I usually throw it in with the other links, but I wanted to make a special mention of Ernesto Ocampo’s usual review of the Arena Mexico show (here.) As a member of the press, he was as critical of the press restrictions as you might imagining it, crediting it to CMLL learning the wrong lessons from the WWE tour.
I was very unhappy to read they once again did two falls of very short length in the Mistico/Warrior match, and in the trios title match. If they can’t manage to do three falls of decent lenght in their biggest match of the year, then the concept of 3 falls matches needs to be eliminated immediately. That’s a joke, and so is the longest match of the evening being the tercera (with Kenzo, Marco and Olimpico!) is another joke.
If you’re going to charge much higher than usual prices, you ought to be providing that much higher quality wrestling in return. I didn’t have a problem with the show costing more to see when it was presented to be a Super Show, but it instead looks like a slightly above average show, and a gouging on the part of CMLL. It doesn’t seem like people got their money’s worth out of this show.
I have yet to see the show, so maybe I’ll feel differently when I do.
(On a totally different note, this reminds me that we can increase ‘number of people who really care about CMLL’s Women Division’ to 3.)
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Yep, the show sounds really shit with every new comment i read, i’m not even all that interested in seeing it :(
Those first two falls for the hair match are a farce. I fully expected 20+ minutes seeing as it was such a big match.
On the bright side however – check out the awesome time of the womens match! Still a bit long all the same – i say if they must run them, give them 5 minute time limits :D
Yeah, O’Campo complained about the women’s match being so short.:) He’ll get his fix next week when LLF takes over AULL.:(
The logic behind every decision CMLL made the week up to the PPV and the day of the PPV are quite mind-boggling. Mistico/Warrior definitely should have gone over 20. O’Campo wrote it best in his summary when he described the match as the same match they had a few weeks before, right down to the EXACT SAME ENDING! In the weeks leading up to the show, Tony Salazar, Jose Luis Feliciano, ANYONE, couldn’t have been bothered to come up with a better ending. Too busy figuring out why tickets weren’t being sold I guess.:P
You know what else Henrik… I don’t think Volador Jr. was hurt. I mean, he may have been in pain but he was ready to wrestle and CMLL pulled him. He showed up in a neckbrace but was okay to wrestle the next day and then Sunday at Arena Coliseo? MMHMMMMMMMMMMM. I get the idea CMLL thought the fans would feel sympathetic for him and now they can push him as he’ll be more over. The thing is they have to follow it up this Friday with the rudos kicking the crap out of him and he has to be a top guy for weeks to come if something like this is going to work. And I for one don’t think CMLL has the guts/brains/good booking to stick to something like that. Instead Volador will be back to segundas and he’ll have had a chance to be on PPV stolen from him.
I’ve been saying for years that Lucha should get rid of the 3 falls system. It’s just stupid to have them if it’s so short.
See, one thing that got me into Lucha was the 3 fall system. If your favorite is in a match, you knew he would get the chance to shine on multiple occasions and would be able to face every opponent at least once during the match. Led to lots of interesting and fun match-ups. Plus when guys were feuding it’d be fun to see the rudo avoid the tecnico until the third fall when they’d have their big dramatic meeting if they were the only two left in the ring. Then again… those were the days of longer matches where you needed the “meat” to the match instead of just the dives and finish. These days it’s sad to watch a match and see one of your favorites do an exchange in the first fall, then pretty much be confident in the fact he won’t get to do anything else until a dive in the final fall if he’s lucky. Or even worse is the matches where you have a rudo beatdown early on, then the tecnico comeback ends the second fall in 15 seconds and you wonder out loud “why wasn’t it just a one fall match?”
Maybe with the style the way it is now, three fall matches just aren’t needed. I really don’t know. Wrestling is cyclical so in 1/2/3/10 years, the longer matches may be back “in” and 3 falls would be cool to have once again. Last thing you want is them to drop the 3 fall concept and then have to sit through 1 fall 30 minute matches with 20 minutes being a rudo beatdown.
AAA tried to get rid of the 3 fall system but even they use it sometimes b/c it’s easier to book a traditional Lucha match that way. Plus you don’t have to worry as much about people getting mad about jobbing in a 3 fall match.
I’m still in favor of 3 fall matches even with the short time allowed b/c there have been matches this year that have shown it can be done right. Lots of them in fact. It’s just a matter of using the time wisely and putting actual thought into the match, whether it be by the wrestlers themselves or the matchmakers. There are a shitload of examples where the first two falls go 3/4 minutes combined b/c the wrestlers/matchmakers only plan out finishes and spots for the third fall. Well if that’s the case – those type of matches SHOULD be 1 fall. But there are more than a handful of examples per month where matches get 3 falls and enough thought is put into them where the 3 fall format shows it still has it’s merit. Watch the mini’s tag from 7/1 CMLL TV, the mini’s trios from 4/2 AAA TV, any of the 8/4 Arena Mexico matches, Dos Caras Jr. vs Black Warrior from FSE, the recent GdR good trios match with Mistico/Warrior on opposite sides, Zorro vs Manson for the National Heavyweight Title, etc. All matches where 3 falls helped and made things more interesting.
The bottom line is matches where the first two falls are only designed to be “get through them as quick as possible” need to be stopped. Either think things out and make them interesting or scrap them and just do 1 fall. This is a case where AAA has figured something out before CMLL and is using it to their advantage.
Mistico vs Warrior from this past Friday should NOT read:
1
AAA’s worst matches are 3 falls. They all involve Crazzy boy and Joe Lider. If they need to do 3 falls, it should be the undercards.