[MM16] R1: ULTIMO GUERRERO vs. HIDEKI SUZUKI

[RIPPA]

ULTIMO GUERRERO

 

 

vs. Rey Escorpion (Hair Match)*
 

 

vs. Atlantis

 

HIDEKI SUZUKI

 

http://rutube.ru/video/30a569b26bcb1ac653161574447864a6/

 

vs. Masato Tanaka

 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x32dcur

 

vs. Daisuke Sekimoto

 

* - denotes 1001 Matches selection

[J.T.]

Ultimo had a legit MOTYC with Rey Escorpion and he carried Thunder kicking and screaming to the Promised Land on multiple occasions..

 

I have mad love for Suzuki, though.  

[Matt D]

Is Suzuki the old guy that stretches people? I like that guy. No wait, that's Minoru Suzuki? Now I'm confused. 

 

Ultimo Guerrero's Rey Escorpion match might be my lucha MOTY for 2015. 

 

Here's what I wrote about it:

 

I figured I'd finally look at UG vs Escorpion from CMLL's big show in July. I'm not running through all the matches leading up to it due to time restraints, but this stands on its own anyway. I thought it was really good, and I thought it was really good for reasons that didn't necessarily have to do with anything either guy did.

 

First, a quick review on CMLL big matches, especially those with our friend Ultimo Guerrero in them:

1.) Generally either a short even primera with a decisive "catch"/mistep that leads to the win or a thorough one-sided beatdown that does the same.

2.) A very brief segunda with a lightning comeback, or more usual, a lightning pin.

3.) Then a tercera with a reset followed by an early dive or otherwise right into big moves with long stretches of selling (generally laying around) for fifteen minutes with escalating near-falls.

 

It doesn't really work. The brevity of the first two falls mean that the selling in the third isn't earned; they're offering the crowd something that's facile and empty that is supposed to seem important but never quite gets there.

 

This did, and it worked for a few minor reasons and one major one. Ultimo Guerrero was burst open hardway and that made a difference. The primera and segunda got a bit more time and had a bit more meat to them. There was also an element of novelty to some of the spots, things like Escorpion slapping the guardrail into UG's head, or Guerrero leap springboarding off of it into the crowd to get his opponent.

 

Most of all, and this is what I meant by saying that the wrestlers didn't really work it that differently than any other of these matches, it was the crowd that made all the difference. There's a general sense, that I don't disagree with, that a crowd can help a match but rarely hurt it. I think it helps here, immensely. You'd have a totally different experience watching this match on mute. It'd just be another, slightly more heated, big CMLL singles match. With the crowd though, things that usually don't mean much, suddenly had meaning. It's interesting to me, because it makes me wonder about the evolution of this style of match. Apeustas matches from the 80s don't look like this, and I wonder when and how the changeover happened, because I think it may have happened naturally and then with the crowds dropping off and the tecnico fans getting chased off, something that worked (albeit as a shortcut) suddenly stopped working.

 

Again, though, the primera and segunda helped. Escorpion taking it right to Ultimo Guerrero, the nasty punches between the two, all that helped. Escorpion ducking out of the ring to avoid the first senton de la muerte attempt helped. Him rushing back into the ring to ambush UG, the blood that first became apparent shortly thereafter, all of this helped. It built the mood and the anticipation. It put some real heat on Rey. The crowd was behind Ultimo Guerrero to begin with. He's the CMLL mainstay, the bandit leader of years past, Arena Mexico's rudo. Rey took the first fall soon after the ambush by turning a rana attempt into a power bomb. It felt right and it just pissed the crowd off more.

 

After that came the slam with the rail, UG fighting back from a point of difficulty, which is one of the things he does best, and then getting cut off with a low kick. Back in the ring, UG pulls him back down into the corner on a reversal and hits the senton de la muerte and since it had the build from the previous caida, it's a huge moment. From there he just unloads hitting his seated body shot from the top to the outside and that running springboard jump off the rail into the crowd. It's a great mix of violence and showmanship, just a heated comeback. All of it was good, but it was really just a few minutes. They still had the tercera with the laying about ahead of them.

 

It worked, though. It worked better than almost any of this style of match I've seen and it worked because the crowd was the orchestra and the wrestlers were the conductors, and usually, in a situation like this, they're trying to conduct without the orchestra. Here, though, it boomed. When both wrestlers were selling, they focused their collective energy into Ultimo Guerrero and he responded in kind, feeding upon it. During chopfests or moments where Escorpion had the advantage, he recoiled from the boos, his power and confidence chipped away by it.

 

They hit spots, including teasing another big power bomb reversal by Escorpion, and a huge dive off the ramp by Guerrero, top rope moves and counters, and the crowd reacts. It leads to this real feeling of inevitability with Escorpion just feeling it all slip away. When he hits a late match press slam and climbs the ropes, presumably for a moonsault, time seems to stop. Ultimo Guerrero is just there, cutting him off and yanking him over backwards for the Guerrero Special. The look on Escorpion's face as he realizes what's about to happen and what it means is golden.

 

It was interesting to me. We're really quick to damn the laying about and the faux drama but when the crowd actually buys into it, it puts an entirely different lens upon things. This was a match that seemed sort of unnecessary, with Escorpion not promoted on Guerrero's level (he was barely used for a while before this feud started), that just seemed like standard CMLL stopgag booking, but that somehow drew a crowd that wanted to believe in it. It wasn't Atlantis vs Guerrero, but they didn't care. They came, they screamed, and they helped to power a match that should have probably been running on fumes and misguided effort.

[Lazlo Woodbine]

Suzuki has this belevable techy heavyweight presence that I love, kind of stoic but very smug. He has some sort of throwback charm I think and his work and pacing would get him over most places.

 

Anyway, I fully expect him to lose here but people would be doing themselves a favour by checking out some of his matches.

[Jiji]

I'm watching that Hechicero/Ultimo Guerrero vs. Avisman/Caifan tag and it's a lot of fun but not without some oddities. Ultimo gives Caifan fucking nothing after Caifan took a shot at UG when he was on the apron. No sold a tope suicida among other moves. Weird.

 

Also, no matter how much lucha libre I watch, the lack of logic behind some of the transitions really takes me out of matches. Ultimo hits his avalanche front suplex on Caifan, Caifan kicks out at 2 and then pops up and goes on the attack without selling anything. Whut. da. hale?

 

Will continue watching, of course.

 

Edit: okay, this is getting ridiculous. The shit show between Caifan/UG continues. UG reverses a rana off the second with a powerbomb. Caifan kicks out at 1 and then the next move in the match (admittedly after some stalling), is Caifan running up to the second to catch Guerrero with an arm drag. SMDH.

[GOTNW]

I like UG but I will take Hideki and his Billy Robinson tribute gimmick over him.

[Chicken Sandwich Carl]

Holy shit. That Escorpion match ruled.

[RIPPA]

UG - 55

Suzuki - 15