CMLL on SamuraiTV: 2012-01-21

taped 2012-01-21 @ Korakuen Hall

recap

I’m not going to do the traditional short description per matches here, because I basically did that for the recaps. This is going to be shorter than short. You still get your moving pictures.

Goto/KUSHIDA versus Mascara Dorada/Rush was that match of the night. Team Jalisco came out roaring and just took it to their more established team. This was finally getting to see Rush as a rudo, while weirdly also getting the same of Dorada. Rush came off looking like a monster in his first appearance and both singles matches were built well. This was a total success.

I’ve watched very little NJPW this year. I went thru some of the CMLL participation early this month, but the entire Sombra G1 run is still sitting on my DVR, waiting for a day when I’ve somehow managed to exhaust all the lucha I have to watch. Tama Tonga was totally new to me and a nice little surprise. “Son of Haku” turns out to be less Haku islander and more excitable Jimmy Snuka islander. He really has a good sense of his character and the fans seemed to be getting into him. I’m also always trying to figure out how CMLL could use these people when they randomly bring them in for three weeks. They’ve been using the NJPW guys exclusively as rudo so far, but Tonga would get over great as a tecnico.

It appears they’re going to do Dino/Maximo vs Taichi/? every year, which is fine. Misterioso and Diamante fit in well in their roles and were surprisingly well accepted by the crowd. Mephisto could probably hang out with Chaos full time. I wanted more Volador vs Tanahashi, just because Volador versus any popular tecnico is a good time right now, but they did the right finish to set up Day 2 well. Okada kept reminding me of WWE’s Jack Swagger, appearing to be a physically talented guy but missing that extra spark to be a top guy. He did not seem near Tanahashi’s level. Not that I’m the first or last to say that.