Don’t blame me for spoilers; Lucha Underground‘s preview specifically lists the Gift of the Gods match as airing this week. That match airing that far out would seem to have some pretty significant ramifications for the title picture, but few things are as straight forward as they seem on this show.
CMLL Friday is a Saturday iPPV this week. Saturday. I’m going to be answering this question all of tomorrow and I’m just so excited.
Blue Panther & Virus on Martes will bring all the excitement of a Microman match with slightly taller people.
Arkángel de la Muerte, Nitro, Sangre Azteca beat Astral, Pegasso, Stigma
(21:48 [10:48, 3:28, 7:32], 1/3, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Drone, Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr. beat Puma, Tiger, Virus
(16:14 [6:51, 3:46, 5:37], 2/3, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Pólvora beat Titán in a lightning match
(8:02, Inquisidor Storm, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Ephesto, Luciferno, Rey Bucanero beat Dragón Lee, Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. (10:03 [3:50, 3:27, 2:46], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Ángel de Oro, Carístico, Diamante Azulbeat Gran Guerrero, Pierroth, Rush (10:40 [1:54, 4:24, 4:22], 2/3 DQ, n/r, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
What happened:
this was also good
Rush fouled Diamante Azul and unmasked the técnicos to end the main event.
The second match really was 21 minutes long.
When setting up for a finishing spot in the opener, Fiero instead slipped and fell from the top rope all the way to the floor. He was shaken up but appeared to be OK, and returns to wrestle the following week.
Thoughts:
Fiero makes moving out of the way exciting
Rey Bucanero wanted to do a lot of things, which meant no one was really doing a lot of things. Bucanero fighting with Dragon Lee meant Lee was defeated by a poor looking submission in fall and dragged around by his mask for most of all of the second fall. It’s really depressing to think about all our memories of great Rey Bucanero being slowly replaced by a years of Bucanero being a guy you didn’t want to see in a match. The técnicos briefly sped up the action at time, but this was not their night.
This lightning match fit the category of nothing extraordinary but really solid wrestling action between two people who know each other well. They counter each other well, with Pólvora ready to cut down everything Titan normally tries to do and Titan just surviving for a while. Pólvora won pretty dominant given how Titan’s booked higher than him in the card, but it scarcely matters. (And Polvora did make the Anniversary show while Titan did not, so maybe booking higher is wrong.)
Polvora is a jerk
The tercera was the best match of the night in the usual style. Tiger & Puma push the pace and switch things up – Drone going for his headstand knee smash was nicely counted to set up the rudo sprinting into a first fall win. Puma & Tiger may be stagnating by being in these matches forever, but I think they’ve helped Drone work a little smarter and more creatively, and less like a guy checking off moves. Fuego’s entry into the sunset flip looked really cool. Virus is kind of disappearing in these matches.
The opener was a lot easier to watch once you know Fiero didn’t kill himself a half minute before the finish, and one of the the best opening matches CMLl’s had this year. Flyer (MIA?), Robin, even Bengala can do some things from a tecnico side in the openers, but these rudos are sso much better than the Camorra/Apocalispis/Espanto crew of guys. These rudos are not polished at all – Templario almost dies before Fiero does in this match – but they haven’t had the life beaten out of them yet and they’re excited for the matches. Sangre Imperial looks halfway decent in a CMLL match for the first time, and I don’t think it he suddenly got a lot better. Everyone, even the announcers, have figured out Fiero has something great but he can’t do it working with the usual slugs they have here. Actual novato openers on the novato show is big for everyone.
Ruben Juarez passed away yesterday, who was one of the more well traveled Mexican wrestlers of his time. SuperLuchas has a thorough obit talking about his career. Among other highlights, he took Espanto II’s mask in the main event of the 1963 EMLL Anniversario show, only to lose his hair to older bother Espanto I a few weeks later.
Super Fly was doing press in Morelia for an upcoming show there, and was totally on AAA message: wrestlers from around the world come to Mexico to learn the best wrestling, AAA’s going worldwide, AAA is actually better with having a smaller roster (“60-70”) than the bigger one (“200”) they had a few years ago, and those people who struggling to find work. Super Fly mentions Europe, England, Colombia (which was announced but they never went), Japan for the World Cup (which AAA itself isn’t mention but seems to be happening) and Lucha Underground (which he says will be taping in November – might have been the plan, but it would’ve had to be announced months ago to be ready to happen by then) as the international destinations.
This is billed as a co-promotion with ChilangaMask and +Lucha (so at least some clips should turn up.) I never imagined Zachary Wentz vs Guerrero Maya but that sounds interesting. If the Solars end up with the tag team titles and they turn up in Mexico forever, I’ll – probably sigh deeply and work on adding something the wiki.
CMLL (SUN) 09/24/2017Arena Puebla
1) Centella Roja & Hijo de Centella Roja vs King Jaguar & Sombra Diabólika
2) Black Tiger & Espíritu Maligno vs Canelo Casas & Disturbio
3) Marcela, Princesa Sugehit, Skadi vs Dalys, La Comandante, Zeuxis
4) Esfinge, Stigma, Stuka Jr. vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón
5) Carístico, Dragón Lee, Soberano Jr. vs Kojima, Mr. Niebla, Negro Casas
6) Niebla Roja vs Gran Guerrero
Niebla Roja is booked back to appearing regularly after the mask match – but then they have Skadi on this lineup, and she’s definitely not appearing. Canelo’s been MIA himself.
El Malayo & King Jaguar beatMillenium & Rey Samuray
(15:03 [7:45, 3:42, 3:36], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Misterioso Jr. & Sagrado beatDrone & Guerrero Maya Jr.
(14:24 [5:49, 3:07, 5:28], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Ángel de Oro, Dragón Lee, Mistico beat Cavernario, Mephisto, Negro Casas
(10:31 [2:04, 2:22, 6:05], 2/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Millenium
Volador Jr. won a 12 man cibernetico over Diamante Azul, Euforia, Rush, Último Guerrero, Valiente, Johnny Idol, Juice Robinson, Marco Corleone, Matt Taven, Michael Elgin, Sam Adonis (27:03, Volador reverse huracanrana Elgin, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)
Último Guerrero pulpo Guerrero Johnny Idol (9:16)
Sam Adonis Michinoku Driver Valiente (12:07)
Marco Corleone plancha Euforia (12:51)
Rush corner dropkick Sam Adonis (14:43)
Diamante Azul escuedo Marco Corleone (15:50)
Michael Elgin sit down powerbomb Rush (18:30)
Volador backcracker Juice Robinson (19:29)
Último Guerrero pin Matt Taven (20:27)
Matt Taven pin Último Guerrero (20:27)
Michael Elgin spinning back fist Diamante Azul (22:29)
Volador reverse rana Michael Elgin (27:30)
MIstico superkick
The main event was more of a traditional cibernetico than the Gran Prix. It had the teased big brawls as the Friday match (plus Rush checking out on the brawl to pose in the ring instead), but it had the more normal speed elimination period. It was fun enough, but it’s inescapable to compare this (and the GDL one) to the Gran Prix and the Gran Prix was much better and more memorable. This is a good preview of the Gran Prix if you saw it before it happened, and of no great value after it happened. Of everyone, Elgin seemed most into doing stuff, though Diamante Azul had no idea how to take his backfist.
The undercard wasn’t much. I gave attempts to watch a lot of them, because it seemed like names were interesting. On closer inspection, the tecnicos are the interesting ones and there’s not enough rudos to make it work. Asturiano’s occasional appearance is better than this. Millenium and really Rey Samuray can move, but need rudos who are motivated and capable than the two here. Even the all CMLL 2v2 match wasn’t as good as usual and there’s nothing to write about the 3v3 match.
