What's good, supporters of staged suplexes?
Catching up on some of my backlog with this match to start 2026. The Continental Classic took a lot of my attention during the back half of 2025, so I didn't have an opportunity to seek this match out and enjoy it.
But man, am I glad I did.
 |
| CMLL |
Weekly Roundup
Here's what I watched for the week;
--
NJPW WrestleKingdom 20 - The Ace Retires
 |
| NJPW |
Keeping up with my yearly tradition of watching WrestleKingdom, I am continually reminded why I don't watch New Japan. A questionable card, considering this is meant to be the Japanese equivalent to WrestleMania, I found myself disinterested more than I was invested.
That being said, Hiroshi Tanahashi's retirement will go down as one of the most emotional and impactful retirements in all of wrestling.
I'm no expert when it comes to NJPW, I won't lie to you guys. I didn't watch a single NJPW show until Jericho showed up years back, and since then, I've watched every WrestleKingdom as a way to pulse check one of the biggest promotions in the world. Last year, I kept up with New Japan semi often, watching some of their smaller PPV's throughout the year to spice up my regular viewing habits and quite enjoyed some of them. Similar to Cena last year, 2025 was announced to be Tanahashi's last full year in wrestling, with him retiring at this WrestleKingdom show.
I bring up my history with New Japan purely so you can understand this; I didn't know who Hiroshi Tanahashi was until 2016, haven't watched more than 5, maybe even 10 matches with him involved, and this retirement was still very emotional.
Nicknamed The Ace because, plain and simple, he was the Ace of New Japan for almost his entire career. One of the most beloved and respected wrestlers in New Japan, the Ace of the Universe had a lengthy retirement run throughout 2025, saying goodbye to fans across the world with each match he had. An exceptional final match (despite how good it was, it fails to vault that final hurdle to 5* like so many consider it to be. I think I simply lack the context and history to enjoy it as much as everyone else, sorry to say) with an hour long retirement ceremony, the goodbye to Tanahashi was emotional and tough to watch even for someone who does not have the same love and history with him that many wrestling fans do. Seeing a grown man stand alone in a ring, sobbing the entire time, as a parade of his best rivals, partners, and contemporaries came to the ring one by one to literally give him his flowers was an emotional watch.
Tanahashi saying goodbye will remain one of the most emotional wrestler retirements ever and, quite possibly, the greatest retirement ceremony ever. The bowing out of Flair, Michaels, and recently with Cena combined all pale drastically in comparison to that of Tanahashi's goodbye, and I can barely name 5 of his best matches.
Enjoy retirement, Ace. Now you can rest.
Here’s what we’re reviewing for the Watchlist;
• • • • •
Gran Guerrero vs. Claudio Castagnoli - The Emissary of Violence Challenges For CMLL's Top Title
 |
| What it's all about. CMLL |
Bell to Bell
The opening of the match sees Claudio establish dominance early on, going behind for a waistlock and effortlessly depositing Guerrero on the canvas. Not staying on the canvas any longer than is necessary, Guerrero is back on his feet and picking Claudio up into a backslide, twisting him around into a standing surfboard stretch right out the gate!
 |
| Wasting no time! CMLL |
Claudio is able to fight free of the grip and seat himself on Guerrero's shoulders, twisting around to shoot Guerrero into the corner with a headscissors. Charging from centre, he crushes him with a running European uppercut, clobbering him over and over again with shots in the corner, dropping him to a seated position. Rolling to the floor, Guerrero seeks refuge, but Claudio is quick to join him, shooting him into the barricade and sending him into the crowd with another running European. Brawling around the floor when Guerrero returns, Claudio tosses him back inside the ring to break the count and continue his assault.
Seating Guerrero on the top rope, he focuses in on the mask, trying to tear it off before pulling him out for a back drop and a cover, only scoring a two count. Shooting Guerrero into the ropes, he catches himself and waits for Claudio to charge over after him, sending him back with a tough shoulder block. He charges in again but eats a boot from Guerrero, going for a third charge after staggering back, Claudio gets back dropped to the apron and tripped to his ass, with Guerrero rebounding off the opposite side of the ring to dropkick Claudio to the floor.
 |
| Guerrero flies! CMLL |
Gesturing to the sold out Arena Mexico, Guerrero takes flight, crushing Claudio with a big tope. For a guy his size, he can fly with impressive ease. Not really shocking, considering the style in Mexico, but impressive nontheless. With Claudio back inside the ropes, Guerrero ties him up along the top rope, giving him something that his former tag team partner would have called a modified version of the Beats of the Bodhran, this time with chops instead of forearms. Grabbing the face of Claudio, he uses the most of the 5 count as he is allowed before going for a cover in the centre, only scoring two.
Shooting Claudio out of the corner, Guerrero lands a lariat before sprinting for the opposite corner to gather enough momentum for another. Turning around when he reaches the opposite side, he's caught by a charging Claudio, crushing him with a European uppercut. This time, it's Claudio who runs out to get his momentum, but Guerrero is close behind. Back and forth they go, each man's attempt at gather steam for another attack gets thwarted by the other. Guerrero attempts to break this chain by taking to the middle rope and leaping into Claudio, but he gets caught with a huge European, flattening Guerrero for a cover that scores only two.
 |
| The Swiss Sniper. CMLL |
I'd like to take a chance to shout out the referee for this match, Edgar "güero" Noriega, there's something about this dude I really like. I think it's funny that a referee looks as huge as he does, like he's hitting the gym with the boys and could actually go. But he also does his part to get the crowd more involved with the match. After the pinfall from Claudio, he can be seen gesturing to the crowd to encourage them to get louder and more encouraging. It's fun to watch him and see him get involved in the match as well, moreso than the old fart they've got refereeing some of the matches on the undercard.
Catching one of Claudio's kicks, Guerrero looks to pull him into a version of the Brock Lock, but manages to twist Claudio up into the Tombstone position instead. Edgar tries to get Guerrero to put him down, but Guerrero sits out and spikes Claudio on the top of his damn head, covering but only scoring two. Out on the (elevated) ramp side of the apron, Guerrero tries to springboard in but eats a European and stumbles up the ramp, with Claudio following out after him. Pulling Claudio in as he passes through the ropes, it looks like he's wanting to try a piledriver on the ramp, but Claudio fights free. Holding Guerrero's head between his legs, he pulls him up for the Neutralizer, trying to end the match on the outside, but Guerrero fights free, muscling Claudio up for a powerbomb back to the ring!
 |
| We got there in the end! CMLL |
A cover is attempted, but Claudio survives, shaking the cobwebs free as he rises to his feet. Pulled to the corner, Guerrero climbs to the middle rope but gets caught with a European and a lovely dropkick, nearly sending him tumbling to the floor. Claudio ascends to the middle rope to meet Guerrero, which proves to be a big mistake. Guerrero stuns Claudio with a double throat chop, picking up and twisting Claudio around in air. Holding him in a modified bodyslam position, Guerrero stands on the middle rope and fires Claudio from the corner, a modified lawn dart that sees Clauido land heavy in the centre of the ring. Going for a pin, Claudio is able to muscle his way out at two, hanging on.
With Claudio on his knees, Guerrero boots him in the jaw over and over again, almost goading his challenger into doing something. Rebounding off the ropes to try and crush Claudio, he whiffs and rebounds off the other side of the ring, getting popped up into the sky and caught with Swiss Death! Claudio covers, but Guerrero survives! With Guerrero in the corner, Claudio charges for another European but has his momentum used against him, with Guerrero seating him on the top turnbuckle instead. Climbing to meet him, he looks to attempt a back suplex but Claudio stumbles and falls to the apron, catching himself and going back to clubbing Guerrero. Good job saving it, Double C.
⚡Move of the Match⚡
Climbing back to the top, Claudio gets caught and pulled to his full height, with Guerrero ripping him off the top rope with a nasty superplex. Claudio looked like he wanted to die after taking that solid ass bump. My lord.
 |
| Mother of god, that looked nasty. CMLL |
Avoiding a charging Guerrero, Claudio starts the chop exchange as both men shift towards the centre. Overwhelming Guerrero with forearm shots, he backs him to the corner, only to get caught and pulled onto the shoulders of Guerrero instead! A firemans carry crushes Claudio in the ring again, with Guerrero climbing to the top and missing a swanton bomb. With both men on their feet again, Claudio darts for the ropes and ducks a pair of clotheslines from Guerrero, springboarding off of the middle rope for a big twisting European!
Signaling for the swing, Claudio gets Guerrero by the legs and takes him for the ride. Around and around he goes before being dropped in the middle and pulled into position for the Neutralizer. Drilling Guerrero, Claudio covers him. It's one, it's two, and three.
 |
| Neutralized. CMLL |
Claudio is your new CMLL World Heavyweight Champion.
Match Time: 14:26
Overview & Final Rating
🟢 - Flippin fantastic. Highly recommended
I had a whole lot of fun with this match. It wasn't a traditionally high-flying affair like you'd expect in CMLL, but when you've got two bona fide heavyweights in there, what do you expect to happen? It was hard hitting, heavy in intensity and action, with some awesome spots that made this match a whole lot of fun. I'm pleased Claudio won this match and, in all honesty, it's the main reason I sought this show out, but I plan on watching more CMLL this year to see what else goes on with not just this title, but the rest of them too. Great stuff from both men.
• • • • •
Another week in the books. Like I said, I do plan on watching more CMLL this year, so plan on seeing some more CMLL reviews on the blog for 2026. I'll do my best to educate myself some more on the players involved.
Until then. Be well, stay safe, and love each other.
cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment