ohtani's jacket

Hijo de Cien Caras, Mascara Año 2000 Jr. y Negro Navarro vs. El Pantera, Mano Negra y Halcon Ortiz, 8/21/08 No matwork in this one, just a soft brawl. Still it was pretty harmless. Mano Negra and Pantera did some neat spots off the ropes and Halcon Ortiz looked better than Mil Máscaras. Los Oficiales vs. Fantasma de la Opera, Dr. Cerebro y Cerebro Negro, Distrito Federal Trios Championship, 8/24/08 I really dug this. They may have been a little safe with the structure, but it was at least recognisable as lucha libre. Nothing outwardly spectacular, just guys chiming in at the right time. There were some decent mat exchanges between 911 and Dr. Cerebro & Fierro and Cerebro Negro, and Fantasma de la Opera did a good job as the guy who swings the momentum. It was a little telegraphed, but a cautious approach to structure is better than no structure at all. The Oficiales lack the journeyman instincts that a lot of older rudos have, and I get the feeling that they don't have much in the way of shtick, but what I'd like to see from them (if IWRG ever gets TV again) is more bite. Fantasma de la Opera & Co. were chippy here, and I think in a better trios match they would've made more out of that, but the Oficiales tend to rotate the strike. 911 was the captain, but there was never a sense that he was the key guy or that 911 vs. Fantasma de la Opera was the key match-up, because they don't pair off enough. They're great at backing each other up. They'll hit the ring and build off the previous exchange, and either retaliate or take the bump, but what's lacking is the chieftain factor. I hate to bring Satanico up, but he was a master at singling out the mano a mano contest within a trios match, and I think the Oficiales need to take turns being the chief. You don't need to be feuding over a singles title to work an inbuilt rivalry into a trios match, you just need to take charge and single each other out. The way Black Terry singled out 911 in their September title match. Despite all that it was still a good match. You could pretty much call it, and it was a little cushioned, but damn it feels good to watch something that makes sense.

Asturiano/Black Tiger/Centella De Oro vs Espiritu Maligno/Fuerza Chicana/Siki Ozama Jr., Arena Puebla, 1/26/09 This was my first look at the Puebla locals and I was impressed. It wasn't a perfect match, but cubsfan nailed it when he said: "being there to hit your move just as the guy turns around to take [it] is such a great skill but one seemingly missing from a lot of CMLL guys." These guys showed that with the right timing you can hit upon a far better rhythm than "baseless" lucha. Add to that some colourful characters and a Black Terry-ish veteran in Centella De Oro and you have the best undercard action since 1997. The match was mostly spots and guys acting as bases for each other, but even in the slower patches I thought the work was good. In most trios matches, the falls overlap each other. If the rudos win a fall, they'll pick up where they left off, forcing the technicos to mount a comeback. It's a transition period of sorts, and can be difficult to execute, but in recent times the tendency has been to view it as dead air. Workers have started skipping over it or culling it altogether, but without that down time, the comeback is forgettable. These guys weren't exactly seamless with their transitions, but they carried momentum through three falls and filled in the early parts of each falll, and for that they ought to be saluted. Fun match.

Negro Casas/Felino/Heavy Metal v. Sagrado/Mascara/ El Volador, Arena Puebla, 2/8/09 So, Negro Casas fits the mainevent scene like a glove, Heavy Metal has his working boots on and it's great that Felino's getting some sort of push again; potentially the Casas Brothers are a really good trios. But what a sorry bunch of technicos. They all look the same, they wrestle the same and I don't know how I'm supposed to tell them apart. If it were up to me, I'd shoot the lot. Obviously that's not going to happen, so the onus is on the rudos to have better matches with them, and if you think the rudos did that here, you're glossing over how utterly crap this was. There was some semblance of trios structure, but no focus. If you don't pair off at the beginning, then you just end up going through the motions. The Arena Puebla crowd were in good voice and banged away on their drums merrily. The problem these days is no one gives a fuck. Casas was even joking around with a photographer. I wouldn't say they mailed it in, but I don't wanna see fat cat comedian Felino. I wanna see the Felino that tears it up with Virus. And when a technico gets a pop for taking his shirt off, I'm sorry that's just pathetic. Not a good start for the Casas Brothers. They shoot technicos, don't they?

Satanico, Rambo y Fishman vs Villano III, Lizmark y Panterita del Ring They only aired five minutes of this, but what was shown was pretty awesome. Satanico was his usual maniacal self, ripping at Lizmark's mask and throwing in headbutts. When Lizmark rolled under the bottom rope, Satanico tried to reach through the ropes and grab him. I swear Satanico is the greatest improviser I've seen in wrestling. Not only does he follow-up on everything, but he's forever selling his obsession with that particular opponent. Later on, it was Lizmark who was obsessed, laying in the most awesome looking kicks and hitting perfect back breakers. He nailed some flush looking dropkicks and this was better than anything they did in their singles match. Hunched over Lizmark, ready to rip someone apart was an awesome visual. He was just about the best technico in AAA at this time, at least when it came to trios matches. His singles matches weren't that great, but he brought an old school vibe to tag matches. Psicosis, Espectro Jr y Parka vs Rey Misterio Sr y Jr, y Lizmark This was a good example of what I mean. I'm not gonna win any friends with this comment, but the Psicosis/Misterio Jr. exchanges in this match were pretty much the pre-cursor for the crap we see today. Lizmark and Espectro, on the other hand, had an awesome 80s style EMLL exchange that was one of the best mat exchanges I've seen in AAA. The match itself was really good. It had a perfect rhythm for an AAA style match and they managed to work a number of dives and bumps onto the match without turning it into an AAA clusterfuck. It was a blend of comedy and big spills from the rudos. Nowdays all the rudos want to match it with technicos, but these guys sold big time, worked in the miscommunciation spots and didn't mind looking foolish in front of the crowd. Lizmark had a classic tope fake, which the rudos sold to comic perfection, and to me that's more spectacular than a slow-mo on some tricked out dive to nowhere. And they could flip the switch and get back to some serious brawling, whereas today's guys can't even brawl let alone bump in unison and wind up on their asses. The finish was really simple, but in lucha simple means beautiful. Misterio Sr. threw Psicosis over the top rope for an insane bump to the concrete, which Misterio Jr. followed up with a spectacular dive. Sr. went to the top rope for a plancha, and Lizmark won it in the ring like the classy technico that he was. I'd love to see today's technicos do a simple three part finish. Satanico/Espectro/Psicosis vs Lizmark/Santo/Aguayo This was a really good brawl that began with some great triple teaming from the rudos. Espectro was an original member of the Infernales and therefore the rudos worked that EMLL style that I favour so much. They cut each technico off from his partners and Satanico worked mano a mano with Perro Aguayo. Perro was pretty bad at this point, but he could still fire a crowd up and the technicos worked a great brawling comeback. Psicosis and Espectro were similar sorts of workers and had some awesome chemistry here. They must've bumped into each other a million times in the course of this match, and y'know, whenever Psicosis knuckled down, he was as good as any of the veteran rudos. It was a close call as to who was better between Santo and Lizmark. I tend to think that Santo dumbed his style down in AAA and mostly worked rope exchanges, but Santo was pretty fucking awesome at the flashy stuff. Lizmark mostly worked with Espectro and again their stuff was brilliant. The finish was a little weak, as it ended with Psicosis giving Santo a low blow, but on the replay you could see how the opportunity arose for Psicosis. It was too good to pass up and he just went for it. I dunno if it was on account of Perro being incredibly slow, but Satanico looked past his prime here. He did some awesome selling, but the AAA style demanded pace, and as hard as Satanico charged at people, there's only so many miles you can clock.

Negro Casas/Heavy Metal v. La Sombra/Volador Jr., CMLL World Tag Team Championship, 2/13/09 Negro Casas and Heavy Metal made a great team here. Heavy Metal's a guy I never liked watching in AAA. In fact, if there's a hell below, the only lucha I'll find is Heavy Metal vs. Jerry Estrada on an endless loop. Yet somewhere along the way he's developed into a real asskicker. He still looks like he's on something, but I liked how he carried himself here. I guess it was a combination of the short hair, tattoos and the way he avoided looking his opponents in the eyes. He was staring a hole in something, but hardly ever looked up. That was the sort of intensity the Casas brothers brought to the match and I enjoyed the opening exchanges. Heavy Metal was fierce with his grappling. He hung on for a second or two before making his move, which is one of the basic elements missing from lucha today. And he'd pause ever so slightly before wrenching a hold or throwing a punch, just to give it that extra effect. So from the Casas brothers' side it was quite a kick ass little match, but there was still the problem of Sombra and Voldor sucking. All they really did in this match was dives and springboard moves, and while the set-up was better than usual and the Casas brothers sold well, the technicos were as weak as ever. The match rocketed along at a fair clip and some of the dives were genuinely exciting, as was Casas' awesome selling at the end, but fuck those masks looked ridiculous. The rudos completely outclassed the technicos, which rudos shouldn't do, and it wasn't much in the way of a carry. It was more like two great workers imposing their will on two shit workers.

The rudos winning two straight is always a hard sell, but I dug those spots at the end. A better finish and I'd rate this high. I got caught up in the Mendoza/Satanico stuff, but Atlantis impressed me too and I couldn't remember if I'd ever seen him work with MS-1 before. If I did it was after he shelved a lot of his offence.

Gran Hamada vs. Centurión Negro, UWA World Middleweight Championship, 2/14/82 (2nd & 3rd falls only) This was from a UWA Anniversary show at El Toreo De Naucalpan, and is supposedly one of the great lucha matches, but to me it was more of a juniors match than a great lucha match. That's not a knock on the match, I can just live without seeing backdrops and bridged suplexes in lucha. Hamada's a good grappler, with awesome leg strength, and he's the kind of guy I like because he looks like an actual wrestler, but he was pushing the workrate here. Admittedly it was joined in progress, but the only semblance of a lucha title match were some octopus-like submissions from the mystery man, Centurión Negro. Whether Negro was good enough to have a Roman-Greco classic is anybody's guess, but he hung OK in the juniors style. There were a couple of topes onto the wet El Toreo floor, which left them covered in some sort of shit, and it turned into a bit of a sprint. Aside from the setting, they could've had the same match anywhere in the world. When I watch lucha, I wanna see something you could only see in Mexico, not something with an early 80s juniors feel.

Ringo Mendoza/Atlantis/Ultraman vs. Los Infernales (Satanico/Masakre/MS-1), early-to-mid 80s Now here's a match nobody ever talks about. This was a classy trios that started out with an awesome exchange between Satanico and Ringo Mendoza. Ringo Mendoza is the kind of technico that never backs down from a fight. If a rudo tries to rough-house him, he puts up the fists. He's never a dick about it, you just don't take liberties with Ringo Mendoza. Satanico was looking for an advantage on the mat like it was his God given right, but Mendoza had tussled with Satanico over various middle and light heavyweight titles and kept good position. I dunno if he was trying to needle Satanico, but he wouldn't break when Lopez was in the ropes. Satanico called for the break, but it wasn't forthcoming. It was awesome spot, because Mendoza had him in a real fix. Satanico was on his back, with his shoulders pinned to the mat and his feet on the top rope. There was nowhere for him to go and his selling as he realised Mendoza wasn't releasing the hold was incredible. Out of the break, he got right on top of Mendoza, trying to rip his arm free, but Mendoza countered and started twisting Satanico's knee. Satanico tried a counter of his own, but Ringo leant back on the hold, turning it into an awesome lucha submission where Satanico was upside down with his head on the canvas. Satanico reached out and grabbed the rope, but Mendoza wouldn't break. Finally Satanico snapped, screaming at Mendoza before limping back into the neutral position. This was Satanico at Gran Cochisse title match levels. He gave Mendoza a couple of hard slams and tagged out. A close-up of him on the apron showed just how riled he was. Usually in a trios match, the technicos win the opening fall by upping the tempo and sending the rudos bumping, but in this case it was Satanico who came charging in like a bull, getting whipped by a series of leaping headbutts. He charged head first into the turnbuckle like a maniac, took an awesome bump off a dropkick and scurried away from Mendoza's cartwheel. I love a trios match where everyone gets a little testy, and when Mendoza caught Satanico in a submission hold for the finish, he had it applied for what seemed like an eternity. As soon as the ref counted three, he pushed Satanico away and Lopez took a fall. Naturally he complained about the push, because he's a guy THAT NEVER STOPS WORKING. Hell, he even talked it over with MS-1 between falls, racking his brain for ideas. I've been watching a lot of random stuff lately, and most of it has been on the disappointing side because of the technicos, but here you had Mendoza, who wasn't gonna take shit from Satanico; a fresh faced Atlantis, who wasn't just an incredible flyer, but answered a slap from MS-1 with a dropkick flush in the mouth; and Ultraman, who did karate without looking like a total dick. So, when the incredibly awesome old guy blew the whistle for the second fall, the rudos had a contest on their hands. The second caida began with the rudos coming off second best. There was a classic exchange where MS-1 tried to use his reach to do a little karate of his own and got completely owned by Ultraman, and then there was Satanico vs. Mendoza... with Satanico in his face pointing... hard slams to the canvas, Satanico telling him to bring it, Mendoza driving him into the mat, Satanico punching the mat (and selling his hand!)... Awesome. The look on Satanico's face when he couldn't get the better of Mendoza is officially the greatest thing he's ever done. The rudos took over like they always do, much to the chargrin of that little old lady who was at every Arena Mexico show in the glory days. The envy of us all, God bless her soul. They took each guy apart, until finally the technicos turned the tables and that meant it was time for punches. Satanico may have been the best wrestler in Mexico, but there was no way he was taking Mendoza in a fight. Mendoza was ducking and weaving and cracking right hands. Satanico was flailing everywhere. He'd slap himself in the face and throw a wild haymaker. I'm telling you there's never been a better guy in Mexico. The finish was really cool, as each of the technicos took on the Infernales three on one, weaving and bobbing and avoidng the triple team. It was a comical version of float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The other day I listening to Cornette praise the Midnight Express, Rock 'n' Roll Express and himself for being able to do these sort of spots and he talked some shit about lucha, saying as soon as one guy fucks up the match falls apart... Well, it's obvious Cornette never watched any proper lucha. Anyway, this was a bit of a find. Most of the Mendoza I've seen has been in his latter years where he was just there to add a bit of colour to trios matches, but here he took center stage and it was every bit as awesome as Lopez v. Gran Cochisse. Ringo's cool, but it's hard to go past Satanico as the greatest worker ever when you see him take the technical aspects of a lucha title feud and turn it into a heated brawl. His selling, attention to detail and ability to work a feud was, and probably still is, phenomenal. A pro-wrestling mastermind.

He wanted to turn the waste from refinement into feed for lifestock and then take their crap and turn it into even more feed. His plan was to solve the energy crisis and world hunger. I dunno if the Castro story is true. Apparently the The King of Palaui gave him an island after the Ali fight and there's an Inoki island in the Pacific. NJPW say that Castro gave him an island,

Inoki and his brother were funneling NJPW's profits into his Brazilian company (a biotech project that attempted to convert sugar cane into an alternative energy source.) There was a coup and TV Asahi sided with the wrestlers. Inoki and Sakaguchi were forced to resign and Shinma was fired/left the company. Fujinami and Yamamoto ran things after the coup. Inoki was supposed to join UWF, but wangled his way back into the NJPW presidency.

Villano III/Gran Hamada/Eddy Guerrero vs. Shu el Guerrero/Scorpio/Scorpio Jr., Arena Neza, early 90s With all the El Toreo shows taking place, I thought I'd do a little reminiscing of my own. This was a fun fifteen minute match back when these guys could move a whole lot quicker. It started off as a non-descript rudo beatdown, but Villano got this inspired idea to beat everyone with a stick. He used the thing until it was just a handle and even swung it at the ref. I'm not a fan of guys using props, but I dug Villano as marshal, especially since he had a new mask on, with the old one flapping around his neck. As with most UWA guys, there's not a lot of footage of Villano III in his prime, but his fingerpints were all over this. The heat grew as a result of how pissed he was and that upped the tempo of the match. Suddenly they started having awesome exchanges. Shu was a fantastic bumper in his day and made Eddy look like a great lucha worker, taking rapidfire bumps off arm drags. Scorpio Sr. was a big guy at this point, as big as Shu in the past couple of years, and Gran Hamada bodyslammed him in yet another awesome spot. Junior was also a much better bumper in his younger days and so quick. He even looked like Fuerza at times. But in the thick of it all was Villano III, ripping away at Shu's mask and sending him crashing out of the ring in a great tailspin bump. There was another great spot where Scorpio Jr. tried to run away from Villano III on the outside, while Villano lay in wait. Comedy spots, boxing, springboard dropkicks as your highspot... This was back when lucha was entertainment.

El Toreo Requiem Part 2, UWE, 1/23/09 This is a long goodbye. Not that I'm complaining or anything. LOS CADETES DEL ESPACIO SOLAR, SUPER ASTRO Y ULTRAMAN VS LOS MISIONEROS DE LA MUERTE NEGRO NAVARRO, SIGNO Y BLACK POWER This was all about Negro Navarro vs. Solar, and I'd go on and on about how great it was, but you know how much of a junkie I am for this stuff. The other guys weren't so bad on the mat, but their timing isn't what it used to be and neither is their strength. The Cadetes stay grounded these days, though Solar and Super Astro managed to work a classic Space Cadets tope spot. That left Solar alone v Navarro. I'm a real mark for these Negro Navarro standoffs; they're like a spaghetti western showdown with the bounty-killer. This wasn't quite up to a Ennio Morricone score, but Solar was awesome, incorporating stuff they'd done for show into a match winning bid. The finish was supremely satisfying, and while the match wasn't up to the one they had when Texano was still alive, I couldn't have asked for much more. VILLANO IV Y V VS SHU EL GUERRERO Y ENGENDRO This was another good match. Shu is feuding with the Villanos at the moment and coming dangerously close to losing his mask to Quinto, but I'm enjoying this far more than the crap with Panther. The Villanos look far better in UWE than CMLL, especially Villano V. What impressed me most about this match was Engendro. It was supposed to be a revenge match between the Villanos and Shu/Scorpio Jr., but it was all the better for having Engendro involved. He was everywhere he needed to be to keep this ticking over as a brawl. This was a strong mascara contra mascara riff running through this, and the fact Engendro lost his mask to Villano IV once upon a time was a neat twist. Most of all it was nice to have a Shu showcase in the early part of 2009. The guy plays second or third fiddle a lot, and he's good at that, but it's cool to see him in a feud, even if it can only end badly for him. CANEK, ENRIQUE VERA Y VILLANO III VS MIL MASCARAS, DR. WAGNER JR. Y DOS CARAS This was an attempt at working a classic UWA style mainevent brawl. Villano III wore his mask for old time's sake and it looked like an old man version of youtube clips you might see from El Toreo's heyday. Wagner toned it down a bit, which was a blessing, and Vera got stuck into him from the moment he entered the ring. We can only imagine he was saying, "fuck your bullshit, Wagner." Vera's brawling was pretty decent. No Dos Caras matwork, instead it was Canek's turn to look pretty good. Not much to say really. They pulled each other's masks off too much, and Villano III kept trying to hide his face until finally he walked around without his mask on (which was in Wagner's mouth.) I skipped the opener, but check out the middle two matches.

Blue Panther vs. Mr. Niebla, Arena Puebla, 11/17/08 What is the deal with Mr. Niebla? Fuck he's an awful worker. But the real problem here was Panther. And ever since he unmasked, he's been doing this "old man in peril" act where he looks piss weak. It doesn't matter whether he fights back with a punch or a tope, it all looks weak. Guys like El Faraón never showed their age, but Panther can't seem to help it. His selling is shitty, and I hate the way he draws support by lying on the mat and clenching his leg... He's already got the stigma of losing his mask, yet he takes one beating after another. When he is gonna stop working like this and show some fight? If you put Panther and Villano III in a hair match tomorrow, I wouldn't buy that Panther could take Villano's hair. He needs a major attitudinal shift. The stuff he does now was OK when he wore a mask, but he shouldn't be taking shit from anyone at this point, especially a guy like Niebla. What was the point of Niebla conning Panther into a DQ finish? Is everyone gonna pile on Panther? How fucking dumb is CMLL? I'm slowly realising/coming to terms with the fact that nobody can work anymore, but booking is a whole nutha matter. Panther has got to be the weakest looking guy in Mexico right now and that's fucking stupid. I can't think of any older technico who'd put up with this. They'd all be demonstratively against it. Get angry Panther.

Los Oficiales vs. Black Terry/Cerebro Negro/Dr Cerebro, Distrito Federal Trios Championship, IWRG, 9/18/08 Black Terry is such a legend. There was a close-up of him early on, watching from the apron... A little tape from the cut man, a bit of gum to loosen up... He looked a little weathered, but without geting out too out there, that rough, charismatic look kinda summed this match up. This wasn't a classic, and it was a little rough around the edges, but it had a sort of magneticism about it. It was rudos contra rudos and the way they chose to express that was through stiffness. Even when they took it to the mat, they were looking to hurt each other. There was a lot of stand and deliver stuff, with guys trying to make hard hittng sounds, and Terry's ability to take a shot and fire one back is almost as spectacular as the matwork he did with 911. The match generally followed a theme of what Larry Z might call "manliness" and that's what you want from fringe stuff like this. I could've done without some of the indie looking moves, but I suppose they're inevitable these days. Los Oficiales were a bit subdued compared to matches where they rule the roost as rudos, but with Black Terry at the helm this was one of the better matches of 2008. Terry's matwork is the reason I gravitate towards this type of lucha. He was thinking ahead the whole time. He'd get 911 in a hold, release it and back off. From the neutral position, he had a counter for everything. 911 wasn't sure what Terry was aiming for, until Terry finally had the submission he wanted. He was never gonna submit, but lucha, in many ways, is about denting the other guy's pride. 911 walked away knowing he'd been beat. So the next time they squared off, he wanted to duke it out, which made sense considering his height advantage. And while it must be pointed out that 911 didn't work this exchange particularly well, Terry busting the guy's nose up and tossing him out of the ring like a piece of garbage was badass and another reason why Black Terry is a legend.

All I know are rumours, but there was a real problem with bullying in AJW and the training methods they used would cause people to flip out.

Negro Casas vs. Blue Panther, CMLL Guadalajara, 8/3/08 I enjoyed this. It reminded me of those old school mano a mano contests, minus the blood. Mano a mano is neither a title match or a hair vs. mask match, so you have to take it down a notch (or two) in the event that one of those stips takes place. A Negro Casas/Blue Panther program is unlikely to happen at this point, but these guys were schooled in the old ways. They told a simple story about Casas cheating, the ref preventing Panther from retaliating and Panther becoming frustrated at rudo and ref alike, and while they weren't wrestling for anything as such, it became a matter of pride as to who would win. And while the work was enough to convince anyone that these guys can still wrestle, what I took away from the match is that after 30 years in the business they care enough to try and get a small Guadalajara crowd into an otherwise meaningless match. All told it was just another night at the lucha, but the entertaining part was that while it was a matter of pride, the point of pride was of that of a rudo vs. that of a technico. Casas wanted to win by cheating. Panther, who'd usually win with technique, wanted the win as a matter of principles. Maybe that sounds old fashioned, but I think that heel/face dynamic is lost on a lot of workers today, who just wanna win with the most spectacular move they can conjure, regardless of whether they're a technico. Anyway, I'm holding out hope for whatever Casas does as a rudo this year.

Sangre Chicana vs. Villano III (12/3/83; may be from '84) Eighties lucha! Where men were men and mano a mano meant hideous bladejobs. Sangre Chicana has always been one of my favourite workers to watch. You watch a fight like this and he gets so much out of nothing, whereas today's kids get nothing out of too much. He took a beating here and his forehead was gashed, and not only was his selling better than anything I saw out of CMLL for the entirety of last year, but his offence amounted to a punch and tope. The tope was incredible, just a sickening clash of heads... You completely bought that Villano wasn't gonna make the count, and that Chicana couldn't keep fighting, even if no ref was gonna stop him. Villano was a mess and despite the fact he'd only been hit by a tope all match long, he was a sick man. There was no way they were gonna go on fighting after that and the finish was a double DQ. These guys fought each other throughout the 80s, in what was essentially an EMLL vs. UWA match-up, so this was just another tease for a hair vs. mask match, but it's a nice ode to "six moves or less" lucha, that leaves the mat a little stained and the workers a bloody pulp.

I'm not sure how it works exactly, but I don't believe they're contracted. They used to quit or run away in the old days. Sometimes they'd be dragged back and in that case they were invariably punished for running away. But y'know, those dojo stories are twenty years old. Japan has changed a hell of a lot in the past twenty years and these days, if you look at sumo, they can't even get trainees. Wrestling's not far behind. The chapter on Japan could've been a lot better, but obviously the book wasn't about Japan.

La Sombra/Volador Jr. vs. Averno/Mephisto, CMLL World Tag Team Championship, 1/16/09 No good! Where do you start a match? Do you start from dives or do you start from the ground up? If you ask this layman, you either start from the mat, or from rudo brawling, and you hold off on your dives until the time is right. But the only building blocks these guys have are their dives and tricked out moves, so they go to them early. Stuff happens... It just happens. None of these guys time their moves to get a proper response. It shouldn't be this easy for a rudo to counter a hold or a technico to do a dive. It makes the whole thing look choreographed, because the only rhythm is the rhythm of them performing a move. "Less is more" is lost on these workers, along with a lot of other basic skills. But I don't just blame the workers. The crowd don't give a fuck about the falls either. They'll toot their horns no matter what. Once they cottoned on to the fact they were part of the show, the caidas became less important than the cheering sections. They don't give a shit what happens so long as their favourite side wins. The biggest problem, however, (and I'm gonna go to town here), is how insipid Averno and Mephisto are. There was an injury in this match that basically left Volador Jr. two-on-one, and you know what happens in the end, right? So this is the part of the match where the rudos are supposed to slow things down, because that's what rudos do. They don't play the high stakes moves game, they beat people up and later on they pay for it. But not our demonic little friends. They do the same bullshit they'd do with Volador if Sombra were still on the apron. Honestly, if you can't beat a guy up while his partner is laid out, what the fuck are you a rudo for? Forget about the great rudos of the past, journeymen rudos would've worked this better. Ephesto did a better job than this back in December. The moment that summed it up for me was when they were backing Volador Jr. into the corner and the idiot was playing to the crowd. Watch this! It's my turn to do a move! I should've prefaced this by saying that I hate tag title matches more than anything else in CMLL, and I haven't enjoyed one since the Mistico/Casas vs. Averno/Mephisto one back in 2006, which had shifts in momentum through three falls, but you can't tell me that this was as dramatic as it could've been. There were some good ideas in the finish, but, like the rest of the match, they didn't build to it. You got a sense of how Mephisto's downfall came about, but if they'd just pause for half a second we could take it all in. If this were a script, you'd say it needed a re-write. They've gotta weight things more, time those cut-offs and comebacks and earn momentum. And for God's sake, rudos have to hurt people. Ask yourself this -- would it have been better if Sombra had broke his arm off a missed dive or because the rudo broke it for him? Then ask yourself, why is CMLL so soft?

These are based on the Tapatía Awards over at cubsfan's site. Best Wrestler -- Negro Navarro Negro Navarro is the best wrestler in Mexico. He looked good in everything I saw from him and his matwork was amazing every time he wrestled. Moreover he deserves credit for reinventing himself in his late 40s/early 50s, because the Navarro you see today is different from the guy who resurfaced in the 2001 El Dandy matches. Not a lot of guys change what works for them, and even fewer get better with age, but Navarro's become a more fearsome grappler than at any point in his career. And the promising thing is that he's so good from a vertical base, and so good on the mat, that he doesn't need to take a lot of bumps. So long as he maintains his leg strength, he's got plenty left in him. A top five would go something like this -- Navarro, Black Terry, Solar, Virus and Blue Panther. If Panther were working the independent scene, I'd probably be gushing over him, but he has to dumb his shit down in CMLL. To me, Panther has always been a mat guy, who developed his skills between the ropes so he could work with anyone. Present CMLL has a strong emphasis on the latter, cutting matwork to a minute or less. And while Panther had some decent throwback matches, I thought he was noticably slower and more awkward looking doing the standard CMLL filler. Plus they had him brawl for most of the year, in a promotion that runs amazingly shitty brawls, when it's not his strength and doesn't suit the way he's sold over the years. Those are my critical reasons for not picking him as the No.1 guy, but he's still Blue Panther and he would've been awesome in a better setting. Black Terry and Solar speak for themselves, though I never got to see the Black Terry matches I wanted to watch and Solar was disappointing in the latter half of the year, but Terry is ageless doing the same shtick that's made him a living all these years and Solar is still the complete luchador. The big surprise was Virus. I watched a bunch of stuff I wouldn't ordinarily watch and man can he go. He's the kind of guy who seems comfortable with his spot; a hard working rudo foil who makes everyone around him better. You've gotta admire that, because he's out there night after night with kids who don't have a quarter of his talent, all vying to move up the card, and the guy's giving them a helping hand. But the real treat is when he works with another vet. Why CMLL don't let Virus and Felino tear the house down on one of their smaller shows is beyond me. They had some of the best exchanges all year. Best Match -- Mystico De La Juarez/Silver King/Rubi Gardenia v. Cassandro/Magno/El Hijo Del Santo, Lucha Libre London, 12/9/08 Up until I saw this match, I didn't have a match of the year and thought it was either the youtube clips of Black Terry vs. Negro Navarro, or, in all likelihood, something we never got to see, but this was the most entertaining thing I saw all year. Others might not appreciate it as much, but that's like coming out of a movie and your friends not matching your enthusiasm; it doesn't take away from the luster. Everybody has their own sense of rhythm and this was a triumph as far as I'm concerned. What can I say, it was fantastic. Best Technico -- Freelance I haven't heard what happened to him since he almost pulled an Oro on a botched dive, but he's so good at the stuff between dives that he doesn't need to do that shit. There's no point risking life and limb on tiny IWRG shows, so I hope he cuts back on the high risk, low reward stuff. Anyway, he's got a lot of fight for a guy his size and was the most charismatic technico I saw all year. Best Rudo -- None I saw a lot of great rudo foils this year -- Virus, Arkangel de La Muerte, Skandalo, Ephesto, even Mini Damian, and there's always guys like Black Terry, but when it came to feuds, rivalries or programs, there wasn't much to say about the rudos. The rivalry of the year was probably Villano V vs. Blue Panther, and Villano V may win this in the actual Tapatía Awards, but I wasn't too shocked by Panther losing his mask. The morning of the show I logged onto cubsfan's site and there was a guy who reckoned Villano would win, so it was kinda in the back of my mind. I don't think he's a good enough worker to win this category, but CMLL won't let them brawl Monterrey style, so who knows how heated it could've been. Best Unit -- Los Oficiales These are the only guys I'd consider. From what I saw, they got better throughout the year, but footage of these guys was few and far between. It's a great gimmick and they started gelling as a three man act, whereas before I thought they were better at individual match-ups. IWRG threw some pretty limited guys at them, and while I don't think they can carry anyone, they bumped their way into the collective consciousness. Best Promotion -- The Scraps All the best stuff came from AULL, IWRG, NWA Mexico, Lucha Libre London, etc. We were living off the scraps.