CMLL on CadenaTres: 2013-08-03

recap

taped 2013-07-30 @ Arena Mexico

Sensei & Soberano Jr. vs Herodes Jr. & Zayco: Had trouble staying awake for the duration of this match. Crowd seemed to be having a good time, which I think meant better things about the crowd than this match. There was nothing really screwed up (though plenty not smooth), just not much of anything interesting done at all. Herodes is still more personality than luchador, though I’m surprised they haven’t started teaming him up with Disturbio. They haven’t done much with Disturbio of late, actually..

Hombre Bala Jr., Pegasso, Súper Halcón Jr. vs Disturbio, Hijo del Signo, Nosferatu: Oh, there’s Disturbio. This match seemed a lot shorter than the last one, but mostly because it didn’t drag as much. It doesn’t look like a great group of rudos on paper, but both sides brought a lot more energy to this match. G11 remains both fun and improving; Hombre Bala Jr.’s second fall submission was very different. Hijo del Signo (technically part of G11 himself) works better with these guys than he ever did with Metálico.

Eléctrico vs Bam Bam, Shockercito, Pequeño Halcón, Pequeño Violencia, Mercurio in a cibernetico semifinal for the Mexican National Lightweight Championship: Match was a struggle early, got better once Halcón left – more due to his injury derailing things than his own performance – and kind of slowed down at the very end. Violencia really didn’t seem like a threat to actually win when it got down to himself and Eléctrico, and Eléctrico didn’t look as good as he had earlier, but they still went thru the motions of teasing it. I guess the 2v2 portion was the really good part, if I break it down like that. Bam Bam looked really good, as he has frequently since his latest return.

Dragón Rojo Jr., Pólvora, Rey Escorpión vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja: Dragon Rojo looks in horrendous condition and wrestled just as good as he looked. The large distended stomach is pretty hard to miss and Rojo’s never great conditioning is now super problematic. Rojo needs to change whatever he’s doing – or handle his changes better? I don’t know, it just isn’t good. Decent brawl early, but the bit of one side doing a double team move and the other side shrugging it off to do their own double team move was not particularly great. It never really came together or was hot as it should’ve been at the end. Maybe adding Ultimo will help next week, though that’s not a sure thing.

Ángel de Oro, Máscara Dorada, Mistico vs Mr. Niebla, Vangellys, Volador Jr.: Vangelis appeared to get his job with CMLL by losing a title to the old Místico (and never ever got a rematch.) Today, Vangelis beats the new Místico clean to set up a match with Diamante Azul and I’m not sure it really helps him much. Times change. This was a good main event, even if things repeated a bit (Niebla accidental slaps, Angel de Oro doing the same things in every match.) Vangelis kind felt like he belonged, though the finish was still jarring. Dorada looked good in what he got to do.