Recapped: 06/01/2018
Matches:
Disturbio, Metálico, Sangre Azteca beat Astral, Eléctrico, Príncipe Diamante
(17:42 [9:24, 3:18, 5:00], 1/3, below average, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Okumura, Puma, Tiger beat Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa
(14:15 [3:34, 2:20, 8:21], 1/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Shocker beat Blue Panther Jr., Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr.
(13:23 [3:57, 4:55, 4:31], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Cuatrero beat Ángel de Oro to keep the CMLL World Middleweight Championship
(16:41, 2/3, great, VideosOficialesCMLL)
- Angel de Oro reverse figure four with armbar (3:55)
- Cuatrero inverted bear hug (1:43)
- Cuatrero campana (11:03)
Carístico, Flyer, Mistico beat Forastero, Sansón, Último Guerrero
(10:14 [3:33, 2:07, 4:34], 2/3, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, Volador Jr. beat La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible
(16:27 [2:12, 5:29, 8:46], 2/3 DQ, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
The second fall of the main event was full of unseen fouls both ways, with the técnicos coming up on top. LA Park teased giving a martinete to Bestia at the end of the third fall (for an extended period of time waiting for the next spot), and Rush threw a backboard at him to cause the DQ. Rush threw the board at Edgar for the DQ too. LA Park asked Rush for a super libre match, with Rush blowing it off.
Thoughts:
This week wasn’t last week. The main event was still good, but not on the same epic level. The chaos was traded in for more fouls and some mic time. Hijo de LA Park wasn’t as good as Flyer (that double corner plancha spot took excruciating long to set up) and there wasn’t the same energy. It was still fun to see LA Park all over the place and Rush being loathsome, but it did came off as if it might not be a great idea to do these matches every week for the next 14 Fridays.
Semimain was the expected técnico showcase. There was enough there to make it worth checking out in an all star match kind of way, though it never came off all that big. I thought it was fun enough to be good, just nothing extraordinary. Flyer didn’t seem out of place, but also didn’t do enough stuff to separate himself from the other two guys. They gave him the last slot in the showcase and it still felt like he was either doing Volador spots or just in and out quick. It’s going to be hard for him to stick at the top level without adding more.
Angel de Oro & Cuatrero had a strong title match. This is the only feud that will have a bear hug reversal spot be a hot spot in 2018, and that wasn’t even the biggest reversal spot of the match. Poor Angel de Oro needs a new finisher after getting so defeated by his own one tonight. The match had solid action leading, the usual smoothness from Oro in his actions. Cuatrero still seems a better trios guy than a singles guy, but he did enough here to keep it interesting. The drama of the finish brought this up, though the Dos Leyendas match is obviously better.
The tercera had no life outside of the Soberano/Hechicero exchanges. They’re pretty good together. Rey Bucanero and Shocker were their usual selves, and Panther Jr. & Roja aren’t nearly good enough to make them worthwhile. The crowd made little noise during this match, and the participants didn’t seem to mind.
Rey Cometa & Puma had some really great exchanges in the segunda. They managed to be a little bit inventive and surprising despite having fought so many times. Everyone else was a notch or so behind, and this didn’t have the speed or excitement of past weeks. It wasn’t bad, but it was a more normal Friday segunda than one where they were allowed to go all out.
I spent the first half of the opener trying to get the YouTube stream to work right. That was more intense than this match, controlled with boring mat wrestling and uninteresting rudo domination. When they finally got around to doing things, it looked sloppy. Skip.
