Rush/Rey Escorpion/Maximo vs. Negro Casas/Terrible/Shocker, CMLL 6/28/13

Negro Casas, Mr. Aguila & Rey Bucanero vs. Blue Panther, Rush & Maximo, CMLL 7/14/13

So, this is the best thing going today or so I've been told. I like Rush a lot so I'm excited to see these. He kind of reminds me of the true, modern day heir to Perro Aquayo, since Perro's own kid hasn't been any good since about 2007 as far as I can tell, and he's learnt the value of having a great head of hair.

True to others' word, the Rush vs. Casas exchanges do not disappoint. They're kind of similar in tone to the famous Dandy/Casas exchanges, but Casas isn't quite the sublime genius he was back then and that had a different sort of vibe to it in that Casas and Dandy were two all-time greats squaring off. The other difference is that in those trios matches, Casas and Dandy worked with much more talented partners as that was the greatest collection of talent in the TV footage era. Their partners were able to work exchanges that were like mini subplots that informed and supported the main plot. What you got here was some great modern day brawling, which has a greater emphasis on striking than in days gone by. In terms of everybody else, I thought Shocker and Terrible got it the most in terms of how they should complement the main feud that was going on and Maximo added the necessary variety for a lucha trios match.

The 6/28 trios is getting a lot of MOTY talk. I wouldn't go anywhere near that far as it doesn't have a complete enough narrative to really deserve that kind of praise and I thought there have been plenty of Black Terry driven trios in recent years that were better, but don't let MOTY expectations get in the way of enjoying a good match. There's still too much (bad) bullshit in modern day CMLL, but while it lasted it was about as violent as you're going to get in this era. The 7/14 match was nothing special and more a continuation of the feud, I thought. I assume there's going to a hair match at some point this year. I'm not getting too excited about that as I think Casas' offence is suspect in big matches these days and there's been weaknesses in his singles formula of late, but the brawling exchanges have been great so far and Rush is a special talent.