Recapped: 12/06/2017
Matches:
Fantasy & Stukita beat Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
(13:08 [4:59, 3:36, 4:33], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Astral, Flyer, Robin vs Akuma, Espanto Jr., Templario
(10:42 [4:40, 1:54, 4:08], 1/3, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Silueta vs Metálica, Reyna Isis, Tiffany
(16:28 [8:03, 4:01, 4:24], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Fuego vs Pegasso in a lightning match
(6:22, pinfall, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Johnny Idol, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Ephesto, Luciferno, Mr. Niebla
(6:50 [2:35, 4:15], 1/2 DQ, ok via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Ángel de Oro, Marco Corleone, Niebla Roja beat Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero
(11:43 [5:12, 3:56, 2:35], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Ephesto fouled Stuka in the semimain. That didn’t go anywhere. That’s it.
Thoughts:
Marco is the right main eventer for these Tuesday shows. He gets over really easy with the casual fans, and those fans in generally seem to react the intended ways for the matches. A lot of the match, especially the first fall and third fall, was getting the crowd to react to spots and it all worked for them. He should on Tuesday shows a lot, though maybe that doesn’t work out financially. Niebla Roja had better chemistry than Negro Casas than Gran Guerrero. It’s Casas, everyone’s good with Casas, but there’s nothing left over from the Anniversario show. There wasn’t much there to begin with, and Niebla’s essentially a new person now.
The semimain is a by numbers quick match, with not much to it. It’s interesting they were going with a Stuka/Ephesto direction. If it was meant to be going anywhere (doubtful because neither man has a title), it was dropped to do the Johnny Idol heel turn again. Mr. Niebla took a Titan diving headscissors to the floor and it want perfectly fine.
The técnico/tecnico lightning match didn’t feel much different than usual. Neither guy hinted toward being a rudo, but no one really plays strong rudo in these anyway, and they did the same set up of dives and not many near falls as they’d do in any other lightning match. Pegasso reacted well to Fuego anyway. Pegasso’s 450 splash causing his downfall was a nice touch, but they really botched Fuego’s cradle as the finish. They really should’ve gotten up to do something more rather than end it like that.
The women’s match starts with a sequence where Reina Isis or Silueta seems to forget what they’re doing. It improved, but never that better. Silueta would be a lot better if she was a little bit faster.
The second match might be a bit of a sliding scale for the second match, but it came off as fun when I watched it. One of the downsides to getting to see so much of CMLL is you see guys very early in their careers quite a bit, and those first years of performance can solidify an opinion of a wrestler that’s tough to shake. Akuma started appearing on these shows at 17, wasn’t much of a guy, and was easy to right off as a someone who would never been a guy. Either something’s clicked with him in the last six month or so, or it took me a while to notice, but he’s a much better rudo now, with him and Flyer matching up very well in the third fall. He’s still only 22. Robin looked more agile than ever here; he hasn’t done that ramp armdrag much, and I can’t recall the cool dive he did either. These guys have been in the opening matches for so long that it’s going to be tough to get the fans to take them as something else, but at least there’s a chance for some good matches with the Fiero/Templario class that’s coming. Even Astral, looking every bit like a man who’s two days away from his biggest competition of the year, still was moving around fine and pulling off good highspots. This is not must see, but it was fun and hopeful.
Mini opener was an ordinary match. Stukita has added a dance to his ole waves. Mercurio can do a lot of stuff when he wants to. He doesn’t want to often. Pequeño Olímpico is at better shape at his age than I will be, but I am not trying to be a professional athlete so I’m not sure that’s a fair comparison.
