Fun Lucharesu - Day 1

NJPW/CMLL Fantastica Mania 2016

(2016/01/17)

New CMLL

CMLL 2015/11/06

Astral & Electrico vs. Demus 3:16 & Pequeno Olimpico

Good minis match, but nothing more. Demus was awesome, Olimpico was serviceable, Electrico was… there, and Astral was good, but his execution still makes your brain hurt (many 50+ year olds hit those armdrags much faster). Also, Demus lost twice in a row by DCO. Didn’t care for that. Good shit that could’ve been so much better.

***1/4

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

CMLL Ketchup

CMLL 2015/08/14

Magnus & Soberano Jr. vs. Cancerbero & Raziel

Very good match, almost great, there was a lot of smart tag team wrestling, you could totally tell Cancerbero and Raziel are Virus’ pals. There was a lot of structure and pacing changes, the tecnico duo made few great hope spots and they got cutoff many times. Cancerbero is just an awesome bruiser. Some really innovative double team shot as well, pretty nice match.

***3/4

CMLL Puebla 08/31

CMLL 2015/08/31

Marcela, Vaquerita, Skadi vs. Zeuxis, Tiffany, Seductora

DUD

Muy Buena Lucha

Chilanga Mask 2015/08/16

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.

***3/4

Virus/Maya

Arena Neza 2015/08/14

Virus vs. Guerrero Maya Jr.

This was an impromptu semi-main event of the show that happened only because they needed to kill some time so Rush wasn’t late for main event. And these two showed everyone why exactly they were chosen for the task. Just a superb matfest, a smaller version of their cult classic CMLL title epics from ’11 and ’13, and almost as amazing, this match achieved everything in just around 12 minutes, and it didn’t need an epic CMLL tercera to make it. Each fall got 3-4 minutes, but not even once they felt short or incomplete. Primera was a scientific wrestling dream, and the other two caidas weren’t even that much free-spirited or less “hardcore” as one would expect, no, basically the entire match was spent on the mat, with very little rope-running, and no flying at all. Once again Pequeno Maestro brought the best out of Maya. No matter how much time you spend watching and studying his body of work, Virus will ALWAYS catch you off guard with some trickery and that mighty minis magic. This is a must-see instant classic!

****3/4

Maya and Zavala in a Disappointing Busca Final

CMLL 2015/08/21

Busca de un Idolo 4 – Final: Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Bobby Zavala

After the fantastic first half with all the careful and methodical llaves that was really nice, compelling and quite captivating, things completely fell apart in the second half, with Bobby fucking up his arm during a dive and just both guys getting really sloppy out there. Honest to fuck, I don’t remember the last time witnessing a match going from “great” to “bad” so quickly. And that is without mentioning the screwy finish that was absolutely unnecessary, which the crowd hated too. Have no idea why they protected Maya in such fashion, he doesn’t fucking need it. Maybe I won’t be this angry in few months if these two continue their rivalry with great matches, but it won’t change the fact this match sucked. At least Bobby won, which is a wonderful decision.

bad

CMLL Ketchup

CMLL 2015/08/03

Valiente, Angel de Oro, Titan vs. Mephisto, Ephesto, Polvora

Short but very to the point trio that would be even better if they got few more minutes to go all-out in tercera. The story was mostly about Polvora and de Oro advancing their feud and it worked. Everyone looked good in this match.

***3/4

Best Part of This Year's Busca

CMLL 2015/07/24

Negro Casas, Guerrero Maya Jr., Esfinge vs. Virus, Bobby Zavala, Disturbio

Fucking great Maestros-Busca match, only a little bit weaker than the last year’s cult classic, like, for just one HOLY SHIT crazy move weaker, something among those lines. Esfinge was pretty much useless here, except for that one late part in tercera, but that’s why everyone else owned the place, your usual suspects delivered big time, with Casas being the MVP as he both took and gave hellish beatings, he also more than legitimized Zavala and Disturbio from the other trio by playing such a fantastic FIP. It’s baffling that Casas and Virus never worked a singles match, but because of it every time they meet in a random trio or cibernetico, it feels special and quite big deal. Their exchanges were glorious here. Maya and Zavala were good as always, and Disturbio was easily the most pleasant surprise of the match, he played a masterful rudo here. I’m far from an execution mark, but his surgically precise punches were mesmerizing and looked very effective.

TLDR, this was awesome!

****1/4