Recapped: 10/13/2017
All matches aired live from Arena Mexico
Matches:
Drone & Esfinge beat Cancerbero & Raziel
(13:16 [6:32, 2:42, 4:02], 2/3, ok)
Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr. beat Gran Guerrero, Luciferno, Rey Bucanero
(13:32 [4:33, 5:03, 3:56], 1/3, ok)
Valiente beat Pierroth in a lightning match
(6:20, half crab, below average)
Euforia, Rush, Último Guerrero beat Diamante Azul, Kráneo, Marco Corleone in a relevos increíbles match
(7:39 [1:23, 1:19], 1/3, ok)
Carístico and Volador Jr. advanced over Mephisto, Mistico, Cavernario, Negro Casas, Dragón Lee, Sansón, Soberano Jr., Forastero, Guerrero Maya Jr., Virus, Titán, Puma, The Panther, Tiger in a CMLL’s Leyenda de Plata Tournament match
Arena México, 10/13/2017
The battle royal went 1:55
- Sansón springboard knee drop Puma (6:53)
- Soberano Code Red The Panther (10:13)
- Forastero top rope senton con giro Tiger (11:51)
- Dragon Lee top rope double stomp Virus (13:27)
- Titan kneebar Guerrero Maya (14:47)
- Mephisto Super Devil’s Wings Forastero (17:26)
- Negro Casas casita Titan (18:14)
- Barbaro Cavernario pump splash Negro Casas (19:36)
- Volador Jr. backcracker Mephisto (24:12)
- Sansón torture rack side slam Dragon Lee (26:49)
- Soberano Fire Driver Barbaro Cavernario (27:50)
- Sansón German suplex Soberano (37:13)
- Sansón cradle Mistico (37:13)
- La Caristica on Sanson (37:43)
What happened:
Volador and Carístico advanced to the Leyenda de Plata Final next week in a typically confusing CMLL ending. Carístico tried to get the final to happen right there and then. It did not, but the two fought briefly to end the night and tease next week’s match. Volador finally unmasked Carístico to get him to stop.
The battle royal set team as Mistico, Cavernario, Volador Jr., Sansón, Forastero, Virus, Titán, The Panther vs Carístico, Mephisto, Negro Casas, Tiger, Dragón Lee, Soberano Jr., Puma, and Guerrero Maya. The teams were set so fast and messily that the people in the ring and the production didn’t know they were down to eight and kept trying to eliminate teammates.
Rush had his newly won Mucha Lucha Atlanta belt.
The Dia de los Muertos shows were mentioned as taking place November 3rd (Friday), 5th (Sunday) and 7th (Tuesday.)
Thoughts:
A typically exciting CMLL cibernetico, with all you’d expect (including a confusing referee performance.) More bumpiness early than you’d hope, with stuff that didn’t derail he match but needed second takes. Part of that was inevitable with the pace they were going. It’s tough to stay clean when you’re going 100 MPH. It did get better after the first ten minutes, though the Volador/Mephisto fail on the top rope stuck out and the last guys were showing some fatigue near the close. The good far outweighed the bad but this this not a great match if you value cleanliness. It had a lot of wild spots to make up for it. They did the long sequence with five instead of three, which was totally unexpected, kind of weird, and made me suspect someone else was meant to be hanging out with them. Things seemed to flow too much to be missing someone.
The Carístico/Mistico confrontations were the big story of the match, teased a few times before they got to the mask ripping. I didn’t believe they were actually doing it when they feuded in Lucha Libre Boom last week and I don’t much believe it here (and I have memories of Mysterio/Myzteziz which make think it’s not much of a good idea), but it was obviously something that’s going to get the fans buzzing. There’s going to be 11 months of people being sure that’s the Anniversary match. CMLL could use that right now. Volador/Caristico will do just nearly the same and will actually happen. 30 seconds of Dragon Lee and Volador was fun. Cavernario cutting off Carístico playing to the crowd was great, as was Caristico’s team all stomping on him because they forgot he was on their team. Seemed to happen again with Tiger. Puma going out so quick stunk, but they didn’t break hierarchy with the early eliminations. Virus doing Canadian Destroyers is wrong, and he was doomed the moment he put Dragon Lee on the top rope, but at least he made Dragon Lee fight for the stomp. Soon to be tag team partners Titan & Dragon Lee destroyed each other nicely. The Sansón/Dragon Lee sequences were a good tease of an inevitable big match, and Sansón getting that pinfall was big for him and lasting so long as the last rudo was big.
The semimain was a surprisingly brief match, though some of the people in it are prone to such outings. More time for the main event was alright for me. The third fall got much more time than the two prior to it, though pretty much limited to the best of routines and never rose to a level of importance. Rush & Marco feuded a little bit, and Rush picked up the win, but it seemed more for something to do than to make people think about the match they have on Monday. This was working to the live crowd, which seemed to enjoy it, and any internet people are incidental.
The lightning match was a waste of time. It’s hard to feel sympathy for Valiente getting his hair pulled when he’s wearing a ludicrous outfit which makes it possible. The referee did a lot of work in this one as an obvious way to get around Pierroth having to do much. (The worse part of the Pierroth push is not that he’s bad, but that CMLL’s fully aware he’s bad and isn’t bothered enough by it to knock it off.) Pierroth was breathing very hard by 3 minutes into this match. Pierroth is the only CMLL luchador who needs to use a chinlock for a breather, which makes him ready to take the yellow and black to NXT but not so much for lightning matches. Pierroth did survive one monkey flip, but forgot his spot after blocking the second one. Valiente got some good topes in, but Pierroth was too inflexible to be put into his submission.
The segunda was a Niebla Roja showcase match, which he could use if he is sticking around for any time. He got the biggest moments for his team, and he got the pin over Gran Guerrero. The crowd wasn’t much into him or this (or much in size at all), but they tried, and the entry into the reverse campana was something I wish they thought off about a month ago. The rudos didn’t offer much. Gran Guerrero didn’t get to do much beyond his superplex (and using the opposite move of his brother as a finish is hilarious.) Luciferno slipped on his handspring, which never happens. Rey Bucanero is hard to watch at times, and sure seemed to dropkick Niebla Roja low.
The opener forced us to consider if Esfinge is better or worse than 2015 Super Halcón, a question I was not prepared to examine. The unmistakable reality is Drone’s new character has taken him right where he was before, 2v2 Friday night openers, only without the potential for advancement he had a few years ago. The Cancerberos, who’ve had their own trip to nowhere, aren’t the easiest team to have good matches against and one match shouldn’t be conclusive. (At least the rudos were much better on offense than usual.) This match was fine, but the best summation of Drone’s current career arc is Esfinge seemed to outshine him.
