CMLL Martes: 2017-09-12 

no mountain too big for Microman

Recapped: 09/25-26/2017

All matches aired from Arena Mexico live.

Matches: 

Retro & Sangre Imperial vs Templario & Yago
(11:56 [5:00, 4:19, 2:37], 1/3, ok, via
VideosOficialesCMLL)

La Vaquerita, Marcela, Sanely beat La Comandante, La Seductora, Metálica
(12:45 [6:34, 3:54, 2:17], 2/3, n/r, via 
VideosOficialesCMLL)

El Gallito & Microman beat Chamuel & Mije
(11:07, good, via
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Luciferno, Tiger, Virus vs Esfinge, Fuego, Pegasso
(13:54 [6:21, 3:08, 4:25], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys beat Drone, Johnny Idol, Titán
(12:43 [5:26, 3:34, 3:43], 1/3, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Dragón Lee, Stuka Jr., Valiente beat Cavernario, Negro Casas, Shocker
(12:33 [4:07, 1:48, 6:38], 1/3 DQ, ok, via 
VideosOficialesCMLL)

What Happened:

gotta springboard

Shocker fouled Stuka to finish the main event.

This was Chamuel’s Arena Mexico debut after wrestling in Arena Coliseo previously. He is twice Microman’s size.

Thoughts: 

behold the power of Chamuel

The main had teases of what might happen if we ever got to see a 2017 Cavernario/Dragon Lee full length match, and just enough action to send the crowd away satisfied. Not something you need to rewatch, and Shocker fouling Stuka wasn’t built to at all and doesn’t set up anything interesting. Cavernario was entertainingly in Dragon Lee’s face in this one.

The fourth match has some good ideas – Luciferino getting battered 3 on 1 by dropkicks to set up a pin is a nice change of pace with the teammates actually working together – but it doesn’t totally come together as something worth watching. Esfinge coming into too early in the ending sprint was amusing. Tiger has good timing on his big strikes.

this was not good

The third match was a another fun micros match. This Tuesday crowd didn’t seem as into it at first as other ones, but they were getting showered by coins as well. Chamuel did well, selling big for the smaller técnicos to make them see more impressive. Mije had a problem with his tapatia and Gallito seemed like not everything went right, but Microman was the start as always.

The opener was not as exciting as the Fiero-fests, but Templario was out to impress. He was also out to do some springboards, and did a lot of those. Retro does bad quebradoras and I’m really becoming a quebradora snob as I grow older. My Facebook friend Yago still needs a better finish.

Templario has a lot of finishes.

01/09: Puebla

cmll.com

CMLL (MON) 01/08 Arena Puebla Results
1) Blue Center, Centella de Oro, Forajido b Espiritu Maligno, Fuerza Tiger, Mr. Rafaga
2) Coco Blanco, Coco Rojo, Coco Verde b Bobby Jack, Toro Bill Jr., Toro Bill Sr.
3) Lady Apache b Hiroka [CMLL WOMEN]
4) La Mascara, Sagrado, Volador Jr. b Eclipse, Mascara Ano 2000, Universo 2000
5) Black Warrior, Tarzan Boy, Ultimo Guerrero b Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero, Shocker

Notimex says CMLL’s letting all kids in free to Arena Mexico when with an adult for the month.

WWE (SmackDown/ECW) is back in Mexico in March (rfc)
03/15 – Mexico City (Thursday)
03/16 – Mexico City (Friday – huh)
03/17 – Tijuana (Saturday)
03/18 – Monterrey (Sunday)

I don’t believe Rey Misterio Jr. is due back in the ring by then, but I assume he’ll make appearances.

12/23: Arena Mexico, AAA award winners, GdR

CMLL (FRI) 12/22 Arena Mexico Results
1) Artillero, Super Comando b Molotov, Sombra de Plata
2) Arkangel, Loco Max, Okumura b Fabian el Gitano, Leono, Tony Rivera
3) Black Warrior, Olimpico, Takemura b Felino, Heavy Metal, Texano Jr.
4) Mistico, Negro Casas, Sagrado b Damian 666, Halloween, Mr. Aguila
5) Averno b Volador Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE]
6) Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Rey Bucanero b Atlantis, Tarzan Boy, Ultimo Guerrero

Ovaciones says the title match went 40 minutes. CMLL.com says it went 45 minutes. It never actually goes 45 minutes. No report from Ocampo. I’m thinking 25-ish minutes during the falls and maybe 40 minutes if you include between falls and entrances and postmatch. Ovaciones said Volador made many errors, which doens’t sound good. CMLL.com is much more positive.

CMLL Lineups are up on their site. Nothing noteworthy.

AAA announced their promotional year end awards
Female Tecnica: Cinthia Moreno
Male Tecnico: El Intocable
Tag Team Tecnico: Octagon, La Parka Jr.
Referee Tecnico: Tirantes

Male Rudo: Pirata Morgan
Female Ruda: Rossy Moreno
Mini Rudo: Mini Chessman
Rudo Tag Team: Chessman, Charly Manson
Foreign Rudo: Murete Chessman
Referee Rudo: Piero

New Star: El Elegido
Constant: La Parka Jr.
Trio: Alan, Decnnis, Billy Boy

“Mejor ruda de AAA”: La Hechicera

They also named winners for Martha Villalobos’ promotion.

Promising: Shika
Male Rudo: Johnny Villalobos
Female Rudo: Lady Warrior
Female Tecnica: Linda Star
Tag Team Tecnico: Iluminado, Transmeta
Trio: Mascara de Oro Y Plata, Super Mascara, Mascara Magnifica

GdR 57 has
12/15 Mexico: Dark Angel, Marcela, Sahori b Amapola, Hiroka, Princesa Sujei
12/17 Coliseo: La Mascara b Sangre Azteca [MEX WELTER]
unmasked: Shocker

12/22 Arena Mexico Preview

CMLL (FRI) 12/22 Arena Mexico
1) Molotov & Sombra de Plata vs Artillero & Super Comando
2) Fabian el Gitano, Leono, Tony Rivera vs Arkangel, Loco Max, Okumura
3) Felino, Heavy Metal, Texano Jr. vs Black Warrior, Olimpico, Takemura
4) Mistico, Negro Casas, Sagrado vs Damian 666, Halloween, Mr. Aguila
5) Averno vs Volador Jr. [CMLL MIDDLE]
6) Dos Caras Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Rey Bucanero vs Atlantis, Tarzan Boy, Ultimo Guerrero

Fabian el Gitano, Leono, Arkangel and Loco Max in a segunda. Who would’ve ever guessed such a thing?

You know, they could’ve easily swapped Texano and Sagrado and made even a tiny deal out of the Texano/Negro team in Japan. They’re not.

I think the tecnicos win in the main event, and they setup a low key trios title defense sometime during this down period. We usually get one or two title matches with a week or two build, and that would make as much sense as any.

The title match is obviously the event of night. It’s got the rare combo of no clear winner, a meaningful outcome and a likely really good match. Averno’s started to establish himself as a singles star besides his matches with Mistico. Volador’s once again in the spot of nearly breaking thru and needing a signature moment to do it. They’ve worked with each other before and worked well. This is a big moment for them; Volador’s only been in single matches in Arena Mexico during tournaments (2005 La Copa Jr., Super Light finals) and not this high on the card. Averno’s been high on the card for singles matches, but only when facing a guy like Santo or Mistico. This is their chance to prove they can be more than Mistico’s rudo foil and Mistico’s lesser tecnico friend.

The best possible outcome is this match gives the feud legs and it becomes something they can carry on well into 2007. (Judging from some early lineups for Janurary, they will keep meeting on spot show, but they have been meeting before, so I’m not sure if that means anything.) If they want to keep this going, I’m guessing Averno holds onto the title here, allowing them to do rematches around the country for a few months, and then Volador finally wins it in the undercard of some match in March. But I’m not sure about this finish at all.

The other drama here is hoping this show will air. Shocker, Universo, Corelone, Kenzo, Perro and Hector all being gone isn’t going to hurt the match quality here. Everything has the ablitiy to be a good match (though, in the case of that segunda, one I’ve see way too much of the last few weeks.) After the 09/29 PPV, they showed the big matches from the PPV on TV following, instead of that week’s (10/06) Arena Mexico show. The main event turned up on CAN52MX, and while I wouldn’t mind seeing that match, that’d leave the title match unaired. It could air in future weeks if they do Best Of shows, but we don’t know if they’re doing those since they’ll be running Arena Mexico as normal. If they really want to air it, they can find a spot to air it, but it’s tough to tell how much CMLL wants these things.

historical irony: the last time Averno dropped a singles title, it was on a ‘Friday’ taping and never aired because they were doing Best Ofs.

FWIW: I’m running a normal schedule this weekend. If you’re not, I hope you enjoy it!

12/02: Arena Mexico, Diablo loses his mask

CMLL (FRI) 12/01 Arena Mexico Results [ovaciones, galeno del mal]
1) Tigre Blanco, Tigre Metalico b Loco Max, Ramstein
2) Alex Koslov, Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca b Mascara Purpura, Sagrado, Virus
3) Damain 666, Halloween, Hector Garza b Atlantis, Tarzan Boy, Ultimo Guerrero
4) Dr. Wagner Jr., Universo 2000, Volador Jr. b Averno, Kenzo Suzuki, Mephisto
5) Dos Caras Jr., Rey Bucanero, Shocker b Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Marco Corelone, Mr. Aguila

Main event was said not to be good – rudos didn’t gel as a team – and the tercera was the best match. Universo left his match in the middle fall (the one they lost) because of an apparent shoulder injury, but returned for the final winning fall.

El Hijo del Diablo lost his mask to Mistico in Tijuana Friday night. Diablo’s name is Juan Carlos Gonzalez and he’d been wrestling for 20 years. It sounds like the building was overpacked. (Ovaciones.)

Ovaciones says the VIP show is today, not Friday. Guess I read something wrong.

TV notes much later.

12/01 Arena Mexico Preview

Actually, the big show tonight is the Mistico vs Hijo del Diablo mask match in Tijuana. (So big, I listed it twice.) There’s even a bigger looking CMLL show in Mexico City, by the VIP promotion:

CMLL (FRI) 12/01 Salon 21, DF
1) Leono, Tigre Blanco, Tigre Metalico vs Dr. X, Nitro, Sangre Azteca
2) Dark Angel & India Sioux vs Amapola & Hiroka
3) Dr. Wagner Jr. & Hijo del Santo vs Blue Demon Jr. & LA Park

With Santo in town elsewhere, and Mistico out of town, why were they even considering running a PPV on this day? Maybe they were slow in realizing the schedule.

Anyway, the not-major, not-PPV card is:

CMLL (FRI) 12/01 Arena Mexico
1) Tigre Blanco & Tigre Metalico vs Loco Max & Ramstein
2) Mascara Purpura, Sagrado, Virus vs Alex Koslov, Misterioso II, Sangre Azteca
3) Atlantis, Tarzan Boy, Ultimo Guerrero vs Damain 666, Halloween, Hector Garza
4) Dr. Wagner Jr., Universo 2000, Volador Jr. vs Averno, Kenzo Suzuki, Mephisto
5) Dos Caras Jr., Rey Bucanero, Shocker vs Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Marco Corelone, Mr. Aguila

The big draw here is Perro’s return to Arena Mexico. This is his first match since losing the trios title match, and I wonder if his return means they’re finally going to pick up the Shocker turn in that match. All the Perros except Terrible (and Blue Demon, sorta) are on the show, and the champs are teaming up against a Perro group in the tercera, so something’s happening. Maybe it’s not a coincidence that none of those guys are yet booked for the 12/15 show – that’d give another needed strong match to the show.

Note that the big build to Shocker/Universo vs Marco/Kenzo has them split into different matches, with Corelone and Universo notably not in the same one. If there’s anything to them having issues, this would seem to back it up.