CMLL Puebla: 2017-04-17 

Recapped: 04/18/2017

Matches: 

All matches aired live from Arena Puebla on April 17, 2017

1. Arkalis & Vega beat El Perverso & Rey Apocalipsis (13:43 [5:51, 3:51, 4:01], 2/3, ok)
2. Joker, Pequeño Nitro, Pierrothito defeated Astro, Eléctrico, Último Dragóncito (14:46 [6:52, 4:34, 3:20], 1/3, ok)
3. Drone, Espíritu Maligno, Stigma defeated  Disturbio, Olímpico, Policeman (15:51 [6:54, 4:01, 4:56], 1/3, ok)
4. Kráneo, Ripper, Sam Adonis defeated Johnny Idol, Máximo Sexy, Titán (13:15 [5:17, 3:00, 4:58], 1/3, ok)
5. Carístico, Dragón Lee, Mistico defeated La Máscara, Negro Casas, Último Guerrero (10:03 [5:24, 1:30, 3:09], 2/3, ok)
6. Atlantis beat Rush (10:28 [0:50, 3:53, 5:45], 2/3 DQ, good)

What happened: 

Rush jumped Atlantis before the match, then ripped up his mask so bad during the match that Atlantis bailed to get a new mask but it somehow wasn’t a DQ. Atlantis got the DQ fall win in the third when he had Rush in the Atlantida and Mascara attacked him. Los Ingobernables left Atlantis fouled and unmasked

Dragon Lee landed on his head on a dive in the semifinal, scaring Mistico (who dove right next to him) and Carístico. He seems fine afterwards.

The Policeman/Espiritu feud barely continued. Policeman pinned Espíritu in the second fall, and they were both pinned at the same time off a weak looking double clothesline spot.

Rey Apocalispis wore a green and yellow outfit, which the announcers identified as a tribute to Fishman.

Thoughts: 

The main event was an explainer for why people think Rush is great. It was not a technical master piece or lot of near falls exchange, it was him relying up the crowd by being a jerk to Atlantis for most of 12 minutes. Atlantis showed fire when coming back and was a necessary part of the equation, but Rush came off like a giant star. It was his behavior as much as his wrestling, from going into the crowd to grab a piece of Atlantis’ mask back (not that he really wanted it, he didn’t want the crowd to have it), to grabbing a stretcher just to throw at Atlantis (and then swear loudly enough to get picked up on CMLL’s mic), to just playing with Tirantes’ suspenders to mess with him. He was super charismatic in this match, and made it as good as it was. I’m sure they want to save a decision in this for another day, but I Rush winning this match up cleanly until the day he has to lose it would work just as fine.

The semimain was a borderline match. The last two falls are the interesting ones, and they don’t last five minutes combined. It’s a good few minutes with usual stuff done well, but maybe not enough to be really a fully watchable match. La Mascara always looks at his best when facing Dragon Lee, which is probably more due to Dragon Lee willing to take big falls for Mascara’s offense more than anything. Lee landing on his head on the dive was more a freak occurrence than anything crazy he did, but he does go all out for every superkick sell.

The fourth match was the most entertaining undercard trios and came close to good at times. Crowd was into it from the start thanks to Adonis’ antics and the técnicos doing the matador bit and it everyone mixed well, it just got a little messy around the dives and the finish. Johnny Idol is basically the same simple high flyer he’s been so far, having to be directed to do the dive fake out spot by Máximo. Adonis seems like he’s come much farther in the one year.

The third fall in the tercera had Espíritu & Disturbio fail on tapatia attempt, both get pinned on weak looking clotheslines, and Drone cradle Olímpico for the three count in something the fans didn’t realize was the finish until after it happened. Stigma was one of the better guys in the match, which probablytells you all you need to know about the match.

Second match is not worth really going out of your way to see itself. It started off really slow, the DF guys were generally taking it easy, and only the end of the second fall really gets hot. It is notable for Astro coming off as a star, especially with strong work in the tercera. His dive looks good, his springboard cannonball before it was a neat idea.

It’s still better than the first match, which dragged and didn’t have a real highlight.