Lucha Worth Watching: Spry Panther and All of the Ranas

Blue Panther, Valiente & Stuka Jr. vs. Terrible, Rey Bucanero & Vangellys (CMLL 2/9/16)

Tuesday night Arena Mexico main events aren't where I go when I'm expecting a bunch of fun primera matwork, but that's what ended up happening here! First Valiente and Terrible went at it. For guys I see wrestle a lot, I don't recall either guy ever going to the mat that often, so it was kind of a treat to see them work through things, roll through headlocks, pick legs, stuff that should be happening more but just doesn't. The real gold is Panther and Bucanero matching up and going on the mat right after, and that's really special. Panther is still one of my absolute favorite mat guys and I relish any time he gets even 30 seconds to got at it in a match. Here he gets to pull out all sorts of tricks and always impresses me with different weird takeovers and a seemingly endless supply of ways he can work himself out of a headscissors. Bucanero also surprised me as he's not a guy who's been super motivated that last several years, but you still get flashes and he still has basics to fall back on when he's not listlessly drifting into trios triple team tropes (TTTT, TM). Here Panther forces him to the mat and Rey is almost frustratingly game, frustrating as in "you were capable of this all along!?" Rey even harkens back to bump machine days by wrapping himself around a ring post. Stuka breaks out an awesome low angle version of his hands-by-his-side splash, firing more straight out as opposed to getting more height, we get some dives, and I just drift away envisioning a world where CMLL allows for more matwork. Sigh...

Hechicero, Ripper & Polvora vs. Dragon Lee, Mistico & Titan (CMLL 6/20/15)

It's tough to keep up with all the lucha with stalwarts like Cubsfan constantly uploading stuff, but I have stuff I save to watch later, stuff that sounds nice on paper, and some days I get to that stuff, and some days it's worth writing about. Whenever it's a Hechicero match I throw it in the "to watch" pile and hey look at that, Hechicero was awesome here. That's a fun rudo team and a flippy tecnico team, and that's a nice combo. Hechicero matched up a lot with Lee and Mistico, and he made Mistico look golden. So many rana variations were tossed out in this match and all three rudos were splatting all around the ring. Lee did his wild no hands high jump rana over the top, sending Polvora off the apron to the floor. Hechicero takes some big bumps on the floor, Ripper does his nice bump past the ringpost and then runs into a Lee backbreaker. Hechicero is awesome at taking armdrags and ranas, he really can navigate a long rotating armdrag sequence like a great minis base. Except he is a full size man! And then Hechicero goes and does graceful flying better than the fliers. I love his spin around on the ropes dropkick. Dragon Lee is quite the crazy bumper, but you knew this. Here he's still honing his into the crowd bumps, but he still does them, as well as take a big bump to the floor and on top of the barricade while getting bullied by Hech. Polvora is a guy who is always good in these kind of matches, but he's one of those guys who does not excel at one specific thing so he goes unnoticed. But Hechicero was the story here. The guy really brings out the best in flippers. And anybody, really. Because he's Hechicero.

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 20: La Sombra vs Psicosis II

2011-03-14 @ Arena Puebla
La Sombra vs Psicosis II

0:10 in

I have a lot of ground to cover still, but this match feels especially notable beacuse it came one night after Sombra's title win over Mephisto and for the most part, it's a very different match with a number of different spots, a different pace, a different layout. There were elements of commonality but I think the differences help to show how he'd come into his own by this point.

Psicosis II is currently Ripper/Reaper and he doesn't have the attitude or flair as his predecessor but he's a perfectly competent rudo flyer. Unlike the title match which started the requisite minutes of matwork, this hit the ground running (soaring). Psicosis ran straight into the ring, was rana'd and tope'd. The cameras missed it as they were getting the opening match graphics out of the way. That's how quick it was. Sombra plancha'ed back in, went for another one off the top, and was hit by a Michinoku Driver off the top for a quick fall.

It was a tradeoff. There was more to the Mephisto match but this was instantly dynamic. Moreover, while that was back and forth throughout, Psicosis catching Sombra here led to the heat segment that would encompass the segunda. Different matches with different builds but neither was one of A or one of b completely.

Sombra sold well in the segunda, including layering in a hope spot or two, which you don't always see in CMLL Singles matches with heat. Psicosis was focused and had some pretty solid offense. This ended with Sombra reversing a whip for a short powerslam and the double moonsault. It was a dumb move, especially in the midst of Sombra's selling but I did like it as yet another move Sombra could take a fall with. He wins just one fall with it, now and again, and it becomes a viable nearfall for the finish of matches, especially in chaotic trios terceras.

The tercera was back and forth with big spots. I like how Psicosis took advantage early by working on the leg. It was entirely to soften Sombra up so he could hit big power moves, which isn't the sort of thing you see too often. Sombra had a mini comeback there too, or at least a chapter break, leading to a flip dive. Despite the short first fall, the exhaustion in selling here felt earned. It allowed for a balance in the kickouts. Psicosis' offense was high end but it never felt outlandish that Sombra was kicking out. It made the near-falls more believable in both aspects of the word.

Good, high-octane match that stayed on the rails, and another solid, yet different, performance for Sombra. They have a title match shortly after this and it's a shame it's not online because I'd like to see it.

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CMLL Worth Watching 8/23/15 & 9/11/15

Blue Panther, Dragon Lee & Stuka Jr. vs. Kamaitachi, Ripper & Rey Bucanero (8/23/15)

Oh man this was fun. Nothing at stake, just all these guys you like doing things you want to see. Bucanero and Panther get a long roll on the mat, and it never fails to impress me how smooth a fluid Panther still does things, rolling through a leg lock or doing a side roll to advance a transition just isn't done better by anybody else in lucha, let alone guys half his age. In the segunda he locks Bucanero into an ankle lock that actually looks like it hurts, a rarity! I live for these little 2 minute mat segments of Panther. Even doing things like quickly bumping through the ropes to the floor are done like he's not even in control of his body, his muscle memory just allows it to happen. Like he bumps backwards off a shoulder block, out through the bottom and middle rope, lands on his feet and has no idea how he got there. His body just knows what to do. Ripper brings back his gorgeous flipping Cassandro bump, kind of fusing a somersault Hamrick bump to the floor with a Cassandro wrap-around the post bump, and Stuka's signature stuff always impresses me. Lee/Kamaitachi has been one of the more fun match-ups of the last year as they always go hard at each other, with each taking stupid bumps at awkward angles, both working blindingly fast and really know each other like the back of their respective hands. Lee always flies stupidly into Kamaitachi's rampway sprint dropkick, always dumping himself ass over elbow, Kamaitachi also dumps him with a couple of rolling Germans, and later Lee hits the craziest high speed flip dive to the floor, just leveling Lee. Every time these two are in against each other it's total must see. Wrestlers you like, doing wrestling you like. Easy recommendation.

Marco Corleone, Rush & Maximo vs. Super Parka, Volador Jr. & Valiente (9/11/15)

Hey I didn't realize Super Parka was also coming in! He is truly old (just about 60) so I'm an instant sucker for this. Rush and Marco don't let up on him, and after a little bit of early awkwardness Parka settles in fine. Marco looked really great here, more inspired and nasty than I've seen him a...sheesh all year. His left hands were awesome, blasting Valiente several times, leveling everybody with shots. This was technically two tecnico teams but Rush's team was obviously default rudos, and they all thrived in the role. The three of them at one point set up Rush's "punt" feint, with Maximo holding the invisible ball (laces out, hopefully). Parka and Volador work nice together and I always love father/son dynamics. Volador works like an actual brawling badass here, his pops already being a good influence. Volador also bumps like a loon, peaking with a flip bump on the apron off a Marco punch....and then getting up and doing the same damn thing right after! Parka hit a nice 60 yr old man tope, Marco hit 3 variations of his big no hands crossbody (seriously Marco looked really great throughout this), both teams had well set up moments where a big dive hit their own teammate, with Marco doing a crossbody to Maximo, and Valiente diving into Volador. Parka was really fun here, wandering around punching guys (especially cracking Maximo a few times), kind of like a late career  Pierroth. Super fun match. I want a Park/Parka/Volador team to take on Rush/Comandante Pierroth/Dragon Lee team. Make this happen!!

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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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MLJ: Rush vs Negro Casas 8:La Máscara, La Sombra, Rush vs Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Ripper

Aired 2014-05-10
Taped 2014-05-02 @ Arena México
La Máscara, La Sombra, Rush vs Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Ripper

We soldier on towards Rush vs Negro Casas. On the rudo side here we had Ripper again, this time in a match not set up to focus on one of his feuds. He also had (and someone correct me if I'm wrong here) Cuije with him, complete with mini snake, which is always pretty awesome. On the "tecnico" side, we had the full Ingobernales line-up, including Mascara doing the ring introductions for his side, which is entirely the best thing he does. It adds a lot to the act and it's not like he stands out with much else. Niebla's with Casas and that made me a bit wary considering the bullshit he pulled in the last match I saw with him, but this was actually significantly better. It was both tempered and had some pay off.

So about 80% of these matches seem to begin with Rush and company ambushing Casas' side, to the point where when it doesn't start that way, it's refreshing. Here it wasn't quite refreshing, but at least it was done well with Mascara and Sombra hiding on either side of the ramp to ambush Casas when he came charging towards Rush. Thus began the mauling, and it was a pretty good one too, lasting all the way into the tercera since Rush tossed a chair at Casas' head to end the primera on a DQ.

Sometimes I wonder if I don't want enough out of lucha, or maybe, if I want the wrong thing. All it really takes to make me happy is a great beatdown and a great comeback. If there's a really good shine in the primera or alternatively a triumphant showing by the tecnicos(or let's say the faces since the lines are blurred here), then that adds a lot too, but really it's satisfying beatdown to charge up the potential energy (the heat), and then a comeback to pay it all off. That's all I want.

We got it here. The beatdown was full of fun stuff, past the chair shot. They tossed Niebla into a nasty Rush dropkick. Rush pulled Casas around by his hair and slammed him into the sideboard. When Niebla tried his no selling BS (and there was one guy in the crowd in a Niebla match that was all about it) he got kicked in the head. Rush hit a huge senton on Ripper and stomped on Casas's throat repeatedly and they took the segunda with the running corner attacks, with Sombra punctuating it during the pins with his fantastic hyper knee on Ripper.

The comeback lived up to the hype of the heat. There are two or three things that Niebla does really well. One, he can fall off the apron successfully and get a great laugh when the situation is right. Two, he can catch his own spit and pop the crowd when the situation is right. Three, he's got a hell of a punch when he wants to use it. He used it here, as Rush was charging in at him after slipping out of being held by the others. We ended up with some Casas vs Rush, a machine gun dive-fest with Sombra cutting off Casas' dive with an perfectly timed kick, Niebla hitting a tope anyway, Mascara hitting him with a tope in return, and Sombra finishing things with an Asai moonsault to set up Rush vs Casas again. Casas dropkicked the knee, hit La Casita, and the rudos picked up the win (complete with Niebla tying up Mascara amusingly).

Post-match, Sombra sulked in the crowd again and everyone yelled at each other on the mic. Definitely a satisfying trios. If they're going to start things off with an ambush, that's a great way to do it.

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MLJ: Rush vs Negro Casas 7: Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Rush vs Negro Casas, Ripper, Shocker

Aired 2014-05-11
taped 2014-04-28 @ Arena Puebla
Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Rush vs Negro Casas, Ripper, Shocker

In some ways this match was a breath of fresh air after the previous one with Niebla. There are obviously some similarities between a character such as Niebla and one such as Marco. Both of them have over the top theatrics and lean towards comedy, despite having pretty great punches. Marco rarely over-utilizes it to the detriment of the match, though, especially if they're in a more serious match. On the other hand, there's an element of repetition within a match with him that can sometimes take a viewer out of it. Ripper is a guy who's just there for me so far. I haven't seen a break out performance in 2014 but I also haven't seen him do anything egregiously bad. Azul is someone I don't have a great sense of yet either, but I was glad for the variation here. In some ways, it even felt like it was there more to set up a Ripper vs Diamante Azul match than anything else. Having Rush and Casas there as supporting players was sort of refreshing.

That said, there was definitely some structural wonkiness here. The flow matches where Rush teams with more traditional tecnicos is all over the place. Here, Rush, as usual, acted like a rudo almost completely, and Marco acted like Marco, including dialing on his abs and pretending to call someone at some point; he fits in fairly well with the Ingobernales act when necessary. Azul, however, was absolutely a straight up tecnico, down to hitting the old Atlantis "Let's give everyone a quebadora" spot, which is the most tecnico thing in the world to me, to set up the finish for the primera. Obviously they weren't in Arena Mexico which matters when it comes to Rush's reaction but it still felt weird.

Otherwise, the structure was fine though. They didn't even have the opening match beat down. Everyone got to make their entrances, with a short primera that still had some feeling out and matching up. It ended with the rudos dodging Air Italia so that Marco hit Azul by accident and they pinned both tecnicos at once. The segunda was mostly a rudo beatdown, though not enough of one to make any sort of comeback visceral. Casas and company spend so much time in a lot of these Rush matches on the defense, so it was nice to see them really get to play the rudos, though. The comeback was the Rush dropkick out of the corner again, the third time in four matches or something, but at least this was in front of a different crowd. It's still a knock against him for the year, I think. The tercera began with a reset, had some solid, if a bit deliberately paced Shocker and Marco sequence and comedy, some of the usual Rush dickishness (namely refusing to wrestle Casas and laying on the ramp instead) leading into the standard high quality Rush and Casas exchange with them brawling into the crowd and out of the match, and ended with Ripper pulling off Azul's match for the DQ, leading to calls for a mano a mano match and what not.

I like that we have matches such as these when CMLL hits places other than Arena Mexico. In this case, this was a match in a series between Ripper and Diamante Azul. The following week in Puebla, Azul would successfully defend his NWA Light Heavyweight title against Ripper. If you're going to have supporting players to help further your feud, Rush and Casas are about as good as you can hope for in 2014 CMLL. This felt somewhat slight as far as the Rush and Casas feud went but I bet it made the Azul vs Ripper feud feel all the more important. I kind of want to go back and see their title match now. Anyway, this was a fun deviation from the norm.

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MLJ: Rush vs Negro Casas 1: La Máscara, Marco Corleone, Rush vs Negro Casas, Ripper, Shocker

Aired on Terra: 2014-03-28
taped 2014-03-28 @ Arena México
La Máscara, Marco Corleone, Rush vs Negro Casas, Ripper, Shocker



Well, I couldn't stay in 2006 forever, though there still was more to see. I had some ideas on what I wanted to tackle next, but really CMLL decided it for me when they went ahead and ran with the Rush vs Negro Casas hair match. People seemed to like the Rush vs Shocker series, so I'm going to carry on from the immediate point after and run through the matches with both Casas and Rush in them between then and the hair match on 8/1.

This was a fun little match, full of character work and hard-hitting, a way to sort of transfer the fued back from Shocker to Casas, though really it never left the latter and it would stay with the former. It was also my first look at Ripper (Reapper, Psicosis II), who's someone that if I do go back to 2010, I'll see more of. Here he came out with a snake and the little alien mascot, so that was pretty cool, and paired up with Mascara most of the match, which was fine but hardly memorable. The entrances were all great, actually. They gave them five minutes and it gave the match more of a big feel. Shocker, bald, had his full entrance with the tron and everything. Casas came down with Zacarias and was in his full glory. The ring girls were really jamming along to the Benoit theme for Rush.

This just went two falls. We rarely get such matches for obvious reasons. If one side goes over two in a row then, at least on paper, they really crush their opponents and make them look bad, which sort of defeats the parity advantage to multi-fall matches, necessary when you have to keep heat going week to week in front of the same crowd. In the matches I've seen, there's one great way to get past that, to allow for things to be occasionally switched up, to feel different, and to also make sure the losing side not just keeps their heat, but maybe gains some.

In lucha, the beatdowns are sometimes so dominant that the refs will call a fall off, with the dominant side the winners. I've never seen this for a final deciding fall, but it feels a lot like a lack of forward momentum stopping a play in football. If there's nowhere to go, that's it. It can be a confusing moment. In fact, probably about half the time I get completely lost, still, it's when this happened and it takes me a little bit to figure out why the ref is suddenly raising hands. The flipside is that if the dominant side continues to attack after the refs try to call a fall off, it will get disqualified and lose the fall. This is a little more common in the US (Shamrock and Rock got months of feuding out of it, for instance, and for Lawler and Bret Hart, years), but not generally as part of a 2/3 falls match. The idea is simple. You can put one side over in two straight falls while making the other look strong and vicious. Sometimes this is to make the rudos look reprehensible and fearsome while still letting the tecnicos beat them. Sometimes it's to give the tecnicos an overly fiery comeback but not the satisfaction of winning the match, which makes the fans want to see another rematch. Here it was sort of in the middle given the shades of grey affiliation of the sides.

It was fun because the nature of the match meant that we had two long falls instead of two short ones and a longer one. So, even though Shocker and Casas rushed Rush during the introduction, it wasn't just a beatdown in the primera. The brawling early on was great. Shocker looked very good as the humiliated old bastard looking for revenge. Towards the end of the fall, Rush was able to fight back with some dropkicks, there's no one more explosive in wrestling than him. Mascara hit a perfectly acceptable tope on Ripper but then was accidentally hit by a clothesline off the apron by Marco. This allowed for the rudos to outnumber Rush, with Shocker hitting a German on Rush from behind. The best moment here was Ripper desperately trying to get Casas and Shocker to stop beating on Rush so the ref wouldn't DQ them. He failed.

The segunda kept it all rolling. After beating on Marco and Ripper a bit, they reset to give us Rush vs Casas and Shocker vs Casas, with chops all around and Rush ending up with a massively red chest. Some of this was pretty wild, and it was contagious, with later Casas vs Mascara exchanges feeling particularly heated with hair and mask pulling because of it. In the end, Mascara and Marco were paired up against Casas and Ripper and after Marco got back body dropped onto the ramp, he rushed back in with the superman leap, tossed Casas into a sort of standing octopus hold, and Mascara rolled up Ripper for the win. The post match was great as Rush got to gloat in the ring with his music playing in the background.

An enjoyable start to the mini-project. Shocker came out with something to prove, Casas and Rush were as great as ever, Mascara and Ripper were fine, and Marco, while not doing much, served well in his role as catalyst. Add in the slight structural change and I liked this quite a bit.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 6/22/14

No idea what happened last week with their weird 6 month flashback, but these matches all took place on the 6/1 Arena Coliseo show so they didn't skip a week, they're now just three weeks behind instead of two. Weird.

Virus, Skandalo & Tiger vs. Guerrero Maya Jr., Fuego & Delta

Really fun match featuring a few guys I haven't seen in awhile. Primera gets some fun mat pairings, as Maya (one of the guys I haven't seen in awhile) and Skandalo (that would be the other) do a bunch of cool stuff, like a sweet kneebar rolled into a snug side headlock, and a cool headscissors from Maya that started on the mat and worked itself up to standing in a neat way. Virus and Fuego come in and try to top them and pretty much do, as Virus is an expert at working mat stuff with guys like Fuego. Virus knows when to lay it in and knows when to let the other guy breathe and pepper in little armdrag or speed comebacks. Fuego is a guy with cool armdrags and speed comebacks, so it's a natural and fun match. Virus also has a freshly shorn mullet so I assume this whole weekend was just coming up Virus.  Rest is really good too as Delta does some silly and crazy stuff like his handstand headscissors to Tiger and a giant moonsault to the floor from the turnbuckles. Tiger continues to be one of the nicest surprises of the year, Virus wrestles exactly as you'd hope Virus to wrestle, Fuego hits a big crossbody to the floor on Virus. This was all good stuff.

Titan vs. Niebla Roja

Damn, I thought this was pretty great, and it was kind of unexpectedly so. Not an insult to each guy, but I wasn't too excited for this one on paper, but they shut my face up. Roja is a guy I find fine in trios but I couldn't tell you much about him. He doesn't stay in the old memory banks too long. I don't think I've ever had a problem with him in a trios, but I've never come away telling Phil he needs to check out some Niebla Roja. Titan is a guy who can be alternately impressive and frustrating in trios, often one within seconds of the other. So the thought of them having a long title match just brought up bad memories of awful Volador singles matches. But I thought this was awesome. Even with all of the great Busca matches happening this year, a lot of CMLL singles matches have been lacking a certain drama, and I thought this match had that in spades. Nearfalls were actually used great, with the most engaging submission tease I remember seeing in lucha in ages. We get some snug matwork to start which I wasn't really expecting, especially cool was Roja forcing Titan to the mat by holding his wrist and stepping down on his arm. Once they went into "big spot" mode I fully expected it to devolve into awful "Big move -> 2.9 count -> Lie on mat breathing heavy -> Repeat" that so many lucha title matches have fallen victim to, but it never did. Drama kicked in and there weren't just meaningless pinfalls, it really felt like both guys pulling out all the stops to try and win the Mexican Welterweight title. Titan has some beautiful ranas and headscissors and he breaks one out from apron to floor that was a real beauty. They work in a convincing knee injury spot and honestly I can't remember the last time any sort of "work the limb" spots in lucha ended up actually going anywhere. But this comes up as a theme throughout the whole match. Roja flapjacks Titan and kicks him on the way down, in a spot that both make look great. Roja does it again right after, and Titan catches the kick on the way down and snaps off a nasty dragon screw. Roja's knee keeps coming into play for the rest of the match, leading to some cool submission attempts from Titan. Titan ramping up the tightness of knee submissions trying to break Roja was one of my favorite wrestling moments of the year. He starts with a cool roll through knee bar, but Roja makes the ropes. He pulls him to the center, locks on a modified figure four, Roja doesn't give. Titan just keeps adjusting the submission, moving into more painful and painful submissions, and it's awesome. There are plenty of impressive dives and flips, and Roja is great at playing off Titan's occasional silliness with rudo tactics. At one point when Titan is doing a bunch of "here hold my hand while I bounce on the ropes a bunch", Roja just lets go and leaves Titan standing on the middle of the top rope. They pause and Roja does a funny "well get on with it!" and Titan ranas him. On the down side the match did peak a little too early and went a couple minutes too long. If it had ended with the submission attempts it would have been better, but they worked through those and ended a little flat moments later. Still, not only did this more than exceed my expectations, I thought it was a great match.

Negro Casas, Ripper & Felino vs. La Sombra, Marco Corleone & La Mascara

Short weird match. Sombra's team worked as rudos the who time, Casas' team worked as tecnico's, but they were billed as opposite. I'm not really sure what the long term plan is for all this. Once you start going shades of grey for all these characters then it's really hard to put that genie back in the bottle. It already feels like things are starting to spiral. Several months ago you had Rush as a tecnico working as a rudo. There were always legends who would jump back and forth depending on the match situation. But here now we have Marco working as a rudo with Felino working sly tecnico speed spots. One you just start flipping the switch like this I have to imagine it will make it mean absolutely nothing. Corleone did have some amusing heel work, and I'd love to see the choke/pushup be a regular spot. Felino continues to be maddening, as he worked a real cool quick segment with Sombra, doing some real fast rope running into a cool dropkick…and then moments later we get more awful armpit licking schtick. Match was short and pretty inconsequential, and maybe I'm way off base on this rudo/tecnico stuff. Maybe it's just me personally who's starting to think that nobody is seeming special here.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 6/7/14

These matches all happened on the 5/23 Arena Mexico show.

Rey Escorpion, Ripper & Mr. Aguila vs. Maximo, Marco Corleone & Titan

Well this is becoming a bad trend. Short, short matches with practically non-existant primeras. Remember when the primera used to be awesome? It still happens occasionally, but it's becoming more and more rare. Aguila may be the worst worker in CMLL, especially among the ones higher up the card. He looks horrible here. Can you name me a worst moonsault in wrestling? He still insists on doing it in just about every match, but I can't remember the last time it actually hit. Usually it ends with his arms draped over the other guy's knees, and usually it ends a fall. Woof. This whole match was plagued by poor timing and sloppy work, namely from Aguila and Ripper. Titan didn't do any of his silly stuff, and hit a nice springboard somersault dive. Corleone looked good, hitting a few nice rolling arm drags and the Superman bodypress from the ring to the floor, still doing it with no hands. That looked great, and I don't know if I've ever seen him do that. He almost always hits it from the rampway to the ring, really don't remember him doing to the floor before. And with this, we're well underway in our Complete & Accurate Marco Corleone project.

Dark Angel, Marcela & Princesa Sugheit vs. Dalys, Princesa Blanca & Zeuxis

So are piledrivers and ball shots totally cool in Mexico now? Are the times a-changin'? Last show had Mascara win a match with a plain view shot to the balls, and Zeuxis wins a fall her with a package piledriver. Match was short and fun. I really love the nasty streak that Dalys has embraced ever since getting her head shaved. Her charisma is coming through more now and her work with Marcela in this was quality. Loved the running double knees into Marcela's chest from Zeuxis and Dalys. Blanca and Sugheit were kind of working their own match this whole time, constantly going at it and tearing each other apart.

Relevos Increibles!

Rush, Ultimo Guerrero & La Sombra vs. Atlantis, Shocker & Volador Jr.

A bit of a letdown compared to other Relevos Increibles but still exciting because you have Rush and his sneak attack lacky La Sombra. The other guys kinda did their own thing. UG and Atlantis tore into each other during the entrances and didn't stop, replete with mask tearing and I can only assume mask challenges post match off camera. But Rush and Sombra delivered and Shocker really ramps up his work when facing Rush, at one point hitting a heavy body press from the top rope to the floor. Haven't seen him do something like that in awhile. Sombra continues his awesome dick trend of blindsiding guys, really leveling Shocker with a dropkick to the back that Shocker couldn't have seen coming. Right between the shoulder blades, sends him face first into ropes. He and Rush each take their shots on him in the corner with Sombra hitting the running double knees and Rush caving his chest in with a dropkick. Match ends when Rush and Sombra get disqualified for beating the hell out of Shocker for too long, which is really the dry hump of the lucha match finishes.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 5/31/14

These matches were all from the 5/16 Arena Mexico show.



Kraneo, Mephisto & Ripper vs. Mascara Dorada, Valiente & Titan

I wanted tons more out of this, but that's because I just really want a definitive Kraneo match to beg everybody to watch. He always looks awesome, usually the best guy in a trios, but the trios he's involved with never quite get up to that "Must See" status. Much of this match is fairly middling, until the end run ramps up the crazy. And much of that is because of Titan. It's funny, looking at his name there in our top 5 matches of 2014, just how out of place that keeps looking as the months go by. His spots are silly and he insists on shoehorning them into every match, and they're spots that don't fluidly fit into a match. They're spots that require the match to grind to a halt until he gets his shit out of the way. I am beyond tired of the handstand rana, requiring Ripper to finger pop his asshole so Titan can show off how long he can do a handstand. Then there's the rope run, flip to the floor feint, so he can hit his rana out there. I'm over it, Titan! Kraneo had a completely badass half Kraneo/half Alebrije mask, and he was his awesome horribly shaped self. Running ass attack on Dorada, barreling into Titan like a jock checking a nerd into his locker, hitting a fat man splash, bumping to the floor, and of course a recent addition to Kraneo matches: tecnicos hitting him with consecutive dives because he's large and it takes more to knock him down. Valiente hits his gorgeous and speedy tope, and moments later Dorada hits the spot of the night with an absolutely insane high speed upside down dive crashing and burning into Kraneo. If I were sitting in the front row I would have shoved women out of the way thinking I was going to get tangled in the wreckage. Never change, Dorada. You crazy.

El Terrible, Vangellys & Rey Bucanero vs. Stuka Jr., Diamante Azul & La Mascara

This was short and to the point, much more angle than match, but a trios worked three falls that takes less time than most lightning matches won't be that satisfying to folks. This was all about establishing that La Mascara has been working rudo tendencies with Rush and…he likes it. He's gotten a taste of being a dickhead and he wants mooooore. We don't get tons of oomph here. Azul hits his rampway senton, Bucanero is squeezed into some black vinyl top and skull tights and with his skull face paint he looks like a dumpy asshole in a Misfits cover band. Stuka hits his hands-free splash which always looks beautiful, Terrible kicks the shit out of Mascara, throwing his big left hands almost as stiffly as he threw them against Porky. The big climax is Mascara punting Terrible right in the balls to end the tercera, in full view of Tigre Hispano, who goes ahead and counts anyway because lucha. Azul and Stuka are super disappointed afterwards that Mascara's boot toe touched another mans tender area, even if it was through tights.

Rey Escorpion, Dragon Rojo Jr. & Shocker vs. Maximo, Marco Corleone & Volador Jr.

Good, this will fulfill our tri-weekly Marco Corleone quota. This is another super short match. One on hand, it's too short to mean much of anything. On the other, since it's so short there's no down time and the energy level from everybody is real high. Marco shows off abs and throws tons of left hands into Shocker's face. Maybe too many, as his left hand is usually sold like brief death, and here Shocker takes 4 or 5 of them over the course of 8 minutes. My DVR feed froze right when Escorpion was about to be smooched by Maximo, leaving us locked in a forever will-they-or-won't-they tug of war (I checked youtube, they kissed you guys!). Rojo hits a big stomp off the top, but most of this short running time was Shocker/Corleone, and it was okay.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 5/17/14

These matches took place at the 5/2 Arena Mexico show.



Euforia, Ultimo Guerrero & Niebla Roja vs. Atlantis, Marco Corleone & Diamante Azul

Match seemed like it would be just kind of Arena Mexico filler into that tercera started and blew my ass away. Primera is a total mugging, with the tecnicos getting no offense at all. UG and the gang jumped them on the ramp and dished out a nice beating, with Euforia really lacing into Marco, and the group doing all the Guerreros Laguneros spots I dig, like the press slam into a kick to the stomach. Segunda ends quick with the tecnicos catching the rudos celebrating and Marco hitting his big running rampway crossbody on UG/Euforia. I'm getting pretty restless as they burned through the first two falls in like 4 minutes and this is seeming like a total throwaway, and then the tercera starts and they decide to have a completely awesome 9 minute set, with good back and forth, with everybody getting cool moments. Roja's exchanges with Marco were fun, with Roja ducking under the big left and stomping Marco's feet. Marco shines more in this than he has in awhile, throwing two of the nicer rolling armdrags I've ever seen him throw. Euforia and UG bring the big bumps, Azul sends Roja and Euforia scattering like bowling pins with his rampway dive, Marco hits a mammoth no-hands running plancha to the floor, UG does some great cowardly begging off with Atlantis, masks get ripped, balls get kicked at. I mean just a red hot, balls out tercera, tacked onto a match where you'd least expect it.



Rush, La Sombra & La Mascara vs. Negro Casas, Ripper & Mr. Niebla

Rush vs. Casas is pretty much the most current "Must See" match-up in wrestling. Some matches add up to more than others, but every one of them is eminently watchable, always leaves me feeling like my time was well spent, and always leaves me smiling. Sombra and Mascara are both really blossoming as rudos, with Sombra especially putting in the most compelling work of his career as a total sneaky punk. At one point here he blasts Niebla in the back of the head with a nasty superkick, and really takes the time afterwards to soak up that hate. He's great as Rush's footman, always adding the insult to the injuries Rush inflicts. Rush is of course electric here, throwing countless high speed running dropkicks that look like he was shot out of a cannon, all of the stomps, the stiff senton, the threats to Tirantes, tying his hair back in a scrunchy like a dick. Just a total unique performer to wrestling history. I'm pretty sure I actually forget to blink whenever Casas and Rush are opposing each other. Niebla was fun here too, walking around slapping people and even hitting a tubby tope. This match up is just so much damn fun.

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