CMLL (FRI) 09/13/2013 Arena Mexico [CMLL, CNN Mexico, Esto, LuchaWorld, MedioTiempo (masks), MedioTiempo (rest), Porra Fresa, Viva La Vida, Yahoo! Deportes]
***CMLL 80th Anniversary show***
1) Ishii, Namajague, Shigeo Okumura b Fuego, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr.
Namajague wore his mask to the ring and both teams entered as groups. Ishii’s CMLL debut; he and Stuka hit each other hard (which seems to be Ishii’s spot here.) Japan took 1/3 with Ishii beating Stuka via delayed superplex.
2) Euforia, Mephisto, Niebla Roja b Brazo de Plata, Máximo, Titán
Rudos took 1/3. Mephisto had a new scary mask. Super Porky actually did the much teased tope for the first time in years (and lived!) Euforia submitted Maximo and Mephisto lifted up Porky for La Rosa in a strong show of strength.
3) Marco Corleone, Rush, Vangelis b Negro Casas, Shocker, Terrible [Relevos Increíbles]
Straight falls. Vangelis and Marco beat Shocker and Terrible in the first while everyone was watching Negro and Rush fight on the outside. Negro/Rush was the center of the match, though the crowd was very into Shocker too. Shocker pinned Vangelis & Marco pinned Terrible, then Shocker & Marco spilled out of the ring. Rush landed a top rope double on Rush, Rush kicked out, and Rush eventually got the pin by using the ropes. Rush was very happy with himself – crowd was not happy with him.
4) Averno b Blue Panther [hair]
Submission rules, as promised. Panther submitted Averno with a palanca. Averno surprised Panther with heelhook in the second. Lots of back and forth in the third fall, including Averno reversing holds into pinfalls but Tirantes refusing to count. Panther caught Averno in his armbar, Mephisto threw in the towel, Panther let go, Mephisto grabbed the towel and pulled it out before Tirantes saw it, Panther was distracted and caught in a sleeper by Averno for the win. Panther got his hair shaved in the ring.
5) La Sombra & Volador Jr. b Atlantis & Último Guerrero [winners advance]
Atlantis & UG dominated the early portion of the one fall match, both sides hit big moves, and the Sombra & Volador team defeated Atlantis & UG with a Brillante Driver and Spanish Fly. Crowd hated this result and chanted Fraude loudly during the rest of the show and after it.
6) Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Valiente b Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Rey Escorpión [CMLL TRIOS]
Tecnicos took 2/3 to keep the titles (second defense.) Crowd chanted FRAUDE through the match, but did respond to the closing dives by the tecnicos.
7) La Sombra b Volador Jr. [mask]
Sombra took falls 2/3, the last a long fall won via super Canadian Destroyer. Crowd chanted Fraude during the first two falls, but eventually supported Volador and went back to being unhappy after he lost. Volador Jr. was announced as Ramon Ibarra Rivera, 32 years old, 17 years a luchador.
We talked about this show a lot on the podcast. This show had three great/excellent level matches but is forever going to be remembered for the Fraude chants after the tag title match (and thru the rest of the show.) CMLL believes there was no fraud – they said the other match wouldn’t happen – but they obviously didn’t prepare the fans enough for the possibility. They could’ve just done Sombra vs Volador from the outset, but they probably don’t get the near-sellout at those prices because obviously a lot of people who came wouldn’t have bought tickets at that price for that show. CMLL picked
Crowd is going to be very down this week. Crowd was going to be much down no matter what the outcome was (though there might have been more interest in the first shot at seeing Atlantis unmasked.) The real evaluation is the size of the crowd for the next big show, or for Atlantis/UG. If the fans still turn out, this still worked out fine and CMLL got two big gates out of that match. If it doesn’t, if CMLL’s driven off the fans who will show up once or twice a year for huge matches, they may have broken the current scheme. The weekly normal shows may and probably will go down (though it’s hard to go much farther down), but CMLL seems to be just breaking even on those and making their money on the big shows. It’s a big help if they can multiple them by dragging out the Atlantis/UG match, it’s a big problem if they break them by giving the fans an outcome they were not prepared to see.
It’s actually kind of remarkable the last two matches were that good considering the crowd had totally turned on the show. My impression live was there were other Volador/Sombra matches which were better than this one, helped a lot by the crowd in those giving Sombra a shot. Sombra, Mistico and Rush are the symbols of what the 12,000 extra fans hate about CMLL and those people made their voices very clear. Crowd would’ve been anti-Sombra even if they weren’t upset about the tag team match, because they were anti-him before the show even started. It’s a remarkable difference from Sombra versus Nakamura just a couple months ago. Either CMLL needs to make themselves more accessible to those old and now only occasional fans – terra.mx.com probably doesn’t help there – or they need to find some new fans who see these guys as their guys.
CMLL was aware enough of the possible rebellion to have both the dance and the unrelated match buffer, not that it worked. My theory is Blue Panther versus Averno in the semifinal spot would’ve had a better chance of calming down the crowd. I’m not sure anything would’ve done it completely and the chant would’ve come back right when the title match came back. I’m 100% sure that the last person to send out there get a crowd to stop chanting FRAUDE is the fake Mistico.
Live, and because of the reactions, Blue Panther versus Averno felt like the best match. I will probably end up watching the DVD and maybe my impression will change. Every match seemed good, though the tag team title match was close to “tournament match good” than a really good match.
It didn’t click until seeing all the results together, but this was very downbeat show. Team Mexico lost. Super Porky’s team lost. Negro Casas’ team lost and there’s no doubt that’s crowd favorite team. Blue Panther lost. Atlantis & Ultimo Guerrero lost. Volador was easily the crowd favorite in the mask match and he lost. Only the Estetas won and they weren’t in a position where most fans felt great about their victory.
On Facebook, Volador thanked his fans for supporting him and promised this was just the start of a new chapter.
Kcidis has an illustration of the winner.