Getting back on track. The best match this week was savaged pretty hard by the feed dying. I very much wish CMLL would put it up in full, mostly so I could get people who don’t watch CMLL to check it out.
CMLL (SUN) 07/10/2016Arena Coliseo Guadalajara [Domingos Familiares]
1) Destello & Quca b Avispón Negro Jr. & Micro Rudos took 2/3.
2) Destructor & Diplomático b El Alteño & Javier Cruz Jr. Rudos took 1/3.
3) León Blanco, Randy, Star Black b Demonio Rojo, Exterminador, Gitano Tecnicos took 1/3.
4) Mágico TLDRAW Maléfico [lightning] 10 minute draw, with Malefico seemingly closer to winning at the end. They both asked for a no time limit match to settle it.
5) Esfinge, Flash II, Metatrón b El Chakal, Espectrúm, Furia Roja Tecnicos took 1/3
Flash II got the winning pinfall in the main event. It feels like something is up with him but they haven’t hinted at a particular feud.
This week’s Box Y Lucha includes an interview with Magnum, openly discussing he’s in charge of programming (booking) for this building. That was known and had been discussed here, but it’s still unusual to see an active luchador talk about it.
Those first two matches going 40 minutes might have messed up the rest of the show. These tournaments always have silly short matches, but it got crazy by the end. Someone must’ve thought the final was going to get some time to make it a three fall match – the finals of these often get a few more minutes, but are never three falls. This time, it got less time than every other match in the card despite going two falls. It was such a ludicrous bit, a designed mockery, that I should’ve laughed. The problem was the last 90 minutes of the show were not much better – that second match was really boring, and the tournament was a lot of nothing. The opener and the title match were fun, but the show was more to be endured than enjoyed. It’s too bad they didn’t deliver more given the big crowd they had; they focused on making matches for next week, but did them in such a way that no one could care all that much about seeing them.
Mascara is friends with Shocker on Fridays and his enemy on Monday. It makes no sense.
CMLL has another random tag team tournament tonight, though luckily a shorter one with only four teams this time. Teams are Kushida & Marco, Tama Tonga & Tangaroa, Rey Escorpion & Shocker and Felino & Niebla Roja. The brothers are the only regular team and the favorites to get the win in their last CMLL appearance for the time being. There’s no obvious strong matches on the entire card; the preview list the Panther instead of his brother Blue Panther Jr. versus Sagrado in a lightning match. Either way, that might be the best match of the night. The show leads off with minis and women’s trios, and the semimain has Blue Panther, Stuka Jr., Valiente versus Kraneo, Okumura, Ripper.
The show airs at 7:30pm CT, on CMLL and YouTube. This strongly seems like a show you may want to skip watching, at least live.
There’s another CMLL show you can watch for a small price. CMLL is offering Sunday’s show, complete and with announcing, for $0.99. It’s a rental, not a purchase – you have 30 days to start watching it, and 72 hours to finish once you’ve started. CMLL did this with the Gran Prix (though never put up Cavernario/Cometa), but I believe this is the first time a lucha libre show that wouldn’t have otherwise been aired on TV or PPV was sold in this fashion. The closest to this is what Black Terry Jr. has been doing on his own, selling individual matches on his own, but not by an official promotion.
Elgin/UG is absolutely worth the $1; I’ll have a review of that and maybe another match later on. The big hope here this is the beginning of a trend. I’m not sure if this works for all of CMLL’s shows – if tonight’s show was $1, I’d skip it – but if it’s cheap enough to do, it seems absolutely worth doing for any big matches like that. And it makes sense for indie groups; I’d happily give money to see a professional version of the latest Chairo show (and haven’t gotten around to watch the few camera phone videos because those aren’t usually worth the effort.) Piracy is an issue, dealing with getting the money actually from YouTube is an issue, but this has always seems like an easy source of money that lucha libre hasn’t used. I haven’t really been able to convince people of this, but maybe CMLL will have enough success that other people borrow the idea.
LigerFever translated a Pentagon Jr. podcast interview from March, and it’s so great. I’ve grouped the 7 posts into this storify to bundle, and it’s worth reading if you’re interested enough in lucha libre to find your way to this site. The stories are good, and you get a great insight into his personality and his drive. Pentagon is a very driven guy with a strong idea of what a rudo should be. The stories are worthwhile too: Pentagon believes he was Lucha Underground’s final pick of the AAA guys who started with the promotion (Blue Demon, Sexy Star, Fenix, Drago, Cuerno, Muertes) because they wanted flyers, and he and Fenix and Drago just blew everyone away with their three way match. Pentagon Jr. explaining he spent two years as a handball player in the park, making money off people gambling on his game, is my new favorite story. You should read the entire thing.
The reason the Fenix/Pentagon match got scuttled from Oaxaca is because they (and Drago) are booked in Atlanta that day. The good news is AAA may have gotten a calendar and fixed the error before the date officially got out, and they’ll probably have a good match in Atlanta. Hopefully Fenix/Pentagon happens another day.
Konnan Big has signed with the FILL promotion. I have no idea what this really means, though it’s reported as he’s no longer with Llaves y Canados. It may just be a way of saying Konnan Big won’t be on ColiseoMania 4, which was announced for September 4.
Impossible title matches are the only thing that pop out to me to watch in IWRG, even though he has a little bit too sameish stuff in his matches. (Everyone should be countering the silla off the stairs at this point.) Semimain might be good as well.
Mascara & Sharlie winning would be weird, but too weird for CMLL? Fifth match can only be better than last week. Disturbio & Black Tiger were involved in the finish last night, enough so that a mask/hair vs mask/hair match seems possible (and maybe they planned to do the apuesta match the week after to see if they can draw a second big turnout.)
El Heredero is another Puebla indy guy, showing up since at least 2015.
What happened: Mephisto defeated Mistico to retain the CMLL Welterweight Championship. Dragon Lee & La Mascara were at ringside, but didn’t get involved in the match and Mistico was defeated cleanly.
Atlantis (as a sub for Caristico) and Ultimo Guerrero won an eight team tournament. They defeated Rush & Volador in what was unusually a three fall final to the tournament. It was also pointlessly a three fall final: the young men lost the first fall in just over a minute, then lost the second fall in just over a minute. It was a lackluster end to a largely useless tournament, the shortest match of the entire series. (It’s possible the final was hurried because the show was running very long – the show reached 11:30pm local, the latest they’ve gone in memory – but it didn’t explain why they needed to do two crap finishes in a row.)
The tag tournament did set up two matches for next week. The terrible Volador/Rush vs Ultimo Guerrero/Atlantis match will be rematched in seven days. At least more time might improve that match. An uninspiring Rockstar/Mascara vs Casas/Shocker tournament match will now become a tag title match next week, which promises to be a struggle.
Rockstar & Mascara promptly lost their next match quickly. All three NJPW teams were eliminated in the first round.
Surprisingly, there was no Ares/King Jaguar match set up. The two did feud in their (bad and lengthy) match, but were not directly involved with each other on the finish.
What was good: a The opener was a lot of fun. The main event didn’t reach the heights it could’ve – there was one singular believable near fall before the finish – but might be more enjoyable without having to deal with the tournament. Under no circumstances should you watch the second match or the tournament.
Where can I watch it:It’s on CMLL’s YouTube channel, and it’ll be aired in some form on 52MX in a couple weekends (though who knows what matches they’ll pick.)Read More
