taped 2013-01-29 @ Arena Mexico
I made two gifs I don’t have a spot to post here. They are of Olimpico’s springboard pratfall and Black Warrior having just about enough of Triton. The way I saw it, it looked like Black Warrior shook the rope on Olimpico, maybe without realizing it. And he could’ve been close to Triton, though I’m not sure who’s fault that is.
Diamante, Pegasso, Starman vs Cancerbero, Raziel, Sangre Azteca: I’ve got an suggestion. If someone’s going to do ‘surprise’ finishes like the one in the first fall here, instead of having someone go for holds they never actually try unless they’re going to be reversed into a pin, maybe one of the holds they always try but never actually could work for once. Blue Panther does that finish twice a year, but I’m pretty sure that still leaves room for other people to do it. This match was just kind of there. Raziel and Cancerbero have had more interesting matches with better people. Pegasso looked slower than usual at parts.
Blue Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Tritón vs Black Warrior, Misterioso Jr., Olímpico: Some good action, but more notable for the massive wipeouts. Blue Panther, ending a fall because he knows it’s screwed up and everyone needs a couple moments to figure out what they’re doing, is the best. We need a woman – maybe Amapola or Marcela? – to end all falls in their matches with one of the other women screw up. (There’d be a epidemic of 4 minute matches until people figured things out.) Black Warrior interest in this match seemed to change depending on who he was fighting – he could’ve been taking a nap when wrestling Triton, but was like a hunter chasing a deer with Guerrero Maya.
Volador Jr. vs Rey Escorpión for the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship: GREAT – almost descended into too much “my move kick out your move kick out” by the end, but people were able to do multiple moves in a row and sometimes it’s the little things that count. This match was actually more about the big things, like the big killer shots in the third fall here. The superkick to a seated Escorpion looked brutal, and Escorpion’s big flip over the barricade after Volador’s tope was awesome too. This whole match was notable for a CMLL singles match having a planned técnico be cheered and a planned rudo be booed – of course, the tecnico’s technically a rudo too, but it’s closer than they usually get. Honorable mention to Misterioso for strong work as a second.
Atlantis, La Sombra, Marco Corleone vs Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas: just build to the singles match and not really much more. Everyone’s had more entertaining match. In my mind, this feud is all about finding out if Sombra can give Mr. Niebla the Brillante Bomb, but that’s more adventurous than this feud seems to be. I guess we’ll find out next week.
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Definite match of the decade contender for me. I know, long way to go. But this was spectacular.
They really did nothing wrong and if you wanted to nitpick the only thing you could really pick apart is the finish where Escorpion no-sold the backcracker and just hit his move but I guess that’s the New Japan stuff rubbing off on them.
Escorpion is just amazing. A total throwback to the old school rudos who were all over CMLL in the early 90’s. They clearly went old school when imitating the exchanges Volador used to do with Jerry Estrada & Pirata Morgan. Don’t tell me that wasn’t intentional.
The usual crew of old dudes who hate all current Lucha Libre except when the old guys pop up once a year should even appreciate this match. If not they’re just being stubborn as usual. If we had the technology to put Jerry Estrada 1990 in this match instead of Escorpion and have the exact same match they’d be shitting themselves calling it the best match of the year so far.
Gonna take something special to beat this for match of the year.