CMLL on CadenaTres: 2013-08-17

recap

taped 2013-08-13 @ Arena Mexico

“dropkick”

Dalis la Caribeña, Goya Kong, Luna Mágica vs La Comandante, La Vaquerita, Tiffany: I saw Tigre Hispano make a pinfall count to six in this match, despite no one actually being pinned from four on, and it fit right in. Some of the women’s matches have exceeded poor expectations; this one did not. Finish was appropriately poor. Match was bad, but it doesn’t stop the crowd from reacting loudly to Goya’s wins and losses.

 

Angel de Jamon

Ángel de Oro, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Boby Zavala, Misterioso Jr., Sangre Azteca: A good match, though one where it felt like they were racing to get everything in because they were shorted on time. A motivated Sangre Azteca would be a fun opponent for Titan. We did get to see some of that here, he hasn’t totally backslid to his pre-En Busca performances. Zavala hasn’t been on TV (or at least the recapped ones) as much of late but was still good here.

 

hard dropkick to back

Eléctrico vs Pequeño Nitro for the Mexican National Lightweight tournament final match: This is probably as good a title match as they’re going to have at this point in their career. They did a lot of stuff (Eléctrico springboards, Nitro hitting Eléctrico) hard and they had the crowd into it. There’s definite room to improve. This might have been a much shorter match if you cut all the time they had to spend maneuver themselves or each other in position – way too many springboards, which are usually very athletic but not particularly dramatic. This was just a collection of spots, but this was good for being a collection of spots between guys who don’t have this chance often.

 

Escorpion tope con giro

Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Taichi: quick brawl to keep to make Dragon Rojo vs Niebla Roja not come off as completely random. Mostly random, but not completely random. Niebla Roja claiming ownership of the color of Red was at least amusing. Probably went just as long as it should’ve, because this is not a great combination of Revolucinarios and it’s the Guerreros least used to teaming with each other as a trio. Revolucinarios were definitely meant to be técnicos here, which is not how I figured it (or the next match) would go.

Escorpion destroys Guerrero

Último Guerrero vs Rey Escorpión: GREAT. This one felt like a big over-achievement; the typically quiet Tuesday night Arena Mexico crowd was loud by the second half of this match and really into the match. A lot of credit has to go to Rey Escorpion for antagonizing the fans into getting involved (in a way that’s not actually done too much in CMLL), but they both worked this smartly. The usual Ultimo Guerrero singles matches involve a técnico getting in a Move or a Roll up on him here and there and both taking a break for a while before UG starts to do his usual spots. This match was a rudo just beating the heck out of Ultimo Guerrero for long stretches at a time, in a way no one’s done to him in recent memory. (Even the one big singles match UG had with Rush was before Rush was what he is now.) It still allowed the pace UG prefers, but it made the match feel more real and more emotional. The crowd sure felt emotional about all the kicks to the face Escorpion was giving UG. Rey Escorpion had to bring the violence, and he did a superb job of it.