Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Niebla Roja (1/3) Atlantis, Matt Taven, Valiente (8:37 [2:24, 1:32, 4:41], ok)
What happened:
this went well!
This was almost a perfect nothing happening CMLL show until the main event. Niebla Roja showed up in a strange mood, refusing to help his partners and messing up their teamwork spots for no apparent reason. After many problems, Gran Guerrero and Euforia justifiably stomped Roja. That unfortunately led to them being cradled by the tecnico to put an end to the main event. It came off more like Niebla Roja was going rudo on his rudo partners, not that he was becoming a tecnico.
Thoughts:
this didn’t go well
The main event was all about the angle, which originally seemed like the other Guerreros were betraying Niebla Roja, but then quickly become obvious that Roja was screwing with his partners. It’s hurt by being so random and without meaning. I hope Roja is just getting shifted to a different rudo unit, because he just showed a lot against Dragon Lee and flipping him (back) to a tecnico side seems as poor an idea as it was for Dragon Rojo, Misterioso and Sangre Azteca at different times. Some bigger shuffling of the rudo units is overdue, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
The semimain was the best match on the show. It wasn’t quite at the level of last week’s Puma/Tiger match, and didn’t go as far as that one. Maya & Drone fit well with them and Maximo & Terrible got in more spots. This is one where they’re hurt by doing this match every week on TV, unable to keep switching it up every week to make these feel different. It still was enjoyable.
Metalica’s senton con giro
Bobby/Titan was a more story driven lightning match than usual, driven around Titan hurting his left ankle early and Villa going after it often. It didn’t quite play into the finish, unless we go with the idea that Titan was slowed by the injury and got caught because of that slowness. Still, I want to give them credit for trying to do something with this match more than usual, and the story didn’t detract from the better than average action.
The tercera had some good parts if still missing something to some together as a match. Soberano deciding to bring the Fosberry Flop dive in regular rotation to CMLL is fantastic, there’s been no one doing it since Fuego gave it up years ago. Triton’s following the model of his old partner Mascara Dorada, going out of CMLL as strong as possible when he could’ve easily mailed it in the last few months. Virus clowning Esfigne is always approved.
I can’t explain why, but I really like Drone doing a moonsault slightly differnetly
I have a sneaking suspicion Silueta is only getting two matches this week because Estrellita fell down very hard, but she’s been nice to have onboard whatever the reason. She’s was more reliable than her teammates in this match, and her sequences early with Metalica were the best part of the early portion of this match (Metalica/Silueta is the greatest possible not-pushed CMLL women’s matchup.) Her moonsault wasn’t so good, but the rush of near falls on Dalys before her inevitable demise got the crowd. I thought Isis was totally going to miss on her pump splash (because her partners didn’t help her with the position) and she landed it fine, so there’s that.
The opener was more interesting than normal, because it was all rookies and they were better against each other than with they have been with veterans in the segundas. (That seems to be exactly the opposite the point of veterans, but understandable with these vets.) The rookies weren’t smooth or too exciting, it’s an opener after all, and Drako & Magia Blanca royally screwed up a rope flip spot in the third. Still, they pulled out a few new moves and showed more potential in this match than they had before.
IWRG (WED) 03/29/2017Arena Naucalpan [+LuchaTV, The Gladiatores]
1) Cadilac b Picudo Jr.
2) Black Dragón b Keiser Drago Black Dragon replaced Omega
3) Kanon & Saruman b Avisman & Skanda Saruman’s first match here in two years.
4) Shadow Boy b Lunatic Extreme
5) Cerebro Negro, Demonio Infernal, Heddi Karaoui b Baby Camaleón I, Hijo del Alebrije, Pantera I straight falls. +LuchaTV lists the Camaleon as Baby Camaleon I, while The Gladiatores says it was Kamaleon. Pantera & Demonio feuded.
6) Golden Magic & Veneno b Máscara Año 2000 Jr. & Relámpago Golden Magic defeated Relampago wants a title shot.
We, today, together, will not be able to solve the mystery of which Camaleon was on this show. It’s OK.
Today’s a double taping day, with AAA taping just outside of the Mexico City limits while CMLL has it’s usual Arena Mexico show.
Tonight’s CMLL show Matt Taven versus Rush II. It’s a odd match to do: CMLL seems to think highly enough of Matt Taven to use him as a main event singles guy, but he’s not got much use in that role if he’s going to lose a third one in a row. It’s not clear if or when Taven is coming back, so a win over Rush wouldn’t necessarily make sense either. Maybe they could do something with Diamante Azul costing Rush the match to move the Pierroth feud int hat direction. The match should be good, their last match went well except for the part where Rush almost let Taven die on a dive, and engaged Rush is always fun.
The other ongoing issue is down in the second match, with Zeuxis & Sugehit on opposite sides of a trios match. The two have made mask match challenges in interviews, but not yet serious ones in front of the crowd. We don’t know for sure that a mask match is happening, just that CMLL usually doesn’t book people against each other this often unless something is up, and they’ve already done the title matches. CMLL’s Arena Mexico anniversary celebration is four Fridays from tonight, so they’re right in the range where a serious mask challenge might be made if it’s coming.
The rest of the card has no particular issues, though there’s some promise in a couple of the matches. Diamante Azul & Pierroth are both on the card, but split up in different matches. Azul teams with Stuka & Valiente to face Negro Casas, Rey Bucanero and Utlimo Guerrero in the semimain. It’ll be the first time the one time greatest tag team in the world Guerrero & Bucanero have teamed up on a Friday night since 2015. Pierroth will drag down a match with Kraneo, Mephisto, Marco, Maximo and Volador. The Panther family teams faces the Dinamitas (Mascara 2000 instead of Forastero), an ongoing repeated matchup. And the show opens with a promising minis match, with Stukita & Ultimo Dragoncito teaming against imaginary planes Mercurio & Pequeno Nitro.
The show kicks off at 8:30pm local, which is still one hour later than usual if you’re in the US. It’s the final CMLL streaming show that’s an hour late until October (unless you’re in Japan.) It will air on ClaroSports, and it’s too early to know if it’ll be region blocked agian.
Meanwhile, AAA comes back to Neza for it’s first taping post Rey de Reyes. There is a card for this show, but we’ve know AAA cards will be changing as the show goes on. We know there will be one change already: Mesias – well, Mil Muertes – is at WrestleCon and will not be in Neza as billed. AAA’s reaction to being called out for advertising a guy they know won’t be there has been along the lines of “wha? huh? I can’t hear you, I’m going thru a tunnel, my phone’s cutting out”.
The current main event is Murder Clown & Psycho Clown versus Dr. Wagner Jr. & Monster Clown, a match which has no reason to exist at any point, the kind of match lucha promoters put together when they have no ideas about how to continue the feud but feel the need to do something different for the sake of being different. Relevos increibles sides usually make matches worse so I guess the good news here is there’s no combination of these four men which would’ve actually been good anyway. Blow this match up.
The semimain is scheduled to be Fantasma & Texano against Mesias & Pagano, which originally seemed to be the tecnicos picking up a win as Mesias & Pagano destructed, the same thing that happened six weeks ago in Cuautitlan. There’s been changes since then, and it’s unclear if Mesias & Pagano are still having problems, or even what they’ll do with no Mesias around.
Aerostar & Drago versus Cuervo & Scoria was originally a tag title match, then not, then Cuervo & Scoria won a tag title shot anwyay. It seems set up for Vampiro to appear to make it a tag title match (which may be a reason why Vampiro is in Neza and not Orlando). It’s a match much more suited to Cuervo & Scoria than the cage match, and it’s definitely possible for a tag title change if the titles are on the line.
Argenis, Australian Suicide, Hijo de Pirata Morgan and Nino Hamburguesa are part of an arbitrary cruiserweight title match. Suicide’s won a tag team match, but mostly everyone but Argenis hasn’t done much recently and don’t have a strong case for getting a title shot. Argenis versus Johnny Mundo is a weird feud, but so would everything else. There’s enough talent to make for a good match, just Hamburugesa is a weird fit for this match.
The OGT duo of Averno & Chessman take on young luchadors Lanzeloth & Mascara de Bronce. This foreshadows a similar trios match on the next taping, so it’s possibly the start of a new feud. The OGT have had small issues on recent tapings, and this show might make it more certain if they’re building towards a split.
The show opens with a Relevos AAA match, which includes Lady Shani suddenly on the tecnico side, and Estrella Divina’s first AAA TV appearance since 2014. This taping will start airing on April 8th.
The promotion who is not having a show today is Lucha Underground. Many Lucha Underground people are in Orlando today, brought in on their own separate deals, and quasi-representing the promotion on other shows over the weekend, but there’s no official get together. It really struck me, looking thru Twitter this morning, how everyone is there except the brand name. It’s not just the obvious hot indie names like Penta & Fenix & Cage & Ricochet & Angelico & Jack (who seems to have two working legs again.) Striker is there doing podcast. Willie Mack’s come in all the way from California and working a couple shows. Catrina is there, just signing autographs. They’re just about only missing Dario & the logo.
That’s not for a lack of different people trying to put together a show; there were definite and multiple different plans to have a LU live event as part of this weekend, but the deals never got done when it came to it. (There’s also the conflict with this AAA taping today, but they’ve already moved around tapings this year and could’ve done the same with this one.) Yes, there are way too many shows around this year’s WrestleMania and there are going to be some promotions who are going to produce great content while losing lots of money. Lucha Underground would’ve been one of the safer bets to do well. Instead, just as last year, LU is missing out on an easy way to make some money and increase approval for their brand. Failing to make a deal for a show hurts LU more than anything Fenix, Pentagon or any other wrestler has done by moving, and LU people should be disappointed and frustrated they’re missing this chance.
This is not important to anyone else, but NJPW World’s mention of (re) airing Dragon Lee/Niebla Roja on their service got more social media interaction than CMLL’s own tweet mentioning it when it actually happened live. Twitter is more popular in Japan, but it’s not the only thing seemingly more popular in Japan.
This week’s WON mentions plans for a Crash/Impact PPV are off, but they may tape matches for Impact’s secondary Xplosion show. I’m not sure how that would help the Crash at all.
Misterioso Jr., Skándalo, Toro Bill Jr. (2/3) Fuego, Pegasso, Soberano Jr. (14:36 [8:02, 2:30, 4:04], OK)
Princesa Sugehit (2/3) Zeuxis to keep the Mexican National Women’s Championship (14:09 [3:11, 2:30, 8:28], great)
Marco Corleone, Matt Taven, Volador Jr. (2/3) Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero (12:01 [6:05, 1:42, 4:14], OK)
Diamante Azul, Mr. Niebla, Terrible (1 DQ/2 DQ) La Máscara, Pierroth, Rush (8:36 [3:45, 4:51], ok)
What happened:
Inquisidor boost front cracker
Los Ingobernables attacked Marco Corleone & Voladora after their match. (Matt Taven disappeared during replays.) Diamante Azul and his trio made the save. Pierroth was DQed in the first fall for unmasking Pierroth, and Diamante Azul tossed his own mask to Pierroth to draw the DQ. This set up a Azul/Pierroth singles match for next week (though, like most sane people, Rush & La Mascara did not believe that was a smart idea.)
Princesa Sugehit cleanly defeated Zeuxis in a title match. No challenges followed.
Misterioso and Soberano feuded during their match, with Misterioso winning clean and unmasking Soberano after the match.
Policeman and Espiritu Maligno continue to feud, if Policeman beating Espiritu in the third fall of every match counts as a feud.
Thoughts:
Zexuis takes out the front row
I’m probably overrating the title match, but I was really impressed. This was the best Princesa Sugehit/Zeuxis match yet, a highly competitive match between with some cool spots. I’m not sure if it would totally work for people who haven’t been watching them to jump in on, with the last couple of spots especially built on noticing they were escaping each other’s big finish (and the announcers didn’t react big enough to put that over), but there was a lot of stuff to enjoy before it. They worked a lot of near falls, coming up with some different ideas for some of them. I’m not sure we’ve seen the rolling inside cradle by Zeuxis before, and they went back and forth the final few minutes. The big chair toppling bump on the outside was an impressive if probably actually safe moment. Crowd seemed more into this than last week. There weren’t the big high risk moves (closest was Zeuxis’ moonsault, which didn’t appear all that close to connecting to Sugehit), but this had a solid base of ideas building to the big finish. This match with a few more big spots and the natural drama of an important Arena Mexico fight would make for a pretty great mask match, if that’s where they’re headed.
rolling inside cradle?
The opener was solid if artificial feeling. There were sequences that felt too practiced and the finish didn’t fit the flow of the action. Centella Roja Sr. does the slow old man moves without having being around on screens for two decades to have earn the pass for it. H’s trying, he just got around too late. His son looks better, and Perverso at least improved his shirt section.
The Policeman/Espiritu feud keeps on going on. CMLL’s inability to tell their stories in different ways hurts with programs like this. They’re clearly killing time until some already known date to have the big match, but they have only one idea what to do with these guys until then. I know this was a different match than past weeks because we hardly ever see Apocalipsis, but it didn’t feel like a new match.
The Misterioso/Soberano was the closet to work of the undercard trios matches. Toro Bill had a nice tope, which alone was better than the last matches. Misterioso’s main tactic for dealing with Soberano was laying down on the floor. It seemed to work. This was better build to the inevitable singles match than other feud, mostly because Soberano got to look cool for a little while before getting beat. It wasn’t as much of Soberano as I’d like, but it was more reason to care about him than Espiritu has been given. CMLL kind of messed up the surprise in the first fall, following with Soberano as he came in the ring instead of letting us see Misterioso being shocked by being cradled from behind.
Volador has a magically ability to spin people around with his superkick
Semimain was an unexpected Marco Corleone showcase. The other guys didn’t disappear, Taven did a good job of annoying the Guerreros often, but Marco seemed to go thru everything from his normal routines and won with Aero Italia. It worked well, everyone like his offense, and the leapfrog bit sticks out more now because we don‘t see it as often.
The main event was the same general match as last week with some different finishes. Terrible & Niebla were sufficient as mean guys who were sick of Los Ingobernables, but my general disinterest in this rivalry definitely wasn’t overcome by this match. They’ve shown they can have a boring match, which causes me to believe we’re not even going to get mishap hilarity next week.
