Arena Mexico 09/04 Quickie

CMLL 2015/09/04

Four Rather Neat CMLL Trios

CMLL 2015/08/11

Valiente, Dragon Lee, Rey Cometa vs. Ephesto, Hechicero, Luciferno

Great match with all six guys working hard. Primera was marvelous with all the nifty matwork and eventual crazy flying (including Lee’s INSANE dive miss) that led to the tecnico win, which pissed off the rudos and hence segunda being all things dirty bar fighting. Rudos losing primera and then dishing out revenge punishment in segunda is one of my favorite things in CMLL trios. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it always works. Hechicero and Valiente were fired up. They were involved in the finish that served as a prelude to their mano a mano match one week after this. Also so good to see Cometa back!

****

CMLL Puebla 08/31

CMLL 2015/08/31

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

DUD

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

Newish CMLL (Lazy-Ass Edition)

CMLL 2015/06/09

Angel de Oro, Stuka Jr., Pegasso vs. Hechicero, Okumura, Bobby Zavala

Typically good trios match in three acts and great reminder of Hechicero’s amazing talents, him and Zavala were killing it here.

***1/4

Newish CMLL (Casas/Lee!)

CMLL 2015/6/2

Ingobernables (Rush, Sombra, Tetsuya Naito) vs. Thunder, Shocker, Ephesto

Tremendous trio totally carried by the Ingobernables swag. Naito fit in very well as an invading rudo, and teaming with Dickbag #1 and Dickbag #2 brought the very best out of him. Great booking here, the rudos were dominating the entire primera but then at the very end of it Sombra and Naito got caught off guard and pinned by Shocker and Ephesto, and needless to say, it infuriated Ingobernables to the point of unseen douchebaggery. Rush completely lost his mind in the segunda and carried Thunder to a damn good match-up, Thunder is progressing properly under the surly Rush watch. The finish of segunda was all sorts of fantastic and legit funny as hell. Excellent match.

****1/4

Guapos/Villanos

IWRG 2000/5/11

SUPER LIBRE: Super Guapos (Shocker, Scorpio Jr., Bestia Salvaje) vs. Villanos (III, IV, V)

This was 15 minutes of good old school lucha sangrienta awesomeness, two surly rudo trios going into a grueling battle filled with violence and tension. The Guapos worked as the “true” rudos here, dominating the primera and good chunk of segunda before an amazing Villanos comeback where they got super pissed off and just beat the shit out of Super Guapos for the whole tercera before the screwjob finish. Needless to say, there was blood, Scorpio was covered in red. When it comes to the body of work, there was nothing fancy about it, just heavy punches, biting, mask ripping, kicks, etc. Basically, a Villanos match, hehe. I especially adored the V4/Scorpio tussles, those were gnarly as hell. Excellent match.

****1/4

Rush/Shocker Saga (Cherry-Picked)

CMLL 2013/11/18

Rush vs. Shocker

CMLL Bastante Nuevo

CMLL 2015/5/5

Campeonato Mundial de Parejas CMLL: Atlantis & Blue Panther vs. Negro Casas & Shocker ©

Really good match, but not a worthy follow-up to the all-out brawl from a week before. The primera got a plenty of time and it was spent on the mat for its entirety, the match-ups were Casas/Panther and Shocker/Atlantis, they worked tight hold-for-hold style and it was great, basically the entire primera was a mini-match perfection. The segunda was a nothing fall, it went under two minutes and really it was just a cheap CMLL trick we see all the time. The tercera looked very promising based on video time, but unfortunately it was quite short, way shorter than primera and also some weird shit happened in there. I really have no idea why they held back in the tercera, instead of going full throttle they worked a low-bump style that seemed more like a table-setting of some form, instead of culmination of previous work in the match.

***3/4

CMLL 2015/4/28

Campeonato Mundial Trios del CMLL: Guerreros Laguneros (Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Gran Guerrero) vs. Sky Team (Mistico, Volador Jr., Valiente) ©

This was so similar to the previous match, the primera got over 10 minutes and it was glorious, it was mostly spent on the mat (GG/Valiente, Euforia/Mistico, UG/Volador) and it felt really natural and organic, the pacing was great. Then the segunda happened and it was really short, CMLL style, and the tercera was good in places, but also too by-the numbers in other places. But as a whole, this was a damn fine and enjoyable match, even though it doesn’t touch some other efforts from the rivalry.

***1/2

CMLL 2015/5/3

Campeonato Nacional Peso Welter: Barbaro Cavernario vs. Titan ©

Goddamn amazing match where every fall got enough time to develop stories and subplots, it was truly awesome. The primera was a swell back-and-forth matfest that escalated into semi-big moves which the Caveman won, and thus he gained tremendous confidence that carried into the segunda where he properly beat the shit out of Titan, whose eventual comeback was excellent. And then the last fall was the very best CMLL style could offer, there was a lot of big moves and smart callbacks and cut-offs that linked to their previous clashes. Cavernario didn’t do his crazy, knee-shattering splash to the floor (which is good for his health), instead he let Titan do it instead of him, hehe, who cares, Titan’s crazy anyway. Really amazing lucha title match and it’s so fucking beautiful that both Dragon Lee and Cavernario are singles champions at the same time, it means CMLL is doing at least something right. Now, if only they put some strap on The Panther too, I’d never say one bad word against them again.

****3/4

CMLL 2015/4/24

Sky Team (Mistico, Volador Jr., Valiente) vs. Hijos del Infierno (Mephisto, Ephesto, Luciferno)

Solid two fall sprint, but nothing to write home about, except for Sky Team triple dive that’s tailormade for highlight reels.

**1/2

CMLL 2015/5/5

Mercurio, Pequeno Olimpico, Pequeno Violencia vs. Shockercito, Stukita, Electrico

Fun, vivid minis’ sprint with constant movement and rapid fire exchanges. Shockercito and Stukita shined in terms of slick techniques and athleticism, while Mercurio shined at being a great dickbag.

***

CMLL 2015/5/5

Virus, Tiger, Canelo Casas vs. Fuego, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther

Another neat trio from Virus, Tiger and the Panther boys, about what you expect from them, grand stuff all around, highlighted by STUPENDOUSLY beautiful tope from The Panther.

***1/2

Shocker/Chicana

AAA Guerra de Titanes 2005

(2005/12/10)

Cabellera vs. Cabellera: Shocker vs. Sangre Chicana

Shocker vs. Chicana in a hair match sounds surly as fuck on paper and I just had to check it. And yes, most of it was good, especially first two falls with both dudes taking turns in beating the shit out of each other. That was some smashing old school lucha sangrienta, I especially loved the back-to-back “excessive punishment” finishes, I’ve never seen that before. It made Chicana look like a fool, but it also put big heat on Shocker for escaping defeat by the skin of his teeth. The tercera was once again great, but then the ref bump happened and we got a vintage AAA big match style ending, with a bunch of interferences and gang beatdowns, especially after the match. The whole scene was one humongous clusterfuck. Very confusing. It didn’t ruin the match, but it did corrupt it. But still, this was a very good hair match overall, very worth of watching, especially the pre-ref bump parts.

***3/4

Newish CMLL

CMLL 2015/4/26

Campeonato Nacional Trios: Reyes del Atlantida (Atlantis, Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr.) vs. Peste Negra (Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Felino) ©

As good as it gets with Niebla and Felino in the ring at the same time. Fuck me, they are truly awful.

**1/2

CMLL 2015/4/26

10-MAN CIBERNETICO: Sombra, Mascara, Cavernario, Dragon Lee, Ripper vs. Marco Corleone, Titan, Polvora, Kamaitachi, Morphosis

Fun, action packed cibernetico. Team shuffling led to some amusing moments. Nothing must-see, just a nice 20 minutes to kill.

***1/4

CMLL 2015/4/17

MATCH RELAMPAGO: Polvora vs. Titan

Usual good work from these two, Polvora was especially effective in rudo role, he did the domination parts very well. Obviously Titan did a number on himself via dangerous bumps and dives. Dude’s crazy and needs to tone it down, for his own health’s sake.

***1/4

CMLL 2015/4/21

Dragon Lee, Fuego, Triton vs. Virus, Tiger, Puma

Really good match, although not the sprint I expected. They took their time and the match was generally slower than your usual Dragon Lee/Tiger/Puma affairs. The best thing about this one was Virus not forgetting his beef and title loss to Dragon Lee, they had ace sequences here, but that’s such a given already, their chemistry is off the charts. Puma was great too, practically right up there with DL and Virus. Damn good match!

***3/4

CMLL 2015/4/21

Sky Team (Mistico, Volador Jr., Valiente) vs. Guerreros Laguneros (Ultimo Guerrero, Euforia, Gran Guerrero)

Typical CMLL trio with a three act structure, a fall and a half it was all about Guerreros, then the tecnicos made the high flying comeback, although I gotta give them credit here, the ending to the segunda was quite unusual for modern CMLL, and then we got a back-and-forth tercera. Good match!

***

CMLL 2015/4/28

Magnus, Flyer, Oro Jr. vs. Disturbio, Canelo Casas, Hijo del Signo

I should probably watch Magnus more frequently, but what can I do when he’s always paired with Flyer. In case you wondered, Flyer is a botch machine, dude has major problems with executing the most basic lucha moves and combos, yet he keeps getting regular Arena Mexico spots. Such a CMLL thing to do. Hijo del Signo is someone I’ve never seen before and it needs to change after this match, he’s a badass and his submission finisher is rather unique and groovy.

***1/4

CMLL 2015/4/28

Campeonato Internacional del CMLL-Reina: Princesa Sujei vs. Narumiya ©

This was bollocks, I felt really bad for Princesa, it sucked she had to deal with embarrassingly awful Narumiya. Probably the worst performance of the year, she botched a lot, sucked at timing, etc. Disgrace.

bad

CMLL 2015/4/28

Atlantis, Blue Panther, Dragon Lee vs. Negro Casas, Shocker, Vangelis

This was an amazing brawl, vicious and mesmerizing tussle that felt like a throwback asskicking helter-skelter. In some other era, Atlantis’ mask would be ripped off and blood would be pouring down his face, also Blue Panther would bleed a bucket or two, with Shocker licking their blood respectively. Unfortunately, there’s no juicing in modern CMLL, but no biggie really, great wrestlers still find many ways to make it work. This match is pure example of modern CMLL brawl executed down to a T, each fall got plenty of time and stories and subplots were highly developed. The focus is Atlantis & Panther vs. Casas & Shocker, with Dragon Lee and Vangelis in supporting roles. And it’s kind of surreal and awesome to see the veterans paired up and beating bajesus out of each other, you get the real sense of CMLL’s roster depth and size, also you get the sad feeling of many missed “dream match” opportunities. Rudo trio was dominating the match for a long ass while, and they were fantastic at it. The first 90& of the match was incredibly one-sided, just a badass rudo mayhem, which is one of my favorite things in lucha. This is a must-see match and I can’t wait for the tag title match next week, it’s guaranteed to be great after this fantastic build-up.

****1/2

CMLL 2015/4/26

Stuka Jr., Stigma, Pegasso vs. Virus, Okumura, Nitro

Kinda by-the-numbers match, but hey, this is still a Virus sprint, co-starring Stigma, so of course it was good.

***

CMLL 2015/5/5

MATCH RELAMPAGO: Titan vs. Gran Guerrero

Good match, one helluva Titan carryjob.

***