CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-05-18 

Recapped: 05/18-20/2018

Matches:

Espanto Jr. & Hijo del Signo beat Astral & Eléctrico
(16:19 [6:24, 4:49, 5:06], 1/3, below average, VideosOficialesCMLL )

Okumura, Puma, Tiger beat Blue Panther Jr., Drone, The Panther
(12:58 [3:45, 2:26, 6:47], 1/3, good, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Guerrero Maya Jr. beat Fuego in a lightning match
(7:15, Sacrifica Maya, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Soberano Jr.
(13:41 [3:43, 3:57, 6:01], 1/3, great, via VideosOficialesCMLL )

La Bestia Del Ring, Rush, Terrible beat Atlantis, Diamante Azul, Kráneo
(11:57 [1:34, 3:42, 6:41], 1/3, ok, via VideosOficialesCMLL)

Flyer & Volador Jr. beat Templario & Último Guerrero in the CMLL Gran Alternativa final
(20:56 [4:38, 3:11, 13:07], 2/3, excellent, VideosOficialesCMLL)

What happened:

As soon as the match ended, Los Ingobernables hit the ring to attack Volador & Flyer. Their attack lasted only a few seconds before LA Park and Hijo de LA Park made the save. LA Park thanked the fans on social media for asking for his return, and then asked for a mask versus hair match with Rush for those fans. Rush thanked CMLL for letting a real fighter back into Arena Mexico. He wanted to fight LA Park right then and there, though Terrible and Besita did nt let that happen. Los Ingobernables left and LA Park & Hijo del LA Park celebrated with Flyer & Volador.

Los Ingobernables attacked Atlantis as he walked out, which left him laying on the apron for the entire first fall, only getting up I time to get beat up after the fall. Atlantis wasn’t in at all in the second fall except to do his new side slam finish. Bestia has given up wearing his Bestia outfit, at least for the moment.

Fuego untied Guerrero Maya’s mask early in their match, and Maya did the same to him. Maya’s mask came off on turnbuckle smash on the apron. Cameras missed it. Maya protested for a DQ but didn’t get one.

Finish of the second match saw The Panther pin Puma as Okumura pinned Drone, but Drone was the captain and Puma was not.

Thoughts:

Like last year, the 2018 Gran Alternativa was a dramatic match where the young wrestlers came off as important and as skilled as the veterans. Everyone showcased their best material and were able to blend it together for a match that was exciting until the end. They built it well, and they built in front of a crowd that was completely behind the idea. This was so much of a better night than the Magia Blanca match for Flyer, who wrestled smoothily and impressively thru the match. Templario got show off his agility and his strength in a typically strong performance. Ultimo Guerrero & Volador were wrestling as if this was as important to them as the rookies, and their strong chemistry remains intact. The Guerrero Special/gutwrench powerbomb was huge, the crowd knew what it meant when Volador rolled out without getting pinned. This was a great success.

Rush getting a clean win in the semifinal and Los Ingobernables looking more energetic made a lot more sense after the main event. The extra energy helped the normal set up for the match. Kraneo still seems to be having a lot of fun in his new role. Atlantis was kept out of action, and most of his offense was moving slightly to cause the rudos to run into each other. He took bumps, but he never took a wrestling move.

NGD had one of their better trios matches of late. They seemed more energetic and broke out some of their biggera moves that have been put on the shelf of late. Forastero was good on offense and reacting to the técnicos flippiness, and the técnicos did a lot of flips. Soberano was pulling off all his trickiest spots with ease, Angel de Oro was sharp. Mistico seemed like the sixth best wrestler in this match and he was still very good and more over than usual. Worth going out of your way to see.

Maya/Fuego was a good técnico match with some unexpected energy for the crowd being really into Fuego and quick to turn on Maya. They didn’t do anything special besides the mask untying, the crowd just likes Fuego (and he should’ve won here.) Everything was just done cleanly and the back and forth worked well.

The segunda was yet another Panthers/Gatos really good match in the never ending sequence. The bigger spots, like Blue Panther Jr.’s double slam, are getting progressively more over and they speed and mix of action worked really well here. Okumura picked his spots fine, though Drone was the definite better third wheel. They did lose the crowd a little bit after five straight dives and the intentionally confusing finish didn’t help. It still was very good, just you could tell a slight difference between this match and the other really good trios match.

The opener was a sloppy boring mess. The headscissors gone wrong by Eléctrico on Hijo del Signo was as long a sustained bad moment as you get in CMLL, and those weren’t even the worse two. Signo looks like he really had not interest in wrestling today, and his effort is minimal.