CMLL on Fox Sports (Mexico): 2014-04-20

recap

taped 2014-04-11 @ Arena México

 

Fuego, Sagrado, Tritón vs Boby Zavala, Misterioso Jr., Puma: This was fine, but this group is capable of matches much more interesting than this one. Not much stood out, except for Triton’s unfortunate new chest tattoo and Puma’s new submission. This match just sort of ended too in the third fall, with no real drama behind it. Good for Misterioso for expanding his repertoire of bad fall losses.

 

Blue Panther, Diamante Azul, Valiente vs Rey Bucanero, Terrible, Vangellys: A match with surprising momentum swings, which is a Blue Panther staple. The bit in the first fall with Rey and Vangellys being too busy taunting the crowd to notice Terrible lose would’ve worked better if they both didn’t look at the hold before turning around. Valiente getting in his tope was nicely timed. Terrible appears to have stolen the Superman punch spot, which is at least amusing. With Angel de Oro still out, Diamante Azul may be the least malleable luchador on the roster. He’s going to have this match no matter who he’s facing and who he’s teaming with. (La Mascara may arguably have this spot.)

 

Máximo, Negro Casas, Volador Jr. vs La Sombra, Rey Escorpión, Rush in a relevos increíbles match: Finally, Sombra’s 3M sponsorship pays off – in tape! This was more angle than match and nothing but a brawl, but it was fun segment. They’ve completely flipped the Sombra/Volador dynamic, six months after the ticket payers in Arena México did, and Sombra as a rudo is kind of more interesting than Volador. Sombra as a técnico is more interesting than Volador too, so that’s a slight problem, but they worked very hard to make Volador sympathetic. Sombra teasing the shirt removal but not doing it is the greatest rudo spot possible in CMLL 2014. Rush beating up Máximo in between falls over being kiss was a great moment in Rush rage. The stage dive was as forced into the match as always, but the people got into it. Volador & Sombra and Casas & Rush (and even a little Rush & Máximo) came off as really interesting, though it’s a problem Rey Escorpion & Máximo clearly wasn’t at that level when it’s the match they may actually be doing soon. They didn’t individually do bad here, but maybe they should’ve have been a part of this if they were going to be overshadowed.

 

 

Súper Halcón Jr. vs Cavernario in a En Busca de un Idolo match: This was one of the longer matches of the tournament, but it didn’t feel like a lot happened. Even more so when compared to other Cavernario highlight matches. Cavernario is much better at playing to the crowd than Halcón, who seems dimly aware there are even people there and was looking very tired by the end of this one. There really wasn’t much story here and I didn’t get into it much on the rewatch. They had some problem with the clock here; it showed 0:13 at the actual start point, then they reset it and were about 17 seconds behind by the end.

 

Hechicero vs Guerrero Negro Jr. in a En Busca de un Idolo match: A rudo/rudo battle with neither guy really playing rudo and both guys exchanging holds. Those parts could’ve gone better; Hechicero was too obviously helping Guerrero Negro in the tapatía reversal, and the finish went wrong (in a way where Hechicero could’ve broken his arm.) This was an okay match, but needed to be more than an okay judge with these judges on this day.