Recapped: 11/01/17
Matches:
Flyer & Magia Blanca beat Apocalipsis & Cholo
(14:47 [6:30, 3:46, 4:31], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Eléctrico, Shockercito, Stukita beat Mercurio, Pequeño Olímpico, Pierrothito
(15:15 [9:12, 6:03], 1/2 DQ, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Zeuxis beat Lady Maravilla in a lightning match
(8:20, La Roca, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Disturbio, Misterioso Jr., Sagrado beat Blue Panther Jr., Johnny Idol, The Panther
(10:52 [5:08, 1:36, 4:08], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Blue Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Soberano Jr. vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys
(11:25 [6:00, 0:44, 4:41], 1/3 (DQ 2), ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Ángel de Oro, Marco Corleone, Niebla Roja beat Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
(11:01 [4:02, 4:27, 2:32], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Not much. Rudos only lost the second fall of the semimain by excessive violence DQ, when they clearly had Soberano beat but stomped him instead of pinning him. They won the other falls.
Pierrothito unmasked Stukita for a DQ in the minis match.
Thoughts:
The main event was a simple match built around comedy, with a crowd who was totally with it. The bit with Mephisto frightened after accidentally chopping Marco was well done, and they smartly just went with that stuff for the rest of the match once it got over. It doesn’t make for a match you need to watch after the fact. The Chavez brothers had an easy night all considered, but they’re better at playing along with bits from the apron then most.
Terrible is so fired up about becoming heavyweight champion that he did mat wrestling with Blue Panther for six minutes. He seemed very excited to pull off the sunset flip spot, and I was happy enough for his partners to stay on the apron, so everyone won. (Except maybe Panther.) Otherwise, this was a pretty strong match for the rudos, which would’ve made sense if this trio was going anywhere. Just Blue Panther putting together a different match just to do it. People seemed lost left and right in the comeback spot, and the dive catching bits didn’t work too well.
The crowd got into the fourth match mostly because the Panther brothers brought a lot of energy. The missed dive to the floor is (thankfully) not an every match thing, but it set up the The Panther/Misterioso issue and matches with issues are always going to be better than ones that don’t. It’d be nice if it ever went anywhere, but I’ll take what I can get. The claw masks over The Panther’s are good distinctive looks. Meanwhile, Johnny Idol has come back just about as he was before. I was he’d do something new. Doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen.
Zeuxis/Lady Maravilla was an upper tier lighting match by any measure. They came out to do a lot of moves, they did do a lot of moves, but most of the stuff looked really good. Zeuxis out dropkicked Maravilla, but Maravilla got in a good shot. Zeuxis out corner charges Maravilla too, but Maravilla’s dive and bridging suplex looked great. They told a good story of Maravilla being capable, but not quite on Zeuxis’ level yet, and it should be a big deal when she does get there. There’s a few things to clean up if they get another try, but I sure hope they get another try. CMLL’s screwed up if these two women don’t have big matches in 2018.
The minis match was going around on it’s usual level before Pierothito suddenly unmasked Stukita. The unmasking was obviously coming for a fall in a half, Stukita’s mask was untied and never fixed. The match was lacking a big climax at the end because it was ended so suddenly, but it was about as enjoyable as upper level. CMLL minis matches until that point. I’ve already forgotten which indie title Stukia has and that’s ok.
JCR said the técnicos won the opener against all predications. Who is making predictions on the opening match of a Tuesday show? Why are they doing this? Why are they picking Cholo of all people to win? Perhaps the real issue is the commentary is as recycled as the matches. Flyer and the rudos had multiple “rewind and try again” moments in the first fall alone. It seemed to happen mostly around Flyer, but I felt like the rudos were more to blame; Apocalipsis is slow and quickly winded, Cholo is Cholo. Flyer looked better later.
