[2000-04-14-CMLL] Negro Casas & Atlantis & Rayo de Jalisco Jr vs Villano III & Pierroth Jr & Fuerza Guerrera

[soup23]

The Villano angle that formed out of the mask match is really one of the more unique and in depth one I have ever seen. With losing his identity, Villano is now left to question his moral compass and his entire belief system. This is brought into the forefront right away here as Villano and Atlantis take it to the mat and Villano gets angry at Pierroth and Fuerza coming in to take cheap shots. After the mat work, Villano gives a clap showing his appreciation. Casas and Fuerza come in next and that is a classic pairing so them going after each other is always welcomed by me. Rayo and Pierroth being the final pairing is a little odd because its by far the least intriguing of the three but they kept it brief. We then get a snippet of Casas and Villano which has me salivating and starts with a handshake before transitioning into a really quick sequence. Pierroth is mad that Villano is shaking hands. Villano gets put as the proverbial sacrificial lamb as all the tecnicos hit a big move on him to put him away on the first fall. Pierroth and Fuerza contemplate a walk out between falls as the tecnicos are putting Villano over. Pierroth and Fuerza get Atlantis in a vulnerable position and Villano refuses to take the cheapshot. I really can’t get over how engaging this storyline is. Rayo is put in the same position and the same thing happens. Fuerza has had enough of this shit, fouls Rayo to draw the DQ and then beats the piss out of Villano. The rudos then tie Villano up for Pierroth to get his electricity skewers that he shocks Villano with. Villano’s selling here is magnificent. Another match that isn’t about the action per say but like the first Villano and Atlantis match, the storyline and development was some of the most memorable and well done stuff I have seen. ****

[Loss]

This is just tremendous. It's held together by everyone knowing their part. For Villano III, that means the character work that plays during the pre-match, match, and post-match. For Fuerza and Pierroth, that means acting as foils and ultimately turning on him in a fairly hardcore angle at the end. I really liked the pacing of the match itself as well, with Atlantis and Villano starting off with matwork that won't make anyone forget Santo-Panther, but was perfectly satisfying and fit the story of the match nicely. I am always a fan of using a loss to get a wrestler over as a bigger star, as has been done with Austin, Rock, and countless others, and Villano III seems like even more of a superstar than he already did coming out of this, losing his mask and turning. ****

[ohtani's jacket]

This was an excellent bout. It was obvious from the get-go that the rudos were going to turn on Villano and attack him simply because it was the third week that CMLL had been teasing the turn and that's generally the pattern: a couple of weeks of teasing it and then the turn. But it was extremely well executed with tensions rife from the beginning. You could tell that Pierroth, Fuerza, and Los Boricuas had concocted a contingency plan for dealing with Villano if he wouldn't play ball. The interplay between VIllano and Pierroth was fascinating to watch. I especially liked the part where Villano waved Pierroth off and grinned at the fans. And I loved Pierroth getting in the face of the commissioner. Pierroth had such a commanding presence. He was strong on the mic and everything he did seemed despicable. His in-ring work wasn't that great but he was saddled with Rayo who has been pretty poor in 2000 and really his worth here was being the mastermind behind the post-match angle. I thought they went to the well once too often with Villano refusing to attack the tecnicos. Surely, it would have made more sense if Atlantis had been the final tecnico that Villano refused to attack. But I loved Fuerza's DQ before turning on Villano.That had me hollering with delight. It was such a rudo thing to do. Fuck the match, Fuerza's sick of this shit.

 

The post-match angle was like nothing I've seen in CMLL. The thing I liked about it the most is that Pierroth is not just working a Puerto Rico gimmick, he's bringing Puerto Rican style angles to Mexico. Villano sold the electrocution as though he was dead. He looked like a corpse. The doctor could have sold the gravity of the situation a bit more but it was a wild scene and made Pierroth look pretty hardcore. Plenty of rudos are braggarts but not many would go that far. Pierroth Jr. is a dangerous man and you have to wonder who cleared this with the stuffy CMLL suits.

Aside from Pierroth being one of my five favorite things in Mexico, there was a lot of other things to enjoy here. We finally got to see the Casas we know and love strutting about the ring like a peacock. And any time you see him work with Fuerza you know you're in for a treat. The Villano vs. Atlantis exchanges were also good. For my money, some of the best stuff they did outside of the apuesta match. Even Rayo managed to produce his signature tope. The thing about most lucha, and wrestling in general for that matter, is that it's not very memorable. This was memorable even if it wasn't a fully fledged three fall classic. Easily the best thing to come out of Mexico so far this April.

[Tim Evans]

This was so well done. I usually hate these "rudos disagree and one turns tecnico but continues to team with the rudos" angles that CMLL does from time to time. They go on for so long that it loses meaning. This one, however, is great. Villano loses his mask and starts evaluating his career. Fuerza and the other rudos don't give a shit and want him to be more rudo. Then, when Villano says no they turn on him. It's been done for decades but few can do it as good as these guys. Pierroth was on another level. He's right up there with one of the greatest heels/rudos of all time in my book. The electric shock thing is not something you would expect in CMLL so when it's done, it means something. Outstanding angle and the match was fun too thanks to it.

[Moonsault Marvin]

The match was good at first, but Pierroth and Rayo de Jalisco brought it down with the slow motion running. Since we have seen the teasing of the heels turning on Villano for several matches, the match began to drag, but it turned around with the electrocution. Pierroth was delightfully vile in his attack, and poor Villano looked dead. Great angle.

[Sean Liska]

Everyone's talked about how well done the storytelling is here. CMLL stays hot and has places to go - I wish modern CMLL had this much plot development! Shoot, an electrocution angle, I didn't see that coming, things just escalated. Very much looking forward to seeing how this plays out in the coming months. Also can you imagine if Fuerza had gotten to team with Tully and Arn and they had competed to see who could get their opponents over more? So great.

[Mattsdmf]

I thought this was so very awesome! This is really up there with the best character work of 2000. I loved how Villano III was still technically a rudo but gave his respect to the tecnicos and refused to do anything dastardly against them which put him at odds with Pierroth and Fuerza. I liked one moment after the first fall where the rudos were talking about what to do with Villano as he seemed to be on the side of the tecnicos which made 4 vs 2. They really stuck with the plan and even though the match went 2 straight falls for the tecnicos which I thought was smart, and what cemented the full face turn for Villano was the post match with the rudos electrocuting Villano which Ive never seen in lucha. This is one of my favorite matches of 2000. As far as the work went, pretty much everyone was good to great with the exception of Pierroth which kept it from being a truly top tier match of the year. That said this is very highly recommended!