CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2018-06-29

Recapped: 06/29/2018

Matches: 

Espanto Jr. & Hijo del Signo beat Magnus & Príncipe Diamante
(11:29 [4:17, 3:45, 3:27], 1/3, below average, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Disturbio, Kawato San, Okumura beat Pegasso, Star Jr., Stigma  
(14:12 [5:18, 3:06, 5:48], 2/3, ok, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Guerrero Maya Jr., Rey Cometa, Stuka Jr. beat  Ephesto, Mephisto, Templario
(10:12 [5:21, 2:27, 2:24], 2/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón beat Ángel de Oro, Atlantis, Niebla Roja  
(14:49 [5:12, 3:30, 6:07], 1/3, good, VideosOficialesCMLL)

King Phoenix beat Cavernario
(19:00, 2/3, excellent,  VideosOficialesCMLL)

1. COR Phoenix (3:18)
2. Phoenix double wristlock back bridge cradle (4:35)
3. Phoenix valagueza powerbomb (11:07)

Carístico, Valiente, Volador Jr. beat Charly Rockstar, Cibernético, Zorro  
(10:13 [3:48, 1:59, 4:26], 2 DQ/3 DQ, below average, VideosOficialesCMLL )

What happened: 

The main event wasn’t any good in all the ways where it was obvious this would not be a good mix of people. Volador in particularly appeared frustrated with the quality of his opponents. Zorro/Chrizh was theoretically going to be the best of these three guys but was throwing ugly looking clotheslines when he was even doing that much. He did a running knee that I don’t know what it was supposed to be. Somehow Sharly was worse. Volador & Sharly had a brutal exchange at the start of the second fall, and Valiente eventually forced him to take a headscissors to set up his dive in the third (where I was sure Valiente was going to try and put a hole in him.) Cibernético is not supposed to be the worker of the team. More Klan Kaoz matches would be an obvious mistake.

It didn’t really matter much tonight, because of the ending. Unlike his brother (and unlike Klan Kaoz), Penta was very over from the moment he showed up and the crowd was hot to see him and to see him fight Caristico. If CMLL learns anything here, it should be that it’s about bringing the right people in, not just bringing anyone who was a name at one point.

Penta el Zero M made his CMLL debut by attacking Carístico in the main event, ending the match in a disqualification. (Klan Kaoz, in their debut, got the only clean pins of the match in the opener, with the second and third ending by referee decision.) Penta was there to answer Caristico’s challenge about coming to his building. The two teased a match and brawled until security finally got involved. They’re heading to a singles match, but it didn’t seem like one would happen next week. Volador, theoretically Caristico’s friend, actually took Zorro’s cane and hit Carístico with it during the post match attack. Volador seemed unhappy during the entire match.

CMLL billed the rudo team as Ciber the Main Main, The Chrizh, and Sharly Rockstar. Those names are terrible.

King Phoenix defeated Cavernario cleanly. The crowd was lukewarm on Phoenix, and loudly behind home team favorite Cavernario. Phoenix did win them over to some extent with the finish.

Amapola, Mascara 2000, Tony Salazar and Dr. Jose Narro Robles, the former dean of the UNAM university and current Mexico Secretary of Health recieved the Copa Bobby Bonales.

Thoughts:

Phoenix versus Cavernario delivered. It was a fast paced action match that showed off the skill and suicidal tactics of both men. They meshed much better than last week, Fenix had out of this world moves, and Cavernario got to go to a level we haven’t seen in a long time. There were plenty of big spot highlights, without the dead moments between moves in some of the bigger CMLL matches. Their smaller stuff, the cradle sequence at the end of the second fall and the chop fight in the third fight, looked just as good as their bigger stuff.

Reaction to this match on Twitter was as the best match of the year. I had it slightly lower, to the point where I wasn’t sure what grade it was going to give it. Fenix had some heel kicks that didn’t look too convincing, and one big slip that Cavernario nicely covered. The weird negative reactions to Fenix also made the match feel strange at times. There were enough incredible moments, like Fenix paying for going for his rolling cutter way too often in an unexpected fashion, and it’s an easy recommendation even with the nitpicks.

Another good NGD match with the rudos continuing to have the Chavez brother’s number. Sansón, Cuatrero and Forastero are as good at destroying people as anyone in CMLL, and they equally made Atlantis look as good as he has in a long time. Niebla Roja & Angel de Oro were way into the match and looked good when they weren’t getting superkicked out of existence.

They didn’t get a lot of time in the tercera, but it still was one of the best Rey Cometa performances in quite some time. He was on with his trickiest dives and looking good at them. Only the 450 at the end was a touch off. All the técnicos were flying around a lot, if not quite as far as Guerrero Maya would’ve liked, and the rudos were in the right place for them. Templario is fitting in these type of action matches.

I had some technical issues during the second match, but it seemed just a touch better than usual. Star Jr. & Stigma having an array of tag team maneuvers was unexpected. Star Jr. looks good when he has a chance to. They did a lot of dives, which sometimes worked out for Kawato. Okumura took a hard landing on his finishing superplex.

Espanto Jr. & Hijo del Signo remain not very good and took most of the match. The técnicos may appreciate taking the pointless Canadian Destroyers because it’s the only flip they can do with these rudos. There were about 10 good seconds of match near the end of the second fall.