CMLL Mexico: 2019-09-10

Stuka being neat

Recapped: 09/11/2019

Matches:

Pequeño Nitro & Pierrothito beat Fantasy & Último Dragóncito
(10:31 [3:56, 2:49, 3:46], 1/3, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Disturbio, Espíritu Negro, Nitro beat Magia Blanca, Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante
(10:38 [4:58, 2:23, 3:17], 1/3, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Pegasso, Star Jr., Stigma beat Ares (Costa Rica), Escualo (Costa Rica), Kaiser (Costa Rica)
(13:39 [5:39, 3:34, 4:26], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Rey Cometa beat Pólvora in a lightning match
(8:04, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Vangellys beat Flyer, Kráneo, Stuka Jr.
(12:52 [5:42, 4:33, 2:37], 1/3, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Cavernario, Felino, Mr. Niebla beat Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr.
(8:28 [0:58, 7:30], 1/2 DQ, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

Cavernario grabbed Volador’s leg to fake a foul, ending the main event in two falls. This set up a singles match next week.

Thoughts:

nope

The main event seemed a bit better than usual. The rudos were aggressive in the opening quick fall, the tecnicos showed more speed than usual. This wasn’t the Arena Puebla walked thru nothing two fall match, this was more trying to make something out of limited time. It isn’t worthwhile on its own, but it was good enough to close the show and set up next week fine.

The semifinal seemed like the happy Tuesday match, except the tecnicos just didn’t go for a pin when they had a sure win, stood around for a bit, one person did a dive, and the two other people got beat easily. Not so satisfying. Flyer looks better working with Hechicero than with anyone else, the truest sign of Hechicero’s evil powers.

The lightning match progressed at a dawdling pace, going eight minutes more because Polvora was taking his time between moves rather than having a lot to do. They forced in a stage dive, a spot that’s becoming meaningless because it’s forced into matches like this for lack of better ideas. It was a solid though not interesting match.

The Arena Mexico version of the Costa Rica tag didn’t have the energy of the similar Arena Puebla one. I haven’t taken a long look at the Costa Rica Wrestling Embassy results in a while, but I suspect the rudo team doesn’t get a lot of chances to work as rudos, definitely not CMLL style, and that may be an obstacle to making this interesting. This was also a lesser group of tecnicos than Monday to be fair. More than moves and even rhythm, they’re missing a bit of personality. I know these guys by their names and their masks but not much else.

Nitro’s flipping DDT was so horrible that he needs to stick to the bad piledriver. That’s all my thoughts about the match.

CMLL Mexico: 2019-08-20

nope

Recapped: 08/28/2019

Matches:

Mercurio & Pequeño Nitro beat Angelito & Fantasy
(13:10 [5:25, 3:49, 3:56], 1/3, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)

El Coyote, Grako, Nitro beat Magia Blanca, Oro Jr., Príncipe Diamante
(12:09 [6:03, 2:19, 3:47], 1/3, n/r,
VideosOficialesCMLL

Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa beat Okumura, Sagrado, Virus
(17:28 [6:07, 4:29, 6:52], 1/3, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Kráneo, Stuka Jr., Volcano beat Hechicero, Rey Bucanero, Vangellys
(14:17 [4:19, 6:43, 3:15], 1/3, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Atlantis, Dragón Lee, Soberano Jr. beat Dark Magic, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
(8:45 [2:04, 2:12, 4:29], 2/3, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Carístico beat Terrible
(12:39, 2/3 DQ, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

  1. Terrible Clash (2:00)
  2. Caristico double arm cradle (3:04)
  3. DQ Terrible (7:35)

What happened:

La Comandante blocked a Caristico dive and was seemingly ejected by Rambo but stuck around. Maybe it was just a warning. Terrible unmasked Caristico for the DQ.

Rey Cometa crashed and burned on a headscissors attempt to the floor to end the tercera. He needed medical attention but was wrestling again a few days later.

Thoughts:

everyone lived

The main was a simple match worked for the tourist crowd, with Terrible being totally evil and dominating the match until heroic Caristico made his comeback. They didn’t do anything too complicated and still got the reactions they wanted out of a Tuesday crowd. It would’ve worked fine with an actual finish and felt flat ending on a mask pull instead.

Negro Casas can rescue a match only so often, leaving a lot of parts that didn’t quite work well with each other. Niebla tried his best with Soberano. I’m concerned Dark Magic tried his best with Dragon Lee, because they didn’t trust him to do anything much.

The idea of putting an inexperienced guy in a high position quickly is to make them a bigger star and have them work with more talented people for them to improve quickly. Neither is happening with Volcano, who had an embarrassing second fall stretch more normally found in a local indie. Stuka & Hechicero are usually great with each other and were much better than any other combination here.

There wasn’t much energy in the tercera and then Rey Cometa took himself out in the end so maybe you can skip that one easy. Really, if Cometa was going to get hurt in this match, I would’ve guessed it would’ve been on Sagrado’s terrible looking slam. Sagrado was good as a rudo at one point but I don’t know about now.

CMLL Martes: 2019-08-06

Audaz

Recapped: 08/09-10/2019

Matches:

El Coyote & Grako beat Arkalis & Robin
(12:06 [3:30, 3:35, 5:01], 1/3, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL

Cancerbero, Difunto, Raziel beat Star Black, Star Jr., Súper Astro Jr.
(17:37 [7:58, 3:27, 6:12], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Blue Panther Jr., Guerrero Maya Jr., Pegasso beat Olímpico, Tiger, Universo 2000 Jr.
(10:31 [4:42, 3:14, 2:35], 1/3, n/r,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Hijo del Villano III beat Black Panther in a lightning match
(8:26, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Felino, Pólvora, Vangellys beat El Audaz, Kráneo, Stuka Jr.
(13:39 [4:45, 3:32, 5:22], 2/3, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Rey Bucanero, Templario, Terrible beat Atlantis, Carístico, Soberano Jr.
(12:06 [3:24, 2:51, 5:51], 1/3, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

Nothing.

Thoughts:

I dunno

Another Tuesday, another main event where Atlantis can’t put weight on one of his legs in the middle of a match. Soberano may be the same way someday but he looked springy in this match until his third fall dive demise. Like most of the matches on this card, this worked fine for the live crowd and isn’t something you need to hurry to check out. Another one will be in soon enough.

The semi-final continued the mystery of Vangellys being Audaz’s designated opponent and accomplished pretty much nothing else. He’s getting better at taking the rana. The match was fine.

Black Panther hit some great topes. His 619 kick was on point. The roll into the quebrada was really smooth. It doesn’t matter for him, because Hijo del Villano III is the guy going places and Black Panther is apparently just hanging around the third match for the next decade. Panther worked smoothly and impressively, taking most of the match. He kind of need to do, with Villano III cheap tricks working well but also hides his lack of offense. Black Panther setting up the doomed superplex smoothly set up Villano III Jr. for his splash, though the splash is also the CMLL rookie move of not actually have a finisher. Villano III came off limited in a way only someone watching an unhealthy amount of CMLL would even care about, but Black Panther made the match work for everyone.

Soberano Jr.

The segunda was another match for the Guadalajara visitors. Another time where Difunto’s willingness to bump and play to the crowd overshadowed Star Black’s act. He’s the new Gallo, should probably get a weekend in Arena Mexico every year to give him some credibility but feels to top out as al local star. Star Jr. and Super Astro Jr. outshined him greatly, though Star Black’s moonsaults looked nice. Cancerberos were trying harder, though they seemed to leave Star Black to die on his handspring double back elbow attempt. Difunto doesn’t have much interesting offense, but that’s not especially unique amount rudos.

Coyote & Grako have confidence, but still need more speed on their double teams. They’re promising right now because they’re young and they’re willing to do things surrounded by a lot of rudos who can’t or won’t, but they wouldn’t stand out in the other promotion. On the other hand, not sure how much better they’re going to get working CMLL openers.

 

CMLL Mexico: 2019-07-30

flying Guerrero

Recapped: 08/01/2019

Matches:

Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico beat Acero & Aéreo
(15:10 [6:26, 3:40, 5:04], 2/3, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Dalys, La Comandante, Reyna Isis beat La Jarochita, Lluvia, Skadi
(12:55 [6:27, 3:06, 3:22], 2/3, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Blue Panther Jr. beat Misterioso Jr. in a lightning match
(7:37, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Dulce Gardenia, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. vs Okumura, Universo 2000 Jr., Vangellys
(12:31 [3:53, 4:19, 4:19], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Atlantis, Audaz, Flyer beat Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto
(11:24 [4:43, 2:41, 4:00], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Euforia & Gran Guerrero © beat Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship
(16:54 [5:05, 3:39, 8:10], 2/3, great, VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

Panther spear

Euforia & Gran Guerrero kept the tag team titles.

Guerrero Maya tries and fails to kick out of Okumura’s cutter at the end of the match. It seems like a planned bit but everyone’s so used to the referees blowing the finishes that they default to thinking it happened again for a moment.

Thoughts:

Los Guerreros looked like the best team in CMLL in the competition to decide the best team in CMLL. Good thing they won! The Chavez did their usual stuff in but didn’t step it up as much as the rudos, who apparently had a bunch of cool moves they were saving for a decent opponent. This one lacked a dramatic final stage, but it has a cool inventive finish. Hope CMLL keeps feeding more challenges to Euforia & Gran Guerrero to see what else they break out.

There was a point where Atlantis had to be beaten up near the ropes because he needed something to hold onto and couldn’t afford to fall down. They work over his leg every match to explain his limp. This is crazy and needs to come to end. I don’t think Atlantis should be in the ring at all at this point, but certainly not on a Tuesday semi-main where he’s not even teaming with his son. I don’t know what it’s going to take for someone to say this is enough, and I hope it’s more time than the situation getting worse. If you’re going to watch the semi-main at all, skip ahead to the third fall where they give Flyer and Audaz sometime to do anything instead of building around a Mephisto/Atlantis feud.

Audaz

The Maya trios fell into the usual professional midcard range. Guerrero Maya & Fuego need something to do break them out of being third match robots but they were fine here. The crowd was into Dulce again and he seems fresher given who else was teaming with. Vangellys worked with him surprising well. Universo’s double knee finish where both knees go on opposite does of the head has to go.

Blue Panther Jr. was very dedicated to producing a legdrop that didn’t look effective and achieved that goal. Not much else. He probably needs someone who’s more willing to bump than Misterioso is, though Misterioso did take the big spear well. The Panther pescado tornillo looked good too, but neither of these guys are impressive singles wrestlers.

CMLL Martes: 2019-07-02

down goes Edgar

Recapped: 07/02/2019

Matches:

Retro & Sangre Imperial beat Akuma & Rider
(11:41 [5:22, 3:22, 2:57], 2/3, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Dalys, Metálica, Reyna Isis beat La Jarochita, Marcela, Sanely
(11:19 [6:39, 1:54, 2:46], 2/3, n/r,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Misterioso Jr. beat Universo 2000 Jr. in a lightning match
(7:15, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Hechicero, Kawato San, Vangellys beat Blue Panther, Drone, Guerrero Maya Jr.
(14:32 [6:15, 3:36, 4:41], 2/3, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

Atlantis, Flyer, Stuka Jr. beat Felino, Mephisto, Templario
(10:43 [4:30, 2:34, 3:39], 2/3, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL

Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Dragón Lee beat Cavernario, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
(10:33 [2:02, 2:27, 6:04], 2/3 DQ, ok,
VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

Felino finds out which leg is the bad leg

Cavernario fouled Dragon Lee, setting up a singles match for the following week.

Rider debuted.

Thoughts:

Cavernario and Dragon Lee were so fired up to fight each other for the random build up trios match. It gave me great hope for the title match, even with them not breaking out the biggest moves. It’s not just another Tuesday when they face. Casas & Angel de Oro, a long forgotten rivalry, showed they still had good chemistry here as well. This was still mostly about an effective build to next week’s match.

It is painful to watch Atlantis painfully limp around the ring. He was struggling to move on this show so much that I was hoping he was going from the show to the operating room for more surgery. Not sure that can actually be fixed but it feels like he’s reached the point in his decline where that match with Villano IV can’t actually happen without being sad.

 

Rider wins?

Guerrero Maya & Hechicero are beautiful wrestling together. I guess it would get old if they just faced each other all the time, but CMLL should try it much more than they do just to find out. Kawato seems to have gotten more confident after winning the super light championship, or at least is putting out that aura. The top rope double stomp still looks bad. Vangellys stealong Arez’s finish from Robin remains hilarious. It needs to get continue to be stolen by about two more people up the chain before it makes it to a relevant match.

Universo decided to wrestle his lightning match with his straps down. It was not an ideal look for him. As he stood visibly gassed in the ring, I reflected on how his cousins all seem to be in great shape and are pushed hard and Universo is neither. Misterioso is no cardio monster himself but was clearly carrying Universo thru the last few minutes. Universo is not terrible but he’s clearly established himself as a guy who is in CMLL because his family was in CMLL.

Rider fit in CMLL immediately as yet another bland luchador. He seems competent and he was willing to take tecnico offense but he didn’t show much. It is not recommended to make your big spot of your debut match “taking a suplex”, that doesn’t help you much. If you’re reading this back ten years from now and Rider is a star, it definitely wasn’t obvious he was going to be one someday. He was just a guy. I think he’s better than Retro, but Retro has size so he’s likely going to get a chance at some point. Rider didn’t show a standout attribute.

CMLL Mexico: 2019-06-25

Audaz

Recapped: 06/25-26/2019

Matches:

Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico beat Acero & Aéreo
(14:17 [4:47, 5:26, 4:04], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Cancerbero, Nitro, Raziel beat Magnus, Retro, Robin
(16:09 [6:43, 3:20, 6:06], 1/3, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Súper Astro Jr. beat Halcón Suriano Jr. in a lightning match
(8:30, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Pólvora, Vangellys, Virus beat Black Panther, Blue Panther Jr., Fuego
(12:58 [5:02, 3:29, 4:27], 1/3, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Felino, Hechicero, Templario beat Audaz, Flyer, Rey Cometa
(15:11 [5:26, 4:29, 5:16], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat Místico, Soberano Jr., Valiente
(12:42 [3:08, 5:00, 4:34], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

Nothing.

Thoughts:

this GIF isn’t for the botch but how annoyed Hechicero is about it

Mistico is the new king of Tuesday tourist shows. People like him there. They booed NGD. There wasn’t many of them but it is a very safe space for the gold and silver prince and maybe they’d like to take advantage of it. He jumped right into the finish instead. Oh well. This was otherwise the usual Tuesday night special, enough highspots for the casuals while not doing anything you haven’t seen before.

The semi-final was off a little bit at moments, especially early on, that kept it from being a match I’d recommend. It still felt better than the usual CMLL match, with Hechicero & Audaz particularly showing what they can do when they get a chance. It wasn’t one of the stronger Templario performances, notable being way out of position on a spot that mad Hechicero look bad (and he couldn’t hide how upset he was about it.) I wish Cometa’s new look came with a few new spots.

The lightning match had a good flow until the first big dive, then it kind of lost momentum a bit with Super Astro taking a header. There were some beautiful spots, but the match felt like it was drifting back and forth with no big impact. Astro’s tope was cool but really weirdly set up by Halcon doing a neck crank over the ropes to set it up. Both guys had good spots like that, more so for Halcon, it just didn’t feel complete. I’d like to see them against a rudo opponent in the same situation.

Good for Acero & Aereo for getting somewhat matching gear. They’ve progressed as a team by having dozens of this match. Acero is still better of the two but any progression is nice. If only it could go somewhere.