CMLL GDR - 11/18/06 (#52)
Recapped: 11/23/06

Unmasked: Pierroth, who turns out to be Pierroth. You can also watch the Ogun match in the background.

Match 1: Lady Apache (c), Dark Angel, Marcela vs Princesa Sujei, Amapola, Hiroka (c)
Arena Mexico, 11/09/06

Winner: Tecnicas
Match Time: 8:16
Approx Rating: Not at the level of their other matches.
Other Match Notes: Full intros for this. It's past 11:00 in the show when the whistle rings. Someone's got a big poster of Marcela. Amapola's bought some new gear.

They're still working the Lady Apache/Hiroka feud, and Hiroka is avoiding facing Lady Apache as usual. First section is all Hiroka beating Marcela down, and then we get a break at 2:26

The show backs up a few seconds in the match when they return, which is odd, but they cut just before Marcela turned  it around, so I guess they wanted not to come in during the middle of it. (They really should've just cut sooner.) Marcela has a little trouble getting out of the ring, but lands a running Thesz Press anyway. I think Magadan and Julio try to determine what belt it is that Amapola sometimes carries around (but not during this match - perhaps she lost it back in Japan!), which is almost as awkward as how a Lady Apache fireman's carry escape into an armdrag goes. Lady Apache's apron tope con giro does look good. I can't hear the crowd at all during this match, but it's possible that it's my sound. Dark Angel and Princesa Sujei have more timing issues than I'd expect in their sequence. From there, the rudas take over for the beatdown. Hiroka takes a press  slam from her partners onto Lady Apache, which looks good. Yet another break, just after Dark Angel gets awkwardly tossed up into a missile dropkick. We got 3:02 of action, so we're at 5:28 total 

If they grouped all the Pierroth interviews together, they could do that as a segment itself and cut on one break here. There should not be two breaks in 5 minutes of action. And we get an Ultimo Guerrero PSA in here.

I figured we'd only got 3 minutes of action, because they were going to show the comeback right after they came back form break, but they actually get in a triple dropkick of woe on Marcela before Lady Apache gets to turn it around. In a nice bit of irony, Princesa Sujei tries to stop Lady Apache from the apron by grabbing her hair - except there's no hair to grab. Hiroka has a hard time going thru the ropes on a dropkick, and it just looks bad. Sujei puts a stop to the comeback it after a (pedestrian) backdrop pescado by Lady Apache by working over Marcela, but ruda double teams continue to fail, and Angel and Marcela get near fall rollups. Again, either there's no heat for this, or I'm just not picking it up. I can hear the announcers just fine. Rudas take monetarily control, and end up throwing themselves out, so the secondary tecnicas can tope them. We're left with Lady Apache and Hiroka in, and taking time to try and get the crowd into it. Too much time. Lady Apache gets a bodyscissors bulldog and tries to fire up. Hiroka tries to crawl out, but Lady Apache pulls her back, and gives her a rolling tapatia. On the third time up, Hiroka gives. This segment was another 2:48. I guess the clipping idea was to treat it as three small falls, but it did not work well.

Pre-Match Interview: Mistico. He's wearing the mask where he's inaudible, great. Anyway, the feud with Black Warrior isn't over, if you haven't noticed.

Match 2: Black Warrior (c), Ultimo Guerrero, Hooligan vs Mistico (c), Negro Casas, Blue Panther
Arena Coliseo, 11/11/06

  1. Rudos
  2. Tecnicos
  3. Tecnicos

Winner: Tecnicos (2-1)
Match Time: 11:50
Approx Rating: Disappointing. Past that, really.
Other Match Notes: In the beginning of the show introductions, they hyped Tarzan Boy (as originally listed); they mentioned the match again during the show, but I don't recall if they mentioned the change Hooligan comes out with Ultimo. I guess Tarzan Boy would've. Black Warrior still has his wacky yellow robe, but he's added a matching vest. Mistico's ready to fight him from the stat, which is good because that always happens. In fact, he's in a fighting stance when they go to the introduction graphics, and he's reeling from something after the 5 second graphics are over.

1: Rudo beatdown. Warrior goes for the mask, you've been here. The announcers say Hooligan's being called up the Major Leagues here. A fair bit of posing, a fair bit of Monito attacking, nothing special early. After Mistico's taken out of their ring, Hooligan and Ultimo Guerrero get together for some teamwork - their timing is off at first, but they get it together. The problem is Black Warrior is oblivious to everything, and instead of staying out of their way for a moment, he brings Mistico back in the ring, directly in the path of spots Negro's doing with the other two rudos. Ultimo just puts Negro in the Guerrero Submission Special instead of trying to work around Warrior. The fall just starts to ends there, but Warrior explains to the refs that Mistico is the captain - great work there - and Ultimo gives Mistico a press slam onto Hooligan and Warrior's knees. Ultimo rolls him up, and gets into the ropes in the process - I think Hooligan and Warrior try to clean it up, but they end up making it worse. Not that refs care. 

2: Monito is down outside the ring, so we must've missed something sinister. Negro hides him in the second row to save him from further violence. This match is doing nothing for me. I guess it should be neat to see Hooligan and Ultimo together, but they're not doing anything. Comeback is about 1:10 when Negro ducks a double clothesline and Mistico lands a slingshot tornillo on Warrior. Secondary guys quickly hit their finisher. Mistico and Warrior come back in to goof around, including each guy doing the other's pose.   

3: Hooligan vs Blue Panther one on one is fun, as Panther sells Hooligan's chest slaps huge. Ultimo helps, but then stops to get the fans to chant his name, which isn't actually good. He and Hooligan then have a contest so see who can go out of the ring more dramatically - Ultimo sues the knee bump, so he wins. Magadan's called Black Warrior "the Dennis Rodman of Lucha Libre" 3 or 4 times this match already. Like Rodman, he can do a couple of things really well. Warrior gets no height on a Panther monkey flip to send him to the floor, and barley avoids a bad crash and burn. He opts to walk way rather than take a dive. Negro and Hooligan have a sequence which never gets on track, and then Ultimo briefly takes over. Warrior stalls when it's him and Mistico - this match really doesn't need a stall right now. And then he tags out to Ultimo. And Ultimo tries to get the crowd to chant for him. This has slowed to a crawl. Mistico and Ultimo barley get going before Ultimo's sent to the floor from a headscissors, and Warrior comes in to do nothing again. He does drop Mistico when Mistico's posing, which is nice. 619, check. Fireman's carry armdrag sends Warrior out, but the other rudos double boot him out before he can do anything. All 4 secondary guys in, and monetarily lost - they get it together for a Negro Casas backdrop pescado and a Panther tope. This leaves Mistico and Warrior - will it be a mask pull? Will it be a foul? Will it be both? They actually screw up the usual counter to La Mistica, which they're done a hundred time sat this point, and then there's the mask pull. (7:02) Warrior tries ripping up the mask to do something different, but Mistico is just eventually handed a new one. Seems like the other guys get out of there ASAP - Panther and Negro don't even stick around to get their arm raised. 

Post-Match interview: Mistico talks about Warrior while catching his breath. He wants a shot at Warrior's title. Or a hair vs mask match.

Post Match Interview: Magadan talks to Black Warrior once again, just so he can say Dennis Rodman again. Anyway, Warrior's not giving him a title match. And he taunts Monito.

Total in-ring time on the show: 20:06