CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report 2/23/13

These matches were from the 2/15/13 Arena Mexico show.




1. Lightning Match: Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. El Hijo del Fantasma

Lightning matches are pretty hard to judge as I don't believe I've ever seen one with much structure, unless "offense exhibition" counts as a type of structure. Judging selling and build and pace in a lightning match seems like a fool's errand, as none of the wrestlers are trying to do any of those things. They're just trying to do their coolest looking moves in as short amount of time as possible. The absolute best luchadors all try and work a show-off style in these matches, so they're kind of odd in that really great workers like Virus essentially work like Delta. So with all that in mind, this was one of the better lightning matches I've seen. The big spots were big, the other spots were hit cleanly. Rojo seemed a little selfish in this one as he very clearly had a Kurt Angle "waiting to get my shit in" look on his face (well...what's visible of his face). Fantasma hit a great tope that smashes Rojo into the barrier, but he sells it by fixing his hair. Oooookay. But then he hits an insane running dropkick from the rampway to the floor and who gives a shit how he sold a tope. Finish looks awesome as Fantasma goes for a rana, Rojo catches him, bounces him super high off the top rope and into a massive powerbomb.



2. Namajague/Averno/Mephisto vs. Valiente/Stuka Jr./Angel de Oro

1st fall is an extended rudo beatdown, as Okumura comes out dressed up as Namajague so that the REAL Namajague can ambush those sucker tecnicos. Namajague beats down Stuka the whole time, ripping at his mask and throwing stiff clotheslines while Averno is awesome on the ring apron riling up all the Arena fans. Oro wants to throw a beating on Averno but Averno stands with his head down and hands behind his back and Oro is too honorable and then Mephisto just blindsides him. Mephisto finishes this with an absolutely brutal Pepsi Plunge, with him holding Valiente up on the middle rope for a crazy amount of time before planting him. Rudo beatdown continues most of the way through the 2nd, making the tecnico comeback all the more satisfying. It was also satisfying because all three rudos are guys who know how to fly around for tecnico offense. Stuka hits a nice tope that sends Namajague flying into the barrier, Oro hits a nice moonsault from the 2nd rope, and Valiente hits his insane Valiente Special at crazy speeds, nailing that moonsault from the top to the floor. Back in and Namajague gets a kick caught and Stuka throws him down into the splits, misses the running knee and Namajague punches him in the balls to get a straight falls rudo win. Match wasn't much as it was all about setting up the mask/hair match, but it was fine for what it was and SOME indy dude needs to steal the "catch kick->pull opponent into doing splits->knee opponent in the face" move chain. Seems like something that would have already been done in Beyond Wrestling.



3. Ultimo Guerrero/Niebla Roja/Euforia vs. Atlantis/La Mascara/Super Porky

Again more of an angle than an actual match, setting up the Atlantis/UG mask match which should be amazing. It feels like I haven't seen Porky on TV in months, maybe over a year. He seems more immobile than the last time I saw him, but still manages to do his trademark spots (headlock/headscissor takeover, big splash off the top with assist from his team, giant running butt splash to all three rudos), it just takes him way longer to get to his feet afterwards. Roja looks really good here, being a total shit disturber while UG bumps around like a lunatic. Nothing stands out as being spectacular, but it passed the time.

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CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report 2/16/13

These matches originally happened on the 2/8/13 Arena Mexico show.

1. Demus 3:16/Pequeno Violencia//Pequeno Olimpico vs. Bam Bam/Fantasy/Astral

Hey! A TV appearance from Fantasy! Demus vs. Bam Bam is one of the modern great lucha match-ups, so I always get excited when they're opposite each other. Demus' charisma is a cut above the rest of the minis division and it's a shame he didn't get to become a real boy the other year. Match is good junk food. No substance but goes down pleasantly. Fantasy is always good for some fun (his springboard moonsault while his opponent is hung up in the ropes is pretty nutty), Astral at least finally works with a shirt on to spare me from his topographical back, Bam Bam crashes and burns pretty spectacularly (though not as good as Demus), and the ending made me jump forward in my chair. Demus has Bam Bam up in a muscle buster, parades him around the ring, and Bam Bam wriggles free and drops straight down, catching Demus legs at the last minute and rolling him up. Sounds normal, but the way it looked flipped me out. Bam Bam just sheer vertical dropped, head straight down, and tucked at the very last minute possible. I thought he was just going to get spiked and die. Dude is crazy.


2. Namajague/Misterioso Jr./Okumura vs. Rey Cometa/Stuka Jr./Hijo Del Fantasma

Short but really fun match to build up to the eventual hair/mask match. Namajague is his awesome self here, blowing mist and ripping Stuka's mask, throwing nasty back elbows and taking a massive monkey flip bump on the rampway. Fantasma hits his really cool running ramp-to-ring clothesline and a massive flip dive. Cometa gets spectacularly bullied by Misterioso and does his great flip bump off a stiff clothesline. Misterioso beats him up good and it all builds to some beautiful ranas and the tornillo you want to see. Okumura looked great here, too working his low-rent SUWA/Dinamitas style. I dig all these guys.



3. Ultimo Guerrero/Terrible/Tiger vs. Atlantis/Rush/Shocker

This was alright but also was used to build up the UG/Atlantis mask match, which is a MASSIVE mask match right there. The UG resurgence these past couple years has been really awesome. He's a guy who was one of my absolute favorites in 2000-2001, and my the middle of the decade he kinda personified all my least favorite parts of lucha. So it's nice to see him so energized and awesome again. Speaking of guys who were amongst my favorites 12 years ago, Shocker looks soooo sloooow these days. He looks to be getting in better shape than last year, but he still tries to do all his old spots, just so much slower. Terrible is fun here slapping around Rush and I know I'm way down to see UG and Atlantis tear it up. UG levels him at one point in the match with a brutal baseball slide dropkick (basically did a Fuerza bump dropkick) that sent Atlantis flying. Best "through the ropes" dropkick since the Owen Hart/1-2-3 Kid KOTR match. I'm game for two dudes in their 40s bleeding and dying for their masks.

Also was I napping or did CMLL rock una caida matches this week?

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2013 Lucha Roundup

Hair/Mask vs. Hair Mask!

Namajague/Shiego Okumura vs. Rey Cometa/Stuka Jr. 3/15

ER: So I had been pestering Phil about checking out some Namajague as he's consistently been my favorite "new" wrestler. I mean there have been other discoveries over the past couple years. Terry Rudge has been a recent obsession, but that stuff is also 30 years old. All of my other current favorite guys (Mark Henry, Arkangel, etc.) have been my favorites for quite some time. Namajague is a new guy in that sense, that I have an actual modern wrestler who I can add to my list of people to scour youtube for. So I've been building him up to Phil as completely insane and awesome, and I've been on a semi-roll recommending stuff to Phil lately (everybody needs to listen to the new Autre Ne Veut album. Concert of the year, hottest 1994 R&B jamz ever.) so we both dove into this one without having seen it prior.

And it delivered beyond the degree that I was expecting it to deliver. CMLL Arena Mexico main event style kinda blows. You know that. I know that. It's a dead horse. Any matches that work are usually in spite of the style. But whatever this works and it's really fun. Namajague looks awesome in it, bumping like mad all over the place and throwing stiff clotheslines. Cometa does a bunch of insane and spectacular stuff, spins around a bunch really quick, takes an amazing flip bump off a clothesline, etc. Okumura splats him into the floor with a giant cross body, and Namajague gets buried into the wall by a bullet tope. There's plenty of stuff that makes this work so it's kinda pointless for me to gripe about what I would have wanted instead. I got dumb bumps, crazy spots, and Okumura looking even more like SUWA with his head shaved.

PS: Solid entertaining match in a style I am ambivalent towards. Cometa has some really crazy dives, I remember losing my shit the first time I saw Hector Garza do a tornillo and Cometa spins around like an Ice Capader. Stuka wasn't much here, but the rudo team was pretty great, I am in on Namajague although I am bummed he lost his awesome mask, there was a weird spot where he eats a shining wizard by doing the splits which felt like something Eric Corvis and the card trick guy should steal for Beyond wrestling. Okumura broke out an awesome brainbuster and awkward awesome plancha, he was working like a guy losing his hair Wanted another kick out or two, and there was some slow spots in the Segunda but this was good stuff

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CMLL on Fox Deportes Workrate Report, 2/10/13

Yay! I was hoping since it wasn't shown on Galavision that the Reyes del Aire would be shown on Fox Deportes, and they have not let me down! And it looks like no other matches will be shown on this episode so this should be a rock solid 35+ minutes of awesome, with likely zero minutes of awesome provided by Sagrado.



1.  Rey Cometa vs. Averno vs. Namajague vs. Felino vs. Stuka Jr. vs. La Sombra vs. La Mascara vs. Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Euforia vs. Delta vs. Titan vs. Mr. Aguila vs. Hijo del Fantasma vs. Polvora vs. Tiger vs. Sagrado

I've been super high on Namajague after his killer performance in a recent trios, so was hoping for more out of him in this match and lo if he does not take a lunatic bump over the rail within the first 10 seconds of this match. Again, the Namajague bandwagon line forms to the left. First 5 minutes are pretty crazy with some assorted dives (Sagrado hits a nice bullet tope that Averno eats, big flip dive by Aguila, Rey Cometa hits a missile dropkick and then a gorgeous tornillo), but then Namajague comes in and steals things again by taking a wild out of control bump to the floor after getting crossed up by Stuka, and then gets bent in half into the rail on a Stuka dive. Mascara has the Brazos throwback gear and it looks incredible. Booking crew knows I'm watching as Sagrado gets eliminated early after clumsily running through some spots.

Rudos team is awesome as Fantasma hits a nice moonsault to the floor, and then they all jump him. Namajague is SUWA as he jaws with fans, pushes Stuka into Baby Richard and then kicks Stuka right in the balls. Felino is awesome as Namajague's cheerleader at ringside. Namajague is in for like 5 straight minutes and he kinda gets dumped directly on his head by Cometa. He goes all limp and Cometa seems totally oblivious as started picking him up by his head and then Nama is a total lunatic as he keeps kicking out of shit even though it seems like his head may not be connected to his spinal column any longer. What the hell is wrong with this guy!?

A few of the guys I like most are gone at this point but Titan is emerging as being pretty awesome as he flies into kicks and dishes swift kicks of his own that remind me of Black Terry. Euforia has also quietly become a very nice rudo base. He's never a guy that I think about but he really holds these kind of matches together. Although in the same match Averno is right there eating all the dives and taking head scissors off the apron to the floor, so Euforia is a pretty easy guy to overlook.

And the last part of the match is really just Averno doing his best to get in the way of La Sombra's unlikely offense, which Sombra always seems to doing kind of selfishly. He'll bump Averno to the floor mid-ring, and then immediately start to set up his "over the ring post" moonsault to the floor before Averno has even gotten up. So it makes Averno look like a total goon who has to get up and just happens to move 16 feet over to catch it. It's pretty hard to do that stuff convincingly.

This match was plenty fun but there's always that sense just a couple minutes into these things that Sombra is going to win no matter what, and that takes most of the drama out of them.

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CMLL on Fox Deportes Workrate Report, 2/3/13

Well, one local channel that was showing current CMLL Puebla stopped showing it, and then a couple weeks later suddenly this show starts popping up on Fox Deportes (which I didn't actually realize I got). I'm sure I'll get this for a few months, then it will disappear and maybe LATV will start showing stuff again. Who knows?

Awesomely, this appears to be the undercard of the 1/25 Arena Mexico show that aired on Galavision the day before.

1. Virus/Sangre Azteca/Raziel vs. Fuego/Triton/Diamante

This show is already after my heart as this match starts with a few lovely minutes of Virus matwork, and then we get a few very nice minutes of Sangre Azteca/Triton rolling and tumbling around, and then a few awesome minutes of Raziel tying up Diamante, and Diamante's rolling Americano was pretty keen. Virus and Fuego have a fun sequence with Virus putting over a springboard dropkick like a champ, and doing some rope flip arm drag to Fuego on the ramp. Blown spot happens where Fuego is supposed to dropkick both Sangre and Raziel, slips, re-does the spot but by now both rudos are too close, so they just step aside and watch Fuego hilariously take a springboard flat back bump. It actually worked as it lead right to the fall finish. The 3rd was oodles of fun as everybody got to match up with each other and there was tons of big moves and fun roll-up spots. Big trainwreck spot on the floor which had someone dug Fuego's move off the apron, only for Raziel to hit Fuego with a jumping knee from the other side of the apron, leading to Diamante to hit someone with a backbreaker on the floor, leading to Azteca hitting a sweet dropkick through the ropes on Diamante, etc. Match actually ends with Triton hitting a powerbomb and moonsault and pinning Virus, which was like the exact last thing I would have predicted.

2. Rey Cometa/Guerrero Maya Jr./Stuka Jr. vs. Ephesto/Mephisto/Namajague

First fall is awesome as Ephesto/Cometa have some rad sequences together (which is exactly who I was hoping would match up first), which saw Mephisto run in and blast Cometa with a clothesline that almost dumped Rey on his dome. Then Maya/Mephisto match up which leads to Maya hitting a stunning suicide dive-turned-arm drag that looks great. Rudos kick so much butt in the 2nd that I start buying into a potential straight falls win until Maya hits a great springboard rana on Mephisto to take it. Namajague is somebody I rarely think about and yet I'm starting to think this guy should get pimped more. He brings a good energy and works nicely as a style clash. His running elbow in the corner to Cometa looked vicious (helped by Cometa leaning way in with a spit take). Cometa gets roughed up here and he is great at taking a beating. High bumps and not afraid of taking a nasty spill. And speaking of nasty spills, Namajague has a clear death wish here as he just gets dumped on the back of his head taking a clothesline from Stuka. This Namajague, man. Then eventually after making sure his vertebrae are still somewhat connected, he rolls back in so Stuka can just BURY his knee in his stomach. Namajague for President, baby! He also catches his suicide dive manlier than the other two, catching it with both shoulders squared up to Stuka. Eph and Meph both turned their shoulders so they could see where they were bumping. Puuuussssies. Namajague don't need to look behind him, and he probably couldn't see shit out of his mask anyway! Ephesto takes a man sized Jerrito bump but Namajague can't even let him HAVE that shit because he takes a totally insane Cassandro ringpost bump like 3 seconds later!!! And then Cometa hits one of the more spectacular running tornillos I have ever seen and this match is 100% awesome. Go out of your way to find this shit and try telling me that Namajague is not the most awesome worker of 2013.

Namajague!Namajague!Namajague!Namajague!Namajague!Namajague!Namajague!Namajague!!!!!!!!

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CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report, 11/17/12

These matches were from the 11/9 Arena Mexico show.

1. Sangre Azteca vs. Fuego

Not bad at all. Sangre hits a wicked springboard seated dropkick to Fuego's "inner thigh", Fuego gets a nice nearfall off a rana, and this was over quickly even for a lightning match. 

2. Okumura/Puma King/Namajague vs. Rey Cometa/Stuka Jr./Triton

First fall is fucking GREAT with Stuka launching a bullet tope into Okumura, Rey Cometa improving by the month (he is just so much more fluid than most of the young fliers in CMLL that get pushed above him. His headscissors are my favorite since Freelance was regularly making tape), Okumura always fills the empty place in my heart left by SUWA, and Namajague has a real great snap to his bumps which really puts over Stuka and Triton. He really whips himself into face first bumps and flings himself into the ropes on a monkey flip, and really makes a seated dropkick to his chest look like it collapsed his sternum. Cometa has that same snap and makes every single kick that Puma throws look like he's getting blasted by vintage Cro Cop. Cometa's flip bumps off clotheslines are a thing of beauty. 3rd caida features all three tecnicos one-upping each other with dives, as Stuka hits his beautiful arm-tucked tope en reversa off the top to the floor, Triton hits an insane springboard moonsault to the floor, and then Cometa twists about 18 times on a plancha before hitting Puma. So awesome. This is probably the most fun CMLL match I've seen in 6 months and everybody got to shine, and they all looked fucking GREAT. This match was AWESOME. Once Cubs posts it I will throw it up here and make it mandatory viewing.



3. Volador Jr./Ultimo Guerrero/Terrible vs. Marco Corleone/Maximo/Rush

Volador has the best superkick in the bizzzz, and UG does the best Jerry bump in the bizzzz. No clue how his ankles just haven't shattered by now, and no clue how Volador hasn't beheaded someone at this point. Corleone looks like a total goober here with his football jersey, caesar haircut and chinstrap beard. I assume he got tired of Mexican pussy at some point and began actively trying to ugly up in an attempt to turn it away. Volador can make a standard headscissors look like it breaks his neck and bumps spectacularly for Maximo. Rush is really getting good, too. I used to not be able to stand this guy, but his comebacks and stomps and fire are getting undeniably natural. Do other people like Marco? I don't think I've honestly heard an opinion either way. Am I the only one? I genuinely liked him during his original CMLL run, and he hasn't really missed a beat. I like his looping left, he bumps big for his size, and his charisma is undeniable. Yeah, he pussed out on a Volador superkick, but I understand. Maximo hits a stunning ropewalk flip dive to the floor, and Terrible gets to go over Marco super clean, and this match completely delivered in every single way. Cubs needs to post these stat, as both of these last two matches are 100% must see. Probably my two favorite CMLL matches from the last 4+ months.

Also, I've had a lot of bourbon. I'm confident it hasn't affected my viewpoint. I have drunk dialed numerous ex girlfriends, however.

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CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report, 4/21/12

1. Diamante vs. Polvora:

So last week I was going nutso and being super impressed by Diamante Azul, thinking that Diamante (who I previously thought was good) had suddenly gotten really good and got pushed into main events under some sort of Blue Demon "Blue Diamonds" gimmick, and I fawned all over his somersault senton off the rampway last week. But now I found out that Diamante Azul was actually the repackaged Metro. And I'm a guy who looooves me some Metro. Metro is like a top 50 CMLL guy for me, which sounds pretty unimportant, but I'm a guy who likes CMLL more than the average joe. I genuinely think there are at least 50 really good wrestlers on their gigantic roster. Shoot, I like over 125 guys on the CMLL roster. If I ever get off our collective butts and do a 500 (totally my fault, as I know Phil and Dylan and Tom would be well on board if I spearheaded) then CMLL guys would likely take up 25% of the 500. Shoot, the top 100 would probably be 25% CMLL guys. So I dig Metro and would probably have him somewhere in the 101-200 range. And Diamante is a guy who I enjoyed last year, but would probably fall somewhere in the 400-500 range.

And then this match happened and made me feel like an idiot for doubting Diamante. And feel like an idiot for doubting Polvora. You know, some of these lightning matches feel like lame little exhibitions where the guys run through some tepid sequences in about 5 minutes (last week's Super Commando match felt like a guy who really didn't need anymore singles match time), but Diamante and Polvora treat this match as if their jobs depended on it, and it was full on best possible 1 A.M. Worldwide performance ever. Diamante is just nuts in this, spilling to the floor spectacularly on a couple occasions, making Polvora's baseball slide dropkick look deadly, taking a backdrop on the rampway, just throwing that body around. After one of the spills he gets up, runs back to the apron and immediately snaps off a springboard rana (then gets caught doing the same thing later in the match! Callback!). Polvora takes a nice Cassandro bump, Diamante breaks out a cool rolling armbar as if he just got done watching some 2001 Minoru Tanaka matches, and the match ends with a nasty spill from the top. I can't imagine a lightning match getting much better than this one. Well worth your 6 minutes.



2. Misterioso Jr./Shigeo Okumura/Namajague vs. Valiente/Stuka Jr./Hijo Del Fantasma:

Awwwww yeah! Valiente is starting to fatten up again and that can only mean good things for all of us. The chubbier he gets, the more awesome he gets, and he was pretty awesome here. Okumura is another guy I really like who I feel nobody else in the world of online pro wrestling fans really cares about. He really reminds me of guys like SUWA or Cien Caras who know how to rile up a crowd and stooge great for a tecnico. Here he helps Fantasma get a great reaction (and bumps great for Fantasma's awesome ramp-run flying clothesline). Stuka has a death with and his hands-to-his-sides tope en reversa to the floor is a thing of beauty and pure insanity. Misterioso brings big bumps and flawless tassles without fail. Here he takes a great Cassandro bump and a huge monkey flip on the floor (followed by Kemonito splash off the apron!). And then there was Namajague, whom I had never seen before this. Apparently he's a NJPW junior and here he's dressed up like Onibaba or some other Japanese ghost who has nothing better to do than hang around some Japan village waiting for some poor guy to break an insignificant promise or tell somebody an unimportant secret. Then kill him when he does after waiting for like 10 years. I feel that Namajague's matwork was about as interesting as that ghost waiting around 10 years for that guy to slip up and reveal a secret.



3. Averno/Ephesto/Mephisto vs. La Sombra/Diamante Azul/Rush:

So in my break from CMLL, it appears that guys have gotten fatter. Valiente has chubbed out again, Stuka looks fatter, and Averno/Ephesto/Mephisto have all packed on some weight. So things change, guys get fatter and still stay awesome...and yet Rush is still a tecnico. Why, oh why, is Rush still a tecnico!? This match was worked at a super fast pace, which some people will not like. Usually when you see a CMLL main event that has guys rushing through spots, then you know you're in store for about an 8 minute match with a bunch of quick, silly falls. But then this match kept going, and it kept up that pace. So really you just had a nice long match with constant action. Sombra/Averno/Ephesto put on a helluva show in the 3rd. I have no idea how those guys weren't just totally gassed. Sombra did tons of ranas, and (without checking the actual tally) I estimate that Averno/Ephesto took about 17 monkey flip bumps. The pace didn't stop for the duration, just constant bumps and neat movez. I can deal.

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