CMLL Arena Mexico: 2016-06-14 

Recapped: 06/14/2016

What happened: Dragon Rojo successfully defended his title against Guerrero Maya. And that’s it.

What was good: That title match! Both the trios matches before it were close. Avoid everything else.

Where can I watch it: It’s on CMLL’s YouTube channel.

Match 1: Metatrón & Sensei vs Akuma & Camorra
Arena México, 06/14/2016

1. técnicos
   • Sensei reverse armsicssors Akuma (5:30)
   • Metatron kimura Camorra (5:47)
2. rudos
   • Akuma valagueza Metatron (3:09)
   • Camorra cross legged reverse armbar Sensei (3:33)
3. técnicos
   • Metatron guillotine legdrop Akuma (3:24)
   • Camorra half crab Metatron (3:54)
   • Sensei triangle Camorra (4:19)

Winner: técnicos (1/3)
Match Time: 13:39

Review: [below average] Boring match with not a lot of action. Camorra didn’t screw up, but it’s hard to figure why we’re seeing him instead of any one of the dozen rookies debuted in the last couple months. Sensei occasionally does neat things – his armbar out of a powerbomb was almost too creative for the referee to handle – but he moves very slow for a guy doing a martial arts gimmick. Akuma had the worst botch of the match.

Match 2: Hombre Bala Jr., Magnus, Starman © vs Canelo Casas, Espanto Jr., Nitro ©

Arena México, 06/14/2016

1. técnicos
   • Hombre Bala headscissors twist submission Canelo Casas (7:26)
   • Magnus tope con giro Starman (8:05)
2. rudos
   • Canelo Casas half nelson suplex Magnus (5:12)
   • Espanto top rope splash Starman (5:42)
3. técnicos
   • Magnus senton all rudos (3:04)

Winner: técnicos (1/3)
Match Time: 16:51

Review: [below average] usual story: Canelo, Espanto and Nitro aren’t much good, técnicos are redeemable but wasted in this match. Nitro froze in the corner late in the match like a rookie; I’m sure he was waiting for his turn, but it looked very bad. The rudos always seem to set themselves up for Starman’s big move, which is nice for him. The finish was different and fun, so hooray for that.

Match 3: Fuego, Pegasso, Stigma vs Fujin, Okumura, Raijin
Arena México, 06/14/2016

1. rudos
   • Raijin Shocker Stigma (4:30)
   • Fujin cradle powerbomb Pegasso (5:02)
2. técnicos
   • Stigmatica on Raijin (2:52)
   • La Flashina on Okumura (3:18)
3. rudos
   • Okumura hanging DDT Fuego (3:40)

Winner: rudos (1/3)
Match Time: 12:00

Review: [ok] Not quite as good as I hoped, as they didn’t really develop it much, but a lot better than the two matches which had preceded it. There was something just generic in the first two falls, and then there were iffy moments down the stretch. It didn’t appear to be totally the NJPW trainees fault either. Pegasso can’t really pull of the over the top headscissors well, and Fujin kind of had to throw himself into it. Raijin’s cool move is better than Fujin’s cool move, both are better than Stigma’s cool move, but I did like it better when they had tag team cool moves.

Match 4: Blue Panther, Blue Panther Jr., The Panther vs Bobby Z, Euforia, Vangellys
Arena México, 06/14/2016

1. técnicos
   • The Panther springboard dropkick Euforia (4:17)
2. rudos
   • Vangellys northern light suplex Blue Panther (2:39)
3. rudos
   • Bobby Z dropkicks Blue Panther (6:07)

Winner: rudos (2-1)
Match Time: 13:03

Review: [ok] This match was most interesting for Blue Panther playing with the formula, and it not quite working as well as other experiments. There was an anti-flow to the end of the first two falls, with the controlling team just suddenly being put down for three out of nowhere. (The second fall is the best example, when the usual técnico rotation of offense ends not with the rudos taking over, but Vangellys just stepping ending Blue Panther Sr.’s run with a northern lights suplex out of nowhere.) This is a casual crowd, so surprising them when an unexpected outcome isn’t going to work when they don’t have many expectations on the outcome. It just kind of comes off as flat. Basic stuff, like the sons repeatedly not being able to legally tag in, worked better. Still, Tuesday nights should be for experimentation and ideas, even if they all don’t hit.

The Panther kids usually have a different hair styles going on with their long hair, so both being in pony tails and wearing matching gear made it really confusing – it was more about figuring out which one looked like he was hitting the gym more often, and hoping the other one tagged in. It does say something in Blue Jr.’s favor that it’s harder to tell them apart than it used to be. The rudos were a very random trio, but had good timing and worked well with the técnicos.

Match 5: Dragón Rojo Jr. © vs Guerrero Maya Jr. for the CMLL World Middleweight Championship
Arena México, 06/14/2016

1. Guerrero Maya suastica (3:19)
2. Dragon Bomb (4:01)
3. Dragon Rojo inverted gori stretch (9:19)

Winner: Dragon Rojo Jr.
Match Time: 16:39
Notes: Seconds were Pegasso & Bobby Z.

Review: [great] surprisingly strong match – surprising because it felt heavily a Dragon Rojo match to get it there. He worked hard in this match, pushing the action and trying stuff he wouldn’t normally do. (In one case, the apron diving headscissors, the effort didn’t go really great for him.) The Dragon Rojo focus carried out to the end, where Maya got in some moves and a big plancha to the floor, but no really signature falls in his favor. Rojo got plenty of those instead, but just couldn’t put away Maya until he did it with an unlikely submission (for him.) Like the Rey Cometa/Cavernario match, the match felt much different than usual CMLL title match structure. The ending came as a genuine surprise, and not simply the last move on a list. I’d put Cometa/Cavernario ahead of this one because it had much higher highs, and I was bit disappointed Maya didn’t get to come closer to a win. Maya out doing Dragon Rojo on holds to get the first fall submission was a nice character moment, and it could’ve used more of that. Still, this delivered and hopefully we don’t go 14 months before televised defenses by him again.

Match 6: Máscara Dorada, Súper Porky, Titán vs Kráneo, Rey Escorpión, Pierroth
Arena México, 06/14/2016

1. rudos
   • Kraneo splash Brazo de Plata (3:01)
   • Rey Escorpión senton Titan (4:04)
2. técnicos
   • Super Porky splash Rey Escorpión (2:05)
3. rudos
   • Kraneo legdrop Super Porky (3:25)
   • Rey Escorpión middle rope legdrop Mascara Dorada (4:47)

Winner: rudos (1/3)
Match Time: 10:57
Notes: Pierroth replaced Ripper.

Review: [ok] lots of Super Porky and not too much of everyone else. Even he didn’t do as much of his comedy as usual, but he was the guy getting beat up while the other guys hung outside. The match picked up at times when the others were in, but not so much to make up for everything else, and really mostly Titan. If people were checking this to see Mascara Dorada after Gran Metalik was announced for the tournament, then they probably weren’t too impressed. There will be other days.