CMLL on Marca: 2018-10-19

Panterita del Ring

Recapped: 10/19/2018

Matches:

Pegasso & Stigma beat Cancerbero & El Coyote
(9:57 [4:33, 2:58, 2:26], 2/3, below average, 00:00:00)

Diamante Azul, Mistico, Valiente beat Dark Magic, Felino, Negro Casas
(9:06 [4:05, 5:01], 1/2, ok, 00:16:55)

Ángel de Oro, beat Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr., Dragón Rojo Jr., Espanto Jr., Luciferno, Misterioso Jr., and Templario to win the Copa Halcon Suriano
(24:57, good, 00:34:43)

  1. Blue Panther Jr. fujiwara armbar Espanto Jr. (5:28)
  2. Misterioso Gori Driver Black Panther (5:28)
  3. Stuka Jr. torpedo splash Luciferno (9:18)
  4. ref stop Blue Panther Jr. [injury] (10:05)
  5. Niebla Roja inverted campana Misterioso (14:16)
  6. Dragon Rojo grounded octopus Stuka Jr. (14:51)
  7. Angel de Oro casadora Templario (16:05)
  8. Dragon Rojo Dragon Bomb Niebla Roja (19:31)
  9. Angel de Oro huracanrana Dagon Rojo (24:57)

Black Warrior, Blue Panther, Euforia, Panterita del Ring beat Cuatrero, Forastero, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón
(14:30 [5:18, 2:59, 6:13], 2/3, good, 01:13:34)

Cavernario, Rush, Terrible beat Carístico, David Finlay, Penta 0M
(13:24 [2:39, 3:52, 6:53], 1/3, ok, 01:50:46)

What happened: 

proof Misterioso can do a dive

Penta was defeated Rush cleanly with a Rush Driver, and need to be stretchered out. He was fine on Twitter later.

Like with the Negro Casas anniversary, Sofia Alonso gave Blue Panther a plaque for reaching 40 years. Blue Panther’s family – except Junior, see below – came out to pose with him for a photo. This included the not-yet-debuted Hijo del Blue Panther, who wore a white Panther mask.

Stukita appeared before the Copa Halcón Suriano to show his name/mask change to Halcón Suriano. Many of the wrestlers in the match either entered wearing Blue Panther Jr. homage masks or wore all blue in tribute. Most people on the show wore Blue Panther 40 armbands. Blue Panther Jr. took a wrong step on the top rope while trying for a dive, and fell to the floor instead, taking out a cameraman in the process. Panther was put on a backboard and could not finish the match. He did not appear when the rest of the family came out to honor Blue Panther (although whoever has his Twitter account was active.)

Thoughts:

proof Luciferno can do a dive

The main event had the people for a big feud or even a really good match. It was neither, resembling the Tuesday post-big match main event in the effort if not time. There was no great build to anything and not a lot of work. Carístico & Penta had the slightest of issues, maybe on their own to keep the issue going, because it’s obvious CMLL has moved on. Carístico outperformed Penta easy. Finlay actually fit in better than usual but still has no strong purpose. Terrible looked off, both in taking Finlay’s (maybe Stunner?) finish and with Penta’s Slingblades. Cavernario carried most of the work, as usual. Rush beating Penta clean was weird. Rush beating anyone clean is very unlike him. It’s the kind of finish that feels like the end of Penta in CMLL for now, but also makes you wonder why they bothered to bring him back for this in the first place.

The Blue Panther match was more enjoyable for the action itself, and not just the nostalgia like the other similar matches this year. There was no great thematic reason to do a Lagunera versus Jalisco match, but it functioned together better than the all old men versions of these tribute matches. The NGD moved around great and were able to keep Black Warrior & Blue Panther looking reliable. Warrior looked visually much better than Panterita walking to the ring, but Panterita blew him away in the match. He was able to change up his style from what he’s done as Ephesto for years, pulling off some highspots well. (The dive didn’t go well, but the recovery made up for it.) Warrior seemed surprisingly old; his tope at the end would’ve been fine by any standard except his old ones. They gave Blue Panther good moments, he got the win, and everyone went home happy.

The Copa Halcón Suriano was in the same range as the Gran Prix and the heavyweight championship match. It looked like it was going to be better until Blue Panther Jr.’s injury seemed to derail things for a while. The first eight or so minutes of this match was a lot of fun, with people doing more for the occasion. (Misterioso showed a dropkick, pulled off an Asai dive, and went off the top rope!) Blue Panther Jr. was probably supposed to be around for a while, though I’m not sure how long. The end game – down to having the Chavez brothers as the final two left – seemed to play out fine without him being. It was good enough to keep the crowd interested after they showed signs of turning on it without any Panther involved. The last six minutes of Angel de Oro and Dragon Rojo going back and forth was nicely done to build dramatics, and smartly played off the previous eliminations in a way which would’ve been hard to put together on the spot and is atypical for both. It was worked well, with the Angel de Oro submission reversal spot standing out as something not normally done. Dragon Rojo’s moves come off as shakey, but everything, including the double stomp that I hate, worked really well. Angel de Oro comes up well in trios matches all the time and this was a nice solo effort from him. This isn’t a must see, but it’s a worthwhile use of your time.

almost all my notes for GIFs were dives so I stopped making GIFs

The second match was so nothing that I didn’t really grasp it was over at first; it just didn’t process that the técnicos actually won both falls until they went to the Roshfrans commercial. There wasn’t a lot to it. I guess it was fine. What action they did provide was the usual Negro Casas/Mistico bit. Casas did a lot of bumbling, Mistico outsmarted him and beat him with his own move, and the crowd hated it because they just want to cheer for Negro Casas. Diamante Azul & Dark Magic worked a lot together, have no special chemistry, but Dark Magic is a large man Azul can try to throw around impressively and perhaps that’s a reason to exist.

The opener was a nothing match, peaking OK but uninteresting action. Trying to figure out what happened on Exatlon (nearly 1/3rd of the people on the show quit after the plane they were on did an accidental 360 in mid-flight! But not Dragon Lee! And somehow they had replacement people ready to go!) captured more of my action than the match. They didn’t go too far for fancy spots, which made it worse when things didn’t work well. Cancerbero and Pegasso have worked together hundreds of times but were the worst pair, somehow.

One thought to “CMLL on Marca: 2018-10-19”

Comments are closed.