Tag: CMLL FM

Recapped: 2020-01-17

Matches:

Fuego & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Douki & Luciferno
(8:06, Fuego armbar Douki, ok)

Kanemaru, Namajague, Okumura beat Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr., Stuka Jr.
(9:36, Okumura mask pull inside cradle Stuka Jr., ok)

Bushi, EVIL, Takagi beat Dulce Gardenia, El Audaz, Hiroshi Tanahashi
(10:44, Evil scorpion deathlock Audaz, ok)

Titán beat Forastero
(13:14, Titan springboard stomp Forastero, good)

Carístico & Kojima vs Bárbaro Cavernario & Último Guerrero
(11:43, Kojima lariat Ultimo Guerrero, ok)

Euforia & Soberano Jr. beat Negro Casas & Tiger in the CMLL Family 3^rd Place match
(8:40, Soberano Destroyer Tiger, ok)

Cuatrero & Sansón beat Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja in the CMLL Family 1^st Place Match
(12:18, Sanson super torture rack bomb Angel de Oro, good)

What happened:

Titan kept his title. NGD won the Family tag team tournament.

Thoughts:

The tournament final will play better for NJPW fans who don’t watch a lot of CMLL than people who watch everything. It’s a tour of what both teams have done a lot in Mexico, done with polish but without much new added. The NGD came impressively with their double teams, there was plenty done here to help the viewer understand why they’d been so dominant. It didn’t offer as much to those who are familiar with them. They did pinfall breakups for a long time in the match and that portion could’ve been better. They were using match ending moves but rarely giving a chance for them to breathe as if the match could end. Covers were broken well before three, submissions were on just for an instant, the drama at the moment was kind of missed as if they were in a hurry. They got a lot of time, and it’s just an additional second or two that would’ve made the difference. The finish came off good at least.

Soberano & Euforia were better as individuals in the third-place game but didn’t get to show as much teamwork. They were at the best in small stints with Negro Casas, though Casas seemed to tire at the end. Tiger was again fine but no more than fine. It feels strange to see a Destroyer actually win a lucha libre match as opposed to being a random midmatch spot.

If you want to see Kojima bizarrely try a top rope headscissors just so Ultimo Guerrero can reverse it into a powerbomb, the Friday version of this tag match had that. The Thursday did not. There are other small and irrelevant changes outside the different finish but no strong reason for two of these matches needing to exist.

Body part selling like Titan’s hampered ankle is very rare in CMLL. It seemed to be a play toward NJPW sensibilities and hopefully worked out for him. Forastero showed more offense here than he has in most of his recent singles match, but he’s not a guy who’s going to work well just trading big spot, so maybe the build around the drama of the ankle was for the best. Titan balanced showing the pain in his ankle while still fighting through his big spots well and this was probably about as good a match as these two guys were going to have.

We’re halfway home on the LIJ matches and they’re basically following the same pattern and having the same results. Tanahashi wrestled a little bit more in this match but these are hard spots. It’s mostly a lot of Dulce spots, with the third tecnico getting in a dive and a little more and definitely taking the pin. The matches are fine for what they’re setting out to do but don’t stand out.

The second match worked in bits and parts. Maya looked good, they were successful in building up Okumura and Stuka (as much as that can be done), the action generally moved well. Flyer looked off a little bit if you’re looking for it and Kanemaru is just not on the same page as the CMLL tecnicos.

Fuego and Taguchi did a little bit less tonight compared tonight one. We’re getting plenty of them, that’s fine, but the match felt quite short.

Recapped: 2020-01-16

Matches:

Fuego & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Douki & Namajague
(7:22, Fuego casadora cradle Douki, good)

El Audaz & Guerrero Maya Jr. beat Kanemaru & Luciferno
(10:17, Audaz pin Luciferno, ok)

Bushi, EVIL, Takagi beat Dulce Gardenia, Flyer, Hiroshi Tanahashi
(11:00, Takagi pumping bomber Dulce, ok)

Forastero & Okumura beat Stuka Jr. & Titán
(9:07, Forastero armbar Okumura, ok)

Bárbaro Cavernario & Último Guerrero beat Carístico & Kojima
(13:05, Cavernario cavernaria Caristico, ok)

Cuatrero & Sansón beat Euforia & Soberano Jr. in a CMLL FAMILY semifinal
(9:30, Cuatrero inverted bear hug Soberano, good)

Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja beat Negro Casas & Tiger in a CMLL FAMILY semifinal
(12:52, inverted campana, good)

What happened:

Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja meat Sanson & Cuatrero in the Family tag team final. They exchanged words after the main event.

Thoughts:

The main event was the best match of the night, the two teams meshing well and no big errors. Casas was having a lot of fun laying in shots in the main event. He made more of the match than Tiger. Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja were smooth and got overdoing their act. There’s nothing on this show that needs to be seen but the last match was the most pleasant watch.

The opening family tag match was more enjoyable than most of the matches on the show, though it felt less than their best. I appreciate Soberano figuring out a way to force in a stage dive in Korakuen Hall, and Soberano jumping into the finish was well done. The crowd seemed less receptive to the match, and most matches, then in the past. Euforia playing against his usual style didn’t work as well here too, probably because they’re not using to seeing Euforia at all. Cuatrero rebounded from a tough start.

When the Caristico match turns into dueling posing early on, it suggests it’s not going to be the hardest working match. That tag match was some exhibition, some build to the singles match, nothing particularly shocking. All of these matches feel long to me, but it is just a one fall match and my CMLL brain is used to shorter periods. Work wasn’t really great near the finish.

A lot of the undercard seemed like b-level matches, but it also may be personal. Titan & Stuka should’ve had a better match than they did in the fourth but there really wasn’t much the rudo were adding to it. It was a basic showcase match of the big spots but one easy to skip.

The Gardenia trios were fine, despite the noticeable botch at the end. Gardenia taking the pin doesn’t really matter as much Gardenia surviving stuff earlier; he’s elegant but also tough. I didn’t think much about Flyer in this match which is alright by for him.

Japan has brought us many amazing things. The second match brought us Luciferno wrestling without a shirt. He did get a new top that matched his gear. The match didn’t flow great together, Audaz doing some spectacular things but not really getting into the flow of the match. I’m not sure there was a flow to the match at all and it ended with Luciferno seemingly kicking out of the finish.

Fuego & Taguchi are good for amusing openers and were good at it here. They did a lot more comedy than Fuego usually does alone, but it works well with Taguchi as the opposite. Namajague fits in these wells too. DOUKI didn’t get to do as much but that’s not really his role for these.

Recapped: 2020-01-10

Matches:

Fuego & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Douki & Kanemaru
(7:52, Fuego La Guelaguetza Douki, ok)

El Audaz, Guerrero Maya Jr., Uemura vs Euforia, Luciferno, Namajague
(8:34, German suplex, ok)

Flyer & Soberano Jr. beat Negro Casas & Tiger
(6:27, Soberano springboard legdrop Tiger, ok)

Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Titán beat Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
(10:09, Angel de Oro campana Cuatrero, good)

Bushi, Hiromu Takahashi, Naito beat Dulce Gardenia, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tsuji
(10:08, Takahashi crab Tsuji, ok)

Bárbaro Cavernario, Okumura, Último Guerrero beat Carístico, Kojima, Stuka Jr.
(11:27, Okumura cutter Stuka, ok)

What happened:

Nothing important. This is the annual tour kickoff show with slight builds towards later matches and no English commentary.

Thoughts:

The finish came abruptly in the main event, which happened a couple of times on this show. The only difference here is this was a mostly CMLL match with a non-quite CMLL feeling ending. The action leading up to it was fine. Kojima taking the UG front superplex on a show like this surprised me, and it may have been more than anyone else watched. This match, like the rest, was fitting of a current CMLL b-show.

The semi-main was Dulce Gardenia plugged into a NJPW house show match and worked just that hard. I think Naito tagged in but I’m not entirely sure. There were brief moments of triple submission fun and nothing was blown, but it is entirely skippable.

A lot of the CMLL matches on this show seemed a little bit slower than usual. It may be the environment or the Japanese wrestlers just working at a different pace. The NGD match felt the same way for a while but picked up a lot during the comeback. It did follow the usual NGD pattern – Titan got triple-teamed on the outside to start the beatdown – but the work was sharp. Titan looked great on the rope flip spot. Cuatrero may have handled a bit more of the action near the end but Sanson didn’t stick out as greatly limited by his injury. They’ve got better in them but this was a good start towards the title match.

Soberano diving to nowhere on tour shows in Osaka is not recommended. A plus for effort though. Not sure if that threw off the rest of the match, but it felt short and got the end quickly. Flyer looked smoother here than he has in Mexico, which is a nice start. 

The segunda was not an authentic CMLL presentation because the rudos managed to perform La Careta without someone jumping into headscissors the rudo posing on top. Audaz & Namajague had good chemistry early and less so during the beatdown. The Mexican tecnicos could’ve got more, but this was a set up to Namajague beating the young lion and that part went fine.

FantasicaMania is lucha tag rules, but the opener was building all to a hot tag – where there was no for Fuego to hit. They eventually got his offense going a bit, though still not as much as you would’ve thought. The rudos took a lot of this. Douki’s transition to the Gori Special set up looked smooth at least.

Recapped: 2020-01-20

Matches:

Fuego & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Douki & Kanemaru
(7:12, Fuego armbar Douki, ok)

Tiger Mask beat Tiger
(6:52, Tiger Suplex, ok)

El Audaz, Flyer, Guerrero Maya Jr. beat Euforia, Luciferno, Namajague
(8:05, Flyer legdrop Luciferno, good)

Bushi, EVIL, Takagi beat Dulce Gardenia, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Uemura
(11:30, Takagi pumping bomber Uemura, good)

Negro Casas, Okumura, Último Guerrero beat Kojima, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr.
(10:49, Negro Casas casita Stuka, ok)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón © beat Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Titán for the Mexican National Trios Championship
(14:39, Catapult Dinamita Angel de Oro, good)

Carístico © beat Bárbaro Cavernario to keep the NWA World Middleweight Championship
(16:06, Caristico La Mistica, great)

Thoughts: 

Caristico & Barbaro Cavernario had the most all out match of the tour, something fitting of the main event. They changed the flow around from Mexico, with dives piling onto each other for effect. Cavernario seemed bugged by a boot that won’t stay tied, but it didn’t seem to affect the match outside of one awkward pause. Cavernario put real pressure on Caristico, Caristico made a well-timed comeback, and they didn’t push the match too far. This worked fine as the tour ender.

The trios title match was a little bit disappointing. It didn’t feel like it was building at any point, just going back and forth through the moves. The offense was cleanly performed, but it lacked big moments before the finish. The physical abilities of the NGD are obvious but the mental part of it stands to be improved.

The fifth match had good moments but not a great rhythm. It was moments from previous matches in the same match but not all that connected. It was nice to see Negro Casas to pick up a win. Maybe he’ll be back next year, but he at least got to celebrate one more time if it’s the last time.

Dulce is over but struggled in the ring a bit more than usual. There were a couple of noticeable slips in his early run. It didn’t really matter much, the Japanese crowd I in love with the kiss spots. The second half of the match was built around those and Uemura hope pin spots, and it got over huge. It may not be what you want if you’re looking for something with more substance but these six got a lot of comedy out of it.

The Audaz trios match was a surprisingly strong comedy match. The rudos showed some great buffoonery, making fools of themselves to help the tecnicos look good. Audaz himself showed more comedy timing than usual in between doing some of his best flying. Flyer & Maya were sold, even the referee got involved but the real credit was to Luciferno, Euforia, and Namajague willing to be silly for the sake of the match.

CMLL’s Tiger started off hot against Tiger Mask. He had trouble building on it, which was consistent with the rest of the tour. Some of that might have been Tiger Mask preferably a slower pace; it definitely ended up slower. Tiger could use deeper and more varied offense if he’s to get more single match chances. His best work in CMLL has been basing for flyers and he didn’t really get to do a lot of that here, but he’s got to show more if he’s going to advance.

Taguchi/Fuego had one more enjoyable opener. They varied their bits, playing off what they had done in the last few matches, though it wasn’t materially different than what they had done before. It got the crowd going, serving its purpose, but maybe not needed to watch later unless you really love this team. DOUKI wrestled about 90% of the match for his team.