2018 Ongoing MOTY List: Dinamitas vs. Young Fliers

49. Cuatrero/Forastero/Sanson vs. Soberano Jr./Mistico/Angel de Oro CMLL 5/18

ER: Dinamitas getting to go all out against a team of fliers dying to impress has been a really fun match type the past year. Dinamitas are all such great fast bumpers, really know how to whip themselves out of and around the ring on ranas and armdrags, and are also great classic lucha brawlers; not theatrical, but very believable as asskickers. I love Forastero's deadlift tilt a whirl backbreaker, and their springboard elbowdrop is one of my favorite finishers of the past several years, and they broke out all kinds of new crazy with Cuatrero catching a rana and spinning around a couple times before hitting a powerbomb, and Forastero hitting a wild springboard dropkick to a seated Soberano. There rudo offense is super athletic but explosive. But I always look forward to them for their bumping. I love how these guys fall. And the fliers all dial it way up and by the tercera we got some fantastic spots. Soberano sometimes comes off as a bit much, but I like that he seems like he's out there just thinking up things he wants to try, just crazy ideas that might end with him falling on his face. But when he's on we get intricate multi jump huracanranas, gorgeous Fosbury Flop dive, a tornillo into the ring, and a physics defying handless tornillo over the top. That tornillo was just insane, looking like he wouldn't clear the ropes and instinctively lifts his body at the right time. Mistico doesn't want to be outdone and he throws in a nice flip dive and then blows that effort away with a huge flip dive running from the rampway and running up and over the turnbuckles. A hot lucha crowd is a wonderful thing, and the crowd was getting to fever pitch levels as these guys kept building the match hotter and hotter. Great fun.

PAS: This reminded me of the really great run of IWRG Oficiales matches a while back. This wasn't at that level because none of these technicos are Freelance or Suicide Segura level dudes, but the Nuevo Dinamitas are a great classic rudo team. The group of kids in this match are just up to try crazy shit, and lots of it would have gone very badly if not for a solid group of rudos keeping it together. I believe that Soberano will get really good, he really has moments of off the charts craziness, but then will hit something off or awkward. Once he works off the yips I think he will be a real treat to watch. I imagine having him really pair off the the Dinamitas will help that development. I haven't seen much of Mistico 2 before, but he had some really impressive moments. I was never a big Mistico 1 fan, maybe I will debut the Slate pitch claiming M2 as the superior Mistico like the people who like the Monkees more than the Beatles.


2018 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Lucha Worth Watching: Leyenda de Azul Cibernetico

Leyenda de Azul Cibernetico (CMLL 12/22/17)

ER: Ciberneticos are a fickle creature. It doesn't take too much in one direction to make them good, and it doesn't take much in the other direction to make them totally skippable. This one already starts as a win as Mije and Zakarias sit on the entranceway steps with their heads in hands, as if they're sitting on a curb waiting for their parents to pick them up after soccer practice. Then you see that referee Edgar is sporting cornrows and you know it's going to be a great cibernetico. The strength in a cibernetico is always the action that happens before the eliminations. Eliminations typically come quick and are predictable, and often unsatisfying (and you know there's going to be a double elimination), but the work that takes place before pinfalls start is gonna make it worthwhile, and this had some great action.

Ultimo and Euforia start of with some fast matwork, the kind that UG doesn't often do in CMLL, and it's fun as I don't recall these two ever going opposite each other. It never gets mean, but it's a good exhibition. Bucanero and Terrible do more of the same and we get a nice fun engaging scrap to our cibernetico. Stuff bumps up when Kraneo splats Vangellys with a big legdrop, but then gets backdropped over the top to the ramp, Kraneo taking an awesome big fat guy bump to the ramp and down the side stairs, with Vangellys immeditely shifting his focus and hitting a big dive on Misterioso.  We get a fat guy showdown between Niebla and Kraneo, and Niebla had a pretty nice showing. Maybe the key to Niebla now is just thinking of him as the new Super Porky. Don't be mad at him for having trouble standing up or kind of standing still while people get into place around him, just get excited for the 1-2 matches a year that he shows up for and just enjoy him slapping dudes the rest of the year. With this match and the Caifan match this is two straight Niebla matches where he utilizes his hip swiveling and silliness much more like Dusty than just a fat goof. It's a fine line. But I loved Kraneo slapping him, with every slap leading to Niebla turning around and slapping someone else on the apron. He and Kraneo are the fattest in the match, so I'll always love the two bigguns exchanging armdrags. Shocker has deflated a bit so he's not as fat (you can really see it in his arms, Shocker has really small arms now). Vangellys is the sneaky pick to be 2nd fattest in 2019. Nobody is getting as fat as Kraneo, I really don't think there's a luchador in history who is as big as Kraneo. But if something stressful happens in Vangellys' life, I could see him hitting the tortas pretty hard. Later on Niebla works a couple complicates armdrags with UG, and does a fired up Dusty act against Bucanero, swiveling his hips and pop locking with his legs, even flicking his own nipples. I don't think I've seen the nipple flick before. I'd much rather see that than the loogy.

Hechicero was treated like a big deal here, so much so that I thought he would win. He had a cool run  where he did his nice middle rope dropkick to knock Sanson to the floor, then gets Mascara Ano Dos Mil to the floor, then taps Vangellys with his awesome inverted bow and arrow choke. I was the drum beater for Pierroth the last couple years and haven't run across too much recommendable Pierroth this year, but I really liked him here, easily best Pierroth moments of the year. We get a nice old guy battle with he and Mascara, we get an actual Rush/Pierroth face off which is something I've never seen, with Pierroth actually soccer kicking Rush before they stand up. Then, he sweetly brushes the hair out of his baby boy's face, and tenderly kisses him on the forehead (much to the hate of the Arena Mexico crowd). Later he helps Rush pin UG from the floor, grabbing his son's hand in a perfect Schwarzenegger/Weathers Predator handshake to give Rush pinfall leverage. I wish Kraneo and Rush got more of a showdown but we did get one, with Kraneo bumping big for him and getting a soccer kick as a thank you. We end with Euforia/Rush and I was rooting for Euforia. He's got kids, man. Euforia takes his always nice ringpost bump and eats a Rush flip dive, and the Rush win is academic. Afterwards Rush stomps on the Blue Demon plaque and HOW COME I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE HORRIBLE BLUE DEMON BELT BEFORE!!?? Has this awful thing been around for years and I somehow keep missing it? Or did I always just stop watching the match after the pinfall and never watch the award ceremony. Oh man that belt is awful. Wearing it essentially gives you a Kuato growing out of your torso, or turns you into Krang's mechanical suit. Just Blue Demon torso flexing around your stomach. It's awful. And the best way to end this cibernetico.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Templario + Metalico, Dinamitas vs. Pierroth Familia

Templario/Metalico/Arkangel vs. Astral/Pegasso/Starman (CMLL 10/3/17)

ER: Who is Templario and why do I need to watch so many more of his undercard matches!? I have never seen him before (though I think he only recently started showing up on occasional Arena Mexico undercards, so I don't think I've missed tons), and he's like a 4th Dinamita. He works really fast in this match, bumping big for the tecnicos, but gives as he gets: he's a guy who will whip fast on an armdrag but also snap one off. I'm not sure I've ever seen Astral look better working fast mat exchanges and quick rope running than here opposite Templario. They matched up most of the match and I came away really impressed. The best was in the tercera when he took and awesome somersault bump through the ropes to the floor after getting faked out by Astral, then perfectly catching Astral's gorgeous handspring rana to the floor (where he vaults from in ring, handsprings off the apron, and flips into a rana). He fit in great with best buds Arkangel and Metalico, always quick with a save (and throwing nice clubbing forearms during saves). Metalico's ham was especially delicious here. He comes out wearing tattered office attire and carrying a rocking horse. Why? For he is Metalico. Later he kisses a woman in the front row. And this was no grandma kiss, he planted one on her lips, lips that have kissed before but never so publicly, paying attention to her, noticing her nice sequined dress, telling her with his eyes that she looks good for her age, making her sister giggle and the woman herself blush and wave it away. The cameras cut to a young lady holding a baby. One might think that lucha camera crews just like cutting to cute ladies. One might also think that this camerawork was implying that this particularly lady was just another in a long line of ladies who have been gifted a child by Metalico. Later, he would eyeball the big butt of the tercera ring card girl. Later still, he would take a nice bump on the floor from a slick Pegasso headscissors. The rudos got each others' backs, I loved the three of them stomping the flipping tecnicos, and again, this was the best my memory can recall Astral looking, and it sure felt like it was because of his dance partner: Templario, my new dreamboat with horrible torso tattoos.

Cuatrero/Sanson/Forastero vs. Mistico/Dragon Lee/Comandante Pierroth (CMLL 11/24/17)

ER: This was the finals of a mini tournament that included teams made up of dinasties. You had the Panther family, The Munoz family, the Dinamitas, Felino's family, fun little concept and I love the family tradition in lucha. All styles of wrestling obviously have generations, but the family aspect in lucha seems to be more much powerfully respected in lucha. This is super fun and energetic, with the Munoz family all being heels. I've seen Lee work rudo with Rush on an indy show, but I don't recall seeing Mistico and Lee working rudo on CMLL TV, with their nefarious father. The Dinamitas work tecnico for the first time I've seen, and it's funny as they don't really wrestle any differently, but they're now doing their offense against three guys acting like dicks, so the fans are into it. Munoz familia has some great bullshit in the primera, with the three of them working a new twist on their soccer ball volleying as they instead play a little game of baseball with Lee tossing an invisible head to Mistico who blasts it for a home run, holding the pose. Later, Pierroth fakes the crowd into thinking he'd actually attempt a dive, and ends up slowly bouncing off and flopping through a somersault to pose like Burt Reynolds in Vanity Fair or Shawn Michaels in Playgirl with the belt (which I believe was used as Segunda Caida's masthead from 2007-2008, before I joined). The Dinamitas are all lanky and mean, which makes them seem like valiant tecnicos. I love their catapult monkey flip spot that flings Cuatrero fast and upside down into the corner. They do axe handle attacks and act as great bases for Mistico and Lee, and there's something about rudos doing gracious highflying that seems deliciously disingenuous. It feels like showing someone up, flashy hubris, even if it's done the exact same when they're tecnicos. The rules force the concept force the perception. Lee hits a wild rana leaping from the ring to grab Cuatrero on the apron, with Cuatrero flipping onto the floor. Cuatrero is the best. Naturally Rush comes sliming out at one some point, and I know they rarely do 8 mans but add Rush to one side and Masacara Ano Dos Mil to the other and I'd love to see that. There's mask yanking and shenanigans, but you knew that. This was a real fun role reversal, well worth the time.

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Lucha Worth Watching: 2017 Leyenda de Plata Cibernetico

2017 Leyenda de Plata Cibernetico CMLL 10/13

ER: Ciberneticos were definitely more of my thing when I first started watching lucha in the late 90s, but that would also line up with WCW cruisers being my favorite style of wrestling at that time. Now ciberneticos usually still leave me hungry, unfulfillingly set up spotfests with sudden pinfalls. But I am not made of stone, and sometimes there's a collection of moves too tasty to not force a smile or an oooooohhhh. This started simple and exploded once Guerrero Maya flew at Barbaro with a tope and also flew recklessly into the first row. Full Eric attention achieved. We get a Virus/Casas sequence which is always a thrill, two masters delivering a greatest hits collection. Later we see Virus get his brains stomped to the mat by Dragon Lee. Casas tries to outbump the youngsters by getting thrown fast ass over elbow over the top to the floor. We get a concurrent somersault plancha, Asai moonsault, somersault plancha. Forastero works as if he were a darkside Soberano Jr. and it works better than Soberano Jr. being Soberano Jr. Casas has more charisma and gets louder reactions than anybody in the match, getting the fans rabid just for not locking up right away with Barbaro after pinning Titan. Lee is a dangerously fearless bumper and always wanting to please, so we get him doing a nutty rana from the ring to the floor on Titan, bumping a Virus lariat on his head, dumping himself on his head for Caristico, taking a nutso spinning powerbomb from Sanson. Mephisto is wearing a fantastic gimp outfit that makes him look like a beefy extra from the movie Cruising. I think I saw him in the background set at a bar called The Toolbox. Soberano does a nasty seated tombstone to Barbaro and I guess we just don't give a fuck about the sacred death danger of the martinete anymore.

Mistico and Caristico have the most palatable teacher/student showdown because instead of flipping and rope running they just rip masks. Mistico ripped Caristico's mask like a lifetime solid citizen who finally experienced how fucking good it felt to steal an extra newspaper from the machine. The final 5 contains 4 of my least favorite guys in the entire 16 man match, meaning Sanson is my old hope. Volador also seems rudo by default which is his best side, and he bumps fast to the floor which is better from a rudo. Soberano takes stupid modern era lucha moves real stupid on the back of his head, taking things like fast code reds or reverse ranas - dangerous looking moves that can be botched - in a cartoony rollercoaster manner, rolling off his head and then freeze framing for a second before completing the bump. I want him pinned. Sanson catches Volador on a motherfucking flip dive to the floor, doesn't let him touch the ground, and then powerbombs him SIDEWAYS into the front of the ring barrier. Sanson may have passed Cuatrero on the "baddest ass Dinamita" after this match. This is a cibernetico, so by Mexican law it was required to have one confusingly dogshit double elimination, but at minimum it was done because Sanson pinned Caristico while also suplexing Soberano. Everybody's shoulders looked down. And then Sanson is immediately pinned because they wanted to give me the last final showdown I would have picked out of all 16 participants. But that's life. Dare to err and to dream. Deep meaning often lies in childish plays.

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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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2017 Ongoing MOTY List: All of the Arena Mexico Dives

Cuatrero/Forastero/Sanson v. Soberano Jr./Rey Cometa/The Panther CMLL 8/4

ER: Good grief, you guys. This was on the same show as the Blue Panther/Sam Adonis hair match, and this was likely a bigger crowd than most of these men have ever performed in front of. And they fucking went for it. This was different than most Dinamitas matches, and while I like their out and out rudo tactic matches better, they also do spotfest really well. Soberano and Cometa are game to do some big spots, and so we got a match absolutely filled with wild spots. This probably had more dives and springboards than any match I've seen in a year. Soberano is really responding well to moving up the card, and he is coconuts here, like he wants to be CMLL's Aerostar. He hits a couple big dives and does a springboard into the ring by jumping about 8 times, from the rampway to the middle rope to the top rope to the inner middle rope, just Chinese acrobat stuff. Forastero is the standout Dinamita here, going toe to toe with Cometa and even showing off his own fancy flip ability. Amusing moment when Cometa is doing typical CMLL tecnico rope run handspring backflips, and at the end of the showing off Forastero does one of his own...only for Cometa to hit him with a big headscissors to get him out of the ring, and then hits another one to the floor. The crowd is piping hot and loud, everybody feeds off it, we get a springboard tornillo by Cometa, Soberano hits an absurd tornillo of his own, the tecnicos dive off the top of the entrance steps, Forastero flies into the front row from a tope, it's wall to wall insanity. It seems like on a big show you either get guys holding back so as not to outshine the main, or you get an atmosphere of enthusiasm where guys feel validated by their choice of profession. This felt like the latter.

PAS: Yeah this was total popcorn wrestling, but exactly the kind of thing you want from a match like this. I think there will be Nuevo Dinamitas matches I liked better this year, as they are fun when they slow it down and this was all action, there performance in this reminded me of the heyday of the Oficiales in IWRG, just excellent timing, huge bumping and cool double and triple teams. There was probably one or two dives too many, as they were really going for maximalism. Soberanos spin dives are beautiful looking, and he probably should have just done one big one so it is remembered. This was by far the most impressed I have been by him, as he really felt special, I also loved the Panther, sometime you want spins, and sometime you just want a bullet tope which lands like a punch in the mouth.


2017 MOTY MASTER LIST

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Lucha Worth Watching: CMLL 6/16/17

1. Rush/Kraneo/Pierroth vs. Terrible/Vangellys/Shocker (CMLL 6/16/17)

ER: Not a great match, but one I was looking forward to and one that delivered what I wanted it to. Vangellys attacked Pierroth with some great bat shots last week and here's the payback, hopefully building to a hair match. The rudo team is a great pairing, one that's been fairly regular in 2017. They all complement each other really well in this kind of bullshit brawl. It's the kind of match Pierroth excels in, it brings out the best asshole qualities in Rush, and Kraneo...well, Kraneo is just always awesome. I really like all the Rush familia ringside brawl stuff, it's great junkfood, guys getting slammed into the announcer corral, guys getting thrown into barriers, balls are almost kicked, big chops are thrown, anabolics are flowing through Los Toros Blancos, complex carbohydrates are flowing through Kraneo, Shocker is wearing headgear to clamp down on his constant snacking, Terrible throws a beautiful left hand, the rudos juggle an imaginary soccer ball around with Kraneo getting extra ball handling time, Pierroth splats Vangellys with a great senton, balls actually get kicked, it's all great fun.

2. Dragon Lee vs. Barbaro Cavernario (CMLL 6/16/17)

ER: A different kind of junkfood, rewarding in different ways, annoying in different ways. I have little interest in the newer trend of luchadors working faux New Japan style. I hate seeing brainless emotionless forearm exchanges when lucha standing exchanges usually have so much passion and eye contact with the crowd. But these guys are crazy and we get a suitably crazy lightning match. Lee hits a couple nice dives including a bullet tope that just glues Cavernario to the barricade, and Cavernario hits a flat out gorgeous dive from the apron past the turnbuckles. I lose a lot of interest once we go into the "look what moves we can do that are dangerous but don't hurt that much because we can still do a lot of moves afterward" portion, but the blockbuster DDT is pretty damn notable just because it turns Lee into a literal exclamation point. These guys both work matches that have more meat to them, this was 9 minutes of expected flash between two guys who could sleepwalk through some exciting spots. They know how to work some exciting spots, and exciting spots was what we gots. They just tend to excite me more when they mean something.

3. Ultimo Guerrero/Sanson vs. Caristico/Soberano Jr. (CMLL 6/16/17)

ER: A fitting finale to the Gran Alternativa tourney, and a nice job by CMLL for actually pushing a new guy who has made some strides. Soberano Jr. has been kicking around for awhile, and was showing promise as early as 2014, and he's obviously been busting his butt in 2017. I flipped my lid for his Dick Fosbury dive to the floor, that takes some stones and looked gorgeous, and he has a great step up headscissors. I think Sanson worked expertly as a Caristico base, catching a dozen armdrags and headscissors that all looked fluid, and the flip dive catch was pillow soft. Caristico himself appeared to be working harder than I've seen him, maybe since his return, bumping big on UG's baseball slide dropkick, tossing out his largest assortment of ranas and headscissors (his slingshot one to the floor still the best) and also hanging in there to take UG's hip attack that sends him sprawling down an aisle. Sanson and Soberano got a chance to shine and outside of a hinky Soberano lariat I thought they looked good. I hope Sanson still stays with Cuatrero/Forastero, but this was a nice bigger match foray for him, overall very satisfying.

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Lucha Worth Watching: More Dinamitas! Liga Elite!

1. Imposible/Diamante v. Jinzo/Ciclon Ramirez Jr. (Liga Elite 9/14/16)

ER: A bunch of younger guys breaking out a bunch of crazy moves and fast work to get noticed, cool. Every guy got several moments in this, but Imposible impressed me the most. He showed a lot of polish, unique sequences, super quick set-ups, and some crazy, ankle destroying high spots. First he places Ciclon in a chair and runs from the entrance stairway to do a balls first Thesz press. Later he has Diamante holding Jinzo in a wheelbarrow on the floor, and just drops balls first onto the back of Jinzo's head from the top rope. It's like he just aimed to crotch himself using Jinzo. I really want to see more from Imposible now. Diamante blew out of CMLL and doesn't seem like he missed a beat as he clearly looked improved. He worked stiff and his timing was on point, came off like a real badass. Jinzo had one of his best showings since the CWC...although I guess this was only a couple months after the CWC stuff was taped. Look, all I know is that I haven't really liked him in anything other than his Kendrick match, and I liked him in this. I'm always kind of skeptical of Jrs. in lucha, as it seems like it's going to be a guy coasting on a legendary mask. That's not really fair, as there's been some amazing Jrs. in lucha, including some of the absolute greatest luchadors. But I see a young guy with a Jr. and my pre-formed opinions are bad. But Ciclon wasn't coasting on a damn thing. He was as good as any of CMLL's more pushed tecnicos, a real pleasant surprise, and hit a batshit crazy rana from the top rope to Diamante on the apron. Balls out craziness from both. He works some swift roll ups and takes some nasty moves from the rudos, real quality modern tecnico. I kept expecting this whole match to fall apart and it never did, they just kept busting out cool, dangerous moves and working some fine drama. Fun stuff.

2. El Cuatrero/Forastero/Sanson vs. The Panther/Blue Panther Jr./Drone (CMLL 12/6/16)

Dinamitas are my favorite new trios team, a real trio of young rudo assbeaters, who do all the lucha rudo things that I love: big bumps, stiff shots, great bases. All of that is on display here, and we also get a nice little standout performance from Drone. Drone, the former Hombre Bala Jr., has always had some pretty great - and pretty diverse high flying spots. He doesn't just stick to a couple of trademark spots like Diamante Azul or others, he's often breaking out new and crazy stuff. His gimmick is kind of dorky, but it's easy to look past that when he's launching himself to the floor with a no hands tope. Cuatrero is still standing out as my favorite Dinamita (and as long as he keeps taking crazy bumps to the floor every match, that probably won't change), but each one always does a couple notable things, even in a short match like this. All the tecnicos get a couple dives, Panther ranas Cuatrero off the apron, Sanson hits a sick kneedrop to the back of BPJr.'s head, Cuatrero does an actually plausible handspring move, and despite a couple awkward timing spots early in the segunda this was loads of fun.

3. El Cuatrero/Forastero/Sanson vs. Pegasso/Black Panther/Blue Panther Jr. (CMLL 12/13/16)

I can't get enough of these rudo asskickers right now. The primera sees them working a traditional and basic assbeating, just literally stomping the tecnicos most of the time, three of them clubbing one of them to the mat all at once, just ganging up and bullying (and ends with a long and painful swanton from Sanson). Tercera sees them break out two of their crazier semi-trademark spots: Sanson's springboard kneedrop (so tough to pull off, and he really plants it nice) and Cuatrero's brutal and pinpoint match ending springboard elbowdrop. Two violent moves that few could make looks this good. Pegasso got to throw out a bunch of his flashy stuff including a sweet no hands tornillo, but this match was mostly about the rudos, and I'm totally cool with that.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Nuevos Dinamitas! A Mask Match! More Wotan!

El Cuatrero/Forastero/Sanson v. Blue Panther Jr./The Panther/Pegasso CMLL 11/8

ER: Man I am loving Nuevo Dinamitas! This is a quick but action packed 2 falls finish. Una caida is standard but with some notable moments from Dinamitas, with their cheapshotting and great pratfall apron bumps; segunda kicks into high gear, with Dinamitas doing one of their huge press slams, Cuatrero and Forastero bumping big into the crowd (with Forastero booting a fan in the face on his way over), all the tecnicos hit massive dives, and later we get the Dinamitas hitting badass dives of their own. I love how the Dinamitas bump around, the way they do classic lucha bumps like the backwards one through the ropes to the floor, or how they take ranas, or how they throw big overhand chops and cut low on clotheslines. It's a classic style done by guys in their mid 20s, making it look great. I'm thinking Cuatrero is clearly the best at this point, but as with the Oficiales several years ago I look forward to monitoring them to see who makes gains.

Delta v. Galactar MDA 11/26

ER: Man did this stink. It was really, really bad. But I think this qualifies as "worth watching", because I hated it, but saw that it had popped up on a few year end top 10 lists. I can't see any explanation for how this would end up in a top 10 of any given month, let alone year, but if you have a spare 40 minutes you'd like to spend watching a match you may hate, then you should watch this. Delta - who you know from being the 5th or 6th best man in a CMLL trios match - versus Galactar - a man whose post-mask career you won't bother following. Spoiler alert. We get a quick primera and quick segunda, with Delta starting the segunda with his amusing rope flip headscissors to the floor, and after that he shows that either he can't properly do another move without stumbling the rest of the match, or that Galactar can be awkwardly out of position for nearly every move. Man Galactar was bad. He was good at taunting the crowd. That's important. Otherwise we would have two guys doing moves in a vacuum, as Delta sure wasn't acknowledging the crowd much. Galactar would at least hit a move and soak in the boos or adulation. It was everything else he stunk at. It seems like he blew up pretty early, and would just be so damn lazy on so many moves. Watch him Irish whip Delta, and by Irish whip I mean he kind of pats Delta's lower back and Delta runs across the ring on his own. This happens at least 4 times. We get a few big dives, always almost completely missing. Galactar hits an insane moonsault to the floor, and mostly hits a moonsault to the floor. His head somewhat grazes Delta. Delta hits a bullet tope and falls mostly short. Galactar has a much easier bump falling back into the seats. 

We get a few moments of them holding each other for balance up top, nobody even pretending they were opponents, just helping each other maintain footing so they could perform another move that would get another 2 count, BUT then give strength to the person taking the move, enough strength that they can stand up and do their own move right back! I mean, not RIGHT back, because they have to lie motionless on the mat in between all of these 2.9zzzz. There must have been 10 total minutes of "lying on mat" time. So they overly sell these moves by lying motionless for so long in between moves...and then they stand up and don't sell at all! It's an interesting, and horrible, approach. Moves mean nothing as they become entirely too predictable, way too quick. There is no drama as you know each close nearfall will just result in the guy who barely kicked out and lied in an exhausted heap, stand up and do a move of his own. For about 20 straight minutes. We get a false finish, and you all can guess that the first move of the restart is what was going to get the win, even though the move looked no more or less devastating than any other moves that got 2 counts the rest of the match, only this one came after a 3 minute break where nobody was taking moves. This was a really shitty match. It was 35 minutes long. 35 minutes of shit.

Wotan v. Impulso WMC 2/11/17

PAS: My quest to find the second great Wotan match continues. This was overall pretty enjoyable, although it had some of the same garbage match elements which made Wotan v. As Charo a chore. Early on in the match Wotan hits this crazy twisting tope which sends both guys into the 6th row, totally out of control and awesome looking, they also have this cool section near the end where they just throw big shots , chops and headbutts on the floor which was pretty violent. Still this had a bunch of stuff with lightubes, some cool and some awkward looking, a spot with a spiked pineapple which looked dumb and the finish which had Wotan light a table on fire, which goes out by the time he hits a top rope move. Wotan definitely has a set of skills but it may take a Black Terry level guy to shepherd it together.

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2016 Ongoing MOTY List: Nuevo Dinamitas!

73. Hijo del Pantera/Ciclon Ramirez Jr./Dinamic Black v. El Cuatrero/Forastero/Sanson Liga Elite 8/4

ER: Killer little spotfest, great showing for some 2nd and 3rd (and who knows more) gen luchadors. Pantera wrestles just like his dad, which is a neat revelation since I've now seen Skayde Jr. and HE wrestles just like HIS dad. My brain always threw Pantera and Skayde into the same bucket as their moved similarly, and I was a big fan of both. HD Pantera has cool little rope flip feints and heavy crossbodies, Ciclon has some nice headscissors and there's a great sequence on the apron where he flips Cuatrero (?) over the buckles and then swings around the ringpost into a slick headscissors. Rudos take over and they work like classic Cien Caras, only with monster bumps. These guys are massive dickheads, do team and individual press slams, work stiff, Cuatrero hits a freaky springboard elbow drop, just all sorts of surprises. I like their control segments, and I loved them as much when the tecnicos bring it back. Sanson (?) takes a huge bump into the crowd off a dive, Dinamic Black does some nice rope work and hits a MAMMOTH flip dive, and this just made me really excited for the future of CMLL.

PAS: I really dug this, it was a pretty disposable lucha undercard trios match for the first bit, although the junior Dinamitas are really great in ring bumpers and are always in perfect position to take some semi awkward high spots from the technicos. The 3rd fall though it totally boss with everyone upping their game a bit including one Dinamita eating a tope and visiting the third row. I remember liking Dinamic Black a bit back in the IWRG days, and he seems to have put on a bit of bulk without losing any height on his dives. I also love that the Dinamitas don't work like 2010s luchadores, these are old school like the baby Villanos, no way these guys would work a 2.9 fest on a New Japan show.

2016 MOTY MASTER LIST

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