Ricky Marvin vs. Dr. Cerebro: An Arm for the Hair
I don’t run into this kind of long-term limb selling in lucha often. It’s just one of those interesting quirks of the style that’s similar to shoot style in a way where each hold is an end in and of itself instead of a means to progress a longer, more consistent strategy. That’s not to say one never sees a limb get worn down in lucha, just see some of El Dandy’s matches with Angel Azteca, or even how Villano III’s back gives out in him in the famous apuesta against Atlantis. But broadly speaking, long-term limb work is something I associate with other styles of pro wrestling more.
That’s what makes the arm work in the second fall of this bout so damn compelling. Not just that it exists at all, but also just how damn well Ricky Marvin commits to it. His audible selling as Cerebro wrenches back on it with a Fujiwara is so good, the pain etched all over his face throughout, and the physicality of keeping it close to his side for most of the second and third fall. It’s great stuff, textbook limbwork selling that really heightens the tension here while adding a little narrative throughline that brings all of this together quite nicely.
Even beyond that though, there’s some fun structural choices in this. As much as Marvin’s bad arm dominates the final two acts, Cerebro gets a limb worked over early as well. Marvin makes an early attack on the leg that never quite develops as well enough as he’d like, but does open up a late game comeback for him in the tercera. Cerebro’s leg selling never really has any chance to shine but as a bit of foreshadowing and payoff within the match, it’s a good choice.
Mechanically too, these two just do some real good stuff throughout. All the crowd brawling looks intense, and in Arena Naucalpan especially it always looks great when the wrestlers clatter into the fan’s chairs. All the holds look not only smooth but pretty vicious in this, including the one Cerebro uses to set up the driver that wins him the primera.
That said, there’s a few things holding this back too. The interference by one of the Comandos Elite in the second fall feels like a cheap way to give Marvin the fall, and I mean that in the worst possible way. It also leaves a lot of sag in the match as Marvin doesn’t capitalize quite as fast as I would like on it. It almost seems like this match might get more visceral in the tercera thanks to Cerebro’s bladejob, but it ends up being a rather weak trickle all things considered.
On the whole, far from the greatest lucha match you’ll ever see. But one could certainly do far worse than watching these two scrap for twenty minutes or so.
Rating: ***1/2