CMLL Line - 01/19/03 (#71)
Recapped: 05/21/03

1 CMLL Middleweight Title
Emilio Charles Jr. (c) vs Atlantis
01/15/03, Arena Coliseo
78
1 trios 6:16 Emilio Octopus No interference! These two aren't still interesting without partners or a heated feud or perhaps a miracle in Emilio's case.
2 :52 Atlantis bodyscissors cradle
3 3:15 Emilio top rope splash
T 10:23 Emilio retains (2-1)

Notes: oh my, this best actually exists. In Atlantis' corner, Ringo Mendoza. In Emilio's corner, Scorpio Jr. Referee warns both sides about interface and please stay in the ring. Announcers say the weight limit here is 87 kg, I think.

Circle to start fall one. Lockup, break. Lockup, Atlantis with a front facelock. Cranking it in. Emilio to an armbar. Atlantis gets tripped up, and Emilio tries to go to a Fujiwara armbar. Atlantis turns over, then ends up rolling them both into the ropes. Single leg. Emilio with an inside leg grapevine, Atlantis responding with a chinlock while still in the hold. Emilio breaks free, so Atlantis turns over and scissors the arm into a cross-armbreaker. Emilio rolls Atlantis over, hooks the legs, and pulls forward. Atlantis kicks him away and grabs a toe hold. You gotta love the mat wrestling opening of title matches. Well, I do because I have plenty of time in between moves. Atlantis with a legdrop on the leg, and we'll call that an inverted figure four. Emilio gets out of it quick anyway, so it doesn't matter - figure four sleeper! Atlantis rolls over on his stomach, gets his head free, and ties up Emilio's legs again. Pulling Emilio over - hey, it's a bow and arrow lift. Emilio does flip out of it and lands on Atlantis for one two kickout. And now let's stand up and circle because nothing's been accomplished. Lockup, dueling waistlock leads to an Atlantis armdrag back into the cross arm-breaker. Emilio manages to roll on to his stomach to reverse this into a leg hold of some kind. Grounded crucifix cover one two no Atlantis with a reverse bodyscissors into a bridge cover one two no. And another break we have. Circle. Crowd. We miss how we get to Emilio having Atlantis on the mat, but Atlantis bridges out of the cover at two and turns it around, Emilio escapes with a backdrop, Atlantis rolls through and pushes Emilio off, Emilio comes back with a jacknife cover one two no. Emilio to a double leg takedown, high Boston Crab. Atlantis has no where in particular to go, but he doesn't seem close to giving up - he uses unbelievable leg strength to reverse to a 'rana cradle one two reversed one two Atlantis grabs the ropes. Break again. Emilio charges and hits a dropkick. Corner whip, reversed, Emilio backdrops Atlantis to the apron, Atlantis with a shoulder to the midsection, quick to the top, cross body is rolled through one two NO. Atlantis' right is caught, Emilio catches him - Octopus! That'll do. (6:16) Champion take the first fall cleanly. Break.

We come break ready for fall 2. Emilio off the ropes, over - no, quick stop elbow drop on Atlantis. Corner whip, Emilio charge and misses a clothesline. Armdrag takeover by Atlantis, Emilio bumped into the corner (odd spot) Atlantis charges in and hits a monkey flip. Another corner charge by Atlantis, Emilio catches him and puts him on the corner buckle, but a right is blocked with a kick. Atlantis down with an armdrag, then hits the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Another? Sure. Bodyscissors cradle one two three. (:52) This was a bit shorter and quicker

Fall three starts off with Emilio missing a dropkick and Atlantis hitting a 'rana one no. Atlantis up quick, another 'rana one two NO. Count seems a bit slower here. Another 'rana - no, powerbomb! Emilio does not cover. Check out Ringo in his Atlantis T-shirt. Emilio senton one two NO. Scorpio is wearing a Scorpio T-Shirt. Back in the ring, Emilio grabs Atlantis and uses an abdominal stretch cradle one two no. Slam. Oh no he's going up. Second rope. Senton hits! One two NO! Emilio is wondering when time slowed down enough to make that two. Small package one two no. Emilio is slow to follow up, Atlantis small package one two no. Atlantis coming back now - tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Atlantis makes the 'give me the belt motion' here, maybe a moment too soon. Slam. Now he's going up, so let's look at the fans. Atlantis taking a day and a half to get there, but I think he wants Emilio to get up anyway. Missile dropkick might have not hit in any case, but Emilio did move. Emilio picking up Atlantis, and there's another slam. Fans are urging him to go up top so he can lose it, but Emilio ain't biting. Slam again. Now? Sure. Emilio waking to the corner with a purpose. And that purpose is a top rope splash! One two three. (3:15) That looked awful close to 2.99, but the referee thinks more 3.01. Atlantis and Ringo protest in order to make this seem like some screwy finish but it ain't happening. Replay. Atlantis' shoulder getting up and the third count happen almost simultaneous, but I think the referee made the right call here. Anyway, that was surprisingly clean.

2 Zumbido (c), Loco Max, Nitro vs Tony Rivera, Ricky Marvin, Safari
01/17/03, Arena Coliseo
79
1 trios :51
:55
Safari/Tony sunset flip/superkick Nitro
Tony Circuit Breaker Loco
This was fine while it lasted, but it really didn't.
2 4:09 DQ (press over the top rope)
T 6:04 tecnicos (2-0)

Notes: Zumbido and Loco Max may be proclaiming themselves as chick magnets, but Nitro's the one with two valets. As usual, Safari takes time to talk to the camera man, oblivious to the beat down his two partners are currently getting.

Normal rudo beat down in progress but we have an obvious clip. Ricky gets a corner whip, Zumbido charges in, Ricky ducks down and Zumbido takes his knee bump to the floor. The other two rudos just stand and stare while Ricky starts, stops, starts and hits the springboard somersault plancha to the floor in an impressive site. Now the other two tecnicos are clearing house - Safari and Tony hit a sunset flip/running superkick combo to take care of Nitro (:51) and Tony finishes Loco with the Circuit Breaker (:55) Fall one to the tecnicos, replays illustrate. Is Tony wearing his TONNY pants? I think so.

Fall 2 - how about Tony and Nitro to start? Tony off the ropes, over, stopping to lift Nitro into a side headlock, off the ropes, Nitro trips him up before he can get going, Nitro off the ropes, Tony rolls to his feet only to be shoulderblocked back down. Nitro off the ropes, under, into a leapfrog. Tony takes a moment to say hi to the crowd, corner charge, gets waved by, jumps to the second rope and comes back with a headscissors that takes Nitro out of the ring. Tony starts up for a dive, Nitro spots it and walks off, so Tony slides out and follows him into the crowd. They don't seem to get far, but back in the ring, Loco and Safari are staring. Loco with a push, open hand slap, open hands slap, right misses, Safari with a chop, chop, armdrag. Loco off the ropes, under, rolling over the roll, but taking a monkey flip after celebrating. Safari with a dropkick to take him out of the ring. Safari starts going for the dive, but looses track of Loco - Loco sneaks up and pulls him out of the ring. Right misses, and Safari hits an open hand slap. Safari tries to run Loco into the post, Loco pushes him off, but Safari stops short and Loco runs himself into the post. Open hand slap battle with Safari wining. Loco decides he's done with this and goes back to his own corner. Ricky and Zumbido in - Zumbido off the ropes, over, and hitting a clothesline that flips out Ricky. Zumbido celebrates by making motions to his crotch. Not my choice. Open hand slap, and down Ricky goes. Zumbido shows off his shadow boxing. Whip, Ricky back with the handspring elbow. Off the ropes, 619 is ducked and Zumbido flips him out with another clothesline. A bit of a Zumbido strut, whip, backdrop but Ricky lands on his feet - clothesline misses and Zumbido hits a wheel kick. Ricky rolls out, Zumbido starts running but Safari takes him out with a dropkick. Safari starts running, Loco tries to take Safari out but Safari knows it and sidesteps. Loco did get him to abort the dive, so it's not a total wasted effort. Charging at Safari is, though, as he takes a backdrop. Safari slow to cover, one two no. Loco with a hard clothesline, off the ropes, hard clothesline but Safari won't go down. Off the ropes a third time and Safari clotheslines him first. Wheel kick by Safari takes Loco out of the ring, pescado takes him down. Back in the ring, Marvin misses a clothesline on Marvin, but not Rivera. Double whip, double drop toe hold, off the ropes, double dropkick to the midsection. Zumbido in, Marvin ducks his clothesline try, Tony grabs Zumbido for a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker but Zumbido lands on his feet with the presence of mind to slap Tony really hard. Ricky misses a right and Zumbido gets him with a slap too. Nitro throws Tony out over the top as Zumbido poses over Ricky - double whip on Marvin, double press and toss to the floor on tot he other tecnicos! Nitro and Zumbido with a duel dive fakes and poses - but the match is over! (DQ 4:09) Well that's dumb. Over the top rope rule? I guess so. Zumbido is ticked. Nitro is unhappy about that decision. 

3 Infernales (Satanico (c), Averno, Mephisto) vs Terrible, Olimpico, Black Warrior (c)
01/17/03, Arena Coliseo
80
1 trios 1:43 triple submission Warrior This match was a nice continuation of Terrible's antics, but otherwise nothing much.
2 3:38
3:53
Warrior Quebrada Averno
Terrible top rope splash Mephisto
3 2:21
2:59
triple submission Terrible
Olimpico/Warrior DCO
T 8:35 Rudos (2-1)

Notes: Joined with everyone in the ring already. Satanico is amused by Terrible's tough guy act. Looooooooong shot of the fans. I bet the match is already going when we come back.

The match is already going when we come back from the crowd shot. Black Warrior is getting tripled in the rudo corner. Beatdown is on - Terrible gets knocked off the apron and Olimpico gets isolated in the ring as Warrior is stomped out. Whip, back elbow for Olimpico. There's the double team elevated sit. Terrible is taken down in the ring. Double whip, double backdrop. Juniors hold so Satanic can dropkick. Terrible and Mephisto hold Terrible, barely on the apron and leaning off it with legs spread, while Satanico gets ready - ah, running sliding dropkick to the groin to knock him completely to the floor. (Not a DQ) Warrior in, and is warmed quick. Satanico gets a spinebuster. Double team flapjack by the others. Everyone grab an appendage triple submission and that's it for him. He's the captain so that's it (1:43)

Break, and right back with the rudo beatdown. Double corner whip for Olimpico, corner clothesline, corner clothesline, corner back elbow. Terrible in next. Everyone takes a turn giving him an open hand slap. Hair beal. Hair beal. Hair beal. Black Warrior back in - he's trying to figure out how to do this 1 one 3 but it doesn't work. Double whip, double back elbow. Running boot to the head. He's thrown out. Olimpico back in and pummeled around. Comeback must be soon, because Warrior's hanging up on the apron instead of the floor. Satanico with a crucifix lift, but Mephisto come over to help and that cues a double headscissors/armdrag takeover. Averno tries to hold Olimpico but gets masked and here goes the comeback. We keep missing the cool stuff, although Olimpico gets a tremendously elaborate armdrag at one point. Warrior uses a low blow headbutt but does not get caught. We watch Warrior hanging around the ring and apron while the fight is going in the crowd. Not a good night for camera work. Back to a normal match - well, not so much as Terrible gets to slap all three rudos. Of course, they're all still standing from that, so Terrible celebrating is a very bad idea. Double whip, backdropped to the floor. Olimpico and Warrior in clearing out the Infernales with dropkicks, but Averno remains. Warrior and Averno size each other up (Olimpico gets slapped down?)  and battle with slaps. No advantage, Averno off the ropes, under, bodyscissors but Warrior reverse with a wheel barrow suplex! Quebrada one two three (3:38) Mephisto back in but Olimpico catchers him - fallaway slam. Olimpico going up, but never gets to dive - we catch it too late, but it appears Terrible hit a top rope splash of his own and stole the pin (3:53) Was Warrior going to break it up there? I don't know. Olimpico is very unhappy about that and Terrible laughs it off. Olimpico reluctantly decides not to smack his partner, although he winds up like he's going to do it a couple times. Replays show no camera crew caught Terrible's move. Wonderful job.

Third fall, as Terrible is explaining his point to the tecnicos, but they'd like him to go away and wrestle already, sick of his story. Averno is eager to get started, but Terrible would like to taunt Satanico. This leads to a confrontation but eventually it is decided that Satanico will take on the youngin'. Slap battle is on. Terrible cheats and goes for a kick, headbutt, and then some punches. Corner whip, corner clothesline. Celebration. Whip, and Terrible hits a boot. Yelling at Satanico now - whip, clothesline connects painfully and Satanico is out of the ring. Terrible leans over the top rope to yell at him, but Mephisto is in - backdrop, dropkick to take Terrible out. Olimpico misses a dropkick on Mephisto, but Mephisto charges into a backdrop. Olimpico off the ropes, slides under Mephisto on the apron and gives him an apron chindrop. Averno in, Averno hits a pescado on Olimpico. WARRIOR TOPE but he gets Olimpico! Things quickly falling apart for the tecnico team, and it's Terrible and Satanico back in the ring. Terrible misses a clothesline and takes a backdrop. Satanico with a running elbow drop, one two NO. Terrible with a kick, headbutt, yell. Powerbomb? Gory Special! Mephisto breaks it up with a kick to the leg, and the Junior Infernales get to double team stomping. Satanico catches his breath and they triple team Terrible - everyone grab a limb submission. (2:21) A face first powerbomb for effect. Junior Infernales get in a few more stomps - they're dangerously close to getting DQed, but what actually happens is the tecncios get counted out and that's it. (2:59) Immediately to break...they're obviously pushing the limits of how much of this match they can fit into the show.

4 Tarzan Boy (c), Mascara Ano 2000, Apolo Dantes vs Vampiro (c), Super Porky, Shocker
01/17/03, Arena Coliseo
81
1 trios 4:32
4:46
Vampiro Stunner Apolo
Porky Fisherman's Suplex Ano
Typical Coliseo main event/Porky match in that with funny spots in an okay match.
2 1:33
1:58
triple powerbomb Shocker
Apolo top rope splash Porky
3 5:09
5:19
Porky sit down splash Apolo
Shocker top rope elbow drop Ano
T 12:03 Rudos (2-1)

Notes: Apolo yells at the camera to indicate he's a heel this week. Also, he and Shocker aren't friends this week. We get full entrances for this match.

In fact, let's have Apolo start to establish this - open hand slaps for all the tecnicos. Apolo turns to celebrating and get beat a little bit by everyone. I have the feeling we're heading into comedy. Everyone stands around and starts for a bit. Clip to Porky vs Ano? Not sure if they skipped there or not. We do some "Porky is Big and Fat" stuff and catch catch Mascara on a cross body. Porky muscle pose - Mascara can not catch Porky's cross body. Mascara can not slam Porky so far. Slam, Atlas pose, tag to Vampiro. Apolo's got more facepaint than usual. Are they going to wrestle? No, they argue with shoves. Apolo kicks and punches first, so he's the winner. Back to yelling. Headlock. Shoot off the ropes, back with a shoulderblock but it doesn't work. Off the ropes, Vampiro drops down, quick stop stomps by Apolo. Apolo off the ropes and a clothesline implausibility flips Vampiro out. Corner boot choke. Corner whip, monkey flip? Eventually - ah, they had to make sure Vampiro was ready to land on his feet. Step over spin kick to the chest hits, though Apolo tries to fake a low blow. No one even slightly believes him. So to Tarzan and Shocker. Tarzan off the ropes, over, quick stop chop but Shocker ducks, hits his own. Whip, clothesline misses, armdrag works. Shocker pose. Tarzan, upset about how by the numbers we're going, hits a clothesline to break this up. And then he poses, eh. Whip, dropkick but Shocker has the ropes, now Shocker has Tarzan's legs and Tarzan is catapulted to the floor. Shock fakes the dive because this is only the first fall. Now that we've got everyone in, Apolo would like a second chance, but is nice enough to wait, allowing us to work in a replay of Tarzan's slingshot trip to the floor. Back live, Apolo with an ineffective shoulderblock and Vampiro with a kick. Corner whip, reversed, Vampiro rebounds out into a drop toe hold. Apolo tries the elbow drop but no one's home. Vampiro ducks a clothesline, kick wham Stunner will the ref get in position to count? Sometime today...ah, there we go. One two three. (4:32) That was more of a 7 than a 3. Holy crap, Porky just did a Fisherman's Suplex on Mascara Ano! Not the world's best but still. Vampiro helps Porky from breaking his back on the bridge (4:46) Shocker chases Tarzan Boy around the ring area, finally throwing him down by his hair in the ring and trying to rip his hair off. Shocker is asking the fans if they want more, but I think he should be happy with wining the fall. Another hair toss and a butt bump from Porky, and they manage not to get DQ. Pose with the mascot. I hope the next fall is 2 minutes long.

Vampiro and Apolo to start this one - they go reaching, and Apolo cuts him off with a kicks and knees to the midsection. Trying to drag Vampiro to the rudo corner and eventually successful. Three on one beatings is warned against, but then Porky accidentally distracts the referees so it happens anyway. Apolo with a fireman's carry, Mascara with a powerbomb, Tarzan with a legdrop, Apolo with a senton, Mascara with a senton, rolling him up - well, whatever was gonna happen next is broken by Shocker making a beeline for Tarzan - Tarzan hold him so Mascara can beat him down. Whip for Shocker, Mascara with the spinebuster lift for Apolo's open hand slap. Triple whip, triple pump powerbomb. Everyone cover. One two three. (1:33) Vampiro's on the floor, so they all beat up Porky as best as such a thing is possible. Double suplex! Apolo hits the top rope splash and that should do it - one two three. (1:58) Hey, it was two minutes. Thanks! I bet the next fall will be filled with more rudo dominating leading to a 1:00 comeback to the tecnico with Porky hitting a top rope splash to win it. Oh wow, I just noticed that Tarzan's tights have Powerpuff Girl Buttercup on the butt. That's ODD.

We do pick up in a rudo beatdown for fall three - Shocker takes a big boot from Tarzan but tries to take him out - Mascara and Apolo do a better job of holding him in place and beating him down after. Apolo hits a rope swinging dropkick to Porky on the outside, which ends up tumbling into the front row people. We get a replay that shows it a lot better - fans are squashed. Tarzan is trying to see how far he can pull Shocker around, setting him up for a double swinging dropkick. Vampiro tries to make a run and at 2 on 2 it should work, but one of those 2 is Porky and not really much help right now. Apolo and Vampiro are on the ground working holds, Mascara is slowly working over Porky, and Shocker and Tarzan are wandering around outside. Not much in the way of action. Crowd got behind Porky for no reason. Back outside, we see that Shocker has turned the tide some how on Tarzan Boy, throwing him in the apron by his hair. With absolute no warning, the tecnicos are mounting a comeback. Did Vampiro just use a scissors kick? And after a bit of action, we're down to posing. This is a less than enthralling match. Shot of fans. Shot of rudos huddling up on the outside. Apolo comes back in - he'll take on Shocker.  Or he'll sucker Shocker into an ambush with help from Mascara Ano. Double corner whip, corner clothesline, corner clothesline, corner clothesline. Vampiro gets the same treatment and goes Tiiiiiimber. Porky posses the agility to escape the charges and hit a double clothesline of his own, giving us two comebacks in the space of 90 seconds. Tarzan tries a sunset flip on Porky, then points to his head when he recovers enough intelligence to avoid the sit. Mascara with a senton on Porky, ducks Shocker's clothesline but feels Vampiro's clothesline. It's all kinda breaking loose. Porky gets a big sit on Apolo with help from Vampiro for one two three. (5:09) Shocker hits the top rope elbow drop on Mascara one two three. (5:19) Tarzan kinda stood in the corner and didn't really participate for the last minute there - that was odd. He contents himself with his muscles. Porky hugs the mascot. The tecnicos and the rudos who aren't obvious fans of the Cartoon Network have a bit of standoff post match, but that's it.


Rating: Bases on the quality of the finish, ring work, internal/external storyline, consistency and my whims. Also, various other (random) factors that I can't think of right now. 0-100 for matches.

Breakdowns: 4 Matches (37:05) about 49.4% of showtime (75:00); 
Average Match Rating 79.5
Overall Show Rating: 2 (missable)
3 Trios, 1 Singles
2 Tecnico over Rudo wins, 2 Rudo over Tecnico wins
1 Title Matches (CMLL Middleweight, 1)
Show Assessment: It happened! But that's all.

Closing Notes: 

1. The fact that the scores were slightly escalating was probably coincidence, But definetely they were all unmemorable.
2. Except for the first Middleweight Title citing on this show. I bet we don't see it again for a long time.
3. Terrible may not impress me as a worker, but he's working the arrogant tecnico bit well
4. Nice of Tarzan to do his "Juvi in the undercard" impression.
5. But to be fair, I guess I was too.