much cool stuff in here to list it all, but these two really clicked something good.

3. Hechicero, Hombre Sin Nombre & Sagrado vs. Guerrero Maya Jr., Dragon Lee & The Panther (1/4/15) 

New year, and some new blood starts showing up on TV! Hombre sin Nombre is Hooligan this go 'round (not really sure the need to stop being Hooligan, but whatevs) and The Panther is the former Cachorro. Salgado works so much better as a rudo, it's not even funny. We've been putting up with this butthole's bad tecnico routine for a fucking decade now, watching him botch spots and have no clue where to be in the ring. Here he's a bully who makes it his match-long goal to target Lee and it's great. He doesn't even seem to care about winning, just wants to beat down Lee. Hechicero gets to run the joint in there and him matching up against Maya is a blast. Maya himself had a wonderful showing, culminating in him hitting an absolute bonkers flip dive through the ropes on Hechicero, hitting way high up on Hechicero's face/chest, bending him over the barrier and sending himself into the front row. Crowd really responds to Hechicero which is exciting. He has an effortless way about him, and always surprises me by doing things I don't expect out of sequences, like breaking out a springboard dropkick in the middle of a rope running spot. This whole match was tons of fun.

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2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

8. Kraneo, Morphosis & Olimpico v. Blue Panther, Fuego & Super Porky CMLL 1/11

ER: I didn't go into this expecting much, even though I always love Kraneo and Panther. But then every single guy in this match wrestles like they have something to prove, nobody dogs it, and all of it works. Panther and Olimpico tangle to start and I really love their matwork together, both are quick and very familiar with each other, but it managed to look smooth and graceful while never feeling rehearsed. The whole rudo team busts ass the whole time, like they had a running bet to see who could work harder. This was the best Morphosis has looked in over a year, really throwing everything he had into bumps, being the perfect base for Fuego and breaking out a couple awesome pendulum arm drags. Kraneo matches up a lot with Porky and this was also the hardest I've seen Porky work since probably the Escorpion feud over a year ago. He actually seems like he is actually trying to run, he leaves his feet a LOT which is rare for him, and he and Kraneo start by just trying to dislocate each other's shoulder with some huge shoulder blocks. Both guys really slam into each other and Kraneo is a master of making Porky look great. Kraneo bumps like a maniac through all of this, getting super height on a back drop from Porky (and truthfully bumping a little too freely for Fuego). Even Kemonito gets in on the action with some of his best stuff in ages, coming in and potatoing Mije a bunch in the eye socket and hitting a great low (high?) dropkick. It's great seeing just a random trios with a tossed together team, where everybody just decides to go for broke. It's one of those little lucha mysteries, but it's so wonderful when it happens.

PAS: I enjoyed the hell out of this too, I had completely forgotten that Morphosis existed (apparently he is the ex-Histeria), and really haven't enjoyed a Olimpico match this much since the 90's, but both guys ruled. Olimpico used to be a mat guy, and he and Panther have a throwback thursday exchange or two. The Porky v. Kraneo sumo section was probably the highlight, but this had a bunch of fun stuff. Porky wasn't doing comedy at all, he was just rumbling, including doing an apron dive, which is still crazy looking. I love trying hard Porky, last time I remember it was when he and Rey Escorpion were trying to punch each others eyes out, so it is weird to see it show up in a random trios. They should just set up him taking Kraneo's mask at an Anniversary show. Maybe I need to be watch all the Invasors matches

2015 MASTER LIST

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CMLL Worth Watching 9/21/14

1. Mercurio, Pierrothito & Pequeno Olimpico vs. Electrico, Ultimo Dragoncito & Stukita (9/21/14)

Fun little match even though the caidas ended in fairly disappointing ways. Still this was a real nice Mercurio showcase as he's arguably the best bumping rudo mini, here he takes a nice back splat bump to the floor, Chris Masters style, and then a great Halloween bump later on. He also shows a lot more personality than most minis, and he with Pierrothito is a rudo mini powerhouse. Stukita is a bit too tiny to buy as any sort of threat, and really the tecnicos are missing somebody with more fluidity, such as Bam Bam. Electric has a couple nice springboard moves and Dragoncito whips around quickly on a Santo roll up, but Mercurio was where it's at in this one.

2. Kamaitachi, Bobby Zavala & Okumura vs. Fuego, Pegasso & Hombre Bala Jr. (9/21/14)

Daaaaamn this was a fun little spotfest! Constant fast exchanges and no down time, all fast action with cool little moments. Kamaitachi is back to being my little replacement Namajague. He looked good throughout from his bigger spots to little mat things like he and Fuego going to the mat and Kamaitachi doing a cool shoulder shrug to buck him off. Zavala also looked killer throughout as he bumped all over for the flippy offense and had a couple great stooge moments, and a real fun bump where he took a back bump and then scooted on his back to safety, but scooted too far and went right out the ring with a back bump to the floor. Hombre Bala had some nice flying including a wild tope en reversa from the top to the floor, Pegasso is always a fun guy to have pop up on TV and his flying is even better with a base like Zavala. Fun stuff that didn't even really feel like a "CMLL" match, would have fit nicely on Lucha Underground.

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CMLL Workrate Round-Up 8/3/14 & 11/14/14

1. Metalico, Virus & Bobby Zavala vs. Rey Cometa, Fuego & Oro Jr. (8/3/14)

More awesome from this little feud that I didn't see anybody talking about. It is very possible I'm just reading the wrong places. But ever since a couple weeks ago when I first noticed Memphis heel Metalico tearing apart Oro Jr., and have since seen two more of their trios, it has become the thing I most look forward to in wrestling. So far, yes, the feud has been one-sided, with Metalico punching his way into my heart. Looking back, even though the tecnicos took the 2nd and 3rd, this match was 90% rudos. The segunda was won by DQ, and the comeback in the tercera didn't happen until late. Up until that point it was Metalico taking out all his frustrations on poor Oro Jr., which meant Oro taking tons of Metalico's cool hooking southpaw lariats, tons of punches to the temple, tons of forearms scraped across his eyes, and tons of getting yanked rudely around by his mask. Virus and Zavala kind of purposely took a backseat to Metalico beating down Oro. At one point I was begging Oro to fight back! Virus and Zavala would keep the other two at bay, and those two are guys I'm always entertained by when they're being dick heels. Virus has a great moment scraping and yanking Cometa's finger crotch over the ropes. Jesus Virus is taking torture to paper cut tantamount levels. Oro Jr. is kind of like a tecnico Stevie Richards, as he bumps big but has basically zero offense. So his big comeback in the tercera falls somewhat flat as he sorta hits Metalico with meek little kicks, but it was still satisfying seeing him rip Metalico's mask right back. Two weeks ago Metalico was just one of those guys who I had seen a bunch but barely registered with me. Now he's a guy I'm actively seeking out. Funny how these things work. Watch this feud now!

2. Silueta vs. Zeuxis (8/3/14)

Another good match for these two. It got a lot of time and I think they filled it pretty admirably. The tercera went probably a little too long, but overall I liked this. The primera especially was fun as they do some cool mat stuff and standing exchanges that doesn't usually happen in the women's matches. Silueta grapevines the leg of a standing Zeuxis and kicks out her other knee, felt like William Regal with a prettier face. They throw out some pretty big things in this, with Zeuxis doing a nice Spanish Fly and a great moonsault to the floor, wiping out both seconds (Halcon and Super Comando). Silueta has a nice rana roll up and manages to do the "opponent trapped in ropes while I dropkick them from the top" spot without making it look too absurd. Crowd was really hot throughout the whole tercera so they were doing something right, even if I thought it had too many near fall exchanges. Crowd was into every one of them.

3. Mephisto, Kamaitachi & Ephesto vs. Titan, Valiente & Angel de Oro (11/14/14)

Really fun sprint with a nice spirited Mephisto performance, and one of Titan's best showings of the year. Angel de Oro continues to look sorta clunky but it was easy to just watch all the other guys do their thing. I'm really starting to love rudos cutting off Titan. Last week we watched Terrible punch him right in the face after a handspring floor routine, and now he somersaults onto the rampway from the ring, turns around to run back and runs right into a mean Ephesto clothesline. Mephisto was really great at cutting guys off all match, catching all the flying offense and even hitting a great dive. Ephesto also hit a nice big chubster dive. Kamaitachi continues being a blast, love his high jump dropkick from the ramp. Everything was worked super fast and didn't have any time to get bad.

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CMLL Workrate Round-Up 7/20/14 & 7/27/14

1. Terrible, Vangellys & Rey Bucanero vs. Rey Cometa, Angel de Oro & Titan (7/20/14)

Well hey this was good! Motivated Terrible is a great thing, especially when he's blindsiding floppers. Here he's after Titan and it's glorious. In one of my favorite wrestling spots of the year Titan tags in, slingshots over the ropes and begins hand springing his way across the ring and finishes doing a dorky bow and arrow mime, and Terrible just runs over and throws a brutal left hook, flooring Titan. Awesome spot. This match is full of rudos dropkicking tecnicos right in the middle of dangerous looking moves. Oro and Cometa both do moonsaults at different points and get kicked in the stomach right in the middle of them, which if you think about the physics basically stops their momentum and dumps them on their heads. Vangellys dropkicking Cometa during an Asai moonsault was an especially nasty moment. Bucanero doesn't always show up but he was game here, and aside from throwing shots at the floppers (oh god including powerbombing Cometa right into the freaking ring post) he also took a hilarious bump off a Cometa rana from the apron, making sure to somersault his way towards a couple bosomy ladies in the front row, and then recovering whilst draped over their laps. But this match was the Terrible show, and when he's on he's on. Here he took a bunch of bumps from big springboard offense, and then dished it right back including ending the Segunda by catching a springboard rana into an brutal powerbomb. Awesome stuff in this.

2. Rush, Maximo & Marco Corleone vs. Mr. Niebla, Euforia & Niebla Roja (7/20/14)

What an odd match. I actually had to check the date to make sure LATV wasn't just showing an old match, but no this match actually happened in 2014. What was so weird was everybody worked it as if it were 2012. Rush was working tecnico with Maximo and Corleone as if he hadn't been a total dickbag the entire last year (although the onscreen graphics kept referring to them as rudos). But it wasn't just Rush, as Niebla was also doing little things he hasn't done since 2012, most notably not dressing like a total asshole and just wearing his old Niebla gear, not doing a stupid spit spot, Zacharias was getting involved in the match (and really he's just been sitting at ringside for the last 1-2 years), Niebla also broke out his fun face first apron bump that I haven't seen him do in a couple years, and also the Harley Race "feet caught on bottom ropes" headfirst bump to the floor. This time the Race bump had a fun twist as while he was hung up in the ropes Zacharias was tossed onto him sending both of them crashing to the floor. Euforia seems to match up really well with Marco's big left hands, and he ran into a few great ones here. Maximo also had a spry performance, tossing out some cool armdrag variations and working some nice sequences with Niebla. And there Rush is the whole match, working a weird turn back the clock gimmick. This whole match was seriously bizarre.

3. Metalico, Virus & Skandalo vs. Dragon Lee, Oro Jr. & Fuego (7/27/14)

Fun straight falls match with more of Metalico taking out all of his life's aggressions on Oro Jr. Oro bumps even bigger in this one than their showdown the week before. Even before the match starts Oro is waiting in the aisle for Metalico, which immediately backfires as Metalico sidesteps him, hits a great kneelift, and then tosses Oro into the ring post. Oro takes a really awesome Lawler style bump into the post. Oro takes another big beating from all the rudos here, with Metalico being the standout again as the vicious asskicker. The segunda sees the big tecnico comeback with all of them hitting big dives, Lee getting a big flip dive and a nice rana off the apron, and Oro about to exact his revenge when Metalico unmasks himself and gets the DQ win. I'm really liking this feud as it's really done a great job of making two guys stand out who I have never really giving second thoughts to. The fact I'm looking forward to more Metalico and Oro Jr. stuff really says something.

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MLJ: Review 100~!: Delta, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Hechicero, Hombre sin Nombre, Virus

Aired 2014-11-22
taped 2014-11-11 @ Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
Delta, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Hechicero, Hombre sin Nombre, Virus

So, I did the math clumsily, and this looks to be my 100th MLJ review. I'm not sure I've ever done a hundred of anything so we'll call this a milestone. If I make it to 300, then I'll thank the academy and everyone else. For now, I'll just thank Phil and Eric for giving me the platform. It's only been a little more than half a year but I do feel like I've made some progress here. I'm going to take a break from Cavernario today to hit a request from PWO's Pol. I'm not entirely sure it was a request so much as a demand and one that was more or less rescinded later, but hey, I say it's a reader appreciation day, so what the hell.

This was a mid-card match on a Tuesday show in Guadalajara. Despite that, it was given a ton of time and aired in full (without intros). Despite what I usually write, there isn't just one sort of lucha libre match that I think is good. I know I focus a lot on the ebb and the flow, the build and the payoff, the heat and the comeback. When a match has that and it's good, I generally think the match is good even when other things like execution are iffy. When a match tries for that and fails, even the best execution or "action" in the world won't make up for the fact that they failed at the central bit of narrative that they were attempting. When a match doesn't really attempt it, however, and instead, goes for something else, then it's not entirely fair to judge it on what it's not. Usually that's not an issue as most lucha libre matches I watch happen to go for it. It's a very primal format.

This match, really didn't. I'm not entirely sure if that was by design or how it just worked out. instead there was a bit more of a believable "real sports" feel. It wasn't "your spot, my spot" by any means. There was, however, a sense of struggle throughout that prevented either side from holding the advantage for long. Generally, that'll lead to a weaker match but here it was worked strongly enough that it came out as enjoyable. It's a 25 minute match that really does breeze by to watch.

That's especially true for the first fifteen minutes or so, which was how long the primera had. This felt like a title match as both Virus and Hechicero had plenty of time to do what they do so well. I'll be honest in that I haven't seen much Hechicero. I'm trying to rectify my lack of Cavernario and I can pretty much assure you that Hechicero will be next. He was probably even more of a priority. While I keep an eye on what's going on currently, it's just an eye. I do a lot of doubling back either by a few months or a few years in this project and sometimes things fall behind. This year's Busca was one. I guess I felt like I wanted to get more grounding first. Hechicero's great, though. That's not a surprise to anyone.

Virus had Guerrero Maya to begin and they did a good job. I liked how GM would lock on a headlock early and then, as the matwork went on, go to more complex things as he tried to keep up. Virus is such a master of leverage and positioning. He's also great at making things look not necessarily smooth, but instead realistically competitive. Any sort of flub or hesitation or delay from his opponent, he is able to work into what he's doing. That's a singular talent. What I liked best about what GM brought was the pressure he'd apply to holds. He'd lock his knee in and push down just right to make an armbar look better, or punch the knee repeatedly in a hold. I'd say he kept up but didn't wow me.

There was something more arcane about the Hechicero/Delta pairing. I'm not sure if I would call it more high-end matwork, but I did think Delta kept up better and Hechicero certainly went for flashier and more complex holds. While Virus held a slight advantage storywise in his exchange, Delta had it here and I couldn't really tell how much of what impressed me was him or if it was just Hechicero being so expert at maneuvering himself into the right position. Hechicero finally ended it with a nasty pumphandle backbreaker.

Fuego and Hombre Sin Hombre didn't show me nearly as much on the mat. Fuego's obviously incredibly agile but he's made for fast-paced exchanges. HsN, so far as I remember, is the former Hooligan, and while I thought he brought a certain level of physicality and force, they only went a minute or two before he was knocked out of the ring. Fuego did a cutesy little flip instead of a dive and Virus came in, smashing him from behind and twisting him into a knot. Then he clobbered GM with an awesome short clothesline and let Hechicero twist in on a slingshot and snake around him for a submission. It was a very enjoyable, showy primera.

The Segunda was disjointed compared to what I usually watch but again, not in a necessarily bad way. Virus leaned in on Fuego to begin with some very compelling leg work. Eventually, Fuego made it to the ropes off of a submission, but it didn't feel like a hot tag, as in the next pairing, Hechicero mostly kept the advantage over GM, at least until he went for another slingshot in and missed. Instead of straight heat and comeback here, it did feel like a closely contested bout with GM slowly taking the advantage. Hechicero has some really great offense. Eventually though, it gave way to Delta and HsN and Delta pressed that advantage. It felt like a shine until he ended up trapped in a Styles clash and pinned. Virus made it in only to be submitted by GM quickly. It's actually a little bit amazing to me how rare I see split pins in any caida of a trios match. Usually when I have seen them they've been on lower card matches outside of Arena Mexico. I wonder if that's a trend and I just don't see more of the first or second matches on cards. The caida ended with Hechicero bumping himself into the top rope via a missed dropkick and Fuego rolling him up. It was good action and I think it did work within the confines of what they were going for because of that.

The tercera was more of a fun showcase. Virus had a fun exchange with Delta, at the end of which, he laughed, seeming delighted by Delta's spunk. Hechicero had an equally fun one with GM. He's exceptionally skilled at latching onto a limb and moving his opponent where he needs him to be. Fuego finally got to show off his speed and agility a bit. They ran a few interesting synchronized spots with sunset flips and 'ranas and at least one tope suicida was hit. Virus fell to a nice Delta Reienera and the match ended with Hechicero hitting GM with one huge corner powerbomb and trying for another, only to get sunset flipped for three.

It's a match well worth watching and I wouldn't be surprised to see it end up somewhere on the SC list. When you give an expert or two a lot of time to do what they do best, good things happen. Thanks to Pol for pointing it out and to cubsfan for posting it (as always). And thanks to everyone who's been reading. I don't get a ton of feedback, but if there is ever anything that someone wants me to check out or thinks that I should, I'll fit it in.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 7/20/14

And now one week later we flash back forward to shows from June. These matches were from the 6/15 Arena Mexico show. So the only real consistency with these LATV shows are that they're showing 2014 CMLL shows that took place on Sunday (whether that be at Coliseo or Arena Mexico). I won't complain too much as I like Kraneo showing up on my TV as often as possible, and him showing up on LATV means his match won't be edited.

1. Blue Panther, Stuka Jr. & Sagrado vs. Kraneo, Olimpico & Morphosis

Really good stuff and some match ups you don't see that often. This is a pretty fantastic Kraneo showcase that sees him do all sorts of cool stuff. Not just the nice bumps, but he's really good at incorporating his size into matches, without becoming some unwieldy object that people just have to work around. He brings a cool power element to things, completely obliterating people with shoulderblocks, first in the corner, other times using them to cut out offense out of nowhere. It's a cool element to bring when a tecnico is setting up a dive, and there's this unseen behemoth who can agilely burst onto the scene at any moment. He uses that same "out of nowhere" agility to break up a pin, running in with the biggest nastiest full weight senton you've seen in ages (poor Olimpico on the bottom of that mess). Panther and Olimpico start us off with cool mat stuff. A lot of it seemed Panther guided, like Olimpico taking him down by the wrist, but Panther really whipping himself into the mat. Stuka also hits an awesome dive on Kraneo at one point, just barreling into him headfirst and Kraneo is arguably the best catcher in the fed. He always stands his ground and absorbs all of a dive. This one is well worth checking out.

2. Virus vs. Fuego

This was a match where I seemed to be the only person who did not like it. Not just that, but most people (Phil included) praised it as one of the best lucha singles of 2014. Here were my original thoughts:

"I did not love this match. What's cruel, is that I loved the primera. It had some of Virus' best matwork of the year, really established his dominance over Fuego, and had other great moments like Virus plastering him with a brutal thrust headbutt from the apron. I was into it. I was excited for it. It was as advertised. But then my god would it just not end. And through most of this match Fuego just looked flat out bad. I thought he was a fine counterpoint to Virus' early mat stuff, and the two dives were a cool touch. But by the end of this Virus had to put himself into Fuego's submissions. I really hate matches where one guy takes his 50% up front and the other guy goes on his run right after. The tercera especially felt sluggish to me, with none of the momentum shifts making sense. And it wasn't just Fuego in the tercera, but Virus looked downright bored. No emotion, no rudoing, just mindlessly going through the moves waiting for his turn. I felt zero drama whatsoever in the tercera and it felt like all of the heatless 2.9 count lucha main events that I can't stand. This match was even more disappointing to me since it started on a high and was just a slow and painful death afterwards. Did a Fuego match really need 20+?"

But I rewatched it, because it was on, and because I'm an open-minded guy. Whenever I differ from the consensus on something it doesn't bother me too much. Like a band that others don't? Not uncommon. Like a movie more or less than someone? Oh well, I like what I like when it comes to movies. And it's the same way with pro wrestling, except this time some of my absolute favorite wrestling minds (and Phil Schneider) all liked a match that I disliked. I wouldn't say that made me second guess myself, but it did make me curious to try and see things from a different perspective.

And I disliked it just as much as the previous viewing. All of the same complaints up above were still right there, with new ones that I guess I didn't notice on the first go 'round. This time I noticed even more of Virus' awesome matwork in the primera. He did one of the absolute coolest leg sweeps I've ever seen, sweeping around from his back and forcing Fuego's (who was standing) ankle painfully outward, until Fuego had to drop down to ease the pressure, which of course was exactly what Virus wanted. Virus continued to tear that leg apart. What I didn't remember was that leg work continuing on into the segunda, with Fuego doing a more than admirable job selling. Adding in a slight limp when moving around, clearly selling that leg.

Until the moment he needs to go back on offense and then all that leg work and all that selling goes away forever and we get zero call backs to it. I'd like to think I'm not a "convenient selling" Nazi, but when limb work takes up the bulk of a match and then vanishes as if it was a part of a different match then that's just sloppy. Not just that but he goes from non-stop leg injury, and the first moves he does right after he decided to not be bothered with that injury are all springboard moves. Just really rubbing in. The tercera was as bad as I remembered, with awful fatigue selling after every move. Fuego does a move, both men lie there tired and just stunned that it wasn't the move that ended things. Virus does a move, Fuego reacts the same. It's garbage. Even after things like roll ups and ranas. Just both men, heaving, going through a WAR, shocked a roll up didn't get the 3. I had to put it on 2x speed after awhile it was so bad.

I don't regret watching it again, as I was legit curious. But it stinks. Killer primera though.

3. Valiente, Atlantis & Marco Corleone vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Mr. Niebla & Niebla Roja

Fun match that only gets about 10 minutes, but that seemed like an appropriate amount for what we got.  It was best case scenario as it meant we got no down time and that guys that might need covering up didn't get exposed. Corleone got to punch people and flatten Roja with his crossbody, Valiente hit a brutal high speed dive on Niebla, Roja actually played off Corleone as his perfect foil, showing real promise as a rudo. Every spot opposite Marco always ended with the advantage, but Roja always got to mug and do things I always love in wrestling, like pointing to his head after momentarily foiling Marco.  UG looked like a badass leveling Valiente with a mean clothesline, crushing Atlantis with his headstand pendulum and mocking him after ripping his mask off to get DQ'd in the tercera. All fun stuff.

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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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Sometimes Phil and I Disagree

Phil and I like each other and have very similar tastes in wrestling. We do not, however, have identical tastes in wrestling. If we did then our site would be a little more pointless. We agree on matches the majority of the time, and have for as long as we've known each other (some 12 years at this point). Our working Match of the Year list is a two person democracy. If one of us loves a match but the other doesn't think it's list-worthy, then it doesn't make our list. I think over the course of the year that will make the list more unique than others. For example if many people, including one of us, think a match is ****, but the other thinks it's **, then it won't be on our list. At the same time, if both of us think a match is good and ***, then it's on (we don't really work in star ratings, just using that as an example).

Recently there were two matches that one of us found list-worthy, and the other did not. One match that Phil really dug and I did not, and another that I dug and Phil did not. Again, this is not extremely uncommon for us, but it usually doesn't happen this close together, with opinions varying to this degree. Often if one of us thinks a match is list-worthy, the other likes it, but doesn't feel it's quite good enough to make a list. In both of these instances though, each of us just flat out didn't like the match presented to us. So we thought it would be interesting to present each match and our opposing views on each of them.

Titan v. Niebla Roja 6/1

My original thoughts from the TV review:

ER: Damn, I thought this was pretty great, and it was kind of unexpectedly so. Not an insult to each guy, but I wasn't too excited for this one on paper, but they shut my face up. Roja is a guy I find fine in trios but I couldn't tell you much about him. He doesn't stay in the old memory banks too long. I don't think I've ever had a problem with him in a trios, but I've never come away telling Phil he needs to check out some Niebla Roja. Titan is a guy who can be alternately impressive and frustrating in trios, often one within seconds of the other. So the thought of them having a long title match just brought up bad memories of awful Volador singles matches. But I thought this was awesome. Even with all of the great Busca matches happening this year, a lot of CMLL singles matches have been lacking a certain drama, and I thought this match had that in spades. Nearfalls were actually used great, with the most engaging submission tease I remember seeing in lucha in ages. We get some snug matwork to start which I wasn't really expecting, especially cool was Roja forcing Titan to the mat by holding his wrist and stepping down on his arm. Once they went into "big spot" mode I fully expected it to devolve into awful "Big move -> 2.9 count -> Lie on mat breathing heavy -> Repeat" that so many lucha title matches have fallen victim to, but it never did. Drama kicked in and there weren't just meaningless pinfalls, it really felt like both guys pulling out all the stops to try and win the Mexican Welterweight title. Titan has some beautiful ranas and headscissors and he breaks one out from apron to floor that was a real beauty. They work in a convincing knee injury spot and honestly I can't remember the last time any sort of "work the limb" spots in lucha ended up actually going anywhere. But this comes up as a theme throughout the whole match. Roja flapjacks Titan and kicks him on the way down, in a spot that both make look great. Roja does it again right after, and Titan catches the kick on the way down and snaps off a nasty dragon screw. Roja's knee keeps coming into play for the rest of the match, leading to some cool submission attempts from Titan. Titan ramping up the tightness of knee submissions trying to break Roja was one of my favorite wrestling moments of the year. He starts with a cool roll through knee bar, but Roja makes the ropes. He pulls him to the center, locks on a modified figure four, Roja doesn't give. Titan just keeps adjusting the submission, moving into more painful and painful submissions, and it's awesome. There are plenty of impressive dives and flips, and Roja is great at playing off Titan's occasional silliness with rudo tactics. At one point when Titan is doing a bunch of "here hold my hand while I bounce on the ropes a bunch", Roja just lets go and leaves Titan standing on the middle of the top rope. They pause and Roja does a funny "well get on with it!" and Titan ranas him. On the down side the match did peak a little too early and went a couple minutes too long. If it had ended with the submission attempts it would have been better, but instead they worked through those and ended a little flat just moments later. Still, not only did this more than exceed my expectations, I thought it was a great match.

PAS: I didn't see much of the positives that Eric did here at all. Titan has some pretty spots, but when he isn't in there with a master rudo, he gets very much in a do something.. look around.. do something else.. no real flow. Roja isn't particularly good either and the in between parts of this match looked really amateur hour. I thought some of the early mat work looked good, but it was worked at 3/4 speed like they were trying to practice it for a later match, it wasn't slow counter matwork like you might see Panther or Navarro do, but fast exchanges done a beat too slow. I did like the knee submission stuff, but the finish run was not good and felt like the emotionless stuff you seen in your lesser muscled up US Indy wrestling.

Virus v. Fuego 6/15

Phil's original thoughts:

PAS: Nothing I love more in current wrestling then a Virus title match, and this is a great example of that genre. Fuego is a pretty generic technico, but is skilled on the mat and the opening mat work was very good, with Virus spinning Fuego around into multiple submissions and pinning attempts and Fuego looking like he belonged there. I really Fuego hitting two topes in a row in the second fall, both looked great and I dug the idea of going right back at him after cracking him the first time. The finish run was great too, with both guys going for roll ups and submissions before Virus hits a gory bomb and rocking chair submission for the duke. Really hoping I get to see Virus mix it up with the new group of Busca de la Idolo guys, I think we could have some classics.

ER: I did not love this match. What's cruel, is that I loved the primera. It had some of Virus' best matwork of the year, really established his dominance over Fuego, and had other great moments like Virus plastering him with a brutal thrust headbutt from the apron. I was into it. I was excited for it. It was as advertised. But then my god would it just not end. And through most of this match Fuego just looked flat out bad. I thought he was a fine counterpoint to Virus' early mat stuff, and the two dives were a cool touch. But by the end of this Virus had to put himself into Fuego's submissions. I really hate matches where one guy takes his 50% up front and the other guy goes on his run right after. The tercera especially felt sluggish to me, with none of the momentum shifts making sense. And it wasn't just Fuego in the tercera, but Virus looked downright bored. No emotion, no rudoing, just mindlessly going through the moves waiting for his turn. I felt zero drama whatsoever in the tercera and it felt like all of the heatless 2.9 count lucha main events that I can't stand. This match was even more disappointing to me since it started on a high and was just a slow and painful death afterwards. Did a Fuego match really need 20+?

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 6/22/14

No idea what happened last week with their weird 6 month flashback, but these matches all took place on the 6/1 Arena Coliseo show so they didn't skip a week, they're now just three weeks behind instead of two. Weird.

Virus, Skandalo & Tiger vs. Guerrero Maya Jr., Fuego & Delta

Really fun match featuring a few guys I haven't seen in awhile. Primera gets some fun mat pairings, as Maya (one of the guys I haven't seen in awhile) and Skandalo (that would be the other) do a bunch of cool stuff, like a sweet kneebar rolled into a snug side headlock, and a cool headscissors from Maya that started on the mat and worked itself up to standing in a neat way. Virus and Fuego come in and try to top them and pretty much do, as Virus is an expert at working mat stuff with guys like Fuego. Virus knows when to lay it in and knows when to let the other guy breathe and pepper in little armdrag or speed comebacks. Fuego is a guy with cool armdrags and speed comebacks, so it's a natural and fun match. Virus also has a freshly shorn mullet so I assume this whole weekend was just coming up Virus.  Rest is really good too as Delta does some silly and crazy stuff like his handstand headscissors to Tiger and a giant moonsault to the floor from the turnbuckles. Tiger continues to be one of the nicest surprises of the year, Virus wrestles exactly as you'd hope Virus to wrestle, Fuego hits a big crossbody to the floor on Virus. This was all good stuff.

Titan vs. Niebla Roja

Damn, I thought this was pretty great, and it was kind of unexpectedly so. Not an insult to each guy, but I wasn't too excited for this one on paper, but they shut my face up. Roja is a guy I find fine in trios but I couldn't tell you much about him. He doesn't stay in the old memory banks too long. I don't think I've ever had a problem with him in a trios, but I've never come away telling Phil he needs to check out some Niebla Roja. Titan is a guy who can be alternately impressive and frustrating in trios, often one within seconds of the other. So the thought of them having a long title match just brought up bad memories of awful Volador singles matches. But I thought this was awesome. Even with all of the great Busca matches happening this year, a lot of CMLL singles matches have been lacking a certain drama, and I thought this match had that in spades. Nearfalls were actually used great, with the most engaging submission tease I remember seeing in lucha in ages. We get some snug matwork to start which I wasn't really expecting, especially cool was Roja forcing Titan to the mat by holding his wrist and stepping down on his arm. Once they went into "big spot" mode I fully expected it to devolve into awful "Big move -> 2.9 count -> Lie on mat breathing heavy -> Repeat" that so many lucha title matches have fallen victim to, but it never did. Drama kicked in and there weren't just meaningless pinfalls, it really felt like both guys pulling out all the stops to try and win the Mexican Welterweight title. Titan has some beautiful ranas and headscissors and he breaks one out from apron to floor that was a real beauty. They work in a convincing knee injury spot and honestly I can't remember the last time any sort of "work the limb" spots in lucha ended up actually going anywhere. But this comes up as a theme throughout the whole match. Roja flapjacks Titan and kicks him on the way down, in a spot that both make look great. Roja does it again right after, and Titan catches the kick on the way down and snaps off a nasty dragon screw. Roja's knee keeps coming into play for the rest of the match, leading to some cool submission attempts from Titan. Titan ramping up the tightness of knee submissions trying to break Roja was one of my favorite wrestling moments of the year. He starts with a cool roll through knee bar, but Roja makes the ropes. He pulls him to the center, locks on a modified figure four, Roja doesn't give. Titan just keeps adjusting the submission, moving into more painful and painful submissions, and it's awesome. There are plenty of impressive dives and flips, and Roja is great at playing off Titan's occasional silliness with rudo tactics. At one point when Titan is doing a bunch of "here hold my hand while I bounce on the ropes a bunch", Roja just lets go and leaves Titan standing on the middle of the top rope. They pause and Roja does a funny "well get on with it!" and Titan ranas him. On the down side the match did peak a little too early and went a couple minutes too long. If it had ended with the submission attempts it would have been better, but they worked through those and ended a little flat moments later. Still, not only did this more than exceed my expectations, I thought it was a great match.

Negro Casas, Ripper & Felino vs. La Sombra, Marco Corleone & La Mascara

Short weird match. Sombra's team worked as rudos the who time, Casas' team worked as tecnico's, but they were billed as opposite. I'm not really sure what the long term plan is for all this. Once you start going shades of grey for all these characters then it's really hard to put that genie back in the bottle. It already feels like things are starting to spiral. Several months ago you had Rush as a tecnico working as a rudo. There were always legends who would jump back and forth depending on the match situation. But here now we have Marco working as a rudo with Felino working sly tecnico speed spots. One you just start flipping the switch like this I have to imagine it will make it mean absolutely nothing. Corleone did have some amusing heel work, and I'd love to see the choke/pushup be a regular spot. Felino continues to be maddening, as he worked a real cool quick segment with Sombra, doing some real fast rope running into a cool dropkick…and then moments later we get more awful armpit licking schtick. Match was short and pretty inconsequential, and maybe I'm way off base on this rudo/tecnico stuff. Maybe it's just me personally who's starting to think that nobody is seeming special here.

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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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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 4/26/14

These matches were all from the 4/11 Arena Mexico show.

Blue Panther, Valiente & Diamante Azul vs. Terrible, Vangellys & Rey Bucanero

Primera gives us a bunch of Blue Panther/Terrible mat work and it rules. This is maybe the most I've ever seen Terrible hit the mat, and definitely one of Panther's longer mat rolls of the year. It's all really good stuff too, with Terrible working around a keylock and Panther finding ways to reverse out of it. Panther breaks out a cool British style backspin wristlock and a smooth arm drag into a headscissor lock. Terrible yanks on his arm a bunch and BP does simple little things to relieve pressure such as grab his own wrist. Terrible at one point floats over out of a BP head scissors to grab a headlock in one motion. Just a bunch of cool mat stuff from two guys I don't recall going at it on the mat (Terrible almost always sticks to brawling so him looking so damn good on that mat just makes me a bigger Terrible fan). We cut to a Mexican girl in the crowd wearing an Arctic Monkeys trucker hat. That's weird. The match overall is shorter than I would have liked, but was crammed with a bunch of cool moments, even after the awesome Panther/Terrible twisting. Terrible did leaping punches to guys in corners, Valiente plastered Bucanero into the barricade with a dive, Comandante looks slimmed down and was on point with the interference, Terrible kicked some guys in the taint in vicious style (Panther even sold it like he was guesting on Chavo, with an incredible Ay Dios Mio hard sell eyeroll into the back of his head, right at the camera). Killer match.

Puma, Misteriso Jr. & Boby Zavala vs. Fuego, Triton & Sagrado

This might be the absolute shortest three fall lucha match I have ever seen. Maybe Lucha Azteca clipped it (I can't get Dailymotion to play at the moment to see the real match time) but this whole thing was 3 falls in 5 minutes, and that's including the replays of how each fall ended. What in the actual fuck? Misterioso had a cool inverted powerslam, Zavala caught a Triton rana from the ring to the floor, Triton took a cool apron-to-floor bump, Sagrado continued to hold his crown as worst CMLL wrestler (going on several years now), Puma is great and we're done. Where was the fire? (aside from on Fuego's pants)

Rush, Rey Escorpion & La Sombra vs. Negro Casas, Maximo & Volador Jr.

Relevos Increibles matches are almost always fun, as you get to see tecnicos working like rudos and some cool match dynamics. And this match is a blast. Rey Escorpion is a dickhead, you knew that. Rush is a dickhead, you knew that. But La Sombra working rudo is a new favorite of mine. He chose to work rudo not long ago in a singles match against Volador which took a match I was expecting to dread and turned it into something that was super fun (until Volador invincibility took over). Casas is such a joyful rudo that I forget how sympathetic he can be as a tecnico, and how killer his triumphant comebacks can be. You come for Rush stomping and kicking Negro Casas a bunch, and you stay for Sombra being a jerk. At one point he teased taking his shirt off, and when squeals started up he slowly rolled his shirt back down. Yes. Sombra is a total shit kicker here, at one point just destroying Volador into the corner with rapid fire successive left and right elbows (which Volador threatened to ruin with his goof troop dazed selling). Sombra needs to be a rudo NOW. Ever since Volador turned tecnico and also turned horrible the promotion has been missing a highflier/rudo presence. As advertised, Casas took a big beating here, with Rush and Escorpion stomping on him with glee, all leading up to a brief but fired up Casas comeback that saw him thrust headbutt Rush to the floor. Alas, as he's going for his Thesz press off the apron Rush catches him and plants him with a powerbomb on the floor, taking him out of the tercera. Sombra tapes Volador to the corner in real menacing fashion and I like Volador fighting back by catching him with one last superkick, before he gets ganged up on and wins by DQ.  I really dug this. Strong rudo/tecnico dynamics from some real charismatic guys.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 4/13/14

These matches were from the 3/30 Arena Coliseo show. We get another big Fuego dance party entrance, which is just awesome. Stupidly catchy song, choreography, on screen heart graphics made with Sculptris, essentially everything you would want.

Lightning Match: Fuego vs. Ephesto

I'm not really sure what they were going for in this match. Seems like CMLL is pushing Fuego pretty hard, but Ephesto goes over pretty easily by just rolling him up. As a Fuego showcase the match didn't really work, as there are other guys in the promotion with flashier offense. Fuego's offense here is pretty standard issue, with a couple nice dives and a couple normal armdrags, and moonsaulting into Ephesto's boots (which is now becoming almost as standard a spot in lucha as the backcracker). If they were going for Ephesto being a bully it didn't really work, as Fuego took like 80% of the match and then Ephesto just kinda won at the end. There was some nice moments, with Ephesto taking a fast armdrag through the middle rope to the floor, but most of this was just drab. None of the transitions felt very well thought out. Fuego hits his dives, and then spends a minute back in the ring getting the crowd into it, and Ephesto just walks back in and starts doing his offense. I'm just not sure what all was supposed to be accomplished here. It wasn't so much a bad match, as it was a boring match.

Mercurio, Pequeno Olimpico & Pequeno Warrior vs. Stukita, Acero & Pequeno Halcon

This is a pretty deep cut as far as CMLL minis trios go. Acero, Stukita, etc. aren't usually the guys that pop up on TV. In fact I'm pretty positive I have never seen Stukita. He's really tiny. Not like Mascarita Dorada tiny, but tiny as in he looks like an in-shape 13 yr old. His moves don't really have much oomph to them (his triple moonsaults look pillow soft, hard to look that impactful when you're 80 lb.), but he has a lot of energy and the crowd gets loud when he gets crazy distance on a dive and he ties Mercurio up into a cool knot to end the segunda. Warrior and Olimpico were awesome dickhead rudos, and Warrior had a cool slingshot Bombs Away to the floor. Not as spectacular as some minis matches can be, as none of the rudos are really monster bumpers and none of the tecnicos are really spectacular fliers, but this was a fun deep cut minis sighting.

Terrible, Vangellys & Rey Bucanero vs. La Mascara, Titan & Diamante Azul

Man where's the fire guys? I don't think all three falls even totaled 8 minutes. Everything was rushed through and while the work was good it was pretty impossible to get that invested when things just kept ending. Titan and Azul seemed confused how to take Vangelly's clothesline/spear (it's basically him doing a sliding clothesline to his opponent's stomach) as the both take the impact of the move and then kind of jump into a back bump after a delay, basically making it look like a real phony takedown. Terrible threw some good punches throughout and his work with Mascara was fun. Titan has a not-very-good split legged moonsault which of course means he did it a couple times. He over-rotates and lands heavy on his ankles. Bucanero caught a fun headscissors on the floor from Titan, and flew into an older lady in the front row, who consoled his pain with a hug. Bucanero also asked a foxy younger lady to rub out a painful spot on his backside, which she (half-heartedly) obliged.  

Negro Casas, Rey Escorpion & Mr. Niebla vs. Maximo, Atlantis & Marco Corleone

This match was awesome and would be a MOTY if it were a little longer with a better ending. Negro Casas is just so great in smaller arenas, really hamming it up and it's just impossible to take your eyes off him. He stooges his way all around the ring and ringside, ducking Corleone's punches in hilarious manner, and spilling out awesomely when they connect. Maximo hits his massive dive, Corleone punches tons of people in the face (Escorpion especially takes a great stoogey bump off the ropes from one after taunting Marco). This is all well worth going out of your way just to bask in all the joy of Negro Casas being Negro Casas. This man can do it all. 

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