taped 2014-01-17 @ Arena México Delta, Guerrero Maya Jr., Super Porky vs Ephesto, Euforia, Pierroth: Edited version of a not good match. Guerrero Maya versus Euforia could be fun, but they’re split up to give Super Porky & Pierroth have someone decent to work with and definitely not do much with each other. Pierroth remains bad, kneeling in the ring for a minute (instead of getting out or selling), waiting for his next spot. Ephesto seems to screw up a senton to end the first fall , Delta overshoots his moonsault; there were plenty of other problems with this match. I still can’t figure out how Ephesto gets cut in this match.
Averno, Rey Bucanero, Terrible vs Blue Panther, Diamante Azul, La Máscara: Right team won, at least. Unnoteworthy match except for Diamante Azul nearly killing himself in the third fall. Azul hasn’t been around much and hasn’t used that time to get more interesting, but just taking the normal stuff was a big problem for him. First fall seemed edited (or Averno sent a new personal record for speed of losing to Mascara) and second fall featured Terrible transporting from the ramp to the center of the ring on a camera switch.
Atlantis, Shocker, Valiente vs Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas: This one starts off as build up to Mr. Niebla & Atlantis (building up a match I already watched, oops) but Shocker and Negro Casas are the more interesting battle and the one that decides it. Shocker has since become a rudo so I guess that match probably wouldn’t happen, but I hope they find a way to it anyway. Shocker looked much more energetic versus Casas and they did enough to make a singles match really interesting. This match was very short for a main event.
taped 2014-01-21 @ Arena México Dragon Lee, Pegasso, Star Jr. vs Cancerbero, Hechicero, Raziel: Good match, more entertaining than most matches at this position. Hechicero fit in well with the Cancerberos; maybe too well, because they’re not moving up any time soon and Hechicero should be on a higher level. Going with a wacky swing based offense was as neat as the first fall mat work. Star Jr. definitely looked better than Dragon Lee at this point, though Dragon Lee really lowered the bar in the third fall. Don’t try to repeat your blown spot with Cancerbero or he will destroy you! (Credit for Dragon Lee for getting a takedown in on the bigger man, and credit Raziel for backing up his partner and settling things down.) This match was also weirdly entertaining for both Hechicero and Dragon Lee learning the weird CMLL tag team rules – Hechicero was totally confused as to why his tag wasn’t legal in the first fall, and Dragon Lee had no idea why he was being yelled at for helping make a cover.
flying cat attack
Black Panther, Cachorro, Valiente vs Felino, Puma, Tiger: Another good match in this feud. Valiente & Felino brought something different than Panther & Casas, but it still worked well. Puma & Tiger seemed to control most of the match and looked good doing so. Died laughing when Puma and Tiger did their series of crackers and powerbombs on Valiente – and then didn’t bother to pin him. Had to get in their pose! Cachorro & Black Panther still look very good for rookies. They were more limited here and they’re going to have to face someone besides Puma & Tiger at some point, but that feud is working well for them right now.
#superkick/suplex
La Máscara, Rush, Titán vs Terrible, Vangelis, Virus: Titan learned an important lesson here: don’t touch Virus’ hair. This a very good/borderline great match. First fall was superb and the rest of the match went along at a good pace. It never got off track and didn’t have many bad moments. Virus and Titan actually didn’t feel like they fought as much as I’d expect to set up next week’s match, but most of the match was building to just that and was sharp enough to want you to see it. Rush was great just teasing getting into the ring. Rush and Terrible was on against each other too. If they ran another Terrible/Rush hair match, I don’t know if it would draw better, but it would feel twice as big at this point.
flying Terrible
Blue Panther vs Negro Casas: Probably the best match on a lot of other Tuesdays but not this week. Their brawling was good but not as good as other brawls, and the match was hampered by the referee inserting himself in the action quiet a bit. It made more sense when they were doing actually illegal spots later on, but he was breaking up holds from the start and the repetitive intervention hurt the match from having any rhythm. I guess they’re building to a genuine no disqualification match here, should they actually be building to anything specific, but it made for a frustrating match here for most of the time. They seemed just to be getting into a long end game when the run-in happened. Crowd was not into the match as much as you’d expect, but very much into the post match feuding.
taped 2014-01-14 @ Arena Coliseo Guadalajara Gallo, Smaker, Tritón vs Felino, Gran Guerrero, Virus: An average match with a few things not working right. Gran Guerrero has been scaled way back – only one DF match in November and December, and looking like none in January as I write this – and he still needs to improve more before he comes back. Gran Guerrero trying to do his finisher on Gallo was a good demonstration of why Gran Guerrero needs a different finisher. Triton didn’t have a good night, and was off in the second fall; he was grabbing his ribs like he was hurt, but I didn’t catch an injury. Felino won in one fall he wasn’t supposed to and another by just sitting down, so it was that kind of night.
Mr. Aguila
taped 2014-01-19 @ Arena Coliseo Blue Panther, Shocker, Valiente vs Kráneo, Mr. Águila, Reaper: A match where Valiente & Mr. Aguila both failed walking the ropes within 20 seconds. One of those may have been comedy, but it didn’t look good. Kraneo looked unsure of how to beat Blue Panther without Mije around. Maybe that was just me. Third fall closed well but there was a not a lot in this one.
Valiente!
Atlantis vs Mr. Niebla: Two guys who are sort of limited but still over with the crowd making their way thru a three fall match. This one might have worked better with one. It definitely would’ve have worked with a smoother finish. I don’t know what was supposed to happen after Niebla pulled Atlantis mask, but it didn’t quite happen. Match was otherwise about what you’d expect it to be.
taped 2014-01-17 @ Arena Naucalpan Faby Apache, Jennifer Blake, La Jarochita vs La Magnifica, Mary Apache, Sexy Star: This was OK like the mixed tag on the Hard Rock show was OK – the same bit of an extra woman (Taya this time) strolling down to the ring during the match for no apparent reason, distracting the crowd, and interfering freely to lead to the finish. (Though, did Sexy Star really need a distraction to beat La Jarochita? Not sure if Magnifica and Jennifer Blake have faced each other a lot, but they looked off when in together, and the rudas seemed a bit disorganized. There was nothing really bad but nothing really great.
breaking your back on a backdrop
Crazy Boy, Joe Lider, Niño Hamburguesa vs Demon Rocker, Machine Rocker, Soul Rocker: A match with no particular flow and forced setups to big spots which didn’t always work. Something got completely screwed up in the moments leading up to Niño Hamburguesa’s first try at a dive, and it led to a lot of people standing around and looking at each other. They really needed some editing (or some better wrestling.) The chair parts was where they really lost me, because it just seemed like randomness; same thing with Demon and Crazy’s German suplex back and forth out of nowhere and going nowhere. It seemed impossible no one got hurt on the double suplex spot to the outside. Crowd liked chanting for lucha extrema, was less concerned with the other portions of the match.
Joe Lider taking faceslam literally
Monsther Clown, Murder Clown, Psycho Clown vs Dark Cuervo, Dark Scoria, Dark Spíritu for the AAA World Trios Championship: Bizarre ending to a title match – Cuervo’s in a little trouble, but it makes no sense for him to commit two fouls after begging for the title match. (And it’s weird to put Hijo del Tirantes in the position of forced to call a DQ when they’ve been half building a Psycho/Tirantes feud.) Most of the match was just a normal Psycho Circus match we’ve seen a hundred times, though it did get a little more than that by the end. It was a long way to go for that finish.
what was his plan here?
Cibernético, El Mesías, Fénix vs Daga, el Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Texano Jr.: A brawl after two other brawls, though maybe a bit better. (Not good enough to be memorable; you can skip this taping easily.) This building has always been pro-Perro, but usually there’s loud support for the técnicos. Not so much this time. The tecnicos were booed for existing and for having any offense. Which is a shame, because they clearly built a few minutes of this match to elevate Fenix, but the crowd wasn’t accepting of it. Right idea, wrong building to try it. (The bit where Perro holds up a box full of bottles so Texano could throw Fenix into them would’ve been ludicrous in any setting.) Crowd did turn around a bit later on and might have reacted well to Fenix getting the main event win, but AAA cut away from it so quick (and Fenix was getting beat up by Texano anyway), it had absolutely no impact.
much better faceslambackcracker moonsault?Fenix should really stop doing thiskeep doing this, tho’
10-21 Máscara Dorada, Mistico, Valiente vs Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Rey Escorpión for the CMLL World Trios Championship (Puebla) – very good, borderline great, probably a great if I saw it earlier in the year or (more definitely) if the anniversary match wasn’t already on the list. Místico was better in this match in points, but but the trios title defense from the Anniversary just felt like a more epic match. This one ended a few minutes before I was ready for it and didn’t break out much new, just did what they usually do very well.
top rope ‘rana for the win
11-03: La Sombra vs Volador Jr. (Puebla) – A three fall match where they weren’t very interested in the first two falls, and where the third fall was just dives and kicking out of finishers. The downside of CMLL singles matches were way there were many with no story except for guys doing big moves so the other guy could kick out for about seven minutes, and this is strongly in that group. There was no build to them kicking out, and there was a lack of drama as they did the kickouts – there’s no struggle to do the moves, they’re always going to be set up for the next trademark move, though at least there was a moment where Sombra was able to hit two moves in a row. It’s numbing often and it was numbing here.
Rush dropkicks for everyone
11-11: Negro Casas vs Rush and Shocker (Puebla) – GREAT. A video game threeway in terms of involvement; this wasn’t one of those matches where one guy sits out for a minute while the other two have a normal, but all three guys getting involved frequently. It was the right style for this matchup, which needed to be a brawl and stayed that way the whole way. Shocker was up to the challenge of the other two, and kept up with their intensity. Match was shorter than I’d like but it was good action for the time. Rush’s pose just before the foul was hilarious.
easy spider German suplex
11-17: Aero Boy, Astro Rey Jr., Titán (CMLL), Latin Dragon, Magnifico (Chilangamask) – Finally, science proves an unblocked chair shot to the head is less painful than a Canadian Destroyer, so everyone can just stop doing unblocked chairs shots to the head now. (I’m not sure “cumulative damage” exists in Mexico, quiet.) This was truly a secret Titan/Aeroboy/Latin Dragon three way with guest appearances from the other two. Elimination matches are fun and all, but the logical person in me wants everyone to switch to one fall to a finish for multiman matches so everyone can do all the pinfall break ups they want without looking like they don’t understand the rules of the match. Also, people who really don’t want to get pinned will no longer have to take weird countout eliminations. If I could actually write about the match itself for a second, it was a fun multiman match with exactly what you’d want out of a match like this – big moves and some dives. It was good with all five guys but the three man back and forth was the best stretch. I’d want to see a Titan/Aeroboy match after seeing this, which is good since they did one of those.
Arez gets crushed
11-17: Rey Cometa vs Impulso, falls count anywhere [Chilangamask] – Rey Cometa had Impulso scouted! Get your knees up on his big dive to the outside and win (and hurt your knees, but a win is a win.) I liked the stuff in the ring even though it was their dives which were the bigger selling point; the experienced major promotion guy came off as such, and Impulso looked good just for being able to hang with him. The chops in here where fierce, as was Cometa’s reversal of the satellite armbar into a Michinoku Driver. Good match.
not sure who took the worst of it
11-17: Belial vs Ricky Marvin – EXCELLENT. Belial had no chance at winning this. Ricky Marvin knew this, Belial knew this this, everyone on the crowd knew this was a mismatch. Still, Belial wants to win this, so he surprises Ricky to start and goes after him hard until Ricky stops him and slows him down. Belial gets in a few more shots, but Ricky out does him every time is more frustrated at the referee for not ending this than by anything Belial can do. Belial just continues to survive, then throws bombs every chance he gets, bombs the crowd believes once or twice might actually finish the international star. Belial pushes Ricky farther than he thought he would have to go on this day, and so Ricky has to murder him at the end. It was a good way to die.
caption fail uno (they get it wrong a different way the next show.)
taped 2013-09-29 @ Feria, San Felipe, Torres Mochas, Guanajuato
Imposible lets gravity do the wrong
Centvrión vs Imposible: Liked this one much better than the previous show’s match. They did a better job of saving the bigger spots to the end and building to them. They still did the big spots but did them at times where they felt like they mattered more. Centviron crashed and burned hard right before the finish. There were a few spots that didn’t look good, but this was largely OK.
caption fail #2
Esther Moreno & Lady Apache vs Diosa Maya & Rossy Moreno: A basic tag match, possible more basic because of the size. They got the crowd into it the first fall, then kind of lost them until the finish. It was not a long match but it felt that way with the little crowd noise. Diosa Maya looked better in other matches and struggled here. It was a match, it was fine, not much to say.
dropkick almost gets there
Bobby Lee & Rayman vs Heddi Karaoui & Zumbi: Bobby Lee on the show because it’s Leon. Karaoui & Zumbi came off more like rudos in the prematch promo than they had in any of their matches so far, and were playing up their rudo antics more in the match. Going with slow mat wrestling in front of an already dead crowd was an unlikely tactic. The match was pretty ordinary for the first two falls, then turned in mimsa of the stuff you see at bad lucha libre in fall three. There were okay moments, but a lot of random stuff thrown in a belated attempt to get someone to care. Karoui fouling Rayman in front of the referee (though on the floor) probably should’ve ended the match as should’ve Rayman making a random comeback with chair shots, but rules are what they need them to be. Finished appeared to a blown spot, and it was totally unclear why (or if) Zumbi was eliminated
a good tope and a bad wall
El Hijo Del Santo, Höruz, Huracan Ramirez vs Angel Blanco Jr., Cien Caras Jr., El Hijo del Solitario: Complaining about TxT booking seems fruitless, but it’s quite something to go directly from the last TV show to this one see Angel Blanco and Soliatrio switch right back to being rudos. The problem is probably more with the previous show. Meanwhile, when Höruz is the tallest técnico, it’s a small crew. It didn’t seem to matter much when Santo was chopping Cien Jr. around. These ultra long very TxT matches do not keep my attention the whole way thru. It was very much the generic match – técnicos control fall 1 on the mat, rudos attack in mass to take the fall, rudos dominate fall 2 until the técnicos turn it around (and this goes on for way long in this match) and the técnicos get in all their spots in the third fall. It was an insanely long way to for a mask pull DQ (and Santo basically overturning the finish after the match.) Höruz was treated not like a big new star, but like he belonged, which is better than usual.
suplex? backdrop? a little of both?
Dr. Wagner Jr. vs LA Park: The match the crowd cared the most about, but the previous match fed off a much larger crowd and they didn’t have that here. This match had a lacking first few minutes, with LA Park grabbing the microphone to rant at Wagner in between hitting him to build to a moment where Wagner talked and fought back, and a crowd brawling segment which wasn’t as much as other ones they’ve had. They picked up the intensity towards a finish, then slowed it way back down to stretch it out for ten more minutes. It’s really hard to care about traditional near falls in a LA Park/Dr. Wagner match when every finish involving them requires a ref bump and a foul, so the long bit of move two count kickout didn’t work at all for me. (There was a ref bump much earlier which didn’t make any sense, except maybe they wanted to pretend they got the ref bump out of the way already. Still didn’t believe it.) Usual convoluted finish so everyone could their a participation ribbon.
