Recapped: 08/17/2018
Matches:
Disturbio & Yago beat Oro Jr. & Súper Astro Jr.
(10:57 [5:18, 2:48, 2:51], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Dragón Rojo Jr., Okumura, Pólvora beat Blue Panther Jr., Esfinge, Rey Cometa
(14:24 [4:58, 3:20, 6:06], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL )
Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Rey Bucanero beat Atlantis, Guerrero Maya Jr., Kráneo
(13:07 [4:05, 5:42, 3:20], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL )
Forastero beat Audaz in a lightning match
(9:34/9:31 officially, Forastero armbreaker, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Negro Casas, Okada, Último Guerrero beat Diamante Azul, Mistico, Valiente
(16:31 [6:46, 3:18, 6:27], 1/3, great, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Cavernario, La Bestia Del Ring, Rush beat Carístico, Matt Taven, Volador Jr.
(10:30 [1:39, 3:17, 5:34], 2/3 DQ, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
A lengthy finishing sequence saw Cavernario fouled Taven once again, only for Volador to again make the save on the pin. This time, Rush was the one who faked a foul in the confusion to draw the DQ. Volador challenged Rush to a hair versus hair match. Rush asked the fans if they’d want to see him face LA Park or Volador. The crowd seemed to loudly support Park. Volador threw a drink at Rush before he could continue, and Taven attacked Cavernario in the skirmish. Taven declared he was sick of the fouls and suggested a Cavernario/Rush vs Volador/Taven match. Rush got the mic back to say he wanted a one on one match only, but Volador again soaked him with a drink before he could finish and another brawl broke out.
Okada wrestled Mistico for most of the match and defeated him cleanly with the Rainmaker in his CMLL debut. Diamante Azul attacked Okada after the match, which appeared to confuse everyone else. Okada threw chops back at Diamante Azul, so I guess it was planned but didn’t feel that way.
Oro might have suffered a knee injury taking Yago’s finish on the ramp to end the third fall. There was no injury update on YouTube.
LA Park was announced for next Friday’s show, which takes place the night before TripleMania.
Thoughts:
The main event was a strong brawl, with a very hot first fall and good total chaos to end it. The post-match back and forth was well done too, about as good as they could to build to any of the matches teased. There’s just the slight problem that CMLL has been heavily building towards a much better match for months and nothing here will convince anyone that they’d rather see Volador/Rush or Volador/Taven vs Rush/Cavernario even close to as much as they want to see Rush/Park. There’s no lemonade to be made from these lemons. The best case is Park & Rush being in a cage match with eight other people, and that’s not a great case either.
It’s weird that Taven fits better as a técnico than a rudo in CMLL, but his offense worked really well in spurts in this match. He even managed to work with Besita ok (though Bestia still couldn’t catch his dive.) A Cavernario/Taven match would probably go great, and I hope they get to it somewhere in this mess. Volador seems to be into whatever this is, very into this match and into antagonizing Rush afterward. Volador/Rush would also probably go great, but it’s not the right time for it.
Okada’s appearance in CMLL was basically one of the best possible FantasticaMania trios matches transplanted to Mexico. Okada threw himself into the match, wrestling as a rudo against Mistico and ripping his mask up for the cameras, taking a stage dive and particpating in UG’s usually triple team. The fans reacted to Okada stronger than they had for Tanahashi in the past when he was the NJPW guy, though he was still mostly booed as evil outsider. Okada did enough to make those who came to see him feel like they got to see something, and Okada worked well enough with Mistico so the people who didn’t come to see him didn’t feel out of place. Everyone else did their part well. UG did his part and then some at times, graciously catching both Valiente & Diamante Azul’s dives so Negro Casas could live another day. Diamante Azul brawling with Okada hurt the moment of his win and it’s hard to believe it’s going anywhere, so I have no idea why they bothered.
Audaz was showcased well in the lightning match. He pulled off moves, and strings of moves, in ways no one else is doing, and it won over a crowd inclined not to care about this match. There were a couple things that didn’t go right, but nothing galling, and it built to bigger stuff near the end. Forastero was right where he needed to be for Audaz’s moves and got a few in his own, especially the great dive near the end. These two should meet again and it’ll probably be better when they do
Kraneo’s efforts in the first fall peaked the tercera, and it slowed down a bit when the rudos took over. Kraneo’s moves and comedy work in any situation, while the Guerreros throwing people around doesn’t work as well with Kraneo and Atlantis on the other side. The double super press slam spot looked like it was going to go very wrong for a moment and didn’t look that good when they tried to do it. Ending was flat too.
The segunda was a disappointing match. It’s an OK but only barely so. I wasn’t expecting high art from most of the people involved, but I did expect more than the two boring falls they had to start this match. Rey Cometa looked good, but no one else did much of anything interesting and they did not much for a very long time. Esfinge is not very good.
The opener was better than usual, with the rudos showing a lot and the third fall being pretty good. They were held back a bit by being in the opener and tried to make it work via apron moves. I write a lot about Yago in these matches but he stood out here again. The thing about Yago is he’s not a guy who seems for sure like he’d do better elsewhere. He’s a decent base, does a little comedy, has a couple nice spots (like his submission here) but doesn’t seem like he’s being held back. He’s a good fit as a CMLL luchador in what he does, but he’s limited doing it because he’s stuck as an occasion opener guy. He was a good fit with Disturbio here, who was working much lower than usual.
