2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 33

Masato Tanaka vs Hayabusa, Zero1 8/3

I did not think I would be watching a Masato Tanaka vs Hayabusa match in 2025 but here we are. And this had amazing magnitude! It's Tanakas career vs the revived Hayabusas mask. The news Hayabusa looks fantastic. Not only does he hit all the spots, but he can actually work. And this match feels competitive and not like some kind of nostalgia tour. Tanaka sidestepping the asai moonsault really accentuates this. Tanaka was pretty great here - it's insane how much the guy has in the tank. They went a fast pace with no real slow down, and the action was crisp and punctuated by Tanakas cracking elbows and Hayabusas exploding athleticism. First 15 minutes of this I thought were pretty much flawless pro wrestling, almost shockingly so. The opening chain wrestling and Hayabusas armwork were really crisp and fun. It definitely stands way up to any Tanaka/Hayabusa match from the 90s. They do no sell a bunch of big moves in the middle, but that just kind of sets up the increasing stakes in the second half. Legwork on Hayabusa was a blatant breather since it isn't really sold, but we do get Tanaka smashing table pieces on Hayabusas leg and they didn't drag it on for too long. There was also the cool moment of Hayabusas leg giving him trouble when he countered Tanakas splash so it was kinda paid off. The rest of this was quite great, mostly thanks to a few well worked transitions and a certain unpredictability factor. A lot of the fascination definitely comes from watching 52 year Masato Tanaka doing this kind of match and looking like he hasn't lost a step. It's not a flawless bout, but overall a really well structured match that was gripping from start to finish, had plenty of hard hitting and deadly bombs being thrown without getting repetitive and was just one hell of a ride. 

 Virus vs Xelhua, RoH 7/26

A match where they both hit the mat for 7 minutes and proved proved what everyone knows already, that they are among the absolute elite tier when it comes to mat technicians in all of wrestling history. So no surprise here, and that's kind of the one fault of this. You get exactly what you expect, and for that it's a really good little match albeit a slight bit exhibitiony with neither guy displaying a ton of fire since they had to fit everything into a 7 minute sandwhich. Kind of the Velocity version of an epic lucha title match and that is a really cool thing to see by itself. I did really like the mixing in of basic movements like the dropkicks, side headlock takeover or hip toss in between all the more esoteric holds. And Xelhua getting Virus to tap out felt like a big deal so that's really cool.

Seri Yamaoka & Victoria Suzuki vs Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame, Marigold 7/16

Heated rookie vs rookie action, or in this case swimsuits vs fancy outfits. Good solid stuff as usual but I thought the match could've used a bit more of Senka. Instead Ayame was the focus at the end and while she's quite fun she doesn't hit quite at that level yet. The brief mat scramble between Akatsuki and Seri was obviously the highlight. I love that while Seri is the 'grappler' Senka is such an animal that she can totally overwhelm her on the mat and maul her with headbutts. Her entire thing is that despite her limited experience she's a force of nature and they only thing containing her right now is her rookie status.

Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase (Sendai Girls 7/19)

Team 200 KG are a pretty reliable joshi twin towers. They can go a fast pace, provide plenty of hard hitting, and the big vs small aspect always forces opponents to get a bit more creative than just running through their offense as usual. This was all about what Iwata and Takase would bring to the table to a reliable story, and Iwata and Takase brought plenty. Iwata seems like she's ready to fill the void that Satomura has left. She's got the cool kicks, the slicked back hair and the stoic attitude to fill the mantel. She just needs to figure out to spam her kicks a little bit less so they will mean more, but that should come with some time. All of her exchanges with Hashimoto were real highlights and hinted at a great singles match between them. Even something thats often trite like the armbar over the ropes spot looked vicious and fresh here. Takase and Yuu were playing second fiddle, but they are pretty solid and I was even surprised by Takases angry headbutting. Add some violent vader hammers from Hashimoto and you've got yourself a pretty satisfying match.

Keita Yano vs brother YASSHI, Tenryu Project 7/20 - GREAT

Godhead vs Godhead! Even knowing that YASSHI can be really sick when he wants to, and Keita being Keita, I thought this even exceeded my expectations. A cool match up on paper, that really delivers what you want. Really cool technical work here, with Yasshi busting out cool amateur wrestling takedowns and transitions and Keita tying him up repeatedly. Really enjoyed how Yasshi would escape from something like Yanos straight jacket armbar like it was a shootstyle hold and then even put on an Achilles Hold. I thought Yano may have gotten a bit predictable recently, but he was cooking here. Energetic Yasshi is really fun too, he really had the working boots on here. I kind of like that Yano keeps working a slower pace. He doesn't need to speed it up, he's kind of like a slow moving eldritch abominations that assimiliates other wrestling styles, and sooner or later will entangle his opponent in some predicament they can't escape from. It really suits his 'you pressed random on the character creator' look. The bar for slow paced technical wrestling is getting pretty high in 2025, but this holds up. Really enjoy that these two got to paint a little art on that canvas together.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Keita Yano Documentation Project 

2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 31

 
Sareee & Takumi Iroha vs Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame, Marvelous 6/27/2025

Well this just writes itself. Sareee and Iroha are probably the top two women in the industry right now. Akatsuki and Ayame are rookies with the most barebones level of offense you can imagine. They get the heck beaten out of them, but just keep plucking away in the hope of scoring a massive upset. Tried and true formula, and they do it very well. The match was built around Ayame and Akatsuki trying to avoid an early destruction while chipping away at their opponents. Sora is still flimsy with her offense, but she's mostly getting trashed, while Senka has insane levels of aura. I liked how Senka seemed a bit of an unstoppable force even while hitting basic shoulderblocks early on as she avoided the initial beatdown. And the spot where Senka hit the deadlift suplex on  Sareee was just awesome. Sareee and Iroha are ever reliable in their roles here. You know exactly what you are getting here, but it's a nearly perfectly worked match with a number of satisfying moments.

Judas El Traidor vs Disturbio, Lucha Memes 6/22

Coliseo Coacalco was almost empty here, so naturally this started with a bit over 10 minutes of great lucha matwork that wouldn't have looked out of place in a classic title match from the 90s. Judas looked like a master, and Disturbio was also pretty good for someone who I remember not being anything great as a CMLL undercarder from a while back, but I guess often seemingly unspectacular CMLL undercarders are the hidden best grapplers. Mostly back and forth chain wrestling with a few cool holds peppered in. The brawling portion was fun too but not quite as good (Judas punches were missing by a mile). A nice reminder of how great indy lucha libre can be.

Virus vs Energia, Lucha Memes 6/29

Oh look Virus had a singles match. That is really unfair to every other wrestler in the world. Opening matwork was a nice reminder that Virus is still the best technician there is. This Energia guy looked pretty good, and a lot of this had the feel of Energia trying to upset Virus and Virus putting him in place. Loved how downright torturous some of Virus submissions felt e.g. the crazy modified Figure 4, and getting pissed when Energia was slow to apply a hold. The second half is mostly Energia trying to give Virus everything he's got. Always love the shoulderblock to the knee thing that Virus does. Eventually he caught Energia in a nasty submission and that was it. I love watching Virus do his thing.

Solar vs Xelhua, Lucha Memes 6/29

Solar is 69 years old. That doesn't matter though, because it's lucha libre baby~! Solar still gets into a waistlock as energetic as anyone, and still looks perfectly comfortable rolling around on the mat. Some genuinely great exchanges here, with a few impressive takedowns and escapes, I just love that Solar can still seamlessly do a smooth leg scissor takedown into a heel hook from standing. Xelhua has looked slightly overzealous in the past but it seems he's really gotten the hang of how to be a master now, he was super impressive here and looked like a genius of the 'tie-em-up' style. This didn't feel like an exhibition at all and that's great. Feel good finish because it's Solars anniversary and why not. I should probably watch a 100 more Xelhua matches.

Ali Najima vs Masanori Kanu Watanabe, Sportiva 8/6

The monthly great match between these two. They do some fun groundwork as usual, and then go on to have a BattlARTS style match where they kick the hell out of each other. The best thing about this how both guys clearly were trying to avoid getting hit. Too much modern wrestling has guys voluntarily allowing themselves to be hit, completely taking the violence out of it. This was pretty much the popular opposite and it was great. And as a result there were lots of scrappy out of nowhere hits, like Watanabes nonchalant headbutt, the big leaping open hand from Najima, or the big head kick from Watanabe that looked straight out of a 90s classic. Really almost had the feeling of Mantell/Lawler with both guys showing exhaustion while continueing to hit each other in evil ways, at one point Watanabe just started punching Najima in the kidneys in frustration. Also loved the intense struggle over the basic full nelson of all things, and the finish was abrupt and cold. I am loving the rivalry between these two, every match keeps bringing new things to the table. At this rate Najima may actually be the forerunner for wrestler of the year he is on an absolute roll, and Watanabe is doing insanely well for someone whose debut was like 3 months sago.
 

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2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 27

 Ari Najima vs Masanori Watanabe, Sportiva 7/9

The U-Style-in-a-sportsbar-resurrgence continues. Some great grappling exchanges here, with Najima looking really good, he may be one of the best guys on earth right now, which is pretty crazy considering his debut was like a year ago, but I guess when you wrestle twice a week for a year you get good fast. Both guys deciding to do shootstyle grappling on the floor was a crazy moment and they actually continued to do grappling. Liked how Najima, after just getting entangled in an armbar by Watanabe continued to sell an arm/shoulder injury throughout. Back in the ring we get some more scrappy exchanges and Watanabe kicking Najima in the bad shoulder and hitting cool arm takeovers. Headbutt exchange leading to the running headbutt was pretty sick too. Ending felt premature, but I guess these two will fight each other a lot more, at least I hope so because this definitely made me excited to see these two develop a full on rivalry. Great stuff, more passion, skill and energy on display here than in a lot of matches on much bigger shows, Sportiva is on a roll.

Asuka Fujitaki vs Yuria Hime, STARDOM 6/4

This was good pro wrestling. Basically Yuria tries to hit fast and hard to take down the bigger Fujitaki. When Fujitaki tried to give Hime the rookie treatment with a boston crab (that Hime desperately tried to avoid), Hime came back with some quite vicious big boots. I also dug how they built to the bodyslam. Fujitaki doesn't do the cool submissions she showcased in the YuuRi match, but she is effective her putting down her opponent with basic lariats. Good basic all action match, the one let down was a somewhat awkward transitoin into Yurias skullsmasher move thing.

Utami Hayashishita & Mayu Iwatani & Seri Yamaoka vs Takumi Iroha & Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame, Marigold 6/17

Interpromotional joshi action! They put all these rookies in the main event so they know what kinda gold they have on their hands right now. And this largely delivers. First Yamaoka vs Senka exchange is a lot of fun. Then the intensity picks up a lot when Iroha tags in and starts waffling Seri. Iroha did a great job carrying herself like a badass in this and delivering character moments. Hayashishita is cool but I thought she could've carried herself as bigger considering she's the world champion of this promotion. I mean, her getting shoved around by the rookies is fun, but  I thought her later exchanges with Senka would've been a bigger deal if she had established herself as more of a badass earlier. Iwatani is hit and miss but was able to engage in some hot exchanges largely thanks to Iroha. But the match delivers the Senka moments that you want. Her testing herself against Utami is fun, she had a killer sleeper hold at one point and the SHOOT PIN~ is still strong. Also the match needed more Seri. Still, a really fun match that delivers more complex action than you'd expect going in and made me invested in this little Marigold/Marvelous feud.


Averno, Dr. Cerebro, Euforia, Volador Jr. & Xelhua vs. Blue Panther, Hologram, Neon, Valiente & Virus (ACTION 5/24/2025)

20 minutes of non-stop goodness. Your GOATS Blue Panther and Virus looked insane, and everyone else was a ton of fun. Match had a little bit of everything: cool lucha matwork, but they move on to standing exchanges pretty fast, lots of dives, complicated highspots from Neon and Hologram, and thankfully also plenty of rudo antics. Loved the rudo stuff honestly as it was just right to stop the match from becoming a total exhibition. Also loved Euforias little monster run, and Valientes highflying was really impressive considering he must be pretty old by now. Blue Panther continues to be the greatest plucky old man in wrestling, and Virus still looked like the best guy in the match. A lot of cool highspots but Holograms no brakes suicide dive probably took the cake. Finish looked too easy, but sometimes you just gotta take it home and give the fans a feel good moment.

White Moriyama vs Ari Najima, HEAT-UP 6/1

It's White Moriyama for real this time! Once again, this had the weird rules with 1st round being kickboxing, 2nd grappling and 3rd is straight forward everything goes. Kickboxing was alright, with a few punches landing pretty hard, grappling round was pretty intense where it seemed neither wanted to give up the advantage. And finally in the 3rd it's a pretty awesome breakdown with Najima really laying into Moriyama with hard shots. Moriyama seemed to have slowed down and looked like dead meat, but then started giving Najima back as good as he got. Last strike exchange was downright savage and the finish was rad. Seems Moriyama has only stepped a few times in the ring this year which is regrettable because he can clearly still go.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

2025 Wrestling Week 4

 
Sareee vs Veny, SEAdLINNNG 1/17

I haven't thought about Seadlinnnng in forever. Apparently, Sareee is their ace now and has been their champ for a while, so I should probably take a look at that. I haven't seen much of VENY before, but I know she had that excellent weird light tube  match with Akito at one point. This was a lot more conventional. They start of strong with some quality groundwork before a weird outside interference happens and the brawl outside. Sareee however makes it worthwhile when she dishes out some brutal headbutts to Veny on the floor. Back in the ring, Sareee is in control for a bit and it's really good. Her vicious stomps and dropkicks are great. Veny tries to take over but is cut off in nice fashion. Finally, Veny locks on a slick submission and controls by working the arm for a bit. Veny no sells a German suplex and they start trading bombs. Honestly I thought the first half of this was a very good build, but the senseless move trading lost me. Veny kind of half asses her selling a lot and her thigh slapping thrust kicks looked like shit. Sareees offense is great, but she doesn't do much selling either at some point. There is so much "take a move, slowly get up and then do a move of your own here" that really makes me stop caring about a match. For example, Sareees top rope Fishermans Suplex wasn't even followed up by a cover, instead Sareee goes to the top on the opposite side so Veny can get up and hit a superplex. No rhyme or reason to any of this as far as I can tell. At least mix in some cool reverals or something.

Yusaku Ito vs Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 1/22

This was more good shit from SPORTIVA. Yusaku Ito is a certified scumbag who can kick hard, punch someone in the face and act like an all around thug. Shimizu just came back from a really long absence and he still looks tough, in that weird guy-who-started-wrestling-in-his-30s way. Really good wrestling here, these two deliver actually compelling elbow smashes and standing exchanges. Eventually it turns into Ito kicking away at Shimizus arm and shoulder. Itos kicks and elbows to the joint where really hurty looking and Shimizus selling was excellent. By far one of the best 'work the arm' matches I've seen in a while because Shimizus weakness was constantly nagging him, he never forgot about that injury and Ito would cut him off by attacking the arm at crucial moments. Shimizu doesn't have a ton of offense in this match, he is mostly taking an asskicking, but the few moments he gets are solid, and the work around his sleeper hold was really compelling, it leads to one of the best flash reversals into a sleeper that I've ever seen. The match also has the typical Japanese big match stuff, some quality hard hitting and head-droppy moves without going overboard, but what made this outstanding was how well they worked the arm attack stuff and those sleepers. Another banger from that little sportsbar. Lord knows how they do it but they consistently put on some of the best singles matches in all of Japan.

Guerrero Maya Jr vs Xelhua, CMLL 1/13/2025

The first few minutes of this are pretty great. Both guys hit the mat and tie each other in knots, adding cool little touches that you don't see often such as the kicking at the leg while in the indian deathlock, or the nifty trip from the overhook. Xelhua clearly has a ton of passion to be trying the crazy llaves he tries, and he has stellar body control - that bridge walkover he did is NOT easy, I can attest to that. When Maya Jr takes over attacking the mask and throwing punches and Xelhua narrowly breaking out of submissions, I thought this would've been one of the best opening falls to a title match I've seen. Unfortunately it's not 2/3 falls, it's 1 fall, so we get a couple minutes of Maya Jr. dominating and a somewhat sluggish finishing stretch. I think with a 2/3 falls match these two could burn the house down, as a 1 fall match it just falls a little short, though there was a ton of cool stuff. CMLL is definitely on the right track with young guys like Xelhua not being afraid to indulge in esoteric matwork.

Virus vs Neon, MLW 1/11/2025


Love two see luchadors show up in a US promotion to do awesome shit for 8 minutes. This was pretty tight, we get a slick mat exchange to start and then they go nuts. Virus is crazy busting out this shit at the age of 56. He looked way more nimble than, say Bobby Fish who is also on this show and looked ancient despite being  8 years younger. Neon is another one of those technicos who has no offense except shitty looking enzuigiris and really pretty dives. And his dives were pretty in this. I did prefer the slickness of Virus apron armdrag and huracanrana but I am an old Virus mark. I thought this needed maybe a Virus punch or dropkick or a slick reversal to be really great but it was a pretty strong under 10 minute sprint.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup

2023 MOTY Project Update #2

 Josh Barnett vs Claudio Castagnoli, AEW 10/1/2023

The grappling here was about 5 thousand times better than anything in Bryan/ZSJ because both guys actually struggled. Claudio does not have perfect technique, but him trying to put submissions on Barnett was pretty fun. Barnett is probably the best wrestler in the world simply for being smart enough to put his arm up and block when Claudio went to elbow him. Both guys threw some great looking strikes when standing up and everything continued to feel like a struggle. Claudio giant swing felt satisfying because there was a build to it and it didn't come out in a predictable manner. I like that Dean pointed out the defensive way in which Barnett took Claudios finisher, and the finish was neat. Cool little match, which actually felt close to a tribute to Inoki, if you see it as Barnett carrying a random gaijin in a weird IGF match.

Atlantis, Blue Panther, El Pantera, Negro Navarro, Panterita del Ring & Rocky Santana vs. Aguila Solitaria, Black Terry, El Satanico, Felino, Octagon & Solar I, CMLL 9/22/2023

I'll admit there's some nostalgia involved in me enjoying this, but screw it. It's too much fun seeing all these crusty old guys show up in their working boots and being way too proud to not bring up. Lots of good exchanges, nearly everybody brings it, and the match had everything, matwork, some brawling, and the crazy factor of some old guys doing dives and flying off the top. Santana/Panterita was a quite nifty mat section for such a random pairing, and Navarro/Solar was maybe a bit slower than 10 years ago but still pretty cool to see these guys showing they are a class above while surrounded by these other legends. Pantera was ballsy here doing a flip dive and taking a crazy powerbomb. We also get Black Terry punching and sometimes headbutting people in the face. Santana was the one guy who kinda lost the plot at one point but it was funny how he just gave up and tapped out. I think Satanicos like 75 but he still has some menace when he starts beating the shit out of someone in the corner. Octagon is the one guy who kind of half asses it, but the finish is really neat. Crowd reactions for this were tremendous.

Darby Allin vs. Christian Cage, AEW 8/19

Very good TV match. I'm not sure what to make of Allins tendency to start with chain wrestling. It doesn't seem to fit the character, but it's well executed. I'm going to assume he is in his mellow post punk phase and thus experimenting. Christian was very good. His deliberate control segment focussing on the arm was great. The hammerlock slam to start the segment was nasty and cool. I agree about the subtle greatness of Christians stomps and punches, and the way he carries himself as a heel not doing anything fancy and just focussing on being an asshole. Allin is a good white meat babyface and all his comebacks were good. I liked when he used Christians goofy turtleneck sweater against him. They did the same nasty neckbreaker on the ropes spot they did in the October match, but in this case it didn't lead to Darby doing anything annoying, instead he just took a nasty slam into the guardrail. Darbys tendency to go for crazy daredevil moves backfiring on him with the interference was smart. The build to the finish was well done and the actual ending made sense with how much damage Darby had taken. Christian looked like one of the best wrestlers in the world simply by having focus, understanding his role, throwing a decent punch and not doing anything stupid. Some parts of the match where a bit overdone/convoluted (e.g. Darby doing a whole bunch of stuff really fast during his first comeback attempt) which leads to things being less memorable, but that's 2023 wrestling for ya.

Virus vs. Dulce Gardenia, CMLL 1/13

This was tremendous. We got plenty of the usual high level Virus grappling, plus this match had a tremendous story and a unique dance partner in Dulce. The exotico spots early on were a lot of fun, it's really cool to see someone use his gimmick to try and gain an advantage like that without interrupting the wrestling. Virus made sure to punish his opponent with some super nasty looking leg and arm snapping moves. Dulce made a comeback in the second fall, but it was not an easy win for him. 3rd fall was pretty epic. Dulce trying to psych out Virus with the kiss of death was really great. Virus in turn wrenching Dulces wrist and bitch slapping him was awesome. The combination of wrestling and big bumps was great. Obviously the armdrag bump was a highlight but I also thought Dulce getting flung outside when he tried the frankensteiner was pretty crazy. Virus doing stuff at this like 54 is pretty insane. I thought this would stand pretty well to almost any singles match in the last 20 or so years.

2023 MOTY List

CMLL Japan Lucha Revolution 2nd 2/24/1999

 Watch

Kurokage vs. Takashi Sasaki

Unusual match to open your CMLL Japan show, but I‘m not complaining about your DDT boys getting some work. This was a fun 5 minutes, these two really work un-lucharesu like and pelt each other with kicks and open hands. Kurokage kind of gets a showcase here, he busts out a slick armbar, spikes Sasaki with a vicious Dragon Suplex and gets the pin with a cool combination.

Maxx Bunny & Super Cacao vs. Masaru Seno & Mitsunobu Kikuzawa

Fine undercard lucharesu with some comedic elements. Give me some amusing gimmicks and the occasional neat pin or submission and I‘m happy. Tubby boy Kikuzawa looks good doing armdrags and twisting sentons. Seno is the future Daioh Quallt and works as a thick amateur boy here and he is fun. Bunny did the occasional comedy but also brought some wrestling. I think Super Cacao is Nozawa and he‘s inoffensive. There was no need for this to go twice as long as the previous match, though.

El Olimpico vs. Rencor Latino

I always enjoy luchadores in Japan getting 10 minutes to impress the audience. These two do some really funky matwork to start, lots of cool unorthodox throws. It‘s a pity CMLL pretty much got rid of matwork in the 2000s because things were getting very experimental at this point. The match took a bit of dampener when Olimpico was hesistant on his dive, but they picked up again for the finish when Latino hit his own big dive. Enjoyable stuff, why does it feel like ages since I‘ve seen two luchadores do this kind of match in Japan?

Halcon Negro & El Salsero & Zumbido vs. Super Delfin & Masato Yakushuji & Naohiro Hoshikawa

Another really fun lucharesu match. Everyone had their working boots on. El Salsero was a fun discovery here, he would do his crazy dancing and then plant people with big powerbombs and spin kicks. Yakushiji is one of the most spectacular wrestlers ever and he matches up extremely well with Zumbido here. Halcon Negro is a lumpy bodied luchador and it‘s fun watching him bust out dives and get kicked hard by Hoshikawa. Structure was a bit iffy since the Osaka Pro guys kind of tried to work rudo but weren‘t very convincing at it (Yakushiji keeps getting face spots and Delfin doesn‘t do much). Finishing run was fun though with a big dive train etc.

Ultimo Guerrero & Virus vs. Oriental & Tsubasa

Any long Virus match from this period is a treasure. And this was all these guys going balls out for +20 minutes. Really aiming for the most spectacular match they could possibly produce. We get a bunch of ultra slick opening mat exchanges to start. I‘ve never really noticed Tsubasa before, but he matches up well with Virus, not just „guy who is a warm body getting carried through some sections by Virus“ but actively looking really polished. And Oriental is really underrated and a really good worker. The match goes a bit awry when Oriental goes for diving rana to the outside (an insane move for 1999) and UG miss-catches him. He ends up being fine though and it may have added to the match as immediately there was heat on the rudo beat down section. Oriental regained his senses and later actually hit the big diving rana in a really nice moment. And the rest of this was spectacular and smooth to the max. I‘m surprised I‘ve never heard of this before because how on earth would 90s workrate smarks not love this?! If you want a crazy spotfest you might as well get a bunch of pro luchadores to do it, and they went for big fucking spots here, aside from all the slick ranas and spectacular dives there was Virus busting out a dominator from the top which looked like it could have killed Tsubasa, and Ultimo Guerrero busts out his avalanche reverse suplex on the hard as hell Japanese ring. They executed everything with grace (safe for one or two mishaps) and logic and it was really good shit. Also dug out UG trying to pull out the victory against the odds, real stoic rudo determination. Another really great Oriental performance, too, and did I mention Virus? I'm not overly familiar with 1999 CMLL but I wouldn't be surprised if this was the 2nd or 3rd best Lucha match to happen that year.

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