Volador/Rush and Stigma/Virus

CMLL 2015/09/25

Volador Jr. vs. Rush

At the end of the day, this was an angle more than it was a match, but it was a damn fine angle. You’ll totally struggle to find a better dickbag asskicker than Roooosh, he’s a terrific brawler and it’s never boring with him on offense. Also Volador’s always been willing to bump around to make others look good, so there you go. Primera was all about Rush, but he still lost, as Volador caught him off guard for a roll-up win. Segunda was more back-and-forth, with Volador doing his stage plancha and Rush getting a nasty cut on his shoulder. Just as the match was really heating up, Sombra, Mascara and Marco interfered for a DQ and 2-0 for Volador. Some might be upset because of that, but this is still the early phase of the feud, as all signs point to a hair vs. hair match, so all things considered, I’m happy. Good shit!

***3/4

CMLL 2015/09/26

Stigma vs. Virus

Wow, another Virus instant classic, and it came out of nowhere, because this is from a Sabado Retro show, and CMLL doesn’t air those. Thankfully, the good sir TKD117 recorded this doozy clash and shared it with us. Not to mention he had a ringside seat, so he caught all the action, and needless to say – it’s excellent. This match was divided into three acts: one and two were tons of nifty scientific/chain wrestling, good old llaves contra llaves with pure struggle for control, it wasn’t as matcore as Cerebro/Virus, but it was still captivating for some other reasons, mainly due to its sheer simplicity and sense of clear progression from Stigma.

Both “rounds” ended in a stand-off with Stigma standing tall and proud of himself for not being outclassed by Pequeno Maestro, and with Virus smirking in disbelief and probably thinking “oh yeah? let’s see if you can brawl!”, because Virus totally changed his gameplan after that, as he unleashed some nasty smackdown on poor Stigma, all the gnarly chops, rope-running hits and tosses looked painful and beautiful at the same time. It’s been awhile since Virus beat the shit out of someone that way and that hard, Stigma must’ve struck the major nerve during the first half to piss him off like that.

Basically, it was a fantastic piece of character work and storytelling, so subtle yet so enlightening, felt like Matthew Weiner wrote it. To cap it off, Stigma’s hard-earned comeback during the third stage was seriously great, and the way Virus managed to lock him up once and for all was even better. All hail this amazing encounter!

****3/4

Newish CMLL

CMLL 2015/5/26

Pequeno Olimpico & Pequeno Nitro vs. Ultimo Dragoncito & Fantasy

Slick and clean match, everything was so smooth and the layout was catchy and designed to bring out the best. The Pequenos were relentless aggressors and the tecnicos’ comeback was super. I also really liked the finish.

***1/2

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.

***