Assorted CMLL

Rey Bucanero vs. Fantastik, CMLL 5/7/1996

This was from a tournament and people always complain about tournament lucha that the matches are super short, but this was a great 5 minute match. Had pretty much everything you can ask for, slick matwork, huge dives, some cool bumps and a cool finish. Fantastik is a luchador who would show up on a lot of BJW undercards and in very little actual stuff from Mexico, but he is a pretty great luchador. Great little moment during the opening grappling where he suplexed Bucanero out of nowhere and then almost crushed his chest with a senton where he landed hip first. Then he whips out his awesome senton to the floor which has to be the nuttiest regular spot any wrestler every had. He takes a super cool bump on a missed kneedrop before Bucanero hits a heavy landing dive of his own and is able to snatch the victory with a cool submission hold.

Tajiri & Fantastik & Ciclon Ramirez vs. Mogur & Halcon Negro & Guerrero de la Muerte (CMLL 12/23/1995)

Sometimes, you just gotta watch a great lucha trios. I think CMLL was having a strong run at best promotion in the world in the late 90s and this was an example of why. Just 6 wrestlers going hard in a very competitive match. You can tell things were on fire when a match involving undercarders is this good. Tajiri was like a fish in water working the Mexican style. He had no problem going hard doing some swank lucha matwork and then hitting some uncharacteristic high kicks. Fantastik vs. Mogur section may have been even better, as both guys work sections around throwing each other hard with judo hip throws. Mogur was in the match to seek heat, which is a totally fine role when there are multiple super athletic wrestlers in the match, and he was hitting good looking uppercuts. Fantastik hits a missile dropkick with such amazing height its ridiculous. Rudo beatdown section was short and fairly violent (I like how they segued into it), including Guerrero de la Muerte hitting a stiff clothesline. 3^rd fall saw Tajiri almost breaking Mogurs jaw with a kick before hitting a great dive and Fantastik once again rolling out the insane senton to he floor. Finish wasn’t epic but Ciclon and Guerrero de la Muerte did some good work before a super blatant foul. I don’t know if this lead to anything (I imagine it was simply an undercard match where they decided to look good before doing a quick finish) but the work was so enjoyable that you won’t be sour about the finish at all.

Bracito de Oro & Orito vs. Felinito & Pierrothito, CMLL 5/24/1996

 Super enjoyable tag that was a preview of the greatness the CMLL minis division would produce in 1997. Seriously everyone here looks like such a high end pro wrestler, just ridiculously smooth matwork, lightning fast rope running, and everything laid out in a pretty complex manner. Felinito was a real fucker in the match too, adding some piss and vinegar, but they make sure to stretch out and let everyone showcase some wrestling. Orito takes one of the highest backdrop bumps I've ever seen, and everyone gets in some great offense, including Pierrothito with a great arm hold suplex and later a beautiful back elbow, and Felinito with a crushing senton. Bracito also busts out some neat chokeslams.