Recapped: 08/20/2017
Matches:
Astral & Robin beat Cholo & Espíritu Negro
(11:39 [4:43, 2:07, 4:49], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Esfinge, Fuego, Stigma beat Cancerbero, Raziel, Universo 2000 Jr.
(11:39 [4:43, 2:07, 4:49], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Sanely beat La Metálica, Tiffany, Zeuxis
(10:32 [3:10, 2:11, 5:11], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Stuka Jr. beat Dragón Rojo Jr. in a lightning match
(6:37, torpedo plancha, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Ángel de Oro, Niebla Roja, Soberano Jr. beat Ephesto, Gran Guerrero, Mephisto
(9:24 [3:35, 5:49], 1 DQ/2, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Juice Robinson, Marco Corleone, Matt Taven beat Diamante Azul, Valiente, Volador Jr.
(8:55 [2:22, 1:32, 5:01], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
The main event was the debut of Juice Robinson and the return of Matt Taven before the Gran Prix. The foreigner were slightly rudo, and the crowd was totally behind the Mexicans.
Gran Guerrero unmasks Niebla Roja in the first fall, and does it again in the second fall without Edgar noticing. Niebla Roja returns to the back to get a new mask while the rudos take advantage of the numbers. They don’t actually go for the pin or anything, that’d be crazy. Niebla Roja returns with a stage dive onto Gran Guerrero and ends the fall cleanly defeating his rival.
Sugehit & Zeuxis feuded all match, switched masks during the match, and Sugehit took Zeuxi’s mask afterwards.
Robin appeared to suffer a right knee injury in the third fall, but returned and finished the match
Thoughts:
The main had some timing and positioning issues that made it look off at times. There was nothing deadly, and it wasn’t just with Taven & Robinson; Valiente nearly got in the path of Diamante Azul’s big clothesline, and the Mexican tecnicos weren’t as good doing the usual Marco corner punch bit as the rudos have been. Everyone was just not used to wrestling each other, which means it’s a good thing they’ve got a couple weeks to work this out before the big match. The effort was there, especially with Taven and Juice trying to fit in (even if it wasn’t already working), so they should get there by 09/01 and nothing was so bad that it would turn people off this idea.
The semimain served it’s purpose in building up the Anniversary main event, it was a borderline match. Angel de Oro & Soberano looked impressive on their big spots. Making this the semimain helped out too; the two guys feuding came off as the most important people and weren’t overshadowed this time. The second fall was laid out really well to set up Niebla Roja looking like a star, better than they’ve done so far. He was very emotional in his post match promo and could use to show more of that in his matches.
Stuka/Dragon was a turn taking lightning match that didn’t do much for me. They did bigger stuff early on, but then went back to the usual trios moves with these guys. Stuka’s doing the superplex to a suplex spot a lot and I’m not a fan. This was fine for a what it was but nothing needed to see.
This woman’s match was a regular. Sugehit & Zeuxis are doing more brawling to signify how close they are to the mask match. It makes sense in that context but it’s not what they do best. Not sure how Sugehit and Zeuxis can end up wearing each other’s masks and it not be a DQ for someone, but I’m thinking about it too much. Everyone else was their usual self, which wasn’t enough to make for a good match.
Ordinary match, one where I had to double check who won a couple days later because it was just sort of unmemorable. Rudos were more giving than usual, técnicos did their normal stuff as well, nothing really jumped out. Universo is not as exciting as his cousins so far. It would probably be a good idea if Stigma had a second finisher so he didn’t have to awkwardly load much bigger guys on his back.
The técnicos tried a bit more than we see in the opener, especially Astral in the first couple falls. His attempts at fancy moves still look clunky and sometimes slow, but it’s more interesting than what we’ve usually got from these. These two rudos are mostly fine about taking offense from the tecnicos but don’t have show a wide variety of stuff they can do on their own, which creates some dead teams when they take over.
