CMLL on Marca: 2019-11-15

Titan

Recapped: 11/25/2019

Matches:

Espanto Jr. & Hijo del Signo beat Retro & Sonic
(11:27 [4:47, 3:13, 3:27], 2/3, ok)

Dalys, Reyna Isis, Tiffany beat La Jarochita, Princesa Sugehit, Shoko Nakajima
(13:48 [7:46, 2:44, 3:18], 2/3, ok)

Hechicero, Kawato, Okumura beat Atlantis Jr., Audaz, Dulce Gardenia
(17:18 [7:45, 2:47, 6:46], 1/3, good)

Ángel de Oro beat Felino in a lightning match
(6:38, Angel de Oro cradle w/ropes, ok)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat Star Jr., Stuka Jr., Titán
(17:27 [5:30, 6:16, 5:41], 2/3, good)

Gran Guerrero, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero beat Místico, Soberano Jr., Volador Jr.
(9:32 [5:30, 4:02], 1/2, ok)

What happened:

adios shoko

Negro Casas snuck in a foul on Soberano to set up the straight falls win in the main event. Volador wanted a rematch and/or an additional fall. Ultimo Guerrero accepted, was stopped by Edgar, and decided to leave.

Tiger Hattori was honored with a plaque after the tercera match. Both Chavo Lutteroth’s were part of the presentation, in their first public appearance since taking over the promotion. Sofia Alonso was in the building, did not appear.

Felino gave Angel de Oro a sunset flip powerbomb in the ring, and casually grabbed the bottom rope behind him. The referee stopped the spotted it and stopped the count. Felino complained, stalled, then gave Angel de Oro a crucifix powerbomb. Felino blatantly grabbed the bottom rope and the count was stopped again. Felino argued, Angel de Oro cradled him and used the rope to win. Felino attacked him after, then angel de Oro challenged Felino to a hair match. Felino seemed to accept. Angel de Oro came off as the rudo in the exchange, including hugging the referee.

Thoughts:

The main event seemed to be heading to a hot, if by the numbers, finale. Instead, it just ended abruptly. Soberano looked good while it lasted, Místico did a couple of things, there’s no need to see this with next week theoretically being more of a full match.

The semi-main got a lot of time. A lot of it went to NGD, which is at least what they seem to prefer to do. They looked great on offense, though these matches aren’t going to reach a higher level of excitement without the tecnicos getting a bigger run than they did here. Titan had an incredible rope bounce headscissors and generally remains good in his return from NJPW. It’s being wasted with nothing to dig into on these shows.

welcome back Kawato

Felino and Angel de Oro had a perfectly ordinary lightning match, notable only for how short it was for a Friday one, until the weird finish. This was a great simulation of a CMLL botched ending, up until they started doing promos to build a hair match. Angel de Oro cheating to beat Felino to set up the feud is strange, unless CMLL’s decided to go with the crowd and switch him to being a rudo. There was no great chemistry to suggest these two should have a feud and it does seem like another match being built up solely to give an older roster member a payoff. Maybe Felino has some great reserves for a big fight that he doesn’t show most weeks.

Hechicero generally works hard and took it to another level with NJPW people there. He caught all the tricky dives from Audaz and Hechicero, pulled off the trickiest sequences, and carried it for his side. Hechicero was out there taking missed sentons on the apron just to prove his point. Atlantis and Audaz look good in the spots they’re given, though they don’t really go far beyond those set moments. Kawato looked fine, which was better than he was for almost all of last stint.

Nakajima worked well with Isis and didn’t work much with anyone else. Jarochita keeps getting matched up with Dalys and Dalys isn’t interested in giving her all that much, so it’s hard to know if she’s any good. Silueta’s defining personality trait is “red hair”, so Tiffany going to red is an odd choice.

The opener wasn’t worth the effort to think about it. Sonic has looked promising in other matches. Not as much with this crew. I couldn’t tell if the finish was a dramatic bump or Espanto Jr. messing up the grab. History is not on Espanto’s side. By history, that means parts of the rest of the match.

Soberano

regular CMLL show + Tiger Hattori tonight, legends show on 12/06

Ovaciones goes with NJPW referee Tigre Hattori as the big story for today’s CMLL show. Hattori is working tonight as part of a retirement tour. He doesn’t have a huge connection with CMLL, but he’s been part of the NJPW team who works with CMLL as part of their alliance. It’s a nice honor for him, everyone seems to like him. It also says things about the excitement level for a Friday night card when the most interesting bit is a referee from another promotion having a one-off appearance. I hope Hattori does well, but I also hope he just does the lightning match so he’s not out there trying to figure out CMLL rules. The best-case scenario here is we all get to enjoy CMLL making a bigger deal out of Hattori’s retirement than NJPW did for Lyger’s US retirement.

There’s nothing else going on tonight in Arena Mexico, just some matches. The matches might be good, but it also may be a lot of action we’ve seen a lot before. There are no feuds going on. It might be a good crowd because of the 2×1 ticket deal. The rotating main event tecnico trio lands on Mistico, Volador, and Soberano this week. They face Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero, and Negro Casas. Star Jr. remains in a high position, teaming with Titan and Stuka Jr. against NGD. Angel de Oro & Felino are in a lightning match. They’ve split the other two matches.

The natural storylines are a return and a farewell. Kawato San makes his first streaming appearance, returning to CMLL just in time for the NJPW officials to see him. He teams with Okumura & Hechicero against Atlantis, Dulce Gardenia and Audaz. Shoko Nakajima finishes her CMLL tour by teaming with Princesa Sugehit & La Jarochita against Dalys, Tiffany and Reina Isis. Retro & Sonic open up against the dreaded team of Hijo del Signo & Espanto Junior. The broadcast starts at 8:30 pm, MarcaClaro will be streaming it, and I’ll be streaming their stream.

Lucha Central has a preview of this show.

CMLL’s annual show of wrestlers whose best days are long behind them (and also a few who are still good) will be coming up in about three weeks. Romano Garcia/Mr. Condor of Los Diabolicos says his group is wrestling in Arena Mexico on December 6th. Skayde also says he’s booked. It has to be the annual Leyendas show, which does draw a lot of fans to see the old names for one night but also makes one wonder how safe it is for some of the participants to be in the ring. CMLL is in a rut, so something unusual and even ill-considered can’t be all bad.

I’m not sure when Skayde has ever wrestled a regular CMLL show prior. He was an El Toreo guy and then floated thru other promotions. He has wrestled in Arena Mexico as part of DragonMania shows. Skayde has also wrestled under a dozen different identities so I’m likely missing something, but I couldn’t find a previous CMLL Arena Mexico match for him.

CMLL also has you covered for pictures of Star Black’s healing leg. He’s hoping to be back in early January.

Polvora introduces Mini Polvora to the world. Polvora is about three inches taller than Mini Polvora, who is the former Manitas de Seda.

This week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports Penta & Fenix are starting as AAA regulars as opposed to working mostly indies in “four to five weeks.” That may be correct. It doesn’t seem correct because Penta’s got an indie booking on 12/28 in Puebla. It also seems weird because AAA’s last TV taping of the year is the 12/14 show, 4-5 weeks away from whenever that news was received. They appear to be off until January after that Guerra de Titanes show. Penta & Fenix starting working more with AAA in 2020 seems plausible if it’s happening at all.

Impact is back in Mexico City near the end of January according to this week’s TV show.

Australian Suicide is a fashion guy.

Punisher unmasked Super Tigre in Arena Aficion. Super Tigre is Luis Miguel Silva, 53, 32 years a wrestler, originally from Mexico City.

Vampiro started a new YouTube channel.

LuchaWorld has the latest Lucha Report.

Lineups

AAA , CAPITAL (WED) 11/20/2019 Pinche Gringo Barbecue, Miguel Hidalgo, Distrito Federal
Women: Big Mami vs VanillaLady Maravilla
Men: Willie Mack vs BengalaMocho Cota Jr.PaganoAerostarMurder ClownNiño HamburguesaArezAbismo Negro Jr.

I still don’t sense many people are interested in the Lucah Capital Season 2 tournament format but it is worth nothing everything has made sense in this AAA tournament so far. All the people announced are all the people who should have a match left. It gets complicated once they move onto the semi-finals but most AAA tournaments are a mess by this point.

CMLL (MON) 11/18/2019 Arena Puebla
1) Black Tiger & Policeman vs Ares & Guerrero Espacial
2) Halcón Suriano Jr. & Robin vs Apocalipsis & Toro Bill Jr.
3) La Magnifica, La Maligna, Princesa Sugehit vs Dalys, La Metálica, Reyna Isis
4) Ángel de Oro, Dulce Gardenia, Stigma vs Hijo del Villano III, Okumura, Templario
5) Niebla Roja © vs Mephisto [CMLL LH]
7th defense
6) Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

It’d be a big surprise if Niebla Roja lost. More Caristico main events. Not sure if there’s meant to be a feud to go along with the opening match rudo versus rudo feud. Just like with Mexico City prelim feud, there’s often a locals feud in Puebla (that peaks during the week or two where this building is not televised.)