CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-02-17 

Recapped: 02/18/2017

What happened: Ultimo Guerrero & Valiente advanced to the final of the incredible pairs tournament. Diamante Azul & Pierroth agreed to a mask match. Yoshitatsu debuted.

What was good: The opening minis match was the best match on the show, and the opening tournament match was the best of those. The Azul/Pierroth trios build up was dreadful.

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

Match 1: Eléctrico & Stukita vs Mercurio & Pierrothito
Arena México, 02/17/2017

1. rudos
   • Mercurio dropkick to the head sliding dropkick Electrico (4:30)
   • Pierrothito nudo Stukita (5:02)
2. técnicos
   • Stukita triple moonsault Pequeño Pierroth (3:32)
   • Eléctrico springboard elbow drop Mercurio (3:50)
3. rudos
   • Pierrothito Pierrothina Stukita (4:10)
   • COR Eléctrico [Mercurio tornillo] (4:37)

Winner: rudos (1/3)
Match Time: 13:29
Notes: There are now edecanes in Volaris outfits, positioned closest to the cameras. They’re not allowed to do anything but stand there and pose, and block our view of the people who are dancing I guess. Stukita appears be imitating Silver King with his water spit. He wears a half Halcón Suriano mask to the ring.

Review: [good] Fun minis opener. They were missing the drama of a match down later in the card but they worked in more than usual at this spot (including Mercurio getting in his first tornillo in who knows when.) Stukita seems like he’s going to get a bigger role with Astral not around – maybe the #4 mini técnico, maybe the #2? – which helps freshen things up a little bit. He can do mat work with Pierrothito that were weren’t seeing from other people. This was fast paced but felt fluid, and the rudos seemed into it. Hopefully the cibernetico on Sunday goes the same way.

Match 2: La Vaquerita, Marcela, Sanely vs Metálica, Reyna Isis, Tiffany
Arena México, 02/17/2017

1. rudas
   • Tiffany inverted crucifix powerbomb Marcela (6:00)
2. técnicos
   • Vaquerita elbow drop middle rope elbow drop (3:32)
   • Sanely inverted STF Metalica (3:32)
3. tecnicos
   • Vaquerita Rosa DDT Reina Isis (3:38)
   • Marcela double stomp Tiffany (4:14)

Winner: tecnicos (2/3)
Match Time: 13:46

Review: [ok] Better than expected, though still not good. Sanely’s opening exchange with Metalica was tough – she had to run across the ring to retry a springboard, she fell oddly on a dropkick, her own dropkick didn’t look good. Isis struggled too. Metalica has some rough moments, but this match just showed she’s way ahead of those other two. Sanely has more flashy offense than Isis, but more moments where spots go obviously wrong. Tiffany and Marcela did a good job as possible as working around Tiffany’s limitation (which mostly meant just putting Tiffany in spots and having Marcela do the running.)

Match 3: Diamante Azul, Marco Corleone, Volador Jr. vs Kráneo, Pierroth, Yoshitatsu
Arena México, 02/17/2017

1. rudos
   • Kraneo running hipsmash Marco Corleone (1:45)
   • Pierroth second middle rope elbow drop Diamante Azul (2:52)
2. rudos
   • DQ Diamante Azul [mask pull] (3:59)

Winner: rudos (1/2)
Match Time: 6:51
Notes: Diamante Azul is now just wearing the sponsor’s t-shirt, but also has masks to hand out to children (who seemed very ready for the masks to be put on them.) Azul rushes Pierroth, and the new girls are a little slow to realize they need to get out of there. Yoshitatstsu still takes his time getting introduced. Volador knocks off Violencia off the ramp. Tatsu is still wearing his Bullet Hunter gear, but he’s got half his face painted white.

Diamante Azul challenges Pierroth to a mask match while facing the crowd and not Pierroth, which seems odd. La Mascara and Rush come out to confront Azul while the rudos get Pierroth a new mask. Azul says he’ll beat Pierroth, then Rush. Pierroth accepts.

Review: [below average] maybe a generous grade! This is not good in itself and not good in what it means for the next six weeks or so of matches Never has an elbow drop made me laugh as much as the one Pierroth did in the first fall. He put so much effort into it for something that still looked bad. Tatsu put a lot less effort into his top rope wheel kick and it still looked bad. Tatsu appeared to have limited idea of what was going on, but who was exactly supposed to be communicated with him on his team? It seemed like Kraneo was directing him, but this was a tough ask for anyone to start. CMLL cutting away from a Monito/Mije fight to show Pierroth brawl badly with Azul is the worst thing they’ve done. Pierroth’s punches are awful. Pierroth is awful. This feud is pretty awful.

Match 4: Negro Casas & Ripper vs Terrible, Último Guerrero, La Máscara, Euforia, Dragón Rojo Jr., Hechicero in a National Parejas Increible Tournament match and in a seeding battle royal match
Arena México, 02/17/2017

1. Dragon Rojo Jr. out (0:48)
2. Euforia out (1:15)
3. Terrible out (2:21)
4. Hechicero out (2:43)
5. Último Guerrero out (2:54)
6. La Mascara out (3:08)

Winner: Negro Casas & Ripper
Match Time: 3:08

And in the tournament itself

Match 5: Atlantis & Euforia beat Dragón Rojo Jr. & Guerrero Maya Jr. (6:33) – a good energetic tag match with the underdog team coming off as if they really had a chance. This felt like an actual match with a beginning and a middle (instead of just the end game) and was the best of this block.

Match 6: Rush & Terrible beat Hechicero & Stuka Jr. (7:47) – the feed dies during this match, and struggles the rest of the match. Significant sections of matches go missing along the way. It didn’t seem to be any big loss in this match, with Rush not doing much and Terrible looking hurt late in the win.

Match 7: Último Guerrero & Valiente beat Dragón Lee & La Máscara (6:33) – the first half of this was unwatchable due to stream issues, the second half ends with La Mascara breaking up a Dragon Lee pin. In between, Valiente surprises by taking the apron headscissors but that’s about it.

Match 8: Mistico & Negro Casas defeated Ripper & Titán (6:10) – match is going along OK when Titan is counted down for three by Tirantes on a Mistico huracanrana. Titan did wait until the last moment to kick out, but he did, and it clearly wasn’t meant to be the finish. Tirantes kicked Titan out and this stumbles to a finish. The Titan/Mistico stuff seemed interesting and it would’ve been neat to see how they finished.

Match 9: Atlantis & Euforia defeated Rush & Terrible (4:02) – feed is at it’s worst during this, going out at the finish (though you can see it coming.) Terrible accidentally punches Rush to lead to the team’s defeat in a forgettable fight.

Match 10: Último Guerrero & Valiente defeat Mistico & Negro Casas (4:14) – wasn’t as good as it would’ve seemed with the names involved, Casas & Valiente even do a double duck down bit. They seemed to be rushing or just short on time.

Match 11: Último Guerrero & Valiente defeat Atlantis & Euforia (7:14) – Último Guerrero wrestling the same UG match, but the novelty of him doing with Euforia. Valiente working rudo was sort of interesting, but this match wasn’t.