[10.0] "One of the greatest Mask vs. Mask matches in CMLL history, with an absolutely INSANE crowd & one of the most unique stories ever told by a Lucha Libre company, which people usually miss because of the language barrier. Nearly after the start, Villano V dangerously lands on the back of his head against a front row seat, being forced to wrestle KO during the rest of the match. Eventually, he went to backstage, only for coming back with the same bloody mask he already had, while Místico and Panther were arguing with a man in ringside, claiming that the one who came back wasn't Villano V. Over the years, people popularized the theory that Villano V left the match after the second fall and was replaced by someone else while he was in backstage (presumably, it would've been his brother Villano IV who entered the match in his place). And, to this day, it's still unclear what actually happened, if everything was just an improvised spot by Panther and Mistico or if Villano V actually was replaced during the match due to injury. Such a mystery! However, whatever it was, we got an absolute classic here, with overall great performances by everyone involved, even Mistico & Aguayo Jr, who were their managers. EDIT: I'm glad some people liked this context given here! EDIT 2: Personal rating: Absolute ***** classic right here."
[9.0] "[4.25*] Fantastic match and even more incredible "behind the scenes". I just love the theory that when Villano V rushed to the backstage, they changed him with Villano IV. I'd love to have some kind of confirmation because this is very intriguing lol. The match itself was what you can expect of a proper Apuestas Match. Tons of pin attemps, brutal suplexes outside of the ring, Villano bleeding inside the mask, on-fire crowd that was LOUD from start to finish and obviously a super heated environment. I loved that the first two falls ended in DQs, it was perfect at building drama to the third fall, because both guys wanted to much to embarrass each other that they lost falls in order to disrespect the other one's mask. The finish was super surprising, no one could believe it. Villano won via roll-up and the legendary Blue Panther had lost his mask forever. Insane. So, so surprising. A historic night in lucha libre history."
[10.0] "A classic. I love this so much and love the context given underneath. Just pure lucha, great drama, emotion, the sight of Villano bleeding under his mask. I just adore this. *****"
[8.0] "Ton of intensity to start out, don't really get the roll ups with all the intensity. lots of chops to start out. VIllano kicks out of a pin attempt out of a vertical suplex. Leg drop while Blue Panther is draped over the rope on the outside. Big vertical suplex to the exposed floor outside from Villano to Blue Panther. Villano tries to rip at the mask of Blue Panther. Bad leg drop into the bottom rope by Villano, this time he misses the leg drop, and Blue panther hits a brutal suicide dive and VIllano just bangs the back of his head on the chair in the stadium. Classic lucha drama back in the ring as the ref wont count the pin after an interference. Villano is gushing blood from the back of his mask because of that bump into the chairs. the rest is lucha drama. Emotionally speaking and storytelling wise, obviously great job. but not necessarily an in ring technical classic."
[9.0] "There is nothing like mask vs mask match and eapecially nothing like it on the biggest stage in lucha. Blue Panther hits four of the most vicious topes of all time, three in the third fall that just build and have the crowd in a frenzy. Villano puts in a super gutsy performance as he is cut open on the first top brutally. This is a classic and hard to believe Panther is still wrestling. ****3/4"
[6.0] "Papagus provides a very good explanation below to this. I need to stop watching classic lucha as I find it does not do much for me and the luchaheads are going to hunt me down. This was good but the first 2 falls were a little dull with Blue Panther very obviously messing with his mask to get ready for the foul on the first fall."
[6.0] "Ok, it's kinda weird to see how AJPW 90 looks like future and Lucha Libre after a decade looks like shit. I mean, the first two falls were kinda embarrassing and they spent a lot of time fucking up around the arena; anyway the double DQ was cool. There is something good in the third fall but nothing worth your time here. **3/4"
[7.0] "I don't know the full context of this, I admit, and my knowledge of Mexican wrestling is painfully limited. There's a bunch of screwing around on the outside and the action was a bit slow for the first two falls. I did enjoy the third fall quite a bit more, though, and the dives to the outside by Blue Panther were pretty impressive."
[8.0] "They told a good story and I didn't even mind the first two falls being dq because it was functional to the story itself. They took some crazy bumps (especially Villano) and both looked great despite their age. Great match"
[10.0] "One of the best matches I've ever seen. More essential 2000s apuestas than Atlantis/Villano III, and that's definitely no knock on that match - this is just that good. Great for newcomers to find out what main event/apuestas lucha is all about. Villano V is especially insane in this match, with wild bumps and to be honest a lot of head trauma! The visual of the blood pooling in the back of the mask was amazing and it was perfectly worked the whole way through."
[9.0] "What an underrated classic this was. It had the modern CMLL style of matches with two short falls and a longer 3rd one but it was done with a little twist with DQs instead of pins/subs. There was a ton of violent bumps taken by both men, stuff that I don't usually see in Lucha such as superplexes and stuff on the hard floor that aren't throws or dives. Tremendous sense of urgency as far as the must win mentality both had. The submission holds all looked great. The strikes were good. This was great w/ a great atmosphere. ****1/2"
[7.0] "I gave this *** 1/2 stars out of 5. I really enjoyed the first and second falls being disqualifications due to both men removing their opponents masks. That was a nice touch, as far as the rest, good lucha action. Recommended."
[8.0] "Well, emotionally this match is great - the crowd is incredible during and after the match. Too bad that the wrestling isn't quite so good. Villano plays his role very well, but generally speaking I would have loved to see more wrestling moves from both. I also really disliked the endings of all three falls."
