New BJW & DDT! Japanese Indies Everywhere!

2014/5/31


1. The Brahmans (Shu & Kei) vs. Yuichi Taniguchi & Takayuki Ueki

Lots and lots of water, yelling and big whackiness in general.

**1/2


3. Ikkitousen 2014 ~ Strong Climb ~ Block B: Shinobu vs. Manabu Soya

Short, organic, compact. I’m not a Soya fan, but Shinobu is just a perfect foil for him, the styles meshed very well. Killer finish, brutal stuff.

***1/2


4. Daisuke Sekimoto, Kazuki Hashimoto, Hideyoshi Kamitani vs. Ryuichi Kawakami, Atsushi Maruyama, Masato Inaba

Clipped, but the essence was preserved, thankfully. These Strong BJ 6-man tags from Korakuen never disappoint, this was a short ‘n’ sweet sprint with a VERY surprising finish that had the crowd going bonkers.

***1/2


5. LIGHTTUBE DEATHMATCH: Kankuro Hoshino & Masaya Takahashi vs. Ryuji Ito & Jaki Numazawa

As long as there are people like Ito and Numazawa, pro-wrestling will never die. I dislike Hoshino, but didn’t mind him here at all, and Masaya should be a deathmatch future if he sticks with the genre. Good match.

***1/4


6. Ikkitousen 2014 ~ Strong Climb ~ Block A: Shiori Asahi vs. Shinya Ishikawa

Just as good as their title match from March, Asahi is awesome as a subtle heel not afraid to cheat his way to the victory. Nice matwork and striking, and based on their respective movesets and also the previous match, there’s this lucha sense that the match can end at almost any time.

***1/2


7. BJW Tag Team Championship: Twin Towers (Kohei Sato & Shuji Ishikawa) vs. Yankee Nichokenju (Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka) ©

So, fuck yes, after months of mauling and crushing through the Strong BJ roster, Kohei and Shuji have earned themselves a title match against the much smaller champions. The story writes itself, it’s quite simple, actually, power vs. speed, behemoths vs. daredevils, and these guys are too good not to make it work. Great match with a proper result.

****


Very good, enjoyable show, even with the thin deathmatch scene Big Japan manages to pull it through because their Strong Division is amazing.







King of DDT 2014 - Osaka

(2014/6/15)


3. King of DDT 2014 – Round 2: Antonio Honda vs. Shigehiro Irie

Honda might be the most underrated and overlooked indie wrestler in the world. It’s just incredible how easily he shifts his character and personality in matches with high stakes (remember dat Togo title match? remember dat Dino title match?), he leaves the comedy aside and is all about business, he’s so damn good as a serious wrestler. But is it enough to overcome the super motivated Irie, who’s on the rampage to win the tournament and regain the belt? The match contains great storytelling and impeccable selling.

***3/4


4. King of DDT 2014 – Round 2: Tomomitsu Matsunaga vs. KUDO

Unfortunately, I can’t rate this, since they only aired 6 out of 16 minutes. :( But, I was able to grasp the story and intentions, and it was awesome, Matsunaga going all in, catching KUDO off guard and hitting three big moves on him within three minutes, but KUDO is one tough fucker on the path of regaining the belt, he ain’t going down just like that. Who’s got more left in the tank? I hope we stumble upon a full version one day.

N/A


6. King of DDT 2014 – Round 2: Kota Ibushi vs. Masa Takanashi

Masa is wonderful at playing his character, he’s a major underdog here, reluctant to even enter the ring before the match, but hey, every dog has its day, amirite? All it takes is one hiccup by Ibushi.

***1/2


7. King of DDT 2014 – Round 2: Isami Kodaka vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Takeshita’s bigger and stronger than Kodaka, but he’s still a young lion, and his opponent it, well, Kodaka, a seasoned deathmatch veteran who took ungodly amounts of horrific punishment throughout his career, so no matter how hard Takeshita tried to hit or suplex him, it doesn’t match lighttubes or boards of nails. The match had its minor problems, but the good stuff outweighed it by a country mile, especially the SICK finish.

***1/2

New CMLL

CMLL 2014/6/9

La Sombra vs. Shocker

So, in the whacky world of lucha, Sombra is a rudo in Arena Mexico, but tecnico everywhere else, and he’s pretty good in both. This match had the tecnico Sombra, and it was quite fantastic, but first things first, this was the Shocker show, from the beginning until the ending. Such an old school aggression and intensity, he gave Sombra a helluva beating in every caida. Primera had Shocker completely dominating the match and throwing Sombra around like a rag doll, but then he got too cocky, which enabled Sombra’s great comeback to win the caida. Shocker was furious and wasted no time, so he sucker punched Sombra in the face right in the middle of ref hand-raising. Understandably, segunda saw even more aggressive and gnarly Shocker trying to tie the score. Tercera was pure gold with Sombra busting out one of the most impressive comebacks of the year, and the finish was excellent with Shocker completely losing his cool. It also served as a setup for a potential apuesta match down the road. So yes, this match was glorious.

****1/2


CMLL 2014/6/10

Los Indeseables (Rush, La Mascara, La Sombra) vs. Shocker, Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero

Another Indeseables trio worth watching. Rush is the ultimate rascal of pro-graps, he just turns everything into a merciless brawling, as evidenced by primera caida here. The rest of the match was not all that impressive, tbf, especially tercera and the finish, but great primera and solid segunda made something out of this.

***


CMLL 2014/6/13

Campeonato Mundial de Parejas CMLL: Negro Casas & Shocker vs. Rush & La Mascara ©

Just about every combo was pretty damn good here. Naturally, the match is made by the Casas/Rush animosity, it’s all one big build to an eventual hair vs. hair match, but then there’s also Shocker seeking revenge on Rush for losing his hair against him earlier this year. Big write-ups are futile here, this was simply an action packed, fast-paced and logical match.

***3/4


CMLL 2014/6/17

El Gallo, El Cachorro, Dragon Lee vs. Arkangel de la Muerte, Misterioso Jr., El Hechicero

Hechicero’s Busca de un Idolo BEEF with Cachorro and Lee carried this match, therefore it was pretty good every time they were in it, and pretty meh when other three guys wrestled. Hechicero is pretty much the best.

***1/4


CMLL 2014/6/17

El Cavernario, El Felino, Herodes Jr. vs. Angel de Oro, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr.

I don’t know when and where, or why did Cavernario and Oro start their beef, but they actively despise each other. It pretty much carried the match, and when you add Maya doing his thing into the mix, you get a very nice trio.

***1/4


CMLL 2014/6/17

Volador Jr., Fuego, Valiente vs. Negro Casas, Ephesto, Gran Guerrero

Negro Casas and Fuego have great chemistry. But then you see Casas and Volador having great chemistry as well, and then you remember it’s Negro Casas you’re watching after all, he has great chemistry with EVERYONE. Very good trio match here, I already mentioned three top guys, but the other three were totally fine too, especially Valiente. Volador is growing on me, though, never thought much of him before. Just like Rush, he has no mercy for 55 year old Casas, he goes full force, it’s like he’s trying to break his face. Excellent finish too.

***1/2

Akiyama vs. Omori for the Vacant TCC and Much More

Dynamite Series 2014

(2014/6/15)


1. Mitsuya Nagai & Kengo Mashimo vs. Kento Miyahara & Menso~re Oyaji

Going into this, you knew exactly who’s gonna get his ass kicked, who’s gonna deliver the asskicking, and who’s gonna be the hot tag & savior. Simple and effective formula and story about stamina and persistence. Miyahara/Mashimo chemistry makes me wet.

***


2. Masao Inoue vs. Ryuji Hijikata

Solid little match between two jobbers who have nothing to lose. There was even some harmless comedy in there, and the finish was awesome. I’m starting to appreciate Hijikata more and more, tbf.

**1/2


5. GAORA TV Championship: SUSHI vs. Kotaro Suzuki ©

Unfortunately, the video starts fucking up halfway through. Shame, because the first half of the match looked rock solid, Kotaro was doing everything in his power to draw something out of SUSHI, but you can only do so much with that green pile of mediocrity. If Kotaro’s opponent was someone better or more charismatic, then I’d be really, really pissed at the corrupted video.

N/A


6. KENSO & Hideki Suzuki vs. Suwama & Hikaru Sato

Okay, now if this video fails to deliver, I might murder someone. *20 minutes later…* Okay, it worked, thank fuck. Yet another match with clear and defined roles, of course Hikaru would take the ungodly amounts of punishment, of course Suwama’s gonna be the behemoth that must be taken out by any means necessary. Hikaru Sato is the fucking man, his sessions with Hideki are beautifully cautious and shooty, I love how Hideki acknowledges him more and more throughout the match, because Hikaru is a bigger danger than previously thought, hence that INSANE backdrop driver later in the match. KENSO is so good in his comfort zone, and Suwama is good in every zone. Hideki needs to stay, he’d definitely be a very useful heavyweight addition.

***3/4


7. Vacant AJPW Triple Crown Championship: Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori

From behind, Jun Akiyama looks and walks like a giant mean baby. Okay, now onto wrestling: HELL YEAH, another great All Japan main event, and another Omori gem. He stepped the fuck up this year. This was your classic King's Road layout with two dudes having a rich backstory, where Dude A is more accomplished and "better" than Dude B, which means a structure with tons of punishment, perseverance and fighting spirit. Akiyama is all about sportmanship up until the point where Omori hurts his own shoulder, which turns Akiyama into a merciless dick who will work dat limb. He does a long workover and gets himself leverage, which turns Omori into a total underdog, which makes the crowd root for Omori hard. Basic structure, and I love it. Omori's selling was not perfect, but it was good enough, however he nailed fighting throught the pain to a T here. Not as good as Omori/Suwama, but that ain't no flaw.

****

Dramatic! My First DDT Post!

Friendship, Effort, Victory!

(2014/5/25)


5. IDOL LUMBERJACK MATCH for DDT Extreme Championship: Makoto Oishi vs. Masa Takanashi ©

GOLD


7. All Asia Tag Team Championship: Yasu Urano & Akito vs. Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Ishii ©

There’s just something about Akito… Something that makes me root hard for him, he reminds me of Tamon Honda, with that silent swag and the way he works limbs and applies holds, absolutely spectacular, IMO. Really good match-up right here, with basic layout and just awesome tag team wrestling, Irie is a proven class already, but Ishii deserves as much praise as possible, at least for this match, he’s great as both FIP and hot tag.

***3/4


8. KO-D Openweight Championship: HARASHIMA vs. KUDO ©

Unlike many others, I actually liked their first match. I liked this one even more, this was just a pure struggle throughout the whole duration. HARASHIMA was less flashy than usual, and way stiffer and more brutal. He learned his lessons, and that’s what I call effective storytelling. From the technical standpoint, this was a kickfest, tons and tons of kicks were thrown, which is understandable if you know the story and profiles of both guys. Eventually, even some nasty punches were thrown, out of despair, it was a great put-over not only for the title, but for both competitors as well.

***3/4

10!

AAA Verano de Escandalo 2014

(2014/6/7)

8-WAY ELIMINATION MATCH: Angelico vs. Jack Evans vs. Dark Scoria vs. Australian Suicide vs. Bengala vs. El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Fenix vs. Pentagon Jr.

Some impressive spots aside, this was rather illogical and senseless. It wasn’t even batshit spotty. :( I blame early Evans elimination.

bad


AAA Verano de Escandalo 2014

(2014/6/7)

Averno, Chessman, El Hijo del Perro Aguayo vs. El Cibernetico, La Parka, Myzteziz

This is Mistico’s debut for AAA, and he’s welcomed by sucker punching to the face and mad dog Perro almost completely ripping his mask off. Niiice. The opening portions were some glorious brawling with complete and accurate hate, Averno is becoming grumpier and grumpier with each and every day, and it’s so swell. There’s a moment later in the match where Myzteziz tries to do some flippy stuff, only to meet Chessman’s gnarly fist out of the left field, it’s pretty much the moment of the match. Great stuff, I love the AAA style of doing big trios.

****

Rare Finlay

WNC 2012/9/20

Fit Finlay vs. Ray Mendoza Jr. (fka Villano V)

TAJIRI’s small indie federation, Wrestling New Classic, is going on hiatus (translation: out of business), so they’re putting their stuff on YouTube. That’s really swell. I remember being hyped as fuck when this match was announced, but the show was not taped, unfortunately, despite being held in Korakuen, and this is a handheld tape made by someone from the balcony, the quality is great, though. The match is short, but worked in such a tremendous pace and is structured insanely well, these guys don’t need more than 10ish minutes to create greatness. Gnarly lucha meets gritty Euro style, which means MANLINESS meets MANLINESS~! You know Ray Jr. is a badass when he makes Finlay a sympathetic face-in-peril. I mean, it wasn’t a full-blown FIP session that covers over 50% of the match, but it was there, and it was great. Excellent match, check it out.

****1/4

Finlay vs. Taker

WWE SmackDown 2007/3/6
 
Fit Finlay vs. The Undertaker

Oh look, it’s Taker’s 15 min long entrance. Nevermind, onto wrestling now: wow, this was great, just an awesome brawl, a vicious and very physical smashmouth punchfest. It’s a Finlay match, so of course it’s very organic and smart, and full of IQ, but Taker really surprised me here, with his willingness to be nasty and surly in a poker sense, if that makes any sense, which means he played the game and totally let Finlay to dictate the pace and rules. My biggest gripe with Taker is how his matches can look too formulaic and mechanical, but that was not the case here, not even close. The rating would’ve been even higher without HORSECUNTTLE and his crap, but no biggie there, it’s still a freakin’ great fight.
 
****

Dominion Delivers in Tugboats in Front of a Traditionally Hot Osaka Crowd

Dominion 2014

(2014/6/21)


1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Time Splitters (KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) ©

Finally, the true YOUNG BUCKS match in New Japan, and this was the closest you’ll ever come to the PWG Bucks in Japan. Honestly, one of the best openers ever in Japan, just a top notch contest with such an organic structure and fluidity, the Splitters were insanely over, the Bucks were hated, everything simply clicked. An emotional rollercoaster that tore the house down, this might be a lock for Top 10 of the year.

****1/2


2. Tama Tonga vs. Tetsuya Naito

Not a bad match, it’s just that they had an insanely tough task after DAT OPENER, and it was a filler match anyway. Tonga sucks and is a total jobber, while Naito is in the phase of rebuilding, so this served its purpose, it was short and harmless.

**


3. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata & Tomoaki Honma

“You motherless fuck, I was pissing blood in gore deathmatches back when you were just a skinny Junior who carried Hashimoto’s bags”, said Honma while beating the shit out of Shibata to start off this great match. Shibata looked like an antelope trying to fight off surly leopards, it’s safe to say he got his fucking ass kicked in this one. Honma? Well, no one books underdogs better than New Japan, as evidenced yet again here, Honma even transcended his role, he refused to take the back seat, he was in for the fight. Goto was the weakest link, I mean he wasn’t bad, it’s just that he didn’t match the other three guys, not even close. With someone else instead of him, this would’ve been a legit MOTYC.

****


4. NWA World Tag Team Championship: Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.) vs. TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) ©

Much better than expected, it had awesome pacing and structure, the KES guys, especially Davey Boy, looked high as fuck, lel, few hilarious moments right there. Kojima was the undisputed MVP of the match, dude’s a standout veteran, thank fuck they put him in the ridiculously stacked Block A of G1 again.

***1/2


5. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Ricochet vs. Kota Ibushi ©

Finally, a borderline great title defense from Ibushi. The story here was just great and really catchy, because Kota finally met someone who’s able to not only match him in high-flying stuff, but overshadow him completely by taking shit to a whole new level. Logically, that means Kota has to bust out something devastating, something like a move that he rarely uses. Does Rico have an answer for that too?

***3/4


6. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka vs. Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba

And here we go, the first stinker of the event. Brief MiSu vs. Sakuraba sequences were totally swell and shooty, but unfortunately the majority of the match is Iizuka botching EVERYTHING, and the really tiresome MiSu vs. Yano crap that needs to end already. Just give me MiSu vs. Sakuraba 1-on-1 already!

bad


7. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi

After watching this match, I can’t help but feel like Yujiro’s momentum he gained through heel turn and all those awesome BOSJ multi-man tags - is gone. He couldn’t match the other three guys from the match to save his life, his new finisher sucks and the crowds know it, he totally crapped on what was a very good tag smackdown until his part in the finishing run. Shame.

**3/4


8. IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: King Ace (Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe) vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows ©

First of all, huge props to Makabe, who worked the match semi-injured (Yokohama, Goto, jaw), only to get totally obliterated by Doc’s palm strike, that was SERIOUS. Clearly he was in big pain, but that didn’t prevent him from taking many heavy smacks and busters across the face and neck area. RESPECT! Karl and Doc might be the best duo in the world right now, they’ve found themselves tremendously in the last few months, they’re a well-oiled machine with some awesome intensity, brawling habits and overall sumptuous teamwork, and at this point, they’re better than Bad Intentions ever were. TLDR, this was excellent, high-octane and vivid.

****1/4


9. IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Bad Luck Fale vs. Shinsuke Nakamura ©

Certainly not on the level of their awesome NJC match, but still very good, secretly I was hoping they’d work on the blood detail from that match, but we don’t get those things in this era of New Japan. This was rather clean and calculated, they kept things relatively simple, obviously Shinsuke was leading the game here, but it takes two to tango, Fale was very good yet again. The finishing combo was impressive, I gotta say.

***3/4


Three great and three good matches, ‘nuff said.

Hechicero, Cavernario, Greatness!

CMLL 2014/6/20

En Busca de un Idolo 2014 – FINALS: El Hechicero vs. El Cavernario

A totally fitting finale to a smashing tournament. Hechicero was at his creative best here, just a complete badass rudo whose experience even saved that horrific botch from Cavernario, who was also great, he’s most def come a long way, because I wasn’t really digging him at the beginning of the tournament, but in the meantime - he’s snatched my heart, damn it, such a fierce and intense tecnico, at this point I’ll watch anything he’s involved with. One great thing about lucha is that finish can happen at any time, which was really highlighted in this one.

****1/4

TERRY~!

IWRG 2013/9/29

Hair vs. Hair: Black Terry, Alan Extreme, Dragon Celestial vs. Tony Rivera, Guerrero Mixtico, Ciclon Black

So, in my quest for hidden pro-graps gems of internet wastelands, I stumbled upon this battlefield – a dirty, nasty lucha de apuesta brawl that eats little children. It has everything a classic lucha crime scene requires: shitty directing that looks like production guys are wasted from tequila, semi-full Arena Naucalpan that looks like a chaotic pub wreckage, topes into paying customers, obscure pro-wrestlers’ bodies flying everywhere, Black Terry choking in his own blood and bumping like a 17 year old kid, Black Terry and Tony Rivera trying to rip each other’s throats off, tons of heat and hatred, etc. I feared the match might go down the shitter once they finally decided to enter the ring for good, but nah, they kept rolling. TLDR, this was tremendous.

****1/2

Psycho Clown Is Fucking GREAT!, Vol. 1

AAA Verano de Escandalo 2014

(2014/6/7)

AAA World Title: Psycho Clown vs. El Texano Jr. ©

Psycho Clown is the cheesiest motherfucker alive, but he’s also one of the most over guys on the planet. He’s also a great wrestler. From what I understood, this feud with Texano is on since the end of 2013, and Texano always finds a cheap way out to win. This was not a blow-off, but rather another feud advancer, as evidenced by the rudo ref ending and Clown’s challenge for a Mask vs. Hair match, that’ll probably happen at TripleMania. This was a damn good match in front of a red hot crowd, the first half was some awesome brawling with both guys bleeding, the other half was the ring action with nearfalls, shenanigans and stuff. Few tiny, tiny flaws prevented this from being a low-tier MOTYC, but no biggie there, I will remember this match-up.

***3/4

After Taking a Two Month Break... This Is What I'm Back to? LEL

TNA Slammiversary XII (2014/6/15)


1. X Title: Richards vs. Edwards vs. Steve vs. Manik vs. Uno vs. Sanada © bad (clusterfuck)

2. Lashley vs. Joe bad (dull and incredibly dry, I liked their BFG match, but that was then, and this is now)

3. Magnus vs. Willow DUD (lolabyss, lolwillow, lolTNA)

4. King vs. Aries **1/2 (decent, but needed to be so much better)

5. BroMans vs. Von Erichs **3/4 (wow, much better than expected, marked the fuck out for IRON CLAW!)

6. TNA KO Title: Gail Kim vs. Angelina Love © bad

7. Carter vs. Bully DUD (lmao, fuck off with this garbage wrestling, TNA)

8. Storm vs. Anderson **

9. TNA World Title: Lashley vs. Aries vs. Young © **3/4 (decent)


Eh... Why even bother?

Kobashi's Indie Is off to a Solid Start

Fortune Dream 1

(2014/6/8)


1. Hayato Mashita vs. Tamon Honda

TAMON HONDA IS ALIVE?! *fuck yes* Wasn’t this suave motherfucking maestro supposed to be dead since, like, 2003? You know, when he got his spine cambered by Ken Takobashi? Here, he schools a total anonymous, and it only took him 3 minutes to do it.

**3/4


2. Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Meiko Satomura

Sheeeeeeit, matches like this make me feel disgustingly bad for not watching more of joshi. :( Unfortunately, I just can’t find more free time to squeeze them in. If I were 10 years younger… Anyway, this was killer stuff, watch it.

****


3. Shuji Ishikawa & Koji Doi vs. Kengo Mashimo & Tank Nagai

Going into this, of course my big wish was as much SHUJI vs. KENGO as possible. Derp… Didn’t get it in such capacity, Doi and Tank were the workhorses here, and they seem to be totally good, so it turned out swell, actually. Tank is someone to keep an eye on. Kengo’s vile smirk after submitting Doi with a sick hold was incredible.

***1/2


4. Yankee Nichokenju (Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka) & Kazuki Hashimoto vs. AKIRA, Ultimo Dragon, Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Totally fun and easy-going Junior trio that made me wanna see K-HASH/AKIRA. Of course Kazuki was the MVP of the match, doh.

***1/4


5. Masato Tanaka & Fujita Hayato vs. Akitoshi Saito & Kotaro Suzuki

Good match. The old fuck Saito can still go, even against much more agile predators like Tanaka and Hayato. Speaking of Hayato, his sessions with Kotaro were uh, oh… Singles match, pls.

***1/4


6. Daisuke Sekimoto & Kento Miyahara vs. Kohei Sato & Yuji Hino

Highly disappointing, the worst match of the night. In fact, without the hectic five minute overtime, I’d rate this “bad”. The match had like 300 strike/chop exchanges, I mean, c’mon already… There was barely any cat-and-mouse play, the whole match was one big test of toughness, and not in a good way, at all. Emotionless and buzz killing. There were some nasty suplexes and vicious strikes, but that’s about it. Skip the shit out of this.

**


Good show, fun stuff, but would’ve been excellent with a better main event. Some tags did a good job of setting up potential 1-on-1 clashes, hopefully Kobashi finds a way to book ‘em.

Some Brand New LUCHA

So yeah, hello everyone (or no one, let's face it), this is gonna be a blog about pro-wrestling, and it's gonna be totally random. Mostly lucha, puro and indies, maybe some WWE/TNA/ROH.

Salud. 

CMLL 2014/6/2

La Sombra, Marco Corleone, Atlantis vs. Shocker, Rey Escorpion, Polvora

So, Sombra is on the tecnico team here, and he has a major beef with Shocker now, it seems, their sessions and heavy smacks across the face is what made this match so good. Shocker took his mask after the match, and it seems Mask vs. Hair is a lock for down the road, which is totally fapworthy, and has potential to be better than Shocker/Rush. The rest of the crew was just… there, with the exception of Marco Corleone, dude has some serious brawler potential. Someone find him a hate feud already, ffs.

***1/2


CMLL 2014/6/3

Negro Casas vs. Rush

Goddamn it, Rooosh is fantastic, he sells the feud with Casas incredibly well, you get the feeling he’s legit trying to MURDER the old motherfucker. Heavy smacks, hard stomps, superb heat, etc. Just a big plethora of stiff lucha, and all that in just six minutes. Yep, just six minutes, try to find a better sub-5 minute match from this year, I dare you.

***3/4


CMLL 2014/6/6

Rush, La Mascara, Titan vs. Negro Casas, Shocker, Felino

Yet another heated Rush/Casas trio, goddamn I love this feud. These two are basically trying to beat each other silly, and watching Rush stomping mercilessly on 55 year old Casas is fucking TITS, he’s definitely one of the best heels in the industry. Scratch that, he’s THE best. His running dropkick to the corner is batshit vicious, and is giving Shibata a serious run for his money. Titan also embraced some of Roooshness here, awesome layout from him as well, Casas was money as usual, but the killer from the shadows in the match was Shocker. Dude was crazy, angry and violent, which is much appreciated. This was an excellent all-out brawl, and while I’m not a “blood=better” guy, damn, this would’ve been a total masterpiece with some juice on Casas or Shocker.

****1/4


CMLL 2014/6/6

NWA Middleweight & Welterweight (Double) Titles: Volador Jr. © vs. La Sombra ©

Very disappointing, especially considering Volador’s hot streak before the match. Primera and segunda were quite good, but tercera felt kind of dry and emotionless for me, although the crowd was hot ‘n’ heavy, but I just wasn’t feeling it, too mechanic they were. Solid title match, but not good, when it’s all said and done. From the technical side, they did some fabulous and jawdropping stuff, some stiff moves were thrown around, but like I said, it was dry overall.

**3/4