[2000-03-21-CMLL] Tony Rivera vs Mr Mexico (Hair vs Hair)

[Loss]

I'm guessing this is clipped down considerably, but I'm always horrible at noticing such things. I want to comment on how well these guys have learned to do such short matches, but that may not be what this actually is. I am a big fan of Mr. Mexico, with all his personality and in-ring precision. He reminds me a tough guy next door who keeps himself in shape that no one would dare mess with, even if that's not exactly his gimmick. Strong charisma too. Tony Rivera is sort of a Tarzan Boy that people like, probably because he's not as insistent on broadcasting his own sex appeal. There have been better wager matches this year for sure, but this was a fun ride while it lasted. ***1/2

[soup23]

This feud really won me over and came out of nowhere that I think the abruptness of this is what some were feeling from the TB vs Satanico blowoff. Still, when thinking about its place in retrospect, this really was just a feud to pad out the mid card and nothing much more substantial than that. Mr. Mexico was really enjoyable as a heel and helped make Rivera look like a threat without justifying his own stature. ***

[Tim Evans]

I like blood in matches but it seems like CMLL has been too reliant on it in 2000 with tecnicos. This match was fine albeit a little short. Mr. Mexico held this together as Tony Rivera was a little green. I don't think you can compare this to TB/Satanico. That match had been built up so well but was disappointing while this match is just mid card fodder in Arena Coliseo.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was a solid apuesta match but they clipped a chunk out of the tercera caida which hurt the overall impact of the bout. Instead of building toward the big moment, they cut straight to a submission nearfall for Mr. Mexico and Rivera's match-winning Gori Special. We missed out on the excitement of the tercera caida swinging back and forth but what we did see was solid. Mr. Mexico was a better in-ring talent than I would have ever given him credit for prior to this feud and Rivera was seasoned enough to feed off his rudo charisma and win the people's favour without a stripper gimmick like Tarzan Boy. So long as you don't expect Chicana/MS-1, Chicana/Aguayo or Dandy/Satanico, this delivered a decent standard of work.

[Moonsault Marvin]

The clipping disrupted the flow of the match for me. Tony Rivera's bleeding head also confused me. He was gushing blood in the second fall, and I assumed he cleaned it off between falls, since he didn't have much on him in the third fall. Did he reopen his cut for the post-match interview because suddenly he was bleeding down his face again?

[cramerjason87]

Mr. Mexico looks so good in the clips. High intensity when he is on offense. The clipping makes it hard to judge how good the match is but getting a chance to see Mr. Mexico here is worthwhile.

[goc]

I like Mr. Mexico a lot as he has great facial expressions, good intensity and he plays his character really well. Not a guy I've ever really heard of talked about by big lucha fans and I have no idea how long his career was but I liked him a lot in this match and the other trios match I watched with him in it. I watched this yesterday and don't really remember anything that Tony Rivera did to stand out so everything I liked about this really came down to Mr. Mexico. Good match but not anywhere near the best apuesta matches that I've seen.

[Sean Liska]

Yeah, also impressed with Mr Mexico, didn't know what to expect but what we got was really good, no complaints.