Across the years, wrestling is one of the only sports, or even entertainments, that never stops. Sports have their off seasons; TV shows have series breaks; film series have gaps in shooting and editing. Wrestling, on the other hand, goes 365 days a year, and has done for many years.
Throughout this project, I aim to focus on one match per day for a whole year. The years will change – expect a range of modern and old wrestling – but each match will have happened on a specific day in history. I’ll aim to cover a multitude of promotions and styles, with US, Puro, Lucha and Independent wrestling all rearing its head at certain points. My focus will often be on title changes, but if I seek something of note I want to cover, that will take precedence.
A word of warning. I don’t seek to profess an encylpedic knowledge of all promotions across all years. Due to this, I may miss some of the subtleties and nuances of certain wrestlers and feuds. When I talk Lucha, I’m sure there are many more people who can do a more complete job, but I want to try and celebrate the diversity of what has happened in the ring over the years. I also am not suggesting that the thing I cover on each day is the only thing of note, or even the most important thing – they are just the match or angle I wanted to analyse and write about for you.
With that said, Wrestling 365 is underway.
Maximo Sexy vs Kamaitachi – CMLL
Hair vs Hair
01/01/2016
As part of the training of Young Lions in New Japan, an excursion often takes place to allow them to go and develop their skillset away from the watching eyes of the Puro public. Sometimes, these excursions are woeful; both Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi went to wrestle for TNA and were badly utilised to say the least, especially considering the impact they would have on the Japanese wrestling scene upon their return. However, some not only offered a lot of value to the wrestler themselves, but brought us some of the best fighting action of recent decades. Though not a Young Lion excursion as such, Jushin Liger was rightly lauded for his time in WCW, yet it is hard to argue that Kamaitachi’s might have been the best excursion ever.
The wrestler Hiromu Takahashi landed in CMLL in 2014 under a mask as Kamaitachi. After a first year showing his chops on the lower card and in six man tag team matches, 2015 was all about the feud with Dragon Lee. The two men met multiple times, and dazzled onlookers with an array and fluidity of moves that were unlike what many had seen before. They were two wrestlers who had chemistry that couldn’t be coached or taught, and every time they stepped into the ring with each other was a joy to watch.
With the ultimate goal to bring Takahashi back to New Japan, CMLL were able to get two wager matches out of Kamaitachi’s run – a mask match, and if lost, a hair match later down the line. The mask would go in a contest at ‘Homenaje a Dos Leyendas’ against Dragon Lee, another epic battle between two young talents. Before the return to Japan to showcase his newly developed skills, however, there was still one question to be asked – who would take the hair?
Enter Maximo Sexy. Whilst Maximo looks the type of wrestler that might more likely confuse a non-lucha aficionado (chubby, effete and with dayglow hair in the middle of his head only), he comes from a lucha family with great history – the Alvarados. Though he is able to get by on his exotico shtick, he is also able to match any competitor move for move when needed.
As is often the case, the first two falls of the match are relatively quick, building towards the decisive tercera caida. Kamaitachi took the first fall: a leglock after an attack targeting the already injured knee of Maximo drawing derision from the crowd; Maximo took the second: the leglock this time avoided, leading to a rope assisted armdrag into a half boston crab for the submission.
The match begins to pick up speed in the third fall, as if every step away from the initial knee onslaught sees Maximo channelling his energy and gaining some momentum. That is not to say Kamaitachi falls by the wayside at this point; the opening minutes of this section sees a seated senton dive to the outside, a double kneedrop off of the top and a repeat of the leglock that saw him gain the initial fall. This time, Maximo (with the help of a raucous crowd) managed to reach the ropes and keep himself in the fight.
There is even enough time for some shenanigans, with both men attempting to fool the referee into believing they had been fouled with a low blow. Baby Richard isn’t to be fooled by either, especially as Kamaitachi tries to use his lies to get a roll-up for two, whilst Maximo uses the distraction caused by his fabrication to plant a kiss on his opponent. The finish perhaps comes a bit out of nowhere – a pop-up sitout powerbomb gives Maximo the decisive three count – but as a contest, it built well by using a mixture of psychology, storytelling and comedy.
Kamaitachi was not yet done in Mexico. Before his full return to NJPW, he would trade the CMLL World Super Lightweight Title with (who else?) Dragon Lee. If ever we needed a sense of how much excitement and fanaticism his run in Mexico had created, one only need to see the scenes as his long, flowing hair is shaved off. Tears are shed in the crowd by a selection of different fans; when that reaction can be created in a match that had a pretty foregone conclusion, what more can you ask for?
