Recapped: 02/15/2019
Video links were not immediately available, perhaps due to issues.
Matches:
Cancerbero & Raziel beat Pegasso & Stigma
(13:53 [5:30, 2:31, 5:52], 1/3, ok)
Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr. beat Okumura, Tiger, Virus
(15:49 [7:32, 2:56, 5:21], 2/3, below average)
Esfinge, Titán, Tritón beat Pólvora, Templario, Vangellys
(13:24 [5:05, 2:10, 6:09], 1/3, ok)
Ángel de Oro, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr. beat Ephesto, La Bestia Del Ring, Mephisto
(6:51 [2:22, 4:29], 1/2 DQ, ok)
Carístico, Místico, Valiente beat Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
(12:21 [4:23, 1:48, 6:10], 2/3, good)
Terrible beat Niebla Roja for the CMLL Universal Championship
(21:31, 1/2, good)
- Terrible German suplex (6:32)
- Terrible Styles Clash (15:00)
What happened:
Early in the night, Bestia del Ring and Angel de Oro slightly feuded all match long, leading Bestia to foul Angel de Oro at the end.
They both returned as seconds for the Universal final. (La Comandante also tried seconding Terrible and was kicked out.) Angel de Oro was in his brother’s corner. Bestia grabbed Niebla Roja by the leg in the first fall, leading to Terrible beating Roja with a suplex. Roja was about to win a very long second fall when Bestia came in again and broke up the reverse campana. Terrible won seconds later with a Styles Clash. Angel de Oro protested the decision, while Niebla Roja challenged Terrible to a hair versus hair match. Terrible told Niebla Roja to name the time and the place. It was talked about as a singles match, but Angel de Oro & La Bestia del Ring were very involved. It appears to be heading to a tag version of that match.
During the match, Terrible twice grabbed onto the top of Niebla Roja’s trunks while upside down to pull him up for moves, which left Roja partially exposed to the cameras. It is hard to miss on the finish.
Thoughts:
Despite going only two falls, the main event delivered all the offense you’d expect from a match that went the normal distance. It did follow the usual your move/my move formula of a CMLL big match and Niebla Roja had some less than graceful moments (even when he was fully covered) but the freshness of the match made kept it compelling. It did become clear that something strange was going on when the second fall kept going and going. It would’ve been a memorable match in CMLL if the long second fall was setting up Niebla Roja just barely surviving into a third fall, but CMLL predictability gave away Niebla Roja losing in some crooked fashion in the second fall long before it actually happened. They had the best match they were going to have under the conditions, but those conditions and the match they’re building towards took it down a bit.
Most every undercard match on this show felt like a rerun. At least the semi-main was a good rerun. Carístico played the role of Volador in a familiar Guerreros/Sky Team match from a couple of years ago. Místico hit all his big spots and had a good night, got booed loudly all the same. The rudos generally stayed in the background and supported the técnicos thru a long third fall showcase. Something new would’ve been appreciated but the crowd still seemed to like the double Mistica finish.
The fourth match was rather quick to just get the finish. Stuka & Soberano put in good efforts for as long as they had time to show anything. Angel de Oro did about as well with Bestia del Ring as you could hope to expect, though Bestia is still allergic to catching dives. The tease of Bestia versus Angel de Oro as the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas hair match was the most distressing moment of the show.
What was remarkable in the tercera is someone actually got the ropes while being in a submission in the third fall of a midcard match. The tercera was a decent exhibition for the técnicos, especially in the closing moments. It didn’t seem the most exciting Templario performance, but the execution was smoother than in the match that preceded it.
The second match was a sloppier version of the usual match with those people. It started off with Black Panther & Virus mat work, something normally to get excited for, but they weren’t sharp and Black Panther felt out of a hold. It took to the last sequence with Guerrero Maya & Okumura to wake the matchup, and that wasn’t kind of the way for the whole three falls. Panther’s Boomerang kick spot looked badly timed this week. The third fall had a sequence with cradles where the referee stopped counting and was actually right to stop counting because someone forgot to kick out. They can and they often do much better than this.
The Cancerberos opening the show in their usual grinding fashion. They were generally effective at teamwork spots but the match itself was missing a little bit of a spark or speed to make it memorable. You’ve seen this before and it didn’t feel like it was going anywhere.