CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-01-06 

Fiero! or Audaz! or whomever

Recapped: 01/06/2018

Matches: 

Fiero, Flyer, Magia Blanca vs El Coyote, Templario, Yago
(9:44 [6:16, 3:28], 1/2, great,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Pegasso & Titán beat  Raziel & Virus
(24:13 [8:16, 5:22, 10:35], 1/3, ok, via
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Soberano Jr. beat  Rey Cometa
(6:20, 2/3, good, via
VideosOficialesCMLL)

  1. Rey Cometa Canadian Destroyer (1:37)

  2. Soberano tornillo (1:27)

  3. Soberano springboard legdrop (3:16)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat Drone, Esfinge, Guerrero Maya Jr.
(16:06 [6:52, 3:03, 6:11], 1/3, good, via
VideosOficialesCMLL )

Niebla Roja beat Gran Guerrero
(
18:54, 2/3, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

  1. Gran Guerrero reverse armscissors (2:02)

  2. Niebla Roja huracanrana (3:50)

  3. Niebla Roja Furia Roja (13:02)

Último Guerrero & Valiente  vs Cavernario & Volador Jr. in a relevos increíbles match
(15:26 [4:11, 1:44, 9:31], 1/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened: 

Gran Guerrero casually catching, strolling, powerbombing

Though Audaz was announced for the match, Fiero wrestled under his previous name. After he won the match, Panico and JCR came to the ring to talk him up, and announce he’d be now known as Audaz. Fiero switched masks and celebrated. Panico spoke about this being the first of a lot of opportunities for young talent this year.

Thoughts: 

cool, but would’ve been cooler if he could pull it off a bit quicker

The main event had the elements of a good match, but it was missing a little heart for me. The issue with this format of rematches of big matches is the rematches are not as big. The rematches lack the same stakes that drove the wrestlers and the fans in the first match, and it feels a little flat in comparison. This one felt more like an all star tag exhibition match of showcasing moves rather than one where people were desperate to win. Último Guerrero, the worst offender, is better in theory in tag matches because there are people who can come in and out and he can’t just do the checklist match. In this one, he crossed a while bunch of the checklist with Volador before finally letting the other people play. They didn’t just do UG’s stuff, they repeated what seemed to be a lot of the final, but no one quite got into it as much the final, and it was one of those matches where no one was really close to winning until it was time to finish. There’s far worse and it entertained the fans, it just wasn’t all that interesting.

The Gran Guerrero/Niebla Roja match went very long. Maybe the plan, maybe because they were making up for other things going short. It led to it having a slow pace all the way thru, not even the rush at the end that happens frequently. Maybe they would’ve gotten to that moment; the finish seemed like it was a three count that shouldn’t have been one. The big moves were impressive, the crowd hating Niebla Roja was also impressive. I think I would’ve better enjoyed a much shorter version of this.

crunch

The fourth match was about normal for the NGD of late. They’ve plateaued on offense, rolling out almost the same spots every match and could use some freshening up there. Their selling is still good, actively making the técnicos look better in a way uncommon for a lot of rudos. Esfinge looked really good in this match, and I can’t credit him for all of that. They got a lot of time and tried to make use of it all the way thru better than the second match.

Soberano/Cometa was going along well enough, then Edgar counted three when Rey Cometa kicked out, or Cometa waited until too late to kick out. It seemed more on Cometa, and it seemed a disappointment compared to what was expected: this was effectively a lightning match with fall breaks. The highlights looked good but the match didn’t come the way it could’ve been. It’s alright if you’re not expecting a lot.

this is going to need a name

The segunda was going to have trouble following what happened to open the show by any means, but this match would’ve been a downer on a dead Tuesday show. Raziel & Virus killed the pace, with only sporadic moments of interest and no real direction. Pegasso & Titan would’ve had to go all out to make it work, and they could just make it sort of passable. The crowd wasn’t reacting to anything they were doing, which just make it stick out worse. They did end up unloading everything they could do b the end, and the crowd did react to Titan eliminating Raziel, but it sure took a long time to get to that point, and it was odd this came down to Pegasso.

I’m probably overrating the match because I was so excited to see an all out match in an CMLL opener, and these guys haven’t been as overexposed as others. Fiero’s superb, and they not so subtly made all the biggest moments of the match about him to build him up for his name change. This still wasn’t a one many show, with everyone else getting their own moments. Templario might one day surpass his técnico rival, and that they had him work every big spot with the guy they’re trying to get over speaks very well of him. Magia Blanca looked completely lost when he started in CMLL and has come so long way. Everyone looked like a strong prospect for the future, a hopeful way to start off this show.

cavernario ends a long day with a celebatory dropkick

CMLL Dia de Reyes, no FM lineusps 2018 AAA plans, Mundo skipping GdT?

Reminder: The Tapatia awards for the best in lucha libre are open thru January 28th.

CMLL has it’s special Three Kings Day show this evening in Arena Mexico, with some rematches of the biggest matches of 2017. Kids tickets are marked down to 10 pesos ($0.50 USD) on a children’s holiday, and this figures to be one of the larger crowd of the year.

The main event is Cavernario & Volador vs Ultimo Guerrero & Valiente, considered one of the best match of last year. The semimain has Niebla Roja versus Gran Guerrero, last year’s anniversario main event. The third match is Soberano against Rey Cometa, a rematch of Soberano’s first title win.

The other matches aren’t rematches, but could be good matches. The NGD, the most successful trio of 2017, face Drone, Esfinge and Guerrero Maya. Pegasso & Titan face Raziel & Virus in the second match. The opener has six promising young luchadors: El Coyote, Templario and Yago on the rudo side, and Flyer, Magic Blanca and Audaz (ex-Fiero) on the tecnico side.

CMLL ran this same format last year, and everything was pretty good, but time limited them from being as great as the original run. The show will air on Claro, starting at 5pm. It will also be on CMLL’s YouTube channel later tonight.

No FantasticaMania lineups – or any new NJPW lineups – were released yesterday. The first show is less than a week away, so this is now a bit strange. My guess is they’re still working on what to do without Negro Casas.

AAA posted Dorian Roldan’s appearance on Zona Ruda. MicromanFever wrote some of the highlights, and I’m probably going to steal most of it here.

  • They’ve got three big apeusta feuds planned for 2018.
  • Rey de Reyes is in Puebla in March
  • TripleMania is in August (and probably in Mexico City)
  • AAA is planning trips to Columbia & Panama in April, Japan in October (probably Lucha World Cup) and England in November.
  • AAA would do a show with CMLL in an instant if CMLL agreed to it.
  • They’re working on getting a big name for Guerra de Titanes.
  • Dorian thinks both Sexy Star and Taya will end up working with AAA again, and they’re just waiting for them to be ready to come back.

Texano & Fantasma are obviously one of the three apuesta matches. Rey Escorpion’s probably in AAA specifically to have an apuesta match with someone the level of Psycho Clown. Both feel like strong main events for a Rey de Reyes type show but it’s going to be tough the match the interest in Wagner/Psycho unless the third idea is a biggie.

I would take the foreign trips with a grain of salt; AAA quietly scrubbed a trip to Columbia last November, so these aren’t on until they announce dates.

There is nothing Sexy Star can do that will get AAA to stop booking her. And CMLL has shown now interest in working with AAA; that would probably take a change in leadership to open the door even a little bit.

My hunch is the mystery big name is Alberto. They were trying to get him for TripleMania, and the obstacle is just how much money he wants to come in.

There might be an obvious spot for a big national name at Guerra de Titanes, too. On an Impact press call, Johnny Mundo said AAA advertised him on that 01/26 show without ever contacting him, he blames Vampiro, he’s had problems with AAA, and he’s not working Guerra de Titanes. AAA is aware of these comments but has not said made an official statement.

The Mundo/AAA/Vampiro stuff has been weaved into storyline at times, and it’s always possible they could be doing it again here. It doesn’t come off like a storyline here. If Mundo doesn’t show up at Guerra de Titanes, I’d assume he and AAA won’t be working together again for a very long time and everyone will just move on. It would be the second heavyweight champion of the last three to walk out of the promotion without losing the title. The previous one to do so was Alberto, which they could use to explain why he’d come back and go for the title. They could go otherways; they’ve still got three weeks to figure this out.

AAA’s YouTube channel indicates they’re airing the Luchando de Mexico show today.

A surprise Perros del Mal member is listed as teaming with Joe Lider & Kahn del Mal on Arena Aficion’s 01/30 anniversary show. A few AAA spot shows have listed a surprise Perros del Mal member, but I’m not sure if there will actually be one. The one place I’ve seen results from with this bit was Arena Xalapa, where they moved up a local from one of the early matches, and then the local wrestler ended up turning on the Perros. The last new TV seemed to set up a bunch of Llave a la Gloria rudos as possible Perros del Mal members, and that may be the intention for the matches, but it hasn’t happened quite yet.

Wrestling With GIFs has their top 100 CMLL matches of the year, and watches Sombra vs Mascara Dorada.

Segunda Caida watches more Negro Casas.

San Diego La Presna has a bio of Rey Mysterio, and his new occupation of motivational speaker.