Most of my modern lucha viewing comes primarily from the independents and CMLL so these trios matches from February were a real revelation to me. If I’m recalling correctly, these were worked under one fall rules instead of 2/3 but it never lost the sense of structure and struggle that makes lucha trios matches so entertaining.
One of my favorite aspects of lucha trios is how much of it feels like a very compact turf war. The turf being defended is, of course, the ring itself. Domination of that space is key to dominating the match itself and that’s a really fascinating dynamic that I find rarely gets replicated in any other genre of pro wrestling.
The rudo team of Los Mercenarios make utilize that dynamic so well here. They go for the early attack at the bell with Black Taurus going right for Puma King which allows them to gain control of the ring. Standing tall at the center of the ring, it’s easy for them to fight off the tecnicos attempts to storm back in. It also allows them to gang up on the tecnicos as the referee is giving them a long leash and the outside interference happens with impunity.
That sense of domination makes the spectacular comebacks from the tecnicos so satisfying. The coordination of their dives, the explosions of energy feel necessary to overcome the dire circumstances that they’ve been backed into. After that transition and the match gets forced back into a more traditional tag structure, it’s just a matter of enjoying the fireworks. Everyone plays their role well with Los Mercenarios cheating and scraping by to try to seize back control and the tecnicos dazzling with their offense. It’s really simple stuff at the end of the day but it plays with the dynamics set forth so well as to make it capture the eye. Definitely seek this one out.
Correct, this was under one fall. Glad to see you braching into lucha