Day: July 6, 2017

Recapped: 06/30/2017

Matches: 

Cholo & Templario beat Bengala & Sangre Imperial
(11:57 [4:58, 2:16, 4:43], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Astral, Magnus, Robin beat Artillero, Espanto Jr., Hijo del Signo
(13:44 [7:19, 2:58, 3:27], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Raziel, Sagrado, Virus beat Johnny Idol, Oro Jr., Stigma
(20:27 [9:07, 5:56, 5:24], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Esfinge beat Disturbio in a lightning match
(8:35, nudo egipico, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Ephesto, Luciferno, Mephisto beat Fuego, Soberano Jr., Stuka Jr.  
(13:14 [2:06, 5:12, 5:56], 2/3, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Diamante Azul, Mistico, Niebla Roja  beat  Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
(9:25 [1:58, 2:40, 4:47], 2/3 DQ, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened: 

Niebla Roja & Gran Guerrero – not Ultimo Guerrero – feuded for the entire match. Guerrero fouled Niebla for the DQ and then unmasked him after.

That’s it.

Thoughts: 

The Roja/Gran feud was the most interesting than about a main event that wasn’t too interesting. Roja is not a negative, but he’s not showing enough as a tecnico to be confident this is going to work out when they finally have the big match. If anything, this could turn out to be Gran Guerrero’s breakout opportunity instead. Diamante Azul, back from France again, seemed about normal for him (which is no great praise.) He seems to have added some mass or lost some muscle. He’s still very strong, so strong that he screwed up the double team spot with Mistico at the end by over throwing him. This trio of Guerreros worked very well together.

The semimain was the surprise of the show. The Hijos del Infierno have looked their age of late, but turned back to the clock for at least a couple falls here. They were more the goons of the old days, taking big moves and stooging for the técnicos. It seemed like they ran out of gas in the third fall, but that’s more than usual. The match was not laid out like usual, with sudden endings in all three falls giving it a different feel. The tower of doom follow up splash spot done in every big match actually eliminated somewhere, which needs to happen a little more often. (It seemed to surprise the people in the match, as if it was an accidental three, but it made sense with how they ended up.) Sobreano’s ramp running springboard was more incredible to me than any dive off the stage.

I was ready to dismiss Esfinge and Disturbio early on, but they one me over as the match went along and it felt like the best possible match those two could have in this situation. It wouldn’t feel out of place in one of the many tournaments. Singles lets Disturbio show off his personality more, and they did a more focused job of building to the finish and including a believable near fall than most of these matches. The action itself didn’t rise to meet the layout but there was at least something here.

The tercera was the ever rare rudo exhibition match. It felt long, though I didn’t know it broke 20 minute until I added it up after. The first fall featured Virus putting Stigma in holds, then letting up on the holds so Stigma’s attempts at a reversal could re-position him for a different Virus hold. Raziel got in a fancy pin on Oro and the rudos had no particular regard for the técnicos. Not without merit, Stigma didn’t have a good night when left on his own either, and Idol seemed slow in this match.

My only note on the segunda was the dive looked good but none of the other bit spots did either. Magnus is looking better by the people he’s hanging with here but he’s still stuck hanging with them.

The opener was a rare sighting of Cholo and Templario. Templario seems like he’s gotten significantly better, looking solid as a wrestler and with more confidence, though he didn’t get a lot here. Cholo is still Cholo with slightly stranger hair and a still deadly looking finish. Bengala teased a dive, which was more amusing than the rest of the match.