Lucha. That's It.

Negro Navarro v El Engendro (NWG 2/16/03)
--Man I could see people who don't like lucha very much thinking nothing of this. First of all, it's almost entirely mat work, like, 99 decimal point %. Second, it's a little take-turn-ish, but if you're going to go your turn/my turn, I'd much rather it be used while exchanges some really sweet looking holds instead of 50 second periods of beat down, which none of this was. The ref was terrible with slow counts, too, but that's something even a lucha diehard would pick at. This is one fall for the Intercontinental Title and Navarro's the challenger, but he still manages to come across as the maestro of the two. Engendro held his own really, really well and they worked tremendous with the idea that "there's a hold for every counter and a counter for every hold," but Navarro would seem much less trouble when Enegndro had him working from the bottom. Some of the submissions were sublime; there just can't be a name for the cross-legged things Navarro pulls out here. I actually paused it to try to figure out which way who's leg was going where at times. One of the submissions had Navarro tie up Engendro's leg with his own and then pull his up upwards so they were both above the mat (terrible explanation but it was awesome). Looked hard as hell to hold and that was confirmed when Navarro himself had to drop him because he couldn't keep the weight up. There sure as shit aren't names for the counters whipped out. During another leglock thingy they both wind up sitting up and sort of trying to grasp each others hands while still having their legs all bundled. This was an ideal chess game, and you got the sense Engendro had to stay on the mat because Navarro had a counter for everything anyway and would have more freedom to wrench him when upright, but Navarro's clearly got him outclassed, so he pops up with lariats and stuff. THAT left him more open to attacks and got wrangle up in Navarro's rolling keylock move thing. He was the pawn getting destroyed by the knight either way, I guess. Really good match in a quiet year for lucha.

Negro Casas v Perro Aguayo Jr. (CMLL 9/25/04)
--Perro's cocky and attacks Negro and pulls his head up for the pin in the first fall, which becomes his stupid mistake when Negro flash-pins him with la magistral a minute later. Only one more fall after that, but it's mostly Perro booting Negro here and there. He uses the block thing that's a step in modern day CMLL, and sits Negro down in the stands, etc. Bunch of nothing, really.

Well look at that, El Dandy and Negro Navarro are a good match-up. SURPRISE~!

So I haven't updated this thing since November, but it struck me that people may actually read it. I have a lot of stuff to post, but I'll take it one at a time. First up, el Dandy and Negro Navarro~!


Negro Navarro v El Dandy (IWRG 11/8/01)
--This is pretty much everything I could ask for. Three satisfyingly timed falls of excellent work in one of the best matches of 2001. Really, this feels better than the awesome Santo v Parka bloodbath on first watch. First fall is ten minutes, and it really looked to me that it was based around Dandy not being able to top Navarro on the mat no matter what he tried. He thought he caught a break when he hits a figure four and goes for some leg-directed attacks in general, but Navarro has a counter for every hold and a hold for every counter. Eventually Navarro tries a pile of them fancy schmancy holds and manages to keep Dandy down. The challenger's a fall down and might need a new game plan. Negro's like "fuck you we're sticking to the mat," and in a reasonably short second fall, Dandy manages to get the pace up. Literaly under a minutes before the pace is quickened and both guys are on their feet, Dandy gets a flash crucifix to even the score. Third fall had a total chess game aura and neither guy really stood out as the leader for much of it. Greatly back and forth and even if the lacked the suspense it could have otherwise had, the final few moments were truly fucking awesome. Dandy was trapped and the crowd burst into a chant for him while Navarro had sweat rolling down his whole body trying to make him give it up. It's no srurprise that once they get on their feet, Dandy can escape any chance of Navarro's holds, and Navarro makes the bigget mistake of the match by plunking himself on the mat so Dandy might trip, because it leads to la MAGISTRAL. LA FUCKIN MAGISTRAL. This match really feels must-see. Yeah, this is fan-tucking-fastic. Fan-tucking-fastic, I say.

 El Dandy/Ultimo Vampiro/El Fantasma v Negro Navarro/El Pantera/Bomber Infernal (IWRG 3/19/02)
El Dandy/Ultimo Vampiro v Negro Navarro/El Pantera (IWRG 4/4/02)

Neither are list-worthy, but the first is really bloody good and the second isn't THAT far behind it. Dandy/Navarro are obviously the best parts, and the mat work still rocks, but what separates these from anything else is the quasi-boxing segments. Navarro's punches fucking rule and Dandy stays down and out before making his big-ass tecnico comebacks. The other guys in the match do nothing to drag any of this down and these are certainly worth watching. Prefer them to the 2007 Monterrey match I watched yesterday.

I went to upload Dandy/Navarro on its own, but accidentally uploaded that and the two tags in the one file. Check them out: http://ifile.it/we1kfji

LAST ONE??

This is is for splitting, I think. That was a pain. But somehow a little fun.

Blue Panther/Negro Navarro v Solar/El Satanico (FMLL 5/3/11)
--Just awesome. Everyone here is well over 45 years old and they still work the mat better than 95% of wrestlers do in their peaks. Only goes two falls because of the demented finishes (which I won't bother touching on), but all up they get almost 30 minutes to work with and I adored every bit of it. There's a whole lot of arguing going on before the bell even starts and we open with Panther vs. Satanico which obv. leads to Navarro vs. Solar. There's only a certian amount of things those two can do after being filmed a billion times but I haven't gotten tired of it and I suspect I never will. There was one really awkwardly painful looking submission from Solar I don't recall ever seeing before though and it looked tremendous. They keep with the "both partners tag out simultaneously" trend through the whole thing, and, for whatever reason, it doesn't bother me a bit. Not here, not in WWE, not in WCW, not anywhere, and it really seems liek the kind of stupid thing that should bother my picky nerves. They swap things over come second fall and we get Solar vs. Panther, which, no joke, was the best part, like better than Navarro vs. Solar. They were moving stupidly fast for 50+ year olds and the counters and everyhing were executed better than any moves you'll see anywhere else. Satanico vs. Navarro was great as well obviously but Solar vs. Panther rocked my world sideways. I hate seeing Panther without his mask but he does some really good facial expressions. Like I said weirdly booked finish but just a great, great match and these four should be worshipped like giant island stone heads.

The Miz v Daniel Bryan (WWE 19/9/10)
--Up until this point only one match can make me say "I muted the commentary", and that was Danielson vs. Liger. Seriously Michael Cole's calling in life is NOT as a wrestling commantator and I have no idea what could make anyone think employing him for over ten years is a good idea. Anyway, very enjoyable match and one that made me see a new side of Mizanin. I thought Bryan was the stand-out guy, and me not thinking Bryan was the stand-out would have been unparalelled, but Mizzy was good here. The match itself was built very nicely, Bryan gets soem offence in before Mizzy goes for his arm, and he did that surprisingly well with the ropes and stuff used as well. His striking offense is pretty bad to me, but he was using a lot of ware-down moves instead fortunately. Bryan's ill-fated comeback was a good because it helped the crowd think he was winning right then and there, but surely enough Mizzy would drop his coconuts o the top rope and clothesline him to the floor, where Bryan could hold the area he was being targeted on in agony. Brayn getting thrown out so Miz's bitch toy could get attacks on Bryan only for Bryan to go back on the attack was great because it was semi-in the middle of his offence period anyway. Great suspense near the end with a small host of "Bryan'a gonna win this" roll-throughs and stuff. Not sure where I'd rank this on WWE match of 2010, I thought Punk/Rey, Punk/Swagger, Michaels/Taker, McIntyre/Christian were better, but this is nothing to complain about. ***3/8 level, I guess.