CMLL Guerreros del Ring on 52MX: 2014-04-12

recap

taped 2014-04-01 @ Arena Coliseo Guadalajara

Leo vs Camorra for the hair: Best match of their feud. Match in their feud with the fewest springboards. These are not coincidences. Leo is not an agile flying guy but can do a good tope and can do near falls, so that’s what they did. This is not near as good Stigma/Camorra and Camorra does not have Pólvora like super powers, but this was better than I thought it would be based on the feud leading up to it. The finish is so random, the crowd is still to busy chanting at each other to notice at first, and then don’t react much when it’s made clear. They worked a storyline about Leo having an injured shoulder early on, but kind of abandoned it until it’s supposed to play into the finish. Like the match, it doesn’t quite work. I have no better understanding of why this feud happened after watching it.

taped 2014-04-06 @ Arena Coliseo
Atlantis vs Mr. Niebla: Watched this via the Terra recording, drove myself mad with the sound slowly drifting apart from the video. There was a match underneath that, which seemed more active and varied than their match in this same building a few months ago. We’re still in the moment where 51 year old Atlantis can have good 10-12 minute singles matches, but CMLL doesn’t seem in a hurry to have the ones that they really need to have before that time runs out. This particular match was Atlantis’ usual classic moves, a couple dives, and a little bit of Niebla goofiness, though less than you’d expect – he took it more seriously than usual. The finish is pretty definitive and seems like an end to this feud for now, which means they’ll be back at it someplace else by the time you read this.

Eléctrico vs Astral, Stukita, Acero, Pequeño Halcón, Pequeño Olímpico, Pequeño Nitro, Pierrothito, Último Dragoncito, Fantasy in a cage match, loser loses mask: If you’re in a cage match, and someone’s trying to be the first person to leave, and you’re the only person there to stop them, why are you stopping them? You only really win a cage match by escaping, so as long as you’re pretty sure you’re not going to be the last person left by letting someone go, let them go and worry about yourself. The only time you should be thinking about stopping people from escaping is if you really hate them enough to want to finish it with them, or if you’ll be stuck in the final if they escape. These are the things I think about when lucha libre makes me watch too many pointless cage matches in a short time. (Also, the climb over the top part as elimination bit is still not as dramatic as touching the floor. At least CMLL came up with the last two having to finish like a real match.) As usual, match improves when there are less people in it, which makes you wonder why all all those people who were so unnecessary that they quit the match a dozen minutes before it ended were ever in the match to start with. Nitro blowing his own escape was a delight. Eléctrico may want to consider wearing pants which aren’t easily pulled down the next time he’s in a cage match – or maybe he doesn’t want to consider that. Final match between Astral and Pequeño Halcón was not as rough as it sounded on paper, more like an intense lightning match than might be feared.