Few months
earlier, the almighty RUSH carried Pagano to his best match of career. Not that
I watched a big number of Pagano’s matches, lel, but it’s very fucking hard to
imagine he’d ever managed to create/accomplish something better than the doozy
Rush brawl, which was one helluva experience. Rush is better wrestler than
Ultimo Guerrero, and exactly THAT was the difference in match qualities. UG did
a very good carryjob, he brawled hard, he bled (which quite a sight!), he gave
a beating, he took one too, the fans were so into him, etc. He totally
legitimized the shitty Pagano and the match itself. The structure was not much,
but the chairshots were damn brutal. Yeah, this was THAT kind of a match, but
it was done right and I really liked it.
3-WAY
LUCHA EXTREMA: Pagano vs. Damian 666 vs. LA Park
Damian
working instead of Rush, because CMLL vetoed their wrestlers from working
indies that have Park and Wagner booked. Park’s “fuck your mothers” thing is
now – a thing. Like a new catchphrase. Mkay then. And this match? Well, it was
good every time they hit each other with various objects during ringside
brawling parts, and it was actively bad almost every time they stepped into the
ring. Pagano’s sloppiness was painful to watch, and in general there were lots
of awkward moments that are so typical for 3-ways. There was no Rush or Trauma
to carry Pagano. Passable hardcore match, but barely.
Furious and
relatively quick brawl that is basically another testament to Rush’s strong
case for being a Best in the World contender. The fact that Pagano is really
sloppy in regular pro-wrestling setting is common sense by now, so naturally
Rush did his very best to help him hide his obvious disadvantages by not
letting the match run away from brawling style. Rush would always do something
to make things going and he really embraced Pagano’s willingness to bump hard.
All the chops were raw and nasty, especially Rush’s. Ringside tussles were
awesome and rabid, they used chairs well and Rush took a nasty bump on one. I
like how he kept hitting Pagano with dropkicks, it’s such a simply bit of
psychology that always works. The true mark-out moment of the match was Rush
bringing the lighttubes into play, which felt surreal because there’s no chance
you’ll ever see him do it in CMLL, for obvious reasons. And then he held
nothing back during the killshot on Pagano. This match is great.
1.Psycko
Kid, Astro Rey Jr., Fulgor I, Fulgor II vs. Rey Apocalipsis, Tony Cisneros,
Extreme Fly, Luz Clarita
I know maybe
one of two guys here, at best, so naturally I had no idea what to expect, other
than it had to be crazy by default considering it’s an indie atomico we’re
talking about here. When they were doing the actual crazy shit, the match was
good, there were two amazing series of spectacular dives and topes, but the
problem is they wanted to try other things as well, and it was mostly a
failure. Regular in-ring stuff was not very good, matter fact it was really bad
and sloppy at many moments, not to mention all the awkward eliminations. But oh
well… At least we got the dives. Passable match, but barely.
**
2.Dr.
Cerebro vs. Virus
Yep, this
match is a true delicacy for all the matcore enthusiasts out there, me being
one of them. The match was 16 minutes long, with 13 minutes being spent
entirely on the mat and then with 3 minutes of “action” leading to a fantastic
finish. That’s it, they didn’t need to do more. Everything felt purposeful, raw
and sophisticated at the same time. The matwork was crazy good, totally insane,
it’s some of the most mesmerizing chain wrestling you’ll ever see, with
struggle for every move. The way they were jockeying for positions was brutally
good and it looked both intense and gracious, all those escapes were
mindblowing.
What a
goddamn match!
*****
3.Keira
vs. Zeuxis
Good opening
matwork with some really painful holds, great, intense strikes and rough beatings
all around, but the match was just not good, not enough for three stars. The
last 3-4 minutes almost ruined the whole thing. I don’t want to see package
piledriver kickouts in my wrestling. I don’t need that crap, especially not
coming from ladies. And that wasn’t even the only highly implausible kickout,
mind you! The finish, however, holy fucking SHIT! Probably the sickest thing
I’ve seen in a long ass time, it was only one split second, even less, before a
decapitation. Just a nasty dance of death, Grim Reaper was lurking closely.
**3/4
4.LUCHA
DE QUATRO TERCIAS: Aero Boy, Super Mega, Magnifico vs. Iron Kid, Alas de Acero,
Aramis vs. Impulso, Belial, Arez vs. Disturbio, Garrobo Punk, Ciber Punk
This match
had a little bit of everything, but at the end of the day, it delivered in key
aspects. It was crazy, dynamic, action-packed, there were some batshit insane
spots, etc. I mean, shit, there was 12 fucking competitors in the match, with
only Disturbio not being an indie guy, and ***1/4 is as good as it gets all
things considered, trust me on this. Some botches and funny failures did
happen, but nothing too hard that would ruin the mood, so yeah, overall this
match didn’t leave me grouchy.
***1/4
5.Trauma
II vs. Blue Panther
Another
great matcore match with story being Trauma II trying to impress Blue Panther with
his rich lucha knowledge, passed on him by his father Negro Navarro, T2 was
trying to show everyone his father’s school is just as good as Panther’s. This
match was all about the matcore, and the escalated “action” was even shorter
than the one in Cerebro/Virus, and guess what – the finish was just as awesome,
but still, this match is clearly at least one level below Cerebro/Virus. The
body of work just wasn’t as captivating and tight. But fuck me, Cerebro and
Virus sure as hell set the bar too damn high, because this was still a nifty
mini-classic. The aforementioned finish was the best part of the match, its
simplicity and brutality was off the charts, and I really want to buy a drink
or three to whoever thought of that one.
****1/4
6.Guerrero
Maya vs. Guerrero Maya Jr.
In case
you’ve been living under the rock, Maya Senior is actually Black Terry. And
Maya Junior is his alleged son. Which means this is a father on son, son on
father violence. But it’s nothing new for these two troopers, as they’ve been
feuding on indie scene for quite a while now, and then there’s their bitter
feud from IWRG years ago, so they’re not strangers to beating each other silly.
This started off as something we’ve already seen in Cerebro/Virus and
Trauma/Panther, but you just knew something’s off with these two fucks and it
was only a matter of time before hell breaks loose, tensions were high during
those opening minutes. And then a violent blood brawl started, first with Maya
Jr. laying some serious smackdown on his dad, making him bleed, ripping his
mask, pretending he’s not 63 years old, etc. He even used Arena Naucalpan’s
signature bucket for a headshot. Nasty! Senior’s eventual comeback was amazing
and led to 5-6 picture perfect minutes of revenge violence. Terry is probably
the best brawler in business, he’s proven that countless times before, and once
again here as he was charging on his son with elbows, Jake LaMotta jabs, super
stiff kicks to the spine, he made him bleed hard, he used that bucket back on
him, etc. The entire thing was one big orgy of mayhem, I adored it. The final
2-3 minutes saw both men selling the beatings inside the ring and trying to win
at all cost, which led to a DQ finish. Since I knew there’s no way this would
end up clean, I was fine with the way they called it a day, and especially because
they fought some more after the match.
This was
amazing, boys and girls!
****3/4
7.Caifan
& Avisman vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Hechicero
Some truly
great parts here, but also some headscratching parts as well. Like, there were
just enough annoying moments that prevented the match from being great. Early
matcore was very cool and when they transitioned into a strike-heavy slugfest it
got even better, but as the match was getting longer, its structure was getting
looser and looser, and some illogical stuff occurred. I’m not going to bother
you with all the details because the match was 25 minutes long and lots of it
happened in there. Hechicero and Caifan still have a great chemistry and it
looks we might get another singles clash between the two. I’m pretty damn
pumped for that!
***3/4
8.SUPER
LIBRE: Pagano vs. Trauma I
So, this
Pagano fella, right? He gets bed rep on internet because he’s a trashy hardcore
guy, but I think it’s just because most fans hate the style. Newsflash – he’s
not that bad. I mean, sure, he’s not very athletic or technically sound, he can
be pretty sloppy and too slow at moments, but at least he’s willing to bump
hard and do crazy shit to compensate and to entertain the crowds. I guess that’s
why he’s one of the most popular indie guys in Mexico this year. He brings
blood and violence, and knows how to work with weapons.
This was a
really good hardcore tussle, with both guys taking turns in desecrating each
other with chairs, forks, broken glass bottles, lighttubes, PUNCHES, etc. The
match had its structure and flew well, more or less. All those Pagano negatives
I mentioned in first paragraph happened in this match too, but good things
outweighed that easily. All things considered, this was a super fun hardcore
brawl with tons of violence and brutality, I recommend it.
