CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report, 2/2/13

These matches are from the 1/25/13 Arena Mexico show.

1. Princesa Sugheit/Amapola/Princesa Blanca vs. Luna Magica/Silueta/Estrellita:

The rudas get to tear it up here and Estrellita makes me sad. She is the the embodiment of every woman who makes out with another woman in a bar for attention from weird guys, just because it's some sort of attention. At this point I'm just hoping she takes to aging more gracefully than Lil' Kim. But boy does it make it that much more fun to watch the rudas beat her down. Match ended with a gang beatdown by those evil women that saw Tigre Hispano thrown down. What's insane is that, racking my brain, I don't remember the last time I saw a ref bumped like that. It was such a constant thing in the late 90s/early 00s. My friend Carlos' grandma used to get furious when somebody would hit the ref to end a match. She wouldn't get furious because it was a crap finish, she would get furious because the ref was impartial. "He didn't DO anything! Why would they HIT HIM!?" She felt for those poor refs, so I imagine Hispano getting bumped and then instantly, proudly standing up and calling it for the tecnicas would have made her happy. But seriously, are ref bumps still a thing and I'm just way out of the loop? I know TNA was still regularly doing them as recently as a few years ago, but that's to be expected when they were still booking like Crash TV was all the rage.

2. Lightning Match: Atlantis vs. Mr. Niebla:

Well this is already the greatest lightning match I've ever seen because Niebla ambushes Atlantis with a fucking CHAIN wrapped around his fist and punches ATL right in the face a few times, then WHIPS him while he's prone on the entrance ramp!! Whipping a guy with a chain is a tough thing to pull off in wrestling, as to make it look good you pretty much have to whip a dude with a chain. And these chain whips looked brutal, right across the ribs. Then these guys whip each other into the ringside barriers, and usually those little do-si-do Irish whips look pretty silly but here I totally bought into the physics and momentum of the whole thing. Rest of match was a cool sprint with powerbombs, a great Atlantis dive, nice missile dropkick, slick dana and mask ripping and ball shots and a jacked dude in the crowd wearing a Kemonito mask which made me super jealous. Best lightning match of the last year +.

3. Volador Jr./Psicosis/Mr. Aguila vs. Mascara Dorada/La Sombra/Titan:

First fall of this is a little choppy with some stuff being out of sync and guys hitting their marks a bit early (or a bit late). Volador takes a rana better than just about anybody, and his reverse rana is one of the sickest moves in wrestling (especially with Sombra snapping back over from it). Things pick up a bit in the 2nd with some cool triple teams (love the pendulum powerbomb with Volador running through Titan and making him spin up and over and splat. Dorada's springboard moves are always spectacular and his ranas in this are no different. Him going from the apron, to the inside middle rope, to a rana that ends with him standing just looks impossible to pull off. He also takes a sky high bump over the top to the floor. Volador shows everybody how to take a dive by absorbing Sombra's hilo like a man, and Sombra later repays the favor by leaning way in to Volador's nutso moonsault to the floor. After a shaky start there were plenty of rad spots in the 2nd and 3rd. This was kinda like lucha junkfood as there wasn't much substance but was plenty enjoyable.

Read more!

CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report, 6/2/12

1. Ephesto vs. Stuka Jr.:

Well this was kinda disappointing. These are two guys I like a whole lot, and they get a couple extra minutes more than most lightning matches get...and they just don't do much with the time. The best I can say is that Stuka is a stocky motherfucker and Ephesto has an epic mask.



2. Mercurio/Pequeno Nitro/Pequeno Olimpico vs. Aereo/Astral/Electrico:

Who among us doesn't lie awake at night wondering "Who is my favorite CMLL mini...after Demus 3:16...and Pierrothito...and Bam Bam...and Mascarita Dorada..." Well, this match sought to answer that question. And apparently the answer is Mercurio. Pretty obviously Mercurio, actually. Dude looked awesome here and bumped for all the flippiness of the tecnicos. Astral has politely started wearing a shirt to cover up his hideous chest acne. The world thanks you.



3. Kraneo/Psicosis/Rey Escorpion vs. Delta/Guerrero Maya Jr./Black Warrior:

Awwwwwww yeah! Fat Alebrije is FAT! And he's Kraneo now! Again! And fat Kraneo is so damn awesome, always the best part of his six mans. He's still really fast and he is just poured right into that suit but makes moves look super great by being super fat. For a mid card rudo team I really like these three randomly assembled guys. And it wouldn't be a week of CMLL on Galavision without Black Warrior in the main event. And I am still beyond perplexed by that. Why now? I assume this guy has been wrestling since the late 80s, and it seems like he's getting the push of his career right now despite being Black Warrior. He has a nice tope. He looks like the weirdest slimiest version of Edward James Olmos in "Blade Runner" . He has horrible singles matches. He is Black Warrior. WE NEED TO MAKE SURE HE IS HIGHLIGHTED EVERY SHOW!!! I just don't get it. Somebody, please explain it to me already. Could there be a more random 40+ year old on the roster to push? Is Rammstein over 40? If not, I don't think I can think of a more random, odd person to be getting such a large push on TV.

Read more!

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.

Read more!