CMLL FSE #85

taped 03/26, aired 04/06

I think my opinion on the whole Dr. Wagner/CMLL is heavily colored by my dislike for the wrestler Dr. Wagner has become in 2008. He spent most of the main event doing all he could to make sure the crowd paid attention to him, and not the feud everyone else was working to get over. Wagner has no interest in selling, really no interest in doing anything except what will get the fans to chant his name at that moment. I think Atlantis was actually thrilled to work with him at the end, just because he knew they wouldn’t be doing anything at all.

I understand the wrestling business can be nasty and there are real advantages to beefing up your own profile at the direct expense of others, but that doesn’t mean it’s fun to watch in action. (And when a guy is so clearly out for number one, it makes it really hard to believe him a couple weeks later where he’s claiming to represent more than that.) Wagner’s become the worst example of all that’s problematic of the current CMLL style (stopping the match for chants like you’re panhandling for a reaction, disinterest in doing more than the same exact sequences every match, promos centered around catchphrases and worthless challenges) and worst of indy lucha (living off the name and past achievements for eternity.) It doesn’t have to be that way, it’s not like Wagner is shot, and that makes it even more frustrating.

I don’t begrudge Dr. Wagner for doing it a way he thinks works and makes him money. But I don’t mind him doing it someplace far off my TV set either.

It was nice to see the novatos here. Not just because they were different, but they were fun and you don’t actually get too many straight tag matches here.

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