July 8, 2017 – luchablog

Monito wasn’t a fan of Rey Cometa’s ideas

CMLL (FRI) 07/07/2017 Arena México [CMLL, Ovaciones, thecubsfan]
1) La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit, Silueta b Dalys, La Seductora, Zeuxis
12:58. Tecnicas took 1/3, Sugehit submitting Zeuxis
2) Blue Panther, Pegasso, Rey Cometa b Misterioso Jr., Sam Adonis, Virus
Tecnicos took 2/3, Panther submitting Adonis
3) Pierroth, Ripper, Rush b Shocker, Terrible, Vangellys [Relevos Increíbles]
Ingobernables were DQed in the first fall for taping Vangellys to the ropes and shoving down the referee. Vangellys was DQed for excessive violence in the second. Pierroth used brass knuckles to knock out Vangellys in the third.
4) Niebla Roja & Soberano Jr. b Último Guerrero, Diamante Azul, Mephisto, Marco Corleone, Mistico, Ephesto [CMLL Universal, battle royal]
2:56. Diamante Azul (Occidente Heavy) replaced Atlantis (right knee injury, MEX LH) on Wednesday.
5) Diamante Azul b Ephesto [CMLL Universal, 8f]
3:28.
6) Último Guerrero b Marco Corleone [CMLL Universal, 8f]
1:58.
7) Mistico b Mephisto [CMLL Universal, 8f]
7:28, best match of the block
8) Niebla Roja b Soberano Jr. [CMLL Universal, 8f]
3:22
9) Último Guerrero b Diamante Azul [CMLL Universal, quarterfinal]
3:36
10) Niebla Roja b Mistico [CMLL Universal, quarterfinal]
5:31
11) Último Guerrero b Niebla Roja [CMLL Universal, semifinal]
7:31. UG won via mask pull.

Not a good show. Mistico/Mephisto is the only thing you need to make time for. The main event was something you’d lay out if they’d given up on Niebla Roja, which I do not believe is the case.

Titan will replace Atlantis on the ROH/NJPW/RPW UK tour in mid August. It’s a good pick. It’ll be Titan’s first trip to the UK, after just making his first trip to the US. Atlantis had been announced for a singles match with Ultimo Guerrero on one of the shows, it’s not clear yet if Titan will just slip into this place for that.

+LuchaTV posted an interview (from Region12 Oficial) where Universo 2000 talks about his medical issues. His doctor told him he only had three hours to live at one point, but he’s doing much better now. It sounds like his wrestling career is over though.

Mistico did an interview to promote an appearance in Cuernavaca, and said the doctors told him it would take two years for him to fully recover from his motorcycle accident. He feels fine now.

Tirantes disputes the idea of a crisis in lucha libre. He says CMLL is drawing 4000-5000 fans Sundays, 6000-7000 fans Tuesday, and 9000-12000 on Fridays. Tirantes says 30 years ago there were only 50 arenas holding lucha libre shows and now there are 500. This does not appear to be remotely accurate, but it’s nice to see some positive thoughts.

Dragon Solar, in AAA’s La Llave de la Gloria contest, is a street vendor selling bracelets in his real job. He talks about the struggles and lack of income they can go thru with their own business, and you can see how him winning this contest or even just getting more work of it would mean a lot.

The Crash will have a show on 08/10 in San Luis Potosi. The poster includes Blue Demon among the usual names.

Season 1 of Lucha Underground finished airing this Friday on SamuraiTV, and they’ll start airing Season 2 on August 4th.

Lucha Underground posted a promo of Taya talking about her match this week with Jeremiah Crane. She mentions Ivelisse’s injury, Crane mentioned Ivelisse’s injury last week, but I’m not sure it’s ever been mentioned on the actual show. It’s a weird choice.

Fuego en el Ring has the new edition of their podcast.

Lineups

CMLL (FRI) 07/14/2017 Arena México
1) Astral, Sensei, Star Jr. vs Akuma, Arkángel de la Muerte, Metálico
2) La Vaquerita, Marcela, Silueta vs Amapola, Dalys, Zeuxis
3) Blue Panther, Diamante Azul, Soberano Jr. vs Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Sam Adonis
4) Vangellys vs Pierroth [hair]
5) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
6) Volador Jr. vs Último Guerrero [CMLL Universal]

It would seem to be Volador Jr.’s time to finally win this, but it’s also Ultimo Guerrero. It sneakily doesn’t matter either way, because it doesn’t seem to be leading into anything else. The only thing we can really learn from it is CMLL is aware it’s a much more important match than the Vangellys/Pierroth match.

Semimain should be good too. Tercera has more Panther/Adonis. Women’s match seems weird to have Zeuxis and not Sugehit, but that’s because this is the second night of Mae Young Classic. CMLL hasn’t acknowledged Sugehit being in the tournament, but this would seem to confirm Zeuxis (and the other five women) aren’t in it. WWE screwed up but CMLL fans win. ROH fans should be winning on this too, but we’ll see if they figure it out.

Recapped: 07/07/2017

Matches:

All matches aired live from Arena Mexico.

La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit, Silueta beat Dalys, La Seductora, Zeuxis
(12:58 [5:17, 3:08, 4:33], 1/3, ok)

Blue Panther, Pegasso, Rey Cometa beat Misterioso Jr., Sam Adonis, Virus
(12:54 [4:41, 2:43, 5:30], 2/3, ok)

Pierroth, Ripper, Rush beat Shocker, Terrible, Vangellys in a relevos increíbles match
(11:01 [3:39, 2:40, 4:42], 2/3 DQ, bad)

The battle royal lasted 2:56

Diamante Azul beat Ephesto in a CMLL Universal eighthfinal
(3:28, side slam, ok)

Último Guerrero beat Marco Corleone in a CMLL Universal eighthfinal
(1:58, roll thru pin, ok)

Mistico beat Mephisto in a CMLL Universal eighthfinal
(7:28, La Mistica, good)

Niebla Roja beat Soberano Jr. in a CMLL Universal eighthfinal
(3:22, middle rope Furia Roja, ok)

Último Guerrero beat Diamante Azul in a CMLL Universal quarterfinal (3:36, pulpo Guerrero, OK)

Niebla Roja beat Mistico in a CMLL Universal quarterfinal
(5:31, Canadian Destroyer, ok)

Último Guerrero beat Niebla Roja in a CMLL Universal semifinal
(7:31, mask pull, ok)

What happened:

The final card before the (so far unnamed) big show on July 14^th had some very predictable stories. Último Guerrero won this portion of the CMLL Universal bracket, going thru Marco Corleone, Diamante Azul and new rival Niebla Roja on the end. Último Guerrero used a mask pull to beat Niebla Roja, but only because he wanted to – he was clearly winning the match to that point. Niebla Roja challenged Último Guerrero to a mask versus mask match, then corrected himself to a mask versus hair match. Utlimo Guerrero challenged the same thing back, and then said they’d decide after this tournament ends.

This week’s Ingobernables/Vangellys match had no Fake Sombra and very little action. It did have tape and cords to tie Vangellys to the ropes during the match, and knuckles for Pierroth to knock Vangellys out at the end. Vangellys was unconscious for minutes, which seems like the sort of an injury which should keep someone out for at least a week. I think we’re still getting the mask match anyway.

The other two matches kept the current feuds running in place. Sugehit submitted Zeuxis this week, while Blue Panther did the same to Sam Adonis. The Panther/Adonis issue seems to be a real feud, though one with no certain direction.

Thoughts:

This show wasn’t much good.

Último Guerrero was cheered like crazy, really thru the whole tournament but especially at the end. Most people were happy with him with him winning and will go home having had a fun time at lucha libre. It was an OK quality match as a standalone thing. In the context of what CMLL is trying to promote, it was disaster. The Niebla Roja técnico stuff has been not done well from the moment it started and this night was definitely not a turning point. Roja needed a strong final – he had good times with Soberano and Mistico but no one’s going to remember those – he needed something to show he could go with Último Guerrero if the effort they’ve put into him is going to turn into anything. Instead, it was Último Guerrero doing the Último Guerrero match at the worst possible time.

CMLL tournaments matches tend to showcase the person who was losing to let them look good (and get in all of their stuff) before they exit the tournament. Niebla Roja was hasn’t done anything impressive outside his spinning forearm as a técnico (and he did that right away); this was the time for him to show he could do a lot more. What the match turned into was 80% Último Guerrero offense, playing all his favorite hits, and 15% of what Niebla Roja got was just the same spots every técnico gets in so Último Guerrero can take all his favorite bumps too. Último Guerrero could’ve saved all that for next week (and he’ll do the same exact things anyway), the only thing he needed to get out of this match was getting his hand raised after unmasking Niebla Roja. It helps Niebla Roja – and Último Guerrero too since he’s tied himself to this dude – so much if he was the one getting in 80% of the offense, if UG’s moves weren’t working because this guys had figured them out and UG needed to cheat just to get out with the win. Instead, they did a match where Niebla Roja came out looking like just another guy, a fool who screwed up his own challenge at the end. Último Guerrero has a great reputation as a wrestler, but nights like tonight should be part of his reputation as well.

(I’m not at all convinced Niebla Roja is the right guy, he’s been alright but not showing enough as a técnico and has generally come off as a person just lucky to be given this storyline. He caused himself to look like just another guy by deciding to use a Canadian Destroyer as a finish. Still, if you’re going to do this, do this for real, don’t do this to set up another failed tecnico.)

Speaking of failed técnicos, they’ve reached the point where Mistico is underutilized and underpushed in CMLL. It stuck out back when he wasn’t on the Gran Prix team, CMLL’s kind of missing out on something because they’re afraid the crowd will turn on him. Maybe the Anniversary show one still will, but he’s getting good reactions the other 51 weeks of the year and he’s not done much at all during them. His match with Mephisto was the only decently long good match of this tournament and the best thing on this show.

The Los Ingobernables trios was a mess and a joke and a waste of time. It’s also foreshadowing CMLL doing all those things and more next week to try and get around this obviously awful match they’ve been insistent on doing.

Adonis/Panther had none of those bells and whistles – no one really did all that much in that match until the third fall, to be honest – but the crowd is so into Adonis that they don’t have to do all that much. It’s cool they’re using Panther in this role as a specific call back to the Love Machine feud (which, to be noted, wasn’t really a US/Mexico focused thing until they brought it back in AAA), but I’m not sure that’s going to be a great looking singles match. It could really work as a setup to one of Panther’s sons avenging their father, but that’s way down the road. Right now I’m just amazed they’re doing something with it (and Misterioso keeps on stealing masks too.)

Sugehit & Zeuxis seemed to work less with each other this week and this was the most running in place match yet. I hope they get on with it after the Copa Natalia Vazquez, because it’s gone too long with nothing added for a long time. Jarochita attempting to break her neck is the only really memorable moment of the match.

Day: July 8, 2017

Ultimo Guerrero reaches Universal final again, Titan to UK, Universo 2000

CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-07-07