[2001-08-31-CMLL] Negro Casas & El Hijo del Santo vs Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero

[ohtani's jacket]

Casas and Santo get a shot at the Infernales' titles. The most notable thing about this bout for me was how good Casas was. When I think of Casas, I tend to think of the facial expressions and the crowd manipulation, and those moments of genius that only Casas can produce. But he was also a good worker on a technical level. He may not have been the best wrestler in Mexico per se, but he knew how to work, and he was excellent at adapting to changing trends. I don't really think of Ultimo Guerrero and Rey Bucanero as classic luchadores. They strike me as among the first wave of modern luchadores. They certainly used a lot more moves than their predecessors did. Other workers came along who took the modern style further, but in 2001 it feels as though the Infernales are at the forefront of the push towards a more modern style. Satanico was old-school as fuck, but was able to mesh with the Infernales because of their ongoing storyline. Santo and Casas, on the other hand, were able to work with them seamlessly. You can see Casas switch gears here compared to his regular fall-out-bed trios performances from '00-01. He had a lot of experience working in Japan and it's clear that the CMLL Japan shows have an influence on how the Infernales want to work. They don't abandon the lucha style completing since they're playing to an Arena Mexico crowd, but they definitely have their working boots on. The trouble is that the booking is screwy. I should have smelled the Dusty finish coming as soon as I put the bout on (I wonder who you are, Mexican Dusty?), but it was a disappointment all the same. I really hope we get a clean, satisfying payoff to a lucha match some time soon.