This is the closest thing I've seen so far to the classic sort of lucha trios I love. It didn't have anything in the way of matwork and to be honest I'm not expecting to find anything that really does, but shit man, not every amazing trios match of the 90s had opening fall matwork either. A trios match doesn't NEED that to be amazing and certainly not in a match where the rudos aren't interested in some sporting nonsense anyway. The rudo unit were something special here - a demon wizard who'll tie you up like a shoelace, a caveman lunatic and narcissist who thrives on others' disdain. It's the lucha libre and there really is nothing like it. The primera was a full rudo blitz with about a dozen brilliant double- and triple-teams, the mugging itself starting with a Cavernario tope through Mistico's guts. This was a fucking javelin of a thing and one of the best I've ever seen him hit. Soberano telling people not to get their knickers in a twist as he tries to unmask a beloved tecnico is always great, ACCENTUATED by his impossible smugness and attitude. I always use Liger as the prime example of someone in a mask using body language to convey emotion in place of being able to see facial expressions, and maybe I'm going overboard as a prisoner of the moment but Soberano is right up there. He has Titan dead to rights early, pulls him up on a pin attempt and I don't even like Titan but I wanted to see him come back and take the jaw off Soberano. A bit later Hechicero has Titan in the reverse crab with his arms pinned back and Cavernario wheelbarrows Soberano into a legdrop across the back of Titan's head. Cavernario was a rompin' stompin' nutjob who was fly kicking people in the face, threading some comedy through proceedings by eating a big boot in the corner and selling it by doing the worm. I've watched a handful of Mistico matches from this current run and his presence is sort of palpable, almost Santo-ish and that's beyond the aesthetic similarities. The way he stamped his feet up the ramp before running towards the ring was a goosebumps moment and then Atlantis Jr. catapults him onto Cavernario for a picture perfect headscissors takeover. He hung back a little in the tercera to let his partners shine, but the springboard rana to Cavernario - who was on top of Atlantis' back during a preposterous triple submission - was unbelievable. Also, shine his partners did! Both of them looked terrific. Atlantis Jr. was hitting quebradoras at warp speed and looked every bit the young phenom his dad did 40 years earlier. The last time I saw Titan he was being hand-led through a title match by Virus. That was 12 years ago and if he didn't have much about him then, he at least learned how to hit a springboard double stomp like he grew up watching Low Ki. The Atlantis/Titan stereo topes were gorgeous and then Mistico brought it home like we knew he would, Arena Mexico firmly in the palm of his hand. Everyone was on song here and even if I'll probably never not pine for the early 90s, this is the kind of thing I could watch every week and think it eight bucks well spent.
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