Buncha 2000s Lucha

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.