May 25, 2019 – luchablog

CMLL (FRI) 05/24/2019 Arena México [CMLL, LuchaCentral, Marca, Ovaciones, thecubsfan]
1) Cancerbero & Raziel b Magnus & Robin
14:3. Rudos took 1/3.
2) Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Fuego b Kawato San, Misterioso Jr., Virus
12:20. Tecnicos took 2/3.
3) Amapola, Dalys, Metálica b Estrellita, Kaho Kobayashi, Princesa Sugehit
10:17. Kayo & Amapola feuded to set up next week’s tag match.
4) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Templario b Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr., Valiente
13:07. Rudos took 1/3.
5) Cuatrero, Forastero, Máscara Año 2000 DQ Felino, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero
10:26. Straight falls, the last when Euforia & Gran Guerrero ran in to help Ultimo Guerrero. Feuding to build up next week’s Mascara/UG hair match.
6) Místico b Cavernario
19:21. Cavernario was DQed for unmasking Mistico in the second. Mistico won with La Mistica in the third.

CMLL promos: Virus promotes his retirement match with Metalico, Guerreros say they’re ready for the tag title match, Valiente says it’ll be a great match, Mascara 2000 & Ultimo Guerrero said things about their feud, so did Amapola & Kaho, and Mistico challenged Cavernario to a mask vs hair match.

This was a pretty forgettable show, the usual feuding the week before a build show, until the main event. This was a Mistico FantasticaMania level match in Arena Mexico, in front of a crowd that was actually pro-Mistico. Cavernario’s the secret sauce here, I’m not sure if Mistico could’ve had this quality of match with many CMLL rudos. It was a super match and definitely worth checking out.

You already know next week’s lineup.

The Crash (FRI) 05/24/2019 Auditorio de Tijuana, Tijuana, Baja California[@JorgeGCR, The Crash]
1) Tiago b Dinámico, Terror Azteca, Torito Negro, Ryan Kidd, Súper Caló Jr., Karma, Craven
Karma & Craven added tot he match.
2) Animal, Demencia, Silver Star b Star Boy, Viento, Zarco
Great match. Win via foul.
3) Flamita b Black Danger, Adam Brooks
Flamita beat Black Danger
4) Trauma I & Trauma II b Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja
Lots of money thrown in. Niebla Roja was put in a neck brace after taking a knee to the head at the finish.
5) Austin Theory & Carístico DQ Hijo del Fantasma & Rey Horus
Fantasma unmasked Caristico as he had Horus in La Mistica.
6) Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf b Penta 0M & The King © [The Crash TAG]
Originally a TLC match. Black Danger helped Rebelion Amarilla win the tag titles. Penta teased this as their final appearance.

The 2nd and 4th matches sound like the best matches. The crowd was up, up from last show’s disappointing number and up compared to most Friday night shows.

Penta’s tease of he and Fenix being doing in The Crash is about what everyone expects. It also conflicted with what The Crash announced earlier in the night:

06/15 (Saturday) The Crash

Adam Brooks vs Bandido vs Matt Taven vs Dragon Lee
Mesias vs Austin Theory
Penta, Bandido, Fenix, Cuatrero, Mecha Wolf, Trauma II to appear

For purposes of shows we can watch without relying on random YouTube channels, Matt Taven showing up here means he’s probably working CMLL on at least 06/14.

The schedule of shows with a passing connection to lucha libre tonight that you can actually see in CT

6:00 pm AEW Double or Nothing free show
7:00 pm AEW Double or Nothing PPV
8:00 pm (ish) AAA in Queretaro

AAA’s got the talent for an interesting card – 36 people on the card, some of the better people they have – but it’s tough to tell if the interest to put together good matches will be there with it really being the secondary show for AAA’s interests. Some AAA officials will be there, though I think they’ll have representatives at AEW and the tag title match there is being treated bigger than anything happening in Queretaro tonight.

It still doesn’t seem a great use of time to go match by match with AAA shows when most of the matches are likely to change (especially the one that still has Jack Evans listed in it), but maybe less AAA focus on the show means less tweaking of the card. The Chik Tormenta, Keyra, and Tessa against Faby Apache, Lady Shani, and Taya match seems most likely to happen since it’s all the women who aren’t involved with Nino Hamburguesa. It also seems like the match most likely to be good but derailed by the 245th Faby Apache/Hijo del Tirantes bit. The minis match seems pretty likely too since it is unlikely they’ll be mixed with other people. No idea about the rest – Jinetes del Aire versus Super Fly, Australian Suicide and TBA could be great, but it’s hard to trust it is happening.

It’d be nice for AEW if the Double or Nothing included a mention of the AAA show in MSG. Nice if not really consequential. AAA really needs more than a mention, they need something to make more people excited about going, and a mention of existence alone isn’t going to do that. I presume the Young Bucks are winning and there may be some mention of them going to Merida, but I wouldn’t count on more.

(I may not be covering either of these shows live.)

DragonMania is also taking place tonight, in Arena Mexico. Caristico teams with Ultimo Dragon & AJPW’s Kento Miyahara against Diamante and Los Migras. The card includes Ricky Marvin’s first Arena Mexico appearance in 14 years, though in a match teaming with Argos and against Nitro & Tyso la Bestia. There’s a lot of lead anchors on this card, which makes me not that worried about missing it. This will air on SamuraiTV eventually and some years there are handhelds of the show as well.

Silver King was also given a sports honor or merit.

Recapped: 05/24/2019

Matches:

Cancerbero & Raziel beat Magnus & Robin
(14:35 [5:16, 3:47, 5:32], 1/3, ok, 00:01:17)

Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Fuego beat Kawato San, Misterioso Jr., Virus
(12:20 [5:11, 4:02, 3:07], 2/3, ok, 00:22:46)

Amapola, Dalys, Metálica beat Estrellita, Kaho Kobayashi, Princesa Sugehit
(10:17 [3:26, 2:02, 4:49], 1/3, ok, 00:44:46)

Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Templario beat Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr., Valiente
(13:07 [4:19, 3:12, 5:36], 1/3, good, 01:03:34)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Máscara Año 2000 beat Felino, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero
(10:26 [4:57, 5:29], 1/2, ok, 01:26:46)

Místico beat Cavernario
(19:21, 2 DQ/3, great, 01:49:02)

Cavernario headscissors armtrap cradle (2:01)
DQ Cavernario mask pull (3:05)
Místico La Mistica (14:15)

What happened:

almost final Virus lightning submission win?

Gran Guerrero & Euforia (but strangely not Templario!) ran in to attack the Dinamitas in the second fall when they were triple teaming Último Guerrero. NGD were briefly unmasked. UG & Mascara went back and forth on the microphone after the fight was broken up.

Kaho & Amapola talked up their hair match after their trios match.

Thoughts:

The main event delivered CMLL’s dream Místico match. He looked spectacular, nothing went wrong, and he was the cheered victorious hero in the end. This was the match they’ve been looking for him since the moment CMLL gave him the Místico character. It only took seven years to get here but it happened! Cavernario continued his all-world run by helping Místico look as clean as possible in between getting in his own devastating offense. I’m not sure we needed everything we got here, including the big splash at the end, but it did work to pull in a crowd that was lukewarm all night during the build-up for Juicio Final. They finally got something that was big in itself for this show, with both men making it feel big time with their performance. I think there’s another level here – Místico showed that he had enough offense from his big trios matches to have a big single matches but didn’t really go beyond the expected – but if this is as good as it gets, it’s still pretty good.

The build to Último Guerrero versus Mascara Año 2000 is 30 seconds of standing and trading punches, which Mascara loses most of the time. I’m not really sure what that match is going to be. The match here wasn’t much but a set up for the run-in, Felino & Negro Casas existing to be taken out and vanishing during the post-match.

Nothing fancy to the fourth match, but it was a rare chance to see the non-UG Guerrero show they can work as well as a team without the big boss. The direct Euforia/Soberano match ups were kept few but Gran Guerrero & Templario did well basing for the younger person in that family. Stuka & Valiente stuck to the usual but pulled it off efficiently until they were destroyed at the end. This overall came together as a lesser version of the super flying técnico teams against the Guerreros, and that kind of just was what it was.

The women’s match was just Amapola & Kaho feuding. It was good enough to make me believe next week’s match might be good, but not enough to make this week’s match good. It’s hard to imagine it going long and it probably would be best at a one fall match, but they did enough that maybe they can figure something out. Estrellita still has unlimited rights to do topes whenever she wants.

Virus submitted two técnicos in about thirty seconds of the first fall of the segunda, which seemed like a set up to an interesting bit of Virus domination leading into next week’s big retirement match. And then everything else wasn’t interesting and Virus ended up taking all the técnico finishes in the third fall. This was a slightly less exciting than usual segunda in the end and I’m not sure why.

The opener started with a regular Cancerbero match. They ran thru their offense to no great reaction, not that the técnicos were that interacting with the crowd that much either. Magadan yelling after the finish had more energy than this match, which was mostly executed fine but missing any spark.

Day: May 25, 2019

Cavernario & Mistico exciting CMLL main, AAA in Queretaro tonight, AEW

CMLL on Marca: 2019-05-24