08-12 Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Boby Zavala, Namajague, Shigeo Okumura
GREAT. Definitely one where other people would have matches which don’t make the final list higher than this one, but I enjoy this guys work and they were working hard here. Not any new ground but one where everything were trying went off well and they were going full effort despite ‘only’ being in Arena Puebla. Rey Cometa really only tried the running Spanish Fly with Namajague and this was the best one they pulled off, plus there was some good Delta/Guerrero Maya tag team work (and hoping for more of that in 2014.) Surprised the finish happened when it did; not used to seeing Namajague successful!
08-19 Rey Escorpión vs Último Guerrero for the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship
The longest first fall in an Ultimo Guerrero singles match in years! (The second fall lasted under a minute.) And then a third fall much like any other. The other Escorpion/UG worked because it Escorpion was super aggressive and threw Ultimo Guerrero off his predictable match. This was the opposite, Ultimo Guerrero having his Ultimo Guerrero match, with the bonus of Tirantes going all Tirantes in the last few minutes. This was better than most UG matches have been of a late but nothing worth seeking them out.
08-25 Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Black Terry
GREAT. Black Terry really brings out the hate in Guerrero Maya. Maya was so different here than his CMLL appearances, almost the rudo (though maybe it’s just both guys were the rudos.) Straight brawl from before the bell which finds it’s way back into the ring but always feels a bit of control. This was a fight and a good one. There was was some technical oddness (like Maya pulling Terry off the mat while covering him after the Tormenta Maya to stop his own count), but the match flew by and the finish was neat.
08-25 Valiente & Virus vs Trauma I & Trauma II
GREAT. The Traumas trying tricks and cheap shots, only they try it against the wrong two guys and are lucky to keep it even. This match was already great in the first couple minutes when Valiente met Truma II eye gouge for eye gouge and Virus was taking down Trauma I when he tried a cheap slap. Everything was very solid and it was a very close match. Crowd was super into this match the entire way. It did seem out of order early, with Trauma II and Valiente attempting to rip out each other’s eyeballs leading into more sedate mat wrestling from Virus & Trauma I and then just a normal match for a while, but they picked the intensity back in up in the last third of the match. Finish was well down for what it was, but will still a let down after all that had let up to it. If that sort of finish is the trade off to get the match to happen, then it’d take it 10 times out of time, but obviously the match would’ve been better with something even slightly conclusive.
09-08 Dinamic Black vs Golden Magic for the IWRG Intercontinental Welterweight Championship
Another IWRG finish missed by LAS camera work – they were in replay and had no idea a double countout was coming so they would’ve missed the ref counting 20 anyway. The little we did see included both guys standing right next to the ring staring at each other instead of going in, so I’m not sure this would’ve been a finish to help the match. This became Dinamic Black’s last match, which was also the end of the very short lived Golden Magic & Centviron rudo turn. (You wouldn’t have known they were meant to be rudos until after the match. Centviron’s towel as scarf was hilarious.) It’s obvious there were issues about Dinamic Black around this time just by the way everything changed after it. (I believe the story is this wasn’t the finish they were originally supposed to have, but I’d guess there was more that led up to that.) Different issues than Fenix/Dinamic, or at least a different type of match as a result – this one was missing a spark or some energy. There was a good match here but not a great one, not what you’d hope for when two long time partners finally face each other. Enough spots for highlights but not a complete match. That said, crowd was into (and ref was way into it!) so I may be just be thinking too much and not just seeing things. This match just seemed less fun than it should’ve been.
09-30 Atlantis, Blue Panther, Shocker vs Black Terry, Negro Navarro, Solar I
I got completely derailed by the sound not matching up at all with the video; it took me a while to attempt to fix that, and longer to get back to watching it. (It still didn’t fix; I should’ve broken it down to individual falls.) This was a very good match, worked intensely for a maesto match and breaking down into more of a normal style match with different spots by the third fall. The finishes in the first fall and third fall seemed very sudden; all the CMLL 2013 maestros matches have felt like they could’ve gone longer but just abruptly end. It was weird for Blue Panther to be downplayed (and eliminated) in his own anniversary celebration – it was Shocker and Terry feuding which actually came off strongest.
