CMLL Martes de Nuevo Valores: 2017-03-21 

Recapped: 03/24/2017

Matches: 

Cholo & Inquisidor beat Bengala & Leono (rudos 2/3, 17:51 [8:12, 2:51, 6:48], ok)

Nitro, Sangre Azteca, Skándalo beat Magia Blanca, Sangre Imperial, Starman (rudos 1/3, 15:21 [8:24, 3:19, 3:38], below average)

El Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat The Panther, Drone, Tritón  (NGD 2/3, 14:38 [4:49, 3:46, 6:03], great)

Guerrero Maya Jr. beat Virus in a lightning match (Sacrifica Maya, 9:59, good)

Negro Casas, Puma, Tiger beat Luciferno, Mephisto, Pólvora   (Team Casas 2/3, 14:50 [3:41, 4:22, 6:47], good)

Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero beat Carístico, Dragón Lee, Marco Corleone (Guerreros 1/3, 12:17 [5:26, 2:04, 4:47], good)

What Happened:

Nothing much!

Team Casas beat nearly the national trios champions in a very good match.

Guerrero Maya defeated Virus with less than a second left. It was amazing timing.

Magia Blanca was hurt when Nitro whiffed on catching him on a headscissors.

The Panther replaced his father in the tercera.

Ultimo Guerrero went into about the eight row of the crowd to confront a fan for completely unclear reasons; whatever happened must’ve happened while they were showing post fall replays. Nothing came of it, with Caristico brawling with UG to pull him back to the ring.

Thoughts: 

One of the best CMLL Tuesday shows in a long time, with fun midcard matches. The main event was good too but, if it had something like Cometa/Cavernario to end it, it would easily be better than Homenaje a Dos Leyendas.

I really liked both of the big trios matches, and I’m keep changing my mind on which one I’d rather better. (Part of the problem was forgetting to write down the ratings I had live; new format needs some work.) There were a lot of little things to like about the NGD match; the setup to Panther/Sanson sequence setting up Triton’s 450 splash was well down. Cuatrero stands out an athlete even with athletic flyers like the three here. The Dinamitas are at the stage where they’re constantly adding something, trying something new and it makes each match worth checking out. It really works that they’re facing the Panthers a lot lately, because it feels like when those Panthers debuted against Tiger & Puma and also kept surprising. Triton also looked great in this match, working hard even as he’s finishing up here and they’re having him lose every night in Arena Mexico. It’s a good sign for his US work. Forastero made things easier for himself by cutting out the ramp running part of his dropkick. It’s a trade of a little bit of the drama for a lot of difficulty.

The Casas trios match was a rare chance to see Puma & Tiger as tecnicos. (Negro Casas played Negro Casas, kind of existing beyond tecnico/rudo status at this point.) They worked nearly as well there as they do on the rudo side, and showed off great teamwork. This match felt more dramatic coming to the close. Nothing was really on the line, but this came off as the replacement for the owed title match, and was worked like the titles were on the line at the end. The huracanrana to end the second fall didn’t go well, but the third fall finish came off much sharper.

Guerrero Maya and Virus went about eight minutes without touching the ropes. They never actually bounced off of them, but used them for flying spots to get to the finish. The only problem with the match was it felt paced for a twenty minute match and they had half that amount of time, so they spent eight minutes working their way around in holds and the last two minutes trying to fit in the things the fans expected. The mat work was well done if not creative, but also a little lost on this crowd and probably much more appreciated by the people watching on YouTube. The timing of the finish was incredible, so unexpectedly perfect for CMLL that I can’t believe it was actually meant that way – like it was supposed to be a draw and the referee counted too fast for once. Everyone played it off like that was the finish (and it makes not much difference either way.)

The main event was a usual main event, with both teams getting in their high points but not too much to the match. Dragon Lee seemed on and the Guerreros were sharp. It made the match better than usual for this spot, but not something I’ll remember a week from now.

I think Magia Blanca overshot his target on the headscissors, but veteran maestro should’ve done a lot more to catch him. He may physically be unable to do so, he moves quite slow, but maybe that’s a reason not to put him out there. The biggest upset is they played out the third fall mostly normal instead of the usual quick to the end bit when there’s an injury.

It was nice to see Cholo is alive. Bengala didn’t appear to be thrilled to be in another boring opener, especially to take the Cholo Driver at the end.