CMLL Juicio Final 5/31/19

ER: This show had THREE big stips matches (including a rare retirement match) and all the non-stips matches have on paper potential, so I figured I may as well write up the whole show!

Disturbio/Misterioso Jr./Kawato vs. Rey Cometa/Blue Panther Jr./Black Panther

ER: Quick opener that manages to pack a lot of fireworks into its short runtime. Cometa is out dressed like Johnny Depp's Tonto, a weirdly underrated movie. I'm going to need someone to start wearing Alita: Battle Angel gear to draw some more attention to that one. This is a match that tried to open the show with some big spots and delivered. BP Jr. is gassed to the gills and is starting to work more like Gronda and his father. I'm cool with that as it leads to great moments like him pouncing Kawato over the top rope into Disturbio (who was standing on the ramp). Cometa hit a big 450, huge tornillo to the floor, big crossbody off the entrance stairs (with Black Panther); Kawato hit a big flip dive over the ringpost, Misterioso is basing all over the place, and Kawato gets to yank Black Panther's mask for the DQ. This didn't have a ton of substance but was a nice junkfood snack.

Ephesto/Luciferno/Mephisto vs. Soberano Jr./Niebla Roja/Angel de Oro

ER: This was the match on the card I was least interested in, and it certainly played as something I shouldn't have been interested in. Niebla Roja and Angel de Oro may be my least favorite guys in CMLL, with Roja being a greater offender. I hate how they quit on all of their offense, it always feels like they're running through a practice exhibition and putting 100% of the work on the rudos' shoulders. Roja and Oro move with these big looping gestures, quit 75% of the way through on their ranas, aim to land as gently as possible on everything, all of their offense looks like how guys run through sequences backstage. It puts the rudos in a pretty thankless spot, as these two are only entertaining when rudos beat the shit out of them (which thankfully does happen in some matches, just not here). Roja hits a flip dive, Soberano (who I like much more than these two goofs) hits his Fosbury Flop, but this was a showcase for two guys I don't care to see showcased.

4. Career vs. Career! Virus vs. Metalico

PAS: There is nothing I love more then a random luchador given a big showcase match and stepping all the way up. Metalico has been a random undercard guy for years, and he gets a chance to fight for his career against an all time great and comes up huge. Two pretty great looking topes, an Asai moonsault and a nutty dropkick off the apron, he threw it all out there. I loved how they both stretched the rules, the ref wasn't DQing someone in a one fall career match, so they were throwing hard right hands to the face. Virus is one of the greatest singles match luchadores ever, and he is so great here, he gives Metalico plenty of shine, but comes off so dangerous. There are multiple moments where he just whips out a slick counter into a vicious submission, he was like a devastating counter puncher, any mistake his opponent would make its lights out. Loved that we didn't get a bunch of traded near falls near the end, just Metalico dying on his shield. Small arena lucha libre has been my favorite stuff over the last couple of years, but there is nothing in wrestling like an Arena Mexico match with real consequences, and I was so glad we got this.

ER: I've been a big Metalico drum beater for several years now. He's an undercarder who is basically the only CMLL undercarder who works Memphis stooging into lucha matches. He's a comedy rudo that doesn't really exist much anymore, and I love what he brings to a card. He's not the kind of guy to get long singles matches - or singles matches in general (I'm not sure I've seen a singles match of his since he lost his mask 4 years ago) - and here he gets to have an awesome dying in the ring performance against one of the all time best. Metalico breaks out every single thing he ever learned, from his ring entrance to highspots he hasn't broken out in years, and the crowd gets more and more involved and excited by his absolute refusal to quit. Metalico gets more and more tired as the match goes on - he's not a long singles match guy - and that just adds to his perseverance and desperation. You look at the difference between Metalico's two dives in this match: the first one, early in the match and filled with confidence, sending Virus into the barricade; the second one, late in the match, exhausted, Metalico does more damage to himself by just doing the dive. From minute one Metalico looks like a guy who has no real chance at beating Virus, and at times it looked like Virus was almost just letting Metalico have a respectable showing before letting him know just how quickly he could put a stop to his bullshit. Metalico started breaking out things he hasn't done in years, like a picture perfect Asai moonsault and a rana off the apron, and he started making headway on the bottom end as well. Phil noted how refs were being loose with DQ calls in a single caida big stips match, and I liked how each guy kept pushing the boundaries, hitting closed fist punches to the jaw, dropping a headbutt to the balls, and I loved Metalico's dickish combos where he would punch Virus and also kick him right on the inside of his knee. Metalico was tired but that just made him hit harder. There was a spot in the corner where he was supposed to flip over the ropes to dodge a charging Virus, but when his gas tank wouldn't allow him he merely opted to hit one of the most savage back elbows I've seen. Virus was a monster on the mat and was going to outclass Metalico at every opportunity, so Metalico had to play a little more dirty. But unfortunately for Metalico, Virus doesn't have to get dirty to do damage. When Virus locked in a gross STF, Metalico reaching for the ropes as his literal only chance of survival, Virus grabs that reaching arm and adds that to the pain. I thought it was the finish for sure. I loved desperate, last stand Metalico, and loved how the crowd kept getting excited as he kicked out of a sick vertebreaker and getting flipped off the top, the fans fully buying into Metalico refusing to step away forever. This was a wonderful display of character and storytelling, and I'm glad Virus was there to send my boy off into the sunset.

Hair vs. Hair! Kaho Kobayashi vs. Amapola

ER: I really liked this, and it wouldn't have taken a tong more to get this on a list. I thought the ending was building to something, and what we got was more abrupt than I wanted. But this was a great Amapola performance, with Kaho making up for her shortcomings with great energy and a willingness to be lead around by Amapola. I like Kaho and thought this was a good showing for her, and it felt like the Arena Mexico crowd was getting behind her effort while knowing she had no chance of leaving the ring with hair. This felt like when they let Virus lead a younger luchador through a match, and the younger luchador gets some surprising moments while overall getting worked by Virus. Amapola as Virus is something she can easily handle, she's clearly been one of the top CMLL ladies as long as she's been in the division, and showcase singles are somewhat rare for the women. You could see her really leading Kaho through - at one point she essentially moved herself through a complex pin combo - but she was generous and I think that helped Kaho thrive. This was all about the tercera as the first two falls went very quickly, but there were highlights throughout. Each hits a real rib breaking spear, with Kaho snapping Amapola in half to start and Amapola returning that favor in the tercera. Amapola was really awesome, crushing Kaho on a dive (Kaho kind of gets made fun of for bad catching skills, but she got smooshed here), hitting a hard dropkick to the spin as Kaho was trapped in the ropes, and later Amapola wraps herself around a ringpost violently so that Kaho can hit a beautiful crossbody off the top to the floor. There were some good nearfalls, and I thought they both did a good job building drama down the stretch, and for me I always get more into luchadora hair matches, feels like the stakes are even more real. A lot of women really tightly associate their hair with their femininity, so the drama always feels real to me.

Euforia/Gran Guerrero vs. Valiente/Diamante Azul

ER: This one felt a little low stakes, which was understandable on a card with three high stakes matches, but it had three stout boys so it was at minimum going to be fun. Azul and Valiente are a fun little team of power packs; Azul has been slowly bulking up and he appeared to gas down the stretch (Guerrero even appeared to dump him on the entrance ramp just to get him out of the way), and this didn't reach the heights it could have, but we still got moments. Azul's added heft does add to certain moves, loved his running elbow, high arcing hip toss, and the cannonball off the ramp lands even harder. Guerrero is coming into his own, and he sets up a gross bump taking an armdrag off the apron from Valiente (big splat on the floor there), hitting a nice heavy flip dive of his own in the tercera, and being tasked with taking that super fast Valiente tope. The finish felt a little unnecessarily dangerous, with the rudos hitting a press slam on Azul off the top, then doing the same to Valiente on top of Azul, but they almost end up lawndarting Valiente straight into the mat. The set up was really long and required Valiente to do almost all the climbing and all the work, so you had the ugly combo of "guy taking move doing all the work" with "move looking almost dangerously botched".

Barbaro Cavernario/Negro Casas/Mr. Niebla vs. Mistico/Caristico/Volador Jr.

ER: This one underperformed, had some timing issues, and didn't have a lot of Casas. It had a lot of Niebla dancing and Caristico being a step slower than everyone else, and some ugly moments like Cavernario whiffing a kick and Caristico bumping early on a Niebla slap. It was kept quick, a comedic palette cleanser with dives, mindless entertainment before the main event, and it worked fine on that level. Volador hit the best dive of the match, a high speed tope con giro that Cavernario took nicely. There was a big tandem dive by all the tecnicos and Caristico hit an additional dive into Casas. This was kept breezy, and I was hoping for more.

52. Hair vs. Hair! Mascara Ano 2000 vs. Ultimo Guerrero

ER: All the CMLL dancers are decked out in sexy Ultimo Guerrero outfits, which I must say seems a little biased. But who cares, because this whole match rules! Ultimo Guerrero does this weird thing where he has a match or two year and just gets punched in the face a ton. And this match keeps coming right back around to Guerrero getting punched in the face, and Mascara gleefully throwing right hands up and down the left side of UG's head. This is really one of the finest big match lucha performances from a 60+ year old in some time. Mascara Ano Dos Mil pulls out every trick he's ever pulled in his long career, all the bullshit is impeccably timed, the cheap shots are cheap, the nearfalls are great, and we always go right back to fists punching face. Mascara hits a nice springboard splash, nice vertical suplex, gets a great nearfall on a backslide, and Disturbio's involvement is excellent. Disturbio and Gran Guerrero are the seconds, and Disturbio eats a great dropkick from UG, and later has a pitch perfect piece of interference: Guerrero locks on the sure fire finishing sub, and Disturbio is able to run in to kick UG away and bail back to the floor just as ref Edgar is turning around. On the floor we get a killer scrap between Gran and Disturbio, a ton of other Dinamitas come out to cause problems on the entrance ramp, Mascara boots UG right in the balls (which got him a win and set up this very match), and it's all incredible theater. There's a series of fun desperate pins, Mascara grabbing the rope, getting his foot on the rope, grabbing ref's hand to stop the count, all of it was great. This is my favorite old man scrap of the year, with all of the drama I love from lucha, plus an old guy punching a less old guy in the eye. It'll work for me every time.

PAS: MA2K can't really bump or run the ropes anymore, but he is very willing to throw multiple punching combos upside UG's head, so Dayenu. This had plenty stuff built around Gran Guerrero and Disturbo which makes sense to pad the time, and give the oldsters in the ring time to catch their breath. Still once the wind came it was nasty stuff, hard knuckles to heads. I liked UG's goofy dive into the crowd, not pretty at all, but this wasn't a pretty match. I kind of wanted a big post match Dinamitas beat down, if your gang is going to come let them roll deep, but this really was aimed at my lucha libre pleasure centers.


ER: This card looked real dynamite to me on paper, and three of the matches delivered various levels of big for me, and the rest of the stuff was either fun or inoffensive. I really liked the women's hair match which wasn't far from making list, Mascara Ano Dos Mil is still a compelling guy into his 60s and I love the couple matches a year where Ultimo Guerrero agrees to get shoot punched in the head, and the retirement was an instant lucha classic. The latter two matches were obvious additions to our 2019 Ongoing Match of the Year List.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Heavyweight Cibernetico! Sangre Azteca Stomps Balls!

Kraneo/Valiente/Rush/Volcano/Blue Panther Jr./Diamante Azul vs. Shocker/Rey Bucanero/Terrible/Gran Guerrero/Euforia/Ultimo Guerrero  CMLL 10/9/18

ER: This was a match I didn't really know I wanted until it was right in front of me. A 12 man cibernetico with heavyweights, not a fliers showcase, but a fun heavyweight spotfest. Rush is the fun monkeywrench in this whole thing, and while the teams are divided into tecnicos and rudos, there are still teammates that hate each other and everyone is mostly out for their own interests. Plus it was a good chance for some guys like Shocker and Rey Bucanero to show they can still go in the right situation. Bucanero is going for 2002 status here which is a shock since I saw him live a few months ago and he never moved faster than walking speed. Here he hits the somersault senton, takes a classic Bucanero bump over the top to the floor, gets nailed with a dive, clearly looked like he was working hard here for whatever reason. And everybody was. I'm not sure what will make a bunch of guys in CMLL suddenly make the decision to work hard in a random match, but this whole thing felt spirited, guys worked snug, made the match feel more important than it likely was. We get a lot of Kraneo and a lot of Volcano, and let's just talk about how silly it is to have the two largest guys in the fed (largest guys in lucha) both on the tecnicos side. We need one of the big guys to be rudo and we can then build to a Clash of the Titans. Kraneo is great but was better as a rudo, but also way over as a tecnico, so I get keeping him where he is. I think Volcano and his modern take on Roadblock's gear (his Caltrans vest highlighter and weird brown back brace) look pretty doofy, but maybe working rudo would open him up a bit. Panther Jr. turns in a nice tecnico performance here, Valiente hits a big dive, Terrible don't care who his partners are for the match, he's still gonna stomp out his enemies, Azul gets his class Mexico mask shredded, whole thing was fun. Ciberneticos feel like more of a thing I wanted when I first started watching lucha, but this unexpectedly delivered. Less spots than your typical ciber, but more character and tight work. That's a good trade.

Sangre Azteca/Metalico/Nitro vs. Oro Jr./Star Jr./Retro CMLL 1/15/19

ER: Stiff work and plenty of shtick will almost always win me over, and this undercard gem easily won me over with both. Rudos worked stiff and tecnicos bumped big, and this thing didn't need any dives to make it a ton of fun. Azteca was a real standout and he's a guy I've always really liked, someone whom I assume there must be backstage reasons that he's never been moved up the card before, because he's been great as long as I've been aware of him. He makes it his mission in this match to stomp all over the tecnicos butts, balls, and loins, and succeeding in his mission. At least once a match he usually throws his big high angle dropkick right to the balls (do we not do faultas anymore?) while an opponent is seated in the corner or being held spread eagle...well, here he does that like 7 or 8 times, flying into the corner with precision shots, teasing doing one from the middle rope but then climbing to the TOP rope to drop straight down like Slim Pickens riding a missile to straight to tender tecnico loins. He even kicks the middle rope as Retro is climbing back in the ring, the lucha equivalent of the turkey tap. Nitro gets in on the action, dropping a great elbow drop off the middle rope. Metalico was Metalico, and I love Metalico, so he was taking pratfalls and throwing nice big hooking lariats (Oro Jr. took four lariats in a row, really throwing himself back and landing on his shoulders with gusto), and bailing on the tercera by ripping off a mask rather then suffer a pinfall defeat. Oro Jr. had a really nice performance for a tecnico I don't often notice, I was really impressed with how he ran into rudo strikes. Star Jr. is kind of like Soberano Jr. but with floppier limbs, but he still snapped off a really cool headscissors that was like a cross between a smooth lucha headscissors and a Marty Jannetty one. Retro appears to be working a 70 year old Mil Mascaras gimmick, but his shoulderblock hits snug enough and he leans jaw first into a low Nitro dropkick, and those are a couple things that will at least get you into the 490s of a 500. This match scratched a nice lucha itch for me. A match that might seem inconsequential, but having something like this that doesn't steal flash from later matches, while still presenting high end work, is an important part of any card.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Rush!! Pierroth!! Kraneo!! Mascara Ano Dos Mil!!

Kraneo/Rush/Pierroth vs. Marco Corleone/Mascara Ano Dos Mil/Gran Guerrero  CMLL 2/27/18

ER: Two fiery falls, really all I need. This is a cool rudo team, we got the most fired up Pierroth performance we've seen in many months, and Kraneo and Rush as a team could take over the world. Kraneo is bullying and headbutting guys right from jump and Rush follows his lead, with Pierroth acting as the enforcer who would run in and windmill punch and chop guys in the corner if they got out of line waiting for their beating. Kraneo looked resplendent and massive in his red/black gear, and he's really feeling like a guy who should be a major star in CMLL (and they seem to be treating him as such). Marco is a good tecnicos foil for Rush/Kraneo, eating the apron kicks from Mije, finding his spots to fire back with his big punches, still hitting the huge crossbody. But, he also got his head ripped off his body and had it volleyed around by the rudos (including several chest volleys by Kraneo). All three rudos looked like total asskickers throughout, but I really liked Mascara as a tecnicos here, old guys make good tecnicos and I like that he's typically a rudo but is default tecnicos against the assholery of Rush. Mascara's segments with Pierroth were fired up when they could have been slow, and added a nice dimension to the match. Pierroth losing a quick exchange and just casually walking up and punting Mascara in the balls was a fine finish for this. The meanest rudo behavior happens the match when upon being DQ'd Pierroth immediately rushes Tirantes and starts muscling him around, with Rush soon joining in. Tirantes' facials read that he had no clue these two were coming at him, and as they tried to throw him he was clearly holding onto the ropes for dear life and not going along with their plans. I don't remember the last time I saw Tirantes get a beatdown, but it's not been often and when it has happened it's been clearly part of an angle. This did not look cooperative in any way, it really looked like Pierroth and Rush just stomping him and ripping at his shirt and suspenders. The fans sounded really pissed too as you just don't see refs take a beating in CMLL. Rush even kicks him hard right in the legs as he's walking away. Perfect deranged ending to all of this.

La Bestia Del Ring vs. Mascara Ano Dos Mil  CMLL 3/13/17

ER: This match may not be worth watching for some, but it felt like if anyone was going to watch and review Pierroth vs. Mascara Ano Dos Mil, two men with an average age of 55. As Phil said to me, "So you have to review the MA2K vs. Bestia Del Ring match. It is singing your song...You are the biggest Bestia Del Ring stan on the internet." I can't really say he's wrong. And I really liked the match. It had problems that a lot of people won't be able to get past: it was slow, these two are old and less graceful than many luchadors, and there are no highspots. So, climb aboard! I like old guy matches more than most people (any people?) as it always feels like there's more at stake: they're old, they break easier, old rudos are awesome, old tecnicos are the most sympathetic tecnicos. MA2K is a Capo! But because he's opposite Pierroth the fans are cheering for him. Pierroth is an island I'm fine being stranded on. I like what he brings to a match. Here he's a dick by making Mascara do a bunch of rope running early in the match (nothing like gassing out your opponent in the first minute), throws him into the ring barricades, smashes a full soda in his face, really takes the entire primera other than MA2K geting a quick octopus hold to end it. The camera pans the crowd to find a dozen white people, who are all certainly trying to reconcile the few things they thought they knew about lucha libre, with this maskless old man fight happening front of them. Nitro provides some strong work as Pierroth's second (and considering one man has three sons and one has three nephews in the fed, I was surprised to see Nitro and Cancerbero as seconds), filling in some of the energy for the match, really stomping Mascara like a jerk at any opportunity, and Nitro does one of the all time greatest trips from the floor that I've ever seen. He hooks Mascara's foot in the corner and Mascara goes down hard like he had no clue his foot was being hooked. Awesome spot. Pierroth wins the segunda by holding the ropes, and the fans hate it. I love when Pierroth apes Rush's moves (he's not exactly going to ape his other son's moves) like the front dropkick and the opponent's head as soccer ball move, and I love how much the crowd is getting into MA2K. Finish is great as we get Pierroth pulling the ref in the way and sneaking in a roll up, which felt like the finish but instead was a great kickout by Mascara, who then gets Pierroth in a sub AND holds the ropes for the tap. The rope hold was the first time he did anything rudo the entire match, and totally wrapped up the story of the match. I enjoyed this. Your mileage may vary.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Leyenda de Azul Cibernetico

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

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

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

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

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Lucha Worth Watching: CMLL 7/21/17

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

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

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

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

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 7/13/14

Last week we got 6/8/14 show, no we magically jump back in time to the 2/2/14 Arena Coliseo show…but then the third match (with Blue Panther) is from the 2/9 Coliseo show. So you'd think they're just showcasing the best matches from Coliseo shows until they catch up to current…but that can't be because they showed a Hijo del Signo showcase match. No "best of" would actually include a Hijo del Signo match. I don't know what they're doing here.

1. Lightning Match: Dragon Lee II vs. Hijo del Signo

Hey, you guys. Hijo del Signo isn't good. He's really bad. This match gets tons of time (for a lightning match) and almost all of it is just totally misspent. Signo is just laughably awful on the mat. He works really slow but looks completely clueless most of the time. Here he did a slow motion kick while Lee was on the mat, the whole thing looked like he was just practicing sequences and moves before fans arrived at the arena. His positioning is worse than anybody in CMLL, like he had no clue where he was in the ring at any given time. He hit a nice dive, so there's that. Lee took a crazy apron bump off a clothesline, getting dumped on his head to the floor. Lee is good for one nice stupid bump per match. Signo wins with this ugly squatting figure 4. This guy does not have the goods.



2. Negro Casas, Puma & Tiger vs. Atlantis, Guerrero Maya Jr. & Delta

Really fun revanche, an immediate next week follow up to a match that made our MOTY list. This one has less bullshit than that one, but that means it also has less personality. This was still really good though. Same set up with the younger guys getting the bulk of the match to build to all the Casas/Atlantis moments. Casas is a great ringleader of the rudos and as I've said before I like how Puma and Tiger actually work as rudos, as opposed to most luchadors who just work the same no matter what the pre-match designation is. Maya's through-the-ropes flip dive is one of my favorite lucha spots, and Delta always throws in his spectacular flip dive off the ring post. Casas gets to mug and bump and his rudo bumping is always a real treat. It's a mixture of nasty spills and fun pratfalls. The nasty spill here was going down on the apron as if he was shot, putting over an Atlantis elbow. Really good match that I think just narrowly misses the MOTY cut.

3. Blue Panther, Valiente & La Mascara vs. Terrible, Gran Guerrero & Rey Bucanero

Another really fun match. Panther and GG matched up a bunch throughout this and this may have been the best I've seen GG look. He took some big bumps (including the big Jerry bump with a less graceful spill to the floor than UG usually takes, meaning this looked up more painful), and his mat stuff with Panther to start everything was good, and a fresh match up. He also took a nasty posting in the tercera. Bucanero looked more spirited than normal, although man I hate his lazy as hell standing clothesline. It has no force whatsoever and guys bumping for it always look silly. Valiente hits a massive dive that just blast Bucanero into the aisle, Terrible punches Mascara in the ear a couple times, and this just had a real good flow. Good long trios, everybody got to shine, but again I especially loved the Panther/GG showdowns. Good week of wrestling (Signo be damned).

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 8/30/14

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

1. Terrible vs. Euforia

Terrible and Euforia already start the tourney off with a classic tournament lucha staple: selling like you're in the fight of your life after the first move of the match. Euforia hits a clothesline and gets a two count, and both men linger on the mat, breathing heavily, before valiantly fighting to their feet 20 seconds into the match. Fuck you, tournament lucha. Strike exchanges, sunset flips, no drama, I've clearly made a horrible choice.

2. Felino vs. Shocker

Felino is wearing some spectacular tassel tights (tassels down the legs and around the cuffs) so this is already an early match of the night contender. Felino tries here more than usual, hitting a sweet elbow off the top rope. Match ends pointlessly 2 minutes in after a Shocker sub.

3. Rey Escorpion vs. La Sombra

Now we're getting spoiled as we get almost 3 minutes of action! How horrible would it be to take a trip down to Mexico with the hopes of seeing lucha, and they run a tournament during the show you attend? Escorpion puts the boots to Sombra a bunch and Sombra lays in the running double knees in the corner. They tried to cram a decent amount of stuff into the time, but it still didn't add up to tons.

4. Negro Casas vs. Mephisto

Haven't seen Mephisto in awhile. He's wearing a Spider-man get up which is…something. We get a couple nice Mephisto powerbombs including a big one off the top rope. Casas won it with a wrenched in Crippler Crossface. Never forget.

5. Euforia vs. Shocker

Euforia mixes it up a tiny bit by attacking Shocker on the ramp. This wasn't particularly good but it had an immediacy that the other matches didn't have. The others have been worked more as "last two minutes of a really bad epic" and this one was at least guys trying to go for flash leveraged pinfalls. That at least makes more sense. Shocker's winning roll-up was really snug and looked like any man would have trouble kicking out of it. So that's something.

6. Negro Casas vs. La Sombra

Actually a fun match, not coincidentally the one that has gotten by far the most time so far. Sombra gives Casas a long beating and Casas' comeback is really good, shoving Sombra off the top to the floor and beating him into the crowd barrier. Sombra always flies nicely into a barrier. Also I really dig Casas' dragon screw knee breaker he's been using lately. Looks cool. Finish is kind of weird as Sombra wins with a nut shot schoolboy, with poor Casas' balls taking another beating. But what was weird is that it just looked like a normal schoolboy. I rewound it and didn't see an actual ball shot. Casas may just be dealing with some residual ball aches.

7. La Sombra vs. Shocker

Pretty nondescript match although I like how they're transitioning Sombra's running double knees into a death blow. Also kind of surprising that none of the tourney matches built to a dive of any sort. I was expecting to see a dive exchange in the semi at least. I don't need dives to enjoy my lucha, but it just seemed odd not seeing any.

8. Ultimo Guerrero, Niebla Roja & Gran Guerrero vs. Atlantis, Marco Corleone & Diamante Azul

Pretty paint by numbers, but with a fun tercera. First falls were really quick, with about the only notable thing being UG holding up Marco for a long time on an impressive vertical suplex. Tercera had several fun moments with the Diamante Azul/Gran Guerrero exchanges standing out the most (which was not what I was expecting going in). They did a bunch of cool standing exchanges, Azul threw a high bridge german suplex, fun stuff. Roja and Marco were odd bedfellows who didn't really work great together, but tried. They tried a goofy spot where Roja used Marco's abs to mime dialing a telephone, answered the phone, then handed the phone to Marco before hitting him. Har har guys, but kind of gave me a little nightmare flash forward of lucha becoming wildly obsessed with Chuck Taylor indie goofball dogshit. We've already seen the back cracker become the scourge of the lucha finisher world, now I'm picturing a nightmare hellscape where luchadors come up with shitty move names like "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto" or "Avoid the Noid".

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 7/19/14

These matches were all from the 7/4 Arena Mexico show, on a day that was decidedly less celebratory than any events happening in the United States that day. I'm not sure anybody in Mexico sat through a fireworks show while a Lee Greenwood CD played.

1. Valiente, Titan & Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Niebla Roja & Gran Guerrero

Really fun match. Primera had some fun mat rolls with Valiente and Gran Guerrero, two guys I've never seen go on the mat against each other. They do a series of fun little ankle picks leading into some nice Valiente arm drags. We get UG ripping Atlantis' mask and a big time Atlantis dive. Valiente had some more killer moments in the tercera, hitting some nice ranas (with a beautiful one off the top on Roja) and a super fast dive that Roja mans up for on the catch. Titan and Guerrero clumsy up some things here, with both doing offense that dumps them on their own heads. Titan throws in more silly somersaults than usual, coming off like a more snug RVD at some points. Ending was a nice little surprise as it looked like Atlantis was gonna get the pinfall on UG, but GG sneaks in and snares him into a nasty little submission.

2. Tiffany, Dalys & La Seductora vs. Princesa Sugheit, Lluvia & La Vaquerita

Damn this is kind of digging deep for the women's division. Vaquerita isn't somebody who really pops up that often. And the match is about as forgettable as a lucha trios can be. It's super short, even for just a straight falls match, and is really just a bunch of chopping and poor rope running with some nice apron dives thrown in at the end. Vaquerita didn't look like much, Dalys seemed off her game, Sugheit was working tecnica and seems to thrive when being a dick. Tiffany is always eminently watchable to me, but there just wasn't enough here to warrant even showing it.



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

Oh man, Rush and his boys come out in suits, pork pie hats, Mascara is wearing a vest, Sombra has his dress shirt unbuttoned way too low under a suit jacket, Rush is wearing no shirt under his jacket. They look like the three most aggressive dry humpers at the club. They look douchey enough that one of them should have "Don't you know who I am?!" tattooed on them. And this match was awesome. It was way more even than most matches between these two teams, and while there was never any real flow to it, that was because each team kept cutting off the other in logical ways. It was a really great use of 6 people as right when one side would gain an advantage, a guy who had been on the floor or apron would come in and cut the momentum right off. The work in this was as stiff as expected, with Sombra rattling Shocker's teeth with plenty of elbows, Mascara delivering plenty of on-point superkicks of the non-thigh slap variety, Rush and Casas each leaving boot imprints on the other's face. Shocker had a great showing here with some of his best selling ever. At one point he fell on his butt after some Sombra elbows and it was downright Kawada-esque. Earlier while selling his knee he valiantly limped right into a Mascara superkick. Niebla hits a dive out the corner past the turnbuckles like it was 1999, Rush boots a charging Casas right off the rampway, Sombra goes full douche by posing while splayed out across the middle rope, and this shit was all awesome. Go watch this.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 6/28/14

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 6/14/14

These matches were from the 5/30 Arena Mexico show.

Ephesto, Mephisto & Gran Guerrero vs. Valiente, Atlantis & Titan

They had been getting away from these short inconsequential matches, but that seems to be the style de rigueur again and it's obnoxious. I do like the energy levels in these shorter matches as there's a lot of action and things are so short that nobody has time to gas out. There's no down time, but everything is too rushed and there's no drama. I had hardly written down who the participants were when Guerrero had already won the first fall by powerbombing Atlantis. There was a nice little Valiente performance in here, including a beautiful rana with him running up the ropes. Atlantis showed a lot of fire here too, and Titan hit a top rope Asai moonsault to the floor that was pretty crazy. But this was all pretty insignificant. Everything was done so quickly that nothing stuck.

Terrible, Vangellys & Rey Bucanero vs. Stuka Jr., Maximo & Super Porky

Fun enough match, with there being way more Porky focus than most recent Porky matches. That can be both a good and bad thing, as his offense is fun, namely when the rudos implausibly always end up sitting three in a row so Porky can run at them butt first. There are also things Porky does that would be completely inexcusable and get any other worker ripped to shreds. He rarely sells strikes and almost always seems to be just waiting for guys to stop hitting him to get to the next spot. Numerous times here guys kick him in the stomach and he can't even be bothered to slightly bend at the waist. It would be one thing if he was doing a comical "your kicks don't hurt me due to my large tummy" thing, but he's clearly not and mores just looks tired. The match did have one extremely watchable segment, with Maximo squaring off against Terrible. Maximo has a bunch of these super cool fast flurries in him, which somehow still surprise me even though I've been watching him for 8 years. He breaks out these cool hanging armdrags that nobody else does and really has a great rhythm with Terrible. Stuka also regularly has standout moments in match. He arms-at-side splash always looks incredible and he and Maximo hit synchronized dives in another big moment. Porky had some good moments where he fought back against numerous guys, and that seems to be the moments where he works best now, as an easy target who gets pushed to far by bullies and then ends up snapping and chopping and punching and flattening them all.

Relevos Increibles!

Rush, La Sombra & La Mascara vs. Negro Casas, Shocker & Volador Jr.

So, this was the first time I kind of started to get bored with the Rush v. Casas/Shocker dynamic. A lot of heel dragging at this point. I like the participants, I like the energy, but it's on Lucha Azteca *every* week it seems like, and they really need to bump things up to a different level, mix up the combatants, something. This isn't quite Dolph Ziggler/Kofi Kingston levels of "how many times can they run this match!?" but I hate that they're even making me think that may be happening. I love Rush mowing throw Casas/Shocker/Volador and kicking torn t-shirts into the Arena Mexico crowd, but whatever direction this story was headed has stalled out. They've upped the heel antics from Sombra/Mascara so that is a slightly new wrinkle, but this is starting to really feel like "this is good, but something I regularly see, and it's no better than their best stuff, and worse because it feels like a rehash". So again, this had elements that you liked in previous encounters. It started as the same squash match formula that happened this week, except this time the tecnicos actually got their comeback. Casas is a great fired up comebacks guy, and his running "balls to Rush's face" off the apron was pretty epic. La Mascara is starting to find his role in the rudo stable. He was kind of lost once Sombra starting being Rush's cheapshot artist. But this match he was good at hanging back and kinda playing bouncer for Rush and Sombra. Rush would be kicking the shit out of Casas and Volador would be all "man my friend is over there! I need to get over there to help my friend" and Mascara would just be all "Hey buddy, a lot of people's friends are over there. Hang behind the rope." Or Sombra would be choking Shocker and the ref would be all "Hey I'm supposed to be over there." And Mascara would be all "Hmmmm...what was your last name again? Says you're not supposed to be over there."

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 6/1/14

These matches were all from the 5/18 Arena Mexico show. I wish they would go back to showing Coliseo shows, but for whatever reason it looks like they've run a couple Sunday Arena Mexico shows. Still these LATV shows are nice as the Sunday afternoon matches always get way more time to breathe than the Friday night ones. We get more matwork and guys don't seem to rush to get all their stuff in nearly as much.

Virus, Tiger & Polvora vs. Black Panther, Triton & Stigma

Just what I was saying about more mat stuff, and the primera here features long Tiger/Triton segments and most excitedly a Virus/Black Panther mat off. Triton's stuff is kind flashy and substance free on the mat, but Tiger is really good and had some leg picks and always finds cool ways to tie up guys at the ankles and wrists. Virus vs. Panther was awesome as both can go and the work looks super cool. I'm glad Panther has gotten so much mat time in his first real year, and even more glad that Virus has gotten tons more mat time as the year has gone on. He was in some more spotty trios at the start of the year but he's had a lot more mat focus the last month plus. Stigma is a guy who I don't think I've ever seen pop up on TV before. Pretty sure he's a Puebla guy but not sure how long he's been on the main roster. He hits a killer slingshot rana to the floor so he has my attention. Stigma in general seems to be in the role of hitting unsuspecting rudos with ranas on the floor, as later he surprises Virus with one off the apron. Stigma hits a pretty wild Valiente springboard moonsault to the floor, but really as long as Virus is in the fed nobody else should be doing that. His is too fast and too pretty. Panther's stuff with Tiger and Virus is the (predictable) highlight of this. Virus is an awesome guy to watch against rookies as he seems like he takes pride in working circles around them, but it never looks like he's showing them up or trying to make them look like trash. It looks like they hang with him, but aren't quite there yet. This didn't quite hit next level, but you knew with some of the guys involved it would be worth it, and it was.

Euforia, Niebla Roja & Gran Guerrero vs. Rey Cometa, Marco Corleone & Titan

Interesting that Marco's left hand is treated as more of a normal punch now. I'm not sure when that change happened. It used to be a spot that rudos would run from or get KO'd by, now here he hits three straight on Gran Guerrero just to back him into a corner. I love Gran Guerrero's baseball slide dropkick that sends dudes crashing and burning off the apron, and Cometa gets into position for it better than anybody else I've seen. He actually looked like he was struggling to get away from the apron while being held in place, unlike most guys who clearly lie still bracing themselves for impact. And Cometa goes flying into the ring barrier and it looks great. Titan seems to always overshoot guys on his flip dives. I'm not sure if this is the catcher or small sample bias or what, but it seems like every flip dive sees him glance off the rudos' shoulder and splat face first into the barricade. It could be Roja is a bad catcher. But Cometa's always seem to hit flush. The Cometa/Euforia stuff in this was a blast. Euforia hits a sweet floppy armdrag and Euforia responds by knocking his fillings loose with a clothesline. Poor placement though as right afterwards Cometa hits a silly handspring headscissors. Niebla Roja wins me over by merely stepping out of the way of Titan's handstand headscissors. He just walks around it and still gets caught by a rana, but this is growth people. And gee whiz Cometa almost dies horrifically taking a flapjack slam off the top rope. He initially came down a little head heavy but luckily landed more on his chest/stomach. It looked nasty as is, but could have been fatal.

Rush, La Sombra & La Mascara vs. Mascara Dorada, Valiente & Volador Jr.

Damn I cannot recall the last time I saw such a one-sided beatdown in lucha. This match was allll Rush's team for the first 10 minutes, until the tecnicos got about 30 seconds before Rush did a combo ball punch/schoolboy to win the whole thing. Seriously there was just no hope for the good guys in this one. It was 10 minutes of Rush and Sombra standing on dudes throats while Mascara tossed off superkicks to unsuspecting victims. Rush and Sombra were dickhead extraordinaires in this, jut beating down all the tecnicos from the word go and never letting up. At one point Sombra throws like 8 straight awesome knees in the corner and it's strange watching a match with no comeback in sight for the good guys. At one point you felt the comeback bubbling, and Rush just cuts everything off and you can just kinda feel all hope slowly draining out of things, like in Bad Lietenant when things start horribly for Harvey Keitel and the whole film just gets worse for him.

Lucha libre as Abel Ferrara urban crime cinema everybody! According to the judges I just got a triple word score for "Worst Possible Simile"! Thanks for reading, everybody!

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 5/24/14

These matches were from the 5/9 Arena Mexico show



Ephesto, Mephisto & Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Valiente, Titan & Marco Corleone

Real fun match, bunch of cool Ephesto stuff, nice Mephisto showing and maybe the best Marco performance of the year. Definitely the best showing from him in my recent memory (jeez we sure do talk a lot about Marco Corleone on SC these days). With just a liiiitle bit more time and a littttttle less Titan silliness I could see throwing this on the MOTY list. Primera was a short blast, with Valiente and Ephesto tearing it up on the mat (wish I got to see these two go on the mat more), Marco tightening up his punches more than he has in a long time (he's been doing these big looping hooks, here he was tossing them more like a short left uppercut and they looked real good). Ephesto and Mephisto did a nice job of cutting off Marco, especially Ephesto coming in and blindsiding him with a big kick to the chest. Marco still does obnoxious stuff (here he bumps to the floor off a dropkick, and the first thing he does is bend over and hike his kneepads), but also breaks out some great stuff like using his abs to mime punching buttons on a telephone, before walloping Dragon Rojo, and tosses out some real slick armdrags that would look cool even if they were done by a smaller man. Valiente hits his lightning fast dive (probably the best straight dive in lucha today), Mephisto has a goofy devil mask like he's in a Damn Yankees production, Titan hits a nice rana on the floor, and this was a nice brisk 15 minutes. Tons of fun.

Tiffany, Princesa Blanca & Dalys vs. Marcela, Princesa Sugheir & Lluvia

YES! Tiffany is back on my TV! It's been too damn long. She and Blanca have the matching pleather catsuits like they're in the Doll Squad or something and this is awesome. Dalys is sporting her fashionably short 'do with pride! Dalys looks awesome here, breaking out a sweet running Akiyama knee in the corner on Sugheit, and a mean running corner clothesline on Lluvia. The rudas absolutely own the first fall and get DQ'd for Blanca shoving a ref, because they're strong women who don't let men run their lives. Dalys continues to rule throughout this, catching a slick Marcela rana from the apron to the floor. Lluvia's fishnet bodysuit seems like it would take ages to get into. Oh shit the match ended with Sugheit hitting La Mistica. Damn that was short. Fun for the time allotted, maybe best Dalys performance I've seen, and it's been too long since I've seen Tiffany. She's like the Christine Baranski of CMLL.



Mascara Dorada, Atlantis & Volador Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Niebla Roja & Gran Guerrero

Well blink and you'd miss this match as the whole thing is less than 10 minutes, but it's packed with tons of killer action. Dorada was on fire here and had a pretty wild death wish. His ranas always look spectacular but here he includes his high speed tornillo which is just so sick. Volador can snap off a nice rana of his own when he's not being a shithead, and he looked better here than he has during most of his 2014 run. UG was a good ringleader here (though I like the team WAY more when Euforia replaces Gran G) and took his Jerry bump super fast (since the whole match looked like their normal match, but played about 25% faster). My dvr cut off the very end so I assume there were Atlantis/Ultimo Guerrero mask challenges lobbed back and forth. Skim through for some Dorada craziness.

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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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My Lucha Journey: Valiente Interlude 2: La Sombra, Mistico, Valiente vs Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero

aired 2014-05-04
taped 2014-04-21 @ Arena Puebla
La Sombra, Mistico, Valiente vs Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Último Guerrero




I figured I ought to look at something a bit more up to date, especially as the Shocker/Rush series gets further and further away from "Current." Here's a more current Valiente match (very much so actually) that also lets me see the Guerreros Laguneros/Los Guerreros del Infierno. I've seen extremely little Ultimo Guerrero and he's another guy, much like Virus, that I really intend to watch a lot more of in the upcoming months.

From the get go, there was something weirdly refreshing about this. I hadn't seen Gran Guerrero or Niebla Roja at all before and their gear matched pretty well; it had actually been a while since I came into a match not able to tell the luchadors apart well and it brought back a nostalgia of, what, four months ago? Also refreshing was how thoroughly primal/tecnicos vs rudos this match felt. There's been a lot of shades of grey stuff going on this year with Casas and Rush and La Sombra and what not, so the fact that the rudos here were brazen and dickish and the tecnicos were flashy and daring and had the crowd behind them was nice to see.

It was also nice to see, now that I've got a bit more lucha under my belt, that the formula does work. This was by the numbers. The tecnicos started out with an immediate finesse advantage. The rudos lured Sombra into their corner and the mauling began. One by one, the tecnicos would end up out of the ring and the next one would valiantly go up against the odds only to fall to the numbers game. Finally, the Guerreros locked on a couple of finishers and took the primera caida. The mauling was perfectly fine, varied and interesting, even if the whole affair was just a little sloppy (though not ineffective). The tecnico fire was believable. A lot of character came through from both sides.

The character kept on coming through the transition too. There was little time between falls, as the Guerreros did a great triple vault onto Sombra using the ramp, followed by some awesome stooging. When they tried it again on Sombra a minute or two later, though, Valiente was recovered enough to break it up, leading to a hiptoss over the top rope in, a couple of pretty spectacular acrobatics from Mistico, and a quick knotting up/split-legged moonsault allowing the tecnicos to even the falls. It wasn't an extended comeback by any means but it did sort of hit the spot and set things up for a reset to start the tercera caida on equal terms. The tecnicos came out the better of the early action, the cheer-off, use of rudo miscommunication, and even the big dives, but Ultimo's able to slip Mistico onto the top rope and hit his reverse superplex for a quick win.

This was all very straightforward but no less enjoyable because of it. It's funny. I said that the Valiente vs Virus lightning match from 2009 was what I might have thought lucha to be back then, but this trios was a lot of what I would explain it to be now, structured with an opportune rudo mauling leading to a big tecnico comeback and a tercera caida that gave some closure to the pairings and some big moments, with an exclamation point at the end. It's what I might call middle of the road but not in a bad way; it's a road that I'm really enjoying to walk down, after all. As for Valiente, he's got the best tope suicida out of anyone I've seen recently: he's like a bullet given his body type and the speed he can manage. He's also one of the best tecnicos on the roster at rousing the crowd and playing to them in the heat of the moment. Sombra might have led them in a bit of a cheer-off here, but it was Valiente who was able to make it feel all the more natural and organic. I still need to see more of him though, both him and Ultimo.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 3/1/14

These matches are from the 2/14 Arena Mexico show, and feature the finals of the Gran Alternativa tournament.

1. Mr. Niebla & Barbaro Cavernario vs. Volador Jr. & Soberano Jr.

Oh god Volador and Soberano are dressed as the blue people in Avatar and it's one of the absolute lamest things I have ever seen in lucha. I already lean rudo, but nothing has ever made me lean more to the rudo side than this. How embarrassing. I mean, at least go all the way with it. If you're gonna dress up like a Pandoran, then your partner should be some sort of dragon that you can fuck with your ponytail. These two look like the creepiest cosplayers you can imagine, cruising the bars post ComicCon. This match is kind of a mess but has a lot of fun individual moments. Niebla looked really good in the first half but gassed toward the end and got lazy. Volador took a dangerous bump into the crowd, smashing his calves into some poor woman (Happy Valentine's Day!!)  but a lot of the match highlighted his poor match construction skills and dated spots (have you seen anybody since Kidman have his opponent balance himself on the middle ropes so you can get in your neat spot?). Soberano Jr. turned in a real nice performance with a couple wild dives and a massive bump through the ropes to the floor off a Niebla shoulderblock. Cavernario also impressed me here. He bumps big (took a sunset flip powerbomb off the apron and another to the floor) and hits some big moves. I dig his double knee drop and his giant splash from the top to the floor will be sure to turn his knees to dust. The match didn't have any sort of build and was a real muddled mess of moves (MMM?) but a lot of the moves worked, so it was perfectly fine viewing.

2. Lightning Match: Marcela vs. Dallys

Damn this was a nice, short, violent match. Dallys picks apart Marcela for the first few minutes after ambushing her before the whistle. Dallys works a lot stiffer than I remembered. Marcela's comeback is wild as Dallys eats a brutal dropkick through the ropes and Marcela hits a nasty running dropkick off the apron that sends Dallys flying. Both women looked great here, maybe my favorite lightning match of the year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyAGU-r1ggI&feature=youtu.be

3. Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia & Gran Guerrero vs. Valiente, Mascara Dorada & Mistico

I really loved this. Tons of crazy spots and big bumps, and not just crazy spots but some that I rewound several times. Mascara Dorada is a huge favorite of mine, really gives me a 2009 Freelance vibe which I think is massive praise. The match essentially starts with one of the nuttiest dives I've ever seen, with Dorada getting so much speed that he ends up going totally vertical, with his body gliding legs up directly through his opponent and into the barrier. It looked insane and if this were at Coliseo he would have been 4 rows deep. Meanwhile Valiente's feet hang up and he does a massive belly flop on the floor. Euforia is is the ultimate bumping lucha base GOD and here he catches a wild no hands Dragon rana running from the ring to the floor, takes a giant Cassandro bump in the tercera. Dorada is so breathtaking, not just hitting spectacular ranas and dives but doing them so effortlessly and flawlessly. Replacement Mistico looked good here as well, and usually he doesn't leave a major impression on me. This left me wanting to see these teams match up many more times, which has been a recurring theme in 2014 wrestling for me. Tons of guys I'm loving to watch, but specifically tons of match ups I'm loving. Go out of your way to watch this one.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report, 11/9/13

New CMLL show popped up on that same channel that's been showing the Uprising: Lucha Libre shows. I'm game. Any channel that delivers Blue Panther to my TV on a Saturday afternoon is a friend of mine. These matches were from the 10/25 Arena Mexico show.



1. Blue Panther, Maximo, & Mistico vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, & Gran Guerrero

By the numbers six man that is fun for what it is, but doesn't get to the next level. Panther has some nice moments including a mammoth dive. Euforia does the lord's work by bumping around huge for Mistico and catching his beautiful rana off the top rope to the floor. Maximo is always underrated and flows throws his sequences more naturally than most (also threw a nice headbutt on his tope). Enough fun spots to make it worth your time.



2. Lightning Match: Mascara Dorada vs. Niebla Roja

Lightning matches are almost always disappointing, but Dorada works them better than most as he has enough spectacular offense to work through to override the rushed pace of the format. He he gets to rattle off a rope walk rana, big Asai moonsault, beautiful running rana off the rampway to the floor. Both guys scare the hell out of me as Roja does the Pepsi Plunge and Dorada almost takes it the way Cham Pain took that Pedigree from HHH. Good lord. Naturally that doesn't end the lightning match even though it's the most dangerous lucha spot I've seen in the last couple months. Match ends with a Dorada roll-up, for reasons.



3. Rush, La Sombra, & Thunder vs. Terrible, Vangelis, & Tama Tonga

This is my first time seeing Thunder, and he sure seems like a muscled up dud. Really slow, stiff and clumsy. La Sombra seems like he's really bulked up too. He seemed a lot slower than normal. Tama Tonga looks like either Drago from Game of Thrones or like the most badass Rafi from The League. Terrible is a total goofball but it kinda works when against a stiff like Thunder. This match is watchable of course because of Rush. All of his segments are great, the way he taunts the crowd is great, and jesus his headbutts are awesome. I've never seen anybody throw a headbutt like him, it's like he's tossing out an uppercut with his head. So great. So, match is kinda weak but worth watching if you're a Rush fan (Fly By Night, Moving Pictures, etc.)

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