CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-12-01

Recapped: 12/01/2017

Matches: 

Shockercito & Stukita beat Mercurio & Pequeño Olímpico
(13:45 [4:21, 3:41, 5:43], 2/3 DQ, below average)

Cancerbero, Raziel, Virus beat Astral, Pegasso, Stigma  
(12:28 [8:14, 4:14], 1/2 DQ, ok)

Lady Maravilla, Marcela, Silueta beat Dalys, La Seductora, Tiffany
(13:44 [5:49, 3:55, 4:00], 2/3, below average)

Hechicero, Sam Adonis, Vangellys beat Blue Panther, Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa
(17:06 [5:19, 4:33, 7:14], 1/3, ok)

Mr. Niebla, Rey Bucanero, Terrible beat Marco Corleone, Titán, Valiente  
(11:09 [4:38, 0:35, 5:56], 1/3, ok)

Niebla Roja beat Carístico, Negro Casas, Volador Jr., Mephisto, Mistico, Shocker, Dragón Lee, Euforia, Sansón, Stuka Jr., Felino for the Copa Jr. VIP
Arena México, 12/01/2017

1. 07:39 Euforia armtrap armscissors Stuka
2. 09:35 Dragon Lee hanging double stomp Felino
3. 14:18 Sansón powerbomb backbraker Dragon Lee
4. 15:00 Caristica on Euforia
5. 16:54 DQ Shocker
6. 16:54 DQ Volador
7. 18:00 Carístico casita Negro Casas
8. 19:00 Sansón torture rack Mistico
9. 23:22 Carsitico pin Sanson
10. 23:56 Mephisto Devil’s Wings Caristico
11. 27:45 Niebla Roja inverted campana Mephisto

What Happened:

Niebla Roja has two bad falls near the end of the main event. There was no Casas/Adonis interaction.

Again, no Kraneo, but Mije comes out anyway in the match Kraneo was booked for (and mostly stood there without doing anything.)

The rudos went after Pegasso’s mask often during the segunda match. Pegasso unmasked Raziel for the DQ. No one else seemed to be added to the match.

Stukita eliminated Pequeño Olímpico, then Mercurio tossed Shockercito over the top onto his partner for the DQ. It appeared this was meant to be the start of a feud.

Review:

This show needed a strong main event to save it. It got anything but that. The Copa Jr. VIP was good in segments – Dragon Lee and Euforia had a great exchange, Volador had some good moments while he was on – but was already tending to disappointing territory before the last few minutes. Niebla Roja took a bad accidental fall on his head to the floor, then an even worse one on his neck in the middle of the ring. I’m not sure if he thought (like everyone else) Mephisto was going for a Devil’s Wings and got a powerbomb, or if he was just completely out of it after the first move. I do know this is the second time this has happened this year, after Matt Taven had near about the same thing happen with him and Mephisto. The goal of this match was to give Niebla Roja a big win, and there’s definitely a story you could tell with him surviving near death to win the match, but they moves were so obviously screwed up (and they’re so bad at improving) that they had to pretend everything was fine and to go the normal finish right away. It clearly was not fine.

It wasn’t fine before that moment. Carístico wrestled as if he was spooked by the WWE being back in town, making more errors than he had since leaving that ring. He still got most of the eliminations, oddly being pushed far ahead of CMLL’s own Mistico now. An awful double elimination spot saw Volador get disqualified for superkicking Tirantes after Shocker slightly pulled him in the way. Tirantes didn’t bother selling the kick, instead ceasing on his spotlight to gesture wildly and make himself the center of attention as always. He later accidentally counted down Niebla Roja for three, which caused the crowd to be a little stronger against the técnico as he was trying to win the match. Sansón got some big wins but also seemed not completely sharp. And CMLL’s transparent ambition to turn Niebla Roja into a Garza – he debuted the stripping spot in this match – is a bit out of a turn off. I guess a borrowed personality is better than none, but Roja’s added nothing new to the concept, and came off as an uninspiring cover band in a wrestling world where two other people (Garza Jr., La Mascara) are already playing those same songs.

The semimain was the match that got shorted on time because the the rest of the matches were much longer than they needed to be. This was the run of match, made worse because the rudos aren’t good with the most athletic stuff the técnicos can do. Niebla’s backwards fall to the floor is going to hurt him a bunch one day and isn’t getting a reaction now. Monito & Zacarias were the highlight of this match, even while doing their same stuff as usual.

The fourth match was a fine enough match, but my interest in the show had been pretty well killed by the undercard. It wasn’t helped by Tirantes having one of his more involved performances, but this is one which felt like the peak was everyone attacking Adonis and then it just kept going longer. Some of the better spots were after that moment, but a show that was dragging could’ve used a fast paced match at this point. This would’ve been better on a different show.

The show really dragged for the first three matches. The women’s match wasn’t any good and the crowd let them know. Tiffany is painfully slow. Maravilla did 90% of the work for a headscissors she was in. There were few good moments, and the only positive is they weren’t actually blowing moves.

The second was clearly going two falls, if only because they were going way too long to go to a third one. It was strong build to a Raziel/Pegasso feud, which probably ever lead to a singles match and may not even exist a month from now. Los Cancerberos looked like a well oiled team at parts, which is odd only in that they barely ever get to team as a trio. I was bored during this match.

The minis opener felt like they were trying, but working at a slow pace. Stukita can take over a match at times, but he didn’t have that level of performance here. Mercurio didn’t bite anyone, so that was a plus, but he’s not as quick at the multiple headscissors as Demus. This didn’t separate itself from the average minis match and it wasn’t really clear why they bothered with that DQ finish. It didn’t accomplish much, except start out the show with two in a row.