CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-07-14 

this was creative micro counters

Recapped: 07/14/2017

Matches: 

Akuma, Arkángel de la Muerte, Metálico beat Astral, Sensei, Star Jr. (18:17 [9:38, 4:50, 3:49], 2/3, below average)

Amapola, Dalys, Zeuxis beat La Vaquerita, Marcela, Silueta  
(15:17 [8:08, 2:46, 4:23], 1/3, ok)

Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Sam Adonis beat Blue Panther, Diamante Azul, Soberano Jr.
(10:39 [2:00, 2:02, 6:37], 2/3, ok)

Pierroth defeated Vangellys in a hair vs hair match
(6:41, 2/3, below average)

  1. Vangellys northern lights suplex (1:17)
  2. Pierroth middle rope senton (1:40)
  3. Pierroth Buca Storm (3:44)

Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico beat Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto

Volador Jr. beat Último Guerrero to win the CMLL Universal Championship
(22:42, 2/3, great)

  1. Pulpo Guerrero (4:07)
  2. Volador Code Red (2:43)
  3. Volador Spanish Fly (15:52)

What happened:

everyone lived

Volador defeated Último Guerrero to become the ninth CMLL Universal champion. It is the first time he’s won the annual tournament.

Pierroth defeated Vangellys in their hair match. No new Ingobernable interfered or appeared, and Pierroth won mostly clean. Vangellys later protested that Pierroth had used a piledriver to win, but it was (an attempt) at the same sort of finish Rey Bucanero and Joe Lider have used.

Sam Adonis came out wearing a Love Machine mask while attacking Blue Panther. He and his team were disqualified for excessive rudoness in the first fall. Comissioner Zavela came to the ring to demand Adonis unmask in the second fall, and Panther took care of it by untying and pulling the mask off. Panther through he won with in the third fall with the armbar, but Adonis was under the ropes. Sam Adonis held onto the ropes to beat Panther a moment later. Tirantes was leaning heel the whole match. Blue Panther challenged Sam Adonis to a hair match, but the whole thing got derailed by Azul tossing Adonis’ flag into the crowd and Adonis never got around to responding.

Thoughts:

this was the better triple dive

The main event was a well performed match which I’m probably just not going to say nice things about. When it was going well, it looked impressive but just as predictable. This was the extended version of their big match, which meant all the spots were coming in the third fall, and all in the same order as usual. UG pulling out a Rainmaker when he had exhausted his playbook was amusing for the reference and for UG showing he could actually do something else. This is one where the efficiency of the moves is counter balanced by the lack of creativity in the layout, and your preferences of those two things is going to sway your opinion on the match strongly either way. The crowd totally got into, tremendously more than the other singles match, and this was successful for what they set out to do. I just can’t imagine rewatching it again; it felt like I already did.

The semimain was the showcase match for the técnicos it looked, but it just took a while to get there. The first two falls were kind of slower than expected, maybe because they were purposefully backloading everything for the third fall. It had all the highspots, with Mistico’s ramp running dive looking spectacular as usual. Dragon Lee and Luciferno continue to have good chemistry and they should just pretend Luciferno is a lightweight to do the title match at this point. It got confusing near the end, with the announcer not really doing a good job of explaining who was still alive and Mistico’s SSP not connecting well, but it was still good.

UG catch powerbomb

Pierroth & Vangellys had a normal match, underwhelming in fashion for not being the fiasco and for no shenanigans. It was just the two guys having a match as best as they could, which still wasn’t very good at all. They both move very slow and were all sorts of tired by the end of the match. Vangellys got protected by taking a piledriver and they tried to protect both by going short, but they couldn’t do much even as sort as it was. This was a match only for the interest of the Munoz family and they appeared to be the only people who enjoyed it.

I think once you break out the Love Machine mask, you’re doing the apuesta match. It’s just a matter of time before Blue Panther and Sam Adonis have that match now. They’re still things that can be improved – it’s weird big Adonis is leaping onto Panther all the time – but the crowd a lot cares and it’ll work. Diamante Azul looked clumsy and dangerous during the match, which make me concern when they did the monkey flip spot with Soberano (but that went alright.) Not as much Soberano as in some other matches.

only the second scariest spot with Astral tonight

The second match was better than the opener but that’s the lowest of the bar. It was just a match and boring for a while, with few highlights. It slowed down in the second fall and never really picked back up again to any interesting degree. They didn’t do much, and Dalys was repeating spots while still in the first fall. Zeuxis breaking out the Spanish Fly was the only real highlight.

The opener had the usual problems: a way too long and slow first fall that killed the crowd, tecnicos running thru some of the same sequences as they’d do in a normal match, but unnaturally cut off from dives to boos, Arkangel badly screwing up. To be fair to the técnicos, the crowd ended up booing both teams and the other falls weren’t that much better. We haven’t gotten to see Star Jr. in a real match for a while and this wasn’t one.