taped 2014-06-20 @ Arena México
Atlantis vs La Sombra, Rush, Mr. Niebla, Super Porky, La Máscara, Máximo, Valiente, Shocker, Terrible, Último Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, Dragón Rojo Jr., Euforia, Rey Escorpión, Vangellys in a CMLL Leyenda de Azul Tournament match part 2 part 3: Sure hope Atlantis and Ultimo Guerrero are really main eventing the Anniversary show (maybe you know the answer by the time this is posted) because there’s not a lot of reason for Ultimo Guerrero to cleanly pin Rush in a notable match at this point otherwise. This was a match built a lot more on feuding face offs and “fights you never thought you would see” than any hot stretch of wrestling. Just about every possible normal team had a sequence together in that match – you’d have no idea Rey Escorpión versus Dragon Rojo was meant to be a thing going forward, because they didn’t sell it like it was a big deal and it came off no different than Euforia versus Ultimo Guerrero. Revolucionarios were smoother than the Guerreros, at least. The Atlantis/UG finish had a good idea but didn’t come together well.
The long stretch of quick eliminations made me so happy about that En Busca de un Idolo qualifying cibernetico only needing eight and spreading them out over the usual time, and confused why they couldn’t better spread those out here. It was a really a long gap from when Vangellys left and everyone else did, and that might have only happened because they screwed up with Euforia. Even as long as this was on TV, highlights showed there was even more cut out – maybe they didn’t need to show 16 different entrances.
Indesables were meant to be stars of the first half the match, though someone probably should have clued in the director. This is a production crew that spots the rudos doing an arrogant group pose, and cuts to the parrot standing blankly.
Delta, Stuka Jr., Titán vs Pólvora, Puma, Tiger: Very good match. I rewatched this right after watching the C3 main event, and it felt like these guys did more in the first fall than the Tuesday guys did in the entire match. Very active and competitive match. Not a lot of different outside the triple moonsault, but just a lot of stuff done well. Polvora’s so much better than he used to be and Tiger & Puma remain great. It was disappointing not to get Rey Cometa but Delta had a pretty good night. This is the sort of match we’ll miss out by not having Terra coverage on Fridays; the randomly fun trios matches tend to happen on that day, but they’ll be butchered in editing if they do air on Fox.
Hechicero vs Cavernario in a En Busca de un Idolo tournament final match: GREAT. A lot of the stuff before Cavernario’s dive gone wrong slipped my mind the first time, but they were on their way to a strong match before Cavernario got caught flying out of the ring – Hechciero’s moonsault to the floor is awesome, the reverse monkey flip spot looked as good as ever, and Cavernario’s run up the ropes dropkick was a strong técnico spot. (They almost worked Cavernario as a plucky high flying técnico, but he did a lot of suplexes for a high flyer.) The match really wasn’t derailed by the mishap by too long, it was only a minute or so later when Cavernario landed the top rope splash and everything was obviously back on schedule from there. The entire match was worked great to get Hechicero over as the mean vicious bully and allow the crowd to get behind Cavernario, who they really came alive for the whole way. It didn’t seem like to me, especially on the rewatch, that there really were many very convincing nearfalls before the finish, but the crowd reacted strongly to a couple of Cavernario near wins and close escapes. It must’ve been convincing enough for them. They got about 15 minutes here, longer than some trios matches (and longer than many third falls in title matches) and it still felt like they had five more minutes of good action in them when they ended. The finish was really great.
Random thing I noticed here: Maybe this is me seeing things that aren’t actually there, but the camera people seem to be getting lower and more daring angles on dives of late, taking up the same kind of positions only Alexis was doing a while ago. They’re not quite laying on the floor while people fly over them, but they’re getting closer and it really stuck out on Cavernario’s splash to the floor.
