Trapped in the Cagematch: Bandido vs. Mascara Dorada (June 17, 2025)

With Trapped in the Cagematch, Kim Wong combs through the highest-rated matches according to Cagematch’s voters in preparation for the annual FSM 50 and the year-end Match of the Year extravaganza.

Bandido (c) vs. Mascara Dorada
CMLL Martes Populares – CMLL vs. AEW/ROH
June 17, 2025
Cagematch ranking as of 10/23/25: 35

When I declared that Sareee is the best wrestler in the world in 2025, I had also included an acknowledgement that Bandido could be one of the contenders for her throne. It’s fair to say that Bandido’s come a long way since his days in the most random faction in Ring of Honor history that I can remember, Lifeblood.

What did Bandido, Juice Robinson, David Finlay, Mark Haskins, Tenille Dashwood, and Tracy Williams discuss in the Lifeblood text chain, and is it still active?

Bandido’s first reign as the Ring of Honor World Champion began during COVID-19 lockdown and ended abruptly when Bandido relinquished the title because he contracted COVID. As Bandido vacated his title, Ring of Honor itself went on hiatus and was eventually sold to Tony Khan. Though Bandido never lost the ROH World Championship, Jonathan Gresham beat Jay Lethal to win the vacant title at ROH’s ultimate Final Battle show under the Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s control. Gresham would then beat Bandido to resolve the uncertainty about the title’s lineage at ROH’s Supercard of Honor 2022, the last ever show under Sinclair’s ownership. Though Bandido no longer had any claim to the prestigious ROH World Championship, his career rebounded. On the plus side, he made his debut with All Elite Wrestling in September 2022 and signed with the company officially in November. On the minus side, he injured his wrist in June 2023 and disappeared until he returned in December 2024, when he would suffer a concussion at ROH Final Battle 2024. He returned to wrestling in February 2025, where his case for the best wrestler in the world in 2025 starts. 

Bandido’s had a busy 2025, wrestling 74 matches (as of this writing) in 3 countries on 3 continents (Scotland, Australia, the United States, and Mexico) for AEW and wrestling in lucha libre companies large and small in Mexico (Lucha Libre Radioactiva, RIOT, Promociones Lucka Libre, and CMLL). He’s racked up critical acclaim for his work: 65 of his 250 matches in his Cagematch match guide are from 2025, and they have an average rating of 7.11.

For comparison, here’s how Bandido’s match guide looks:

Bandido has reached a higher peak this year (wrestling 2 matches rated at 9.46 and 9.4, meaning that he wrestled in 2 of Cagematch’s 10 highest rated matches of 2025), and he’s reached the elite wrestling tier (defined here as wrestling matches rated 8.5 and above) more often than previous years.

Also for comparison, here are how some of the other candidates for the title of the best wrestler of 2025 stack up:

Bandido’s profile matches well against the cases from “Hangman” Adam Page, Saya Kamitani, and Sareee. Also, let’s acknowledge that Mistico’s output this year has been ridiculous and that the odds are against Toni Storm’s case for the best wrestler of 2025. 

Speaking of Mistico, his partner in Sky Team, Mascara Dorada also has a respectable (though not particularly compelling) case for the best wrestler in the world in 2025. The issue with Dorada’s case, as it has been since he outgrew the Mascara Dorada NG/Mascara Dorada 2.0 identity and became the undisputed Mascara Dorada, is consistency. He’d have one of his highest rated matches against Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita in September at AEW’s All Out 2025, and then he’ll follow that with a middling match with Okada on AEW Collision in November. So far, Bandido and Dorada have had two highly acclaimed singles matches together in 2025. Thus, Bandido’s first match this year against Dorada, the subject of our focus here, allows us to assess both Dorada’s and Bandido’s case for the best wrestler in the world in 2025. 

The match is in Arena Mexico, so we are once again blessed with the sponsorship of Roshfrans. 

Wrestling has evolved so most matches are either between clear heroes/tecnicos and villains/rudos or between wrestlers who live in the various shades of gray. Therefore, we rarely get respectful, competitive bouts between two tecnicos in prominent positions. (Some might argue that is indicative of stagnation or even regression; others might argue that this is simply how professional wrestling has always been. Battles between good and evil are easier to dramatize in the ring than battles between good and good, even if tangible things like championships and money are on the line.) This battle between the outsider but clearly tecnico Bandido and Mascara Dorada, the tecnico on his home field, presents an unusual flavor for our viewing pleasure.

Bandido and Dorada started fast, and Dorada showed off his speed advantage while Bandido laid the groundwork for a story in the match around his aching back that would not receive any further obvious development. Bandido and Dorada demonstrated great body control in their flips and rolls, though Bandido’s hand slipped slightly when he tried to grasp Dorada’s ankle so he could set up Dorada’s flip out of the wheelbarrow position. I wish that Bandido ran at a doubled-over Dorada a second or two sooner or used a shorter runway; seeing Dorada bent over so Bandido could tease his 21-plex felt awkward. This opening flourish is capped off with Bandido’s adorkable taunt. I guess Bandido and Ivelisse both luv dem gun sounds.

Intellectually, I recognize that lucha libre doesn’t emphasize impactful strikes the same way that pro wrestling elsewhere does, so I try very hard not to penalize Dorada for his slow and limp chops and kicks. I suppose Dorada balances underwhelming strikes with overwhelming flying, like this corkscrew plancha, as called by Ian Riccaboni. 

Speaking of impressive flying, Bandido responded to Dorada’s offensive burst with this dive, which is just as impressive for the height that Bandido achieved as well as the turn that his body has to make. I had to watch this several times to understand how the mechanics worked, which is a testament to Bandido’s balletic athleticism.

Later in the match, I bump into an immersion breaking sequence as Dorada ran diagonally across the ring only to slide out of it so that Bandido could chase him with a tope con hilo over the ringpost. On its own, it’s a visually stunning athletic feat. In the context of the match, I have no explanation for why Dorada would run out of the ring so Bandido could chase.

I know it seems a little silly to ask why this one needs to make sense when so much about professional wrestling doesn’t. However, the matches are supposed to have semblance of fights, and running away from your opponent to cede higher ground to them makes no strategic or tactical sense. Nor does it make narrative or emotional sense, since Dorada is ahead of Bandido in the match. He had no reason to retreat from the ring. The only excuse I can imagine is that Dorada ran at the corner faster than he had thought and wouldn’t be able to stop in time, so he had to slide out of the ring to try to reset. That gave Bandido the opportunity to pursue and hit him with the impressive dive. All of this makes the viewer (i.e., me) do too much work to explain this moment.

I’m not sure if Dorada’s slide out of the ring is quite as egregious as Bandido’s slowing down here after Dorada sprinted away from the ropes to block Bandido’s attempt at the 21-plex. At least here, it’s conceivable that Bandido pressed the brakes when he saw Dorada run past him. It still looks very awkward, especially since my brain immediately compared Bandido’s slowing trot to Sting’s attempt to jog to the ring in TNA.

My gripes quickly get washed away in a river of slaps to the face, which Bandido then escalated by challenging Dorada to a slap fight on the apron, the most empty-headed macho thing he’s done in probably all of 2025. Slaps became elbow blows that became superkicks, and the duel ended in the only way it could: the two of them flexed at each other and then ran and kicked the other, causing them both to tumble off the apron to the floor.

Dorada and Bandido then fought up the Arena Mexico entrance ramp ,and Dorada finally did something I’ve wished to see in a match in Arena Mexico: dive off the screens next to the staircase. However, even here, there’s something a little off about the way Dorada bounced off of Bandido on impact.

Tam Nakano and Saya Kamitani showed us that a ramp must be used if it is present, so naturally Dorada had to use the ramp as a runway too.

Still in control of the match, Dorada won the tussle for position on the top turnbuckle, and he did his spectacular elevated headscissors; Bandido deserved credit too for a smooth and tight body rotation on his flip to the mat. However, once you see how Bandido cleared his long hair from his shoulders so that Dorada could safely perch on his shoulders for the headscissors, you won’t be able to unsee it.

Dorada stumbled on his way up the turnbuckles and tried to deflect our attention from it by posing for the crowd before landing his shooting star press. That wasn’t enough to finish Bandido, but I did enjoy the referee’s passionate count, how he fell on his face when he had to stop his count because he had so much momentum, and how he had to roll away to get back to his feet.

Stunned by Bandido’s resilience, Dorada gave Bandido precious moments to recover, which would lead to Dorada’s downfall. First, Bandido stopped Dorada in his tracks and hoisted him for the X-Knee, a drop into a knee strike. Then, Bandido tried to put Dorada away with the 21-plex, which looks just as contrived this time as it did the first time. Bandido chained a super Samoan drop into a second 21-plex to finally put Dorada away and retain his title.

The match was structured as a platform to showcase Dorada in front of his home promotion’s crowd, and Dorada was able to wow with some spectacular displays of athleticism. As usual with Dorada, it’s the little things (the weak kicks and strikes, even in the context of lucha libre’s de-emphasis of striking, the little stumbles, and the immersion-breaking slide out of the ring) that would form the connective tissue between the spectacular displays of athleticism that underwhelm or break the viewer’s sense of immersion. Bandido was a good foil for Dorada, and while his handle of the little things is stronger, the contrived setup of the 21-plex is irksome even if the effect still looks pretty damned cool, at least against Dorada. The match itself didn’t have much of a sense of escalation; the end felt too sudden. Taken as a fireworks match, I’d prefer Hechicero and El Barbaro Cavernario’s. I’m not sure that this match really helped either wrestler’s case to be crowned the best wrestler in the world in 2025.

The match and the show can be seen on Ring of Honor’s YouTube page.

Next time: “Your time is up, my time is now (Now, now)

You can’t see me, my time is now (Now, now)

It’s the franchise, boy I’m shinin’ now (Now, now)

You can’t see me, my time is now! (Now, now)”

– John Cena & Tha Trademarc, “The Time Is Now”

Azusa Inaba and Tomoka Inaba are two teenage sisters who have exploded onto the joshi scene. Is it their time now? And will the passionate strife between Team Azusa and Team Tomoka rival the feud between Team Edward and Team Jacob? (Or, if you share my tastes, Team Summer Roberts vs. Team Anna Stern?)