Today, one of the big awards, and one of those which always ends up with a wide variety of answers:
- Best Wrestler
- Most Improved
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16 thoughts to “2009 Tapatia Discussion: Wrestler, Improved”
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Best Wrestler- Mistico. This year there were many luchadores that had a great year in 2009, but no one was better than Mistico. Whether it was having great matches throughout the year, or winning Negro Casas hair at the CMLL aniversario in September (which possibly could be match of the year). Without a shadow of a doubt, Mistico was the 2009 wrestler of the year.
Most Improved-Mascara Dorada. In 2009, many improved, some by leaps & bounds. However there was one that improved by far the best, & that’s Mascara Dorada. This year he was without a doubt one of the top 10 wrestlers of the year. He had a great 2009, & judging by some of the results this year, he is going to have a even greater 2010. He could possibly be CMLL’s new “golden boy”, & frontrunner for 2010 Best Tecnico & Best Wrestler of the year.
Best Wrester seems like it needs to go to either Mistico or Negro Casas probably. I lean towards Casas since I think he brought out the best in Mistico and several other tecnicos over the course of the year. For big wins throughout the year, Ultimo Guerrero should get some consideration as well. Moving out of CMLL, Negro Navarro and Trauma II need to be mentioned. Both had some great singles matches, los Traumas were outstanding as a tag team, and their trios matches were solid too. And, while I am certainly not a fan, Dr. Wagner Jr. was on top of AAA for nearly the entire year. His surprise debut and the run up to Triplemania were handled very well, and his match with Mesias there was epic. It should have ended shortly after that, but he has to get some credit for the parts that worked well
I can’t argue at all with Dorada being the frontrunner for most improved. This could oddly wind up being the biggest runaway of the awards this year. I think I would also nominate Shockercito. After dropping his mask, he seemed to show much more charisma than he had in the past and had some solid matches over the middle of the year. And, what about Gringo Loco? I have no idea if he was decent before, but he somehow found his way to Mexico in the middle of last year and got a job. That’s got to be worth something right?
For improved, why not Trauma 2? You essentially have a novato under consideration for WOTY, I would think that would at least put him in the discussion for most improved.
Sagrado and Mascara both improved leaps and bounds this year – especially Mascara. There was some discussion about him awhile back where it was discussed how Mascara often plays the role of the “crafty veteran tecnico” in matches, because CMLL doesnt really have a lot of those, and Mascara has sorta stepped into that role and done well. I think his work is often over looked for that reason. I know not a lotta folks on here are fans of his work though…
Texano would be another decent choice for either category, that hasnt been brought up. If you said at the end of ’08 that Texano would get two pretty decent hair wins, and headline two big shows, you would have been thought crazy – but it happened. Terrible could also be added to the improved discussion. Would you have thought a year ago he would be headlining major shows, and going to NJPW?
Wrestler: Negro Casas
Improved: M Dorada
Best wrestler is Latin Lover. He’s the most charasmatic and captivating wrestler, and he has main stream popularity. He’s also the best athlete. At age 43 he’s in better shape, and more athletic, and faster than many of the “young” wrestlers.
Some of you people sure love your air horns.
The best wrestler in Mexico is Negro Navarro and the most improved wrestler was Trauma II. Dorada would’ve been my choice in any other year, but it would be a crime if he won this over Trauma II.
@Nikita: Good point, I should have had Trauma II in the discussion for improved. I don’t know if it would be a “crime” for Dorada to beat him, but he’ll definitely be in my top 3. Texano and Terrible are also worthy of consideration.
@ohtani’s jacket: Getting over is part of being a good wrestler. That doesn’t mean that it is the only thing that should be considered, but not taking it into account at all would be ignoring an important part of the business.
@Alan: I agree Alan. In addition, I think you also have to consider drawing power. It isn’t the only thing to consider, but it does matter. I personally think you have to take into account that a guy like Negro Casas is headlining shows drawing over 10K with him on top, and a guy like Navarro is headlining in front of a half empty Arena Naucalpan. How good would Black Terry look if he and Blue Panther switched spots?
Keep in mind, I love me some IWRG.
Most Improved at the moment for me, since I haven’t had a chance to think about it too much, comes down to Mascara Dorada and Trauma II. The thing is, Trauma II didn’t struggle like Mascara Dorada did in CMLL. Trauma II went from being a good worker, to a really good borderline, great worker. However again, IWRG’s exposure in 2009 as increased as it was, doesn’t oversaturate like CMLL’s shows do, so again there is more Mascara Dorada to watch and he went from a guy who struggled when he made the switch to the new gimmick. 2009 he kept getting better. I’m not sure who I’ll vote for, but those are the top 2 names I can think of right now.
Wrestler of the year…I agree about Casas, Mistico, Navarro, Black Terry, El Mesias, and Dr. Wagner Jr. Others already brought up some of these names, but I wanted to focus on El Mesias since no one really mentioned him. When Cibernetico left AAA, everyone knew El Mesias would be his heir apparent and he’d always been viewed by casual fans as more of a carbon copy of Ciber. Well, in that time Ciber was gone, El Mesias pretty much made him obsolete. All Mesias is missing is cutting promos like Ciber and AAA could actually dump Ciber and not skip a beat.:) Then there’s the fact that El Mesias vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. at Triplemania was the first quality singles main event in AAA. AAA’s best matches over the years was either minis, women, mixed matches, trios and usually mid or lower card matches. Main events in AAA are usually awful.
Good call on Texano Jr. as well.
There really isn’t anyone who was head and shoulders above anyone for Best Wrestler. Now, if cubs wanted to go overboard and start putting together Most Outstanding Wrestler or Best Technical, then we’d probably have a completely different view on some of the nominees for best wrestler.
Wrestler: Negro Casas. I was torn on this because I wanted to say Mesias because of the cage match with Chessman and the TripleMania XVII title match, but the rest of the year was just sort of bad for him. Casas on the other hand was solid for like, all of 2009, and had some insanely good matches against Mistico.
No opinion on Most Improved.
@ohtani’s jacket: You went to Japan to pick out your wife, right?
@Rob:
I met my wife in New Zealand. Don’t see what that has to do with anything.
I don’t see how drawing power applies. CMLL is a much bigger and older company than the independents Navarro works for. It’s a given that CMLL workers will draw more, but is that any reflection on Navarro? I don’t think so.
@ohtani’s jacket: I’m just worried, that’s all. Seems like anyone who disagrees with you is either committing a crime or you consider them a lower form of human being. Should the proper authorities be contacted if she ever wants to go out and you want to stay in?
I think Alfredo clearly explained why Mascara Dorada deserves to win Most Improved. CMLL was ready to send him back to GDL after a horrible first couple of months but thanks to Felino and Virus he turned his career around. Trauma II was always perfectly fine and now he’s excellent. Don’t see how anyone could vote Trauma over Dorada (*) unless they were unable to get past their own personal bias.
* = Not sure if it’s a crime here in Canada though. I’ll have to ask a lawyer just to be safe.
Not only do I let her go out, but I let her go see Mistico live and she thought he was great.