New Footage Friday: CASAS! AJA! MEIKO! SANTO! PANTHER! TARZAN!

Máscara Mágica/Olímpus/Silver King vs. Guerrero de la Muerte/Negro Casas/Rey Bucanero CMLL 6/29/96

MD: I love dropping into a moment in time like this, even for a mid-card feud with some great window dressing. This set up a Welterweight title match between Mascara Magica and Guerrero de la Muerte which would then set up their apeuestas match, and I have to admit, this actually made me want see all of that. They worked well together, with Guerrero standing out as a particularly effective clubbering bully that could still turn it up a notch. That's to say I didn't mind that the focus of this one was on them and not Casas and Silver King, not that we didn't get some great stuff from each individually and together. They played Sharp Dressed Man for both sets of entrances and Negro Casas had fun with it. He danced and hugged the ref with the expected audacity and familiarity so the pre-match is great. There are certain wrestlers you don't want to take your eye off in a match, no matter what is happening. Terry Funk is one. Casas is another. For the primera, they paired Olimpus with Casas and Bucanero with Silver King, which made sense. Young Bucanero, as always, was ambitious but not always entirely smooth. I loved how Casas reacted to basically everything Olimpus did (even when in a simple hold, as Olimpus would go for the chin or the hair or an arm, etc., Casas just was totally on all the time in his complaining and reacting). We did get some good Casas and Silver King time in the segunda and tercera, with the usual rope running trip spots that no one did better and some fun brawling through the ropes to clear the ring for Magica and Guerrero at the end.

ER: Great match, I loved this. I haven't seen much Guerrero de la Muerte, and I'm not sure I've ever seen Olimpus, and that already helps make it a great on paper match for me. It has two of my all time favorites in Casas and Silver King, two guys I've seen a ton and like in Magica and Bucanero, and two guys who are new or relatively new to me, one of each category on each side. The guys I loved did things that I loved, it's fun seeing the elements of Bucanero that stayed as he matured and the small things that didn't, I loved the rope work of Olimpus and the overall rounded professionalism of GdlM. Everybody fit into their cog nicely, the pairings all looked good, and we got a couple of things I've never seen. Casas and King were the highlights, with King especially moving blisteringly fast. I love seeing these two move, and they both looked excellent. King broke out this cool looking spot, where he and Bucanero had been working a nice sunset flip sequence. King kicked out of one and Bucanero went for another one, and King just tried to run away during the flip. The spot looked minorly blown when Bucanero nudged by him, and the spot became something unique and special. If it started as Bucanero slightly missing his mark and sunset flipping King after a delay, the moment Bucanero was sliding down King's back to pull him down by the legs, King starts to move with Bucanero on his back! So Bucanero was being blocked by King while King basically held him in position for Omori's Axe Guillotine Driver. It was a cool visual, pulled off quick, and felt like something innovative we'd see in French Catch. All I see now is 50s French Catch in wrestling, even if there is zero chance those wrestlers ever even heard of French Catch.

Bucanero wrestled more like a junior (and was sized like a junior), and he still had his lunatic fast spills to the floor. Bucanero was a longtime favorite of mine for the many ways he knows how to get to an arena floor, and is still capable of surprising. The peak of his powers was around 2001, when he and Christian were having weekly TV contests to see who could take the most bumps over the top to the floor in a match. Here he is not taking high bumps to the floor, but fast beautiful lucha rolls to the floor, the way a veteran luchador knows how to kind of back handspring through the ropes to the floor after taking a dropkick.  Young Bucanero, wearing gorgeous plate glass tights, had veteran level bumps to the floor at age 21. Olimpus had a couple of great ropes moments with a couple of nice tricks. I loved the moment at the end of a caida where Casas ran in to break up a pin, and Olimpus ran in the ring behind him to spring off the middle rope with a dropkick to the back of Casas's head. in ring springboard senton to a standing opponent is a fun signature spot, and it was hit and reversed in satisfying ways here. I don't think Olimpus has much of a rep, but he has few enough matches that maybe I should go through an under 10 match Olimpus run, while also doing an under 10 matches Babe Richard run, since there is some overlap with each in the same match. Is it stupid to go through and review the 20 or so available Olimpus and Babe Richard matches before I go through and review 20 or so available Javier Llanes matches? Almost certainly! Will that make a difference? Of course not. Casas made Olimpus look plenty good in their exchanges, and King worked fast with all the rudos. Seeing King try to actually take out Casas's feet with dropdowns during a sequence is just one of those signs that guys are taking their best shot at making this match a good one, and I grinned the whole time.

Aja Kong vs. Meiko Satomura GAEA 12/15/01

MD: At the 22 minute mark here I turned it onto 2x speed so I could just get through this. I was pretty much done after the fourth death valley bomb. I was probably done a minute or two before that. It's a me thing as much as anything else. What I post on the blog is basically what I watch: old French wrestling and what we find for NFF which is basically lucha, German Catch, old Japanese TV and handhelds and occasional territory stuff. The other guys watch things more broadly and much more modern wrestling. The point is that I am not at all mentally prepared for twelve minute excess-laden finishing stretches that end up being more than one third the total length of the match anymore. Wrestling isn't math, but I think that's probably my rule of thumb: while there can be exceptions like anything else, a finishing stretch should be a lot closer to 1/6th the length of the total match than 1/3rd. If anyone wants to engage me on this, I'm happy to write a couple thousand words somewhere. Otherwise, let me just talk about the rest and not drag down NFF.

What I love about Aja, especially Gaea era Aja is that her matches tend to be like thought experiments. Like Hansen and to a degree Brock, what makes them so fascinating is watching how her opponent tries to handle the unstoppable force that she presents. Meiko, obviously, was presented as a force unto herself, but she came in prepared for and experienced against what she was going to face and that let them work in some more early counters. Even so, Aja took most of this on the notion that if she can get her hands on you (and that means running into her hands as well), she's going to cut you off. Her opponents are always working from a point of disadvantage, which with a normal monster heel would be a perfectly fine narrative point, but with Aja means even more. She can attack from all sorts of different angles: my favorite here was when she just sidestepped Meiko and tripped her to cut off a comeback corner charge. I also liked how opportunity-driven Meiko's comebacks were. After getting battered around the ringside area, Aja placed her back on the apron and she used the higher ground for an axe kick in a way that felt perfectly strategic. Later on, Aja dropped her onto some metal with a brainbuster, but the ref demanded the object leave the ring before counting the pin, letting her come back with another Pele kick. She went to that well once too often and the finishing stretch (overextended as it was) was entered by Meiko realizing she didn't have the right distance/angle and jamming herself on launching another which let Aja clothesline her instead. The match was full of little touches like that which kept things both believable (human) and interesting for the first two-thirds. And I'll just leave it at that.

PAS: I agree with Matt, this match really could have used an editor. We only had a clipped version of this match before, and I imagine it might have worked a bit better as a clipped match, as it might night have felt as bloated. Still Joshi has a maximilist style and this is a pair of great wrestlers to watch overeat. Awesome Aja performance as she demonstrates again why she is one the greatest monster heel wrestlers of all time. Violent and brutal offense, mixed with perfectly timed moments of vulnerability.  Meiko is awesome in this match too, she has such credible offense, and is great at finding and taking advantage of openings. She has really good boxing for a pro-wrestler who doesn't throw punches. There were awesome moments where she uses head movement to evade shots, and she fires in these killer fast combos to the face. There were lots of moments when this would have have been an all time classic if they had ended there, and there were just too many of them. I did love the actual ending though, Aja's one count kick out is the best one count kick out I have ever seen. Total hubris, like a fighter who stands up too quick from a knockdown, instead of taking the moment to clear her head she bolts back up, only to get put back down. We just needed less nearfalls before that.


El Hijo Del Santo/La Mascara vs. Blue Panther/Tarzan Boy Monterey 1/1/06

MD: If we were going Epic/Great/Fun/Skip on this, it'd be Fun. Mascara was, not unexpectedly, the weakest link, but that's not to say he didn't carry himself well given who he was in there with. You'd get a 'rana that looked a little off but it'd follow three or four exchanges that hit perfectly. My favorite bits in the match weren't the perfectly smooth Panther vs Santo exchanges or the usual joy in seeing Santo's signature spots, but instead his interaction with Tarzan Boy. They had been on the same side of trios and at least one tag back in 98-00 when Tarzan Boy was much younger and after the tecnicos took the first fall here, Santo patted his cheek and shook his hand only for Tarzan Boy to return the favor. That felt like it really paid off with Tarzan Boy catching Santo with a powerbomb for a pin later on. My other favorite bit was Blue Panther using the drop down double leg nelson move we've been seeing from France so often lately to submit Mascara. The tercera was a little loose and free, feeling more like a local show than something for TV, but there were a bunch of tecnico dives and everyone went home happy. A good match with flashes of excellence from two of the best ever, and we're never going to complain about something like that popping up.

PAS: I love formula lucha libre, as a wrestling style performed well it has the highest floor. A basic househow lucha match is better then any other kind of houseshow wrestling. This is a match with two all time greats, a solid young wrestler and a competent hand, so it is going to be super entertaining. Santo and Panther are two of the most perfectly matched dance partners ever and we get some gorgeous exchanges between the two, some classic Santo dives and nifty interactions between Tarzan Boy and Santo, which had a bit more roughness then the smoothness of Santo and Panther. Mascara was pretty replaceable, but didn't do anything giant to drag down the match.

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CMLL Worth Watching 1/4/15, 1/18/15 & 2/1/15

Hechicero, Ephesto & Niebla Roja vs. Blue Panther, Valiente & Maximo (1/18/15)

On paper you look at that match and go "man I hope Panther and Hechicero match up a bunch" and if that's what you went in wanting, you'll leave a happy human. There are also many other things that happened that were a blast, but I personally showed up for Panther and Hechicero squaring off. They get a nice long exchange in the primera and more in the tercera. Primera is those two have a bunch of cool struggling matwork, which really is worth the price of admission (zero dollars, technically so easily worth that). Hechicero is a super adaptable mat guy and Panther still looks like Blue Fucking Panther on the mat which is one of the first things that made me fall in love with lucha. All the takeovers and sweeps and arms held painfully behind backs. It's glorious. Hechicero gets runs with all the guys and he really makes Maximo's stuff look spectacular. And all of Hechicero's little roll ups and submissions are so fluidly executed. I'm a fan. Segunda is short but we build to a nice crescendo in the tercera with Valiente hitting the mother of all great topes, just bending Roja in half over the barrier. Just a scud missile flying fast and accurately right at you. Wrestlers are crazy. Ephesto gets a big dive of his own and this delivered in the exact ways I was hoping it would.

Rey Cometa vs. Niebla Roja (Lightning Match) (1/4/15)

This was really cool as Roja throws way more rudo elements into a lightning match than almost anybody I've seen. Usually this format is used for guys to show off their highlight reel in heatless exhibitions. But here's Roja kicking Cometa in the face, ripping at his gear, choking him and being a dick. Cometa is a guy with plenty of great looking spots but he goes along with Roja's match plan and it makes a standard lightning match mean so much more, makes Cometa's few highlight spots seem that much bigger. The opening mat stuff is nice and engaging, and then things go to a new level when Cometa goes for a leaping tornado DDT off the apron but gets caught by Roja and tossed brutally into the barrier. It made Cometa's later rana off the apron mean so much more.We also build to a great Cometa tope that blasts Roja impressively into the barrier. Roja dicks it up the whole time, Cometa's hope spots come off better for it, and all that equals a much more satisfying 7 minutes than we normally get.

Kraneo, Olimpico & Ephesto vs. Blue Panther, Titan & Dragon Rojo Jr. (2/1/15)

So Cubsfan should get around to uploading this one so more people can see it, because it's really fun. I mean, it's not like that guy uploads hundreds of matches over the course of a year or anything. It makes me feel just a tiny shred of minimal importance to write about a match like this, since it does not appear to exist online, and one day somebody might ask "I wonder if anybody ever watched a Kraneo match from 2/1/15?" and then they will find that, yes, at least one man did watch a Kraneo match from that date, and documented it FOR THE WORLD. Match was really fun and would have landed on the MOTY list had the segunda and tercera gotten more time. Primera had some of Titan's best stuff, doing some lightning fast exchanges with Ephesto with no Titan silliness. Then Panther and Olimpico got to roll and that is all of a sudden one of my favorite match-ups in lucha. Olimpico has looked better in the last couple months than he has in 8 years. Now he's working a weird glammy Egyptian gimmick and looks like Ben Kingsley playing the Jaye Davidson role in Stargate. His mat stuff with Panther is great with BP always going after an arm or leg but Olimpico scrambling all over him, working more to disorient. Kraneo continues to be my favorite luchador of the moment as he's all massive shoulderblocks and big bumps and fatness. He always works as if he has something to prove, as if he gets ribbed about his mass all the time and wants to show everybody that he can work harder and better than anybody. He's like the modern lucha Buddy Rose. So yeah, upload this match Cubs! Pretty please?

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2015 Ongoing Match of the Year List

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

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

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

2015 MASTER LIST

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MLJ: Sin Salida 2010 Part 2: Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, Shocker vs El Alebrije, Olímpico, Psicosis

Sin Salida 2010 Match III:
Taped 2010-06-06
Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, Shocker vs El Alebrije, Olímpico, Psicosis



Sometimes I wonder if I enjoy lucha so much just because I'm still so new to it. I don't give star ratings but if I did, I feel like I'd overrate everything. I imagine someone coming in and seeing the southern tag style for the first time. They could probably enjoy matches based on the style alone for years. Shine, Heat, Comeback. It's that good. I'm not saying the disposable lucha matches I watch so much are quite like that, but I still enjoy them a lot so long as they hit a few simple marks.

This was unfortunate in some ways. Despite being the front line of Los Invasores, Alebrije and Psicosis were shunted to the third match on the card. Olimpico was with them instead of, let's say, Histeria, who probably deserved the spot more (he being shunted to the second match), but I like Olimpico and he fit in pretty well, so I'm okay with that. These guys got pushed aside for dusty relics and a hair match that they did not make. Still, this was probably far better exposure than they were getting a few months before, so I don't feel too bad and these two specifically (and Cuije) are still there working CMLL each week in and out. These were the tecnicos they were facing so much in Puebla too.

As indicated above, I liked this, from the pre-match backstage promo where Fantasma made sure to call out Cuije as well to the intensity of Garza's intervention at the end that drew the DQ. I think what I liked most about it was that it held a fairly chaotic feel, more so than just a TV match with no stakes. They started with exchanges in the primera but it broke down quickly, not into just a beatdown, but into a brawl followed by a lot of tecnico advantages and rudo cut offs. This all came to a head with Fantasma flying in from the ramp with a double clothesline.

The beatdown came in the segunda with the rudos swarming in. Like everything else in the match, it felt a little more chaotic and violent than usual, which was welcomed. Poor beaten upon Kemonito though. Cuije got his licks in on him AND on Shocker, who was held in a Alebrije chinlock. That's one thing the last match was missing. Yes, of course Shocker's going to get to beat up on the mini a bit but at least here, the mini got him first. In the previous match, Rush just beat the hell out of Chucky and the fans weren't quite sure how to react. Here, it had the build. Anyway, Olimpico fit right in, holding up Mascara with Alebrije for Psicosis' senton and then hitting a springboard dropkick on an elevated Fantasma to take the fall.

They went right to the comeback in the Tercera, which then sort of evolved into a tecnico shine finale. That's something they could get away with due to the DQ finish to come and the rudo beatdown post match. It had some fun moments like Alebrije (who was paired with Shocker mainly) wanting a handshake. That led to rope running and Shocker turning himself inside out on an Alebrije shoulder block. I get that I haven't seen a ton of 2011 and 2012, but I still haven't seen this mythical "lazy Shocker." I believe you guys, but I haven't seen it yet. Eventually both he and Kemonito would get their revenge, with a bunch of paralleled spots from the Cuije attack earlier in the match. Then they built on to dives (a Kemonito apron leap onto Cuije! Shocker hitting a tope! Tandem Fantasma and Mascara Topes!). That cleared the ring for Alebrije to try some ridiculous (for his size) roll ups and ultimately crash into the Reinera before Garza intervened.

This was not all that different from every other trios match ever, sure, and I've seen this pairing or a similar one a few times now but it did feel like they were going all out for the bigger stage and the added intensity was appreciated.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 7/20/14

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

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

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

2. Virus vs. Fuego

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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MLJ: Atlantida Rising 14: Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Lizmark Sr. vs Olímpico, Pierroth, Último Guerrero

aired 2006-07-22
taped 2006-07-16 @ Arena Coliseo
Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Lizmark Sr. vs Olímpico, Pierroth, Último Guerrero

I've worked on my context over time. I know way more about lucha than I did six months ago. I know way more about the people in this match. I know way more about CMLL in 2006. Etc. I'm still not watching this in full context. I sort of get the impression that Lizmark, Sr. showing up in a match in 2006 would make most people, in the moment, groan heavily. For me, though, it was a positive surprise because he's sort of a fresh and legendary face, and a good counter to Pierroth. Whether it be good or bad, it'd be a slightly different element at least. Really, Pierroth too, even though I hadn't been too impressed the last time I saw him, which was a year or two later, admittedly. I like the fact that he somehow ended up with the late era Paul Jones gimmick (with the PR twist) as the Commandante.

The match was pretty straightforward. A solid rudo beatdown, with UG, pissed off from his title loss, ambushing Caras as he came out, and Olimpico hiding behind the stage and really ambushing Wagner as he entered. UG was on fire, fighting with the crowd over a sign, going right after Caras' mask, taking it off repeatedly when the ref couldn't see it, just looking like a beast. Pierroth made himself useful by hitting Wagner a few times with his own belt. They finished the tecnicos off with a couple of submissions. Between falls, they kept on Caras while Wagner posed with a fan and a sign in the crowd. What a dick. The segunda kept the beatdown going. I do quite like how in lucha, you can just pick up your opponent and wait until your partner comes over and hits him. Sometimes it gets amusingly awkward as no one's paying attention or in position. GdI variation time as first they hit the leaping body splash (Olimpico version) on Caras and then after UG's catapult, Olimpico hit this awesome running  somersault senton on him as he's being held in the post-catapult position. It looked way better than Tarzan Boy's legdrop.

The comeback came when they went for the body splash again (after the huddle, those overconfident Guerreros), and Caras sidestepped it. Fairly fiery comeback with Wagner posing a lot and kicking the crap out of Olimpico after he ripped up the sign from before. Tecnicos took it with a Wagner power bomb and a really-nice-for-his-age somersault senton followed by a rana from Lizmark onto Olimpico. Tercera was back and forth with some stalling to keep UG and Caras apart, a pose off that was sort of lame, Wagner being Wagner, including hitting his big tope con giro and finally Caras almost hitting the body press on UG only to get fouled by a desperate rudo for the DQ from ref #2 after ref #1 counted the pin. This set up the mano a mano match the following week. Perfectly fine lucha trios match.

I was definitely glad to see Olimpico back. He had been out with an injury apparently and his absence had been felt. I think in some ways he's everything I wanted Marco to be, though he does have the advantage of being a rudo which means he doesn't have to hit as many contrived aerial moves and can be more of an ass in general. He did have a great mix of size, presence, personality, and athleticism, though. For instance, he'll have a great stooging moment of teasing a handshake and forcing a hug to get a cheapshot in one moment, and then eat a big monkey flip or catch a dive the next. He had a ton of zing and agility moving around the ring during sequences but was still quite good at working the crowd and getting in his taunts.

Dos Caras felt almost exactly the opposite. He had the size and a sort of charisma, but it felt like he learned it out of a book or something. He'd do these pose offs that were stiff and empty. Really that summed up his crowd interaction in general. You'd get a spark now and again but most of the time it just felt robotic. There was a definite sense of physical awkwardness in his movements, too. I had the impression when he went to WWE that there really wasn't a buzz to him at all and I can see why. Still, up soon is his singles match with UG, so we'll see what he did there. I know that he turned into a wrestler I quite often like and at the point of writing this, right after his release from wWE, I'm itching to see him back in CMLL. I just don't think he made that transformation in 2006.

On the absolute other end of the charisma scale was Wagner.  I thought he was just an amazing force the first time I saw him. Now that I've seen more of him though, I think a little bit goes a long way. He had a tendency to make whatever match he was in seem less serious and more cartoony in a way that probably worked extremely well with the live crowd but hasn't aged well. It's the stooging when getting hit, or how he focused more on pointing out a sign than helping his partner. It's posing for three times too long before hitting a dive and making his opponent look like an idiot. The first time you see it and how engaged the crowd was, it seemed great. The third or fourth time, it starts to wear thin. I'm still excited when that music hits in a match I'm watching, but the cracks show up very quickly with him, even if they don't completely mar his performances.

Like I said, another fun match and one that was pretty effective in setting up a singles too.

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MLJ: Atlantida Rising 5: Blue Panther, Brazo de Plata, Virus vs Olímpico, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero

Aired 2006-05-06
Taped 2006-04-30 @ Arena Mexico
Blue Panther, Brazo de Plata, Virus vs Olímpico, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero

Ah, riches in the from of silver, of only the finest panther pelts of azure, and of, well, I suppose unless you're some sort of bond villain, viruses aren't really riches, but Virus absolutely is. This is one thing lucha will almost always have over all American wrestling save for maybe late WCW Syndi shows. There are a billion guys that work for CMLL and if watching in some sort of sequence, you'll suddenly go from a half dozen Mistico matches to THIS.

Let's run through the pros. I get to see a slightly younger Porky. I get to see Virus in a role I really haven't seen him in yet. I get to see more Blue Panther which is always a joy since I know I haven't scratched the tip of the iceberg on his work. Maybe most of all, I get to see the Guerreros in a situation where they're not against a young upstart in Mistico or a charismatic blowhard like Wagner, but instead against Porky, who is as babyface as babyface can be when it comes to the crowd's support.

There were absolutely some cool heel trappings with the Guerreros. They celebrated together and with the sections of the crowd that were behind them. They had flashy triple team offense. Atlantis was still over with parts of the crowd. Ultimo seemed over with other parts, and you had Rey and Tarzan Boy and Olimpico who all had a certain level of swagger. The big difference between them and far less effective (dare I say "cool") heels of a similar ilk is that they weren't afraid to show ass. I knew that Porky was beloved. I see how beloved he is now and in this match, I heard the crowd behind him. Even so, I didn't think for a second that the Guerreros weren't taking this match. That it ends with Ultimo getting literally squashed by his opposing captain was really surprising to me.

Porky was an interesting case here. He was super over and he was also able to do more things than now, eight years later. That's hardly surprising. It was a bit of a duel edged sword though. It meant that he went for some things that he doesn't now, some things that maybe he shouldn't. Currently, he's this force of gravity that people work with and around. Back then, when he tried to do more, some of it looked too collaborative. It was a transition time. That said, it was still fun to see Ultimo work with him, and it was nice to see some comedy in a Guerreros match in general, since there hasn't been much of that in what I've been seeing.

Virus and Panther were likewise a lot of fun. This match had an opening stretch of feeling out, unlike the last many Guerreros matches I saw. Ultimo got to work Porky. Rey and Panther did some solid, if too short, matwork, and Virus and Olimpico kicked out a frenetic bit of roperunning. The tercera ended with a revisiting of the match-ups and some dives, including Ultimo taking one from Porky, before the two captains faced off and Porky sat down on a sunset flip attempt for the win.

In general, the match felt fairly disposable but definitely enjoyable. Los Guerreros got to work with some different opponents and show off even more varied offense. There was a great backflip to powerbomb on Panther and a huge Olimpico springboard splash on Virus, who was being held up by his hands and legs. they did the alley-oop body splash on Porky and his selling of it almost made the match worth watching all by itself. Both Olimpico and Ultimo took crazy knee first flip bumps, Olimpico on a back body drop and Ultimo into the corner and out of the ring to set up Porky's dive. It is a testament that they were able to vary up what they did so much without losing the focus of the match. Weekly wrestling can really be a joy to watch, even when it's eight years old.

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MLJ: Atlantida Rising 4: Hijo del Lizmark, Místico, Último Dragón vs Olímpico, Tarzan Boy, Último Guerrero

Aired 2006-04-29
Taped 2006-04-23 @ Arena Coliseo
Hijo del Lizmark, Místico, Último Dragón vs Olímpico, Tarzan Boy, Último Guerrero

This probably would fall more on the fun side of things, at it was fairly disposable from a structural standpoint. It did have a pretty snappy tercera caida though. Frankly, I think all of these Guerreros del Atlantida matches have been at least worth watching and I've enjoyed them in sequence as well. It's not even that there's an ongoing story from week to week (though there are some trhoughlines), but it's fun to just watch these guys in front of the same audience with slightly different variations in the make-up of the trios having to keep things interesting.

The way they chose to do so here was to have an outright rudo ambush to begin, run with a very short segunda caida comeback, and then reset for a tercera with a lot of action and some shtick. It was fairly effective, but ultimately sort of slight, especially compared to the last few matches which felt like they had a bit more substance. There were some nice moves and very solid dives and some character work that stood out, especially in the third fall, but it all came off as a little forgettable.

Everyone did get to show off at one point or another. The Guerreros had that bandit mentality like usual, with Ultimo's huddle with the fans really king-sized this time out. The ambush was believable and effective with two press slams (one onto Olimpico's knee and the other to the outside) and a brutal triple team spot involving a stun gun and being tossed across the ring on Mistico. They took the primera caida with three corner attacks on Lizmark and a nice looking double lift set-up springboard dropkick by Olimpico onto Dragon. Their triple pin after this was great. In general, I think Olimpico was a very useful addition to most matches he was in as he made for a great visual discrepancy and an effective foil for the tecnicos. In the tercera caida, the character work was fun as some miscommunication had Tarzan Boy and Olimpico at each other's throats until UG played peacemaker and they managed a goonish reconciliation, avoiding a misstep and recovering to double chop Lizmark.

The tecnicos were pretty fiery, as these three were sort of variations of the same. They didn't get to show much during the comeback (which consisted of Lizmark, Jr. ducking a double clothesline and Mistico flying in with a springboard dropkick out of nowhere, followed by a diving over the top 'rana to UG and the finishes), but I do like both Lizmark and Dragon's finishes. I think Dragon's looked a little goofy in the states but it seemed to fit in better here. During the tercera, Dragon and UG had a nice sequence and Lizmark and Dragon set up the rudo miscommunication well. Everyone played to the crowd which was definitely into this and very much behind the tecnicos.

The end played up the ongoing Mistico vs UG storyline where Mistico keeps getting closer and closer to beating him with La Mistica. After Dragon took everyone out with the Asai Moonsault (which still felt like something special) and it came down to the captains, Mistico got shrugged off on his La Mistica attempt and UG immediately went for the foul. There's an undercurrent in these matches that he can't beat him one-on-one which allowed for a pretty easy and effective narrative tool. Fun match, but better as part of a greater whole.

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MLJ: Atlantida Rising 3: Dr. Wagner Jr., Heavy Metal, Místico vs Olímpico, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero

Aired 2006-04-22
Taped 2006-04-16 @ Arena Coliseo
Dr. Wagner Jr., Heavy Metal, Místico vs Olímpico, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero

We're back to having at least one of the Atlantida leaders in on this match as Ultimo Guerrero was captain for his side. Mistico was captain for his and though he'd serve as a well-glorified punching bag again, he had come quite a ways in the half a year since my last match with him. He came down to the ring with two belts and was presented as something more of a force with the big anticipation being him squaring off in the ring alone with UG. The Guerreros struck a fun balance. Coming out, there was a feeling of them being almost locally beloved bandits or what not, with UG doing the huddle with fans and Rey cheesing it up with the girls. In the match itself, however, the tecnicos were pretty universally over, especially after an early moment from Wagner.

I try not to do play by play in these for various reasons, one of which being that it really doesn't fit Segunda Caida's style of review. I really liked how the primera caida played out though, so I'm going to run through it with more detail than usual. I thought it was pretty smart and not at all lazy, which is not to say that utilization of the usual tropes is lazy, but this teased them and then took another twist and turn to get where it was going. To point, usually, from what I've seen, a primera caida in a standard trios (neither a huge brawl or a title match) goes one of two ways: either they square off until the tecnicos use their superior skill and speed to gain a huge advantage or the rudos find a way to swarm and divide and conquer. Here, they did a very good job of teasing the latter, and then, finally only after teasing the former, was it fully realized.

The match began with Heavy Metal and Olimpico. I haven't seen much of Metal yet. He's Casas and Felino's younger brother, of course. Here he was about 36, had a great look with his hair falling over his face, and had a lot of zing, especially in the tercera caida where he got to have a short sequence vs. the world. They tried to cut him off from the outside in with a shot off the ropes, which in a normal primera might lead to him charging the rudo corner and getting swarmed. Here, he pushed Olimpico over instead, which led to the lucha equivalent of a bench clearing brawl (which ended with Mistico springboarding in with a rana of course). They hit the floor for a quite literal Mexican standoff, and Wagner got his big early moment, putting his arms around his partners' shoulders in a sign of solidarity. It almost became a Jets vs Sharks' snap off here, but didn't quite topple over that line.

Back in the ring, they teased Ultimo vs Mistico for the first time before going with Rey vs. Wagner. After a short sequence, Rey hit a jumping back brain (shoulder?) kick and the rudos swarmed Wagner, which in another match would have spelled the beginning of the rudo control beatdown. Here, though, Wagner got up, dragged Rey over to his corner and the tecnicos did a paralleled beat down. It was all a lot of fun. We got another tease of Mistico vs UG, this time with Mistico taking another shot to the back off the ropes, which didn't lead immediately to the beatdown, but instead enraged him enough that he got careless and went for an rope-climbing armdrag right in the rudo corner. They held on to his legs and tossed him to the mat, finally jumping the other tecnicos and forcing them out so that they could really take over.

What followed was a pretty solid beatdown. Mistico, despite how far he came belts wise, still ate a bit pancake and then a UG press slam into the top turnbuckle. Then, they called Olimipco (who was slamming Wagner back on the apron) back in so they could do this triple powerbomb with a twist at the last moment that dropped Mistico right on his face. UG press slammed him to the floor and they did a quick flurry of high-precision team moves to pin Metal (Sprinboard kick from a bearhug position, catapult into a clothesline, castigo) and Wagner (draping him over the rope and having Olimpico spring off Ultimo's back to land on him there) to take the caida. It was a really nice fall and I think what made it so nice is that they don't do it every day. It'd get sort of old quickly if they kept trying to twist the formula so much but every one of these matches does something out of the norm and here it was the primera caida and it worked great.

The rest of the match had more highs than lows, including a great finish. The tecnico comeback was definitely effective, save for one little knock. After squashing Metal in the corner to start the segunda caida (including UG's handstand corner senton, which works so much better in trios matchse with his partners to hold the guy), they set up Wagner for an assisted leapfrog right onto his back. All well and good except for the fact that Wagner was hamming it up the whole way, playing to the crowd with the Hogan ear thing. I like how Wagner shows SO much personality in his matches; it's engaging and pops the crowd huge, but here it took me completely out of the match. If he doesn't give a damn about the beating he's about to get, then why should I? Casas did something similar in a previous match, but that was more spitting in the face of the beating he was about to get. This was very different, especially as it led right to the transition. They went to try it again on Mistico but the other tecnicos made it back in to break it up and they turned the tables, doing it to Olimpico. Things broke down from there with Mistico finally getting his hands on UG. He started immediately to undo the mask, which almost always feels like an act of hubris when the tecnico does it without proper provocation. Eventually they went into a sequence, which included the spot Mistico does when he holds his opponent's hands and jumps up backwards for a twisting rana that always looks way too collaborative for my tastes. It led to a really amazing corkscrew plancha though so I guess I can't complain too much. With Mistico and UG out of the ring, the tecnicos made short work of the rudos with a roll up/power bomb to take the segunda caida. It was a good comeback and set up the finish well.

The tercera caida allowed Metal to show his mettle a bit, had one really solid dive exchange of sorts, and then bled into the finish. I think the structuralist in me prefers when you get this sort of tecnico sequence in the primera caida as opposed to after a restart at the end, but it was still good to see here. It made me want to see more of Metal certainly. The sequence ended with the dive sequence with Metal doing a Hamrick-bump style dropkick through the ropes, getting kicked out face first on the apron by Rey who then landed on him with a sliding splash across the apron to the floor, and Wagner finishing it with a huge somersault senton off the apron, that bowled Rey over. This left Mistico and UG in there and after a moment of hype, they immediately went at each other. Mistico almost instantly hit La Mistica, but the mask he worked on earlier in the match went flying off and UG picked up the DQ win. Good finish that built off of how heated Mistico was earlier in the match. He really made for a great foil for rudos to play against, but I'm almost amazed he was so over with the crowd considering his Scrappy Doo antics. Very good match with a great primera. I just wish Wagner had dialed it down a bit once or twice.

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MLJ: Atlantida Rising 2: Dos Caras Jr., Negro Casas, Último Dragón vs Olímpico, Rey Bucanero, Tarzan Boy

Aired 2006-04-08
Taped 2006-04-02
Dos Caras Jr., Negro Casas, Último Dragón vs Olímpico, Rey Bucanero, Tarzan Boy

Jumping into 2006 proper, I don't see a steady amount of matches easily available before April. One problem in watching these as opposed to Rush vs Shocker or even something like Marco vs Universo, is that I have no real sense what these matches are heading towards. I know there's a title match or two in here, but in general, I'm looking at these in a vacuum. Hopefully, just in the act of watching, I'll have some sense of where, if anywhere, everything is going. Certainly the matches in Fall 2005 around Leyenda de Plata, didn't feel like an endpoint but instead like another step on some larger road.

This was a fun match. It let me see some more tecnico Casas, some broken down Ultimo Dragon in Mexico and my first real look at Dos Caras, Jr. Just looking at the matches I have on tap for this, I have a lot of Rey Bucanero. I know a few years earlier, he was ranked very highly on DVDVR 500s and what not, though I don't really see him on later WKOs. So far, I have no feel for him at all, but i'm hoping to pick one up as I go. He turned tecnico fairly early into the matches T'm watching, so it should be interesting. Tarzan Boy is another guy I don't have a great sense of. Olimpico I've seen once or twice and his shtick is based on his size (I think Niebla Roja sort of plays his role in the group now), but he made a great foil for Casas in this match.

In general, this was the Casas show, which was actually quite nice to see as I'd been slightly underwhelmed by what I saw of him as a tecnico during this era. Some of that was just him being the third guy on a tecnico side and not given as much to do. Here though, he shined. Past an early, fairly engaging bit of matwork with Tarzan Boy, he was paired off with Olimpico throughout the match and it was all a ton of fun, with the best stuff found in the tercera caida, both in the form of comedy (for example, Dos Caras lifted Casas back into the ring when he seemed reluctant to face off against Olimpico and it was all pretty funny) and through character work in the face of a much larger foe. Multiple times Casas tried to rapid fire chop Olimpico only to have it no-sold, followed by him being swatted around the ring, until he gave up and hit a well-placed ddt. Right towards the end, Olimpico had him in the corner and I swear Casas did the most hard-boiled, dickish thing in the world. While getting pummeled (and selling it big), he managed this little flexing motion to taunt the guy beating the hell out of him like he was some 1940s gumshoe taking a beating by the mobster's goons and mouthing off to them to show that they couldn't get to him no matter what they did. In 2014, I swear sometimes he even directs the camera people from inside the ring before a spot. Negro Casas is an endless bounty of little moments. It paid off well too within the narrative as he ultimately overcame goliath and took the last fall of the match by submitting Olimpico.

This was sort of Los Guerreros Del Atlantida B-Team but they still worked well together for the most part. They stared things off with the huddle and after a fairly back and forth opening stretch with some good moments of fighting back out of adversity by Casas and Dragon, they took over by tossing Dragon and Casas so they could focus on Caras. There was a sort of silly flub where Olimpico picked up Dragon in a bearhug so he could get chopped by Tarzan Boy, but Tarzan Boy was way out of position. In general, though, Tarzan Boy did fine with his exchanges with Caras and played to the crowd fairly well, but he still sort of felt like the Paul Roma of the group. I need to see more of him before making any real judgment. Their biggest move was probably to end the primera caida, a nice looking double team set up for the Rey's Castigo.

On the tecnicos side, Dragon could still do some of his trademark spots/strikes, and there's just something special about the Asai Moonsault in this setting in 2006. It felt both important and iconic. It probably didn't hurt that it followed a crazy monkey flip bump by Rey over the top. I have a feeling that it was things like that which made him so highly rated earlier in the decade. Caras, on the other hand, didn't show me a heck of a lot. He had something in the way of size, and had one sort of nice kick to the throat that was set up by a Casas anklelock and in itself set up a beautiful La Casita to end the segunda caida. The tercera caida ended pretty soundly after said bump/moonsault, with the tecnicos making short work of the rudos in a 2 on 2 setting. This would fall more on the fun side of things, but it was great to see Casas in such a featured role instead of just filling out a side. Just as important, the Guerreros definitely kept a sense of identity even without Atlantis or UG there.

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My Lucha Journey: Atlantida Rising 1: Atlantis, Ultimo Guerrero, Tarzan Boy vs Dr. Wagner, Jr. Mistico, El Hijo Del Santo

taped 2005-9-30 @ Arena Mexico
Atlantis, Ultimo Guerrero, Tarzan Boy vs Dr. Wagner, Jr. Mistico, El Hijo Del Santo

I'm looking at this match as sort of a bridge into 2006 and the small army of Los Guerreros del Atlantida matches i'm going to be watching. I just saw Santo vs two of the rudos in this match, and while those encounters took place a month or two later, this is all part of the larger whole. I also saw a match with Wagner and Mistico (and a pretty boring iteration of Negro Casas) vs Pierroth, Halloween, and Damian that was definitely enjoyable for Wagner and Mistico's big dog/little dog routine, but I have to draw the line somewhere, and this is where I'm drawing it.

This was actually a hell of a Trios. I really wanted to start in 2006 because it felt cleaner, and I look to have almost weekly matches from April into the summer which seemed like a nice little project. This dropped on the youtube search, though, and I just couldn't pass it up. It had both Wagner and Santo in it as well as an Atlantida trio with both UG and Atlantis. I'm glad I stopped to take a look.

First, let me say some things, of which I reserve the right to completely change my opinion on later. Remember, I'm still trying to find my way with all of this and I've come to some conclusions that relate to this match.

This isn't true for every match or even every trios match, but so much of what I think to be the best lucha is based on anticipation and paying off that anticipation. That could be anticipation of a dive, of the loss of a mask or a hair, of the two captains to square off deep into the tercera caida, or in its simplest, most primal form, anticipation of the tecnicos turning the tide after being dominated, of the rudos getting their comeuppance for what they've done either earlier in the match or in earlier matches. 

This match had that in spades, both the anticipation, well-executed, and the payoff. The only real problem with the thing was that the key moment of transition was a complete and utter mess. That hurt it just as much as you'd think, but not so much that it completely invalidated the rest of the match. 

There are different formula on how a match like this could go. This one had the rudos dominate from the get go, in the most brutal fashion possible, to the point of getting themselves disqualified. This is actually a pretty useful narrative device because it lets the tecnicos go up a fall while further delaying that moment of gratification that comes with the tecnico comeback. They're running two-three falls matches in front of the same crowds every week, so changing things up as much as possible is necessary. Anyway, the rudos got themselves disqualified but maintained the advantage. Finally, the tecnicos mounted a comeback based on a big moment, getting a fairly well paralleled revenge for most of the slights afflicted upon them, and they ended up paired off on a near reset (though one that did not invalidate all that had happened) in order to set up the finish. 

Really, though, the devil's in the details, and the details here were great. The level of anticipation for the comeback is directly proportional to how good the beatdown is. I think that's a fairly safe equation of lucha. The initial beatdown of the tecnicos had such a chaotic feel, with every wrestler from Mistico to the rudo mascot playing their role well. Mistico, I've found from watching matches from this era, was an amazing pinball. The guy could take offense and his opponents seemed more than willing to make the most of that, be it due to hazing or just knowing what they had as a tool. The height he'd get on a pancake toss was nuts and no one gets chucked out of the ring with quite as much gusto. He was a good size to take things like UG's spinning press slam from the apron to the inside, which was probably the coolest thing I've seen all week. He also ate both the triple team Guerreros alley-oop jump on the rampway and a downright crazy Atlantis powerbomb rocket launcher. If these all sound like complicated things, they sort of were, but none of them felt contrived. The only thing you remember was Mistico constantly landing on his face. He did garner sympathy throughout all of this, between just what he'd take and his size and yes, his selling, but almost anyone would, getting beat up to that degree. 

They shared the wealth too, with Wagner eating the humiliating attacks of Ultimonito, including both a splash off the apron and a dropkick foul on the ramp. Just to be clear, Ultimonito was the evil monkey mascot, the enemy of Que Monito or Ke-Monito, who was the good monkey mascot. He eventually became Zacarias, a personal hero. I was pretty damn confused because I saw Ultimo beat up a mascot in one of the Santo singles matches, and I didn't realize the difference. Now I do. Ultimonito is sporting an Atlantis mask (which is, by the by, still white at this point. He wasn't wearing the black rudo mask here). All the tecnicos got their masks ripped pretty severely, including a great moment where Wagner lays his leg over Mistico's head to prevent the rudos from getting to his mask, even as both of them get swarmed. 

Everything was going great until the transition point. I'm not even sure what it was supposed to be. Mistico was on the top, seated there by the rudos. UG and Atlantis looked to give him some sort of double superplex, but then Wagner and Santo came in get under them in electric chairs. So far, so good. Tarzan Boy rushed up, bounded on to the top and then everything sort of froze in confusion. We ended up with a leaning tower of stupid, and it all just sort of paused until Mistico haphazardly toppled it. Time froze. That happened. The tecnicos took over.

At least they took over with flair, with the second half of the match full of revenge spots and visceral satisfaction. The tecnicos had a go at the rudos' masks. Atlantis got dragged down the ramp. Wagner got full revenge on Ultimonito, which led to the rudos starting to fight back (which is one thing that happens quite a bit when tecnicos go too far). In this case, Mistico was about to come off the top onto the mascot but he got nailed from the apron by the surviving rudos. This led to the finishing resets, with Wagner pairing off with UG. He's so much fun to watch when he's hamming it up, kicking out the hyper-chops and this huge tornado DDT while whole families wearing his mask in the crowd pose. He capped it all with an awesome dive from the inside to the ramp and then, after basking in the glory of it, another one from the ramp to the floor. Then we had Mistico with a nice little exchange with Tarzan Boy, ending with a huge plancha from the top, the ripped mask making the whole thing feel more visually spectacular somehow. 

Speaking of formula, falls in trios matches usually follow one pretty tightly. Most of the time it seems like either the captain gets pinned (before or after they're left alone) or the other two get pinned instead of the captain. It feels fairly rare in modern lucha for one person to get eliminated and then the captain to eat a fall, especially if there isn't some level of balance, but that's what happened here. They reset again to Atlantis vs Santo and after a caballo tease, Atlantis submitted him with the Atlantida. In the midst of the chaos, while the refs were distracted by what was going on outside, UG rolled right in and hit probably the world's greatest foul, launching Atlantis over his head and mule kicking him on the way down for the pin. It was a really satisfying end to a very good match. If only they hadn't botched the transition. I don't follow the Segunda Caida Grading Conventions, in part, because they're all relative to one another and I just haven't seen enough yet, but relative to all the modern lucha I HAVE seen, this was an Epic match. I imagine it's at least a Must See relative to everything out there and I'm definitely excited to roll on in to 2006. 

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My Lucha Journey: The Marco Corleone Experience 7: Hijo del Lizmark, Marco Corleone, Satánico vs Olímpico, Pierroth, Universo 2000

aired 2007-03-10
taped 2007-03-04 @ Arena Coliseo
Hijo del Lizmark, Marco Corleone, Satánico vs Olímpico, Pierroth, Universo 2000

I've actually got a nice little four match feud here, between the hair tag match, this, a singles match that followed it, and the hair match that ended things. It seems a little weird to end the Marco stuff way back in 2007, so I might cap it off with a recent trios or something. Part of me does see the danger in having a 10 match Marco Corleone mini project as my second or third focus, but I do think I've picked up a lot of other things along the way so it's generally okay.

This match was no different. Look at what I get to delve into here: Old Man, tecnico (what the heck?) Satanico. Old Man Pierroth. Lizmark, Jr and Olimpico, who haven't seen too much of, and some more Universo. I am the world's only proponent of the idea that you can really, truly learn a lot about a wrestler by watching them after they've broken down and don't have the same physical gifts. The question is whether or not they know enough about the craft of professional wrestling to compensate and how they attempt or don't attempt to do so.

Satanico was aces in 1984 and he was pretty much aces here too. He could still take things to second gear in brief bursts though, which helped. It was still weird seeing him play the beloved old hero, but he was excellent in garnering sympathy and response, whether it be eating multiple hair throws, playing to the crowd at key moments, or even teasing a dive. His offense was pretty smart with my personal highlight being this amazing corner thrashing of Pierroth where he just smushed his elbow in the poor jerk's eye. Pierroth I was less enthused about. He didn't get out of first gear and he really barely had that. That, in and of itself, wouldn't have been too bad but he had one too many corner clotheslines or times where he hit the ropes and the world just stumbled to a stop. If you're forced to be sluggish or unwilling to find a way to turn it up, then try to wrestle smart. Do matwork. Punch it out. Make the other guy do the work. He was exposing himself way too much here, especially for someone who really ought to have known better. When he wasn't doing that, he looked pretty good though. I liked his little chops and pokey punches and he was directing traffic well.

The rudos, in general, worked very smoothly. They opened the match with a pretty great ambush that had a chaotic feel that you don't really seem to see much anymore. The best of it was when the camera quickly shot back to the outside to see Marco flying into the turnbuckle. They carried it forward into an effective mauling, with a very cool triple submission on Satanico and a nasty senton on Lizmark to take the primera caida. I love that the senton is still so relevant in lucha. It's this primal visual, just a grisly landing that makes for a very believable pinfall or nearfall when necessary or a momentum shift when it's missed. Anyway, they also had pretty fun character work, between a huddle after disposing of an opponent, and Universo and Pierroth hamming it up in response to Marco's Rude Gyration to hilarious ends.

Frankly, I think I might have underestimated Marco a bit when it came to how he handled the character work in 2007. The flip side to this is that maybe I overestimate him a bit now. When he's in there with someone who really seems to know what he's doing, like Universo, they can play it up really well. He's a great foil, maybe more so than just being a great prop. They use him here to fuel the tecnico comeback. I almost wonder if you would get these luchadors who rarely get to work with a guy his size and they think "Why the hell wouldn't we use him to climb up the ropes and leap back at our opponent to turn the tide? The crowd will eat it up!" so you see it again and again. The difference between then and now is that he's able to be part of much more elaborate sequences now instead of just prompting reactions with his swivel.

This had a pretty clever finish that pushed things along on the road to a big singles match. After Marco had disposed of Universo from the ring (no dive though. I don't think there was a dive in this match at all), his partners got dumped to the floor and then summarily tied up in chairs by their feet. This led to a 3 on 1 in the ring and a distracted ref, where Marco fought for a moment, but ate a foul from Universo, allowing the rudos to win the match. It was a nice little bit of chicanery to keep the feud going and maybe further cement Marco as a tecnico since that was relatively new(?). All in all, this was a pretty good trios and a nice chance to see how much zing Satanico still had.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 4/6/14

These matches were from the 3/23 Arena Coliseo show.


Dark Angel, Goya Kong & Estrellita vs. Princesa Blanca, Princesa Sugheit & Zeuxis

Really awesome women's match. I haven't seen Blanca in awhile and she's slimmed down a bunch and looked great in the ring. She was really great at fast turnaround rope segments, did smart little rudo apron work like grab or kick at girls if they got too close to their corner. Dark Angel looked really great here too with all sorts of cool roll ups and fast work. Estrellita had one of her best showings in a while, and I absolutely loved her float-over backslide to win the tercera. That thing looked snug as hell and there was no way Blanca could have kicked out. Zeuxis here showed more energy than I'm used to seeing from her. Kong is super over and has fun big girl offense and charisma. I mean this was just a great lady trios, best one I've seen in ages. Everybody had their boots on, the crowd was fueling them, everything just clicked.

Reaper, Olimpico & Felino vs. Valiente, Super Porky & La Sombra

Same thing as the previous match, in that everybody had their boots on so the match seemed so much tighter than standard matches with some of these guys. Olimpico appears to be working a Keegan Michael Key gimmick now, and he looked awesome. Stooging all over, bumping big, all his sequences looked tight. Valiente also threw out one of his best performances in awhile, looking like a total star with giant dives, slick ranas, fast ringwork and great body charisma. Porky is practically immobile at this point but can still work fun sequences. I liked his punch exchange with Olimpico, and him holding his arms out for the ref to pick him up after sitting on Reaper is either the saddest thing or the most endearing thing. He was just holding out his short little arms towards the ref, in the same way a child will ask their father to pick them up because they're tired of walking (I wonder if Porky also pretends to be asleep in the car so his dad will carry him inside after a long car trip!).

Rey Escorpion, Averno & Polvora vs. Maximo, Diamante Azul & Marco Corleone

This was also a match that was on the show. It was also happening at that critical time where I had just enough booze in me where several minutes can go by and leave me with zero memory of those minutes. It was fun seeing Azul in Coliseo, as he couldn't just rely on doing his cool rampway flip dive. Corleone has been working a little too gingerly lately. His body presses land super soft. Maximo has been on fire lately, breaking out some smooth and fast sequences like he's Virus or something. Plus good lord I want that LEGO Maximo shirt. I wear size M. Come on people. The back of it says he the master of sex or something!

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 1/4/14

These matches all aired on the 12/20 Arena Mexico card.

1. Leyenda de Plata semi-final cibernetico: Virus, Averno, Okumura, Olimpico, Felino & Tiger vs. Titan, Stuka Jr., Atlantis, Delta, Triton & La Mascara

This had the right amount of big spots to work well for me. I had some friends over while watching it so it's kind of the perfect thing to throw on while you're part watching/part chatting as you don't have to follow any sort of psychology or match storyline very closely. It's just guys coming in and doing their thing, so big spots stand out to you and stop the conversation, and the rest of the stuff kinda flies by the subconscious. Atlantis had a nice run in the middle, giving out spinning backbreakers to anybody that got close. Averno bumped all around for flippy juiced up tecnicos, including a painful bump off the apron from a nutty Titan somersault headscissors. La Mascara splats on the floor with a flip dive that doesn't quite get caught. Stuka's hands-free body press over the turnbuckle is absolutely breathtaking and completely insane, as is Delta's crazy flip dive that sees him run up the turnbuckles from the apron and vault over the other side. Also, Virus is Virus. This match was a blast and was made to look infinitely better when I stopped my DVR and Impact was on and killed the entire room.

2. Reapper vs. Volador Jr.

Boy, I am just not feeling Volador ever since the tecnico turn. He feels just totally neutered now. He used to work real well as a tweener, and he had great body charisma. That seems almost completely gone now, and getting to see his smooth pretty boy face doesn't really help things. The mask match basically killed any sort of rudo believability in him. I also used to think it was cool when he would do something goofy like come out dressed as Darth Maul, but now dressing like Spider-man -without a mask - just makes him look like a kid wearing his Spider-man jammie jams while his mother screams at him to stop doing flips on the couch. "But moooooommmmm, I'm practicing almost killing Reapper with a Spanish Flyyyyy!!!!!"

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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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CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report, 4/14/12 and Jon Polito's Jacket

So I kinda fell off the wagon (got onto the wagon? Whichever one means that I haven't written one in awhile) on these. LATV is showing nothing but reruns from last year, and I had to delete some Galavision episodes to make room for old episodes of Miami Vice. As you can see from the photo of Jon Polito's jacket, I have been continually making the right choice. How is that episode not a meme yet? I mean, that jacket, those gloves. There have been preliminary talks to just change the name of "Segunda Caida" to "Jon Polito's Jacket". He played a character named El Gato. There was a really great episode with Brad Dourif playing a coke dealer, too. So, I watched some Miami Vice and skipped some CMLL. I'm sorry.


1. Lightning Match: Super Commando vs. Angel Azteca Jr.:

This was alright but kinda short, even for a lightning match. Really felt like a match I would have flipped out for if I saw it on an episode of Worldwide in 1998, but now it doesn't do as much for me. Azteca is a guy I really like, as he's similar to the other wetsuit-top-wearing youngish guys, but he's shorter and more squat, like Virus squeezed into a wetsuit top. The dives were fun (although when did Arena Mexico get a BARRIER around ringside!?!? Goddamn does that look wrong and make me sad), and this was a fine 6 minutes.


2. Blue Panther/Hijo Del Fantasma/Black Warrior vs. Psicosis/Mr. Aguila/Olimpico:

Holy shit Blue Panther. This guy is the fucking argument ender. Any argument. "What do you mean you didn't reconcile your monthly reports!?" "Yeah, well...Blue Panther." And then both parties just kind of nod. What don't you do, Panther!? Last year my favorite part of CMLL was watching BP match up against a bunch of different young guys in a bunch of different 6 mans. It was always great, always the best couple minutes of the match. Here he is still breaking out things that surprise me. In the 1st he snaps off an absolutely gorgeous rana off the 2nd rope. I mean it was just so damn beautiful, and the guy is 50. There is also subtle beauty to be found in the way he casually double legs Psicosis and then whips him over by the ankle. It's like clockwork mechanics, just something you can stare at and get lost in all the amazing moving parts.

But you know what? The other guys looked pretty damn good, too. I LOVED the mat segment between Black Warrior and Olimpico. BW is a guy who I liked a bunch when I first started watching lucha and he would do bullet topes 3 rows deep, but he's been kinda diminishing returns for me over the last decade. But damn he showed fire on the mat like I never remember seeing from him, getting into all sorts of weird predicaments that didn't end the way I expected them to end. You get so used to seeing Malenko/Guerrero roll ups and then suddenly BW rolls through a single leg and tosses a guy in a weird fallaway slam variation. BW looked more motivated in this match than I've seen in ages. Psicosis had this awesome mini second who was dressed all Day of the Dead and how can you not get stoked for this guy getting into it with Kemonito!? This whole thing turned out way more awesome than I was anticipating. I thought "Mid card throwaway that will likely have some a cool BP spot" and I got a whip fast 6 man that was short on story but had tons of killer action. And Aguila finally got some more appropriate entrance music. Rad match that is WELL worth checking out.


3. Ultimo Guererro/Negro Casas/Terrible vs. Mascara Dorada/La Mascara/Diamante Azul:

Well I personally was not expecting a 5 minute match with two straight falls by the rudos. That doesn't mean it was bad. The 1st was a whirling rudo dervish of stiff kicks and elbow drops. Casas looks especially badass with his new close-cropped 'do (forgot to mention the same about BP in the prior match) and silver gear (with trunks that aren't hiked up!). Can't say much about something this short, but it was a hot 5 with some neat spots. Dear lord does Dorada have great ranas. His running rana from the rampway, over the ropes and into the ring was spectacular. And say what you will about lucha regularly botching camera angles, but if there is ONE shot they know how to film, it's a running somersault senton off the rampway. CMLL shoots from underneath and makes it look like Diamante flew 25 off the ramp. Awesome.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report, 11/19/11

1. Mercurio/Pequeno Universo 2000 vs. Aereo/Pequeno Halcon:

Boy, these guys don't make TV that often. I think the only one of these guys I've seen in more than one match this year is Universo. And this was a pretty decent showcase for Universo. He was the rudo who actually worked like a rudo here (and he's also super short and fat), yelling at the crowd a bunch and bumping big. Mercurio was fine, but basically worked like Halcon. Aereo was able to do a bunch of elaborate armdrags with Universo's help. First 2 falls aren't much but 3rd gets more time. The dive train is fun in a sloppy way, as none of these guys are really big enough to be bases for the other, so each landing looks a lot more painful than the move itself.



2. Bronco/Hooligan/Inquisidor vs.Molotov/Starman/Tigre Blanco:

Another match that just kinda happened. That Molotov guy? Not that good. But Starman is a guy I dig. Is he actually the real Starman, just back wearing his mask again? Blanco hasn't been on TV in awhile (after being on practically every week in the first half of the year) and he's always welcome on my TV. Always does some neat stuff on the mat, will do a cool dive (this week he did a somersault dive off the apron that the cameras cut away from). But the COOLEST spot was Starman monkey flipping Blanco into Blanco doing a super fast sunset flip on Inquisidor. Blanco just got launched at Inquisidor and whipped right over him for the pin. Such an awesome spot, and not only do I not remember seeing the spot, it's a spot that seems like something that has been attempted by somebody before, but never this successfully. The rudos are all good hands and Bronco is a guy who I just wasn't enamored by earlier in the year, but now really look forward to him. There are probably 2-3 guys just like him in every town in Mexico, and it's a style I really like that seemed to be sorta dying once Cien Caras and Universo 2000 retired. I'm glad it's still being showcased semi-weekly.



3. Arkangel de la Muerte/Loco Max/Skandalo vs. Mr. Cacao/Angel Azteca/Pegasso:

Mr. Cacao? Is this the same Mr. Cacao from earlier this decade? Are we gonna get Arkangel matching up opposite Asian Cougar or Tortuga soon? For some reason they were really trying the whole match to put over Cacao, and the crowd seemed very not into him, booing when he would go on offense against Arkangel. I was hoping Arkangel would get to drag him to the mat and twist him a bit, but it was more Arkangel bumping for his so-so offense. The Angel Azteca here also confuses me. I assume this is the one who occasionally pops up as Angel Azteca Jr., except now he's wearing a shirt? He also kinda looked like Robin at times...but I think it was Azteca Jr. Either way, he was the bright spot on the tecnico side. Pegasso just doesn't do much for me. Not the tecnico team I wanted to see go over in straight falls. Needed two straight falls of the awesome rudo side destroying these wimps.



4. Alebrije/Olimpico/Psicosis II vs. Delta/Hijo Del Fantasma/Toscano:

Alebrije is back and he somehow looks fatter! I love this man. I love how he bumps for Delta and accidentally kicks Cuije and then accidentally splashes Cuije and love how he takes a bump sliding to the floor but crotches himself on the bottom rope. As much as I love Alebrije, I am completely bored with Toscano. My face looks like this when he wrestles *__* My mouth is neither frowning nor smiling, and I start thinking of mistakes I've made and people I've wronged. Then I snap out of it and the 3rd fall is over.



5. Averno/Terrible/Texano Jr. vs. Hector Garza/La Mascara/Rush:

As with many CMLL matches lately, not much to the first couple falls, and the 3rd gets all the action. Kind of a nothing match on a nothing episode, really. Each guy got their own moments, but nothing really gelled to make it a good or great match. Garza got a great run in the 3rd, and Terrible has kind of stepped up to be kind of a rudo Garza. In fact Terrible in the 2nd worked almost exactly like rudo Garza, with a bunch of fast rope running and fun thigh slappy kicks to Mascara. Mascara hits a great dive, Garza takes his clothes off, Rush has shitty hair, Averno and Terrible worked like Averno and Terrible. This match happened, parts were enjoyable, nothing was bad. Except Rush's hair. And his tassle boots. Tassles are one of my favorite things in wrestling, and Rush can't even get those right. Misterioso, now there's a guy who knows how to tassle the fuck out. Him doing an elbow drop is like watching waves crash into a beach. Rush's tassles are all fat and short. What's the point. Huh? What's the fucking point, Rush!?

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report, 11/12/11

1. Demus 3:16/Pequeno Nitro/Pierrothito vs. Electrico/Astral/Ultimo Dragoncito:

Once I found out it was a Fan Appreciation show, and it had my two favorite minis (Pierrothito/Demus), and that minis usually turn it up to 11 on Fan Appreciation days, I had pretty high hopes for this. It didn't live up to them, but it was good, especially when things started firing on all cylinders in the 3rd fall. Demus, Nitro and Pierrothito are all guys that will take big bumps to the floor, and they didn't disappoint here. Each one tried their hand at the corner Cassandro bump (winner was Pierrothito), and did a couple other major spills to get ready for dives. Astral is now totally juiced to the gills and his chest looks like it's covered in infected spider bites. It was so gross I was worried Demus' brutal chops would cause all sorts of pus to burst forth. Best moment of the match was in the 3rd when Ultimo does an insane flip dive that lands him into the 4th or 5th row, almost on top of a baby. AWESOME. I mean, he was just sprinting at high speed and just FLEW. And it was great because it led to him being unable to help his partners as they got demolished by Demus/Pierrothito. First 2 falls were super short, but 3rd more than made up for it.



2. Loco Max/Nitro/Skandalo vs. Diamante/Fuego/Guerrero Maya Jr. :

This was all out fun with all the rudos being great at beating the collective asses of little flying tecnicos, and all the little flying tecnicos being great at hitting nice dives and springboardy things and armdraggy type stuff. Maya is the real deal, Fuego is turning into a real good flier who also happens to bump big (hit a nice dive on Skandalo and then splatted on the rampway for Skandalo's running kick to the balls), and Diamante does some real cool silly springboard balance moves. I really like this rudo trio, they all work real well together and can just throw down a fun beating, working quick, bumping big and throwing great elbow drops to dudes' balls. Just a fun match that when the 20+ minutes is up you're going, "Wait, that was the 3rd fall?"



3. Alebrije/Olimpico/Shigeo Okumura vs. Delta/Maximo/Super Porky:

Awwwwwwww YEAH! CMLL is finally bringing Alebrije back to my TV, and he is all fat and awesome in this. The guy is not only mammoth in waist, but he towers over everybody else here (Rachel made the joke that that likely means he's about 5'9"). His drawn on abs look spectacular over his ever-growing stomach, and he really seems like the best worker out of the bunch right now. He works great with each tecnico during this match, taking all of Delta's ranas and armdrags, throwing a GREAT right to put down Maximo (after unwanted advances, naturally), and of course looking great against the OTHER fattest man in lucha, Porky. When he and Porky finally squared off the crowd got reallllll noisy. He had to man up and take TWO different Porky bodypresses in this match! TWO! One off the middle ropes and one from the apron to the floor. Ouch. He was also just tossing Cuije around like he wasn't even a real person, launching him up in the air for a massive splash. It's amazing how quickly Alebrije can move and get up after arm drags. His body looks like the type of body that would see him make horrible groaning noises when getting up from chairs. I like Olimpico, but now that I know my Hector Garza is gone, seeing Olimpico doing the Garza schtick just doesn't do it for me. The begging off, the falling into women at ringside...I just want to see Garza doing it. Maximo really feels underrated. People don't really talk about him, but he's having a really strong year and always gets a massive reaction during matches. Loved his springboard hip attack and he has one of my favorite running ranas in lucha. Maximo also breaks out the skeeziest backrake ever, as it's more of a light, one-handed back caress on Olimpico, that makes Olimpico question his desires. I thought this match was awesome, but I am also insanely in love with 2011 Alebrije. Watch it for the Alebrije, stay for the Maximo.



4. Averno/Psicosis II/Volador Jr. vs. La Mascara/La Sombra/Rush:

Volador is wearing his totally bad ass Darth Maul get up and holy cow does it look badass. I'm just going to say it right now: I'm officially a full-fledged Volador superfan. The guy just has IT. I'm not 100% sure what IT is, but dude has IT. I am fully enamored with him now. I like the way he bumps around, and I like the way he gets a reverse John Cena reaction from the crowd. He and Averno take ranas and armdrags better than just about anybody. They were expertly getting tossed around by Sombra and Mascara as if they were Mini Abismo Negro with a 70 pounder. Rush is a guy who will finish in the 400s on the Segunda Caida 500, but once he turns rudo he'll probably end up in the top 10. Sombra had some awesome headscissor and armdrag variations in this. I have no clue how Volador/Averno don't get seriously crossed up during those sequences. After seeing Sin Cara just try to pull off La Mistica with the WWE roster and that rarely going well, seeing Sombra whip all around Volador's body in weird angles is pretty damn impressive. I have really enjoyed CMLL this year, and this match was another example of a real fun 2011 Arena Mexico main event. Hot crowd, plenty of dives and action, rudos being rudos, women screaming when tecnicos take their shirts off, fucking VOLADOR, and that couple who sit by the rampway that look like twins. What the fuck are they!? Are they husband/wife, brother/sister, mother/son, WHAT ARE THEY!? They both look exactly the same! They have the same jheri curl and they look somewhere between the ages of 32 and 66. This week they had a baby with them!! Am I the only one noticing them?

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CMLL Guerreros Del Ring 7/12/06 Reflections

India Sioux/Marcella/Dark Angel v. La Nazi/Medusa/Princess Sugieth

PAS: Really nothing match which was clearly their to set up the Medusa v. India Sioux match, but did nothing really to make you want to see that. Only luchadora who looked good was La Nazi, and they aren’t setting up La Nazi v. Debbie Malenko.

TKG: Hmm….trying to think of any other Jewish female wrestlers… Isn’t there a Gypsy Lee? Miss Texas v La Nazi would be pretty great. The Marcela sections with LA Nazi were really nice and that’s really the match you want to see. For how few luchadores they have they really feel like they are running through their big stip/mask matches too fast which will make the whole thing feel like even more a novelty than it already is.

Olimpico/Atlantis v. Mistico/Negro Casas:

TKG: Ah yes that’s the good stuff. This was for a title and started out all awesome with Negro and Atlanis working the mat. Their section was followed by Mistico and Olimpico working quick exchanges which while executed nicely kind of felt silly as Olimpico is your power man and Mistico is your fast underdog worker and the two were working like it was Red vs. Brian XL Still pretty great finish to first fall. Second fall Olimpico worked more power stuff and Atlantis was just a blast heeling it up, kicking Que Monito and Negro was just a star fighting back from every hit he takes…Mistico hits a totally beautiful leaping DDT that I can’t properly describe. Just totally fast and impossible. Favorite spot in third fall was Olimpico and Atlantis going to clothesline his opponents—Casas ducks while Mistico eats his…Casas turns surprised that Mistico didn’t duck bends down to instinctively check on Mistico and gets hit with a boot just as he leans down. Fun fun match

PAS: According to Meltzer the promotion wanted to lead off their new Fox Sports show with a bang so they told everyone to go all out. I don’t think this match aired on the Fox Sports show, but it definitely felt like all of the guys were working hard. Mistico usually dogs it on Coliseo shows, but he was nuts here, working at a million miles an hour. Atlantis takes all of his spots really fast. You forget Negro Casas is Negro Casas until you see him wrestle, and then you remember. The early exchange with Atlantis was so awesome, that you get the sense the were running through their regular spots, but I don’t remember these two feuding.

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