[2002-05-31-CMLL] Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero vs El Hijo del Santo & Negro Casas

[ohtani's jacket]

This was a hell of a match. Easily the best wrestling I've seen in the 2002 CMLL season aside from the Wagner vs. Shocker singles match. In fact, it was some of the best tag wrestling in lucha history at least in the televised era. In many ways, it was less about rudos vs. tecnicos and more about rising stars vs. lucha legends. It was wrestled clean with none of the bullshit that usually accompanies a GdI match. The momentum shifts were earned and the match was hard fought. The focal point was the excellent Santo vs. Guerrero match-up, but the heart and soul of the match were the emotional reactions from Casas and Bucanero. Santo was great in this. Guerrero was arguably better. They were smart in the way they traded falls and teased nearfalls, and created a match where there was legitimate suspense in the deciding fall. The finish wound up being fairly dramatic, and the impression I was left was that this was Ultimo Guerrero's breakthrough match was a future headliner. He looked like The Man here, and while his apuetas challenge with Santo never materialized it was a cool moment nonetheless. 

[Makai Club #1]

This was awesome. Brisky in parts, as the two falls were lightning quick in length, and fast paced. The GDL were excellent in this match. They totally rose to the occasion and worked super hard to stand out as the stars of the match over the legendary duo on the opposite sides of the ring. They wrestled in real clean given their reputation, opting for quick tag team work and on point link up play. Ultimo Guerrero would run interference on any submission or pin attempts for his team and Guerrero and Bucanero had some cool double team moves in their arsenal. They worked as one singular unit almost. Of course, they stood out individually as well. With their opponents primarily being single wrestlers, that was going to be the case. But my favourite spot of the match was Santo and Casas doing double dives on the side - Santo through the ropes with a Tope and Casas with a diving senton. Casas took some massive bumps to the hard CMLL ring. First a big powerbomb off the top in the second fall, causing him to splat on the mat and then, yet another, powerbomb where he lands on the top of his head at the finish. Incredible lucha. ****1/4