Recapped: 07/05/2017
Matches:
All matches aired live from Arena Mexico on July 4th.
Fantasy & Stukita beat Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro
(14:12 [7:16, 4:20, 2:36], 2/3 DQ, ok], via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Flyer, Príncipe Diamante, Sensei beat Metálico, Misterioso Jr., Sangre Azteca
(14:57 [6:23, 3:39, 4:55], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Fuego, Johnny Idol, Stigma beat Cancerbero, Raziel, Universo 2000 Jr.
(12:27 [6:03, 3:29, 2:55], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Drone beat Puma in a lightning match
(8:31, headstand double knee smash, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Ángel de Oro, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther beat Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
(11:23 [5:19, 2:46, 3:18], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Volador Jr. beat Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas
(6:58 [2:05, 1:23, 3:30], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Universo 2000 hurt is wrist on his second fall finish on Fuego. He can’t hold him down right for a pin, but Tirantes won’t count because Fuego’s shoulders aren’t down. Universo and Tirantes have words as Universo leaves the ring to check with the doctor and then go to the back. It’s a sudden injury that not obvious about what happened, but CMLL is aware enough not to replay it.
Misterioso replaced Arkangel in the second and feuded with Flyer, including Flyer getting the surprise pinfall when Misterioso wasn’t paying attention in the second fall and Misterioso taking Flyer’s mask after the third fall. Flyer had a new (at least to me) tattoo down his spine.
Pequeño Nitro unmasked Fantasy out of nowhere. No one saw it coming, especially not the producer who gave us a clean shot of Fantasy’s unmasked face.
Thoughts:
The ending visual was cool but there’s nothing else to really watch in the main event. I’m not sure if Volador had a new look gear or just wrestled the entire match in his entrance gear, but it was about the effort you’d expect in a Tuesday main event. Diamante Azul looked worse here than his other match and his tope to the floor is oddly bad.
The semimain easily the most fun trios match of the card, but noticeably less than their usual matches and it’s hard not to downgrade it from there. The NGD are still such a good trio that they should never ever break them up; they get the idea of being a team and working together on stuff. Not sure Panther Jr. landed one of his many quebradoras clean, and his STF at the end was so slow that I was wondering if he was hurt somehow. His brother just randomly flying thru the ring to get in an extra tope was wonderful.
The lightning match was a total action match, though maybe too much action – the first half felt definitely like it was scenes from a 15 minute match being cut down to 8. They were just going for the big spots with not as much in between. It showed signs they could they have a real great match in them, but made this felt a bit disjointed. Still a lot here to like, they mesh well with each other and did some creative stuff in the fake finishing sequence.
I have no notes about the tercera, but don’t remember it being all that much outside the injury.
Misterioso, subbing in lower then his usual position, looked that much better than everyone else. He’s pretty much wrestling the same match every time out, but he’s not screwing up things like Principe Diamante and Sangre Azteca in this. Sensei & Metálico had a rough third fall exchange for guys who work together all the time. The finish here made the técnicos look like chumps, as normal.
The opener was typically unmemorable. The rudos played a little stronger rudos than usual and Fantasy was a bit more fired up, maybe because he’s getting an actual feud. Stukita remains much better than he should be for his spot.