Claudio Castagnoli vs. Mascara Dorada

[7.0] "This was a fun sprint that fared Dorada better than Claudio, where the latter stemmed from a commendable victory over Moxley in the seeds of the Death Rider civil war. Dorada wasn't expected to go the distance from the start, but a surprising upset like this was needed to bring the unpredictability to the tourney. 3.5 out of 5 stars!"

[6.0] "it was a good match. I was a fan of the upset win other than that the match was entertaining from both wrestlers"

[7.0] "[3.25*] This shit was mad fun. Claudio is an exceptional base for high-flyers and this played a huge part in making this match work. Dorada could pull way more of his sick shit than he could with Mox. In one way, this makes the match less interesting in concept because there isn't much of a real "clash of styles" , but in other way it makes the execution better and smoother, which indeed happened. So, I'm giving both matches the same rating, I loved the first one because of how interesting everything was, how different these guys were and how it helped the story, and the second one because of how fun and impressive it was. It felt like a true David vs Goliath CMLL match."

[7.0] "Whoa, what a underdog victory. Probably Dorada will be the only wrestler that will beat Claudio during the entire tournament, and I am quite okay with it. Shows that AEW really value their relationship with CMLL. The bout is quite enjoying man, you never feel that Dorada would be getting a victory but when he got, you don't feel bad with it. Also, Dorada is a fucking demon man. Never saw someone looks that he has a endless cardio."

[8.0] "This match played perfectly into the established tournament story where Claudio has shown a specific weakness against luchadors, resulting in back-to-back Classic losses to Komander and now Dorada. Claudio has noticeably adjusted his in-ring style, trimming some of his usual technical in favor of leaning heavily into his heavy-hitting powerhouse game. Conversely, Dorada is acclimating very well to American TV wrestling, making his big victory over the CMLL World Champion a significant moment. This excellent mesh of styles could easily serve as a prelude to a potential Claudio vs. Dorada CMLL World Title match."

[8.0] "Objectively, a very, very good match. Two completely different styles, but wrestled in an exceptional way. I'll say it again: Dorada should be a future AEW signing because he's definitely the most promising luchador out there, and AEW is handling him very well. On top of that, he defeated the CMLL champion, so I expect a possible future feud between the two in CMLL. Excellent collaboration between the two promotions. There's really little to say about the in-ring work, as both were outstanding."

[3.0] "Don't get me wrong, this was wrestled well and both had somewhat of in-ring chemistry, but I found this kinda boring. Claudio is one of my favorites and Dorada doesn't do it for me half the time, they just didn't click at some points in this match, plus, this is a massive nitpick, but hated that Claudio lost this match, he should've won all of his matches in this tournament."

[7.0] "Two great performers whose strengths compliment each other to perfection; this was always going to be a really enjoyable contest full of big Dorada moments. Thoroughly enjoyable from bell-to-bell, and a very exciting result. Filling this out retrospectively, so excuse the lack of detail."

[7.0] "Well, Claudio is now a World Heavyweight Champion in CMLL, so you can expect he'd show a great chemistry against a luchador like Mascara Dorada here, and he did, very good match, another must-watch of this tournament. Dorada did a lot of athletic stuff like always, and the blend of this with Claudio's strength and power was incredible. There were several nice moments here, but of course the ending is the most shocking one, with Dorada actually beating Claudio, a very surprising result - {***1/4}"

[7.0] "I liked this match a lot. Dorada looked great in this one he was almost flawless in his aerial moves it was a great performance by him. Him and Claudio seem to mesh well in the ring and this one proved that. Claudio controlling most of the match with his size and power, only allowing Dorada to get spurts of offense which he made count. The arm drag spam was actually very entertaining and the shooting star finish was perfect. Really good TV match"

[7.0] "This is the first real surprise of the tournament for me. Who would have thought we'd see Claudio lose? We saw Claudio dominate a large part of the match, he was even carrying his opponent with his bare hands. And yet, Claudio couldn't win."

[7.0] "Good to see Dorada back to his better self after his last two matches. Claudio is a good foil for him to go up against, the classic little vs big. Claudio solid as always, but the ending undercut a lot of the work for me."

[8.0] "I really like the angle they have built where Claudio has a weakness against luchadors, leading to C2 losses to Komander and Dorada in consecutive Classics. Claudio has trimmed some of his craftwork (moves and submissions) and leaned more heavily into his game as a heavy hitting powerhouse. Dorada is acclimating well to American TV wrestling, and it was cool to see him get a big win over his promotion's World Champion."

[7.0] "Claudio is a great base that helped Dorada to have one of his better AEW performances (probably 3rd behind the Bandido match and all out 3-way). Good stuff with Dorada pulling off the upset."

[9.0] "Great TV match with a surprising outcome. Claudio is tremendous as a base for flyers, and Dorada is looking great as always. Nice to see him pick up points but didn't expect it would be over Claudio."

[9.0] "This was very good. Claudio being such a great base lets Dorada go wild. Plenty of exciting moments."

[8.0] "[4 Stars] Once again, Máscara Dorada impresses and Claudio puts in a good performance. I'd love to see a rematch at CMLL. This match is a pleasure to watch after the disappointment of the opener."

[6.0] "A good performance from Dorada, who succeeded despite the risks. But I think he should have done a bit more to beat Claudio, or that Claudio should have made more mistakes to justify his defeat, which seems slightly illogical. In-ring quality: 1.25/4. Stakes: 0.5/2. Justification: 1/1. Placement on the card: 0.5/1. Suspense: 1/1. Bonus/penalty: none. Total: 5.75/10. Match watched on Triller TV."

[6.0] "I think this is probably my least favourite match of the C2 so far but i still thought this was relatively enjoyable for the most part. Dorada shows off some cool moves here while Claudio does his best to ground him. Its a fundamentally sound match but its not one that drew me in that much compared to some other matches so far this tournament. ***"

[6.0] "I always have a had time getting invested in lucha libre for some reason, it just never clicks. Claudio's strength is always impressive making him a credible threat to the roster, but he didn't have the same viciousness here for the crowd to get behind the underdog. ***"

[5.0] "Kind of phoned in performance from Claudio and Dorada's just doing his usual thing of going for the most contrived sequences he can think of. I'm guessing this is gonna tie into Claudio's CMLL work at some point"

[5.0] "***1/2 Interesting match, good chemistry, they worked well together and hopefully they'll fight after C2 in CMLL for the World Heavyweight Championship. Good sequences, Dorada managed to shine, interesting pace, interesting intensity, they could have increased it towards the end, interesting ending, pulling off a simple move and I think they could have built it better than they did."

[6.0] "Didn't really feel it like most people. I think it was pretty low energy for such an underdog victory of Dorada. There was something missing here, some intensity perhaps."

[4.0] "Terrible booking to have Claudio lose this match imo. Claudio getting such a big win against Moxley on Dynamite only to turn around and immediately lose to Dorada CLEAN is insane. I liked that they played up that Claudio struggles with high flyers but I just don't think this was overall a good match or booking decision."

[6.0] "okay match, maybe a little bit boring i was hoping for more. Intresting to see claudio loose that one."

[7.0] "Simple Strength vs flight setup. We are told right from the get go that Claudio has issues with flyers. Dorada sells Claudios Moves super well. That was a vicious swing. Suicide dive arm drag was big. What an upset, very cool"

[7.0] "A clash between strength and power versus Lucha, and it was nothing short of captivating. Claudio relied on his sheer force to counter Dorada's aerial attempts and keep him grounded, while also showcasing his strength by using powerhouse offense and in some instances catching him mid-air off with unadulterated strength. For nearly half of the match, Dorada found himself in peril, accumulating tension in the atmosphere for the moment he would finally shift the tide, which he ended up unleashing with three variations of arm-drags that were fascinating. I really enjoyed the detail they set up during the technical exchange in the beginning, where Dorada managed to escape Claudio's grasp via arm drag and shortly after hit an overly crafted arm drag because it foreshadowed that particular move would be an issue for Claudio, which it ended up being central to Dorada's shifting of momentum. For the rest of the match, Dorada still spends much of that time selling, but he gets to hit big exciting spots while Claudio manages to cut him off multiple times, creating doubt by making it appear like Dorada was going to lose. Mechanically, this match was visually extremely appealing. I think my favorite spot was when Claudio caught Dorada as he came flying down off the turnbuckle, hitting a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker--it was wild! ***1/2"

[7.0] "The surprise winner here was very welcome. Dorada really balled out here whilst Claudio played the big bad heel role here very well too."

[8.0] "I was genuinely surprised with how good this match was. Claudio was a powerhouse and Dorada amazed me with his high flying skills. They meshed very well, and this could possibly lead to Claudio vs Dorada in CMLL for their world title. ****"

[8.0] "This wasn't the smoothest at certain points to begin, but the expected Claudio feats of strength and domineering presence held the match together, then allowing for Dorada to really shine in the second half. Dorada who can be occasionally off put it together with some dazzling offense down the stretch (solid Claudio base work), and the match was even more elevated because of the upset. ***3/4"

[7.0] "Supper interesting match up of styles but Claudio has proven to be one of the best bases in wrestling. He started the match by grounding Dorada as much as possible. He pretty much dominated 80% of the match. All of the acrobatic spots from Dorada popped the crowd. Very surprised that he picked up the clean pin victory."