Catching Up With the Summer Time CMLL, Vol. 1

I barely watched any CMLL during this last summer due to many reasons, the main being the exhausting G1 Climax, so now I cherry-picked the matches that sound really fucking good on paper, and man, some true gems right there, here's my Vol. 1:

CMLL 2014/6/30

Mascara vs. Cabellera: Asturiano vs. Pequeno Warrior

Two small prelim guys tore Arena Puebla down in this fantastic apuesta match. It had a raw, gritty feeling, it didn’t even feel like a CMLL match, but rather like a fierce indie slugfest. I don’t know anything about this feud nor I watched any of the matches that built to this one, but fuck me, they were so good it didn’t even matter. Pequeno is the mini version of Psicosis, I guess, and his amazing performance here secured him a worldwide nomination for the Biggest Prick, the shit he did was so old school, he was a relentless, merciless son of a bitch who abused both Asturiano and his second. Pequeno’s second was also a marvelous douchebag here, they were taking constant shortcuts, cheap shots and ambushes, I’m not going into details, just sit down and enjoy this tremendous lucha de apuesta. Shame about CMLL’s no blood policy, because that was the only thing missing here.

****1/2

CMLL 2014/9/16

Negro Casas, Cavernario, Hechicero vs. Sombra, Diamante Azul, Dragon Lee

The rudo trio is basically a dream team, so much swag there, their teamwork is impeccable, and the best thing is, they’re willing to throw a nasty punch or two to make things go their way. La Sombra was actually the “weakest” in terms of displayed quality here, as Dragon Lee got another chance to shine, and he took it, while Diamante Azul busted out the best performance since I’m watching CMLL on a regular basis. To sum up, this was a killer trio.

****

CMLL 2014/6/24

Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero vs. Atlantis & Titan

Less than seven minutes long, but borderline great, there was no feeling out process, everything was about hit & run, the whole match pure intensity and hatred.

***3/4

CMLL 2014/6/27

5-on-5 TORNEO CIBERNETICO: Escuela Negro Casas (Negro Casas, Cavernario, Dragon Lee, Cachorro, Soberano Jr.) vs. Escuela Virus (Virus, Hechicero, Guerrero Negro Jr., Super Halcon Jr., Star Jr.)

Long and ridiculously fun cibernetico with no slow moments, there was a constant movement, usually involving heavy hitting or high flying. Some spots were blown early in the match, but here – it was the part of the charm and kind of added to the story, because there were many young and inexperienced fellas, and the older dudes made sure the mistakes were being acknowledged, sold and punished. The combos that rocked were endless here: Casas/Hechicero, Virus/DL, Virus/Cavernario, Virus/Cachorro, Hechicero/Cavernario, Hechicero/Cachorro… and – Casas/Virus at last. To my knowledge they never met mano a mano, hopefully that changes sometime in the future.

****1/4

CMLL 2014/6/24

Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero vs. Blue Panther & Cachorro

Five minutes of surly awesomeness.

***3/4

CMLL 2014/6/24

Virus, Morphosis, Olimpico vs. Triton, Fuego, Stigma

Virus vs. everyone else carried this match to greatness. Holy shit, Virus is truly incredible, honestly I can’t stress it enough, his mat stuff with Fuego was smashing, and the hate displayed to Stigma, brrr, mouthwatering.

****

CMLL 2014/7/8

Atlantis, Valiente, Rey Cometa vs. Euforia, Dragon Rojo Jr., Polvora

Great match where Cometa displayed the whole luxury of his talent, he really might be the best flyer in the world today.

****

CMLL 2014/7/4

Atlantis, Valiente, Titan vs. Guerreros Laguneros (Ultimo Guerrero, Niebla Roja, Gran Guerrero)

Very nice Atlantis/UG prelude trio with a particularly smart and funny finish.

***3/4

100

100th post, not bad.

CMLL 2014/11/4

Sombra, Dragon Rojo Jr., Blue Panther vs. Terrible, Rey Bucanero, Mephisto

Wow, strong names out there, and it still sucked dog ass.

bad

CMLL 2014/10/31

Atlantis, Volador Jr., Diamante Azul vs. Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Thunder

DAAAAAYUM at Casas/Volador sessions! Casas matching him in the athletic department despite being 20 years older… Bring it!

**3/4

CMLL 2014/10/28

Divinos Laguneros (Blue Panther, Black Panther, Cachorro) vs. Okumura, Kamaitachi, Tiger

Off sync and just generally bad, such a waste, but at least they kept it short.

bad

CMLL 2014/10/13

Atlantis, Maximo, Valiente vs. Guerreros Laguneros (Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Niebla Roja)

Fucking finally, this was a bloody great trio, simple, beefy and well paced. Atlantis is pissed that Ultimo is still pissed at him and here we go again, so much heat and hate between these two, I’m comfortable with calling this the Feud of the Year. Both guys were overall fabulous in the match, not just against each other.

****

CMLL 2014/10/31

Rush vs. Ultimo Guerrero

Excellent match, right off the bat you could feel the tension of a big match feel. Primera and segunda were pure old school brawling with gnarly beatdowns, terrific stuff. Tercera had me worried at the beginning it may be just a regular big move sorting, but shit son, it was fantastic. They did exchange some big and dangerous moves, Rush was bumping like a madman, but dammit, the selling was simply marvelous and pushed the match to grand new heights. Obviously the finish was not clean which means we’ll be seeing more of these two warriors, and hopefully it culminates in an epic cabellera match.

****1/2

CMLL 2014/10/24

MATCH RELAMPAGO: Rey Escorpion vs. Maximo

Fun.

***1/4

Cachorro/Virus

CMLL 2014/10/21

MATCH RELAMPAGO: Cachorro vs. Virus

As expected, this was good, really good. It was nine minutes long and they displayed a well paced structure with carefully picked holds and bigger moves. Virus is a proven world class wrestler whose biggest curse it we just don’t get too many title matches of his, just one every 3-4 months, so naturally every time he’s booked in these short one fall matches there’s a lot of excitement because we’re about to witness his almost unparalleled maestro factory of savvy, gracious lucha tricks. I mean, Jesus Christ, just look at the finish of this match and you’ll see clearly. But this was not just Virus, not at all, the Cachorro kid is hands down one of the best young wrestlers in world, and scary thing is – he’s working his rookie year! I fell in love with the dude during Busca de un Idolo where he displayed some incredible abilities, this was his first non-Busca singles match, and he delivered once again, it speaks volumes when such a young kid is able to hang with maestro Virus. Logically, I wanna see these two rock the world in a classic Virus title match.

***3/4