ohtani's jacket

For the record, there is a 1992 trios match on tape that is the oldest Lucero match out there.

Oh yeah, Charlie Lucero... This was a classic example of how one matchup can make the most inconsequential of matches worth watching. Charlie did some lovely stuff with Silver Star to lead things off (years before their maestro matches), and later on, they came back and had a phenomenal brawling sequence that was straight out of Satanico's playbook and left me clamouring for a singles match from this era. The rest of the bout was largely crap, especially the shit with the pool cue and Damian's balls but those Lucero vs. Silver Star exchanges are something I won't forget when I look back on the year.

Waste of talent, really. Santo held it together and made it fun by being Santo, basically, but if you've seen a Santo match before that's not going to wow you. The Tarzan Boy angle is starting to get irritating but I did like how pissed Porky was at the end.

Charlie Lucero is one of my favorite maestro workers so I was looking forward to this. I'm used to seeing him work as a tecnico so I was surprised he was on the rudo side here. He's not the most fiercely charismatic wrestler but he gave it a go. He had a neat exchange with Emilio to start things off. Emilio has been struggling physically in 2000 but he's still chugging away. The rest of the bout was built around the tecnicos' contempt for Pimpi. Niebla was a bit too spiteful for my liking but there were some quality Pimpi spots and I liked the dynamic between Pimpi and Brazo de Oro. I'm sure you've all seen the George Kidd spot where Johnny Saint and Steve Grey roll themselves into a ball. At one point, Pimpi did perhaps the most disturbing ball in wrestling history. Then he proceeded to sit in the lap of one of the local men which didn't please the old guy sitting next to them. The match wasn't really heading anywhere but I still hated the finish. Tecnicos faking a foul is one of the worst finishes possible and made Niebla seem like even more of a dickhead. Oh well, at least I got to see Charlie.

Shocker burns Parka's mask at the start but Parka doesn't care and dances with some chicks in the crowd. Shocker vs. Parka is a good thing but this was a boring bout. They went through the motions of a rudo beatdown and a tecnico comeback but there was no edge to it. These matches work best when the other wrestlers hate each other too but we didn't get that level of intensity here. Casas tried hard to be a traditional foil for this sort of match but the rudos were on autopilot. Parka's humiliation wasn't quite severe enough and his comeback wasn't inspiring. They progressed the feud from the week before but I've seen tons of lead-in matches that were better than this.

It's hard to judge from short clips, but judging by the footage we have, Gus Sonnenberg doesn't strike me as anything special.

I keep waiting for a match where Fuerza takes over and delivers a performance of old but it never happens. This was probably his best performance all year which isn't saying much. I don't know what happened to post-96 Fuerza but his charisma took a nose dive. It's weird because he still looks like he has the physical tools. Some decent stuff from Pimpi as usual but Felino was more interested in doing his pissing pose than tearing it up on the mat with Fuerza and the others were window dressing. Monterrey really is like diggin' in the crates compared to IWRG and CMLL. Hopefully, we can unearth some hidden gems in time.

This started on the best possible note by having El Dandy square off with Casas. Remember their classic from '92? Well, they had the same chemistry eight years later. Their exchanges weren't blow away great but they were creative and original and the kind of exchanges you only see when two masters of their craft square off with each other. There was a noticeable difference to how Dandy approached the Casas exchanges compared to his work with everyone else and it was one of the few times all year that he's looked like the Dandy of old. Following on the heels of Casas and Dandy were Zumbido and Antifaz and Panther and Tarzan Boy. Something appears to be stewing between Zumbido and Antifaz as they were paired together a lot during the bout. Their work was okay but not as engaging as the others. Tarzan Boy earns my vote for Most Improved Worker. If you'd told me at the beginning of the year that he'd be holding his own in technical exchanges I would have never believed it. Least of all with Panther. He was doing his Arena Mexico shtick of wanting to roll with the rudos which overshadowed his contribution to the match but he had one other polished exchange with Dandy that supported my claims. The last pairing was the main course, Shocker vs. Parka. It was strictly comedy but the good kind that cracks you up. I loved the stooge spots especially the face plant on the apron. After a long primera caida where everyone worked respect pairings the match ran out of steam. It was too long and the heat segment meandered with the rudos strolling about while the crowd waited for a tecnico flourish that never really came. I liked the opening fall but the match died on the vine when the rudos took control. That's too bad given the talent involved but there are no guarantees when you watch a lucha trios. None whatsoever. You can have a great match between unknown workers or a mediocre one between star talent. You never know. Still, it's worth watching the first fall here if you're a guy or a gal who likes a lucha exchange. Or if you wanna see a wee bit more Casas vs. Dandy and even a bit of Casas vs. Panther. If you're a lucha fan you take that kind of stuff whenever you can get it. So I wouldn't say this was a total loss. Just a missed opportunity to have the best trios match of the year, potentially. For the record, I would say that bout where Pierroth electrocuted Villano III would probably win my vote for trios MOTY.

This was worth watching just to see Cerebro doing his thing. You can pretty much just track him the entire time and he's always doing something of interest. He had worked a title match with Fantasy a few weeks prior after Fantasy beat him in a mano a mano but there didn't seem to be any meat to their feud. Instead, Cerebro worked mostly with Mike Segura and Star Boy. The two pairings couldn't have been any further apart as Segura was a talented guy who matched up well with Cerebro while Star Boy was awkward as fuck and constantly off with his timing. Cerebro shined in both pairings but the Segura exchanges were obviously the highlight (that dive, my God, and Cerebro's sell!) The Megas were no mugs either and brought their working shoes like always. Another solid IWRG midcard bout.

This was a fun atomics match. It had all the hallmarks of undercard lucha -- some fun gimmicks and neat workers and a mix of traditional lucha exchanges and exciting dives. On the rudo side we got to see two members of the very first incarnation of Los Oficiales which was cool. They were more of your classic journeyman team that the fluid and dynamic trios unit we'd see later on but I liked the original Oficial. He could've been mistaken for just about any corrupt police captain in Mexico. Hijo del Gladiador continued to engage his role as the midcard veteran and Bombero is always busy doing his thing. On the tecnico side there was a nice mix of masked guys. Olimpico didn't shine as much as I was hoping and seems to have gone backward throughout the year. I liked Mascara Magica the most. he wasn't flashy but I thought he showed solid fundamentals. IWRG is very good at keeping these undercard matches short and snappy. None of the matches outstay their welcome and the guys entertain you while they're out there. Solid bout.

This was a slow-burning trios that ended up with a double bladejob. Any trios match that brings Villano IV to the fore is a welcome addition to the footage as he's not the type of worker who gets showcased a lot. He's extremely capable of playing the lead role in a trios match and carrying his end of a singles feud but he tends to always be in a secondary role supporting his brother or some other central player. Thankfully, IWRG had strong UWA roots and this 2000 run of theirs harkens back to the early 90s UWA where Villano IV was as much a singles player as a trios wrestler. The brawling here was good. The mask ripping and the blading was done right, which isn't always the case in trios matches. They gave you just enough of a tease that you want to see another trios match between them the following week and then a singles match if the powers that be allow it. Plus there was some good stuff between Panther and Felino to back it up. In thise case, they worked rapid fire lucha exchanges that served to contrast the breakdown in sportsmanship between Villano and Scorpio while at the same time matching their intensity. Felino still has a massive engine judging by this footage and Panther is simply one of the best workers in the world at this point (no hyperbole.) Lots to enjoy here.

When you think about it, rudo contra rudo title matches are pretty rare. For the most part, this was worked as a clean fight. It was chippy at times and there was some controversy over a possible foul by Silver King but mostly it was hard fought title-match wrestling. Scorpio, in particular, worked like a defacto tecnico champ. He's taken a lot of pride in the heavyweight title so that doesn't come as much surprise but it was still a side of him that you don't regularly see in other settings. Silver King put up a strong challenge. He brought his A-game in terms of athleticism and agility and came pretty close to scoring an upset in the tercera caida. But Scorpio in this setting is a bit like a Mexican Triple H. He's the Game and once again used his smarts to seal the win. Good, competitive match. Some nice matwork in the primera caida and some good back and forth stuff in the falls that followed. I liked Scorpio's suplex work and the power he got on his lift. The nearfalls were well done and the submission holds were sold well. The only thing holding it back from a MOTYC level was that it was more compact than epic but it was a tight bout without much fat and worth comparing to the Villano IV title defense to see which is better.

Prior to this we get an undercard bout with Alan Stone, Black Dragon and Moto Cross vs. El Hijo del Gladiador, Mega and Super Mega. A short match but the action is quick. I was impressed with El Hijo del Gladiador as the glue holding the rudo side together. I didn't think he'd be that good in a match where the pace was quicker. The bout listed here was moderately entertaining. It showed promise in the beginning with Villano V doing a real fun Mendoza-family style opening exchange. The rudos looked fun and it was a chance to catch up with Felino who we haven't seen in a while and for some reason isn't being featured in the top of the card CMLL stuff. And his new trios team hasn't been showcased in a while either. But it ate up a good 15 minutes without ever hitting its stride and there wasn't a heck of a lot to get excited over. Personally, I liked the first match more.

This had some nice continuity from the week before with Super Parka looking to get stuck into Silver King. There was more teamwork between the rudos this week, and even though the main storyline was the tension between Silver King and Scorpio the rudo work was more fluid than in the previous week's match. The pace could have been a step or two quickly but IWRG trios matches often move at a slower pace. Sometimes I suspect it's because the workers don't feel it's worth busting their asses in front of a tiny crowd in a lower paying gig but it may also be because there simply isn't enough crowd heat to spur them on. I really dug the Dandy vs. Villano III exchanges in the mid of all the Silver King vs. Scorpio stuff and for a second or two I imagined a singles feud between the two. That would have been cool. As it is, we're headed for rudo contra rudo which is a lot more interesting than Silver King vs. Super Parka so if anything this match steered things in a better direction. Hopefully, Silver King brings his A game because he's a guy whose output varies.

This had some fun stuff with Shocker and Porky battling over who is more guapo but there wasn't a whole lot else to it. I can take or leave Porky's comedy at this stage. He has a habit of overshadowing every bout that he's in because of his routine. It was fun here because Shocker was the foil but it would have been a bore otherwise. Dandy worked the mat with Fantasma in the beginning and it was kind of sad to see just how slow Dandy has become. The Dandy of old would have torn it up in that segment. Silver King tried to start something with Super Parka but the care factor wasn't there for me. Shocker looked good against all three opponents and was head and shoulders above everybody else. I'd recommend skipping this one unless you want further proof that Shocker is a special talent.

I've been married for 11 years and have a 7 year old daughter. I've taught English in Japan for 12 years and am currently working with pre-schoolers. I used to be a heavy smoker (30+ a day) but I quit when my wife was pregnant. Haven't smoked a cigarette for 8 years. I drink too much, though, and always seem to have some drink or sweet I need to buy on a daily basis. I've gone through phases of being addicted to Coke. The cola stuff not the white stuff.

I can go months without watching any wrestling. When I do watch it, it's either early in the morning before everyone's gotten up or late at night after they've gone to bed. The thing is that it's always there when I get the itch. If this place disappeared I'm not sure whether I would have somewhere to touch base with wrestling so I'm fortunate that Loss and Will are committed to the site. Thanks, guys.

This won't go down as one of the legendary ciberneticos thanks to the clipping but it was chockful of big names and talented workers and capped off a great month for CMLL. The match was pretty much designed to cement the newly turned Panther as a certified tecnico star by giving him a bit of a rub from one legendary "blue" to another. Panther was wonderful from the outset even during the Battle Royale phase. In fact, this is a match I would point to that shows the full range of his talent -- not just the mat stuff but his flying and excellent selling. There were also strong showings from Satanico and Shocker, and Niebla who had one of those "on nights" where he looks like one of the best and most unique workers in Mexico almost like a modern-day version of Dos Caras. But it was Panther who took the honours with a hard-fought victory over Niebla that had tremendous crowd heat. Great match to watch if you're a Panther fan and neat seeing the two legends in the ring together at the end. Blue Demon looked frail and would die a few weeks later so this was his last appearance in front of the fans. Great month for CMLL. The booking was firing on all cylinders and every match was entertaining.

This was a decent mano a mano bout. Mano a mano bouts are meant to build heat and tease a future apuesta match and that's exactly what they accomplished. Atlantis showed his range as a performer with a fine performance as the spurned partner seeking vengeance and Tarzan Boy did well in the unfamiliar role of rudo. There are question marks over whether he's talented enough to play the rudo role but the beef here was enough to carry the action and Atlantis was excellent in his role. The finish was crap but the outcome wasn't meant to be definitive. Lucha history is littered with mano a manos that had no blowoff and I feel we're headed that way here but it was promising while it lasted especially during Atlantis' comeback.

This match oozed talent. It also oozed storyline. But that's okay. Better to have great TV than matches that lead nowhere. JR would have lost his shit commentating the ending with Panther turning tecnico, Santo and Casas officially forming a team again, and Stone Cold Perro Aguayo doing a "run" in. Shocker trying to escape from the tecnicos at the end was gold. CMLL is WAR.

This was the Relevos Increíbles that stemmed from all the hijinks in the Leyenda de Plata final. It was awesome for a number of reasons. First, you got to see Santo and Panther team up together like some modern-day version of Santo and Blue Demon. Then you got some absolutely amazing exchanges between Blue Panther and Negro Casas that were some of the best tag or trios exchanges of the year and totally worthy of two workers of their calibre and the expectations that come along with seeing them square off. Casas was somewhere close to his best after a fairly indifferent year. Some may say that he was never that bad just featured less than in previous years but the Wagner feud in September seems to have lit a fire under him. I particularly loved his selling of the La Tapatia (Romero Special.) And lastly, you had some awesome brawling between Santo and Scorpio as well as some of Santo's exquisite dives. Watching Santo and Scorpio beat the crap out of each other was fun. Scorpio is a made guy as far as I'm concerned. I now expect that he's going to be good in every match I see. There's been a lot of surprises in 2000 but Bestia and Scorpio being consistently great is up there. The only thing I didn't like about this was the finish which didn't seem like a particularly honorable move for a tecnico least of all one of Santo's stature. It wasn't as though Scorpio had been using dirty tactics. It was a pretty clean fight as far as brawling on the outside goes. Usually, tecnicos pull those kinds of moves to give rudos their comeuppance after a foul or some other dirty tactic. It seemed out of place here. And a wrestler like Santo should never voluntarily take his mask off. Never. On the whole it was another great bit of TV, though.

Firstly, it's always great to see rudos taking delight in dissension in the tecnico ranks. Secondly, I love how Satanico doesn't give a shit about Tarzan Boy being on the fence about turning rudo and attacks him for taking his hair two times. Thirdly, I love how fired up Atlantis is about Tarzan Boy's behaviour. I often hear about how weak Atlantis is on the mic but he seemed fine here. And he was ropeable anytime he was near Tarzan Boy. I don't think their match can possibly live up to my expectations but the build-up has been good.

So we didn't get Casas vs. Wagner, which could've potentially been some of the best stuff of the year, but we do get Casas vs. Santo, which even when it isn't special is still kind of special since it's Casas vs. Santo. The work here is excellent. If this had been a three fall match with the focus on Casas and Santo instead of the angles that dominated the bout I have no doubt that it would have been a classic and one of the best matches of the year. As it was, you won't see too many lucha tournament finals that are better than this. From a booking standpoint, they actually got a lot done with this segment. They began sewing the seeds for the Santo and Casas tag team and the feud with Los Infernales and they continued to lay the groundwork for Tarzan Boy's heel turn. The only problem was that they did it in the middle of a fucking Santo vs. Casas match. In real time, Santo absolutely nailed Scorpio Jr with his tope. And the post-match saw everyone fighting with each other as no-one could seem to make heads or tails of who was a rudo and who was a tecnico. This was pretty much the CMLL equivalent of a RAW main event. Disappointing if you seek this match out on paper but fun to watch in the context of the year's television.

The reason people compare performers is that it's fun. Even people who take it seriously get some form of fulfillment out of it. Does it really matter if people don't have a clue what they're talking about? At the end of the day, it tells you more about the poster and their preferences than it does about the worker. You can argue or disagree but you get to know the people who post a bit better and have a bit of fun debating age-old topics. If we just stopped and didn't compare anyone anymore it would be pretty boring.

So Tarzan Boy is turning rudo, huh? I'm sure if that is such a good idea. He was starting to improve after working in Monterrey and it's not as though there's a ton of good tecnicos running around. A decent tecnico is worth their weight in gold. But he was never fully embraced by the Arena Mexico crowd so perhaps this move makes sense. In any event, he seems fit for the role. I couldn't believe him stripping off his jorts. The match was really just an angle but it was pretty good storyline progression. I never tire of watching Bestia slap the shit out of people. It's one of those little things that remind me I'm watching lucha. I also liked the tecnicos' work in the second caida. In fact, I thought it was one of Atlantis' better performances in a while. The second half of his year has really suffered from the typical CMLL booking practice of pushing a worker back down the card after a big program. They didn't do it with Villano III but there was definitely a cooling off period for Atlantis. Perhaps this feud with Tarzan Boy will give him some fresh material. It's too bad that spot where he fell through the ropes looked like a blatant dive but I guess it was a hard spot to execute, And CMLL camerawork is never the best. Perhaps the highlight of the match was the crowd reaction when it seemed like Tarzan Boy would turn. The bemusement and puzzled looks were fun to watch. Shocker taunting the fans on the ramp was beyond awesome. What a stud he's been all year long. His in-ring work with Tarzan Boy was awesome as well. Those two have great chemistry. It's a shame that they didn't milk more from it prior to the turn. It seems like Monterrey got more out of the pairing than CMLL did. Anyway, time to sit back and see where it's al heading.