CMLL on Fox Sports (Mexico): 2014-09-27 – 81st Anniversary

Zeuxisault

recap

taped 2014-09-19 @ Arena México

mandatory Dragon Lee falling on his head gif

Blue Panther, Cachorro, Dragon Lee vs Felino, Puma, Tiger: [GOOD] Really good action when it was going well, with Puma and Tiger looking great throughout and everyone else having their big moments. They seemed to layout the match to get a lot of Blue Panther in early – either to make sure the crowd was behind the técnicos or to prevent nervous youngsters from derailing it – and it was mostly good, but I would’ve preferred to see the rudos be able to do more athletic/complicated stuff during the beatdown segment rather than just get in their trademark stuff. (Overall, for a Blue Panther match, this was a lot more routine big match trios spots and less unexpected moments than usual for him – it was safer than he might do on a random Tuesday.) Crowd got into the big stuff, loved Blue Panther’s triple tope, and the young guys ended up with enough moments to shine. There were a few moments of guys not being on the same page – usually involving Panther of all people – but overall the match went smoothly.

over the top headscissors (and a Cachorro dive not captured as well)
mouse trap
Cachorro all in tope
Dragon Lee boosted tope con giro
#superkick vs big boot
Estrellita tope

Goya Kong vs Estrellita, Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Amapola, Zeuxis, Tiffany, Dallys la Caribeña [Copa 81 Aniversario]: [GOOD] Zeuxis seemed to get put over hardest of anyone on the show, which was definitely an unexpected turn of events – she got the last three pinfalls for her team and kicked out of Marcela’s double stomp in the process. (It makes a bit more sense when you look at the current collection of CMLL rudas – with Sugehit a tecnica and Blanca gone, there’s a big void on that side.) Zeuxis still has cool moves and need someone more skilled to keep it together, but she had Marcela for that and came off looking like a new star. This entire match was a bit better than expected. Most of the gaffes were Estrellita related and she got out of there quick. There were enough big spots and a fast enough pace to keep the crowd interested, though that pace had it’s downsides. Selling was pretty much non existent, as the person taking the move was already sprinting to get back up because it’d be their turn for a move (and this was nothing but your turn my turn once the eliminations started.) They could’ve used more time or less moves to let the drama build a little bit; the announcers pushed the idea of Zeuxis going farther than expected after she eliminated Sugehit, but it was all happening so fast that it really didn’t sink in live until she actually won the thing.

death via boot to the face
casual cartwheel double knee to the chest
Sugehit knockout kick
facecrushing front cracker
Marcela Driver
this is what you get for sitting up
top rope double sotmp
Zeuxis wins!
Dorada’s tornillo senton

Máscara Dorada, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Mr. Niebla, Thunder: [OK] What we learned here is what we always knew: the Kiss Demon went to the wrong promotion. This was all a Thunder showcase, with not enough of the técnicos to make it worthwhile. They tried hard with Thunder, but he also forgot what he was doing during the match and got in other people’s ways during it. Cameras hid how much Valiente had to reposition Thunder on Volador’s first fall dive – Valiente pretty much saved Volador from crashing and burning there. Poor Euforia got nothing out of this match – Niebla at least got to be Niebla.

Valiente Special, just as soon as Thunder moves out of the way
Cometa stage moonsault

Rey Cometa vs Bárbaro Cavernario for the hair: [EXCELLENT] Just the perfect match for the two, with them telling their story thru just destroying each other with big moves. Everything important went perfectly right – Cavernario was not afraid to try the corner post tope again and had no problems this time – and all those things were so big enough to win over the crowd. They loved Cavernario and they respected Cometa by the end. They escaped the usual flaws off this sort of match, with Cavernario taking over for an extended period after a long stretch of back and forth, and both trying and getting legitimate match ending moves before the actual end. It was worked like a match which could go either way and it felt that way too. A great show.

Cavernario has had enough of these flips
Cavernario greets Cometa with a dropkick to the face
ring post tope con giro by Cometa
#superkick
Cometa evades his way to a 450 splash to take the fall
Barbaro nails the thru the corner tope (instead of nailing the post)
Brillo Cometa
splash to the floor
Shocker is in a bad spot

La Máscara & Rush vs Negro Casas & Shocker © for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship: [GOOD] A solid match with some good spots you’d only get on an Anniversary show, but also a flawed one. Shocker’s missteps stuck out even more live than they do on video. He wasn’t the same after his dive, but he wasn’t stellar before it either. The match was designed for Negro to all of the complicated stuff, and I had to wonder how much better this could be if they had someone else in Shocker’s spots (not to mention what it would’ve done for someone with more upside than 2014 Shocker.) The fight was good when it was going well, with Mascara less frustrating than usual and Rush and Negro Casas bringing their bet game. It is a little weird to go from Rush destroying Casas in their hair match to playing fearful of his and Shocker’s chops, especially in that first fall.

dropkick to the lower lower leg
Shocker outsmarts Rush, concludes the good portion of his match
apron dropkick bragging
UG takes fall 1

Atlantis vs Último Guerrero for the mask: [EXCELLENT] This is a good/great match raised weight the weight of the moment and the emotion of the crowd, and I don’t think the latter is totally conveyed by the internet/TV version. You get some of it, but the feeling there was incredible (and all the crowd shots in the world can’t really capture that.) The post match really adds a lot to feeling of the moment; it’s a different match if you just stop watching at the submission. Kind of amusing that the first two falls were the match ending when people weren’t expecting to it, and then the last minute of the match could’ve been predicted weeks or months ago. Except maybe a few beats faster. A lot of the third fall was predictable too, but it all worked for this match – it would’ve been less authentic if Ultimo Guerrero fought this any other way. Both guys rose to the occasion. This was the athletic match of Cometa/Cavernario but they still had to do a lot more than a usual night, and they pulled it all off great.

Atlantis uses UG’s hold to take fall 2
Atlantis old man tope
senton de la muerte almost muerte for UG
old man plancha to the floor
Guerrero Special fails…
…and Atlantis wins it
the ultimate moment of Ultimo Guerrero