TAKA in CMLL

 

Negro Casas & TAKA & Shocker vs. Black Warrior & Arkangel & Violencia, CMLL 7/4/1997

Man, CMLL in 1997 has such an amazing „this is wrestling at its absolute peak“ vibe. Even a random match like this ends up being pretty great and unpredictable. The heart of the match was Casas vs. Black Warrior. These two were out for blood. Their first exchange was already really scrappy, with an uncooperative suplex being thrown and then Casas spin kicks Warrior under the chin. The other guys were mostly there to spice things up with big spots and fast exchanges, and boy did they do that. Arkangel was really great here, throwing cool punches and clotheslines and generally making TAKA and Shocker look amazing. TAKA was mostly just in for brief bits but he did hit some fairly difficult stuff. Shocker and Violencia were also really good with Violencia bumping big. The Casas/Warrior feud segues nicely into an intense rudo beatdown before we get a quick and exciting 3rd fall with TAKA busting out his insane spaceman rope switching dive. He knew it takes a lot to really impress a mexican crowd so he basically just went for the craziest thing he knew, and he nailed it. Great stuff.

TAKA & La Fiera & Atlantis vs. Headhunters & Apolo Dantes, CMLL 5/16/1997

TAKA, Fiera and Headhunters in one match, this has a lot going for it! And this was ultra heated and absolutely on fire, really spectacular match if you love monster spots and heat. Starts great with the Headhunters rampaging and TAKA taking every crazy bump you can think of. By 1997 TAKA probably didn‘t have many functional nerves left in his back so he was bumping in that stiff as hell Mexican ring like a maniac, press slams, really whipping himself back hard when bumping for shoulder blocks, getting thrown into the turnbuckles, it was wild. Old man Fiera as usual is pretty great at picking his spots, we get him working a sweet comeback, hitting some gnarly kicks including a ridiculously great superkick and taking out Dantes with a cool surprise tope. Headhunters are so great as usual, the thing about them is they are tremendous crushing their opponents, but they are also really great at stooging and milking every bump they took to the absolute maximum, setting themselves up for big vs. Little offense in fun ways and always being ridiculously perfect in place for a pair of guys you‘d expect to be slow moving. They really made the „arch back and wobble your arms to tease falling over“ into an art form. The sequence where TAKA takes down a Headhunter with really fast dropkicks is so great, TAKA in general is a real star here with the crowd loving him and all his stuff looking so perfect. Tremendous finish too. Dantes is also in the match and while he isn‘t as outstanding as everyone else he is a pretty solid prick. This was a bit like a Twin Towers vs. Rockers match worked as a sprint with two really great Twin Towers and two way cooler and unlikely Rockers.