Lucha Worth Watching: Dick Riviere!

Dick Riviere/Akuma/Nitro vs. Aguila Blanca/Magia Blanca/Oro Jr. CMLL 5/28/19

ER: What a surprising little Tuesday CMLL treat. Riviere and Aguila are two lanky as hell French geeks who perform up to the crowd's standards and get a real fun, enthusiastic reaction the whole match. Riviere wrestles like a Quackenbush trainee but embraces the fact that he looks like a background coder on Silicon Valley. He's not a nerd pretending to be a comic book hero, he's a nerd who flexes his tiny muscles, has a shitty goatee, Dudley "Booger" Dawson hair, builds to a very funny shirt removal spot, and gets wrecked on a powerbomb while attempting a rana. He brings a fun sniveling heel charisma to CMLL and I hope he stays longer. Aguila Blanca is a flyer who works like a less polished Soberano Jr., but it felt like the crowd wasn't expecting a lot and were then pleasantly surprised once he hit a big springboard splash to the floor and a big 450. I've seen a lot more seasoned guys come into CMLL and not blend in and adapt, and these guys looked good. Akuma has turned into a Demus clone, which is a cool guy to be a clone of as I won't ever object to a fed having more than one guy who works like Demus. He rushes hard into tecnicos and takes those embellished headscissors from Blanca like a good base junior. I love these kind of no frills undercard weeknight matches, they always have a chance at overdelivering because the stakes are so low, and they can take chances like putting a couple of French goofs in a match.

Dick Riviere/Star Jr./Starman vs. Hijo del Signo/Akuma/Nitro CMLL 5/29/18

ER: I enjoyed our French dweeb so much in his CMLL appearance last week, so I sought out the only other lucha matches he's showed up in the past couple years, just for a little bit more of the story. Here we get to see him as a tecnico. He's even more of a dweeb, as he's wearing superhero cosplay but still has a dumb Shaggy goatee and a snaggletooth. But it's fun seeing him as a tecnico. The Quackenbush vibes are still strong, but in a good way. He has a lot of nice high arcing armdrags, hits a crazy Asai moonsault that hits well and sends him flying into the barricade, and leans into some big lariats. I like this weirdo! Everyone shows up for this one though (Star Jr. has a notably awkward moment but leans into strikes well), Nitro throws the hard lariats I mentioned, Signo is arguably the most professional guy to not break out of the undercard, Starman is maybe the smoothest tecnico to break out of the undercard, and Dick Riviere still does the shirt removal spot as a tecnico and it still works! This was a really fun match that nobody would have possibly gone far out of their way to see, but I just had to see more Dick!

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Lucha Worth Watching: Cassandro! CMLL Undercard!

Cassandro/Flyer vs. Magnus/Medico Asesino Jr. FILLM 11/18/18

ER: Man how cool is Cassandro?? Here he is working the coolest lucha arena in the world, the one that looks like it's a Street Fighter II background, and he comes out wearing a spectacular green coat with a long train, which somehow looks elegant while being dragged across the dirty concrete. He's not a guy who shows up a ton on tape, as that is part of the excitement around Cassandro. But he's the exact same guy you remember, here pulling off tight armdrags, a painfully precise missile dropkick, and his signature tope con giro. Asesino came off like a fun rudo stooge, Magnus hits a nice dive into the aisle and Flyer gets to hit two (which makes sense as his name ain't Matwork) including a big asai moonsault. Cassandro commanded the crowd like a conductor at a couple points, really a guy who knows exactly what to do no matter the setting, and while this match didn't set out to be a classic you definitely would have left satisfied had you gone there seeking a fun Cassandro main. Lucha shows are becoming more and more common in the States, and it feels like Cassandro should be able to bring buzz to these shows. There's no reason one of the three lucha feds running Denver isn't running Cassandro/Zumbido matches, but come on people let's make this happen!

Akuma/Espanto Jr./Espiritu Negro vs. Star Jr./Pegasso/Stigma CMLL 4/16/19

ER: This was a real fun undercard match that had a real fine rudo trios team performance and a bunch of great big tecnico moments for Star Jr., in the kind of match that really looked like they were already looking at Star Jr. as a future Soberano Jr. (when Soberano moves up even higher on the card). The crowd reactions for Star Jr. hear were real loud and real organic, felt like a guy who the locals were really treating as a star (he can just drop the Jr. once he's an actual star). The rudo team is a bunch of guys who haven't gotten much ink on Segunda Caida even though they've all been in the biggest lucha fed for like 5 years. Here they really make the case as an interesting team, standing out in ways that I think the Dinamitas started standing out a couple years ago on undercards. They had a bunch of mean double teams (loved a missile dropkick into tandem vertical suplex that poor Stigma took), Akuma hits a sky high flapjack, all three guys bite opponents at one point, and they handled their end of big base bumps. They were a team that made me want to see more of them as a team. Star Jr. had a big exciting match; crowd was flipping out for his headscissors, his big springboard rana to the entrance ramp looked as big as it should have, the crowd went nuts for every time he outsmarted the rudos, just a really fun performance that got a deserving response. Pegasso is a pro in these kinds of "2nd flashiest tecnico in a trios" roles, and Stigma was in there for some big bumps; the whole match has a nice breezy vibe that I think made all 6 look strong.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE CASSANDRO

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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: 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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2015 Lucha Overview - Arena Coliseo 1/17/15

My main man Black Terry Jr. dropped an belated Christmas present to his customer base by sending us three matches from an Saturday CMLL Arena Coliseo show. Coliseo are shows where they are letting their young guys work longer stuff, kind of an untaped CMLL NXT, and it was neat to get a look at guys working in a different environment.

Astral v. Pequeno Nitro

One fall minis match given about 13 minutes which would have been right at home as a showcase Nitro or fun Lucha Underground match. Starts out a bit slow, neither guy is a stellar mat worker and the first 3 minutes or so felt a little time killerish. When they start breaking out big spots though it picked up. Astral hit a nice tope, a couple of minutes later Nitro lands a really pretty plancha to the floor. Then Nitro nukes himself on a Psicosis/Estrada style ringpost bump and Nitro hits a Taka double jump plancha which was always one of my favorite dives. Finish was also a crazy roll up into a submission. Not a MOTY level match, but a really nifty spotfest I am happy got documented.

Virus v. Star Jr.

Really enjoyed watching Virus work with Black Terry Jr. filming. The camera work really let you see the nastiness of Virus's stuff, kidney shots, super stiff clotheslines. The early matwork was pretty fun, Virus was leading him, but Star Jr. threw in some fun stuff too, including an elaborate roll up, and a Navarro style pin reversal via ankle hook. Would have liked to see a little more flash from Star Jr., but this was a very fun 10 minute match, and a great chance to watch Virus do his thing.

Misterioso Jr./Negro Casas/Sagrado v. Delta/Guerrero Maya Jr./La Mascara

I like watching Negro Casas and this is another opportunity to check out a master work a house show style match. Still the non Casas parts of this were pretty forgettable, and this really felt like a bog standard house show match. On the positive side of average, but not by much

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2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

33. Dragon Lee/Stuka Jr./Star Jr. v. Belial/Extreme Tiger/Impulso Chilanga Mask 11/23

PAS: Another Black Terry Jr. banger. Go email him and Paypal him a couple of bucks. This was CMLL v. Independents and was kind of worked like a Puroresu interpromotional match. Starts out with everyone brawling in the crowd reckless chucking chairs at each other, has some million mile an hour stuff in the ring including a bunch of bonkers dives by the Indy guys, and then goes back to wild brawling. Finish was a double pin which felt incidental, as they barely paused wailing on each other. Just a total blast, really exceeded my expectations.

ER: This kind of match is where Black Terry Jr. really shines. Over half the match takes place outside with guys flying all over the place, and he's right in the middle of the action, taking in a couple guys brawling through the crowd to his right, then whipping around to see a guy fly through chairs over to his left. The bulk of the match felt like that awesome long tracking shot scene on True Detective. For a guy I've never seen before I really loved Impulso in this. I thought he stood out as a real star. Took high bumps for all the CMLL guys, flew around like Freelance in the ring, took a crazy flipping head first tumble through a sea of chairs on the floor. This whole match took place in what looked like a backyard, fenced in by different sized panels of corrugated aluminum. And this match felt wild enough to justify being held in a dirt yard fenced off with scrap aluminum. Dives into the crowd, brawling through people, guys covered in dirt. This was all awesome.

ONGOING MOTY LIST

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 7/12/14

These matches were all from the 6/27/14 Arena Mexico show.

En Busca de un Idolo Cibernetico:

1. Negro Casas, Barbaro Cavernario, Dragon Lee, Cachorro & Soberano Jr. vs. Virus, Rey Hechicero, Guerrero Negro Jr., Star Jr. & Super Halcon Jr.

Ciberneticos tend to be fun exhibitions during the initial pairings, and then kinda pointless once they run through the inevitable string of six eliminations in 4 minutes. Out of the early pairings Cavernario/Star Jr. was really fun with really fast work, with Star breaking out really cool armdrags. Hechicero always finds neat new ways to bump to the floor. Cachorro hits the dive of the match, almost beheading Star over the barrier. Soberano hits a crazy tornillo, Casas hits a violent Thesz press off the apron onto Virus, even Halcon hits a nice flip dive. Hechicero was such a big deal in the tourney that I wish he was given more to do here. He gets to hit a great Fuerza bump and takes a nutso slingshot rana from Cachorro, but I wanted more. Seeing Hechicero work Casas was just a brutal tease as it just showed how desperately the upper card needs this guy in there regularly. Dragon Lee makes Guerrero Negro look like a monster, wiping out onto the side of his head on a clothesline. Virus lets Dragon Lee kick him a bunch, and Lee is a guy with some nice looking kicks. I had seen that Phil wrote this up when it happened, and I am stunned that he didn't comment on Cavernario and Hechicero BOTH pulling down their straps when they squared off. Hechicero also does his weird inverted monkey flip to sort of hotshot Cavernario. And then they have to have a double pinfall elimination, because of the stupid awful Torneo Cibernetico charter of 2005, which states "Henceforth all Ciberneticos must have a stupid fucking double pinfall elimination where both men have their shoulders down in a move that otherwise would never be counted as a pinfall, but for dogshit lazy reasons will be counted as a double pinfall in this instance because fuck you." We get a long Casas/Virus showdown to end it which is really fun. Also made me think how odd it is that these two have been around forever, but this was probably the most I've ever seen the two of them match up. Which is sad. I liked this match a lot more than Phil, I thought it was much better than the other ciberneticos over the last few years.

2. Rush, Ultimo Guerrero & La Sombra vs. Atlantis, Shocker & Mr. Niebla

Super fun match that delivered even more than I expected. Sombra really came off like a star here. Really great 1st fall rudo beatdown, with Niebla getting kicked off the rampway into the crowd, Sombra running around giving big boots to everybody, Rush caving in Niebla with his corner dropkick. Big intensity. Tecnicos get quick revenge in the segunda, and the tercera is really hot. Niebla gets to slap Rush around, hitting him with his big slap on the floor, and then back in the ring when Rush covers his face Niebla just sweeps his legs out. Sombra leans way into Shocker's stuff, and they have a good strike exchange with Sombra throwing his awesome left/right elbows. UG obviously rips Atlantis' mask, and Niebla and Shocker awesomely cheat to win, with Niebla pinning Rush with his feet on the ropes. Sombra unmasks himself but Shocker don't care and just pins him, with the ref not noticing. Fun match.

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En Busca de Un Idolo - Cibernetico

6/27

Cachorro/Cavernario/Dragon Lee/Soberano Jr./Negro Casas v. Virus/Hechicero/Star Jr./Guerrero Negro Jr./Super Halcon Jr. - Spare Moment

Pretty flat disappointing match for all the promise it had on paper. Often the best part of Ciberneticos is your first set of exchanges, but we had bad match ups here, your mat section was Cachorro trying to do something interesting with Negro Jr., Virus was stuck with Soberano Jr., Casas was saddled with Halcon, we did get Lee v. Hechicero but that was the fastest of the match ups and was basically just a set up for a dive. For a tourney with some jaw dropping spots, this didn't really have any memorable dives or bumps. Virus looked good and the final run with him agains Lee and Casas was really fun, but overall kind of bummer. Hopefully when Cavernario gets his title shot that will be good.

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En Busca de la Idolo - Week 6

5/6

Super Halcon Jr. v. Hechicero- Must See

Another great Hechicero rudo performance, Halcon still breaks out his tired stuff, but Hechicero broke out enough different twists to make in interesting. I really liked all of his early matwork, and a pair of fun Harley Raceish bumps. He gets dropkicked in the back on the apron and faceplants, and does a backwards sell of a tope sliding over the ring barrier into the crowd. Finish was dope too, as Hechicero does a spinning cobra clutch into a slam and camel clutch. Halcon is still dirt dull, but I am enjoying the Hechicero against scrubs matches as a much as a Hechicero against good dudes.

Star Jr. v. Cavernario - Spare Moment

This was on the cusp of must see, although there was a bit of awkwardness on a couple of moves and I would have liked to see Cavernario do a bit more. This was a Star Jr. showcase, as Cavernario was mostly bumping for him. Cavernario is a good rudo base, and he takes a crazy bump off of a headscissors to the floor. I also love his crazy person headbutts. Star Jr. has some fancy stuff, and with a little polishing I can see him being a guy really worth watching in a couple of years.

5/9

Star Jr. v. Soberano Jr.- Spare Moment

Really fun in a Beyond Wrestling kind of way. Just a couple of kids throwing out every crazy spot they know in 7 minutes. In between spot execution left a little to be desired, but it is hard to hate watching crazy shit. Star Jr. breaks out his headscissors into the floor and his top rope springboard tornillo, and the Soberano Jr. actually one ups him with this crazy move where he drapes Star Jr. over the ring barrier and full speed topes into his back (which has to lead to neck surgery if he makes that a regular spot). Would like to see this guys mix these spots into a trios with luchadores who kind provide some structure, but there are way worse ways to spend a bit of time.

Cachorro v. Hechicero - Spare Moment

They tried something a little different in this match, as it was much more about counters and submissions then dives and throws (although we did get a great Cachorro tope). They didn't execute everything they tried perfectly, and sometimes this looked a little dosey doey, although I appreciated them trying to mix it up. I loved the finish as Cachorro countered a tilt a whirl into a nasty armbar that looked like it dislocated Hechicero's arm. Looking forward to the rematch.

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En Busca de un Idolo - Week 4

4/22

Super Halcon Jr. v. Star Jr.-Spare Moment

Fun poor mans version of the Star Jr. v. Dragon Lee spotfest. Halcon isn't going to hold up his end as much, but Star Jr. was even nuttier. Flying around with ranas and headscissors, including a top rope asai moonsault. He also lands a great left hook. Halcon pretty much runs through the same spots in each match, and they are fine, but I am getting tired of them already.

Hechicero v. Soberano Jr.-Must See

Man was this a blast. This was a real Hechicero as rudo maestro performance. Soberano Jr. has some spots and some athleticism, but is probably the greenest guy in a tournament of green guys. They start the match by running through some very nifty and pretty complex mat and standing exchanges. Hechicero is leading him through it clearly, but Soberano is contributing some moments of his own. Soberano gets flipped on to the apron and as Hechicero runs in he goes to flip up kick him, it is a spot that you have seen in a million lucha matches, but the Wizard isn't having it, he grabs the leg and uses it to tie the kid up in the ropes and kick his ass, it was very Finlayish. There were lots of moments like that in this match where the expected thing wasn't what you got.  Soberano hits one dive a beautiful corkscrew plancha, but goes for a rana to the floor, gets caught, powerbombed into the ringpost and chucked into the front row.  Then we get Soberano trying to survive an onslaught, until he is able to roll up Hechicero into a leg lock. Lots of cool moments, a great individual performance, lots of things to like in this match.

4/25

Hechicero v. Star Jr.-Must See

Another very fun Hechicero vs. flyer match, he is a really great base, takes ranas, headscissors and dives really well, and isn't afraid to get nasty. Star Jr. tries his entry in the craziest bump contest as Hechicero powerboms him on the top turnbuckle, bouncing him all the way to the floor. He also corked out a top rope springboard twisting moonsault. Hechicero caught a rana and folded him with a nasty powerbomb. This only goes about five minutes, but it is a nifty five minutes.

Super Halcon Jr. v. Soberano Jr.-Don't Bother

Had a couple of moments, Soberano went really high on a monkey flip and had a nice tope con hilo. Still not much else was good, there was one badly blown spot, and Halcon did his same stuff which I am tired of. He has this really awkward looking tope con hilo where he has this pause before the leap like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon trying to get courage to leap across a building. It never looks good and he keeps doing it.

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En Busca de un Idolo - Week 3

4/15

Cachorro v. Soberano Jr.- Spare Moment

Soberano Jr. is the best of the tourney also rans. He has a really good vertical leap which adds something to his leapfrogs and dives, I imagine he would have made a good Jr. College 2 guard. Cachorro is the other contender for wrestler of this tourney. He doesn't do anything mind blowing here, but he is great at adding little beats, and seasoning to his moves. Only thing that kept this from being higher is the brevity, this only goes about four minutes which is even short for this tourney.

Star Jr. v. Dragon Lee- Must See

These are the two craziest flyers in this tourney. Often flyer v. flyer dream matches don't live up to expectations (I remember being super disappointed by Red v. Jody Fleisch back in the ROH days), however this is pretty much what you want from two crazy lunatics given 8 minutes to kill themselves. Star Jr. wins the bump contest as he dives at Lee who straddling the top rope, Lee moves and Star Jr. does a flip dive splat on the floor, and as he stumbles up he gets cracked by Lee. I actually thought Lee had a couple of nifty mat moves at the beginning including breaking out of a Indian deathlock with a nice forearm. He also put on a cool submission after a top rope armdrag. I would lose my shit if this was on Nitro in 1998 which is my standard for these matches.

4/18

Cachorro v. Cavernario- Must See

Another absolute corker of a match. There are two of the three best guys in this tourney and this is the best match I have seen. We open up with a bunch solidly wrestled exchanges and then the hot death starts. Cavernario opens up with a great through the ringpost tope. A bit later he takes a fun Dick Murdoch back first bump after his legs get caught in the ropes, before getting smashed by Cachorro's bullet tope. Then we get almost as great a one two punch pair of spots as in the Hechicero match, as Cachorro tries another tope, gets bealed head first into the barrier and then eats the Superfly to the floor, which looks like it smushes him like a grilled cheese getting sat on by a fat kid. Another big in ring splash looks like it will finish him, but as Cavernario picks him up for more, Cachorro throws on a flash Fujiwara for the tap. About as good a 9 minute sprint as you are going to see. I have been down on young CMLL for a while, but with guys like Rush, Terrible and Rey Escorpion plus these guys in this tourney, my optimism is rising.

Dragon Lee v. Guerrero Negro Jr.-Must See

Speaking of bright futures, Dragon Lee is 18 years old and debuted in 2014, and is already pretty damn great. I really dug this match, it felt a little chippier then other matches in this tourney, both guys were throwing nasty shots at each other in between spots. Lee hit a great looking Ohtani boot in the corner for example. Lee also absolutely smashed Negro with a tope. There was one awkward moment where Negro went for a double stomp to the floor (after Lee takes a sick clothesline bump on the ring apron) and I can't tell if he hits it or misses it. Lee breaks out a nice Spider german and bridged german to win the match and the more I watch of him, the more he belongs in the top four

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En Busca de un Idolo - Week 1

The CMLL En Busca de un Idolo tourney is the most fun non-WWE thing in wrestling in 2014. Pretty much fun WCWSN lucha style 8 minute matches. I like tourneys (although not lucha tourneys usually), and most of these matches are nice and short, so I figure I will review it all, hoping to catch up by the finals. My Complete and Accurate grades don't really work here (I don't think there are going to be any EPICS for example) so I am going to review them with a Must See, If You Have a Spare Moment, Don't Bother.

3/25

Qualifying Cibernetico (Black Panther, Cachorro, Canelo Casas, Cavernario, Dragon Lee, El Rebelde, Espiritu Negro, Flyer, Guerrero Negro Jr., Hechircero, Herodes Jr., Metalico, Oro Jr., Soberno Jr., Star Jr., Super Halcon Jr.) - Spare Moment

These matches are like Ice Cream Sundae's for the most part. Sweet, will give you a head rush, but not a ton of substance and you definitely don't want too much. This goes 30 minutes +, and while the first couple of bites are great, you are going to have a stomach ache when you are done. It is hard to really focus on one guy, or one crazy dive when the match has 20+ dives. Watching them all, I decided I am pretty much a fan of a simple tope, and there are some great ones here, especially by Panther's kids. Star Jr. gets the most height on his dive and Hechicero takes the biggest bump. It seems like the picked the right 8 guys to advance (although I would have liked to see more Black Panther), but this is a hard platform to judge people on. Plenty of crazy individual moments, and if you just want to see crazy kids do every spot they know this is fine in an ROH scramble kind of way

4/4

Cachorro v. Star Jr. - Must See

Cachorro is the son of Blue Panther and one of the most exciting young wrestlers in the world. Star Jr. is a 20 year old technico with all of the nut up testosterone of a kid that age. Star Jr. looked a little tentative in the exchanges, although he hit them all fine. What you want from Star Jr. is one crazy bump and one crazy dive and you get both as he flies through the ropes head first to the floor and hits a springboard flippy twist. Cachorro throws out his tope although it isn't as crushing as it has been, he also ends with a rana counter leglock which would make his daddy proud. Fun stuff.

Dragon Lee v. Soberano Jr. - Spare Moment 

Parts of this were a bit of a mess, Soberano kind of blows his first big dive, an inside to out asai moonsault which he doesn't clear cleanly and looks like he clips Dragon Lee. There are also off a bit on some of their in ring exchanges. Still this had some cool stuff, Lee is a really graceful flyer and that signature hip toss to the floor bump is one of the crazier signature spots I have seen. Not much to this, but it had enough moments for a mild rec.

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