new trios champs, TripleMania thoughts, Angel de Oro/Bucanero, LU

I wrote this at 1pm, and WordPress decided to schedule it for December 26. Better late than never.

always GIF Virus’ ringpost armdrag

CMLL (TUE) 07/25/2017 Arena México [CMLL, Culticon]
1) Apocalipsis & Yago b Fiero & Sangre Imperial LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 25 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
2) Arkángel de la Muerte, Cancerbero, Sangre Azteca b Astral, Oro Jr., Star Jr. LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 25 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
3) Blue Panther Jr., Stigma, The Panther DQ Disturbio, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 25 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Tecnicos took 1/3. Sagrado unmasked Stigma for DQ. Misterioso took one of the Panther’s masks.
4) Rey Cometa b Virus [lightningLUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 25 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Cometa won via plancha
5) Dragón Lee, Guerrero Maya Jr., Johnny Idol b Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Vangellys LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 25 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
tecnicos took 2/3
6) Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero, Terrible b Ángel de Oro, Marco Corleone, Volador Jr. LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 25 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Bucanero challenged Angel de Oro to a title match.

I blanked on it, but they were doing a Bucanero/Angel de Oro feud last week and it makes sense they went to a title match. Show doesn’t sound good.

The real big news came in Guadalajara. The early Universal tournament opened the door for some titles changes to finally take place and Los Hijo del Infernales as Mexican National Trios Champions seemed like one which needed a shake up. The surprise is it was the Nuevo Generacion Dinamitas who won the belts last night in Guadalajara. The NGD had won a three team trios tournament last week to get this shot. Sanson, Cuatrero and Forastero are clearly going to be future top stars of CMLL, but this is pushing them upwards a bit faster than anyone had anticipated.

The now unlikely trio of Angel de Oro, Rush and Diamante won these same titles in 2011 as a message from CMLL that they were now to be taken seriously, and that’s the same message here. It’s Sanson & Cuatrero’s second title win in the span of days and I’m not quite sure how much they’re going to be doing with the Arena Coliseo Tag Team championships now. Hopefully one or both of these team titles get defended regularly, because these guys versus any group of tecnico seems pretty interesting.

The Dinamitas were already scheduled to be on Informa this week, so there will be a few highlights shown there. Informa might also be worth watching to find out the final name for the Gran Prix. They’ve been announcing about one name a week, so they might finish it off here. JCR billed it as a big international name last week.

Warrior Steel is listed as replacing Nitro on Saturday, which would be his first match since last March. (He’s the large guy from that year’s Gran Alternativa.) It’s odd CMLL just didn’t move Akuma or Templario up. CMLL does seem to have a thing about not putting large people in the normal opening matches.

El Popular interviewed Princesa Sugehit at the Arena Puebla show. She still wants Zeuxis’ mask. Sugehit is billing herself as the first Mexican luchadora to wrestle in WWE. I suspect that will be repeated forever and believed to be true, but Pantera Surena wrestled in WWE in 1995. It was probably Rhonda Singh/Bertha Faye bringing in an opponent she was familiar (from her time in Mexico as La Monster) with to help her get over, but Surena would actually be first.

Some extra thoughts about the TripleMania announcements

AAA’s lost a bunch of people early in the year, then seemingly intentionally focused on an even smaller group of people (with guys like Elegido, Dave the Clown, Parka Negra, the minis all basically disappearing from TV for the last half year.) It’s come across like AAA just couldn’t manage to convince people to come aboard after others left. Now, for TripleMania, it looks like they’re going to be bringing in a lot of outside people. Maybe AAA hasn’t been bringing people in because they just didn’t want to? I suspect most people will be in once and gone, but it’d be nice if AAA could keep some of the more useful guys around long term to help with the depth?

On the other side, I’m glad Alberto and Rey aren’t there; AAA needs to get people who are there all year over as stars and that can’t happen if they’re forced into minor matches to make room for the visitors. WWE does the guest star deal because they believe it’ll help WrestleMania in the short term, but I don’t think AAA needs that sort of help this year with Psycho/Wagner. (It’s the flipside to bringing back Sexy Star, which basically said AAA doesn’t have any confidence in the women they do have being useful at this moment.)

Ripper was feuding with Blue Panther Jr., which would’ve likely led to him getting a nice payoff for losing his mask. CMLL dropped the feud suddenly (after Ripper made some complaints about how the Invasors had been used in CMLL on Informa.) Ripper has now left CMLL and is back to being Psicosis, but I’d guess he hasn’t left his desire to get that payoff. I don’t know if it happens in AAA or elsewhere, but it’s probably happening before long.

I went back to listen to the attendance mention myself, and I still can’t tell if Zuniga says 60-65 or 70-75. I’m really bad at Spanish numbers. Even with the most favorable reading, AAA accidentally said they sold no tickets in the last month. I believe AAA sold tickets in the last month, and I believe AAA has been throwing out guesses at what percentage full they are all along either for pressure sales purposes or because they couldn’t keep track of what they’ve said. I think AAA is probably going to have sold 90+% by the time the show and the guessing isn’t really going to matter. Here’s what the ticket chart looked like at SuperBoletos this afternoon

View post on imgur.com

Any section with a color in has at least one ticket sold. Some of those closest red and green ticket sections are literally one ticket left available. The closest open seats are the tickets they were talking about adding yesterday. The people who’ve bought tickets so far have gobbled up the most expensive seats, and the ones that are left over are going to be the casual fans who buy the week or day of the show. The best pitch to casual fans is talking about how big and important this show is, and so I’d expect a lot of Psycho Clown and Dr. Wagner from here on out.

In his Record column (helpfully photographed here), Leo Riano almost says he was wrong about Alberto appearing on TripleMania, and goes on to suggest Latin Lover and Charly Manson may appear. Latin had mentioned Vampiro reaching out to him in the past. Charly Manson seemed to be booked all over the place after he got out of jail in 2015, but he’s been seen a lot less this year.

Toscano’ name pops up on next Monday’s Cantu/AAA show in Nuevo Laredo. Cantu’s a rare AAA local promoter who uses indie names mixed in with the AAA guys, and doesn’t necessarily mean one’s going to be the other; Laredo Kid’s used here all the time and doesn’t appear to be going to AAA. Still worth keeping an eye on, since that Copa TripleMania opens the door for a lot of random appearances. Toscano was last in AAA in 2014, let go after a behavior issue at one of the Hard Rock resort shows. He’s been out most of this year after knee surgery, but has been working in Nuevo Leon the last month.

A La Llave a la Gloria video with Star Shock.

Lucha Underground

Today’s Lucha Underground is “Booyaka! Booyaka!”, the 28th episode of the third season. The matches on this episode were taped on May 14 and May 15, 2016.

  • Texano vs the Mack in a Cueto Cup second round match
  • Pentagon Jr. vs Dragon in a Cueto Cup second round match
  • Rey Mysterio vs PJ Black in a non-tournament match (opening minute)

The preview promises more on Son of Havoc and Son of Madness.

This is Rey’s first LU match since Aztec Warfare, 17 episodes ago. With the hiatus, that’s a 252 day break between matches. Part of the reason to air those Mundo/Mysterio vignettes was to keep him in mind while he wasn’t being used in-ring for about half the season; it hasn’t felt like he’s been that far out of the show. Some of Rey’s matches were shot out of order so it probably didn’t feel like such a big gap live. Rey’s been treated like a big star when he’s been used in LU, but he hasn’t been used as much as would’ve been anticipated. If Rey is leaving LU (and if LU is continuing on), it’ll probably be more of an effect from a marketing standpoint of the show than on the onscreen product.

Other Things

LuchaWorld has the latest news update.

The newest edition of LuchaTalk is up

Lineups

CMLL (TUE) 08/01/2017 Arena México
1) Bengala & Magia Blanca vs Apocalipsis & Espíritu Negro
2) Fantasy, Stukita, Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Violencia
3) El Consejo, Oro Jr., Star Jr. vs Arkángel de la Muerte, Inquisidor, Metálico
4) Drone, Fuego, Stigma vs Raziel, Sagrado, Sangre Azteca
5) Mistico, Stuka Jr., Valiente vs Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
6) Ángel de Oro © vs Rey Bucanero [CMLL MIDDLE]
first defense

Consejo is on a lot of shows in his first week, so he’s clearly supposed to be someone important. Rey Bucanero worked hard in his last title match.

IWRG (SUN) 07/30/2017 Arena Naucalpan
1) Fly Tiger & Voltar vs Lunatik Xtreme & Power Bull
2) Mike vs Pantera del Japon
3) Dinamic Black, Hijo del Alebrije, Shaolin vs Demonio Infernal, Kempo Jr., Monaguillo
4) Danny Casas vs Veneno
5) Black Dragón, Hijo De Dos Caras, Imposible vs Gallo Frances, Herodes Jr., Trauma II
6) Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Pirata Morgan vs Hijo del Pantera & Pantera and Black Warrior & Warrior Jr. and Diablo Jr. & El Hijo del Diablo and Villano IV & Villano V Jr. and Negro Navarro & Trauma I and Golden Magic & Mr. Magia and Bombero Infernal & Bombero Infernal Jr. [Legado Final]

The annual father/son battle royal, where one family member replaces the other family member after they’re eliminated. Sometimes they start with all fathers, sometimes all sons. Mr. Magia only seems to get booked in this sort of match. Villano V Jr. is not actually Villano IV’s son, but Villano V isn’t wrestling. Bombero Infernal Jr. is “debuting” – but they’ve acknowledged he’s one of the Ninja Turtles and are just not saying which one.

Mike/Pantera del Japon is what I really want to see, and Danny Casas/Veneno is probably what I’ll end up recording.

Lucha Underground 3×28: Booyaka! Booyaka!

this was neat

Matches

Texano beat The Mack (6:13, powerbomb, good)

Pentagon Dark beat Drago (7:55, great, package piledriver)

Rey Mysterio beat PJ Black vs (11:27, springboard frogsplash, good)

Developments

Drago rope climb DDT

There was no overarching character profile to this week’s episode. Instead, the biggest focus might have been in pinning a date to to the Cueto Cup final. The tournament has finished the second round and, with only seven matches left, they’re close enough to the end to feel safe promoting. The final will air four episodes from tonight, August 23rd. They made sure to emphasis it’ll be the same night as Rey Mysterio vs Johnny Mundo.

Mysterio’s warmup match with PJ Black went to form. Mysterio had the match possibly won at the same time as the ref went down, Mundo and the rest of the Worldwide Underground interfered, Dragon Azteca ran them off (after failing early) and Mysterio went on to win. The show concluded with Mysterio promising to beat Mundo for the title.

The tournament matches themselves feel like they’re trending at a 50% interference rate. That was the split tonight too. The Mack was the unlucky loser tonight, with his defeat stemming from Famous B sneaking in the ring and shooting him with a water gun right in front of the referee. The gun didn’t physically harm Mack, but it was enough of a distraction for Texano to immediately get in his powerbomb for the win.

B did take a great bump

Drago & Pentagon finished their match with no outside involvement, surprising considering the Reptile Tribe and Pentagon’s many enemies. Pentagon simply won clean after a package piledriver. Pentagon went to break Drago’s arm after the match and easily stopped Kobra Moon from getting involved. Aerostar instead made the save for his old friend, only for Drago to lay him out and Pentagon to break Aerostar’s arm instead. If Drago’s going to be freed, it’ll probably have to be by someone else. Of note, Vampiro was more positive about Pentagon than he’s been in the recent past.

Pentagon might need the support. Catrina confronted him in the hallway, reminding Pentagon that he cost Mil Muertes the title way back in Ultima Lucha 2 and they haven’t forgotten. (They may have forgotten Pentagon did it because Catrina refused to let Pentagon in the match.) They’re a possible seminfinal match up, but that’s getting ahead of things.

The Cueto Cup quarterfinals will be:
Pentagon Drago vs Texano
Mil Muertes vs Jeremiah Crane
Fenix vs Pindar
Dante Fox vs Prince Puma

In one vignette, Son of Madness tracked down Son of Havoc in a bar, and they mentioned a lot of plot points while fighting. It appears Havoc was part of the Invisbile Cult Motor Club (ICMC), but he doesn’t want to go back to whatever that is because something bad happened. Madness’ job is not to punish Havoc for leaving, but to convince him to come back by whatever it’ll take, or take him out.

In another vignette, Máscarita Sagrada gave the Rabbit Tribe a present: a rabbit’s tail foot. They did not like the gift.

Thoughts

this never works!

The matches were generally good on this show, but it felt a less less than last week.

Last week’s PJ Black came off as a breakout performance for him. This week’s PJ Black match felt like him filling the designiated opponent role for Rey. Nothing was bad and there were pretty good moments, but there is a little repeattive in Rey matches (that first 619 never works) that harm it. The interference was set up awkardly, it’s tough to get that accidental ref kick spot to look anything but manufactured, and really didn’t end up meaning anything. It felt like it was just on the list of things to check off, but the same could’ve been done after the match.

The interference in the Texano match meant more, Famous B is still trying to win Texano over, but felt much more harmful. The water gun didn’t do much, but it was right in front of the ref and directly led to the finish. If you’re ever going to have disqualifications, that had to be one on Texano. Texano’s the one of the eight quarterfinalists who’s gotten nothing out of his wins: Mack controlled most of the match here and Texano’s first round win over Famous B wasn’t much. There was just enough to make this fun, but I expected more.

Pentagon/Drago was easily the best match of the night, and a more complete Pentagon match than I’m used to seeing lately. He still did his big standards (he doesn’t even have to quiet the crowd for the chops, they’re quieting each other), but Drago’s speed and offense forced Pentagon to mix it up more. They’re two guys who haven’t fought a lot on this show (and never had a singles match before this show), but had really strong chemistry. They’re headed in different directions from here, but it was great to see them cross paths.

great match roundup, week of 2017-07-08

There was some good stuff but a lot to sleep thru or actively avoid. I don’t think I’m ever going to remember to write about Dinamic Black & Aramis. It was entertaining for the dives but it was just the mildest recommendation in total; it was a bit of a hallow shell to a match with not a lot to it.

Recommend matches

rating matches TV Show taped
great Volador Jr. vs Último Guerrero for the CMLL Universal Championship LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 14 DE JULIO DEL 2017 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-07-14 2017-07-14
good Dinamic Black vs Aramis Dinamic Black vs Aramis (posted by thecubsfan) Dinamic Black vs Aramis, mano a mano en IWRG Arena Naucalpan (posted by +LuchaTV) IWRG Zona XXI: 2017-07-10 2017-07-09
good Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Hechicero, Pólvora LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 11 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-07-11 2017-07-11
good Jeremiah Crane vs Taya [Cueto Cup] and [8f] Lucha Underground: 2017-07-12 2016-05-14
good Paul London vs Mil Muertes [Cueto Cup] and [8f] Lucha Underground: 2017-07-12 2016-05-14
good Fénix vs Marty The Moth [Cueto Cup] and [8f] Lucha Underground: 2017-07-12 2016-05-14
good Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 14 DE JULIO DEL 2017 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-07-14 2017-07-14

everything else

rating matches TV Show taped
ok Argenis, La Parka, Lanzeloth vs Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly Argenis, La Parka, Lanzeloth vs Averno, Chessman, Súper Fly (posted by thecubsfan) AAA on Televisa: 2017-07-08 2017-06-04
ok Hijo del Fantasma vs Kevin KrossTexano Jr. in a cage match Hijo del Fantasma vs Kevin Kross vs Texano Jr. in a cage match (posted by thecubsfan) AAA on Televisa: 2017-07-08 2017-06-04
ok Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown vs Monsther Clown & Murder Clown and Carta Brava Jr. & Soul Rocker for the mask three way tag match, losing team unmasked, from AAA on Televisa: 2017-07-08 (posted by thecubsfan) Verano De Escándalo 2017 | Psycho Clown & Dr. Wagner vs Murder & Monsther vs C. Brava & S. Rocker ᴴᴰ (posted by LuchaTime) AAA on Televisa: 2017-07-08 2017-06-04
ok Arkalis, Asturiano, París vs Cancerbero, El Malayo, RazielLA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 10 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-07-10 2017-07-10
ok Blue Panther Jr., Lestat, The Panther vs Ares, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 10 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-07-10 2017-07-10
ok Dalys © vs Marcela for the CMLL World Women’s Championship LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 10 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-07-10 2017-07-10
ok Dragón Lee, Titán, Valiente vs Cavernario, Euforia, FelinoLA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 10 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-07-10 2017-07-10
ok Niebla Roja vs Último Guerrero LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 10 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-07-10 2017-07-10
ok Pierroth, Rush, Volador Jr. vs Carístico, Kráneo, Ripper in a relevos increíbles match LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 10 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-07-10 2017-07-10
ok Fantasy & Último Dragóncito vs Pequeño Nitro & Pierrothito LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 11 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-07-11 2017-07-11
ok Valiente vs Gran Guerrero in a lightning match LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 11 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-07-11 2017-07-11
ok Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Niebla Roja vs Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 11 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-07-11 2017-07-11
ok La Vaquerita, Marcela, Silueta vs Amapola, Dalys, ZeuxisLUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 14 DE JULIO DEL 2017 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-07-14 2017-07-14
ok Blue Panther, Diamante Azul, Soberano Jr. vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas, Sam Adonis LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 14 DE JULIO DEL 2017 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-07-14 2017-07-14
below average Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante, Robin vs Hijo del Signo, Metálico, Sangre Azteca LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 11 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-07-11 2017-07-11
below average Estrellita, Sanely, Skadi vs La Comandante, La Seductora, Metálica LUCHA LIBRE MARTES DE NUEVOS VALORES EN LA ARENA MEXICO 11 DE JULIO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL YouTube: 2017-07-11 2017-07-11
below average Astral, Sensei, Star Jr. vs Akuma, Arkángel de la Muerte, Metálico LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 14 DE JULIO DEL 2017 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-07-14 2017-07-14
below average Vangellys vs Pierroth for the hair LUCHA LIBRE VIERNES ESPECTACULAR DE ARENA MEXICO 14 DE JULIO DEL 2017 FUNCION COMPLETA (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL) CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-07-14 2017-07-14

CMLL Martes de Nuevo Valores: 2017-07-11 

viva el revolucion

Recapped: 07/12/2017

All matches aired live from Arena Mexico

Matches:

Pequeño Nitro & Pierrothito beat Fantasy & Último Dragóncito
(10:57 [3:57, 3:47, 3:13], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante, Robin vs Hijo del Signo, Metálico, Sangre Azteca
(12:33 [9:00, 3:33], 1/2 DQ, below average, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Estrellita, Sanely, Skadi beat La Comandante, La Seductora, Metálica
(13:40 [5:44, 3:34, 4:22], 1/3, below average, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Dragón Rojo Jr., Hechicero, Pólvora beat Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa
(15:15 [7:00, 5:11, 3:04], 2/3, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Valiente and Gran Guerrero went to a time limit draw in a lightning match
(10:00, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Rey Bucanero, Shocker, Terrible beat Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Niebla Roja  
(14:42 [6:03, 2:14, 6:25], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

this always seems like a rough time

Gran Guerrero and Valiente were busy brawling on the outside when time ran out – they seemed a couple seconds away from getting a draw on count of the ring instead.

Metalico unmasked Robin for no real reason. It seemed planned, Robin’s mask was already untied, it just served no purpose.

Thoughts:

Terrible

The main event had more energy than usual, though the action wasn’t so great at times. Shocker and Rey Bucanero tried, Terrible was fun being a bully against smaller guys as usual.

The lighting match suffered a bit from both guys wrestling the match to keep it going as long as possible instead of trying to win. Valiente’s dives looked great, Gran Guerrero showed more varied offense than in trios, but neither man made much of an effort to get to their key moves and hurt the drama of the countdown. This felt like a 20 minute time limit match where they were both caught of guard by it being 10.

The fourth match was helped by the matches which came before it; it wasn’t these guys best efforts but it was much better than what had come prior to it. Dragon Rojo & Pólvora rae among the best teams in CMLL and Hechicero players off all three técnicos well, and the match generally had a good pace. The second and third fall finishes came off as more creative than usual.

The women’s match was boring where they got lost at times. Pequeño Diamante & Sangre Azteca had a six and half minute mat exchange to start the first fall to try and be impressive. It wasn’t, they did basic stuff just for a long time and it ended with Diamante blowing a landing on a monkey flip escape, but the announcers put it over as good because what other choice did they have. The opener had even less to it.

Rey Cometa and Hechicero flying into the barricade