Rush! And Casas! Again!

Negro Casas, Terrible & Shocker v Rush, Maximo & Rey Escorpion (CMLL, 6/28/13)

Oh my Christ. This was pretty much a prison riot. I have no idea why Rush and Casas hate each other as much as they do, but it makes every match they're involved in worth watching just to see how they'll try and murder each other this time. Both guys were holy shit amazing in this. Any time they square off they just smash the living shit out of each other and belligerently come back for more. Honestly, this is some of the stiffest brawling I've ever seen in lucha (the face stomping is straight out of a Battlarts playbook, and I don't remember ever getting that vibe in lucha before). Casas is punting Rush in the face and Rush is jumping on Casas' head like it's a pogo stick. The ref' DQing Rush in the first caida feels truly warranted, because you get the sense Rush would literally stomp Casas to death if he didn't. Rush has been amazing every time I've watched him lately because everything he does is so violent and nasty. He was on some Hulk shit here just indiscriminately attacking everyone in sight, including his own partners. There's an amazing bit where he's trading shots with someone, and I don't remember who it was with because it literally could have been anyone, and he just hauls off and headbutts them straight in the face (his no-hands headbutt is my favourite strike in wrestling right now). It feels like I say this every time I write something about a Negro Casas match, but the guy is indescribable. He's fifty four years old and taking powerbombs on concrete floors like a psycho. At first I wasn't really digging Maximo and kind of felt like he was a bit out of place, but by the end all of his diva shtick came across as being really wild and vicious, like Lindsay Lohan on smack just running around scratching eyes and ripping out hair weaves. Plus there's a great bit where he tries his nonsense with Terrible and Terrible dismissively cracks him in the jaw. This is also about as good as I've seen Shocker in like fourteen years. He's barely mobile at this point, but he makes up for it by potatoing people really hard and he and Rush, like Rush and everybody else, take a turn at smacking each other in the face (which ends with Rush dumping him into the front row on top of a group of kids and pensioners. Did y'all know I fucking love Rush?). Casas/Rush is one of the best feuds I've seen in years, and this seriously feels like one of the best matches of the decade. Fuck this was awesome.