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Black Terry vs Aero Boy, April 27 2014 I liked the idea for this match, with things starting out on the mat before Aero Boy got frustrated and turned it into a brawl. In the US that's a pretty standard layout but you don't see it much in Mexico, which made it feel novel here. I didn't think that the brawling part lasted long enough, instead transitioning fairly quickly into a finishing stretch that took up about half the match. There was a lot to like, though. The technical stuff at the start was very good, and even if the match's final act lasted too long it never felt excessive. A couple of times Terry got the fans to chant his name just by kicking out of a pin in a certain way. You don't see a lot of wrestlers who can control a crowd like that. Black Terry vs Aero Boy, June 10 2016 Mask vs hair match in a small, dark arena in Hidalgo, about as good as the Multifacetico match. I liked that one more, but in this one they actually did a good job of making the winner's victory a real triumph, so it evens out. There were some things that felt off, like the strangely timed tope in the first couple of minutes and Aero Boy's tortured sell of that armbreaker only for Terry to just release the hold. When you get the big picture right I can overlook that stuff. They did a much better job measuring out the near falls than in the 2014 match, mixing in brawling and desperation spots rather than just trading. Terry really has a lot of confidence in himself as a performer. His selling and acting are never big, but he never seems to have any trouble getting things across to the fans. That's impressive to me. After the match Aero Boy showed his respect for Terry, calling him a great wrestler and an even better person, high praise for someone who was jabbing you with a fork a few minutes earlier. BT, Cerebro Negro and Dr. Cerebro vs Trauma I, Trauma II and Ultraman Jr, October 29 2009 Man, I could not get into the exchanges between the Traumas and Terry/Cerebro Negro. Lots of skill on display, but for me the excitement of watching mat wrestling isn't just in elegant technique but in the creativity of counters and the struggle in attempts to get out. This was the equivalent of Black Terry and Aero Boy taking turns sitting down and letting the other guy lay in a wicked kick, or a boxing match with the guys just sticking their chin out so that the other guy can punch it. Terry's technical work against Aero Boy was better. Things got better after that, but there were still some indyish moves like a seated cutter and a fisherman's swinging neckbreaker, and besides that I just had a hard time caring after that first fall. I will say that it was great to see Dr. Cerebro work. I've only seen his early 2000s stuff, and here he reminded me of Espanto Jr, another effortlessly smooth rudo. Terry coming out to John Cena's intro music was the first time I've seen him do something that was outright dorky, which I guess is not bad nine matches in.

Well, I doubt I'll be able to make as substantial a contribution to this thread as that. Cool find. Black Terry vs Multifacetico, April 17 2008 It's striking how differently Terry worked just eight years before the big match with Wotan. I'm not knocking that match, but this one had the things that I want to see from wrestling. Built up comebacks, holds, stakes, shifts in the tenor of the match. Terry looked like he owned the place for almost two falls, and he didn't have any interest in proving his toughness. Instead he was just out to destroy the young tecnico, so even if everything looked just as good and just as violent as his brawl with Wotan, it was all a lot more interesting here. Multifacetico couldn't kick ass like that, but he was great as the young kid who was doing all that he could even though he was in over his head. He kept trying to fight back and even when he finally broke through he never stopped selling. By the third fall Terry had a bandage around his ribs and no longer looked like he had the match on a string. I don't know if I'd rank this above the Wotan match though, because they tried, and I mean they really tried to undo everything they'd accomplished with just about the worst stretch of spots imaginable at the end. Tecnico interference? A ref bump in a mask match? The tecnico giving up while the ref was out? Not even a visual pinfall, but straight up surrender. And then a weak small package pinfall. Somehow all of this seemed to get the crowd on Multifacetico's side, though, so what do I know? I'll still call it great, because this was REALLY great for over twenty minutes, but this could've been a classic. BT and Dr. Cerebro vs Hijo del Diablo and Gringo Loco, January 24 2010 This was worked like a classic brawl, with bleeding wrestlers crashing over the barrier and the fans willing Terry and Cerebro to a comeback. Terry's attempts to fight back looked great, especially that headbutt. Overall the match was too frontloaded, as the first fall saw Terry's team get beaten up, make their comeback, and then lose. There wasn't anywhere to go for the second fall, except for bringing a cactus into the ring I guess. Black Terry vs Aero Boy, March 18 2016 It looked like I was going to get my first taste of old man Terry's technical skills, but pretty soon Terry was taking a seat in the center of the ring and daring Aero Boy to kick him as hard as he could, with Aero Boy then doing the same and giving Terry a crack at it. Not interested in that macho shit. I want to see guys clawing for every advantage they can get. And on top of that "Ladies and Gentlemen" by Saliva was on repeat in the background. This got an early exit from me. There are some things you just can't come back from.

I haven't seen very much from post-'90s Mexico, which means that my thoughts on Black Terry basically end with his run in los Guerreros del Futuro. Let's see how long it takes me to form an opinion of him. Black Terry vs Mr. Condor, December 5 2021 This looked like the most incredible thing ever from the start. Not just the hard shots but the scenic backdrop, the camera angles and the fans within arm's reach cheering on Black Terry. Eventually it became clear that they didn't have a whole lot else to offer beyond stiffness and the match wasn't building anywhere. Also the fans started chanting this is wrestling and the promotion's name, which served as a reminder that even in that grungy environment this was still just another indy wrestling show. I loved the finish, though. You can hound a man to the ends of the Earth, blast him with bottles and windshields only for him to break free and come back at you, but there is nothing in professional wrestling as inescapable as a double pin. Black Terry vs Wotan, August 21 2016 I'm not a big fan of guys legitimately tearing into each other or brawling for brawling's sake, but I still had to admit that this was something special. It kept the brawling atmosphere and energy of that last match while including things like counters and wrestling moves, and bigger spots as the match progressed, which made it a brawling match rather than a fight that happened to take place by a wrestling ring. The way that they sold was much more conducive to wrestling as well. The wrestling moves that they did do, like the tope into the chairs or the backdrop on the ground, actually helped to make the match seem like a crazy war instead of keeping it tethered to the conventions of wrestling. And although I liked how incongruous the finish of the Condor match was, it can't really compare to the guys getting counted out while rolling around on some rocks amongst the fans. Black Terry, Jose Luis Feliciano and Shu el Guerrero vs Kato Kung Lee, Kendo and Black Man II (early 2000s?) I don't know when this is from. The VQ, the state of everyone involved, and the existence of Black Man II made me think early 2000s. This was more my style. It's not a great match like Black Terry vs Wotan, but I'll take rudos embarrassing themselves any day. Everyone looked good, which really said something. Kato is one of my main men, but even I didn't think he had it in him to look even passable at age 50, regardless of who his opponent was. You could probably count on one or two hands the number of CMLL matches in which he looked this good. Terry didn't stand out as better than his teammates but still impressed, in a completely different way from what he was doing in the next decade.

Aw, you jumped past the one where Satanico holds the match up for a minute or two to scream at either Ultimo Dragon or some fan in the crowd (the video made it hard to tell which). It was basically an Infernales match but with Bestia in there instead of MS-1, against a team of Dragon, Atlantis and Dandy.

Cavernario vs Titan from Monterrey (3/31/19) had me hooked at first, with Cavernario putting the hurt on Titan and building to a hot comeback. By the five minute mark of the video the brawling was over and they were trading moves, but the submission counters were really cool. Probably the best Cav match I've watched so far. Cavernario and Volador Jr. vs Ultimo Guerrero and Valiente (2/24/17) tested me with two guys who viscerally annoy me (Volador and UG). I was getting into it when UG and Valiente decided to be the rudo team and take apart their opponents, but again that was over pretty quickly. It's hard to get into a match when the characterization/build lasts for like five minutes and the rest of the match is the climax, but that's pretty much been the style from what I've seen. Instead of a war, the hair vs hair match between Cavernario and Rey Cometa (7/1/16) had stage dives, mascots strolling around ringside, and forearm trading that let the crowd boo the tecnico. Gave up on it about halfway through. I knew it would be a struggle going in, but I did watch Cavernario vs Volador (6/20/17) all the way through. There was nothing technical about it, at least not compared to the typical Cavernario match. Mostly I was just irritated by Volador's mere presence. He had a choker on and camo tights. I'm sure he's a great guy but he looks like such a jackoff. Cavernario can work, but I don't see the style winning me over in if I dive deeper. He's still in his twenties, I don't feel any shame in not rating him.

Cavernario vs Mascara Dorada (3/28/16) was the same kind of match as his title match with Titan. I thought MD was a lot more charismatic and interesting, but maybe that's because I haven't been watching a bunch of his big matches in succession. Cavernario vs Black Terry (6/11/16) wasn't very dramatic and didn't make me root for either guy, but it was a nice look at Cavernario outside of the trappings (or maybe the comfort zone) of big match CMLL style. He can add some nice improvisational spots to a match. Cavernario vs King Phoenix (6/29/18) got some play on this site as a special match right after it happened. It doesn't look like anyone's given it much thought since. Wrestling fandom in the modern era. Cavernario tried to make his part of the match more violent than he usually does. Bit wasted on a guy whose entire offense is an array of flips, though. Fenix's style won out and finally Cavernario did some flips of his own. Too bad, midway through the second fall I was really enjoying it. Shoutout to Hechicero on commentary for calling one of Fenix's dives a Fosbury flop. Wasn't expecting a high jump reference while watching wrestling tonight, although with all of Fenix's leaps and dives maybe that kind of comparison was inevitable.

So instead of creating a microscope thread for every wrestler sampler I'm planning on doing right now (about thirty), I think it would be easier to go through a few of their big matches, and then make a thread for a hard look if that leaves me wanting to see more. Cavernario is not even thirty years old, so on one hand it's absurd to judge him alongside finished careers, but he has ten years of taped matches to his name, more than a lot of candidates. The list of matches to nominate him was just a link to another board, so I'm going off this site's search function, thecubsfan's MOTY lists, and anything else that looks interesting. vs Xavier "Monarca" Cruz, July 15 2012 No better way to judge a modern wrestler than by how they perform against Javier Cruz. I couldn't believe Cavernario was just eighteen here. Not just that he seemed advanced for his age, he even moved and wrestled like a guy from a different era. I wanted sympathetic old man selling or grumpy vet brawling from Cruz, but he was the same as he'd always been, just older and balder. He visibly called the match and there were a couple of rough spots, but it was pretty damn good until the ref bump, Cruces Sr. and Jr. performing tandem dives, and the DQ finish. Fifty year old Javier Cruz can't do a job? vs Rey Cometa, September 19 2014 Already we see some character development from Cavernario, as now he wears a bone in his hair like Pebbles Flintstone. This wasn't an old school hair match, with the wrestlers building heat until they got to a fiery comeback and then putting it all on the line to win the third fall. I mean, they did the last part, but it wasn't substantially different in tone from what they'd been doing beforehand, landing impressive spots and counters with sporadic nods to violence scattered in. It was disappointing after how Cavernario wrestled Cruz and looked different from the typical modern worker. He worked hard to sell Cometa's kickouts but when you start selling every kickout it loses its effect. vs Titan, May 3 2015 This was a title match that wasn't any different in style from the hair match with Cometa. They did a much better job putting heat on Cavernario here and building to a comeback from Titan. Those slap exchanges had more hate in them than anything in the Cometa match. Not a technical showcase, and everything started to blur together after the figure four spot in the third fall, but I liked it.

I couldn't wrap my head around how to rate the Brazos individually in 2016, and I still can't figure it out in 2022. Each of them had their own unique skillset, but their careers were so intertwined and their roles all so essential to the team that it's hard to mentally split them up. On the surface Brazo de Oro was a guy with a good knowledge of holds and not much charisma. On a team like the Brazos, with title aspirations and two character driven workers like Brazo and Porky, that was just what they needed. He could carry technically demanding sequences, and his relative stoicism worked as a contrast to his constantly bickering brothers. He didn't get as many chances as I'd have liked to show off his skill, in either Brazos matches or his own championship matches, but the classic with Hijo del Santo gives him clearly the best individual dossier of matches among the brothers. On its own, it's not a resume that has me considering him with the very best his country has produced, and I don't think that he was truly elite as a talent, either. The Brazos were more than the sum of their parts, though, and he played his part very well. BdO worth watching: Brazos vs Renegados Brazo de Oro vs Hijo del Santo Brazos vs Dandy, Atlantis and Konnan

I don't understand why they're together. Cien Caras was more impressive as a draw by himself than with his brothers.

He listed three matches because that's the format for nominating someone. Give a short description of why you think they're worth looking at plus (exactly) three worthwhile matches. You're not supposed to list every great match they had in the nomination post.

It's not a match where I can recall much about it. I remember thinking it was good but not great, but not one I'd make arguments about one way or the other. Haven't seen it in years. I'm sure you've watched enough Panther to know that his selling wasn't like that 100% of the time. I don't think that was something he did well, and I needed to illustrate that in as few links as possible, so I chose ones that quickly made my point.

I see I already posted in this thread. My feelings on Panther haven't changed much in five years, so this is gonna be a repeat, but I don't see him as an allaround worker. To me he was an outstanding technician (more through holds than through overall application of offense) who was great in matches that required that from him. He did brawl, bump, do some comedy, run the ropes, and do all the other stuff rudos do, but I don't know how well he really did those things on a consistent basis. For a guy with a feline name in a country where so many of the wrestlers move like cats, he wasn't very graceful on his feet. His brawling could look weak, and there was something about the way he carried himself as a rudo. It always seemed to me like acting, as opposed to naturals like Pierroth, Fuerza, or even my main man Satanico. A lot of his transitions were really lazy. Most of all what I don't like is his selling. He's not good at it. Look at this. I get that he's going for an over the top rudo sell there, but it's a delicate line between comical and farcical, and he straight up did a cannonball over to the latter side. Here, in a heated brawl, he sells a simple strike like a zap from the Mountie. I'm not trying to make this like a court case with exhibits A through C, but I don't want it to seem like I'm making this shit up either. I often get the impression that he knows what great rudos do and when they do it, but I end up not liking how he tries to do those things. He finished 69th last time with a high vote of 7. A 7 vote is too high IMO, but I get it. Although I don't see him as one of the true all-timers, he did have a genuine gift on the mat, and he had an outstanding career, so I do think on the whole that he was a great worker. It's just that I can overlook a worker's flaws if they have enough excellent performances to make the knocks on them seem like small potatoes, like with Atlantis. With Panther, his flaws very often did limit how much I could enjoy his matches, and even with the long career he doesn't have an exhaustive list of great matches or performances for me personally. Some Panther: BP and Guerrero Negro vs Huracan Sevilla and Gran Hamada BP, Fuerza Guerrera and Fishman vs Mariachi, Mexicano, and Charro de Jalisco BP, Fuerza Guerrera and Jerry Estrada vs Super Astro, Volador and Transformer

I agree that Bestia could do it all. The problem is that he doesn't have that one performance where it all comes together, everything working for him in full flow so that he looks like one of the true greats. I know for some people it's the hairs vs masks match from 1999, or maybe the 4.5 star match with Huracan Sevilla or the hair match with Casas. None of those really did it for me. If I had to pick my favorite Bestia performance I'd go with this one. He's good and he's consistent, but I can't recall many times that I watched him and thought that no other rudo could have equaled his contributions in a given match.

Not something that's going to drastically alter his candidacy, but I always found it interesting that Charles' entire filmed career came after his thirtieth birthday. That's not the case anymore. A couple of months ago DJ Spectro put up a match with twenty-eight year old babyface Charles getting ready for a hair vs hair match against the future Jaque Mate. It's possible with the kind of people who come here that everyone's seen it already but just in case you haven't, here is (AFAIK) the earliest Emilio Charles match on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t2v27sWLQM (He also has a video with Amenaza Elegante, which is pre-Octagon Octagon.)

My favorite Casas opponent is Dandy. ATG feud in 1992, and the 1996 reignition was good too. For Santo it's Espanto Jr. although I do think Casas did a better job of making it personal than Espanto did.

I always thought that my first post on the board was a defense of Atlantis in this thread, but I guess not. Maybe I dreamed the whole thing up. On one hand I'm more sympathetic to criticism of him now than I was five years ago. He's not the type to elevate a lesser worker (Atlantis vs Black Warrior comes to mind), and he doesn't often have the look of a truly masterful and natural performer, not in the way that someone like Negro Casas leaps off the screen. But when viewed within the context of his whole career, the breadth of his accomplishments swallows stuff like that right up. You could place his first great match in 1984 and his latest at some point in the last decade. There are wrestlers who ranked in the top fifty whose careers began and ended during that span. He has enough great matches and enough big matches to his name that it's hard to imagine he was just a passenger that whole time. Actually that 1984 match with Satanico is the only time I thought he legitimately needed to be carried. It's a bit like how you'll sometimes see Youtube comments saying Atlantis was protected and "inflado," which is essentially them saying that his stature is the result of his push. He has the masks of Villano III, Ultimo Guerrero, Mano Negra, Kung Fu, Sombra and Talisman. When a wrestler reaches living legend status, how they got there hardly matters. He finished #74 last time, with a high vote of #6. At that time he had main evented back to back anniversary shows with well received matches, so he was on people's minds at the time and might not do as well this time. On the other hand he was in between Chris Jericho and Hulk Hogan, so he could easily do better this time around too. #6 feels a little high to me (that high on the list, the fact that he wasn't really a fantastic actor or natural seller does matter), but he has the matches to rank there. Some Atlantis performances to watch: Atlantis, Angel Azteca and Ringo Mendoza vs Pirata Morgan, Hombre Bala and Verdugo (flyer Atlantis) Atlantis, Rayo Jr. and Vampiro vs Ulises, Emilio Charles and Satanico (brawling Atlantis) Atlantis vs Dr. Wagner Jr. (Atlantis in a one on one brawl) Atlantis, Angel Azteca and Blue Demon Jr. vs Dandy, Texano and Super Muñeco (technical Atlantis) Atlantis vs Emilio Charles Jr. (title match Atlantis) Atlantis, Dandy and Ultimo Dragon vs Satanico, MS-1 and Pirata Morgan (Atlantis in a supporting role) Atlantis, Angel Azteca and Astro de Oro vs Espectro de Ultratumba, Espectro Jr. and Gran Markus Jr. (just a match I really like) Ranking the A luchadores:

I dunno, I feel like he's way behind Fuerza Guerrera, and that's just comparing him within his own subset of workers who are known for their insincere offers of handshakes.

Arkangel, Skandalo, Nitro and Loco Max vs Virus, Euforia, Raziel and Cancerbero, January 31 2012 Rudos vs rudos cibernetico between the Rebeldes Tuareg and the Cancerberos. Arkangel's technical side is interesting to try to pin down. He was always at least competent technically, but for a while he never seemed all that creative or enthusiastic when it came to holds and counters. At some point he started to wrestle more like a maestro, which you can see in his first exchange here. He eliminated Cancerbero with a complex hold and then got taken out by Virus with the same schoolboy counter that he used in the match with Gallo. Was that an Arkangel creation or a Virus spot that Arkangel later appropriated for himself? Probably unfair but it seems more like a Virus idea. I thought Arkangel actually outworked Virus, though. Fine cibernetico, but none of the matchups were breathtaking and the build to the Virus vs Loco Max final wasn't especially dramatic. Arkangel, Sangre Azteca and Violencia vs Ricky Marvin, Volador Jr. and Misterioso II, April 30 2004 The athleticism was off the page here in comparison to the last match. It was clear even in the holds, where they didn't put as much thought in but were darting in and out, whereas in the cibernetico they just sort of shuffled from position to position. The rudos didn't look like badasses and instead tried to match the tecnicos big move for big move, but the crowd was still hot when the tecnicos made their comeback. I've always liked Violencia. In my mind's eye he's a stocky Psicosis ripoff but here he was doing a Wolverine gimmick that seemed lost on the announcers. He got hit with a dive by Arkangel at the end, the first one I've seen him do since I last bitched about it. Arkangel worked well but didn't stick out from his teammates. Finishing up... I tend to categorize rudos as Type A, B or C. A's are natural leaders like Casas, Pierroth, Satanico. B's can lead or follow and it's equally natural either way (Fuerza, Charles, Pirata). C's are most natural as the second or third man on their team. A's aren't necessarily the best (actually most of my favorites are B's), but C's are generally more passive personalities, so if they want to stand out as greats then it has to be done with truly exceptional pure skill. Arkangel is a firm C, and although he was usually at least decent and stayed good for a long time, he was more of a good guy to have in a match than someone who could craft something special. There just weren't those touches of brilliance or intensity or drama that the great ones bring to their matches. In a way he never totally shook the trappings of an Arena Coliseo undercard rudo. He knew what to do to keep the match moving in the direction that it needed to go, but you could say that about countless workers, many of whom had much more notable talents. His most similar nominee is probably Hombre Bala. I give Arkangel the edge on technical ability and longevity. Hombre Bala had more personality and better top matches. I wouldn't scoff at someone who ranked Arkangel but I would wonder why they didn't at least nominate Hijo del Gladiador or someone like that. Obviously this wasn't the most inclusive look at a career of over thirty years, but I didn't have a lot of recommendations pointing me to his best stuff.

Arkangel, Loco Max and Skandalo vs Fuego, Pegasso and Rey Cometa, February 26 2010 Arkangel's team here was part of a faction called Rebeldes Tuareg or Guerreros Tuareg. It's not unusual for the first fall of a match to be as long as the other two combined, but they didn't do a good job of it. All three pairs got to exchange holds, and then they jumped right into a long finishing sequence. This didn't leave enough time for anything to build over the final two falls. If the holds had been good or the acrobatics exciting I maybe would have overlooked that, but the tecnicos moved slowly and there was a lot of sloppiness in general. Rey Cometa vs Arkangel in the first fall was particularly weak. Arkangel, Nitro and Hooligan vs Guerrero Maya, Angel de Oro and Angel de Plata, April 26 2010 I've never seen an Arena Puebla match in my life, I don't think. Despite two different teammates for Arkangel this was another Rebeldes Tuareg match. Everything was smoother and faster in this one, and the rudos did a good job controlling things in the second and then getting clowned in the third fall. In between low blow highspots they had some nasty looking double and triple teams. Arkangel did a good job getting the other tecnicos out of the ring so that the Rebeldes could isolate one, and he looked a little crisper than his teammates, but I didn't feel like he was driving the match or a standout on his team. The finishes all came a little fast, but that's not so bad when the match is going well.

Arkangel, Gran Markus Jr. and Astro Rey Jr. vs Pantera, Brazo de Oro and El Brazo, January 9 1996 This didn't do anything to set up Arkangel vs Pantera until the third fall, and when they finally faced each other Arkangel was way too close catching a springboard moonsault and basically spiked Pantera's head into the mat. Not much happening in the rest of the match. The sad part is that Arkangel looked fired up for this one, but I'm learning that late '90s Arkangel wasn't really capable of elevating a match on his own. Arkangel, Rencor Latino and Zumbido vs Tigre Blanco, Ringo Mendoza and Pantera, January 18 2000 Another title match buildup, this time featuring Arkangel vs Tigre Blanco. The clipping made it impossible to get a sense for how their program began, but in between the highspots you could tell that Arkangel had improved as a rudo in the four years since his feud with Pantera. Collapsing in fear when Tigre Blanco entered the ring or staggering around off his punches, stuff like that just wasn't part of Arkangel's game earlier. They didn't need two toprope frankensteiner spots, but at least the one with Arkangel and Tigre Blanco didn't take forever to set up. Arkangel and Skandalo vs Stuka Jr. and Fuego, October 9 2011 The Arena Coliseo parejas titles, eh? This went really long and never had the steady stream of smooth exchanges that I want from a team championship match. Arkangel applied some maestro style holds in the first fall but Fuego didn't have an answer for them, which made it look like Arkangel was just putting on a show rather than wrestling in a competitive match. I didn't get into it until the third fall, when they worked dramatic spots and had Fuego overcome a one on two disadvantage. They could have gotten more out of that. Instead Fuego quickly evened things up, and then Arkangel dominated him before losing on a rollup counter. The crowd was into it, so the match length and the comeback and the big spots all worked to make it feel like an epic victory to the fans, which is a lot more crucial than what I thought of it ten years later.

Arkangel, La Morgue and Guerrero del Futuro vs Super Astro, Mascara Magica and Tormenta Star, October 24 1998 This was from Masakre's brief run as a promoter. The show was called Guerra de Naciones and the concept was Mexican teams fighting foreign teams, but this match between Mexican squads was announced as a special demonstration of the national style of wrestling. This kind of standard six man match is Arkangel in his element, in my opinion. He can show off his technical side, his brawling side and his comical side, and it doesn't require a big dramatic performance from him. His technical matchup with Mascara Magica in the first fall was excellent, and then when the tide had turned he was throwing good looking punches and wicked headbutts. He also hurled Mascara over the guardrail in a nasty bump. The tecnico comeback could have gone on longer, but this wasn't a heated match and they won anyway, so good showing overall. I can't believe that Mascara Magica's push sputtered out around this time. He looked like Atlantis in this match, but either he wasn't over or the CMLL was just more interested in other guys. Arkangel, Felino and Guerrero de la Muerte vs Mr. Niebla, Super Astro and Solar, November 26 1996 Why does Arkangel have better chemistry trading holds with Mascara Magica than he does with Solar? Guerrero de la Muerte was on one of those post-unmasking kicks that sometimes happen, when a guy loses his mask and suddenly seems energized. He stomped Niebla into the Arena Coliseo floor, and Niebla fought back with a fire that I don't really associate with him. Arkangel gave another solid performance but to me Felino and Super Astro overshadowed him in the same kind of role. Astro started the tecnico return by fighting out of the corner with a boxing combo, and later he found a way to make his dancing fit into a brawl like this. Then he threw a drink onto Felino, who just stood there seething. It was a lot better than the over the top acting that I expected from him. Had the ending been better this might have been a contender for the 1996 CMLL top ten. Arkangel, Mocho Cota and Karloff Lagarde Jr. vs Pantera, Super Astro and Antifaz, January 16 1996 The appeal of a title match is to watch two of the sport's best technical wrestlers put their skill on display, or to see a blood feud get settled with a championship on the line. This buildup to a Pantera vs Arkangel match promised neither of those things. Arkangel's beatdown of Pantera went by rote, and Pantera didn't seem to have any interest in returning fire. He did catch Arkangel with a beautiful armdrag, but this was a match that required more than just a good job as a base from Arkangel. He also did that thing where he wins the match with a move that he used earlier. Even Super Astro didn't add much, although he did some more boxing, which left Cota stumbling around like a drunk, to paraphrase Andres Maroñas.

Really? See, that actually makes me respect Virus more, that he would go out and look like the most talented wrestler in the world and then try to undo all that. That's something out of the Fuerza playbook, maybe even beyond something Fuerza would do. Arkangel and Kenjiro vs Stream Killer and Harry la Marioneta, December 12 2009 I've watched Arkangel against Virus and I've watched him against Solar, but how would he fare wrestling Stream Killer on a tiny show in Guanajuato? Alas, it was not to be, for this Arkangel was just a local worker with the same name and Stream Killer was actually called Extreme Killer. I wanted to see Stream Killer in action. Arkangel, Thriller and Ice Killer vs Brazo de Plata, Mike Segura and Pantera I, March 1 2013 Much has been written about the storied career of Brazo de Plata, but no one has ever gone into depth about his heated feud with Ice Killer. You might think that it began when Porky wiped his crotch with his jacket and then threw it into Ice's face, but the way they'd already been talking to each other, I think it had to have started before that, with something much deeper, much more personal. There was a lot going on here. Fart noises, valets' butts getting slapped, small children getting slapped, Pantera I wrestling shortly after Luchawiki had changed his status from "died in 1988" to "alive." Arkangel didn't stand a chance. Mike Segura was dressed like a random crowd member. He actually tried to work wrestling spots in this match, and his reward was getting beaten up by Ice Killer's five year old son in the second fall. ***1/4. Arkangel, Skandalo and Sangre Azteca vs Gallo, Super Halcon Jr. and Triton, May 25 2014 This was part of the leadup to the Arkangel vs Gallo match and a chance for me to see what Arkangel was like as head rudo rather than henchman. The match wasn't bad, but Triton and Sangre Azteca smoked the Arkangel-Gallo wrestling in the first fall, and they never really got much heat on Arkangel. The announcers called it youth vs experience, but they wrestled like equals. Then when the rudos took over, the exchanges were like what you'd get when the tecnicos were in control. No doubleteams, no beatdowns, just one on one matchups of throwing the guy into the ropes and hitting a move. They did use a lot of low blows, but they were designed to be impressive spots somehow. Is this what wrestling became? Not Arkangel's fault if that's the case but this was a missed chance for him to show me something, which maybe ties back to Rah's point a few posts back. It's interesting that this site used to have debates about whether wrestling was getting better because of the improved athleticism. The spots here were more athletically demanding, but the workers moved more slowly than they did in the '90s, on their feet and on the mat.

Arkangel/Nitro/Mogur vs Virus/Texano Jr./Leono, February 24 2006 This was part of a Mogur vs Leono feud so Arkangel was in henchman mode. If you've never seen Leono wrestle, just imagine Evan Karagias doing a sitout hiptoss. Arkangel worked holds with Virus and it wasn't anything special. Their second matchup didn't go any better, and really Nitro did the more exciting stuff with the little maestro. Once Mogur took over Arkangel's performace picked up. He blasted both tecnicos off the apron, signalling a change in tone and keeping them out of the ring so Mogur could get his shots in uninterrupted. Unfortunately Mogur wasn't any more charismatic than in his prime, and Arkangel seemed more vicious when he would occasionally swoop in on Leono. Of course he did a dive at the end. His dives aren't even that great, but he always gets to do them. The finish was Tigre Hispano conveniently missing a foul by his son in law and counting the three. The sound was off, but I think between falls Dos Caras Jr. gave the don't try this at home speech. Because I really need to be told not to emulate Alberto del Rio. Arkangel/Rey Bucanero/Halcon Negro vs Mascara Magica/Olimpico/Tony Rivera, September 26 1997 More henchman stuff from Arkangel, this time for Olimpico vs Halcon Negro. That feud didn't get blown off until a year later, so I guess they were trying to recreate the Felino vs Ciclon Ramirez strategy for a mask match between midcard wrestlers. There were some interesting things here, but Halcon didn't really beat Olimpico up as much as he just unloaded a bunch of big moves on him. A top rope hiptoss doesn't have me hoping to see Olimpico get his revenge. Arkangel press slammed Mascara into the apron a few times but didn't stand out much. Arkangel/Panico/Guerrero de la Muerte vs Aguila Solitaria/Bronce/Filoso, August 13 1993 Panico on TV in 1993! Obviously I had to see this. His gimmick at this time was that he was the modern phantom of the opera, and as such he came out to the overture in the mask and the cape. He was very good here. His technical stuff against Bronce was nice, but what stood out was that he was more violent and more of a prick than Mogur or Halcon Negro had been in their feature matches, even though Panico wasn't feuding with any of these guys. Arkangel wrestled more passively than he would just a few years later, coming in to pick his spots while his journeyman partners led the match. He made sure to get his dive in, though, you can be sure of that. He also did that kneedrop spot that I thought was so clever when he did it in a match twenty four years after this. Filoso was Nitro from that 2006 match, and he's still active on the CMLL roster today. You can never tell who will make it. I liked this, but I liked it in a 1993 undercard Arena Coliseo match kind of way. If you're not a fan of the era and the promotion you'd probably find it boring.

Okay, that's hilarious. Poor Arkangel. Even if I end up rating him at about the same level you do, I'll probably end up with a more favorable opinion of him just because I don't have any expectations for him, high or low. Talented worker who doesn't always run with the ball would still be a net positive for me rather than a disappointment.

Arkangel, Scorpio Jr. and Mogur vs Super Astro, Mascara Magica and Olimpico, October 4 1996 This was just something interesting that caught my eye rather than something I watched for Arkangel, but I came out of it more impressed by him than in any other match so far. Everyone worked hard and they put together an excellent little pure six man. Mascara Magica's 1996 bears a lot of similarities to Angel Azteca's 1990, with him coming into his own as a worker as he received a big push, and his exchanges with Arkangel were some of his most brilliant all year. Then Arkangel worked Olimpico, another worker on the rise, and it was the same thing. Both guys looked like future stars. Arkangel doing powerbombs and superplexes as just standard rudo offense rather than as highspots was weird, but maybe it was his way of getting noticed. Super Astro was a pro. By this point he was more veteran than star, and he had no problems keeping up with the younger guys or jobbing clean to another wrestler CMLL was high on, Scorpio Jr. You wouldn't think (or I wouldn't, anyway) that Mogur would be in one of the best CMLL matches of 1996, but there it is. Arkangel, Fuerza Guerrera and Black Panther vs Fiera, Mascara Magica and Solar, March 26 1996 The same kind of six man as the one with Mogur, just not as good. For the early part of the match with technical work and the tecnicos in control, they were trying hard but nothing was clicking. They fought through it and eventually had a fairly good match with Fiera vs Fuerza as the focus. Arkangel comes off as a mechanic rather than a brawler, so when the technical stuff falls flat he doesn't end up looking as good, but he had his moments. I liked when he slipped on the ropes while celebrating. He got back on and didn't even sell it, which made it look even more real. Maybe it was, I don't know.