NJPW Wrestle Dynasty 1/5/25

 

Athena vs. Persephone vs. Willow Nightingale vs. Momo Watanabe 

ER: I'm kind of shocked by how good this was and how well they kept up a certain energy for 10+ minutes. But I also think a lot of it just might have been Athena. I think this was 10 minutes of waiting for what Athena was going to do next. She is pure lighting and can go go go. She leaps into everything at a doggish pace. She hits the mat and people hard. She gets thrown into a fast tope a minute in and I'm not sure it's the 4th coolest thing she did all match. I thought Persephone really shined in a match where they all got time to shine (and did). She had some big bumps and lands with good weight, real good babyface energy and a unique strength spot approach. Willow got the attention of a big crowd multiple times, and Watanabe was fine fourth wheel. But every great moment led to Athena making it greater. She worked into and out of sequences with everyone so well. She's like if Low Ki really loved Manami Toyota. It's electric. She chokeslams Persephone on the apron like a small Taue demon. When she hits the Eclipse on Willow it's like the finisher 2 Cold Scorpio was jealous he didn't invent. 

Willow makes the Eclipse even better by taking her straps down in power before turning into it. You know I am a big fan of Lawler strap lowering and lowering the straps before taking the final shot is arguably the best use of the straps. I love Willow. But Athena is as must watch in a match like this as prime Juvy. The opening 3 minutes was so hot and as well timed as the greatest 4 ways, and I didn't think the energy level could be maintained. Because of Athena, it was. She ran everything together and there were a lot of strong timing peaks from the other three. The finish was kind of silly, with Thekla not committing on interference enough for what should have been the finish and then Momo hitting Athena across the head with A FUCKING BASEBALL BAT as hard as she can, it comes off a bit ridiculous. Like your scoop suplex was cool, do a few of those and give your opponent something to actually sell. What's Athena supposed to do with a baseball bat shot to the head, work a brain damage angle for 10 months?  

Dustin Rhodes/Sammy Guevara vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/SHO

ER: Man this was good. This was most likely Dustin's last ever match in Japan. Maybe not. I wouldn't bet against him. But this was the first match he'd wrestled in Japan since 2010. The thing is, Dustin was never a Japan guy. You'd never know it from watching this match. This was a great performance that connected with a crowd that was seated far away from him, in a way where they seemed familiar with him just because his wrestling style is That Good. He's a man with an improbably long and impressively durable high end career and he's wrestling his first match in the Tokyo Dome in 30 years. It's an amazing return. He shows out for it. 

Dustin working against these two guys is weird and fun. The size difference between he and SHO is insane and SHO sells it as such all match. Dustin is tireless when he needs to be and makes the most out of a total name grab bag random set of career opponents. Do a fucking shining wizard thing that looks awesome, fuck yeah! Dustin's hot tag where he just wastes both of them is the best. SHO is taking Dustin clotheslines aimed at the jaw they both get powerslams he can still somehow give in the same twisting form. SHO takes almost all of Dustin's shit and he takes it so well. Once he bounced across the ring for a 55 year old code red, Dustin obviously knew this guy knew the deal and knew the Man. 

I never got the hate for Sammy. I think he's pretty great. I like a kid who's not a bad kid but also a little shit. A nice guy who is capable of saying something pretty mean to your sister. He does moonsaults with wild abandon and takes the farthest back body drop bumps of anyone on any of these rosters. Does a Good Superkick still matter in 2025? I think it can. If it can, then Sammy has some of the consistently best. Not just in execution, but in placement within a match. He has this way of milking goodwill out of every indie spot that's ever been overused: superkicks, back crackers, cutters, but maintains the timing to make all of them feed well into a legend like Dustin's offense. Kanemaru's moonsault across Dustin's knees looked pretty bad, but I guess if you were in a fight with Dustin the smartest thing you could do is target his knees so let's give Kanemaru Body Part Specific Moonsault Credit here. He still gets docked for not holding up his end of the match with his shtick. Dustin rules. 

Lucha Gauntlet

ER: Good lucha highspot showcase except it kept getting interrupted by less talented New Japan guys who threw the rhythm off. Mascara Dorada and Hechicero were standouts. Hechicero doing his thing within a growing throng of competitors was cool every time he was the focus, but I especially liked him tying up Fujita in knots when they were the only two. Dorada kept finding new ways to deliver and take offense, always throwing in something extra. He kept finding a new way to flip for a kick, and the key to Dorada at his best is he has this way of adding an extra flip or twist but making it look like it wasn't mapped way out ahead of time. His tope into Soberano was awesome, and Soberano was the best at catching everyone's dives during the big dive train. After he hit a tornillo with a million twists, they had him out front and center saving everyone's bacon.   

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata

ER: This was an "Exhibition Match" but I am unclear on what was being exhibited. We know that Tanahashi has bad leg injuries and cannot move, but he has also had many other matches this year which were not just him exchanging chops with someone for 4 minutes before time expired. The one minute of collar and elbow lock up was much more engaging than the 4 minutes of chopping that followed. Meltzer went ***1/4 on this which might honestly be his most ridiculous rating ever. Calling a match 7 stars, we all know that's stupid, but he rated this higher than the Dustin tag and the women's 4 way, which were actual GOOD matches! Nobody could squint their eyes and even call this a match. It would be like giving Inoki ***1/4 for people lining up to take his bom-ba-ye slaps. What exactly was Meltzer rating here? What subtext am I missing that made it Good, Actually, that Tanahashi is incapable of throwing chops with any strength? 

Mercedes Mone vs. Mina Shirakawa

ER: I thought this was a really good Mina performance - one of her best long singles match showings I've seen - but I couldn't get into what Mercedes was doing. She had this weird way of silently emoting to the crowd, a PC thing that doesn't play at all in a gigantic dome. She would silently sell through her teeth as Mina was working over her leg, then sell her leg by doing a bunch of offense that required her to slam her knee into things. I don't think her teeth selling played in the large venue and I think she went to wordless crying faces too soon. Meanwhile, Mina was savagely going after her leg in ways she doesn't do in AEW. I loved all her knee breakers and the way she'd kick the inside of Mone's knee, slamming her knee into the mat and maneuvering into figure 4 leg locks (quicker than I thought she was capable of doing). Mone scrambling for the ropes was one of her only bits of selling I liked. Mina was working over Mone's knee not to soften her up for some submission, but to leave her prone for her impact DDTs, and I loved all of Mina's impact DDTs. But Mone was working this more like a "Things I Wanted To Do in the Tokyo Dome" so she was bridging up to hit the three amigos (feeling way out of place in this match) and then doing offense based entirely around fucking up her own knees: several different codebreaker/back crackers, a gutbuster, the meteora, just a total disconnect from the great match Mina was working. 

Brody King vs. David Finlay

ER: I don't know if I bought Finlay's offense against King, but I bought the way King took Finlay's offense and the way they made the most out of their misses. Finlay got sidestepped early on a charge into the guardrail, a great last second feint by King that sends Finlay into a gross full speed miss...but then Finlay hits that same flying body attack into King later in the match, delivered at the exact same speed and impacting King the way his body impacted the railing. I like that kind of commitment to not just a miss, but to show your delivery and execution is consistent and real. King is great at misses too, with a great miss very early on a charge into the corner. I love the specific way he hit the turnbuckle pad, like a dog who ran full speed into a sliding glass door. When this settled into Monster vs. Man it was at its best. Finlay's strikes look terrible so it made sense when King was knocking him around with his actual good elbow strikes, and Finlay does Staggered By Strikes selling better than I thought. The finish felt too abrupt for a match that had a good pace, but I kind of liked Finlay being unable to hit a sunset flip powerbomb out of the corner...only to just lift and hit a regular powerbomb right after. King made the Overkill look like a finish, dropping down fast face first into Finlay's knee. 

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Shota Umino 

ER: There aren't actually people out there who hype up Umino as some kind of good wrestler, right? I sure don't see that kind of praise, and I see no reason for that praise. This guy brings very little to the table. His strikes would not break through a spiderweb, and his selling is nonexistent. The first three minutes is just Claudio running him ribs first into the ringpost and a half dozen guardrails and I was looking forward to a match where Claudio beats the hell out of this man who could only exist in a post-Marufuji Japanese wrestling landscape. But this guy really has nothing once the actual moves are delivered. He is not bad at taking and selling a move itself, but once the moment has passed he is onto his bullshit. He fights this too often as Claudio's equal, but none of his offense makes him look equal to anyone. He is a less effective Kentaro Shiga, and lucky for him Claudio is good at taking all of his overly complicated DDTs. The one time Umino's damaged ribs came back into play was the only real compelling part of the match: Claudio's scorpion deathlock. This hold won me over the longer Claudio had it locked it. At first I thought it was for a pointless build to a bad Umino comeback, but the longer Claudio had it applied and the harder Umino fought for the ropes, the more I thought it could actually finish the match. The more I wanted it to finish the match, because I didn't want to see what kind of do-si-do reversal of a reversal nonsense Umino broke out for the home stretch. He made the ropes, he do-si-do'd, he somehow won without ever looking convincing in any way. 

Although he did do one thing well, and I couldn't believe it. HOW is Umino the guy who can throw good looking downward strike elbows to the head and neck?! Nobody makes those look good! Here's the lightest elbow striker on the card and he's lighting Claudio up while balancing on the ropes? What is the deal with this guy. 

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Tomohiro Ishii

ER: This was the match I was expecting them to have and was a good version of that match, which is a match that I don't much care for. There are a lot of parts of an Ishii match that won't make sense when applied to most other wrestlers, because he is going to take punishment until he cannot. So it annoys me when Takeshita acts shocked at Ishii absorbing punishment. When Takeshita hits the Raging Fire falcon arrow off the buckles and Ishii kicks out, he sits there on his but in disbelief for an entire 30 seconds (!), filming an extended Performance Center tryout reaction because the guy who absorbs punishment kicked out of something like 7 minutes into a match. I hate this shit. Like man if I know he's going to get up and start exchanging elbows then you should clearly know this man will kick out of things and get up to fire off some elbows. 

Ishii will take plenty of punishment and I only find that so entertaining in 2025. He's a nut, this is what he does. He will get dropped on the top of his head on a German suplex, Takeshita trying to compress any more vertebrae that haven't been compressed yet, and Ishii will take a big clothesline bump on the back of his head. As tired as I am of stand and trade showdown wrestling, I did actually like them holding waistbands and throwing their hardest shots of the match, and how Takeshita levels him with one of his hardest elbows after they let go of the waistbands. I hate how we seemingly have to sit through a lot of bad stand and trade to get to the part where "this time we really mean it" but they did a good job of making the shots mean something more down the stretch. Ishii's popped me with a frankensteiner that I through looked great, and was a nice payoff to Takeshita taking an eternity to set up a powerslam off the top rope. I bought into Ishii's lariats down the stretch. Takeshita threw some of his best strikes and Ishii built up to his biggest lariats, but even though the shots landed harder in the last half, I still never truly feel a sense of escalation as a lot of the selling is the same in the first few minutes as it is in the last few minutes. I guess we are supposed to be surprised that it is Still Going On but that sounds like a terrible way to structure a wrestling match. Can you still believe we're doing this shit? 

My favorite little moment was Ishii's lunging back elbow after absorbing lots of elbows and kicks in the corner. Takeshita held his chin afterward in a way that made it feel like an actual real moment, like he got popped and knew this was going to be the first of many. He recognized Ishii's fight, and Ishii made a single shot resonate more than a dozen Takeshita had just thrown. But the longer these things go the longer those shots all blend together. 

Young Bucks vs. Great-O-Khan/Jeff Cobb vs. Hiromu Takahashi/Tetsuya Naito

ER: Man I don't know. Maybe this would have been better if it were a simple tag match instead of this three way tag, because this three way tornado tag format stinks. Shoot maybe even with the three way format but guys actually waiting to tag in on the apron it would have worked, but this does not. Guys appear and disappear at will, and the longer guys disappear the more reminder that it's all about blatantly setting up a bunch of spots that never add up to much. There's plenty of superkick spamming, plenty of suplex spamming, plenty of dives that nobody seems to have any idea how to catch. There were plenty of spots that looked good. I like the way Cobb throws a German suplex, I liked when Matt was struggling in the tree of woe and all his strands of pearls were hanging in his face as he sputtered, and I thought the Bucks staying vocal throughout (including telling the ringside cameras they were going to go make love to their wives) brought something. But the disappearances were too frequent for chained spots that didn't land so hot, and the glue joining those spots was awful. Naito looks completely lost at times waiting for what to do next, and the only way he and Takahashi know how to interject into a spot is with bad kicks to the stomach. O-Khan was gone far too much to make an impression and the Bucks conveniently sold based on when they needed to be in position, with no regard to what move they were selling. That's the worst, and that's what kept happening all match. 

Jack Perry vs. Yota Tsuji

ER: One of those matches where nobody really looked good but one guy looked better, and it went longer than you'd want but only because it wasn't that good. They didn't do much wrong, besides not wrestling a compelling or good or watchable match. Perry has good DDTs and a couple better suplexes than you'd think but Tsuji is a real zero. What's the entry point with Tsuji? What is the draw? How does the Raymond Chandler's Carmen San Diego Zoo Suit entrance gear tie into a guy who is so on the nose The Worst Influences of Edge that he even has a Spear finisher and makes spooky faces? Perry was good at cutting off several Tsuji charges/spears, catching one in a well timed DDT and stopping another with a sly kick. I like Perry as a heel more than I did as a babyface and I think he's closer to being a good wrestler now. His personality is much more natural. I would have probably liked Edge more if he tried doing a Spanish Fly in 2002. After Perry takes the spear for the loss, he exits the arena holding a hot water bottle to his tummy and maybe Perry is actually a good wrestler. 

Kenny Omega vs. Gabe Kidd

ER: I typically do not connect with big match Kenny Omega, and I don't believe I have ever connected with a single thing that Gabe Kidd has done, but I think I loved this. This was a 12 match show and I'm not sure there was a match I was looking forward to less. Well, I knew the Yota Tsuji match would be worse, but I knew this would be twice as long and I knew the show was already five hours long. I mentally wrote this one off, and yet I found myself hooked from the start. Kenny works this like he actually cannot stand Kidd, which is something I never get from Omega matches. I always get "he is trying to have an EPIC match with X" but I never get "he is extremely annoyed by this guy and wants to hurt him" and that makes me enjoy this Kenny Omega match so much more than his usual 6+ star affairs. I also think it's fantastic that Omega is hellbent on not adjusting his ring style to account for his exploding insides and deteriorating body so now his biggest matches have this extra layer of deep pain and human stupidity that finally adds Consequence to his work. 

He bounces Kidd's body on the apron and ringside like he has no regard for his safety, bouncing him off the ropes to the floor, a snap dragon on the floor, and a big powerbomb onto a table in the announcer's area. It's one thing for him to have little regard for his opponent's body, but it's key to his character (and his character is clearly just himself) that he also has little regard for his own body. I got actually invested into him being unable to stop himself from flinging his body into dives and stupid bumps all match while his innards are screaming and his legs and hips cry out for some goddamn mercy. That disregard for self and opponent only gets cooler when disgusting suplexes into edges of chairs turn into unprotected chairshots in the year 2025. Real 1999 Chairshots taking place at a Tokyo Dome show so sparsely attended that the reactions may as well have been piped in. Kidd takes the nastiest chairshot after braining Omega with a couple. He felt that fucking swing bad too, because he sure gets his hands up quick when Omega comes swinging again. 

Drilla Moloney and Clark Connors unexpectedly added to this match without ever getting involved. Kidd's crew of ringside fuck boys yelling around the ring made the side of an idiot getting destroyed even better, and it seemingly made Omega wreck Kidd even harder with suplexes. There's just no good way to take a snap dragon off the top rope. Kidd's knees get smashed straight into the mat and that might be even more disgusting than the neck damage. 

The early shift to Kidd is great, culminating in Kidd kicking out of a double underhook piledriver, with Omega pulling back on that leg the same way he does when he knows he's getting a 3 count, comes off more obnoxious than "first in a series of moves that shouldn't be kicked out of" and I loved the juxtaposition of him kicking out of a dangerous looking piledriver that should have finished most matches, into making Omega scream with an abdominal stretch. Gabe Kidd slips out of a One Winged Angel into a Desperation Abdominal Stretch, elbow dug deep into Omega's inflamed intestines, and it is one of the all time best uses for an abdominal stretch in wrestling history. Kidd going into Payback Mode ruled. His knee to Omega's guts landed harder than Omega's V-Triggers and contributed led to a future where Omega has a few feet of intestine being removed. Not satisfied with damaging Omega's insides, he always wants him concussed. He spikes Kenny on his head with a short piledriver, and when Omega reverses a powerbomb with a rana, Kidd does not accept that reversal and just drops to his knees with a ganso bomb. There's not attempted lift into a convoluted spot, he just drops Kenny onto the back of his head. I'm laughing my ass off about it when Kidd piledrives him again. 

But if Omega can keep his guts in his body he isn't going to be slowed by head trauma. He has been through fights that Gabe Kidd hasn't yet imagined, and before long he is kneeing this man in the face repeatedly. A double middle fingers spot is something that comes off hack in 2025, but Gabe Kidd possesses the exact correct dumb guy energy to make a last gasp double bird from the knees feel exactly like something he would do when he's about to lose a fight. Kenny grabbing those middle fingers like handlebars to drive the final V-Trigger home was the best. Kidd played the best version of his character and I don't think any of this felt like Great Match mode, it felt like dangerous escalation with great big match selling. Maybe the match didn't need to be a half hour, but I thought it was a rare case where the extra time made the match better. They didn't use the extra time on more kickouts from bigger moves, it was almost always spent letting in pain. The way they sold the big move punishment and exhaustion made it all resonate, made it feel real. Kenny wrestles like a guy who is in pain and Kidd wrestles like a guy too dumb to stop taking damage. Ospreay wouldn't have the guts to sell offense as long as Omega and Kidd did, and that made me feel their story.  

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ricochet

ER: I loved Ricochet for the first 30 seconds, and thought he was good enough for the next 20 minutes as an overwhelmed guy whose offense keeps getting lighter and lighter in the face of an unflappable champ who hits much harder. But those first 30 seconds, man. It's always great when a heel jumps somebody at the bell. When I think of a heel team rushing some babyfaces, it's almost always with punches and clubbing arms, almost always as just another way to get into the action. No different than a collar and elbow start. When it's used to debilitate an opponent, it can approach brilliance. Think Tenryu blindsiding Giant Baba with a suicide dive into Giant Baba in the 1989 Tag League. Ricochet doesn't have debilitating weapons, but he uses speed and heel flying to throw Sabre off and I loved it. A heel ambushing their opponent with a suicide dive, springboard dropkick, Sasuke Special, and springboard 450 splash before they can get their ring jacket off, is fantastic. A hot 30 second Jersey All Pro match-finishing stretch as a heel ambush.  

I don't think he kept up that attitude or energy or idea execution the rest of the match, but I also don't think it mattered because him flying into Sabre's buzzsaw was entertaining because he couldn't keep it up. The first 30 seconds worked so well because it could only work for so long. While Sabre's full body European uppercuts to take control felt plan in comparison, that was something that could be kept up for 20 minutes. Sabre hits hard early and keeps it up all match long, and once he started hitting Ricochet I don't think anything else Ricochet hit had the same immediacy. Like he ran and ran until he got a wake up call and then lightened up, hoping it would make Sabre lighten up. Sabre's shots all look dangerous, but Ricochet is still hanging onto a light springboard clothesline, chops that hit lighter the longer the match goes, arms that barely club back. His combos are also too slow, and there are almost a half dozen times where he leaves Sabre waving in the breeze like an idiot so he can do another spin. Had the story of the match actually been "Sabre endures punishment and Ricochet slows the more punishment Sabre takes" then this could have been incredible. Sometimes I think they were working that story, and those were the best parts. Other times I think Ricochet's offense just didn't work because it didn't work, and it would have been hit that way regardless. I didn't buy Ricochet as a worthy Sabre challenger, but I liked when the match was structured around not buying Ricochet as a Sabre challenger. 

Sabre's dedication to believing that being the IWGP Champ means hitting hard and trying to get guys to hit hard is what made this good, and Ricochet did well at not understanding that this was not a battle he was going to overcome and Sabre was not going to be moved off that hill. Sabre was good at reacting to a lot of Ricochet's stuff that didn't belong in the match and turning it into something painful. Sabre catching an Asai moonsault with a cravat feels like something Chris Hero had to have done in Chikara at least once. It's fun, and then everything else is very mean. Ricochet's rolling vertical suplexes going from the ring to the apron to the floor was a lot of painful bumps for a dumb spot. Sabre's selling is almost enough to make it work, especially the way he got up at 18 but lost his balance and slipped back into the guardrail before making it in. Ricochet calls him a motherfucker and Sabre laughs at the idea. I'm a motherfucker? Ricochet, a man who doesn't slap very hard, is dumb enough to challenge a guy who can slap very hard to a kneeling slap fight. It only takes two exchanges for him to get to his feet. Sabre even tells him, "You're back in Japan now, mate." Is this match about how Ricochet has Dragons Gate Mindset and isn't catching on that Sabre fancies himself as submission wrestling Scott Norton? I like that. 

So, there can't be any complaints against Sabre's submissions anymore, correct? I always felt they were hilariously wrong, but if those opinions persist anywhere they only look more wrong now. His execution is fast and it always looks extremely painful. The way he bent back Ricochet's legs for a bridged figure 4 variation, the limb wrenching llave he pretzeled him into, the neck snapping ankle cranks he kept doing. Every strike and every twist looked painful and every sub he trapped Ricochet in looked potentially match finishing. The problem might have been that everything Sabre did looked so effective, that very little Ricochet did looked as effective. Ricochet's worked punches to drop Sabre at the end of the match were good worked punches...but the spot in question didn't call for well-worked punches, they were supposed to be KO shots that each dropped Sabre to his knees. I love a good worked punch, but they don't "work" when they're the only worked looking strikes in a match, and now they are supposed to be dropping the champ. Ricochet's mid-match slow down does set up the finish nicely, as he throws his sliding clothesline so slow that Sabre just snatches his arm out of the air and maneuvers him disgustingly into a modified Rings of Saturn. I kept going back and forth on this. I liked Ricochet, and I liked the story of his bullshit not standing up to Sabre's strong style...but the match story was inconsistent because sometimes his bullshit would stand up to Sabre and then a minute later it would be clear that his bullshit was supposedly equal to Sabre...

 

Well, the opening women's match was so good that I got lured into watching and writing about an entire show from a fed I don't love...and while there were some more rewards there was also way more stuff I didn't like. The Omega/Kidd match was great, the women's match was great, Mina was great in her match, the luchadors showed out in their gauntlet, the Dustin tag was incredibly fun, and most of the people I dislike wrestled expectedly bad. Two great matches on a 5 hour card isn't much of a success rate, but I'm glad I took the time to watch them. 

2025 MOTY MASTER LIST

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WWE Cruiserweight Classic 8/31/16

Back for another week of Mauro SHADES OF Ranallo screaming and shoehorning longwinded references into matches!

1. Gran Metalik vs. Akira Tozawa

ER: I like Tozawa (and really liked him in his match against Gallagher) and I like Dorada (although I like him most in trios) but this was a match between two guys I like that left me mostly hollow. The flow seemed off, the build seemed stunted, and the finish was another lame Metalik finish where he takes his opponents' finisher, then just stands up and hits his own to win. I liked individual segments and started getting momentarily into things when I thought Metalik was going to be working heel. That moment where he strolled up to a kneeling Tozawa, paused, and then roundhouse kicked him in the face? I was on board. But any kind of dickhead behavior ended there, and we went into a series of segments that seemed almost disconnected from anything that happened earlier in the match. We even get a silly little "epic" strike exchange that only adds to the directionless feel of the match. But Tozawa at least tried to bring some personality to the proceedings, and he gamely - if not ridiculously - got into position for Metalik's highspots (on two occasions having to wander halfway around the ring or roll all the way to the center), but Metalik's highspots at least deliver. His topes especially always see him bury his head deep into his opponents' neck and chest, never bailing early on first contact. I love Tozawa's snap Germans, so was bummed to see him hit two, only to see both men then struggle to their feet and Metalik hit his driver finish for the win. It's a pretty uninteresting finish, an annoying example of Tozawa somehow being more tired from hitting his moves than Metalik was from taking them. TL;DR, things looked good, I like both guys, this didn't move me.

PAS: I thought this was fine, but never really came together. Felt like the most 2016 juniors matchish of all the tourney matches, no real story, no real . Both guys have cool looking spots but just kind of throw them out willy nilly with no connection between moves. I did love Metalik's dropkick which pinned Tozawa in the ropes, I am a big fan of this tourney bringing back the violent dropkick. I also thought both guys had cool dives. Still ultimately a forgettable match, this really should have been Tajiri v. Gallgher.

2. Brian Kendrick vs. Kota Ibushi

ER: This was a great match, a match that I really loved with a story I was really into, with a major hitch in the middle of the match that I'm having trouble reconciling with the rest of the match. Kendrick has been a revelation in the CWC, as nobody was talking about him before this special, and suddenly he's come off (to me, anyway) as the clear best guy in the tournament. And considering the tourney has two of my absolute favorites in Drew Gulak and Jack Gallagher, this was not something I was expecting. But Kendrick is legit and his scrappy underdog stop-at-nothing approach has been easily my favorite thing in the CWC. I love him going for countout wins and trying to sink in that choke (never though something as simple as a posted up side headlock could get over so huge), kicking the middle rope into Ibushi's groin, dropping his neck over the actual corner turnbuckle while on the apron, doing awesome, incredibly precise things like getting his knees up on a standing moonsault and then in one motion rolling Ibushi into a small package, and then always going back for more on Ibushi's neck. It all lead up to that ultimate of neck crunching spots, the Burning Hammer, and here it couldn't have been delivered any more brutally. And it got a 2 count, and really never factored into the rest of the match. Ibushi sold his neck great in the moment, but jeez what a monkeywrench to jam into the middle of a match. I'm sure I'm far from the only one who views the move as (perhaps foolishly) sacred. It always felt like the go-to joke answer amongst my friends, to perfectly capture overblown indy match excess. "Well they finally put him away with a second Burning Hammer through chairs." We still laugh about some early 2000s Dateline type expose on "the dangers of backyard wrestling" that showed a kid dropping his friend with a Burning Hammer on a picnic table in a park. It's the ultimate death move in a fake sport, and there it was right smack dab in the middle; kicked out of, no less, not even delivered too close to the ropes, with Ibushi's body accidentally rolling to the floor and Kendrick unable to capitalize. But it's in there and there's no ignoring it, so I guess at minimum we can just flip out that we saw a freaking Burning Hammer on WWE TV. That's worth something. And for his part Ibushi was good. His kicks were nasty, his flying is graceful, and he looked like he was getting choked deeply by Kendrick. Now Kendrick helped out those kicks by flopping and leaning in and going down like a shot, no denying that. I loved the match and it just added to my full on over the top love of Brian Kendrick. A deep dive on current Kendrick is certainly in order and will be a fun new project for me. And damn does the CWC keep bringing these terrific pre-credits moments, with Gargano/Ciampa, HHH/Alexander, and now Bryan coming into the ring to cry and embrace Kendrick. Goddamn CWC, I need to clean my house because things are getting dusty in here.

PAS: Kendrick was really amazing in this match. I loved him trying to steal the win early, all of his desperate alleycat attacks, and all of the big near falls. Just masterful conducting of a wrestling match. Kendrick is a buck fifty at most, so I guess I buy his burning hammer not being as devastating as a 275 pound Kenta Kobashi's, still this really builds up Ibushi as basically unbeatable, if a neckbreaker on the post, a sliced bread, multiple bully chokes and a fucking burning hammer don't put him down, how can I buy anything done by anyone else beating him? Feels like they have booked themselves into a bit of a corner, especially because there really isn't anyone compelling left in the tournament. All the great stories are over, seems inevitable that it will be a ZSJ v. Ibushi final, and that is a really underwhelming finish. Don't want to get too down as this really was a hell of a match, and the Kendrick performance in this tournament was truly amazing. Right up there with Liger's 1994 J-Cup run in an all-time tourney run.

ER: Even with that Burning Hammer genie let out of the bottle, the Kendrick match was an easy choice for our 2016 Ongoing MOTY List; here's hoping we get even more Kendrick scrapping his way onto our list this year.

COMPLETE CWC GUIDE

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WWE Cruiserweight Classic 8/10/16

1. Tajiri vs. Gran Metalik

ER: This felt like a match that would have got 10 minutes on Nitro while the crowd went nuts and Schiavone talked about the nWo the whole time. I really liked a lot of this, even though the ending was really unimaginative, anticlimactic and flat. Tajiri looked real good throughout, loved his momentum shifting armdrags and sneaky kicks. Tajiri had a bunch of fun kicks (you heard it here first!), and that moment where he kicked a kneeling Metalik in the chest, and Metalik just stood up, slapped him, and Tajiri just stood there? That was the best. I really liked the mat stuff, had some smooth lucha flow and some vaguely unprofessional behavior, made me want to see Tajiri match up against guys like Blue Panther or Virus (and made me realize that we've never gotten to see an extended matwork run from Tajiri before). We get one of Metalik's big beautiful dives, Tajiri gets his leg dragon screwed through the ropes in a nice spot.....and then the ending just felt flat as hell. Tajiri kicks Metalik in the head, Metalik falls down....then just gets back up and does his finisher to Tajiri. That's just about the most uninspired way I can think of to end a good match. It was like they both remembered they left their stoves on and had to get out of there as fast as possible. Did my Network feed jump ahead or something?

PAS: I dug this more then Eric, I thought the opening matwork stuff looked like Negro Navarro or Solar maestro stuff which was crazy to see on WWE TV. Tajiri's mat counters looked awesome, that lifting press headscissors counter was truly beautiful, Metalik stuff was fine, but Tajiri looked world class on the mat. Feels like Tajiri v. Jack Gallagher is the dream match that came out of this tourney. I loved all of his kicks as usual, and he has so much more character then most of other guys still in. Metalik is fine, he has cool spots, but this feels really clearly like the wrong guy went over.

2. Kota Ibushi vs. Cedric Alexander

ER: Sometimes when watching a match I can see that the crowd is into it, and feel myself not seeing whatever it is they're seeing. But this match? I was right there with them, and it was an exciting and unexpected reaction. Ibushi and Alexander are two guys who I don't really have strong opinions on. I have liked matches with both, I have disliked matches with both. In matches of theirs I like I typically don't get driven to seek out more of their work, and in matches of theirs I dislike I don't get turned off from watching them in the future. They operate in that zone of guys who don't surprise me when a match is good, but I never expect it. And this match wasn't really the kind of match I like, but damn if that crowd didn't just draw me right into the whole thing. I surprised myself by how much I suddenly wanted Cedric to win, and that is a testament to the emotional performance that he put on. It wasn't because Ibushi was playing subtle heel, it was wholly because Cedric just worked like he deserved to win, and I wanted him to get that win. There were a couple kickouts I didn't care for, but who can really argue as obviously it slayed the live crowd and I totally get it. Both guys did things I dug, especially Cedric's early match back elbow. I wish Ibushi didn't leap up so quickly after that big ass brainbuster, but it was soon in the rearview as I flipped out over Ibushi's massive powerbomb and big kicks and that death wish German suplex. These guys got me invested and made me really excited for everything that was happening, despite having minimal opinions on them beforehand. It's a special reaction that doesn't happen often.

PAS: People really talked up this match, and I figured I wouldn't like it, 2016 near fall juniors wrestling is very much not my thing. Still I got caught up in this, I am giving a lot of credit to the announcing, the match had a simple story of a young guy with a family getting his big shot, coming so close and falling just short and both Bryan and Ranallo did a great job spelling it out without Joey Stylesing it. This tournament is pretty unique in wrestling history, as most of these guys in here aren't signed, for many of them it is their one shot. I can't think of any thing like it. This felt like a semi-final match at Wimbledon where a guy ranked 85 makes it to fifth set against Nadal before succumbing.  The last minute was really great, the quick kick after the brainbuster kick out was an awesome near fall, and I totally bought into Alexander's devastation at losing. HHH's little thumbs up at then might be the only thing he has ever done I actually liked. Emotional wrestling is something that the WWE normally does terribly, it is usually hammy Shawn Michaels horseshit, here we have two weeks in a row where it has been done well.

ER: Both matches were clearly wonderful, probably the most unanimously beloved hour of TV wrestling I've seen since some of the high end Lucha Underground episodes. Both matches landed on our 2016 ONGOING MOTY LIST, and it's starting to feel like this tourney will be producing many more that land on that list.

COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE CWC

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WWE Cruiserweight Classic 7/13/16

PAS: Helmsleys fake Liev Schriber documentary voice was pretty bad. I get they probably couldn't afford Liev, but they could have at least sprung for Pablo.

1. Gran Metalik vs. Alejandro Saez

ER: Metalik is Mascara Dorada, and I have never seen Saez before. And Saez might have the absolute goofiest "stagger" selling I've ever seen. Watching him twitch around the ring after Metalik hit a superkick, well...it was something. His facials in general are just absurd. Dorada hits a big springboard flip dive, Saez surprises me with a shooting star off the apron, and Dorada wins in about 4 minutes. This wasn't much, any Dorada lightning match is more interesting than this. Saez hit a nice SSP but man was he goofy.

PAS: Saez was XL in Chile and I saw him during that brief period where a bunch of Chilean youtube showed up. I remember him as an amusing crowbar, and he was a little less crowbary here. That SSP off the apron was really nasty as was the high kick that set it up. I had no problem with Saez's facial selling, I am in on Chilean crowbar John Tatum, that is a wrestler I want to watch. Metalik is obviously a pro and will do fine.

2. HoHo Lun vs. Ariya Daivari

ER: I've not seen either of these two, but I must say I'm happy WWE went so far out of their way to bring guys like Lun into this. Quite the unexpected move. That said, Lun does not seem ready for prime time. He has super weak strikes, doesn't really have expressive selling, and was part of a few awkward behind the curtain moments (the worst being when he was breaking Daivari's grip, and Daivari was flexed as if struggling to maintain grip, and Lun moves his hands off Daivari's arms to clearly show Daivari was just struggling against himself). Yeah yeah we all know it's a show, but man did Lun expose some things here. Daivari looked a lot better here than his brother looked in Lucha Underground, so that's a plus. Daivari had a lot of polish and I much would have rather seen him advance. He missed big, smothered Lun with a headlock, fed into...whatever it was Lun was supposed to be doing. I think they were supposed to be moves. But one can't be sure.

PAS: Daivari had nice pop on his stuff, everything looked very sharp and professional. Lun is a guy who trained himself watching youtube, and kind of wrestles like it. I think it is cool that they got a Hong Kong backyarder into the tourney, no reason to have him advance though.

3. Clement Petiot vs. Cedric Alexander

ER: Didn't get much of a feel for Petiot here. His control segments were sound, but kinda boring. I liked his discus clothesline and liked how it set up Cedric's finisher, dug Cedric's big springboard clothesline, but this felt like they could do more with the limited time. And less Bryan talking about grinding.

PAS: Thought Petiot was fine, he and Davari should both be singed and be put together as a workhorse NXT tag team to put over guys they think have futures. I haven't care for Alexander in longer matches, but his flashy stuff works good in a five minute TV match.

4. Kota Ibushi vs. Sean Maluta

ER: Maluta seems pretty raw, fairly tentative, does some goofy stuff (top rope codebreaker, ugh), but I liked his big bump off the top to the floor off an Ibushi Pele kick, and liked his stiff superkick (with Ibushi turning right into it and falling like a felled tree). Maluta almost kills himself on a flip dive, catching the ropes and then getting a lucky break by hitting feet first on the apron with his momentum taking him into Ibushi. Most of this is a mini showcase of some trademark Ibushi flying, his slingshot moonsault to the floor, his nice standing moonsault, some quick kicks, nothing you haven't seen before if you've seen one Ibushi match.

PAS: I thought the announcers did a nice job of selling this as potential 16 v 1 seed tourney upset, and the match was worked like that. Maluta had no real shot coming in, but maybe Ibushi's neck is hurt or he has jet lag. Maluta's nutty blown dive really worked in the context of this match, he probably shouldn't have tried it, but he needed to try some David strategies to have any shot. That superkick looked great and was sold great and ended up being a big near fall. I thought this was an actively good match, and better then a lot of your pimped NJ Ibushi "classics"

ER: Well, let's hope the matches kick up a notch once we trim some of the first round dead weight. I love the idea on paper of giving these unknown guys showcase matches, but so far the unknowns have only shown that they don't have tons to show yet.

PAS: I thought this was good first show, Ibushi v. Maluta was good stuff and I thought a lot of the first round losers showed some real promise.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Tournament Lucha!?

Triton & Mistico vs. Rey Bucanero & El Cuatrero (CMLL 3/22/16)

Man, a tournament lucha match that actually gets some heat from the crowd, AND features guys taking silly bumps as if the match actually mattered? Are the Gran Alternativa's always this interesting? It's still tourney lucha so it ain't perfect, or great, or very good, but damn did this exceed some expectations. Triton decides to take a Bucanero shoulderblock like Chris Hamrick and just flies through the ropes to the floor without slowing himself down, then later gets yanked out of the ring onto his stomach and into the barrier. Mistico also didn't get told this was just a tourney as he does this great dead fish sell off a Bucanero clothesline and does things I've never noticed him doing before like a sneaky little drop down during a Bucanero rope run. We get some dives that mostly hit, and most excitedly we get a series of pinfalls that are unexpected. Often in these quick tournament matches, we go through each match with both members of one team getting pinned at the same time. It's an end to a caida you've gotten used to after years of watching lucha. Yet here we get each pinfall staggered, 4 in all, which is something very rare in early tourney matches and helped add to the overall unique feeling of this match. This was a pleasant surprise.

Mascara Dorada & Boby Zavala vs. Mr. Niebla & Volador Jr. (CMLL 4/15/16)

This is from the parejas increibles tourney and I feel like if this had been on WorldWide in '98 it would be one of those legendary syndicated matches. It's just 4 minutes, but Dorada is flat out insane. He starts the match taking two of the highest backdrop bumps you've ever seen (Niebla and Volador tossed him up at the same time), and then takes a big splat hiptoss onto the entrance ramp. Niebla cuts the ring off by just shoving Zavala to the floor, and Dorada runs smack into a Niebla slap. But we do build to one of Dorada's high speed dives and man is it a crazy one, with him flying almost vertically to the floor. Volador gets a nice flip dive, Dorada gets planted with a flip piledriver, Niebla plants Zavala with a big senton, and yeah this would be a legendary C-show WCW match. Watch it thinking about your fond WCW Pro memories. (Match starts at the 1 hour 50 minute portion of the video)

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MLJ: Volador Jr. vs Máscara Dorada [Liga Elite]

2016-04-27 @ Arena México
Volador Jr. vs Máscara Dorada [Liga Elite]

(First Match)

I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. No, I do know. It's because I really want to find a match that I like. Volador is talented. He's hugely talented. He's able to really go. He's able to hit some complex stuff. People say that he's really thoughtful about wrestling and constantly trying to improve. These are people who have spoken with him that I believe. I think he DOES think about wrestling. It's just that he thinks about cool spots and not things like storytelling. And even that would be fine, but I think he thinks of seven cool spots instead of just one or two and then tries to do them all at once.

I really thought this one had a chance. For one thing, Volador's at his best when he's playing a subtle heel. He does it differently than someone like transitory Rush who is resentful. Instead he's arrogant and matter-of-fact in his smarmy self-assuredness. Dorada can hit even more things even more gracefully at times and is more of a natural tecnico so it should have been a good match. Moreover,  it was a single fall match, a souped up lightning match, so there was no real worry about that third fall bloat that usually drives me insane in Volador's matches.

And what we got was something that would have been an excellent nine minute match, a really good ten minute match, a decent if flawed ten minute match, and a miserable twelve minute match that I wish I hadn't watched.

I really liked the story of Dorada being one step quicker and more daring but Volador being meaner (ending in him having enough and pulling out the apron DDT and the thumbs down; I wish the match had ended after the powerbombs that followed), the symmetry in the counters, and the sheer inventiveness. I even liked the first ten minutes of nearfalls because the selling seemed to warrant them, but it just kept going and going and going, and instead of escalating, the diminishing returns kicked in. Even if it had ended after the awesome Dorada crazy dive rana into the ring that would have worked because of the symmetry that led to it. EVEN if it ended after the backcracker I could have lived with it (even if I didn't like it) because that was the first giant move after the crazy stuff, but it had to stumble to the finish with a no sell out of the corner and the ridiculous Canadian destroyer. At least it didn't end with the no selling of that and another one by Volador's opponent like the last Sombra match I saw with him did. Spectacular moves. Spectacular spots. Could have been a good match if they just took it home when it still felt like it mattered. They didn't. Way worse than the sum of its parts. Watch it for the dynamic, high impact stuff, sure, but it's just more tinder for the endless Volador tire fire in the end.

I keep giving him tries and he keeps proving that he's nothing but a spot monkey that doesn't know when to stop. One of these days at least I'll smarten up enough to stop. That'll be one of us.

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 18: Hijo del Fantasma, La Sombra, Máscara Dorada vs Averno, Mephisto, Negro Casas

2011-01-28 @ Arena México
Hijo del Fantasma, La Sombra, Máscara Dorada vs Averno, Mephisto, Negro Casas

0:40 in

I'm kicking myself a little for skipping over the La Aguila singles match from a little before the Dragon Rojo one, as Cubsfan says it's good, and he'd know. He also said it, with the Rojo match, was a sign that Sombra was finally putting it all together, which has been my sense too, going through this. Again, the problem is that there don't seem to be a ton of great looking stuff in 2011, so I'm going to have to pick a bit wildly.

This is a trios match with a few guys I like. For anyone here just for Sombra, Fantasma is the current King Cuerno in Lucha Underground. He's great as a rudo. He was really good as a tecnico here too. I was high on Averno when I started watching CMLL in 2014 because he was a rudo being a rudo which felt a little rare in the midst of the Negro Casas vs Rush/Shocker feud. The big disappointment in these matches is that the Mascara Dorada of 2011 was not the Mascara Dorada of 2016.

It's a fun match but nothing standout. It's got an initial ambush/beatdown by the rudos and I haven't seen one in a little bit so I enjoyed that. The best part of the first two falls were easily the mascots.

Kemonito looking bemused as his guys are getting beaten on:

Zacarias (Maybe before he was even called that) doing some nasty legwork on Dorada:

And this amazing Zacarias splash and antics in the segunda:

It was your standard beatdown with mask ripping, triple kicks, isolating of the tecnicos valiantly fighting back and all that. The biggest spot was Fantasma eating a double armdrag over the top.

which was especially cool because it actually set up the comeback in a way you almost never see. Tecnicos come back hundreds and hundreds of times with this bounce back of the ropes into a full nelson leading to rudo miscommunication, but here it actually made sense as it was Averno and Mephisto trying the double arm drag over the top once again. Stuff like that makes me way too happy. There's nothing sadder than someone whose day can be made by seeing Flair hit a validating top rope move or Tully hitting a double axe handle  from the second rope on a prone opponent without eating a foot in the face,

Of course, the CMLL Cameras missed the comeback almost entirely since they though it was a good time to go to the crowd. So it goes. Oh, speaking of that, I think, despite saying in the introduction and the graphic confirming it, that Negro Casas was the rudo captain, it was actually Averno. The sequence of falls seemed to indicate that. Not a big deal but it had me confused for a second.

If the mascot antics were the reason to watch the primera and segunda (though, to warn you, Zacarias never gets his comeuppance! The injustice), the tercera was carried by a lot of really good action. All of the tecnicos got to hit their spots. The dives were good even if some of the in ring tandem tecnico offense was a little off. Negro Casas got to be Negro Casas against multiple opponents, including this sequence:

and a great tease of an escape from Fantasma's German before he finally gets flattened. Sombra even hit his insane back flip dive, this time without three people standing around forever to catch him. It ended with a mask rip DQ and more rudo beatdown, which was still not as infuriating as Kemonito never getting his hands on Zacarias. Fun, if disposable, trios match,

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 17: La Sombra & Mascara Dorada vs Jushin Liger & Hector Garza

2011-01-04 @ Tokyo Dome (Wrestle Kingdom V - Road to Fantastica Mania)
La Sombra & Mascara Dorada vs Jushin Liger & Hector Garza

This isn't at all my sort of match, a spotty, sloppy eight minute lucha spotfest. It's sort of what I thought all lucha was in 1998. It was fun and it achieved its goal for the most part and the idea of Garza and Liger as a team was too good to pass up. They're two of the best jerk heels in the history of wrestling, after all. It's worth it just to see them come out:

This was the big 1/4 Tokyo Dome show for 2011 and this match particular was to whet appetites for the upcoming Fantastica Mania tour, the first of such. The match had to be as stereotypically lucha-y as possible, with contortions and dives and armdrags and whatever else. There was a dive train in the middle and another at the end.

And there were botches. Lots of botches. Mascara Dorada was the worst offender as he consistently went for the most challenging things (including hitting that step up flip dive that is all the rage now five years before it was all the rage). He barely managed his rope walking at the start of the match, blew a run up arm drag on Liger (but recovered), and had some really rough headscissors. He's much more poised and polished now.

Sombra took it up to an extra level too, not conent to do planchas but having to spin on them. He put an extra rotation into his split-legged moonsault and finished the match with a twisting bodysplash of the top, scoring the pin and plenty of trash talk on Liger to set up their title match during the tour.

My favorite part was Liger and Garza working together. They had double team offense that ranged from fun (a lifting set up by Liger ending with a Garza kick:

to ridiculous (a catapult moonsault that just didn't quite work).

The crowd seemed to enjoy it, and it probably got people hyped for the tour, which was obviously a success as they're still doing it annually. It was nice to see Sombra stretch his athleticism just a little further both to see that he could hit some more advanced moves but also that he was savvy enough to show restraint and not do it every time out. It's nice to have something to escalate you.

I will say that this was probably the worst "Let's wait for the dive!" I've ever seen, but it's forgivable in the context: the dive was so insane that it probably sold tickets. How can you fault them not wanting to have Sombra kill himself with that in mind?

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

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

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

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

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

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 6: Felino vs Sombra 3: La Sombra, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr. vs Felino, Místico, Negro Casas

2010-03-05 @ Arena México
La Sombra, Máscara Dorada, Volador Jr. vs Felino, Místico, Negro Casas

6:00 in

This is why I can't be allowed to do career retrospectives, or really anything with too broad a focus. It made sense to look at Felino vs Sombra as that felt like Sombra's first big singles feud in CMLL, at least that we have footage of online, and there were three definitive singles matches, all different in format, with the last being an apuestas match, surely the biggest of his career up until that point. Then I decided I liked the pairing and in order to appreciate the apuestas match I should look at the trios match that made up the build even though I pretty much knew how it was going to go. Beatdowns, mask-pulling, revenge mask pulling, challenges. It's the CMLL build.

Still, I wanted to look, for Felino vs Sombra, sure, but also because it'd let me tackle a few things from my previous 2010 watch, most specifically rudo Mistico. Also, while most of the weekly TV is online for the year, it's very hard to search for. You pretty much have to know what you're looking for or go through the match finder. For that reason, pulling out matches theoretically has a purpose. Also, it's just cool to see Mistico and Casas teaming as rudos, even if this was the road to Mistico going tecnico again.

He was billed as neither rudo nor tecnico here, but was also in red with the horns. I'm not the world's biggest Mistico fan, but I really enjoy rudo Mistico from this period. He wrestled like a bully. For one thing, while he was feuding with Volador, he didn't differentiate. He'd beat the hell out of anyone he was in the match with (and on comebacks feed for anyone). It made his matches seem more unfocused but also more chaotic and less orchastrated. He'd also wrestle 'bigger' than he was, including gleefully utilizing a press slam falcon arrow thing, which no guy his size should probably be doing. So long as he was playing a rudo bully, it worked. More on that for the finish of the match.

Volador was feuding with Mistico. Sombra was feuding with Felino. They were building to singles matches (and eventually to the Volador/Mistico double turn). Casas and Dorada were just there. The point of the match then was to keep heat on the feuds and then to give the tecnicos the shine at the end. So they went with the rudo ambush to begin, Casas mainly playing crowd control as the other rudos got to focus on their opponents. The beatdown was wild enough that the camera had a hard time catching the right thing. We'd get the last second of Mistico slamming Volador into the post or Felino diving off the ropes as Casas held Sombra for him. Everyone got some individual focal time on the rampway. This all ended with Sombra getting propelled over the top rope from the ramp into the a Felino foul in the ring, and losing his mask immediately thereafter (at which point Casas casually stepped on him before doing a cartwheel). When the rudos have a long beatdown and lose the fall by DQ in that way, it's often a sign that things are just going two falls.

That was the case here. The tecnicos finally came back (though it wasn't a very clear thing. We had yet another wasted Volador stage dive. It's one of the most spectacular spots in the company and he wastes it in almost every match. It drives me nuts. If you're going to dive off the stage on your opponent as part of a trios comeback, make that the key moment of comeback. He almost always gets beaten on again afterwards). Anyway, all of this led to the dives clearing the ring and Mistico fighting against Sombra and Volador, both at once. They had come out with matching ski masks and actually felt a little like the Misterioso/Volador, sr. team to me. This felt like the main event bully against the up and coming team, and was worked as such. Mistico really held his own believably but fell to a tandem Spanish fly. It was one of those exchanges where everyone came out looking better than they came in though.

Post match there were the expected challenges. This was good. It let the tecnicos get over, but only in part because Felino had been so nasty with the foul and the mask ripping on Sombra. It let Mistico look like a world beater but Volador and Sombra still had the rub of beating him through working together. Since Sombra was going to ultimately go over Felino, this let him have a win and look strong so that Felino could get the next couple to build heat for the match. Good, functional stuff.

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MLJ: Cavernario vs Titan 3: Marco Corleone, Máscara Dorada, Titán vs Cavernario, Rey Bucanero, Terrible

Aired CadenaTres: 2014-07-26
Taped 2014-07-22 @ Arena México
Marco Corleone, Máscara Dorada, Titán vs Cavernario, Rey Bucanero, Terrible

Alright, a match without Niebla in it. He serves his purpose, sure, but a little goes a long, long way. This was to set up Cavernario's challenge for Titan's Mexican National Welterweight title (which he earned, if I'm not mistaken, from winning the Busca), so the goal here would be to have Cavernario getting heat on Titan to set up the challenge.

The match had some MLJ all stars, Marco and Rey. I came in really wanting to see some Cavernario vs Marco (which we didn't get much of). Rey Bucanero is very good at what he does now, a lot better than he was when he was more athletic. He's very savvy in 2014-15 and able to do a lot of little things that he just didn't have the ring experience and presence to do back during the GdI heyday. He's less "workrate-y" but that's just about the last thing I care about so I'm usually glad to see him in a match. Dorada is a bit like Titan in that I just haven't seen a lot of him. I'm the one guy in the world who isn't in this for flashy tecnicos, I guess. I'm all for them when they can ground their stuff into a match with resonance and meaning but if I want to watch spots, there are youtube clips for that. I don't really have a sense yet exactly what Dorada and Titan bring to the table, but I'm watching matches to find out.

Primera was exchanges. Dorada and Rey did good, simple, competitive stuff, looking for openings and teasing clean breaks. Marco vs Terrible was shtick. The girls screamed for Marco, who was a little clunky on putting his head down for a presumed Back Body Drop to eat a Terrible kick, but he did hit some fun armdrags to make up for it. Then Cavernario and Titan picked up the pace. They had a spot where Cavernario moved out of the way of the TITANICS (Titan's endlessly stupid backflip victory roll finish - more on that next time), but that in avoiding it, became vulnerable to a pick-up/drop down (and Titan likes to do his out of a fireman's carry). He followed with his other finisher, a split-legged moonsault from the middle of the ropes, but Cavernario got his feet up. They run this spot occasionally and it always looks good, so good on them. This led to Cavernario's Vader Bomb and the pin. Clever set up to the finish that showed strong familiarity. The caida could have used another minute or two though.

The segunda followed from the primera, with a beatdown. The rudos worked very well together, with a triple flip powerbomb and tandem boots. Here's the powerbomb, posted mainly so you can see Cavernario go into hyper rage mode afterwards:

This lifting kick assault was a lot of fun too:

They even did a Terrible Giant Swing/Rey Dropkick. Rey was there to beg off every time a babyface came in so that the ambush could come into play. The comeback was cute. Titan hit a rope climb rana out of nowhere and a huge flipping dive. Then Dorada tried to hit Air Italia  from the ramp, was caught and tossed away, only for Marco to follow with the same move and score the pin.

The tercera was really a lot of fun. There was a lot of focus on Cavernario and Titan, with Cavernario playing canny early on and leading Titan into an ambush. This was where we had some Cavernario vs Marco (and a GdI huddle with Rey and Cavernario too which made me happy). At one point Marco smacked the bone off of his head which was a great visual. They kept things moving towards the end, with guys breaking up pins and slipping in and out of the ring. It all built to a massive dives (a hilo by Dorada, an Asai moonsault by Titan), and Marco diving off of the apron. Dorada moonsaulted himself onto Rey's foot, and got pinned that way. Rey got taken out after he and Cavernario tried for the old GdI double wheelbarrow. When Cavernario turned his back to celebrate, Titan rolled up Rey. It's a great finish so long as it's used sparingly. This left things with Cavernario and Titan, with Cavernario needing to go over to set up the title match. They did a quick minute of work, culminating with Titan getting cocky after getting the best of a strike exchange, playing to the crowd (a crowd that was still sort of booing to him) and getting locked in the Cavernaria from behind.

I'm a few matches in now and I'm really enjoying the Cavernario/Titan pairing. That said, I think Cavernario is what makes it work more than Titan. I didn't watch their title match last year so I'll see if my opinion changes there next.

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CMLL Worth Watching 1/2/15, 1/4/15 & 1/9/15

1. Barbaro Cavernario, Felino & Polvora vs. Stuka Jr., Titan & Angel de Oro (1/4/15)

Another fun match from a card with a few fun matches. Felino really works best when separated from Niebla and his brother. He always ends up looking like an actual wrestler instead of spending the whole match honing his comedy chops. He must have lost a hair match at some point too as he's all buzzed (different kind of buzzed than when he teams with Niebla) although it would be amusing if he just showed up with a shaved head without cashing in. Barbaro gets a bunch of great runs in this, the guy really knows his way around a nice standing sequence. He also takes a nice reckless Cassandro bump to the floor leading to the other rudos also spilling out, and some big dives by the tecnicos. Titan had some supreme dorkiness during this as he comes off at times like he's working a parody of Chris Hero's old "indy athleticism" gimmick. Stuka is always a nut and it feels like he should get talked about way more. I am a sucker for his "hands at sides" dives. Match also featured an unintentionally humorous spot where Polvora was fighting with Titan, and Felino threw a chop block at Titan but didn't connect enough so Titan didn't know to sell the chop block. So basically we saw Felino fly into frame stage right, and then roll away stage left...while nobody else reacted.

2. Negro Casas vs. Mascara Dorada (1/2/15)

I always love when one my favorite old guys shows up in singles matches, against anybody really. If there's a Panther or Casas singles, I'll watch it no matter who the opponent is. And Dorada is a guy I really like so naturally I'd be excited for this match-up. And these two are really no strangers to each other in singles matches, as they've matched up several times over the last 5 years, often over this very title. And while this match is somewhat disappointing, that does not mean that it's not worth watching. It's disappointing in its formatting, which is almost always the reason a CMLL main event is disappointing. I can't recall the last time I thought a CMLL match would have been good if not for one man's performance, it's almost always due to lousy format. And it stinks to see Casas wedged into a format. Casas matches always excel because of his wonderful attention to details, and this match was too much boiled down to his moves and nearfalls that it didn't have as much room for character. There were still those terrific Casas moments here, such as him pumping his boots into Dorada's face on a moonsault attempt, then smiling giddily to the crowd over his shoulder as he scrambled for a pin; or him screaming to the heavens after getting beaten by the Casita for the second time in the match. But there just wasn't as many classic Casas moments as you'll find in his best work. But these two are both good, and formatting be damned there will be enough good moments that shine through, enough to make it better than most CMLL main event singles. Their standing go behinds had nice struggle, Dorada's dive was fast and hit high, Casas' press off the apron hit with such force that it sent him flipping wildly into the front row. Those kinds of things add up to a fun watch, and while it wasn't as great as it could have been there was still plenty to appreciate.

3. Kamaitachi vs. Dragon Lee (Lightning Match) (1/9/15)

Only 6 minutes, but played out like a really fun Lucha Underground style match. The opening strike exchange had elements of old Low-Ki stuff and was really fun when both guys knocked each other down with stereo roundhouse kicks. Kamaitachi always leans into things and Lee has a bunch of cool strikes that look great when guys lean into them. We also get one of Lee's trademark suicidal topes with his head plowing into the side of Kamaitachi's neck at high speed and both men sprawling out. There were a bunch of cool reversals in ring, Lee got dumped on his head by a clothesline, Kamaitachi got dumped on his head with a suplex. Crowd was not liking that Kamaitachi won while sneakily unmasking Lee.

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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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MLJ: Sin Salida 2010 Part 3: Máscara Dorada, Místico, Mr. Águila DQ Averno, Negro Casas, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

Taped 2010-06-06

Máscara Dorada, Místico, Mr. Águila DQ Averno, Negro Casas, Volador Jr. [Relevos Increíbles]

So, one of my previous 2010 interludes was the Mistico rudo turn. It didn't work out, mainly because they refused to commit to it. He was too over as a tecnico for it to last for long, I guess, and while it was obvious he was having fun with it, either it didn't make business sense or it was chipping into merchandise money or something, because after a few months they reversed course. This was the culmination of that.

Prior to the match, Averno offered Mistico a half-and-half mask and he refused. Alternatively, when Volador came out, he tore off his hood and was wearing an Averno styled mask. Thus, the rudo double turn. And I'll be honest, this might have been the best I've ever seen Volador. I get that it's probably easier to be an ass kicking rudo but this was just a good performance. 

It had next to nothing to do with the Invasores theme though. Aguila (one of the leaders of the group) was there, but for most of the match he was a non-factor. Moreover, Casas was a non-factor too. That's my biggest issue with him in general. I've seen a bunch of trios during this period and his tecnico run in the few years before where he's just sort of there in matches. I couldn't imagine that with 2013-2015 Casas, who's always so front and center and larger than life. Here, though, he's at least functional. It was his job for most of the match to keep Dorada and Aguila constrained so that Averno and Volador could maul Mistico. There were a few times where he seemed annoyed by his partners' lack of wanting to actually win the match as they were so focused on beating on Mistico. I've really seen very little Dorada so far, but he was fine here. He certainly had a lightning grace to him and the Japanese (this was from Japanese tv, btw, so the video quality is great) loved his big dive at the end.

This was a straight out ambush after the mask reveal and while we seem to see that almost every match these days, it was somewhat rarer during the matches I've been watching for the year, though and that made it feel fresh and quite fitting. It set the mood for the match which was a long beatdown into the segunda, a quick comeback where they delay the payoff to Volador vs Mistico, and then a reset for the exchange-filled tercera where Mistico got his hands on Averno but not really Volador. 

Averno and Volador worked well together. They thrashed Mistico's mask, taunted the crowd's chanting for him, were quick to cut off any attempt he had at a comeback, and had some good tandem offense like a press into a gutbuster, a goardbuster onto the ropes to set up Volador's top rope legdrop, and this super fun charge into the post:

The comeback was brief but fun. I really liked the way the tecnicos took the segunda with a bit of offense so synchronized that it's one of the prettiest things I've seen in lucha. I don't think they did it on purpose but it ended up looking great:

The tercera was a lot of what you'd expect. They did a good job keeping Volador away from Mistico for the most part, since this was the start of a new chapter of the story even if it was on a big show. Dorada hit his amazing dive (one of a few in the match, including a big Mistico stage dive in the primera). Casas made more contribution to the match than I gave him credit for including, mocking Aguila as if he was drunk and having this fun spin kick exchange followed by stooging: 

Finally, Volador and Mistico got to do their thing, which wasn't really all that freshened up by the role reversal. He ducked out instead of eating the Mistica though, and Averno got to eat it instead. Volador, instead, tried to throw his mask at Mistico, but Tirantes caught him and DQed the rudos to end the match. 

Just looking at the match finder, it seems like he's still a tecnico for two more months before he fully turned, so I have no idea what that would be about. Barring bad booking that might have come from this, the match and the turn were both quite effective and fun.

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CMLL Workrate Round-Up 7/27/14, 10/17/14 & 10/31/14

1. Silueta vs. Zeuxis (7/27/14)

Nice little women's match, the kind we don't normally get to see. It was billed as a lightning match but really wasn't worked like one, other than it being una caida. We get a nice 10 minutes match with a bunch of cool arm and leg work and some big flashy spots. They both have a couple cool armbar roll throughs and there was an especially good sequence with Zeuxis locking on an armbar and sort of rolling it through into a Yes Lock as Silueta was about to get to the ropes. We even get a Frye/Shamrock dueling knee bar section. Zeuxis throws a bunch of stiff kicks during this and does a great running double knee attack in the corner, Silueta does some nice ranas, and this was all fun. Although is it just me or do most women wrestlers run the ropes really awkwardly? It seems like every time they had to run ropes or run into the turnbuckles it was like their bodies were just not designed to do so. I've noticed this before with others and all the movements just look completely foreign.

2. Mascara Dorada, Stuka Jr. & Maximo vs. Shocker, Thunder & Euforia (10/17/14)

So…I think I kinda like Thunder. He's a big lug and I'll probably get sick of him at some point, but right now I dig what he brings to matches. He seems very mobile which already sets him apart from past large white guys that CMLL has brought in. I like his power offense based around catching guys mid-flying move and then just tossing them. He's got a really great fallaway slam and some nice strikes. I like how he mixed up his corner shots with kicks, nice punches, and then ends it with a Zidane headbutt. This was probably the best Shocker has looked in a match this year. The Rush series was good, but more about a young punk taking advantage of an out of shape older guy. Shocker was a jerk in this and looked more fired up than any non-Rush match I've seen him in lately. Not only did he break out some nasty strikes, including a couple stiff punches and a rough stomp to the face, but he did a cool fat guy senton, and even took the straps down to mockingly flex his chubbiness to the crowd. Dorada is a guy I like a lot, probably more than most, as I like the way he incorporates his athleticism into matches, always taking super high bumps on backdrops, and doing cool things that most workers can't do. Here he does his awesome high jump rana, sprinting from the ramp over the ropes and into the ring. This was short and sweet, real good mix of stuff.

3. Lightning Match: Dragon Lee vs. Kamaitachi (10/17/14)

Well this was crazy! Going a little over 6 minutes, this would have been a legendary WorldWide match. Both guys get to show off wild offense, both guys take big bumps, both guys were very likely sore on Saturday. We get a run of Kamaitachi doing running horizontal dropkicks (the kind where you fling your legs straight out and land in a back bump), first a normal one in the ring, then one leaping from the rampway over the ropes into the ring (which Lee runs stupidly/awesomely chin first right into, flipping him asshole over elbow), then one running from the apron to the floor. Awesome. Then Lee does a crazy one of his own to the floor and I'm fully invested at this point. Both guys really fly into the other's offense with gusto, with Kamaitachi launching himself off a German and getting his chest caved in while hung up on the turnbuckle and taking a Lee double stomp off the top. The finish is great as they have a really cool strike exchange, with both men throwing stiff shots and mixing up the timing of them, cutting each other off, all building to Lee hitting one of the more insane suplexes that I've seen, kind of like a Musclebuster but dropped more like a Northern Lights. It certainly looked like Kamaitachi will end up an inch or two shorter. Go watch this. In 6 easy minutes it will bring joy to your day.

4. Rush vs. Ultimo Guerrero (10/31/14)

This was from the Halloween show which was probably the most batshit atmosphere of any show this year. The crowd was hot, and the mood was freaking weird as most of the guys on the show were wearing skeleton body and face paint, even the referees were all decked out like skeletons, and all the CMLL chicas were painted up like sugar skulls while the arena was filled with overworking smoke machines and eerie red lights. Truly unique atmosphere for everything. I got a huge kick out of all the girls rhythmically dancing in their calavera get-ups. I thought the whole show was lifted up by the presentation, and this match especially was really fun. Both guys really pulled out all the stops to try and one up the other. This felt like something that could have really been classic if there was blood allowed. I enjoyed it as it, but the environment was just begging for blood. Both guys worked plenty stiff and there were some nice nearfalls, really dig UG planting Rush with a mean Liger bomb. The week before Rush planted UG with a brutal ballshot and I wish that would have been played up more here, but UG did sorta get revenge by winning with his own tiny ballshot.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 10/11/14

So they showed a couple weeks of the Anniversario show and that was nice, but now they hit me up with more damned tournament lucha. I'm pretty sure Cubsfan warned me about this. This is the Copa Jr. tournament which I think has something to do with 2nd generation stars wrestling in crummy unica caida matches. But it features guys like Mephisto and Shocker who have fathers that most current lucha fans couldn't pick out of a lineup so really it's just more tourney filler. Arrrgggh.



1. Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Mephisto

It's nice to see Maya in this as that's kind of a nice bump for him and holy SHIT he does an absolutely insane flip dive that sees him bounce off Mephisto and into the second row. Thank YOU for showing up to the tourney, Maya. Just bounces back first off the barrier and into some annoyed man in a jogging suit. The match was like 2 minutes long and because tournament lucha has a big ol' Eat Shit And Die bumper sticker on its shit heap car, it was all Maya getting to do cool shit before Mephisto hit his finisher to win it. God tourney lucha is such a dick kick. Still, one stupid ass dive into the crowd is way better than you normally get in one of these, so I call it a win. (Link posted so you can see the awesome Maya dive)

2. Misterioso Jr. vs. Shocker

God this was fucking terrible. Misterioso just got to feed into Shocker's lethargic offense. Just literally putting himself into Shocker's slowly applied moves. This went about 1 minute. I don't know if I've ever seen a better example of Fuck You Tournament Lucha than this. Usually the matches at least take longer than the ring entrances.

3. Volador Jr. vs. Tiger

Oof this was dogshit. Both men trade super kicks and are already selling "who's going to get up first" fatigue about one minute in. God this was bad.

4. La Mascara vs. Felino

Another 90 seconds of magic. This show is almost a parody of bad tournament lucha. There aren't many guys these days I get less excited about than Felino. Once he starts walking to the ring it's an immediate "Oh goddammit". But for 90 seconds this was better than the last two matches (which are worst lucha match of the year contenders). Felino at least doesn't advance, he bumps nicely off the apron for a Mascara superkick, and doesn't do much of his wretched comedy. Yay?

5. Mephisto vs. Shocker

This was at least a pleasant surprise as Mephisto went over. It's kind of crazy how much the crowd responds to Shocker as he looked really bad tonight. Most of the match was Mephisto stiffing Shocker with right hands so it kind of worked. Mephisto looked like he was working opposite a bloated corpse at some points.

6. Volador Jr. vs. La Mascara

Mascara is wearing awesome leather pants/suspenders combo, and then he reveals them to be tearaway pants, and he botches the tearaway spot. They get hung up on something so he has to kind of slowly undo one of the legs. Good grief tournament lucha. We also get a powerbomb/feet on the ropes spot repeated from the previous match. God Volador is so awful and he always gets booked to go all the way to the end of these awful tournaments.

7. Mephisto vs. Volador Jr.

You want near falls? Buddy you GET some near falls in this!! That one move didn't get the pin? Maybe try pinning him after that next one! Now he's pinning you! But you'll get him right back and try pinning him! Express your shock to the arena when he kicks out! Do signature offense! Both of you lie around selling the drama of the near falls! Eventually something made one of the guys stay down for 3 beats instead of 2.9 beats. Catch it!



8. Mascara Dorada, Valiente & Atlantis vs. Negro Casas, Ultimo Guerrero & Mr. Niebla

Hey this was a pleasant little straight falls gem hidden on a turd sandwich show. The match is shorter than normal, but everybody makes up for it by working lightning fast. Often that can make a match feel rushed, but here it just ramps everything up. It's such a joy seeing Casas work equal speed with Dorada and Valiente. Casas is a real marvel in this, always involved in everything, doing weird little things I've never seen like a wicked soccer slide kick to ambush an unsuspecting Atlantis. UG comes out hot after Atlantis after losing his mask, his mullet all hip like Karen O circa 2003. UG brought stiff shots and while I wanted more of a revenge feel, hopefully they match up even more as they make good opposition. Casas and Niebla bullying Dorada around is a blast, as Dorada takes stuff great including a super high backdrop. But damn, Casas. This guys was on fire the whole time, really owning Arena Mexico. It's short, well worth watching.

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