Hello, my name is Rob Barry. Throw in a joke about robbery. Ha. Bad pun. I reached out to Rich and Joe and thankfully they were willing to give me a shot. This is my first assignment. Rich said they don’t necessarily cover Lucha and I guess I’m trying to corner that market for them. This is the finals of the En Busca de un Idolo showcasing plenty of great young talents who are mentored by veterans such as Negro Casas and Virus. Go check out the whole tournament when you get the chance. Onto the action — I’ve been awake for almost 24 hours at this point so if nothing makes sense, I’m sleep deprived. My fault.
Hombre Bala Jr. & Triton vs. Kamaitachi & Shigeo Okumura: Quick tidbit, most lucha matches are under 2 out of 3 falls. Except lightning matches which are 10 minutes. Ok. Also there are technicos and rudos. Bad guys are rudos and technicos are good guys. We are learning together. Mat work to start the 1st fall. All four men mix it up solidly. Nice combo Landslide and 450 splash for Triton & Bala Jr. Okumura comes back with a Michinoku Driver to put out Triton and then reverses a hurricanrana to Bala Jr. to get the 1st fall for the rudos. Okumura getting some nice heat. The rudos continue to beat down the technicos in the 2nd fall. Nice hip toss to the ramp from Okumura to Bala Jr. Okumura tries to take off Triton’s mask. You despicable rudo. Kamaitachi does the same. You are vile sir. The technicos get back into it with a Lung Blower to Kamaitachi and a top rope leg drop to Okumura who is tied up in the ropes. It is tied 1-1. 3rd fall and the pace quickens. Great handstand on the turnbuckle to a Lung Blower in the corner from Triton to Kamaitachi. Running dropkick on the ramp from Kamaitachi to Triton. This gets a little sloppy at the end. Nice pump handle powerbomb from Triton to Kamaitachi. Okumura and Kamaitachi get the 3rd fall with a diving double knee drop on Triton and a top rope splash to Bala Jr. Decent enough opener. Slow in parts but both teams tried to put together a solid bout. ** 1/2
Dark Angel, Goya Kong & Princesa Sugehit vs. La Seductora, Princesa Blanca & Tiffany: Dark Angel is apparently Sarita/Sarah Stock. I get a strange feeling La Seductora is Tara with a mask and prison stripes for her outfit. Interesting. I’m not expecting a 2 minute match here. Tiffany jumps Princesa Sugehit before the match starts and just goes to town on her. Goya Kong gets a World’s Strongest Slam. Tiffany really hates Princesa Sugehit. Princesa Sugehit slams Tiffany into the barricade. The technicos get the 1st fall with Dark Angel getting a La Magistral variation on La Seductora and Goya Kong with a devastating senton on Princesa Blanca. Tiffany and Princess Sugehit continue fighting on the outside during the 2nd fall. The rudos are in control. Lots of hair pulling. The rudos win the 2nd fall. I cannot even remember how they won it. Wow, that dragged. The 3rd fall starts with the rudos teaming up on Princesa Sugehit. Princesa Sugehit manages to get a Christo on Tiffany but the rudos break it up. Great flying cross body and dive to the outside from Dark Angel. Goya Kong with the dive! In all the chaos Tiffany gets the rollup on Princesa Sugehit and holds the ropes to get the cheap win and the 3rd fall. Ok, so it wasn’t 2 minutes, but it should have been. This just seemed to drag the whole time and the ladies seemed lost. You don’t need to watch this. Still it was better than most WWE Diva’s matches. That’s not saying much. *
Delta, Stuka Jr. & Titan vs. Polvora, Puma & Tiger: I’m pumped for this just based off the entrance music alone. Snoop Dogg, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, ZZ Top and then Titan comes out dressed as Thor. I’m not ready. I’m not ready. We start the 1st fall with Tiger and Stuka Jr. trading holds. Puma and Stuka Jr. go at it for a bit. Titan comes in only to be worked over by Puma and Polvora. Everyone is in the ring. Technicos with the dropkicks and we get dives. Puma hits a great looking powerbomb on Delta. Titan gets back in only to get powerbombed by Polvora and then Puma and Tiger with Slingshot Splash combo. I hope that’s right. Fun match so far. Let me get this out of the way as well. Most 2 out of 3 falls matches in Lucha are quick with the first 2 falls so they can build the drama over the course of 3 falls. That’s why the first 2 falls go by fast. That’s my understanding of it. Back to the action. The rudos start the 2nd fall on the ramp and back body drop Delta back into the ring. The rudos are in control. Titan is worked over. Nice little face in peril segment. Titan makes the comeback with a back spring elbow but Puma makes him eat superkick. Delta with a fantastic Space Rolling Tiger into a headscissors on the outside. I just realized something else as well. The captains have to be pinned for the team to win the fall. Or you eliminate 2/3rds of the team. Titan is captain of the technicos and Polvora is captain of the rudos. I said I was learning. Titan gets a hand stand into a pin and sits down on it for the 2nd fall. Tied up 1-1. Polvora and Stuka Jr. start the 3rd fall. The rudos stomp Stuka Jr. The technicos get to the top ring post and all 3 hit moonsaults to the outside on their opponents. Wow. Plenty of near falls at the end. Great double stomp from Delta and even better counter from Tiger where he stopped the referee’s hand from counting 3 and kicked Delta right in the face. This match is solid man. It comes down to Polvora and Titan on the ramp and Titan gets a hurricanrana that sends Polvora to the floor. Titan runs from the rope and connects with the Tope Con Hilo. Delta gets a great looking submission on Puma. Down to Stuka Jr. and Tiger. Stuka Jr. gets Tiger in the fireman’s carry, drops him and then hits a splash from the top rope to give the technicos the 3rd fall and the win. So much fun. Flowed well. Pace was great. Didn’t feel like a chore to watch this one. Everyone got their chance to shine in this. Titan is still underrated in my opinion. The best match of the night up to this point. ****
2014 CMLL Leyenda de Azul-Atlantis vs. Brazo de Plata, Damian El Terrible, Dragon Rojo Jr., Euforia, La Mascara, La Sombra, Maximo, Mr. Nibela, Rey Bucanero, Rey Escorpion, Rush, Shocker, Ultimo Guerrero, Valiente & Vangellys: That is a lot of luchadores. 16? Goodness. This may be hard to keep up with. Ultimo Guerrero and Atlantis want at each other. Tearing away at each other’s mask. Rush, La Sombra and La Mascara pose. La Sombra is so smooth. Rush and Vangellys go at it. I’ll say it. I know some people enjoy Brazo de Plata/Super Porky. I don’t. He needs to retire. He is slow, sloppy and uninspired. However, the fans love him so he sticks around. Forget what I said about La Sombra being smooth. Nibela has him beat. That is a great character. Tons of dives in this. Dragon Rojo Jr. with a stiff double stomp to Rey Escorpion. The eliminations eventually come in rapid succession. La Sombra is eliminated for snatching off Euforia’s mask and Euforia is eliminated for hitting La Sombra in his groin. Porky is eliminated by Mr. Nibela. Terrible laying in the punches to Dragon Rojo Jr. Shocker with an intricate looking pin to eliminate Mr. Nibela. This is starting to drag but the fans love it. How is Valiente still in there? Rush with a basement dropkick in the corner that knocks out Maximo. How is Rey Bucanero still in there? He was eliminated right as I typed that. Atlantis eliminated La Mascara with the La Atlantida. Ultimo Guerrero nails Rush with a top rope inverted suplex or the Guerrero Special. Of course it comes down to Guerrero and Atlantis. Guerrero with the Gori Special, Atlantis reverses into a victory roll but no dice. Another victor roll for Guerrero but no dice. Top rope gourd buster from Guerrero. A bunch of near falls at the end. Atlantis resorts to holding the ropes at the end to score the pin and win the whole thing. Thank God that is over. This just seemed thrown together. Mainly served to further a few storylines. This was slow in plenty parts. It just seemed to be there. Good for Atlantis winning but outside of a few decent moments, I would not watch this again. One final point, this was the 4th match in a row that featured mask ripping that seemed pointless. Oh well, moving on. **
En Busca de un Idolo 2014 Finals-Hechicero vs. Cavernario: Two other names that came out looking like a million bucks from the 2014 version of En Busca de un Idolo were Cachorro and Dragon Lee. Now onto the main event. This is actually one fall to a finish so this should be quite interesting. Negro Casas is in Cavernario’s corner and Virus is in Hechicero’s corner. They start off evenly with both men getting their share of offense while going back and forth. Nice Emerald Flowsion from Hechicero. That rolling cradle pin was great too. Hechicero’s slingshot of Cavernario into the ropes was vicious. The spring board dropkick from Cavernario was great. Unfortunate that Hechicero was not there to catch Cavernario on that dive through the ring post. They glossed over that nicely with Cavernario eating the barricade. Hechicero was a man possessed. Cavernario gets back into it with his splash from the top rope to the outside onto a prone Hechicero. Dropped my jaw on that. Hechicero was fantastic in this. Putting all of his technical ability and strength to put down Cavernario. Cavernario having his hope spots. Cavernario having to use his speed to stay in it. The struggle to put over holds and moves was brilliant. Great buckle bomb spot from Hechicero. That reverse plancha from Cavernario had me think that was it. The spinning backbreaker from Hechicero was impressive. The near falls that made the crowd louder and louder. Both men were selling pure exhaustion at the end. That finish was great too. The Cavernaria is a great submission. The joy of Negro Casas and the disappointment of Virus was clear as day. Both men should be proud of this match. Everything about this match makes me smile. The build, the finish, the fans, the back and forth, the counters. So many superlatives. ****1/2
So that was the finals of the En Busca de un Idolo. CMLL hit a home run with this event — seriously, seek out some of the matches from this tournament! That is it for me. Thanks again to Rich and Joe for taking a shot on me. If I did good or bad my Twitter handle is @RobsBrutalWorld
