Recapped: 10/08/2018
Matches:
Black Tiger & Meyer beat Ares & Fuerza Chicana
(14:56 [5:37, 4:10, 5:09], 1/3, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Arkalis, Astral, Magnus beat El Perverso, Espanto Jr., Policeman
(14:30 [5:09, 4:38, 4:43], 2/3, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Princesa Sugehit beat Reyna Isis in a lightning match
(7:36, Michinoku Driver, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Dragón Rojo Jr., Okumura, Pólvora beat Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Stigma
(15:11 [4:34, 5:16, 5:21], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Diamante Azul, Kráneo, Michael Elgin beat Cuatrero, Dark Magic, Sansón
(13:44 [2:00, 4:32, 7:12], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Cavernario, La Bestia Del Ring, Terrible beat Hijo de LA Park, LA Park, Volador Jr.
(19:09 [5:05, 5:22, 8:42], 2/3, ok,VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Cavernario beat Volador to set up a title match for next week. It had seemed the last few weeks like they were going in a Rush/LA Park direction, and perhaps something had changed.
Thoughts:
This whole show kind of dragged and the main event wasn’t as different as I’d hope. There was some fun stuff lately, though it took two long falls to get there. These didn’t feel quite as alive as with Rush in them, with those first two falls feeling packed with LA Park & son spots and the rivalry pushed to the background. They finished well, and a main event in a Park match ending cleanly was surprising. Not so surprising it didn’t involve him, but they did have a nice fake-out with a ref distraction early.
I studied the Dark Magic match the day of the show to find some deep insights on this guy who had barely wrestling in CMLL. It turned out that he looked like a guy who had barely wrestled in CMLL. Beyond the moves, he didn’t seem like he totally grasped where he was supposed to be or what was happening at times. Kawato, as much as he’s struggled, seems to get it more than Dark Magic at this point. Kawato just doesn’t look like Dark Magic. It remains odd to see Cuatrero & Sansón simply being used as bodies to be thrown around by Elgin. It looked sloppy at times; the double powerslam really looked wrong. Cuatrero was much better at the chop spot. The NGD guys can stooge well, they’re just not asked to do it much.
Last week, I thought the Costa Ricans had a less appealing match with the Stigma/Panthers team than usual. This week, the Costa Ricans look a lot better. This was a pretty boring match, more than normal for this trios team. They never really got the match going at a decent speed, and it was plain boring at times. It’s not a great sign when Black Panther is walking thru dives, though it seemed it might have been due to some leg injury. No one did much of anything iht his one.
Reyna Isis, “woman who has trouble removing her pants”, is the most I’ve ever liked her. I guess they’re tropes because they work. The lightning match with Princesa Sugehit was fine in the usual fashion, with nothing much to write about. The notable thing here is CMLL didn’t put up the giant graphics, confirming they exist solely for the big screen on Arena Mexico and the freeloaders watching online aren’t a concern.