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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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MLJ: Virus Spotlight 4: Cicloncito Ramirez & Último Dragoncito b Damiancito El Guerrero & Pierrothito

1997-03-14 @Arena México
Cicloncito Ramirez & Último Dragoncito b Damiancito El Guerrero & Pierrothito

I found one more match with Nuevo Piratita Morgan from 93, so if I can make it through the VQ on it, we'll hit that Monday (and if not, I'll post it for you guys anyway), then, barring any surprises, it'll be back to GdI during the week, and moving forward with Virus on Mondays. This, though? This I really dug. The 93 tag from Monday was very first-match-on-the-card with a bit of heat, but just a bit. It was mostly shine and fun and the rudos were there to make the tecnicos look good without any real sense of drama.

This was more balanced and I have to wonder if it wasn't because it was a few years later and the wrestlers involved were more established. I know the title match between Damiancito and Cicloncito wasn't in front of a big crowd or anything (I think it was at Arena Coliseo) but it still had a ton of time and felt like a bigger deal than you'd expect. This was a month or so after that and it was the first match on a Friday Arena Mexico show which had an Ultimo Dragon vs Scorpio, Jr. title match as the main event. The video I'm linking too is an entire episode of CMLL TV (I think) and the pro to that is you'll get to see some other stuff if you watch it. The con is that I can't pull gifs through my usual means since it's just too long, so we'll have to go without.

I'd seen Pierrothito, but thirteen years later at Sin Salida 2010. Here, he was more impressive, hanging with Ramirez and Damiancito pretty well. Dragon, on offense, was pretty much what you'd expect (kicks), but he was underneath for a chunk of the match and, maybe due to his relative size, was very sympathetic in that role.

The primera was really worth watching, with some great sequence work between Damiancito and Cicloncito. Some of it, I think, was even better than what they did in their title match and very little overlapped; when it did, and this is huge to me, it felt like it was due to a kayfabe sort of familiarity. There was absolutely a sense of struggle and they weren't just running through rote spots. The things I wish I could gif are so simple, like Virus kicking out Cicloncito's leg when he was in a hold, or the way he gets out of another with a drop toe-hold sort of leverage move, or, likewise, how Cicloncito turns a leglock around by trapping Damiancito. Little bits of mat expertise that I loved. There were some great armdrag sequences too.

The primera came to a climax when they started to work on Ultimo Dragoncito's arm. Limbwork feels so novel in lucha because it just doesn't happen all that often. It's another tool in the storytelling arsenal more than an end in and of itself as it might be in something like a Southern Tag. In this match they have some fun armwork in the primera and they go back to it later with Dragoncito selling the arm but it really being used to fill time and build heat and to serve as a way to control him. For the primera, he came back after dodging a corner splash and got a bit of revenge on Pierrothito's arm before the tecnicos caught a flash submission (out of a Russian legsweep) and UD's inside the ring Asai Moonsault to take the fall.

The segunda started back and forth, with a slight tecnico advantage, including Damniancito taking a crazy corner bump to the outside that it's a shame I can't show you. Shortly thereafter, they start back on Dragoncito's arm though, wearing him down. It's deconstructed, used as an equalizer to cut him off and grind him down more than anything else. It led to a cool Damiancito handspring backflip headscissors flip into a pin, though. Virus had a lot of the small things down by this point in his career. He had a lot of the big ones down too, and on top of that, he had an agility that he obviously doesn't almost twenty years later and it made for a really impressive total package.

The tercera had Pierrothito and Damniancito really rudo-ing it up. They pulled on Dragoncito's mask to hold him in their corner, worked on his arm more (including a great springboard elbow drop in by Damiancito), and cut off Cicloncito from behind when he tried to intervene. In the end, though, the tecnicos fought their way back, Damiancito missed a corner shoulder and flew through the ropes, Dragoncito hit a massive moonsault from the top to the floor, and Cicloncito locked in a hold for a submission/countout win.

I haven't talked for a while about the emotion and the art in lucha that comes from building up and paying off but I think that was here much more than in the 1993 trios from Monday. There was more of a sense of the rudos bullying the tecnicos using rougher tactics and after the opening sportsmanship, The armwork stood out as somehow unnecessary from a kayfabe perspective, something over the top, maybe in part because we don't see it much, and all of that made the comeback matter more. More good stuff.

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MLJ: Virus Spotlight 2: Cicloncito Ramirez & Último Dragoncito b Felinito & Piratita Morgan

1993-03-05 @ Arena México
Cicloncito Ramirez & Último Dragoncito b Felinito & Piratita Morgan

So I'm moving backwards, not forwards. I was tempted to name this -1 but I'm sure my pointless and arbitrary numbering conventions are confusing enough as it is. Here's what happened. I wanted to really focus tightly on Virus, especially his singles' matches, and I wanted to start after he got the gimmick. There are obviously a lot of years to cover so I had to control it somehow.

Then, though, "Pogo" Pete Stein mentioned, offhandedly, that Cicloncito Ramirez vs Damiencito was his favorite minis match at all time. I was going to be veering too close to it to not stop. I don't like watching people's best/favorite matches without being more familiar with the genre that they're in. I like to build to them and not just jump right into the best before I can fully understand it. I haven't seen a lot of minis matches and even so, I was going to jump in on the idea I've seen a lot of Virus matches. Instead, I dug deeper and in digging deeper, I found this. So now we're going to do an extra week on Virus to catch up.

This is from 1993, which is cool, and thanks to Rob for posting it. Most of what we have out of Virus is ten to fifteen years later, so I'm glad we can see him at 24 or so. It's so far back that he's not even Damiencito, but instead Nuevo Piratita Morgan. I can't find a lot about Felinito easily. Apparently he ended up in AAA as a regular sized luchador as Mach-1 but with these guys you never know if it's the same guy in the gimmick or not. Apparently he was also called Punch Power at some point which is a ridiculous but awesome name. I think Ultimo Dragoncito is still going with that gimmick.

Cicloncito Ramirez, from what I can tell from a few scant matches, was really good. He's Pequeno Olimpico now. He, like Dragoncito, was only a few years into the business here but he stood out. Virus had been wrestling a while longer, and I need to try to track down a picture of him as his first gimmick "Bird Boy" later. Under that he beat "Super Archie" for the UWA Featherweight championship and because this is lucha libre, land of Thundercats and Ninja Turtles where a completely viable star is absolutely based on The Phantom, I half figure that Super Archie is exactly what it sounds like.

This was a bit more of what I expected out of a minis match, that preconceived notion. It's the sort of heavy tecnico shine match with some big spots and quick action to get the crowd going. Heat was kept to a minimum and quickly defused with miscommunication and comedy clowning.

Felinito and "Nuevo Piritia Morgan" were there to feed the babyfaces and they were more than competent at that role, but it was limited and I didn't really get to see much out of them, nothing unique at least. There was some opening matwork with Virus and he was smooth in moving his opponent around already, but I'm not sure there was a ton of meaning to it yet.

This was a pretty quick two fall affair. The first was a bit of evenness and comedy (like Felinito selling a foul after sliding across the ring and then rolling around the ring to the outside in a grapple) and then all shine, what you'd expect with quebadoras and armdrags. Ramirez hit a pretty jump back 'rana:

and the finish involved a nice reversal out of a back body drop into a flipping senton onto a standing Morgan.

The segunda had some attempts at heat (started by an ambush and then illegal double teaming), including this kickfest:

And they actually got the crowd going:

but this just lasted a minute or two before Dragoncito came back with the help of the aforementioned communication and the tecnicos hit big dives for the perfectly-acceptable-in-a-first-match countout win.

This was fun for what it was and I'm glad we have it easily available since it's an early piece of the Virus puzzle, but I'm ready to see something with a bit more substance to it.

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CMLL Worth Watching 9/21/14

1. Mercurio, Pierrothito & Pequeno Olimpico vs. Electrico, Ultimo Dragoncito & Stukita (9/21/14)

Fun little match even though the caidas ended in fairly disappointing ways. Still this was a real nice Mercurio showcase as he's arguably the best bumping rudo mini, here he takes a nice back splat bump to the floor, Chris Masters style, and then a great Halloween bump later on. He also shows a lot more personality than most minis, and he with Pierrothito is a rudo mini powerhouse. Stukita is a bit too tiny to buy as any sort of threat, and really the tecnicos are missing somebody with more fluidity, such as Bam Bam. Electric has a couple nice springboard moves and Dragoncito whips around quickly on a Santo roll up, but Mercurio was where it's at in this one.

2. Kamaitachi, Bobby Zavala & Okumura vs. Fuego, Pegasso & Hombre Bala Jr. (9/21/14)

Daaaaamn this was a fun little spotfest! Constant fast exchanges and no down time, all fast action with cool little moments. Kamaitachi is back to being my little replacement Namajague. He looked good throughout from his bigger spots to little mat things like he and Fuego going to the mat and Kamaitachi doing a cool shoulder shrug to buck him off. Zavala also looked killer throughout as he bumped all over for the flippy offense and had a couple great stooge moments, and a real fun bump where he took a back bump and then scooted on his back to safety, but scooted too far and went right out the ring with a back bump to the floor. Hombre Bala had some nice flying including a wild tope en reversa from the top to the floor, Pegasso is always a fun guy to have pop up on TV and his flying is even better with a base like Zavala. Fun stuff that didn't even really feel like a "CMLL" match, would have fit nicely on Lucha Underground.

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Uprising: Lucha Libre Workrate Report 9/27/14

As best I can tell this didn't air last week, or it just aired at a different pay for play time. Whatever my DVR recorded was some sort of music festival held in the parking lot of a Mexican market. There was a 7 year old girl who was pretty impressive. And a 12 year old boy who had a lot of work to do with his stage directions. He spent a lot of time not knowing what to do with his non-mic hand, and stared down at the stage a lot.

Talk about feast or famine. The last several weeks (for better or worse) we've been getting matches from PWR's most recent 2014 shows. And now we get matches from 2/27/10, almost 5 years ago! You can tell it was another lifetime ago because Brian Cage is at ringside and looks closer to my size than the freakish size he is today. Or, he actually looks like a normal human being than a bloated, gassed up freak.

1. Kafu vs. Vaquero Fantasma

I'll cut to the chase on this match and say that it went 8 minutes and ended in a double count out. Maybe you have a better explanation than me as to why they'd pay money to show a 5 year old match as inconsequential as this. Surely they have better classic matches than this in their archives? You could argue that both of these guys are still PWR regulars, so here's a look back at an earlier match in their PWR career. I could see that. Now, the problem with that is that both guys looked in way better shape here than they currently are. It was especially noticeable in Fantasma, who was not only way more slender but wrestled noticeably better. I've seen him live a couple of times and always wondered why he seemed better on TV than in person, and now I know. The live matches are current, the TV matches I liked him in were all from 2010. It's kind of shocking to see how much he's regressed as a worker, but there it is. He looked really good here, bringing a lot of energy and nice strikes to it. I really loved his body punches and chops, and he leaned into some Kafu kicks nicely. Kafu looked sluggish as usual. Here he was in full faux Brody mode (keep in mind he's a guy who actually said he had never seen Brody wrestle before. He just must have decided independently to wear fur boots, stomp around holding his wrist and yelling "Huss!"), meaning he threw some of the loosest stomps you've seen. Kafu wrestles like a giant power wrestler, with the problem being that he's not very powerful, and not a giant. He's 6'2" tops, and while his physique has never looked powerful, he's also never shown any kind of impressive strength that would still be possible with a meh body. He throws these dinky little clotheslines that look more like little running punches. Just bad looking stuff. So yeah, we get some guys doing stuff, before Fantasma just leaves the ring with Kafu chasing, and we get the double count out. Yay! Here's what Pro Wrestling Revolution themselves had to say about this match:

"KAFU picked up from when we last saw him and became an over night sensation. Vaquero Fantasma is on the same boat but with not the same amount of fans in his corner."

I'm…not sure what any of that means.

2. Pierrothito vs. Ultimo Dragoncito

Pretty cut and dry touring match for these guys. This is not the UD that is currently in CMLL, this guy is little smaller, slightly more stocky. But if somebody told you that you were about to watch a 7 minute lucha minis singles match, you could jot down the framework of this match ahead of time and easily predict 80% of this. We start with some fun comedy matwork, with UD being the aggressor and trying to work power moves like waist locks and headlocks, with Pierrothito tossing him all around. UD locks on some armbars which Pierrothito stands up out of, with UD getting him back down with armdrags into armbars. Pierrothito bumps nicely to the floor and we get two nice big dives from UD, one large crossbody from the top, and another tope through the bottom ropes. Back in we hit some roll-ups, with the weakest looking one (a majistral that looked like it was not easily holding Pierrothito down) winning the match even though Pierrothito clearly kicked out at two, which leads to awkwardness as even the announcers (recording this in post) don't know what to make of it at first. Seems like an odd thing to purposely include in the broadcast.

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 6/15/14

So after consistently showing matches from two weeks prior for the last several months, suddenly they jump way back in time as these matches were from the 1/5/14 Arena Mexico show. I don't know if this was a trend or just some "hey we never showed that minis cibernetico from 6 months ago. Let's put it up!"

Goya Kong, Dark Angel & Estrellita vs. Tiffany, Amapola & Princesa Sugheit

According to Cubsfan's match finder this is only the 2nd time these 6 women have all been involved in the same match, and the last time was three years ago. That's kinda neat. The match itself was kind of okay. Things got a little unfocused so my attention wandered. At some point it felt kind of like just fillin' time. I do like a good Goya Kong showcase though, and I haven't seen her on TV in some time. She drops a mean leg here and crushes Tiffany in the corner with an avalanche. Haven't seen Tiffany in a long time and she's another favorite of mine. She's all stooging and bitch face and she's awesome. She leans into everything and makes Estrellita look like someone with talent. Really for the six people they assembled here and the time it was given, this should have been way better. Marcela replacing Estrellita would have been the only obvious upgrade. Dalys has been good lately but not sure she's better than the three rudas here. But yeah, real disappointment here. And, the thing is that you'll have to take my word for it! This may be the only match all year that Cubsfan hasn't uploaded. So that's right, these printed words are among the only historical records of this match's existence. In 30 years when somebody is doing The 2010s Project some weirdo will go, "hey did these women ever all match up" and then they will find their answer here, and maybe not trust my opinion that the match kinda blew, but likely believe that Dark Angel looked foxy.

Pequeno Reyes Del Aire!

Demus 3:16, Pierrothito, Pequeno Nitro, Pequeno Olimpico & Mercurio vs. Shockercito, Electrico, Stukita, Ultimo Dragoncito & Astral

This gets 30 (!) minutes, and for the first part I was amped, ready to tell Phil to check it out for our MOTY list. But it loses steam and can't really recover. There is definitely such a thing as a match being too long, and there aren't just enough tecnico minis (does Bam Bam still work?) that I like now to justify them getting this much time. The people you expect to look great, look really great. Demus 3:16 and Pierrothito rarely disappoint and they certainly didn't here. They're clearly the best bases and all the tecnicos are better for it. Mercurio got a little showcase time and showed some big bumping skills that I've never really seen from him before. Astral and Electrico are apparently working like mini La Mascaras which is not really at all what I want to see from my mini tecnicos. I did really dig Stukita and Shockercito and was very pleasantly surprised by Ultimo Dragoncito. Stukita is super tiny, but more in a athletic 13 year old kinda way (as opposed to a Mascarita Sagrada way). But he's got crazy energy and while his stuff doesn't always look ultra impactful (I mean, he does appear to be like 70 lb. so while I'm sure taking a moonsault from a 12 year old would hurt, it's not exactly Scorpio flattening you here) he does put a lot behind it and makes it look as good as possible with his tiny frame. He hits a triple moonsault and eats knees on the third and I admired how he had no problem flying face first into those knees.

Ultimo Dragoncito has the spot of the match with his crazy flip dive that sees him fly back first and upside down into the ringside barricade. All the dive stuff was great with Pierrothito flattening someone with his Silver King dive and three tecnicos hitting epic stereo corner dives. This was worked a lot more like a normal trios match (yes yes, even through there were 10 people) as there were a lot of double teams and general teamwork spots as opposed to the usual exclusive one on one stuff you normally get from ciberneticos. Not sure how I felt about it as I didn't end up loving the overall match anyway as there just wasn't enough meat to fill 30, but it was an interesting change of pace at least. Lame eliminations are kind of a cibernetico staple at this point so you expect a few of them, and they often come from moves that would never normally pin a guy, and there's always that moment where you get the feeling that the plan was "okay, we worked our allotted time, now to start burning through the eliminations". You get your lame finish where one guy pins another with a suplex but it turns out HIS shoulders were actually down and everybody groans and there's nobody who could possibly like this finish. Not sure why we needed to protect Pequeno Olimpico on a finish. "Ya gotta let Peq. Olimpico leave with his heat! Fans are gonna remember the 5th elimination of a Cibernetico!" Match ends on the flattest note possible as someone either legit or storyline gets hurt and the doctors wave it off, so Electrico wins by not getting injured. Yay?

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CMLL on LATV Workrate Report 4/20/14

These matches were from the 4/6 Anniversario show at Arena Coliseo. I got higher than normal hopes for this one as I know guys historically have pulled out all the stops on big Anniversary shows, so I'm hoping for some better than average stuff here. I'm watching the show with my buddy Charlie who is always fun to watch wrestling with, as he loves it enough so that when I visit him he requests I pick out cool wrestling for us to watch…but at the same time he would never and has never watched any wrestling on his own (past the age of 12). It's always great watching wrestling with Rachel or somebody like Charlie, as they are watching this stuff with completely different eyes and always make some fresh-faced observations from a perspective that I wouldn't consider. It makes me appreciate things in a whole different way.

Averno, Ephesto  & Dragon Rojo Jr. vs. Mistico II, Valiente & La Sombra

This was really fun, not so much flat out great as past Anniversario spotfests have been, but really fun nonetheless. The tecnicos all got to do tons of spectacular stuff, with Valiente especially shining by hitting a crazy fast tope and a somehow even faster Valiente Special. It is probably the craziest spot in wrestling, two crazy fast springboards into a no-look moonsault. He did it so fast here my brain could hardly process it, meaning I can't imagine actually willing my body to do it. Sombra and Mistico each do a couple big flip dives, Averno catches a bunch of Mistico ranas, Sombra breaks out some cool tilt-a-whirl floppy armdrags. So, a bunch of fun stuff, but not quite bumping up to that next level.

Mr. Niebla vs. Atlantis

First two falls were way too short, but the tercera was worked a little bit more like a longer lightning match. It was funny as Atlantis took so much of the match that it turned Niebla tecnico, as after seeing Atlantis control so much the fans spontaneously starts a Niebla chant! Niebla is great at catching onto that and using it to hulk up. Atlantis can kinda hold back in trios and blend into the background, so it was nice seeing him forced to break out enough offense for a singles match. Few guys do roll-ups and old school lucha ranas as graceful as Atlantis, so it's always a treat to see. Niebla takes a big bump to the floor and mans up to catch a big Atlantis tope. Niebla also works some fun comedy in at appropriate times, such as doing the most blatant ropes hold on a rolling reverse cradle (picture Andre stuck in the ropes with both arms draped over, and that was Niebla holding the ropes while pinning Atlantis with his legs). Not much drama in this as Atlantis wins the first with a roll up, Niebla wins the segunda after a splash after Atlantis misses a dropkick, and then even with all the fans newly behind Niebla in the tercera, he doesn't really even get any sort of pitfalls. It just eventually ends up with Atlantis winning, as everybody assumed he would.

Minis Cage Match up next, loser unmasks!! I don't think I've really seen a very good multi-man lucha cage match, as escape rules matches don't usually do too much for me. Mini matches are usually made spectacular by their crazy spots and awesome rudo bases, but a cage takes away all spots to the floor, and escape rules make doing top rope spots psychologically stupid, as the guy should just climb over the top.

Pierrothito vs. Pequeno Olimpico vs. Fantasy vs. Stukita vs. Ultimo Dragoncito vs. Electrico vs. Astral vs. Acero vs. Pequeno Halcon vs. Pequeno Nitro

Yeah this match was pretty much what I was afraid of. Ten people crammed into a cage, more worried about climbing over the cage than doing cool stuff. I'm sure some have to exist out there, but is there such a thing as a good multi-man lucha cage match? I'm thinking 6 combatants or higher. I have no doubts there could be a good singles cage match, or even a tag team. But at 6+ people I'm asking you, tell me the good lucha cage matches. I'll watch those motherfuckers right here. So we had a long series of assorted guys jumping up to turnbuckles, only to be pulled off of those same turnbuckles. Moreover, we had a series of assorted guys jumping up to turnbuckles, only to evade capture, climb to the top of the cage, flex muscles in celebration at the top of the cage, and then escape. Escape rules do not leave much room for highspots, unless the psychology is all out of whack (he wanted to hit a gigantic move off the top sooooo badly that it overrode his desire to escape!!), and there are not many here. Stukita tries to fit some stuff in, and in cramped quarters is somewhat successful. I applaud his effort. Pierrothito is a standout at working with the match constraints, as he is one of the only ones who manages to show some sort of personality while working escapes and battle royal-type bullshit. It comes down to Pequeno Halcon and Astral. They work some pretty decent submission exchanges, in that both guys were able to get across the consequences of tapping out. Astral wins, Halcon unmasks. He looks like many Mexican men you have known in your life. He was my pick to lose from the beginning, as he had a) the most boring mask, and b) the least interesting look and gimmick. I don't think losing the Pequeno Halcon identity will make any difference over his long term career. I may not know the whole story, but I'm failing to see the Halcon identity being a huge boon to his career. Are there many Halcon fans out there still? People going "I used to watch Super Halcon. This man is dressed much like him, but smaller. He looks somewhat like a smaller Halcon."

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