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

BJW 2014/9/3

2014/9/3

AAA 4/3 (Part 1)

AAA 2015/4/3

Super Fly & Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs. Australian Suicide & Dinastia

Not even close to what the match could have been. For some reason they just didn’t click all together, despite some good individual efforts, especially by Pirata. The crowd wasn’t into the match. Dinastia wasn’t on his smoothest level and just in general the match felt kind of awkward on few occasions.

**3/4

BJW 2014/8/21, 8/24, 8/31

Daisuke Sekimoto 15^th Anniversary

Chessman/Mesias

AAA Rey de Reyes 2009

(2009/3/15)

LUCHA EN JAULA para Mega Campeonato de AAA: Chessman vs. Mesias ©

Good, organic, sluggish and punishing cage match until the spear to the outside spot, and then the whole thing fell apart. I didn’t even mind the big interference and counter-interference because it made sense story-wise, but the follow-up was just bad and disjointed, they did some illogical spots that hurt my brain, you know, those typical cage match clichés with bad positioning and far-fetched plans. Shame, it could’ve worked if they kept it simple, because these two are very capable brawlers but they can’t go against bad booking. The first half is very good and watchable, but then I advise that you quit after the interferences.

bad

BJW 2014/8/15

Sooo, I'm ridiculously behind with BJW. Like, 8 months behind. Fuck. And I can't even explain why, tbf, they're basically my favorite fed of all time. I follow the stories and results, but for some reason I always delay the watching, it's always "this weekend", lel. That needs to change. I guess what comes next is catching up in some sort of binge-watching, smh...

And what a bad luck, the first show is from 8/15 where they only aired 4 matches out of 7, they fucking left out Twin Towers vs. K-Hash & Kawakami, fuck life.

Big Summer Festival in Korakuen: Ryuji Ito 15^th Anniversary

(2014/8/15)

1.      Toshiyuki Sakuta & Kota Sekifuda vs. Yuichi Taniguchi & Isamu Oshita

Thankfully the eternal jobber Taniguchi didn’t get much ring time, so this was all about Big Japan kids making names for themselves. Good little match.

***

3.      GENTARO & Shinobu vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & MEN’s Teioh

Poor Shinobu just can’t get away from underdog roles, lel. Good match with killer finish, and overall it was fun to see GENTARO hanging with Daisuke.

***

5.      ETC DEATHMATCH: MASADA & Danny Havoc vs. Yankee Nichokenju (Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka)

What a great deathmatch sprint, this was all action and destruction, American guys worked their asses off here, they really stepped it up against the homeboys. MASADA is such a beast, especially in Japan. This was awesome.

****

7.      300 COUNTER LIGHTTUBES DEATHMATCH - Ryuji Ito 15^th Anniversary: Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Ryuji Ito

Another super fun sprint in front of the amazing Korakuen crowd. Abby and Ito had a bunch of 20+ minute long matches in the past, so it was such a nice surprise seeing them in a short helter-skelter. There wasn’t any particular story behind the match, it is Ito’s debut anniversary match and Abby came back to regular competition just five days earlier, and the match is simply about two old pals/rivals having a deathmatch party in Korakuen. Shit son, it was tons of fun. They were just smashing each other with lighttubes like it’s nothing.

****