CMLL Line - 01/03/04 (#108)

Notes: JIP in progress and skimmed due to the wrestlers involved. Oddly, they list both sides winning the first and second fall . Either weird booking (double DDQs, maybe?) or bad work on the production end.

I think one of the reasons Violencia looked bigger to me at his hair/hair match is that he was just wearing trunks then, and usually (like now) he's in a singlet. Commentary appears to already pointing to Universo/Pierroth match. Universo has a fine dropkick but I don't think I'd say the same thing about Pierroth's relaxing exit form the ring. This is our first real look at Violencia without the ring - he looks like a bigger version of Mini Violencia. Nazi holds Universo for a swinging dropkick through the ropes but Universo moves and Nazi gently takes it. Pierroth stares at her long enough for Universo to roll him up, and that's that. (1:21) Everyone but Pierroth and Universo continues brawling for no reason. Replays - look tat Mascara BARELY get over the top rope on pescado! Watch Violencia have the same problem! Maybe it's the ropes? Maybe it's me. It's ALWAYS me.

Vignette: Niebla is wafting for Porky at a restaurant. Porky's apparently late, but he did break a cartoon "screeching to a stop" sound effect with him! He's an hour late? But Niebla didn't order without him. Niebla desperatly wants to know Porky's opinion about their rivals tonight. Where has Niebla been that he doesn't know Apolo, Terrible and Warrior? They get some jokes out of it, and then Porky apparently gets Niebla to leave by reading the whole menu. There are times I'm glad I don't know Spanish.

Notes: Entrances clipped so I can't see if they remember that Niebla holds a title of some sort. Heeeeey midget. Don't dance like that. Lizmark is the last of three I'd expect to be captain. Niebla's wearing a Tigre Blanco-ish mask; very white/black, but swirly.

Warrior and Lizmark to start. CLIP? Warrior is now Terrible. Okay. Lockup, Terrible starts with a waistlock, Lizmark out into a hammerlock, Terrible looking for the jumping snap mare and getting it. Stand off. Test of strength?  They both try turning it - looks like Lizmark has the advantage, then Terrible powers him down to his knees, puts Lizmark's hands on the mat and stomps on them - or maybe Lizmark moves his hands out of the way (because he visibly does) and that's the reason he can recover to hit a dropkick so quickly. Tags - Porky and Apolo in. Posing. Apolo isn't thrilled with the posing. Off the ropes, Apolo's shoulderblock works! Off the ropes, waved by, Porky with a hiptoss. Waved by, hiptoss, Apolo with an open hand slap, charge, Porky backdrops him up, Apolo hangs on to the top rope sorta handstanding, porky pushes him all the way out. Porky gearing up - but stops short and poses instead of diving. Niebla in and already dancing. Warrior will see that dance and raise two. Niebla off the ropes, over, waved by, handspring but clotheslined in the back by Warrior. Warrior poses and yells. Corner whip, Niebla slides out rather than going to the corner, Warrior slides out after him, Niebla turns the corner, waves a stop sign, and slaps Warrior in the head. Niebla in, Warrior after him, Niebla gets up for the big slap tot he head, Warrior goes to block, Niebla kicks him in the butt. Whip, reversed, Quebrada, Porky adds a splash! Niebla starts trying Warrior up as Apolo comes in to try a sunset flip on Porky - that goes bad. Porky gets his pin finished first (2:47) and Lizmark adds a sit down powerbomb for Terrible (2:52 which doesn't per say 'count' but I timed it before I remembered) before they even get around to checking the Neblina, though he was done first and the midget was already posing on him. Good enough. Replays of the finish.

Second fall starts with Lizmark being down from something we don't get to see. Terrible picks him up, chop, whip, hiptoss blocked and reversed with one of Lizmark's own. Lizmark off the ropes, waved by, Terrible backdrop reversed into an armdrag. Terrible manages to pop up to hit the backdrop, but Lizmark poops up with the Spinaroonie. Terrible is confused, charges with a clothesline, misses, and takes a superkick. He's done for now, rolling out, and Lizmark thinks briefly about a dive before listening to his corner and tagging out. Did Warrior's hair get a lot longer since we last saw him? Must be extensions. Niebla comes in for his side, and we're too busy looking at the midget to see that all the rudos have jumped him. Triple whip, bad impacting boot form Terrible. Apolo clotheslines Niebla out to the ramp, and Terrible holds him in place for Warrior's trademark slingshot guillotine legdrop. Porky takes his try, but kicks and punish from Apolo and Terrible are too much for him. Warrior comes back to help organize - double whip, double spinebuster by Warrior and Terrible, and Apolo finishes him off with a splash one two three (1:38) although Warrior and Terrible are in such a hurry to get to Lizmark they kinda block the counting of three. Lizmark is grabbed and pulled around by the hair. Corner whip, corner Terrible clothesline, corner crotching which is becoming far too much of a Arena Mexico semi-final cliché, and Terrible finishes with the dropkick to the face. Terrible does add a headstand kip up too to be different, I guess. Warrior's pulled back in the middle of the ring, and everyone wants to pose/cover, till Apolo realizes that someone should make it look like they're hurting him by putting on an armbar or something. (2:13) Warrior ads an armbar of his own but the pin is already over - still fun, I guess. They're doing the armbar/feet to the head thing. Someone's got a really loud noisemaker at ringside  is that all the 1000& rudos one? OH NO THEY'RE GOING TO SPANK THE MIDGET. Actually, now they're just rocking him back and forth on Apolo's knee - ahh, dropped him on ish head, how unfortunate. Warrior tosses the midget around like a sack of potatoes before a rousing game of "Catch the Midget!" breaks out. Warrior makes like he's going to throw the midget over his head out of the ring, but (disappointingly!) drops him on the mat. Porky collects his little friend and brings him to safety. Replays.

Beatdown continues on to the third fall. First up is Niebla, who's held by Terrible for open hand slaps from the others. Apolo adds a legdrop, and Terrible kicks him out of the ring. Lizmark in quickly, which is is nice that we're getting through this at a decent pace. Lizmark gets whipped into Apolo's boot, and kicked in the back. Is that all for him? We watch Niebla and the midget talk strategy. Lizmark gets the triple corner clothesline treatment. Porky's turn. Cornered Apolo is PULLING HIS NOSE! Brutal, brutal. Corner clothesline, corner back elbow, corner jumping knee. Niebla turn #2. He's beat as soon as he gets in, but they whip him into the corner Apolo corner clothesline, Warrior tries a leaping move off Apolo's back and gets kicked in the gut. Niebla cleans house as the comeback is on, and all around ringside. Look at those fans not care much. These fans, who are closer to the action, seem too. Niebla battles Warrior about ten rows up. Lizmark is trying to choke out Terrible. Smashed into a chair, ow. Terrible gets posted. Everything settles back down into a match, with Lizmark and Terrible in the ring and everyone else at their corners. Except the referee won't let them go at it for some reason. What are they waiting for? Someone else to come in? Porky's in now and he's discussing things with Apolo. Now everyone's in and discussing. Are they going to raise someone's arm here? Porky's? Both? WHY? In the two years I've watched this show, I've never been quite as confused. Now the rudos are celebrating but the tecnicos are unhappy. And now the fans are cheering because I think the tecnicos raised their hands too. And now everyone raises their hands. As we get replays, the falls graphic has the same "both won" indication for the third fall here as the first two falls in the last match. Did someone just discover ties this week and couldn't stop doing them?

Box y Lucha's page, translated, explains it to me: (DCO 2:26). Apparently, I wasn't perceptive to notice that no one was brawling in the ring, just not perceptive enough to realize what that meant. The thing is, it's not uncommon for all six guys to brawl around ringside during a tecnico comeback period, and I've not seen this called before; it's either been ignored or they've counted really slow to make it not happen, except when it's an angle. While the referees might have acted differently this time (and, if you looked for them, you could see them counted at a normal counting speed), the wrestlers didn't seem to be particularly going for this finish any more than a normal brawl (though there was a moment early where a clip could've done and maybe this went on much longer than it felt). Between this and the similar (inferred) finishes in the opening match, I wonder if there was some sort of change of philosophy for this situations this week of taping? It's strange.

Duel replays of the countouts; maybe I need to just fast forward before I get looking for finishes on websites. I think the tecnicos want another fall. There's no storyline reason I can think of to do this finish here, since these are really two thrown together teams - maybe they couldn't get someone to do the job? I dunno.

Stellar Moments:
El Tecnico: Tigre Blanco hits a nice Asia Moonsault on Nitro.
Lo Impresionante: Alan Stone and Tony Rivera both try jumping their opponents on the run - Alan ends up with a crossed legged victory roll, but much to Tony's discomfort, he get tossed by and mule kicked low by Sangre Azteca.
Lo Admirable: Safari dropkicks Masada into a Virus German Suplex. Masada's changed his look again, going back to the black hair and wearing all black.
Lo Espectacular: Nosawa (no wacky braids but the rest of the hair back) eventually gets toped by Safari. Virus tops his partner with a no-look top rope moonsault to the floor on Dr. X.
La Plancha: Universo top rope splashes Pierroth, and Violencia helps him cover. And there's that fan of Rey Bucanero again.

I am SO disappointed there's no Guapos/Silva vignette right here. Actually, ever since I saw this lineup, I've been hoping there was a "Damien and Halloween agree not to hate Ultimo and Rey now" vignette, just for sanity 

Notes: Only Halloween has belts this time? Maybe Damien has his under his monk robe thing. Or maybe they're down to just one tag title at the moment? Rey has a red pirate-ish shirt and two valets. And the eye liner. Silva is using a Sean Combs remix? I think. Guapos are using the Guapo music. They're dressed as samurai this week. Or hairdresses with weird tastes in headbands. FdT will do thier own introductions again. Oh, they're doing the whole rudo teams. Rey is the Rey de Reinas - must be spending time in AAA when I'm not paying attention. Did I mention the X-ed out CMLL Logo shirts? Oh wow, I forgot: Silva means single fall matches. Much better.

Guapos get the crowd cheering for them. Rudos retaliate with the huddle dance. Damien challenges Silva to come on, and then dives out of the ring for his life when Silva makes a move. Who'll start? Will this be more than comedy? Ultimo and Shocker, good enough for me. Lockup, Ultimo with a waistlock, Ultimo with a waistlock takedown, front facelock is escaped into a armbar, Ultimo rolls out to a leg grab, Shocker won't go down and cant' kick free, but Ultimo eventually gets him down (that was probably not what they wanted), Ultimo rolls Shocker over and ties up the legs. Shocker trying to turn his way towards the ropes, so Ultimo reaches for the head, and and Shocker grabs that arm with his for am armbar. Back up to their feet, Ultimo reverses and tires for a back heel trip, Shocker lands on his feet, Ultimo mangos to snap mare him anyway. Well, something like a snap mare. Shocker lands by the apron, and Rey pokes him in the posterior with his boot, so Shocker confronts Rey and Rey backs off. Rey invites Shocker to go back and face his partner. Circle. Look at the people with masks on. We miss how Ultimo gets Shocker pinned face first to the mat, but Ultimo gets up for an armbar soon enough anyway. Twisting Shocker down to the mat, and now putting on a double wristlock to pull him up. Ultimo with a monkey flip, holding on to Shocker, but Shocker has the better roll to his feet and and keeps Ultimo down. Ultimo tries the corkscrew headscissors from the mat, but Shocker pushes him off. Shocker can't push off a double leg, and Ultimo uses that before rolling Shocker to his feet and clothesline him down - whoops, clothesline catch for an armdrag. Shocker with a single leg, zero, break. Standoff. Fans clap. Tags? Sure. Magica and let's look at Silva's boots. Halloween is Magica's opponent, and he's still much to in to crotch chopping. Lockup, Halloween pushed Magica away. Halloween does a muscle pose. Crowd shot. Hmm, Halloween and Magica have morphed into Silva and Damien. Damien tries a single leg, but no go. Silva kicks him away. Shoulderblock, no. Open hand slaps get a forearm to knock Damien down. Whip, back elbow (which Damien jumps into.) Rey come into try his luck with strikes, but they just kinda bewilder Silva if anything. Rey grabbed by his head and drug around - forearm to the back.  Looking far away - corner whip, corner clothesline and Rey gets the heck out of there. Ultimo tries to see if surprise will help a single leg takedown. NO. Choked in the corner. Silva sits him on the top rope, and now pressed off the middle. Ultimo gets dropped in the middle of the ring and rolls out. Halloween looks to be trying to sneak attack Silva, but we cut away to the crowd again, and now Ultimo and Magica are doing something compete different. Setting him up on the ramp side for the GdI running sit , with extra holding help from FdT. Ah, we're doing one of those deals where the other tecnicos are getting beat down but the ref refuses to let Silva in. Shocker has to deal with all four till Silva comes in (too soon?) and starts going after everyone.  They all beg off, but it doesn't appear to help. Did Halloween low blow uppercut him? Guess so, he's down. Everyone gets to stomping the giant, but Baby Richard gives him the win. (5:35) and why did I do this match. I really ought to start watching these before I start typing them up.

Bored with this lame finish, Rudos try more of a beatdown but they're partly run off by the Guapos - so Damien gets the Singapore cane and starts using it on Guapo types. Celebrate. Magica takes the most shots, but that's because he's still enough to come back in.  Ah, shot on Shocker misses and gets Ultimo, and now Shocker has the Stick. Stick shots for everyone. Shocker's not going to go in the crowd and try to hit people, is he? Oh man he is! It's not like he was close to anyone. Damien takes off running another exit rather than be beat by it. Shocker clears the ring with the cane. Damien's back, and he's got himself a drink! He drops it off with a fan before coming to collect his friends. Magica's got the cane now and he's beating Halloween with it. Shocker's going after Ultimo's mask. Rey's trying to do something to Silva but Magica runs him off with the now broken cane. Shot for Damien. Shocker has the mask untied and Ultimo is trying to hold it on and cover up. Rey's in now to help, Ultimo get rid of Shocker, so Magica comes back to use the cane on him while Ultimo gets his mask off. Shocker boots Ultimo up the ramp. Ultimo's beaten backstage. Silva hasn't really gotten off the mat since that low blow -- ah, he's standing now.

Break.

Replay of the low blow. And then Damien starting the caning. And then Shocker caning people. And then a replay of Shocker and Magica coming back to the ring - ah, they're doing the Guapos dance. That's it.

Rating: Bases on the quality of the finish, ring work, internal/external storyline, consistency and my whims. Also, various other (random) factors that I can't think of right now. 0-100 for matches.

Closing Notes: 

1. I kinda guessed this show was free of interesting things when I saw the lineup
2. And it lived up to my expectations!
3. Violencia's post-mask push lasted about as long as Veneno's post-turn push
4. Next week doesn't look a lot better.