Lucha Worth Watching: Heavyweight Cibernetico! Sangre Azteca Stomps Balls!

Kraneo/Valiente/Rush/Volcano/Blue Panther Jr./Diamante Azul vs. Shocker/Rey Bucanero/Terrible/Gran Guerrero/Euforia/Ultimo Guerrero  CMLL 10/9/18

ER: This was a match I didn't really know I wanted until it was right in front of me. A 12 man cibernetico with heavyweights, not a fliers showcase, but a fun heavyweight spotfest. Rush is the fun monkeywrench in this whole thing, and while the teams are divided into tecnicos and rudos, there are still teammates that hate each other and everyone is mostly out for their own interests. Plus it was a good chance for some guys like Shocker and Rey Bucanero to show they can still go in the right situation. Bucanero is going for 2002 status here which is a shock since I saw him live a few months ago and he never moved faster than walking speed. Here he hits the somersault senton, takes a classic Bucanero bump over the top to the floor, gets nailed with a dive, clearly looked like he was working hard here for whatever reason. And everybody was. I'm not sure what will make a bunch of guys in CMLL suddenly make the decision to work hard in a random match, but this whole thing felt spirited, guys worked snug, made the match feel more important than it likely was. We get a lot of Kraneo and a lot of Volcano, and let's just talk about how silly it is to have the two largest guys in the fed (largest guys in lucha) both on the tecnicos side. We need one of the big guys to be rudo and we can then build to a Clash of the Titans. Kraneo is great but was better as a rudo, but also way over as a tecnico, so I get keeping him where he is. I think Volcano and his modern take on Roadblock's gear (his Caltrans vest highlighter and weird brown back brace) look pretty doofy, but maybe working rudo would open him up a bit. Panther Jr. turns in a nice tecnico performance here, Valiente hits a big dive, Terrible don't care who his partners are for the match, he's still gonna stomp out his enemies, Azul gets his class Mexico mask shredded, whole thing was fun. Ciberneticos feel like more of a thing I wanted when I first started watching lucha, but this unexpectedly delivered. Less spots than your typical ciber, but more character and tight work. That's a good trade.

Sangre Azteca/Metalico/Nitro vs. Oro Jr./Star Jr./Retro CMLL 1/15/19

ER: Stiff work and plenty of shtick will almost always win me over, and this undercard gem easily won me over with both. Rudos worked stiff and tecnicos bumped big, and this thing didn't need any dives to make it a ton of fun. Azteca was a real standout and he's a guy I've always really liked, someone whom I assume there must be backstage reasons that he's never been moved up the card before, because he's been great as long as I've been aware of him. He makes it his mission in this match to stomp all over the tecnicos butts, balls, and loins, and succeeding in his mission. At least once a match he usually throws his big high angle dropkick right to the balls (do we not do faultas anymore?) while an opponent is seated in the corner or being held spread eagle...well, here he does that like 7 or 8 times, flying into the corner with precision shots, teasing doing one from the middle rope but then climbing to the TOP rope to drop straight down like Slim Pickens riding a missile to straight to tender tecnico loins. He even kicks the middle rope as Retro is climbing back in the ring, the lucha equivalent of the turkey tap. Nitro gets in on the action, dropping a great elbow drop off the middle rope. Metalico was Metalico, and I love Metalico, so he was taking pratfalls and throwing nice big hooking lariats (Oro Jr. took four lariats in a row, really throwing himself back and landing on his shoulders with gusto), and bailing on the tercera by ripping off a mask rather then suffer a pinfall defeat. Oro Jr. had a really nice performance for a tecnico I don't often notice, I was really impressed with how he ran into rudo strikes. Star Jr. is kind of like Soberano Jr. but with floppier limbs, but he still snapped off a really cool headscissors that was like a cross between a smooth lucha headscissors and a Marty Jannetty one. Retro appears to be working a 70 year old Mil Mascaras gimmick, but his shoulderblock hits snug enough and he leans jaw first into a low Nitro dropkick, and those are a couple things that will at least get you into the 490s of a 500. This match scratched a nice lucha itch for me. A match that might seem inconsequential, but having something like this that doesn't steal flash from later matches, while still presenting high end work, is an important part of any card.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Undercarders! A Mask Match!

Metalico/Sangre Azteca/Frezzer vs. Principe Diamante/Fugaz/Reyko  CMLL 1/2/18

ER: I watch a lot of Metalico matches, which not only fills me with joy, but also keeps me up to date on undercarders who I may not normally go out of my way to see. And because of that, now I know about Frezzer! Frezzer, who also sometimes goes by the more reasonable "Freezer". Frezzer, who also sometimes goes by "Dr. Freezer", which is impressive. Luchadors start when they're 12, so I imagine Freezer was a real Doogie Howser type who got his MD in his teens. It's probably safe to assume that teenage Dr. Freezer then lost his medical license, probably due to something innocuous like poor documentation or record keeping (and definitely not due to supplying an abundance of medication to other wrestlers) and was forced to just go be Freezer. Or, Frezzer. He's like a young Arkangel or less offense driven (and de-mulletted) Virus. You want a guy to cut low on missed clotheslines, bump fast to the floor, catch your flip dive, do a great vertical suplex (not just falling ackward but leaping up as you fall), and also set up rudo double teams? Baby you're gonna want some Frezzer in your life. Sangre Azteca is permanently buried at the bottom of the card, but is always better than people remember. His approach to basic lucha sequences is great, he doesn't cut corners, smooth bumps on ranas, fast bumps to the floor, can catch a dive, underrated mat game (he's really strong at takedowns and exchanges). Add in stooging Metalico and we have a fine rudo team. I was mostly unfamiliar with the tecnicos and I wasn't going into this for the tecnicos, but came away liking Reyko. Reyko had this awful bush league Batman gear, but his work was better than his gear. He rolled through nice on armdrags, bumped around for rudos, and hit a pretty nuts somersault plancha off the top to the floor. Undercard rudos are one of my favorite things in lucha, check out one or two you haven't seen before.

Angel Dorado vs. Difunto I  ERLL 1/28/18

ER: This is apparently a match with some contentious opinions. Some have said it's one of the best matches of the year, others assume that those people used their the goodwill of friends to trick people into watching a match that they had already wasted time watching, just paying this nightmare forward, and now it's my duty to trick somebody else so that this lurking, menacing man will stop following me and my friends no matter where we hide and no matter how far we run. We get 28 minutes of match, and it feels majorly clipped in spots. Was this match actually 50 minutes?? I cannot imagine what was deemed not good enough to air, because we got a LOT of footage of two guys hitting some semi-blown spots and then lying on the mat for long periods of time. There was a lot of mat lying. I didn't see how Dorado first got his mask ripped open, but I saw both men lying on the mat for long periods of time. We get a couple of great moments: Dorado hits a gorgeous tornillo through the ropes, a spot that should surely make the gif rounds; Difunto breaks a beer bottle over Dorado's head, and I have no clue what the access to prop glass is down in Monterrey, but I'll assume it's slim. So it's a crazy holy shit moment, a guy busting a bottle over someone's head...but it also happens maybe 4 minutes into this match. Dorado did that tornillo and another huge dive off the top to the floor after having a bottle smashed over his head. Other than that, we get a lot of very lazy moments of getting into position, we get that nasty modern big match lucha thing of a big move off the top (like a Spanish Fly), then a kickout, then both men lie still for a long time, then the guy who took the Spanish Fly is the next to do a move. That happens throughout. The fans are really into Dorado, and both men bleed, but man I wish I had seen a 2 minute highlight video of this match, with no other footage showing up. We all could have thought we'd missed out on a violent classic. But now here I am with my back against the ocean, car facing me on the beach with the parking lights on, watching the trees, waiting for it to appear. Somebody else please watch this before it finds me.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Panthers & Dinamitas & Metalico, Oh My!

Blue Panther Jr./The Panther/Blue Panther vs. Sanson/Cuatrero/Mascara Ano 2000 (CMLL 6/6/17)

ER: I love this feud! New guys are always stepping up depending on the match, you never know who the star is going to be but they always treat the match up like a big deal. BP was fired up crazy eyes tecnico, Mascara was amusing rudo stooge, and all the sons ramped up the meanness. My favorite thing about this match was all of the great pinfall saves, especially from the Panthers. Panther runs in to break up a pin by kicking Sanson in the eye, Jr. runs in and just fully double stomps to break up a pin, and it went on like that the whole match! I loved 2000 playing chicken, actually running around the ring and hiding behind the ref to prevent being touched. BP looked like he was having a blast during their showdowns. All the Panthers hit dives, but they always do that. This might have been the most impressed overall I've been by the Panther clan, as the kids brought more than just dives and really seemed to be gelling as a team. Cuatrero dialed back the crazy bumps and instead worked in and around all the Panther clan's offense, and I think he's really great at that type of thing. Sanson brought more offense, thought the clip towards the end of he and Jr. running to attack in opposite corners came off great, that kind of thing can usually seem cheesy. They also structured falls differently that you see from most CMLL trios matches. You didn't get three pinfalls/subs happening all at once, you would get scattered pinfalls that didn't mean the end of a fall, which is far more exciting. Like Brazo kids vs. Villano kids, this is a match up I'm always going to go out of my way to see.

Metalico/Sangre Azteca/Arkangel vs. Oro Jr./Principe Diamante/Star Jr. (CMLL 6/13/17)

ER: Metalico gets us off on the right note by driving out on a constantly stalling motorcycle (that gets pushed at one point), dressed up like a highway patrolman cosplaying Mussolini. His entrances are wonderful low budget Sakuraba. And in the primera we get some fun and uncommon matwork with him working over Diamante, and he shows that his grudge against Oro for taking his mask is not any less than it was 3 years ago. Sangre Azteca ties Oro up in some really great knots,  my favorite being his backpack full nelson maneuvered into a nasty octopus hold. And every time Oro starts to reverse the tide, Metalico comes in and kicks or slaps him back into Azteca's advantage. Diamante and Star each try springboard moonsaults to the floor, but Azteca yanks Star's legs and Metlalico clotheslines Diamante right in the shins, both of them take great chin first bumps into the apron. The segunda is filled with rudos holding tecnicos prone so Azteca can dropkick and elbow drop them in the taint, and we get other fun moments throughout the tercera: A neat midair flip headscissors from Star, a tornado lariat from Arkangel; I especially liked a little moment where Star went to snapmare Metalico and Metalico held onto the ropes to reverse it. I love that kind of stuff. It all builds to a showdown with Metalico/Star Jr. in the tercera. Every time Metalico had battered Oro, Star had run in at his defense, always backing Metalico down. When they finally go at it it's really fun. Metalico ends up hitting a weird bearhug overhead suplex to get the win, and while Oro sits on the mat in disbelief at the loss, Metalico helps him out to the floor by booting him in the chest.

Blue Panther/Rey Cometa/Titan vs. Hechicero/Morphosis/Rey Bucanero (CMLL 6/13/17)

ER: I'm sure I've seen Panther and Hechicero match up before, but it feels like something I haven't seen in several years, and even then I don't know if I've ever seen this much of them together. Hechicero is super generous and Panther looks like he belongs, and the two have a few of the most fun sequences I've seen in a couple months. The primera ends with those two going at it, Hechicero being the aggressor with Panther rolling through with cool counters, getting some slow counter matwork with Hechicero showing off his strength, Panther holding onto armbars even while Hechicero is standing up and propping BP on his head, culminating in Panther rolling through to wristlock that bends Hechicero's forearm back over his bicep, and Hechicero is still smarting from that lock in the segunda. We get some fine Cometa headscissors and a nice rana off the apron to Bucanero. Bucanero looks extremely sluggish but still catches fine. It's obviously been a day since I've seen Morphosis, since I haven't seen him unmasked until now. He mainly stays out of things, throws some big time chops at Titan, and then catches a huge top rope springboard moonsault to the floor towards the end. But I was too busy waiting to see more Panther/Hechicero, and we got another nice run with Panther again showing he can keep up. Hechicero grabs a waist lock, Panther runs him into the ropes, sends him rolling with a back to front armdrag, gets run into the corner and hits a pretty headscissors that sends Hechicero rolling to the floor, and completes a happy Saturday morning for me. Those two were the center of the match, which naturally makes it essential viewing for me - and hopefully you.

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 13: Volador Jr./La Sombra/Sagrado vs. Sangre Azteca/Black Warrior/Dragón Rojo [MEX TRIOS]

2009-02-03 @ Arena México
Volador Jr./La Sombra/Sagrado vs. Sangre Azteca/Black Warrior/Dragón Rojo [MEX TRIOS]

Last offramp for now. I thought it would make sense to watch at least one of the Mexican National Trios tag title matches that Sombra had as well, just to cover all the ground before we move on. I like looking at a luchador in all of the different roles he might play and while I won't do that entirely for every stage of Sombra's career, a trios title match seemed logical. I'm not going to go back to the match these three had vs Hijo de Fantasma, Maximo, and Mascara too even if that does look interesting. See, I have some restraint. That's online, for anyone curious though. If you do watch it, let me know how it is.

This was a match that had a lot of time and that showed off a lot of the strengths of the genre, with all the dives and cut offs and fast action you'd want, with a little bit of heat and a spattering of early matwork that I'd call middling, and some big spots and really solid character work. It's not necessarily a trios title match I'm going to remember in two years but I'm not going to hesitate in calling it good.

My biggest takeaways were:

1.) Sombra really stood out at this point. Volador did too, sure, but Sombra felt like more of a total package, even at this point. The biggest example I can give is this: at parts of the match, just from their gear, it was almost impossible to tell Sagrado and Sombra apart. They all had team gear and while Volador had the silver mask, both Volador and Sagrado were in black. Despite that, I never had a hard time here. Why? Because Sombra was so much smoother, so much faster, so much more graceful, and so much more dynamic in almost every aspect of his work, and that's including the opening matwork.

2.) I got a real kick out of the rudo side and it's disappointing to me we don't have more title matches with them. I'm no big fan of Sangre Azteca in general, but he was a little younger here, a lot faster, and didn't JUST launch creative shots to places he shouldn't be striking (though he did that too). Black Warrior was hugely emotive. I need to run through his big matches at some point.

3.) Dragon Rojo, Jr. came off as a very solid foil for Sombra. I've got a number of their matches ahead of me, and I'll probably end up diving a little deeper than I first intended.

and 4.) The crowd was really into this, straight down to the finish. That's another reason I'm sad that there weren't many defenses (if any) by the rudos. This felt like a big deal and some of that was due to the big entrances, some to the work itself, and some just to the time they had.

I'd definitely point to this as another indication of how far Sombra had come up to 2009. It takes a different set of skills to be a cog in a trios match like this than a singles title match, and at this stage Sombra was a solid fit for matches like this.

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CMLL Worth Watching 7/12/15, 8/9/15 & 8/14/15

Blue Panther, The Panther & Blue Panther Jr. vs. Virus, Sangre Azteca & Okumura (7/12/15)

So, after showing some potential early last year, Panther's boys have so far revealed themselves to be duds. Clutzy, awkward, prone to confusion in the middle of segments. Luchadors can peak late, so there's still time, but for now it's best to expect nothing out of them. No, you watch this match expressly hoping for the few moments that papa Panther matches up with Virus. And those few moments totally made this worthwhile for me. Some of their exchanges lasted mere seconds but when you're dealing with two masters like them, sometimes that's all you need to see flashes of brilliance. At one point Panther armdrags Virus, Virus grabs BP's leg while going over, rolls through with it, Panther pulls Virus in with the captured leg and kicks off with the other. A 4 second moment, but gorgeous in its execution. There are more moments with them, and they're all the best parts of the match. There is some expected badness from BP's boys, though Jr. hits a nice dive at the tercera's peak, Virus wraps himself around a ringpost while also splatting on the apron, BP's opening mat play with Azteca was nice. A simple trios, and full of irony as I labeled it "worth watching" while later realizing it's not been uploaded by Cubs. I watched it on LATV. Add this to the pile of me historically documenting lucha matches that no one else will ever watch. (EDIT: It's up now)

Cabellera contra Cabellera: Pequeno Violencia vs. Aereo (8/9/15)

I can almost always get into a lucha stip matches, but I must say when the tecnico has 7/8" hair in a hair match, it kind of takes away some drama. You can almost guarantee it's going to be Violencia's ponytail getting got, and if it doesn't then Aero's hair will be back to the same cut within 4 weeks tops. But it's still fun to see minis get an extended singles match. It's tough to top a spot in the primera, as Aereo goes for a dive and Violencia just introduces him right into the floor. Splat. It sadly doesn't mean a whole lot as both men get into the ring at about the same time. Violencia immediately gets a leg lock to win the fall, and later in the match Aereo shows no hesitation in doing an even bigger dive. Aereo is real tiny, but doesn't quite have the same snap that fellow tiny minis like Shockercito have. Still, you get some nice headscissors and armdrags, just slower than the other guys. In that same vein, Violencia is your lesser bulky mini rudo, nowhere near as good as Demus or Pierrothito, and not anywhere near as exciting as a less bulky rudo like Mercurio. BUT, I like when 4th rung guys like this get showcase matches, get the chance to stretch out a bit. It doesn't always work, but there are usually fun moments. And this had fun moments.

Demus 3:16, Pequeno Violencia & Mercurio vs. Stukita, Shockercito & Ultimo Dragoncito (8/14/15)

This was real fun, too quick to be revolutionary, but tons of craziness which makes it an easy recommendation. The double dive alone is worth watching several times, which I certainly did. Stukita flies through Mercurio and lands right on the barrier, and Dragoncito gets a wild head of steam and comes in too hot, sending him crashing and burning OVER the barrier and into a front row chair, sending beer and a woman's smart phone flying. One of the camera angle looks like a beer geyser goes off. I mean he really just flew right into that front row. You crazy crazy tiny Dragon. Demus is kind of a nutbar, really has an outsized personality which is not something you ever see from minis. He really jaws with the ref, knows how to work a crowd, and is easily the best base of all the mini rudos. Shockercito goes for an around the world headscissors and Demus is nutty so he flips Shocker 4 times around his body and then upside down and then perfectly bumps through the ropes to the floor in an impossibly fluid way. The crowd kept getting louder with every revolution and he somehow made a 100% implausible move seem like something that could actually be done. Stukita is super smooth and breaks out all sorts of armdrags and moonsaults that he makes look effortless. I know the minis often have their matches recorded, but they rarely seem to make TV for whatever reason. This is the first time they've popped up on actual TV in...sheesh, over a year maybe?

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MLJ: Dragon Lee vs Virus/Casas 6: Hombre sin Nombre, Sangre Azteca, Virus vs Ángel de Oro, Dragon Lee, Stuka Jr

Taped 2014-11-25 @ Arena México
Hombre sin Nombre, Sangre Azteca, Virus vs Ángel de Oro, Dragon Lee, Stuka Jr

To sum up: in the midst of the newest Dragon Lee vs Kamaitachi match being heralded as the CMLL match of the year, I'm off to the side watching Lee vs Virus from last fall instead. If we want to be positive towards me, then we can go with the fact that a lot of people are watching the former match due to the hype and I'm giving them a jumping on point to watch more Dragon Lee. We'll just go with that.

So this is the run up to Lee challenging Virus two weeks later for the Lightweight championship, which means this week's worth of matches will be a little more focused than this mini project has been up until now. (It's been an overglorified excuse for me to watch Casas or Virus matches). For those unfamiliar, Sangre Azteca is the world's most single-minded wrestler, his entire offense centered around groin shots. Hombre sin Nombre is the former Hooligan and current Luciferno. He looked really good here.

The primera was basic and solid. Pairings, slight tecnico advantage for the first two and then an outright rudo swarm during the third. interestingly, they put Stuka and Virus together (with Oro and HSN and Sangre and Lee), which might have been misdirection as the match would ultimately culminate with Dragon Lee vs Virus. It could have just been to keep things interesting. Nothing really stood out. Virus is awesome. We know that. He's as good as anyone at moving his opponent around and making sure that the opening matwork seems competitive and not collaborative. Stuka was fine. The match had a decent amount of time and they let the opening two exchanges breathe, but not to the detriment of the match. It ramped things up to set up the swarm after Lee came in and got an immediate advantage on the roperunning vs Azteca. Even so, the tecnicos held on, with Oro diving in with a plancha only to get his mask yanked by Virus from the outside in a nice, little spot. That set up the corner groin crush by Azteca and the fall.

The segunda was primarily a beat down, but a solid one. Virus and HSN looked good here, with nice intensity and variation of offense. Azteca kicked people in the groin and then danced around. So it goes.

The transition was a nice spot where Lee, having been beat upon by Virus slid out of the ring, sending Virus right into Oro's trap, followed by your usual heel miscommunication with tecnicos diving in, Oro's rocking submission and Stuka hitting bombs away. Notably they had Virus back-peddle from Lee during the actual moment of the fall, setting up the tercera.

The tercera was your usual reset and pairings. The crowd was surprisingly pumped for Lee vs Virus. Lee isn't quite as good as brother Rush in getting the crowd pumped up but I do think he's learned from him because he's better than a lot of the CMLL roster. Anyway, this was about what you'd expect: a lot of quick action, with some tecnico vs the world sequences and rudo cutoffs to delay the dives. When they finally came, it allowed the ring cleared for Virus vs Lee once more. I don't think the final encounter ultimately lived up to the build for it within the match, as Lee especially looked a little rough on the finish. For a first match out of three, it was fine, though, and it was obvious that Lee was getting a little better every week.

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CMLL Worth Watching 10/12/14, 12/26/14 & 1/4/15

1. Welterweight Cibernetico, feat. Rey Cometa, Fuego, Mascara Dorada, Negro Casas, Kamaitachi, Titan, Sangre Azteca, Triton, Delta, & Polvora (12/26/14)

When I first got into lucha it was ciberneticos and Rey/Psicosis matches that broke me in. And then once I discovered lucha brawling I lost interest in ciberneticos. When I started watching lucha I went in not understanding its complexities, went in assuming like it would be like a never-ending WCW Saturday Night spotfest. I didn't realize at the time what a low bar I was setting, and just how deeply I would come to accept lucha into my life. Ciberneticos just became a waste to me, as it was mostly guys rushing through spots with no sort of character, and fairly quickly I learned that lucha was much better as a character piece than as a spotfest. But obviously there can still be some tremendous spots and occasionally you still get a cibernetico such as this one with tons of fun stuff. Cometa and Fuego really shined in this one, with each hitting some nutso dives (gotta compete with the televised craziness of Lucha Underground after all), but Cometa here seemed more fired up than I've seen from him in over a year (that middle rope tornillo is so cool!) and had a nice snap to everything he did, Dorada took some major bumps, Fuego finally looked like the guy that people have been pimping him to me as, Sangre Azteca is dressed like Michael Jackson in The Wiz, and I *love* when Casas gets in a match like this with some younger guys and shows he can run circles around all of them. Casas in these kind of showcases brings out something else entirely in him, as everybody seems nervous about hitting their spots while he just seems like it isn't even a job to him, always smiling big and having a ball. Kamaitachi always misses stuff with gusto and I loved Casas grabbing ahold of him and dismantling his leg. Very fun, well worth the time.

2. Astral vs. Electrico (10/12/14)

Well hey these guys went out and had a nice little match! I can't recall the last minis singles match I really enjoyed but who cares because this was real good. Really I liked all of this, with the opening mat stuff being nice and snug, great headlock takeovers, nice Indian deathlock variations applied nice and quick, Electrico's caida-winning submission was a thing of beauty. The nutsy dives start in the second and we really get a couple of doozies, with an Astral bump around the ringpost leading to an Electrico dive out the corner, and later on we get a huge double springboard Astral tornillo. There was too much cool stuff in here to list it all, but these two really clicked something good.

3. Hechicero, Hombre Sin Nombre & Sagrado vs. Guerrero Maya Jr., Dragon Lee & The Panther (1/4/15) 

New year, and some new blood starts showing up on TV! Hombre sin Nombre is Hooligan this go 'round (not really sure the need to stop being Hooligan, but whatevs) and The Panther is the former Cachorro. Salgado works so much better as a rudo, it's not even funny. We've been putting up with this butthole's bad tecnico routine for a fucking decade now, watching him botch spots and have no clue where to be in the ring. Here he's a bully who makes it his match-long goal to target Lee and it's great. He doesn't even seem to care about winning, just wants to beat down Lee. Hechicero gets to run the joint in there and him matching up against Maya is a blast. Maya himself had a wonderful showing, culminating in him hitting an absolute bonkers flip dive through the ropes on Hechicero, hitting way high up on Hechicero's face/chest, bending him over the barrier and sending himself into the front row. Crowd really responds to Hechicero which is exciting. He has an effortless way about him, and always surprises me by doing things I don't expect out of sequences, like breaking out a springboard dropkick in the middle of a rope running spot. This whole match was tons of fun.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 5/18/14

These matches were from the 5/4 Arena Coliseo show.

Lightning Match: Fuego vs. Puma

This was pretty much what most lightning matches aspire to be, for the good and bad reasons. I wish lightning matches were just self-contained high quality 8 minute singles matches. It's obviously possible, as the entire Busca de un Idolo tourney proved that great stuff can be achieved in under 10 minutes. But I don't think there has been a single Lightning Match this year that would rank amongst the top 10 Busca tourney matches. There's no reason most lightning matches should be as disjointed and clunky as they end up being. They always end up looking like they've been clipped, but they're not. They just wrestle that way. Like after every sequence the guys reset and move into the next sequence. They may as well be shaking hands after every move. So this wasn't great, but it was good. Puma is awesome and a real favorite of mine this year. Here he gets into position for some not unpreposterous flying and does nice little things like swing low on a massive missed clothesline. Fuego is getting the Elegido treatment of guy who's okay but gets a catchy song and a sexy dance and has abs. He's pretty sloppy here but throws out a lot of action, some looking good and some…well, getting an A for effort (trying a weird ring post assisted head scissors took a lot of disbelief suspension, but it was unique at least). We get a dildos roll up finish, but also get some surprisingly fun mat flipping. This also didn't have that horrible lightning match staple of endless heatless 2 counts, with each guy exchanging big moves, and then lying around after each pinfall.

Virus, Sangre Azteca & Comandante Pierroth vs. Stuka Jr., Triton & Sagrado

Out of all the guys in the match to get opening matwork we get Sagrado and Pierroth. Not Stuka/Virus, not literally anybody else. We get Sagrado really stretching it out to start things. C. Pierroth takes a Super Porky-slow bump to the floor off a Sagrado dropkick. And we are rolling. We do get a brief kiss of Stuka/Virus, with some fun armdrags and Virus bumping a dive into the entranceway. Sangre Azteca is a guy I always dig but it seems like he rarely makes TV anymore. Similar and not as good guys like Niebla Roja get a rub by getting into a high profile stable, and Azteca is always at the same spot, hanging in second from the bottom trios. I really dig the Virus/Stuka match-ups. Stuka always feels like a guy who should be talked about more. Here he takes a painful bump to the floor to put over the (usually) silly looking rudo double big boot. And the Virus/Stuka chop exchange is really fun, ending with Virus faking him out and busting his chin with a short left hook. Azteca has really taken the art of dropkicks-to-taint to the next level. I don't know how he practices those, but Triton is a brave man for being on the bad end of two nasty twasn't kicks, one in the corner and one off the top rope. Think the Wazzup headbutt, only a dropkick to Triton's tweren't. Final one minute is worth the price of admission as Virus and Azteca take big bumps, Triton crashes and burns on a dive, and Pierroth hits a stiff senton. Also, Sagrado still gets pushed. Also, Sagrado still wrestles like Sagrado.

Valiente, Titan & La Mascara vs. Euforia, Niebla Roja & Gran Guerrero

This was a hot little match that wouldn't have taken TONS more for me to consider it for the MOTY list. It's nice seeing the rudo side flying solo without UG, although Gran Guerrero being in the match instead of UG probably lowered the quality overall. Valiente totally wipes the mat with GG in the primera and it's pretty great. Titan hits a bunch of silly floppy stuff and Euforia is a guy who is good at taking silly floppy stuff. This was all fast paced, had a bunch of cool twisty submissions (the one Valiente does where he stretches a guys legs over his calf and flexes always makes my quads scream in agony), GG got pantsed on a roll-up (for the ladies) and this was plenty fun lucha junk food.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 3/23/14

These matches were from the 3/9 Arena Coliseo show.


Lightning Match: Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Sangre Azteca

Maya is awesome because he breaks out the matwork in a lightning match. Fight the good fight, my man! Also there's a woman in the crowd marking out wearing a Maya mask. YES! They go through some cool indian deathlocks. Stuff kinda gets aimless from there as we go through some various slams and ranas and missed dropkicks and it doesn't really seem to be going any place. Maya does hit a great dive past the turnbuckles (I love Coliseo as there are no barriers so guys fly right into scrambling fans of all ages). Maya ends it with a boss submission, like a standing Rings of Saturn while also trapping Azteca's leg.

Rey Cometa, Delta & Super Porky vs. Misterioso Jr., Puma & Tiger

I don't know how I've made it 3+ months into 2014 without seeing any Rey Cometa. He's become a guy I actively seek out over the last couple years after graduating from mere Arkangel whipping boy, but apparently I'm not seeking that hard. I'm glad Porky finally has his mustache back. It makes him look like Jon Polito got hair plugs. Or what I assume present day Ron Jeremy looks like. Cometa gets a fun opening sequence with Puma, and Misterioso gets a nice roll with Delta. Tiger bumps big to the floor off a running Porky belly bump. He does an equally impressive spill after a Delta dropkick so it appears Tiger is separating himself from the pack here. Cometa runs face first into a Puma superkick and gets folded in half in nasty fashion. Because of lucha camera work reasons, we cut to a girl in the crowd shouting something that requires her mouth being blurred out. Cometa has no problem eating kicks or bumping on the metal entranceway. Cometa breaks out his crazy rana from the top to the apron, with Puma eating floor below, while Misterioso takes a big Cassandro bump, Delta hits a lunatic rope walk moonsault to the floor and Cometa crashes and burns on a tornillo. Even Porky gets in on the action hitting his "dive" off the apron which is essentially him falling on Misterioso (doing the lords work by catching it alllll the way to the floor). This was a bunch of fun.

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CMLL on Fox Deportes Workrate Report 2/17/13

1. Sensei/Oro Jr. vs. Super Comando/Artillero

I always get stoked when Sensei makes TV, and I don't believe I've ever seen Oro Jr. before. Artillero and Comando easily go under the radar as they only work openers, but usually they look pretty decent. HERE,  however, they look downright AWESOME. This was probably my absolute favorite performance by the two brothers. They were just shit kicking, smack talking jerks here. They also got to shine offensively more than usual. Comando hit a beastly missile dropkick that sent Oro sprawling, and Arti got to work a bunch of real cool wrist/arm work on Oro that likely wouldn't have been shown on Galavision. Sensei gets to do cool stuff (love his triangle rana) and love this as the coming out party for Comando/Arti. They are now officially guys I look forward to.



2. The OTHER Reyes Del Aire semifinal!!

Volador Jr vs. Virus vs. Valiente vs. Psicosis vs. Mascara Dorada vs. Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Maximo vs. Sangre Azteca vs. Mephisto vs. Rey Escorpion vs. Angel de Oro vs. Diamante vs. Niebla Roja vs. Puma vs. Triton vs. Fuego

Yeahhhhh buddy. Really looking forward to this as I think my boys Volador and Virus and Valiente can shine in this type of setting. I think on paper this Cibernetico looks stronger than the other one. And there is some awesome shit at the start of this. Psicosis takes a nutty Fuerza bump, Valiente hits an amazing bullet tope that sends Escorpion into the crowd, Maximo hits a gorgeous rana on Virus, and this is just a blast. Sangre Azteca is a guy who more people should talk about as being awesome, because he is. He doesn't get a long run here but he shines BRIGHT. You know that spot where guys drop to their tummy when an opponent is running the ropes to trip him up, but usually it just looks like going through spots as the guy drops down immediately? Well Sangre actually slides into Angel de Oro  , MAKING Oro jump over him or else he actually would have tripped. It's that extra mile. He gets eliminated by Valiente but goes out looking killer, taking two massive monkey flips into the ropes (like Eddy used to!) and shit that guy is good. But then holy shit Guerrero Maya does a flip tope that sends him flying into the 2nd row and YES that guy is awesome. I'm loving this.

Eliminations start flying fast and Maximo hits a wicked tope with no wussy hands to shield the blow, just face into face, arms at his side. Brutal. Volador and Valiente have a hot segment like you knew they would. And okay why is everybody doing a goofy "powerbomb a guy onto my own knees" spot. Three different guys have now done this same spot in the last 2 minutes. Admittedly Volador may be the guy who brought backcracker offense into Mexico and he seems to be amongst the biggest offenders, but fuck it. He does all that stuff with such speed and snap that I don't give a damn if it's all played out. As with all these matches, they do their thing until the finishes start happening, and then there's a pinfall every 45 seconds. But this was consistently awesome and I would highly recommend checking it out. All the guys seemed to be treating it like a really big deal and this was definitely better than the other one. Tons of awesome stuff.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CMLL Puebla Workrate Report, 11/4/12

These matches were from the 10/22/12 Puebla show.

1. Taurus vs. Super Halcon Jr.

This is my first time seeing Taurus and he is apparently the 18 yr. old son of Ultimo Guerrero. He...is not very polished. The camera has to cut away to the crowd a couple of times in the early matwork, so I'm really curious how he blew a monkey flip bump. He works with a lot of delay and hesitation, but still goes over Halcon in like 3 minutes with a stiff powerbomb and some sort of goofy pumphandle F5.

2. Super Comando/Artillero/Inquisidor vs. Hombre Bala Jr./Magnus/Stigma

Ugh, the tecnicos all come out to Limp Bizkit's "Rollin'". At least Stigma is living up to his name, as I can't really think of a bigger disgrace to one's reputation. This seemed to be designed to show just how much better a worker Hombre Bala Jr. is than the other tecnicos in this match. Because he's clearly much better. He deserves to be much higher on the cards. Super Comando is also much better than his brother Artillero, but they all clearly know that as Comando matches up almost exclusively with Bala during this match. Things here were okay but meh. Tecnicos did a whole bunch of armdraggy stuff from the 2nd ropes and Inquisidor and SC are just fine at taking that type of stuff. But that doesn't mean it's fun after 10 minutes of it.

3. Virus/Misterioso Jr./Sangre Azteca vs. Stuka Jr./Triton/Sagrado

Misterioso is completely tassel free, which quite frankly is bullshit. I watched this match with my buddy Charlie who has an occasional drunk interest in wrestling, but basically zero lucha knowledge. After 4 seconds he was already on the Virus bandwagon. This guy has really put together quite a spectacular career and it feels like he still doesn't get talked about enough. The first time I remember seeing him was a singles match vs. Oriental, and that was when I was in high school (Jesus, I graduated in 1998. Was it really that long ago!?) and I was hooked from that match. I can't think of too many workers who have been as consistently excellent from my late teens into my early 30s as Virus has. This match itself wasn't spectacular in any way, but just had enough little Virus moments that made me realize how lucky we are to have so much of his career exist on tape. Too many luchadors go unrealized by the masses until it's too late in their careers. How many amazing 80s Toro Bill matches must have happened? How many bloody Puebla brawls was that guy a part of? And all we have to prove his existence are maybe 10 trios matches while he was in his late 40s. But Virus has spent almost his whole career working on television, and that's a special thing.



4. Ultimo Guerrero/Rey Buccanero/Terrible vs. Marco Corleone/Maximo/Rush

This was an awesome match. Maximo put in one of his best performances of the last year and really owned the 2nd. Corleone jumped high and threw nice lefts and flexed his buttocks, and Rush looked the best I have ever seen Rush look. And he was not just "good for Rush" but moreso "tell me more about this wrestler with the shitty hair, as he seems like somebody I would like to see more". I'm sure somebody can find some flaws with this match, but fuck it I was laughing and rewinding and calling Rachel into the room for 15 minutes. Buccanero and especially UG have gotten back into a nice groove the last year. They were two of my favorites back in 2000-2002, and then UG kind of started to embody my least favorite style of lucha. But over the last couple years I think he started to really hit another career stride. I even got Phil back on the bandwagon and he was one of the most vehement UG haters during the late 2000s. Buccanero's issues may have been injury related, I don't honestly remember. I just know that in 2001 it seemed like he and Christian were having weekly TV battles to see who could take a stupider bump over the top to the floor and I luuuuuved it. So I'm glad they're back on my good side. Terrible's new hair makes me sad. He looked like the coolest Rafi, Brolo El Cunado before :(



5. Valiente vs. Dragon Rojo Jr.

Is Valiente a main event guy now? I've been in and out of CMLL, so I'm not sure. Maybe this is more of a Puebla B show thing, not necessarily an Arena Mexico thing? Also is it wrong that I liked Valiente more when he was a chubster? Now he's all jacked to the gills and still does things all purty but I liked him when he was flippy and fat. This was a CMLL main event. Moves were done. Moves were kicked out of. Turns were traded. Valiente slipped a couple times which was sad. Rojo had some rad roll-up combinations. The 2nd caida went like 30 seconds. You knew all of this going in.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report, 2/11/12

Haven't done one of these in quite awhile, but that's because CMLL on Galavision hasn't been airing in my area, and LATV has been nothing but reruns dating back to December. It seems like LATV is showing mostly shows from November, some that have already been shown 3 or 4 times. So this show was also taped in November (11/22/11 at Arena Mexico to be exact, thanks Cubsfan!), but I don't know if this actually originally aired. I'm pretty sure I never missed an episode, and this never turned up where it should have. So this may be the first time this has aired in America, even if it's 3 months late.



1. Princess Sugei (Sugheit? I never get this name right)/La Commandante/Zeuxis vs. Dark Angel/Luna Magica/Lluvia:

Well this had a couple nasty spills that came to define the match. First fall went very nicely with Commandante leading Lluvia through some capable-looking matwork and some fun arm drag sequences, and Lluvia holding up her end while wearing an awesome mesh catsuit. Mesh catsuit might have made me forgive some sloppy mat transitions. Sugei and Magica tag in and smoke the previous moves exchanges, but also lacks the mesh. Fall ends with Zeuxis hitting an insane dive on Commandante that sees her fly way overhead and splat at a horribly awkward angle into chairs and chubby front row guys. I'm worried about her spine and Rachel is wondering how her boobs didn't fall out. Magica then splats her with an awesome apron Thesz press. Full point for Zeuxis for getting up from that splat and instantly taking that move. Rest of the match is pretty fun. Dark Angel and Sugei match up nicely together, and I'm a big fan of Sugei who always walks around and slaps people and kicks them in the face. Match ends abruptly with Dark Angel falling off the top rope and crashing to the floor, and then the other two calling an audible and quickly finishing the match with Angel being stretchered out. Too bad the ending had to be that way, the rest of the match was quite nice.



2. Misterioso Jr./Okumrua/Vangellis vs. Sangre Azteca/Diamante/Sagrado:

Really fun match with a bunch of guys that nobody ever really talks about. Misterioso Jr. is probably one of the best current lucha guys that nobody really pimps that much. He takes offense really well and bumps big and can control and reign in a match nicely. Here he gets matched up with the weakest of the bunch, Sagrado, and makes him look good through the whole match (going down like a gunshot for his superkick, splaying out on the floor for his rana). I really like Sangre Azteca, and loved his little mat section with Okumura. Fast paced and he did a few cool ankle picks. Vangellis is a stocky nazi powerhouse who moves fast and can barrel into guys. Diamante is very young but always has a couple nice highspots in his matches (here he hit a solid chest to chest springboard 450). Well worth your 20 minutes.



3. Terrible/Rey Buccanero/Texano Jr. vs. Maximo/Super Porky/Rush:

LATV pulls a vintage LATV move here, showing the first fall of this match, going to commercial and coming back with the 3rd fall of a different match from one week later. They used to do this all the time when they randomly started showing IWRG/AULL stuff. First fall didn't really make me want to watch the other two on youtube. I have been one of the staunchest Porky defenders over the last decade, but some of these throwaway six man performances are getting pretty brutal. The man can still go when he wants to, but the big key is how often does he want to? The hair match teaming with Maximo from early 2011 saw him looking really good, but the first fall had some pretty bad moments including the slowest bump through the ropes onto the rampway I have ever seen. It looked like a youtube video of a panda bear falling off a teeter totter.



4. Averno vs. La Mascara

If this had about 8 minutes lopped off the end then I probably would have liked it a lot more. It just kind of kept going, and the nearfalls just got less exciting the more of them they did. First 8 minutes were all about Averno tearing apart Mascara's knee, and it was some fine knee tearing. I was expecting Mascara to have plenty of moments where he just conveniently sold the knee, but to his credit he sold that knee for like >90% of the match, so gets full credit for that. He even hit an awesome limping tope in the 2nd. The selling wasn't the problem, it's just that there was so much damn lying around by both guys. It had its moments to be sure, but there was so much "Averno bumps to floor, Mascara stays in ring, Averno slowly gets up and walks back to ring" moments. Some of them were cool, like when Brazo de Oro would be glaring at him and Averno would just smugly strut past him. Some of the nearfalls worked great, but it was diminishing returns. 18 minutes of work in a 25 minute match. Not the worst crime as the work onscreen wasn't ever bad, just. needed. to. end.

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CMLL on Galavision Workrate Report, 11/5/11

Virus/Okumura/Yoshihashi vs. Valiente/Sangre Azteca/Dragon Lee:

Man, what a bunch of teases. You have Virus and you have Valiente, on opposite sides, and I don't think they exchanged more than one move. I think Virus did his awesome running pendulum dropkick to him. And that was it. I like Valiente matched up against Okumura. I like Virus matches up with Sangre Azteca or Dragon Lee. But I would have fucking LOVED Virus and Valiente, just...doing shit, against each other. Dragon Lee hits his super cool running dragon rana from the ramp to the ring, but I can't even enjoy it fully because I should be watching an insane amount of super fast Virus/Valiente sequences. Valiente was at his most Super Astro here, too, so it would have been otherworldly. Virus was crazy dickish, and while the match was good, it could have been sooooo much better, just with a slight re-matching.



Marcela vs. Amapola:

Pretty short match from two of the better CMLL ladies, and it was really good, but didn't really have enough time to become an excellent match. A lot of moves had to be kinda brushed off since they were rushing through, so it didn't have as epic a feel as it could have Amapola came out with her hair stuck into her cape, and I thought she had cut her hair into a super stylish bob. But she tricked me. First fall is really fun with some nice engaging matwork that the crowd is actually into, and then a great rana and missle dropkick from Marcela (with Amapola taking them like a champ). 2nd fall sees two really cool overhead backbreaker slams by Marcela, and a cool full nelson (applied with her legs) submission. Amapola takes a great Cassandro corner bump in the 3rd, then does a cool flip dive (landing on Marcela's knee though. Ouch.) and Marcela hits a cool dive off the 2nd turnbuckle to the floor. Both women will def. be bruised after this one. There have been some nasty spills. The ending falls really really flat and was part of what kept the match from being great. Amapola missed an elbow off the top (even though Marcela moved a few seconds before Amapola leapt), then Marcela hits a Wagner Driver, which Amapola kicks out at 2 from, and the ref counts 3. Hard to have a much flatter ending than that.

Still, two good matches make for a nice hour of TV. I'm actually surprised Galavision didn't show the two main event matches from this card, as the star power was WAY bigger in those two matches. Panther/Liger/Rush vs. Peste Negra and Averno/Ephesto/Mephisto vs. Garza/Sombra/Dorada. I probably also would have rather seen those matches on TV, but I'm fine with what we got since they mostly delivered.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report, 12/3/11

Cholo/Rammstein vs. Horuz/Camaleon:

Damn, LATV is really crate digging this week. This reminds me of episodes a year ago before more stars got injected into LATV. I believe this is the first time that Camaleon has popped up this year, and the first time I have ever seen him. He seemed OK, hit a big dive, has a goofy fun mask. Horuz looked even better here. He's another guy I haven't seen since like March or April, and I wasn't too into him then. But CHOLO. Motherfucking CHOLO is where it's at. I want a Cholo/Bronco team, of tallish rudos who are not flashy, but always solid. Cholo also has a great mask (it looks like Super Calo's, but with a drawn on Mexi-stache). He bumps, he hits a nice splash, you might not think of him often, but you appreciate him while watching him. Rammstein is getting tubbier, but hey, I like fatsos.



Tiffany/Mima Shimoda/Amapola vs. Lady Apache/Estrellita/Silueta:

Well this was pretty sloppy. There seemed to be some spots where gals got lost, and the whole thing was pretty directionless and meandering. Some good spots (Tiffany was awesome again, I really love her head stomps), Amapola stiffing Silueta, Shimoda throwing a boss elbow drop. The crowd started making a lot of noise when Tiffany and Estrellita were in against each other (because booobz), and isn't that what it's all about, America? Just women taking armdrags and throwing 'bows and having jugz. Silueta also hit a neat Thesz press off the apron.



Loco Max/Hooligan/Euforia vs. Angel Azteca Jr./Dragon Lee/Diamante:

Another disappointment. I like most of the guys in this, but this never really got the chance to get rolling. Dragon Lee will hit some crazy stupid awesome stuff off the ropes, Hooligan was wearing a completely ridiculous and amazing get-up, with union jacks and tassles and leather vest, Loco Max makes Diamante look pretty great in taking a nasty bump on the apron, then getting just leveled by Diamante's crazy flip dive. So the match wasn't without merit, just had no cohesion.



Rey Buccanero/Terrible/Texano Jr. vs. Sangre Azteca/Stuka Jr./Sagrado:

You know, this match got a decent amount of time, and I can hardly remember anything about it. Sagrado may be the most forgettable wrestler on the entire roster. Is there anybody who likes Sagrado? Dude is blandness with a capitol B. He's been around for years now and he seems no better now than he was when his failure of a debut push happened. Sagrado: The answer to the question nobody asked. Terrible and Texano are always fun together, they're always playful and look like they're having a good time, kinda goofing around and just punching and kicking dudes. Stuka Jr. is always good for some pretty flying, and Azteca hit a giant jumping ball stomp off the top rope. Hey, it wasn't bad. You won't remember it tomorrow.



Averno/Ephesto/Mephisto vs. Angel de Oro/La Mascara/Super Porky:

Averno and Ephesto are just born to make guys like Mascara and Oro look good. I think Oro and Mascara are fine, but their value goes up insanely when they are opposite Averno/Ephesto. Like, when Phil or SLL post something write after I post something, they look way better just by association. Phil is my expert rudo base who makes all my ranas look good and bumps faster than necessary to the floor. But, hey, I *like* Oro and Mascara, and I *like* their ranas and headscissors and flippy hoo-ha. It's fun and slick and looks good. But I was a big fan of Mistico's flippy hoo-ha and we've all seen how that works out when a guy (you'd think would be capable) like Chavo gets his mitts on a Mistico special. Sin Cara still works for me because he has more physical charisma than most guys that do what he do. He takes moves well and projects well and gets great height on moves. I have a feeling that Oro would look pretty ugly in the ring with Curt Hawkins. But I enjoy Curt Hawkins. Just don't want to see him as a lucha base. And that's why Averno and Ephesto are fucking awesome. They make me want to see guys do moves to them. And Ephesto has an amazing mask that nobody ever really talks about. He looks like a stalker that Arnold would kill early on in "The Running Man". I mean that in the best possible way. Richard Dawson.

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