Blue Panther & Rencor Latino v Olimpico & Mr. Niebla (CMLL, 2/1/00)
Watching this in isolation, devoid of proper context, I can only assume Olimpico and Panther had heat leading up to this. I can only assume Olimpico had vexed Panther in some way and, to put it mildly, earned his ire. I can only assume Panther's response was warranted. Otherwise Panther decided to flat out try and murder him for no reason. That's not really the sort of rudo I tend to view Panther as. He's not really the guy I'd expect to bite someone's face open and guzzle their blood like a psychopath. I usually think of Pirata Morgan or Satanico or Fiera as the truly gruesome, but Panther clearly had a madness upon him on the night and he wanted everyone to know it. Olimpico bled a disgusting amount and Panther dragged him around ringside, blatantly shaking his head back and forth like he was trying to coax out the dregs of a ketchup bottle, so the front row spectators would be showered in his blood. One guy got up and walked away in disgust and it might've been the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life. He fucking savaged Olimpico, lapping up the blood and eagerly licking it from his cupped hands, like drinking water from a woodland stream. I've never seen him go at someone like that before and straight away I wanted to see the mano a mano. The match itself was the final of a one-night tournament so it never lasted long, but for a seven minute mauling you won't find many with more bite for their buck. Between Panther/Olimpico, Satanico/Tarzan Boy and Atlantis/Villano III, CMLL had the art of the blood feud down to a tee that year.
Mr. Mexico, Blue Panther & Black Warrior v Tony Rivera, Ringo Mendoza & Emilio Charles Jr. (CMLL, 3/14/00)
And now Mr. Mexico and Tony Rivera are at it. This started with a vignette of Rivera schooling a bunch of guys in a training ring, with Mr. Mexico rocking up as a masked referee and kicking the shit out of him. Maybe Rivera got too big for his young britches, maybe Mr. Mexico - a guy who was the third option for his team in lower-midcard trios to start the year - just wanted to make a name for himself at the expense of this new kid; it didn't matter either way because it led to what was a pretty awesome and super heated trios. They both go at each other straight away and by the end Rivera is bleeding and they're hammering each other in the balls. Panther was more subdued here than he was in the previous tag, but his exchanges with the evergreen Ringo Mendoza were really fun. Black Warrior looked killer, zipping about laying into the tecnicos, bringing a real energy to everything. And of course Emilio ruled, because he's Emilio by god Charles and ruling is what he does. The dive train at the end was spectacular with Black Warrior hitting one of the most gorgeous bullet topes you'll ever see, then Mr. Mexico went and topped it by giving Rivera an absolute all-timer of a low blow. CMLL feels like it might've been the best promotion in the world in 2000.
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