CMLL from 7/27/2003 The main

CMLL from 7/27/2003

The main crux of the show was the Japan vs. Mexico Grand Prix. We start with a skit showing rudos and tecnicos training together to get the “we must unite to fight the evil ferners” message across. The teams, for the record, were Ultimo Dragon, CIMA, SUWA, Don Fuji, Taru, Takemura, Nosawa, and Masada vs. Shocker, Dr. Wagner, Negro Casas, Blue Panther, Felino, Virus, Mephisto, and Averno.

–This was chopped up pretty bad. If you watch lucha or tapes from Japan you’re used to heavily edited matches, but a machete was really taken to this one. And I’m talking about guys transforming into other wrestlers and skipping numerous eliminations, which is pretty inexcusable.
–Averno got a lot of facetime, which is good. He also dumped the Satanico look and went back to his old outfit, which is very good.
–What was up with Nosawa breaking up a pin and the ref still counting? Did he just not notice?
–Averno countering SUWA’s FFF (Pedigree) with a ‘rana was neat, although it relies on SUWA doing more of a powerbomb than a Pedigree.
–CIMA, who I thought looked the best in the match, had a really nice sequence with Averno, the one that ended with CIMA hitting the Schwein for the pin.
–Shocker hulking up on Nosawa was pretty awesome.
–Any clue why Shocker got himself DQ’d against Dragon? Is he just being a dick?
–Wagner plants Dragon with the Wagner driver for the win. Mexico always wins these kinds of matches.
–Clipping hurt this a lot, but I’m glad I saw it. I don’t know if I’d go out of my way to see it. Maybe if a full version pops up somewhere.

We get a wacky skit with Los Boriquas. Man, their ranks are thin. What happened to Killer, Bulldog, and Veneno (did he turn tecnico)? The unmasked Violencito lloks like Jean Pierre Lafitte, complete with eyepatch.

OK get this. We have Pierroth, Saddam, and Violencia vs. Porky, Gran Markus, and Cien Caras. Yikes. I can’t come up with a worse combo if I tried. Is Saddam still Scorpio? Didn’t really look like him and he was pretty spry in the ring. Markus is whipping Pierroth with his belt, so Pierroth bops Gran with brass knucks and gets disqualified. So belts are fine but knucks are not. Segunda caida is really short as Caras powerbombs Pierroth and pins him with his feet on the ropes. This may have been the worst match I ever saw on CMLL. Really, it was just that bad.