CMLL Puebla: 2018-06-25

Soberano & Titan

Recapped: 06/28/2018

Matches:

Espíritu Maligno, King Jaguar, King Rocker beat Meyer, Millenium, Tigre Rojo Jr.
(16:09 [6:37, 4:25, 5:07], 2/3, n/r, via 
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Astro, Asturiano, Stukita beat Joker, Mercurio, Saurón
(13:37 [5:18, 2:03, 6:16], 2/3, ok, via 
VideosOficialesCMLL

Amapola beat Princesa Sugehit in a lightning match
(6:36, Amapola Devil’s Wings, ok, via 
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Felino, Puma, Tiger beat Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Esfinge  
(12:12 [4:42, 1:49, 5:41], 1/3, good, via 
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Soberano Jr. © beat Titán for the Mexican National Welterweight Championship
(22:44, 2/3, great, via 
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Flyer & Volador Jr. beat Templario & Último Guerrero
(14:18 [2:44, 3:02, 8:32], 2/3 DQ, ok, via 
VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

real topes con giro

Soberano kept his title over Titan.

Último Guerrero fouled Volador, setting up a singles match next week.

Amapola asked for a title match after he won, and Sugehit granted it.

Thoughts:

Puma, unimpressed

The main event was a regular match with the same people as the Gran Alternativa, not something trying to build on that or even approach it. The crowd got into the match, but the pace and intensity was much lower. The wrestling was smooth but they didn’t as much to showcase the younger wrestlers until Flyer’s run in the third fall. It kind of makes sense, because Volador/UG is the match coming out of it, but I’m not really excited to see that one more time.

Titan had his right hamstring taped up, Dragon Rojo style, and he slid out of the ring early on when it was bugging him. It’s hard to tell how serious the injury really was, but it perfectly explained Titan’s reasons for attacking Soberano with a different strategy. He did it well, going for his leglock submission instead, and it turned into a dramatic match. Titan never really got a close near fall in the third fall, but they’d done so much to establish the figure four a deadly that it was better than any cradle would’ve been. They made smart use of the three falls structure to get that over as possible finish in the first fall, and they built it up a lot until Titan got in that moment. There were fun twists along the way – Joker got obliterated by a tope just for being a second – and these two got as about as a good reaction as they would’ve with something that would’ve required a lot more leaping. This was well done.

Jokerplex

The Panther/Felinos match was the expected mirror of their successful matches in Arena Mexico with a little less time. It was a little slow to start, but probably intended that way to build to a faster moving finish. If you’re going to watch one, you should watch the Friday ones, but this was worthwhile on this show. Felino has been looking better teaming with his sons of late and has a lot better timing as a third wheel than Esfinge.

When I wrote that there were only a few possible women’s matches left that would be potentially good, I think I was thinking of this match being on that list. This match was alright, but it wasn’t good. Part of it is the ghosts of the past: they’re both slow and less impactful than the same match would’ve been five or ten years ago. They haven’t pushed themselves to adjust what they do, and so this came off as a slimmed down version of an actual good match. I’m sure they’ll try a bit more in the title match but they’d have a ways to go before it’d be recommendable.

The athletic ability of the mini técnicos can sometimes overpower the boring structure of their overall matches. This wasn’t one of those times. Asturiano and Astro didn’t do a lot while that match itself followed the usual pattern. Asturiano wrestles in Puebla locals fairly often. Astro doesn’t seem to be wrestling anywhere unless it’s in some small Tlaxcala indie we’re not hearing about. I hope he’s getting more out of wrestling than these matches.

Templario bomb