Day: April 15, 2017

Recapped: 04/14/2017

Matches: 

All matches aired live from Arena Mexico. They aired on ClaroSports and can be seen on my YouTube channel (although only the last two hours will be available until YouTube finishes processing it.)

1. Mercurio, Pequeño Nitro, Pierrothito beat  Shockercito, Stukita, Último Dragóncito  (1/3, 14:45 [6:13, 3:48, 4:44], ok)
2. Soberano Jr. won Block A of La Copa Jr. Nuevo Valores (good)
   1. The Panther springboard dropkick Signo (8:14)
   2. Canelo Casas half nelson release suplex Oro Jr. (9:03)
   3. Drone corner headstand double knee smash Espanto Jr. (14:04)
   4. Cuatrero spinning crucifix powerbomb The Panther (15:40)
   5. Soberano sit down piledriver Canelo Casas (19:39)
   6. Cuatereo springboard elbow Drone (26:00)
   7. Soberano guillotine moonsault Cuatrero (30:34)
3. Ángel de Oro vs Hechicero in a lightning match (Skayde Special, 8:53, below average)
4. Diamante Azul, Stuka Jr., Valiente beat Mephisto, Negro Casas, Sam Adonis (1/3, 14:03 [5:06, 5:10, 3:47], ok)
5. Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico beat Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Niebla RojaA (2/3, 11:33 [4:25, 2:22, 4:46], ok)
6. Último Guerrero © defeated Atlantis to retain the NWA World Middleweight Championship (2/3, 17:00 [4:26, 0:53, 11:41], good)

What happened: 

Último Guerrero kept the NWA middleweight championship over Atlantis.

Niebla Roja continued to not get along with Gran Guerrero & Euforia, preferring to fight on his own and to be friendly with the técnicos. Roja didn’t throw the match, but the lack of teamwork cost them any chance of a win.

Último Guerrero introduced the mascots in the 04/30 match, announced he was training them, and they had a skirmish to promote the match.

Soberano beat Cuatrero to advance to Copa Junior Nuevo Valores tournament. Blue Panther Jr., Forastero, Sansón and Esfinge are among those in next week’s block

Thoughts: 

Atlantis & Último Guerrero had their usual match. By which I mean pretty much the same Último Guerrero match as ever with a few Atlantis spots plugged in. The one major wrinkle were a couple teases of the Atlantida in the third fall, giving at least some danger/hope the match could end before the inevitable moonsault attempt. They still ended up for the moonsault, and this was not the one time a year where someone kicked out of it. This was Último Guerrero at his best (and worst), a high level CMLL main event match that most of the promotion is trying to emulate done exactly as they wanted to do it, which the crowd enjoyed – and I still can’t recommend it because it doesn’t really interest me all that much. Maybe I’m in the wrong field.

The main event at least exactly fulfilled the potential of the match. The semimain didn’t. It was disappointing to team up those three técnicos for a match which was mostly about Niebla Roja not getting along with his partners. This about the normal pace for these things, and the técnicos did get in a few trademark big spots, but the match was an excuse to tease the breakup. And the breakup really didn’t advance that much, so it could’ve been something they just did at the end of the match instead of the whole way.

The fourth match had heat because of who was involved and a receptive match, but not a really a noteworthy match. Diamante Azul looked lost I the first fall, missing a trip spot and then being off sync the rest of the way. The match itself had no great rhythm past that point. It got over but not something needed watching.

The spot of the lightning match was Hechicero’s handspring pause elbow drop. Even he didn’t seem to know what he was doing in the middle of it and his carelessness at the end led to Angel de Oro suffering some sort of facial injury. (Angel de Oro didn’t help himslef here; he started to roll on his own just as Hechicero was finally doing the elbow drop.) Hechicero botching his springboard moonsault at the end was either incredible rudo bumbling or a really poor way to end the match. Oro & Hechicero have had good interactions before, but this was not one of them and I don’t know what the deal was. This wasn’t on the técnico.

This Copa Junior cibernetico is going to remembered for a while, even if it had some noticeable imperfections. It was iffy for (what turned out to be!) the first half. Guys like Espanto and Oro were trying hard for the occasion, but Cuatrero seemed off and purposefully slowing down the match at times. It made more sense in the end, he had a large load to carry and was trying to make it in one piece. Cuatrero had a strong night considering, and some of his best moments came in the last few moves of the match. This match was also about making Soberano and he pulled it off well. Getting Panther out of the way early helped Soberano shine on his own a little more, but he also did himself with his dives and big spots. My biggest problem with this match was there a lot of fat in this match, and it would’ve flowed better if they cut it down closer to twenty minutes. They went for it all and may have exhausted the crowd out by the end. (They also seemed to annoy Tirantes, so there are definite positives.) This was enjoyable but I think you have to be a big CMLL fan to want to watch it all. Soberano’s single final will likely top this if they give him any one to work with.

The opener was the same bit of disappointment as the semimain. It was a good looking técnico side and it had more time and less angle than the other match. It didn’t have rudo who were invested or moving great. They looked slow, no point slower than Mercurio staircase dropkick. The técnicos, especially Stukita, did pull the crowd back into it after they were quick to boo early, but not enough to make this good. Shockercito is going to miss Demus so much.