This edition of the Suicida Slate features Negro Casas, Barbaro Cavernario, a solo Ninja Turtle match, En Busca de Un Idolo 2015 qualifying match and Tetsuya Naito in CMLL. Quite the variety of matches, a variety that we all can enjoy, right? VIVA LUCHA!

2015 Leyenda de Plata Final – Negro Casas vs. Dragon Lee June 6, 2015 (CMLL)

Negro Casas and Dragon Lee trade some technical holds before they reach a stalemate and Casas flashes that million dollar smile. Lee channels his inner Hiroshi Tanahashi and hits a dragon screw and attempts a dive but Casas cuts that off by jumping on the apron. Casas hits a flying cross body but Lee turns the momentum around with a backdrop and then a German suplex that Akira Tozawa would be proud of to get the first fall.

Casas wins a CHOP BATTLE to start the second fall and then targets Lee’s arm of Lee until Lee nails a high kick. Casas suckers Lee in and gets a flurry of offense in, and even gets a Dragon sleepers before finishing off Lee with a Sharpshooter.

They trade forearms, solebutts and boots to the face to start the third fall, until Lee hits a basement dropkick for two. There’s a pure struggle as Casas locks in the STF, which Lee eventually escapes. Casas gets suplexed, powerbombed and double stomped from the top rope, but he still kicks out. Lee goes for the triple clothesline, but on the third Casas traps him and finally puts him away with La Casita. Great pace, both men pulled out all the stops and this is what a veteran vs. upstart match should be. Casas is ridiculously good in his role and if CMLL does not build their company around Dragon Lee, they are worse than Vince is with Cesaro. ****1/4

La Sombra, Naito & Rush vs. Euforia, Thunder & Ultimo Guerrero June 13, 2015 (CMLL)

Sombra hits Euforia with shotgun knees, and Rush hits a corner dropkick on Thunder to pick up a quick first fall victory.

Bring Los Ingobernables to Japan (Imagine Naito, Sombra, Rush, La Mascara, and then add Mascara Dorada and Hiromu Takahashi and that is pure gold). Naito and Ultimo Guerrero CHOP BATTLE. I would love to see these two in a singles match. Here comes Thunder, who seems lost and clunky. We reach a second fall when Thunder hits an ugly looking Perfect Plex on Rush.

Naito opens the third fall with a corkscrew dive from the top rope to the outside, and then Rush gets disgusted with Thunder and stomps his head in. Out of nowhere, Guerrero locks in Pulpo Guerrero to give the rudos the win. Go watch this if you have a morbid curiosity, but I’m saying avoid at all costs. **

IWRG Intercontinental Lightweight Championship Match – Impossible vs. Leo June 1, 2015 (IWRG)

Some nifty mat wrestling starts this one offuntil Impossible gets Leo in a standing Figure Four transitions into a variation on the Romero Special. Leo “reverses the pressure” into an inverted Figure Four, and the two trade submissions for awhile in a fun sequence. The pace finally picks up though, and Leo traps Impossible in La Magistral to pick up the first fall.

Impossible picks up the second fall quite quickly after hitting a gutbuster that takes the wind out of Leo. Leo even takes an extended break after the second fall to recover.

Tope suicida from Impossible takes Leo out into the front row to start the third fall. I’m anticipating the babyface comeback though and Leo answers with a pair of clotheslines, dropkick and a tope suicida to start the babyface comeback. A Spanish Fly from Leo and a Guillotine Choke still do not get the job done. Leo, with a last ditch effort, tries for a dive from the top rope, but Impossible counters with a desperation dropkick to the gut and he manages to win the third fall and the match.

This was solid, I loved the submission work at the beginning of the match. The finishers were not spammed and it was a real struggle for both luchadores to get the victory at the end. Check this one out below, it will be a rarely watched gem. ****

Mexican National Welterweight Championship – Titan © vs. Barbaro Cavernario May 9, 2015 (CMLL)

The first fall kicks off with effortless mat work mixed with submissions. Cavernario decides he has had enough of Titan’s fancy tricks and hits a dropkick to Titan as he tries for a springboard dive. Cavernario follows that up with a buckle bomb and his patented backwards plancha to pick up the first fall.

Cavernario is great here as he’s working a very simple rudo character who agitates the crowd and is merciless towards his opponent. Titan finally gets his comeback going and hits the tope con hilo which slams Cavernario’s back right into the barricade. Titan hits a Dragon’s Tail pin to win the second fall.

The third fall starts with them laying into each other until we take it to the outside. Titan goes for an Asai Moonsault but Cavernario pulls him down face first onto the apron. At the end, they are just throwing everything at each other out of desperation for a victory. A Romero Special doesn’t do it for Cavernario. Tian quickly hits a top-rope powerbomb, Asai Moonsault and Titanics but they don’t get him the victory either! Cavernario hits a Liger Bomb but Titan transitions and follows up with a splash plancha to the outside. Great back and forth action between these two. Titan shows massive disrespect to Cavernario by locking in the La Cavernaria The caveman turns the La Cavernaria to his favor and eventually Titan taps —we have a new champion!

This may sound like hyperbole but this is my favorite Lucha match of 2015 and a solid MOTYC that few people will talk about. Titan continues to be underrated in CMLL and Cavernario’s mannerisms and movements are simple yet calculated. This smoked their first encounter from 2014 and I’m anxiously awaiting a rubber match. Book it CMLL! ****3/4

En Busca de Un Idolo 2015 Qualifying Cibernetico May 30, 2015 (CMLL)

The participants in this beautiful cluster/car crash of a match: Blue Panther Jr., Boby Zavala, Canelo Casas, Delta, Disturbio, Esfinge, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr., Akuma, Canserbero, Gallo, Joker, Pegasso, Raziel, Sagrado and Stigma.

Everyone gets to pair off and we get the mat wrestling, arm drags and fancy kip-upsTo try and keep track of the dives throughout this match I’ll have a running dive count. Feel free to count along with me. DIVE COUNT-1. DIVE COUNT-2.

Joker murders Akuma with a variation on the Gotch-Style Tombstone Piledriver leading to his getting eliminated. Guerrero Maya Jr. eliminates Raziel with a variation on the Octopus Stretch.

DIVE COUNT is at 5 now with 3, 4 and 5 coming in rapid succession.

Some clunkiness in the middle of the match with Sagrado botching a move that even the commentary calls out.

DIVE COUNT: 6, 7, 8, 9 and we finally get to double digits with a tope suicida from Guerrero Maya Jr.

DIVE COUNT jumps to 11 then Flyer hitting a huge moonsault that takes him into the front row and puts us at 12. Boby Zavala is totally solid throughout this match, he’s not flashy, he didn’t botch a single move and he hits a sweet looking Jon Woo dropkick. There’s some dropkick fever down the stretch and bodies are flying everywhere . My final DIVE COUNT was 15, we’ll need @RobViper to confirm though. This was a solid match though I enjoyed the 2014 En Busca de Un Idolo Qualifying Cibernetico a bit more. I thought last year’s match had more star power. This match had it’s charm,as everyone put forth their best effort.If you go into this match expecting a technical clinic you will be disappointed, however if you go in expecting dives with some sloppiness and a hot crowd throughout then this will be in your  wheelhouse. ****1/4

Final Thoughts: Go watch everything, yes even Naito in CMLL as it’s great for the character work that Los Ingobernables does during the course of that terrible match. These are all worth your time and you should check them out during this incredibly busy season of pro wrestling. Until next time, @RobsBrutalWorld.