CMLL on CadenaTres: 2014-02-22

recap

taped 2014-02-18 @ Arena México
Angelito, Fantasy, Shockercito vs Pequeño Nitro, Pequeño Warrior, Pierrothito: Better minis match than usual. They got a little more time and Shockercito was really good. Pierrothito worked well with him – their exchange in the first fall was fun – but Shockercito was also just moving a hundred kilometers an hour. Angelito started off rough (and started off with Pequeño Black Warrior) and did get better, but I didn’t come off from match 1 that interested him. He can do some of the highspots other people can do but he’s not bringing anything different than what those other guys already do, unless he plans on taking crazy bumps on Nitro’s backcracker every week. (Probably shouldn’t be wearing a t-shirt in your debut either.) I have no memory of Fantasy in this match. A lot of spots here teasing dives and getting them cut off; they did as good as job as they could, but they really need to think about giving more freedom to the minis.

Hombre Bala Jr., Súper Halcón Jr., Tritón vs Cancerbero, Puma, Raziel: There was a match here, but I was totally distracted by trying to figure out what was going on with super Halcon’s mask. The partially open back does not work for him. All three rudos are usually good for fun double teams, but they stuck to holding and hitting, taking it down from what had been a pretty good first two falls. They picked it up for a pretty chaotic end game, but they had lost the crowd a bit by then. Halcon and Bala added their usual bit of insanity and the Triton/Puma sections were fun. There’s nothing smaller that the CMLL crowd hoots about more than not putting a guy on the top of the turnbuckles. I’m not sure why.

Black Panther, Blue Panther, Cachorro vs Ephesto, Misterioso Jr., Pierroth: It was a remote possibility this match would be any good given the rudo side and it was not any good. It did add evidence that Black Panther and Cachorro are not just illusions created by Tiger & Puma but really promising young guys. There’s still getting the timing down and getting used to dealing when things go wrong, but they do feel different and you can see how they might have great matches down the road. Misterioso setting up Black Panther on the outside was a nice workaround to set up Ephesto’s usual counter tope. Pierroth remains horrible.

La Máscara, Rush, Titán vs Felino, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas for the Mexican National Trios Championship: Underwhelming for a title match. Kind of underwhelming for a normal match, to be honest. Rush and Negro Casas were up to their usual stuff, but it didn’t feel like anyone else was up with them. Felino and Titan didn’t mix well, Niebla did a little more than usual, and Mascara did not. Everyone stuck 95% with their rival, which meant little team matches and little interesting combinations – this was really routine. Finish came on the first serious near fall of the match and way sooner than people expected; it took longer for the title change to sink it because no one was ready for it. Crowd was still happy to get the unexpected trios title change but it’s one of the weaker matches for these titles in quite some time; it’s definitely not awful, but not worth your time.