Negro Casas vs. Valiente, CMLL 2/4/13

Dream match for workrate fans as Casas and Valiente are two of the best in the business, but this was a disappointment. I'm not so sure it was a case of the chemistry being off between the two as much as it was a case of them not bothering to do anything creative. In fact, I was kind of annoyed that Casas put in such a cookie cutter performance against someone as talented as Valiente. Some of the early exchanges were okay, but the third fall in particular was a bore.

Negro Casas vs. Mascara Dorada, CMLL 6/2/13

This is the kind of match Casas seems to prefer, where he's clearly the better guy and carries a younger guy through a career best match. The amount of thought and effort put into the match layout was telling. Personally, I didn't find it as compelling as Casas intended, but if you can get into the rhythm of what was basically a spotfest then there's no reason why you won't enjoy it. The third fall was grossly excessive and it seemed to me that if they'd done just one of their dives with the right build and execution it would've been far more effective than the half a dozen dives they did, but that's the modern style I guess and it's better not to get too cranky about it. Can't say I'm a big fan of Casas' telegraphed transition based offence, though.

Negro Casas/Valiente/Stuka Jr. vs. Virus/Vangellys/Fuego, CMLL 6/14/13

Virus and Valiente are just about the only pairing that can do proper old-school trios exchanges anymore so it's always a pleasure watching them perform. Their work here was nothing they haven't done in trios before, but head and shoulders above anybody else in regular trios matches. Valiente also did a solitary dive that reminded me of the effectiveness of the one or two dives a match that El Hijo del Santo used to do. Everybody else was average.

Black Terry/Negro Navarro/Villano IV vs. Averno/Blue Panther/Shocker, CMLL 4/7/13

Terry looked slick in his exchanges against Averno and on the surface I'd argue that Terry and Navarro are better than Panther and Casas, but Terry and Navarro footage seems to have dried up a bit. For as much as I've complained in the past about "your turn/my turn" IWRG matwork, it's still superior to your standard CMLL exchanges. I liked the first two falls in this match mainly because of Terry. Navarro/Panther was pretty good, but not mind blowing or anything. Villano is only really capable of brawling these days and this was always going to be sanitised compared to the matches he's shined in, while Shocker is only halfway decent when he takes a direct approach of punching people instead of working real exchanges. Still, the differences between this and your run-of-the-mill Arena Mexico trios were obvious as this was actually fleshed out over two falls. Unfortunately, they tried to work a really old-school third fall and it fell considerably flat. Match didn't really break my general apathy towards what's going on in Mexico right now, but it was a nice try.

Negro Navarro vs. Negro Casas, Chilanga Mask 5/19/13

Not technically CMLL, but I'll chuck it in here. This was cool and all until the finish which was just bullshit. I mean, c'mon, if you're going to work a maestros exhibition just do a double pin and shake hands or something lame, but what's the point of a low blow DQ finish? That made the match instantly forgettable.