Fun Lucharesu - Day 1

NJPW/CMLL Fantastica Mania 2016

(2016/01/17)

Arena Mexico 10/16

CMLL 2015/10/16

Cabellera vs. Cabellera: Shockercito vs. Demus 3:16

Great apuesta match, as one could expect. Primera was bombastic and made sense, which is awesome because too often short primeras don’t look very compelling. Not here, though. Segunda had Demus putting his shit together and finally molesting Shockercito properly via heavy chops and nasty mini-powerhouse moves and combos. Tercera had that one great stretch of nifty back-and-forth with Shockercito executing his glorious signature moves, but all the time he was mostly focused on Demus’ shoulder as the ultimate endgame plan. It made the finish much better and emotionally engaging. Awesome little hair match, with both guys playing their characters masterfully, every fall had great finishes, and the crowd reacted amazingly on Shockercito’s key spots. Big thumbs up for this one!

****1/4

CMLL Puebla

CMLL 2015/09/14

Valiente, Angel de Oro, Stuka Jr. vs. Dragon Rojo Jr., Polvora, Hechicero

Badass match made by the awesome rudos and Valiente’s unbelievably awesome dive. Also Hechicero is a god, but you already knew that.

***3/4

Arena Puebla Ketchup

CMLL 2015/09/07

Molotov, Lestat, Tigre Rojo Jr. vs. Toro Bill Jr., Rey Apocalipsis, King Jaguar

Relatively fun, albeit heatless for the most of time. Bill and Apocalipsis are a fun act.

**3/4

Four Rather Neat CMLL Trios

CMLL 2015/08/11

Valiente, Dragon Lee, Rey Cometa vs. Ephesto, Hechicero, Luciferno

Great match with all six guys working hard. Primera was marvelous with all the nifty matwork and eventual crazy flying (including Lee’s INSANE dive miss) that led to the tecnico win, which pissed off the rudos and hence segunda being all things dirty bar fighting. Rudos losing primera and then dishing out revenge punishment in segunda is one of my favorite things in CMLL trios. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it always works. Hechicero and Valiente were fired up. They were involved in the finish that served as a prelude to their mano a mano match one week after this. Also so good to see Cometa back!

****

CMLL Bastante Nuevo

CMLL 2015/07/17

Mistico, Valiente, Dragon Lee vs. Negro Casas, Mephisto, Ephesto

Wow, Arena Mexico casuals fucking loathe Mistico II. I mean, sure, he always gets some heat, but this is not your usual Friday night Arena Mexico event, no, this one has a huge ass crowd and they boo him every single time, no matter how much he bumps around. Children and women would cheer his dives and ‘ranas, but they’re outvoiced very fast by adult males. This match was kind of weird, it was all over the place and it produced both good and not so good moments. Negro Casas still did his thing, though, and it was great, loved the early matwork with Lee. Speaking of Lee, he was kind of non-contributor here, which is a strange (CMLL!) way to present your hot new tecnico. He also got some hate, especially after that one botch, lol. The endgame was Mistico vs. Casas, the battle of the captains, and obviously the crowd was heavily pro-Casas.

***1/2

Newish CMLL (Lazy-Ass Edition)

CMLL 2015/06/09

Angel de Oro, Stuka Jr., Pegasso vs. Hechicero, Okumura, Bobby Zavala

Typically good trios match in three acts and great reminder of Hechicero’s amazing talents, him and Zavala were killing it here.

***1/4

Chismo Pick: Best of 2014

I just realized I never posted the list of my favorite matches of 2014, so here's my Top 15. Now, why 15? Why not 10? Or 20? Fuck me if I know. 16 is my fave number but I can't go with that. So I'm going with the closest thing. Then why not 17? Oh well... It needed to be more than 10, though, because 10 matches is way too few considering the fact there are thousands of televised pro-graps matches every year. Ergo:

Newish CMLL

CMLL 2015/5/29

Ingobernables (Rush, Sombra, Tetsuya Naito) vs. Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Thunder

Naito el Ingobernable is fantastic, and if he carries over that attitude to New Japan, it might end up being epic. He slaps people around, steals UG’s signature hand gesture, constantly does the obnoxious eye thing, his offense is stripped down, just in general he looks and acts mean. And then when it’s time for bumping for tecnicos or doing highspots, he does it perfectly, he’s simply an outstanding rudo invader from Japon. This trio brawl was excellent, the first two falls got plenty of time for developing plots and stories, I was positively surprised to see the segunda getting WAAAY more time than your typical CMLL segunda caida. Ingobernables slapping the Guerreros and Thunder around and decimating them was wonderful, the comeback was well done, and then we got UG and Thunder developing/accelerating their own beef by stealing falls on Rush from each other. Needless to say, they were noth involved in some heavy smackfests with Toro Blanco, and it was great. You know what, I’d totally like to see them doing a 3-way apuesta clash, would be radical! And to cap off this entire thing, we got an awesome post-match tussle, pure chaos and beatdowns everywhere. Excellent match!

****1/4

Newish CMLL (Casas/Lee!)

CMLL 2015/6/2

Ingobernables (Rush, Sombra, Tetsuya Naito) vs. Thunder, Shocker, Ephesto

Tremendous trio totally carried by the Ingobernables swag. Naito fit in very well as an invading rudo, and teaming with Dickbag #1 and Dickbag #2 brought the very best out of him. Great booking here, the rudos were dominating the entire primera but then at the very end of it Sombra and Naito got caught off guard and pinned by Shocker and Ephesto, and needless to say, it infuriated Ingobernables to the point of unseen douchebaggery. Rush completely lost his mind in the segunda and carried Thunder to a damn good match-up, Thunder is progressing properly under the surly Rush watch. The finish of segunda was all sorts of fantastic and legit funny as hell. Excellent match.

****1/4

CMLL Bastante Nuevo

CMLL 2015/5/19

Triton, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther vs. Kamaitachi, Tiger, Okumura

Borderline great match with everyone looking good, Kamaitachi was super here with all the natural heat he was displaying. The primera got some nice time for classic llaves lucha, great stuff. BPJ busted out maybe his best performance yet.

***3/4

Newish CMLL

CMLL 2015/5/26

Pequeno Olimpico & Pequeno Nitro vs. Ultimo Dragoncito & Fantasy

Slick and clean match, everything was so smooth and the layout was catchy and designed to bring out the best. The Pequenos were relentless aggressors and the tecnicos’ comeback was super. I also really liked the finish.

***1/2

Freshish CMLL

CMLL 2015/5/5

Terrible, Rey Bucanero, Vangelis vs. Ingobernables (Rush, Sombra, Mascara)

This was a solid, hard-hitting brawl that could’ve been much better if it actually got some time, because all three falls were too short here. At least in tercera Rush and Terrible did a surly tribute to their great feud from few years ago.

**3/4

Newish CMLL

CMLL 2015/4/26

Campeonato Nacional Trios: Reyes del Atlantida (Atlantis, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr.) vs. Peste Negra (Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Felino) ©

As good as it gets with Niebla and Felino in the ring at the same time. Fuck me, they are truly awful.

**1/2

CMLL 2015/4/26

10-MAN CIBERNETICO: Sombra, Mascara, Cavernario, Dragon Lee, Ripper vs. Marco Corleone, Titan, Polvora, Kamaitachi, Morphosis

Fun, action packed cibernetico. Team shuffling led to some amusing moments. Nothing must-see, just a nice 20 minutes to kill.

***1/4

CMLL 2015/4/17

MATCH RELAMPAGO: Polvora vs. Titan

Usual good work from these two, Polvora was especially effective in rudo role, he did the domination parts very well. Obviously Titan did a number on himself via dangerous bumps and dives. Dude’s crazy and needs to tone it down, for his own health’s sake.

***1/4

CMLL 2015/4/21

Dragon Lee, Fuego, Triton vs. Virus, Tiger, Puma

Really good match, although not the sprint I expected. They took their time and the match was generally slower than your usual Dragon Lee/Tiger/Puma affairs. The best thing about this one was Virus not forgetting his beef and title loss to Dragon Lee, they had ace sequences here, but that’s such a given already, their chemistry is off the charts. Puma was great too, practically right up there with DL and Virus. Damn good match!

***3/4

CMLL 2015/4/21

Sky Team (Mistico, Volador Jr., Valiente) vs. Guerreros Laguneros (Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Gran Guerrero)

Typical CMLL trio with a three act structure, a fall and a half it was all about Guerreros, then the tecnicos made the high flying comeback, although I gotta give them credit here, the ending to the segunda was quite unusual for modern CMLL, and then we got a back-and-forth tercera. Good match!

***

CMLL 2015/4/28

Magnus, Flyer, Oro Jr. vs. Disturbio, Canelo Casas, Hijo del Signo

I should probably watch Magnus more frequently, but what can I do when he’s always paired with Flyer. In case you wondered, Flyer is a botch machine, dude has major problems with executing the most basic lucha moves and combos, yet he keeps getting regular Arena Mexico spots. Such a CMLL thing to do. Hijo del Signo is someone I’ve never seen before and it needs to change after this match, he’s a badass and his submission finisher is rather unique and groovy.

***1/4

CMLL 2015/4/28

Campeonato Internacional del CMLL-Reina: Princesa Sujei vs. Narumiya ©

This was bollocks, I felt really bad for Princesa, it sucked she had to deal with embarrassingly awful Narumiya. Probably the worst performance of the year, she botched a lot, sucked at timing, etc. Disgrace.

bad

CMLL 2015/4/28

Atlantis, Blue Panther, Dragon Lee vs. Negro Casas, Shocker, Vangelis

This was an amazing brawl, vicious and mesmerizing tussle that felt like a throwback asskicking helter-skelter. In some other era, Atlantis’ mask would be ripped off and blood would be pouring down his face, also Blue Panther would bleed a bucket or two, with Shocker licking their blood respectively. Unfortunately, there’s no juicing in modern CMLL, but no biggie really, great wrestlers still find many ways to make it work. This match is pure example of modern CMLL brawl executed down to a T, each fall got plenty of time and stories and subplots were highly developed. The focus is Atlantis & Panther vs. Casas & Shocker, with Dragon Lee and Vangelis in supporting roles. And it’s kind of surreal and awesome to see the veterans paired up and beating bajesus out of each other, you get the real sense of CMLL’s roster depth and size, also you get the sad feeling of many missed “dream match” opportunities. Rudo trio was dominating the match for a long ass while, and they were fantastic at it. The first 90& of the match was incredibly one-sided, just a badass rudo mayhem, which is one of my favorite things in lucha. This is a must-see match and I can’t wait for the tag title match next week, it’s guaranteed to be great after this fantastic build-up.

****1/2

CMLL 2015/4/26

Stuka Jr., Stigma, Pegasso vs. Virus, Okumura, Nitro

Kinda by-the-numbers match, but hey, this is still a Virus sprint, co-starring Stigma, so of course it was good.

***

CMLL 2015/5/5

MATCH RELAMPAGO: Titan vs. Gran Guerrero

Good match, one helluva Titan carryjob.

***

Groovy Llaves

CMLL 2015/4/5

Campeonato Mundial Peso Ligero del CMLL: Dragon Lee vs. Virus ©

I don’t know, I think we’re really striking a gold mine here with these two. They had an amazing title match in December, one or two awesome Match Relampagos and few thrilling trios. And then this match happens, and it’s even better than the previous one, it’s just poetry in motion. Virus has been holding the strap for four years now, he’s gone through many skilled challengers (including DL), but this time he’s probably facing his toughest situation yet, because Dragon Lee is a rising star who just took his first mask and is a rare young tecnico loved by Arena Mexico people.

The primera was basically a lucha perfection, they went hold-for-hold but it all looked so smooth and slick, practically effortless but still with a lot of struggle, if that makes any sense. They were working that mat hard, but they weren’t boring the crowd with long holds, they were rather into (relatively) quick chain sequences, it was very exciting and visually captivating. The double suplex finish was brilliant to cap off the amazing caida. The segunda was a little bit shorter and more explosive, DL was riding his wave of confidence and was dominating the champion for a few minutes before the latter pulled out a trick or two out of his sleeve and just barely won the fall. The tercera was fucking beautiful once again with all the callbacks, not only to previous matches, but also to the first two falls of this very match. Drama was super high, the crowd ate everything up as the competitors were building the climax around nearfalls and submissions. The finish MIGHT come across as kind of “cold” to some people, but not to me, in lucha you need to be prepared for that kind of stuff, that’s the beauty of it.

Japan has Tana/Okada (and/or Nakamura/Ibushi), but Mexico has these two, and they can be damn proud of them!

*****

CMLL Ketchup Goes On

CMLL 2015/2/24

La Sombra vs. Rey Bucanero

The first two falls got two minutes each, which is your modern CMLL standard and something we have to accept, but they used it well, I loved La Sombra being a dickbag badass and breaking the ring girl’s “Segunda Caida” sign on Bucanero’s head. The finish to segunda was kind of fishy, but waddaya gonna do. The tercera had its cool moments and spots, but in the end it was all about cheating and ugly finish attempts. Solid match overall, but nothing to write home about.

**1/2

CMLL 2015/3/3

Divinos Laguneros (Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther) vs. Virus, Tiger, Puma

Oh yeah, this was fantastic. Slick, smooth and rather clean match, just a straight-forward trio with so much good in it, so, so much good. The match-ups in the primera were BP/Puma, BPJ/Tiger and Cachorro/Virus. The first two were really good with some really smart and well executed hold-for-hold chain wrestling, but then came The Panther and Virus and just tore the house down with their rapid fire scientific llaves, their chemistry is off the charts. The entire primera was pretty much perfect. The segunda had pissed Virus busting out his very best throwback llaves onto Panthers, everyone moved onto high spots and it ruled, especially The Panther’s epic dive. Jesus fuck, I love that spot so damn much. The tercera was very good, but unfortunately it was only four minutes long, they didn’t aim for an epic, that’s a shame because these two teams are more than capable of it. We even got some BP vs. Virus action, which was beautiful to see, only for Puma to heel it up and sucker-punch BP from behind and break the whole thing. This match is also the best Blue Panther Jr. has ever looked.

****1/2

CMLL 2015/2/17

Angel de Oro, Dragon Lee, Titan vs. Peste Negra (Negro Casas, Felino, Cavernario)

Could’ve/should’ve been much better instead of just going through motions. The opening minutes looked promising, but they never quite went there. Felino is scary bad. He’s, like, really, really, REALLY awful nowadays. The match could’ve used more of Dragon Lee vs. Casas, and Cavernario fooling around. Glad to see there are more unresolved issues between him and Titan.

**1/2

CMLL 2015/2/24

Volador Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero

First two falls were quite terrific, UG was a tremendous force of evil and Volador was bumping well for him. Volador’s comeback superkicks were stupendously stiff. The beginning of the tercera was still very good but then they hit a reset button and just moved onto exchanging big moves until the finish. The crowd kind of died too. Shame, this could’ve been a great match if they stayed focused and tight.

***

CMLL 2015/2/24

Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Triton vs. Polvora, Luciferno, Kamaitachi

This was borderline excellent. Nifty little sprint with a constant rush hour running and quick exchanges, it was insanely rhythmic and captivating. Kamaitachi <3!

***3/4

CMLL 2015/3/3

Ingobernables (Rush, Mascara, Marco Corleone) vs. Shocker, Negro Casas, Euforia

Such a great and genuinely fun brawl. Negro Casas had good intentions at the beginning as he tried to chain wrestle La Mascara, but then Rush, Marco and Shocker just started talking smack at each other with no one thinking of backing up, sort of like in jail. And then the whole “this might be a clean match for at least one fall” thing fell apart. Left hooks, directs and kicks everywhere, taunts and gimmick infringements, gang isolations and ruthless beatdowns, the whole thing was both hilarious and badass at the same time. We got a little bit of everything in there: Rush/Casas, Rush/Shocker, Marco/Shocker, and it was all awesome. The finish was super clever, enjoyed it. This was a fantastic tussle and everyone should watch it.

****1/4