Barbaro Cavernario vs. Mistico

[10.0] "The comebacks were great, the storytelling was very appropriate and beautiful, and people were really excited and the spots were great, the Move Set Mystico was amazing and the timing of the wrist was a wonderful masterpiece, my ending was unparalleled."

[10.0] "An insane match. Really good. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Mexican wrestling, but Barbaro Cavernario and Mistico are two wrestlers who, for anyone who likes the sport, are more than just good. I loved the style, the high-flying moves, the near falls, honestly. I loved it."

[7.0] "****1/4 Very good match, very good chemistry, a fairly fluid encounter, very good sequences, good pace although I felt they slowed down the match towards the end and that final stretch felt a bit heavy, very good intensity, and a good ending with Místico pulling out the Cavernaria in a very good sequence and making the Barbaro submit"

[10.0] "Mistico is on a really amazing run now. I remember hearing about how he was John Cena levels of popular in Mexico in the 00s, but like many US fans my first introduction to him was his horribly botched Sin Cara run, so it was really difficult for me over the years to get my head around what a star he actually was. Even when he resurfaced in AAA and his early time back in CMLL, I could tell he was a lot better than he had looked under that weird orange light, but it was just in the the last couple years that his popularity has really resurged to its former heights. But man I can sure see it now, this dude looks like such a star these days and his run of CMLL sellouts is just insane when you look at the numbers. Here he gets to fight one of my very favorite CMLL guys, Barbaro Cavernario who has been catching my eye as a standout for the past 10 years now. The face/heel dynamic is pretty much perfect, folks just love Mistico as much as I've seen them love anybody, and Cavernario is just a nasty dude as ever, ripping masks, acting like a jerk, and laying in some of his great signature offense, including that sick top rope to the floor flat splash, that looks like hell in the best way. They went all the way down the stretch for about 25 minutes in a great back and forth fight that featured a bit of everything, flying of course but also grappling, striking, some cool bombs, even Cavernario surviving La Mistica thanks to some expert ring awareness by the ropes. Mistico eventually caught the win when he unexpected hit Cavernario with his own submission finisher, caught off guard the dirty caveman had to tap out. Awesomely fun match, #5 of the year so far."

[6.0] "I tried to watch this multiple times and it just wouldn't click with me. Mistico is always a very fluid and clean performer and I really like Barbaro Cavernario from what I've seen but this was a run of the mill bloated CMLL match in my opinion. Cavernario's classic heel work and comedic over acting can only keep me interested for so long before it begins to feel formulaic. Every big moment just felt to tacked on like Cavernario ripping Mistico's mask, the ref bump and even Mistico's comebacks felt forced. It's a shame because again both wrestlers are quite good but this felt really uninspired and didn't really feel all that important"

[6.0] "[3.0*] I see why this is that high; I strongly disagree with the overall rating but still that was good in some parts/aspects, I liked Barbaro Cavernario's heel work in this; the way he works here is really fascinating (in the heel work parts "aka in the beginning ", I liked that, the other stuff were genuinely okay at best, some high flying moves which's so expected (and it's not impressive if that's its own goal, tbh) I think it should've been a different goal for those moves and I would really liked if there's just a build up to the moments in this, it really felt messy which's also duh; cuz Cmll is like that anyways.. and yeah.. this just doesn't really work that well with me, but still not bad."

[9.0] "Very strong main event here in what could be a really early MOTY-contender for CMLL. Cavernario looked great throughout this, with Místico getting a really good title defense in the process. I will say that I never really thought Cavernario would end up winning, but that didn't really take away from my enjoyment of this overall."

[9.0] "This was a really good, though simple and straightforward match. Cavernario did an excellent job drawing heat from the very beginning with the mask stuff."

[8.0] "What a fantastic job by Barbaro Cavernario, his execution of the basics is so well made it makes everything more impactful and more meaningful. I don't even need to say anything about Mistico, he's been constantly one of the best in the world and this was no different, when he gets on top, it's electrifying and the crowd goes wild every time. Ending stretch is phenomenal pro wrestling, beautiful match!"

[8.0] "cool and immediatly obvious dynamic here. Mistico can bring a good match out of anyone, to make it great you need a good partner. I loved the comeback and how it was stopped. This was very nice. Good match with simple story told well."

[7.0] "Good main event with a really effective tecnico-rudo dynamic. Mistico's fire is exceptional and and Cavernario was really good at playing to the crowd and allowing them to get behind Mistico. The drama with the tearing of the mask is good, there's some very nice near falls late and they pace this quite well. Not quite as much of a blow away match to me as it may have been for others, but still good."

"This was a fantastic match between Mistico and Cavernario, I think this was the best match I've seen of Cavernario in the past few months. Mistico was in peak form tonight, I'd love to see them run this back in the future."

[9.0] "One of the best singles matches I have seen of Cavernario, Mistico knows how to get a great match out of anyone he faces, a great match with some highlights throughout, Mistico retaining made sense [****1/2]"

[9.0] "The only reason this did not get to a 10 for me was it never really felt like Barbaro might actually win. So many great spots in the match and just a beautiful lucha"

[6.0] "Sadly I wasn't as amazed by this one as everyone else. I haven't watched as much lucha libre so perhaps part of it is lack of knowledge/appreciation for the style. I liked the story they were telling but didn't find the in-ring action to be an overly engaging or compelling way of telling it, personally. Still, always nice to watch more of a style and company that I wouldn't normally watch."

[8.0] "[4.0*] Beautiful Arena Mexico Main Event. Awesome rudo work by Cavernario and Mistico is just the perfect tecnico. Incredible atmosphere, great control segments and comebacks, with an awesome ending stretch. The Una Sola Caída stip made the nearfalls mean more and the match became more dramatic. Just 25 beautiful minutes of lucha libre, there's not much to say."

[9.0] "That match is so simple, but it is so smoothly well executed. Místico and Barbaro Cavernario had insane chemistry, the crowd went fully on BOTH sides which honestly surprised me a lot. I even thought for a second that they were cheering more for Barbaro instead of Mistico. Anyways, Mistico and Barbaro here did nothing impressive or that you can't see anywhere else, but they were so good doing what they're the best at. Insane experience at all, Mistico is such a cool guy."

[8.0] "This was great. Really simple but well done performances by both guys here. Cavernario was excellent as the heel here, making the most out of even the smallest things like a leg trip or a backdrop in order to get maximum heat. Mistico was of course great here too. There arent many people in the world currently who have as good of a connection with the crowd as he does or can play as good of a babyface as he can. Fantastic work from underneath by him in this as well as some awesome comebacks towards the end. Great finish here too with Mistico winning with Cavernario's own submission after he had avoided and gotten out of the La Mistica at numerous points throughout the match. I do think this was maybe a bit too long and i wouldnt have minded a bit of blood either but overall this was pretty fantastic and one of my favourite matches of the year so far. ****"

[9.0] "Another wonderful Mistico performance here with the crowd being in the palm of his hands. Barbaro embraces the rudo role well here, doing what he can to win the match. The finish was just brilliant. Good stuff. ****1/4"

[8.0] "Good match, solid in every point even though I thought it was kinda lacking in the execution of the spots in terms of the heat they were looking for. The ending could have been interesting but I found it to be anticlimatic. ****"

[8.0] "I wasn't really in the mood for yet another long match this week and the extent to which Cavernario dominated made it pretty obvious he wasn't winning. That said, Mistico's short-lived comebacks were spectacular and the final third was action packed right up to the rather abrupt finish ***3/4"

[8.0] "A Really Great Arena Mexico main event where once again Mistico was over as fuck! Barbaro Cavernario is really underrated and can go! Good heat with rippins Misticos mask and lots of cool high spots by mistico. Great Main Event!"

[5.0] "A very slow start with a notable lack of intensity and excessive pampering to the crowd; the stop-start nature of the first ten or fifteen minutes really isn't for me. This definitely got better throughout, but I'm not seeing the top-tier match which many are here. A long match and a hot crowd are hugely skewing some ratings here in my opinion; how much that makes a match is, of course, subjective though. Can I say I was excited or impressed more than I was by your average TV match? Until maybe the final three or four minutes, absolutely not. I was waiting for this to kick into gear, and I'm not sure when I'm supposed to believe it did."

[9.0] "A great match here that definitely deserves the love that it is getting. Mistico has been great for a long time but I'm glad the praise for him has been becoming more prominent and his perception has changed for a lot of Stateside fans who saw him as Sin Cara. This Barbaro Cavernario is something else and he inpressed me last year during the CMLL/NJPW Fantastica Mania tour. Barbaro is a freaking lunatic for doing that big splash to the outside which makes me question how his knees are still functional everytime I see him. His grit and nastiness was on perfect display in this match and did an awesome job working over and having the fans behind Mistico. Worth checking this one out. ****1/4"

[9.0] "The hype for this match is well placed. I hace it a mark below the MOTYC I hace seen it touted as but it is still great. Mistico is underrated as a great worker and here he takes an absolute beating, with multiple comebacks so a lot of time to show his different offense. There is not much better than a crowd going crazy for a ripped -mask Mistico doing a springboard huracanrana. ****1/2"

[9.0] "Really awesome match here, Cavernario puts on a great performance here getting the crowd behind Mistico through his attacks and tearing of the mask, not to mention a sick looking splash to the outside. Mistico is at his best here as well, looking really clean and ending it with really well done submission sequence after he couldn't get Cavernario into la mistica"

[10.0] "This might be the best singles match of both Mistico's and Cavernario's careers. They had superb chemistry, many of the moves were fantastic, the crowd was insane the whole way through, and the finish with Mistico defeating Barbaro with a Camel Clutch was absolutely brilliant. ****3/4"

[6.0] "Just not seeing the hype for this one. Yeah, the crowd is hot (and how amazing is it that CMLL audiences are STILL micced so poorly all these years later? ) but attendee energy alone does not make a match. I'd argue this is your standard Mistico performance, with Barbaro getting a few decent shots in before inevitably laying down for the champ. The moves were fluid and the action was decent, but it just didn't seem to build to anything all that special. It's a good TV main event, but nothing worth going out of your way to catch, I suppose."

[10.0] "Sensational stuff here. Was only able to catch the last two matches on the live feed but I'm so glad I did. Not sure what came over Místico here, but that man was wrestling with an energy and a speed i have not seen in quite some time for a big singles match. Moreso than his last defense against Difunto. Cavernario too was getting his moves off and of course always has the crowd in the palm of his hand. Felt like a 60/40 towards Místico but thenCavernario fans were viscerally loud. Easily the best match of the year for CMLL so far. Místico did the step up top rope Spanish fly but he did so this time crossing corners from middle to top (almost lost his balance) and the execution looked so much better because of the near botch. Cavernario successfully evaded La Mística all night that Místico resorted to using Cave Mario's own finishing hold to five the submission. The two embraced afterward. So good, i haven't really loved Místico ever but on this night, he was wrestling with something more. I wish I would pick his brain about this match."

[9.0] "Cavernario might be the single most underrated wrestler in the world. He really is the king of the one on one match and he played his part perfectly here. Great finishing stretch that relies on the audience's knowledge that la mistica could end the fight at any point and then subverts that expectation."