AULL: 16th May 2009

Negro Navarro vs. Solar is an absolute can't fail match-up. I'm relatively new to both guys, but I've never been anything other than amazed by the two veterans. Firstly, age has no effect on their pace - these guys can put together some sequences as fast as much younger guys. Secondly, both guys are old-school is the most meaningful definition of the term - their matches are built around the classic psychology of struggle for the upper-hand and superiority. Solar is a permanent technico, but Navarro doesn't wrestle strongly rudo. The focus is on the moves and the grappling, and that is rooted firmly in an old school mentality.

This match here could be a contender for lucha match of the year, and is a title match, so while 2009 has already seen some great instances of Navarro brawling, especially with Black Terry, this is going to hit the mat hard.

The first part of primera caida is a one-upsmanship battle of takedowns. There is an element of increasing complexity to each armdrag or snapmare as a form of posturing to the audience. Solar holds on after a hiptoss, rolls Navarro through into an arm lock and flips his opponent to the mat again in one particularly lovely sequence. From the takedown and reset stuff, they move through one shorter and then one longer sequence of complicated lucha submissions and counters. One of the joys of lucha matwork is the way leverage is used to generate some truly unlikely combinations. From a crucifix armbar submission on his front, Navarro moves into a position to be able to ease the pressure on his arms and follow round into a stretch muffler. Solar counters by taking one of Navarro's legs and moving around until he had the leverage advantage and Navarro was on his back. The blend of elaborate submissions but constant struggle for position is really the pinnacle of lucha matwork. They move into a quick rope running section, with Solar hitting several armdrags, a headscissors and a quebradora, before taking the fall with a submission.

Segunda caida is a more intense Navarro - bearing in mind he's a pretty intense looking guy in the first place - coming out to even the score with leg takedowns and a series of very twisty leg locks. One day I'm going on a course to learn the lucha names for all these submissions. Solar has a few counters here, but Navarro is in full maestro mode, and has a hundred different ways of positioning Solar to lock in another nasty looking hold. The double ankle lock one is really nice, holding on ankle, while locking and twisting the other with his legs. Both guys know to add in little extras that make the battle look harder - loose limbs are grabbed to add an extra contorsion to the submissions; Navarro wrenchs back on a headscissor. Solar seems to take advantage on the rope running section that completes the fall, but Navarro counters a roll-up pin with a complicated sequence of twists that leads to his own cradle pin, and then stops Solar running off the ropes with a rolled through front face lock. This last bit is breathtakingly quick.

The third fall does to an extent capture the idea of a final tussle for the winning combination, but I didn't get a sense of huge drama. There is again some impressive submission stuff in here - Navarro's mid air Indian deathlock is quite a feat of balance, if not strength, as was the campana hold. I liked the exchange between the two tapatias - again, the guys move around to manipulate leverage that makes an unlikely counter seem reasonable. The third fall also had a running section. You get the slight sense that Solar picks it up at the end - his tosses and takedowns seem more forceful. The finish made sense - Navarro misses an elbow, Solar follows up by going for that arm, before using the injury for an armlock/pin combination for the win and the title - but comes across a little flat, as there seems to be nothing particularly special about that particular combination. It's probably fits into their mentality of match-building - the combination of the intricate and unlikely matwork combined with the hard fought sense of struggle - leading to what could be considered a more legitimate-looking finish. Justifiable, but still flat.

Overall, while there is depth to this match, with subtle shifts in control worked throughout, they weren't particularly noteworthy. The wrestling certainly is noteworthy - really great, intense mat work and fast sequences between two guys who could have a good match together whilst actually asleep. A match I'll rank highly, but the lack of a stronger story prevents it from top of my list for the year.