New Footage Friday: GUERREROS! PANTERA! APACHE! CASAS! FIERA! PIERROTH!

Los Guerreros Del Futuro (Damian El Guerrero/Guerrero del Futuro/Guerrero Maya) vs El Pantera/Filoso/Triton 9/7/93 - FUN

PAS:Solid workman like trios match and a chance to see Black Terry under a mask work this style. Pantera add the flash to the match with a bunch of flips and ranas. Terry(Maya) threw some big overhand chops and clotheslines. Felt more like a time filler then a standout match, but a pleasant way to fill some time.

MD: Perfectly fine trios here, from the Back to the Future music at the start to a motion-heavy finish. As Pantera pops up in this footage, I consistently like what I see. He had the best primera exchange with Futuro, though it also had the most time too. They started with a fun little head-to-head shoving match and moved onto solid matwork with good bridges from Pantera. He also had a nice moonsault press and unique step up wheel kick during the comeback. We didn't get much Maya (Black Terry) there, which was a shame. Really, past a few hard shots, his biggest contribution to the match was being in the right place for the stooging spots later on. The beatdown was fairly subdued, as they kept one rudo in the ring for most of it and kept things in their corner. The match never really exploded but it always kept moving.



El Mestizo/Gran Apache vs Escudero Rojo/Reyes Veloz 9/7/93

MD: It feels good to watch something with stakes and emotions and a hot crowd. This had a lot going for it, three heel control segments (which means three comebacks), Apache putting it all out there, his punches, an exciting, high-stakes finishing stretch, blood and guts. I really liked the end of the primera. The rudos had ambushed at the start and it looked like they were going to get the nod on a double stretch, but Apache came in with a dropkick on both guys. He then laid out one with an awesome punch and teased a dive outside only to turn it into a moonsault back into the ring as Mestizo hit a flip dive off the apron. The second beatdown came after an errant Apache punch which fed into the end of the segunda where once they got the rudos held for the shots, they just didn't stop and get DQed. One nitpick here is that I would have liked some color on the rudos here to help justify the weight of the DQ. Apache and Mesitzo bled (and got their wounds worked over) but the rudos never did. The tercera ended up as a one-on-one fairly quickly and had some pretty exciting post-dive countout teases and near falls, before the finish, where after a couple of missed leaps off the top, Apache had to chase his opponent down before hanging on and dropping him with a German. This is pretty much what you can reasonably hope for when a lost mid-card apuestas match shows up.


PAS: I think the work in this match was pretty basic, although the drama of the hair stipulation and the blood really brought the entire presentation up a big notch. I agree the technicos getting DQ'ed in the segunda was a little weird, this is an apuestas match, the ref has to give them a bit of rope. The third fall was an extended Apache vs. Rojo singles match, which had some real drama to it, interesting to see Apache here, as he really would go on to great things, he wasn't exactly a youngster but this is definitely some of the earliest footage we have of him.

Chamaco Valaguez/Faraón Jr/Oro vs Arkángel de la Muerte/Cachorro Salvaje/Drako 9/10/93

MD: Drako was some mysterious and short-lived North American in the gimmick. We're not sure who. I don't have an answer after watching this but I thought he had solid presence and size with a fairly potent knee shot. They built up a mystique of him going at it with Faraon, Jr. too with some pretty engaging pre-match theatrics. Guys eat falls in CMLL due to the 2/3 structure and he did fall to a German in the segunda but got his heat back (I guess) by getting DQed by wrenching Faraon's head on the top rope in the tercera. It was pretty unfulfilling. Oro was pretty over and had good energy. I liked how big a jerk Cachorro was. Arkangel hit an amazing sit out Rock Bottom to help end the segunda. Drako seemed competent enough that they could have run further with the gimmick. Maybe someday we'll know the story there.

Atlantis/La Fiera/Pierroth Jr vs Black Magic/Mano Negra/Negro Casas 9/10/93


MD: Fantastic stuff. This was building to the Anniversary show, where both Fiera and Casas and Mano Negra and Atlantis would have apuestas matches. They billed Casas, Magic, and Mano Negra as La Ola Negra, which I hadn't heard before. They do tag a handful of times between 92 and 94. This constantly entertaining with the fans very much into it. Fiera is such a perfect Casas opponent, gritty and tough, but with so many different kicks, all of which look good and Casas is so good at dodging one only to eat the next, that sort of thing. Atlantis and Mano Negra brought plenty of hate too, all the way to the mask ripping at the end. The beatdowns were glorious, the comebacks were earned and heated. There was an awesome bit where they picked up Fiera and drove him head first into the first row chairs before tossing Atlantis into the crowd and post match Fiera got revenge on Casas by doing the same. Pierroth and Magic were ok as bit players but this was really about the other four and made me want to go back and watch the 93 Anniversary show again.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE BLACK TERRY

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Matt & Eric, Two Men Discussing Virus, Separately

2017-03-25 @ Arena Coliseo San Ramón, Puebla, Puebla
Virus vs. Prayer

MD: This dropped a few days ago even though it's from a Lucha Memes show back in March. I couldn't tell you the first thing about Prayer, but Virus was, of course, my #10 on the GWE poll last year, which felt crazy at the time and still feels crazy, but was very much a testament to the power of footage (we've got him almost weekly for the last many years, even if he's just in low card trios). I'll say this: after watching this match, I feel all the more validated with the placement.

We're lucky to have as many maestros matches as we do. In those, what they do is so logical and so intricate and so interesting and (probably most importantly) so full of struggle and commitment, that we forgive the half speed nature of so many of them. We see it as part of the fight, that locking a hold on to someone as expert as Blue Panther or Negro Navarro just takes that much more pressure and effort. It takes longer. In some ways, it's a testament that they can go that much more slowly but still make none of it seem collaborative, like playing a song very slowly and thus having to perfect each and every belabored note. 

This was not that at all. For the first two thirds of the match, they were primarily on the mat. There was struggle. There were intricate leverage moves. There were counters and escapes. It was done at far faster pace, was utterly believable, and didn't miss a beat. They were able to portray that same level of mastery but turned up about three gears. So much of this was Virus. You watch him and you wonder just how he sees the world, if time slows down and he can extrapolate out the ways limbs might twist and contort like an sculptor envisioning a masterpiece or a chess champion looking forward six moves. Prayer kept up well enough; he had to do his part, for Virus just manipulating him wouldn't have allowed for this level of speed or sharpness. Ultimately, though, this was a showcase for El Pequeño Gran Maestro, and since he no longer gets as many singles matches in CMLL as he did a few years ago, it's one we're lucky to have.

A few words about the escalation in the match, too. When they went to spots towards the end of the match, none of them were too excessive. None of them needed to be. Staying on the mat (even while increasing the level of peril) meant that a springboard low dropkick could mean as much as a headdrop or a giant dive. It created believable near-falls when that might not work at all with a less disciplined match. Just the testament of someone who really understands how to imbue meaning into his craft. 

I'm glad Virus is still getting opportunities to have matches like this, even if only on the indies, and I'm glad this dropped, even if it dropped a few months after the fact. Check it out.

Virus/Sagrado/Skandalo v. Soberano Jr./Triton/Esfinge (CMLL 3/28/17)

ER: Virus has to be the king of noteworthy performances in throwaway undercard matches. This falls apart a bit in the segunda/tercera, and Skandalo kind of stumbles around and gets in the way through much of this, Sagrado is really quite good as a rudo so I enjoyed all of his moments (his rudo offense is really great, especially that sunset flip counter, a double stomp into a few elbowdrops, hell yes)...but this was all about Virus. The Virus/Esfinge mat stuff that opens the match is really cool, subtly flashy, all of it compelling; but him picking on Soberano is the money of the match, as they work some fast sequences that end with Virus hitting a stiff shoulderblock that sends Soberano bumping backwards and upside down to the floor, then we cut to Sagrado clotheslining Esfinge's shins out from him on the apron, and then back across the ring to catch Virus hitting the mother of all baseball slide dropkicks on a just-waking-up-on-the-floor Soberano. We get another fun Virus/Soberano segment in the tercera, but it's a shame the rest of the match couldn't hold up the level of the primera. But a match with a floor of "So how good is Virus, right?" is still something with value.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Panther Familia, and Kraneo vs. Smaller Men

Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr. & The Panther vs. Misterioso Jr., Bobby Z & Sagrado (CMLL 8/5/16)

This wasn't the match I expected, but I was pleased with the match we got. I was expecting this to be a showcase of everybody's highflying, but man do the dives keep coming. BP's kids get to show off their fast topes, BP himself hits two sturdy and impressive ones, Misterioso gets his nice rolling senton off the apron, Bobby hits a killer plancha to the floor while Panther Jr. is already lying on the floor, and Sagrado hits a mean springboard flip dive. That's not even counting all the numerous springboard and top rope moves into the ring. Then throw in Misterioso's great Cassandro bump and Bobby's big Jerry bump and this match had way more guys leaving their feet than any Sky Team match I've seen. Wild stuff. There's plenty of great character moments, with Sagrado not playing along with Panther Jr. sequences, and Bobby Z's ever-growing unwitting doofus character that is hopefully finally getting bumped up the card. BP and Misterioso have some wonderful sequences, and I especially loved their mat rolls to start. Blue Panther always does at least one little thing I love in his matches that have some primera matwork, and here I loved him rolling backwards and catching Misterioso's ankle on his way over. A small but wonderful part to a fun big spot match.

Kraneo/Hechicero/Sagrado v. Triton/Hombre Bala Jr./Angel de Oro (CMLL 5/10/16)

I love a good rudo team, and that right there is three rudos I like seeing together, and this is the first time we've been lucky to see them together. Hechicero teaming with Kraneo is a beautiful thing, and together they're like Jack Handey's shark riding on an elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see. Sagrado has really found new life as a rudo these last two years, gone are the days of him clumsily blowing tecnico offense, now he's found his calling being an asskicker and bumping great FOR tecnico offense. He takes tons of armdrags from Triton that ramp up faster and faster and make me think my video was glitching and speeding up. I loved all of Hechicero's stuff with Bala, with Bala getting a rare chance to shine (apparently replacing Super Porky, which likely made the match take an entirely different tone than it otherwise would have) as Hechicero takes his ranas and knees with force, and Bala takes all of Hechicero's endless bag of tricks. Loved Hechicero hitting a pointy running knee in the corner, then whipping him with a couple of sick jabs I've never seen him do. Bala mirrors him with a couple of flying knees of his own and Hechicero is great stooging for him. But then Sagrado and Triton get to tear it up on the edges of the camera, with Triton getting flung upside down into the barrier and Sagrado hitting a killer sliding lariat to a slumped-in-the-corner Triton. Kraneo is such an awesome mismatch for most tecnicos, eating and trampling, flattening fliers, elbowing guys off the apron, accidentally booting poor Mije, but he goes down like he got shot for a couple Oro superkicks, really times them perfectly to actually make them look like kicks and not thigh slaps. We get some crazy flying down the stretch, with Triton hitting a big asai moonsault to the floor, and Triton hitting a wild asai tornillo that sees him go upside down through his opponent and possibly onto his own head. And everything ends with Kraneo just flattening Oro with a sick senton which the announcers refer to as a "mega senton". Indeed.

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Lucha Worth Watching: Tournament Lucha!?

Triton & Mistico vs. Rey Bucanero & El Cuatrero (CMLL 3/22/16)

Man, a tournament lucha match that actually gets some heat from the crowd, AND features guys taking silly bumps as if the match actually mattered? Are the Gran Alternativa's always this interesting? It's still tourney lucha so it ain't perfect, or great, or very good, but damn did this exceed some expectations. Triton decides to take a Bucanero shoulderblock like Chris Hamrick and just flies through the ropes to the floor without slowing himself down, then later gets yanked out of the ring onto his stomach and into the barrier. Mistico also didn't get told this was just a tourney as he does this great dead fish sell off a Bucanero clothesline and does things I've never noticed him doing before like a sneaky little drop down during a Bucanero rope run. We get some dives that mostly hit, and most excitedly we get a series of pinfalls that are unexpected. Often in these quick tournament matches, we go through each match with both members of one team getting pinned at the same time. It's an end to a caida you've gotten used to after years of watching lucha. Yet here we get each pinfall staggered, 4 in all, which is something very rare in early tourney matches and helped add to the overall unique feeling of this match. This was a pleasant surprise.

Mascara Dorada & Boby Zavala vs. Mr. Niebla & Volador Jr. (CMLL 4/15/16)

This is from the parejas increibles tourney and I feel like if this had been on WorldWide in '98 it would be one of those legendary syndicated matches. It's just 4 minutes, but Dorada is flat out insane. He starts the match taking two of the highest backdrop bumps you've ever seen (Niebla and Volador tossed him up at the same time), and then takes a big splat hiptoss onto the entrance ramp. Niebla cuts the ring off by just shoving Zavala to the floor, and Dorada runs smack into a Niebla slap. But we do build to one of Dorada's high speed dives and man is it a crazy one, with him flying almost vertically to the floor. Volador gets a nice flip dive, Dorada gets planted with a flip piledriver, Niebla plants Zavala with a big senton, and yeah this would be a legendary C-show WCW match. Watch it thinking about your fond WCW Pro memories. (Match starts at the 1 hour 50 minute portion of the video)

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MLJ: Sombra Spotlight 30: Atlantis, La Sombra, Triton vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Último Guerrero

Aired: 2012-04-28
taped: 2012-04-20 @ Arena Mexico
Atlantis, La Sombra, Triton vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Último Guerrero

We're jumping ahead a couple of months here. I skipped over another Ultimo Guerrero singles match because I didn't want to watch the exact same match again (it probably was). What I was hoping for with this trios was a lead-in to the upcoming Dragon Rojo, Jr. title matches. Unfortunately, the 1 Week Ahead trios match with them isn't online, and that's probably all the build it had. this was close and had both Rojo and Sombra but that wasn't the focal point at all.

Instead, it was Negro Casas vs Atlantis, and this goes back to just how maddening CMLL's booking or lack there of can be. Casas was amazing in this match, just amazing, working rudo in a far more devoted and considerable way than he usually did in the Peste Negra era, playing chickenshit, getting his shots in on Atlantis, hiding behind his partners, just a brilliant performance, and because it was up against Atlantis and not Sombra or Triton, the crowd bought into it. Any other night, they'd probably be cheering for Casas in the same way that crowds tend to cheer for old man Flair no matter what, because he's that charismatic relative to everything else around him and because he's a legend. Atlantis is a legend too, though, and he's as tecnico as tecnico can be in this day and age. All well and good, right? Here's a trios with them up against each other, with the payoff deferred and delayed throughout the match until Casas was finally able to sneak out a dirty finish. That'd obviously lead to a heated singles match, be it a title match or just a mano a mano one, or maybe even an Apuestas (though, of course, Casas had JUST lost his hair in the Blue Panther draw). Nope. There's no sign that they had a blow off to this, or even an escalation. CMLL strikes again.

Past that, it was sort of business as usual for a match like this. They ran Guerrero vs Triton with basic and servicable matwork to start, ending with the rudo swarm. The best thing here was Casas throwing some crazy headbutts at Atlantis. I've seen hundreds of matches where he didn't use those headbutts but they made sense here and they were nasty and visually compelling due to the contrast of the white mask, and they worked. This ended with some of this era GdI spots, including the alley oop into Dragon Rojo's missile dropkick and the senton de la muerte in the corner, made all the better by Rojo putting his foot down upon Triton's foot to hold him there in the set up (which I'd not seen before but it's the little things that matter).

And lots and lots of Negro Casas being an awesome, loathesome rudo.

It all ended with the afformentioned nefarious mask-pulling and rolling up and I wish there was a singles match, but what can you do?

Sombra, here, was very effective as sort of the second tecnico in the match. He was in there to do some big spots, to eat GdI offense with Triton, to keep the match moving and add some excitement, to try to do his best to help Atlantis get his hands on Casas, and to hit the dive at the end. Speaking of little things, during an exchange against Dragon Rojo and Ultimo Guerrero, I like how he made an extra little grab at Rojo, one that had to be reversed, before doing some of the stock miscommunication spots. It was a tiny thing but it added just a little bit of struggle to something that often comes off as choreographed (benignly, mind you).

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Lucha Worth Watching 1/22/16 & 2/2/16

Blue Panther vs. Reapper (CMLL 1/22/16)

I couldn't imagine putting this on our MOTY list, but I also couldn't ever imagine not wanting to watch a Blue Panther singles match that gets 9 minutes. Opponent doesn't matter to me in that instance. You tell me "9 minute BP singles match" and I'm already following the link. Panther is old and has some things he hits in every match, but he's also not afraid to take risks during matches like this. Some stuff works, some doesn't, and it's always neat to see his process. Here he and Reapper do an odd extended martinete reversal segment that was more struggling than smooth, felt like guys weirdly fighting to be in odd positions, ending with Reapper in sort of a backpack, and every step of the way I was wondering where they were headed. Loved Panther's fast dive at the end, loved them playing around with little leglocks, love his beautiful middle rope rana, and love Panther's flash Fujiwara to end things. Your life would roll on just fine without matches like this, but I always love just seeing Panther be Panther.

Virus, Cancerbero & Raziel vs. Triton, Oro Jr. & Pegasso (CMLL 2/2/16)

I love when matches take an unexpected turn, no matter how slight. You're watching a match, in your comfort zone, and suddenly the tone shifts or moods change, and it kind of snaps you forward in your chair a little. Here I was watching match 3 of a 6 match Tuesday CMLL show, 80% watching Triton and Raziel go through some lucha single leg exchanges that wouldn't look much out of place if they were just roll practicing in the gym. And then all of a sudden Triton stands up and just hands-free headbutts Raziel. And then Raziel returns the favor. And then they start throwing nasty chops and elbows to each other's chest, and then I am suddenly 100% invested in match 3 of a 6 match Tuesday CMLL show. And then we just get a delightful little classic rudo vs. tecnico battle with some flippy guys vs. the black clad rudos. And Virus is a good guy to lead a couple of black clad rudo bullies. They're like Team Iceland in Mighty Ducks 2, except Virus' has more engaging hockey fight offense. Marvel as he lariats the piss out of Pegasso a couple of times. Watch Cancerbero work like a chubby lost Dinamita. See Oro Jr. have maybe his most fun and consistent performance ever, as he flawlessly breaks out a couple of gorgeous armdrags (him doing a full 360 around Cancerbero's arm before tossing him off in a different direction looked killer). Glimpse Triton getting held in the ropes by the goons as Virus lunges off the opposite rope and dropkicks him square in the taint, sending him sprawling hard onto the entrance. Look on in amazement as Pegasso sets up a dogshit Scoot Andrews tribute "Hey Virus please balance yourself across the middle rope but like hang your torso into the ring a bit so I can jump on you" legdrop and just as you roll your eyes Triton then actually makes the spot work by HOLDING VIRUS BY THE LEGS so he was actually trapped in the ropes as Pegasso did his 2001 ECWA Tuesday Night Tribute. This whole thing was fun as hell, and more maddening proof that you must watch EVERY lucha trios match, because you never know which ones are going to give you that magic. Stupid lucha.

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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 Workrate Round-Up 10/10/14 & 7/20/14

1. Kraneo, Mr. Niebla & Shocker vs. Marco Corleone, Diamante Azul & Valiente (10/10/14)

Short and sweet match with tons of great Kraneo moments. Not only is Kraneo really great, but I think he brings the best out in guys like Niebla. Niebla is not as good as Kraneo, but nobody wants to be the dog of the match. Kraneo is just a total beast though and also makes opponents look great. He spectacularly ends a fall with a wild senton off the top, but also takes a massive bump to the floor off a Marco clothesline, really whipping himself over the top super fast, but also does little detail rudo things like holding Corleone in place by *grabbing his balls from behind*!! Then casually walking off tapping his own inner thigh to the boos of the crowd. Marco kicks things up a notch too in his work opposite Kraneo as he's really the only luchador in CMLL who can match him for size (although Thunder is pretty huge as well), and Marco logically uses his size in the tercera to wipe out Kraneo/Niebla with his huge no hands plancha, this time from ring to floor (instead of his usual ramp to ring). Kraneo is a bull and these kind of matches are almost always worth watching to see what he'll do.

2. Rush, La Sombra & La Mascara vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Thunder & Euforia (10/10/14)

Also quick and to the point, with Ingobernales going over in straight falls, but it is notable for an actual spirited and fine tecnico appearance from Thunder. Thunder is a guy who has not really registered with me so far, other than "hey that guy is large and muscle-y" but here at the end of the primera there he was out on the floor dishing stiff shots to Ingobernales. UG is a guy I like but here he just works like UG, rudo or tecnico, just UG here. Thunder actually worked like a tecnico who had been disrespected by these douchey coveralls wearing punks. You knew what you were getting from the rudos in this, but I was pleasantly surprised by the tecnico I knew least about.

3. Metalico, Cancerbero & Raziel vs. Oro Jr., Starman & Triton (7/20/14)

I love when little matches like this exceed non-existent expectations. Nobody ever expects anything out of a third match on a Sunday card. I've seen dozens of these and most of the time they are exactly what you think they're going to be. I mean look at those 6 names. That is a list of maybe the 6 most "also rans" on any given CMLL midcard. If I asked you "hey name 10 luchadors whose names you always see in results and stuff but you don't actually go out of your way to watch" there is a good chance all six of those names pop up on that top 10. And then occasionally those kind of guys give you get a fun little gem like this one where everybody works hard and seems like they're all trying to stand out. Metalico was a little ball of rage here. Up until now if somebody had asked me about Metalico I would have told them that he was definitely one of the top 5-10 guys in CMLL with a Tiger gimmick. But here he was a total asshole southern heel. He stiffed up all the tecnicos and especially targeted Oro Jr., was constantly taking cheap shots at guys on the apron, and was cursing and spitting at the crowd from the apron, and begging off in the tercera. He was wrestling like a guy who just got laid off but was then asked to finish out the week, oh and also we won't be giving you a recommendation. Oro Jr. was a fun punching bag and took some mean bullying from all the rudos. His "pushed too far" moment was satisfying. Starman hits a wild tope (I think Phil may have dubbed this year the "Return of the Classic Lucha Tope" and this one can be added onto that list) and this match was just unexpectedly fun. And damn man, Metalico. I like this guy pissed off. It was kind of a weird out of nowhere performance as I don't ever remember him doing this stuff before, and other guys in the match were still trying to have a traditional lucha match, but shoot Metalico's act would have played well on the 80s Memphis set.

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MLJ: Cavernario Spotlight 8: Esfinge, Gallo, Tritón vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Nitro, Nosferatu

Aired 2014-01-04
taped 2013-12-25 @ Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
Esfinge, Gallo, Tritón vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Nitro, Nosferatu

I like this because it sort of takes me full circle. Some of those early Cavernario matches were with Esfinge and Gallo and we're back to them. This reminded me of a lot of similar matches I've sen lately. There was a lot of good stuff here but some of the execution was off. Usually, though there's a bit of a balance. If the execution is off, it'll be off the whole match but the level is about equal so it doesn't actually hurt things too much. Basically, you know what you're getting. Here, though, they started strong, had a strong middle, but then sort of fell apart by the end due primarily to basic talent levels and maybe getting a bit overexcited or blown up.

Lots of good matwork to begin, surprisingly good really. I liked Nosferatu (who, if not new to me, is someone I've only seen once or twice) and Esfinge's exchange since they started with some more basic work, a top wristlock test of strength and even rolling around on the ring a bit in a front facelock. It was basic but well worked and sort of stood out in context since you don't always see such things in lucha. Then Cavernario and Triton came in and did much higher level work; it felt a lot like a shooty exhibition of grabbing legs and finding escapes. My only problem with it was that it didn't quite escalate the way I wanted.

Nitro and Gallo was a bit more high impact, a bit less smooth. Gallo really feels like the sort of local hero you'd get on an indy show in the US. The crowd is into him and he'll puff up (pun intended, but it's true!) to make sure he gets every little bit he can out of it. The transition was great. He knocked Nitro out and went for a tope but Nosferatu dropkicked him from the apron as his head went out between the ropes. Then the swarm began.

This had a very good beatdown that felt like it got a couple of extra minutes and used them well. The rudos were showing off and posturing and having fun while beating the crap out of the tecnicos. There was a lot of clowning the tecnicos, be it by offering a handshake and a hug before ambushing or faking a foul to get a moment's distraction (even when they didn't need it) before ambushing. It was fun and by the end of it, the tecnicos didn't even know which way to look when they came in. Eventually Nitro powerbombed gallo and put on a crab/arm pull(that probably has a name too) for the caida. They'd continue on into the segunda, really controlling the flow and the match. Gallo tried to fight back but got pushed down. Esfinge would try to dropkick in but miss. Eventually Esfinge flipped over on a corner toss and ducked out of an attempt to hold and hit him allowing Triton to fly in with a rana and a pin and Esfinge himself to springboard back in with a splash (as Gallo heroically chased the retreating Nitro) for the segunda.

Unfortunately, it all fell apart after the comeback. To be fair, I thought Cavernario looked pretty good. Cavernario's highlights were dodging a backflip off the rope with perfect timing, taking soem dubious offense from Triton very well, and managing to end up first stuck in the ropes for a nasty sliding dropkick and then through them in a great Hamrick bump before he caught a nice Asai Moonsault by Triton. Unfortunately, no one else looked good. There were some rough rope running segments, some really dubious and barely hit armdrags, and a brutally botched roll up by Gallo and Nitro. It's a shame too because I was feeling it.

I'm going to go away from Cavernario for a while now. My biggest takeaway from these matches, however, is that he was really quite good, even a few years back. There were some things that he still did that needed work; for instance, he'd have great mat exchanges that didn't really build to a resolution or the chop exchanges that were sometimes there for the sake of it, but he was such an enjoyable part of a lot of these matches. He played his character so well and brought a lot of color to trios where it was really needed. I think he was ready to explode and I'm glad that he ended up with the opportunity to.

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MLJ: Cavernario Spotlight 7: Sagrado, Stigma, Tritón vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Cancerbero, Raziel

Aired 2013-12-15
taped 2013-12-02 @ Arena Puebla
Sagrado, Stigma, Tritón vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Cancerbero, Raziel

I swear that if I watch enough of these matches I'll start to be able to figure out the difference between Titan and Triton. One difference here is that Triton came out with a clown mask over his normal one as if he lost a bet? I bet that feud between Titan, Triton, and Shocker and Atlantis, Delta, and Guerrero Maya Jr from 2011 was fun. I don't think I could handle too many of those matches right now, though.

Anyway, this was another mid-card Monday Puebla match, but the trend I've been seeing here is that these tend to get a couple extra minutes and it leads to more complete matches than a lot of the more polished stuff with bigger names. It's a trade-off. These tend to be a little more imaginative both in offense and in transitions, but there tend to be more little flubs and moments of disconnect as well.

This was one of my first looks at Cancerbero and Raziel too and I came out liking them for their spot on the card. It took me a second to figure out which was which, but thankfully not only is Raziel smaller, he was also shirtless and had a big R on his mask. See, I'm getting good at lucha watching. Sagrado was new to me too. He was a little larger and matched up with Cancerbero pretty well, with both of them hitting some impressive spots for their relative size.

The primera had all the time it needed to be enjoyable. Triton and Cavernario started with some intense and competitive matwork. Sagrado and Cancerbero followed up and didn't stick up the joint and then Raziel and Stigma had a faster exchange. It all ended with a bunch of dive teases that were cut off by the rudos as they went around the cycle allowing Stigma to recover enough to hit Hijo del Santo's full rotation 'rana sunset flip (does that have a name?) for the caida.

The segunda started even and led into a pretty good rudo beatdown. Cavernario probably does the standing chop-off too much; it's in almost all of his matches, but the fact he's one of the only guys in CMLL that does it every match makes it mean more if every wrestler was doing it every match. I liked the transition. Cavernario tried to rip Triton's shirt off as part of the chopfest and it got stuck. No idea if this was intentional or not, but it left him prone to a swarming and shifted the momentum. Sagrado had a lot of character, actually. In the segunda he made sure to fight back and lose during the beat down which not everyone does and in the tercera he actually unsuccessfully hulked up a few times. He had a sort of local hero vibe to him. I wouldn't call it good, in and of itself, but it could work as part of a unit. I see he's teamed a bunch with Valiente which was my first thought but I could totally get behind a Valiente, Sagrado, Mistico trio. Anyway, the caida ended with Cavernario hitting the splash to the outside which let the others submit Sagrado, and that's great, because anytime Cavernario hits that splash it SHOULD end a fall.

More beatdown into the tercera but it was good. There was the hulking up and an always fun handshake fakeout to set up an ambush. Raziel and Cancerbero worked well together. Raziel hit a ridiculous pumphandle move too. Finally Stigma did an assisted handspring off the ropes to start the comeback which had a lot of sort of sloppy sequence but was servicable and gets a B+ for effort. After another cut off or two, Sagrado finally got to hit his dive too. Raziel and Stigma ended it with a roll-up fest finishing with another one of those Santo sunset flips before Camorra (I have no idea who Camorra is) ran to the edge of the ramp to distract Stigma letting Raziel pin him. This had its warts but I really do enjoy watching matches like this now and again to break up whatever else I'm watching. There's a lot of effort here and they use the formula very well to their advantage.

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MLJ: Cavernario Spotlight 5: Black Metal, Pegasso, Tritón vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Espíritu Maligno, Skandalo

Aired 2013-07-17
taped 2013-06-24 @ Arena Puebla
Black Metal (Guadalajara), Pegasso, Tritón vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Espíritu Maligno, Skándalo

It's actually a lot of fun to watch some of these lower card, more provincial matches. This, for instance, was given a ton of time, and while it had some unpolished work, it was for the most part competent and I'm glad I saw it. In some ways the lack of the sort of polish you get with the upper card workers was what made it so interesting.

Triton almost felt like he was slumming here, but I could be wrong about that. I spent a chunk of a match being unable to figure out him out from Black Metal, and while that inspires a lovely sort of nostalgia in me of not being able to tell one luchador from another, it did get a little old by mid match. Skandalo is good at what he does, which is mainly kick people in the crotch and serve as a perfectly acceptable base for his opponents. There was one match in May of 2013, right before this one actually, where Skandalo and Kraneo were on different sides and it didn't make tape; that's got to be one of the great losses of our decade right there.

Structurally, this was A-B, B-A, C, which is to say that there was a pretty even shine with a slight tecnico advantage, followed by the rudos catching the tecnicos out of nowhere to end the primera, then a long beat down, followed by a quick comeback to end the segunda, and then a back and forth tercera leading into a finish. I'm not saying it's the best possible structure for a trios match, but it's definitely the most straightforward and by its nature, it's both fun and effective.

Here, given the time that the match got, everything was able to breathe. We had fully developed opening exchanges between Triton and Cavernario, Maligno and Black Metal, and Skanadlo, and Pegasso, the first two being mat based and pretty solid. I really like Cavernario's sliding leg pick. It broke down in the end, with the tecnicos gaining an advantage, but they ended up caught after an over-complicated alley oop into a powerbomb with Cavernario simultaneously hitting a great looking belly to back into a sort of pumphandle slam for three.

This, after a slight delay where it looked like the tecnicos were going to immediately fight back, led to an extended beat down, and to be honest, it might have gone on a little too long. The rudos worked well together and the tecnicos fed back into the ring one at a time, believably, to get beaten. Skandalo's offense where he had his partners hold his opponents in complex positions so he can dropkick them in ridiculous ways probably stood out the most.

Finally, the tecnicos came back by reversing a poetry in motion attempt in a triple corner charge. It was a nice spot, but loads of dropped selling. It didn't feel like an adrenaline burst or the rudos overextending and getting their comeuppance. It was just time to shift gears so Black Metal was magically recovered enough to hit the spot. A lot of matches manage that element of it better. The best part was Cavernario tripped into his Hamrick bump through the ropes but ending up stuck there so that he could eat a second rope legdrop while dangling. It looked far more organic than it should have been.

The tercera was back and forth with mostly solid exchanges. There was a Black Metal vs the World segment which could have worked better. Metal ended up flubbing a bit too much including a kip up. In the end the rudos took the advantage again but stumbled into a few miscommunication spots, allowing Black Metal and Triton to fly in with arm drags and follow them up with some great, giant dives. That cleared the ring for Pegasso to try to win it, but he was caught by Skandalo and his reverse pile driver to end the match. Not a great match but a fun one and a decent enough way to kill 25 minutes. Cavernario played his role well, as usual: solid in opening exchanges, in cut offs during beat downs, and in being clowned by the tecnicos when it's time to show ass.  

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 7/6/14

So this week we appear to catch back up to the previous schedule (not sure what the 6 month flashback was all about, but lucha gonna lucha). These matches were all from the 6/8/14 Arena Coliseo show.

1. Puma, Skandalo & Metalico vs. Triton, Oro Jr. & Sagrado

Boy, just about as forgettable a match as you can get. Most CMLL guys have enough talent where if they're given a decent amount of time they can through together something suitable. And even though this was straight falls, it was still given over 10 minutes. And there was practically nothing memorable about it at all. Skandalo did that thing where he targets a guy's taint the whole match, so poor Oro got kicked in the taint a couple times. Triton broke out wretched early 2000s Scoot Andrews offense. Sagrado has improved less than anybody else in CMLL in the last decade. Oro Jr. did the most hilariously bad missed dropkick you've ever seen. You know that overused missed lucha dropkick? The one that happens so much that you just accept it as part of lucha instead of recognizing how awful it looks? The one where a guy kind just jumps up and lands on his tummy, basically to get into position for somebody else to do offense? It always looks bad, some guys make it look less worse. But Oro Jr. took the bad missed lucha dropkick to levels of high art here. To get into position he just dropkicked gently into the center of the ring, with no other wrestlers within 7 feet of him. Anybody watching would have had no reason to believe he was attempting to hurt somebody. It's like he just took a really bad bump from a move that never happened. So…I guess something memorable did happen!

2. Lightning Match: Valiente vs. Vangellys

Too short to be much of anything, shorter than a lot of lightning matches. Valiente blasted Vangellys with a couple of consecutive dives, although that might have been because Vangellys stumbled a bit on the catch of the first one, so when Valiente hit him he looked like he sold it by kind of tripping over a lady's purse in the aisle. For all I know Valiente was like "dude we're doing that again and you're gonna bump down the aisle).

3. Blue Panther, Fuego & La Mascara vs. Virus, Niebla Roja & Comandante Pierroth

Boy that's a WAR-like random assemblage of 6 guys right there. And hey look at that, the match was really fun. Everybody got a chance to do their thing, so we got Panther doing some fun mat stuff with Pierroth, Fuego being a nice punching bag for Virus and Pierroth. Virus was easily the star of this as he always knew what tone to hit at the right time. He stooged for Panther (though really would have rather seen them tear it up), bullied Mascara and especially Fuego, even threw in some comedy when Mascara  took his shirt off and soaked in lady squeals, Virus teased his own shirt removal before shoulder tackling Mascara's knees. Plenty of neat Virus "little things" on display here. He really throws himself into everything, and it adds to the match that he also does that on planned misses. He cuts low on missed clotheslines and leveled teammate Roja with a nasty elbow on a miscommunication spot (you know, as if he was actually aiming for the guy he was supposed to hit and wasn't expecting him to move, sending him into his own guy). Fuego ended it on a real slick trapped leg Russian leg sweep rolled into a snug submission. Looked cool.

4. Negro Casas, Rey Escorpion & Felino vs. Rush, Maximo & Atlantis

Another short match, fitting 3 falls into about 9 minutes. I mean, there was a lot of action, but when the whistle blows and there's only 10 minutes left in the episode you kinda know you're not about to watch a classic. This is kind of an odd match as Casas works most of it rudo and Rush works most of it tecnico but it's pretty clearly opposite when they're opposing each other. So Rush was kind of tecnico for half the time, except when he was being kicked a bunch by Casas. Not enough Escorpion. Escorpion/Rush would have been an interesting pairing, I don't remember the last time I've seen them oppose each other. Also, I just don't want to see Felino on TV anymore. I'm getting sick of the ceiling being "well Felino wasn't entirely miserable to watch during this match". He ran the ropes nicely at one point here. His comedy (?) is very much not funny.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 6/1/14

These matches were all from the 5/18 Arena Mexico show. I wish they would go back to showing Coliseo shows, but for whatever reason it looks like they've run a couple Sunday Arena Mexico shows. Still these LATV shows are nice as the Sunday afternoon matches always get way more time to breathe than the Friday night ones. We get more matwork and guys don't seem to rush to get all their stuff in nearly as much.

Virus, Tiger & Polvora vs. Black Panther, Triton & Stigma

Just what I was saying about more mat stuff, and the primera here features long Tiger/Triton segments and most excitedly a Virus/Black Panther mat off. Triton's stuff is kind flashy and substance free on the mat, but Tiger is really good and had some leg picks and always finds cool ways to tie up guys at the ankles and wrists. Virus vs. Panther was awesome as both can go and the work looks super cool. I'm glad Panther has gotten so much mat time in his first real year, and even more glad that Virus has gotten tons more mat time as the year has gone on. He was in some more spotty trios at the start of the year but he's had a lot more mat focus the last month plus. Stigma is a guy who I don't think I've ever seen pop up on TV before. Pretty sure he's a Puebla guy but not sure how long he's been on the main roster. He hits a killer slingshot rana to the floor so he has my attention. Stigma in general seems to be in the role of hitting unsuspecting rudos with ranas on the floor, as later he surprises Virus with one off the apron. Stigma hits a pretty wild Valiente springboard moonsault to the floor, but really as long as Virus is in the fed nobody else should be doing that. His is too fast and too pretty. Panther's stuff with Tiger and Virus is the (predictable) highlight of this. Virus is an awesome guy to watch against rookies as he seems like he takes pride in working circles around them, but it never looks like he's showing them up or trying to make them look like trash. It looks like they hang with him, but aren't quite there yet. This didn't quite hit next level, but you knew with some of the guys involved it would be worth it, and it was.

Euforia, Niebla Roja & Gran Guerrero vs. Rey Cometa, Marco Corleone & Titan

Interesting that Marco's left hand is treated as more of a normal punch now. I'm not sure when that change happened. It used to be a spot that rudos would run from or get KO'd by, now here he hits three straight on Gran Guerrero just to back him into a corner. I love Gran Guerrero's baseball slide dropkick that sends dudes crashing and burning off the apron, and Cometa gets into position for it better than anybody else I've seen. He actually looked like he was struggling to get away from the apron while being held in place, unlike most guys who clearly lie still bracing themselves for impact. And Cometa goes flying into the ring barrier and it looks great. Titan seems to always overshoot guys on his flip dives. I'm not sure if this is the catcher or small sample bias or what, but it seems like every flip dive sees him glance off the rudos' shoulder and splat face first into the barricade. It could be Roja is a bad catcher. But Cometa's always seem to hit flush. The Cometa/Euforia stuff in this was a blast. Euforia hits a sweet floppy armdrag and Euforia responds by knocking his fillings loose with a clothesline. Poor placement though as right afterwards Cometa hits a silly handspring headscissors. Niebla Roja wins me over by merely stepping out of the way of Titan's handstand headscissors. He just walks around it and still gets caught by a rana, but this is growth people. And gee whiz Cometa almost dies horrifically taking a flapjack slam off the top rope. He initially came down a little head heavy but luckily landed more on his chest/stomach. It looked nasty as is, but could have been fatal.

Rush, La Sombra & La Mascara vs. Mascara Dorada, Valiente & Volador Jr.

Damn I cannot recall the last time I saw such a one-sided beatdown in lucha. This match was allll Rush's team for the first 10 minutes, until the tecnicos got about 30 seconds before Rush did a combo ball punch/schoolboy to win the whole thing. Seriously there was just no hope for the good guys in this one. It was 10 minutes of Rush and Sombra standing on dudes throats while Mascara tossed off superkicks to unsuspecting victims. Rush and Sombra were dickhead extraordinaires in this, jut beating down all the tecnicos from the word go and never letting up. At one point Sombra throws like 8 straight awesome knees in the corner and it's strange watching a match with no comeback in sight for the good guys. At one point you felt the comeback bubbling, and Rush just cuts everything off and you can just kinda feel all hope slowly draining out of things, like in Bad Lietenant when things start horribly for Harvey Keitel and the whole film just gets worse for him.

Lucha libre as Abel Ferrara urban crime cinema everybody! According to the judges I just got a triple word score for "Worst Possible Simile"! Thanks for reading, everybody!

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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 5/11/14

These matches were from the 4/27 Arena Mexico show, billed as the Arena Mexico 58th Anniversary, and also Kids Day! Traditionally I know that there have been a lot of fun matches on Kids Day, so hopefully that's true here. Anniversary show and a Kids Day show, should equal something worthwhile.

Negro Casas, Barbaro Cavernario & Mr. Niebla vs. Maximo, Titan & Super Porky

Fun but inconsequential match. I've been one of the longer term Porky supporters, but at this point it sure seems like he mostly gets in the way as opposed to adding much. A lot of his trios feature long segments focusing on him and it can really drag things. I'm thinking his tecnico work with Escorpion may have been his late career peak. Maximo had a real shining performance here, working in his schtick (along with a bunch of rarely busted out schtick such as fainting into Niebla's arms when Niebla charged him). Maximo got to work some cool arm drag reversal segments with Casas, and Casas isn't a guy I've seen Maximo work very long segments with so that was cool. We've all seen what Cavernario can do now that the Busca is over, so it was kind of a bummer to watch him play 3rd fiddle in his team here. I much rather would have seen him tearing it up with Titan and Maximo (which we did get a little bit of, with him catching a nice Titan rana off the apron on the floor) but instead we got some assbiting comedy spots as if it was a midget match at the county fair. Of course we also got Casas performing violent CPR on Kemonito, so the comedy wasn't a total wash. Casas pounding on Kemonito's chest and listening for a heartbeat, combined with Maximo's performance among other things kept this worthwhile.



Reyes Del Aire, w/ Puma, Tiger, Ephesto, Averno, Mephisto, Niebla Roja, Valiente, Stuka Jr., Rey Cometa, Guerrero Maya Jr., Triton & Delta

Nice seeing Maya back on TV, feels like it's been a few months. He and Mephisto get a fun sequence together, fun armdrags and some brief quirky mat stuff. Valiente/Ephesto is the burliest possible match up this match can give me, and they deliver immediately. Ephesto levels Valiente with a sweet flying back elbow, Valiente does the fastest Fuerza bump to the floor and immediately gets smashed by an Ephesto tope. More please. Tiger is really great at occupying himself while Cometa flips all around him, missing moves and making it really look like Cometa is one step ahead of him, and he makes Cometa look like a star by bumping his slick rana on the floor. The dives start coming fast, with Cometa hitting his awesome tornillo on Puma, but then Maya completely obliterating Roja with a flip dive. He just plastered him into the barricade, hitting him horizontally and with insane speed. One of the most awesome dives I can recall. Just Roja taking a cannonball to the chest. Triton starts going off, springing all over the ropes like a spider monkey, ending with him hitting a wild moonsault to the floor. Things slow down a bit and we get a couple too soon eliminations, with Triton, Maya and Ephesto getting the boot. Maya especially I was hoping would go long. Cometa runs face first into a Puma superkick that folds him right in half (it's fine, since Cometa just hits his own seconds later. d'oh.), but the Puma submits him much to my surprise. I assumed Cometa would be around at the end. And Valiente punishes Puma for the elimination by hitting a stout man tope. God the dives in the match have been incredible. Poor Tiger hardly gets to shine in this, and then gets eliminated by Delta, having to do that old stupid Scoot Andrews/Billy Kidman "I'm draped over the middle rope killing time while you jump off onto me" that I thought people had retired by now. He makes poor Averno go through the exact same fucking thing minutes later. It's a cool double foot stomp, but man do the poor rudos look dorky seated on the middle rope waiting to be leapt on. Retire this move set up!!! Puma and Valiente find neat ways to give each other weird chest breakers, that kind of defy all believable physics if you think about them for more than a second (so just don't do that and enjoy Puma taking Valiente's knees to his chin). Valiente Especial is still spectacular and it's a wonder he hasn't died doing this yet. That's a lot of man crashing upside down into other men at very high speeds. Mephisto and Stuka are weird finalists. Not Stuka really, but Mephisto is maybe the last rudo in this match I wanted to see work the extended finale. They work okay together, but really would have liked to see Puma or Tiger be the final rudo since those guys have really come on strong this year. It would have been nice to see them get some extended time. Still this was almost a half hour of awesome dives and cool moves, probably what a lot of us originally thought lucha was going to be like whenever it was that we all started watching lucha (personally, when I started watching lucha in 1998 I assumed it would be a lot like the luchador matches on WCW Saturday Night. I assume I wasn't the only one who thought that way). This is well worth going out of your way to watch. Tons of fun.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 4/26/14

These matches were all from the 4/11 Arena Mexico show.

Blue Panther, Valiente & Diamante Azul vs. Terrible, Vangellys & Rey Bucanero

Primera gives us a bunch of Blue Panther/Terrible mat work and it rules. This is maybe the most I've ever seen Terrible hit the mat, and definitely one of Panther's longer mat rolls of the year. It's all really good stuff too, with Terrible working around a keylock and Panther finding ways to reverse out of it. Panther breaks out a cool British style backspin wristlock and a smooth arm drag into a headscissor lock. Terrible yanks on his arm a bunch and BP does simple little things to relieve pressure such as grab his own wrist. Terrible at one point floats over out of a BP head scissors to grab a headlock in one motion. Just a bunch of cool mat stuff from two guys I don't recall going at it on the mat (Terrible almost always sticks to brawling so him looking so damn good on that mat just makes me a bigger Terrible fan). We cut to a Mexican girl in the crowd wearing an Arctic Monkeys trucker hat. That's weird. The match overall is shorter than I would have liked, but was crammed with a bunch of cool moments, even after the awesome Panther/Terrible twisting. Terrible did leaping punches to guys in corners, Valiente plastered Bucanero into the barricade with a dive, Comandante looks slimmed down and was on point with the interference, Terrible kicked some guys in the taint in vicious style (Panther even sold it like he was guesting on Chavo, with an incredible Ay Dios Mio hard sell eyeroll into the back of his head, right at the camera). Killer match.

Puma, Misteriso Jr. & Boby Zavala vs. Fuego, Triton & Sagrado

This might be the absolute shortest three fall lucha match I have ever seen. Maybe Lucha Azteca clipped it (I can't get Dailymotion to play at the moment to see the real match time) but this whole thing was 3 falls in 5 minutes, and that's including the replays of how each fall ended. What in the actual fuck? Misterioso had a cool inverted powerslam, Zavala caught a Triton rana from the ring to the floor, Triton took a cool apron-to-floor bump, Sagrado continued to hold his crown as worst CMLL wrestler (going on several years now), Puma is great and we're done. Where was the fire? (aside from on Fuego's pants)

Rush, Rey Escorpion & La Sombra vs. Negro Casas, Maximo & Volador Jr.

Relevos Increibles matches are almost always fun, as you get to see tecnicos working like rudos and some cool match dynamics. And this match is a blast. Rey Escorpion is a dickhead, you knew that. Rush is a dickhead, you knew that. But La Sombra working rudo is a new favorite of mine. He chose to work rudo not long ago in a singles match against Volador which took a match I was expecting to dread and turned it into something that was super fun (until Volador invincibility took over). Casas is such a joyful rudo that I forget how sympathetic he can be as a tecnico, and how killer his triumphant comebacks can be. You come for Rush stomping and kicking Negro Casas a bunch, and you stay for Sombra being a jerk. At one point he teased taking his shirt off, and when squeals started up he slowly rolled his shirt back down. Yes. Sombra is a total shit kicker here, at one point just destroying Volador into the corner with rapid fire successive left and right elbows (which Volador threatened to ruin with his goof troop dazed selling). Sombra needs to be a rudo NOW. Ever since Volador turned tecnico and also turned horrible the promotion has been missing a highflier/rudo presence. As advertised, Casas took a big beating here, with Rush and Escorpion stomping on him with glee, all leading up to a brief but fired up Casas comeback that saw him thrust headbutt Rush to the floor. Alas, as he's going for his Thesz press off the apron Rush catches him and plants him with a powerbomb on the floor, taking him out of the tercera. Sombra tapes Volador to the corner in real menacing fashion and I like Volador fighting back by catching him with one last superkick, before he gets ganged up on and wins by DQ.  I really dug this. Strong rudo/tecnico dynamics from some real charismatic guys.

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My Lucha Journey: La Sombra, Mistico, Tritón vs. Averno, Mephisto, Puma

CMLL on CadenaTres: 2014-04-05
taped 2014-04-01 @ Arena México
La Sombra, Mistico, Tritón vs Averno, Mephisto, Puma

I've seen a decent amount of Averno lately, but I had no idea that he was mystically turned to he dark side by Satanico until I did some research. He's Bob Roop/Maya Singh. That's pretty awesome. I have no idea what his shirt means. Anyway, from what I've seen so far, he's a rudo's rudo, just a real nasty bad guy who revels in being a jerk without getting the crowd behind him like Negro Casas does. Mephisto's his buddy (also a Satanico-transformed good guy?) and Puma is Felino's kid. I've seen him and his brother round out trios as sort of athletic upstart underlings. Triton has a cool mask that reminds me of Matthew Lesko's infomercial question mark jacket for some reason. Sombra I've seen once or twice and he did pretty well in the title match I saw him beat Negro Casas in. Mistico is Mistico, of course. I really want to go back and see the original at some point. He's got a great theme/look/entrance/aura, successor or not.

I'm pretty sure this match is to set up a title defense for Mistico vs Averno the following week by having the rudos go over strong and by enraging both Mistico and the fans against Averno to heat things up. So the rudos go over in two straight caidas, ripping the hell out of Mistico's mask in the process. This prompts Averno to taunt Mistico who is definitely ready to defend his belt later on but also wants to make a challenge right then and there. Averno accepts but it's both a tease and a prodding as he rips the mask off the rest of the way and Mistico has to cover up. Revenge and emotional satisfaction will have to be deferred until the title match. Money will be spent.

The match itself is really enjoyable, at least to me who hasn't seen much of this stuff. Averno's team dominates throughout, ambushing the tecnicos even to the point where the ring girls have to scatter which I haven't seen nearly as much as you'd think. Puma swings Triton into the guardrail beautifully and the rudos don't look back. They put on a clinic of rudo bullying tactics. I'm sure a lot of this stuff is just commonplace, but a good deal is new to me. I imagine someone watching a Southern tag for the first time and being wowed by all the heel positioning and ref distractions and how it ramped up the heat. It might not even be the best execution of the theme, but just seeing it is special in its own way. I get that feeling all the time when watching lucha, especially when I feel like I'm tapping into some primal trope or story that I just hadn't seen before. Here it's all about controlling the numbers game.

As best as I can tell, lucha really is all about momentum shifts, building the anticipation of them and then paying them off in a satisfying way. For the first fall and a half, the rudos do a great job of making you want to see the tecnicos come back. They beat them down, cut off any attempt of offense, and just control the ring, the ref, and their opponents at all points.They weave in all the little tricks, offering a handshake so that your partner can nail you from behind, one tecnico in a standoff with two rudos only to get ambushed by the third, that sort of thing. I'm not going to say it's flawless in execution. There's one sort of embarrassing mistimed spot where Puma isn't there in time get a punch in while Mephisto has one of their opponents up. All in all, though, it's effective, with high points being the bumps over the guardrails that all three tecnicos take and the nasty posting of Mistico between caidas.

The very best part is the mask work, since that carries the general story of the match. All three rudos take turns working on Mistico's mask on the turnbuckles, with each one distracting the ref so the next can take over. By the end of it, the mask is a mess and Mistico is out of action long enough for Puma and Mephisto to take down Sombra and Titan with big moves for the fall. They continue to crunch down on the tecnicos in the segunda caida, including a really nice doubleteam slingshot toss on Sombra. It all goes back to the mask, though. After almost getting it off, Averno leads his team in a taunting fake dive. This allows the tecnicos to come back with a flurry of offense and some huge dives of their own. Ultimately, it doesn't feel that satisfying though, and it shouldn't since this is all to set up a future match. The technicos don't get their real payoff revenge, not even when it ends up Averno and Mistico in the ring. Mistico's mask is in such shambles that you can pretty blatantly see his face and he's white hot fury, but ultimately makes a mistake (maybe due to the emotion) and Averno scores the fall.

Add in the post match mic barrages and the brief tease of a match where Averno grabs the mask and runs, and I sure want to see the title match between the two. If that was the goal here, then this was really effective. Obviously, it wasn't as satisfying or complete as a match where the rudos get their full comeuppance and there is more of a definitive tercera caida, but I thought it was a very strong showing of rudo dominance to generate an emotional response and build heat to a big match.

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Lucha Azteca Workrate Report 1/4/14

These matches all aired on the 12/20 Arena Mexico card.

1. Leyenda de Plata semi-final cibernetico: Virus, Averno, Okumura, Olimpico, Felino & Tiger vs. Titan, Stuka Jr., Atlantis, Delta, Triton & La Mascara

This had the right amount of big spots to work well for me. I had some friends over while watching it so it's kind of the perfect thing to throw on while you're part watching/part chatting as you don't have to follow any sort of psychology or match storyline very closely. It's just guys coming in and doing their thing, so big spots stand out to you and stop the conversation, and the rest of the stuff kinda flies by the subconscious. Atlantis had a nice run in the middle, giving out spinning backbreakers to anybody that got close. Averno bumped all around for flippy juiced up tecnicos, including a painful bump off the apron from a nutty Titan somersault headscissors. La Mascara splats on the floor with a flip dive that doesn't quite get caught. Stuka's hands-free body press over the turnbuckle is absolutely breathtaking and completely insane, as is Delta's crazy flip dive that sees him run up the turnbuckles from the apron and vault over the other side. Also, Virus is Virus. This match was a blast and was made to look infinitely better when I stopped my DVR and Impact was on and killed the entire room.

2. Reapper vs. Volador Jr.

Boy, I am just not feeling Volador ever since the tecnico turn. He feels just totally neutered now. He used to work real well as a tweener, and he had great body charisma. That seems almost completely gone now, and getting to see his smooth pretty boy face doesn't really help things. The mask match basically killed any sort of rudo believability in him. I also used to think it was cool when he would do something goofy like come out dressed as Darth Maul, but now dressing like Spider-man -without a mask - just makes him look like a kid wearing his Spider-man jammie jams while his mother screams at him to stop doing flips on the couch. "But moooooommmmm, I'm practicing almost killing Reapper with a Spanish Flyyyyy!!!!!"

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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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