Lucha Worth Watching: CMLL 8/11/17

Mercurio/Pierrothito vs. Shockercito/Stukita (CMLL 8/11/17)

ER: Hot Arena Mexico opener with these guys not slowing down for a second. Stukita stumbles on one quebrada and that's it, the rest of this was don't look back. Mercurio is a real fun ham, he knows how to mock a tecnico and get his comeuppance. He'll run great misdirection spots like sending Shockercito into the ropes and forcing him to duck under a Pierrothito leapfrog, and he'll be right there waiting on the other side with a stiff kick to the chops. But he knows how to do those same set ups to effectively make himself look like a boob, cockily playing to the crowd and then accidentally kicking Pierrothito in the chops. Mercurio is kind of ridiculous, wearing as much dayglo as Neon Joe: Werewolf Hunter and mocking the short (I mean, he's short, but they're shorter, and as our doofus leader has shown us you always gotta pick on people for the things you're most insecure about) tecnicos mercilessly. Shockercito is a real nutter and hits arguably the minis spot of the year, getting monkey flipped off the apron by Pierrothito into a rana to Mercurio on the floor. The rudos run traffic and shine when needed (again, Mercurio is hammy as hell and even threw in a tope of his own), really drawing the fans into it, and the tecnicos know how to bring the flash. Shockercito is arguably the best of the current tecnico minis and this was a nice showcase for all.

Rush vs. Diamante Azul (CMLL 8/11/17)

ER: We get a hot opener, and we get a hot semi-main singles match. Rush comes with the working (tassel) boots on and Diamante feels like a lucha star now. You can tell he's getting good by watching him on the rampway in the segunda. After taking a stiff suplex on the ramp Rush disappears (for probably too long) getting a piece of plasterboard. Diamante nobly gets up from this suplex, timing it so he isn't just lying down waiting for Rush, but not so quick that he's then standing around like a doofus. He's just slowly but strongly standing up, looking around Arena Mexico like he doesn't know where Rush the monster ran off to. Rush blasts him with a couple belly to bellys, dropkicks him hard in the chest, and Diamante stands up to all of it. He ends up hitting rush with a tope headbutt and Rush flings himself hard and stupid backwards into the first row. Some old man throws his entire soda on him. Rush throws in some fun bullshit like grabbing ref Edgar's arm on a close count, but Azul pins Rush clean in the tercera. That feels like a big step. This could be the mask vs. hair match-up, and it could be good. They need to be really careful with who gets to take Rush's hair. It feels like Rush needs to take someone's mask before someone takes his hair. I don't think he's taken a mask before and it feels like he really needs a good one to at to his legend.

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MLJ: Virus Spotlight 4: Cicloncito Ramirez & Último Dragoncito b Damiancito El Guerrero & Pierrothito

1997-03-14 @Arena México
Cicloncito Ramirez & Último Dragoncito b Damiancito El Guerrero & Pierrothito

I found one more match with Nuevo Piratita Morgan from 93, so if I can make it through the VQ on it, we'll hit that Monday (and if not, I'll post it for you guys anyway), then, barring any surprises, it'll be back to GdI during the week, and moving forward with Virus on Mondays. This, though? This I really dug. The 93 tag from Monday was very first-match-on-the-card with a bit of heat, but just a bit. It was mostly shine and fun and the rudos were there to make the tecnicos look good without any real sense of drama.

This was more balanced and I have to wonder if it wasn't because it was a few years later and the wrestlers involved were more established. I know the title match between Damiancito and Cicloncito wasn't in front of a big crowd or anything (I think it was at Arena Coliseo) but it still had a ton of time and felt like a bigger deal than you'd expect. This was a month or so after that and it was the first match on a Friday Arena Mexico show which had an Ultimo Dragon vs Scorpio, Jr. title match as the main event. The video I'm linking too is an entire episode of CMLL TV (I think) and the pro to that is you'll get to see some other stuff if you watch it. The con is that I can't pull gifs through my usual means since it's just too long, so we'll have to go without.

I'd seen Pierrothito, but thirteen years later at Sin Salida 2010. Here, he was more impressive, hanging with Ramirez and Damiancito pretty well. Dragon, on offense, was pretty much what you'd expect (kicks), but he was underneath for a chunk of the match and, maybe due to his relative size, was very sympathetic in that role.

The primera was really worth watching, with some great sequence work between Damiancito and Cicloncito. Some of it, I think, was even better than what they did in their title match and very little overlapped; when it did, and this is huge to me, it felt like it was due to a kayfabe sort of familiarity. There was absolutely a sense of struggle and they weren't just running through rote spots. The things I wish I could gif are so simple, like Virus kicking out Cicloncito's leg when he was in a hold, or the way he gets out of another with a drop toe-hold sort of leverage move, or, likewise, how Cicloncito turns a leglock around by trapping Damiancito. Little bits of mat expertise that I loved. There were some great armdrag sequences too.

The primera came to a climax when they started to work on Ultimo Dragoncito's arm. Limbwork feels so novel in lucha because it just doesn't happen all that often. It's another tool in the storytelling arsenal more than an end in and of itself as it might be in something like a Southern Tag. In this match they have some fun armwork in the primera and they go back to it later with Dragoncito selling the arm but it really being used to fill time and build heat and to serve as a way to control him. For the primera, he came back after dodging a corner splash and got a bit of revenge on Pierrothito's arm before the tecnicos caught a flash submission (out of a Russian legsweep) and UD's inside the ring Asai Moonsault to take the fall.

The segunda started back and forth, with a slight tecnico advantage, including Damniancito taking a crazy corner bump to the outside that it's a shame I can't show you. Shortly thereafter, they start back on Dragoncito's arm though, wearing him down. It's deconstructed, used as an equalizer to cut him off and grind him down more than anything else. It led to a cool Damiancito handspring backflip headscissors flip into a pin, though. Virus had a lot of the small things down by this point in his career. He had a lot of the big ones down too, and on top of that, he had an agility that he obviously doesn't almost twenty years later and it made for a really impressive total package.

The tercera had Pierrothito and Damniancito really rudo-ing it up. They pulled on Dragoncito's mask to hold him in their corner, worked on his arm more (including a great springboard elbow drop in by Damiancito), and cut off Cicloncito from behind when he tried to intervene. In the end, though, the tecnicos fought their way back, Damiancito missed a corner shoulder and flew through the ropes, Dragoncito hit a massive moonsault from the top to the floor, and Cicloncito locked in a hold for a submission/countout win.

I haven't talked for a while about the emotion and the art in lucha that comes from building up and paying off but I think that was here much more than in the 1993 trios from Monday. There was more of a sense of the rudos bullying the tecnicos using rougher tactics and after the opening sportsmanship, The armwork stood out as somehow unnecessary from a kayfabe perspective, something over the top, maybe in part because we don't see it much, and all of that made the comeback matter more. More good stuff.

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CMLL Worth Watching 9/21/14

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

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

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

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

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MLJ: Sin Salida 2010 Part 1

Sin Salida 2010 Part 1

I'm going to tackle the first two matches on the card today. The plan is to make it to the main event, double back to the trios which helped set up Maximo vs Taichi and then finish with 2010 with the hair match. I'll probably double back through the anniversary show (sticking with Garza) at some point.

I've seen very few whole shows in my lucha watching. I've also seen almost nothing when it comes to mini matches, ever, as in "ever," my whole life. I'm sure I've seen a bit of what WWF fed me back in the late 90s but for lucha, nada. I'm sort of curious to see these first two matches in the context of a card, because I don't have a great idea for how one's put together in Mexico, especially a big CMLL show.

For big shows in the states, there are a couple of things I'd expect from the first couple of matches on a card.

1.) The first match is there to get the crowd going, engaged. This is a principle dating back at least thirty years and probably far longer. Wrestlemania I started with Tito Santana vs Buddy Rose for a reason, an admitted reason. Most WWE PPVs over the last two years started with a spot-filled tag team title match for the same reason. Again, I'm not super familiar with minis matches but my instinct is that they're high-velocity affairs and it makes sense to lead off the card with them.

2.) These aren't the matches that are supposed to steal the show. They should be energetic and for a certain breed of fans I'm sure that's what's most engaging. I have a feeling, however, that they're not supposed to contain some of the more key themes that'll be in the later matches. There'll be less build and payoff, less heat to the beatdowns, less complexity to comebacks.They'll get a little less time and maybe won't even have the big dives that'll come later in the night.

Now, these are just assumptions. I honestly don't know, and there's never been any assurance of CMLL being logical about this.

Taped 2010-06-06
Bam Bam & Shockercito vs Demus 3:16 & Pierrothito


So, minis. Bam Bam is just an inch shorter than me, so there you go. I would probably be a mini. I feel a connection already. He was the Mini-Estrella champ. Shockercito is 500% guapo which is pretty funny. Pierrothito is the NWA Light Heavyweight Champ which is a belt they had cycled down to the minis a year before. Demus used to be mini Damian. He's got a pretty good look.

This was what I expected. It had about ten minutes and it was almost all quick action with most of the normal elements of a match compressed (shrunk down even). Now and again you'll see a match structured in two falls with a shine, beatdown (ending the first), extension of the beatdown and then the comeback foiled in some horrific way. This was what happend here.

The early exchanges were really just "an early exchange." One or two interactions and then out of the ring and back to the other pairing. What they did was smooth and athletic though. The rudos took the primera with a wheelbarrow into a facebreaker. onto Bam Bam and then this really cool reverse powerslam/rolling neckbreaker submission combo by Demus onto Shockercito.

The segunda started with the continuation of the beatdown (including a giant swing/dropkick combo) followed by the comeback that consisted of comedy miscommunication by the rudos mainly. This all set up the finish which was Shockercito and Pierrothito ending up on the apron with Pierrothito flat on his back. Shockercito charged forth but got monkeyflipped. He was supposed to end up in a powerbomb position by Demus on the floor but it didn't quite work out and looked nasty. Back in the ring Demus and Bam Bam had a roll up fest with the rudo getting the better of it for the win.

This was quick but fun. I really need to dip my foot deeper into the mini waters.

Taped 2010-06-06
Metro, Rush, Stuka Jr. vs Histeria, Maniaco, Monsther


This was my first look at Monsther. He fit right into Los Invasores, far more so than some other guys in the stable. Chucky is so in your face and over the top as a mascot too. He was all over the match and you can hardly blame them for it. Stuka was the captain for the tecnicos and pretty much the only guy over in a good way. There were signs with the Porra Tecnico and everything. Rush had a surprising amount of boos for so early in his career. I hadn't realized they had turned on him so quickly.

I thought Rush looked good here. It's the earliest I've seen him and my plan is to spend more time with him in 2011 after I finish this show. He was definitely Rush, down to beating the crap out of Chucky in a way that put sympathy on the mascot and elicited boos from the crowd. Monsther was pretty funny as Stuka tried to rope run with him and just got goozled for his trouble. The tecnicos took the primera after Stuka did his reverse course leap out of the ring, leaving Rush and Metro to take out the remaining rudos (including Metro doing this really great backcompression submission over his knee.)

Rudos took over in the segunda, in part because the tecnicos were spending too long going after Chucky. It wasn't anything special. Histeria got Stuka from the outside in on a rope running sequence. The finish was a little goofy as I swear he got pinned twice and Monsther splashed his legs instead of something that made more sense, but it was ultimately harmless. Anyway, and this could be an indication of the spot on the card, the comeback in the tercera was almost immediate with Stuka moving out of the way of a charging Chucky, some humorous rudo miscommunication, and Stuka's dive bomb.

This was short and sweet, with a bit of flubbing here and there. Metro looked good. Monsther fit in well and Chucky was certainly energetic and happy to take a lot of abuse. It was pretty much what it was supposed to be. I thought it was most interesting how quickly Stuka started his comeback in the tercera and that they managed to clear the ring without dives (since they were saving those for later in the night, I guess).

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Uprising: Lucha Libre Workrate Report 9/27/14

As best I can tell this didn't air last week, or it just aired at a different pay for play time. Whatever my DVR recorded was some sort of music festival held in the parking lot of a Mexican market. There was a 7 year old girl who was pretty impressive. And a 12 year old boy who had a lot of work to do with his stage directions. He spent a lot of time not knowing what to do with his non-mic hand, and stared down at the stage a lot.

Talk about feast or famine. The last several weeks (for better or worse) we've been getting matches from PWR's most recent 2014 shows. And now we get matches from 2/27/10, almost 5 years ago! You can tell it was another lifetime ago because Brian Cage is at ringside and looks closer to my size than the freakish size he is today. Or, he actually looks like a normal human being than a bloated, gassed up freak.

1. Kafu vs. Vaquero Fantasma

I'll cut to the chase on this match and say that it went 8 minutes and ended in a double count out. Maybe you have a better explanation than me as to why they'd pay money to show a 5 year old match as inconsequential as this. Surely they have better classic matches than this in their archives? You could argue that both of these guys are still PWR regulars, so here's a look back at an earlier match in their PWR career. I could see that. Now, the problem with that is that both guys looked in way better shape here than they currently are. It was especially noticeable in Fantasma, who was not only way more slender but wrestled noticeably better. I've seen him live a couple of times and always wondered why he seemed better on TV than in person, and now I know. The live matches are current, the TV matches I liked him in were all from 2010. It's kind of shocking to see how much he's regressed as a worker, but there it is. He looked really good here, bringing a lot of energy and nice strikes to it. I really loved his body punches and chops, and he leaned into some Kafu kicks nicely. Kafu looked sluggish as usual. Here he was in full faux Brody mode (keep in mind he's a guy who actually said he had never seen Brody wrestle before. He just must have decided independently to wear fur boots, stomp around holding his wrist and yelling "Huss!"), meaning he threw some of the loosest stomps you've seen. Kafu wrestles like a giant power wrestler, with the problem being that he's not very powerful, and not a giant. He's 6'2" tops, and while his physique has never looked powerful, he's also never shown any kind of impressive strength that would still be possible with a meh body. He throws these dinky little clotheslines that look more like little running punches. Just bad looking stuff. So yeah, we get some guys doing stuff, before Fantasma just leaves the ring with Kafu chasing, and we get the double count out. Yay! Here's what Pro Wrestling Revolution themselves had to say about this match:

"KAFU picked up from when we last saw him and became an over night sensation. Vaquero Fantasma is on the same boat but with not the same amount of fans in his corner."

I'm…not sure what any of that means.

2. Pierrothito vs. Ultimo Dragoncito

Pretty cut and dry touring match for these guys. This is not the UD that is currently in CMLL, this guy is little smaller, slightly more stocky. But if somebody told you that you were about to watch a 7 minute lucha minis singles match, you could jot down the framework of this match ahead of time and easily predict 80% of this. We start with some fun comedy matwork, with UD being the aggressor and trying to work power moves like waist locks and headlocks, with Pierrothito tossing him all around. UD locks on some armbars which Pierrothito stands up out of, with UD getting him back down with armdrags into armbars. Pierrothito bumps nicely to the floor and we get two nice big dives from UD, one large crossbody from the top, and another tope through the bottom ropes. Back in we hit some roll-ups, with the weakest looking one (a majistral that looked like it was not easily holding Pierrothito down) winning the match even though Pierrothito clearly kicked out at two, which leads to awkwardness as even the announcers (recording this in post) don't know what to make of it at first. Seems like an odd thing to purposely include in the broadcast.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 6/15/14

So after consistently showing matches from two weeks prior for the last several months, suddenly they jump way back in time as these matches were from the 1/5/14 Arena Mexico show. I don't know if this was a trend or just some "hey we never showed that minis cibernetico from 6 months ago. Let's put it up!"

Goya Kong, Dark Angel & Estrellita vs. Tiffany, Amapola & Princesa Sugheit

According to Cubsfan's match finder this is only the 2nd time these 6 women have all been involved in the same match, and the last time was three years ago. That's kinda neat. The match itself was kind of okay. Things got a little unfocused so my attention wandered. At some point it felt kind of like just fillin' time. I do like a good Goya Kong showcase though, and I haven't seen her on TV in some time. She drops a mean leg here and crushes Tiffany in the corner with an avalanche. Haven't seen Tiffany in a long time and she's another favorite of mine. She's all stooging and bitch face and she's awesome. She leans into everything and makes Estrellita look like someone with talent. Really for the six people they assembled here and the time it was given, this should have been way better. Marcela replacing Estrellita would have been the only obvious upgrade. Dalys has been good lately but not sure she's better than the three rudas here. But yeah, real disappointment here. And, the thing is that you'll have to take my word for it! This may be the only match all year that Cubsfan hasn't uploaded. So that's right, these printed words are among the only historical records of this match's existence. In 30 years when somebody is doing The 2010s Project some weirdo will go, "hey did these women ever all match up" and then they will find their answer here, and maybe not trust my opinion that the match kinda blew, but likely believe that Dark Angel looked foxy.

Pequeno Reyes Del Aire!

Demus 3:16, Pierrothito, Pequeno Nitro, Pequeno Olimpico & Mercurio vs. Shockercito, Electrico, Stukita, Ultimo Dragoncito & Astral

This gets 30 (!) minutes, and for the first part I was amped, ready to tell Phil to check it out for our MOTY list. But it loses steam and can't really recover. There is definitely such a thing as a match being too long, and there aren't just enough tecnico minis (does Bam Bam still work?) that I like now to justify them getting this much time. The people you expect to look great, look really great. Demus 3:16 and Pierrothito rarely disappoint and they certainly didn't here. They're clearly the best bases and all the tecnicos are better for it. Mercurio got a little showcase time and showed some big bumping skills that I've never really seen from him before. Astral and Electrico are apparently working like mini La Mascaras which is not really at all what I want to see from my mini tecnicos. I did really dig Stukita and Shockercito and was very pleasantly surprised by Ultimo Dragoncito. Stukita is super tiny, but more in a athletic 13 year old kinda way (as opposed to a Mascarita Sagrada way). But he's got crazy energy and while his stuff doesn't always look ultra impactful (I mean, he does appear to be like 70 lb. so while I'm sure taking a moonsault from a 12 year old would hurt, it's not exactly Scorpio flattening you here) he does put a lot behind it and makes it look as good as possible with his tiny frame. He hits a triple moonsault and eats knees on the third and I admired how he had no problem flying face first into those knees.

Ultimo Dragoncito has the spot of the match with his crazy flip dive that sees him fly back first and upside down into the ringside barricade. All the dive stuff was great with Pierrothito flattening someone with his Silver King dive and three tecnicos hitting epic stereo corner dives. This was worked a lot more like a normal trios match (yes yes, even through there were 10 people) as there were a lot of double teams and general teamwork spots as opposed to the usual exclusive one on one stuff you normally get from ciberneticos. Not sure how I felt about it as I didn't end up loving the overall match anyway as there just wasn't enough meat to fill 30, but it was an interesting change of pace at least. Lame eliminations are kind of a cibernetico staple at this point so you expect a few of them, and they often come from moves that would never normally pin a guy, and there's always that moment where you get the feeling that the plan was "okay, we worked our allotted time, now to start burning through the eliminations". You get your lame finish where one guy pins another with a suplex but it turns out HIS shoulders were actually down and everybody groans and there's nobody who could possibly like this finish. Not sure why we needed to protect Pequeno Olimpico on a finish. "Ya gotta let Peq. Olimpico leave with his heat! Fans are gonna remember the 5th elimination of a Cibernetico!" Match ends on the flattest note possible as someone either legit or storyline gets hurt and the doctors wave it off, so Electrico wins by not getting injured. Yay?

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 4/20/14

These matches were from the 4/6 Anniversario show at Arena Coliseo. I got higher than normal hopes for this one as I know guys historically have pulled out all the stops on big Anniversary shows, so I'm hoping for some better than average stuff here. I'm watching the show with my buddy Charlie who is always fun to watch wrestling with, as he loves it enough so that when I visit him he requests I pick out cool wrestling for us to watch…but at the same time he would never and has never watched any wrestling on his own (past the age of 12). It's always great watching wrestling with Rachel or somebody like Charlie, as they are watching this stuff with completely different eyes and always make some fresh-faced observations from a perspective that I wouldn't consider. It makes me appreciate things in a whole different way.

Averno, Ephesto  & Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Mistico II, Valiente & La Sombra

This was really fun, not so much flat out great as past Anniversario spotfests have been, but really fun nonetheless. The tecnicos all got to do tons of spectacular stuff, with Valiente especially shining by hitting a crazy fast tope and a somehow even faster Valiente Special. It is probably the craziest spot in wrestling, two crazy fast springboards into a no-look moonsault. He did it so fast here my brain could hardly process it, meaning I can't imagine actually willing my body to do it. Sombra and Mistico each do a couple big flip dives, Averno catches a bunch of Mistico ranas, Sombra breaks out some cool tilt-a-whirl floppy armdrags. So, a bunch of fun stuff, but not quite bumping up to that next level.

Mr. Niebla vs. Atlantis

First two falls were way too short, but the tercera was worked a little bit more like a longer lightning match. It was funny as Atlantis took so much of the match that it turned Niebla tecnico, as after seeing Atlantis control so much the fans spontaneously starts a Niebla chant! Niebla is great at catching onto that and using it to hulk up. Atlantis can kinda hold back in trios and blend into the background, so it was nice seeing him forced to break out enough offense for a singles match. Few guys do roll-ups and old school lucha ranas as graceful as Atlantis, so it's always a treat to see. Niebla takes a big bump to the floor and mans up to catch a big Atlantis tope. Niebla also works some fun comedy in at appropriate times, such as doing the most blatant ropes hold on a rolling reverse cradle (picture Andre stuck in the ropes with both arms draped over, and that was Niebla holding the ropes while pinning Atlantis with his legs). Not much drama in this as Atlantis wins the first with a roll up, Niebla wins the segunda after a splash after Atlantis misses a dropkick, and then even with all the fans newly behind Niebla in the tercera, he doesn't really even get any sort of pitfalls. It just eventually ends up with Atlantis winning, as everybody assumed he would.

Minis Cage Match up next, loser unmasks!! I don't think I've really seen a very good multi-man lucha cage match, as escape rules matches don't usually do too much for me. Mini matches are usually made spectacular by their crazy spots and awesome rudo bases, but a cage takes away all spots to the floor, and escape rules make doing top rope spots psychologically stupid, as the guy should just climb over the top.

Pierrothito vs. Pequeno Olimpico vs. Fantasy vs. Stukita vs. Ultimo Dragoncito vs. Electrico vs. Astral vs. Acero vs. Pequeno Halcon vs. Pequeno Nitro

Yeah this match was pretty much what I was afraid of. Ten people crammed into a cage, more worried about climbing over the cage than doing cool stuff. I'm sure some have to exist out there, but is there such a thing as a good multi-man lucha cage match? I'm thinking 6 combatants or higher. I have no doubts there could be a good singles cage match, or even a tag team. But at 6+ people I'm asking you, tell me the good lucha cage matches. I'll watch those motherfuckers right here. So we had a long series of assorted guys jumping up to turnbuckles, only to be pulled off of those same turnbuckles. Moreover, we had a series of assorted guys jumping up to turnbuckles, only to evade capture, climb to the top of the cage, flex muscles in celebration at the top of the cage, and then escape. Escape rules do not leave much room for highspots, unless the psychology is all out of whack (he wanted to hit a gigantic move off the top sooooo badly that it overrode his desire to escape!!), and there are not many here. Stukita tries to fit some stuff in, and in cramped quarters is somewhat successful. I applaud his effort. Pierrothito is a standout at working with the match constraints, as he is one of the only ones who manages to show some sort of personality while working escapes and battle royal-type bullshit. It comes down to Pequeno Halcon and Astral. They work some pretty decent submission exchanges, in that both guys were able to get across the consequences of tapping out. Astral wins, Halcon unmasks. He looks like many Mexican men you have known in your life. He was my pick to lose from the beginning, as he had a) the most boring mask, and b) the least interesting look and gimmick. I don't think losing the Pequeno Halcon identity will make any difference over his long term career. I may not know the whole story, but I'm failing to see the Halcon identity being a huge boon to his career. Are there many Halcon fans out there still? People going "I used to watch Super Halcon. This man is dressed much like him, but smaller. He looks somewhat like a smaller Halcon."

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CMLL Puebla Workrate Report, 10/8/12

One of the benefits of living in an area with a huge hispanic population is awesome Mexican food within walking distance (more places in a half mile area than I can count on one hand!!). A close second is sometimes local stations start showing random lucha with no sort of announcement. A few years ago some channel started showing random, horribly edited IWRG and AULL that I think we determined was only being seen by me. And now some channel just started showing CMLL Puebla shows 2 weeks after they happen. From what I can tell they edit out the opening match with the Puebal locals, which is a bummer, but show all the other matches in full with all the matwork and everything intact. Awesome.

1. Pierrothito/Mercurio/Pequeno Olimpico vs. Shockercito/Fantasy/Acero:

I've never seen Acero before, so KTNC channel 19 is impressing me with their minis crate-digging. Match itself was pretty nondescript with nobody looking bad but nobody busting ass. Pierrothito is one of the best workers in the world (who more people should really be talking about, as this has been going on for years now), Shockercito is a fine not-Bam Bam, Olimpico is easy to overlook because he's a non-flashy mini, and this was all just fine.

2. Virus/Cancerbero/Raziel vs. Stuka Jr./Metatron/Triton:

This was a pretty non-spectacular match, until Virus. This so-so thing happened, but then Virus. I like Cancerbero and Raziel just fine. They're like fractions of Arkangel de la Muerte. Maybe someday they'll be as good as him, but for right now they have elements of him and for right now, that's enough. The tecnicos are kinda diminishing returns. I really like Stuka, and Metatron and Triton seem OK. I've not seen much Triton. Match is all business as usual, fun and games, until one point in the 2nd when Virus tags in. And then shit gets real, as Virus is a whirling dervish of fists and elbows, like a mulleted Tazmanian devil. He just throws flipper floppers left and right directs traffic like few luchadors can. People are flying all over and he's in the middle of it all throwing elbows and shouldertackles to knees and stretching dudes' leg ligaments. You usually don't see a guy run roughshod over a whole half a lucha match but damn did Virus just get sick of messing around during this.

3. Guerrero Maya Jr./Hijo Del Fantasma/Delta vs. Negro Casas/Puma King/Tiger:

I have never heard of Tiger before. Maybe another Felino son? Any way you cut it, despite any language barriers, Tiger is just about the weakest name possible. I mean, it's no Televisa Deportes, but it is pretty weak. Fantasma has gone full on amazing Phantom Limb from Venture Bros. and his work with Casas is super strong. I realize that isn't a very impressive thing to say about a worker since Casas could carry me to something watchable, I mean that to say that Fantasma is looking like he's starting to belong. Just like the prior match, this was allllll the Casas show. There's a point during the match where he just decides to turn it on and then doesn't turn it off until it's all over. He's throwing his mini 2nd Zacarias around all recklessly and kicking guys in the face and jumping balls first off the apron and just playing to the crowd like wild. You heard it hear first, check this Negro Casas guy out!

My DVR cut off the main event but heck I'll live. If somebody can or cannot confirm that I'm the person that is getting this show, that would be swell. I don't see any of these matches up on Cubsfan's youtube page, and if I'm the only guy seeing this stuff then I need to get some sort of DVD Recorder set-up so at least somebody is saving this stuff.

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CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report, 5/5/12

1. Astral/Electrico vs. Demus 3:16/Pierrothito:

Two of my favorite minis teaming against two of my least favorite minis (stockier almost equals better in my book, so no mystery who my favorites are). Astral and Electrico are pretty meh, always adjusting and awkwardly getting into position, but capable of pulling of a neat move here or there. Demus/Pierrothito are ass kicking big bumpers and here their bumping is fine indeed. The first two falls don't rouse much in my guts. Demus makes a couple ranas look great, Pierrothito does a neat springboard back elbow drop, also does a nice Fuerza bump. Nice stuff all, but stuff you'd expect. 3rd fall is more of the same, but made TOTALLY worth it by one spot. It starts with Astral doing a rana on Demus from the apron to the floor. I am disappointed because Demus kinda wimps out of it and doesn't so much splat as he does spin out. But then Astral bounces off the opposite ropes and does a running somersault senton to the floor, while Demus is lying there. The kicker is that Demus is lying perpendicularly to the ring, so Astral comes crashing down lengthwise across Demus!! HOLY SHIT!! Not only did Astral have a white fucking hot death wish by just winging his body over the ropes to the floor, but Demus didn't even flinch while lying prone!! Both guys are straight nutso. I don't even give a shit how the match ended. It could have been 12 minutes of headlocks with that spot at the end and I would have gone nuts.



2. Virus/Rey Escorpion/Vangelis vs. Valiente/La Mascara/Black Warrior:

Short match, but I find it hard to believe that any man would dislike the 2nd caida here. Everybody was killing it there. Virus was just a master in here, like those sequences in Bruce Lee movies where he is just directing traffic mid-fight, getting into and out of position for guys and just letting the fight happen all around him while also being involved in everything. Great little 5 minute Virus primer for beginners. Vangelis is another awesome stocky guy I dig, and he works cool powerhouse spots while always leaning into a superkick or standing manly while Valiente crashes into him from 10'. Valiente takes spectacular bumps for a chubster, and the Valiente Special he busts out here was seamless and spectacular (again, props to Vangelis for standing tall while taking it). La Mascara also put on a great show and he is really becoming a young tecnico I really look forward to. He also owns the 2nd caida, and his body is all painted up like Captain America. I mean, it looks more like somebody's Captain America costume on Fire Island, but whatever. He looks really great here sprinting all over the place, flying into offense, flying his offense into people, and just being fun. Wish it would've gone longer, but what was here was real good.



3. Rey Buccanero/Terrible/Tiger vs. Marco Corleono/Maximo/Rush:

I did not realize Corleone was back. I assume this was his return match for the big Anniversary show, and I have to think he performed up to expectations. I've always liked the guy more than most, digging his big planchas and big left hands. Crowd was way into him, too. I loved Buccanero trying to anticipate Marco's punches, ducking early, and then getting popped. Bunch of neat spots in this one, with Terrible being a bumping standout. Rush even had some nice moments (love him blocking a Tiger punch and blasting him with a headbutt). When Rush has a nice moment, that's a pretty neat little feather in the cap for a match.

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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 on LATV Workrate Report, 10/22/11

1. Trueno/Bengala vs. Camorra/Zayko:

So CMLL loves me so much that they decide to throw up a rematch from the crappy match that happened two weeks ago....except the match was TOTALLY AWESOME THIS TIME! What the fuck happened here!? I've been seeing Bengala and Zayko all year, and these dudes have sucked in everything. Camorra popped up more recently and he was even worse! And yet here we have Zayko looking like a top notch rudo, taking a MASSIVE Jerry bump that saw him spill into the front row, stiffing up the tecnicos (when did he suddenly gain an awesome elbow drop?) and working a convincing mat sequence with Bengala. What the hell is going on here? Camorra doesn't look like a total goof either! In other weeks he's looked like a bad version of Bronco, and now he just kinda...works like Bronco, which is a massive step up. Bengala is still kind of a chump, but you can pair up a fairly bland tecnico with a couple good rudos and suddenly you don't mind their sequences at all. Trueno is a guy with a bunch of potential, and again, good rudo just makes a decent tecnico even better. Man this was a pleasant surprise, especially Zayko. Sooooo many minutes wasted watching Zayko matches this year, and now he's tricking me into actively looking forward to more Zayko matches. I'm such a sucker. You need to watch this to see if I'm crazy. I was eating a donut while watching, so I could have just been basking in the warm glow of cake donut, chocolate frosting and sprinkles.



2. Electrico/Bam Bam/Astral vs. Demus 3:16/Pequeno Warrior/Pierrothito:

Well, this was fucking awesome. Who would have guessed it would be awesome when you have the two best rudo minis (Demus/Pierrothito), the best tecnico mini (Bam Bam), and one of the more underrated minis (Electrico). This was just as awesome as it looks on paper and you want every hot little second of it. For some reason Demus has only been showing up on all the CMLL shows that air in Mexico this year, and almost never showing up on US TV. He and Pierrothito bump faster than you can imagine, flying into and out of the ring and working intricate multi-level spots with numerous guys, always telling cool little stories, making the tecnicos shine and still looking like total badasses. Electrico gets time to shine here, working two GREAT sequences with Demus/Pierrothito, and basically everybody looks good here. Dive train in the 3rd fall is nuts with Astral vaulting off the ring post with a NUTS corkscrew dive, Warrior and Bam Bam flattening the first two rows of chairs (great visual with chairs and fans spilling out everywhere). There are too many great spots and sequences here (Bam Bam getting rana'd off Pierrothito's shoulders was crazy), and you seriously want every single bit of this. So awesome. One of the best minis matches of the year.



3. Ladies Cibernetico! Dallys/Lady Apache/Goya Kong/Silueta vs. Princesa Blanca/Princesa Sugei/Kiara/La Seductora:

This was really awesome, until it got to all the one and done eliminations. First half gave every woman a little chance to shine, including a nice long mat sequence between Apache and Seductora. Crowd is pretty quiet until Goya Kong comes in and then the crowd instantly wakes up, cheering and blowing air horns and going nuts. This gal is over. Between Goya Kong and Melissa McCarthy, 2011 is becoming the year of the BBW. My girlfriend Rachel warms my heart by recognizing Princesa Sugei, saying, "Hey, that's the one woman that works stiffer than all the other women!" Yes. She completely is. I have never seen Kiara and Silueta doesn't show up too much, so it was neat seeing them in longer segments. Blanca is really good and doesn't seem to get talked up that much by people who enjoy ladies wrestling. So yeah, first 10 minutes are really fun, but then once people start running in, getting eliminated by one move, someone else runs in and eliminates someone with one move, etc. it starts getting pretty meh. Still well worth checking out. This is a killer week of LATV so far.



4. Metro/Sagrado/Stuka Jr. vs. Virus/Euforia/Vangelis:

Looks good on paper, in practice it doesn't go very long. Tecnicos win in straight falls, pretty by the numbers in the limited time they got. Virus works twice as fast as everybody else, Vangelis has some cool vulture spots (where he just kinda swoops in and kicks a dude while he's distracted), and nothing bad happens...it's just super short.



5. La Sombra/Hector Garza/La Mascara vs. Rey Buccanero/Terrible/Texano Jr.:

Yeah! Now this is an ace main event! Garza is just killer here and the crowd is amped to boo team TRT. Buccanero clearly lost a hair match that I have not watched yet. Garza/Sombra with a sweet asai moonsault (landing on the feet) into an instant standing moonsault to end the first fall. Crowd shot of a cute woman in the crowd screaming her head off as Garza removes his shirt. Sombra starts to remove his and Terrible/Texano instantly kick the shit out of him. There wasn't a dull moment here and these guys all match up really nicely. 20 minutes breezes by and judging by a horrendous recent Observer poll, more people really need to get on the 2011 Hector Garza tip.

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