Recapped: 03/15/2018
Matches:
Black Tiger & Meyer beat Fuerza Chicana & King Jaguar
(17:33 [8:11, 5:29, 3:53], 1/3, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Akuma & Espanto Jr. beat Rey Samuray & Tigre Rojo Jr.
(9:54 [3:59, 3:13, 2:42], 1/3, n/r, below average, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Audaz, Stigma, Tritón beat El Malayo, Puma, Tiger
(15:25 [5:27, 3:28, 6:30], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Hechicero, Kráneo, Stuka Jr. beat Johnny Idol, Sam Adonis, Titán in a relevos increíbles match
(11:55 [2:48, 1:17, 7:50], 1/3 DQ, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
La Bestia Del Ring, Mistico, Rush beat Diamante Azul, Euforia, Mr. Niebla in a relevos increíbles match
(9:02 [2:41, 3:18, 3:03], 2/3 DQ, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Cavernario beat Volador Jr.
(3:49 [2:16, 1:33], 1/2 DQ, bad, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
A minute and change into the second fall, Volador goes for a superkick, Cavernario moves, and Tirantes covers up and turns around. Cavernario slaps Tirantes on the back hard, then walks into a Volador submission. Tirantes turns around and breaks up the hold, which Volador assumes to be a submission victory since Cavernario was giving up. Tirantes instead raises Cavernario’s arm, apparently believing it was Volador who hit him and calling it a ref attack disqualification. It’s very absurd. Cavernario challenges Volador to a title match next week.
The semifinal sees both teams trying be the rudo team at times, and a foul that comes out of nowhere. It’s not getting a review but it is not worth your time.
Sam Adonis fouled Kraneo for the DQ in the fourth match. Johnny Idol attempted to choke Kraneo with a cord after the match.
Thoughts:
The main event here was a thoroughly disappointing match. There probably won’t ever be a worse Cavernario/Volador singles match unless one of them is seriously injured during a match. There’s an extenuating circumstances – Volador still has the nose injury and is coming off a crazy travel schedule, Cavernario is in his second of three straight singles matches, the person truly at fault is whoever decided to book this match this week – but it doesn’t change the fact this was a stinker of a match. They didn’t much of anything and they got out of there as quick as possible. This would be a scandalous match in some other promotions (AAA would be excoriated if they did the same thing). CMLL only gets it away with it because there’s so much content that every bad mistake is quickly paved over with something new, and they make it immediately clear they’re going to try this again next week. Still, there’s no way to have seen this and not feel cheated.
The first relevos incredibles worked as a change of pace. Titan seemed to be having fun playing rudo, and got to do much more than Hechiceor as a técnico. Adonis & Idol worked out well as comedic foils to Kraneo and the rest of his team, and it come together as a fun match that wasn’t particularly hard on anyone. I’m disappointed the direction changed from the absurdity of Kraneo versus one of the foreigners, because that would’ve been a different kind of weirdness than we usually get on these shows.
The tercera was the usual Tiger/Puma match with the added fun of Audaz. Audaz makes everything he does look simple right not, which makes me wonder what he’s going to be like when he starts trying things that are actually hard for him. Malayo generally didn’t look out of place but the submission he used to win the second fall took half forever.
The tag match came off as sloppy. It wasn’t just one guy, it was everyone contributing to be off at times. It was not good early, and ending with Espanto struggling to powerbomb Tiger Rojo Jr. without dropping him on his head. I’m not sure what springboard move Samuray was trying which ended up as a kick, and there were other spots that just didn’t look. The doomsday dropkick do go well and they were trying, they just weren’t pulling it off.
