Mystico De La Juarez, Silver King & Rubi Gardenia v Cassandro, Magno & El Hijo Del Santo (London, 12/9/08)
This was a bunch of fun. Cassandro was fucking awesome, hitting
everything perfectly and prancing around like he's Cassandro. Crowd love
him. Santo kind of took a back seat to him in some respects, but
there's this amazing moment in the third caida where he just loses his
mind and starts punching every rudo that gets within 2 feet of him.
Really, Santo is one of the best "Alright, I've had enough of THIS shit"
guys in history, and after a lengthy rudo beatdown, this was a GREAT
"Alright, I've had enough of THIS shit" moment. Crowd come absolutely
unglued for it, too. I'd never seen Juarez and Magno before, but Magno
was a total boss in this. Some spectacular looking rope running
sequences, badass strikes, tricked out subs and nutty bumps. Juarez
takes a reverse hurricanrana off the top rope that I thought was going
to land him square on the side of his head until he managed to adjust
before he hit the mat. Match is also structured like a traditional CMLL
trios, which is a formula I can get behind even if the work within it
isn't all that good (similar to a southern style tag -- I'm a mark for
the formula). The work in this was more than good, though. Dug this a
lot. People need more Cassandro.
Los Oficiales v Freelance, Rey Cometa & Pegasso Xtreme (IWRG, 10/17/08)
I'm not saying this is the best trios of the decade, but in a decade
that didn't have a ton of great trios matches, this stands out as being
at least in the discussion. Isn't typical of your IWRG trios in that it
doesn't really have any matwork, but the match-ups are all fine and the
highspots are GREAT. Freelance is utterly spectacular. It's been about 2
years since I last saw a Freelance match, and I guess I had forgotten
just how graceful a wrestler he is. His dives are amazing, his ranas and
armdrags are lightning quick, and he'll eat a tope by breaking his
spine on a guardrail. The difficulty on some of the shit he's busting
out is way up there, but nothing looks short of perfect. Cometa and
Pegasso roll out a few dives of their own that aren't too far behind the
best of Freelance as well. Oficiales tend to make it obvious that
they're getting into position for stuff, and from time to time they kind
of blatantly stand there and wait on something, but they're a strong
rudo base for the flyers. They all really whip themselves into
headscissor bumps and are good catchers. Plus 911 crushes Freelance with
a tope in the first fall.
Mistico v Averno (CMLL, 1/5/07)
Horseshit. Pretty much everything
that's wrong with modern day CMLL formula. First two falls amount to
about 2 minutes, final fall amounts to about 15 even though it's spot
--> nearfall --> lying around, with 10 of the 15 minutes being the
lying around. Suck me.
Billy Boy v Gran Apache (AAA, 2/9/07)
This is a Bull Terrier Match, which basically means it's a dog collar
match. Apache BLEEEDS like fuck. He also has these weird punches that
are more like overhand slaps, but they're REAL stiff and sound like
they'd hurt like a total bastard. This was around the time Billy Boy was
banging Fabi Apache (Apache's daughter or granddaughter, I don't remember), which is
a storyline I think I was half following at the time but remember
nothing about now. I actually thought I'd seen this before, but I
hadn't. Billy Boy takes one of the sickest powerbombs onto chairs I've
ever seen. Looks like he's crippled. Did I mention that Apache bleeds?
Fabi comes in at the end to talk Billy Boy out of killing her old man,
so Billy Boy throws her out the ring and kills her old man. Powerbombs
him into a board that's set up in the corner. KILLS him. This isn't
fucking with Park/Mesias, but it's better than that last shit.
La Mascara & El Hijo Del Santo v Blue Panther & Tarzan Boy (CMLL, 1/1/06)
The Santo/Panther exchange at the beginning of this lasts twice as long
as the first two falls combined of Mistico/Averno. It also smokes it to
death. First fall is great. Nobody does anything spectacular, but
Panther/Santo exchanges are Panther/Santo exchanges, and TB/Mascara
exchanges are fine if clearly not Panther/Santo-level. Second fall they
switch up and Santo shakes TB's hand, then kind of pats him in the face
like Jordan would pat Matt Barnes. Then TB pats Santo in the face like
Barnes would pat Jordan. "You're OLD and I'm probably a rapist, so I win
in the end." TB is probably a rapist, you know. Dives in the third fall
all look good. Not necessarily a great match, but I'll throw it out there as something worth watching if you actually like lucha. If you
don't like lucha...don't watch Mistico/Averno.
Tarzan Boy, Ultimo Guerrerro & Rey Buccanaro v El Hijo Del Santo, Shocker & Mascara Magica (CMLL, 6/7/02)
First caida is like 4 minutes long, but man was it good. Rudos jump
Shocker and Magica before Santo's even made his way out to the ring,
then Tarzan Boy runs up the ramp as Santo comes out from the curtain and
ambushes him before he can get any steam built up whatsoever. Then he
chucks him down the stairs. Technicos fight back and Santo hits a bullet
tope that sends Rey Buccanaro flying into the fixed seats, and Santo
torpedoing some motherfucker with a tope that sends them flying into the
fixed seats is one of my favourite things in wrestling, so I was happy.
Santo was fucking great in this. The moment in the third caida where he
just yanks Buccanaro off the apron, throws him into the seats and
starts punching him in the face was awesome. I don't really think of
Santo as a guy that I'll go out of my way to watch no matter who he's
against like I do with Casas or Dandy or Fuerza, but Santo losing his
shit and just going postal on someone is something I can get behind. And
Shocker will really lean into getting his balls crushed. That was
naaasty. Cool match.
