Soberano Jr. vs. Templario, CMLL Domingos Arena Mexico (10/6/2019)

This was for Soberano Jr’s Mexican National Welterweight Title.

As this is a title match, it’s a little different from the sprint two nights prior.

Beyond just that it’s three falls now — and three falls in the modern CMLL way where like 80%+ of the stuff that matters comes in the deciding fall, with the first two feeling borderline rushed through — it also builds a little more. Rather than going right into a gorgeous lights show, they trade some more holds here than they did then, gaining their standard fall apiece like that way, before escalating with a little more care. To their credit, on top of the more widespread institutional differences between these two types of matches, they also choose enough different offense in the final fall that it not only feels like its own match and not a retread, but also something of a little more importance, necessitating different offense.

Each approach has its benefits.

The escalation here and sense of stakes is always nice. If the match was three or four minutes longer, hit closer to twenty than fifteen, the first two falls also might seem less rushed, and so generally, the title match tends to be better. However, something about the one fall match, the honesty of the approach as they immediately got to it and began unloading the heavy stuff, I’m always going to appreciate a match that’s forthcoming about what they really care about, which is less so the case here, at least in the first half of the match. That match also has an actual finish, which isn’t exactly make or break, but it sure doesn’t hurt.

All the same, there is some really cool shit here.

Soberano Jr. and Templario not only have some different stuff from the match two days prior, but also build on it in small ways. Things don’t work like they did and there are small little shifts and counters. Likewise, they also do the thing I love in matches like this (pure offensive showcases), where things are blocked and/or countered early on and hit later (or vice-versa), resulting in small little feeling of accomplishment for more minor parts of the whole.

Unfortunately, rather than end a quality fireworks show with the most sensational thing possible, they instead opt to keep the thing going (not a horrible call, they obviously should have had 400 matches together and may have at this point). Pretty abruptly, the match shifts back to the mat and go into a double pin finish when Templario slides Soberano Jr. onto his shoulders in a surfboard.

Not ideal, and probably worse than the single fall match as a result, but yeah man, I don’t know. Something about these two together just really works. Combine a certain chemistry with all that they choose to do with it, and “kick the can down the road with a double pinfall result” is a whole lot less than it would take for me not to like yet another one of these.

three boy adjacent

Soberano Jr. vs. Templario, CMLL Super Viernes (10/4/2019)

Two days before a scheduled title match, the boys have themselves a rarer single-fall non-title match as something of a preview.

It was nice.

Count out one rougher sequence revolving around superkicks and some stuff closer to U.S. indie bullshit than the sort of stuff that feels more homespun and organic, and the match is otherwise filled with a bunch of real sensational fireworks. It’s not complex, it’s not perfect, but it is incredibly incredibly fun. The sort of match that very could easily have also made for a lightning match given how tight it (mostly) is, their commitment to constantly doing the biggest stuff they can think up, and how exciting, fantastical, and consistently watchable it all is.

Sometimes all you have to do is a lot of cool stuff.

(And also do nothing — or very little — to screw it up and get in your own way.)

Not complex, and a great way to fill thirteen minutes.

***+

Negro Casas vs. Soberano Jr., CMLL Super Viernes (5/11/2018)

This was a lightning match.

Lightning match being what it is — if you’re new, a single fall match with a ten minute time limit — there are limitations here that will always be here.

Casas and Soberano Jr. are just good enough to get around most of them.

The match is still too short, and feels the pressure of the time limit when they can’t get the most out of everything and rush on occasion, but mostly, it doesn’t matter. The stuff they’re doing is too smooth, too crisp, and flat out too cool to not be enjoyable. The leap Soberano Jr’s taken in the previous twelve months or so’s put him on a level that most other fliers in the world simply are not on, and it is once again a delight to see every inch of Casas’ mechanical brilliance applied against a young flier decades his junior.

Beyond just the obvious thrill of a bunch of terrific moves, there’s also your classic fun little story on display, somewhere off in the margins. Casas has just enough to keep Soberano Jr. at bay when he flies around, even if he can’t beat him like that or do a whole lot against him. However, the moment Soberano Jr. tries to enter Negro Casas’ domain and try a few fancier pins, Casas gets him, and the La Casita wins another one.

Casas spent all match feeling like he was playing for a draw, and while I’m not usually one to go in for conservatism, it’s a fun lesson about strategy. One of those times when wrestling can feel like an actual sport, in intent if not in execution, as the young flashy new star tries to go a little big when he’s feeling himself, only to just barely be brought down to Earth by the man who’s been around forever. The good stuff.

Again, you’re not going to get the best version of a thing in a lightning match ninety nine times out of one hundred, but there are few things more impressive than a really good to borderline great modern lightning match to me. Casas and Soberano still don’t have the best match they can, but have something that’s still real fun and super satisfying.

Soberano Jr. vs. Negro Casas, CMLL Super Viernes (4/13/2018)

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Fucked up the date here. Originally had it down as April 3rd in my document. Not sure if that was a mislabeling somewhere else or on my end. Putting together a thirty plus page Google Doc watchlist for these yearly projects will occasionally result in some errors here and there. However, I didn’t catch it until I had already finished writing about it, and seeing as (1) this isn’t exactly jumping ahead of the line or ruining anything I would write about before when this would otherwise drop & (2) the idea of writing something and keeping it in the tank for over a week is incredibly disgusting to me, here you go.)

This was a lightning match, and if you’re new, that means they’re capped at ten minutes and it’s a single fall.

More often than not, they aren’t great matches, for any of the many reasons you’ve probably figured out for yourself. They typically go to a draw, they typically don’t see guys show off their best stuff, and they also typically do not see specific pairings show off their best stuff. Ten minutes is also not the sweet spot for great professional wrestling matches exactly. You want like fifteen generally speaking, which isn’t to say there are no next-level great ten minute or less matches, but that generally speaking, a modern CMLL lightning match is not going to be one of them.

Soberano Jr. and Negro Casas do not exactly have a great match here, but they come closer than a lot of other lightning matches in recent memory to reaching that status.

It isn’t all perfect, there’s a lull somewhere in the back half of the thing, but it (a) picks up by the end & (b) has so many cool bits before that. The matwork in the opening few minutes is really cool. Neat holds, tricky escapes, and a clear young vs. old story being told throughout it all. Soberano Jr. then does a lot of cool offense, and while Casas obviously is not going to break out the sorts of dives Soberano Jr. will, both elegant and forceful, but everything he does rocks too. There’s one real real nasty DDT on the apron about midway through, but all of the smaller stuff is stellar too.

Time eventually runs out on them, and they’re certainly victim to not showing probably even half of what they could do together, but it achieves something a lot of other lightning matches don’t, which is having a really really good match that fit the idea of the thing, rather than just trying to cram everything in there. There’s a charm to it, time simply running out with them never even close to being able to beat each other yet, rather than trying to lie simply to fit the match.

Given that they have another match about a month after this, it’s also hard to be too mad at everything we didn’t get to see in the immediate here and now. It was fun as hell, and in a larger sense, achieved exactly what it set out to.

A hell of an anticipation builder.

Soberano Jr. vs. El Barbaro Cavernario, CMLL Martes Arena Mexico (3/27/2018)

This rocks.

Genuinely, every single second of this thing whips ass, and does so in multiple ways. It’s not only a lizard-brain kind of delight, but also stunningly efficient and captivating as well. Things rarely line up as well as they do here, especially in this company.

Most of the time with a non-main event, non-apuestas, and/or non-title match offering out of CMLL in the 2010s, I do not expect a whole lot more than some very cool stuff. There are exceptions to be found, including some of my favorite matches of the decade, but most of the time in these less important spots, it is more flash and sizzle than real substance. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, you can get a ton out of that and a lot of wrestlers have, Cavernario maybe the best in the world at doing that.

However, there’s a little more to this, or at least a lot more care put into it here.

That’s not to say there isn’t some extremely cool stuff in this match, of course.

Barb and Soberano Jr. are a perfect match for each other at this point, both in the sense that they have a natural feeling physical chemistry, but also in a sense of how well they fit opposite each other. Soberano Jr. was not someone who I found super impressive in his earlier work, but something feels like it’s clicked now. He’s smoother, he bumps bigger, he feels more naturally sympathetic, all of it. Barb is there with him, with an arsenal exclusively made up of offensive moves that are both cool and mean in equal measure. His more mean spirited and brutal attacks make Soberano Jr’s flying not only stand out, but feel necessary. Likewise, because everything Soberano Jr. does is so breathtaking, the things Barb does to him naturally feel crueler as well. On top of how well they fit, the offense is just simply great. In all facets of the thing, there is no time spent here on something that isn’t spectacular, from start to finish.

So, yes, this is a truly gorgeous and breathtaking fireworks display.

It’s just that there’s also a lot more to it this time.

Most importantly, Barbaro Cavernario gets to go so much farther as an antagonist this time. The meanness of his pure offense finally gets extended out in other ways. Not only hurling Soberano Jr. around into every possible hard surface, but tearing a gigantic hole in his pants (making him, briefly, the biggest babyface in the building to a deeply horny Arena Mexico crowd) and then taking Soberano Jr.’s mask off for a second fall disqualification. When the kid gets it back on, Cavernario also rips a gigantic hole in it and spends a ton of the deciding fall trying to take it off again. There’s a real struggle created as a result, going beyond just a likeable young flier fighting a rougher brawler, turning into something far more personal. The match becomes a little more frantic and feels so much more heated, and shockingly, wrestling is a lot better with some real feeling put behind all of the cool stuff.

The construction of the thing also does so much not only for the feeling created above, but also for the match in a more general sense.

Cavernario wins the first fall by wheelbarrow swinging Soberano Jr. repeatedly into the railing at ringside and simply getting a count out. Soberano Jr. wins the second, as stated above, by a mask removal disqualification. In said second fall, he barely had any sustained offense, if any. He genuinely does not come back in a proper way until the back half of the third fall, and when he does, it is all the absolute coolest stuff. Insane dives, a crossbody off the video wall by the stage, total swinging for the fences desperation tinged babyface stuff, feeling like he simply has no other recourse but to shoot for the moon every single time. It’s the best use of the three fall structure in CMLL I can remember seeing in some time, the sort of thing that helped make so many old classics what they were.

Not only do they avoid the modern problem of first and second fall ending moves not really feeling like they would beat someone otherwise, thus taking one out of the match in a small way, but it means nobody really gets beaten until the end. It’s nothing a great three fall match can’t overcome, of course, but there’s a real thrill in delaying any kind of payoff or real statement about the two until the very end, not allowing fans of either man the satisfaction of seeing a pinfall or submission until the match — not any fall specifically — reaches its conclusion. The falls are also all spaced out very well, making the match feel a lot more natural. They never feeling like they’re rushing through the first two falls and that the last one is the only one that matters. It all feels important, vital to the overall narrative, getting as much value and dramatic weight as it seems possible to get out of every single thing happening.

Soberano Jr. wins the final fall with his big comeback, ending with the multiple rotation corkscrew crossbody, and then a running Canadian Destroyer. The latter isn’t my favorite thing in the world, but it feels a little better with a run, and immediately following Soberano Jr.’s coolest piece of offense with the finish not only helps the Destroyer go down a little smoother, but has the added benefit of ending the match immediately after one of its most exciting moments. Less obviously but just as impactfully, it stands as another shining display of the match’s unbelievable structural integrity, not only building up from the ground perfectly, but ending it as well as possible.

A perfect marriage, not just between Cavernario and Soberano Jr. as partners, but between all of the elements of the match. A match full of unbelievably cool ideas, but with enough heart and spirit and creativity to make it more than just that.

Great god damned professional wrestling.

***1/3

Rey Cometa vs. Soberano Jr., CMLL Super Viernes (5/12/2017)

This was for Cometa’s Mexican National Welterweight Title.

As previously stated on this blog, I’ve always felt a sort of odd affinity for Rey Cometa. I just kind of like the guy, generally speaking, but there is also a kind of specific way he does things that I can point to as well.

Cometa does a lot of stuff in the ring that I like, and charmingly, he always seems like half a decade minimum behind the times, relative to like, state of the art offense, or whatever other jerk off phrase you want to use. He does cool stuff, but it’s cool for like 2010, and I find something about that so likeable. More than that though, it’s how he does the things. I like how he always sells the force of landing on his dives, when he crashes into the railing or the floor. I think it’s a real underutilized thing wrestlers can do to get these sorts of attacks over, showing the toll they take. It’s not like he’s selling his back all match, but a moment here or a moment there to show that there’s a price on the other end makes his dives feel especially powerful to me.

The main thing with Cometa is not that he does all these things, but that he always looks like there’s a real effort and struggle to do all of these fancy maneuvers.

I love that shit.

You then have the exact opposite across the ring from him in young Soberano Jr.

This match offers an outstanding case study here, as Soberano Jr. does a lot of cool stuff, but without a lot of charm or effort, repeating a few tricks such as his like five or six corkscrew crossbodies or the Canadian Destroyer. The former is something that he does very well but as a result of repetition and maybe being TOO clean in his execution, it’s something he does far less memorably than Cometa. The latter, despite being the move that wins him the match, is done easier and with a lazier set up, and that’s basically the entire difference.

Soberano Jr. gets the belt in a match that is clearly about him topping Cometa with a lot of the same moves done faster and easier, which winds up just kind of crystallizing for me exactly why it is that I like Cometa so much, especially in comparison.

Not quite a great match, but certainly another great showing from and a case study of one of my weird little favorites.

Hechicero vs. Soberano Jr., CMLL Martes Arena Mexio (4/22/2014)

This was part of the En Busca de un Idolo 2014 tournament.

It’s another absolute little hoot from this tournament that happens to end just when it’s getting great. Hechicero is phenomenal yet again. Three or four totally new things in every match in the tournament so far, and Soberano Jr. is a spectacular dance partner. One of the prettiest dives anywhere in the world, a little bit of a bump freak, and smooth as hell. Usually when Hecchicero loses in the tournament, it feels a little bit like bullshit, but Soberano is fast and smooth enough that he can believably run in and trap Hechicero in a rolling legbar for the win.

It’s a shame this was only seven or eight minutes, and didn’t entirely get to wind up where it’s going, but it’s still up there with Hechicero/Cavernario as the best of the tournament so far.

Dragon Lee vs. Soberano Jr., CMLL Super Viernes (4/4/2014)

This was a part of the 2014 En Busca de un Idolo tournament, as part of the round robin first stage.

It’s not long, barely six minutes, but it’s a blast.

Blows away almost every Volador Jr. match that I’ve made myself watch for reasons having a lot to do with undiagnosed mental illness, and definitely blows away every single Volador Jr. performance I’ve ever seen. Totally wild stuff. The format of the formula means people get points from judges and fan votes too, so along with the tournament being composed of young guys trying to get a big break, it means nobody can really afford to take it easy. They do some wild stuff with zero filler before Lee wins with a sick Spider German Suplex.

I don’t think it’s great or anything, as it wasn’t quite long enough or quite crazy enough, but what a remarkable use of time and what an admirable respect for my time as a viewer.

Soberano Jr. vs. Taurus, CMLL on CadenaTres (3/12/2013)

This was the finals of the 2013 Torneo Sangre Nueva tournament.

To be clear, this is not the good Taurus, he might be better known as Gran Guerrero. He’s fine enough though, especially when the aim is very obviously to showcase a young Soberano Jr., who is just goddamned delightful. Not everything is especially clean, but this is a solid fifteen minutes of the coolest shit they can think of while still clearly having the restraint of a midcard match. The Big Ramp comes into play, which is always a bonus too. Taurus mostly cedes the floor to the obvious future star, but his cut offs are all real impressive when the match calls for them. Soberano wins with the most spectacular thing of the match. Just a blast and a half. ah fuck it.

three boy