MLJ: Black Terry Boot Camp 2: Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II vs Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro (4/23/2009)

2009-04-23 @ Arena Naucalpan
Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II vs Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro

I'm doing these all out of order. Blame Phil. These were what he posted first in the PWO thread. It absolutely goes against the way I generally operate, but I need to get my bearings and I'll start wherever I can. so what if this is the third match of three we have online with these exact trios, just from the month of April. So what if I'm missing likely callback spots and match-to-match progression. Why not just jump in blind, right?

Self-conscious context-porn aside, this match was good enough that anyone could jump in blind and enjoy it. First of all, as much as I love really well done mat wrestling and traditional, more exhibition based lucha, especially when it builds like the Ultraman, Jr. match did, I love heated wars more. This felt more like rudos vs tecnicos, with beatdowns and comebacks and revenge spots and Negro Navarro demolishing people with strikes.

Actually, let's start there. I've seen Navarro a few times, sure, but I've never quite seen him like this. It was sort of like if the King and I was mixed with Ong Bak or something, the world's deadliest, most badass, Walking Tall Yul Brynner. We only had a bit of Navarro in the opening exchanges. He had been matched up with Cerebro Negro, and the most notable thing there was Cerebro's step over stomp puller and Navarro's appreciative reaction to the way he had been twisted like a pretzel. Just as he was getting the advantage, he was swarmed, starting the beatdown. When he finally came back at the start of the segunda (and they didn't waste time with it), he just demolished anyone in his path with punches, kicks, clotheslines. This all built to a fairly subtle exchange with Black Terry in the tercera, where Terry held his own, but kept going for the win while Navarro was just trying to crush him. There was a real sense of Terry wanting to get out of the match and escape retribution, of being squirrelly, which he managed to do while never seeming less skilled or formidable.

Everyone else did their part too. The primera, for the exchange we did get, was full of believable, cross-legged (and later cross-armed) submissions, none of which looked overly collaborative. Terry and Trauma II had a run with them where they weren't even really doing the tricked out stuff, just moving limbs at all the wrong angles. Likewise, the tandem submission that ended the primera (after the rudo swarm) wasn't anything overly complicated, just pulling at limbs every which way. It punctuated the beatdown, and was all that moment needed.

It was a very layered match, with the highest point being Terry vs Navarro, especially because of when and how it arose in the match. A lot of times, that's because a match builds and builds towards an exchange. I don't think that was the case here. Instead it was more of a natural altercation in the midst of the story they were telling. I'm excited to go back and see the matches around this now. We'll see if I end up regret not seeing them in order later.