Recapped: 2020-08-07
This, the first CMLL show since March, was sponsored by Ministry of Culture and taped about a week advance in Arena Mexico. The matches took place in a mostly empty Arena Mexico. The only presentation differences were a Susan Distanica photo being used during replays. The announcers called the match from the front row, though no attention was drawn to it.
Matches:
La Jarochita & Sanely beat Amapola & Reina Isis
(11:53 [5:56, 2:46, 3:11], 2/3, ok, luchablogvault)
Guerrero Maya Jr. & Stuka Jr. beat Okumura & Vangellys
(14:52 [4:45, 4:23, 5:44], 2/3, ok, luchablogvault)
Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Star Jr. beat Gran Guerrero, Templario, Terrible
(14:26 [3:46, 4:25, 6:15], 2/3, ok, luchablogvault)
It was impossible to ignore the differences between now and five months ago. Many (though not all) wrestlers and all referees were wearing face masks, there was no crowd (though some noise) and luchadors looked rusty. The style of the show otherwise was indistinguishable from any other Tuesday/Sunday show CMLL may have run in the last five years. It was an attempt at normalcy in an abnormal time.
Like most of those Tuesday/Sunday Arena Mexico shows, the matches themselves weren’t notable at all. This is a show where a critical review is nearly pointless: you’re watching this show for the comfort of having CMLL back in your life. Nothing notable happened, and that was sort of the point.
The main event was the strongest of the three matches presented. Templario couldn’t resist some flashy offense, a contrast to his teammates who were keeping it rather simple. Caristico couldn’t help but play to the 10,000 person crowd which always exists in his mind, and his match was otherwise solid. It went a little long but it wasn’t a struggle to match.
The other two matches were a notch below at least. The rust was more evident. Vangellys & Okumura are a bad fit for the lots of moves style Maya & Stuka wanted to do. Vangellys is too slow and Okumura just can’t take some moves at this point. The Sacrifica Maya finish looked particularly bad, probably because Okumura can’t take it the normal way with his neck. (It’s more on Maya for not picking another move.) The women didn’t do much interesting and came off as over-rehearsed as always. It feels too staged, where the only real moments come when something goes wrong.
I’m working out the rust and trying to figure out a new normal too. I attempted to stream this show on YouTube on got a takedown from CMLL about 10 minutes in. (It’s possible the falls graphics now automatically trigger a violation, but it felt like CMLL just saw the link and knocked it down.) That’ll be the last time I stream CMLL on YouTube. I’ll be on Twitch as long as that works. I’m also once again dealing with an issue where the video and sound drift apart the longer I have a video playing, and I have no more idea how to permanently fix it than I did when it started a year ago. The links above come off Capital 21’s Periscope airing and shouldn’t have that issue.