Ángel de Oro, Matt Taven, Niebla Roja beat Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas, Templario
(15:05 [4:07, 2:22, 8:36], 2/3, n/r,VideosOficialesCMLL)
Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero beat Cavernario, La Bestia Del Ring, Rush
(8:44 [2:48, 3:31, 2:25], 1/3 DQ, n/r, VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Rush fouled Último Guerrero again in the third fall, and his group took the Guerreros masks.
Villano III was remembered after the minis title match.
Thoughts:
Templario
I picked the fourth match to watch because Triton was wearing the Fish outfit and that’s never not funny, and also to see if I could figure out where Titan broke his hand. Those aren’t strong reasons for anyone else to watch this. Neither team is particularly energetic, with the técnicos taking a lot of low blow shortcuts as part of the comeback. Titan’s injury is a freak bit, and easy to miss as it comes right at the end of the match. The only alert something’s happened is the doctor going over to check on him, and the CMLL cameras ignore it.
Joker didn’t show any hidden depths in his big singles title match. He did some moves fine while keeping an average pace and not breaking out something anything bigger for the moment. Joker did seem a better base than in previous matches and helped make Shockercito’s offense the highlight of the match. This was still a pretty solid match and better than the regular Puebla fare, it just wasn’t something extraordinary.
Ángel de Oro, Matt Taven, Niebla Roja beat Ephesto, Mephisto, Templario
(15:22 [5:21, 6:58, 3:03], 1/3, ok,VideosOficialesCMLL)
Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero beat Cavernario, La Bestia Del Ring, Rushin a relevos increíbles match
(12:25 [3:45, 3:17, 5:23], 2/3, ok,VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Rush fouled Último Guerrero to set up a rematch next week.
Nitro catches a Pegasso second fall dive with a knee to the back. Pegasso continues but is in obvious pain and is strechered out at the end of the match.
Joker pinning Shockercito set up a title match for the following week.
Thoughts:
Triton
The main event was another match of the Guerreros playing técnicos. These rudos are better than Klan Kaoz but the match was definitely a b-show main event effort. They did a little bit in the third fall but were also mostly killing time to get to the finish. Zacarias hanging out with the Ingobernables is an unexpected highlight of this pairing.
The third and fourth matches were the same match: técnicos showcase early, rudos take over for a not interesting control period, técnicos make a quick comeback and win with a top rope move. The Angel de Oro match had higher high points and more obvious things which went wrong. The Triton match had Policeman as the best base of the group. Neither was anything but average TV material.
Joker got little offense in his match with Shockercito outside of his sudden submission to win. He didn’t have sort of impressive output you’d want for a title challenger no one believes is actually going to win. Joker’s jester mask looked fantastic but this was weirdly just a Shockercito showcase against an average base.
This show was sponsored by a local Ford dealership and parts seller, including their logo on the mat and on some of the walls. It goes back to normal the following week.
Joker challenged Shockercito to a title match after beating him
Thoughts:
The Matt Taven sections of the main were easily the best. He looked great running thru the Dinamtias in the third fall, and surprised everyone with his dive at the end. Atlantis and Octagon did about as much you’d expect. The NGD were overqualified for this sort of match and there was no follow up to last week’s finish, but the fans liked this match as they did pretty much everything on this show.
Mr. Niebla & Shocker can get over doing not that much, and so the semifinal was them doing not that much. Diamante Azul isn’t over except in the ways all CMLL técnicos are over but it doesn’t seem to matter much to him. Hechicero & Soberano had some good brief moments here and could have more if CMLL would have them match up more often.
Shockercito
Tercera was a serviceable trios match with no great highlights. Kawato and Okumura – struggling with the hang on the ropes spot to end the first fall – both looked less than sharp. The major of the match was normal stuff done fine without being memorable at all.
The women’s match at least has a different feel than the usual women’s matches without those usual people involved. It wasn’t much improved by the action itself – there’s still timing and impact issues – but it was pleasant simply to see different moments than usual in these matches. Metalica was the best of the bunch; Mystique wants to do a lot of agile offense she can’t quite pull together, but she had a better chance of it with Metalica around.
They’re still trying more in the minis match and not killed as much time, but this week’s match felt like there was a less to this match. It was strange how much they worked in the CMLL/CMLL and Puebla/Puebla pairs with Joker/Shockercito coming up. They might not have great confidence in Joker basing for Shockercito, which seems like a problem for them actually having the match. Finish looked good at least.
Sansón ripped off Atlantis’ mask for the DQ in the semimain
The segunda second fall DQ was for the rudos staying in the ring as a team too long. It did not seem like it was a planned spot, and it also seemed to come after a 10 count instead of a 20. A Universo/Samuray double pin spot in the third fall did look planned.
Shockercito atypically has his title belt, which makes it easy for Joker to challenge for it after his win.
Thoughts:
this whole bit went much, much longer
Volador & Carisitco came off as Volador screwing around thru a main event match, rather than Volador attempting to be a rudo. There were moments, like the long one where he talked to the crowd for about 20 seconds while Carístico motionlessly waited for him to get in position for a move, where Volador seemed like he ‘d rather be any place but there. Carístico wasn’t clean, but he was at least into the match. Volador did just about nothing for the first couple falls, and went thru a couple of his standard finishes to win in the third. Some of the fooling around was fun, the extended moonsault tease amused the crowd, but it’s also tough to care about a match when half the people in it visibly do not. Volador has been pushed to the side with the indie guys coming in, and maybe this was thought to give him a chance for something to do, but he seemed to want nothing to do with it. Maybe enough with Volador/Caristico matches for now.
The semimain left the tecnicos in one piece, and that was good enough. Matt Taven meshed well with the young rudos, though the crowd really had no idea what to make of him and the referee was so slow at moving out of his way on his moonsault. The rudos had a harder time with Octagon’s armdrag spots, and two guys doing the non-moving tosses is odd. Having Octagon do a dive a night seems like a bad idea.
Second and third match didn’t give me much to write about. I have so little to say about Rey Bucanero & Shocker matches in general that we’re getting close to me ranking Rey Bucanero’s bandanas. Hechicero trying to set up Angel de Oro for something Angel de Oro doesn’t do in every match and Angel de Oro failing at it was the definitive Angel de Oro moment.
The minis match wasn’t a fantastic match, and I sort of just want to endorse the thought. CMLL B-show trios matches tend to be the worse the longer they go because no one wants to (or is allowed to) do a lot in them. They just kill time doing the most basic or useless stuff, and it drags matches down into boredom. This wasn’t a long much, but it was a fun one because they cut out all the stuff the filler and just speed thru the important stuff. (The semimain was tolerable in the same way; it was never going to be anything good, so they just got it over with quickly.) It’s so much better than twenty-minute snoozefests and they seemed to be enjoying doing it. Not even match needs to be long and many CMLL b-show matches are probably all longer than they need to be.
Hechicero, Mr. Niebla, Shocker beat Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr. (17:34 [5:21, 7:03, 5:10], 2/3 COR, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
Flyer, Mistico, Volador Jr. beat Carístico, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero in a relevos increíbles match (14:57 [4:28, 2:24, 8:05], 1/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
Volador wrestled in Último Guerrero’s kilt for a while for fun. He also unmasked and cradled Carístico for similar reasons, setting up a singles match next week.
Thoughts:
that’s probably not how that was supposed to go
It’s still strange Volador & Mistico are the evildoers against Carístico, but they did a good job of being stooges for the Guerreros and Carisitco. The crowd delights at chanting Mistico Pirata and believe in it, so they might as well get to it. The action itself was about usual b-show main event level.
Soberano and Hechicero have some elegant exchange in otherwise to form match. Niebla isn’t doing a lot but is engaging in what he’s doing. Shocker’s jaw issues aren’t the reason he’s walking from spot to spot. Pompin nearly got run over by Niebla Roja at one point, then backed into by him later. He’s got to stay fast enough to get out of the way. The ending, with the técnicos getting beat no more than usual for a brawl outside the ring this time leading to a countout, came off as strange. It was definitely a planned finish by the way everyone was reacted, but not a credible plan.
I guess this is tougher than it looks
The tercera guys weren’t doing any special match but still got the crowd well into the match by the time the dives came around in the second fall. The third fall cooled it off considerably; maybe there’s nothing more to see after Tirantes almost gets kicked low. This was not a Templario dong cool stuff with flyers match, so what’s the point.
Minis matches in Puebla are enjoyable with the right secondary guys (Astro, Asturiano), and when the CMLL rudos try. Mercurio gave a good effort here, and Shockercito’s offense was flashy enough to keep the crowd’s attention. They worked the match at a fast pace than usual for a Puebla undercard match, which helped a lot too. I still wouldn’t recommend the match, there wasn’t so much to it, but it was nothing something you need to speed past either.
Carístico, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero beat Flyer, Mistico, Volador Jr.in a relevos increíbles match
(17:42 [3:22, 2:12, 12:08], 1/3, ok, viaVideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
I keep expecting this to be a Tiger suplex instead
Mistico ripped off Caristico’s mask for the DQ, which seems to be by accident. Tirantes really has no choice to end the match this time, it’s totally blatant. Tirantes hangs around the ring longer than usual for a DQ, maybe thinking the wrestlers would restart the fall, but instead they make challenges for next week.
Hechicero (Rush) & Valiente (Atlantis) were seconds. Hechicero interferences without being noticed. Alberto Diaz was the Puebla commissioner for this match. Atlantis gave Rush a spinning slam twice for the win.
Thoughts:
Joker’s submission
The main event is barely passable, with them setting up a big third fall that never gets going because Mistico is a little bit too fired up. AT least it went wrong on the mask pull and not the chair throw he does earlier. Carístico has a wide vary of alternative finishes, using a flapjack cutter here. Flyer probably shouldn’t be doing a headscissors into a submission in this feud. Skip this.
The semimain was the best anyone’s done working around Atlantis’ limitations in a singles match. Rush doesn’t need lots of actions, he’s bringing in a lot of antagonistic personality. Rush brings a big rudo personality, the easy and perfect opposite of Atlantis’ clean legend act. It’s a really simple match for the fans to get in to, the hero overcoming the odds to win once again. Rush is always enough of a team player to make it feel like a win, going into every Atlantis move big to make them look like they have the same impact as 20 years ago. Rush could’ve decided he was too big of a star to lose to this old man, but instead tries to get everything he can out of this match to send these fans home happy with this match. This is a smartly done match, even if it’ll make no one’s list of best matches of the year.
Stuka only does the monkey flip dive with a few people
The third match was built a lot around Niebla Roja & Shocker, which is not an appealing match up. Shocker cut himself near the right eye doing a missed spear into the corner, which was also not an appealing look. Hechicero has flashier offense than Templario, but Templario seemed like the better base when he was working with técnicos here.
The second match was a regular match, though were allowed to do more than most segundas and the crowd got into it after the dives. It’s good that Star Jr. & Kawato are doing something because otherwise this is a lot of people I’m very bored seeing face each other. Star Jr. needs to improve his chops. Kawato needs to improve his dive catches. Star Jr. looked distressingly like Axel in his silver and black outfit. He moved a lot better. He moved a lot better than Axel.
The opener was nothing you need to go out of your way to see, but it was more worthwhile than usual. The minis worked a shorter match than usual and at fast pace. I wouldn’t mind longer matches if they did something with the time; these guys did more with the less than ten minutes they had. Angelito mixed well with Saurón, who usually doesn’t do well with anyone. Astro doesn’t get do a lot in these but was efficient.
