[2002-12-13-CMLL] Shocker vs Ultimo Guerrero

[Jetlag]

Ah, 2002, when Shocker was a great worker. I really liked the brief opening matwork, with Shocker flipping around and Guerrero catching him in a great flash Fujiwara Armbar. 2^nd fall was short but had UG working Shockers arm over with hurty wristlocks and takedowns. Then Shocker made this great comeback and trying to boot his head off. Shocker looked damn good here, even throwing a great punch combo. The 3^rd fall was your typical UG end run where they exchange big dramatic kickouts. Not my favourite thing but it was awesome to watch these two crush eachother with huge chunky guy highspots.

[ohtani's jacket]

Here we go, the #1 tecnico in the company vs. the #1 rudo in a proper title match. CMLL did the right there here and made it two out of three falls. It wasn't the greatest title match I've seen, but it had matwork and submission holds and the tercera went back and forth. In a year where CMLL underdelivered on so many of its singles matches, I cannot reiterate enough how important it was that the match went two out of three falls. The finish was a little screwy, but it kind of needed to be if Ultimo was going to go over Shocker. The seconds, Vampiro and Tarzan Boy, got into a scuffle on the outside of the ring. While the officials were sorting it out, Tarzan Boy slid into the ring and counted three on a Shocker nearfall. Shocker thought he had won, which broke up his momentum, and after the restart, Ultimo was able to beat him. I was happy that Ultimo won clean instead of some low blow bullshit, but the drawback was that it wasn't exactly a crowning moment where Ultimo announces himself as a singles superstar. In fact, Shocker tried to get his heat back immediately by demanding a mask vs. hair match. Aside from that, it lived up to the hype and was a strong match.